Chapter 3 – Trial

"Pretty little thing isn't she?" A deep voice asking in what barely more than a whisper was rousing Castiel from the thick fog of medicinal sleep.

"Yes," Another voice… this time she recognized it as Demetri, agreed, "Abnormally pretty for a human none the less."

Castiel was obviously hearing the tail end of a conversation she was not meant to be present for. Her whole body felt as though it weighed a ton, and an even more persistent weight was pressing into her stomach making it harder to expand her lungs to take in a full breath. Forcing her eyes open the first thing she registered was a moving cobblestone floor.

She was being carried. The tallest vampire, Felix if she was remembering correctly, and she wasn't so sure she was since she was beyond disoriented, had her body slung over his shoulder. The weight that made it difficult to breathe was his shoulder pressing into her stomach.

Numb from shock, Castiel tried to move her hair from her face and grunted in frustration when she realized her hands were tied behind her back. This immediately caught both vampires' attentions.

"You should put her down Felix." Demetri said, halting in his stride, "She's waking up and doesn't look too comfortable."

They had only entered the city and the underground tunnels within it around fifteen minutes prior to her regaining consciousness. If they had ran they would already be within the castle, probably already starting the trial, but they had to wait for her to wake up. They wanted her to be aware of her surroundings and what was happening during the confrontation. Trying to jostle her awake in front of the Masters would only cause unnecessary panic.

"If I cut your hands free you have to swear you won't try to hit us." Felix stated as her came up behind Castiel, not waiting for her response as he withdrew a small pocketknife from the interior of his jacket and sliced through the rope binding her hands. "We only restrained you for your own protection."

Castiel already knew well enough that hitting a vampire would only result in a broken hand, so his warning was completely unnecessary. Nonetheless she still nodded, rubbing her slightly pink wrist to soothe the minor rug burn.

Resting a hand on her shoulder Felix began to steer her forward before she surprised him by turning on her heel to glare at him, snapping, "I can walk thanks!"

There was a surprised silence for half a heartbeat before Demetri sighed, motioning for the two to follow him.

"You'd do well to watch your tone around here Castiel," he warned, "The Masters don't take very kindly to cheek."

He wasn't really trying to sound like he was chastising her, honestly, he was just trying to give her advice that would keep her safe. He understood why she would be upset and angry because Felix did have a habit of dragging people around, but she really did need to learn to watch her mouth. If she took that tone with Master Caius… he shook his head at the thought, she would be changed and forced to live without her tongue for a month.

Castiel scoffed as she followed him with Felix a few steps behind her. She mumbled "Stop acting like you're on my side." under her breath.

He almost winced. He knew that due to her supposed gift she would become a rather high-ranking member of the guard right away, meaning they would be spending a lot of time together in the very near future. Starting off with animosity between one another was not going to be a good thing.

And so, they continued silently through the dark tunnels. Felix had reached forward to grab Castiel's elbow multiple times when they came through areas that had uneven footing because any non-immortals who came through here would usually have trouble seeing their feet and trip. Normally such things amused them, but neither Felix nor Demetri were looking forward to the telling off they would get from Aro if she came in all scraped up because they kept letting her fall.

But Castiel didn't seem to need any help. She would neatly step over protruding stones and hop areas of the floor that dipped down due to the natural changes in the earth over the centuries. Both vampires knew that there was no way she could see very well, and when Demetri looked back at her as she veered around some loose stones on the floor, he saw that her pupils were blown wide. The powder blue irises of her eyes were just thin rings.

"How can you see down here?" Demetri asked, stopping in his track down the corridor.

This caused Castiel to stop too, and he watched in fascination as her pupils shrunk and her irises returned to normal size.

"Hm?" She looked slightly confused as she met his eyes, having not been paying attention to anything other than the extra sight that had come back to her once she woke from her stupor. She was keeping it simple and only watching her immediate future, keeping her mind a few seconds ahead of her body.

"He asked how you can see down here," Felix repeated, stopping alongside Castiel to look into her eyes himself, curious as to what Demetri was staring at.

She shrugged, "I can't. You kept grabbing my arm so I figured there was some possibility I might fall or something. I was just watching a little bit ahead to see if I would trip, and if I was going to, I just changed course so I wouldn't."

