Have a Little Faith
Chapter Four: Homebound
Ah, yes, the sunlight. It may not have the power to hurt Addison or Demetri, but it did bring about quite the complication when they were trying to get to the airport in New York. They had stopped to wait in a woodsy area just outside of the state as they waited for the daylight to subside. Addison prowled this small area with great interest; she'd always had a great love of climbing trees. In fact, there was a time when she was about ten years old that she climbed so high up a tree that her parents had to make a frantic call to the fire department in order to get her back down to the safety of the ground without her falling out of the tree upon her descent. Addison laughed internally at the memory as she leapt up onto a nearby tree, climbing up it easily so that she could stare down and observe the world below her. She closed her eyes, and breathed in the various scents of moss, the leaves, the grass, and the dirt. All of these scents mingled together. Addison couldn't help but love that smell.
Addison opened her eyes to see Demetri below her, smiling up in amusement.
"Were you a monkey in a past life?" He teased.
Addison stuck her tongue out at him, and then she smiled, leaning back. She heard him chuckle lightly below.
Addison leapt down from her branch to sit on one much lower, and closer to where Demetri was.
"Demetri?"
"Yes?"
"Who was the boy that Adriano attacked after Nataliya called for the newborns to attack?"
Demetri was clearly startled by this question, but he recovered quickly, and answered: "Alec."
Addison nodded and closed her eyes again. Then she asked, "What did he do to Adriano, to make him freeze up like that?"
"He used his gift on him."
"Which is...?" Addison inquired.
"Alec and his sister, Jane, are two of our most powerful members of the Volturi guard. Alec can cut off all sense and feeling from other people while Jane can make someone feel the most intolerable pain."
"Jane..." Addison met Demetri's gaze, "The little girl Katya and Nataliya went after?"
"That was Jane," Demetri confirmed.
"Huh," Addison said nodding, as she always did when she was thinking over new information.
Demetri glanced up at the sky. It was nearing sunset with every passing moment. The sunlight broke through their cover under the cluster of trees and branches, illuminating the diamonds of their flesh.
"What about you, Addison?" Demetri asked. Addison glanced down, confusion coloring her beautiful immortal face.
"What about me?"
"Well, how is that you came to wind up alongside Adriano and the others? If your heart was not into being their with them?"
Addison looked rather startled. She contemplated whether she really wanted to tell him this or not. She looked up at the sky, the trees...
"Didn't your master tell you?" She asked him after a while.
"No, he only mentioned some things..." Demetri trailed off.
"Ah," Addison said, hopping down from her branch to stand in front of him. She took a deep breath, and began to speak.
"I met Adriano one day at the cafe where I worked the nightshift. He'd seen me the other day... with an, uhm, someone I didn't really get along with too well... he realized what I could do, that I obviously had some sort of... ability... and he took interest," Addison paused, her eyes focused on the ground. "Of course I was easily charmed by him. I was really very shallow, and he was incredibly beautiful. More so then my boyfriend, at any rate.
"I could tell that he was different. He never told me his secret when I was still mortal, of course. But I could just tell that he was definitely not human. That he was something different, something more.
"Then, one night, he showed up. I was angry, I remember that, I had gotten messages from the friends I had started to ignore because I was always with my new boyfriend." Demetri noted Addison's involuntary scowl at the word. "And when I think back now, I wish I had listened. That I had spent more time with them, and that I had listened to their reasoning; that he gave them a bad feeling. At least, when Adriano and the Russian Twins were building up their army, I wished most desperatly that I had paid more attention to them, that I had been absolutely rapt with the attention I showered them with...
"I don't regret being immortal, of course," Addison said, finally meeting Demetri's eyes. "There are just so many things we can do that humans can't even dream of, you know? We're just so powerful, and free to go where ever we want. All we really have to do is keep the secret, right? The entire world is just... a playground, really. I don't have to worry about things like getting the Swine Flu, or developing cancer, or getting old, or taxes... I love what I am, and I love the freedom of having immortality. I just regret staying there, being apart of their plans. I mean, all those children... all their worried families that would never see them again, and what they got dragged into..." Addison sighed.
Demetri was gazing at her with an intense look that Addison couldn't quite decipher. She stared back at him for a few moments. Then, when it got too uncomfortable for her to continue to hold his gaze, she tilted her head back and gazed up at the fading light. The sun was just about to disappear under the horizon's edge, and the two immortals watched the brilliant array of colors that illuminated the sky. They watched as the sun sunk away, as the light began to fade away.
"I think you'll like Volterra," Demetri said quietly, breaking the silence. Addison met his eyes. "We have forests and rivers... It's truly a beautiful place."
Addison grinned back at him, as they began to walk away from their woodsy shelter under the canopy of trees, branches, and leaves. "Forests, eh? That certainly sounds like my most ideal home already..."
.oOo.
It was still nightfall when they reached the airport. Addison wasn't quite certain as to how Demetri got his hands on the money to buy two first class plane tickets, or whether the Volturi just handed over credit cards to their employees, but somehow Demetri was able to aquire the two first class tickets for their flight to Florence. Upon arriving there, they planned on running the rest of the way to Volterra.
Alice gasped as the vision flashed across her eyes: Demetri and Addison sitting calmly, waiting for their plane. Addison sat with her legs crossed, flipping through a fashion magazine idley, her expression bored, and her first class ticket to Florence in her hand. Demetri's eyes wandered, taking in curious gazes of those sitting around him. Every once in a while his gaze would flicker to Addison's face, and away...
"What, Alice?" Nessie asked. The Cullens were packing now, preparing to leave Forks at long last. Alice steadied herself as the others, minus Edward and Emmett who were currently hunting, entered the room. Nervous expressions met Alice's face.
"It's nothing, really," she assured them, "They're waiting at the airport, and they're about to board a flight to Florence."
Her family relaxed visibly as Jasper made his way towards her, to hold her hand.
"Everything's fine."
.oOo.
Finally, the flight attendant announced that they were beginning their descent. Addison's head rested against the window as she watched the ground below them that appeared to rise up to meet them. She sat up straight in her seat as the plane hit the ground, jostling them all as it sped to a stop. The two immortals rose when it was announced that the first class passengers could exit the plane and "Have a great day".
They made their way off the plane, and into the airport in Florence. They walked through the building in silence, passing many people. All of whom seemed to be rushing, needing to be somewhere important. When they were outside, they traveled down the street, and when it was safe to do so, they started to run. Objects and buildings flew past them as morning approached steadily. They ran through the cover of trees, and alongside highways. It didn't take them too long to reach their final destination. When they did, Demetri reached out to stop Addison. He smiled down at her, and said,
"Welcome to Volterra."
A/N: I would like to thank you for taking the time to read this. Thank you for your kind reviews; your support means so much. Do review again, would you? Constructive criticism is always appreciated here!