— 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟔 —
𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬, 𝐖𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧

As the days carried on—a new normal fell into place.

Of all the odd things to happen, it would seem the oddest was Isabella Swan becoming best friends with Cassandra Lillith Rose. Sandy might even argue that she was closer to Bella than she was to either Alice or Rosalie at this point.

Especially considering that Rosalie had not called her for months and Alice only briefly called once every so often to check-in. It was obvious they were both distancing themselves from her to honor Edward's wishes and stay as far away from Bella in all manners possible.

Seeing as Edward could not stop Sandy from moving to Forks and being friends with Bella—the vampire had no choice but to ask his family to distance themselves from the fae as well.

It was a hard ask, but Rosalie and Alice did it for their brother nevertheless.

However, Bella Swan was now best friends with a faerie. Her childhood self would be jumping and screaming for joy if she could see 18-year-old Bella. When she was a little girl, it had always been the human's dream to be besties with a faerie or a mermaid.

It seemed that dream had come true.

The new norm consisted of Sandy and Bella attending school together: they shared the majority of classes. They also sat together at lunch alongside Bella's friends.

While they were all confused by Bella's sudden desire to talk to them again—all it took was a meek explanation about struggling with major depression and she had won their forgiveness. All except Lauren Mallory who could have cared less to begin with seeing as the blonde ignored both Bella and Sandy at every turn.

After school they would hang out: whether that was sitting in the little Forks High library doing their homework, lounging around Bella's house watching a movie, or playing card games (which Sandy always won much to Bella's annoyance)—even the occasional stroll through the woods where Sandy would show off her different feats of magic.

One of Bella's most cherished memories was a new one—a memory that Sandy created.

Sandy had been showing off her abilities with the four elements in the Forks' forest, and in doing so, she used the wind to pick up herself and Bella to shoot them upward.

And when they began to fall, Bella was shocked that she did not go plummeting but rather was gently placed on the forest floor.

The night terrors that haunted Bella were set to a standstill—the nightmares that used to occur all night every night now only happened once or twice a week. Bella was relieved that she was finally able to sleep as was Charlie.

Charlie Swan was more grateful for Sandy than anyone would ever realize: the new girl who seemingly came and saved the day. Charlie thought she was good company as well, a good influence on his daughter.

Especially seeing as she ate dinner with them almost every night: if all three did not eat at the diner together then Bella and Sandy were cooking in the kitchen—laughing loudly as they did so.

There had even been one night they decided to bake cookies and somehow they ended up covered in flour and sugar with the kitchen around coated in white. When Charlie saw this, he only wordlessly shook his head at the girls before leaving, but there was a smile on his lips when he heard their roaring laughter upon disappearing from their view.

Being a vegetarian made eating certain meals with the Swans a bit harder as Charlie had a love for red meat. However, Sandy simply ate sides on those nights. Even so, Cassandra introduced a whole variety of vegetarian-friendly dishes to the Swans, all of which Bella and Charlie enjoyed.

Bella had not even been this lively before she was with Edward nor while she was with him.

For Isabella Swan, while she was still greatly upset by Edward's departure seeing as he was her mate, Sandy's arrival had helped immensely. It was as though Sandy was a bandage or a stitch to the wound the vampire had left.

To be around a fae was to be around sunshine itself. The fae provided an aura of happiness and joy that was contagious. Sandy being with Bella helped the human more than she ever thought possible.

It was nearly impossible for a human to be unhappy in the presence of a fae—the supernatural, on the other hand, were a different story.

As most supernatural creatures had a stronger aura than humans, it was easier for the natural charm and cheer of a fae to be ignored. Although it would still affect a supernatural creature, it was not as drastic as a human might be affected.

Cassandra herself quite liked Bella. At this point, she might even go as far as to say she loved Bella, in a platonic sisterly way, of course. Just the same as she loved Alice and Rosalie. To earn Sandy's affection and love was not a hard thing to do — not platonically, at least.

As far as romantic love was concerned, those who had managed to catch her eye let alone win a piece of her heart were far and few between.

Nevertheless, Sandy considered Bella a friend, and it made a small dislike for the mind-reading Cullen grow. She could not understand how Edward thought it was right to leave Bella, and not only that but lie about his reasoning to the human.

