Chapter 7
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Out of all three kings, Ducissa chose Caius as her favourite while her mistress was sleeping away the worst bits of the cold.
The dark feline had wandered up to the blond sitting at the long table in the throne room, deposited herself in his lap, and began to nap away. Every time Aro tried to run his fingers through the feline's fur, she wouldn't react besides for the odd purr here or there, but when Marcus tried, she clasped her sharp little mouth around the hardened flesh between his thumb and pointer finger. When she realised she couldn't sink her teeth into him, she hissed and swatted his hand away.
Aro smiled. "Seems like she is not putting up with your recent behaviour either, Marcus. Is that not saying something about it?"
Marcus looked up from the document he was reading, pausing to send a blank glare at him and push a feeling of irritance through the bond.
Caius bristled before shaking the feeling off. "You sent that to all of us."
"Did I? I did not mean to."
"Hmm," Caius looked at Ducissa, catching her looking back at him with eyes that matched her mistress. "Would you like to go see her? It has been a couple hours now, she must be awake and hungry."
Ducissa blinked, getting to her feet in his lap before stretching with her claws poking out of her paws. She jumped off of him and began walking, only turning around to tell him to hurry up with her large eyes and the curl of her fluffy tail. Caius just shook his head at the cat, quickly catching up with her before pulling her back into his arms and disappearing into the halls of the castle.
"The bond is becoming us to join them," Marcus said, turning a page of his book.
Aro agreed with a stiff nod. " Caius is not the only one feeling the need to be with her, I can feel it too."
"It is like an itch under the skin that seems to spread the longer we are away," Marcus frowned, "It is becoming a nuisance."
"The reluctance of our final mate is a nuisance?" Aro laughed, unamused. "Lovely way to put it, Marcus. Her reluctance is expected with her personality. She would not be for us if she was anything less than she already is."
Marcus stayed silent for a few seconds, collecting his thoughts. "After you and Caius left, I tried to get her to allow my presence while she rested. While she is not injured, she would recover quicker with one of us there. She questioned our bond."
"What?" Aro looked up from his book, the bond flaring with concern and confusion. "What do you mean she questioned our bond?"
Marcus lifted a hand, letting Aro clasp it in his as he saw all of the recent thoughts and memories.
"It is not about what we did, Marcus," Aro said, hand still holding his to try and comfort each other. "It is more about what we have not done. The conversation of gifts benefiting the Coven had caused her to think that we want her ability. She does not want it to define her."
"Her gift does not define her worth to us."
"She does not know that," Aro exhaled unneededly. "She has gotten the thought of us creating a fake bond to manipulate her. From what she saw from me, it is understandable. We have been ruling for many years and we have not always been the best of rulers because we had to make tough decisions. Gifts were the way we chose many of our members, it makes sense for her to think that her abilities would be a factor. Even if it is not true."
"She cannot help but think it is important."
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Erika wanted to scream to high heaven and bang her head against the wall.
She was getting really sweaty by staying in the bundle of fabric on her bed, so she decided to go take a shower to help her blocked nose and wash off the sweat and grime.
Out of all things her body could do, making her have a nasty reaction to the cold she already has, it forced her period onto her.
It was already late because of the recent stress so she wasn't concerned when it was late. She hadn't been intimate with anyone for over a month since she came to Italy, and she had run out of her birth control over a week and a half ago. She rarely, if at all, got her period anymore but she was always prepared.
But why did it have to come now of all times?
She was ill, tired, and now bleeding out of her fucking vagina and was now not in any type of good mood.
Erika cleaned herself up, washing her body with a lightly scented body wash even if she couldn't smell it because of her blocked nose, washed her hands, tucked a Diva cup into her intimate place, and washed her hands again before her clothes came back on.
Her outfit now was black sweatpants and a navy hoodie with CHIEF C SWAN written on the back with POLICE under it. It was originally her father's but he lost weight and found that he didn't like how big it was on him, but Erika didn't mind it being oversized on her. It was comfy and warm, and reminded her of home.
