AN: Just an FYI from the last chapter, it was the werewolf venom that restarted the Horsemen's hearts :) sorry if I confused you

Here are the groups as they stand now;

Texas – Peter, Charlotte, J, Bella, Spirit Walkers, Jake, Emmett, Rose, Chelsea, Charlie, Brenna, Briggita, Fred, Aro, Picia

Volterra – Esme, Marcus, Caius, Dora, Renata, Eliza and a few of the Elite Guard and Lower Guard

America (travelling) – Demitri and Leah

South America (Travelling) - Felix, Jane, Alec, Evan, Mark with Zafrina tagging along

Iceland – Alice and Alistair

S. Meyer owns twilight

Previously on Hell Fire…

South America: Felix, Jane, Alec, Mark and Evan return to Volterra while Hulien, Zafrina and Senna begin their search for other hybrids. This chapter is set two weeks later.

Volterra: Jane, Alec, Mark and Evan have returned. Marcus is helping the scientists with the synthetic blood project and is beginning to set up Blood Factories under Italian Embassies and a few isolated areas, with Alice and Alistair's help he has also started setting up distribution centers around Europe. While Alice and Alistair were searching for safe locations to set up distribution centers Alice was pulled to Iceland and got struck by lightning. Caius has been performing the daily duties between liaising with Alistair and Felix after Alice, Jane and Alec were struck by lightning.

CHAPTER 16

Caius POV - Volterra

I didn't know how Aro and Marcus could handle this. It was another day of petty squabbles amongst the idiots we governed. Usually Aro and Marcus would handle this crap while I gallivanted around the world, killing and capturing those who broke the law. God, I wished there was someone to fight, Felix had been ordered back to South America when he and the others arrived. Marcus had seen that Felix had found his true mate, a hybrid female named Julia. I was happy for Felix, but I wished there was someone here with his fighting prowess. Every afternoon Dora and I would head out to the paddock to spar, but neither of us could truly let loose, our mating bond ensured we wouldn't hurt each other.

I glanced at the clock, it was nine AM. I had another three hours of this shit. Two men were yelling at each other in front of me. "She loves me, she's my mate!" One screamed. The other just smirked and taunted him. "If she's your beloved mate, why did she sleep with me." The woman in question was standing in the middle, trying to look innocent. I could tell she was up to no good. I was tempted to retrieve Jane from her room and ask her to use her power on the woman. Marcus and I had assigned new rooms for Alec and Jane in Marcus' quarters when they arrived. Alec moved in to Mark's room and Jane was in a room next to Evan's. They were both scared of seeing the rest of our coven, worried they'd be rejected by the other guards.

I huffed and called to Heidi. "Can you get Marcus?" I asked. She nodded and left. Both men looked smug, sure that Marcus would announce they were her true mate, the woman paled. Heidi returned with Marcus. Esme ducked in and watched the proceedings. She gasped when she saw the woman the two men were fighting over. "Cecily?" She called. The woman, 'Cecily,' blanched. The men turned to the woman in question. "You told me your name was Margaret" they questioned.

Marcus looked on in amusement. I waved Esme forward. "You know this woman?" I asked. She nodded. "Please enlighten us." I grinned. Esme watched her. "She tried to seduce Carlisle."
"And what was the result?" I asked. Esme smiled, "he called her a wonton jezebel and fired her." Intriguing. "How did you meet her?" I asked. Esme smiled, "I baked cookies for the hospital staff, I caught her trying to rip Carlisle's clothes off." She paused and smiled at Marcus, "I told her she was welcome to him." She said.

Marcus looked at the three vampires in front of the throne. "There is no mating bond for either man. She used you both. I suggest you stop arguing with each other and focus your irritation on her." He said. I dismissed them and waited for the next group to enter. Marcus and Esme excused themselves.