To tell Bella that he did not want her and that he was bored of her was cruel: he should have been honest about his insecurities and fears driving his desire to leave her.

Sandy was lounging around her tiny home, sipping on honeysuckle tea and reading through a new romance novel she had found tucked away on Bella's bedroom bookshelf. She was about halfway through a riveting tale about a witch and wizard — the television playing softly in the background when a loud knock sounded at her front door.

The fae immediately sensed her friend at her door. She was surprised and slightly concerned that she had been so immersed in her book that she did not even notice Bella's approach to her home.

Then again, it was incredibly hard to detect anything to do with Bella's aura.

Sandy had to concentrate incredibly hard to detect any of Bella's aura, and even then it was still shaky.

She suspected that Bella might be a shield of some sort, a psychic gift in a human that would only grow more powerful if she turned into a vampire.

To be able to block the talents of a vampire was one thing, but to be able to mostly block out a fae was insane. Bella was already incredibly powerful and she was only human—Sandy could only imagine how powerful of a shield she would have as a vampire. 

Closing her book and placing it by her tea on the coffee table, she stood up and walked toward the door.

It was Saturday, a small bit into the afternoon. Sandy had not done much that day, she had simply been lounging around in her pajamas.

The previous night, Bella had gone to the movies with Jessica. She had not heard much about the endeavor apart from Bella sending her a text before the fae fell asleep claiming the movie was as shitty as the trailers made it out.

It earned a good laugh from Sandy before she went to sleep.

"Well, hello there, Bell..." the fae drawled as she opened the door to greet Bella who stood on her porch.

As always, the sky was grey and extremely overcast. Sandy sensed it would rain tonight as it did almost every other night.

'Bella' was already a nickname for 'Isabella', but Sandy had taken to calling her either 'Bells' or just 'Bell'.

She shivered at the sudden drop in temperature from her cozy toasty home to the freezing outdoors.

Bella pulled down her hood and allowed a small smile to befall on her lips at the sight of her friend.

"So... I decided that I want to be an adrenaline junkie—wanna come with me to the res to convince Jacob to fix up some bikes from the junkyard?"

Jacob Black was Bella's friend from childhood. The Cullens had told Sandy that the reservation was full of shapeshifting wolves with a sole purpose of protecting humans from threatening supernatural creatures.

Namely vampires.

Bella did not know this; however, and it had yet to come up in conversation. Despite living near La Push, Sandy had also yet to encounter any of these shifters—she had not visited their reservation.

Alice had told her the gossip way back when: apparently Jacob was a shapeshifter who had yet to shift (or at least he had not shifted last Sandy had been told a few months prior) and Edward did not care for him.

But Bella did not know any of this.

The fae rubbed the back of her neck guiltily—she felt bad that she was not mentioning this to Bella. But she knew that she should not be the one to out Jacob and the rest of the shapeshifter's secret.

So instead she settled for pursing her lips and narrowing her eyes.

Besides, Isabella Cullen was intelligent, she would figure it out eventually.

"You, Isabella Safety Net Swan, want to be an adrenaline junkie?"

Bella scoffed and rolled her eyes. "I am not a safety net..." she exclaimed.

"No..." Sandy drawled sarcastically, "You need a safety net. Girl, you trip on thin air... ain't no way you're about to be an adrenaline junkie! You'll die!"

Bella pouted. "You know most friends support each other..."

"Most friends are also honest about when their friend is about to get themselves killed!"

Bella waved off Sandy's concern. "I am not going to die..." But even she did not sound as though she believed her own words.

"Yeah..." Sandy clicked her tongue. "Because I am not going to let you," She enunciated before continuing, "But, sure, I'm in... let me get dressed."

She opened her door wider and allowed Bella entrance.

Bella shuffled into the warm home, shutting the door behind her. The girl had already slept over at Sandy's more than a handful of times just as Sandy had slept at the Swan residence more times than necessary.

The fae and human probably slept over at one another's homes at least three times a week.

It was why Bella had no issue falling onto the small couch lazily, propping her feet on the coffee table, and stealing Sandy's book. She also stole a sip of the tea, humming at the sweet taste.

