A/N: This chapter is a little dark, but I promise things will lighten up soon. I hope you like it because I did work really hard on it and it took a lot of referencing of previous chapters.

After next chapter we'll have a little time skip so Castiel can be sling free! Sorry for everyone who was annoyed by the injury, but I'm trying to be realistic in a fantasy story and I know the reception doesn't always go as planned lol.

Thank you all for sticking with me for so many years and long wait times. I hope you still love this story as much as I do.

And a special thanks to everyone in the discord. Your endless encouragement keeps me going even when I'm feeling my worst.

Much love! Enjoy :)


Chapter 28 - Fear

"Alright. There she is, she's waking up-" Arkos' voice was the first thing Castiel registered. It sounded like she was listening to him through a closed door and her ears rang as she tried to open her eyes.

Tried being the key word, she ended up blinking stupidly for a few seconds, each eyelid opening and closing at a different time as her body tried to catch up with her brain. Her face felt kinda weird and numb.

She squeezed her eyes shut, scrunching her nose in an effort to get more feeling back into her face and raising her right hand to touch it.

There was a tug that was beginning to become way too familiar to Castiel, and someone caught her hand before she could yank the IV any more. Cold fingers steadied her and Arkos spoke again; this time his voice was much clearer.

"Wait a second Castiel, let me remove the IV."

"Mmm-hmm." She was finally able to open both of her eyes a little, and only focused her lidded and tired gaze on the good doctor after the pulling of the tape on the back of her hand stopped.

She was laying in the hospital wing, and the head of her bed had her propped up in a mostly seated position. Marcus was at her side, staying silent and giving her time to register what was going on in the room as he idly played with one of her curls. Arkos and Kemar had both warned him that she'd feel "tired and stupid" once they woke her up, and that he could take her back to their rooms whenever she was ready.

Arkos rolled the IV stand and med cart away as Castiel tried to look around, Kemar taking the doctor's now vacant place at her other side.

"How are you feeling?" Kemar asked, waiting patiently as she looked up at him slowly. Her expression clearly said who the hell is trying to talk to me right now?

"Mm." Castiel just grunted at him before setting her head back on the bed and closing her eyes.

"I think it's safe to say nothing hurts," Arkos chuckled

"Mm."

Everyone laughed softly at this and Castiel very much debated going back to sleep when she felt Marcus run his hand through her hair, expertly scraping his nails lightly against her scalp in the best kind of way that made her feel like she was going to start purring like a cat.

"Would you like to sleep here? Or would you prefer to go back to our rooms?" Marcus' soft voice sounded amused, and his expression was indulgent when her eyes opened the smallest amount and he could see that hint of blue that showed he had her attention.

"Room." Castiel mumbled, the single word causing Marcus to slide his arms under her and lift her from the bed. She rested her head on his shoulder as he walked them at a human pace from the hospital wing, Kemar and Afton opening the doors for them and allowing Marcus to pass before following.

No one said anything for five minutes as they walked back to Marcus' rooms, and it was as Marcus was ascending a wide staircase that Castiel realized she'd been staring dazedly at the ceiling nearly the whole time.

"I feel stoned."

She could feel Marcus' chest vibrate slightly as he suppressed his laughter, and Kemar's voice sounded from somewhere behind them.

"Yes well, the procedure was supposed to be rather short so Arkos and I didn't want to dope you up too thoroughly when we knocked you out. Don't get me wrong, we gave you enough paralyzing agent and pain meds to keep someone your size out for a few hours, but you seemed to have other ideas and woke up halfway through the surgery."

"I woke up?" Castiel's voice was still so thick and tired sounding that her words didn't come out nearly as alarmed as they would have if she wasn't heavily medicated.

"Only for a couple of seconds." Kemar's voice replied, and he appeared a few feet in front of Marcus so Castiel could see him and watch his back as they talked. "Arkos and I both noticed the second your eyes opened. I had to give you Midazolam and put you under again. That's why you feel extra stupid right now."

"Because I was put under twice?"

"Correct."

Castiel looked up at Marcus, her glazed daze scrutinizing the perfect shape of the underside of his jaw. "Two questions. What even is Mida…whatsit? And what exactly was wrong with my shoulder? Why did it still hurt so bad all these weeks later?"

"That's three questions." Afton's cheeky response came from somewhere to Marcus' left, but Castiel didn't turn to him.

"Don't ask me to count. I have exactly half a brain cell working overtime right now as all the others are on vacation."

Another round of laughter came from her mate and both her guards at this, but thankfully Kemar still answered her. "Midazolam is, for all intents and purposes, an amnesia drug. I gave it to you specifically so you'd forget you woke up during the procedure. And as for your shoulder you had an untreated labrum tear that we did not see the first time when we repaired your rotator cuff and one of the muscles in your shoulder here." Kemar reached his right arm across his chest and over his left shoulder to pat his back in the area he was describing to Castiel. "I can understand why you were in as much pain as you were, but now that we've officially taken care of everything with your shoulder we should see a lot of improvement over the next few months."

It was quiet for a minute while Castiel processed this, and in that time they made it back to Marcus' rooms and she was seriously ready to go back to sleep for the next… oh 10 to 20 years.

Afton stayed out in the corridor to guard the door while Kemar led the way inside, informing Castiel that she'd spend the next two months or so sleeping in a sitting position, and that she'd be wearing a new sling that had a pad to keep her arm elevated off her chest a few inches.

She probably would have complained if the painkillers didn't make her so desperately tired, so instead she just nodded at him while Marcus set her down on the bed and went to grab pajamas for her.

As much as she wished he didn't have to, Kemar ended up having to help Marcus undress her and get her into clean clothes so they wouldn't cause any unnecessary trauma to her freshly repaired shoulder. Once she was dressed and set back against a large pile of pillows that had appeared against the headboard of the large bed, Castiel was finally able to let her head fall back and go back to sleep, figuring she'd save the complaining about having to sleep sitting up for another time.


"I need to talk to Castiel."

Marcus was standing in the hallway outside his rooms, having shut the door only seconds before Caius' voice interrupted the silence of the hall and had him turning his head to watch his brothers approach.

He sighed, "Castiel isn't really up for conversation, Caius. You know her pain medication makes her very confused and tired."

It had been two days since her most recent shoulder procedure, and Castiel had spent most of that time in bed while Kemar monitored her. Her labrum was still bothering her a lot, and it would take a week or two for the pain to settle as her body mended along with the surgery. She had been throwing up earlier that morning because the pain made her nauseous, so Kemar had upped her medication dosage to make her more comfortable.

Really, it was so convenient that Kemar was trained as a doctor and just as stubborn as Castiel. He was able to keep her on her medication schedule and banter with her when she got irritable. The pain she was experiencing made her quicker to snap at others when she was frustrated, but each of her guards and himself understood that pain lowered anyone's tolerance for bullshit.

She and Kemar had gotten into a small argument about the healing plan they had for her over the next few months. Even though Castiel's temper had certainly flared very high when Kemar told her to "Just shut up and do as you're told", Marcus - who had been about to tell off Kemar for his choice of words - Afton, and Kemar all noticed this small, wounded expression of hurt and sadness that had flashed across her face before the anger came and she told him off for "being a dick".

Marcus wished he could make the pain better, but he knew it was something that would have to improve on its own. It hurt him to feel so helpless. The best he could do was come to his rooms to check on her half a dozen times a day while he was working and stay around the rooms to keep her company during off hours.

Castiel was doing her best to put on a brave face and pretend she was handling it just fine, but he knew there were other, deeper things troubling her. The pain in her shoulder was just exacerbating the issue, and making all the emotion she had been bottling up since the werewolf attack start to come to the surface.

He had come across Afton and Kemar having a hushed conversation with their heads together just the previous day when he had retired to his rooms after trials. Both guards had turned to him when he approached and were more than willing to include him in their concerned conversation about Castiel.

Everyone who was close to her was just waiting for the straw that would break the camel's back. Aro had started looking into the three immortal therapists they had on records and was analyzing each of their portfolios to see which of them would be a good option to call if Castiel should choose to see a therapist. Sulpicia and Athenadora were both trying to come up with a game plan to see if they could get Castiel to open up in private conversation and maybe they could get to the bottom of what was wrong... While also trying to determine the most gentle way to ask Castiel if she'd be open to talking to a professional.

Caius was… a little less with the times. He saw no reason for everyone's "ridiculously high" concern. He didn't think anything was wrong with her. She was physically injured, sure, but once her pain was controlled she'd be fine. To him she had recovered from the werewolf incident surprisingly well, last time they had asked how she was doing she had said she was fine.

And if she said she was fine. She was fine. There was nothing else to it.

"She can still see. We know she's managed to still have visions while medicated. I need her opinion on a few different scouting routes when I send three small groupings of our guard into China to follow the leads on the possible illegal trades auction in Qinghai next month." Caius' voice interrupted Marcus' musing thoughts, and it took a considerable amount of control to stop himself from rolling his eyes in response.

"She's been ill this morning, Caius. Kemar just changed her medication dosage and she's fallen asleep. Waking her up now to interrogate her will get you nowhere with her tired and overwhelmed."

"Fine then, have her come see me when her painkillers wear off. She can take more after we discuss-"

"Are you really casually suggesting that I bring my mate to you while she's in extreme pain and refuse to give her anything to help her until you get what you want?"

"Oh don't be so dramatic-"

"Her comfort is more important to me than your plans." Marcus growled low in his throat, finally letting his irritation with Caius show.

"Yes and our guards' lives are more important to her than her comfort." Caius said matter-of-factly.

"Don't you dare use her caring nature to manipulate her. I'll have your fucking balls for it." Marcus snarled the words, and Caius' gaze traveled over his posture, which had suddenly become tight and aggressive as his brother straightened his body to show his full height, before he put both of his hands up at his shoulders.

"Relax-,"

"Caius I thought we agreed you wouldn't antagonize Marcus right now." Aro's exasperated voice interrupted the impending argument between the two brothers as they both turned to face his slow entrance into Marcus' halls.

"I just wanted to get it out of the way before…" But Caius trailed off, casting a quick glance at Marcus that had him raising his brows in response as his anger faded and apprehension took its place.

"Before what?" Marcus said tonelessly, and it was the lack of emotion in his voice that caused Aro and Caius to glance quickly at each other as they each waited for the other to speak first.

Caius, who already made Marcus frustrated enough, gave Aro a look that clearly said he wasn't about to take all of their formidable brother's anger on himself.

Aro sighed, "Now try to keep your temper Marcus, we know how difficult it is to remain… objective with an unwell mate but remember that we're not trying to make your life more difficult."

Marcus tensed, not liking where this conversation was going. Before he could speak however, he heard the unmistakable sound of two very familiar sets of footsteps running quickly in their direction.

All three of the brothers waited in heavy silence for Athenadora and Sulpicia to enter the hall, listening to the sounds of multiple Elite guards stopping in the halls near them as to not interrupt the conversation, but to still stay close enough to listen.

One of the frustrating things about having guards was the fact that there was almost always an extra set of ears eavesdropping.

Well, at least the Elite guards held all three of the King's utmost trust.

"Do we need to take this conversation somewhere more private?" Marcus asked dryly, to which Sulpicia instantly shook her head.

"No, everyone else is already aware-" Sulpicia shrugged

"We just wanted to be here when they broke the news so you don't lose your cool." Athenadora finished, motioning to Aro and Caius.

Marcus exhaled loudly. It was smart of his sisters to try to head him off before Aro and Caius broke bad news. Even he knew he was much less likely to get physically violent or overly agitated with the two women there. His uncharacteristic aggression was because he was dealing with caring for - and therefore protecting - a currently very delicate partner just as Aro had said.

"Well do continue to hold me in suspense. It's doing wonders for my mood right now." Marcus said sarcastically.

Aro looked like he wanted to laugh, but he tamed his expression before speaking. "Raphael is stopping by for a visit. He'll be here in less than 24 hours."

"Okay?" Marcus' eyes narrowed at his brother, waiting for him to deliver the blow he just knew was coming because there was no way any of his family would think Raphael alone would upset him. Especially considering just how much the other vampire cared about Castiel.

"He's bringing along a recruit he wants us to meet because he finds them promising." Sulpicia drifted over to Marcus, gently looping her arm around the one he had hanging at his side. "And Jane is accompanying them."

Marcus' teeth clicked together as he clenched his jaw, holding in a few very irritated sounds he wanted to make and very choice words that really weren't appropriate to use out of the company of just his brothers. Sulpicia's arm around his was the only reason he had just gone still with stress rather than doing something more dramatic.

Athenadora flitted lightly over to his other side, copying Sulpicia's posture and holding onto his other arm.

Both of his brothers smirked at how irked he looked when Marcus finally let out a deep breath after a long, very tense moment of silence.

"We should just have you two deal with him from now on," Caius said jokingly to the sisters. "Aro and I can never keep him from being a-,"

"Caius don't start," Aro's hands came up to rub his temples, "He really doesn't need a ribbing from you right now. Can you save it?"

"Fine."

"Why was I not asked for permission for Jane to be in this castle again?" Marcus' tone was deceptively polite, but everyone within ear shot could hear the underlying bite to his words.

"Because Aro and I both trust Raphael's judgment and agreed he could bring her back when he called." Caius explained, "You were already outvoted. Besides Jane is only coming for a visit, and it's been made completely clear that she is not to be around Castiel without being supervised by one of us."

"And if she disobeys orders?" Marcus argued, "Exactly like she disobeyed orders when she nearly maimed Castiel before?"

"Then Raphael kills her." Aro said solemnly. "Or any one of us, or any one of our upper guards. The rules for her return have been made completely clear. Alec won't let her do anything that could jeopardize her life."

"I still don't like it." Marcus stated, knowing that he wouldn't be able to change anything but still feeling like he needed to make his feelings on the matter one hundred percent clear.

"We know." Athenadora said placatingly, giving his elbow a small squeeze. "Now Heidi should be arriving soon, and we know it's been a while since you've fed."

Marcus knew his eyes had gotten considerably darker over the last few days. It was hard for him to care about something as unimportant to him as blood when Castiel was in so much discomfort she found herself physically ill more often than not. He had a lot of experience with being thirsty anyway - all the years that he had been ruled by his depression gave him a very high tolerance for being thirsty. He could go months without issue if it was necessary.

But it wasn't necessary. If anything Castiel's fragile state only made it more important that he was fed.

"Kemar and Afton are both watching her." Aro said, appealing to Marcus' more rational side. "She's fine Marcus. The fact you've left your rooms in the first place shows she's probably asleep right now. She won't even notice you've gone."

Marcus did not comment, but allowed his sisters to tow him from the hall anyway, silently agreeing with Aro that Castiel was probably going to be out for the count for at least a couple more hours.


"So, theoretically, what do you think the chances are of us finding a vampire who can manipulate time who can go back and club the werewolf in the head for me so I don't have to completely destroy my shoulder?"

"Eat your breakfast Castiel."

"Hey, it's just a hypothetical question-."

"Which I'm not entertaining, now shut up and eat."

"You're so boring."

Afton chuckled from where he was inspecting Tupperware containers with various foodstuffs in them in the refrigerator. Kemar was thumbing through the local newspaper, looking bored as Castiel sat across from him at the table. She was in a rather playful mood and was spending the time she should be eating her pancakes swinging her feet and kicking Kemar's legs lightly as she kept bugging him with questions.

They were both set to watch her today, and had taken her to the kitchens the moment she woke up from a much longer than expected nap so she could eat. She would need more pain medication soon - she was already making pained faces every now and again when she moved her torso slightly - so she needed to eat since they were not good to take on an empty stomach.

"You are going to be very bitchy an hour from now if your shoulder hurts because you haven't eaten and therefore haven't taken your pain meds. So again, shut up and eat."

Castiel didn't look even the slightest bit offended as she stuck her tongue out at Kemar, who just shook his head and went back to looking at his paper.

