Bella hadn't known what she'd expected, exactly, of her stay at Volturi Castle for the time she remained human. But she certainly hadn't expected to have so much fun.
Oh, don't get her wrong, the 2 hours of cardio every morning after breakfast and the other 2 hours of muscle conditioning before dinner sucked ass. On her first day, when she'd woken up after that bowl of soup and a few hours conversation with Marcus and Felix and then falling back to exhausted slumber, she barely lasted 20 minutes before begging for a break. And during muscle conditioning that afternoon, she couldn't even do a full proper push-up.
But apart from the mandated exercise to improve her physical health and make her a stronger vampire in the end, Bella was having the time of her life. Felix quickly warmed up to her, and proved to be the long-lost, much older, meaner but still funnier cousin of Emmett. His jokes had her cracking up, and he had the dirt on absolutely everyone in the guard, and even the kings and queens when it came to incidents they didn't feel too embarrassed about. Like the time Sulpicia had discovered the invention of whipped cream from a can, and tried to make an alluring figure on Aro's favorite table, only to break the bottle and end up getting whipped cream all over some of his texts he'd been studying.
Aro was a constant presence, popping in on her at least once a day. He'd chat with her, getting to know her the old-fashioned way as he hadn't had to with anyone in his entire immortal life, and he seemed to like the person he was getting to know. Bella always knew in the back of her head that Aro was the man who had conquered the globe before the birth of Christ, but she came to regard him much like the eccentric, nosy uncle he portrayed himself as.
Renata was always with Aro, so Bella endeavored to become her friend too. Renata had been surprised; apparently, for all she had one of the most important jobs in the guard, not many strangers noticed her or wanted to get to know her. She confessed to a love of movies, particularly adaptations of major plays or books. Which led to Aro showing Bella his home cinema, with a wall-sized screen, surround sound speakers, and the comfiest chairs on the planet to lounge in while watching.
When Renata and Bella had first decided to make an evening out of watching movies (they settled on a Harry Potter marathon), it occured to Bella that her days of sleeping were limited. So she needed to have as many slumber parties as possible before they became nothing more than sleepless girls' nights. Hence she had Renata invite Chelsea, Corin, Sulpicia, Athenodora, Jane, and Alec was invited by dint of the fact he and Jane were attached at the hip and even as a boy, he was still at the age where slumber parties were appropriate. The slumber party turned out to be a huge success, Bella meeting and bonding with the ladies (and Alec) of the Volturi. One of the maids had been on hand to keep bringing Bella junk food (and apparently she was encouraged to get as many calories as possible, since she'd accidentally been starving herself since the breakup) and they'd stayed up watching movies until Bella passed out halfway through Goblet of Fire. Alec informed her to her face she snored and talked in her sleep, and she thanked him for reminding her. He'd giggled so cutely when she hadn't been embarrassed.
Marcus had elected himself her etiquette teacher. After lunch and before her muscle training, he took her to the throne room and explained the subtle but important aspects of courtly manners and how to behave during coven meetings. Learning how to 'walk like a Volturi' would have to wait until she was turned, but he coached her with infinite patience on how to school her face, how to talk, how to behave. Human or not, she was Volturi. She was royalty. She was above the lesser masses of the world, and she would comport herself accordingly. He also delved into the relationships of the coven, what bound each core member to the others. He outright told her when they were alone that Aro had killed Didyme, Marcus' mate and Aro's own sister, and explained at length why he'd chosen to forgive Aro for that crime. Bella felt like she was taking a college course in psychology and interpersonal relations from the world's best professor. To hear Marcus lecture about the bonds he saw was incredible.
She and Caius didn't have the best relationship, admittedly. While all three of the brothers were kings, they fulfilled different roles. Aro was a politician, through and through, obsessed with the acquisition and cultivation of power and how to use that power to better or at least tame the world around him. Marcus was a counselor, an adviser, the oldest and wisest and the one who saw the most and shared his insight with the other two. Caius, there was no doubt, was the general. He was the most vicious, the easiest to anger, the quickest to hate, and he had led every charge of the early days and battles himself. And perhaps the best way to describe how Caius saw her while she remained human was 'potentially useful, but not yet'. She wasn't a person to him. She wondered if he was xenophobic on some level, that he seemed incapable of thinking of any species but vampires as people. He saw humans as talking cattle who happened to have invented some useful things he could co-opt, he loathed the Children of the Moon from what Marcus told her, hunting them to extinction. And if there were other species in the world the Volturi hadn't made contact with, well, Bella just hoped it would be Aro doing the talking.
Demetri was a friend of Felix, and so they met through him coming to check on Felix during one of their exercise sessions. He'd outright laughed at Felix playing coach to Bella, barking at her to do "One more, Bella, just one more!" Bella didn't have Marcus' power, but she had the certainty that the bond between Felix and Demetri would look very similar to the one between Jasper and Emmett. They were brothers, not by blood but by adoption into the same family, even if it was a royal family and they were as much the kings' soldiers as their children. Bella learned that Demetri actually hadn't been turned by the Volturi. He'd been stolen from humanity by Amun, the leader of what remained of the Egyptian coven, and they'd been close, for all that Amun had literally hidden Demetri in a cave when he wasn't using him. Now, Bella suspected Chelsea had been involved in helping Demetri decide to leave and then get so close to the Volturi, but Demetri assured her he wasn't kidnapped. The Volturi had offered him a place in their guard, and he'd accepted. Chelsea couldn't brainwash people, she wasn't that powerful, she could only accelerate the growth or dissolution of existing emotional bonds. Demetri, in his own words, had been freed from his Stockholm Syndrome to Amun and found true happiness with the Volturi, welcomed into the fold supernaturally fast but Chelsea had only helped speed up what would have happened over time anyway.
Bella was also pretty sure there was a little something something going on between Felix and Demetri. They weren't in love with each other, but if Bella learned they were friends with benefits she wouldn't be surprised. There was something a little too familiar about their casual touches and inside jokes with each other. Not that Bella had any problem with homosexuality, but she assumed the Volturi would. All three leaders were straight (or at least had married women) and they were from a much older, much harsher culture than she'd been raised in. When Bella had the courage to ask Marcus at their next etiquette lesson, he'd actually chuckled. Even Bella knew that was a great show of emotion for Marcus. "Keep in mind, Bella, that me and my brothers all hail from Hellenistic Greece, possibly the most sex-positive culture in human history. Other Ancients might think it obscene, but we've always been open to those who prefer the same sex."
