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Marcus' POV
I grabbed every little bit of attention I could get from my breathtaking mate. Seeing our golden bond grow into a blinding white, it was perhaps the most satisfying part of my gift. Her small giggles whenever I brushed my hands through her white hair, now they were just a bonus.
Time had stopped when I first met my darling Callidora, and I rejoiced in her choice of language. It had been too long since I found someone other than my brothers to converse with in my native tongue of Greek. English was easy and had been for a while, but the comforts of the old world came with that language, and it pulled her closer to my heart.
Just one more little touch. Who was I kidding? It always turned into about fifty before my angel went to sleep. I couldn't help but long for a physical connection with her. I had gone on too long with nothing of the sort, not touching anyone outside of trial for almost three hundred years. Not even Aro tried to bring a caring hand to me, for I would always push him away.
With her it was different. Not being near her led to anxiety like I had never felt before. Our bond, fresh and filled with new excitement, connected our hearts and souls, which must have been the cause for all of my distress. All I wanted was to have her safe, inside of my arms, and focused on me. No matter how selfish, I wanted Callidora all to myself. Nobody would have her, and no man or woman could ever look at her like I do and get away with it.
A few years ago, hell, maybe even a few days ago, I would have been wishing for death. Now, I wanted nothing more than to live with this precious, tiny, practically albino goddess of mine.
Her stumbling into my life was both blessed and unexpected. Aro tried to reassure me that mates come at just the right time. I shouldn't have stopped believing in my brother. For the past five hundred years all hope in my mind was lost, preferring to become even more of a recluse than I was before. No touches, no dismal chatter, just pure and uneventful silence.
Before the incident, I was quite talkative. It's what made my brothers and I so compatible. Now I could finally say something during trial. Perhaps not much, but I said something like that yesterday, more than I had said during a trial in well over two centuries.
My mate brought out the best parts of myself I had locked away, and I hope that I could bring out something in her as well.
It was those little things that make her who she is. The way she clicks her tongue whenever she gets nervous or how her body gets warmer when I give her any sort of compliment. It's a rush, giving those, because lord, is she gorgeous. I could compliment her all day. And I mean every single one of them. Our small chats during the night always left me breathless, even if I do not need air to function.
Whether she knew how she captured my heart remains unknown, but I have fallen. Fallen completely and utterly in love with my Callidora.
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Callidora's POV
News would be getting out that I was no longer in the hotel soon considering that I knew my Daddy and how he would likely be coming to visit at least once to check up on me. Little did I know, it only took him two days to come barging into the Volturi's domain, looking like he was going to kill someone.
Or something. You never knew with him.
"WHERE IS SHE?" He shouted from another room. I took in a deep breath, knowing what he was like when he got this angry. "THE HOTEL SAID THAT SHE WAS IN HERE, SO WHY ARE YOU-"
I peeked my head into the room. Daddy held one of the guards up by the throat, with lighting in his free hand. "Daddy, I'm right here. Please put Santiago down, he doesn't understand our native tongue."
Daddy threw the man into a wall before rushing over to me, picking me up in his arms. He gave me a kiss on the head before glaring at some of the guards that had come in to see what all the commotion was about. These poor guards.
"Callidora, we are going-"
"Please, Daddy, most of them haven't gotten around to learning and you haven't been here for centuries-" I cut myself off as I saw my mate enter the room, a glimmer of anger in his eyes. Shit, shit, shit, please don't make a scene. I swear you know he's my father- "Daddy please let me explain-"
My sentence was cut off by Marcus' voice, "Let my mate go."
"Your what?" Daddy's words were laced with venom far deadlier than the type that lingered on my mate's teeth. "You depressing old fool, you say that one more time."
"Let my mate go, Zeus. She is an adult and she is mine," Marcus hissed, taking a step towards Daddy. "Callidora is perfectly safe with us and will always be safe with me, so don't you even dare try to take her away. She is mine and I am hers."
