Authors Note: Alright I'm gonna answer some questions before we delve into this story any further.
What is vampire imprinting?
It's the same thing most fanfictions head canon a vampire finding their mate to be like. It's an instant love-at-first-sight kind of connection.
Can imprinting happen on children?
GROSS. No. In this ff it's not possible for a vampire or shifter to imprint on a kid.
What would have happened if Marcus saw Castiel as a child?
The bond wouldn't have properly formed. He would have seen that he was connected to her, but he would have remain completely unchanged and unfazed by it. He literally could have watched her get gobbled up by a lion and he wouldn't have been fazed.
That is all. Happy reading!
Chapter 4 - Unexpected
The tension in the room was so thick it could have been cute with a knife. The nearly suffocating silence was only broken by a deep voice muttering a disbelieving, "Holy Shit."
And that ever so eloquent remark came from Caius, who received a slight glare from Aro in response.
Glancing at Caius in confusion due to his comment, Castiel turned back to the situation at hand, her expression displaying her shock and worry. The man who had grabbed her attention when descending the dais was beautiful, probably one of the most – if not the most – handsome men she had ever seen. He had a straight nose and a strong angular jaw, with chocolate colored hair that fell to his shoulders and a height that indicated he was a good few inches taller than Aro (and Aro was already a head taller than her). He also looked… built for lack of a better term. She was sure his strength would rival Felix's, though he was just slightly leaner and less muscly looking than Felix.
She was not sure what she had done to him, but she was sure she had done something by the way he fell to his knees after looking at her. Castiel took a step forward, lifting her hand from her side slightly as if to offer her help even though she wasn't sure what she could do.
Aro held up a hand to her to stop her movement, but at her step forward the man who had fallen to his knees stood so fast she couldn't see the movement. The way he looked at her troubled her too. He looked at her as though she was something he had never seen before, something beautiful and mysterious.
Like… like someone who had been trapped underground their whole life had finally come out to see the sun.
Aro placed his hand on Marcus' chest, feeling the slight pressure on his arm as his brother made to move toward Castiel. Aro was thinking quickly; hat had just happened was very serious and had to be addressed carefully. Castiel was only human and therefor could not feel what Marcus had just felt, and him coming at her with centuries upon centuries worth of caged emotion would only end in disaster and undoubtedly frighten her off.
Though they did have a good sign, Castiel moving forward to try and offer help to Marcus could have been her acting on a mating bond. Worrying for the wellbeing and comfort of your mate came as naturally as breathing, and though they had never heard of a human displaying these signs Castiel could be an exception because she was now the first human imprint to a vampire in existence.
"Demetri, Felix," Aro called to both of them at a normal volume, speaking in English as to not make Castiel feel as though they were simply acting as if she wasn't here or purposefully trying to exclude her from the conversation, "Please take Castiel to be checked by Arkos and show her to her quarters in the East wing."
Felix opened his mouth to ask where exactly in the East wing they were to be taking her, the East wing being the private wing of the masters and their wives, before being elbowed by Demetri.
Sending his friend an expression that just kind of said "really?" Demetri rolled his eyes. They were obviously to take her to one of the free rooms in Marcus' halls. Each of their masters had their own section in the East wing and their own kind of suites and each section always had an area for guests of the brothers.
Felix caught onto this, making a mental note that while Castiel and Demetri were with Arkos he should make sure one of the human servants were sent to clean one of the guest quarters in Marcus' halls. Though all the quarters in the East wing were modernized and renovated just a few years beforehand Marcus never had any guests that were close enough to him to stay within his personal housing. The guest rooms were probably all very dusty and this point and any linen would need a good washing.
Demetri came forward, trying to look as un-threatening as he possibly could. He was sure that Master Marcus had been completely turned on his head and any wrong move toward Castiel would end with his head being torn from his shoulders by the reawakened god of war.
Yes Marcus was one of the greatest warriors their coven had ever seen, the best fighters on Earth paling in comparison to what Marcus was capable of when he got going. Many of the young and lower guards believed that Marcus had lost his nerve after the death of his wife, but they were never present during the few battles afterward that threatened their coven. Marcus would become the same fighter he was many years ago when it was called for and retreat back into his shell when the threat was defeated. But now that he had an imprint – a fragile human imprint whose life could be ended so quickly if one of the Volturi's enemies got a hold of her – the fighter in Marcus would not disappear any time soon.
Castiel turned to Demetri sensing his approach, and they both jumped when Marcus let out a very deep, very loud, growl.
"Peace brother," Sulpicia said gently, approaching Marcus to put a comforting hand on his back. "He means her no harm, he's only following orders and taking her to Arkos so he can make sure she is okay. Surely you can smell the sickness in the air."
