Chapter 5

The morning sunlight roused Bella from her exhausted slumber. Rolling onto her side, she pressed her nose deeper into the softness of her pillow. Just as the day prior, the heady brush of spice tickled her nose. Peeking open an eye, she glanced around her bed for its source and she pulled the guest pillow closer to her to take in several greedy inhales of the aroma coating it. Wrapped her arms loosely around the pillow, she allowed her senses to relax, however, a knock on her door pulled her from her lulled demeanor.

Sitting up reluctantly, she placed the pillow back into its original spot beside her own. Her eyebrows furrowed marginally at the light creasing on top of the plush duvet beside her. Running her fingertips over the folds, she leaned forward to sniff at the area before the knocking at her door rang out once more. Flipping the covers off her legs, she quickly slipped her arms through her discarded robe and tied it securely in the front. Brushing her fingers through her hair in an attempt to detangle the knotted mess, she caught sight of the elaborate floral display on her dining table. Inching forward, she peered at the assortment of freshly cut burgundy and lavender roses displayed in the etched crystal vase. The blooms had not been in her room the night before when she went to sleep, and her stomach twisted at the idea of someone being in her room while she was defencelessly sleeping.

Making her way to the door, she pulled it open to see Alec standing in the hall with a wry smile while lifting the covered food tray in a wordless offering. Giving a responding smile with a slight roll of her eyes, she stepped back to open the door a bit wider and swept her arm to the side in the invitation to enter.

"Good morning, Alec. Um, quick question. Did you perhaps bring in those roses earlier?"

Alec glanced at her curiously before turning his head to the tabletop situated in front of the large window. His eyebrows inched slightly higher on his forehead as he approached to set the tray lightly on its polished surface to breathe in the distinctive scent. She waited anxiously as she watched him before Alec shook his head in a negative.

"No, I didn't bring the flowers."

"Oh, can you tell who did?"

Alec stared at her from the corner of his eye before he lifted a single shoulder in a halfhearted shrug and removed the cloche from her waiting meal. His eyes fell away from hers as he arranged her dish and napkin at her seat.

"It's too faint to be sure. Could have been one of the servants."

Bella's brown eyes narrowed at his response and couldn't help feeling like he was deflecting giving her a truthful answer but did not have the mental capacity to fight at the moment. Sighing lowly, she sunk into the cushioned seat to study the procured powdered pastries with a frothy cappuccino.

"Is this a croissant?"

Alec pulled his eyes away from his survey of the 'mysterious' flowers centered on the table to answer her question as he reclined back in his own chair to watch her lift the pastry to look at it. His red eyes shifting from her wrapped wrist that reached forward for the linen napkin to her forehead was difficult to read and Bella was interested to know what the youth was thinking. As she went to ask, Alec met her eyes with a mild grin.

"Not quite, they are cornetti. Similar to croissants, the Italian version typically has fillings of some kind. I wasn't sure what you liked so I got you a raspberry and Nutella one."

"Where did you get them from?"

"The bakery off of the main street. The humans rave about the quality so I hope they are to your satisfaction."

The hilarious mental picture of Alec standing in a long line at the local pastry shop to buy her breakfast caused her to giggle which she attempted to hide behind her napkin.

"You bought them personally?"

Alec focused on her for a moment in mild bafflement at the point of her question before he grasped that she was teasing him and he raised a single eyebrow with a playfully mocking glare.

"Of course not! Never will I reduce myself to such undistinguishable tasks!"

A toothy grin broke his annoyed facade as folded his arms across his chest.

"I sent Gianna."

She let out a laugh before she thanked him and started on her meal. She finished off both pastries fairly quickly and carefully sipped at the hot beverage as she watched Alec cast his eyes around the room appearing to look for something.

"Is something wrong?"

The youthful vampire gave a distracted shake of his head before turning to face her once more. Placing his elbow on the arm of his chair, he rested his chin in his palm as he regarded her.

"Nothing is wrong. What are your plans for the day?"

Chewing softly on her bottom lip, she rubbed the sides of the hot cup in her hand with her thumbs as she debated what to say.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. I'm still quite tired."

Alec hummed low in his throat while tapping his foot idly against the floor. His usual gray uniform had been exchanged that day for a long-sleeved black sweater and dark gray slacks. It was unusual for Bella to see him dressed so casually, after days of only seeing him in his uniform, though it did make him appear slightly older than usual.

"I could escort you to the gardens, or perhaps the library. I will be leaving shortly to pick up Jane and Santiago from the airport so I will be gone for a little while."