Not that it mattered to the Volturi if Bella had a high opinion of them or their ethics, but they got points for being allies to the LGBT community. Marcus told Bella that Aro even donated to charities to help gay or trans orphans and runaways all around the world.
Which brought them to another crucial aspect of life in Volturi Castle: the opulence. The Volturi were loaded. They had money on a scale that dwarfed even the Cullens and Alice's masterful manipulation of the stock market. If Aro showed Bella the actual financial records and their total assets equaled over a trillion dollars, she wouldn't be too shocked. They were the most powerful organization on the planet, the smallest and yet richest country unto themselves, a secret society with more assets than most first-world countries. If Caius had his own F-22 stashed in a hangar somewhere, it wouldn't surprise Bella. Hell, the Volturi were more the type to invent their own model of fighter jet than settle for second-best at the hands of humans. Aro had offered Bella her own wardrobe. which had involved a meeting with a tailor to get her measurements with room for growth as she got back essential fat and muscle. Now Bella's closet probably counted as collateral, a walk-in room filled with gorgeous dresses, pants, tops, along with accessories like purses, more shoes than she ever thought she'd find occasion to wear, and a jewelry box filled with pieces that looked ancient albeit in pristine condition and priceless.
It was her eight night in Volterra, and Bella was reading in her room to unwind after dinner, which was held in a dining hall. Rather than just eat in her room or with the servants, Aro decided there was nothing wrong with informal gatherings of every guard who felt like attending at meal times so they could chat with Bella or each other in between bites. According to Demetri, the guard were still talking about the time Felix made her laugh so much that milk had come out her nose. They'd all just stared, like they hadn't been aware the phenomenon existed. And hell, they probably hadn't.
Anyway, she was reading a first-edition copy of Anna Kerenina Aro had so generously loaned her from his personal library. She worried she should be wearing gloves while she held it or something, but Aro assured her that books were made to be held and caressed by human hands and not to bother. Felix was playing a game of 'Snake' on his flip phone, when there was a knock on the door.
"Who is it?" Bella asked, since it was her room after all.
"Pablo. Master Aro requests you and Felix come to the throne room. An Edward Cullen has come to visit," came a voice projected to reach through the door.
Bella sighed. "I thought he'd be smarter than to actually come here and try to talk me out of becoming a vampire. I really gave him way too much credit."
Her talks with Aro, Marcus, and all her new vampire friends over the last week had made it clear to her what Edward had been: the classic controlling, emotionally abusive boyfriend. Maybe not out of any real malignant intent, but that was what he'd ended up doing. He'd isolated her from the world, constantly put her down or reminded her of how she was lesser than him, and then assured her he still loved her to perk her back up, maybe even rewarding her with a kiss or cuddle. A tale as old as time, but no less sad. Bella didn't claim to be fully over Edward yet, or that her heart had been fully pieced back together from the million smithereens he'd smashed it into. But she could think of him without flinching or crying, and she certainly wasn't moon-eyed over him anymore.
"Well, no point in wasting time," Bella shrugged. She tucked her bookmark into the novel (heaven forbid she fold her page to mark her place) and stood.
"Remember your lessons, kitten," Felix said with a grin. This was his nickname for her. She wasn't prey, not anymore even if she still had a pulse, but she was the weakest member of the pride of lions that were the Volturi. Hence 'kitten'. Plus he said her expression the time he'd tricked her into opening a door and having a bucket of water drop on her head was exactly like a furious, drowned kitten.
"He is nothing. I am Volturi, and he is a guest in our home. I will be perfectly polite, but he is dirt for me to scrape off my shoe once he's gone," Bella nodded. That wasn't a verbatim account of Marcus' lessons, but it was the basic gist.
"Nailed it. Let's do this thing," Felix grinned.
They reached the throne room, and Bella had done as she set out to do: prove she wasn't the same girl who Edward had left. His questions, his words, were so predictable she could have rehearsed this whole thing if she'd known he was coming. And the look on his face when she asked Jane to use her gift had been priceless. She'd treasure that look of disbelieving horror for weeks he was sure.
Hearing Edward scream, sounding like a pig at slaughter, was less fun. But from bitter herbs comes healing medicine. She had enough compassion to not particularly enjoy seeing another sapient being in such obvious pain. But the thought that he might be feeling a fraction of what he'd inflicted on her, knowingly or otherwise, kept her from asking Jane to stop.
Finally, just when Edward's shrieks were reaching a point where she was about to crack, Marcus ordered "Enough."
Jane was most loyal to Aro, but she had sworn obedience to all 3 kings. She stopped as soon as the syllables processed in her brain.
Edward curled on the floor, shivering and whimpering, piecing his sanity back together from the endless seconds that Jane had made him feel her personal brand of torture.
"Yes, I'm afraid this will have to serve you for vengeance, dear Bella. I was getting a bit annoyed myself," Aro said, as if Edward's screams had just been a particularly grating song on the radio. "Now, what to do with him. Let him crawl back to his coven, unsuccessful in his mission in 'saving' you from your 'monstrous' fate?"
"He has a powerful talent. And he came to us, fool that he is. Why not turn him to our side?" Caius asked.
Bella knew she wasn't a vampire yet, but she knew that in Aro's and Marcus' eyes she was already a full member of the guard. So she took the risk of speaking plainly. "Don't bother. You'd force him to switch diets, and he'd rather die than do that. Plus, his bond with Carlisle is so strong I'm not sure Chelsea even could make him forget his loyalty to his family, or at least its patriarch."
Chelsea wiggled her fingers, testing the bonds linking Edward back to his coven. "Bella's right. I could maybe make him stop caring for Emmett, certainly Rosalie. Jasper in a pinch. But Esme, Alice and especially Carlisle, not in a million years. I'm working with scissors; I can clip thread, but not steel cable."
"So, again, shall we let him leave to pine for eternity over the human he failed to save?" Aro posed to his brothers and the Volturi as a whole.
Caius frowned. "If he is not an asset, he is a liability. Kill him."
"No," Marcus said immediately. But his next words made it clear it wasn't from any altruism. "That would be too kind. This boy has done Bella wrong. I would see him suffer more appropriate punishment than a minute under Jane."
"I find myself agreeing with my goodbrother," Aro nodded. "Ah, what a predicament! Unable to leave, unwilling to stay of his own free will, and forbidden to die. What to do, what to do?"