Erika got into her bed, sighing as soon as her head hit the pillow and she was curled up under the duvet.
When someone knocked at the door, she glared at it.
"Fuck off,"
"Erika, dear, it is Caius,"
"Still," She buried herself deeper into the bed. "Fuck off."
"You need to eat, for one," He said through the door. "May I come in? I have Ducissa with me."
"Argh, fine," Erika shoved parts of the duvet away from her, letting her sit up as she cuddled a pillow near her chest.
Ducissa was the first thing she saw as soon as the doors opened, the feline sprinting her way to the bed before clawing up it and then burying herself into Erika's hoodie until she was inside of it with her mistress, only her head poking out of the neckline.
"Meow!"
"Oh," Caius said, coming over to the bed to place his hand on her forehead to which she just glared at but internally liked it. "You're bleeding."
She gave him a look that said you seriously just said that? before swatting his hand away.
"I'm sick and bleeding, I'm really not in the mood, Caius," She gave him a no nonse glare. "What now? I'm bleeding out of my vagina in a castle full of Vampires."
Caius smiled softly, slowly placing his hand on her jaw, leaving enough moments for her to refuse his touch if she so wished. "Menstruation does nothing for Vampires besides making it more likely for us to become aroused. When a mate bond is found or created, bleeding of any type makes the Human's blood unappealing to all others."
"If I get any comments about it, I will slap someone," Erika said, making sure Ducissa was carefully tucked onto her chest as she got up as wrapped a fat, navy blanket over her shoulders and tucked her feet into her out-of-season festive socks. "I'm hungry."
"You haven't eaten much," Caius said, keeping a smile on his face as he watched his mate look like a strange turtle-kangaroo hybrid as she walked towards the door with her hoodie hood up and blanket over her shoulders with Ducissa poking her head of out the neckline just under her chin. "Would you like to head to the kitchen or throne room? The others are in the throne room and we've all been anxious about your illness. We'd like the doctor to look at you."
"Food, throne, doctor." Erika yawned. "In that order."
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The kitchen was massive with tiled walls and floors and white marble counter and state-of-the art appliances. Everyone who was part of the kitchen crew was busy; mixing this, adding that, cleaning a plate.
It seemed like half the staff were Vampires and the other half were Humans. They worked in unity, Humans tasting various dishes as Vampires zipped around the Kitchen as they chopped and sliced things around the slower Humans who were around the dishes and sauces that would take time.
Some paused as Caius and Erika entered the doorway,
"Good afternoon, Master Caius, Mistress Erika," The chef greeted from the middle of the room, Human by his eyes. He was South Asian by looks alone but his English was perfect. He was young, perhaps younger than even Erika, but he seemed more mature than most of his age. "You are hungry, My Lady? You are also vegetarian, aren't you?"
"No meat or fish for me," Erika simply said to him.
"My name is Reuel, I'm the main day cook," He said, "I would shake your hand but we heard that you are ill."
"Yep," She said. "What's on the menu for lunch today?"
"We have a vegetable and potato stew, along with a beef variety of it for those who eat meat, salads, sandwiches, and whatever else someone has requested for lunch,"
"Can I have a vegetable stew to go?" She asked. "I'll be eating in the throne room, if that is alright?"
"Of course," He smiled brightly. "With garlic bread or just buttered bread?"
"Oh, garlic bread, please,"
"We are going to the throne room now," Caius said, turning from Erika back to Chef Reuel. "Have someone bring it to the throne room as soon as it is finished, and a small bowl of food for Ducissa."
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By the time they actually got to the throne room, a place for Erika was made.
There were now four chairs around the table, but upon the raised throne area, there were still only three but Erika understood she wasn't a ruler yet, she might never be like the kings were. They were natural leaders, but Erika was too but she didn't like people and people didn't like her.
