THE NEXT DAY Jordyn was sits on her bed, drawing in her notebook when the door is pushed open and Caius strolls in.
"Um hi?" She raises her eyebrows at him.
He slightly inclines his head, "We're going to the throne room."
Jordyn puts her pencil down and sighs dramatically, "Why?"
"You need to see how we do things." Caius answers simply.
Jordyn jumps off the bed and slides her shoes on, "Are you sure this is safe?"
"Yes, we will have Jane if anything goes wrong." Caius says confidently.
Jordyn nods and heads to the throne room.
The walk was silent, no one spoke a word. It wasn't the normal comfortable silence this time, it was awkward. Jordyn wants to jump out of the window from all the of the awkwardness.
But before she can, they reach the big wooden doors. Caius pushes them open easily and walked in with confidence, Jordyn follows him, her walk is much more pathetic, lacking confidence.
They walk up the replaced marble stairs, Caius takes his seat at his throne and Jordyn stands next to him.
A few moments later the doors are slammed open.
Jordyn watches as Demetri and Felix drag in a man, he thrashes all over the place, he has dried blood crusted onto his chin, down to his neck, and onto his shirt. Jane steps in front of Jordyn defensively.
Jordyn watches the man anxiously, his eyes are a bright red, like he just murdered a whole city.
Aro stands up from his throne and descends down the new marble stairs. He holds a sadistic smile on his lips.
"Oh my, dear Nicolas." Aros voice holds a disapproving tone to it.
Nicolas tries to lunge at him but Felix and Demetri hold him back.
"I didn't do it." Nicolas's voice is heavy with an English accent.
"Of course not." Aro grabs his bloodied hand, his eyes glossing over.
Seconds later he drops Nicolas's hand and tsks, "It seems you caused quite the disturbance."
Nicolas doesn't respond, instead he takes a deep breath and snaps his eyes towards Jordyn.
He is somehow able to spin out of Demetri and Felix's grip, Jane doesn't even have time to react.
He holds Jordyn up by her neck, her feet dangoff the floor. She gasps for air and claws at his marble skin.
This all happened in only a couple of seconds. Its so fast most of the vampires in the room haven't even reacted, except for Caius.
He grabs Nicolas's head and rips it off of his body, the sound of marble cracking echos throughout the room.
He is soon dead and Jordyn is on the floor gasping for air, her eyes leak tears and everything sounds muffled.
Caius scoops her up and runs to her room, he is there in under a minute.
He pushes the door open and places her on the bed, he turns to leave but Jordyn grabs his hand.
"Stay," her voice is weak and cracks sporadically, "please?" She doesn't want to be alone, she's scared.
Caius nods and pulls the chair from her desk up and sits next to her bed.
Jordyns hand travels to her neck, she lightly touches it and winces at the tender feel of it.
Caius watches as she pulls her hand away, he growls at the red hand mark around her throat.
"Are you okay?" Jordyn looks up at him through her eyelashes.
Caius sends her a confused look, "Am I okay?"
He isn't okay, he almost watched her die, of course he's not okay.
"You seem upset." Jordyn sits up.
"I'm not okay," he shakes his head, "are you?"
Jordyn smiles; he's being honest with her.
"Well, I could be better," She points to her neck, "but I'm not dead, so."
"I'm sorry." His voice is barely audible.
Jordyn shakes her head, "Its not your fault, blame Nicolas." She makes a face at his name. "That old prick."
Caius can't help but blame himself. Even if Jordyn diesnt place the blame on him.
"Thanks, by the way." Jordyn smiles at him.
"For?" Caius raises an eyebrow.
"You kinda saved my life." Jordyn shrugs.
Caius hums, "You're very welcome."
There's a moment of silence before someone taps on the door and Alec steps in, "Aro has requested your presence, Master."
Caius looks at him then back at Jordyn warily.
"Will you be okay?" He asks her, his voice is soft and kind, which surprises Alec. Caius has never been nice to anyone really—let alone a human.
"I think so, yeah." Jordyn answers.
At that, Caius stands up and leaves the room with Alec, leaving Jordyn alone.
She rolls off the bed a few minutes after they leave and heads for the bathroom, she studies her neck in the large mirror. There's a perfect red handprint embedded on her neck, it would probably bruise.
She brings her index finger up to it and traces it with a feather light touch, it throbs, making her cringe.
She drops her hand and leaves the bathroom, sitting back on her bed and going back to her drawing from earlier, trying to ignore the stinging pain beginning to form.
***
ITS AROUND 1 AM when Jordyns phone goes off, startling her and making her mess up on her sketch. She sighs and answers the phone.
"Hello?" She answers with annoyance.
"Hi Jord." Bella yawns once she finishes talking.
"You good, Bells? Maybe you should go back to sleep." Jordyn snickers.
Bella groans, "Alice made me get up early." Right on cue, Alice begins yelling at Bella, causing Jordyn to laugh loudly.
"Why'd she force you out of bed?" Jordyn asks.
Bella takes a second to respond, "Um- don't freak out okay?"
Jordyn furrows her eyebrows, "Telling someone not to freak out is only going to make them freak out."
"Right. We're planning my wedding." Bella let's out a relived sigh.
Jordyns eyes nearly pop out of her head.
"You're what?" She was now off of her bed and pacing around the room.
"Yeah uh, I'm marrying Edward. August 13th, you'll already be home." Bella tells her.
"Bella, you're 18. Look at mom and dad." Jordyn scolds.
Bella sighs, "Its different, you know that. I have something else to tell you."
Jordyn scoffs, "What? Are you pregnant?"
"No, Jordyn. I want you to be my maid of honor. If you want." Bella sounds nervous against Alice's protests in the background.
"Really?" Jordyn stops pacing.
Bella laughs, "Yeah, of course."
"Thanks, Bells." Jordyn smiles widely.
"You're welcome, Jord. I have to go. I'll call you later."
Jordyn says her goodbyes and Bella hangs up.
Jordyn is happy for Bella, Edward is an idiot, but she shes happy.
edited: 8/16/22