[Twilight characters belongs to Stephenie Meyer]

[English isn't my first language, so please be kind]

This chapter has something I love that is unfortunately underlooked in Twilight - the politics of the Volturi. Imagine living there, it's not like a family like the Cullens, but an environment of competition and self preservation. It's something I want you to keep in mind when you read this chapter.

Elia and Demetri will meet again in the next chapter.

35

Violent Delights

- Come on, you can try to throw me - Felix said confidently.

It took a while for Elia to realize that he wasn't joking. Felix was over two meters tall, and the muscles in his arms and shoulders scared the girl more than they impressed her. How could she throw him?

After leaving the cell, Elia took a shower and chose pants, sneakers and a comfortable sweatshirt, then went to look for Felix to ask for help. Despite the problems she knew it would have to face, the most urgent was how she would defend herself against them.

Felix was always a secondary character in Elia's view. Sometimes he was present in the background, sometimes not. He didn't usually ask questions, but she noticed that he cared about those he considered friends. Elia saw how he talked to Demetri when the tracker was present, how he always seemed willing to help Santiago and Renata, even Gianna was treated kindly by him, so she didn't find it strange that he agreed to help teach her how to fight so quickly.

Elia looked to the side, Alec was sitting on one of the benches set up for the imaginary audience of that miniature coliseum, his wine-colored eyes bright and full, as Jane had brought more humans to them two days before they were released. When the lesson began, and Elia had already lost track of time, Alec interrupted them several times, so Felix gave him a burgundy velvet pillow to hold when he got nervous. The pillow was already split in half.

He was against the lessons, he was against Felix being the teacher, but Elia wanted to learn anyway.

- If you think you can't, then you've already lost - the giant vampire said. The first lessons were simple, it was more of a conversation, then Felix showed her simple moves on how she could attack a vampire. He was careful and slow the first few times, but after that, Elia could barely keep up with him.

Elia tried to remember the little attack script he had given her. "Never go in from the front, unexpected angles, use the environment to your advantage, and never repeat the same attack pattern..."

Before she could finish going over the teachings, Felix charged at her, forcing the girl to think quickly. The vampire went for the head, as it should be, so Elia took advantage of her smaller stature to escape, hitting him in the ribs and back. Even so, she wasn't fast enough.

As she tried to escape again, Felix pulled Elia's arm so hard that she felt it break and be torn off, then the vampire hit her in the chest, pushing her to the ground.

- You're dead, I won again - Felix said.

- Yes, you won - Elia struggled to answer as she felt the crackles forming in her entire body.

She used her remaining hand to touch Felix's arm without him noticing, as she had taken off her gloves for the lesson, hoping that the pain and adrenaline would give her the path she needed to see something, anything, but everything was empty and dark.

Elia focused on the ancient Latin inscriptions on the ceiling of the coliseum, the circular shape of the structure reduced the noise from outside, so it did not bother the sensitive ears of the other vampires. She could hear another voice in the background, but she didn't realize who it was; her head hurt from the impact with the marble floor.

Someone made her sit down, and only then did Elia realize it was Alec, who was shouting something about Felix being violent and careless. Elia heard the noise, but couldn't identify the words, but when she looked at her left arm, she realized it had already been put back.

- She asked to learn - Felix said, his red eyes were like a rabbit's, and after they had spent so much time together his expression was no longer frightening or malicious, but inviting. He was probably responding to Alec's accusations.

- If you're really worried, you should stop shouting in her ear.

A third hand, and thinner arms helped Elia stand up. It was Renata, she was dressed up and made up, with a wine-colored lipstick that stood out against her pale skin, with a dark gray cloak covering her clothes.

- You shouldn't even be here anymore - Renata continued, Elia could understand the voices now - we're about to leave and you didn't even pack! You three are lucky that my uncle asked for another week due to the amount of humans present on the island!

- It's always nice to spend the holidays in Malta - Felix replied, completely ignoring Renata's warnings and caressing her face with his fingers.

- Great, now that you two are together you're twice as annoying. - Alec grumbled.

- I'm not with Felix, who said that? - Renata tried to hide her smile, but continued to follow the giant vampire with her eyes as he walked away.

Elia remained silent, smiling a little as she noticed Felix and Renata joking in the distance, but then she noticed a pale figure out of the corner of her eye that didn't dare to come closer.

- Are you really okay? - Alec asked, his glazed look seemed even more supernatural now, as if the time in the cell had taken away the colored lenses that Elia still had with her. Now she could see the reality she was in and the frozen boy who stood by her side.

