A very angry, but very quiet, growl reached Esme's ear, pulling her attention from the newborn that shattered her family to Rosalie when she came to stand next to her. She said nothing as the tray in her daughter's hands was placed on the bar with more force than was necessary, but at the same time, Esme understood why Rose was so upset. Even as a human the girl came from privilege, so to be all but forced against her will to bow and scrape to others was something Rosalie was having a very hard time with. Especially when one of the people she was forced to show such regal-like respect to was someone like Bella; a two faced little bitch that was nothing like she presented herself to be.
Rosalie, as she waited for yet another dozen glasses to be placed on the tray she was told to carry, sighed and crossed her arms. "This is so ridiculous. How can she act as though she better than anyone like she is when she looks like her face was put through a paper shredder?"
Esme, ever the doting mother, set her hand lightly on Rose's forearm, a soothing tone to her voice, and an understanding light in her eyes. "Sadly, My Dear, it's just how some people are. In her case, though, her inner ugliness is finally shown on the outside as well. She'll never be able to look at herself and see the innocent girl she pretended to be, and only the vile creature she actually is, and vile creatures always have to face their comeuppance." Lightly patting Rosalie's arm, Esme then smiled. "She'll get hers. Sometimes, you simply have to be patient."
A very ugly sneer settled on Rosalie's face as she looked at Emse. "How much patience am I expected to have when I have to watch that whore snuggle up to that barbarian, present her a tray of blood and alcohol while she smiles and laughs like she hasn't a care in the world while Emmett is locked in a cage like some misbehaving animal for doing nothing but try to help her? It's insulting to a maddening degree."
Rosalie wasn't the only one with a very misconstrued way of looking at the situation the Cullen coven found themselves in, refusing to lay the blame for their predicament at the feet of who it belonged to; a member of their own family that didn't just pursue the girl, but actually stalked her at one point before inviting her into a world he should have kept her out of. All but two of them had welcomed Bella with open arms, but now that they had to face the consequences of their decisions, they refused to actually take responsibility, and instead blamed her for everything.
The day Demetri and Felix showed up at their door, by their own request, they lost their ability to see things clearly. Having their every mistake thrown in their faces like they had changed something in their rational minds. Then, to have the black mark of embarrassment slapped on their impeccable reputation by having an infant member of their coven taken away from them for the reason she was taken became too much for both Carlisle and Esme to bare. As a result of that, it forced a shift in their very care, and Bella went from someone they cared for to public enemy number one, all through no fault of her own.
Their new perception of the situation was cemented when Esme saw what had become of Edward. What he did prior to being given as a 'gift' to a member of the Guard was completely irrelevant to Cullen matriarch because in her mind, whatever was done to the girl was fully justified. In Esme's opinion, Bella deserved whatever happened to her for what she did to her family, including a forced submission to her emotionally and mentally abusive son.
For Carlisle, he had much the same mindset, and it came down to simple cause and effect. Bella destroyed everything he had worked for centuries to build, and absolutely nothing that could be done to her was good enough retribution. She deserved far more than what that wolf did to her, and he had spent an exorbitant amount of time trying to come up with a plan to ensure before he killed her, she suffered tremendously first. He was going to make her pay for every last slight and smear against him, even if he had to die to do it.
Nevermind the fact none of their thoughts or intended actions were justified, they didn't care. The only way they saw to right the wrongs against them was for Bella to die, and one way or another, they were convinced they could make that happen.
A very motherly smile pulled at Esme's lips as she looked at her daughter, her eyes locking on Rosalie's. "Never fear, Baby Girl. This will be all soon be over, and our lives will go back to how they used to be before that girl ever came and fucked it all up. Mommy will make sure of it."
On the other side of the room, completely unaware of the unfolding plots against her, Bella was actually smiling and laughing like she didn't have a care in the world, because she didn't. So far as she was concerned, everything was as perfect as it could be, and there was little in the way of bringing down her mood.
