gift or curse (A Twilight fanfiction)

Chapter 14

I waited in a corner of the large room until Aro was done reading Demetri's thoughts. I wondered if he read more than just about what happened with the vampire Demetri had to track. And, if so, if Demetri would be punished for stalling, or warning me about him. But after a while, Aro let go of Demetri's hand and dismissed him with a mere flick of his wrist. I exhaled.

Nobody paid attention to us, as we left the hall and for a minute I was worried that maybe Demetri's worries, or my hopes had been pointless. That I wasn't as important. That I was merely tolerated because they wanted their tracker to remain in Volterra. What would happen if I wanted to leave? Would Demetri even consider coming with me? I looked his way. He was deep in thought as well.

"What's on your mind?" I prompted.

He looked up, smiled a little and shook his head. "I have to be more careful of what I say to you."

"Why?"

"Because he will know."

I didn't have to guess who he was talking about.

"Maybe I should go to him. Ask him about me."

"No!" Demetri's hands were on my shoulders in an instant, halting me with a jolt. "No", he whispered softer, "if he wants to tell you, he will come to you. don't give him any reasons to bind you to him anymore than is necessary."

I creased my eyebrows. "You are bound to him and you don't mind living here. Why should it be bad for me? It's not like I can leave here anymore."

With a sudden look of guilt, he let go of me and stepped back.

"I don't mind", I hastily added. Although I wasn't entirely sure I meant it. It was true, my heart knew that. I couldn't leave Demetri and if he wanted to stay, so would I. As long as I could hunt in the woods, walk outside when I wanted and choose my own path, I wouldn't mind. A nagging little voice in the back of my brain told me that what Aro wanted from me could very well interfere with that choosing, but I silenced it. It was leverage. If he wanted something from me, I could make a deal. It would all work out.

With my brave face on, I stepped forward and took Demetri's hands in mine. "Don't worry. It doesn't matter what he will know. We have no secrets and it is not as if he doesn't already know what you told me. He is what he is and so are we. No need to make life more complicated." Maybe I was being naive, it was probably a result of my youth and upbringing. With the one, obvious exception, live had always been easy on me.

The smile I loved returned to his face and I pushed my worries away. Still, even though Demetri warned me not to go to Aro, I already knew that was exactly what I would do. Dangerous or not, if I was to remain here the rest of my life, I wanted to know everything about everything. My brain could handle it.

---

We rounded a corner, one I, surprisingly, didn't recognized, so I asked: "Will you show me around? I've walked around for hours, but still only know the library."

He smirked, which I ignored.

"I've seen so many closed doors and this is such a big place, there's gotta be more areas I'm allowed access to. What do you do here all day?"

Demetri looked around and seeing there was no one around, he pulled me close and kissed me as if we hadn't just done that exact same thing a little over ten minutes ago. When he released my lips and moved to my neckline, I sighed and pushed him away with very little effort.

He leaned back and laughed at my disgruntled expression. "Alright, alright, I will show you around. You know, I actually have a house somewhere out in the city. I hardly ever use it, but if you want, we can live there."