Libra's Symphony (Alec Volturi x OC)

Vulnerability

    "You were right. The other girl is unpleasant and causes too much trouble."

I heard Demetri's words with little to no surprise. I was not interested in his impressions of Natalia at all but his motivation to think ill of her worried me instantly. She was supposed to meet Marina that day and I immediately thought that whatever she did would make my life harder.

I was right about that as well.

"They met and had a short conversation" he informed me and I could sense the caution in his voice. It was not unusual for him to be relaxed around me and even joke in spite of the difference in our positions within the coven so that alarmed me even more.

"What did they talk about?"

He avoided my eyes as he answered.

"About you for the most part."

As I feared.

He then repeated their conversation to me, which turned my mood sour enough, but then he told me of Marina's encounter with Corin.

"Corin went to see her," I repeated, trying to figure out how to feel about it. "Did Corin also mention me?"

Demetri grew anxious.

"Yes, she did." He hesitated for only a second. "She knows, Marina noticed."

I closed my eyes in frustration.

"Corin didn't tell her," he quickly added, "she just noticed."

"Of course she did."

She was too attentive for her own good. She was also too docile and susceptible to outside influences for her own good, something that hardly bothered me before as I used it to my own advantage, but that was proving to be a nuisance once someone else started to do the same to oppose me. Natalia knew her for longer and possibly a little better, and given her personality she would not go down without a fight.

I knew her choice to be killed was too good to be true. It was an illusion, I was not that lucky. Not like Marina. Marina was the lucky one, the one to whom amazing things simply happen. Natalia was a propulsive force, she made things happen to herself and those around her. She was the one making it all happen from the start, she had been responsible for placing Marina in my path to begin with. She was orchestrating Marina's most decisive life events ever since they met, I could bet on it. It would be convenient to have her removed from the equation but it might be even better to use her in my favour instead.

Could I ever persuade her?

She would never help me willingly, but perhaps I could play my cards well enough to make her help me unknowingly. Perhaps I could sway her and she wouldn't even notice, make her get Marina to want to stay with us and throw her right into my arms.

I decided to talk to her.

"She is not to be hurt too badly" Demetri warned me and I smiled at the specificity.

"A little should be enough for now" I joked. I had no intention of hurting her unless she forced me. "Marina is still talking to Master Aro, I suppose."

Demetri confirmed it and I walked past him to go to Natalia's room. I would rather talk to Marina about Corin first, but that would have to wait. Her conversation with Master Aro could take hours, I had little time to spare before going back to work.

"She is a confused little thing, your human" Demetri commented before I left. "She doesn't even know what she wants, does she? How dangerous that someone so powerful is so lost."