Thankfully Castiel did start to eat, so the kitchen was silent for a few minutes as Kemar read and Afton continued to inspect things in the fridge. It was only when Afton lifted the lid of a Tupperware container to sniff its contents curiously and winced, pulling back and shaking his head like a dog with a disgusted expression, that Castiel spoke again.

"You good Afton?" Her tone was full of humor, and he turned to look at her while holding up the offensive plastic container in explanation.

"Human food always smells very… interesting. I was wondering why this one was bright orange and… was not expecting it to smell so awful."

Castiel held her hand out to him - she was curious herself because the food in the container definitely was a very vibrant orange color - and Afton gave her the container without question.

She set it carefully on the table and had a little bit of trouble opening the lid one handed - Afton and Kemar both paused to help but she gave them a dirty look - but once she got it open she understood what it was right away.

"Oh. It's just curry Afton." She leaned down and sniffed it before pulling back quickly, "Curry that's gone bad by the smell of it."

"Smart of you to sniff it even though Afton very clearly said it smelled terrible." Kemar quipped, rolling up his newspaper and smacking Castiel lightly on the top of the head with it before taking the container and closing it again.

"Hey, human's don't think food smells bad nearly as often as vampires do-,"

"Make all the excuses you want, it was still dumb."

"That's fair."

Both guards laughed; they couldn't help it.

Pleased that she had gotten both of them to laugh, Castiel finally started paying attention to her food and the silence was only broken by the sound of Afton continuing to rifle through the fridge and inspect all the food he wasn't able to eat. She was only interrupted when she was nearly finished by Kemar giving her her medication, and it wasn't until she was standing at the sink rinsing her plate that Kemar broke the silence.

"We should head to the throne room." Kemar glanced at his watch. "There's a break in trials right now. Marcus was expecting to be back when you woke up this morning but got sidetracked when Sebastian and Violet dragged in those two nomads that had been accused of terrorizing tourists in Greece. He sent me a text this morning saying he needed to talk to you after you ate breakfast."

This got Castiel's full attention, and she set the plate down gently in the sink as she turned to him. "He needs to talk to me? About what?"

"He'll tell you." Afton cut in before Kemar could reply, "It's nothing bad."

She pursed her lip for a second before doing her - now normal - awkward half shrug with her good arm. "Yeah, I guess it would be hard to top Jane being back in the castle. But at least Raphael is visiting. Could have sworn there was nothing else on Marcus' mind though. I haven't seen anything new-,"

"Hold on a second Castiel." Kemar cut her off before she could continue to speculate. "You know Raphael is coming and bringing Jane?"

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Yeah? And Raphael isn't just bringing Jane. He's bringing Andy too-,"

"Andy?" Afton sounded confused.

"Yeah. She's new, and I like her. She's really friendly."

Frustrated, Kemar stepped forward and placed his hand over Castiel's mouth to get her to stop talking. "I think you're officially becoming too weird for me. Are you really referring to the mystery recruit - who no one even knew the gender of, let alone the name or personality - as if you're already friends with her?"

Castiel blinked at him, waiting patiently for him to drop his hand before she answered. "Well I haven't talked to her yet, but we're going to be good friends."

"You psychics are so unbelievably strange." Kemar sounded like he had quite enough of today and wanted it to be over.

"When did you find out all of this?" Afton asked, ignoring Kemar's comment. He knew Kemar wasn't actually bothered by Castiel's occasional tendency to live a little bit in the present and future at times, he was just looking for something to complain about because he had been in a bit of a sore mood himself over the last few days. "Marcus was only just told this morning that Raphael is arriving later."

"Oh." Castiel thought for a second, trying to recall when exactly she had seen all of this. "Uh it was sometime yesterday morning. I think it was when I was throwing up just before Kemar increased my medication and I fell asleep."

Afton laughed, throwing a wink at Kemar. "So she knew before Marcus did. Probably good she had that shoulder procedure or she would have told him before the rest of the family could break the news gently and he would have blown a gasket."

Kamer didn't say anything in response, but his expression showed that he didn't disagree. Instead he just indicated to Castiel to come toward him so he could pick her up, not really in the mood to walk the whole way to the throne room.

She really couldn't wait for these next couple months to pass. She preferred to ride piggyback on any vampire that wasn't Marcus if she needed to be taken somewhere quickly. There was just something so personal about being cradled in someone's arms.

Not like she could ride piggyback with the sling on. She'd 100% fall off.

That would probably be funny to see though. Castiel thought, sighing as Kemar scooped her up into his arms in one smooth motion, allowing Afton to lead the way from the kitchen so he wouldn't have to slow in his stride to open the doors.

The run to the throne room was brief, and Kemar set her down just outside the doors while Afton moved forward to open them. Castiel noticed each of her guards tilt their head slightly as if they were listening to something going on inside the room and she started watching Marcus' future only a few seconds ahead so she could be privy to what was going on inside the circular room too.

Afton barely got the doors open before Castiel excitedly called out "Raphael!"

"There she is!" Raphael called back in his heavily accented voice when she finally entered, Kemar following just behind her like a shadow. His gaze dropped from her face to her arm as he waited for her to come forward for a hug, tutting once he placed his arm carefully around her to avoid touching her injury. He wasn't completely sure of the best way to handle an injured mortal so he just opted for the awkward half hug as if the slightest brush of his shirt against her sling would harm her.

"They are just telling me your arm required more surgery. There is no medicine you can take to heal faster?" Raphael spoke kind of quickly and his accent would have been a bit difficult for her to understand if Castiel hadn't been focusing very hard on his words.

She laughed. "That's not how this works, Raph. I wish it was though."

Marcus and Aro both descended the steps of the dais when Raphael dropped his arm, and Aro simply raised an eyebrow at her as Marcus placed one of his hands on her lower back as if to establish his presence.

"How long have you known Raphael was coming?" Aro sounded as amused as he ever did.

"Since yesterday." Castiel could have sworn she heard Marcus sigh, switching her gaze from Aro to Raphael, "I'm surprised you didn't bring Veronica with you."

"She was wanting to stay home, but she sends her well wishes." Raphael grinned, and motioned with one hand to his left, indicating the seven red cloaked guards who traveled to Volterra with him. "I wanted to visit so I could catch up with you, as that has proved rather difficult to do over the phone as of late."

Castiel gave him a small, slightly embarrassed smile in response, but he shook his head at her before she could apologize. "You were unwell. I understand now that there has been much other drama I have not been privy to."

She only looked confused for a second as she tried to think about what he could have been referring to. Bella? That didn't seem quite right, the newborn army thing with Victoria was a big deal, Castiel wasn't about to pretend it wasn't, but the Volturi dealt with that kind of stuff all the time. Raphael had even been around for the first newborn army she had caught a glimpse of in Mexico.

The creator of which they still hadn't found.

With a small shake of her head to dispel the anxious train of thought she was sure she'd end up obsessing over, Castiel considered the alternative "drama" Raphael must have been referring to if he wasn't talking about the recent werewolf attack and her very near miss with lycanthropy.

Her dad.

She let out a long exhale, sure that that was what Raphael had been referring to, and in response he patted her good shoulder affectionately. He looked sympathetic, and then mildly embarrassed when her knees buckled and Marcus had to steady her because he patted her with a little too much force.

"Oof. Sorry little bird." Raphael quickly placed his hands back at his sides. "I forget my strength sometimes. Anyway-,"

He indicated once more to his accompanying guards, and Castiel finally turned to observe the seven in the red cloaks with more than just the smallest glance out of the corner of her eye. It was impossible not to immediately notice the two smallest guards standing in the middle of the line as they were at least a head shorter than the others, and their cloaks seemed to be fastened over pairs of dark coveralls none of the others were wearing - the rest just had normal street clothes on beneath the red fabric.

Jane did not look her in the eye, and Castiel quickly averted her gaze so she was looking at the other young girl next to her.

She was ashamed to admit to herself that being in the same room as Jane made her much more nervous than she'd ever want to admit. A wave of nausea passed over her and she had to take a deep breath through her nose as she tried to ignore it.

Marcus ran his hand gently up and down her back, so she knew he'd noticed her reaction to Jane but hopefully he was the only one.

"I brought someone I wanted you all to meet." Raphael continued, seemingly unaware as to where Castiel's attention had momentarily drifted and Marcus' responding concern. "Five, come here."

The small figure next to Jane - who had short pixie cut brown hair and was fairly androgynous in the dark coveralls - looked so surprised at being singled out Castiel wasn't surprised to hear low chuckles from some of their own guard standing around the room.

Something told her that Raphael hadn't given Five, who Castiel knew as Andy, any type of heads up as to why she was brought along to Italy.

Movement out of the corner of her eye caused Castiel to look away from Andy for a second. Kemar had drifted to her right side and was eyeing Andy with the usual distrust he extended to newcomers.

When Castiel looked back she noticed Andy was watching Kemar with poorly concealed apprehension. This wasn't all that surprising though - he had gone very tense all of the sudden.

"Oh ease up Kemar." Raphael laughed, waving Andy forward impatiently with one hand as she had stopped walking when she was halfway to them. "I haven't seen so much promise since you came to our coven. Five is a good girl."

Kemar grunted but said nothing, and Castiel rolled her eyes in response before giving the small vampire what she hoped was an encouraging smile. "Hello, you're Andy right?"

Five blinked at her, glancing quickly at Raphael who only raised his brows at Castiel in response. It had been many months since anyone referred to her by her first name and she had been so sure that Raphael hadn't told anyone her name thus far.

"Er, yes. How did you-,"

"I get ahead of myself sometimes," Castiel laughed, giving a small shrug with her good arm. "Kemar was just complaining about how weird I am-,"

"I need a new job." Kemar deadpanned, which only made Castiel beam at him in response.

"I think that's Kemar's way of asking for his job back, Raphael."

"I am sorry my friend," Raphael's expression became one of mock sorrow, "But I am afraid you are stuck with her."

The mood in the room was lifting considerably at Raphael, Castiel, and Kemar's good natured spat. Andy was already feeling a little less anxious standing so close to Kemar, who she thought looked like he had half a mind to hurt her, and was just starting to think that she might actually be able to keep cool and collected and totally not fangirl out over the fact that Raphael had arranged this trip specifically to introduce her to the Volturi.

Andy knew she was a good recruit, and she had thought on a few different occasions that Raphael liked her - which was saying something because he was usually very stern and unapproachable. The only exceptions to that rule being the times she'd heard him corresponding with the human girl who was currently standing only a few feet away and who was somehow the only one in the room who knew her first name. But even knowing she was a good recruit and thinking that her boss thought she was a good worker never would have made her think that he had brought her with him to Volterra specifically so she could meet the ruling force of vampires.

What had she done that made him think she was good enough to join the elite? Andy heard rumors of Kemar back in Russia and knew that he was the best of the best. She kind of felt like she was in the presence of a celebrity and she really wanted to impress him.

She just needed to keep cool and not be a dork and-

"Andy- is that your full name, or is it short for something?" Marcus Volturi was the next person to speak, and Andy felt like she was about to faint at being addressed directly by one of the three kings.

Jeez, why was she such a nerd? Andy thought as she tried to maintain her cool. Be cool. Be cool. Do not fangirl out like an idiot. These are just normal people - vampires - just be cool.

"Uh no yeah! I mean, I mean yeah, no," Andy would have been scarlet in the face if she was still human, "I- no. My name is Andy. Just Andy, it's not short for anything."

Please god kill me now.

Marcus Volturi raised an eyebrow at her and she swore he looked like he was trying not to smile. "Okay. Well Andy, we look forward to learning more about you during your stay."

Rather than risk speaking again and sounding stupid, Andy just nodded vigorously and tried to keep her answering smile relatively tame. If she had thought she was nervous when they had first pulled into the sloping tunnel that led to the underground garage, that was nothing compared to the anxiety she was feeling now.

She really, really wanted to impress them, and had no idea how she was going to go about doing so.

Because yeah she was a good recruit and all, and becoming part of this coven was her end goal. But she was still young and she wasn't… special like she knew so many of the vampires who worked here were.

Kemar of course, wasn't gifted, but Andy wouldn't even dare to believe that she was even in the same league as him, let alone on his level.

If she was able to make it into the Volturi there was no hope she'd become an elite guard - nearly all of them were gifted and the ones that weren't were very special exceptions to the rule.

She wondered if Jane would be mad if she asked for pointers.

Andy would have kept fretting over her current train of thought if she hadn't heard a whisper of conversation from a couple of guards by the entrance door that made her head perk up. They were whispering about her, and she heard the tall blonde female whisper to her brunette friend a scathing remark about being surprised that she - Andy - was a girl, and that it would have been impossible to tell she wasn't a boy if it weren't for her obviously feminine voice.

A stab of hurt went through Andy, and she quickly looked away as she felt her face betray her emotion before she could control it.

Andy was only 14… well 13 but she was two months away from being 14 when she was changed. She knew she hadn't really had time to fully… develop but that didn't mean she wasn't a girl.

It was something she had felt very uncomfortable about for years now. She thought she wouldn't be so sensitive about it once her newborn years had ended and her emotions settled. At least as a recruit they all dressed in a very military fashion, and no one commented on the fact that her hair was cropped short.

She liked to keep it short as a human because it got in the way less when she played sports… she had been a huge tomboy back then.

Not that she wasn't still a tomboy, but she just wished that she had tried harder to look girly.

At least then when she "died" she would have had long hair…

"Hey!" Castiel's voice rang out in the room, stern and commanding in a way that surprised those around her enough that Andy caught a few guards looking around the room as if expecting to see an intruder, but following her gaze Andy saw that she was looking at the two women by the doors. "Apologize."

Both women looked shocked when Castiel motioned with her chin to Andy, her expression stubborn and unfriendly. It was quite the contrast to the way she had been smiling when bantering with Kemar and Raphael.

Andy could not figure out for the life of her how the human girl had heard what the women said. They had been so quiet she had nearly missed the comment even with her vampire level hearing.

It also did not explain why Castiel was going out of her way to say something about it either.

The women looked around the room, and the blonde one looked extremely embarrassed when Aro addressed her directly. "You heard Castiel, Katherine. You owe Andy an apology."

Whoa. What?

Andy couldn't believe her ears, or her eyes for that matter as she noticed how nearly every vampire in the room - the ancients included - were looking expectantly at Katherine and her friend, both of whom looked as though they wanted to disappear.

"I…" Katherine looked as if she would have been sweating if she were capable, hating being put on the spot. "I'm sorry for my comment, Andy. It wasn't nice or appropriate."

"We don't speak of our guests this way." Caius had finally joined the conversation, and Andy could nearly feel the repressed anger rolling off of him. "You embarrass your coven when you gossip under your breath like that as if you're little girls."

"We are sorry master Caius." The brunette woman responded bravely, realizing that Katherine was probably too mortified to speak. "We know better. We do not wish to represent our coven so poorly."

Caius sneered at her. "Yes, and I'm sure the rest of our coven will thank the both of you once the notices go out for the sensitivity seminars we now have to schedule in the coming months."

Multiple guards around the room groaned audibly at this, and Andy could only blink as she realized that Caius' words were basically the equivalent of HR telling all the employees of a corporate company that they were about to be stuck in some dreadfully dull workplace manners and harassment seminars.

That sounded like torture. And apparently the two women had just subjected the whole coven to it.

Andy really hoped she would be back in Russia by then.

"You're all dismissed." Caius snapped, glaring around the room. "Anyone who's still hanging out here in the next five seconds will be personally assisting in the scheduling and planning of said seminars. You can even work on the PowerPoints."

The room cleared out so fast Andy saw Castiel's hair whip around for a second in the passing breeze as so many vampires rushed out of the room at once.

But the room hadn't completely cleared out. Eight Volturi guards still stood around the walls as Aro, Marcus, and Caius all went back to their thrones, leaving Andy standing in the middle of the room with Raphael, Kemar, Castiel, and a guard who she thought had been referred to as Afton.

