When she woke up the next day, it was with a smile on her face and a well-rested body. She pushed the sheets from her body and moved to the little desk to stare out the window. It was another sunny Italian day, one just begging her to go out and soak up all the rays she could get. Cecilia knew however that she had to do something else first.
She dressed up quickly, putting on a long flowery skirt and a white T-shirt that was comfortably snug on her body. Despite the sun doing its best, it was still rather cold in the castle in comparison, mostly due to the thick walls. Putting on her ankle boots, she rushed down the kitchen, hoping that nobody was there. Her prayers were answered because aside from some dishes that needed washing, she had the kitchen all to herself.
Opening the fridge, she choose an apple and put it on the counter. She grabbed a knife that looked particularly sharp and a cup next, before cutting the apple in pieces. Then, checking once more if nobody was behind her, she grabbed the blade with her hand, hissing as it cut through her skin. Quickly, she placed the cup underneath her hand, making a fist and squeezing some blood into it.
"Oh, I'm so clumsy," she muttered to herself, a smug smile on her face.
Once the blood stopped flowing, she snatched the towel from the wall and bound it over the wound in the palm of her hand. Looking into the cup, she realised it would be nowhere near enough to satisfy Nikolai, but then again, she supposed it was better than nothing. She sincerely hoped that all the vampires in the castle were gone, or most of them at least. She knew that Demetri was busy with a mission together with Felix, Jane and Alec, which made this the best opportunity she would get in a while to visit Nikolai in the dungeons.
Grabbing the cup with her good hand and clutching the towel with the other, she managed to find her way to the dungeons. It took her a better part of an hour, choosing the wrong corridor a ridiculous amount of times, but finally, she arrived at the cell with a Russian vampire slumped behind it.
"Ah, if it isn't the Volturi's sweetheart," Nikolai grunted as he looked up in torch she had placed next to his cell. Cecilia noticed he looked even more horrible than he had the last time she'd seen him. It was as if something in the dungeons was draining his strength.
She smiled, not particularly friendly or hatefully. "I brought you something, but it doesn't sound like you need it."
"I was only joking, of course," he said, putting his hands on the iron bars and pressing his face close. He motioned with his head that she should come closer. "Give me the cup."
She came closer, kneeling in front of him just out of his reach. Her smile turned into a smirk. "I might consider it if you ask nicely."
"Give me the goshdamn cup, girl," Nikolai demanded, his voice sounding a lot stronger than he looked. His eyes had turned completely dark, his skin sickly pale.
She put on an expression of surprise, making circles with the mug in her hand so that the thick liquid inside of it swirled around the edges, nearly spilling it. Amused, she watched Nikolai's hunger-filled eyes follow the motions of her hand. "Now, if I were a little clumsy, which admittedly, is the truth, I might just spill this precious-"
"Alright, alright, will you please give me the cup?" the vampire cut her off, looking at her pleadingly.
She stopped swirling the liquid immediately, putting the mug through the iron bars of his cell. Never before had she seen someone snatch something away so eagerly, drinking, or rather ravishing it like he was some beast. She raised her eyebrows high, her nose twisted in disgust. "You're an animal."
"No," he said between two gulps, shaking his head. "I'm starving. And this is not nearly enough."
"Well, it's all you're going to get," she countered, holding out her hand. She watched in disgust as Nikolai licked the mug clean before placing it in her hand again.
"Next time, make sure it's more," Nikolai said, smirking at her. His eyes had returned somewhat to their red colour, but they were still dark enough to show his thirst. Even his skin looked a little better.
She raised her eyebrow daringly. "Next time you'll get an old shoe to chew on."
Not bothering to waste another second on the ungrateful vampire, she clenched the mug in her hand and made her way toward the stairs that would lead to the upper floors.
"Cecilia," she heard Nikolai call out from behind her. Not expecting much, she turned around. "Thank you."
She only nodded, before continuing her way to the upper floors. She didn't know why she was possibly risking her life for Nikolai, because she was positive that if the masters found out she'd been helping one of their prisoners, heavy consequences would follow. She supposed it was because he'd helped her once before and he was a friend of their family, or well, maybe not a friend, but... something. Besides, it had been due to Benjamin that he ended up being caught by the Volturi and Benjamin had been on his way to her birthday, which made it somewhat of her responsibility too.
