True Mate Saga Book One: Demetri

Chapter Ten

"Perhaps a time frame is in order? I will wait until the midnight hour for your leader, or heads will roll and your bodies will burn."

Demetri didn't know how Della could operate on just a few hours of sleep and still be bounding around the aquarium like she was. It was as though he was tasked with watching over a human child who had never seen the ocean, or even a fish, before and the child had been given far too much sugar or other source of stimulant. Her eyes were as wide as saucers as she seemed to take in the different breeds, shapes, and species. Each tank they passed caused a renewed awe in Delphia's ocean blue orbs that Demetri could hardly fathom, having seen just about everything the world had to offer in his years he wondered how it would be to be a human, discovering something new with each passing day.

She truly was light. The brightest light in his dim and dark existence. He would be damned if anyone would take that from him. After having found the note stuck to his door that morning Demetri had been relieved to see, when using his gift (admittedly, he should have been watching her more closely and more frequently, an oversight he was now remedying), that Della had not left New Orleans in his absence, rather, was simply attempting to toy with him. He had been put out, at first. He could count on a single hand how many had dared to toy with him over the last millennia, and the majority of those daring vampires had been efficiently neutralized. Demetri, at first, had every intention on walking into that café and giving his mate a piece of his mind, a thorough verbal lashing, until he'd picked up Marie's scent and witnessed the distress on his mate's features.

A sight, he found, that he strongly detested.

She did not grant him the entire truth when she spoke of the woman who was bothering her. Unbeknownst to Della, Demetri had already put all of the pieces together, the only issue was that he did not know what Marie had said to her, and that was going to prove challenging. Nevertheless, he would be paying a visit to Marie just as soon as Della was safely tucked away in her bed. He had thought that by keeping Delphia's presence unknown to the local coven he would be doing his mate and himself a favor, but it was clear that all he had done was draw more attention to her. It was a situation he would rectify immediately.

For once, this was something within his power to change. He could keep Delphia safe from Marie or any other physical threat. The thought alone caused a miniscule shred of peace to wash over his frayed nerves. He could protect Delphia, at very least.

"Dem, have you ever pet a manta ray?" Della asked, bouncing over to him and grasping his hand, practically dragging him to the large tank that an attendant was standing by, popping her gum unenthusiastically as she reminded the children not to touch the heads or tails of the animals as they swam by.

"I cannot say that I have." Demetri admitted, thought mentally he added though I have wrestled several lions, panthers, and helped with the desolation of a few regimes, in my day. He wished he could tell her that, perhaps then she would be a bit impressed by his exploits, at least.

Della just smiled, flashing her bright white teeth and causing slight crinkles to form at the edge of her eyes. The action lit her entire face like the Vatican on Christmas. Demetri paused, and quickly banished his previous wish as he drank in her expression. It was not so much that she was smiling at him, as it was the way she was smiling at him. She looked at him, blue eyes shining with an emotion that he could not place, as if he wasn't just mediocre, as if even his lapse of experience with this… petting of the aquatic animal phased absolutely nothing within her in regards to her thoughts about him. In fact, she seemed as though she was… pleased to know that he had not had this experience. Suddenly, Demetri felt more than happy to give Delphia this. He smiled back at her, though he could not stop himself from wondering how her gaze would be effected once she knew the truth, would it remain or would it fall?

Would she see him as a monster, like surely most humans would, or something else entirely?

How would he justify to her, a human who seemed to hold humanity is such high regards, with the way she treated others of her kind, that he regularly murdered her kind? How would he rationalize turning her into something that slaughtered what she so often protected herself? Demetri began developing a list of his favorite activities and abilities that had come with immortality, as a way of explaining that trade off. Humanity or Immortality both had their advantages and disadvantages, some more than others. To Demetri, immortality and all that came with it far outweighed all of what humanity had offered him.

Again, Demetri was allowing himself to drift into the future and not remain in the present. Coming back to himself, he focused in on what Delphia was articulating.

"- and make sure to wash your hands, then we can pet them. They won't sting."

She was running her hands under a small stream of water in a sink that was stationed right before the petting tank. He followed suit and then followed her over to the reservoir. Della reached her hand into the water and brushed her fingers over the top of a turtle beneath the water. "Go ahead, Dem." She encouraged gently.