The rest of the guards she had traveled with from Russia were still standing against the wall behind her, completely unmoved by the events that had just taken place.

Well except for Jane, who Andy could swear was trying very hard not to keep glancing over at a small boy by Caius' throne.

Oh. Andy thought. That must be her brother. He looked just like the sketch Jane had taped to the lid of her trunk.

"Well that was interesting." Raphael reached forward and mussed Castiel's hair, who stepped back out of his reach and immediately began fixing it. "How on Earth did you hear her?"

"I didn't." Castiel said simply, "I saw Andy's face and how she looked over at her. I could tell Katherine had said something that wasn't very nice."

"You didn't need to say anything." Andy mumbled, looking away from Castiel and staring resolutely at the wall across the room. "It's fine. I'm used to it."

"And that is exactly why I'm glad I did say something." Castiel snorted and Andy jumped when she felt Castiel's warm hand shove her shoulder lightly, causing her to make eye contact again. "No one has the right to be unkind to you. And I don't need to know what she said, to know she was probably just being a catty bi-,"

"Castiel." Marcus' tone was a warning as he cut her off, leaning back lazily in his throne and stretching his legs out in front of him. "Language."

Castiel stuck her tongue out at him, and Andy watched curiously for Marcus' reaction.

He just looked amused.

"Something you will come to learn," Marcus sighed after a moment when Castiel finally looked away, speaking quietly enough that Andy was certain his mate wouldn't be able to hear him. "Is that my mate is very… emotionally protective of people. If she weren't psychic, I would have bet my best cloak on the assumption that she would be an empath as an immortal."

"If you ever want to bet your best cloak feel free." Caius whispered back, leaning forward in his throne to look over at Marcus, "I like that one and would love to take it from you."

"You say that as if you ever win bets against me-,"

Before Castiel could catch on that Marcus and Caius were whispering to each other, there was a knock at the huge double doors that had everyone turning to look as they were pulled slowly open. A human woman with a professional looking dark blue dress on and her brown hair in a simple but elegant updo was led in by a small vampire with sandy hair.

"Ah Gianna," Aro straightened up, as he had just been about to sit when the doors opened, "I would ask what you need, but I'm sure your appearance has something to do with the package you're holding?"

Everyone's eyes flashed down to the small brown paper mailer in her hands at this.

Gianna nodded. "Si signore. This arrived for Mistress Castiel just fifteen minutes ago."

Castiel looked over at Gianna in surprise, not even bothering to hide her confusion as the other woman turned to her, holding out the package obviously expecting her to take it.

She didn't reach for it though. Her skin felt like it was prickling as goosebumps started appearing, the look she was giving the innocent paper mailer was one of clear suspicion. Castiel hadn't ordered anything, and if she had there was a very specific address personal purchases were sent to and a very by the book way the Volturi went around distributing mail and parcels to coven members who ordered goods online.

If a piece of mail went directly to the receptionist like this, it was because it was meant for one of the inner coven, and therefore definitely came from another vampire.

Only the Volturi's allies had the necessary mailing instructions to get a piece of mail to Gianna, and being that Castiel had no relationship with any of their allies aside from the Russian coven it was extremely abnormal that she would have received mail through Gianna.

"Did you send me something that arrived late Raphael?" Castiel asked, not looking away from the package as Kemar moved forward to take it from Gianna, and Marcus was suddenly at her side, his hand resting on her lower back again.

"No." Raphael looked concerned at the way everyone was responding. "I have not sent you anything as of late."

"Shouldn't we just open it?" Andy had no idea what made her brave enough to insert herself into the conversation and speak out of turn, but she could only assume it was her curiosity, "I mean it's not like what's in there can hurt us-,"

"Being as its a bubble-mailer and we can't smell explosives I'm certain its not a bomb." Caius, to Andy's extreme surprise, answered her query. "But that doesn't mean it couldn't contain something that could be dangerous if Castiel opened it."

"It could be Anthrax. Or any number of diseases, chemicals, or poison." Aro said solemnly, piggybacking on Caius' idea. "And to be overly cautious - Castiel, Gianna, you both need to leave."

Gianna nodded quickly, immediately turning and beginning to walk away while Castiel shook her head.

"It's not any of those things."

Marcus groaned, "For the love of all this is holy Castiel can you not argue with us just this once-,"

"But it's not!" Castiel insisted, motioning to the parcel in Kemar's hands. "It's from Bahadur."

This meant absolutely nothing to Andy, but it seemed to mean something to every other vampire in the room. Andy even shot a glance back at Jane in the hopes that she wasn't the only one out of the loop, but her friend's expression indicated that she did know who Bahadur was.

"I've seen you open it. It's just a flash drive." Castiel sighed, her gaze fixed on the mailer, "It's… harmless."

"What's on the flash drive then?" Caius raised one platinum eyebrow at her, "Why would he be sending you… any type of digital file? I don't trust whatever this is and we need to have IT check this thing before we plug it into any computer-,"

"It's security footage Caius. He sent it to me because…" Castiel trailed off, looking like she didn't want to say more but knew she had to keep talking. "Because he wanted to push me. He wants to push my buttons and find out what makes me react."

The room was quiet as everyone digested this, and it was only broken after a long moment by Kemar deftly tearing the packaging open and shaking out a small brown box onto his palm. When he removed the lid it was obvious Bahadur had wrapped the flash drive in a small square of white fabric to keep it from rattling around.

It really was just a flash drive, and there certainly wasn't anything dangerous about it.

"He sent me the recordings of that night at the warehouse. I'm sure part of him hoped I would be naive enough to plug the thing in and watch it privately."

Castiel was staring forward blankly as if she wasn't seeing anything in the room at all. Aro was watching her intently, noting with concern that her pupils were not blown wide to indicate a vision. She was spacing out, and by the way Marcus reoriented himself so he was standing directly behind her with both of his hands on her shoulders showed him that he wasn't the only one who was beginning to feel very concerned about Castiel.

Bahadur knew that there was very little chance that night would not have been traumatizing for her. If she had been completely blasé about that attack… well Aro would think any human who felt fine after such a thing desperately needed a psych evaluation.

They were already concerned enough about how Castiel was repressing the incident. They didn't need Bal's games right now.

"He wants to upset you." Raphael stated, his tone deceptively blank.

Castiel nodded, still staring blankly forward.

"It's not like he's watching you now though. How can he be waiting for a reaction? Are you saying he has a spy-," Caius disliked how this conversation was being drawn out, he wanted to get to the important stuff and stop hm-ing and ha-ing about motivations.

"It's not that complicated, Caius." Castiel sighed, her good hand reaching up to rub hard above her right eyebrow as if she had a headache. "He doesn't have a spy."

Caius opened his mouth as if he were going to argue with her, but Raphael spoke first. "He does not need to see her reaction personally. He is waiting to see what kind of reception he is greeted with from Marcus, Aro, and yourself. If you are too angry or overprotective he will assume he has succeeded in upsetting her."

"Fuck him." Caius snapped. "We won't respond at all."

"Then he'll just assume I'm hiding it from you." Castiel was looking very tired, "Whatever response we give him, whether it's extremely calm or very aggressive, he's going to analyze every bit of it to get some idea of what I'm like."

"Why though?" Afton had to ask this. As content as he was listening to this conversation as a bystander, he wanted to know more than anything just why it was so important to Bahadur to psycho-analyze… well anything about Castiel.

"Because he's curious." Aro said bitterly, "He's not interested in using any information about Castiel for nefarious purposes. He's so curious about the little psychic mortal who joined our coven it's nearly painful for him. Part of him wants to believe she's nothing more than a girl. A talented girl yes… but just a girl. While another part of him wants there to be… more."

"Ugh." Andy let out an audible sound of disgust, unable to suppress the little shiver that came over her. "The dude sounds like a predator."

"We're all predators." Kemar sighed, extending a hand to drop the flash drive into Aro's open palm as the ancient drifted toward him. He didn't even spare Andy a glance as his gaze fell on Castiel, and after a moment's hesitation as he registered her vacant expression he reached his hand back out to Aro, who lightly brushed palms with him.

"Yes, that does sound like a good idea." Aro answered Kemar's thoughts. "Afton will go with you and Castiel."

This finally broke Castiel out of her blank gaze, and she looked up at Marcus only to see him raising a brow at his raven haired brother.

"Come on Castiel." Kemar placed his hand on her good shoulder and guided her so she was facing the doors, "We're going for a walk."

Castiel's minor objections to this were ignored as Kemar towed her from the room - he ended up grabbing her hand when she made to dig her heels into the ground - with Afton trailing after them looking bemused.

Marcus only allowed them to go because Aro began speaking to him in ancient Grecian. "I assumed there was very little chance you wouldn't want to see what was on the footage Marcus. Kemar is going to take her into town-,"

"Into town?" Marcus nearly snarled, realizing that Aro had just given Kemar permission to take his imprint from the safety of the castle without consulting him. "I don't want her out of this castle-,"

"You can't never allow her to go outside."

"She can stay in the garden-,"

"Marcus that's hardly reasonable."

"She doesn't even want to leave the grounds." Marcus snapped, "She hasn't wanted to leave the castle since it happened-,"

"We can't exactly encourage her developing agoraphobia though, can we?" Caius cut into the conversation in English, much to the relief of everyone else in the room who was feeling very confused and unsure if they would end up needing to break up some unknown fight between the masters.

That was the thing about the masters being as old as they were - they spoke a handful of languages that had been dead for so long that only the three of them could understand each other.

"Alec," Caius turned just his head toward where the boy was standing by his throne, "Get Sulpicia and Athenadora and have them wait in Aro's private study. Let them know we will join them shortly."

"If you don't want to see the footage and would rather accompany your mate and her guards then go." Caius said to Marcus, knowing full well what his response would be. "You'll know where to find us."

Marcus gave him the finger, and Caius smirked.

"The rest of you are dismissed." Aro sighed, waving the remainder of the Elite guard and Raphael's accompanying coven members off. "Raphael I think I speak for all of us when I say you are the exception. I believe you care enough for Castiel to have the choice in… seeing what happened that night."

"I would like to know what my little friend went through." Raphael said stoically, his eyes flashing down to Aro's closed fist that was concealing the flash drive. "I see that she is upset. Maybe this will tell us how we can help."

Marcus couldn't agree more with that last statement.

Together they all left the room, planning to head to Aro's office to watch the offending footage after paying a visit to IT… just to be sure the flash drive wasn't a computer virus.

Better safe than sorry.


If Kemar wasn't ten thousand times stronger than her, and if she actually believed making a scene would do her any good, Castiel would have put up a lot more of a fight to how he was currently dragging her by the hand through the narrow streets of their city. Afton had vanished from sight about five minutes ago, but she was sure he was walking no more than a few feet away from them.

She wondered how funny the hidden guards around Volterra found all this. She was sure they were enjoying the spectacle.

"Kemar!" Castiel complained in a furious whisper as they passed two older women who were watching the two of them with poorly concealed amusement as she continued to halfheartedly attempt to pull her hand free of his. "Let go you dickhead-,"

"Dickhead? That's a new one. I'm not letting go, little bird, so stop complaining."

"You can't do this-,"

"I absolutely can. I'm in charge of you, you only have full use of one arm, and I can smell that your painkillers are starting to take so you're just going to get weaker by the second." He laughed, "But keep attempting to get free, it's probably best that we play into the locals' assumptions that we're the picture of young love."

Castiel wrinkled her nose at this, and stopped struggling so abruptly that Afton laughed aloud - which he really shouldn't do when he's invisible.

Kemar had led her to the fountain in the town square, and Castiel could feel her apprehension building as he had her sit on the same bench she and Trent had the habit of sitting on and whispering to each other at so the sound of running water from the fountain would drown out their voices and conceal their conversation.

Kemar sat on her left side, and she felt Afton brush her as he took his place at her other side. After a few seconds he appeared suddenly beside her, obviously having checked that the coast was clear and no one was watching him quite literally pop into existence out of nowhere.

"Okay, so start talking." Kemar said, stretching his arm out along the back of the bench as he leaned back. "What was with you in there?"

"What?"

He raised his eyebrows at her, "What was your deal in there? You started spacing out and I was wondering if you were going to have a fit or something-,"

"Kemar." Afton interrupted, his tone a clear warning, "Can you not be a little less crass for five minutes?"

Kemar scoffed, but still rephrased his previous question. "You were acting strangely as soon as the brother's started talking about Bahadur. You were thinking about the recordings he sent and not really focusing on the conversation. What's the problem?"

"You caught that?"

"Anyone with half a brain cell caught that."

"Kemar." Afton hissed, clearly frustrated with his lack of tact.

"Fine, you lead the conversation then Afton." Kemar sighed, "I don't want to bullshit with the sugarcoating, but if you find it so necessary…"

"Trying not to be an asshole doesn't mean you're sugarcoating anything Kemar. The upcoming sensitivity seminars will probably do you wonders."

The face Kemar made at that nearly made Castiel laugh.

Nearly.

"I…" Castiel let out a long exhale, staring at the ground in front of them as she tried to put her thoughts to words. "I don't want them to watch the recordings."

"Why didn't you want them to watch the security footage?" Kemar asked, looking down at Castiel from his seat beside her, noting how she didn't want to lean back against the bench because of how he had draped his arm across the back section behind her. "I did see that on your face. You didn't want anyone to watch the footage, yet you said nothing."

"There would have been no point in objecting." Castiel said tonelessly, "They would have watched it with or without my permission. It was better not to say anything at all."

"We all know what happened, Castiel." Afton's voice was gentle and kind, which was much more comforting than Kemar's brusqueness. "And Aro's literally seen the entire thing from your point of view. Why would these videos be so horrible for any of us to see?"

"Because they…" Castiel trailed off looking confused, as if she hadn't expected or thought about this question. "Because they make me feel…"

Both Kemar and Afton looked at each other over her head for a split second. Because they make me feel, damn it if this wasn't exactly what they all been trying for since she'd been hurt - to get her to talk about and process what happened instead of pushing it away.

She had plenty of days where she was calm and happy, appearing almost back to normal. But the way she couldn't stand to look at her left forearm, and the way that she'd talk about the incident so factually to anyone who asked about it…

It wasn't normal, and it was only becoming more and more evident by the day that she needed to let it out.

Whatever it was.

"I don't know."

Kemar and Afton nearly groaned aloud. So close.

They both looked at her for a long moment, and Castiel wasn't sure what they were looking for but she didn't want to give either of them the satisfaction of reading her apparently-so-obvious emotions on her face. Instead she looked away from them - upwards as if she were staring at the sky as her eyes trailed along the rooftops, wondering if she'd catch a glimpse of any of the other guards if she looked hard enough.

But apparently Kemar formed some other conclusion as to what was bothering her - even though she'd told everyone a million times she was fine and even if she wasn't she didn't even know what her problem was - and he let out a small huff.

"You don't have to admit it to anyone else. But you can tell us you know." Kemar sounded a little aggravated. "Afton and I are your guards, you shouldn't feel the need to hide things from us-,"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She snapped. "Honestly, I have no idea what everyone thinks is so wrong-,"

"I think you do, and you just won't talk about it."

"And what might "it" be?"

"Did Bal scare you, Castiel?"

The question was so sudden that Castiel looked over at him in surprise, genuinely confused as she processed what the conclusion was that he jumped to.

"I'm not afraid of him." Her response was a little too quick, and every bit as stubborn as he expected.

"That's not what I asked."

"Can't we talk about something else?" Castiel was frustrated now, and Kemar raised an eyebrow at her. "As Afton just said, everyone knows what happened that night, I don't know why everyone wants to talk about it all the time."

