To say Eliana had left abruptly would've been the understatement of the year. She'd only informed Alice and Jasper of her leaving so that they could drop her off at the airport that evening, and even then there wasn't much of a dramatic goodbye involved. It was as simple as she wanted to leave, so she bloody left.
But had it been just a little disheartening that even after she'd left, not once had any of the Cullens or Bella attempted to contact her? Sure, admittedly. First it was a week, and then two, and soon enough a month, and then two months, but still not so much as a text message seemed to come through.
She'd arrived back home from university, her bag already flung haphazardly across her room somewhere as she sprawled back across her bed, when she removed her phone from her pocket to check her notifications again. But there was nothing, only a single message from Aro as usual.
Aro:
Have a good day, amore. Make sure to drink lots of water.
xx
She did find it quite sweet really, how they never even once seemed to forget to check in on her and call her in the evenings, even whenever they had such little time to spare. She'd insisted several times that she definitely didn't deserve to be so high on their priority list, but arguing with them just didn't work, especially on the matter of herself.
One thing she did find quite interesting was that, despite the fact that she was effectively a millionaire with the card that Aro had thrusted upon her, somehow she found herself spending less money than she usually did. Maybe it was just the awkwardness of the thought of her "mates" looking at all of her expenses, even if she did have nothing to hide, or maybe it was just her guilt complex coming into play.
On the plus side, her final semester of the year was over in less than a month. She just needed to crack down on studying for a few more weeks, and then that would be it, then she would be free to spend her summer doing whatever the hell she pleased. Although maybe she'd enjoy the summer more if she wasn't dealing with the physical pains of the mating pulls on a daily basis, she wasn't going to let that stop her.
She opened up her laptop on her desk again and plugged in her earphones, two binders filled with notes and such already spread across her work space. Every once in a while, she'd pause typing to slide her left hand into a bag of potato crisps she'd left open beside her.
Her phone vibrating on her desk caught her completely off-guard, mostly due to the fact that she'd forgotten she'd even placed it there in the first place. She narrowly missed falling straight backwards off her chair as she answered the call as quickly as possible.
"Hello?"
"Someone is eager to speak to us, I see," Caius remarked. Her phone speaker never failed to fully capture his perpetual smugness and the pride he always spoke with.
"Get over yourself, I wasn't that excited," Eliana answered back. "In fact, maybe I was dreading it, if anything. So yeah."
He sighed. "Your sarcasm is exhausting."
"Your voice is exhausting," she retorted, "yet here we are."
"Finished bickering like infants now, you two?" Aro interrupted. Both Eliana and Caius went quiet. "Good. I'm glad we got that sorted so quickly. Now back to the purpose of this call. Eliana, cara mia, how has your day been?" he asked softly.
"Eh, same old, same old," she replied frankly. "No different than last week. Although while I was on the train I did see a guy get escorted off by the police for harassing a bunch of teenage girls. So I guess that happened."
"And that is a fairly regular occurrence, judging by your tone?" Marcus questioned.
"Welcome to the UK," she quipped. "I've seen far crazier shit, but that was still a little interesting. I was on the bus once back at school when some guy opposite me started jerking off. Pulled his dick out and everything. Didn't even have the decency to hide it."
"If I had the ability to vomit, every item of furniture in this room would have to be replaced," Caius deadpanned. "I still fail to understand why you don't simply drive to your classes. These other humans you refer to shouldn't even be within your line of vision."
"I would, but I already have my railcard, and I don't want it to go to waste," she excused. "Anyway, while I'm on the train I can focus on working during the journey there and back, and it's a faster and more direct route as well. And trains are way safer, and a little better for the environment, and-"
"I get the idea," Caius cut in. "But my point still stands."
"I know," she responded gently, "I know, but I only have to endure a few more weeks until the summer anyway. And hey, maybe by then the bonds will have finally given up hassling me with constant pain."
"I'm so sorry, amore mio. If we were able to visit sooner, we would in a heartbeat . . ." Aro trailed off. "Although we may still be able to move a few meetings-"
"Okay, no, you're not sabotaging your jobs simply because my own body is acting up," Eliana interjected. "Absolutely not. Don't worry about it. I'll be fine until the summer."
Aro hummed in acknowledgement. "If you insist," he answered.
"I mean it, Aro."
"And I did say "If you insist"," Aro countered.