How would the animals react to my skin? he wondered as he dipped his right hand beneath the surface of the water, watching as the ripples from his breech moved across the water. His heightened vision allowed him a better depth perception than any human, and he was easily able to tell just when his hand would reach the top of the turtle, and knew that in 6.2 seconds, based on the way the manta ray was swimming, the stinger would brush against Delphia's hand before she could brush the animal itself, if she did not move in those few seconds.

"Della, are you sure they will not sting?" He asked, concerned. He had quickly glanced over the fact sheets that were on the wall near them before Della had decided they would pet the animals. Were a manta ray to sting her Della may suffer for it. If he could prevent such incidents he would do so gladly, as the sting from the animal could not affect him.

Delphia just nodded, fearlessly stretching so that she could pet the creature as it swam by, "They snip the end of the tails like once a month. I saw it on the discovery channel a bazillion years ago, in 2012." She winked and then stretched in an attempt to touch the clown fish that was doing everything in its minimal power to evade her by swimming farther away.

"Yes, three years is obviously an eternity." Demetri would have rolled his eyes, where he a lesser man.

Noting that every manta ray in the tank methodically sawn counter clock wise, as if they were racing along an invisible track, Demetri's hand brushed the animal as it swam by. Somewhat surprised, Demetri pulled his hand upwards a fraction, he had not intended for the animal to have felt to smooth. He hadn't known what he had preconceived the manta ray to feel like, but surely not as smooth as it had been.

Demetri was distracted from his musings when Della snatched her hand out of the tank with a yelp and a hiss of pain. Meeting Demetri's concerned glance Della explained, "The turtle bit me," Demetri was baffled as she laughed and shook the water from her hand, "ugh, jackass! I'm washing my hands."

Demetri chuckled and withdrew his hand from the water, wandering over to the sink where Delphia was scrubbing her hands vigorously. Clearly she was not bleeding, he would smell it if she were, so her mumbling had more to do with whatever minuscule amount of pain she was feeling. "At least the other animals did not sting," Demetri reasoned while attempting to school his mirth.

Snorting, Della grabbed a handful of paper towels, drying her now clean hands while Demetri washed his. Just as Demetri was turning to gather his own towels Della tossed hers at his face, grinned when he caught them, and started to walk quickly away. Growling playfully, Demetri followed her at a human pace as she gradually walked faster, wet hands forgotten.

He caught up to her easily, wrapping his arms around her middle and dragging her to him so her back was pulled tightly against his chest. She was trembling with laughter and he earned a deep waft of her floral scented shampoo along with the underlying and tantalizing scent that was uniquely Della as she did so. Demetri almost couldn't stop himself as he buried his nose in the top of her hair instinctively, he would never tire of Della's scent. As soon as he took a deep breath of Della's scent he was overwhelmed by the pulsing vein that his mouth was only a few inches from. All he would have to do is move his head a fraction upward and his mouth would be perfectly aligned to bite.

"Hey Dem, not that this position is undesirable or anything but I think we should go upstairs and see the birds."

Demetri was shaken from his revere, they were in public surrounded by humans and yet Demetri couldn't stop himself from getting far too close to Delphia's alluring blood. He allowed himself to be dragged up towards what he assumed to be an aviary as he regained control of himself.

As they moved closer to the room Demetri was not all to surprise to hear the fluttering of wings and the sounds of birds coming from the room ahead of them. Della pulled him into the room, he wasn't sure why he was allowing this small woman drag him everywhere, despite the fact that she was his mate. In reality all he would have to do would be decide he no longer wished for it to be so and she would quite possibly fall to the ground as he stopped moving and she continued to.

Once they were in the room Demetri's sense of smell was overridden with the scent of bird droppings and the animals themselves, fluttering about outside of cages. Delphia grinned up at him, her smile causing him to recall why he was enduring this trip and these animals. Instead of protesting, he simply stopped breathing as to avoid the smell.

"Demetri, look, he's crawling into my purse!" Della laughed as one green and red colored bird hopped around, seemingly looking for entrance into Delphia's small bag.

