I looked at the scruffy monster in trepidation.
"Selene?" I said in a wobbly voice.

Who's Selene?
Marcus was staring at him hard.
"Ambrogio, this is my mate, Makayla."

The vampire scuttled to me on all fours and I backed up. I screeched. Marcus knelt in front of me. He released an airy hiss.

"I'd prefer if you distanced yourself from my girlfriend."

The vampire growled.
"Yours? That woman is not yours, she is my Selene!"

Marcus' eyes were a fire. Sweat beaded down my face.
The vampire stretched out his filthy fingertips to me and I balked.

"Selene...My dear Selene. I never imagined I would live long enough to see you again. "
I clutched Marcus' arm.

"Stay away!" I said.
The monster curled his fingertips inwards and his eyes were forlorn.

"You have no remembrance of me...now that you have reincarnated."
What?

"Sorry? I think all this time alone in this place has confused you. I'm not any Selene."

Marcus had uncrouched after realizing the scary looking man would not hurt me, as he initially thought before I screamed.

"You are a picture of my long lost love, Selene. She had skin as dark as soil rained on the previous night, as do you. She had your cow brown eyes, your voluptuous hips, your supple cleavage and your wiry personality."

I stared at him; my body shutting down. I quivered and his face fell, his fangs dipping.

"Selene?" he said.
"Stop calling me that!" I cried.

The monster was increasingly being disturbed by my sour mood.

"Selene, isn't there anything I can do to decrease your discomfort?" he said.

I shook my head and I felt the ceiling closing in on me. Marcus sneered. A new look I had never seen from him.

"You can start off with a wash," he said raising up his face.
I nodded. That was a little rude but he did smell funky.

"I...I guess I have not indulged in the human habit of bathing in quite some time."
Marcus and I shared a look of disgust.

"Is there a way we can get him soap, a dish and a towel?" I said.

Marcus shrugged.

Then I took out the phone. The bars were two. I texted Demetri. He came almost immediately. Marcus didn't want him to enter the cave. So, I had to go and take the items from Demetri.

I nearly tripped and snapped my neck. So, I threw the dish and said toiletries at my boyfriend's face.

He was prepared for it, so he caught it like a frisbee.
"Thanks, dear."

He faced Ambrogio the hobo vampire.
"Use these. Fetch water with the dish."

The man grunted. After a few minutes he didn't smell like a trash receptacle. But he still looked atrocious; he had nails as long as a sloth, long and shaggy hair.

Marcus frowned.
"I should have informed Demetri to bring the shears."

I took out my nail file, the clipper and the scissors.
I sat on the rock and told the man to sit in front of me.

"Stay still."

I clipped his hair until it brushed the midsection of his neck. His nails were normal sized and the skeletons of his long nails were on the cave floor.

"Done," I said satisfied with my work. Ambrogio observed his nails and gently brushed his hands over his clean, tawny skin.

Marcus smiled at me.

"Good work. He actually looks human."

Ambrogio turned so unnaturally. His head did a 180 that would kill a normal human being. My mouth was gaped. The thick rope necklace he wore crackled as his head twisted like a top.

"You aren't human either. So, you do not get to criticize my appearance. Do you and your coven not pick off humans like ants?" Ambrogio said.

We both stared at him. He cracked a smile.

"Do not mind my crudeness. I do not appreciate hypocrisy."

He turned around and faced me. I uncrossed and crossed my legs nervously.

"Thank you so much, Selene," he said.

"Not Selene."

He smiled.
"Now, I must inform you of why your friend has brought you here."

"He's actually my boyfriend."
Ambrogio grimaced at me and his fangs glistened. I squeaked.

He smiled apologetically. Marcus sat protectively beside me.

"I am the original vampire; I met Marcus last week and recounted my life to him. Now, I do the same."

"Speed it up, we lost some time grooming you." Marcus sneered.

Ambrogio blew out a breath.

"Fine then. I was human before like you, Sel..."

I glared.

"Makayla," he corrected himself. "Then I fell in love with a girl, from Africa....she was forced into prostitution in Greece. I took her away and I was cursed by the sun god, Phoebus. The curse prevented me from walking in the sun without burning...My only option became stealing from my goddess, Diana to try and lift my curse.

But it was a farce. It was probably Phoebus in disguise who told me to steal from Diana. I could no longer wield silver. But then I was attacked by Phoebus' minions and I was fatally wounded.

I don't know what happened thereafter but my instincts tell me that she buried me. The ground revitalized me and I came alive.

I killed my attackers, who tried to molest my love...
That is how I became immortal."

