Chapter 12 – Allies

It was around one in the morning in Volterra, and the picturesque little town was covered in a soft blanket of brilliant white snow. It looked like the cover of a Christmas card with the terracotta colored rooftops covered in snow and the streetlamps casting a warm orange glow across the roads and the city square.

It had been nearly three weeks since Castiel's vision of the Ushakov coven's impending visit, and they would be arriving very soon.

Castiel was sitting on the windowsill in her room, her arms wrapped securely around her legs and the right side of her face pressed against the freezing glass, hoping to calm the tension headache she had spent the last hour agonizing over.

The curtain to the window was drawn and the soft fabric brushing Castiel's left side. She pulled the small throw blanket that was placed idly on her shoulders closer to her body to cover the bare skin of her arms.

She was hiding in her little spot watching over the town, the thick fabric of the drawn curtain effectively acting as a makeshift wall to block out the vast space of her room and therefore the castle, boxing her in her little hiding place.

A light breeze ruffled the fabric of the curtain, and Castiel let out a small sigh as it was moved, and Afton's head poked into her little space to peer down at her.

"I've been waiting for you to go to bed for hours. I figured you'd be here moping." He stated matter-of-factly as Castiel scowled at him, not dignifying his statement with a response.

It was now Afton's turn to sigh deeply, sliding himself behind the curtain and tapping one of Castiel's sneakers with his hand so she would draw her legs in so he could sit. He stared out at the Volterra with her. Every night that week Castiel had stayed up late and watched the town through her window with a solemn expression on her face. This made Marcus very concerned as he could sense her sadness when he was in court late enough that she should have been asleep.

Her sadness was understandable and, quite unfortunately, all Afton's fault.

At least that was what Afton believed.

Exactly one week ago, in the early hours of the morning, Afton was lounging on the couch in the living room of Castiel's small apartments while she slept. Her breathing was relaxed and even, only broken by the occasional sleepy mumble as she dreamed. He was watching prerecorded news broadcasts from her hometown in America to see if there were any new segments on her disappearance.

Fortunately, the Volturi had access to newscasts around the world at any given time, as it was imperative that there were guards always watching various programs to see if there were any threats to their secrecy coming about. If there was a segment on a news program in the Ukraine for example, that theorized the possibility of a serial killer being responsible for many homicides in a close-together time frame, a lower guard would alert a group of the Volturi scouters who would then visit the area and do their own private investigation as to what was happening.

The occasions where one of their kind was responsible were few and rare, as most of the time the guards would happen across a very human murderer, so usually after an inquiry the guard would simply depart and allow the human's police forces to sort out the problem unless one of the masters instructed them otherwise

But Castiel's disappearance was their problem, and by the end of her first week in Volterra Afton had seen over a dozen different news segments from Ivy Peak and the towns surrounding it about her. Afton had only been watching to see if there was any new speculation as to what the human's believed had happened to her.

He wasn't happy as he scrolled down the list of prerecorded shows to see that there was indeed another news broadcast featuring Castiel, and that it was only a few hours old.

Right now the only plan the Masters had was to see if the search for their youngest sister would die out – as was common for missing person cases – but what had happened had shaken the little town more than it had been shaken in decades… and Castiel's father was absolutely relentless in his search for his daughter.

Afton thought his frown would be permanently etched onto his face as he watched the face of Castiel's father, surrounded by reporters and citizens as he stood at a small wooden podium with a dozen microphones anchored to it at what looked like the local firehouse.

Her father was a handsome man in his mid forties. He was tall and muscular without an ounce of fat on him, with the same powder blue eyes as his daughter and the same messy dark red hair. His was not curly thought, it was cut short but still seemed to stick up in all directions. Five o'clock shadow covered his angular jaw and sharp cheekbones, and his eyes had dark circles under them, all signs of the restlessness that had overwhelmed him in the past weeks.

And as he began to speak, Afton felt as if he really couldn't bear to listen. He had seen Castiel's father multiple times in the previous reports, but this time was different. It seemed as if he was finally snapping from the pain of losing his child. In the previous reports he was so sure of himself, so sure he would be reunited with his daughter soon.

But now… now as he spoke his voice cracked and his eyes filled with tears, and he began to plead. He pleaded with the unknown people who had taken his little girl that he would give them anything, anything they could ever ask for. All he wanted was for them to give her back.