That light snack Demetri had given her perked her right up, and she was drunker than she had any conceivable right to be. Even the massive swarm of bodies and refusal by others to stop calling her Mistress did nothing to dim her spirits, and as she looked up at Demetri, who hadn't left her side since he returned from speaking to who he told her was his sire, she felt whole for the first time since she woke up. There was no hole in her soul when she was in his arms, and she felt as though she would burst when she looked in his eyes. She just stood next to him, pressed to his side, his arm around her back and his fingers wrapped around her hip, her hand placed lightly on his chest as she laid her head against the front of his shoulder.
For whatever reason, as much as the two couldn't seem to help themselves when it came to picking on each other, Demetri and Peter repeatedly gravitated back into the presence of the other. Bella didn't mind. She liked Peter and was quickly falling for the charms of Charlotte. She was over the moon excited when she was told Char would be staying in Italy with Peter, and Demetri, ever indulgent of his mate, simply chuckled at the pig-like squeal that came out of her when she was told.
During one of the separations of the pairs, Peter had given Charlotte a very simple set of instructions, and that was to make sure that betty was never left on her own. It was something simple enough to do since the two girls hit it off as well as they did and seemed to already have formed an unbreakable bond, which only added another layer of protection Peter knew the baby was going to eventually need. Regardless of Bella's obliviousness of the coming storm, Peter was as on top of the situation as he could be, and was mentally cataloging the necessary preparations that would need to be made in order to ensure the girl's very survival.
Over the course of the last few days he had been put in charge of the infant during her fella's absence, he learned one very important lesson about the girl, and that was just how innocent she actually was. The fact that, in less than a week she had figured out how to sidestep his voices and actually surprise him didn't mean shit, because she didn't know exactly how she did it, and it wasn't done out of malicious intent. He had discovered the girl didn't actually have a malicious bone in her body, and the only reason she was so deadset against the Cullens was because of her sire. If anyone else would have bitten her, she wouldn't have the aggression against others she had, even if she saw someone kill her maker, and regardless of any justified anger.
He also knew her innocence played some part of Demetri's attraction to her, and not because of his clear ability to corrupt that innocence, but because he saw that innocence as something to protect. Demetri was a mean mother fucker, something he owned about himself, and Bella was his polar opposite. Sure, she was going to have some homicidal tendencies because of who her sire was, but the thing about that was, she would never have to lift a finger in that department, because she had Demetri to very enthusiastically carry out her bloody desires.
There was a reason Bella didn't see any fear in his eyes the day Peter revealed his presence in Gardens, and that was because he didn't feel any. He didn't know exactly how it was going to happen, but he did know he wasn't going to spend a near millennia tied to Italy, even though he wasn't lying when he said he was willing to do it to keep his mate safe and off Demetri's radar.
What he did lie about was the reason he was there in the first place.
While the reason he gave was believable enough, because he didn't actually see a reason to make a lady suffer for thirty some odd years with a hole in her face, that wasn't the actual reason, and he was well aware of the fact Demetri knew he lied. All he could do now was hope he was given a little more time before he was called on that, because he didn't have an explanation just yet. He had done what he was told to do by the voices in his head, and he learned a long time ago bad things happened to him and those he cared about if he didn't, and there was no way Demetri could understand that; especially after the conversation he had with the tracker earlier in the evening.
At this point, he was all but convinced he was sent there because of Bella, he just didn't know why. She had no venomous connection to him, and before he actually met her and got to know her a little bit, her dying wouldn't have changed his life in the slightest. Now, however, he knew without having to be told, he would mourn her passing for centuries to come, if not for the rest of his life, if he wasn't successful in keeping her alive.
Something else he learned over the last few days was, he needed to throw everything he thought he knew out the window, because he had been wrong on far too many things since he got to Italy, and his preconceived notions were doing him no favors. If anything, they were clouding his judgement and making it more difficult to get the whole picture, something he sorely needed. There was no logical reason in his mind Bella was able to get around his voices, and the fact she was able to told him more about her than anything else. It was nothing bad, but if she was able to do it once, she would be able to do it again, and that wasn't something he could allow to happen.
