"Svegliati, il mio amore"
My eyes fluttered open to see Marcus leant over the edge of my bed, gently shaking me awake. I was so goddamn tired, with absolutely not enough willpower whatsoever to begin my day.
"Ten more minutes" I groaned, rolling over to my right side as he chuckled and placed a soft kiss on my temple before disappearing again.
Looking over at the time, it was in fact five in the morning, which was pretty early considering that I'd woken up at around ten o'clock most mornings here. I turned on the light in the dark room and rolled out of bed, shuffling reluctantly over to my wardrobe and deciding to wear a black oversized hoodie and grey joggers with my white fluffy "dead animal" socks, my trainers held in my left hand while a crimson red cushion from my bed was tucked under my right arm. I'd always been quite dramatic when it came to early risings, my hood covering my head completely.
Wheeling my suitcase over to the door while still in a dazed state, I yawned and fumbled with the handle before finally getting it open, only to be met by Aro, Caius, and Marcus all standing directly outside my door.
"Jesus, don't creep up on me like that, you could've given me a heart attack!" I gasped, dropping my trainers and cushion with a soft thud.
"Well, we simply had to say goodbye, carissima" Caius responded with a chuckle and picked up my cushion, dusting it off while Aro handed me back my trainers.
I balanced both items carefully on top of my suitcase and turned back around, embracing Marcus in a tight hug with his chin rested a top of my head.
"Goodbye for now, tesoro" he murmured, pulling my hood off so that he could see my face.
"Bye Marcus"
I bit back any possible tears and reached up onto my toes, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips and briefly hugging him again. Stepping to the right, I wrapped my arms around the slightly shorter Aro, who pulled me closer to him and quickly read my thoughts.
"We will miss you a lot, bellissima" I felt his lips move against my neck, sending shivers down my spine.
"Likewise" I smiled, kissing him softly before pulling away and stepping over to Caius.
I assumed he was expecting to only receive a hug similar to his brothers as we still hadn't had our first kiss yet. He stood with his arms open for an embrace, but instead I reached up onto my toes and pressed my lips to his. He seemed taken aback at first, but quickly he pulled my body into him. His lips moved roughly, passionately, against mine as he growled softly, his grip on my waist becoming tighter by the second. Eventually pulling away for air, I blushed after realising not only that Caius eyes had turned black, but that Aro and Marcus had been standing there the entire time, and so I rested my forehead against his chest in an effort to dispel the heat radiating off of me.
"That was worth the wait" he whispered, pressing softer kisses to my cheek.
"Goodbye for now, Caius" I murmured into his shirt before pulling away and picking up my cushion and trainers which I'd left discarded behind me.
Felix and Demetri instantly materialised beside us, Demetri shaking the car keys in his hand so that they made a jingle sound. Felix took my suitcase from next to me, carrying it under his arm with ease as if it weighed nothing at all.
"We'd best leave now, Eliana" Demetri bowed, gesturing his arm.
"Of course, of course" I followed the two of them, turning around back to the kings after a few metres.
"I miss you already!" I yelled dramatically, waving at them before being dragged back around the corner by Felix as I was ushered into the annoying-elevator-that-plays-opera-music.
"Well, I guess this is it then" I sighed, the opera music playing above our heads completely killing the mood.
We pretty much stood in silence, while I pulled my hood back up and over my head as the temperature in the elevator began to drop. With an even more annoying ding sound, the metal doors opened to a darkened and empty parking lot. A cold breeze sent a chill through me as I hugged the cushion tighter towards my body and followed them over to an expensive-looking BMW. Felix opened the boot and tossed the suitcase in carelessly.
"Careful, my brownies are in there!" I exclaimed.
He clearly didn't want an explanation and instead rolled his eyes, closing the boot and circling around to open the passenger door for me.
"After you" he gestured to the seat.
I placed down my trainers and cushion before giving him a friendly hug. He seemed taken aback at first, but did half-heartedly embrace me back.
"See ya later, alligator!" I giggled, climbing into the car while he closed the door for me and pretended to cry from outside the window. I pressed the button on the windowsill to lower it down and raised an eyebrow at him.
"It's just so emotional!" he sobbed dramatically, his left hand covering his mouth as he waved a white handkerchief about in his right.