Suddenly another man appeared on the screen, though to Afton he was not a man as much as a boy, and he came up behind Castiel's father. He wrapped his arm around the distraught war hero and pulled one of the microphones closer to his own mouth to declare the interview over.

This was a familiar face to Afton too. This was Castiel's best friend, Trent.

He remembered her telling him that Trent looked like the classic blonde beach boy/lifeguard and was very amused after seeing him for the first time to notice the description fit perfectly.

And from everything Castiel had ever told him about her father and all that he had seen, it was obvious why Castiel looked up to him so much. With a heavy sigh, he paused the recording before leaving the room, heading to Aro's quarters to inform the brothers of the new report.

"Perhaps we should stage her death… find a girl who looks close enough to Castiel, stage an automobile accident, make sure it results in an explosion… The body can be burned beyond recognition and we can hinder the chances of them using dental records by destroying the body's teeth and staging it as if Castiel was in the passenger's seat. This way it will look as if she slammed her face into the dashboard on impact do to a faulty airbag and damaged her teeth."

Caius spoke his plan aloud, rubbing his chin as he stood in front of Aro's balcony doors, staring out at Volterra.

"It'll be simple enough to grab a couple men and stage them as her kidnappers. Plant some weapons on them, leave Castiel's identification from the wallet Demetri stole off her nightstand the night they took her on the female's body… the search will end, and this won't be a problem anymore. It's obvious from the reports I've witnessed recently that they are now searching for a body rather than a trail."

Caius turned expectantly to his family, waiting for someone to agree with his plan so that he could send out the guard as soon as possible.

But Aro, whom was sitting at his desk with his wife in his lap and absentmindedly toying with a loose lock of her hair, did not look completely on board with this plan. He was locked in an intense stare down with Marcus, who was leaning against the fireplace mantle with his arms crossed stubbornly over his chest.

The two of them seemed to be having a silent conversation. Aro knew that to Marcus the very idea of finding a girl who was the doppelganger of his mate only to kill her and mutilate her body was totally abhorrent. It was not as though they had not staged accident like such before, but Castiel was very important to them, and she did not come from a large city with a high crime rate, so the police would have more time to look into the details of the accident.

"I think," Athenadora said quietly, sending an apologetic look to her husband before continuing from her place in the loveseat, "We might be banking too much on the idea that they won't look too far into the accident we stage love."

She glanced at Aro and Marcus, and upon seeing that they seemed to be in agreement with her statement, sighed sadly before rubbing her temples, "Castiel came from a small town where everyone knew each other. The crime rate in her town was so low it statistically seemed to be one of the safest places to live in the States. The police there will have more than enough time on their hands to dig deeply into the accident, and they will because the people there want answers. Yes, Castiel certainly was very introverted but you all saw the reports. Her father is well liked, classmates only had kind things to say about her though they weren't close, teachers praised her intelligence and keen instincts."

"She was described by the town as a sweet, kind-hearted, and intelligent girl. This is personal there, so I think our best strategy would be to wait it out. I remember the other day seeing that someone wrote a report theorizing she is a victim of sex trafficking because she was a young girl kidnapped out of her home with nothing of value being taken, and that in those terrible cases the victims loose almost all hope of being found if 48 hours passes from their disappearance."

Marcus winced. He had read the article Athenadora was speaking of, though it was more of an informatory article about human trafficking than an article based solely on his mates disappearance, and he didn't want to imagine something so horrible happing to his tiny, little mate. He had begun donating to a few charities to help stop human trafficking since reading the article and knew he would continue to do so as long as it was necessary.

It was funny really, how involved he was becoming in life again and how much things mattered to him now. He had known about things like human trafficking and abuse for centuries, and it was only now he had begun to play a part in doing something about it.

The world was no longer black and white, and just because things happened didn't mean nothing could be done about them.

"I agree with Athenado-," Aro's sentence was cut off when Afton, who was standing near the slightly cracked door to Aro's study, let out a worried "Oh no!" before sprinting from the room.

Knowing Afton's alarm could only come from something concerning his mate, Marcus felt as if time had completely stopped. His chest seized with worry and he inhaled sharply, sprinting as fast as he could after the guard with his family on his heels. He tasted the air in the hall, and only felt a little relieved when it didn't smell as if she were bleeding or sound as though she were being attacked.