Bella hummed in thought, turning an idea over in her head. "When you touch him, you can access his gift, right?"
"Yes, dear Bella, and what a delicious taste while we shook hands. The opportunity to hear everyone in the room at once, and from a distance! Only on the shallow surface of their minds, not the darkest depths to which I normally dive, but still. Delightful!" Aro grinned.
"Is it fair to assume his gift is centered in his brain, or perhaps his ears?" Bella asked.
Aro tilted his head. "An odd question, but the answer is yes. What are you thinking, Bella? Do you have a working solution to this quandary?"
"Tear off his head and burn his body," Bella said, and she ignored how Edward gaped at her like he'd never seen her before. "You can carry it around like a crystal ball, able to use his gift so long as you hold him. I don't know if he can starve once he doesn't have a stomach, or if he'll eventually go insane and lose his gift, but that would work, right?"
The Volturi one and all stared at Bella in shock. Finally, it was Marcus who reacted first. And it was to burst into breathless gales of laughter.
That got an even bigger reaction than Bella's pronouncement. Jaws dropped. If vampires were physically capable, she was sure at least one would have fainted judging by the looks on their faces. Caius looked like he'd seen a ghost, and Aro had the strangest look of half-hope half-fear, as if he were a child who had gotten his Hogwarts letter and was afraid to open it and find out if it was really a prank.
Marcus finally stopped laughing. "Brilliant," he said. "You brilliant girl, Bella. Oh, I needed that."
"You haven't laughed like that since Didyme died," Aro said, in the silence that followed.
"I haven't felt this amused since Didyme died," Marcus replied honestly. "Bring us the boy's head," he told the guard.
Edward blurred, trying to run. But for all his prized speed and ability to read people's minds and anticipate their moves, he was still a lone vegetarian up against a room full of carnivores. He never had a chance. With a sound like breaking stone, Edward's head was ripped off.
Bella watched as the head was presented to Aro, who tucked it into the crook of his elbow where his hand could rest on Edward's chin. Disturbingly, the head was still alive, and Edward stared at Bella in incomprehension, a blend of utmost betrayal, hurt, horror, and denial on his face. She wondered if her face had looked like that the night he'd left her.
Mindful that there was an invisible spectator, Bella spoke clearly. "Alice, for what it's worth, I'm sorry. But you all lost me the moment you chose Edward's opinion over my feelings. If you ever want to talk, I have a cell phone now. I'm sure you can figure out the number. But otherwise, consider all bridges between me and your family burned at your own hand."
Her phone dinged with an incoming text message. She pulled it out of her pocket (and she'd insisted to the tailor that forget how odd it looked, every dress would have pockets) and opened the SMS app. 'I'm sorry too.'
Bella nodded, and pocketed the phone. A couple guards had already dragged Edward's flailing body out of the room, to whatever room reserved for burnings in the castle. Like hell they'd set the guilty on fire right there in the throne room, think of how the smoke could smudge the marble. If there was an industrial cremation furnace somewhere, Bella wouldn't be surprised. She tilted her head as a random thought occurred to her. "You know, there's a way to harvest the carbon from ashes to make an artificial diamond. Just a thought, but if we could save Edward's ashes, the thought of having a little rock made of his body in my possession amuses me."
"Truly?!" Aro gaped. "Why, where was this technique when I was toppling covens and taking over the world? I'd have a whole labeled jewelry cabinet filled with my enemies on little plush pillows!"
"The inventor's great-great-grandparents had not been born, Aro," Marcus said dryly. Well, drier than usual.
"Amusing," Caius rolled his eyes. "Have the ashes saved while Aro works out how to accomplish Bella's request," he barked at the guards before standing. "I'm back to the tower." And then he blurred out the room to Bella's human vision.
"Is he going to bed Athenodora or use Corin?" Marcus asked Aro.
"The former, and thank you Edward for letting me know that!" Aro beamed, patting Edward's decapitated head on the hair like he was a good boy.
Bella frowned. The more she heard about it, the more the wives' tower sounded like a cross between an Ottoman seraglio and an opium den. "When you said Corin's power causes a dependence… is it a true addiction? Does it involve the release of dopamine in the brain, or whatever vampire equivalent you have for neurotransmitters? Or is it just a crutch no one's willing to give up?"
Aro tilted his head. "How to describe it… Corin's power isn't so much that she gives pleasure. In many ways, she is Jane's opposite. She takes away all pain. And without the darkness, the light is suddenly so much more bright and appealing and alluring. She can vary the intensity, but most who feel her touch end up giggling at cracks in the ceiling or counting their fingers over and over again. When she stops, and shade returns to the world, it's sobering. And for Sulpicia and Athenodora, who have by now spent more time feeling her gift than not… the real world is too harsh for them. They have forgotten how to handle the aches and pains of everyday life, and they're unwilling to go to the effort to relearn how. I've thought of cutting them off a thousand times, even tried a few times, moved Corin to an undisclosed location where the wives can't find her. But I'm but a man, for all my power, and Sulpicia's pleading made me relent and allow her to indulge once more. As to the physiology of how it works, I'm afraid I have absolutely no idea. While I'm more learned than Carlisle in many ways when it comes to medicine after centuries of study and staying up-to-date on every discovery, I'm hardly going to cut open my wife's brain and take samples to examine precisely what happens when she is and isn't under Corin's influence."
Bella nodded, thinking.
"Why do you ask, dear Bella?" Aro wondered. He'd almost had to relearn how to ask people what they were thinking instead of just reaching for her hand when he was curious about what went through her head.
"Well, the whole point of turning me is for my gift, and the belief it'll both become stronger and able to extend once I'm changed. I was thinking I could cover Sulpicia and Athenodora and hold it until they went through… 'withdrawal' or whatever it is and could lose the dependency. Life is pain. I know that's a Princess Bride quote but it's true. Highs without lows have no real meaning. They're lovely women, but they're shadows of who they should be, I can feel it when I talk to them. If, after I go through the effort of rehabilitating them both, they run right back to Corin, that's their choice. But they should have the option, shouldn't they?" Bella posed to Aro.
Aro had that half-hopeful, half-fearful look again. Only he was aiming it at Bella this time. "I love Sulpicia. But you're right, she's like a two-dimensional image compared to the woman I married so long ago. If you can truly help her come back to herself, dear Bella, I'll give you anything you ask."
