Authors Note: There is sexual activity between two consenting adults in this chapter, remember this story is rated MA 18+, so if you don't like it – don't read!

Warning: This chapter contains graphic scenes of blood, violence, and gore with mentions of death.


Chapter 24 – The Knot

Castiel was genuinely impressed with how well Bella had adjusted to being in Volterra. It seemed that the destruction of Victoria and Riley in that alleyway two days prior due to the Volturi's bravery and perseverance really softened her towards Castiel's family. Bella had certainly carried over some prejudiced beliefs after being with the Cullens that basically equated to "golden eyed vampires = good and red eyed vampires = pure evil", so it was nice to see that some of that fear had dissipated.

It really did seem that Bella had denounced such beliefs. Marcus and Kemar had protected her with their lives, and Castiel and Marcus had comforted her when she had become overwhelmed after the fight. Bella now didn't find it so strange how Marcus – a fierce and ancient vampire leader – could be so gentle toward his small mortal companion. She understood how Carlisle had so many immortal friends even though they didn't follow his diet.

Because even though vampires drank human blood, it didn't mean they were monsters. They were all perfectly capable of compassion. Just because James and Victoria had been awful, Bella shouldn't have let them stand as representation for all red eyes vampires in her mind as she had for so many months.

So, Bella was now a little more at ease as she walked through the castle at her leisure, not always needing Castiel's company and comforted by the fact that the Cullens would all be returning to get her in a couple more days.

But… she also felt a little nervous about the Cullens coming back. She felt… she didn't really know how to describe what she felt at the idea of seeing Edward again. As much as Bella loved him, and as desperately in love the two of them swore they were, she couldn't help but wonder multiple times a day why Edward didn't look at her the same way Marcus looked at Castiel. She knew the imprinting thing was a little more intense than a regular mate bond between vampires, but it didn't get the images of Carlisle and Esme, Rosalie and Emmet, and Jasper and Alice out of her head.

Even watching the other vampire couples in the castle as they interreacted with each other, Bella couldn't help comparing her relationship with Edward to them.

She knew it wasn't fair to compare her relationship to other people's relationships. It was different for her and Edward. His lack of experience and the fact that her blood called to him made a difference… right? That was it. That was all. Their relationship was perfect otherwise…

"Isabella?"

Bella jumped. She had stopped in the hallway she was walking in to stare at a watercolor portrait of a town while she thought, and didn't hear anyone enter the hall – which was understandable since the main populous of this castle were vampires – so Kemar's voice scared the crap out of her.

She turned to face him, flushing when he stopped a few feet from her, watching her curiously. She felt her stomach do a flip as she looked up into his face.

He was dressed in all black as usual; black jeans, shiny black boots, and a black tee-shirt under a plain black jacket. It made him look incredibly handsome to her. He was a stark contrast to Edward who usually wore various shades of beige and white.

"What are you doing down here alone?" He asked, choosing not to acknowledge how her gaze had appraised his body before coming to rest on his face, sure it would mortify her if he said something.

"Oh, just walking." Bella swallowed, unsure what to say to him… he just made her feel so nervous. But the nervousness wasn't fear that he would do something to her. It just felt odd. The last time she could remember feeling this way was when she first got a ride home from Edward.

"Just walking?" Kemar raised an eyebrow at her. "Coincidentally only two halls away from a restricted section of that castle that only those with authorization should even be near?"

Bella swore she felt her heart stop as she went pale, "What?"

Kemar sighed rolling his eyes, her reaction to his claim being proof enough that she didn't come down here intentionally.

"You're approaching on one of the lowest levels in this castle Isabella. Half of this level and the five levels below it are all restricted. How did you even get down here?"

"I… I just walked down here." Bella explained, not really sure how to defend herself or how much trouble she was in.

She most certainly didn't want to tell him that she knew that she had lost her way over an hour ago and was just hoping she'd find her way back up before anyone found out about her blunder.

Kemar tilted his head curiously as he looked at her, "How long have you been lost down here?"

Bella's stomach flipped again, and she blurted out without thinking, "Can you read minds?"

Kemar laughed, and the sound of his laugh along with his delighted expression made her feel ten feet tall.

"The answer is all over your face Isabella." He chortled, "And it's obvious in your body language too. Come with me and I'll take you back upstairs. I think it would be best if in the future you don't descend past the ground level without Castiel."

He started walking away, motioning for her to follow him. She hurried after him and they barely made it to the end of the hall before she tripped over her own feet and felt herself tip toward the ground.

Kemar turned and caught her so suddenly that she found herself pressed against his chest, both of his hands on her arms to steady her. Their faces were hardly a foot apart as he looked down at her, and the sweet scent of his breath caused her brain to go fuzzy. And for a second, just a fraction of a second, Isabella couldn't help but stare at his mouth thinking about how perfectly in balance his full lips were with the rest of his face.

Kemar stood her up, carefully pushing her away and pretending he hadn't notice how she had leaned her face toward his, as if in expectation.

It had been an unconscious movement. Isabella had no idea of her connection to him – the connection being something he had only become aware of a few days prior – and was reacting unintentionally.

"Watch your footing Isabella. We have many more floors to go up before we are above ground. I think it would be best if you held onto my arm until then." Kemar lifted his arm from his side slightly and Bella nodded before gripping his by the elbow and allowing herself to be led forward.

"You can call me Bella you know." Bella said after a couple of minutes of silence, just something to break the tension as Kemar led her up a second set of stairs. "Cas does."

"I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice, but we see the shortening of names disrespectful here. Shortening names and using nick-names hints at a certain level of familiarity that is not always appropriate in polite conversation." Kemar said simply, not really leaving any room for Bella to continue the conversation.

"But Castiel-,"

"Is human, and from a much more recent time period where name shortening is the norm. She is allowed to be so free speaking because Master Marcus will see to it that people remain respectful toward her. Even he doesn't call Castiel by anything other than her full name."

"Speaking of Castiel…" Bella started, pausing only for a second as Kemar led her into an elevator. "Do you have any idea when she's going to be done… whatever she's doing today? She wouldn't tell me where she was going. She just said we'd talk later."

To Bella's surprise Kemar grinned. "Oh, I wouldn't plan on seeing her any time soon. At least I hope you don't, if she manages this by the end of the day, I have to forfeit my next two months' salary to Afton."

Bella's eyes were wide. "Manages what?"

Kemar only shook his head, smirking even wider at Bella's irritated expression at his silence.


"Oh my god I can't do this. I can't do this. I don't want to do this Marcus!" Castiel whined.

She was thrown over Marcus' shoulder, the smell of chlorine only causing her panic to rise as they entered the hall leading to the pool area.

"Relax Castiel." Marcus soothed, opening one of the double doors with the hand that wasn't currently locked around her legs to hold her steady. She ended up over his shoulder because she had no attention to go quietly. She had willingly put on the swimsuit – a black one piece that was much more practical for swimming lessons than some of the bathing suits her sisters had ordered for her – because Marcus had made it clear that if she wouldn't put it on willingly that he would put it on her himself.

And Castiel knew he would do it, so she got dressed without complaining. Marcus had packed a small bag with a change of clothes for each of them while she changed, and he had even put on a t-shirt and bathing suit himself. He tossed a pair of sweatpants at her for her to cover her legs while he took her down to the pool area.

Putting on the sweatpants made where they were going a little too real for her, and they had barely made it out into the hall outside his rooms – the sound her cheap flip-flops made echoing in the hall – before she had stopped walking.

Marcus stopped ten feet from her and turned, hearing her elevated heartrate and the lack of footsteps following him.

She shook her head. "I can't. I can't do it. I won't."

He raised an eyebrow at her, "You promised."

"Well I'm taking it back. I won't do it. It's not happening."

Marcus set the bag on the floor before silently motioning with two fingers for her to come toward him.

Castiel folded her arms across her chest and shook her head at him again, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth.

"Nothing is going to happen to you Castiel." Marcus said soothingly, his voice reassuring. Castiel let out a shaky breath and he used the moment when she blinked to take half a step closer to her.

She didn't miss the movement.

Castiel knew she was being irrational. She knew Marcus would not let her drown and that it was important she learned how to overcome this fear before her change. But it wasn't like her change was a week away! They had time. They could put this off a little longer.

Because intellectually knowing that she would be safe did not override the fearful life-or-death response in her brain.

Marcus tried again, offering more soothing and encouraging words to her. Castiel was sure her face showed how terrified she was, and the fact that she watched him like a deer in headlights only highlighted the fact that she was afraid. But Marcus was making some unnecessary motions with his hands as he spoke, drawing her attention to them so he could take inconspicuous steps closer to her without her seeing.

It was only when he was hardly six feet away that Castiel noticed he had bought himself closer to her, and she was momentarily very impressed before the knowledge registered on her face.

Marcus jumped at her, and Castiel jumped out of his way when his fingers were only a fraction of an inch from her waist.

She was breathing heavily, and Marcus turned to watch, now from the opposite end of the hall, as her pupils dilated again watching for what he would do next.

"Castiel." He said slowly, inching toward her with both of his hands up by his shoulders to show he meant no harm. "Castiel. Relax. Everything is alright."

He could feel the instinctual flight or fight response coming from her. He knew that it was present now because he was trying to coerce her into doing something that truly scared her half to death. He wanted to soothe, he wanted to help her, and the way he was approaching her now was not at all uncommon to how one should approach a startled newborn.

"I can't." Castiel repeated, her pupils returning to normal, no longer seeing the threat of Marcus jumping at her again. She knew that Marcus could have caught her – she had literally watched the play by play of him backing her into the wall before catching her – and his decision not to do that put her slightly more at ease.

"You can." Marcus countered. "Trust me. I know you can do this."

Trust me. Castiel felt her throat tighten at his words. If there was anyone in the world that she trusted unconditionally, it was Marcus.

"I can't move my feet." Castiel said, truly feeling like her legs had turned to stone. Just another mental block to overcoming this.

Marcus closed the gap between them and bent to lift her into his arms. Once she cradled against his chest he made his way over to the bag and bent to pick it up, but when he leaned toward the ground her brain registered that she was now closer to freedom and she tried to jump out of his arms to run for it.

But Marcus was quick, and she was over his shoulder and the bag was in his hand before she could let out so much as a startled squeak.

The sound of their scuffle had obviously aroused some attention. Marcus stilled and turned slightly to look at someone who Castiel couldn't see since she was over his shoulder. She switched to her foresight to watch his immediate future so she could see who he was looking at.

Her guards, Afton and Kemar, looking both very confused and very amused.

"I'm taking Castiel downstairs for swimming lessons. You both have the rest of the afternoon off. Enjoy it." This was a dismissal, and Kemar and Afton both bowed to him before vanishing into a side hall and sharing a glance. Listening as Marcus began the trek down to the pool area.

"I bet you she won't do it." Kemar grinned at Afton, who scoffed.

"She'll do it. She's pretty brave for a human." Afton countered.

"I don't know…" Kemar shrugged. "It isn't nervousness that's stopping her, its fear. Something must have happened in swimming lessons when she was younger."

Afton pursed his lips for a moment before shaking his head, "No. I still think she'll do it."

"Want to start a friendly wager then?" Kemar grinned holding a hand out to Afton, "I bet that by the end of her lessons today the bathing suit is completely dry. She won't put more than her feet in."

Afton laughed and shook his hand firmly, "You're on. Master Marcus is a patient man. I'm sure he'll get her in the water."

And that was how Castiel was here now. She started laughing hysterically as Marcus strode into the pool area. The pool was easily Olympic sized, there were reclining chairs along one wall, and at one end of the room there was a huge hot tub that was maybe a quarter of the size of the pool itself. There also seemed to be a few large containers in one corner that confined things like beach balls and other props for pool games.