Aro's study was only a few mere halls away from his imprint, but Marcus felt as though he were on the other side of a vast ocean as he ran.

Arriving at the doors to her quarters which were ajar, Marcus just barely caught the glimpse of dark read hair as his mate rushed into her room, slamming the door in Afton's startled face as he was only mere feet from her when he and his family entered.

No one missed the click of the lock as Castiel locked her door, nor did they miss the strangled sob that escaped her.

"The television." Afton gasped, sounding crushed, "I left the television on. I had no idea she would wake up so early."

At his words the Aro, Caius, and Marcus turned in unison to the television. The menu was pulled up on the screen, showing that the newscast had been rewound. Afton knew he had paused the show on a screen that showed both Castiel's father's and Trent's backs as they walked away from the podium. But now it was paused on a screen of Castiel's father's defeated expression as he begged someone to bring his daughter back.

Aro and Caius looked to Marcus in worry, only to see that he also looked as if he was at a loss about what to do before each of the men jumped at the sudden, soft knocking to their left.

"Castiel?" Athenadora stood close to the door with Sulpicia at her side, their arms linked together in companionship as she spoke softly, trying to sound as tender as possible.

"Dear can you please open the door? I'm sure you're very upset but we just want to help." Athenadora kept her voice low and her sympathy to show in her tone.

No response came from behind the door, but they could her the rustling of fabric as Castiel climbed in bed and hid under the covers, her sobs muffled by the heavy fabric.

Athenadora and Sulpicia shared a concern look for a second before knocking again, insisting that they wouldn't leave until she opened the door.

Marcus stepped forward hesitantly, feeling the deep sorrow from his mate radiating in his chest, threatening to drown him in the terrible feeling so he would suffer with her. He was supposed to protect her. It was his job as her mate to provide safety and make her happy, and their bond was showing him that he wasn't doing a very good job.

"Okay all the men, out!" Sulpicia suddenly ordered, turning on her heel as her blonde sister continued to speak softly to Castiel through the door, motioning with her hands to shoo them away.

"But-," Marcus immediately began to protest, not wanting to leave when his mate was in such a state.

But Sulpicia was hearing absolutely none of it.

"No Marcus. I'm sorry, but Castiel really hasn't had any women to speak to since she arrived here besides Chelsea on a couple occasions. She needs female companionship, and it may help for her to talk out her feelings to someone with an unbiased approach."

Seeing that Marcus still wasn't convinced, Sulpicia glided to stand in front of him, reaching out to grasp both of his hands she gave him a hard look; her voice becoming sterner.

"You are biased Marcus. Since you imprinted on her she became your sun and she knows it. Let us get to know our sister, let us show her now that right from the beginning we are here for her. Not for you, for her."

"We will call you if Castiel asks," Athenadora promised softly, gently knocking on the door again muttering, "Persistence is key" under her breath, low enough that only the vampires in the room could hear.

Defeated, Marcus turned to his brothers, who both shot him sympathetic looks of their own. They knew that mating bonds became very uncomfortable when one was in distress, but since Marcus had imprinted, they knew the feeling would only be that much worse.

"Let's go back to my office and have a drink, shall we? Afton why don't you come as well? You look like you could use one." Aro said airily as he led the way from the room, not missing Afton's look of surprise at the offer. Aro found no reason to give Afton any grief. He looked as though he felt guilty enough without being chewed out.

The brothers and Afton now sat quietly in Aro's office; Aro having decided that now was the perfect time for them to treat themselves to a very expensive bottle of brandy he had been waiting for an excuse to indulge in. He would be forever grateful that vampires could consume alcohol, since it certainly did help take the edge off of emotional situations. Though of course a vampire would have to consume an absurd amount to even become tipsy let alone drunk.

Marcus left the door to the study open so he could hear what was happening in Castiel's room. It was a relief when, after only 10 minutes of his sister's continuous knocking, he heard rustling as Castiel drug herself out of bed and answered the door, mumbling, "You guys aren't gonna leave are you?" to his sisters.

They heard Sulpicia's bell like laugh, and Athenadora's voice as she introduced herself, before the women moved back into the bedroom. Caius stood and shut the door to the study at this, trying to give the women more privacy by hinting to the others that they should put an end to their eavesdropping.

