A/N - Sorry for the long wait! Will try to get these out monthly or better, but don't want to make promises. Life has a way of catching you up - plus I've been thoroughly enjoying Hazy Shade of Winter by FictionReader45, a fabulous 'super Bella' story that I recommend to anyone who wants something a little different! I don't think I've ever smiled as much reading a story as this one."
So, here we go - last time we left you, Bella had just been fighting alongside Steve and Tony in Germany, where Loki had gone to steal the Iridium he needed to hold the portal open.
Previously:
Then, just beyond it, she saw a streaky blur approaching their position at a fast clip, barreling down towards Loki and Steve who had now separated and were watching the sky with cautious eyes.
The blur slowed, resolving into the yellow and red armor of Iron Man who pulled up while still about thirty feet up. A blast of yellow light erupted from his hands, impacting straight into Loki and sending him sprawling onto the pavement. Iron Mans' jet boots flared, and he lowered down to float just next to Steve, his arms pointed at Loki.
Bella had never heard his voice while he was wearing the armor before, and she was impressed with how deep and menacing it sounded through the suit's amplification. "You're move, Reindeer Games," he growled.
Chapter 30: A Perilous Wait
Over the next few minutes, the square was swarming with SHIELD agents and local law enforcement, though the latter appeared uneasy whenever they got too close to the smirking Loki. Despite him being currently surrounded by and under the heavy glare of some of the most intimidating figures in the world, he looked far too at ease to make Bella relax even for a moment.
As more cars arrived, the scene was one of controlled chaos, with sirens blaring and police belting out directions to the crowd on megaphones in terse German. Thankfully, Bella stayed clear of most of it, getting her arm treated by one of the medics SHIELD had brought along and finally getting away from Loki, who kept giving her appraising glances, his eyes following her as she walked away from him. It took a few more minutes to get everyone situated and Loki cuffed and secured before Steve and Tony began to steer him towards the Quinet, and the police perimeter had extended outward several hundred feet.
It appeared that, finally, the night's action had come to a close, and Bella finally let out a long breath.
A moment later she realized that she was being premature, when suddenly, the sound of gunfire came from somewhere close by, and screaming again erupted from the crowd at the perimeter.
Dropping into a crouch, Bella's eyes turned towards where the screaming was the loudest, spotting a lone gunman standing on the steps near the entranceway to the building, spraying fire from a large automatic weapon towards the police lines. Her mouth opened in horror as she saw several go down hard, bits of their jackets and what could only be blood spraying on the cars behind them. Bella ducked low, and began to move in that direction, her wand already coming up as her eyes stayed trained on her target. A quick glance to her left saw Steve - looking conflicted, with a death grip on Loki's arm even as he stared at the gunman - clearly wanting to help but desperate to contain Loki, who was the more serious threat.
Bella's eyes made brief contact with Loki's - his eyes glowing as they stared at her from the ramp of the Quinjet, as if challenging her on what she was going to do - and she made the only decision she could. Taking a deep breath, she shouted; "Steve, go! Get Loki away! I've got this!" She didn't wait for a response, as she dashed forward towards the thrall even as he ducked behind a marble facade as a few shots from the police ricocheted near his position, sending spalls of marble skittering away with deep pings.
Checking her angles, Bella dashed for cover behind a statue, her shield forming up in front of her. Another pause, and another dash, even as gunfire was spraying closer to her as the gunman turned towards her. As Bella got a good look at him from her protected perch, she saw his blue tinted eyes devoid of emotion as he fully aimed his gun at her while shielding himself behind a stone column from the now constant fire from the police line.
Bella's wand made a fast circle, her shield doubling up, shimmering in a half-dome a dozen feet in front of her position. It was just in time, too, as a cascade of bullets impacted it a moment later, careening away in a shower of golden sparks as they failed to penetrate. She grit her teeth as she moved steadily forward, more and more bullets thudding against her shield, which held steady despite the constant fire. She was waiting for the 'click' of the empty magazine, and then she would drop the shield and put him down.
