SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW ➻ DEMETRI VOLTURI

Q U I N D I C I

Aurelia's beauty was breathtaking. It was the first thing Cecilia noticed as she stepped into the small home of the vampire, exactly on the tenth chime. The woman must have been turned in her mid-twenties, somewhere in the Mereditarian area. Her skin was the perfect mix of an olive undertone with the chalky pallor all vampires seemed to have, her brown hair flowing down her back in loose curls. Her eyes were big and bright and her smile seemed to light up the room, even it was only a polite smile. She was almost as beautiful as Rose.

"A human?" Aurelia asked, her voice smooth and angelic. "You didn't mention that, Jane."

"I didn't know I was required to do so?" Jane said back, pushing back the hood of her cloak. Her voice, icy and full of false politeness, sent a shiver crawling Cecilia's back. It was exactly that voice that would haunt her, much like her twin brother's eyes and smile. Never mind the way she was staring at Aurelia, as if she could end the woman simply with her gaze.

"No, of course not," Aurelia said hastily. Her red eyes, which had darkened slightly since she'd open the door of her home to them, shifted from Jane to Cecilia, trailing the girl's body with the ever so slight traces of disgust on her face. "Follow me, please."

Feeling oddly insecure, Cecilia followed Jane to the other side of the small house, which had been turned into an atelier. The most mesmerizing dresses were pinned on mannequins, some apparently finished, others only halfway done. The entire room was filled with pieces of fabric, pins and needles.

"You can stand over there, so I can take your measurements," Aurelia said, motioning with her hand to a lifted plateau in front of two mirrors.

She went to stand on the plateau, once again feeling peculiarly exposed. Aurelia followed her not a second later, forcing Cecilia's body in several different positions and taking all kinds of measurements. Her movements were too fast to pass off as human and feeling slightly nauseous, she watched the vampire zoom around her.

"So why does a human need fitted clothes?" Aurelia asked as she put on a piece of white fabric on one of Cecilia's shoulders and a light blue one on the other. Though she tried to sound as if she was simply conversating, it was obvious she was prying. Cecilia couldn't help but wonder the exact same thing, why did she need fitted clothes?

"You're paid to do your work," Jane said, her eyes sending daggers in Aurelia's direction. Cecilia's eyes shifted to the reflection of the petite vampire standing in the corner of her room, her hands folded behind her back. "Which doesn't include asking questions, or does it now?"

Aurelia didn't reply, which was probably the wiser choice, and put two new fabrics on Cecilia's shoulder.

Cecilia's eyes travelled to the woman working on her, only then noticing her eyes had turned completely dark. A slight shiver travelled down her spine and a nasty gut feeling settled in the pit of her stomach, especially when she heard the vampire breathe in obnoxiously loud. She willed her heart to stop beating so hard, knowing it only made matters worse.

But when Aurelia accidentally, or seemingly so, stuck a safety pin in her skin instead of the destinated fabric, a small drop of blood welling up on the surface of her arm, everything turned very badly in a very short amount of time.

At the same time Cecilia let out a soft hiss of pain, Aurelia grabbed, or rather crushed her shoulder in an effort to turn her around. Her eyes were darker than the night without a moon, the expression on her face animalistic.

"Pain," Jane said, causing Aurelia to let go of Cecilia, who let out a gasp of surprise and cradled her shoulder with her other hand, and drop to her knees in pain. Jane moved in front of Aurelia, staring the woman down in a disapproving manner, a low 'tss tss' rolling over her lips. "That really was a stupid decision for a woman who's lived for so long, Aurelia. I would be on my guard, if I were you, because I'm absolutely positive someone's going to teach you a lesson about touching stuff that isn't yours."