[ Chapter Seventeen—catch me outside ]

   I haven't seen anyone other than fucking Demetri in three days. And the only reason I see Demetri is because he is the one who brings me shit to eat. Albeit, it was pretty good food—but that is beside the point.

The room I had been brought to was similar to the last one, except it was in a different wing of the castle.

Apparently, as Demetri put it, this was meant to serve as some sort of punishment from Caius for my "behavior" toward him. To be honest, I really did not know what that was supposed to mean, but I assumed it had something to do with how I mouthed off to my blond douche mate. Oh, and probably because I tried to kill him too.

I mindlessly scrolled through Twitter, my phone has been my only source of entertainment the past days as there was no television and I was not interested in any of the books in here. Not only that, but the books sucked ass as they were literally from the extreme olden days.

I had just finished another episode of Grey's Anatomy (don't judge me, I got hooked in the three days that I was trapped in here) when the bedroom door to the large ensuite opened. My head snapped up as the only one to come into the room was Demetri, and I was not surprised when I was greeted with the sandy-haired vampire.

He was holding a large plate on a tray, the vampire closing the door behind him placing the tray on the desk.

"What's the news, my guy?" I questioned lazily, lounging on the couch. "Has the douchy king decided to let me out yet?"

Demetri quirked a bemused brow, folding his arms behind his back. "You know Master Caius can hear us, right?"

Yes, Demetri told me every time that Caius was perfectly capable of hearing what I said, it seemed he was never lurking far when someone can to my room.

"And Master Caius is not very happy with your rude attitude, he will consider lifting your punishment as soon as you start—"

"—Behaving myself," I rolled my eyes, finishing the lecture I had gotten for the past few days.

"Well," I put my head back on the pillow, "you can tell... CAIUS..." I suddenly screamed, hoping that he more than heard me, "...THAT I WILL NEVER 'BEHAVE' MYSELF, SO YOU CAN SHOVE A STICK UP YOUR PALE ASSHOLE!"

I slammed my hands on the bed next to me. I had been wearing my pajamas since I was brought into this room, not bothering to change seeing as I did not have anywhere to be. Demetri pursed his lips, shaking his head as though stressed out.

"Well, that is going to get you nowhere, so..." Demetri tipped his head mockingly, "I will see you in a few hours to bring your dinner..."

I kept my lips squeezed in a tight line as Demetri left, locking the door behind him. Immediately, I hopped out of bed, running to my backpack and grabbing some clothes. After washing off and brushing through my hair, I put on jeans, a tee shirt, and sneakers before hopping toward the locked door with a hairpin.

My phone was resting in my pocket, my face set in determination.

Focusing on my breathing, I felt for the metaphorical rubber band inside of me. Instantly, I pulled it tightly, feeling it constrict as I forced time to stop. I smirked as I had been practicing this for a few days in hopes I could hold it for longer amounts of time.

When I was sure that time had been stopped, I quickly worked the hairpin into the lock, smiling when the large door opened. Inside my pocket sat the card and cash belonging to the dead vampire who I had pickpocketed back in the throne room.

I wasted no time in waltzing out of the room, closing the door behind me. Walking through the castle was slightly confusing, but I was in a hurry seeing I could not keep time frozen for too long.

"Don't be suspicious," I sang to myself while rushing through the many corridors, passing by a few frozen vampires.

I paused when I saw Felix and Demetri standing in one of the corridors, obviously having been in the middle of a conversation. The way they were frozen was comical, Demetri with his hands dramatically raised above his head and Felix with a raised brow.

"Don't be suspicious, don't be suspicious, OH!" I mockingly danced in front of their faces, walking between them. "Don't be suspicious, DON'T BE SUSPICIOUS!"

I could not stop myself from snickering as they gave no sign, simply remaining frozen. Without warning, I reached into Demetri's pocket pulling out a nice leather wallet.

Wow, I really need to stop stealing from people but it was so tempting, especially when they were frozen and could not do a damn thing about it.

"Thanks," I snorted, plucking twenty dollars from his wallet before tossing the leatherbound holder at his chest.

