True Mate Saga Book One: Demetri

Chapter Eleven

Ugh, it's like a real life X-Men movie. I'm waiting for Wolverine to come running out.

After Demetri had dropped her off Della fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. She hadn't even stirred again until seven in the morning when Demetri entered the room, once again without permission, and placed a bag of food on the table. Della raised her eyebrows at his entrance and growled in slight annoyance, recalling their argument from the day before. She rolled to the other side of the bed and threw the covers back over her head, grunting and snuggling deeper into their warmth. It was true what they said, give them an inch and they would take a mile. Demetri's obvious disregard for her privacy pretty much screamed this.

"I brought breakfast."

At this, Della's eyes shot open and she threw the covers back. She stumbled out of bed and grabbed some shorts and a shirt before shutting herself into the bathroom for a quick shower to wake herself up. She looked at the clock as she exited the washroom, noting that she'd slept a good ten hours. The smell of the bacon he brought entered her nostrils and she gave Demetri a sarcastic sort of smile as he sat much like he had the other day, leaning back slightly, giving off a relaxed yet aristocratic look.

Christ, did he look amazingly hot.

Focus, dude. You're not happy with him right now. Della scolded herself, the fact that Demetri had let himself in without asking pushed to the back of her mind as she eyed the bag sitting on the table. "You've got to stop buying me food or I'll be in debt forever." She stated, plopping into her seat and pulling the food from the bag.

"As I have said before, you owe me nothing."

Della was already ten miles into the meal, scarfing it down like it was her last dinner before the execution block. She looked up at Demetri unapologetically smiling over her table manners.

Demetri chuckled and shifted in his seat so that he was leaning forward, one elbow on the table with his hand cradling his face while the other arm stretched over the table. His hand grasped her free one and she noticed the coolness of his hand on hers, not for the first time, giving her a slight shiver at the feeling that it caused to surge within her body. It was quite possible for her to become addicted to the feeling he gave her, especially when his skin touched hers.

By now she was becoming accustomed to the temperature of his skin, though she could hardly comprehend it. With all of the events taking place in her life, she felt that she should be focusing on something other than Demetri but she couldn't help that for some unknown reason her mind wanted to decipher the truth behind this strange man. The argument they'd had the day before was not nearly forgotten, but she found herself struggling to keep up with her anger as it slowly vanished. It was as if her body, heart, and mind were all in agreeance that Demetri mattered and his life story, the reasons behind is oddities, were as important to her as eating or sleeping. These details he had yet to share with her were necessities, something she had to know.

After weighing her options, Della decided it was time to ask a specific question and hope that he would indeed answer instead of simply stating he would tell her when she was ready. That line was growing tedious and she was ready to know something, at very least.

"Can I ask you a question, Demetri?" Demetri's left eyebrow raised in question and Della took this as a sign to move on even before he nodded his head just slightly, "I thought that it might be because you were sick, but now that you've told me you're not, it begs the question: Why are you so cold? I don't want to argue about it, I just think that I need to know a few things if I am to continue trusting you the way I've been trying to." Though she did not quite trust him, she was indeed trying.

Demetri seemed to contemplate the answer for a moment. Just when she figured he was going to tell her she wasn't ready to hear it yet, he spoke, "My body temperature runs far lower than yours, therefore I am cold to your touch."

Della nodded and laced her fingers with his. She wasn't completely accepting of whatever it was he was trying to tell her, but within the last couple of days she had realized that he wouldn't hurt her, and on some basic level she just knew that he was doing the best he could. The fact that he was telling her something, something that seemed to be very imperative to him, told her that he trusted her completely and unconditionally.

Della wasn't going to betray that, even while she still worked out her own thoughts and feelings. She still wasn't sure how she felt about him, either. Certainly, she held lustful thoughts about him, and yes she felt like he was someone she could take with her on her travels. But Della had for years hated the very idea of relationships. Della believed men to be vultures and parasites, a belief that extended from her time in New York, then in walks Demetri and he causes a shift in the paradigm. She could see herself spending a lifetime and then some of adventure with him, but she still had yet to trust him. He had done nothing to earn it. This man, who had walked into her life in a bar a thousand miles away not six days ago and hadn't left her consciousness since. This man, who trailed across the country to follow her based on an idea that fate had intended them to meet.

He clearly held no qualms about propriety, that was for sure. But, again, Della couldn't bring herself to care much. Had he harbored malicious intent he would have and very well could have, if her instincts were correct, killed her or kidnapped her already.

