I yawned waking up a little stiff from the position that I'd fallen asleep in and quickly stretched my tired and asleep muscles but heard a soft and hearty chuckle from beside me and jumped turning in that direction seeing Demetri sitting on the other end of the couch.
"I wanted to move you but you looked comfortable" he smiled and my mood instantly brightened for the fact that he was here when I woke up, something that hasn't happened in way too long.
"You're here" I pointed out the obvious.
"I'm here" he nodded his smile widening.
"I thought..." I shook my head stopping myself from putting my foot in my mouth and just smiled at him.
"Do you want to go to the kitchen for breakfast or would you like to eat it here, your choice?"
"Uh...here" I replied just wanting to be alone with him and I didn't like going to the kitchen since Valentina 'left' which is another thing I was dying to ask but knew I wouldn't like the answer so I vowed to keep quiet and not ask.
"Okay I'll be right back, any particular requests"
"Just something small, I'm not that hungry to be honest" I replied and watched him frown, he clearly didn't like that.
"Are you sure, Felix told me you weren't-" I glared at him with the knowledge that he had been checking up on me during that time but had still refused to come and see me until I had tried to...well attempted to... "Okay but you're going to eat a proper lunch then" he conceded with my request leaving the room which allowed me to use the bathroom and forgo my morning human moments while he was gone and changed into some casual clothes before I returned to the living area and sat down reading the rest of my book before he returned with the usual silver tray placing it down. "It's uh...oatmeal, is that okay?" he asked and I nodded with a smile.
"Thank you" I said sitting down lifting the cover off picking up my spoon and started eating, my stomach protesting a little not used to eating in the morning given I haven't for the past week but he was watching me so I was going to make sure I ate something for his sake.
"That doesn't look appetizing at all" he suddenly said making me laugh a little as I ate some off the spoon.
"Does that mean you don't want any?" I asked teasingly and held a spoonful towards him.
"Definitely not, even if I could stomach human food I would never eat that"
"What did you eat in your time for breakfast?" I asked curious.
"A lot of olives, figs and vegetables, some cheese and milk if lucky to have a goat" I recoiled at that since I hated goats milk. "Tiganítis was always my favorite" I had no idea what that was, he clearly spoke Greek.
"What now?"
"It was like a pancake" he simplified for me. "Food in Greece was very simple, bread dipped in wine, salted fish, cheeses, that was basically all we had for breakfast and lunch" he shrugged but I was intrigued just wanting to know more about his culture and life as a human.
"What about dinner?"
"Mostly the same, dinner in Greece was when everyone would gather with friends not family and likely discuss things like philosophy or maybe just daily events" he shrugged frowning which I noticed he did a lot when he was speaking about some parts of his childhood, mostly when the word 'family' was mentioned and I already knew he didn't share very happy memories of his family. "Men and women normally ate separately, in some homes where there was slaves they would serve the men dinner first, then the women and then themselves" I frowned never liking the idea of ancient cultures and slaves. "If the family didn't have enslaved laborers, the women of the house served the men first and then they ate when the men were finished" my face soured even more and I heard him laugh.
"It's not funny" I spat at him.
"I'm sorry" he apologized but I could tell he did not mean it. "Anyway dinner was usually eggs from quail and hens, fish, legumes, olives, cheeses, bread, figs and any vegetables that grew at the time"
"No meat?" I questioned since he only mentioned fish and I was not a fan of seafood.
"Meats were reserved for the wealthy" he shrugged.
"We're you wealthy?" I asked and watched his frown return.
"My father was which meant I was more privileged than most in that time" he shrugged and I nodded deciding to stop asking questions and went back to eating but after only eating about half I knew I couldn't stomach anymore and pushed it aside. "You should eat more than that" Demetri protested.
"I'm full" I argued sitting up seeing his frown but I ignored it.
"Okay, well what would you like to do today?" he asked and I turned to look at him, my eyes finding his lips which is really what I would like to be doing but I needed to respect his boundaries and limitations if I didn't want to die.
"I'm not fussed" I shrugged moving my eyes away from him as to not be tempted.
"Did you want to go to the library, maybe pick out a new book seeing as your nearly finished with that one or you can go and play piano" I frowned quickly shaking my head seeing his frown deepen with confusion.
"Could we go for a walk through the gardens?" I asked but his expression didn't change as he shook his head.
"It's daylight and I uh...maybe Felix could take you later if you'd like" I frowned confused.
"Why can't you?"
