It took a while for Alec to find the passage from the underground hallway to Elia's room. Just a few weeks of wandering around the old routes and researching original maps of the city that were still preserved in the Volturi library. But he managed to find it. The passage was sealed, of course, but the vampire was strong, and he pushed the stone carefully until he could lift it, poking his head out like a snake investigating its surroundings.
He couldn't stop the dust and stone debris from spreading around the girl's room, but he didn't have time, and the house was empty, he had to take advantage of this opportunity.
Alec opened the closet and took out an empty backpack, picked out random clothes, a pair of shoes, then went to the desk and took out the sketchbook, her mp3, some drawing materials. He found a box in the back of Elia's closet where he found the ruby bracelet he had given her, as well as letters written on a patterned paper and in a handwriting he knew well.
"Letters from Demetri!" Alec thought, surprised and irritated, because the girl hadn't told him about them. But there was no time now.
The vampire threw all the dirt back into the tunnel and went back into the hallway that led to a narrow stone staircase made long ago, probably by another of his kind who had a history with someone in that family. Either way, Alec would never know more, he was writing his own story, so he closed the passage again.
When Alec arrived at the mansion that belonged to Gianna's family, he went straight to the room on the right end of the property, on the second floor, isolated enough from the rest of the house, but with a good view of the garden. The girl was lying on the bed, whose sheets were stained with blood, but her body seemed to be slowly adjusting to the transformation. Alec placed the backpack on the armchair near the large window, then quickly closed the heavy velvet curtains and turned on a few lamps so that she wouldn't be in complete darkness. Alec also picked up the silver letter opener that was on top of the bedside table. He didn't want anything sharp enough there.
He took Demetri's letters from his backpack and put them in the inside pocket of his coat. His boots were covered in mud, as was the floor. He hoped Gianna would clean it up herself, for no servant would be allowed to pass through that door.
Alec walked back to the bed, finally sitting down next to the motionless Elia who lay there. The wound on her neck was still open, but it had stopped bleeding. There was only a little blood pooling at the top that Alec couldn't resist tasting again.
- It's already started - he said, frustrated. The blood didn't taste the same anymore.
Of course, Demetri arrived just then.
- Get out! - he said, pushing Alec away in the next second, standing next to Elia.
Alec grunted, but he didn't want to fight with the other, not in that situation.
- Why are you acting like I'm the responsible? - he said, grabbing a lamp before the object shattered on the floor due to the impact.
- And you're not? - Demetri retorted. He didn't look at Alec, just sighed as he looked at the girl lying motionless on the bed, rubbing his own face, not realizing that it was also covered in her blood.
- You would see in my mind if I had gone to her and I wasn't the only one who was outside the castle - Alec shrugged. He knew that because Jane quickly told him before he and Demetri moved the body. Heidi had also gone out that day.
Demetri didn't seem to hear. He whimpered, something like a tearless cry, as he looked at the girl. He seemed to want to touch her, but he didn't have the courage to do so.
- Let's cover her - Alec said, quickly going to the closet and returning with a heavy green blanket that matched the now ruined sheets.
- Yes, yes - Demetri agreed belatedly.
The pillow covered the larger wound behind the human's head, but now they could no longer see her brain. As for Elia's body, she looked like she had been dragged across the ground, the scratches had already healed, but she was still covered in dirt and plant fragments, and the dress, which had previously looked detailed, was in tatters on her left leg.
Before covering her, Alec wanted to take the silver ring off her finger, but Demetri stopped him.
- Why doesn't she move? - Demetri suddenly asked - When I was bitten, I screamed for days.
- Maybe it's different for some people - Alec replied, thinking he would have to get rid of the ring some other way later - I was being burned alive, of course I was screaming.
Demetri finally looked at Alec for a second before returning his sorrowful eyes to the girl. Even though their relationship had gotten worse in the past few months, Alec hated knowing that Demetri still felt sorry for him.
They heard Gianna approaching the room with anxious steps, after all her house would now also be occupied by vampires.
- What am I going to say to her? - Demetri started talking to himself - She didn't want this.
Demetri fell silent after a moment. The black coat and his dark hair made him look like a raven on the bed. There was a little bit of dirt on Elia's face and Alec moved slowly so as not to trigger Demetri, brushing her hair away from her face, even if he couldn't clean the spots completely. There were still freckles on her face despite the dirt and makeup and Alec felt comfort at the sight of them, he wondered if they would disappear once the poison was completely immersed in her body.
- I want you out of this room - Demetri said, for the first time addressing Alec in a threatening way - I will take care of her.
Alec sighed. If he had spoken to him like that on the first day, things would be very different.
Three days passed in the blink of an eye for Demetri, who did not leave the girl's bedside, still quiet, still not moving. There were not even screams or twitches, and although Demetri felt that her blood was no longer that of a pure human, he was desperate. What if Elia didn't wake up? What if Elia stayed that way forever?
There was a lot of material in the Volturi library about beings like them, but Demetri wasn't an expert. He didn't know what the poison could cure and what it couldn't.
- Do you think she will die?
Gianna stopped as soon as she heard the question. She had entered the room as quietly as possible, but of course Demetri had noticed.
The tracker didn't even turn to face her, too focused on hoping that Elia would magically move, so he didn't even notice that the secretary was dressed in more casual clothes, jeans and a blue button-down shirt.
