𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝟸𝟶𝟶 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛...
— 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟕 —
𝐋𝐨𝐬 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬, 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐚

Life was good: the 80s' was a beautiful decade to live in. Especially in comparison to the many other decades that Cassandra had lived through.

Then again, Cassandra was a mixed female: history had not been kind to people of her skin tone and darker.

It was only now that she was beginning to see the change that she and so many others had fought to achieve. Cassandra only wished that those who fought so bravely for freedom were able to bask in the sunlight of it too.

But not everyone was indestructible to time. Certainly not mortals, at least.

Cassandra found that mortals, bless their hearts, perished far too quickly for her liking. She had met many people in her time, and she had to admit that she was more than fond of most.

Of course there was some who were simply horrible. But Cassandra found that more often than not the good in people outweighed the bad.

Especially in recent years as mortals attempted to clean the sins of the past.

Cassandra — or Sandy — as she had gone by since 1954, had done her best to keep up with the changing times. She constantly immersed herself in new trends, new discoveries, new vocabulary, and overall the everchanging ways of living.

If Sandy could be a mortal, she would do it in a heartbeat. Perhaps then she would allow herself to fall in love, get married, maybe have a child or two... the possibilities were endless!

But alas, she was not a mortal.

She was an immortal fae — a powerful creature of nature that was immune to the hands of time and most mortal weaknesses. Despite this, she liked to avoid other supernatural creatures and immerse herself completely in that of human culture.

Screw the vampires, screw the shifters, screw the werewolves: screw everyone. (Sadly, Sandy had never run into another fae, but then again, her 'father' always did tell her that she was one, if not the last of her kind).

Almost all supernatural creatures that she had run into were assholes with a God complex. Especially the vampires who slaughtered innocent humans for sustenance. It made her shudder in disgust — oh, how she hated vampires with a burning passion.

Now in all fairness, other than father, she had never had a conversation with a vampire long enough to truly get to know one. But her father was a terrible absolutely wretched soul and she doubted that other vampires were much better.

Cassandra had successfully been running and hiding from her father for over two hundred years. He had vastly underestimated her abilities in fleeing from him, and Sandy had no intentions of ever going back or ever giving him the opportunity to catch her once more.

Four of her siblings had managed to escape — the other three chose to stay behind out of both fear and a sick loyalty to that man.

So it was not only her that her father was attempting to track down: there were five of his eight children missing in total.

And she had no doubts that if he managed to catch any of them again then escaping once more would not be so easily done.

Sandy walked down the colorful streets of Los Angeles, a gym bag hanging from her right shoulder and a water bottle in her other hand.

She was dressed in bright neons: a bodysuit with tight leggings and leg warmers. Her hair was HUGE, like even bigger than her natural curls frizzed as she had teased it with the intention of staying in the current trends.

Big hair was IN. And Sandy absolutely LOVED it. It was her favorite style yet!

She had relaxed her hair a few decades prior and cut it short to follow the short practical look of the 40s through 60s'. However, once the 70s' hit and afros and big curly hairstyles were in: she chose to chop it all off and allow the natural curls to grow out.

Within a few years, her hair had grown in big teeming curls past her shoulders once again.

The bright neon headband held her huge hair out of her face as the wind whipped past her. With the slightest nudge of her head, the wind changed its direction so that she was not being hit at all.

Cassandra was perhaps one of the strongest beings on this planet with how much control she had over the elements and her magic. As her father always told her, she was a true prodigy: stronger than any fae he'd come across before.

Her father guided her in learning her magic for the first forty years of her life, because of this and her raw talent she was able to teach herself much more magic in the centuries that followed once she escaped.

Now, and please excuse her arrogance, she was practically a master.

Although, even she would admit that she still had much to learn.

And just because she is strong does not mean she is in invincible—fate always had a way of humbling her whenever she became too cocky.