Each of the four chairs around the table to the side had an initial carved into the wood, making a hole with the edges. Erika's chair was to the left of Aro's with Caius' across from hers with Marcus' next to his and across from Aro's.
Caius took out Erika's chair for her, tucking her in as she sat in front of the bowl of stew soup and the plate of garlic bread.
She started to eat instantly, ripping a piece of the fresh garlic bread and dipping it into the stew before placing it into her mouth. It was heavenly with how well the flavours seemed to mix together to compliment but never overpower each other. It took less than seven minutes for her to finish the whole thing, placing the bowl on top of the plate with the spoon placed neatly in the bowl.
"That was good," Erika simply said. "Whatever you do, you need to keep that chef. He is amazing."
Caius laughed. "She's speaking of Chef Reuel and his stews. He is famous for them within the Human servants."
"He will stay Human for a few more years," Aro said. "He is Heidi's mate but he is too young to be turned yet. Heidi has requested that he be turned when he turns twenty one, but by Reuel's own request."
"So he gets to choose when he is changed and I don't?"
"Erika, we have had this argument before,"
"This is not an argument,"
"Then what is it?"
"It's called I will return to Forks or maybe just disappear into thin air if you even try and plan it without my permission," She paused to sneeze, wiping her nose with a tissue. "Unless I'm dying or in some sort of coma. End of convo. When's the doctor gettin' here?"
"Soon."
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She didn't like the doctor for some reason but she sat through him taking her temperature and other symptoms. That plastered smile didn't hide the slight hatred in his eyes at the sight of Ducissa, which just made Erika hate him for hating Ducissa.
"You have the flu, My Lady," He concluded within a couple minutes. "It will pass within the week with plenty of rest and hot liquids."
"Fine with me," Erika muttered.
"I heard from some that you drink a lot of coffee," He asked and she nodded. "Caffeine does not count as liquids."
"What?" She pouted.
"There's a tea that will help, I will go make it now," He disappeared from the throne room as Erika grumbled about the unfairness of not being able to drink coffee as often as she wanted.
As soon as she caught sight of the tea, Erika laughed. "No. I'm not drinking that shit."
"Drink the tea." He placed the tea in front of her.
"No."
"If you drink the tea, you will feel better soon,"
"I'd rather be ill than drink that Theraflu shit, " Erika looked into the cup of lemon and honey tea medicine with clear malice. "Even with sugar, there's something about it that makes me feel worse. The taste is repulsive. You're not getting me to drink that."
"Erika…" Marcus warned, his voice trailing off as Erika slowly turned to him, fury in her eyes as she raised an eyebrow.
"Honey and hot milk," Erika mentioned. "That's what my mum used to give me when I was ill."
The doctor looked at her, his bleery red eyes unconcerned. "After this flu has passed, I will give you a flu jab for the next set. It should prevent this type of reaction again, it will feel like a bad cold next time."
She nodded to acknowledge it and within a few minutes she had the honey and milk cup in her hand. She sipped on it, loving the sweet nostalgia it gave her.
Erika spent the half hour on her phone in the throne room, staying in the seat she was in as the three kings did various tasks that had to do with paperwork. She just continued to read a book she had wanted to finish but got bored of it quickly, getting up from the table and leaving the blanket.
"I'll be back in a couple minutes," She said, before starting to make her way to her room, Ducissa trotting beside her.
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There was a man standing outside her room, one she hadn't seen before.
It was less a man and more a boy. He looked barely eighteen with messy orange brown hair and red eyes. He didn't wear the normal outfit of suit and long robe like many of the other Vampires wore. Instead, he had a pale tunic that almost fell off of his thin frame but they were tucked into a pair of tight brown leather trousers and boots. He still wore the customary V necklace so she wasn't concerned about his intentions.
At least, not very concerned but he was standing outside her door like a guard.
