Maya was beyond excited to be celebrating Halloween with her new family this year. Sure the castle and vampires in cloaks made it feel a bit like Halloween all year round but that didn't dull the excitement. This was her chance to dress up and collect candy without having to move at Bella's pace! And to make things better, apparently they had another holiday right after Halloween here!
She had spent the morning helping to carve pumpkins and had loved every second of it. In the past she had had to be careful as Bella hated having to touch the pumpkin guts but her new family had no such issues. They had all happily dug into the pumpkins to scoop them out with her and carve. Although she hadn't actually been allowed to hold the knife by herself. Instead after she had drawn her face on the pumpkin, her Zio Caius had let her hold the knife with his hand carefully placed over hers to guide it.
Though the best part of the whole thing though had definitely been when Demetri and Felix had started a pumpkins guts war! The two had been arguing and Demetri had flung a handful of the stuff at Felix, missing him and hitting Alec, who had returned fire. From there is had become a free for all with everyone joining in.
After the war had come to an end and she had been whisked off to get cleaned up, she had spent most of the day running around as a kitten dressed like a bat. She happily jumped off ledges and out of dark corners to scare her family and as far as she was concerned it was the best thing ever. Where her mom back in Phoenix would have yelled at her and told her to stop, everyone merely laughed it off, teased each other for getting caught, or best yet, helping her by setting others up. Her Zio Marcus especially had been wonderful as he had actually gotten pictures of Zio Aro mid scream as she landed on his head while Zio Caius was looking around for the enemy with a snarl on his face. Zio Marcus had already promised to send one of the guards to get it developed so she could hang it in her room!
Finally though as the sun began to set it was time to go trick or treating or "Dolcetto o scherzetto" as it was called here. Her new Zie, who she was quickly beginning to think of as her moms, let her get ready with them. She had insisted on going as a vampire to match her family and her Zie had declared that if she was to be a vampire, then it would nothing less than a regal vampire queen.
Once they were done, all three vampire queens left Zia Sulpicia's room looking like regal rulers of the vampire world. Maya was in the middle, holding each of her Zie's hands as they led her to the rest of the group. No one else was dressed up but she didn't mind too much as they all usually looked dressed up to her.
The moment Felix caught sight of them he immediately whipped out a camera and began snapping pictures. He had been given the important job of photographer tonight and he was not going to fail his kings by slacking. As the ladies reached the bottom of the stairs, everyone cooed over how cute she looked all dressed up as Aro picked her up to swing her around. Maya giggled as she spun but Sulpicia quickly put a stop to her husband's actions before he could ruin Maya's hair.
Setting off Maya excitedly led the way, running on ahead with her empty bag fluttering along behind her.
"Be careful Gattina!" Athenodora called with a smile as she watched her little girl make a beeline for the first door.
"Si Zia!" Maya called back, not stopping as she approached the door. Knocking on the door she happily held out her bag as it opened and called out "Dolcetto o scherzetto!"
The lady smiled at the sight of her and bent down to place a few pieces in her bag. "Che bel costume!"
"Grazie! Sono una regina dei vampiri!" Maya told her carefully. She had been practising it all day to make sure that she said it right as she was still learning the language her family often spoke.
The woman smiled at her and Maya grinned at getting it right before quickly running off to the next house. Her family followed behind her, Felix snapping photos the entire time. She happily ran from house to house, Jane and Alec joining her for a few houses, until at last she was too tired to continued. Her family had all smiled and laughed at her as Caius had swung her up into his arms to carry her home, bag of candy still clutched tightly in her hand as she dozed in his arms.
As her Zii tucked her in that night she happily fell asleep with a smile on her face, excited to find out what All Soul's day was like in two days.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wondering through the oldest cemetery on the edge of the city, Maya held Marcus's hand. "Why are we in a cemetery Zio?"
"Because it is All Soul's day, Principessa. This is the day that we celebrate and remember all those who have passed on. It is also our time to pray for the souls trapped in purgatory to be purified so that they can move on to heaven."
"Are we here to pray for Zia Didyme?" Maya asked looking up at her quietest uncle.
"Si my little one, along with a few others" Marcus told her sadly as Aro and Caius looked over at the pair with worry. This holiday was always the hardest on their brother and though they had contemplated no longer celebrating it, in the end they couldn't do that to him. It gave him peace to know that he was still in some way caring for his mate as he prayed for her to find peace and they would not take that from him.
The coven arrived at their lost queen's grave and everyone laid down the flowers they carried, saying a quick prayer before moving back so their kings Aro and Marcus could speak with their sister and mate. Maya stayed by their side, watching the silent prayers before deciding to offer one of her own as she set her flowers down.
"Hello Zia Didyme" Maya began quietly. "I know we never met but I've heard a lot about you and from what I've heard I think you would have been a lot of fun. Hopefully you are sleeping nicely. Daddy always said that's what happens when someone dies; that they get to take a really long nap. So I hope you are dreaming really nice dreams."
Prayer said, Maya backed up to join her aunts as they waited for the two kings to finish. As some of the guards led Maya over to a bench so she could colour in a colouring book they had brought for her, Maya thought about today. It certainly wasn't as fun as Halloween had been, but her daddy had always told her that it was important to visit family, even those who could no longer talk to us like Grandma and Grandpa Swan. So Maya wasn't upset that it was kind of boring just standing around. Instead she simply flipped her page over so it was blank and began to draw her family, starting with Zia Didyme, so that they would have a decoration to hang up to celebrate all their family today.
Though what Maya didn't know was that this decoration wouldn't be put up just for this day but all of them. Once Marcus saw the messy marker drawing with lopsided and backwards letters labelling everyone, including his lost mate, he immediately ordered a guard to find a frame for it so that he could hang it up in the library. Aro, in his grief, had gotten rid of all signs of his mate and Marcus thought it would be nice to have a reminder that she was still family hanging where everyone could see it.
Translations:
Zio – Uncle
Dolcetto o scherzetto – Sweet or Prank
Zie – aunts
Zia – aunt
Gattina – kitten
Che bel costume – what a lovely costume
Grazie! Sono una regina dei vampiri! – Thank you! I'm a vampire queen!
Zii – uncles
Principessa - princess