Blood Moon [a Twilight Saga FanFiction]

Romania

     "YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ME ON A PLANE," Demetri whispered while we bought the tickets. "You would not believe how often I've had to fly for the Volturi."
     "Lucy," I looked to her in the line. "Will you be alright?"
     She nodded, but I could tell she wasn't breathing.
     Igor bought the four tickets, with a large sum of money because they weren't prebooked. The flight assistant seemed confused at our lack of luggage but thankfully didn't ask questions.
     We then made our way to the terminal and sat, waiting. I kept one hand in Igor's, the other on Lucy's, she was squeezing my hand tightly.
     I knew by the view that Demetri was definitely comfortable around humans. He sat with his legs crossed on the seat, his arms resting on the row of seats behind all of us. He kept his eyes closed as if resting.
     Lucy moved to scratch her throat, only the warning bells in my head saw it differently.
     "Do we need to go for a walk?" I offered to her, but she shook her head and straightened the bandana she had on. She hadn't bothered with a wig to help in Nanaimo, not anticipating a trip to Romania.
     Demetri moved a hand so it rested on her lap before he returned to his fake human habits.
     Igor kissed my hand that was in his.
     "She knows her limits, Miss Elizabeth," Igor reminded me. "She will leave when she knows it."
     "Thousands of feet in the air?" I asked.
     "She knows her strength and limits."
     Igor swiftly changed the topic to Romania. We kept it quiet but as it wasn't human to sit in a group without talking without any phones or books as a distraction, so we talked. Igor warned us that Stefan and Vladimir might want to fight to prove loyalty. Might. To that, Lucy rolled her eyes. Igor assured us that he wouldn't let it come to that. He also told us that Stefan and Vladimir were as thirsty for revenge as Aro was for power, if not more.
     He continued with his stories about the Romanians, then Cavians. About his history and his past, because both Demetri and Lucy were staring at him in fascination. I worried a little with that, Demetri's eyes were a vivid red.
     Sooner than anticipated, we were boarding the first of two planes, this one to Seattle. Lucy was able to distract herself then by reading the in-flight magazines, and then playing video games. Demetri alternated from watching movies to Lucy's games. Igor and I pretended to sleep.
     For most of the flight from Seattle to Europe, he continued to pretend to sleep and I watched movies. I even spoke to Demetri for a bit, while he kept his head down in case of wandering eyes. We talked about my job at the school, he was surprised I wasn't being a Doctor, I told him that difference kept things interesting.
     "You're going to have to think about what you want to do one day, and soon," I added for the humans. "What you're going to do when you leave school."
     "Maybe I'll be a PI," Demetri said and laughed at his own joke. "Find people, protect others. Sounds cool."
     "That's going to be tough to train for."
     "It'll be worth it."
     After that conversation, he 'napped', and after a few minutes of attempting to figure out how to play solitaire on the silly little computer on the back of the chair in front of me, I decided to let my mind wander while watching music videos.
     War.
     According to Mary Alice, it wasn't just going to be my family, it was going to be everyone! We weren't going into this alone and that was a slight comfort, but also a huge worry.
     It wasn't even the fighting aspect of the war that was the bigger worry, I wasn't afraid of dying, or fighting, I was afraid of surviving.
     Lucy turned off her game, gave me a while smile before pulling her feet up onto the chair and pretending to sleep.
     I was afraid of surviving because of them. I had a family now, a real family. Demetri, Lucy... I refused to think of surviving without Igor.
     I took steady breaths which immediately made Lucy open her eyes and look at me.
     "Are you okay?" she asked, probably using up all of her air.
     "I'll be fine, go to sleep."
     She didn't look convinced, but she closed her eyes again anyway.
     I felt panicked. I wanted to cry, throw my hands in the air and scream at the universe to leave my family alone.
     I give my mind something to distract itself with I decided to watch another movie, for some stupid reason, it picked Bram Stoker's Dracula.
     So about ten minutes into the slightly offensive but also slightly hilarious movie, I turned it off and joined my family in pretending to sleep. I pushed up the armrest between Igor and myself and rested my head on his shoulder.