"Like what, then?" Kemar sighed, "What else would you suggest is more important to discuss than-,"

"Well how about why you acted like such a dick to Andy?" Castiel shrugged at him, her expression confrontational. "She's nice. I don't know why you felt the need to act like you had a stick up your-,"

"I am…" Kemar interrupted, speaking slowly as he tried to find the right words. "Uncomfortable with vampires I do not know or trust being close to you. You're injured, and you're my responsibility. I'm sure Andy is a good girl, but my trust is earned. Not given."

Castiel pursed her lips, but didn't make a scathing reply back. His answer had been too reasonable for her to argue about it.

It seemed like they were just going to have to sit there in silence then. If Kemar only wanted to hound her about the night she'd almost been eaten and wasn't open to talking about anything else that was relevant to their lives, then she was going to sit here and be petty and silent.

And just when Castiel finally leaned back on the bench despite Kemar's arm being there, turning her head toward Afton as she felt the telltale blissful relief of the pain medication kicking in on her aching and almost burning shoulder, she saw something that caused her to freeze in her seat.

She'd begun to feel a little drowsy, and looked toward the sky for only a split second in which she saw a flash of gray cross between two rooftops.

"What was that?"

She heard Afton sniff, and a small grumble came from Kemar that could only have been a suppressed growl.

"Your friend Ajmer." Afton sighed, "It appears he couldn't wait until nightfall to hunt. One of the patrolling guards was leading him out of the city."

"I don't even know why he's still here." Kemar said darkly. "I've thought we made it clear he's not welcome."

Castiel sighed, and she really wished she didn't have to say what she was about to say, "I'm still having a really hard time forgiving him about what he did to my dad. It's not the change that upsets me as much as the risk he took… I need to decide if my anger is enough to end our friendship."

Afton thought over his response, following her lead in phrasing things carefully even though he knew no humans could hear them - most of the guards probably couldn't understand over the sounds of the fountain and how low they were all talking. "The grief you went through because of what you thought happened, and the… challenges you and your father face now do to your… differences… It wouldn't be wrong of you to end the friendship and officially address it with the Masters so they can have him leave."

There was something about Afton's approach that had Castiel turning to him, her expression unexpectedly confused and sad. "You sound like… you think I shouldn't be friends with him."

"...I'm not sure it's a good idea." Afton glanced over her head at Kemar, wondering if this was either of their place to speak.

"Is this because of our Coven being very selective of our allies?" Castiel spoke extra quietly now, "I have more nomadic friends than just him. And as misguided as his decision was… he's still hanging around because I think he want's to make amends and I'm not sure that-,"

"He's not a good friend for you Castiel." Kemar interrupted after giving Afton a significant look over her head. "You should know that for weeks now we've been instructed to keep him away from you for your own safety."

"Is this about when he grabbed my arm when I argued with him?" Castiel groaned. "He let go-,"

"After Alec threatened him." Kemar sat up straighter, turning his body toward her so he could keep her full attention and adequately express how serious he was right now. "He doesn't know his boundaries when it comes to you, and he's not safe."

"Don't be ridiculous, if that was true-,"

"A good friend doesn't confront your family with a life changing prospect without speaking to you first. And a good friend doesn't come barging into the place where he knows you reside with some grand ideas that he's going to rescue you and you'll be so grateful to him that of course you'll-," Kemar cut off abruptly, taking a deep breath. It felt like a wave of heat had flashed down his spine.

"Of course I'll do what?" Castiel was eyeing him cautiously.

"Take a breath Kemar," Afton was the only calm one on the bench. He knew some things about Kemar's past that would make him react… emotionally, if he kept thinking about a very particular concern he had about Ajmer. "Castiel… look…"

"Ajmer formed some ideas when he changed your father that he'd come get you from Volterra and you'd all leave as a new, happy coven together. He should have known better since you'd have been required to stay with us for two years after your change since you'd have been our responsibility if we changed you and not his - and therefore definitely not able to run off with him and your dad right away, but that's not the point."

"The point is he also assumed that he'd… earn your favor and start a relationship with you." Afton continued, trying to be as gentle about all this as possible.

Castiel shook her head, "Ajmer is my friend, it's not like that between us. And he's always been a nomad - he's never been interested in having a coven-,"

"Oh I'm sure he'd have assumed your dad would split from the group eventually and he could run off with you." Kemar's tone was so, so bitter. "He's a manipulator, Castiel. He'd have given you your dad back in a way that meant you would get to keep one of the only things in the world that mattered to you and you would have owed him big. He's lonely, and he would have used whatever he could to his advantage."

"You're talking like Ajmer is in love with me." Castiel let out a short, slightly hysterical laugh, "Come on! There's no way he'd feel anything like that. It's not like he could possibly have a mate bond to me or something because we all know I was always meant to be with Marcus-,"

"He's not in love with you." Kemar agreed, "He's infatuated with you, and honestly, an infatuated vampire is much more dangerous and unpredictable than you can possibly understand Castiel."

Castiel shot to her feet, turning to him with her cheeks flaring red in anger as the blood rushed to them, her wildly curly hair seeming to crackle with electricity. "Don't you dare talk to me like I'm too stupid to understand anything because I'm human, don't you dare-,"

He had hit a soft spot. A very, very soft spot and Kemar knew it. One of the things Castiel always stood up for was humanity, and he had seen many examples of her squaring her shoulders and facing off with a vampire who even dared to talk about humans as if they were of lesser intelligence.

She knew humans were a food source for vampires, but that would never change that she knew they deserved to be spoken to with the same respect any immortal would extend to another vampire.

Kemar put his hands up to his shoulders, clearing his face of any emotions that weren't calm and placating. "I wasn't saying that. Now please sit back down before people start to stare."

Castiel let out a few deep breaths, but still sat after another minute of quiet.

"I'm only sitting because this medication makes me tired." She grumbled.

"Does your shoulder hurt?" Kemar asked politely, the doctor in him unable to stay quiet when he knew he should check in with how her body was feeling due to her injury.

"No."

"Good."

It was quiet again, and after nearly five minutes in which all the three of them did was listen to the fountain and look extremely out of place to any of the civilians cutting through the plaza, Afton groaned.

"Okay we need to either keep talking or go back inside."

"Agreed." Kemar cast a casual glance around the plaza, pleased that no one was taking notice of them. "So I'll get back to what I was saying before."

Castiel groaned, but Kemar ignored her and continued anyway. "He's dangerous because he's lonely and he's formulated an idea that he thinks will help ease that loneliness. He doesn't listen when any of us tell him you're off limits. He's not taking the hints and actively ignoring all warnings we're giving him. I think the best thing you could possibly do now is get one of the brothers - probably Caius - and have them go with you to confront Ajmer and tell him he's stayed past his welcome."

"And what warnings have you given him exactly?" Castiel's eyebrows were raised, and her attitude clearly showed she hadn't gotten over the comment Kemar had made a few minutes ago.

"There have been a few minor warnings made to him to discourage him from trying to get you alone, and other larger ones that you weren't really in any state to deal with until now-,"

"Dude." Afton cut him off, shaking his head. "You should really let Marcus tell her about-,"

"Let what I'm about to tell you be my apology for insulting your intelligence." Kemar cut Afton off, turning back to Castiel and pretending he didn't hear Afton when he muttered It's your funeral under his breath. "Marcus and Ajmer got into a confrontation when you were sick with fever after the werewolf attack. Ajmer insinuated that Marcus wasn't right for you, and Marcus saw his infatuated bond to you."

Castiel looked startled, and Kemar waved a hand as if to brush off the concerns she was about to voice. "He didn't actually hurt him. Just intimidated him. When Eleazar told me about it, it was pretty obvious that even he was concerned about Ajmer's motivations. He was rather relieved that his coven was watching out for your father after he realized. It's best neither of you be tied up with the nomad at the moment."

"Look," Castiel was overwhelmed, but she did her best not to let that show as she spoke in a steady voice. "If this is about him being lonely then I can at least talk to him as a friend and try to make him see reason. I'm Marcus' mate and imprint, and if Ajmer doesn't know that and needs to hear it from me then so be it-,"

"He knows you're Marcus' mate." Kemar snorted, "Don't give him so much credit. Marcus made it clear to him that day he confronted him when you were sick, and he made it crystal fucking clear with that display in the library."

Castiel felt this strange sense of eerie calm settle over her, knowing that part of it was because of the medication and the rest was due to the fact she wanted to remain as blank faced as possible when talking about something like this. She'd known Afton and Kemar had definitely been present in the library when she and Marcus had sex. She knew it was out of the privacy of their rooms so really anyone close could have heard - as much was obvious by Kemar's previous empty threat with the recording. But she had been willing to do it, and she knew both of her guards could be trusted not to bully or shame her about it.

Afton had never even mentioned it, and even though Kemar did threaten her when they had their little spat, he'd never once made her feel ashamed for being with Marcus wherever they pleased. Sex wasn't a taboo to vampires, and Castiel was gradually learning to accept that and become more comfortable with her mate.

She knew when she became an immortal she'd become acutely aware of many sounds and smells in the castle that would make an old catholic lady clutch at her pearls and reach for her rosary.

"You know we were there." Kemar said stoically, addressing her silence. "If anything we're required to be close to watch your backs if you're… indisposed."

Afton sighed a long suffering sigh, and Castiel felt her lips twitch as a smile threatened.

"I don't know if it'll make you more comfortable, or more pissed, to know that Marcus had us clear out the library of everyone except Ajmer before he went near you."

Castiel pursed her lips when Kemar paused, before letting out a long exhale.

"I'm glad that he made it so really only you two were there to hear it." Castiel said through her teeth, "But I'm pissed that he made an exception for one of my acquaintances to have a show."

"He didn't see anything Castiel." Afton said quickly. "Ajmer was upstairs and I was keeping him from confronting you downstairs. Nobody watched-,"

"No, but the whole reason Marcus did it was because he wanted Ajmer to hear. He was letting his possessiveness get the better of him and that is not okay. I deserved to know." She took a deep breath. "He only did what he did because he was staking a claim, not because he just wanted to be with me-,"

"Oh I wouldn't assume that." Kemar said idly, causing Castiel to glance up at him in surprise, "The looks he gives you when alone in the library sometimes are damn near indecent. I just think he never tried before because he thought you'd be too shy, but Ajmer's attitude pushed him."

"Whatever." Castiel was a little placated, but she wasn't going to let it go that easily. "Either way, I think we should go back now. I need to talk to Marcus."

She stood, and both of her guards stood up immediately after her. After looking around for a second to check for anyone watching, Afton disappeared from sight, and Castiel felt him move as he switched sides with Kemar, who took her right hand before she could walk off.

"Kemar, really?"

"I'm not taking my hand off you," Kemar said in a no nonsense tone of voice, "Last time someone let go of you in this city, you were abducted. Aro made it clear to all of the elite guards that if you were to ever be outside the castle grounds someone was to have a hand on you at all times."

"Overkill." Castiel muttered, and to her surprise Kemar began pulling her further into the plaza, away from the direction of the castle.

"Kemar where are we-,"

"There's no way they're done watching the videos, Castiel. I think we should give them more time, and you need to cool off before you go hunting down your mate."

"I wasn't going to hunt him down!"

"Regardless, you need to cool off and decide what to do about Ajmer."

"No, I need to cool off, talk to Marcus, and reserve judgment about Ajmer until I get his side of the story. I'm not good at ending friendships, and I want to make sure if I do that I'm justified."

"You've got other friends Castiel, you said so yourself." Kemar rolled his eyes, "You don't need scum like Ajmer."

"Yeah, and I'm sure you'll just love all my other friends," Castiel quipped sarcastically, "Because you're just so friendly and accepting and not at all a judgmental ass from the moment someone says hello-,"

"I'm allowed to be picky with my acquaintances," Kemar shrugged, "And I am most certainly allowed to be as judgy as I want of anyone who's trying to keep company with the one person I've sworn my life to protect."

Castiel made a face, and he laughed before reaching over to ruffle her hair.

She made a sound of protest back, which was only funnier because her left arm was in a sling and her right hand was secured in his grasp so she couldn't fix it.

He never thought there'd be a day where he was legitimately fond of her. Kemar always thought he'd see her as nothing more than a job - an object he was tasked with protecting. When he first met her he couldn't understand why there were quite a few guards he'd met in Volterra who seemed to care for her as if she were one of their own, who were prepared to die for her because she was family.

But he understood now, because with all her quirks and minor character flaws - because who on earth didn't have flaws, and some much worse than others - Castiel was someone who was genuinely worth protecting.

Before his thoughts could get too sappy, and before Castiel could start complaining about her hair, Kemar added on to his previous statement.

"Besides, I don't hate all your friends. Trent is a bit of a goof, but how much he cares for you says a great deal about his character. And Bella is… Bella."

Castiel raised both of her eyebrows at him for what felt like the millionth time since they'd been out, and Kemar wished he'd said something that would arouse less questions from her than Bella is… Bella as he realized he'd just set himself up for an hour of curious, prodding questions from Castiel.

It took everything he had not to react and to keep staring forward when Castiel repeated his ending statement, and he prayed silently to any god there was that one of the Master's would text him soon to tell him the coast was clear and it was time to bring Castiel back.


"Is everyone ready for this?" Aro's voice was quiet, solemn as he looked around his private office. Sulpicia, Athenadora, and Caius were on the largest couch across from the fireplace, facing the projector screen that had been pulled down from the ceiling. Raphael was in the lone armchair, staring at the play button the projector that was placed on the center of Aro's desk was casting to the large white screen.

Aro was standing next to Marcus at the desk. Marcus was manning the computer and taking advantage of the fact that doing so would make it so everyone's back was to him and he could endure watching the video on the monitor without being conscious of what everyone was seeing on his face.

Chelsea was the only guard permitted in the room as she was one of the closest personally to Marcus and Castiel being as she was Marcus' guard and Afton's mate, and she was standing by the door in a position that left her just barely able to see the screen.

They would arrange for Afton and Kemar to watch the footage later, but other than that they would keep what they were about to witness private.

This was Castiel's suffering, and not something the entire coven was entitled to see.

"We're ready, Aro." Caius said emotionlessly, not turning to look back at him or Marcus as Athenadora shifted so she was cuddling against his side, preparing to need the comfort of his embrace once the video started.

Aro had been planning to stand with Marcus in support, but watching Athenadora made him long to be near Sulpicia, who cast him a quick glance that clearly said she wanted him with her.

Thankfully Chelsea had been paying attention, and she drifted silently over to Marcus and Aro, gently brushing Aro's hand with her own before taking his place just behind Marcus' chair as he moved away.

Aro nodded his thanks to her, glad that someone would be standing with Marcus so his brother wouldn't be completely alone as he went to Sulpicia and sat down with her, opening his arms so she could climb into his lap.

Everyone looked toward the screen silently, waiting for Marcus to press play and start the singular, large video file that had been on the flash drive Bahadur had sent.

No one pushed him. No one rushed Marcus as they waited for nearly a full minute for him to finally press play.

The click from the computer mouse was a sharp sound in the room that had been silent aside from everyone's quiet breathing. Raphael noticed how Sulpicia and Caius both seemed to hold their breath in anticipation as text appeared on the screen.

I have spliced this video together in the chronological order of events from multiple different surveillance cameras. Some of the audio is not the clearest and will cut in and out at random points.

Enjoy.

Fucker. Marcus thought bitterly as he read the words. Thinking how Bahadur had intended these words for Castiel and wanting to absolutely obliterate him for including that single word at the end. Enjoy. Bahadur would pay for this one day. Marcus would make sure of it.

"Fuck this guy." Raphael said in monotone, to which Marcus couldn't agree more as the video finally started to play.

Everyone knew instantly that this camera was mounted on the outside of the warehouse. The resolution was shockingly good, and they were viewing a section of gravel driveway that was illuminated from bright yellow light that seemed to be emitting from directly below the camera. It was mounted about a bay door clearly, and there was nothing to see in the video besides the shifting of the trees in the distance as they waited for something to happen.

A rumbling sound came after a long moment, and everyone watched with bated breath as a white van came into screen, stopping right in the camera's view.

