Twilight: Creation

Chapter Two

He had killed his own sister to keep Marcus from leaving Volterra. Now, as he sat in the expansive library, trying to ignore the pacing and agitated Caius, Aro sincerely wished he could leave the fortressed city now. The sun had already sunk below the horizon which meant his meeting with Silvia was quickly slipping away. He couldn't tell which troubled him more, the thought of Silvia waiting for him or the fact that it bothered him.

"He can not stay locked up forever," Caius was fuming. "It is the second day and you still refuse to move on with the trials."

"Have you forgotten we are immortal?" Aro snapped. "We have forever."

Caius raised an eyebrow. "Am I keeping you from something?"

Aro stared out the window at the last streaks of color that were fading in the sky. "No."

"Good. Now perhaps we can deal with the issue at hand."

"And that is?"

"Marcus." Caius sighed. "I do not believe he is fit anymore to rule with us."

Aro knew this was coming but that didn't make it any easier to handle. "And what do you propose we do with him?"

Caius finally settled in the leather chair across from Aro and leveled him with a shrewd look. "How did you deal with Didyme?"

Aro stayed motionless, schooling his facial muscles not to reveal anything. "Pardon me?"

"There's been talk."

"Among who?" Aro allowed his temper to flare, hoping it would be perceived as righteous. "The guard? They know nothing without our telling them. And surely you wouldn't be getting your information from Athenodora and Sulpicia. Idle gossip of women searching for reason in a mindless act."

Caius brushed imaginary dust off of his robe. "If you say so."

The conversation and company were doing nothing for his foul mood that was growing fouler by the minute. If Caius suggested executing Marcus at that moment, Aro would gladly light the kindling for the bon fire. Marcus...Aro rubbed a hand over his face wearily. No, dispatching Marcus would do no one good right now. "We wait it out."

Caius gave him a curious look. "Wait what out?"

"Marcus. We will allow him his grief and this mourning period."

"Mourning period?" Caius stood up once more. "He's already had a mourning period for three hundred years! Isn't that enough?"

Aro bolted up from his chair so quickly it tipped it over. "Do you not realize three days ago was the anniversary of her death? Let him grieve."

The tall blond looked him right in the eye. "Did you kill her?"

Aro's jaw clenched. Her own gift was what damned her, not him. He was only guilty of speeding up fate or so he allowed himself to take comfort in that excuse. "No."

Caius backed down slightly. "I see." He started for the door but paused. "I hope you realize I will not hesitate to deal with weak links."

Resigned, Aro picked up the chair and righted it. "I understand and agree. I will speak with Marcus. We will have all seven trials tomorrow, with or without him."

"You've been speaking with Marcus."

Aro pinched the bridge of his nose. He had wasted the entire night trying to communicate with the dead-eyed Marcus. He had completely forfeited his meeting with Silvia and had retreated to the tower balcony that overlooked the courtyard. "If you could call it 'talking.'"

Sulpicia moved silently to his side. Her pale face may have been unreadable but her eyes were not. She was worried. "Will he ever let go of her?"

Aro knew better than to answer that question out loud. Of course Marcus would never let go of Didyme. He held on because of love, but Didyme held on to Aro with the talons of guilt. Neither one of them would ever be free of her. Aro clenched his jaw to the point of it cracking. Didyme had become more powerful through her destruction than she ever had been in life. What if he had made a mistake by killing the wrong vampire?

Sulpicia laid a hand on his tensed jaw. "Dear Aro-"

He grabbed her wrist and removed her hand. "I do not want your pity, woman."

She huffed indignantly and easily twisted out of his grasp. "Had you not been buckling under this load you carry, you would see it is not pity I am giving you."

"And what is this load I am carrying?"

She raised her chin in pride, the moonlight reflected in her eyes, washing out the crimson. She looked like a Greek goddess made from organic marble. She answered in one word that was filled with fear, awe and majesty. "Leadership."

"Leadership?"

"Why do empires fall? Certainly you have recorded enough histories to understand the fragility of the mind that is constantly on alert. A leader must carefully select those who surround them, choose between those who will benefit from their elevated position and those who would allow the power to corrupt them. You must be constantly vigilant, searching out deception but rewarding loyalty. It is a lonely road you have chosen, my love, and a very heavy burden to carry."

"Which is why Caius and Marcus rule with me, we all shoulder the burden."

She made a soft humming sound. "And what good has Marcus been doing for you in these last few centuries?"

"Plenty." Aro turned away from the deep eyes of his wife. "He has done plenty for me...for us. He may be given to bouts of silence and grief but when someone's loyalty starts to waver, he comes to me. We stopped Simon last month from starting a coupe with Marcus' insight."

"Then forgive me for speaking out of turn, husband."

Aro unlocked his jaw and relaxed his shoulders. "There is no forgiveness needed." Not on her part anyway. His annoyance at not seeing Silvia tonight was still there but it felt wrong to think of the warm, human woman while staring at his own wife. He couldn't help but draw comparisons though.

She laid a hand on his arm. "Come, it will soon be dawn. You have not rested and trials begin in the morning."

He slipped his hand under hers and allowed her thoughts to wash over his own. He appreciated her thoughts. Unlike her quiet, soft spoken nature, her thoughts ran deep and intricate. It made her insight useful in heavy matters, such as the one tonight. He brushed his lips over her cold fingertips. "Lovely Sulpicia..."

A sly smile tugged at her mouth and a sudden onslaught of images rushed into his mind's eye of things to come. A dark room with rich tapestries...tangled sheets...a broken headboard.

"What a shame," he crooned, pulling her closer to him, "I had that bed imported from France."

"Perhaps we can spare the bed this time."

