Twelve

“Ed-Edward…”  I stutter, unable to disguise the familiar shiver; like icy spider legs running down my spine as anything but fear, making it near impossible to quell the shaking of my limbs.

The room was unnaturally quiet, save for sporadic crackle or pops of charred wood from the flames of the fire that almost always seemed to burn in my presence.

Absently my mind wandered, sidetracking itself from a rationality that I didn’t want to face.  I wondered, if only momentarily if it was my presence alone that had the whole of the Volturi igniting fires all over the castle or was it simply for a sense of normalcy.  Perhaps the same reason the Cullens built lavish homes among the breeding mortal populace.  I almost laughed at the imagine; the royal house of vampire running the heat in the winter to feel… human.  I really am going crazy.

“What of the boy?”  Caius snarled from over my head, the vibrations sending a tickling sensation throughout my body, a sensation that had me wanting to run from the room for fear of being further embarrassed by the overly attuned vampiric senses of the room.  His delicious sweet breath coolly fanning across my ear and the exposed column of my neck did nothing to hinder the wanton moan that threatened to escape if he were to continue breathing on me like that.  The smell of it alone could have me writhing in want under him.  In the back of my mind I knew that this was just another of the dozens of predatory endowments these creatures were blessed with at their birth, but a niggling in me told me that most didn’t find his scent quiet so calming as I did, and if the look on Marcus or Aro’s faces were anything to go by, I’d say I was correct.

Marcus, I noticed since Caius’s return had once again become solemn and despondent, which for a moment confused me to know end.  Was he not in awe of our connection not five minutes ago?  He sighs, feigning boredom as he rose from his detached façade of the chair and leaned into the marble mantle, splaying out his hands in a feeble and dangerous attempt to warm them.  “As you might have heard, brother.  The Cullen boy,”  he sneered.  “Has gone to the shape-shifters of the Quileute tribe.”

“Yes,”  Caius barked.  “I am very well aware.”  He growled, his impatience to get on with it showing through the tone of his already gravely voice.

“Well a few hours ago we received word from Alaska,”  Marcus growled.  “The Denali’s have defected and are now on the move with Edward.”

I gasped as Caius stood, fresh tears springing to my eyes.  “Jasper?”  I whispered in panic.  “Is he…”  I couldn’t even finish the thought, to think that someone else had fallen at the hands of that… monster for me was just… I couldn’t think about it.  My legs that had already been trembling from Caius’s nearness now quaked with enough intensity to bring me to my knees.

A cool hands take my arms and pull me to a solid chest, stroking my hair as the tears continued to flow.  “Doux Bella, he is unharmed.”  The tone of his voice soothed me as I allowed myself to believe the words as his marble hands, so tender, continued to lovingly stroke at the tight muscles of my back and shoulders.

“Mr. Whitlock is indeed, fine.”  Aro assured me as Caius, rather possessively pulled me back into his lap, never stopping the gentle ministrations of his hands.

“My question would be, why are they running and were to?”  Marcus said nonchalant as he inspected the imaginary dirt particles under his nails.  “Personally, I don’t understand why he simply wasn’t destroyed.”

I growled, mentally, of course at Marcus’s sudden return to the cold and careless man I had met before but knew better of now.  It grated on my already sleep-deprived, grumpy and sexually frustrated nerves.  And my earlier thoughts of the crazy human with a torch resurfaced, only now I knew where I’d be putting said torch, straight up Marcus’s cold, clinched ass.

“Well, it’s obviously too late to point fingers or bother with the ‘what-if’s’.  So instead of acting like you don’t care what’s going on around here.  Why don’t you get off your ass and help figure out what to do now and stop pinning the blame on your brother - who by the way, would have destroyed Edward immediately if it were not for Aro’s fondness of the Cullens!”   My chest was heaving when I finished my rant and instead of the immediate fear that I knew should have me pinned where I sat, I reached over Caius’s arm and chucked the closest object with in reach at Marcus’s head.  It so happened that the inanimate object I had decided to throw happened to be a antique crystal vase and also one of Sulpicia’s favorites.

I watched in seemingly slow motion as the glass antique flew from my fingers, shattering upon impact that Marcus hadn’t even bothered to dodge as the crystal pieces fell away from his face.  He stood there wide eyed and too shocked to move, obviously stunned that the little helpless human would do something so bold.

His eyes narrowed as he shook himself from his stupor and it was only then did the dread, that should have been initial, over what I had just done took hold, arresting me to my seated position in Caius’s arms.  Caius through all this had remained strangely quiet and composed as if my little tirade hadn’t effected him at all.

Scared as I was I stood my ground, or rather sat, but I didn’t back down… I wouldn’t back down.  Between Emmett’s stealer break in this morning and Marcus’s menopausal mood-swings I had had it with the creatures of the night.  I was not some insignificant human blood bank that they could all belittle and make a fuss over.

Pushing himself from the mantle he slowly began his pace forward, his scowl deepening with every step.  It was only when a faint growl was heard forming from Marcus’s chest did I hear Caius make any change in his demeanor with a slight hiss.  It was only a small warning, that his brother was too close, but it was enough to stop Marcus from advancing any closer.  I should have been relived by that fact, but I wasn’t.

“Did you just presume to give me an order, human?”  He asked, no sign of his once smiling humility left and I cringed but it was not enough to detour me from my path.

“And if I did?”  I shot back, knowing how stupid I was in that moment but not really caring.  I didn’t know if it was due to the strong, confident vampire at my back or my own fed up temper that was causing my already mostly non-existent filter to fly the coop but the damage was already done.  I had just stood up to the Volturi Kings and there was only one thing that could save me now, that is… if he wanted to.

“Well then!”  He said with a snarl that in turn caused Caius to stand and growl, loud enough to shake the panes of glass in the room.  “I’d say I’m finally getting to see the Queen that you are.”  He told me lowly, a small smile returning to his chalky lips.

I’m sure my face was beyond priceless at that point because even I was not naïve enough to think I didn’t look ridiculous.  When the room erupted in laughter, I knew that I was had and that Marcus’s sudden aloofness towards me was nothing more than a test of my spirits.

“Oh, Isabella…”  Aro trailed off as he continued to chuckle.  “Sulpicia will be in shambles when she realized she missed this.  I would never in my wildest dreams believe you to be so…”  he paused again this time a devilish smirk crooking on his face… “violent.”

I stared in shock at the two men, who I had previously believed to be monsters, continued to tease me mercilessly for the game the had played at my expense.  I could now see how Caius had been so grumpy with them earlier, they acted more like children than I did.  Even Caius in all his stoicism let out a soft chuckle which I felt more than heard but that was besides the point.

“Please for give us, Isabella?”  Marcus bowed with an incline of his head.  “But think of it as initiation and Sulpicia has asked me to implore you to not worry about the vase, she was only upset that she could not be here herself to witness…”  he stopped for a moment, his ears twitching and once again I could feel the vibrations of Caius chuckles at my back.  “Well…”  he continued nervously.  “Let’s return to the task at hand.”

I had to wonder if what they all they had all obviously heard was really so bad as to make Marcus squirm.  But Marcus was right; Edward was a loose canon and though he was lacking in the common sense department he was still a skilled strategist.

“Do not worry, brother.”  Aro told him, his cheery smile in place and he was back to clapping and preening throughout the room.  “I have eyes in every corner of the world and Edward will not simply barge into the gate of Volterra armed with the Spaniard and his troupe of tawdry women.”

I snorted in spite of myself but I simply couldn’t take it, no matter how unladylike the sound may have been, hearing Aro call Tanya and her squad of scheming sisters tawdry was just too much to bare.

“Find something amusing do you, Isabella?”  Caius purred, catching my earlobe in his sharp fangs as he spoke and I could help but to think that my ears seemed to be a favorite spot of torture for him.  As for me well, I melted, as usual into a pile of lust radiating goo as a hand came up to push the tendrils of curls from my shoulder to give him better access to the pulsing vein at my neck.

“Caius…” I hissed, reaching up behind me to indulge my hands in his luscious hair.  I could feel the evidence of my arousal starting to puddle and seep down my thighs as my white beast continued to suck and lave at my tender skin with the precision of a master when the thought suddenly occurred to me that I shouldn’t be enjoying this so much with two other men watching.  But it was something in the animalistic nature that was Caius that I found so incredibly alluring that I couldn’t force myself to deny him anything.  Even if it was insanity, even if it was unethical, if it went against everything I had previously prided myself so much for.  If it was Caius’s desire to show his dominance over me… than so be it.

He released my neck suddenly with a hiss of his teeth.  “Enough of this nonsense.”  He growled as I was swiftly lifted into his arms.  “We will finish this tomorrow.”  He told the others sternly who were still staring with wide eyes of fascination.  It was easily deducted that his statement was not a request nor was it up for debate.  Caius made it incredibly clear that the conversation was over.

