Standing beside the enormous wolf's head, Caius somehow appeared almost delicate by comparison. Tilting the carcass aside, he exposed the severed carotid artery along its neck for everyone to see.
"Before it died, this beast was tortured through bloodletting," he said coldly, tracing the ugly wound with a finger. "A crude technique. Whoever did this had no skill, only patience. It must have suffered for a very long time." His expression remained unreadable as he released the wolf's head, allowing the massive corpse to slump heavily onto the stone floor.
The impact shook the hall, and the foul stench of decaying blood immediately assaulted every vampire present. Jane, Alec, and the other guards stood closest to the corpse. They instinctively stopped breathing to avoid disgracing themselves by reacting to the overwhelming odor.
Maintaining the dignity of the Volturi's elite came before personal comfort. Even Demetri, whose obsession with appearances bordered on pathological, silently began deciding which flower petals would best complement the bath he intended to take after the banquet. Rose petals, he concluded. Definitely roses. Anything to erase this smell.
Caius crouched again, lifting one of the wolf's enormous forepaws. Holding it aloft for everyone to inspect, he continued, "The claws were removed as well. Every last one. Notice the lack of blood around the sockets." His red eyes swept across the room. "They were extracted after death."
Having finished his examination, Caius pressed his lips into a thin line and fell silent. Even he, who despised werewolves more than almost anyone alive, had to admit that the corpse before him had suffered an exceptionally cruel and unnatural fate. Hatred didn't blind him to brutality. If anything, it sharpened his recognition of it.
Silence settled over the banquet hall. The older vampires understood exactly what this meant. If Aro had summoned every major coven merely to display a corpse, the matter would never have warranted such an assembly. The Volturi would only convene the entire vampire world after thoroughly verifying every piece of evidence. So they waited, their attention fixed on Aro.
Slowing his voice until every word resembled part of a solemn aria, Aro sighed dramatically. "What... a tragic fate." His fingertips rested gently against the werewolf's matted fur, almost as though mourning a fallen hero. "What... an utterly humiliating death."
"He could have reverted to human form while the blood was drained from his body," Aro continued softly. "Instead, he fought to remain a wolf until the very last drop of blood left him. Only after death were his teeth removed... one by one... and his claws painstakingly torn away. His body was crudely preserved and hidden deep within the mountains, where no sunlight or witness would ever find it."
Uneasy murmurs rippled through the assembled covens. No vampire pitied the death of a werewolf. That wasn't the issue. It was how the creature had died that chilled them. The method revealed something far more terrifying than the corpse itself.
Aro slowly turned toward the source of the whispers. Every face belonged to an elder who had survived the age of vampire hunters. Meeting their eyes one after another, he gave a solemn nod.
"Yes. Vampire hunters. The profession that vanished over a century ago has returned."
Caius glared down at the carcass with undisguised contempt. "And this worthless mutt," he sneered, "offered up the only valuable thing it possessed... its body... to become raw material for weapons."
A vampire hunter...
Working together with a werewolf...
The implication hardly needed explaining.
Together, they could hunt vampires.
Marcus, who had remained silent until now, searched through the endless memories of his immortal life before quietly speaking. "Humans..." His voice was as weary as time itself. "They are fickle... yet impossibly stubborn. Again and again, they become the source of calamity for our kind."
Aro seized the opportunity to emphasize the gravity of the situation. "No one knows who this hunter truly is," he said, clasping his hands behind his back as he paced slowly before the gathering. "No one knows why they revived an ancestral profession long thought extinct... or how they persuaded a Child of the Moon to willingly sacrifice itself. Nor do we know how many followers this young hunter has already gathered." He paused deliberately, allowing the uncertainty to spread like poison. "Or how much stronger they may have already become."
The hall grew even quieter.
The oldest vampires remembered the Blood Hunters all too well. Even at the height of their power, they had been dangerous enough.
If they now possessed werewolf allies...
The balance between predator and prey might change forever.
Aro raised his voice just enough to command every eye in the room.
"My dear friends... if not for my brother Caius discovering this freshly slain werewolf..." He smiled sadly, spreading his arms toward the corpse. "...our entire world might have marched blindly toward destruction."
Caius snorted.
"You've all lived comfortably under Volturi rule for far too long!" His sharp gaze swept over the unfamiliar younger vampires standing among the guests. "Look at you. Faces I've never even seen before. Tell me..." His tone dripped with disdain. "Do any of you even know how to spell the word war?"
Aro allowed his brother's anger to settle over the room before reclaiming everyone's attention. His red eyes calmly surveyed every gathered coven, ensuring every gaze eventually returned to him.
"I require all of you," he declared, "to exercise the utmost vigilance. When you return to your respective territories, every member of your coven will begin searching immediately. Hunt for any trace of vampire hunters... and any sign of the Children of the Moon."
He paused.
Then added the threat in the gentlest possible voice.
"Any negligence will not be tolerated by the Volturi."
No one misunderstood the meaning hidden behind those polite words.
The Volturi Guards silently shifted formation, surrounding the three leaders. At the front stood Jane and Alec, Aro's beloved twins. Whenever those two entered another coven's territory together, it rarely ended well for the hosts.
Usually...
