Tessa woke once more with the realization that Demetri was no longer in her bed. She bolted upright scanning her room for him, nothing. Assuming that he had gone to report to Aro she took her time choosing her cloths. Out of her now tidy closet she selected hip hugging, boot leg, acid washed jeans; her best pair. In truth they were the only pair she owned that didn't have mustard or pizza stains on them. From her top drawer she pulled out a baby pink wife beater, it had probably been white at one point. Tessa made a mental note to learn to separate her laundry better. Looking in the full length merrier that hung on the back of her bedroom door she decided that the outfit was not a total loss, her sleep tousled hair on the other hand would never due.

Her soft brush lay on top of her dresser, along with a cluttered mess of assorted beauty products. Dragging the brush through her rats nest she carefully matched a soft pink lipstick to a powder pink eye shadow and pale rose blush, all of which would go nicely with her top. When her unruly dark brown curls refused to cooperate she also selected a clip and twisted it up. The tangle of curls flowed down into her eyes but she left it, she was as good as she was ever goanna get.

Tessa threw open her door only to come nose to chest with Demetri. He caught her in one hand as she fell backwards, skillfully balancing a plate of eggs and bacon in the other. "Morning." he said breathlessly. She blinked up at him to surprised to respond. "I made you breakfast, Sam said you like your eggs over medium." All Tessa could manage was a nod, she was still cradled in the crook of his strong cold arm. His smile was dazzling. As quickly as he had grabbed her he let go, making sure she was steady on her feet. With his every touch Tessa thought she would faint, that would be embarrassing.

"thank you." she finally got out. She accepted the heaping plate full of food and sat down at her computer using the desk as a makeshift Table.

"you look nice today." he commented trying to make idle conversation. "what time do you have to be in to work today?"

"I don't, it's my day off." she said around a mouth full of egg. He blinked, cocked his head and watched her finish the food. She could almost hear the gears turning in his head.

"so what are you doing today?" she gave him a secretive smile.

"you'll see." Tessa left the room to put her now empty plate in the sink, Demetri followed. Sam was sitting at the kitchen table munching on a bowl of lucky charms and reading the news paper. She looked up when they entered the room.

"hay you, you look good. What's the occasion?" Sam said putting her paper aside. "you haven't done your makeup in years." Tessa ignore her comments.

"what is going on in the world today?"

"its all bad news."

"the weather?"

"rain, again…all week as a matter of fact." the girls looked bummed out but Demetri wanted to smile. Rain meant no sun, witch in turn meant he could go out in public with out much of a care.

"oh well, I'll just have to make a few minor adjustments to our itinerary. I figured since Demetri is going to be staying for a while I could show him around, you know all the hidden gems of the city." the girls nodded in agreement.

"don't forget to show him all the little boutiques with the best cloths in the city."

"come on Dee, peace we're out! She called over her shoulder. On the street Tessa grabbed Demetri by the sleeve and began dragging him up town. The crowd got more dense with every step they took towards the glittering lights of town. Eventually the street got so busy Demetri could no longer pick Tessa out of the crowd. It didn't dawn on him until it was too late that she was no longer holding his sleeve, she was no longer in front of him, and she was no where to be seen. Tessa, a pitiful little human girl, had given the slip to the vampire king's greatest tracker.

He knew it was wrong to use his powers to find her, after all she wasn't even fully aware of what he could do; and she had gone thought all that trouble to lose him. Demetri also knew it would be worse if he didn't track her down, he couldn't go to Aro and explain how a small girl had escaped from his custody. So Demetri took a deep breath, closed his mind to the sights and sounds of the world around him, and reached out with his sixth sense towards Tessa.

His mind was not what sensed her first, Demetri was almost knocked off his feet. The cold empty hole in his chest where his heart had once beat suddenly tingled and a strange warmth spread through his insides. Tessa, she wasn't far, she had slipped into the crowd, circled around and was following him at a distance. She wanted him to go to Aro, she wanted to follow. The irregular warmth in his chest spread lower to parts of his body he didn't know still existed, never mind worked.

Demetri decided to give her some room, he continued walking towards the flashing lights of Broadway. He could feel her following, almost hear her thoughts, she wanted to know more than they were telling her with the story of Aro's life. While she needed to know the past before they could tell her the feature.

Aro was waiting, as they had planned, in the corner booth of the little coffee shop where they had meet the night before. Tessa probably could have found Aro her self if she had thought about it. Demetri gave a bow, barely noticeable to onlookers but Tessa knew he had to. When Aro nodded Demetri took the seat across form his king holding out his hand, allowing Aro to know that Tessa was looking in on them. Aro gave a small grin and nearly laughed.

"so the pray bests the hunter. Tessa my sweet there is no need for you to hide behind that wall, we are aware of your presence." Tessa timidly rounded the corner, her head popping out. She blinked back tears as realization dawned, she could never fool these guys.

"I'm sorry. I get the feeling you are not telling me every thing I need to know. Like there is something you need me to do but don't want to tell me." she slid into the booth beside Demetri.

"very astute my dear. Your words ring true, but now is not the time to speak of things yet to come, now we must discuss my past, and yours… for in our past we will find the key to our joined future."

Currently looking for a beta reader, and I registered as a beta reader myself so feel free to contact me! Thanks!