SOMEWHERE ONLY WE KNOW ➻ DEMETRI VOLTURI

T R E N T A

With a look of fascination, Cecilia stared at the vampire in front of her. When Alec had said that he was a prisoner from Germany she had instantly taken him for a German, with his stereotypical blond hair and light stubble, no questions asked. Only when she felt the slight tug at the back of her mind, like a tummy feeling that someone was wrong had she started to doubt this. 

"Cecilia Roseanne Cullen," Charles said suddenly, as if he was trying the flow of her name. He looked at her with a smirk on his uncanny face, his head lazily leaning against the wall of the cell. "Are you my personal guard now? Surely that's way below your rank."

Cecilia said nothing, but continued to stare. After a while, she too leaned against the back of the chair she had placed in the middle of the dungeons. It was not that sitting was more comfortable than standing, but it was a small habit that made her feel less of what she actually was. "That is your guard," she said, motioning with her hand in the direction of a vampire wearing a grey cloak. "I'm merely passing my time."

"I feel honoured," Charles said pleasantly, placing his hand over the place where his heart once beat. "The right hand of the Volturi visiting me, a lowly jailbird. You must feel like the pope washing the feet of prisoners."

"I wasn't planning on coming anywhere near your feet, thank you very much."

She looked away from the cell, wondering why she actually was in the dungeons. Demetri was away with Felix, on a missing to track some unruly newborns somewhere in the Middle East and would probably return tomorrow if everything went well and thus far the Masters hadn't called her in for a task. Cecilia supposed she was trying to get the whole picture of Charles, his habits and character. 

Though she would never admit it out loud, especially not to Alec, she was afraid that the Ancient Ones would want to add Charles to their ranks, blinded by his power. She couldn't care less whether they would cast her aside like they had done with Felix and Demetri when Alec and Jane joined, or the latter two when her gift was discovered, but the prospect of a very good liar on the team filled her with dread. 

"There are many rumours following you, Cecilia," Charles said, once again breaking the silence. It was obvious he was trying to bate her and pretending to give in, Cecilia turned back to him and raised her eyebrows in silent questioning. "Like your desire to leave the Volturi."

"Is that so?" she asked calmly. "Pray tell me why I've been loyal for the past thirteen years then, put my life on the line multiple times?"

"You've been loyal, it's true," Charles agreed, nodding softly. Suddenly Cecilia couldn't help but wonder where he had gotten this particular style of clothing from and why he felt the need to dress up like a gentleman from the 1800s. "But to whom, the Volturi? I don't think so. I think you've been loyal to yourself and your own skin, and to that of your soulmate obviously."

Cecilia's eyebrows shot up towards the sky, and she had to remind herself that she was the one on the right side of the bars. Then act like it, she berated herself. 

"Don't take my words the wrong way, everyone is only interested in themselves," he said, shrugging as if it was as simple as one plus one equaling two. Cecilia wanted to mention that not everybody was like that, not her family at least, but refrained from it. Her family didn't even know her anymore. "And I'm very interested in myself, which is why I want the two of us to make a deal."

Cecilia straightened her spine, folded her hands over her knees and stared at Charles with newfound curiosity. "Do bore me."

Charles's red eyes snapped to the grey guard standing impassively near the end of the corridor. "Away with that guard first."