Act One: The Arrival
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Volterra Castle Tour
***

Lena was sitting on a barstool in the kitchen of their apartment, which Kassia had decided to buy since she now knew her mate lived in Volterra.

The blonde teenager was sipping on an apple mango smoothie while she waited for her mother to get ready they were going on a tour of the Volterra castle and Lena was officially meeting Marcus today, Kassia had been going out with him and the two of them were getting to know each over the past two weeks that they had spent in Volterra.

Marcus had asked to meet Lena if Kassia was comfortable with it so soon. And Kassia agreed, she was surprised at how quickly he wanted to meet her daughter, but she was happy nonetheless.

The older blonde came out of her bedroom with her phone pressed to her ear and an apologetic look aimed at Lena who sighed as her mother finished up the call, "Darling, unfortunately, I have to go by and check on the progress of the museum, but you can go on the tour without me and then tell me how it went later tonight over dinner."

Lena nodded and sighed, "Okay Mom, since I know that your job is the main reason that we are here on this trip to begin with I won't hold that against you... though meeting Marcus with you there would have been more ideal... what if they try to eat me with the rest of the tourists since we both know what that tour is a guise for?"

The older woman chuckled, "I know little dove... how about I arrange for the three of us to have dinner, that way you can get to know him better after you meet him after the tour today. Also, if anyone tries to threaten you in any way, just tell them who your grandfather is or tell Marcus who you are, and he will not let any harm come to you."

Lena nodded at her mother, "All right Mom, that sounds like a plan..."

Kassia kissed her on the head as Lena finished her smoothie and the two headed out Kassia dropped Lena off where the tour started, and the blonde witch waited for maybe ten minutes with the others as a beautiful woman with shiny dark brown hair and alluring red eyes opened the door, an almost predatory look in her eyes, "Welcome to the Volterra castle, I will be your guide Heidi..." she trailed off a smirk gracing her face, "it's gonna be a killer tour."

Lena held back a snort at that she already quite liked this vampire just from that introduction alone. Lena knew that they would get along. Lena stayed toward the back of the group, but she was also taking pictures to show the girls later, she knew that Angela would love the architecture and history everywhere.

The whole tour lasted 45 minutes before they came upon the doors to the throne room. Lena was a little nervous now, but she didn't let it show, she kept her face neutral without seeming suspicious. She remembered her mother's lessons.

The doors creaked open and the group of tourists was ushered inside, Lena stuck toward the wall, trying to go unnoticed by the feeding vampires... until she was noticed by a male vampire, that was around 6 foot tall, with black hair and burgundy red eyes after all the other tourists were drained, "well seems we missed one."

Lena just smirked as she stepped forward her head held high, "Yeah, I wouldn't do that if I were you hotshot..." She had read his mind and saw that he was planning to feed on her... "It would literally be your funeral, and not to mention you would have a blood feud on your hands, which is really not something you want from my grandfather..." Lena caught Marcus' eye over the vampire's shoulder which made a mischievous glint appear in her eyes which Marcus furrowed his brow over, "Not to mention that my mother would be absolutely furious... so before you do something you will regret let me formally introduce myself, my name is Yelena Dwyer and my mother is Kassia Athanasiou who is the mate to one of your kings so you can see how that would not work in your favor and my grandfather Silas Athanasiou well that's a whole other story and also would not work in your favor at all."

"Alessio, stand down," Marcus said upon hearing that this was his future stepdaughter. He knew how protective Kassia was over her only child.

The vampire bowed his head, "Yes Master, Marcus." and then he fell back into his spot beside Heidi, who was his mate.

Lena shrugged as the attention was now on her, "Well that went far better than I expected it to if I'm being honest here..."

Marcus smiled at the teen, as Kassia had told him they would be coming by, "Your mother was supposed to come with you if I'm not mistaken?"

Lena grinned at the look on his face at the mention of Kassia. "Yes, but something came up last minute, and they called her in for a progress check so she said that I could just come without her, though things probably would have been a lot smoother had Mom come and that whole ordeal would have been avoided, but whatever."

Marcus nodded, and then suddenly his bond sight was active, and he saw soul sibling bonds form from the twins to Lena, which surprised him... "I believe introductions are in order, don't you agree, brother?" Aro spoke from behind Marcus.

Marcus nodded, "Of course brother." then started the introductions, "I'm Marcus and these are my brothers, Aro and Caius." he pointed to the two as he said their names. Lena nodded at them and Marcus continued. "In order from lowest to highest ranking in the guard, Afton, Corin, Santiago, Alessio, Heidi, Renata, Chelsea, Well Felix, and Demetri aren't here right now they're on assignment, then, that leaves the twins, who are equal in rank Jane and Alec." he also pointed each of them out as they were named. (honestly, IDK how accurate that ranking is, but it's just what I went with.)

Then gave them all a three-finger wave, "Hi... as I mentioned I'm Yelena, but you all can just call me Lena."

Lena was a little caught off guard when like Marcus, her bond sight alerted her of the two new soul-sibling bonds that had formed attached to her, hers was a little delayed where it's not as strong as Marcus's' "huh..." she muttered to herself, "weird." Though being in a room full of vampires everyone heard her and Marcus gave her a questioning look, making Lena sigh, "Okay, so I don't know how much you know about my mom and her heritage, and all that I know you know about her father, but I'm not sure what she's told you about her mother yet, but because of who my grandmother is my mom had some abilities that she inherited and a few were passed down to me though they are not as powerful and one of those abilities is that I can see bonds, but it's limited, and I wasn't expecting that to happen which is why I just reacted like that "

Marcus nodded at her, "I see, she hasn't really mentioned her mother yet."

Lena nodded, "I wasn't sure, which is why I kept it vague until Mom explained it more, just in case."

The twins were looking at this blonde girl a little confused since they had no idea why they felt protective of her in a way but not like the protectiveness you would feel over a mate, but they were puzzled and Lena saw the questions in their minds.

So the blonde witch smiled at the twins "It's a little confusing and unexpected but that feeling that you're experiencing is because of the soul-sibling bond that we now share, I am kinda familiar with the feeling as I have three others..."

Alessio approached her a little later, "I just wanted to apologize about earlier."

Lena smiled at him, "It's all right I honestly was expecting someone to try, and I wanted it to happen just so I could play the 'do you know who my grandfather is' card, I love playing that card when I know people actually know who he is because of the looks they give me.... Like 'Oh shit I shouldn't have done that' It brings me joy."

Alessio chuckled, "You know Hiedi would love you, in fact, I'm going to get her and introduce you." he disappeared in a flash, and then he reappeared with the beautiful dark-haired vampire from the tour earlier.

Lena smiled at her as well, "Hello."
"Hello there, I noticed you during the tour, but for some reason, you didn't appear to make me thirsty like the others."

"Yeah, perk of being a witch, our blood does not appeal to vampires.... I knew just from your; little speech that we would get along."

So Lena spent the rest of the day bonding with the guard.

Lena got home that night and told her mom everything over dinner, and Kassia had set up for Marcus to come over to the apartment the following day so the three of them could bond and Marcus and Lena could get to know each other a little better.

***

Alessio Volturi is played by Ben Barnes

Heidi Volturi is played by Emeraude Toubia

AHHHH we have one more chapter in Act One, I can't believe that it's almost finished. I am definitely going to try and have it finished and posted by the end of the year, if not it will for sure be my first post of 2024.

Working on it right now tho and as soon as it's finished it'll be posted.