DPOV

It was just over two hours later we were in the air, Isabella subdued in a seat in the corner of the plane. Jane was stretched out on a bench reading a book, Felix and Alec were playing poker and I sat across from Isabella, a book of my own in one hand, a glass of wine in the other.

For the most part, everyone kept to themselves. That was, until Isabella sighed for the hundred and twelfth time since take off prompting Jane to growl under her breath.

"If she does that again, I will rip her throat out."

I just chuckled slightly, the action pulling Isabella's attention from the clouds outside the plane to me. She tried to look pissed off I was sure, but she just looked pathetic and the glare held no heat.

"I'm glad you find this so amusing."

I grinned at her. "Oh, I find you temperament far more than just amusing, Gatáki."

Her glare this time had a little more life to it. "You're a jerk."

I just cocked a brow at her. "Whatever is your point? I'm an asshole and you're pathetic. We are what we are." She made and indignant noise and I closed my book. "I suppose you wish argue with me? Go ahead, but before you say a word, take this into consideration. You are in this position by your own choice. You decided to ignore very clear directions and now you must face the consequences. You are sitting here acting like a child instead of owning up to your fuck up and facing the punishment for it."

She seemed to deflate slightly. "You didn't even let me say good-bye."

I snorted and picked my book back up. "You had four months to get your affairs in order. You are barking up the wrong tree for sympathy."

"I told you that the date was set. It was less than two months from now."

I just hummed not looking up. "Is that a fact? Pity your little fortune teller didn't pay close enough attention to you to avoid this." Then I lifted my eyes to hers, "Isn't it?"

Isabella started at that, jumping slightly in her seat as her eyes widened. "But, she… she said… no." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, this had to have been a last minute decision. She would have…"

I snorted hard. "Awe, isn't that cute? You actually think this was spur the moment? You're adorable. I got news for you, Isabella. The four of us have been in Washington for a week." I smirked as I leaned closer to her. "Who do you think it was that sent us?"

Her glare returned and this time was a little more impressive than the last attempt. "She would have said something."

With the conviction in her voice, I almost felt bad as I reached into the inside pocket of my jacket, pulled out a folded piece of paper and tossed it to her. "Then why didn't she?"

Her fingers trembled as she picked up the credit card receipt from a bar we went to five days ago. Her eyes flooded with tears when she unfolded it and she saw that I wasn't lying. That didn't stop her from trying to defend the little irritation once again, however. "This is fake; it has to be."

I pursed my lips and nodded once. "Yeah, that makes total sense. You are worth so much effort for us to lie to, that hours were spent making a fake bar tab. Or, here's a crazy idea. We like to drink." I reached across the space and plucked the receipt from her fingers. "Such an odd concept, I know. Your little vampires keeping you in the dark and us doing horrible things. What is this strange world coming to?"

She sniffled this time. "She would have."

I just sighed and looked back at my book. "It really doesn't matter what you believe. If it makes you feel better to live in a fantasy world where vampires live on the blood of animals and actually care about humanity, then so be it. Just do not get pissed off at us when the blinders you wear get ripped off and you see things as they really are."

"What does that mean?"

I growled and shook my head. "Humans." Dropping my book back to my lap, I locked eyes with her. "If you want to act dumb, be my guest, but do not think to call my fucking intelligence into question. I know you are not this stupid. You might be able to play the dumb human with the Cullens and act like you don't have a brain, but that shit is not going to fly here. You know good and damn well what I mean. You know what is going to happen when we arrive in Italy so do not act like you don't."

She looked out the window. "I'm going to die, right?"

I picked my book back up to hide my smirk. "Of course, in a matter of speaking anyway."

Over the top of my book I saw her cross her arms, seeming to fold into herself. She made a noise between a soft chuckle and a huff. "Changed, I'm going to be changed."

I brought my wine glass to my lips and spoke around the rim. "I knew you were smarter than you were acting."

She glared at me again. "You're still a jerk."

I hummed as I swallowed the mouthful of wine. "I would get used to that. After two thousand plus years, that's probably not going to change any time soon, Gatáki."

Her head shook, "What do you keep calling me?"

I tilted my head to the side slightly, "If I thought for even a moment you would believe me, I would answer that. Since I know you will not" I grinned at her, "look it up."

Her lips thinned and she turned to look back out the window. "Jerk."