Seeing Della's delight, Demetri allowed a small smile to grace his lips as well.

Until he heard, rather than felt, something slap onto the shoulder of his Armani jacket.

Della sucked in a breath and then burst out laughing.

Demetri growled as he looked over his right shoulder.

"I can't," she paused to catch her breath in between bouts of laughter, "I can't believe a bird just shit on you!" Demetri could smell her tears as Della doubled over, still laughing at him. He could feel his anger rising, and he knew that his eyes were black underneath his contacts. The venom would surely burn through his contacts soon, especially with his anger rising. He could feel the venom now, pooling in his mouth. Though, the sound of Delphia's raucous laughter after having heard her cries of despair not twelve hours prior sobered Demetri, and he found himself stowing his anger for a later purpose and swallowing his venom.

"Come on, let's get you out of that jacket and get some lunch."

Lunch indeed. He thought and Demetri followed Delphia as she walked away, still giggling at his misfortune, but hastily wound his right hand around her left as they journeyed to the front of the aquarium and out into the parking lot, removing his soiled jacket and tossing it into the backseat. Demetri was pleased to note that the rain had not yet ceased and the clouds were still covering the sun. He had been lucky so far, though it wouldn't last. Eventually he would be forced to stay indoors and leave Della unprotected during the daytime hours. It was an eventuality that he did not look forward too. Not for the first time he questioned Della could not have chosen a less… sunny place to explore?

He insisted he drive once again, arguing that she was still tired and therefore a danger to other drivers. Della huffed but allowed it without much of a fight, causing Demetri to wonder if she was always so compliant or was it her lack of rest from the night before and the stress of the situations surrounding her, or perhaps she found the truth in his argument? He couldn't imagine that she would always be so easily convinced of his views. In fact, it seemed as though she had been rather accommodating through all of the insanity that accompanied his sudden appearance into her life.

Now he waited for the ball to drop, as the humans would say. Surely her mental state was in as much if not more turmoil than his was. He was not sure about the capacity of human emotions, but he was willing to wager that Delphia was just one or two more incidents from completely losing it. Too much had happened in too little time, leaving no room for an adjustment period. Demetri reasoned that he would be there when it happened, but the question was would she want him to be?

Demetri drove into the parking lot of the establishment he had retrieved breakfast for Delphia the day before. This time, he did not have to stop her from getting out of the car, she remained seated until he opened the door for her and held his hand out to her. Demetri was surprised that she had not fought him on this, and did not mentioned anything about his opening of doors. He was under the impression that the vast majority of human women in the twenty first century found this behavior demeaning and unacceptable, according to Felix – who tended to conquest human woman with frequency.

Living among vampire females, this was a practice Demetri had not fallen out of, for the Queens or even the women of the Guard would have his head and body inflamed if he were to forget to open their door or help them out of the car. Despite that they could very well do so themselves. It wasn't a statement that women were weak, far from that. It was a show of utmost respect.

Besides, female vampires were sometimes fiercer than their male counterparts. Jane and Alec, for example. Alec was silent, he did as the Kings bid and was happy to do so when called upon for a task, whereas Jane took great pride in bringing pain onto others, and actively sought out the chance to punish regardless of having to be ordered to do so. Not that every vampire woman was as… sadistic as Jane Volturi. They just seemed to feel more human intensity of emotion than the males did. He assumed that human females were much the same.

No, Demetri did not take a chance on disrespecting women, especially not his own mate.

They walked into the restaurant side by side and Demetri noticed that not many humans were patrons of this particular establishment at this time of day. He noted that he was grateful for that, as this kept the background noise to a minimum. They were directed to a booth towards the back of the restaurant. Through the dim lights Demetri could see Della looking around the restaurant, she smiled but it did not reach her eyes until they fell onto his face. The realization of the implication of this caused a feeling of pride to well in his chest.

He quickly excused himself to use the restroom and replace his contacts before making his way back to Della.

"This is a nice place." She said, smiling casually while she dropped her phone and bag in the vacant space next to her.

It was not what she said that told him she thought otherwise, but how she had said it. Her tone lacked the depth it usually held. Demetri, noting that she clearly was not impressed with the five-star restaurant, tilted his head inquisitively, "You do not have to lie to me, bella cara."

