Eliana threw herself backwards onto her bed and stared emptily at the ceiling. "I'm so bored."

She felt the bed dip as Afton did the same beside her. "Welcome to Volterra, Eli," he sighed. "This is what your everyday life will be like from now on."

"I thought you left," she said.

Afton shrugged. "You thought wrong."

Only Afton took note of Demetri knocking on the open door before letting himself in, and even then he remained still across the bed. Demetri raised an eyebrow at the scene.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Eliana groaned and rolled to the side. "I'm bored."

Afton rolled his eyes and stood up from the bed, pacing vigorously back and forth at a speed that would be sure to give Eliana a headache if she were remotely paying attention, though luckily for her she was facing away anyway.

"Why don't you just go to the library and read a book or something?" Demetri asked her. "Hasn't Afton suggested that yet?"

It was astonishing how quickly she'd shot up at that revelation (and then grabbed her head as she winced from the headrush from moving too suddenly). "Library?!"

She then turned to Afton and slapped him across the shoulder. Of course, it caused her a lot more pain than it caused him, but nonetheless the message behind the action was crystal clear.

"What was that for?!" Afton exclaimed.

"What the hell? You didn't bother to tell me that there's a library here?" She slapped him again, though this time he ducked out of the way so that her hand fell lamely by her side. "This entire time?!"

He held his hands up in mock surrender and feigned fear. "I didn't think you'd be interested!"

Eliana rolled her eyes and stood up, grabbing a pair of shoes on her way out as she went. Demetri instantly started walking ahead, with her and Afton trailing along behind. Throughout the first minute or two of their walk, Eliana continued to clumsily tug on her shoes without actually stopping to do so properly while Afton did everything possible to stifle his laughter.

It only took a minute or two to reach a large set of double doors, almost as large as that of the throne room. Demetri pushed them open as if they were made of paper, and Eliana only realised the actual sheer weight of them when she tried and failed to push on them a little herself.

Then she finally glanced up. Shelves upon shelves of books, towering so far above her head that she felt her head spinning. There were several floors, maybe 3 or 4, and the room itself stretched much further than she could have possibly imagined. Her eyes widened so far that she knew she looked ridiculous at that moment.

"Harry Potter fan?"

She stumbled backwards, only to find, Afton holding out in front of her a clearly old edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Eliana pulled a face at it and shrugged. "I'll read one of the later books, maybe Goblet of Fire onwards, but the earlier ones make me cringe into nonexistence."

"Eh, fair enough."

And with that, Afton tossed the book over his shoulder into the fireplace in the most nonchalant action possible. Eliana gasped, her eyes flickering from the fire, to the completely calm and nonplussed vampire, back to the fire, and back to him again.

"D-did—did you just—" she spluttered as she pointed dumbly at the flames that had now completely destroyed the book.

Afton sniggered. "Relax, we have over 50 other copies. No one gives a shit-"

"Afton," Demetri chided.

"No one gives a crap," he corrected himself, earning a glare from Demetri. "No, I'm not going any more tame than that, thank you. Stop looking at me like that."

"Make me."

Before Afton could advance on Demetri, Eliana weakly shoved him with her shoulder. Obviously that did absolutely nothing, but it was enough for the guard to stop before he could inadvertently injure her.

"Just get me the Order of the Phoenix please," she sighed.

Afton nodded affirmatively and vanished within the moment she blinked. She then slowly swivelled around to face Demetri, who was now leaning back against a table with a book held open in his hands. She had no idea how old that book could possibly be, but the sight of the yellowing pages certainly confirmed that it wasn't exactly new.

"I'm confused," she began. Demetri instantly placed the book back down, with a bookmark in the page he'd left off at. "Do you always get to boss people like Afton around? How does this place even operate?"

"Afton is a permanent guard, so he is above many of the others that work under the Volturi, but unlike myself, he is not an elite guard," Demetri explained. "While technically he typically answers to Alec, I am still his superior regardless."

One look at Demetri's subtly smug expression told her everything she needed to know. "You're really proud of that, aren't you?"

Rather than reply, Demetri inclined his head over her shoulder. Afton had reappeared again, now with the Order of the Phoenix, a copy in virtually pristine condition. "You had to ask for the most hidden volume in the series, didn't you?" he grumbled.

