A/N: I thought I was done with writing Twilight fics until I saw Breaking Dawn Part 2 a few weeks ago and let's just say the creative bug is back! Now I know, there's hundreds of stories with this premise, but I have a very specific direction I see this heading in, so I hope it'll prove to be a change from the normal banter. Charlie Bewley is all kinds of fabulous, which is why I love writing about Demetri. For reference, I picture Daphne as a blonde Jennifer Lawrence.
And of course, all belongs to SM: no copyright infringement intended. Enjoy, and please review! I'm determined to stick this story through, but reviews would really make it a lot better, especially when writer's block hits! xx
Arms and legs in between
Caught inside a stupid dream
Look for her but cannot see
I give up, I give up
There's no time to believe
I'm paralyzed, I'm paralyzed
I'm stuck in the middle and I'm paralyzed
- Paralyzed, by Rock Kills Kid
"Inside." He spoke in a low voice, gripping her upper arm extremely hard. When she refused to budge, he pushed her, none-too-gently. "In. Side. Now."
Her breathing had quickened. All she had wanted to do was find her friends, whom she'd seen walk into the castle.
"Come on, Daph, it'll be fun!" Said Heather, always too eager to explore new towns without first getting acquainted with them. And Daphne did want to see all the historical sights Volterra had to offer, but first, she really wanted to drop off their bags at the hostel.
Laura nodded in excitement. "I'm sure the tour won't last too long, we'd be done by lunchtime."
Daphne smiled but shook her head. "Nah, you guys go, I think I'll go for a nap. Let's meet up for lunch, okay?" Her friends nodded as they joined the queue and little did she know that was the last time she would ever see them.
When neither of them showed up for lunch or had checked into the hostel by dinner, Daphne grew worried and went to look for them.
And it was then that she'd overheard them- these two mysterious men- conversing about how "delightful" the ladies had been. When they proceeded to describe their physical appearance and even the perfume they had been wearing, Daphne knew that they were the culprits. Of course, in retrospect, she should have called the police instead of waltzing up to the two lean, clearly strong, men with all the false confidence she could muster. Fortune favors the brave? I think not.
"Who are you and what do you want?" She asked the dark-haired one as the other one was holding her roughly and... sniffing her hair?
Felix smiled at his companion. "I can smell her from here." The sneer that followed did not do much good for Daphne's growing apprehension.
The man behind her groaned in approval of her scent and loosened his grip only just. Daphne took this as her opportunity, likely the only opportunity that would come her way, before these psychos took it to the next level and wiggled out of the man's grip, running down the hallway as quickly as she could. When she bumped into something rock hard in front of her and looked up, however, she realized that all of her hopes for escape were lost.
"Why run? Come and play, like your friends did." At this, she started to struggle in his arms but he only tightened his grip. Demetri did not like to be messed with, and his patience was wearing thin. "Take my advice and stop before Felix and I grow impatient. You are too beautiful to die so soon." He said, caressing her face with the lightest of touches.
"What have you done to them?!" She asked, with all of the voice left inside her, fear consuming her ability to speak, as well.
A small smirk graced his statuesque features. "Fear not, you will not meet the same fate they did." He tilted his head to the side a bit. "At least, not for the time being. Come. Aro will wish to meet you."
"Who the hell is Aro?" Daphne shouted. "And what makes you think I'm going to go anywhere with you?!"
A hiss escaped him. "Because I won't be able to help you if you don't." As he pulled her arm and consequently, her, down the hallway, he muttered something about "ungrateful woman" and "risking my ass for a human". Human? Alright, clearly this man (is he even a man?) was crazy.
"Who are you?" She asked in a meek voice, by now, allowing him to lead her down the halls. "Why did you bring me here?"
"You're very persistent." He said, chiding her curiosity. "As for your question, let's keep walking and you'll find out." Glancing at the girl's eyes, he saw the fear in them and softened his expression a bit. "I promise, if I've made a mistake in bringing you here, I'll ensure that you make it out. Alive."
"And my friends?" Her tone was one of desperation. "Tell me, did they make it out alive?" She asked with irony.
He shook his head nonchalantly. "No, their deaths were necessary. We were... thirsty."
She nodded back. "I'll tell that to their families, if I ever get out of here. They died because you were thirsty? Get away from me." Daphne tried to yank her arm from his grasp but he did not even budge. A look of shock crossed her face and her heartbeat was racing. "What are you?"
