Chapter 14 – Massacre
"Dearest… Dearest? Wake up, it's all right, it's just a dream. I'm here. Open your eyes for me sweet one."
Marcus' voice was soft, if not a little panicked, as Castiel jerked awake.
She was gasping for breath in Marcus' arms, and she felt hot – much too hot – as the images from her nightmare began to creep to the back of her mind. It had been dark and there was blood, so much blood, all over the pavement of the unlit road she was on with those large brick buildings on either side of her. She could hear screaming, terrible agonized screaming coming from somewhere ahead of her, and she had run toward the screams wishing to help whoever was in so much pain.
But as she got closer toward the end of the dark road that lead her to a lit warehouse, from which she could see harsh light streaming through open garage doors that lined the lower wall, vicious snarling met her ears.
She didn't think about anything at that point besides fleeing. Her fight or flight instincts had kicked in and had chosen flight upon the snarls meeting her ears, so she turned back toward the darkness the way she came; away from the terrible screams and awful growling, and she sprinted.
But she didn't make it far before she tripped over something in the road, sending her hard to the ground and causing her to scrape her palms.
Castiel wished she hadn't turned on her back to see what she had tripped over. She wished she hadn't seen the adorable two-year-old boy's glassy unseeing brown eyes, his caramel colored skin and curly black hair covered in blood.
She had screamed then, she screamed so loud she thought her lungs would give out.
And Marcus had noticed her uneasy twitching on the bed beside him as he read, but he still thought it better to try not to wake her, hoping whatever dream she was having would pass. He had been gently running his fingers through her hair for a couple minutes before she screamed a deafening scream of terror, which caused him to grab her and begin shaking her awake.
Hot tears were running down her face, and Marcus was whispering something to her, something that sounded soothing, but she didn't know what since he was speaking Italian.
She was still cocooned in the bed sheets, the thick comforter making her feel much too warm as Marcus pulled her onto his lap.
"Please – hot. I'm so hot." She gasped, trying to tear her way free of the constricting fabrics.
"Okay, just relax so I can get you out." Marcus reasoned as she continued to twist in his arms, further entangling herself.
Pushing her off his lap and onto her back, he grabbed her left arm, which was the only limb that was free from the blankets, and held it up so that she would be still, while he began unwrapping her from the blankets.
He pulled her swiftly out of the sheets before tossing them to the floor, and she gave a small sigh of relief as he pulled her back onto his lap, the coolness of his skin being noticeable even through his long pants and shirt.
Marcus couldn't deny that she certainly was very warm; much warmer than usual. Every visible inch of her fair skin was flushed and Marcus allowed himself to run his hand up and down the smooth length of one of her bare legs. Castiel didn't seem upset by the contact either, and only gave another sigh of relief when he moved his free hand to cup the back of her neck.
A thin sheen of sweat covered her skin and she shook slightly as she used her hands to gently wipe the tears from her face, feeling a little self conscious that he was holding her while she felt so gross but glad he was here to comfort her either way.
She curled up on his lap a little further, drawing her legs to her chest before putting her head between her knees.
Marcus began to purr then, hoping to sooth some of the anxiety and fear from her nightmare. She let out a few shuddering breathes and Marcus gently adjusted her positioning in his lap so her back was facing him so he could braid her hair again, hoping that if it was pulled back she would cool down a little sooner.
Ten minutes passed, consisting of Marcus' gently purring, her deep breathing, and Marcus gently stroking her bare skin before Castiel uncurled from her fetal position. Stretching her legs out in front of her and adjusting so she was sitting back against the headboard, she let out one more deep breath before reaching over to grab Marcus' hand to play with his fingers as his eyes scrutinized her face.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Marcus asked after a minute of silence, allowing his mate to distract herself with his hand; feeling properly worried due to the rather violent night terror that awoke her, but respecting her privacy enough to not pry for information.
She shook her head, which was a mild disappointment to Marcus since he wished she would confide in him, before sighing deeply.
"Okay. Just know that I'm here if you need me-," his deep voice promised lowly before, much to his pleasant surprise, Castiel launched herself at him. She threw her arms securely over his shoulders and nuzzled her face into the side of his neck. Her movement had forced him to fall onto his back on the bed because sitting rigidly would have surely meant Castiel injuring herself, so she was lying on top of him as one of his hands came to hold the back of her head while the other rested on her lower back.
They stayed like that for a minute, waiting for her breathing steadying before she leaned up on her arms to look at him and, upon realizing what she had done, she blushed.
"Sorry!" She gave a nervous laugh before scrambling off of him and sitting back on her heels, "I don't know what came over me."
Marcus merely chuckled at her haste to get off him before sitting up, understanding that his reassurance of being there for her coupled with the fact that he had spent the night watching over her after she was threatened yesterday had most likely caused the bond between them to flare; calling upon Castiel to show her appreciation for his protection in some way.
After a moment of awkward silence – well at least Castiel thought was awkward – she excused herself to use the bathroom and was relieved to notice some had left clothes for her there because she could feel Marcus' eyes following her when she had left the room. Sleeping in his shirt was undeniably comfortable, but she wasn't used to showing so much skin.
She changed quickly and was now wearing a short black dress with a velvet feel that was fitted around the bust, sheer black stockings, and shiny black heels. Her winter cloak was there as well, which she must have left on the library chair last night along with her crest.
Once she emerged from the bathroom, she found Marcus standing by the couches in the front of the room, now looking striking in a finely tailored black suit.
Adjusting his tie and tucking the chain to his crest beneath his collar he turned to her and stilled for a moment too quick for her to catch, distracted by the rather pleasant surprise it was to see her in heels rather than flats, before holding out a hand to her.
She didn't hesitate in coming to him, and he felt positively elated as she twined her fingers with his own.
"You look lovely dearest," He said softly before leaning down to kiss her forehead "Would you like to go get something to eat?"
The answering growl from her stomach was all the confirmation he needed.
The chef had truly outdone himself. When Castiel and Marcus entered the kitchen, Castiel couldn't help but notice how excited and utterly relaxed he looked – he was wearing tan kakis, a green plaid shirt, and a fine leather jacket and belt that matched the color of his shoes. He was talking animatedly, his accent getting so thick at points he was hard for Castiel to understand, about how he was going to visit his grandchildren in Venice for the next few weeks. Not only was he visiting because he missed them, but because he was about to become a great grandfather any day now!
Showing Castiel to the walk-in fridge he pointed to his immediate right where there where hundreds of Tupperware containers and plates wrapped in foil or saran wrap. He told her which sections were pre-prepared breakfast foods, lunches, and dinners, indicated where the snacks where, and told her which fruits he had already cut for her and which fruits were still on one of the counters ripening and would be good to eat in a few days.
Castiel found that she would miss him and the way he doted on her like the loving grandfather she never had, and she relayed this to him along with her congratulations on his growing family.
She swore the old chef was about to cry as he grabbed her face to kiss both of her cheeks. Stepping out of the fridge together she saw a tall, blonde vampire woman who looked around her age with shoulder length pin straight hair waiting near Marcus. She was confused for a moment, until she noticed the vampire was carrying a suitcase and Emmanuel rushed over to her; and he moved pretty quick considering his age.
"Corin is ready to escort you to Venice whenever you are ready Emmanuel," Marcus inclined his head toward the chef and gave him a small smile she couldn't quite understand.
