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Complexity
By : TwilightScribe
Category: Twilight Series > Slash
Views: 3827 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or make any money from this story.
Chapter List
- 10
- 11
- 12
Title: Complexity

Fandom: Twilight series

Pairing: eventual Marcus/Seth

Part: XI. Communications Breakdown

Prompt: 014. dark

Words: 3697 words

Summary: Volterra was his prison, an entire city, but it didn't make up for the fact that he was alone and tortured. There had to be something to make this death sentence worthwhile.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Twilight series, and I don't claim to own it either. It belongs to Stephanie Meyer, and I only write these things to satisfy the muses and make nothing from it.

XI. Communications Breakdown
Seth had absolutely no idea why Alec was leaning against the door frame of the room when he woke up, but he had to assume that Marcus had something to do with it. It was really awkward to say the least, because Seth just knew that Alec had been watching him sleep, and he’d been doing it for a while.
“You’re awake.” Alec didn’t move when he spoke, he just stayed where he was, perfectly still with the only movement being the slight rise and fall of his chest as he breathed.
“What time is it?” Seth stretched his arms above his head, feeling all of the muscles tense up and then relax as he did so. He noticed that, again, he’d been put to bed fully dressed in the same thing that he’d been wearing for the past two days since he hadn’t changed after he’d woken up the day before. Well, at least he didn’t smell.
“It’s just a little past two in the afternoon.” Alec unfolded his arms from across his chest, his posture relaxing just a bit. “Do you want something to eat? You’ll be safe here as long as you don’t wander off.”
“Uh yeah, that’s fine.” He watched the vampire nod once before disappearing out the doors which closed behind him with a soft thud.
Left by himself, Seth made his way into the closet to find something clean to wear before he went into the bathroom to take a shower and take care of his other hygienic needs. He still didn’t really understand why vampires really had a need for completely furbished bathrooms because they didn’t need to go through any of the same rituals he did.
Hell, they didn’t use the damn toilet, so why have one?
Then again, Seth wasn’t about to complain since having one was a big convenience to him since he actually needed to use one. He still felt weird about being the only real living and breathing person in the entire Volturi palace, but it was something that he was slowly getting used to.
He knew that there were humans who worked for the Volturi in the city itself, but he hadn’t gotten to meet them yet. Several of the underground tunnels that led out from the cellar went into the city and connected with its sewer systems which allowed the Volturi to move from the palace into the city without being seen by human eyes. He hadn’t used any of them and he doubted that he ever would.
Trying to find something that would either compliment Marcus’ usual ensemble or something that looked nice and wouldn’t stand out next to him, Seth was pleasantly surprised to find that the original outfit which Alice had given him was clean and hanging in the closet.
Ah, what the hell, why not?
Grabbing the outfit from its place on the hangers, Seth trudged his way into the bathroom; leaving his clothes lying on the sink, before he stripped. He chucked his clothes into the hamper which was surprisingly there and also filled just a bit with Marcus’ clothes, and headed straight for the shower.
In about twenty minutes, Seth was cleaned up and ready for the day. When he emerged back into the bedroom, he found that Alec had returned and had once again taken up his position at the door. He’d left Seth’s meal tray on the edge of the bureau.
Alec answered Seth’s unasked question, “Marcus asked me to watch over you while he was away dealing with some details about those murders. He did promise that he would return just before sunset.”
Great, so now I’ve got my own personal guard detail? “That’s really not–”
“You don’t know my sister,” Alec cut him off. “She’s smart in addition to how sadistic she is; I know that she won’t stop at anything to get her revenge since she feels that you wronged her.”
“How–?”
This really wasn’t how Alec had wanted to spend his afternoon, but since the young man was genuinely confused and it would probably be easier to guard him if he was aware of all the risks there were if he was left to his own devices, Alec chose to explain. Humans – even shifters – were sometimes so difficult.
“You have probably realized by now that Jane worships,” he spat the word out, “the very ground which Aro walks on and she will always follow his instructions no matter what obstacles may come up. Despite Marcus' intervention last night, she is still determined to see to that you're punished for a perceived wrong against her 'master'.”
Seth stared at Alec in shock. For one thing, it was the most that Seth had ever heard the smaller vampire say, and he also didn't speak at all like he'd expected. Alec had the slightest tinges of what could have been considered a French accent, but he spoke a bit more like someone who was probably twice his age – figuratively speaking of course since Alec was much, much older then Seth was.
“You and her really aren't alike.”
“We have different personalities. Our only common feature is that both of us possess rather unique and invaluable gifts which caught Aro's attention.” Alec shrugged, “Unlike my sister, I have never been drawn very strongly to power.”
Uncertainty washed through Seth. He really had no idea of how to deal with Alec, but he was also curious about the young vampire too because he hadn't seemed unfriendly when Seth had been first introduced to him, but he hadn't acted friendly either. Alec had been completely indifferent to Seth since his arrival, and now he wanted to know what had sparked this almost complete one-eighty.
“Okay, so I get that Marcus asked you to play bodyguard –”
“– I do not –”
“– so I want to know why you're obeying him. I thought that Aro was your 'master', like your sister.”