"Okay, the truth is that this place looks pretentious as hell and I'm wearing jean shorts and an old navy t-shirt with some scuffed up vans I got on clearance two years ago. This looks like the type of place for a prada wearing woman to have brunch with her book club. I am A; severely underdressed B; completely out of my element and C; too broke for this place. It is a nice restaurant, though, don't get me wrong here. I wasn't lying just omitting the full truth, which is something you've done the past three days." Her eyes fell to the ornately folded napkin as she pushed some of her hair behind her left ear.

Demetri just stared at her, in his mind he was going several different directions. Did she not want the very best of meals? This was the best place he could find in the city of New Orleans with the highest of reviews and only the best foods. Surely it did not matter what she wore, and obviously he would be paying for her meal. He couldn't fathom her view on this matter, it seemed silly to worry about something as trivial as clothing and currency. She deserved the world, the least he could do would be to give her this meal, for now. As for her comment about him omitting the truth, she was completely correct, and he felt a wave of guild sweep over him.

But Demetri could not let this behavior stand, Della was worth far more than she realized. She was to be a Volturi, if he had his way. She would be able to take the world, if that was what she wished and he wanted to set her straight right away, "Delphia, your very presence brings a light into this dark world, a light that had not existed until you. You're very being is radiance; it does not matter what clothes are on your back. This Old Navy brand or the very best of Italian fashion, you are the most beautiful, intelligent, and compassionate woman I have ever encountered in this world. You belong in the best of establishments, Delphia, you deserve the world given to you, not on a silver platter but on a most ornate and antique platinum. Please do not doubt this to be true."

Delphia's face grew more and more red her blood rushed to her face, signifying her embarrassment at his eloquent words. He was more prepared today than he had been the day before, and so he felt that today would be a better day to try his hand at wooing his mate. He held his breath, showing the appearance of breathing every few seconds. Della looked as though she couldn't bring herself to speak, her hear beat like a drum in her chest finally began to slow. Demetri smiled, allowing the sound of her slowing beat to soothe his beast.

"I'm really nothing special." She whispered, looking back down at her place setting as the color receded from her face.

Demetri hadn't taken his eyes off of her face at all, even as she bowed her head, and his eyebrows raised of their own accord as she looked up to meet his eyes once more. "After all I declared you would deny my words?"

"I'm not denying anything, I'm merely refuting your opinion," Della smirked, but still looked rather flustered.

Demetri would have argued, but a young woman walked up to the table to take a drink order from the two. Della ordered herself a water and Demetri asked for the same, although he would not drink from the glass.

"Eventually you will see yourself the way I see you, bella cara." Demetri promised, staring directly into Delphia's eyes.

Della shrugged, "I think you are seeing me as something that I am not. I'm just a twenty-one-year-old girl, Dem, not much else. If you build me up in your head, like I think you might be doing, I'm almost guaranteed to fail you."

"You could never fail me, Delphia," Demetri insisted, leaning back in his seat. It was strange, listening to his mate refute nearly every statement that came from him. He'd complimented many women in his time, and never had one been so deserving of it until Della, and never had one been so refusing of it until Della as well. His mate, clearly, was one of a kind.

That fact, however, did not make her any less insufferable for not accepting his praises.

The waitress arrived with the beverages and asked if they were ready to order, eyes dilated and looking at Della with lust dripping off her in waves. Demetri fought the urge to growl at the woman. He was clearly sitting there, and obviously with Delphia, yet the waitress didn't seem to acknowledge his existence. What baffled Demetri more was the fact that the waitress seemed completely immune to his vampire charm and appearance. Delphia had not even seemed to notice the waitress' attempts at flirtation as Della asked for what looked to be the cheapest meal on the menu and Demetri fought the urge to roll the woman's head to the floor, departed from its body. Nevertheless, it did not escape his notice that Della had ordered 'cost effectively.' She had to know he would be purchasing this meal? When the waitress finally turned to acknowledge him and asked him for his order, Demetri stated he wasn't hungry in a low and menacing tone.

