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raindancer2004 · 1 year ago

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The Other Swan

Word Count: 4,410 Demetri x OC Swan. Final Part. Warnings: Fluff,

Danni excelled at being a mother to Nicolai, her maternal instincts stronger and running deeper than she ever thought possible, but then everything vampires feel is on a much deeper level compared to their human counterparts. Danni would bake cakes and cookies with Nicolai, something that he loved as he got to eat their creations. Demetri would often watch his mate and son baking together, painting together and playing games together. Danni even taught him how play the different card and board games that she played as a child so he could join in with them. Nicolai liked to call this family game time and Demetri couldn’t help smiling as he got to experience the family life he never thought he would once he became immortal.

Caius and Athenodora were pleased to hear that Danni and Demetri agreed to nurture both his human and vampire sides as this meant he got to experience the best of both worlds. Athenodora offered to bake with Nicolai one cloudy Wednesday afternoon “Can you bake Nana?” “Not really sweetie but I can read and therefore can follow the recipes from your cookbooks” She replied smiling down at him “Ok, we’ll start with a simple Chocolate cake recipe” Nicolai responded with a smile of his own as he took his Nana’s hand and walked beside her to the kitchen.

Caius decided to see how his wife and grandson were getting on in the kitchen and walked in to find her blue dress covered in flour and a streak of flour on her cheek. Nicolai had some chocolate around his lips but they both looked happy as they decorated the cake. Caius chuckled low to himself but due to their vampire hearing Athenodora and Nicolai heard him and looked up. “Look Grandpa, we’re nearly finished with our cake” “I can see, it looks delicious” He replied “It’s a shame Nana and I can’t help you eat it” “I’ve told him he has to share the cake with the new Secretary Lori especially as we have some Chocolate chunk cookies in the oven” “Sounds like a good idea darling” Caius replied smiling and Nicolai nodded in agreement.

Around the end of July Aro received a wedding invitation from Alice Cullen announcing that Bella Swan and Edward Cullen were to be married on August 13th although Caius was not happy to hear the news as he knew this was the Cullen’s way of delaying Bella’s transformation further by having a wedding first. Aro on the other hand was excited to hear of the nuptials even if this was the Cullen’s way of announcing that Bella was to become one of them. “I’m going to guess that Danni hasn’t received an invitation or even been notified of the upcoming wedding” Marcus mused aloud “Seeing as they cut her out of their lives months ago, I doubt it” Caius replied “I think we should be the ones tell her” Aro said and his brothers nodded in agreement “I agree. I won’t have secrets kept from her” Caius replied, his protectiveness coming to the surface, knowing that the news would likely upset her. “Can I be there when you tell her please?” Demetri asked as he and Felix were the only other vampires in the room “Of course my dear boy” Marcus replied “Thank you master. This news is likely to upset her, especially after being cut out of her family’s lives” Demetri replied.

Danni was quiet over the next few days and everyone knew why and didn’t question her about it, they just let her be. Danni kept Nicolai close during these few days too, choosing to spend time with him alone. During one their shopping trips, Nicolai finds a ‘World’s Best Daddy’ mug “Mummy can I get this for Daddy please?” He asked pointing to the mug. Danni smiled before answering “Of course you can sweetie, He’ll love it” “Thank you Mummy” Nicolai replied and hugged her legs.

Later that night after his shift ended, Demetri returned to his room and saw Danni and Nicolai waiting for him, a blue and silver gift bag sitting on the coffee table. “Hello mi amore…” He kissed Danni’s cheek “…Hi buddy” He kissed his son’s hair before taking a seat beside them on the sofa. “Hi Daddy, this is for you” Nicolai said with a big grin on his face, pointing to the gift bag. “Hi babe” Danni replied smiling as Demetri reached over and opened the gift bag to reveal the mug inside. Danni and Nicolai watched as a big smile appeared on Demetri’s face, his eyes becoming glassy with unshed tears “Thank you so much buddy. I love it and you very much” He lifted his son onto his lap and hugged him close, placing a kiss on his hair.

Danni and Demetri started making plans for their wedding as Danni wanted a Winter wedding at the castle. Aro offered to officiate at the ceremony and Danni and Demetri agreed, both surprised and pleased that he wanted to participate in their wedding this way. “It would be an honour Aro, thank you” Danni said as Caius rolled his eyes dramatically from his throne, Demetri tried not to laugh at Caius’ reaction.

Heidi, Chelsea, Jane were asked to be Danni’s Bridesmaids, Gianna taking on the role of Maid of Honour. Felix was chosen as Best Man with Alec and Santiago being groomsmen and Nicolai was given the role of Ring Bearer, something he was very excited about.

Danni asked Caius to accompany her on a walk of the North facing garden and he agreed as he enjoyed spending time with his adopted daughter. They took a seat on the bench in front of the fountain and Danni took an unneeded breath before speaking. “Caius, I have something important I would like to ask you…” Caius took her hand in his and nodded for her to continue “…I wondered if you would give me away at the wedding?” Caius’ face lit up “Of course I would my child. I’m honoured that you asked” He wrapped his arms around her in hug “Thank you, not just for agreeing to give me away but for making me feel like part of the family” “You are most welcome Danni. As far as I am concerned you are my daughter and I would do anything and everything to ensure you are happy and safe always” He pulled her in for another hug, Danni resting her head on his shoulder, feeling tears fill her eyes that will go unshed.

Athenodora told Demetri that she and Caius would pay for Danni’s bridal gown along with the Bridesmaid and Maid of Honour dresses. “You don’t need to do that Mi’ lady” He replied “I know we don’t have to but we want to. As you know we see Danni as our daughter and this is our gift to you both” Demetri nodded “Thank you very much for your offer. It’s greatly appreciated” “You are most welcome my dear” She replied before giving him a quick hug. Demetri has always been Athenodora’s favourite guard and she was very happy he would become her official son-in-law soon.

Danni and Demetri had decided on a Red and White colour scheme for their Winter wedding, deciding on having Poinsettias as the centre pieces as they are a Winter flower. Red and White Roses would make up the bridal bouquets.

Caius had the guards freshen up the ballroom’s décor as it was looking a little dull after years of not being used. The cream-coloured walls looked bright and fresh against the polished real wood flooring once finished.

Marcus arranged for ‘Midnight Fangs’ a vampire quartet to play at the wedding, having had them perform at the castle during previous balls and galas.

If only they knew that all of these plans were going to be put on hold…

It is early December when Irina enters Castillo Volterra and makes her way to the throne room. Santiago opens the doors and she enters, Demetri and Felix walking towards her, curious as to what she wants. “What a pleasant surprise” Aro says as Irina enters the throne room, Marcus looks fed up and closed his book softly. “What do you want?” Caius asks sounding a little irritated turning around to face her “Hmm” She pauses a moment before replying “I have to report a crime…the Cullens…they have done something…terrible.” A smirk appears on Caius’ face and Aro closes his book and flashes over to Irina “Allow me my dear” Aro says taking her hand in his and looking at her thoughts and memories regarding the Cullen’s ‘crime’ “Oh my” He says once he’s finished. “Brother what have they have done now?” Caius asks as he walks towards them “It would appear dear brother they have created an immortal child” Aro replies “WHAT?!!” Caius shouts “ARE YOU SURE?” “Irina saw the child herself, she was jumping in the air catching snowflakes” Aro replied “Then we send the guards now! They can destroy the child and the Cullens” Caius responds “No brother. I think we will take our time, gather some witnesses and pay them a visit ourselves along with the guards” Aro replies calmly, despite the anger simmering inside. “A public trial?” Caius smirks “Yes brother. A public trial…this way we can be sure that our kind are reminded that creating immortal children is still illegal” Aro replies “Thank you for letting us know my dear” Marcus said smiling “Santiago please show Irina to one of our guest rooms” Marcus says looking at the guard “Yes master” Santiago bows his head and leads her to a guest room on the second floor.

Later that day Aro calls Danni to the throne room and asks the guards to leave except for Demetri. “Thank you for coming Danni…we have something we need to discuss with you” Aro starts “Ok. Have I done something wrong?” She asks looking between the Kings and Demetri “No, Danni you have done nothing wrong” Aro replies with a warm smile and Danni instantly relaxes “However, someone you know well has done something wrong, illegal even…” He pauses for a moment “…It would seem that the Cullens have created an immortal child…” “You have to got to be kidding me? Like seriously? What the hell?” Danni cuts Aro off. The Kings and Demetri cannot help laughing a little at her reaction. “Well I hope you plan to deal with them accordingly Caius” She adds looking at him “Yes child we do. There will be a public trial in Forks with witnesses” He replies and she nods “You don’t object to that?” Marcus asks curiously “No, I don’t. Caius gave me a history lesson once whilst Demi was away and informed me of your laws and how you dealt with the immortal children problem when it arose centuries ago” “But Bella’s your sister” Marcus adds, his head tilted to the side slightly “Don’t remind me!...” Danni bites back and Demetri intertwined his fingers with hers, squeezing them gently “…She left me here nine months ago and hasn’t looked back, remember” The Kings all nod at her, sympathy shining in their ruby eyes at the memory of that day.

A moment of silence passed before Danni spoke again “Can I ask how you know about this?” “We had a visitor this afternoon and she told us about the child. In fact, the child was seen with your sister” Aro replied “Bella may not have been aware of immortal children and the law surrounding them but Carlisle would have known and I’m sure Edward would also have been aware. They have broken a law and need to face the consequences and let’s face it you’ve been lenient in the past with Bella and Edward and look how they’ve repaid you” She responds back “That was not the reaction I was expecting from you my dear but I will say I am impressed with the way you have handled the news” Aro tells her honestly “Thank you Aro. I do, however, have a request…regarding the trial and any subsequent punishment” “We’re listening my dear” Caius replies this time and steps closer to her “I do not want Demetri to have any involvement in the punishment of the Cullens, especially Bella and Edward. I am not sure if you are aware but last summer Edward and his brothers killed a vampire who tried to kill Bella and as a result the vampire’s mate sought revenge…she even tried to kill Bella. This took place after Edward left her…before we came here…” She paused to see the Kings reactions, they nodded for her to continue “…As selfish as this may seem I am asking that Demetri is not involved as I do not want any of the Cullens to come after me or him as revenge. I do not want to be looking over my shoulder or worrying about him when he is on missions, more than I do already. Also, I do not want our son to grow up with only one parent” She added looking up at Demetri to see that he was looking down at her lovingly. “I think we can all agree with that request my dear, after all you haven’t asked for anything since you arrived and you understand the situation we are in and have handled it better than we expected. I also have no desire to risk anything happening to my grandson or his parents” Caius answered her “Thank you Caius” She replied and gave him a quick hug “Yes thank you master for agreeing to Danni’s request” “You are both welcome. We do, however, ask that you both accompany us when we go to Forks” He replies “Of course master” Demetri replies and Danni nods in agreement.