Marcus was making his way to a doorway at the back, and Castiel barely had time to blink before her brain was registering that she was in a small but very clean locker room.

Could this be called a locker room? There were 10 tall cubbies with coat hooks and a couple lower shelves for towels and shoes, some benches to sit on, a wall that was completely covered by a mirror, and what had to be four full sized showers on the wall across from the cubbies with all of their curtains drawn.

Marcus put her down on one of the benches, not saying anything to her as he emptied the bag of their clean clothes and hung them up in the locker. Marcus then crossed to one of the showers and placed what was obviously their body washes and shampoos inside it. Castiel hadn't even thought of needing to shower.

"Wait here for a few minutes." Marcus said, leaning down to kiss the top of her head, "I'm going to rearrange the dividing lines in the pool. Just try to relax."

Castiel nodded, knowing he meant he'd be removing the bobbing lines that had separated the pool into six equal lanes. She probably would have considered trying to sneak out a backdoor or something if this room had one, but it seemed that the pool area didn't have exits in the locker rooms. Go figure.

It was absolutely impossible for her to relax. The second Marcus left the room the feeling of dread in her stomach seemed to increase tenfold. It was so bad that within a minute she found herself making a beeline for the wall at her left-hand side where there was a doorway that she could see lead to some bathroom stalls.

The fact that her anxiety was so bad that her body suddenly felt like it needed to do every bodily function it was capable of doing was saying something.

This was also the first time Castiel experienced using the restroom while wearing a once-piece bathing suit, and she could safely say it felt super weird to be sitting basically naked in a bathroom stall while she was trying to go.

She finally understood what the girls in her year all meant when they said going to the bathroom during class while wearing a romper was awkward.

Once she had re-suited and flushed Castiel stood and leaned against the metal stall door, running her hands through her hair and failing to calm her rapidly beating heart.

"Castiel?" Marcus' voice made her jump, "Are you alright?"

She unlocked the stall door with trembling hands, nodding her reply before sliding past him to get to the sinks to wash her hands. He was dripping wet and his shirt clung to his body, showing he had just submerged himself in the pool and hadn't bothered to dry off before coming to collect her.

Not like it really mattered though, this whole area was obviously made for people to be walking around sopping wet if the small drains that were discreetly placed within the tile floor were anything to go by.

Marcus waited patiently while she took way too much time to wash and dry her hands, seemingly in no hurry at all to get her into the pool. This was not a good thing in Castiel's eyes because this all the time in the world approach meant that he had cleared his schedule for this and undoubtedly planned for this too be an all-day affair.

When she could stall no longer Marcus took her hand and lead her out of the bathroom, through the locker room, and back into the pool area.

One look at the pool showed Castiel what he had planned.

The six vertical bobbing lines that had created makeshift lanes in the pool had been removed, and instead there was one horizontal line that sectioned off hardly 1/5th of the pools area closest to them. Castiel's eyes traveled along the pools edge to read the black numbers indicating the depth as Marcus stopped leading her about six feet away from the water.

"We're not going in the deep end?" Castiel said, it was a statement more than a question, and she did her best to try not to show how relieved she was at this.

She did not succeed.

"Of course not." Marcus said gently, releasing her hand so that he could muss up her hair. She made a small fussing noise at this and scrunched her nose at him as she stepped out of his grasp, causing him to smile broadly. "You'll be able to touch the bottom of the pool up until you are within a few feet of the line, at which point you'll have to stand on your toes or tread water to keep your head above."

"I don't know how to tread water."

"I know." Marcus said reasonably, "That is one of the two things I want to teach you today."

"And what is the other thing?" Castiel said nervously, her heartrate picking up again – not that it had ever really calmed down – as Marcus went to the edge of the pool, sat, and slid in. He turned to look at her and she noticed the water didn't even go up to his waist at the end of the pool they were at.

"Just the dog-paddle. It's a very basic way to swim. My only concern right now is getting you comfortable enough that you can get into the pool and feel reassured that you can keep your head above water long enough to swim from one end of the pool to the other safely."

At this Castiel looked to the other edge of the pool furthest from them. Over on that side the pool had to be like… 15 feet deep or something. She went pale.

"Castiel." Marcus' tone was firm, drawing her attention back to him. "You are not going to that area of the pool any time soon. Not today. Not even this month. I won't allow you in the deep end until you are a strong swimmer."

His firmness was oddly reassuring, and Castiel nodded to him, feeling her face warm up a bit as some of the blood that had rapidly left it rushed back to where it belonged.

Marcus came toward her, his chest pressing against the edge of the pool and holding his arms out to her. She was three feet or so out of his reach.

Castiel didn't move. Even though she had a mantra going in her brain – a mantra that constantly went "You are safe. Marcus won't leave your side. There is a 0% chance of you drowning. You will be fine." – her rational thought could not override the instinctual fear that was ingrained so deeply that it just wouldn't be ignored.

Marcus didn't say anything, he just waited quietly as he saw her desire to go to him battling with her desire to stay put on her face. The free flow of her emotions left no room for speculation into what she was feeling right now. He knew perfectly well just how hard this was for her; the bond they shared giving him insight into her heart in such a unique and intimate way.

He only wished that she would calm herself enough to be able to read his emotions now, he felt it would really help settle her.

"Dearest." Marcus said quietly, "Please come over here. All I want you to do is sit on the edge of the pool and put your feet in. I promise you I won't force you into the water. I won't drag you in, I won't carry you in, I won't throw you in. Getting in this pool will be entirely your choice. We have plenty of time. Just sit over here and think about it, please."

It was impossible for her to say no to that. Slowly – very very slowly – Castiel walked to the edge of the pool. Marcus' hands gently ran down the back of her legs when she was within his reach, and he held on of his hands up for her to grab to support herself when her legs began to tremble very badly as she lowered herself to sit.

Her expression when she put her feet into the water, an expression that would be appropriate on someone who was putting their feet in acid, hurt Marcus so terribly to look it. If his heart could break, he was sure it would have at this moment.

His mind flashed to her mother as Castiel's eyes clenched shut, her expression like pain as she submerged her legs just below the knees, and Marcus very briefly wondered if he would be able to hunt her down. He wanted retribution. He wanted to punish the creature who had done this to his sweet girl, but he knew he would never be able to act without Castiel seeing. There was no telling just how much that particular action would upset her.

The water was warm. It felt like a warm bath. Castiel felt her face relaxing as she took some deep breaths, still not opening her eyes as Marcus' hands rubbed her arms. She felt so bad for acting like this. She felt like such a spineless coward and a baby for being so pathetic.

"Don't." Marcus' gruff voice interrupted her thoughts, and she opened her eyes to look into his face. "Don't. I can only guess what you are thinking, but I can feel what you are feeling. Everything you are experiencing right now is a reflection of trauma Castiel. You are not weak. You are so incredibly brave for doing this." He ran a hand through her hair. "I love you so much."

Castiel wrapped her arms around him, feeling her fingers knot into his wet shirt.

"I-If I get in. You w-won't let go of me, right?" She couldn't keep the trembling out of her voice.

"Of course." Marcus assured her.

They stayed like that for an unknown number of minutes – Marcus's arms around her shoulders and Castiel's arms around his waist – unaware as to how much time passed. To Castiel it felt like a long time, but she really couldn't be sure since she wasn't wearing her watch.

"I'm still not sure I can do it." She whispered feeling ashamed.

"You can." Marcus assured her, and she felt as he kissed the top of her head. "This is fine in the meantime though." He teased giving her a little squeeze and earning a small laugh in response.

Five more minutes passed and in that time he started to purr, enjoying how it felt when Castiel pressed herself a little more firmly into him in response. He knew it comforted her greatly – as it should have – and felt that perhaps it was best if they did write today off as a good attempt and go back to their rooms. He didn't want to put her through too much emotional strain, and he wanted to speak with Aro. Perhaps his brother would have some ideas on how to make Castiel more comfortable with the water.

But Marcus couldn't deny that he also wanted to confer with Aro about Castiel's mother. He wanted to see if there could be some way around Castiel's visions, some way around her seeing… well whatever it was he was going to do. He didn't give it too much thought right now, not wanting to tip her off. Aro was the only one who could answer that concern for him.

His musings were interrupted by Castiel dropping her arms from around his waist. Her hands came to rest on his chest to give him a little push back.

Marcus stepped back automatically, because of course she wouldn't be capable of physically moving him, worried that she had seen something of his plans from his thoughts. Perhaps he had become too decided and set something in motion for the future.

But Castiel's face wasn't upset; she looked determined. Both of her hands went to grip the edge of the pool next to her legs, and she lowered herself into the water.

To say he was extremely proud when she stood in front of him – automatically standing on her toes to keep as much of her torso out of the water as possible and folding her arms across her chest defensively – would have been an understatement. He was absolutely brimming with pride as he looked down at her. The devastating strength of this emotion would be impossible for Castiel not to notice, even in her overwhelmed state.

Her sheepish smile up at him was enough of an indication that she felt it.

"You are such a good mate." Marcus said warmly, the strength of his pride in her nearly enough to make her feel breathless.

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves." Castiel mumbled, "How are we starting?"

The answer was apparently treading water. Marcus held out a hand for her to hold as he motioned for her to come closer to the boundary line and deeper into the water. She did fine at first, she moved forward willingly enough with Marcus by her side until the water reached her shoulders. The floor of the pool seemed to have a slight slope downward to it and somehow her foot slid on the smooth bottom when she took another step.

She only slid about a short distance before Marcus hand became stabilizing and prevented her from going too deep, but the feeling of the water lapping at her chin panicked her, and without even thinking about it she turned and flung herself at Marcus, desperately scrambling into his arms as if she were hoping to get onto his shoulders.

Marcus didn't let her climb onto his shoulders, but he did hold her in his arms so now only her butt was still in the water.

"Easy." Marcus soothed, squeezing her reassuringly as she tried to calm her now rapid breathing. "It's okay."

It took him nearly 20 minutes to convince her to allow him to put her back down in the water, and another ten minutes after that to start showing her how to tread the water to stay afloat. The water was up to her chin even on her tiptoes in this area of the pool, and Castiel found herself very acquainted with the patterns in the high ceiling because of this.

Her first attempt at treading water was absolutely abysmal. She kicked her legs way too hard and splashed water at Marcus with her uncontrolled arm movements. He had shown her what to do, how to lazily move her legs and arms under the water, but his teachings seemed to not compute with her brain.

Thankfully Marcus didn't laugh at her – she was sure she looked hilarious too – he remained completely calm and serious, his large hands finding her waist to pull her to him when part of her face went under.

Even though her first, second, third, fourth, and well… 17th attempts at treading water weren't so good, Castiel did eventually get the hang of it after over an hour. It seemed that the most important thing for her to do was to breath calmly. She had only managed to successfully tread the water for four minutes because her gaze was focused on Marcus' face and she was matching her breathing with his.

She probably would have been able to tread even longer too, but swimming was exhausting. She was pretty fit because she was a gymnast, but she never considered just how much cardio was involved with swimming. Then again swimming as a skill involved moving your whole body in a series of mostly synchronized or patterned movements through a body of water.

Castiel could safely say she now had a lot of respect for people who swam competitively.

Marcus let her take a break for 20 minutes before they would practice the doggy paddle, and Castiel wondered if she would even be able to, considering her body felt like it was beginning to ache. In the meantime, she got to watch him take laps in the pool himself. Marcus was doing what she was sure was a perfect breaststroke as he swam around on the deep side of the pool. Watching him as he dove underwater and kicked off from the wall doing small forward rolls below the water was mesmerizing.

She felt like she was waking up from a trance when Marcus swam back under the rope to the shallow end and flitted over to where she was sitting curled up at the pools edge.