Or at least, I thought it was 20 dollars seeing as it was Italian currency.

The wallet bounced off of him, landing right by his feet.

The straining of the band inside of me alerted me, a clear sign that I could not hold time for too much longer. God, I could already feel the strain it was taking on me— damn this was actually exhausting.

Walking by the two, I patted Demetri's cheek, scurrying through the corridor with the intention of finding one of the exits.

It was not until I managed to find my way to the front desk area that the rubberband finally snapped and I stumbled forward as the exhaustion set in.

Shaking it off, I walked toward the exit door, winking at the human clerk who was gaping.

Immediately, I was greeted by a dark alley, somewhere I did not hesitate in stepping out of and basking in the warmth of the sunny day.

"Well, that was way easier than expected," I said to myself, laughing while looking around.

Now, surprisingly enough, I had no intention of trying to run away—I simply wanted to get out of the room, explore the town, put this technically stolen money to good use, and hopefully piss off a crusty old vamp while doing so. Oh yeah, and I seriously need some weed and alcohol, the stress of all this was making me feel like shit.

When I arrived, I never got to see what the town surrounding the Volturi looked like. However, I imagined it to be a cold, damp, and scary place just as the tomb that they called their home was. I was surprised to find that it was none of that.

Volterra was beautiful, bustling with life and radiating joy throughout the townspeople. It was a place that you would find on a little postcard. As I walked through the cobblestone street, my eyes were alit with wonder as I took everything in. From the tiny tent shops to the actual building shops, or the town square where a large fountain sat.

My lips pulled into a smile, but I truly did not understand how such a wonderful place could be home to something so sinister. Walking into a random shop, I took in the knickknacks around, almost wanting to buy something.

But I shook myself out of it reminding myself just what I was after. I could go shopping once I got my tequila and weed, besides—Bella had texted me saying they just shipped my suitcase and other luggage that had been sitting in Cullen Manor to Volterra. It should arrive within the next few days.

An hour later and I was sitting at a patio table just beyond the town square in an entirely new outfit smoking a joint with a bottle of straight vodka in front of me. In place of the jeans and tee, I was now wearing a tight waist-high mini skirt with a short tank top (what? it's actually hot as balls out here). The shoes had also been replaced by some short boots that vastly resembled the boots Patrick-John was wearing when he attacked me.

I regret not stealing his boots.

A large pair of glasses sat at the tip of my nose, blocking the no doubt high and drunk look to my pupils. In order to mask the scent of smelling like a bar and cannabis, I bought a shit-ton of perfume that I made sure to douse myself with every five minutes or so.

While Volterra was beautiful, it was also very small. I had already got around most of it, so now I was just sitting here smoking and drinking—a past time I tried not to indulge in unless I was at a party.

It was a shame, this was a horrible habit that I had thankfully gotten over a year or two ago, but now I am back to square one with this nasty addicting coping method, all because I am stuck with a shitty fake-blond for the rest of my life.

I blew a ring of smoke at that thought, casually leaning back in my chair and placing my boot-clad feet on the table with a thud. The chains adorning the boots rattled and the half-empty bottle of vodka quaked.

It took a lot to get drunk with lycanthropy and even when I did get drunk, it did not last as long.

Blowing out some more smoke through my nose this time, I sighed in satisfaction—the drunkenness and high finally making me relaxed and full of nothing but ecstasy. All the anxiety and any other negative energy flew away.

It was just me sitting here on cloud nine.

Unfortunately, cloud nine could not last because of-fucking-course some little family had to walk right by me. There was a young mother, probably a few years older than me pushing a stroller that held a baby that could not have been more than a few months old.

Behind the young mother was an equally as youthful male that was obviously her partner and the baby's father. His blue eyes were shimmering with joy as he cooed at the small child, the woman watching them both with a wide smile.

They gave off that perfect new family vibe, and despite the happiness radiating from them, I knew the truth. Give it a few years and add a second kid to the mix and that perfect family would crumble.