The following day Irina was in the library reading along with Alec when Danni entered with Nicolai “What the...?” Irina says shocked when she notices the little boy who resembles Demetri but who clearly has a heartbeat “Irina this Danni, Demetri’s mate and their son Nicolai” Alec introduces them “It’s nice to meet you Irina” Danni smiles at her “Nice to meet you too” Irina replies “Nicolai…he has a-a heartbeat…but how?” Irina asks “I’m half-human, half-vampire” He replies “I had him whilst I was still human, Demetri changed me after he was born…about six months ago” Danni adds “But he-he looks like...” Irina trails off “His vampire side means he grows faster than his human counterparts and is quite smart for his age too” Danni tells her as she takes a seat on the sofa opposite her and Nicolai sits beside his mum. “I didn’t know that vampires could have children” Irina says looking at the boy “Neither did we. It was a surprise to us all to discover that male vampires can father children with human females” Alec responds. “I’m gifted too like mummy and daddy” Nicolai says proudly “Really? May I ask what your gift is Nicolai?” Irina asks, curiosity shining in her amber coloured eyes “I’m a shield like mummy and I am able to track people like daddy, but only those with shields. I fill in the gaps of daddy’s gift” He replies proudly “Wow” Irina breathed out, “I can’t believe how much he looks like Demetri” Irina says looking between Nicolai and Danni “I know, me too. He’s a mini version of his dad” Danni replies and Nicolai just smiles back at Irina.

A few days later Nicolai and Irina were walking in the South facing garden when he stopped walking and gently tugged on her hand to get her attention. “Irina, can I ask why you have amber coloured eyes seeing as you are a vampire?” Nicolai asked curiosity shining in his blue eyes “I have amber eyes because I am a vegetarian vampire…” “What’s a vegetarian vampire?” He asked, cutting her off “A vegetarian vampire survives on animal blood instead of human blood” She responded and watched as Nicolai tried to process this information and knew he would have more questions for her. “What animals do you eat and how do you find them?” “Where I live in Alaska, there is a very big forest surrounding our house and my family and I hunt the animals there. In the forest there are different animals, Bears, Moose, Wolves and Caribou to name a few” “Oh, that’s different. Why don’t you hunt humans like other vampires?” “My family and I used to hunt humans but after many years we decided to try surviving on animal blood and found that we could survive that way, although there are not many vegetarian vampires” “You are the first vegetarian vampire I have met” He said with a smile “You are the first vampire / human hybrid that I’ve met” She replied with a smile of her own. They resumed their walk around the garden and continued to talk about different topics. Irina was surprised at how ‘grown-up’ Nicolai was and sounded despite how young he was.

Whilst the Kings and the four Elite guards were away from the castle to gather some witnesses of their own for the upcoming Cullen trial, Danni found that Nicolai’s shielding ability had developed. “Look Mummy…” Danni looked up from her book to see a faint shimmering glow circling her son, giving him the appearance of being inside a protective bubble. Danni smiled, feeling proud of her son and his growing ability. “That’s amazing sweetie” She praised him and he smiled back at her. She wondered if she could get her shield do the same or something similar at the very least. ‘It’d be nice to be able to protect the ones I love, as well as myself’ She thought to herself and decided to ask Santiago and Heidi for their help in Demetri’s absence.

Danni and Nicolai met with Santiago and Heidi the following morning in the south-facing garden as they had agreed to help them develop their shielding abilities. Nicolai asked to train with Santiago as he knew that Demetri had trained Santiago when he joined the guard and still spars with him regularly. Danni and Heidi worked together to see how her shield worked and if she could shield someone other than herself.

With a lot of hard work, Danni was able to shield multiple people as she had practised constantly, pushing her shield to its max. Her shield looked different to her son’s as hers looked almost like it was an extension of her, a faint shimmering was the only hint that her shield was in use to protect the ones she loved.

Upon Demetri’s return to the castle Danni and Nicolai updated him on the development of their gifts. Nicolai was able to shield not only himself but one other person easily. “I hope I can shield more people when I’m older” He said looking up at his dad “You’re doing just fine as you are buddy” Demetri replied proudly, as he looked down at his son as they both stood inside Nicolai’s ‘protective bubble.’

Caius, Aro and Marcus stood watching Danni and Nicolai with proud smiles on their faces. “At least we can keep Edward from reading our thoughts now” Caius said proudly and nudged Aro slightly “Yes, and it’ll be a good surprise for the damned law breaker too” Aro replied with a smile.

December 31st – Confrontation –

Once it had been declared that Renesmee was not an immortal child, Irina was ripped apart and burned for providing a false allegation against the Cullens. “That’s a shame mummy, I liked her” Nicolai said low so only his parents heard him and she nodded in response.

Alice and Jasper made their way back to the Cullens and their witnesses but before anyone could leave Vladimir shouts out “TRAITOR” and looks directly at Danni “Excuse me?” She asks “You are on the wrong side my dear, should you not be over here supporting your sister?” He replies “Supporting my sister, why would I want to do that after what she and her precious Edward did?” “You mean have a child together?” Stefan replies “No. I’m talking about the fact that they left me in Volterra nine months ago and haven’t been in touch since. In fact, I received one letter from Esme telling me that once Edward and Bella landed back here, they told my dad I had died in an accident and that a memorial was held for me. Edward made that decision on the flight back from Volterra thus, ensuring I could never come home to see my dad, never have the chance to introduce him to my mate. They took away my chance to say goodbye” She replied and noticed the shocked looks on the faces of the Cullen’s witnesses “Oh…you all look surprised. Did they not tell you that part? Did they also tell you that they never invited me to their wedding? I only found out about the wedding from Aro after they sent an invitation to him to let him know it was taking place. It was their way of announcing Bella’s transformation.” She added and Demetri squeezed her hand gently. Caius moved closer to Danni, a scowl settling on his face.

“I notice you have a child of your own” Tanya says looking at Nicolai “Yes, I do. My son was born six months ago and my fiancée changed me after he was delivered, we didn’t want to risk another pregnancy as there was no guarantee I would handle another one so well” She responded and noticed Carlisle looked a little confused. “Danni drank human blood regularly once we discovered she was pregnant, this allowed her to meet the baby’s needs and she was able to keep certain foods down too” Caius advised him proudly and Carlisle nodded, clearly impressed as it sounded like Danni had an easier pregnancy than her sister.

“Why did you not tell me I had a nephew?” Bella asked “Why would I? You cut me out of your life, cut me out of my own family. I have a new family now and I couldn’t be happier” Danni replies smiling.

“You have a chance to reconnect with one another, especially as you both have children now” Esme replies softly “Esme as much as I like you and Carlisle, we’re all aware that if it wasn’t for this ‘situation’ we wouldn’t even be talking. I mean none of you got in touch to advise me of the wedding or that my niece was born three months ago” Danni replied. “You can’t take the high ground Danni, your mate would have killed us if there had been a fight today” Edward called out “That is where you are wrong Eddie. The Kings agreed to my request of keeping Demetri out of any executions involving you Cullens as I didn’t want any of you coming after me or my mate as revenge. I protected my family unlike you. I mean look what happened after you killed James, his mate went after Bella to avenge him and you weren’t even here to protect her. So, I have every reason to take the high ground as you put it as I have done nothing to any of you” She replied. Edward went to speak but Caius cut him off “I would consider your next words to Danni very carefully Cullen or you’ll find yourself joining Irina in becoming a pile of ash” “Why do you care what he says to her?” Bella asked “I care because Danni is my daughter and no one, and I do mean no one will disrespect a member of my family” Caius replies and Demetri smirks at the Cullens as surprise registers on their faces.

“What?…how…?” Bella struggled to speak, too shocked at Caius’ news. “My wife and I always wanted to have a daughter and once we met and got to know Danni, things fell into place and we came to care for her as though she was our daughter…” Caius spoke looking directly at Bella “And I came to care about Caius and Dora as my parents in return” Danni finished Caius’ sentence with a warm smile. Everyone watched as Athenodora stepped forward and slipped her hand into her husband’s as she spoke “We were there for Danni when she needed love and support as she navigated her way through a new relationship, whilst she settled into her new life and her new home...” Bella looked as though she wanted to say something but Athenodora didn’t give her chance. “…You abandoned your sister without a second thought when she needed you, needed your support to navigate her way through a new relationship, a relationship with a vampire no less and everything that came with that, seeing as you had experience with this but you chose Edward instead.” Danni nodded and felt so loved in that moment hearing her adoptive parents speak this way about her.

“Just so we are clear Bella, you will not be receiving an invitation to our wedding as it’s for our family and friends only” Demetri adds and Danni nods in agreement before adding “We had to postpone our special day because of you and your ‘antics.’”

Silence filled the air as no one spoke, as they tried to process everything they’ve just heard. “Danni and the Volturi are telling the truth about everything…” Maggie says looking around at the Cullen’s witnesses “…And Bella and Edward haven’t even bothered to apologise or make amends for their actions” Maggie continued, distaste clear in her voice.

“Our apologies Danni for calling you a traitor. It appears we were not told the truth regarding yours and Demetri’s situation” Vladimir called out and she and Demetri nodded. “That’s quite alright. I don’t blame Demetri for keeping me by his side that day. If I’m being honest, I’m glad he did as our relationship developed naturally and I got to have a son with the man I love. I am looking forward to spending an eternity with my family and that doesn’t include any of you” She replied looking at Bella and the Cullens, before turning to face her mate. “Let’s go home mi amore” Demetri smiled down at her and looked at Marcus who just smiled and nodded. The Cullens and their witnesses watched as Demetri and Danni left the field with their son and didn’t look back.

#demetri volturi #felix volturi #alec volturi #jane volturi #aro volturi #marcus volturi #caius volturi #athenodora volturi #sulpicia volturi #heidi volturi #demetri x oc #volturi #twilight

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fairlyaverageff · 2 years ago

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UwU - (A Volturi One-Shot)

Okay, so here’s a much longer than expected one-shot that come from an idea my discord friends and I were throwing around when we were sharing approximately one brain cell. A kinda shitpost story about what would happen if a chaotic gen-z human (female) had to make it weird by moaning when a certain vampire king was trying to feed. Warning for very crude language, sexual references, and imagery. Obligatory note that in all of my fanfictions I tend to write the Volturi as a family unit. Meaning Aro did not kill his sister, the wives are loved by their husbands and not locked in a tower, and the Volturi itself if kind of like a government organization with 200+ members that definitely does hush-hush dealing with human governments. (I also picture Marcus as the late 30s type. Facecast being Henry Cavil in/as the Witcher but with brown hair lol. But this is fanfiction, so feel free to picture everyone as you like.) Renata is physically 18+ in this story... idk what her canon age is. Pairing is Platonic!OCxMarcus and OCxRenata. This was supposed to be 10 pages max and ended up being 35... so be ready for a wild ride. This One-Shot is LGBTQ+ friendly.

