Libra's Symphony (Alec Volturi x OC)

Betrayal

    Something was simmering within Marina. I could sense it in the way she pushed me away, in the way she spoke to me, and it stressed me greatly. She was not like Natalia, expansive and explosive, but she was perfectly capable of causing trouble in her own way. Quietly, patiently letting her anger build up until it bubbled enough to pour over the edge like slimy hot lava, taking whatever it could in its merciless path. She would wallow it in until it imploded and as she crumbled down she would take as much as she could with her.

I was beyond worried.

"I spoke to her," Jane announced as we gathered to wait for Heidi. She didn't need to specify who she was talking about. "She should go to you soon. I advised her to give up this whole staying away nonsense."

"Advised?" I echoed mockingly. She scowled and looked away from me.

"She needed some persuasion but she came around."

"You hurt her," I accused but I was not very preoccupied. I trusted Jane to be gentle with her, she knew well enough how frail humans could be.

"It was just a little nudge. She barely sweat at all."

"She has been misbehaving" I considered, trying to be fair rather than emotional in my judgement "and with Master Aro's fear that she will get too severely hurt if she was to be punished for her misdeeds I suppose she has been getting bolder. I would think it was good for her to feel your power, sister. It doesn't truly harm her and it might put her in her place until her transformation."

Jane smiled at me and took my hand in hers. "I am sorry that I interfered but it pains me to see your distress."

"Thank you, Jane. Marina does need a few nudges from time to time."

And I am not about to ever complain if she is nudged towards me.

The terms of her transformation were being revised, as I knew. Like me, the masters began to worry that it was too dangerous to keep her human for the previously accorded time, especially with Natalia in the castle as well.

"She is not adjusting, is she?"

Jane and I turned to face Afton as he spoke, Chelsea right by his side. Demetri heard him and laughed from his spot a few steps away.

"She is human," he said for what felt like the hundredth time since Marina set foot in the palazzo, "of course she is not."

"Many humans aspire to be like us and adjust just fine" I reasoned. "Marina just happens to not be one of them."

"Just our luck" Chelsea smiled at the irony. "She is harder to deal with."

We all knew she meant it in regards to her own gift. As it happened with certain abilities the one Chelsea possessed did not work as well on humans as it did on immortals. Ever since Marina had learnt of her expected role in the coven I had hoped that Chelsea's manipulation would be enough to at least keep her from trying to flee until she was granted immortality, but Chelsea admitted not long after Marina's arrival that she was not sure that she could hold the newly arrived human there if she was too averse to becoming one of us.

"She is so faint, I barely feel her at times."

"I feel her just fine" Demetri contributed, "and her friend as well. They are both still in the kitchen with the other human."

"She doesn't want to be a vampire then" Afton went on, "that is too bad." Chelsea nodded in agreement.

"I just hope she won't be a tormented vegetarian once she is turned. That will not sit right in here" she mused.