I gawked at him.
"I'm sorry but you...you were cursed by the sun and then by this goddess ? Then you got put into the ground and got magically turned into a bloodsucker?"

"Pretty much," said Ambrogio.
"Makayla, your religion has a man who talked to a donkey... A sky god that caused the sea to become blood... a virgin who gave birth even a man who raised a dead man from death!

Can't you believe for one second that Ambrogio's story is true? Don't be a doubting Thomas, you can see him!"

"Geez, guys. I'm just curious. Then what else happened?" I said.
"I met Aro. And he was the vampire that stayed with me the longest...only to betray me."

I looked at him, astonished.
"You see this necklace, like a collar? Aro forced this on me with the help of a witch. And I've been trapped in this cave, ever since."

I pondered.He couldn't leave the cave because the sun hurts him. And what about the necklace?

I looked at it. Ambrogio grinned, his fangs showed.
"This? This made vampires invincible. They no longer have fangs, no longer are hurt by the sun, cannot be harmed by silver and can enter homes without human invitation.

The only weakness vampires have is to other supernaturals. Humans can't even harm them."

"If this thing makes only you weak and other, younger vampires stronger why did you never take it off?"

"This curse can only be lifted by a human who knows what I am. Another vampire cannot undo this."

Then I was going to lift his curse?
"Why would I inflict another monster on earth?"
Marcus looked at me reproachingly.

Ambrogio smiled sadly.
"Yes, you are right. You have every reason to worry. I did accidentally infest the earth with vampires and create Aro, your tormenter. You don't have to help if it's not in your heart."

"You sure bet I don't."
^^^^~~~^^^^~~~^^^^~~~^^^^~~~^^^^~~~^^^
It was nightfall when we returned to the Denali home. It was startlingly quiet. Marcus froze and he told me to stay behind him.

"What is it?" I asked.
"Makayla, don't show your fear. But my coven is ahead. I can smell them."

My heart quickened its pace.He took my hand and clasped our fingers together. I looked into his eyes and he reassuringly led me in.

"Brother...Makayla ....we have been waiting for you." A feathered voice said creepily.

It was Aro. I halted. Marcus rubbed my hand.
"Aro, so have we."

We turned the corner. There was Aro sitting on the recliner, one leg up. Caius and the wives stood to his right.

Felix was restraining Demetri. Benjamin was staring unseeingly at us....Alec was now near him. The Denali coven also stared unseeingly at us...

Eleazar stood,with the Volturi. A strange miasma permeated the air. I shivered. Aro's gaze stared longingly at me. I felt my teeth gnash.

"Makayla, hello. Why have you left home? The family has missed you so much!" Aro said with a devious smile.

"Your home can never be my home." I said.
Aro frowned.
"Is it? But his home is your home?" Aro said gesturing to my boyfriend.
I swallowed and nodded.

I don't know how he had got here with his coven so quickly when we left for Denali earlier then they could realise. At most he should have been having a wild goose chase in Greece...since everyone assumed Ambrogio was still there!

"Aro, how did you get here quickly?" Marcus said.
"You assumed without Demetri we couldn't track you! But Garrett informed us you were in his home but we found you gone.

Demetri confirmed you would only take nine hours to return and it'd be day...so you wouldn't be able to escape!"

The sun had risen. He was right. They all glittered like disco balls so going out was out of the question.

"Why are you here?" I said to Aro.
Marcus stood in front of me.
"I'm here to fix a mistake I made, Makayla. The Volturi prohibit any human knowledge of our kind. So, I must ensure you no longer are human."

Aro breathed down my back and I screamed. Marcus growled. He threw Aro over me. Aro back flipped and skid over the wooden beams. Some cracked and broke.

Aro showed his teeth.
"Stay back! You aren't changing her!"
Aro stood up and cleaned his robe.

Marcus watched his old coven.
"What is wrong with you? Aro still has your support?"
Caius mechanically said: "Didyme was a weakness to this coven. As are you!"

Whispers of weakness was whispered by the coven's underlings. Marcus' eyes waned. There was no winning against a coven of thirty-one!

Marcus sighed: "If weakness is love then I would be weak then not love at all."

Marcus hurled himself at Aro. Then he chucked Aro at Felix. Demetri slipped out. I felt arms encircle me and we whizzed out of the room.

"Run! Run, take her far from here. I'll hold this hoard back as long as possible."
Demetri took me to the cave where Marcus introduced me to Ambrogio.

"Demetri, what's going to happen?" I cried.