"I'm not..." he shook his head again and I quickly realized, he was afraid after last week.
"It's okay, we don't have to do anything...you don't have to"
"That's not-"
"It's okay, I understand" I cut him off and if possible his frown grew even deeper as he suddenly took my hand into his cold one.
"I'm sorry, I'm just not comfortable with taking you back there yet" I nodded my head showing him I understood right as there was a knock on the door and he growled angry for the disruption. "What?" he growled out and must be listening because I didn't hear anything but he quickly sighed. "I have to go" he stood up without even giving me a proper explanation or a promise that he'd be back before he was gone leaving me alone in the room.
I sighed really hating it when he left like that but I ignored the feeling in my chest at his absence and picked up my book deciding it was an easy distraction and I finally finished getting to the ending of the book making me smile because I'd finally saw an Italian city with my own eyes and it hadn't compared to what I'd envisioned by reading about it.
"Hey" I turned surprised to see Chelsea walk into the room and take a seat on the armchair beside me. "I heard Demetri took you out last night" I nodded my head, a smile playing at my lips at the memory. "How'd you like the city?" she asked.
"It was amazing, I've always been fascinated by ancient architecture and the views are amazing" she smiled nodding her head.
"And Demetri, was he okay?" I didn't quite like the question as she was asking as if there was something wrong with him.
"He was fine" I shrugged. "We're fine" I went back to reading my book feeling a little awkward in her presence.
"I told you, you guys would work it out" she replied and I found myself curious on another question that I'd been mulling over, I know Demetri explained it a little on why my blood called to him more than others but what I didn't really understand was the whole mates thing since that was a little hard to swallow and believe that I was the one Demetri was destined to be with for the rest of his life"
"Chelsea, can I ask you something?"
"Of course" she replied.
"Demetri told me that I'm his mate and that I'm supposed to be destined to be with him but what does that really mean?" her face fell as she looked at me but then a soft smile.
"It's different for everyone but with me and Afton...when I first laid eyes on him it was like love at first sight, he wasn't very people friendly and was always like the invisible one in the room but never to me, the way I found to explain love is it's the person that you know in your heart that you belong with, the one that you can't live without and you'll always know when you feel that" I nodded my head. "We can all see how Demetri feels about you and I have a feeling you can see it as well, don't doubt him or yourself" she added before she stood with a small smile and left the room leaving me on my own again but again that didn't last long.
"Sophia right?" I jumped with the new voice, hardly recognizing it until I saw Alec sitting on the couch across from me, my eyes drifted over to the door since I hadn't even heard him come in and that terrified me.
"Y-yes" I answered trying to keep the stutter out of my voice and keep my face neutral not letting on how much I was afraid because I'd never spoken to either Alec or his twin sister Jane especially after Demetri's rule not to pester them unless I wanted to experience pain worse than death which I didn't.
"We haven't been properly introduced, I'm Alec" my brows furrowed at his attempt to be polite, or whatever this was. "What are you reading?"
"A Room with a View" I shrugged anxiously watching the door, I felt trapped in his presence since he'd fallen silent and was just staring at me, the air was thick with tension and my body just felt the need to get the hell out of here. "No offense but uh...what do you want?" I ended up asking feeling stupid the moment the words left my mouth.
"I guess I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about, you are only a human yet you've made the Volturi playboy piss of Heidi" I frowned confused but understood he had to be talking about Demetri given I called him Casanova.
"I don't...I don't know what you're talking about" I replied looking down at my lap avoiding his menacing eyes.
"You mean you don't know, I thought you would have figured it out by now" my eyes narrowed at him. "You honestly can't be that naïve to think that Demetri's actually likes you, do you?" he laughed as my displeasure grew. "Wow humans are stupid" he got up and walked out clearly satisfied with what he'd come here to do.
I suddenly didn't feel like reading any longer so I put down my book and moved over to the only window in this room and opened the curtains to look out but it was cloudy and as miserable outside as I felt, I frowned deeply shutting them immediately before looking around the room before I let out a deep sign falling back laying straight on the floor just gazing up at the ceiling completely and utterly bored out of my mind.
"Really wish I had music right now" I breathed out closing my eyes.
"I'll take that under advisement princess" I jumped started as my eyes shot open to see Demetri standing over me looking down with a genuine smile on his face, I huffed closing my eyes again. "Are you okay?"
"I'm peachy" I replied without even looking at him.
"You wanna get out of this room"
"I'm good"
"I can see that" I heard him say under his breath which made me open my eyes seeing him looking around the room.