It meant that coven would soon cease to exist.
"Jane."
Aro offered the girl the slightest glance.
Nothing more.
He wanted her gift.
A demonstration of agony would lend his warning far greater weight than words ever could.
Unfortunately...
The timing couldn't have been worse.
While the leaders addressed the gathering, Jane had quietly scanned the crowd and discovered that one guest was missing.
Charles.
A former Volturi Guard gifted with supernatural deception.
He was notorious for preying upon petite young women, charming them with lies before draining them dry. Whenever his wandering eyes settled upon Jane, Alec had always stepped between them without hesitation. Charles had once even asked Jane to invite him into her territory for a visit.
She had beaten him so thoroughly afterward...
He learned to avoid her forever.
Jane searched the hall again.
Then a third time.
Charles was nowhere to be found.
Before Heidi replaced him, Charles had occupied an important position within the Volturi. He knew every maze-like corridor beneath Palazzo dei Priori, every training ground hidden behind the palace, every Guard's room, every personal territory.
If someone like him harbored malicious intentions...
He could become a serious threat.
Why would Master allow a rat to wander freely inside our home?
Jane frowned slightly.
Then she dismissed the thought almost immediately.
Aro's judgment had never been wrong.
If Charles remained unaccounted for, then surely her Master had greater concerns occupying his attention. The werewolves. The Blood Hunters.
As the Volturi's most loyal guard...
She would deal with the intruder herself.
Whatever Charles's reason for leaving the banquet, trespassing alone was sufficient cause for execution.
Jane had barely begun considering where to search first...
When she heard Aro call her name.
"Jane."
Her response came instantly.
"Master!"
Only then did she recognize the meaning hidden behind his gaze.
He wanted fear.
He wanted screams.
Centuries of discipline reacted before conscious thought could catch up. Jane instantly selected a broad-shouldered male vampire whose build most closely resembled Charles's and unleashed her Gift.
Her response couldn't have been faster.
A thousand years of seamless coordination between herself and Aro had refined their teamwork into something nearly supernatural.
To every other vampire present...
Nothing seemed unusual.
Only two people noticed the brief hesitation.
Aro and Alec.
The man's scream shattered the silence of the hall.
"AAAHHHH!!"
The howl crashed through the gathering like thunder, awakening primal terror buried deep inside every vampire present.
Those fortunate enough to have mates instinctively moved closer together.
Others searched desperately for cover, hoping to escape Jane's gaze.
No one wanted to become her next target.
"Jane." Aro spoke again.
This time her reaction was flawless. She calmly withdrew her Gift, releasing the unfortunate vampire from his invisible torment. The poor man would never know that his suffering had served two entirely unrelated purposes.
Aro wished to intimidate the guests.
And...
His body happened to resemble Charles's.
Supported by trembling family members, the victim staggered to his feet. He couldn't even bring himself to meet Jane's eyes, much less demand an explanation.
Jane merely watched him with open contempt.
A faint, disdainful smile curved her lips. Her red eyes narrowed with unmistakable satisfaction.
The suffering of others has always been her greatest joy.
Lost in that familiar pleasure, Jane never noticed the subtle darkness that crossed Aro's expression behind her.
He had recognized her momentary distraction immediately.
No detail escaped him.
He ruled not merely through power, but through absolute awareness of every piece upon his board.
Even a heartbeat's hesitation from Jane is enough.
Countless possibilities flashed through Aro's mind, though the gentle smile never left his face.
When Jane finally turned back toward him, guilt flickering across her features, she found only the same warm, paternal smile he had always worn.
No disappointment.
No reproach.
No anger.
His kindness only deepened her shame.
She believed she had failed the trust and affection Aro had placed in her.
And Aro's affection is genuine.
Jane was one of the cornerstones supporting Volturi rule.
The gleaming golden V resting upon her chest testified to that fact.
The day Aro rescued her and Alec, Jane's loyalty had become eternal, forever engraved into her immortal soul. For a thousand years she had carried out every command without hesitation, dedicating every ounce of herself to strengthening the Volturi's glory.
She truly was his precious treasure.
One brief lapse of concentration hardly diminished that. His affection willingly forgave it.
But...
His ruthlessness had never disappeared.
Someone...
Had shaken Jane.
Someone had quietly claimed a fragment of the loyalty that rightfully belonged to the Volturi's greatest guard.
As ruler of the strongest coven in existence, Aro could never tolerate such a thing. Any threat to his family had to be removed.
Including those loved by his own followers.
Marcus had once made the very same mistake.
Long ago, Aro personally executed Marcus's mate...
His own sister.
Naturally...
He ensured Marcus never learned the truth.
The outcome had only been half successful. Marcus remained loyal to the Volturi.
But the moment he lost his wife...
His spirit began dying as well.
Since then, Aro had refined his methods.
He preferred mercy.
Or rather...
Something that merely resembled mercy.
Exile.
Not execution.
How unfortunate, Aro thought with genuine regret.
Regardless of whether Charles succeeds tonight... that interesting little girl can no longer remain here.
The day her newborn period ends... will also be the day she leaves the Volturi.
As for Jane...
It was probably time to relieve her of her duties as Sophie's guardian.
Fortunately...
They were not mates.
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