"Ready to go again?" Marcus asked, pushing his wet hair from his face. He was so incredibly handsome all the time, Castiel didn't even want to imagine what she looked like right now. There was no way she looked as appealing in a bathing suit as Marcus did.

"Can we stop for today?" Castiel knew her voice sounded whiny, but she didn't care because well… she was whining. "My body feels like it really going to hurt if we keep this up."

Marcus grinned, "You're doing so well. I really want you to attempt a little bit of actual swimming before we stop for the day. I promise I'll give you a massage once we're showered and back at our rooms."

A massage? Now that sounded nice. Castiel couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten a massage – did the physical trainer at her old high school rubbing at a shoulder injury of hers after a tennis match count? But that fell more under the category of torture than anything else. That shit hurt.

"I'll need a full body massage…" Castiel teased, grinning back at him.

Marcus laughed. "I think that can be arranged."

"I want an actual massage though." Castiel said sternly as she stood, trying to get the smile off her face, "Not two minutes of you rubbing my back before you get on top of me."

It took Marcus nearly a minute to stop laughing after she said that, and he held out his arms still chuckling for her to jump to him.

Castiel didn't do as terribly with the doggy paddle as she did with the treading water. Her only problem was that she did kick her legs too hard every time she tried. Marcus told her that putting out so much energy was unnecessary and would only tire her out, not to mention it seemed to make her slower. Moving calmly and fluidly was her best bet for these early swimming lessons, Castiel knew this, but it was still not as easy to learn how to swim as it sounded.

After nearly six hours in the pool area total, Marcus said it was time they stopped. Castiel had plenty of breaks through their time here, but she was absolutely beat by the time they exited the pool together. She had been panting like a dog during her last couple of laps back and forth from the edge of the pool to where Marcus was standing and back – only about 20 feet each way – and her fingers were all pruny.

Getting into the shower felt like a dream come true. The hot water felt so nice and Castiel couldn't help but groan as she let it soak her hair. She felt Marcus come up behind her and slip hid hands under the straps to her bathing suit and she moved her arms as necessary to assist him in getting it off.

This shower was a little small for two people, especially when one of those people were as large as Marcus was, so there was no fooling around taking place. Marcus washed and rubbed her back for her while she worked to get the chlorine smell out of her hair, and he didn't stop her when she finished and quickly slid out of the shower, grabbing her towel to dry off while Marcus washed.

The absence of the hot water showed Castiel that her body was definitely sor,e and she was sitting tiredly on the bench once she was dressed and had moved her wet swimsuit into the plastic bag Marcus brought down as he come out of the shower himself.

They didn't dally in the pool area. Marcus quickly collected their things and picked Castiel up using his free arm before taking them back to their rooms. He kept good to his promise too and gave her what was undoubtedly the best body rub she had ever gotten, and he didn't try getting on top of her even once even though she had stripped down to her underwear for the massage.

Castiel rolled onto her back once he was done, and she smiled tiredly up at him as he sat back on his heels.

"I really am so proud of you Castiel," Marcus said sincerely, the warmth in his voice impossible to miss.

"Why don't we hold off on all the praise until you manage to get me in the water a couple more times?" Castiel laughed, throwing an arm over her face to block out the light, "I hated every second of that you know."

She heard him chuckle and jumped when he ran his hand up her bare stomach. When she moved her arm to give him a beseeching look, she was met by a pair of black eyes that watched her hungrily. His hands moved quickly and before she had time to process it one hand had slid down her leg to lock around her ankle.

Marcus pulled her toward him in one swift movement, careful not to hurt her accidentally as he did so. His body come to cover hers and his lips trailed across her jaw and down her neck, stopping only to reach for the last remaining articles of clothing on her body.

"Gently," Castiel breathed, feeling him purr against her in response. He understood she was tired but was pleased that she still wanted to. They didn't usually have slow sex and he was grateful at this opportunity to cherish her. He had quite frequently thought about how he had been too rough with her the first time they shared a bed and he had spent many nights thinking of what he would have done differently.

Now was his chance to make up for that.

He kissed her softly, allowing her to take the lead as her hands came up to knot in his hair, her lips parting to allow his tongue entrance.

She moaned softly as he deepened the kiss, lifting her hips off the bed as his fingers hooked into her underwear to pull them down her legs, moving her arms as necessary so he could remove her bra. Touching her always ignited this feeling of warmth inside him and he groaned as she released her hold on his hair and reached for his clothes.

He let her undress him. Castiel couldn't recall ever feeling so pleased and confident than she had the moment she ran her hands down Marcus' naked chest, her fingers trailing softly through his pubic hair before gripping his cock, and feeling him shiver and groan in need when she touched him.

It was nice to know she had the same effect on him as he did on her.

She guided him to her entrance, uninterested in any further foreplay. Marcus noticed immediately how very ready she was as he pressed the head of his cock against her, gently pushing inside her a couple of inches and feeling just how wet she was for him.

"Fuck." He groaned, his hands finding her hips so he could lift them slightly, changing the angle so it would be easier to slide inside her.

Castiel's head went back, a satisfied moan passing her lips as he pressed inside her. She gasped and clung to him as he lowered himself over her, wrapping her legs around his waist as her lips found his again.

"Marcus," She panted, "Oh don't stop. That feels so good."

He fucked her slowly, enjoying the sense of both physical and emotional closeness as he took his time with her, basking in the sounds she made and the soft whispers of I love you. This moment wasn't about chasing release; it was just about making her feel good. It was about showing her how much he loved her with his body as well as his words.

"I love you so much."


"Bells… Can I talk to you about something? I just kind of want to talk something through to see if I can make sense of it."

Bella looked up quizzically at Castiel, setting her new book down on the table beside her plate. She and Castiel were out in Volterra at a small café that was fairly far from the castle and near a slightly busy street. It was sunny out and the two of them appeared to just be two friends enjoying lunch on a, surprisingly, not extremely windy day in the middle of the week.

Even though Bella couldn't see Afton, she was very aware of him standing only a few feet from them, facing the road as he watched the people mulling about their day and stayed alert for anything suspicious.

The two girls hadn't spent any time together yesterday, which Bella found out was because Marcus was teaching Castiel to swim. Bella was a good friend and dutifully listened to Castiel complain over breakfast that morning about how much she absolutely hated swimming at how yesterday had been the worst day ever, and tried to contradict her by saying that even though Castiel might hate swimming some of the things she had implied while they were talking hinted that yesterday hadn't been all bad.

Castiel gave her an embarrassed smile at that and Bella didn't ask why her friend was in such a good mood, figuring she knew the reason.

They left the castle shortly after that. Bella wanted to go to a bookstore to pick up a few of the books Castiel had recommended to her, knowing that she'd like anything Castiel recommended due to her uncanny ability to know exactly what Bella would like or dislike before she even knew it herself. But Castiel had started to get very quiet the longer they were out and by the time they stopped to get lunch Castiel was hardly talking to her at all.

Bella had studied her friends face enough to know when she was thinking hard about something, watching the future as Alice did for meaning and guidance. She didn't interrupt her thought processes knowing Castiel would speak when she was ready.

"Sure," Bella said quickly, "What's bothering you?"

Castiel looked intensely at Bella for a few seconds – she hadn't been aware her agitation today was as obvious as it apparently was – before shaking her head to gather her thoughts.

"I'm…" Castiel paused, trying to find the right words, "Hitting a blip so to speak… I thought about asking you for Alice's number today so I could call her and ask her opinion. She said the more accurate term for what I'm experiencing is a knot and that all the points of my future must be coming to a serious event that's going to influence all possible outcomes of my life."

Bella stared at her. It took her a long second to realize that when Castiel said she spoke to Alice that this conversation had only happened in a vision. She had planned to call Alice and therefore got the answer she needed without ever placing the call in the first place.

"What?" Bella leaned forward, her voice dropping to a whisper, "Do you… do you mean you're going to be changed? Is that what you're seeing?"

Castiel shook her head, and her expression was worried. She looked very pale. "No, that's just it. I see… a few dozen possible paths and they're all meeting in this one very… jumbled point. There is so much happening at this junction that I can't see through all the moving pictures."

Castiel knew that if she had a vampire's quicker and much roomier head, she probably would be able to make sense of the knot, but her brain was slow and human… she couldn't read it.

"What I'm seeing on the other end of the knot are futures that seem to all have me mortal, so no I'm not going to be changed but…" Castiel trailed off, staring down at the table.

Bella felt something brush her arm and was sure that Afton was standing very close to her and Castiel now. He was obviously as alarmed by this conversation as she was.

"But?" Bella prodded; she was sure she could feel Afton's gratitude. She knew the guard must be very frustrated as he was not able to speak to Castiel right now.

"But… I think I'm going to be injured."

Bella felt like her stomach had done a backflip. "Why would you say that?"

Castiel didn't answer, she seemed to be looking at something far away. Subconsciously, Castiel drew her left arm close to her chest, her right hand rubbing her forearm as if recalling some long-forgotten injury.

Or an injury that would come to pass.

"Like with Jane?" Bella's lips felt numb.

Castiel's eyes refocused on her, and she shook her head. "No, I think… I think this is more serious than that."

"When did this blip – I mean knot – happen?" Bella asked, trying not to let any alarm show in her tone and failing as her voice quivered. "You didn't mention it before today."

Castiel bit her bottom lip for a second, "It happened just after we left the castle today."

Bella felt cold and scared, the bright sunlight that was beating down on them giving her no warmth. They had to go back to the castle right away. They had to tell someone. Aro or Marcus – Aro and Marcus. It was all Bella could think to do.

Suddenly Castiel felt a sharp prod to the side of her head, "Ouch!"

Bella looked around panicked as Castiel batted Afton's invisible hand away and hissed, "Afton cut it out!" but no other human was watching the two of them. No one was paying any mind to Castiel trying to shoo away an invisible vampire.

"We should go back to the castle Cas." Bella said hurriedly, standing and grabbing her book. She knew that Afton probably agreed with her and that was most likely why he was poking Castiel – to get the two of them moving.

Bella wondered how many guards were close by hiding in any shadows they could find and listening to Castiel's alarming considerations. She wondered where Kemar was, hoping he was close too.

Castiel stood, she knew that going back to the castle and finding Marcus and Aro meant she'd basically be put on house arrest until the knot had cleared itself up. She also knew that going back would trigger a castle lock down which would overexcite some of the guard who would be expecting a castle siege. But if they went back it was possible that Aro would be able to read the knot. It was possible he could see what it was that might be a threat to her. If Aro could see it, they could work around it and untie the knot.

"Okay," Castiel sighed, taking Bella's offered hand and trying not to grin at the fact that if any other humans were watching they'd think Bella and her were girlfriends. She knew Bella just wanted her close, so she didn't say anything.

They started back up the street, Castiel knew exactly where they should turn to enter an alley where six guards would be waiting for them. They'd then be taken underground back to the castle.

"Shit!" Bella breathed when they were only a block away from their turn, "My bag-,"

"I got it." Castiel said without thinking, slipping her hand out of Bella's and dashing back down the street. Castiel was a quick runner, and it only took her a minute to get back to their table. No people were around as she bent to pick up the paper shopping bag of books from where it had been under Bella's chair, the only car in sight was a dark van coming up the street, probably on its way to deliver packages.

Castiel barely made it back to the curb before she heard the squealing of tires as the van came to a hard stop. Castiel froze momentarily at the sound, wondering why the vehicle would stop so short when there was no one around but her, and she was on the opposite side of the road.

A car door opened and Castiel turned back to look at the van, expecting some angry Italian man to be cursing her out as if she were planning to run into the street, or maybe to see a cat run over in the road.

But she didn't see anything, pain exploded in the back of her skull before she could turn completely around. She fell quickly into unconsciousness, completely unaware of Bella's scream.