A blank check from the most powerful man on Earth. "I'll get back to you once we find out if I can actually do it," Bella nodded. She yawned again, as she had while she was talking to Edward. It really was getting close to her usual bedtime. "Well, I'm going back to my room."
"I shall accompany you," Marcus said. It was not a question, but then Bella noticed that none of the kings ever really asked for permission. Aro did, but he had the conceit that the person would always say yes. That was power, true power, power earned the hard way. And Bella would respect that power.
"Sure," Bella nodded and began to walk to the door. Marcus walked beside her, opening every door for her like a gentleman. When they reached her suite, she went back to the cozy chair where she'd been reading before Edward had showed up. She turned to Marcus, who made no move to sit. "What do you want to talk about?"
"First, thank you for your solution. Not only was it the funniest thing I've heard in 2000 years, but it truly was the best answer to the problem. We have gained his gift for our collection, we do not have to deal with his atrocious attitude, and even Carlisle can't truly complain since he's still technically alive. Incapable of speech, but he's still a thinking being. Quite clever of you, and rather unexpected," Marcus said to her, in that quiet but oh so musical voice. Like a full orchestra playing at 'pianissimo'.
"Just popped into my head. Emmett called me 'diabolical' once. Not sure what that says about me, but whatever," Bella shrugged. "You said 'first', which implies a 'second' or more. Please continue."
"I shall. Second, you know and have accepted that your human days are numbered. And truly, you fit in among us all as if you were already an immortal. I've never seen anything like it. But the reality is, while you remain merely a missing person, your parents will possibly never stop searching, and never have closure. I recommend you write both of them suicide notes, a final farewell you can mail to both that says everything you want to say to them before leading them to believe you overdosed or slit your throat or whatever method you can conceive and sounds most believable," Marcus said, his voice clinical as he coached her on how to clip her last connections to the human world.
Bella nodded. Part of her had known this was coming. She'd even debated writing drafts of the emails she'd have to send. "With Renee, I'll keep it short and sweet. 'I'm sorry. I love you. Goodbye.' Maybe more fleshed out than that, but that's what it'll boil down to. As for Charlie… well, one of my defining features in his mind is my good grades. I'll use a Shakespeare quote. 'Speak of me as I am' from Othello or something. The bit about having loved not wisely but too well certainly fits the heartbroken teenager about to kill herself over her first breakup… god, I'm going to be such a sob story. I'll be the ghost haunting Forks High, the cautionary tale of getting too emotionally invested in the first boy you kiss. If I cared more about what humans thought of me, I'd be upset at just how pathetic this looks. As to the method… heroin. I'm buying the biggest bag of heroin I can find and shooting the whole damn thing at once after tossing my passport and driver's license in the trash. I'll be just a Jane Doe in an Italian morgue until they just toss out my unclaimed ashes."
"A believable fiction," Marcus nodded with approval. "Third, as I said, you won't be human much longer. This is an unprecedented situation, we normally turn each potential member of the guard as soon as possible, but your emaciated condition bid us to wait until you were healthy again. Given that humans and vampires have vastly different physiologies, are there any experiences you'd wish to have as a human before you experience them as a vampire or they are lost to you forever?"
"Oh, you're asking if I have a bucket list," Bella realized. At his blank look, she shook her head. "It's a slang term, a list of things you want to do before you 'kick the bucket', so to speak. Well, I've never given it any serious thought. Give me a bit of time to think, and I'll let you know. I presume travel is off the list, there's no way I'm leaving the Castle before I'm turned."
"Correct," Marcus confirmed. Then he just looked at her.
Bella tilted her head the way most vampires did when they were curious. They were a bit like owls that way. "Was there a 'fourth'?" she asked.
"Bella, what do you see when you look at me?" Marcus asked her after a beat of silence.
"I'm guessing you mean that figuratively, not literally? And why are you even asking? You can literally see exactly how I feel about you," Bella asked, confused.
"Yes, but I want to hear it in your own words," Marcus told her. His eyes were all but black, almost a human color.
Bella thought it over. "Well, I see my future boss, for one thing. A man who I will be employed by, and whom I respect both as due his station and from personal regard. I see a widow, still bereft two millennia after her death, and with the incredible fortitude and understanding to go so far as to forgive the murderer. Or at least let him live and not be rude to him in day-to-day interactions, which would be just as impressive. I see a vampire, this creature beyond my mere mortal comprehension, similar to me only in that at one point long before I was born, you were once like me. And on a completely separate note, remind me to ask Aro if anyone knows just where the hell venom came from, who the first vampire was. And finally… I see a friend. Not one I've known very long, but a man I appreciate having in my life and I'm reasonably confident the feeling is mutual. Is that what you wanted to hear?"
Marcus gave her a grin. "You got everything. I was curious how self-aware you were. I may not have Aro's gift, but I can learn a lot about a person by how much they know about their own relationships."
"So it was a test?" Bella asked. "And I passed?"
"With flying colors," Marcus assured her. "Well, I shan't intrude on your space any longer. Felix is just outside the door, fresh from a romp with Demetri in case you were wondering where he'd gone off to."
"I hadn't, but that's kind of because I forgot he was supposed to be here," Bella chuckled. "You're very… absorbing, Marcus. You do so little, it's like I have to pay extra attention to you to make sure I don't miss anything because every little twitch is probably significant for you."
Marcus tilted his head. "... That's a very kind way to say that I'm a zombie so lost in grief that the fact I invest the energy to even breathe says something about me."
Bella winced, but he'd said it with the right touch of humor to let her know he was probably laughing at himself on the inside. "Hey, I've done the zombie thing. And what I had with Edward wasn't even love. You'll get no pity from me, Marcus, but… on the off chance you want to talk about it, I'd be willing to listen."
Marcus blinked. "... Tomorrow, our lesson will be in the gardens. I'd like to show you my favorite part of the castle."
"Okay," Bella agreed easily. "Well, good night. I'll brainstorm for the suicide notes and the bucket list before I nod off. If I have any energy left after teasing Felix for getting laid while he was supposed to be watching me."
Marcus chuckled. It was nothing like his belly laughter after she'd suggested they decapitate Edward, but it was still an expression of amusement from a man that Bella was pretty sure was hard to amuse. "Good night, Bella." Marcus turned and walked to the door. He opened it, walked past Felix who'd stepped aside, and vanished from Bella's sight.