They could not see the passenger door open, but they watched as the driver's side door opened and a scruffy looking man with a beard jumped out, slamming it behind him before wandering to the back of the van.

They only caught the barest glimpse of another man - the tall, dark haired vampire they knew as Lucas - as he met the scruffy one at the back doors of the vehicle before they were pulled open.

This side view of the van made it so both men were hidden from the camera by the back doors, only their legs were visible, and there was a second of waiting before they heard a small shriek and a woman appeared at the feet of the men as she was literally thrown on the ground when she was pulled from the van.

The woman was not Castiel, but no more than 5 seconds later another person was thrown to the ground.

A person who was instantly recognizable by her curly red hair.

Castiel didn't land on her side like the woman before her, she seemed to shift and landed directly on her back. They could hear the whisper of a grunt from her as the air was knocked from her lungs, and they watched her arms flex as she pulled them closer to her, her clearly bound wrists keeping the small child in her arms cradled to her chest.

Right, the little Spanish boy. Marcus had forgotten about him.

Two new men strode into view from below the camera, not saying anything to the werewolf and vampire who had just thrown the two women to the ground. They each grabbed one of the girls - Marcus had to take his hand off the computer mouse as he made a fist when the one who grabbed Castiel started dragging her by the back of her shirt toward the warehouse - as if they'd done this a hundred times and this was all just routine.

He thought about the pack of wolves in the clearing he had exterminated with the assistance of Afton and Kemar, and felt a new surge of hate for all the men involved in this scheme.

They all noticed Castiel's head whip from side to side as she tried to get a look at her surroundings, before they lost sight of her as she was taken into the warehouse and out of the camera frame.

Suddenly, the video seemed to split down the middle, and the camera video from the outside of the warehouse was resized and fitted to the left side of the screen, still playing and showing more humans being thrown to the ground as a new camera feed popped up on the right side of the screen.

Marcus couldn't care less about watching what was happening outside the warehouse. His mind was entirely focused on the video on the right side of the screen, as it showed the interior of the warehouse and kept his girl in the frame.

The place was empty, brightly lit, and filthy. The audio was clear and echo-y in here, as was obvious right away when the man dragging Castiel literally threw her onto her back again on the dirt concrete floor and she cried out in surprise.

"Gah!"

Marcus felt his eye twitch at the sound of Castiel's voice, and he was so focused on the screen he didn't see Athenadora's hands come up to cover her mouth as she suppressed her own cry of concern.

He couldn't take his eyes off Castiel, and he barely registered the movement on the left side of the screen as the rest of the humans were dragged in. Castiel sat up, unable to do anything but watch as the rest of the humans were put in a messy line alongside her. Marcus noticed out of the corner of his eye when the last human was dragged into the warehouse by Lucas and the video of the gravel drive in front of the warehouse became still with inactivity.

As if his notice of this were some kind of silent cue, the video on the left side of the screen disappeared, and the video that kept Castiel in clear view became full-screen.

Four werewolves and one vampire now faced the line of humans, and the video was utterly silent before Lucas spoke.

"Put them on their knees."

The werewolves all moved at his words, and Marcus couldn't suppress his snarl as he watched one of them grab the boy from Castiel. A cry of wordless protest came from her as they forced the little boy on his knees on her left. They could not see her expression as the camera only had a slightly angled view of her back.

Along with a sharp burst of anger, Marcus felt a pang of sorrow go through him when the men manhandled Castiel to put her in the same position as the others, and he heard the child let out his own wordless cry of protest when they put their hands on her.

He could understand why protecting him had been so important to Castiel.

Once all the humans were in a more organized line the werewolves went back to their previous positions, standing alongside Lucas as he faced their captives. Marcus wanted to smack the smug look on his face right off, and found that the only thing keeping him calm in the long moment in which one of the only sources of movement in the video was Castiel turning her head to look down the line of humans beside her - only sparing a quick glance to the couple of women to her right - was thinking about how he'd given the nomad exactly what he deserved in the end.

"They seem so resigned." Raphael said, an undercurrent of an emotion Marcus couldn't quite place making his words seem louder than usual. "Only Castiel is trying to take in her surroundings."

"Any human placed on their knees in a line like this would assume they were about to be executed." Caius growled, "I'm sure the others have no hope they will be rescued. Castiel would have known we were coming for her."

"She did." Aro whispered, his gaze narrowing as the screen showed Lucas' attention had become focused on something.

Marcus wasn't breathing as he watched Lucas take notice of Castiel, and the only sound in the room was that of his teeth snapping together when he clenched his jaw as Lucas smiled at her, baring his teeth.

God, he wished there was a camera focused on her face. He had no idea what look Castiel gave him in response - a response that caused Lucas' smile to fade as he took a step toward her.

A squeak of metal sounded, and a door at the back of the room opened, the new figure growing larger as he walked closer to the group and the camera brought him into clearer focus.

Maxx.

Lucas had taken his eyes off Castiel as he turned to the other vampire. The two of them looked incredibly out of place with the werewolves in their company.

"Ah my nephew! You have truly outdone yourself! Sixteen? You told me you would only be bringing fifteen!"

Marcus heard Caius growl, and only kept himself calm by picturing all of the things he would have liked to do to the two nomads if he were able to go back in time and place himself in that warehouse.

"Do you see that look he just gave the werewolves?" Sulpicia's voice was no louder than a whisper, "Gosh how they didn't turn on Lucas and Maxx amazes me. They couldn't have missed the contempt in his face."

"They didn't care." Aro laughed humorlessly. "Both groups hated the other, they were just working together for the pay out."

"It was fifteen when we last spoke," Lucas gave an irritable sniff, "Eight males and seven females. That one-," He jerked his chin toward one of the humans in the line and they all saw Castiel's head move as she looked down the line to see who 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."

Everyone in the office beside Aro looked surprised to hear this piece of information, and with a sinking feeling of dread Marcus thought he had an idea who that man was.

Could it be the human he owed his very life to for aiding Castiel's escape?

"Oh, I'm sure it's fine!" Maxx waved off Lucas' 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 we can provide. They go like hot cakes at the trades you know."

Marcus stiffened with Castiel when he saw her go abruptly still on the screen, focusing hard on what the two vampires were saying.

"Can we get this over with Maxx?" Lucas snapped, "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?"

Caius and Aro both let out bitter laughs at this.

"Well that's your problem for having an alliance with them you disgusting piece of-,"

"Caius!"

"What? I was going to say filth-,"

"Shhh!" Athenadora hushed both of his brothers, and Marcus was grateful because the video was still playing and he needed to focus.

He needed to see everything that happened that night. The least he could do for Castiel was sit here and watch so he could suffer with her in some small way.

"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?" Maxx continued as if he didn't notice the way the werewolves had all turned at Lucas' previous statement. And to Marcus' surprise the werewolves actually did what he said and turned to leave the room, all heading to the metal door at the back that Maxx had entered through.

They clearly had no self respect at all.

"Well now I'm sure you're all wondering why you are here." Maxx only continued when the werewolves were out of the room, his pseudo-cheerful gaze traveled down the line of humans. Not one of the vampires watching in the office missed how his gaze seemed to hesitate on Castiel for just a fraction of a second longer than the others, as if there were something in her expression that interested him. It was likely the same look she'd given Lucas, and again Marcus really wished there was another camera view that was focused on her face. "You're all English speakers, yes?"

None of the humans responded, but Maxx kept talking anyway. "Well maybe not the infant but he'll most likely die in his first change, so who cares?"

He laughed. And Marcus swore he saw Castiel twitch.

"This guy is sick." Athenadora sounded as though she had a head cold, and Caius squeezed her with the arm he had around her shoulders.

"Now don't be alarmed," Maxx's tone had become soothing, and Aro quickly explained under his breath to Raphael that Maxx had a weak but usually still effective gift of creating a relaxing atmosphere. That's why his tone had changed and why all the humans he was facing here were beginning to relax as a few of them slumped from their previously rigid positions, "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."

Everyone's eyes were on Castiel, as she was the single human in the line who didn't react.

"Why didn't it work on her?" Caius speculated aloud, unable to help himself.

"Because his gift was weak, as I just said. Castiel not only has a more powerful psychic talent, but she was completely aware that what she was experiencing was false. Just like how we've seen other vampire's shake off the effects of weak talents in the past."

"So what you're saying is he was always a weak bitch?"

Aro couldn't help but laugh at the unexpected phrasing of Caius' words.

"It's only fitting he died like one." Marcus deadpanned, and the office once more fell into silence as they all saw Maxx and Lucas focus their attention on Castiel.

Castiel said something, but her voice was so quiet the camera picked up nothing more than a nonsensical whisper. Marcus knew she hadn't spoken up because the vampires would have heard her anyway, but it frustrated him greatly to not know what her response had been.

The smile dropped from Maxx's face, and Lucas leaned toward him for a second to whisper something in his ear.

Instantaneously Lucas was in front of Castiel, his movement too quick for the camera to process. He grabbed the front of her shirt and lifted her clean off the ground.

The camera caught the movement of Lucas' lips as he said something to Castiel, but he had spoken too low as well, and wherever the hidden mics were in this room, they didn't pick up the sound. The video showed Castiel swinging her bound legs at Lucas' groin in response to whatever the nomad had said.

Lucas brought his leg forward to stop Castiel from kicking him in the nuts, and there was the tiniest snapping sound that the microphones in the room barely registered as his movement broke the zip-tie restraining her legs.

"What did he say?" Athenadora sounded anxious. "What did he say to her Aro?"

"And who exactly are you, beautiful?" Aro replied, quoting Lucas in nearly a perfect replica of the man's voice. Marcus couldn't help but growl.

And to his surprise, Sulpicia and Athenadora both snarled with him.

Lucas shook Castiel, whether because she tried to kick him in the balls or because she didn't respond, Marcus couldn't be sure but he knew the nomad was not being gentle by how Castiel's head moved and her hair swished when he did it.

The only thing keeping him from unnecessarily leaping to his feet was Chelsea's hand suddenly coming to rest on his shoulder.

"Maxx!" Lucas suddenly called, holding Castiel at arms length as he stared at her, shock clear on his face. "Come look at this!"

Maxx appeared instantaneously at their side, the camera missing his movement the same way it had missed Lucas'.

Marcus wasn't the only one in the office who hissed when Lucas turned Castiel and drew her back to his chest, one of his arms pinning her arms to her sides as the other came up to grab her chin.

They were looking at the side profiles of each of the men, and when Lucas suddenly turned her head rapidly enough that she cried out in pain, Castiel's face was oriented away from the camera. There was absolutely no mistaking what the two vampires were looking at.

"Easy Lucas!" Maxx reprimanded the younger vampire, reaching forward to pull the neck of Castiel's shirt aside so he could get a better look of Marcus' bite. The camera caught a glint of gold as the chain of her crest became visible, but neither of the vampires seemed interested in it.

Maxx grabbed her chin and turned her face slowly toward his, as if he was being conscious of how his nephew may have injured her neck. Lucas adjusted his grip so both of his hands were holding Castiel's upper arms and her feet were placed back on the ground.

At least they could see the side of her face in the camera now, and her expression pinched for a second showing that the movement of her head certainly did hurt.

There was no need for anyone in the office to interrogate Aro to whatever Maxx breathed at Castiel next, because he said it unprompted.

"Who do you belong to, gorgeous?" Aro's voice was a perfect mimic of Maxx's.

"Fuck you!" was all Castiel spat back in reply.

Raphael did a little fist bump in the air that Caius caught out of the corner of his eye. Good girl. Fuck that guy.

"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."

Marcus, Aro, and Caius all somehow managed to suppress the growls they very much wanted to make at Lucas' bold idea, but Athenadora didn't miss the small vibration that came from Caius' chest as he avoided making the sound because of how she was pressed against him.

Marcus didn't make any noise because he didn't want to miss anything the nomads said in the video, especially since one of them was pressed up against Castiel.

"It seems you snagged more than just a random mortal," Maxx's gaze went back to her neck and Marcus slammed his fist on the desk when he reached out and traced it with the tips of his fingers.

Castiel cringed, trying to flinch away from his hand and both of the vampires laughed at her obvious discomfort.

"Don't fucking touch her." Marcus snarled, hardly noticing as Chelsea squeezed his shoulder.

"Easy brother." Aro soothed, not turning his gaze away from the screen.

"Oh, she's fully mated alright." Lucas' humor at her discomfort was sinister. "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."

"These men…" Raphael said slowly as he realized the implication of Lucas' words. "They really had no idea who Castiel was, did they?"

"No." Aro answered, "And it's good they didn't. They very likely would have killed her had they known."

On the screen Maxx was turning back to the other captives, taking a few steps away from where Lucas was holding Castiel. Marcus noticed how her wrists were still zip-tied in front of her and he wondered what would happen that would allow her to break free of them.

"Tonight, you will all become stronger… faster… more deadly than the average human." There was obvious humor in Maxx's words, but everyone in the office doubted any of the humans in that warehouse noticed, beside Castiel who would be the exception because she was unaffected by his talent.

"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 older werewolves returned. One of them holding a handful of needles.

The horror in the side profile Castiel's face when she noticed this was echoed on each of her family member faces, as well as on Raphael's and Chelsea's.

"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 Maxx's voice was so obvious now that it was shocking the other humans still didn't seem to notice. "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, the audio crackled for a second and no one could be sure if she'd said anything more, but if she did none of her captors responded to her.

Marcus could see Lucas chuckling against her back, and once again found himself finding his calm by remembering how Lucas screamed when he'd castrated him.

Everyone in Aro's office watched, as helplessly as Castiel as the werewolf with the syringes went to the first person in the line and grabbed him. They saw her try to turn her head away 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.

Marcus saw Lucas whispering in Castiel's ear as the werewolf moved quickly down the line of humans. Aro didn't elaborate on what he was saying to her this time as everyone was too focused on watching the other captives be infected with the werewolf virus.

Castiel didn't respond to Lucas and Marcus saw how there were only three humans left as her horrified gaze turned toward the camera as she watched the little boy.

The werewolf grabbed him, but didn't get the needle into his arm before an ungodly loud crash sounded in the room.

Everyone in the office jumped besides Aro and Marcus, because the microphone in that room sure caught that sound loud and clear.

A werewolf - a young, fully transformed werewolf entered the room - moving in the familiar apelike trot that was common for its kind when moving slowly on four legs. Castiel turned to stare at it, and Marcus wished he could scream at her to struggle and try to run as she registered what it was.

She'd never seen one of the creatures before, and everyone knew that this first sighting of one meandering in, leaving bloody prints on the floor as it observed them, could have been nothing short of terrifying.

Athenadora put her face in her hands. She couldn't watch this.

Caius rubbed her back comfortingly, but continued to watch the video with everyone else.

Something dropped from the creature's bloody mouth as it roared, causing Sulpicia to cover her ears as the speakers blasted the sound at them in the office. This werewolf had obviously killed the two untransformed men who had not returned to the room and had wandered into the main floor of the warehouse looking for more prey.

They watched as Lucas literally threw Castiel forward on the floor, vanishing from sight with Maxx as the nomads fled like cowards.

The remaining two untransformed werewolves ran too, heading for the doors at no more than an average human's pace. The werewolf roared again and lept for the running man who was closest to him, and at the same moment Castiel was on her feet sprinting toward the child.

The way she had hit the ground made it so the camera didn't see the tie at her wrists break away, but Marcus found that he had the strangest sense of relief to see her unrestrained, even though he knew the worst was yet to come.

On her way to grab the boy Castiel snagged something up off the floor, not once slowing down before she dropped to her knees in front of him, using the object to break his ties as well.

She didn't turn toward the creature, and Caius couldn't decide if that was wise or incredibly stupid.

The boy put his arms around her neck and she picked him up, hitching his legs around her waist as she wrapped her arms securely around him and ran toward the door. Meanwhile the wolf's attention switched from the first man's body - where it had been hastily tearing and eating flesh from its torso - to the second man, who was significantly closer to the door.

