Was really expecting a shitheap of flames for the 10th chapter xD And am also expecting flames for this one, because the majority of this chapter isn't in Phoenix's POV, but it isn't in Alec's either!
I might have nowhere left to go, but I know that I cannot go home,
These voices trapped inside my head, tell me to run before I'm dead...
Wasn't it you, wasn't it you,
Wasn't it you that made me run away?
Alice POV! Jesus Mary and the other chap!
The airport terminals are flooded with people. Mostly agitated, irritable people. For some reason, airports tend to put humans on edge. Maybe the fact that it's three in the morning isn't helping.
It certainly isn't helping with us. We're all here, even Jacob. He and Rosalie are currently bickering over one thing or another. Something about Jacob stinking up the plane. Renesmee is lying across two plastic chairs, snoring obliviously.
"Alice, how long till the cab gets here?" Emmett asks boredly.
"Be patient, Emmett," Esme chides half-heartedly. I know she's scared. We all are. But Aro's invitation to stay a few day so they could see that Nessie had grown was kind of an accept-or-die scenario. We wouldn't have an army behind us this time. However, I hadn't seen any bad intentions in Aro's agenda. So we chose the lesser of two evils: go to them instead of having them come to us. Because if they came to us, the Guard wold hunt in our area, no matter what we asked of them. And we couldn't have that.
They'd be satisfied, anyway. Nessie looked about eight or nine. They couldn't deny that she'd grown. She was inconspicuous in her elementary school where Esme taught. She'd done everything right. How could they fault her?
"Just look, Alice, please. I hate airports," Emmett complains. "They make me hungry."
Jasper rolls his eyes at Emmett and comes to sit beside me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.
Bella and Edward come back from baggage claim, looking like they'd rather be anywhere else. Bella throws Jacob and Rose a weary look, but doesn't intervene.
"Okay," I sigh, and I search for our cab.
Emmett does a small seated victory dance when I announce fifteen minutes.
I look for the castle, wondering what's happening there.
A girl, one I don't know. I've never seen her before. She's human. This much is obvious. She has raven black hair hastily pulled back into a messy ponytail. Her sharp hazel eyes are anxious. Her soft, sallow skin is covered in varied bruises. She's wearing dark blue jeans and a black hoodie. Over her shoulder is a bag stuffed with items. She's clinging to it like a lifeline.
She's running. Without looking, she dashes across a road, throwing a fearful glance behind her. There's an ominous squeal of brakes.
The bumper of the cab only just taps her, but it's enough to send her small body slamming into the road. The driver jumps out as she sits up, dazed. He's shouting in Italian, words she clearly doesn't understand. He tries to speak what English he knows.
"You right?" He gasps, again and again, clasping her wrist in his hand, his other hand on her shoulder.
Her whole body is tense; she hates his hands on her.
"I-I'm fine," she stammers, a bit stunned. She forces herself to her feet, glancing anxiously in the direction she'd come from. "I need to leave."
He holds her arms still, afraid that she'll fall if he lets her go. "Where to?" He asks, his voice still anxious. "Hospital?"
"No!" She gasps. "Airport."
His heavy brow furrows, but he nods, helping the girl into the back of the cab.
They drive in silence. She stares out the window into the blackness, touching her hip where the bumper struck her. It aches, but she isn't bothered much. Her thoughts are elsewhere.
They reach the airport quickly, but when the car stops, he places his hand over the meter.
"Free charge," he declares.
"Thank you," she gabbles, throwing the door open and racing away. Her eyes turn back and she gazes into the distance – at the looming castle on the hill.
"Alice?"
The airport unhazes around me. My family have stopped everything and are staring at me, with anxiety clear in their eyes. All except for Edward, who looks as puzzled as I feel.
"She was coming from the castle," Edward says, sounding baffled.
"I know," I grimace. "I think she was escaping."
"Who?" Jasper demands, now kneeling in front of me.
"A girl," I say, my nose wrinkled in confusion.
