Chapter 4

Italian Vampires

Leah stared out the window of her hotel room. They had been in Florence for a couple days, but she still found herself wanting to drink it in at it every second she could. It was beautiful, beautiful and modern. The architecture, especially the bridges, the statues, the artwork, the museums, the churches, the boats, the people, the food. Leah couldn't help, but be enchanted by its beauty.

Additionally, the furthest she had ever travelled was California on a high school field trip since Henry never made enough money to bring them on vacations. Florence included tourists of seemingly hundreds of nationalities. It was impossible to stand out or blend in. Leah liked to get caught up in the languages around her. One time she sat for an hour listening to a mother and daughter have a conversation in French.

She even enjoyed listening to Demetri and Felix when they had quick conversations in Italian. She had never admitted that to them, but, for some reason, Felix had taken to calling her bellezza or femmina lupa meaning beauty or she wolf. Honestly, Leah enjoyed the sounds of the names, but she glared at him anyways whenever he used one.

Demetri offered to ask him to stop making up Italian names for her on her behalf, but she told him not to bother, mostly, because she refused to accept any sort of help from either member of the Volturi.

The two Volturi guards weren't as awful as Leah had feared they would be. Of course, it made her restless knowing they must be hunting and she found herself often checking their eyes. They were always wearing those damn contacts which made it difficult. Additionally, it enraged her that their main purpose, though never spoken out loud again, was to watch her and her pack. Leah could just see them memorizing the way they all acted, dissecting their behavior, searching for weaknesses. She did her best to avoid situations where it was only her and a member of the Volturi.

Leah was distracted from her thoughts by a soft knock on the door to her hotel room. She ran over and opened it to find Emmett smiling down at her.

"Aye, what's good?"

"Trying to enjoy the little time I get away from vampires."

Emmett chuckled, "We're going out tonight to some bar Carlisle and Jake found today. They say it has good music."

"Are they going to be there," Leah said so quietly she could barely hear the words come out.

Emmett had no trouble deciphering them and laughed, "Yah, sorry, Bellezza. They haven't really been that bad, though. They could have been much, much worse if they wanted. For example, Aro wanted them standing guard outside your rooms every night, but they had the decency to ignore that order."

Leah wrinkled her nose, "Good, I can't imagine vampire being the first thing I smell every time I open my door."

Emmett smirked and punched her lightly on the arm. "Oops, sorry that was kind of hard."

"No, don't worry I'm a little tougher than your typical human."

"Right, one of your wolfy things."

Leah laughed, "Yah one of my wolfy things."

"Well I will see you at the front of the hotel in one hour. Dress nice and, just to warn you, Tanya is going to be joining us. She's here early for the wedding."

Emmett waved goodbye and Leah went back into her room. She shut the door and groaned. Great, now I get to babysit Seth all night and make sure he doesn't make an idiot of himself.

With impeccable timing, there was a loud series of knocks at her door. Leah walked over and opened it up to find Seth standing there with only a towel around his waist holding up two shirts.

"Which one? And I need you to smell these colognes and tell me which smells better to a girl."

Leah contemplated her last thought and added, too late.

The bar was actually a good choice by Carlisle and Jake. The music was upbeat, but not pop, it reminded Leah of the music the tribe played sometimes. Seth was already up and dancing with Tanya. The two were laughing while they bounced around in perfect synchronization. For his gangly body, Seth was a rather good dancer. Carlisle was talking with the man working the bar asking about its establishment. Garrett and Kate were flirting and rubbing shoulders and stuff like that which made Leah want to gag. Edward and Bella had flown back home after the meeting with Aro unable to be away from Renesmee for any longer. She distracted herself by playing the accent/language game with her pack.

They listened to the couple next to them speaking a language with an awful lot of gagging sounds. Jake had his phone out and knew the answer. So far, Leah and Quil had guessed German and Dutch, but struck out twice.

"One more guess or else no one gets points," Jake announced unnecessarily.

"Slovak," said Demetri smoothly coming out of nowhere with Felix in tail.

"One point to Google Maps." said Jake.

Google maps was the nickname Embry had come up with for him, but Jake had taken to calling him it to his face. It was because of his tracker ability. When asked, Demetri knew the location of every person he had ever met.

He sat beside Leah and she, on instinct, inched away, wary of the cold touch of his arm.

Ellie, a third Volturi member, also sat with them. Apparently, she was visiting family in Florence. Leah wondered when Ellie had been turned and figured it must have been recent if she still had family alive in Italy, unless they were vampires also, Ellie had chosen not to share details. Leah really hated that about vampires, their natural tendency to be secretive.

In Ellie's case, she wasn't the only one frustrated by lack of information. Carlisle had never met her before and they all wondered what her gift was, but Carlisle discouraged them from asking stating, "it would not be wise to pry in the lives of the Volturi Guard."

