He's gone.

Just like that, it's as if Demetri never existed. There are no traces of the vampire ever having been a presence in her life if not for phone records and Carlisle Cullen occasionally dropping by. Oh, and the goodbye.

Like quite a few things now in her life, that parting gesture is a little too painful to dwell on. She isn't sure just exactly why she cried, but something about him gently kissing her forehead made her break inside. Maybe it was just the stress of the day. Maybe it was that she underestimated just how much he mattered to her. And how he mattered.

Since he's been gone, Sophia is slowly confronting all of her feelings regarding the vampire. He was definitely a good friend to her, helping her in a time of need while also having fun with her and being a literal shoulder to cry on. She knows seeing a friend leave hurts, but it's what she wishes she had done and said when he left that's putting other emotions into perspective. She wishes she had said something more, anything more. She wishes she had articulated just how much she will miss him. And in certain flights of fancy, she wishes she has returned the gesture. Kissed him, in some way. Let him know.

Maybe he was more than a friend to her. And now he will never know. Rationally, she thinks it's better that she never told him that, because that would make her feelings so much more solid and real, and it would make everything since so much worse. It's good that she never said it - now it's just a passing thought. A what-if. A strange fairytale she can dwell on when normal life makes her too bored. Where she, a normal girl with no discerning quality got swept up in the life and affections of a Hades-like figure. Maybe I could turn this into a book. She doesn't think his employers would take too kindly to that - Sophia would like to live, thank you very much.

The police have done their sweep of Lowell's apartment, and she thanks her lucky stars that the low-rent building she picked to live in does not have functional security cameras. There are no eyewitnesses to say that he was seen with her, and all she tells the cops is that she had seen him a few times in passing and knew he was her neighbour. They didn't question her further and in the month that has passed, nothing has happened to change that. Even Dr. Cullen doesn't visit her any more. He gave her his phone number in case she wanted to talk, and Bella was a great help in understanding and accepting everything that happened to her. She didn't tell her the part about him leaving, and the girl didn't prod any further either. She has thought about reaching out to him, but she doesn't know if it's healthy for her. It is an option, yeah, but what if he doesn't want to keep contact? He did say early in their friendship that he would have to leave and would probably never return, and she should respect that. Besides, if he wants to keep in touch with her, he has a phone and moreover, he knows exactly how to find her.

It helps that she's not going anywhere either.

Her research mentor let her know that a teaching position would be opening up soon, and she would love it if she could snag that. There aren't many people in her cohort that want to teach in the aerospace department, and she has found being a TA stressful but highly rewarding. Sophia could see herself teaching for a living. The summer is a time she's willing to kick back and just relax before the fall comes back with its hectic schedule, now that she's on a combined masters and PhD track. All she wants to do this summer is cross stitch, cook and read.

Would be great if the universe could respect that.

The masters were pleased.

Very pleased, in fact. Master Aro was particularly congratulatory, and Caius gave him a solid nod of approval. Aro wanted Demetri to debrief him in detail, so the Guard member stayed while the rest filed out.

"My boy, I see you have returned with the bounty. Well done," he smiled beatifically. "You have never let me down, Demetri." His chest puffs up a little with pride at that. "That horrific beast has been vanquished, but I need to know the full picture." As is expected, he extends his hand, Aro taking it in his as he processes the last few months. "Interesting." The smile is still in place. "It seems like you made a few separate discoveries of your own. I would prefer that you write up the mission report and add it to the repository, but the other thing." He's expecting the order. Go back and kill her. No loose ends. "She seems to have captivated you, and what a resourceful human at that. Risking herself for the betterment of others."

"I do not believe she poses a threat to us, Master."

"Oh, I believe you, young Demetri." Master Aro paces in a small circle, tapping his chin with each footstep. "But I do sense a weakness here." He knew it. He knew this was coming.

"I will not waver from my duties."

"Will you kill her, if I give the command?" He has to tell the truth, because he knows that Aro will take his hand to make sure.

"Not without difficulty, Master. But I shall, if you ask me to do so." The Volturi are all he has left at the end, and he knows betraying them means risking death.

"Well, I suppose I can give you this. For all you have done successfully in your service, you do deserve a reward. The girl can live, but you will have to make sure she toes the law. Besides, Marcus here," he points at the other master, who is currently watching him with a surprisingly keen gaze today, "would hate to see a bond like this shattered. It would not come without much difficulty, would it, brother?"

"No. It would cause significant distress to him and possibly affect his ability as a Guard member, but leaving her alive might have more benefits than just this. I see this bond strengthening in the future. Besides, he is irreplaceable, isn't he, brothers?"

"Agreed," Caius chimes in. "The boy is irreplaceable. But he cannot stray from his duties."

"Oh, I highly doubt he will," Aro smiles again. "Has he ever failed us before?" They know the answer to it, and so does he. That's all that's keeping his request granted. "We do have some pressing tasks for you right now, but after that, you can take a short leave to visit tua amore della vita." With that, he is dismissed. And in all honesty, this went way better than he thought. He's not quite sure about the last bit of what Master Aro said, but he's glad he gets to see her again.

But first, work.

Most of it is the usual - tracking down rogue vampires who might be exposing them, checking in on the covens to make sure they are not doing anything to pose a threat to the Volturi, keeping an eye on developments in the human world that might be of significant interest to him and his coven. There is one particular task that Master Caius assigned him which is taking quite some time to complete, but finding this person is exhilarating. Getting to exert his skills to the fullest is something he greatly enjoys, and doing the detective work to find this particular vampire makes the boring parts of his job worth it. Once he makes connection with an acquaintance of the one he is searching for, he heads back, his job done. Santiago would probably want to take this one.

