A/N: Told ya! Here's the next chapter! Man I feel so productive tonight;P Lol.

Chapter 12

Felix dragged me along the dank, dark corridors. He ragged me around, taunting me.

His grip alternated between a fistful of hair snapping my head from side to side and both hands roughly cupping my hips. He laughed when I tried to shimmy out of his grip.

"Aww, the poor bloody princess is uncomfortable." I glanced down at the trails of rusty blood marking my body. The ends of my fingers were torn from scrapping against the concrete walls of my cell and my uncovered stomach bared nasty rips across my skin. The shape of fingernails were sickeningly obvious.

We rounded a corner and came upon a staircase. Felix pushed me up the stairs. I was so weak I couldn't lift my feet high enough and I tripped.

"Get up you lazy lump of treason," he hissed menecingly. The tears in my skin oozed blood over the steps, creating a sick trail of torture.

The higher we climbed, the more light filtered down through the dusty air. Finally there was an end and a door. It was plain scrubbed wood. Felix opened it for me, mockbowed like a 'gentleman' and shoved me hard. My legs gave way under me and I slid along the freezing floor. Splinters forced their way through my hard skin.

I groaned and rolled over onto my back. Before I could even register the other presence, the manacles were closed over my wrists. The metal was cold and uncomfortable. Slowly, the chain connected to the cuffs was wound in. My arms lifted over my head. The movement made my chest scream. I bottled any sound of pain and gritted my teeth.

My body followed my wrists and soon I was hanging limply from the top of what I now realised was an iron barred cage. The other vampire sneered at me through two strips of metal and pushed the cage forward. I turned to face the direction I was moving and found heavy velvet curtains. They were deep red with a gold trim.

As the side of the box brushed against the inside of the curtains, they parted to let me through.

I saw immediately that the room was full of pale people. They watched me with stoney faces. Shivers raked up and down my spine. I looked away.

Someone cleared their throat and as one, they all turned to watch Aro instead.

"People, what do you see here?"

Most people glanced at me and then back to their self-promoted leader, "I see an abomination! We know next to nothing about these creatures yet we let them slide in and out of our lives like slippery eels. We give them free reign in both the human and vampire world without really thinking through the concequences! What you see before you has the ability to conceal itself in a crowd of humans yet keep pace with us, hunt with us, steal from us! They can sneak in and take anything they want without fear of being caught!"

The atmoshere saw slowly heating up. I suspected Chelsea was behind this rise in emotion. I knew from the Cullens that the Volturi follower had the ability to attach emotional ties between people. She must really be outdoing herself if she was indeed making the vampire audience think they somehow owed Aro anything. Murmurs spread like melted butter through the crowd.

I lifted my heavy head and looked out across the nonchalant vampires. Their faces blurred together into a tornado of colour and bleached skin.

In the corner of my eye, a group stood in shadows. I turned my head sharply away as a smudge of bronze hair made itself known.

I shivered violently at both the cold air and my crushed hope. Somehow Imanaged to ignite a spark of hope I knew would be both empty and heartbreaking within me.

I took in a deep breath and turned to face the two men sitting in imperial thrones off to my side. Caius, the blonde, glared at me then glared at the group then returned his angry gaze to me again. Marcus stared blankly at the floor. Every now and then he would glance at me, eyes full of a strange emotion.

I faded out after that. Aro's words were just hot air and he knew it. A lightbulb flickered in my mind and I suddenly figured the puzzle out.

When Aro had said there was a battle stewing, he meant a civil war of sorts. Judging from the murmers I could hear, there were some vampires who desired a child. A half human child. And Aro being the conceited, selfish person he was, wanted no one else to possess something he didn't.

And also, if everyone began to realise that his words about me and my kind were false, he would soon lose power. Aro ruled my fear and raw force and if he lost even a single follower or gained a protestor, his whole operation was going to go down the gurgler. His tongue was smooth and his actions seemed to be for the better of the vampire world but I saw right through his charade. I saw him for the heartless, power-hungry, evil, sadistic thing he was.

Hope you enjoyed. Hope you review.

Ta.

DANCElikeNOBODYisWATCHING