By the time she'd packed up and entered one of the insanely-expensive black BMWs parked along the Cullens' driveway, she was still dealing with a slight hangover from the previous night. Even once in the car with the dark-tinted windows sheltering her eyes, she kept a pair of sunglasses on which Aro had handed to her once he'd realised just how out-of-it she was feeling. Whether they were his or a spare pair he'd carried around for her, she didn't know or frankly care.
"We're opening this window," she muttered matter-of-factly as she leaned across Marcus for the little button on the windowsill to her right.
However, he caught her hand before she could reach and pressed a button between the two front seats which caused the overhead window to crack open a few inches, just enough to sweep a gentle breeze into the car.
She sat back in her seat apathetically until a plastic water bottle was thrusted into her hands. She glanced down at it and then back at everyone else in the car bemusedly. "Who just gave me this?"
In response to that, Aro held his hand up briefly from where he was in the front passenger seat beside Demetri. "Rehydrating yourself is essential during a hangover, regardless of how mild. I also have what Americans call "cookie dough", but try not to vomit if you eat any."
Eliana held up the labelless bottle warily. "What's in this?"
"Poison," Caius replied sarcastically. "Drink up."
She didn't even particularly have the energy to argue with him, simply twisting the cap off and holding the contents under her nose for a moment.
"Cara mia, I cannot say I'm not offended by your scepticism," Aro commented. "I assure you, what you are holding is just water. If we wanted to kill you, we would have done so a long time ago."
"How?" she asked as she swallowed a mouthful of water. "Actually, that's a good question. What's your preferred method of execution?"
Marcus simply shook his head. "Tesoro, I dare not even think about-"
"Waterboarding," Caius concluded with certainty.
"Caius, brother," Aro gasped. Evidently he'd planned some kind of response that didn't actually involve a genuine answer to her question.
Caius rolled his eyes. "Creative executions only work on humans, and waterboarding is a classic favourite of mine. Don't act like you have never found joy in it either."
"No, no, I respect that," she replied. "Aro?"
Aro hesitated. "Amore, I wouldn't-"
"I'm not suggesting you demonstrate any on me," she reminded him, "just that you answer the question."
"Okay," he relented after a moment. "Death by burning."
"Of course, a toddler loves the opportunity to play with matches," she muttered. "So Marcus," she continued before Aro could interject with any indignant retorts, "favourite execution method? Do you even do executions?"
"Oh," Caius laughed, "you don't know the man like I do. No one can quite send a person to a slow, painful, agonising death like he can. If you can think of it, he has done it."
"Seriously? Wow." She blinked, her gaze turning to Marcus' as he kept his attention on the view out of his window. Judging by his lack of reply to that, she could only assume that it wasn't exactly a part of himself he was proud of. "I guess you never really know a person."
Aro shrugged. "Well, Caius' perpetual anger and aggression," He paused his sentence briefly to dodge Caius' fist before it could make contact with his face, "is only rivalled by Marcus' protectiveness and strength."
"It is a side of me I sincerely hope you will never have to bear witness to," Marcus intoned.
"But hold on." Her eyebrows furrowed together in thought. "If Marcus is the one who usually carries out executions . . . who actually killed Noah?"
With a heavy sigh, Caius reluctantly held up his hand, his elbow on the windowsill. "Although, in my defence, I ended his life much swifter than Marcus would have. In fact, if I hadn't, I believe he likely would've jumped at the opportunity himself."
"Caius, there was no need to throw me under the bus," Marcus said shortly. "Aro was the one who proposed the idea in the first place."
"Okay, I just wanted to make sure I was putting the right amount of blame on each of you, that's all," Eliana interjected. "We don't need to start a whole new debate or anything. At least I know now that this was definitely Caius' doing."
"If I hadn't, one of those two clowns would have," Caius retorted exasperatedly.
She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Or, if none of you clowns had, Noah would still be alive. Did that cross anyone's minds here?"
The car went silent. She was aware that that thought had likely struck them before, but their silence was more induced by guilt than any other reason. After all, it went completely against a vampire's nature to bring any harm to their mate, whether that be physically or mentally, and needless to say Noah's death had been some of the most severe mental pain she'd ever had to endure.
"That's exactly what I thought," she muttered.
"I am not a clown," Caius stated.
Eliana snorted a laugh. His indignance never failed to brighten her spirits. "Oh yes you are. But no you're not, you're far too blond for that. You know what you remind me of actually?"
Caius' expression turned melodramatically painful. "Aro, give Eliana some cookie dough to pacify her before she becomes roadkill."
"I could, but I won't," Aro replied jovially. "Continue, bellissima."
"Have you ever seen a magic show?" she asked them. Each of them shook their heads, which only served as confirmation to what she'd already assumed. "My parents hired a magician for my 7th birthday party, and my 8th as well actually, and one of the tricks this guy did was pulling this white albino bunny with red eyes out of his top hat."
