Here it is! The next chapter and a new turn of events for Nekolai and Celeste! To make short work of this, someone ends up getting kidnapped by the monsters and everyone's in a pickle afterwards. Please review!
Enjoy!
The next night: Nomadic Camps:
The Cullens were all barricading the outside of the camps, along with Nekolai and the wolves watching the main front. Ever since the attempted kidnappings of the wives at the palace the Volturi had instructed all covens to be on watch duty with very few hunting breaks. Frankly it wasn't too bad if the guards weren't watching their every move.
'Dammit…how much longer do we have to stand here?'
"Don't get too cocky Nekolai, our break comes soon." Edward Cullen the mind-reader, how typical.
'I need to check on my sister. She tends to sneak off if I'm gone too long.'
"I'm sure she's fine, Embry and the others have a view of your tent if she runs off they'll catch her."
'If you say so.' Neko continued walking down his part of the walls when a sudden brush of cool air went across the hot area. 'Cold air? In this weather?'
"It's probably a breeze, it's common around here at night." Neko wasn't so sure, but brushed the thought away as two of the Volturi guards came their way.
"You may change shifts now. Report back here in four hours." As Nekolai walked away he began searching through the minds of the Volturi leaders. He was inside Marcus's mind, and all he could see were Aro and Caius holding their wives in a protective manner as more and more vampires entered inside the palace. They were speaking so fast he couldn't comprehend the words, but that didn't matter much as one vampire in particular caught his eye; old Bernard, one of the untalented and oldest guards was standing behind one of the pillars behind the thrones. He had a sort of curious look in his eyes, maybe too curious.
"Celeste's is in the tent, she hasn't left at all." Bella said pointing to a small light in the twins' tent and the figure of a woman's shadow. As he made his way into the tent he could see Celeste munching on a piece of bloody buck, and didn't bother to look up at him. "Still mad at me eh?" she didn't answer. "Come one Celli you can't stay mad forever." She let out a little snicker.
"Funny…someone we both know said that exact same thing years ago." Nekolai sighed and put on his grey furry robe.
"I'm going hunting, you coming?"
"And risk the guards finding out our true identities? No thanks, I'll just sit here as quiet as a mouse like I have been for many centuries." She spoke with such harsh sarcasm Nekolai glared at her.
"Have it your way, I'll bring you back something."
"Whatever." She looked back at the window and watched as the stars glistened above the grounds. One of her favorite things to do at night was to watch the stars and look for comets and shooting stars; it made her feel calm and sensible ever since she was little. 'What am I doing sitting here? No one's going to attack me I can handle myself.' Checking to see if Neko was still outside, Celeste could only see the Denalis out towards the border of the camps, her brother nowhere in sight. Seeing this as a perfect opportunity she pulled out her bear cape and mask racing off in the opposite direction to the outer walls of Volterra.
Inside the Palace:
Aro and his brothers were alone for a rare moment in the throne room of their home. The wives had gone off to another wing of the castle with most of the guards for protection, but Caius had volunteered to go with them only to be persuaded to stay near Aro and Marcus.
"How are we supposed to find these beasts if they keep running off and covering their tracks?" he gritted through his teeth angrily.
"Would you please stop that brother, your anger is so large right now I can hardly think." Aro replied and Caius just snarled.
"Our wives were attacked just moments ago and all you can do is stand there and think? We have to assemble the rest of the vampires, we must make a plan!"
"And I'm working on one, but as you know we don't have much to form from all this. We can't pick up a trail, we can't use Alice to help us because they're staying far off from her senses, and we don't have many leads to where they might be hiding."
"They attacked the Russian Coven! They could be up there but you have done nothing to find them!" Aro didn't seem upset by Caius's ranting, but he was getting slightly annoyed.
"We can't take many chances, we're already possibly under watch as it is. Don't forget the guards have caught sight of other wolves trying to push their way in here. Look Caius I know you're upset by this, we all are, but your raging antics and coldness aren't going to get us anywhere."
"And you taking too long to act on this isn't doing much better!"
"WOULD YOU TWO STOP ALREADY?" both vampires jumped at the sound of Marcus's loud voice; first time in centuries had he ever shouted like that. "We're obviously on edge about all of this, I think what we should do is assemble the other covens and work out a plan with them, maybe they know more than what the guards are telling us." Neither one said a word, still completely startled by their brother's outburst. "Hello? You alive there?"
"Y-Yes brother…very well; I'll send for the other covens, but let me remind you that things aren't very easy with the other covens right now, especially the Cullens." Aro spoke calmly and sent for the rest of the guards while another was watching in on their little conversation.
'Don't you worry now Aro, it will all be done with soon.'
Outside the walls of Volterra:
Celeste had wondered around for over two hours until she finally stopped at a small grassy area and laid down staring up at the stars. She stared up at them for several minutes, until a memory came flashing inside her mind, one she'd thought she'd forgotten.
Memory:
A six year old Nekolai and Celeste had escaped from their previous bedtime curfew and were out sitting on a small grassy plain just outside the city they called a prison.
"Hey bro…"
"Yeah sis?"
"Do you think we'll ever get to do what we want?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean if we can ever go somewhere where there's no rules, no curfews, no orders, no guards following us around everywhere, no crazy training…you know?" the boy didn't answer her, just smiled and nodded.
"We'll go somewhere like that, maybe not exactly like that but close."
"Then why don't we leave now? I can use my power and everyone will forget us and…"
"Let's not get hasty sis, you're not in full control of your power yet. We can't go and risk your power wearing off and letting the whole vampire race know the great Caius Volturi has a weak point besides his wife."
"True, but I hate it here."
