When we got back to Aro's quarters, he was nowhere to be found. I sat my luggage on the bed in the other room before heading back out to see Demetri waiting by the door.

"He's on his way back," Demetri answered my unspoken question.

"Great," I sighed. "You know what? I think I'm going to head to bed. I'm really tired tonight."

"I'm sure he'll want to talk with you before you sleep."

"We can talk in the morning. It's not like I'm going anywhere."

It was at that moment that Aro decided to walk into the room. Demetri sent me a wink, and I rolled my eyes. His way of saying 'not so lucky after all.'

"Thank you, Demetri, for escorting Lia there and back safely," Aro said to him before turning to me. "I hope you retrieved everything you were needing."

'Didn't figure a way out of here yet,' I thought in my head, but out loud I replied, "Yeah. Are there outlets down here by chance so I can charge my phone?"

"I am sure Demetri can handle that task."

"Of course," Demetri answered. "I only need the charger and phone. There are outlets upstairs."

I knew Demetri would not look through my phone, but I still would have rather charged it myself. I should have known that would not be an option. Aro was doing everything he could to make me invisible. If I happened to call or text out without him knowing, I could by chance tell Emilio or someone else my location and that I was being held here against my will.

Not that Aro believed that was the case. No, to him, this is where I belonged seeing as how we were in love with each other. Let's take a step back. He's in love with me. I will eventually be in love with him, but right now, all I know about him is that he is a control freak. If something doesn't go exactly the way he wants it to, if he would lose just a little bit of his power, I'm fairly certain he might go insane. Then again, maybe he's already there.

"Sure I'll be right back."

Walking back into the bedroom, I opened my suitcase and took the charger out of the front pocket. I looked down at my laptop. Maybe there was still a chance of making an outside connection after all. Businesses usually had free wifi and we were near quite a few. Hell, if I could ever talk to Caterina without a vampire listening in, I'm sure she had the password to the internet here. After all, they had to have some sort of connection for their tourist trap. But if I asked her… No. I would be putting her life at risk by doing so. Then again, Aro made it clear she wasn't going to be sticking around permanently.

Closing my suitcase, I slowly made my way back to Aro and Demetri who were having some sort of silent communication going on, another vampire thing that still creeped me out. "Here," I said handing the charger to Demetri. "Aro has my-," but before I could finish, Demetri held it up in his hand. "You have it already. Nevermind."

"I will take good care of it."

"You better or you're buying me a new one."

Aro sighed. "Soon, Lia, you will have no need for a phone. Also I would like to hold onto your laptop until Heidi or Chelsea can take a look at it."

"Are you kidding me? It has games on it. Applications for typing. Paint. What the hell am I going to do?"

"You have a well developed vocabulary. There is no need for such language." I rolled my eyes for at least the second time this evening. "If you are interested in painting, I have any medium available which you would like to try."

"Once again, you are missing the point. Why can you not just trust that I'm not always up to no good?"

"Then you admit that you have tried to betray my trust?"

"What? No. I've done everything you've told me to do. How does that not count for anything?"

Demetri turned to Aro and bowed his head. "I'll leave you for now, Master."

"No, you stay," I said back to him. Aro narrowed his eyes in my direction. "If I ever tried anything, you would know about it, right? After all, he does have you watching my every move even if he does say I'm free to roam around the building. It's all a fat lie."

"Lia…" Aro began.

"Just stop." I was ready to break down, and I was not about to do so in front of them, so I turned quickly and headed back to the bedroom, slamming the door behind me.

The moment the door slammed shut, the sound of it caused everything I had built up inside to explode. I was shaking and so frustrated that the tears finally fell which only served to anger me more. Wanting to put as much distance between Aro and me as possible, I went into the bathroom and managed to slam that door as well.

I tried to slow my breathing but nothing I did worked. I felt like I was choking, and my heart was erratic. A panic attack. I knew them when they came though they were rare. I wanted to scream, but for some reason, I felt that was not an option. I did the next best thing. I made a fist and swung my right hand into the glass of the mirror.