"No rescheduling things and kicking up a fuss over me."
"Understood."
After a moment, she sighed. "Fine, I'll take your word for it. But seriously, just . . . just don't do anything stupid."
"That is a promise Aro may not be able to keep, tesoro," Marcus contributed very helpfully.
The next day, her final lecture ended a lot later than she'd been anticipating, which caused her to miss her train, so her only option was to catch one 20 minutes later that took a different route, causing her to arrive back a whole hour later than she'd predicted. All in all, Eliana was hungry, tired, and quite frankly sick of everyone's shit.
She dropped her bag by her front door and fell back onto her sofa. Her parents were out for the next week or so 一 possibly more or less but she hadn't exactly been listening 一 so she basked in the silence, the emptiness, the feeling of being alone she'd longed for all day.
That was until someone rang the doorbell. Not only did they ring it, but they also pounded their fist against the glass of the front door so hard that part of her questioned whether it would shatter. With a roll of her eyes, she got back up to her feet.
"I'm coming, I'm coming . . . Noah?"
She could think up a whole list of people that could've possibly been, but Noah had been right at the bottom of that. Come to think of it, she hadn't exactly put much thought to her ex for some time now. Maybe it was just the anger written across his face, but he seemed a lot taller than before, taller and dare-she-say scarier.
"H-Hey," she said slowly. "Did you need something? If not, why the hell are you here?"
"Why do you think?" Noah retorted bitterly.
Eliana shrugged. "Your hoodie? Because if you want that back, I can just go fetch that for you now. I washed it recently too-"
"No, you dumbass, I'm here to talk to you," he snapped.
"Ooh, okay, Noah's using big words now." She reluctantly stepped aside. "Come in, I guess. Don't bother taking your shoes off though, you're not staying."
"And I don't plan to," he seethed.
"I just-" She pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned in exasperation. "I don't understand what your problem is, or else why are you here? I. Broke. Up. With. You. So . . .?"
"What the fuck else was I supposed to do? You've been airing me for the last, what," He briefly checked his phone, "2 months."
Eliana sighed heavily. "I don't get why you're so fucking confrontational all the time. But fine. You want to talk? Let's talk. What did you want to talk about?"
"Why don't we start with why the hell you broke up with me over a phone call at 9am! Explain that!"
She stared at him for a long moment. "I was in Italy. I now have a hot Italian boyfriend."
Noah scoffed out a laugh at that, but there was very little humour behind it. "At least have the fucking deceny to say you're sick of me."
"Noah, I'm really not in the mood for this, and my patience has been whittled down so far today already that I am millimetres from smashing this vase," She pointedly glanced at a glass vase her mother had left on the side table, "into your face. Please get out of my house," she demanded evenly, pointing to the door.
"But I-"
"Get out of my house," she repeated herself eerily calmly, "before I drag you out there by the split ends of your greasy, unwashed hair. Don't fucking test me."
"She told you to get out."
Eliana was overtaken by such an insane and dizzying blur of movement that she remained almost unconscious for a few seconds, yet once she'd come back to her senses, she noticed that she somehow couldn't see, like her face was pressed against something. She began to lift her head, but she felt a familiar hand hold her head to his chest.
She tilted her chin upwards, but was more than confused at the sight. ". . . Marcus?"
"Ssh." Marcus briefly kissed her forehead and tightened his grip on her as her gaze slowly followed to what was happening beside her.
Even once she'd seen it, she had to blink a few times just to ensure she was even looking correctly. Caius had Noah pinned to the wall by his neck, and due to their slight height difference, his feet were a few inches from the floor. She watched as he aimlessly attempted to scratch himself free of the vice-like grip he was being held in.
Aro then came into her view, and although she couldn't actually see his face for the time being, she could only imagine just how pissed he must be, especially if he'd been listening to her conversation a moment ago.
"Noah, was it?" Aro's voice held a politeness, but there was something very dark mixed in with it, dark and deadly, and apparently terrifying enough to make Noah thrash harder in Caius' grip.
Meanwhile, Eliana attempted to wriggle free from Marcus' hold, but Marcus wasn't exactly making things easy for her. Each time she managed to make the tiniest bit of progress in escaping, he only held her closer and a little firmer.
"Don't hurt him!" Eliana shouted. She felt a lump begin to form in her throat as pure fear took over her. "Please, j-just let him go, Caius."