The morning dragged, there were territorial disputes, monetary disputes, arguments over which vampire belonged to which coven. Diplomacy wasn't my strong point, my patience was wearing thin. It had never been this irritating when I was sitting with Aro and Marcus, we usually received people reporting real crimes. There were more people coming to us with their problems now, it seemed that our reputation had improved since Carlisle's trial and the Romanians' execution.

A handful of people had genuine issues; a few had seen a vampire exposing themselves to humans in Spain, some heard of a rebellion against the Volturi and there were even rumors of an immortal child in England. I listened to their testimony and began to plan a way to resolve these issues. We had most of the guard with us, but with the rumor of a plot to overthrow our leadership we could only spare a few to investigate the claims of an immortal child and a vampire exposing our secret. As soon as the doors closed and the public were dismissed I asked Heidi to get Marcus. I needed his gift to help me plan the defense of the castle.

When he arrived I took him aside and told him about the genuine concerns. He looked at each of the lower guardsmen and picked out twelve of the thirty lower guards who were the most loyal. I assigned them places with the Elite Guards. One of the lower guards stood out to me, he was loyal and had a gift for tracking people. Marcus agreed he would be an ideal candidate to help us. I waved him forward. "Joshua, we understand you're a gifted tracker." I said, he nodded. "It just so happened we need a tracker. Would you be willing to travel to England to investigate a claim for us?"
"What sort of claim, Master?"
"A coven in Exeter may have created an immortal child. We need to you look at the child, listen for a heartbeat. Once you have assessed the information return and report your findings. I'll contact the Irish coven and have them meet you, they'll help you." I said.

Joshua nodded, I could see he was excited. Few of the lower guard were sent on missions. I looked at Marcus. "Any change in his bonds?" I asked once he'd left, Marcus smiled and said "his bond with us grew brighter."
"Excellent, if he succeeds on this mission, we'll promote him to the Elite guard." I said.

Marcus and I discussed sending a few more people in the lower guard to Spain to investigate the vampire who had risked our species' secret existence. There were three contenders, none of them had gifts, but they were good fighters and knew how to remove traces of vampire from human communities. We dismissed everyone for the day.

As Marcus and I headed to the door leading to our quarters a girl walked up to us. She bowed her head and spoke softly. "Masters, I wish to help Joshua." I looked to Marcus, he looked at the girl and smiled. "You're his mate, aren't you, Penny?" She started to look afraid. "There's nothing wrong in having a mate, Penny. You're welcome to join him on his mission." I said. She looked relieved and went to join Joshua.

Marcus and I went to my study. I turned to him and asked "are many of the lower guards mated?"
"A few, they try to hide their connection." He said. I groaned. "We need to inform them that we respect the bonds between mates, we can't have them scared of us. We aren't tyrants." The phone rang and I answered it. Alice and Alistair were calling to tell us they were on their way back. They'd arrive tonight. I was looking forward to seeing them, Alec and Jane would be thrilled too, they'd been hiding in our quarters since they returned from South America. I had left them in peace, they had been upset with their change and witnessing Joham's last victim. Esme and Dora spent as much time as they could helping them adjust.

Marcus and I walked to the rooms which housed the lower guard. We knocked and spoke to each of them, telling them our policy on allowing mates to be together. There was one guard, Claire, who asked us if having a mate outside the Volturi was allowed. We assured her it was, she asked Marcus to confirm her mating bond. "You have a strong, true mate bond." He said. "He's human." She admitted. "Does he know you're a vampire?" I asked. She shook her head. "Would you like to have him changed into one of our kind?" I asked, she looked at us "I want him to be like us, but I'm scared he'll be angry if he's turned."

"You need to talk to him, Claire. Give him a choice. Would it help if we spoke with him?" I offered. "I don't know, Master. It's against our laws to tell a human what we are, I've kept the secret and don't know how to break it to him." Marcus rested a hand on her shoulder. "The strength of your bond tells me he will have to accept our kind. Have him come here tomorrow afternoon, we'll introduce ourselves and talk to him about our species-"
"What if he runs away in fear or gets angry." She asked in a panic. "We won't harm him, Claire. We'll ask him to take time to think about what he's learned, humans can be reasonable creatures. We'll do what we can to help."