The sound it made was satisfying, and the shooting pain that went up my arm brought me immediately back to my senses. When I looked down at my hand, I saw the blood.

The door behind me opened, Aro taking in the scene before him as he slowly walked to my side. His eyes had darkened to pitch. "You are bleeding."

"I hadn't noticed," I said with a slight hint of sarcasm.

"The scent of your blood is difficult to abstain from." Aro stood and grabbed a towel from one of the cabinets and wrapped my hand in it. "It is foolish to put your life at such unnecessary risk."

"Then I'm a fool, but it's also foolish to put yourself in a position of taking it. I can take care of myself."

"I will send Chelsea down." Without waiting for a reply, he turned and left the room.

I took another deep breath. I really did not want to see Chelsea either, but at least she was used to being around humans and, for a lack of a better word, smelling them. I went over to the sink and turned on the water to a low stream then put my hand under it to wash off the blood. The sting when the water hit it made me hiss in pain for a second but then it numbed out.

The cuts on my hand were not as bad as they had looked with all of the blood. They wouldn't require stitches. I cradled my hand against my stomach with a towel wrapped around it until I heard a soft knock on the door. When I looked up, Chelsea stood there with a soft smile on her face. "May I come in?"

I shrugged. As if she needed my permission. "I'm fine. Aro's overreacting."

"I don't think it's overreacting to be concerned about your bleeding in a building full of vampires. He does care for you."

Scoffing quietly, I replied, "Then why does he keep trying to control me so much?"

Chelsea bent down and reached out for my hand. I let her take it. I hadn't noticed the first aid kit she had brought with her. I wondered where it had come from considering that I highly doubted vampires would need such a thing. Then again, Aro had thought of just about everything already when it came to me coming to stay here. Why not bandages as well?

"That's who he is. I know he's trying, but he's afraid that you'll try to run the first chance you have. He's afraid of losing you again."

I wondered if everything she said was all a lie or if there was some truth in it. Aro did not seem the type to be afraid of anything. That part was the lie. The truth, I thought, was that he was trying. He really was trying, but he was failing in every way that actually mattered. You don't keep the girl you love a prisoner.

"Maybe."

Chelsea examined my hand before opening the kit and taking out an antibiotic cream and dabbing it over the cuts before grabbing the roll of gauze and wrapping my hand with it. She taped it off before putting everything back in the kit and helping me stand. "I'll clean up the mess in here. Why don't you lie down and get some sleep."

I nodded, no need to argue. I was exhausted. Panic attacks always did that to me. When the adrenaline dropped, I felt like I could sleep for days. I left the bathroom and went to my suitcase which was still lying on the bed. I took out something I could sleep in and quickly changed while Chelsea was still in the other room. After moving the luggage off the bed, I pulled back the covers and crawled in. Chelsea came and went only moments later, but my eyes were already shut.

A week later, I sat in the same room Renata had demonstrated her ability to me with Felix and Demetri. Demetri was teaching me how to play chess, and it was no shock that I was horrible at it. I had found myself more often in this particular room as of late learning more and more about Demetri in particular. His ability was the only one I had to be concerned with at this moment. Although his company still unnerved me, I decided that the prospects of escape outweighed that of our general differences, and Renata never strayed too far away.

The day after we had gone to retrieve my charger, Aro returned my laptop to me. Apparently Chelsea had had a chance to look at it and deemed the wireless card my laptop had come with to be unfitting and saw to it that it was removed. When I opened the lid and tried to connect to any wifi in the area, I realized that I could not make a connection. When checking the device manager, I saw that it had been uninstalled and it clicked.

To say I was upset was an understatement, but if I let it show, Aro would know that I had been up to something, and that would not play out well if I wanted to earn his trust to escape. I thought that perhaps more time with the other members of the coven would help him see that I was adjusting here and he could give me some more slack. So far, I had been wrong, but nonetheless, it passed the time.

Felix laughed at the move I had made, so I knew it was the wrong one. Demetri simply shook his head. "You're not paying attention. You moved your queen right in line with my bishop."

"But I took out your knight," I replied back.