Della nodded after a few seconds of deliberation, "And…why does your body run at a lower temperature?" She was mentally running through all of the reasons a body literally could not function properly at such a low temperature, and how he wasn't dead from hypothermia in that case.

"I can't tell you that yet."

Della ground her teeth in frustration.

"If you keep that up you will cause harm to yourself." Demetri sated, his face was expressionless and unmoving, like stone.

Della couldn't help it; she was annoyed at his insistence she remain ignorant to whatever it was that he was hiding. This meant that whatever he was hiding was either horrible or stupid. She was banking towards horrible and with hardly anything to go on she was starting to question her own sanity.

Maybe it was the loss of Gramps, on top of leaving Detroit and heading south, then Demetri following her and finding out that her aunt was missing and the house burnt to the ground that had Della feeling like she was about ready to snap. She didn't know. But if she didn't get a couple more answers then she was going to go ape shit.

Della took a long, deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and then let it out again. "Okay. Then answer me this; how do you find people?"

At this question, Demetri smiled fondly and released Della's hand to move back into his old leisurely position. "It is a gift, somewhat difficult to explain really. It has nothing to do with modern computers or cameras as most of your, what are they called... James Bond movies? What I do is as natural to me as breathing."

"So," Della began trying to put what he'd said together, "basically you were born with it? How does it work?" Della asked, tossing her finished bag of food into the waste basket, making a mental note to take that out before she checked out that day to move on to the campground. She didn't want to move, or breath for that matter because one wrong move might force him to actually stop talking and she wanted to know everything she could while he was in a sharing mood.

To tell the truth, she was surprised he answered this question. She wondered if Demetri was like a superhero or something. Like Captain Amer- okay no he wasn't even close to the righteous super soldier, Demetri seemed like a far saner version of Loki. She discreetly looked him up and down, yes, definitely like a sane version of a super villain. Though he's not really evil as far as I can tell, she thought. Della was starting to think of Demetri as less of a Godsend and more of a fallen angel type, but not quite a demon.

What the hell was wrong with her? Clearly, something wasn't right in her head to instantly believe the shit that just came out of his mouth.

She lost her train of thought as Demetri continued to speak.

"Essentially the general definition of my gift is that I have a tracker sense. To be completely forthcoming in this regard, I am the most formidable tracker in the world" Demetri boasted giving off an air of pride, "No one has ever matched me, and no one has ever evaded me. I have a mental connection with any individual I come into contact with. It is much like a cord snapping out of my mind and latching into another's, thus connecting their mind to my own. From there, all I must do is strum the cord like one would a guitar string and I can discern their location from the information that is fed to me through the connection. The most challenging part of my gift is tracking someone that I have yet to meet. Typically, I can catch the individual in question's mind tenors in another mind that has encountered this person and follow the feedback, it is more difficult but eventually I find whomever I am commissioned to."

Della was rather stunned by Demetri's gift, "That's… wow. Is it an unconscious thing or do you have to focus to get the information?"

Della would have been certain that Demetri was fucking with her if it weren't for the fact that his face looked so incredibly serious. Clearly he wasn't joking, or at least he thought himself to be speaking the complete truth. She'd had this idea that he was different from other people since she met him again in New Orleans. How else could one explain that he just showed up out of nowhere, almost materializing in front of her, when she needed a little help? How else could you justify red eyes and ice cold skin? Della knew she wasn't going crazy, these things that Demetri was professing were true, but that didn't stop her from briefly considering who needed to be dragged to the mental hospital more, Demetri for thinking he had this tracker gift or herself for actually believing him.

In her defense, his conviction was rather conclusive.

"In the beginning, the information would simply come to me but after a while I was able to understand the cords in my mind and when I developed my talent further and would only seek out other's locations when I needed to know where they were or needed to find them." Demetri explained, a small smile gracing his lips. "It is my gift, and therefore I use it whenever I need to, as others of my kind use theirs to their own gains and advantage."

"So that's how you were able to keep up with me and find me yesterday morning? That's pretty creepy," at Demetri's raised eyebrow Della back peddled, "but cool. Creepy but cool."

Demetri simply chuckled, "I have heard far worse. Some say I am the Volturi's most famous hunting dog."

"Do you like that job title?" Della asked, still not sure why she was going along with this, especially not sure why the hell she had the feeling that he wasn't lying.

Maybe they could drive to the crazy house together in her car, save on gas.

"Indeed."

"How long have you worked with the Volturi, and hold on, you said others? I'm assuming you mean the Volturi themselves are like you and that's why you joined them?"

