A/N: I want to thank PiratePrincess29 and . for adding my story to favorites and alerts. THANK YOU!!!

DISCLAIMER: Unfortunately for me, I don't own Twilight or any of Stephenie Meyer's characters, as much as I'd like to.


CHAPTER 2 ~ DEMETRI'S P.O.V

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Gliding down the gloomy corridor, I heard a light voice call my name. I turned, only to find little Jane swooping toward me at an unnatural pace - even for a vampire.

"Demetri?"

"What?"

She gave me a stern look. "No need to be so rude."

I beg to differ, I thought. "Fine. What would you like, Jane?"

Her little mouth rose at the sides, forming a smirk so miniscule I couldn't be sure it had been there in the first place. "That's better," she said condecendingly. "Master Aro needs to speak with you. He said it was urgent and since Heidi is late back from her fishing trip, I don't suppose he is in the best of moods."

I nodded and thanked her, before turning on the spot and walking back the same way I had come before. I rolled my eyes, wishing I could be anywhere else in the world right now, doing what I was here for - hunting the enemy. The neverending tedium of these dull Volterra walls was beginning to grate on my nerves and I prayed that Aro would send me away on business.

I knocked on the enormous, heavy wooden double doors, and then waited for a few seconds, my arms folded behind my back.

Marcus' husky drone floated out into the grand hall. "Enter."

I strolled through the doors, quickly taking mental notes of everyone in the room. All of the usual suspects were there: Aro, Marcus and Caius all seated on their brazen thrones, Alec stood to the right of Caius, and Felix to the right of Alec. All were there, except for Jane. A woman I did not recognise stood beside Marcus, thin, pale hands clasped together in front of her stomach in a rather decorous manner.

"I was informed that you needed to speak with me, Master," I announced.

Aro's burgandy eyes swept over my lean form. He smiled a friendly, yet slightly sinister smile. For the first time in my existence, I felt... worried, which worried me even more. It was not my job to be sympathetic. It was my job to remain formal, impassive and, most of all, destructive. Once I was on a mission, nothing would stop me until I got what I wanted.

"Indeed," Aro sighed. He looked toward the new girl, then back at me. "Demetri, I would like you to meet Beth. She is our new tracker and she is very good. Perhaps even more so than you. Her powers are most interesting."

Beth smirked at Aro's praise. My eyes widened.

"I don't mean to be rude, Master, but what exactly to you mean by 'new tracker'?" I questioned.

Aro glanced toward Beth again and turned his almost black eyes to sweep over my cloaked body. "I am afraid that she is replacing you. Now that we have the most effective tracker on the Earth, we no longer have a use for you. As you understand, we can afford only to have the best and most compelling in our family." He floated to his throne and placed himself into the chair. "You are free to leave the premises now."

My brow furrowed in confusion. "May I at least eat before I leave, Master?" I asked.

Caius' dark, crimson eyes turned thunderous. "You may not," he hissed. Felix tensed. "Only members of the guard may dine when Heidi returns. As you are no longer a member of this guard, you are not permitted to dine with us! Now leave!"

I ran. I ran at an impossible speed into the town, prohibiting myself from breathing as I sprinted near the townspeople. I was the thirstiest I had ever been in my six hundred years, but I refused to feast on the people of Volterra.

For that I would be slaughtered.