They would all show their true colors. That dad would probably cheat on his wife or some stupid shit like that. The woman would probably get depressed and start ignoring her children. In turn, that baby in the stroller who would turn out to be the oldest would probably find relief in screwing around with some friends, get in trouble with the law a little, or become an addict.

And then, how could we forget about the unborn child that has yet to come. Yes, that child would probably break from the torment of their family and start hurting themselves.

It was sad and horrible and I have no clue why I think like this, but in my opinion—it was the truth.

There was nothing else to it. It was the great fucking circle of family life.

Deep down, I knew the truth though, I knew exactly why I thought like this. Staring at the baby, my mind could not help but go back to the years I so badly wanted to forget, the times I tried to block.

Images of Carter Valenzuela swirled in my field of vision, that dimpled smile of his haunting me. I reminisced on the way I used to love running my hands through his curls, or the corny pick-up jokes that always made me laugh, I even remember him teaching me to play baseball. They were memories that at one point I thought I would cherish, but now they were tinted with burning hate and I only wished for them to go away.

Fuck Carter Valenzuela, a romance that I had when I was fourteen and fifteen years old but one that still plagued my mind.

And yet, I could not help but imagine a certain baby. Not the one that was in the stroller a few feet away, but rather a baby with the same tan skin as Carter and I, a baby with curly hair and dimples that came from Carter but warm caramel eyes that reflected my own.

I shook my head feeling a pressure burning behind my eyes, taking notice of how the baby was staring at me. The parents did not glance my way, simply continuing on the stroll. The baby watched me until the little family turned the corner, a horrible feeling as though it were crawling its way up my throat.

Growling menacingly, a sound that sounded absolutely animalistic, I reach forward grabbing the bottle. Blowing out more smoke, I held the joint out before bringing the bottle to my lips. The alcohol burned down my throat, but I had grown resilient to the fire at this point, I was nearly immune to it. In fact, I welcomed the feeling.

It was kind of impressive that the local authorities had not approached me regarding public intoxication laws.

Maybe Italy didn't have those?

"It's amazing that you escaped only to do this,"

I lazily flicked my gaze across the table, seeing Demetri sitting across from me wearing a dark cloak.

Looking up, I saw that it had just become cloudy enough for a vampire to walk outside without too much worry. Demetri was wearing a scowl across his face, I only shrugged while placing the half-empty bottle of vodka down in front of me.

As much as I loved being intoxicated, that shit tastes horrible.

Swallowing the poison, I brought the joint to my lips. My feet still rested on the table as rings of smoke left my open mouth.

Demetri growled angrily, but it was nothing compared to Caius's anger, "What the bloody hell are you even doing?"

"What do you want me to say?" I casually tipped my sunglasses down so I could make eye contact with Demetri, the vampire no doubt seeing just how red and large my pupils were. "I didn't actually run away, for fuck's sake—God! I was sick of staying in the damn tomb," Demetri narrowed his eyes at the insult I had been constantly calling his home, "...and you refused to bring me alcohol!"

"Master Caius insisted that it was bad, and to be quite frank—I agree with him! Look at you!"

"Whoopee, look at me!" I mocked in a slurred tone. "I am not some plastic toy that your master c-can like bend to his will, or whatever...!" I gasped, "what a surprise!"

Demetri narrowed his eyes threateningly.

"What is this, hmm? Some sort of mental breakdown, have you finally cracked?" The guard sneered.

"Motherfucker," I cackled, "I cracked a long time ago, now if you'll excuse me, I am going to go find something to eat," I stood, grabbing my vodka bottle and taking one last drag of the joint before throwing it down and stomping on it.

"You won't get out of the town, there are guards surrounding the entire place."

I waved him off, "again, I'm not trying to leave, I'm trying to eat,"

As I started walking, Demetri quickly stepped alongside me causing me to groan. Why the hell could he not just leave me to mope in peace?

"Do you have any idea how angry Master Caius is that you left? And when he's angry, it's not good for any of the guard—of course, we were all blamed for your disappearance, but how can any of us stop you when you freeze time?" Demetri exclaimed wildly, myself raising a brow as he ranted to me. "He noticed your disappearance as soon as you were gone."