UwU - One Shot

“Look, my dudes, we can talk about this!” Her voice echoed down the stone corridor, the two men in their ridiculous cosplay-worthy gray cloaks completely ignoring her as they dragged her down the dark passage.

Each had a hand locked on one of her biceps and damn if their grip wasn’t firm.

She’d tried to wiggle away when they first grabbed her out in the streets, but that had been useless. All the strength in her decently fit barely-over-five-feet-tall body was no match for the two men who were much larger than her pitiful stature.

To say she yelled when one of them held her back against his chest and the other opened a drain cover and jumped down into the darkness below would have been an understatement. She’d screamed like a little bitch, and only shut up when the one who jumped into the hole that was only barely big enough for the two of them and would have easily broken her leg if she’d stuck it out, landed with her still held against him both completely unscathed as they faced his companion.

She knew enough about physics and gravity to know there was no way in hell these two men should have been able to jump down into a manhole from that height and not break both of their legs and/or die. There were multiple seconds of darkness and rushing wind to indicate they’d dropped from a ridiculous height.

Fully convinced this must be some government cell of sleeper super-soldiers she’d pissed off by tagging the side of the building they’d apparently been sitting on the roof of, she figured now was time to barter with them for her release.

“I got 24 bucks cold hard cash in my pocket, it’s all yours and we can forget this whole thing ever happened. Y’all can even leave me down here I’ll find a way back up to the surface, no biggie!”

One of her manhandlers snorted at that - the only sound she’d heard from either of them so far - and while it wasn’t the agreement to the deal she was hoping for, at least it was a sound of acknowledgement to indicate they weren’t deaf.

They didn’t stop dragging her, and the tunnel they walked through seemed to only get darker and darker as they went. The only light sources seemed to be very tiny lights on either side of the hall that were embedded in the floor - the kind of super tiny lights you’d see on the steps in a movie theater so you didn’t eat shit and bash your face when you came back from a pee after drinking an entire $9 soda during the opening credits. The two tiny pinpricks of light only popped up every thirty or so feet if she was guesstimating properly.

She couldn’t even see her captors; it was so dark. Their icy hands were still firmly clasped around her arms, but that didn’t stop her from trying to appeal to them in some way. “Look, I don’t know what kinda sleeper cell you guys belong to, but how in god's name can you see down here? Can I get some of the super juice or whatever steroid you guys are on?”

“Shut up.” The one to her left grunted, and she turned her head to stare into the dark where he should be at the sound of his voice.

“Wow, I can’t see what you look like but if you’re half as fine as your voice suggests I might be willing to barter something else for my release-,”

The one on her right made a sound that was clearly a choked back laugh that she would have absolutely responded smartly to if she wasn’t suddenly blinded by white light.

She yelped in shock. Neither of her captors broke in their stride as they threw open two metal doors to drag her through them and into this new hallway.

This hall was already very obviously different than the one they’d just been in - and not because the other was pitch black, echoey, and kinda damp feeling. If she didn’t know any better - and she didn’t - she’d guess she was just dragged into the corporate offices of some posh glass faced building. Fluorescent lights were spaced evenly in the ceiling, and to her right was a cozy waiting room that looked like it belonged in a bank for stupid rich people. There was a pretty tan woman sitting at a large mahogany desk.

“Yo lady, help me out here!” She called to the receptionist, who’d stood when the two men dragging her entered the hall looking very puzzled.

The two men halted holding her, about twenty or so feet away from an elevator that was dead ahead, all gazes locked on the receptionist.

The receptionist stared at her, her eyes traveling down to study her spray-paint covered forearms and dirty jeans, before comprehension dawned.

“Ah,” She sighed knowingly, “This is the graffiti artist who keeps tagging the city? I will punch in the code so you may take her directly to Master Caius.”

She had no idea what any of that meant, but as the receptionist spun to walk back to her desk, the men who were holding her began manhandling her again, towing her uncooperating form to the elevator.

They really did not seem even slightly phased by her wiggling.

She could hear distantly as the receptionist tapped away at her computer before the elevator dinged and the doors opened.

“You bitch!” It was all she could think to say. Where was the woman supporting woman sistership? Where was the solidarity? It was just a little spray paint! Definitely not enough of a reason for another woman to allow two men to drag a fellow girl to a questionable place with no explanation as to what was happening.

She got no response from the other woman, and was unceremoniously heaved into the elevator by the two men. They kept her between them the whole time, even when they did an about face to watch the closing doors and forced her onto her knees to wait as the elevator rose.

Her head craned back and she blinked rapidly to try to get her eyes to focus better on the two people holding her in the brightly lit elevator.

They were both pale, tall, and undeniably the most bangable dudes she’d ever laid her eyes on.

“Okay, yeah, I’m officially ready to offer up something else entirely for my peaceful release.” She said playfully, even though she wasn’t completely kidding.

She’d climb both of them like a tree, no doubt about it.

They didn’t even look down at her - they both stared resolutely forward as if determined to not give her the time of day.

“Oof, the sting of rejection is real my friends.” She sighed dramatically, “I can assure you, you’re missing out on a real opportunity here - oh shit you guys are so strong!”

The end of her sentence was a startled exclamation as the doors dinged open and she was roughly dragged back to her feet and out of the elevator. Her ridiculously hot captors said nothing to her as they dragged her down this stone hall that was periodically lit with fluorescent lights in the ceilings.

There were no windows here, and there was something about the stone that had her thinking about the old castle in the city that she was never able to get close enough to to cover with her art.

But most of that place wasn’t structurally sound - at least all the locals said it wasn’t - so there’s no way that’s where she was.

Though, that would be a pretty ideal cover for a government pod of super hot super soldiers to operate out of.

There was no telling how long they dragged her, or exactly where she was, before they abruptly stopped and turned her around so she was facing a large heavy looking wooden door.

The captor to her right raised a pale hand and knocked twice on the wood, the sound echoing in the hall, before reaching for the handle. There had been the slightest pause as if someone had responded to the sound and invited them in before the man made to open the door, but she knew that couldn’t be the case. The only sounds in this hall were her breathing and the echo of the knock.

Without any fanfare or preamble, the door was opened and she was pulled inside. She was fully ready to make a new comment about how manhandling wasn't necessary and if they wanted her to come with them all they had to do was say please, but she was quickly distracted as her brain rushed to take in the details of the new room she was in.

Much like the hall, there were no windows here. This room was clearly an office, decked out with overflowing bookcases on every wall - the only break in those bookcases being the unlit fireplace that took up a decent spot of room on the left, a large desk right smack in the center, two plush chairs facing it and the stone floor covered by what she was positive was a very expensive and large Persian rug.

There was no time to observe the wall behind her, because she was once again unceremoniously shoved to her knees between her two captors. Each had a hand on her shoulder and upper arm respectively, as they stood between the two chairs and faced the man who was rising to his feet from his place in the leather chair behind the desk.

He was tall, platinum blonde, and she might have considered him to be better looking than the two hunks who’d abducted her if it weren’t for the really unattractive scowl that was presently on his face.

“This is the one who's been defiling our city for the last two months?” He sneered, his question meant for either of the two men holding her.

“Yes sir.” The hottie on her left replied. “We caught her in the act, and we detained her immediately.”

Detained? What were these guys, cops?

“Pretty sure you can’t call it detained if you dragged me to some underground bunker.” She quipped smartly, “Detained would mean you held me where you caught me-,”

“Shut up!” Hottie on the right hissed, digging his fingers into her shoulder in a way that was totally not cool and made her wince.

“Leave us.” The platinum blonde waved a hand at her captors. “I’ll take care of it from here.”

“Yes sir.” The two men said in unison like well trained soldiers as they released her and, as if by magic, both were gone and the sound of the door snapping shut rang in the sudden silence of the room.

What in the actual fuck.

It was quiet for a very awkward moment as the two of them stared at each other, before she figured she might as well speak since he didn’t seem inclined to. “So what, are you gonna like… write me a citation? Give me my one phone call? Shoot me dead and leave me in a ditch somewhere? Cause honestly, the vibe is all off here and I don’t know what the hell you and your super soldiers got planned-,”

Abruptly he was in front of her, her face only inches from his thighs in a movement that had been so quick she didn’t even see it.

Yeah, these guys definitely had some super serum shit going on.

She fell backward onto her palms at his proximity. “Look man, you’re super hot and all, but I usually ask for dinner first and I can see that wedding band - I don’t fuck with married men.”

He grabbed her, and none too gently either, by both of her upper arms like she was a small child and lifted her clean off the floor. She might have aimed a kick - or two - at his groin in response, but that proved to be completely useless. He didn’t flinch; the man didn’t so much as grunt when her foot landed right at the hip joint, and that was kinda damaging to her ego cause she was sure it was a solid hit.

All the air was knocked out of her lungs when he suddenly slammed her back into the wall near the door - how and when he’d moved them over there she had no idea.

At least there wasn’t another bookcase against it, because that really would have hurt.

“I do not tolerate little pests like you defiling my home, and I absolutely will not tolerate cheek from anyone - especially a mortal.”

She had a couple responses to that in her head - one of them was just to compliment him on his truly spectacular upper body strength because wow - so she went with the second option that was a more coherent response to his hiss.

“Okay firstly, I was ready to offer you the $24 I offered the other guys to let me go, but slamming me against the wall just lost you that chance. Secondly, I know y’all got some steroids or some experimental drugs that the government clearly doesn’t wanna share with the rest of us little people, but no matter how cracked out you are right now there's no way you actually consider me a mortal and you a…” She trailed off, leaving the ending open so he could answer the unspoken question.

His only response was to shake his hair back out of his face, and for the first time she saw what the warm light from the single lamp on the desk had failed to show her when she was dragged to this office.

This dude's eyes were the strangest shade of dark red.

“Dude whatever they’ve got you taking, you really gotta stop, because those eyes are freaky-,”

He bared his teeth at her, and while the tiniest part of her brain kinda wanted to laugh at that, the other 98 or so percent was pulling fire alarms in every corner of her being. She had no explanation as to why, but it made her very uneasy, and her unease definitely wasn’t made any better by the animalistic snarl he let out that she was sure sent vibrations into her bones.

Okay fuck, that was actually kind of scary. She felt like all the hair on her body stood up at the sound.

He smiled at her and for the first time her brain wasn’t distracted by his looks enough to realize this was not a smile she wanted directed at her.

Uh oh.