"Afton, remember your place," Demetri murmured so low that there was no way Eliana could've heard or even known that he'd spoken in the first place.

Eliana fought back a roll of her eyes. "What do you mean by hidden?"

"A few lower guards are still in the process of reordering our 20th and 21st century fiction novels, and they haven't gotten to the Harry Potter series yet," he explained. "That section looks like a complete trainwreck."

"So, what books don't you have?" she asked as she was led further into the room and down a different section between more looming shelves.

"If we don't have a copy of a book, no one does," Demetri answered. "Any published book over the last few millennia is stored somewhere within this building. As you can imagine, many lesser known titles haven't been touched in possibly centuries since they were last moved."

"God sake," she whispered as she opened her book. Spotting a sofa within the distance, she quickly hurried herself down on it and crossed one leg over the other comfortably.

And that was how she spent the next hour or so. Occasionally, the two guards with her would flit back and forth between books, which was understandable considering their reading speed. The fact that Afton had seemingly finished reading the Order of the Phoenix himself within 5 minutes said a lot.

Some time after that, both Demetri and Afton had been summoned away, but she found herself too engrossed in what she was reading to take much notice of that. Once she reached a decent stopping point, she closed the book and rested it on her stomach as she stared up at the tall ceiling.

Sometimes she felt as though she needed to ground herself a little and remind herself of the facts. 1: She was in Italy. 2: She was literally staying with the Volturi, the same people that seemed to scare the Cullen's shitless. 3: Somehow, for some reason, three insanely powerful and influential strangers were bonded to her in a way that she couldn't even comprehend.

Sure Aro and Caius were no longer exactly strangers to her, and she had spoken to Marcus briefly, but she still wasn't exactly on close enough terms with any of them to make her situation feel any less off-putting. Not to mention that surprisingly the thought of Noah hadn't crossed her mind even once since the previous day.

"For how long have you been sitting here unsupervised?"

Eliana jolted back into reality and scrambled into a seated position. In the process, the book on her stomach slid towards the floor but was caught by Marcus before it could land.

After a moment of returning back to her senses, she finally glanced up at the tall vampire in front of her. She watched him blankly as he placed the book down on the coffee table in front of her, noting that never in her entire life had she seen someone simply move with such incredible regalness and elegance.

Marcus looked down at her, and he couldn't exactly say he wasn't just a little alarmed at her blatantly lost expression. "Is something the matter, Eliana?"

"O-oh, er, right . . ." She sat up properly and made a pathetic attempt at fixing her slightly unruly hair. ". . . Sorry, what was the question?"

"I asked how long you have been sitting here unsupervised for," he repeated himself as he sat down beside her at a human speed, though at least he didn't seem at all irritated that he'd had to repeat himself in the first place. Fortunately, he did leave a comfortable amount of space between them. "This may come as a shock to you, but this building and those residing within it are not exactly human-friendly."

"Oh, okay, I was just with Demetri and Afton before they left," she answered, simultaneously fighting down the tremble that seemed to creep up in her voice. "I thought you were busy today."

"I was," Marcus confirmed. She noticed that his voice, though soothing, had a slight . . . drone to it, "but my presence was not entirely necessary, tesoro. And I am beginning to realise my timing was maybe for the best."

"Why?" she asked.

Marcus vaguely nodded behind him. "There are 22 lower guards currently located in this library, many of whom are unaware of yourself or your importance. The simple rule within the coven is that any humans that enter this building who are unguarded may be consumed."

Eliana furrowed her eyebrows together. "That's your rule?" she repeated, utterly bemused. "That people can eat whoever they feel like?"

"Bear in mind that we are vampires after all, Eliana," Marcus answered. "The consumption of humans is our way of life."

"Maybe it was just how casually you said it then," she replied, stifling a laugh. "Ever seen Ice Age 2? When those eagles said "all unattended children will be eaten"? Same energy."

Marcus' expression appeared to be beyond confused for a short moment. "Why would I be familiar with a children's cartoon?"

She shrugged. "Caius has seen The Cat in The Hat. I guess I just figured you guys get pop culture references. But seriously, are you telling me that there was a perfectly good chance of someone feeding on me?"

He paused, and his expression stiffened a little. "Possibly. There was a reason why you were to be accompanied by a higher guard at all times when not with us. But it matters not. I am almost certain that Aro will see to that very soon anyway."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Why Aro?"

