Caius had to get information out of Amalia somehow. He didn't know yet how to do it, but there had to be something. He thought about threatening her, torturing her. Yes, perhaps if he threatened her life long enough, she would break and tell him everything he wanted to know, and then he would kill her and be rid of her.

 There was something very strange about her, or at least he thought there was. From he observed, no one else seemed to think there was anything wrong with her. Everyone else seemed to either like her and was indifferent to her presence. Only Caius sensed something off.

 There were so many questions pounding through his head in a muddle of thoughts: why had Amalia come to Volterra in the first place? What did she want? What did she know about his wife, about her life on the run with Amara?

 And one thing that puzzled him, that he couldn't figure out at all...why wasn't she afraid of him? For the entire encounter in Marcus' study, she had remained perfectly calm, showing no signs of fear, none at all. Everyone else feared him, and he wanted to be feared. Why not her? It was as if she knew exactly what he was going to do, and had already prepared herself for it. 

 She told him she had researched them and studied them.

 What did she know, and how much was it?

~~~~~~

 Amalia rapped lightly on the door with her knuckles. "You asked to see me, sir?"

 Caius opened the door. "Yes. Come on, Amalia."

 "Well, this won't seem suspicious at all, will it?" she asked as she stepped in. "Me visiting you in your private rooms, you a widower and I a single woman. I certainly hope no one does much gossiping around here."

 Caius closed the door, trying his best not to slam it. "Volterra is not a place of gossip. This is my private chamber; no one would dare disturb me unless it were a true emergency. That is why this is the perfect place for us to continue our conversation."

 "If you are referring to the incident from a few days ago, I am afraid I don't consider that much of a conversation. You interrogated me, shouted at me, and threw at a wall. Your brother though, Marcus...what a gentleman. He is a widower as well, isn't he? It's a shame his wife's murderer was never found."

 "No one here speaks of Didyme anymore," said Caius. "You seem to know everything about us very well, don't you?"

 "Well, I certainly became interested in you after you murdered the man who made me a vampire. I wasn't particularly fond of him; he was completely and entirely insane. However, I did mourn his passing."

 "And why did we murder him?"

 "He broke many rules, you see. I believe it was you who directed his execution, in fact."

 Caius scoffed. "Is that why you're here? Is that what all of this is for? Some petty revenge?"

 "No, no, Caius, I don't go looking for petty revenge. It's not my style. You see, after that I learned a little about the Volturi, and I found you all to be very interesting. But after some time, I moved on. It seemed silly to become obsessed."

 "Clearly, something changed your mind. Amara, I suppose?"

 "Well, of course it was Amara," Amalia replied. "I hadn't seen her in decades. I wondered if she was dead. Then she suddenly appeared at my house with another woman in tow, saying they needed a place to hide."

 "And you hid them?"

 "She was my sister. What was I supposed to do? There you have it." Amalia spread her hands out. "I committed treason, I suppose. Will you be taking me to get executed now?"

 Caius shook his head. "No. Not yet. First you're to give me answers. How did you get all of this past Aro? He would have seen it, and he would never have let you in if he knew."

 "That was because I blocked those memories. He didn't see anything about Amara. In fact, Amara and our father did not appear. All he saw was my human life, my death and rebirth, and my life as a midwife and a nurse."

 Caius was genuinely astonished that she was able to hide anything from Aro. "How did you do that?"

 "Mind powers. I'm very powerful where that's concerned. I could show you things, you know."

 Caius gave her a skeptical look. "Could you, now? And what things would they be?"

 "Well, I suppose they could help to give you closure, since they involve my sister and your wife. But since you're looking at me as though you don't believe me..." She let it trail off there.

 Caius was growing impatient."Amalia, you will show me these memories if you know what's good for you."

 Amalia sighed. "No, I suppose I don't really know what's good for me, or else I never would have come here in the first place. Sit down, Caius." She held out her hands. "Close your eyes, and you'll see."