"Here, Alice," Carlisle passes me a blank piece of paper – the back of a dessert menu from one of the terminal cafès – and a small pencil. "Tell us about it."
"The girl," I say, as I begin to rapidly sketch the outline of her features. "Small. Young. She looked scared."
"She was running away from something," Edward tacks on. "I think it was the castle."
"The Volturi?" Esme whispers. Edward nods.
"She was human."
"I don't understand," Carlisle frowns, rubbing his forehead. "The Volturi would never be careless enough to allow a human to slip through their fingers."
"Well she did," I say, my hand flying quickly across the page, adding the finishing touches to her eyes.
"I've never seen her before," Carlisle says when I flash it at him. Everyone else says the same.
Another flash.
She's in the airport, ducking swiftly through the crowds of people. She doesn't know her way around.
I see something familliar in the background. The board telling when flights are coming in and going out. She doesn't understand the Italian words. I search for any indication of when it is. There's a watch strapped to the wrist of a passer-by. It's three thirteen.
It's three ten now.
I jump up at the same time Edward darts away. The board is close by; we just came from it. Jasper, Carlisle and Bella follow.
"Do you see her?" I ask Edward, my voice rising over the buzz of the crowds. I have to hop up over people's heads to see.
"No," Edward replies, frustrated.
"There," Jasper says suddenly, gliding through the crowd. He gets to her first.
She's standing there with her eyes shut, breathing evenly. She looks completely lost.
"What's her name?" Bella asks.
Edward listens.
"Nyx," he replies.
She looks up at the sound of her own name. Her eyes narrow and her teeth clench. She looks away, deciding she must have been hearing things. Her teeth bite down hard on her bottom lip; there's a scar there.
"Phoenix," Edward says, his voice gentle. Her whole body turns to face us.
"Who the fuck are you?" She spits angrily, jumping back. She glares at Edward's extended hand. He retracts it slowly, focusing on her thoughts.
"It's okay," I soothe. She bristles, her fists clenching.
"Jasper," Carlisle says, too quietly for her to hear. Jasper nods.
Her body slumps a little as Jasper slowly oozes relaxation through her body. Rosalie comes up behind me. Esme slips her arm through Carlisle's. Emmett and Jacob, holding Nessie, slip to flank them. They're all staring at Phoenix.
She looks closer at us, and I see the spark of intuition in her blazing eyes as she realises what we are.
"Who are you?" She asks again, her eyes surveying all of us with curious eyes.
"My name is Carlisle," Carlisle says, his voice gentle and soft. Her head cocks to te side, revealling more bruises on her jaw. "This is my family."
I can see the thoughts ticking in her head. "Are you the Cullens?" She asks slowly.
We share shocked glances. How does this little human know about us?
"How do you know that?" Emmett demands.
She looks directly into his eyes. "They're waiting for you," she says.
Emmett's hand reaches out and he grabs Jasper's shoulder. Jasper wheels around just in time to grab Emmett before he stumbles backwards, eyes blank.
She blinks, looking...not amused, but aware. She knows what's wrong with him.
"Did it again," she mutters to herself. Edward stares at her with round eyes.
Suddenly she straightens up, her eyes gazing past us, big and fearful.
"Shit!" She hisses, and she runs, diving under people's arms to get away. Edward's head whips around, and we see what they see.
Demetri is making his way through the drowsy crowds, his contacted eyes sharp and locked on target.
He doesn't pay us any mind. He veers to the left, in the diretcion Phoenix is running. Before she can throw herself into the women's restroom, his arm snakes round her waist and he lifts her up effortlessly, blocking her escape.
"Demetri!" She yells, struggling. "Fuck you let me go!" Her eyes rove wildly around the room, searching for something. I don't need Jasper's gift to sense her desperate panic.
He drops her to her feet in front of him. She doesn't run – she knows it's pointless.
"Did you really think he wouldn't send me after you?" He sighs, looking stressed.
"A girl can hope," she spits bitterly.
"Demetri!" Carlisle calls, deciding enough is enough. Demetri looks up in surprise. He hadn't been expecting to see us.
