Caius's P.O.V
The taste of her body still lingered tauntingly on my tongue. I wanted so desperately to go back in her room to kiss everywhere her skin showed- grab everywhere I could and make her moan out my name. Memories of her underneath me replayed over and over in my head while I sat in the family room's chair waiting for her to fall asleep. The front door opening pulled me out of my thoughts. Aro and Marcus came in while our top guard and a few of the rabble followed behind carrying a bunch of different items. Aro seemed pretty pleased with himself. He came over with that insane gleam in his eyes.
"Ah, brother you must tell me how it went!" He exclaimed quietly. The way Marcus was intently looking at me suggested Aro wasn't the only one who was curious. Aro held out his hand and I reluctantly took it. His eyes glazed over as he went through every memory and thought I had. When he released me he gave a large grin.
"He's already smitten with her! I have to give you credit, I did not expect you to control yourself so well around her," he gulped and gazed longingly towards the room that held our now sleeping mate, "You even drank from her without losing control." Marcus seemed to relax at the news which infuriated me. Aro continued his reliving of my memories.
"Not to say that he didn't fantasize about all the things and…positions that he wanted to do with her," Aro sighed and looked to be playing out a few fantasies of his own in his mind.
"What's your position in regards to her staying here," Marcus questioned. I clenched my jaw. I hate admitting that I broke down so fast, but she just kept making it harder and harder for me to despise her. I found that not only can she rile me up the fastest out of anyone, but she can also calm me down just as quickly- the instant she touched my wrist that one morning was a key example.
"We need to prepare the castle for her arrival. Taking her back now would be problematic. There is only those we brought with us that know of our…situation. We need to inform the rest." Aro chuckled, knowing that in reality I was also thinking about Amaryllis's plea to finish up whatever she needs to do here, but thankfully he didn't mention it.
Aro's glee disappeared for a brief moment. "Well, I'm surprised that she so quickly wrapped you around her finger. Now I'm outnumbered and she knows it," He let out a little sigh, "Our little temptress is very talented. I'm happy that we were not on the opposing side of her group when she was still the leader." Then his child like happiness returned and he went back to the kitchen. All the guards had left to return to their posts, leaving Aro and Marcus to sift through the mounds of items. Curiousness over took my indifference for a moment so I went out into the kitchen.
"Decided to go shopping?" I asked surveying the items. There were some potted flowers, art utensils, items related to things I didn't know about, a variety of human foods, toys that looked to be meant for animals, stacks of books, red balloons, some clothing, little boxes that held movies, and bouquets of roses.
"Yes, I went through all of the Cullen's thoughts and found out more about our mate's favorite things," all the sudden he took on a serious tone, "We have matters to discuss about our dear Cullen family. Edward and their Rosalie have added another reason to have themselves slaughtered, aside from the fact that they have yet to change their human." Then he smiled as he returned to positioning things around the house, "but I will not dwell on it now, for I'm much too excited about preparing for my date. She will enjoy my day with her the best. It's too bad you set the bar pretty low Caius. Unlike you, I will not pick fights with her. You barely did anything to woo the poor girl! I may be a little rusty on courting, but I know that women like to be swept off their feet. You even critiqued her art pieces!" Aro shook his head, "No, I will do much better than that. She will fall under my spell by the end of the day."
I nearly lost it at his judgment of my day with her. I thought over all the date went well, but he certainly doesn't think so. Aro was infuriating. He has the advantage of knowing her through her friend's memories, while I have to guess. Abruptly a thought entered my brain. Did she enjoy her day with me? The question made my contentment crumble immediately. I wasn't the best to be around with, we did fight, and there was those couple moments of awkward silence. Was she faking it just to try and get me to change my mind? I was a fool. She did wrap me around her finger and I let her manipulate me so easily. With those beautiful large brown and hazel eyes, those pout lips, gorgeous figure, and that mouthwatering scent, how could I resist her pleas? Marcus and Aro sensed my demeanor change.
"Alice and Edward saw what you were planning on doing to the boy, but know enough to stay out of it- especially since Edward could see in my thoughts how close he himself was to being murdered. Tonight is the best time to act. As far as Alice can see, there is a good chance Amaryllis might not find out it was you," Aro mentioned. Images of that human's blood splattering everywhere helped to cool my rising anxiety. I nodded.
"When you dispose of the body, return so I can update you on everything," Aro ordered before I left.
~~At a house party~~
Demetri tracked the boy down to a loud and obnoxious party. I had him and Jane with me. During the silence my mind traveled back to Amaryllis and our day together. We waited for hours in silence, before that disgusting thing wobbled out with some other girl under his arm. As illogical as it was, I found myself hating him more at the site of him sloppily kissing another woman. He obviously did not appreciate the gift that Amaryllis gave him which added another minute or two of Jane's mind torture for his punishment. The couple didn't even make it to their vehicle before falling on the ground while still kissing and groping each other. After a while they did make it inside and started driving away.
I traveled alongside them in through the trees. This was a perfect storm. It was dark, they were driving on an isolated road far from any civilization, and his driving was terrible. If I didn't act quickly, he'll surely end his own life. I went out into the road and when he slammed on the breaks and started losing control, I helped make sure the car didn't flip. After the vehicle stopped I ripped open the doors and swiftly snapped the neck of the female and put my hand around the boy's throat to pull him out.
