——
"DEMETRI?" Ellie stares at him, her eyes wide and mouth agape.
Demetri stares at her, a smile spreading across his face. "Elizabeth." He speaks.
Ellie looks around the apartment, confused. "Um—" She clears her throat. "Why are you here?"
Demetri sighs and looks down at his hands that rest on the top of the table. "You don't remember last night?"
"I do." She remembers it all, up until she was knocked unconscious by a sudden dark mist. "But I kinda thought it was a dream..." And she didn't expect him to still be here. Strangely, she doesn't feel weirded out or awkward by his random presence. It just feels right.
"It certainly wasn't. So you remember everything?" He asks, glancing back up at her. Their eyes meet and she feels her heart stagger.
Ellie nods. "Pretty much, yeah." Theres a beat of silence. "Is the guy who... attacked me still, um, around?"
"No. He was swiftly taken care of." Demetri hopes this doesn't scare Ellie away from him.
So vampires can die, okay... Ellie ponders to herself with a hasty nod.
"Do you want me to leave? I stayed just in case, but I will leave if you please." Demetri doesn't necessarily want to leave, given hes still anxious about another possible attack happening, and being in the same room as Ellie is simply euphoric.
Ellie, too, doesn't want him to leave, basically feeling the same reasonings as him. He makes her feel safe, as silly as it sounds. She shakes her head and her cheeks begin turning a light shade of pink. "Can you stay? I'm a bit shaken up still." She confesses with a coy smile.
"Of course." Demetri promises.
"Thank you." Ellie responds shyly, then starts walking towards the kitchen, feeling his eyes on her. She prepares herself breakfast and then turns for the dining table, she places herself in the chair across from Demetri. "So, can I ask you some questions?" She asks before taking a bite of her hastily prepared food.
Demetri hesitates before nodding—he knows she'll be curious, and he knows she cannot know the truth, not yet anyways (unbeknownst to him, shes already fully aware).
And Ellie knows she has to be careful asking her questions, she can't let it slip up that she knows about vampires.
"How did you know where to find me?" She asks.
"I heard your scream."
Ellie tilts her head to the side and nods slowly. "And you were just in Seattle?"
"Yes, for... work."
"Well, you could've told me." Ellie says, smiling. "I could've given you a tour of the place."
He smiles back. "That would have been great, though unfortunately my bosses are not so lenient."
"And that man that attacked me... hes dead?" Ellie asks and would've found the nonchalance of the way she asked the question funny if under different circumstances.
"That he is."
Ellie feels slightly relieved. "Well, that's good." And then she remembers Annie, hopefully still asleep in the living room. "What about my friend? Is she okay?"
"Your friend is just fine. Shes sleeping on the couch currently." Demetri informs with a small smile.
Ellie feels relief and then dread; she knows when Annie wakes up and sees Demetri in the apartment she'll have questions and want to gossip all day long, and while Ellie isn't opposed to gossiping—she doesn't feel like having to twist the truth and lie about the reason why Demetri is here in the first place, she's lied to enough people already and frankly, its exhausting.
"Thats good." Ellie says with a tiny nod. "Does she know what happened?"
"I don't believe so. She awoke as it happened but was quite confused and then quickly fell back asleep." Demetri tells Ellie. "She may just think it was a dream."
"I wonder what she'll think of you in our apartment." Ellie airily chuckles at the reaction she knows Annie will have at the sight of Demetri. "She'll freak, most definitely."
Demetri finds himself smiling at the sound of Ellies laugh. "You do not have to tell her. I can hide when she wakes up." He shrugs.
Ellie looks at him with raised eyebrows as she contemplates on which route to take—introduce Annie to Demetri and have to make up a story as to why hes in their apartment or just act like nothing has happened and let Demetri hide in a corner somewhere? The latter seems easier, but something inside of Ellie feels sad at the thought of hiding Demetri, like it wants everyone to know hes there with her—she brushes that away, though.
"I think... it'd be better if you stayed hidden for now. I don't feel like coming up with a story for you being here, you know?" Ellie finally concludes and takes a sip of water.