While both Aro and Marcus each seemed amused, as they always were at her little comments, Caius was far from that. "Repeat that sentence, I dare you," he murmured, and from the sounds of things he wasn't exactly joking around either.
"What?" She pouted at him mockingly, against any better judgement. "Is mean ol' Caius upset because I compared him to an albino bunny rabbit?"
Luckily, she saw Caius make a grab for her quickly and unbuckled her seatbelt in order to jump away onto Marcus' lap. Caius had an alarming amount of followthrough when he promised things, she noticed, and she didn't really want to think about what he'd planned to do to her. Maybe hang her out of the window, or maybe something else entirely.
"Did I mention? The rabbits sometimes bite as well," she added teasingly.
Caius turned his icy glare to Marcus. "Brother, hand Eliana over here now."
"You can spank her when we arrive back in Italy," Marcus responded nonchalantly.
Eliana pursed her lips. "I'm going to seriously hope you're kidding," she said with a nervous laugh. No one said anything, or even laughed with her. "You're kidding . . . right?"
Sensing her discomfort at the mere thought, Marcus held her closer and almost silently purred against her ear. "We wouldn't if it makes you feel too uncomfortable," Marcus reassured her, "but I think there is only so far you can push Caius before he ignores your discomfort altogether."
"I'm not that old-fashioned, brother," Caius snapped. "Besides, I have plenty of other methods of teaching Eliana a lesson that don't involve such a thing."
"Ah, yes, because I'm certain Eliana is desperate to know exactly what soap tastes like," Aro quipped. "Caius, just let it go. Don't give her the reaction she wants."
After a moment, Caius relented with an exaggerated eye roll. "Fine. Eliana, carina, you may sit back in your seat."
"Maybe I don't feel like sitting next to you anymore," she answered back stubbornly.
"I can easily go back on my words and have you bent over my lap faster than you can comprehend," he reminded her calmly. "Sit back in your seat, Eliana."
"But-"
"Now."
With a sigh as melodramatic as Caius' eye rolls, she slid back off Marcus' lap and sat down in the seat between him and Caius. She kept her grudging look on the blond as she strapped herself back into her seat and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Well," Aro's smile could be heard from a mile away, "I am so pleased we had that small disagreement sorted so soon! Would you like some cookie dough?"
Even the plane ride was a little bit excruciating after that car journey. At least the blinds on the windows were all drawn and the light had been dimmed, so Eliana could take off her sunglasses without dealing with a throbbing headache as a result. She handed the sunglasses back to Aro and exchanged them for a roll of cookie dough.
"How is your headache, cara mia?" Aro asked her once the plane had taken off.
She leaned against Marcus' left side before he placed his arm over her shoulders to allow her to sit more comfortably. "It feels like there's someone drilling against my skull," she responded, "so great. I've never felt better."
"This is the second time I've seen you in an absolute state after consuming alcohol," Caius noted.
"Hey, the first time was justified," she insisted. "If I ever see my mother with Santiago looking through my baby photos again, I won't need alcohol to start vomiting."
Aro shook his head. "That won't be necessary, unless he somehow finds himself in possession of these."
From inside his jacket, he removed a small stack of what appeared to be photos. The moment he outstretched his hand, she snatched them from him and glanced through the pile, shaking her head as she did so.
Her gaze lifted, her expression mortified. "Where the hell did you get these?"
"We were in your house for two days," he reminded her.
"So you went on a scavenger hunt for baby photos?"
"It didn't take me long to find them," he replied. Just as he saw her place her hands on either side of the photos and pull them apart as if to rip them in two, he caught them from her and stowed them away again safely. "I'll be holding onto those."
"They aren't nearly as bad as you seem to think, tesoro," Marcus said humouredly. "You were a cute child."
She whimpered and readjusted herself so that her head was in Marcus' lap. "Make it stop."
Marcus only laughed under his breath at her reaction as he placed one gloved hand between hers, the other slowly running through her hair. It was more than reassuring to see her so quickly becoming accustomed to their company, comfortable enough with them to warrant such frequent close physical contact. Even after so many years of lifelessness, holding her like this still felt entirely natural to him.
"Eliana."
The voice had come from Caius. She tilted her gaze towards him. "Yes, albino bunny?"
Caius didn't say anything, which was frankly more terrifying than him saying anything at all. She felt Marcus likely subconsciously tighten his grip on her hands protectively as her blond mate glared daggers at her.
"Say that again and I'll-"
"Do nothing," Aro cut in. "You'll do nothing, brother. Eliana is just teasing you. You make comments about everyone all the time. Don't dish what you can't serve."
"Because Eliana needs another kissass," Caius muttered, intentionally within earshot.
Aro ignored him. "Besides," he continued, "at least you were not compared to a toddler wielding matches."
She raised an eyebrow. "Did I do that? Oh yeah, I did . . . But weren't you just telling Caius to stop taking things personally?"
"Oh, you have decided to call me Caius again." Caius scoffed. "Brilliant."
