Beating Hearts

Prologue

"Please, I beg of you. I did no wrong." Stone cold hands grasped onto the man's arms impossibly tighter, yanking as Aro grabbed his head, pulling until an audible pop was heard.

The man collapsed, Aro's fierce red eyes being the last thing he sees before the darkness consumed him.

He sighs as he walks away from the broken figure, returning to his spot on the throne. "It's not as thrilling anymore, is it?"

Looking to his right, he sees Marcus silently staring in the distance. "How about you, fratello?"

"I've been tired for centuries, Aro."

There was a time when they lead armies every day, destroying clans that dared defy them.

But the world had grown silent.

The Cullens were the last they had gone after, and it hadn't ended the way it was planned. He never told his brothers what he had seen that day. It had taken Caius an entire year before he had calmed. Although, Aro was pretty sure he was still seething.

That was 10 years ago.

10 years since they had met the young one. She would be fully grown, now. Such a strange thing.

Distantly, he hears a small moan break the silence from above them. "Athenodora?"

"So, it seems."

Aro shakes his head as he clasps his hands together in his lap. "I don't know why he insists on staying with her. He can never even find his release. She's not his mate."

He had left Sulpicia a few centuries ago. As much as it gave them both comfort to have the other, it wasn't meant to be.

Marcus shifts in his seat next to him, his dull eyes meeting Aro's. "She's who he has known for years. You can't blame him for not wanting to just... give up. Eternity is a long time to spend alone."

Aro mulls over his words for a second before a door slamming pulls him from his thoughts. "Ah, brother. Good of you to join us."

Caius frustratingly huffs and sits in the chair next to him, ignoring his comment completely.

"Unsatisfied?"

"I will rip out your tongue and set it on fire."

He grins in response, finding humor in tormenting the young king.

"So, I see that he was guilty. Must you do executions without me?"

Rolling his eyes, "You didn't have to leave so you could get your cock wet, fratello. We weren't going to wait forever. And I was bored."

Caius was clenching his jaw so hard, both thought it might snap. "So feisty."

"Aro," Marcus chimes in, grabbing their attention. "You're acting no less of a child than he is."

Two taps on the large doors forces their eyes to shoot in that direction, the new young woman walked through the entry way with an envelop on a platter. Her five inch black heels scraped against the floor as she nervously chewed on her bottom lip, cracking the red lipstick she had plastered on. "You dare interrupt?"

She stuttered, fear evident in her eyes the moment Caius spoke. Aro couldn't remember her name. Rachel? Regan? Something that had started with an R, he was quite sure. No matter, they never lasted.

He slowly stood from his chair, gesturing for Caius to calm down. "Yes, my dear?"

Her arms were trembling as she lifted the note higher to him, making it within reach to grab.

Picking up the thin piece of paper, the name he reads catches him off guard. "It's from Carlisle."

He hears a scoff behind him, followed with yet another angry ridden sentence. "They have some nerve."

Without looking up, Aro motions for Demetri and Felix to grab the woman and drag her out, his eyes staying glued to the paper.

Turning away from her, he goes to stand between his brothers, pulling the letter from the envelope. The girls screams echoed behind him, causing a sadistic grin to spread on Caius' face. "What does it say, brother?"

He skims over the words once, then once more. "Oh my. This is a sadness."