"Of course." Demetri does wholly understand Ellies reasoning, but just like her, he wants Annie to know hes here, that he's there with Ellie. "Anymore questions?" Demetri asks after a second of silence.
Ellie hums and takes a bite of fruit whilst thinking. "How long will you be here for?" Ellies cheeks flush red after she asks the question and she doesn't know why—maybe because she wants him to stay as long as possible?
"I'm not certain. It depends on work and what we discover."
"What are you looking for?" Ellie asks another question while poking her fork into the food she doesn't find interesting anymore.
Demetri doesn't really know how to answer, because can you really just say "we're trying to decide whether or not to stop an army of newborn vampires from killing the cullen family or not"? He doesn't think so. So he settles on saying, "I really am not able to discuss it—my bosses are quiet... secretive." Which isn't necessarily untrue, but he still feels bad lying to her.
"Well, I'd say." Ellie agrees. She knows hes lying, but really can't blame him for doing so. The Volturi seems quite serious and she knows that if he did tell her, he'd have to turn her into a vampire which is far from ideal.
Ellie places her fork down with a sigh and stands with the plate in her hands. "I'm gonna go get ready. You'll be fine alone, right?"
Demetri looks up at her with a charming smile. "I'll be just fine, no worries."
She can't help but smile back at the vampire, quickly hurrying off into the kitchen after. She places her plate in the sink and then stares at the wall, eyeing the shallow dent which was created with her head—she winces at the memory but is thankful that her head hardly hurts at all and that she isn't concussed.
She makes her way towards her bedroom after, sparing a glance in Demetris direction. Once inside her room, she gathers an outfit for the day and then enters her bathroom.
She stares at herself in the mirror as she brushes her teeth and notices how red her cheeks are with blush, she wonders if they've been red the entire time and concludes that they likely were, much to her chagrin.
While discovering her blushed cheeks, she also discovers how giddy she feels and the happiness that has sprung up inside of her—she knows its because of Demetri being here. His presence alone brings such euphoria that she just wants to linger in forever, maybe she won't admit it yet, but she knows its true.
She spits the foamy toothpaste into the sink and splashes it down the drain before turning to the shower and pulling the handle, allowing water to spurt from the shower head.
She undresses and steps under the water with a relived sigh. She washes herself and her hair quickly, unconsciously wanting to get back to Demetri. She dresses even faster if possible, but when she exits the bathroom, she finds Annie sat at the table where Demetri was and knows she'll have to wait to speak to him again.
Annie looks up from her cereal bowl with tired eyes and an even more tired smile. "Good morning." She greets with a groggy voice.
"Morning, A. How'd you sleep?" Ellie asks and sits across from her best friend.
Annie shrugs. "Fine, given I slept on the couch. I had the weirdest dream, though."
Ellie raises an eyebrow. "Really? What happened?"
Annie takes a bite of cereal before answering. "We fell asleep, and then I heard you scream from the kitchen so I woke up, but then a black mist was floating my way and I fell back asleep... Weird, huh?"
Ellie fights back a smile. "No, yeah, thats super weird."
Annie nods. "Did you have any weird ass dreams last night?"
Ellie shakes her head and looks down at her fingers as they trace the patterns in the table. "Not that I can remember."
Annie hums and then stands, balancing her bowl of milk. "I think I'm gonna get ready. You didn't use all the hot water, did you?"
Ellie tilts her head up towards Annie with a coy smile. "You'll just have to find out."
Annie scoffs. "Oh, come on! You know I need my showers to be blazing." She grumbles before stomping off into the kitchen.
"So do I! It's not a shower if my skin isn't melting." Ellie counters.
Annie laughs as she leaves the kitchen and then saunters off into her room. Ellie turns her head forward again but gasps at the sudden figure sitting before her—Demetri is back.
"You scared the shit out of me!" Ellie whisper-shouts.
Demetri smirks and Ellie finds it extremely attractive. "I apologize. Will you be okay?"
Ellie narrows her eyes at him. "I'm not sure—I may have a heart attack, actually."
