Sophia's POV

Once the elevator stopped he lead me up the same staircase and through a set of doors out into a large square with a fountain in the middle and I stopped for a second admiring it around such a lively atmosphere since there was people everywhere which made me a bit nervous and he must have picked up on it.

"What's wrong?"

"Is this safe...for you?" I asked and he laughed.

"It's nighttime Sophia" he pointed out the obvious misunderstanding my question.

"I mean...your uh...thirst" I whispered, so low I would have been afraid he couldn't hear me but I knew he did the moment his lips tightened into a thin line.

"I'm fine, you don't have to worry about that" he snipped back quickly before he placed his hand on the small of my back and started leading me through the streets, I could tell I had upset him with my question no doubt reminding him of what happened.

"I'm sorry I brought it up" I muttered to him as we walked down a busy street.

"Just drop it Sophia, especially here" he reminded me looking around the busy streets and I nodded remembering that secrecy was the utmost importance but how did they remain a secret, their eyes would give them away wouldn't they...I turned taking in Demetri's face for a second, my eyes quickly widening when I noticed his eyes were not red...they were blue. "What?" he asked seeing my look of shock.

"Your eyes, I didn't notice them before" I replied and his lips finally took on a smile.

"We can't exactly go out with our...natural eye color, they're contacts" he explained keeping his voice low but loud enough that I could hear him while I just took in the change, the blue eyes suited him and I was curious to know if it was his natural eye color from before he was a vampire.

"Is blue-?"

"Yes" he nodded smiling at me already knowing what my question was before I'd even finished it. "Now enough of that, tonight's about showing you the city" he quickly changed the subject taking my hand and lead me to better parts of the city where I got lost in the beauty that I actually forgot that I was exploring the city with a thousand year old vampire and actually did feel quite normal for the first time in weeks...no actually I felt better than normal, I felt like I was on cloud nine.

I loved taking in the architecture of all the buildings and seeing the castle from the outside even in the dark with the only light being the crescent moon and the city lights was breathtakingly beautiful, Demetri acting like my tour guide was even more amazing than the sights themselves as he never seemed to be bored and was always smiling when I looked back at him which was also a breath of fresh air after the week we've both had.

"Come, we've got one more place that I want to take you" he took my hand again and I smiled as we walked, any onlooker would think we're the perfect couple but I was still confused and conflicted on what Demetri and I were but now was not the time to ask and I was just going to enjoy this time outside the castle with him.

We walked down the hill before he stopped at a small quaint little restaurant and immediately pulled me inside taking a seat at a two seater table in front of the windows and my eyes took in the view since you could see right out past the city walls and even in the dark the landscape surrounding the city was beautiful.

"Everything's so beautiful here"

"I definitely know one thing is exceptionally beautiful to me" he replied making me turn my head towards him seeing him looking at me and I was unable to help the blush flushing my cheeks just as the waiter came but I barely heard or understood him and just let Demetri order some food for me seeing as I couldn't understand the menu anyway. "I hope you like pasta"

"I eat anything" I shrugged just happy to be out.

"So how do you like the city?" he asked.

"It's breathtaking" I replied making him smile right as our waiter came back with two glasses and some red wine pouring it out in front of us before leaving and I quirked my eye at the fact that Demetri had ordered wine but I guess he had to keep up appearances. "Can you actually drink that?" I asked when he picked up the glass and swirled the liquid around in his glass.

"Merely a prop, can't have people getting suspicious" he replied confirming my suspicions as I raised my own glass drinking some despite not being a legal age to drink which I always lied about to get a job working as a bartender, not that any of my previous employments ever cared too much anyway and I was surprised when it was actually quite nice. "You're lucky the drinking age is much lower here" he remarked making me laugh.

"I guess so, didn't really matter much back in America either considering I was a bartender, an illegal one but it got me an income and Harry was actually quite nice to me, always protected me from the more handsy patrons that frequented his bar"

"What do you mean by handsy?" he asked, a scowl suddenly on his face making me smile and reach across the table to grab his hand.

"It doesn't matter, those days are clearly behind me ever since some guy came into my life and decided to whisk me away to Italy" I replied smirking at him and his smile returned. "You really have brightened up my life Demetri, I don't even know where I'd be right now if it wasn't for you"

"Well yes you were quite an easy target, not just for the likes of my kind" he replied and I nodded my head agreeing with him since I hadn't exactly lived in the safest neighborhood and knew there was always a likely hood of getting mugged every night when I walked home.

