In Another Life: Book Two - Taming the Beast

Chapter Two: Cold Comfort

Volterra - February 4th

"Master, he's gone." The guard member stood perfectly still at attention in the doorway of Aro's private chambers. Aro paused his reading just enough to raise an eyebrow and glance at the boy, who couldn't have been more than seventeen when he was turned.

"Is there a guard member tracking him?" Aro's impatience made the boy visibly shiver, so Aro immediately put on his best smile, which seemed to calm him enough to answer.

"No sir, he... we have no idea where he is." Aro's expression broke, and a scowl replaced his frown. The boy's body language changed again, but this time he began to fold into himself, cowering under Aro's furious stare. Aro forced himself to smile again.

"Do not be afraid, I do not kill messengers. Understood?" The boy nodded. "Who was on watch?"

"Elliot." He blurted out immediately, any hesitation in giving up a fellow Guard member had been forgotten under Aro's gaze.

Aro nodded and looked back at his book, "bring Elliot to the council chamber immediately."

"Yes Master." The boy bowed, completely breaking eye contact, a different and more subservient show of respect than his older enforcers bothered to give him anymore.

"Dismissed." Aro said without his usual humor. He snapped closed his book and stood, dropping it on a table as he headed directly to the council room. Two chairs stood where three had once been. The white marble was stained by the wood which had bled into the stone over centuries and marked the previous positions of the chairs.

"Aro, what do you make of this?" Caius said as Aro sat beside him.

"Isabella and her daughter made more of an impression on him than I realized. Their deaths hit him hard, he is in mourning... again." Aro was bored of Marcus and his never ending grief, he couldn't understand how or why Marcus was still so closed off after so long.

"I almost feel sorry for him, if he wasn't mourning two filthy traitors." Caius said with more than an edge to his voice, and Aro wondered if his brother would execute Marcus for such a slight infraction. Still, Marcus was missing now and that had to be dealt with. The boy... Riley was his name... was leading Elliot by a few feet as they entered the chamber. Aro stood and smiled his classic smile.

"Elliot my boy." Aro moved forward and took the guard's hands in his. A flood of memories poured into Aro's mind, and with practiced ease he sifted and discarded the irrelevancies. He had been in the chamber when it happened, and from that moment he was supposed to be watching Marcus...

"... you are far too dangerous to be left unchecked." Aro watched his former self pull out a cell phone, and dial the number to the detonator.

"Aro, please no!" Marcus pleaded, his voice held real emotion and it almost drew the memory copy of Aro's attention. Instead he simply hit the button to detonate. There was a brief flicker of chaos on the other side of the hologram before the line went dead.

"What did you just do?" Marcus said, his voice flat again.

"What I had to do, Sulpicia made sure that the substructure of their home, where their full immersion holo projector was installed, was poured with explosives wired to a remote detonator. If they ever crossed us, it was the only way to be sure we could execute proper punishment." Aro explained easily, and Marcus simply nodded, although the micro expression that flickered across his face felt almost like anger.

"Don't get your panties in a twist Marcus. Your sponsorship was never going to last long term, they were tools, not family." Caius said with his normal sneer, but sat forward slightly towards Marcus to gauge his reaction.