A month has passed since he was last in Cambridge, and he feels its only fair he gives her a heads up before he shows up unannounced - how rude would that be? - so he sends Sophia a text. A few hours pass before he gets a reply, but it's surprisingly cordial.

Didn't expect you to ever contact me again lol. To be honest, neither did he.

My employers decided to let me off the hook for once. A few moments later, he gets a picture, with the text reading "you can have one (1) friend, as a treat". He's sitting in a crowded airport, and the picture makes him chuckle amidst the humdrum of his travel. So I was planning to drop by.

Sure! Thanks for the heads-up though, comes the enthusiastic response. I have moved to a nicer place so I have a guest room now! I still have to unpack though He knows she has moved, obviously.

All good. I'll see you in a couple days. Again, he gets a response in the form of a Brooklyn Nine Nine GIF that just says "cool cool cool cool cool". He heads back to Volterra and debriefs the masters on his missions and then, after a night of partying and dinner out in the city, decides to take the next flight out to Boston. The journey is quiet and uneventful, and he rents a car at the airport and drives over to Cambridge. The building is much nicer, with large windows and a fairly modern aesthetic - much different than Volterra, and a nice change of pace for him. Demetri uses his senses to guide him to the door, knocking twice. A minute later, he hears the sound of latches moving, and a smiling face greets him.

"Hi!" Sophia goes in for a hug, her small frame wrapped around his midsection. He grins at her as she lets go and they walk into the living room which looks much more different. "None of that furniture was mine," she explains, "which made it so much more easy to move, and I'm kinda glad I haven't bought any furniture ever, because it sucks to move heavy wood tables."

"I'm surprised you never contacted me after. I thought you didn't want to speak to me again," he says.

"I mean, you did tell me you would never probably never see me again," she replies. "And I thought that maybe your bosses would not appreciate it if you kept contact with a human that you were not supposed to."

"Touche. Like I said, they let me off the hook for once." That's nice of them - she wonders if they have given him a pass in the past 1000 years; he must have toed the line then if he's still being given good treatment. She wonders just how bad his employers are.

"How is your relationship with them?" She's sipping from her water bottle as he drapes his coat over the side of the sofa, thinking over her question.

"They've been my family for a long, long time."

"Ever since you were created?"

"A few years since." They were probably not his creators, then - who was it, though?

"Who created you?"

"A man named Amun." Amun, as in the god Amun? He seems to pick up the questioning look on her face, "yes, the Egyptian god Amun." Wait, what?

"Wait, so I have two questions - one, are the Egyptian gods real? Second, are they not real, and the Egyptian god Amun is actually a vampire?"

"No for question one, yes for question two. He's still kicking around, if you were wondering."

Holy fuck. "Okay, so the earliest known mention of Amun," she whips out her phone to look it up, "is 2400 BCE, so you're telling me he's 4400 years old?" He nods as casually as if they're just talking about the weather. "Do you mind if I write this stuff down? Just to make sure I'm not just hallucinating all of this."

"Sure." When she's done scribbling it down in one of her journals, Sophia looks up with one more question on her mind.

"Why did you come back?" She thinks the most likely answer is work, but she still wants to know straight from him. He fiddles with the buttons of his cuff - not something she's seen him do any time before - a strange look on his face.

"I didn't really know at first. I guess I just missed you enough to come see you again." Of all the answers she expected, that was not it. For someone with a much more storied life than hers and so much better company, she didn't expect him to come back for her. The thought makes her stomach feel funny. Quash it, you idiot. There's no way he sees her like that. He just misses his friend; that's it. "What did you think?"

"Oh." That's not a sufficient answer, by any standards. "I just thought you were here for work, you know, what with a bunch of others here."

"Others?" His eyes narrow.

"You know, the Cullens." Demetri seems to relax at that. "I don't know if there's any other of your kind around, but I'll be sure to let you know if I spot any."

"Sophia Summers, vampire spotter." That makes her laugh.

"They could make a sitcom out of us - the vampire spotter and the vampire, a buddy comedy. You and I travel the world solving supernatural shenanigans. What We Do In The Shadows 2: Electric Boogaloo."

"You haven't seen What We Do In The Shadows? Okay, we have to watch it as soon as we can. But it's a fictional mockumentary about vampires. And Electric Boogaloo is just a reference to a movie called Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo. It just became a meme." She stops to think for a moment. "I do wanna know what all kinds of beings exist - I mean there's werewolves, vampires and shapeshifters. What other non-humans are out there?" A thought comes to her. "What if the metahumans are real?"

"Metahumans?"

"You know, the Flash."

"I did not know that was the official terminology for them."

"Yeah; who knows, maybe they are real. Maybe not. The Shaniac in me says they're most likely not, but then again, I'm also friends with you so."

"What's a Shaniac, why is it in you, and why does it have an opinion on the supernatural?" God, she forgets just how much stuff he knows yet doesn't know at the same time.

"You have not seen Buzzfeed Unsolved." She'd been thinking of a fun activity to do when he got here, but until now her brain was coming up empty. Now, however, "that is what we're doing now and you don't get to say no. I'm grabbing my blanket and you are going to watch a season of Unsolved, both True Crime and Supernatural, with me." There's a mild pain in her foot still so she limps a little, but she makes it back to the sofa without much difficulty, blanket in tow. "Let's fucking go, my dude."

As he constantly asks questions within the first ten minutes, Sophia knows just why she missed having him around.