"Right now?" He inquired, looking her dead in the eyes. "Your only chance of survival. Let's go."
Daphne followed the man without hesitation. If she was to meet her end, she wanted to do so bravely in the face of this man, who only looked like an angel (for what kind of angel would terrorize her so?) and not cower in the corner for fear of dying. Although she would never admit to this creature, whatever he was, she was terrified of what was about to come. Even though she had already lived through terrors of a similar nature.
They walked through a set of ornate wooden doors into a circular room with a dome ceiling and marble flooring. If she hadn't been in such a precarious situation, Daphne would have thought the architecture to be stunning.
"Ah, Demetri." A pleasant looking man greeted the person holding her so fiercely. "What have we here? Early supper, young one?"
Demetri let go of Daphne's arm for a moment to bow lightly in front of his addresser. "Not this time, Master." Master? What sort of place was this, Daphne wondered. A cult, perhaps? A strange Italian cult filled with pale, beautiful people? "She is an acquaintance of the young ladies that were here earlier." Demetri's red eyes glimmered, recalling their most recent feeding. "Felix and I caught her looking at the palazzo and then I thought she would be perfect. See for yourself."
Aro took in the girl and waved her over with his hands. "Come, dear child."
With a small but firm push from Demetri, Daphne started to go forward, cautiously looking from side to side, ready to escape danger if necessary. Once she had approached the man that was called Master, he inhaled and a smile crossed his face. As if she wasn't freaked out enough already. Slowly, the man took her hand in his and closed his eyes.
"She appears to be suitable, does she not?" Demetri offered, walking up to stand next to her, feeling uncharacteristically protective. "What is your name?"
Daphne looked around, confused and untrusting. "Daphne." She replied.
"Exquisite." Aro let a laugh escape him. "Tell me, dear Daphne..." His smile grew wider, much like her fear. "Are you currently employed?"
What the fuck were these creeps playing at? "I am, thanks very much, as a journalist in LA. I'm not looking for a new job."
"A journalist." Demetri scoffed. "Talk about a bloody promotion." He said under his breath, but Daphne heard everything.
"I don't know who you think you are, but my family knows I'm here, they'll come looking for us!" The desperation in her voice betrayed her fear that such a thing would not happen, for they in fact, did not know she was here. They thought she and her friends were still in Paris.
Aro narrowed his eyes at her playfully. "Now, now, dearest, we both know that isn't true." He let go of her hand and gestured for Demetri to restrain her, which he did, as gently as he could. "Ever since Bianca proved to be... lacking in grammar skills, she had to be disposed of." Venom pooled in Demetri's mouth as he recalled the sweet, tantalizing taste of her blood. She may not have been a good secretary, much she made an excellent dessert. "Surely, as a writer yourself, that would not be an issue. Now then, I will make this as clear to you as I possibly can. You may either choose to stay here and serve us," he began, gesturing to the cloaked figures around him, "or, should you decline, you can join the likes of Bianca. Which will it be?"
Demetri stiffened as Daphne's heart began to race and the smell of her blood entered his nose. He'd not only had the chance to breathe in her presence once before and in that moment, wished he never had. She smelled remarkable and made Bianca seem like a moldy piece of bread. Could it be that he had found his singer? After all this time, having looked for her for centuries, he had lost hope. He cocked his head to the side and began to run his nose gently along the nape of her neck, tightening his grip on her, as she flinched away due to the coldness. Tears began to brim in her otherwise steadfast eyes as she slowly nodded.
"I suppose I have no choice." She spat out at the man before her. "But can I at least know what's going on here? Who are you people?"
"Demetri." Aro called, and the younger vampire stopped his course which had been heading for the human's jugular. "Take her and make her feel at home. Explain things and for heaven's sake, don't kill her now that she's been hired. I do hate a premature termination of contract, after all." Demetri nodded and gave another slight bow, causing Daphne to furrow her brows in confusion. What was this place?
"And Heidi." He began, smiling as a beautiful red-haired figure appeared before him. "Please arrange a room for Miss Daphne, away from the younger ones. In the same wing as Demetri, here, I should think." Aro stated, giving Demetri a knowing smile before returning to sit on what looked to be a throne.
A small hiss escaped the creature, directed at Daphne, before she nodded obediently, mumbled a "Yes, Master", and literally disappeared from the room she had moved so quickly.
