Summary: In the
aftermath of the Newborn War, the Cullen family celebrates their triumph over
Victoria. Little do they know that their
victory will be short lived. A visitor
comes calling; a visitor who has been keeping tabs on the Cullen’s and Edward’s
human pet. When Caius doesn’t like what
he sees will Bella risk everything to save the vampire family she loves?
~Bella~
I’m sure the others had to have seen him long before my weak
human eyes could, but that didn’t stop me from searching the trees in the
distance. It was a mere seconds before
my eyes found his lithe body, cloaked in ebony robes of a leader. He traveled slowly, stalking out from under
the dark cover of the foliage at the northern end of the field.
The previous fight of over the newborn Bree was momentarily
forgotten as the Volturi Guard scurried to form a protective line around their
King.
For that, I was grateful; I had no wish to see anyone else
die today.
In my times spent with the Cullen’s I had always been a
little envious of their natural—or should I say, unnatural—grace, but even
Alice had nothing on this member of vampire royalty. The fluid movements he made during his slow
descent to rest in front of Carlisle made me want to weep at the sheer beauty. Where the Cullen’s were like water in
motions, Caius seemed to be created from thick, swirling smoke. The dark black of his cloak only added to the
fantastical imagery that this man created for me.
The irony of my thoughts was not lost to me, as all vampires
had to suffer the violent burning flames of venom in order to gain their
immortality, only to rise from the ashes and smoke to live again.
Once again, I had to marvel at my own imagination. Sometimes my mind truly ran away with
me.
My mind continued to wander as I watched the white beast
approach us through patches of thick clover and thistle. His face was still covered by his heavy cloak
but I hardly needed to remember those piercing glowing eyes or his striking
face.
Never in my life had I seen a man like the youngest of the Volturi
Kings. In my mind’s-eye I could see hair
in the color of the freshly fallen snow blowing like a winter storm around a
sculpted face. It would be cut in a
fashion of old; tied in a low tail and falling to rest nearly at his hips. I could see eyes: blood red, full of hatred
and as hard and precious stone and just as stunning.
He had stunned me to silence the first time I had seen him
in the grand throne room in Volterra; to me he seemed more demon than
vampire. He was handsome as any of his
species, but he was also different; he was marred. I remembered as single scar cutting across
his diamond skin from the bridge of his perfect nose to the apple of his pale
cheek. The memory of that scar was a
vivid one, mostly because I had been so enraptured with it when I had first
seen it. Edward had been no help when I
had asked him how a vampire could attain a scar like that; rather he only
sneered and told me I shouldn’t bother worrying about something so ugly. I had to disagree because personally, I think
it only added to the masculinity that Caius already exuded.
During this meeting, however, I found myself not baffled by
a scar but by how tall he was. He had
been slouched over on his throne the last time we shared face time and while I
knew he was bigger than his brothers, I had no idea just how much bigger he
was. I don’t know why it surprised me so
much; I had become used to giant men over the summer. Caius was not quite so tall or wide as Jacob
or Sam but he was certainly taller that Felix or Emmett.
I laughed out loud at the thought of Emmett being dwarfed in
his presence and Jasper turned to me with a brow raised in question. It was only a split second but his eyes and
demeanor spoke highly of his amusement and curiosity. I’m sure the others wanted to as well but
were far too frightened by our unexpected visitor to remove their gaze from the
Volturi King.
Edward paid no mind to what must be my insanity creeping in
and interestingly enough, neither did Caius.
They seemed to be locked in a silent conversation of some sort; staring
intently at one another.
It was only a miracle that I held back my gasp of shock when
Caius finally lowered the soft black hood of his cloak as he revealed his face
to us. My memories did him little to no
justice. As if he had read my mind, a
flicker of emotion danced in his eyes before his lips turned up in a subtle but
sultry smirk.
My face flamed bright with color and in that moment
Edward—who had been previous crouched before me—shot up and gripped my forearm
almost painfully. It was only then that
I realized I had taken several steps forward, like my body was being pulled by
magnets. I could not see Edward’s face,
but it was obvious by the harsh grip he held on my arm that he was angry.
A hard, irritated growl rising through the cool morning air
only confirmed Edward’s anger and it left my body shivering with the tingling
fear that trickled down my spine. It was
no secret to me—or anyone else for that matter—how much Edward despised the
Volturi, but I had no idea of the hate and disdain Edward seemed to hold for
this King in particular.