Castiel was so nonchalant in her statement that both vampires had no idea how to respond for a moment.

"So, you weren't watching your feet as much as you were watching your future and planning accordingly?" Demetri mused, "You seem to have a lot of control over your ability."

"I guess," Castiel shrugged again, being psychic was natural for her and hearing Demetri talk about it like what she could do was abnormal, but not totally unexpected, was strange to her.

He caught onto her unspoken confusion, "It's just uncommon for the gifted humans we do rarely find to have any control over whatever ability they may have. I assure you I only meant what I said as a good thing."

She nodded at him, not really having anything more to say, and after a moment he watched as her pupils dilated again, her irises shrinking to be only thin blue rings.

It truly was fascinating to see that her physical body had its own indicators of her gift. So together they carried on through the tunnels, Felix striking up a conversation with Demetri about sports now that he didn't have to concern himself with the human getting herself hurt. It would be at least another quarter hour of walking at her pace before they reached the castle, and another quarter after that before they would reach the throne room.


Aro's Office

When Aro had heard back from Demetri around sunset, the call indicating that they had arrived just outside the city, he summoned his family back to his office to talk before the undoubtedly interesting trial pertaining to Castiel.

Caius was sharing the second loveseat across from himself and his lovely wife Sulpicia with Athenadora, playing idly with a strand of her hair while Marcus lounged across the couch between the two seats, his feet propped up on one armrest and his head on the other. To outsiders his brother would look completely relaxed, even asleep, with his eyes shut and breathing so deep and steady.

But Aro knew he was anything but. Aro was aware of the turmoil Marcus was feeling below his calm façade.

The debate they had hours before really didn't lead to any possible cause or solution to his feelings over the expected arrival of this human. Marcus was considerably distressed over the actions they had taken, and they were usually so much more... harsh when dealing with matters such as the security and secrecy of their race.

"So, the human has arrived, Marcus has lost his ever-loving mind, and you interrupted the rather enjoyable time I was having with Athenadora for this thrilling get together?" Caius asked with a joking smirk on his face after a few minutes of silence.

If it were possible Athenadora would have blushed, but instead she just rolled her eyes, opting for nonchalance, while Marcus reached behind his head to the small side table to toss one of Aro's expensive crystal drinking glasses at his brother.

Caius laughed as he caught the glass before it hit him, and Aro couldn't help but smile at their antics. But he had not called his family together just to pick fun at Marcus for finally coming back to some semblance of life with the grand overreactions he was having these last couple of weeks.

"You know I wouldn't call us all together for no reason Caius," Aro said in the usual slightly manic tone he had when he was excited about something. "I wanted to discuss what steps we plan to take once we meet our soon-to-be youngest guard."

Marcus wanted to groan. Of course, the human's fate was already decided. Aro would not have gone through the trouble of getting her here if he were just going to kill the girl on arrival. But it still frustrated him, this blatant disregard of her free will, just because she was a human and it was assumed she would be eager for immortality.

"I know what you are thinking brother." Aro angled his body to face Marcus, Sulpicia sitting back so that they could talk more easily. Aro had seen enough of Marcus' thoughts over the last day to know how he felt in very fine detail. "I do not disregard her as a person, nor do I believe she has no right to make her own choices, but I do not think that she will come here and simply choose to die-,"

"But what if she does choose that Aro?" Marcus sat up on the couch, leaning forward with his elbows resting on his knees and his hands folded together, "What if Castiel does choose that she does not want immortality and would rather take death? She did not come her willingly! Would you force this girl to be a guard? Just because she has an ability that we all understand would be great to help maintain secrecy?"

Aro ran his hand through his raven hair with a sigh, Marcus' tone was bordering on hostility, and that was not a common way any of his family spoke to one another.

Well besides Caius of course, but that was simply how he always was.

"No," Aro stated simply, "If the girl-,"

"Castiel." Sulpicia said softly, interrupting her husband with a hand on his knee. "We best start calling her by her name. It isn't respectful to refer to her as if she is an infant. 'The girl' 'the human' 'the child'… she is a grown woman by all worldly standards, and we should show her the same respect we hope she shows us."