At a tug on her arm, Daphne looked back at her captor who had begun leading her out of the central room into a dark corridor, his speed fast and his grip unrelenting. "Where are you taking me?" She asked, only to receive no answer. "Who are you?" She tried again. "Demetri!" She shouted and he stopped, relishing the way her voice caressed it, despite its tone.
He turned and pushed her against a wall, his arms on either side of her, securing her and looking dead into her eyes. "You really are a persistent little thing, aren't you?" He remarked, cocking his head again, like her dogs used to do back home when they were trying to understand her. Now that she thought about it, this man behaved more like an animal than any normal person she'd ever met. "Now, Daphne, was it?" He purred, lifting a soft tendril of her honey blonde hair and taking in its essence, closing his eyes at the scent. "You smell like lavender." At his careful compliment, Daphne did not know whether to blush or run. But her instincts took her and she tried to push him off roughly, to no avail, before wincing in pain as the shock of hitting such a solid being reverberated back into her joints. "It's best if you don't fight back, you'll only get hurt, of no fault of my own. I can't help the way it is - I so strong, and you so weak." He buried his face in the nape of her neck and her breathing quickened again. So this was it. She was to be kept prisoner in a castle in Italy with a lunatic who was clearly going to do more than "explain" things to her. He was clearly going to take advantage of her.
"You're not the first of your kind I've met, you know." She said bravely, and he stopped, stood frozen for a few moments, processing her words. "I've known monsters like you before." And she said, recalling her own encounter after a night out with a very inebriated man who could not understand the word "no" and proceeded to defile her in the street, very nearly killing her in the process.
She'd been rescued, of course, her screams were bound to be heard in such a populated area, but not before the damage had been done. Her eyes glazed over as she, for the first time in a very long time, allowed the pain of that day and the subsequent years after it happened to take over again. She had only been sixteen years old. The man was imprisoned, of course, and she had recovered - physically, at least. Emotionally, she had grown to distrust men, and it took a while before she was able to rebuild herself and be the strong girl she had once been. But with this man before her, threatening to do the same to her again, albeit a bit more polite about the matter, not shouting a string of curses at her resistance, she was not sure if she could ever be whole again were history to repeat itself.
"I am not a monster." Demetri whispered to her, moving his lips right above her ear. "And I do not wish for you to see me as much."
"I'm sure that's what you like to think. But how many have you broken?" She asked and, again, he cocked his head at her choice of words. Had she said "killed", the answer would be many. "Wanted", the answer would too be many. But "loved", the answer would be none. Not really, at least. Sure, he had been with women, many women, at that - the Casanova of Volterra, they called him, both behind his back and to his face. And for many centuries, he relished it. But now, with this strong being before him, he was not sure he wanted such a title anymore.
"I do not understand, cara mia." He could sense her discomfort at his close proximity from her heartbeat, even if her face did not betray her true feelings, and so he backed away to allow her space. Instead of pulling her along with him, he offered her his arm in a gentlemanly manner. "Come, I'll show you to your room and I promise to explain everything."
Daphne shook her head slightly. "Why should I trust you?"
He pondered a moment before replying to her, wanting to give her the honest answer. "Because right now, I'm the only thing standing between you and death. And I'd not take kindly to any of us ending you just yet."
A small laugh escaped her. The entire situation was too odd for words. She said nothing, but simply took a tentative step forward and linked her arm with his, following his more leisurely pace to a dark mahogany door. He stepped back and gestured for her to go first. "After you, Miss."
Unsure of what she would find on the other side, Daphne slowly turned the knob and pushed the door open. The room was quite large, but above that, absolutely stunning. It looked like something out of The Tudors television series she loved to watch so much. There was a lovely four-post bed next to the window, along with a dresser in matching wood, a chaise lounge, a vanity, and a desk, complete with stationary of all types.
"Does it please you?" He asked, already knowing the answer, given the wonder and awe in her expression. He pointed to the stationary. "You said you were a journalist, I suppose Heidi wanted you to continue writing. She's very kind once you get to know her."
Daphne sighed at everything before her. She must have been in a dream. How could one man cause so many conflicting feelings? Her features darkened. But that's just it, she shouldn't be grateful for this. She's a captive and while they may be trying to make her more comfortable, she didn't want to be here. She didn't want any of this, and she'd be damned if she gave them the satisfaction of not being difficult.
She crossed her arms. "I think it's time you tell me what's happening. Who are you?"