"He has final ruling over all decisions made within the coven," Marcus answered. Seeing the look she'd given him, he figured it was safe to assume that she was still unaware of Aro's gift, and that certainly wasn't his secret to tell.

He nodded towards the book on the table. "I see you are familiar with Harry Potter."

"Oh, so you haven't seen Ice Age, but you've read Harry Potter?" Eliana scoffed as she folded her arms over her chest in mock offence. "And you made me seem like an idiot, jeez."

Marcus let out a very brief and low chuckle. "Bear in mind, amore mio, that completing the books would take approximately 37 minutes, whereas, regardless of our immortality, films must be watched at a human pace."

"Oh, so you're just impatient, okay," she teased. "You know Afton threw a copy of the Philosopher's Stone into the fire earlier, right?"

"I will ensure that expense is deducted from his wage," Marcus replied amusedly.

"Serves him right," she agreed with a sigh. She held her face in her hands and winced. "These last few days have been insane."

"However so?" he asked.

"It all started when I ran through this castle wailing and screaming," she deadpanned, surprised when Marcus had a humoured response. "This time a week ago, everything was pretty normal. I was packing to meet up with Bella and the Cullens in Forks as usual, and I had absolutely nothing to do with the bloody Volturi."

"And how do you know of the Cullens?"

Eliana's expression relaxed a little as she leaned back into her seat. He'd gaged enough about her personality to realise the comfort she found in discussing her daily life. "I've been friends with Bella since I was little. I'm a month or so older than her, but we're pretty close to the same age. Our mothers were friends. Bells was the one who introduced me to the Cullens a little less than a year ago." She suddenly went quiet, but spoke before Marcus could question it. "Do the Cullens know about . . .?"

"The mating bond?" Marcus guessed. Once she nodded her head once, he continued. "We felt that information was best shared by you rather than us, although I believe Edward and Alice may already be aware."

"Oh. Okay . . ." she trailed off with her hands in her lap.

Feeling her instant change in mood, it was an internal battle for Marcus to stop himself from consoling her in the way he wanted to. As much as he knew it would not only soothe herself but also the bond they shared, he knew it wasn't worth it considering the risk of him accidentally spooking her a little. She was still in a rather fragile state emotionally, after all.

"Is something the matter, cara mia?" Marcus asked her gently.

She briefly glanced up into his red eyes and then back down at the floor. "It's nothing. It's just . . . it sounds dumb, so it doesn't matter."

"No matter how "dumb" you may think you'll sound, I will never think that of you," he assured her. "I promise."

She sighed. "I just . . . I, um, I don't . . . I don't want the Cullens to hate me after this. I know, it's stupid, but-"

"It is a perfectly valid reason to feel anxious," Marcus interjected as he took her hand carefully. He was surprised when she didn't so much as flinch at the contact. "But if there is one thing I know about the Olympic Coven, it is that they are good people, and they really do care for you a lot. We immortals have great respect for mating bonds, so the last thing any of us would ever do is hate you for something that is out of your control."

After taking a moment to contemplate what he'd told her, she nodded and let out a shaky breath. "You—you're right." She raised her head towards him and smiled. "Thanks, Marcus."

He silently nodded to her in response. She instinctively went to hug him, as if that was a completely rational response to the situation, but she caught herself before she could and forced her hands to stay by her sides.

However, it was just as she was beginning to move her arms back that Marcus tentatively pulled her closer to him. Despite what should've been strange about the situation, she found herself quite comfortably leaning into his chest with her arms folded into herself. She felt a hand hesitantly stroke the side of her cheek very lightly and made a conscious effort to not embarrass herself further by leaning into his comfortably cool palm.

Once he noticed Eliana tense up a little as she realised the situation she was in, he released his hold on her but not before gently squeezing her hand.

"And remember that you are always welcome here," Marcus reminded her, "no matter the situation you find yourself in." He saw the faraway look in her eyes and decided to grab her attention by retrieving the Order of The Phoenix from the coffee table. "And I do recommend you get into the habit of bookmarking your page."

⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰

Author's note: I'm actually surprised I got a chapter out so quickly, but maybe it's only because for whatever reason I had a lot of motivation when writing this one. Plus Marcus is just *chef's kiss* and no one can convince me otherwise.

Anyway, thank you so much for reading, stay safe, and ily lots!