Chapter Five: Awakened Power

Alana POV-

The concert last week let me see how strong Delia's magic is when she is singing. She doesn't realize it yet, but she is able to influence the decisions of others through music. That is a type of very powerful magic called Song Magic. It's also very rare magic. Apollo created this type of magic and made it where the magic chooses the person. Ville has this magic, hence his band, HIM, being very popular and famous. Cordelia needs to learn how to control it, though. Sadly, you are normally raised to control your magic at a young age, but Cordelia is a teenager who has just learned about her family and magic. It will be harder for her to control her magic. Thankfully, she is a fast learner.

"Hello, Alana." A familiar voice says to me. I turn to see Aradia standing in all of her glory.

"Aradia. It's been too long." I tell her. She nods and walks over to my desk.

"How was the festival last week?" She asks.

"It was good. Surely Ville told you about Delia?" I ask her.

"Val's daughter? Yes, he did. He also shared with me some very unsettling news. Her so-called mates aren't really her mates. Someone else is, but Hermes decided to pull a prank on the vampire Kings. When that prank is done, all parties involved will find that they are not mates." Aradia tells me.

"What do you mean, 'when the prank ends?" I ask her.

"You know Hermes. You know how he is and that he loves to pull pranks on those that are less than him. However, you also know that his pranks last for different amounts of time. He revealed to my husband that this latest prank will last a year at most. After, there's no telling what will happen. I pray that she finds her true mate before then. That way, if she were to find her true mate before the end of the prank, she can leave before it ends." Aradia explains to me.

"What do we tell her? That her mates aren't even hers?" I ask her.

"We tell her nothing. She can not know about it." Aradia tells me. Then, she grabs a knife and walks over to the fireplace. She lights a fire and cuts her hand, letting her blood drip into the flames. I do the same.

"This is binding, Alana. After the flame goes out, there is no going back on your word. Do you swear on the blood of this family that you will not reveal this secret to anyone, not even Cordelia?" Aradia asks.

"I swear." I say. The flames turn red and then disappear. Our cuts heal within seconds. Aradia turns around towards the door and begins to walk to the doors once more.

"Are you sure that this is the right thing to do?" I ask her.

"It doesn't matter if it's right or wrong. There's nothing that can be done now. I know that you are the Goddess of Truth and Justice, but I am asking you, not as one Queen to another, but as a sister, do not tell her the truth." Aradia tells me. She is right, I am the Goddess of Truth and Justice. That's why Valentina made me the head of the family. However, if leading this family means I have to lie, I will. Even if it kills me.

**************************

Cordelia POV-

This castle is so boring. I haven't been allowed to leave this castle since last week. Aro and Caius are calling it my punishment for looking at Ville the way I did. They told me that it was beyond inappropriate and I needed to be punished for my actions, so I've been locked away in a tower for the past week. No one has been allowed to visit me and I'm not even sure if my family knows I'm here.

"You know, normally, mates don't lock up their mates in a tower when they've done nothing wrong." A voice tells me. I turn around and I see Ville Valo on the balcony. He walks in the tower and sits at the table. I blush at him and I sit back down on the bed.

"So, why are you here?" I ask him.

"I want to hear that beautiful voice again. We'd make wonderful music together, you know, a song." He tells me.

"I guess." I tell him.

"Well, that and I've been given orders from my mother to come to rescue the damsel in distress." He says.

"I'm hardly a damsel." I tell him.

"You are a beautiful Queen locked away in a tower simply because she couldn't keep her eyes off of the Prince of Love." He tells me. I blush even more and he gets up. He puts his ear to the locked steel doors and smirks.

"They know I'm here. They're coming." He tells me.

"So, you're going to leave?" I ask him.

"Do you want me to?" He asks.

"No, not really." I tell him and he smiles. He offers me his hand.

"Well then come with me. My mother want's to meet you and you want to leave. Come with me." He tells me. I hear shouting right outside the door and Ville opens a portal. I grab my jacket. I haven't changed since the festival. The large steel doors open, revealing Aro, Marcus, and Caius. They look to Ville. Caius grabs me and attempts to keep me from going with Ville. Ville uses his magic to force all the vampires in the room to stay perfectly still. I run to Ville and I take his hand.

"Real mates don't lock their mates away." He tells them and we both walk through the portal. We walk out the other side and I am met with a large three-headed dog. Cerberus. We must be in the Underworld or Hell as Christians like to call it. According to Alana, Hades and Persephone created the demon race and through their creation, Aradia was able to give birth to the Prince of Love, Ville Valo. I'm not complaining.

