"Did you really believe we would not follow you?"

My blood ran cold and I whipped around to face the speaker. The face was familiar, but now held bright red eyes hidden behind a pair of shaded sunglasses. Who wears sunglasses at night?

It struck me then that I was now privy to an element of the world that was incredibly sacred. So secret that it had been able to exist for centuries through only folklore and myths. They had been demonized, becoming synonymous with the word monster. Were they monsters? What exactly constituted a monster? Despite my doubts, I could feel my blood pounding in my ear at the arrival of my captor.

He lacked a cloak, but was still garbed in the old fashioned, formal wear of the guard. A golden V necklace hung from his neck, visible under the top two undone buttons of his tunic. The oversight on his part seemed out of character, as if he'd been in the middle of undoing them when something distracted him.

"I wanted a head start." Alec raised an eyebrow. "I've some loose ends that need tying."
He rolled his eyes and took hold of my arm, beginning to pull me to the exit.

I dug my heels in and pulled against him, "wait, wait, wait—" He must've seen the look he got from the bartender because he stopped, not wanting to draw the attention. He reluctantly let me turn him around to face me and I couldn't believe I was even touching him by choice. "Jane is all you have left, right? She's the most important person in the world?" He didn't answer me, but a flicker in his eyes was strong enough for me to catch through the glasses.

"This is for my father. So, just…"

The door to the pub blew open with a gust of wind. A short, round man hobbled in, his left hand clutching a rather shiny cane. He sat at the bar and rested the cane on his lap, raising his right hand to get the bartender's attention. My eyes narrowed — got him. I started towards him, but a tug of my arm kept me back.

Alec was watching the man with a fierce look in his eyes. I took a step towards Alec — closer than I ever wanted to get to him again. This movement made his head snap back to me. He seemed to be studying me, scanning my face through his dark glasses. His gaze dropped to my lips before meeting my green eyes. "Alec...please." There was something in the way I said his name that seemed to spark an illusion in us both.

After a moment, he let my arm go.

I wasted no time in case Alec changed his mind. I lightly pulled the picture off the wall and approached the older man. I sat beside him at the bar, facing him straight on. He gave me an odd look as the bartender placed a glass of whiskey in front of him. The choice in drink contrasted with his focus on the football game on the tv above the bar.

I had planned to behave more smoothly. To sit beside him casually, order the same drink as him and start a conversation before I bombarded him with an interrogation. Only I was clearly short on time, so I went with a more aggressive approach.

I set the picture down in front of him.

"What do you want, kid?"

"Do you know where this man is?"

He ignored the picture, taking a sip from his glass. He barely acknowledged my presence, instead throwing a look over his shoulder at Alec. The vampire stood against the wall, eyeing us.

"Who's that, your bodyguard?" I gave him a taste of his own medicine and ignored the question.

I swapped the picture out with the whiskey, picking it up and placing it out of his reach unless he wanted to get closer to me. Which he clearly was not going to attempt, especially with Alec's presence.

I tapped my father's face. "This man." He sighed irritably and reached into his inside jacket pocket, placing a pair of reading glasses on the bridge of his nose. He glanced at the picture for maybe three seconds before turning his head back up to the match.

"Sorry, sweetheart. That was a long time ago and I didn't know half the folks I'm with in these pictures."

I frowned suspiciously, "you seem pretty chummy to be strangers here."

"Look kid, I don't know him." He turned away from the game and glared at me. His back straightened and his mood shifted to provide a more frightening appearance. He was like a different person and I flinched under his scrutiny. "Now, do you mind buzzing off? I got money on this match."

Sighing, I apologised, "sorry for wasting your time." I slowly got up and retreated back towards Alec, who was still watching the man with intensity. "You were right, then. Waste of time, I'll take my punishment willingly."

"He's lying."

Was he helping me? "What?"

"He lied to you."

"Yes, well, I can't exactly force him to tell me the truth." I looked back over to the man, whose focus had returned to the game. His fist balled up as a goal was scored and he tossed back the rest of his drink, waving his hand for another. Money...he was betting. If he was the right man, and I was positive he was, this didn't make sense. Con artists didn't take a gamble unless they're sure they'll win. It was what made them so arrogant.

"I'm such an idiot." Alec growled lowly and I looked up at him confused before continuing my thought process.

What's a con man's incentive? Money. And clearly, he was running low. If the job he had been planning with my father had gone through, he'd probably be in Monaco right now. But he wasn't. He was here.

Before Alec could stop me, I returned to my seat beside the man. At my appearance, he groaned and shouted to the bartender. "Make it a double!"