"You don't have to entertain me, you should just go" I shrugged sitting up.
"What are you talking about?" he asked suddenly sitting in front of me, crossing his legs underneath him.
"You must have better things to do than hang out with a human" I frowned avoiding his eyes as I stood up off the floor and moved towards the bathroom.
"Sophia" I ignored him until he was grabbing my hand turning me around. "Hey talk to me, what's going on?"
"Just leave Demetri!"
"What happened?" he insisted.
"You don't have to be here, we both know I'm just some human that you can't kill-"
"Where's this coming from?" I turned away from him. "No, talk to me"
"And say what?!" I yelled at him pulling my arm out of his which hurt more than I'd intended it to. "We both know that this isn't going anywhere"
"I don't..." he trailed off and I saw something click in his eyes. "Did someone say something to do?" I avoided his eyes. "Hey answer me?" he cupped my cheeks lifting my face so that I was forced to meet his eyes.
"No one said anything to me" he glared at me knowing I was lying but I didn't care.
"Well if no one said anything then why are you acting like this"
"Because it's the logical thing, you're a vampire and I'm a human we're physically incompatible"
"That can easily be changed" he whispered under his breath again but I heard him and my entire pose froze. "But not until you ask for it" he quickly added seeing my reaction. "What I'm saying is that I don't care that your human, if anything I like the way you are...I love your blue eyes, the way you blush when your embarrassed or when I compliment you, I love the way your eyes lit up when I showed you the city and the way you play piano, the excitement you show when Felix teaches you Italian" my eyes were locked on his as he revealed how much he actually paid attention. "I care about you Sophia" I frowned since that wasn't good enough not when he knew that I was in love with him.
"That's not good enough" I told him shaking my head.
"What else am I supposed to say?" he asked which just made me frown.
"Nothing" I replied since I couldn't tell him what he was supposed to say and the fact that he couldn't say it revealed to me that he didn't feel the same for me and that I really was just a naïve human believing that an immortal being could ever possibly be in love with me, those kind of stories only existed in fairytales.
"Tell me what I can do to convince you how much I care about you?" he demanded, almost looking desperate if I didn't know him better.
"I can't tell you what to do Demetri and that's the point, your immortal and should stop wasting time waiting around for me to die" I turned and started heading for the bathroom knowing he was less likely to follow me.
I jumped into the shower knowing that I'd be safe to let out a few sobs without him overhearing, I didn't know why I really thought that it would ever work I mean I'm surrounded by vampires, some of them beautiful beyond compare so why would I think that Demetri would honestly fall for some insignificant human.
I took my time in the shower, washing my hair with the scented shampoo that I'd been given, it was some expensive looking stuff and it smelt like vanilla which I really liked, I took my time and just enjoyed the water until it ran cold and finally got out wrapping a towel around myself before I walked through the door that lead to the small walk in where my clothes were and threw on some of my jeans, a red long sleeved shirt which had a plunging neck line and pulled on some simple boots.
After I was dressed I moved back into the bathroom and dried my hair finally having a hairdryer throwing it up into a high ponytail finally heading back out into the living area but what I found made me stop was the lights were dim and the only real source of light was from the red candles on the coffee table with a small vase of about a dozen red roses.
"I know it's probably not that great-" I jumped spinning around and saw Demetri standing behind me a bottle of wine in his hand with two champagne flutes.
"What is this?"
"My attempt to prove to you how much you mean to me" he replied before he held his hand out for me effortlessly holding the bottle and glasses in his left hand while I took his right and let him lead me over to the table where I sat on the floor on one of the pillows he laid down for me. "I had Bianca make you Carbonara"
"Thank you" I nodded but didn't make any move to eat since I wasn't that hungry but he didn't seem to notice and opened the wine pouring it into the two glasses placing one in front of me and left the other in front of him even though we both knew he wasn't going to drink it, before I frowned and it put down as well as pushing the plate of food away.
"What?" he asked confused by my actions as I leant back and crossed my arms over my chest showing him I wasn't in the mood for his fine dining distractions.
"This isn't what I want Demetri" his own brows furrowed and he too leant back.
"I don't understand you at all, you liked this last night"
"Last night was different because I thought I knew what you were thinking"
"And what you don't know what I'm thinking now?" I nodded my head, he sighed and shook his head at me. "You are the most insufferable human I've ever met"
"Excuse me?" I spat at him watching as he stood up and so I followed him getting up myself.
