"Are you calm now, brother?" Marcus asked,  frowning in distaste as Aro drained the woman in his arms viciously, ignoring her nails that scraped at his skin and the gargled gasps leaving her throat. With a guttural growl, her body was released and she crumpled lifelessly to the floor, glassy eyes now devoid of any life and ash blonde hair tinged with dried blood.

Aro licked his lips hungrily, his eyes a startlingly bright red, a result of the numerous humans he had slaughtered. He said nothing, moving behind his desk and producing a handkerchief seemingly from thin air. Wiping his mouth he breathed deeply for a moment, exhilarated from the kill.

Straightening out his suit and hair he looked at the limp body with disgust and turned his eyes onto the double doors.

"Alec!"

The young boy materialised before Aro had even finished talking, bowing deeply to them both.

"Master's."

"Take care of that, would you?" He sneered at the body, moving to relax in the large black leather chair behind his desk.

"Certainly, my King." With ease Alec lifted the woman over his shoulder, exiting the room hastily.

The room was tense, both men now staring each other in the eyes with terse frowns. Aro soon grew tired of the accumulating tension. "Just say whatever you want to say, brother."

"Fine." Marcus beseeched, rolling his eyes and leaning his shoulder against the wall. "What did you see? Surely it was bad for you of all people to lose control."

Aro grimaced, his mind flashing back to what he had seen. He wished he could wipe it from his mind, to spare himself the pain and to respect Nora but it wasn't possible. The horrible event was forever scorched into his memory.

"I shall not be telling you or Caius what I saw," His tone was firm, and Marcus knew he would not budge on this. Nevertheless the decision angered him. He opened his mouth, most likely to demand to know but Aro halted him in his tracks. "I will not be swayed, Marcus. This is something that is extremely personal to Nora and I will not divulge it so recklessly. It is her decision and her choice on when she wishes to tell you."

With an even deeper frown then he already sported, Marcus relented. They–meaning Aro–had done enough to anger her in the last day then he thought was even possible. If what his brother had learned was painful to her then he wouldn't pry. He only hoped that Caius would share his sentiments.

"That...is fair."

Aro relaxed at this. He'd been sure that his brother would nag and push him. Despite his calm nature Marcus could be tediously overprotective and demanding, so this? It was a pleasant surprise that he had given up so quickly.

Silence settled over them both but it was welcomed. The last couple of hours had been a disaster, one that Aro would make sure was never repeated. He had lost valuable members of his coven all through his own hand.

Staring vacantly at the dark wood of the table, he didn't move or even blink.

"What of the bodies?"

"Disposed of, of course. It took me quite a while to clean up your little mess after you vanished." Marcus teased and chuckled, eager to lift the tense and almost nervous atmosphere. They had done enough worrying to last a lifetime.

"They're easily replaceable." Aro muttered, no care or concern in his voice.

With a scoff, Marcus rolled his eyes. "Doesn't make the task any less taxing."

Aro nodded his assent, finally lifting his eyes from the table and the endless void of troubling thoughts he'd been drowning in. "When Demitri returns I'll see to it that he and Felix scout for any possible new recruits for the lower guardsman...and a new receptionist."

The last part was added as an afterthought. They were also replaceable. Too replaceable. There was a new receptionist every few weeks at this point. A result of Caius's fits of rage that he often took out on them.

"On that subject, where did you send him off to? After your little spree you disappeared." Curiosity mixed with frustration for Marcus when Aro simply gave him a secretive glance.

"You will find out soon enough."

Their staring match was abruptly broken by the doors of his office flying open, hitting the stone wall with a loud crack.

They were held in place by shock to see Nora standing in the doorway, her chest rising and falling rapidly to compensate for her harsh breathing. Her eyes, dark and daunting, travelled around the room before they locked onto Aro. Like a bull being antagonised by a red flag she charged towards him, stopping in the middle of the room behind the glass reading table.

Marcus stood straight, not daring to approach her given how high strung she was but, he was desperate to at least know she was alright. "Nora? What's the matter, my love? You should be resting."

