Chapter 10

The house was extremely quiet since the previous day. No one was in a mood to speak or to socialize from what happened in the forest.

Demetri's body was hardly recognizable when Jane finally stopped torturing him. His upper and lower body was barely attached, there wasn't much of his face left and Emmett had a hard time carrying him back while fearing that he might lose his limbs on the way. Demetri was currently lying on his bed, hardly alive.

Jane had just enough control to stop before he'd completely shattered. She was so furious that he survived the five minutes and that she had lost the bet, that she lost control over her anger. It was Jasper who finally calmed her down by using every ounce of power he had.

Caius was furious, more than usual. He hasn't stopped cursing and yelling at her for almost killing the Volturi's best tracker, and also swore to deal with Demetri personally after he healed. However, he was healing extremely slow since he was completely hollow inside. Jane's pain literally devoured him. The hard part was explaining to Grace why she couldn't see him.

"Demetri's sick, my love." Carlisle tried explaining, "He needs to sleep and rest to heal."

"But I want Demepitee," she said softly.

They couldn't ever say no to her.

So, Esme decided it could do both of them good if Grace went to see him. She slowly pushed open the door and walked Grace in. If he wasn't a vampire then anyone could've mistaken him for a person on his deathbed. Grace crawled over the bed and sat close to him. Her eyes were glued on the cracks on his face and neck, which were the only parts of him almost fully healed. Her tiny fingers traced the cracks down his temples to his chin and she noticed he seemed colder than usual. Luckily, she's too young to question why they're always cold.

"What happened, Mommy?" she whispered to Esme while thinking he was asleep.

"Demetri got hurt badly, sweetheart." she said, "He got in a fight with someone."

"Why?"

"Because that's what boys do when they're angry. Listen, love, Mommy's got to go make you some breakfast. You stay with Demetri a little longer and I'll come to get you when I’m finished. Okay?"

She left Grace with the tracker to start cooking. Grace stared at him for a long time, unable to decide what to do. She felt truly sorry for what happened to him, even when she was too young to understand. But she clearly noticed the cracks on his face and neck, as well as the fact that he was lying way too still to be just asleep. She didn't concentrate on that too long though - another thing about being so young was that she had a very short attention span. Grace crawled on top of him and traced his cracks with her small fingers. She grew tired of waiting for both breakfast and him to wake up, so she snuggled underneath his arms and stayed there for the rest of the morning.

After a while the door opened, revealing Jane. When she saw the child she thought about leaving again, but after giving it some thought she decided that she didn't have to leave, but the child sure has to.

"Time to go." she said flatly, "Come on. Demetri needs to rest."

"Mommy will call me." Was all she replied and held onto Demetri's hand with her small one.

"Well, she's looking for you. Go."

Grace's eyes filled with tears and her lip curled as she held back her cry. Jane immediately grew worried the Cullens might think that she tried hurting the child, and desperately tried thinking of ways to stop her sobs. The only thing that popped into mind was to pick her up and physically comfort her.

Jane scooped her up and rocked her back and forth. She had little experience with children, but still a lot more than her brother and the rest of the guard. In all those years of destroying immortal children, she learned how to properly hold them and how to get them to stop crying. It could also be the fact that it's a womanly instinct, although she'd never admitted that.

Grace stopped crying and her hands searched for hair to play with, only to find that Jane wore her hair up in a bun. The vampire felt strange holding a human child while being stared at by a pair of crystal blue eyes.

"You're very pretty," Grace whispered, although her R's came out as L's.

"Thank you."

"Are you a princess?"

"No."

"Do you want to be?"

Before Jane could answer, Grace broke free and dashed out of the room. Wasn't long before she returned with a tea set and two plush teddy bears. She placed everything on the carpet and took a 'seat' at one of the red and white polka dot cups. She pointed at the spot in front of her for Jane to sit as well. Jane, too afraid that the thing might cry again, reluctantly obeyed. Grace poured the imaginary tea and made the teddies drink.

She gave Jane a cup with a wide smile, "Remember your pinky."

"Now what's this one's name?" Jane asked and held up another teddy bear she found in Grace's playroom.

"His name is Honey because he loves honey," Grace answered and rearranged the plush toys around her tea set.