"How many languages do you speak?" Quil exclaimed, exasperated bringing Leah back to the moment. Every time Demetri played this game, he won.

"Only thirty," Demetri chuckled.

"Thirty!"

Demetri shrugged, "I like different languages. If I have time, I like to learn them."

"Can you all speak a million languages?" Quil demanded.

Felix snorted, "No, Dem's just weird, I know four and that's all I plan to learn."

"Six," said Ellie.

"Really?" Said Demetri sounding surprised, "which ones?"

"Urg, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, English, Turkish and German, well my German isn't too good." She mumbled it all very fast and was unable to meet the eyes of anyone at the table.

Leah frowned towards her. She had never met an unconfident vampire before. It made her uneasy.

Embry laughed at her, "You need to loosen up, Ellie. Come dance with me I'm king of relaxation. And fun."

"And laziness," said Quil.

"And womanization," said Jake punching his arm.

Embry pushed him away and everyone laughed. Ellie looked out of her mind nervous and glanced towards Felix and Demetri. Leah rolled her eyes. Her whole pack was becoming far too comfortable in the company of vampires. Soon they would all be as bad as Seth.

"Go ahead, have a blast," Said Felix waving Ellie away.

Embry took her hand and led her into the crowd of people gathered below the band.

"Don't mind Ellie she has a huge crush on Dem, gets pretty goddamn nervous when he's around."

Demetri laughed and shook his head, "Not true, she's always goddamn nervous. Aro doesn't know what to do about it."

"Is she new to the Volturi?" Leah asked, her curiosity getting the better of her. Jake shot her a warning glance and stood up. She ignored his glare. It had been a perfectly reasonable follow-up question.

"I'm going to get a drink." Jake snapped.

Felix watched him leave, but Demetri kept his eyes on Leah seeming impressed.

"Finally decided to ask about her, huh? I bet old Carlisle told you not to."

Leah stared into Demetri's eyes. They were nearly black. He must have forgot contacts. Thirsty? she mused. But then refocused on their conversation.

She was going to deny his claim, but there was something intense in those black eyes, somehow she knew Demetri would catch her lie only by watching her tell it. Stupid leeches, spent hundreds of years learning how to read people. At least none of the Volturi are like Edward. Mind invasion. Stupid leech. The next second she felt bad for insulting Edward, but the mind reading thing really did get on her nerves.

Meanwhile, Quil, sensing danger, as well, left the table to find a drink.

"I'm only curious. You don't have to answer if you don't want to."

Half of Demetri's mouth curved into a smile. "She's new." He said and he left it at that. Leah waited for more, but, instead, he asked Felix something in Italian and they both laughed and looked in her direction.

Leah realized she was frowning deeply in a frustrated manner. He had told her what she already knew.

He leaned in closer to her, "Any more questions?" He smirked his cold breathe washing over her face.

Leah knew he was only teasing her, but she could feel her temperature rising quickly with rage. Emmett always teased her and sometimes Garrett too, but she couldn't stand it when Felix or Demetri did. They didn't know her. She didn't even like them. They had no right.

Before she could say anything, a stupid hostess appeared beside their table.

"I noticed you guys didn't have any beverages? Is there anything I could interest you in?" She was pretty in a very human way. Her face was a bit plain, but she made up for that with a body which every man who walked by couldn't help, but glance at. Her smile seemed to be directed towards Demetri though she glanced Felix's way every couple of seconds. Leah doubted she had even noticed she was there.

Demetri smiled politely and gave her a quick answer in Italian. She giggled, said something, then walked away. Demetri turned back to Felix and Leah almost instantaneously, but Felix watched her walk away.

"Damn it, that one has a crush on you too. Mind if I change that, Dem?"

Demetri shrugged, "Go ahead."

Felix smirked and rose to his feet to go after the young hostess. Leah watched him leave nervously. She couldn't just let him go and feed on some innocent girl (though an incredibly idiotic innocent girl) right in front of her, but she knew it was a bad idea to get in a fight with a member of the Volturi.

Demetri watched her torn expression for a minute then said, "Don't worry, he's not looking for blood."

Leah wasn't sure if she believed him. They sat in a silence only broken by random girls who would edge closer and closer giggling before finally getting up the nerve to ask Demetri some stupid question.

You're all idiots. Stupid humans. Stupid vampires.

Leah found herself becoming more and more aware of human stupidity the more time she spent with vampires. Example A, Seth, who had been dancing with Tanya for nearly an hour. Leah let out a hiss of annoyance and stood up. She was done with vampires for the day. No, she was done with them for the year.

Demetri was on his feet not a second later.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to the hotel."

