September, 2017, Present Time
Being in Caius's room is like treading on a tightrope. One wrong word or action and you're falling down, down and down until you're dead. Splat. Squished with Caius's fist.
Every time his cold, cruel eyes meet mine, I have to remind myself that he's not allowed to kill me or even lay one long skeletal finger on me. His room is identical to Aro's. The only difference is the name written on the brass plate and the random art canvases dotted around the room hapharzardly.
As I enter, I spot a woman in his paintings who appears again and again. He draws her identically every time, and I notice her striking features and stunning beauty. "She looks....nice." I try to start normal, easy conversation but Caius glares at me as soon as I open my mouth.
'Idiot. Do you seriously think he wants to talk to you?' Richard snarls in my ear, his tone mocking and amused. "Fuck off." I hiss to him and Caius spins around on me, his eyes narrowing.
"I wasn't talking to you." I sigh and I drift over to the small sofa tucked away in the corner and perch on the edge in case he has a go at me for getting my germs on it. If Caius is anything, he's definately a germaphobe.
"Get back here." He growls as I try to get myself comfortable and my head snaps up to look at him bravely in the face. I shrug and make my way back over to him. "What?" I demand in a harsh, tough tone and he wrinkles his nose at me with an expression of disgust on his face.
He steps forward until his nose is inches away from mine. "Don't speak to me in that tone of voice, boy." He smirks at the use of that word. I hate being called that. Boy. Like I'm eleven years old again at the trials, at home, with my father. The way Dad used to look down at my face and glare.
Caius looks down at me and I feel a huge urge to swear at him or lunge for his face.
He stands there and towers over me at at least six feet while I'm only around five foot eight, nowhere near the average height for men. He smiles then, baring his teeth and I try an equally annoying smile to bring him down before heading back to one of his canvases.
"Who is she?" I point at the recurring woman who has blonde hair and red eyes, like him. And like Aro.
Aro. My stomach clenches for a second and I feel a twinge of excitement. My face glows bright red at the thought of him and I know Caius notices. 'For God's sake, gayboy, control yourself.' Richard starts back up again and I shake my head a little to rid myself of his voice.
'Controooolll yourseeeelf.' Sandee chips in, her voice in my other ear. I ignore the two of them and continue to think of Aro and him touching and kissing me in his bed this morning. I shiver, but this time it is full of excitement and joy at the idea of him against me.
Then I come back to reality to see Caius staring at me and I feel a stab of shame that I actually fantasised about Aro. Ugh. God, Alex, stop it. Caius continues to stare at me and I wish my face wasn't beetroot red at this point in time.
"What were we talking about?" I ask quietly, in a small, measured voice and he smirks at me again, as if he can read my inner most thoughts and feelings though I hope, no, I know he can't.
"You were thinking about Aro." He states in a smug tone which makes me want to swing for his pretty, sculpted face. The more messed up his face is, the better it'll make me feel. More shame clouds my thoughts. Violent thoughts have entered my mind since I was a young child.
'It wouldn't be the first time you've fucked someone up.' Richard grunts. 'Yes. Baaaadddlllly.' Sandee giggles, her high pitched voice so loud and clear in my head that I almost think Caius can hear her.
I come back into focus and think about what Caius said. The smug, annoying, piece of shit. You were thinking about Aro. Yes. Yes, I was. But why? Everytime I think about him, I feel a longing, a deep hurtful pain in my chest that I haven't felt since I was a kid.
A small, little, inquisitive child who explored every part of the house and longed for adventure. The little boy who was loved by both his parents. But that was a long time ago.
'Caring for someone. That's what the feeling is, stupid.' Richard snarls with amusement. Do I care for Aro? "Don't deny it." Caius cuts in, bringing me back to the present time. He stands before me, his arms crossed over his chest, tapping his foot on the floor impaitently.
"Just think about it for just a second." He adds. "When you awoke to find him against you in your bed this morning, admit that although you insist you have no feelings for Aro, you did in spite of yourself, enjoy your little moment together." He finishes, looking pleased with himself.
"Aro told me about it. He said until you were fully aware, you were enjoying his company and touch." He smirks again, looking me up and down as if he is undressing me with his mind. "Stop it." I hiss, reaching forwards to slap him but he has the upper hand and pins me to the wall in an instant, teeth bared and ready to bite.
I flinch, but keep my gaze steady. 'Nice one, now he's going to kill you.' I can almost hear the bored tone in Richard's voice as he continues to groan. I stare Caius in his dark, red eyes.
He narrows them and I flinch again. "Do not lay hands on me." He orders, in a taking-no-shit tone of a voice that reminds me of the doctors at the asylum. 'Fucking hypocrite.' Richard scoffs.
He waits another second, making sure his steely, vicious glare has fully sunk into my memory, as a warning, before drifting back to one of the canvases. Oh yeah, that's what we were talking about.
I wander over to his side, marvelling once more at the woman's beauty. "That," He points to the newest looking painting. "Is my wife." He states and for a second, something that resembles pride and love crosses his features, making him seem actually, well, genuine for once.
Human, for a second. Then his hard man face is back on and he glares at me. "Why do you ask?" He demands, brushing past me, his shoulder knocking mine. It tilts me backwards and I have to quickly hold onto the nearest object close to me. "Hands off my desk." He snarls before I've barely even touched it and I sigh, rolling my eyes like a teenager.
"You're bipolar as fuck." I snark, folding my arms across my chest and he growls low in his throat. "Enough, boy." He repeats from earlier and I just about manage not to cringe in front of him.
