This Chapter is rated 'M' for language, evil plans, and dark themes.
Previously: Riley died. (Yeah, I just went there.)
Boss Swan's P.O.V. (3073 words):
"Where did I go wrong? I lost a friend somewhere along in the bitterness." ~ How To Save A Life by The Fray
.:!*!:.
I was very aware of Maria's eyes on me. I knew she'd hear of what I'd done soon enough. I wasn't worried. It's not like it was any of her business what I did. She couldn't touch me. We'd found out early that I was damn good at combat. Apparently all that time coming up with strategies and shit paid off. Maria tells me I was a second-in-command for "Chief Victoria" when I was human. I actually laughed when she'd told me. Me? Work for Vic? That was just too rich!
"¡Maldita sea!" I shouted, causing the 113 newborns in the pit to flinch in fear. "If I don't see some improvement out of you by dawn, Luis, I'll let Jack the Ripper have some fun with you! Lo juro por Dios, I don't know why I bother some days!"
"Because I would have you for dinner if you did not make them perfect." Vlad's voice came from behind me. I smirked.
"Oh yes, I mustn't forget who I do all of this for, right Vlad?" I replied mockingly, turning to raise an eyebrow his way. "Nice of you to show up."
"I almost did not, but I did not wish to be on the receiving end of your rage. Kicking your ass would only delay things." He shot back, a smirk on his face as well. I laughed outright and put my arm around his shoulders and whispered in his ear quietly enough so no one but he would hear.
"Between the two of us, they'll be ready before the week closes."
"Three days?" He questioned, sounding doubtful. "You do realize this is the Volturi we are going up against, yes?"
"While you were gone, I took out the entirety of the South." I told him, causing him to step back and look at me. "No loses."
"None?" He reiterated, his eyes wide.
"Nada." I said, my smirk growing.
"I do not know how you do it, Swan." Vlad said, shaking his head before heading toward his tent. Maria took his place in front of me.
"We need to talk, Swan." She growled, and I nodded. I followed her as she lead the way far enough from camp to not be overheard. We stopped walking. I could tell we were being watched, but a part of me wanted the world to see how I dealt with Maria. I wanted someone to know who was really in charge. "¿He hecho algo que a la cólera ti?"
"You have done nothing to anger me, Maria. It needed to be done." I consoled, keeping my voice firm.
"Why did you not tell me that you were going to conquer the South, mi Reina?" She asked, venom tears gathering in her eyes. I suppressed the shudder of pleasure I felt at her calling me her queen.
"Shh..." I whispered, placing my hand on the side of her face, letting my thumb caress her cheek where her tears would be falling if she could still cry. "You would have tried to convince me not to."
"Of course I would have!" Maria cried, obviously distressed. She hugged herself to me, resting her head on my chest under my neck. "You've attracted the attention of the Volturi for sure now. They will come for me!"
"Not before we are ready." I replied, petting her hair. "Besides, you know I am best at defensive strategies."
"How is it that in just over two weeks, you have made me so vulnerable, Isabella?" Maria muttered quietly. My demeanor softened further.
"You needed someone to lean on, but no one since Benito has had the strength to hold you up." I whispered to her. "You are powerful, Maria, and that scares people."
"It doesn't scare you."
"It used to." I replied before I realized. I stilled in shock. Why is it that I remembered that from my past and so little else?
"What is it? What did you remember this time?" Maria asked, sounding worried. The stronger my shield became, the more I remembered. She told me ten days ago that I would one day recall something that would make me leave her, perhaps kill her. I could not imagine anything that would have that effect.
"I was standing near a set of stairs, and you were shaking hands with Vic. I was fearful, and there was an uneasiness in my stomach." I said, confused by the memory.
"That was when I made the deal with Victoria that brought you to me." Maria explained. "Also, I believe that feeling is called nausea."
"I assume it is only a human emotion?" I asked. She nodded in reply. I nodded as well, and I had walked two steps back toward camp when it happened.
"My life is substitute."
The voice was strong, and it stopped me in my tracks. I knew that voice.
Suddenly, my right side grew incredibly cold. I shivered. A moment later, the pain came. I screamed and fell to my knees. The burning agony was gone in a flash, and I was back on my feet with my eyes trained toward the Atlantic ocean before I knew it. I was panting, my body was tensed, and I knew my eyes were probably black.
"Isabella?" Maria asked, causing me to face her in a crouch and growl before I snapped out of it. I straightened and looked back to the east.
"Something just happened..." I trailed off, blinking a few times unnecessarily.
"Boss?" Jack the Ripper asked sternly from nearby, genuine concern in his query. That tittle combined with that tone did the trick.
Riley. Riley Biers.
A chill of fear went down my spine. That was the voice I'd heard, the voice of my second. I'd forgotten him. He belonged on my right. Why then, did my right side still feel cold?
The pain... it had felt like fire.