It was odd—Bella had never had a friend that she was so close to. And she honestly never thought she would have one, but Sandy proved her wrong: now Bella could not see her life without the fae in it.

Her biggest fear was that Sandy would one day ditch her without even a word of where she was going like Edward and the other Cullens had done. Bella did not think she would be able to survive such a thing again.

"What kind of smut is this?" Bella guwaffed at the book, flipping through it. "'As he shoved it in mercilessly and pounded me to a pulp, his blue oRbS glaring into my own. I screamed in ecstasy and came immediately?' What the hell?!" Bella was laughing loudly.

Sandy yelled right back, "It came from YOUR shelf!"

"Yeah, there was a reason I had it tucked away—this book sucks!" Bella was still laughing.

"It's not that bad!" Sandy defended with a laugh of her own. "It's addicting!"

"It just sounds like you need to be laid, but whatever you say..." Bella shook her head while closing the book and putting it back on the coffee table.

Sandy came from her room dressed warmly—a large jacket over her small form. Soon, both of them were out the door and in Bella's old truck as she drove the short distance to La Push.

A sense of nostalgia always ran over Sandy at the sight of Bella's truck, a relic from the 80s'. A time-period that was without a doubt one of Sandy's favorites.

The Violet Hour played some edgy song called "Sea Wolf" through the radio. They were not a very big band nor was the song particularly popular—and Sandy would not have known what it was had the name not popped up on the trucks' sound system.

Sandy noticed; however, when Bella changed the song very quickly as though it gave her bad memories. She raised a brow at her friend but did not say anything further—Bella was suddenly adorning a sour look upon her face as she sank into her seat almost dejectedly.

The next song was not much better—an almost depressed-sounding song singing about how there is a possibility. Bella now just looked defeated, not even bothering to change the song again.

Sea Wolf had been the song that played when she arrived at the Cullens house on the last night she saw them, the night of her birthday party.

And the song that just turned on "Possibility" seemed to be the song that constantly played in the months before Cassandra arrived—the months when she was alone. That song almost taunted Bella with its mellow tune and sad lyrics.

It sent sorrow stabbing at her heart and the feeling of a hole opening up in her chest as that sorrow mixed with anxiety to create a monster of a feeling inside.

Edward plagued her mind, his abandonment and the rest of the Cullens nearly sent her into such a fit that she was ready to flip the truck over.

She hated that she still loved him and that if he came back tomorrow she would forgive him without even blinking an eye. Bella hated herself for feeling that way, and the worst part was that she had no clue how to make it better.

Cassandra was definitely helping her, but even the fae could only do so much.

Bella could only pray that time would heal the rest.

Before she could go further into her downward spiral, the radio suddenly changed again (and this time it was not Bella's doing). Shakira was singing loudly, her new song that had been released a few months prior about her hips not lying.

"YOU KNOW MY HIPS DON'T LIE...!" Sandy suddenly screamed along with Shakira.

The fae was not really singing, rather she was screaming obnoxiously, and yet somehow her voice still sounded as though it was a choir of a thousand angels. She was dancing in her seat, whipping her big hair back and forth.

However, she was successful in her mission of pulling Bella out of the hole she had just been falling down. Bella gratefully allowed the distraction to consume her, forcing her mind away from Edward.

Instead, she looked at her friend who was screaming the lyrics to Shakira.

"ADRENALINE JUNKIES SING, BELLA!" Sandy yelled as she turned the music up louder, motioning for Bella to sing.

Bella laughed lightly while shaking her head and tucking a strand of hair behind her hair.

"I don't think so..." the human shook her head but laughed as Sandy managed to turn upside down in her seat so that her legs were facing the ceiling of the truck, her voice slightly muffled as she sang.

"Sandy, you're going to get me pulled over—my dad's a cop, he'll be so mad!" But Bella was laughing as she said this making it clear she did not really care if Sandy was upside down in her seat.

"It's okay, your dad loves me so he'll just let you off with a warning!"

"And remind me how you are over three-hundred again?"

"I have the spirit of a 13-year-old! Don't judge just because I'm young at heart and you're old and decrepit!"

Bella gasped dramatically, but she was not truly offended. "I am NOT old and decrepit—that is literally you, old lady!"