Demetri seemed to contemplate this answer longer than the others. Della figured this would go on the list of questions to ask 'when she was ready' because she wasn't ready for the entire truth yet, in his eyes. Della wondered if, perhaps, what Demetri was explaining could actually be possible. Was it true? Was he gifted like this, did he literally run a lower body temperature from her, were there others? It wasn't making much sense. She was missing several pieces of the puzzle. Clearly, the information he was withholding was the most imperative, the facts that would help her to understand.

And he said there were others, 'others of my kind use theirs to their own gain' did that mean that the woman, Marie, might be one of the said others? That would explain the red eyes and the pale haze over their skin. She didn't know how to broach the subject of Marie just yet, so she waited for Demetri's answer instead of bombarding him with other questions. But these others had gifts like Demetri, though different from him.

Ugh, it's like a real life X-Men movie. I'm waiting for Wolverine to come running out, she thought.

Della wondered if she should push the issue, to see if he would just out everything to her, once he'd answered all of the questions he deemed that he could. What did she have to lose in trying? She was getting really fed up with waiting around for him to decided he could tell her. But what if he truly meant what he said when he stated she wasn't ready for the truth? What if he was some sort of Demon or murderer and for some reason he thinks that she would be alright with that after another few days of being around him? If that were the case, then perhaps it would be better to just rip it off like a band aid and spare them both further pain.

Did demons even actually exist? Della figured they might, was Demetri one? Had her thoughts about him in the beginning been this far off? Too many questions welled up in her mind and she wasn't gaining enough answers to quench her imagination. He didn't seem like a demon, no she wouldn't accept that as the reality of what Demetri was. Clearly, he was more of the fallen angel type, once good and then cast out to be something else entirely, but he still wasn't lost. If that were the case... then he still had some kind of humanity left in him, that much was clear, and perhaps that's what brought him to her? Wait, what did that thought even mean.

This was entirely confusing. In Demetri's defense she did ask.

Here I am actually going along with this, what is wrong with me? Della asked herself again. She could feel a pain forming in her chest as anxiety started to climb. She still believed him, but she was having trouble believing that she believed him. Her inner turmoil went on as Demetri answered the question.

"I do not think I should share this just yet. Suffice it to say that I have been with the Volturi for longer than you can imagine."

Della shrugged at this response, speaking to assure him, "I'm pretty sure I can imagine a long time. You've got me thinking you're some kind of demon or superhuman or maybe even a fallen angel."

"Two of those have to do with religion and one is fictional. I am none of those things. I doubt you will guess the truth, diletto, please do not over think my answers. I will tell you in a few weeks' time, when you are ready." Demetri implored, eyes portraying a sadness in their depths that Della had never seen, it was almost as if…

"Dem, are you in pain?" she asked carefully, the look in his eyes made him seem like he was suffering some sort of horrible torment. Della placed her hand over top of the one that rested on the table just in front of him, taking comfort in the feelings that shot through her chest as she did so and Demetri offered a small smile, his body seemed to relax slightly at the touch, allowing Della's discomfort to lessen, although her anxiety was still a dull throb.

Chuckling and waving his free hand as if her concerns were unwarranted, "No, I am simply having difficulty keeping the truth from you, bella cara, I wish to lay it all on the table and damn the consequences, but it is not time for that yet. I apologize for keeping secrets from you, of all those I have known and all of the lies and half-truths that have slipped past my lips both accidentally and intentionally I wish more than anything I did not have to be any less than completely forthcoming with you."

Della wasn't sure what she was meant to say here. They had already discussed that they felt a deeper connection to each other. Was this part of it? Should she ask? She couldn't keep her mind on one track, it kept veering off on several different thoughts but the one thing every thought had in common was Demetri.

"Why?" she practically whispered, deciding that she wanted to know, if he would tell her.

He shook his head, "Not yet."

After those words, Della could no longer keep it together. She could feel as though some thread in her brain between her temple and her ear on the right side pulled tight, and then gave way. In layman's terms, Della felt herself snap. Her body wound tight and she snorted with laughter, hysteria, and on the brink of tears as she started thinking about the implications of Demetri's gift, and thinking his cold temperature and the fact that there were more like him out there. Her brain wanted to put things together but it literally couldn't fathom two things. One, how the fuck she didn't think he was lying. And Two, why he was telling her anything, because surely this would be one of those 'I would tell you, but then I would have to kill you,' moments. "You've got to be kidding me? Do you want to drive, or should I?"

Demetri looked confused and a bit unsure as Della continued to laugh and tears began to form in her eyes. In fact, Demetri looked like he didn't have a clue what had happened and why she was practically a hyena at the moment, but then still looked like she was going to cry. Della assumed he settled for middle ground and just answered the question, "Drive?"