She looked around at her family as they nodded their agreement, and Aro ran his fingers through her dark hair as he smiled appreciatively.

"You are right as always darling. Thank you." Aro said softly, kissing her lightly below the ear before continuing his previous statement.

"If Castiel does decide, and tells us all aloud so there is no miscommunication, that she would rather die when we meet her tonight… I will not fight her decision. I will end her as painlessly as possible and we will move on from this whole ordeal."

Caius nodded in agreement along with Sulpicia and Athenadora, but no one missed the suddenly uncomfortable look on Marcus' face, or the fact that his hand which had previously been lying flat on his chest suddenly clutched at the fabric of his suit.

"Marcus?" Athenadora stood from Caius' lap, flashing over to her brother's side in the next moment with concern flooding her face, "Are you alright?"

Marcus wasn't listening, he was instead slipping into bond-sight. This was the term his family had come up with to identify his gift. His bonds to his family and the guard were exactly as they had always been, the thickest and brightest of the bonds he had were the strands indicating his familia bonds… that is the bonds that that tied his family to himself and to one another. The bonds to his personal guards and the elite guard were also well off, strong and changing from color to color respectively. And the rest of the bonds he had – the ones that tied him to the lesser guard and the other acquaintances he had made over the years, thus being the dullest of his connections – were completely unchanged.

Marcus' gift was very complicated but very simple at the same time. He saw what bonded people to one another in the form of strands or cords.

When someone meets another person, a strand connects him or her together. The line usually starts out thin and grey and will change color and thickness with time. The thickness of the bond – whether it looks like a strand of hair or a thick-coiled chain – indicates the bonds intensity, whether it is weak and truly unsubstantial or strong and unbreakable. The color of a bond however usually indicated what type of bond it was. Metallic colors usually indicated family, while gold indicated love and mating. Other colors would symbolize loyalty, trust, jealousy, anger and even hatred.

Every person creates a bond with another upon meeting. If one were to enter a store to buy a pack of gum a bond would spring up between themself and the salesclerk. It would undoubtedly be thin and grey looking – wispy like a spider web – and would disappear not to long after meeting having had no time to neither grow nor be nurtured.

However, some bonds could start off very strong. Sometimes people would just click for lack of a better term. Like when a new mother holds her baby for the first time, most often the bond would start out to be startlingly bright, a shining silver chain attaching the mother to her infant. Bonds like that were natural bonds of love that came without effort.

But Marcus' attention was now focused on an entirely different bond. This particular bond had come from Marcus himself over two decades before hand. The moment the bond came into existence he felt it, and a vampire physically being able to feel a bond was only possible when a vampire found their mate.

But this bond was not a mating bond. It simply couldn't have been. It was completely white in color and resembled a chain, it was thicker upon its creation than any bond Marcus had ever had, those to his family included. Even now it was the same strength as when he had first seen it though he had never nurtured this bond it never lost any of it's… power.

Oh, what a stir this bond had caused among his family all those years ago.

Marcus was sitting on his throne that night many years ago and the room was silent aside from the quiet conversation between his brothers, and the conversations of the guards who were in attendance. He was staring at a crack in the wall to the right of him when he felt the pull on his chest, he felt as if he were being yanked forward, and when he had stumbled out of his throne his brothers had both come to his aid.

That night they discovered this strange bond, and in the privacy of his chambers his family went into deep discussion about it and what it could be. It was as thick as they believed any bond could really get, but it had no color or destination. It wasn't even grey and initially most bonds were grey if they didn't already have a real color indicating what they were. Marcus had never seen a white bond before.

Aro had concluded that the bond was completely undecided just as most new bonds were, but it perhaps just couldn't be grey because of the strength it was upon its appearance.

They all ended up agreeing with his idea and for the most part forgot about the bond after that. However, the first year or so after its discovery Marcus did travel with Caius on plenty of missions where it wasn't really necessary for them both to go. He had been encouraged to go because they had agreed it might be a possible way to figure out where the bond was leading.

