gift or curse (A Twilight fanfiction)

Chapter 17

It turned out we didn't have to swim. Not even a little bit. Even without a passport, my global tracker knew enough modes of transportation that didn't acquire any papers. Apparently the Volturi possessed a great many vehicles, among them a small aircraft Demetri could fly without human necessities such as lights and radar. No flight control bothered us as we flew across the Atlantic and even over land, no one knew we were even there.

"Your old home", Demetri said at one point and I looked out the window to the dark world below. I could make out little, so I had to take his word for it, but knowing we were almost at our destination made me glad. It wasn't that I was afraid of flying, just that I would finally figure out what it was that made Aro want to keep me so bad.

On the way Demetri told me about this man that had been a member of the Volturi in the past, until he found a mate and they had left. I had looked very closely to his face as he told me this, but nothing in his expression told me he would do the same and I was okay with that. For now.

The man's name was Eleazar and he and his wife, Carmen, were golden eyes, just like me. I wondered for a minute if the Cullen family would be with them, since they'd said they were headed to Alaska as well. And if so, should I warn Demetri? But in the end I decided against it.

What if Demetri's aversion against that family was so great he would turn the plane around and head back? I couldn't take that risk. Especially because I still hadn't told him Aro didn't know of our quest. Although I figured by now he knew we were gone. Would he think we had left for good? Would he send others to look for us? Perhaps I could make a call when we landed. They had a phone, I had seen one at the front desk.

---

Demetri landed the plane on an abandoned landing strip and took my hand.

"How do you know where to go? Have you been there before?"

He smiled and tapped the side of his head. "No need. I know Eleazar, I can find him."

Ah, of course, his gift.

"How does that work? Do you see a map with lines and dots in your mind?"

His laughter rang in the cold air. For a moment I thought about how strange we must look to any human who would happen upon us. I couldn't hear or smell any, and knowing Demetri, I was sure we wouldn't encounter them at all. His gray coat with the high collar and cravat still gave him that air of ancient civility and my dress was made for dancing, not prancing through the snow as we did at the moment.

"No, no maps and lines. It is a bit like picking up a ping on a radar. I simply focus on the voice of the person I want to go to and that sound guides me. All I have to do is head in that direction."

That seemed easy enough. "I knew there was a little bit of a bat in there", I joked.

We walked without hurry and I enjoyed it more than I thought. My hand swung his softly back and forth and when I peeked at him, I saw a contented smile linger on his lips. The snowflakes were like crystals beneath my boots and I was sorry for crushing them, so I stopped and shook the boots of my bare feet. It still felt strange sometimes, how the need for layers of undergarments had gone away. Against my marble-like skin, the snow didn't melt. I wiggled my toes and looked up at Demetri.

"Have you ever walked barefoot in the snow before?"

His expression told me he'd never seen the need for a childish thing like that, but I wasn't about to let it go.

"You should. It makes you appreciate being able to live like this, more. We don't get cold, we don't get sunburn. We could build a house on the tip of the world, where no one would ever find us, and we would be completely at ease. I always wanted to see more of the world, but I've only just come to the realization that now, being this, I can actually go anywhere. To the depths of the ocean, to the midst of the rain-forest. The hottest deserts and the coldest plains of ice. I could walk across the salt lakes of Australia without ever going thirsty."

My eyes had wandered off into the distance, but now I focused back on Demetri, who was eyeing me with a thoughtful gaze.

"You are more than a thousand years old, have you already seen everything?"

Slowly he shook his head.

"Why?" I breathed, grasping his other hand as well, trying to fathom his lack of curiosity.

He waited a while before speaking, pouting his lips. Finally he merely shook his shoulders once and said: "When I was young, the world was not so accessible as it seems today. People were either content with living in their village or had a vision to conquer the rest. You, I think, would have been one of the latter. You would have achieved greatness, if not on your own, than in marrying well. You would have made sure the world had bowed at your feet and if I had known you then, I would never have left home."

It was difficult seeing myself like that, but I understood what his answer meant. He was content with the life he had. The small circle in which he moved. He would probably come with me if I asked, but he would always return. I smiled. That was alright. As long as I could be there as well, it would be fine.

"Come on, lets find this Eleazar, then we can go home."

---

With my boots in my hand, the hem of my dress soaked because of the snow, we arrived a little over an hour later at a lovely house, overlooking a valley. Nowhere near tired, I smiled, though I did feel a little nervous, now that we were so close to retrieving the truth about me. What if it was something awful, like causing pain. I could never use a power like that on anyone, could I?

And what if this Eleazar didn't know, or worse, wouldn't tell me? I paused and Demetri stopped as well.

"Are you alright?"

My eyes seemed glued to the sight of the front door that was still closed. This man had once been a Volturi, but he'd left, would he even want to talk to me? Would he hate Demetri as much as the Cullens did?

"Perhaps we should go", I whispered. "What if-" My sentence was cut off by the opening of the door. Instead of a man, a woman appeared, with behind her another, both had golden blond hair. Was one of them the wife? They looked at us with so much anger in their eyes, I felt my insides freeze. This was a mistake, we should turn around and run. But I didn't move and next to me, Demetri straightened to his full hight. He sensed the hostility as well.

"What are you doing here?" the first one hissed. "You are not welcome here."

My mouth didn't work anymore, I looked at Demetri, pleading for him to take the lead, because suddenly all my previous bravery had left me. He seemed to understand and squeezed my hand.

"We are not here to cause trouble, we merely wish to speak to Eleazar."

His words were spoken no louder than he would speak to me, but with our increased hearing, I knew they had heard.

"What do the Volturi want with him?"

I shook my head, as Demetri replied: "We did not come on their behalf."

This seemed to surprise the women and their hostility lessened a tiny portion.

After a brief exchange of worried expressions, the first woman said: "He is hunting, he will return soon."

I had not missed their gazes at my face, no doubt wondering about the color of my eyes. Also our joined hands seemed to puzzle them. Neither of them invited us in, so we just stood there. The women in the door opening, us a few yards away from the porch. My nerves and doubts preventing me from saying anything and Demetri simply content in waiting. He looked at me a few times, worry in his eyes, but he never spoke.

My muscles didn't object to standing still for hours on end, but the wait didn't help my troubled mind. There was too much silence, too much time to meditate on every possible scenario, everything that could go wrong if Eleazar was anything like Aro.