Emmanuel seemed surprised at being directly addressed by Marcus and stuttered a quick thank you on his way out the door. But before he closed the door behind him the old chef turned to Castiel, wagging one finger at her and said, "Remember – eat! You are much to thin. We will be having words when I return if you haven't finished everything I prepared!"
Marcus couldn't help laughing at Castiel's shocked expression once the chef and guard departed and was met with a glare from his mate.
"How long was he supposed to be gone again? That's a hell of a lot of food!" she exclaimed in a slightly horrified tone, before heading over to the stovetop and placing a pan on one of the electric burners.
She could feel Marcus' eyes watching her as she head over to the fridge and grabbed the cylindrical Tupperware container that she was told held pancake batter, and felt him come up behind her as she began rummaging in some of the cabinets above the stove looking for chocolate chips.
And she found them, they were in a large jar on the top shelf of the cabinet to the right of the stove. Castiel was glad Marcus was there, because all she had to do was give a small pout for him to reach up and grab it for her, and that was a much better option than her scrambling up on the counter in a dress.
Marcus wrapped his arms around her shoulders from behind as she began pouring small amounts of batter onto the pan and sprinkling chocolate chips on top, resting his chin on the top of her head he gave a small sigh.
"We need to talk,"
At his words, Castiel stilled and felt like her stomach had suddenly twisted in a knot. And Marcus, who had felt her sudden alarm and anxiety, let out a gentle purr against her back.
"I'm sorry dearest, I didn't mean to worry you. It is nothing bad, just something I have to explain to you."
She let out a deep breath and tipped her head back to look up at him, "Jesus Marcus, you should know better than to hit people with the we need to talk line! Seriously."
With a slight chuckle Marcus laughed at her indignant expression, before lightly kissing the top of her head and telling her he would wait until she was finished cooking before they would talk. He was pleased that pancakes seemed to be relatively quick to make, because less then ten minutes later Castiel was sitting across from him at the small breakfast bar cutting her breakfast into smaller sections. To him her food looked more like desert since it was sweet smelling and she had obviously loaded the pancakes with more chocolate chips than necessary, but he figured if it made her happy and kept her fed he really couldn't complain.
"So what is it you need to talk to me about?" She inquired softly, stabbing a small piece of her food with her fork before raising it to her mouth and chewing slowly. He had assured her it was nothing to worry about, but the not so casual way he mentioned that he needed to talk to her worried her, nonetheless.
Marcus let out a deep breath, wondering where the best place to begin was as he ran a free hand through his long hair.
"Last night… a lot happened," He began slowly, watching her intensely as he used the bond to monitor her emotions with each word, "I hurt your feelings, you were attacked, I fought in front of you… you experienced more fright last night than you have here before and we kissed before you fell asleep."
At his recap of events he felt his tiny mate's emotions swirl; hurt, fear, anxiety, passion, and embarrassment, all the things she had felt last night coming to the surface at the memory of each moment. Within seconds the emotions dispersed back into the calmness and curiosity she had at the beginning of the conversation, so he felt it was safe to continue into what he wanted to talk about.
"Do you remember what I told you about the bond a few weeks ago? The night we first warned my brothers about our allies coming to visit?"
Castiel paused with another forkful of food halfway to her mouth, her expression was just a little confused before she gave a small shrug, "Pretty much, I mean I don't have perfect memory like you, but I remember all about the whole emotion reading and the dominant tone voice thing." Her expression darkened a little bit at that. He was aware that the fact he could essentially gag order her was a disturbing prospect, and while he knew she trusted him not to abuse that power over her it didn't mean she had to be comfortable with it.
"Yes well," He gave her a small apologetic smile that made her expression soften a little as she continued eating. "While the bond is essentially very similar to a living thing, as it moves and changes all the time, certain things can cause it to react. These things can cause it to flare up and progress faster, thus really beginning to grow."
He paused for a second and watched as she nervously poked at her breakfast with her fork, almost knocking some off her plate in the process.
"You mean like when you bite me?"
Her voice was nearly a whisper, and he knew it wasn't the changing bite she was speaking of, but the mating bite he had mentioned to her previously.
The conversation about that topic had made Castiel extremely shy and anxious as Marcus hadn't held anything beck when he told her what it meant, or how it would sub sequentially strengthen their relationship and their bond to a nearly unbreakable level while still in her human form (and therefore become a totally unbreakable bond when she was changed into an immortal). He had told her in his best estimation what it would feel like, painful but not unbearable, to be given the bite while still human and how she would feel emotionally afterwards. But the thing that made her most anxious was that he didn't hide from her the fact he wished to do it when they first consummated their bond.
The topic of sex made his little mate so anxious and shy. He had been so pleased to find out that she had, in fact, had no sexual partners. He knew she was frightened of pain and only really heard of the unpleasant parts of intercourse from some of the friends she had growing up. And with no personal experience to go off of she usually shied away from the topic all together. This was why he had been so hesitant to kiss her the previous day. He loved her so very much and wished he could show her his love the way their bond demanded – not just with his soul but his body was well. But he couldn't bear to upset her by pushing her into things too fast.
Reaching across the table he gently took the hand that wasn't holding her fork; caressing her knuckles with the pad of his thumb.
"Correct. But that's not what I wanted to talk about," This statement seemed to relax her a little bit, as her shoulders had become a bit stiff in her worry, "I just wanted to talk about how you're feeling now… and how you might begin to start feeling."
Her eyes met his, her expression confused as he let out a sigh.
"I know at night you feel sad. You mourn the loss of your life before all of this. You feel so much grief over not being able to see your father or your friend again, all of which is understandable. I also know that you feel very lonely at times when I am not around and this is a feeling which dissipates almost immediately once I am with you again." His red eyes were piercing as he gazed at her, watching her changes in expression as he spoke, "I know the sadness you feel blends together and becomes very confusing, and makes it hard for you to figure out exactly what is troubling you."
"I believe," He said seriously, "That the lonesome feelings you struggle with come from the bond. Due to the smaller range and lesser intensity of your emotions due to your humanity the bond is much more… fragile."
Castiel's brows pushed together in worry, an upset frown on her lips, "Fragile? Did I… did I do something to damage it?"
Within seconds Marcus was behind her chair, wrapping his arms around her shoulders from behind and resting his cheek against the top of her head.
"Of course not, don't fret sweet one." He said soothingly, "You are only human, and young. Your emotions are much more sensitive to bond strain than mine. Since I imprinted on you the bond on my end is sure of what it wants. Vampire emotions are so much more intense than those of humans and this affects the bond as well."
Marcus felt as though he was blathering, trying to find the right words, "You are nervous. My attachment to you is certainly very intense and the bond is reacting to that. I see the strands of your attachments to me trying to connect in some places and straying away in others. Everything happens at its own pace dearest, and while I am ready to commit to you and seal my bond with you for eternity, that leaves you under no obligation to feel the same for me when you aren't ready."
Castiel looked up at him then, her expression grateful at how sweet and understanding he was. For a moment he fought the urge to lean down and kiss her but was pleasantly surprised when she placed her hands on his shoulders and pulled herself up to kiss him.
With a deep groan in his throat Marcus couldn't help but pull her from her chair and hold her firmly against his body, his fingers tightly knotting into her hair and his free hand coming to rest on her lower back. Her lips were as soft and warm as the previous night and, as her lips moved with his, he couldn't help but hold her tighter when he felt her tentatively run the tip of her tongue against his lower lip.
With an almost pained sigh he pulled back before kissing her forehead lightly and setting her back into her chair.