"How can I be old if I've looked the same and haven't gained any mental maturity since the early 1700s'?"

Bella actually laughed, her mind far away from thoughts of Edward. "Bestie, that is not something to brag about..."

"Pish-posh," Sandy replied.

Jacob Black surprisingly did not live far from Sandy, only a short twelve-minute drive before they were parking in the overgrown grass and wildlife in front of the Black residence. Bella was quick to turn the car off to not disturb the peace with the loud pop songs that Sandy had decided to play.

"You're insane..." Bella said as they exited her red truck.

Sandy waved her off. "You are literally talking about yourself my mentally unstable now adrenaline junkie friend!"

Bella could not argue with that one.

Before either could speak again, their attention was taken by the front door slamming open and footsteps running toward them.

Sandy could not say that Jacob was anything less than she expected.

A tall and rather muscular newly turned sixteen-year-old boy came running toward them. His hair was long, black, and falling beyond his shoulders.

She immediately sensed the wolf in him—close to the surface but not quite there yet. He'd no doubt be shifting for the first time soon.

"Bella!" His excited grin stretched wide across his face, his bright teeth standing in contrast to his russet skin tone—only a few shades lighter than Sandy's brown.

She zoned out of Bella and Jacob's greeting as soon as he lifted her off the ground in a hug.

Rather, her attention was drawn to the green land around them. Forks, Washington was a special place in nature with a natural mystical energy. La Push contained even more of this energy—the Earth vibrating with its liveliness.

She felt so connected to nature here that she would not be shocked if the flowers started talking to her.

"And this is my friend, Sandy..." Bella spoke and suddenly Sandy was tuning back into the conversation looking at the two.

"But you can call me, Cass..." Sandy spoke with a playful twinkle in her eye.

Jacob paused as he stared at her, and it was obvious he did not know what it was that he was feeling, he sensed her fae nature. He'd figure it out one day—on a day after he shifted perhaps.

He was not unfriendly; however, for it was not the same unsettled feelings that he got from the Cullens. Rather, Jacob felt almost too relaxed and dare he say upbeat in this girl's presence.

"Cass?" Jacob repeated.

"Yeah, Cass?" Bella questioned while looking at her friend with a raised brow.

Sandy shrugged. "Yeah, short for Cassandra—but either or is fine..."

"Since when do you go by Cass?" Bella asked with a bewildered expression.

Sandy shrugged. "I don't know, I thought Sandy was getting a little old school, you don't think so?"

"Not really, but when did you come up with Cass?"

Sandy nudged Bella playfully. "Just now—girl, what are you? The name police?"

Bella was quick to respond. "Yeah, but I'm actually the Sheriff of it. I followed in my Dad's footsteps..."

Sandy rolled her eyes but giggled. "I actually hate you..."

"Mmm, no you love me," Bella smirked.

Sandy shrugged. "You're right, I do, but not as much as you love me..."

Jacob cut them off before their friendly bickering could continue. He nodded. "Alright, nice to meet you, Cass..."

"Can I call you Cass too?" Bella sarcastically asked her friend.

Sandy pretended to think it over for a few seconds before ultimately shaking her head. "No, sorry, you're limited to just calling me Sandy..."

"Okay, that is messed up!" Bella scoffed, but her lips turned up into a smile as she nudged Sandy with her shoulder affectionately.

Jacob was also chuckling at this. He had never seen Bella so relaxed around anyone—not even around her ex-boyfriend the very few times he had seen them together.

Isabella Swan was many things. She is exceptionally clumsy, dropping and tripping over everything known to man. She is also slightly reclusive, quiet, and insecure. But she was also kind-hearted, compassionate, and caring towards others.

Jacob Black had known Bella Swan for a long time — and of all the things he had never known her to be loud or sarcastic. Overall, what Jacob was currently seeing almost made him believe that this was a Bella Swan impersonator.

"So, what brings you two to the res?" He finally questioned after a few moments.

Sandy crossed her arms over her chest—sitting into her right hip. She jerked her head toward Bella's truck, keeping eye contact with the human.

"Show em' daredevil..."

