Five hours after leaving the property of the Cullen coven, Demetri, with a skittish Bella in tow, stepped from the woods and back onto the stone drive. He had no trouble getting her to follow him once she ate the three humans. Well, two and half since she macerated the neck of one of them during her attempt to feed herself and it bled out quite a bit before she actually drank from it. Her eyes were still basically pits of onyx, and it would take several feedings before her eyes would show she was eating at all.
While in the woods she stuck close to his side, he did hit a snag with her about a half of a mile away from their destination. Once she figured out where he was leading her, she planted her feet and flat out refused to move another inch. When he turned back to find out what the problem was, Demetri watched a literal war wage behind her eyes. Demetri saved her, protected her, and fed her, the three things that would buy the trust and loyalty of any orphaned newborn, but she had such a bad experience with this place ingrained in her it was literally fighting against instinct for her to return.
Not used to having his word questioned, it took every ounce of patience Demetri possessed to remain calm enough to give repeated assurances she would be staying with him and not returned to the coven. There would be plenty of things in the very near future he would have to force her to do, and very likely against her will. He didn't see any reason for this to be one of them. In the end, the way he got her to go was by gesturing through the trees, pointing out the car that sat innocently enough in the driveway and pulling the hood of his jacket she was still wearing over her head to hide her face. Then again, the promise of the dismemberment of anyone who got too close to her for her comfort probably carried a decent amount of weight in her decision.
He did, however, leave out there were others there as well, so there was quite the surprise for Bella when she too left the trees, and her reaction was instant. She didn't turn and bolt, however. Instead, at the sight of Felix, with the addition of Jane and Alec, she grabbed onto Demetri's arm and positioned herself behind him and as out of view of the others as she could.
Demetri, though, ignored everyone as he led Bella toward his renal car. He would see to her first, and then he would deal with the twins. Pulling his arm free of her hold at the back passenger door of the car, he glanced at her as he caught the car keys when Felix tossed them over. It was as he unlocked and opened the trunk he spoke to her. "Néos..." Once again digging in his bag, he pulled out his backup jacket. Shaking it out, he picked a white thread from the black material before he then turned to face Bella fully as he shrugged it on. "Would you like to borrow one of my shirts to wear until we get home and something more your size can be obtained? It would be less restricting than what you have on." He saw indecision pass through her eyes as they shifted to look at the others present, and backtracked slightly so as not to upset the girl before putting her in a car. "You are of course welcome to keep my jacket as long as you'd like if that's your preference."
Bella took a moment with her presented choice, taking in the faces of the two new vampires who were doing well enough in their covertness to look at her. They weren't being intrusive, and they weren't looking at her like she was on display, but she knew what her clothing looked like under her borrowed jacket, and knew for certain she didn't want to actually take it off to change into something else; even if it would allow her more freedom of movement. Looking at Demetri from under the hood, she slowly shook her head. "I'll stay like this if that's okay."
Demetri merely nodded in response as he tugged at the sleeves of his shirt to remove the wrinkles. "I wouldn't have given the option if it wasn't." Closing the trunk, he then swept past her, opening the passenger door, and gesturing for her to have a seat. When she hesitated, her eyes once again sliding to the other three vampires in the drive, Demetri chuckled quietly. "Pay them no mind, Néos. They aren't riding with us."
Glancing quickly at the two SUVs that were parked several feet further up the drive, she swallowed hard when Demetri nodded at her. She didn't really know why she didn't want to be in a car, but she chalked it up to it just being something new she hadn't done yet being the problem. She knew in her gut that if Demetri hadn't done anything to her yet, he probably wasn't going to, so with a resigned sigh, she closed the two feet between herself and the open door, slowly sliding into the seat. When Demetri crouched and grabbed the bottom of his jacket she wore so he could move it inside the car, Bella licked her lips and looked at him. "What does Néos mean?" She wasn't upset at the name, just curious.
