Chapter Seventeen: Bella.

"I dare you to kiss Felix."

Jane spluttered incoherently as she gapped at me, then gapped at Felix, then back again. Her expression was hands down Laughing My Ass Off And Rolling On The Floor Almost Dying. Hardly traditional, but still.

It was three months ago that Caius had come back from wherever it was he had gone to, and had been acting weird ever since.

No-one would tell me what had happened, and eventually I stopped asking. I guessed I would be pissed too if someone kept on prying.

Caius had been more and more on edge and absolutely unapproachable for the first month, then the second month, he had gone through this whole phase where he went on this insane hunting spree in surrounding towns- I heard that the Volturi had disguised it so that it looked like they had died of an illness, and on the news I saw people speculating on whether or not it was a new virus.

I knew I should have been scared, and maybe even mad at Caius handling whatever-it-was so badly, but I just felt sorry for him. Guess the guy needed an outlet for his emotions, even if it was slaughtering dozens of people.

The third month I hadn't even seen him. He'd vanished without a trace and no-one knew where he was. Or at least if they did, they didn't let on that they did know. Well I knew they knew. Aro and Marcus didn't seem at all concerned, and although the guard was a little more respectful, they still weren't worrying.

I didn't know why I cared so much though.

"I… You… Bella, I will kill you!" Jane finally snarled glaring at me.

I shrugged and gave her a smirk. "Been there, done that." This was like the seventy ninth death threat she had given me in the past hour. "Dare's a dare."

Felix was grinning broadly, and he winked at Jane. I was surprised she didn't have him writhing on the floor in agony right away.

Jane made a barely audible sound of annoyance and frustration, then in one swift motion, she had crossed the circle we were sitting in, and shoved her lips to Felix's.

We- Corrin, Alec, Demetri, Santiago, Chelsea, Heidi, Afton and me all hooted and clapped, expecting Jane to flounce off straight afterwards, torturing some of them for good measure, but she didn't.

She remained glued to Felix.

One second.

Okay, she seemed… To be enjoying herself?

Two seconds.

Her arms were going around his neck, and his arms were going around her body.

Three seconds.

Definitely not letting go.

Four seconds.

She seemed to be melting into him.

Five seconds.

Really enjoying themselves.

Six seconds.

Starting to get awkward.

Seven seconds.

Now they were starting to make noises that made me distinctly uncomfortable.

Eight seconds.

I exchanged glances with the rest of the vampires in the room.

Nine seconds.

Their hands were… wandering.

Ten seconds.

What. The. Hell?

Eleven seconds.

I cleared my throat.

Twelve seconds.

I cleared my throat louder.

Thirteen seconds.

I cleared my throat so loudly, I imagined I could have been heard from the other side of the castle.

Fourteen seconds.

No reaction.

Fifteen seconds.

I all but yelled at them to stop.

Finally they both pulled apart. Felix looked slightly punch drunk, his boyish face sagging into a rather bemused goofy smile kind of like a kitten had landed on his face, then started beating him up. Jane looked embarrassed, but also rather defensive. "What?"

"Dude, nice!" whistled Demetri, while the other guys nodded in agreement.

Heidi stuck her tongue out at them, then punched Demetri in the shoulder, something that sounded like the muffled collision of two boulders.

Demetri winced. "Ow, what was that for?"

Heidi shrugged, and glanced over at Jane. "Now if you two lovebirds are done, it's my turn!"

If vampires could blush, I could tell Jane would be beetroot red. She slid back over to where she was sitting before, and didn't even glare at anyone.

Alec was hiding a smile, but he patted Jane's back consolingly anyway.

Jane ignored him, and picked up her shot-glass, throwing it back in one gulp.

We were playing a mix version of spin-the-bottle, 'Have you ever', and Truth or Dare.