He inhaled deeply, lowering her so he was no longer holding her slightly above him on the wall and making the rough stone scratch her back. He only stopped lowering her when they were almost eye level.

Caius could smell the fear, and he was pleased that he finally prompted silence from the smart mouthed little brat.

“You’ve spray painted your last building chit. If rebirth is true, maybe in your next life you’ll have a subconscious instinct to know better than to damage the property of others. Especially when you have no idea who you could be up against.”

That was the perfect opportunity for an innuendo, and she would have taken it if he didn’t close the space between them and yank her head to the side with one hand in her hair so quickly she was convinced he might just scalp her.

All animals would instinctively fight against a predator trying to sink its teeth into them. It was natural instinct to fear anything that could swiftly end their life and in this moment she fully understood humans were no different.

His teeth were in her neck, and she could tell instantly that they were way too sharp to be human - they felt almost burning hot - and she heard an awful ripping sound as pain shot through her head and shoulder from her neck.

It was the sound of ripping flesh, and it was a sound she would have happily gone the rest of her life without hearing.

She could hear him swallowing, and felt like her shirt was becoming damp.

These pale beautiful people were not super soldiers. They weren’t some secret government placed grouping of new genetically engineered cops.

They weren’t human at all, and she’d seen enough true blood and read enough smutty vampire novels to know what was happening here.

Her head was starting to spin, the room at the edges of her vision becoming darker with each passing second.

With the knowledge that she was going to pass out, also came the realization that she was going to die.

Well, if this is how she was gonna go out she might as well make it interesting right? Like, she should at least make it memorable for both of them - more so for him because he’d be the one alive to remember it.

With her brain in full fuck it I’m dead anyway mentality, she took in the little air she could despite the creature holding her against the wall with its fangs embedded in her neck and let out the most ridiculous bad-porno video moan she could with her last breath.

The vampire dropped her so suddenly that her body smacked onto the stone floor with a sound that was definitely not pretty. She didn’t have even the slightest forewarning that it would be a good idea to put her hands out to break her fall.

She would have tried to stand, or run, or scream, if the second she tried to roll over her body didn’t feel as though she was having electric shocks of pain running through it. So there she stayed, lying on her side with her back against the wall and feeling a horrible fire burning in her neck. Hopefully she bled out quickly, or he came back to finish her off soon - maybe the moan wasn’t the best idea. At least she would have died quicker that way.

Caius stared at the curled mortal on the floor in absolute disgust, his appetite completely vanishing at the awful sound she just emitted. She’d been getting off on that?

Ugh.

No.

He couldn’t even look at her.

He went back to his desk, mumbling under his breath about revolting mortals and resumed his task of going through the never ending pile of correspondence he’d been putting off taking a look at for the last week.

The only sounds in the room were his pen scratching across paper as he began writing, and the shuddering breaths of the human girl across the room as she died.

He was fully content with letting her bleed out, then he’d have someone collect her body for disposal. He wanted absolutely nothing more to do with the repulsive little thing.

He started to lose track of time as he wrote, waiting impatiently for the extra set of breaths to cease. The heartbeat, while uneven, was a white-noise like sound to him, and it wasn’t until over half an hour had passed that he realized there was a problem.

The breathing and the beating of her heart weren’t slowing. The room smelled thickly of her blood so he’d assumed she’d been bleeding out, but when he glanced up from the fourteenth letter he was replying to he could see that the gaping wound he’d left on the side of her neck had healed over, looking as if she had a pale skin graft set over the area.

No!

She was one of the rare mute changers, and the only way he’d ever let that change complete itself was if all seven layers of hell froze over.

Maybe not even then.

He shot to his feet, rounding the desk and flashing to her side instantaneously and imperceptibly to human eyes. Kneeling on the floor, he grabbed the closest limb to him - an arm that she had stretched out - and dragged her hand up toward his mouth.

The second he bit into her wrist he knew there was no hope in finishing her off the old fashioned way. The blood was thick, and there was a sweet undertone - and aftertaste - of venom that made it unpalatable. He would have swiftly dispatched her using the good old twist-and-snap-the-neck method, but the moment his teeth left her wrist she groaned, and the groan was so reminiscent of the moan that had made him drop her in the first place he threw her arm away from him as if burned.

He was by his desk again, not wanting to stand too close to the mortal who seemed to be getting a sexual thrill off of being killed by him as if she’d given him a disease.

Ugh. No. He would not touch her again.

Disgusting.

The sound of her uneven breathing, and the equally uneven but still unmistakably strong beating of her heart was the only sound in here now aside from his own breaths.

She was changing, and if he didn’t stop it now he was going to have a huge headache on his hands explaining to his brothers why there was a random newborn in the castle and why he needed someone else to dispose of her.

She’d likely damage his office in a newborn frenzy, and it was the desire to not have her destroy his belongings that caused him to cross the room and hastily exit. He took care to lock his door just in case before he sniffed the air in the hallway, looking for a scent he recognized.