He grabs Phoenix by her small shoulders and, ignoring her struggles, makes his way over to us.
Phoenix POV
The Cullen coven are staring at Demetri and I, wearing total tragedy masks. Their eyes are golden, like Eleazar's were. At least I can rest in assurance that they're not gonna try and eat me.
"Welcome," Demetri says curtly. Am I imagining the undercurrent of annoyance in his voice? "We didn't know you were arriving so...early."
Yup, defenitely annoyed. If I was in a better mood, I'd probably try and make this worse for him. However, crushed and traumatised as I am, I'm fighting the urge to curl up on the ground and scream.
"Our flight went without delay," Carlisle replies politely.
"We didn't know they were sending a welcoming party," another Cullen says, almost sharply. Demetri's eyes flash. The boy is only a teenager still. But he's tall, and in dire need of a haircut. There's a brunette girl hanging onto his arm, looking anxious.
Y'know something? If I wasn't so wound up, I'd be fucking bored. Can't they just kill Demetri already, so I can, y'know, leave?
Demetri's voice sharpens. "I was here for her," he says. "Not you."
But with a relenting sigh, he gestures towards the exit. "Come along. You can follow my car."
" How fucking nice of you," I mutter.
"Quiet, human. Do you know how frantic we've been?" Demetri demands as we start to walk away, the Cullens following uneasily.
I scoff. "Yeah, I'll bet you were all just perishing with worry in the entire half hour I wasn't chained to you." My temper rises. "You know what, Demetri? You fucking suck. You suck out loud. Why the fuck couldn't you have just let me go?"
"You're needed back home," Demetri replies, but the edge in his voice is softer.
I don't reply. I'm trying very very hard not to think what I might be needed for.
When we get outside, Demetri hails two cabs for the Cullens, then leads me to a sleek black Mustang. He straps me into the front seat. He slides into the driver's side and revvs the engine. Leaning out the tinted window, he waves the two cabs after him.
In a flash of a microsecond, he has his cell phone in his long white hand and his thumb is flashing over the buttons, dialling a number. He presses the device against his ear.
"Yes, I have her," he says as a voice on the other end buzzes. "No, she's fine, she didn't get very far-"
I scoff. I think getting all the way to the airport in a city that I don't know is pretty damn clever of me, but whatever. Let Demetri think what he does.
"The Cullens found her at the airport," Demetri says, sounding annoyed again. The buzz increases in volume. I can make out some of the words now. They're mostly my favourite swearwords.
"I know," Demetri says through tightly gritted teeth. "I'll be back in about ten minutes. They're following behind me. Oh, and before I forget, they have one of those with them."
There's a yell, a hiss, and more questions. After a few more uninteresting responses, Demetri cuts off the call.
He drives at a leisurely pace with one hand on the wheel, the other resting on the open window. The breeze ruffles my hair, so with a gentle tug, I pull it down from it's abstract ponytail. It falls around my shoulders, shrouding my face and protecting me from Demetri's harsh gaze.
"I'm sorry that I have to bring you back," Demetri says suddenly, snapping us both out of the heavy silence.
Whoa. Demetri did not just say the words 'I'm sorry' to me. No fucking way. I am officially halucinating, ladies and gentlemen. That is the only explanation.
"Because you hate me, right?" I smile despite myself. This is just too bizzarre. "You want me gone as much as I do."
"No," Demetri says. "Well, yes. I do hate you," he amends. I roll my eyes. "But I digress...were I you, I wouldn't like to be in your position. I would probably run away too."
"This is a fucking lovely heart-to-heart we're having."
All I get in response is a grunt.
I sigh. We're nearing the castle. I recognise some of the buildings.
"Why did you run?" Demetri asks a moment later.
I glance sideways at him. He's looking at me, his eyes genuinely curious. He doesn't know.
Well, why would he? I highly doubt Alec is gonna run around the castle going "Hey guys, guess what! I just forced my pet to suck me off, isn't that fucking neat!"