     Because there was no way in all of the time, I was surviving without him.
     He put his arm around my shoulders and rested his head on top of mine.
     "Stop worrying," he whispered.
     "I'm fine," I lied.
     "No, you're not, you're tense. You're worried. Stop."
     "Igor, I..." I couldn't get the words out. His thumb started rubbing little circles on my shoulder.
     "We'll get through this. All of us," he kept whispering. Humans wouldn't hear, Demetri and Lucy definitely would. "We will all be okay, Miss Elizabeth. There is no way we will lose. He may have Renata, but we have Bella, Lucy, Mary Alice, Jane, do I need to go on? We have the advantage. No matter what they do we will have the advantage. You're not going to lose anyone. Now, you need to focus on one thing for me, okay? Can you promise me something?"
     I nodded against his shoulder.
     "Focus on keeping yourself alive. Your worry about losing us will make you an easy target. Please focus on keeping yourself alive. I can't lose you. Carlisle can look after himself. Lucy can protect herself. Mary Alice, well, she's Mary and will be fine being herself. We will all be fine-"
     "You forgot the most important person," I interrupted and took his free hand resting on his legs.
     "I can never lose you."
     "As can't I."
     "Than it is a promise to ourselves. We will only focus on ourselves, no matter what happens," he said. "You need to focus, Elizabeth. You can't be distracted."
     "Neither can you."
     He entwined his fingers with mine before kissing my head. It was a promise we both knew we'd both break.
     Lucy must have been worried about me, because she lifted the armrest between the two of us, and curled up so her head was on my stomach and her feet on Demetri's lap.
     I rested my hand on her head but not before sneaking a look at Demetri, who was smiling slightly. Already fallen for her.
      Grabbing Lucy's scent though, her past, I realised the real reason she had begun leaning onto me. Not breathing was starting to get too uncomfortable, she really wanted to breathe again but got a bad feeling from the thought. She was starting to get very afraid.
     "Demetri, rest your hand on her feet," I whispered quickly.
     I heard him follow my instructions.
     "You're doing great, Lucy," I assured her. "You're being so strong. I'm so proud of you for doing this. You can make it. I know you can."
      She held onto my shirt a little bit tighter.
      Igor's hand slid down my side. Of course, that sent all sorts of crazy feelings throughout my body, but I knew why. Where his hand stopped, all he'd have to do is reach the tiniest bit and he'd be grabbing Lucy's shoulder.
      We all pretended to sleep for the next ten hours, and I knew that I wasn't the only person who spent the whole ten hours focused on Lucy.
      When the humans started awaking, the flight attendants served breakfast. Demetri gave us a disgusted look.
     "This I've never done," he grumbled.
     Igor chuckled. "Don't touch it, I've got it," he said.
     So none of us touched the food. I took Demetri's and Lucy's and stacked them up on my tray so they could watch movies or play games, I found an e-book on the in-flight computer and began reading.
     I knew Igor's plan, but hearing it in action when the attendants returned was another story.
     "Are you family not eating, sir?" the lady asked Igor.
     "Consuming anything at such high altitudes makes my wife feel nauseous," Igor stated, Demetri coughed a laugh. "So we all ate a pretty big meal before take-off. We'll eat again once we get to Romania."
     "Are you sure? The rest of you should-"
     "We'll be fine. Thank you."
     And she moved on after taking the trays of food.
     I smacked him slightly.
     "Did you hear her heart? You scared her," I grumbled. "Poor girl."
     After another painfully boring, long hour, we finally began our descent to Avram Iancu International Airport. It would still be a bit of a distance to Stefan and Vladimir, and we'd have to wait for the sun to go down as it was only slightly overcast in Cluj-Napoca that day, but we'd make do.
     So once we landed, and entered the terminal, we sat in the airport restaurants until the sun had set enough for it to be safe. Then we ran, with Igor leading the way.
     I knew we were almost there when we crossed scents I had only come across once before. Stefan was nearby.
     "Igor," I started to say.
     "I smelt him, too," he responded.