"What do you want from me?!" he demanded and I found myself growing angry with him.
"I don't know" I replied not sure what I really wanted right now, I was just so confused because I'd never felt this way about any guy before, nothing like the pain in my chest whenever he was gone or the way he makes my heart threaten to beat out of my chest whenever he's around.
"Tell me what you're thinking" I looked up seeing him moving towards me and I soon found my back pressed up against the wall with him in front of me, hands beside my head.
"I'm..." how did I really feel, I thought about for a second and with more time I could see Demetri's face hardening, impatience slipping over his marveled beauty. "I'm...scared" I finally said and watched his eyes widen as he slowly took a step back lowering his arms to his side.
"You're afraid of me?" I shook my head which seemed to just further confuse him. "What are you afraid of then?"
"I'm afraid of being...insignificant, of being...left behind"
"Sophia you could never be insignificant and I'll never leave you behind"
"You can't promise that Demetri, my life is controlled by time and eventually I will die and I'm not naïve to believe that your even going to want to keep me around not when you have so much other options in this castle alone" I told him and he frowned.
"Did Heidi speak to you?" he asked and my eyes furrowed as I shook my head. "Then who, I know this isn't you?"
"No one-"
"Alec?" he cut me off and my face must have given me away. "Of course, Sophia you can't be serious to have listened to anything he said" I turned my head avoiding his eyes. "What did he say to you?"
"It doesn't matter, everything he said was true"
"No it isn't" he argued moving back towards me and before I knew it his hand was caressing over my cheek. "You know we never did talk about our kiss" he pointed out and my brows furrowed a little.
"We don't-"
"Shh" his finger found its way to my lips and I smiled a little. "You told me that you loved me, do you still feel that way?" he asked removing his finger from my lips but returned it to cup my cheek as I wasted no time in nodding my head.
"No body has ever loved anybody as much as I love you Demetri, more than should ever be humanly possible to love another person in such a short amount of time" I admitted speaking the absolute truth.
"Now that's not true" he replied making me frown but he had a wide grin on his face. "I've never told anyone what I'm about to tell you mi amore so cherish it" my confusion grew as he cupped both of my cheeks. "I love you Sophia, you're the light of my existence on this earth, where ever you go I will follow"
"Demetri don't joke with me" I warned him, he sighed and shook his head.
"Sophia I wouldn't joke about that, when a vampire falls in love we don't ever stop and you have captured my heart like no one has ever been able to do in a thousand years, human or vampire alike" his thumbs traced beneath my eyes wiping away a couple of stray tears in the process as if I thought my heart threatened to beat out of my chest before it was hammering against my rib cage now and his smile grew no doubt hearing it. "Eisai i agapi tis zois mou, Sophia"
{[Greek]Translation: You are the love of my life, Sophia}
"I don't-" his lips pressed against mine cutting off my protest to him speaking in language that I didn't know, I kissed back instantly melting into his embrace as his arms wrapped around my waist pulling me closer but no soon was it over and he was pulling away and I frowned seeing a pained look on his face.
"We need to be careful mi amore"
"My blood?" I asked and he nodded gently caressing my cheek.
"Believe me I'd give anything to be able to kiss to senseless right now but I don't want to hurt you ever again"
"That wasn't your fault Demetri, I was playing with the rose" I argued shaking my head.
"I gave you the rose in the first place and I wasn't at my strongest, I have to feed more often in order to be around you" I didn't want to think about him feeding, the crimson red eyes always reminded me of his diet in the back of my head but I chose to ignore it because it didn't define who he really was and I had to have an open mind for the slightest possibility that I was going to become a vampire myself.
"I guess it was a bit of shared stupidity between us" I argued and he smiled.
"I guess I can live with that" he cupped my cheek again slowly moving his hand towards the back of my head cradling it against the wall in which I was still pressed against, his fingers rubbed smooth circles on my scalp and I was surprised by how good it felt. "I...I need you back in my room, maybe being around your scent again I could build a tolerance to it"
"Or you could...hmm...turn me?" I suggested and his whole posture stiffened as he stopped his massage and when my eyes opened having closed I saw his eyes wide with shock. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to assume but uh..."
"Sophia, let's not ruin this moment by discussing that morbid thought" I nodded agreeing with that especially as he immediately distracted me as he leaned in and I thought he was going to kiss me again but he rested in forehead against mine and I flinched as he sucked in a deep breath. "Don't move" he warned me and something in his voice calmed me instantly even though he continued to take slow and deep breaths.
