Author's Note: Sexual activity occurs between two consenting adults in this chapter, this story is rated MA18+ and yadayadayada ;)

This chapter is heavy with sexual themes, mainly because I wanted to explore how vampire/human relationships can be complicated. Sex won't be such a main topic in coming chapters.

Chapter 23 – Sleep

Jane stared up at the underside of the bunk above her, her eyes following the patterns in the wood slats she had spent hours staring at every night for months.

She missed Volterra. She missed her home, she missed her room, she missed her books… but most of all she missed her brother Alec.

The room she was in now wasn't very large. It wasn't even half the size of her rooms back in Italy.

It was a long rectangular room with four sets of bunk beds against each of the left and right walls. The floor between them was spotless – as was protocol here – and the far wall held only one desk.

If you could even call it a desk, Jane thought bitterly glancing over at the small table that had only a notebook with half the pages ripped out and three pens – two of which didn't write well anyway.

There was no comfort in the lodgings for the new recruits, there were just the eight bunk beds and the small table that was a poor excuse for a desk. Under each bunk there were two trunks with each recruit's number painted on it, and all personal belongings stayed in the trunks at all times. There were no windows, the only light came from the florescent bulbs in the ceiling, and the only entrance was the heavy metal door with a speaker and a bell mounted above it.

No artwork was to be on the walls, no clothing on the floors, nothing was permitted to make this room feel like a home.

This bed – this stiff foam mattress on the bottom of the third bunk against the left wall – was all Jane had. For six hours a day she was permitted to be in these lodgings with the other vampires who hoped to join the Ushakov covens ranks or – for those who were high achievers – hoped to go on to train with the Volturi.

It was much like military housing Jane suspected... but she couldn't be very sure as she had never been in the military. But how stringent the rules were here and how individuality was wiped from each recruit upon arrival seemed to fit her mental picture of military life.

The bell above the door chimed three times and as if they had been shocked, all the other recruits leapt from their beds and stood at attention at the ends of their bunks.

Had the others been talking? Probably. Jane tuned everyone out most of the time. She hadn't even bothered to get to know any of the other recruits' names, even though they had all been here longer than she had.

The others had tried to talk to her in the beginning, but she had made it very clear that she wasn't some stupid wannabe. She was already one of the elites and being here was beneath her.

With a sigh Jane slid from her bed and walked slowly to the end of her bunk to stand next to her bunkmate. No one even glanced in her direction, they all stood straight and stared forward at nothing, waiting silently until-

BANG

The metal door fell forward into the room, hitting the floor with a crash that set everyone's teeth on edge.

When each recruit glanced down to look at it, they saw that hinges to the door were destroyed, and a large boot print showed plainly on the center of the thick metal.

Raphael stood in the doorway, two guards in red flanking him as he glared steadily into the room.

"Recruit Six," His low, deep voice echoed in the room, "Step forward."

Jane, who had learned very early that rolling her eyes and sighing irritably was the worst possible thing to do in this situation, stepped forward.

That was another thing about this place that Jane hated. They were referred to as "Recruit" or – if a specific one of them was being called out – they were referred to as Recruit followed by their bunk number. She was in bunk six, therefore she was Recruit Six.

It was harder for Jane to look up into Raphael's face than she would ever admit. Raphael had done a real number on her in the few months she had been here. She had had her tongue removed for three weeks when she first arrived for talking back, she had lost her hands for another two weeks for slapping an upper guard member – an upper guard meaning any of the Russian's coven's guards who wasn't currently in training, and she had been tortured for using her gift on another recruit two days after having her tongue removed.

Recruit One – the small boy she had tortured because she thought he looked at her funny, had only been screaming for a minute before upper guards broke it up.

Raphael had punished her. He said that for every second of pain she caused that boy she would earn an hour of pain in return.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't the same. What she did was way less bad than her torture by Raphael in retaliation. Her gift didn't hurt that much.

It was part of the reason Jane refused to have anything to do with the other recruits as well. They had all taken Recruit One's side – they had all been comforting him when Raphael dragged her from the room. It just wasn't fair.

"I just got off the phone with Aro." Raphael said, and though Jane tried to remain calm, she couldn't hide the little twitch she made at Aro's name.

Raphael's eyes glittered with malice, and Jane knew that whatever he was about to say, it was not good news for her, as a very very small part of her had dared to hope.

"Yes and won't you tell me why he says he received no letters to be given to little Castiel, even though I gave you thee letters to mail out?"

Jane bristled. Over the months she had been here, Raphael had gone out of his way to give her letters three sperate times, all meant to be mailed to that girl. To that stupid mortal girl that ruined everything. Jane knew he had given the task to her as a theoretical slap in the face – to constantly remind her why she was here.

But Jane had rebelled and she had not sent them.

Before she could blink, the two guards who had entered with Raphael grabbed her and threw her roughly to the ground at Raphael's feet.

Raphael said something to them, and just as Jane got to her hands and knees, she heard what was unmistakably the sound of her trunk being dragged out from under her bed.

"Hey!" She protested, the word coming out as a whine as the guards dumped all her belongings onto the floor.

A spare pair of standard issue black work boots fell near her hand and well as the two other sets of dark blue coveralls – the uniforms for all the new recruits that made them look more like janitors than soldiers.

Papers she had sketched on fluttered to the floor, two letters to Alec she had not gotten the privilege to send just yet disappeared under someone else's bunk, a few interestingly shaped rocks she had picked up and kept clattered when they hit the floor, and her toiletries were dumped carelessly from the trunk.

And just when it seemed everything had fallen out of the trunk; three heavy letters fell with a resounding flop to the floor at Raphael's feet.

The outer envelope was addressed to the secretary of the castle in Volterra, as procedure dictated, and inside the outer envelope the real letter was sealed inside an envelope with the name of the person the mail was intended for on the front.

All three letters outer envelopes were torn, as Jane had opened them to see who they were intended for when Raphael told her there was mail to be sent to Volterra. She had bitterly hidden each of them when she saw they were to Castiel.

"Imagine," Raphael said slowly, and Jane could hear the anger in his voice. "My surprise when I received no response from my favorite little mortal. I sent the first letter to inquire how she was feeling after you first came to us. I sent another three weeks after the first confused why she hadn't replied, and the other I sent no less than two weeks ago, for the first time truly curious why my friend was ignoring my letters."

Jane said nothing, she knew the dates each of these had been intended to be sent out – obviously, as they had been given to her – so this speech was meant for the other recruits' benefits. She didn't dare to look up at him, she didn't dare to fight. Fighting did her no good; he would overpower her. And if she used her gift on any of the inner coven she would be killed, that much had been made perfectly clear her very first day here.

"Explain." Raphael prompted after a long moment of silence, and Jane felt nothing but pure hate leech through her at the word. Her hate only becoming more fueled by the fact that she was on her hands and knees in front of this vampire.

"She ruined my life." Jane spat, noticing out of the corner of her eye as some of the other recruits shifted at her words.

"No." Raphael said calmly, "You ruined your life recruit. Everyone in this building knows what you have done. They all know you attacked a mortal girl who never raised a hand against you over nothing more than jealousy."

"You know nothing!" Jane snapped, glaring up at him for the first time.

Before she could make to struggle to her feet, she was grabbed by the two guards Raphael had bought with him. Her arms were bent painfully behind her back, her knees were forced back to the floor, and Raphael grabbed her jaw forcing her mouth closed.

"All of you are to watch," Raphael said, looking around at the other recruits, "-and see what happens when you willfully disobey orders. You cannot hope to be an upholder of the law when you create your own rules for yourself. You cannot hope to be one who maintains peace when you harm people unnecessarily, you cannot be fair when you believe that you are the greatest thing that has ever walked the earth."

Jane stilled – was he talking about her? Was he trying to say that she-

"You must respect each other. You must respect your fellow vampire. You must extend that same respect to mortals as well." Raphael looked around at each of the recruits, who were focused on him with rapt expressions.

Raphael's grip on her jaw tightened, and Jane felt extreme pain as her skin and jaw began to crack under his grip. She was going to be dismembered, and he was going to do it slowly.

Suddenly a loud ringing echoed around the room. Jane's eyes – which had shut with the pain – sprang open to see Raphael's eyebrows raised in surprise as he reached for his phone in his back pocket with his free hand.

He retrieved it, took one look at the screen, and slid his thumb across it to answer.

"Marcus!" He said jovially in greeting, as if he wasn't in the middle of something. Jane could feel the shock on her face and knew her mouth would have been gaping in surprise if her face wasn't currently being held by Raphael, when a voice that was very clearly not Marcus Volturi responded.

"Raphael?"

Raphael released Jane; his expression comically surprised as Castiel's voice came from the other end of the line.

"Little bird?" Raphael said in delighted surprise. His expression changed quickly to concern though as some unsaid thought occurred to him. "Is everything alright?"

Everyone in the room was still and silent as they listened for Castiel's response, including Jane.

"Yes- I mean no," Castiel corrected, sighing as if she were preparing herself for something unpleasant. "I mean… don't hurt Jane Raphael."

Raphael's sharp red eyes met Jane's, and he stared at her for a long moment before saying, "What-,"

"Don't." Castiel cut him off, "Just… don't. Please."

Castiel sounded so tired, every immortal in the room could hear the exhaustion in her voice and Jane found herself – for the briefest part of a second – wondering what was wrong with the girl.

And then she remembered she didn't care.

"How-," Raphael began again, not looking the least bit offended when she interrupted him again. All of those who knew Raphael would have been astounded at the way this mortal spoke to him – he only ever allowed his mate and her sister to be so free speaking with him. It seemed that his fondness for Castiel was much deeper than originally assumed.

"I saw. I've been keeping an eye out for a lot of things recently," Castiel sighed again, and Raphael understood that the exhaustion in her voice was not a representation of physical exhaustion.

"You watch out for Jane?" He asked, ignoring the recruits as they looked at one another.

Jane did her best to keep her face impassive but was unable to hide the emotions that were clear in her eyes. What was the meaning of all of this?

"No." Castiel said truthfully, "This is the first time I've seen anything of Jane – I don't know what changed."

There was silence from Raphael for another very long moment, and the silence was only broken by Castiel's voice from the other end of the phone.

"Please. I can't stand watching people be hurt, especially because of me."

Raphael's expression was blank when he responded, but everyone could hear the softness in his tone, "She does not deserve your kindness."

"I know," Castiel sighed

"I will call you later my friend," Raphael said, his sharp gaze roaming the room and causing all the recruits to straighten up and stop looking at one another. "We have much catching up to do."

Castiel gave a hum of agreement, and with a quick goodbye Raphael hung up the phone.

Raphael did not bother trying to hide his disgust when his eyes locked with Jane's again. It was impressive really that both guards holding her hadn't reacted in the slightest to any part of that phone exchange. Their expressions were stoic, and they held her firmly in place as they continued to wait for their master's orders.

"You do not deserve her mercy, and rest assured that if I were able to punish you without her seeing I would." He jerked his chin at the guards holding her, and they responded to the signal by roughly throwing her to her stomach on the ground again.

"I will never understand why she insists on protecting filth like you." Raphael spat, bending to pick up the three letters from the floor before leaving, his two guards following behind him.

Filth?

It was so quiet. Jane pushed herself up onto her hands and knees before sitting back on her heels. When she looked around briefly it was to see that most of the other recruits weren't looking at her, and those that were stared at her with the same expression of disgust as Raphael.

Was that what everyone thought of her? Did everyone think that she felt herself above the law? She was a Volturi Guard! The law was what they worked so hard to uphold, why would she try to break it? Yes, she attacked Master Marcus' mate but-

But…

Jane froze. For the very first time, she had not thought of Castiel as "the mortal" or "the human who ruined everything" she had thought of her as Master Marcus' mate.

The same person who had just called Raphael and told him not to hurt her.

"You ruined your life Jane." Raphael's words whispered through her mind, along with the echoes of "You don't deserve her mercy" and "Filth."

She was shaking now, staring down at her hands as the area behind her eyes stung. Her breath came out of her in weird choked gasps she did not understand.

It took her much longer than she would have believed for her to realize what the weird gasping was.

She was crying. For the first time in nearly a thousand years she was actually crying. It was not the same as the pleading cries she had made to Aro during her trail, it was not the same as the wailing she had done when she was escorted into the car to be taken to the airstrip to be bought to Russia.

This was crying that, if she were human, would have been accompanied by an unpleasant amount of tears and snot.

Jane shook her hair out around her face, wanting to hide from the stares of the others as she began crawling around on the floor, snatching up as many of her belongings into her arms as she could.

With her arms full of clothes, toiletries, and random bits of papers, Jane went over to where her trunk was kicked open and let the items fall from her arms into a messy pile inside it. She couldn't stop the embarrassing crying and stayed facing her trunk away from the others in hope that they would leave the room.

But no one left.

She heard a few of them moving around, and her gasping abruptly stopped when three pairs of hands came to drop items into her trunk. Someone had grabbed her shoes, another had grabbed the rest of her papers and her books, the last had picked up the scattered stones she had collected. Jane was so still, and by the time her shock wore off and she made to look around at just who had helped pick up her stuff, all the other recruits were gone – she was alone in the bunk room.

Glancing down at her watch Jane saw that it was two minutes past eleven, and that the other recruits had left for their leisure hour. At midnight they would all be expected to be at attention in this room again to be given the schedule for the day, but during the leisure hour they were free to roam the halls and the grounds as they pleased.

Slowly, Jane began organizing her belongings again, and she was only done folding her second set of coveralls when movement in the corner of her eye drew her attention.

A small female with short brown hair in a pixie cut was standing beside her, holding the two letters that were meant for Alec out to her. The knees to her dark blue coveralls were dirty, showing that she had gotten down on the floor to get them out from under the bed.

It was Jane's bunkmate – Recruit Five.

With exaggerated slowness Jane reached out and took the letters back, carefully tucking them beneath her clothes at the bottom of her trunk.

For reasons unknown to her, Jane stomach seemed to twist into a knot as she stared into the face of the bunkmate she had never even bothered to look in the eyes the whole time she had been here, and she quickly looked away, figuring it was her embarrassment and her shame.

"You know Jane." Recruit Five said quietly, her voice like a gentle ringing of bells, "If you tried to be a little nicer to people, you might actually have friends here."

