gift or curse (A Twilight fanfiction)

Chapter 33

"Ariadne?" Bella was the one who greeted me. Surprise in her voice.

I gazed swiftly at Alice. Hadn't she told them I would come? Perhaps she couldn't, because she didn't know me before. To her it'd probably seemed like a normal party of the guard would come.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came with the Volturi."

The answer confused the lovely girl whom I still had difficulty seeing as a mother. I figured Edward would enlighten her and indeed, not two seconds later, he announced: "She married Demetri."

I narrowed my eyes. I was pretty sure my command made it impossible for him to read any more, but you never knew.

"What?" Bella now looked at me like I had gone crazy.

Irritated, I began walking to the door, saying: "Look, if you don't want me here, I'll go wait outside for his return."

Esmee's always friendly plea for me to stay and Emmet's not so subtle comment on why I wasn't with him anyway, came at the same time. It made me sigh, but I halted my steps.

"If you must know, I haven't had that much training and have just seen a rather unpleasant carnage in Romania. I didn't want to be far away from him, but I also don't care to see more terror."

No one knew what to say to that. After a few silent minutes I dropped down on the floor near the front door and stared at the carpet. I would wait here.

Not long after, however, someone sat down beside me. It was the thin fairy ballerina, Alice.

"It's nice to finally meet you, I've heard so much about you. I wish I had known it was you I'd seen."

"What did you see?" I asked, curious despite my reservations.

"Don't worry, I don't see many details. It's not like knowing everything that happens to everyone. I simply saw a vision of us standing there, meeting you. I knew the others, but not you. Why did you marry Demetri?"

A quick glance around the room showed me Alice was not the only one wanting to know.

Should I tell them? I guessed it couldn't hurt. After all, they were kind enough to let me stay, the least I could do was be honest.

"Marcus told me, when I arrived in Volterra. He saw a bond between us, Demetri and me. We both felt it. I guess we figured there was no use in delaying the inevitable."

That might have sounded a bit too negative. So when Alice looked at me with a frown, I hastily added: "I love him. I know you all don't like him, but he's wonderful."

A few snorts came from various locations in the house, but Alice giggled. "Well, I'm glad at least you didn't choose Felix."

At that, I barked a short laugh. "My thoughts exactly."

The tension lessened somewhat after our little talk. Everyone went about their business, which mostly meant they sat down to read. Edward and Bella were buried in books. Were those schoolbooks?

When Alice didn't leave her spot next to me, I asked: "Can you see anything?"

She knew what I meant, because her smile became apologetic. "I'm sorry. I'm trying to keep tabs on everything that will happen around this house. With my family. It's difficult to see beyond that. And the future always changes. Every time someone makes a decision, it alters. I could see the phone ringing a minute back, but I'm not sure when."

I tensed. What did that mean? That Demetri was in trouble? Did they need me? I should be out there with him, not here, being nothing but a nervous wreck.