Suddenly, somewhere to her left, a loud 'crack' echoed thunderously across the square, even louder than the cacophony of automatic weapons fire that rung out from the police line and the thrall. Even before she could fully turn to assess this new, possible threat, the gunman was suddenly hoisted off the ground in a violent jerking motion, the gun flying violently out of his hands and tossed aside like a piece of refuse. A sudden red flash of light slammed into the man's chest, halting his forward motion and upending him end over end, tossing him back onto the steps of the building into a crumpled heap.
Bella blinked a few times as ropes suddenly appeared, and the thrall was trussed up and hogtied. She turned her eyes to her unexpected ally, and her breath left her in a whoosh as she saw Harry standing there, his eyes glowing with power - brighter than Loki's even - his expression one of simmering anger. His heavy gaze scanned the grounds, taking it all in with just one brief pass; the terrified civilians, the police who were just now rising from cover with their guns still drawn, Steve and Tony standing off near the Quinet with a tall figure who made his jaw tighten.
There was Loki - standing tall with a mocking smile on his face - and Harry's hand flexed on his wand, wanting so very badly to do violence to the Asgardian who was causing them so much grief.
Harry's eyes didn't waver as he and Loki got into a stare down, and it wasn't until Steve hurried Loki into the Quinjet that Harry finally let his breath escape, his wand falling to his side. He turned towards Bella, who was slowly walking over to him, her expression a mix of shock and concern. Looking her over anxiously he stepped closer, his left hand coming up and gently squeezing her upper arm.
When she moved into his embrace, he holstered his wand and let his right arm surround her, holding her close. With a softer voice than he was actually feeling, he looked down at the crown of her head as she pressed herself against him. "You okay?"
She swallowed, realizing that, despite her heart thudding in her chest and her adrenaline sky high, she felt much safer now that Harry was here. "Yes," she managed to say without grimacing from pain and stress, and raised her head to him, their eyes instantly locking. She watched as the storm in his eyes slowly calmed, until they were the deep, soft emerald green she had come to love. "I'm okay. Really."
He scanned her face, looking her over, relaxing more as he realized she was really fine. With a small smile, he finally nodded, which elicited a small smile of her own. "But we really should go help Steve," she murmured, not really wanting to let go of him. She was experiencing a huge adrenaline crash and felt a bit unsteady.
Harry also had no real interest in letting her go, but a quick look around the controlled chaos around him made him realize she was right. Already, there were a dozen or more uniformed police and probably a dozen more SHIELD agents in their dark suits walking around and cataloging evidence and securing prisoners. The police sirens were still blaring, and Harry wanted nothing more than to get Bella away from here.
Releasing her, he stepped back, and they began to walk towards the quinjet. He looked at her gait and noticed that she was favoring one leg a bit. Without stopping he summoned his wand, and twirled it around her, casting a spell that Bella recognized as a diagnostic charm. She saw a brief flicker on his face, but then a moment later he cast again, and her leg suddenly felt better, the pain fading to a dull throb.
"I'll take another look at that later," he said tightly, upset that she'd been hurt. Bella reached down and squeezed his hand and was glad he only hesitated briefly before squeezing her hand back with surprising force. And she knew then, that though his voice was steady and that he seemed calm, that inside he was probably raging.
Harry saw Bella bite her lip and knew that she was aware of how tight a lid he was keeping on his emotions; but he was indeed furious. Who knew how close she had come to seriously being injured? For her sake, he stayed cool, but he and Fury would be having words later; the Director had promised him that he wouldn't send Bella out without Harry with her!
At that moment, she saw three SHIELD agents walking the now cuffed Thrall that Harry had incapacitated towards a waiting van. "Wait," said Bella, halting the agents in their tracks as they turned to her, assessing her and Harry. Bella, meanwhile, was remembering that she had been able to free the other agents from their mind control and she wanted to try with this one too. "Let me try and free him from Loki's control - it worked when I used it before on the others, and also back in Washington when they tried to kidnap me."