Felix opened the doors to the room while Demetri steered Castiel from it with a very gentle hand on her shoulder. Before the doors closed Castiel looked back to the vampire she seemed to have greatly affected in some unknown way and watched as his rather deadly glare at Demetri's back changed into something softer as his eyes met hers again.
But she couldn't study the look further before she was ushered out of the room completely and Felix closed the doors behind them.
Before she could even open her moth to interrogate Demetri as to what in gods name happened in there, he just turned and gave her a pointed look while shaking his head.
Of course. She wasn't allowed to ask.
She wasn't even sure if she had really answered Aro's whole "join or die" question, she had been so frightened she didn't know what answer he had gleaned from her mind.
And as they walked down more cold halls, making confusing turns and traveling up and down different sets of stairs she thought hard. What did she want? Did she want to join this coven of gifted vampires to help protect some great supernatural secret? Or did she just want to end it now? This was a seriously life changing decision to make, living forever as a kind of police officer for the vampire race, or dying at 21 years old.
Castiel really didn't want to die, she had a purpose in life! Everyone did. And maybe, just maybe she got sick a few weeks ago so fate could be sure she would get here. She wasn't a big believer in fate but she also wasn't a big believer of coincidences either, and it just worked out too perfectly that she would get ill and not be able to have any of the visions she depended on so much in her life be able to warn her that she was being hunted.
It was all so confusing, and her heart hurt when she imagined if she told Aro she didn't want to join, not because she was afraid to die necessarily… but because of what it would do to her dad.
Her dad.
The Marine Core Gunnery Sargent who raised her alone since she was only two. Her father, who had divorced her mother who didn't want her anymore, who didn't want the strange child who could see the future and was an abomination against god. Her father who loved his country so much it hurt but still loved her more than that, more than anything else in the entire world.
She couldn't imagine what would occur after she was killed, she had no doubt the Volturi would dump her body somewhere closer to home to be found to end the search she knew was inevitably going to happen if not already happening. Castiel knew she would never see her father again, but at least if she chose to join the guard her father would never lose hope that she was alive.
And hope was all she could give him now.
Demetri heard Castiel sniff behind him, and he and Felix both turned to see that her eyes were brimming with tears and she was watching her feet as she walked. The two guards looked uncomfortably at each other, unsure of what to do if she started crying. Castiel crying was bound to happen eventually, but neither of them really had words of comfort for her and neither of them could exactly offer her a hug and sympathy. They both knew they weren't allowed to lay a hand on her for any reason at this point without her explicit consent. Marcus would have their balls for it.
They also knew their master really wouldn't appreciate seeing his mate – no, his imprint – wrapped in the arms of another man for any reason. She was so much more than a mate to him and the fact that he still had yet to court her would only make him that much more hostile toward anyone he viewed to be competition.
She was his, and he was hers. It was destined to be that way.
Castiel just didn't know it yet. She couldn't feel what Marcus felt. She wasn't a vampire and therefore had no idea what mating, let alone imprinting, felt like.
But would she be changed into a vampire? Demetri thought the question to himself as they arrived at the metal door to the hospital wing. She would be uncontrollable her first year as a newborn, and master Marcus surely couldn't plan to try courting her during that?
He was sure Master Marcus wouldn't want to wait a few years before getting to know her because he was eager to change her. Master Marcus was fine with humans and Demetri was interested to see how everything was going to play out over the next few days. He was head of the guard after all and would be updated on this… situation as it progressed.
Entering the hospital wing Castiel felt like she had walked directly into a hospital from the 16th century, though with more modern accommodations of course. The room was long and bright with many windows and white marble floors. There were dozens of beds lining either side of the room and on the far wall there were folded sets of privacy curtains. Three beds at the far-left end frightened her though. They were all metal with pure white shackles mounted at each corner to hold the occupant down. They had no mattresses and unlike most of the beds which looked like standard hospital beds on wheels, these were bolted to the floor.
Felix saw Castiel's apprehensive expression and spoke, "Those beds are only used for newborns, or humans undergoing the changing process. We only tie people to them if they are violent."
"But won't they be able to break through them?" Her voice was small. She knew vampires could break down walls, run hundreds of miles in minutes, and stop a moving train, so shackles must be like ripping through tissue paper to them.
Felix smirked wickedly "Not these. They aren't made of conventional metal… or anything of the sort really."
But before she could ask what they were made of if not metal, Demetri put and end to the conversation with a stern "Enough Felix!" and stopped them in front of a plain wooden door at the end of the massive room.
Taking a key from his pocket Demetri unlocked the door and led her into what was a very standard doctor's office/examination room. It was small and sterile, with a counter that had various jars of cotton swabs, tongue depressors, and alcohol wipes along with everything else she'd expect to see if she were going for a checkup. A weighing scale, a sink, a blood pressure meter… she was sure if she opened the drawers and cabinets it would just be more of the standard stuff.
