The Turning of Cecily Stewart

The Stakeout

Cecily leaned against the wall of the club, glaring around the crowded dance floor. She was still angry about what Demetri had confessed to the night before. And embarrassed. And pissed at herself. She had finally broken down and let him in, only to find out that he was the whole reason they had been summoned to Volterra in the first place. The reason she was now on the Volturi's radar.

Alice had tried to rationalize with her, but Cecily wouldn't hear any of it. The last planning session before going to the club had been tense, to say the least, with Cecily refusing to acknowledge Demetri's presence and everyone else wondering how to walk that tightrope.

"Thought we weren't supposed to be drawing attention," Edward said from next to her.

"I'm blending in with the wall," Cecily shouted back, not meeting his eyes as she pulled down on the skirt of the mini dress she was wearing. God, she hated club clothes.

"You look like you want to kill someone," he replied.

"Maybe I do," she retorted, her keen eyes finding Demetri across the room with Alice.

Initially he was to be with her, but Cecily had insisted on partnering with Edward. Mostly because she didn't want to be near the tracker alone where he might try to apologize again. But she had made up a bullshit excuse about how she needed to know what Edward was seeing in the men's minds that everyone bought. Though likely because they too were worried that Cecily might try to murder Demetri in the middle of the club if she was forced to work too closely with him.

"I mean... he has a point. He didn't know anything about you before telling them," Edward said, leaning closer to her so she could hear him better.

Cecily shot him a death glare that immediately shut him up.

"Can we please focus on why we're here in the first place?" she said, pushing off from the wall and starting to scope out the VIP balcony above them.

In the midst of everything, she hadn't had time to tell anyone what she and Demetri had discovered about her ability. While she knew she probably should have said something, but hindsight was 20/20. At the moment, she was eager to try and put it to good use.

"You don't honestly think they're going to let us up there, do you?" Edward asked. Cecily looked back at him, flashing a smile.

"Just watch me," she shouted, heading straight for the security guard, who was carefully watching everyone that came near him.

It was obvious that if some sort of deal was about to go down, it wouldn't happen in the middle of the dance floor, or even at any of the tables that were roped off there. No, they would want more privacy. And the upstairs balcony would provide just that.

"VIP only," the guard said as Cecily walked up to him.

She put on her best smile, making sure that they were making eye contact.

"We are VIP," she said. The man frowned at her, seeming confused.

"What was that?" he asked, glancing down to her wrist. "You don't have a band."

Shit. It had worked before. Maybe it was beginner's luck. Cecily kept smiling as she reached up and placed her hands gently on the sides of his face, making sure to get extra close to him so he could hear her over the noise. While the guard had a look on his face that was utterly confused, he thankfully didn't pull away from her.

"Let us up," she said a bit forcefully, hoping it worked this time.

If not, she was about to get herself and Edward kicked out of the club. The guard blinked a few times, unable to speak. He then finally stepped back, turned and undid the rope, stepping aside to let Cecily and Edward pass.