Caius could not tear his gaze away from the hand that was clasped in between Aro's palms. His mind was reeling, raging against everything that he had convinced himself of over the last hundred years. It'd been the longest stretch in between incarnations, and he'd thought that he had finally beaten it. He thought that the last time, when he'd forced himself to kill her himself, that he had freed them both. Caius had long since pushed the guilt away, instead basking in the relief of closure. Now it was hitting him full force in his face, in his gut, and in his non beating heart.
He'd been a fool to think that he could end this loop of insanity. He was angry at himself for becoming complacent, and at her for daring to show her face here...and at feeding time no less! Worse yet, he hadn't even gotten to deal out punishment to the Cullen boy, and so his mounting frustration from earlier just piled on top of every other emotion he was feeling now. Why had she come here? Inwardly, he seethed that Jane had recognized her and had stopped one of the newer guard from feasting on her.
If she had been dead before he saw her, he might have avoided this feeling. His entire body seized up at the thought. The familiar protective instinct heating at his own thoughts, causing disgust to over take the anger. He knew he could hurt her, as he had done in another lifetime...as he had forced himself to do to spare them both eternal torment. It had been the single most painful thing he had had to do, both physically and emotionally.
Aro released Dejanna's hand, his eyebrows drawn low in an uncharacteristically serious expression. It grabbed Caius' attention by the lapels and held him fast, concern ripping through him in a shock. Had Aro seen a threat to her? It made his hackles rise to think of someone harming her, and instinct made him want to lock her up in the tower with Sulpicia and Athenodora. Keep her safe. Keep her hidden.
"What is it?" Caius' voice bit through the silence. Dean stood there, confused, and scared. Her heart was beating painfully fast in her chest, blood pooling into her cheeks and even though they had all just fed, it made him thirsty.
"Such darkness you have endured recently, my dear," Aro said softly to Dean. Caius tensed, examining her now more closely than he dared to before. Her eyes held a shadow to them that he hadn't seen in any of her lives...except for one. His last night as a human, he had witnessed that look, and he couldn't bare to live through that again. She had seen things that had scared her, that had shook her to her very core...but still, she was standing before them. She'd walked into a lions den and hadn't even tried to run now that the chaos had been diverted. He marveled at her bravery.
"Do not worry," said Aro in a slightly more firm voice, raising his volume a smidge. He meant to assure the girl, and make an order to the rest of them at the same time. "No one here will harm you." Then, he turned to look from Marcus to Caius, his regular petulant gleeful expression returning to his face. "The Romanian convent has released the vampire entombed within it's foundation. A threat we must eradicate as soon as possible."
Caius nodded, standing up straight. Though he wasn't completely focused on her anymore, he could see the way she mouthed the word 'vampire' in disbelief and incredulousness. "Demetri, go to the convent and find the vampire. Take the twins. Go now."
"Yes master," said the three and he, Jane, and Alec all left. Dean jumped at how fast they'd moved, and unconsciously took a step closer to Caius. He tried not to breathe, to not let him get ahead of himself and do something that would scare her. He hated that he was trying so hard. He should be making her hate him so that she would want to stay far away from him. Their laws would not allow her to leave here, but he would not allow anything or anyone to harm her, either.
They all knew by now that she couldn't be changed. They'd tried that once before, as well. She had writhed in agony for a week. Four days longer than the usual transformation process, and then had died anyway, her body catching flame and nearly taking him out with her. He hadn't even been able to hold her in his arms that time. Their goodbye had been a broken promise to see each other when she woke up. He couldn't do that again.
"My superior...a priest in from the Vatican...he sent me here to ask for your help with the demon, vampire, thing, we saw in the convent," Dean spoke. Her voice was thin but steady and she did not stutter. She forced herself to look into Aro's crimson eyes. "Will I be allowed to go back to my own now that I've...completed my task?"
"No," Caius hissed, cutting off Aro's reply, which would have been much gentler. Dean tensed, fear shuddering through her body before he was amazed to see her buck up. Her shoulders squared and she stood up straighter, her chin raising in defiance and she looked over at him as if she were looking down on him.
"What?"
"One human today is liability. Two is a catastrophe," Caius said harshly. Despite her having no clue as to what had happened between Edward Cullen, Isabella Swan, and the rest of them today, he meant to drive it home that she would not be leaving. They had to clean this up some how, and with her not being able to be changed and him unable to let her die, she would remain within these walls until he could start again on trying to figure out how to break their curse. He would stay away from her and she would hate him.
"Caius, brother," Aro said placatingly. "You are right, of course." He sighs dramatically, clasping his hands in a steeple under his chin. Dean looked ready to argue, her eyes scanning the room around her, deliberately glazing over the faces at first, before realization struck her and she looked a little more frantic. She didn't turn her back on the predators deciding her fate, but they seemed to take a back burner to her thoughts as she searched amongst the dead.