"Yes, drive, to the mental hospital, I think we both need to be committed."

"Delphia, I am not jesting." His eyes went from red to black as tears spilled onto her cheeks, but she did not notice this change.

Della was starting to hyperventilate. The weight of everything that had happened in Detroit in the past couple of weeks and now the information she was finally receiving from Demetri were getting to her. The things he was saying were like something out of a book or a movie. There was no way they could be true. But he was telling her these things with such open honesty, the parts that he felt he could tell her. It was starting to be too much. Mental tracking ability? This was just as unreal and illogical as her strange pull to him and how she was feeling towards him after only a few days of knowing him. All of this, combined with everything that had happened in the last two weeks was just about too much. Gramps' death, his funeral, Mary going missing and the house burning down, it was too much. Della just wanted to travel for Christ sakes!

Della stood and began pacing back and forth from in front of the bed, from the table to the bathroom and back again while she tried to control herself. None of it made any sense!

The worst part was that she believed him, and that was what had her so undeniably freaked out.

Della felt strong arms wrap around her stomach and a solid wall press against her back the third time she had turned to pace back towards the bathroom. He breathing evened out rather quickly as Demetri whispered in his native language… well, maybe his native language, Della wasn't sure. It became obvious that there was a strong possibility that he knew so many languages because he seriously was older than he could remember. That brought on a whole other set of contemplations that Della was attempting to wrestle down. She focused on Demetri, his presence and closeness like a comforting balm that spread through and over her. She was calming in his arms. His face buried in her hair and he seemed to be breathing her in while he spoke.

She couldn't figure out what he was. She'd realized the other day that Demetri couldn't possibly be normal. She'd not thought that he could truly be inhuman until now. And now that she was thinking more calmly about it the idea of him being a sort of fallen angel made sense, but Demetri said he wasn't that. So Della decided she would think mythological instead of religion and fiction.

But it was no use; her mind was whipping around a thousand different paths at the same time. All she could understand was that Demetri, the sweet guy who'd brought her breakfast twice in the four days they'd been around each other, saved her from getting her face punched in, followed her based on a feeling that they were fated to know each other (which was still creepy but he was on his way to forgiveness for that), and had a wonderful day out together the day before, despit was definitely not of the same species as she was.

"Delphia, please, what part has you distressed? Allow me to explain it the best I can."

She was beginning to put it together that she really couldn't have handled the whole truth at one time, he had been right. Any more and she would run, and as much as she didn't want to run just yet, she was right now fighting the urge to get in the car and drive away as fast as the car would go. Which was pretty fast considering she had a muscle car. She was fighting the urge to move on, try to escape and go back to the way things were. Now, more than ever, Della was missing the simplicity of her ten years on the road with her mom. Though she knew that he would find her Della hoped he might give her space to process for tonight. If he said any more today, she would be gone by tomorrow morning.

Della was once again surprised, as her chest constricted in a painful way at the thought of leaving him behind, and that annoyed her greatly.

"All of it, Demetri, all of it is inane! But what's scary as hell is that I believe you. I can't... I don... why? Why do I believe you? What you're saying belongs in stories, not in real life! I just, I don't know why I believe you but the way you explain it, your conviction, you completely have confidence in what you are saying and that is making it so hard for me to refute it!" The tears were falling freely from her eyes now; she couldn't stop them.

Demetri was still holding onto her but he lifted his face from her hair and carefully spun her around so that her face was now in his chest and cradled her head with his hand, holding her closely around the back with his other arm. "I understand why it is difficult for you to trust me, bella cara, and I am grateful that you've begun to do so. The very fact that you have yet to run screaming after I followed you here shows that you have placed your life in my hands, that you believe me now tells me that you trust me not to lie to you, even if you are not consciously trusting of me. You have no awareness of how difficult it is for me not to express to you every answer to every question you could possibly come up with."

Della nodded into his chest, taking in the smell of a retail store. She couldn't handle any more today, well this morning anyways, things were getting to heavy. Deciding to take this opportunity to deflect so she could focus on the issue later without all of the angst of discussing it with him Della changed the subject entirely, "Hey Dem, did you buy this recently? It still smells like a store."

Demetri laughed outright, the deep baritone flowing through the room and settling the tension that had risen in the air, causing Della to smile as her nerves were effectively vanquished. The effect his laugh had on her should have been concerning, but Della had changed the subject in attempts to calm the intense atmosphere, and Demetri's laugh had sufficed in doing what her change of subject could not.