"Callidora is my baby and you have no claim to her whatsoever-"
"I am her mate-"
"She is my child-"
"Would you two just stop?" I interjected, annoyed with their bickering, "Leave each other alone before I call Mommy and make you two stop. I bet she would love to hear that you're here, Daddy, especially when she told you to leave me alone for three weeks."
All of their arguing was getting old, fast. There was no need to claim me as one of their own, but Marcus' claim was a bit better than Daddy's. At least Marcus had the mating bond to back him up.
That got him to shut up and drop me. I quickly made my way over to Marcus, giving him a kiss on the cheek. "You're both my family and will have to deal with each other for the rest of eternity. Stop being all manly men and let me explain for once."
"Callidora, you're so young-"
"Zip it!" I snapped before taking in a deep breath. "Marcus is my mate and I plan to stay with him. Cousin Aphrodite is already here and she is with her mate, Alec. I don't think you know him but if you do that's her mate. Both of us are probably staying here for a long time, but we need food. Vampires drink human blood and goddesses need ambrosia, so I'm a little stuck on how Aphrodite and I are going to get our nourishment. I'm hungry."
"I have food with me, baby," Daddy said quietly, taking out a small bit of bread ambrosia, "I knew you would get hungry away from the hotel, so I brought something for you."
"Thank you, Daddy." He smiled, still looking at the ground. "If you want, you can be the one to call Mommy down. She would kill everyone in sight if I did it through my bracelet."
"Your mother is going to kill me," he mumbled before taking something from his pocket. "You better pray that your father Hades doesn't kill you as well, Marcus, his wife is protective over all of her baby brothers and sisters."
It was true, sister Persephone is very attentive, or at least that's what my siblings say whenever she is mentioned. I had never met her, but she sounded like a very kind and caring sister to have.
"I swear the Fates just have hated me for the last three centuries. First crazy prophecies and a premature baby Goddess and now my daughter is supposed to be fated to a vampire King. You know, being immortal is getting kind of old," Daddy mumbled under his breath. Prophecies?
Within a few seconds, Mommy appeared inside of the room, looking furious as she searched the room for Daddy. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO HARASS OUR BEAUTIFUL BABY AS SHE LEARNS TO FIND HERSELF, YOU DAMN OLD, CHEATING, ANNOYING, STUPID BROTHER OF MINE!"
My jaw dropped at her anger, carefulling clinging onto my mate in fear of what was to come next. Daddy tried to remain calm as Mommy found him and I. She took one look at Marcus and didn't seem impressed with our position on top of each other. By nature she's going to flip. I am going to die today. Killed by my own mother, what a tragedy.
"What are you doing cuddling with my daughter, vampire?" She hissed, glaring at Marcus. "You have no right to be anywhere near my baby girl! She is the most precious little thing I have ever given birth to and she will not be this close to you! How dare you try and seduce her this way after she knowingly went into a purity pact for her mate but two weeks ago-"
Right, the purity pact. I had made that for myself since I couldn't see me with anyone other than my mate. Thankfully it did not take me thousands of years but rather thousands of minutes to find my handsome mate. Marcus was the one who I would be with for the rest of eternity and I am glad that I waited for him. If I hadn't made that pact, Daddy may have tried to marry me off already.
"You went into a purity pact?" Marcus looked surprised, letting out an awkward laugh. "For your mate, no less?"
"Mommy stop embarrassing me!" I whined, "You make things so difficult sometimes! Marcus is not seducing me. Even if he was it wouldn't be a problem since him doing so would not violate my pact."
My pact would be intact even if I had... mated with him. The thought didn't sound appealing, not with how new the bond was. I needed time. By nature, I'm under a month old!
"You-" she started to put two and two together, "Oh my nature how dare you do this to me, Marcus. After everything we have been through!"
I should have expected something like this from Mommy. They knew each other, likely had for well over a thousand years. If everything that I had been told about the Volturi was correct, Mommy and Daddy have been close with them since their rise to power over three thousand years ago. Imagine being friends or at least allies with someone for so long only to have them pine after and be mated to your youngest child. I may be pissed as well if any of my future children are subjected to that.