Bella felt as if the world was going in slow motion. She watched in horror as the man in dark clothing leapt out of the passenger's side of the van, coming quickly to Castiel's side before her friend had even turned around. She screamed as he hit Castiel in the back of the head with some oddly shaped object she couldn't make out. Her friend crumpled to the street.

Bella felt a rush of air as Afton sprinted away from her.

The back of the van opened, and Bella saw a dark shape flash out and scoop Castiel up before vanishing with her, the back of the van's doors slamming shut.

The world was moving so slow, but that shaped had moved so fast…

It was with horror that Bella realized the assailants were not humans. The first man was still in the road, he turned toward the van confused as the driver put the van in reverse and squealed down the street, rapidly turning to right itself and switching back to drive before zipping away leaving the attacker stunned in the middle of the road.

The attacker was not a vampire though; Bella was absolutely sure of this. He did not shimmer in the sun, and he did not move as fast as the shape that had grabbed Castiel.

The man did not expect it when he was hit by an invisible force and thrown 20 feet into the air. Bella watched as a dark grey shape – a Volturi guard – flew across the street from one rooftop to the other, grabbing the man in midair and disappearing with him.

Bella took no time to wonder where Afton was. She knew that he was chasing the van. He had only paused long enough to kick the human man who had hurt Castiel into position for another guard to grab him. She was astounded that people didn't come running. That other humans hadn't come at the sound of her scream. But it appeared no one had heard it. This had all happened at exactly the right time and there wasn't a fucking soul in sight.

Bella began to run. She ran toward the clock tower, the words Palazzo dei Priori echoing in her head as her mind flashed back to the day she ran to save Edward. She was focusing her mind and body on only two things – the clock tower, and not tripping – because they were the only two things in the world that mattered. They needed help. She needed to get help.

Bella ran through Volterra yet again to save someone she loved. But it was easier now than it was before. The streets weren't packed with bodies this time. People did stare as she ran – obviously not out for a lunchtime jog in jeans with her hair down – but she paid no mind. Twice she saw something dark in her peripheral vision flashing along the rooftops. She was sure the guards canvassing the city knew what happened and were trying to aid Afton while also trying to avoid the sunlight and human eyes.

The main castle doors were shut when Bella reached them but luckily, they weren't locked. They were heavy though and she had to use all her strength to get them open just wide enough for her to squeeze through.

Bella knew this part of the castle – the part accessible to the public – was just a museum. The rest of the above ground castle being said to be too unstable for people to wander through safely. But still she ran, heading toward the desk where a human woman with dark hair was rapidly standing, looking at Bella in confusion.

"Caio!" The woman began, but Bella cut her off as she ran into the desk, reaching a hand over it to grab the woman by the arm.

"Not here for a tour. Get help. Castiel's been taken. Castiel-," Bella was panting. The now frightened looking receptionists' eyes showed her recognition of Castiel's name and she picked up the phone at her desk, rapidly dialing the appropriate number.


"Again Isabella,"

Bella was sitting in Aro's office, tears running down her face as she sat curled up in her chair, her arms wrapped around her legs.

There were nearly 20 vampires in this small office, making it very cramped and she felt like she couldn't breathe. Aro was standing in front of his desk facing her, his palms together in front of his face and his eyes shut as if he were praying. This was the third time he was having her repeat what had happened.

She stuttered and hiccupped through it, Aro was going to make her repeat this story over and over and she knew it. He couldn't read her mind to see what she had seen on the street. She was the only witness available as the guards who had been close had all left in pursuit of the van. He was going to make her tell the story again and again so he could be assured she didn't miss telling him anything or leave anything out.

Marcus wasn't here. When Bella had been taken to this room, having literally been grabbed by a guard she had never met before in the museum and ran up here so fast her ears hurt from the sudden rapid changes in direction and elevation, she had expected to see him. But Aro had arrived alone, already extremely grim and agitated as he barked at her to talk. She found out very quickly that Marcus had been working in his office when a guard literally catapulted herself through his window from outside. Marcus had nearly taken her head off expecting an attack, but her panicked words that Castiel had been kidnapped had stopped him. He and the guard left to join the pursuit through that same window.

"I-I-It's my fault." Bella sobbed both of her hands fisting in her hair, "I had her, I had a hand on her, and I let her slip out. If I just didn't mention the b-b-bag-,"

Bella collapsed into a fit of tears that Aro knew there was no hope in getting her out of. He didn't have the patience right no to deal with any weeping human women. They had set a BOLO out for the van and for Castiel to all of their allies. Aro was waiting for a return call from one of their allies in Switzerland. The closest of their allies besides the Lucerne coven – the covens in Spain, Belgium, and Slovakia – had already mobilized at Aro's call. He was grateful they had so many good friends and he hoped that with the rapid convergence of vampires in the general direction of where the van was headed would result in a quick capture before any harm could come to Castiel.

But the sun was posing a huge problem. Afton was all they had, and he was doing his best to never lose sight of the van. They had pinged his cellphone to keep a tracker on him. Aro knew that if the van went through crowded towns or cities they could be royally fucked. Afton might be invisible, but he was still solid. If anything happened to hinder him and he lost sight of the van the trail would be lost.

Demetri. They needed Demetri NOW. But he was currently on the plane back to Italy and everyone on that plane his brother Caius included was completely unaware of the situation. Not to mention it would take a few more hours for the sun to go down.

The door to the office opened and Sulpicia and Athenadora entered. Both of their beautiful faces were twisted with sadness and fear.

Aro said nothing to them. He only jerked his chin toward Isabella, asking them nonverbally if they could deal with her as his phone started to vibrate in his pocket.

He answered the call only just beginning to explain the situation to Hans, the leader of the Lucerne coven, when the door to his office opened again.

Well it didn't just open, the door crashed back against the wall as the guard entering slammed into it, too impatient to slow his speed before opening the door. Aro would have told the broad-shouldered young vampire off if he hadn't been holding a phone out to him.

"Demetri." The boy explained.

Aro snatched the phone from his hand, tossing his own phone through the air to his wife who was completely prepared to catch it. Sulpicia started off the explanation to Hans where Aro had left off, and Aro strode from the room talking fast to Demetri who had apparently just landed in Italy and tuning out the whispering of the guards and the quiet words of Athenadora as she comforted Isabella Swan.

Aro could hear scuffling on the other end of the phone, his brother's voice as he barked at the guards on the other end who had crowded closer to Demetri to listen in on the call to "give them some fucking space!", and was pleased he wouldn't have to explain himself twice as he gave all the information he could.

Aro turned down another hall and saw two guards coming towards him, Efrain – one of the guards who had been out on the rooftops today – and one of the Volturi's heads of the technology department, Joshua.

"What is it?" Aro snapped, stopping only a few feet from them.

"The suspect Afton apprehended is down in the dungeon. He is chained for questioning." Efrain explained and Aro only gave one stiff nod, allowing the bloodlust to build within him.

He was going to make this man hurt.

His sharp gaze found Joshua, silently asking why he was here as his department had no business in this matter.

"I bought Joshua because we need to send out an alert Master." Efrain said, taking an unnecessary deep breath as if he were about to deliver some unpleasant news.

Aro froze at the sound.

"The suspect is a werewolf."

It was silent for exactly three seconds as Aro processed these words, he almost didn't notice the gasps coming from the other end of the phone.

"Send out a text alert to all phones." Aro commanded Joshua, who immediately whipped his phone out of his pocket and began typing away.

Aro bought the phone back up to his ear and ran toward the dungeons. He felt the phone give a small vibration in his hand as he received the text, and he was sure Marcus' heart must be falling out of his ass at this very second. There was no doubt in his mind that his brother would lose his shit once he found out that then men who had taken his girl were werewolves.

"What cycle is the moon this week?" Aro asked aloud, waiting for anyone on the other end of the phone to answer.

"Full," A female voice responded.


Castiel groaned. Her head was screaming with pain and her eyelids fluttered as she tried to sit up. She was leaning back against something cold, hard, and uneven. It vibrated slightly and a strange rumbling met her ears.

She opened her eyes to almost total darkness. The space she was in was illuminated by a soft warm glow somewhere to her right and she turned to face it.

Horror quickly took root in her mind.

The light she was seeing was nothing more than a keychain flashlight; a small yellow LED imbedded in the mouth of a plastic t-rex that was only on because someone was pressing the tail of the device down to keep the mouth open.

She was in the back of a van with over a dozen other bodies. The metal thing she was leaning against was the left side of the van and each of them where lined up along the walls. The only portion of the van that was free of unconscious people being the back doors.

Castiel was incredibly relieved to see that yes, these were unconscious people and not dead people. The rise and fall of their chests in the dim light from the LED was comforting.

She realized quickly that she was bound, her ankles were zip-tied together as where her hands in her lap. Her mouth wasn't taped shut though, and her gaze found the face of the man holding the little keychain flashlight.

Scared brown eyes found hers. He was a man in his fifties she was sure, with grey stubble on his cheeks and more strands of gray in his dark hair. His face was very badly bruised, and his wrists were also bound in front of him.

They were the only two conscious, and when Castiel opened her mouth to ask him what was happening he shook his head at her.

Whatever the reason, he didn't want her to speak. He probably couldn't answer her question anyway. And for some reason Castiel found herself incredibly curious as to why her their hands were bound in the front, wasn't that some kind of no-no in kidnapping plots? Didn't you want to avoid hands bound in front because the kidnapped person could choke you out?

Where the people that took her untrained criminals? Or were they just so confident that they couldn't be stood up to that they didn't care how they tied up their prey?

Prey?

Castiel's brain had immediately chosen the word because she had spent so much time around vampires that she had just assumed vampires had taken her. But she had no evidence this was the case… what on earth would vampires want with a van full of humans? Was another coven trying to eat their meals Volturi style? Was this just a human trafficking crime? Was this just plain old human-vs-human discord?

She decided to try to get a better look around the van, and the older man who was watching her seemed to notice what she was trying to do and helpfully shined the light of the keychain in the direction she was facing.

She was close to the back of the van, only one of the captives with her was on her left side. The light showed her that there were both men and women in this van with her. The ages seemed to range from twenty to sixty and the ethnicity was random. White, Hispanic, Black, Asian, brown hair, blonde hair, multicolor-dyed hair. There was no similarity between any of the other captives.

The person against her left side whimpered in their sleep, and Castiel turned to look at them.

At first, she was confused, only seeing the door before she looked down.

Her heart felt like it had stopped beating.

The ages of the other captives… didn't range from twenty to sixty years old. Because the little boy beside her couldn't have been older than four.

Her body filled with dread the longer she looked at him, because the longer she looked at him the more she recognized him.

The little caramel skinned boy with the curly black hair. She had tripped over his bloody body once in a dream many months ago.

That dream had been a vision of what was to come. Or, it was a dream that was tainting a vision – as such had happened before – and she only had some details of what was going to happen.

Her lips quivered. She wanted to cry and scream at the same time. Seeing this little boy beside her scared her more than anything else had. Castiel hadn't accepted the danger she was in until now.

Her chest felt tight, and she didn't fight to contain the panic that was coursing through her. She did not cry and she did not scream, but she allowed all of her feelings to flow unsuppressed through her bond to Marcus. She was trying to communicate to him in the only way she could that the situation she was in was about as bad as it could get.

She turned her face back down to look at the boy who was pressed against her side, feeling like her heart would burst as his tiny body curled even closer to her, his head on her thigh.

Castiel knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that she was not going to let this child die.


As time went on, more of the humans woke up. Not all of them reacted as if they were in pain though, and the fact that they all seemed to be awakening around the same time made her wonder just how many of them had been drugged. Castiel noted that there were 16 of them total including herself and the child.