"I can go straight back to "albino bunny" at any time," she reminded him. "Don't mess with me because I will. And Aro, that toddler thing wasn't personal. You're just . . ."
"I am just . . .?" he prompted.
Eliana shrugged. "I don't know. You sort of talk like a toddler and laugh like a toddler and sometimes act like a toddler, but that's it."
"She makes a valid point," Marcus added.
For the first time since she could remember, she saw Aro roll his eyes. "Marcus, don't encourage her."
"It's not an insult," she reasoned, "just an observation." Eliana sat up from Marcus' lap and walked over to Aro, sitting herself on his lap instead. "You're more fun that way anyway."
Aro tried to ignore the way that she had completely unknowingly grinded down against him when she sat down. He kept an arm around her waist to prevent her from moving any more, giving him a second or so to compose himself. Judging by the look Caius was giving him, he'd noticed it too.
She paused for a moment and froze. "Did I do something?"
Caius simply smirked. "If by "something" you mean-"
"Caius," Aro warned, holding her a little closer so that her head was tucked under his chin.
Caius held his hands up in mock surrender. "Eliana asked a completely valid question, which I happen to have an answer to. As I was saying, if by "something" you mean grinding so hard against Aro that you nearly gave the man a boner, then yes, you certainly did "something"."
Eliana stiffened. She didn't even want to think about how red in the face she was going, but just as she made to stand up, completely flustered, Aro hushed her, sending Caius a dark look as he did so and the same look to Marcus after seeing him laugh.
"It was an accident, cara mia," Aro reassured her. "Caius is just trying to make things difficult for me, which seems unreasonable considering how you did the same to him the first night he kept you company-"
"Aro!" she squeaked, covering her face with her hands. She could hear Caius and Marcus both laughing at her in the background. "I don't want to know."
"And Marcus just a month ago," Aro concluded. "Although I suppose we're equal now. Allow your embarrassment to serve as retaliation for each and every sarcastic comment you have made over the last few hours."
She still didn't have the willpower to lift her head after that. Somehow, she couldn't remember a time she'd been more mortified in her entire life.
"I have half a mind to jump straight out of this plane," she muttered in horror, which only made Caius laugh harder.
"Come on now, it's not as much of an issue as you've let yourself believe," Aro soothed her, not that he was managing to maintain his cool composure very well either.
Still laughing quite heavily, Caius nodded in agreement. "If anyone should be embarrassed, it should be us for barely keeping it in our pants-"
"That isn't helping," Marcus sighed before chuckling again. "Cara mia, forget Caius said anything. He's just trying to wind you up — rather disastrously, if I may add."
"But he's not wrong, is he?" she questioned.
Marcus paused. "Whether he is telling the truth or not is irrelevant. Naturally, as our mate, any physical touch of the sort is-"
"I'm gonna stop you right there," she interjected quickly. "Can we change the subject? I'd rather talk about literally anything else right now than wherever this conversation is going."
At this point, Caius had finally slowed his laughter a little. Almost certainly, if he were still human, he would've been utterly breathless. "There is nothing embarrassing about you being physically attractive," he replied as he pulled her hands away from her head, only for her to hide her face in Aro's shoulder instead. "But if you insist on changing the subject, then so be it."
In that next split second, Caius unintentionally brushed his hand against Aro's. In response to his thoughts, Aro shook his head, disappointed but not surprised. "Haven't you done enough damage yet?"
"What?" she asked. She lifted her head slightly, as if to pretend she didn't still have such a strong urge to cease to exist right there and then.
"He wanted to take advantage of your request to change the topic of conversation to "anything else" by bringing up the contents of your Snapchat, more specifically . . ."
Eliana's eyes widened in realisation. "How do you know about that?" she questioned Caius. "Aro, did you tell him?"
"Well now you have me intrigued, carina," Caius responded, a slightly mischievous look about him.
With a wince, she relented. "This is a losing battle. I'll make a group chat and send the photos over on there if that'll get you to shut up about everything else."
Marcus pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Caius, don't harass Eliana for explicit photos."
"She agreed to send them," Caius answered, his hands up in mock surrender. "I didn't ask her to. If she chooses not to, I wouldn't hold it against her."
Eliana was beyond done with this conversation.
She sighed heavily and curled her legs up towards herself, still on Aro's lap but careful not to move herself too much. "I don't understand how I'm mated to the three horniest vampires in existence," she whispered. Caius could not have laughed harder at that. "You act like it's been centuries since you last got laid — don't tell me when you last got laid, I don't wanna know."
"Oh, amore, for such an easily flustered person, you so frequently seem to make things more difficult for yourself," Aro teased.
Something told her this was going to be a long flight.
⊱ ────── {.⋅ ✯ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
Author's note: As you can see, I just felt like making this chapter short, sweet, and a little uncomfortable. I would like to highlight that all of this is just them teasing her, and that Caius would never violate her in any way, despite what he says. I just don't want anyone getting the wrong idea and coming for my neck when this is all just dumb jokes.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading, stay safe, and ily lots!