Jane twitched as if her words had been a slap. Her instinct was to say something biting or cruel about the other recruits – but the words just wouldn't seem to form. She couldn't think of anything spiteful to say when her mind kept replaying the image of the sets of hands that had helped pick up her belongings. So she turned back Recruit Five, planning to tell her to fuck off and mind her own business, but the sight of her dirty knees bought back that feeling of uncomfortable burning behind her eyes and caused her words to die in her throat.

It was silent for a long moment, and Jane only felt more awkward with every passing second. She wanted Recruit Five to leave, to leave like everyone else so she could be alone with her self-pity.

But she didn't leave. Recruit Five instead choose to kneel down next to her, and carefully reached into Janes trunk and drew the papers and books back out, sorting through them quickly and stacking them into piles – one small pile for her three paperback books, another for her sketches, another for random notes she had written.

Jane stared at her for a long time, watching as she carefully smoothed out creases in bent pages, and kept her eyes averted from the words of poems that Jane had written – obviously trying to respect Jane's privacy.

Together it only took them five minutes to have her trunk neatly organized again, and before Jane could shut it and secure the latch Recruit Five told her to wait a moment and went over to their bunk, drawing her personal trunk out from underneath it and flipping it open, pulling out a small roll of scotch tape and an empty mason jar.

"Here" Five said, kneeling beside Jane on the ground again and holding out the jar, "You can place your rocks and anything else you might collect in here, and I saw you made some sketches of your coven, you can use the tape to tape them up."

Jane took the jar, but shook her head at the tape, "We can't tape anything on the walls here-,"

"Not on the walls," Five agreed, pointing to the inner lid of Jane's trunk. "There."

Jane stared at her, confused. Recruit Five rolled her eyes in response and reached into Jane's trunk – drawing out three sketches, one of Alec, one of Master Aro, and the last of Master's Aro, Caius, and Marcus in their thrones with Sulpicia and Athenadora at their husband's sides.

She began taping them to the inner lid of the trunk, and it was only when she was about to tape up the last photo of the inner family that Jane stopped her.

"Wait. Don't tape that one up yet… I'm not done with it."

Castiel pulled the phone away from her ear as the call ended. She was gripping the edge of Marcus desk in the main room – having awkwardly hopped across the room to get to it when she had her vision while lying down in bed – and it was with a groan that she crumpled to the floor with her knee aching something fierce.

She was able to put the barest amount of weight on it now, but she had her doubts that she would be able to make it back to the bed before Marcus found out she had gotten up. He had been very serious and all stern when he told her she better not get out of bed for any reason, and that she'd be in trouble with him if she did.

She found out she didn't always mind when he got all bossy like that… It was kind of hot to be completely honest.

Why had she gone out of her way to protect Jane? Why, after everything Jane had put her through, did she take it upon herself to defend someone who hated her guts?

All the lighthearted but still mostly serious statements Kemar and Caius always said about her being too nice for her own good swam through her mind, and Castiel felt that perhaps nice wasn't quite the right word for what she was. Spineless was probably more accurate.

Why was she like this? Why did she always have to feel so guilty about things that she really was not responsible for? Jane had been horrible to her, so why did she go out of where way to protect her?

Was it just because of the morals she grew up with? Do onto others as you would want done onto you? Maybe it was just because she was tired of watching so much violence in her head all the time. She had a weak stomach for gore and pain – it was very ironic that she was so intricately tied into a world where both things were so common.

She only sat on the ground for five more minutes until the door opened and Marcus entered.

He realized she was not in bed right away, and his head whipped around to find her on the floor.

"Castiel?" Marcus said in surprise, appearing beside her in a movement too quick for her to catch and kneeling so he was on her level. "What happened? What are you doing out of bed?"

She didn't answer right away, and Marcus eyes went from her face to his phone – which she was clutching in both of her hands resting on her lap.

"You left your phone on the desk," She sighed, "I needed to use it to call Raphael."

There was a very long, awkward pause, as Marcus considered this before asking "Why did you need Raphael?" as he slid his arms under her to lift her from the floor. He stayed silent as she mumbled her reasons, playing with his phone to avoid looking at him while he settled her back in bed. She was sure he'd hear from Raphael himself later, so she couldn't really make up a lie.

When she did finish talking Marcus sighed, his hand moving to tilt her chin so he could look at her face.

"Don't," He paused, pursing his lips momentarily as he thought of the most careful way he could phrase his words without upsetting her. "-interrupt Raphael in dealing with Jane again. She is not your concern, and it is not up to you to decide how Raphael handles her insolence."

Castiel could feel her face flush in response to his words. She knew he was right.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, staring at his chest rather than his face.

Marcus leaned down to kiss the top of her head, his and moving from her jaw to the back of her neck as he moved her head to rest against his chest. "I don't want you to be sorry. I just do not want you to be bothering with Jane at all. If it were up to me, I would have burned her the very day she attacked you. It would have been my right to have done so. We have already taken your feelings into account when we ruled not to destroy her – and that is as far as it goes. I will call Raphael later tonight and I will make sure he knows that Jane is to be handled however he sees fit and that you will ignore her from now on."

Nodding Castiel pulled back, feeling a little scolded but still agreeing with him. She was going to do her best to stop being so spineless from now on.

"I was only stopping by to check on you, I have to meet with Caius in a few minutes to discuss the plan for Forks," Marcus ran his fingertips across her cheek, "Do not leave bed again. If you do, you'll be in trouble with me," he teased, repeating his words from earlier and smiling back at her when she grinned at him.

"Is that a threat?" She said playfully, and Marcus felt his body responding to her as many possibilities ran through his head.

"Don't temp me," he said lowly, leaning down to kiss her.

Marcus left after that, but not before bringing her the laptop he had gotten her from the spare bedroom. She was supposed to video chat with her father soon – but Castiel wasn't all that optimistic that it was going to happen.

There were nearly half a dozen calls she had sat at the computer and waited around for since her father left for Denali, and every time he never called her. She'd receive an instant message usually an hour or so after the time he was supposed to call where her dad would apologize and say he was busy, and that they'd talk next time.

Castiel couldn't help but worry her father was angry with her. Why else would he be avoiding her like this? It's not like he would have any control issues over webcam, and he couldn't possibly think she saw him differently now that he wasn't human.

She couldn't help but think this had something to do with Marcus, though Marcus seemed honestly surprised each time he found out her father flaked on her again.

The night that her father had found out about Marcus, and Marcus had gone to meet him, Castiel had waited for her mate to return in a state of such high anxiety she couldn't sit still for even a second much to the amusement of Afton and Kemar who were waiting with her.

When Marcus did return, she did not feel as relieved as she thought she would have because the look on his face was not something she was about to forget anytime soon.

He had barked at Kemar and Afton to leave, and the guards hardly had time to shut the door behind them before Marcus was on her, pulling her to him and burying his face in her hair.

She was alarmed and asked him what was wrong while trying vainly to free her arms which were pinned to her sides because of the way Marcus was holding her. But Marcus didn't answer right away, he just stood there breathing deeply as if he was trying to remain calm.

Marcus felt in those moments as Castiel reached out to him through the bond, he could feel her side of their connection gently tasting for his emotions. He was mildly impressed, surprised that she was managing to influence the bond on her own and that she was using the connection to try and find out the answer to the questions he wasn't answering.

If she did get a feel of his emotions in their undiluted state, the capacity of them would be too much for her, so he shut her down. He was much more experienced with bonds than anyone else in the world, and he was one of the oldest of their kind, so it was easy for him to block her and to calm himself and to relay that calm though the bond.

Feeling the warmth of their connection and the heat of her body as her heart thudded against him was very soothing to him in his current state. He wanted to take her to bed, wanted to lose himself in her and be reassured in her vitality.

But he couldn't do that. He knew that she was sore and that he needed to be careful of her freshly marked neck.

They stood there for a long time, only moving to the couch when Marcus felt Castiel beginning to slump against him because she was feeling tired.

And Castiel never did find out the reason for Marcus' expression that night. He wouldn't tell her what had happened when they confronted each other. He said they hadn't fought – and she did believe him if only in the physical sense of fighting. Words had been exchanged, and probably not very friendly ones, because what could have been said that would have caused that expression on Marcus face?

It was a cocktail of hatred and shock and pain all mixed together and it still bothered her remember that face and to know that she never found out the reason for it.

She suspected her dad was the aggressor and that maybe this was why he was avoiding her, because he was waiting for her to interrogate him about it when they did talk again.

But that didn't feel right either. She didn't have that kind of relationship with her dad. She wasn't overly confrontational and she didn't have many – if any – moments growing up where she grilled her father for information. No something else was going on here, if only she could figure out what-

A notification popping up on her laptop caught her attention, and she realized she must have been staring off into space for a little while as she was thinking.

Won't be able to make it on tonight. We'll talk next time. Promise.

Castiel scowled as she read the words, the previous messages showing in their thread all saying about the same thing, but with her responses of "Okay." "What's going on?" and "Is everything okay?" sprinkled in.

Her dad never bothered to reply to any of her queries. It seemed he only ever logged on for long enough to cancel their video chat. Even now his status bubble showed as Offline.

Shutting the laptop with a bit more force than necessary Castiel pushed the computer away from her on the bed. She lay back and threw her arms over her face, shutting her eyes and wishing that her father wasn't blind to her. Wanting to see him and to understand why he wasn't speaking to her.

She was starting to fall into a doze when a knock on the door caught her attention, pushing herself up to her elbows she called for the person to enter and heard the door open and shut.

There was a pause, before Trent said "Cas?" in a confused tone.

"Over here!"

Creeping furtherer into the room Trent saw her sitting up in the bed in the nook in the wall. He didn't seem surprised at all by how her leg was propped up when he came to sit beside her, and Castiel felt her lips turn up at the corners when she saw that for the first time in weeks her best friend looked excited.

"How's your knee?" Trent asked before Castiel could speak, "I heard that girl Bella caused you to get hurt while you were in the gymnasium."

She shrugged, "It was an accident, my knee is just a little sore at the moment and can't bear a lot of weight. It should be okay by tomorrow."

Trent laughed, "Oh I'm sure it was an accident. Renata told me Bella Swan can't walk through an empty parking lot without finding a dozen things to fall over."

Castiel smiled at him but felt as if her stomach seemed to ball up at Renata's name.

Renata was one of the only vampires Trent bothered to talk to here, and Castiel knew this was because Renata was trying very hard to seem approachable to her best friend. Not that Trent minded of course, Renata was gorgeous, and she was certainly showing him a bit more friendly attention than necessary.

But Castiel had been leaving that relationship well enough alone. Of course, she knew from the beginning that Trent and Renata weren't mates or anything – it would have been found out really quickly if that had been the case – but they were both more than allowed to form whatever err… relationship the two of them saw fit. Castiel hadn't wanted to get in the way of that, on more than one occasion before Trent arrived she had gotten the impression that Renata was lonely.

But now she felt very guilty that she hadn't tried to stop it, because once Trent got to Forks whatever was budding between him and Renata was history.

It was times like this that Castiel really respected how Marcus handled his gift. She couldn't imagine being privy to all the drama that came with relationships all the time and trying not to interfere to avoid anyone's feelings getting hurt.

Marcus told her that occasionally a guard would come to him with the desire to understand their relationship with another person and she had wondered aloud if this bothered him at all, to have his subordinates flock to his door to ask for relationship advice, but he said it didn't. Guards usually only came to him with questions like that when they had reached a point of true desperation or pain, so Marcus never got frustrated when they would ask for help.

And while Marcus was willing to give advice, he would never tell someone the specifics behind their bonds because in the grand scheme of things bonds were private. Even if a bond was souring on one end Marcus didn't see it as his right to inform the other person of this. It was much like Aro's stance on keeping your thought to himself unless in extreme circumstances.

And Renata was going to be hurt by this, how badly Castiel couldn't be sure, but she knew it was only a matter of time before it was Renata knocking on her door and asking questions about Trent's feelings.

It wouldn't even be the first time a girl knocked on her door to ask about how Trent felt. It had happened nearly half a dozen times with girls Trent had talked to in the past. Two of the girls had been pretty confrontational and jealous when they came to see if Trent was home, wanting to know why Trent was being distant and "What exactly is his relationship with you?". The other three hadn't been so aggressive, knowing that Castiel and Trent were more like siblings than anything else, but they had quickly dissolved into tears when Castiel couldn't immediately answer their questions about how Trent felt about them and "If she though he thought their relationship was serious or not."

After that fifth girl Castiel had put her foot down when Trent came home from work and told him that she was not going to keep comforting girls on the couch in their living room while Trent picked up an extra shift to avoid confrontation and she spent $30 on ice cream that the girls would eat through in one sitting.

Because she had watched one girl eat five pints of ben and jerry's in 45 minutes, and Castiel had been a little bit in awe of the fact that the girl didn't hurl.

Castiel had told Trent that day that it didn't matter if he wanted to party and have one-night stands or just find fuckbuddies, but he had to be forthcoming with these girls about his intentions. There were plenty of guys and girls alike who just wanted to have fun without commitments and he needed to stop stringing along the girls who wanted something more.

She remembered how embarrassed Trent had been that night when she had scolded him, and while his number of hookups didn't necessarily go down, girls no longer showed up at their doorstep interrogating Castiel about Trent's feelings.

Trent had commented once that he didn't know where he'd be without her, and she had jokingly said he would have had chlamydia twice and gotten herpes.

Trent's expression after she said that had been laughable, and he was shook by the fact the he remembered the time Castiel passed him to enter the house as he left to go meet some friends, and shoved a box of condoms in his hand as he went, and then another few occasions of him finding condoms on his dresser when he didn't think he had any left.

He asked if she was serious when she said that, and Castiel just smirked at him and didn't answer.

And so he became a very firm believer of wrap it before you tap it since he really didn't want to take any chances.

"Did you hear?" Trent continued, looking pleased and completely unaware of where Castiel's mind had wandered. "They're sending me to Forks. Apparently, they need me to talk to some pack of werewolves or something."

Castiel raised an eyebrow, "You don't sound very nervous about that."

"Well Aro said they're just people who can willfully shift into wolves and that their whole existence is to protect humans from vampires so…" He trailed off, shrugging.

"And you don't like vampires so obviously this is better." Castiel laughed, shaking her head.

