SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW ➻ DEMETRI VOLTURI

T R E N T A D U E

Cecilia and Demetri were walking down the spiralling staircase to the dungeons, a route both of them had walked many times before. They were not talking and besides the sound of metal clinking together nothing was audible. She knew that if she still had a live heart it would have hammered out of her chest and it was taking her everything not to burst out in a nervous fit of jitters. The coming few moments were either going to make or break their future. 

As soon as they passed the dungeon guard, Cecilia turned to him with a flirty smile. "You are wanted upstairs, tower detail."

The young guard nodded and sped away, not questioning her words twice. 

"I didn't know you two came in a package deal," Alec said cheerily as soon as the two of them reached him in the dungeons. He was wearing a suit almost as dark as that of the Masters, the red Volturi crest prominent on his chest. In that sense, they were all matching. "Though I suppose it makes sense now. Congratulations on your engagement, by the way."

"Thank you, Alec," Demetri said stiffly, looking at his fellow Guard member politely. 

Cecilia, who was more impatient, took a couple of steps toward Alec before turning around to stare at an empty cell. The door was still open, the space behind it void. As if she was stung by a bee, Cecilia's head snapped in Alec's direction. "What did you do?" she asked, her words overly articulated. 

"What did I do?" Alec repeated, his eyebrows raised high. His posture changed suddenly, from relaxed and somewhat smug to thoroughly agitated in a matter of seconds. She realised it was the beginning of one of his tantrums, not unusual for vampires his age. "What did you do, you mean."

Cecilia crossed her arms in front of her chest, looking at Alec with a single raised eyebrow. "Do enlighten me."

"You simply don't understand the privileges you have for simply having a stupid gift," Alec said, looking at her angrily. "You think the world owes you. You have been with us for thirteen years, but still, you think you are so much better. You think the Volturi is a bad, criminal organisation that impaired you and your family. Treason is in your blood and not even Demetri's last name is going to change that."

"Wow, calm down, Alec," Demetri said, the warning audible through his voice. His hand landed on Cecilia's shoulder and gently, he pulled her back until she was at least next to him. "What is all this talk about betrayal?"

"Of course, she wouldn't have told you," Alec said, rolling his eyes. "But Charles told me of your sick exchange. How he lied to you about his offer, your freedom in exchange for betrayal. You are too stupid to realise that Charles might have been put there on purpose, to test your loyalty. Or the lack thereof, as it appears."

Cecilia smirked, not feeling threatened in the slightest. "A vampire caught in some random part in Germany with such an extraordinary gift?" she began, raising her eyebrows to emphasize her point. "That's doubtful on the best of days, but for him to be locked up in the dungeons with lowly guards prone to his gift watching over him and my unnecessary involvement in his investigation? Now, that's really suspicious."

The fall of Alec's face was something Cecilia would never forget. Of course, she had seen through the whole act, from the very beginning with Alec's obvious excitement at the prisoner's arrival to Marcus cornering her in the library. Charles' gift wasn't lying and getting away with it, it was only being able to put up a damn good show. The tug at the back of her mind hadn't been seeing through his gift, it had been her common sense.

"You didn't actually think Cecilia would make a deal to betray the Volturi, would you, Alec?" Demetri asked innocently. "Let alone with some stranger she knew only for a couple of hours."