"Where are ya takin' me?" Aria asked for the sixth time as she followed Alec through the halls.

"It's a surprise," he answered once more, holding his mates hand guiding her towards their destination.

Aria grew quiet, following her boyfriend around a sharp turn in the hall and towards a grand marble staircase. The moment Alec's foot touched the bottom stair he looked over his shoulder, a crooked smirk rested on his face as he let go of Aria's tiny hand. In a flash Alec was up the stairs, peering over the railing at the newborn with a look of boredom and his cheek resting on his fist.

"You know a vampire could age waiting for you to climb the stairs," teased the guard.

Aria stuck out her tongue and in an instant was by his side her arms wrapped around his. "I highly doubt that old man," she replied.

Alec chuckled as he dragged her towards the halls the favorites used as their own living quarters. They passed by different paths each one marked with a different golden plaque. Aria read the plaques as they passed by them noting the different languages written across the middle of each. She stopped walking instead staring at one of them that caught her eye.

Δημήτρη

Aria's nimble fingers traced the engraving as her mind drew foggy memories from her past life. Alec stood close by watching on as Aria made sense of the lettering.

"This is Demi's name," she whispered.

Alec nodded, "Yeah." He moved to his girlfriends side. "How did you know that?"

Aria looked up at her creator. "My godmother is Greek. My dad and I used to visit her and her family in Sparta."

Alec rubbed his neck. "So you speak Greek, Italian, and English? Is there anything else I should know?"

Aria smiled, "I speak Spanish as well as Latin and French."

"Well I guess that explains the funny looks you would give Demetri when he would curse."

Aria let out a lighthearted laugh. "Mostly 'cause he called Edward a goat sniffer."

"Is that what he called him?!" Alec asked, "I always thought he called him an idiot."

Aria moved away from the plaque and ventured down the hall stopping once she found Alec's name written in his hand. "He called him that too," she responded, "but mostly other things concerning his diet."

Alec made his way to her side, getting the French doors for her. With a gentle push the doors opened inwards revealing the vast entryway of the room. Slowly Aria ventured into the room, noting how clean and immaculate the room was. The floors were the gray-white of Carrara marble with fine feathering lines of gold contrasting the dark gray of the walls. The entryway was furnished with golden frames of painting of landscapes and cliffs of an island that no doubt held some kind of meaning to their owner. The entryway lead into an enormous living room.

The living room held white furniture. A round beige coffee table sat between two sofas. The white sofas on either side held a swirled design with the brass detailing. On either side of the sofas sat two round end tables with books on them. On the far right wall stood an open bookcase that extended from top to bottom. A cold fireplace sat in the living room. On closer inspection the crown modeling was designed to  resemble cherubs, each equally beautiful and each designed with different angelic features so that no two looked the same. Above the fireplace and it's mantel rested a portrait of Alec dressed as a nobleman, scowl present on his face and his burgundy eyes burning with emotion.

Aria averted her eyes as feelings of how it used to feel when Alec seemed to see through her when they first met resurfaced. She moved towards the glass french doors towards the left bounding up the two steps before coming to stop in front of the doors. With caution, Aria reached for the curved golden door handles silently repeating how she could open the doors without breaking them. She closed her eyes when her hands connected, turning them in a downward motion the doors opening with the greatest of ease. Opening one eye, Aria smiled as she opened her other eye, triumphant in her small victory. She glided into the room, realizing that it was in fact a bedroom.

The bed was small, a queen size by the looks of it, with two small end tables on either side. One of the sides, the left one to be exact, had three ancient leather bound books sitting on the end table under the lamp. Aria noticed the sliding doors of two different closets and a vanity table set up on the right side of the room.

Aria turned to notice her boyfriend and creator leaning against the door frame, with an unreadable expression on his face. To make matters worse she couldn't make out what he was feeling as if he continued changing them to keep her guessing.

Aria wet her lips, a habit she no longer needed to do yet had found herself doing it often that day. "Mi corazón?"

"Yes?"

"Why is there a bed?" She asked indicating towards the piece of sleep furniture before drifting over to the vanity table, "and a vanity table?"

Alec detached himself from the wall and sat at the door of the bed , pulling Aria closer to him by the folds of her borrowed dress. "The vanity is for you and your beauty products if you decide to wear them or not."

"What about the bed?" She asked again, "We don't sleep."

Alec rubbed his neck. "It wasn't intended for sleep."

A moment passed as Alec's words seeped into Aria's mind and she could understand the underlying meaning behind her boyfriends words.

"Oh...." was all she replied looking anywhere in the room but at her mate.

"Yeah..."

Aria looked over at her mate and touched his cheek, rubbing the pad of her thumb against his defined cheekbone. "Please don't take this the wrong way," she began, "but I'm not that type of girl. I want to be married before....well...you know."

Alec smiled as a relieved sigh escaped. "I thought you would say that. In fact I'm glad you said that."

Aria kisses her boyfriends forehead. "Less stress on you?"

Alec nodded. "Actually yes."

Aria chuckled before kissing his forehead. "You're a fool Volturi."

"But I'm your fool."

Aria rolled her eyes in a playful manner before she flounced about the rest of Alec's room
analyzing the finer details. Her fingers trialed across the spines of the novels as her eyes read the names. As far as she could tell each work was from the greatest authors of all time and most of the prints were first editions if not from the same era of the original publication. Absentmindedly, her other hand rubbed her throat as the burning persisted with the greatest of discomforts.

Alec busied himself with pouring a mixture of blood and bourbon for himself, unaware to his mates actions. He turned leaning against the small bar, taking a long sip of his drink as he tracked Aria. Only when she turned to face him did he notice her discomfort. Without thought he poured another glass, consisting of only blood and waltzed over to the newborn.

"Here," he said holding out the glass.

Aria took the glass, staring at the thick red liquid. The smell was intoxicating, there was no way for Aria to lie about that, the scent reminding her cinnamon. It was warm and inviting, beckoning Aria to take a sip of not finish the glass. Aria swirled the liquid in the glass.

"It's human isn't it?" She asked, fearing her boyfriends reply.

"It is."

Aria closed her eyes and held the glass towards Alec, her instincts telling her not to hand over a free meal but her conscious getting the best of her as usual. "I don't want it."

Alec sighed as he took the glass. "You won't get much of a choice in a couple of hours," he mumbled.

Aria looked up at her boyfriend who turned away from her, drinking from both glasses. "Whatcha say?"

Alec swallowed his mouthful. "Nothing."

Aria excused herself from the room, saying she wanted to wash off the day, leaving Alec alone with his thoughts. He stared into the bottom of his glass to the single drop of blood that rested against the base of the glass. Tomorrow would be hell not only for him but for Aria as well, especially since he had a feeling she wouldn't partake in the feeding.