"Hey now I don't hate vampires or anything," Trent defended, raising his hands. "I mean, dad is a vampire too now. I'm just… wary of them."

"You mean scared." Castiel grinned, laughing harder as Trent grabbed one of the pillows by her to smack her around the head with it.

"Anyway," Trent said, dropping the pillow on the floor once she was out of breath from giggling at him, "I wasn't passing up the opportunity to blow this joint for a week or so, even if it means acting as messenger boy."

"That's what I thought you'd say," Castiel agreed, and Trent's expression went from curious to understanding at her words.

"Ohhhh, this was your idea." Trent said nodding to himself, "Now that makes sense. I don't see why they couldn't just have you tell me instead of Aro."

Castiel shrugged, brushing her hair back out of her face with one hand. "Everyone's been keeping me pretty busy. I mean-," but she stopped talking abruptly when Trent shot to his feet, one of his hands reaching out to catch her wrist as she lowered her hand from her hair.

"Trent what-,"

"What's that?" he interrupted, staring at her neck with a look of such shock it might have been funny if she wasn't so alarmed. With his free hand he grabbed the collar to her shirt to tug it aside slightly to look more closely, and Castiel realized what he was looking at.

And all at once, Castiel went from confused to monumentally embarrassed.

Pulling her wrist free, she pried his hand off of her shirt and did her best to keep her expression neutral. She knew her cheeks hadn't flushed with heat, but her ears certainly felt as if they were on fire – which was enough of an indicator to anyone who knew her well enough that she was heartily embarrassed.

"It's nothing-,"

But Trent wasn't having any of it. "Did Kemar do that to you? I heard him yell the other day I saw the blood on his hand-,"

Castiel's eyes widened at the question, and when she realized that Trent was asking if Kemar had giving her the mating bite, the bond that tied her to Marcus seemed to burn.

It was only for a split second, but it didn't stop her from going "ouch!" loud enough for Trent to hear.

They stared at each other; Trent trying to figure out what had hurt her, glancing down to check that he hadn't accidentally nudged her injured knee or anything, and Castiel realizing that even just thinking about the implication of another vampire giving her a mating bite was enough to make the bond react.

Ugh. Bonds were so complicated.

"No," Castiel coughed, "Kemar didn't do this. Just drop it Trent."

"Like hell I'm gonna drop it!" Trent said, standing, "If they're hurting you-,"

"It was consensual-," Castiel said through gritted teeth, feeling how hot her face was becoming, "Stop it Trent."

At her words her friend paused, taking one look at her mortified face and realizing the implication of her words.

"Oh!" Trent was blushing too. "Oh… Wow. That's…"

After a long pause, Trent took a deep breath in and continued without pause in a mock-professors voice as if he were giving a lecture, "Well as long as you remember to use your safe words and always wear a condom-,"

Castile threw the pillow behind her back at him, and he busted out into laughter as he dodged to avoid it, "Hey now, I'm not here to kink shame-,"

"Dude shut up!"

BREAK

The activity in the castle seemed to be at an all time high. Guards zipped past Castiel and Afton as they wandered the halls. Everyone was prepping for Caius and the guards he was bringing to depart for Forks, and guard rotation and schedules were being shifted for this reason. Vampires were flashing about looking for their friends to see who shared shifts, some were searching for items at Caius' request, and the few who were going were tying up any loose ends in their own personal lives so they wouldn't have anything to worry about while away.

Afton and Castiel were discussing a PC game he liked to play called Terraria, and Castiel was debating on asking Marcus if they could set her up with a gaming PC – which would mean she would either need her own desk in his private office or they'd have to make room for a desk in the spare bedroom – when Edward and Bella entered the hall they were in from a side door. Castiel knew it was because they had probably gotten lost trying to find their way to the main hall where everyone going to Forks would be meeting soon.

"Oh, Hi Bella!" Castiel said cheerfully waving to get their attention and smiling at the other girl while Edward and Afton sized each other up. "If you guys are looking to get to the main hall Afton and I can show you the way. We can take some of the upper corridors since they'll be warmer."

Castiel only added the last bit when she took in Bella's clothes, simple blue jeans and a t-shirt with what was clearly Edwards jacket wrapped around her shoulders. It was warmer in Italy now; she didn't even wear a cloak when she walked through the halls anymore since she felt warm enough without it, but walking through some of the lower floors was destined to be chilly.

"Yeah," Bella agreed, smiling timidly back at her. Castiel was looking just as casual as she was – wearing a close-fitting black t-shirt and a pair of grey sweatpants and sneakers. She was glad that she didn't feel underdressed. Most of the Volturi guards wore clothes that wouldn't stand out on the streets if they removed their cloaks, but Bella still couldn't help but feel out of place among them – and it certainly didn't help that the night before Alice had been interrogating her on the clothes she had bought from forks. "Does your knee feel better?"

"Yeah its fine," Castiel shrugged, "I only limp a little after going up and down stairs. The bruise is pretty gnarly though – want to see?"

She bent as if to pull her pant leg up to show Bella, but Afton's laugh and Bella's quick "No I'm good" made her stop.

"Oh," She said straightening up again, motioning to Afton, "Bella, this is Afton,"

Bella and Afton moved toward each other as if they were going to shake hands, but Edward adjusted himself so he was in front of Bella, pushing her away from Afton and angling his body as if to block Castiel's guard's approach.

Afton raised his eyebrows at Edward and lowered his hand while Castiel and Bella shared a look that very clearly said "Well this is awkward".

"Err, well," Castiel hesitated, looking back and forth from where Afton and Edward were staring on another down before looking back at Bella, "Let's go this way."

She motioned with her chin to head further down the hall in the direction she and Afton were originally heading. Without even thinking about it, Bella slid out of Edwards grasp to walk alongside Castiel as the other girl made her way around Afton and Edward.

Both of the vampires paused in surprise as the two human girls walked away from the two of them before hurrying to follow.

Afton stayed close behind Castiel but didn't wedge himself between her and Bella as Edward seemed to want to. Afton didn't like the was Edward kept staring at Castiel. He knew the mind reader was very invasively cataloging each and every thought that passed through Castiel's head as she talked to Bella, and he also took note of how Edward seemed to keep changing the way his body was aligned as he walked beside Bella. As though he longed to pull his human mate away from Castiel as if she were poisonous.

Someone really needed to interrogate Edward to find out what his deal was. Afton had been under the impression that Carlisle Cullen was going to handle his coven before they all left for Forks, but it seems that was wishful thinking.

The path to the main hall was an adventure for sure. The vampires listened silently as Bella told Castiel about her life back in Forks and her father Charlie. Edward made a face when Bella started talking about her mother and her husband Phil, clearly displeased at how much information the Bella was sharing with the other girl. They had to slow whenever they came to sets of stairs, because it took Castiel a long time to ascend and descend them do to her sore knee. Once they went down the last set of stairs they'd need to take, Castiel pulled a hair tie off her wrist to put her hair into a ponytail, seeming out of breath at the effort.

"Would you like to take a break?" Afton asked, knowing better than to suggest carrying her since Castiel would always say no if it was anyone but Marcus.

She rolled her eyes "I'm fine Afton, you try hopping up and down the stairs on basically one leg and see if you don't get winded."

Afton raised his brows at her in mock offense. "I can and I will assure you that I most certainly won't get winded."

Castiel smacked his arm, trying not to smile and failing, "Oh haha, I'm a vampire and I don't know what physical exhaustion feels like ooooo I'm so perfect." She mocked, laughing when Afton made as if he were going to put her into a headlock and she danced out of his way.

Neither of them even noticed Bella and Edward staring at them, and the only thing that drew their attention was Bella's gasp of surprise as she spied one half of what was definitely a double crescent bite mark on Castiel's neck – the other half being slightly hidden by her shirt.

Bella hadn't noticed it at first because Castiel's hair was down, and she was trying to figure out how she hadn't noticed it in the gymnasium the previous night.

"What?" Castiel asked, looking concerned and not noticing Afton as he stepped closer to her and looked around the hall for what might have alarmed Bella.

"I – your neck." Bella said, pointing to her own throat to show Castiel where she was referring to, "You have a mark just like mine."

Raising her arm Bella turned her wrist toward Castiel, showing her James' bite mark.

Castiel didn't react right away, only squinting as she tried to see what Bella was showing her before reaching into her pocket to pull out her glasses. It really was impressive she hadn't broken them yet considering she never put them in a case.

Even with the glasses on it took Castiel a second to see the mark on Bella's wrist since the girl was just naturally so pale. Castiel was pale too, but she had freckles and her skin just naturally had a pink undertone, so she didn't appear so.

"Oh," Castiel tilted her head curiously as she looked at the mark, before looking over Bella's head to Edward. "I thought vampires usually marked on the neck?"

She said it was if it was a question, not understanding why the concept of being marked had surprised Bella so much considering she had a mark of her own. It was more bemusing to her than anything else to have another person reacting like Trent had the night before. None of the vampires acknowledged it, no one had said anything about her mark even when she had bruising around it. It made her feel kind of shy that so much attention was being called to it all of the sudden.

Edward made a derisive sound in his throat at the question. "I wouldn't do something like that to her. I don't need to mark my mate like a savage."

Bella's head whipped around to stare at Edward in shock, Castiel looked as if Edward had struck her, and Afton bared his teeth, allowing a growl to sound from his chest.

"Apologize," Afton snapped, "There was no need for that."

Afton kept his teeth showing as Edward stared stonily back, and Bella looked between them in surprise before locking eyes with Castiel.

"I don't understand," Bella said slowly, ignoring both of the vampires as they glared at each other, "Edward didn't do this, James did."

This seemed to register with Castiel, who looked confused as she said, "James as in the deceased mate of Victoria?"

Bella nodded, "Yes, this was from when he bit me in the ballet studio. Edward sucked the venom out."

And it was at that moment that Castiel realized she had misunderstood, and that Bella probably had no idea about vampires giving their partners mating bites. She couldn't understand why Edward didn't mark Bella, but figured he probably had his reasons and was only reacting this way because he was embarrassed that she bought it up when Bella didn't know.

Yeah that had to be it.

"I'm sorry," Castiel said, inclining her head toward Edward, "I wasn't trying to offend you or anything-,"

"Don't apologize to him." Afton interrupted, laying a hand on Castiel's shoulder. He had tamed his expression into something much less easy to read, and his voice was monotone as he spoke. "You didn't say anything offensive, and I can assure you he certainly meant to offend you."

"What-," Bella started, sure she looked as confused as she felt before Edward interrupted her, his gaze fixed on Castiel.

"Some vampires," He explained to Bella, his tone incredibly condescending as he inclined his head toward Castiel and Afton. "Feel the need to bite and scar their mates like a dog pissing on a fire hydrant to mark his territory. So forgive me for respecting my mate enough to not do something so disgusting to her."

"Disgusting?" Afton snapped, moving in front of Castiel as he took a dangerous step toward Edward. "All of our kind mark our mates you piece of shit. Are you really going to pretend that you don't notice the marks on your own family? And stop acting like it's so one sided-,"

Afton pulled aside to collar of his shirt as he spoke, showing Edward the mark Chelsea had given him on his own neck. Bella couldn't see it herself, but she was sure it was much like the scars all up and down Jaspers arms – invisible to humans in normal lighting, but directly under a lamp when one was paying attention it would be visible enough.

"That's not true," Edward spat, he and Afton now barely a foot apart. "I've seen a few couples here with only one marked partner."

Bella started. Edward had just said "some vampires mark their mates" in a tone implying it was uncommon, but here he was contradicting that by talking about the mated pairs he had seen in the castle. It also didn't escape her notice how Edward didn't comment on what Afton had said about his family and danced around the question instead.

Afton scoffed "Yeah, because you know full well vampires can't scar their sires. I don't think I'd be wrong in guessing the few couples you spotted probably had one as the sire of the other."

Edward didn't say anything, and Afton didn't notice Castiel looking at him curiously. She hadn't known that a vampire couldn't scar their sire, and for the first time Castiel considered the meaning behind that.

It meant that once she was changed, she wouldn't be able to mark Marcus back.

Not that she had ever considered marking her mate, she really didn't have any desire to. But that was probably because she was human.

"I'm sorry," Edward said rigidly, jerking his chin in Castiel's direction, "I forgot that it must seem a necessity to vampires like you to mark your mates. Need to make sure you know who belongs to who when your done passing them around."

The filthy look he gave Castiel at that moment was enough that even without the implication in his words, it was clear what he thought of her.

Bella gasped; she just couldn't help it. She'd never heard Edward – who she viewed as the embodiment of a gentlemen – talk to anyone like that, especially a girl who hadn't done anything to him.

Neither of the girls saw Afton move, but one moment Edward was in front of Bella, then in another he was slammed against the opposite wall, thrown back by the force of the kick Afton had made to his chest.

Bella yelped in shock and made to move toward him, but it was Castiel's bark of "Bella, stay there!" that kept her from moving as Edward flung himself at Afton.

The hall was full of snarls and bangs for about five seconds, Afton and Edward a blur as they tussled with one another, before Afton had Edward on his stomach on the ground, his knee between his shoulder blades and a firm grip on the back of his neck.

"Apologize," Afton snarled, roughly jerking Edwards head to the side so his face was turned toward Castiel.

"That's enough!"

Aro's voice startled Castiel and Bella enough that they both jumped as they turned to see Aro, Marcus, and Carlisle all entering the hall from the direction the group had been originally heading.

"Isabella, Castiel," Aro said calmly, raising his hand and motioning for them to come toward him. The both did without pausing to think about it, Bella carefully skirting around Afton and Edward in the middle of the floor.

"Are the two of you alright?" Aro continued, ignoring Marcus as he made his way toward Edward, the look on his face murderous.

Castiel said she was fine as Bella turned to watch Marcus in concern, worried for Edward since it was obvious that the kings had heard what he had said about Castiel and what he had implied.

"Isabella?" Aro asked and Bella turned to him, alarmed.

"What?"

Aro raised his eyebrows, "Are you alright? You weren't hit when the two of them started fighting were you?"

Bella was confused why he was asking, not realizing that the hesitation before her responses were making the raven-haired leader more convinced by the second that she may have suffered some sort of head injury.

When she didn't respond right away, Aro asked Castiel lowly if Bella had hit her head, to which the other girl shrugged.