"NO!" I roared once it hit me. My second-in-command was dead, and the pull I'd started feeling after the pain was coming from the direction of Italy. My vision went red, and my body went numb. The Volturi had killed my right-flank. "¡Los cabrones mató a mi hermano! They shall burn slowly for this."
I stalked back into the camp, Jack the Ripper and Maria hot on my heels. I headed directly to Vladimir's tent, not bothering to announce myself as I strode into his private rooms.
"You are not allowed in here, Swan." Vlad said, but once he turned and saw me, he froze. "What is it?"
"We're speeding up the timeline, and we are no longer going to wait for them to come to us." I told him. "I am going to lead the army to their doorstep."
"Strategy 4, then?" He asked, watching me with a careful eye.
"No." I answered. "Strategy 7."
"The one you nicknamed the Pale Rider?" He questioned, eyes wide. "I thought you wanted it to be more like an execution than a celebratory slaughter. Those were your exact words."
"Yeah, well, they just made things personal." I hissed, and I felt my eyes darkening again.
"What did you get word of?" he asked. I growled lowly.
"I did not need word." I hissed out of between my teeth. "They burnt my second-in-command! I felt the flames lick me as if it was my own final death!"
"You need not explain." He replied, his eyes growing hard. "Trust me when I say I understand the phenomenon of a True Second. The connection is nearly as strong as that of Mates. We will get your revenge."
"Who carries out the executions in Volterra?" I demanded.
"Aro, almost always." He replied, question in his eyes.
"I'm afraid I'm going to have to be the one to kill him then." I answered, waiting for his reaction.
"I have been waiting hundreds of years, and you demand to be the one to kill the highest king!" Vlad screamed. "I do not think so!"
"We will talk about this later then." I replied, looking passed him at a vampire I recognized right away. "Stefan, what a pleasant surprise."
"Pleasant surprise indeed." He replied, looking me up and down. "I can see now why my brother has taken such a liking to you. I'd almost say he is infatuated."
"I am not infatuated, brother." Vlad argued, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, do not deny it. She won you over the moment she stood up to you." Stefan replied, and he smiled at me as he offered his hand. "Care to walk with me? I'd be delighted if you'd show me around camp."
"Of course." I replied, taking the offered hand. He placed it on his arm and escorted me from the room. I could sense my creator's displeasure and fear as I turned my back on her and left her with Vlad. I figured she was afraid she would lose me. It was all she seemed to be afraid of, really. I believed she had already grown dependent on me. It baffled me that I would be the dominate one in our relationship, but I couldn't think of a reason that it should be strange to me. I figured it must have something to do with a random repressed memory I had yet to recover.
Maria had told me in the beginning that being intimate with her would result in losing my past memories. At that point, I didn't remember much anyway. She assured me that I would regain my memories as my shield blocked out her unique ability. My shield had a lot of growing to do first though. Right now, it was only a mental shield, and her gift had a small physical aspect, since she used seduction to bury the memories. She told me that as a human, she'd worked with the men of her tribe as a distraction, seducing the enemy just long enough for the men to steal supplies. She thinks that's the part of her that evolved when she was changed.
"Miss Swan, you seem distracted." Stefan observed as we walked by my tent.
"Yes. I'm sorry about that." I whispered, glancing east. "Do you know of Maria's gift?"
"She informed me of it." He replied, leading us around the Colosseum, observing the newborns casually as Jack the Ripper ordered them around expertly.
"I had forgotten Riley. For the first time, I wish I could remember everything." I sighed, and I slowed my pace and came to a standstill. Stefan was kind enough to stop as well without complaint. "I can recall everything about Riley now, but there are blank spots in more recent memories, like when he would talk to someone, I can't remember who it was or what was said. That doesn't change anything though. It will be hard for me to move on. Riley was all I had for so long. He was like a brother to me, and they just took him away."
"Vladimir used to be my True Second." Stefan confided, a fond smile on his face. "When the Great War against the Volturi was lost, and we were left alone in the mountains of our homeland, we had no need for formalities, and we grew to be near equals. I hadn't given him an order in over two thousand years before I ordered him to come meet you."
"I wish I'd had time to reach that point with Riley." I said, straining my memory in an attempt to recollect anything. "I long to remember."
"You just need something to bring it to the forefront of your mind." Stefan said, patting my hand where it lay on his arm. "I will try to help you, and your second will then live on forever through you. The Volturi cannot take that."
"Thank you." I replied sincerely, tilting my head to look Stefan in the eyes. For the first time since waking up, I felt like I could trust someone. I would let him help me.
"Why was your second in Italy instead of here, with you?" He asked, starting to walk again. "Did you send him away?"
"I must have. Somehow I can't help but think he'd never leave me otherwise." I said, pursing my lips. "Why would I send him away?"
"Was it to keep him safe, perhaps? Maria's camp isn't a safe place, by any means." Stefan wondered aloud, and I felt like he was getting closer to the truth. Something was off though.
"I don't think Maria or this camp would have been the reason. He was quite capable of handling himself."
"Was it you?" Stefan asked, his voice quiet. A blank spot was filled in.
