THE UNDYING | TWILIGHT

36. Confessions

Within the penthouse suite on the thirteen floor of the abandoned Palazzo dei Volturi, Dahlia lay curled up in the middle of her bed, neither moving nor speaking as her thoughts traveled far away from the borders of her mind. Her brown eyes remained fixed upon a red speck that marked the cream-colored wall across from her. The longer she stared, the more it resembled blood. She wanted to rip it off, that ugly, bloody scab, but as the minutes slowly turned into hours, that red speck still went untouched.

Demetri silently watched her from the doorway. For a long while, he just watched her. There was something about her body, the way it was so bent and twisted out of natural form. It reminded him of Adrianna and how she'd looked in that grave. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw her lying there: cold and stiff, with flies swarming around her and maggots slithering through every orifice.

It made him sick.

When the clock struck three, Heidi ripped open the front door and entered the suite. "Where is she?" she demanded as she stormed down the hall and toward the bedroom. "Where is she?"

Demetri was still blocking the doorway, so Heidi roughly pushed him aside before going to Dahlia's bedside. Then, with an unusually gentle hand, Heidi lifted the girl into a sitting position and carefully checked her body for injuries. Apart from a nasty bump on her head, she was unhurt.

"Why isn't she speaking?" Heidi asked Demetri.

"How should I know?" replied Demetri with an annoyed grunt. "The crazy fool tried to bury her alive. If she suffered any brain damage, that's not my fault. I did my job as instructed."

"Did you? Or did you stop to watch? I know you too well, Demetri. You were in no hurry to save her. You waited until the last possible second, didn't you?"

Demetri shrugged. "Perhaps. You know how I love a good show, and that was a spectacular show. You should have seen it, Heidi."

Having nothing else to say to her colleague, Heidi turned her attention back to Dahlia, who was sitting just as she'd left her: with dead eyes and an expressionless face.

"Dahlia," Heidi said as she grasped the girl's chin and forced her gaze upon her. "Dahlia, look at me."

Slowly, the hazy grey mist faded from Dahlia's eyes, leaving them locked in a piercing glare that made Heidi shudder. She'd just started to back away when the girl suddenly collapsed against her chest and clung to her like a frightened child seeking her mother.

At once, Heidi's body went rigid. With wide, bewildered eyes, she sat there awkwardly while her dress became soaked with the girl's warm tears. Then, just when Heidi was about to push her away, she felt something stirring in her belly: a maternal instinct she thought she'd long since lost.

Slowly, Heidi's right hand lifted on its own and began to gently rub circles on the girl's trembling back. This continued for a good five minutes before she heard Dahlia speak for the first time.

"It's my fault," she said. "It's all my fault."

"What is?"

"Santiago's death."

"Dahlia, why would you say that? Santiago died because—"

"I told Aro. I told him about what happened that night when Santiago collapsed. I told him everything. But I didn't think anything would happen. I never thought they would—they would kill him."

Dahlia wiggled out of Heidi's embrace, and when she spoke again, her tone had darkened.

"That's not true," she confessed. "I knew what would happen. I knew they would kill him. Somehow, I knew. And still I told Aro. I had to tell him. He was gonna find out anyway, right? You can't keep secrets from him. He would've known. He would've known that I'd lied. And then he would've killed me. I didn't wanna die—I just didn't wanna die."

And there it was, the answer to all of Heidi's questions. There was indeed a traitor amongst them, and it was the person she least suspected. Never before had Heidi felt like such a fool.

"I'm sorry, Heidi," Dahlia cried. "I'm so sorry."

"Never be sorry," Heidi said despite her anger. "Never apologize. You do whatever you have to do to survive, even if it means betraying every single one of us. From now on, you look after yourself because nobody else will. Trust only yourself because we cannot be trusted."

"Not even you, Heidi?"

Heidi nodded. "Not even me." Then she stood up and prepared to leave. "Get some sleep. Even though you almost died tonight, I still expect to see you at work tomorrow. We have much to do, you and I. The lobby has to be restored, the hotel needs to be completely remodeled and redesigned, and we have to hire a brand new set of staff to run it. Training is over, Dahlia. Now it's time for the real work to begin."

With that, Heidi walked out of the room and exited the penthouse suite. As expected, Demetri was waiting for her outside in the hallway.

"You lied," she said to him. "You never told Caius."

"No," he answered, "but I could have. Someone else beat me to the punch, apparently, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little shocked. Turns out she's not as stupid as we all thought. You taught her well, Heidi."

"And I don't know whether to be proud or pissed off." She let out a frustrated sigh. "I'm getting hungry. Should we pick up something on the way back?"

Demetri shrugged. "I could eat. What are you in the mood for?"

"Something light. Vegetarian maybe."

"Oh, no, I hate the taste of vegetarians. They're so bland and boring. Plus, they hardly ever put up a fight. Honestly, what fun is hunting when the prey just stands there? At least try to give me a challenge."

"Fine, fine," Heidi relented. "I'll settle for whatever's closest then."

And so the two left the Palazzo dei Volturi in search of a late-night snack. Upon reaching the hotel courtyard, however, Demetri came to an abrupt stop when he caught a faint but familiar scent.

"What is it?" Heidi asked.

Demetri sniffed again, but by then the scent was already gone. "Nothing," he said. "Let's go."

If he had turned around, Demetri might have seen the three figures that were standing upon the hotel roof. They'd been lurking in the shadows for days, these figures, watching and waiting for something exciting to happen. Unfortunately, they were left extremely disappointed.

"How anticlimactic," groaned Ayame and Hatsume. "We came all this way to witness the end of the Volturi, and still they remain, almost perfectly intact. What a waste of a trip."

"Not a waste," Cillian said. "On the contrary, I found this trip to be quite productive. The wolves did their job: they exposed their weaknesses, and now the Volturi are more vulnerable than ever."

"So what now, Master?" asked the women.

"Now, we go home," Cillian decided, making his twin companions frown. "But don't worry, ladies, we'll be sure to pay them another visit very soon."

The twins wore matching grins. "All of us?"

"All of us," Cillian replied with a restrained smile. "We've been hiding long enough. It's high time we made our appearance."