Agent Mark Chambers, the senior agent in the field and SHIELD's liaison with the BKA - the German equivalent of the FBI - was responsible for cleaning up this mess. He let his eyes travel over the pair, unsure of what to make of them. He recognized the woman from internal briefings after she had fought off a potential kidnapping in brought daylight in Washington DC. Looking her over, he noticed she was wearing a standard SHIELD set of combat BDU's and specialized body suit typically worn by high level operatives. She had also arrived with Captain America in the jet and seemed to know her stuff. After all, she had more than held her own during the fight and was able to take down the bad guys using non-lethal force, a tricky thing to accomplish while under fire.
He didn't recognize the man, but he had already decided to allow the woman to try. He didn't personally know the Agent they were escorting, but almost everyone had been briefed about the terrible ability that Loki had, of taking away someone's free will. The thought of that happening to him, was, frankly terrifying.,
When the Agent nodded to them, Harry and Bella moved quickly over to the thrall, who stood blankly, his hands cuffed behind his back. Harry had to admit that the complete lack of expression on his face - coupled with the eerie blue eyes - was a very unsettling sight.
Bella, meanwhile, slowly and carefully tried to repeat what she had done previously, using her shield to isolate herself and the Thralls inside her shield. It took only a moment before Bella felt it snap into place, and heard Harry's indrawn breath when the man's eyes suddenly changed from a glowing blue to a dark brown.
"What...what happened to me?" came a broken whisper from the agent, his feet unsteady before he was suddenly gripped on the upper arms by two of the SHIELD agents. "I remember...fuck." The man trailed off, letting out a raspy breath.
Harry's expression when looking at the man - which had been murderous, as the man had been trying to kill the woman he loved not even five minutes ago - slowly began to ease, as the understanding that the man had essentially been under the equivalent to the imperious curse and had no real chance to free himself from Loki's grip. As the realization sunk-in, Harry knew that the man couldn't really be blamed for his actions. With a stiff nod to the Agent in charge, he took Bella's hand and began walking back to the quinjet, leaving the now healed agent and his minders behind.
As they hurried to the jet, Bella looked up at Harry. "It worked," she said quietly, her voice full of half surprised wonder. "I wasn't sure it would, I did it before almost accidentally."
Harry smiled down at her, his eyes warm and full of love and admiration. "Well, I'm not surprised. Since we've met, you do particularly well at almost everything you've tried."
A soft blush stained her cheeks, and she looked up with a grateful smile. "Thanks' Harry." And then, despite the blaring sirens and the gritty dirt on her face and hands, she leaned up and kissed him on the corner of his mouth.
"Come on, let's go see Steve, I'm sure they want to get out of here," she said, grabbing Harry's hand and walking past the police and other officials who were scurrying around.
As they neared the Quinet, Bella saw Steve and Natasha talking with another SHIELD agent dressed in their typical black suit and tie. A half dozen combat troops stood sentry behind them, and Loki - taller than everyone else by a fair amount - seemed completely at ease even with his hands cuffed and Iron Man staring him down from a higher position on the jet's ramp.
Just as they arrived, Steve grabbed hold of Loki's arm to walk him the last few steps up the ramp. Suddenly, however, Loki seemed to resist Steve's tug, and he turned his head to stare at Bella again with an intensity that made her shiver. Harry, walking beside her, felt her tense-up and his anger stirred again when he saw the way Loki was looking at her.
Thankfully, Steve gave a much stronger pull on Loki's arm, and with his trademark smirk Loki stepped up into the craft, breaking the stare down but leaving Bella unsettled. She was only half aware of Iron Man turning and following them up the ramp of the jet even as it raised behind him, the sound of sirens and bullhorns fading out as it closed.
"Agent Swan, how nice to see you again," said Tony, his face plate raised up as the door sealed behind them with a soft hiss. "I see that Fury finally let you out to play. I told him that it would be good to see some young new faces, especially such attractive ones, saving the world and all that. Of course, I'm not sure Cygnet was the right name for you, I could have come up with something sexier, more fitting for the times." His tone was teasing, and was spoken in an almost off-hand, conversational tone that was probably meant to put people off their guard when talking with him.
Looking up at his handsome face, with his neat beard and mirthful eyes, she had to admit he had a sort of roguish charm, so his banter conversational style probably worked for him.
It took only a moment before she realized he already knew her unofficial codename, and she was annoyed to see how truly in-touch with everything he was. As far as she was aware, only a few dozen people were aware of her codename. How did he always seem to be so up to date?