Bella still didn't move when Aro reached toward her suddenly, feeling gently around the back of her skull as if looking for a bump.

"I think she's okay Aro," Castiel said, putting her hand on Aro's outstretched arm to make him lower it. "I think she's just a little shocked."

More people were entering the hall now to see what the fuss was about, Esme, Alice and Kemar among them.

"Kemar," Aro said inclining his head to the guard before motioning with his chin to Castiel and Bella. "Please take Castiel and Isabella back to their rooms. The rest of you-," Aro raised his voice and his brows as he turned to look at the eight guards who had wandered over to see the drama. "Make yourself scarce. If I see any one of you the next time I turn around you'll be on probation for a month."

All of the guards who followed Kemar, Alice, and Esme in vanished in literally the blink of an eye. Castiel made a face as Kemar came to stand with her and Bella, poking her between the shoulder blades with his index finger to tell her to get moving.

"I thought you were off today?" Castiel asked, stepping away from her guard's prodding and taking Bella's hand to drag her along. She wasn't about to argue with Marcus and Aro about staying put when the two of them looked so pissed.

Kemar rolled his eyes, "You say that as if there has ever been a time I could leave you alone for even a minute without you getting into trouble."

Castiel ignored the remark, feeling the tension lighten considerably once the entered a different hallway and the other group was out of sight. Bella didn't say anything, and she didn't try to tug her hand free of Castiel's as Kemar continued.

"Besides, I never truly have a day off. When I'm not scheduled to guard you I am always on call. If I had any say about it Afton and I would guard you jointly 24/7, but Aro seems to think that would make you feel smothered if you didn't have a couple of occasions a week where you only had one guard."

"Because it would," Castiel said darkly, missing Kemar's smirk at her words.

In the end, Bella and Castiel found themselves lying on the opposite ends of Marcus' largest couch, their legs entwined as the both stared at the TV, which was playing some sitcom neither of them was paying attention to.

"Castiel?" Bella said tentatively, rousing the other girl as she had somehow been managing to doze off in barely 5 minutes of silence. It made Bella think of Jacob, which almost made her smile.

"Wassup?" Castiel mumbled, yawning as she pushed herself up on her elbows to look at Bella.

"I'm… really sorry about what Edward said. He's usually so gentlemanly… I don't know what's gotten into him these last few days."

Castiel waved of Bella words, "It isn't a big deal Bells. Edward is probably just acting like a prat because he feels like he lost control in his life. We always knew it wouldn't be easy for Edward to ask for or accept our help. His reactions haven't really surprised anyone if I'm completely honest."

"Still though!" Bella said a little more adamantly, sitting up, "That doesn't make it okay for him to call you a-… well you know."

Castiel snorted, "Bella it's not the first time and immortal has implied I'm some kind of whore. It seems to be the best insult they can come up with for a human girl dating one of their kind. Let me know when someone comes up with something a little more original – then I'll be impressed."

"Doesn't… doesn't it bother you to have people talk to you like that?" Bella asked, confused. Castiel sat up too now, sighing as she thought about the question.

"No… I can't honestly say it does. It offended me the first time I heard it, but I'm kind of over it now. It's kind of hard to be offended by someone calling you a whore when the only person you had any type of physical relationship with your whole life is your mate. Marcus is the only guy I have ever had sex with, and I'm pretty sure that is the opposite of a whore."

Bella froze. Castiel watched her curiously before Bella burst out, "What a second! You and Marcus have sex?"

Castiel blinked, looking very confused at Bella's sudden exclamation. "Well… Yeah?"

Bella hopped to her feet, literally stomping one of her feet on the ground as she did so. "Are you serious! All this time I was told vampires can't – oh where's the justice!"

"Bella what the hell!?" Castiel said, standing and grabbing the other girl by the shoulders, "What's going on? Did you actually hit your head on the wall or something when Afton and Edward were fighting? Or…"

She trailed off, and Bella began looking a little sheepish as her brain caught up with her outburst.

"I-I'm sorry." Bella sighed sitting back down on the couch and looking at her hands. "It's just… Edward told me that vampires couldn't… do that with mortals. He said it wasn't possible for a vampire to have sex with a human without killing them."

"But that's obviously not true," Bella said, looking up at Castiel who was still standing in front of her, the hurt in her eyes very plain for Castiel to see, "And now there's this – this mating… marking… thing that I didn't know anything about. And it doesn't seem like Edward will do that with me either."

"Bella," Castiel said gently, sitting beside her on the couch and putting and arm around her shoulders. "I'm sure it's not like that. It isn't a lie that some vampires truly can't sleep with mortals without injuring them, it's all a matter of experience and self-control. Marcus had been with plenty of others before me – I'm not sure how many, if any were human – but he was confident that he wouldn't harm me if we pursued a physical relationship before I was changed. Edward probably just had a bad experience at some point and just doesn't want to repeat it with you because he cares about you-,"

"He doesn't" Bella interrupted, shaking her head, "He doesn't have any experiences like that. I'm the first person he's ever kissed, he told me that he doesn't want to…" She trailed off, when she looked over at Castiel she was surprised to see not just the sympathy, but comprehension on her face as well. "What?"

"I mean, that explains it doesn't it Bella?" Castiel said reasonably, "He doesn't know what sex even feels like, I'm sure he's not confident that he won't hurt you if he's not prepared for how it feels when-," She made a circle with two of her fingers and poked the index finger of her other hand through it to mime penetration, and the sight of her doing that caused Bella to burst out into a fit of laughter.

Castiel laughed too, waiting for Bella to calm down before continuing, "Don't take it too personally Bells. I'm sure it has nothing to do with how much he wants you or anything like that. It's just because he doesn't want to hurt you. Marcus said vegetarians have a harder time with control than human-drinking vampires, that probably adds to the struggle."

Bella nodded, thinking carefully about her next question before saying "Cas… Can you tell me about marking?"

Castiel raised her eyebrows, "You mean mating bites? I mean sure, but I don't know everything about it. Some of the stuff Afton said today was a surprise to me too."

"Just want you do know then," Bella prodded, and Castiel rolled her eyes at her pushiness.

"Well, it's kind of straightforward I guess," Castiel said, her brows furrowing as she thought, "If a vampire finds their mate, and if they chose to pursue a relationship, as that relationship grows and becomes more serious they can choose to consummate their bond and mark each other as their mate permanently. Originally, I thought only one person in the pair marked the other – not always the male but usually the more… aggressive partner – but what Afton said today implies that both parts of a mated pair mark each other. I've seen both Dora's and Sulpicia's marks, but I haven't seen any on Aro or Caius. But if what Afton said about vampires being unable to scar their sires that would make sense, since Aro sired Sulpicia and Caius sired Dora."

"We should really just ask Marcus when we see him," Castiel shook her head, "I'm sure he can explain it better than I can."

"Why do you think vampires can't bite and scar the vampire that sired them?" Bella asked, and the question surprised Castiel – she hadn't had anyone ask her opinion on how she thought the biology of vampires worked before.

"I dunno," Castiel shrugged, "I guess because a sire's venom is what creates the newborn in the first place. Maybe when a new vampire is created their venom holds some of the same makeup of their sire's or something. Like, vampires can bite themselves and use their own venom to reattach their limbs without scarring, maybe evolution made it so when vampires increase their species they don't get all scarred and mangled by the newborns they created, since newborns are said to be hard to control at the best of times and probably bite a lot."

Bella nodded, and it was quiet for a few minutes before Bella said. "Marcus was married before, right?"

"Mhm," Castiel hummed, not sure where Bella was going with this before-, "I mean, he must already be marked then right?"

Castiel paused. That's right... Marcus was mated before and she knew that Aro was Didyme's and sire not Marcus, so she would have been able to mark him... right?

But Castiel had never seen any type of scaring on Marcus neck. She knew he had some bite scars on various parts of his body – he actually had a pretty good lattice of scars across his back – but she was almost completely positive he didn't have a mating bite. Unless one of the other bites on his body was from Didyme… but it seemed kind of weird that she wouldn't put it on his neck.

"I don't… think so." Castiel said uncertainly, thinking hard. "I'm 99% positive he doesn't have any marks on his neck. I know they aren't usually visible to humans, but I've been close enough to see other scars on him. I'll have to ask him."

She shrugged, and Bella couldn't believe how nonchalant she was being about the fact that her mate might already be marked by someone else. Not to mention that she was just planning to ask him. Shouldn't she try to be a little more…discrete about it?

"Doesn't… doesn't it bother you?" Bella asked, truly stunned when Castiel turned to look at her, surprised.

"No, why would it?"

"I mean he's… he's your mate."

"...yeah?"

"And it doesn't bother you that another vampire already marked him is theirs?"

Castiel's expression was so open an honest that when she answered, "No, not really." that Bella had no choice but to believe her.

"I'm sorry, but how doesn't it bother you?" Bella asked, hoping she wasn't upsetting Castiel in any way with her pushing, "I mean if it were Edward…"

Castiel reached over and patted Bella's hand, "I'm not really the jealous type Bells. Marcus has always been very forthcoming and honest with me about his relationship with Didyme. I've never felt threatened by what he had with her. She was very important to him and he loved her very much, but I've never once felt like I was her replacement and no one here every treated me as if I'm just the new Didyme. I respect what he had with her and how much he loved and still loves her and if I'm honest-," Castiel's expression softened, "I think part of me loves her too, even if I never knew her. She was good to him and bought him so much happiness thousands of years before I was even born. I appreciate her for that."

"Wow." Was all Bella could say. She couldn't believe that people believed that she was selfless when sitting next to someone like Castiel.

Bella was glad they were friends, and hearing Castiel talk like this made her feel a little angry about how Edward had been talking about her earlier.

Speaking of Edward…

"Err Cas? Do you think Edward is alright?"

The nervousness must have been obvious in her voice, because Castile's expression was sympathetic again as she turned to her, "Yeah I think so, I'm sure Marcus and Aro will just pass him off to Carlisle. Did you want me to check?"

Bella was confused by the question for a second before she remembered that Castiel was psychic.

"Could you?" she asked sheepishly, "You don't have to if it's-,"

Castiel laughed and waved her concerns off again, and Bella watched as her pupils dilated as she watched something far away. Her head moved the slightest bit a couple of times over the next minute, as if she were turning to listen to or looking at someone before she came to again.

"He's fine. Marcus is giving him an earful, but he isn't hurt."

Bella breathed a sigh of relief, and the two of them spread out on the couch again to resume watching TV. This time they were a little more invested in it though, so they ended up finding a horror movie on Netflix called The Ritual to watch as they waited for someone to collect them.

Castiel fell asleep in the first thirty minutes of the movie and Bella, not really sure what to do with herself without someone to talk to, followed suit ten minutes later.

When Bella woke up there were a few things in the room that were noticeably different. For one the television was off, the room seemed much darker than before, and she and Castiel were both covered by a large comforter that seemed to have been dragged over from the bed.

She sat up, mumbling "Castiel?" as she rubbed her eyes.

There was no immediate response, and for a moment Bella thought Castiel was gone, but when she moved her leg she felt the others girl's feet resting near hers.

With a shrug, Bella gave Castiel a small kick to wake her up.

Castiel grumbled, and Bella was forced to nudge her a few more times before she sat up. Her hair was a mess, but Bella was sure hers didn't look much better either.

"We fell asleep," Bella stated as Castiel yawned and stretched.

"Yeah,"

"Thanks for the blanket." Bella said, mimicking Castiel's movements, glad when she turned the TV back on, so they had some more light to see by.

"I didn't do this." Castiel yawned again, motioning to the blanket. "I was sleeping the whole time; it was probably just Marcus."

"Oh," Bella was surprised, "That was nice of him."

She really couldn't even begin to imagine one of the kings of the supernatural world taking the time to cover two sleeping human girls with a blanket. The gesture was just so... normal and tender that it didn't fit the whole 'vampire king' mental image Bella had made up in her head from the very first time she heard of the Volturi.

Castiel laughed, "Yes it might come as a bit of a shock to you Bella but he's usually very nice," she teased watching as Bella blushed.

At that moment Marcus entered the main room, but he came in through the door in the back showing he must have been working in his office.

Bella started at the sight of him and quickly got to her feet, nearly falling over in the process.

Castiel sighed and stood too.

The first thing Marcus did was come over to her, taking her face in his hands and leaning down to press his forehead against hers. He whispered something to her that Bella couldn't hear, and she felt the need to look away from the couple at the tender moment between them, as if she were intruding on something private.

"Well, I suppose I should go and find Edward." Bella said awkwardly, making to head to the door before Marcus voice stopped her.

"Edward isn't here Isabella."

Bella paused, and Castiel looked up at Marcus in surprise.

"He isn't? Where did he go?" Bella asked

"To Forks," Marcus said gently, aware that this was a piece of information that was probably going to be distressing to Miss Swan. "The Cullens, the small portion of our guard, and Trent all departed with my brother for Forks about three hours ago."

"Three hours!?" Bella said, shocked, "Wait a minute how long have we been-,"

"You and Castiel have been asleep for nearly six hours." Marcus answered her unfinished question, "When I came up here and found the two of you asleep I told the Cullens I would wake you up so you could say goodbye."

"And why didn't you?" Bella felt panic rising in her chest, and it was panic she didn't quite understand. She had known she would stay behind while the Cullens left for Forks, it had been the plan all along. So why did she feel this way? Why did she have this sense of… of…

Abandonment.

"Edward instructed me not to," Marcus said, "He thought it would be best to leave while you were asleep." His expression showed that he did not agree with this logic one bit, but Isabella Swan was not his responsibility – well she sort of was now that the Cullens had left but that wasn't the point – and it wasn't his right to decide things on her behalf. Now that the Cullens had departed if it was a matter of her safety that was a different can of worms entirely.

"But… but…" Bella felt darkness creeping up on her, the black numbness she had clung so hard to in those months after the birthday party that had nearly destroyed her entire life rising up to squeeze the air from her.

The room seemed to be moving, colors swimming across her vision in such a way she was sure she was going to faint.

But she didn't fall. Two warm arms wrapped themselves around her and pulled her into a hug, and Bella heard Castiel say "Bells, shhh," in a soothing tone.

And then she realized she was crying, crying unreasonably hard into Castiel's hair – something that was easy because the other girl was multiple inches shorter than her – and feeling as if her world was falling apart all over again.