For everything he did know, or had been able to figure out and piece together, he didn't know what was coming. He had no idea the scale Hell was coming to Earth, or who was going to be playing the part of the Devil. He had no idea when fire was going to rain down on them, but he did know if either Bella or Demetri died, not even God himself would be able to save the planet from the survivor of the pair. Humans and supernaturals alike would burn until there was no one left to blame because Peter had just figured out why he saw the shift he saw in Demetri when the two were touching. The only reason it took him so long was because it was such an incredibly rare occurrence, it's not the first thing that comes to mind.
Male vampires were absolutely soulless monsters, not giving a shit about anything but their next meal or lay, but females were not. They remained the fairer of the two sexes, and while it was true they were actually extremely picky when it came to the more basic desires of their lives, that pickiness came from somewhere. Their list of mating criteria came from somewhere, and while the order of importance was dictated by their vampiric life experiences, the list itself came from their retained soul, and they knew someone somewhere would give them everything they wanted.
No one knew why the female kept her soul when she was turned, but regardless of anything else, they did, and it was something to be extremely jealous of when finding out another male stumbled upon the one female that truly did belong to him. No one would ever be able to outmatch Demetri when it came to how he took care of Bella, because no one would be fighting against him for a run of the mill female. They would be fighting him for something far more precious to him than just a mate, because Isabella Swan was born with the soul that was so violently ripped from Demetri when he was turned all those centuries ago, and was the reason for the shift Peter saw in him.
The reason this was such a rare occurrence was because not every female vampire held the soul of a living male. It was literally nothing more than fucking luck, and something neither one of the two would ever know until they ran into each other. While under normal circumstances, it would take a couple of hours for the male to become enthralled with a female enough to want her as his mate, it would be near instant in the case of a male finding his female. He might not necessarily know what was driving his actions, but that wouldn't mean shit. As a matter of fact, it would certainly drive that male to adopting an injured, orphaned female in a fucking heartbeat and without a second thought.
Peter wasn't stupid. He was positive at this point Demetri knew what Bella was to him, and all of the questions Peter had been asking himself when it came to Demetri's actions when it came the girl were answered with that revelation. Another thing that came with the revelation was just how much he thought he knew was wrong, and how little of the relationship between the two he actually understood. However, just because he didn't have a personal understanding of their relationship didn't at all mean he didn't possess a full grasp of the dangers it presented.
When it came to Charlotte, Peter could actually tell her no, he just didn't want to. Demetri, on the other hand, was fully incapable of denying Bella a damn thing, and with the situation with her being what it was, his inabilities were now complete and total liabilities. Liabilities that would undoubtedly lead to one of the two getting killed if shit wasn't monitored by an unbiased outsider with the ability to control a newborn.
So far as Peter was concerned, at this point in time, Demetri was completely wrong about stark realizations, unless of course he once again misunderstood what the older vampire meant when he said there was a no such thing, which was entirely possible. However, considering the fact he just fucking had one, Peter wasn't completely inclined to give Demetri the benefit of the doubt on that particular stance of his.
There were so many people that wanted that baby dead, more so than she had any idea about, probably more than Demetri was willing to entertain, and even with as dangerous as the tracker was, even with everything he had in his arsenal, it was going to come down to sheer numbers versus experience.
Jerking back like he was struck, Peter blinked in shock at the hand that was waved in front of his face. Shaking his head to dispel the thoughts that had taken over, he grinned at the baby vampire that was looking back up at him with concern on her face, asking him if he was alright. Letting out a chuckle, he nodded at Bella as he clicked his tongue. "Perfect, Little Lady. Butcha know, Darlin', I didn't get all spiffed up a monkey suit like this for nothin'. I think ya owe me a dance."