"What if he doesn't want to join the guard?" She asked. I answered her, "he has no obligation to stay with us, neither do you. This is something you both need to discuss. Eleazar of the Denali coven met his mate outside the Volturi, we released him from his service centuries ago, we can arrange for you and your mate to talk to him if you wish." I offered. She calmed and thanked us.

Marcus seemed struck with a thought. "Who told you we didn't allow mates in the guard?" He asked. Claire looked scared, "I was turned in the mid-1800s in England. My sire was friends a golden eyed vampire. I met him and he told me the Volturi force people to join and killed anyone who questioned their decisions or tried to escape."
"Was the vampire's name Carlisle Cullen?" Marcus asked. She shook her head "his name was Stanley Carlisle." I knew that alias well, Carlisle had a few of them. We told her what had happened and gave her an outline of Carlisle's true self. We had not allowed the lower guard to witness the trial, I could see it had been a poor decision on our part.

Claire paled. Marcus' eyes softened and he asked "what happened to your sire?"
"He was sick. He kept seeing and hearing things that weren't there. He'd fly into a rage and attack anyone near him. Carlisle tried to fix him, but in the end he had to be torn apart and burned. I had no one and couldn't drink from animals so I chose to join the Volturi. Dr. Carlisle said I was a monster and should live amongst the Volturi monsters." I could see Claire was ashamed. I sighed, Carlisle had fucked yet again. "Claire, tonight one of our friends will arrive with her mate, she was treated by Carlisle as a human, we'll introduce you when she arrives. None of us here are monsters, not even you." I said. We left her to think and carried on talking with the lower guard. A lot of progress had been made.

Esme, Marcus, Dora and I were talking as we sipped the synthetic blood. We told our mates about our conversation with Claire. Esme stood and announced she would talk to the girl and left. Marcus smiled "she'll sort this out." He said proudly. I agreed, Esme was a force to reckon with when it came to helping people.

Marcus and I made a start on the next phase of our mission. We wrote invitations to a few coven leaders and nomads, asking them to join us in a week's time. Marcus and I spent time sorting through our contacts, we wanted to ensure the first group who visited would be accepting of the wolves and Spirit Walkers. The Denalis had given us their contacts, including a few contacts who had lived through the Romanian regime and hid from raiding parties. We also targeted nomads who had traveled all of the continents, they were likely to have come across other supernatural species on their journey.

It was time to introduce our kind to the synthetic blood and the other species. The Guard had changed their diet already. Every morning they'd receive a bottle of blood. Their mood had improved greatly. We no longer had to kill humans to survive.

Alice and Alistair arrived fifteen minutes later. Alice was hiding beneath her cloak, scared to display her new appearance in the halls of the castle. They sat on a love seat. We sat opposite them. She slowly lifted her hood. I was glad we'd been warned about the change in her appearance. Her hair was bright white and her eyes were blue, just like Alec and Jane. I was confused, Alistair had said her eyes were silver. "Are you okay, Alice?" I asked softly. She nodded and began to sob. Alistair wrapped his arms around her. We let her cry, Dora came in with two bottles of blood. She knelt in front of Alice and smiled. "You look beautiful, kid. Don't think we won't accept you for who you are." She said. Alice began to calm.

"She's right, Alice. This doesn't change anything, you're still our family." Marcus promised. She sighed. "I hate this, I finally heal and have my gift removed, for the first time ever I feel like a normal person and now this." She gestured to her hair and eyes. She undid her cloak and pushed it off her shoulders. We could see the top of a scar above her neck line. "You aren't alone, Alice. Jane and Alec look similar. No matter what, you're still part of our coven." I said.

I gave her time to compose herself. "May I ask why your eyes are blue and not silver?" I asked gently. Alice nodded and Alistair responded "they changed when we left Iceland. This is how they looked when she was human." They matched the blue coloring in her hair.

