Dean smiled when she was smiled at. She greeted her friends as they excitedly noticed her presence. Her feet felt heavy; like she was walking through cement. There was so much more she wanted to confess. Such as seeing the woman from her dreams in the waking world. Or had she just been projecting that? The food tasted bland compared to the food she'd been fed at Volterra, and she spooned the soup only to allow it to plop back down into her bowl.

Already she missed seasonings. The nuns around her kept looking over at her over their plates, and because she'd gotten here early enough, she was eating dinner with the children, who would look at her and giggle. Several were reprimanded for trying to speak to her, making it hard to repress her relieved grin. She had hoped but had no idea how much she was missed around here. It was a relief that seemed to heal her soul just a little.

Despite her revelations, she found she couldn't feel as much joy as she'd expected. It wasn't just the kitchen staff, but a feeling like she didn't belong here anymore. It was a scary feeling...one she tried to push away. Of course she belonged here. She was raised here, and she had people who loved her here. Even Mary Constance, who was always on her tail about something, held a special place in the young woman's heart.

So, why did she have a hard time falling asleep that first night back? She should have slept like a baby, safe at home.

~~/~~

Caius stood in the throne room with the furniture torn to pieces, and a guard named Anton lay torn to pieces on the stone steps.

"Demetri has tracked her down to the convent, brother. You can relax now, she is safe," Aro's light voice said, in an effort to calm the fuming blonde king. Aro stood with a comforting hand on Caius' shoulder. Caius himself still had a hold of Anton's head, gripping him by the hair. The blonde's lips were curved into an angry snarl, feeling worse than when she'd last angered him.

He threw Anton's head roughly back towards his decapitated body. It rolled, gaining several new cracks in his skin where it landed on the stone. At the same time, Caius shoved off Aro's hand.

"Then I will go and get her," Caius snarled. "If they think that they can hide her from me-"

"Caius." Marcus' voice cut through his brother's rant. Quiet, but sharp, Marcus commanded both Aro and Caius' attention. They turned to where he sat leisurely in his throne chair, but Marcus wasn't looking at the two. He was looking off towards the double doors, but not directly at them. Aro, confused by his sullen brother's attention, went over and offered his hand, which Marcus readily allowed to touch his own.

A delighted giggle escaped Aro a moment later as he pulled his hand back, making Caius frown in annoyance. He'd long since gotten over his lack of gifts, but it was moments like this that reminded him just how lacking he felt as a vampire. The two before him would always know just the right way to communicate with people, with their mates, but he was forever doomed to find things out the hard way. He hated the hard way. After millennia, he just wanted his life to be easy. He thought he'd paid enough in his long life to have things come easier with age.

"What is it?" He snaps, his temper flaring up again as Aro looks back at him with wide eyes of wonder.

"It is a puzzle," Aro started, his words slow and deliberate. "Marcus here is seeing your connection with Dean as if she were standing in this very room."

Curiosity peaked, and outweighing his anger, Caius raises and eyebrow. "And this...is a new development?" If it was, does that mean things really are changing this time around? Was his distance paying off? Or was it just another way to torture him? Perhaps whatever God had cursed them had gotten bored and decided to change the game up a bit.

"The tether has never been this deliberate," speaks Marcus. "Every time she's been born, her line to you has reappeared. But like all bonds, the further away you are, the more strained the tether. What I am seeing now, it is as strong as if she were standing by your side."

"Could she be gifted? Some sort of bond manipulation like your own?" Aro asks, like a child in a candy store. His hands steeple in front of him and he rubs them together, resembling a Sith Lord about to win a challenge.

"Don't be ridiculous," Caius snaps again, feeling offended for no real reason at all. "There's got to be another explanation. She'd have to be aware of her gifts to manipulate it so thoroughly."

"Are you quite sure she isn't?" Aro asks, turning to face Caius fully. The blonde squares his shoulders and raises his chin, peering down his nose at the shorter man.

"She is not a liar," he says slowly and deliberately. Each word solid stance of defense on behalf of the girl he's always loved. A deadly calm set about him, as if daring anyone in the room to try and combat his words with slander. Aro simply smiles again, throwing his hands up in surrender.

"Of course not," he agrees. "It only occurs to me that you did not find her this time, Caius. This time, she came to you." His words sink in slowly.

