Twilight: Darling of Volturi (YURI/GL)

Night fell, and the hours that truly belonged to vampires had only just begun.

Suppressing the anger simmering beneath her calm exterior, Jane turned toward Demetri and raised two slender fingers. "I have two choices before me, Demetri. Help me decide. The first is to let you leave the city and bring Alec back. The second..."

"I choose the first one!"

Demetri immediately grabbed her hand before she could finish listing the second option. There was no need to hear the rest. Without question, it would involve Jane satisfying herself by subjecting him to her burning illusion until she'd had her fill.

Fortunately, Jane had not allowed her emotions to overwhelm her judgment. She knew perfectly well that finding Alec came first, and there was no one more suited to the task than Demetri.

As for settling accounts...

That could wait.

The moment he vaulted from the watchtower, Demetri's speed far surpassed anything he had displayed during daylight. Without needing to slow down for anyone, he unleashed his full power, moving at a velocity that defied human comprehension.

Darkness granted him complete freedom.

No longer burdened by the fear of sunlight, Demetri devoted every ounce of his attention to locating Alec. The position was unmistakable, remaining very close to where they had separated earlier that day.

A cloud had covered the crescent moon when he departed the palace.

By the time it drifted away...

He had already found Alec.

Standing beside the river was a thoroughly drenched vampire, staring blankly into the distance...

Doing absolutely nothing.

"Alec!"

Demetri rushed over at once, instinctively checking whether every part of Alec's body was still intact, especially his head. Apart from getting one hand soaked with river water, however, he found nothing unusual. Alec was physically unharmed.

Relief flooded through him.

It lasted only a heartbeat before irritation replaced it.

He jabbed a finger repeatedly into Alec's shoulder.

"Alec! Is this some new trick you've invented just to mess with me? Do you have any idea I nearly got burned alive by Jane up on the watchtower?"

Despite all his grumbling, Demetri's actions betrayed his true feelings. He bent down, picked up the black cloak Alec had discarded beside the river, and held it out for him.

Oddly enough...

Alec failed to react at all.

Whether it was Demetri's scolding or the cloak being offered to him, he simply stood there, motionless.

Only after several moments did he seem to return to himself.

"Demetri..." He frowned in confusion. "Why did we leave the castle?"

The question left Demetri utterly dumbfounded.

He slowly shook his head.

"...I'm doomed. Jane's definitely going to roast me for the entire night."

Alec had joked before they split up.

"Next time Jane decides to 'burn' you, I'll cover you with my mist and cut off your sense of touch."

That promise might actually become necessary.

Demetri withdrew the cloak before brushing away the blades of grass clinging to it. Pure black represented those closest to the heart of the Volturi's power. His own cloak was a lighter charcoal gray.

After carefully draping the cloak over Alec's shoulders once more, Demetri leaned forward to tie the fastening securely.

"We'll talk after we get home."

His voice softened.

The two figures streaked across the night sky above Volterra, faster than prowling cats and infinitely quieter.

Throughout the journey, Demetri recounted everything that had happened before they separated. As Alec remained in contact with him, his thoughts gradually became clearer, and little by little his memories returned.

Beginning from the very start, Demetri prompted him.

"Remember Fabio? You thought he'd left loose ends while cleaning up the incident, so you decided to handle it personally."

Alec nodded.

"I remember that much. We split up afterward." He paused before asking, "Did you find Fabio? Did he deal with the witness?"

"Everything on my end went smoothly," Demetri replied. "Forget about me for now. After we separated, what happened to you?"

As he spoke, Alec's recollection flowed smoothly, without hesitation.

Seeing that reassured Demetri considerably.

"I discovered that Fabio secretly transformed a human into a newborn vampire without reporting it." Alec frowned thoughtfully. "I intended to eliminate the newborn first, then return to deal with Fabio afterward."

Demetri nodded in agreement.