As we made our way through the castles corridors I was never more grateful when Caius again took advantage of the situation and sealed his smooth lips over mine, the speed I knew we were traveling would have undoubtedly made me nauseous if not for his distraction, and what a distraction it was.  My entire body caught fire and a loud whimper rang from my throat, needing and begging for more.

~**CD**~

So responsive my little human was, quivering in my arms giving no thought to the bestiality that I had just displayed not a half an hour ago, that or she didn’t care.  Such a change from the whorish women I had surrounded myself with in past endeavors; her moans of pure delight were genuine and so arousing.

I found myself losing more and more control around my little Bella, longing to pound her into the wall as we connected in the most intimate of ways.

She mewled my name as my grip on her thigh tightened with my rising desire and I fought with all in me not to simply fuck her against the cool sand stones of Athenodora’s corridor.  Her feather light fingers, burning hot to the touch, traced the shell of my pointed ear and I nearly came undone.

I ripped my mouth away with growl, ending the plundering I had been so engrossed in and she whined at the loss.  “Be still.”  I told her firmly but could not stop the crooked smile from rising.  She stilled her hands as she was told and I could not help the crooked smile that rose from my lips at the rejection on her face.

“If you do not stop, I will be force to take you here and now, and I do not wish to have you against a dirty stone wall.”   At my explanation she nodded but that look of insecurity never left her doll like face.  Little did my little human know of the plans I had in store for her… or exactly what it meant to love a beast like me.

~**CD**~

My heavy lidded eyes widened with statement, he was not playing games.  Tempted as I might have been to reach out defiantly to give another playful tug at his ears I had no desire to lose my virginity against a wall and I had no doubts that Caius would do it.  Even in the throws of passion that night that felt so long ago, Caius was in control or as in control as he could ever be.  But now, he was most assuredly, not.  One wrong move and it would be all over and he very well may kill me doing it.

Still, I yearned to have his lips pressed against mine and the remembrance of his fingers at the seem of my folds was enough to moan involuntarily and my nipples to harden under the soft cotton of my dress.

“Beautiful,”  I heard his whisper as the burgundy slits of his eyes roamed my body like a starving man and honestly I wanted to slap myself for the unneeded pun at the situation I was currently in.  My body zinging at ever touch or whispered promise of release my body grew hotter and the rational part of my mind further from the forefront.  No longer taking heed in his warning, I shifted in his arms and stole a kiss.  A thundering growl erupted from his chest just as I heard the familiar splintering of wood and my back hit the velvety-smooth duvet of my bed.

“I warned you, little one.”  He hissed lowly his hands snaking up my thighs and over my hips as his body slid home against mine.  I moaned loud as my hips bucked, thrusting and writhing beneath him, impatiently waiting forward to feeling whole.

“God…” I yelled as his long, icy fingers trailed across a taught nipple making the ache with jealousy just as I heard the rip of tearing fabric and his cold mouth descend.

“That’s it, cry out… let them know that you are mine.”  He told me in a gasp as his hips found a sync rhythm with mine and his cold digits twirled at my breasts until I could stand it no more.

“Caius!”  I cried, letting go and pulling his mouth to mine by his thick wavy hair.

“Good girl,”  he purred, running his hands of my sweat streaked face.

Again I heard the tale-tell signs of tearing fabric and I could not stop the blush at seeing him fully in the nude, but also gasped in shock at what I found.  His legs much like his chest and face were littered with angry claw marks, some starting at his calves in short swipes and other in long gashes that ran the length of his legs.  One in particular curving up over his hip in an almost artful way.

Forgetting my embarrassment, I slid from the bed and hesitantly made my way towards him, not knowing if I would offend him with my curious touches.  I knew what they were now, after all, and these must have been the scars his sister had warned me of during our conversation after he had mysteriously disappeared.

I stopped in front of him my resolve strong as I knelt, trying not to notice the way his manhood stood throbbing and proud before me as I reached out and softly touched the deepest scar over his hip.

A soft, almost kneeing noise escaped him as I ran my finger over the length of it, testing out the cool jagged corners of the unhealed flesh.  “I understand now,”  I told him softly, my voice no more than a whisper.  “Why you hate them so much.”

“What do you know of my travesty?”  He asked harshly, almost defensively.

“You’re sister… she thought I should know.”  As my hands continued to wander, growing bolder by the second a gentle rumbling began and I knew that even if he was insecure of his scars he appreciated the attention I was giving him.

“Forgive me,”  he said suddenly.  “But-”  his words died on his tongue as my wandering fingers trailed purposefully down the soft strip of snow white hair and down the cool shaft of his throbbing erection.

I didn’t want to hear any apology fall from his lips, I knew full well of his treatment because of those scars and I would not begrudge him to be testy about them.

“Uh-Bella!”  He growled, lifting me into his arms and a moment latter my back hit the plush mattress once again.  This time no barriers were met and the coolness of his skin made me gasp in want, my blood fired anew and this time I was more than ready for him.

My chest heaved with every ragged breath I took and the thundering of my heart in my pounding against my ribs was almost deafening.  Looking into the onyx black eyes of the man above me I could tell he was warring with himself to stay in control.  “I will not hurt you.”  He whispered, leaning down to pepper my neck and ears with lavish kisses and promises of all the delightful things we would experience together.

A strong stinging sensation starting at the junction of my shoulder had me crying out just has aligned himself at my entrance and took the first heavy stroke.  The pulling sensation that followed as he started to pump into me in long languid thrusts was more pleasure than pain and before I knew I was crying out begging for more… faster, harder…

“Caius, please…”  I begged.

He released my neck yet again, this time with a gasp as the droplets of my crimson blood dripped from his lips as his dark eyes bore into mine.  “What is that you need, my love?”  He told me pressing his blood stained lips to mine, chastely and never gaining pace in his torturously slow pumps.  “What is it that you need?”

Playing with fire was never a game I was really good at, and I couldn’t have explained to anyone what had come over me all of a sudden, the wanton desire that flowed through me and the carnal desire to drive my vampire mad, to see him lose all reason.

I slowly and deliberately skated my tongue across my lips tasting the copper-saltiness of my blood and closing my eyes as if in rapture before opening them, staring into the eyes of the devil himself and whispered.  “Faster.”

He snarled as his hips complied with my request, harder and faster he went until the sounds of shredding cloth and creaking wood was drowned out with the sound of our flesh meeting and the passionate cries of our release.

I did not have the energy, when all was said and done to even open my eyes, but as the blissful euphoric feeling of my release lulled me to sleep I felt something warm covering me as Caius whispered in my ear.  “Sleep now, beloved.”  he kissed me forehead.  “For tomorrow you start your new life…”  he kissed my lips.  “with me.”

Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Who ever said that sharing their lives with vampires was a joy - which in all honesty was probably me at some point or another - must have some reoccurring brain malfunctions.  At one point in my life I would have even gone so far as to say that it was a blessing to be around such incredible creatures, but I can most assuredly say, that’s over now.

Grumpy from a lack of sleep I sigh wishing this nightmare was over.  Squirming in my seat like a restless child that no longer had the patience to continue listening to their parents prattle I try to find my happy place, where all was right in the world and I was still in my warm bed experiencing a plethora of sinfully Caius induced dreams.  A smile curls over my teeth as I tune out the overly winded, one-sided conversation Aro seems to be having with me as I think about that glorious bed and all the wonderful things I could be doing in it right now, like sleeping.

A loud thump breaks my concentration and from the raised brow and smirk on Aro’s face I’d stake my life that he had done that on purpose, if this was the case he never mentioned it.  Rolling my eyes I decided to fixate my thoughts to a less steamy vestige and more on every single way I could pay Emmett back for this mornings upheaval.  I would have thought by now that my vampire family would be more adapt to my human disabilities - sleeping, eating, bathroom breaks - by now or at least, more appreciative.  But alas they have not or should I say Emmett has not, which brings me back to why I am currently sitting in a beautifully lit study holding court with a vampire king and wanting to burn all within to ash.

Sleeping peacefully was not something that came naturally to me anymore, and when it does leave it to Emmett to interrupt it.  Emmett in all his burly wonder came practically bursting through my door this morning demanding that I “Rise and Shine” and at the time I was in a blissful state of euphoria where Caius had just made all my womanly dreams come true in a rather fast paced, lusty rendition of the horizontal-tango.  So rather than “Rise and Shine”  I wanted to “Rip and Burn” but as usual my large, overly chipper brother remained oblivious to my woes.  In fact it wasn’t until Rosalie came in, much like her husband, and told him without sugar-coating that “Bella” needed a cold shower and he needed to leave did he stop bouncing and commanding.  As my cheeks flamed with my all to familiar blush the words “Rip and Burn” became an understatement.