Bella rolled her eyes at her friend but walked to the tarp that was covering two rather large objects on the back of her truck. Jacob's eyebrows shot into his hairline when he witnessed what was hiding underneath.

"So, Jacob, what do you know about motorcycles?"

Jacob's shocked expression suddenly turned into a happy grin. "Enough!" He almost barked and it made Sandy laugh into her hand.

Not that the other two noticed it.

"Enough to get these up and running?" Bella questioned hopefully.

"Definitely..." Jacob quite literally gave a thumbs-up before hesitating. "But these are going to take some cash to even restore halfway... we'll need to save up for some parts..."

"We nothing," Bella disagreed. "I've got some money saved, college fund, you know."

Before Jacob could say anything to that—Sandy intervened with a scoff. "Hell to the no: I'll pay!" She said firmly.

While Bella and Sandy were more friends than anything, there were often times that Sandy was more like an acting big sister to Bella. It brought the human more comfort than she would have thought.

Bella was an only child who matured rather early due to her mother (bless her heart) being rather scatterbrained. It made for Bella needing to take care of her mother as much as her mother took care of her.

"Sandy, I can't let you—" Bella's disagreement was cut off.

"The fuck you can't! Bella, I may not be rich rich but I have some money saved. I'm not letting you dip into your college savings—I'll pay." She ended and Bella slowly nodded her head while Jacob smiled happily.

He didn't bother questioning how Sandy just had money lying around to spend on these bikes seeing as she was presumably around Bella's age.

That information seemed like something he was better off not knowing.

"Sweet," the long-haired boy said, moving to Bella's truck and taking out one of the motorcycles. He picked it up and started walking toward the garage. "Let me bring this one to the garage and I'll come back for the other—" Jacob's words were cut short as he watched Sandy easily hop into the trunk and pull the motorcycle into her grasp.

Bella smiled sheepishly, praying that Jacob did not ask questions seeing as Sandy (5'1 petite Sandy!) was holding a motorcycle that had to be three times her weight and size as though it weighed nothing more than a basketball.

"I hit weights a lot!" Sandy chirped as she strode past Jacob holding the motorcycle.

"Uh-huh..." Jacob nodded in disbelief, delivering a confused expression to Bella before following the fae.

Bella only shrugged in response, her lips pursed and eyes looking in the other direction. She was always a terrible liar.

"She's on steroids, but don't tell her I told you!" Bella said swiftly before rushing past a gobsmacked Jacob. She paused, suddenly turning around. "And don't tell anyone else either — she can't have her reputation ruined! She's uhm... preparing for a fight!" Bella mentally face-palmed herself for speaking far more than she should have.

Forcing herself to shut up and keep walking, she spun around and did just that.

"Huh—? What kind of fight?" Jake gasped in concern.

"Uhm... the televised kind?" These lies just kept getting worse and worse — Bella rushed forward to try and avoid any more questions.

"The UFC?!" He spoke in horror.

"Yeah, don't bring it up though — it's a touchy subject..." Bella said before ducking into the garage.

Jake followed after his long-time crush, pure bewilderment written across his face and concern running through him for the safety of Bella's friend. Drugs were no joke, after all. And she'd be fighting in the UFC?

Sandy turned with no idea about the conversation and terrible lies Bella had just spouted as the two walked into the garage. She had already placed the motorcycle down where she suspected Jake would want it, looking through his tools.

"We ready to start?" She grinned happily, not unlike a golden retriever.

Jacob looked at her for a hard minute before hesitantly nodding his head 'Yes'.

Bella, on the other hand, was covering her mouth with her hand and not making eye contact with Sandy.

Sandy shrugged off this odd behavior, only turning back to Jake's tools and supplies once he gave the confirmation. It was going to be a fun ride.

—————————

Jacob Black proved to be a good friend.

So much so that Cassandra found herself growing rather attached and fond of the doe-eyed shifter. Just as she had done with Bella.

It was obvious that Jacob's puppy crush on Bella was growing by the day, and even if Bella did not want to admit it: her heart was getting soft for Jacob as well.

Quil and Embry — Jacob's closest friends had also been around. Sandy enjoyed talking to them, they were rather funny.

There had been a handful of times that she had been out and about on the reservation with Jake and Bella when they had spotted Sam Uley and his pack.

