11. Wild Country
The breeze was real. It ruffled the hair on his head as he looked out over the cold and desolate moors. In the distance a telephone wire trekked across the heather bringing much needed communication links to this most isolated part of Yorkshire. The road they had driven down was uneven and long, leading all the way from the more frequented road to the south to this one house they had arrived at.
Caius turned to look at the sprawling building behind him. It was ugly when it could so easily have been beautiful and enchanting. Clearly it had been an old Elizabethan manor house but the garishly modern extensions overwhelmed the discretion of the Tudor design. Huge glass windows which went across many rooms and floors were at odds with the quaint red brickwork of the original house. The extension walls varied in colour from dirt-stained white to vivid pink and dusky green. It was ugly. Caius turned to Elizabeth who was getting their cases out of the boot of the car.
"And this is the place where the only person you want to keep in contact with lives?" He looked at her and she laughed.
"Oh Francis is an odd ball for sure, an eccentric," she said, "But I wouldn't have insisted on us coming all the way to England if he was anything less than what he is."
"What did you say he did again?" Caius asked uncertainly, as he took the cases from her.
"Well, he was trying to write a book on Celtic language when I last saw him, but I think he probably gave up on it." She gave a wry smile, "He isn't one for persevering and with the huge inheritance he got from his great-aunt he doesn't really need a job at all."
"You met at university?"
"Yes," Elizabeth said, "He was doing his PHD when I was an undergraduate and we became good friends." She walked over to the door and Caius followed. Amidst all the smells of heather, nature and brickwork, Caius could faintly smell a very particular scent. It was a mix of sweat and salt and human flesh flushed with heat. It was the smell of sex.
"Elizabeth," he said, as she reached to knock on the door, "I don't think this is such a good time." She looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"I think he's somewhat occupied, or at least was..." He gave her a look. Her eyes widened and then she laughed.
"Just like Francis," she said and knocked on the door. Caius listened to the distant squeaking of bed springs and then the footsteps coming to the door. The door swung open and there stood a man, several years older than Elizabeth perhaps, wearing nothing but a rather short dressing gown and a neatly trimmed beard. He took one look at Elizabeth and then pulled her into a hug.
"My darling Eliza," he said, proceeding to kiss her on both cheeks, "I expected you sooner, was your trip to Italy really that long?" Caius didn't like the familiarity with which he was touching Elizabeth.
"Francis," Elizabeth said, pulling away from him, "I've been a bit preoccupied." At this moment Francis turned to see Caius. His eyes looked him up and down and then he broke into a wild laugh.
"I can see how busy you've been Eliza," he said and reached out a hand for Caius to shake. Caius glared at him but reluctantly offered his hand, "Good to meet you."
"This is Caius," Elizabeth said, "And Caius, this is Mr Francis Thompson himself."
"The one and only!" Francis said and laughed, "Come in, come in." He gestured for them to come in and then led them down a long narrow corridor and into a large open space. They sat down on some odd looking chairs whilst Francis went to make some tea.
"He's very friendly," Caius said, trying to keep his voice casual.
"Yes," Elizabeth said, picking up a book left open on the side table, "Well that's how he's always been."
"Very different from you," Caius said, "More open and loud."
"So I'm closed and quiet am I?" Elizabeth asked, an eyebrow raised.
"You know what I mean," Caius said, listening to the distant sounds of a kettle beginning to boil.
"He might seem that way," Elizabeth said, "But he's really a bit of a recluse – couldn't you tell from where he lives? He doesn't like getting close to people so puts up a show. But he trusts me."
"I bet he does," Caius said, bitterly, "Though I don't think his intentions towards you are all that honourable."
"Intentions?" Elizabeth said, staring at Caius incredulously, "You don't mean as in..." Caius nodded, grimly. Elizabeth looked at him a moment then seeing that he was serious, burst out laughing. Caius was stung by how ridiculous she thought his opinion was.
"What," he said fiercely, "I've seen men like him so many times in all my life. I can see what he wants."
"Caius," Elizabeth said, "Trust me on this: there is no way Francis sees me like that. No way at all."
"Just be careful," Caius said, feeling the green eyed monster of jealousy rise up inside him.
"Caius," Elizabeth began, "I know Francis doesn't like me like that because - " But she was cut off as Francis re-entered the room carrying a tray with a teapot and mugs on it.
"Tea up," he said and put on the table. He then paused and swung round to look at Caius, "Or do you prefer coffee? I can only make instant though thingy upstairs makes the best cappuccino ever."
"Thingy does have a name Francis," Elizabeth said, smirking a little, "Come now – you must remember it." Caius frowned. Why was Elizabeth so alright with Francis not knowing the name of the woman he had slept with?
"Don't you even bother to ask the name of the poor girl you picked up?" Caius asked, his mouth curling into a look of disgust. Francis looked from Elizabeth to Caius and laughed.
"So you didn't bother telling him anything about me then?"
"I was about to," Elizabeth said, "But then you came bursting in like you do." She turned to Caius and placed a hand on his knee, "Caius, Francis isn't a womanizer."
"I should think not!" Francis cried, aghast.
"I don't understand," Caius said, "Then who's the woman he's got upstairs?"
At that moment a door on the other side of the room opened and a young handsome man came in wearing nothing but a pair of silk boxers.
"Francis," he said, ignoring the presence of Elizabeth and Caius, "The shower in the en-suite isn't working."