Despite this and her "old age" (though she had met many other supernatural creatures that were far older than herself, thank you), Sandy was a young and free soul by heart. She evolved with the rest of humanity every year, changing her mindset when it was called for and never once remaining stuck in the past.

If she had to guess then she would say that she physically stopped aging around 23. Possibly 24.

So thankfully, along with keeping her spirit young and free, her face would always reflect this.

Sandy turned into her apartment building, pulling her key out of her gym bag and unlocking the main lobby door.

Dance aerobics was all the rave right now, and Sandy had to admit that she quite enjoyed the classes herself. Not to mention the fashion was so fun! She loved to match her sweatbands to her leg warmers.

Sandy, the ever-changing woman that she was, constantly went through body changes. Unlike many supernatural creatures, the fae were easily able to change certain aspects of their appearance. While they may not age: things such as their hair still grow and their bodies change depending on how they treat themselves.

When curves were in; Sandy, admittedly, worked toward having a more full figure to gain such curves. At the moment; however, slender figures, broader shoulders, and pinched waists were in.

Sandy had been working hard and it paid off — while she was still short, she was slender and she had toned her arms to allow for bigger muscles in her shoulders. The killer abs workouts also kept her stomach toned and flat.

Truthfully, it was much easier for fae to achieve their desired results than mortals, but Sandy had been putting in the work nevertheless. She only wished she could make herself taller as that was one of the few things she could not change about herself.

Even so, she was a proud five foot and one inch (thank you, very much!): not to mention she could wear stilettos anytime she felt the need to be taller. Her height did not take away from her power.

Not her literal power nor her feminine power.

As she climbed the steps to the second floor of her apartment building, she hummed some popular song by Kate Bush.

Something about running up a hill or something.

Soon, Sandy was entering her tiny apartment that overlooked the great view of a parking lot. And yet, Sandy was very happy with this simple life in the city she had created for herself. Her life had been anything but easy, and she had lived through many great moments.

She had assisted Harriet Tubman in rescuing enslaved people from the South. She served as an activist and undercover agent during the Civil War — the war that held the lives of mortals with African blood in the balance.

Sandy was also a passenger who survived the Titanic. Not that there was even a chance such a wreck would kill her, she had simply wanted to take the first journey on what was known as the 'unsinkable ship'. Not that the title boded well for the vessel in the end.

She helped as many people get to safety as she could that night before she was forced to fly away unless she wanted to dive into the icy Arctic.

She served as a nurse through both World Wars. She shook hands with Albert Einstein — with Robert Oppenheimer. She screamed and cried out as she watched Hiroshima and Nagasaki incinerate.

She hugged Rosa Parks and thanked her for her bravery.

She marched side-by-side with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. She was in the first row as the doctor delivered his famous speech in front of the Lincoln Memorial — a president she met for the first time just days before he was murdered.

She sat in white-only restaurants with many other people of color, they protested silently and peacefully.

Sandy stayed as white men and women screamed vile names at them all and poured hot coffee and smashed food over their heads.

Cassandra stayed because she knew what she was fighting for.

All men and women were created equal, and Cassandra would not rest until she saw such a truth flourish.

And now, while there was still much work to be done, she was finally starting to see just a little bit of that hard work pay off. She only wished some of her dear friends who had long since passed could experience even just a small piece of this.

She was reminded that it was only possible for her to experience any of this because she had been brave enough to run in the first place.

She locked the door behind her, set her gym bag down, and walked to her shower. A nice warm shower was calling her name.

A long shower and a thoroughly cooked meal later: Sandy lay stretched on her couch, head rolled lazily to the side as she watched random sitcoms on the television. There was this new show that was released only a few weeks ago.

It was about a father who had lost his wife, so he imbued the help of his brother-in-law and best friend to come to live with him and help him raise his three girls.

It was a rather comical show but heartfelt all the same.

The hour was late, and she was lounging in her pajamas, but the "young" woman simply could not force herself out of the comfortable couch and to her bed. Rather, it was one of those nights where she would no doubt end up having a sleepover with herself on her cozy couch.

