He feels like its time to ask her out on a real date.
Since movie night, they have been flirting on and off, and he feels that maybe he should ask her on a date that isn't just her eating take-out. Not that it isn't pleasant, but he feels like it's only proper to take her out to dinner, walk around the city and make his intentions clearer.
Seems like the universe just doesn't want that to happen.
"Hey Demetri? Take a look at this." He follows Sophia's voice to the front room where she's watching CNN, her face furrowed up in concern. The newscaster is reporting from a barricade, the sound of cameras going off behind her.
"The body found in Belltown has been confirmed as the sixth victim of the Seattle Nightstalker." He had heard of the case, but hadn't paid much attention to it. "Police confirmed that the body of Myah Kirkland is connected to the Nightstalker case due to it being drained almost completely of blood and the body being marked in the same way as the previous victims. Citizens are advised to be on high alert." So that's why she called him out here.
"You think it could be a vampire?" On the surface, the signs seem to point to it, so he gives her a nod and sits down, intently watching the news coverage. Part of his job — and it is a significant part of it — is to keep an eye out for possible violations of their laws. Based on the details he is seeing, Demetri feels like this might just be one such major violation. "Maybe we should go and see if that's the case."
"We?" Last he checked, this serial killer was exclusively targeting young women between the ages of 18-24, and Sophia is pretty close to that age range. It would be a fool's quest to let her come along. "Yeah. I could help you snoop around," she offers as her reasoning. "And just how will you do that?" he questions. "Your student journalist credentials could only take you so far here and I, by nature and design, am more charming than you are." At that, her face drops. While he doesn't want to deny her anything, he's also not a complete idiot. "You do know this killer is exclusively targeting young, college-aged females right?"
"Yeah, but what are the odds he would come for me?"
"And what are the odds that he wouldn't?"
"Look, I have nothing better to do right now, and this seems like something worthwhile. I want to help these women find justice and prevent more of these crimes. Besides, I survived a werewolf so it's not like this is my first rodeo." That is a valid point, but he cannot let her become bait for a second time. Not without some distress.
"I'm just saying, you would be safer here."
"I know," she says ruefully. This also means that he will have to leave soon - the masters would not appreciate him delaying his duties for personal reasons. He needs to go back, and soon.
"I need to leave for Italy."
"Right now?" She looks at the TV for a second, turning back to him. "Okay, yeah, I see it. Let's see what the earliest flights available to Rome are and get you out of here ASAP." Logan airport isn't one he can fly out of, however. The checking is stringent, and he cannot risk exposure; it seems like Sophia has caught on to that bit, judging by her wide eyes. "Wait, I don't think you can, can you?"
"No. I'll let my bosses know, and they'll send for the jet."
"I mean I guessed that's what you were gonna say, but damn." He picks up the phone and dials for the reception, firing off instructions in rapid Italian to the woman at the other end of the line. Once he has the confirmation for his arrangements, Demetri relaxes a little, taking out his laptop to do his due diligence on the case before he arrives in Volterra. The Volturi's reach isn't just limited to the city of Volterra, and he prides himself for the intel network he has created over the years. There's a bit of IT setup required on his end to get the ball rolling, but once that is done, he shoots off some quick emails to their informants. It's interesting, the things humans will do for money - the hackers they hire are more than happy to do whatever they want, as long as they get paid; it helps that the amounts they are given are far higher than the asking rate for their talents. They'll have the information he needs in a couple of hours, leaving him with the decision regarding the next steps of his relationship with Sophia. Taking her out and confessing his feelings just before he leaves feels rather cruel, given that this assignment will not be a quick one. He has already caused her pain by leaving the way he did the previous time, and while he would want nothing more than to have her come with him, he refuses to put her in harm's way again like before.
Looks like their date will have to wait just a little longer.
"So, when do you leave?" she asks over dinner, the news still playing in the background. Half of his attention is diverted there for any new leads, the other half focusing on the woman in front of him.
"As soon as the jet touches down and finishes refueling, so around three in the morning."
"Is the pilot part of your family?"
"Yes, hence the ability to fly non stop and the need for no other crew members."
"So, do you train certain members to be adept at certain things, or does it just happen to be that someone picks up a skill and you utilise it, and do you get outsiders to get stuff you cannot?" Her thirst for knowledge is unquenchable, and the thought of her being in Volterra, taking notes at everything, makes him chuckle.
"Usually, some of us pick up certain skills, and for the rest, we have others do it. Like hacking. It is rather easy to find a person willing to discreetly do a job if the payment attached to it is rather large."
"That sounds about right." The rest of the night passes uneventfully as Sophia busies herself with other tasks, and he gets back to his task of collecting more intel from his sources. He gets a text instructing him to take the jet to Seattle instead, as the masters want him to get on this as soon as possible, and don't believe backup is required, which he feels is a fair assessment. He also thinks it to be prudent that he not inform her of the change, if only for her safety. He doesn't mean to deceive her, but he also knows that if he tells her that, she will insist on coming along. Eventually, she goes to bed, and Demetri packs up the usual kit for a short trip. The flight to Seattle isn't particularly long, but it's also bright and early in the morning for him, so he opts to stay at one of the airport hotels until dusk has fallen. There isn't a more productive way to spend his time than to keep an eye on the screen and wait for more information from one of his human informants. The hours pass in brutal monotony, and once the sky darkens he takes his cue and leaves, checking into a different hotel downtown and immediately heading for Belltown. Killers, especially serial killers, have a tendency to return to the scene of the crime. Maybe his target is stupid enough to do so rather openly. Or maybe he's smarter, and maybe he wants to taunt the investigative authorities as has his fun. Either way, Demetri has to keep an eye for this faceless and nameless killer and do a bit of his own legwork.