But this had never happened before! No one had ever seen a bond pop up from one person to an unknown source. Demetri could not even lend much help due to the fact no one had even the slightest clue who they were looking for. No one in the coven had ever met the recipient, or anyone who knew the recipient, of this bond to Marcus

But Athenadora did have a possible idea around a month after Marcus had seen the bond that resulted in them summoning a nomad by the name of Omar. Omar was a very scholarly vampire, he had met Aro around two thousand years previously, and helped write multiple books with him about everything one could possibly know about the vampire race (of course there was only one copy of each of these books and they were kept in Aro's study).

When Omar arrived in the Volturi library in early February of 1996, he was greeted by the sight of the ancients and their wives gathered around a table with one of the books he had helped write lying open, surrounded by pages of notes and parchment.

With one look at the open book and the passage written on it, Omar asked his question, which was only one word.

"Imprinting?"

One might have heard of imprinting in the terms of a shape shifter finding a person whom was best to pass down the shifting gene too, but to a vampire imprinting was so… so much more.

While imprinting was very common for shifters, it was unbelievably rare for vampires. There were only three known cases as far back as they could possibly research. When a vampire imprinted it had nothing to do with furthering genetic lines – as immortals couldn't have children – it was a vampire finding their true other half. It was a vampire not just finding the missing half of their soul but finding their soul itself. A vampire with an imprint would literally do anything for and be anything their imprint needed.

Imprinting was sacred among the vampire race. Any vampire with venom in their body would be able to see the vitality of a bond like that. The imprint would be undoubtedly safe for it was blasphemy to kill the imprint of another, you just don't destroy a man that way.

And while Athenadora's idea was good, it didn't lead anywhere. Omar said that the only cases of imprinting they knew begun when the vampire laid eyes on their imprint, and he simply had no idea what Marcus' new bond could mean.

"Marcus?" Athenadora asked again, touching the hand that was resting over his heart and bringing him back into the present.

"I'm fine Athenadora." Marcus breathed, "That bond just… I felt it again."

This easily got everyone in the room's attention, but before Aro could ask any questions Marcus just shook his head. "Now isn't the time for this." He was stubbornly determined to ignore the strange tugging as there were more important things on hand at the moment than a bond that had been mostly inactive for over 21 years. "Castiel will be arriving soon and we have to figure out what we are going to do with her if she agrees to becoming part of our coven."

Aro wanted to argue, feeling as if this moment was exactly the time for this, but

Caius seemed to sense his feelings toward the issue and intervened on Marcus' behalf. "Marcus is right, we can deal with the bond later, but first we have to consider what we do if Castiel accepts being part of our guard. I know we usually chose an elite guard to take any newborns as their charge but… perhaps there should be an exception this time."

Everyone stared at Caius in confusion after he spoke, even Marcus, which prompted him to give an aggravated sigh and explain more fully, "Marcus you seem very protective of this human – sorry Castiel." He rephrased after he was glared at by Sulpicia, "So perhaps… you should take her as your charge."

Marcus expression was shocked, and as he looked around the room he was startled even further to see that his family seemed to agree with Caius.

"Yes Marcus," Athenadora said softly, understanding why this might be strange to him, "I know you don't usually care for these things, but perhaps you should take her under your wing. I fell like you would be more sympathetic to her feelings right now than most of the guard."

Marcus wanted to argue, he was confused as to why his family was so on board with the idea. The only one of them that ever took a charge was Aro, and even then, it was not common for his family to mix so personally with the guard as to be a newborn's direct mentor. Usually elite guards watched over the guards as a whole, middle tier guards would mentor low ranking ones, and so on.

But though he wanted to argue, something within him agreed. He couldn't fathom why he had even an inkling of… care at the idea of helping this young woman. He really didn't care much for anything in his life besides his family. And even then it was mostly a boring life for him, for a life without a mate was a curse.

After a moment's thought Marcus nodded silently, causing Caius to grin victoriously before following up with the next most important question.

"Alright," he clapped his hands together, "Now that that is settled. Are you going to sire her Aro or will you look to Demetri to find a guard who-,"

A flash of heat seemed to ripple down Marcus' spine and a sharp "No." passed his lips.

Everyone turned to look at him. Each of them wore nearly comical expressions of surprise on their face when they noticed how tense Marcus had gotten, and how his eyes which had been a light burgundy only moment before hand has gone black as pitch.

