Chapter 21 – A Heinous Crime

Aro sought me out early the next day. Chelsea had invited me to play a new game, and she and I were seated opposite each other on one of the wide, stone ledges below one of the arrow-slit windows. She had instructed me on how to lay down and pick up the stones on the board, and how to keep score, and I was winning convincingly when we heard Aro's light footfalls.

"Chelsea, my dearest! I see you're helping our sweet little one to settle back in," he called cheerfully. "Jane, you're happy to be back?"

"Yes my lord," I answered.

"Quite happy and content to be here with us, I should think," Chelsea grinned. "You wanted to speak with her?"

Aro nodded, and Chelsea jumped nimbly from the ledge. "Jane, we'll play some more later."

Aro took her place, sitting himself down and managing to look as elegant as he always did. He and Chelsea touched hands briefly, and then as she vanished down the hall he looked at me fondly.

"So here you are, back with us sweetling."

"You doubted I would come back?" I was surprised to feel so deeply hurt at the idea that he harboured doubts about my loyalty. "My lord…"

"Don't fret, little one," Aro said gently. "I know that your heart is here. Chelsea assures me your loyalty is unparalleled, and that makes me very happy."

I couldn't help smiling in pleasure at his approval. "Is that what Chelsea can do? See how loyal someone is?"

Aro's eyes glittered. "She can do that, yes."

"I want to be here," I told him, half shyly. "I don't want you to ever doubt my loyalty to you.

"Caius brought me very pleasing reports of you from your journey." Aro eyed me speculatively. "He said your help was invaluable and you behaved as nothing less than a seasoned Volturi guard in spite of your inexperience."

"Thank you my lord."

Aro held out his hand and I laid mine in it, noticing once again how small my hand was against his. Aro frowned slightly as he took in the memories of the time I was away through the touch of my skin.

"My lord," I said timidly, as the silence lengthened. "Have I displeased you?"

"Of course you have not displeased me little one," Aro said, releasing my hand and eyeing me in contemplation. "But I confess you surprise me…you are considering the vampire mating bond? You feel as though it cannot happen for you, and that that is a loss in your existence?"

"Ugh, no!" I shook my head, my lip curling in distaste. "It's not something I want at all! It's just that…that I'm so young…and I wonder…" My voice trailed away.

"So young? You feel too young? Oh no sweetling, no…you are so perfect, just as you are." Aro's voice was low and strong. "It certainly is as you say- you are too young for that mating call and the bond that ensues. It will not be for you. But my dear one, that is a gift. You will always be strong and true to yourself…you will never be distracted or lose focus, or suffer the devastating heartbreak of loss. You can be ruthless, my little one, because there will never be that love for others to use against you. With your gifts and your heart you are an exquisite creation, my most perfect progeny of all."

I was almost overwhelmed by Aro's words and the fervent light of belief in his eyes. I knew then that while I would never have the compelling feeling of a mate bond, I would always have this fierce and powerful love and admiration for this vampire who had created me, who had raised me up from the weak and pathetic human thing I had been and made me in his image. My strongest emotions would always be for my brother, and now my lord Aro.

For the first time I did not wait for a request but reached out and touched Aro of my own volition, offering him the gift of my thoughts. He took my hand with a smile, which widened as he took them in.

"Ah my little one, you are indeed a treasure! Such a valuable addition to our little family here!" Aro patted my hand fondly. "You have proved your loyalty with Caius and shown how useful your particular skills can be to us. And now, already, you have another chance to prove yourself." He frowned.

"What would you have me do?"

"We have had word of a grievous crime," Aro's voice was laced with anger. "After all we have done to stamp it out and to crush those who would dare to defy our rules! And yet again we are here, forced to deal harshly with one of our own who has chosen to break one of our most sacred rules."

"Not an immortal child?" Surely no one would have dared!

Aro looked almost sorrowful. "That is what we have heard, although I can scarcely believe it. After all the dangers and horrors that have been wrought as a result of these immortal children, it is tragic that some vampires still insist on creating them! It breaks my heart to have to enforce such harsh justice, but it is the only answer."

"What are you going to do?"

"We must go to the kingdoms of the Slavs and ascertain the truth of the matter. If there is an immortal child, it will be found and destroyed. The one responsible for creating it will be punished, as will any of those who have assisted her, or even had knowledge of the outrage that they chose not to share with us." Aro was watching me carefully.

"You know I want to help. Do you know who has done this thing?" I asked.

Aro sighed heavily. "And old friend, Sasha. We have watched her, because in her time she has created her own coven with three daughters. Creating new vampires is permitted of course, but three of them in a relatively short time did draw our attention. It would never do for vampires to create new friends indiscriminately! Sasha seemed content with her Tanya and Irina and Kate though, and we of the Volturi of course wish nothing more for our vampire friends than happiness and contentment in their lives."

"They are fools to disobey the rules and create these children," I said, shaking my head.

Aro smiled at me. "That is indeed the case, little one. But a fool can be very, very dangerous if given the opportunity. The Volturi is tasked with maintaining order, and it is up to us to stop them."

"Can I come with you? Alec too?" I asked eagerly.