Marcus ended up waiting for two hours. Two absolutely torturous hours of feeling his mate's emotions ranging from grief to self-loathing that he was powerless to do anything about, until Chelsea appeared saying that Castiel was asking for him.

He was quick to say goodbye to his brothers before rushing to be at her side.

Athenadora and Sulpicia had been right. Castiel had needed someone to talk to who could give totally unbiased advice and help her cope. They understood that losing her father and friend had been a truly devastating loss to her, and she would be forever grateful that they were so willing to listen.

She liked them both very much. Athenadora had sat behind her on the bed that night and braided her hair while Sulpicia held her hands and gave her steady words of encouragement. The two told her how they had been so eager to meet their new sister, and Athenadora was thrilled that she wouldn't be deemed the baby of the family anymore.

That had made Castiel laugh very hard, though the fact that she was already being so integrated into the family as Marcus' mate was a little overwhelming

That night, well that very early morning, was the first night that Marcus held her, the first night anyone had really held her. After Castiel asked for him he was there in the blink of an eye; pulling her away form his sisters and into his arms. He stayed with her all night and sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard with her in his lap. He just let her talk, let her let out all the emotions she was trying to lock away. Marcus insisted that her sorrow wasn't unreasonable, saying that since she wouldn't be able to see her father again, she was grieving a very deep personal loss.

And even now, as she stared out at the city late at night with Afton weeks later, she was still trying to tell herself that her pain wasn't all her fault and it wasn't as easy.

Staring down at the castle grounds below her, Castiel saw the hulking form of Felix shoveling snow from the paved walking path that she knew was a short cut from one of the private exits to the town. It had rained two days before this heavy snowfall and all of Volterra was covered in about 18 inches of snow currently, so there was a thick sheet of ice hidden beneath the snow that Felix was chipping away at with the shovel.

Afton's head perked up from where he was observing Felix with Castiel, as he had heard someone emerge from on of the doors below them.

Heidi came out into the path of yellow light that streamed from the open doorway behind her, and she was carrying multiple shovels. Felix had a lot of area to cover still, and the reinforced plastic shovels would eventually start to break from both Felix's heavy hand and the hardness of the ice.

Suddenly, as Heidi stepped through the snow toward him, Felix's foot landed on the patch of ice he had just cleared the snow off of and the giant guard flailed for a moment, tossing his shovel to the side before falling on his backside.

Heidi started to laugh uproariously, the tinkling sound drifting to the window where Castiel and Afton were watching.

And with wide eyes Castiel turned to Afton, her lips parted in a surprised O before they both scrambled off the window ledge and through the curtain into her room

This was the sign they were waiting for. The Ushakov Coven would be arriving any moment.

When Castiel had originally had the vision of their expected arrival, Aro asked her to see if she could find out exactly when they would arrive. And, while she couldn't figure out a precise date, she knew there would be heavy snow, Felix would slip on ice while he was shoveling, and Heidi would laugh at him for falling.

At first it didn't seem to be the most useful predictor since it had been snowing on and off for weeks and Felix had gone out to shovel multiple times with other guards, not to mention Heidi was usually the one who oversaw maintenance of the grounds.

"We have to tell Marcus and his brother's that they'll be here within the hour, and we have to round up some of the guard, so they have a proper greeting on their arrival." Castiel spoke quickly as she discarded her sneakers in favor of the flats that she had left next to the bed. Fortunately, she was still in her day clothes; a pair of straight leg black slacks and a form fitting black sweater, so she looked completely acceptable to be meeting with the allies.

"Oh no, you're staying here." Afton said sternly, turning his head to look at her as he exited the bedroom with her on his heels.

"What?" Castiel said, surprised, "No I'm not!"

"Yes. You are."

"No. I'm not!" She said indignantly, crossing her arms over her chest as Afton planted himself in front of the doors to her room, stretching his hands out to grip either side of the doorframe and refusing to let her around him.

"Yes. You should be in bed right now! This isn't your concern. Marcus will come get you in the morning and you can meet the allies later."

Castiel's chin jutted out in stubbornness "If you don't take me with you, I'll scream."

His mouth dropped open in surprise, and his expression became one of indignation rather than seriousness.

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, I totally would."

"You play dirty."

"I learned how to play dirty from you."

