He was dreaming again, and oh what an excellent dream it was

Disclaimer: Not mine, all characters are property of Stephenie Meyer

A/N: EEK, quick thing, I just wanted to say THANK YOU TO FUFU for pointing out my huge mistake. I haven't read Twilight in a loooong time and completely forgot that vampires don't sleep. I really don't want to rewrite the start of the chapter, so maybe we could just pretend they do sleep. I'm sooo sorry that I'm not keeping to technicalities. Oh well, that's why its fanfiction :)

Chapter 2: DENIAL

/STAGES/

He was dreaming again, and oh what an excellent dream it was. She was there. Alive and beautiful and breathtaking. He never wanted to wake up.

Honeyed ringlets bounced as she laughed sweetly, shaking her head at something Marcus had said.

He smiled and pulled her petite body closer, enveloping her in his arms.

"What would I ever do without you, my Little Bird?" He whispered softly, lips brushing against the delicate shell of her ear.

He felt her shiver and stroke one hand against his cheek before bringing up the other to gently cradle his face.

There was a moment of stilled silence but then she spoke, "I suppose you would find another."

Marcus let the words sink in before he reeled back as if doused in ice water. "Why?" he demanded grasping her shoulders and pulling her back to in an effort to read her expression, "Why would you say such a thing? I thought you of all people would know. You are the only one I love, the only one I could ever love. There will never be another for me but you." As he spoke, he let all of his conviction, love and passion pour through his words, willing-no needing her to understand. "There will never be another."

She smiled sadly at him and shook her head, eyes full of sorrow, "Don't you see, Marcus my love? There already is another."

He felt himself freeze as she slowly backed out of his arms and Marcus watched in helplessness as the face of his beloved changed into another's.

Honey hued curls morphed into silky black strands at the same time her lovely snow white skin turned into an exotic copper and finally, finally those crimson eyes became a fiery hazel.

His darlings' countenance became that of the wolves' and the wolf snarled, snapping her jaws forward in a vicious lunge.

Marcus woke up.

With eyes blinking rapidly, he sat up among the sheets in his large, empty bed. Had he been human he was positive that his heart would've been pounding a mile a minute.

Remembrance of the dream came rushing back to him at full force and with it a tide of unwanted emotions. Loneliness at the realization that his Little Bird was not curled up beside him, as she hadn't been for over five hundred years. He recalled the end of the dream and an overwhelming wave of shock hit him. His love had turned into the wolf woman, the same wolf woman he had…oh, dear Gods, no!

He hadn't actually brought the wolf back to Italy, with him; that had been a dream too, right?

In haste, he pulled on his black robes and made his way down to the guest-quarters. He paused before the grand marble entrance, praying that he hadn't actually done what he thought he did. Marcus took a moment to regain his wits before unlocking and pushing the doors open.

It was official, he, Marcus of the Volturi, had finally snapped. After five hundred years of living inside a shell of ice and constant apathy, he had lost it. That was the only reasonable explanation for why there was now an unconscious werewolf chained to the bed in his wings' guest room. Or at least that's what he told himself. Since certainly no sane vampire would ever pass up an opportunity to dispose of such a large threat to their existence, no matter how…physically appealing, they might be.

That was another thing that had shocked the usually emotionless vampire; the sheer amount of unadulterated lust and desire that stirred within him upon seeing that stunning face, hazel eyes flaring with an amount of intensity he hadn't felt in years. The fact that, her lush, naked body had been pressed up against his own had only done to worsen the inferno flaring in his veins, making it all too hard for him to think properly. Thus, he assumed that the combination of lust and insanity was a perfectly viable reason for why he had made the foolish decision of taking her as a captive.

Just what had he been thinking? Had he gone so long without feeling real emotions that even one as basic as lust had been enough to besiege his deadened heart and thus cause him to make rash, completely illogical decisions? Apparently, yes.

The girl on the bed twitched, invoking red orbs to stare back at that magnificent form. Her eyelids began to flutter and she tried to stretch her arms out in a yawn, only to find she couldn't get them very far with the heavy manacles locked tight around her wrists. This realization seemed to bring her into full consciousness as she snapped her eyes open.

For the second time in the last twenty-four hours crimson and hazel locked together. One gaze blank, the other confused.

The wolf woman stared at him a full minute before a look of realization crossed over her face and she leaned forward, struggling against the bonds that held her in place. "Where the hell am I?" she demanded.

Marcus nearly had to suppress a shudder at the slightly husky note in her voice. She had the exact type of voice built for expressing fleshly desires. He didn't believe she was doing it on purpose, that slightly rasping, low pitch was just her natural given tone.

"Are you going to answer me or not?" she growled. Every line in the girl's body was screaming agitation and aggression. He was thankful he had the foresight to chain her in the first place; otherwise he would be throat-less by now.

No. Marcus wouldn't answer her. Marcus never talked to anyone unless you counted Aro, and that wasn't really talking, only allowing him to see his thoughts. Sometimes he talked to Caius, but that was once in a blue moon and never about anything resembling a pleasant conversation, just business.

She tried to move forward again but snarled when the chains prevented her from doing so.

She looked wild and furious and strong. So, so strong.

She thrilled him.

Something no one had been able to achieve in hundreds of years. That in itself deserved some recognition did it not? Really, if he were honest with himself, he knew that he wanted to answer her, to actually speak to her and have her answer back. He wanted her reactions to his actions. This, he was beginning to realize, was not good. Not good at all.

So he did something he hadn't done in years. He spoke.

"You are in Italy. That is all you need to know." He made sure that his voice was as toneless as possible.

The woman frowned. "Are you going to kill me?"

