SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW ➻ DEMETRI VOLTURI

T R E D I C I

Dear family,

I hope everything is going great in Alaska. I still haven't received a letter from all of you. Maybe it was lost somewhere in the mail or maybe I need to have a little more patience. Anyway, I would love to hear from you all soon!

So, today is the seventh day I'm spending in Volterra, a whole week apart from you! That's a first, for sure. I miss all of you a lot, but you don't have to worry about me. I know I suggested that we should live in Greece or in Spain, but I withdraw that suggestion. It's been impossibly hot here for the entire last week. Luckily, the walls of the castle are thick enough to block out the heat, otherwise, I wouldn't have a single idea how I would survive. Only in the morning and in the evening is the temperature nice to be outside, but in the morning I'm sleeping and in the evening I'm terrorised by mosquitos. Fortunately, the temperature will drop a little in the coming days.

Four days ago Demetri took me to the city and it's just as beautiful as the castle. I've been to the library as well, which is the highlight of my stay here so far. Surprisingly, the people here are nice to me, each in their own manner.

Gianna still brought her breakfast almost every day, though Cecilia had noticed that each day the corners of her mouth drooped further in disapproval and she couldn't help but wonder what she'd done wrong. Though Demetri still came in every day to hold a conversation, he'd been busier with work as well, leaving her most of the time to the mercy of Alec. She'd even spent a couple of hours with Jane, counting that experience as the most excruciating hours of her life.

They won't let me roam the castle on my own and that's completely understandable, but it's still a bummer.

Anyway, I would love to hear how everything's going in Alaska, so I hope to receive a letter soon.

Lots of love,

Cecilia

"Are you ready?" she heard a melodic voice close to her ear all of a sudden. She let out a shriek and turned around, only to see Demetri standing within three feet, his face traced with amusement. She hadn't written it in the letter, but the vampire was growing on her. He was always polite, sometimes even borderline formal, but every now and then she noticed he would let himself go and share some personal experiences with her, like from what he remembered from his human life. She loved his stories.

She cleared her throat. "Ready for what?"

"You requested an audience with Marcus," Demetri said. "You have one with the three Masters in fifteen minutes."

She let out a gasp of surprise. "Fifteen minutes?" she cried, looking down at her clothes. She was wearing comfortable sweatpants and a T-shirt with flowers on it and she hadn't quite done her hair either. "I look a mess and you tell me I have fifteen minutes?"

There it was again, that slight hint of a smirk or a smile that was cracking through his polite facade mote often each day. "Well, better get started then."

She rolled her eyes, quickly folding the letter and deciding she would put it in an envelope later. She had more pressing matters at hand, like finding the one black dress Alice had packed. She moved all of her clothes from one side to another, absolutely more aggressively than necessary, and let out a frustrated sigh as she came out of the walk-in closet empty-handed.

"You're searching for this?" Demetri asked, the exact dress she'd been looking for in his hands.

"Yes," she said relieved, snatching it from his hands and making a straight b-line for the bathroom. She left the door ajar, in such a way that he couldn't peek at her changing, but she could still hear his voice. "Where was it?"