And that was just the start of a very restless week.

Castiel was exhausted.

No, exhausted wasn't a strong enough word. She was dead on her feet. She was so damn tired that she was sure any moment now she would keel over and die.

She kind of wanted to too. At least she would finally get some rest that way.

The Cullen's had left exactly one week ago, the battle in Forks was quickly approaching, and Bella wasn't handling being here in Italy any better with each passing day. Because Edward deciding not to say goodbye to her dug up a whole lot of abandonment issues that Castiel had been told by a sobbing Bella stemmed from the fact that the whole family had up and left her in Forks after some disastrous birthday party.

Castiel hadn't really known the details of what had bought Bella and Edward to the Volturi's attention in the first place over a year ago, but she had been completely filled in by Bella that every first night after the Cullens left with the guard.

After Marcus broke the news to Bella that Edward and the others had left, Castiel went with Bella to the rooms she had been given to stay in while she was in Italy to sit with the other girl until she pulled herself together and fell asleep.

Only Bella didn't really pull herself together. Instead she just poured her heart out to Castiel about all the little details behind Edward abandoning her in the woods. She told Castiel how she had been depressed for months, how she began doing dangerous things to see a hallucination of Edward to make her feel like he still cared for her, how her best friend Jacob Black had come into her life at the point where she needed him the very most and became a guiding light in the darkness.

She told Castiel about Jacob ghosting her, about how she confronted him and he said they couldn't be friends. And how that same night Jacob showed up in the tree outside her window to try to get her to figure out what he was so he could violate his pack leader's gag order – the order that prevented him from being friends with her.

Castiel had felt very bad for Bella as she told her this story. She was glad Bella and Jacob had worked out a way to stay friends and how she had been adopted into a new family that seemed even healthier for her than the family she had with the Cullen's.

She didn't interrupt Bella at any point, she just let the other girl talk it out and cry on her shirt until the shoulder was soaked. Eventually Bella fell asleep, and Castiel slid off the bed she had been sitting on with the other girl and made her way Aro's office where she knew Aro, Dora, Marcus, and Sulpicia were all together.

She and Kemar didn't talk on the way there, her guard figured she was probably a little mentally worn out after Bella's crying jag, but in reality Castiel was just keeping all the emotions she had about what Bella told her in until she got to Aro's office – his real office which was soundproofed so none of the guards would be able to hear her rant.

And damn was Kemar glad Aro had allowed him to stand inside the office with them, because when Castiel got there and launched into a tirade about Edward Cullen it was so. fucking. funny.

"And she took him back! Like are you kidding me!?" Castiel threw her arms up as she paced back and forth in front of the couch, Aro and Marcus watching her with much amusement and Athenadora and Sulpicia giggled as they sat in front of the unlit fireplace, drinking a couple of sweet-smelling beers Aro had gotten out. Kemar wished Castiel had accepted when Aro offered her a beer, sure she would have been even more hilarious if she was saying all this while a little tipsy.

"Like girl come on, he is not that much of a catch, especially if he's capable of telling you that he doesn't love you and he's bored with you now so he's leaving forever. When she was telling me that you know how badly I wanted to tell her she should have just thrown that whole man away? Right into the dumpster because he is TRASH!"

Athenadora and Sulpicia snorted with laughter into their drinks, Marcus was doing his best to keep a straight face like a good mate while his partner ranted but was failing miserably, and Aro was coyly poking new bits of information about Edward to Castiel whenever she took a breath, as if he was stoking a fire and giving it new twigs to keep it burning.

"Dude, I'm sorry, but if you ever left me in the woods somewhere Marcus and told me you didn't love me and this was goodbye – boy we would be done! I am so upset! I promise you this Marcus, you ever pull a stunt like that with me we are done! We are so done! You got no idea how mad I am! You got no idea!"

Marcus rolled his eyes, "I'd never do that dearest, you know that."

"Damn right you wouldn't," Castiel said, barely taking a second to catch her breath, "Because if you did, you know what? I wouldn't just lie back and take it. I'd go get one of my buds to change me into a vampire, I'd get my ass to Italy, and I'd beat yo' butt."

That did it, Aro, Marcus and Kemar just could not hold in their laughter this time. She was so funny when she got all fired up like this. It was actually very pleasing to hear that she felt so strongly about this, because it showed she was willing to stick up for herself if she was ever done a grave injustice like what Edward Cullen had done to Isabella Swan.

"Come here baby," Marcus said chuckling, holding his arms out to Castiel as she made to pass him again. She took his hands and he pulled her onto his lap, kissing the top of her head as she took some deep breaths. "Now why don't you tell me what you'd do if you were to chase me to Italy to, how did you put it, beat my butt? Because I can assure you my curiosity had been piqued."

The others laughed, and Castiel was spared answering by a knock on the door.

Kemar turned to open it and found that it was Alec who was standing on the other side, looking unsure. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Miss Swan is screaming in her sleep."

At his words Castiel heard the faint cry he was referring to – Bella's rooms were that far from here – and she leapt from Marcus lap and rushed out the door, Kemar behind her.

When they did make it to the room, there was a group of guards standing outside Bella's door, looking perplexed. They made room when Castiel and Kemar arrived, probably because Kemar growled at them to "Move the fuck out of the way".

Bella had been thrashing and screaming on the bed when Castiel made it to her side, and Castiel ended up having no choice but to literally climb into bed with her and wrap her arms around the other girl, Bella's back to her chest and both of her arms wrapped around Bella's torso and pinning her flailing arms to her sides.

Castiel nuzzled her face into Bella's hair, rocking back and forth and talking to her as Bella was pulled out of her nightmare and back into reality.

She stayed with Bella every night, never sleeping and only dozing out of consciousness for maybe 15 minutes every five hours or so. The two nights following the first Castiel tried to leave Bella to sleep on her own, but the night terrors always came back, and Castiel found herself in the same situation as that first night.

Bella had unashamedly asked Castiel to hold her until she fell asleep, which Castiel didn't mind doing – it didn't make her uncomfortable to do this or anything – but what Bella didn't know was that Castiel wasn't getting any sleep.

Because Castiel couldn't leave her. Bella always subconsciously knew the second she was alone, and the screaming was destined to start at most five minutes later if Castiel didn't come back. Which was the worst because Castiel did need to get up to pee sometimes, and each time this happened she would come back to find Bella twitching on the bed and very near to having a screaming fit again.

And even though she was a heavy sleeper, Bella twitched and talked so much that she never got a wink of real sleep. It seemed that whenever Castiel would start to doze and her grip would slacken on Bella that the other girl's night terrors would start up again.

Castiel blamed it on the fact that Edward probably held Bella every night, and she was sure he had a grip like iron when he did so – Marcus certainly did whenever he held her.

But Marcus very rarely ever held her through the night. He was just too busy to do that. He would lay with her until she fell asleep if they had just been intimate or if she was upset about something, but usually no more than that. Castiel couldn't imagine the necessity of being held every night… but then again, her mate hadn't abandoned her.

Castiel couldn't even sleep during the day, because whenever Bella woke up Castiel's priority became planning a day full of activities to distract the other girl. Painting, walking through town, bowling in the small bowling alley the Volturi had on LL10, you name it – they've done it.

And in total, Castiel only slept about four hours total in nearly seven days, and two of those hours was a nap she got in when she convinced Bella to watch a movie in the theatre room with her two days ago. Bella hadn't wanted to watch another movie since she was a little annoyed Castiel had slept through the first one.

And now Castiel was reaching a point of sleep deprivation that she was starting to see things. Shadowy figures were darting around in her peripheral vision as she walked with Kemar toward the throne room where her family was.

Bella was taking a shower, so Castiel was using the time she had to see her mate – who she had begun to miss enough that the bond was bothering her. She had been so busy with Bella she barely saw Marcus at all since that night she ranted about Edward.

Kemar was holding her elbow, guiding her as she walked since she moved like a zombie now. Another thing that came with sleep deprivation she found out – was the total loss of control over her visions. Random flashes about any little pointless thing, and about absolutely anyone she'd ever come in contact with, would flow across her mind in the middle of walking, talking, eating – whatever.

It was alarming to Afton when she first started pausing mid-sentence because of a vision, and Bella would stare at her in concern until she came out of it. She was beginning to get klutzy too, walking into people and things when her visions would cut into her focus and take her off guard.

That was part of the reason Kemar walked while holding onto her now. The number of doors, statues, and benches she had bumped into in the last few days was ridiculous.

Kemar muttered something about Bella rubbing of on her as he steadied her when she tripped over her own two feet as they came to the throne room doors.

It was quiet when they entered, only half a dozen guards were hanging out around the room and Aro and Marcus were conversing with each other at their thrones. There must not be any trials today.

Dora was in Caius' chair, Sulpicia perched on the arm of it as she tried to pin her blonde sister's hair into some kind of elaborate updo.

"Castiel!" Aro and Marcus chorused when she entered, the latter gliding down the steps and appearing in front of her in half a second, which was kind of alarming to her very tired brain which could hardly focus on things moving at normal speeds right now.

"Whoa. Hi." She mumbled, her eyes focusing and un-focusing as she looked up into Marcus' face.

One of Marcus hands came to hold her waist as she swayed slightly in front of him, the other cupping her face as he ran his thumb over the dark circle under her right eye. She looked like she was recovering from a broken nose the area under both of her eyes was so purple. She had been spending an excessive amount of time doing activities with Isabella Swan this past week, and Marcus hadn't been pleased that she wasn't staying in their bed, but he had understood this was because of Isabella's night terrors. But he hadn't heard her screaming throughout the night anymore, so why did it look like Castiel hadn't slept at all?

"When was the last time you slept?" Marcus asked, tilting her head up so he could look into her eyes.

She looked dazed as she stared back at him, as if she wasn't focusing properly, "Uh. I dunno. I think I slept a 'lil last night."

"And how much is a little?" Aro asked, having just brushed hands with Kemar and becoming a lot more aware as to just how sleep deprived Castiel probably was as he came to stand beside Marcus.

Kemar didn't know for sure since he didn't stay in the bedroom with Castiel and Bella at night – neither did Afton when he watched them – because that would be incredibly inappropriate; but the guard was guessing that Castiel most likely hadn't slept in at least two days by how she was acting.

"Um…" Castiel paused for a long time, her eyes glazing over for a second before her pupils widened and shrunk again. "What?"

Marcus and Aro both looked at each other in concern before Aro reached down and took Castiel's hand, not bothering to ask permission to read her thoughts.

A minute later, Aro dropped her hand with a hiss. "You haven't slept properly in a week? Are you kidding me Castiel?"

"What?" Marcus said, shocked as he looked from Castiel's face to Aro, "What do you mean she hasn't slept properly in a week?"

"I mean she's got a roaring headache right now, has completely lost her grip on her visions, and as of this morning has started hallucinating." Aro explained, "Essentially, she is succumbing to full blown sleep deprivation."

"She's been with Isabella Swan at night-," Athenadora began before she was cut off by Aro.

"Yes, and she hadn't been able to sleep at all with how much the Swan girl flinches in her sleep. Isabella seems unable to rest without someone holding her." Aro turned to Castiel, who was still being held steady by Marcus, "I understand that you are trying to be a good friend Castiel, but human beings can die if they don't sleep for a week."

Marcus grip tightened on her ever so slightly, causing Castiel to look from Marcus to Aro with an uncomprehending expression.

Her head tilted to the side as she tried to focus on Aro's face, "Are you mad at me?"

Sulpicia and Athenadora, who had come to stand with Aro and Marcus in the center of the room, shared a look – the same look that seemed to pass between Marcus, Aro, and Kemar – at the unexpected question.

The few guards standing against the wall started muttering among themselves, taken aback by how strange Castiel was acting.

"Yes." Aro said, to which Castiel just blinked at him before going,"Oh. Okay." and not elaborating any further. She was completely unbothered by Aro's answer as if she had forgotten what her question had been in the first place.

"Where is Isabella anyway?" Sulpicia asked turning to Kemar for an answer.

"In the shower, Castiel wanted to find Marcus because she missed him and the bond was hurting her." Kemar explained, and this statement did get through to Castiel a little bit – how did he know that?

As if he could read her thoughts, Kemar said "She's been thinking out loud a lot in the last two days. I don't think she realized it until now."

Abruptly, Castiel sat down on the floor at Marcus feet, blinking sleeping up at them as Aro and Marcus stared down at her in alarm.

"I'm just gonna sit for a minute, then I gotta go back to Bella-,"

"No," Marcus said sharply. "You're going to go straight to our room and go to bed."

Castiel shook her head, not even registering that Marcus wasn't giving her an option, "No, I'm supposed to walk around Volterra with Bella today."

"That's not happening," Athenadora laughed, looking unsettled at how weird Castiel was being, "Do you not see how weird you're acting right now Castiel?"

There was a long pause as Castiel considered these words before looking suddenly very affronted and saying, "You're weird."

A couple of the guards against the wall laughed, and Athenadora started giggling. "My goodness I can't even take you seriously right now. Marcus can I record this to show her later? She'll get such a kick out of it."

Dora pulled out her phone, and Marcus gave her a disapproving look, "No, put that away Athenadora." He looked back down at Castiel. "Come on Castiel, let's go to bed."

He bent down and pulled her to her feet in one fluid motion, but Castiel tried to pull back from him when he took her hands, "No I'm supposed to go with Bella."

Marcus groaned and Dora giggled again, "Wow, she is really insistent on what she thinks she should be doing today."

"It's the sleep deprivation," Aro explained, and just when Marcus was debating on throwing Castiel over his shoulder an taking her to their room anyway, Sulpicia said reasonably:

"Marcus, just tell her to sleep."

There was a pause as the inner family all shared a significant look. Marcus hadn't considered using the dominant tone, he wasn't even entirely sure he should try. He had promised her he wouldn't do it unless it was necessary.

But when Castiel swayed again, he saw that it was definitely necessary now.

"Castiel." Marcus said, the double inflection in his tone plain to anyone in the room. His mate twitched and looked up at him, her eyes fully locking with his for the first time in multiple days. "Sleep."

