A/N: Nothing much to tell you for this chapter, so I'll just say thanks for reading and let you do just that. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight and or any of the characters that appear in the Stephanie Meyer books. However, the characters that do not appear in the books are of my own creation.

Murder For Power

The battle raged around him, but Aro had his mind only on his next target. Everything was falling right into place. He had always thought that Didyme and Marcus were too close, and when they had announced that they were leaving, Aro decided that something had to be done. Marcus was an invaluable asset to the Volturi and to him, so he could not be allowed to leave. Even if the Romanian threat was eliminated, he would still need to keep Marcus because of his talent. Aro was willing to do anything for power, even if it meant murdering his own sister Didyme.

Aro laughed inwardly at his own thought. But everything had fallen into place. He had never seen a bond so strong as Marcus and Didyme's, and it had to be broken somehow. He knew that Marcus' grief over her death would be hard to overcome, but possible if he hired Chelsea to make him more loyal to the Volturi and to him, as was her power, or talent. She could strengthen and weaken bonds between vampires and humans.

The problem had been how to kill her without Marcus knowing, or ever finding out. If Marcus found out that Aro had killed Didyme, then Chelsea's power increased by tenfold wouldn't be enough to keep Marcus loyal. The power struggle with the Romanians had presented a few opportunities to kill Didyme, but none of them gave him the chance to do it without being caught. Throughout the battle, things had gone very well for the most part, and Aro was pleased that the battle seemed to be going his way. That had fallen into place, and then even better had when Didyme had rushed away from Marcus' part of the battle to the safety of his. She wouldn't be taken by the Romanians under Aro's protection. But it was a case of 'out of the flames into the tiger's mouth', as said in the East, for Didyme, and as she escaped one threat, she exposed herself to a worse danger. And now she was going to pay the price.

Didyme smiled weakly at her brother. She had reached safety, and in doing so, increased Marcus' chances of survival. He smiled back at her, but there was something Didyme didn't like about his smile.

"Sister, I want you to look around, over my shoulder and see if anybody is watching us. I will hide you away when we are free from prying eyes of the Romanians and Volturi alike. It is crucial that you tell me this." Aro said seriously. Didyme nodded and said random words as they came into her head so that any onlookers would not suspect that she was looking for prying eyes. The two had met in between the two fronts of the battle, and the fighting was raging intensely, so no vampire could break off to attack them. Aro was nodding every 20 or so words said so it looked like they were actually conversing.

"Let's go Aro," she said. Aro nodded and ran over a nearby hill, then another. Didyme was close behind. They stopped about a mile away.

"So close to the fighting, brother?" Didyme asked nervously, uneasily, "if the Romanians break away from the battle and come this way, they will find me. Marcus is totally engaged and will not be able to come to my aid quickly enough." Aro smiled wickedly.

"No. He will not be able to help you." Aro replied. He advanced slowly on her, and Didyme backed away. Aro could see that her sister was terrified. She knew she was going to die.

"Why are you doing this Aro?" she sobbed. She hadn't anticipated losing Marcus so quickly.

"Power. You were coming between me and Marcus' talent. Your love with him runs too deep. If I kill you, and blame Lucian or Vladimir or Stefan, then Marcus will become a tool of my will. I'm sorry about this, sister. I truly do love you. But power is more important than any feelings I have. Especially Marcus' power." Aro said, the menace disappearing from his voice as he finished. He did love Didyme, and this was going to be harder than he anticipated.

"Why Marcus' power over others'? Trevor is-"

"Marcus's gift is actually quite valuable in the hands of someone who knows how to use it. For example, imagine Marcus on the battle field, like the one he is on right now. He sees the binding ties between the enemy we face. He can tell who the leader is just by watching the way the others are tied to him or her. He can see how to destroy the resistance simply by picking off a few key people. He doesn't just see romantic relationships, but also ties of family and friends, loyalty and devotion. He can tell if any given person would die for another. His power is useful, but he will never mention it to you. He is too modest. Off the field of battle, Marcus's gift is valuable diplomatically. When you're sitting on an empire, it's nice to be able to see when someone's loyalty starts wavering, or if anyone is getting too fond of anyone else. Can you see the potential now?" Didyme was just stalling, trying to think of a way to save her own life. Didyme opened her mouth as if to speak, but attempted to dash past her brother and to the safety of her mate. Aro laughed as he caught her by the leg and pulled her back, sobbing.

"Your power is to make people happy. Your death will make me very happy, sister. But enough talk. I must now kill you. I'm sorry it had to end this way, but-" Aro stopped himself short, "I'm going on again, aren't I?" he said with a smile. Didyme hung her head, not wanting to show fear before the end. There was no fire around, but Aro started a small fire by rubbing his hand along the ground with lightning speed while the motionless body parts of his recently dismembered sister lay around him. The fire was small, but just large enough to kill a vampire. And kill it did. Didyme, mate and wife of Marcus and mother of Trevor, was no more.

*

Marcus roared with pleasure and satisfaction as the last of Sonia's personal guard perished around him, and Sonia, Lucian and Lucian's last surviving vampires faced the Volturi for one final charge, but then Marcus spotted Sonia running for the hills. He was about to cry out for someone to stop her, but Trevor was already gone, kicking up grass and dust as he took chase.

*

If he was a human, the vampire would have collapsed minutes ago. If he were still human, Sonia would be nothing but a distant memory, and Trevor would be returning to his master in shame. But Trevor was anything but human, and rather than falling behind, Trevor's untirable body was catching up on Sonia, and they both knew it. Finally she whipped around when they were a good distance away from the battle, and taking Trevor by surprise, dropped to the ground. Trevor overshot his jump, and landed a few feet behind his target.

Sonia was already on to him though and launching vicious attacks. She knew that she had to win the fight quickly before Trevor could get back on the front foot and use his superior speed and strength to take Sonia down. She lunged out with her arms and teeth, but Trevor was always there to block her, or move out of the way. Neither had landed a hit and Sonia growled and kicked out with both legs in a desperate move to knock Trevor down.

Trevor grabbed both of her legs and smiled with grim satisfaction as he pulled Sonia close before sinking his teeth into her neck, and claiming victory for his own.