This was true, over the past few weeks Afton had taught her a lot about how to get things done. He used to be head of the guard so he had seen every trick in the book and he had a lot of useful tips.

They glared at each other for a moment, before Afton dropped his arms and rushed around her to the closet. Grabbing one of the heavier black cloaks Marcus had made for Castiel – since winter could prove to be very brutal for humans in the castle and sometimes the halls could drop to negative ten degrees Fahrenheit – he appeared back at her side instantaneously.

Castiel pulled the cloak over her small form, securely clasping it around her neck before Afton snatched her up into his arms, the disapproving set of his mouth the only indication of his displeasure at how the situation turned out.

Castiel let out a squeal when Afton started to run. They blasted through the halls at a dizzying pace and she had to squeeze her eyes shut and focus on breathing deeply through her nose to fight off the nausea. She didn't think she would ever be able to run with a vampire without getting extremely nauseous while she was still human because she always had issues with motion sickness as a kid.

Afton set her down outside the doors to the council room and, holding up a hand to stop her from moving forward, he listened hard for a moment. It was quiet inside, indicating there wasn't currently a hearing going on, so he moved forward and opened the doors with a little more gusto than intended.

He was lucky Alec and Santiago were guarding the doors from the inside, since they were the only reason the doors didn't crash back into the walls.

Afton looked suddenly sheepish as Aro glared at him from his throne, curious as to why there be such a needlessly grand interruption. But after realizing Castiel was with the guard, each of the brothers stood in acknowledgement, before Marcus slowly descended the dais at a human pace as to not startle his mate.

"Is everything alright?" Marcus' voice held a small amount of concern, considering Castiel was still in her day clothes and really should have been in bed hours ago. He reached a hand out to her, which she took, before he pulled her forward to close the rest of the distance between them. Once she was comfortably in his embrace, he buried his face in her hair and she could feel the gentle vibration of his chest as he let out a light purr.

Originally, Castiel had found the whole concept of a vampire purring very strange and was shocked when Marcus had demonstrated by pulling her onto his lap and wrapped her safely in his arms in the library before purring for her. She couldn't remember ever feeling safer and more at ease in her entire life, and that was including the time she was on really crazy painkillers after having her wisdom teeth removed as a teenager.

There was no place in the world she would rather be than in his arm's when Marcus did this. She also found it helped her fall asleep very quickly due to the gently hum and security it provided. Making her tired was probably a the reason for him doing this currently, or maybe it was the fact that he was trying to ease a little bit of the emotional stresses she had been having over the last week, but she came to deliver a message and she really needed to stay focused.

Marcus was very good at distracting her.

"The Ushakov coven should be arriving any moment. Afton and I were watching Felix shovel outside my window and we saw him fall." Castiel explained softly, her eyes closed contently as she pressed her cheek against Marcus' chest, her headache from before had miraculously disappeared.

Their display of affection was sweet, and Aro couldn't help the tender smile that had come to his face while watching them. Caius was the only one who reacted to her words as everyone else was distracted watching the couple.

Impatiently brushing the back of his hand against Aro's, Caius came forward. He and Castiel hadn't spoken much... they were barely on a first name basis even though she had been in Volterra for an entire month now. She was close to everyone in the immediate family except for him, but this was since Marcus had asked him to keep his distance from her for a while. Apparently, his constant scowling and the stories of his legendary outbursts had reached his human sister's ears, so the few times they were in the same room together Marcus said he could pick up a slight pang of anxiety coming from her.

They would of course work on this reaction with time, perhaps when Castiel finally decided she wanted to go out into town he could show her that she had nothing to be afraid of around him, but right now he needed to speak directly with her since Aro seemed to be lost in his own head again.

"Castiel?"

Caius' deep voice snapped Castiel out of her content little bubble with Marcus. She couldn't remember ever hearing him say her name, let alone speak directly to her before. He would always stand out of politeness just as Marcus and Aro did when she entered a room and would always give her a nod of acknowledgement, but she almost felt guilty to realize she had never really had a conversation with Marcus' other brother.

She knew the reason for their lack of familiarity was because Marcus was aware that Caius frightened her a little bit. Caius was very quiet and seemed standoffish. She was worried, after hearing that he hated humans, that he didn't approve of her and Marcus being together.

