Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, Stephanie Meyer does.
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Last updated/edited 03/12/2024.
First Person POV: Astrid
I awoke feeling comfortable and stretched my arms above my head, feeing silk sheets slide across my skin. I hummed contently.
And then I remembered where I was… I shot up and looked around. Instead of my little hostel room in Florence, I was in the lavish suite that Athenadora and Didyme had brought me to last night. And that meant that I was still trapped inside a castle full of vampires. I had really been counting on yesterday turning out to be a wild dream.
A knock at the suite door caught my attention. I walked across the main room and cracked one of the suite doors open. I was relieved to find it was only Abigail waiting outside.
"Good morning my lady, may I take your breakfast order?" she asked. I felt bad that Abagail had been bringing me all my meals, surely there was a kitchen that I could use. I dropped the thought temporarily; it was another thing to ask today.
"Could I have chocolate chip pancakes, please?" I requested.
"Of course, my lady." Abagail nodded and hurried off.
I didn't usually eat so poorly, but the stress of the recent events was causing me to crave comfort food. Once I was home and safe, I would return to a normal diet.
I noticed that Santiago and Jane were still posted outside my door. I wondered if they had been there all night.
As I moved to close the door, Jane spoke up.
"Excuse me, my lady."
"Yes, Jane?" I asked as I peeked back out from behind the door.
"I have a cloak and coven crest for you. Please be sure to wear both, especially when you leave your room." she told me.
She procured a thick pitch-black cloak with an imposing crest sitting atop. The crest was made of gold with rubies set throughout and secured on a thick chain. The design was about the size of my palm and featured an uppercase V with an intricately decorated shield inside.
I glanced at Jane and Santiago's cloaks, which were both charcoal gray and then looked down at the black cloak I had been given. I thought back to the throne room, the shades of their cloaks seemed to signify something, like rank, or station. I could have sworn only the owners of the castle had been wearing black cloaks…
"Jane, do the shades of these cloaks mean something?" I inquired, gesturing at my cloak.
Jane hesitated and made eye contact with Santiago over my shoulder.
"I'm sorry, my lady, but I am not at liberty to say. You may ask the Masters when you see them today."
I sighed, what was it with the secrets around here? I really didn't see how the shades of their cloaks could be sensitive information. But that was fine, I would see the "Masters" today. I just hoped they would be willing to answer all of my questions.
"Alright." I said, feeling miffed. "So, were you two here all night…?"
"Yes, my lady." Santiago replied.
"Oh God, I'm sorry! You must be exhausted, not to mention bored." I said in surprise. It had been at least twelve hours since I saw them last night when I ordered dinner.
"It is an honor to guard you, my lady. And please do not worry about our wellbeing, we have different needs than humans do." Santiago explained.
So, things could get weirder. It occurred to me that these vampires might have mistaken me for someone of high rank in the human world, it would explain the oddly formal treatment I was receiving here. I would have to correct that when I met with the Masters today. Although… would I be killed if they knew I was just a random human like everyone else in the tour group? I shivered at the thought. I decided that I would tell the truth if they asked me directly, but otherwise, I wouldn't voluntarily offer up the information.
And "different needs"…? Was he suggesting that they didn't need to sleep? If I were to believe the myths, then vampires rested during daylight hours. But based on Jane and Santiago's continued presence at my door this morning, that was clearly not the case. I knew asking them to elaborate was pointless, they would just politely tell me to save it for the Masters as usual.
"Oh… alright." I said.
I accepted my cloak and crest from Jane and headed back into the suite. I walked to the bedroom and examined the items more closely. The crest was beautiful and, if the materials were genuine, it had to be worth a fortune. Why on earth would they give me something like this? I couldn't believe they were trusting me, a complete stranger, with something so expensive. Even giving me a cloak was odd. I doubted they gave these items to all the guests in their castle… And I assume that meant that they were expecting me to stay in the castle for an extended period. I was already scheduled to fly back to the US in a week so I would have to inform them of my plans during the meeting. Of course, that was thinking optimistically, I wasn't confident that I had choice in the matter…
I went to select an outfit for the meeting and found a nice red dress that went to my lower thighs. It had a V-neck, short sleeves, and a pleated skirt all tied together with a black satin bow around the waist. As I peered in the floor length mirror, I briefly considered that wearing red in a castle full of vampires might not be the smartest move but decided to say fuck it, at least I would die in style. Plus, they wouldn't have put the dress in my closet if it wasn't something I should wear.
A few minutes later, as I was finishing off my pancakes, Athenadora and Didyme arrived to bring me to the meeting.
"Astrid, we won't be leaving the royal wing today, but you should still wear your cloak and crest just to be safe."
Dammit, I had forgotten already. I had always been absent-minded; it became less of an issue as I got older, but these types of mistakes still happened occasionally.