Groggy and with no buffer to my temper I sat grinding my teeth as Aro rambled on cheerfully as he flitted about his study speaking in English but far from my understanding.  To me he might as well been speaking another language for all I learned this morning.  Blah, blah, blah, Caius hates humans but for some reason I am the exception blah, blah, blah.   Even Marcus sat looking ready to nod-off at any second and I think it was that entertaining idea that kept me awake this long.  All I knew was that if I didn’t get something caffeinated soon Aro would be less worried why Caius and I were so connected and more about where he was going to put the crazy human with the large torch.

My eyes were drooping more by the second and the background noise was nothing more than a hum.  

“Isabella!”  Aro scolded, his hands smacking the large smoked walnut desk and it groaned loudly under the strain.

“What?”  I asked absently as my eyes flew open, remembering that this was not Emmett or even Alice I was talking to but a King.   I sat up straighter trying mercilessly to remove the cobwebs from my brain while Aro looked on almost amused and a little frightened.  Amused I understood as Emmett was constantly reminding me how entertaining the human was, but why he was frightened I’ll never know.  Maybe he thinks I’m crazy?

“Isabella, do you make it a habit to say all of your thoughts aloud?”  Aro asked me finally cracking a smirk himself while Marcus chuckled quietly from the his corner of the room where he had been sitting most of the morning.

“Sorry,”  I replied quickly.  “I’ve never had much a verbal filter.”

“Ah yes, and you talk in your sleep as well?”  I nodded the deep pink in my cheeks deepening as I could only guess who told him as much or what I had said.

“As I was saying, I’ll skip the formalities and as you American’s say “Cut to the chase”.”  He continued, changing the subject and I was extremely grateful.

“Alright,” I replied nodding, sitting up straighter and putting on my big girl face, ready to face anything he could throw at me.

He took his time taking his seat, calmly folding his hands in his lap while I on the other hand nibbled my lip in frustration and impatience.  “It was my intention in the beginning to have Caius here for this particular meeting but I fear I can put this off no longer.  But as he is not here, I wish to commence your change as soon as possible.”

Mortality.

It was something in my previous life I had never taken into account, not fully anyways.  I always thought it was nothing really, my life, I gave it willingly to someone who had never truly deserved it but now, I was nervous. 

It wasn’t just a thought any longer but a choice, to die or live eternally.  If you had asked me just a month ago this same question my answer would have been firm.  I wanted to become one of the undead, to live forever at Edward’s side, but things have changed substantially since then; the first being Edward and his lies.  There was no manual on how to conduct myself now, only the obsession that one vampire/possibly slash werewolf had over me. 

Truthfully, I couldn’t wait for his return.  There was so much that needed to be said and so much that had been left unsaid. 

“How soon?”  I asked nervously, wringing my hands together to stop their trembling as I awaited my answer.  I did not have to wait long.

“This evening if all goes well.  You should be well into your change by midnight.”  

As I thought this over I steeled my nerves and repeatedly told myself that this was what I wanted.  That this had been what I always wanted, to be with my vampire family for eternity… but this was different.  I was doing this without Edward and I had no soul mate to comfort me through my newborn year.  Stop being childish, I told myself firmly.  Jasper, Alice and many others had no one to comfort them through such a stage and here I was whining about not having my happily ever after. 

“Who?”  It was a vague question but as Aro’s eyes widened I knew he got the jest of my stellar vocabulary skills. 

“Well,”  he said standing and with a wave of his hand gestured to Marcus who also stood and made his way over to where I sat.  “It is true that I have not had much time to think about this but Marcus has requested that he be the one to administer the bite.”

Marcus bowed.  “If you would honor me?” 

I must have tripped over my tongue many times before I could form anything that remotely resembled words but I in all honesty didn’t know what to say.  From what I had heard many times from several of the Cullens was that Marcus did not involve himself with anything he didn’t deem worthy of his time and for him to ask to turn me was both frightening and flattering. 

“Of course.”  I finally managed, taking a deep breath to stave off the dizziness that had my head swimming.  “My I ask why you chose me?” 

His mouth curved upwards, a small half smile appearing changing his features so drastically that I was forced to gasp.  Just as quickly as his smile appeared it was gone, replaced by a deep frown.  Guiltily I wondered if it was my reaction to him that rapidly changed his mood, but as I looked up to Aro for some kind of answer I found that his eyes were already trained on me, widened in fear.  

“Isabella,”  he started lowly, slowly making his way around to me and pulling me gently up from my chair.  “Go behind my desk and stay there.  You mustn’t move until I tell you.  Do you understand?”  

“Yes,”  I squeaked out just as a long echoing roar rang from somewhere in the castle.  Quickly I moved myself to squat behind the large desk knowing all the while that the large piece of furniture would do me little good against anything capable of creating that kind of noise.  And the look on Aro’s face as he drilled out his instructions only terrified me further, surly if the brother’s were scared I had every right to be in a near panic.  

It was only seconds later when a thundering crash met my ears and my body was assaulted by thousands of wood shards, raining down on me from over the desk.  I screamed, quickly slapping my hands over my ears while the battle of colliding boulders continued, growling and snapping mixed in with the occasional snarled word.  Then it was quiet and I found the silence more frightening than the haunting sounds of the skirmish.  

I had shut my eyes sometime ago, too fearful to see what could be possibly about to eat me but as time ticked by and a cool blast of air hit my face, my curious nature got the better of me and I opened my eyes.  I jumped back, startled at the proximity of his body and by his appearance. 

“C-Caius,”  I stammered, still reeling from his closeness as his body was practically draped over mine and the coolness radiating off him was refreshing to my fevered skin. 

He said nothing in return but in his defense I don’t think he was capable of speech at the time.  He was beautifully feral, his white hair unbound and falling like a curtain of snow around him, his clothing were nothing but serrated tatters and his eyes were black as the night sky.  Yet they were different than those of a normal thirsting vampire; the entire circumference of the eye itself was black not just the iris and I couldn’t help but think that it was another mark left by the beasts he so loathed.  In my mind it made him all the more petrifying and beautiful.

“Caius,”  I said again, this time more firmly hoping anything would register without causing him to attack.  He cocked his head to the right, looking as confused as I felt and then he smiled his gleaming fangs glistening with the venom that spilt down his chin. 

“Do not fear me, ma cher.”  he told me, seductively running an icy digit down the length of my face and across my exposed collar.  I shivered in both fear and delight, many of my nightly fantasies racing through my mind as I bit back a moan.  His nostrils flared and with a hiss he parted my legs, sliding my dress up my thighs as he settled himself between them.  “I can smell you, little one,”  he whispered his breath tickling the hairs of my neck as he pulled the lobe of my ear into his mouth followed by a sharp sting. 

“Oh…”  I groaned, feeling myself moisten as he continued to suck and lick, nibbling his way down the column of my neck.  He chuckled against my skin, telling me how good I tasted and how he craved more.  I was panting like a wanton hussy around the same time a throat cleared.  Caius’s head snapped up and a deep warning sounded from his chest.  Peeking around his bulking form was not easy but when I managed I wished I hadn’t, not only were Marcus and Aro standing there smiling smugly but I also had to face Emmett’s wagging eyebrows, Alice’s knowing smirk, Rosalie’s scowl and Carlisle’s wide eyes.  Esme was the worst though, if she were still human I know she would have been blushing a brighter red than me. 

I groaned and buried myself in Caius’s chest, willing them to all fade away but the sound of my chuckling family assured me that my prayers had gone unanswered.  Chuckling along with them Caius lifted us to stand but as my legs were still jelly from Caius’s affections I think I was less standing and more hanging on by a thread.  It was then I heard Alice gasp and when my eyes flew to her face I saw her stiffen along with everyone else.

“Bella, you’re bleeding.”  She made to move towards me, her eyes filled with concern but a loud growl flew from the vampire holding me and she held her ground.  Confused, I stared down at myself, looking for the mystery injury that I couldn’t detect until I found a few scattered droplets of blood, staining my gown in a vertical pattern down my breasts.

“Forgive me, Bella?”  Caius said lowly, nuzzling the top of my head with his cheek.

“Huh?”  I asked stupidly, the understanding of what he was apologizing for alluding me.

A single fingertip grazed my neck and up to the earlobe his sinful mouth had so thoroughly ravished.  “Your ear, my pet.”  He said silkily pulling his hand into my sightline where I could see the crimson liquid gathered on his finger before bringing it to his mouth and sucking it off like the most divine chocolate. 

My breath hitched as the heat between my legs flared in want. 

“Leave us.”  Caius told them firmly.

“No way, buddy,”  Emmett said puffing himself up and moving away from the protection of Carlisle and Aro.  “You just bit her, she’s going with you over my pile of ashes.”  My heart lurched with worry for my sibling, knowing full well of the chances of Emmett winning a fight with Caius, it was slim at best.  After all, Jasper was terrified of him and I had seen Jasper and Emmett spar.  Emmett didn’t stand a chance.