No one spoke as they came to. Some gasped and others whimpered, but it was due to her and the keychain man's rapidly shaking heads when they opened their moths to speak that everyone stayed quiet. Castiel didn't know the reason for not talking, but the bruising on his face spoke volumes to everyone who looked at him. Everyone's expressions were scared and forlorn as they realized they were restrained, and pity always filled their eyes when they took in the sleeping kid next to Castiel.

The boy woke up last. Everyone held their breaths as he sat up and looked around, expecting screaming and crying.

But he didn't cry, the expression on his small face made Castiel wonder just how many times had had woken up while in the back of this van before she came to. How long had he been trapped back here? He looked up at her, and for a long moment the two of them stared at each other.

Without warning the boy began wiggling closer to her, and Castiel lifted her arms, already aware what he was trying to do and allowing him to get himself onto her lap. She lowered her arms, keeping him protected in the circle of them, his place secured due to her bound wrists.

Castiel noticed that she was not getting a lot of interference from her mate bond. Marcus wasn't sending her soothing emotions or even panicked ones. He felt numb to her.

But… this was probably because Marcus was trying to keep the channel clear so he could feel her emotions without his own getting in the way. And just as soon as she had this thought Castiel knew she was right. Marcus knew she was missing, he was coming to save her, and he was staying calm so he could keep a free read on every small fluctuation of her emotions because it was the closest thing he could get to understanding her peril without reading her mind.

Suddenly the van jerked as if it took a hard turn, and most of the humans in the van made sounds of protest as they were jostled.

A laugh sounded from the front of the van. There was plywood separating the drivers at the front of the van and the captives in the back. This was the reason why it was so fucking dark back here.

The van began to slow to a crawl after a few more minutes of driving, and she tightened her arms around the kid despite how it hurt her wrists to do so.

The van stopped, and everyone waited with bated breath as it stopped idling and the front doors opened and shut.

The back doors flew open. Light blinded them and Castiel cringed back from it, but unlike the others she kept her eyes wide, refusing to shut them in the face of what was happening.

It wasn't sunlight. The van had been pulled up next to a large brick faced warehouse, a huge bay door was open, and the light was pouring out onto the street. Two men were at the doors to the back of the van. One was short and scruffy looking with a wild beard and mustache that obscured the details of his face. Castiel knew he was mortal with just the faintest glance. He was breathing heavily and sweating as he reached into the car and grabbed the woman across from her, who shrieked as he tossed her to the ground.

The other man was much more frightening to Castiel because he was not human. He was wearing dark clothing that obscured most of his skin and only his hands, neck, and face were bare.

His pale skin shone like moonlight. It looked unearthly in the present setting, the yellow light from the doorway gave no warmth to his skin tone. It seemed as if his skin only wanted to reflect the glow from the nearly full moon in the sky above them.

His dark eyes found hers, and he grabbed the top of her left arm and yanked her from the car.

Castiel turned her body so she landed on her back when she hit the ground, not wanting to hurt the kid who was now clinging to her in fear. She barely rolled to the side to try getting to her feet when someone else grabbed her.

She didn't see who was dragging her by the back of her shirt. She could only hold tightly to the boy while her bound legs dragged uselessly on the ground, her shoes scattering gravel and dirt. She glanced around herself quickly to get a picture of where she was before she was pulled into the warehouse.

The place they were in was obviously abandoned. It looked to her that her captors had taken them to a set of old warehouses out in the woods somewhere. All she saw were rundown buildings with broken windows and trees. The road that they had taken in was not paved.

This was not good.

"Gah!" Castiel couldn't hold in the protesting sound she made when she was thrown to her back on the floor. The most she was able to do was sit up with the boy in her arms and look around as the others were quickly dragged in.

This warehouse was unused. There looked to be some old machining equipment pushed into a far corner, everything that was left of them seemed to just be scrap though. Any useful parts were removed from those machines long ago whether they were taken by the previous owners or looters no one could say.

The walls were covered in graffiti, the cracked concrete floor was littered with random debris and pieces of metal and broken glass. There was rotting cardboard in some areas and there were slightly rusted vertical I-beams running from the floor to the ceiling to support the roof. If this place was abandoned, how were the lights on? Someone was paying for the electricity obviously.

"Ugh!"

Castiel turned her head to look to the left as the last person was dragged into the room. He started cursing in another language at the person who had dropped him, and it was with a slight jab of unease that Castiel noticed they had been assembled into a line.

Five men stood before them, four of these men all had the same scruffy look about them; wild hair and beards, stocky builds, and unkempt clothes. The vampire among them was tall and lean and extremely out of place with his peers.

The vampire observed each of them, his eyes moving down the line with a displeased look on his face, the humans seemed to be waiting for him to say something.

"Put them on their knees." His voice was velvety, smooth, and deep. He seemed utterly bored with the entire situation.

The scruffy human men moved forward and Castiel could only watch helplessly as they started at the far left end of the line, grabbing each captive one by one and putting them on their knees before forcing them to sit back on their heels with their hands all still bound in front of them.

The only sound she made was when they took the child from her arms. She felt an unreasonable level of responsibility for the little boy, but perhaps that was just because she had seen him dead.

They put the kid next to her, and when the man with the darkest hair grabbed her to put her in position the little boy yelled in protest, seemingly just as upset that they were putting their hands on her as she was when the put their hands on him.

Once the line was organized the vampire seemed pleased with the arrangement, his gaze running down the line as he nodded in a satisfied kind of way.

It was quiet for a long moment, Castiel was stunned that no one was speaking. None of the other humans said a word, no one demanded to know what was happening or why they were here, if anything all of the others seemed… resigned.

After a quick glance left and right it occurred to Castiel that they were seated in a position that wasn't unlike those you see in movies where someone gets executed. This was probably extremely terrifying to everyone else here, but for her?

Castiel breathed deeply, never taking her eyes off the vampire as everyone waited for something to happen. Castiel felt in this moment that she was not scared. She was wary and she was cautious, but she was not frightened of the situation they were in. If anything, she was plotting. Castiel knew the Volturi were coming and her family was drawing closer and closer with each passing minute. Her mate would come, and she just needed to stay alive until he did.

The vampire locked eyes with her. Neither one of them blinked as they watched each other, and Castiel knew he could see the defiance in her expression as she refused to look away first.

He smiled, baring his teeth in a way that called to the instinctual side of her brain to look away from him, but instead Castiel felt the edge of her lips pull up in a condescending half-smile in return.

He took a step toward her then, his lips shielding his teeth once more as obvious confusion in her response flashed in his eyes for half a second.

A metal door squeaked open at the far back of the room, and Castiel ended the staring contest with the vampire before her to look behind him.

He turned at the sound to.

Of course. Castiel groaned mentally, Of course it's another fucking vampire.

The vampire who entered now was the same height and build as the vampire before her. He crossed the room at a human pace, smirking widely as he greeted the men who had bought them all here. His hair was dirty blonde, and if it wasn't for the fact that the other vampire had dark hair Castiel would have believed them to be brothers.

"Ah my nephew! You have truly outdone yourself! Sixteen? You told me you would only be bringing fifteen!" The blonde-haired vampire had a French accent, and he looked delighted at the sight of all the bound humans before him as he stopped beside the vampire who he had called Nephew.

It did not escape Castiel's notice however, that he gave the scruffy men a quick sidelong glance and an expression as if he had just smelled something unpleasant and nasty had crossed his face when he did so.

"It was fifteen when we last spoke," The dark haired one sniffed, he didn't seem to have an underlying accent to his voice, "Eight males and seven females. That one-," He jerked his chin toward one of the humans in the line and a quick look in that direction showed Castiel that it was the keychain man he was referring to. "-and his worthless brother tried cutting the tires to the transport when we stopped in Romania. We made an example of the two of them, but the other one died halfway through Hungary. We picked up two females in Italy. We figured having an extra would satisfy the fact that this haul bought more women than men."

"Oh, I'm sure it's fine!" The French one waved off his nephew's concerns. "We know the men tend to transform into larger mutations, but does it really matter in the end? The ringleaders want as many changed as they can, they go like hot cakes at the trades you know."

Trades? Castiel stilled. The trades… The supernatural trades the Volturi were investigating and had been trying to put a stop to for a couple of years now?

"Can we get this over with Maxx?" The nephew said, "For fucks sake they smell bad enough in their human forms, but I can smell the mutt in the backroom from here. I only did this as a favor to you, so can we get this shit done so I can leave?"

The scruffy human men looked extremely offended at the nephew's words, and Castiel was surprised they didn't protest when Maxx said, "Yes, yes of course, if you all could please get the required items from the back that would be great. Two of you should be able to handle the beast as well no?"

As Castiel's brain began to truly catch up with what she had heard, the fear began to set in as she realized that she scruffy human men… probably weren't human at all.

But… they couldn't be werewolves, they couldn't be. Vampires and werewolves hated each other. They didn't work together they-

"Well now I'm sure you're all wondering why you are here." Maxx's cheerful gaze traveled down the line of humans, hesitating on Castiel for only a second as he registered the surprising amount of understanding on her face. "You're all English speakers yes?"

No one responded but the fact that none of them looked confused at his words were confirmation enough, "Well maybe not the infant but he'll most likely die in his first change so who cares." He laughed.

Castiel's teeth made a snapping sound as she clenched her jaw at his words.

"Now don't be alarmed," Maxx said soothingly, and Castiel felt as if the tension was being sucked out of the air and replaced by some type of soothing energy that wanted to seep into her bones. Wanted to but couldn't, "You are not here to be killed. You will look back on this night years from now as the night you became something greater, something… more."

All of the humans in the line, including the little boy beside her seemed to relax. It was impossible for Castiel not to notice how the stress seemed to leave everyone's tense postures and hunched shoulders… everyone's but hers.

Maxx and his nephew noticed this too.

"I know what you're doing." Castiel said lowly. There was no need to raise her voice as they would hear her anyway. "You can lie to all these people and fake a comfortable atmosphere as long as you'd like but you won't play with me. Does your gift only work on those who aren't aware? Is it that weak?"

The friendly smile seemed to drop from Maxx's face, and his nephew leaned toward him for a second to whisper something in his ear.

Instantaneously the nephew was in front of her. He grabbed the front of her shirt and lifted her clean off the ground. The sensation of being held up by her t-shirt was not comfortable at all, she could feel the fabric digging into her underarms.

"And who exactly are you beautiful?" He breathed, and Castiel swung her bound feet toward his groin in response.

He bought his knee up to block her, and miraculously a plastic snapping noise sounded as the zip-tie binding her feet broke when his knee connected with it.

He shook her, hard, and Castiel grimaced as her head throbbed with pain, her hair swishing around her face.

"Maxx!" The vampire holding her barked, shock plain on his face. "Come look at this."

Maxx appeared next to him in the blink of an eye, and Castiel tried not to make a face as the nephew moved her so her back was to his chest, one of his arms around her torso and pinning her arms to her side, his free hand coming up to grasp her chin and jerk it to the side.

Ouch.

Castiel cried out in pain, unable to help it as it felt as if the vampire holding her had just pulled a muscle in her neck.

"Easy Lucas!" Maxx reprimanded, and Castiel felt him pull the neck of her t-shirt aside. She knew what he was getting a good look at. Thankfully, they didn't seem interested in the gold chain of the crest that was hiding beneath her shirt.

Maxx grabbed her chin and turned her face slowly toward his. Lucas adjusted his grip so both of his hands were holding Castiel's upper arms and her feet were placed back on the ground.

But the slow turn of her head showed Castiel that she definitely had a muscle injury because good fucking god that hurt.

"Who do you belong to gorgeous?" Maxx breathed.

"Fuck you!" Castiel spat at him, hating the two of them using pet names for her in such a sickening way.

"Where did you get this one?" Maxx asked Lucas over her shoulder.