"Sorry, I forgot!" I said and rushed back to the bedroom to grab them. I latched the crest around my neck first, feeling it cold and heavy against my chest. Then I lifted the cloak around my shoulders, leaving the hood off. I had assumed that I would be receiving a spare cloak, however, this cloak felt as though it been tailored specifically to my height and body size.
As we exited the room, I saw Athenadora and Didyme also had guards with them. The guards settled into formation surrounding us as we exited my suite. I wasn't sure if I should introduce myself to the new guards or not, but Athenadora helped make that decision for me by jumping right into introductions.
"This is Felix, Demetri, Corin, and well… you remember Heidi." Didyme said while pointing to each of their guards. Felix was obviously the hulking figure I had seen in front of the throne room doors. He looked of Greek decent and had dark curly hair. Everything about him was formidable, from his square jaw to his bulging muscles to his drastic height. I guessed that Demetri was about the size of the other figure that had been stationed in front of the throne room. He was blonde and very friendly looking; I couldn't help but compare him to a golden retriever. Corin, well she was just adorable. She was lithe with soft features. She had large eyes which made her appear almost elfish given her slim figure. And Heidi… well they were right; I had already met Heidi and she was just as gorgeous as she was yesterday. I smiled demurely and shook each of their hands.
"Now, we're going to give you a little tour before we meet the kings." Athenadora told me.
I blinked at her. Was that a joke? Had they decided to eat me after all? I started giggling nervously because the last tour I was on ended up in a literal blood bath. It was morbid humor, but it would be clever on their part.
"Dora! Gods, one thing out of your mouth and you already broke her." Didyme scolded.
I just started laughing harder at their dynamic. It was weird, I had always thought of vampires as superstition. But if you had told me that they did exist, I would have imagined silent, mysterious creatures who spent their time brooding or stalking their next human victim. Instead, I stood in front of two real vampires, and they were bickering like an old married couple. If I hadn't been in the throne room when they fed, I wouldn't have believed these two could harm anyone.
I finally controlled my laughing.
"Oh good, you're okay! That was my bad, it's not that kind of tour, I promise." Athenadora reassured me.
"We're just going to show you around the royal wing so that you know where to go if you ever get lost or need to find one of us." Said Didyme.
We started down the hallway with our guards following.
"The floors in this wing are split up with Marcus and I residing on the basement floor, Athena and Caius residing on the first floor and Aro here on the top floor." Didyme informed me.
I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised I was on Aro's floor, I had already been told that he had tried to save me from the throne room. I was thankful for the effort he had put into providing me with the suite and amenities so far.
"Aro's suite is there" she pointed to the massive red stained doors at the closer end of the hallway "and his office is here." She pointed to the doors across from my bedroom.
We traveled down to the first floor, and they pointed out Dora and Caius's bedroom and offices. Then we walked to the basement floor, and they pointed out Didyme and Marcus's bedroom and offices. I wondered why Aro was the only one of them living alone. Surely it wasn't hard for him to find company… I felt a sharp pain through my heart and cringed. Unfortunately, it didn't go unnoticed by the women.
"Are you alright dear?" Athenadora asked me.
"Yes, I'm fine, thank you - just a bit of heart pain is all. I'm sure it's nothing to worry about." I replied.
Athenadora and Didyme shared another look, and I rolled my eyes internally, I couldn't wait until I got some answers. I hated all the silent conversations that seemed to keep happening around me.
We contiued to Marcus and Didyme's office and two of our guards moved out of formation to open the doors for us.
Their office was just as grand as every other room I had seen in the castle. It was the same traditional style as the office in my room and featured a chestnut-colored wooden furniture with green accents.
My eyes instantly found Aro's, like oppositely charged magnets. I felt my heart swell with happiness as our eyes stayed locked, but I couldn't explain why his attention pleased me so much. I had to remind myself that I didn't know him, regardless of heart telling me otherwise.
I couldn't help but memorize the details of his face. He was just as perfect as I remembered from the throne room. I felt the urge to approach him again but balled my hands to fight the instinct. I had acted like an idiot enough in front of these vampires, there was no need to make it worse.
I heard a light cough and broke out of the trance I had been under. My face heated with embarrassment as I realized I had been staring at Aro for a while.
"Hello Astrid, my name is Marcus." A young man to the right of Aro introduced himself, holding his hand out for me to shake. He appeared to be about my age with a long face and fine brown hair. I took his hand and was briefly startled by the coldness of his skin. They were even colder than Santiago's had been.
"Pardon me, we vampires tend to run cold." He explained.
