Peace Disturbed (Volturi and Foiseil Coven)

[Siobhan Catherine Rice]

It was early morning, the beginning of another fairly short day in the life of this vampiress. She slipped out of her nightgown, slipping into a breezy white dress with light blue lapels and leaving his feet bare and vibrant hair free. As she walked about her home, she started her daily routine, adjusting everything as she wished. The vases in hallway were moved to their saturday position, the old flowers from yesterday thrown away into the trash, the kitchen dishes rearranged in a different way; the same routine as yesterday morning till everything was perfect.

She then walked outside, barefoot, with a pair of scissors in hand as she perused her home's garden for the perfect flowers to be arranged in the now empty vase. She plucked a few vines of yellow jasmine, quite a few white roses, some wisteria, and some foxglove. She returned to the house and arranged her bouquet. Roses in the center, foxglove in the back, jasmine wrapped around the base, and wisteria spewing from the sides like a fountain of purple and white.

She took a step back and smiled at her work, very happy with how everything looked. Siobhan Catherine Rice could boast about one thing about herself; she was a damn good flower arranger if anything. She took in an unnecessary breath, loving the scent of the mixed flowers flowing over mind as she opened the front door and stepped back outside.

As she closed the door and stood outside, she took in another breath, her lungs filling with a far different scent. Her eyes opened wide and she froze as she registered who it was and took a look down her driveway. Though she couldn't she her visitors coming up the drive yet, she could smell them, and the fear that they brought with them. She shivered a little, but straightened up, awaiting the coming arrival. It was best she just smile and bear their presence as long as they kept to her home's rules.

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[JANE MAGDALENA VOLTURI]

* but i would rather be crazy ,
• I WOULD RATHER BE MAD THAN LOST IN THE SILENCE HOLLOW AND DRAB •

as apathetic as she was to the cause of the ball, jane was loathe to leave volterra. volterra was a shining gem; it teemed with vibrant life, and while the thrumming of pulses nearly echoed against the walls of the narrow streets, it was a glorious, cacophonous sort of sound that meant home. while she would have liked to avoid preparations for the ball - it all seemed utterly frivolous to her - leaving volterra was even less appealing at this point.

she was already a little irritable, but at the very least, she didn't have to listen to the chatter over which table cloths to lay out and what drapes they should put up for that night. the mere thought of it made jane roll her eyes - grandiose, unimportant, ludicrous all came to mind when someone asked for her opinion, but she tended to keep her lips tightly sealed when it really came down to it. she wanted nothing to do with it - at all.

so while she was reluctant to leave volterra, she was getting away from all of the business of the preparations. that was a minor consolation. that, and she got to personally invite a coven to the ball -which sounded a lot more fun to jane than it might have sounded to anyone else.

approaching the home that morning, the blonde youth was adorned in the usual volturi garb - black dress, covered almost completely by the heavy velvet cloak, the silver volturi pendant gleaming at her slender throat. beneath fine blonde lashes, claret irises surveyed - calculating, analyzing, before fixing once more on the figure of a young woman ahead of her.

wisps of flaxen hair stuck to her cheeks as she lowered her hood, stopping a few feet away. a light, almost pleasant smile played across her lips - it would have been something that one might have taken to be sincere, if not for the fact that it was jane delivering the smile in the first place.

"siobhan rice," jane drawled. her voice was light, high, airy - a lovely sort of tone to match the angelic face it belonged to; the voice of a child. "aro sent me. assuming you have a minute - which you will, i'm certain of it - we have some things to discuss."

[Siobhan Catherine Rice]

She offered up a smile to Jane, mentally sobbing at the thought of this vampire even being remotely close to her family. Siobhan only prayed that they stayed toward the back of the house, far from the reach of this vile vampire in front of her. "Come inside meh dear and ah'll get yah somethin' tah drink. We'll discuss more when we get inside." she stated rather calmly, opening the door to let her inside her house.

Siobhan walked ahead of Jane once she shut the door behind her, retreating to the kitchen and getting out a packet of blood for each of them. Animal for herself and human for Jane; and she handed the glass to the girl. "Shall we go into tah study, tah way no one shall bother us?" she stated more than asked, leading the girl to her private study where only a few others of her coven were allowed entrance.

Once inside, she motioned for Jane to sit in a comfortable high backed chair across from her very own well-worn one. She slipped comfortably into her chair, setting her untouched glass to her side, staring at Jane rather calmly. However, inside she was a raging storm, frightened by the presence of the Volturi in her home. "So, Jane.. What brings yah here? Ah don't recall doin' anythin' that needed ah special visit of sorts.." she stated to the child-like vampire calmly. She only prayed that she or her coven hadn't done anything she didn't know about to trigger this visit...