I finished my glass of wine and stood up to go get a refill. Leaning over and placing my hands on the armrests of her seat, I dipped my head and whispered in her ear. "Previous statement stands."

*X*

The rest of the flight was uneventful. We landed at our private airstrip without mishap and slightly ahead of schedule for once. The problem came when it was time to make the last leg of the journey to the city. To give credit, Isabella certainly tried to save her ass, something that I honestly didn't think she had the balls to do.

In the end, it cost us a twenty minute delay and five humans their lives.

I had her pressed against a wall, holding her hands above her head and staring her dead in the eyes. "How much blood are you going to spill while trying to escape your fate? And for some reason you are curious as to why the Masters don't trust you to keep your fucking mouth shut for another two months. Two minutes around humans and you shout to the heavens about the existence of vampires. I am actually quite curious if there are not more humans back across the ocean that know our secret. Perhaps we should send a mass of guards and just level your entire town, just to be sure. What do you think of that?"

Her face was defiant. "You were going to kill them anyway."

I snorted. "Those humans have been our hanger attendants for the last five years. No matter what you precious Cullens have told you about us, we do not kill anyone that does not deserve to die or that does not know our secret. I told you months ago to not believe everything you hear and I fucking meant it. No matter how you spin this, those humans' deaths are YOUR fault, not ours."

"I don't believe liars."

I got nose to nose with her as I felt my eyes go black and took a sick and twisted pleasure when her eyes sparked with fear. No one calls me a liar. "I am a monster, a cold-hearted bastard, an asshole and a fucking prick but I am not a liar. I don't rightly give a fuck if you believe me or not, but do not make the mistake of confusing me with your mind-reader. Lying is a pointless venture and does nothing but lull the feeble minded into a false sense of security. Tell me, do you feel safe right now? Do you think I won't kill you right this second and never think of you again? The fear that you reek of tells me you know that I have no qualms of ending your existence right now. THAT is truth. That is the cold, hard truth. You are a human. You are dinner, that's it. A fake-ass vampire that wants to play house? THAT is a lie."

Her face hardened a little, but any fire she tried to show was extinguished by the tears that flowed down her cheeks. "You won't kill me."

I chuckled deep in my throat, my teeth showing as I smirked at her. "Keep telling yourself that. In two hours, that is exactly what I am going to do because I wasn't lying four months ago when I told you, you will be mine." Her eyes widened to owlish size as I chuckled again. "Your little fortune teller keeping her mouth shut make more sense to you now, Gatáki?"

She swallowed hard and shook her head. "No."

I tisked lightly as I hummed. "Don't worry. That, and so many other things will soon enough. Of that, I give you my word. For now, if you want the answers to the questions that swirl in your eyes, you should really consider behaving. I would really hate to do it now, but I will bite you where you stand if you leave me no option. So, what is it going to be?" When she nodded slightly, I purred. "Good girl."

Releasing her wrists, I stepped to the side and held out a hand, telling her to go ahead. Walking next to her, I caught my car keys when Felix tossed them to me. Giving a look around the hanger, I shook my head. It was a mess. When I cocked my brow at Felix, he answered my unasked question.

"Go, we got this."

I nodded as I opened the passenger door, waiting for Isabella to get in before I shut it and walked at a human pace to the driver's side. I was in no real hurry to get back to the city and I didn't have to stop to feed since her little stunt provided me with a snack. Once I got in the car, I took advantage of the overcast and put the top down, glancing over at Isabella as I started the car.

"Buckle up."

*X*

Forty-five minutes later the city came into view and that was when Isabella started to fidget. I glanced at her from the corner of my eye but said nothing as I pressed harder on the gas, wanting to finish the last ten minutes of the drive. What I couldn't believe was that she spent the last near hour sitting strapped in a car next to someone that threatened to kill her, told her he WAS going to kill her, and she doesn't bat an eye until she sees a city.

This was one strange little human.

It was when we started the climb up the hill to the gates she finally spoke. "So, what's going to happen once we get there? Ya know, besides the obvious?"

I shrugged slightly as I started to downshift. "That's about it. You'll be presented to the Masters, have to listen to Master Caius pitch a fit about you still being a human, listen to Master Aro tell of his disappointment in the Cullens and you for not following his ruling. There will more than likely be an argument between the two over what your ultimate fate will be." I turned to her with a grin as I slowed the car more. "Whatever you do, do not laugh."