She walked up to him, almost ignoring him completely but gave him a quick glance down before reaching for the door knob.
He grabbed her wrist with a firm but loose hold.
Erika just turned her head to him, looking him in the red eyes before ripping her hand out of his. "This is my room and I'd like access to it."
The deadly serious look on his youthful face dropped as it changed to a sheepishly embarrassed one.
"Oh, pardon me, My Lady," He said, a slight English-Scottish twang in his voice as he smiled. "I wasn't told of your appearance so I wasn't sure who the queen was. I'm Ananias, a member of the Guard and now your main guard."
"Erika Swan," She said simply. "And this is Ducissa."
"Aw, she's adorable," He crouched down to the feline's level.
"Careful, she's vicious—and she likes you, wow."
Ducissa rolled onto her back, letting Ananias pet and rub her stomach as she purred and nipped at his hands.
"That's a new one," Erika said. "She hasn't liked anyone besides myself."
"It's most likely because she knows I'm here to protect you," He smiled at the cat. "You're a smart kitty, aren't you? Yes, you are!"
Erika just watched them for a second, turning to go into her room to find her tablet and keyboard before coming back. She started to walk down the hall, quickly finding that Ananias had picked Ducissa up and followed her down the hall at a quick pace.
"So," Ananias caught up to her easily, a huge grin on his face. "Where are we going?"
"I'm heading back to the throne room," She said. "I got bored so I came back to my room to get my tablet so I can write."
"So you're a writer?" He asked. "That's cool."
Erika looked at him from the corner of her eye. "How old are you if I can ask?"
"I was seventeen when I turned," Ananias said without hesitation. "Been seventeen for the last four hundred years. Why? How old are you ?"
She smiled at his tone. "I'm twenty-two. Twenty-three in November."
"You're still young...ish." He shrugged.
She snorted. "For now."
"So, when do you plan to be changed?" He asked as if it was something normal to talk about. Erika supposed it was within a castle of Vampires and Humans who wanted to be Vampires.
Erika knew she would become a Vampire at some point, but having a choice made for her was what stopped her wanting to be a Vampire.
She knew she was beautiful, not only physically, but she carried herself in a way that seemed to keep all negativity away.
All smiles, grins, and smirks were hiding her crippling mental state. Dry and dark humour kept people from knowing she was serious at some points. And the extensive exercising was a replacement for harming herself physically.
Most days she was alright, she was coping, but other days, her emotions didn't want to filter themselves into the proper boxes and anything and everything could set her off into either a rage filled crying fit or she became overwhelmed and needed to shut down for a while.
Bella had shut down emotionally because Edward decided to be selfish and leave her.
Erika stepped up when Charlie had no clue what to do with Bella and her mental state, letting his oldest daughter take up some responsibility within the house.
The eldest Swan sister spent the last seven months trying to keep Bella alive because no one was worth dying for because they weren't there. Edward wasn't worth the emotional trauma he put her through, Bella should have known this but she couldn't shake off the puppy love she had for him.
Erika knew why Bella couldn't let Edward go.
Bella Swan and Edward Cullen were Lifemates and physical distances could potentially become dangerous if the bond wasn't secured. It could be severed if both of them were Vampires, but it was dangerous if one was Human. The bond usually formed so more Humans could become Vampires.
Unlike them, Erika's Soulmate bond with the three kings could not be severed.
It could be bent to the most extreme degree, but it would always be there in the back of her mind. The Soulmate bond didn't have to mean a romantic and/or sexual relationship between any of them. Sometimes the bond formed and only a strict friendship was created, other times only romantic and not sexual, and sometimes it was more like permanent friends with benefits.
If Erika thought about it, she somehow knew she would have at the very least a sexual relationship with them. Sex wasn't something she was ashamed of or tried to hid from. It was natural. Enough said. She found all three of them attractive physically and sexually, and she already knew they all had a romantic and sexual relationship with each other.
