ꜱᴏ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴡᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ɢᴇᴛᴛɪɴɢ ꜱᴏ ᴄʟᴏꜱᴇ. ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇᴘɪʟᴏɢᴜᴇ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜɪꜱ ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇ.

ɪ'ᴍ ᴄʜᴀɴɢɪɴɢ ᴀ ꜰᴇᴡ ꜰᴀᴄᴇᴄʟᴀɪᴍꜱ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴇxᴛ ʙᴏᴏᴋ. ꜱᴏʀʀʏ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʜᴀɴɢᴇ, ɪ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ɴᴇᴡ ᴀᴄᴛᴏʀꜱ ᴡɪʟʟ ᴡᴏʀᴋ ʙᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ ꜰᴏʀ ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀꜱ.

ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴏᴏᴋ ꜱᴏ ʟᴏɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴡʀɪᴛᴇ...

The future of the Volturi was on the line, that much was for certain. We would have to watch as we either made the biggest fools of Edward and Bella or made fools of ourselves. I still believed that the first would be what happened, especially with Maeve screwing with the little seer Alice, who had come to rely too much on her gift. Yes, gifts were a part of a person, but they were also their own form of a curse. Aro had to see his sister get screwed and Marcus had to watch as Didyme's bond snapped, meaning that she was no longer alive, burned to ashes by Stefan.

If any of the Romanians were there, the ones that were not home while we annihilated their bases, we would destroy them in front of everyone. The world would know that messing with the law, our sanity, and our family, meant destruction. It was one of the only times where I agreed with just outright killing someone. Stefan had killed Marcus' first love and Aro's sister, he deserved a painful death.

I would allow my mates to kill them. As the people who loved her most, my two mates would be the ones to choose what would happen to the blonde vampire. An eye for an eye was what he would get. No trial, we had enough evidence to use lethal force.

Justice would be served for Didyme Volturi.

"Mamma, when are we going to leave for Forks?" Helios asks, tugging at my dress. His attempts to gain my attention worked. I turn my head to my little boy and smile.

"We shall leave when your daddies are done with the last few trials of the day," I explain. "What are you doing, Heelie?"

My son had decided that it was time to wrap his entire body around my torso. While this sort of behavior was common from him, I didn't expect him to do it while I was still standing. I mean, he had used his enhanced senses and abilities to super jump on my body, curling around me like a koala.

Eh, he was quite the cute little koala child.

"Whatever I want," He sasses. "Right now I want food. Can we get food? When do we next feed? I'm hungry."

Helios had started to feed with us. Although he was a bit young to be feeding off of humans, just drinking blood bags could only get him so far. His instincts told him to hunt and to feed. Who were we to take away that from him when he was fine with killing the human as well? I mean, he hasn't shown any care, often saying that it's the circle of life.

Why did I let Marcus show him that movie?

"We feed on Fridays, Helios, you know that," I use my stern motherly voice on him. "We can go get you a blood bag if you're hungry. Or you can eat human food."

"Mamma, human food doesn't taste as good," he complains, "I want blood."

"I can get you blood, Helios, don't throw a fit over the fact that you need to stay on our diet. I promise that this Friday you can feed. We will be back from Forks by then. We may do a hunt after Forks, so you may be able to hunt for the first time," I say.

"Have you been hunting before?" I shake my head. "Have daddies?"

"Yes, they have. It used to be the only way that vampires could get blood. Immortals did not always have blood bags when they thought killing humans was wrong. Uncle Jasper and Emmett and Aunty Rose all used to feed from animals because they didn't want to kill the humans."

"Have you ever eaten an animal?" I cringe at the mere thought.

"No, I have and will never drink off of animals. Gross blood. I don't know how they did it. I don't know how my dad still does it. Can't break an immortal habit, I presume."

"Sounds awful. I would never want to hurt an animal," Helios answers honestly, huffing on my chest. "What is going to happen once we get there? You and daddies haven't told me anything other than to stay quiet. I don't get why I have to stay quiet."

"Once we get there, you will stay with big brother Afton. He can hide you until we are ready to reveal your existence. Nobody even knows that we have a hybrid child now. You are quite the rarity, Helios. Only a few hybrids exist in the world. Having a male hybrid who is gifted is unheard of. Nahuel is the only other boy," I explain. "You must stay quiet because Afton can only shield your heartbeat and your body. Any sounds you make will still be heard and all of us have better ears. I will know if you are making a fuss with your brother."

"I won't be fussy, mamma, I promise."

"Aw, you're such a good boy, Heelie. I love you, my son," I kiss his head as he fumbles around on my chest, moving up so he could kiss my cheek.

"I love you too, mamma."