Demetri indicated that she sit up on the padded table covered with crinkly tissue paper as he took a seat in one of the folding chairs next to the sink near the door.
Castiel hopped up onto the table, glaring at Demetri when he looked like he would laugh at her. The table was high, so she had to lift herself up by her arms and almost ripped the crinkling paper off when she sat.
She was expecting to hear booming laughter from Felix, she could only imagine he was the sort of vampire who would have a good laugh at her human struggles, but was surprised to notice he wasn't in the room… not that there was exactly a lot of spare room for him to take up. There wasn't any time to ask where he went however, for the door opened again to admit another unfamiliar vampire.
He was tall, around Demetri's height and stature, with messy jet-black hair and a kind smile on his face. He seemed to be in his late thirties' or early forties, and Castiel thought that if she gave him a pair of glasses, he would look like the vampire replica of James Potter. He wore a long white lab coat that was buttoned and fell to his knees, along with dark blue scrubs and shiny black shoes.
He had a patch on his coat with the name "Arkos" sewn into it.
So Arkos was a doctor? This surprised Castiel since she had never met a vampire doctor before and found it to be a strange choice of profession. Weren't vampires only really interested in humans for dietary purposes? And if Castiel was apprehensive of all of this before she was truly nervous now. She had heard Arkos' name multiple times, and the very first time she heard it was when Demetri was informing Felix that Arkos had given him something to knock her out so they could bring her here.
Demetri shot up from his chair to stop Arkos from speaking, and as quickly as he could he relayed the nights events in the doctor's ear.
Arkos could only raise his eyebrows in surprise at the news that the human Aro had been searching for was Marcus' imprint, and quietly thanked Demetri for the warning, sure that everyone was walking on eggshells at the moment around Master Marcus' new and fragile mate.
"Totally couldn't tell you were just whispering about me there; you were super subtle." Castiel snapped sarcastically from her seat. And Demetri couldn't reprimand her this time either. She could literally tell them all to fuck off and she wouldn't get into any trouble at this point.
"I am truly sorry dear," Arkos' voice was much deeper than she expected it to be, "That was very rude of us and I'm sorry to give you such a bad first impression. My name is Arkos. I am the Volturi's personal doctor for the vampires, future vampires, and humans of this coven."
Castiel found it very hard to hate him at the kind smile he had and comforting aura that just seemed to flow around him him, but her voice didn't lack hostility as she said, "Yeah, I've heard of you already."
This caused the doctor's friendly smile to falter as he shot a questioning look at Demetri. He was very popular with most of the coven and didn't understand what he could have possibly done wrong by her already.
Without trying to keep his voice low Demetri told him that Castiel knew he had supplied the medicine that would help her sleep on the plane.
Arkos looked to Castiel to inquire what he had done to offend her, still not comprehending how giving Demetri the medicine was bad, before Demetri continued.
"I gave her the needle when we took her from her father's home, she was putting up a fight with Felix and a witness was going to arrive any moment."
There was a pause long enough for Castiel's heart to beat three times before the doctor stiffened and turned on his heel to round on Demetri, and his expression was furious.
"How dare you," The doctor snarled, his teeth bearing at the guard, unaware of Castiel's shocked expression behind his back, "How dare you use something I supply to kidnap a girl. I was under the impression that she was coming here willingly, not by force!"
Demetri's expression mirrored Castiel's. He had never heard the gentle doctor snarl at anyone before and being on the receiving end of this new anger was unexpected.
No one knew what to say, and after taking a deep breath Arkos waved his hand toward the door behind Demetri, glaring at the senior guard all the while. "Leave. I want to complete my examination and you are not needed in here."
Demetri knew he was being rather angrily dismissed, and though he was head of the guard Arkos was on very good terms with the masters and therefor he was the superior in this situation.
Resolving to stand outside the door, Demetri exit the room.
The silence when he left was awkward, and Arkos took a moment to rub his face in frustration before moving over to one of the drawers and withdrawing a clipboard with some blank forms attached to it.
"This is just a routine physical Castiel, it is mandatory that whenever a new person joins this coven, we check physical health. With human members we also go over pervious vaccinations, medical history, and daily activity. Is this alright with you?"
Castiel wanted to say something to Arkos, to tell him that she could see that he wasn't responsible for the wrong that had been done to her thus far, but she couldn't find the words. Whenever someone was upset Castiel always had the desire to make him or her feel better, no matter if what they were feeling was anger or sadness. It was just the kind of person she was. She didn't like seeing people in pain.