Once the tail of his jacket was secured, Demetri remained crouched as he lifted his eyes to Bella's at her softly spoken question. Titling his head slightly to the side, he hummed in his throat. "Néos roughly translates to 'Young One'. You might be close to adulthood, or even be an adult by human standards. But, by ours, which is the standard that matters, you are twelve days old, and very, very young." When all she did was nod at the explanation, Demetri stood. "Breathe through your nose and try to remain calm. I'll be right back." When she nodded once again, he shut her door and finally turned his sights on Felix and the twins. A smirk on his face as he made his way to them, he chuckled. "I trust they gave you no issue."
A very sweet and overly innocent smile came to Jane's face as she slightly shook her head. "Of course not."
Alec snorted with a roll of his eyes. No, they hadn't given them much of a problem, but they certainly weren't willing to get in the trucks. Crossing his arms, he looked at Demetri. "They're loaded up and we're ready to go when you are. What's the plan from here, Boss? From what I just saw, the girl almost seems to like you."
Demetri clasped his hands behind his back as he looked at Alec. "Of course she does." Then his eyes flicked to where he knew Carlisle to be, and locked their eyes. "I fed her." Holding the gaze of the Cullen Elder a moment longer, he then returned his sight to his subordinates. "You did put the two biggest threats in the same truck, yes?" At the nods of the twins, Demetri looked at Alec. "That is the truck you and Jane will be in. Hopefully, they won't force your hands, but be ready to put them in their places if necessary. Felix," shifting his eyes, he continued. "You will drive the other truck."
With his lips pursed and brows drawn, Alec spoke up when Felix nodded. "What about the girl?"
All three guards shifted back at the change in Demetri at the relatively innocent question. His expression darkened, and his tone took on a threatening undertone. "What about her? She will be with me, exclusively, from now on." Looking at each of the other guards in turn, "none of you need to concern yourselves with anything that concerns her. All you need to do is keep a measured distance between them and her until we get home."
Clearing his throat, Alec rubbed the back of his neck. He didn't want to ask, especially after the clear message Demetri gave about letting him deal with the girl. "What about the plane, Dem? We can put as much distance between her and the coven as you want while driving, but we don't have that kind of space on the jet. There are thirteen bodies, including the pilot, so proximity between them is going to be an issue we can't do anything about."
That wasn't something Demetri was unaware of. He was perfectly aware of the linguistics that needed seen to between the Cullen Den and the airstrip. However, those were linguistics he had already worked out. "I will be flying the jet. When we reach the airstrip, refrain from allowing the Cullens to board until I have secured the infant in the cockpit."
Not one to just let shit go, Felix was the next one to question Demetri. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
The same look that overtook Demetri's face in the woods settled on the tracker's features, causing Felix to gulp. However, Demetri's tone turned the questioning of one's intelligence on Felix. Unclasping his hands, he crossed his arms, his face not changing. "She is still woefully underfed, has no ability to bite, and only has the use of one arm. What is it exactly you think she can do, Felix?"
When his enforcer wisely remained silent, Demetri uncrossed an arm and scratched his nose. "I agree the situation is certainly not ideal, and it would certainly be my preference not to have her and the Cullens on the same aircraft; if only for her comfort. However, working within the bounds of our orders, it is unavoidable. They will cross paths numerous times before a permanent separation can be decided. The situation is what it is, and we will deal with it as we deal with any other. That said, she is as defenseless as I have ever personally seen a vampire, and I will not allow her to be upset; intentionally or otherwise. From this point on, so far as I'm concerned, that changeling is mine. Anyone who causes her to so much as whimper will be dealing with me, and I don't give a good God damn who it is, either."
While there was absolutely no need for him to raise his voice for the last two sentences, he did so anyway, his eyes set on the SUVs. He would deal with a negative reaction from the newborn to the declaration if he had to, but he wasn't overly worried. Somewhere inside her, she knew she needed someone. If she had an aversion to that someone being him, she wouldn't have accepted his help in any way, shape, or form. She would have attacked him, not spoken with him at the lengths she did. She wouldn't have given him the benefit of the doubt at any time. Most of all, she absolutely would not have allowed him to feed her in the manner he did.