"I will not make that promise." He settled his lips over hers, trying to ignore the coldness of her skin and the lack of pulse beneath his fingers. But he couldn't manage it. He wanted to feel warmth under his hands, see a flush come over her cheeks, hear a heartbeat thudding in his ears...he wanted to fight the war between his blood lust and his left over human lust. He waited until Sulpicia pulled away from him. "Perhaps another night though."

Her countenance became guarded. "Very well. Perhaps tomorrow night then."

He gave the best smile he could manage. "Perhaps."

It had been a day of surprises. Marcus had attended the trials, dead eyed and apathetic, but his presence seemed to soothe Caius' nerves. Aro had carried out the trials and executions under the worried eyes of Carlisle and wondered how much longer the golden eyed vampire would continue in Volterra. There wasn't much more he could learn from the Volturi and his uncomfortableness was beginning to wear on Aro's nerves.

He had managed to make it through the trials, nine total thanks to Marcus seeing two wavering dissidents, with the mask of indifference, the face of true justice. Caius always liked to linger around the bonfire, discuss evidence and strategy but Aro was able to politely disengage from his brother's conversation. He quickly changed clothes, ridding himself of the sickly sweet smell from the fire that had clung to him, and left Volterra behind as soon as the sun slunk below the horizon. During his race to the Mediterranean Seashore, he tried running through various apologies, wondering which one would work on Silvia.

If he could touch her just once, briefly, he could get a measure of her thoughts and know how to proceed. His desperation for her forgiveness confused him. She was a human...food, nothing more. No one apologizes to their food, especially a Volturi. But the thought of her leaving for Rome, carrying feelings of animosity towards him put a very unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach. There was no more thirst now, just this fluttering motion and it annoyed him.

He paced up and down the beach, a flurry of emotions rising and falling like the tide. She wasn't here. He expected that but it still grated on his frayed nerves. The moon rose and settled in the middle of the sky while he walked and waited. He couldn't wait for too long or dawn would come and his night would be wasted. That would do him no good.

He went past the rocks that she had disappeared behind the last night he had seen her and walked up the path she had followed. When he reached the underbrush that divided the beach from the grass, he stopped and stilled. Closing his eyes, he pushed all emotions away, concentrating only on his senses. There was no one around. Only animals scavenging in the dark of night, much like him. He inhaled deeply, trying to pick up her scent from the salty tang of the sea. When he opened his eyes, he had found her.

Her uncle's home was quite close to the sea. It made sense to him why she felt so free to sneak down to the waters for late night swim. There was plenty of foliage to act as cover for the trip down to the shore. Aro walked the perimeter of the home, sniffing the air for her delicious scent. He found her room on the back of the house, a candle flickering dimly against the glass. It was just his luck that her room had a balcony garden. Climbing up to the patio took no effort and he stood, staring into her room like an unrepentant peeping tom.

She was reading by the dim candlelight dressed in a silk dressing gown. Her golden hair was loose, a mess of curls that tumbled down to her elbows. Once again, Aro found himself wondering how an ordinary human could hold such a sway over him. Curiosity was quickly turning into something else but he didn't know what and that only fueled his curiosity even more.

He lightly rapped on the glass door with his knuckles and her head turned sharply in his direction. Her green eyes widened and she cinched her dressing gown tighter as she made her way over to the doors. Instead of opening them, she merely stood there with her arms crossed and a stormy look on her face. His mind couldn't come up with anything to say but that didn't stop the words from tumbling out of his mouth.

"I am truly sorry for last night," he began. "Though no excuse is reasonable for my absence, please understand that it was an urgent family matter that called me away from you."

Her face softened fractionally. Family...family must mean very much to her so Aro played on that fact.

"My brother just lost his wife, you see, and is given to bouts of melancholy and grief. It simply was not right to leave him alone in such a state. I fear desperately for his safety."

A touch of sadness was entering her eyes.

"I hope you can understand my dilemma." He placed a hand over where his heart should have been beating. "A grief stricken brother or a beautiful woman. My heart was aching no matter which I chose."

The lock on the door unlatched and Aro forced his triumphant smile into one of gracious thankfulness.

"You are too kind, sweet Silvia." He took her hand and briefly kissed it before holding it between his own two. Her thoughts were still tinged with anger towards him and he didn't blame her. She waited out on the beach until dawn for him. "Your power of forgiveness astounds me."

"As it should." Her voice was sharp but there was a subtle hint of a smile playing at the corner of her mouth. "However, a grieving brother is an acceptable excuse."

He stepped into her room and had to hold his breath. It smelled so strongly of her, he almost lost control of his self restraint. She was all around him now and he was shaking from the strain it was putting on him. But he had keep up the mask of a penitent suitor. "However can I make up my indiscretion to you?" Whatever it was, he hoped it would be outside.

She sat down in front of her mirror and started to pin her hair up, completely unnerved at having the presence of a man, a relatively unknown man, in her bedchambers. "I will have to think about this."

Before he could stop himself, Aro was pulling the pins out of her hair. "You do not need to do that." Sulpicia always pinned her hair up. She always looked perfect and perfection was not what he wanted right now.

"What are you doing here, Aro?"

That was the question of the century. He crouched down beside her so they were on eye level and wrapped one of her curls around his finger. "I really do not know." He was speaking that foreign language of truth once again. "You are just...a siren to me."

Her fine eyebrow raised. "A siren?" She laid a hand on his cheek, her fingers ghosting over his cheekbones. "A siren always has a call. What is mine to you?"

Of course it was her blood but he couldn't tell her that. Her warm hands were still on his face, her quiet thoughts settled his mind. The bloodlust was becoming easier to control despite her scent being overwhelming and her pulse so close to his ear. What was her siren call? "Everything about you calls to me."

She smiled briefly. "You are forgiven."