Suddenly a shrill scream filled Volterra that froze the venom of both castle guards and masters alike. It was the scream of a terribly frightened lady, and as a general rule, the masters didn't like their ladies to be in that state.
It had been an evening much like any other, Aro had just enjoyed some soothing moments with his wife to prepare for the hours of coven budget discussion to come, Marcus had as usual been tending to his opium and seemed more frustrated than normal to be relieved of such happy activities, and Caius…
For months a joyful change had been made in the blonde master, he seemed lighter and his wife had been boasting about his recent attentiveness. His fighting skills hadn't taken a hit and he was obviously denying the out-of-nowhere happiness, with his life, but the change was noticeable enough.
"Maybe he's gone insane?" Aro suggested when word caught up with him
"Hmm" Marcus had moaned in agreement.
However, a temporary loss of sanity wasn't the reason for Caius' change of demeanor. The reason was that he simply wanted to. No matter what Demetri claimed, the coven master had a heart and a conscience, one that burned and ached with all his sins. A shift in the universe had occurred and suddenly his every misdeed had been eating him up inside.
Nights were usually restless for Caius Volturi but for the past few months, they had been unbearable. Where does one even begin to atone for one's actions? Well, naturally, where one could. It would have been exceedingly difficult, and honestly annoying, to dig up every one of Caius' victims and beg their dirt for forgiveness so he opted for begging for his wife's forgiveness instead. So he'd been a bit of a prick to his wife since they joined the Volturi more than 800 years ago, but to be honest, who could be an angel all of the time? Besides, Athenodora had certainly let him know it. But nevertheless, he had shamefully gone down on bended knees and begged her. And like she had done no time before, she forgave him.
Like soothing ointment on a wound, he seemed to grow less restless and disagreeable with every word of affirmation he got from her. He was somewhat at peace.
Sweaty hands clutched his throne as he let the last of, what he now registered as his wife's scream reverberate through the halls. Mishaps and small "dangers" weren't for masters to deal with, so they all stayed seated.
Her soft breath hitched in her throat as she staggered backward. The sight before her was unnatural, not like anything she had ever seen before.
Sitting in the foyer, tiny gloved hands folded neatly in her lap was a little girl. She had appeared so suddenly and without a sound that Athenodora wasn't even sure how long the girl had been there.
In reality, she wasn't that little. From the look of her slender hands and baby fat, she seemed around 15, or freshly 16. She was pale, so very pale that the older woman could just about see the painting that hung on the wall through her translucent face… the girl was ghostly in her appearance and whether they liked to be called phantoms or simply ghosts, Dora didn't know, but it was best not to breach the subject.
"What's the matter, my lady?!" Felix, the biggest strongest guard, asked startled
What could she say? I have been possessed by a little ghost baby? The Volturi lady had a feeling she would soon be sent a shaman or maybe some sort of priest if that was the explanation she gave, so she settled for the next best thing, pushing him out.
"I urgently request the assistance of my husband" She commanded
"Is there anything I can help you with, my lady?"
"No. Get him at once"
Tripping over his feet the oaf of a guard was soon out of sight, and out of mind.
The ghost child's face had been as smooth as glass with an expression of wanting and waiting, she was waiting for Athenodora to do something.
Normally, people didn't expect much of the older Volturi lady, the ladies sat, gossiped, fucked, but that was about it, occasionally Sulpicia would enjoy playing mommy with the youngest high guard but that was not because of any special order she had received to do so and therefore Dora was stumped. Would this child become her's now? She mused quietly, her sister in law often spoke about the joys of motherhood ( like she had birthed the damn fiends herself ) which usually caused the blonde to roll her eyes to the high heavens, but now that the reality had set in she was more than convinced that she would do a much better job than Sully. And Caius had been so lovely these past few weeks as well…
In Dora's mind the child was actually quite beautiful, as seen earlier she wore tiny lace gloves accompanied by a little dress with bows that suited her perfectly. Her hair was done in a do-up and her feet played innocently with the frills on the carpet.
