Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any other recognizable works.
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Walking towards the designated meeting area, I debated my already questionable sanity once more as I sighted Marcus standing next to two other men.
I hadn't really wanted anything to do with Marcus after that vision the other day. But after what happened last night...I had had a split-second change of heart so to speak.
—Flashback—
Making a muffled, groaning growl, I shifted my face in the comfortable hotel pillow. Something kept persistently buzzing nearby, making a considerable racket and shining way too brightly according to my sleep-loving senses and muddled brain right now. Seriously, why did it always feel like some evil device was conspiring against all my attempts to have pure, unhindered sleep? Was a ban on nightly disturbances too much to ask?
Apparently.
Another low and miserable moaning sound made its way from my throat as I shifted some more, taking my fist and slamming it into the bed next to me in a clear message: Shut the hell up and let me sleep. It was a habit that had been born from a want to remain in the land of dreams and whiny, overly hungry cats that don't understand the difference between 3:00 AM and 6:00 PM.
Thankfully, the noise cut out a second later, and the light dimmed. Had I been more aware, I probably would have been thanking whatever deity that came to mind, who presided over blissful, undisturbed sleep. But as it stood, I merely contented myself to enjoying the miracle called sleeping in silence, acting very much like a cat after gorging itself on a turkey feast.
Be that as it may though, I almost managed to fall completely asleep once more when that damn noise started up again!
What the hell is wrong with people?! And society wonder why New Yorkers were classified as rude. Maybe it's because they're getting woken up all the damn time! Anyone ever think of that?
Almost ready to give up my career in law enforcement just so I could murder somebody, I belatedly realized that the culprit was none other than my own phone, with the ringtone finally reaching me through the fog of slumber as awareness slowly trickled back. Cracking open a bleary eye, I barely managed to make out the name on the caller ID as I snapped up the device with a fumbling hand, uncut nails displayed almost threateningly towards it as I answered. Of course, keeping in mind that the bedside clock said it was 3:42 AM right now in Italy, my greeting to the caller was anything but polite.
"What the fuck do you want Renée?" I snapped, rolling over so that I lay on my back. What part of 'I never want to talk to you again' did the thick-headed woman not understand? The 'never want to talk' or the part where I actually slapped her? You'd have to be a complete dunderhead to not understand the crystal-fucking-clear message I laid out last time I ever saw the woman. How the hell did she even get my numb— Dad. He must have passed it along through Isabella or something. Dammit.
"Ambrosia Merle Raven Swan! Don't you dare talk to me like that!" my oh-so-loving mother, (note sarcasm), hollered through the earpiece, apparently oblivious to the fact I had just been asleep!
"I repeat: What. Do. You. Want?"
The woman on the other end scoffed. "I was just calling to see if you heard the news about Bella going to stay with your father for the remainder of high school."
My lips formed a hard scowl. It was always about Bella when it came to my mom. Bella this. Bella that. Bella is just soooooo fantastic. Me? I'm just cheap air compared to precious Bella. Ugh! And people (*cough* dad *cough*) wondered why I had such a rocky relationship with the feminine portion of my family.
"You called me at three-fucking-AM to tell me something I already know?" I snarled crankily, more than ready to gut her. Everyone who bothered to get to know me knew to never disturb me when I was sleeping unless it was important. They knew intimately about the hell I managed to raise every single time it happened because it didn't just affect me and the person stupid enough to wake me; if I was miserable, everyone was miserable.
On the other end, I could practically hear her rolling her eyes. "Don't be silly dear it only 9:30 in New York."
My head started to hurt from how hard I ground my teeth together in annoyance. Five-plus-years since we last spoke, and she waltzes into my life, acting like she still knows everything.
"I'm not stupid child Renée! I'm usually in bed by then if you bothered to know me at all! And if you had bothered to ask about my life every once in a while, you would also know that my friends at work got me an all expenses vacation to Italy, Renée," I said, not at all rubbing in the fact that my coworkers cared enough about me to pay for a vacation to another country.
Now normally, after hearing the part about Italy in the last sentence, an ordinary kid's parent would be over the moon, asking about everything, all the sights and go-to places, and dredging up every factoid they could remember. They would shower their kid in praise for an accomplishment and ask for them to take lots of photos and enjoy themselves. Pity, the same could not be said about my mom.
"What! Why would you do such a thing?" And there was 'the tone', the mamby-pamby, wimpy toddler talk that always grated on my nerves worse than a cheese grater. "Ambrosia, honey, that's really dangerous just going to some place you never been to just because those heathens offered you a chance to go. There are a lot of dangerous people out there you could meet. You could be kidnapped, put into prostitution or—"
"I'm hanging up now," I cut in, before proceeding to do just that, ignoring her screeching as I hit the red 'end call' button on the smooth screen. Admittedly, it felt amazing to do just that; hang up on my own mother without a second glance. At any rate, it looked like I'd have to get a new cell phone number...and maybe finally put out a restraining order like I've been wanting to do for ages. (That is if dad didn't convince me otherwise once again).