"So," she asked him. "How did you know they called me Cygnet?"
Tony smiled at her, his teeth perfectly straight and a milky white that Bella was sure cost him some dollars and a few dental visits. "There is nothing SHIELD can hide from me, Agent Swan," he said, winking at her. "But for this...well, I did hear it on an open frequency." Raising his voice a bit so Natasha could surely hear him from the pilot's seat - as his barb was no doubt directed at her - "basic operational security there, Ms. Romanoff."
Natasha's voice suddenly rose from behind the pilot seat. "Don't listen to him, Bella. He'd hacked the jet's comm package so he could arrive with his favorite music playing. He's not as good as he thinks."
Bella smiled when Tony's smile faltered a bit, and she put her hand over her mouth to hide her chuckles when he made a pouty face at her. "I sense a challenge there, Ms. Romanoff," Tony said with a raised voice before lowering it and leaning towards Bella and mock whispering. "By next week I'll know all of her dirty secrets."
Stark's eyes turned to Harry before Bella could even respond, his eyebrow raised in interest. "And you must be the mysterious Marshal Potter? Hmm, yes, I've certainly read about your exploits. Maybe when Reindeer Games," - and here he gestured towards Loki - ", isn't with us you'll come back to my labs, we have some great toys there."
Steve meanwhile was securing Loki in his seat as the engines revved up, and a moment later they lifted off and rose quickly into the night sky, gaining altitude rapidly. Steve turned a frustrated glance to Tony, his mouth turned down in distaste. "Can't you be serious for just one minute, Mr. Stark?"
Tony and Steve began to 'bicker' and Bella tuned them out, letting her head rest against the seatback, her hand tightly clutching Harry's. She thought she could feel Loki's gaze on her, and she wanted to be off this jet and back on the Helicarrier.
Harry felt her tenseness and leaned his mouth close to her ear. "Are you okay Bella?"
Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before releasing it. "Honestly? No. I feel kind of sick, actually."
Harry nodded, knowing it was probably just stress and an adrenaline crash. He'd had enough of both and could remember actually throwing up a few times after harrowing missions. He squeezed her hand again before looking up, and then he saw Loki's mocking smile as he stared at Bella, and Harry's own anger stirred again.
When, after almost a full minute, Loki's attention had not wavered and Steve and Tony were still bickering like old women, Harry had enough. "Do you want to get out of here?" he asked quietly.
Bella opened her eyes, turning her head towards his, their faces now only a few inches apart. Her eyes scanned his face, seeing his worry for her. "Can we? Really?" she asked, unable to hide the hope in her voice. She too was uncomfortable there, with Loki staring at her with that strange sort of amusement.
Harry smiled at her again. "Yes."
Unbuckling himself, Harry stood and faced Steve, whose conversation with Tony petered out. "Bella isn't feeling well, I'm taking her back to base." Without waiting for a response, he pressed the release on her belt, the harness releasing with a snap. He gripped her hand, and she stood, her back pressed against his front. With a nod to Steve and Tony, Harry took a firm hold of Bella. "See you back at the ship."
And then, before anyone could say a word, he activated his portkey, and they vanished in a swirl of colored lights and a soft 'pop.'
Tony blinked a few times before turning to Steve. "Now that looked handy. I might have to find out how he did that. I could use it to escape my more annoying fans."
It was several hours later that Bella found herself lying in her bunk, her head resting on Harry's chest, a lazy fingernail tracing patterns over his toned pecs. She was clean, sated, and rested, and the evening was a hectic blur in her mind, difficult to concentrate on when she was feeling so languidly delicious.
But the tenor of the night's events wouldn't fade, especially since they'd learned that shortly after she and Harry portkeyed off the Quinjet, Loki's brother Thor turned up and had taken Loki with him by force. Iron Man gave chase, and a brief 'tussle' - Tony's words -ensued, but Captain America had gotten them both to grudgingly agree to work together. Afterwards, Thor returned Loki to SHIELD custody and they returned to the carrier without further incident.