Not giving her a chance to decline, or Demetri time to react, Peter grabbed a giggling Bella by the wrist and pulled from her man's side and toward the dance floor.
Demetri, looking down at where he mate was just at, wrinkled his nose as he called after Peter. "Hey, that's mine." Shaking his head with a hard sigh when both his mate and Peter laughed a little louder, he grunted. "Ass face." Glancing down at the blonde also left behind, he grinned at her. "I suppose you find him humorous as well?"
Giggling behind her hand, Charlotte crossed her arms and shrugged a shoulder. "Used to it, Sug. Peter gonna do what Peter gonna do, butcha know what? While he got your mate..." grinning wide and uncrossing her arms, she held out her hands, "...you got his."
Chuckling as he glanced to the ceiling as if the thought never occurred to him, Demetri returned his eyes to Charlotte as he presented her arm. "Would you care to dance?"
Pretending to swoon, Charlotte placed her hand on her chest and gasped. "Why, Honey." Setting one hand on Demetri's arm, she picked up the skirt of her dress with the other. "I'd thought ya'd never ask."
While Charlotte allowed herself to be led to the dance floor, she made sure to keep Demetri a measured distance away from Peter and the newborn, his eyes when he looked at her telling her without saying a word he needed some time with Bella without Demetri's interference. She didn't need to know why right at the moment. She knew he would tell her when he was ready to reveal his secrets; he always did. She also knew him well enough to know when he went silent like he did before he pulled Bella away, there was something going on in his head, and he needed some time with it. She wasn't sure if those fucking voices of his were talking a mile a minute and he needed to sort it out, or if it was something else, but the way Peter was looking at Bella right at the moment, she had a very sinking feeling forming in the pit of her stomach, and for a very good reason.
Peter was scared.
It wasn't obvious. You wouldn't see it if you didn't know the man, but she did. It was in his eyes, though buried under several other more dominant emotions. Clearly, he wasn't afraid of the infant, he was scared for her. All at once, Charlotte was momentarily transported back to her own infancy, the last time she saw that tiny spark in the back of his eyes. What followed the only time she ever saw it was something she truly wished she could forget, and if she was seeing it again while he looked at someone he had no real connection to, she was positive she didn't want any form of explanation and was ready, willing, and able to follow whatever other orders Peter gave her.
Just because they left the army didn't mean jack or shit. It was the way they were both raised, and it was what they both fell back on in times of uncertainty. It was just over 70 years since they ran from the war torn lands of their vampiric youths, and even if vampires didn't remember every fucking thing, it was something no one who experienced it would ever forget.
There was a part of her that thought she had grounds to be miffed over the situation, but she couldn't bring herself to feel it. When she accepted the invitation to the party, she had no idea she would be dealing with any other bullshit than what Peter decided to stir up because he got bored or caught a case of cabin fever. At the same time, though, she also knew when dealing with a brand spankin' new baby, fuckary and bullshit was astonishingly abundant for as little time as an infant had in their new life to fuck shit up.
Unfortunately, for whatever or whoever was after that girl, Peter liked her. She didn't know enough about Demetri to have an understanding about whatever part he could play when it came to Bella's safety, but she knew everything about Peter; the biggest of which was, if he liked you, nothing would ever fucking happen to you so long as he was alive.
Charlotte would absolutely admit to being a ditz at times. She didn't see it as a character flaw. It actually served her quite well when people thought she was dumber than she was because that meant she was underestimated, and underestimation of your opponent was almost certain death. In this instance, her ditziness had nothing to do with any of that, and everything to do with the fact she was putting more stock in Peter's ability to protect what amounted to a stranger over a male's ability to protect his mate... and she didn't even realize she was doing it. It was just that she knew Peter inside and out, and had never even seen a Volturi guard prior to the one that picked her up from the airport. All she had seen of Demetri thus far was a whole lot of bravado, but no attempt on his part to actually get physical with Peter, and past experience with her man told her it was fear that stopped Demetri, even though she was completely wrong on the matter and missed out on the several times Demetri physically put Peter in his place.
