SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW ➻ DEMETRI VOLTURI

V E N T I N O V E

By the time they had to leave Angelokastero for Volterra, Cecilia had regained much of her composure. Sure, the thoughts of her family still spooked through her mind, but after grieving, something that felt oddly wrong without anybody actually dead, for a good couple of days, she was able to push those thoughts far away. For once she was looking forward to her busy schedule, since it at least offered some distraction. 

 As soon as they arrived in Volterra, they were called into the throne room. Cecilia pretended not to notice the way Aro's eyes immediately wandered to the finger with a diamond on it, realising that he must have read it in Demetri's mind before they left for Virginia. 

"Welcome back, my friends, it seems we have reason to congratulate you," Aro broke the silence quickly, looking oddly excited. Both Marcus and Caius offered Demetri and Cecilia a slight nod of acknowledgement. "It has been a while since we've had a wedding at Volterra, but it will be a grande ordeal indeed."

"Thank you for your kind offer," Demetri replied, bowing his head ever so slightly. This Demetri, the stiff and formal guard Demetri, had once scared Cecilia. Now she could understand, having many masks herself. "Though we would like to have the wedding in the summer."

"Of course, though a winter wedding would fit the two of you so good as well," Aro said, nodding to himself. 

Suddenly Cecilia had the crazy thought that maybe Aro and Alice weren't so different from each other if it concerned parties and festivities. After all, if she was to believe the rumours, it had been Aro who had organised the ball thrown in honour of her turning and joining of the Guard, from the colour of the drapes in the ballroom to the country where the flowers had come from. It was a funny idea, an ancient and feared vampire organising her wedding. 

"It would be too much to organise in such a short period of time," Demetri said politely. "We wouldn't want to burden anyone."

"If anything, your return to Volterra fills us with great joy," Aro said, his milky red eyes looking from Demetri to Cecilia. So far, he hadn't asked for either of their hands and she sincerely hoped he would keep it that way. "Your presence has been greatly missed, for there are grave matters at hand. Cecilia, your help is needed with one of our prisoners in the dungeons, whereas I need you, Demetri, to track a very specific person for me."

Without another word, they fell into their routine at Volterra. Cecilia glanced at Alec from the corners of her eyes. Ever since the Masters had made her their right hand, relying more on her than on the witch twins, the two of them had given her the cold shoulder. She had never been great friends with Jane, but she used to spend time with Alec every now and then, though that mostly ended in bickering as well. 

"How was your stay at Angelokastro?" Alec asked pleasantly after a while, breaking the silence first. 

Cecilia forced a smile on her face. Though there'd been happy moments at Corfu, there had been just as many sad ones, but that wasn't something she could let Alec know. Both he and his sister were like bloodhounds, always sniffing out for the littlest sign of disloyalty so they could tattle on her at the Masters. "It was very pleasant, thank you," she said. "Now what's the matter with this prisoner."

"He was reported by the count and countess Weber, the one's keeping control of southern Germany. Apparently, he is a very good liar," Alec explained quickly, shrugging. 

Cecilia raised a single eyebrow, not finding Alec's explanation very satisfactory. "That's it? He's a good liar?"

"Well, that and the fact that he managed to slaughter a whole city and make everyone believe it wasn't his fault."

Cecilia was quiet after that. If what Alec was saying was true, that meant that the Volturi had managed to discover a seriously dangerous person with a gift just as extraordinary as her. She turned to Alec once more. "If you say he made everyone believe he didn't do it, then how is it that the Weber's caught him and managed to report him?"