The effect was immediate. He was sure that under normal circumstances he would not be able to order her to sleep since the human body just didn't work that way, but the fact of the matter was that Castiel was incredibly tired. She was running on pure willpower, and taking that willpower away – well…

Marcus caught Castiel before she even tipped forward, scooping her up into his arms and allowing himself to feel relief as her head lolled against his chest and she slept.

She slept for twenty hours.

Marcus had made it very clear to Chelsea, Afton, and Kemar that no one was to interrupt him and Castiel for any reason unless it was a life or death emergency until after Castiel woke up. When Bella wandered into Marcus' hall about 30 minutes after Castiel fell asleep, she was stopped by Kemar long before she reached the door Afton was guarding.

"Castiel isn't available today Miss Swan." Kemar said before Bella could even open her mouth to speak. "Afton's wife Chelsea has offered to keep you company if you choose to wander Volterra today as it will be cloudy."

"Why?" Bella challenged, "Where's Cas?"

Kemar raised his eyebrows "She's sleeping."

"Sleeping?" Bella asked, nonplussed, "But we just woke up an hour or so ago-,"

"No," Kemar corrected, "You just woke up an hour ago. Have you honestly not noticed how exhausted Castiel had been this past week? For god's sake she's been talking to herself the last two days she's so sleep deprived."

"I…" Bella paused, this past week had been a blur, a huge push to get through each day much like it had been in the months the Cullen's had left her. She would try to listen when people talked and answer when asked a question, but…

But had she even been listening to Castiel? Now that she thought about it, she couldn't remember any conversations with the other girl, even though she remembered numerous occasions where they had been talking.

Well, at least where Castiel had been talking, and she had been doing her best to pretend she was listening.

Bella had nearly gone full zombie again and didn't even realize it. She was so focused on not feeling sad that she wasn't registering that her only friend here wasn't doing very well at all, and all because said friend was trying to help her.

"No," Bella mumbled, "No I didn't notice."

Kemar pursed his lips, looking thoroughly unimpressed. "I understand that you are going through something right now Isabella, really, I do. But I don't appreciate watching Castiel put in such an effort to help people who don't pay her any mind."

"What?" Bella was startled, "It's not like that-,"

Kemar held up a hand, nonverbally telling her to wait until he finished talking. "She goes out of her way to help people at her own expense, it's her Achilles heel. I would not mind so much what she put herself though this week if only you had an ounce of appreciation for what she was trying to do for you. She cares for you, and it's just common curtesy that you should care for her in return."

"I do." Bella mumbled.

"Then prove it." Kemar said, "Try to pay just a little more attention to her when she talks, and hopefully we don't have to have this conversation again."

He turned away from her, and Bella felt a strange yanking feeling go through her chest at the sight of his turned back.

"You're very protective of her," Bella stated without thinking, and Kemar paused for just a second as he began walking away before he said "Yes. I am."

That night without Castiel had been almost unbearable. Bella had chosen to stay in her room all day and tried to distract herself with books and movies as she waited for Castiel to wake up. Part of her held out hope that her friend would be awake by the time night rolled around, so Bella wouldn't have to face the abandonment dreams without her.

But it didn't work like that. All to soon it was dark out, and the clock was creeping toward 11 and Bella was forced to acknowledge that Castiel wasn't coming. So Bella tried to sleep, and found herself having some of the worst dreams of her life. These were not just dreams of abandonment, but dreams of monsters chasing her in the night with deadly sharp claws and teeth and eyeless faces. In more than one of these dreams she saw Kemar watching her from the shadows, and whenever she called out for help he would turn and walk away from her, disappearing into the dark.

Around three AM Bella sat up in bed, covered in sweat and breathing heavily as she felt nausea turn her stomach, and in minutes she found herself crouched in front of the toilet in her bathroom, sobbing as she puked and trying to pull herself together. She hadn't turned on any lights when she woke up, so she didn't notice when someone entered the bathroom with her until a cool hand touched the back of her neck.

She yelped, but a soothing voice said, "It's alright Swan. Just breathe." And the unrelenting pressure in her chest seemed to ease, and she knew she was going to be okay.

When Castiel woke up she was very groggy, and opening her eyes she found herself wrapped in a small blanket on Marcus' lap as he sat at the desk in his private office, his arms on either side of her as he typed away on his computer.

"Marcus?" She mumbled, confused.

One of his hand found its way into her hair, and his warm voice responded, "Hi there sleepyhead. How are you feeling?"

"Tired," She grumbled, blinking and tilting her head to look up at him. "How did I get here? The last thing I remember…" She paused trying to think about the last conscious thing she did but was completely unsure what was a dream and what was reality, "You know, I don't know what the last thing I remember is?"

"Well you were completely delirious from lack of sleep when you came to find me in the council room while you waited for Bella to get ready yesterday. You were insisting on going out into the town with Bella even though you couldn't stand straight. I made you fall asleep and bought you here."

"I don't remember that," Castiel said, trying to think around the tiredness that still clung to her brain.

"I didn't think you would." Marcus said lightly, leaning down to kiss her softly, "You truly were unreasonably tired. You slept in bed for a while, but you started getting restless a few hours ago so I bought you in here with me. You calmed right down once we were touching so I'm sure it's just the bond."

"How long have I been asleep?"

Marcus checked his watch, "About 20 hours."

Castiel's eyes widened "What? Oh, damn it, Bella-,"

"Isabella is fine." Marcus said reassuringly, and to Castiel's surprise a smile she definitely didn't understand passed over his face for a brief second, "Someone was watching over her. She didn't have an easy night but she's perfectly okay now."

"Who was watching over-," Castiel's question was cut off by a vision taking hold of her so unexpectedly she reached up and grabbed the hand Marcus had against her head without thinking. Pain shot through her skull, and suddenly she and Marcus were standing together on an unfamiliar street with windowless brick buildings on either side of them.

In the distance they could see light and cars passing through an intersection, but where they were now in this… ally, the buildings were tall enough to shroud them and the stone beneath their feet in shadow.

Her head was pounding, and Castiel gripped Marcus' hand tightly as she turned to look behind them.

"Castiel, why are you projecting? What-,"

But he was interrupted by a voice coming from where Castiel was staring, and it wasn't just any voice – it was his voice.

Marcus had never considered just how weird it would feel to look at himself from another person's point of view. But how weird it felt was barely a factor to him as he registered what he was seeing.

Himself, Castiel, Kemar, and Isabella Swan were all standing at the dead end of this alleyway. Marcus was positioning the two girls against the stone wall behind them and Kemar was scaling the wall using crevices in the rock to make his way to the only widow on any of the buildings around him – which was damaged and missing a few panes.

In seconds Kemar managed to make it to the window, lift it, and slid himself into the run-down building. Castiel had both of her arms wrapped around Bella as Marcus turned his back to them, turning to face the open end of the alley.

"I've been here before." Castiel breathed, staring at the future Marcus as he looked through the two of them, watching the entrance of the alley and waiting for something to happen.

"I know." Marcus said, "You told me that I would be out with you and Isabella Swan. But you couldn't tell me why."

Castiel didn't respond, because at that moment the future Marcus spoke, his voice cool and polite. "Hello Victoria. Riley. I was wondering when you would show up."

Five minutes later Castiel gasped as the vision ended, bringing herself and Marcus back to the present. The pain in her head decreased significantly now that she stopped projecting, but that didn't mean it didn't feel like a little person was beating on the inside of her skull with a hammer.

Marcus put both of his hands on either side of her ribcage and lifted her off his lap to seat her on his desk. He stood, both of his hands finding their way into her hair and his fingers kneading the area at the base of her skull at the back of her head.

"You should not project Castiel. It worries me that it causes you pain to do it, we have Aro so there is no necessity to showing me your visions."

She groaned, appreciating what Marcus was doing with his hands before saying, "You needed to see it, and I didn't do it intentionally. I was just as surprised as you were."

Castiel paused, what they just saw sinking in a little more fully, "Victoria is coming to Italy."

Marcus nodded, dropping his hands so they were resting on the desk on either side of her as he leaned down, curving his body over hers protectively. "I know, Caius believed that she might if she had Riley watching the Cullens movements. It was always a possibility they would put two and two together when the Cullen's returned to Forks and brought our guard with them."

"So what? Riley and Victoria are just planning to come to Italy and singlehandedly take on the Volturi to get to Bella?" Castiel's expression was disbelieving, they couldn't really be that ignorant could they?

"I don't think Victoria would believe for even a second that Isabella is in our care." Marcus shrugged, "They are probably banking on the idea that the Cullens just hid her in Europe, believing that Victoria wouldn't leave her newborns."

Marcus sighed, wrapping his arms around Castiel and pulling her to his chest so he was standing between her legs as he held her close. "We've had some intel report that Riley shows minor tracking abilities. That is probably how they will manage to find their way to Bella here."

"And then they're going to take us on in that ally," Castiel nodded as if this was all perfectly reasonable. "I'm just surprised she and Riley even have the guts to take you on singlehandedly. Doesn't most of the immortal world know you as one of the world's best fighters?"

"Victoria is maddened by grief," Marcus stated sounding tired, "Our kind are not known for thinking rationally when it comes to a mate being killed… And I'm not entirely sure I'm okay with this plan."

Castiel leaned back to look up at Marcus, surprised, "What do you mean? Marcus we're going to win – we literally just watched you and Kemar-,"

"I'm not okay with having you out in the open with a vampire attacking and only Kemar to assist." He said stonily, and Castiel could sense that he was preparing to put his foot down and put a stop to the whole scenario they had just watched.

"Marcus!" Castiel was frustrated, gripping both of his arms as she looked up at him, "Marcus we literally just saw how easy it is going to be for you and Kemar to end all of this terror Victoria and Riley have placed on Bella and on Seattle. Bella and I won't be hurt! Besides Afton was standing in front of us the entire time you and Kemar were fighting-,"

"Afton wasn't there." Marcus interrupted, confused.

Castiel snorted, "Oh yes he was. Trust me Marcus I know when my guard is invisible and standing in my personal space. He's gone out into the city with me when I've wandered around with Trent and Bella enough times for me to be able to tell."

"You were watching the fight. I was watching myself and Bella." Castiel explained, folding her arms across her chest. "I even saw that Afton is going to step on my foot if my expression was anything to go by."

Marcus was quiet, considering what she had said and trying to make up his mind on if he was going to go along with this.

"Trust me Marcus," Castiel sighed, allowing her tense posture to soften, showing that she did not want to fight with him, "Trust me. We don't need a battalion of thirty guards to scare her away so we just extend the damage she is willing to do to get to Bella. Victoria will hunt her for the rest of her life, but we can end this. We can do this."

Marcus closed his eyes, feeling his resolve crumbling as saw the absolute trust on her face. The sureness she had that he wouldn't let anything happen to her. "I can't put you in harms way. I can't stand the thought of something happening to you."

"Nothing will happen to me," She said soothingly, wrapping her arms and legs around him and resting her head against his chest. "Not when you're there. Nothing bad ever happens to me with you there."

Marcus groaned, pulling her face toward his so he could kiss her fiercely knowing she had won, knowing that he was going to go along with this crazy plan because he could not doubt her sureness.

Castiel didn't know how one second Marcus could be kissing her, and then next she was feeling as he literally shredded the clothes from her body, too impatient to undress her like a normal person as he trailed kisses across her jaw and down her neck.

"M-Marcus-," She stuttered, feeling as he trailed his hands down her naked body, his touch feeling as if it were leaving burning trails across her skin.

His mouth came back to hers, and she heard as he undid his fly before she felt the impossibly broad head of him pressing against the tender area between her legs.

"Ah!" She grabbed his arms as he adjusted her on his desk, angling her hips so it would be easier to push inside her. It wasn't the most comfortable sensation – she wasn't used to the lack of foreplay before their coupling. He was also still completely dressed, so she couldn't feel his skin against hers as he pressed further inside her.

"Marcus," She gasped, feeling her body protesting to the intrusion even though he was only halfway in, "I can't-,"

"Shhh," He soothed, resting his forehead against hers as she tried to calm her breathing, one of his hands coming to the front of her pelvis so his thumb could brush over her clitoris, "You can, just relax."

It was easier once his thumb started to gently play over the small bundle of nerves, and her small squeaks of discomfort become moans as her body adjusted to him. She quickly became wet enough that her body provided no resistance to his, and Marcus' speed as well as the depth of his thrusts increased with each pleasurable sound she made.

One of his hands was in her hair, keeping her head tilted back so she could not muffle any sounds against his chest. As she got closer to her release, she heard him sighing her name, and saying how much he loved her. And she realized that the reason behind the suddenness of this attack was because he needed this. He needed the reassurance of her body and the comfort it brought him after his brief inner turmoil over her safety.

"Oh Marcus," The sound of his name seemed to only further his need for her, driving himself harder into her body sending her quickly into her release. This orgasm was probably one of the best ones yet, and he drew it out long enough that she felt tears leaking from her eyes as her body tried to handle the overload of pleasure, feeling as Marcus stilled and found his own release, his hips flush against hers as he growled.

Castiel was lying back on his desk, blinking up at him as his thumbs came to gently brush the wetness away from her cheeks.

The smiled at each other, and Marcus pulled out of her carefully, frowning when she winced.

He tucked himself back into his pants, and she sat up, trying not to make a face as the act of sitting made her feel like Marcus had rearranged her insides.

"You're still dressed," She pouted, watching as Marcus bent down to pick up some papers and random other items that had fallen off his desk while they were having sex. Looking around Castiel saw that Marcus' monitor was dangerously close to the edge of his desk, so she hastily pulled it forward so it was in a more secure position as Marcus chuckled.

"And you aren't."

"That hardly seems fair," She teased, unable to help grinning at him as he came to kiss the top of her head, setting the fallen items back on his desk and running one of his hands from her bare shoulder and down her arm.

"Was I too rough with you?" He murmured, thinking about her wince when he had pulled out of her.

She shook her head, "No, I'm just not used to the lack of foreplay. I can assure you I enjoyed myself immensely."

Marcus laughed, "As did I. I think there is something to be said for spontaneity,"

Castiel certainly didn't disagree with that.

"Anyway, we should get you dressed. I'll need to go talk with Aro if we are going to go through with this plan to end Victoria. Did you want to join me?"

Sliding off his desk Castiel shook her head, "No, I should go find Bella and see if she's alright."

Marcus nodded and as Castiel made to leave the office and find some clothes she heard Marcus make an appreciative hum in his throat.

