𝘖𝘉𝘚𝘐𝘋𝘐𝘈𝘕 ° 𝘈𝘓𝘌𝘊 𝘝𝘖𝘓𝘛𝘜𝘙𝘐

[16] IMPOSTER

*** indicates the start & end of a mature scene ***
fair warning there is also some #dubiousconsent

000

RORY WAS AN IMPOSTER.

She didn't belong, not really.

There was nothing less terrifying than waiting for the final judgement. To know you were guilty in the first place, but praying desperately to be found innocent of the crimes you never meant to commit. It was technically treason. Aurora knew what she had done, but she just prayed to any deity out there they would have mercy on her damned soul and she wouldn't be caught. As it was, Rory was in too deep with this tricky and arduous fate she was ensnared in.

The pristine image she had held of the Volturi had all but shattered over the last month—not just when she regained her memories, although they did reinforce the realization that the Volturi were not the benevolent rulers of their kind. No longer disillusioned with the protection and respect they supplied. The law was really what they said it was. There was no basis, other than the facade of their protection, that the Volturi demanded absolute obedience from all immortals.

She painted over every single thought and memory that might alarm Aro with unassuming emotions, leaving no imperfection behind, not even a streak. She completely blocked over meeting her mother, crashing the graduation, kissing Jasper...nothing would be left for Aro to take than what she allowed him to see. Her time with the Cullens would be colored dull and uneventful, nothing worth scraping at.

The placement of someone's larger, paler hand on hers broke her concentration. Her hand had been clutching the chair's armrest between them—and was near to breaking it with the strength of her grip. The damage would raise questions if the others noticed. She looked up to see the boy she had spent an entire month apart from staring at her with those intelligent eyes that she had grown to care for deeply.

He didn't need to say a word for her to feel calm. He had had effect on her since the days spent in her dormitory in Florence. Now that she remembered everything, she was left with more sentimental feelings towards the older vampire than before. Every touch, every glance, hazy human memories of the same emotions between them felt long before either had accepted them.

It was unhealthy, their attachment to each other. Despite the questions she now had, she knew, at the core, why he had done any of it. It was the same reason why she was willing to walk into the lion's den for him because she couldn't leave him alone in the castle of starving beasts.

In the company of the other three guard members and an unexpected newborn guest, their reunion was pretty silent. They'd discuss their business in private.

Their sudden motion seemed to be the trigger for conversation.

"Was it just me or did the Cullens smell particularly foul?" Felix asked out loud.

"Must be the animals they feed upon," Demetri chuckled lowly, speaking as though the Cullens fed on rodents and other vermin—not elk, bears, or the occasional mountain lion. Though, Rory knew Demetri didn't care to know.

Their guest, the newborn vampire, remained remarkably silent, her knees pulled up to her chest in the seat farthest from the Volturi guards. Her long wavy hair hung around her face, but she seemed curious enough to glance up at the turn of words.

"How disgusting." Jane didn't bother looking up from her laptop, fiercely typing her report of the mission.

Rory imagined the thousand year old vampire making a Twitter account and barely managed to bite back the cackle that had arisen at the thought. While the Volturi were adamant in their traditions, keeping up with modern technology was the basis to their continued success in watching the world for threats to their kind. And the conveniences of technology was not lost. To her credit, Jane appeared to have  finished not long after she started. Rory expected it was no less than twenty pages detailing the tense affair.