He saw how her expression looked slightly disappointed, and gently ran his fingers through her hair.
"I can't think when you kiss me like that, and I do still need to focus on the topic at hand." He gave her a small but still rather toothy smile, "And I'm afraid while I certainly enjoy kissing you so deeply, I can't allow you to kiss me so deeply as my teeth are rather sharp."
Castiel blushed at his words. Of course, she thought grudgingly. She couldn't expect him to let her put her tongue in his mouth when his teeth were both sharp and venomous, it was only really safe when it was the other way around.
"Sorry." She mumbled, though she honestly didn't feel very sorry at all.
Marcus chuckled knowingly at her minor frustration but didn't comment. "Walk with me? You can just leave your dishes there. One of the maids will be around to get it. I'm afraid if I'm left here alone with you, I'll never be able to focus."
They left the kitchen, and after walking through the halls in relative silence for a few minutes Marcus began to speak again, this time it was easier for him to explain that she would likely start to feel mating pulls, as intimacy seemed to set their bond in motion. She didn't seem as stressed out about the news as he originally imagined she would be, but that was likely because she was not in an enclosed room with him and couldn't feel trapped for lack better terminology. It was only instinct for humans to be weary when alone with vampires and though Castiel could easily ignore that instinct since she was imprinted on, it didn't mean the instinct wasn't still there. Stressful topics of conversation could lead to emotional distress, which would then lead to a possible fight or flight response.
But everything seemed at peace as they walked together, Castiel reaching out to hold his hand as they passed through some slightly darker tunnels as he walked her toward the garage. He could smell that his sister had come this way very recently and was sure she was alone working on the Toyota as promised this morning.
Marcus presumed he must have missed a few meetings already, and felt like he would prefer to know Castiel was happy and safe with his bubbly and fair-haired sister in the garage, rather than her feeling like her guards were hovering if she were to venture anywhere else in the castle without him due to their current guests.
"So," Marcus' deep tone snapped Castiel out of her current train of thought as she mused over the fact that she would begin to feel mating instincts now that her relationship with Marcus was progressing past mere quality time and the occasional cuddling, "You must just try to remain aware as to how you are feeling. If at any point I am busy, and you feel nervous or frightened, or even have slight chest pains, with no easy to see cause or reason you must come and find me. Nothing is more important than you, so no matter what I am said to be doing please instruct your guard to bring you to me immediately."
She frowned at this, "Marcus I don't want to be a burden. I'm sure I can deal with some anxiety here and there. I don't want you to have to interrupt what you've been consistently doing for, you know... thousands of years just because I might feel-,"
But Marcus was shaking his head, his expression stern as he rounded on her, causing her to stop short as he placed his hands on either of her arms. "Little one, my life was nothing before you came around. Nothing. It's my job as your mate to make sure you are safe and happy. All vampires go through these instincts with their partners in the beginning, and I am responsible for taking care of you. If you don't come to me when you have certain inclinations or feelings you don't understand – baby it can hurt you. And I simply can't bear the thought of that."
Castiel felt her stomach swoop and her cheeks and ears flare with heat as he called her baby, a pet name she hadn't heard from him thus far as he usually just called her "dearest" or "little one" due to her tiny stature.
"Okay," She sighed, resigned to the fact that just doing what he said would put him the most at ease. This response seemed to please him as he gently cupped her cheek in one of his large hands and gave her a short and very sweet kiss.
"Now," Marcus said, pulling away with a small smile and tugging her by the hand further down the hall, "Perhaps you could lend Athenadora a hand in the garage. I know she was rather eager for you to see our car collection."
Four more weeks had passed, and the Ushakov coven was still around and seeming to feel more and more at home with each passing day.
Castiel had, of course, mentioned offhand to Marcus that they had stayed rather longer than she had expected and the in her glimpses of the coming weeks she still couldn't see them departing. This caused him to chuckle at her before pulling her onto his lap from her place next to him on the couch in her living quarters and burying his face in her sweet smelling hair.
"Of course they don't plan to leave anytime soon. It has been a rather long while since they've visited and to them staying with us for nearly a year would be similar to humans taking a couple weeks vacation during the holidays." He said simply before pulling her face toward him to distract her with a rather heated kiss.
If it were up to her she would spend the majority of her free time kissing Marcus; wrapped securely in his embrace with that very fluttery feeling in her stomach. She had been in Volterra for just over two months now, but the past month had by far been the most interesting of them all.
The leaders of the Ushakov coven, Daphne and Veronica, were very fond of Castiel and they rather liked to steal her away from Marcus and force her to have "girl time" with them (occasionally accompanied by Sulpicia and Athenadora). It became a weekly thing; on Wednesday and Friday nights they'd interrupt whatever she may be doing at promptly six o'clock and drag her to the rooms they currently resided in, in Sulpicia and Aro's hall, and force her to participate in every stereotypically girly activity they could think of. From make overs, to rom-coms, to overly intense pillow fights, these nights were the source of the particularly disdainful expression Castiel usually wore on both Wednesday and Friday mornings.
Maybe it was just because Castiel felt they were trying a little to hard to relate to her that she had a habit of avoiding the twins if she were ever alone. Honestly, how could they really believe that girls today actually behaved the way they were depicted in early 2000's Hollywood sleepover movies?
Athenadora even once tried to convince Daphne and Veronica that they might be incorrect on the hobbies of young women nowadays and taking it a little too seriously as they went to collect Castiel from her rooms at six o'clock one Friday night two weeks previously and, believing she was trying to barricade herself in the bathroom, Veronica had kicked down the door, causing Castiel to shriek indignantly as she was actually mid-pee.
But Castiel had a feeling the girl time would not continue though, since two days beforehand on Wednesday night, Daphne had gotten a little too… excited… during a pillow fight with Veronica, and she had swung around and hit Castiel with the pillow by accident.
Did you know that a pillow could give you a black eye?
Castiel had stumbled out of the room while holding her eye, Veronica and Daphne were both apologizing profusely while her sister's Sulpicia and Athenadora traveled close behind her. Sulpicia was getting ready to run to get Arkos when Marcus and Raphael had turned into the hallway.
Marcus was not happy at all to see that she had been hurt, and it was perhaps his rather deadly expression that put and end to the torturous "girl time" permanently as Raphael rushed from the hall to retrieve both the good doctor, and an ice pack.
Raphael was another story entirely from the sisters. While Castiel certainly liked Daphne and Veronica, it was rather hard for her to get past the fact they seemed to think they knew her based on what movies showed women in their early twenties behaving like, rather than sitting down with her and actually getting to know her. Raphael had taken the time to actually speak to her, and there was a certain kinship between the two of them that was rather hard to understand.
It had been rather late indeed when she first spoke to the rather stern looking vampire. It was almost two in the morning and Castiel had been working out some pent up energy in the gymnasium while Marcus was sitting in on the hearing of a young vampire who was thought to be one of the employees of an underground fighting ring located somewhere in the Americas. While not knowing all the details, Castiel knew it was essentially some kind of fight club that vampires and children of the moon went to beat the ever-living crud out of each other. But not only that, the club was also housing an illegal trade of drugs in high quantities (usually supplied to human drug rings and even some cartels), the teeth of both vampires and werewolves, vials of vampire venom, and pints of werewolf blood.
Marcus had told her the trades of fangs and talons were not uncommon as of late, but the fact that vampire venom was being bottled and sold was a huge problem as it indicated a security risk since the only use for venom was to change a human to a vampire. It was unnecessary to bottle such a thing, for if a vampire really wanted to change a human partner they could simply bite them. If a vial of venom fell into the wrong hands it would be disastrous.