“Em, it’s okay,”  I tried taking a step in his direction in hopes of comforting him only to be pulled back flush with Caius’s chest as he snarled.  

“Do not test me, infant,”  he told him pushing me further behind him and moving to the defensive.  

“Enough of this,”  Aro commanded, sounding more the vampire than I had ever heard before.  “My brother will allow no harm to come to Bella, he could not even if he so wanted.”  

“Oh and why’s that?”  Emmett asked defiantly, crossing his gigantic arms over his chest.  “He just bit her, how am I supposed to believe he won’t do it again?”

The howling laughter of Aro startled me, he was bent at the waist cackling in such a away I would have never believed it had I not seen it myself.  “You think…”  he laughed.  “You are a fool if you cannot see it.”  

“Huh?”  We seemed to reply in unison and I imagined that Emmett was just as confused if not more than I was.  

“Soul-mates,”  Marcus informed us coolly, looking at me from his perch behind Aro with what I could only describe as affection.  

My eyes widened and my body stiffened.  I can’t be true, my mind screamed, taunting me for being a fool once again.  I had already heard this line, mates, that’s what Edward had called us and it was nothing more than a cruel lie to break my heart so he could fulfill his desires for my blood.  In my heart though, I knew it to be true.  I had known the man less than a week and for a good portion of that week I had brushed him off as a sexual infatuation or possibly a distraction in my vulnerable state but as the week went on more and more of me cried out for his presence, just the smell of him seemed to be a balm for my soul.  

Peeking up at him from under wet lashes his eyes, now returned to that beautiful ruby shade I had grown so accustomed to, were already peering down at me.  It was hard to believe with all that I had heard about Caius in the past, his cruel nature and his cold disposition that he could ever look upon anything so tenderly as he was at this moment.  Beautiful, I thought aimlessly as I reached out with a tentative hand to caress his marbled skin, relishing in the silky coolness that seemed to burn me from the inside out.  

Soul-mates.

A loud disgruntled huff had me shifting my gaze from the vampire still holding me snuggly in his arms to the sulking form of my brother who still looked a little miffed by the scene in front of him.  Rosalie who’s eyes were darting from me to her husband finally threw her hands in the air one of which detoured to smack my still bewildered brother upside the head.

“Come on, Emmy-bear, momma will make it all better.”  She teased seizing at his paw of a hand and dragging him from the room.  Carlisle and Esme leaving in a similar manner with a giggling Alice hot on their heels.  

“Well, brother, it seems you made your way home just in the knick of time.”  Aro said, his amused face slightly wrinkling as he took in Caius’s disheveled appearance and I had to agree, for as beautiful as the man was he was a train wreck and smelled worse.  

“Yes impeccable timing,”  Marcus agreed, his lips twitching upwards in a smile all his own.  

It was a sight to behold, really, watching the three most exalted men of their species behaving like… well, children.  Brothers till the end, I silently mused as they teased their younger sibling like I imagined all big brothers did only in most realities when the brothers squared off for the big wrestle they couldn’t literally tear the house down.  

Caius, for as lighthearted he seemed to be in the moment did nothing more than grunt at his teasing siblings before leading me through the destroyed room, and into an adjoining saloon where he took rest in a plush wingback, taking me with him.  Slightly embarrassed by this new public display I tried to stand with the intentions of taking my own chair as the brothers entered, but as Caius’s arms tightened around my waist he growled, a warning clearly stating that I would be going no where.  

“Well, now that matter is settled,”  Aro started looking pointedly at me.  “I have a matter to discuss with you brother, and it may resolve the reasoning behind Bella’s rescheduled change.”  

“What is it, Aro.”  Caius said darkly a small rumble vibrating from his chest.

“Edward Cullen.”

Ten

Chapter Ten

Time passed by with little meaning as the others chatted happily through our ‘visit’, only Rosalie seemed to share the same understanding with me as was evident by her bored sighs.  The hope I had once held for answers was dimming by the second and I was aggravated to no end to be still sitting here uncomfortably discussing the weather in Paris and summer homes in Rio.  Familiar as I was with the mindless, gossiping conversations of women, being raised by my mother had sealed my fate when it came to that long ago, but where I was once relieved by my family inviting themselves to this… well what I could only sum up as the vampire equivalent to afternoon tea, now I all I wanted was for them to leave.  

As the day wound to a close the room was filled with the early dusking light dancing off every surface in a dazzling display of orange and muted pink.  I tried to keep myself from staring at prism of rainbow that danced off the skin of my vampire counterparts which I knew failed when I heard Alice snicker under her breath.  

All but ready to leave I stood and made to thank my host but was halted when a soft rapping knock sounded on the large ornate door.  Athenodora’s eyes shifted to the door and a smile I could only deem as devilish tugged at the corners of her mouth.  With a soft “Enter” the door soundless opened and a young woman in her mid twenties gracefully stepped through the entryway carrying a gold gilded tray of assorted meats, bread, cheeses and fruit.  Her midnight tresses swaying against her flawless olive skin as she made her way towards her mistress.  A second woman entered, frighteningly similar looking to the first woman, she brandished a bottle of wine which of I was sure cost more than my childhood home.  

Sulpicia dismissed her quickly thanking her quietly for her service and then they retreated from what ever hole they had climbed out of in the first place.  It was still surreal for me to see such loyalty from someone who for lack of a better word was a glorified and willing slave.  I had been informed long before I had set foot on Italian soil that their had been and still are some mortals that earn their immortality through the service of the Volturi, but it made it no less sickening in my mind.  Willing or not I still had a hard time dealing with the fact that they were indeed bound by servitude.  

A light clearing of a throat alerted me that I was indeed still in the company of others and by the looks on their faces I concluded that I was busted scowling.  “They are treated quiet well.”  Sulpicia stated as her eyes darted for the door the girls had just departed from.  “It was my husband that started bringing mortal men and woman to the castle.”  At my astonished look she continued.  “I know what you must be thinking, but you are wrong.  Those two girls have lived here since childhood, forgotten by their parents in a damp alley-way used for the whores and vagrants of the city.  One of our other human aids found them and brought them to Aro.”  She held a black glove to her mouth in hopes to stifle her giggle but failed miserably.  “Caius was so angry, he detests most humans, which is why it was so hard to believe when he showed up here the other day positively reeking of you.”

She took a moment to gather her thoughts, or possibly letting most of what she said soak into my brain.  “Aro has turned many mortals over the years, most of what make up our guard now or at least the ones of lower rank.  Most of them have never had any other home but here, no family and doomed to wallow in the pit of filth and stench they were born in to.”  As her words digested I couldn’t help the small pang of shame that flitted through me.  I had learned not long ago that jumping to conclusions was never a good thing and this just proved that fact further.  I had been wrong to judge the Volturi and the girls that had so willing signed over their life before knowing the reasons behind them.  If I were honest with myself, I wasn’t so different.  No, I had not spent my life as the personal go-for for vampire royalty but I had willing signed my life away when I knowingly got involved with the supernatural; knowing the consequences to come.  That was the only thing I could give Edward credit for, he had after all, warned me that being around him and his kind would be dangerous but at the time my naïve young mind couldn’t possibly fathomed what dangers would entail.  

“Isabella,”  Athenodora called, abruptly calling me from my darker thoughts.  “Would you consider staying a while longer.  We still have much to talk about and it is something Sulpicia and I would rather do in private.”  When Rosalie scoffed loudly Sulpicia jumped understanding right away that she had offended my blond sister.  

“Rosalie, I have no doubt that Bella will tell you most of this conversation at one point or another but I still would like to speak with her in private.  And I hope you understand that most of what will be said here tonight is to stay between us, most here in the castle know of what I speak but there are still some I do not wish to gain this information.”  

My mouth dropped open in awe as I saw Rosalie nod in agreement and stand along with Esme and Alice.  After Alice and Esme exchanged their goodbyes in a flurry of thanks and kisses while Rosalie stood on at the front door and scowled, Esme rushed to me whispering to me to keep an open mind.  I should have known that Esme would already have what ever information I was about to receive.  After all she had been living with Carlisle for nearly a hundred years and Carlisle did live as an acting member of the Volturi for almost a decade, surly he already knew.  Alice followed suit kissing my forehead and breezing from the room dragging a huffing Rosalie behind her.  

There was a moment of dead silence in the room as Sulpicia uncorked the bottle of wine and pouring a single glass meant for me.  The only noise in the room was the crackling of charred wood in the fireplace as umbers danced up the chimney and my stomach was fluttering with nervous butterflies as my nerves returned in full force.  

