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Review:"Aro" I whispered, interrupting his explanations to the rest of our family. I could not take my eyes off of her, so I just held out my hand for my brother to take. He complied and I heard a small gasp coming from him.
"Have you ever seen ..."
"No, never." I interjected.
While I had been studying her bonds I had realized that I had never seen bonds as strong as hers -in a human- ever. Humans usually were not capable of forming such bonds. Their emotions were not powerful enough. No wonder she looked broken, fragile. Bonds like hers, if broken, would cause immense pain.
Especially one of those bonds, that were still weeping, caught my attention: It rivalled the bond I had shared with Didyme. A bond only soulmates shared. But why would it not have begun to heal? The way she looked, it must have been broken some time ago, otherwise her health would not have had the chance to deteriorate to that degree. That is, when she had started out well and healthy, but then again, someone must have loved her back just as much, so he would have taken care of her, wouldn't he have? I was confused.
A bond still weeping, would imply, that he was still alive, but where was he? The bonds of soulmates only broke when one of them died. It made no sense. So many questions and no answers...
She still had not woken up. Should she be up by now? Should I try to awake her and if so, how? Should she drink or eat something? I did not know. I was scared for this young human..
Aro interrupted my musings and worries: "How about we send for Gianna? She will surely be able to answer some of your questions." I nodded in answer.
While I had been turning the facts over and over in my head, Aro had enlightened my family about the situation. I could see that Sulpicia was partial towards the woman, whereas Athenodora eyed her sceptically.
I faintly heard Aro call for Heidi. I was already absorbed in my own mind again, brooding over all the possibilities.
"Yes, Master Aro?" came Heidi's whispered voice.
"Heidi, dear, please go get Gianna here." He ordered absent mindedly.
"Of course, Master."
It did not take her long to get the human secretary here, who now stood flustered or rather anxious, before us and looked confused at the scene.
"Gianna, we have a few questions, concerning human habits. You see this girl on the bed? She fell unconscious. What do you think we can do to make her more comfortable? When is it normal for your kind to recover? Should she be seen by a doctor?" Aro fired his questions.
"Mama mia! She looks so sick and pale! What did you do?" She immediately caught herself and began to apologize profoundly for ranting at us like this.
Aro shut her up with a glare and demanded her to stop making excuses but to answer his questions already, instead.
"She would probably feel better in more comfortable clothes. Furthermore it might be of benefit if the bed and its sheets were clean" And after sweeping her eyes over the room fleetingly she silently went on: "as well as the room. A raise in temperature would probably be appreciated, too."
At that my brain registered the slight shivers running over the slender form. Who was she? What was her name? Where did she come from? I would ask Aro to touch her hand to get the information I needed on her.
"Also perhaps something to drink and eat would be good for her, once she has awoken. She looks awfully thin. I am sorry to admit, but I don't know when she should wake up again. I guess the sooner the better. For the time being it would be good to monitor her breathing and her heart rate?..." She replied in a meek voice. Trailing off at the end. "A doctor would definitely know better." She added as an afterthought. Gianna stood still in the silence that followed.
My brother was deep in thought, as were we all. But he snapped out first:
"Gianna, you are about her size. You will lend comfortable clothes to her. Go fetch some. Felix, (he was not in the room, but would hear his masters voice) you will accompany her." The human left the room at once.
"Athenodora and Sulpicia, my love, would you two please take her to our chambers and guard her? When Gianna and Felix brought the fresh clothes, would you then change the young lady's attire?Jane, you will guard the door to our chambers." They only nodded in response.
" Santiago, Demitry, Alec, Jane, Heidi, come here."
Before I could voice my protest at his decision, he turned to me and continued in a softer tone: "Marcus, my brother, I know you do not agree with my course of action, but there are quite some things to be discussed respectively considered, that will require your presence. You know your sisters will be with her and so will Jane. The woman will be safe with them. She will be more comfortable on a bed and in fresh clothes. Aside from that we need to gain information on her: her full name, origins, situation in life, most importantly how she came to know about us, whether there are others who know."
By now the aforementioned vampires stood in the adjoining room looking on with similar emotions on their faces. Heidi and Demitry' s expression showed recognition in addition to the confusion, which was displayed on the other faces. Aro caught on to that, too: "Heidi, Demitry, is there something I should know?"
Without hesitation, our tracker took a step forward and raised his hand to tell Aro. But I wanted to know, no, needed to know.