“Edward please, you’re going to get us all killed.” Rosalie hissed low, her face screwed up in
exasperation. Obviously, Rosalie knew
that Edward had a hot temper and the mouth to follow it. But strangely, she wasn’t looking at Edward
as she normally did when she was chastising him…she wasn’t looking at him at
all. My eyes left Rosalie’s face and
tracked her line of sight…
I shrunk back when I found what she was staring at. It was Caius and the smirk he was sporting
just moments ago was long gone, replaced by black narrowed eyes. I found new meaning in the saying: if looks
could kill. As Edward’s growl rose and
his hand tightened around my arm, I found myself torn as to who I should be
more frightened of; Edward or Caius?
“You should listen to your sister.” Jane said with an expression I could only
describe as a promise of pain. Her small
face was hard and angry.
Another shiver.
“Edward,” Carlisle whispered softly, obviously trying not to
spoke him in his volatile state, “son, you need to let go of Bella.”
For a moment I was confused.
Why would Carlisle want Edward to release me? But as Edward’s grip on my delicate human
flesh grew tighter, I looked down and figured out why. My hand was a sickening color mixture of
white and purple as it swelled and cried out for the oxygen my fingers so
desperately needed. Edward didn’t
answer; he didn’t even acknowledge his father’s request. His only response was to snarl louder and
grip tighter.
“Edward,” I whimpered, my voice sounding strained. “Please let me go, you’re hurting me.” I was
begging, trying to pry my injured hand free from the incredible strength of his
hold, all the while knowing it was a pointless endeavor. If Edward didn’t wish to release me of his
own will, I would be going nowhere. I
would only break my own arm trying, or he would draw blood in the presence of
twelve vampires.
The voice that came to my rescue chilled me to the bone, but
also left an impression on me that I couldn’t quite make sense of.
“Release her.” Caius
commanded coolly. His voice was deep and
rough and not at all what I expected from the fair haired vampire. His voice was cold in its authority but never
once did it let on to the immense anger I could see sighing like a beacon
behind his narrowed onyx eyes.
All was quiet for several seconds and by the looks of things
I would guess that another silent conversation was being held.
“I will never allow you to corrupt her with your
filth.” Edward spat suddenly, “She would
never go with you willingly and…” his words trailed off into a hum too low for
my human ears to register, but whatever he had said it was made apparent that
it wasn’t good.
Snarls erupted throughout the vampires on both sides, but
not a single eye was on the Volturi threat.
They were all staring at… Edward?
Had he said something insulting? Had he stupidly challenged or threatened one
of them? As I was not privy to most of
the conversation as a whole, I could take a guess as to what had everyone so
upset.
“Edward,” Carlisle gasped, his eyes wide and his face
shocked still, “you can’t mean that.”
Edward scoffed, “Of course I meant it, Bella belongs to me
and no other… I would not see her sullied by a venom as grotesque as his.”
Esme looked horrified by whatever Edward had agreed to and
Emmett, Rose, Jasper and Alice looked downright pissed. Carlisle though, frightened me. He looked devastated and disappointed.
What in the hell could he have said?
“Is that what you think, Boy?” Caius asked with a chuckle, his lip curling
to one side. “Do you really think you
could do it before I removed your arrogant head form your shoulders? I don’t think you can. Let us see, shall we?”
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jane and Alec share a
look, a smirk, if you will, before schooling their features. As insane as it would have been, I had to
hold back a laugh at how young and radiant they looked when they were being
mischievous.
I probably would have laughed if Edward hadn’t tightened his
grip yet again, causing me to cry out.
“Edward, please!” I begged again, pulling and tugging at his arm to get
him to understand; to get him to set me free.
“Carlisle,” Caius spoke coldly, “if he doesn’t release her I
shall have his head removed, permanently.”
Caius never moved a muscle, but Jane and Felix took a step
closer toward Edward and I could rapidly see this ending badly.
Carlisle sighed and nodded, visibly shaken at the prospect
of his son’s death, but he calmed himself quickly and turned to Jasper as he
softly spoke. “Jasper, please?”
Jasper smiled brightly, seeming more than obliged to
help.
It took all of two seconds for Edward’s face to become
slackened and to wobble on his feet. He
released my arm as he staggered backwards and my honey-blonde brother took him
down with a swift kick to his legs before flipping him on his back and pinning
him quickly with the heel of his boot.
