Something Darker (Book Three)

XV. Destination

I returned to my seat after making zero progress with the twins. I was unsure of what my next move should be, not that I had much of a choice. My best bet was to wait out the rest of the flight and see what I could find out once we landed.

"No luck?" Renesmee asked as I sat down.

I shrugged, defeated. "Do you still have some juice in your cell phone? See if we can find our location real time on a map."

"I didn't bring my phone with me," Renesmee confessed.

"What?" I asked, surprised. "Why?"

"I didn't want my parents to track me down and intervene. They would only make things way more complicated."

"Good call, I guess," I said. "It's a risky move, though. What if you need to call for backup?"

"I have this situation under control," Renesmee said with confidence. "What about you? Is your phone working?"

"All I have is a crappy little burner phone, and it's almost out of minutes."

"We'll have to save it for an emergency, then."

"Okay, good plan," I said as I glanced past her, and looked out the window. It was snowing heavily outside. "I'm going to see if I can find some warmer clothes before we disembark."

"Ew, yeah. The weather doesn't look good out there," Renesmee said in agreement.

My suitcase was located at the front of the fuselage, just past where Felix and Demetri were sitting.

'Just my luck.'

I kept my eyes trained on my suitcase as I walked down the length of the plan. My plan was to grab it quickly and haul it to the back of the plane where I could dig through my belongings in relative privacy.

I managed to reach my suitcase while successfully averting eye contact and avoiding attracting attention to myself, but when I grabbed the handle and tugged, I found that it was lodged tightly in between the seats.

"Do you require assistance?" Demetri asked from behind me, catching me off guard.

"Ah. Sure."

I blushed when I stood up quickly and turned around, which almost caused me to bump right into him. He was standing much closer than I expected, which sent my heart into a frenzy.

I prayed silently that everyone would write off my heartbeat as a reaction to being surprised, rather than my sudden closeness to Demetri.

Demetri reached past me and dislodged my suitcase from in between the seats with ease, and for a moment, we were only inches apart.

I made the mistake of breathing in, and inhaling his scent, which caused a strong wave of memories to crash over me.

"Thanks," I mumbled. I kept my eyes cast down as I struggled to resist getting overwhelmed by the moment.

I was overtaken by an irrational urge to reach out and wrap my arms around him. I wanted to hold him close. It had been so long since we'd seen each other and, since I could remember now, I was suddenly painfully aware of all of the lost time that had passed.

But, I knew touching him was an incredibly bad idea. Renesmee would freak out, and Alec would get his feelings hurt. I had been presented with the extraordinary opportunity to start over with both of them, and I knew I would shatter my chances if I didn't treat Demetri like anything other than a complete stranger.

Plus, if I acted like I recognized him everyone would pick up on the fact that I remembered them after all.

I wasn't ready for that.

"You're welcome," Demetri said, his voice low and as smooth as velvet.

I gave him fleeting eye contact and a weak smile. I reached out to grab the handle of my suitcase from him, and our hands brushed as I took it from him.

I lurched past him and hobbled back down the aisle, toward my seat.

"What was that about?" Renesmee asked, glaring in Demetri's direction.

"He was just being helpful," I said as I set my suitcase down on its back and unzipped it before beginning my search for a most substantial outfit. It occurred to me that Renesmee knew nothing about my  history with Demetri. She'd missed that chapter altogether.

I didn't have many options as far as my clothes were concered since I'd spent the last five years in Texas, but I had a really strong feeling that my little black dress wasn't going to cut it, so I had to at least try to put something better together.

I fumbled through my suitcase until I extracted a large sweater and a pair of leggings. Sadly, it really was the best I could do.

"Do you own any pants?" Renesmee snickered when she saw my fresh set of clothes.

"No, I don't, actually," I said, still too flustered to joke around. I didn't really do pants. Finding a pair that fit my curves even remotely right was too tedious for me to bother.

Though, I had to admit, I would've much rather had ill fitting jeans instead of leggings at that moment. The weather outside only looked like it was getting worse.

I promptly excused myself and locked myself in the lavatory at the back of the plane to change my clothes and freshen up.

"I don't think that outfit is going to hold up for long," Renesmee said to me as I took my seat.

"Gee, I wonder where we are," I said, projecting my voice toward the rest of the group.

"Romania," Jane said without turning to look back at us. "We'll replace your clothes when we arrive."

"Romania?" Renesmee echoed.

"You don't have to replace my clothes," I replied.

"Why are we going to Romania?" Renesmee pressed.

"It's not your concern," Jane said, turning in her seat to look back at us.

"I disagree," I argued. "Romania is vague. Where exactly are we going?"

Jane stared at me, expressionless, for a long moment. I noticed Alec leaning closer to her for a moment, although I couldn't make out if he was speaking to her or not.

"We're visiting a small village in Transylvania," Jane informed us.

"Like Dracula?" Renesmee blurted out.

Alec turned in his seat, and he and his sister looked at Renesmee like she'd just eaten an entire bottle of glue.

"Well?" I asked, growing increasingly unsettled.

"Well, what?" Jane asked.

"Are we meeting Dracula?"

Now the twins were looking at me like I was a glue eater.

"No," Alec chuckled. "We ended him centuries ago."

"What are we doing, then?" I asked.

"You aren't doing anything," Jane said. "We are going to drop you two off at a hotel in Bucharest and we'll come back for you when we're done."

Renesmee relaxed in her seat, seemingly pleased with the plan.

I, on the other hand, only felt worse about the whole ordeal.

"I don't understand," I said. "You said you wouldn't let me out of your sight, Jane. But now you're okay with leaving me alone with Renesmee for an indefinite amount of time?"

Nothing she was saying sounded right.

"I'm done answering questions," Jane said abruptly before she and Alec returned to facing forward in their seats. "Sit down and buckle up," she added. "We're going to be landing soon."