Demetri stared at me for a little while and I wondered what he was thinking. The mind of a vampire worked so fast, he had to be thinking a whole lot. My own was remembering every city I had been to since the moment I began my journey. Not just the ones I really visited, but also the ones I merely passed. The memories were faded and I struggled to pull the details back. The few places I walked through on my journey to Europe, I could recall with perfect clarity.
Volterra hadn't been on my list, but I liked the addition. I also thought about the places in Greece where I had been as a child and the little I knew about the history of my home country. He had lived through all that. My eyes widened a bit and I saw Demetri lift an eyebrow.
"You have lived the history I only learned about in school", I explained with awe in my voice.
"Ah, yes, bit's of it, I'm sure. I reckon they don't teach vampire history in class."
At that I chuckled. I liked this relaxed version of the guard. Not the one of whom I saw a glimpse in the tower room. The one seemingly without a will of his own. Stiff and obedient and unable to oppose those in power. This Demetri laughed more, was charming and acted human. Or human-ish, at least.
"Why were you turned?" I was curious. I was created because Riley and the faceless Victoria needed an army. It had been my understanding that most vampires simply killed a human when they met them, why would anyone willingly turn one? Would he tell me?
Demetri leaned back, pondered for a moment and then nodded, as if he decided that he could trust me with a secret. As his body moved, so did mine, only my upper body shifted forward. He didn't seem to mind and I was too eager to hear his story so I shoved this tiny detail out of the way.
His voice was soft as he spoke. "When I was young, I met an Egyptian man. He was in hiding, but I saw him one day and followed him. After the third time I found his hideout, he left the country and I didn't see him again until my twenty-first year. I recognized him from across the marketplace and he looked at me, as if he was challenging me to find him again. I did and he told me about this forever life I could have if I was willing to join him." He paused a fraction of a second and then continued. "I was the youngest son and there was always a threat of war. I relished in the opportunity presented to me and took it. He turned me, taught me, helped me to better myself, but then a new opportunity arose and I left."
"The Volturi?"
"Yes, they offered me this prominent place in the guard. I have never looked back, since."
My eyes narrowed infinitesimally about this lack of loyalty towards the man who had turned him. Until I realized I myself felt no loyalty whatsoever to my own creator, then I relaxed.
There was one thing I couldn't yet figure out. From what I learned about the Volturi, they were hellbent on power and had many vampires with gifts in their midst. Was Demetri one of them? Why else would he be invited to join them? But was it a question I could ask? Would he tell me?
I guessed there was only one way to find out, so I asked: "Do you have a superpower?"
I quickly explained myself, thankful for the fact that I no longer fumbled my sentences. "The Cullens told me the Volturi had many powers. Aro can read minds with a touch. Can you do something special? Is that why they asked you to join?"
His brow had furrowed when I mentioned the Cullens. So, the love lost there was mutual. Part of my brain wondered what had happened four years ago. But he already smoothed his face and nodded once. I held my breath, what would it be? Was he the strong one? Somehow that seemed to be more the department of the large Felix, but appearances could be deceiving.
"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?"