Jacob was not a fan of Sam, but he also was not aware of pack happenings. AKA, he thought his tribe's wolf legends were just tall tales. He did not realize that they were real, and not only were they real but Jacob himself was a shifter who was meant to shift any week now.

Sandy did not think it right of her to be the one to tell him this, nor did she think she should tell Bella: and so, she tried to never think about this fact.

But that became hard whenever she spotted Sam or any other shifters in public and they would give her the longest stare as they sensed her to be a supernatural creature. They were not hostile seeing as they knew that she was not a cold one; however, they were still cautious of her.

It was a rare day that Jacob could not hang out — his father had dragged him along on a day trip to Seattle to see Jacob's sister who was attending the university there. The boy had, of course, tried everything to get out of it, but alas, he was stuck paying dear sis a visit.

It was also a rare day in the sense that the sun was out.

Seeing as it was the end of January, it was still freezing, but it was not cloudy. This made the cold slightly more bearable, especially for the people of Forks who were used to far colder and rainier weather.

Thus far, this winter in Forks was proving to be a rather warm one. Not that anyone was complaining.

Bella and Sandy decided to change their plans of laying in Bella's bed watching a movie on her DVD player to hanging out in a flowery meadow in the middle of the Forks forest. They had been there together a few times before but not many seeing as it was typically freezing outside.

It was also Bella and Edward's special spot, but Bella did not like talking much about Edward. It still hurt too bad, she did not even want to think about her mate or his family.

But even with Sandy, and even as she was remarkably better in Sandy's presence, some moments were hard. Like now.

"Will I feel like this forever?" Bella suddenly asked, disrupting a calm and comfortable silence that had fallen between the two.

Sandy tilted her head toward Bella in question, the fae was leaning back on her arms—allowing the sun to bathe her in its light. She was basking in her connection to the Earth, allowing her link to nature to flow throughout her being.

It was an odd feeling to describe and Sandy doubted that she would ever be able to describe even half of it into words.

Bella was sitting cross-legged, picking at the flowers in the meadow with disdain, her thoughts racing to dark and sad places amid their silence.

Once upon a time, Bella enjoyed silence, but now the girl could hardly handle it. She wanted to be constantly busy, constantly distracted, and never having to think.

"It's like there is a hole in my heart, Sandy, like Edward took a piece of me with him. It's not fair, I never used to have major issues with anxiety or depression, but now... I'm scared that I'll never be the same..."

Sandy looked at her friend sadly.

She supposed she could relate to a degree, it was not easy to ignore her mates. To hate them when every part of her being begs her to give them a chance, to love them.

And so, Sandy scooted closer to Bella, sitting upright and pulling her into her side. With a warm arm wrapped around Bella's figure, she hummed as the Swan girl leaned her head on Sandy's shoulder.

"You never will be the same..." Sandy spoke honestly, feeling Bella stiffen, "I mean how can you? No one can ever be the same from any experience... we are constantly changing... evolving and learning from our affairs. But this does not mean that you will remain feeling this way... your soul will learn to love from afar and your mind will eventually let go."

"Ignoring a mate and the bond is not impossible—but it is hard as your soul recognizes that they are truly the perfect one for you. But they are not the only option for love... you can love others... you can love yourself... and you can go on adventures. Soulmates are a lot of wonderful things, but they are not everything, and you must understand this otherwise it will destroy you... whether you are with your soulmate or not."

Sandy held Bella tighter as she finished off her little speech.

"Edward is not everything Bella, and once you recognize this... and I mean truly recognize this, it will get better. Because while you will never forget him, you will forgive him, you will accept his decision, and you will let him go..." she smirked. "That is, of course, on the off-chance he doesn't come crawling back to you..."

Bella sat up straighter at that, some hope flashing in her eyes. "You think he might come back?"

Sandy scoffed playfully. "Is that all you got out of my speech, human?" She poked Bella on the nose making her go cross-eyed.

Bella pouted. "No, I heard, and while I think that it will take me a while... I understand... but it sounds as though..." Bella trailed off before abruptly stopping her sentence.

But Sandy prodded. "What is it?"

