Tia's POV

It has been 6 years since we have visited the Cullen coven. Since then, Amun has been keeping Benjamin locked up in the basement of our home in Egypt, despite the fact that humans now know about us.

A couple of years ago, a vampire by the name of Xavier had decided to show the world that he was a real vampire. This put the Volturi in a frenzy, as they would have had to clean up the mess. In the end (it was only a year later but it felt a lot longer than that), they decided that it would be much simpler for the humans to know about our existence.

I think that the Volturi have given up on finding new recruits for their guard. I don't think they have any use for them anymore. Amun disagrees. Before Xavier, Benjamin was on the top of their recruitment list after we witnessed for the Cullens, but I haven't seen the Volturi since that day.

When we got back to Egypt, Benjamin was sent straight to the basement and wasn't allowed out because of Amun's fear of the Volturi finding him. I went down with him but didn't stay long as the confined space got to me. Benjamin wasn't too happy with Amun's arrangement for him until Carlisle dropped by to invite our coven to Christmas at his place. Amun wasn't willing to go Carlisle's, as the last time we were there, he had accused Carlisle of stealing Benjamin away from him, and Benjamin couldn't give his opinion as he had last time. Amun had thought about this for a while until Carlisle had to leave and needed an answer. After he got his answer, Carlisle left for the airport to fly to his next destination. Amun and Kebi migrated to their room after that and didn't make an appearance until the next day. I, on the other hand, went down to the basement to tell Benjamin about Carlisle's surprise visit.

Benjamin's POV

6 years is a long time to be in a basement. Any human would know that. I may be a vampire but I think I am developing claustrophobia from being in a basement most of my life. When Tia came in, I was busy making small tornadoes in boredom, with the dust that had gathered on the floor. When I looked up at her, she smiled genuinely. I smiled in response and let the dust fall to the floor in a heap.

"Carlisle came by today," she started, taking a seat on the floor next to me. I frowned in thought without saying anything. Why would Carlisle come after 6 years? I couldn't work it out. It didn't have time to ask her why as she answered the question for me.

"He invited us over for Christmas this year." I snorted in response as I knew what Amun's answer would have been. Tia laughed at that and shook her head. "It's not what you think, Ben," she sighed. She took my hand in hers and we sat there for what felt like forever.

I knew when it was the morning. Not because of the light that shined down the basement stairs whenever the door opened, but because of the temperature. Here in Egypt, it is colder at night than it was during the day. Normally I wouldn't have been able to tell, but today was different. I could feel the warmth radiating off Tia's body as I held her. I could feel that it was pure, no rain today. Tia turned to me and with an apologetic look on her face, kissed me on the cheek and left, leaving me alone again in the darkness.

Fire. That was the first thing I thought of after Tia left. Not to kill myself, but to keep myself warm and to see around the basement. Normally there would be some sort of light source on for me, but I think that my chat with Tia last night lost me the privilege of being able to see in the basement. It didn't make sense to me, but then again, nothing Amun did ever made sense.

I sat in the farthest corner from the door and wondered what Amun's answer was. Tia didn't get that far in the story. I sighed as I realised that I probably wasn't getting out of the basement anytime soon.

Later that day, Amun came down to help me practice my ability and he spent a good hour with me practicing making a ball of water.

"That will do for now, Benjamin," he said calmly, as if nothing had happed 6 years ago. He got up and just before he got to the door, he said over his shoulder, "We will be going to the Cullen's this Christmas." And with that, he left the room, shutting and locking the door behind him, leaving me in total darkness.