Wow. I sure hope not.
"Was it because of Benjamin?" Demetri presses.
I wince. The name stings. I find it difficult to believe that he only died a few hours ago. It seems like so much longer. I try to shake it off. "Partially."
Demetri sighs, shifting in his seat. He seems to be struggling with something.
"I'm going to tell you something," he declares finally. There's another pause.
"Yeah...?"
Demetri exhales loudly. "I had a human before."
I had actually forgotten that. Benjamin had told me, the first time we met. Annalise or Annie or some shit.
"Annabelle," he says. He speaks her name reverendly. "I only had her for a few months before..."
There's a brief, awkward pause. Demetri's glassy eyes shift uncomfortably, pretending to focus on the road. His lips and brow are set in an unhappy mask.
"Did you treat her well?" I ask quietly, after the silence and the impending onslaught of questions becomes too much to bear.
"I tried to," Demetri sighs, sounding sad. He runs a hand through his hair, gripping it hard. "I truly did...but she was so unhappy. She missed her lover and her family. I was too impatient with her. Too rash... She got better, she did. But there was something...her eyes haunted me. She seemed happy after a while, but her eyes were always, just, hollow."
He glances in the rearview mirror; the cabs are still tailing us. Demetri sighs deeply and places both hands on the wheel, swerving around a sudden curve in the road. Some loose stones pop beneath the sturdy tyres.
"Did you love her?" I ask.
Demetri struggles, rubbing his forehead in thought. "No," he decides eventually, his voice a hundred agonising years deep. "I...cared for her. I discovered that eventually. But no, I was not in love with her."
"Are you in love with Heidi?" I ask curiously.
This time, a small smile is permitted on Demetri's face. Well hot damn, tis a miracle. Aside from sarcastic ones, this is the first proper smile I've seen from him
"Yes," he replies. "I truly do. But..."
"But?" I prompt impatiently.
"Relationships amongst Guard members are not allowed," Demetri says somberly. "It would distract us from our work."
"But sex is okay?" I frown. You'd think it'd be the opposite way round.
"No," he smiles. "But there are some things even our Masters cannot control."
Then I realise something. "But Chelsea and Afton," I argue. "They're married."
"Yes, they are the single exception to the rule."
"How come?"
"It's not my story to tell," he says, sounding uncomfortable.
"Please?" I beg, half-heartedly. I don't have the will or the energy to argue.
Demetri sighs. "In return for something."
Uh oh... "What do you want?"
"I want you to behave during the duration of the Cullens' stay. No hyjinx, understand?"
Somehow he can't seem to sharpen his voice. I hold up my pinky.
Demetri casts a sideways glance at me, looking like he thinks I've lost my mind. Hell, maybe I have. Wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to me today.
I roll my tired eyes, exsasperated. Fucking creatures. Think they'd get with the damn times already.
"I promise, alright?" I say.
"Do I have your word?"
"Yeah yeah, Demetri, man. Whatever, alright?"
"Very well," Demetri sighs, deciding he ain't gonna get much better out of me. "I'll tell you.
"It was many hundreds of years ago, when there were only four of us in the Guard. Eleazar, a woman named Darla who was the first to leave once she found her mate, Chelsea, and myself.
"Chelsea had been a nurse in her human life, and was still fascinated my medics. The fishing duties were hers after Darla left, and sometimes she would go into hospitals, to lure away staff or even patients. She would go undercover as a human nurse, and this satisfied her curiosity of the medical world as well as her thirst. And she would leave the hopsital before the staff began to question the disappearences.
"One day, in a hospital in Athens, she came across a soldier lying in bed after sustaining a head injury at war. He was recovering, and would live. He wasn't planning on going back to war. His plan was to marry a woman he had proclaimed his love to back in his home town and settle down.
"However, the second Chelsea inhaled his scent, she had had to cover her face and leap out a window. She had never come across a scent more appealing, a scent sweeter or stronger than the one coming from this human.