"Maybe" he answered. Actions and reactions he told himself again.

Her face looked conflicted and she was silent for a minute or so, before rage overtook her again. "Why don't you just do it already?" she spat, eyes flickering wildly, "My life is already over, what with having to impr—"

A sudden knock at the door startled both of them and she broke off her sentence. Marcus reached over to pull the entrance open, only to have one of the human servants reel in a breakfast cart with freshly made human food. The servant then bowed and ducked out of the room.

There was a note next to the platter that read:

Marcus,

I took the liberty of ordering something edible for your little experiment. It wouldn't do us any good to have the poor little thing die on us before you find out about the unique relationship bond between the two of you, now would it? I will stop by for a short visit sometime later this week to inspect the little wolf, if it is all right by you. Take care now and try not to get too caught up with the young one.

- Aro

Of course, in order to bring the woman back to Italy, he had to have had a plausible reason and he did. The mysterious blinding white link that connected him to the werewolf he had seen when he used his powers. Marcus had never witnessed any link that color in his entire life and with bringing her back to Italy, he could hopefully be able to figure out what it meant. She would be as Aro said his, "little experiment". In reality, he realized he should be very worried considering the link had been created the moment their eyes met, and usually it would take much longer then just looking at someone for a relationship to be formed.

He only hoped he could keep Aro away for as long as possible, there was no telling what he would do to the woman, especially if he had Jane with him. Marcus didn't want his 'experiment' broken before he could figure out their link and why he felt so drawn to her.

"Are you going to unchain me so that I can eat the food or are we just going sit here and stare at it?" her voice sliced through the room, effectively breaking his current train of thought.

"I will unchain one hand and one hand only. You can work with that can't you?" he was surprised to hear his voice take on a mocking edge when he had meant to keep it as blank as possible.

Just what was she doing to him?

He stepped around to the edge of her bed and sank down gracefully, "You must, however, promise to keep those nasty claws of yours' to yourself."

For whatever reason she scoffed and replied, "Don't worry, I couldn't hurt you even if I wanted to."

Something in her tone seemed awfully bitter when she said that and Marcus had to wonder why. He also wondered why she thought she couldn't hurt him, since she was obviously very capable of doing so. It wasn't every day someone was able to tackle and pin a battle hardened, three thousand year old vampire; which is something she had proved right from the start.

Marcus reached forward to take hold of her chained right arm.

"How do you know I'm not left handed?" she challenged, hazel eyes flashing. Another emotion came to life inside of him that he hadn't felt in a long while and it took him a moment to identify it as annoyance.

"If you are then you will learn to eat with your right." He replied monotonously.

She then huffed and growled a few non-repeatable words under her breath that Marcus chose to ignore. After all, he was a legitimate child of both parents and did not have any sexual tendency towards men, thank you very much.

When he took hold of her arm again, he noticed how warm and soft her skin felt, like heated velvet. He imagined it would feel like being burnt alive to be wrapped around her, to feel her and he had been cold for so long…

No, he warned himself, do not think of such things. As he came back to himself he noticed that he had been gently stroking her soft, copper skin and instead of shoving him away as he assumed she would, she was actually leaning more towards him. Almost against him, leaning in so close he could feel her heat and smell her skin but not close enough to be actually touching. Her eyes were fluttered closed and the expression on her face was something akin to a calm bliss.

Bewildered, he immediately pulled his hand from her arm and unlocked the manacle on one hand. His sudden movement caused her to open her eyes. Her expression looked clouded and semi-confused almost as if she had just woken up but she snapped out of whatever haze she was in and instantly leaned back, trying to create a more of a distance.

Both stared at each other warily, something had just taken place between the two of them. What it was Marcus couldn't tell you, but the woman seemed to be more on edge then before, if that was possible.

It was then that Marcus decided he should leave before any more odd things happened to him and he did something he would regret. As he stood up she stopped him, "My name is Leah. Now I told you, so it's only fair I should know the name of the man that kidnapped me." Her voice was shaking slightly.

Marcus debated answering her for a second before deciding. "Marcus", he replied.

He saw her silently mouth his name, and felt an odd chill creep up his spine. No, he most certainly did not want to hear his name verbalized on her lips, he chided himself.

Knowing that he really had to get out of the room now, he placed the tray of food on her lap and turned to exit only to be halted once more at the door.

"Wait! Could you just please tell me why I'm here?" she sounded faintly desperate.

He stood in the doorway, keeping his back turned towards her.

"Eat." He commanded before stepping out and shutting the door firmly behind him, but not before he heard the muttered, "Prick" from the other side.

/ / / / / / / / / /

Ack, okay let me first start off by saying I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!!

I know I'm a terrible authoress by updating 8 months later but THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL OF YOU WHO REVIEWED YOU GUYS ARE FRICKEN AWESOME!!

No, I will not abandon this story and again I'm terrible sorry for the long update.

I kind of forgot about it because school was so busy and English class writing assignments left me in no mood to actually write after I was done with all those "What is the symbolism of this…" papers. (I hate those; they suck out all of my creative juices)

Also, I didn't know so many people would like this story but thank you so much. Last time I had check on it there was only like 7 reviews, I come back and there are 17! So immediately I felt bad for leaving you all hanging and had to write the second chapter. I hope you all like it and hopefully now there will be more updates now that school (which runs my life) is winding down. I promise it won't be 8 months again.

All of that being said, if any one could tell me because I can't remember is it just werewolves who are repelled by the vampire's scent or is it a mutual thing?

Please review I will love you forever, even if it's just to tell me you don't like my story (Though I'd probably want a reason). Also, if you have any questions about the story feel free to ask and I will answer.

- Katherine Rossetti