"Where is Gabriel?" She asked. The question came out haunted, and demanding. Her body turned just slightly, enough to twist to look at the area she had been in the last she had seen of him. Nobody answered her. She turned around with watery eyes and glared at them each individually; even Marcus who had thus far remained silent. "Where is he?" she asked again, though she already knew the answer.
"You were the only survivor," Marcus spoke for the first time. His lips were drawn down in a frown as they always were, but anybody and their mother could read the confusion on him. They hadn't paid that much attention to the group, so they had no idea who this Gabriel was, but what Marcus had said was the truth. If she came with somebody, they were likely dead.
She didn't argue, like he thought she might. She looked down and shook her head, her fingers trembling as she balled them into fists at her sides. It drew Caius in yet again. He had not seen this version of her in so long that it was like being thrown back into that time she had first existed. He'd seen different versions of her before. Some where she was meek, some where she was a brat, stuck up and vain like his Athenodora, some where she was a mother hen, and some where she was always frightened. The girl before him reeked of fear, but she held her ground.
She was strong.
"Are you going to kill me?" She asked through clenched teeth. Though Aro had assured her that nobody would hurt her, she didn't believe him. She was smart too, for only a fool would believe the word of a vampire.
"No, mia cara," said Aro, drawing her attention back to him. "We cannot. However, you will not be permitted to leave, either. We will make every effort to make your stay comfortable."
He said it in such a way that it sounded like the girl was on vacation. That she would be permitted to leave after a week or two, though this was not the case. This was not a luxury resort, and she would not be a guest but a new resident. A guarded and unwilling resident.
"I'll show her to the tower," Caius bit out, not at all excited to reintroduce her to his wife. But he wasn't about to let one of the others do it either. Aro was of the mind that brief happiness was worth the pain at the end of the experience. You might not be able to tell from looking at him, but Aro was a bit of a masochist. Being alive for so many years had brought that about him, always craving something new to see or to feel.
Marcus could understand Caius the most. He would have set himself on fire if he had to go through this with Didyme. The pain of his mate being truly dead had left him a shell of himself. Chelsea was the only one that kept him tethered to their coven, manipulating his loyalty to keep him alive. If he had to witness her death over and over again such as Caius had done, even that would not stop him from ending his own miserable existence. How Caius had endured, he was not sure.
It was his will to live that had brought this upon them, after all. He was meant to die. He was meant to be a victim, just as Dejanna had been, to the child of the moon. But he'd cheated death and chosen immortality; a path that had never been written for him. So that, combined with his impressive rage and bloodlust, kept him here. Kept him grounded and his name struck fear into their enemies, which pleased him. Athenodora quelled some of his passion. She made his lonely exitance bearable, and he would always be thankful to her for her patience, for she had stuck around him even through the previous deaths of his true love.
He didn't let any of them protest before he was upon her, grappling Dean into his arms and practically flying them out of the throne room. She sucked in a breath of surprise through her teeth, one of her hands coming up to grip his own as if she could pry him off of her. It nearly made him chuckle. When he set her down at the base of the tower, she took a large step away from him, glaring as if she thought she was intimidating.
"Hasn't anyone ever told you that manhandling a woman is rude?"
Yes, he thought. You. Many times. And if he were a man, he might be disgusted with the satisfaction it brought him. Even thinking about a human man treating her like he did made his lips curl into a snarl. But he was not a man; he was a vampire and he was a king. He got what he wanted, and the beast inside him purred with her at his mercy. The flush of her frustrated skin, her little hummingbird heart, the defiance in her blue eyes...it ignited him a long dormant, now smoldering flame.
He'd made the mistake of touching her, and now his hands burned to do so again. He would not apologize, but inwardly, he cursed the neediness arising within him.
"For a human," he told her. "I am not human."
She went to snarl at him. Tell him that it didn't matter what he was, she deserved some modicum of respect. The least he could do was ask before invading her personal space and frightening her soul from her body. She did not know the details of this new supernatural world she had found herself in, and she was unduly angry with Father Karras for putting her here. But be damned if she was going to be manhandled by a creature that looked at her like she'd ruined his day.
"This is your tower. You are not to leave it unaccompanied at any time," Caius cut her off. He motioned towards the door that led up onto a torrent. The stone was unforgiving and cold. When she was younger, she used to dream her life was a fairy tale. Now, it seemed, it would be. How unfortunate of her to be the princess locked up in a tower, waiting on prince charming to save her.
In her daydreams, she didn't wait for a man to rescue her. She always got bored of waiting, and took matters into her own hand. Rapunzel would buck up and climb down her own hair to escape her tower. Cinderalla would just say 'screw the lentils', pick up her broom, and run away to find her own way in life. If she was to be stuck living life like a dumb blonde waiting on prince charming, she'd rather be Elphaba, grab her broom and fly away to swear off anyone who tried to stop her. Let her be the Wicked Witch.
"You are not locking me up in there alone."