Basically it was Truth or Dare, but for every completed 'truth' or dare, you had a shot of vodka, alcohol being the only human substance that vampires could actually still taste. Hence the mini-bar. Whoever spun the bottle, had to ask a truth question, or a dare, on the victim. By the end, the person who was the most drunk- or really, because vampires couldn't get drunk- the person who had the most shots won.

So far I'd had three, and I wasn't even feeling woozy. Go me!

Heidi spun the bottle, and it landed on Afton. She grinned, a smile that looked evil on her stunning face. "Truth or Dare?"

Afton looked like he was trying to steel himself. "Dare."

Heidi's smile grew. "I dare you to cut off the power to Aro's TV."

Oh boy.

Afton's expression was one of pure terror. "…what?"

I would hate to be in his shoes.

~~~(o.O)~~~

We all huddled in my room before my TV, watching with bated breath, as Afton crept along the corridors towards the newly-installed power generator. Aro had demanded that Volterra castle be equipped with a TV in every room so he could watch FRIENDS whenever he wanted.

It was hilarious on Fridays when the vampires visiting saw Aro watching FRIENDS from the huge projector/screen set up in the middle of the hall.

Now we watched the live footage of Afton sneaking along. Alec was holding the camera, filming it all. He had somehow hooked the camera up to the TV so we could watch it from here, out of the range of fire. He was something of a technical whizz.

Also from a camera in Aro's room, we could see him sitting cross-legged before his own giant flat-screen TV, with 3-D glasses perched weirdly on his nose, two inches away from the screen like a three year old.

Priceless.

I didn't even ask why he was wearing 3D glasses, it wasn't like FRIENDS needed to be viewed in 3D.

The screen cut to Afton reaching the generator, his fingers hesitating slightly before the switch that would cut the power to Aro's room.

We all leaned forward in anticipation.

His fingers crept even closer.

For a vampire, he sure was moving really slow.

Snap.

The low sound could still be heard even by the cameras.

A distant roar sounded, and we all flinched. Vampire hearing or not, Aro's roar was loud enough for me to be able to imagine he was standing right next to me. There was a snapping sound and Alec and Afton appeared back in the room with us. I started a bit. Several months and I still wasn't used to Afton's gift.

We all broke out into hushed giggles, in case Aro could hear us, and watched the TV, as Aro went completely crazy.

At first he just stared at the TV like he was waiting for it to automatically turn back on. When it didn't he started walking around in circles like he was trying to determine the problem.

Then he started getting mad, and banging his head on the wall, like a sulky kid, then he seemed to lose it completely, and whirled around the room like a tornado, destroying everything except for the TV, and the camera carefully concealed in a corner. (Felix and Alec had tagged the whole castle with cameras a while ago so they could watch their practical jokes play out from a safe distance, how Aro hadn't found out yet I had absolutely no idea)

Eventually when the contents of his room were totally and completely destroyed- something I guessed Sulpica wouldn't be too pleased about, he started bouncing up and down on his heels so fast, it looked like something you'd see in a bugs-bunny cartoon.

After around ten minutes of this, where all of us were holding our breath- for the vampires literally, while I had to take a breath every minute or so- Aro finally seemed to calm down a bit, and then he vanished off screen.

NO.

"Alec! The other cameras!" I hissed quickly, and Alec began flicking through the cameras so fast, I couldn't catch a single picture, but judging by Alec's expression he couldn't find-

The door to my room burst open, the door itself breaking off its hinges and flying across the room, where it slammed into the wall opposite. Great. That would be the fifth new door in the past few months.

Aro was standing in the doorway, raven hair disheveled, and his hazy ruby eyes flaming. "Who." He said, the one word loaded with implications. "Who, disrupted Rachel and Ross's bickering?"

Of course, being the brave –stand-up-for-friends-type-, we all pointed at Heidi and Afton.