"The man lying in his bed had seen the most beautiful woman he's ever come across in his whole life. He saw her move at unimaginable speed and leap from an impossible height. He couldn't believe his own eyes. He thought he was hallucinating.
"Chelsea returned home thoroughly shaken up. She went straight to Aro and asked him to read her thoughts. When he did, Aro was perplexed.
" 'How fascinating,' he mused.
"But the man had seen too much. It was within the law for him to die. But Aro was astonished by the call his blood had for Chelsea. He sent her back to the hospital.
" 'I do not wish him dead,' Aro insisted. 'This most strange bond fascinates me so. I wish to study it. However, the law is what it is. You must try and convince him that he imagined what he saw. However, if you cannot, you will bring him home to us.'
"So Chelsea went back, terrified by the call of the man's blood. She went as a nurse again, and they talked for a long time. She found out his name was Afton.
" 'You know, I had a dream about you last night,' Afton smiled.
" 'Did you?' Chelsea was immensely relieved. She had no wish to drag this man back to Volterra. To do this was as good as to kill him.
" 'Yes, I dreamed that you flew out that window,' he said. 'I was dreaming. Wasn't I?'
"She was unnerved by his intuition. 'Of course you were,' she replied. 'People don't fly.'
"They talked for a very long time, until Chelsea had to return home.
" 'You will come back again, won't you?' Afton asked, entranced by the beautiful, red-eyed woman.
" 'Of course,' Chelsea replied, smiling. 'I do work here after all.'
"In all truth, she had no intention of going back. The entire time she was with him, her throat burned with the most agonising thirst she'd ever felt. But Aro consulted with his brothers. Marcus felt a change in Chelsea, and they wanted to explore it further. They sent her back.
"She spent about three months at Afton's bedside, and as you can probably guess, they fell in love. But she was scared. She couldn't love a human. She couldn't sentance him to the life our family had been sentanced to, could she? Wouldn't he be revolted if he found out what she was?
" 'You can't love me,' she wept. 'You can't!'
" 'I can and I do,' he replied firmly. 'Do you not love me?'
" 'Of course I do,' she cried.
" 'Then what's the problem?' He frowned.
" 'I'm not like you,' she whispered, feeling for the very first time, shame over what she was.
" 'I know this already. I know you are not human. What human never eats or sleeps or has scarlet eyes? Certainly no human I've ever met.
" 'Then how can you still want me?' She gasped, shocked at his intuition. She had been so careful to disguise her true self.
" 'Love is strange,' he smiled. 'I can handle strange.'
" 'I drink the blood of humans like you. Now tell me you still love me,' she spat bitterly.
" 'I still love you,' Afton replied. He was shaken, of course, but he'd been psyching himself up to come to terms with her being since he met her.
"She was completely shocked, and so utterly happy. She told him the whole truth about herself, about us. After that he requested that he be taken to Volterra to be changed so he could be with her.
" 'I've never been to Italy before,' he mused. 'This should be interesting.'
"And interesting it was," Demetri chuckles.
"And they've been together ever since?" I ask, captivated.
"Yes," Demetri's smile is soft. "Marcus says he's never seen a mated bond as strong as Afton and Chelsea's. Only one other mated pair comes close. And they have the same bond. Aro was astonished."
"What's the bond called?" I ask curiously.
"La Tua Cantante," Demetri replies.
When we pull up at the castle, Demetri doesn't drive into the garage. He parks in front of the castle and waves at the cabs to stop. The Cullens pile out, staring anxiously at Demetri and I. I barely notice them to be honest. I'm staring up at the castle.
Well whoop de fucking do. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Home Sweet Hell.
Demetri senses that I'm gonna make a run for it. He grabs my shoulder, holding me close to him. I struggle under his grasp, knowing what's awaiting me once I'm inside. A very pissed and possibly horny Owner.
The Cullens move quickly to join us, and Demetri's saying some shit to them, but I'm not listening. I can feel the colour begin to drain from my face. Oh shit. I hope I stay conscious, at least for a while. I'm really not in the mood to greet the floor with my face right now.
