18. GRAND FINALE
Since the fighting was dying down outside, more people were entering the castle. Aro and Renata were joined by Santiago, Eleazar, and Corin. They followed Aro into the great hall with the golden thrones where Aro had met Octavian for the first time. Aro was a little surprised to find Lucian sitting at his throne with Anton as his only body guard.
Aro smiled at his foe. "It seems you've been deserted," he said to Lucian. Lucian did not respond but only scowled at the conspirator. Anton leapt through the air further than the others were capable of. His unlimited newborn strength was evident.
Aro and Renata moved to the side so that Corin, Santiago, and Eleazar could engage in combat. Santiago charged forward first and crashed himself straight into Anton's large body. It was like watching a child run straight into a wall. Santiago fell backward and Anton laughed down at him. Corin and Eleazar quickly worked together. Eleazar distracted Anton into fighting with him while Corin leapt from behind. Corin bared his teeth and was anxious to sink his paralytic venom into Anton's shoulder but he was too quick and dodged out of the way. As the three continued their fight against Anton, Lucian went to work.
Aro had been observing the fight and was surprised when Renata's arms were suddenly wrapped around his neck, strangling him and holding him in place. Aro looked at Lucian and saw that he was now smiling.
Lucian stood up from his throne and walked down the few steps that put him level with Aro. Renata, with a blank stare on her face, pushed Aro forward, closer to Lucian.
"Renata!" Aro shouted. "Snap out of it! He's controlling you! Renata!" It was hard for him to speak because her arm gripped so tight that it bent his vocal chords. He was reaching his arm up and behind him while trying to claw at her. Lucian grabbed his arm and with a simple yank, bent it the wrong way and broke it. Aro howled out in pain. The others noticed and when they went to try to help their master, Anton would not allow them and would use his super strength to thwart their efforts.
"Tell me Aro, did you really think that you could away with this?" Lucian cocked his head to the side. "Did you really think I would let you take everything away from me?" The anger was manifested on his face.
Aro tried to speak but his words were gurgled. Lucian kicked in Aro's knee and it snapped and he collapsed to the ground, screaming while placing his weight on his good knee.
Lucian leaned in close so that he was breathing into Aro's ear. "You will never be me," he whispered. Then he gripped Aro's head and snapped his neck so that the spinal cord disconnected. Aro's loose head flopped to the side but before Lucian could do any more damage, strong hands yanked Lucian backward.
In an instant, before Lucian could take his control off of Renata and place it on his new challenger, Marcus sunk his teeth into the papery skin of Lucian's throat. He snapped off his head and continued to pull and rip pieces of flesh from his body.
Renata was screaming and crying tearlessly as she tried to help put Aro back together. "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" she repeated over and over.
The other fight in the room was settling down as well. Corin was finally able to get a bite into Anton. His paralytic venom was not strong enough to completely render Anton useless but it did slow him and cause him to stagger. It was enough to give the others the advantage they needed to kill him.
Once Aro's broken bones had fused back together he looked at Marcus, "Thank you brother, you saved me."
Marcus did not answer but had a hard look on his face as he focused on his task of dismantling Lucian's body. Afton and some others came into the room and he lit a fire to burn the corpses of the Romanian ruler and his body guard. Then they heard shouting outside and went to see what the commotion was about.
Aro walked outside just in time to see Caius and some others ripping apart Helena and tossing her body parts into a fire. Stefan and Vladimir were prisoners being forced to watch. It was Vladimir that was making all the noise. "Noooo! Leave her alone! Noooo! Stop it!" He screamed the words through heaving sobs, unable to do anything to save his mate. Apparently Demetri had tracked them down as they tried to escape and Caius had led their capture.
Caius was about to move onto Vladimir when Aro commanded him to stop. Aro walked over to the broken man and picked up his palm. He read the thoughts and saw that they were truly defeated. The Romanians had nothing left up their sleeves. Aro moved onto Stefan and read his thoughts as well, only to confirm what he had already learned.
Aro turned to face all of his followers that had survived the war. They were gathered around this last scene of brutality. "My dear brothers and sisters," said Aro, "We have defeated the Romanians!" The entire crowd cheered. Aro smiled and patted the air, as if to have them return to silence. He spoke again, "All of our efforts have paid off. Many lives have been lost, perhaps too many. The need for spilling blood is over." He reached down a hand to Vladimir to bring him to his feet. Then he did the same for Stefan.
Demetri was concerned, remembering the consequence of Aro letting Octavian escape. He whispered to Caius "What is he doing?"
Caius smiled and said "Showing his mercy."
Aro turned to face the crowd again. "If the Romanians had won, they would not have spared a single one of us. But we are not the Romanians." The crowd cheered again. "These two pitiful men pose no threat to us. They have no powers and they have no kingdom. We shall set them free as a beginning to a new and better world for vampires. Starting now, we live by the new rule and abolish the old ones. As long as these two do not expose us to humans, then they have as much of a right to live as we do."
The prisoners were released. Vladimir was still quite angry and was about to charge at Aro but Stefan grabbed him and held him back. "Not now, Vladimir!" Stefan urged him; "We must leave now." He pulled on Vladimir's shoulders until they disappeared into the woods.
