SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW ➻ DEMETRI VOLTURI

S E D I C I

It didn't take Demetri long to track Anya Popov, locating her near a ramshackle-looking currency exchange office. They had walked past it last night, briefly glancing inside before continuing their stroll. It was in the outskirts of Moscow and though it appeared desolate and forgotten, the sign that said they would open in the morning again looked new enough.

Now the two of them were standing outside the office again, talking in Italian obnoxiously loud and smiling all the while, like a couple of typical tourists. After more than a decade in Italy, the language had become second nature to her, speaking it with Demetri about as much as English. Inside her pocket, there was a wad of bills, hot in her hand.

They waited patiently as the people in front of them exchanged their money, walking inside after the office had cleared out. Cecilia greeted the woman behind the plastic screen in poor Russian, observing her face. She was pretty enough, with her blonde hair and blue eyes, but the heartbeat thrumming through the office told Cecilia enough and when she turned her head, she saw Demetri shake his head in the slightest. It wasn't Anya Popov, but that didn't mean she wasn't close.

Grabbing the stack of money from her pocket, she placed it on the countertop and shoved it to the woman, her eyes gliding over the note on top of the stack for the last time. Demetri had written it, considering he was the one who actually was fluent in Russian. We want to talk to Anya Popov, it said. Though Nikolai owed her a favour, Anya Popov didn't and generally speaking, people were more easily swayed with a little money.

The blonde woman barely spared the note a second glance, but Cecilia's eyes caught it as she took the money effortlessly, putting it in a drawer that had no money yet. From that same drawer she grabbed a piece of paper, something scribbled on it already. She passed it back on the counter, smiling pleasantly.

"Have a nice day," she said in Russian.

Cecilia wished her the same as she grabbed the note and stuck it inside the pocket of her long coat. Demetri put a protective hand on the small of her back as the two of them left the office, another tourist quickly taking their place. If she still had a heart, it would have hammered against her chest, leaving her to feel breathless. Cecilia still felt the nerves, but it was a lot easier to hide them.

They walked another couple of blocks, back in the direction of the centre of Moscow, before she even dared to grab the note. It felt hot in her hand, like some secret was written on it, but as she folded it open, she had to do her best to keep her disappointment from showing. Whatever was written on the paper was in Russian, a language she barely spoke, let alone could read.

With a frown on her face, she handed it to Demetri. "Remind me that I start a course Russian once we get back."

Demetri, who didn't appear to have heard her comment, smiled slightly. "Looks like we're going to have to buy some new fancy clothes," he said. "We're going to dine at one of the finest restaurants tonight."

Cecilia snorted, rolling her eyes ever so slightly. Though she had jokingly said that perhaps she might be the first vampire to appreciate human food, she had quickly retreated from that statement. The smell of what fist might have delighted her now filled her with disgust and she couldn't stand the thought of actually eating it. It always made her wonder how Demetri had managed it when she was still mortal.

"Well," she said, grabbing his hand. "We better get going then."

➻

"Why is everyone staring?" Cecilia muttered softly as she drew back the curtains to show Demetri the dress he had picked out for her. It was made from silky black material, flowing all the way down to her ankles and leaving the greater part of her back exposed. Pulling up her hair, she stared at the reflection in the mirror with a difficult expression on her face. She did her best to ignore the store clergy walking by unnecessarily, her brown eyes raking up and down Cecilia's body with an obvious look of jealousy.