By the time Edward’s eyes focused once again there was little he could
do but thrash and scream.
Alice rushed to my side just as I started to waver, steading
me quickly before I fell to the ground as well.
My arms tingled with the blast of blood that raced through my veins,
making me almost dizzy. Blinding pain
coursed through my injured arm and I held it protectively to my chest as if it
would shield it from any more damage.
“Alice?” Carlisle
questioned from his post in front of Caius.
Alice took my throbbing arm into her ice cold hands and I
hissed on contact. The white finger
marks of Edward’s hand were rapidly bleeding into darker, angry marks of red,
purple and black.
“I don’t think it’s broken, but…,” Alice trailed off, her
face twisted into a grim look that didn’t look right on her pixie-like
face. I could only imagine the implications
of that look. “…with these contusions,
it’s very hard to tell.”
“May I?” Carlisle
asked a moment later, asking what I’d hope was permission to examine my insured
arm.
Caius nodded soundlessly, but never removed his gaze from
Carlisle as he walked toward me.
I tried my best not to stare, I really did. But Caius was everything I remembered and
more and not staring at him didn’t seem to be an option. I let my gaze travel the long length of his
body, from the expensive leather shoes on his feet to the very tip-top of head;
the man was indeed a magnificent form of the male gender. When my eyes finally found his face, I found
his hard crimson gaze staring intently back at me.
My face began to heat under his scrutiny, a traitor blush
coloring the apples of my cheeks. I
tried tilting my head down to hide but Emmett’s chuckle told me I had utterly
failed.
Carlisle was speaking to me, I could hear his voice but his
words were muffled. I was dazed, dazzled
and lost to Caius’s ruby eyes.
“Bella?”
“Huh?” I asked
stupidly, breaking eye contact with Caius to look into the mirth filled eyes of
Carlisle.
Carlisle chuckled. “I
said, you have a rather mild fracture of the radius, but will need a radiograph
to be sure.”
All of a sudden, Edward lurched under Jasper’s boot, nearly
springing free, “No,” he screamed, struggling even harder to get loose. “She’s not going anywhere!”
At the time I had no idea what Edward was going on
about. Was he saying I couldn’t go to
the hospital? Or was it something else
that had been projected into his thoughts?
Either way, his foul attitude was getting on my nerves.
Later it would be brought to my attention that Edward’s
attitude had been the result of a combination of things. It was a poisonous mixture of ‘someone else’s
thoughts’ and the fact that I had once again, unknowingly, gravitated toward
Caius.
“Shut your mouth, foolish boy.” Caius growled. “I am tiring of the game you are trying to
play. I came here for a reason. As a favor to my brothers I was asked to
check on Ms. Swan after certain things had been brought to their
attention. Did you really think I would
retreat just because you are disinclined to give up your pet?”
My eyes snapped to his in confusion and then down at
Edward. What? What the hell did he
mean by pet? What the hell was going
on? The Volturi were concerned about
me? And why was I subconsciously trying
to reach out to Caius?
As if she had plucked the thought from my mind, Alice smiled
comfortingly, “Everything will be fine, Bella.
Just please, follow your heart.”
Carlisle shook his head as if trying to shake an offensive
thought from his mind. “I’m sure I don’t
understand. Bella is Edward’s
mate. She is family; we would never
consider her a pet.”
“Hnn,” grunted Caius as he sneered in Edward’s direction, “I
have been very well informed of just how precious the girl is to Edward, isn’t
that right?”
Feeling the need to justify the relationship I held with my
fiancé, I tried to speak out against the slanders Caius was accusing Edward
of.
“But-I…” I
stuttered—not the most effective way to start an argument. “Edward has always—
“It’s true, Carlisle.”
Alice said softly, looking up at me with watery eyes. She moved to approach Edward and he hissed at
her, looking betrayed. Jasper, of
course, didn’t take to Edward’s attitude toward his mate in kind and pressed
the heel of his boot to the back of Edward’s neck, cutting him off from
speaking.
Carlisle and the rest of the family looked confused and
unsure of Alice…well, expect Rosalie, who almost looked smug. Perhaps I was wrong for all the times I had
listened to Edward rant about how self-absorbed she was.
“All of it is true,” Alice continued, her voice finding
strength the longer she spoke. “Bella
was never destined for Edward and he knew that.”
