The two of them were standing on the private beach, watching the waves crash and retreat in silence. Cecilia was amazed at the way life had spun a twist at her. From being protected by her family full of vampires for almost all of her life, to visiting yet another foreign country with her soulmate, who also happened to belong to the archenemy coven of her family. It was ironic and she supposed that if there really were gods watching over their lives like some drama theatre as was described in the Homerian books, they would probably laugh their asses off.
"What are you thinking about?" Demetri asked her, snapping her out of her thoughts.
Cecilia chuckled, only then realising how ridiculous her thoughts were. "I was thinking that if there were really gods watching over us, they must find my life thoroughly amusing," she said. She turned her head to observe the vampire next to her, her stomach doing a little flip when she saw his entertained smile. "What about you?"
"I was trying to remember things about my life in Greece, before Amun turned me and took me away," he said. The expression was somewhat nostalgic, with a hint of sadness. "But it's all just a blur, like I'm trying to reach for something that's just too far away."
It was something Cecilia had feared from the moment she had decided that she wanted to turn at her eighteenth birthday as well, and still did. Right before Demetri had turned her, she'd bought her first notebook, the one in which she was going to document the rest of her immortal life.
She went to sit down in the warm sand, pulling Demetri along with her. Sitting wasn't more comfortable than standing, not anymore, but at least it made her feel more normal. She was wearing a dress that would have left her sweating like a pig if she was still human, but now she couldn't even feel the warmth of the sun touching her skin. The thing she could feel was the sand in between her toes, and that made her smile.
Demetri swung his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer still and her smile only grew. They had had a slow start, with Cecilia mostly missing her family and Demetri only behaving in a formal and polite manner, but now they were warming up on each other. She loved the way his skin felt on hers, and it had only increased with her transformation.
"One the way here I was thinking about my gift," Cecilia said, breaking the silence again. Her eyes were on the waves, but she could feel his eyes on the side of her face. "You can't track me, right? Maybe I can hide other people from your gifts as well."
Demetri hummed. "Try to hide your mother."
Cecilia scoffed and turned to look at her soulmate. "How?"
"I don't know," Demetri countered. "My gift is tracking, I tune into the tenor of their minds, but I wouldn't know what the opposite of that would be."
Suddenly, Cecilia wished she had talked to Nikolai about his gift. He was able to hide people. "Is it possible for two vampires to have the same gift?"
"I have never come across that," Demetri said. "It can be very similar, but it's always slightly different. I know the tracker before me simply had a feeling, but he didn't tune in on other people's presence."
"Well, then I don't think I can hide people from your gift," Cecilia said, shrugging.
Demetri raised his eyebrows. "How so?"
Cecilia kept quiet. She could hardly tell Demetri about Nikolai, not without telling him that she'd found him in the dungeons during one of their games of hide and seek. She couldn't lie to him either, knowing very well that he would pierce right through her act, so silence was the only option.
"Maybe you know so because there is a particular vampire, who just happened to be locked up in the dungeons, with whom you've been speaking on several occasions," Demetri said, sounding entertained. Cecilia's head snapped in his direction so fast that the human eye couldn't have caught it, an expression of horror on her face. Demetri shrugged. "It was merely a suggestion."
She felt breathless, even though she didn't need oxygen. "Since when have you known?"
"From the very start," he said. "I've been wanting to talk to you about it, but it was never the right moment. Either Alec was lurking around or someone else was listening in."
"Ugh," Cecilia said, letting herself fall in the sand. She closed her eyes, pretending she could feel the rays of sunlight. "I thought I was just so careful. I felt like a super-spy."
She could feel the weight of his body next to hers, the way the tips of his fingers trailed over the length of her bare arm. It made her shiver.
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, no one else has noticed," Demetri replied, sounding smug.
She opened one eye, staring at Demetri with a dismayed expression on her face. She felt stupid and grateful at the same time. Grateful that he had been the one to have caught her and stupid for the fact that it just as easily could have been anybody else. She could only think of the cruel things Aro would do to her and Nikolai if he had found out. It wouldn't surprise her if he declared her judge once more, forcing her hand in his execution.
All those feelings disappeared when she felt Demetri's hand caress her cheek, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. She let out a little sigh, something so human that it felt foreign to her, before slinging her arms around Demetri's neck and pulling him close. She did it so forcefully, that he collapsed under her new strength, landing on top of her body with a tud.
A laugh escaped her mouth, but that sound was soon cut off when Demetri pressed his lips against hers. The feelings she usually felt, the explosion of fireworks in her stomach, the fluttering of her heart, the way her whole body seemed to be on fire, all of it felt like it was happening in tenfold. She knew it was thanks due to her heightened senses and it made her love her soulmate even more.
She broke the kiss, though she could have gone on for hours, a new thought occurring to her suddenly. "You tune in someone's mind, right?" she said, watching Demetri nod. "Maybe it's my gift to hide things of the mind."
"Maybe you shouldn't worry about it at this moment," Demetri said. He pressed a kiss against her the line of her jaw. It was enough to make all the thoughts disappear from her mind. "We're in Greece, on the beach, about to start an uttermost sensitive and diplomatic mission," Cecilia chuckled at his impression of Aro's childish voice. "We should enjoy this while it lasts."
"Hmm, you might be right," Cecilia hummed. She pressed a chaste kiss on his lips, before moving away. "But you'll have to catch me first."
She was up and running not a second later, flashing across the beach like a flaring ghost. She could hear him grumble playfully underneath his breath, but she didn't care. The speed with which she was able to move still amazed her, the new details she could see, like the single grains of sand, took her breath away. She would enjoy it, that was for sure. Laughing loudly, she made her way to the little wall near the sea. It was there that she let him catch her.
"What is it with you and running?" he asked as he pinned her body between his and the wall.
Cecilia shrugged innocently. "I heard it's good for you."
"You're immortal now," he said. Even though she knew, hearing him say it made it even more thrilling. "You could run across the Earth and it wouldn't make you more healthy."
"Do you think I could?"
"What?"
"Run across the Earth?"
"How about we never find out."
She gasped. "Do you think that if we could construct wings and wear them we could take off? You know, now that we can manage the same speed as a plane."
Demetri groaned. "I will never begin to comprehend the way your mind works."
"I'm only teasing you," she said, smiling softly. She loved to see him exasperated by whatever she was saying or doing, knowing very well it was just an act. Letting her hands rest on his shoulders, she looked up at the castle. She noticed a figure standing on the walls of the castle, black hair blowing in the wind and a grimace on her face. A split second later, she was gone.
"Danae," Cecilia whispered softly, gaining Demetri's attention. "She was watching us."
"Let her," Demetri replied, his voice barely audible. "She's just jealous."
But the spell had been broken for Cecilia, who ducked underneath Demetri's arm to take a seat near the waves. She stretched out her legs, just far enough for the sea to reach her toes. He followed her example and she turned to him curiously. "They're not soulmates," she stated simply.
"Obviously," Demetri agreed. His fingers trailed absentminded figures in the sand. "She had once, many centuries ago. He was found guilty of raising an army and Aro had him killed. She's been bitter ever since."
Cecilia hummed softly, the thought of losing Demetri was unbearable to her. "So she joined Adras out of spite, just to look for revenge?"
"Yeah, back when he still had ambitions," he agreed, nodding. "But those disappeared a couple of centuries ago as well."
"I already had a feeling it's not Adras that's the problem, but Danae," she said. She pushed her curls over her shoulder, her eyes scanning the horizon. "She's zealous and she simply uses her husband as a front to get things done."
Once more Demetri nodded. "That's why we must coerce her," he said. "Adras is not the problem, she is."