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[Urhi Tudhaliyas]

He had been in his rooms, standing by his window, enjoying the breeze presented to him and the fluttering of his white gossamer curtains against his skin when he had detected the scent of an intruder. The effect on him wasn't instantaneous--he didn't immediately drop into a crouch, hissing through his teeth, eyes narrowed in aggression as he vowed to spill the blood of anyone matching that particular scent--but he did frown, his facial features, normally relaxed with an absent smile ghosting across them, tightening as he silently assessed what the threat was and, furthermore, what it could possibly mean.

Urhi was, by nature, not an overly territorial vampire. Of course, when something managed to snag his loyalty, grasping at strings that only continued to fray as time went by, he would put up more of a front, but still. He had been taught, at a young age, that the sand eventually took everything, and so he had let it go so, watching as empires rose from the dirt to tower high above before being pulled back down to earth, toppling monuments and crumbling spirits as they went about it. By basic nature all empires ended this way, no matter how powerful in their prime; every vampire weakened eventually, like every Rome, or every Egypt, or every Hattusa--and his heart clenched briefly, thinking, rather bitterly, how his own empire, once so great, had fallen into obscurity as the sand and the deserts weathered away all traces, which were then further buried under the might of new empires, new ideas, while the Egyptian one remained fascinating in the public eye, so well known--eventually gave way to stronger things after they weakened.

Such was the way of life, he supposed, even though softer individuals tried to claim it wasn't. And just as the great Romanian coven had fallen, and just as their rivals the Egyptian coven had fallen, Urhi had no doubt that, one day, the Volturi would too.

But that day wasn't today, and so the presence of one of the Italians' most notorious, the young female with the angelic face and the smile that could melt a heart while subsequently making it stutter and stop completely out of sheer fear, worried him greatly. Before he could stop himself, his hands came up to the two braids he wore on the right side of his face, his fingers twisting themselves in one of the braids, wrapping the hair around his index finger as he tugged on it absently, his narrowed eyes never leaving the figure of Jane, for that was her name, as she made her way up the pathway to the home of the Foiseil coven, the coven he had currently adopted as his own, with its beautiful views and relative tranquility and removal from the increasingly complex politics of both the human civilisation and the Volturi laws.

His hand slowly sliding down to his sides, resting there for a moment, he waved as the distant figure of Siobhan, his coven leader, moved to meet the diminutive blonde, and Urhi knew how nervous she must be. It was an unspoken fact within the Foiseil coven that Siobhan, the Saint Vampire, was terrified of them, and Urhi would have thought her a fool if she weren't. The Foiseil coven was not small. it was not large like the Volturi coven, either, but it had more vampires within its walls than most, Siobhan opening her arms to any wandering soul who needed her, a trait Urhi found both vexing and admirable, if that were at all possible. Retrospectively, of course the Volturi would keep an eye on them, making sure they didn't grow too big or harbour illusions of challenging them.

Urhi almost smirked. Paranoid, Aro, that someday someone might burn your castles like you did the castles and loved ones of your enemies?

Still, it wasn't wise to leave Siobhan to her own devices for long when she was nervous, and so with a decisive glance in the mirror--one moved to impress the Volturi, after all, even Urhi understood that--he surveyed the neat kohl lines surrounding his eyes, protecting them from the sun and creating a simple "Egyptian" effect, as they usually did. He had forsaken the golden eye pectoral for simple golden belt around the white linen shirt, the one with the loose sleeves, held securely around his waist with a golden belt. The shirt hid the inking of the Hittite sun he had on the back of his left shoulder, and it was with a critical nod that he left the room, intent on finding Siobhan's study, where he knew she would have taken Jane. Doubtless she had assured the other vampire that no one would bother them there, but Urhi was willing to risk walking brazenly in, as he did sometimes even when there weren't important visitors. It was inevitable, as Urhi did so love to wander, and he would chalk it up to that if need be.

And so, with little disregard for his own safety, Urhi stepped into the study, where he could already here Siobhan addressing the younger-looking but certainly more dangerous vampire.

"It appears we have a guest," Urhi said, feigning surprise as he observed Jane rather shrewdly before a thin smile appeared on his face. He then turned his head to Siobhan, the movement graceful even as he tilted his head back a little bit, to see her better while still keeping Jane in his sights. "Planned visit, or impromptu calling, I wonder?" He kept his tone light while he spoke, but his eyes were hard. Doubtless Jane would see it, but he felt he didn't much care. She would have seen it in the expressions of countless others, and he suspected she was under an order to refrain from harming any of the Foiseil vampires unless they threatened her.