Her lip curled. "Why would I do…"

I cut her off as I slowed to a stop at the gates. "You'll see." After flashing my freshly fed eyes to the gate keeper, I continued into the city, finishing my thoughts. "Master Caius will argue with Master Aro simply for the sake of riling him up, regardless if he actually cares enough to fight about whatever it is. Both Master Caius and Master Marcus know that Master Aro gets final say in everything. That, however, will never stop Master Caius from poking him with a stick."

Her face took on a look of confusion as I leaned over her to get the opener to the garage door out of the glove box. "Why, exactly?"

Pushing the button to open the door I just reached, I hummed as I waited for it to open. "Master Caius is younger than both Master Aro and Master Marcus by no small number of centuries. He was also bitten at a much younger human age than either of them. He was in his early twenties whereas Master Aro was in his later thirties and Master Marcus was, I believe, closer to his fifties." Pulling into the garage, I turned to her with a smirk. "He is the youngest and he acts like it. Master Aro is the oldest and as such, gets the full brunt of Master Caius' youthful wrath."

As I pulled my car into its stop, Isabella cocked her head. "You said that Marcus was the oldest."

I nodded as I pushed the button to put the top of my car back up. "In human years, yes, he is. However, Master Aro is the oldest in vampire years and in our world, that's the age that matters." Latching the top and cutting the engine, I looked over at her. "Master Aro is Master Marcus' sire, the one that made him. For that reason alone Master Aro outranks Master Marcus."

She nodded as she undid her belt. "So, Aro is the sire of Marcus and Caius?"

I shook my head and got out of the car. "No." Closing my door and walking around to open hers, I continued. "There are only three vampires that know who Master Caius' sire is; Master Aro, Master Caius and Master Caius' sire and no one is telling." I hummed as I shut the door once she was out. "Then again, unless you are a newborn or turned for the purpose of being a mate, your sire doesn't really matter after the first year or so. As far as the hierarchy within this coven goes, it was already an established coven when Master Caius joined it. The only way he would have been able to outrank Master Aro, who was already the coven leader, would have been to force his submission though some very… hmm… barbaric, for lack a of better term, means."

She seemed to pale as her brow drew down and her bottom lip slid between her teeth. She swallowed hard and crossed her arms. "Do I even what to know?"

I shook my head as I held a hand out to the side, telling her we were moving. "Probably not. However, no matter what you think of our world, no matter what you were led to believe by the Cullens, vampires are not, in any way, civilized beings." Leaving the garage and entering the hallway, I clasped my hands behind my back as I led her to the main gathering room. "We are driven by three basic instincts; survival, feeding and mating. That's it. That's all we care about. Seeing the next night of our lives, our next meal and our next lay. Everything else is secondary to those. We don't care about what happens to others of our kind so long as we, personally, survive."

She made an indignant noise and I knew what was coming. "But, the Cullens care about each other. I've seen it."

I looked down at her and cocked a brow. "Back to them, hmm. Very well. Allow me to explain this to you, Gatáki. The Cullens are no different than we are. The only difference between us is our diet. The guard will also look out for others that wear the crest, but when push comes to shove, we will save ourselves, as will they. The only person we will lay our life down for is our mate."

She bit her lip a little as she looked up at me, curiosity shining in her eyes. "So, you wouldn't die for Aro?"

I snorted. "Fuck no. He knows it too. There are maybe three vampires within these walls that would, and even then it's a flip of a coin. I have no true ties to anyone here. I have a very select few that I would consider a friend, but for the most part, the palace and everyone in it could burn today and I wouldn't shed a non-existent tear for them."

"Not even your sire?"

I chuckled slightly. "Even were I not far too old to give a fuck about my sire, he isn't here anyways. My connection to him died out centuries ago. I told you, our sire only matters for the first year or so, unless our change is for mating purposes, and I am far older than a scant couple of years.

It was that point that we reached the more populated section of the palace. There were quite a few lesser guards milling about, all of whom seem far too interested in my human for my tastes. It also set her on edge. So much so that she latched onto my arm and pressed herself into my side. I glanced down at her with a cocked brow, but said nothing, only changed how my arm was positioned so that my forearm was in front of me opposed to behind me. My reason for that was it would make it easier to move her behind me should it become necessary to do so.