Bella felt like avoiding another encounter with the quiet, enigmatic Volturi king from the day before if possible, and finding some books seemed like a decent way to pass the time.

"The library would be nice. I don't quite feel like going to the garden right now."

Alec nodded his head before he arose and turned toward the door.

"I will give you a minute to ready yourself. I will be back momentarily."

After the boy's departure, Bella went to the armoire to pull out a pair of khaki slacks before slipping a pale blue blouse over her head. Brushing her hair as best she could, careful to avoid her stitches, she pulled it into a low ponytail before she called out to Alec that she was ready.

The door opened instantly and Alec proceeded toward her before turning to the side to offer his elbow. Bella stared at the arm blankly for a brief moment before comprehending that he was offering to physically escort her. Smoothing down her top, she looped her hand through his arm to rest in the bend. After a quick glance over her wrist and forehead once more, Alec nodded in assent before he guided her out of the suite.

They traveled in companionable silence down multiple hallways. They even once passed a couple nameless vampires who had paused their conversation to stare at the unexpected couple in thinly veiled disbelief before a stern look thrown by Alec had them continuing on their way hastily. After a couple more turns in the maze of hallways, they finally reached a pair of massive black doors that reached from the floor to the high ceiling. Alec opened the door easily before steering Bella into the vast room. The room was breathtaking in its antiquity. Books of various colors lined hundreds of shelves on the first floor, and a scattering of long polished desks, luxurious couches, and lavish chairs decorated the open floor plan before leading up to a wide marbled staircase that provided access to the second floor that was equally bursting with varicolored literature. Several great tapestries adorned any open space on the walls, each illustrating fantastical renditions of battles, animals, and lush countryside. To the far side were towering portraits of the three kings in all their regal splendor. Wandering a few steps from Alec, Bella couldn't help her lips from parting in amazement at the sheer amount of books. She had never seen anything that could compare to the room.

Alec's knowing laugh from behind broke her from her appreciation of the fine architecture and he sided up to her with his hands folded behind his back.

"The Masters are very passionate about the arts, including history and literature. Masters Aro and Marcus are avid book collectors and the majority of these texts were personally obtained by them. You will find several writings that are no longer in circulation among the public. Feel free to read whatever you wish, just be careful of the hand-sewn tomes on the second floor. They are quite fragile and mean a lot to Master Marcus. If you have no further need of me, I will excuse myself to retrieve my sister and coven mate."

"I am fine Alec. Thank you for bringing me here while you are busy."

An easy smile lifted the corner of Alec's lips before he bowed his head nominally in her direction and exited.

Alone in the colossal room, she breathed in the scent of the aged tombs that starkly reminded her of her first meeting with Aro in the throne room days prior. The same faded notes of ink and paper had clung to his frame along with the addictive spice as he had crowded around her. Even now, Bella could close her eyes and recall the sensation of long lithe fingers sliding into her dark hair, the brush of his nose along her jawline to press softly against her rapid pulse underneath her ear to breathe her in deeply. The heady pulse in her lower stomach along with the nagging return of the restless energy in her chest caused her to release a shaky breath with a shake of her head to clear the fog that had accumulated.

Wandering along the aged books, she drew her fingers along their spines in her perusal. Many were in various languages, so it was difficult for her to determine the content of the text though she was able to locate an interesting handwritten paperback discussing vampiric lore through the centuries. It appeared to be half written in Italian though there were several English excerpts among the pages. Tucking it carefully against her chest, she sat at one of the empty desks to read.

The library door opening abruptly caused her to jump in her seat, her hand raised to cover her rapidly beating heart in her fright. The disgruntled form of Caius prowled through the now open door, muttering under his breath as he typed away furiously at the cell phone he held in his hand. Gone was the long black cloak and business attire from the throne room and instead, the pale man before her now donned business casual black slacks, a red turtle neck with a slightly overlarge black cardigan over it along with the characteristic Volturi medallion hanging centered across his slender chest. The Volturi king's icy blond hair had been pulled back with a black cord and, of all things, a pair of thin-rimmed glasses were perched on top of his straight nose. The king looked more like a university professor than a part of the ruling trio of the vampiric race and Bella couldn't help blinking at him owlishly as he finally took notice of her petite form.

"What the hell?! What are you doing in here?"