     We stopped outside a huge, ruined castle. Vladimir was standing outside, his near-transparent skin glittering in the moonlight. His face lit up when he saw Igor.
     "Igor! V'at a pleasant surprise!" Vladimir cheered. He stretched his arms out. "And you brought uz a gift to tear apart." His eyes were zoned in on Demetri.
     "Demetri is with us now, Vlad," Igor stated. "He's family now."
     "Pity."
     "Where is Stefan?" Igor asked in their native, ancient, Cavian language. I wondered if Demetri would understand it, Lucy certainly looked amazed and thoroughly confused. I myself never learnt the language, I just got the translations from their pasts as I breathed. "I need to speak with you both."
     "You are not the only one with new coven members. Stefan is out hunting with our new friend. They will be back shortly," Vladimir answered.
     "A new friend? What did the Volturi do to them?"
     I picked from Vladimir's past that this new friend of theirs, his name was Nicholas, and was from London, but they never talked about why he wanted revenge on the Volturi, just that he did.
     "He did not say," Vladimir responded also back in English. "Ve did not ask. Come inside, it 'as been so long."
     The four of us followed Vladimir and Igor inside. Demetri staying close to Lucy as was comfortable.
     "Introduce me to your new child," Vladimir stated.
     "Well, you know Demetri," Igor said as we all stopped in the front room.
     A great big hall filled with crumbled, painted stone pillars, shattered staircases and architecture I knew Esme would have a field day investigating.
     "And this is Lucy," Igor finished, waving to Lucy. "She joined us earlier this year. Lucy, this is Vladimir."
     "Hi, Vladimir," Lucy said giving a very small curtsy making both men laugh.
     "That one knows 'ow to treat 'er elders," Vladimir said. "Good job, Igor! May I get anyone someone to drink?"
     "Vladimir. No."
     "I thought I'd ask anyway."
     Vladimir laughed and jumped up to the next floor.
     "Please, guests, make yourself comfortable! Stefan and Nicholas should not be far off from 'ome," Vladimir said as he disappeared behind the stone.
     Though I heard it when he turned to come back, staring directly at me.
     "Is everything alright, Vlad?" Igor asked.
     "I never noticed before, but she looks like Carlisle Cullen?" Vladimir asked.
     "I'd hope so," Igor responded. "They are twins, by blood."
     Vladimir's eyes shot open and I turned to Lucy and Demetri. 
     "Have a look around," I encouraged them. "This is where he woke up."
     "Here?" Lucy gasped. "Really?!"
     "Actually, I believe I woke directly where you're standing now, Lucy," Igor turned to her. "And the first thing I saw..."
     He turned to look under the stairs. His first victim.
     "Was this amazing stonework? It must have looked different back then," Lucy pushed. "How amazing was it? Beautiful? Was it a full castle then or just as bad?"
     I slipped my hands into Igor's and kissed his shoulder. The first thing he had seen, had been the human tight to one of the pillars with a bleeding neck. Because that's what Vladimir and Stefan had wanted him to see and hear and smell first.
     "I believe it looks almost the same," I said for him. "Of course, a bit more decay over the thousands of years, but mostly the same. You've done a very good job at keeping it intact, Vladimir, I'm impressed."
     "It is not without some troubles," Vladimir said.
     Lucy walked off into the next room, Demetri closely shadowing her.
     Though just as they left to the other room, we heard the advancing footsteps of Stefan and who I could only assume was Nicholas.
     "May I ask a question, Miz Elizabeth?" Vladimir asked, staring at me.
     "Sure?"
     "Why did you decide to cut your hair?"
     "It wasn't willingly, I assure you," I answered reluctantly. I didn't like talking about the Nanaimo Hospital fire. 
     "A story for another time?"
     "Perhaps."
     Vladimir smiled and Stefan and Nicholas walked into the castle.
     "Stefan! Look who iz here!" Vladimir cheered.
     "I smelt him just outside Cluj-Napoca! Igor, my boy!" Stefan embraced a smiling Igor. "So good to see you."
     My eyes had not left Nicholas since he had walked in. Fear, rage, and confusion, bubbled up to growl in the back of my throat, startling them all.