I doubted anyone wanted to face off with the head of the guard, but there are always idiots that came out of the woodwork to surprise you with their level of stupid. It wasn't even one of the younger vampires that did it either. He was a new guard that I had only seen a handful of times, but he was old enough to know better than to try and take on a superior fighter.

With a smooth swing of my arm, I wrapped it around Isabella's waist, sliding her behind me. Holding her directly to my back, I narrowed my eyes, teeth baring slightly as a deep growl sounded from my chest. It was a very clear warning to stay away, and one he didn't heed.

Fair enough.

Turning to the side so that Isabella had her back to the wall, I whirled back, catching the other guard by the throat. His momentum kicked his feet up in front of him and I used it against him, pushing down and slamming him against the stone floor. Grabbing him by the front of his shirt, I hosted him back up and slammed him then in the wall. Holding him there, I turned to look at Isabella, making sure she was alright. Once I was positive she was nothing other than a little scared, I turned back to the guard.

Locking my black eyes on his now terrified red ones, I growled low in my chest. "The human is mine. Come near her again and I will kill you. That is, unless she wants your head now." Looking over at her, "Gatáki?"

Her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped as her head shook back in forth in earnest. "No, that's alright."

I pressed my lips together and hummed. "Pity." Looking back at the vampire in my grasp, I snapped my teeth at his nose and growled as I spoke again. "Run." After I let him go, I watched as he tucked tail and darted down the hall as I pulled at the cuffs of my jacket, fixing my shirt that had gotten pulled up in the quick movements. Not looking away from the corner that the guard vanished around, I spoke to Isabella as I fixed my other sleeve. "I understand you are human. However, you will need to get over your strange aversion to killing, Gatáki. If you do not kill them," Now I looked over my shoulder at the human who hadn't moved. "They will kill you."

After pulling down on my vest, I once again presented her my arm that she took after a moment of hesitation. She walked silently next to me for a minute before she looked up at me. "Would you really have killed him? Just like that had I said yes?"

I didn't even look at her as I nodded. "Without thought. My role here is not to baby the lesser guards. If they fuck up and do something as stupid as what that one just did, Master Aro doesn't want them anyways. Stupidity gets you and others killed. He would have deserved it."

"Just for doing what comes naturally for him?"

It was then I looked at her. "What he did wasn't natural, it was stupid. Natural would have been to heed the warning he was given and stayed away from you. He decided to be an idiot and attack someone he knew damn well he wasn't going to beat. I don't hold my position here because of my gift, Gatáki. I have it because I earned it."

Her brow drew down slightly, her face colored in thought. "You're one of the main guards, right?"

I snorted. "I am not one of the main guards. I AM the main guard if that is the title you wish to give it. I am the head of the Elite Guards making me the Head of the entire Guard. Each skill level has their own head, the one in charge of everyone else that falls within their ranks. Every one of them, as well as the other Elites, answers directly to me. The only one that I answer to is Master Aro. If something untold were to ever happen to our Head of Coven, I would be the one to take it over."

For whatever reason, that made her stop in her tracks. Stopping as well, I looked at her with my head tilted to the side as I waited to the explanation for the holdup this time. Her eyes were wide and her confusion was apparent. "You would?" I nodded and her lip curled. "Why not Caius or Marcus?"

My nose wrinkled. "Again, I know you are smarter than you're currently acting. What part of the Guard answers to me did you not understand?"

She shook her head. "No, I got that part. But, I don't understand why one of them wouldn't be the one to take over if something happened to Aro. I mean, they're referred to as Master, which tells me that they rank pretty high up there in the food chain of this place."

I hummed and gave her a nod. "Good point. However, pay attention to how I am referred to by any coven member that is not Jane, Alec or Felix and how the three of them are referred to and you'll get that answer. Hell, even they do it as well when the situation calls for it."

Isabella blinked and her jaw went lax. "They call you Master, too, don't they?"

I nodded to her again. "Uh huh. No one outside the Elite have interaction with the Masters unless I am not here to be a go-between. I oversee their training, see to their feeding. I hand out assignments and patrol schedules. If there are issues between guards or ranks I am the one that deals with it. I am also the one that takes the brunt of the Master's anger and upset if something goes wrong or a mission is a failure."

Her face seemed to take on a slight fall with that. "That doesn't seem fair. Why do you do all that?"

I shrugged and clicked my tongue. "I get paid very well and get to do whatever the fuck I want. Trust me, it's a fair trade."