"Il suo cibo, signora" the waiter suddenly said putting down a dish in front of me, it looked like a basic pasta dish with some kind of tomato and mushroom sauce. "Sei sicuro che non posso darti niente, signore?" I heard the waiter ask looking at Demetri.
{Translation: Your food, ma'am}{ You're sure I can't give you anything, sir?}

"No grazie" he replied and I understood that one, 'no thank you' making me smile since Felix's Italian lessons were a little help when it came to understanding the language spoken around me.

"Per favore fatemi sapere se c'è qualcos'altro di cui avete bisogno" the waiter quickly said before leaving, I watched him go with a curious look trying to translate what he said for myself.
{Translation: Please let me know if there is anything else you need}

"What are you thinking about so hard?" Demetri suddenly asked making me turn back to him.

"Still trying to learn Italian, it's a bit unfair that you can say something to me and around me and I'd have no idea what you're saying" he laughed at my response.

"È metà del divertimento, mi amore" he replied making me glare at him a little but I was starting to take note of the last two words as he said them to me a lot.
{Translation: It's half the fun, my love}

"Like that, what does mi amore, mean?" I asked but he didn't reply which frustrated me, I sat back refusing to eat until he told me.

"Sophia your food will get cold"

"Tell me what it means?" I argued crossing my arms over my chest.

"Don't be stubborn Sophia" I rolled my eyes at him but the smell of the food was making me hungry and my stomach was grumbling in protest of my strike so I sighed picking up my fork and started eating watching him smile thinking he won.

"So I have to ask, what's the real purpose of tonight?"

"What do you mean?" he asked turning back to me, while I ate he surprisingly hadn't been watching me eat like he usually would he had been watching the rowdy crowd around us.

"Well...you uh...kissed me then...this" I gestured to being outside.

"Just thought I'd give you a nice night out, I know it hasn't exactly been all that great since I brought you here" he replied looking around again seemingly noticing something. "We should go, we only have an hour left before I have to get you back to the castle and I still want to show you one last thing" he stood up dropping a wad of cash that I knew was more than enough to pay for the meal and wine before he took my hand and we were leaving.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't complaining...I'm just a little confused" I told him thinking he was mad at me but he stopped.

"Confused?" I nodded my head. "About what?"

"This...us" I replied nervously.

"What about us?" he pressed walking again with my hand still in his, I was beginning to get a bit cold from the chilled air and his close proximity but I didn't want him to let go either.

"Well you didn't really answer my question earlier, about our...kiss?" I replied and heard him sigh.

"I'm just a little confused about that myself, can we talk about it later?" he asked me and I didn't have the heart to refuse his request even though I desperately wanted to know what it meant for us so I could only nod and he smiled before he began leading me back towards the castle which made me frown a little because I wasn't ready for this night to be over.

Once we got closer my frown turned to confusion when I noticed he wasn't leading me towards the way we'd come out, he was instead heading around the castle towards a large building off to the side, it matched the castles exterior walls and when we reached it I watched him put in a number code into a keypad before the doors opened upwards and my eyes widened when I saw that the building was a garage as there was a shiny red convertible sitting inside.

"Do you trust me?" he asked which kind of made me think that I shouldn't trust him but he looked so handsome and adorable as he waited for my answer with a hopeful look on his face.

"Should I not trust you?" I asked jokingly.

"Probably" he smirked back opening the passenger door and I laughed as I went over and hopped in letting him grab the seatbelt and quickly clip it in for me before he shut the door using his speed to quickly appear on the driver's side of the car and got in starting the car.

I felt excitement and a tiny bit of fear as he smirked over at me pressing his foot on the gas so the car revved loudly and the very sound resonated right through my body before he threw the car into gear and we were speeding out of the garage leaving smoke in our wake as the car went from 0 to 60 in seconds.

"Jesus" I cursed as he weaved the car through the tight streets of the city with ease before we were out of the city gates. "I take it this car isn't yours?" I asked him seeing as he wasn't driving cautiously.

"Not exactly" he smirked over at me taking his eyes off the road.

"Eyes on the road!" I exclaimed.

"I won't crash" he argued and as if just to prove his point he kept his eyes locked on me as we sped through the city, my eyes remaining locked on his too afraid to actually see where we were going when he wasn't even looking but also because his blue contacts looked to have melted away and his eyes were now back to their usual crimson red which I found I liked better, not that him with blue eyes wasn't gorgeous as well but I'd fallen in love with him and that included his eye color which always told me a lot of how he was feeling, he laughed finally moving his eyes back to watch the road and I couldn't help smile a little.

Despite this being probably the most terrifying drive I'd ever been in I couldn't help the feeling of absolute freedom as the car flew down the long straight road, nothing but the Italian countryside on either side of us and the fresh air blowing my air around in the wind.