Jane could only watch as each toy had its own seat with its own special coloured teacup. The previous day she was reluctantly forced to have "tea" with the child, which turned out to be, well, interesting. She never had tea parties when she was a child. Oh no, witch twins don't get to have tea at all. She missed out on so many things when she was little.

Because she and Alec were considered witches, they never had friends, their parents pushed them away and the villagers were all afraid of them. Eventually, they had to focus on survival instead of enjoying their childhood. No tea parties, no playdates, no joining the other kids in a game of hide and seek. Grace showed her a glimpse of what her childhood could've been like if she was normal.

However, Jane didn't realize that the child was slowly winning her over, and succeeded almost entirely. If Demetri woke up that moment and saw her playing with her, he'd never let it go. She thought of going elsewhere, but Caius ordered her to stay with their tracker until he recovered. Then she had an idea.

"Do you know hide and seek?" she asked the little girl.

Grace nodded.

"Do you want to play it?"

Another eager nod.

"Alright, I'll count to ten and you go hide, okay? Go!"

Grace took off running out of Demetri's room and down the hall towards the North wing. She was planning on hiding in her own room, considering that children always seek comfort and safety in their own rooms. However, she took a left turn into one of the guestrooms and dived underneath the bed where she remained, waiting for Jane to find her.

It was easy for Jane to find her, with her vampire senses and whatnot, but she stopped dead in her tracks when seeing whose room it was…

Meanwhile, Grace was still hiding quietly underneath the bed when someone suddenly cleared their throat. She poked her head out and locked eyes with Caius, who didn't seem impressed with her trespassing at all.

"Get out of m-"

"Shh." Grace cut him off and pressed her small finger square on his lips to shush him, "Jane will find me."

Caius snobbishly swapped her finger away from his mouth when a knock sounded from the door, causing Grace to jump.

"Master Caius, I'm just here looking for Grace." Jane's voice came from the other side, "Do I have permission to search the room for her?"

Before Caius could answer a definite 'yes', Grace climbed on his lap and shook her head 'no' so fast that her hair fell out from the tiny ponytail on top of her head. Caius gritted on his teeth as he debated in his head whether to allow Jane to take the child or not. Wait, why would he want her here in the first place? Why was he even considering letting the child hide in his room? He hated humans, children even more. All they ever do is eat, sleep and cry. And don't forget the mess they always leave behind.

"Master Caius?" Jane asked again.

Grace's crystal blue eyes begged ‘no’ and she even tried hiding behind his long, silk cloak for more protection. Why was it so difficult with this human?!

Say yes say yes say yes…

"No, that will be unnecessary, Jane." he finally answered when he lost his own debate, "I shall inform you if she's here."

Jane frowned in confusion to why Caius didn't want her to take Grace out of his room. She knew the little thing was in there, she tracked her by scent after all. However, she shrugged the thoughts away and trusted Caius to have a pretty good reason why he kept the girl there.

A moment of silence followed before Caius heard her footsteps disappear down the hallway. Grace crawled out from underneath his cloak and listened for any sounds.

"I hope you're happy n-"

"Shhh." Again she shushed him by pressing her finger square on his lips and continued listening. A smile formed on her face when she realized she's safe, "Jane gone!"

In her joy, she threw her arms around Caius' neck and hugged him tightly. The vampire had no idea what to do and only sat there awkwardly, arms in the air while he hesitated whether to hold her or not. Grace noticed his long hair and immediately took an interest in it. She tangled her fingers in it and messed it up so that Caius would look like the drummer from Queen.

While she entertained herself with his hair, Caius was brooding over how easily she interacted with predators like them. She had no idea he fed off the very blood that ran through her veins. Would she still be sitting on his lap if she knew? Would she still feel at home with her adoptive family if she knew what their diet was? What bothered him the most was the fact that he tried pushing the human infant away but couldn't bring himself to do so.

A knock came from the door and Esme peeked in, "My apologies, Caius. Grace can be very curious when she meets new people."

She took Grace from him and pressed a kiss on her puffy cheek, "Oh, and guess whose waking up, my angel?"

"Demepitee!" Grace exclaimed in joy and started bouncing up and down from excitement.

Caius actually cracked a smile when hearing the name she called the tracker but hid it behind his usual scowl before Esme could notice. He watched her carrying Grace out, probably to see Demetri, but he couldn't shake the odd feeling when silence filled the room once again. Was silence always this... silent?