"Ville, you're back." A voice says. Ville lets go of my hand and hugs a woman with black hair and blue eyes. She is wearing a long black winter coat with a black gown and a crown.

"Mother." Ville says. So that's Aradia? That the Queen of the Underworld?

"You must be Cordelia." Aradia tells me.

"Yes." I say to her.

"You look just like her, but you have his eyes." She tells me. She must be talking about my mother and father.

"I heard that your mates locked you away." She then says.

"Yes. They didn't like that I couldn't keep my eyes off of Ville last week." I tell her.

"Last week? I knew they locked you away, but I didn't know that they kept you in there for that long. How much longer did they plan to keep you in there?" She asks.

"I don't know, but I just know that when I return, I'll be locked up again for this." I tell her. She clenches her fists but says nothing.

"You know, normally when vampires find their mate, they can't stay away from them. Nor do they lock them away in a tower. Sure, they get punished, but vampires can't bring themselves to hurt their mate and they are able to feel what their mates are feeling. If their mate is feeling sad, they are sad as well. Then, there's the fact that when mates are away from each other, they both feel immense pain." Ville says.

"That's funny, cause I never felt pain when I was away from them. Not to mention, when Marcus and Aro were discussing my punishment, Caius wanted to tie me up and whip me until I learned my lesson. He didn't say, but he thought about it. I could read his thoughts. I remember being so terrified about what they'd do to me." I tell Ville. Why am I pouring out my soul to him? Why am I so comfortable around him more so than my own mates?

"They aren't your mates. My mother knows it and Alana knows, but they swore they'd never tell you. If you don't believe me, then ask her yourself." Ville tells me. His mother remains silent.

"Aradia, did you really know that they aren't my real mates?" I ask her.

"Yes. Alana and I did a blood spell that would keep us from telling you. What I didn't account for what Ville telling you. Though, I do thank him for telling you because now we can discuss what you will plan to do." Aradia tells me.

"If they aren't my mates, then why am I living with them?" I ask her.

"Exactly. Come live with your family. With Alana or your father or me even. We care about you and we want to teach you to control and use your magic. Ville can even teach you, but you will thrive more if you are with your family, not some vampire kings who want power." Aradia tells me.

"She'll think about it, mother." Ville tells her and she leaves. He grabs my hand and kisses it.

"Why don't you and I go out tonight?" He asks me.

"Like on a date?" I ask him.

"Yes." He says.

"I need something to take my mind off of everything, so yeah." I tell him.

"Good." He says. He snaps his fingers and two maids come over to us.

"Take her inside and help her get ready. She is my cousin and a Marino, treat her well." He tells the maids as he leaves. The girls nod and bow to him. They grab my arms and they pull me to the castle before me. The entire castle is black and there are white skulls everywhere. There is an orange hue and my guess is that is fire causing that hue.

**************************

As I walk out of the palace, I hear a piano playing. As I walk towards the sound, it gets louder. I begin to see that a door is open, so I walk through the door and I find a girl. She has beautiful orange and yellow hair. Almost like a sunset. Her voice is so beautiful and she has the voice of an angel. I wonder who she is.

"You're voice is so beautiful." I tell her. She jumps and stops playing and turns around to face me. She looks to be my age and has beautiful brown eyes.

"Who are you?" She asks me.

"I'm Cordelia Marino." I tell her.

"I'm Haley Luciano. I'm the daughter of Apollo and a witch." She tells me. I smile at her and she smiles back.

"Ah, there you are." Ville says from behind me. I turn around and I smile and blush at him. He looks at Haley and glares at her. Do they hate each other?

"What are you doing here?" Ville asks her with a small growl.

"None of your business, Ville." Haley growls back.

"Do you two have a history?" I ask them.

"None that is very important." Ville tells me. I laugh a bit. Ville turns away from her and towards me. As he leads me away, I wonder what the history is and why they seem to hate each other. Ville doesn't want to talk about it and most likely won't tell me, so I'll just have to ask Haley.

*********************

We walk through the streets of Volterra and no one notices us. Ville has been asked for a picture or two, but no one is really bothering him right now. Perhaps they don't want to intrude on us. I have noticed Felix and Demetri watching from afar, but they have made no advancements. I wonder if they were sent to spy on me by my so-called mates. Right now, we're looking for somewhere to eat.

"There is apparently a very expensive place to eat near here. It seems to have a dress code, so we'll need to get different outfits." He tells me.

"There are a few designer cloth stores around here. What do you say we meet back here in a few hours?" I ask him. He smirks and kisses my cheek.

"You know you're tempting, but not that tempting. You and I both know that the Volturi guards have been lurking around and the minute that sun goes down, they'll come out and grab you." He tells me.