She turned back to him, just in time to watch his eyes go from where they were obviously watching her behind to her face.

"Enjoying the view?" She laughed folding her arms across her chest as she blushed, feeling very shy to have him watching her like that but not hating the attention all the same.

He hummed his agreement, and Castiel felt as if all the muscles in her lower body tighten when she realized how dark his eyes were beginning to get again.

"I was just considering the possibilities if you allow me to tie you up next time."

Castiel felt as if he might as well have just lit a fire in the room, because she felt very hot all of the sudden. He couldn't say things like that and really expect her to not picture it could he?

He grinned, showing his teeth when she laughed, nervous and excited at the same time.

"You'd have to catch me first." She teased.

Hardly a second later Marcus was in front of her, throwing her over his shoulder and swatting her on the behind as she giggled and striding purposefully to the bedroom.

Bella was sitting quietly on one of the benches in the hall near the kitchens. Castiel said she'd meet her there to have dinner after meeting with Aro and Marcus to discuss something a few hours ago.

The last two days had been… weird for Bella. The minute she saw Castiel that day after her shittiest night, she began apologizing profusely for not noticing her friend hadn't been getting any sleep because of her. Castiel just waved her concerns off though, saying it didn't matter and she just hoped Bella wasn't doing too badly since she hadn't been there for her.

Bella really wanted to tell Castiel that she could never thank her enough for being so nice to her, but she figured that would make Castiel feel awkward, so she kept her thoughts to herself.

Bella hadn't heard from any of the Cullen's since they left – not even from Edward, which she thought was very strange and worried her a lot.

She had broken down and asked Castiel before she left for her meeting if everything was alright in Forks. And Castiel's blue eyes had been understanding when she replied that everyone was fine, just busy. The newborns had gotten suspiciously delayed, but the fight was still going to happen soon.

That's what Bella assumed she had to meet with Aro and Marcus about, because as the other girl walked away from her, she pulled her phone out of a hidden pocket in her dress and said, "Hey Caius."

Bella hadn't even heard the phone ring. But it wouldn't be the first time Bella observed a psychic friend answering their phone before the ringing even started – Alice did it all the time.

Castiel seemed to be so essential to plans here, Bella would have never guessed the Volturi would rely so much on a human before.

When Castiel entered the hall a few minutes later, Bella was surprised by a couple of things. The first thing being that she was accompanied by not only Kemar, but Alec as well. And the other thing catching her attention was the fact that her friend looked very flustered, one look down showed her that Castiel's hands were shaking slightly.

"I'm gonna admit it, you're right Kemar. I literally can't be left alone for even a second can I?" Bella heard her mutter darkly and Kemar smirked as she continued. "Literally 5 minutes of peace. That's all I want but of course-,"

Castiel seemed to just notice Bella, who stood once they were about ten feet away.

"Oh, hey Bells." Castiel sighed, running a hand through her hair, "I thought you would be waiting in the kitchen."

Bella shook her head, "No, is everything alright?"

Castiel shrugged, and Bella moved to walk alongside her as they made their way to the kitchen. Alec turned and made a left down the hall right before the large metal door. Bella had been shocked he stayed behind in Volterra, but when she asked Castiel about it Castiel said that the fight in Forks wasn't severe enough to warrant making Alec obligated to go. Before the others had departed Alec simply told Aro he wasn't interested in going to Forks, so he stayed behind.

When they entered the kitchen, Bella was pleased to see the chef, Emmanuel, sitting and drinking a cup of coffee at one of the barstools at the kitchen island. The countertops and appliances were all sparkling clean, showing that he was simply enjoying his drink before turning in for the night.

The chef greeted them cheerfully when he saw them, and immediately stood and started fussing about to get their dinner ready.

Bella tried to tell him that they could put together a meal themselves, but Castiel gripped her elbow and dragged her to the chairs next to Emmanuel's, telling her not to bother under her breath. Castiel had tried many times to get the grandfatherly chef to just sit still and not fuss over her every time she entered the kitchen, but he never listened.

It didn't seem like Emmanuel had anything to really prepare anyway, because he just stooped down and pulled the warming tray out of the bottom of the oven where two covered dishes where sitting waiting.

He had obviously been expecting them.

Dinner tonight was asparagus, baked potatoes, and a fine cut of prime rib. Bella was pleased that hers was cooked well-done since she really didn't like seeing blood on her plate.

Castiel however seemed to prefer her steak medium-rare, so Bella did her best to avoid looking over at her plate. It didn't make her as faint as seeing human blood, that was true, but it still wasn't exactly what she would call appetizing.

They ate quietly for a few minutes, just enjoying their food, and in that time the chef finished his coffee and bid them goodnight while Kemar made his way to a chair near the door of the kitchen. He didn't really enjoy the smell of human food, so he just started playing a game on his phone to pass the time and ignore the smell.

"Cas?" Bella said tentatively, pushing the food on her plate around with her fork, "Can I ask you about something?"

She heard Cas set her cutlery down but didn't look over as the other girl said, "'Course you can. What's up?"

Bella paused, very nearly chickening out and suddenly overly aware of the fact that Kemar was in the room. The silence was becoming awkward, and Bella opened her mouth to say "Never mind" when Kemar spoke up.

"She wants to ask you about what it's like intimately being with a vampire." Kemar said, and Bella choked on the sip of water she had been taking.

Castiel patted Bella's back as she tried to catch her breath, looking over at Kemar with a raised eyebrow.

Her guard shrugged, "I heard her rehearsing her questions for you earlier when I passed by her rooms. It was very interesting."

Bella felt as if she was going to die right then and there – how embarrassing!

Kemar rolled his eyes as he felt the sudden increase in heat from where Bella was sitting, sure the girl was a red as a tomato even though he couldn't see her face as she had hidden behind her hair. "I don't know why you're so embarrassed about asking the questions that are obviously weighing on you Miss Swan. Sex is not nearly as taboo a subject in the vampire world as it is in the human one. It would shock you if you realized just how much vampires smell like sex on a daily basis. It's normal, no one acknowledges it."

"Huh," Castiel mused, leaning back to look around Bella at Kemar, "So vampires can really tell each time someone has sex?"

"If that's your way of asking me if I'm aware that you get dicked down by Marcus on a daily basis the answer is yes," Kemar said, looking back at his phone and trying not to grin as Castiel snorted with laughter.

"Nice Kemar." She said sarcastically, turning away from him and focusing on Bella again, who looked mortified and grinning at her. "Well, now that you know I certainly won't judge, what did you want to ask?"

"I- I don't know," Bella stuttered, unsure of what specific questions she did have now that she was being put on the spot. "I mean, if Edward and I… if I can get him to agree to… while I'm still human I mean – what is it like?"

The question wasn't very coherent, so Bella was surprised when Castiel answered, "I can't really compare it to what it's like to have sex with another human since I've already told you I've never done that, but I guess it pretty similar. I think it really just comes down to how attentive your partner is. It's just about knowing what your significant other likes and doesn't like and working with what you have."

Castiel pursed her lips, "I'm sorry if this isn't very helpful. I don't really have anything to compare it to. I can tell you that I was terrified my first time though. Girls I knew growing up told me that sex was incredibly painful the first time, and as someone who doesn't like pain, I wasn't really very keen on the idea."

"And does it hurt the first time?"

Castiel turned to Bella curiously, realization dawning on her for the first time. "Oh, you haven't had sex before have you?"

Bella shook her head.

"Oh I'm sorry for assuming. It's just… people always made fun of me for waiting so long to have sex that I just thought I was the only one." Castiel explained, looking sheepish. "It hurts a little. It's not nearly as painful as I originally thought it would be, but it was uncomfortable. Marcus was gentle though and I think that's what makes the difference if your first time is good or bad."

Castiel trailed off, not really sure how to give Bella advice on this when she had so little experience outside of Marcus. She was only just beginning to experiment with her sexuality as Marcus was all too interested in finding out what her kinks were, which at the moment was apparently spanking and being tied up. She would never tell anyone this though, it was bad enough that Aro knew all of it even though she knew he'd never tell a soul. Castiel really didn't feel she was the person to ask about these things – Dora and Sulpicia would probably be more helpful to Bella. But she could see why Bella chose her to ask – she was the only human Bella knew that was in a relationship with a vampire after all.

"I'm going to see if once we get back to Forks I can convince Edward to…" Bella blurted out, trying to explain herself when she realized how awkward Castiel looked all of the sudden. "I mean as long as we take certain precautions, I'm sure we can, I just…"

Castiel looked shocked, and before she could speak Kemar interjected. "I wouldn't recommend that Miss Swan."

Bella turned to look at him, and therefore missed the relieved look Castiel shot the guard over her shoulder.

"What?"

"If Edward is not comfortable sleeping with you while you are mortal you should respect that." Kemar said raising his eyebrows, "It's very dangerous for a human to sleep with a vampire who isn't one hundred percent positive of their self-control. You'll get yourself killed. Sex can wait until after your immortal. I can assure you the quality of sex only goes up with the change from mortality."

Bella was stunned and turned to Castiel for back up.

But Castiel didn't back her up. "I agree with Kemar Bella. Edward hasn't ever had sex, even as a human. He doesn't know what it'll feel like – he might hurt you."

"He's a virgin?" Kemar said incredulously. "And you're trying to convince him to sleep with you even though he's obviously told you that you'd have to wait in the past? Swan you can't be that stupid."

"He wouldn't hurt me," Bella defended, even though she could see their points. "He-,"

"Take it from someone who has taken human lovers in the past and killed them entirely on accident during the act Isabella." Kemar said stonily, folding his arms across his chest. "If Edward is not completely sure he won't harm you, do not convince him to get into bed with you. Sex is not worth dying over."

The temperature in the room seemed to drop, and one look back at Castiel showed Bella that she hadn't known this small fact about Kemar. But Castiel didn't look judgmental or disgusted; she looked sympathetic.

"You have…" Bella started trailing off.

Kemar nodded, his expression giving nothing away. "Early on in my change, yes. I've had human lovers in recent years – along with some immortal ones – who I haven't harmed. But that was after centuries of shaping my self-control, and more than a few mistakes while learning how to do so along the way."

It was quiet in the kitchen for a long time after that, Castiel and Bella both finished their meals in silence while Kemar went back to messing around on his phone. When Castiel got up to wash their dished though, Bella spoke.

"What had you all upset when you met me in the hall Cas? You don't have to tell me, but I've never seen you so flustered before."

Castiel stilled for a second, pausing in the middle of scrubbing Bella's plate as she thought of what to say.

"It was nothing… just an altercation with an old friend."

"Speaking of old friend," Kemar said, leaning back in his chair so it was balancing on two legs as he focused on the level of Candy Crush he was trying to beat. "Marcus is going to be upset when he finds out Ajmer grabbed you, you know."

"He let go." Castiel said defensively, shooting him a look over her shoulder.

"Yeah, only after Alec threatened him." Kemar scoffed.

"He wasn't going to do anything."

"That doesn't matter," Kemar said rationally, still not looking up, "He grabbed your arm in a threatening manner. I'm sure Marcus will have his balls for it."

"Okay I'm definitely not understanding what you guys are talking about." Bella said, looking back and forth between them, "Ajmer is your friend? Why did he grab you?"

"It's a long story Bella," Castiel sighed, drying their dishes and placing them back in their respective places in the cabinets.

"I have time." Bella said, to which Castiel let out a small laugh.

"I'm sure you do. But if I'm going to dig out that skeleton I need a cup of tea. Do you want anything?"

It took Castiel over an hour to tell Bella the whole story about what had happened with her father and Ajmer. There were a lot of random holes she had to fill in that had to do with the whole situation of her being bought before the Volturi in the first place. It took forever, and Castiel drank three cups of chamomile tea to keep herself calm while she talked.

There where random points though where Kemar would cough lightly, nonverbally instructing Castiel to omit certain pieces of information about herself and the Volturi from Bella. And even though Castiel trusted Bella, she followed Kemar's guidance and avoided telling Bella anything that had to do with the many vampires Castiel knew outside of the Volturi, the identities and talents of certain guard members and the specifics behind when she first found out her dad was missing.

It wasn't something Castiel was accustomed to, walking on eggshells around people she was inclined to trust.

There were, of course, pieces of information Castiel became privy to during her stay with the Volturi that she knew were secrets. And details from trials about certain investigations the Volturi were running that wasn't for anyone outside of the inner coven and elite guard to be aware of. But Castiel wasn't used to having to keep things that weren't necessarily secrets, secret. But she trusted Kemar's judgement even if she didn't always agree with him or like him.

They had been getting along very well recently though, which was weird.

In the end Castiel had to pee like a racehorse, and was tapping her foot to try to ignore the urge as Bella said, "Your dad… your actual dad is a vampire and living in Denali with Tanya's coven?"

"What am I supposed to have a fake dad?" Castiel quipped, and Bella shot her a dirty look at her cheekiness. "Yes. My dad is a newborn and staying with the Denali's while he learns some self-control."

"You do know that the Denali coven is where the succubus legend comes from right?" Bella asked and Castiel raised her eyebrows at her.

Kemar laughed, "Then he's living the dream."

Castiel gagged, which only made Kemar laugh harder. "Ew dude." Castiel said, picking up the dishrag that was next to her cup and throwing it at him. He just bat it out of the way before it reached his head.

"I didn't need to know that," Castiel said shaking her head, "Besides Bells. My dad's a grown ass man. He can do whatever he wants."

"You mean whoever he wants." Kemar interjected, obviously enjoying tormenting Castiel.

"Ugh! Kemar say that again and I will throw up on you I swear to god I will."

Bella listened to the two of them bicker back and forth for another few minutes, before Castiel stood, smoothing out her dress and stretching. "We should go to bed Bella."

"Are you sure?" Bella asked quietly, "I kept you up last night too, I don't want you to not sleep for a week again-,"

"It's all good," Cas said patting the hidden pocket to her dress, "Kemar got me a sleep aid from the hospital wing earlier. I'll take it once you fall asleep and hopefully we both won't be dead on our feet tomorrow."

"Why what's going on tomorrow?" Bella asked and Castiel's answer made her stomach drop.

"Well for one thing, the battle in Forks, but for us – we're going to peruse Italy with Marcus and Kemar."