"No," Marcus repeated, softer this time, as if he was getting a grip on himself. "If you insist I mentor her I plan to do it right and sire her myself."

Where had this come from? Only mere seconds ago he had been appalled at the idea of mentoring this girl when she was a newborn, why was he suddenly so…

Possessive.

Aro flashed over to Marcus' side, clapping him hard on the shoulder appreciatively, choosing not to acknowledge his brother's expression because he really pleased with how well everything was turning out.

"Well now that this is mostly settled, why don't we prepare to meet our young Castiel?"


Waking up being carried over a vampires shoulder was strange. And walking through a many centuries old tunnel system was strange. But Castiel didn't find either of those two things quite as strange as encountering the very sleek looking elevator at the end of one of the tunnels; an elevator that looked like it should be in a five-star hotel.

Demetri and Felix didn't hesitate in their step to lead her into the elevator, and they all stood in a tense silence as elevator proceeded to take them up multiple floors and let them off in an over-the-top sort of lobby. There was a large mahogany desk that took up most of the left wall, and at it sat a pretty olive-skinned human woman who looked to be in her early thirties typing away on a sleek looking silver pc.

She stood upon seeing them and gave them a very large smile and a cheerful greeting in Italian. However, when the women's eyes roamed to meet Castiel's, the look of friendliness vanished and was instead replaced by confusion.

Castiel didn't have time to address the look, because before she could even say anything, Felix rest his hand on the small of her back and steered her to another elevator on the opposite side of the room where Demetri patiently holding the door.

Once they were in Demetri thanked the woman, calling her Gianna, as the elevator doors closed and took them back down multiple floors.

"What's the point in going up that far if we'd just have to take another elevator down?" Castiel inquired, turning to Demetri with a raised brow.

"Not all of our tunnels are connected in a line," he said like it was obvious, "nothing here is designed as a pattern because it shouldn't be easy to follow. At street level, there is a very small section of our castle that is permitted for tours in the city. It is necessary to keep up the charade that the castle is smaller and uninhabited, and if you were to come through that way you would meet one of our secretaries."

"If you were here looking for us," He said 'us' in a way that clearly indicated he meant the Volturi as a whole, "You would have to find your way, not only through the castle, but also through multiple different lobbies. No human ever stumbles in here accidentally."

Castiel nodded her head, "But what if someone were to just come through the tunnels?"

Felix sighed at her words, but Demetri didn't mind this line of questioning. Usually the people he bought through here were either too frightened or too stupid to notice any of the things she was asking about.

"If they were to find one of the secret entrances, which is very unlikely but I digress, they would have to lift grates or covers that are much too heavy for a human to lift and drop down over fifty feet without injury."

The doors to the elevator opened and they continued down a torch-lined hallway. It was all stone and very wide, with little nooks that held marble statues and other very expensive looking things on pedestals. The further they walked they began to encounter paintings which Castiel was sure she would have stopped to look at if she weren't so distracted by the unpleasant business that was coming.

"But what if someone were to make it into the tunnels without hurting themselves?" She asked curiously, carrying on this conversation was better than walking along in silence anyway and she wasn't completely satisfied with the open-ended possibilities Demetri left by just dismissing methods of break in just because they were highly improbable.

Felix's deep chuckle sounded from behind her, "Well," he drawled "They would get so hopelessly lost they would either starve or freeze to death if they were human and one of us didn't find them first."

"What if they weren't human?"

"We would encounter them eventually. And if they did make it into the castle we would kill-," Demetri stopped short when he noticed Castiel wince but continued nonchalantly with words he felt would be less upsetting, "…Well since that hasn't happened yet we can only theorize what we would really do. I will let you know if I ever do get an answer to that though."

Castiel nodded knowing she had probably gone pale at the totally honest answer. She was feeling a little shaky now and startled slightly when Demetri held his arm out in front of her, the black leather jacket he had been wearing that she didn't notice him removing dangling from his hand.

"You're shivering." He explained at her confused look.

She hadn't even realized how cold it was until he said something, and she became aware of how stiff her posture was as she tried to suppress shivers. She had subconsciously assumed she was just rigid from stress since she knew any minute now, they would be coming to their destination.