Demetri rolls his eyes but his smirk still stays. "That'd be tragic. Good thing I know CPR then, yes?"
Why would a vampire need to know CPR? Ellie asks herself but keeps the question inside her head. "Yeah, great."
"What do you like to do during the day in the city?" Demetri asks, gazing at her face, studying her features with soft eyes.
Ellie feels flustered under his stare, dazzled. It takes her a moment to gather her thoughts and to answer his question. "Um, well, when the city isn't in disarray, I like to go to this café and read or do homework for school." In fact, she hardly has done any work for her classes and she goes back tomorrow, the reminder makes her want to jump out of the window because of course, even while people are being kidnapped and murdered, she still has to attend college.
"What do you study?" Demetri is immediately interested in everything she has to say; he longs to know more about her, he doesn't care how minuscule the facts are.
"Psychology." Ellie answers with a sigh.
"Do you not like it?" Demetri questions with a raised eyebrow.
"No, I do, it's just ugh, you know? I can't wait for it to be over and I can start my career." She smiles fondly at the idea of graduating and beginning her life.
"What career do you wish to have?" Demetri continues his question, desiring to know more about her passions and wants.
"A therapist." Ellie answers with an unwavering certainty.
"What made you chose that?"
"I just want to help people. I thought about becoming a doctor for a long time but," She laughs and shakes her head, "I discovered I wasn't that good with blood and needles so I gave that up."
Demetri finds himself completely integrated in every word she speaks, obsessed with the way her voice winds around words or the way she speaks so passionately about what she wants.
But Ellie isn't aware of that, so looking at him staring at her makes her feel like she spoke too much. "What about you? Do you have any degrees or anything?" She switches the conversation onto him now.
"I have a few." Demetri shrugs like it isn't a big deal. "I hardly ever put them to use, though." He barely gets any alone time, therefore it took him years to get as many degrees that he has. He'd likely have many more if he wasn't a top member of the guard and he'd be able to build careers out of them perhaps.
Ellies eyes widen. "A few? How many is a few? Two? Three?"
"Seven." Demetri answers coolly, hardly finding the topic of himself interesting—he'd rather be talking about her but he supposes he shouldn't pry her to open up.
"Seven!" Ellie repeats louder than she anticipated.
"What?" Annie shouts from the bathroom, voice muffled by the shower.
"Nothing!" Ellie shouts back and then goes back to Demetri with an sheepish expression. "Seven?" She whispers the number now.
Demetri shrugs. "I had a bit of free time some years ago, it really isn't a big deal."
"Maybe you could complete the rest of mine for me." Ellie jokes but wishes that could be an option.
"Gladly." Demetri would actually do it for her if had no other obligations that needed tending to.
Demetri wants to ask Ellie even more questions, but the bathroom door suddenly opens and he has to disappear quickly before Annie can see him, leaving Ellie to stare at the empty seat in bewilderment.
"You know what we should do today?" Annie asks, completely unaware of Demetri being there only seconds ago.
"Um—what?" Ellie asks, still distracted and confused.
"Go shopping!" Annie suggests excitedly. "And yes, I know about the gang killings and kidnappings, but I think we'd be safe during the day, right?"
Ellie looks at her best friend with an indifferent expression drawn on her face. "I don't know..."
"I just don't want to be cooped up in this apartment anymore! Plus we go back to school tomorrow so we can make sure the streets are safe." Annie says with a convincing smile.
Ellie tilts her head to the side before finally giving in. "Okay, fine! But we stay by the shops, okay? No wandering through the alleys."
Annie nods and her smile is larger now. "Of course. Lets go soon, though. I want to leave before its even close to sunset."
Ellie nods in agreement. "Sounds good."
She knows its dangerous outside, but she has to agree with Annie; being stuck in the apartment does suck, even though she just got back. Plus, Demetri will likely be with them, so he'll keep them safe enough. Well, at least she hopes he will.
this story isn't completed! i just set the status as complete bc i heard wattpad was shadow-banning ongoing stories :)