“Isabella,”  Athenodora voice pierced the dead air, startling me to jump.  “I take it by what Demetri observed last night that you have seen my brothers scars?”  She questioned and I nodded.  “All off them?  She questioned further with a cock of her brow.    

I swallowed hard, suddenly finding my throat tight and very dry.  I picked up my glass downing the hearty dark red liquid.    It was a pleasant full bodied taste, obviously very old, but soon after a roar of heat coursed through my body as the wine took its affects.  With shaking fingers I replaced the glass as I answered hoping not to squeak out my answer.  “I’ve seen the scars on the upper half of his body, yes.”  

She sighed.  “Then my dear, you have not seen them all.”

“What happened to him?”  I asked quickly before I lost my nerve.

After nodding Sulpicia once again filled my glass, this time almost to the brim.  “I do not remember much of Caius from when I was a child as he was so much older than I, twelve years older to be exact but from what I can remember he was a very handsome but cruel man.  Believe it or not he was born with hair as pitch as night.  It wasn’t until after his change did we gain the same hair color or close as it is now.  He was always away on some journey or another and then our father died and he was made Lord of our lands, in line for the crown of France.”  She paused only slightly encouraging me to drink some more.  

“In the year Nine hundred and Eighty six I came to live with my brother at his manor after our mother had fallen ill with the same infliction that had taken our father.  It was a hard winter and hunting was scarce.  With the castle starving my brother led a hunt of few men out into the woods after dark, it was a full moon.  I remember waiting for two days before we had any word.  And that word came by a lone man, he was mauled and covered in blood and told us the tale of the giant wolves who my brother fought off to save the rest of the men.”  

My heart was racing and my mind was a jumbled mess.  986 my mind chanted over and over and as I quickly did the math I gasped.  Caius was over a thousand years old.

“It was Aro that found Caius in the woods that night.  He too had been hunting but not for meat as you have probably guessed.  I was still a young vampire myself only six years into this life but I still begged to come, Aro was assured we had more than enough men to keep me safe so I was allowed to follow.  We stalked them for days waiting for the right moment to strike.  On our last week in country we picked up the scent of blood and it was strong.  We tracked it to a clearing covered in snow and in that snow lay a man horribly mauled and dieing… or so we thought.  He had been bitten and as it was a full moon he would have changed.  With his last breathes he begged Aro to kill him he told us he had seen another man change and he didn’t want to become one of their kind.  Caius burned for ten days after my husband bit him and no one including me expected him to survive the change.”

“He was bitten by a Werewolf?”  I said more to myself than anyone else.  “Wait… does that mean that he is…?”

“No.”  Athenodora answered quickly.  “No the venom of Aro’s bite was enough to stop the change and allow the vampire gene to take over but the lasting effects of the wolves bites will forever scar him.”  

“And his… teeth?”  I asked not really knowing how to word that particular question.  Should I call them fangs?  

“Unfortunately, even though Aro’s venom was enough to stop my brother’s full transformation some the residual werewolf gene stuck and the mixed strain of his venom caused the difference in appearance that you might have noticed.”  

I felt myself tear up at all that Caius had suffered through, more than I could have ever expected myself too, but to hear how he had atoned himself over the years was more than enough for my heart to go out to him.  

It was well after midnight when I concluded my talk with Sulpicia and Athenodora and what a conversation it was.  My mind was reeling, a jumbled mess of thoughts and theories as I blindly followed my silent, vampire escort back to my room, or Caius’s room as I was so told.  

That night lying in the bed of satin and fur I thought about all that I had been told, true enough Caius was a bastard in his human life but he was a different man now.  He may still hate the human population but perhaps it was because he was so disconnected from them.  All he had ever known about the human race was their cruelty and greed and it undoubtedly affected his judgment now and that I could work with.  With myself resigned I let the thoughts of the evening wash away hopeful for the new day and my hopes of Caius’s return.  After all I had a new demon to face in the morning.  My mortality.

Nine

Chapter Nine

As the trickling of water registered to my ears and the sweet tinkling of whispered voices alerted me that I was not alone.  “She should be waking up any second.”

Something wet and cool placed on my forehead had me surging forward with a gasp as the heart banging in my chest threatening to burst through.  My one hand grasped the cool cotton of the sheets on my bed while the other gripped the front of the sweat covered nightgown I didn’t remember putting on.  “Bella, it’s okay.  I just need you to breathe, okay?”  Alice pleaded softly.

I nodded frantically, taking a couple of deep calming breaths and I felt myself becoming more centered.  “Alice?  What happened?  Where am I?”  I asked, panic seeping into my already rough and cracking voice.  She smiled gently pressing the cool cloth to one cheek and then the other.  “Shhh Bella, just relax.”  She cooed pushing me gently back onto the soft mattress of my unfamiliar bed.  My eyes followed her every move as she reached to the bedside table and picked up two white tablets along with a glass of water.

“Here, take these.”  She offered while Rosalie and Esme helped me to sit long enough to drink down my chalky pills.  “You have a mild concussion.”  She informed me as the others laid me back.  “Carlisle has proscribed you a pain reliever and a sedative to keep you calm, you really scared us last night.”

“What exactly did happen, Bella?”  Rosalie asked a look of concern clouding her beautiful face.  “Alice had the vision of you slumped by the bed when the growling started in your room.”

I wracked my brain, trying to remember everything I could.  “Um… Caius was with me and we were…,”  I stopped short as my face flushed bright pink.

Alice in the same moment bounded off the bed, clapping and twirling in a circle as she squealed in excitement.  At my look she huffed blowing a tuft of her jet black hair billowing under her unneeded breath.  “All right, all right.”  She pouted begrudgingly as she retook her seat beside Rosalie and Esme took the plush wingback with the gracefulness of the perfect fifties house-wife.

“Anyway?”  Rosalie prompted waving her hand impatiently for me to continue, I knew it wouldn’t be long before she lost her patience completely.

“Uh… things were going… uh, well and…

One minute I was burning in the blinding throws of passion, soaking up all that Caius would give me but left still wanting more and the next my body was being wrapped like a swaddled infant and shoved to the farthest wall from the entryway.  For all intents and purposes I was blind to who had entered the room and if I hadn’t heard the heavy creaking wood of my door or the snarl Caius let loose a second later I would have remained unaware.

Caius had still been half undressed when our unexpected visitor came calling, and since I couldn’t see around him I decided to take a brief glance at the manly scenery.  I’ll never know how I missed the large mutilated flesh of Caius’s left side and chest.  Starting at his left shoulder blade and running in three ragged, saw-tooth lines down to his right hip bone, stopping just above his light trail of snowy white hair.  The other in four angry mark down his left side.  He looked as if he was mauled by a giant bear, but that wasn’t possible.  Nothing that I’ve ever heard of besides vampire venom could leave a scar like the one’s on his body and these were no bites.  

The conversation between Caius and my mystery intruder was nothing more than the low hum I recognized as vampire super-speak and angry snarls and growls.  I felt a little dejected for not being included in the conversation but that all ended when the room started to shake and Caius roar rumbled in my ears.  It rattled the entire foundation of the room sending bits of dust and small rocks falling from the rafters and I nearly fell to the ground with its force.

A moment later and it was all over, and I found myself wishing for the snarls opposed to the deafening quiet that engulfed the room.  I barely registered his apology for having to leave or the kiss to the forehead he parted with, all I could grasp was the sinking, vast emptiness I felt when he was gone.

I fell to the floor a moment later, my head bouncing painfully off the wall as I went but I didn’t care, he was gone.  It was like a alarm bell ringing painfully in my ears that this was all happening again.  I wasn’t good enough and he left, just like him.  I don’t think I could have laid there more than a minute before the family swept in to save the day, again.

I sat there lost for a minute not fully comprehending all that had happened.  “Bella!”  Alice’s frantic voice cut through the dim memory of what I had just remembered, though if asked to explain it at all, I wouldn’t be able.

I could feel her arms encasing me and rocking my trembling body gently.  Her hands pressed firmly to my face cooling my flushed skin.  “Bella, are you okay?”

As much as she tried to gain my attention my eyes stayed trained on the door, willing him to return.  I refused to believe he was really gone or that this was happening to me again.  If I just kept my eyes steady on the door, he would return.

The light treading of what had to be vampire feet and a few seconds later the materialized into view.  Knowing who it was already, I refused to look up from my post.  I knew they had heard the slight scuffle and my cry of pain and I knew they were worried, it made it all the more harder to not acknowledge them.

Carlisle’s voice floated to me like a lullaby on a breeze and found a strange comfort in it.  “Bella, can you hear me?”  I knew I had answered him, I felt my mouth moving but I couldn’t hear what I was saying, like I was deaf but only to the sound of my own voice.  Had my time with Caius left me mentally disabled or did I just really not want to hear my own voice, shielding myself from the truth?