"Volterra Italy. The ringleaders requested we snag a human from the city so that Volturi would understand that just because they busted the trade show in Quebec two months ago that they shouldn't be too proud of themselves. Their precious city will not remain exempt from the new order. They won't be holding onto it for long."

"It seems you snagged more than just a random mortal," Maxx's gaze traveled back to her mate bite, and much to her disgust he traced it with the tips of his fingers.

Castiel cringed, trying to flinch away from his hand.

Both of the vampires laughed.

"Oh, she's fully mated alright." Lucas' humor at her discomfort was sinister indeed. "We thought she smelled like a vampire, but the whole city smells of them on a good day. Imagine how the Volturi will react when we drop the lovely little mortal mate of one of their guards on their doorstep reeking like a fucking dog… You know I left one of them in the city, right? The Volturi undoubtedly killed him by now but one less werewolf in this world is only a favor to us."

Castiel's stomach filled with dread and she knew what all of them had been bought there for before Maxx turned back to the other humans and began to speak.

"Tonight, you will all become stronger… faster… more deadly than the average human." Maxx spoke as if he were announcing some grand prize, but it seemed that only Castiel could hear the humor underlying his words. Only she could think clearly enough to see through what was undoubtedly his gift.

"At first," Maxx laughed, "You will not be able to control your transformations. You will spend the week of the full moon as a wolf. As you get older though do not fret… eventually you will only transform against your will on the night of the full moon."

The door to the back of the room opened, and two of the four scruffy men – older werewolves Castiel now realized – returned. One of them much to Castiel's horror was holding a handful of needles.

"We will transport you tomorrow to a place where you will meet people who will be all too happy to support you through your introduction into this wonderful new life." The sarcastic humor in Maxwells voice was so obvious – how were all the other humans still looking so enraptured by his words? "You don't have to panic about tomorrow though, it takes a few days for your blood to fully transform so you will have a month before your first mutation."

"You're going to fucking sell us like slaves." Castiel spat, hoping her words would help break some of the other humans out of the trance.

She was ignored. She could feel Lucas chuckling against her back.

Castiel could only watch, totally helpless, as the werewolf with the syringes went to the first person in the line and grabbed him. She tried not to look, but Lucas grabbed her chin to make her watch as the needle was stabbed into the man's upper arm. Thick red liquid was pushed down with the plunger and the empty needle was discarded on the floor when it was done.

"You'll be last beautiful," He breathed in her ear, "And don't worry, we'll drop you off back at Volterra in the morning. At least tell me your boyfriends name so we can make sure he gets a note on where to find your body-"

Castiel tuned him out, the werewolf was working fast and was almost completely down the line. Only three humans were left, and the little boy was next. The werewolf grabbed him and-

CRASH

The door at the back of the room flew off its hinges and everyone turned toward the sound just as an ear shattering roar echoed through the nearly empty room.

The thing that had entered the room didn't look like a human, or a wolf, but some sick combination of the two.

A vaguely humanoid appearance, elongated limbs, and a body that was covered in fur in patches; hairy in some spots but completely bald in others… Castiel knew she was looking at a true werewolf and they looked nothing like Hollywood's movie representations of them.

Its snout and front legs were coated in blood, its talons clicking on the floor as it stepped forward, fresh flesh falling from its teeth.

The other two men were obviously meant to contain this thing… and they had both failed.

The two remaining untransformed wolves immediately ran for the door. Castiel was dropped by Lucas as he and Maxx fled, vanishing out the open bay door long before the two werewolves reached it.

Castiel hit the floor and she threw her bound hands out to break her fall.

The zip tie holding her wrists together snapped just like the one holding her feet had and she realized that all of the zip ties must have been fastened too tightly because they became brittle at a sudden unexpected force.

The werewolf roared again, and even though she wasn't sure it was the smartest thing to do, Castiel slipped into her foresight, watching her future seven and a half seconds ahead.

Adrenalin was coursing through her veins as she sprinted for the child. Her ears heard as the werewolf leapt and landed on the slowest of the untransformed men heading for the door. Its attention seemed to lock on the first moving thing it got its eyes on, and in this case, it wasn't her.

She ignored the man's screaming as she picked up a jagged piece of scrap metal from the floor, she knelt in front of the boy and broke through his zip ties while still watching the future, already seeing herself running with him. His arms came up and she felt as his little limbs locked around her neck, the sounds in the room changing to a different set of screams as the werewolf leapt at the last man standing – he had only been 17 feet from the open door.

Castiel did not stay to help any of the remaining humans, most of them where worse than dead anyway, and the last two uninfected adults – both women in their thirties – seemed to have fainted from the shock.

She ran for the door, hardly noticing the boy in her arms.

Castiel would make it, she knew she would because she had seen the reason a few seconds ago even though she was only hearing the sound now.

The werewolf looked up from the torso it was tearing into at the sound of her running steps, its gaze locked onto her, its body coiled to leap.

And the keychain man screamed.

"Look over here you disgusting piece of shit! Look here!" He had thrown his body forward, thrashing around purposefully on the floor to draw the wolf's attention.

It turned to him, and Castiel felt the cool air of the night on her skin as she escaped the building.

She knew what would come next, and she crouched, setting the boy down and coming back to the here and now while trying to tune out the sickening sounds of bones crunching coming from inside the warehouse.

Castiel pointed to the van, "Go! Crawl under it and hide."

The little boys' eyes were so wide and frightened as he looked at her. He immediately ran back to her arms, putting his hands around her neck in the common gesture of wanting to be picked up again.

"No! Me quedo! Me quedo!" He said, and Castiel swallowed. Her time was rapidly running out.

What Spanish did she know? She knew a little from high school.

"Escondo? Es-Escondor! Escondor!" She pointed frantically to the van, "Debajo? Debajo!"

She was almost certain she wasn't saying the words right. But she was 90% sure she was saying "hide" and "under". Even if she wasn't completely correct, she hoped the boy would understand her.

He did. He let go of her and ran to the van, and she only had just enough time to watch him crawl underneath it before she heard the werewolf roar again.

Castiel stood and began walking backwards, her eyes locked with the beast's as it stalked toward her – moving slowly now – something vaguely apelike about the way it moved on its four legs.

It was covered in blood, and the overwhelming smell of wet dog and flesh made her stop breathing through her nose.

Once it was completely outside, both of them bathed in moonlight, it froze. For a second Castiel didn't understand what was happening until it stood on its hind legs and howled and eardrum rupturing howl at the sky.

In the moments the wolf took to howl, Castiel looked around her for anything that she could use as a weapon.

There on the ground, only inches from her right foot was a very rusty, but hopefully still usable, crowbar.

She grabbed it and the wolf landed back on four legs. It came toward her with a snarl, and with all her strength Castiel grabbed the crowbar in both hands, swinging it like a bat.

The sound it made when connecting with the werewolf's snout was terrible. She knocked out a couple of its teeth, blood sprayed, and it yelped just like a dog would if someone stepped on its tail.

But the yelp of pain it made could be nothing compared to the agony that ran up both of Castiel arms and into her shoulders. The pain was so much worse in her left arm than it was in her right; it felt like she hit a rock and not a wolf and she was sure she had done some damage to herself during that swing.

She dropped the crowbar, the aftershock of the hit causing both of her hands to open reflexively.

The werewolf already recovered, and it was even more enraged now as it stood back on its hind legs again and lashed out at her with a bloody, taloned paw.

She threw up her left arm to protect her face.

It cut her, and it cut deep. Castiel fell back toward the ground, her ears ringing as her head struck the gravel, only vaguely aware of the unmistakable cry of a child.

The wolf reared over her, its jaws opening wide as it prepared for the kill.

Marcus. I'm so sorry. Was her only thought. She had tried to survive this. She had tried to be strong enough – she had tried to be brave – and she had failed.

A loud rapid popping noise filled the night air and Castiel rolled to her stomach instinctively, her hands going to the back of her head and pressing herself toward the ground.

She was showered with something warm, and a weird gurgling noise came from the wolf.

A heavy thud shook the ground by her feet and the popping kept sounding for a long five seconds before it stopped.

Castiel heaved herself up on her only good arm, her left arm hurt so so badly, and she looked back over her shoulder.

The dead werewolf was at her feet, its head looking like a hole had been punched through it and the sight of it made her want to throw up. The warm thing that had showered over her was its vile blood, and the popping sound had been machine gun fire.

Lights. Headlights illuminated her and the bloody scene, many people taking the form of shadowy figures due to the backlighting.

Two figures grabbed her, and she was pulled roughly to her feet.

Men were around her – maybe a dozen of them – all with large guns in normal street clothing. Not a single one of these men were vampires, but none of them were police either.

A very big guy stopped in front of her. He grabbed the collar of her shirt and yanked her toward him. She was so disoriented she couldn't make out any of their faces.

He said something to her in what she knew was Italian, and she didn't respond because she couldn't speak it.

He shook her and she felt her shirt tear in the front where he was holding it. His voice was angry now. Castiel was only aware enough to notice he had a tan face and a bushy black mustache.

She started shaking her head. She didn't know what was happening, she didn't understand what he wanted from her.

He slapped her across the face.

Castiel was already in so much pain, this new added pain to her face shouldn't have mattered to her, but it hurt her somewhere deeper than her skin. She had never been hit across the face by a man before, and there was something so incredibly degrading about being slapped like that.

"Hey!" A hand shot out and grabbed the man's wrist. "Smettilla! Smettilla!"

Someone behind Castiel, someone she couldn't see, grabbed the chain to her Volturi Crest and pulled it from her shirt.

When her shirt had torn, the necklace must have become visible.

There was a pause of maybe five seconds. Castiel felt like she was on the verge of nervous collapse, and then the men were all talking to each other, conferring about something. Talking about… about bringing her to someone? She couldn't be sure. She only could barely catch the gist of the conversation.

Without warning Castiel was being dragged again, dragged to one of the cars – there were five of them from what she could see – and shoved into the back seat.

A man climbed in the back with her and warning bells were going off in her head, but she couldn't seem to focus on anything right now. Everything was wrong, nothing made sense… and it was getting dark.

Castiel was fainting, and she felt as the man beside her tied something tightly around the top of her left arm.

She fell into darkness again.


Marcus hurtled through the woods, Kemar and Afton close behind him as he followed the pull of his bond to his mate. He let the bond lead him forward as if he were following a compass; or as if he were a fish caught on the hook of a line that was being slowly reeled in.

"How is she?" Afton asked, dodging a few trees and jumping over a thicket of weeds and thorns as he ran. Marcus knew Kemar was listening intently. It seemed as if the two guards were alternating who would ask that question every ten minutes.

Marcus tuned in to his bond, focusing less on the pull of it and more on the flavor.

"Scared." Marcus said in monotone, "Still scared."

None of them spoke. It was the same answer he had been giving for an hour. It had been a relief at first to know that she was conscious when the bond gave him a taste of her emotions upon waking, but that relief was brief. It was troubling to know she was scared. It hurt him deeply to know that she was frightened and that she needed him, and he didn't know where she was.

Marcus knew both guards were a little reassured at his response though. If she was still scared that meant she wasn't dead, and if she wasn't feeling any intense rush of emotion it meant that she was probably still unharmed.

For the moment that was.

They continued their track for a few more minutes when they crossed it – a trail running perpendicularly to their path.

Werewolf.

It was the only word that came to mind. The only thing he could focus on.

Werewolf. Castiel. Where is Castiel? His thoughts became possessed with the hunt, and he made a sharp turn to the left, hardly registering Afton and Kemar's steps as they followed him.

They ran with the scent for three miles before they heard them; the pounding of large hearts and the padding of huge paws pacing the earth, and the smell of wet dog permeating the forest around them.

They saw a break in the trees ahead of them and they slowed in their run, allowing for caution as the risk of what they might be walking into sunk in.

Marcus sniffed the air hopefully, as did the other two vampires with him, all looking for the same scent.