The man's aggrieved voice caused her to shift uneasily in her chair. His polished shoes were silent as he stalked up to her table to peer down at her as he awaited an answer to his demanded question. In his closer proximity, Bella noticed the blue contacts that Caius wore and the curious thought of whether he had blue eyes when he was human came to the forefront of her mind before she shoved it away. She stuttered to produce an intelligent response as he crossed his arms in front of him and studied her in clear distaste.

"I…I was just…Alec brought me here to find some books."

Caius scoffed loudly before he rolled his eyes exaggeratedly at her jumbled reply. He glared down at her intensely before he pivoted away from her to a nearby shelf to pull several gigantic textbooks from the rack before crossing the room to place the tombs carefully on its surface then proceeding to another shelf to collect additional literature. She watched him silently do this several times before her attention was drawn to the tapestry hung above his selected work area. The woven surface depicted grotesquely formed creatures resembling wolves walking upright and fighting against several armed warriors. The centered blonde figure featured on the tapestry holding the severed head of a larger beast bared a striking resemblance to the Volturi king below it who had slipped off the thin glasses which he tucked in a cardigan pocket before he flipped open one of the many books on the desk to start jotting down information in a small journal he had pulled from his coat.

She watched the vampire lord for another long moment in tense silence before she worked up the courage to break the tentative truce that had befallen between them.

"What are those?"

Caius' currently blue eyes flicked up at her in annoyance as he loudly shut his textbook before pulling another closer to him to open that one to a various chapter.

"What is what?"

Bella pointed at the large depiction above him and the pale man glanced over his shoulder at the tapestry with clear abhorrence. Bella could see the stiffening of his shoulders even from her position at the opposite table of the room. If she didn't know better she would have sworn the King's hands were trembling slightly as he abruptly turned back to his work with a low grunt.

"They are werewolves. The proclaimed, "Children of the Moon" are ignorant, abhorrent filth that attacks indiscriminately and drives anything in their vicinity to ruin. They were eradicated a couple centuries ago. Good riddance."

Bella frowned at his spat response, which she should have realized was a good point to stop the conversation, as she looked closer at the creatures. They were quite different from the shapeshifters on the reserve. These things had grotesquely shaped arms and legs, elongated torsos, with misshapen heads similar to a wolf, though they clearly differed from the beautiful, large wolves that Jacob and the pack could transform into.

"They usually walk on all fours, don't they? They don't look like any I have seen."

Caius' body froze completely before Bella was fumbling backward in her chair as the vampire suddenly appeared in front of her. The vampire had gripped the back of her chair to prevent it from tumbling over and Bella could hear the splintering of the wood behind her as he tightened his hand. He was nearly nose to nose with her and Bella was terrified to even breathe as she stared back at him in wild panic. The venom in his eyes was quickly disintegrating the blue contacts and the appearing red streaks contrasted greatly within his enraged eyes. His voice was but a deathly whisper as he grounded out his questions through tightly clenched teeth.

"How would you know anything about them?! What have you seen?"

Bella realized her careless comment had triggered something in the murderous vampire and she knew that she could never let the man in front of her know of her friends in the pack back home. She wouldn't put it past the guy to hop on the nearest plane to go 'eradicate' them as well despite appearing to be something completely different.

"Nothing! I haven't seen anything! It's just…I thought they would walk like normal wolves. Like on all four legs! We saw timber wolves all the time back home in the woods."

Caius drew his face back slightly at her rambling answer though he kept his grip tight on her seat. He studied her expression for several more moments before he straightened himself completely and released her chair which landed back on its front two legs with a resonating echo in the large room. Running long fingers down his cardigan to straighten any perceived wrinkles, his demeanor switched jarringly and he then threw her a condescending smirk with thinly veiled hostility.

"I hear someone decided to go on a fun-filled stroll last night. I must say, it is very hypocritical of you to judge us for killing people when it seems alright for you to do so."

Bella felt as if she had been punched square in the gut, the air escaping her lungs, and she doubled over slightly to draw in a shaky breath. Fresh memories of the putrid smell of alcohol, laughing voices, and warm blood filtered through her mind's eye and her stomach rolled. Her breathing turned choppy as she tried to calm herself enough to respond.

"I was trying to survive."

The vampire smiled as he tilted his head in amusement at her argument, his pale hair which had come loose from its cord, cascaded over his slim shoulder to reflect in the minimal sunlight trickling in from the various small windows adorning the upper walls. Bella was stunned silent, as he extended those alabaster fingers forward to tenderly lift a lock of her dark hair upwards towards his nose to take a long inhale. Releasing the strands to slip gently through his long fingers, he reached for her again though this time carefully caressed the stitches on her temple. Not sure what was going on and worried about enraging the man further, Bella opened her mouth hesitantly to question him as sudden, white-hot pain exploded from her wound. She couldn't stop the small screech that slipped past her lips as she attempted to jerk her head away from the pain. However, Caius held her head firm in his grip as he dug his thumb further into her stitches, breaking through the sutures, and causing fresh blood to well up to slip down her face.