"You won't be alone," he answers and opens the door, gesturing for her to walk in. She narrows her eyes at him before looking down at the door handle. There was no lock, she realized with shock. It was a simple dark brass rounded knob without a key hole. She doubted vampires felt the need to lock anyone out. A new fear circled around her brain. A locked door wouldn't stop a vampire from breaking in. "You can either walk up on your own, or I can make you."
Dean felt her cheeks heat up again and it took all of her willpower not to crack him one in the face right then in there. The anger that rested just underneath her skin caused her to jerk forward, as if she had meant to actually punch him but had decided on a different course last second.
Just as she expected, the stone staircase wound up, and up, and up in a spiral to the top of the tower. Instead of one single window as she'd expected, the tower was ringed in them. They let in the natural sunlight, and caused the skin of the three vampires around her to glitter and glisten beautifully. The room wasn't rounded like from a Grimms fairy story, either. It was square, and large and made up of three rooms. The room they had come into was set with lavish furniture, and expensive drapes on either side of each window.
A dark crimson and gold theme made the place seem warm but not all that inviting. There were bookshelves shoved up against the wall filled with books, and other shelves held knick knacks and perfumes. There was a TV mounted to the wall, a small flat screen as they were brand new. Dean looked at it in wonder, as the only TV she had seen up until then was a box TV that the nuns would cart in to show some kind of life of Christ movie when they didn't feel like teaching Sunday School.
The wallpaper was a cream color, rimmed with gold runners that matched the golden leaf designs printed on the paper. The floor was carpeted in tightly woven red carpet, making her footsteps muffled as she walked into the room. There was a chaise lounge, a love seat, and arm chair, all matching gold backs with red cushioning in an antique design that felt too rich for her bottom to grace.
A small crystal chandelier dangled from the ceiling, casting rainbows across the room in the shape of hanging prisms, but they paled in comparison to the two women who stood in the middle of the room.
One of them had long brown hair that tumbled past her shoulders in gentle waves, a soft brow, and rosy lips glossed over with clear lip gloss. She was thin and curvy, her body highlighted by the black floor length, off the shoulder dress she wore. She did not smile at the girl. In fact, she looked at her with complete disdain and annoyance that took Dean by surprise.
The other woman was tall and had yellow hair that seemed to glow in the sunlight streaming from the windows. It was so bright that it seemed to cast shadows upon her perfect face. Her lips were blood red, a shock against the pale of her skin and hair and matched her eye color almost perfectly. She was curvy as well, and wore a red dress that also fell to the floor, but with black beading. Her expression was unreadable to Dean, but Caius could see the tightness around his wife's eyes and the corners of her mouth.
Athenadora and Sulpicia weren't any more happy to see Dean there than he was. He waited to see who would break the ice first. It certainly wasn't going to be him. He was almost underwhelmed when Dora plastered on a fake smile and took a step towards them. "Well, look who it is," she said. Caius shot her a look of warning that she ignored.
Dean tilted her head in curiosity, picking up the familiarity in the other woman's tone. "Excuse me?"
"You must be Dejanna," Dora continued, deciding to play along. "I am Athenadora, Caius' wife. And this is Sulpicia. Aro is her mate." She waved to the other woman who simply glowered back. "Forgive her...she's not excited to share our space with a human, but she won't hurt you."
"Aro said as much," Dean said and Dora nodded.
"Of course. And he always keeps his promises."
Caius sent her a look that promised pain later, but Dora smirked, welcoming the thought. All that meant was that he would be rougher with her than usual, and she loved it when the beast came out. It was one of the only good things about Deans arrival in their lives. After every first meeting, Caius was an absolute animal and she would be lucky if she wasn't replacing bricks in his bedroom later on. She couldn't wait.
"See to it that she's set up properly," Caius says after a tense moment, eyeing each of the women in the room with a forced look of boredom.
"Of course we will, my love," Dora purred, putting emphasis on the endearment. He ignored it, not in the mood to deal with her possessiveness. Not when every cell in his undead body was screaming at him not to leave Dean in there with them. When all he really wanted to do was take her to his room and lock her up there. To hold her and explain everything to her so that she would know exactly why he had to act the way he would to her.
He had to remind himself that even though he wore the love of his life's face, and had her same exact personality, she was not the same woman. She remembered nothing, and she couldn't. It would be too much for her fragile human brain, and he couldn't lose her like that.
Better she be a doll left on the shelf until he figured out what to do about her.
A/N: So I have a question you all will take the time to answer for me, as it will help me with the story going forward. Do you all like having Caius in just about every chapter, or should I space it out some? And what about her thinking of him? Obviously not every single thought would be centered around him, but I guess what I'm asking is how much is too much and how much is too little?
Other than that, I have a few chapters written up already and waiting to be edited to begin posting again. I have family visiting because I just graduated college so it's been a bit hectic. Thank you to all my readers and the lovely person who has left a comment for me. I adore you all!