"I know. Sundown is..." I trail off, not knowing when sundown is.

"Sundown is in 4 hours. As long as you're back here in 3 hours, you'll be fine." Someone says from behind us. We both turn and I see a man with blue eyes and long blonde hair. Ville smiles at him.

"Damon! I haven't seen you in a hundred years!" Ville tells the man.

"I know. I've been everywhere, but now I'm here. I was going to go to that food place, but I have decided against it. My date left. I guess I'm not as good as charming as I used to be." He tells Ville.

"Cordelia, this is Damon, Haley's older brother. Damon is my best friend and has been for the past four centuries. A century ago, he ran off from Finland and I haven't been able to find him since." Ville tells me. Damon is just as beautiful as Ville is. I can't keep my eyes off of either one of them.

"Well, we should get going if we want to be back here before sundown." Ville says.

"It's 3 pm now, we should meet back up at 6." I tell Ville. He nods and walks away from me. Damon doesn't follow him.

"So, who are you?" Damon asks me.

"Cordelia Marino." I tell him.

"Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Marino. As you know I'm Damon Luciano. I'm from Apollo's bloodline. My mother was a witch. My mother is also Haley's mother. I am just her older brother, but only by 50 years." He tells me.

"I met Haley already. She was playing the piano and singing. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever heard, but Ville didn't want me anywhere near her. What happened between those two?" I ask him.

"Later. You have a date to prepare for. I'll take you somewhere to get everything done. By the time you come back, you'll be looking like the Goddess you are." He tells me. I nod and he grabs my hand. His hand is very warm. Warmer than Ville's and warmer than Alana's. Perhaps it's because Damon is from the Sun God's bloodline. Alana has told me that Apollo is very warm, like fire. She says there is a fire in his blood. Maybe it's true.

*********************

'Venus' A sign reads. Venus is the Roman name for Aphrodite, who is the Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty. I remember Alana telling me to look out for places like this. Most likely, places named after Gods or Goddesses are run by Immortals or Gods themselves. Damon stands in front of the doors of the place. I stand beside him.

"What are we doing?" I ask him. He turns to me.

"Just wait a minute." He tells me. He opens his hands and his eyes become white.

"Όταν βρείτε το μονοπάτι σας είναι αποκλεισμένη, το μόνο που έχετ�� να κάνετε είναι να χτυπήσει." He says. It's Greek. What said means 'When you find your path is blocked, all you have to do is knock.' Alana taught me Greek and I picked it up fairly quickly. There is a gust of wind and suddenly we are in the building. There isn't very much light in the shop. Just candlelight. Everything in the shop is black. There is one person at the counter, but she seems busy. From here, I can see that she has white hair. She looks like a Goddess herself.

"Kallista, it's been a while." Damon calls out to the woman at the counter. She looks over to both of us and smiles.

"Does your suit fit fine?" She asks Damon.

"Yes. I'm here because of Cordelia. She needs a makeover. You see, she's going on a date with Ville and needs to look her best." Damon tells her.

"Why is she here then?" The Kallista asks.

"Cordelia is in your family." Damon tells her.

"I've never heard of someone named Cordelia in my family." She says. She looks over to me and her look changes to shock.

"You look just like Valentina." Kallista tells me.

"She was my mother." I tell her. She nods.

"Kallista who was at the door?" A voice can be heard.

"Damon and Valentina's daughter." Kallista yells. There is shuffling and finally, another woman rushes out of the back of the store. She is beautiful. She looks like she's in her 30's maybe 40's. I can't take my eyes off of her.

"I'm Aphrodite, or Venus, Goddess of Love and Beauty." She tells me. So this is Aphrodite.

"I'm Cordelia." I tell her. She smiles.

"You should just like her too." Aphrodite tells me. Damon rolls his eyes at her as if to say whatever and walks away. Kallista begins to look through dresses and Aphrodite follows in suit.

"Aphrodite, I have a question." I tell her.

"Go ahead." She tells me.

"Your Roman name is Venus, but you go by your Greek name while most of the other Gods go by their Roman names. Why is that?" I ask her.

"I like Aphrodite more. The Gods decided what they go by to others because they identify with their different names or counterparts with those names more. For example, Artemis is known as the Goddess of the Moon and Hunt, however, she is a Maiden. Her counterpart is Diana, Goddess of the Moon and Hunt, and she is a Mother. Artemis or Diana goes by Diana because she identifies best with Diana. Get it?" She asks. I nod.

"Perfect!" Kallista shouts. She grabs my arm and shoves me into a changing room with a dress. I change into it and I walk out of the changing room. Kallista bends down and puts shoes on my feet. Then, she rushes me over to a chair begins to my makeup. When she's done with the makeup, she puts my hair in a braid.

