Uhm… I was abducted by aliens? For like… two whole years? Nah, but for real I've been going through some stuff over the past couple years and I just… didn't really care for Twilight stuff. However, I made a promise at the beginning of this that I would be finishing it, even if it took forever. So I'm going to continue. My writing style has changed a bunch and matured (for real, I was reading back through the last twenty chapters and wow-ee), so you'll probably notice a big difference. I'd like to go back and edit/rewrite the first twenty chapters but I may just do that for the prologue. I'm not sure. Regardless, Book One has about 12 (give or take) chapters left to go, maybe more because the size is gonna be much smaller. As of right now I'm not sure if I'll actually continue with my four-five book plan. We'll see. I still wanna do Book Two because there isn't anything like it and I think people would enjoy it.

True Mate Saga Book One - Demetri

Chapter Twenty

Demetri and Della drove north and into Oklahoma in silence. Delphia hadn't spoken to him since the last time they'd stopped, three hours prior. They were rapidly making their way out of Maria's territory and that, at least, gave Demetri a sense of peace, despite the deteriorating state of his relationship with Della.

Now that Delphia knew the truth there were only two options for them. Either she would choose his lifestyle, and in doing so choose him, or she would decide death to be the preferable option. If her decision was to die… despair ripped through him at the thought and his hands clenched the steering wheel just a bit tighter, keeping himself together only just.

His thoughts turned to Marcus, and his crippling depression in the millenia since Didyme's death. He spoke rarely, and moved even less. The elder vampire was only alive because Aro would not allow him his peaceful end. Only with them still because each time Marcus had ripped off one of his own limbs it was Aro who stopped him from stepping into a fire. Marcus' shell of a life was a tragedy, one the guard had learned long ago not to think about.

Demetri did not wish that existence on anyone, and he surely didn't want it for himself.

But, he couldn't refuse Delphia her choice in the matter. She was kind, generous, and charitable. Those traits would be heightened by the transformation. Could she… would she survive in his world? A world where murder was prevalent, even among their own kind. A world where he was one of an elite guard that doled out punishment as the right hands of a triumvirate that was known to the vampire world as cruel, vicious, and empirical.

Vampirism was not for the faint of heart.

Still, there was a darkness in his mate that told Demetri she could survive his world. That she would thrive in it, even. She was intelligent, capable, and held herself with integrity. The fact that as a human she'd been able to kill a vampire, before his very eyes, meant that she would possibly one of the fiercest vampires the Volturi had ever encountered. Paired with her virtues… yes he could see Delphia quickly rising in his coven's ranks.

But if she chose death… what of those he cared for, and cared for him? He couldn't live without her, and yet if he followed her into final death he'd be leaving those who relied on him behind him. In his haste to meet his mate, he'd forgotten that she'd hold the power to destroy him, even before she'd tapped into her gift.

Regardless, once they were free of Maria's territory he could stop, and when he did he would have to communicate with the Volturi, or be declared insubordinate when he did inevitably return home. But this brought forth another issue; Once Aro knew of Delphia's ability he'd order her turned, without her consent.

Her choice would be stolen from her. Not by him, but certainly because of him. And he couldn't bring himself to feel content with this eventuality. It was… wrong of him, he supposed, to hope that Aro would take control of the situation and order the Della be turned. It would save him from making that decision himself, and enduring her wrath for centuries, and still have her immortal and beside him.

It was manipulative. But he could see no way around it. His hands were tied, and if he were being honest he felt guilt only for the fact that he was deceiving his mate in a roundabout way to arrive to the appropriate conclusion.

And she wasn't a fool. She'd realize it, eventually. He'd have to deal with the fallout then.

"How long until dawn?" Delphia asked suddenly, breaking the silence for the first time in hours.

"Another half hour at most."

Della let her head fall against the window and stared out into the treeline. "Are we far enough away to stop for the day?"

"Yes, we will stop soon." He assured.