No words fell from her lips, she just continued to stare at Aro, so relentlessly and penetratingly that he felt like he was frozen in place. Cautiously, he stood from his chair and walked slowly around his desk, as if he was taming a wound up snake ready to strike.

Her body began to shake, so slight that if you were not immortal you wouldn't notice. All at once her anger exploded and with a feral yell she snatched a book off the table and threw it straight at him. "YOU LYING, SNEAKY LITTLE ASSHOLE!"

With comically wide eyes he ducked just in time, the book hitting the wall behind him and tumbling to the ground. "Wha–What?!"

She continued to rant, so quickly and loudly that it was unitelegeble. His wide eyes found Caius hovering behind his raging mate, looking on with cold detachment. When their eyes connected he could see, he was unapologetic–perhaps just as angry as Nora.

"Hey! Fucking look at me when I'm talking to you!" This time the book she threw actually met its mark, hitting him squarely in the face, pages flying sporadically. He blinked, remaining still and his lack of reaction seemed to anger her all the more. She was practically vibrating with rage.

She followed where his eyes had been looking and whirled back around to face him with a vicious scoff. "Don't bother playing stupid, you knew this would happen! At least Caius had the decency to tell me the truth, something you're lacking in."

Baffled was only one of the emotions that both he and Marcus were experiencing.

With caution that was less apparent then his brothers, Marcus took a step closer. "What do you mean? What has happened, tesoro?"

Horror seeped its way into Aro's heart–he had a hunch as to why she was so upset. If he was right then he was in for a difficult night. "Nora, I...please, if you would just let me explain–"

Bypassing the table, she stormed closer to him, the fierceness in her eyes actually making him stumble back. "I don't need you to explain." She seethed, spitting the words at him with heavy vitriol that was so foreign to the Nora they had come to know. "Caius has told me enough. How dare you coerce them into keeping such a thing from me!"

He floundered, unsure of what to say or do to defend his actions and Marcus, finally realising what was happening, winced and looked at Caius with a knowing glance. They knew this would happen. They had tried to get him to tell her about his gift from the very beginning, but he had been adamant it was better he wait.

Growing more upset then angry now, Nora breathed long and deep to attempt to calm her racing heart. "Why...why does everyone lie to me? Why does everyone hurt me?!" She was gasping now, so close to hyperventilating that it was extremely concerning.

"Nora," Aro breathed, disparaged and despaired to see tears once again glimmering in her eyes.

Her breath was shuddering now, wavering with the force it was taking to suppress her tears and cries.

Placing her shaking hands on her forehead she sniffled, puffing out a heavy sigh. "And do you know what the worst part is?" He said nothing, not even when her broken and bloodshot eyes locked with his, "You...you saw."

With that simple sentence the floodgates opened and she broke, her legs buckling beneath her. Caius was there, wrapping his sturdy arms around her and guiding her carefully towards the black couch as she sobbed.

She was breathing so quickly–too quickly. Small, erratic breaths puffed passed her lips and intermingled with her cries. Her heart was beating abnormally fast, her face blotchy and her eyes screwed shut tightly. Even her legs were shaking, bouncing up and down, resisting the hand Caius placed on her knees to try and still them. They circled her, all filled with fear as blood began to flow from her nose. She leaned forward with a groan, the crimson dripping onto the table; softly she pushed away Caius's hand as he tried to help and wiped the blood away with her sleeve. "I'm fine. I'm fine ."

Oddly enough they found that the scent did not induce their hunger, they were far too scared for their mate to care.

Aro crouched next to Caius, his hand wavering in the air over her shaking leg. He was startled when she lifted her eyes from the ground and her face twisted into an aggressive snarl. "Don't fucking touch me! You fucking–god! I want to punch you so bad right now."

"You can't, my darling." Marcus muttered, his sad eyes watching the tears stream endlessly down her face. She seemed to think something over for a second, before her puffy eyes fell on Caius.

"You're right, I can't." As if they were reading each other's minds, Caius smirked maliciously before standing and turning to look at the crouched Aro with a scheming look in his eyes. Aro, bewildered by the sudden shift of the tone of the room, stood to command to know what was going on.

