The Power of Three [Twilight/Charmed]

Part Two - Chapter Twenty-Seven: Irina's Punishment

Aro yelped in pain sharply pulling his hand from Amelia, who smiled innocently as he shook his hand; he had seen enough of her thoughts and she didn't want him knowing more than he needed to.

"Thank you Amelia," Aro murmured stepping back away from the witch, he knew better to get on the wrong side of the brunette especially at a time like this; he watched as she nodded her head before she headed back to the group on the other side of the field.

Caius carefully moved towards Aro, his red eyes flickering from Amelia to her siblings as she quickly moved to re-join them with the werewolf that had stayed with her.

"What are we to do brother? With the Charmed ones siding with the Cullens, our authority has been greatly weakened," Caius whispered glaring at the witches, he had wanted them destroyed when they had made themselves known but he had never expected them to be so powerful.

Aro looked at his brother, they had come here for a reason and they wanted this to work out in the favour, they couldn't walk away like a wounded dog and not get what they had come for.

"Artifice. Where is the informer? Let her come forward," Caius asked realising that Aro didn't know what to do now, he looked around wildly as Irina slowly appeared from the crowd; she had been hiding in the back of crowd with the wives.

Irina glanced nervously up the field at the Cullens, she stopped when she spotted her sisters and family unbelieving that they were her.

Irina stared for a moment before Demetri pushed her towards Aro and Caius, Irina blinked her golden eyes as she turned to look at the two masters; she knew that she was going to be in a lot of trouble now.

"Is that the child that you saw?" Caius asked walking towards Irina, he glared at her wanting what they had come for; she held the key to winning this and he didn't care what it took.

"I don't know that child is bigger than the one that I saw," Irina explained looking down at her hands, she had caused a lot of trouble of this but there was no denying that the child before her had changed since she had last seen her.

Caius frowned walking towards her furiously, he didn't like what he was hearing and it was clear to everyone that he wanted some sort of war to happen.

"Now sweetling, show me what you are trying to tell us," Aro purred in a sugary sweet voice trying to reclaim some of the control of the situation; Caius would do anything to win even if it meant destroying the Cullens with no evidence.

Irina took Aro's hand showing him again what she had seen when she had first spotted Bella with the child, she kept her eyes down ashamed that she hadn't checked out the facts first before she had started all of this.

"You see, Caius? It's a simple matter of getting what we need," Aro mused smiling at his brother who ignored him glaring up at the group of gathered vampires across the field from them; they weren't going to be able to pull this back if they didn't do something now.

Irina looked between the two brothers before she glanced back at her sisters sadly, all of this was her fault; she had brought so much trouble to the Cullens and her family over a glimpse of something that she hadn't understood and her want for revenge.

"So you appear to have been quite mistaken in your allegations," Caius stated smirking filled his face, he watched as Tanya and Kate leant forward anxiously to see where he was going with this; it was clear since things weren't going as planned that Caius and he was going to find another way to get what he wanted.

"I'm sorry, I should have made sure of what I was seeing. But I had no idea..." Irina murmured gesturing towards Edward and his small family, she had made a grave mistake and she had to deal with the consequences.

Caius ignored Aro walking towards the vampiress, he smirked knowing that there was a reason that Irina had come to them and it wasn't because of the hybrid and it meant that they could push on.

"We all know you made a mistake. I meant to speak of your motivations," Caius said brusquely watching watched her, there was something that had caused Irina to turn against the Cullens; he wanted it to be the key that he had been waiting for.

Irina blinked staring at the Volturi leader, she hadn't expected this from him and it made her nervous; she looked at her sisters for a moment knowing that there was no point lying now.

"You were unhappy with the Cullens, were you not?" Caius questioned as Irina turned to look at him, she nodded her head as her miserable golden eyes looked away from her sisters; she was still upset about what had happened and they knew that.

"I was unhappy because the werewolves killed my friend and the Cullens wouldn't stand aside to let me avenge him," Irina confirmed hearing a snarl build from the wolves, she ignored it as she continued to look at Caius who seemed satisfied again with the direction of things.

"So the Cullens sided with the werewolves against our own kind... against the friend of a friend even," Caius summarised, he was getting what he wanted and Irina had no idea what she was really causing; it was clear that Caius was ticking down his list, he was looking for an accusation that would stick.

"If you would like to make a formal complaint against the werewolves and the Cullens for supporting their actions, now would be the perfect time," Caius suggested as a tiny cruel smile, he was waiting for Irina to give him his next excuse; Irina jaw jerked up and her shoulders squared realising what Caius was trying to do.

"No, I have no complaint against the wolves or the Cullens. You came here today to destroy an immortal child. No immortal child exists. This is my mistake and I take full responsibility for it. But the Cullens are innocent, and you have no reason to still be here, I'm so sorry," Irina whispered looking at her sister and then the Cullens.

Irina sighed turning to look at the Volturi, her golden eyes flickered over certain members knowing that she was now in a lot of trouble for what she had done.

Caius raised his hand as she spoke and in it was a strange metal object, carved and ornate; it was a signal that caused three Volturi guards leapt forward and Irina was completely obscured by grey cloaks.

In the same instant there was a horrible metallic screeching ripped through the clearing before Caius slithered like the snake that he was and the shocking squealing sound exploded into a startling upward shower of sparks and tongues of flame.

The guards leapt back from the sudden inferno that had been created from the body of Irina and the lighter that Caius was holding; everyone stared shocked at what had happened while Kate and Tanya cried out for their lost sister.

"Now she has taken full responsibility for her actions," Caius announced smugly, his red eyes flickering coldly over the line in front of him; his eyes touching swiftly on the frozen forms of Tanya and Kate.

It took a second for the gathering to realise what Caius had been after from Irina, he hadn't wanted her complaint, he had wanted her defiance.

It was his excuse to destroy her, he wanted to ignite the violence that hung thick in the air like a combustible mist; Caius knew that this would be the turning point in the battle.