"Have you heard from the others recently?" She asked. I nodded, "Felix calls frequently. He has joined Zafrina and her friend Hulien. Hulien is the guardian of a group of people. Alice, there are other hybrids out there. Hulien's wards are half human, half vampire. They're searching for others. You, Jane and Alec will have lots of company." I promised her. Dora excused herself to fetch Alec and Jane.

"What about the Horsemen and Healers?" She asked. I smiled at her. "They'll arrive the day after tomorrow with Brenna, Aro and Picia. Fred, Brigitta and the Pack Master from Coober Pede will join them." I said. "Is Em okay?" She asked. Marcus answered her. "Yes, he's alive and well. The fire turned him and the Horsemen into Spirit Walker / Vampire hybrids." He explained. Alice nodded to herself before asking; "Jane, Alec, Em and the Horsemen are like me?"
"Sort of. Emmett, Jane and Alec are like you. The Horsemen have also been given Werewolf venom. They're now hybrids of all three species." I explained. She had calmed down significantly.

"Did the Healers' remedies work?" She asked, she'd said goodbye to Feykir and the packs in Iceland before the full moon and not had time to see them since. Her and Alistair had spent the rest of the time with the Witches. "The wolves who were in Texas changed at the full moon, but they retained their humanity. They ate some of the Rowan wood native to America and returned to their human forms. Feykir told us the wolves in Iceland retained their humanity, but their physical form changed." I said. Cynewulf from the Western Australia Pack had reported the same result. Theresa had arranged for some American Rowan wood to be sent to Iceland and Australia for the packs.

Esme joined us and was happy to see Alice and Alistair. She hugged them both tightly and sat with them. She filled us in on her talk with Claire. Claire would bring her mate, Michele, to us tomorrow afternoon and Esme and Marcus would help her explain the vampire world.

Esme smiled and announced "I spoke with a few people in the lower guard, they were surprised to meet me. I met a few of the mated couples and promised there would be no harm done as a result of their bonds." I rolled my eyes and said "we already told them that, Esme." She smirked, "it's different hearing it from a Queen, Caius. They think you're grumpy." She said. Marcus laughed and added "it's not surprising, you looked like you were ready to decapitate everyone during the daily audience."

"Well it's a damn shame the people who come to us with issues don't notice my demeanor. They prattle on about unimportant shit while I sit there waiting for midday to come so I can dismiss them." I groused. Marcus nodded "there does seem to be a larger group than normal. I think they've realized we aren't dictators. We'll have to work something out. We can't spend all our time settling petty problems. Many of the covens are younger than us and don't know the hierarchy." He said. I agreed, "the coven leaders are supposed to handle arguments among their coven, hopefully when the synthetic blood is distributed the territorial disputes will end." I said.

Esme was quiet. "What are you thinking about?" Marcus asked her. She looked up and said, "while we were living amongst the humans, the kids sometimes had days off while teachers spent the day in seminars, they called it Personal Development days, or PDs for short. How about we hold a seminar on Coven Leadership and Problem Solving?" She asked. I exhaled in relief, it was an excellent solution. "I like it." I said, Marcus agreed. "We should also record the territories held by covens. It'll mean more work in the meantime, but it will make it easier to avoid disputes in the future." He suggested. I concurred.

The sun rose and I sent Claire to the post office to mail the invitations to the covens and nomads. She would spend the day with her human mate and bring him to us in the late afternoon, it would be the safest time as the castle would be free of the vampire public.

Marcus and I began to map out the established territories of the covens we knew. We'd update it after every alteration. I emailed Theresa and asked for her input on tribal territories. Marcus added the werewolf territories in Australia, Iceland and Siberia. Barely ten per cent of the map was colored in. There was plenty of room for new territories for each species and I knew we would purchase land for the Spirit Walkers and Witches, they had specific needs and deserved a place where they would remain untouched by the other species, humans included.