"I purchased this yesterday. I do not carry much with me in my travels."

Della looked up at him, still hugging him tightly. It should have been awkward, but looking into his eyes she felt… almost serene. Like this was where she belonged.

She'd never felt like she belonged in any one place before. Well, that wasn't completely true. She had belonged with her Mom. Della had never felt at home in a certain place, she had associated this sense with people. One person, in particular. For the longest time she'd had this sense of belonging with her mother. When her mom died, she'd been alone and feeling helpless and abandoned. Until she finished high school she had associated her feelings with that of the homeless on the street, the only difference what that they lost their physical house and the comfort and serenity that came with it. Della had lost her home, in the sense that her home was a person, not four walls decorated to her own desire. She hadn't felt this feeling of comfort and calm since she was sixteen. She was almost shocked for it to wash over her now, this complete sense of home that pervaded her heart, wrapping tightly around her as the realization swept over her.

Demetri was… home?

How is that possible? She wondered, amazed at the feeling of this new discovery and yet she tried to squash the feeling, to push it away. She didn't know things about him that he was hiding from her. He had yet to be completely honest with her, not to mention they hadn't known each other long at all.

Some people get married after two weeks, Della's traitorous mind reminded her. Deciding to keep herself from dwelling on this particular idea, especially when she knew so little about Demetri and after all these revelations. Thoughts like this were completely unwelcome at the moment. Della focused back on the conversation at hand.

"So what do you do with the clothes that you buy in your travels?"

Demetri shrugged, "I tend to leave them when I move on."

Della slapped his shoulder, succeeding in only harming herself, "Ouch, damn it! Ugh, Demetri. You should run them through a Goodwill donation center or something. People are out there starving, you can donate the clothes you buy and don't wear!"

Laughing, Demetri lifted Della with ease and planted her back in her seat, she didn't complain, but was shocked at how easy it seemed he was able to lift her and walk with her. Then again, by the feeling of his body against hers she would say he was hiding quite a bit of muscle under those expensive clothes, "I assume that the change of topic means you would like to revisit the conversation at a later time?" Demetri questioned.

Della nodded eagerly, "If you don't mind, I don't know how much more I can handle today. I have to go to the campground, pay, and set up anyways."

Demetri stiffened. Oh yeah, Della hadn't told him that she intended on moving on from the motel today. It was her fourth day. She'd spend too much time in the room as it was and spent too much money doing so.

Wait, who did she feel like she should have told him, anyways? She was a strong independent, if small in stature, woman and she didn't need to answer to a man!

"Campground?" Demetri asked cautiously.

"Yeah, I can't keep staying in this motel, Dem, I'll run out of money," she smiled, regardless of her inner declarations of feminine empowerment because, honestly, she felt like telling him, "besides, I don't mind camping. Living in a tent never hurt anyone before."

Demetri was looking at her, eyes narrowed. He looked like he was contemplating something. Della wasn't sure if she liked the look.

"I have a proposition."

Della raised her eyebrows and pulled away, "Well propose away."

Oh hell, did I really just say that? Della thought as the heat creeped up her neck and face. Demetri just grinned, "Perhaps someday Delphia," he muttered huskily, kissing her on the forehead just before he stepped over to the other side of the table and took his own seat. "I propose that you allow me to pay for a suite in a hotel of my choosing and you stay with me. You would obviously have your own room and therefore wouldn't have to worry about your privacy."

No. No no nonoooo, bad idea Della. She tried to convince herself.

Author's Message

Dear God. I wasn't going to get all angst riddled halfway through the chapter but I started listening to some kind of sad song that somehow wormed its way onto my playlist and it just took off from there. Like- pow, here, have some heartache.

Okay, so Della has a little information now that's going to put her on the right path. She's still thinking divine, like religion. Because come on, what kind of normal person would instantly hop to the vampire conclusion if they don't know for sure that the object of their speculation drank blood. (Or didn't read smutty novels and fanfiction *looks at readers*) Love you guys. Personally, I think I would exhaust everything else first, before coming to that conclusion. I love vampires in theory, but if they were to actually be real... well, the probability of one falling in love with and changing me would be a resounding 0%, and therefore I just don't want that on humanity. Lmao

Look, I actually stuck to what I said about updating on Thursday! Boo-ya. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favored and alerted this week. I've decided I'll be posting chapter previews on my Tumblr around Monday/Tuesday from now on for any of you interested in that. If not, well I'm doing it anyway. IAMiniquity on Tumblr as well, in case you'd like to watch out for them.

See you next week!

Feed the Beast