CHAPTER 16

"Well, Aro? What will it be?" Father asked, and while we waited for the scum to answer, I noticed Edward glaring at one of the vampires behind me.

"I wouldn't do that, Jane," he warned. "You wouldn't get very far."

Alec, recently released from Chelsea's gift, was standing on the sidelines and showed what he'd told me in hypnosis. He was deeply embarrassed by his sister, and he wasn't even making an attempt at defending her.

Still with a firm grip on Aro's head, I looked over my shoulder at the little sadist. "Don't worry yourself. Your turn is coming. We won't forget about you."

"Sulpicia," Aro said with false bravado even though his voice shook. He locked eyes with his wife and tried to appear dominant despite being on his knees. "How can you betray me like this?"

"Try being loyal to the warden of your prison after hundreds of years," Sulpicia said with a newly awakened fire in her eyes. "Without Corin, you know I would have left a long time ago."

Father shook his head as if he were disappointed in one of his children. "Aro, a bride isn't a possession. You mustn't bind their wings. It will only backfire on you."

Aro gave Father a defiant look, and I understood he'd accepted his fate. Escape was an impossibility no matter what he did, so he had resigned. "If you want to kill me, just do it. There's no use in dragging it out."

A patient smile stretched over Father's lips. "But what would be the lesson in that? If I simply killed you, how can I guarantee no one would attempt your scheme again?"

"So it's torture then?"

"I don't believe in torture, Aro." Father sighed. "Those are your ways. However, I think I will borrow a page from your book. Eternal imprisonment sounds more than fair to me."

Sulpicia and Athenadora's eyes were pleased, but Aro had the gall to chuckle.

"There are no walls in the entire world that can keep a vampire in."

The smile on Father's face stretched wider. "I know, but I wasn't exactly intending for you to go to a physical prison."

From his pocket, he pulled out a syringe filled with a clear, bright red liquid. Aro had just enough time to widen his eyes in fear before Father plunged the needle into his neck.

"Your cells are now infused with my venom, just like any other of my progenies, effectively tying your life with mine," Father explained as if he were saying it to a child. "If I die, so do you."

With those words, Aro was weakened to a pile of nothing. "No, please, I'd rather you kill me," he begged.

He knew he was now shackled to Father for as long as he'd have him. He could never rise against him because it would result in his own death as well, and for a vampire like Aro, that was the ultimate punishment. His standing in the vampire community would be reduced to zero the second he submitted to a life of servitude.

"I will," Father assured him evenly. "When you've served your time."

Aro started sobbing, revealing what a truly pathetic man he was: a man who'd suffered from hubris after assassinating the true vampire king, and then surrounded himself with others more powerful to assure no one would challenge him. It was downright cowardly.

I released him from my grip and pushed him to the floor where he stayed, and I walked over to Father. "You and Edward should take care of what's needed in here," I said quietly, referring to Marcus, Caius, Renata, and Jane. "I'll talk to the guard."

The guard consisted of twenty-two vampires, and they all followed me, albeit somewhat cautiously, as I left the throne room to tell them what had happened and what would happen going forward.

We ended up in what had been their combat chamber where all the guards were trained in fighting.

"I understand this must all be rather disconcerting to you," I started. "Most of you have no idea who we are, but I want to be clear on one point, and that is that we're not interested in harming you, killing you, torturing you, or keeping you as prisoners. The time of serving someone against your will is at an end."

"Who exactly are you?" A burly man with an olive complexion and shortly cropped dark hair asked. I identified him as Felix.

"My name is Marya Dragulia. The man you saw talking with Aro is my father, Vladislaus Dragulia—the first vampire to ever walk this earth."

A shocked and awe-filled mumble filled the chamber as the guards started talking amongst themselves.

"All of you deserve an explanation, but it's a long story," I cautioned. "One we will make certain every vampire knows. For now though, all you need to know is that Aro's dictatorship is over. You have the choice to either leave and create your own lives, or you can stay and help me and my father build a new and better community for vampires. We won't force you either way, and we won't hold your choice against you."