Trying to bring a little bit of light back into their conversation and to fight off the slight nausea she suddenly felt, she pulled on Demetri's jacket mumbling, "I bet I could figure it out."

"Possibly," Demetri mused, watching as she pushed back the sleeves of his jacket to free her hands.

They didn't have to walk much farther, they only needed to turn the corner and head down one more hallway until they reached the set of massive double doors that opened into the council room, or as some liked to refer to it as "the throne room" even though it was not the only room in the castle with thrones.

Beyond the doors quiet conversation could be heard between some of the other guards who were already present and waiting for the trial, and though only Demetri and Felix could hear it, Castiel looked as if she could as well.

But that was only because of the nerves. The same nerves that caused her to suddenly falter in her step and stop walking, now too nervous to move.

Noticing this Demetri stepped beside her and placed his hand in the center of her back. Gently he pushed her forward, gauging her expression to be sure she wasn't going to throw up or anything. She was only human, so he wasn't sure if expecting her to keep her cool was too much to ask.

But when her expression suddenly became more impassive and her heart rate, which had begun to pick up moments before steadied into a normal rhythm, both he and Felix knew she had to be tougher than she looked.

Without further pause Felix moved forward and opened both doors to the room with one swift movement as Demetri pressed her forward, not stopping in his stride until they were all safely inside the room and the doors shut with their usual heavy bang.

Castiel knew that she would have never imagined being in a situation like this, and if she had imagined being brought to the rulers of the vampire race she certainly wouldn't have pictured being in a room as grand as this one.

The room seemed to be made up of mostly white marble, it was circular, with thin windows in the high domed ceiling which she could see stars through indicating that it was nighttime. At even intervals along the walls there were statues placed in recesses in the marble, some being statues of people on plinths made from different types of stone and others of animals that seemed to be made of a variety of precious metals.

And these stunning pieces of art were overshadowed by the fact that a dais took up the area of the wall adjacent to them, with three steps leading up to three extraordinarily intricate thrones, each seemingly handcrafted using rich, dark wood. On each of the steps there were words written in a language she didn't recognize, and she found herself itching to know what the words meant.

Taking in the room only took Castiel a second, and the grandeur of it all was lost to the fact that the room was decently populated by vampires in cloaks of varying shades of grey lining the walls, not including the five vampires who were situated on the dais that in comparison to their fellows looked much more menacing by their positions at the height of the room.

The thrones were occupied by three men whom Castiel's eyes seemed reluctant to focus on, while the throne in the center and the throne to her right also had extraordinarily beautiful vampire women standing behind them.

"Ah!" A deep masculine voice exhumed cheerfully as the man in the center throne stood, "Young Castiel, it is so wonderful to be meeting you at last!"

It was harder than she thought it would be to focus on the vampire who greeted her as her instincts argued with rational thought.

But she did, and he was not what she expected.

She had never imagined what to expect when she met the leader of the vampire race and sub sequentially the supernatural world, but it wasn't the handsome vampire descending the dais towards her with his arms spread in greeting.

He had straight raven black hair that was down to his shoulders, the texture making it look as though if she were to run her fingers through it, it would be like running her fingers through water. His handsome face showed that he couldn't have been changed any older than 35.

Standing at at about six feet tall, he was strong and lean, looking immaculate in his crisp black suit. The only color on him was the gold chain hanging around his neck bearing a family crest with a large V on a large pendant. At the bottom point of the V was a green stone, which she would have guessed to be an emerald.

While Aro had seen her in the countless memories of the immortals he had summoned over the recent weeks, meeting her in person was proving to be an experience of its own. She was shorter than he expected her to be, guessing that she was probably just barely 5 feet tall, and her scent was rather clean… like cool mint and fresh linen.

He hid his surprise on her attire, the only indicator of his thoughts being a fleeting glance in Demetri's direction. It wasn't exactly common for any of the guard to worry for the comfort of humans, so seeing Castiel in his jacket was certainly raising brows around the room.

Silently, Demetri held a hand out in Aro's direction, causing the latter to glide forward and grip his hand between both of his own for a long moment before releasing him and drifting back to his previous position, his red gaze now switching back to Castiel.