"My name is Athenodora, but you can call me, Dora. What's your name?" She asked, careful to not startle the young one
Like a blank slate, the child just blinked, her sodden eyelashes and pouty lips disagreed with speaking such intimate details to a foreign woman. It was simply improper, and besides, she couldn't speak, not even if she wanted to.
"Can you write your name? Well, I guess you couldn't with quill and paper but what about…" Dora's eyes searched aimlessly until she found a silver tray "What if I fog this up, will you be able to write on it then?"
Agreeing, a little gloved finger rose.
E
U
R
Y
D
I
C
E
"Eurydice…" Athenodora breathed
Both she and Caius were full-blooded Greeks and had lived all their lives in Greece before finally meeting Aro, Didyme, Marcus ( and in turn Sulpicia ) and moving to Italy, so she was very well read up on the myth of Eurydice and Orpheus. Being so very pale with fine auburn hair she doubted the young girl was of Greek descent, rather thinking something along the lines of English, or maybe even Scandinavian, though it was difficult to see.
A sharp bang promptly interrupted them.
Almost slamming the door down, Caius entered with force, ready to take down whatever was causing his wife distress. After a minute he had allowed his eyes to take in the sight before him and that was near enough to make him turn on his heel and pretend he hadn't seen anything, because sitting on their parlor sofa was a young teenage girl, one he did not remember inviting back to his chambers.
"Caius! Calm down" His wife ordered
"How the hell am I supposed to calm down?! What the fuck is that child doing in our living room"
The hurried dialogue distressed the girl, pushing her back as far as her transparency would allow her, she watched Dora and Caius half screech at each other… About her. Life wasn't particularly kind to Eurydice, it had never been, but as soon as the girl had felt death release her from the confines of his land she promised to never let herself feel unwanted again.
The woman seemed nice enough, like she wanted to help, maybe she did, but the man was full of ill will and acted feverishly. Eurydice didn't like him and she had made up her mind.
Being a phantom disappearance came easily, her body would phase and mold itself onto whatever surface she wanted causing her to move seamlessly around the world, and that's what she did. Moving carefully she adapted to the wall, melting into it, and just like that she had left the couple.
"Are you fucking with me?! I've been so kind too! And this is what I get?!" Caius said throwing his hands into the air
Casting a glance toward the seat where the little one sat Athenodoras eyes went wide.
"Caius…"
"What?!"
Dora had to take some steps closer to ensure she wasn't seeing things but when she had she was sure, Eurydice was gone.
"The girl. We lost the girl"
He honestly couldn't do anything but laugh, Caius was sure it was a piss-take at this point, first, it seemed they couldn't get rid of the damned infant, and now they can't find her. In his mind that was a problem solved. But that type of thinking was quickly shut down by a sharp slap to the arm.
"We are just going to have to look for her" Dora constituted, there was no other choice.
"Do I look like a ghost hunter to you, woman?!"
"No, but you'd better pray you have a natural talent for it, or we'll be looking all night"
The brick walls of Volterra castle looked safe enough, Eurydice thought to herself as she moved aimlessly through empty room after empty room. She hadn't been a ghost for long, promise! But she had already gotten a knack for all the ghostly activities one would find useful as a ghost, she could phase, well very, it was sort of her specialty, and she could disappear and reappear at a moment's notice. Looking back she felt almost bashful at how she had shown herself to the older woman, but the young one just couldn't help it. Athenodora was beautiful, with long platinum blond hair and dangerous eyes she had been like a siren or like a cookie jar to a toddler, irresistible. Along with beauty she and her husband were fierce people NOT to be messed with and that had intrigued both Death and Eurydice, so much so that he had let her pursue them.
Although that seemed like it had been quite the mistake.
"No, you must change, you haven't a clean spot on that suit, young lady" A woman spoke.
"I know you worry, Sulpicia, but you really don't have to," A young girl answered "Besides it'll only become dirty again if I change before my shift is over"
An ache soon began to grow within the phantom child's chest, Eurydice would have given an invisible arm and a leg for someone to care that much about what she wore, what she ate, or where she was, but alas, no one did and they never would.
At least that was what the ghost youth thought.