That last thought made me smirk ferally.
Ah, I love being an adult. I can be petty with people all I want and merely say that I was only doing the mature thing and walking away or something along those lines. Sometimes being an adult is just awesome.
Quickly blocking my mother's number, I made a little memorandum on the device to have a conversation with my dad about handing out my number, even to 'family'. He should have known better by now, being a cop and all.
Speaking of which, feeling around on the bedside table with the other hand, my fingers picked up the small business card with the help of my nails. After the conversation with my mother, I decided to do something rather reckless. If Renée said not to do something, like say meet someone new while in Italy, I became bound and determined to do the exact opposite, consequences be damned. So against my previous judgement, I decided to take Marcus up on his tour offer. Screw my stupid gift, and the horrible vision it had shown me. I was going to have fun and make a couple foreign friends. Maybe that might seem a little unfair to Marcus, as I technically was using him (if only a little) to accomplish some of my own selfish desires; but I mentally wrote the concern off as payback for the hell he'd put me through with that vision.
Yeah, I can be really petty when I want to be.
Besides, it's not like I ever saw Marcus kill someone specifically, even though that horrible sense of loss and rage only belonged to one very obvious person.
—End Flashback—
So yeah. Long story short: I'm going to the right because my mother told me to go to the left.
Anyways, despite cloudiness of the day, I easily picked Marcus out of the crowd since the throng of people milling about had even stopped to stare at him and the two men waiting next to him. Both were just as gorgeous as Marcus, though it appeared to be the only characteristic they all shared aside from freakishly flawless skin and long hair. His brothers if I was right in guessing.
The one on the left looked to be the oldest, though he still remained the shortest. With long, platinum blonde hair, the forty-ish something man wore an impressive scowl on his face, which made him both alluring and intimidating. It was probably the reason most of the passersby gave him such a wide berth.
The one in between Marcus and Scowly-Blondie however seemed a little more sociable. Standing at about an inch taller than Sir Scowls-a lot, he appeared to be the both figurative and literal middle of the brothers, contrasting with them to create a variety. Jet black hair and twenty-something features, I unfortunately could not see the color of his eyes from my current distance, but I imagined they were alight with childish curiosity, whereas Marcus came off as the somber type and Blondie the one with the anger issues. He seemed to be almost restraining himself bouncing a little on the balls of his feet while he tapped his gloved fingers together.
Odd. Who wore gloves like those in summer weather like this?
Expertly weaving through the crowd without touching anyone as only an experienced New Yorker could do, three differently-colored heads whipped in my direction as soon as I was less than three meters away. Damn, and I thought I was being pretty quiet there too.
"Buongiorno, Marcus!" I greeted in Italian, with one of my typical impish smiles, waving as I bounded over. (Good morning, Marcus!)
—Marcus' PoV—
Standing in the central plaza, Marcus waited with his brothers for Amber to arrive. Thankfully, the forecast for that day called for cloudy skies all day, so none of them had to worry about their secret being blatantly exposed to humans.
As for the Guard, they were scattered about the city, blending in with the crowd as much as possible. Hopefully, nothing drastic would come up, but it was better to be prepared. There was always some upstart vampire who stupidly tried to challenge the Volturi in their home territory.
But he digressed.
Now, if he were being completely honest, Marcus felt that his brothers were only humoring him and not sincerely interested in meeting their 'soulmate' as he was. Yes, he had not been very 'active' in well over two-thousand years, but his brothers were only doing their best to entertain him and keep him happy for as long as possible. Neither Aro nor Caius truly believed that they had a true mate, especially after living so long without any signs of her appearing. They had given up; but Marcus had still held onto a fragile hope.
Hopefully though, they would see reason after meeting Ambrosia. But if their initial reactions were anything to go by, it would take a lot more that wishful thinking.
—Flashback—
"Brothers, I have found her. I have found our mate!"
And just like that, some sort of perverted, emotional explosion seemed to take place in their midst as Caius yelled,
"What?!"
Even Aro's typical cheerful façade faltered as the muscles in his face went slack.
Marcus nodded, completely serious but still enthused all the same. His face indicated that his words held no lie.
"That's impossible!" Caius continued to shout, a severe glower on his face.
Aro held up a hand, halting the blonde's furious words. "Peace, brother. Marcus, may I see please?"
Knowing immediately what the other vampire wanted, Marcus held out a hand, letting Aro take hold of his hand so as to access his memories of the event. Of meeting Ambrosia Swan, their shared mate.