Didn't matter, though; especially to Demetri. He wasn't oblivious to any of what was going on behind the blonde's red eyes, and he fought a smirk that threatened to surface in the face of her doubt he could see shining in the crimson depths. He honestly thought it was beyond fucking adorable the way Peter chose to protect his mate from the horrors of their world. She didn't know shit of where she had agreed to live for a year, and that would actually lead to two different outcomes. The first would be she would learn the real way things were run, and thus leave with a level of respect for the Italian coven that wasn't normal to have. Or, the other way, is she would be lured into believing the bullshit by those that resided within the walls that didn't necessarily want to reside within the walls.
Either way, it hardly fucking mattered.
Demetri didn't have a solitary fuck to give about anyone thought of him, save for his mate. Whether or not this female thought he was a worth a damn for anything was irrelevant to his life, both in the moment and in the time to come, but she was precious as shit in the way she was clearly comparing him to Peter in every way she could. There was no lateral equation to be made between them, but it was cute to watch her try and make them as her eyes cut back and forth between him and her male.
Now, he wasn't a mind reader, so whether or not that was what she was doing, he didn't actually know. It was merely a guess on his part, and one he thought was a pretty good one. It was natural for females to compare the male they were with to random guys they meet, mostly to shore up the decision they made, but in this case, he was perfectly aware that wasn't what she was doing. Her male was charged with the protection of another male's mate, and she was likely trying to figure out why such a thing would be needed because it wasn't common for a female to allow herself to become the mate of someone who couldn't protect her, thus having someone else do it for him.
That, was something, he was perfectly capable of understanding. Bella had spent the vast majority of the time since she received his mark with Peter, and that was all but unheard of in their world, because of the overwhelming need a man had to be around his freshly marked female. But, recently mated or not, and as much as he didn't like it, Demetri did still have a job to do. No one else in the world cared he had a new mate waiting for him to have the proper time to spend with her, so the best he could do to ensure her safety was to entrust another mated male to keep an eye on her. It wasn't that he didn't trust Felix and Alec, he did. It was that there was never a guarantee they would remain at the den the entire time he was gone, or that they wouldn't be sent with him, thus leaving Bella, who was still more or less unable to properly defend herself, to her own protection.
What at that point Demetri had no way of knowing was that he was only partly right in his assessment, and what Charlotte was actually doing as she sized him up next to Peter had nothing whatsoever to do with Peter's position as Bella's bodyguard and everything to do with whether or not the two would actually be able to work together when the time came. The two snipped and snapped at each other like two old betties in a beauty parlor, so she certainly had her doubts. She also doubted Peter had opened his fucking mouth and told Demetri just how deep shit creek was. She knew how Peter operated, but he was playing with the life of someone's mate by keeping his mouth shut and not giving the tracker so much as a head's up. She also knew if she told him as much, she would get the same song and dance she always got about him either not having enough information yet, or she just needed to trust him.
It wasn't about trust; it was about the fact when Demetri found out Peter was keeping pertinent information from him about his mate, Demetri was gonna fucking kill him, or at the very least give it the ol' college try because, again, Charlotte didn't know enough about Demetri to know if he was actually capable of killing Peter or not. What she did know, though, was if Demetri called for Peter's head, he was gonna get it someway or another.
Across the dance floor, Peter retained the smile on his face as he twirled the laughing infant around, giving himself an additional couple of minutes to formulate in his mind what he wanted to tell her before he handed her back to her fella. He wasn't in the business of scaring such a young vampiress, but there were a couple of things she needed to know, and one he pulled her back to his arms, he grinned wider at her. "You havin' a good time, Little Darlin'?"
Bright eyes and a brighter smiled, Bella giggled like a child as she nodded her head. "I am, actually. I didn't think I was going to, honestly. I don't normally like shit like this, and I didn't really want to come in the first place, but everyone here is actually pretty nice, believe it or not." The she smirked slightly. "Even if they are only being nice to me because they're afraid of Demetri."