It leapt on him instead of Castiel, instantly starting to rip into his body as it followed its feral instincts to attack and kill the first thing it saw move.

"She runs fast." Raphael's voice sounded weird, as if he were trying a little too hard to be casual as he watched the events unfold on the screen. "She's very lucky it showed no interest in her."

"There's nothing lucky about it." Aro sounded almost proud, "What we see is not what she saw. She was… ahead… of the events we see by several seconds. She kept to the path that kept her safe from mortal danger for as long as she could."

His tone had ended on a grim note as he waited to see the parts that would hurt all of them to watch the most.

Aside from the disturbing sounds of the werewolf eating, the only audio picked up by the camera was Castiel's running steps echoing in the large room.

They all stopped breathing again as the beast raised its bloody maw from the new body, its gaze zeroing in on Castiel's back. It's body coiled to leap-

A male voice screamed, and at the same moment all three of the ancient's said "The keychain man", with a deep significance as if those three words could explain the meaning of the universe.

Because he was the reason she was alive. The thirty seconds his sacrifice gave her made all the difference in the world.

At least, in Marcus' world they did.

"Look over here you disgusting piece of shit! Look here!" The man with the horribly bruised face threw himself forward on the ground, thrashing to draw its attention away from Castiel. It turned to him, and Castiel disappeared from the camera's view as she made it outside.

If they didn't know Bal had intended for Castiel to watch this, the inner coven, Chelsea, and Raphael might have questioned why, rather than just switching back to the outside camera, the screen split to keep the view of the werewolf inside on the left side of the screen as the new video of Castiel outside appeared on the right.

But of course the vindictive bastard wanted Castiel to watch the man who sacrificed himself for her be brutally killed. He probably saw it fitting.

After they repaid Bal the favor he was owed, Marcus was going to kick his teeth in.

God he hated politics sometimes.

Castiel was kneeling on the gravel drive outside now, her hands on the boy's arms as she kept herself at his level so she could look him in the eyes. There was a slight breeze that was distorting the audio outside, but they could still catch her trying to get the boy to hide - pointing underneath the van.

The boy ran back into her arms, his arms wrapping around her neck as he said "No! I stay! I stay!" in Spanish. They very much doubted he fully understood what she had been trying to say in the first place.

Castiel tried again, pointing to the van and surprising Marcus as he heard her say 'hide' multiple times in Spanish, only minorly messing the word up on her first go, before saying 'under' twice with a little more certainty.

The child understood. He let her go and ran for the van, and they lost view of him in the camera as he crawled under it.

Trying to do what she could to protect the child cost her valuable time, because as they had all been watching her try to reason with him, the wolf had perked up on the footage inside the building. Its ultra sensitive hearing alerted it to new prey, and it left the keychain man's body so it could bound toward the open bay door, and toward the sound of new meat.

The outside camera's image took up the entire screen, and there wasn't even half a second's pause before part of the werewolf came into view from where it stood just below the camera. Castiel got to her feet and turned toward it, refusing to leave her back to it any longer and they all got a good view of her face.

She looked disgusted and scared as she moved slowly backwards.

The werewolf moved too, stepping toward her at a matched pace, its huge body dwarfing her significantly even on four legs. Both were bathed in moonlight, and this camera worked well enough in the dark that it made her and the beast appear crystal clear on the screen.

Thankfully Castiel had moved back at an angle, so they were still able to see her as the creature paused before standing up on its hind legs and uttering another blow-out-the-speakers level howl at the sky.

Was this wolf larger than usual? Or was it just because Castiel was so small that it seemed abnormally dangerous and vicious? No one could be sure at this moment.

What they all did notice though, was Castiel taking her gaze off of it in its moment of distraction to look around on the ground by her feet. And they all saw as she registered something by her right foot, quickly bending to grab the only weapon she had as the werewolf landed back on its four legs.

It came toward her with a snarl that made the audio of the video crackle. They watched as she planted her feet and took - what they saw now was clearly a crowbar - in both hands and swung it like a bat as it lunged for her.

The wolf yelped when she made contact, and they could all instantly see on her face that hitting the creature had hurt her. She'd put all her strength into that hit - and it was a very good hit - but it would have been like hitting a boulder. The werewolf staggered a step, and both of Castiel's hands opened reflexively, her body not allowing her to keep hold of her only weapon in the shock of what they all knew she'd just done to her shoulder.

Athenadora, who had been peeking through her fingers, squeaked and covered her face again, unable to bear seeing more because she knew what was about to happen. She was the most sensitive to werewolf attacks of all of them, so no one judged her as Caius resumed rubbing her back.

Suddenly the video flickered, and they were given an entirely new, much wider angle of the screen.

This new camera was mounted higher up on what had to be on one of the building's corners. They caught a much better aerial view of the scene. Castiel, the werewolf, and the van all appeared smaller on the larger landscape, and they watched a few seconds' replay of Castiel hitting the wolf in the face.

It became obvious at once why Bal had changed their view.

Not one darkly colored car, but five, came speeding into view from further down the gravel road. All of their headlights were off and they were approaching with enough haste Sulpicia found herself worried that they'd run Castiel over.

The werewolf stood on its hind legs again, and the audio picked up a now distant-sounding roar of anger from the beast. Castiel threw her arm up to protect her face as it lashed out and clawed her, knocking her to the ground and not noticing the loud skids of tires as the cars stopped hard on the gravel only thirty feet in front of it, spreading out in a V formation on the large open land in front of the warehouse.

The wolf was completely consumed with the kill, and they watched as it made its final lunge for Castiel, who was on her back on the ground and completely helpless.

The front and passenger doors of all five cars flew open, and Bal's men leapt out, large guns drawn up to their shoulders as they aimed over their doors - using them as a shield - and unloaded an absolute torrent of bullets into the beast.

It was a good thing Castiel was flat on the ground; she wasn't hit as the gunfire took over the audio. The only movement she made was to roll over onto her stomach and keep herself pressed to earth as she waited for it to stop.

When the gunfire stopped and it finally went quiet, they saw Castiel lift herself torso off the ground with her right arm, her left clutched to her chest clearly showing she was hurt, and she turned her head back to look at the werewolf that had fallen in a heap by her feet. The video whited out for a second as every car's headlights turned on, and once the image became visible again, they saw that Bal had switched them back to the closer camera that had been mounted about the bay doors.

"Bahadur should go into movie editing." Raphael said bitterly, not blinking as they all watched Castiel squint into the light, trying to focus on the figures coming toward her.

She was utterly filthy now. Covered from head to toe in the werewolf's vile blood.

Two men stopped on either side of her and dragged her up from the ground, not being even the slightest bit careful with her as they set her roughly on her feet even though she was half their size and hurt.

Castiel looked dazed as she looked around when more of them came forward, and Marcus started to emit a low, continuous growl from deep in his chest as he set his hand on one of Aro's expensive paperweights, hoping that running his fingers along the textured surface would give him something to focus on besides his insane anger.

Castiel looked completely bewildered, and Chelsea gripped his shoulder extra hard as the largest of the near dozen men grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and yanked her toward him and out of the grip of the other two men.

"What are you doing here girl? Who did you come to meet?" They heard him snap at her in Italian, and she just looked at him in complete confusion since she didn't understand what he said.

He shook her, and they noticed her shirt tear where he was holding it. His tone only became more irate when she didn't answer him. "Answer me! What business have you come here to conduct with that creature?"

She shook her head, looking so overwhelmed and scared that Aro knew he couldn't be the only one in the room who felt like that look made his chest hurt.

And then the man hit Castiel across the face.

Marcus crushed the glass paperweight he'd rested his hand on, Sulpicia and Athenadora - who'd finally looked up when she'd heard the man talking - both gasped, and Raphael jumped to his feet as if he couldn't help himself. "That was unnecessary!"

Aro turned to see what Marcus had broken, and shook his head at him before Marcus could utter an apology over it. His look very clearly said he'd have done the same if it were Sulpicia in the video.

Her expression shifted from confusion, to a surprised wounded expression that had Chelsea covering her mouth to hide a sob.

This sucked.

"Hey!" Another one of Bal's men, a shorter, thinner one with brown hair grabbed the man's wrist when he raised it once more as if he was about to smack her again. He placed his body slightly between the two as if to make himself a physical barrier to stop him. "Stop that! Stop that!"

One of the men at Castiel's shoulder grabbed what could only be the chain to her crest, and he pulled it free from her shirt, letting the pendant drop into his palm.

The men around him all looked down at it, and there was no sound but the wind for a few seconds before all of them were talking, their words running over one anothers as they started to argue.

"Do you recognize that?"

"Is that what I think it is?

"It can't be!"

"It is."

"Bal. Call Bal! If she belongs to his government-,"

"She's a girl-,"

"We shouldn't disturb him-,"

"We were ordered to clean up-,"

"We've been told to call his emergency line if we ever see this symbol when dealing with-,"

"She can't be one of his! We should just-,"

"If you kill her, I'll kill you and it'll be considered a mercy to what Bal would do-,"

"So do we bring her?"

"We bring her."

"I'll call Bal."

The decision was made, and they watched as the men dragged Castiel over to one of the cars, opening the backdoor of the nearest one and shoving her into the back seat. One of the men climbed in beside her, and all but two of Bal's men rushed to their vehicles.

The thin brown haired man who'd stopped the largest from hurting Castiel any more than necessary - and who'd been the one who'd threatened to kill one of his companions if they executed her - stayed behind with a stocky, rugged looking partner who shouldered his gun and headed toward the warehouse. He watched the cars pull out of the drive and disappear as they left the cameras range of view and everyone in the office just stared at his unmoving back before the sound of a gunshot rang out.

He turned toward the building, but did not go in even when there was a pause and another shot rang out.

Then another.

Then another.

Marcus rubbed his hands over his face as he heard Chelsea sob again.

Bahadur was one cold fucker. He knew that this could be seen as nothing more than proof of eliminating any witnesses, but to intend for Castiel to see this? To try to traumatize a small human girl who'd never done anything to hurt him by making her watch and listen to other human beings being killed? Of course all of the humans that were still alive there couldn't be saved - they'd been infected and had seen too much - but this was still too far.

It was really, truly, a step too far. He'd be having… words… with Bal, sooner rather than later to remind the man of his place.

The video changed suddenly, and instead of a view from one camera, or a split view of two, the video was divided into three separate feeds. The left showing the outside of a much cleaner and much busier warehouse in the dead of night, the middle showing a brightly lit production floor with many tables and many humans packing various… illegal materials, and the right showing a tiny office that might as well be a storage closet because it was full of boxes. Marcus only thought to call it an office because of the small desk with a cheap leather chair, and the small wooden chair that was facing it.

Aro and Castiel had told them all some of this sequence of events, so at this point everyone was just waiting for Castiel to come into frame again.

As if Marcus' impatient thoughts were a cue, the dark cars of Bal's men pulled up in the left video feed. Everyone in the office was dead silent as they watched the men get out of the cars, one of them reaching in the backseat of one to drag Castiel out.

Their view of her wasn't great as she was dragged stumbling toward the armed guards at the main door. They only got a halfway decent view of her when she was inside the building and on the brightly lit production floor.

She was white as a sheet, her left arm was tied off high up on her bicep and everyone could see that the circulation was cut off. The gashes on her forearm arm which she kept cradled to her body to avoid anyone brushing it looked completely horrible.

Castiel looked inches from death, and her exhausted gaze looked toward the center table of the room as she tried to figure out where she was now.

The production area was too loud for them to understand what was said, but they saw one of the men closest to Castiel catch where her gaze had wandered, bark something at someone behind her, and a black t-shirt was produced seemingly out of nowhere and forced over Castiel's face.

"Oh, can't they stop?" Sulpicia sounded on the verge of tears. "Why are they so rough with her? She hasn't done anything, she needs help!"

"I know." Aro whispered soothingly to his wife, "I know. It's not fair. She didn't need to be treated this way. It is the past. She's well now - there's nothing we can do to change what happened that night."

"If it makes you all feel any better," Caius sighed, "I'm ready to admit you all are probably right when you say she's not been fine recently. I don't know how I could have ever believed her before if this is what she went through."

"Never thought I'd hear the day you'd admit you were wrong, Caius." Raphael quipped.

"I said you all were probably right-,"

"There it is." Athenadora rolled her eyes, only to be shushed by Sulpicia when Castiel - who had been dragged out of view when they removed her from the main room - was pulled into the small office.

The video from the office filled the screen, and they all watched with frowns on their beautiful faces as she was forced into the small wooden chair and her wrists were ziptied once more tonight - but this time to the arms of the chair to keep her confined.

Bal's men left the room, and Castiel was finally left alone.

Her head and face were still covered, so they couldn't see her expression as she clearly tried to take some deep breaths. Her fingers were twitching on her left hand. And they saw how she turned her head toward her arm as if in a panic.

She was left there, alone and obviously scared for only just over a minute before the door opened once more and Bal entered with two of his men - one vampire and one human - flanking him in the doorway.

Castiel jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Oh now, now this is not acceptable at all." There was something in Bal's feigned friendly tone that hinted at frustration. As if seeing her in this state had genuinely made him angry.

Caius and Marcus both turned to look at Aro when they noticed this.

Aro shrugged, "He hadn't instructed them to restrain or blind her. Just to keep her in an unimportant room where the scent wouldn't ruin anything and guard the door."

Bal moved forward and bent to break the ties off her wrists, before carefully uniting the knot in the shirt they had secured around her head in a way that showed he was actually being careful not to pull her hair or anything.

He hadn't gotten her medical attention, but he had made an effort not to harm her any further. That much was clear in this video.

They saw momentary relief change to suspicion when her gaze turned up to look at Bal, and it was impossible not to notice the large read handprint that had bloomed up on the side of her face from where she was struck even with her hair sticking to parts of her face and neck due to the werewolf blood she was covered in.

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

Castiel just looked at him like he was crazy, and Aro might have laughed if the situation had been different. Bal turned away from her briefly to look at his men standing in the doorway.

In a voice so low the audio hardly caught it, everyone heard him say "Find whoever did that to her face and execute him. Promptly."

"Yes sir." Both of his men replied in unison before leaving, closing the door behind them with a thud and leaving Castiel and Bal alone.

Castiel clearly hadn't heard what Bal had said to his employees, her attention had turned back to her left arm. The cutoff of circulation due to the tie around her upper arm made it turn nearly purple in color. The sight of it caused her to let out an involuntary whimper and look away, taking what was clearly a deep breath in through her nose and out through her mouth.

Bal would have had to be an idiot to not notice the distress she was in. He looked down at her arm for a second as he took in the state of the injury.

"Oh, right." He leaned down again and tore off the piece of fabric that was tied to her upper arm, and Castiel gasped in response.

Bal let out 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, clearly wondering what on earth his rambling was about before he grabbed her.

He pulled her up from the chair quickly, being just about as rough with her as everyone else his been this night and she immediately tried to fight him off.

But it was no use.

Bal shoved her against the wall, his hand locking around her wrist as he pulled her injured arm up over her head. He 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.

Marcus snarled, jumping to his feet. He knew what was about to happen but that didn't make this any easier.

Aro turned to look at him, but was unable to catch his eye as his focus was still on the computer monitor and not on the projector screen with the rest of them. He knew this was probably going to be the hardest part for Marcus to watch.

"Do try not to overreact. I'm doing you a favor," Bal's words were not comforting, and his tone was that of a taunt. He didn't wait for her to respond 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 everyone in Aro's office flinched as the sound blared through the speakers, somehow much more piercing than the werewolves howls.

It was one of the longest minutes of Marcus' life, watching Bal do this to his mate. He could see Castiel struggling, trying to beat him off of her for every second he had her pinned, but it had absolutely no effect on him. Her face was mostly hidden by Bal's chest, but there was a moment when she turned her face away that Marcus caught a glimpse of an expression that he was sure was now burned into his mind.

