S U N S H I N E - Demetri Volturi

Chapter 39

"Caius?"
Kyra calls out as she walks downstairs to the dungeons; her steps echoing through the stone halls and her lip curling up in disgust at the view in front of her.

"Caius."
she repeats carefully as she steps over the torn off pieces of multiple vampires in front of her.

"Go."
his strict voice means, a darkness and coldness in his voice like never before.

"I won't."
Kyra breaths out; her teeth biting down on her lip in nervousness.

"GO!"
Caius growls out, louder and more aggressive than before.

"No."
she states once again, ducking just in time as a head gets thrown her way.

It's been a month since the Cullens left, Edward staying behind to build a somewhat stable relationship with Valentina, who is slowly but surely opening up to him. And in those weeks a quietness has overcome the castle. There was less stress, more peace.

But it seems as though Anthenodora found a way to screw up. Immensely.

Kyra's eyes finally find Caius towering over a terrified man, who is doing his best to hide in the corner of his cell. Flinching ever so slightly as his teeth pierce through the man's neck, forcing his head off in the process, Kyra slowly steps closer to him; not daring to try to touch him and not daring to say something that could set it off.

"What do you want?"
Caius hisses her way; his voice now empty more so than angry.

"Nothing. I just figured you would like to know you aren't alone."
Kyra replies and leans against one of the walls; her arms crossed in front of her and her eyes meeting his for barely a second.

"I don't need you."
he spits out.

"Well, sucks for you. Because you won't get rid of me that easy."
she shrugs with a small grin dancing on her lips.

Shooting her a nasty look, Caius sighs as he notices the determined look in her eyes.

"I knew our marriage wasn't stable."
he finally sighs after a minute.

"Or healthy."
Caius adds; his body sinking down the wall.

"But despite popular believes, I loved her. I still do."
he means.

"And I think that's what hurts the most. Knowing that the last three millennia meant so less to her. Realising the only reason for her to be with me was my title."
Caius tells her; his eyes not meeting hers as he stares straight ahead of him.

"How could I not see this? How could Aro and Marcus not see this?"
he finally turns to her and Kyra sighs as she slowly walks over to him; crouching down next to Caius, who, for once, lets her pull him into a side hug

"She's an idiot, if she doesn't realise what luck she had with you."
she mumbles; stroking through his hair as his head leans against her shoulder.

Kyra's brows furrow in both surprise and worry as Caius pulls her into a real hug; her now half sitting across his lap, his face buried in her shoulder as though he wants to cry and his arms wrapped around her as he hold on to her as tight as possible without crushing her.

"I'm here."
she assures him as she just pulls him closer.

Caius has never been one for affection, never less hugs, and seeing him breaking down to the point where he actually needs a hug to feel as if he still has someone sticking by his side is something Kyra never thought she would see. Something she never wanted to see. And it is something he does not deserve; Caius does not deserve this at all.

"I'm here."
she repeats in a whisper.

"We're all here."
she adds as an afterthought.

"You shouldn't have to be."
he states blankly but doesn't show any sign to pull away.

"You know that she was lying, do you? We don't hate you and Aro doesn't plan on getting rid of you either."
Kyra means after another minute of silence; his body tensing beneath her as his grip tightens.

"Look at me."
she tells him as he doesn't respond. It's clear he doesn't believe her.

"You are not the monster people make you out to be. You are not a monster at all."
Kyra says quietly; her eyes taking in his expression as he lets his grip loosing again.

"I apologies."
Caius mutters.

"What for?"
she frowns.

"For laying my problems on you. It's not your responsibility to deal with them."
he elaborates.

"It's not. But I will do it again. And again. And again."
Kyra smiles weakly.

The two of them sit in silence for a few minutes longer; at some point he has let her go and they changed to sitting next to each other instead of having her in his lap. His posture is still stiff but at the same time he looks as though he may break down at any given moment.
Kyra listens whenever he chooses to open up to her; not necessarily about what happened but anything he has ever seen or heard or survived. And Caius is quite thankful for the distraction; thankful to have someone with him that doesn't look at him as though he may torture them into oblivion any second.

"Are you ready to get up?"
she questions softly after he hasn't spoken for a while.

"Not quite yet."
he replies.

"Okay."
Kyra nods and lets her head fall against the wall as the two of them keep sitting in silence.

"Would you mind leaving me alone for a few minutes?"
Caius speaks up and Kyra glances at him for a second before slowly getting up.

"Don't do anything stupid, alright?"
she tells him gently before making her way out of the dungeons; rolling her eyes at Demetri as he leans opposite of the door.

"How is he?"
he asks her; covering up the fact that the only reason he is here is because he worried Caius would hurt her in his state of mind.

"Caius is going to be fine. And I'm fine as well."
Kyra smiles up at him; letting him pull her closer to kiss her forehead.

"Come on."
she mumbles and grabs his hand; the two of them making their way to Kyra's room.