Especially when the lights were off — the only source coming from the flashing television. Her eyes grew heavier, she nuzzled into the couch further, and before she knew it: John Stamos' voice was lulling her to sleep.

———————

When she woke up, Cassandra knew something was not right.

Dreamwalking for the fae was similar to astral projection for witches and warlocks. The only difference was that the fae had far less control over this ability than a witch. Also, they could only perform such acts whilst asleep: witches were capable of performing astral projection fully conscious.

Sandy shivered as she looked around: she did not dreamwalk often. The only times she did was when she was feeling more anxious than usual about her father being closer to her trail, then her subconscious would dreamwalk her to wherever her father was in real-time.

Just to confirm if she was safe or not.

The few times this had happened, Lithiovai (her father) was more often than not still within the boundaries of his enchanted land and cursed plantation.

However, there had been one instance where he was actually in the next city over and about to close in on her.

Cassandra had never woken up so fast in her life; packed up her belongings, and fled the country. She was even more cautious from that point on and never had Lithiovai been able to get so close again.

But this dreamwalk was different from any other she had before. Sandy had appeared in a large echoey corridor that was made of mostly stone and granite. Few lights dimly lit the place and different paintings were hung on the towering walls.

Paintings that Sandy could very clearly tell were created in different time periods based on the style and products used. Nevertheless, each and every painting was beautiful and seemed to be done by someone with the touch of Leonardo da Vinci.

As she walked forward, there were no footsteps, for the faerie only appeared in the form of a phantom. No one could see her lest they were powerful enough to sense the magical energy that crackled where her soul ghosted.

Sandy gasped as two beings suddenly flew past her, nearly impossible to see to the human eye but she was easily able to discern the incredible speed of the vampire.

A vampire with long dreadlocks wearing entirely black was escorting a brunette female behind him. She too was part of the undead.

The vampire of African descent was not as pale as the female was, but they both adorned terrifying red eyes that reminded Sandy far too much of Lithiovai.

They were entirely too perfect and beautiful: their grace unmatched.

Her lips curled in disgust at the display of vampires, and she nearly forced herself to wake up if not for the long chain hanging from the African-descended vampire's neck. She squinted her eyes as she recognized the large symbol hanging around his neck.

A large ruby sat on top — the golden emblem shaped as a 'V' with the outline of an eagle and tree on the inside.

She took a large intake: this was the symbol of the most powerful vampire coven in existence. The largest coven who created and enforced the current laws of the vampire world. Some even dared refer to them as the unofficial royalty among vampires.

The Volturi.

Her father certainly hated them and did not consider them as any type of royalty. Rather, they were more a bane to his existence. The three leaders: Aro, Caius, and Marcus.

Sandy had never seen them, but she had heard plenty of horrible things about them from her father.

Then again, Lithiovai did not have much of a place to speak on matters pertaining to horrible people.

Apparently, they were not quite as old as him, but still some of the oldest vampires in existence. Just over three thousand years old. Lithiovai, on the other hand, was approximately nearing six thousand.

Her father told Sandy and her siblings his story many times. How he was once in power with others from his old coven — the Romanian Coven — and how the Volturi came and stole it from him. He had been in hiding from them ever since, it was the main reason that Lithiovai took Sandy and her siblings.

Part of his master plan of vengeance to steal that power of authority back from the Volturi and take over the world or something insane like that.

Her father wanted to burn down the world and create a new one.

She highly doubted that the Volturi were much better leaders than the Romanian Coven had been, but at least they did not keep humans living in fear by revealing their true nature to the world. At least they did not commit massacres as the Romanians had.

At least the world was not a bloodbath as the Romanians had created in their time of power.

The Volturi defeated that coven leaving only her father to survive (unfortunately) and his other friends — Stefan and Vladimir.