But the selling of venom didn't scare Castiel, what scared her was Marcus' response when she asked about the werewolf blood that was being sold.
Marcus' tone was exceptionally grim when he told her that werewolf blood was extremely toxic. He explained that if a human were tricked into consuming it in some way, or if the blood were to get into an open cut, it would infect the human with the werewolf's disease immediately.
So of course Marcus was unable to skive off these trials, and though he certainly spent most if not all of his free time with her, Castiel found it incredibly difficult to sleep when she knew he was immersed in business on the other side of the castle and not somewhere close.
It had been a little rough as of late to stay away from Marcus for very long. She found the increased anxiety and chest pains incredibly annoying. He was right in his assumptions that the bond would make her feel more dependent on him, and she found that his absence for a mere two hours could make her feel particularly jittery.
But she couldn't deny it was well worth it. Marcus was the sweetest and most caring person she could have asked for, and him being very attractive was just a huge bonus.
It was strange really, how very normal their relationship felt even though it was the furthest thing from normal. One of the only things she wished she could change was that their relationship would never be known by the people she cared about… the people she would never see again.
With a pang of sadness Castiel sighed, climbing back up onto the high beam that she had fallen off of in a failed attempt to do a round off that ended in a back flip. She just couldn't seem to keep her footing when she tried to stick her landing and always ended up with her right foot half off the beam which off balanced her.
Luckily Afton was there to spot her, and either steadied her before she fell or caught her when she tipped completely off.
"Perhaps you should leave it here for tonight," He had suggested mildly, but wasn't at all surprised when she shook her head at him.
"No! No. I can do it – I've done it plenty of times in the past. I'm just off my game because I haven't practiced in nearly two months." She walked to the edge of the beam to try again, "Watch closely Afton and tell me what I'm doing wrong-,"
"I don't know what you're doing wrong," Afton huffed. The last dozen times he watched that all ended with the same outcome hadn't told him anything. Gymnastics really wasn't his strong suit. Chelsea would have been more help to her here, but she was currently with Master Marcus.
She scowled at him, and a voice from the other end of the room made her jump and Afton turn on his heel to face the source.
"You need to vatch the movement of your 'ips, they lean slightly back as you support yourself on your arms so your veet do not land correctly. Per-aps you should vork out the move step-by-step to understand my meaning."
Raphael walked calmly toward the pair, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his dark jeans. He wore a jacket of black leather, so it was unsurprising they did not notice him at first. All the lights in the gymnasium were out aside from every fifth emergency light in the rows of fluorescents, so most corners were shrouded in shadows.
"I thought I heard you there," Afton inclined his head to Raphael, who merely gave a small shrug in response.
"Ze trial was beginning to bore me, zo much pleading and zo many questions, very leettle for me to do really. I told Marcus I vould check on his mate for him, since 'e vas sure she vas avake."
He stopped not far from the pair and leaned against the end of the high beam directly next to the one Castiel was practicing on in the row of six. He was watching her with mild interest and did not look away from her startlingly blue gaze even when Afton spoke.
"Well you can let him know that she's fine and I'll be taking her to bed momentarily." Afton's tone was slightly weary, whether due to the fact he didn't feel as though Castiel would listen to him at all about going to bed, or the vampire currently in their presence, she wasn't sure.
"At least give 'er a chance to correct 'er form!" Raphael chuckled motioning to Castiel. His accent got a little thicker before he laughed and Castiel almost didn't understand what he said. He moved forward without hesitation to stand on the opposite side of the beam from Afton and look up at where she was standing. His proximity gave her a small pang of alarm and caused her to step back, nearly losing her footing again.
It was a knee-jerk reaction and Castiel knew it was the bond's doing. It wasn't the first time she recoiled from the approach of a male vampire she wasn't very familiar with in the last few weeks.
Subtly, she winced at the memory. Arkos had assured her that the guard would be fine since Marcus didn't really injure him too badly. It was just a couple dislocations and a few near limb removals. No biggie.
Arkos' dismissiveness of the extent of the guards injuries didn't stop her from feeling incredibly guilty though. She and Marcus had been walking through the halls toward the garden together and the guard had passed much too close to Castiel unthinkingly.
Her mate had felt the rather alarming spike in her anxiety and scented her fear. He didn't hesitate to act in her defense, and if it hadn't been for her petrified yells and Afton's persistence in pulling him off the unsuspecting guard, he would have been much worse off.
The guard's name was Samuel, preferably Sam, and Castiel had gone to the hospital wing three days in a row until he was able to speak (Marcus had badly damaged his vocal cords) so she could apologize.
But Sam was extremely kind and would hear none of her frantic apologies. The boy actually spent a good few minutes trying to apologize to her for frightening her. He insisted that he should have known better.
Vampires were so weird.
"Vell give it a go." Raphael prompted, snapping Castiel out of her reverie with an almost eager look on his face.
Castiel and Afton shared a look at this, causing Raphael to sigh in exasperation.
"I am vairly sure I am right and if you take my advice you'll get eet this time. My vife took on gymnastics a few years ago, and though she did only do it for a few months I learned a lot about form as I tried to assist 'er in 'er routines." He gave a slight shrug of his shoulders, and at Castiel's inquisitive look, elaborated to answer the question he was sure she was about to ask.
"My vife is rather erratic with 'er 'obbies. She never sticks with anything long. The most committed I've ever seen 'er to a 'obby was when she practiced music on the violin and zat only lasted two years."
So, with a small noncommittal shrug Castiel raised her arms in preparation before quickly stepping forward. Her movements were graceful, and her confidence in her abilities was obvious as this time her round-off ended in the perfect backflip. Her feet stuck a perfect landing as she raised bother her arms above her head with a small whoop of delight.
Both Afton and Raphael were clapping for her, the latter looking rather smug that it was his suggestion that helped her nail the move.
From that point onward, Raphael and Castiel became rather close. There was a deep respect between the two of them, and Castiel knew that past the rather stern demeanor Raphael was friendly enough. Their relationship was similar to those of humans who have siblings ten or more years their senior; respectful, lighthearted, protective, and almost tender.
Currently, Castiel was seated on the floor in the throne room directly in front of Marcus' throne. A notebook was in her lap and she was leaning back against Marcus' legs, whom was currently deep in conversation with Aro and only half paying attention to what his little human mate was writing.
The tearing of a page as Castiel tore her finished notes from the notebook drew all eyes in the vicinity to her. She looked up, startled slightly that everyone was staring at her. And when she said everyone, she meant everyone. This included not only Aro, Caius, and Marcus but the entirety of the Ushakov coven and their over dozen guards who were spaced out around the room, and also her sisters and a small cluster of the Volturi's own guard. She shrugged exaggeratedly and helf the paper out toward Afton, who was standing just at the bottom of the stone steps and inclining her head toward Caius.
Without a word Afton bought the paper over to it's intended recipient, and the room remained quiet as Caius quickly skimmed over the words on the page before raising his brows at Castiel in surprise.
"Stock market trends?" He asked softly, his sharp red eyes looking only slightly disbelieving at the words and numbers on the page.
She shrugged, turning her attention back to her notebook as she began doodling on the corner of a new page, "Well yeah. Marcus mentioned a while back that you're in charge of the coven's stocks, so I figured you'd appreciate not having to do any of the guesswork for the next couple years."