He found the scent he was looking for, his brother having passed by here sometime earlier in the day, and he followed its trail even though he knew where it would lead.

~~~~~~UwU~~~~~~

“Marcus! I need a word.” Caius’ voice was sharp as it cut through the previous peaceful silence of the library. He could hear the quiet steps and breathing from guards who were pacing around the shelves, reading, and just taking a break in the large multi-level sanctuary. Their library was huge, but he knew exactly where Marcus liked to sit on the main floor - his chair by the fire was a well known off-limits seat to everyone in the coven.

No one was close to his brother - the guards usually gave any of the kings a large berth when they were relaxing in this space - and Caius could hear Marcus’ personal guards Afton and Chelsea off in the distance, sitting on the floor in a far-off aisle and talking quietly among themselves.

If he spoke low enough he was sure he’d be able to keep his conversation with Marcus private.

Their numerous guards loved to listen in on each other and gossip on any given day, but they still knew better than to even attempt to do so with any of the ancients.

Marcus’ head turned toward Caius, watching his approach and studying his expression until he was standing in front of Marcus’ chair.

Whatever it was Marcus saw on Caius’ face clearly concerned Marcus because his usually glassy gaze had a certain sharpness to it that was only ever reserved for times when there was news of an impending attack on their coven being brought to their attention. Marcus set the book he had been reading down on the arm of his chair, eyeing Caius with a clearly speculative gaze that Caius was one hundred percent certain questioned his sanity.

“What is it, brother?” Marcus asked, his tone grave as he rose to his feet. He stood perfectly straight, his impressive height accentuated nicely by the fire crackling behind him in the hearth.

“I- there’s…” He hardly knew how to explain it, the words refusing to fall from his lips as his silent brother stared at him as if expecting very bad news.

It took him a long moment to realize his speechlessness wasn’t because he didn’t know what to say - it was because he was embarrassed to speak his thoughts aloud.

But this was Marcus, and he was a much more preferable confidant than Aro who had a tendency to use his thoughts against him for personal gain if he wanted something badly enough and Caius was theoretically digging his heels into the ground in response.

Yes, Marcus was definitely the better option.

Aro would find out later of course, but at least it would be after his issue was taken care of.

“The guards found the human who’s been putting graffiti up all over our city.” Caius said stiffly, trying to ignore the way his brother's brows raised at the unexpected topic of conversation. “I started feeding on her but I… I couldn’t finish and I need you to…”

He trailed off, and Marcus stared at him for a long moment, his gaze un-focusing for a few seconds as he watched something invisible moving around in the air around Caius.

He knew the exact moment his brother saw what was unmistakably a sire bond beginning to form between him and the mortal on the floor of his office.

“You are changing her?”

“NO!” Caius’ denial was very loud indeed in the silent library, and he quickly adjusted his voice so he was whispering once more. “No I… I need you to go and take care of it.”

Marcus’ eyebrows were so high on his forehead Caius was expecting them to crawl up into his hairline and disappear like caterpillars in a bush.

“I went back to finish but it was too late and her blood…” Caius started to explain feebly, his hands raised as if pleading for Marcus to understand. “She was already turning. I need you to go and stop it.”

Marcus stared at him.

“Can you just do it!?” He snapped, quickly growing frustrated by his brother's inaction. “Please?”

The word please falling from his brother's lips was so startling that Marcus blinked rapidly for a second, before coming back to himself enough to speak. “If you weren’t thirsty enough to feed fully why didn’t you just break her neck?”

No need for Marcus to comment on how dark his brother's eyes still were. He knew there was some other unexplained reason Caius didn’t finish the human off - perhaps she was a drug addict and her blood was terrible.

Though the traces of human scent that clung to his brother's clothes didn’t smell half bad to him…

“I can’t touch her.” Caius growled. “Will you just go do it? Please?”

This time the please that passed from Caius’ lips sounded more like a curse, and that was what Marcus expected from him on a normal day.

He sighed. “You need me to take care of it like a little girl asking her father to squish a spider for her?”

“Now listen here you-,”

Marcus raised a hand, nonverbally telling Caius that the insults he had ready at the tip of his tongue were unnecessary. “Either you tell me why you can’t touch her, or you deal with it yourself. I don’t fancy touching a human who may burn, shock, or otherwise cause me discomfort because you’re trying to pull a tasteless joke.”

There was also no need to mention that Caius had no sense of humor and he was sure whatever his reason for not touching the human and needing him to take care of it, it was not over a desire to pull a prank.

That was more Aro’s speed.

And Aro probably would want the human to live so he could see what their gift manifested as, as an immortal.

“It’s no joke!” Caius’ tone was exasperated. “But I can’t touch her! She’s… ugh.”

He literally shivered in disgust.

Marcus did not move, and Caius knew this was a hopeless cause if he wasn’t going to explain himself.

“She moaned.” Caius hissed through his teeth, so low only his brother could hear and any passing guards in the halls would be none the wiser. “I’ve never been so disgusted in my life.”

Marcus’ lips parted just the smallest amount in shock, and when he tamed his expression back to indifference the edges of his lips twitched for just a second.

That insignificant twitching at the edges of his emotionless brother's mouth was as close to a grin as his brother ever came since the death of his wife nearly three millennia ago.

He growled.

“Just show me where she is, Caius.” Marcus sighed, an edge to his voice that Caius didn’t recognize right away. “I’ll take care of it.”

That placating little I’ll take care of it nearly made him blow a gasket, because he realized what the edge was in Marcus’ voice.

Marcus was amused.

Rather than give him any more ammo to use against him in a future argument, Caius turned on his heel and strode from the library, not bothering to look back to see if Marcus was following. He heard his brother's sigh and the sound of his steps as he followed him back to his office.

The run only took a couple of minutes, and when he was a hall away from their destination with Marcus right on his heels he was intercepted by the last person he wanted involved in this right now.

Aro turned toward their hurried approach, both of his brows raised as Caius stopped short, his gaze finding Marcus over his shoulder as he stopped too.

They all stared at one another for a long moment, and Caius was grateful over how quiet Marcus usually was because he didn’t seem inclined to say anything at all.

Aro sighed, “Alright, what am I missing?”

The face Caius made in response to that inquiry was answer enough that something was afoot.

After ten seconds of silence where it became obvious Caius wasn’t going to answer, Marcus spoke. “Caius has an… issue… and he asked me to sort it out for him.”

“Oh?”

“Some of the guards encountered the tagger that’s been marking the city.” Marcus elaborated. “She is… indisposed in Caius’ office.”

Aro’s gaze locked with Caius’ at this. “Since when have you ever liked sharing your food?”

It was an appropriate question to ask. Caius was a very possessive eater. When he got into a feeding temperament he was very aggressive over his kills.

He didn’t even like sharing with his mate - though he was willing when the mood struck him and the bond insisted he provide for Athenodora.

But allowing Marcus or Aro to have one of his kills? Especially when Caius had been chomping at the bit all month to get his hands on the mortal who was insulting him so thoroughly by defiling the city he was very protective of? There was no way.

Aro stared at Caius and Caius stared right back as he tried to think of a way out of this situation - at least for the time being.

When his brother raised his hand, palm up, Caius knew he no longer had much of a choice.

Aro was ruthless in getting what he wanted.

Striding forward he brushed palms with his mind reading brother, before roughly shoulder checking him as he pushed past him and stomped toward his office.

Aro made a sharp intake of breath, and Caius knew that it wasn’t because of the uncalled for shove.

He very nearly took the door to his office off its hinges as he shoved it open when he heard his brother snicker.

The girl was still there - obviously - but it seemed that she’d made an attempt to crawl away. Undoubtedly she was just following the natural animal instinct to get somewhere safe when badly hurt and exposed to the presence of predators, but she’d only made it roughly ten feet before she curled up in a ball on the floor between the chairs.

Now she was in a very inconvenient spot right in the middle of his office but he tried not to let that irritate him; one of his brothers would remove her.

What he hadn't been expecting the moment his brothers entered, all three of them now standing at different points in a circle around the girl on the floor, was the sound that came from Marcus.

Marcus took in a sharp breath, his eyes snapping down to stare at the girl on the floor before both of his hands found the sides of his head, his fingers kneading at his temples.

Neither Aro nor Caius could ask what was wrong before Marcus sat on the ground by the girl within half a second, staring at her with an expression that would have been much more at home on someone who’d just suffered a head injury.

“Marcus!” They both said in unison, Aro reaching out to yank one of his hands from his head so he could find out what ailed him.

Caius didn’t speak, giving Aro silence so he could focus on helping Marcus, his eyes traveling to the black haired female.

His discomfort be damned, if this girl was hurting Marcus he didn’t care if he had to stomp on her skull and ruin his shoes to kill her.

He was about to do just that when Aro spoke.

“Ah, yes. I can feel it now.” Aro dropped Marcus’ hand, gaze switching from Marcus to the curled little mortal on the floor at his feet. “I understand brother. It’s settled then.”

“What?” Caius hissed, throwing his hands up in frustration. He always hated not being privy to these private conversations Aro and Marcus had sometimes - he looked between them as if everyone in the room but himself had lost their senses. “What’s settled? What’s she done to him? What are you on about this time?”

“She’s got a happiness aura, Caius. I can feel it myself, though it took until I read Marcus to notice it at all. Surely you sensed it when you were feeding on her?”

The look Caius gave him all too clearly said no, he most certainly did not feel it.

Aro sighed, waving a hand airily at his brother, crouching down so he was close to the small human on the ground, his elbows on his knees and his hands hanging limply in front of him. “It seems the answer to the theory we’ve been hopeless to solve ever since my sister's passing is right here, isn’t it Marcus?”

Marcus, who was still sitting on the floor looking as if he’d been hit over the head with a heavy object blinked once, then groaned as he ran his hands over his face. “My head hurts-,”

“Your head can’t hurt!” Caius snapped automatically, only growing more frustrated when Aro ignored him to reach over to Marcus once more with his palm up.

“It does.” Marcus grunted and for the first time in too many centuries to count, Marcus’ eyes found his with a clarity in them that was so foreign it made Caius feel incredibly uneasy. Marcus touched his palm to Aro’s without breaking eye contact with Caius, rising to his feet in one fluid motion.

“Ah yes, I’m not surprised.” Aro mused, more to himself than anyone else as his gaze remained focused on the human before them. “You’ve gone nearly three millennia without. It's only natural that now that you have a steady supply again you’ll feel a little off balance.”

“For God’s sake Aro!” Caius was about to go on a tirade, both of his brothers could hear it in his voice, but neither reacted with the same emotional upheaval of their most hot-headed brother.

“We could never truly know because she was dead.” Marcus said quietly, “And we’ve never encountered another like her until now. I still feel… by the gods do I miss her… but I don’t…”

Marcus did not continue, and it was the look on his brother’s face that had Caius sobering immediately, his anger fading as quickly as a snuffed flame of a candle as the lid was replaced.

“I’ll have Eleazar examine this one,” Aro sighed, “So we’ll know if she’s addictive like Didyme - bless her heart - but even if she is… it’s probably best you stay exposed to her Marcus.”

Marcus didn’t say anything to that and the silence in the room over the next few minutes was only interrupted by the pounding heart of the human lying before them, her uneven breathing easily ignored.

So it was true then. Marcus’ unusual level of codependence on his late wife, and his unusually severe depression after her death was because of withdrawal from his mate’s happiness-inducing talent. Plenty of vampires who’d lost their mate still lived and functioned out in the world. Although all of them mourned the passing of their true loves, none had taken a hit as horribly as Marcus. However, they had never been able to prove that his depression was anything more than him loving her very much and having a dependent personality.

To know that none of it was true - that he wasn’t weak, but just a victim of circumstance - was too much for Marcus to process right now. He didn’t want to look at the human on the floor between him and his brothers, though he knew she was about to change his life.

"Well, nothing more to do now than check back in a couple of days," Aro clapped his hands once, getting to his feet.

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold on a second!" Caius' expression was appalled as he realized what Aro was saying, gesturing to the human on the floor, "Aro you can't be saying what I think you're saying! You haven't even read her-,"

"Bah!" Aro made a clear sound of discontent as he wrung his hands in front of him. "You know I'll never touch someone mid-change!"

Caius pursed his lips. Right. Aro reading someone mid-transformation meant his raven-haired brother would receive the full details of how much pain they were in.

He'd already lived through the pain of his own transformation. He didn't need to relieve the experience through anyone else.

"You don't have to do anything more Caius. Just leave her here. We'll deal with it later."

“I- but- she-,” Caius spluttered, gesturing wildly to the mortal that was barely twitching on the floor. She was definitely one of the rare silent-change cases that would come up every now and again. Which was kind of a relief because he didn’t want to listen to the thing scream for the next three days. “I don’t- You can’t make me!”

“She’s already changing.” Aro’s brows were raised. “There's nothing more you need to do with your charge-”

“She’s not my charge.”

“So the tooth fairy came in and changed her then?” Marcus remarked dryly, “Did you make sure to get their contact information so we can let them know to come pick her up?”

“You aren’t funny!” Caius snarled, “You could not have chosen a worse time to have a reawakened sense of humor-”

“Well don’t act like it’s our fault you didn’t finish your food-”

“She’s disgusting!”

“She moaned Caius.” Aro rolled his eyes, “A biting kink is hardly the most scandalous fetish out there nowadays. There was this one man I encountered who-”

“Stop!” Caius and Marcus both spoke at the same time, neither wanting the undoubtedly tasteless mental image Aro was about to inflict on them.

“I am not doing this Aro!” Caius snarled, “I bought you guys here to dispose of her-,”

“We’re not going to dispose of your little newborn Caius,” Aro rolled his eyes, “She’s your responsibility-”

“The hell she is!” He took one step forward, ready to do whatever was necessary to stop this madness before something hit him.

He staggered back multiple feet until his lower back struck his desk, staring at Marcus - who was still lowering his fist - in shock as his left ear pulsed with pain.

The realization that Marcus struck him sobered him immediately, but didn’t stop the insult he had ready at the tip of his tongue. “You did not just punch me you bastard-”

“Enough!” Aro’s voice was loud, his tone so stern it caused both Marcus and Caius to stop glaring at each other and turn to him.

“Leave the girl here, Caius.” Aro enunciated each word slowly as if he were particularly dense. “Do not lay a finger on her. We’ll address this again in a couple of days.”

Caius looked at him, and then at Marcus for a long time in which not a single one of them took a breath, absorbing each of their stubborn expressions before cursing and storming out of his office.

Damn them both.

~~~~~~UwU~~~~~~

Marcus hesitated outside the door to Caius' office. There was no reason for him to announce himself or knock as his brother hadn't entered this room since he stormed out two days ago, but he still needed a moment to process exactly what he planned to do when he got inside.

He and his brothers had left her inside to change. Currently Felix and Santiago were pacing the halls near this corridor, having been ordered there by Aro to keep everyone away from the girl and to apprehend her if she woke up and tried to wander. She’d be waking up within the next day, probably sooner rather than later as she was a tiny little thing, but there was no telling just when that would be.

He wondered if she knew what was happening to her. Had she been listening when he and his brothers talked over her? Or had they been speaking too quickly and quietly for her to be aware of their words when she was suffering the burning agony of transformation?

Either way, after thinking about it for nearly four hours this morning, he’d decided that someone needed to try to explain what was happening to her.

If there was one thing they’d learned over the countless years ruling their species, it was that an uninformed newborn was a crazy newborn.

Not to mention that if he wanted her to remain around him to supply some of - what Aro had started referring to as - his antidepressant, he’d need to be on good terms with her. If he wasn’t and she despised his presence he couldn’t exactly expect her aura to constantly work.

It might be a permanent part of her she had no control over, it might be something she could influence at will, and it could be something that was affected majorly by her moods. Only time would say.

Taking a deep breath he opened the door to the office, ignoring how Felix and Santiago’s steps both paused at the sound, and stepped inside allowing the door to snap shut behind him.

Being in her presence again was like someone was pulling aside a veil that had been cast over his head - a veil he’d never known was there until a couple of days ago. His thoughts were suddenly clearer, his breathing came easier, and the overwhelming sadness that had consumed him so thoroughly for thousands of years and made him nearly constantly wish for the sweet release of death was no more than a dull throb in a small part of his heart.

The mourning of his mate was still very much present there, but it was a mourning all those who suffered terrible loss lived with.

It was no longer an incapacitating pain, just a very normal ache.