What did he miss?

Grace squealed excitedly when Esme got closer to Demetri's door, and at some point, she wriggled herself free from her mom's arms and made her own way towards it. She didn't knock, only opened it slowly and peeked in.

Demetri was sitting upright on his bed, rolling his shoulders back and forth to make sure everything was fully healed. The muscles on his back flexed underneath his skin all the way from his shoulder blades down to his lower torso. He looked up when sensing her presence and his face lit up. Every second of him healing after Jane's wrath made him miss the little princess even more. If it wasn't for her, he'd never survive the pain and torture his fellow guard put him through, and he's been aware of her presence the whole time when she came to visit him in his room.

"Hey, princess." Demetri greeted her gently since he was scared that the remaining scars would scare her.

"Demepitee!" she smiled and ran into his arms.

He buried his face in her neck while holding her tiny form close to him. He didn't want to let her go. Not ever. The sweet, intoxicating scent of her blood threw him off a few seconds before he pulled himself together. Healing for an entire day could make a vampire thirsty... He had to feed later though.

Grace pulled back and saw the healing scars and cracks on his shoulders. Her fingers traced them cautiously, just in case she might hurt him. Demetri literally held his breath to see what she would do. What she did, however, surprised him like she always managed to do.

She leaned forward and placed a soft, child-like kiss on the cracks, "Now it's better."

Esme thought it was alright to leave her with Demetri. He was actually adorable with Grace, which she'll never tell him, of course. She left them alone but was replaced by Jane in a few seconds. Demetri seemed too focused on Grace to notice Jane entering the room and standing at the foot of his bed.

"Good to see you survived." she said in her usual monotone, "Master Aro would've killed me for killing the world's best tracker."

Demetri looked up at her, "You know he'll just replace me. That's what he always does. Keep replacing old, broken stuff with new ones."

"Master Caius was pretty upset." Jane added, "I was yelled at for three hours, just so you know what torture I went through because I followed your crazy, stupid plan."

Demetri tucked some of the wild golden curls behind Grace's ears as she played with his Volturi crest when he suddenly remembered that he had won the bet, "Seems like it's time for you to meet Grace."

Jane's eyes narrowed, "What's the use in meeting your human when you've already voiced her name for the entire universe to hear?"

She'd never admit that she spent the whole previous day in Grace's company - and kind of enjoyed it. She even tried forcing herself to hate the child but found it impossible. So she chose to deny it just to prevent Demetri from gloating for the next century. However, she didn't know that Demetri was completely aware of their little tea party in his room the whole time. He listened to every word, learned every name of the plush toys in the process and even caught Jane suggesting to play hide and seek with Grace. She was already won over, even if she won't admit it.

"Jane, I'd like you to meet Grace." he continued anyway, just to rub in the fact that he won the bet.

Grace ran towards Jane and hugged her legs, "Hide and seek! Hide and seek! Hide and seek!"

Jane tried pushing her away, but her attempts were in vain.

"What's that, Jane?" Demetri smirked slyly, "Did you teach Grace to play hide and seek? Seems to me you two were having a hell of a time while I was out. What do you say, princess?"

Grace obviously chose his side and nodded, "Jane play hide and seek."

Jane pursed her lips, "Traitor. Don't accuse me, Demetri. The real mystery is why Master Caius let her hide in his room yesterday and didn't want me to remove her."

The tracker's eyebrows went sky-high, "Really? Now you have me curious as well."

He threw on a shirt and picked up Grace. Once in the hallway, Demetri explained to Grace to knock on the Volturi leader's door and see what happens. She did so and Caius opened the door in less than two seconds. Demetri and Jane lurked behind a corner and saw the whole thing, which surprised them that Grace could make anyone, literally anyone, like her. Caius let her in, muttering about he'll deny everything when the Cullens find out about his obsession with her. The moment Grace was in his room, though, he sat flat on the floor and let her play with his hair, not even caring if she put bows and sparkly hairpins in them.

"I did not see that coming." Jane said after a while, "I trust Master Caius wouldn't harm her. It's time for you to feed."

Demetri left unwillingly, but he did have to feed. The thought of harming Grace made him follow Jane out to the nearest town, where he luckily found a middle-aged woman to satisfy his thirst rather quickly. His manly ones, however, still had to wait almost two decades at the least.