Caius' brows were knitted together in confusion "But surely these are susceptible to change? The stock market is very fluid-,"
He trailed off whent Castiel snorted "Tch. Not really. The stock market is actually one of the easiest things for me to predict next to the weather, so those numbers are actually pretty set in stone."
Her tone was very matter of fact, and before Caius could inquire as to why she had never mentioned any of this before she began speaking again, already knowing the question he was planning to ask.
"My father never invested in the stock market, and I could never convince him too. It would have been helpful to have had some extra money at points when I was growing up, cause ya' know the military doesn't exactly pay extremely well, but my father always viewed that what I could see was an unfair advantage to us. He would have seen us investing as extremely dishonest because it would have been cheating."
Deciding it was better to take her word for it, Caius folded the paper into quarters and placed it in an interior pocket of his suit jacket.
"Hey Castiel," Athenadora whispered, bending slightly toward her younger sister around twenty minutes later from behind Marcus' throne, "I was going back to the garage to work on the Jeep, did you want to come? It would be great if you could help me install the new radio and redo the upholstery on the seats. I really need an extra set of hands."
Instinctively, Castiel turned slightly and leaned her head back to look up at Marcus, who gave her an encouraging smile and motioned with his chin toward Athenadora, "I'll be here if you need me. Send Afton if you feel uncomfortable at any point and need me to come to you."
Castiel smiled gratefully, knowing that he could sense her sudden nerves at being separated from him before standing and kissing him lightly on the cheek.
So, she left the council room arm and arm with Athenadora at a human pace, and tried to ignore Afton, Chelsea, and Felix following in their wake.
"Ohhh, this bike is just so beautiful. I can already see myself zooming down the countryside in springtime. The view of the hills would be absolutely gorgeous, and I wouldn't even need a jacket-,"
Castiel was currently gushing over a Honda Shadow Phantom. It was a sleek and modern beauty, and it was one of the best bikes someone her size could buy since it wasn't built as huge as some of the more popular motorcycles out there like the Harley Davidsons. Even brand new it wasn't totally unreasonably priced. It was exactly the kind of bike she would have gotten for herself if she had the money, and even though it was significantly smaller than the three Harley-Davidson Road King's lined up next to it, with their many saddle bags and high handle bars, it didn't look any less impressive.
Without a second thought Castiel nimbly climbed onto the bike, swinging her leg over the seat and getting her hands into a comfortable position on the handlebars. The keys to the bike were sticking out slightly in the ignition, which prompted her to push them the rest of the way in.
But before she could give the bike a nice kick-start, Athenadora's voice called out to her.
"Oh, Cassy I don't think you should." Her worried bell like voice fretted from below a huge jet-black Hummer behind the small row of bikes – which Felix was dutifully holding up for her acting as a jack. Her fair-haired sister slid herself out agilely, which was very easy since she was lying back on a skateboard, immediately stopping her tinkering under the vehicle upon realizing Castiel's intentions.
Athenadora wasn't afraid to get down and dirty, which surprised Castiel a little bit at first. After the two of them had finished with the Jeep, which took nearly four hours, she had immediately gone to work on the Hummer. And, after grabbing some very large and oily bits of cardboard from the floor by the many tool chests lining the far back wall, Athenadora placed them under the vehicle and was ready to crawl on her stomach and flip to her back on the filthy cardboard to work under the massive car.
And honestly Castiel wouldn't have stopped her if she had been wearing the appropriate attire for working on cars – like an old t-shirt and jeans – but she felt like it was just wasteful for Athenadora to ruin her lovely light pink silk top and white designer skinny jeans. So, she had suggested the skateboard method, which much to her surprise none of them had ever tried before. After Chelsea found an old on Alec never used anymore in the far end of the garage Athenadora set to work.
"Relax Dora," Castiel could have laughed at the worried expression on her sister's face, "You know I've done this a million times! I promise I won't get hurt."
Directly in front of the bikes was a garage door, one of many garage doors against this wall, and she knew beyond it lie a long, up-sloping tunnel. You took this tunnel for a few miles before you were suddenly let out into open countryside and onto a dirt road. On this rode you would travel along for quite a while before you hit the main road.
As she stared at the door Felix seemed to know what she was thinking and clicked the wireless door opener that was connected to the sun visor within the Hummer.
With a rumble the door began to open, and without further thought Castiel gave one mighty kick and the bike rumbled to life.
It sounded so loud in the silence, and in the bikes tiny side mirrors she saw Afton and Chelsea emerge between two expensive sports cars she didn't know the name of. She also could have sworn the heard Dora's slightly hysterical cry of "Felix!" once the bike roared, as if in reprimand for doing what he thought was nonverbally asked.
The tunnel was pretty well lit. She could tell from here it was extremely wide and had not only bright florescent lights along the ceiling and on each wall, but also lights imbedded into the floor itself, which was very smooth and looked newly paved.
"I won't leave the tunnel!" She called back to her now very nervous looking sister and guards, "I'm only gonna ride to the end of it and back!"
Afton never even got the chance to move so he could run along side her, for at that very moment a black and white blur shot past them and firmly planted itself in front of the motorcycle Castiel was currently sitting astride.
Marcus' face was absolutely furious when Castiel glanced up at him in shock as his hands overlapped hers on each handlebars. She could see, even through the fabric of his suit, that his muscles were flexed, tense, as he used the brute strength that come with being a vampire to hold her and the bike absolutely still.
And she was sure that even if she tried to surge forward as hard and fast as she could the bike would not move and inch past the immovable object that was her mate.
"Off. Now." Marcus' voice was a deathly low snarl, his eyes as black as pitch while his face was absolutely contorted with his anger, his teeth bared threateningly.
"Wh-what?" Castiel couldn't believe how very meek and quiet her voice was, and it actually took her a moment to realize that she was leaning back from him and felt stung that he was looking at her with such a terrible expression.
Athenadora, Afton, Chelsea, and Felix all looked at each other, and while the latter wasn't as "in the loop" as the others it was obvious, they were all sharing the same thought.
Marcus had clearly never spoken to his mate about his disapproval of motorcycles, and more specifically, his disapproval of her riding a motorcycle.
Carefully, Castiel pulled her leg over the seat and slid off the bike, surprisingly able to turn it off in the process considering her hands were shaking so badly.
"How you could -," Marcus snarled out in a deadly whisper at her before looking over her shoulder at the small group, "How any of you could watch her get on that thing and not stop her."
Castiel was so shocked that the idea of her riding the motorcycle seemed to make him furious beyond words, his height and the vastness of his muscle making him only that much more imposing in his anger, that her voice was almost inaudible as she took a slow tentative step toward him.
"Marcus what on Earth-,"
But he cut her off, holding up a hand to silence her, "Quiet. I don't want to hear it."
And Castiel, who had been a combination of shocked, hurt, and frightened only seconds before, now bristled in anger at his words. How rude.
"Excuse me?" She seethed, her suddenly defiant tone and defensive posture a direct contrast to that of their audience, "What the…" she paused as she avoided some rather colorful swearwords she knew Marcus wouldn't appreciate "…is your problem? No one here did anything wrong."
Marcus barely glanced down at his fragile mate before glaring over her head at the others, muttering "leave us" so lowly he was sure she couldn't hear.
The room was empty in seconds, even Athenadora was eager to leave to avoid being dragged into the middle of their first row.
"I told you not to speak" His tone was soft, just as deadly as before. And though his face was now devoid of all emotion the anger was still obvious in his eyes.