When they lapsed into silence once more, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to fix their relationship enough, in the fourteen days he'd given her, to where she would be a manageable newborn.

~.~.~.~.~

Delphia had settled into bed for the day, having decided to remain on a schedule that would allow for them to spend the nights together, with her fully conscious. She hadn't spoken to him much when he'd secured them a room in a motel just south of Oklahoma City, but she had given him a small smile when he'd wished her a good night.

He loathed to leave her venerable inside of the hotel room, but he had no choice but to step out to make a call to the Volturi. He couldn't go outside, the sun was far to bright for him today. So instead, he'd found a supply closet at the far end of the building, nicked a key card from one of the maid's, and steeled himself for the conversation he was about to have.

The line rang three times.

"I didn't think you would be wasting bonding time with your mate to call me on this trip, Demetri." Felix's boisterous voice flooded the line.

Demetri sighed. "I thought the same, my friend, but circumstances have changed."

Felix was his right hand, his partner in the Volturi long before Demetri had been of any true prestige or of much real use to the Kings. Felix and he had risen in the ranks together, trained together. They were close. He could think of no one better to convey his words to Aro in such a matter that the unspoken would be deduced with ease. He hoped to keep his deception to the minimum.

"Ah… woman troubles, then?"

Demetri growled. None of that means that Felix didn't try his nerves frequently. "This is not a social call, Felix."

Felix's voice immediately changed. "Go on."

And so Demetri told him of the events since they'd last spoken. Of Della's newly awakened gift, and how she'd killed a vampire when they'd been attacked in Louisiana. He told Felix that he'd given her the knowledge of his kind and a time to choose her fate. Felix, who was usually so vocal remained silent through the retelling.

When Demetri was done, Felix spoke. "I will convey this to Aro immediately. Y... " he trailed off, seeming to question whether he should say what was on his mind. After a moment's hesitation he decided to continue. "You realize what you've done?"

"Yes."

"Then I have no doubt's I will see you soon."

The line when dead, and Demetri sighed.

So easily had he betrayed Delphia in such a way that he could spend eternity trying to redeem himself, and still a lack of forgiveness would be understandable.

He made his way back to his room in somber reflection. By now, Felix would be in the throne room conversing with Aro, Marcus, and Caius. Having spent the better part of his immortality with the Kings he was under the impression that he knew them far better than most of the guard, beside his favorites of course.

Demetri already knew what would happen when Felix relayed his information.

Aro's eyes would glint with suppressed delight that Delphia could kill a vampire as a human, for that meant that having her as Demetri's mate, the loyal dog of the Volturi, would ensure her presence among his loyal guards.

Caius would be furious that a meer human girl was causing so much trouble, and upon hearing that she knew of their existence he would demand she be brought to the castle and turned immediately, or Demetri would be well... it could be anything, Caius' mood tended to predict whatever punishment would be doled out.

Marcus would sit, silent and watching. Inevitably he would brush his finger across Aro's outstretched palm and the court would hear his verdict. He wasn't easily predictable, and often his views were at odds with his brothers.

And after a couple hours of hashing out the details, Aro would send a few guard members to ensure Delphia and Demetri's safe passage to Volterra, and if either Delphia or Demetri was unwilling, then one of them would sire Della.

Of course, Demetri was aware that when they returned to Volterra he would have no choice but to act as if he were fighting for Delphia to have the allotted time he'd given her to make her choice. He'd be insubordinate, and though Aro would understand Demetri would still be punished for it.

He may even have to miss Della's newborn year.

But this was the choice he made for them.

Demetri stepped into the darkened room, silently placing the key on the dresser and taking a seat at the table, his hands folded together and resting on the wood, contemplating how he could ever apologize up to his mate.

Author's Note: Demetri's loyalty to the Volturi is really gonna screw him, sooner rather than later. Chapters are going to be a much smaller than I used to write simply because lengthy chapters, as I've learned, exhaust me and make it less likely that I'll want to continue. This should make it easier for me to get chapters out, though.