gift or curse (A Twilight fanfiction)

Chapter 8

"Can't you guess? I kind of already told you." He winked at me and the vampire equivalent of a raised heartbeat caused me to bite my lip.

I let his short story about himself play in my mind over and over, until a small piece of the puzzle moved to the right corner. He had been turned after having found the vampire. Finding."

"You are the tracker", I whispered with a shock. "The one the Cullens hate so much. Why?"

That last word slipped my tongue and his eyes darkened again.

"Sorry," I hastily interjected, "that is none of my business." But, oh, how I wanted to know.

Demetri's expression softened a bit and he shrugged once. "I guess they see me as a threat. I can find anyone I even came in contact with, directly or through others. Even when they are hiding on the other side of the world."

Somehow the thought that he would, from now on, always be able to find me, send a shiver through my body. But it wasn't entirely an unpleasant shiver. If I could have blushed, I would have.

Confused by my own emotions, I jumped up and moved back to the bookcases. I roamed the room for a while, keeping out of sight, but as if to illustrate his ability, Demetri followed me after a few minutes. Soundless he crept up until he was so close I could smell the subtle fragrance of his skin. It strangely reminded me of melomakarona, my favorite dessert. It made me homesick and kept me from responding to his proximity until his nose almost touched my neck.

When he inhaled deeply, I jumped sideways away from him. "What are you doing?"

"Ariadne."

The sound of my name rolling over his lips like a delicacy, gave me the sensation of goosebumps without the actual bumps on my skin. I almost closed my eyes.

"There is something familiar about you, I'm trying to make out what it is", he mumbled and moved closer again.

With his face so near mine, the room in my head was filled with clouds and it was difficult to form a new sentence. "I ... I thought that would be obvious", I stated and when his eyebrows raised expectantly, I cocked my head and said: "We're both from Greece."

He hadn't known that, I could see the surprise in his face. There was also delight and that eased the unsettling nerves I felt when he was so close to me.

"I haven't been home in a very long time."

I allowed him to stay near me and whispered: "Why not?"

"My masters also originate in Greece. It is no longer a place where vampires reside and we do not hunt there."

With great relieve I exhaled and my grateful smile made Demetri take another small step closer.

"You have nothing to fear from me", he breathed, as he lifted his hand to tuck a stray lock of my hair behind my ear.

---

We were interrupted when the door opened and an unfamiliar face appeared.

"Yes?" Demetri asked, irritated. He also took a step back and the space between us suddenly felt cold.

"Aro requests your presence and that of signora Ariadne." Having delivered his message, the vampire disappeared as fast as Demetri's irritation.

I asked: "Why do you call him master?"

He took my hand and pulled me with him, back to the tower room as he answered curtly: "Because he is."

The sensation of his hand in mine made me giddy, but he released me right before knocking on the large doors and I hated how all the charm and openness disappeared. He was once again the composed guard and I sighed. He eyed me a fraction of a second, but then the doors opened and he looked straight ahead.

We walked in, seeing the scene had somewhat changed. The table was now empty and Aro was sitting in the middle one of three chairs that stood like thrones in the center of the room. I looked a little better at the men who held the power and noticed for the first time that if they hadn't had their papery, translucent skin and filmy eyes, two of the three actually seemed very young. Only the one with the shockingly white hair was older. How much of history they must have seen firsthand. All the wars, natural disasters, changes in rule. Would they have been here, in Volterra, all that time?

Aro distracted me from my line of thought as he spoke first. "Ah, signorina Ariadne, have you found what you were looking for?"

I actually felt guilty as I realized I had only been talking with Demetri about his life instead of looking for the answers I had come here for. My eyes betrayed me as I glanced in the direction of the vampire beside me, who never looked my way.

Somehow Aro seemed to know, because an amused smile appeared. "Perhaps you would like to learn about our laws by seeing them in action?"