Groaning with each step, Caius was damn near smashing his skull against every tempting pillar that he and his wife passed. This was certainly not his idea of fun, the search for the girl had already taken up way too much time of their lives and he was not very keen on it taking more.
"Pss, Pss, Pss" He called, a little as though he were searching for a cat.
"Seriously? She's not a kitten. Eurydice!" Athenodora called out
"Maybe she left? Huh, maybe she didn't want to spend the rest of her days stuck in this castle and flew her arse out"
The thought had struck Dora once or twice throughout their search, maybe the little ghost girl had become much too frightened by her and Caius and because of that, she had blown her shot at companionship. Her feet were hurting, her mind was racing, and her husband was acting like an immature man-child but if there were two things many had applauded her on, both during her human life and her vampire life, it was her resilience and her determination. She was going to see this look out through.
Carefully and ever so slightly, Eurydice stuck her little porcelain face into the room where the woman and the teenager stood, costume in hand the woman looked slightly defeated like she had been trying to get the bull-headed youngster into a fresh set of clothing way before Eurydice arrived. What a little brat, the ghost thought, I ought to push her around a bit to see how she likes it.
Phantoms like her could move things if they had to, but it was a tiresome affair, and she had to put her entire weight into it, she only did it if she had a really good reason, and teaching ungrateful brats to show some respect was one of those really good reasons. She took a slow deep breath in and a deep breath out to steady herself, pushing a little air around to test her abilities, just as she was about to progress the other girl made a move forward, grabbing the elder's hands in her own.
"Would it make you happy if I changed?" She asked, looking "Sulpicia" in her soft maternal eyes
"Yes, Jane it would. Honestly, I'm just trying to look out for you two, is that so bad?"
Shaking her head no, Jane stood up on her very tiptoes and pressed a delicate kiss to her mother figure's cheek.
Alright, maybe it was just a little spat, children and parents have those, the phantom thought to herself. Still, the dull thump of disappointment at her own ( hoped ) mother figure's reaction upon her arrival stung a bit too much to handle any more of Jane and Sulpicia's discourse, so once again she found herself traversing downward through the castle walls until she was met with new voices.
"No I'm just saying, that's a stupid question"
In a dungeon-looking hole in the wall a floor down, there were two young men sitting and talking over a goblet of wine. On one side of the table sat, who Eurydice recognized from earlier, a muscular man with a mop of un-neat brown hair, and parallel to him was a slimmer man with ash blonde hair. Upon first inspection, the blonde looked annoyed while the brunette seemed frustrated. They must be arguing about something, the ghost assessed.
"Answer my question, Dem," He said, raising his eyebrow and drinking a big gulp.
"It's dumb, Felix. No one is walking around with no ass or no boobs, how would she sit without an ass, smart guy? So, there is literally no reason for me to even answer this-" The blonde replied heatedly.
Scrunching her face up a bit, Eurydice felt shocked by the conversation topic. But to be fair to the smaller one, no one would be walking around with no posterior so he had no reason to answer.
"You mean you have no preference? Also, this is hypothetical, do you know what that means?"
"It's not about one or the other, it's about balance and personality"
Leaping from his seat, Felix met Dem on the other side of the table. And much like she thought someone had done to him ( considering the state of his locks ) the bigger man rubbed his closed fist on the smaller one's head, effectively messing up his hair. However the latter of the two didn't take this lying down and quickly slapped the oaf's hand away.
Anyone who met Felix and Demetri would testify that they were as close as brothers, even the odd person would say they were brothers, and the only thing that made people think twice about their blood relation was the fact that they looked so different. Honestly, as different as two men could look, they were night and day, dogs and cats, yet there was still a strong spark of fraternity between them. Based on the way they carried themselves you could see that both of them were very intelligent and cultured, just going off the short conversation she had heard though, Felix seemed like the most funny and relaxed of the two, while Demetri seemed to like to think things through and evaluate every action before it was taken.
Both good qualities, Eurydice agreed.
Taking her little ghost self yet another floor down she was met with a similar conversation as the one she had witnessed between the mother and daughter in the highest tower apartment.