"I'm sure it is, whatever will you do without me?" I called as Demetri started the engine, the car purring to life.
I closed the window again to retain the heat in the car, crossing my legs underneath me while Demetri pulled away and drove us down some kind of concrete underground tunnel.
"I didn't realise you guys had a secret little tunnel system" I laughed, the car becoming darker as yellow lights swept past us.
"We can't be attracting too much attention to ourselves and our location" he explained.
The inside of the BMW was so cool, the dashboard lit up with bright blue lights. After studying it carefully and learning the purpose of all of the controls, I managed to spot what I was looking for and pressed the button.
"What are you doing?" Demetri glanced over, unimpressed.
"Turning on the radio," I answered, turning up the volume slightly while pop music played out, "how long are we in this car for then?"
"We are going to be driving to Pisa International Airport for the next thirty minutes. Feel free to sleep if you need to, it is only five o'clock which is quite early for you"
I hadn't noticed how dark it was outside until we left the tunnel and joined back up to the main road. The street lamps provided a dim yellow light across the relatively empty roads as we zoomed past. It turns out that Demetri is almost as reckless at driving as Alice is, narrowly missing the speed limit and taking constant sharp turns. Must be a vampire thing. About fifteen minutes after setting off, my stomach suddenly let out an unholy rumbling sound, reminding me that I hadn't had breakfast yet. Fortunately, I spotted a glowing yellow 'M' sign not too far in the distance.
"Can we get McDonald's?" I asked eagerly, bouncing in my seat.
Demetri sighed, "Eli, we really don't have time"
"Look though, we can go through the Drive Thru, it'll only take a few minutes, and it's not even busy, and even if we are late you can just blame me, I don't care. We don't even have to get out of the car, please Demetri?" I managed to get out in one breath.
"Fine, if you insist" he grumbled, turning down and into the Drive Thru.
He pulled up hesitantly, clearly not at all wanting to be there. I, on the other hand, was grinning so hard my cheeks were hurting, longing to get my hands on one of their hash browns.
"What are you ordering?" he asked bitterly.
"Um, a hash brown, a toasted bagel, and orange juice" I replied eagerly.
Reluctantly, Demetri pulled up to the microphone and spoke to the worker in Italian, ordering my breakfast with clear exasperation in his voice, making it hard for me to keep a straight face. After driving around to the window to collect the order, he passed me my food items one by one and immediately sped off without even thanking the worker at all.
"Demetri, manners!" I laughed, turning my head as we zoomed back onto the motorway.
"I think I'm being kind enough by allowing you McDonald's for breakfast, Eli. Thanks to you, we are now running ten minutes late" he slammed his foot on the gas pedal.
"Well, at least I got my hash brown" I shrugged, scoffing it down in three bites.
There was only fifteen minutes left of the drive, and it went by much faster now that I wasn't hungry as well. The sky began to lighten up as the sun rose, the street lamps turning off one by one. I always found mornings like this exciting, just the thought of getting on a plane and going on holiday, even if I wasn't exactly going on holiday. Eventually, we pulled in to the airport but instantly took a left turning away from all of the traffic, leading us down a separate road that went behind all of the terminals and buildings.
"Um, Demetri? Where are we going?" I questioned as we drove further away from the multi-storey car park.
"Private jet, remember?" he reminded me, driving around a corner and up to a heavily-guarded metal gate. He quickly spoke to one of the guards in Italian before they opened the gate, allowing Demetri to drive the car right up onto the runway and park beside a large white aeroplane. I gasped, my jaw dropping and leaving my mouth in an 'O' shape.
"Are you going to get out or will I have to carry you?"
I snapped back into reality and turned to Demetri, who had the door open and an arm extended to help me out. Gathering up my shoes and cushion, I took his hand and jumped out onto the cold tarmac, while he carried my suitcase as easily as Felix had. I followed his lead as we strolled across the deserted runway to the stairs and stepped up into the plane, the temperature difference from the outside clearly noticeable.
For a few moments, I stood there in the middle of the aisle, not having a clue as to what to do with myself. The luxurious interior was filled with warm lighting, with a few white leather seats and a long white leather sofa, making me feel even more out-of-place than I had at the castle. Demetri settled down in a seat on the right, placing my suitcase in one of the overhead compartments and picking up a copy of a newspaper he'd found on the seat opposite. After looking around awkwardly and noticing we were the only ones in the cabin, I settled down in the leather seat opposite him, curling my feet up underneath me and glancing out of the oval window.
