Penance ↠ Volturi Kings {2} ✓

05

With stealth now the only option to gain more information about the Romanians, Caius dispatched Afton and a lower guard named Vincent on an intel gathering mission that lasted over a week. I found myself spending much of his time away with Chelsea in an attempt to keep her mind off the ever-present danger Afton was now in.

"Our suspicions were correct in part; they're actively hunting for gifted individuals but a majority of their force seems to be composed of normal vampires," Afton informed me after returning from his mission. "They do some training outside that Vince and I were able to watch; they're absolutely savage. Their fighting techniques are brutal yet effective, but they're clearly training their soldiers to act almost purely offensively with no regard to their own lives."

I shuddered. "Any estimate on numbers?"

"I'm no Demetri, but I'd say his guess of at least a hundred is pretty accurate. It's impossible to say how many of those are newborns. The only good thing is they don't seem like they're organizing to move against us yet, so we still have time to prepare," Afton said.

"Caius already has Felix, Demetri, and Santiago training the guard around the clock, but at least the Romanians' slower pace gives us more time to strategize," I said.

Renata nodded in agreement. "Some of the lower guard have been speculating that he's aiming for a pre-emptive strike, but he's not about to act rashly in a situation as sensitive as this."

"It's far past the point where an early strike would even make much of a difference than meeting on the battlefield. It's better we take the time to train and prepare than to go in half-cocked," Afton added.

I agreed. "Precisely. Aro, Chelsea, and I have been working on trying to figure out what their next moves may be before they decide to go on the offensive."

"What about your sister, the seer? She could help," Afton said.

"First thing we thought of. But Alice has never met the Romanians, so she can't see their futures unless something they decide on directly affects us. Since they haven't made any solid battle plans yet, it's impossible for her to say how long we even have until they attack."

He frowned. "That's unfortunate. And frustrating."

"Believe me, I know. Alice told us she couldn't help - Aro was on the call too, see - and you would have thought that someone had just told him that Christmas was canceled. He puts far too much stock in Alice's abilities," I said, smiling in fond recollection at the memory.

Afton laughed. "I believe it. How does Master Caius feel about Master Aro being involved with things?"

"Well, Caius is in charge of the actual strategy and shots being called, so it's not as if Aro is actually giving out any orders; we're just trying to make Caius' decision making a little easier," I said.

"Should I go visit Aro, tell him what I know?" Afton asked.

"Please, whenever you get a chance. Vince, too, if possible."

"Sure, he'd be happy to. We stuck together for the most part, but having a separate set of eyes means he may have noticed something that I didn't," Afton said. "I can visit now, any chance you know where to find him?"

"Probably in the library, that's where we've set up our little base of operations. We can go over together, that way Renata can get back to her own post," I said. "She's supposed to be on shift patrolling Volterra's walls, but she stayed back until you could get here, Afton."

The guard currently on duty for watching over me had become rather unpredictable with the tumult following Demetri and Felix's report. The elite guard, who were my most common companions, were pulled for training or other duties along with Santiago. Afton was by my side regularly up until he got assigned the intel mission with Vince. Caius wasn't pleased with it, but it wasn't all that uncommon for me to now have only one guard with me instead of the normal two.