Well, it has been a wild ride so far. I will be sad when it finally comes to an end, there are maybe 2 more chapters and Perceptions will be finished -- my first long work (nostalgic sigh and tears are wiped away), but no fears, I have another story in the works and I'll let you know when it is mostly finished.

Enjoy!!!

Chapter 21

I felt his presence even before I could hear or smell him, even before Edward had a chance to scan the forest or Alice had a chance to see. I walked as if in a trance to the middle of the side yard that was still in disarray from our football game and planted myself.

The rest of the family came out and arranged themselves a little behind me, except for Carlisle, who stood by my side. I peered into the forest, tense and poised for something, though I didn't know what. I had no idea how I would react when he came into my line of sight.

A small shape draped in an all too familiar dark cloak was first to step into the sunlight from the murky trees. I could hardly repress the growl that tickled my chest at the smell of the little goblin. How I loathed her. I braced myself for what I would see when she threw back her hood, but she made no effort to move.

The next to follow her from the forest was a gray swathed shape nearly as wide as it was tall. My lips peeled away from my teeth and I crouched a little lower as instinct kicked in. His scent brought on a white-hot rage at the thought of what he had done.

At the achingly familiar scent of the third and final shape, my growl faded into almost a whimper. I froze in my crouch, every muscle tensed and waiting, my eyes on him.

The small shape flicked back her hood and smiled blandly, "I will be sure to tell Aro of the warm greeting we received."

Her voice grated on my already worn nerves, though I was relieved that she looked pretty much the same as she had in Italy, therefore no surprises. I straightened with some effort when I saw that Carlisle's brow was creased in disapproval. I would have to put more effort into being better behaved, he deserved that.

"Hello, Jane," He said pleasantly. "And to what do we owe the pleasure of your company?"

I could feel the tension in the air. Emmett and Jasper had come a little closer and stood just behind and to the side of me and Carlisle. Edward had planted himself slightly in front of Bella and the others had arranged themselves around them.

"Aro has sent us to look for one of ours. A male named Tom. We have reason to believe he was here last."

Carlisle nodded soberly, "Yes, Tom was here, but we are sorry to say he is no longer."

"That is too bad. Aro will be disappointed. What happened?" Feigned interest didn't sound good on Jane.

"He attacked a member of my family," there was a slight disturbance as a low, violent growl broke through Carlisle's words.

I caught my breath in sudden hope and watched but Demetri did nothing else and Carlisle continued as if there had been no interruption.

"We offered to let him go and return to Italy with the promise he would no longer be a threat to us, but he refused, so you see, Jane, we had little choice. There were other reasons we had to dispose of him, as well."

"Oh?" Jane said.

"He attacked and left a man where humans could find him and proof of our existence. Tom was well on his way to disaster."

Jane looked bored and unsurprised to learn this bit of news. "I trust you took care of the problem?"

Carlisle nodded, "As best we could. None of the local humans think it was anything more than an animal attack."

"Well, it would seem you had reason to get rid of this male. I will report this to Aro, hopefully he will understand."

My eyes flicked unwittingly to Jane. If this wasn't the end, I would leave. I wouldn't have more of Aro's attention brought here if I could help it.

"I'm sure he will." Carlisle said confidently. "Aro is an unusually wire individual."

"Yes." Jane agreed with a slight tip of her head. "It looks as if things are wrapped up here. We must be going, except …" Her smile grew and her face twisted uncomfortably. I had a feeling I knew what was coming next and I braced myself for it.

Another voice finished Jane's sentence, "We thought that Sarah might be up for a little reunion."

I glared at Felix as he lowered his hood and smirked at me. He looked me up and down appraisingly – I would need a shower after that – and his lecherous grin widened. I barely repressed my answering snarl. I remembered Tom's words all to well and was severely tempted to try my luck against him, but I held my place.

"Gold looks good on you, Sarah," He purred as he turned to his companion. "Don't you think, Demetri?"

My breath caught as Demetri slowly drew back the hood of his cloak and all other thoughts faded into nothing. He glared at Felix, but refused to look in my direction. He looked the same, every angled plane and hard line, down to the impassivity of his eyes. But I knew him better than that and I could sense the differences in him. It hurt and I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder.

Jasper stood by me, eyes still fixed on our guests, but I felt peace gush through my veins almost to the point of my knees buckling. I smiled gratefully at him but stepped out from under his hand and ignoring my enemies before me and those that loved and supported me behind me, I approached the only person who truly mattered at this moment -- the only one who would ever truly matter.

"Demetri," I whispered once my feet had come to a stop in front of him. In my voice I heard such fierce longing and such heartbreaking anguish that I almost broke there and then.

His eyes, those beautiful crimson eyes that had haunted my every waking moment, flashed to mine and his strong jaw tightened. He didn't move but I heard his breathing quicken. It was amazing how good it felt just being near him. His scent washed over me, relieving my tension like a hot shower would.