"Did you give the pump a wiggle," Francis asked and got up from the sofa. He walked over to the young man and kissed him on the neck. "Come on then," he said heading back upstairs, "Let's fix this shower for you... Mickey?"
"It's Nicolas," the man said, indignantly. They disappeared upstairs. Caius blinked in confusion then turned to Elizabeth. She was taking a long sip from her mug, the rim not fully hiding her smirk. There was an awkward silence. Caius sat on his chair in shock for a few minutes.
"He's a homosexual," he said slowly. Elizabeth nodded.
"Yeah," she said, "So he's not interested in me."
"You could have told me!" Caius said, "I look a complete simpleton now!"
"Can't argue with that," Elizabeth said, then she burst out laughing, "I've seen men like him so many times in all my life," she put on a low stupid voice as an obvious impression of Caius, "I can see he wants you."
"I didn't say it like that," Caius said, annoyed, "I was just worried."
"That I'd be seduced by a gay man?" Elizabeth asked, her grin wide. Caius glared at her, feeling an irrational level of anger, then he stood up and quickly left the room.
He was out and on the moors in seconds. They had arrived at Francis's house in the late afternoon and it was now dusk, the sun setting gently beyond the western horizon. Caius didn't stop to admire it or the wild beauty of the heather-land. He ran and in running he could think. He could try to figure out what had happened to him in the past fortnight. If he had been human he would have fallen over many times, stumbling on the uneven ground. If he had been human he would have felt the cold nip of the wind as he ran, but if he'd been human he would never have ran fast enough for the wind to nip at him as it did.
He ran faster than he'd ever run before, even in his new born years millennia ago. He crossed over streams and mud-filled brooks, never changing in his pace. He scared sheep who only just realised he was nearby when he was passing them by, and scattered the greying pebbles of dirt roads high up into the air as he flew over them.
Elizabeth Hervey. Elizabeth. Elizabeth. Elizabeth. As if her name, whirling around his head, could ever explain what had happened that quiet afternoon in Italy. When Jane and Alec had brought her in, when Aro had decided to try to persuade her to join them, when she had said no, when he had spent that night tormented; everything had changed.
Not everything though, not really. He was still full of anger; all she did was soothe it – like a balm to a wound. But when she was the one to bring him to anger? Caius growled and leapt over a boulder protruding dangerously from the heather.
It was irrational. He was being irrational. He had been jealous of her caring for anyone but him. It was stupid. It was irrational. How was he supposed to know that Francis was gay, that there had never truly been a reason to be jealous? It didn't change it. Caius stopped dead as the sun finally disappeared behind the curve of the earth. He was being irrational.
He stood frozen, like a statue or another rock sticking out of the heather, tall and thin. He had left her alone. And yes, there was no real explanation, but for whatever reason, Elizabeth Hervey meant the world to Caius.
And he'd left her alone. Realising his mistake, Caius turned around and ran.
"What is it Alice," Carlisle asked. Renesmee sat holding her aunts hand. She had had a vision, a long one.
"I saw Elizabeth," Alice said her voice shaking slightly, "Her eyes were red and she wore all black. The chain of the Volturi was laced around her neck."
"Where was she?" Carlisle's voice was calm but Renesmee could see the worry on his face.
"In Volterra," she said, "She stood next to Aro. There was blood on her lips."
"Did you see Caius?" Esme asked, her voice straining with worry unlike her husband's.
Alice shook her head, "No." She barely breathed the word but then she turned and took Jasper's hand, "But..."
"What is it Alice?" Renesmee asked, thinking that there was no way this could get any worse.
"But I was there as well." Alice's grip on Jasper's hand tightened as she turned to look Carlisle in the eye, "And my eyes were red too."
Renesmee felt her whole world fall apart. She turned to look at her parents. They looked as horrified and shocked as she felt.
Caius could almost feel the wind this time. He almost stumbled on the heather this time. He knew he wasn't running fast enough this time. This time, going the other way, going back. He had left her alone when he had always known that Aro would never desist, would always want her back. He had left her alone because of something as insignificant as jealously, as anger, as pride. For things he thought he'd ceased to be.
But of course, he'd never really changed. He was immortal whilst she was a human. He was the oak, unwavering and unbent. To him she was just a blade of grass, easily blown in the wind.
"No," he muttered, trying to run faster, "Please no."
He could almost see Aro's smirking face as Caius realised too late what he had always known. What Aro had calculated so precisely. He would have known even this: that Elizabeth would return to England, a place so much closer too Volterra than Forks, in order to see her old friend. Aro could read minds and Caius had always known that he was one never to be underestimated.
And yet, that was exactly what he had done.
Aro had been the puppet master all along. Caius realised now that he and Elizabeth could never run against one another. That the nature of one of them must be changed. He thought he had changed but that anger had shown itself. Caius felt so angry – how ironic – at himself for not being able to change something as simple as his nature.
And so it would be Elizabeth whose nature would change, not his.
Aro would be able to bend her to his will. Her nature would change so readily once she was a vampire, once her will was weakened.
Because of Caius. Because she loved him. And because even the most principled people have immortal tendencies.
A/N: Well, stuff is happening. Also - are those break lines I used in the middle alright? Do they look a bit odd? Would dots have been better? I wasn't sure.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that chapter and the next one is in progress and I am very excited about it all because the Volturi are coming back! Woo! Bit spoilery but I did mention Aro in this one so... Yay: I'm so excited about the plot which I've finally managed to nail down properly.
Thanks, as always, for being wonderful readers. :D Xx