The Swan/Cullen Residence - February 16th
"Have the Volturi under your rule lost all sense of decorum, manners and tact? Do they stoop to petty ultimatums and revenge? Are they no longer an organization whose sole purpose is to enforce the law? Or are you simply revealing what the organization has always been; Opportunistic liars and thieves of lives." Marcus spoke with a singular intensity as he moved forward from the back of the gathering causing Sulpicia and Athenodora jaws to drop slightly.
"You are one to talk, founder. You participated in our imprisonment, and then you left without a word. Why should we care what you say or think?" Sulpicia threw back, her words full of cold anger.
"Because his reasons and motivations were simple." Didyme said as she stepped up and joined her husband, lacing their fingers together and giving the two women she once viewed as sisters a dark look.
"Didyme!" Athenodora's face lit up with surprise and joy, and she moved a couple of feet forward automatically as if to rush into a hug before she stopped herself.
"I don't believe it, this must be some kind of trick." Sulpicia's surprise was genuine, but she shifted her expression to a guarded one almost immediately.
"No trick, no ruse, no lie. I was my brother's prisoner for over a thousand years. Sure it was a gilded cage, but it was a cage. From what I understand he did the same to you Sulpicia." Didyme turned towards her sister-in-law and leveled a look that practically begged her to argue.
"He was my husband, your brother. He deserves our respect, loyalty and grief." Sulpicia countered somberly.
Didyme stepped forward letting go of her husband, "I grieved for my brother when he staged my death and imprisoned me. I have no more empty tears for that man. Now you want to punish Carlisle's family for his crime? Kill his mate, despite the fact they are estranged? What kind of justice is that? It is pettiness, revenge, and you know full well that it is thuggish and wrong. Or put another way, I would not punish you for what Aro did to me." She spoke passionately and angrily, gesturing wildly with eyes wide and accusing.
Sulpicia stared at her with her mouth slightly agape, before she lowered her gaze and finally muttered out, "I... just want my world back."
"We all do, but that world is gone. Gone because there is a monster out there who has systematically destroyed it." Isabella spoke with a touch of sympathy which drew both Volturi queens' attention, then she glared at them to force an answer, while drawing Esme close to her. Esme simply melted into Isabella's embrace as her mind spun at the realization that Isabella would never allow her to die like that.
Sulpicia and Athenodora looked at each other, then at Didyme and they came to an unspoken conclusion.
"Terms withdrawn." Sulpicia said with a flat dissatisfied tone.
Isabella nodded once, then let a smirk of satisfaction show on her face for a split second before she spoke, "I will drop this issue, forget what you tried to do to my mother because we can use your help this time. However, your coven will no longer be enforcing the law, that time is over. If you ever attempt to summarily execute anyone ever again, you will face the kind of retribution the Volturi are famous for. You are out of second chances."
Sulpicia and Athenodora looked at each other for a protracted minute, almost discussing the turn of events without words. Rosalie and Charlie came forward and Isabella gently passed a terrified and emotionally drained Esme over to them, squeezing her hand slightly as she let go. Then they almost carried her back into the safety of the family.
"We have no interest in enforcing law, that was Aro and Caius. We simply wish to find a place for ourselves in whatever world is left after all of this." Athenodora spoke and everyone could tell it came from a place of vulnerability. She shook her head a few times, "I know they were monsters, and a part of me wants to take up their mantle and do what they did. Yet, I can see that you are the new power in the world. Which means we acquiesce, and our coven will obey your orders today. My sister and I vow that we will not attempt to reclaim what we once were when this conflict is over."
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In Another Life: Book Two - Taming the Beast
Hayran KurguBook Two - Taming the Beast The Volturi have made their play, and sentenced Isabella and her daughters to death. Yet in the aftermath of the devastating attack, the remains of the family have to forge a new life and new direction, including how to s...