He felt lighter in here now than he had when he’d first encountered her, though he knew this was only because the end of her change was near. The little female looked more immortal than mortal now. He estimated she only had half a day left before she awoke.

As he took in her appearance he realized her dark hair must have been false, because now her hair was such a light blonde that it was nearly white in color.

The venom must have removed the dye.

Without thinking he crossed the room to where she was curled on her side, her rapid heartbeat the only sound as he crouched in front of her to gaze at her face.

By gods, she looked-

Well, she looked like she could be Caius’ child by flesh and not just by venom.

She gave no indication she knew he was there, so he cleared his throat before speaking.

“Can you hear me child?”

She didn’t speak, but her eyelids did flutter for a second.

He sighed, scooting closer to her and placing a hand on her shoulder before pushing her onto her back.

Instinctively she uncurled from her ball, laying flat on the ground with her arms and legs slightly apart, her eyes fluttering again as she tried to look up at the unknown person who had moved her.

Marcus caught a glimpse of red irises, shot through with streaks of light brown as the transformation continued to work to rid her of her human appearance.

Her eyes closed once more and she groaned.

“Can you speak?”

The only response he got to that was another pained groan.

Alright then.

“Try to at least tell me your name. If you can do that I'll tell you mine, and I'll try to explain what’s happening to you.”

Her thoughts were hardly coherent due to pain and her vision had been nothing more than a blur of confusing colors when she opened her eyes. She wanted to say she had a pretty solid guess what was happening to her but the very idea of speech sounded horrible right now.

It was quiet again, and she wasn’t sure if the person who’d moved her was still in the room before he spoke.

The only thing she knew was that he wasn’t the one who’d bitten her. His voice was much too deep to be the same person.

“I know it hurts. It won’t go on much longer, but I'd like to address you as something other than child.” The man repeated.

Huh, that was weirdly nice of him.

“Ann-ah.” She croaked, her voice somehow managing to be high pitched and scratchy at the same time.

“Anna?”

She groaned, hoping he knew that she was confirming what he said and he would stop asking her to try to talk.

“Okay. Anna then.” Marcus said softly. “My name is Marcus. My brother Caius was the one who did this to you. Do you remember us talking over you in this room two days ago?”

“Nuh-uh-,” Anna’s face crumpled, and he understood that asking her to make any sounds right now was most likely extremely uncomfortable.

It was probably best she didn’t even bother.

With a sigh loud enough he knew it would be audible to her, Marcus sat on the floor beside her, resting his forearms on his knees as he stared forward at Caius’ desk.

He began to talk, and without hesitation or any polite formalities he explained to her what she was becoming, and what she would likely experience once her heart stopped. He did not bother taking the time to choose careful, gentle words that would make what he was saying less shocking. There was no point in sugarcoating what her life would be like when the change ended and her pain stopped. It was inevitable, and it was going to be her reality very soon.

Anna didn’t try to talk, and he was grateful as he continued on explaining what the purpose of the Volturi coven was and how she would be expected to conform and follow instructions and directions.

It did occur to him that she might be too consumed by pain to listen, but he wasn’t going to ask her to give any input into the conversation. If she wasn’t listening? Well no one can say he hadn’t at least tried.

He talked for a long time, as there really was a lot of information he needed to give her. When he paused in explaining a rather lengthy list of rules their coven had for newborns he realized her heart rate had spiked startlingly fast, and it occurred to him he must have been sitting beside her for the better part of the day.

At least he’d covered a lot of material.

“Anna? Is the pain receding?”

It was the first thing he’d asked her directly in hours, and her answering grimace was enough of a confirmation.

“Make a fist to confirm what I’m asking you.” Marcus said sharply, getting to his feet so he would be prepared to take her down if she launched at him. “Is the pain in your chest getting worse?”

As he gazed down at her, he watched the small almost-vampire clench her right hand into a fist for a few seconds before relaxing it.

“Are your hands free of pain?”

She made a fist.

“The rest of your arms?”

Another fist.

“Your legs?”

Again, she clenched her right hand into a fist.

Marcus turned and took a few quick strides to the door, opening it and hearing Felix and Santiago pause as they paced the stone floor a few halls away.

He spoke to the empty corridor knowing both of the guards would hear him. “Santiago, go and find my brothers. Felix, with me.”

Felix appeared in the hallway within seconds, and Marcus said nothing to the guard as he went back to Anna’s side and heard Felix follow him into Caius’ office, closing the door behind him with a soft snap.

They both stared down at Anna, fully aware as her heart took off at a stallion's pace that she had minutes - if not seconds - before she woke.

“Your heart will stop shortly.” Marcus said dispassionately, “When it does you’ll want to take a deep breath and sit up as slowly as you can. I’m sure you’re aware of many scents right now, and the new one in the room is Felix. He’s here to restrain you if you… panic.”

Marcus caught Felix’s head turning to look at him from the corner of his eye, catching the significance in what he was saying.

He was only to restrain her, not harm her.

The door opened once more, and Marcus did not turn to face his brothers as they entered, watching Anna intently as she took a sharp breath, her heart going much too fast now.

Aro drifted to his side and took his hand, reading his thoughts as the four of them stared down at the small girl on the floor as the last seconds of her mortal life passed them by.

Her heart raced, and raced, and raced until there was an abnormal jolt in its pattern. They all listened as it faltered, before giving two more hard disjointed thumps. The only sound in the room was Anna’s shocked intake of air as her heart finally failed and silence reigned.

Her eyelids fluttered, and then opened fully. Two scarlet eyes stared up at the ceiling in astonishment, darting around as she took in such finely textured details she would have never been capable of noticing before with her human eyesight.

Eventually her eyes wandered to each of them individually, and she surprised them all by sitting up very slowly and carefully - an abnormally tame response for a newborn.

Marcus figured she must have been listening to him after all.

“Wow.” Anna breathed, squeezing her eyes shut for a long second before opening them again and blinking rapidly as her brain adjusted to her super-sharp sight. “This is really trippy. If all that didn’t hurt so bad I’d be sure I just took acid or something. God what the fuck.”

Aro and Caius both breathed in - clearly about to tell her off for her language - but were silenced by the withering look Marcus sent them. The language really wasn’t the top priority right now.

Her accent though, and the fact that she spoke to them in English - which they already knew she would based on what the guards who’d carried her into the castle relayed - showed that she most certainly was not from Italy. She was American. A tourist most likely.

That was good, they were used to making sure the disappearances of tourists were not linked to them.

Anna observed her hands in front of her for a long moment, taking in their pale perfection before she looked back up at them, her blonde eyebrows raised.

Caius couldn’t tame his startled look at her appearance into one of indifference before Aro glanced over at him, a smug grin on his face.

It infuriated him greatly to realize the disgusting girl looked just like him. His brothers would never let him hear the end of this.

Anna sniffed, her head turning to Marcus as she recognized his scent as the one that had been with her for hours now.

Marcus crouched so he was closer to her level, and heard as Aro did the same.

Caius and Felix both remained standing.

“This is Aro.” Marcus inclined his head toward his brother. “Do you remember what I told you about him?”

She nodded, and Aro grinned widely.

“Spectacular.” Aro said happily, holding out one hand to the newborn and ignoring the way Felix shifted at the gesture. The girl was only minutes old; she would be easy to anticipate if she had any thought of hurting him. It would be obvious on her face and in her body language long before she acted. “This might just be one of the calmest rebirths we ever had. Nice work Marcus.”

Marcus rolled his eyes. All he did was talk; the exceptionally calm way Anna was behaving was all her.

Anna noticed his expression and grinned.

She reached out a hand toward Aro - slowly, like she was a human, and showing that she was taking great care in her movements as she placed her palm in his.

It was probably good she was moving so carefully too. Felix was very tense.

It was quiet for nearly a minute before Aro laughed, patting the back of Anna’s hand affectionately before dropping it.

Aro turned his head from Anna to Caius with a sigh. “You really do need to get a sense of humor, you know. When you bit her she only moaned because she was trying to be funny in the light of her death, and when you tried to finish the groan was just because you let her wrist go and the removal of more pain than she was already experiencing was a relief. You really had me so convinced she had a biting kink.”

Aro sounded almost disappointed that she didn’t - it would have been so funny if it had been true - and Anna’s face cracked the biggest shit eating grin any of them had seen in a long time.

With that grin came a feeling of lightness and ease that the three brothers knew was not their own - an entirely involuntary action the little vampire had no control over yet - and Felix shook his head as if in confusion when the sensation hit him.

They probably should have given him some forewarning.

Marcus’ fingers found his temples where he rubbed hard, and Aro caught the motion in his peripheral vision. He knew his brother was getting a headache again - this new supply of dopamine was something he desperately needed but his brain wasn’t quite ready for it yet. With the rather scientific approach to drug addictions, human mental illness and substances, and cause and effect Aro had in his head from the truly endless supply of memories both his own and not, Aro figured the best way to introduce Marcus to his new antidepressant was slowly. Eventually she’d make him feel much more himself but without the added headache.

He was completely certain of it; they’d just have to do small doses for now.

Aro patted the pockets of his suit jacket, looking for the small hand mirror he usually carried around - because he really did care if his hair looked a mess and it didn’t bother him in the slightest when his brothers would make fun of him for always checking his appearance - before retrieving it and holding it out to Anna.

“This was a gift from my wife. Do not break it or I'll be most cross.” Aro said seriously, watching as the little blonde carefully took the mirror, opening it as if it were tissue paper and getting a first look at her new reflection.

She gave a startled little jump at first glance, stared at herself in the tiny mirror for a long moment, and surprised all of them when she carefully passed the mirror back to Aro without closing it.

“Imma just give this back, if I hold it much longer I’m definitely gonna break it. Marcus mentioned super strength, and I can feel it - that’s for sure.”

“That’s Master Marcus to you, you little-” Caius started in on her instantly, and both of Anna’s brows raised at him when her gaze found his - registering that he was the one who’d killed her - but she was saved from responding by Marcus’ annoyed sigh.

“I introduced myself to her informally, Caius,” Marcus snapped, “Now calm down or leave. I do not have the patience for this right now.”

Caius exhaled loudly out of his nose, clearly ready to start yelling, but Marcus turned away from him and back to the matter at hand.

Anna’s gaze was on him. It seemed she wasn’t very intimidated by Caius’ outbursts.

Whether that was a good thing or not… Marcus couldn’t really be sure.

“You seem to be taking this very well.” Marcus’ deep bass voice was always so quiet, and Anna found it inexplicably soothing.

His expression was impossible to read.

“Well the alternative was being yeeted into the forever sleep. And what do you expect? Oh, woe is me, I’m superhuman, immortal, and hot as fuck now. Whatever will I do?” She said the last part of her rebuttal in an overly enthusiastic, damsel-in-distress candor that would make any B movie director proud.