“Carlisle, what’s wrong with her?  Why does she keep saying that?”  Esme, pseudo mother, the epitome of calm and collected was near in a full panic.

The sting of Carlisle’s medical light along with the freezing temperature of his fingers only added to my discomfort.  “I honestly don’t know?  I’ve never seen her like this before.”  He told as I felt a painful push to the back of my head.  “She has symptoms from her concussion but the rest of her vitals are normal but she just won’t respond.”  I felt my lips moving again as I protested my case of everything was not fine when Carlisle cleared his throat.  “Except for that.”

“Should somebody slap her,”  Rosalie asked.  “What? It always works in the movies.”  Rosalie added.

“Rosalie.”  Alice admonished.

“Where’s Caius?”  I gasped out in panic.  “Caius?!”

Carlisle swooped in grabbing both sides of my face.  “Bella, I need you to be calm. I don’t want to have to sedate you again but I need you to be calm.  Can you do that?”  He asked in full doctor mode.

Nodding, my eyes scanned my unfamiliar surroundings taking in the differences in the room I now resided.  The walls were once again stone, but finished into a alabaster cast rippling into stunning molds of brocade.  Inhaling deeply I scented fresh cedar and something singularly different but familiar in its own right.  A glowing fire was roaring in the fireplace and I was in heaven in this room.  The fog in my head had lifted and the rooms presence seemed to fill me with a calm that not even Jasper’s gift could compete with; it felt like home.

Feeling more myself I asked again.  “Where is Caius?”

The faces of my family fell one by one and a cold eerie feeling settled in my blood freezing me to my spot on the bed.  I gripped the bed linens closer to my heart, willing myself not to fall apart until I had all the facts but I could already feel the burning of traitor tears stinging the corners of my eyes.

“Where?”  I asked again, more forceful and the tears I had been fighting to conceal slipped from my eyes.

“Where not sure, Bella.  All we know is what we heard.”  Carlisle spoke calmly and I think he was actually trying not to spook me or set me off.  Either way I was grateful for the gesture.

“Okay, so what did you hear?”  Emmett asked, and I looked at him confused.  Wouldn’t he have heard it too?  “What?”  He shrugged innocently at my look.  “I was hunting.”

Rosalie rolled her eyes while smacking her husband playfully.  “All we know is that there’s a threat somewhere to the east of here.  We don’t know much.”

“I didn’t get to here everything, Bella but from what I understood, something is attacking small farming communities about an hours run from here.  I didn’t get a chance to here anything else, I’m sorry.”

“Alice, was it Edward or… the pack?”  I asked my voice quivering with fear for myself and for my loved ones who had put themselves in unnecessary danger because of the lies Edward fed them.

She shook her head.  “No, I spoke with Jasper a few hours ago.  The pack is still in Washington and Edward is in Denali.  Alec is on his way back now.”

I nodded.  It was comforting to know that Jake was still out of danger, but I knew it would only be a matter of time.  Jacob was as stubborn a person as I had ever met and I knew that once he was mended that he and Sam would be making plans.  I could only hope that Edward hadn’t told them where the Volturi had taken me, but it was a dim hope.

Absorbing all that I had learned this morning a thought struck me.  “Wait.  Alice, if Alec is coming home then why is Jasper still in Denali?”

“Because Alec is needed here and Jasper is needed there.”  Alice answered brightly as if everything was that simple.  Maybe it was and I was the one who complicated everything.  What ever the case was my head was still reeling from everything else and looking around this beautifully decorated room it only added to my growing list of questions.”

I sighed sadly, letting it all go for now.  “All right,”  I conceded.  Looking around I really was unsure of where I was exactly and that brought on a mirage of new questioning.  “So…”  I drew on dramatically.  “Where am I exactly?”

“I think I can handle that question?”  Came a melodic voice from the entrance to the room.  “Hello Bella, sleep well?”  She asked with a frightening beautiful smile.

“Yes,”  I answered shaking.  Even though I knew this woman was no longer a threat I still couldn’t stop the shiver that traveled down my spine in her presence.

“Oh come now, Bella.  No need to fear me.”  She said sugar sweet.  It would have been hard not to believe her if the years in the presence of vampires hadn’t taught me different.  It was just another hunting tool their kind used to lure you in, their sweetness, their beauty.

“What exactly do you want, Athenodora?”  Rosalie asked glaring daggers at my guest.  Athenodora’s white-blond head whipped around then cocked to the side.

“What ever I wish, Cullen.”  She replied with a sneer.  “But if you must know, I am here to invite Bella to spend a day with Sulpicia and I.”  At Rosalie’s bitchy “Why?”  she answered with something that spun my head.  “She has questions and I mean to answer as many as I can.”

Stunned into silence I stared, it was the only thing I could physically force my body to do, and if I were honest with myself it wasn’t forced, only allowed.  She smiled brightly at me, her pink shimmering lips glistening as the parted from her venom coated teeth.  She was offering me all that I had ever asked from my family; honesty.

“Will you except?”  She question, cocking her platinum blond eyebrow.

Smiling brightly at her I nodded and she clapped in a very Alice like fashion.  “Very well, I will leave you to get dressed.”  And then with a white blur she was gone.

As I looked to each of my family members, gauging their reactions to my decisions.  Rosalie as suspected was skeptical of the whole thing.

“You know we are coming with you, Bells?”  Although it sounded like a question, I knew it was anything but.  She left me with little room for arguments as she grumpily invited herself, mother and sibling to this play-date with the Volturi royalty.

An hour passed and after I was stuffed full - at Esme demand - washed and dressed I was scurried from the room with Alice, Esme and Rosalie at my sides.  I cast a glance at her when I hoped she wasn’t looking, trying to understand this hostility towards the vampire queen of all people.  Her face was a hard mask, one that I recognized very well as I had seen in often in the past; one that suggested that through her calm and bitchy façade she was just as vulnerable as the rest of us.  But why she felt this way was my question.  Not pretending to have known the real Rosalie long I opted for Emmett’s approach to life.

“Rose, are you okay?”

Her face morphed before my very eyes into something that had I not been experiencing right then, I would have never believed it.  She looked a little scared and it did wonders to her face.  Her beauty had always been beyond compare to me, but in this new light, Rosalie was more stunning than ever.

It lasted only a second, this new look, before it was once again frozen over by the bitchily mask I was so accustomed.  “I’m fine, Bella.”  She replied harshly, but her soothing hand on my shoulder likened me to the fact that she was not upset with me.

Through the twisted turns and ever confusing steps through the maze of corridors we marched, like soldiers to our doom and when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore it was Alice that announced that we had arrived.

I muttered on angrily about needed golf carts to maneuver the long halls but Alice giggled and replied that to immortals the distance was nothing.  Of course my face flamed red at her statement as it brought me back to other carnal desires that have been fleeting through my head all morning.  The thought of never ending stamina had left me breathless and near panting.

Two guards met us at the double hung walnut doors, both bowing regally as they stood back from their posts to open the door for us.  I would never openly admit that I liked the gesture, I felt like I was in some grim fairytale and I had yet to waken, every thing was so surreal from the overly gentlemanly fashion of the footman to the way everything was beautifully detailed right down to the gold-leaf brocade spread throughout the castle.  I felt like royalty myself and the dress that Alice had left me in for today did little to deflate my ego.  She had picked a airy muslin gown of purest white lace and a apple red satin sash.  Not something I would usually go for but I had to admit to feeling like some wayward princess in it.  

The astonishment did not end as we entered what I assumed to be Athenodora’s living quarters, by the looks of things.  Everything was done in gold and an assortments of plush velvets in every spectrum of purple and cream I had ever laid eyes on.  She smiled devilishly at me as she corralled me to an equally overdone sitting area of her room.  Alice at my left and Rosalie flanking my right, we sat and more than ever I felt like I was on display with no help from my vampire entourage/body-guards.  

Sulpicia nodded her greeting and before long she and Esme were engrossed in catching up over the decade that had gone without each others company.  Me, I fidgeted with anything and everything in sight, from the decorative lace that hung from the table to my the butter-soft material of my sash.  I heard several grunts from Alice’s direction and I knew that my twitchy nervous behavior was just about her own mental undoing.  When she had had enough, I suspected, she elbowed me non-to-delicately in the ribs making me sing out in pain.  

Rose jumping to conclusions snarled over my head and was followed by a mirroring snarl from Athenodora.  I blanched not expecting her, of all vampires, to be sticking up for me and in my flustered and confused state so went my verbal filter.

“Why was I moved from my room?”  I blurted out quickly my eyes bulging with the effort to remain calm as the room went silent as the grave.  Sulpicia and Esme just smiled proudly as Rosalie and Alice struggled to pull their jaws up from the table.