And if she did have sex with them and then decided she no longer wanted to have sex with any of them, they would have to respect it. If she only formed a friendship with them, they wouldn't push her. Just as something inside of her told her she wanted to keep them safe, they wanted to keep her safe.
It was an instinct of survival.
Vampires were immortal, they would be alive until something killed them off or, by Aro's memories, they defied the laws or asked to be killed by another's hands.
Vampires were predators in every form of the word. They were perfet because that's how they survived, Human suspected nothing but Lycans were their enemies. ShapeShifters were not, they were an odd between both kinds of creatures. Not as dangerous as Lycans but not as perfect as Vampires.
Vampires had mates while Shapeshifters had Imprints which could hold any type of relationship with them.
Either race were social creatures with their own kind, and Shapeshifters were social with Humans.
They couldn't live without company, even if some tried to make it work. Very few could make it work, and if they did, it was out of pure will power.
Erika wanted to do that, live a life where no one told her what to do, told her what she can and can't do. she didn't want to be controlled, not like how Marcus could almost force her into submission of any sort.
She still did contemplate leaving, leaving all three of them behind, leaving responsibilty behind and just disappearing. No one would know if she was alive or dead, besides for those three because of the bond.
Bella would be angry at her for leaving, but she would be happy with Edward.
Charlie would try and find her, but he would never be able to.
Micheal would go on to Imprint on someone and find them as a partner, platonic or romantic.
While Aro, Marcus and Caius would know if she was alive or dead, they wouldn't be able to find her if she so chose.
She would pack two bags, one would be a backpack and the other a duffle, shove as much as she could into it befroe she showered and changed into something easy she could move in. Plane ticket to somewhere on the other side of the world left in her room while she actually took a train to somewhere else. Ducissa would be with her.
Even if Erika wanted to be alone, Ducissa would be with her.
Being alone meant she was in control and no one could take that away from her.
Erika had bad relationships where control was bartered. Not with Micheal, no, he was a sweetheart and an amazing friend before they dated. The bad relationships were when she turned eighteen and was of legal age.
She read books containing things she shouldn't have read when she was in her mid teens, and as soon as she was legal, she started to go into a scene where she didn't know enough. Since she didn't know enough, she was taken advantage of quickly.
Erika was natureallly submissive when having sex, and bratty too. Being assured that her partners were worthy of her submission was something she liked to know, being able to handle her brattiness was a must.
Leroy was her first boyfriend and Dom in the BDSM scene, and he was fucking toxic.
He was twenty four, six years older than her when they started dating, and he loved having her as his arm candy and sub.
She was glad she had friends like Micheal who saw the emotional and mental abuse Leroy put her in. While Micheal wasn't into that stuff, he knew Erika was and what clubs she would go to with Leroy. It was a safty thing because Micheal saw what Leroy actually was doing, and refused to stop bringing up the conversations of abuse and safty until Erika told him about what clubs she went to.
It took more than a year before Micheal saw the first promient bruise on her, knowing that even if she said she had wanted it, had deserved it, the bruises were dark purple and red around each of her wrists and ankles, and looked like they weren't treated.
While Micheal wasn't into the stuff that these kinky clubs portrayed, he was respectful of everyone there. After that first severe bruise, others were placed on top of them without letting them heal.
Erika had been with Leroy at a club, kneeling by his feet with a distant, numb look in her eyes and new bruises on her knees from kneeling for so long along with new ones on her wrists.
Every time Erika even glanced up from the floor, Leroy would put his booted foot onto one of her bare ones, pressing enough to make her flinch before she resumed her gaze downwards. To make Erika flinch out of pain was difficult, she would accidentialy slice her finger and she'd only step away and hiss at it, not actively flinch.
Micheal had a small amount of medical training but it was still more than the average person, and he did not like the look of the bruises. He went to one of the Dungeon masters, a man he actually knew out of the club that was in one of his nursing course classes, and asked him about bruises and the care needed for them.