But no one smelt her.

Marcus focused hard, listening, and he knew the beating of her small heart was not present.

Fuck.

Switching to his bond sight, now no longer content with just feeling the pull and wanting to see it for himself, Marcus knew they had gone the wrong way.

His bond to his imprint was leading East.

Afton and Kemar both looked at him and he shook his head in response before motioning with his chin in the direction they would have to go next, but his eyes were still trained on the break in the trees ahead.

Whatever this was, they had to find out and take care of it.

They all spread out, Kemar and Afton both going to an opposite side of him and giving him a berth of about fifty feet. Together they glided silently forward, the sounds of the small animals and insects in the forest going quiet with their passing.

When they made it to the ending of the trees, all of them froze at the same moment.

What was this?

It was a clearing that was obviously artificially made. It was almost like a small pit – five feet down from the tree line Marcus and the guards were taking shelter in. All the soil was upturned showing its creation was very new.

The clearing was circled by thick wooden posts with wires running through them, and Marcus could see at the opposite end of the clearing there looked to be some kind of generator connected to the wires.

An electric fence.

An electric fence obviously set up to contain the fifteen prowling werewolves inside it.

Fifteen young werewolves obviously. It was not yet the night of the full moon, so there was no way these creatures had been this way for a long time. It was strange to see so many of them grouped together like this and not killing each other – these beasts rarely traveled in a pack, choosing mostly to travel alone or with one other of their kind.

But these wolves were clearly not grouped together by choice. They could all see very plainly the yellow tags that had been punched into each of their ears, black identification numbers etched into them.

Someone was keeping a whole pod of werewolves in this forest as if they were doing nothing more than raising cattle.

Marcus glanced to the left and right, locking eyes with Kemar and Afton individually as each of them registered what they were seeing.

And the look they shared clearly said they knew what had to be done.

The three of them did not bother to be quiet as they stepped up to the fence, and none of them flinched when the first wolf caught sent of them – easily the smallest one, it was closest to Kemar near a post to Marcus' left – and stood on it hind legs, howling an alert to the others.

They leapt into the paddock.

Marcus did not bother to listen to Kemar and Afton fight. If they needed help, they knew to just yell for it. He was focused on his own task as he landed face to face with a large werewolf that was missing its left ear, he and the creature hardly took time to register the other before they were battling.

It was young, and it had obviously not been in many fights, because it went for a direct attack and tried to bite his shoulder after running at him head on. Marcus grabbed the creature around the head as it tried for it, and he crushed its skull in one simple motion.

He let its body fall to the ground, turning to the right as a loud cadence of snarls echoed into the night. There were also snarls to his left and his front, but he paid them no mind because they were not as close.

That's what he got for jumping right into the middle of the clearing.

He knew Kemar and Afton would pick off the stragglers at the edges.

Two werewolves came at him together, and Marcus ran toward them, sliding on the ground between one of the creatures four legs like a baseball player sliding home, his hand coming up to rip through the creature's chest.

He felt his hand sink into the warm flesh of the werewolf as he slid under it, the motion of his body causing him to tear a gaping hole into the beast's chest.

He heard the splatter as its organs hit the ground.

Marcus turned himself so he was facing back the direction he came from, he was on his feet again, watching the body of the werewolf crash to the ground before its partner even realized Marcus was no longer in the direction it was running.

He leapt on the other beast's back and wrapped his arms around it, crushing its torso in one simple move.

He fell to the earth with the wolfs body and had only just stood to right himself when an unexpected shock of emotion lanced through his chest.

Fear. Absolute, pure terror ripped into him – his imprint calling out to him though the bond.

NO!

Marcus saw red. Castiel was in danger, extremely grave danger. She needed him, she needed him to help her.

Marcus felt as all sense of self left him, the snarling of the creatures coming toward him only registering as the threat he needed to eliminate to save his mate.

Like a man possessed, his eyes went black as pitch, and he let out a snarl that was so visceral and deadly that both Afton and Kemar glanced over at him in alarm.

He didn't even notice.

Werewolves landed around him, launching themselves across the clearing toward him, clearly all seeing him as the biggest threat to them. It was effortless to him to turn and slaughter them. He snarled at one as it ran at him with a partner – both creatures aiming for his torso – and when they were close enough to sink their teeth into him, he grabbed both of their skulls and slammed them together.

Blood sprayed, and he leapt over their bodies before they even hit the ground and attacked an oddly gangly werewolf that he landed in front of. He tore the creature's legs from its body and left it on the ground to die as he heard snarls erupting behind him.

All he knew for the next five minutes was blood, and violence, and death. The greatest mercy he extended to these werewolves was their quick demise.

It was quiet now.

He was standing on top of a hill – a hill of werewolf carcasses – looking down at Afton and Kemar who stood still as statues by the wire fence.

He was absolutely soaked in blood and growling continuously as he waited for them to step forward and challenge him.

"You good man?" Kemar said lowly after a minute of silence where they just stared at each other.

Marcus let out a laugh that was half a snarl as the guard spoke in slang that was more commonly used by Castiel. He shook his head hard, rolling his shoulders and obviously trying to suppress the snarls that were fighting their way out of his throat. The emotion on his face was impossible to mistake.

Bloodlust.

Pure, undiluted, bloodlust. It coursed through him like a curse, taking over his mind and commanding rule over all his senses. There was nothing left of the man he really was. In this violent state he was nothing more than a monster completely possessed by the need to fight and slaughter.

Kemar and Afton remained still, not daring to move a single inch to set off the furious vampire. They were sure if they did Marcus would dismember them; his instincts were completely in control of him.

His instinct to protect. His instinct to kill the creatures that had taken his mate. He would not rest until he found her, he would leave a trail of dead werewolves in his wake and kill every single one of the vile things that barred him from her. His mind was fully focused on the urge to kill. On the hunt.

He needed to be snapped out of this state.

"Think of the reason we are here Marcus." Kemar said quietly, not using Marcus' designation, speaking to him man to man. "She is not here. These wolves are dead. You have to focus."

Marcus snarled at him, Afton hissed lowly under his breath at Kemar, hardly moving his lips as he told him to be careful.

"She needs you to focus Marcus." Kemar continued, undaunted. "Think of what she would see if she were here right now. You do not want to be like this in front of her, this bloodlust isn't you. It does not control you."

Marcus was breathing harshly, his body was tense, and he was ready to throw himself at the two vampires in his company. He was ready to destroy them and eliminate the threat they posed.

But Kemar's words were running through his head, demanding his attention.

He saw Castiel in his memories, and she was with the two vampires who had accompanied him. He saw her standing behind Kemar and Afton – her guards – in the council room the day they had waited for the unknown visitor.

They were not a threat to him. They were not a threat to her.

"Fuck!" Marcus cursed, shaking his head hard again. What was he doing? He was killing werewolves.

No, he had killed the werewolves. They were dead. He was standing on their mangled bodies.

He was going to hunt for more werewolves.

No. He was going to find his mate. He was going to find Castiel with the help of the guards he trusted – with the help of those who loved her too.

Marcus leapt off the mound of bodies, registering the relief on both Kemar's and Afton's faces as they saw his irises returning to red.


Castiel woke again exactly when the vehicle had come to a stop, each door opening in synchronization as the car was turned off. The man beside her in the back of this car – the dark leather of the seats now slippery with blood – did not turn to her as he got out. This surprised her for only a second before two hands grabbed her through her open door and yanked her out.

The person began walking with her immediately, not caring if she stumbled or if her feet dragged as he half carried her away from the car. The same group of heavily armed men walked with her as she was half carried along a paved drive toward a single large warehouse a few hundred feet away.

But this warehouse wasn't like the other one she had been taken to; even if it was similar looking from the outside and surrounded by trees. This warehouse stood alone in the seemingly manufactured cut out of trees, and it was obviously in operation. All the high up windows were shiny and clean, bright florescent lights shining inside and outside.

Castiel had no idea what time it was, but she was sure it was the middle of the night. What warehouse ran full bore in the middle of the night in the middle of the woods?

She got her answer the second she was dragged through a small, but very plain looking metal door that was flanked by two armed men.

Tables… packaging… there were too many things for her eyes to take in. The very first table she focused on though – the one in the center of the room with the most people at it – gave her an insight into the kind of people she was surrounded by.

It was covered in what looked like white bricks wrapped in cellophane.

Cocaine? Meth?

One of the men surrounding her saw where she was looking, he barked something at the man nearest to him, and in seconds a t-shirt was forced over her head. She struggled to no avail as it was tied over her face, leaving her very little area to breathe.

She tried not to panic as she was dragged, now completely blind, to an unknown location in the warehouse.

It felt like eternity, there was so much pain now that her adrenalin rush was gone. She felt like she would pass out again and gasped in shock when she was unexpectedly shoved into a chair. Someone pinned her wrists to the arm of the chair – it felt like it was made of hard wood or something because it definitely wasn't comfortable – and she heard the ratcheting sound of zip ties again as her wrists were bound.

She really wanted to cry this time, but she held back. She could barely breathe through the fabric covering her face as it was.

Castiel was sure this must be what hell felt like. This terrible pain, this feeling of dread… she wondered when her nightmare would end.

Her left arm was beginning to hurt in a different way now, and Castiel realized she still had something wrapped tightly around her upper arm.

Oh no.

She desperately tried to flex her hand, and she felt her fingers barely twitch in response. The circulation was cut off in her arm and she was sure the nerves were dying. She needed to get the thing around her arm off. Her rapid heartrate would be no help and she knew this, she also knew that if she got the tie off, she'd begin to bleed like crazy. But honestly, she'd take bleeding out over losing her fucking arm.

She didn't hear the door to the room she was in open, so she jumped when a man spoke.

"Oh now now this is not acceptable at all."

Two quick snaps sounded in the room and her wrists were freed. A featherlight touch brushed against her head, and she took a deep grateful breath as the fabric was removed.

She was in a tiny – and when she said tiny, she meant tiny – windowless office that was packed with boxes. She only called it an office because there was a desk in front of the chair she was at, a larger black pleather rolling chair behind it.

She looked up into the face of the man who freed her and felt her relief vanish.

He was tall with a similar build to Aro, his skin was not as pale as Aro's, but it was still a contrast to his messy salt and pepper hair. To Castiel's shock, this was the first vampire she had ever met who had facial hair. His beard and mustache blended together seamlessly, his facial hair was not thick and bushy, but it was a light even coating on his face that looked finely manicured and professional.

Castiel would guess he was changed in his late forties or early fifties.

"You'll have to forgive the state of this room," The man gestured to the boxes, "I couldn't have you in my office. I'm sure you understand but I'd never be able to get the stench out."

He turned from her briefly, to look at someone in the doorway to the room behind him that she could not see. He said something low that she couldn't hear properly, and a gruff voice responded with a "Yes sir." before the door swung shut with a small click.

Castiel really wasn't that interested in whatever that was, her attention had focused back on her left arm.

It was such a dark red it was nearly purple. The lack of blood flow made her arm so disturbing to look at she immediately turned away, a whimper coming from her.

"Oh, right." The vampire reached over and ripped off the piece of fabric that was tied to her upper arm, and the sudden return of blood flow made her arm pound with pain.

He sighed a long-suffering sigh, "Now I can't just let that toxic blood circulate from your arm to the rest of your body, now can I? Oh, the ancients would have my fucking balls if that happened. I suppose it's good my men did tourniquet your arm... if I do this quickly you might still be able to use it."

Castiel looked up at him, wondering what on earth this rambling was about before he grabbed her.

He pulled her up from the chair quickly, roughly, and she immediately tried to fight him off, but it was no use.

He shoved her against the wall, his hand locked around her wrist as he pulled her injured arm up over her head. His used the forearm of his free arm to pin her shoulders to the wall, his body invading her personal space as he stepped up to her, his chest flush with her own as he trapped her.