Felix closed the door behind him and just stared at Bella for a few seconds. "What? Is there something on my face?" Bella asked, wondering why he was looking at her like that.
"Spill it, kitten. What's your second gift?" Felix asked, sounding totally serious.
"What second gift? I've only got the mental shield," Bella said, really confused now.
"You made Marcus, a being who probably has more resemblance to a ghost than a vampire as most humans think of them, laugh his ass off. I joined after Didyme was killed, and the most emotion I've ever seen out of him was frustration when the Romanians burned down the castle during the Dark Ages. I am so dead serious, how did you do it?" Felix asked her, his face turning earnest.
"I just… had an idea of how to deal with Edward. And he found it funny. I don't know what else to say other than that," Bella confessed.
Felix saw the truth in her eyes and shook his head. "You've got it, kitten. You've got so much of it it's not even fair."
"Got what?" Bella asked.
"The 'it' factor. Variable x. That certain 'je ne sais quoi'. The thing that draws people to you and makes them like you and makes them better people because you're so good you inspire them," Felix laid out.
Bella blushed crimson and looked down. She'd never thought anyone would compliment her on her charisma, given her awkwardness. "If I do, it only seems to work on vampires. Humans and I are like oil and water."
"Lucky us, then," Felix grinned. "So, I've met the idiot boy who you gave your heart and he tossed it aside. What are the other bunny eaters like? I've met Carlisle, so focus on the others."
"I'll talk about the Cullens if you give me a straight answer about you and Demetri," Bella countered with a grin.
"Easy, we're not straight. We're two immortal men with immoral sex drives willing to have fun with each other when we're bored or lonely or want to celebrate. But I don't love him the way a man should love their spouse. If the Fates smile on us, I'll meet my mate one day and he'll meet his and we'll both find true happiness and our affair will become just a treasured memory," Felix replied.
"Or if you're really lucky and your mates are up for it, you could all be swingers," Bella chuckled.
Felix did the vampire head tilt. "Is that some new human word I'm supposed to know?"
"Another term for the behavior it describes is 'wife-swapping'," Bella pointed out helpfully. "Basically, you and Demetri keep sleeping together, you both get to have your mates, and maybe your mates have fun together. Have a foursome for all I care."
Felix was gaping at her. "... I thought humans had stopped being able to surprise me. That's actually a thing these days?"
"There's clubs where swingers go to meet potential couples and everything," Bella nodded.
"Hot damn. Maybe Demetri and I should go scouting for wives in one of these swinger clubs or something," Felix mused.
"So, I have to ask. Are you the bottom or the top?" Bella asked. Hey, she'd never had a chance to gossip with a friend about sex, mostly since she'd never had a friend, period. She had a lot of catching up to do.
"Bella, look at me," Felix said flatly, indicating his 6'7 height and mass of muscles. He was as if the Blue Fairy had tapped the Farnese Hercules with her wand instead of Gepetto's puppet.
"Appearances can be deceiving. Maybe for all your strength and toughness, what you want is someone to hold you and be the strong one instead," Bella shrugged.
Felix hummed in thought. "Well, I've topped every single time, and Demetri has never shown interest in topping so I never offered to bottom. But dammit, now you've got me curious. I'll see if he's up for it."
"Cool. Now, since you've paid in full, I'll deliver the goods…" Bella talked with Felix about the Cullens for over an hour, until she started blinking and forgetting how to open her eyes again. She went to the bathroom, and waved at Felix as he took his usual post in the corner as she went to bed.
Felix woke her in time to get breakfast. She endured 2 hours of rowing (apparently, Felix didn't trust her not to trip on a treadmill and rowing worked more muscle groups than pedaling at a stationary bike), then grabbed a shower and dressed for the day. After cardio and before lunch was usually when Aro found her to talk to her or give her a tour of some part of the castle. But Bella retreated to her room. She worked out final drafts for her suicide notes to Renee and Charlie. Then, figuring there was no point in delaying this and it was best for everyone, she sent them before deactivating her email account. Then she pulled up a word document and started throwing spaghetti at the wall when it came to her bucket list.
She went to lunch, which she noted Aro and Marcus but not Caius had chosen to attend. She imagined that when their rule was fresh and their hold on the world not so secure, Caius had often been out on scouting missions getting the lay of the land with other covens or planning the war in his office. Now, he was probably in the tower, sexing up his wife or indulging in Corin's gift. Hell, maybe both at the same time.
"Ah, dear Bella! I really must thank you for your splendid idea. I can't tell you how much fun it's been being able to hear everyone from a distance," Aro grinned.
"You're literally going to carry around Edward's still-living head for the rest of eternity?" Bella asked with a dubious tone.
"Oh, no, not every moment. Not when I visit Sulpicia, certainly not when I ask Carlisle to visit and if he accepts my invitation. I've already commissioned a lovely wooden box with a lid to store him when I'm not using him!" Aro said with his boyish excitement at every little thing.
"I'm sure it'll be a very pretty box," Bella nodded, ignoring how Edward seemed to be trying to blink at her in Morse code or something. She turned to Marcus, briefly stopping to thank the maid who brought her the tray of food she'd be eating. Aro owed them a freaking raise for how the poor Italian girl didn't even glance at Edward's head. "Anyway, Marcus, I sent the notes via email about an hour ago. My mom will be utterly devastated, crying into Phil's shoulder and pulling out my baby photos or something to weep over my life, now lost. Charlie will… well, he might be crying too. He'll drink a dozen beers tonight or maybe even go to the bar for a real drink. He may keep up the search for my body, but I'm not sure if he's even realized I left the country. Then he'll give up, hold a funeral service, which the whole town of Forks will attend of course. And after they lower the empty casket into the ground, he'll get back to his life as police chief, only I won't be in it anymore."
"Ah, alas. But at least now both can mourn and make their peace with you vanishing from their lives," Aro sighed.
"It's more than most of our human families got," Marcus said, agreeing with Aro.
"Right, anyway, enough about my suicide. I've been thinking about my bucket list, Marcus. Travel's out, and I can see the world once I'm a vampire anyway. And sky-diving is saved as my reward for staying silent during the transformation. I've narrowed it down to 3 experiences I definitely want to have before I become a vampire. But one will be rather hard to arrange, at least in any way that agrees with my personal sense of ethics," Bella said after a bite of the delicious pasta dish.
"List them," Marcus prompted.