After 30 minutes of nonstop driving he turned around and headed back into the city parking the car back into the garage getting out appearing to help me out before he closed the garage up and started heading towards the castle.

"The sun will be up soon, we're gonna have to take and different route into the castle" he explained to me when I noticed we weren't going to the clock tower entrance, instead we snuck through the shadows as the sun had already begun its assent into the sky and went down an alleyway instead where he walked to a wall and suddenly pushed a grate aside. "Your gonna have to trust me again" he told me turning to face me as I hesitantly looked down into the hole and my face paled when I could not see the bottom.

"Your joking right?" I asked him but he shook his head.

"I'll go down first, I'll catch you"

"I don't..."

"Trust me" he cut me off cupping my cheek smiling softly when my breathing stopped for a second at the feel of his hand on my face before he let go and before I knew it he was gone obviously disappearing down the hole, I inched closer taking it in a bit better, it looked like a drain sunk into the lowest point of the paving. "Come on Sophia, I'm right here" I heard his voice call up from the darkness far too below to make me feel better. "Don't make me come back up there" he added and I rolled my eyes taking a deep breath moving to sit on the edge letting my feet dangle.

"If I die, I'm going to find a way to kill you Demetri" I said knowing he'd hear me before I closed my eyes and let myself drop, clamping my mouth shut so I wouldn't scream.

It was silent and short and the air whipped past me for just half a second before I landed in a solid pair of arms with a huff forcing me to exhale the breath out of my lungs and I knew I was going to have bruises but he'd caught me just like he promised and quickly stood me upright as I took in my surroundings, it was dim but not black at the bottom the light from the hole above provided a faint glow, reflecting wetly from the stones under my feet but then I felt his presence beside me vanish and the light above was dimmed at the sound of the grate being pulled back into place.

"Boo!" I heard behind me and jumped spinning around seeing him behind me with a smirk on his face.

"That's not funny"

"Come on" he took my hand again and started leading me through the darkness and I hopped he could see where he was going because I couldn't and was relying solely on him to get us through this tunnel as the path beneath our feet continued to slant downward, taking us deeper into the ground.

I couldn't tell where the light was coming from but I was slowly starting to be able to see more as the the halls began to turn a dark gray instead of the blackness and I noticed we were in a low arched tunnel, one that I quickly recognized once we came to a staircase descending the stone steps and into the elevator which was still playing the horrible opera music but I relaxed for the fact that I could now see.

"I actually had a really nice time tonight, thank you for showing me the city and the drive"

"You're welcome, I want to show you the world before..." he trailed off and I wanted to ask what he was going to say but chose not to, I didn't want to ruin his good mood by asking too many questions but in the back of my mind I probably already knew what he was going to say.

The elevator doors opened into the Volturi's reception area which I'd noticed had couches like they expected and had people visiting but I'd never seen any strangers in the castle except for the vampires who lived here and the human secretaries which brought the question of what the Volturi really did but again I did not asking knowing it wasn't my place and that I wouldn't get an answer out of Demetri anyway so I stayed quiet as he lead me through the halls and I frowned when I realised we were heading back towards the room in which I'd been staying in the past week.

"Am I not staying with you?" I asked him hesitantly nervous for his answer.

"Afraid not" he replied, a sour look on his face. "It's better that I don't...tempt myself any more than I already have tonight" he added seeing my deep frown but it only deepened further as I understood what he meant by that.

"Demetri what happened last week...it was my fault, I was careless-"

"No you weren't, I was" he cut me off opening the door to the room and ushered me inside. "I grew...complacent in your presence and that lowered my tolerance to the scent of your blood, it was reckless and should never had happened"

"So that's it, we can never go back to how things were before?" I asked him.

"One day but for now this is how it needs to be" he replied a hard expression to his tone telling me it was not up for discussion which kind of angered me, I turned walking towards the bathroom to get out of the dress but he followed me.

"Can I get dressed in peace?" I asked him snapping a little.

"Are you mad at me?" he asked making me frown as I tried to reach for the zipper but I couldn't get it. "Sophia, I know it's hard for you to understand-" he added coming up and I felt his hands on my back sliding down the zipper for me, the sleeves held the dress in place but I placed my hands over my chest just to make sure it didn't fall when I turned to him.

"Oh no it's quite simple, you don't want me and you only had to say that" I spat at him.