"He definitely deserves punishment. Otherwise, outsiders will start thinking the Volturi expand their strength by creating newborns." He snorted disdainfully. "Please. We're not like those Romanian idiots who rely on brute force for everything."

Still, he understood perfectly well what Alec meant by "dealing with" Fabio.

"That guy possesses the gift of Memory Compression," Demetri reminded him. "It's far rarer than even my tracking ability. Across the entire vampire world, memory-related Gifts are already uncommon. Finding two with similar abilities would be even rarer."

He sighed.

"You'll have to restrain yourself."

"Aro won't approve."

Alec knew he was right.

The last thing he wanted was to disappoint Aro.

Then another idea struck Demetri.

"So far, the Volturi haven't found another Guard with the same kind of Gift. Not stronger. Not weaker. None at all." He grinned. "But that doesn't mean we never will. What if one day we recruit another vampire with memory abilities?"

The Gifts vampires developed were largely shaped by their experiences as humans or by exceptional talents they had possessed from birth.

Most abilities grew out of habits...

Ways of thinking...

Or interactions with other people.

Naturally, similar Gifts could appear more than once.

Aro was delighted in discovering every imaginable supernatural Gift, but that didn't mean he collected gifted vampires like curiosities to be placed inside display cases throughout the Palazzo dei Priori. Otherwise, the palace would have become nothing more than a museum of supernatural abilities.

As one of the Volturi leaders, Aro's interest had never stemmed from simple curiosity.

He valued Gifts only insofar as they strengthened the Volturi's authority.

Whenever similar Gifts appeared, he would carefully compare them, retaining only the vampire whose ability proved the most useful.

Demetri himself was living proof.

He was the finest tracker the Volturi had ever possessed...

But he had not been the first.

Those who lost to him had been quietly dismissed by Aro in his usual gentle manner and left to fend for themselves.

Second-rate talent had no place at Aro's side.

Keeping Fabio beneath Jane's command already revealed Aro's assessment.

Useful...

But only to a limited extent.

Highly replaceable.

Having joined the Volturi before Alec, Demetri understood the Kings' methods exceptionally well and knew how to work within them.

He smiled slyly.

"Fabio's Gift is basically only useful for cleaning up after humans anyway. Replacing him wouldn't be difficult. Once that happens, you can deal with him however you like."

His smile widened.

"And even if he runs to the ends of the earth...I'll find him for you."

Alec fell silent for a moment before speaking again.

"Do you think it's possible that the newborn I encountered today possesses a Gift similar to Fabio's?"

Fragments of his missing memories continued resurfacing, but the most crucial piece remained absent. He suspected it would either take more time...

Or require meeting the person responsible.

"I tracked her without any difficulty. I almost killed her." His brows knitted together. "And then... I let her go. Worse, I stood there like an idiot until you found me."

Demetri blinked.

"That really does sound suspicious."

Then his eyes lit up.

"Wouldn't that be incredible? A vampire transformed by Fabio who inherited a Gift similar to his?" He burst into laughter. "Could memory-type Gifts actually spread through venom?"

His imagination ran wild.

"Maybe we should have Fabio bite another human and test the theory."

It was the sort of ridiculous joke Demetri would only dare make in private.

Alec rolled his eyes.

"If venom could pass along Gifts, Aro would've had us all bite one another centuries ago."

A faint smile tugged at his lips.

"Want to try combining your tracking ability with my sensory-numbing mist?"

"Sounds amazing."

Demetri grinned shamelessly.

"Let's save it for the day we hunt Fabio."

The Palazzo dei Priori gradually came into view.

Without thinking, Alec instinctively headed toward the western watchtower, naturally assuming Jane would still be waiting there.

Before he could get far, however, Demetri caught hold of his arm.

"Wait."

Alec looked back in confusion.

"What?"

"If you're afraid of Jane, I'll go see her alone." Demetri gave him an odd look before pulling him in another direction. "Jane isn't at the watchtower anymore."

He sighed.

"She went to the underground palace to see Aro."

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