Marcus let out a sigh as the pilots let him know that his daughter niece had gotten into the air okay and was headed home. He was sad that her visit was being cut short but was also glad that it meant that she wouldn't be around to see the fit her two uncles were going to throw. Not to mention the tantrum Jane was likely to have as she fed off Aro and Caius's energy and worked herself up.
They had all done a good job at hiding it from Maya, but Marcus had seen the signs of the impending storm. What surprised him though was that it wasn't the fact that their little girl had imprinted. No, their anger stemmed from Charlie's human daughter.
Even Marcus had to admit that he had wanted to kill the human the moment she had stepped through the door. Over the years and in recent months he had heard plenty of stories from Maya about just what sort of person Isabella was and they had not endeared the human to the kings or their coven. Maya may not have cared all that much about what the girl said about her, but it had certainly angered them.
Unfortunately, outright killing her hadn't been an option. At first it was because she was just a young child and as rulers of their world they had to set an example and then later it had been because of Charlie. Not only did they not want to upset the man they had grown to respect for his acceptance of Maya and his willingness to accept that he couldn't know everything, but they also weren't sure that Maya would choose them over him.
As much as the kings might not like it Maya was his daughter, not theirs. And if something happened to cause him to no longer want Maya near them they couldn't be sure that Maya wouldn't listen. Sure she would be upset and try to change his mind, but they didn't want to put her through that.
Which left them where they were now; angry at the human but unable to act on it without upsetting Charlie and risking losing Maya. Something that Marcus was sure would be disastrous for the vampire world. Maya had charmed them all and somehow managed within the first year of living with them to make herself an irreplaceable member of their family.
Because of that, the first summer that she had returned home to her father had been disastrous. They had all grown accustomed to having her around and with her suddenly gone it was like practically the whole coven had lost their minds. Caius had raged practically the entire two months that she was gone, trying to sentence any vampire they tried to death before the poor fools even had a chance to open their mouths. His reasoning being that there was a chance that they might travel to the States and potentially come across Maya, something he could not allow. Aro had gone along with it, if only so that he would have more time to go on his spree of redecorating, attempting to make the castle as child-friendly as he could in order to make it so Maya would never again want to leave. The guards, particularly the ones that claimed the role of her siblings had been brutal in their jobs, beating any vampire they were sent after beyond what was called for as a way to vent their frustration at not being able to see their little shifter. While the queens had joined Aro on his shopping spree, buying all manner of things for their little girl and excitedly talking about how much she was going to love the new wardrobe they bought for her and how cute she would be in each outfit. And as for Marcus himself, well he could admit that he had regressed into something similar to what he had been like those first few centuries after he lost his wife; a man devoid of happiness and life.
They had of course gotten more used to her absences over the years, which was the only reason why they had been okay with her moving back to Forks to finish school, but none of them wanted to risk losing her forever because of their own actions. Which is why they had reluctantly allowed the human to live; her death would have meant the potential loss of their child.
Though as he entered the library just in time to see Caius heave their heavy ornate table across the room as he snarled Marcus knew that doing what was needed to keep Maya in their lives and happy did not mean he didn't still have practically an entire coven of enraged vampires to handle.
"We should have torn her to pieces" Caius raged as another piece of furniture met its end at his hands.
"Indeed" Aro agreed, pacing. "How Charlie could possibly care for that ... thing is beyond me." Edward's mind hadn't shown him a lot of interactions between his child niece and the human, but it had been enough to know that not only had she not changed since she was young but that Maya had been downplaying how horrible the girl was. Not killing her as the girl stood in front of him had been possibly the hardest thing he had ever had to do. The only thing that had made it possible was his little girl's presence. Which was exactly why they had called for her when they had realized who they would be seeing.
"The girl is his flesh and blood" Marcus reasoned, trying to pacify them. "He is always going to try and see the best in her."
Marcus was very careful to not mention anything that even hinted at Isabella being Maya's adopted sister as he spoke. Jane was off in the corner muttering angrily to herself and her twin about how ridiculous it was that the human had the audacity to share a similar title to hers. She was also lamenting how upsetting it was that the ridiculous block in her mind kept Jane from being able to teach her her place. How if only Jane had been given another chance, she was sure she could have broken through it to teach the human what the consequences were for upsetting Jane's little sister.
Choosing to ignore Jane for now, Marcus stayed focused on his brothers as Caius snarled at his words before turning his ire on Aro. "Why did you give the order to change her?! Had she been left human our mostriciattolo would have only had to put up with her for another few decades!"
Aro giggled in response, pleased with himself and his plan. "Because I read that fools mind. I saw every thought he has had about the situation and us. He is truly an entitled idiota. There is no doubt in my mind that the two of them will continue to break our laws."
"That just makes it worse" Caius growled.
"Yes brother, I fail to see your logic behind this decision" Marcus added, also confused.
"Oh my dear brothers, Charlie is in law enforcement. He understands that those who break the law must be punished. Meaning that if we truly wish to do away with Isabella so our piccolo raggio di sole may live in peace, we must first make sure she falls under our rule. Once we have achieved that we may punish her." Aro smirked at both his brothers, "I'm certain those two will provide us many options to choose from for what we punish them for."
By now all three kings and the four guards in the room with them were smirking as they contemplated just what they could do to the foolish girl that thought she could belittle or upset their piccolo without retribution from them.
"Before you seven get too far in your planning may we remind you that Charlie will still not be happy with us for killing her and that may prompt him to look closer at our histories" Athenodora told them all as she walked into the library with Sulpicia at her side.
"Yes" Sulpicia agreed, "he is understanding, but he still grew up in a world of peace. We cannot count on him to be so understanding of some of the actions we have had to take in the past. Namely how we had to deal with the immortal children. I cannot see him overlooking that and allowing us near his own child when he knows what we did to those children."
The group in front of them lost their smiles at that. They had all been counting on Charlie's past in law enforcement to help him accept their justification in killing Isabella.
"Perhaps not killing her then" Marcus suggested, earning outraged looks from his brothers and the guards. He held his hands up in a sign of peace. "I am not saying she does not deserve it, merely that in the next few months we find a suitable punishment for her that mimics the human punishments and laws enough that Charlie cannot object but will still remove her from our principessa's life."
A sadistic grin overtook Caius's face at the thought. "Yes, killing is too quick anyways. What we need to do is come up with an idea that is worse than death but looks like the better option on the surface."
Everyone else had smiles to match his as he finished speaking and they quickly all settled down amongst the ruined furniture of the library to begin planning. Given how obsessed the human was with becoming one of them they were sure she wouldn't wait long so they had to have their plan in place as soon as possible. They all wanted it ready for when she was turned.
Isabella may get her wish of living forever, but the Volturi were determined to ensure that she would regret every second of wishing for it.
Translations:
Idiota - idiot
Piccolo raggio di sole - little ray of sunshine
Piccolo - little one
principessa - Princess
mostriciattolo - little monster
Maya had earned that title just after her first year with them whenshe had spent a few weeks using her agility to get up high and hide using her black fur so she could "attack" her family. No one was safe as she pounced on all of them and Caius had found it hilarious as Aro had practically screamed inshock the first time Maya had landed on him. He had begun calling her his little monster after that and the both of them always smiled at the reminder of how she had earned it.