Alice and Alistair spent the day in their room with Jane and Alec. They were all impatient for the others to arrive. Esme visited them every few hours to make sure they were okay. She had managed to cheer Alice up a little by comparing her lightening scar to a tattoo, but Alice was still upset over the change in her species.

I called Aro to check in. "Caius I was about to call you. We'll be leaving Texas tomorrow for Volterra. The Horsemen have recovered from their transformation and have adapted to their new bodies. They will be able to carry on unassisted by the Werewolves and Healers. We've obtained more Rowan wood from the Spirit Walkers as well as seeds. Brenna will be able to assist their growth and help us propagate an orchard of the trees."
"I'm glad to hear it. How are the Horsemen?" I asked. "They're very well. Their transformation has been a success, the appear human. Their skin is darker than the normal vampire pallor and their eyes have returned to their original human color. Their hearts' beat."
"That's a surprise. Do they need blood?" I asked. "Yes, especially around the new moon. Their werewolf and vampire sides need blood to sustain them. With the new moon arriving their strength and instincts have leveled out. They aren't able to feel the energy reflected off the moon and require sustenance."

"Have you heard from Felix and the others?" I asked, I was curious whether the others had found more Hybrids. Aro replied, "Demitri and his mate are helping them. They'll call us when they have news. Felix has found his mate, she is a young Hybrid called Julia."

I smiled. "I'll be glad for your return, Aro. Life has become hectic here, many vampires flock to the castle with minor disputes, there are more than ever. Marcus, Esme, Dora and I are working out ways to help the covens fix their problems. There is also a rumor of a potential rebel army. I've set up the defenses." I reported.

Aro paused for a moment. "Caius, I'll talk to the Horsemen. I'll see if they'll join us in Volterra. The news of a rebellion disturbs me." He said. "What about their mission to serve Fate?" I asked, I didn't want to take them away from where they needed to be. While we had the Elite guard and had a plan to defend the city, we had been unable to gain the information necessary, we had to be prepared for anything. "We will work something out, we will not leave Fate without an army." Aro replied. My mind had already begun to plan ways to assist Fate while the Horsemen helped protect us. When Aro hung up I went to check on Alice and her mate.

I knocked and Alistair opened the door, letting me into their room. Alice was lying down, she looked miserable. Jane and Alec had returned to their rooms. "Do you want to talk about what's happening?" I asked her. She nodded and Alistair joined her, sitting on the bed, I took a seat in the nearby armchair.

I didn't have to wait long. The words spilled out of her. I could tell she had already spoken to Alistair about her concerns, but sometimes it helped getting a neutral opinion. "I don't know who I am anymore. For the last week and a bit I stayed with the witches. They showed me how to channel the power of the sun and the moon. I can do a few things, but it's unsettling. Even now I can feel the power inside me, I don't like it. I don't want it to change me." She said. I shook my head, "It won't change you, Alice. You have a few extra abilities, but you're in control of it. You choose when to use it. With your history I know you won't let it alter who you are."
"I don't trust myself, Caius. Having power in the past hurt me, what if it happens on a larger scale?" She asked.

"What did the coven have to say about your past?" I asked her. They gave me a run down on the Fate she should have had and her ancestor, the Oracle. "It sounds like they could help you. I know it's not something you want to hear, but I think you're fear is holding you back. From what they told you they would have helped you control the Sight, just like they'll help you with your power. You need to confront those fears, Alice, otherwise your power could control you." I said as gently as I could.

"I feel like if I train with them I'll be more witch than vampire." She admitted. "No Alice, you are first and foremost, a vampire. That won't change, no matter how many times you're struck by lightning." I assured her. She shuddered, "hopefully, I won't be struck again. It's fucking awful." I smiled at her. "I understand why you feel the way you feel, Alice. You have every right to be angry and resentful, but you should keep in mind that the Witches have no choice over your Fate." I said. She sighed, "I suppose in the end we're all Fate's bitches."