But Tony and Steve weren't the only ones who had situations to deal with. When Bella and Harry arrived back at the ship - he and Bella decided they would clean up first before going to find Coulson for a debrief - Fury intercepted them.
In retrospect, Bella should have realized Natasha would inform Fury that they portkeyed away, but Nick was waiting, and Harry had really let Fury have it. He had cast a quick silencing charm around the three of them before - in a furious voice that she'd never heard from him - demanding to know why Bella was in Stuttgart when Fury had promised Harry that Bella would only be deployed if Harry was available.
It got worse when Fury defended his decision about sending her into a hot combat zone and proceeded to brush Harry's worries aside and his own promise to him as 'unimportant' and 'irrelevant.' The Director then compounded this by turning his attention to Bella and began asking her questions, completely ignoring Harry's concerns.
At that moment, Bella didn't think she had ever seen Harry so mad before. Frankly, had she not known him so well, she might have been a little frightened of him and his magical aura that had literally created a halo of disturbed and glowing air around him, like tiny dust motes in the air were crackling with silver and gold sparks. The air felt heavy, oppressive, and it was hard to breathe.
"Director Fury," Harry had said, his voice tightly controlled but still harsh to Bella's ears, nothing like his normal tone, "do you not recall promising me that Bella would not be sent on a combat mission without either myself or another wizard there? That her abilities are enhanced when she can tap our magic? That her shield was still not 100% reliable? That you'd send word to me immediately if she was urgently needed in a hot landing zone?"
The Director was no longer ignoring Harry, his posture rigid as he stood and faced him. Bella thought he was probably fighting the urge to reach for his sidearm, but he probably had enough sense of self-preservation to know he was currently facing a very dangerous alpha predator. And then, when Bella felt the floor under her feet beginning to rumble, she realized Harry was barely hanging on to his control and that she needed to snap him back. She clutched his arm - half to restrain him and half to reassure herself - and he snapped his eyes to hers, his face like a carved stone mask.
But it was his eyes - glowing a cold, venomous green and alight with power - that made her finally realize the danger they were in. Never had she ever felt uncomfortable in his presence, always loving the gentle look he had in his eyes when he looked at her. She'd never expected those angry eyes to be turned on her.
She dropped his arm and whispered to him in a shaken voice. "Please, Harry."
Instantly the storm in his eyes cleared, and the shimmering air winked out. The tenseness in his jaws relaxed, and his whole posture shifted, his shoulders relaxing and his muscles unclenching, and Bella finally let out the breath she'd been holding.
"I'm sorry," he said to her, taking her hand. "Truly. I won't hurt him." A few seconds passed, and he gave her a small grin - no more than a twitch of his lips, really - but Bella relaxed and smiled back, happy that the tense moment had passed.
He turned his head back to Fury who was watching Harry with wary eyes, and his voice firmed again. "But that doesn't mean he and I will be working on some new guidelines about our further participation in his little group. After all, I believe a promise should mean something. If a man can't stand by his word, then trust is impossible." His eyes remained locked with Fury's, a clear line in the sand being drawn. Finally, Fury gave him a curt nod, and Bella felt herself sag, feeling more exhausted than ever.
Turning back to her, Harry pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. "Why don't you wait for me in our quarters? I know you wanted a shower. I'll be back soon."
"Okay," Bella said after a few moments, silently agreeing that a shower would be heavenly right now. "But play nice," she admonished, waggling her finger at him.
As she walked towards her quarters, she cast a last look over her shoulder, seeing Harry waving and gesturing with his arms as he read Fury the proverbial riot act, silent in their magical bubble.
Bella sighed, watching as Harry's left nipple puckered as she tickled the edge, wishing they had more time to just get lost in themselves. She stretched like a cat, almost purring as Harry gently but firmly ran his fingernails up along the nape of her neck and through the hair at the back of her head, separating his fingers so her silky wet hair fell through the gaps. He repeated the motion several times, his fingers like a warm brush, straightening the locks as he went. She knew her hair was going to be frizzy later, but she felt too good to care.