She had decided to try not to cross him for the most part. At least for now.

As Castiel's bright blue eyes met his, Caius had the sudden slightly uncomfortable feeling that he was being x-rayed. Her eyes always made him feel like she could see right through him, and he was almost relieved when Aro had originally assured him that a lot of people had that reaction to her eyes. They were unnaturally light and sometimes it took a little getting used to, but he still felt a little bitter that he seemed to be the only one in the family who felt this discomfort.

"Could you perhaps enlighten us as to how much time we have until the arrive?"

It was a very simple request, and Caius caught Marcus' glare as he peered at him over Castiel's head. Marcus didn't like when people made requests from his mate, as they had originally agreed they wouldn't.

Castiel gave him a small nod, unawares of Marcus' irritation, and silence reigned as her pupils widened slightly. She didn't slip into a full-scale vision and her head tilted to the left, as if in curiosity, as she seemed to be staring at something very far away.

After a moment she turned her had to look at the left wall, and all eyes in the room automatically followed her gaze, though they knew she wasn't watching anything happening in the present.

"You all should be able to hear them right about…" She paused raising one of her fingers before pointing up at the ceiling, "Now."

And, right on cue, they heard the sound of an automobile turn onto the winding road that had to be taken for about a mile before reaching the outer gates to the city. They could hear the deep tone of Raphael as he wondered aloud to his family when the Volturi's next feeding session was, since they had been traveling for a while and he was thirsty.

Marcus was relieved Castiel's hearing was that of a human, and that she couldn't understand Russian as they all could. He didn't want her to have to think about their diet, they had already gone to great lengths to make sure she was adequately distracted at the other end of the castle whenever a tour came through.

When Marcus' purring abruptly stopped Castiel looked up at him. She could tell something was stressing him out and, assuming it was because the allies were arriving, she tugged gently on his arm.

"Maybe we should go wait for them somewhere?" She suggested quietly, "I'm sure they'll be shocked to find out about me. Maybe we should wait for the introductions to pass in the library?"

Castiel was very considerate about her mate's concerns, no one in the room could deny that. Aro was shaken out of his musings by this statement because they really hadn't thought too deeply on how they would introduce Castiel, but they also weren't expecting their visitors to be thirsty.

Marcus gently took Castiel's hand before stepping back from her; twining his fingers with hers he murmured his agreement before carefully tugging her with him toward the dais. They would take the back halls to the library, the corridors were narrower and a bit darker this way, but at least he had no risk of running into anyone taking this path. His plan was to safely tuck her away somewhere in the library wearing his cloak, with Afton and Chelsea close by, while he met with the allies somewhere near the center of the massive book collection. Hopefully this plan would keep them from noticing her right away, so the appropriate introductions and announcements could be made before she was formally introduced.

"Afton, go retrieve Chelsea and get Lady Athenadora and Lady Sulpicia, have them meet us here." Aro was in complete leader mode as Marcus safely retreated with Castiel to the library, barking orders at the guard left and right, "Then I want the two of you to hurry and meet Master Marcus in the library."

"Demetri! Go to Felix and Heidi and make sure the two of them aren't fooling around. I want them presentable and ready to greet our friends at the gates."

"Renata! Corin! The human staff have been previously notified of our friend's arrival, but make sure they all stay in their quarters and only use the maintenance halls to travel about the castle until further notice. If they are asleep wake them to make sure they are informed. We don't need anyone getting eaten due to missed information." He let out an airy sigh, "It's such a hassle to find good help."

Each vampire immediately ran off to complete their tasks the moment Aro was finished assigning them. Alec and Jane had appeared at both Caius' and Aro's sides respectively, watching their fellow guard members running off to prepare living quarters, get changed, and carry out orders. It was also protocol at these times that the castle, city, and grounds monitoring rotations were changed up so the strongest of the guard could be readily available to the masters.

When Athenadora and Sulpicia entered, they immediately rushed to their husband's sides, before hurrying to the main foyer at the other end of the castle to greet their friends. Jane and Alec followed closely while a small contingent of the elite guard – eight hooded figures total – followed behind them.