"I know, I do too. But we're not ready to leave yet, we don't have a master plan or anything." She didn't argue any further, instead she just cuddled up next to her big brother and they continued staring at the stars.
End memory.
'Unfortunately we did leave after that. And to be back here after so long, it's sadness and anger all over again.' Celli hated growing up in Volterra long ago, but as of now there wasn't much neither she nor Nekolai could do until after it was done. 'Oh well, better get back.' As she stood up to walk back to the camps someone came up and blocked her way.
"Young lady, aren't you supposed to be back at the camps with the other vampires?" a man about five and a half feet tall with a deep voice, lean, long reddish-brown hair, and a black suit spoke to her. Celeste recognized him as Bernard, one of the minor guards in the Volturi.
"I was but then I decided to take a little stroll. I'll be heading back now thank you." She tried to walk past him but he held out an arm to stop her.
"What's the rush? You seem as though you've been cooped up for a while…why not walk with me?"
"I'm sorry, but my brother will be looking for me. Let me pass please?" Bernard smirked and let his arm down and Celli passed until he spoke again.
"Your brother must really worry about you doesn't he…Ocarina?" Celeste froze, and slowly turned back to Bernard.
"What was that?"
"Ocarina…that's your name isn't it? Or do you prefer Little O as Jane used to call you?" Celeste's eyes widened, no one called her that since she was little, and only two people knew that nickname.
"You must have me confused with someone else sir. Goodbye." As she was about to run off three men appeared surrounding her.
"What's your hurry, come with us for a bit Ocarina; Andover would like to see you." Before Celli could move or respond the men gripped her tightly, restrained her arms and legs, and threw a thick black bag over her head. She struggled to get free and kicked one of her attackers in the crotch giving her a minute to pull the bag off and scream.
"NEKOLAI! HELP ME!" her attackers covered her face again and picked her up carrying her off at vampire speed.
Nomad camps:
The scream of a young vampire woman reached all ears of the vampires in the camps. Nekolai rushed back to the tent he and his sister shared seeing her, and her bear skin cape gone. He ran off towards the Cullens and they met him halfway.
"You heard that scream too right? Where's Celeste?"
"I don't know…I told her to stay in the tent and she was there before I went hunting with you."
"Maybe she took off to hunt herself?" Alice spoke up and Nekolai glared at the pixie.
"She never hunts without me." Before anyone else could speak Jane, Alec, Felix, and Chelsea all came running towards the entire group of campers.
"Aro has ordered everyone to report to the palace, there's been a little change of plans. More will be discussed when we all arrive." Jane. Alice came running up to the four guards and Jasper followed behind her.
"I'm sorry but we have a bit of a situation here, one of the nomads is missing and we all just heard a scream not too long ago." Jane didn't seem to care.
"We weren't asking if you were coming, Aro says everyone. If your friend is really missing then we'll send out a search party. Now come." Carlisle stepped forward and nodded, then looked back to his coven.
"Best do as they say Nekolai, if your sister is missing then all we can do is get as much help as possible." Nekolai wasn't so sure, he knew the minute one of the Volturi recognized him their secret would be out and frankly he wasn't ready for that.
"You can all go, I'm going to find Celeste." He was about to turn when a large surge of pain struck him. His back arched and his knees about gave out under him.
"Aro said…all vampires are to be present at the palace, no excuses. Now come." The last two words came out in a hiss, and Nekolai fell to the ground. His thoughts stayed intact, knowing if Edward found out something it wouldn't end well. Bella and Renesmee helped Nekolai up to his feet and he reluctantly followed behind them to the palace.
'Almost forgot how crazy Jane is.' That's one thought he could let out. They made their way into the city, and leapt around on top and over buildings until they reached the main square. Felix and Alec unlocked the doors and stepped aside for Jane and Chelsea to enter first, along with the rest of the vampires, the Cullens, the Denalis, the Nomads, the Irish Coven, and the Amazons. They continued down the halls, the long drop, the elevators, and the large stone staircase until they reached the double doors of the throne room. The rest of the guard was present, along with the wives and the three leaders.
"Welcome back all. Thank you very much for coming tonight." Aro held out his hands to the audience but no one seemed to appreciate the welcome, especially Nekolai, who began to push his way slowly to the front. As he came close Carlisle stepped forward and held up his hands.
"I believe I speak for everyone when I say this, is there any chance at all that you've come up with a plan to track the wolves before they hurt anyone else?" Aro stayed silent for a few seconds but then shook his head, frowning.
"Unfortunately, hard as this may seem to believe, we don't have a lot of leads on these wolves. All we know is that they're somewhere in Russia but we're not sure where and so far everyone we've sent up has not come back." Oh yes that was VERY hard to believe.
"Well we may have something…" Carlisle spoke up and Caius stepped forward with Athenodora behind him.
"And what is that?"
"One of the nomads has been kidnapped. A girl named Celeste, she was supposed to be back in the camps while we all went hunting and when we returned she was gone; plus we heard her scream for help."
"And you haven't found her, or her captors?"
"No they haven't…" Nekolai spoke up loudly and stepped forward to where all Volturi leaders could see him. He didn't have to say anything more, because the gasp from Athenodora did all the talking for him.
"Junior?" she spoke lowly and in a flash ran over to hug him, which he didn't return. Another gasp and a surprised stare from each member of the Volturi, especially Caius, was heard.
"Son?"
"Hello father." Nekolai's glare increased dramatically.
Like it? Suits your needs for now? I will bring up the next one but fear not I will not rush into the fighting scene just yet. Next one's where they realize they have more than they bargained for after Celeste gives them a small 'hand' despite her being missing.
Review! Later!