At that, Alec's eyes flashed dangerously, “I would never call such a being my 'master'. I respect Marcus. He, at least, maintains a veil of humanity; if he could live any way which he chose, then this would never be his first choice. He and I are alike in that we both hold a respect for human life and do not bother to waste it.” And he and I were searching for the same thing for a long time. He only found it first.
Throwing his hands up into a placating gesture, “Sorry, I didn't –”
“No. I can understand that you're curious.” Alec kept cutting Seth off, and it would have normally annoyed the young shifter, but since he was so unused to this more talkative side of him, he was willing to deal with it. He needed to feel Alec out so he knew what lines there were and which ones not to cross.
“Well, still, sorry about that.”
“None of us were given a choice,” Alec murmured. “Some of us might not admit it – and I doubt that Marcus will ever tell you – but we were only turned without any sort of consent and with no kind intent. Aro is and always will almost mindlessly go after something which he wants; if you have something he wants or finds anything, then he will get it. It's only a matter of time until he does.”
“He's not exactly very...” Seth couldn't find the right word.
“I'm quite sure that Heidi has already given you some very colorful nicknames for Aro. But as much as any of us may hate him, we cannot leave. All of us are too valuable to him and that is why he will not ever let us go.”
I'm just as tightly bound, if not more. “I know that...”
Alec leaned back against the door, blowing a few of his stray bangs off his face, “It's unfortunate, but I suppose that after Aro learned of your kind's existence, it was too much of a temptation for him to leave empty handed.”
“He gave Sam an ultimatum.” Thinking back to that night over two months ago, Seth still wasn't over the hurt which leaving his home behind. But once he opened his mouth, he just couldn't stop it; it felt good to get this off of his chest, even if it was to Alec.
“That sounds like Aro; sweet-talking people into agreeing to his terms and conditions.”
“Yeah... he basically told Sam that unless one of us left with them, that he'd kill everyone who knew about us and about vampires... and since... since Sam couldn't let them do that, he agreed. It was the only option he had.”
Alec frowned. He knew that it would have been impossible for Aro to effectively 'clean-up' the La Push population of any and all who knew of vampires. For one, they didn't quite understand how the shifters operated, how they bred, nothing. That would mean that they would have no idea of whether or not more of them would be born in the years after they left and if those would then figure out what it was that they were.
Too many what ifs were involved in such a situation, and Alec knew that Aro was too smart to not have known all of them. Which meant that Aro had been bluffing.
And quite suddenly Alec knew that whatever he had just realized, he couldn't let Seth know. It would destroy him and whatever little hope he'd been clinging to, to keep himself alive and floating, and that would drag Marcus down too. The two of them were inexorably bound, and what hurt one would hurt the other.
“I... see.” Deciding quickly that this was dangerous territory to stay in, Alec changed the subject as quickly and trying to be as unobvious at it as he could be. “Well, as I said, Marcus will probably not return until late this evening... is there anything you would like to do in the meantime?”
Seth shrugged, shuffling over and sitting down on the edge of the bed, “Not really.”
Great, Alec grumbled mentally, this is going to be much more difficult then I thought. There is a reason for why I do not like humans very much; they're so...
“We can't stay here the entire night,” Alec muttered. “Marcus would think that I'm not being very talkative.”
At that, Seth raised an eyebrow, “You're probably the most talkative vampire I've met thus far. Heidi and Marcus not included.”
“Actually, I'm surprised that Marcus is as... verbal with you as he is,” Alec's face wrinkled into a frown, revealing just how mystifying he thought the ancient vampire's behavior was. “I have been with him for longer then Heidi has been with the Volturi. I have never seen him act like this.”
Quickly, Seth looked down at his hands which were clenched in his lap, “Yeah... Heidi mentioned that to me.”
“She did, did she.” Alec settled into quiet contemplation. Well, he did need some way to distract Seth... “He's been acting much more – well, I want to say alive but I don't think that is what I'm looking for – personable, since you arrived here.”
“What was he like before?” Having nothing to compare it to, Seth was wondering how Marcus had been before he'd met him; he was... also curious about why Marcus acted the way he did around Seth, especially since he'd been acting one way for so many years and only now had begun to change. It couldn't have been a coincidence.
“You want to know?”
Seth nodded.
“Well, you would have to ask him if you want details on his past... but as for what Marcus was like before, he was the complete opposite of how he is now.”
Alec sighed, and took an unneeded deep breath. He shifted just a little, moving farther into the room. He wasn't too sure about whether or not he should go and sit beside Seth, but decided against it. Instead, he just moved to a more comfortable position against the door frame, crossing his arms again as he did so.
“I suppose that in modern terms, he would be classified as having acted like a 'zombie'. But mostly I just thought of him as being extremely apathetic and uncaring towards the world and its goings on. He really was just drifting from day to day, not really noticing that time was changing or moving on without him.
“Well, that's not to say that he was always that way,” Alec clarified. “There was a time when he was much happier, but something changed. I wasn't a member of the Volturi at that time, but I do know from the whispers of the older members that he had changed drastically. And now, he's changed again...”
Here, Alec looked up in one of those blindingly fast movements that his kind was so famous for, his eyes focused on Seth and there was an intensity in the almost black eyes which made Seth tremble just a little. Then he spoke in a low and quiet voice which carried across the room.
“Because of you.”