Bella girded herself. "I want to get drunk. I want to eat a white chocolate raspberry souffle. And I want to lose my virginity."
Aro tilted his head. "Ah, yes, that last one will be rather hard to arrange. I suppose we could always hire a male prostitute. What's the word for them, a gigolo?"
"He's totally going to think I'm some mob princess or something when you bring him through the castle to my room," Bella sighed. "But yeah, that's my list. The drunk thing is because I want to see what the big deal is, and once I'm a vampire getting intoxicated will require Corin or someone with a similar gift and me learning how to turn off my shield if that's even possible. The souffle is because I'll never be able to enjoy human food ever again, and I honestly can't think of any more decadent dessert. And sex… well, on the one hand, I refuse to be turned as an 18 year old virgin. That's just sad. But it also is practical to my sex life as a vampire. Can a hymen reinforced by venom even break?"
"Sadly, no, we learned the hard way with Jane," Aro shook his head. "She grew fond of one of the guards, and she wanted to prove she wasn't an immortal child, that she was an adult in all the ways that mattered. Poor boy didn't even get halfway in before he was blocked. And short of literally cutting her open with my teeth to physically remove it, which requires my mouth getting far too close to my daughter's genitals than I am comfortable, she's stuck."
Bella turned to the twins. "My sympathies, Jane. And not that I really want to know, but can you have sex, Alec?"
"I'm in that messy gray area where I can get hard and squirt but I still find most girls 'icky'," Alec pouted. "I've done it, it's not as fun as it should be, or at least I don't see why it's such a big deal to everyone else."
"I see," Bella nodded. "So, yeah. Alcohol, the cake that'll take a full hour just to bake in my desired flavor, and to let a penis into my vagina. Those are the only things I want to do as a human I can't just do as a vampire instead."
"Oh, if you could hear Edward's thoughts right now," Aro chuckled, combing his hand through the copper locks that Bella herself had once touched.
"Probably something akin to how I should die a teetotaling 99 year old who's never even seen a man naked. God, he is such a prude. I know he was born during the reign of King Edward, but still," Bella rolled her eyes.
"Well, I suppose I'll have to get in touch with an escort service in Florence. Or maybe Heidi could simply lure a man 'for her little sister's first time' out of a bar," Aro mused.
"Heidi?" Bella asked, not recognizing the name.
"Oh, yes, you'll love her. Sadly, due to her work, she's often out of the castle. She's… well, our fisherwoman, really. She has a gift of hypnotic beauty. A man literally once gave her the keys to his Ferrari just because she asked nicely. People can't say no to her. She goes out into the world, and brings back at least one human for every member of the guard every 2 weeks," Aro explained.
Bella felt her conscience twinge. "You have a woman whose job is to lure men, women and quite possibly children to their death, complete with a quota and time limit."
"Yes." That's all Aro said. Simply confirming the fact Bella had stated.
Bella sighed. "Well, I knew what I was signing up for, coming here."
"For what it's worth, infants are off limits. And it's not practical, smaller bodies hold less blood, so Heidi goes for tourists, clubs, and elderly people out on a walk," Aro elaborated.
"I suppose I'm forbidden from being a vegetarian once I'm turned," Bella said more than she asked.
"Bella, the whole reason you're still human is because you are still malleable and able to develop while mortal and thus become the strongest immortal possible for a woman your size. I will not allow you to weaken yourself by supping on the blood of animals as opposed to humans. Vampires are meant to eat humans. Accept that and move on," Aro said bluntly.
"Could I hunt independently in Florence, not depend on Heidi?" Bella pressed.
Aro cocked his head. "Well, yes, but what would that accomplish?"
"I'll take a page out of Edward's book. I'll be a guardian angel. I'll be on the lookout for criminals and feed on them. Then at least I can salve my conscience that I'm eating men and women who deserve death," Bella explained.
"Well, if it makes you feel better. But if for whatever reason I require you to be here in the castle for a long period, you will eat what Heidi puts in front of you," Aro compromised.
Marcus spoke up. "I will do it."
Bella, Aro, and a few of the guard turned to Marcus. "Do what, dear brother?" Aro asked.
"I will deflower Bella, if she will have me," Marcus clarified.
It was a good thing Bella wasn't drinking anything, because she would have done a spit-take. As it was, she choked on air. "Wha–I mean–huh?!" she sputtered.
Aro had tilted his head so far to the left it was practically sideways. He reached wordlessly out for Marcus' hand, which the man gave. Aro's eyes lit with comprehension. "Ah, I see. Yes, you do have a point, Marcus." Aro turned back to Bella. "Bella, you expected your first time to be with a vampire. Yes or no?"
Bella frowned. "Well… I never really expected to have sex ever as a human, really. You of all people know the hoops I had to jump through just to get Edward to kiss me, he was always going on about how strong he was and how breakable I am. Then I got the idea in my head that I'd be turned and join the Cullens, and I figured Edward would do it once I was his immortal bride. So, in a nutshell, yes, I thought I'd lose my virginity to a vampire."
"Correct. And in your heart of hearts, which would you prefer? A one-time affair with a strange human man with no last name, or one of your vampire friends who you actually feel something for, if not necessarily love or overwhelming lust?" Aro posed.
"Well, when you put it like that it seems obvious. I'm just surprised it's Marcus offering," Bella said, once she managed to process this bizarre turn in conversation.
"So was I, in point of fact," Aro said, turning to his brother-in-law and maker with a raised brow. "Felix or any of the other unmated males would do. But Marcus knows better than anyone but I how your relationships work, Bella. You don't know any unmarried immortal men well enough to relax and enjoy the experience as your sexual awakening and not a chore to get out of the way other than Felix or Alec. And Marcus is of the very experienced opinion that your relationships with both of them would be needlessly complicated by a sexual encounter, even just for one night."
"And my relationship with Marcus won't? And I'm still kind of hung up on him being willing to even look at a woman other than Didyme that way," Bella said to the two vampire kings still holding hands.
Marcus spoke for himself this time. "You want to have sex as a human, and you'd prefer it to be with a vampire you trust. With Felix, you'd never be able to look him in the eye properly ever again. With Alec, you'd feel soiled, like a cradle robber given his physical age. With me… well, you want sex. And I, perhaps, need to be reminded that I am not, in fact, dead. Didyme would have been appalled at my wallowing for the last 2000 years. I don't know what makes you unique, Bella Swan, but in you I can see myself… if not enjoying the experience, then at least not despising it and wishing to take it back. So, I repeat: if you will accept me as your partner, I will be the one to take your virginity."
