Chapter Eighty Six

Caius

This was it, the day I had dreamed of for so long was almost upon me, just a few more hours to wait and the command of our world would be within my grasp and I would snatch it from Aro's dead hand. I had spent the last couple of hours going through our strategy and checking that I had left nothing to chance. Stefan and Vladimir were as anxious as I was, this was the final throw of the die for all of us. If we failed now it would mean instant death but if we won….when we won, the world was ours and I had such plans for the future.

The Major seemed almost bored, lounging against the wall of my cabin as if none of this mattered to him but then he had done his work, if it was good enough he would defeat our enemy and hand me power, if he hadn't he too would be dead. Our men were restless, they knew the fight was close and were anxious to get to work. We hadn't told them it may not even come to a fight, if Aro saw he was facing overwhelming odds he might try to barter for his life but that I would not allow, I wanted him dead, Marcus too if he continued to stand by Aro. If he preferred to join me then fine, he was no threat either way, he didn't even care if he lived or died.

When my phone rang again I answered praying it would be the news I was waiting for.

"Caius?"

"Who else? Speak."

"I have news of the Volturi jet. It filed a flight plan for Las Vegas, Nevada, leaving in a few hours and there is talk of the guard leaving Italy.

"Excellent. Then my brother is on his way to join me. Well done Dominic your help will not go unrewarded when I return to Italy."

"Is that all? Or is there anything else you need from me?"

"I think that is everything for now and thank you again my friend."

Dominic had been useful in the past, he owed me for saving his sister's life by hiding her when her mate was taken by the guard for some crime. She committed suicide soon after but that was only to be expected once she learned her mate had been killed on Aro's orders. Since then he had acted as spy for me in Volterra whenever I was absent but this had been his most important task to date.

Jasper

I leaned against the wall trying to look outwardly bored with the proceedings while inside every fiber of my being was screaming. Bella was close, far too close and I had no idea what had motivated the others to bring her here, straight into the very heart of danger. I wanted to slip away, find her and take her as far from here as possible but all I could do was stand and wait and pray for her safety.

I had no concern about our ability to beat Caius, there were just too many ranged against him, too many traitors he wasn't aware of but it did concern me that if it came to a battle our side could lose good men. I had been forced to train my own to a high standard and knew they could hold their own, even with the best of them following me, and this meant they would be a force to be reckoned with.

I had my unit ready to take Alec out but of course our job would be to protect him until he could build up his gift enough to put a stop to Caius troops. That is if Aro weren't canny enough to keep him well back but we all knew too far away and his gift would take too long to have any impact. Like Jane's his gift was a double edged sword, it was localized so they had to be close to their subjects to work. Close enough that they themselves could be injured or killed only too easily. We had proved that when we killed off Jane and the others who had come for me and found death instead.

I wondered when the others would attack, I doubted they would wait patiently for the time Caius expected them. No, if I were Aro I would surprise him, probably appearing here at his headquarters sometime in the next few hours and if he did I wanted to be ready. I pushed away from the wall and Caius looked up from his table where he had been poring over the map he had drawn of the area around the compound examining the places he had marked for the attack,

"Going somewhere Major?"

"Out for some air, I thought I'd see if the men were ready to move out whenever they are needed to."

"Oh I think they are well drilled by now, besides so close to victory I feel you are something of a mascot for good luck. I'd rather you stayed here with me."

I leaned back once more pretending a nonchalance I did not feel. All I could do was to wait and watch, be ready to act at a moments notice and hope I was fast enough when the time came. Caius watched me for a few minutes as if deliberating then spoke again,

"What did you plan to do with your life Jasper? Before becoming a vampire that is."

"To continue the way I was going, teach college, research work, write a book."

"A book? I wrote a book once, many years ago now when I studied alongside an author you may have heard of Dante Alighieri, best known for his "Inferno" of course. My humble offering was published in 1295 called "La Vita Nuova."

He laughed at my expression,

"Yes, I'm sure you thought it was going to be treatise on warfare or something but it was in fact…."

"The New Life, a book about Courtly Love, yes that does surprise me, especially as Dante owned it for one of his own."

"Yes, well lets just say he was not always the most forthright of men shall we. I read a critic once who wrote Dante's Vita nova is one of the most famous love stories in literature. Less known is the fact that many of the poems in the Vita nova that Dante claims or implies he wrote for Beatrice probably were not written for her. So you see the truth will out in the end. In fact I wrote it for my mate Athenadora, she loved it. Yet you, a man of peace wrote an article calling your own kin a coward. You see things are not always as they seem."

He was more right than he knew but I decided I would find a copy of his book and read it when this was all over. It would be interesting to see another side of the man I only knew as a cold calculating killer.

He broke into my reverie,

"I would have liked to see The Major's reaction if you two had met face to face. I wonder if he would have been insulted by your paper or whether, like for me, that part of his life seems almost a dream."

Suddenly feeling he had revealed too much of himself Caius stood up and looked out the window,

"Its almost dawn Major, perhaps you should go check on your men after all."

I went to the door, quite happy to leave our conversation there,

"So when do you expect Aro to arrive?"

He smiled,

"So eager to fight? You really are becoming more like The Major every day Jasper, be careful or you might find yourself answering to his friends somewhere down the line."

"Then I'd best stay with you Caius, hadn't I?"

The smile widened,

"Yes, maybe you had better, but for now I want a little time alone."

He turned his back on me and I went outside shutting the door behind me quietly and walked out to look at the first signs of dawn.