until dawn (marcus and bella )

chapter 3

CPOV

"Aro, what in Dante's seven hells just happened with Marcus?" Aro paused seemingly gathering his scattered thoughts before answering me.

"She's his mate, as soon as he saw her they instantly bonded. It was glorious. Even stronger initially than what he had with my sister near the end of her life."

I blink at him in disbelief. "Is it possible for a vampire to have two mates?" Sulpicia asked. I too wondered this as I cannot ever recall having heard even a hint of something such as this happening before- then I remembered exactly who my brother had bonded too.

"Aro we must stop this! She is broken! Not to mention what else has possibly occurred to her! There bonding will only end in disaster and Marcus may very well not survive a second loss of such devastating proportions."

My beautiful wife beside me gasped, her eyes welling slightly with venom that would never fall. "We can't lose him! Not after all this time! We were finally starting to see hints of interest again. Aro you must do something!" she exclaimed. I personally felt that Marcus had not gotten much better mentally at all, merely better at hiding his disinterest from us. It wasn't that he did not love us anymore it was instead that he found life without flavour or comfort. The stark realities of the world without a partner to share the burden with weighed him down, and he did not wish us to worry over him and to add to our own burdens. Though Marcus had been suicidal that first century and a bit after Didyme's passing, he did not wish to leave us now. He just couldn't be roused past apathetic mostly.

Sulpicia placed her hand on her husband's forearm adding to Athenodora's thought. "And we know nothing of this girl Aro. Nothing other than the trouble she's in. What could her intentions be?"

Aro raised his hand to stop the flow of comments and concerns. "We are making chaos out of nothing I believe. Firstly, Isabella did not willingly come to us, nor did she mean to interrupt Marcus' life. If anything Marcus' little display earlier showed that she is bewildered and possibly a little shy. It took her quite a few seconds to actually take his hand, and her facial expression and body language indicated that she was uncomfortable.

As for her instability and the issues concerning her, I will of course read the girl, but I greatly doubt that a small human girl has actually caused any of our kind to do anything. She likely got caught up with a group of rouges, and somehow miraculously survived it.

We must remember that we are blessed by her appearance. It may not seem it now, but from our brief glimpse of Marcus, already you can see the interest and life coming back to him. He has not been this enraptured in anything for over a millennia. Even if the girl is barely tolerable to us, for him I think we can put up with her presence. And, as it seems she is his mate, I greatly doubt she will have a personality so different than Marcus' that his own family can not abide her.

Of course we cannot change her yet, but hopefully with time, care and our family's attentions we can heal her mind. I will have Demetri hunt down a medical specialist or two to acquaint myself with and we will deal with this. Quite honestly simply being with Marcus who will accept her wholly should do a great deal of good- especially once she comes to trust him. We however must remember that she is now family. Caius if I express your apologies to the girl will you be graceful about it?"

I scowl at him in reply. "I may not like humans brother but even I do not look a gift horse in the mouth. If she can bring Marcus out of his shell at all she will be worth the trouble she brings. I do believe this is more complicated than you've made it seem, but if she is indeed our brothers mate than we will protect her until something proves otherwise or she fits like a true member of our family."

Aro nods in reply, smiling indulgently at me. I scowl harder in return at him. He quickly pecks Sulpicia on the lips before he stands. "Come Caius, I think we've given them enough time to get introduced to one another, now I wish to meet the girl," he exclaims taking steps towards the door, presumably on his way to Marcus' study. I sigh in slight exasperation, and drop a kiss to Athenodora's forehead before I follow after him. For some reason I do not see this going quite the way Aro thinks it will.