The waitress' eyes had widened in fear as she walked away. At least some part of her pathetic human brain is working, Demetri seethed to himself. When he finally looked back to Della after contemplating all of the ways he could make the woman suffer for daring to flirt and lust after his mate, her features were clouded with worry.

"Are you sick?" She asked quietly, as if she couldn't fathom the idea.

Demetri laughed out right, "Bella cara, I have not been sick in an eternity."

Della did not look amused by his reaction, "I'm serious, I've never seen you eat. Are you okay?"

His expression softening, placing himself in the shoes of a young human woman for a moment to understand how she felt, Demetri nodded, "I am fine, I simply do not require much sustenance."

Delphia huffed and seemed to complicate something deeply. She was silent and sat staring him in the face for several minutes, unmoving as silent. A few times her mouth opened as if she were ready to say something, but no words came. He could practically see the gears turning in her head, he wondered if she was starting to mold the pieces together to form the whole picture. With everything he had so easily given away or told her outright it wouldn't surprise Demetri if she were to come to some sort of conclusion, and soon.

"I want the truth," Della finally stated, her eyes were hardened, giving off the look of bitter resolve.

Demetri shook his head, "Not yet."

"When?" She demanded in a hushed tone but still held her resolve.

Demetri lowered his voice and whispered almost cryptically, "When you're truly ready."

"I am 'truly ready' as ominous as that sounds. Your half truths are starting to be really fucking annoying." Della shot back, leaning towards him as if she were trying to be sure he could hear her while she whispered angrily.

Demetri fought back a glare at her tone, not at all amused, "No. You are not ready."

~.~.~.~

After dropping a rather angry Delphia and her vehicle off at the motel and making sure any vampire scent other than his own was nonexistent, Demetri stalked off into the night towards where he knew Marie's coven to dwell. Still a bit fumed over how well his day had gone until Delphia argued with him over his omitted truths, Demetri decided that he knew the perfect outlet for his frustrations. He flitted through the bayou quickly, weaving through trees, reveling in the clean and crisp night air, letting his feet hit the swamp land for only fractions of seconds so as not to destroy the Italian leather of his shoes.

They were expensive, it would be a hassle to have to replace them so soon.

The Laveau coven lived several miles from New Orleans in an ancient plantation home that had once housed a particularly cruel slave driver. Other than that simple fact, Demetri did not know much of the history behind where this particular coven had chosen to settle. Though, knowing what he did about Marie's gift he guessed that the house rested on consecrated ancestral grounds, slaves having been murdered in droves on the property causing for a residual effect of angry entities and ancient power, and thus Marie's gift more than likely held a heavy influence over the property. However, this was simply an educated guess. Demetri had been the one to research and investigate this particular manifestation of witch power over a century ago, and he knew more than most what these beings were capable of, though he still knew nothing in comparison to what the beings themselves knew.

Demetri flitted onto the property without so much as a warning. A tactic that he figured would give him an element of surprise and therefore Marie would have no time to prepare her coven for his arrival. If he were to discover that her intent with his Della was anything he did not approve of, well, things could get unpleasant rather quickly, Demetri would prefer they not have time to prepare Marie's gift. Usually, as a courtesy to the residing coven unless they were trying to catch them in the action of something illegal, the Volturi would send communication ahead of their arrival. Though today, he was not on Volturi business and his behavior would be perceived as rude he didn't much care.

This was personal. Demetri could not bring himself to care how this coven would perceive him tonight. These vampires in particular did not harbor much respect for the Volturi, though they were begrudgingly law abiding, therefore his behavior should not have any ill consequences. If he felt that Marie and her coven harbored any ill intent, they would be dead and burned long before the day broke over the horizon.

It was technically illegal to slaughter a coven, but Demetri reasoned that Aro would not mind after seeing his reasons. If there were no witnesses the King would let it slide without sharing the truth of the situation with Caius or Marcus. Aro had done so plenty of times before for Alec, Jane, even Felix, and for lesser causes.