__________________________________________________

It was the last trial of the day. We would be leaving right after this. Thankfully this man was not from a coven and was simply a wandering nomad. He had been accused of knowingly hunting inside of the walls of Volterra. If he had committed the offense, it would be a fool. All vampires knew that Volterra was off limits, even the ones who had never heard much about our coven.

The vampire community knew their places while inside of these walls. We were hosts and they were guests.

It would be rude to eat inside of our territory.

Quite the man, Ivan just didn't look like us. With his almost translucent skin, you could tell that he was a vampire. What made him look human, was the fact that his eyes were almost black, a sign of near starvation.

As Marcus and Carlisle told me, it would take vampires many meals to come back from starvation. If a vampire starved long enough, their eyes would turn pink or light yellow depending on what lifestyle they had before their fast. To starve a vampire was cruel. Many had to many centuries ago in order to save themselves from persecution, hiding in underground bunkers with only their hunger to comfort them.

I was glad that humans thought of vampires as legends and myths. I would go crazy if I had to stop eating. Food had always been what kept me willing to live just a bit longer.

This kind of life had caused many vampires to learn control. It was either control or their immortal demise. I can see why they would choose the first option.

"Feeding inside of our walls," Caius huffs, "Damn nomads. We told everyone to stay outside of Volterra and now you are breaking in and taking some of our people. What have we done to you, nomad? We have never even had you inside of our walls before."

"It was an accident!" He cries out. "I didn't mean to kill her!"

"That's what they all say, nomad," Caius dismisses his pleas. "Don't be around humans if you do not have the ability to control yourself. You are not a newborn, that plea will not work here. I mean, come on, my mate is a newborn and she can control herself better than you!"

"You fed inside of our walls, Ivan," Aro grabs his neck, "The law claims you."

A long eternity this will be if people break such simple laws.

__________________________________________________

Patience really was a virtue.

A virtue that I did not possess.

While we waited for everyone to grab their battle gear and cloaks, I simply was forced to stay with my son and Caius and wait. The act itself made me annoyed. Even my son could not stave away the growing annoyance that plagued my chest.

It could have just been the newborn emotions, but I just wanted to get to Forks so I could piss off Edward and Bella. Hell, I was willing to leave early just to piss them off for a bit. Getting that kind of satisfaction was all that I wanted.

The two of them had made me furious. My instincts were telling me to just kill them and get it over with. They deserved death after all that they had done, after gathering an army to go against their rulers. If we had any sanity we would execute them for even trying. Gifted or not, we had a shield breaker, someone who could fill them with fear, and someone who could bring them all pain through the person who can break shields.

Jane, Akila, and Harb had become the three most powerful vampires in the world without even doing much. Together, the three of them could do anything. Of course, Alec, Felix, and Demetri were nearly on the same level. With the two deadly trios, we had enough force to wipe out any potential threat to humanity and vampires.

Those who went against us didn't care for the law. They also didn't care about humans. Vampires know who leads them and that we have their best interests at heart even if they don't personally like us. We have that sort of trust with the people.

A government without legitimacy with the people has no power. I mean, that was basic skills from AP World history class.

Was I the only one who took it? It clearly helped me in the long run. I didn't think I would be becoming the queen of an empire of vampires, but what works, works.

"Will daddies be able to see me when we go?" I shake my head at my son.

"Not physically, but daddy Marcus will be able to see our bonds. He will know that you are safe and sound with big brother Afton. They will miss you while they cannot watch you with their own eyes, but it is for the best that you stay with your brother," Helios nods, hugging at one of my arms. "Just listen to Afton and he will guide you. He may even be willing to give you a piggyback ride like yesterday."

My son cheered and kissed my exposed arm, keeping his arms tightly wrapped around the pale skin.

"So when am I going to come out?" I laugh at the persistent questions posed by my ever curious little hybrid son. The little brown eyed boy had picked up on some of my own personality traits, finding joy in learning every little thing about whatever he could. It was quite fun to see my mates and my other soul children explain things to him. His fascination for learning had made him quite the snarky young one, often making jokes at the perfect times, breaking tension in rooms.

"You can come out of Afton's gift when one of your daddies calls for you. One of them might come over to you. If they do, go with them. We don't know exactly what is going to happen, but we know that we are going to have a big laugh," Helios looks very confused at my last sentence, turning his head to the side.

"Is someone going to be telling a joke or something?"

"Oh, baby, the entire thing is going to be funny. It may be hard to not laugh when we ruin the reputations of the people who hurt grandpa and your uncles and auntie. It's going to be very dramatic and I bet that your older brother will be cracking up the entire time. I do hope that he doesn't expose us when he does so, his control over his gift is still in development."

"So it will be a joke."

"What will be a joke, Heelie?"

"The entire freaking thing."