"Demetri, make this look like an accident," I said passively while holding the flailing human up by his throat. I flitted deeper into the woods with Jane trailing behind me. When I felt that there would be no chance of anyone hearing him scream, I released him. He fell to the floor unceremoniously and then rolled around coughing.
"Who'r you?" He sputtered out like a child. "I'm the king of the vampires and you, insolent trash, are the revolting thing that rutted with my woman," I growled and then bent down to snap both of his ankles so he couldn't run. He let out a scream that pleased Jane and me. I looked over to her and she started her torture. It went on for minutes- being bathed in the screams of that boy. It felt so good to let out this pent up aggression.
"That's enough Jane." She immediately looked to me and gave a slight bow. Aro resented me for the fact that one of his prized possessions liked me ever so slightly more. I don't like many people, but I didn't mind Jane. Her abilities to inflict pain with just one look were impressive, but I much more appreciated her sadistic nature. I nodded to her and she left, leaving me alone with the drunken mess. His voice was raspy and he was on the brink of passing out so I let him have a few moments to come back to reality. No point in inflicting pain when he can't comprehend it.
When he settled down I moved closer, making him sob and beg. Then I snapped his bones one by one, being careful not to make him bleed. When I was satisfied with that, I finally started tearing him to pieces. I let out a roar of rage, letting the beast take over. When I was done that boy's body wasn't recognizably human anymore. It was just a mess of bone fragments, brain matter, pieces of organs, and blood. I was covered with his innards, but didn't think much of it as I made my way back to the house. Although most of it flung off or dried during my run, I was still careful not to make a mess as I went to the shower.
After I rinsed myself of the memories I joined my brother's in the living room. The decorations were up, and Aro looked to have readied himself for the date. The house looked good. Candles were lit, giving the room a soothing scent of the coffee she made that morning and something I couldn't relate too. The candle said roasting marshmallow.
"You're planning for the date to be here," I smirked, "Yet you say I'm did poorly. No woman would want to have their first date in their own home." Aro chuckled.
"Quite the contrary, Amaryllis loves the idea of being pampered at home. She mentioned it to Alice once when they were talking about girlish things. Besides, our poor flower has gone through a lot these past few weeks. I'm sure she would adore having a day to relax." I took a seat on one side of the couch and let Aro grab my wrist so he could see what happened through my eyes. Afterwards, Aro and I explained to Marcus how the date went and how my night went. Our spirits were high and we all seemed relaxed with that thorn in our side finally being removed.
"So the Cullen's were under the belief that Amaryllis was seeking their protection from us," Aro stated nonchalantly, "Rosalie, Edward, Esme, and Carlisle rejected the idea while Alice, Emmett, and Jasper wanted to protect Amaryllis. Our flower claimed that she only came to get more information about us so she wasn't trying to fend us off."
I looked at him curiously. "She was trying to figure out more about us?" Aro hummed in conformation.
"She was trying to gouge out her chances of convincing us to let her stay, figure out more about our personalities, and try and find things we share in common that she could use as an effort to persuade. It was really a smart move- trying to figure out everything about her enemy. I would've done the same. Obviously it's working as well. You went from wanting to drag her and throw her in a cell for torture and rape, to allowing her to stay here to finish up whatever she needs to do." Again that blow to my ego. Aro waved his hand dismissively.
"That is not the situation I wanted to share brother. Carlisle and Esme love Amaryllis but didn't want to endanger their family. Since they felt anguish over the decision and since it was against us, I found their actions permissible. Those who were willing to fight to protect her, I found admirable. People like that are going to be useful for her protection while we are gone," he dropped his soft tone and glared, "I did not particularly care for Rosalie and Edward's stance however. Both had accused Amaryllis of terrible things and were trying to use their words to hurt her. Their thoughts were nearly sickening- Edward even briefly considered trying to abuse Amaryllis in an attempt to frighten her out of town."
I felt myself stiffen in an attempt not to go kill Edward right this second. That arrogant boy.
"And you didn't kill them?" I narrowed my eyes at Aro, who in turn sighed.
"Trust me Caius, I wanted too. This is the second time now that he has betrayed our mate's friendship. Along with that, if it wasn't for their human's desire to become a vampire, Edward fully intended to try and keep her human against our wishes. Disappointingly though, we couldn't get away with murdering those two without having to kill off the whole clan. Amaryllis would be devastated and might never forgive us. Tell me brother, would you prefer to have her act the way she did to us when we first met or to have her smile and laugh with us like she did with you yesterday?" Memories of holding her hand, kissing her, and having her large eyes stare up at me as she listened intently to me droning on about artwork softened my rising anger. The idea of seeing her crying was much less appealing now than it was before yesterday. Aro seemed to know the conclusion and nodded.
"Exactly, but we will keep an eye on those two. I made sure to tell Edward through my thoughts that if they ever treat our mate with any disrespect again, everyone he cares about will perish."
That was somewhat comforting so I nodded. We continued talking about plans in regards to our mate, but after a couple hours Aro commanded that we leave so he could prepare for Amaryllis to wake up. I left with Marcus and about half of the guards. Concerns about yesterday reemerged and I found myself falling deeper into my thoughts as we drove to Seattle. Hopefully Amaryllis enjoys whatever Aro has planned for her.