Laughing quietly, Peter flashed her a wide grin. "Yeah, that's gonna have some kind a effect on the way them bastards act, but then again, you so damn sweet, I doubt they could be mean ta ya if they tried."
Rolling her eyes, Bella snorted. "Or... they're just flat out scared of me telling on them."
Lifting a brow as he continued to lead her around the floor, Peter licked his lips. "Wouldja?"
Bella didn't even need to think about her answer as she lowered her voice and looked Peter in the eyes. "In a fucking heartbeat if I thought it was necessary." Shrugging slightly, she hummed. "I don't think it'll actually come to that, but you never really know, ya know? People will do what people will do, and if I don't like what they decide to do, and I can't handle it, because let's be honest, Peter, I don't handle many things very well, telling Demetri what happened will let me know if I just overreacted or if my irritation with others is actually justified, which..." shaking her head, "it very rarely is, I guess."
Chuckling again, Peter dip her back before clicking his tongue. "You a baby, Little Darlin'. Ain't nothin' you gonna do for the next little while gonna be all that justified. It ain't like ya can help it, though, so don't beat yaself up over losin' ya tempter. You got a lotta shit workin' against ya, not the least a which being that sire a yours." When Bella turned away from him, he forced her to return her eyes to his, and he sighed. "I know he tough subject for ya Little One, but hear me out, ight?"
He gave her a minute to decide if she was going to, and after she scratched at the graze marks on her chest, she nodded with a sigh of her own, so he continued. "I know you been told the fella that bitcha the rulin' force in your life, and he is till ya get older. It sucks, I won't lie 'bout that, but whatcha gotta do Baby Darlin', is use that shit. Don't be afraid a it, cause it ain't goin' nowhere, but don't be so scare a the crap that pops inta your head. I know it ain't all that pleasant, and I ain't tryin'a make light a whatcha dealin' with, but I'm here ta tell ya, it'll get betta if ya stop fightin' against it like ya are. You ain't just fightin' against thoughts. You fightin' against a part a who ya are now, and that ain't a fight you gonna win, Dolly. All you gonna do is hurtcha self while tryin' not ta hurt someone else."
Prior to being led onto the dance floor, Bella had thought nothing would ruin her mood, but she was wrong. She did appreciate what Peter was trying to do, but at the moment, she didn't want to deal with it. She knew she wasn't going to be given a choice, and this conversation was going to be had whether she liked it or not, but she would have liked to have had it either way earlier in the night or at some point after the party was over.
Instead, she shook her head, averting her eyes once again as she took a step away from him. "I don't know how."
Face softening, Peter leaned toward her, dipping and turning his head to speak in her ear. "I do."
Rearing back from the two words, Bella's eyes went wide as she felt as if the breath was stolen from her. Demetri had been trying, but when everything is in your head, she didn't think there was a lot anyone else could do. There was hope beyond measure in her eyes as she looked back up at him when he pulled back. "Really?"
Peter nodded slowly with a 'mmhmm'. Honestly, it wasn't hard. Demetri had been on the right track, he just hadn't taken it far enough. It wasn't something that could be handled in little spurts of strenuous activity when shit got overwhelming. It had to be constant so it didn't build up on her like it was, which meant Peter got to use her pent up aggression to teach her how to defend herself under the guise of leveling out her less than stellar thought process.
He had heard a lot of excuses over the past few days, mostly about how no one knew who the fuck this James guy was so they didn't know the full extent of shit, but honestly, it was common sense. If you don't know, always assume the worst and act accordingly, backing off little by little until you find what works. Sure, her sire was pretty much a ghost; most nomads were, making it difficult to get the actual degree of fuckary. In this case, though, it was pretty easy to see there was something not right with the situation and other avenues needed to be explored. Peter didn't blame Demetri for not pushing her. She was very easy to hurt at the moment, and he didn't want to hurt her. It went against his very core, but Peter didn't have that problem. She was a charge to him, little more in his eyes than a baby in the army. She needed to learn, he had the tools to teach her, and they had the time to get it done.