"That's fine." She whispered this as she found her voice again, and Arkos took this as a good sign. Demetri had said he wasn't sure how long Castiel would remain human, so Arkos needed her to trust him if he were to be caring for her as a human for the foreseeable future.
"Alright. Full name?"
Arkos withdrew a pen from his coat and positioned it above the form and Castiel answered automatically.
"Castiel Jane Rodgers"
"Date of birth?"
"December twenty-fourth, nineteen ninety-five."
"Christmas Eve?" Arkos asked and couldn't help but smile when Castiel responded with a nod and smile of her own.
"Can you come stand against the wall over here so I can check your height?"
The examination went quickly from this point, as Castiel was very co-operative. After checking her heart rate and determining it was at normal levels and Castiel laughing uncontrollably when he went to feel the pulse in her neck because she was ticklish, he had her touch the floor to check her spine for scoliosis.
He was surprised when she was able to place her palms flat on the floor, most people he had do this test, vampires included, could barely touch their toes.
Castiel knew what he was going to ask and laughed, "I'm a gymnast, but I haven't competed in years. I just work… well I guess I used to work, Monday through Thursday from three to nine teaching other gymnasts' routines for competitions."
Arkos made a note on his clipboard of that. "Well I'm sure you'd be happy to know that we have a gymnasium here. Many gymnastic routines are very good for agility and balance, so some of the guard like to practice the skill."
This did excite Castiel, but she tried to remain a bit reserved. Arkos was easy to get along with, and she was sure at this point he could tell she wasn't angry at him, but there was still so much of her situation she had yet to take in.
When Castiel got quiet Arkos indicated she hop back up on the table so he could check her eyes. Uttering a quiet "look here" he held a finger up and had her follow it, before hitting the lights and illuminating the screen on the opposite wall that had an assortment of letters with a large font on the top of the screen and a small font at the bottom.
"Cover your left eye and read the bottom line for me please,"
Castiel laughed at his request, "Not gonna happen. I have slight astigmatism and can't read fine print at a distance."
"And you usually wear glasses?" Arkos needed to make a note of this because it wouldn't be fair to her if they denied her such a basic necessity.
"Not really, I do have a pair that I only wear when I drive since the real issue I have is when road signs are out of focus, but they are probably sitting in my helmet."
Not being able to help himself he laughed, "You wear a helmet when you drive?"
Imagining her sitting in the driver's seat of a car wearing a bright red bicycle helmet was hilarious. Could she really be so accident-prone? Or was she one of those people with high anxiety when they drove? She seemed very agile to him and gymnastics was not exactly the easiest thing for a clumsy person. She also wasn't showing any signs of an anxiety issue – which she certainly would have been showing by now given what she had been through in the last day or so.
She was confused at his amusement, "Yeah? What's so weird about-," but she broke off mid sentence and smacked her forehead with the heel of her hand before laughing at herself. "Well I probably should have said ride. I have a motorcycle."
This made a lot more sense, and Arkos took note of that as well. She would need a pair of glasses if she were permitted to drive. Aro probably knew her prescription from one of her memories so he would have to ask, though… Arkos really wasn't convinced that she would be allowed to have a motorcycle. The Volturi did have an extensive car collection and among them there were only a few motorcycles… he believed it was Caius who scoffed at the idea of the motorcycle saying "Of course human's would find a way to be more exposed and more likely to die in a road accident than the vehicles they have already come up with."
Yeah, the doctor was sure Marcus would not be on board with her driving a motorcycle… at least not while she was human.
"And while we are on the topic of my vision, I suppose I should mention that I'm colorblind."
This fascinated Arkos, he loved medical mysteries and women were not usually colorblind. Statistically only 1 in 200 women had the condition. "Really? Does this run in your family? Do you know what the defi-,"
"Deficiency is?" Castiel finished for him, she usually avoided finishing people's questions for them as it was rude, but she couldn't help herself when she was going through a line of questioning like this. "No. My mother was colorblind as well as her twin brother, at least that's what my dad told me, all I know is that my range of color is smaller than most peoples... I think."
Before he could ask any more questions, Demetri knocking and speaking through the closed-door interrupted him. It was time for Castiel to be taken to her room.
They had spent rather a lot of time together, Arkos had even gone through the line of questioning about her sexual preference and history much to her embarrassment. Now he was interested in getting his hand on some color swatches and tests to see how she fared.
Castiel didn't want to admit she was disappointed that she couldn't speak with Arkos longer, she had so many questions for him and he seemed willing to answer any inquires she had between questions of his own.
With a small smile at the good doctor and a sigh of disappointment Castiel left with Demetri – Felix was back and already leading the way out of the hospital area – bidding Arkos goodnight and hoping she could finally have some privacy and rest.
Revised January 18th, 2021
(10 Pages, 4,184 Words)