"That's not what I implied at all" he growled back. "You don't understand what's it's like for me to be around you, your blood calls to me...it sings to me and all it takes is a second that I'm distracted or something like last week happens and I have no control, a second is all it can take for me to not be able to control my thirst...and your dead" he whispered the last part. "I'm not...safe"

"Nothing in life is safe Demetri, I've known that my whole life"

"Sophia all it would take is one drop of your blood for me to lose all sense again"

"I can be careful, we can be careful" I argued walking up to him and put my hands on either side of his face. "I can't live like I have in the past week Demetri...I can't" I cried as he grabbed my hands and lowered them from his face.

"We need to take this slow Sophia, so that I don't hurt you...I'm asking you to give me time" he replied making me frown but he was right, he deserved some effort from me. "Just give me time mi amore" I smiled a little and he clearly noticed before he grabbed my face lifting it up a little to press his lips to my forehead. "We'll figure it out" I nodded slowly. "I'll leave you to get dressed"

"Okay" I smiled at him as he walked out of the bathroom closing the door behind him.

I walked out about 20 minutes later after showering and changing into some cotton shorts and a soft t-shirt, I noticed he wasn't in the room but I didn't let it bother me...well I attempted to not let it bother me as I sat on the couch and picked up the book I'd been reading lately and started to read in order to distract me and quickly found myself dozing against the armrest, the lack of sleep tonight catching up to me.

Demetri's POV

I left Sophia's room feeling the burn in my throat becoming too much and I didn't want to take any further risk, kissing her tonight had been torturing but the urge had been too strong to ignore any longer after she told me she was in love with me, no one had ever said that to me before and I don't know what came over me but I felt like her words had bonded me to her more than I'd ever thought was physically possible...she loved me and I felt like I could love her too but I was unsure having never experienced the feeling for myself which is why I didn't say it back because I wanted to be completely sure that what I was experiencing was love knowing that for a vampire we only love once and if Sophia was it for me then I wanted to be sure especially after what happened last week because I didn't want to finally admit that she was the love of my life only to lose her because I know I won't be able to live with that.

I walked into the library intending to get Sophia some new books that I thought she'd like as I noticed she was nearly finished with the one she'd been reading lately but didn't realize until it was too late that the room was already occupied.

"Master I'm so sorry" I hung my head and went to leave the room.

"It's quite alright Demetri" Marcus replied in his usual raspy bored voice, he was sitting at the piano playing a soft haunted melody. "Come" he beckoned me towards him. "Aro told me about your mates piano playing, you must bring her to see me I would very much like to hear her play" I nodded my head with a small smile at the memory of discovering Sophia could play the piano, I'd never been more shocked when she immediately started playing that day.

"I will sire"

"I've noticed that you have a very different emotional connection to her from when you first arrived with the girl" he pointed out and I frowned not sure how to interpret that.

"How to mean master?" I asked him as this might just be the answers that I'm looking for.

"Your connection grows into one of love the more time passes, you quite remind me of me and Didyme" I frowned at that as I remember hearing about Marcus' mate and that she died and never wanted to experience that, he was barely a shell of a man and knew that if I ever lost Sophia now then I'd wouldn't want to continue to live. "Hold onto her Demetri, you will never appreciate the time you spent until she's gone"

"I will master Marcus" I nodded agreeing whole heartedly before I walked out of the room, I'll get her some new books tomorrow, right now I felt the need to be with her and quickly hurried back to the room walking in quietly hearing steady breathing and her steady heartbeat telling me she was asleep and I smiled at the sight as I walked closer to her and brushed her hair out of her face being careful not to wake her with my cold skin. "I love you Sophia, your my life, the key to my existence, my singer and my mate and I promise that I will never leave you for as long as I shall live" I suddenly heard clapping and quickly glared towards the door seeing Heidi standing there.

"That was sickly Demetri" she growled out making me roll my eyes as I stood and walked towards her making her back out into the hall allowing me to close the door keeping her away from Sophia knowing her distaste towards her was purely selfish.

"What do you want Heidi?" I asked her standing protectively in front of the door.

"You know what I want, you're not seriously in love with that human" she moved towards me but I didn't move. "She's but a passing infatuation, she's nothing" she put her hand on my cheek. "Have you forgotten all the fun we've had in the past, the way I made you feel" it was no secret to anyone in the castle that Heidi and I had fooled around in the past but now the very thought was sickening.

"I remember those times as well but just like you said they are in the past, the mutual encounters we had are over Heidi" I told her keeping my eyes forward not even looking in her direction. "Sophia is my mate"

"Do you intend to give her immortality?" she asked sneering it out with a smile making me glare at her.

"That's not any of your concern"

"Stop fooling yourself Demetri, we both know you're not capable of settling down with one woman let alone a human, you're not the forever type" she added before she walked off leaving me glaring after her making a mental note to keep Sophia away from her since I didn't need anything else going wrong when I was so close to having Sophia as mine.