"I didn't choose my mate, Hera!" Marcus pointed out. "I care for your daughter and our bond is growing each day! I would do anything for her, Hera. If she asked me to kill someone I would do it. I would kill the world."
"Would you kill Aro?" She questioned.
"Yes," he said with no hesitation. "He would kill me if Sulpicia asked him to as well! Your daughter will be in good hands, I promise. No vampire would dare lay their hands on a goddess, it would be war if they dared make such a mistake."
It was an answer I was not ready for. To think that someone would just kill their brother if their mate asked... I most certainly would not kill my brother if Marcus asked me to. The only time I would ever think about hurting my family would be if they put me or my mate in significant danger. Even then, I would hate it.
Mommy looked at my mate with annoyance before sending a glare over to Daddy. "You get our baby fed and you don't harass Marcus, he's been through enough crap these past two centuries. If I hear that you poof yourself over here again without invitation again you will be sleeping on the couch for the next three years, do I make myself clear?" Daddy nodded. "Good. Baby, are you hungry? You must be if you weren't in the hotel. Keep yourself fed, okay? You can call me if you ever need any more food, my sweet princess." I whined, but still nodded in agreement. "I'll be taking my leave, baby. ZEUS! You're coming back to Olympus this instant."
"Dear-" Daddy tried to speak, but Mommy cut him off.
"I don't want to hear it, brother! I married you and now it's my job to keep you in line and out of our children's business unless needed."
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The next three days had been peaceful. For most of the day, Aro insisted that I stay inside the trial room to give my opinion on things. I found this odd due to the fact that neither Sulpicia or Athenodora attended trial, but accepted his offer since his pestering wasn't worth the trouble. Aro could be persuasive when he wanted to be and even more annoying than that when he needed to be.
Aro Volturi is an odd man. Not only does he 'collect' vampires for his coven, he also talks a lot about how everyone must make their offerings to uncle Hades. Most of these conversations (if you could even call them that. It sounded more like preaching to me) ended with the reasons why all the vampires had to make their blood sacrifices. He often spun tales about vampires who refused and went hungry for too long before getting caught. Those people, according to him, oftentimes angered Hades and ended up dead and on his bad side in the Underworld. Of course, Aro was the only one to say anything about this, but the others nodded their heads in agreement when he went off on a tangent about it.
Peace and tranquility spread throughout the coven on the second day. People were starting to get used to my presence and no longer whispered to each other in various different languages that I didn't understand.
There were vampires from places all over the world in the Volturi, which meant the group as a whole was both ethnically diverse and culturally tolerant, allowing everyone to dress and speak in ways that they found comfortable. I couldn't understand what almost anyone was trying to tell me most of the time, but I could pick up on a few key phrases.
The Volturi was stationed as the world's vampire government with a fighting force that could take down any enemy, even a godly one. I found it lucky that Hades controlled them and their souls. If the coven wanted to, they could likely take down a few major gods and goddesses before being apprehended. That... was terrifying to say the least. They would never do that due to Aro's loyalty to the gods, but it was still horrific to think about what could happen if that loyalty was lost.
Trial is an odd place to be. Ripping off vampire's heads was a terrible task. The very sound of their heads coming off made me rethink all of my life choices. If there were a way to get rid of that noise I would do whatever it took to make it happen. The screech itself... How did anyone manage it on a regular basis?
"You're so quiet, dear," Marcus mumbled, pulling me closer to his chest. "You're always so loud around this time of day. Is something bothering you?"
"No, I'm just thinking." He hummed, keeping me close to his chest. "Is something on your mind?"
"Just making sure that you're happy, my darling Callidora." I blushed, looking up into his blood red eyes. "So beautiful. I can't believe I'm blessed with such beauty right in front of me."
"Filling up my ego again?" Marcus laughed, kissing the top of my head. "You are, aren't you? What is up with that?"