Castiel watched as Marcus paced studiously back and forth about ten feet from where she was sitting. He had taken her to the far back corner of the library where there was a tiny sitting area with four plush chairs and a little round table made of some kind of grey wood she had never seen before. They had been waiting almost an hour now and Castiel found herself growing incredibly bored. She had tried to find a book to read, but all the books around them in this section seemed to be in Arabic. She found watching her boyfriend's steady pacing made her anxious and all she wanted was to immerse herself in the rest of her Harry Potter book – she was now nearing the end of the Goblet of Fire – but she didn't think Marcus would let her go get it.

Instead she tried combing her fingers through her hair to work the knots out. She rarely ever brushed her hair, since it was so curly brushing usually equaled a puffed up and frizzy looking mess, so this was really the best she could do to make herself more presentable.

And in all honesty, her hair probably looked fine. It was always a stylish mess of deep red curls, and the less effort she put into it the better it looked, but in the face of one of the Volturi's oldest allies' arrival she couldn't help but feel incredibly self conscious. She was already a weak little human amongst some of the most powerful people and most beautiful creatures in the world… she really didn't want to look like a mess.

Marcus, who had been watching Castiel out of the corner of his eye, noticed her wince as she tried combing her fingers through her hair and encountered a knot. Her posture was tense, and her eyes seemed tight with stress. As he gauged her expression, he saw her fruitlessly try to untangle the knot in her hair, her soft lips turning down in a frown.

He glided over to her, gently removing her fingers from where she was yanking the lock of her hair.

"Dearest I assure you; you look fine. There isn't anything to worry about."

Castiel looked up at him incredulously, and while she wanted to believe what he said she wasn't entirely convinced.

"Then why did you seem so worried when I told you they were here? Why do I have to hide?" Her bottom lip jutted out into a pout, and Marcus couldn't help but think how sweet she looked with such and expression. He also found it very hard to ignore the urge to pull her face up toward his and press her soft mouth to his own.

"Hey," He teased with a wolfish smile, "No pouting." He cupped her chin in his hand, slowly running the pad of his thumb across her bottom lip.

Her breath caught at the action, and he watched as her pupils dilated – not due to her gift – but due to anticipation. Her eyes flashed down to his lips momentarily, before looking back into his eyes expectantly.

The look she was giving him seemed to resonate in his groin, and he had to internally beat the feeling down. There was a time and place for everything, and that time was not now.

"Turn around." Marcus said suddenly, with a slightly bossy tone of voice Castiel found herself secretly liking. And, though surprised at the random request, she unfolded her legs from under her and stood from her chair, immediately turning her back to him.

A slight purr of approval came from his chest as he carefully grabbed a handful of her hair and tugged her back into him, causing her back to nearly bump into his front. The very primal and dominantly male side of him was pleased with how submissive she could be, how trusting she was to turn her back to him on simple request.

As delicately as he could, Marcus moved her hair so that it was all falling down her back and started to braid it. He remembered fondly how much Athenadora used to ask him to braid her hair when the French plait style was popular back in the late 1800s, because Caius felt too macho to do such a task and Athenadora used to have trouble making a neat braid when it came to doing it on her own head.

Castiel let out a small groan of delight as Marcus' nails lightly brushed her scalp and he played with her hair. He worked through each knot without her even feeling the slightest tug. She was so caught up in how nice it felt when he'd touch her hair, she didn't even notice he had given her a full braid until he was done and giving it a light yank to gain her attention.

Surprised, she lightly touched the top of her head and ran her fingers down the braid before turning to look up at him, beaming.

"I've never braided such curly hair before, and I must say I like how natural it makes the braid look." Marcus' voice was a little deeper than usual when he spoke, it almost took on a husky tone as he pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. "But I do prefer your hair down."

After a moment he pulled back to look at her, and Castiel found herself with the deepest desire to stretch up on her toes and kiss him, though he would have to bend to meet her halfway since he was so tall.

She had never had such a strong desire to kiss someone before and, though Marcus wouldn't be her first kiss, she had a feeling he would be incomparable to any of her past experiences. How many times had she thought about kissing him? Plenty. But she never had the nerve to do it before now, and Marcus was always being so careful to respect her boundaries.

She watched as his eyes, which were the color of a rich red wine, started to darken to the deepest onyx near the pupils. She could feel as he let out a small breath that swept across her face and unconsciously, she leaned forward, drawn to the warm masculine scent that was Marcus.