She should go into acting.

“We should really introduce you to the Cullens.” The black-haired Aro was speaking again, his expression very clearly amused as he stood and looked down at her. “I think you’d do wonders for their self-esteem.”

“What’s a Cullen?”

“We’ll explain that later dear.” Aro said affectionately, watching her get slowly to her feet after she saw Marcus rise to his, as if she were waiting for nonverbal cues. “But first, let’s take care of your thirst.”

He waved Felix forward, and Anna’s appraisal of the abnormally large vampire was only interrupted once as Caius let out an audible scoff before turning on his heel and storming from the office, letting the door slam behind him.

“Huh,” Anna shrugged, “You know, I get the feeling he doesn’t like me.”

Felix cracked a smile that Anna reciprocated, and Aro noticed Marcus pressing his fingers to his temples again.

“He’s just irritated we were ignoring him,” Aro said playfully, motioning to Marcus that he should leave first before following. He heard Felix telling Anna he was going to hold onto her arm and asking her to do her best not to overreact to it, and ignored the little vampire’s growl as Felix did exactly as he’d warned.

She was young, and instincts are instincts after all.

It was good she’d listened to Marcus’ lengthy explanation about her new life though, because after that initial growl Anna seemed fine with listening to Felix as he guided her along beside him.

Marcus figured he could leave Aro and Felix to chaperone Anna for now - his head really did ache - and took his leave at the first hall junction they came to, going in the opposite direction from where he knew the trio would be headed.

Aside from that, the only hiccup in their journey to the feeding chamber was Renata joining them, unable to bear the thought of Aro being unguarded with a newborn around. Her gaze traveled to Anna in clear surprise as she took in the newborn the rest of the coven had been warned about, not having expected the pretty little blonde to look so like Master Caius.

Anna was calm, and absolutely beamed when she saw Renata.

“Man if my throat didn’t burn so bad it felt like the devil just jizzed in it, I’d be fully convinced I'd died and gone to heaven.”

Aro choked as he tried to suppress his laugh, truly startled as Renata’s mouth dropped open in shock.

Felix’s laughter echoed in the hall, and Aro figured it was probably best they addressed the crude language once she was fed.

~~~~~~UwU~~~~~~

If anyone asked Anna what her first couple months as a vampire had been like, she really wouldn’t have had anything to say. Everything kinda blurred together because of how seriously intense it was adapting to being a different creature than the one she was born as.

Marcus had warned her, but it hadn’t really sunk in how truly mind-fucking it would be to have such intense emotions, temper tantrums, and thirst now that she wasn’t human.

Something she could say though, was that even though she didn’t always remember fine details of those first months through the haze of thirst and super-emotions (as she liked to refer to her new and startling emotional capacity as an immortal), she did have a very clear place in her mind where she kept her relationships. Bonding with people as an immortal was very different than it was as a human.

The way people treated and responded to her was ingrained into her brain right off the bat, and the friendships she’d formed - no matter how new and insignificant they’d seem to be to a human since it was such a short timespan in which she’d known them - became an unwavering part of her.

She liked Felix a lot. He helped her calm down and always knew exactly what to do to help when she’d have a temper tantrum. Once he even flattened her on the floor and simply sat on her back for an hour until she stopped spazzing and started listening to his breathing instructions.

She liked Demetri, who seemed to be Felix’s right hand man and was always a second set of hands when shit got out of hand - or more specifically when she got out of hand. She liked Alec and Jane, who just had such a vibe about them that she respected them right away - and Jane seemed to vibe with her too.

She really liked Lady Athenodora, who seemed to be the most modern of all the ancients and always poked fun at her asshat of a husband - and Anna’s very own sire - Caius.

But her best friend of all was Marcus - well Master Marcus in public; she only called him by his first name when they were in private or if Aro was the only one around.

It had taken her a little while to understand, even after other guards had helped her learn about her happy-aura-special-talent thing, just what Marcus’ issues were and why everyone always seemed to act as though she and him were a package deal of some sort.

Now that her initial “crazy months” were past her - the crazy months being the oh so eloquently named period of about two to four months after a newborn’s change - she had a clear understanding of what all of that meant.

She was a living, breathing, antidepressant for Marcus.

But she wasn’t like his late wife Didyme.

Anna’s happy aura did not leave Marcus walking around as if he was slightly punch drunk, nor did it have any of the guards flocking toward her as overeager romantic interests like Aro’s late sister had.

There was something peaceful and calming about her presence. Everyone just felt at ease and… good around her. No one in the coven disliked her and she couldn’t exactly find that shocking if her very presence made people feel like they just took a valium.

No one ever felt anxious or melancholy when not exposed to the little blonde’s radius of sunshine. Eleazar had been completely right when he examined her and compared her to Corin except that her talent did not have an addictive edge.

Caius and Aro were sure - Aro more so because he had been in so many people's minds - that Marcus was reacting as any depressed mortal who was being properly medicated would. She took the edge off; she was a healthy, synthetic substitute to a hard drug he’d been addicted to.

Marcus still had his days. He still had his down periods, but he was better with Anna around. There had only been a couple bouts of depression in recent months that were particularly bad for Marcus, and each time another guard had found her and told her Marcus needed her presence.

She was always quick to be at his side, just like how in her human life she was always right there whenever a friend needed her. She’d sit on the floor beside whatever chair he was slumped over in and just wait quietly until he stirred.

Marcus was very close to her for more reasons than just her happy aura. As time went on it was clear to everyone that she and Marcus were kindred spirits. They had many common hobbies and interests. Anna was much more modern and chaotic than Marcus was; this was probably because of her young age and the vastly different time periods they were born in, but it was obvious that she and Marcus were soulmates of a purely platonic nature.

It was the bane of Caius’ existence to be constantly reminded that she was a permanent presence in their coven.

He couldn’t even properly discipline her. The one time he’d tried to catch her to remove her tongue - really she could do without it for a week and learn that she needed to stop with the cheek she always gave him - the little shit had let out a shriek that hurt his eardrums and ran off down the hall.

He’d chased her all the way to the throne room, and he would have had her if she hadn’t run behind Marcus and pressed her face into his back pleading for his protection.

Marcus wouldn’t let him near her.

“She’s a kid, Caius. Grow a pair and stop overreacting to every little thing.”

“She’s twenty-two! She’s no child!” Caius had snapped back, jabbing a finger in her direction. “You enable her!”

While she certainly did get away with quite a lot of misbehaviors because of her friendship with Marcus, it didn’t mean she was completely undisciplined.

Marcus did have a tendency to smack her upside the back of the head a lot which, to be honest, was completely fair with how quick she would go from being somewhat normal to an absolute basket case that wanted to do something like coat herself in body paint and run into the square naked just to see if the sunlight would still make her a disco ball but a colorful one this time.

Which she totally wasn’t allowed to do because it was totally against the law, and secrecy was the main goal, and blah blah blah talk talk talk.

Since she’d been a little newborn-nutcase at first she wasn’t on the Volturi guards' payroll nor was she given any real jobs to do. Her main tasks were to sit still and for the love of god not break anything, and that was not as easy as it sounded.

No one knew what to do to get her to behave at first. They couldn’t use any of the normal methods of keeping vampires in line - like limb removal or just general ass beating - because Marcus had been perfectly clear harming her was off limits.

No one could exactly blame him either. Even though there were enough occasions to prove Eleazar's assurance that her happy aura seemed to be permanent - only becoming stronger when she was in a good mood and never waning even when she was temperamental or upset - they all understood that he didn’t want to risk losing her aura.

He needed her antidepressant quality, and the fact that he was genuinely fond of her as a person only reinforced that they had to have a gentler approach with her.

Aro had been the first to figure out how they could… encourage… good behavior. Anna was very extroverted and easily bored, so the first several newborn months when it was necessary for her to learn control and be exposed to as few people and emotional scenarios as possible were, figuratively, driving her nuts.

Telling her to sit still and try to calm down only made her more antsy, and Aro had figured rewards for good behavior might work best.

To everyone's immense surprise, the reward that worked best were books.

Anna’s rooms were very large and comfortable here - as were all the guards' personal living quarters - but hers lacked personal touches. Understandable, because she didn’t have any money just yet and she was prone to breaking things with her new strength, but still depersonalizing.

She wanted to paint her walls. She wanted to get bookcases and fill them with her favorite books and stuffed animals. She just wasn’t allowed to yet because she was always acting up.

So Aro made a rule: each day she went without breaking something, starting a fight, or doing something utterly ridiculous (like trying to see how far she could literally run up a wall with her super speed before gravity took its toll and sent her plummeting down onto her back) she was awarded with an item she wanted to make her rooms her own.

It wasn’t easy at first, but with the help and guidance of her friends, she’d begun to improve more and more with each passing day.

~~~~~~UwU~~~~~~

Around six months later while a small portion of the guard stood in the feeding room waiting with the ancients for Heidi to arrive with a tour group, Anna talked quietly with Renata to the left of the circular room’s doors. Both of the girls' heads were bent together, so they were unaware the brothers were watching them.

"It seems like Anna and Renata are finally starting to get along," Marcus said in a quiet aside to Aro and Caius, his voice low enough that only they could hear.

"Oh thank goodness," Aro's eyes flashed to Renata, "I've been worried about the poor dear for years. It's been so hard for her to accept you know, with the time period she was born in…"

"Wait," Caius hissed, trying not to look over at Anna. "She likes women? All those comments she's made over the last year-"

"Renata likes women." Marcus said, even though both of his brothers had known that fact for years. "Anna likes everyone."

Caius just stared, and Marcus leaned his head back on his throne muttering, “It’s about time. I’ve never liked slow burning romances, and watching the bond grow between the two of them while waiting for them to just get together already has been driving me insane.”