He opened his mouth, probably to tell me to get lost again but I cut him off, "when my father proposed to my mother, he didn't have a cent. He believed she deserved the world and he wanted to give it to her. So, he went into this private high stakes poker club one night to try and win some money so he could buy her a ring."

He picked up the glass, basically tearing it from the bartender's hands and mumbled into the drink, "get lost, kid."

"They took one look at him and called him a sucker. The man running the game was some retired mobster and he let my father play, if only to humiliate him." The man rolled his eyes, still starring at the football match. "However, his big ego — lost him his great great grandmother's engagement ring. She had received the ring from the bastard son of a woman named Sophia Matilda."

He fixed me with another pissed off stare. "This little fairytale have a point?"

"Sophia was given the ring by her father." I undid the clasp around my neck, letting the ring slip off its chain and onto the bar. It spun around itself before landing on its side. A large emerald rock stood out from the gold of the ring. "King George III."

He stared at me for a moment before throwing his head back with an exaggerated guffaw. "Bullshit. Nice try, Princess."

"Have a look, then." His eyes narrowed. If I was right about his current financial status, as a con man and an acquaintance of my father, he had to be miserable. Between scores, a con was either living a lustrous life or living off scraps in the gutter before they found their next opportunity. Their nature didn't typically allow them to engage in activities of the poor for long and this guy had definitely spent too long in his current low status.

There was no way he wasn't at least tempted by my story. Confidence men loved a story.

"Even if I'm lying, if you're any kind of...professional...you'll recognize that the ring is indeed even older than this story. It'll fetch a pretty penny no matter what you tell the buyer."

He squinted at me and picked up the ring, handling it delicately in his fingers. He reached into his pocket to pull out a different pair of thick glasses, watching me out of the corner of his eye as he put them on.

He sneered at me, "what do you want to know?"

"Everything you can tell me about Thomas Civello."

"What's it to you?"

"He's my father." This surprised him and he quickly examined the ring once more. Yet, he said nothing. I shifted impatiently, "he's been missing for five years. His last letter told me he was meeting you — here — for a final score."

"Yeah. He never showed up." My face dropped as shoved the ring loosely into his pant pocket. He continued spitefully, "it fell through without him and I ended up here."

"What was the job?" He glanced back over to Alec and it looked like he spotted the V around his neck because he whipped his head back to me.

He grumbled, "do'n't matter." He made eye contact with the bartender and ever so slightly tilted his head towards Alec. I watched in confusion as she immediately moved from behind the bar and over to the vampire, making conversation.

As soon as she blocked us from his view, the man grabbed my knee. The sudden move surprising me as he whispered hurriedly, "Friday, 2 AM. Meet me at the bottom of the city."

Before I could question him, he turned his attention back to the football match and the waitress returned. It didn't look like she made much headway with Alec, as the boy was frowning in silence.

As if to spite Alec in a moment of courage, the man directed, "careful kid, boys like him never have good intentions." I tilted my head, unsure of what to make from his warning.

Alec stalked over to us and glowered down at the man, directing his words to me. "It's time to go." I obediently stood, placing my bag back over my shoulder.

I placed a hand on the man's arm, "thank you." He grumbled once more before Alec guided me out the door.

Outside, the rain had returned and I lifted my hood up. My lips began to tilt up with a giddy expression. It wasn't the information I was hoping for, but I had gotten further in my father's case in the last two days than in the last five years. Misha would be proud of me. If only I could tell her. I was taken from my reverie as Alec spoke, lifting the corner of the cloak with distaste, "whose is this?"

I bit my lip and glanced down, only feeling slightly guilty. "I may have tricked Demetri into giving it to me." His face held no reaction, but he returned his hand to my lower back.

He guided me silently through the streets of Volterra and I wondered why we weren't using his speed. He always seemed to be in such a hurry to be rid of me. This empty air between us however, wasn't dark and foreboding as it had been when he threatened my life. It seemed easier to be in his presence and I didn't shy away from his touch. What was the matter with me? I should be running, hiding, going anywhere that he wasn't. That is, if he wouldn't catch me. Which he would.

The castle entrance came into sight and Alec's voice cut through the air once more. "Was it true? Your story about the ring."

I reached into my pocket, eyeing the ring and placing it on my finger. "You tell me." I winked at him and he stopped in his tracks. All hostility between us momentarily forgotten and he almost seemed impressed. He pushed the doors open and allowed me to pass through. Were those doors ever locked? Although, I suppose burglars were the least of the Volturi's worries.

Our arrival triggered the receptionist to stand, looking ashamed and I realised that my escape could've gotten both her and Prosper in trouble. I joined her shame, not believing how inconsiderate my desperate curiosity had made me.