Marcus found himself unconsciously leaning down toward his mate. He had wanted to kiss her since the very first day he laid eyes on her, but he had always stopped himself. He had multiple chances in the past month where he felt the moment would have been right, but he did not want to push her. He didn't want to make her do anything she wasn't ready for.

And now, now she was standing there looking at him with an expression that clearly indicated what she wanted. He was sorely tempted to grab her and take her back to his rooms, but he knew he couldn't. Even now, in the face of such temptation, he could feel the eyes of both Afton and Chelsea on them. He was sure the Ushakov coven would arrive at any moment. If he kissed her now his instincts would overwhelm him, and he was already struggling with his overprotectiveness enough as it was. Once Castiel made this step to exploring intimacy with him it would only further deepen the bond. He would feel more dominant and protective of her than ever every day, and she would begin feeling fuller mating pulls and bond strain.

Just when Castiel was sure he would close the distance between them, Marcus pulled away.

It was irrational she was sure, the terrible sting of rejection she felt when Marcus refused to kiss her. This was a bad time, he was stressed, and she had yet to meet the allies… of course he wouldn't want to kiss her now.

But that didn't stop her ears and her face from heating up in embarrassment, nor did it stop the feeling in her throat as if she'd just lodged an apple in it. As she felt the back of her eyes burn as if she was going to cry, she stepped backwards out of his arms and moved around him, walking away from the secluded area of the library they were waiting in.

"I'm just gonna go find my book." She mumbled thickly, completely humiliated by how foolish she must have looked to him. She just wanted to walk away and compose herself for a second, and then she could immerse herself into her book and try to forget this whole embarrassing situation.

"Castiel," Marcus could feel how hurt she was. He felt as if someone had just lodged a shard of glass into his un-beating heart. A mate's rejection was painful, and he never meant to make her feel as if he didn't want her. He needed to talk to her first, needed to make sure she knew how things would start to change.

But even as he reached out to her, she was having none of him.

"I'm just going to get my book. I'll be right back." Her voice had cracked at the end of her sentence, and he could smell a slight saltiness in the air, and he was sure her eyes had filled with tears.

He moved to stop her, but Afton's whisper from where he and Chelsea were hidden just a few shelves away stopped him.

"Just give her a second to collect herself Master. She obviously doesn't want to get too upset and if you stop her, she will only feel more emotional. Just give her a minute."

Understanding Afton's words were coming from a good place he acquiesced, sighing deeply as he sat in the chair Castiel previously occupied.

Finding her way through the library was becoming easier. But it was still massive, and she had yet to wander around the second floor. She and Marcus had been coming here multiple times a week, and he had begun giving her tours of small sections each day.

She focused on breathing deeply and trying to rationalize her thoughts. She didn't want her hurt feelings to get the best of her, and she knew Marcus probably didn't mean it. She was his imprint after all so surely, he had to be physically attracted to her right?

She had more than one occasion she could reference back to that she could use as proof that he more than just liked her, and he certainly found her attractive, but the rejected feeling that was suffocating her was making it hard to think.

Spotting her book on a table in the center of the library, she hurried over and grabbed it, knowing the longer she took the more anxious Marcus and her guards would get.

Hugging the book to her chest she turned to go back the way she came.

Suddenly it felt as if all the hair on her arms stood up, and a bone-deep chill trickled from her head to her toes as if someone had just dumped a bucket of ice water on her.

She could feel that she was being watched, and slowly as if she were an armed suspect being told to turn around by the police, she turned and found herself staring at a totally unfamiliar, but yet completely familiar vampire merely ten feet away from her.

She recognized him from her vision. It was Nikita.

He was staring hungrily at her, his eyes black as pitch as a wicked smile graced his handsome face, his teeth bared threateningly.

She tried to summon her voice, tried to say his name in some form of recognition, but the word wouldn't come. She was stunned, a deer in headlights, a helpless prey in front of a deadly predator.

And she couldn't move a muscle. No matter how hard she tried she just couldn't move.

He spoke, but presumably not to her, as his head had moved a minuscule amount as if to look behind him.

She was trapped in his gaze, and though she couldn't understand the words he next spoke, she knew they weren't good as her heart began to race.

"Vy ostavili nam zakuski?"


Revised January 19th, 2021

(17 Pages, 7,838 Words)

Translate: Vy ostavili nam zakuski? – You've left us snacks?