All her fear, and all her pain from this night seemed to accumulate in that one moment, and Marcus knew he'd never seen that look on her face before.

This was the emotion she'd locked away. This raw look of fear and hurt was something she refused to face after she recovered.

Bal released her, using one hand to literally put her back into the chair he'd pulled her from. She collapsed into the seat, her whole body shaking as she looked down at her pale arm, watching fresh blood leak from the gashes that were now marred by two pearly white impressions of Bal's teeth.

They all heard Bal dry heaving, and watched as Castiel turned her head to watch him heave over the wastebasket in the corner by the door as if he were about to throw up.

"That looks uncomfortable." Caius said dryly, not sounding sorry for Bal at all.

"Good." Raphael, Marcus, and Aro all spoke at the same time, causing all three women in the room to giggle quietly in surprise.

Castiel didn't say anything to Bal even when he stopped. He stood straight, still not turning to look at her as he took a deep breath to compose himself.

But eventually he did turn, and once he was recovered he sat in the black chair behind the desk to face her.

"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."

Bal paused as if he were expecting a thank you, but they were all incredibly pleased when Castiel didn't give him one.

"Who are you?" Her voice was weak but her words were clear.

"My name is Bahadur, but people just call me Bal." Bal said simply, the camera clearly catching the movement of his eyes as he appraised her. She looked completely awful, pale, dirty, covered in blood and clearly injured, but this wasn't what Bal was taking note of and they all knew it.

He was taking in the specifics of her look, matching it to information he already had on her because of documents he forged for them months ago. He'd never seen her picture, but he was clearly putting a face to the name.

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

"Bingo." They weren't sure if she was being coy on purpose or if it was shock that was causing her brief answers.

It was probably the shock.

"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 expression gave absolutely nothing away as he said this, and Marcus ground his teeth together.

"There was no reason for you to have her picture you fuck-,"

"Marcus, please." Aro sighed, "I know how this must feel, but please try to-,"

"Alright." Marcus cut him off, growling quietly. "I got it."

Castiel leaned her head back on the boxes behind her chair. She didn't break eye contact with Bal, but they could see her losing more and more energy by the second.

She was actively dying in front of him, and Bal was doing nothing.

"They are coming to get you, you know. I called them myself when my men told me that they 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."

He was being so callous, it was no surprise to anyone when Castiel snapped back at him, "Why were your men even there?"

Bal's eyebrows raised at her tone before he smirked, clearly pleased at the little bit of teeth she was showing him.

"They were investigating why the silent alarm was set off at the new set of warehouses I purchased." Bal answered innocently, looking very pleased Castiel thought to ask this question. "I know they looked completely unused, but there were cameras and hidden sensors all over that place. I have to do surveillance of these buildings 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 back at him, dislike clear in her tone, "And really? The fact they used your warehouse was just a coincidence?"

Bal laughed at her, and Caius mocked his laugh in response.

Arrogant asshole.

"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.

"There is a very fine line to walk doing what I do child." Bal said, not caring 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 at her, "Well, those are another story."

"You've crossed a line with this Bal." Marcus hissed aloud, "You sent this specifically to upset Castiel, and I'm going to make you pay for it."

"Marcus-," Aro started to warn, but Marcus shook his head, making eye contact with him for the first time in a while.

His expression was enough to keep Aro from attempting to discourage violence any further tonight.

"Once Castiel gives Bal his favor and our debt to him is paid, I'm punching him in the face, and he'll be lucky if that's all I do."

"I thought the point was to not let Bahadur see how he has riled you up." Raphael started, his tone matter of fact but definitely not argumentative.

Marcus shook his head, "We aren't going to give him the satisfaction of thinking he's won, and we aren't going to let him get away with this blatant disrespect toward Castiel."

Raphael shrugged, a cruel smile on his face now. "In that case, I want to be there to throw the second punch."

Marcus mimicked his smile, but was spared having to answer by Bal's voice continuing on the video.

"How did you survive all of that anyway?" When Marcus looked back at the computer screen he noticed how intensely Bal was staring at Castiel now. "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 sighed, "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 where Bal just stared at her, trying to detect the lie on her face.

Castiel gave him nothing, and Marcus thought he could see the slightest shift in Bal's expression that showed this frustrated him. "I think you're lying,"

"I'm not."

"Really?" Bal was smirking now, "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.

"Even though I am certain her short replies are due to her weakness," Raphael started, watching the image of Castiel on the screen in clear concern, "I still enjoy how little she is revealing to him and seeing his frustration through his minor facial cues."

"We should teach Castiel to read expressions like we can." Sulpicia said thoughtfully, as if it had only just occurred to her because Raphael said something. "Vampires show far less emotion on their face when they are trying to remain controlled, but the miniscule clues are still there. We can teach her the same way some humans learn to do it to interrogate others."

"We'll discuss it later." Caius said with a stiff nod to Sulpicia, motioning back to the screen. "I'm about to come in I think."

Bal sighed, and seconds later the loud boom of a gunshot came from somewhere 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 looked confused, but didn't have a chance to ask what he was talking about before the door to the office opened.

"Caius!"

The relief and the joy at the sight of him when he finally entered the frame made Castiel's voice higher than usual, but no one got the chance to comment on it before the Caius on the screen was speaking again.

"Castiel." The relief in his voice was obvious too, but in a very predictably Caius reaction, 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 they watched the way his eyes raked over her, taking in all of her injuries as she got to her feet.

"Nice expression Caius," Raphael teased

"She was covered in werewolf blood, what do you expect?" Caius snapped

"Oh, I don't know, for you to not make a face at the smell when she's just been grievously injured and traumatized?" Rapheal said sarcastically, shrugging, "Definitely not that."

"Now listen here you bald headed-,"

"Easy you two," Aro sighed, still watching the screen, "Cut him some slack Raphael, that face was Caius being sensitive to what she'd been through."

"Yeah, that's just how he always looks." Athenadora's unexpected roast made Raphael guffaw as he tried to stop himself from laughing loudly, but it still effectively broke the tension that had been forming between the two.

"Traitor." Caius said under his breath, to which his wife just patted his knee, keeping her eyes on the video.

Castiel stumbled toward him, and it was clear that the physical toll this night had taken on her was only getting worse, because her legs shook as if she were going to fall and Caius hurried forward, pulling her to his side and tucking his arm around her to keep her up.

She leaned heavily into him, the camera catching how doing so caused blood to smear all over Caius' shirt, jacket, and pants.

"I swear in that moment I felt like the most important person in the world." Caius' voice was completely void of emotion now, his gaze slightly off as he thought back to actually being in that room, looking down at Castiel as she tried to limp toward him. "When someone looks at you like that… like they'd just been through the most terrible thing in the world and you'd just arrived to save them…"

He trailed off, and everyone in the office was silent, unable to think of the proper thing to say to him before Marcus sighed.

"It's not something you'll forget anytime soon." The weight of Marcus' next words had everyone in the room turning to look at him, "I know the incredible sense of responsibility you had for her when you found her with Bal. I know she almost died on your way to get her help."

"And if she had… it wouldn't have been your fault."

Caius stood, and he and Marcus faced each other for a long moment, only half hearing Bal speaking in the video once more.

"She's in shock." Bal' voice was calm, "She'll need a doctor very soon."

"Her face?" The Caius in the video snapped, his angry expression the exact opposite of the look the current Caius was going his brother across the room. "That didn't come from a werewolf attack."

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

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

"Of course." Bal voice said, but no one in the office was looking at the screen anymore, everyone was watching Caius and Marcus as they waited for one of them to speak. "But surely you don't mean I have to stay here? The stench. I can go back to my actual office and burn these clothes in the meantime, can't I?"

"Whatever," The Caius in the video growled, while the present Caius let out a weary sigh.

"It wouldn't have been your fault either." Caius moved around the sofa and skirted the large desk, not stopping until he was within an arm's length of his most formidable brother - despite what Bal implied in the video about Aro being the formidable one.

"Losing Castiel would have killed all of us. We want to control absolutely everything, but I think it's time for us to remember that we simply can't." Caius' expression was defiant. "We'll end the trades. We'll get justice for Castiel and all the humans who were slaughtered that night."

Caius looked around at everyone else, catching how the image of him on the screen showed him pulling the injured Castiel from the small room before his gaze found Aro's.

"I kept Castiel alive because I'm too stubborn to have allowed her to die. You've been hounding me about that night privately just as much as everyone's been hounding Castiel about it. It affected me. It did. I'll admit it. I'm closer to her than I was before but-,"

He looked back at Marcus, "How can any of us help her, if we - and most certainly you - don't forgive ourselves?"

Marcus raised his eyebrows, and Caius let out a derisive snort. "We messed up that day. We didn't guard the city well enough, we didn't protect Castiel and Isabella as we should have, we became relaxed… and we paid for it. She paid for it."

"We can only help her once we stop blaming ourselves. She'll never talk to us about what's hurting her if our responses will always be to apologize for not doing enough. We know that much don't we? That she'll never talk about her problems if she feels as though doing so will only make us blame ourselves?"

Marcus reached out and clapped Caius on the shoulder. The way the sound broke the silence made everyone turn to look at the screen, noticing the video had ended.

"For as big of an ass you are-," Marcus teased, "You really know what you're talking about sometimes, brother."

"I've been known to have a thought once every year or so-,"

"Listen to you," Aro laughed at Caius, "Even you're picking up on Castiel's slang-,"

Marcus stopped listening to Aro and Caius as they both stared to good-naturedly bicker about how Caius had sworn he'd never start talking like Castiel and how today's youth made absolutely no sense sometimes.

His gaze had fixed back on the computer monitor, even though the video had ended and the replay button was the only thing to see on the black screen.

He thought about all they had witnessed on these recordings, and the same intrusive thought he'd had when he'd been watching Castiel's "conversation" with Bal came to the front of his mind again.

"It's not the werewolf." Marcus said quietly, only half noticing how the room instantly quieted as both of his brother's stopped talking at his soft whisper.

"Er… Pardon?" Caius asked, the closeness of his voice almost startled Marcus. He'd forgotten he was standing right next to him.

Marcus speared him a sideways glance, and repeated "It's not the werewolf" before rubbing his hands over his face as if he were tired.

"What's not the werewolf, Marcus?" Athenadora asked for her husband's sake when she noticed his left eye twitch a little bit in irritation. "We're not following."

"What's upset Castiel. The reason she can't stand to look at her arm or talk to us in more than a monotone about that night." Marcus clarified, rubbing his face one more time and dropping his hands to look at her, "It's not about the werewolf."

"And how exactly do you know that?" Caius was back to sounding skeptical, looking at Marcus as if he's lost his mind.

"Because I know her." Marcus quoted him, drawing his phone out of his pocket as he strode toward the door. "Leave the video up. I'm going to send Kemar and Afton to watch it."

"And where are you going?" Aro's tone was clearly exasperated.

"To call in the reinforcements, as the saying goes. I think it's time Castiel talks to her father."


Castiel was sitting on top of Marcus' desk in his private office, her legs crossed and her fingers drumming on the hard wood as she stared down at the phone right beside her hand, waiting for it to ring.

It was Marcus' phone, hers was on its charger next to the bed since she'd been playing games on it for over an hour after Kemar refused to humor her questions and they sat together at a café waiting for the all clear to come back to the castle.

Castiel wanted absolutely nothing to do with Bal's flash drive, and she didn't want to be anywhere near anyone who was going to see it and immediately get all emotional with her. She didn't want to relive it anymore. She wanted to forget it had ever happened - the fact that her shoulder was still so banged up was reminder enough.

Kemar did eventually receive a text from Marcus telling him to bring her back inside, and Castiel had delayed him by saying they needed to make a pit stop first.

She'd confused the hell out of Kemar by suddenly leading him through the narrow streets of their city - which was expected because she rarely left the castle and didn't exactly have the best senses of direction here - but knew that by the way he'd stopped trying to ask where she was trying to go that he must have caught a glimpse of her face and therefore her widened pupils and understood.

When they finally stopped, it was in front of the storefront of an expensive, artisan glass blower.

"What are we doing here?"

"Getting Aro a paperweight."

"Aro needs a paperweight?"

The look Castiel had given him said it all, and Kemar just rolled his eyes at her before indicating that she should lead the way.

Kemar and Afton were both gone now, undoubtedly watching the recordings in Aro's office. At least Kemar was able to replace the paperweight - which was fitting because he was the one who'd had to actually buy it since she had no money - but she'd be sure to make sure Marcus reimbursed him for it.

Marcus… hadn't actually said much to her when she got back. He just kissed her on top of the head and dismissed her guards before leading her to his office.

He'd left her alone with his phone after taking hers to plug it in, telling her he was expecting a call and if she could answer it when it came he'd appreciate it.

She had no idea what he was talking about - she tried to tell him he wasn't going to get any calls from what she could see - but he just told her he had to step out for a second and he'd be back.

So here she sat, bored, waiting for Marcus to return and hoping they could just spend the rest of the night pretending Bal hadn't ruined their day. Maybe they could go visit Andy and get to know her better? Castiel was getting more and more glimpses of the young vampire and had a very strong feeling that Andy would be around for a while.

Marcus' phone began to ring, surprising the absolute shit out of her and almost causing her to roll backwards off the desk.

Almost.

Damn, she really wasn't used to being surprised.

She picked up the phone after taking a deep breath, willing her heart to calm down as she saw there was no contact name, just a phone number. How was she even supposed to answer his phone? Like she was his secretary or something?

Deciding it was probably better to not overthink it so long the caller hung up, Castiel slid her thumb across the screen to answer before holding it up to her ear, hoping whoever it was wasn't going to be able to hear her still pounding heart.

"Marcus Volturi's phone." Castiel said simply, figuring that was probably appropriate and not too cringey.

"Castiel?"

Her dad's voice shocked her so much she nearly had chest pains. "Dad!?"

He laughed, and it was rich and smooth in a way that was haunting because it was both familiar and foreign at the same exact time. "You sound surprised to hear from me."

"Because I am! Marcus didn't tell me the person calling was you and I couldn't see-,"

She paused. Of course. Of course she couldn't see.

Marcus had played her, but she couldn't even be mad because this was a great surprise.

"Right, I remember now that you can't see me anymore." Her dad sighed, "Are you alone?"

"Yeah, for now, why?"

He couldn't see the confusion on her face, but he could picture the expression perfectly. "No reason. I'm alone too. It's nice to have a conversation with some privacy again… that's not very easy when-,"

"When we're around so many others with supersonic hearing?" Castiel finished for him, and he laughed with her.

"Something like that. Yeah."

Castiel paused, the smile slowly fading from her face as she let out a small breath. "I've been trying to reach you for a while… I miss you."

Over five thousand miles away, in that large empty clearing perched on the same boulder he'd been on when he'd looked for privacy so he could argue with Marcus Volturi, Bryon Rodgers flinched. "I'm sorry Cas. I've been… behaving horribly. Your partner has told me as much."

She didn't miss how he'd hesitated before saying partner in obvious reference to Marcus, but she didn't get a chance to speak before her dad was already talking again.

"I just wasn't sure how to talk to you-,"

"Look dad, I know you're probably so angry with me for-,"

"Angry?" Her dad's startled words cut off her interruption. "Angry? Castiel I've never been angry at you… and I think Marcus knew you'd think that and that's why he told me off-,"

"Marcus told you off?"

Bryon ran the hand that wasn't holding the phone through his hair. As much as he wanted to catch up with his daughter, and as much as he wanted to come clean about Tanya, he'd called for a reason right now. He'd been out on this boulder waiting for exactly 45 minutes after he'd hung up the phone with Marcus before calling back.

Marcus told him it was urgent he tried to talk to Castiel about the night she got hurt, and that she wasn't handling things well and they needed his help.

She needed his help. His daughter needed her dad.