Demetri's hand on my shoulder serves to keep me upright as he guides the Cullens and I through familliar dark corridors. I can feel sweat breaking out across my palms. I clench my fists and my long nails bite into the flesh of my hands. I hope I bleed, then maybe someone will eat me and I'll get out of my reunion with Alec.
Ugh fuck. You know you've got it bad when you're longing for someone to eat you. Jeez.
Demetri walks quickly and I end up having to jog to keep up, even though I'm feeling so fucking lazy right now that I want to whine for someone to carry me. But I doubt that's be received well and despite everything I don't really want Demetri to dangle me out a window (which he has threatened to do in the past).
Those big double doors seem like the Gates to Hell as Demetri sweeps through them with me in tow. The Cullens follow, uncertainty clear in their faces. I glance back at them, wondering what they're thinking.
And for the second time in one day, I'm swept into the feeding room, where everyone is gathered and waiting once more.
Aro is waiting, standing in front of his thrones, flanked by Caius and Marcus. Renata stands a little behind Aro, looking anxious. When her eyes fall on me, relief is evident on her face. Alec and Jane stand off to Caius's side. Alec's eyes are sharp, and I cringe under his gaze. I feel the most fucking freakyshit impulse to clamber up into Demetri's arms and have him protect me. But I have a feeling that Demetri would be more likely to feed me to Alec rather than protect me from him.
Aro drifts forward with Renata following like his little shadow. Alec stays put, much to my relief. I can feel my heart quickening.
"Carlisle! How it pleases me to see you, my friend," Aro chirrups like a baby bird on prozac. Carlisle looks less than comfortable as he greets Aro. After a few pleasentries, Aro turns to me.
"Oh Phoenix," he sighs, sounding like a disappointed grandparent.
"Oh Aro," I sigh in response. Felix, standing right of Marcus, smirks at me.
"What are we going to do with you, child?" Aro grimaces. I seriously hope he's not actually asking me what punishment I'd like. Oh. Well gee, Sir, I'd really like a whipping today if you don't mind. Ha. No.
Garfield's line, "Love me, feed me, never leave me," pops into my head, but I doubt now is the right time to say that to Aro. Because what person can take a joke at four in the fucking morning? No one, that's who.
Aro takes my hand without permission and I have to force myself not to yank it out of his grasp. When he's finished raping my memories, he just nods and asks Renata to take me upstairs to rest.
To my surprise, she takes me up to her room and not Alec's. She fetches me some of my things – my toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, pyjamas – and tells me she'll be back as soon as Aro allows her.
Standing in the silence for a moment, I revel in the fact that I'm alone. It feels good not to have anyone breathing down my neck.
I take my time getting ready for sleep. I brush my teeth twelve times over, but it still doesn't seem like enough. I rinse my mouth with water and mouthwash. I tug the brush through the tangles of my hair, tucking it behind my ears. I ajust the collar around my throat, feeling the grooves where it pressed into my skin for too long. Sliding into my nightclothes, I hear the door opening. I think Renata's back already.
"Renata?" I call. Jeez, my voice sounds terrible. Like someone scrubbed my voicebox with sandpaper. It hurts to talk. Holding my throat, I walk back into her comfortingly femenine bedroom.
It isn't Renata.
It's Alec.
"What are you doing in here?" He asks, sounding weary.
I take an unconscious step back. "Renata brought me up," I rasp, my voice giving way.
Alec nods, his eyes darker than earlier. "Come on. Let's go then."
I pause. Back to his bedroom? Surely, he's having a LOL with me. "Uh, no thanks."
"What?"
His voice is a little more forceful. I wince. "I want to stay here."
His eyes bore holes in me as he stares, thinking hard.
"Please just let me stay," I plead, my voice cracking. To my horror and disgust, I feel tears welling in my eyes.
There's another pause. Then, he sighs deeply.
"Just for one night then," he agrees. Then he drifts towards the door and leaves.
And I can breathe again.