After a few minutes of enjoying his tenderness while listening to his heart, she turned her head around to face him. "What was Thor like?" she asked. Harry had still been on the bridge with Fury when the quinjet landed, and had relayed to her what had happened, and what the plans were for testing the Scepter. They were hopeful that now that they had it, they could more easily use it to find the Tesseract again in case Loki wasn't talking. "And what's the plan?"
"Damned if I know," Harry admitted with a chuckle. "I know they are talking about ways to get Loki talking, but no one took my offer to torture it out of him very well."
Bella snorted, slapping her fingers gently against his chest. "Harry!" But then she thought about it and started to giggle quietly." I don't know, I think Tony might like to see that."
Harry smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners when they met hers. "Yeah, he probably would." His grin faded though, and Bella picked up on his uneasiness. "I offered to get some veritasium from the ministry, but Thor is not certain it would work." He paused for a moment, running his hands through her hair, marveling at how she made him feel. "I'm going to get a vial anyway, just to have it. Can't hurt to try."
He was quiet again, and Bella could tell he was not finished. "We could be in serious trouble, though," he finally admitted. "Thor said something about an interstellar army backing Loki up. The Chitauri, or something like that. Said they were from some unnamed realm, and that they were very strong and would 'win him the Earth' in exchange for the Tesseract."
Bella leaned up on her elbows, her mood instantly sobered. The images in her head were too awful to contemplate - of cities burning while Loki stood above them, laughing with his glowing eyes. "What are we doing about it?"
Harry's arms slid around Bella, holding her bare skin close to his chest. He relished the warmth she brought to his body and his soul. Deep down, he was scared; not so much for himself, he'd cheated death enough times. No, he was scared for her; scared, because she would be right there out front, her shield too important not to be available in any showdown. After all, if one of the Avengers were suddenly in Loki's mental grip, it would be a disaster.
He let out a slow breath, closing his eyes for a moment, his own good mood evaporating. Even an hour of making love to a freshly showered Bella was apparently not enough to completely quash his uncertainty.
After a few moments, his lids slid back open and he looked down over his chest and met her honest and open gaze, the warm cinnamon and browns and even deep greens of her eyes shining up at him. "I honestly don't think we have a plan. Fury's not admitting it, but there seems to be an air of desperation around him. I think he's hoping we come up with something, because we might not have any other cards to play."
Bella chewed her lip as she digested his words, laying her head back down on his chest. Finally, she sat up and straightened her shoulders, lifting her arms over head and stretching. Her nude body caught Harry's attention, whose eyes were now locked onto her chest, which was quite nicely on display for him when she stretched like this. Nevertheless, she was determined, and she stood up, purposefully ignoring his own naked form which glistened so enticingly. "Come on, then. Let's go up and see what we can do to help."
Volterra, Italy
Demetri had never seen Aro and Caius worked-up this much, in at least a few hundred years. Caius in particular was raging, his voice thunderous, ranting with a visceral need to rip and to rend, and maybe to see his very personal brand of justice done.
The fervor gripping the throne room started with Jane's arrival - sans half her team - a few hours back; and since then, the normally staid Volturi were now acting more like a stirred hornet's nest than a court of Vampire kings. Their predictable and somewhat boring lives had not been this disrupted in ages, and with good reason: Demetri honestly could not remember the Guard losing more than a single member on any mission in over three centuries, and they'd never lost anyone when one of the two witch twins were on the mission.
A few hours after Aro and the brothers had sequestered themselves in their tower, it was not a surprise to Demetri when he was summoned to Aro's study. His curiosity was piqued, but it was tempered with nerves. He knew Caius in particular could be very vindictive and spiteful when his mood was poor - most of the Guard had felt his wrath before - and several more unfortunate or less useful members had ended up as ash on the floor because they were 'in his way' when he was in one of his moods. And so, the thundering crashes and shouting that had come from the King's floor left everyone in the castle walking with clenched asses for the past few hours, wary of getting the proverbial boot from the blonde Ancient.
Demetri flitted up the grand staircase, passed a thick stone door, and slowed only to let the two lower guards who stood sentry at the entrance to the King's tower see that he was expected. He walked past them without acknowledging their existence. They knew their place - it was far beneath him - though it was true that had he not been summoned they would have at least tried to stop him from just barging his way onto the floor. No one save the wives were given that privilege, and they rarely left the tower anyway, save for feedings and the very occasional court event.