"Yeah? And you don't get to tell me whether I'm allowed to speak or not! And now I'm telling you that no one asked to come in here and start acting like a bastard." She snapped back at him; her tiny hands curled into fists at her sides as she leaned toward him on her toes slightly in a futile effort to seem larger in her fury.
"Bastard?" Marcus' voice rose, and though he wasn't exactly screaming at her it was still the loudest she head ever heard his voice get, "I'm a bastard because I won't let my incredibly fragile mate go and kill herself on one of those death traps?"
"Death traps?" Castiel's responding laugh was slightly hysterical and extremely mocking, "I don't know what kind of old school view you have on motorcycles, but you are so far off the mark you've got no idea! I'm not nearly as breakable as you think I am."
"Not breakable!" Marcus boomed, actually full-blown yelling at her now, "Not breakable?" Without warning Marcus shot to one of the tool chests and grabbed a crowbar before appearing back in front of his mate, effortlessly tying it into a knot as if it were made of string, and throwing at as hard as he could at on of the support pillars which got a huge chunk taken out of it as a result.
Impressively, Castiel didn't flinch at the violent cracking noise the mangled crowbar coming into contact with the pillar created, and she scoffed at him – a less mature part of her taking pleasure in purposefully goading him.
"I wasn't referring to your strength." She snapped petulantly
"No." Marcus snapped, "No you weren't, but if both yourself and a crowbar got throne off a motorcycle going a hundred kilometers an hour only the crowbar would be unscathed. How you could be so naïve. So stupid."
"You. Can't. Stop. Me. From. Riding. A. Motorcycle." Castiel spat out through gritted teeth, stressing every word.
"Oh yes I can. I won't let your childish stupidity get yourself killed. I won't allow it." His voice had lowered into that dangerously quiet whisper again.
"I wasn't asking your permission," Castiel said the last word mockingly, turning on her heel and flicking her hair back in his face, "Go take your old school opinions and shove them up your ass."
Marcus gave her no warning before he grabbed her from behind, unceremoniously lifting her off her feet and tossing her over his shoulder. Her indignant shrieks could be heard throughout the castle as he ran them back to his rooms, wanting to be sure he had the privacy of soundproofing with his little mate.
Marcus stormed impressively into his rooms, shutting and locking the doors behind him, them making a resounding click in the silence.
Castiel was expecting to be tossed back onto the bed, so she was surprised when Marcus gently set her on her feet in front of the sofa before stepping back to glare at her like an angry shark.
"That was rude." She snapped at him, her temper probably at tenterhooks with his own.
"Ha." Marcus scoffed irritably, "Because you telling me to shove my opinions about your safety up my ass isn't?"
She said nothing, storming around him to the door to wrench it open.
She really hadn't considered that even if she could unlock the handle, there was no way she would be able to move the heavy door on her own.
"Let me out." She ordered softly, not turning to face him in the large room, embarrassed that she needed his assistance when she was trying to storm out as impressively as he had stormed in.
"No. Not until we talk."
"Talk?" She snapped incredulously, turning on her heel to face him, "What more is there to say? We obviously aren't in a position to be rational with one another."
Silently, Marcus agreed, but it didn't stop him from vocalizing why he had bought her here.
"Honestly, I don't really want to talk. I want to take you over my knee and spank you for that filthy mouth of yours."
Castiel stilled, and everything below her navel clenched. She felt the scathing words she was about to say catch in her throat due to her surprise. He wanted to… what?
"What?" Her shock was obvious in her tone.
His face was nearly expressionless as he gauged her reaction to his words. "Yes. I think it would make us both feel a lot better…" and he did believe his words. The bond was insisting on settling the rather unexpected power struggle between the pair, and his more dominant side was breaking through as a result.
His tone had become rather husky and Castiel felt an emotion she was all too familiar with bubble up inside of her – curiosity.
"And-," She paused, "If I don't want to?"
This was an important thing for her to ask, an important thing for her to know.
Marcus shrugged now; the motion so casual it was strange to see him do it. "Then we won't do it. I'm not some tyrant."
The stared at each other for a moment and Castiel, whose head had tilted slightly to one side as she surveyed him curiously, shifted from foot to foot.
"If I let you – and I don't like it…" She trailed off; surprised she was even contemplating it, but feeling so unbelievably curious nonetheless.
"Then I will stop." He said it as if that should have been obvious, shock momentarily crossing his features at her almost assumption, "However I don't simply want you to let me. I want to know if you want me too."
Marcus was curious about this. She was so pliant, so submissive sometimes. It made the dominant part of him take charge, the part that wanted to both protect and claim… the part of him that wanted everything she could give.
Castiel felt warm all over as she considered his words. The room felt stifling even though the fire in the hearth was dwindling down. The very idea of what he was suggesting should have been horrifying to her, humiliating, but she couldn't fight back the curiosity, the excitement, at what it would feel like to submit to him.
Slowly she took a slow step forward, giving herself time to think about it.
"Okay."
It was enough of a go to Marcus, who swept across the room to pull her into his arms and carried her to the sofa, where he sat first, before tugging her hand and causing her to fall across his lap.
His right hand rest between her shoulder blades as his left came to lift her dress slightly, pulling up the skirt so it pooled above her hips. Castiel felt her face go hot as a moment later, Marcus gently hooked a finger at the back of her panties, tugging them down so they rested just below her bottom.
Her heart had begun to pound, what felt like adrenalin spiking through her system, as Marcus' had caressed the bare flesh of her backside.
"Wait!" She breathed nervously, and she felt him still right away, "I want -," she could feel her face flush a little hotter. "Can I – can I hold your hand?"
Marcus was so surprised at the innocence of the request it caused the corner of his lips to turn up in a smile.
Without a word had stretched out the hand that had been resting between her shoulders, which she clasped between both of her own a little awkwardly because she was lying on her stomach.
"Ready?"
Castiel was ready, she was so curious as to what it would be like she was almost impatient, and she let out a small squeal of surprise and gripped his right hand when his left came down and lightly swatted her rear.
"Ohhh,"
She didn't know what she had expected, but it wasn't that.
It didn't hurt at all – not really. The sound was the most startling thing about it, and even though she found that her heart seemed to have jumped into her throat, it didn't stop her from wiggling slightly on his lap, waiting for him to do it again. Wanting him to do it again.
He was watching her face; she could feel his gaze on her as he processed the emotions there along with the ones he could feel through the bond.
He did it again to the opposite cheek, and she found that all her lower muscles seemed to clench in response.
What was that about?
He repeated the motion over and over, and Castiel found that it truly didn't hurt. Yeah, her backside stung a bit, but she could barely call it painful. The strangest thing about it all was the weird coiling of her lower muscles, the unfamiliar ache within her, and the feeling as in Marcus was driving her toward something she couldn't understand.
And then, as his hand came down on the junction at the apex of her thighs, Castiel felt everything below her bellybutton clench and the most embarrassing moan escaped her lips.
Marcus stilled, and she could feel it now, the dampness between her legs at her arousal. And she was mortified.
The smell of her cunt – of her excitement over being spanked by him – wafted up into his nostrils, and he felt his control, the control of the beast inside him that had always demanded that he immediately claim his mate, slip.
He tried to keep his movements calm and steady as he pulled her panties back into place, not daring to look down at her in this position and fixing her dress. He wondered if she could feel he was lapsing in control as she hurriedly scurried to the door saying she wanted to be left alone.
