The Shadows of the Sun

Chapter Twelve

           Many a day passed in a similar way. Then one day I was brought to the throne room for a debrief on another mission. This one involved vampires that had created an immortal child. There were four of them in total. They were located somewhere in France. I did my best to relax and enjoy the view of the whole plane ride there. It wasn't super long, but I did enjoy the sun on my face, even if it was through a window. Then we were off running. Or the Voltrui were. I was forced to ride on Demetri's back. The run was so long that I was forced to tuck my face under my arm, and consequently against Demtetri's shoulder blade. Finally we came to a stop and I jumped off Demetri's back. I stumbled, trying to get used to the feeling of the ground and the fact it was stationary. I may be used to going at that speed, but that was on my own feet, not on some vampire's back. I barely listened as Jane conversed with the violators in French. Then she gave the signal to start signal killing. I pounced on the closed one I could, eager to be done with it. It was a male of about 25. He was strong. It was only then that I realized they had forgotten to take my onyx off of me. Crap. I was going to die. I had no weapon. No speed, no strength. I was screwed in simple terms. The vamp lunged. I dodged. This continued on for a while before I was suddenly not able to dodge fast enough and he landed a punch to my ribs. That did not feel good at all. My breath abandoned my lungs and I was left gasping like a fish out of water. The vampire took advantage of this momentary weakness and threw me into a tree. This sucked. Before I could react the vampire was back on top of me, pummeling me with his fists. I let out a fierce snarl, hoping I could scare the vampire into reconsidering. I took advantage of his momentary surprise to attempt to throw him off of me. All to no avail. He landed another hard punch on my abdomen, then one to my chest. My breath abandoned me and I was at his mercy for a second. He continued to rain down blows on me, I began to thrash desperately. I needed to get out of here. I was going to die. I didn't want to die. Right? I would be with Finn though. But I would be dead. Is death really so bad? Yes. No. I don't know. I won't let myself find out even though it is tempting. Before I could renew my efforts at a fight the vampire was ripped off me and swiftly ended by Felix. Demetri helped me up. I lifted a hand and slapped him across the face.

"You forgot to take the onyx off me." I hissed. He was completely unaffected by my slap.

"I am suddenly aware of that fact." He stated. I rolled my eyes. Everything hurts.

"Can we leave now?" I asked. Demetri looked at Jane, who nodded. The problem must have been taken care of while I was being beaten to a pulp by another vampire. I hissed as I attempted to climb onto Demetri's back. Yeah, this stank. Finally I clambered up there and Demetri took off. My head was spinning and it hurt to breathe in and out. I was not able to heal fast thanks to my onyx. I didn't realize I had nodded off until Demetri suddenly stopped and whirled around, preventing my head from hitting the hard ground. He cursed.

"What are you doing?" He growled. He glimpsed the look on my face and answered his own question. "Sleeping. You were sleeping." Before I could protest he scooped me up like a baby and continued his run. I tried to fight him, but I was reduced to a weak human that had just gotten pummeled. It didn't do much good. Eventually I ended up falling asleep.

I gasped, sitting upright. Then winced from the pain. I had no clue where I was. The last thing I remembered was falling asleep being carried by Demetri. How embarrassing. Judging by the noise and motion, I could at least deduce we were on a plane. Probably heading back to Italy. Great. I debated on going back to sleep, but I didn't want to miss the last bit of sunlight I would get before returning to the dark castle. I slowly got up and headed out the door that I assumed led into the body of the plane. Felix and Demetri were engaged in a game of chess, which I found to be risky while they were on a plane, but who was I to judge? Jane and Alec were engaged in a quiet conversation toward the front of the plane. I flopped down on a seat near the back and tried to tune into their conversation, all to no avail. With the stupid onyx I could not even hear my own heartbeat. It freaked me out. The plane ride passed relatively quickly as I savored every drop of sunlight I could get. Felix had won the game of chess, which surprised me. He just seemed to be more brawn than brains. Both of them seemed to have limited brain power. Jane may just be the only smart one, I suppose that was why she was the leader. I exited the plane and followed them to yet another fancy black car that they had waiting. I idly wondered if they normally took cars or if they were doing that for my benefit, as I was unable to run. I doubt they would have a problem with letting Demetri carry me though. They probably took cars normally. I mean it's not like they are short on them. Why have so many cars if they weren;t going to use them? After about 15 minutes we arrived at the stoney gates of the castle. Joy. I did not mind going on missions. I liked getting out of there, even temporarily. We pulled into the dark parking garage and walked the rest of the way to the throne room. I forgot how cold it was in the castle. I should have bought a coat or something. I shivered, then flinched at the motion. Demetris' head turned toward me, and I gave him a glare that dared him to say anything. He heeded my unspoken advice and left me alone. The doors to the throne room were thrown open and we strode in. Aro looked delighted.

"My dears! You have returned!" He clapped his hands together, a maniacal grin playing on his marble features "I trust everything went smoothly?"

"Yes, Master. There was only one small hiccup." Jane allowed. My ribs ached in memory. I hated being the small hiccup, and it wasn't even my fault really. I blamed it on Demetri because it was fun.

"May I see, Jane dearest?" Aro phrased it as a question. I believe that everyone knew it was order. One that Jane seemed to have no problem obeying. She stepped forward, almost eagerly and took his waiting hand. He clasped his other hand over hers. I wondered if he got a clearer picture with two hands, like looking through both eyes instead of just one. After a second he hummed. "There is a hole. What happened while you were inside?" He asked the question almost to himself. I bet I knew where this was going. "Dearest Kaiya, may I see your perspective?" There it was. I sighed, not caring if they heard, but I stepped forward nonetheless. I extended my hand and tried my best not to shiver as his icy grip encased my hand. He held it for a minute, going far deeper into my mind than he had for Jane. Then finally he released it. "So very interesting." He said, grin ever in place. I suddenly had an idea.

"I have a proposal to prevent something like that from happening again."

"Oh? Do share." Aro seemed to be interested.

"I would like permission to carry a small weapon on missions." I stated, meeting Aro's blood red gaze unflinchingly. He pondered this for a second. Then he glanced back at the other two kings, most likely seeking their opinion on the matter. Caius answered immediately.

"No." Marcus pondered it for a while longer.

"I believe there may be some benefit to that proposal."

"Unfortunately I do agree with Caius. I must base this on what happened last time you had such a weapon in your possession." I could only assume that he was referring to when I smashed my onyx confines with the hilt of a knife.

"What if modifications were made to my onyx that prevented them from being smashed?" That would really be annoying, but my life was worth the inconvenience, at least in my opinion.

"We shall debate this topic further." Aro concluded. "Demetri, would you escort dearest Kaiya to her accommodations?" Demetri nodded and it was back to my cell I go. Sorry, rooms.