.:-o-:. .:-o-:. .:-o-:.
Alec left a few minutes before Marcus returned, and Seth hadn't moved from the bed once since the young vampire had spoken those three years. All he'd done was move so that he was curled up on the side of the bed with his knees drawn to his chest.
When he heard the door creak open, he moved to sit up and took a deep breath to calm his now raging heart beat. He straightened out his clothes and looked over as Marcus stepped into the room.
The vampire's face was twisted into an almost murderous, dark look. He wasn't looking at Seth – or anything in the room – but his attention was focused on a newspaper which he held in his hands. He walked over to about the center of the room before he stopped, his hands trembling as they clutched the paper.
His own face creasing into a frown, Seth rose from his seat on the bed and made his way quickly to Marcus' side; he placed a hand on the ancient vampire forearm, giving it a gentle squeeze, “Marcus?”
That seemed to shock him out of whatever funk he'd been in, because the dark look vanished from his face and he turned slightly startled eyes to Seth.
Seeing that the vampire was out of it, Seth looked to the newspaper; wondering what new development had happened.
Due Morti in Misteriosi Omicidi.
“Two more were killed.” Marcus' voice broke the silence; it was rough and tense, and the anger in it was almost tangible.
It made Seth wince just a little to hear the ancient vampire – who was usually so calm and had a light tone to – sound so angry; whatever it was about this case, he was fast finding it to be very personal to him.
“Were they –”
“They're much closer then the ones before,” Marcus replied, inhaling sharply. “There can't be much of a mistake now; whoever it is, Volterra will fall within their path. I cannot say whether or not they will hunt within the city, but those outside of its protection are at a continued risk.”
And if they do come within the city, then I don't want you there. I will not allow you to be put in danger.
“Any ideas about who's behind all of this?” Seth asked in a soft, almost weak, voice.
Marcus shook his head, “Aro still wants to believe that this is just a newborn who got away from their sire, but now even Caius is unsure about that.”
“You still think it's someone who wants your attention?”
“Now I'm sure of it. Whoever this is... they're trying to send us a message.”
“And what would that be?”
“We're coming.”
Seth's knees began to tremble, and his hand automatically began to tighten on Marcus'. He was scared, and he wasn't too sure why; it was probably because he didn't like the idea of people dying for no other reason other then to gain the attention of the Volturi. For one, it seemed like a very stupid idea because of just how powerful the Volturi guard alone was; and that didn't take into account the leaders.
Whoever it was had to be someone smart, someone powerful and old. It had to be either someone who had past dealings with the Volturi, or someone who was ancient enough to know how to manipulate them.
He was snapped out of his thoughts as Marcus pulled him into his arms, wrapping them tightly around the wolf and pulling him close to his chest. One of his hands tangled in Seth's hair, stroking it comfortingly, and the other came to rest at the small of his back. The hand in Seth's hair had pressed his face gently into the ancient vampire's neck, and his scent filled the young man's nostrils.
It was comforting, and Seth inhaled the scent deeply, willing himself to relax and calm down. He sagged against the vampire just a little, his own arms coming up to steady himself.
“Are you alright Seth?” Marcus' voice was soft; he didn't want to frighten the young man in his arms.
A weak nod was his only response, followed by Seth taking several long, deep breaths; pacing them with Marcus' never changing breathing. He wasn't unnerved at all by the lack of a heart beat in the vampire's chest, nor the chill that permeated through the fabric which covered it. Instead, he found it very comforting and being right there in Marcus' arms felt... natural, completely so.