Castiel hadn't moved an inch during the strange moment the handsome leader and Demetri shared. It was obvious on her face that she didn't understand what had just occurred.

But remembering a conversation that seemed so long ago, one with her very first immortal friend Merida, Castiel recalled Merida telling her about some vampires being gifted just as she was. but that gifts came in many different forms. Merida was a mental shield and was completely delighted upon meeting Castiel because not only were gifted humans few and rare, but Castiel could see her regardless of her honed talent.

So, while she wasn't sure exactly what it was that the leader could do, Castiel knew that he must have been gifted and that it was best she remained cautious.

"Yes, it is very nice to finally meet you my dear," Aro sighed, drifting forward again until he was within a meter of her. "I have seen very delightful stories of you through the eyes of your many friends. My name is Aro and I assume you know who I am… as well as the reason you were summoned for trial?"

Summoned for trial? Castiel's brow furrowed as for the first time it occurred to her that she hadn't been kidnapped – she had been arrested.

"Your assumptions," Castiel chose her words carefully, "Were both correct and incorrect. I do not know exactly who you are, but I believe I do know why I am here."

And this was the truth. She knew by the way he spoke of her immortal friends that she was here because of the secrecy breach her knowledge of their kind created, and she felt the nausea resurface at what her being found guilty would mean.

Aro nodded mutely, all eyes in the room were focused on them besides those of Marcus as he had his head leaned back and his eyes closed.

Marcus wasn't so much mentally preparing himself for the coming months of taking care of a newborn as he was trying to ignore the strange feeling that had suddenly taken residence in his chest. It was not an unpleasant feeling… he felt very warm actually. Warm as if he were lying in the sun on a hot day and letting the heat relax him as he did his best to ignore the insistent tugging coming from his chest.

He knew what the tugging was. It was that god-forsaken bond that had chosen possibly the worst time to act up. He thought tiredly that mentoring the girl would be impossible in his current state. If he were to steadily be driven insane by this bond, he would rather do it in peace.

"I-," Aro had begun speaking again, "Am one of the three leaders of the Volturi coven. We are the ruling race of vampires and most supernatural species on this earth… so we're like the police in a way. Our most important law is the secrecy of our race which is vital to maintain peace."

His gaze was intense as he watched her process his words, and he continued without further pause.

"Humans are only meant to see us for what we are in the very brief moments before we feed, and if a human is let in on our secret… well I am afraid our laws are written in such a way that there are very few options for such… breaches in security."

Aro looked down at her imploringly, his expression very similar to the one her father would wear when he was waiting for her to admit something she had done wrong.

"The human must either be changed by the vampire who lets them in on the secret or die," Castiel said quietly, her voice hardly louder than a whisper. "I know." She directed her eyes at the floor for a moment to rein in her courage, studying Aro's expensive looking black shoes and taking a deep breath.

It was very hard to keep from trembling when her eyes found Aro's again, but she managed. "But-," she swallowed hard, figuring there was nothing more she could lose, "I wasn't told by any of the vampires I know. I found out on my own."

Silence met her words, as no one understood what she was getting at, so she was forced to explain. "So – so none of them should really be held responsible for… for me. Should they?"

Aro couldn't hide his surprised expression. Here she was in the deepest water she could possibly find herself in and she was trying to protect her immortal friends?

He could see why they were so fond of her.

"Normally they would be," Aro said honestly, "But under the circumstances they have not been tried for any crime, for I have seen exactly what you are trying to explain."

Aro clasped his hands behind his back for a moment, studying her stiff posture and the near vacant expression she wore. He wondered if she was very brave to not be in a pure state of panic at her situation or simply in a fair amount of shock. And when he caught sight of her trembling hands, he figured it was probably a little bit of both.

"But I am sure you are aware that you have not been brought here to be killed," his voice had taken on a soothing tone, "Your gift… holds such potential to be of real use to our world and for it to be wasted…" he shook his head, "To end your life would be a shame. There is another alternative we wish to offer you."

Aro extended his hand to her – palm up – and left it raised between them.

Castiel knew what he was saying. She knew everyone in this room knew she was psychic. He was asking her what her choice was. They were going to kill her, or they were going to change her. She was being given an option besides death because of the gift that made here feel so isolated her entire life.

