Chapter 34 – Joining the Fight

Caius takes the rest of the afternoon off at my request, giving us the time I've been craving just to be in each other's company again. He lets me flip to Netflix and turn on Home Alone, my favorite Christmas movie, given that December is finally here. If these are going to be the craziest two months of my life, I might as well enjoy some holiday festivities while it's still early. While I'm sitting there, satisfied at the relieving turn of events this day has taken, the weight of the looming battle settles over me like a blanket I can't shake off. It gets so heavy and suffocating that by the time Kevin starts putting together his booby traps, I'm not even paying attention to the movie anymore.

"Excuse me for a sec," I tell Caius, heading over to his bathroom. I stand in front of the mirror, taking in the reflection of my human face for what feels like one of the last times. My skin is still flushed with the warmth of life, and my pupils are still staying afloat in the ocean blue of my eyes, which are only weeks away from becoming a sea of red. This version of me will be gone soon, and changed forever.

I drag a hand through my hair, trying to push away the flood of thoughts, but they're stubborn. Can I really just go to Greece with Caius and pretend that everything is normal while the others are still here, fighting such a dangerous fight? What if someone gets killed? Aro, Marcus, Jane, Alec, Felix, Demetri, Antonio... My parents already died because someone wanted me dead. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if my friends here died for the same reason while I was doing nothing but lounging on a beach chair.

I make my way back to the sofa where Caius is waiting expectantly.

"Is everything okay?" he asks, turning to meet my eyes.

"I can't just sit around waiting," I tell him, paused at the doorway, "Been there, done that, and it didn't end well. Now that I know how to use my shield, I have to help everyone the best I can."

A shadow crosses his face, "Anna, you're still human. This kind of fight is too dangerous for you."

"I know that," I counter firmly, stepping closer to him now, "But even if I can't fight, I can still at least try to use my shield, even if I can only protect one person."

"Your shield is still unpredictable. You could put yourself at risk."

"I'm willing to take that risk. I don't want to stand around and wait while you all prepare for a fight that could affect everyone here in such a big way. I need to be a part of this, and they need you here too."

Caius takes my hand and pulls me back down next to him, his gaze bearing into my eyes, "I'm not willing to take that risk. I won't let you put yourself in danger."

"I'm already in danger," I reply, standing up to his glare, "Athenodora could surprise us all and attack tomorrow. I'll be a target whether I'm ready or not, but I'll be in a much better position if I can at least practice with everyone, and know what's going on. Even if everything happens on schedule and you guys don't end up needing me, at the very least I won't feel so useless just sitting around and waiting."

Caius's jaw tenses, and he stares at me for a long moment, unblinking. I can almost see the battle playing out in his mind. I know he knows I'm right.

Finally he exhales sharply, "I'll arrange for you to join the training sessions, starting tomorrow," he finally gives in. A smile grows on my face. "When you finish your daily sessions with Eleazar, you can join us. But it won't be easy. We can't afford the time it would take to catch you up. You can attend, you can observe, you can learn, and you can try to practice manipulating your shield around us. That's it."

"Understood," I say, my heart racing.

* * *

Eleazar seems to have gotten some sort of memo about my training priorities being changed, since our training session today has switched course. Today he's trying to get me to extend my shield outside of my body, like before, just without an opening in order to prevent anyone from getting too close to me. That's easy, and requires much less concentration than it does simmering down the nerves it takes to consciously leave my shield open to someone. At the same time, I'm working on extending part of my shield around Caius in a way that completely fits his form, allowing him to fight while still being protected. The form-fitting part of it is the toughest. I can enclose him in my little "force-field", but it's shapeless. Felix just keeps bouncing off of it, rendering Caius a useless fighter. At the very least I could use it to push someone away from him if he gets overpowered, and that gives me a bit of relief, but I'm not completely satisfied.

"Can I practice protecting other people too?" I ask, at the end of our session.

"Now that you're used to having others, namely Caius, within your shield, maybe we can try again with Felix tomorrow if you're up for it." Eleazar suggests.

"Are you sure you can trust me now?" Felix asks jokingly.

"I guess we'll see," I retort, rolling my eyes with a smirk.

When Eleazar takes his leave, I follow Caius and Felix in anticipation of the BIG training session. I've never seen the other vampires train before, so I have no idea what to expect. It's probably as different as night and day compared to my human-friendly classes.

When we finally open the doors to the throne room, I see that it is, in fact, as different as night and day from my training. And this is just their pre-game warm-up, so that's putting it lightly. The other guard members pause their dodging and evasion exercises to look up at us walking through the door, probably surprised to see me, as Caius guides me over to the sidelines. Caius joins Aro and Marcus in his throne while Felix stands in front of them, facing the rest of the guard. Evading any sort of explanation as for the reason for my presence here, he begins explaining what they'll be working on today

After that, the room begins to hum with energy. Unlike human training, no time is taken for stretching, and there's no slow start. Everything is swift, precise, and almost silent except for the occasional thud of a foot or the whisper of fabric brushing against skin. Even so, the power of everyone in the room is palpable.

Felix lunges at Demetri so fast that I can barely register his attack, yet somehow, Demetri dodges him and twists himself out of the way with ease. A moment later, Jane breaks the silence. "Focus," she calls, "Can you hear it?" I watch as the vampires stop what they're doing, closing their eyes and seemingly listening to the room, attuning themselves to the space around them. I try to do the same, curious as to what they're hearing, but my own heartbeat rings louder than whatever they're seemingly picking up on.