At least he hoped so.
It might have been taking a very simplistic stance on his part, but they could be friends later. He was actually very good with kids, and he did know how to handle them properly these day. This one made it easy for him. She was an eager little thing, and tried her best once someone took the time to calm her fears. When the time came for her to fight for her life, there wasn't going to be any. Sure, she could toss Alec's tiny ass twenty feet across the gardens. He watched her do it. He was the one that whistled when she did it.
Big fucking deal.
The question that needed answered was how she would fare against someone that wasn't afraid to go toe to toe with Demetri if her ass was the one that went flying, because it was going to happen. Now, whether or not Peter could actually beat Demetri in a dogfight was anyone's guess. He honestly didn't know. He considered them pretty evenly matched, but again, he didn't know because he never faced Demetri before. He did know how hard the fucker could hit, and he wasn't in any hurry to feel it again, but he was determined to keep the infant alive, and if that meant her fella whooped Peter's ass after Peter whooped hers, then so be it.
Looking into her hope filled eyes, he honestly couldn't help but grin. She was absolutely adorable, and when he told her he would help her next time she was in his care, she pounced on him, wrapping her arms around his next in a strangle hold as she repeatedly thanked him in his ear. He really didn't have any idea the shit going through her head, but if she was that excited at the prospect of making it stop, he had to assume it was worse than it had been.
It wasn't necessarily him drawing a parallel between his voices and her thoughts, but they worked a lot of same ways. The longer you ignore them, the more persistent they became. In his case, the voices got louder and louder until they drowned out everything else and he was forced to listen to them. In her case, the thoughts got progressively darker and more sinister, leading her to have a difficult time to walk away and not act on what she thinks. It could be curbed, but not stopped completely, and that was something he would make sure she understood. She would always have them so long as her venom belonged to someone else, and a year is a long time to visualize murdering everyone you know in increasingly fucked up ways.
It was as she was letting Peter go Bella found herself wrapped back up in Demetri's arms, and she looked up at him with a blinding smile and excited eyes. "Peter knows how to help me with these horrible thoughts, and he said he would."
Smiling at her, Demetri cut his eyes to Peter, who just grinned back. "Did he now?"
As Bella nodded at him, Peter crossed his arms. "I ain't tryin'a step on your toes or nothin' like it, so don't be gettin' all pissed off, now. I get it might be hard to get the jist of if you ain't the one hearing shit that no one else can, but let me tell ya somethin'. Them fucked up thoughts a hers work more or less the same as my voices do. I know whatcha said before, but just cause ya said it don't make it true. They ain't goin' nowhere anytime soon. I know how ta curb that shit so it don't get so bad, and I had ta learn it the hard way. I know I'm just the babysitter, but I don't see no reason she gotta suffer thinkin' 'bout killin' you if she don't gotta."
Demetri glanced down at his mate, who wouldn't look at him, and sighed as he returned his eyes to Peter. "Just remember, Captain, what I told you. If I torture for fun, just imagine what I would do an actual reason."
Peter's entire face pinched as the voices in his head gasped at the reminder. That was never a good reaction. Wrapping his arms around Charlotte as she leaned her back against his chest, he shook his head. "Yeah... that don't get no less fucked the more it said."
Winking at Peter with a smirk on his lips, Demetri then returned his eyes to his mate. "Do you want to stay a little longer, or have you had your fill of others for the time being?"
Looking up at him with shock on her face, Bella blinked at him. "Can we go? Like... that's not considered rude or anything?"
Over extending his arm to uncover his watch, he glanced at the time with a grunt. "It's been ten hours, Psihi Mou." Wiggling his arm to fix his sleeve, his face leveled out. "At this point, I believe our departure is about the only way anyone else will leave."