Bella was sure her face was so red she resembled a ripe tomato. "When you put it like that, it sounds like a business arrangement and we're setting up a contract."
"I won't pretend to desire you romantically, Bella. I will never love again, of that I am very sure. But I can bring myself to desire you carnally, at least enough to get erect." Marcus could have been discussing the weather, his face was so flat.
Bella sighed. "And now it's the widow giving the poor virgin a pity fuck. I'm not sure which is worse."
"It is your decision, Bella, and you need not make it immediately. You have until the moment you are turned to make up your mind," Marcus told her.
"No, no, your argument is very logical. Why wait? Sure, Marcus, you can have my cherry. Shall we say my room after dinner?" Bella said, pointedly trying not to sound as flustered as she felt.
"I will meet you at your door," Marcus nodded. "Remember, our lesson is in the gardens today." Then Marcus got up and blurred out of the dining hall.
Felix purposefully picked up a glass and dropped it on the ground. It shattered into pieces.
"Felix, was there a point to that?" Aro asked, sounding very tired, as if this was just the latest in a very long string of things that Felix had broken.
"Just making sure the gravity is still on," Felix said, eyes so very wide. "Marcus, the Marcus, is going to have sex tonight. With a human. You got to put this down in your histories, Master Aro, this is truly a date that must be remembered for generations of vampires to come."
"The last thing I need is stage fright. Keep in mind I'm the one who will be the bleeding human in coitus with a carnivorous vampire," Bella said through gritted teeth. She loved him like a brother already, but Felix was just so… oy.
"Oh, Bella, you needn't worry. Marcus has perfect control. Especially since… what happened to Didyme. I had to all but reteach him how to drink in the early days, blood has almost no appeal to him beyond making the burn in his throat stop. He won't lose control from your maidenhead being broken. And as to his physical control… well, I won't say there isn't some element of risk of you being injured, but I understand some humans like that sort of thing during sex. Would you happen to be one of them?" Aro asked.
"I just arranged to have my inhuman boss pluck me in approximately 8 hours, I am not discussing sadomasochism with you, Aro," Bella sighed. She took a bite of the food, because it really was good. But of course, Aro only hired the best.
After she'd eaten all she could stomach, Bella had Felix guide her to the gardens. It was more a courtyard filled with plants, still within the castle walls. But Bella gasped when she saw all the wonderfully, lovingly tended plants. Trees and bushes and flowers galore. It was gorgeous.
And then Bella caught sight of Marcus, and the whole damn garden could have burned down for all she cared.
She'd observed that, even to human eyes, petrified vampire skin looked different than ordinary vampire skin. It hadn't occurred to her that it would also look different under direct sunlight. Edward's skin had glinted and twinkled as if each individual skin cell was a diamond. Marcus… she had no words. Rainbow light emanated from his skin like he was merely a human-shaped prism. Edward, if she was being very honest with herself, had looked like a disco ball. Marcus glowed from within with all the colors of the visible spectrum, and beneath that was still the pale, perfect statue. He looked like a god descended to Earth, here for a brief time before returning to his heavenly perch.
If she had any problem with seeing Marcus as an object of beauty, or a male worthy of lust, more so than any other vampire in the castle, it was now gone.
"Bella," Marcus greeted, as if the arranged meeting they'd made at lunch was the furthest thing from his mind.
"Marcus," Bella greeted back. She walked up to him, Felix taking a perch by the entrance. She saw a stone bench near Marcus and went to sit on it. He turned to keep her directly in front of him.
"What do you think of the garden?" Marcus asked.
"It's magnificent. Who tends to it?" she asked, though most of her attention was on him and the iridescent aura of light that enhanced his already stunning handsomeness.
"We have a gardener on staff, but I tend to do most of the work myself. It is good for me, to have a steady routine, lest I end up staring dully at a wall for weeks on end. I had quite enough of that while I was petrifying." Marcus shrugged.
Bella heard an annoying ringing emanate from her pocket. She ended the call without taking it out. Too fast for any human to redial, it rang again. With a nagging suspicion who was calling her, Bella took out the phone. Caller ID confirmed it, it was the same number that had texted her last night. Bella brought it to her ear and braced herself to hear the voice of a woman she once thought would be her sister for all eternity. "What is it, Alice?" she asked as soon as she hit the button to accept the call.
"Bella," Alice said, and she sounded so hesitant. Like she was perfectly aware she was on wafer-thin ice with Bella. "I should have called you before this. More to the point, I never should have left. I at least owed you a proper goodbye, but you know how convincing Edward can be."
"Was. Past tense. He won't be talking anymore," Bella said, and she wouldn't deny she said that with a hint of vindictiveness.
"Ah, yes," Alice said. "Bella, look, in the ordinary course of events, I would have waited until you were turned before trying to reestablish contact."
"Because the sting of your abandonment would be weaker since the venom dulls human memories? No, that's not right, vampire memories are so sharp and clear that human memories don't carry over well," Bella corrected herself.
"Er, yes. So know that I'm only calling because I genuinely fear for your health and safety," Alice said.
Bella reached up to pinch her nose. "Don't tell me. This is because Marcus and I are having sex tonight." There was a massive crash on Alice's side of the call. "Don't tell me again. Emmett fainted or crashed into something big and expensive."
"The coffee table. Damn it, Emmett, that was an antique!" Alice said, and for a second Bella could pretend she was with them, and nothing had changed, and she was staying the day with them and Emmett had just been Emmett while Bella and Alice were having girl talk. Only she wasn't with them. They were… somewhere, and she was in the gardens of Volturi Castle.
"Fuck the table! Bella's fucking one of the kings?!" Bella managed to hear even with her weak human ears.
"That was the plan, Emmett. And since I now know Alice decided to call me from inside the house and not somewhere private, hello Jasper, Rosalie and Esme as well. Is Carlisle there too or is he at the hospital wherever you are?" Bella said into the cell phone.
"I'm just going to put you on speaker," Alice said before Bella heard the background noise change as the microphone in Alice's phone changed settings. "We're all here, by the way," Alice added.
"It's so good to hear your voice, Bella!" Bella heard Esme say, her voice so damn cheery as it always was.