Zipping past some of the ancillary chambers and making his way to Aro's study, he knocked on a studded oak door that had stood sentry here for three millenia, stained with age so dark that it appeared almost black.
"Come, Demetri." Aro's voice, as ever, was controlled and somewhat whimsical, though Demetri could hear the hard undertones that were so often absent in the charismatic leader.
Entering, he gave Aro - and Caius and Marcus sitting in front of the large ornate desk - a deep bow. "Masters," he intoned. Straightening, he kept his face composed, his hands folded in front of him, hidden in the long sleeves of his cloak, his back straight and his demeanor humble before them.
Perfect Volturi presentation, as always.
His eyes, though, trailed briefly over the three, but was enough to cement what he thought he might find.
Caius was - as expected - murderously angry, his face twisted into a scowl that gave him a truly frightening visage. From past experiences, it took a major insult to put Caius into such a mood, and Demetri wouldn't want to be the one responsible for that. There was no doubt bodies would be left in his wake.
Marcus, as ever, looked mostly bored and distracted. He hadn't taken any real interest in governing in over a thousand years, not since the death of his mate. Demetri often wondered why Marcus hadn't ended himself long ago - he certainly took no pleasure in his existence, spending time either with the brothers or in the library. Truthfully, even during feedings - when their natures were most savage and their bloodthirsty ways were on full display - he looked bereft and bored, just going through the motions with no passion at all, though at least he did appear fully alert. There were times - many in fact - when he seemed to be lost in his own head and would not even answer when spoken to.
Demetri's thoughts were interrupted when Aro spoke. "Demetri, our dear Jane has just returned from a mission to England - a routine information gathering mission - where our Guard ran into a dangerous problem." Aro's voice sharpened as he spoke, and Demetri focused intently on his Master, wanting to catch every nuance of his speech and manner so he could more effectively execute his Master's will.
For almost a minute, Aro was silent, save for the clickety-click of his nails drumming on the wooden surface of his desk. When he finally spoke, his voice seemed much colder. "A problem that might need dealing with. Perhaps permanently."
Aro leaned forward, the flicker of the oil lamp - he preferred them over the electric lamps that had been installed in most other areas of the castle - caused his shadow to dance on the stone walls in a macabre fashion. His cloudy burgundy eyes locked on Demetri and his voice grew softer, but somehow firmer. "I have seen your memory of your meeting with Harry Potter in Greece last year." Aro paused for a moment, his eyes slowly darkening, the burgundy swallowed up by the creeping black pupil until only the slimmest ring of red could be seen. "I want you to think about everything you know about him, and how you would spring a trap on him."
Demetri's eyes momentarily widened in surprise before he reigned in his emotions. Internally though, his mind was racing. It was not often they bothered the Wizards, as the magic folk had effective wards and the means to shield themselves and fight back against them. At the worst, they can always teleport away and return with reinforcements. Yes, individually a vampire was more than a match for almost any individual wizard, but they all had the ability to cast deadly fire against them, and they had much larger numbers. Plus, they could approach undetected and invisibly, and they could vanish often before the vampires could get a hand on them.
Demetri then thought of the Wizard Potter himself, of the stories about him, and about their last meeting when he was with the human female in Athens. As his vampire's mind raced through possibilities, the thought occurred to him: would she be a weakness of his? Could he use her against him, as bait for a trap? Demetri thought it likely - the pair seemed close, and she would undoubtedly be a soft target.
Even as all of this raced through his mind, he had one question that burned. "Master - do you want him captured? Or killed?"
Aro's lips slowly spread into a thin smile that held no warmth. "I'd like to see both plans, Demetri. And I'd like to see them by the end of day tomorrow."
A/N - Ooh, Harry has gone and stirred up some trouble, just as the Avengers arc is coming to a head. I'll try and get the next update out within a month, hopefully sooner. I had to basically re-read the whole story, I'd forgotten so much of it in the past 6 months. A broken wrist, major work issues, a lack of time and motivation, and getting lost in some really great FF (again - Hazy Shade of Winter!) has all contributed.