Chapter 9

I walked along the halls of the castle silently as I headed for Caius's chambers; not somewhere I particularly wanted to go but I didn't really have a choice. The only reasonable explanation for him wanting to see me was to punish me for the scene at the party, I sighed; not because I didn't think I deserved to be punished but because there was no way to avoid talking about what had happened. It definitely wasn't one of my finer moments in life; I had looked terrible, got Alec in trouble, been threatened by Jane but the worst part was the realisation of why Edward left me. I'd always known I wasn't good enough for him, he was perfect; his velvet voice and unearthly good looks, his sensitivity and ability to care for everyone around him made he seem somewhat like an angel at times. I couldn't have him, no matter how much I wanted him or tried to convince myself he loved me or at least had love me once, I didn't deserve an angel in my life.

The one thing I couldn't understand though was why he would have chosen to cheat on me with someone as horrible as Tanya, surely if you could have anyone you wouldn't choose her? Or maybe I just didn't understand and know Edward as much as I thought I did. I thought he wanted someone loving and kind, someone who could fit into his family and care for him as much as he did them. Making these assumptions had made it easier for me to believe he loved me, what if my love for him had clouded my judgement? Did I even know him at all? Maybe he had wanted someone beautiful and confident from the start and he had only put up with me because I was his singer; because he liked the challenge of being close to me.

Shaking my head, I tried to rid my mind of thoughts of Edward, I was trembling; on the verge of another breakdown. If my heart had been beating it would have been pounding out of my chest by now, I gulped air down as if I was a human drowning, I attempted to calm myself down taking deep breathes, I didn't even need to breath but it did help to focus my mind.

A sighed escaped my lips as the pain started to subside, I'd been getting better at controlling my thoughts and stopping the pain but that didn't mean I never slipped up. It was in those moments when I was suddenly overwhelmed with pain and fear that I realised death would have been the easier way out. When I'd first been turned into a vampire I thought the pain of it was the most excruciating thing a human could withstand and I was probably right but now I was a vampire my body and mind could handle more pain than ever before it would shut down. I shivered glimpsing the memory of being burned from the inside out, a small part of me prayed that when I had my slip ups and I lost control that it would only hurt as much as the flames because in reality the pain I would suffer was worse than that. I wasn't even sure if there was a single vampire around that had been through or would ever go through the pain I felt in those brief moments.

"Don't be a baby Bella." I muttered to myself, hovering outside Caius's chambers. I couldn't distract myself with my thoughts forever, I lifted my hand to knock on the door and pale hand reached out and caught my arm. I spun around, breaking free of their grip, and sent a kick toward their gut before I had even realised who it was. When they caught my leg and pushed it up sending me hurdling toward the ground, I glanced up. Shaking my head; I held back a laugh. It was Felix. He grabbed my arm just before I was going to hit the floor and pulled me upright again.

He grinned down at me and dangled my crest in front of my face; I glared at him for a moment. I'd searched everywhere for it and he'd promised me he didn't know where it was.

"Where the hell did you get that?" I hissed, grabbing it from him and securing it round my neck quickly. I bet it had been some stupid prank for him, trying to get Caius angry at me. He seemed to think that it was impossible for me to get into trouble and I had to admit it did seem that way sometimes. No matter what happened, someone else would always get the blame; it didn't exactly help me to make friends. But I refused to believe it was because I was being given special treatment, if anything Caius had been clear that he would make things bad for me if I didn't become his 'queen'.

"I didn't take it." He defended himself, sensing my thoughts. "I found it in Alec's room actually." He said, smirking. "I wonder why it was in there."

"Surely the most important question is why were you in there?" I asked, trying to steer the conversation away from me and Alec.

"I was being the amazing friend I am, so why were you in there?" Felix questioned.

"I wasn't." I lied, smiling at him, innocently. If I admitted I'd even spoke to Alec, Felix would tease me for god knows how long.