"Esme, I'm going to be completely honest. When you vanished without so much as a note or a phone call, let alone the chance to get one last hug, it hurt me as much as if one of my blood parents abandoned me. I am not happy with you, and might never be. And in case Alice hasn't been keeping you up to date, it was my idea to have Edward decapitated, his body burned, and the head carried around by Aro like the world's creepiest stuffed animal. I have, in every way that matters, killed your son. Let that sink in, and then you can try talking to me like this is just a family call while I'm on vacation in Italy," Bella said. She didn't try to be mean, she just forced the harsh truth in Esme's face. She'd had Marcus analyze her relationship with the six other Cullens since that first night where he'd dissected Edward's. And his conclusion was that while Esme loved Bella like a daughter, it was almost like she was a little girl playing house. There was something superficial about the relationship, and based on all Bella told Marcus about Esme, he decided the truth was Esme didn't see Bella as a real person. She was 'Edward's mate', the companion she'd always dreamed of for her bachelor son, the lone single one among three couples. If she had met Bella at the Thriftway at Forks, she wouldn't have given Bella the time of day, she'd just have been another human.
There was silence on the Cullens' end. Then Bella heard Rosalie say "Seems you've grown a spine since we left. The old you would never have hurt Esme like you just did. You should see her face."
"I always had a spine. I just valued myself so little I figured better to swallow my words and be treated like dirt than express myself and risk someone's feelings getting hurt. Then Edward tried his very best to break me, I was a zombie for 4 months, Charlie tried to get me to move to Florida, and I realized I had officially run out of fucks to give about anyone and anything. And for what it's worth, Rosalie, I even missed you, and was hurt you vanished too. Sure, we never got along, but you were the bitchy older sister you tolerate because she's family and you have to. You left your own void, but since I cared the least about you out of all 7 of you, I'll also forgive you the quickest," Bella told Rosalie.
"... The least. You're saying you cared about Jasper, the one who literally tried to eat you on your birthday, more than me?" Rosalie asked after a pause, sounding incredulous.
"And now your vanity's talking, offended that you managed to come in last despite the odds. Well news flash, Rosalie, life isn't a beauty contest, and you're not always going to win first place. Edward told me that you literally look for your reflection in windows and people's glasses just to admire your own perfection. He described your mind as a puddle, a small, thin layer of water with no depth or substance. Granted, Edward has harsh opinions of everyone except Carlisle, but assuming he was honest with me when he said that, then he finds you to be the shallowest individual it's ever been his misfortune to meet. That's why he had zero interest in you when you were first turned and Carlisle tried to matchmake you two. He didn't want to be locked down to someone as vapid as you are."
"... I think you broke my wife, Bella-bear," Emmett's voice came, sounding like he was scared of drawing her attention given what she'd done to Esme and Rosalie in the last few minutes.
"She'll recover," Bella said dismissively. "And just so you all know, Marcus, my future lover and one of the three kings of the planet, is standing right next to me. So avoid any disparaging jokes about the Volturi, okay Emmett?"
"Ah, yes, I suppose that is rather the point of this whole call," Carlisle spoke up. "Bella. I won't speak to you as the man who abandoned you, merely as a medical professional. Have you any idea how dangerous it is to engage in intercourse with one of our kind? We give ourselves over to our instincts, if he doesn't crush you like a ketchup packet then he'll lose control and eat you!"
"So he'll just lie there and I'll ride him cowgirl like he was just the world's coldest blowup doll," Bella said. Sure, she was blushing like a carnation, but she managed to keep her voice steady as she said it.
"Bella, I'm serious. I strongly advise you, as a man who genuinely only wants to keep you safe and healthy, to not go through with this course of action," Carlisle said.
"Noted. I'm still doing it. Look how good your control is, Carlisle, after only, what, 300 years of practice? Marcus has been alive over 10 times that long, and he's so zen to keep from thinking about losing Didyme that I half expect him to start floating every time he sits down. Even if he was desperately in love with me and threw himself at me, and I can assure you he isn't, I'd expect to wake up hopefully delightfully sore but without so much as a bruise. If Marcus does not want to hurt me, he will not hurt me. I trust him, which is more than I can say for you at the moment," Bella told the patriarch of Edward's family.
"... Very well. Though, um, I find myself unable to resist asking as to how this planned event even came to be," Carlisle finally said.
"Marcus told me to come up with a bucket list. Having sex was on the list. He gave a very rational argument that he was the best man for the job available. Hence, I'm sleeping with him tonight. Alice must have seen it, and now here we are," Bella relayed. "And just so Jasper doesn't feel left out, I'm going to say something I never got the chance to say back in September. I forgive you. None of the Cullens give you nearly enough credit. You have to fight the echoes of their thirsts, not just your own. The fact you can attend class in the human world and not start a massacre with 4 other vampires in your range is monument worthy. If you were on your own, you'd have control that rivals if not surpasses Carlisle's. So I don't blame you for taking a snap at me on my birthday. If anything, I blame Alice for throwing the damn party when I explicitly asked for no attention and I certainly blame Edward for the broken glass getting stuck in my arm. So in case you thought I was holding a grudge over that little spat, I don't. The grudge I hold over my brother taking off without so much as a 'by your leave', we can discuss at a later date."
"Thank you, Bella," Jasper managed to say, his Texas drawl stronger with the strength of his emotion.
"Wait, Jazz feels our thirsts too?" Emmett asked.
"You've lived with him for half a century and you didn't work that out on your own?" Bella asked incredulously. "Right. No wonder you and Rosalie get along so well. Her mind revolves around mirrors, and yours is just empty. You are not allowed to talk for the rest of this conversation, I don't want to chance catching your stupid over the phone." Alright, that had been rude. But really, Emmett was just too much at times. "Alice, Carlisle tried and failed to talk me out of the whole cross-species copulation thing. Anything else interesting in my future?"
"Why in the world do you and Marcus go sky-diving?" Alice asked, sounding like that vision still had her reeling.
"I bet myself I could truly suffer in silence and get through the change without making a sound. If I lose, I have to eat a rat. If I win, we're going sky-diving. And maybe it's now a self-fulfilling prophecy, because the confidence boost from you telling me you saw that will carry me through the pain. Anyway, Alice, I was in the middle of a lesson with Marcus when you called. I have now addressed every member of the family. If any of you feel like ever talking to me again, you have my number. If that's all, goodbye." Bella hung up and turned back to Marcus. "Sorry about that. You were saying?"