Bella hadn't totally believed Castiel the previous night when she said that they would be perusing Italy with Marcus and Kemar today. She didn't believe it because the very idea of such a thing has seemed so far-fetched to her that she was sure the other girl was just pulling her leg.

But Castiel hadn't been kidding. They both woke up bright and early at seven o'clock in the morning when Kemar came knocking on Bella's bedroom door. Bella woke up immediately; she hadn't slept great but last night wasn't as bad as usual. But that probably because Castiel had fallen asleep half on top of Bella and her bodyweight had been pinning her down.

Castiel was not easy to wake up. Bella had to prod her rather hard in the side a few times before the other girl opened her eyes. The sleep medication must have been very strong.

They left the castle around nine, and Bella had no idea where there were now.

It was about two o'clock, and they had stopped at this town about a three-hour car ride away from Volterra for lunch. It was partly cloudy where they were, so Kemar and Marcus didn't have that much of an issue being outside, and whenever the sun was about to come out Bella would hear Castiel warn the vampires under her breath, and the two of them would make their way into the nearest shade.

It had been a little uncomfortable for Bella to try to talk to Castiel openly today, mainly because Marcus was with them and she just couldn't shake the mentality that she should keep her head down and stay out of his way. It was starting to get a little easier though to separate her idea of Marcus from the reality of him when Castiel would talk. Marcus always looked so interested in what she had to say, and his demeanor with her was so gentle.

The more she watched Castiel and Marcus together, the more depressed Isabella felt, which was weird because there was nothing depressing about the way Castiel and Marcus interreacted. They were simply two people who were completely in love, they moved together like one unit, naturally orienting themselves around each other and basking in the glow and comfort of the other person.

Castiel was so comfortable around Marcus, and Bella wished she felt that sort of belonging with Edward.

They began cutting through side streets and walking down narrow alleys as they sun began to show through the clouds more frequently. Bella noticed Kemar looking up at the sky with a slight frown as he walked beside her, the two of them following a few steps behind Castiel and Marcus.

Bella wanted to try to talk to Kemar – even if it was just to hold conversating while Castiel seemed to lead the way from the center of this small town and toward the outskirts of it. Bella noticed there were less homes here and more industrial looking businesses looming around them. This was definitely a less touristy part of Italy.

For the briefest part of a second, Bella thought of the night she had almost been attacked by that group of men in Port Angeles and shuddered.

They cut through another side street, turning to the left and heading down an alley that ended in a dead end.

The windowless stone buildings around them gave Bella such a violent sense of dread and déjà vu she stopped in her tracks.

Castiel stopped too, and even though her back had been to Bella and she couldn't have seen her stop she turned to face her, a reassuring smile on her face.

"You okay Bella?"

Castiel's tone was cheerful, nonchalant, but there was something off about her voice all the same.

"Yeah, I…" Bella exhaled. "I just had a bad experience down a street that looked like this back when I first met Edward."

Bella looked around, realizing that if they had gone to the right and not to the left, they would have been heading back into a more populated part of town. "Why are we going this way? There isn't anything down here, did we mean to go right?"

Bella noticed Kemar stiffen at her side, and when she turned to look at him she nearly missed the frightened expression that had crossed over Castiel's face.

Nearly.

"Cas-," Bella began but Castiel shook her head and came to stand in front of her. She took both of her hands in her own.

"Do you trust me Bella?" Castiel's blue eyes were piercing, and Bella felt as if Castiel was looking right through her.

"What?"

"Do you trust me?"

If Bella hadn't been focused so intently on Castiel's face she would have noticed Kemar and Marcus tense as they listened to something drawing nearer.

"Of-," Bella swallowed, "Of course I do-,"

"Come on then!" Castiel said and she began dragging Bella toward the dead end.

Bella stumbled over her own feet twice on the way. But Castiel's grip on her prevented her from falling. When they were within a few feet of the brick building with no door and only one dirty broken window Castiel stopped. Bella felt as someone brushed close to her and turned her head to see that Marcus was only a foot away from the two of them.

Bella jumped when he laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Stay against the wall. Do not move away from Castiel do you understand?" Marcus whispered urgently, pushing them gently toward the building.

The very fact that he was whispering made all of the hairs on Bella's arms stand on end, she shot Castiel a panicked look, and her friend wrapped both of her arms around her in response.

They hugged each other and faced the mouth of the alley with their backs to the building, Bella's mouth fell open in shock when Kemar suddenly began to scale the side of the building they were up against, his hands and feet finding invisible holds as he made his way quickly to the window.

It squealed in its frame as he pushed it up, and Bella craned her head back to watch as he disappeared through it.

Castiel hissed, and Bella Looked over at her just in time to see her wince.

"Cas?"

"Shh!" Was Castiel's only response.

Marcus spoke then, and his words made Bella feel as if all of her insides had vanished from her body.

"Hello Victoria. Riley. I was wondering when you would show up."

Bella didn't see them right away, and when she did it was only when they dropped down from a rooftop and into the shade of the alley hardly thirty feet from Marcus.

Victoria was exactly as she remembered. Flame haired, girlish features, and a posture like a large cat that was ready to strike.

Her vibrant red eyes were fixed on Bella's, and it took all of her willpower to look away from that hungry face to study the vampire that had come with her.

He couldn't be any older than she was, Bella mused, watching the tall boy with sandy colored hair as he drifted closer to Victoria; his even more violently scarlet eyes focused on Marcus.

And Bella realized she recognized him. Her father had shown her the flyer of him that the boy's parents had dropped off at the Forks police station – as well as every police station within a hundred mile of Port Angeles. Riley Biers… he had been missing for over a year.

Victoria didn't respond to Marcus' words, she only jerked her chin at Riley ever so slightly, signaling to the boy that he should orient himself on the other side of Marcus so they could attack him from two points.

Bella knew what she was thinking – Riley would attack and she would have an open path to kill her, and not only that but it would be a two for one special. Kill Bella and who was obviously a close friend of hers by how they were clinging to each other all in one go.

But that wouldn't happen. Victoria didn't know about Kemar, she thought that her and Riley had Marcus outnumbered and she had never seen Marcus in a fight.

A mental playback of the day Bella had watched the Volturi practice in the training room came to the front of her mind, and she remembered watching Marcus Volturi singlehandedly take down three guards who had moved to attack him all at once. He had handed each of them their asses in less than a minute.

Bella knew he wouldn't lose.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you Riley." Marcus said darkly, hardly moving his chin in the direction of the boy as he kept his gaze focused on Victoria, watching Riley from the corner of his eye. "She wants me to kill you Riley. She does not care if you die when you attack us as long as she gets what she wants."

Riley paused, looking over at Victoria in confusion at Marcus' words.

"This is obviously just another mind trick of the Cullen's" Victoria said, and Bella was startled to hear that her voice was high and girlish, not at all the catlike growl that had haunted her dreams for months, "I've never even seen this vampire before, what could he possibly know of my love for you?"

Castiel stilled, and Bella looked over in time to see anger cross her face at Victoria's words.

"But you do know what this is don't you?" Marcus said, reaching up to pull his Volturi Crest from his shirt, showing it to the two vampires. "You do know of all the laws you have broken do you not? The newborn army you created to destroy the Cullen's and avenge your mate?"

Riley, who had begun to creep to Marcus' other side again, stilled once more.

"Oh yes you heard me right boy," Marcus nodded, "You are not her mate. You never have been. The stories she's been telling you for months of how this yellow eyed coven has been hunting her for no other reason than her innocently crossing into their territory – did you honestly believe any of that was true?"

Riley looked back at Victoria again, and Bella shivered as the red headed vampire bared her teeth at Marcus. "He lies Riley. He's just another ally of the Cullen's out to hurt us."

"Out to hurt you?" Marcus laughed, "I am truly impressed that you managed to find a boy so stupid he would follow your every order and whim without question. Why Riley, do you think that she dragged you here to Italy while all the newborns you have been working so hard to control were left to battle the coven out to harm your true love without you? Why would you not stay to help them destroy the coven tormenting you?"

"She wants to kill the girl behind me to get back at Edward Cullen for killing her mate. A mate for a mate – not an uncommon tactic among our kinds when we are grieving."

Riley stared at Victoria for a long moment, and Bella actually thought Marcus' words were getting through to him.

But that fantasy only lasted for half a second before Riley fixed his features into a look of defiance, turning to face Marcus and slipping into a crouch.

"Such a shame," Marcus sighed, "I only waned for you to understand the reason behind your death today. But I suppose ignorance is bliss."

"There doesn't have to be any fighting," Victoria purred, her gaze flicking from Marcus, to Castiel, and finally to Bella. "I see that the little creature next to the Cullen's human is yours. We will leave her be if you give us the girl."

Marcus snorted derisively, an action that he never did before meeting Castiel, "That will never happen. Both of them are under my protection. You'll never touch them."

Victoria snarled, and Bella screamed as she and Riley leapt at Marcus.

There was the sound of shattering glass and a black blur flew from the window above them, soaring through the air and slamming into Riley Biers before he was even five feet from Marcus.

Kemar had joined the fight, and Bella cringed as glass shards fell around them even though they weren't touched.

Riley had no time to think, only time to act as he tried in vain to block the blows Kemar was aiming at him. Bella could hear the sound of vampire flesh tearing and saw as small white chunks were being thrown away from the brawl.

Marcus and Victoria on the other hand were dancing. Victoria darted this way and that, trying to get around him and failing as his large frame fluidly moved to block her path. There were moments when the two would meet, and Bella would hear loud cracks and bangs as Victoria jumped back from Marcus.

Both fights were moving too quickly for Bella to get a good look at what was happening, but it was hard to miss when Marcus aimed a well-placed kick at Victories chest that threw her backwards twenty feet, and when Victoria bounded up again Bella noticed how roughed up she looked.

Cracks had formed down the side of her face and neck, one of her ears was missing and a large chunk of hair had been removed from her head. The injuries were minor though, and Bella wondered why he didn't just end this fight in less than a minute like he had all those fights in the training hall.

But when Victoria threw herself forward once again, and Marcus moved to the left with a snarl to block her, Bella realized.

Marcus wasn't just fighting to kill Victoria; Marcus was fighting while also downright refusing to let Victoria come any closer than fifteen feet from her and Castiel. Bella knew that if Marcus just let her go around him, just let Victoria believe for a second that she had gotten past his guard, that he would be able to wheel around and end her in the blink of an eye. But he wouldn't do that. Bella saw that he just wouldn't take that risk even if it drew out the fight.

It's not like he was losing though, Marcus looked completely relaxed and unscathed each time he would pause after throwing Victoria back.

"Victoria!" Riley screamed, and Bella turned to see that Riley was missing an arm and most of his left hand. He was on his back on the ground, trying his hardest to crawl back from Kemar as the latter stalked toward him. "Victoria!"

It was a cry for help, and Victoria did not even turn to spare her companion a glance as Kemar descended on him, decapitating him in one clean movement.

The sounds of shearing metal filled the alley as Kemar ripped Riley to pieces, and Bella saw that Victoria was beginning to back away, her eyes fixed longingly on Bella as she prepared to bolt.

"You will never have another chance like this!" Marcus taunted, "Your newborns are being destroyed as we speak. The human girl behind me is a more formidable psychic than Alice Cullen ever was or ever will be. Your plans have been completely blown to pieces and you didn't even know it. Run now if you truly believe you will ever be able to make it this close to Isabella Swan again. Flee if you truly believe we will not catch you."

Victoria's expression become that of pure undiluted rage as she shrieked wordlessly at Marcus. Venom flew from her mouth as she bared her teeth, and for the first time Bella truly saw the madness that could be induced in a vampire at the loss of their mate.

Victoria threw herself at Marcus, attacking him head on and spitting and snarling as she rammed into him.

Marcus accepted her with open arms as if she were a lover rushing to greet him after a long time away.

Castiel squeaked and Bella felt as her friend hid her face against her shoulder, but she herself was in too much shock to look away as Marcus' mouth made its way to Victoria's throat and he tore her head off.

The alley was quiet now. Kemar and Afton were lobbing Victoria's and Riley's body parts through the shattered window as Castiel and Bella sat on the ground against the building next to it.

Bella had been stunned when Marcus began tearing Victoria apart and Afton literally popped into existence in front of them, lowering the arms he had stretched out protectively in front of them.

She didn't know Afton was a shield, and she didn't know that he was a shield who could render himself invisible, so she had very nearly fainted at the sight of him appearing in front of her out of nowhere in her shocked state.

Bella felt queasy, and Castiel rubbed her back as they two of them waited for Afton and Kemar to finish getting all the body parts into the building so it could be lit on fire and they could leave. Marcus knelt down in front of them, looking each girl in the face to assess how they were doing.

"Are you two alright?"

Bella thought it was such a weird question. Of course they were all right! They had both just stood there cowering against the wall while he and Kemar destroyed Victoria and Riley.

Castiel nodded, "I'm okay, I didn't watch. Bella did though."

"Isabella?" Marcus asked, his tone gentle and kind.

The full weight of everything that had happened came crashing down on her all at once. Victoria was gone. She wasn't in danger anymore. She could go back to Forks now and not worry about Charlie getting killed or anyone in the pack getting hurt because of her. She wouldn't have to live with the knowledge that tons of death were happening in Seattle because of her – the newborns were obviously destroyed now too.

Bella burst into tears, tears of relief and joy and hope. Without even thinking about it she threw herself forward, throwing her arms around Marcus' neck and hugging him as she thanked him; unable to help sobbing into his shirt.

He did not push her away, he just rubbed her back and told her it was alright. And Bella felt as a smaller warmer hand came to brush her hair back from her forehead.

And for the first time, Bella was glad she had come to Volterra.

A/N: So am I actually doing Bella/Kemar? Cause I think I just realized I might be doing Bella/Kemar. This isn't even a ship I knew I was on what have you guys done to me lol.

I don't really have much to say this time, just please review and let me know what you think! Next chapter is going to be chock full of action and drama so I hope you guys a ready for it! ;)

I'll do my best to get the chapter out sooner this time. And I will add an update section to my profile for those of you who don't message me via tumblr or here :)

P.S. My beta never did get back to me with edits on this chapter, but I did promise you guys 1 week. So at a later date this chapter might be reposted with edits. I did do my best to get all the typos, but I'm sure I still missed something.

(60 Pages, 25,767 Words)