- I don't think so - Gianna replied, adjusting her glasses on her face. She had barely slept in the last few days, but she had been given permission to stay home today.
She approached the bed carefully, as Demetri didn't want anyone to get close, but apparently Gianna wasn't a threat. She peered at Elia for a few seconds.
- She looks pale, so it must be working.
- You think so? - Demetri replied, grateful for the comment. He was so nervous that he had gotten into the habit of pulling at his hair and now it looked like a rolled-up bird's nest.
Gianna took a deep breath. She had to do her job no matter what.
- Young master Alec asked me to install bars on the window as soon as possible, they are already fortified, but he thinks she will need them.
- Of what? Of a prison?
He slammed his fist on the nightstand, breaking it completely. Gianna trembled.
Demetri lowered his head again and played with his dark hair again like a madman. Gianna wouldn't say anything, but he was starting to look like Master Marcus.
- If she's really going to stay here when she wakes up - Gianna continued, because it was necessary - she can't leave, or attack me, will she understand that?
- And why wouldn't she understand? - Demetri laughed, but he still looked desperate. - Stop listening to Alec, she is my responsibility.
Gianna felt sorry for him, and for a moment she felt sorry for the girl who was lying in that bed too, even if she wanted to trade places with her.
- Her family... - Demetri raised his face, finally looking at Gianna - Were they in the accident?
Gianna shook her head. She had contacted the police, of course, and knew the names of the dead and missing.
Demetri sighed and Gianna didn't know if it was a gesture of relief or frustration.
- It would be much easier if they were dead.
The woman nodded. It would be easy for her too, after all there was no one else she could count on, just that empty mansion.
- And there's more - Demetri continued, still looking at Gianna - she was sad before all this, she cried and felt...
Demetri couldn't finish the sentence, but Gianna had understood.
- What if this sadness accompanies her now? She seemed a little better, though... But you know Master Marcus, what if she...
- Master Marcus became like this after losing his wife - Gianna interrupted him - at least that's what they say.
- That's what they say - Demetri repeated.
The vampire rested his face on the bed, ending the conversation. He held one of Elia's hands with both of his, lamenting her condition in low sobs.
Gianna thought Demetri wouldn't say anything else, so she prepared to leave. There was nothing else she could do in that room, and she had already packed the things Alec had brought into a backpack in the closet that had been empty.
"It's to help her to feel at home when she wake up," was what the other vampire had said. After that, he couldn't get in again because of Demetri, but Gianna was sure he was still lurking.
- What is this? - Demetri stopped crying, he straightened his posture and his gaze focused on something Gianna couldn't understand.
- What do you mean?
The vampire left the room, almost knocking Gianna who was near the door over in the process.
Demetri was much faster, while by the time Gianna caught up with him in the hallway, he was already heading towards the other side of the house. By the time Gianna came down the stairs, he was already leaving the kitchen.
- Is there something wrong? - Gianna shouted so he could hear her before disappearing again.
Demetri turned around, trying to look in every direction, moving quickly, checking the windows and doors and then the walls.
- How many years has your family served the Volturi? - Demetri suddenly asked, he looked like a maniac with burning eyes.
Gianna finally caught up with him near the wall on the side of the stairs.
- We are as old as Renata's family - Gianna answered - but I am...
- The last, and the only human who should be in this house today.
- Correct - Gianna said, still not understanding - the servants will only come in a few days.
- So why do I hear another heart beating besides yours?
Gianna stopped breathing. She didn't know the answer, because she was just a human in the middle of that game. She thought Demetri would ask her another question when they heard a noise coming from upstairs, perhaps in the room where the girl must have been sleeping.
Demetri was once again faster of course, he moved before Gianna even heard the scream that came from the direction of the room.
The human climbed the stairs as fast as she could, but when she reached the room, everything was already in chaos.
Demetri was standing, his arms outstretched to the girl who was now standing in the right corner. The bed was empty, and the bloody sheets were scattered across the floor. In addition to the nightstand that Demetri had broken, other furniture was falling apart as the former human tried to move.
- No! No! - Elia screamed every time Demetri tried to get closer. Her eyes were now a bright red color.
- It's okay, I promise - Demetri tried to talk to her, but as he took a step, Elia moved away.
That's when she saw Gianna.
The newborn ran towards the human, but Demetri held her back. Elia's reaction was even worse, she screamed and writhed, asking Demetri to let her go.
Gianna left the room and kept peeking from the end of the hallway until Alec appeared. He was indeed nearby as she assumed.
- Get away from me! - Elia screamed at Demetri, and looking at him seemed to terrify the newborn, as she ran and then went back to shrinking in the corner of the room like a scared mouse.
- Elia, it's me, Demetri, you don't...
- Stop scaring her! - Alec said.
The tracker didn't even have time to think when Elia ran towards Alec, hugging him while she trembled and sobbed into his chest.
- I know you! - Elia said as she looked at him.
- Of course you know me - Alec told her, as surprised as Demetri by her reaction. Holding the girl carefully in his arms - we are friends.
- Yes, yes... - Elia nodded as he spoke, then she looked back at Demetri and terror returned to her face - Get him out of here, he's going to kill me, please!