"I didn't realise you were coming to Forks as well" I spoke, causing Demetri to lower his newspaper so that I could see his face.
"Did you really believe that the Masters would leave you unguarded? With all due respect, you are the human mate, emphasis on human, of the three Volturi leaders; not one, not two, three"
"So, what you're saying is there'll basically always be a guard around somewhere, whether I can see them or not" I mused.
"Yes, there will almost always be more than one, and the Masters have sent out two more guard members to join me in guarding you during your time in Forks"
"Ooh, who?" I asked curiously.
"Let us hope you will never need to find out," he shrugged, resuming his newspaper, "There is a TV at the other end of the plane if you would like to move seats"
"I will, thanks for the McDonald's by the way" I giggled, excitedly skipping over to the sofa which had a large flat screen TV attached to the wall opposite.
Once the plane had taken off, I spent a few hours binge watching a bunch of Disney movies including The Jungle Book and Finding Nemo, curled up with the cushion I'd brought along with me. Actually, come to think of it, I didn't have any real reason to bring it with me, but on the plus side it still vaguely smelled of Aro from when he stayed in my room the other night, so I wasn't complaining. After a short while, I dosed off, my body spread out across the sofa while I hugged the cushion close to me. It really hadn't hit me how tired I was until I was woken up when we landed.
"Eliana, Eliana-"
I shot up, pulling off a grey throw blanket which someone had apparently given me, and turned to face Demetri.
"Are we here?" I groaned, rubbing my eyes.
"We are about to land, but you need to buckle your seatbelt first"
Lazily sitting myself up straight, I quickly buckled myself into one of the seatbelts on the sofa and pulled my cushion onto my lap, gazing out of the bright window as Forks came into view. I was itching to get off the plane, longing to have some fresh air in my lungs after spending twelve hours cooped up in a small cabin. I checked the time displayed on the TV, which was apparently 19:02, but that didn't make any sense because Jane said I'd be landing at ten o'clock in the morning.
"Demetri, I'm confused and tired, what's the time?" I mumbled as he handed me back my suitcase.
"10:22 Forks time, thanks to the McDonald's delay" he snarked light-heartedly before leading me out of the plane and back into the world of fresh air.
I'd never been so compelled to kneel down and kiss the ground before, completely fed up of being on that stuffy plane. Sure, it's nice travelling on a fancy private jet, but I wanted nothing more than to get out of there. Demetri lead the way back to the terminal with my suitcase held under his arm, while I stumbled lazily behind him. It turns out that security is much easier when you fly privately, as I managed to make it out and over to the arrivals lounge in twenty minutes flat.
"Eli!"
I swivelled around and my gaze locked on Bella, who was now running at full speed towards me. Maybe it was because of my lack of sleep, but I was absolutely delirious, my surroundings confusing me a lot. What didn't help was that Demetri had now disappeared somewhere, leaving me stood there in the middle of the arrivals lounge in my fluffy socks and sweats.
"Hey Bells" I mumbled through a yawn, wrapping my arms around her and following her over to Edward who was stood further behind.
"So, are you better then?" she asked, looking me up and down. Of course, the last time she saw me, I was in an immobilised state in my room. My room? Did I really call it my room?
"I'm fine, yeah, just…tired" I replied hesitantly. To be honest, I really didn't feel like now was the time to say anything about…anything really.
"Let me take that for you, Eli" Edward stepped over to us, picking up my suitcase with ease and giving me some unreadable look that seemed like a combination of just about every emotion.
The two of them led me out of the terminal and over to Edward's Volvo. I climbed into the back seat and placed my feet on the seat adjacent, my cushion still hugged to my chest. Throughout the entire journey back, Bella had decided to fill me in completely on everything I missed including her apparently being grounded, talking with so much enthusiasm and speed that it hurt my head, but I didn't make it far into her recap before I fell fast asleep, my head rested on the cool windowsill.
Author's Note: Sorry that it took a little longer to write this chapter, I don't know why but I seemed to struggle with it a lot haha. Anyways, there's not really much to say, but I do hope you enjoyed it, be sure to leave some feedback, stay safe, and ily!