Spitefic: Influence
Title: Influence
Author: LaMadameRouge
Rating: PG
Word Count: 933
Inspiration: The resolution of the "conflict" in Breaking Dawn
Notes: I had to retcon the canon a little so this could work. I missed writing Marcus' character more than I thought.
Summary: The level of influence the child holds over the group is alarming, and Marcus knows there can only be one way to end it.
Marcus’ eyes swept over the vampires assembled before them. He was searching their bonds, that’s what he would let the Cullen boy see. The child clinging to the newborn Isabella’s breast was a threat. The sway she held over the group was obvious from the tendrils that reached from her to everyone. It seemed to be her power, this… magnetism. She drew the others in until none could fight her hold.
She was a danger. Aro must know this certainly. The silent Volturi shifted ever so slightly closer to his leader, brushing the back of his hand against the other’s. Aro didn’t so much as twitch as he read what his brother had seen. “Thank you, Marcus,” his voice was all pleasantries and paternalism despite the circumstances.
Aro… it was rare to see the man ever anything but smiling and affable. A natural cheer surrounded him, rather like an anglerfish’s lure. Marcus had seen the harsh, childlike cruelty beneath the smiles only once and that had been when Aro killed Didyme. Didyme had been unessential, dangerous, Aro had said when Marcus confronted him. “I couldn’t stand by and let her take what is mine,” and then he was smiling again, caressing Marcus’ face. “I know it hurts, but you can be my little doll, Marcus, mine. Always mine.” Yes, Marcus loathed Aro, he loathed the Volturi, and yet he couldn’t escape. Aro was all he had left of his beloved Didyme and somewhere along the way, he’d just stopped caring.
“She is a danger, Aro! We don’t know what she’ll do!” Caius hissed. Always the warlord and planner was Caius. He’d been that way even as a human, renowned for his skill and lust for blood on and off the battlefield. Aro had been the one man even the savage general could never defeat and Marcus knew that it bothered Caius still. His loyalty, though grudging, was unwavering and as long as Aro upheld the rules, Caius would follow him onto the funeral pyre. So what did that make them? Masochists?
“Calm yourself, Dear. Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Aro turned to soothe the general’s itch for battle. The pieces were moving in Aro’s mind, it was obvious enough. With the child, they could be unstoppable. If they had her, they could certainly gain the Cullen boy and the little seer. No, she was too dangerous. Her power, though useful, could and would backfire in the long run. Better to kill her now than risk her turning on them and becoming an even more savage and terrible ruler than the Volturi.
“May I speak with the child?” he could barely contain the excitement in his voice and eyes. It was a farce, he didn’t want to talk with her. He wanted to test her, to see if she was really as dangerous as Marcus had sensed. “You must understand,” his voice was at its most soothing and reassuring, “I must know. It could save you all.”
No, Aro wasn’t interested in saving them. They’d broken far too many laws and rules and the Volturi did have a reputation and the status quo to maintain. Irina’s death had been a mere spectacle, a way to allow Caius to work off his excess energy and keep him calm and quiet until he was needed for battle. Edward, Isabella, and an overgrown wolf broke from the small crowd. The child’s influence on them was the strongest, meshing with the threads of other relationships and feeding off them like a parasite. If this was what she was capable of? Marcus suppressed a shudder.
She would have to be killed, destroyed so completely that nothing, not a hair, could remain. Aro would realize that. After all, he loved powerful toys, but not so powerful that it could supplant him. No, that could never be tolerated.
Aro reached out to touch the creature before being intercepted by her father. Not yet, the horror would have to wait while the Volturi leader sifted through the inane, obsessive cesspool that was Edward Cullen’s mind. Finally, he’d had as much as his patience would allow and reached for the child whose Influence began to snake towards the ancient vampire in the hopes of finding a new victim.
“Marvelous…” the word was whispered like a prayer and for a moment, Marcus began to fear she’d snared Aro in her parasitical clutches. Renata whimpered, her power surging as it pushed back the foreign force trying to invade Aro’s body and mind. “That is simply brilliant…” he was playacting now. This was a good sign. They would reach the end soon. The child reached up and, with no fear, pressed her tiny hand to the ruler’s cheek.
“Please…” her Influence surged once more, but Renata barely forced it back.
“Fear not, Little One, no harm will come to your family,” a pretty lie, one of the Cullen’s allies hissed in response and the trio stepped back into line. “Brothers, we must now confer,” Aro commanded and they joined hands.
Destroy her, she must be killed. Marcus supplied. She is too powerful, too dangerous. Renata’s shield was the only thing keeping her at bay.
If they conferred out loud, Caius would be agreeing if only for the desire for battle and a need to exact justice and punishment. Irina had not been enough to sate him. Their witnesses and troops murmured, their voices reaching a fever pitch the longer the triumvirate conversed mind to mind. The decision was made.
Aro stepped forward, raising his right hand into the air as he asked for silence.
“Kill them.”