Ugh. "Don't call me that, bitch." God, did I really just say that? What is wrong with me? I groan inwardly as Caius turns to face me and narrows his eyes. Why can't I just keep my mouth shut?
"Why don't we pretend you didn't say that foul word and I will get on with why you're here." He states in a cold, edged voice.
"Okay." I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding.
He takes a seat behind his desk. I go to take the chair opposite him but he stops me by holding up his hand. "Don't sit there. You can stand, I'm sure." He smirks and I sigh, crossing my arms across my chest and standing there in front of him looking like a fucking lemon.
"Okay, tell me the story about Aro the Majestic and why that has anything to do with me. I'm waiting with anticipation." I snark and he gives me a fake smile in retort before opening a large book on his desk.
He points and I scoot closer to see the family tree written in loopy handwriting in black ink. I spot Caius's name and Aro's. They have the same surname. I look up at him. "Don't tell me you're actually Aro's brother." I stifle a giggle.
"You're like..twenty and Aro looks about forty." I point out. "And Marcus." Caius reminds and I smirk again. "Don't even get me started about him." The weird creepy older guy who stared at me all the time.
"He's probably fifty something." I think off the top of my head and Caius gives me a look. "Does any of this even matter?" He snarks. "Well..yeah. Brothers don't have thirty year age gaps." I point out and Caius sighs in annoyance.
"I am Aro's brother. I am Marcus's brother. End of story. Now be quiet so I can continue." He grunts though I interupt again. "You didn't even start." I smirk and he groans. "Hush." He stresses the word this time, looking fed up of me.
Just kill me already. "Are you adopted brothers then? Most likely ain't it? Especially since you all look different." I add gesturing to his blonde hair. "What about your parents? Are Marcus and Aro your half brothers? Do you share the same father?" I enquire and he looks puzzled with a little inkling of anger beneath the surface.
"No. We are not half brothers." He states simply, his words hard and to the point. I can tell I'm starting to piss him but I'm having too much fun to care. "And I don't want to talk about my father." He adds and I perk up a little more.
"Do you have daddy issues? It's okay, I understand." I say in a fake empathetic tone. "My father was a twat." I add and Caius raises his eyebrows. "But he's dead now. So it doesn't really matter." I realise I'm babbling and work hard to shut myself up.
'What is this, your life story in five minutes?' Richard snarks and I almost giggle at his comment because at that moment, my brain decides everything sounds a bit funny.
"When did he die?" Caius looks genuinely interested. I check his expression twice to make sure he's not messing around. "When I was fifteen." I state and he offers an almost symphathetic smile but decides against it and shrugs.
"It happens." He states in his usual cold voice and I sigh. For a second there, I thought I'd had him.
"Let's get down to business. The Volturi coven are vampires. We are the strongest and most feared coven our world has ever known. We are....the 'government' of our kind. We provide the rules and if anyone decides to break them...." He trails off and looks at me sternly, running a finger across his throat.
"You chop off their heads?" I struggle to contain my gasp, it just escapes before I can stop it. Caius looks amused. "No. We are strong enough to just pull them off." He says calmly with a smile and I feel sick to my stomach. Is that what's in store for me if I fuck things up?
He notices my anxiety and smiles a little wider. "So if I were you," He points a long thin finger at me. "I'd be on my best behaviour." He finishes.
I gulp. I feel like Alice who's just arrived in Wonderland. Aro is the Mad Hatter, as he's off his rocker, and Caius is the Queen of Hearts who'll shout 'Off with his head!', if I mess up.
All I need now is a pretty light blue dress and a headband. And some cake that says 'Eat me'. Just another day in the life of Alex. How complicated.
"Aro has never had a mate." Caius continues on oblivious. "We suspected he was just waiting for the 'one', however, no one ever seemed good enough for him. No woman who was pretty, rich, educated or talented was ever to his taste. We began to think that he'd rather be on his own." Caius almost scoffs.
"Then he began disappearing. He'd leave at night, then come back at dawn. We never knew where he was going or who he was seeing. It's been a huge mystery." He looks me up and down. "Until now." He adds.
"The time we come from...men did not...show affection for other men." He chooses his words carefully. "Aro was always strange, even back then. He'd notice the men at parties rather than the women. We knew he was...uh..."
"Gay." I interject and he nods.
"Yes, but we never uttered a word about it. Marcus was quite..calm with the whole situation. It was alarming. He never shows stress or worry at anything we discuss." Caius tuts.
"Don't be pissed at your so called brother." I snark and he pulls a face. "Again with that nonsense! When vampires have been in the same coven for centuries, they call each other brother and sister." He explains and I nod in understanding.
"I knew you weren't blood brothers. It was pretty obvious." I shrug and he sighs again. "They are the only family I have." He replies and turns to the next page of the book.
"If you fall for Aro, which you will, either by choice or not, you will become a great man of power. You will be Aro's...prince almost. You will have a lot of money. I doubt you even know what money is judging from where you come from." He scoffs, looking me up and down.
I stand up instantly, the force knocks over my chair and he blinks in surprise. "Don't you dare slag off my country!" I scream, shocked at the volume of my voice. He sits back and folds his arms, enjoying the show.
"I was raised by a single mother who tried her best-"
"Yes." He interupts before I can keep going. "The mother who showed her love by killing her daughter. Genius." He tuts and I want to wrap my hands around his neck.
He crosses one leg over the other leisurely. "I vaguely remember reading all about it in the papers. Your sister died and yet your father did not come back for you." He smiles cruelly and I hiss. "So clearly, I can "slag off" your country, because if that is what the parents are like, I cannot imagine the place being much better."
He gives me a look. "Now shut up and occupy yourself. Read a book or something. You're under my feet."