Her feelings were so conflicted that it took her a moment to register his hand in front of her.

"I don't understand," she said with a confused look at his open palm.

Aro laughed suddenly, an unsettling, deranged kind of laugh that caused her to jump back in shock.

If it wouldn't have drawn attention to herself, Sulpicia would have groaned. He did the creepy laugh. Of course, he did the creepy laugh. Dear god why did he have to do the creepy laugh?

One look back at the poor girl showed Sulpicia she was completely alarmed, but yet her husband continued as if he didn't notice the expression on her face.

"I am sorry my dear! I haven't properly explained this to you, have I?" He raised the hand he had extended slightly in example as he thought of the best way to phrase his ability. "You are gifted child… many of us in this coven are as well. My gift is best referred to as tactile telepathy. I can see every thought and every memory you have ever had since the day you were born."

Castiel flinched.

She wasn't sure of this. Didn't he realize how very personal it was to be asking to look into someone's head like that? To see their entire life? Everything they were proud of and everything they had ever felt ashamed of just laid out for someone to see…

Castiel and Aro were in their own private little world, neither of them had noticed Caius snap at the guards to be quiet when they began whispering to each other about "the human". They acted like she had committed a social faux pas because she was iffy about having her thoughts read for the first time. This irritated Caius greatly since the guards were too high and mighty to remember that each and every one of them had the same reaction when confronted with Aro's gift for the first time.

Aro waited patiently, knowing that he would see her thoughts momentarily and it would be unnecessary to pressure her.

She could feel eyes on her, she felt everyone watching and knew she didn't really have a choice. She would have to answer Aro's question mentally and lay her entire life out for him to see. It was his way of seeing the certainty of her choice and the intricacies of her gift.

So she held her hand out next to his, palm up.

Aro lowered his right arm in favor of his left to take her trembling hand, only slightly interested in the fact that she must be left-handed since most people shook with their right.

He tried to have his expression look less frightening to her, like she was an animal that he had startled and might bolt at any moment. Covering her palm with his own he was greeted by the rush of her memories and Castiel couldn't help but let out a frightened gasp as he pulled her closer and clasped her hand in both of his own.

Back on his throne Marcus couldn't ignore the whimper of fear that came from the bell like voice of the girl speaking to Aro, and he certainly couldn't ignore the sudden stabbing pain right over his heart. It felt as though someone had hooked him and was yanking him sharply from his seat. Opening his eyes and switching to his bond sight as he stood, he finally saw where the abnormal bond he acquired decades ago was leading.

He was tied to the small human whom Aro was reading, her eyes were screwed shut and her breathing was shaky as Aro went through the years of her life, as if she was bracing for pain.

Marcus hadn't even noticed he was walking down the dais toward them, the bond to the girl giving him another sharp tug to drag him forward.

Then she opened her eyes. And the moment her powder blue eyes locked with his over Aro shoulder everything made sense.

A wave of gold tore from his chest, rushing forward to encircle the pretty redhead. The previously white bond flashed and became a brilliant bright gold that nearly hurt him to look directly at. Hundreds of little gold strands began to connect them together as he felt the weight of every singly bond, he had made in his thousands of years alive lighten considerably in comparison as the one to her.

Nothing mattered anymore, not air, not the sun, not even gravity. The only thing that mattered was the little human not even twenty feet from him.

Castiel.

He fell to his knees just after descending the dais, unable to take his eyes from her. Aro released Castiel and turned immediately at Sulpicia's cry of worry, and he held his hand up to stop anyone from moving as he went to his brother's side. He didn't ask before leaning down and taking his hand and couldn't quite find the ability to close his jaw after her saw the life changing situation that just happened with Marcus upon meeting Castiel's eyes.

And so Aro said lowly, so lowly that only the vampires in the room would be able to hear it and Castiel wouldn't even know he had made a sound, the two little words that would change the life of their coven as they knew it.

"Marcus imprinted."


A/N: Just another thing I wanted to add, Imprinting in this story can NOT happen on children because that shit is disgusting. Thank you! :)

Revised January 18th, 2021

(17 Pages, 7,668 Words)