Rearing his arm back, Caius's fist flew at Aro's face; the force of his punch sending Aro flying across the room and hitting the back wall with a sickening crack, small pieces of stone scattering around the room. Nora winced at the ear shattering noise–it was like someone had dropped a bunch of china plates.

As if Caius's punch had released all of her anger for her, Nora deflated and sunk into the couch cushions, staring at the ceiling with tears still streaming down her face.

Aro flew up from his crumpled position on the ground, his eyes wild with fury. He rushed towards his brother but was stopped. Nora had now stood, though her legs nearly gave out beneath her and she was only saved from falling to the floor by Caius.

When she had reassured Caius that she was alright, she walked towards Aro, stopping in front of him and picking at her nails nervously. She lifted her head so they were looking into each other's eyes.

"I..." She began, but she stopped to take a deep breath. "I'm not mad at your gift and I'm not mad that you would have had to eventually read my mind at some point. I'm not mad that you were doing what you thought was right but...I am mad that you didn't ask. What you saw...it's not something I'm keen to remember, it was something I had tried to bury deep and forget about but now, it's all that's playing on my mind." Her voice cracked and she wiped the tears away angrily, as if she was offended by their presence. "Just...give me a day, to calm down and to forgive you in my own time. Can you do that?"

The thought of being separated from her, even if only for a day, was excruciating. But he had done enough to hurt her, he would try his utmost to not do so again. "Of course, my darling. Just...please know how sorry I am. I will do all in my power to make it up to you."

She smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes, and nodded. Turning her back on him she looked to Caius and Marcus, both wearing uneasy frowns now. Perhaps they thought they were going to be grouped into Aro's punishment. What she said next was not to punish Aro further, though it still felt as if a dagger had pierced his heart.

"Would you stay with me? I don't want to be alone." Her voice was drowsy now, she even began to sway.

Seeing this Marcus appeared next to her, carefully wrapping her in his arms and holding her gently. "Of course my love. Close your eyes." She followed his instructions and they were gone in a second.

Caius still stood across from him, crossing his arms and glaring at Aro with that same unapologetic gleam in his nearly black eyes. "I warned you brother, as did Marcus."

Aro said nothing in return, he just stared at the ground as all of those troubling thoughts flooded his mind once again.

Heading towards the doors, Caius paused. Looking over his shoulder, his onyx eyes were wildly dangerous. "Know this, brother. If you hurt my mate again, there is no place on this earth that will hide you from my wrath–next time, I won't pull my punches."

With a woosh he was gone, and the banging doors were the only sound to be heard in the quiet office.

A knock was heard on those same study doors later that night and pulling his eyes from the large indent in the stone wall, that reminded him of his selfish and hurtful actions, Aro called for the person to enter unenthusiastically.

Demitri appeared, falling into a bow. "My King."

Clasping his hands, Aro leant his elbows on the desktop and regarded him with critical eyes. "Demitri. I trust your task was successful?"

Standing, the black cloaked guard nodded curtly and stepped forward to give his master the manilla folder in his left hand. "Yes, every detail was collected with care."

With conviction Aro opened it and absorbed the information greedily, a scowl blemishing his perfect features as he looked at the individual in the picture.

"What else did you discover about him?"

At the question a disgusted frown downturned Demitris lips and he divulged all of the information he had gathered. "He has been involved in numerous cases of sexual assault, rape, blackmail and coercion. Coming from a wealthy family however means that each and every incident involving him has been buried. He continues to study biochemistry at the University of Washington without any sort of reprimand or punishment–a highly dangerous individual."

Rage swam in the depths of Aro's ruby eyes but he was the face of pleasantry when he looked at Demitri. "Thank you. That will be all."

Bowing once more, the head guard was gone and Aro was left to his own devices; it was now that his true feelings came out to play. With a venomous snarl he looked at the pathetic excuse of a man one last time before shoving the information back in the folder.

Soon it seemed, they would be paying Joshua Goodman a visit–one that he unfortunately would not survive.