On the porch of the plantation house, Demetri took a seat on one of the white rocking chairs that sat off to the side. He waited a mere two seconds before there were three vampires standing around where he sat. The first was an older looking vampire, clearly turned in his forties like Marie had been, his casual but dark modern dress and shaved head gave him a sort of dangerous look. Demetri smirked, not one of these vampires had anything on his experience and training, but he could not allow himself to be fooled by appearances. Alec and Jane were small and childlike in appearance, but together they could devastate any coven large or small. The other two vampires looked completely identical, Demetri gathered that they were twins or at least siblings, and they were young looking, no more than twenty when turned, possibly of Haitian decent, based on his current geographical location, but that was simply an educated guess.

"What do you want, Volturi?" The bald vampire spat in a spiteful tone. He did not seem to be too pleased with Demetri's sudden manifestation on his property.

Demetri gave him a blank look before smirking, intimidation by vexation was possibly Demetri's favorite method. "I am seeking an audience with your coven leader, at her earliest convenience of course."

One of the younger looking vampires spoke up in angry tones, "And by earliest convenience you mean right now." He growled, but still stood far enough away from Demetri to have leverage and possible space to flee to the yard for more space if an attack were imminent. Demetri almost nodded in approval of the vampire's precautions, "Don't pretend you're giving her a choice of time."

"You speak truth, young one. Perhaps a time frame is in order? I will wait until the midnight hour for your leader, or heads will roll and your bodies will burn." Demetri kept his tone level and light as though he hadn't just threatened to destroy their coven with an almost gleeful smile plastered across his features.

The younger vampire who had not yet spoken hissed and crouched into a defensive position. Clearly, this one was not as bright as his brother when it came to aggressive versus defensive stances. Demetri's hand snapped out and caught the vampire, pushing him backwards and shoving his shoulders into the ground, splintering the wood of the porch. The vampire attempted to shake Demetri off, but Demetri hadn't budged, now keenly aware that his opponent's brother had now moved in closer.

In a move faster than light, Demetri had thrown the approaching brother into the tree line and held his left leg in his grasp.

"I suggest you all take up residence inside, if you would like your coven member to earn back his leg. Or we could continue, and I can burn the limb. It is your decision." Demetri stated calmly, almost gleefully, as he resumed his seat on the porch while the vampire that had lost his leg was retrieved by his brother.

The older vampire flitted to his younger coven members and wrapped his arms around the currently immobilized one, dragging him backwards into the house, growling about how foolish it had been to attack a Volturi. Demetri couldn't help but release a half smile, glad to see that the Volturi's reputation was still quite intact despite the situation with the Cullen's less than a decade ago. Aro would be pleased when he saw this moment, even if he was not thrilled with anything else that happened this night.

Demetri didn't have to wait long for Marie to come, the bald vampire had called her the moment he had secured the younger vampires and they were calm enough not to run outside and foolishly attack the Volturi's pet dog once more, their words of course.

"Threatening my coven, Volturi? Surely there are better ways to garner attention?" Marie spoke as she flitted onto the porch.

"Surely." He agreed, crossing his legs, dangling her coven member's limb over his in a tantalizing manner as he proceeded to make a show of 'making himself comfortable.' The leg was dripping venom onto the porch, causing the splinters and cracks to sizzle as the venom's acidic effects began to dissolve the wood. "Please, have a seat." He invited.

Marie rolled her eyes, "Offering me a seat on my own porch? How kind of you, I don't suppose you'll pay for the damages to my home?" she stated sarcastically, but took a seat regardless. Demetri could smell his mate on Marie's clothing, signifying that she had yet to change since her meeting with Delphia that morning. The realization set his senses ablaze again and reawakened his internal beast to the fact that this woman held a danger to his mate.

Not that he had forgotten in the first place. "Speak to your young coven member's about reconstructing the porch, Laveau, it is a problem that matters not to me."

Marie, tiring of the banter, decided it was time to get to the point, "What's this about, Volturi?"

Demetri raised an eyebrow, "You know what this is about, Madame, do not insult me."

Marie chuckled, though the mirth did not meet her eyes, "Your mate is safe from me, Demetri, I do not intend her any harm. Before I knew of her ties to you I had thought of recruiting her myself."

