SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW ➻ DEMETRI VOLTURI

D I E C I

The next morning a couple of warm hands woke her up. It was the first thing she noticed and with a frown on her face already, she opened her eyes. Next to the bed stood a woman, looking down on her with a similar confused expression on her face. She was good-looking, with her brown hair twisted in a bun and her green eyes, but Cecilia immediately noticed the imperfections on the woman's face. She realised that the woman in front of her must be Gianna.

"Good morning," she said, a polite smile on her face. "My name's Gianna."

"Cecilia," she replied, holding out her hand. The woman shook it, her hand feeling unfamiliar warm. "I'm sorry for your dinner from yesterday, by the way. I told Demetri it was way too much and that it wasn't mine, to begin with."

"It's absolutely no problem, don't even worry about it," Gianna said, shaking her head. Cecilia noticed the slight accent in her voice and she realised that without her presence, most of the Guard probably spoke Italian. "I've made you breakfast."

Cecilia followed the direction of where Gianna was pointing at and indeed, a plate filled with all kinds of bread stood on top of the desk. She pulled the silky sheets from her body, slipping her feet in her fuzzy pink slippers and walked to the desk. "It's lovely. Thank you, Gianna," she said as she took a seat. "Did you have breakfast already or would you like some as well?"

"Oh, no thank you, I'm good," the woman said. "Is there anything else you need?"

Cecilia shook her head, grabbing a warm croissant and breaking off a piece to put in her mouth. She still felt Gianna's presence lingering, causing her to look over her shoulder awkwardly. "Is something wrong?"

"Is it alright if I continue with my other duties?" the woman asked, an impatient smile on her lips.

"Of course," Cecilia replied, wondering why on earth the Volturi's secretary was asking for her dismissal. She turned back to her breakfast, listening closely to the retreating footsteps and the thud of the doors closing. Well, that was odd, she thought to herself.

Much time to think about the whole ordeal she didn't have, because the next thing she knew, the doors were thrown open again. The action was way too clamorous for it to Demetri, who always entered the room quietly, and when she looked over her shoulder, she was surprised to see Alec entering her room, a smirk on his face.

"Good morning, sunshine," he greeted her, way too enthusiastically for it to be well-meant. He took a moment to observe her and she was painfully aware of the fact that she was only wearing her nightgown and slippers and that her hair was probably looking worse than a bird's nest. "Gosh, do all humans sleep in so late and look so awful?"

Swallowing the lump in her throat she looked at the clock that was hanging on the wall. It was 9 AM. Sure, that wasn't particularly early, but it wasn't really late either. As for her appearance, she hadn't looked in the mirror yet, but Alec's words made her feel oddly insecure. She put down her croissant, all of a sudden wishing Demetri had walked in the room instead of one of the evil twins.

"I'm only kidding, Cecilia," Alec said, his back turned to her. He seemed to search for a book in Demetri's huge collection and when he found one, he took a seat in front of the fireplace. She was still staring at him, causing him to look at her. "Well, do continue your breakfast."

"What are you doing here?" she dared to ask. She hadn't forgotten about the way he'd scared her out of her dreams, with his menacing smirk and burgundy eyes. Or the way he'd laughed after. Alec was the living embodiment of what she considered a real vampire, evil and fear-inducing.

"Demetri is on a job with Felix-"

"He is?" she interrupted, her eyebrow shooting up. He hadn't mentioned anything about a job yesterday at all.