"I only speak the truth, my goddess," he insisted. "Have you heard any news on what you shall be the goddess of? I don't know the details on what that process is, but you never told me the status of a potential title."
It was true, I never told him. I didn't know what I would become, whether it be a goddess of war or a goddess of truth. Artemis and Hebe would decide those things, being the most perceptive with young immortals. Of course, Daddy would be the one to actually deem me the goddess of something, but my sisters would be the ones to give him their input and feedback on the matter.
"To be fair, I have no idea," I admitted, "It isn't up to me. I have three years to figure myself out before I get thrown down here in order to sort out what my strengths are. I bet I can do that before I start to run out of time, but I haven't found much of anything that I'm exceptionally good at."
"You're quite elegant," Marcus pointed out. "What goddesses have such elegance? Even Aphrodite falls down. I have never seen you fall, whether it be physically or linguistically. You say you hate English, but you speak it like it's your common tongue. Perhaps there are goddesses for that specific talent."
I blushed furiously at all of his compliments.
"The graces deal with some of that, but I don't wish to work under Aphrodite." My mate nodded. "Too many options, I say."
My options stretched past what I wanted to think about. So many categories of gods and goddesses. I had been placed into a system I didn't understand, but I had to make the most of it. Artemis and Hebe would be the ones to make the call, not me, that much was for certain.
"I know that you will be fit for whatever gets placed on you, my dear Callidora," Marcus says lovingly. I smiled up at him before pulling myself off of his chest, much to his dismay. "There will be much in this world that you shall do. Vampires often need constant checking up on due to our... difficult nature. All immortal creatures are immortal in their personalities, so we are often childish and temperamental at best."
We were the same way. From everything I could see with the ways my siblings interacted, all of the gods and goddesses had their own airs of fire to them, often coming out in their tempers. Mommy was perhaps the worst of all, yelling whenever she didn't get her way. Daddy did the same, but not to the same extent that she did. Artemis... well... the arguments between her and Hebe could get heated to say the least.
"Not much is different for us, you know," I laughed, standing on my feet. "We're perhaps the most temperamental people in the universe. Or at least this section of the universe, I have no clue what the rest of this universe looks like. Perhaps there are other immortals with even worse tempers than us."
"How I would like to think of us as better, but maybe not." I giggled, moving towards the door of the library. "Ah, is Miss Goddess ready for her daily trip outside?"
"Always, Marcus, always."
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Nighttime in Volterra is by far one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen and experienced. All of the humans stumbled around the city, talking away and hanging around the town square. Things were quiet and vampires could finally come out, covered by snow and starlight.
Marcus had decided that it was time for me to truly see the city. Our first real date was at a small park in the town. No humans were there so we could openly talk about everything having to do with our lives. The area surrounding the place enchanted my eyes just like everything inside of the castle, with snowflakes gently falling down as we sat down on a blanket.
Winter in the city and in this area of the Earth was far colder than I would have expected. Shimmering snow layers the ground in a cold blanket that made my skin flush white, heat leaving my usually warm body. The snow reflected Marcus well., with his immortality making him pale and cold like snow during the winter months.
The extent of my paleness did show, with my skin matching Marcus and the snow below. Although my mate was cold, he wrapped a coat around me after he saw my small shivers.
"Ah, February," Marcus mused, looking up at the night sky, "What a frigid month here in the city. I am sorry I cannot warm you further, my body would make it worse."
"No need," I managed, my nose freezing from the temperature. "Olympus is cold in some areas as well. Daddy makes sure that I don't go near them. He thinks that the cold corrupts people."
"Superstitious as ever, it seems." Marcus laughed, wrapping a blanket around me. "I promise that our summer is much better than this. By the end of the month it will be warming up. By March you will be able to see the true glory that is Volterra and the beauty that is all of the Italian oceanside."
March was a month I had never experienced, just like almost any month that got brought up. From the tales spun by Jane and Alec, the celebration of Dionysus is one to beyond. According to everything they told me, everyone gets drunk off their rockers with wine and blood. Marcus has neither confirmed nor denied his role in the celebrations, but I would like to see him while drunk at least once.