Tears blazed in my eyes at even the mere thought of what
Alice was implying.
“That makes no sense.
Why would Edward take the time to bring her around the family, to be
with her if she wasn’t his mate? And you
said you saw her as one of us?” Emmett
questioned, scratching his thick skull in confusion as he brought to light so
seriously good questions, that it gave me a sliver of hope.
He was right, after all.
Why would Edward take the time to get to know me, to bring me to his
family, if he didn’t love me?
Alice shifted nervously on her feet, not looking me in the
eye as she answered. “I did see her as
one of us. I still see her as one of
us. I always thought because I had seen
Bella as a vampire that it had to be Edward who changed her. I was wrong.”
She finished, hanging her head guiltily.
I hated seeing the pain etched on her beautiful face but I
made no move to comfort her, I was still too confused to know what to think.
Suddenly her head snapped up and she glowered at
Edward. “I’m not wrong about this. I know who changes Bella and it isn’t
Edward. It was in Italy when the visions
changed but I saw what would happen to Bella if she were to remain with
Edward.”
“What would happen?”
Esme asked, her eyes filled with fear and concern.
“Death.” Alice
replied sadly. “I’ve seen it a thousand
different ways, but it always ends the same, Bella is dead and Edward is
sporting bright red eyes.”
Edward snapped again, screaming at me. “Don’t listen to them Bella! I love you!”
It was only then that anything Alice had said started to
seem believable. Edward was always
adamant that I always listen to Alice, and now all of a sudden he’s accusing
her of being a liar? I didn’t make
sense. I didn’t fit.
Jasper growled out a short, “Shut the fuck up, Edward,” as
he pressed his boot further into Edward’s neck, cutting off anymore of Edward’s
rant.
All was quiet for a moment as the family hovered around
me. Honestly, I think they were worried
about how I would handle this seeing as I didn’t fare so well the last time I
had a major falling out with Edward. It
only solidified things with me though, if they were worried about how I would
take what Alice had said then they must believe what she said.
“Okay, so don’t behead me for asking stupid questions or
anything but—how did you know about all of this?” Emmett asked, looking directly at Caius.
If this hadn’t already been such a tiring, confusing day I
would have laughed at my brawny brother.
Leave it to Emmett to ask a perfectly plausible question and sound like
a complete dumb-ass doing it. But this
time, I was genuinely curious as to what the answer might be to this particular
question.
“I called them,” a soft voice whispered.
My face snapped to Alice’s as the rest of the family
unanimously cried, “What?”
“Why?” Carlisle
asked, almost looking betrayed as he stared down his daughter. “Why not come to the family? Why go to the Volturi?”
Alice looked incensed as he replied defensively, “She can’t
stay here, Carlisle. Even if you send
Edward to Alaska, he would still come for her eventually. That and…” she trailed off, nervous again.
“And?” Rosalie barked
impatiently.
“And, it’s where she belongs, Rose.” She snapped back, then in a quieter voice she
continued, “It’s where she was always supposed to end up.”
My heart took a dive as my knees lost the ability to support
my legs. Within a human heartbeat Rose
was at my side and slumped into her willingly, wanting to do nothing more than
sleep for a week and forget about this whole mess. I need time to think, I needed time to sort
out my mind. I was still too buzzed from
all the excitement to put things into prospective. But even as I started to freak out, Alice’s
words kept ringing in my ears…Just
please, follow your heart.
“Master,” Jane called, relieving me of the jumbled mess in
my brain, even if it was just for a moment.
“What shall we do with the new one?”
My heart lurched painfully in my chest and before I knew
what I was doing, I was scrambling over to Caius. “Please don’t kill her!” I begged, my hands clutching to his robes with
numb fingers.
His face lowered to my own and I froze, just now coming to
the realization of what I was doing and to whom.
I must be going
mental.
He hovered over me before dipping his head down into the
crook of my neck. “Hmmm,” he breathed,
“…so sweet.”
My heart took off, beating at unnatural speeds as my breath
came out in uneven gasps. As mortifying
as it was, I was highly aroused. What
was worse was that between the color of my cheeks and the scent of my
wantonness, I was positive everyone standing on this field knew it.
I waited in my embarrassment.
It seemed like forever, but finally he spoke again.
With a wave of his hand, he dismissed his guard, “Leave her
be.”
It was all I needed to hear before the blood rushing in my
ears became too much and the blackness finally came to take me.
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