"What will become of you, Alec?" A calm baritone voice spoke
"I'm sorry, master, I didn't mean to lose my temper-"
"You never mean to do anything, do you? It all just sort of happens with you" A quicker voice continued the harassing.
The boy looked sad, Eurydice could say that much, he looked close to tears even. Swiping at the tiny drops that managed to escape, she began thinking of what he possibly could have done to warrant such a nasty telling-off. She wasn't sensitive, per se, but if anyone spoke to her like that, without even a mother present for defense, she would pack her ghost bags and never return.
"Dry it up," The quick one said grabbing the boy's chin aggressively "You may leave, Marcus, if he wants to act like a child then he can weep alone"
Translucent red began spreading down the phantom girl's face as she tried to process the, quite frankly, embarrassing scene in front of her. Why would he humiliate the boy like that? What gave him the right? Important man or not she couldn't help but shake with anger for the child.
Leaving with swishing steps, Marcus seemed to have no more energy for the scene in front of him. Now, Eurydice had never been quick to judge a person solely based on a first encounter,( maybe that's what led to her family's demise?) and she wasn't going to start now, but so far neither of the men seemed very pleasant. Marcus was nonchalant and it was clear he wanted to be anywhere but there, and the other, so far nameless one, was rude and manipulative.
"What's the matter with you?!" The last man standing hissed at the boy "How dare you insult us like that? Caius may leave if he so pleases, you do not! Remember your standing and your place in this coven"
Taking a seat opposite the boy he looked menacingly at him. Speaking of the boy, almost all bits of his dignity were now lost, what had started as sniffles and the occasional tear had now turned into full-on sobbing.
"I-I'm sorry, Master Aro, I-I-It wasn't…" He trailed off, his sentences becoming more and more incoherent
Aro simply shook his head and grabbed a hold of the child's arm. As an on-looker, this seemed to the phantom quite a strange move, and they looked to be almost conversing. Silence filled the air until the older man pulled the boy onto his lap, embracing him.
"I-It was a bad day! I'm s-sorry, It won't happen again!" Alec wailed, hugging his master closer
"Shh, what is done, is done" He answered, stroking the child's back, caressing his thin frame.
It wasn't quite as emotional from the older master's side as it could have been, but there was still an air of paternal love, quite similar to the actions of the woman and the girl, who Eurydice clocked looked strangely similar to the boy.
The room was equipped with a window that was now raining in the cold dark of twilight and just then it hit the ghost, all day she had been running. She had been running far and wide, from wall to wall and room to room to escape Athenodora and Caius, would they be looking for her? Would she at the end of this day be swept in the same loving hold Alec was? No, she wouldn't. It was a brisk October night and she was just as lost as when she had begun this day.
Dropping onto the floor, Dora was officially exhausted. Her fashionable dress scraped against the cold tiles and dirt, but she just didn't have the capacity to care. She was never the sentimental type, but as soon as she hit the floor a hot flood of emotion fled down her cheeks. She had hoped and wished so hard that the young one would return but as the day finally came to an end it wasn't looking so promising anymore. Sure, she had Caius, he was kind when the moment called for it, and ruthless the other times, just like she wanted. But he was also distant, and most importantly, busy. The truth was, she was most often lonely, maybe not always alone, but lonely nonetheless, and the thought of maybe having something, someone, to herself, someone to love, had filled her with a feeling she didn't allow herself to have very often, happiness. But that was all gone now, which meant she was forever stuck sowing by herself or keeping her polite acquaintance with Sulpicia alive.
"I'm sorry, Dora, love. Let's go home" Caius said, putting a cold hand around her bony shoulder.
"I wanted her to come back so bad… Did we not search enough?" She cried
Ghost's hearts didn't beat, and neither did vampire's, or at least not that Eurydice knew, but she could have sworn in that moment that her and Dora's hearts drummed the same rhythm and that they bled together. Love was potent in Volterra castle, whether that was spousal love, like Dora and Caius, paternal love, like Aro and Alec, maternal love, like Jane and Sulpicia, or brotherly love, like Felix and Demetri, it was nevertheless flowing all around. That sort of adoration was scarce in the human world and non-existent in the kingdom of death, so much so that Eurydice could have sworn she wouldn't recognize it from a mile away and that she had altogether forgotten love.