When she got to the kitchen again, this time managing to do it within a quarter of an hour, she washed the mug and the bloodied knife first. The apple was still laying on the counter, cut in eight perfect slices.
"Did you have an accident?" she all of a sudden heard a voice ask.
Letting out a loud shriek, she grabbed for her heart and turned around, only to be greeted with Alec's smirking face. Quickly, her expression of horror turned into one of annoyance and she flipped him her middle finger. "You scared me half to death," she said, her heart still hammering against her chest. "Besides, aren't you supposed to be on one of your little group excursions?"
"We finished rather early," Alec said, still smirking. "Now, did you have an accident?"
"Yes, obviously," she countered, motioning her head to the knife still dripping with water. "Grabbed it by the blade instead of it's hold."
Alec chuckled and shook his head. "Humans are just so dumb."
"You're barely twelve years old, look who's talking," Cecilia countered. She wasn't sure what it was, but Alec had a knack for irritating the living hell out of her, simply by being himself. At least she wasn't afraid of him anymore. She supposed that counted as progress as well.
"What's going on here?" Demetri suddenly joined in. He walked in the kitchen and as soon as his eyes fell on Cecilia's frame and her hand bound in a towel, he was next to her side in a split second. Carefully he removed the towel, observing the wound in the palm of her hand. "What happened?"
Cecilia, still glaring daggers at Alec barely noticed the worried expression on Demetri's face or the way his fingers carefully caressed her hand. "He scared me half to death, that moron. He knows I can't hear him and still he enjoys sneaking up on me."
"You're just having a bad conscience, that's why you're so jumpy."
"Lies."
"Alec, go torture someone else," Demetri muttered, his eyes still focused on the slash.
Alec let out a loud scoff, staring at Demetri with a hint of betrayal on his face. "Are you choosing her over me?"
"Yes, of course he is," Cecilia said childishly, sticking out her tongue. "Now get away."
"I'm not choosing anybody over the other, but I need to take Cecilia to the hospital. This needs to be stitched."
Looking at Demetri with furrowed eyebrows, she pulled her hand back. "Don't be ridiculous, it's nearly healed already," she said. Looking from the palm of her hand she had to admit that the fiery red slash was in fact very far from being healed, to Demetri, who was looking at her sarcastically, she shrugged. "Well, it's stopped bleeding. The only thing the doctor is going to do is clean it with some alcohol, slap a bandaid on it and write out a bill. I can do that myself as well."
Demetri let out a loud sigh, massaging his temples roughly with the tips of his fingers. "You're incredible."
She smiled innocently, throwing her hair over her shoulder. "Oh, don't I know it."
That only earned her another sigh, which she diplomatically ignored. Looking outside the tiny kitchen window, she smiled at the sun raining down on the gardens. Her eyes wandered to Demetri, who was still staring at her with a mixture of horror and awe in his eyes and not knowing where her courage came from, she grabbed his hand with her good one. "Let's take a walk in the gardens."
"Let's find some alcohol and a bandaid first," Demetri countered. He led her to one of the chairs in the kitchen, pushing her down on it gently. Then he turned his back on her and started rummaging through all of the cabinets. "Both should be somewhere around here... ah, found it!"
With careful eyes, she watched him take a seat in the chair next to her and not knowing whether she trusted Demetri enough with treating her wound, but deciding to take a chance nevertheless, she put her hand with her palm up on the table.
"Alright, I think this part is going to hurt a bit," he said as he poured some alcohol on the towel.
She observed the way his face was scrunched up in concentration, a smile almost coming to her lips automatically. As soon as he dabbed the wet cloth on her wound, that smile made place for a grimace and she let out a loud hiss. "That hurts indeed."
He looked at her, Bordeaux red meeting stormy blue. "Well, that's what you get for not looking good enough."
"Noted," she muttered, her eyes wandering to her hand again. She followed his moves, the way he gently cleaned the wound, how he carefully cut a bandaid and even more tenderly put it on her hand. She looked up at him, a soft smile covering her face.
"Now, that will be a thousand dollars please," he said, effectively breaking the spell between them. He smirked. "That's the way it works in America, right?"
Cecilia looked at him like she'd just been insulted and gave him a harsh shove with her good hand. "You're a jerk, Demetri."