"Speak out loud!" I all but snarled at him.
Surprise and fear fluttered in his eyes- I did not usually show any form of emotion- before he composed himself, though the act of clearing his throat belied his nervousness:
"Masters, three days ago this human caught my attention while I was on guard in town. Her divine scent alerted me of her presence. I followed the short trail to a hotel and watched her. She behaved strange: She stared blankly into space for some time until she suddenly broke down completely, without an obvious cause. Just like that. When she got up there was a look of determination on her face and - after some moments in the bathroom - she went out into the city, aimlessly wandering and searching dark alleys and places. Highly unusual for humans. She was weak and had to sit down ever so often. Sometimes she seemed to be thinking hard about something. I kept watching her. She did not sleep well. The next day she kept on with her search, only halting when she met a group of orphans. On the way home Heidi approached her." Aro lifted his eyes in amusement, seeing his memories play out. Demitry continued: "When she went home she shut herself into her room. I have no idea what she did then. But she did not sleep properly, again. She awoke screaming several times. At noon she checked out of the hotel. The woman walked single mindedly to the orphanage, dropping something, rung the bell and then took off at a run. She obviously donated a rather large amount of money to the orphanage. Then she went to meet Heidi and now she is here." He bowed slightly and stepped back.
"Heidi, how come you approached that woman in the way you did? You usually do not behave in such a fashion." My brother scolded.
Our fisher took a timid step forward, eyes submissively cast down and offered her hand to Aro, while telling her side of the events: "I am sorry, Master, and ashamed of my actions. I smelled her and had to follow. I wanted her, so I invited her on a tour. She told me she was on her own, but accepted the invite anyway. She was not afraid of me, though. She did not flinch at my proximity, nor did she withdraw her hand, when shaking mine. Not even her heart rate picked up! No reaction other than a victorious smile, that I did not understand, back then." Now, she looked up questioningly as she spoke again: "She wanted to us to kill her, a sick way of suicide, didn't she? What a strange situation. I do not like the idea of being used by a human..." Heidi, looked truly uncomfortable at that moment and insecure.
At her words I remembered the woman in my arms pleading with me to end her existence, the very reason for mine. I feared he moment that she awoke, for I had denied her. How would she react to me denying her something? What an example of sick irony. I had to chuckle. Which made Aro take my hand.
As reaction to what he saw, he send me a sympathetic look and said: "It sure is, brother. But do not fret so, we will find a solution for this. Everything will be fine. You have our support." With a twinkle in his eyes he added: "Though I am glad to see your twisted humour back."
"Back to the issue at hand now: Santiago, Demitry, Alec, Heidi, You will clean this room and make sure to heat it. I think it would be best to light the fireplace." More nodding.
What he did next took me by surprise. He went to approach the still aswoon woman on the bed next to me. In this instant instinct took over and I slammed him into the opposite wall before he registered his own mistake. Growls and snarls erupted from our guards. He only blinked and waved the guard aside, before getting up and dusting off himself.
I was still defensively crouching, when he smirked at me, amusement clearly in his eyes, clapping his hands and exclaiming in glee:
"Brother, you are in deep! Ha! But I see still as fast and strong. You still got it!"
I came out of my fighting stance, slowly. The embarrassment, for what I had done, settling in: "Aro, I... "
"Nonsense, I should have known better. I want to hear nothing of it. Now, to go about it right: May I touch your intended mate, Marcus," There were gasps coming from the guards now, who had not known yet. "You know I mean her no harm. I would never want to hurt her and you by doing so. I only mean to get some answers to the questions, mentioned before. This is the easiest way."
I could only incline my head once curtly. Then I watched- protectively- as he slowly walked towards the bed and took my angel' s tiny hand in his large one, carefully. He looked at her in concentration, which soon formed into disbelief and frustration. I did not understand. What was wrong?
"Impossible... I can not hear a single thought." He whispered- almost as if talking to himself.
"What do you mean?" Caius burst out angrily.
"Just that. I can not hear her. She is a 'mental mute', so to speak."
I hope you liked it. It was rather difficult to write for me. Please tell me, when something is unclear or phrased in a way that leads to misunderstandings. Reviews always very welcome. Some of them make my day.
I am not yet completely content with this chapter yet, although I have been working on it for quite some time now. Eventually I will update on it when I can think of a better way to tell you this story.