"If you've all known that I have been gone, then why are you just now coming for me?" I shifted my gaze to him.

I had been gone for just over an hour now.

"The sun was too bright for any of us to risk stepping in it, so the guards have been lurking in the shadows watching over you,"

"That's not creepy at all," I rolled my eyes while taking another swing of the bottle.

Demetri crinkled his nose in response, "you smell as though a bar had a child with cannabis and that child then went on to marry cheap perfume, is it an even more revolting scent than your normal scent."

"And yet I still smell better than you," I smirked causing Demetri to scoff.

The vampire shook his head, "Master Caius is not going to be thrilled at the state you are in, honestly, can't you have mercy on us for once? Master Caius being in a bad mood equals more work for me,"

"Poor you," I cooed condescendingly, "Just so we're on the same page, God is probably not thrilled with me either, but do I care about that? No, that's just life for you..."

Demetri suddenly stopped me, both of us standing next to a large well that seemed to lead into the undertones of the town.

"Very well, you have had your fun today, now it is time to return," he stated.

I scoffed, crossing my arms, keeping a tight grip on the alcohol. "Uhm, no..."

"Jaclyn," Demetri said as though he was on his last straw, "you will come with me or I will have to force you,"

Rolling my eyes, I looked toward the well, an idea blossoming in my mind. I leaned over the grated well, peering into the darkness below.

"Let me guess, this leads to straight under the clocktower right?" At first, I thought we were truly in a castle.

However, after stepping out into the light, I realized that the "castle" was actually an entire catacomb of sorts made under the clocktower. It literally was a tomb.

Demetri unsurely nodded his head, confirming my thoughts.

"Hmph," I smirked, eyeing the darkness under the grates, "HELLOOO..." my voice echoed throughout the well causing Demetri to cringe.

"Please," he said sharply, "stop."

"Why?" I leaned against the well.

"Because every vampire under the clocktower can hear you, and trust me, no one likes when people are screaming into the wells," Demetri explained, irritation lacing his tone.

"Oh really," I mumbled, looking back into the well.

When faced with this kind of opportunity, one never lets it go to waste.

"I've heard there was a secret chord, that David played and it pleased the Lord, but you don't really care for music... do ya?"

I was literally singing into the well, my voice not comedic as usual, but rather steady and melodic. I enjoyed singing, that was a given when it came to karaoke; however, I would not call singing a passion of mine—more like a bored past time.

Currently, I was not doing it so much out of passion or boredom, but rather as a silent way of telling Caius along with the rest of the douches down there to suck my dick.

Also, it was a silent message that Shrek is beautiful and they should all watch it.

"What are you doing?" Demetri questioned with large eyes, obviously not expecting that.

A few onlookers had gathered around as well, listening as I sang into the well. Because of the echo, it made my voice sound louder. However, once again, I was not doing this out of love but rather to provoke Caius even further.

"Well, it goes like this: the fourth, the fifth, the minor fall and the major lift... the baffled King composing hallejuah..."

"What is happening?" Demetri actually looked confused.

"Hallejuah, hallejuah, hallejuah, halle—ooh—ooh—juah..."

I stopped singing after those words, the small crowd around erupting into applause. Demetri crossed his arms, looking at me in disbelief.

"Strong pair of pipes you got, kid," both mine and the vampire's attention was drawn to an older man who spoke with a thick Italian accent.

"Thank you," I smiled, brushing a piece of hair behind my ear as the old man nodded and walked off.

"He's right, you're not the worst singer I have ever met," Demetri gave me a backhanded compliment.

I rolled my eyes, drinking the last of the vodka which reinforced the drunkenness. Once the bottle was empty, I tossed it in a nearby recycle bin. Walking away from the well, I tried to get away from Demetri only to have him stop me by standing directly in front of me.

"You still need to come back, this is your last chance. Are you going to keep your pride and come willingly or—" Demetri never got to finish giving me the two options for in less than a second the vodka and effects from the joint did not roll together smoothly and suddenly I was leaned forward gagging and vomiting bile right onto Demetri's shiny shoes.