The man seemed to understand that Micheal wasn't actually curious about them, more curious about the rules in place about Doms and Subs and care in the club. Instead of confronting Micheal about it, he excused himself for a moment and scanned the room, looking at every Sub and Dom, single, paired, or playing, and gave them all a good once over.
He saw the way Erika was kneeling uncomfortablly on the hard floor, nothing under her knees to protect the bruises already there. He came over to ask Leroy if she would like a cushion to kneel on, Leroy was her Dom in the situation so he couldn't speak straight to her because of the thick black collar around her neck.
Leroy said no, she was being punished, and waved the man off before resuming the conversation he was having with another Sub and Dom pair.
The other Dom excused himself after a minute, going to the man to say that Erika looked really uncomfortable and had been every time she attended with Leroy. When he tried to speak to her, she tried to respond but Leroy just put pressure onto her foot so the pain silenced her.
There wasn't a strict etiquette within the club. Subs and Doms were allowed to speak to whoever they wanted, but if two seemed to be together, it was better to ask the Dom permission before speaking to the Sub who belonged to them.
Erika was loud and playful when she first started coming, settling down as she gained confidence but never let her personality be hidden away.
But as soon as Leroy appeared alongside her, she seemed to completely empty herself of her personality and become like a lifeless doll, never speaking or making sounds, never moving unneededly. Sometimes it was written within the dynamic, but other times it was abuse.
No one actually knew until someone asked if it was concensual.
Everyone in the club knew that the Dungeon masters were allowed to interviene at any point in any play if they suspect anything bad was occuring, and that including speaking to collared Subs without their Doms' permission or presense.
When Leroy got up to get himself a non alcoholic drink from the bar across the room, and the dungeron master made his way quickly across to where Erika kneeled by a couch.
He asked her what her punishment was for but she didn't look up from the floor, then he asked her if the punishment was previously agreed on, again she didn't look up or respond. Finally, he asked her if this was concensutal, if she had a choice to stop the punishment if it became too much for her, if she had a safeword.
"What is a safeword?"
The man had to stop himself from hurting Leroy, waving over one of the other Dungeon masters with a white armband. The new one was female, taking one look at Erika before back to her partner and fellow Dungeon master, before asking if Erika would follow her into the next room to talk.
It was strongly implied that Erika should do as asked, so she did. Standing up, she grimanced as her legs were numb and knees were aching. The Dungeon mistress asked if Erika was alright to talk to the other room or if she needed help, to which Erika looked back down in shame. The master asked if he could help her, to which she just nodded because she knew it would get her away from Leroy quicker.
After an hour of intregation by the Dungeon masters, it was deemed what Leroy was doing wa actually abuse, but it wasn't actually not unconensual, even if Erika didn't know any better.
Micheal took Erika to the hospital as the female Dungeon master stayed to reassure her that Leroy wasn't allowed near the club again, and that if she wished, she could press charges.
What Erika was doing with Leroy wasn't BDSM, it was abuse. She had no safeword, no way to tell him if she was uncomfortable or in pain, and if she did verbally tell him, he ignored her or told her to shut up. There was no aftercare, no safety in their practise. Erika's bruising was bad enough that she needed creams to help heal them quicker, or they could have done permanent damage.
Since then, even a couple years after, Erika had pain in her knees after long days. They would ache comtimes, and othertimes outright burn with pain.
Ever since the encounter with Leroy, Erika was resilient to keep her life as her own and only hers. Being told that she was a Submissive in the mate bond scared the abosolute shit out of her and she didn't want what Leroy did to happen again.
She knew she would have to tell them about Leroy eventually, but even after a couple years, she hadn't properly come to terms to what happened to her between the ages of eighteen and nineteen and a half.
Erika Swan refused to allow anyone to have power over her anymore, be it her memories or her physical body. No one had a right to it, no one was allowed near it without her permission.
Not even her mates.
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