“You are a curious little thing, Bella.”  Athenodora replied, shifting in her seat to give me her full attention.  “I like that.  Things have been so dull around here lately.”

For some reason her words struck a flat cord in my heart and my anger grew to points I didn’t know even existed within myself.  It might have been Edward’s voice ringing in my ears ’You are nothing but a distraction for our kind.  Something amusing to pass the time.’  or it could have been a little of the hostility left over from the day before when I still thought her to be Caius’s wife, but what ever the reason my hands came down on the table with a slam.  “I am not some amusing pet for you to get your jollies, and I believe I asked you a question.”  

A sly smile spread across her face and though it wasn’t exactly menacing I had to wonder if I had once again overstep some imaginary boundary of the undead.  Scared or not I held my ground, leveling her right back with an unwavering stare.  

“Of course.”  she suddenly relented.  “After all I did promise you answers.”

My racing heart finally took a dive to the pit of my stomach as I released a breath of relief that she was angry at my outburst.  Looking around at my pseudo mother and siblings I concurred that I wasn’t the only one writing out my last will and testament in their head.  Esme eyes were as wide as I had ever seen them and Rosalie nudged me and then mouthed.  “What are you doing?”  I threw my hands up in exasperation as I roughly whispered back.  “I don’t know!”

At the clearing of a throat Rosalie and I turned back to our host - which I had just yelled at - with a sheepish smile.  

“Now,”  she said with heirs.  “to answer your question.  I was the one to move you at the request of Marcus.”

I felt the color drain from my face as she spoke, and all I could think was that I had yet again wrangled some vampire the wrong way and that I had yet again caught the fancy of a vampire I had wanted nothing to do with.  

“None of that, Isabella.  If you would allow me to finish before you pass out.  I was going to say that it was Marcus who requested it of me but as a favor to my brother.  Your room was not as well guarded as the wing you now reside and if I heard correctly your failed to meet the standards of my brother or your status.”  She finished smugly settling her white-gloved hands firmly in your lap.  

“And what about my family?”  I asked sternly, glancing out the corner of my eye for help, not that I received any.  

Alice face was covered by her dainty hands as she shook her head back and forth grounding out my name in agitation.  

Sulpicia was the one to jump in before my verbal filter took another plummet in the wrong direction.  “Well, as you are familiar with the Cullens we have had them moved to guest wing that is held in reserve for our most distinguished nobility but they cannot stay with you.”  

I looked into her crimson gaze confused but as the realization of her words hit, my stomach took another dive and so did my blood pressure.  I felt light headed and nearly faint when I gasped out.  “You mean?”

“Yes.”  Athenodora answered.  “It is Caius’s personal living quarters and at his request you have been given his room and personal guard.”  I sat in silence for a moment, just soaking everything in when Esme spoke up.  

“I’m rather jealous, Bella.  It is the newest renovation to the castle and it the most beautiful by far.”  

I looked at her like she had just committed herself to the loony-bin and I admittedly I felt not far from committing myself.  Things were getting stranger and stranger around here and in some twisted depths of my mind I couldn’t wait for the mystery to unfold.   

Eight

Chapter Eight

Leaving Isabella standing there with her eyes closed and that blush upon her cheeks was not without merit but I found myself entirely reluctant to do so.  When had I become so wholly infatuated with her?  I knew the answer to that before the question ever crossed my mind but I wasn’t ready to admit that, even to myself.  She was such a beautiful human.  I had never seen a beauty such as herself, natural and not without flaw and yet even to my heightened vampire eyes she was the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on.  Knowing that I would see her in a few short hours was the only reason my body permitted me to leave her.

She had enraptured me, enthralled me even.  Like the tales of the sirens of old my little human called to me in every primal way.  Her scent filled me with peace and understanding and her nature left me curious.  She was willful and stubborn and it was easy to see how she found herself in the precarious situations she always seemed to be in.  If it is true that ‘curiosity killed the cat’ then my Isabella was the equivalent to a basket full of kittens. 

She seemed to be such a kind and truly good hearted person which is precisely why I could understand that the fates had chosen her for me.  I was a beast king, a ‘Le Diable blanc’ as my people called me in my human years.  Merciless and cruel, I was the torment of many in my human years.  Made a Lord at such a young age did nothing to help my ruthlessness as I was shown no punishment for my crimes, no matter how grave they were.  I suffered for my misdeeds in the end though, becoming a vampire was only seemed to ease some of my sins, for the rest of my pennants are paid every day as I have to live with what I had become. To live among the immortals as I was, it was a hellish nightmare at best.  Different from the rest of my kind has been difficult especially as the world has over populated itself; harder for me to move about, harder for me to hide. 

But no punishment the fates could ever construct could be worse than this.  Lousing about with my overly exited brother at this hour could be described as sitting through one of Jane’s lectures about propriety and the expectations of the Volturi standards while being slowly ripped apart and burned. 

“What is the point to all this, Aro?”   I groaned laying my head on the large stacks of musty paper that have acquired into a pile in front of me.  He was incessant in his ramblings on about this and that, knowing full well that I could care less about an upstart in a younger coven in Japan.

As the one sided conversation grew more and more ridiculous I realized he was baiting my temper.  He was stalling and more than anyone, Aro knows that in my one thousand and twenty years of being a vampire or the twenty-two years I spent as a human that I had not been then, am not now, and will never be a patient man.  

“Am I boring you, Caius?”  Although he was not smiling it was hard to miss the mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

“You know you are.”  I growled in irritation as I checked the hour with the time piece from my waistcoat.  It was past midnight and now my human was undoubtedly asleep.  I rose from my chair pushing away the meaningless documents that Aro kept adding through his lecture, they had nothing to do with me.

“What is the purpose of this distraction?”  I have never been in what I could remember of my human life or in my vampire life a man to skirt around the obvious question.  If I wanted an answer I would retrieve it by any means necessary.

“Distraction?  Caius, whatever do you mean? These are matters of impor-”

“Aro!”

He held his hands out in front of him in a totally innocent gesture trying to appease my ever growing rage.  He chuckled lightly though and all my suspicions were confirmed.

“Forgive me, Caius.”  Hanging his head, I knew his words were genuine and sincere.  “To be honest my brother, I wanted to observe how you interacted with others away from the girl.”

“And?”  I asked with a speculative brow. 

“I find you to be exasperating and impatient, even more so than usual.”  He said with a snicker.  “But to be honest, you’ve done better than expected.”  He said shutting his eyes in deep thought.  “Though I must say I am interested to see how you will react once the girl is changed.”

His voice trailed off as I exited Aro’s library and down the corridor, into the maze of winding paths leading to the guest wing.  “You know Caius, it is rude to leave while still in the middle of a conversation.”  I chuckled quietly as Aro’s angry voice carried to me, he was cross but he would soon get over it.  Even in my haste to get to Bella’s room my legs couldn’t seem to carry me the required distance fast enough.  It wasn’t until I reached underside to her window did I relax enough to inhale her sweet smell and calm myself. 

After a short debate with myself over leaving the little human to rest till morning or giving into my own selfish desires I decided that by her side was where I wanted to be.  That was well enough of an explanation and without more thought I jumped.  Scaling the side of the stone walls until her scent wafted so strongly I had to gouge the stone deep to keep from falling backwards.  I took at minute on her sill to scan the darkness of her room.  It was decorated well but far beneath her stature, something I would remedy in the morning.  It was only her in the darkness no other creature stirred, our castle blessedly free of rodent or stray animals that were to frightened by our predatory nature to venture to close.

Leaping through her window I could already tell by the slowed beat of her human heart that she was asleep, although a fit full one.  Her heart would speed and slow; indication that see might have been dreaming.  I stood there watching her for a short while, basking in the light of her beauty.  Her brow covered in a light sheen of sweat and her long mahogany hair splayed about her pillow, the moons cast glowing of her skin in a divine light.  Her arousal hit the air and I could not contain my purr of approval even finding myself growing hard at the sight of her gasping parted lips, wishing she would grace my ears with my name. 

Her heart rate speed up to the point I knew she would wake and decided to move into the shadows to observe for a while longer.  As predicted she gave a frustrated growl a moment later.  

~~**CD**~~


Sleep did not come as easy as I would have liked.  With my mind swirling with unanswered question and my body tingling from the less than innocent dreams staring Caius between the apex of the thighs I decided to get up rather than lay there panting in the cool night air.  Propping myself on my elbows I reached for the beside lamp and for my copy of Dante’s Inferno from the nightstand, I couldn’t go back to sleep now and masturbating in a castle full of vampires was out of the question.  Reading until sleep claimed me again or till morning weighed in heavily as my only option.  My hand had barely touched the switch of the lamp when a cold blast of air trickled across the naked flesh of my shoulders followed by the deep baritone of Caius voice.