"They lied to him, Sarah," I heard Edward call quietly to me.

Demetri looked up from me and stared over my head.

Edward continued, "They told him he disgusted you and that's why you left."

I gasped and touched the back of his hand with the tips of my fingers, "No." I hissed vehemently. "Never you, Demetri. Never you."

He brought his attention back to me still impressively expressionless and pulled away from my light touch. I dropped my hand, hurt more than I would ever allow to show.

"I left you a note," I tried to explain in a strangled whisper.

"You must mean this."

In horror, I heard Felix's mocking voice and the rustle of paper being drawn from his pocket.

Whirling, I stalked to him and snatched the drawing before he had a chance to pull it away. I snarled at him, furiously enough that even he was silenced for a moment. I scanned the paper. It looked as if it had been folded and unfolded many times and it made me sick to think that Felix had had it all this time. I stared at him a few seconds debating whether or not to tell him I knew what he had done to Demetri and could imagine nothing better than slowly ripping his limbs from his body one by one and burning them in front of him.

I slipped it into my back pocket and went to stand in my place before Demetri. I could feel myself starting to shatter into pieces as I looked up into his face. In a moment I saw a subtle shift in his eyes and knew the pain he felt. He stood almost broken before me and I couldn't even cry for him. I fought not to rock. His eyes mirrored the same anguish that I had been doing my best to hide.

"Why don't you and Felix come to the house and we can catch up." I barely heard Carlisle as he spoke to Jane and then we were alone.

Demetri still hadn't moved. I reached up and framed his face with my hands.

"Please, talk to me," I begged in a quivering voice.

At my touch he finally came out of his daze. He crushed me to him in a movement so quick and desperate that I didn't see it.

"Sarah, Sarah," He murmured into my hair over and over again like a mantra.

I held him as tightly as I could and yet it was nowhere near close enough. I tore myself out of his arms and grabbed his hand, towing him the way he had come.

"This way," I said almost giddily.

We ran hand in hand in silence for about forty-five minutes until we reached the place I wanted to go. It was a secluded little valley, hard to find once and nearly impossible to find the second time. As far as I knew only lost hunters had ever came here. A river ran along its north and western borders, carving its path through the mountains on its way to the sea.

A little moon shaped stretch of beach lay on the west side of the valley; a deep pool of clear water lapped at the coarse sand then twisted away to fall and crash over boulders further down the river's path. I had come often to this little beach to be alone and listen to the sound of the water as it hurried to the ocean, to watch the stars as they wheeled in the sky, always constant in their course.

I loved the sound of the wind as it rushed through the needles of the pines and their creaking as they battled the strength of the gusts and won. I had felt strengthened here in this place of beauty and hope.

It was here I brought Demetri.

I pulled him down to sit beside me on the sand, though I wasn't sure what I would say. Turns out I didn't have to say anything.

"Why did you leave?" he asked watching the play of light on the water.

I pulled the drawing I had taken from Felix and passed it to him. He unfolded it and studied it for a moment before crumpling it into a little ball and dropping it at his side.

"I could never see you as that," He stated firmly. "You are joy and light, not that, and I have never believed you could ever become that. You are too good."

"They brought my sister. They wanted me to feed on her." I said in a small voice. I could almost feel the pain as fresh as it had been that day. "She was pregnant. I killed her to save her."

"I m sorry, Sarah. So sorry," Demetri took a deep, dragging breath. "I wasn't there to stop them. I wasn't there when you needed me and I promised you to be by your side."

I looked at him sharply, "I never blamed you. It wasn't your fault. It was theirs. I ran because I didn't know what you would find when you got back." – I cringed – "I was seriously broken for awhile after that, possibly still was, up until today. But it was better here – with Carlisle's – then there."

"With me," He said bleakly, looking at his hands.

"No!" I shook my head hard in denial. "Nothing is better without you. You can't imagine how much I wanted to go back and find you, but I couldn't go back to the place that offered such horrifying memories.

"I am miserable without you – functioning, but miserable. Every day hurts, every breath feels like sacrilege. To leave was a necessary mistake, but I need you, Demetri." I moved to kneel in front of him and turned his face to mine, so he could see the truth in my eyes. "Like I have needed nothing before."

I leaned closer to press a kiss to his pale lips.

"No, please." He pleaded in a broken voice that tore at my heart and made me ache to hear. His eyes were wide, wary, and full of guilt.

I proceeded anyway.

"I can not be without you again, Sarah," He whispered harshly when I had let him go.

"No," I whispered in agreement. Neither of us would survive such a thing.

He reached for me, dragging me to him, crushing me in his arms; kissing my lips, my nose, my closed eyelids. Demetri had never been one to rush. Because he had all the time in the world, he usually took all the time he wanted. But today he moved with an urgency and desire that he had never shown me before and I couldn't help responding in kind.