"Well, it's just that it sounds as though..." Bella struggled to get the words out and Sandy waited patiently. "You have some experience with this?" She cringed at her awkward choice of wording.

Sandy was not surprised by this question; however, she only bit the bottom of her lip as she decided what she wanted to divulge to Bella. While she trusted Bella with her life, it was hard to truly admit to someone the one thing she had barely accepted herself.

Her mates were the rulers of the vampire world with a record that was anything but peaceful.

AKA—according to most they were total power-hungry psychopaths who were perhaps some of the most intelligent beings in the known world.

Even as she had dreamwalked and watched them for almost two decades now, she was still scared that they would turn out to be exactly as Lithiovai was and lock her in a cage. Except, they would make it a cage of silver and gold for her, she would be their little songbird.

Not to mention, they murdered humans on a daily basis when they could choose to at least try to be better and drink animal blood.

That was something that Sandy had a very hard time accepting seeing as she was an advocate for life.

There was also the fact that Lithiovai himself had grown a very prominent fear of the Volturi in her mind since the moment he'd taken her. She was taken for one purpose, and that was to help him destroy those very people—the people he had told her horror stories about.

He had made sure to make her fear them enough so that when the time came her fear overtook her and left no room for her to hesitate in destroying them. Fear of both what the Volturi would do to her for simply existing and fear of Lithiovai for what he would do to her if she did not do as he demanded.

Sandy finally spoke after a long silence. "I've been ignoring my mate bond for nearly two decades..." Her eyes were far off as she spoke.

Bella gasped not expecting that answer, looking to her friend. "You have a mate?"

"Three actually..." Sandy corrected and Bella was gaping.

The Cullens had certainly not mentioned that to her, but Bella doubted that they had even known.

"It's possible to have more than one mate?"

"Yes, not exactly common, but it happens every now and again..."

To say Bella was flabbergasted would be the understatement of the year. "Who are they? Is it any of the Cullens?"

Sandy shook her head. "No, and I can't exactly tell you who, because they are very powerful vampires. And even they don't know I exist..."

"How is that possible?" Bella questioned, her mind reeling trying to understand it all.

"Fae can dreamwalk, it's very hard to control for my kind as unlike witches we can't just astral project upon command," if Sandy had not had Nicholas cast the most powerful shield spell he was capable of on her, she was certain that Abigail would have found her via astral projection many years ago, "but I've been dreamwalking to them for many years now. While my waking mind is fine, my subconscious yearns for them so my souls takes me to them. They are old vampires—very set in their ways, ways which I do not particularly agree with... so I've chosen to not reveal myself to them, rather I have stayed hidden. It makes it quite simple, especially seeing as I have never met them physically so the bond is unable to fully form. But, I go about my life and they go about theirs... it's better that way."

"Is it the Volturi leaders? Aro, Caius, and Marcus?" Bella immediately guessed, and Sandy was gaping.

"How the fuck did you guess that?"

"Edward once told me about them and unless you are mated to your father and his two Romanian friends then I don't know who else would fit that description," Bella explained with a shrug. "I don't know much about them other than that they are very old and powerful and the keepers of vampiric law..."

Sandy now truly suspected that Bella had a psychic power she was unaware of.

A shielding ability.

As Edward had not been able to read Bella's mind and any protection spells or good luck charms that Sandy attempted to cast on the human simply would not take.

If her suspicions were correct and Bella was, in fact, a shield then Aro would not be able to read her mind. Therefore, anything that she told Bella was safe unless Bella decided to betray her history and secrets.

But, Sandy tended to see the good in people (humans, in particular) and did not believe that Bella would ever do such a thing.

"You might be one of the most intelligent humans that I've ever met..." Sandy said, leaning against Bella as she was doing to her.

"Thanks." Bella clicked her tongue. "So... three ancient cocks...?"

Sometimes Bella made comments that were so out of pocket it took even Sandy by surprise. The fae's eyes went wide as she gaped at the human for a mere second before she tackled her to the ground playfully.

"Isabella Marie Swan! I ought to wash out that mouth of yours with soap!"

The girls laughed as they wrestled in the field of wildflowers and grass. The play match lasted minutes before they rested back-to-back with small laughs escaping both their lips.