"Do you like it, my dear? Or are you too cold to rationalize beauty?" I giggled, curling up closer to him.
"Of course I can rationalize beauty, I look at your face every day now," I snarked, getting comfortable on his lap. "You're handsome, Marcus."
"So you tell me, my dear."
"Do you not think so?"
"I... am average to myself." Ridiculous, he was beyond average. Average could never compare to his timeless beauty and grace. Then again, I had a biased perspective. Anyone would believe that their mate was inordinately attractive. I knew I was attractive. If Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, thought me so then I must be so. "I have never been more attractive than my brothers, I know that-"
"Much more attractive than those two," I insisted. "What do I have to do to drill it through your head that you are very much handsome to me and more handsome than any of the vampires in this universe? You're hot shit."
"That's ironic." I giggled as Marcus brushed a cold hand over my neck. "You're warmer than the average human."
"Thank you...?" I didn't know whether or not to take that as a compliment.
"It's wonderful," Marcus mumbled, dragging a cold finger across my cheek, "You're wonderful..."
His cold fingers brushed over my burning cheeks, my whole body turning a tinted white with blush. Looking up, I see his smiling face staring down at me. I situated myself so I could see him better, our eyes locking. Those deep, blood red eyes of his fascinated me. I felt myself being pulled deeper and deeper, my heart reaching out for him.
Hot blush lingered on my cheeks as Marcus' eyes darkened. Hand still resting on the right side of my face, I allow myself to melt in his arms. Our warm smiles melted into a slow moving kiss, our lips pulled together in a moment of passion. My heart fluttered, arms wrapping around my mate's neck.
Lips like soft marble on my own, my face turned a new shade of white once I realized our position, with me straddling Marcus on accident. Ending the kiss, my mate gave me a quick kiss on the cheek.
That damning, dashing smile of his made me let out a small squeak of embarrassment. I had just- we had just kissed.
"Callidora," my mate's voice teased me into near-silence, barely able to breathe.
"What?" Marcus laughed, repositioning me on his lap.
"The most beautiful thing I've ever seen." He raised one of my hands in the air, to which I gasped. I had shifted from mortal to divine form, likely blinding the area from my radiant glow. Skin just like the snow below and with hair to match, I giggled. Marcus entwined our fingers, my body now unaffected by his cooled temperature. "I didn't think I would ever be able to see you in your true form, for our eyes, while strong, are not fit to gaze upon beings of Olympus."
"Always so poetic," I teased.
"Just for you, my little snow angel."
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ᴀʜ! ɪᴛ ʜᴀᴘᴘᴇɴᴇᴅ! ᴛʜᴇ ꜰɪʀꜱᴛ ᴋɪꜱꜱ! ꜱᴏʀʀʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪꜱ ᴀ ʙɪᴛ ꜱʜᴏʀᴛᴇʀ ᴛʜᴀɴ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱʜᴏᴜʟᴅ ʙᴇ ᴇxᴘᴇᴄᴛɪɴɢ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜɪꜱ ʙᴏᴏᴋ. ɪ ᴅɪᴅɴ'ᴛ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ꜰʟᴜꜰꜰ ɪᴛ ᴜᴘ ᴛᴏᴏ ᴍᴜᴄʜ ᴀɴᴅ ʀᴜɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴏᴏᴅ.
ɪꜱɴ'ᴛ ᴍᴀʀᴄᴜꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛᴇꜱᴛ? ʜᴇ'ꜱ ꜱᴏ ᴅᴇᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴄᴀʟʟɪᴅᴏʀᴀ ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴛ ᴍᴀᴋᴇꜱ ᴍᴇ ꜱᴡᴏᴏɴ. ʏᴇꜱ, ɪ ꜱᴡᴏᴏɴᴇᴅ ᴡʜɪʟᴇ ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʜɪꜱ.
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