Aro cackled, and multiple guards turned to look toward the kings in confusion, speculating that perhaps Master Aro was finally losing his mind after all.

~~~~~~UwU~~~~~~

Months turned into years, and Anna hardly noticed it at all as time no longer meant much to her as an immortal. After the newborn year was over, and she was considerably more rational and able to focus on tasks, she’d been put to studying and testing to find herself a true ranking within the Volturi guard.

These tests did involve general education at a university level - all of the Volturi guards were expected to be literate and educated to at least PhD standards. The masters believed that with infinite time, there was no excuse for their people to not be using it to better themselves.

They couldn’t go to actual universities, but the Volturi did have guards that were responsible for schooling and conducting exams that would have made any human being have a mental breakdown of truly epic proportions.

Along with school, she had strategy training, control training, and fight training.

She'd passed all of her tests with flying colors after only 3 years, and she was the youngest elite guard the Volturi ever had because of it.

She couldn't pretend that was because she was extraordinary or anything though. It only turned out that way because Marcus had been a consistent and sometimes ruthless teacher. She'd had special treatment that no one before her had ever had before by having one of the ancients and one of the best fighters among vampires training her personally every day for two and a half years. Anyone would excel with such attention.

It was only fitting that she became Marcus’ personal guard as both his antidepressant and his greatest friend, but that didn't mean she didn't have to earn her stripes so to speak.

So he’d trained her himself to help her get there, and she earned the extremely dark gray cloak she wore just as all the others had.

The bite marks Marcus had left on her arms, neck, and torso were proof of that. He hadn't been easy on her at all, and even though some of the lessons were hard she was grateful for the skills she had now because of him.

She wanted to live a thousand years, and you didn't get to that age without surviving some serious fights over time.

One of the bites on her torso was on her left rib cage, and there was one high up on her neck and two on her right arm from the time she had insisted she was ready to take the test to become an elite guard - a test she’d most certainly not been prepared for but she was too stubborn to believe otherwise when she was only two years old - and Marcus had squared up with her to fight. She should have known then and there that the fight was going to be a lesson and a punishment, because no one ever beat Marcus, and the final elite guard qualification fight was meant to be taken against an actual elite guard and not one of the masters.

He’d handed her ass to her, and made sure each bite was a reminder that she would have been killed if the fight was real - especially the ones on her side and neck.

Her pride had been hurt, but Marcus never dismembered her out of respect for their friendship. Even though she most definitely sulked for three days following her ass whooping, she and Marcus were completely back to their normal easy friendship right after.

~~~~~~UwU~~~~~~

Anna was lying face down on the couch in her living quarters hiding under nearly fifteen blankets as she heard a light knock on the main door and Renata went to answer it.

Marcus entered the room she was in shortly after, and pulled the mountain of blankets off her in one good tug.

“Alright Anna, time to stop with the moping and get up.”

Her answering question was muffled by the pillow she had her face pressed into, "How long have I been moping exactly?"

Marcus shook back his sleeve to check his watch, "69 hours."

As he predicted from the moment he calculated the time, she snickered. "Hehe, nice. Okay, I guess I can get over it now since the hour is so perfect."

He rolled his eyes so hard Anna could almost hear it even though she wasn’t looking at him as she finally raised her head from the pillow and sat up.

"You're sure you're alright?" Marcus' expression was politely concerned for her, and she laughed.

"I had a beautiful woman around to take care of me and nurse my wounds," She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, "I'll live."

They both heard Renata choke back a mortified little squeak from the front room.

Anna laughed again, even louder this time at her mate’s still-adorable modesty. Renata acting as though that statement was embarrassing was laughable. Marcus had caught the two of them in an empty corridor one day and there had been absolutely no way to play off what they were up to.

Marcus had let out his usual god-I’d-love-someone-to-just-end-me-right-now sigh, told Anna that they needed to resume her control training, and waited completely straight-faced and quietly for Anna to get off her knees and get her face out from between Renata’s legs as Renata frantically pulled her dress back down.

Renata avoided Marcus for nearly three weeks after that, and even then it was only because Aro ordered her to stop being shy and get over it because she was expected to continue her normal duties as his guard, and that meant she’d be around Marcus constantly so she needed to push the incident from her mind.

"So we're cool?" Marcus’ words pulled Anna out of her trip down memory lane, and she beamed at him.

“Look at you, using the correct slang! Yeah, we're cool."

He reached over and mussed her hair affectionately. "Good. Now let's go to the throne room for a short while so Caius can see you're out and about before training. Caius is temperamental about your unexcused absences this week so you better get moving."

"Fine."

As they left her rooms together, Anna trailing behind Marcus by a few paces because he was just way taller than her and his strides were always bigger, she couldn’t help but complain.

“Why do you even need guards anyway? It’s not like you can’t put any one of us in the ground at a moment’s notice!”

Marcus gave a ghost of a chuckle, and she smiled at him behind his back.

~~~~~~UwU~~~~~~

When she had passed her final fight test - not with Marcus because it was deemed unfair for her to test with her trainer; there could be no question about him throwing a fight for her benefit - she fought Caius. She catapulted into him so hard she sent them both out of the fighting circle they were supposed to stay confined to. She was scolded by the guard who was refereeing the match because, while your opponent being knocked out of the circle gave you a win, throwing yourself out of the circle with them in the same move didn’t count.

“Hey man,” She’d laughed in response. “I'll sink the ship I'm working on just to kill the captain.”

The ref tried not to smile, he really did, but the sound of Aro’s laughter from somewhere off on the side broke his concentration.

Caius was frustrated as usual with her lack of professionalism, and Anna wasn’t going to deny that Caius being frustrated with her total I don’t give a fuck mentality combined with his wife’s heckling from the stand to not hurt his kin - and infuriating reminder to him that she looked like his biological kid - made him an easier opponent.

The final elite fighting test wasn’t meant to be taken with the masters, but Caius had wanted an opportunity to - how did he put it - squish her like Marcus did.

Man when she’d tripped Caius so he fell out of bound in the final five seconds of her fight… she’d had to run for her life to find Marcus before Caius killed her. He was so mad.

Marcus had found the entire thing hilarious.

~~~~~~UwU~~~~~~

Anna was sitting on the floor against some shelves in the library, reading a book and only looking up from where it rested in her lap occasionally to cast the obligatory I’m-your-guard-and-have-to-keep-an-eye-on-you glance at Marcus who was sitting in his usual chair by the fire a little ways away. Sometimes she sat in the chair across from him, sometimes she sat on the floor behind his chair and leaned against its back, and other times they both preferred a little distance from each other as they read in peace.

They were best friends and spent nearly all their time together, but they still both needed breathing room every now and again.

She was looking forward to tonight. Marcus and Aro had approved the night off for her and Renata so they could leave the castle and go on a date as long as they were both back by sunrise. Even now, almost ten years after her change, she knew that Aro and Marcus expected Renata to make sure she stayed in line.

Anna grinned down at her book, remembering the body glitter incident from last March and trying not to laugh at the memory of Caius losing his shit and Marcus’ and Aro’s absolute shock when they saw that every single inch of her skin was coated in dark pink body glitter as she stood in the sun in the town square.

The humans found her hilarious, and the sun's rays were not an issue because of all the glitter.

Marcus walloped her upside the head really hard once she was back inside. She’d only stayed out for fifteen minutes tops and was just trying to make the tourists who were there for the Saint Marcus Day festival laugh, but she was still put on probation for six months after that.

It was so worth it though. The guards got such a kick out of it and didn’t stop talking about it for a month.

Yeah… she wasn’t gonna pretend their concerns about her judgment were misplaced.

When she looked up from her book again she saw Marcus staring at her with a raised brow, obviously wondering what her smile was about, but she wasn’t able to answer before a set of steps she recognized entered the library.

Caius was clearly in a raging temper when he appeared beside Marcus, and it seemed as though her sire was angry with her by the withering look he sent her as he hissed to Marcus about making sure she was appropriately disciplined and blah blah blah.

Marcus was great at pretending as if everything Caius said was news to him.

Athenodora had come up to Anna and Marcus in the halls earlier that day and begged Anna with her hands folded in front of her to “Please for the love of god break that ugly ass vase that Caius insisted on putting on one of the art pedestals within the main hall to their room. She’d do anything - just please Anna, please.”

Marcus took a walk so he could plead his ignorance, and Anna had happily knocked that pedestal down and stepped on the shards of the baby shit green colored vase that were now all over the floor.

There was no way Caius would figure out from Marcus’ expression that he knew what had happened and had totally allowed it.

It wasn’t either of their fault that Caius had terrible taste. If the thing wasn’t so ugly Athenodora wouldn’t have begged her to break it in the first place.

“I swear to god! If you can’t keep her in line I’ll end her myself-”

“Yeah, sure, keep threatening that as if you don’t remember the whole reason she’s here in the first place is because you’re a baby.” Marcus said emotionlessly, staring down at his book and idly turning a page as if he didn’t notice Caius’ indignant splutter.

“What!? How dare-”

“You always blame Aro and me for whatever she gets up to. It’s not our fault you didn’t finish your food.”

Anna had to shove her fist into her mouth to keep from laughing.

“She was gross and slobbery and even you-”

“I would have eaten and left no crumbs.” Marcus said simply. “If she was getting a kick out of it I would have just let her enjoy her final moments without judgment.”

Anna slapped both hands over her mouth, holding her breath as she rocked with silent laughter.

“We don’t kink shame in this family Caius. It’s not our fault you’re pathetically vanilla.” Aro’s voice called from somewhere by the entrance, and Anna finally collapsed into a fit of very loud laughter. Tears would have been absolutely streaming down her face had she still been human - the evidence of their presence in her eyes were clouding her vision at that very moment. When had Aro gotten here? She had no idea but this was amazing.

“I am not-” Caius started to say only to be cut off by Marcus.

“I’m going to tell Athenodora to say “Fuck me daddy uwu” to you unironically in bed, and if you can’t keep it up we’ll all have undeniable proof that you’re a wuss.”

Anna was sure she died right then and there. Her soul must have truly left her body and ascended into the unknown at those words from Marcus’ mouth. She knew she was rubbing off on him over the years, but to this extent?

This was the most amazing moment of her life.

She wasn’t the only one laughing now. Some of the guards present in the library as well as Aro and his wife had joined in. She could barely hear Caius stomp out, her lungs feeling like they were burning because of how hard she’d nearly been screaming with laughter at Marcus’ truly impeccable timing and the absolutely bomb way he delivered that line without emoting at all. She couldn’t remember a time in her life when she was as happy as she was now.

She’d lived a good life while human, and the fact that the circumstances and path of her life had led her here to Volterra with a new and huge found family… she really couldn’t believe her luck.

Some of the happiest memories of her life came from these years as an immortal, one of the most vivid being when Master Aro and Marcus allowed her to take Renata to the NYC pride parade the previous year. She’d taken a picture there of her and her mate that was displayed proudly as her phone background (there was even a printed photo of it in a frame on the mantle of Marcus' rooms, which she still considered one of her greatest achievements).

It was a selfie she’d taken as she threw an arm around Renata’s neck and dragged her close, beaming at the camera while her mate smiled in the most genuine way, a rainbow flag proudly painted on her cheek and an adorable contrast to the bi-pride flag painted on her own.

She sat up on the floor, trying to control her giggling and breathing as she turned her head to gaze at Marcus, who she found was still sitting in his chair and beaming right back.

His answering smile - a smile she knew would have never been on his face had she not been here - was all she needed to be one hundred percent positive that putting up graffiti all over Volterra had been the best decision she’d ever made in her life.

Even if it was such a pain when the brothers made her go wash it all off.

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