"The worst that can happen is I fall to her will. If that happens, you take Jean, and you run. That's an order. Do you understand? I want you to do all you can to make sure the Major goes with you as well."
"Oh my God." I gasped. "I used to hate Maria. Why?"
"Did she ever harm Riley?" He questioned.
"No. I remember Riley completely. It wasn't because of him."
"Did you have a mate?"
"Not that I can remember." I said, and the gravity of the situation hit me. "What if I have a mate somewhere and don't even remember them!"
"Are there any names that you can think of but don't remember who they belong to?" He asked, trying to keep me calm.
"Do you know a Jean?"
"No. Any others?"
"Who is the Major? That one sounds familiar." I said, hoping he knew.
"Do you mean Major J. Whitlock, the God of War?" Stefan asked, shocked. "He is blond. He would be more scared than anyone you've ever seen. He'd be extremely skilled in combat, and he's an empath."
"Yes... I see him whenever I close my eyes. He won't get out of my head." I told him. Stefan looked disturbed and worried.
"I'm sure that's why you hated Maria. If you were close to Ares, you would have detested the woman that had tortured him, starved him, and forced him to kill, rape, and fight." Stefan's words caused me to freeze up. I remembered everything now. He continued as if he hadn't noticed. "He was treated brutally. Maria told me about the time he'd helped his second and third to escape. She'd decapitated him, left him in a hole for a month, and then, using his built up bloodlust and ferocity, she'd unleashed him on Mexico City. She's held the city since."
"Jasper." My whisper brought to life an instinct I didn't know I had. Peter had been right. Jasper and I were mates. I had been so foolish, so stupid, and Riley had suffered for it! Had I accepted the truth in the beginning, we could have run. Riley would still be alive, and we'd all be wandering the north together. Jasper wouldn't be wandering around who knows where. What if he was in Volterra too? He'd be executed next for sure. I was amazed he hadn't been already, especially since he was my mate. He would take the fall for my crimes. It was the law. "Jasper."
"Who is that?" Stefan asked, looking lost, yet suspicious.
"Major Jasper Whitlock... he's my mate." With the return of my memories came with the need for vengeance. I began imagining all the torture techniques I knew Maria practiced being used on Jasper. I decided right then that Maria was mine. I would tear her limb from limb. I would then put her back together and burn her slowly for as long as I could, branding her all the while. I would-
"Swan!" A hiss and a hand on my arm, pulling me back, brought me out of my cloud. I was growling lowly in my chest, struggling to get to Maria's tent.
"Let go of me, Stefan." I growled out, keeping as quiet as I could so Maria wouldn't hear me coming for her. "I will have at her, and nothing can stop me."
"Hear me out." Stefan requested. I took a deep breath and nodded. "Wait until the opportune moment. You have her eating out of the palm of your hand. I've never seen her like this, not even with Benito all those years ago. She needs you like she needs blood. It's disturbing, but you can use it to your advantage. When we get to Italy, offer her in exchange for your mate. Offer Vladimir and myself for the rest of them. Have patients, and your vengeance will be carried out by others while you save those you care about."
"Why would you suggest yourself to be offered in exchange? That doesn't make any sense. When did you become a martyr?" I asked, confused by his plan.
"Vlad and I lost our mates in the Great War. We are barely keeping a hold on our sanity. Vladimir knows as well as I do that humans cannot know of the existence of vampires anymore. Those times are long gone, but challenging the Volturi's ideology gets their attention." Stefan explained, smiling slightly. "We never planned on surviving this battle. We never even planned on winning, although the more I see, the more I think you could actually beat them. My point is, do whatever it is you feel you need to do. Use Maria for a bigger purpose. Trade her, trade us. Trust me, Aro would love to kill us himself. He'd take the deal."
"Are you telling me that you were just using Maria and I so that you could go out in style?" I asked to clarify.
"Yes. I actually like you though, and my brother even more so." Stefan answered.
"You're serious." I stated, a smile growing on my face. "You're crazy, you know that?"
"Oh, hell yeah. Crazy might be putting it lightly." Stefan replied with a laugh. "We in agreement though?"
"Yeah. I can wait." I decided, and we shook on it. I let the smirk grow slowly. "Oh, and I think it's time I have a little chat with Aro."
Stefan and I laughed all the way back into the camp. Yes, I was on the Volturi's side, but they didn't need to know that yet. Plus, I was still pissed as all get out that they'd killed my second. I'd figure it all out eventually. After all, I had all the time in the world.
A.N.: Well, there you go. Does that make you guys feel a bit better? I told you things would be looking up! What did you think about that twist with Stefan and Vladimir just wanting to go out with a bang? Lol! I'd like to hear it.
PLAYLIST NEWS: Next song is on my profile. It was Break Me Down by Red... in case you guys are too lazy to go my profile and look. ;)
UPDATE NEWS: I'm falling behind. I don't like it. This is why I made myself write way far ahead. Life is getting too crazy! Next update will be March 11th.