Demetri's POV

Watching Sophia's eyes light up the moment the taxi had stopped at our destination was entertaining in itself since I'd never seen her so excited about anything before and I loved that she was so immersed with the beauty of my homeland, it certainly was strange to see the city after all this time and I haven't been back in Greece in centuries but it was like seeing it all a new through Sophia's excitement.

We visited the Parthenon and I told her stories of what it was like when I was human, how the temple was used as a shrine for the goddess Athena as well as a church, I told her about its history like how in 1456, the Ottomans took over the temple and converted it into a mosque and that two centuries later, Athens was attacked by Venetians while the Ottomans used the Acropolis to store gunpowder and that after the Venetians fired at the Acropolis it blew up the building and part of it was destroyed.

She listened with deep fascination and eyes wide as we walked around hand in hand and even I was captivated by the architecture and how much it had fallen and changed from how I remembered it so we were both seeing all this for the first time so we took our time and just explored everything the city had to offer.

Sophia's POV

Exploring the city and listening to Demetri's recollection of the place he'd grown up in was everything that I imagined it to be and I fell in love with the city feeling as if I could physically picture it through his eyes and through it fell in love with the beauty of it all.

We spent a whole week either exploring more of the city...some even illegal and more fascinating views as Demetri took advantage of his vampire abilities to get us places that were off limits to the public since we had to go at dusk and night time except for the one cloudy day which had been overcast enough that we'd been able to go out but it was all an experience that I wouldn't soon forget and hoped I never would.

The sunny days were all spent inside the hotel cuddled up on the couch watching movies that we rented and I made a note to persuade him into getting one for his room in Volterra as it would be a nice change from the boring days where I just sat around and stared out the windows.

And when we weren't watching Tv you could guess what happened, we'd made love a total of eight times and every time it felt as if it got better and I came out with less bruises and we didn't have to explain the shredded sheets and pillows to the cleaning staff who came to replace them since it was never fun...all this time it was nice being in our own personal little love bubble with no distractions or work schedules for him to attend to but like all good things they had to come to an end as Demetri got the call a total of a week and three days after our wedding that we had to go back since there was finally a solid decision about the war to come so we were currently on our way back to Volterra and I was more than upset that our fun was over and the fact that he was going off to war pretty much.

"Welcome back lovebirds" Felix announced as soon as we walked inside the castle and swept me up in a hug spinning me around a little but I wasn't in the mood.

"Hey Felix" his smile dropped turning to look back and forth between Demetri and me.

"What's wrong with you two?" he asked but I just shook my head.

"I'm gonna head to the room, let you discuss the plans with Aro" I told Demetri, he nodded his head before we shared a quick kiss and I walked to our room shutting the door behind me before I went over to the bed and laid down pulling a pillow to my chest to muffle the cries which rose since I didn't want him to go.

Demetri's POV

I was just returning from speaking with the ancients about the war to come, it taking the entire night meaning it was just beginning to become morning and I was on my way back to Sophia to tell her since I wasn't hiding anything from her, the plan was the entire Volturi including the wives was going to this war which meant I was taking her with me to Seattle and she was going to wait for me there.

The castle was a buzz with new vampires, all of which were to play witness to the justice and to help eradicate the Cullen's since the other guard members had found out that the Cullen's had been gathering an army for themselves.

I walked into our room finding her curled up in the bed still, the pillow that I used when I laid with her clutched to her chest and the evidence of tears still on her cheeks making me frown, I knew how much this was hurting her and I hated myself for making her go through it but I didn't have a choice.

I walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it slowly brushing my hand across her face, I wish I could've given her more of a honeymoon and that it hadn't ended on such a bad note since it had been the most relaxing and fun thing I'd ever done in centuries and promised myself that I'd take her back there one day if I made it out of this, even more so had I loved that I had been able to be so intimate with her getting to a point that she'd barely been hurt by my our lovemaking.

The first time I'd seen what I did to her I hated myself, hated that I had been the one to hurt her and mark her skin with such large and nasty bruises since I'd vowed to myself never to hurt her again after I nearly killed her but I felt like the more time I spent with her the easier it became to treat her like she deserved and found myself able to restrain my strength and hunger, that's not to say other things didn't suffer since I'd ruined a fair amount of bed linen which was hilarious when Sophia got embarrassed whenever the cleaning staff questioned the ruined sheets and pillows that I'd either scratch or bite apart to avoid doing it to her.

"Demetri" I looked up hearing my name and saw her eyes open.

"Good morning mi amore" I smiled at her.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Just past dawn, I wasn't trying to wake you" I apologized moving quickly to lay beside her, the movement appearing instantaneous to her since her eyes widened as she turned to face me.

"What's happening?" she asked and I frowned knowing exactly what she was asking about.

"It's happening in a week, we're making a final stop in London for a few more allies before going to Seattle" she frowned hanging her head low and I knew she was ready to cry again, I could smell the salt of the tears in her eyes and I had a feeling if I was able to cry I would be too since this could go either way and I hated making her go through this.

"You have to be careful Demetri, I can't-"

"I will, I swear to you" I cut her off cupping her cheeks. "But we have the numbers to do this, the entire Volturi is going and all our allies, there's plenty of us meaning this is going to be too easy" I smiled trying to placate her even though I knew it was a lost cause. "There's something else too" she looked up eyes furrowed. "I'm taking you to Seattle with us, I want you close by so that the moment it's over I'll be with you" I told her even though that wasn't the entire truth.

"Your lying" she spat at me, eyes turning into a glare. "Your taking me to Seattle because if this goes badly then you see Seattle as a place to free me from your death" I sighed since I'd hoped she hadn't seen right through me but she was right, if I died then her being in Seattle meant she could return to her human life and eventually she'd forget about me.

"Sophia-"

"No!" she exclaimed jumping to her feet, she'd moved faster than I'd ever seen her. "No I'm not letting you do this, I refuse to loose you!"

"You know I don't have a choice" I argued sitting up.

"You always have a choice!" I frowned since she was getting loud and no doubt the whole castle could hear her.

"Look just calm down" I stood up and went over to her. "This situation sucks Sophia, we both know it but this is my job and I can't just walk away, I'm sorry...I'm sorry that I have to put you through this but I am going to protect you with every bit of my power which means if I die then I'll do it knowing that your safe away from this place" she shook her head but I stilled it with my hands. "You have to do this for me, I want you to never look back if this ends badly"

"Demetri-"

"Promise me?" I told her and she frowned.

"I promise" she finally nodded and it seemed those words opened the floodgates as the tears spilled down her cheeks and she sobbed crashing into my chest and I immediately wrapped my arms around her holding on as if it was the last time.