“Did you –”
“Marcus, can I ask you something?”
The vampire frowned in confusion, and he was unwilling to let Seth go at that point, and instead let his arms tighten around the wolf before answering, “Yes, anything.”
“Are there any other vampire covens out there? Ones that are really old?” Seth mumbled out his question into the collar of Marcus' shirt. He moved just a little closer, feeling unbelievably safe in the other's arms.
Marcus froze at that, his mind racing, “One that I can think of. What brought this on?”
Saying nothing, Seth moved even closer, tightening his own arms around Marcus and pulling the vampire closer; if that was at all possible. Marcus had just confirmed part of what his greatest fear was.
Now starting to worry more then he had been before, Marcus quickly and easily scooped Seth up into his arms – bridal style – startling the wolf who's arms he dislodged when he picked him up. To stead himself, Seth wrapped his arms tightly around his neck in order to steady himself.
He was at the bed in a split second, settling the young man down on the covers. Marcus sat down beside him and took Seth's hands in both of his and squeezing them in comfort; he gave the young wolf a stern look.
“Tell me why you asked that.” Seeing Seth wince at how forceful he sounded, Marcus quickly added, “Please, Seth. Tell me.”
Taking a deep breath, Seth murmured, “Because I think that might be who's behind all of these killings. I don't think that anyone else would be so stupid as to go against the Volturi and think that they could get away with it.”
“I don't –”
Seth shook his head violently, leaning a little closer to Marcus, “An ancient coven would have the power, I think, to feel comfortable about going after the Volturi – provoking them – and trying to grab your attention like this. Whoever this is is old and powerful. That's why I think that it might be another ancient coven.”
“I hope that you're wrong,” Marcus murmured finally. “Because I don't want to believe that the Romanians are behind all of this.”
That made Seth frown, “The Romanians?”
Well, he hadn't expected that. I would have thought that an ancient coven – one just as old as the Volturi – would be from Asia or Africa, not from Europe.
“They were the reigning vampire coven when Aro was first turned,” Marcus continued, in a soft and distant voice that sounded nothing like his usual tone or the angry one which he'd had earlier. “The Volturi usurped control from them once Aro was confident in his own power and the strength of his coven.”
“What do you know about the Romanians?” Seth managed to pull one of his hands from Marcus', and hesitantly reached out, letting his fingers trail across the vampire's pale cheek. He felt his own cheeks warm up when Marcus reached up and pressed his palm to his cheek. “Marcus?”
“That... that is difficult for me to speak of.” Marcus was trembling just a little now, and his voice sounded broken. His hands around Seth's were surprisingly gentle, though, and he let his eyes drift closed as he moved just a little closer to the young man.
“If you don't want to –”
Marcus shook his head, “If you're right – and I pray that you aren't – then you need to know about them and my... past history with them.”
Patiently, Seth waited for Marcus to continue, and his fingers unconsciously stroked the vampire's hand. If Marcus wanted to share this with him, then he could wait and let him tell him on his own time, no matter how long it took him.
Finally, Marcus took a deep, calming breath, and spoke.
“The Romanian coven was where I was originally from. Their leader was my sire.”
- 10
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Complexity	By : TwilightScribe Category: Twilight Series > Slash Views: 3827 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or make any money from this story.

Complexity