As the practice session progresses, I also practice shaping my shield around Caius, still in his throne. I'm trying to visualize my power as malleable as clay, and trying to softly push its edges closer and closer to the outline of his body.

All of a sudden I hear someone yell in agony, the first struggle of the session. The suddenness of the sound makes me jump. I see that Demetri has been brought to his knees, looking paralyzed as he hugs his body tightly. My eyes widen to see Jane standing emotionlessly in front of his crippled figure. They go this far? I'm shocked to realize. Another vampire, seemingly on Jane's side, takes and rips both of Demetri's arms off.

"Demetri!" I scream, in absolute disbelief at the sight in front of me. Jane whips her head around to look at me, allowing a shorter woman with long black hair to swoop in and clutch Jane's shoulder. I'm not sure what she's doing, but after a moment, Jane's eyes gloss over. She walks away, seemingly losing interest in Demetri.

What in the world, I think, watching Rodrick appear to help Demetri attach his arms again, while keeping a close watch on all the other fights going on around the room.

After a moment of aimless wandering, Jane's eyes narrow in on Rodrick, who just finished putting Humpty Dumpty together again. She glances at the vampire who just moments ago tore Demetri's limbs off, and they exchange a nod. This is my chance, I decide, pulling my shield back from Caius, and moving my power over to Rodrick. My heart is racing as I push the boundary of my shield in his direction, keeping a space open so I can scoop him into its embrace. The second I'm about to encircle him, I feel my power getting heavier to push, resisting my decision, but I'm able to keep it from snapping back. Rodrick screams under Jane's power and I give my shield one final push with all the energy I have. To my surprise, it's able to enclose Rodrick and I immediately shut the opening as Rodrick's attacker approaches.

The vampire hurdles his fist at Rodrick. The blow connects, but not with Rodrick. The force of the slam is heard all around the room, the unnatural sound of it capturing everyone's attention. The attacker stumbles back, thrown off by the unexpected resistance. All eyes are on me as my shield recedes slowly back to my body. Did I do something wrong? I wonder breathlessly, directing my attention back at Caius, who's looking at me in a way that suggests I did.

"Resume," Aro calls nonchalantly from up front. Everyone immediately gets back into fighting mode as Caius gets up and makes his way towards me, taking my arm gently and pulling me out of the throne room.

"You told me yesterday that I could practice manipulating my shield around you guys," I remind him when we make it back to my room.

"I did, but I should have clarified. I meant around Aro, Marcus, and I," he explains, with a regretful smile.

"Why?" I ask, furrowing my brows in confusion, "It's not like you guys needed help in there."

Caius sighs, "Without Aro, Marcus, and I, the fate of everyone in this castle would be left unstable. Since you currently only have the strength to protect one other person at a time, it's not a good idea to offer a false sense of security to the other guard members who need to practice being in their best shape, both physically and mentally, so they can fight without your help," he explains.

I break our eye contact and look down at my shoes, remembering the conversation I had with Rodrick in class about hierarchies, and how he was upset that every individual here fights for the Volturi, yet the Volturi doesn't necessarily fight for every individual within it. Now I realize exactly what he meant. It's a sucky realization, even if I do understand the reasoning behind it. The Volturi is basically a monarchy after all.

"I know what you're thinking," Caius says, guiding my head back up to meet his eyes. "There's still time between now and New Year's. If you keep practicing, maybe you can improve your power to be able to protect more than the three of us. But, the highest level guard members must be your next priority." I nod, talking solace in the possibility that I could learn to control my power well enough to keep everyone on our side safe within it.

"Are the Volturi guard members who aren't at these trainings the ones on Athenodora's side?" I ask, thinking back to how many fewer people there were practicing than the number of vampires I know are working here at the castle. He looks at me thoughtfully.

"Not necessarily, but as I said before, please only trust Aro, Marcus, Alec, Jane, Demetri, Felix, Lavitto, and I. Some of the guard have other responsibilities to attend to, but the guard members who are there, need to be there. The guard members who don't, don't."

"What are you implying?" I ask. The team of vampires in that room was a lot bigger than the short list of people I'm supposed to trust.

"Remember Anna, we're playing Chess, while everyone else is playing Checkers," he says with a soft smile, running his hands through my hair. "Keep practicing your shield on me, Marcus, and Aro first, and let the rest of the guard get all the training they can while it's still safe for them to make mistakes."

"Okay," I sigh. Things keep getting more and more complicated, but at least I'm not wandering around aimlessly in the dark anymore.

Author's Note:

Long time, no author's note!  I had a lot of free time this week so I got a lot of writing time in.  I figure I might as well upload the next chapter early!  I'll still upload the next chapter on Sunday/Monday too, so happy bonus chapter week in honor of National Novel Writing Month!  (Who else is doing Nanowrimo this year?)  

Also, I'm planning on adding a character bio "chapter" to this story soon so you can get to know all of my characters in this story a little better, so if you have any questions or if there's anything you'd like to know about Anna, Raphael, Chef Lavitto, Emily, Derek, Justin, Rudy, Daniel, or even the other minor characters, please let me know so I can get all the FAQs covered!  If you can't think of any questions now but something pops up after reading one of the next couple chapters please feel free to comment your questions on those chapters too.  If you're reading this after the character bio is published, please feel free to still comment your questions and I'll be happy to add more!   :)   

Have a good weekend~