Alethiology in Volterra (Volturi Kings/OC)

12.2

Chapter XII - II: Closer

Part II

"Stop it."

When she heard his voice speak from behind her, Altheia laughed. Just as hollow, just as empty. "Stop?" She whirled around to deem him with a tight-lipped sneer. "I'm sorry, in case you don't understand, I'm doing you a favor here."

"Stop. It." Caius snapped, struggling to even out his rage in deep breaths. "Let me make something clear."

Altheia leaned away coolly and shrugged as if to say be my guest.

"I don't like you." Caius stated simply, his tone laced with disdain. Altheia laughed again. "I don't know you. You came into Volterra by chance, hiding behind the misdeeds of a wayward coven, only to be spared because of a seer's cheap mindtricks that my brothers seem keep falling for, and for some unfathomable reason, you even possess immunity to Aro's clairvoyance? You say you were Amun's scholar in earlier in your life?" Caius seethed distrustingly. "I don't trust you."

Altheia blinked at him, taken aback. She stared blankly at him as she tried to think of a response. "I don't know what to tell you to make you believe me," she said tentatively. "I don't know what to say. When you put it like that it does sound awfully convenient..." Altheia winced. "But that doesn't mean you can't trust me – or that you can't try – I was just as clueless about you and everything about this place since I arrived!" She threw her hands up. "I didn't know vampires existed. Hell, I didn't even know Amun wasn't human!" She exhaled sharply and then shook her head, willing herself to calm. "I've spent the last four months learning and understanding everything about this coven. That's why I trust the Volturi. I'm happy to be here, Caius. I'm thankful." Altheia held his gaze solemnly. "But I wouldn't go so far as to force myself to stay." She shook her head at him. "I can't make you trust me. I can leave."

Aro stepped in between them and reached out to her. Flicking her in the middle of her forehead with his middle finger, he said, "That is the wine talking." Altheia scrunched up her nose at him, and he turned to ask Caius, "Do you trust me?"

Caius frowned. "Of course I do."

"Do you trust Marcus?"

The snow-haired monarch glanced at the man in question. "Yes."

"Then trust me that I speak for the both of us when I say this." Aro said. "Through the years that have passed, Marcus and I have only felt more and more godforsaken." His blunt, scathing tone made Caius recoil.

"Aro..." Marcus cautioned.

"No, he has to know." Aro shook his head and matched Caius' hard expression. "You don't have the same abilities as us. It's why you don't understand. To read everyone's lives with one single touch, to see the invisble strings that hold life's meanings – only to confirm every single time that our entire lives were nearly purposeless." Aro pulled his gaze back to stare at Altheia. "Three thousand years without a mate, tell me who wouldn't go insane."

"You deny yourself these thoughts, Caius, because for so long you've convinced yourself unworthy of agape." Marcus said wearily. "For the past few months, you've shown that you're capable of mercy. It's time to bestow it on yourself."

Caius' gaze rested on the woman in front of him. "She's human."

"That's a problem how?" Aro laughed. "She's been inducted. She will be changed. There's nothing to worry about."

Altheia took the silence as an opportunity to speak up. "Well, about that." Their attentions focused on her, and she nervously shifted her weight from one leg to the other. "I... want to go home." Realizing how that sounded, she waved her hands in front of her in panic. "I mean – I don't mean to leave – unless, that's what you all would want, I could leave – but I meant... to take a trip home. One last time before it all ends for me. You know?" She gave a half-hearted smile. "Campania's not that far."