"Yes, and I deserved it, but that's not why I called." Bryon exhaled loudly enough that Castiel could hear it. "I called because I wanted to check on you. I… heard you just had another surgery and I wasn't even allowed to be there for the first one or at all after you got sick."

There was a long pause before Castiel answered. "My arm is fine dad. It'll take a few months but I had a labrum tear or something that needed to be fixed too. I'll be better in no time. I have some stuff for pain and stiffness right now that helps… and one of my guards is a doctor so that's good too I guess…"

Bryon could tell she didn't want to talk about it, but he knew he couldn't let it drop.

"I'm happy to hear that." He sighed, hoping the sound would help her see that he did understand that she didn't want to discuss this, but he still needed to know. "And I know you've probably relived it a thousand times, but I've never gotten the full story from anyone. I'd like to hear it from you. I'd like to know what happened and how they helped you and that you're better now."

"Dad." Castiel said quietly, sagging on the desk and looking sadly down at her lap, her grip tightening on the phone. "Dad they - the Volturi I mean - got a video today from a vampire and his… cronies who killed the werewolf and saved me. We can find a way for you to watch that I'm sure."

Bryon didn't miss the way her voice sounded off when she used the word saved, and how tired she sounded at the end of her sentence gave him a pretty good idea how she felt about the video.

Marcus had mentioned it in the call an hour ago, so Bryon was already aware its arrival had upset her.

"I don't need to watch it, Castiel. I don't want to watch someone hurting you. I'd rather you told me."

"Why?"

"Because it's better to talk, and it's your right to give me as many, or as few details as you'd like. Just remember that I'm your father, and I'm always going to be here."

Fuck. Castiel's eyes burned as tears came. She fought them back with everything she had, taking a few rough breaths that she was sure probably concerned her father before feeling relieved when no tears fell.

It's okay. Everything is alright. Don't cry.

"I know you'll always be here dad." There were no tears on her face, but her voice definitely sounded like she had been crying. "You literally came to Italy as a vampire to find me. I know you'd do anything for me."

"It's okay Castiel." Her father's voice was steady. Calm. It always was when she needed it to be. "Take a deep breath to calm down. We have time."

She did just that. It took her nearly five minutes to find the courage to start the conversation again, and when she did she launched right into the story of what happened when she was out at lunch with Bella, and all the events that followed.

Her dad was a good listener, but occasionally he interrupted her with questions.

He asked about the keychain man. He asked about the little boy.

He asked about what it felt like when she realized she'd be taken by another vampire and it wasn't just a "normal" human kidnapping.

She told him everything about the warehouse. The only thing she edited was Maxx touching her mate's bite and he and Lucas laughing about it. She made it sound as though they realized she'd been around vampire's because of her scent.

There was something about telling her father that her boyfriend had given her a mating bite, and then talking about how her captors had vindictively teased her when they realized she was 'fully mated' that was just… icky.

So she changed that part a bit, but she didn't change anything else.

She told him how she'd rescued the boy, and how the keychain man sacrificed himself for her.

"I just… I don't understand why he did it." A tear finally rolled down her cheek, but Castiel didn't stop it. A tear was the least she owed that incredibly brave man. "Why would he do that for me?"

There was a slight pause before her dad answered. "Because he probably had children. Maybe he even had a daughter and a grandchild… we aren't that complex you know. Not really."

Castiel didn't respond, waiting for him to elaborate.

"People I mean. The things we do come from who we are… and usually the reasons behind our actions aren't that deep and mystic."

Castiel smiled a sad smile when she realized her dad talked about himself and her as people. No separation of vampire and human. Just people.

"He was a good man. And he was brave." Castiel said stubbornly.

"He was." Her dad agreed.

She continued with the story after that, and found it a lot harder than she thought to talk about the specifics of the werewolf attacking her and knocking her down. But nothing, nothing, was as bad as having to describe when Bal's men came.

Castiel hesitated a few times, and stuttered as she described them pulling up from the ground, and how bad her arm hurt and how she couldn't understand Italian and-

She stopped talking and sniffed hard. For a second she actually felt like her face tingled where-

"The man shook you, and you couldn't understand him because you didn't speak Italian." Her father repeated what she'd just said in simpler words and without stuttering. Only then did she realize that she'd taken a very long pause that was definitely not only a couple seconds. "What happened after that?"

"He-," She swallowed. "He hit me."

"He hit you?"

Castiel nodded, forgetting that he couldn't see her before clearing her throat. She'd shed a tear for the keychain man, but she wouldn't over that fuck who smacked her across the face for no good reason.

Not that there was ever a good reason for something like that.

"Yes. He hit me across the face like I was being stupid on purpose. It hurt." She bit her lip for a second. "It really fucking hurt."

"Sweetheart I'm so sorry." Her dad said sadly. "I understand now why you sounded like you didn't like the people who killed the werewolf. Do you want to take a break? We can talk about something else for a few minutes-,"

"No." She answered a little too fast, and knew she better elaborate, "No. I'm good it's- you were right it's good to talk about it."

Castiel slid off the desk, pacing over to the window so she could look out as she talked, hoping moving and shifting her weight would help her stay composed.

She hadn't realized just how hard this was going to be. She'd told this story a dozen times, just not in so much detail.

But it was different talking to her dad. Talking to a parent was not the same as talking to a friend or sibling. Castiel never felt like it was fair to lean too much on her family here. That it wasn't fair to expect her human friends, or her guards, or even her mate to shoulder the burden of what she was feeling.

Because she was feeling something, but she hadn't felt like it was anyone's responsibility to bear that but herself.

Marcus had dealt with enough. He had been hurt enough. He didn't need to deal with her pain too - she already knew he beat himself up every day over what happened. Over how she'd gotten hurt and he hadn't been there.

It was only when he wasn't there that she got hurt.

Telling Marcus would only bring him more pain, and that would only make it worse for her to bear. But telling her dad?

He was listening, he was hearing, he was understanding.

He wasn't blaming himself, and he wasn't blaming her or letting her blame herself.

Her dad just let her talk. He interrupted at all the right moments for all the right details. Because he had raised her, and he knew all the things only a person who had a core part in creating this other person would know.

She was talking about Bal's warehouse now. Castiel barely registered the words leaving her mouth as she described what Bal looked like, and how he'd looked down at her when she'd cried out because her arm hurt.

Castiel pressed the phone hard against the side of her face.

"Bal had to get the blood - the werewolf blood - out of my arm. They'd done a tourniquet and the cuts - most of the infection was contained and… and…"

She felt like the room had tilted, everything started to move so slowly… she felt like her heartrate had dropped significantly.

"Castiel?"

The phone was pressed so hard against her ear it actually hurt, but her dad sounded very far away, "I- He… He pushed me against the wall. He-"

Marcus' office was gone, she was no longer standing by the window watching how the sun went down and the colors of the hills began to change in the dark orange light. She was in a different room, a small room with boxes and a desk.

Castiel could have sworn someone whispered her name, but she was too far gone to notice.

Too far in her own head to realize she'd dropped Marcus' phone and her knees buckled.

I'm doing you a favor.

Her back hit a wall, her body unable to move as an overwhelming scent of men's cologne became one of the only things in her reality.

Don't touch me. Get off me.

There was a horrible, searing pain in her left forearm-

She screamed.

"Castiel!"

"Castiel!"

"Castiel!"

Three different voices were calling her name, all shouting over each other as someone started tapping her cheek. The cologne smell abruptly vanished, and she felt like she'd just been hit by a car.

Castiel caught a flash of color as someone pulled up one of her eyelids, before shining a light into her eye.

"Kem…ar…"

"It's me." Kemar's voice was becoming clearer, Castiel felt a hand holding the back of her head as he repeated the process with the other eye. "You're okay Castiel. You're safe."

Safe?

"Marcus?"

"I'm here." Marcus' voice was gentle and warm. "I've got you. Afton is here as well."

She opened her eyes and realized she was on the floor behind the desk. Marcus was kneeling behind her, his torso supporting hers and his arms a comforting cage around her. Part of her thought the way he had his left arm was meant to cradle her injury, but she couldn't be sure.

Afton and Kemar were both kneeling the same as Marcus, but they were facing her. It had been Afton who was holding her head while Kemar checked her eyes.

She breathed slowly and deeply, as if she'd finally caught her breath after running a marathon.

And speaking of running a marathon-

"Ugh. Gross I'm all sweaty."

It was true. Her hair was sticking to her skin and she felt like her clothes were damp. She couldn't see her expression, so she didn't know how confused and scared she looked right now.

"It's alright." Marcus said comfortingly, "It doesn't matter. I'm going to pick you up now okay?"

Castiel just nodded, unable to think of anything else to do. She had no idea what was going on…

Afton provided a spare set of hands for Marcus as they adjusted her so he could stand up, cradling her in his arms and letting out a small rumble from his chest, hoping the sound would comfort his imprint.

It seemed to work, Castiel put her head on his shoulders and shut her eyes, not asking where he was taking her as he instructed Afton to come with them.

Kemar waited until the three were gone. And it was only then that he acknowledged the cellphone that had fallen under Marcus' desk, where he could clearly hear Bryon Rodgers' voice asking if anyone was there.

He had to kneel on the ground again to pick it up - he had stood automatically with Afton and Marcus so as to not stay sitting on the ground like an imbecile - and he put it to his ear after realizing Castiel dropping it cracked the screen. Looks like they'd be ordering a new one.

"Hello?"

"What's happened?" Bryon's voice demanded angrily on the other end of the line, "Is my daughter alright?"

He'd stayed on the line for the entire incident, so he'd known precisely when Castiel went down and they came rushing into the office. Marcus, Afton, and himself had returned to the main room only ten minutes prior, and had really tried not to eavesdrop on Castiel's conversation with her father.

But the sound of Castiel dropping the phone had alarmed Marcus, and he entered the room at the same moment her knees hit the floor. Luckily Marcus had caught her before she could hit her shoulder or head on anything, and Afton and Kemar came running at his call.

The fit had gone on for over a minute, and they were only able to rouse her after she'd screamed and scared the living shit out of them.

"Yes." Kemar replied calmly, staring at the office door, "She was just having an… episode. Marcus will make sure she's alright."

"An episode?" Bryon's deadpan response was the furthest from pleased at what Kemar was insinuating. "What kind of episode?"

"I don't think a panic attack is the correct word for what happened," Kemar mused, almost to himself, "I think a better word for that would have been a flashback."

There was a pause on the other end of the line, "A flashback? You mean like PTSD?"

Bryon's voice was grave now and Kemar remembered that having been in the military, Castiel's father would have a rather good understanding of just how serious what Kemar was saying was.

"What did you speak with her about?" Kemar was mentally reminding himself to not let his feelings get in the way here. He needed to get information on what had just caused his charge to freak out like that. "I wasn't around for most of your phone call, and we were all doing our best not to listen in when we were."

"Castiel was telling me about what happened to her the night she was hurt. She told me about the werewolf and then started telling me about someone named… Barth? Ball? I'm not entirely sure what the name was. That was when she seemed to have stopped hearing me, I heard her breathing pick up and couldn't get another coherent sentence from her."

The concern was clear in her father's voice, but what he just said interested Kemar in a way he wasn't expecting.

Were his - and Master Marcus' - separate conclusions of the same suspicion right?

"She didn't panic until she started talking about Bal?" Kemar said quietly, thoughtfully, as if he was thinking hard about something. "Was she upset before she got to the subject of her meeting him?"

"No." Bryon sounded slightly perplexed. "She was relatively calm… maybe a little disturbed as she talked about the werewolf scratching her, but she didn't react like that until she tried to tell me about being taken to Bal."

"I see." Kemar's voice was grave. "I think I understand now."

"What do you understand?" Bryon sounded aggravated again.

Kemar had to refrain from rolling his eyes. Newborns, they never knew when to just chill out.

"I don't think it was the werewolf that rattled her. I see that we've all gotten it wrong." Kemar sighed. "I don't think even she realized… but now we know. I think we can work on helping her now."

"What are you talking about?" Bryon snarled from the other end of the line, annoyed at Kemar's crypticism.

"The reason your daughter can't face what happened. I'm talking about the fact that Castiel herself doesn't even realize that the werewolf attack was not the most traumatizing thing that happened to her that night. If it was only about the werewolf, I think she would have come to terms with it very quickly and we wouldn't have to keep wrapping her arm so she doesn't see the mark."

Kemar allowed Bryon a few seconds for his words to sink in before he gave the big reveal. "Bal bit her Bryon. What he did saved her life, and she knows that, but I think the instinctual part of her brain is not coping very well with realizing what it feels like when a vampire backs you into a corner and bites you. I don't think she's handling the feelings that she experiences when she thinks about that moment that she was prey, and she was harmed by one of our kind in such a visceral way."

"She sees us as her family and she knows we won't hurt her, but she was just recently harmed using the one trademark method of vampires hunting our prey. That bite mark on her arm is bringing up feelings that completely contradict what her brain has accepted as fact about her family. Her brain sees on one hand these vampires she loves who protect her, and on the other that we are the same species of being who harm her."

Kemar let out a deep breath through his nose. "You didn't see the video. Bal sent us all the surveillance footage of what happened that night. I saw what he did. When he got that toxic blood out of her he still slammed her into the wall and trapped her there before sinking his teeth into her. She screamed like any mortal does when we feed on one of their kind… She screamed and no one came to stop him."

"He didn't take the time to explain what he was doing to her. He kind of did, but he did it as more of a taunt than an explanation, and he didn't need to be so rough with a hundred pound girl who was already badly injured." The guard's words were heavy, and there was something about his tone that Bryon couldn't place right away.

And when he did, he realized that Kemar sounded as if he were so angry he was nearly numb. Like a bomb waiting to go off.

"I need to talk to her." It was all Bryon could say and it aggravated him that it wasn't enough. He wanted to actually be there. He wanted to hug his daughter and hear this from her and tell her that it was alright.

But he couldn't.

"We'll have her call you when she's ready." Kemar paused for a second before continuing, "I know that it probably doesn't feel like it right now, but your call just did a lot of good I think. We might actually be able to fix this now."

Without another word, Kemar hung up Marcus' phone and placed it in his back pocket before heading out of the room to find Master Aro, sure that Marcus wouldn't want to be interrupted right now.

Bryon looked down at his phone, barely processing the disconnect of the line as he realized he'd have to wait until Castiel called to find out if she was alright.

It seemed fitting that now he would be the one sitting waiting for the phone to ring.

Damn karma was a bitch.


(Update 8 May 2022)

(72 Pages, 29,779 Words)

Please comment/review and let me know what you think! Hearing from you guys really keeps me going :)

Hi everyone! I'm very sorry for the long wait. I had some not so great health issues in the last couple of months, and lost two very close family members in January and February.

Please forgive me for any typos in this chapter. I was too excited to wait to post this for you guys and my beta is a little busy at the moment.

I'll be posting this chapter with beta edits (hopefully) sometime this week.

I don't plan on the next chapter taking so long to get out as things are looking up again, and you can always bug me via PM if you'd like to check on my progress.

If you want somewhere to talk fanfictions and general fandom related stuff (twilight, hp, marvel, etc.), you should join Rev's discord! I'm very active there and it's honestly the best way to get in contact with me. I'm more than happy to keep you up to date on what's going on with my stories, and I will be posting chapter 4 & 5 of the discord exclusive, just-for-fun roommate AU this week!

Please feel free to join, it's really such a fun group and you'll come across the writers of a few very popular Volturi fics! (You can also feel free to harass me here and deal with my shitposting lmao)

Come join us! (discord)(.gg)(/qKjcTRb)

This link is also available on my profile. If you ever have trouble joining just reach out!

I have a ko-fi now, so if you'd like to support me there you are more than welcome to (though of course I will still write regardless). Link is available on my profile!

This story is also available to read on Ao3 under my username FairlyAverage. If you see this story posted anywhere else, please let me know as these are my only two accounts.