The majority of the vampires slowly left the chamber, and I didn't blame them. It wasn't clear exactly how Chelsea's gift had worked—if it had been like my hypnosis where the vampire wasn't aware of conflicting thoughts, or if their own will had constantly battled with the mind control.

In the end, only five remained, and to my great shock, it was those who had been deemed Aro's most loyal: Alec, Heidi, Felix, Demetri, and Santiago.

Almost as if he were their leader, Felix took it upon himself to talk for all of them. "We've been the brothers' guards for centuries. Even without Chelsea, I know I'm not fit to be anything else, so if you'll have us, we'd be happy serving you."

I smiled at him. "We appreciate that, but before you make any promises, you need to know that things will be different under my father's rule. For one, the lifestyle you have here won't exist. A thousand years ago, before Aro took the throne, being a stagnant ruler worked. We also had a castle we rarely left, and our subjects came to us. That will change, and so will your hunting habits."

At my last statement, Heidi looked a little disappointed, and I knew it was because she'd acted as bait for the majority of the Volturi's meals, but I reassured her she'd have a valuable place with us despite her previous position being dissolved.

Just like Edward had predicted, it was imperative we showed the vampire community that just because the Volturi no longer existed, they weren't suddenly allowed to break the existing laws and run rampant.

With the use of the Volturi's vast collection of the most modern technology, we were able to get statements out very quickly to almost every vampire in the world, and we promised to tell our story without sparing any details.

It was a whirlwind of organizing and re-organizing. Caius and Jane were immediately executed because it wasn't possible to talk sense with them. Eventually, Renata had to follow their fate because Aro had brainwashed her so thoroughly; she almost went insane at the thought of her master being a servant of another.

Marcus, on the other hand, asked for some time to truly mourn his late wife—Aro's biological younger sister—before we killed him. He wanted to travel to Greece, to the place where their village used to be and see how everything had changed since he'd experienced those places with Didyme.

Edward told me he thought Didyme had been Marcus' true mate, but they never had children because Aro had prevented them from being intimate as he saw that as leverage he could use on them both. It was yet another aspect that showed how manipulative Aro was.

Father saw Marcus' request as reasonable, especially when he heard of Edward's suspicions, and he explained to us how unbearable it was to lose a true mate. He'd only felt a fraction of it when he saw Mother's body before her revival, but he'd been soothed by the fact that he'd have her with him soon. He said he wouldn't wish that feeling on his worst enemy, and Aro had caused it deliberately to his supposed "brother".

Personally, I wished Father had just killed the monster right away, but I could see the benefits of punishing him as well.

When Mother finally joined us with Anthony, and I got to hold my boy in my arms again, I never wanted to let him go. Barely a week had passed since we left, but he already looked several months older.

"We'll be together now?" he asked in his light voice.

"Yes, darling," I said, and Edward placed his arm around my shoulders. "You, Daddy, and I won't be apart again."

Edward had invited his family to Volterra—it had temporarily become our base until we could fully organize the new rule—and they were now watching us with awestruck faces.

"Carlisle," Edward called softly. "Come meet my son."

All of them approached us slowly, and Anthony studied them with interest. When Carlisle was close enough, he reached out to pat him.

"Are you Daddy's Dad?" he asked, and his perfect pronunciation despite only looking like a nine-month old caused Carlisle to blink in a stunned manner.

"Sort of," he replied, and it was good enough for Anthony.

"Then you're my other grandpa!"

It was hopeless to resist our son's charm, and an incredulous laugh escaped Carlisle. "Yeah, I guess I am." He turned to look at Edward, and then at me. "How is this possible?"

Edward and I shared a smile.

"We'll tell you everything," I said. "But it's a long story. And this time, I promise everything will be the truth."

THE END

A/N:

That's it, folks! That was my FAGE story written for Alyscia! I hope you and she enjoyed it. I certainly enjoyed writing it as I got to craft my own brand of vampire.

Thank you to Deonne for reviving FAGE again. Thank you to Alyscia, for the prompt she gave me that gave me the idea for this story. Without these two, this story wouldn't exist. Thank you to Alice's White Rabbit, my awesome beta and friend!

Until my next story,

Stay Awesome!