But as she knocked on the door after unlocking it so Afton could open it for her from the outside – Marcus felt the emotions coming off her; anger. Not directed at him but at herself, and extreme embarrassment.
He would have, should have, stopped her to calm her down. But the smarter part of him knew that touching any part of her now would end with him pushing her into letting him take her virtue tonight.
It was now nine o'clock – almost two hours after Marcus and Castiel's row – and the latter was currently stalking angrily throughout the corridors with Afton following quietly around twenty feet behind her.
Castiel was furious with Afton for not staying to aid her in her fight with Marcus in the garage, though deep down she knew it was because it wasn't his place to get involved. But beyond anything she was humiliated, completely and utterly humiliated, after what Marcus surely noticed had happened in the bedroom.
How could she ever look him in the eyes again? Castiel thought despairingly as she descended a set of spiral stairs lower underground with no idea where she was heading. She was sure if she was heading somewhere she wasn't supposed to be Afton would re-route her.
I thought he was kidding! Never in a million years did I think I would actually enjoy-
She felt like her insides were boiling, both from her anger and the flush of heat the seemed to encompass her whole body at her embarrassment.
And in her mind, she heard Aro's words, an echo from a conversation she had with him a few days before, when she had questions about her bond with Marcus and wanted another's opinion.
"But of course, as your mate, it is Marcus' job to discipline you as a newborn… even as a human if you go stepping over lines, since you are his responsibility as he is the provider and protector in your bonding."
"Discipline?" She remembered how the word had made her anxious, "What does that mean?"
"With you?" Aro had cast a downward glance at her, "Nothing too harsh. You're just such a gentle little thing… he'd probably just spank you if you step out of line."
Castiel had laughed at Aro when he had said that, she didn't believe in a million years that what he said was true! She thought it an empty warning.
She had never been spanked a day in her life, and remembered how she always thought the idea of a spanking to be a silly punishment, but now she saw that while it wasn't really agonizing or anything, it was definitely a humbling experience and after the – she cringed – moaning, she wasn't sure she could do it again.
She honestly didn't know what was worse. The embarrassment that Marcus had spanked her, which was really only embarrassing because she knew Aro would see it eventually. The embarrassment that Marcus had seen her bare ass, or the embarrassment that she enjoyed herself… much more than she should have.
Up ahead, a door to her left opened and Aro emerged, and he turned to the sound of her approaching footsteps right away.
"Castiel!" Aro's voice sounded slightly relieved, "I was just coming to search you out, Sulpicia tells me you and Marcus had a row?"
He approached her at a human pace; and she knew this was becoming habit of all the vampires in the coven when they came into her vicinity. They were trying not to frighten her with their unnatural speed since she was so touchy now a-days.
"Sulpicia?" Castiel questioned in a deadpan tone as Aro stopped in front of her, looking down at her shoes.
"Well yes, news does travel rather fast here. Apparently, some of the patrolling guards heard you two shouting at each other." Both of Aro's hands fluttered over her for a moment as if he wanted to hug her but knew not to touch her without her permission. "Tell me what is wrong?"
To concern in his tone was noticeable, and her gaze merely shifted to his finely polished Italian leather shoes as she shrugged.
Both of Aro's cool hands came to cup her face, tilting her head up to look at him.
She watched as his vibrantly red eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment as he took in the events of her day through her thoughts, before snapping back to hers.
Without a word, he gently took one of her hands and rested it on his arm by his elbow, leading her back the way she came Afton deftly standing to the side for a moment as they passed before falling into step a short distance behind them.
It was quiet for a little ways before he spoke.
"I am sorry that you two had a row, and I am sorry you are upset. Perhaps one of us should have forewarned you about Marcus' stance on motorcycles."
She snorted, "I thought I'm the one who does the forewarning?"
Aro merely shook his head with a quiet chuckle, "Yes well, the punishment if you can even call it that wasn't really all that bad was it?"
Castiel bristled, her shoulders stiffening as Aro continued without the slightest of pauses.
"I'm sure he decided to spank you because he knew you were trying to goad a response out of him," Aro said almost as if he were trying to justify it as a reasonable reaction, "Otherwise he probably would have just washed your mouth out with soap for your language – I certainly would have."
"Aro!" Castiel wailed, her whole face heating up with her blush, "Please keep your voice down! You aren't helping."
She knew Marcus' room was soundproofed, so no one was aware she was being spanked before – but now Afton knew. And if Aro didn't keep it down everyone would know.
"Oh, you're only so embarrassed because you're confused," Aro waved his free hand dismissively as they walked, "Is it because he spanked you, or because you were aroused that's causing you so much turmoil?"
Castiel halted in her steps, and Aro had to stop walking a foot ahead of her because she was still holding his arm. Leave it to Aro, Castiel thought, to pull out the one thing she was trying to bury under her anger and embarrassment. She didn't want to admit it to herself that when Marcus' hand was warming her bottom as she was laid over his knee, she had felt incredibly warm in an entirely unfamiliar way, her lower muscles clenching with each movement of his hand. She didn't want to acknowledge the slight dampness between her legs or the fact that Marcus most definitely could smell it.
And that's why the moment he had stopped and pulled her panties back up and her dress back down, Castiel promptly left the room, avoiding looking at his face and wishing to wander the halls alone.
Aro didn't need to touch her skin to know what the answer was to his question.
"You are so shy about sex. It is wholly unnecessary." He stated simply as they came to the door of his office.
"Aro," Castiel sighed looking up at him "This is really not a topic of conversation I want to have with you."
"If not with me then who? You are much to shy to say any words of these topics aloud to anyone – even Marcus – and you know that I will not make you vocalize your thoughts since it is unnecessary. I will always give you an honest answer and any advice I can from thousands of years of experience and memories." Aro had her there, knowing deep down that he was the only one she would talk to about these things at the moment, since he had already seen every embarrassing thought her mind had ever had.
"Touché." She sighed as he led the way into his office.
She didn't know why she had expected it to be empty, and if Aro's free hand hadn't come up to clasp over the hand she had on his arm, Castiel would have turned and walked right back out.
Dora, Sulpicia, Caius, and Marcus were all present, presumably waiting for Aro. Caius and Dora were crammed into the single loveseat together, Sulpicia was perched on the edge of Aro's desk, and Marcus, who had previously been sitting at the end of Aro's largest sofa, stood when Aro entered with his mate.
Castiel refused to make eye contact with him, and after releasing Aro's arm went to perch next to Sulpicia on Aro's desk.
Once she sat, Sulpicia reached over and took her hand, giving it a small squeeze. Her expression was kind and understanding as she gave her youngest sister a small smile in nonverbal support. Sulpicia was privately very proud of Castiel for standing her ground in the face of her very angry mate. Not many humans could successfully have a verbal throw down with a vampire.
Aro had begun talking, relaying information to Marcus about a small group of nomads that were expected to pass through Pisa on their way to an illegal underground talon trade off in the coming weeks. This was apparently something he had missed in an interrogation because he was running to stop Castiel from riding the motorcycle.
From what Castiel could pick out from the conversation, she learned a lower guard had been wandering near the garage when Castiel had started the motorcycle and, believing she was alone in the garage, was convinced she was trying to make a run for it.
Apparently, the guard was too worried about her escaping to notice the scents of four other vampires with her.
This made her angry, but it wasn't obvious in her voice as she mumbled, "I'm not a prisoner" under her breath.
