Allure (Caius Volturi)

28

Melans... Melens?... MELONS.

I don't know how I would possibly explain to younger me why or how I got to be sitting in The Volturi guards' "living" area. Jane and Alec to my right, Demetri and Heidi to my left, Corin across from me and Felix sprawled on the couch behind her.

"Who needs school?" Demetri scoffed.

"Uhm? Valuable members of society?" I said with a slight scoff and squint at him.

"I've dealt without school." Felix raised his hand, not even looking over, just saluting Hitler above him.

"I don't want to be this person, but can you read?" Jane asked and I snorted. The circle burst into bouts of giggles and Felix huffed, rolling over to look at the back of the couch.

"Of course I can read, Jane." He said her name forcefully like he was expelling it from his mouth.

"How do you spell 'watermelon'?" Heidi asked suddenly. The group went steadily quiet.

"I know how to spell watermelon. I will not be peer pressured into doing something as dumb as reciting spelling of a stupid word." Felix said as someone walked into the room.

"Tiago!" I raised my arms in the air. "Care to join the circle?"

Santiago chuckled at my enthusiasm before shaking his head to himself and coming to sit down. He settled beside Corin, but I noticed that he left space for Felix's head.

"I suppose I could join for a while." He sighed as he settled back on his palms. "The masters are in council."

"Are we to know what about?" Jane asked as she shifted to turn toward him a bit.

"Well..." he looked over at me for a moment before looking down. "They're discussing whether to pursue Carmine."

I felt my stomach drop at the name. Those eyes came to mind and I felt a chill run up my spine, goose bumps on the back of my neck.

The group seemed to freeze and Santiago sat up straight. I adjusted my sitting position, trying to hide my shiver. I let my arms hug around my knees and smiled briefly at Corin when I accidentally caught her eye.

"I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine, Tiago," I said quickly, shaking my head. "No harm done. Caius would probably tell me later regardless. Knowing about it now will probably help me to come to terms with it sooner."

"If you think about it, hearing the name might desensitize you to it." Jane offered.

"That could be a bad thing though?" Alec said. "If you're desensitized to it, you may forget it."

"Let's not go that far down the rabbit hole." I sighed, looking up at the ceiling. "I don't think I'll ever get to that point. I feel like that name will bother me for a long time. I may get slightly used to it... but that's far off."

There was an awkward moment.

"Anyways, we were making fun of Felix because he can't read." Jane said filling in Santiago. I rolled my eyes. Felix sat up abruptly.

"I can too read!" He barked. "W-A-T-E-R-"

"M-E-L-A-N-S."