"Honestly, Chelsea has probably cut your bonds to your friends and Marcus. The only way to save you is through this cave...at least Marcus insisted I leave you here and try to hold back everyone as long as my will allows."

Was I to become a blood sucking creature or free Ambrogio and not be sure of the consequences? I saw Marcus walking slowly towards me. I called him but he had a blank expression and no love in his eyes...

He walked with his brothers....he was not Marcus my boyfriend anymore but the Volturi co-leader, Aro's toy.

If I freed Ambrogio he could maybe stop Aro...
"Do you want to surrender?" Demetri asked, hand on my arm.

"No, I want to live as a normal human being."
Demetri smiled.
"Go ahead. I'll cover you before I become mindless again. Run!"

I ran and I fell many times as I traversed the cave. I couldn't see at times. I screamed as the monster got closer, desperation taking over.

"Makayla, it's time to stop running from fate. I am your mate. You have no choice. If you come quietly now, I'll forget the ridiculous betrayals and tantrums. I can still love you."

No. I did have a choice. A sad Ambrogio came out and I blundered into his arms, bleeding and breathless.

"Aro? Where is your lover now...Selene...I mean Makayla?"

"Aro stole him away and now he's after me. Please save me!"
Ambrogio shed a tear. I had never seen a vampire do that .

For the first time I could see the sincerity in him, the fragility...and the loneliness and fear he had. He was no longer a monster but a man who was wronged in life and unlucky.

"I wish I had the power but with this necklace I'm as good as useless...I have every weakness they don't. I will perish but gladly if it means you spend a minute longer with human breath.

I cried,moved. I pulled at the necklace and it constricted. He started choking. My palms turned red. But I pulled again, the rope cutting me and red stained the ground and his soiled clothes. I gasped and clenched my teeth.

The necklace came off. His eyes were excited.
"I'm free?"
Aro appeared with his brothers....the executioners and jury in the kangaroo vampire court.

Aro froze but Ambrogio laughed.
"My progeny you have returned to me! I have been stuck in this cave without company for so long. ..Have you seen my Selene?"

The other vampires, about ten, scuttled forward thinking he was a human. I mean he had brown eyes, warm skin and a beating heart. It was a mistake because he decapitated them. I was shaken by how strong he was. He had twisted their heads off like bubblegum.

He cast the ten broken bodies off like broken toys and empty wrappers.
"Make no mistakes I'm not a human to toy with....leave or be sorry!"

Jane glowered at him. I flinched. He would now convulse violently on the ground and cry for mercy but that didn't happen. Alec stretched out his palms. We waited a minute....nothing. His senses....Ambrogio's were intact.

Chelsea and Corin tried their powers... a total disaster. Felix charged. If powers failed surely brute strength wouldn't. He screamed . He laid on the ground black blood oozing from where his right arm once was.

They had blood?
"Aro, tell your children that their little gifts won't work on me. I am the original! I supercede you all!"

Aro had terrified eyes.
"Master."
A cackle then a growl came from Ambrogio.

"Only now I am your Master? When you see I have the upper hand? Aro you shouldn't have messed with Makayla....she is the reason for your existence! "

Aro was searching for a way out.He turned tail and ran.
"Aren't you going after him? He'll escape!" I said.
Ambrogio scoffed, his fangs dancing.

"He can't leave.When you freed me you returned weaknesses to vampires. He will have to leave at night. Enough time for me to deal with him."

The guards were lost without Aro. They also tried to harm me. I raced to Mark.
"Marcus!" I said holding his long, white face in my cut up palms.
He dropped my bloody hands.

I sobbed. He can't recognize me. Red smeared on his face; Ambrogio gazed at me.
"You love him?"
I nodded.

"I don't like Marcus. He looks like he is a stiff with no love in his bones but after seeing you with him, I understood what mutual love is."

He waved a hand in Marcus' face. Marcus blinked then looked at me eyes brimmed with affection and relief.

I embraced Mark. He took me and pet my hair.
"It's over," I told Marcus.
^^^o~^^^o~^^^o~^^^o~^^^o~^^^o~^^^o~^^^
Aro ran out but as he left the entrance the sun smote him. He screamed mostly out of bewilderment then pain.

Aro returned into the cave. Ambrogio smiled at him.

"Going somewhere?"
Aro turned white. Ambrogio took Aro's leg. As Aro struggled to escape he was hauled into the heart of the cave.

Aro bit Ambrogio. Ambrogio groaned. Aro fell flat.
He quickly righted himself and slide kicked his former Master. Ambrogio was on the ground.

Aro socked him in the face. His nose bled an inky substance and his lip was sliced.