Caius realized that Aro was right. Every time they had been brought together it had been him finding her. Whether it was accidentally running into her, or him actively seeking her out, it had always been the same pattern. A feeling similar to nausea swirled in his stomach and made him creese his eyebrows.

The sounds of his brothers chatting muffled in his ears. The sight of Santiago gathering Antons body parts to put him back together was blurred as if he were moving much too fast. He hadn't felt like this since he'd gotten used to running as fast as he could. The area around him darkened, taking on a grey stone, comparable to the golden of his home. The room, as it cleared into focus, had one small window, up near the ceiling. A single painting of Jesus Christ on a cross adorned the plain walls.

A gasp and shuffling of a body throwing themselves against the wall made him turn his entire body around to see Dean sitting up with her legs folded up to her chest. Her hands gripped the grey blanket in fright as she stared up at him with wide eyes. Her hair was a mess, unruly and she batted it away from her oval face.

His entire body tensed, coiled like a snake ready to strike. He wanted to strangle her. And hug her. And murder her with his bare hands. And hold her to him in relief. Dark and light thoughts conflicting within his scarlet eyes as they turned a deeper color.

"C-Caius," she broke the silence. "H-how?" Her voice tapered off in fear and confusion, but she did not try to run. He admired her for that small show, whether it was stubbornness or bravery. Every time he frightened her, she stood her ground and did not flee from him. The beast in him wished she would. Longed for the hunt. But he tempered himself down to allow himself to only feel the relief of seeing her safe in bed.

"I do not know," he said, softer than he meant to sound. He looks around the small room before clearing his throat. "I am not really here," he wonders out loud. He didn't know how, but he could tell. It reminded him of something he couldn't quite put his finger on. A sensation long since lost to his memory.

Jesus' hands had too many fingers. Where Holy Bible should have been printed on the black leather cover of the book on her bedside table, was a jumble of letters he could not decipher. He took it all in, the fuzziness of the air around him. Nothing about this state was natural. When he looked back down at her, her face was a mask of confusion.

"What do you mean? You're standing right in front of me." She swallows, her eyes darting to the door worriedly, then back towards him. "Please don't hurt them!" She pleads. "They are only taking care of me like I asked. Don't kill them because of me, I couldn't bare it! I didn't reveal them to you, I swear."

Caius' face drains of any color, her pleading reminding him just who he is. "Nevertheless, you have broken a law that was laid down before you." His words are harsh and cutting and she flinches away from him. Something in him cracks a little, watching her eyes tear up as the weight of what she's done rests upon her shoulders. Clenching his hands into fists, he speaks again through gnashed teeth. "I will not wait long for your return."

Her blue eyes snap back to his, wide once again, and full of hope. She stands, bringing them close enough that if he needed air he would have gasped. Her scent-wildflowers, apples, and something distinctly her-washes over him and makes him long once again to wrap his arms around her. Feel the slight weight of her head lean against his chest. He misses her with every atom that makes up his body. "Is this real?" she asks. "Or am I dreaming?"

"I...have no idea," he answers honestly. Her head tilts.

"I think I must be dreaming. I feel...strange."

"Strange...how?" He asks just as slowly as she had spoken. The air between them feels heavy; charged with an electricity that scares him. He feels like every time she is around him, she brings back that fear. An emotion he'd rather have eradicated with the rest of his humanity.

"Like I can trust you. I don't know...all of a sudden I just know that you will give me the time I need. There's something about you...I had a hard time falling asleep and now that I have...I'm dreaming about you."

Dean wasn't sure what made her confess like that. It didn't feel like her, but it was. Every word was the truth, pulled from her soul. She wasn't afraid of him, and she wanted to chalk it up to her realizing that she was, in fact, dreaming.

This wasn't the real Caius.

Except, when Caius blinked, he was back in the throne room and standing in the same position he'd been in when he'd first zoned out. Aro was holding his hand, calling his name, while Marcus stared at him intently.

"Well, this is interesting indeed," Aro says with a glimmer in his eyes. Caius meets his brothers stare, befuddled and bemused. Aro grins back up at him. "See? She's gifted."

Caius rolls his eyes and turns on his heel, walking out with a dark cloud over his head, and a dangerous feeling in his chest.

Hope.

Notes:

I know you guys are probably anxious to get this romance going, huh? Well, we are going to get into the meat of it starting in this chapter! How is it going? Are you guys still with me?