I had not eaten anything that day, therefore it was only bile, but it was still nasty and had an extremely acidic taste to it.

Demetri actually screamed, murmuring phrases in Greek while skipping around wildly. I only groaned while watching him try to shake off the contents of my stomach to no avail.

If all of this chaos had not been enough, Alec suddenly appeared, scowling at the Demetri.

"Hell, you are terrible at your job sometimes," Alec scoffed, before grabbing me.

I was unable to come up with a coherent sentence before I was engulfed with the feeling of nothingness, all my sense leaving me. I mentally sighed in relief, all instances of sickness or discomfort leaving me immediately.

It really was an amazing feeling.

Especially seeing how crossed I was beforehand.

I could not be sure exactly how much time passed, but in what felt like seconds, I was opening my eyes releasing a groan as all the discomfort washed back to me. The uncomfortable feeling of my stomach settled, it was empty apart from the burning vodka that had mostly been dumped onto Demetri's shoes.

Serves him right, maybe next time he'll leave me be and make Caius do his own dirty work.

My sunglasses were missing, that much I knew.

The tighter clothing I was wearing abruptly felt more constricting and I wanted nothing than to jump into loose pajamas. I had already succeeded in my task of going out for the day, now I won't mind being left by myself in the room.

I could watch more episodes of Grey's Anatomy while lazing around on the bed.

"Enjoy your nap?"

I turned to see Caius sneering at me, his lips drawn up.

He was sitting at the desk, his red eyes gleaming with something akin to fury. His (probably fake) blond hair was sitting perfectly straight as always, the vampire looking nothing less than ideal as he glared me down.

I stood slowly, on wobbly legs—a few feet of distance between myself and Caius.

"You not only escaped, but you left only to become a drunken fool!" He hissed, slamming a hand down on the desk causing the entire thing to rattle but not break.

"Okay boomer," I scoffed causing Caius to stand from the chair furiously, the chair falling back behind him.

Drama King.

"Did you hear my song at least, it was for you..." I smiled as Caius's nostrils flared.

"Every single person in here heard you," he growled just as I turned my back to him.

"I'm glad," I laughed while heading toward the bathroom.

"Don't turn your back on me," Caius roared, flashing so he was in front of me and grabbing my wrist harshly within his cold grasp.

"Get your hands off me," I pulled away from him, taking a step back with a scowl, "don't you ever fucking touch me!"

"Or what?" Caius mocked as I began seeing red.

"Catch me outside, how 'bout dat!?"

Okay, admittedly, that sounded a lot better in my head than out loud. It was so cringy that I almost lost all my anger in favor of embarrassment.

"You insolent little—how dare you?" Caius was clenching his jaw, looking ready to pounce, "What does that even mean?"

I sneered, my hands clenched into fists at my side, "It means what I just said. Let's take this outside, bloodsucker!"

Caius was now inches away from me, staring down menacingly. Despite the height difference, I did not back down. It must have looked comical, a steaming vampire and werewolf inches from each other, one dressed like a millionaire politician and another as some vsco girl on crack.

It was a stare-off, my eyes turning blue as the intensity of the situation unfolded.

Blue vs. red, the real battle.

"You know what, actually we can keep it in here, I will trash another room, I don't care!" I practically screamed in his face, Caius now looking ready to blow a casket.

Why did all our interactions end like this? This may be the first time in history that mates end up killing each other.

Suddenly, before Caius could reply, a voice that was neither of ours spoke up from outside the door.

"Please don't!"

It was Aro's voice, and though he was obviously in a different room of the tomb, we both heard him as though he were standing right next to us.

"STAY OUT OF THIS, ARO!" Caius and me spoke in unison, both our tones equally as furious.

Just as I was ready to rip into the blond, Caius let out a monstrous growl before zipping out of the room. Alike to last time, the door slammed shut and locked behind him—of course, it was just like him to leave.

That bastard.

Instead of freaking out and tearing through the room like last time, I settled with screaming in rage. How much more of this could I take?