“You should be asleep, ma beauté.”  Even though I could not see his face in the eerie blackness of the room I could only imagine the smirk that I could hear from the tenor in his voice.  It was deep and silky, holding a promise of the deliciously sinful things he could do to me, and did in my dreams.

I startled though, unsure of where he was in the room or embarrassingly, how long he had been there.  As my eyes focused I could partially make out his shadowy mass from the window, more than anything was his brilliant white hair, bathed in the blue cast of the moon overhead.  Wanting to see him, more than I should, I reached out for the switch again and no resistance met me as the room came to life in the warm glow of the lamp light.   His form seemed to morph before my very eyes as the once shadow figure lightened into the blindingly beautiful man hungrily scanning me with burgundy eyes. 

“You haven’t fed.”  It spilled from my lips as just as fast as the thought entered my mind.  I felt foolish for stating such an obvious thing, but found that my verbal filtered often came into question where he was concerned. 

“Do not fret, little human.  I am not here for a snack, though,”  he said bemused.  “what a delicious snack you would make.”

Every cell of my body tingled with anticipation as he turned from his spot at the window and stalked closer, like a wild jungle cat would hunt it’s prey silently through the brush he came closer still.  His calculating eyes traveled over every inch of me, taking in the bits of naked flesh my meager nightclothes failed to cover.  I felt my insides heat up as his eyes trained on my pert nipples that peaked under the thin silk material of my nightgown, longing for his icy touch.  His eyes were black with want, that much I could tell, but whether the call be to my blood or my body I didn’t know, only that Caius was hungry. 

He reached my side as I struggled to right myself and be sure that everything was in its proper place just as I felt the shifting weight of his body hit the thick padding of my mattress.  It was not the first time he had been so close but for some reason the mixture of soft lamplight coupled with the blue cast of the moon, the long jagged scar that ran crookedly across the bridge of his nose and down his left cheek was mesmerizing.  Without a conscious thought my hand lifted from the soft fabric of the bed linens and traveled up to his face.  My fingers positively itching to touch the interesting scar, wondering how this warrior came to get such a altering mark. 

It was in my slight knowledge that vampires were mostly incapable of receiving such a scar, and if it had been something from his human day that the venom would have healed it. 

A low rumbling broke me from my reflection and I startled to the realization of how close my hand was to his face.  Of course I blushed to the tips of my toes and murmured  a quick apology but was stopped when his marbled fingers lightly took my hand and laid it to his face.  I was shocked so much so that it must have reflected on my face for Caius spoke up.

“You may touch me if that is your wish, I would never harm you.” 

With his permission my fingers moved of their own accord as my mind catalogued all the different theories of how the long scar had gotten there.  Over and over my fingers danced across his cheek, feeling out the raised skin before dipping into the deep crevasse of the jagged outline.  Feeling the difference of the skin temperature from his cool outer shell nearly made me gasp aloud.  It was smooth as hand-blown glass and every serrated inch of skin there was colder to the touch.  I don’t know why I found his blemish so interesting, other than in my time spent with the undead, Jasper was the only one I had ever seen with visible defects.  In my eyes it seemed to make him all the more beautiful, an abstract in the perfection so many of his kind held.  I didn’t realize as my mind wandered who intimate my touches had become, from simply inspecting to caressing his face with a lovers touch.  It was only when his growl became prominent did I seize up, yanking my hand away only for it to be caught in the iron grip of the white beast in front of me. 

Scared and not wanting to explain why my hand had wandered to the shell of his slightly pointed ears and down the smooth, hard lines of his jaw.  His eyes were narrowed and full of fire and for once since I had met this man I wondered if I had finally overstepped my bounds. 

“What… what happened to you.”  I rasped out, frightened but still curious as to what made him so different from the others.  He was a vampire but there was something else about him, something I didn’t think I would be able to comprehend on my own.

“Later.”  He growled.  He gave me no warning as his lips slammed into mine with bruising force nearly knocking me back into the mattress.  My hands struggled to find purchase in the soft material of his jacket as my body hummed in approval.  His tongue tickling at the seem to my mouth, not asking but commanding my body to comply with his, and comply it did.  I moaned loud and wantonly as his smooth muscle dipped into the hot recess of my mouth, just tasting everything his venom coated was like an elixir bringing my starving body to life. 

The world around me shifted and slowed as pulled onto his lap, settling my moist heat against what I could only describe as delicious friction.  He was as aroused as I was and the proof of that arousal was now rubbed up against me, taunting me into a near frenzy.  I moaned his name as the thin straps of my gown were lowered his lips following an unseen path to the newly naked flesh of my breasts.  My hips rocked frantically in need of the release I so desperately needed and it only seemed to spur him on.

Moaning louder as Caius scrapped his small fangs against the smoldering skin of my neck and chest.  I felt like I would explode into a thousand pieces if he stopped, it felt like I would if he didn’t.  I ground into him harder and once again the world shifted; it felt like flying and my hands braced the bed to keep me in an upright sitting position.  My eyes popped open and stared back into black onyx, his lids were heavy and a small smirk graced his lips as I felt the lacy fabric of my underwear give way before frosty fingers lightly parted my womanly folds.  I gasped at the intimate contact, the first that anyone besides myself had touched me in such a way.  His hands left my hips as I slid gently to my feet, Caius’s hands traveling the length of my thighs before parting them. 

“So warm.”  His muffled whisper came from the inside of my thigh.  “So soft.”

My eyes gaped as he knelt before me; a vampire king kneeling to a mortal. 

“So ready,”  he told me truthfully his thumb stroking my clit much to gently for my taste.  “So mine.”

~~**CD**~~

Her touches were like the fluttering of butterfly wings, so soft and lighter than feathers.  It was deeply arousing to have her loving caresses upon the flesh of my deformed skin without disgust.  Most of my life, human and vampire were cold and hard and I had never felt the warmth of woman touch without paying for it.  I preferred it to be so, I was not a man of poetry or song, love or tenderness… until her.  I was a ruthless killer to all who stood in my path of supreme conquest, carving my name through the ages so to speak and then there was her.  Fragile and small, in need of things that boy was in no position to give her, even if he had wished it so.

Feeling the warmth of her fingertips set my body on fire and it was then that I knew that she would be forever at my side.  My brothers had always spoken the foreign words of soul-mate’s and love, but I either believed them false or didn’t care.  She was silky and responsive under my gentle menstruations and I felt myself harden to almost painful measures.  I wanted this human for my own, and I was going to make it so.    

“So ready,”  I whispered to her, my lips on the insides of her thighs and my thumb making slow, shallow circles against her engorged clit.  She was so ready for me.  “So mine.”  I told her again, drinking in the beauty of her glistening opening, begging me to be buried deep within.  I raised up, removing my waistcoat and nearly disintegrating the cotton of my dress shirt it fell in shreds to the floor.  She gasped again, her eyes large and round and I knew she had finally came to see the horrific tears in the flesh of my chest and abdomen, a careful reminder that even though my species remained at the top of the food chain, we were not the only things to go bump in the night.  I, myself found that to be true in the year Nine Hundred and Eighty-six, a man, but in these times no more than a boy of twenty-two.  I was young, power hungry and so naïve. 

I could tell by the way her eyes drifted over each marring blemish that she wanted to ask, and if she did I would tell her.  Humorously I found I could deny her nothing, I would burn the whole of the world if she wished it, not giving a care for who had to die to make it so. 

The thundering of footsteps had me to my feet and a blanket around Isabella instantly, she was confused but trusted me enough to keep quiet.  She yelped as I pulled her from the bed and to her feet just as Demetri flew through the door.  It took less than a moment to realize what kind of situation he had walked into and immediately bowed his head in respect. 

“Forgive me, My Lord.”  My answer was a growl and to push Isabella further to the corner of the room. 

“What is it?!”  I was furious for the disruption and had Demetri been a lesser man I would have killed him for it.  But as it were, he is my personal guard and if he was disturbing me at this hour and in this venue it must be important.

“Sir, there has been bambini della luna spotted two hundred miles east of Certaldo.”  He was panicked and with good reason but I had to be certain first. 

“Are you sure?”

“The markings left on the dead leave little to doubt, we are sure.” 

My snarl of displeasure rang throughout the halls of the castle and Demetri shivered with fear, not something that could be easily done.  He knew of my hatred of their disgusting breed and if I could do I would see everyone one of them sent to the pits of hell before I drew my last proverbial breath. 

“Have you informed Aro?” 

“I have, Sir.”

“And?”

“He wishes to see you immediately.”

I nodded and dismissed him as iambically as I could in my enraged state, he left as quickly as he could not even bothering to address Isabella.  Normally I would have taken offense to that disrespect but as Isabella was barely dressed and given my mood, I preferred him to do just what he had done. 

Turning to Isabella, I loathed to leave her like this but I would not see harm come to her and those beasts were a threat.