"Then how did the necklace get in there?" Felix asked; a knowing smile across his face. I rolled my eyes, he'd probably come up with some crazy theory. The truth was I'd only gone to try and talk about what had happened at the party. I still didn't understand why Alec had attacked Alistair but I'd heard about thirty thousand different theories from Felix.

"I don't know," I answered, unable to think up a plausible reason. "I have to see Caius but shouldn't you be on shift?" I said turning around.

"Crap, see you later Bells." Felix said, ruffling my hair before disappearing down the hall. I fixed my hair, laughing at him, even being a vampire didn't help Felix keep on time. I knocked on the door gently and waited until I heard Caius call for me to come in.

I stepped inside slowly, closing the door behind me, I approach his desk; nervous. He looked up at me from his papers and gestured for me to sit down.

"How are you Isabella?" Caius asked, politely.

"I'm fine thank you." I responded; I hated making small talk with Caius, though he seemed to love it. Talking about stupid things like the weather or the news would have been fine with anyone else but with Caius it was as if he judged you on everything you said, the way you said it and even the way you looked while saying it.

His eyes trailed over me for a moment and I suddenly started to panic, had I dressed wrong? I was wearing a pair of black jeans and a plain light brown shirt, had I under dressed? I took in what he was wearing, a pair of black slacks and a dark blue shirt. Caius definitely didn't usually dress like that; he always seemed to wearing something from the Victorian era or something even older.

"I expect you are wondering why I wanted to see you." He said, turning to face me, I nodded. "There are two reasons." He continued. "The first reason is that I would like to go on date with you." My eyes widened at this but I continued to watch him silently. "I haven't been on one for many years you must understand, so I'm not sure how you are meant to go about these things."

"Usually, you would ask the girl if she would like to go." I said, plucking up the courage to speak.

"But why wouldn't you want to go with me? I can offer you power, admiration among our kind and so much more." Caius said. "What do people of this time usually do on one of these dates?" He asked and I realised how clueless he truly was, he when he said many years he probably meant centuries.

"Go out to dinner or see a movie, things like that." I said eventually after deciding there wasn't a way to get out of this easily.

"Right, Tonight I shall take you to a movie." He stated, I could see the discomfort in his eyes. He didn't seem to want to take me out.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked he obviously wasn't comfortable with it.

"Because I am trying to show you that you and I should be together Isabella." Caius said.

"This won't change things; I still don't want to be your queen." I said meekly, scared to anger him.

"I will still try." Caius told me, rising from his chair. "I will get Chelsea to give you more information." He said, I nodded getting up and heading toward the door. "I haven't finished, Isabella."

I sighed, turning to face him again, what else did he want to pester me about?

"I'm sending you and Alec to sort some things with another coven tomorrow morning; Alec will explain everything to you on the plane journey." He said and I couldn't help the smile that formed on my lips. I could finally get a chance to talk to Alec about everything and hopefully we could get back to being friends again. Then there was the added bonus of there being no Caius to report to every hour on the hour.

"Okay." I smiled, trying to hold back my excitement. Maybe we'd be going to England or France.

"Alec will come get you in the morning, I will see you later Isabella." He said, turning back to his desk. He sat down and started scrawling onto a piece of paper.

I exited the room, instantly. It hadn't been as bad as last time, he hadn't tried to force me to marry him or anything but it seemed like I would have to go on the 'date' with him. I sighed, checking the time, I was on guard duty in five minutes, I headed toward the entrance gates at a human pace to give myself time to think. Maybe I could use the date to my advantage he obviously didn't know about modern life so maybe I could convince him that only crazy people got married or you had to have known each other at least ten years before you could marry them. I shook my head at my inner ramblings, they would never work but I still had hours to come up with a plan. Even if I didn't come up with a plan, I wouldn't be around Caius for much longer anyway.

I knew I should be nervous about going to talk to another coven but all I could think about was getting away from Caius and finally being able to talk to Alec without being watched and judged constantly. It might even help me to sort out my feelings for him, I convinced myself as I stood in the shadows.

Authors Note: Sorry, sorry, sorry, this took so long to get written but it's here now. So what do you think?