Caius rotated his head to lock eyes with her much faster than she'd been expecting. She jumped a little — she'd never seen eyes that pitch black and murderous before.
However, his grip was still unyielding. She was almost certain that Noah was going to pass out at any moment. She could only watch helplessly as Caius' barred teeth inched closer to his neck.
Aro tapped him on the shoulder warningly, and it seemed that was enough for Caius to relent. He dropped his victim with a completely careless thud, watching him predatorially as Noah crawled back up to his feet and disorientatedly left the house, slamming the door behind him.
All that was left was a few seconds of silence. Eliana's breaths were still quick and panicked, despite the fact that Noah was gone and Marcus was no longer restricting her every movement. She squeezed her eyes closed for a little while. She just needed a moment to recollect herself.
"Cara mia."
Her gaze instantly snapped up to Aro's. He had a hand held out in front of him towards her, not at all demanding she take his hand but still a subtly insistent look in his eyes.
She carefully took a step forward from Marcus and placed her hand in Aro's. It seemed that, now that his gift was no longer being hidden from her, he was much less discrete about it either. Her hand was clasped between both of his and his gaze quickly locked somewhere over her shoulder, his eyes gaining a glassy, faraway look.
She hadn't expected the moment his eyes flitted back to hers, although rather than releasing her hand, he simply tugged her closer to him. Once within reach, she felt his arms wrap around her, one hand softly petting her hair and the other caressing her side. She took a deep breath and leaned into his embrace comfortably, her head on his shoulder.
The feeling of the floor beneath her was instantaneously replaced with her in a seated position. Eliana only had to open her eyes to find that she was back upstairs in her room on Aro's lap on the beanbag she kept in a corner. Now that she was at a more comfortable angle, she winded her arms around his torso and clung onto him much harder than she'd even intended to.
"Come on now," Aro whispered as a kiss was placed on the top of her head. "I promise you, that boy will not come anywhere near you again."
Eliana nodded her head. She didn't doubt that even for a second.
"I missed you," she mumbled.
"As did we, bellissima," he replied. "That is why we simply had to come and visit you early."
"That and Caius was becoming insufferable," she heard Marcus mutter under his breath. She looked down to see him sitting on the floor just beside her legs.
"Speaking of Caius . . ." She sat up a little straighter and briefly scanned the room, "where did he go? I swear he was here a moment ago."
"Just in your kitchen, I believe," Aro replied quietly.
She nodded in understanding and slid off his lap. "I'll be back," she said under her breath, squeezing Marcus' hand as she went.
"Caius?"
As promised, Caius was standing in the kitchen motionlessly, facing the window. Even once she'd said his name, he didn't so much as flinch or even acknowledge that she'd spoken at all.
Eliana's steps were slow and cautious, still unsure of exactly where his headspace was, when she came to stand beside him, leaning slightly against her counter. Even when she turned her head to look up at his face, his expression was completely unreadable, and his eyes were only half way back to returning to their usual crimson state.
She carefully placed her left hand over his right. It was after a few seconds that he flipped his own hand over so that he could interlock fingers with hers. They stayed like that for a minute, Eliana gently resting her head against his bicep as the room filled with only the sound of her own breathing and the steady beating of her heart.
"You are too kind for your own good, carina."
"Hm?" She tilted her head up to look at him better.
"That boy . . ." Caius subconsciously tightened his grip on her hand. Although she felt it certainly, it wasn't enough to actually bother her, so instead she simply squeezed his hand back. "The thoughts Aro had seen in his head, what he planned to do to you . . . I could never allow him to walk free." His voice became a dangerous murmur.
Eliana shook her head. "You wouldn't have let him do anything to me. He didn't need to die."
"But that would mean to say he deserves to live," he argued. "What if he returns again when we are not here?"
"Then I'll get rid of him. I know how to take care of myself, you know." She repositioned herself so that she could hug him, still wary of how he may react. She instantly relaxed however when the embrace was returned and his nose was pressed against her neck. "He won't hurt me," she murmured reassuringly. "And definitely not with you around. I'll be okay."
Caius simply nodded his head and held her closer.
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: I think I dialled up the angst to a solid 6 here, but who doesn't love a bit of drama to spice things up? Also, this was a short chapter, don't remind me, but I'm not good at writing longer updates in my defence :')
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, stay safe, and ily lots!
