Aro sat on the over stuffed coffee shop chair, waiting patiently for Demetri to escort Tessa back to him. When the slender young girl pushed open the door ahead of the tall medieval vampire Aro gave a little smile. Had one little human female bested his big bad hunter? "my sweet Tessa." he stood and held his arms wide hopping she would willingly hug him.

"can it." she walked past him and threw herself into the vacant chair at his table. "we are goanna figure all this out before your stupid stooge destroys what little of a life I have." at Aro's nod Demetri pulled a chair over to sit at his right side. "ok one, do all of you read minds or does tall dark and dorky here just have scary good hearing?" the two shared a knowing smile.

"while most of our little family do have special abilities mind reading is not Demetri's… well not technically." Aro answered.

"see that right there is what's goanna send me to the nut house. What kind of answer is that?!" she nearly shouted, close to hysterics.

"maybe meeting in public wasn't such a good idea." Demetri mumbled. "you kind of have to hear the beginning before you can hear the end. If you think you can just hold off on you little trip to the insane-asylum for an hour or so Aro can explain every thing." his calm teasing was enough to drive Tessa up the wall. she took a deep calming breath and nodded.

"ok shoot." Aro gave an approving nod and began….

I was born in the year sixteen-hundred and two, my name then was Robert Stuart I was . The history books will tell you that I died before I turned one, I believe in the official story I was four months old. Truth was I was kidnapped at birth by my mothers midwife, and held for ransom. The family refused to pay, it has always been a royal policy… one we still follow today. Rather than kill me as threatened the woman and her husband raised me. They were not cruel, matter of fact they raised me as the prince I was, telling me that I would one day rule, they didn't know the half of it.

After my birth father died my so called mother made a feeble attempt for the throne, she said I should have been king. She lost her life in that misguided endeavor, you won't find that in the history books, you can only learn what the powerful want you to. The rich rule the world and that means they write the books. When she died I lost my mind, I went wild in the streets of London, drinking and fucking as it pleased me giving no care to those I left hurt in my wake… until it was too late. I hurt one very important person.

Tessa leaned forward in her char hardly able to understand what she was hearing. "let me get this straight" she interrupted. "you are trying to tell me you are over four HUNDRED years old?" Aro nodded, Demetri chuckled. "not that this is fascinating, I am after all a history buff, but what the hell does this work of fiction have to do with me?"

"if you were not such an inquisitive child, I would have finished the story. The person hat I hurt the most was not only important to me, but to you also."

"not to interrupt my king but this shop is closing." Demetri said pointing to the window where the waitress had just turned off the open sign.

"you are quite right, and I do believe that dearest Tessa needs to get home. Would you mind very much if I asked you to allow Demetri to accompany you home again this evening?" Tessa rolled her eyes.

"he might as well, my reputation is trashed as it is can't get any worse." she gave Demetri a plastic grin. "you don't mind if I have sex with him while we're at it do you? I mean if I'm not going to get any sleep I might as well have some fun." Aro's posture straightened, his eyes widened, then Tessa laughed. "joking! Wow you real are old fashioned!" she teased. "lets go dork." she said walking past Demetri. "we'll see you tomorrow Aro."

"right behind you princess." Demetri called after Tessa as she strode out of the coffee shop. "that went well I think." he said turning back to his king.

"she is taking it all in stride. Tomorrow will be the hardest. At least she is willing to listen." Aro agreed. The two vampires followed the young girl to her apartment. "treat her well Demetri, she's our only hope."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Thanks for the comment! This is just a hint for what's to come!