"I look beautiful." I tell her.

"Yes, you do. I'm jealous of Ville for having a beautiful as you as his mate." Damon tells me.

"He's not my mate. We're just friends." I tell him.

"Just friends, I see." He tells me with a smirk. Damon looks at the clock.

"Oh shit, we've been in here for so long that I didn't notice that we're late." Damon tells me. I look up at the clock and it's 6:15 pm. How did the time go by that fast? Damon and I rush to the place where we agreed to meet and I find that Ville is standing there in a suit. Gods, it should be illegal to be that hot. I compose myself and I calmly walk up to Ville. He turns around to me and smiles when he sees me. He shakes his head and begins to laugh a bit as I get closer to him.

"Damon, was this your doing?" Ville asks Damon.

"No, but I did bring her to Kallista." Damon tells Ville.

"Of course you did. Well, we should be going inside now." Ville tells Damon. The two hug again and Damon leaves. Ville takes my hand and pulls me into the restaurant. The hostess comes out to us and gives us a table. All goes well before we hear shouting.

"Let us in! Do you have any idea who were are?" A voice shouts.

"Yes, but I don't care. You will wait like everyone else!" The hostess tells whoever is at the front.

"What will you be having tonight?" A waitress asks Ville and I.

"I'll have the Chef's Veggie salad." Ville tells her.

"I'll have the Salmon with carrots and scalloped potatoes." I tell her.

"What about drinks?" She asks.

"Your sweetest red wine and two glasses of water." Ville tells her. She nods and leaves us. A waiter brings out some rolls with butter.

"I know you may not wish to talk about this, but why don't you like Haley?" I ask him.

"I'd rather not say. To tell you the truth, I don't think it's my place to say anything." Ville tells me just as our food comes out. As we eat, there is a silence between us. I watch as the sun goes down, I notice red eyes everywhere. I look at Ville and he sees the fear on my face. He looks out the window and slams his hand on the table. He takes another sip of his wine and gets up. He leaves a $100 bill on the table and hands the hostess another one as we leave. He puts his arm around my waist and we begin walking quickly. I can hear the footsteps of vampires after us.

"Run, my dear." He tells me. I take off my heels and I rush to Venus. I know I'll be safe there. When I get to the doors, I stand in front of them. I feel power rush over me and through a mirror, I can see that my eyes have turned an electric blue.

"You have nowhere else to go!" A voice shouts at me. I turn around and I see Jane and Alec. She attempts to use her pain gift on me, but it fails. Shadows attack both her and her brother. They scream in agony.

"Quite the show, perhaps we should send the Kings back their heads for challenging a God." A voice says. I turn around to see my father, Erebus.

"No, they were just following orders. They have no choice but to follow Aro's orders." I tell him. He smirks at me and summons fire. The flames surround the vampires and burns Jane's hand. Alec gets on the ground and begs for us to stop hurting his twin. My father stops and lets them run back home. My heart begins to flutter and my vision becomes blurry.

"Are you okay?" Erebus asks.

"I-I don't know." I stutter. He picks me up as I fall to the ground.

"Rest now, my dear. You've just awoken your dark powers." He tells me. His hand glows white and I fall asleep. I can't help to think about Ville and if he's okay. Please be okay Valo, if not, I will harm whoever hurt you.

Ville's POV-

Just as I felt immense power flood over Volterra, the vampires fighting me flee from me. Two more rush back to the castle. Jane and Alec. Jane's right-hand looks burnt, meaning something must have happened. However, I sense a God nearby. A dark one. Erebus. Perhaps Cordelia has finally gotten her dark power.

"It seems she has ascended as Queen of Darkness." Damon tells me.

"Yes, she has. She still needs to learn to control it. She can't just go around doing what she wants with it. She'll have to be careful. Even if she is protected, she'll still be the target of the other Gods for the rest of her life, the more powerful she gets. If ends up ascending as a God, she'll be hunted down and killed. I hope she is able to prove her worth to the Gods that wish her ill." I tell Damon.

"You care about her." Damon tells me.

"Yes. For once, I feel as though I can actually understand Love and not Lust." I tell him.

"Well, get in line. Haley has revealed to me that she intends to fight you for Cordelia's favor and love. I intend to do the same." Damon tells me.

"May the best of the three of us win then." I tell Ville. We shake hands and stare up at the bright moon as the dark power that fell over Volterra disappears from this dimension. She's probably been taken to the Dark Dimension or Erebus's home. I hope he teaches her, for our future may depend on it.