Demetri moved his bishop towards my queen and captured it. "Besides the king, the queen is the most important piece in the game. You protect the king and queen at all costs."

"Right. Whatever. You already know I'm going to lose. I haven't won a game yet."

"You could if you paid attention to what you were doing. Chess is a game of strategy, not speed."

"Then why does speed chess exist?"

"It exists for those without the patience for the beauty that is classical chess," Demetri answered.

Rolling my eyes, I said, "I really doubt that's the reason it was invented."

Demetri ignored me, but before I could make my next move, one of the young twin vampires appeared in the doorway, the one called Alec. Demetri and Felix both looked over at him as he spoke. "Aro wishes to see the two of you."

They quietly stood, but before leaving Felix added, "No cheating while we're away." It was the second time I rolled my eyes.

I had yet to formally meet Alec outside of the day Aro introduced me to the guard, so when he sat down across from me in the chair Demetri had occupied previously, my heart rate slightly increased. I was still shocked at how young he was. Everyone else I had met, besides his sister, was at least in their 20s if not older in Caius's case.

Alec caught me looking at him and raised a brow. "What is it?"

"I...um… How old are you? I mean, were you?"

"Twelve."

"Wow," I commented somewhat disapprovingly. Aro thought that four years old was too young, and it definitely was, but twelve wasn't that far away. That was really close to the line of his stupid laws. "Was it Aro that changed you?"

It was then that Alec looked more closely at me, and I noticed, showed some hint of emotion. "Aro saved our lives. We owe him everything, my sister and I."

"Your sister? Jane, wasn't it?"

Alec nodded. "When we were still human, my sister and I were scorned by our village. They called us witches because we could cause bad things to happen to people who hurt us. It was something we were born with, but it wasn't as if we tried to use our powers. It was always an accident. Then one day, it went too far. Some boys had attacked Jane, and she used it to save herself. The villagers were angry because one of the boys died. That night, they dragged us into the center of the village and tried to burn us at the stake. That was when Aro showed up. He saved us by turning us and then killing everyone in the village to cover it up, but they deserved all of it."

"I'm sorry. That had to be terrifying."

"I fought to ignore the pain I felt while my sister relished in her anger. We're opposites, she and I. When Aro saved us, we owed him everything. He took us in and taught us how to control our thirst. He treated us like his own children. He taught us how to control our new powers."

"Your powers that the villagers were afraid of," I asked remembering Aro telling me that the abilities one had as a human would manifest even stronger as a vampire.

Alec shook his head. "No. They changed. As I said, Jane and I are opposites. My sister has the power to create pain. It's only in the mind so it doesn't cause any real damage. Aro had her try it on him once to know what it felt like. Never again. She hated herself afterwards even if she was only following his orders. As for me, I numb the pain. I can deprive one of all of their senses so their world is completely dark. They can't hear, see, feel, taste or smell. All they have is nothingness."

I swallowed. "I don't know which is more frightening."

"Neither to you. You belong to Aro. We would never dare use our gifts on you. I might be the only exception if you were ever to get severely hurt."

Saying that I belonged to Aro made me cringe. I did not belong to anyone except myself. However, the last thing he said had me remembering something from a little while back. "Aro mentioned your name when he took me to Marcus after he nearly dislocated my wrist."

"That was an accident, what happened. He felt awful about it."

"I know." It was quiet again. Alec's face was so angelic, so cherub like though less round than his sister's from what I could remember. It was easy to forget how dangerous he was. "Alec, what did Aro need to talk to Demetri and Felix about?"

"I don't know all of the details. I only know that it's about some assignment." Alec shifted in his seat, something very unnatural for vampires or so I had taken note. Usually, they were stiff, showing barely any signs of human normality. Then again, they were not human. They didn't even need to breathe. "Tell me about you."

"Why do you want to know about me?"

"It's a good thing for me to know. I want you to feel welcomed here."

