purple rain | jasper hale

thirty nine

A/N: Last chapter of PURPLE RAIN coming next week. It has been an amazing journey. Thank you.

The executions were happening more frequently than ever. Valerie was almost sure it was some kind of punishment for her that Aro had decided to apply, but as vampires were turned into nothing in front of her, Valerie realized she couldn't care less.

Valerie Addams had never been a fan of gore; Mary used to love to watch Saw and everything related to blood and people cutting their limbs off, but Valerie would actually rather die than actually see that. It was just a shame that it was now her daily life and that it didn't bother her.

Sometimes she was even a part of it, and so was Jasper; Valerie would recite The Rules that were broken and the vampires would growl, and fight back, and snap their jaws at her, and then Jasper would tear them apart. Aro would clap, the lovers would share a look of hatred and then they would step back and hang their heads low, back to the shadows and behind Aro, where they truly belonged.

Aro never spoke to her about it, but Marcus did. Time was running short for both Valerie and Renesmee; Valerie had been with The Volturi for a long time now and she was valuable; after all, she had been able to attract both Alice and Jasper, but she hadn't been valuable enough as a human. Aro wanted her to be more powerful, and the only way was for her to go through the turn.

And he wanted Renesmee dead.

That was the main reason why Valerie had decided to step into the Throne Room to speak to the three ancient vampires, a hidden plan in her mind.

"My dear, what brings you here so late in the night?" Aro is the first one to ask. Marcus is eyeing her sadly; he knows what's going on, but he doesn't agree to it. He's almost worried.

"Hello, master." Valerie takes a bow (while she rolls her eyes behind her curtain of hair) and stands to her ground. "I'm here to ask you about something. Something truly important."

"And what would that be?" It's Caius' time to question.

"I celebrate another year on earth in three days." She didn't want to use the word birthday; that would probably trigger something out of Aro that she really didn't want to fight against, and she needed the time. "As I'm sure it's your plan to turn me into one of you right after it, I wanted to question if I could meet my mother before it happens."

Aro chuckles.

"Of course you can't."

"What makes you think you can ask us that?" Caius snaps, his blood-shot eyes burning with rage. "It was Aro's decision to make you one of us, but it's clear that your loyalty lies somewhere else."

"That could be the truth, except that you know it isn't." She's talking to Marcus now; he had promised that he would help her, she could just hope that he would get along with her plan. "I've been nothing but faithful to you three, to the whole Guard. I've been doing this for months to no end, and I've given you two very gifted members – three, if we count with the hybrid." Valerie had learned to ask for what she wanted; and she really wanted to leave Italy. "Why wouldn't you let me? It would only be for 24 hours, and then I would never see my mother again. She wouldn't come between our plans."

Marcus hesitates for a second. She's silently begging.

"I don't see why she wouldn't be allowed to do so. It might make her more willing to follow us, as a newborn." The words struggle to leave his mouth, but when they do, Valerie almost sighs in relief. He always has her back.

Caius is enraged.

"I don't understand why-"

"I say we do it." Aro is smiling but there's something else hidden behind that white smile. "What better way to test her loyalty than let her go back home? And I might even feel generous enough to let Soldier Whitlock visit town with you."