- I felt my head echo for a second - Elia said, she put one of her hands to the back of her head, where she was sure she had been hit by the accident that had defined her fate - but I'm fine now.

Alec analyzed her again. He barely had time to do anything outside the cell, because Elia left for her lessons right away and he remained vigil. He barely managed to speak to Jane.

- You tried to see his memories - Alec said, looking at Elia's hands, who was testing the replaced arm.

- Yes.

- And?

- I didn't see anything.

The pale figure approached, Minos no longer hiding. Elia heard Alec make a sound that resembled a low growl.

- I want to talk to him - Elia said, then looked at Alec - alone.

If Alec had any reservations, he didn't say them out loud, because as soon as they left the cell, he and Elia had agreed to a new kind of relationship. Mutual trust above all else, and Elia now had the power to make whatever decisions she wanted.

Alec left the coliseum without a word, and Elia headed for the empty stands, waiting for Minos to follow.

- What was this place for? - Elia asked when Minos appeared sitting next to her - It doesn't look like a training arena.

- That's because it isn't - Minos replied, his strange appearance haggard. He had traded his colorful suits for somber, perfectly cut clothes that made him look like Marcus if he had silver hair - there was a time when we weren't so careful, so balls and battles in arenas like this were... Exciting.

- Did you fight humans here?

- No, it would be too boring - Minos pointed to the scratches on the walls that seemed to be too deep and wide to have been made by humans - Children of the Moon.

- What are Children of the Moon?

- Werewolves, or something - Minos laughed, but even that seemed devoid of emotion - of course that was before Caius freaked out and hunted them to extinction.

They were silent for a while, and Elia noticed that in addition to the tear on her arm, her clothes were also worn and destroyed.

- You are blocked - Minos said - and time is passing, so I will spend the days I have left here with Sulpicia, you don't need to worry about me anymore.

- You want to take her away, don't you? That's why you want to see Aro's memories, you want to find out something you can use against him and...

Minos covered Elia's mouth with his hand.

- Silence, child - said the vampire - not everything is to be said out loud inside thin walls like these, and you don't need to worry about it anymore.

- How can I not worry? - Elia pushed his hand away from her face - You will leave and I will stay after having become an accomplice in your plan!

Minos didn't answer, letting Elia use her accusatory tone as much as she wanted, after all, she was right.

- I finally managed to come to an understanding with Alec, so that if this doesn't work out - Elia pointed to her own head - he can keep me here, but now you put me in Aro's sight!

- You can leave the Volturi - Minos shrugged - you can live anywhere in the world.

- But I have no idea how to do that - Elia sighed, she had thought about it a lot during the time she was imprisoned, but she was not ready to talk about those concerns yet.

After all that was a life she did not choose.

- You know, I also don't like seeing them locked up, Sulpicia and Athenodora, they are in another kind of cage.

Elia shook her head, for a moment she thought the echo of Felix's blow was still there, but it was just a feeling.

- I'll think of something – the girl said, more determined than desperate, because a secret from Aro, besides benefiting Minos, would benefit her as well.

XXXXX

Elia knew Alec would probably be waiting for her in their room. She didn't know how the Volturi traveled on a large scale or what she should pack for a trip like this. She didn't even know if she had ever left Italy before. Instead of following the stairs to the hallway that led to the living quarters, Elia put her gloves back on and headed toward the reception area.

Misty was there, of course, her cat, playing with a scratching post that Caius had authorized to be placed in the corner so that it wouldn't distract the human visitors too much. Elia expected to see Gianna and was already thinking about what to say to her, but luck was on her side, because the human seemed to be inside the hall since she could hear Aro and Marcus discussing something about Luca, Renata's uncle, while Gianna took notes. Elia could hear the sound of pen on paper.

Elia sat in the chair Gianna had been occupying. There were many drawers in her desk, which was larger than it looked, filled with keys and probably secret compartments.

Desperate media, Elia thought as she began to carefully sift through the stacked papers and lined up notes on cardstock.

Despite the computer, there was not much of a digital presence in the underground, so Elia knew that any message intended for Aro was written down by Gianna and delivered directly to him in person. But the messages that were rejected or on hold were returned to the pile.

Elia was grateful to have watched Gianna all these months.

The first and second drawers had nothing important, but on the third try Elia finally found the pile of rejected requests that would probably be incinerated later. Elia went through a few names that meant nothing to her, Amun and Carlisle being the most unusual, but she didn't have time to read the messages.

- Here it is! - Elia could barely contain her relief when she saw the name she was looking for, and with it was the location she needed.

The girl took Demetri's ignored message and headed for the elevator.