"This is Caius" He gestured to the blonde man to the left of Aro who I found rather intimidating looking. He had blunt shoulder length white-blonde hair and appeared to be in his late thirties. His expression lightened as he smiled at me and I shook his hand, now prepared for the temperature difference.
"And this is Aro." He gestured to the man in the middle, who had captivated me only a moment ago. I shook his hand as well but noticed that he was wearing thin black leather gloves.
"Why don't we all sit. Then we can start answering all your questions." Didyme suggested.
The two couples paired up on the couches to the left and right. I saw that the only available spot left was next to Aro on the middle couch. Aro was seated to the far left of the couch, leaning back with his arm propped on the armrest like a male model. I tentatively approached and perched on the other side of the couch. Aro had given me plenty of space and I wasn't sure whether to take that as an insult or not.
"Go ahead, dear. Ask away." Didyme encouraged me once I was seated.
"Alright, I want to know why you wanted to save me from the throne room." I said, focusing my attention on Aro.
Instead, Athenadora spoke up. "Why don't we save that until the end dear?" She suggested politely.
"Fine, I want to know when I can leave." I said and got only silence in response.
"Again dear, why don't we cover that at the end?" said Didyme.
"Fine, then what can you tell me?" I asked, letting my frustration seep through my tone. God, I needed to control my tongue. These vampires could decide at any time that I wasn't worth the trouble and kill me. I took a deep breath and let my shoulders relax. I wasn't usually an aggressive person, quite the opposite in fact, but I had felt oddly wired since entering the room.
"Well, why don't we start with the basics. Vampire 101." Athenadora said giggling at her own joke.
The group started listing off information so quickly that I could barely keep up. Vampires were immortal, super strong, super-fast, indestructible, etc. My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when I heard the five of them were several millennia old. They explained that their hearts did not beat, and their bodily fluid was all venom. Venom was what turned a human into a vampire when they were bitten and left with enough blood to survive the transformation. I also learned that some vampires developed gifts. When they told me about Jane and Alec's gifts, I couldn't help but blanch, I was so wrong to ever doubt Jane. Caius also helpfully added that the only way to permanently kill a vampire was to dismember and burn them. That seemed to earn him a disapproving look from his wife, but I found the information fascinating.
They covered myth versus fact. Vampires were unaffected by garlic, wooden stakes were harmless, and sunlight didn't burn them, it just made them shimmer. I tried to hold in my laughter at the last piece of information.
They also told me who they were and why the guards referred to them as Masters. The five of them were the kings and queens of the supernatural world. Their family and guard, known as the Volturi royal coven, had been maintaining order over vampire-kind for over two millennia now.
It became obvious during our conversation that they had not mistaken me for a human dignitary so there must have been a different reason for them to save me and treat me so well up until now. I figured that they probably wanted me to join their guard since they knew I could teleport, but I wouldn't be taking them up on their offer. Then again, maybe they were just fattening me up for later…
I asked them about my eating arrangements and guards. They completely shut me down on both topics. Again, they said I was human, and they couldn't risk my safety. And of course, when I asked them why they cared about my safety, I was told we would get to that later, yet again.
I continued my questions for a while, soaking up all the information I could, and eventually realized that several hours had passed.
"So… am I allowed to ask my initial questions now?" I asked, feeling impatient.
The group turned to Aro, who hadn't spoken once during the meeting, and he nodded to them.
"First let's talk about your stay here." Didyme prompted.
"Great, I'm scheduled to fly back to the US in a week." I informed them and when I received only silence, I continued nervously. "The next week is relatively free for me though, if I can grab my luggage from my hostel, I could stay with you until then..." I noticed Athenadora and Didyme were looking at me with sympathy… did that mean they didn't intend on letting me leave?
"Dear, you understand that you've been told sensitive information, don't you?" Athenadora began gently.
"Yes…" I whispered; I could see where this was going. They had explained everything to me just to force me into joining them. That was why they had been treating me so well. It was sad because I had honestly believed that Athenadora and Didyme's kindness had been genuine. But I supposed everyone wanted something and I had no way to deny them. Based on the information I had just learned; I knew that fighting back as a human was pointless. My gift of teleportation was my only way out of this, but I didn't know how to summon it on will. Even if I could, I likely wouldn't be able to make it outside of the castle again. I began to breath harder, and tears welled in my eyes.
"You're going to keep me here forever, aren't you?" I accused them with hurt in my eyes.
Athenadora flashed over to me and tried to place a hand on my shoulder, but I flinched away from her. Their lack of response was confirmation enough for me.
"If you think I'll just abandon my life and family, you're wrong. You can't force me to join you!" I shouted at them.
I ran out of the office, struggling with the heavy door on my way out. I followed the path back through the halls and up the stairway to my room. I knew that the royal family could easily follow after me if they wanted to, however, I hoped they'd have the decency to leave me alone.