His orders when he and Felix first arrived were to capture or destroy as he saw fit. It never crossed his mind to kill on sight, because there were very few newborns alive that didn't have the ability to learn, or that could not be taught to live in accordance with the laws. There were not many, and they weren't that hard to abide by. Granted it was up to the sire to instil such knowledge on their offspring, but from the little he had learned of her's, Demetri very much doubted that James guy would have done so. The way he was described, it was far more likely he would have abandoned her at some point, because it sounded as if he lived to destroy the lives of others. It was quite clear from the story he was told, her sire knew he wasn't going to survive, and she was bitten for the sole purpose of causing as much chaos as possible before he died.
And he certainly succeeded in that.
When Carlisle called Aro, from where Demetri stood, it was only his Master's age that kept him from exploding during the conversation. He readily agreed to send aid, but didn't let on about the additional order of bringing the coven back as well. There was a clear interest in the newborn when Carlisle revealed she was gifted in someway, but if she was as out of control as Cullen made her sound, she wasn't worth the upheaval she would cause. His and Felix's orders were to find the newborn and evaluate to make the actual determination if she was or not while Jane and Alec were to collect the coven.
On the plane, Demetri gave a slightly different set of orders. He wanted to find out what Carlisle didn't tell Aro, and the best way to do that was to put them into a false sense of security, and that's exactly what he did. Cullen sang like a fucking canary, too. He revealed the involvement of the wolves, how long that infant had been running around on her own, and the fact she had yet to feed at that point. You can do a lot over the phone, spin whatever tale you want and leave things out. That becomes much harder when staring your absolution in the face, and people tend to confess their every sin; especially when you piss them off.
It had always been his intention to retrieve the newborn and take her back to Italy where she stood a chance of obtaining some semblance of a normal life. Even gifted she wouldn't be forced on the guard, though she would be presented with the choice if she showed that kind of promise. He knew there was a vampire with the ability to manipulate bonds, but he didn't allow Chelsea to do it to females, though he was sorely tempted to make an exception for the three female Cullens. Every single female guard was there because she wanted to be, and this female would be no different.
Or... at least that was the plan until he saw her.
He wasn't even sure what it was that changed his mind. There were so many things wrong the first time he actually saw her, and it could have been any one of them. The undiluted fear in her scent as she cowered from the shifter, the injuries she would never fully recover from, the color of her unfed eyes... all things that didn't have to happen and were easily avoided. None of what happened to her was necessary, and it did something to him. It was no secret Demetri was overly protective of females, but this one pulled at those protective instincts like no other vampiress ever had before.
She was certainly not the first mistreated newborn he had been sent to retrieve. She wasn't even the first female, but she was the only one he ever made the deliberate decision to take on as his own. It was true he had never personally sired a newborn, but he has overseen the raising of plenty. The circumstance behind each of those, however, was for a vastly different reason. It wasn't due to intentional mistreatment. It was due to the sire itself being too young to properly raise their childe, so he or another guard would step in when needed to put the pair back on the proper path. This was altogether different in the fact this newborn was not just mistreated, but flatout tortured, and the intentional abuse left her disfigured for the rest of her life.
It was because of that disfigurement he knew there was a very real possibility he signed himself up for a lifelong commitment. He wasn't even able to come up with a best case scenario for the situation at the moment. At this point, he had no idea what the future held for her; if she would ever be able to take care of herself or not. The claws of all shifter breeds were designed to render a vampire incapacitated, but that wolf didn't just leave her incapable of defending herself. He also left her fully incapable of biting her prey, and with the placement of and deepness to the marks on her face, they might not ever heal enough for that to change. What made Demetri so angry was he knew that mother fucker knew exactly what he was doing, and there was a very large part of him that wanted to return the favor and take that dog's ability to eat.
Blinking at the hand that waved in front of his face, Demetri's hand snapped out and grabbed Alec by the wrist. His voice showed his annoyance. "What?"
Brows creased as he took his hand back, Alec's lip curled in the corner. "Where'd you go?"
Giving his head a shake to dispel the thoughts that had taken to souring his mood further, Demetri ran a hand down his face. "No where." Rolling a shoulder, he then turned his back on the other three guards, speaking to them as he made his way to the car. "Let's go home."