[JANE MAGDALENA VOLTURI]

* but i would rather be crazy ,
• I WOULD RATHER BE MAD THAN LOST IN THE SILENCE HOLLOW AND DRAB •

where the flame rose and flickered, the moths came fluttering to - whether it be out of sheer curiosity to see the great and terrible beauty of the flame, or to make sure the other moths were alright, jane gave little consequence to. the point was that she was certain this visit wasn't going to be limited simply to siobhan - if it included one of them, it included a few of them. and could she blame them? the volturi did the same practice - meetings with aro and caius and marcus were hardly without a prominent guard, but that was meant to intimidate rather than truly protect. she figured the same truth was not applicable to this situation - considering she was not nearly as intimidated had their roles been reversed.

she followed siobhan into her home, barely making a noise despite the rustle of the velvet cloak around her shoulders. when at last they were seated in the office, tiny, angelic jane looking even more tiny in comparison to the high-backed chair that surely towered over her stunted height. the glass of blood was left, untouched, on the table beside her; she had little appetite when she was on business endeavors anyway.

and, just as siobhan had begun speaking - right on time, jane thought absently, the idea of this timing thing bringing a smile to her lips - a slender youth made his way in as well. casually, nonchalantly, as if he had not just put his life in danger by stepping into the room. insouciantly, as if he had not just become a target for worse things to come, should they come at all.

"planned," jane answered his question simply - what his name was, she had little need to know - and instead she turned back to siobhan. her smile was not anything short of idyllic, but a smile that had sent many a vampire turning tail when they'd see who it belonged to. "there's no need to be so worried, siobhan," the blonde continued, standing now from the chair. she preferred to stand. it felt stronger. "the volturi do make friendly house calls, you know. which is precisely what this is."

the smile did not drop. she did not lose her image for a second - and perhaps that's what made this so unnerving, that she had somehow made it seem sincere for this moment.

reaching into her cloak, she pulled out an envelope folded from rich, cream-colored paper, sealed with wax and the volturi crest. on it, the foiseil coven was scripted in lilting words, and she held it out to siobhan.

"take it," jane ordered. she wondered, briefly, if siobhan would laugh and tell her to just set it on the table - if siobhan would be afraid to even get that close to touching her, if the other vampires here thought of her as some kind of leper whose disease was a far more deliberate and dangerous one. "it's an invitation to the ball, siobhan. aro is so looking forward to see you there, you know."

there might have been a hint of a threat in the sweet, mellisonant undertones of her voice. there might have been the promise if you don't come, we'll find you and this is to make sure you understand that it is us still in power, regardless of how independent you've become. she wasn't sure if siobhan or the boy would catch it. she didn't care.

cerise eyes flickered over to the boy again, that same smile playing across her lips once more. "and you can even bring your family if you want to," she added, unable to keep the near-smug tone out of her voice. would she push buttons today? a good question. "we'd be so very happy to have you there, you know," jane continued, her tone shifting the slightest bit. "to be true, we have all been curious as to what this new coven of yours is like. my brother will certainly not believe me when i tell him how kind you are." absently smoothing out the skirt of her dress, she gave a little, amused laugh. "which means you simply must come, doesn't it? to prove to everyone, i mean. i would hate to have my words be discredited because you decided not to show up."

[Siobhan Catherine Rice]

She swallowed hard and gave Urhi a warning stare as she watched him enter, her gaze rather worried now that he had entered. She could only hope that Jane and Urhi would not lash out at each other. First off, she would hate for her coven to lose their good reputation, and secondly.. If Jane got hurt, they might as well dig their own graves.

Siobhan turned and listened to Jane speak again, her face and form as calm as she could make it. She raised an eyebrow as Jane handed her an envelope, and she swallowed out of habit, taking hold of her glass and taking a nervous sip. As Jane explained what the envelope held inside, she looked around, searching for her letter opener. It obviously wasn't here, which meant it was probably in her upstairs room.

She focused, staring at Jane as she searched for the silver letter opener, summoning it to herself as she listened to Jane continue about how the Volturi would love to meet her and her peaceful coven. When she was finished, Siobhan lifted a hand and the silver letter opener zoomed into her palm, resting there after its swift journey. With a sigh, she opened the letter and validated all that Jane had said.

She looked up at Jane and smiled, her eyes tired. "Ah will attend, as it would be rude if ah did not, but if any of the others of mah coven wish to come it will be of they own choice. Ah cannot force them tah do somethan thay don't want to." she stated calmly to Jane. She had this deep seated feeling that she might be stepping on Jane's toes, but it was the truth. If her coven didn't want to go, then no force on earth would make her make them go. "Now is that all yah come here for dearie?" she inquired softly, sitting on the edge of her chair.