"Indeed sweetling, I believe you and your brother will be very important to the success of this mission! Vampires do get so attached to their child creations, you see…of course, on the surface the little poppets are quite adorable. But they're absolutely uncontrollable, and we cannot have that kind of creature out in the world! However stopping them has, in the past, proved…difficult. I think that the talents you and your brother possess are going to make a great deal of difference in how quickly and efficiently we are able to deal with the situation."

I felt a warm glow of pride. "I hope we can help. Who else will go?"

"Caius and I, naturally. Willamar is the best tracker we have at present and will find our way. We may have need of fighters, so it will be a much larger party than your trip with Caius." Aro sighed. "We will be leaving at sundown, so please be prepared."

It was a simple matter to prepare. I spent part of the day in the tower with the lady wives, being bathed and petted. Sulpicia had made me a new tunic, shorter than the gowns and easier to run in, as well as a silk undertunic dyed a beautiful yellow gold colour.

"Dyed with saffron," she told me, pleased with my gratitude. "I am also having a gown made for you that will be dyed the same colour. I have thought perhaps we shall arrange a ball once you all return, and you can wear it then. We haven't had a proper party in such a long time. I thought the saffron colour would look lovely with your hair."

"Of course, it would look better with her hair if we had any slaves left that were skilled enough to do her hair!" Athenodora sniffed haughtily, snatching a comb from the dresser and beginning to untangle my freshly washed hair.

"Athenodora, I've told you I'm sorry!" Sulpicia exclaimed in exasperation. "How was I to know that she was yours? I requested something brought up because I was thirsty, and there she was…I didn't realise that I was feeding on your favourite hairdresser!"

"Sorry doesn't bring her back!" Athenodora was braiding my hair so tightly I could feel my eyes being pulled back at the corners. "Sorry isn't doing my hair properly! Just look at it!"

"Well I'm sure I don't know what I can do about it now!" Sulpicia said, throwing her hands up in despair. "It's not as though it's the first time this has happened either though. Might I remind you of a certain slave seamstress who was able to do the most beautiful embroidery until someone decided she needed a midday snack…"

"Oooh, and you said you'd forgiven me!"

As Athenodora fastened the end of my braid I got to my feet and sidled silently out of sight, leaving the increasingly shrill and tearful voices behind. This wasn't an argument I really wanted to get involved in. The wives were usually best friends, closer than sisters, but occasionally things between them exploded and decades of resentments and grievances would come out. Sulpicia accidentally feeding on Athenodora's favourite slave was certainly reason enough for a quarrel!

I found Alec, and the two of us went to the great hall to await the time of departure. We sat off to the side, in the shadow of the three elaborate thrones, playing a game of knucklebones. I had a vague idea that this was something we had played in our human life, but not with the variation in stone size and the elaborate catch and drops we were capable of as vampires.

"They all wear grey cloaks." I said softly, as a crowd began to gather.

"Aro and Marcus and Caius don't," Alec pointed out. "Theirs are black."

"Everyone else does. And the shade of grey varies. Look…Felix and Appius are lighter than Willamar and Matilda, and Chelsea's is almost black." I ran my eyes across the other members of the Volturi in the hall, mentally arranging them in order from lightest to darkest. "Maybe it's how much Aro likes them?" I said doubtfully, my stomach twisting with jealousy.

"I think it's maybe in order of how important they are, or how special their talents are," Alec said thoughtfully. "Felix is very strong, but all vampires are strong…and if you wanted a particularly strong vampire it would be a simple matter to find a suitable human. But Philippe, his cloak was very dark grey, wasn't it? And finding another vampire like him – especially without Philippe himself to find them! – would be incredibly unlikely."

"What about us though?" I fretted. "Why don't we have cloaks? Aro knows how loyal we are, and no one can deny our talents!"

Alec smiled and flipped a knucklebone at me, which I caught without even looking at it. "You're so impatient sometimes Janey," he said affectionately. "I'm sure that they consider us one of them. Lord Aro was adamant that we needed to accompany them on this trip! He knows how valuable our skills could be. But we've hardly been here any time at all really, not compared to the lifespans of the lords. Just be patient."

I knew he was right, but I still found it difficult. I had proven myself on my last trip away with Caius…hadn't I? But Alec had not left Volterra yet, I reminded myself, perhaps they wanted to be sure that we would both be loyal. I shook my head a little. As if anyone could spend time surrounded by the wonders of Volterra and want to leave!

I ran alongside Alec as the large group of Volturi made its way across the country. His eyes were bright with excitement, and he and I continually pointed out new and interesting things to each other. Nothing we saw rivalled Volterra.

It was the first time we had spent time as part of a Volturi group really and at first it was a little unsettling to see so clearly how the emotions of the others towards Alec and I varied. At Volterra it was easy to avoid other vampires, and there were so many distractions that I had never paid much attention to what the others thought of me. What did it matter what all these lesser vampires thought of me, when lord Aro had made me his pet?

But I became aware, as we moved through fields and forests, passed lakes and mountains and crossed over rivers that there was a gap between everyone else and Alec and I, a gap that I thought might never be breached. I knew that many of them wanted to look down on us for our youth and vampire babyhood, but our powers frightened them. They kept themselves at a distance, wary of what we might do. At first it made me angry, that they were judging me without knowing me, but as I looked at them and felt the power that came with being feared, my heart hardened. It was right that they should be afraid- I was strong and I would be as ruthless as I needed to be to achieve the power I wanted.