He's nursing a drink at the bar when a young, clean cut man walks over to him, small bag in hand. "Flint?" At the name, Demetri turns his head, smiling as the man hands him the bag. "Your girl is gonna love this." He gives the gentleman the money required and passes the bartender a $100. "As a thank you, I have your drinks covered," he tells him as he leaves. Drunk humans don't remember much, anyways, and the name or ID wouldn't trace back to him. He checks the bag once again for the items requested, examining the police badge and ID. Even if anyone has the foresight to ask for his badge number, it will still be cleared through the system. With that begins his bar hopping around the district; talking to bartenders would be a good start. Two of them eye him skeptically before seeing his badge, but eventually they too spill the details.
Most victims were regulars at the bars, making them easy stalking targets. One of them didn't drink at any of the bars, but came for trivia nights and had brunch at the neighbouring cafe, again making her a prime stalking target. Myah Kirkland was a PhD student at the University of Washington and a regular at the Pennyroyal - the body was found two blocks away. By the time he had hit up his sixth bar, places were beginning to close, and he decided to take a walk around the block instead. Maybe there was something the human detectives missed, as was always the case. Demetri doesn't mean it derisively - their physical faculties are just simply no match for those of a vampire's. The thought that the killer might be human crosses his mind, but the scenes are too clean for a human to have done it without spilling any blood. Besides, the smell lingering at the scene makes it pretty clear that it's a vampire. Often, vampires get messy feeding, and this killer has left no trace of its activities except for a drained dead body with a mark on it. While this site has no leads to chase down, maybe he can get more by going back to one of the bars. The wind has picked up a little, rustling his hair as he makes his way back. He's walking past one of the joints he cased before, and the wind blows in a scent that's all too familiar to him. He would know it anywhere. She's sitting there, eyes trained on the screen as she occasionally looks up to take a sip of her drink. Without thinking too much about it, he marches over, sliding into the seat in front of hers.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Sophia?"
She looks up at him, bewildered, snapping her laptop shut and stowing it away. "What are you doing here?" she asks as she downs the rest of her drink - water, by the smell of it, unspiked - the glass slamming on the wood with a loud clink. "Weren't you back home?"
"Change of plans," he snaps, "what the hell are you doing here?"
"I'm here because I want to be here," he can hear the irritation creeping into her voice. He had expressly told her to stay away from here, from anything to do with this thing, but she seems to have an adamant death wish. He knows this will turn into an argument, and he really doesn't want it going that way in the middle of a crowded bar.
"Can we please talk about this somewhere more private?" he asks quietly and while she does not look too happy about where this is headed, she packs up her stuff and heads out with him, following his lead to his car. The environment must be getting chilly for her, so he ups the heat a little in the vehicle once they're settled in. "I thought I made it clear what I thought of you being here."
"I am a grown woman, and I am not beholden to what you expect of me, Demetri," she fires back. Good gods above, he knows that, and he would never direct her actions. However, is it too much to ask her to stay out of trouble?
"You're aware of the dangers this poses to you, right?"
"Yeah, I know. But you know what, there's cops investigating this case that are also human and thus also in danger."
"Those cops all don't fit the criteria of the killer's victims, not to mention the killer isn't human so yes, you are very much in danger, and so are they."
"Look," she begins - it's never good when anyone ever begins with that, "I appreciate your concern for me, and I appreciate you looking out for me, but you don't have to worry so much. I can take care of myself. After all, it's not like I'm particularly important to the killer." But she is important to him, and that's what is making all the difference to him right now. Besides, he is tired of skirting around this issue and not talking about it.
"I do care about you, Sophia, and this is all coming from a place of concern, which is why I would have hoped you would honor my wishes. You're of course free to do whatever you want but I really wish you weren't here right now. I care. A lot. And I'm going to choose to be very direct about this."
"Demetri, what are you getting at?" Her face has softened, and now she looks more confused than mad at him.
"In my arguably very long existence, there are few individuals I have gotten attached to. Many of them have passed on, and that is part of the reason I am so hesitant to really connect with humans, much less care for them," he says, turning in his seat to look straight at her. Sophia's face is a strange mix of emotions, but he needs to get this all out before he can process her reactions. "However, you have managed to make your way there in the most unusual manner. You see, you and I, we were never supposed to be here." He's gonna tell her the whole truth of that night, and then she can tell him what she thinks of him after all of it - the good, bad and especially the ugly. "I had staked you out. But I made the mistake of talking to you, and from that exchange, I couldn't bring myself to kill you, and then you made the fairly unexplainable decision to actually get to know me for no reason whatsoever. You did so much just to get justice for a friend and for people you had never met, to the point that you would risk a grisly end if it meant that the wolf was gone. You're ridiculously selfless, funny and stupid with zero self preservation instincts. And you have gone from intended prey, to part of me." There's a lengthy silence, and it doesn't seem to bode well for him.
"I do have one question for you, after this."
"Go on."
"Well," she fidgets in her seat, bringing her eyes back to him, "if I asked you to kiss me, would you?"