Her nose was against his shirt, and she could smell that he was wearing some type of cologne.

"Do try not to overreact. I'm doing you a favor," Was the last thing he said before he sunk his teeth into her injured arm, right over the gashes the werewolf left.

Castiel screamed. Her scream echoed through the room and she knew the others in the warehouse must have heard it.

It hurt so bad. She could feel his upper and lower teeth like hot knives in her skin. She was sure the force of his bite would break her bones, not to mention the uncomfortable pulling sensation as drew the blood from her arm.

She struggled – it was her natural instinct to – but it really didn't do her any good because of how the vampire was using his body to trap her against the wall.

It went on for maybe a minute before he released her. He used one hand to put her back into the chair where she collapsed, her whole body shaking.

She looked down at her arm – which was now pale and numb – watching as blood very slowly began to trickle from the deep gashes. The shape of his teeth was now a pearly impression stamped over the three deep cuts, and Castiel knew it was only a matter of time before blood would being to gush out of the slashes and she'd bleed out.

She needed a doctor, and she needed a blood transfusion, very urgently.

Her ears rang. She was very low on blood right now and knew she was going into shock.

She looked over at the vampire who had just bitten her but had miraculously not gotten any venom in her arm, and was shocked to see he was facing away from her, heaving over a waste basket as if he was going to be sick.

Castiel didn't say anything until he stopped. He stood straight, still not looking at her, and took a deep breath to compose himself.

When he did turn back to her, he sat in the black chair behind the desk.

"Well that was absolutely disgusting. But I think I can safely say there is an eighty percent chance you won't become one of those creatures that tried to kill you tonight. I didn't stop until your blood tasted clean."

In the back of Castiel's mind the scene of the werewolf rising above her, its bloody paw coming down to cut into her arm, played at his words.

"Who are you?" Her voice was weaker than she had ever heard it before.

"My name is Bahadur, but people just call me Bal." He said simply, his eyes appraising her. Castiel knew she looked like absolute shit. She was in ripped clothes and covered in dirt and soaked with blood, not to mention she was probably getting paler with every passing second. She could feel blood trickling to her wrist...

"I'm assuming you are the lovely little mortal mate of Marcus Volturi, aren't you?"

"Bingo." Was all she could find the strength to reply.

"Yes, I was the one who made up all the paperwork he would need if they ever needed to take you somewhere the legal way, but he wanted all the documents unfinished since he didn't want me to have your picture. He wanted to do that himself." Bal said, his expression was unreadable. He gave absolutely nothing away.

Castiel leaned her head back, there was a stack of boxes she was able to prop it on. She did her best to maintain eye contact with him the whole time, but she was getting more and more tired with each passing second.

"They are coming to get you, you know. I called them myself when my men told me that that found a mortal girl about to get finished off by a werewolf who had on a Volturi crest. It really was very fortunate you were wearing it. My men would have shot you otherwise."

"Why were your men even there?" Castiel snapped at him, and his eyebrows raised at her tone.

He smirked, seeming pleased at the little bit of bite she was showing.

"They were investigating why the silent alarm was set off at the new set of warehouses I purchased." Bal answered, looking very pleased this question had even come up. "I know they looked completely unused, but there were cameras and hidden sensors all over that place. I have to do surveillance of these building for months before I officially move my… work… into them. I need to know the risks each new location presents. We caught them bringing that filthy beast there earlier in the day, and I sent my men out to take care of the situation after a little preparation. The fact they arrived just on time to save you was merely a coincidence."

"They wouldn't have survived if the werewolf didn't get loose and scare the two vampires that were there off." Castiel argued, "And really? The fact they used your warehouse was just a coincidence?"

Bal laughed, "Oh you are in a bad mood, aren't you? Yes, it was a coincidence. And I will prove my innocence when I touch your very formative mind reading brother-in-law. Also, my men would have been fine. They always go prepped with enough explosives to light a place up. They can deal with a couple of half-witted nomads."

Castiel only glared at him. She was tired of this. She wanted to go home and someone needed to bandage her arm or she would die here.

"There is a very fine line to walk doing what I do child." Bal said, not seeming to care about her obvious irritation with him, "You have to know where it's drawn. You can walk it, you can even put a toe over it now and again, but you can't just cross it and expect no repercussions. I have no part in the trades of supernatural items. Drugs, guns, fake documents, hard to acquire… materials," he grinned a secretive grin, "Well, those are another story."

"How did you survive all of that anyway?" Bal asked, changing back to the original topic and staring at her intensely, as if he were waiting for something. "Don't take this the wrong way but you aren't exactly… a very threatening opponent. How did you manage to make it out and turn to fight that creature without being slaughtered?"

"I don't know," Castiel lied, "I'm just very lucky I suppose."

Bal's mouth twitched as he tried not to smile. "Are you gifted?"

"No."

It was quiet for a long moment after her denial. He stared at her, trying to detect the lie on her face while she did her best not to react, which came easier to her than usual because she was so weak.

"I think you're lying,"

"I'm not."

"Really?" Bal smirked at her, "Because there are rumors… tales of the Volturi's near total… omniscience now. Your coven was frightening enough before but now… now they seem so prepared for any battle, so invincible… And the only thing that has changed in many years is your arrival."

"Weird." Castiel said simply. She was beginning to feel cold, and her ears were starting to ring even louder now, but she refused to be the first to break in this game they were playing.

Bal sighed, and without warning a loud sound that could only be a gunshot came from somewhere outside the room within the warehouse.

"It's good he finally got around to taking care of that. I'm afraid our time together has come to a swift end."

Castiel was about to ask what the fuck he was talking about when the door to the office opened.

"Caius!" She cried out his name as if he were a savior, unable to help the surge of pure relief and joy at the sight of him.

"Castiel." The relief was obvious in her blonde brothers voice too, but he wasn't so good about keeping the disgusted look off his face when he got a good sniff of her and the odor in the room. The smell didn't stop him from taking two short strides into the room and holding his hands out to her though, and she saw the way his eyes raked over her, taking in all of her injuries as she got to her feet.

She shook really bad when she was standing, and Caius pulled her to his side to offer support.

She leaned heavily into him, knowing she was completely ruining his clothes by doing so.

"She's in shock." Bal said calmly, leaning back in his chair and looking completely undisturbed by the venomous look Caius was giving him. "She'll need a doctor very soon."

"Her face?" Caius snapped, and Castiel didn't know what he was talking about until he continued. "That didn't come from a werewolf attack."

Did she have a handprint on her face?

"No, it didn't." Bal sighed regrettably, "That was one of my men. I had him dealt with. You would have heard it on your way in."

The gunshot, Castiel understood now. Her legs felt like they were going to give out.

"Good," Caius snarled under his breath, "And you are to stay here. Aro will be arriving soon and he wants a word."

"Of course." Bal said before looking like he regretted agreeing right away, "But surely you don't mean I have to stay here," he cast a disparaging look around the tiny office. "The stench. I can go back to my actual office and burn these clothes in the meantime, can't I?"

"Whatever," Caius growled, his expression showing he was done with the conversation. He dragged Castiel from the room, and they passed two men on their way out – one human and one vampire who Castiel didn't recognize.

"Uh sir," The human said to Bal, his voice fading as she and Caius got further away, "The car, what do you want us to do with-,"

"Burn it." Bal responded, Castiel could swear he sounded amused. "We'll never be able to get that smell out."

Castiel and Caius didn't make it much further down the hall before Castiel's legs buckled, but Caius was prepared for this to happen and swung her up into his arms in one smooth motion.

She was breathing heavily. Exhaustion was finally winning over and the realization that she was safe now was setting root in her brain and assuring her that now she could rest. Now she could finally sleep.

"Stay awake Castiel." Caius said sharply, and her eyes opened halfway to see he was looking down at her. "I need you to stay with me."

"But why?" Castiel whined, the weakness was back in her voice and the ringing in her ears was the loudest it'd ever been. It was hard to hear through it.

"Because you can't sleep right now. If you sleep, I'll be afraid you won't wake up."

I'll be afraid. These words stood out to Castiel.

"You aren't afraid of anything." Castiel said, and Caius let out one humorless laugh.

"Oh really? Because today I was terrified that we were going to lose you."

His voice was so honest, Castiel tried to lighten the mood with a joke, "You don't even like me that much," she teased.

"I love you Castiel," Caius contradicted. "You're my baby sister."

He said it so simply, like this was the most basic fact in the world, no more than a simple truth about him.

"I'm so tired Caius…" She whispered. The smoothness of his walk wasn't helping her stay awake. The bright lights in the ceiling didn't matter because they flashed by at such a consistent rate that it was almost relaxing. It felt like she was floating. "Can't you move faster?"

Caius looked down at her. He was moving exactly as quickly as could be safe with how hurt she was. "No, I can't. We'll be at the car soon. Arkos is not far in the medical van and we will stop to transfer you to it when we are about to pass it. But just talk to me until then. Tell me what happened."

In reality Caius didn't give a shit about what happened right now. The only thing that mattered right now as making sure Castiel didn't die on him, and she had lost a lot of blood. All the facts would be given to him by Aro later.

"Werewolf attack." Castiel's head was pressing into his chest, her eyes were drooping shut again. "The trades… this all has to do with the trades. No one was after me it was just a coincidence. There was a boy…"

To Caius' surprised her breathing picked up and her right hand came to grab the front of his shirt in urgency.

"The boy! Caius, I saved the boy. I did it. He's hiding under the van at the other warehouse. Someone has to go get him."

"What boy?" Caius said sharply, there was a large contingence of the guard who would be converging on that exact warehouse any minute now.

"The toddler." Castiel breathed, "He… I saw him die in my dreams. In my visions. But I didn't let it happen. Please Caius."

Toddler. If there was indeed a toddler at the warehouse the guards would be sure to bring it back to the castle. The Volturi had a strict policy about not eating or killing children – unless they were immortal children but that as beside the point – so Caius felt no need to make a call. If the kid was young enough it was entirely plausible that they could arrange for it to be taken back to its family. The stories of very young children were not credible at all.

"Okay, Castiel okay. Just relax." Caius wasn't very good at being soothing and gentle with anyone who wasn't Athenadora, so he wasn't sure if he was doing this right.

"The keychain man saved my life." Castiel's voice was so faint that Caius looked down at her in alarm as they left the warehouse, the cool night air a sharp contrast to Castiel's warm body. "He let himself get eaten by a werewolf to give me time to run."

"Keychain man?" Caius asked.

They made it to the car, Demetri was behind the wheel and he hopped out of the car to get the back door for Caius when he caught sight of Castiel's very poor condition.

"Drive fast," Caius barked at Demetri as he got back into the driver's seat.

Castiel's whole body was shaking again, and she was surprised when Caius continued to hold her in his lap and not push her onto the seat beside him.

"Heat Demetri."

Demetri turned the heat in the car all the way up and Castiel couldn't find her voice to tell them that she wasn't cold. She didn't know why she was shaking.

"Who's the keychain man Castiel," Caius said sharply, not liking how pale she was. Her lips were tuning blue and her entire body weight was resting on him in a way that didn't feel right.

Demetri was pushing the car to go faster; the speedometer was creeping to 140mph.

Caius shook her very carefully, "Castiel!"

"The man with the dinosaur LED keychain…" Castiel's voice was so soft. "He was so brave."

She took a deep breath and let her head fall back in Caius' arm. "I'm sorry Caius-,"

"Castiel!"

She went willingly into the dark.


Revised January 27th, 2021

(51 Pages, 21,941 Words)

Translations:

"No! Me quedo! Me quedo!" – "No! I stay! I stay!"

"Smettilla! Smettilla!" – "Stop it! Stop it!"