Deep Red

Demetri's POV

The past catches up with everyone. For some it takes more than one lifetime. For me it took One Thousand One hundred and sixty five years but it shouldn't have caught up with me, by all laws of probability. People who I had thought I'd lost a long time ago, turned up in the place I least expected them to. It changed everything.

A normal day in Volterra, Italy, or for the Volturi Guard and Coven it could be called a normal day. No jobs to do, hampered by the sun, unable to leave the castle for fear of discovery.

Demetri hadn't left the library for about five days, as was his custom when there was nothing he was needed for. He had many piles of books spread out in front of him; stacks of paper were placed in chairs or on the floor, Demetri's neat handwriting covering every sheet. Pen in his hand, hovering over the fresh piece of paper he had just picked up, his brow was furrowed as he read from the pages in front of him. He pursed his lips after a few minutes and sat back in his chair, pen now resting on the paper, rocking slightly.

Demetri ran his hand through his hair and sighed. It wasn't that he didn't like sitting in the library pretty much undisturbed for days on end, but in the end he began to despair of himself and wonder why he ended up going round in circles with his research. He wasn't one to force his company on anyone, he never had, and solidity had always been a large part of his life even as a human child. He had never really needed anyone. The two people he had been close to, who had accepted him as he was, and had just let him be, were dead, and had been for a long time.

Sometimes when he closed his eyes he could reply that one night, the night that had changed the whole course of his life. He didn't often think about it, it caused too many painful memories to resurface and he didn't want that. He didn't have a confidante within the confines of the Volturi, not that his secrets were worth sharing in his opinion, and Aro, with his mind reading abilities knew the whole thing anyway. Demetri almost wanted to loathe Aro for this, but he knew unless Aro wanted something from him, he would not reveal what he knew about the worlds best tracker.

Demetri was pondering the circumstances that would cause Aro to reveal all he knew about Demetri, when the library door was flung open with a certain amount of force. Demetri looked up and rolled his eyes at Felix.

"There was no need for you to fling the door open like that," He said reproachfully, "I mean, I knew you were coming!" He said, getting up to inspect the damage to the ancient door. He closed it carefully and turned to look at Felix. "What are you doing here anyway?" He asked curiously, calmly, sitting back down in his seat. Felix shoved a stack of Demetri's paper on the floor, sat down in the chair and put his feet up on the table before he spoke.

"There was plenty of need for me to open the door like that. I like to make an entrance." Felix said smirking widely. Demetri rolled his eyes. "And There is never a guarantee that you're paying attention to your little circus trick. I mean look at you! You're surrounded by books. Anyone would think that you had no life… Oh hang in a minute," He added grinning widely, "You don't have a life."

Demetri smirked sarcastically at Felix, a rare reaction for him, and pulled his books closer and started closing up the ones he didn't need. Felix continued talking ignoring his friend's reaction.

"And I'm here because I was looking for entertainment." He said briskly.

"So you came here?" Demetri asked rolling his eyes at Felix as he got up to put some of the ancient volumes away in their correct places in the vast library. He looked at Felix and said, "Heidi been spending too much again?" He asked shrewdly. "You only come in here when you've argued with her." He added raising an eyebrow. He turned and watched Felix carefully, studying the reaction to his words. Felix was very good at appearing not to care. He leant forward, "I come in here even if we haven't had an argument!" He protested "Who else would volunteer to keep you company?"

"You don't keep me company, you make a mess," Demetri said in a long suffering voice, "And you come in here to rant." He added firmly turning back to the bookcase, "And when Heidi's hidden something of yours." He added smirking, "Like your car keys." He added lightly. He finished putting the books away and turned to look at Felix who was looking nonchalant. Demetri shook his head and sat down in his chair again.

He knew he would get very little information out of Felix. Feelings didn't come into Felix's personality. Demetri shrugged knowing that Felix would talk when he wanted to, and took up a stack of paper from the floor next to his chair and started going through it. He heard Felix sigh.

"You're boring," Felix stated sitting back in the chair and putting his feet on the table again. Demetri pulled a stack of paper out from under his friends feet but didn't look up from the page he was reading.

"I never said I was exciting," Demetri remarked idly. He flipped over the piece of paper and sighed he noticed an inconsistency. He picked up his pen and drew a line through the sentence. He glanced up at Felix who was looking at him with an eyebrow raised.

"No you didn't, but I live and hope that one day you will be," said Felix smirking, "Then we will cause havoc!" He said smiling widely.

Demetri shook his head at his friend and rolled his eyes, "Keep dreaming Felix." He said firmly, "Because there is no way that will happen. And anyhow, I think we caused enough damage when we were travelling." Felix smirked.

"Correction," Demetri said a moment later, "You caused enough damage while we were travelling. I just stood there and watched." He said firmly, "And then you drag us here, and almost get us killed." He said smirking a little, "Has anyone ever told you, you don't have a brain?" he asked smirking.

Felix smirked sarcastically at his friend and got to his feet, "You caused a fair amount of damage yourself my friend," He said smirking, "I had a plan!" he insisted, "I knew what I was doing."

Demetri raised an eyebrow. "You had no idea of what you were doing. You were pretending that you knew." He said shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "You off to go and see if Heidi's willing to unlock the door to you?" he asked jokingly. "Or are you just going to break it down?"

Felix sighed at Demetri. "You have no idea how to handle women do you?" he asked dryly.

"Neither do you!" Demetri shot back. Felix smiled, "I know how to handle them fine." He said smiling, "I was the original Casanova my friend." Demetri rolled his eyes. "No, actually, I'm going to go and annoy Gianna." Felix said smiling and turning and leaving Demetri alone in the Library once more.

They say that friends are family that you choose. I don't think that's strictly true, otherwise I wouldn't be friends with Felix, whose personality bears a striking resemblance to that of my older brother; I should technically dislike him heartily.