I wondered, and not for the last time, if Aro knew that I was still trying to plan for my escape. Everyone, since meeting them some days ago, had treated me so exceptionally nice. Perhaps that was expected of them giving who I was to Aro, but they were too polite. Even Demetri who would often scorn me had stopped and put up with my presence better than I thought he should have. Renata was not a problem. She loved being around me, but Demetri, certainly he had better things to do than teach an impatient human how to play chess.

"What do you want to know?"

Alec mused for a moment before finally asking, "What do you like to do? I know the modern world has many more entertainment options to participate in than books and the fine arts."

I could not help but smile at him. God, he seemed so innocent. "I like seeing and watching movies."

"Seeing and watching?"

"Going to the theater and seeing a movie or watching a movie at home."

"I tried to watch an inflight movie one time when Jane, Demetri, Felix and I had to fly to America. I couldn't bother with it. The acting was awful."

"Some movies are better than others. You have to find a genre you like. I prefer comedies and fantasy films. Have you ever heard of Lord of the Rings?"

Alec nodded. "I've read the books. Did you know it was originally one work with multiple volumes and appendices? It was not until publication that it was decided it would be published as a trilogy due to economic constraints."

"I didn't know that," I commented. "Maybe we can find the movies and watch them sometime. They're really good. We can watch The Hobbit movies as well if you want to. Maybe Jane will watch with us. We could have a movie night."

"If Aro approves."

Before I had the chance to ruin everything with a statement about how we didn't need Aro's approval to watch a damn movie, Demetri, absent Felix, thankfully re-entered the room. Upon seeing him, Alec stood and gave a sort of bow in my direction before taking off, but before he left completely, I said, "I'll ask Aro about it." I saw a slight smile on Alec's face as he turned back to me then disappeared.

"Ask Aro about what?"

"I was telling Alec how we should have a movie night and maybe watch Lord of the Rings." Demetri hummed before walking over to the table where our game of chess was laid out and began putting away the pieces. "We're not going to finish playing?"

"You were going to lose anyway. Your words," Demetri replied. "I need to take you back to Aro's quarters for now."

"Demetri, what was up anyway?" He had finished putting up the chess pieces and board, and we were on our way back to Aro's rooms. "What did Aro need you for?"

"He was letting us know of a matter that only keeps escalating. We've been keeping watch on it for a while now and sent a warning, but nothing is being done. There's a risk of exposure."

"Exposure? You mean of people realizing that vampires are real?"

He nodded. "We can easily cover it up if we had to, but we don't want it getting to that point. It's a lot of work and complicates things. Aro wants Felix and I to go intervene and put a stop to it."

My heart paused for a second, and I prayed to whatever god there was that he had not heard it. I was careful with how I phrased it, or I tried to be. "You mean you'll be away for a while?"

His eyes glanced in my direction as we walked as if he understood my meaning. "A few days."

"It's just that, I've kind of grown used to meeting you in the game room and having Felix laugh at all of my horrible moves. I'll have to find something else to do with my time."

"Alec seems to like you. You had mentioned a movie night. Do that."

"Honestly, I'd rather go to the theater to watch something. It's only a two minute walk from here, but I know what Aro would say to that. It's been years since I've been there. In any case, there's no internet. I can't stream anything."

"Heidi can fix something up. She uses it to create lotteries." I looked at him curiously, so he answered, "To bring our food here."

"People, Demetri. They're people."

"My apologies. You'll grow accustomed to it once you're like us. The brain chemistry is changed. You'll crave blood even more than we do at least for the first year or so."

I shuddered. "You realize that you're not helping. There has to be a better way, a way where people don't get hurt."

"We're vampires, Lia. We're already damned."

We had reached the door to Aro's quarters, and Demetri opened it for me before I stepped in and closed it slowly behind me. Aro had not returned just yet, so I was left on my own to ponder. If I couldn't get out while Demetri was gone, then I really would be trapped forever, damned with the rest of them. This here was my Hell.

A/N: It's been a really long time! I am busy working on my original novel right now (deadline is in September!), but thanks to a few messages I've received, I thought to go back and work on an incomplete chapter to post so you all don't think I've simply up and left. I'm still here, I promise. Thank you to everyone still with me on my stories. You're the reason I keep writing. Remember to review!