"So am I."

Finally allowing her to pull away, Bella pressed a quivering hand to her bleeding temple as she awkwardly staggered to her feet to back away from the sadistic man. His smile was almost tender as he lifted his thumb, coated in her blood, to his lips and gave it a languid swipe of his tongue. Bella could only watch the disturbing action mesmerized as folded his hands behind his back before leaning back towards her.

"Funny, our reasoning doesn't seem so different".

His tongue once more dragged against his full bottom lip as if savoring another taste of her before squaring his shoulders and pivoting back to his desk to collect his discarded books. He drew his gaze to the nearby portraits of the individual kings to smile up at Aro's motionless visage before turning to glance back at the trembling Bella with a wicked smirk.

"I certainly don't see anything special."

Releasing a mocking chuckle, he elbowed open the vast library's doors and silently slipped away back into the hall.

Pressing her shaking hand to her head to prevent the blood from dripping onto the priceless pages of the book below her, she closed the tomb and cradled it in her arm as she also quickly made her way to the door.

Just had to provoke him! Now look what happened! Jerk…

She quietly made her way down the hall in the direction she and Alec traveled earlier. The flow of blood had ebbed enough for her to drop her hand to her side and she debated how she would be able to get her injury looked at with Alec gone and Heidi who knows where.

Turning the corner, Bella stopped short at the sight of the lapels of the black business suit nearly touching her nose. Trying to focus on what was in front of her, her vision crossed before she took a couple awkward steps back to see who had intercepted her, and her breath lodged in her chest.

Aro, in all his eccentric glory, was standing before her with hands clasped in front of him with a toothy smile. His attire for today was similar to when she last saw him, the dark fabrics accentuating his tall, lithe frame with small accents of crimson here and there that resembled his garnet-hued eyes which were currently staring at her in eager observation with a barely notable tilt to his head.

"Oh my! La mia Isabella! What has happened to your beautiful face?"

A deep flush flooded her pale cheeks as she nervously glanced away from his inquiring eyes which were leaning closer. The swirling energy twisted restlessly in her chest at his proximity and Bella could almost feel the electrical current pulsating between them.

She nearly choked on her own saliva as icy cold fingers brushed tenderly against her chin to turn her face back towards Aro. His expression was unreadable as he delicately examined her wound before reaching into an inner pocket to produce an equally red handkerchief which he placed gingerly on top.

"It seems you had a run-in with my brother. Please you will have to excuse him, he does have quite the volatile tendencies when he is upset. I am afraid that some charts of his got damaged recently and he must recreate them. Such a silly thing to be upset over! Un tale carattere! But anyway, come! We must have you patched up!"

Wasn't he the one who messed them up?

Before Bella could reply, Aro was looping her arm carefully around his own to sit snugly in the groove of his elbow with his own much larger hand situated on top as he started leisurely strolling in the opposite direction.

That heady spice that seemed to pour off of him quickly stupefied her senses and Bella felt a wave of content flood her mind so potent that she could feel her eyes drooping slightly as her muscles started to relax.

"But…my room…my room is the other way by the garden."

Aro's rumbling laugh reverberated in her mind as he caressed her hand with his long fingers. He dipped his dark head down toward her, causing his dark tresses to frame the contours of his face. His already deep voice pitched lower as he playfully drew abstract figures on the back of her hand.

"Of course, but my quarters are much closer and I am impatient to see your wound taken care of properly. However, if you are uncomfortable, I can escort you to your suite."

Bella knew she should refuse him. She knew that she should request to go back to her room and have Heidi restitch her. Yet, she couldn't get the words to form in her throat. His beguiling voice silently tempted her to follow him and his red eyes, framed by those dark long lashes, hinted at something that Bella couldn't quite name. Her mouth parted to wet her lips hesitantly and she watched those alluring eyes drop to focus on the nervous movement. In a breathy voice, Bella was finally able to gather her thoughts enough to politely decline his request and ask for his escort to her room.

"Yours is fine."

What the hell, Bella?!

Italian Translations:

La mia Isabella!-My Isabella!

Un tale carattere!-Such a temper!