Vengeance and Death

Your eyes fly over the group, scanning the faces and you make eye contact with Marcus. You see he has been listening in on your conversation with Max, and he acknowledges you with a slight nod, before glancing away, his face as impassive as ever. You continue scanning and see Caius glaring at everyone, his hands fisted and his eyes full of rage.

"Carlisle!" Aro calls, searching the crowd. Carlisle quickly springs to his feet and approaches the leader smoothly.

"Yes, my dear friend?" he calmly inquires, a smile on his face. "It is a pleasure to see you again, despite the circumstances of our meeting."

While Aro is distracted with Carlisle, you make eye contact with the Volturi double agent and mouth the name, "Chelsea?"

His eyes widen and he stares into your eyes for a few seconds before nodding ever so slightly. You return the nod and move away, circling the crowd over to where Chelsea is hiding in the shadows, watching the proceedings with a smug maliciousness. You wonder why Aro never questioned Chelsea's loyalty. What hold does he have over her to make all vampires loyal to him instead of herself? Why does she not make everyone loyal to herself including Aro? What game is she playing? you wonder.

You sneak up behind her, and she whirls around at the last minute to face you. You feel the stabbing against your shield as she attempts to control your bonds, but of course her power doesn't work on you. You don't pause in your attack, seeing the shock and terror in her eyes as you rip her head clean off her body, tossing it as far away from you into the forest as possible, knowing the wolves will gladly take care of it for you. All eyes immediately shoot in your direction at the sound of ripping metal, and there are gasps and exclamations from all directions. The most prominent is Aro's scream of "Noooo!"

Jasper is staring at you in shock, having no idea of your plan or reasoning. Peter's eyes are wide and somewhat glazed, no doubt his gift kicking in and providing information. Max is gazing at you with approval. All around you people are shaking their heads and looking at the people around them in a new light.

Renata is the first to react, jumping away from Aro as if she'd been burned. Aro grabs for her, but is turned away by her gift, unable to get hold of her. He panics, realizing he has lost not only his shield, but any amongst his guard who have been loyal to him only due to Chelsea's influence. Marcus's countenance is animated for the first time in centuries and he dashes forward to challenge his brother, slapping him across the face.

Everyone stares on in shock as Marcus growls, "I hereby accuse you of murdering my mate Didyme, your own flesh and blood sister, in cold blood. The law demands your life as forfeit for your crime! You will now fight me to the death, just you and me, without assistance from anyone."

Aro whimpers and shakes his head in denial, "No, how did you . . . . No, it wasn't me! You have it all wrong!"

"Lie!" Maggie of the Irish Coven yells. "He's lying!"

The crowd gasps and murmurs angrily, glaring hatefully at Aro. The majority of the guard glares at him hatefully as well, turning against the few who remain loyal to him, insuring they will not assist him.

Marcus tears off his cloak and necklace bearing the crest of the Volturi, throwing them on the ground in disgust. "There was a nomad who came to Volterra nearly two centuries ago who had the gift of seeing the past. She showed me what really happened to my mate. Max had showed Caius and me how to work around your gift and hide certain things to keep the balance of power equal between the three kings. I sent that nomad away, warning her to hide and never let you find her, telling her how to avoid your gift just in case you did.

Unfortunately, there was no way for me to work around Chelsea's gift, which kept me from being able to attack you or leave you, not even allowing me to end my own existence. Her only weakness was that she could not create false bonds to herself, only between others. She had to rely on you to keep her safe and provide for her every whim, which you gladly did in return for her services.

She wasn't expecting to encounter a mental shield though, someone who would be unaffected by her gift who would know what she could do and realize the danger she represented. Thanks to Major Whitlock's new mate cancelling those bonds, we are all free to make our own choices, our loyalties are our own again, and you will now face justice for the crimes you've committed while believing yourself invincible and above the law."

Marcus suddenly freezes, staring blankly, and you realize Alec is using his power on not only Marcus, but all the Guard members who were trying to prevent anyone from going to Aro's defense. You quickly throw your shield around all of them, pushing Alec's mist away from them. Marcus recovers just in time to see Aro springing toward him, believing him to be defenseless, and dodges at the last moment. The two ancients begin fiercely trading blows. Meanwhile, Felix and Demetri rip off Alec's and Jane's heads for attempting to interfere in the battle between the kings.

Afton comes after you for killing his mate, but Jasper easily defeats him. Caius is watching the battle between Aro and Marcus, appearing kind of lost, and is greatly upset upon seeing his Guard members killing each other. He tries to protest, but his words fall on deaf ears. The crowd is roaring, but is staying out of the fighting, for the most part. Santiago and Heidi, the only other ones still loyal to Aro, other than Sulpicia, are taken out by the others.

As the battle between Aro and Marcus continues to rage, and Alec, Jane, Chelsea, Santiago, Afton, and Heidi are turned to ash, Corin runs away, and several of the former Guard members who'd had their covens destroyed and then been bonded to the Volturi by Chelsea turn on Caius. Without the vampire who has kept the wives content with her gift, centuries of repressed rage at being kept prisoner in the towers of Volterra by their overprotective mates is set free, and the wives begin to go on a rampage, attacking at random anyone who'd been a source of irritation for any reason over the previous millennia.

Marcus finally succeeds in taking off Aro's head and whips out one of the little silver guns Caius had invented, rendering him ash in milliseconds. Before anyone can stop him, he then turns the gun on himself, the injuries he'd received from Aro instantly catching flame and incinerating him. Sulpicia goes completely berserk at the loss of her mate. Tanya, Amun, and Kebi don't dodge her fast enough and get shredded and burned as victims of collateral damage. Irina and Kate are quick to avenge their sister, destroying the insane, grief-stricken queen.

Caius takes out quite a few of the former Guard members, fighting for his life, until he gets distracted by his mate. Athenadora looks almost comical fighting against Felix, her tiny frail body against his hulking form. Her mental instability makes her completely unpredictable though, and she fights dirty, going for his gonads. She disables him by castrating him, screaming obscenities about never going anywhere, seeing or doing anything for nearly two thousand years. Demetri rushes to his aid, but is too slow. Athenadora crams one of those guns in Felix's wounded crotch and fires, making every male in the vicinity whimper and cover themselves.

That distraction is Caius's downfall, as a female former Guard member takes advantage of his grimacing and guarding of his family jewels to rip off his head and toss it into a nearby fire. Athenadora screams and becomes a whirling dervish of teeth and claws. Demetri tackles her to the ground, quickly separating her head from her body. He pulls back and sits up, holding up her dripping head triumphantly, but her twitching hand pulls the trigger on the gun she's still holding, frying them both instantly.

It's finally over. All three kings, both queens, and two thirds of the Guard are gone. The Romanians, James and Alice, Maria, the other Southern War Leaders, and all of James's allies are dust in the wind. Even Amun, Kebi, and Tanya are toast. All that remain are Carlisle's friends and family.

Carlisle, his arm around his mate, calmly surveys the mess and burn marks covering his yard and the shell-shocked people dusting ashes off their clothes.

"So, uh, what now, Dad?" Emmett asks, rubbing the back of his neck and grinning sheepishly.