Yes, as fantastical and unbelievable, 'soulmates' are a real thing (though they didn't really call them that). Everyone had one, but vampires were the only ones that were able to recognize them on sight (or smell) unlike humans. On the other hand though, finding your mate was another matter entirely as sometimes your mate may not even exist yet or might have even died long ago. And sometimes, in rare cases, there was even more than just one soulmate for one person, like in the case of the Volturi brothers.
Now, as stated before, Aro, Caius and Marcus were not brothers by blood. However, as soul brothers, they all shared the same mate, Ambrosia.
Of course, while this information is fantastical and everything, being soulmates not guarantee instant happiness or romance.
"Well?" Caius snapped, impatient and ill-tempered as usual as he gazed at Aro imploringly, who had let go of Marcus' hand not a second before.
An odd sort of smile stretched Aro's features. It wasn't necessarily sinister, but the expression was not born out of genuine delight either. Finally, the raven-haired vampire lord broke the tense silence.
"It seems our human mate has finally been found," Aro announced delicately. Acting once again as the proverbial middle of the three bothers.
"Human?" Caius, however, spat out like a curse.
Unfortunately, the eldest-looking brother shared a similar mindset to many other vampires in regards to the fact that they saw humans as little more than cattle. Compared to immortals like themselves, humans were lesser, weaker beings with ape-like intelligence. In a nutshell, Caius viewed humans akin to how an apex predator would view its lowly prey.
"Is something wrong with that brother?" Marcus bristled a little in Ambrosia's defense.
"Yes! Humans are fragile and imbecilic! And you are saying ours is still mortal?" Caius burst out angrily as usual. Known for his legendary temper, he rarely liked anything or smiled genuinely for that matter.
Marcus frowned, resisting the urge to growl. "You do not even know her, yet you still judge!"
"We have seen humanity's true countless times! Why should this one be any different from the rest of the cattle?" the blonde king shot back.
This time Marcus did growl. "She is our mate!"
"And humans are weak!"
"Peace Brothers!" Aro interjected, coming to stand between the two with his hands held out to stop them. He had already sent the Guard members out of the room for privacy.
Looking at him now, Marcus noted how Aro's red eyes twinkled in a way that made him seem both ecstatic and curious in a devious sort of way. The middle king had only grown more sadistic and conniving with age and experience, learning how to manipulate others in ways almost no one noticed until the last moment. A characteristic that truly should have been expected of an ancient immortal such as he.
Room falling silent, the three brothers had a bit of a standoff. One eager, one unbelieving, and one who probably did not seem as sincere as he should be.
Finally, Aro said, "As much as it pains me to take sides, perhaps we should at least give her a chance, Caius."
The perpetually angry king went to argue, but Aro forestalled him with a single finger and a quelling look.
"I am not saying you have to fall in love with her instantly, but we should at least meet her once, if only for academic purposes."
Typical Aro. Oftentimes only doing anything for "academic purposes" or so he said. Still, Marcus should have expected the following stipulation from his brother though. Almost all agreements had some sort of string attached to them.
"However," Aro said, turning to Marcus, "that is only if she calls you back and requests that tour you so kindly offered. Agreed?"
He held out his hands to both of them, knowing that they would have shake on it so Aro could use his gift to see their agreement, however reluctant it may be may be.
They did it anyway though, with Marcus agreeing more readily that Caius.
Aro smiled in a sort of disturbing way. "Besides, perhaps we may even come to like her."
Caius huffed. "We'll see about that."
—End Flashback—
So yes, he was the only one who genuinely wanted to spend time with their mate. Caius and Aro were only there out of necessity, not because they genuinely cared.
But in the end, Marcus still thanked his lucky stars that she had even called, otherwise this opportunity would not be possible. In all honestly though, after her odd reaction the previous day, he half expected for her to refrain from calling at all.
He still wondered about that too, but he knew well enough to put unanswered question out of his mind for now as he, Aro, and Caius waited for Ambrosia to appear. During their conversation over the phone, they had agreed to meet up at Palazzo dei Priori at ten o'clock local time wherein Marcus and his brothers would give her a tour throughout the city.
In a way, it almost seemed as if fate was intervening on their behalf today too, as the day's forecast called for cloudy, overcast skies all day. Hopefully things went well today, too.
Smelling familiar rain-scented earth and roses, Marcus easily picked out the sound of her heartbeat from the crowd, whirling to face the young woman's direction while his brothers did the same.
Once again though, he found himself enraptured by her, resisting the urge to smirk when he saw his brothers freeze out of his peripheral.
Wearing tan gladiator sandals that went up to her knees, ripped jean capris and a white top with a green floral print shawl made of chiffon, she looked like something out of a dream with a fedora-shaped black summer hat resting on her loose blonde curls while a simple, dreamcatcher pendant hung around her neck and blue-green feathers hung from her ears.