If she had indeed forgotten love, she discovered it anew right this moment. The Volturi lady on her knees with her husband by her side had caused small cotton-like tears to make their way down the child's cheek. They deserved her, she was sure now, and just as sure as she had been when she left the couple she slowly allowed herself to phase from the wall and reappear.
A ghost's job was to watch, never act, never speak, this had been her job since her creation, to be a statuette, or a tree in someone else's story and she had often knelt by death's throne and asked politely when she would get her own story. Usually, he would just chuckle quietly and send her on her way, and her heart would ache as she watched the parents with their newborn or a mother cradling her crying child knowing that she would never have that, never be loved.
On the rare occasion that someone saw her, they would probably scream and run on their merry way, but normally no one saw her, except, Dora did. Dora saw her now.
"Eurydice?" She whispered as a tiny foot and a miniature gloved hand began appearing
The ghost child had a plan to show herself slowly, with the head last ( if she hadn't composed herself yet ) but as the lady rose to her feet, bowing ever so slightly to get a better look at the phantom, the young one just couldn't compose herself.
With arms wide open, Dora suddenly had a hug full of child in her arms, or more like just about hovering above them, but it appeased her nevertheless.
"My baby, where have you been?"
Pulling away a bit from the older woman she suddenly cursed her inability to speak, but just as she spoke to non-telepaths hand gestures would simply have to do. Tears still covering her cheeks she processed Dora's question and ended with a little shrug to indicate she had been everywhere and nowhere at the same time.
This amused the couple as even Caius let out a barely audible chuckle, and from the not-so-flattering scene he had caused a couple of hours ago, this was a huge step from it.
Composing herself Dora regained her sense of direction and opted for introducing her husband and the child phantom.
"This, as you might have picked up on, is Caius" She spoke softly.
Seeing this as his cue to do… something, anything, he raised his hand to take Eurydice's, and just as he did the delicate whisper that was her hand passed through his.
"Oh…"
Sensing that she might have shocked the blonde master just a tad, she looked to her new mother for some instruction.
"Caius, she's a…" Promptly Dora stopped the word from escaping her mouth as she wasn't quite sure what the child was, let alone wanted to be called "My dear, are you a ghost?"
Bobbing her gray-ish-auburn head with vigor, Eurydice agreed to let that stamp be placed on her, it didn't hurt anyone, and anything that would clear up her existence for her new family worked just fine with the girl. Truth be told she wasn't quite sure what she was, people didn't really have any titles like that in the kingdom, it was just death and the unfortunate.
"So she can't carve pumpkins?" Caius asked, literally his only idea of 'family fun' as his wife put it, going out the window
Eyes wide like saucers, Eurydice began cursing her gifts again, as All Hallows eve activities always cheered her up.
"Hmm, I think we could remedy that"
The fire crackled pleasantly, casting a familiar glow across the Volturi chambers, and just like Dora said she had managed to find a way to incorporate even the non-corporeal into their Halloween fun.
"What do you say, Eurydice, does it look good?" She asked, holding Caius' deformed pumpkin eye carving
"Like you even need to ask, it looks fucking amazing, I swear, dig up some old artist and show them this, they will cry"
"I just love how humble you are, it's a really charming attribute"
Getting closer to the fogged-up tray, the child added her two cents to the conversation.
I've seen better.
"Cocky little brat, you were the one who instructed me" He retaliated.
It was true, but you can't blame her for his lack of knowledge of how to follow instructions. Rolling her eyes she erased her previous message in favor of a kinder one.
I love you two.
A/N: Just a little story to celebrate the start of spooky season, I absolutely love Eurydice and this entire idea so while it remains for now as a one-shot I might expand it later. I'm also thinking about adding a Halloween chapter to "Third periods history" as fall is my favorite season ( who could have guessed? ). Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this tiny peek inside the castle walls of Volterra.