"What...what do I smell like to you?" I found myself asking generally curious.
"You smell like vanilla, fresh mountain air and azalea's, it's refreshing but scorching at the same time"
"Scorching?" I questioned as he leant back so I could see his face noticing his eyes had darkened the tiniest bit, they looked more like a rusted red.
"It's complicated" he replied and I laughed a little flashing back to him first telling me about vampires.
"Isn't everything with you" I joked and he gave me a small glare.
"Don't be smart" he shot back at me and I laughed which he just shook his head at me stepping back. "When I'm overly thirsty or in your case where I find a scent practically...appetizing it feels like I've drank scolding hot lava straight down my throat"
"That sounds painful" I replied eyes widening since I had no idea I put him through that amount of pain every time he was with me.
"It's unpleasant but bearable after a couple centuries practice" he nodded his head. "I've grown used to the familiar burn whenever I'm around you" he stroked my cheek again and I smiled leaning into his cold touch. "I never thought I'd ever grow to care this much about a person but I'm glad that it's you mi amore"
"Ti voglio bene, Demetri Volturi" I smirked when his eyes widened.
{Translation: I love you, Demetri Volturi}
"Those lessons with Felix are paying off" he pointed out but I shook my head.
"Self-taught" I nodded over to the lamp table and he turned assumably seeing the Italian dictionary that I'd found in the library and hid for the past couple of weeks.
"Il tuo fantastico, Sophia" I smiled kind of knowing what he said but I wasn't going to push it since I hated it when he spoke other languages when I couldn't understand him. "Ti amo" he cupped my cheeks and brought my lips slowly towards his and it felt as if time stopped the moment they touched, Demetri just had the ability to dull all my senses so that everything I felt began and ended with him.
{Translation: Your fantastic, Sophia}{I love you}
Everything feels like it's finally fallen into place and I feel like I finally know who I'm supposed to be, as if my life has always been leading to Demetri especially since if I hadn't gone through all the crap I'd had to endure in my life then I'd have never met Demetri and I don't know where I'd be without him since my suicidal moment yesterday hadn't been the first time I'd thought about killing myself especially when I was with my old boyfriend but something always stopped me and I never thought I believed in destiny but after meeting Demetri my perception on a lot of things I hadn't believed in had changed.
Demetri and I had ended up actually enjoying the set out that he'd organized for us even though my food had gone cold and the candles had all but melted, in the end we just sat and had one of those talks that just kept going and never seemed to have an end slowly getting to know each other even better and he told me stories about places he'd been in his existence.
He had lit the fire and we were camped out on the floor sitting side by side while we talked, the fire provided enough warmth for me not to freeze from being too close to his icy skin even though it didn't really bother me as much as it did Demetri who worried even I got the slightest shiver or goosebumps on my skin which is why I also have a thin blanket draped over my shoulders and I was completely comfortable in his presence.
Demetri's POV
Sophia really was the most amazing person I'd ever meet and I had meant every word tonight knowing that she had captured my heart and I was never letting her get away from me and with each second that passed I felt myself growing more in love with her, she never ceased to be able to make me smile and despite the constant burn in my thought I loved being surrounded by her scent especially as she was practically laying in my arms right now slowly falling asleep even though she was still talking.
"Do you actually believe in destiny?" she asked me and I looked down at her having been gazing into the fire.
"Not until I met you, as cliché as that sounds" I replied and she chuckled, the sound like music to my ears. "Think about this way, I was born 1000 years ago, you were born 19 years ago which is a lot of time between the two and yet somehow we're destined for each other"
"That does sound overly cliché" she yawned startling me when she actually rested her head against my shoulder, this was a little too close but the moment I looked down and saw her eyes closed I knew I didn't have the heart to tell her to move and instead I just listened to her heart slow as she fell asleep in my arms.
After I knew she was out completely I lifted her up into my arms effortlessly without jostling her too much that she'd wake up and I went to lay her down on the couch but my eyes went over to the bed knowing she'd be a heap more comfortable so I went over and quickly pulled the duvet down before I went to lay her down only for her arms to lock around my neck bringing her scent much too close for comfort.
"Stay" she breathed, not a flicker to her breathing or heartbeat which told me she was still fast asleep. "Demetri" I smiled gently prying her arms off me and got her settled under the blankets.
"Perhaps soon, mi amore" I breathed pressing a kiss to her forehead moving some of her hair out of her face.