I lied awake in bed, thinking about the dream I had. Could it really be that all of grandfather's stories were absolutely true? All those years ago, did I actually discover the vampires whom my grandfather said lived in Volterra? As much as my adult brain told me it was only a dream, and that my mind placed Demetri's face there because he looked familiar, my heart and free-thinking brain told me what I saw was a distant memory from my past that needed to be confronted.
The sun was rising, so I got up with it and prepped myself for the day. My stomach tied itself in knots as I thought about what I was planning to do. Breakfast was out of the question. I would walk there and soothe my nerves in the process. I questioned myself for what I was about to do. What were the facts?
Demetri looked familiar, very familiar when I first saw him. Chelsea and he both had such pale skin, much paler than mine, and due to my mother's side, I looked like a ghost glowing in the moonlight. Their eyes were a strange color of brown with hands icy cold to the touch. Their features were both beyond perfect, and they walked as if they were walking on clouds, dignified and old. Demetri had been very interested in my grandfather's stories and questioned when I mentioned vampires in the city, almost as if he were interrogating me. Still, that thought hadn't come until later, much later.
I made it to the city center and stood in front of the Palazzo dei Priori. Chelsea was right. I knew how to find them. I stepped through the main door, making my way down the hall to the woman I had spoken with the first time around. This time, I asked for Demetri.
"There is not a Demetri who works here. Are you sure you had the right name?" the woman responded.
"He said he works in the office of tourism."
"Then he would be located at the Praetorian Palace, but I am unaware of a Demetri there either."
"I see. Perhaps you can send for Chelsea then? She would know how to contact him for me, I'm sure."
"Of course."
The secretary went through the motions of calling for Chelsea once more, and she appeared not long after, the same way she had the time previously. She smiled upon seeing me, and I immediately felt a warmth entering my body and smiled back.
"What can I do for you?"
I paused for a moment, thinking carefully. "I was hoping you'd be able to tell me where I could find Demetri. He said he worked here with my grandfather with the office of tourism, but I was told it was housed across the square."
Chelsea's eyes narrowed in thought for a moment before her smile returned, and she motioned with her hand for me to follow her. "I can take you to him if you come with me. Was he expecting you?"
"No, I don't think so, but I do need to ask him about something important."
"About your grandfather? Perhaps I could answer it for you?"
"Not about Nonno. It's about something I saw some time ago."
"I see." She led me to the elevator, where she pressed the button for the door to open and stepped in. "He's upstairs."
Nodding, I replied, "I've only been up there once. Nonno had a meeting with the city council, and he wanted me to see it. I think I was six when it happened."
"You were quite young," Chelsea added.
My mind caught on to it. How did she mean that? Was it in agreement stating that six was very young to attend a council meeting or that she remembered me being very young at the time? My shoulders tensed, and my heart pounded, but at the same time, Chelsea was acting so friendly. It was as if I had known her for longer than I had. Strange, that feeling.
Stepping out of the elevator, we walked through the door that led opposite the council chambers and into a second lobby. It was full of color, a green carpet, lounge seating, and a few vases of flowers on end tables. It was a reception area of sorts. That was when I saw the desk with the woman behind it who smiled politely at Chelsea and me. She appeared very normal, more animated, not like Chelsea or Demetri at all.
We passed through another set of doors, and on the other side, another room awaited. At the far end, straight across from where we stood, there was a large golden double door that glittered in the light. I wondered what was behind it and why Nonno had never shown me something so beautiful, but this was the second wing. This was where all the secrets were kept, or so I had grown up to believe.
Chelsea walked me up to the doors, and with a swift knock, the door opened. On the other side stood Demetri, his hand on the handle, and to his right, a large giant that caused my eyes to widen. I didn't even notice the man sitting at a desk with a leather-bound book and a feathered quill until he spoke.
"Chelsea, you bring me a rare gift. Thank you," the man said, dismissing her. His voice was warm and inviting, hypnotizing.
I spared a look at Demetri, who showed almost no expression at all besides a slight smirk of curiosity. He nodded his head toward me, and I accepted the quick acknowledgment before turning back to the stranger who was in front of me. If I had any doubt whether Demetri and Chelsea were vampires, that doubt was all but gone now.
The man I saw was no more than twenty-five with slick, black hair, and skin near translucent, but that was not the worst of what I was seeing. I looked back at Demetri then at the giant and back to the one in the center. The three of them had bright, blood-red eyes.
"Welcome Liliana to my home," the man in the middle spoke, the one who I realized held all of the power in the room. "There is no need to explain what you see. You already know, do you not?" He began to walk towards me, and I took a step back.
"Who are you?"
His smile was sickeningly sweet as he replied in almost the same manner, "My name is Aro."
Aro moved so fast that my mind did not register when he took my hand. My eyes widened at the suddenness of it, and my breathing stopped as my heart pounded so hard, I thought it would fly right out of my chest. "How did you-?"
"You know the answer, my dear Lia. You always have since you were a child," Aro answered. "Your grandfather filled your head with stories of our kind since the time you were born. You remember Demetri from years ago." He looked up at the mentioned.
"She appears to be the child from that day," Demetri said. "She saw his skin."
"As it would seem."
"Then it was you," I interjected, chancing a glance back at him.
"Now your question has been answered," Aro spoke again. "Unfortunately, your grandfather made this all inevitable."
"What do you mean?"
"You know the truth, and therefore are a liability to our kind."
Aro took a moment to release my hand and then slowly circle around me as I stood there completely tense, waiting for something to happen. I did not think this part through. Did I honestly expect them to take the news that I knew with ease? They would just let me go after confronting them about it? How stupid could I be? This was not a fairy tale or fantasy world. This was real, as real as real could be. Vampires existed, and my kind were the prey.