Aro gave a swift nod, his face suddenly calm, and gestured at the two of them.

Heads hanging, and looking like two children caught in the wrong, Afton and Heidi trailed out of the gaping hole where my door used to be, but not before shooting the rest of us –I-will-get-you-later-for-this- looks.

As they disappeared out of our sight, I saw Afton look like he was contemplating teleporting somewhere safe until all of the drama was over.

When they were gone, I let out a sigh of relief.

"Awesome." Said Felix, shaking his head, not looking at all sorry for Afton or Heidi as he grabbed Afton's shot, and drank it himself.

Jane shot him a glare, and he winced, then we all settled back down in our circle.

Corin spun, and it landed on Demetri. "Truth or Dare?"

"Dare," he grinned.

Three seconds later, Demetri was standing on his head in the corner. Now we'd just have to see if he could hold it for five hours.

Chelsea spun, and it landed on Felix. "Truth or Dare?"

Felix seemed to think for a few seconds, then after glancing rather obviously at Jane, said: "Truth."

Chelsea grinned like it was what she was waiting for. "Felix do you like Jane?"

All the colour- and believe me when I say this, but his vampire face was already bone white- leeched out of Felix's face , and he stared at Jane.

I smiled to myself, it was kind of obvious they liked each other, even if before their display of affection had been a bit… disturbing.

"Um… Yes?" he said, almost like it was a question, but his eyes were fixed on Jane's half sheepish, and half anticipating an attack.

The circle was silent for a second, as we stared at both Felix and Jane.

After a while, Jane gave a small smile, and a nod, and we all relaxed.

"My turn!" yelled Felix, seeming to recover, tearing his 'lovesick' gaze away from Jane and he spun.

It landed on me. Oh great shiz balls. Of all of the people to get me- he had to. "Truth or Dare?"

Coward as I was, I chose truth. The last dare I had gotten… Let's just say I was still mentally scarred. "Truth."

Felix tutted at me. "Oh is little itty bitty Bella afraid of me?"

I thought of various scathing comebacks, but seeing as he was the one asking me the questions, I decided to hold it.

"Okay, fine, truth.. Hmm."

Felix seemed to delight in drawing out my torture. What kind of sick questions would he ask? C'mon… Get it over with…

"Do you like Master Caius?"

"…" I gapped at him. WTF? That was… "NO!" I exploded, way too quickly, and much too loudly. "I mean, gosh, no! He's a ****!"

I saw Jane and the rest of them bite back smiles as I insulted Caius so carelessly, but Felix didn't look convinced. "Okay, then I get to dare you!"

"Hey!" I protested. "I answered the question!"

Felix shrugged. "Yes but you lied. So unspoken rule is that I now get to dare you."

I spluttered around for a bit, before remembering that Santiago could tell when someone was or was not lying. Right. Stupid vampires and their stupid gifts. Now I couldn't even cheat at Truth or Dare.

"Fine! Give me your worst!" I scowled at him, then silently wishing I could take the words back instantly.

"Okay. I dare you to get Caius out of his room."

What? That didn't really sound like a dare, and Caius wasn't in his room. I'd been in there, and dusty bookcases and all, it was completely untouched, no one had been in there for weeks I could tell.

I had a feeling that Felix didn't mean it like a dare either.

"A dare's a dare." Quipped Jane. "Take it or leave it."

I knew what she meant. If I took it then at least I'd tried- even though I didn't even know where Caius was, but if I backed out of it I'd be branded a coward. It would be good-naturally, but I wasn't going to back down.

"Fine… I'll try find him. Why did you say he was in his room? I've been in there, and he's not in it."

Felix stared at me for a second, then started laughing.

Now I was more confused than ever. "Why are you laughing?"

Catching sight of my bemused expression, the rest of the vampires in my room started to laugh. Was there something I was missing?

"Nothing," gasped Corin eventually, "Just the dare stands until you can finish it." She said, picking up her glass and draining it before standing.

I was screwed.

I am happy to announce I am almost done typing the rest of the story. ps. once again NOTHING IS CHANGING. The Cullen's WILL DIE. After this I am sooo posting the Egyptian story. I only have one more part and I will be done.