“You idiot! What have you done? I've worked too hard all these years only for it to be ruined like this!” Aro said tears coming from his eyes.

“Now, no vampire can be in the sun! You've ruined our species!”
Ambrogio laughed.
“We were already ruined when I took you in.”

He headbutted Aro. Aro yelped. He punched Aro's stomach. Aro winced and Ambrogio managed to flip them over.

“Listen Aro. What wrong did I do to you? Didn't I clothe you, feed you and shelter you? I loved you almost as much as my first love, Selene.”

“That's crap and you know it! You were too fixated on the past to really love me!”
Ambrogio furrowed his face.

“What?”
“Did you ever think that I wanted a life outside of the shadows?”
“Are you out of the shadows?”
Aro's eyes wondered. He never ventured from his darkness.

Aro watched as his coven came and watched his Master berate him.
“You are the reason I'm like this!” he said to Ambrogio.

Ambrogio kicked away his former coven mate and progeny, Aro.

“Was I not a sufficient lover, young one?”
Makayla's eyes bulged.
“Lover? You...you were together?”

Marcus nodded.
“Ambrogio has a curse that prevents him from being with women. It physically harms him to do so.”

“I've only been with men, ever since my transformation. All my progeny have intimately known me,” Ambrogio replied.

Makayla and the entire Volturi looked at Aro with new eyes. Their master was a lover of Ambrogio.

“I really have no words,” Makayla said.
“What's going to happen? ” she continued.
Ambrogio  dawdled to Makayla.

“What is it you want? If it's vampirism ask one of the children here. I can't touch you.”

Makayla's face changed.
“No, no, no. I want to be a normal human being.”

“But we can't let her live,” Caius said.
Ambrogio  and Marcus glowered at him. Aro shook his head and sat, visibly in pain.

Ambrogio had a busted lip, a bloody and a black eye but Aro's face was clean of impact. But he wore a defeated countenance. 

“Do you not understand  brother? The rules are irrelevant now. We can't even move in the day to enforce laws.”

“I think a few vampires have perished as well.” Ambrogio said.

That was unsettling he had no sympathy for his kind but the less vampires in this world the better for the world.

“Yes, I'll be keeping my Aro. The Volturi can do what they like.”
~~~~^^~~~~^^~~~~^^~~~~^^~~~~^^~~~~^^~~
It was night. The Volturi had been ordered back to Europe. No-one was certain of the future. The Denalis could not, accommodate Marcus and Makayla because they were sheltering the Cullens.

For some reason, they had open rooms with glass windows and no curtains. Ambrogio thought that was stupid. He wondered how they weren't the first  to be annihilated.

But the Southern covens all but perished. Demetri and Benjamin were told to make adjustments to Volterra's lodgings.  Aro remained with his Master.

Makayla sighed. Her future with Marcus was as good as over.

“The Volturi is in shambles now and I have to go back. Once Volterra's been remodelled I can travel and find Ambrogio's progeny, Amun, Stefan and Vladimir.

I want to rebuild the Volturi and help establish better rules for vampires. We always terrorized our kind but now I feel we need to provide guidance in this new change.”

“So, we're over?” Makayla said her eyes red.
He smiled morosely.
“I don't know but I do know this. You have a choice. And now none can take it from you.”

“What about my family? I'm a missing person!”
Marcus smirked.

“I'll have Eleazar book you a flight to your father's. I used a new member to make everyone believe you ran away to search for your dad. That was the only alibi I could create, sorry.”

“But I have no idea where he is.”
“But we do,” Marcus said.

“He is in Mississippi with a daughter, who is ten, and a woman. Mrs Carter Benjamin ...your sister is called Opal.”

“Marcus, what if my dad doesn't want to see me?... he left years ago.”

He smiled.

“Do not fret. He cares deeply for you still. I can't take you home. It's dangerous. But if you ever want me I'm a call away.”

Makayla didn't know if now was the time to tell him. She'd probably never go back to Italy.  Her mother couldn't afford for her to study there. And she hadn't even finished her first year.

Marcus lifted up her chin.
“I know we may not see each other soon and you have your own problems, but if you ever need anything don't ever doubt I'll help you.”

Makayla remembered his first smile. How he booked her flight back home...twice.

Their first kiss. Then their battle to defeat Aro, which was just more complicated then any of them anticipated.

“I'll remember, Mark. I love you.”

She rose on her toes in her fur boots and pressed her dark, fat lips on Marcus' thin, pink lips. They shared their final kiss, each shedding salty tears and hugging the other's hips too tightly, as the night grew older promising the sun would rise.