She wasn't sure if she was saying it because she was irritated people thought she was, or because she was trying to convince herself of its truth. After all, she hadn't left the castle grounds even once since she was bought to Volterra.
"No, you aren't," Aro agreed, his voice gentle when he noticed that, even now, she would not look up from her shoes.
"Castiel,"
Marcus' voice was quiet, soothing, as he stepped around the back of the couch toward his mate. It unsettled him greatly that she refused to look at him, and thought he was sure he knew the reason for this – due to the almost overwhelming embarrassment he still felt in her emotions even though she had left his rooms hours ago – he would not relax until she looked at him.
He wanted to ease her embarrassment. He wanted to settle her fears. It was natural for her to be angry with him, expected even, but he could feel no true anger directed at him through the bond. It was all directed at herself.
Gently, he lifted her chin to look at him.
"Marcus, I don't want to talk about this now-," she was going to say more, but suddenly a very curious sensation took over her. She felt as if she were about to swoon… she was so lightheaded.
Something must have changed in her face, because Marcus looked suddenly alarmed.
"Little one?" Marcus grabbed the top of each of her arms as she hopped off the desk and begun to sway, her heart racing at first and then rapidly slowing.
"W-wha-," She couldn't get the word out – the room had begun to spin – and she felt, rather than saw, Aro grip her left hand.
"Hold onto her Marcus she's going to-," he had begun, but she didn't hear his next words as the room vanished.
Where she was now, was not Aro's office with her adopted vampire family, but a bright and sunny town's square she had never seen before. The roads here were not paved but dry and sandy, and there was a small layer of sandy dust that hovered just above the road.
She seemed to be standing in an intersection, and on all four corners there were tiny shops all close together, and little street vendors with their tables and carts lining the sidewalks in what would have been parking lanes of the road.
There seemed to be some kind of festival happening, for the streets were jam-packed with people. A banner up ahead was stretched between two buildings on opposite sides of the road. It was written in what had to be Spanish, so she could not read the words.
The people around her were all dressed in bright, colorful fabrics. Women all around were all wearing an array of very intricate handmade dresses, and little children weaved through people's legs wearing masks.
The whole scene had an air of joy and celebration, so why did Castiel have a nearly suffocating feeling of foreboding?
She was suddenly so very afraid. Why was she here? What was so important an impromptu vision assaulted her?
She wished she were back in the office with her family and somewhere, in the very recesses of her mind she could feel phantom hands touching her. Someone delicately cradling the back of her head and her lower back, and another set of ghostly hands gripping her left hand.
Marcus and Aro! She thought desperately, wishing with all her might she could be with them at the office. She did not want to see; she did not want to know what horrible thing would happen here.
She wished they were seeing with her.
Suddenly, a terrible, searing pain shot through her skull.
Everything darkened for a moment, the pain in her head becoming so horrible she thought blood would begin to pour from her mouth, nose, eyes, and ears at the pressure, before a voice spoke from beside her.
"Castiel!"
It was Aro, and to her total and utter bewilderment, he was standing besides her in the square. His hands didn't feel so phantom now – they felt as real and solid as ever.
He was looking around them in shock. He was not watching the vision from her own eyes as he was moments before, no longer hearing the whispered thoughts in her mind at the back of his head. He was there with her, now a bystander besides her.
There was no warning as the vision darkened again, and Castiel felt the same pain shoot through her skull as before.
And then, seconds later, the only voice Castiel wanted to hear at the moment spoke in the same shocked tone Aro had used moments before.
"Dearest!"
Marcus was holding her right hand in one of his own, looking around in wonderment at the scene.
"What-,"
"She has taken us into her vision, I do not know how," Aro answered for her, aware that the pain in her head was becoming unbearable. "Can you handle this Castiel? This hurts you doesn't it?"
Marcus' expression was alarmed suddenly, and he was about to let go of her hand when Castiel gripped his fingers with all her might.
"No!" She nearly sobbed, "No don't let go! Don't leave me here."
"Piccola!" Marcus did not release her hand, but adjusted his body so he was oriented in front of her, his free hand cupping her cheek as she felt hot tears slide down it. "I promise you, you are safe. You are in Aro's office with us, do not strain yourself to show us this."
Marcus could not deny, being in a vision with his mate was truthfully extraordinary, but he could not see why she was so alarmed.
"Something terrible will happen here brother," Aro's grim voice came from beside him. "Castiel can sense it, and so I can sense it too."
Looking around Marcus realized he knew this festival. The were in a tiny town in Mexico that he knew the location but could not recall the name of. The population of this town was less than two thousand people and the festival they were having was one they held every year to celebrate the ending of the gang violence and street drug epidemic that used to grip this town due to a long since departed drug cartel.
Marcus was about to inquire as to what could possibly happen at a festival of this magnitude, when he received his answer.
It happened so quickly, he wondered if Castiel would have time to process it, and as a matter of fact, he really hoped she wouldn't.
They came from the left road, far off in the distance and covering the ground to make it to the bustling town center with blinding speed. They shined in the sunlight, the crystalline structure of their skin throwing off magnificent rainbows that bounced off reflective surfaces and sent prisms of color along the dirt road and shop walls. The horde of newborns shined in the way Aro and Marcus did not, for the two of them were not truly present in this vision.
The music in the streets, the loud chatter, the laughter of the small children all immediately transformed into screams of terror and pain as the newborns, who for only seconds were gazed at in disbelief and amazement by the townspeople, jumped into the crowd.
There were forty, maybe even fifty of them in total. Aro couldn't remember ever hearing about an attack of this magnitude before since it was so very hard to create a newborn army with more than thirty members as the young ones so often fought among themselves.
Marcus and Aro watching in mute horror, and Castiel's scream of terrible sadness and terror drew both of their attentions to her.
Her gaze was fixed on two small children, a little boy and girl of two, maybe three, years old. The toddlers gripped each other, screaming "mama" over and over, and Castiel moved forward, ignoring the fact that Aro and Marcus were holding both of her hands as she stepped around her mate, wanting to get to the terrified babies.
Her effort was in vain. Only a moment later a rather large newborn who must have once been a heavyset human man in his mid-forties, grabbed the little girl, dragged her up to his face, and promptly ripped out her throat.
Castiel screamed again, and Marcus rushed to move in front of her, to block her from seeing these terrible things, to protect her – but it didn't matter.
They were back in Aro's office, and the vision was over.
Caius, Athenadora, and Sulpicia were gathered around them and, as Marcus' and Aro's gazes both traveled to Castiel's face in concern, no one was prepared as she swayed before vomiting spectacularly onto the floor in front of them and splattering everyone's shoes in sick.
Revised January 19th, 2021
(31 pages 13,267 words)
A/N: Okay. I'm just gonna explain myself here with the spanking scene.
I put the scene in there for two reasons (because tbh I'm never going to write a scene like this again since it really wasn't my thing)
Reason 1: I'm gonna have some smut scenes where they have a little kink play (like tying up) and I didn't want people to be TOO startled that this isn't always missionary-position making-love type sex.
Reason 2: I see too many fanfictions scenes like this that have no consent. I'm one of those writers whose very serious about the fact that if it doesn't have consent, it doesn't need to be written. Boundaries exist for a reason people and I really hate non-con. They're exploring boundaries and I want it to be clear that while I do write Marcus as the "dominant" one in the pairing, Castiel very much has control over everything.
This is also a safe moment for me to say: There will be no non-con/sexual assault/r*pe in this story. Thank you.
