I observed Demetri carefully after he replied to see if he was serious or merely sarcastic. My heart continued to race, and I wondered if he could hear it. I took a step forward, and he did not move, his eyes continuously watching what I had planned to do next. "How much of a head start?"

His smirk widened if it could. "How much do you think you need?"

"Everyone will wonder where I went. What do you plan on telling them when people begin to ask questions?"

"We've been working on hiding our existence for centuries now. We'll come up with something. Perhaps you decided to go home after all. Two deaths so quickly, one right after the other. Perhaps you couldn't handle the distress, so you decided to sell the house and leave without telling anyone goodbye because goodbyes are difficult. After all, you've already had to do it too many times."

Feeling my heart skip a beat while he answered as if reading off of a script, I stopped him. "What about Emilio?"

He frowned in curiosity. "Who is Emilio?"

"A friend."

"He can be taken care of."

Forgetting who or what I was speaking to, I took a determined step to stop right in front of him, my voice holding more threat than I would ever be capable of against any one of them. "If you touch him-"

"You'll do what?" he questioned, his eyes narrowing in response. I turned, walking out of the library and down the hall the way I had come in with Chelsea. "It's not safe to walk around here alone," but I noticed him still leaning against the door frame, not even trying to catch up to me.

"I'll take my chances."

I made it to the secret door and eventually to the elevator, the woman who had sat at the desk in the other lobby looking at me intensely as I passed by. I ignored her. The elevator was slower than I remembered, and I stepped out, making my way to the main door. However, before I had a chance of opening it, Demetri met me there with a smile, the hood of his cloak pulled up over his head.

"I gave you your head start."

"Get out of my way." I tried pushing him out of frustration, knowing deep down that it was pointless. All I did was meet a brick wall.

He took my forearms in his hands and pushed us both further inside the hall. "Let's not make a scene."

"Then let me go."

"I can't do that."

My eyes were burning at this point with tears I would not shed, but I failed. One slipped, and he reached up to wipe it away. I took that moment to release my other arm from his grasp and crossed them, wrapping them around myself. "What does he want from me?"

"I don't know all of the details. All I know is that Aro wanted you here. I don't question the orders I'm given. I only follow them."

"Maybe you should start questioning them. He doesn't have to own you. He definitely doesn't own me. I want some answers. If you're going to keep me here against my will, then I think I deserve at least that."

"You're asking the wrong person."

The door opened behind Demetri, and a male walked into the building, his eyes looking over at us. He smiled at me, recognizing me immediately and walked over. Demetri's eyes sent a warning glance in my direction before he stepped back.

"Lia, I am terribly sorry for all that has occurred this past couple of weeks. Are you doing alright? You look upset."

I pinpointed how I knew him and realized that he had also worked with my grandfather on the board. He had been friends with my parents when we still lived in Volterra. I quickly nodded, watching Demetri from the corner of my eye. "Yeah, I'm alright. It's been difficult." I spared a look over at Demetri for a moment, and the man followed my line of sight. "I thought I might take a holiday, a vacation for a couple of months. This is a friend," I said the word loosely, "He was helping me out on where to go."

Demetri seemed pleased with my response, and he smiled politely to the man, a facade if I ever knew one. It was radiating off of him that he wanted to tear the man's throat out. I could see it happening in my mind's eye and stiffened. "Yes. We have much more to discuss, including what should be done with what she was left while she is away. I believe she was planning on selling it back to the city."

The aching in my heart was there again. I grew up in that house. "Maybe. I haven't decided." I said it firmly, meaning it was not open to discussion at this time. Was that what Aro had planned?

"We should be continuing if you wish to leave as soon as possible."

So that is how they were planning on doing it. I would just fly off, and it would happen tonight. The runaway granddaughter that could not deal or cope with the pain of her loss and the stress of what it brought. Seeing the picture I had even more clearly in my mind of Demetri and the man, I agreed quietly and nodded. "We should."

I stepped up to Demetri, taking his arm in mine, then walked past the man, who now wore a bewildered expression. We continued to the elevator. Demetri kindly followed along until the doors had opened and we had stepped inside. The first thing he did was roughly remove his arm from mine and brush off the sleeve of his cloak, straightening it out while removing the hood.

"Never do that again."

"If you hadn't been planning on killing him, I wouldn't have had to."

"That man has never been safer. He's a citizen of Volterra, which makes him off-limits to us."

"But I saw…" I cut myself short, not wanting to repeat it.

"You saw what?"

"Nothing." We stayed silent a moment, Demetri with his own pondering mind working quickly. I watched the elevator as it went down to the lower levels, and it dawned on me that this must be where they reside, considering no one was ever allowed down there due to the fact it was dangerous and not up to code. "Where are we going?"

"Aro asked me to take you to where you'll be staying. It's down here."

The doors opened, and we stepped out into a long stone corridor that was lit by torches. "This is really anti-climatic."

I caught the wisp of a smile on his lips as he replied, "What were you expecting?"

"Not this."

We continued to walk a little further and eventually stopped outside of a very sturdy looking wooden door. "Perhaps this will be more what you imagined."

I looked up at him as he tilted his head toward me, giving me permission to open it. I hesitated. "What's on the other side?"

"A room, I suspect."

Taking a deep breath, I placed my hand on the handle and pushed.