I clutched at him in desperation. He was my anchor to the world; my gravity, my reality. He pushed me down, somehow the hated grey cloak was under me, and his weight rested on me. My body tingled to feel every hard line of his body against it and I felt fire race through my veins – I know we can't heat up, but I did at the feel of his ever restless hands as they slid over my skin. It was a heady sensation and I sighed at that and the memory of other such times.

"What?" he whispered in my ear, his hands stopping, regretfully.

"I love your hands," I said softly as I pressed a kiss to the palm of one of them.

His brow creased quizzically.

I rubbed my cheek against his smooth palm, smiling sheepishly, "They are so strong and at the same time so tender. I never have to guess what you're thinking when you touch me."

He bent to my neck, trailing light kisses along my collarbone, "They are yours, as is the rest of me. Forever."

He made love to me then on the sand of my little beach, under the fragrant pines. The roar of the water lost in the silence and peace that filled us as we came together again and again until nothing would ever be able to part us.

We lay close, after and I traced the little crescent shaped scars on his back and chest that hadn't been there before. I kissed one on his shoulder and raised my head to meet his eyes.

"I'm sorry."

He looked away from me and I felt him draw away from me until we were not touching, "I didn't mean to betray you, Sarah."

"I know." I said as I sat up and waited for him to tell me what had happened. I understood his need to pull away and allowed him that.

He brought his eyes to mine and searched them for a moment and I saw the echo of remembered pain, "It's the reason I didn't come to find you, in the beginning after that, when you didn't make any attempt to come back to me, I began to believe their lies."

His voice was so low and so torn, that my breath caught at it. He left me no time to say anything, but hurried on in that same broken tone, "I was called in not long after I had found you gone. I didn't believe what they told me, not really. I didn't know who Tom was or why he hated you so. I couldn't imagine anyone having reason to hate someone like you. His rage brought out the animal in me and I had to fight not to rip his head from his shoulders right there in front of the brothers." His voice hardened and his jaw tensed, "That was a mistake." He was silent, calming the rush of fury that filled him.

"Aro was angry when I refused to lead Tom to you. I was locked in one of the cages below the castle and left to Felix for awhile," he gave a wry, painful smile, "though, I am strong, I have never been as strong as he. He said horrible things about you, Sarah. You and him."

"You didn't believe them, did you?" I asked in fear, watching his every move to interpret the truth.

He shook his head, "In the beginning, no. I could still remember how you looked at me and I knew the truth, but as time wore on and Jane was sent to me and then I was left alone and starving. I begin to believe. Somewhere in the pain of the torture and thirst, I began to think they had been right. That you were as they said.

"It was not only that I disgusted you, but that you thought I was too dull and uninteresting to spend the rest of eternity with. That I couldn't make you happy or please you in any way. That you needed more." He paused, thoughtfully.

"When you are weak and half-mad with thirst, nothing makes sense and that you loved me and wanted me, when no one for centuries had was one of those things. I put up an acceptable fight for several months, but am ashamed to admit that when Aro brought in a young girl and spilled her blood in front of me and told me she would be mine and all I had to do was tell him where you were, I broke and told him what he wanted to know.

"After that, there was no reason to keep me below. I was freed and returned to my room, but everything reminded me of you and I ended up moving to another room. Nothing mattered after that and when word came that Tom had not been heard of and I still felt you, I agreed to track you. I knew I had to see you again, talk to you, and learn for myself if what Aro told me was the truth. Please forgive me, Sarah."

I put my arms around him and hugged him as tightly as I could. There was nothing to forgive. I knew all to well the draw of fresh, hot, pulsating human blood and Demetri was far older than I and had less experience with abstinence. He had reacted the way most any of us would have. Ultimately, it was not his fault and I was simply overjoyed to be near him.

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We returned to the house shortly after sunrise. It was the best morning of my life and I grinned up at Demetri. His eyes were the deep crimson that I loved and soft in the gray dawn. He shone brighter then than at any other time.

He bent and nuzzled my nose with his and kissed me, the softness of it building to almost the same depth of need as the night before. I pulled back laughing merrily as he growled and pulled me off the ground and into his arms, nibbling my neck.

"I have to get home before they think you've eaten me." I laughed.

He paused and met my eyes, the velvet smoldering, "That doesn't sound like a bad idea."

I rolled my eyes and wiggled to be let down, "We do have all of forever."

Demetri's grip only tightened at my attempts to escape, "Perhaps, but I have many things to make up for."

"We have all of forever." I repeated, resting my forehead against his and breathing in his renewing scent.

He frowned and set me on my feet, "Fine, but I am holding you to that promise."

I smiled at him and clasped his hand tightly in mine as I led him through the front doors of my home to meet my family.