Her presence and the reminder of his role within the castle walls seemed to remind Alec that he hated me, because he pushed me past her and hissed in my ear, "if you try to escape again, your father won't be the only one missing." I glared up at him, fear for my father's friend and the reality of my situation returning to me tenfold.

Whatever bonding progress Alec and I made in the last two hours was apparently moot. So much for that.

Alec led me to a separate section of the castle, to a chamber that I recognised to be what Felix and Demetri had declared: 'the casual throne room' - as opposed to the formal one I'd previously experienced. It wasn't much different. Less marble, a little darker and probably more of what you'd expect from an ancient vampire cult.

The extravagant doors opened in as we approached. Aro, Marcus, and Caius were standing around a table, examining old scrolls and documents. Aro clapped his hands together, delighted by our arrival. He left the other two at the table and gracefully floated towards us.

Less guards than before scattered around the room, Demetri and Felix included. I recognised the two I'd passed in the hallways, but Prosper was nowhere to be found. Jane stood in the corner and once he'd placed me in the middle of the room, Alec went to join her. Dick.

"Not even a day and you've already caused quite a stir around here, dear one." He raised his hand to me. "Now, how did you come up with such a plan?" I gave him my hand, not even bothering to feign reluctance. Especially now that I knew what he was doing.

He'd see my escape plan unfold. From conception to tricking Felix and Demetri into not only showing me the way out but also my pitiful audition for a life alert button ("help I've fallen and I can't get up"). As well as my escape past poor Prosper and the receptionist before I finally stepped out of his beloved palace.

Which never would've happened if his guard knew I was bullshitting them all.

"Yes, perhaps I should have prepared the guard for the intricacies of your condition." There goes my secret weapon. He released my hand and sidestepped me to face the general room.

"Saffiya has a condition known as congenital insensitivity to pain. It is quite rare and quite dangerous on a day to day basis..." His brothers looked bored and I made the assumption that Aro had already informed them of this. The guards, however, looked no more clued in than before, because despite understanding the words and perhaps even the condition, they weren't sure how it applied to my jail break. For the first time, Aro looked hesitant and I realized that despite being inside my head, he wasn't sure how to better explain.

Aro had already spilled the beans so, though I was loathe to give up my trade secrets, I aided his explanation. "When I tricked Felix and Demetri into thinking I'd hurt my ankle," I started my story here, assuming everyone but Alec was already been filled in to their sides of the story. "In actuality, even if I did twist my ankle or something, I wouldn't know right away. I'd probably have walked on it the rest of the night before noticing something might be wrong."

An idea seemed to occur to Aro as I said this. "For example," Aro began, moving his hand to the right sleeve of my shirt. "May I, dear one?" The request sounded odd, as he'd never asked for my permission before doing anything before.

"Err...I suppose."

Once receiving confirmation from me, Aro lifted the right sleeve of my shirt to reveal a black and purple bruise forming. Different areas of pressure and shape indicated the possibility of the culprit being a hand. It certainly wasn't the worst bruise I'd ever had, but it definitely looked it.

"Oh wow!" I unconsciously laughed if off, raising my arm to get a better look. "Didn't catch that one." I absent-mindedly checked the other arm, remembering all the physical shifting I'd done throughout the day. In fact, I should've checked myself over right after getting chased down by those guys. And being tossed around by Alec. There was sure to be a few minor marks but it was unlikely they'd need any kind of attention.

I hadn't noticed that Aro still had skin to skin contact with me, and my current thoughts must have also flashed through his mind because he addressed the room once more. "Additionally, it seems we must be more careful with dear Saffiya than with a normal human." He had a point. "As she will be unable to tell us if we have perhaps, been a bit too harsh in our handling of her." He aimed his comment to Alec, who was still staring at the bruise around my bicep.

His sister shot him a glare, a sibling level of annoyance brewing in her expression. Probably because he'd ruined their golden child image.

"My boy, you, of anyone, should be most gentle with her."

"Yes, master." I highly doubted he'd see the order through.

However, Aro seemed satisfied with Alec's response, "from now on, I think it best to keep a specific rotation of guards around you. For your own safety and to prevent any further attempts to flee." There was a glint in his eye and I wasn't sure if it was malicious or light-hearted before he leaned in to me. "Of which you must promise never to do so again."

Fat chance. "Yes, sir."

I was given a wave, dismissing me from their presence and Alec returned to my side. As we began to leave, Aro spoke up, a lyrical lift in his voice as he added, "gentle, Alec." Alec nodded, actually refusing to touch me at all as he once again led me out of the room.