Demetri hadn't the foggiest idea how she could have possibly known about Delphia being his mate, and for how long she had the information. He gathered it had not been more than a day, as she had met Della only the day before and could not have known at that time. He narrowed his eyes at the vampire next to him in questioning. Marie had thought to recruit Della herself? He wondered at the reasoning and intent behind it. Marie was not known for turning many, in fact Demetri hadn't known how many vampires she held in her coven before tonight and so he wondered what they all had in common for her having turned them or allowed them to join. She was a rather private vampire, based on her character and every detail he knew of her from before she left the Volturi. Marie, noticing his movement and questioning glance, decided it would be best to explain before he lost his control and ripped through her coven.

She had seen him do it before.

"Before I knew she was your mate, I had one of my coven look into her. I used my gift to call to my ancestors, which was rather taxing this morning, mind you, I am recovered now not that you care. I thought she would be dead by this afternoon, assuming you had been sent to stalk and kill her, but I called to the ancestors regardless because I sensed her… potential. My ancestors saw fit to grant me with a brief vision of the girl, in which I discovered her ties to you. I had only hoped to recruit her myself and save her from future torment at the hands of the Volturi, no offense. Now that I see she is your mate I will keep my distance. She is special, your Della, surely you can tell? Aro will be pleased." Marie rocked in her chair during her testimony, smirking slyly at Demetri while he sat stoic, cataloging everything she said.

Running over the words Marie had stated he couldn't find a dual purpose. Having been among the Volturi so long doing so had become a second nature to Demetri, especially living with Aro who had a dual and something triple purpose behind every statement. He contemplated her words closely, the last sentences resonating with him the most. "How much did you see," he growled out, not at all content with the idea of Marie having seen the future of his mate, "She is... gifted?" He hadn't witnessed anything that would point to Delphia having a gift, though many times vampires couldn't sense talent in humans, gifts tended to manifest once the individual was turned. If his Delphia was gifted, it would cement her position among the Volturi and therefore give them more time together, if Aro thought her powerful enough for field missions.

At the same time, it may be cause for Della to be turned into a tool of the Volturi, depending on how powerful of a gift she had. From his ascertained knowledge of Delphia as a human, he couldn't discern how she would feel about such a position. It was possible that she would not wish for such a fate, in which case he did not know what path to take.

Marie nodded, though her eyes betrayed her as she became clearly proud of the knowledge she held that Demetri did not, "Not much, only that she will be a vampire. Based on what I did see, I say she will give the world renowned witch twins a run for their title, given time. Now, please, I would rather not have an acidic hole the size of Texas to fix. Give me Beau's leg and be on your way."

Demetri handed the leg to Marie and stood, "You may have the leg as a measure of good faith, if I catch the scent of any of your coven within a mile radius of Delphia the consequence will be dire."

Author's (Ridiculously Long) Message

Yeah, her power (as you guys voted in the early stages of this story) is a little OP, but I'll make it as realistic as possible when she gets there. But it will be pretty insane and intense. For those of you who read after I had already held the vote, and therefore have no idea what power she will have: heh. ;p

Okay, so I've gotten a few people commenting on the fact that they don't think Della would *want* to be a part of the Volturi. Well- you're right, she won't. But there will be certain things that will happen and I can't say (which kills me) and I can't answer questions. But I love how you all are picking that up from her character! Also, Guest Reviewers, if you don't have an account that's fine just know that I thoroughly enjoy your input and wish I could respond to you!

The Demetri getting shit on in the aquarium are from Nahannah, because it was hilarious and we should all thank her! She even showed me pictures that helped me out quite a bit. And another shout out to Nickaroos, who is diligent in making sure I know of certain issues with the story so they can get resolved right away to prevent confusion and discusses plot stuff with me so I can continue to get the best story out there for you all!

Thanks so much for your feedback last chapter on who your favorite minor characters are. I'm happy to see how many of you like the Volturi characters, as most of this series will showcase them. To answer my own question, in case you all were interested, my favorite minor characters are actually the Romanians and Caius. ;D Did you all like the question thing? Because I enjoy getting to know you all and I would totally ask a question at the end of each chapter if you guys liked answering. Let me know, you don't even have to review if you don't want, you can PM me if that's easier for you. Since posting TMS I've made three new friends out of reviewers, and I'd like to keep up the trend.

Edit- 5/20

Down to once a week updates now – sorry! D:

Feed the Beast