"Buongiorno, Marcus!" she greeted when she thought she was within proper hearing distance, waving brightly and wearing a playful smile. (Good morning, Marcus!)
He smiled back as he returned the greeting in English, once again eager to spend time with his day. Marcus had a good feeling about today.
—Ambrosia's PoV—
"Good morning to you too, Ambrosia," he returned in English. "Did you sleep well?"
"Well enough," I said, unwilling to mention that I had stewed for an hour in my maternal-induced anger after that phone call before falling back into a restless sleep. "Yourself? I hope I didn't wake you up or anything when I texted s early this morning. I didn't even realize until I looked at the clock and remembered that not everyone gets up at 'insane o'clock' in the morning like I sometimes do."
He waved the concern away. "You are fine. I was already awake anyways. And I slept very well thank you."
Dramatically, I swiped my hand across my forehead as if wiping sweat away as I breathed an audible sigh of relief. "Whew. Had me worried there."
Hearing a huff, we both turned to the two other men present.
Marcus appeared a little abashed, as he cleared his throat a little before speaking again.
"Apologies. Ambrosia, these are my brothers, Aro and Caius," he introduced, gesturing to the dark haired man and Blondie-Scowly each in turn.
Waving, I grinned in their direction, making note of how both of Marcus' brothers wore blue contacts too, though Aro's seemed to have yellow flecks that made them look a little green, and Caius' were a very light shade compared to the sapphire ones Marcus wore. Another oddity to take note of. Maybe it was a family thing?
But oddly enough, upon meeting their gazes, both men's faces morphed, assuming an odd sort of mien. It resembled the sort of surprised expression you would wear when you found something you didn't know you were looking for. Why did people keep giving me that look nowadays? Marcus had done the same thing when we met.
I mentally shook myself, filing the information away for later.
"Please call me, Amber," I told them both. "Apparently, only Marcus is stubborn enough to use my full name."
Aro seemed to be the first to recover from his shocked stupor. His voice in turn seeming to shake Caius out of his funk too, as the raven-haired man said, "A pleasure to meet you too Amber."
Smiling, he shook my hand. But despite the fact he wore white gloves like the ones you see on stereotyped magicians, I got an odd impression. The feeling niggled faintly at my mind, and I wondered if it was just instinct from the years in law enforcement or if it was my gift activating. Either way, I subtly scrutinized the man before me, finding something about him—actually all three of them really—to be off putting.
Maybe it was just the way he smiled. But if I were an empath, I don't think I would exactly pick up on child-like glee, which was presently plastered on his face, so much as I would feel waves of sadistic glee. In a way, had he been a character in a story, Aro no doubt would have been one of the villains; the type that looks nice—because don't get me wrong, he looked really, really nice, like handsome-nice—but is anything but that underneath the exuberant mask he wore, and has a merciless, cold-blooded side that made other villains run for momma even on a good day, like a modern-day dark angel or Lucifer perhaps.
Releasing his hand, I turned my attention to Scowly but quickly realized he wasn't going to speak, so I merely gave him a small nod and a smile, though he only returned the former in a curt manner.
Sheesh, I thought with a mental eye roll at his abrasive attitude. He might as well put a sign over his head that says "Leave me the F #$ alone!" or something. I better stay away from him just in case though. Wouldn't want another near psychotic episode just because he's one of those "angry at the world" types.
Brushing him off for the time being, I focused back on Marcus, taking brief note of something out of the corner of my eye.
"By the way," I leaned in and whispered lowly enough so that only Marcus and maybe his brothers would hear. "Your fan club is back."
Noticing where I was looking, Marcus looked so miserable at hearing that, and I nearly laughed. But, in a moment of feminine pettiness, I looked directly back at the gaggle of girls on the opposite side of the square, who were all watching us and glaring daggers at me—and gave them all a bright smile as I waved cheekily.
I am such a bitch.
Noticing the quiet stares the three brothers were giving me, I grinned roguishly and said, "I am nothing if not petty when I want to be."
I'm pretty sure I heard Blondie laugh a little at that, but he quickly disguised as a cough at the last second, schooling his features back into bored annoyance.
"Is that so, tesoro?" Marcus enquired with a small grin of his own, appearing amused. (darling)
"Hey, I may be a girl but I don't inhale as many perfume fumes like they do, much less bathe in them." I gave a shudder at the end of it that wasn't all that difficult to fake.
Blondie coughed again.
Well, at least he found me amusing, though I wondered if he was laughing at me or with me. Hopefully the latter, though I could deal with the former.
"Now," I said, clapping my hands together as I focused back on the matter at hand, "When and where does this tour begin?"
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A/N: Yay! They've all finally met! Hopefully Caius and Aro will change their minds and things will work out between them.
Until then, please review, favorite and follow. Please and thank you!
Bianca out!