She started to walk away, but Demetri stepped in front of her.

"I'll accompany you."

"It's really not necessary." She said not bothering to hide her annoyance.

"I'm sorry, but it is." He looked sort of actually sorry too so she decided to let it go.

He followed her out of the bar. Leah rolled her eyes at the gaggle of dismayed girls who watched them leave.

They walked in silence. Leah wished she could think of something to say, but then decided it didn't matter since she didn't care what Demetri thought of her anyways.

Leah looked up at the lights on one of Florence's many beautiful bridges. As always, her breathe was taken away and she stopped so she could stare.

A horrible screech ripped across the peaceful night. Screams filled the air and smoke clouded Leah's vision. She turned on her heel to see a car spinning out of control down the street. It hit one, two, four, eight people as it hurdled towards her. She threw herself to the side just as Demetri grabbed hold of her arm. Their combined strength sent them both crashing into the window of a boutique store.

"I think you're good now," Leah muttered pulling against Demetri's hold on her wrist, but Demetri didn't release her. In fact, he didn't react at all. He was frozen staring, black eyes wide.

Leah finally found what had caught his attention.

There was a woman laying in the street moaning in pain. Her arm had split clean from her body. Around her, a pool of blood was forming.

Leah felt Demetri breathe in and his body shuddered. He released her and faced the bleeding woman in a crouch. Leah heard a growl escape from his lips.

She leapt in front of him faster than any normal human could coming between him and the woman. He growled dangerously and grabbed her by the arm. Before he could throw her to the side, she wound her hands tightly in his hair.

"Demetri!" She shouted in his face. "Stupid leech! Don't do this, look at all the people!"

His body began to shake and he was still growling, but his eyes were darting between Leah and the woman. He looked frantic, wild and Leah pressed her forehead against his. She hoped her animal like scent would distract him enough from the woman so he could..

"Walk away," She spoke with forced composure, "or else we're both going to get in a lot of trouble."

She held his black eyes with hers ready to phase the instant he went in for the kill. She could hear the sounds of sirens. The fire department was on its way and the ambulance. If she could only hold Demetri back for a minute.

He snapped back up to full height and turned his back on Leah and the woman. He walked away so quickly Leah had to jog after him. The humans were so distracted by the accident and the carnage none of them looked their way. Demetri only slowed when they were ten blocks from the accident.

He turned and faced her. "Thank you, Leah. If you hadn't got in the way..." He shook his head sounding frustrated.

"Why haven't you eaten?" Asked Leah, folding her arms, uncomfortable with his thanks.

"Aro thought it would be a bad idea for us to feed while we were watching you guys. I mean it is your job to protect the humans. You would never trust us if we went out every night hunting them."

"We don't trust you anyways." Said Leah impassively.

"I know." He sighed. Then he groaned. "Your arm, I'm so sorry."

Leah hadn't been aware of the pain in the arm he had grabbed until he said that. Suddenly, it became nearly unbearable and she had to crouch on the ground holding it against her body. It felt like every bone was broken. In fact, she was pretty sure every bone was broken.

Demetri crouched down beside her. "I'm so sorry. Here."

The very last thing on the entire planet that Leah wanted to do at that moment was give Demetri her arm, but she was in no state to fight him so she let him take it in his hands. Surprisingly, his cold touch felt good and the areas he touched began to turn slightly numb. All the while, her arm was healing with its normal rapid speed.

Demetri watched its healing with interest. Only ten minutes had gone by when it was completely done.

"Does that happen for every injury?" He inquired curiously still holding her arm. His touch still felt unexplainably good.

"It's a wolf thing." Leah replied.

Just then Carlisle, Quil and Jake came running around the corner.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Leah, why don't you ever answer your goddman phone?" Jake demanded looking pissed. He then took in their disheveled appearance. "What the hell happened to you two?"

"There was a car accident," said Leah quickly standing and facing Jake, "Demetri kind of had to push me on the ground to get me out of the way. I hurt my arm, but we're fine we were on our way back to the hotel."

"I guess saving human girls from car accidents is a leechy kind of trend," Jake muttered darkly.

Leah left with Jake and Quil to go back to the hotel. She avoided meeting Demetri's burning gaze. She knew he was wondering, just like she was, why she hadn't told the real story. Leah considered it and reconsidered it. Long after she was safe in her hotel room bed she finally drew a conclusion. The only reason she had changed the story was so Jake wouldn't have, pissed off, phased and attacked Demetri for breaking her arm and almost mauling her. She had lied for Jake's sake and the wedding. And if Demetri thought it was for any reasons other than that, then he was under some sad illusions.

Thank you again for the reviews! and NONE OF THIS IS MINE ALL STEPHANIE MEYER'S