What pissed Cassandra off about the Volturi was their lies. If they were the vampire police then why was Lithiovai still alive? Obviously, the man was conniving and intelligent, but surely Aro, Caius, and Marcus had the resources to track him down and kill him.

If they had perhaps she would not have suffered as much as she did. Perhaps her siblings would not have suffered. Perhaps Sandy would not be one of the only ones left of her species.

What good was having a leading coven if they could not even do their jobs?

Despite this, curiosity drove her motions as she followed after the two vampires. While she had heard plenty about the Volturi from her father, she had never actually seen any of them. Sandy secretly hoped that this vampire, who was most likely a guard, would lead her to the leaders.

She would like to see the faces of the people who allowed such a plague as Lithiovai to live.

The very vampire who was plotting their demise — a plan that he had been slowly putting into action for CENTURIES at this point!

This coven was lucky that her and a few of her siblings managed to escape, otherwise, her father would probably have enacted his plan to the fullest at this point.

Finally, the dreadlocked vampire came to a standstill in front of two large doors with incredible knockers. He used the knockers before pushing the door open and motioning for the vampire woman to follow him inside.

Sandy slipped inside behind them as well.

Light spilled through the massive windows high above their heads — it illuminated the room with a golden glow as the sun continued its elevation outside. The marble statues that were situated variously throughout the room seemed to radiate under the rays of sunlight, glimmering in all their ancient Greek beauty.

There were giant statues that stood tall above all the other beings in the room, created out of rock hundreds of years ago, to Cassandra's guess.

Her eyes went wide at the sight, breath stalling at the pure magnificence of them. She was a nerd by heart, to see such beautiful statues in such pristine shape from so long ago made her heart flutter in appreciation.

Finally, she took her gaze away from the statues and allowed her sight to take in the rest of the room.

Marble pillars decorated the perimeter of the circular room — the floors were a sparkling porcelain of sorts that would click under the heel of most people. However, the vampires were graceful and seemed to float silently as they walked.

A true predator — another reason for Sandy to inadvertently hate the creatures.

Alike to the drafty corridors: paintings hung around the walls. Different time periods, different settings, and different people were the stars of the paintings. But not one painting was bad nor lacking in quality.

She also noticed that there was a rather large table filled to the brim with books and scrolls. Before her gaze could linger and her curiosity pulled to go investigate the ancient-looking books: a voice took her attention elsewhere.

"Ah — a delightful surprise, indeed!"

Faster than the speed of light, Sandy's gaze snapped to the direction of the voice.

On the opposite side of the room from the door was a dais that sat three daunting thrones of black. A vampire stood from the center throne: a beautiful vampire with eyes the shade of bright rubies.

Or blood, but Cassandra could only see the most brilliant of rubies in this vampire's eyes.

His skin, like all vampires, was deathly pale — not even the slightest ghost of melanin could be found amongst the white. And yet somehow, Cassandra decided that it suited him quite well.

Especially seeing as it stood in shocking contrast to the long black hair that framed his face. Ruler straight and falling just past his shoulders, a style that had fallen out of popularity long ago.

He wore an extremely well-fitted suit: a suit that easily could have cost more than any piece of clothing Sandy had touched in her life. It was entirely dark — everything from his jacket to his pants to the undershirt to the very tie he wore.

His shoes were shiny enough that Sandy swore she might even be able to see the slightest bit of a reflection in them.

A cheery smile lit up his features — a smile that Sandy wished so badly put her at unease as all vampires did. Unfortunately, she could not find it in herself (no matter how hard she tried) to be put off by his smile.

Sandy could tell already that this vampire would loom over her if she stood next to him. Not because he was particularly tall (he must have stood under six foot: he was perhaps five foot ten if she had to guess) but because Sandy was particularly short.

Her human friends in these times had come up with quite a cute saying for it: "fun-sized" as they had deemed her.

She cared not — she was still powerful enough to take on most who came at her anyway.

She was angered by the warmth in her chest, her jaw tightening and teeth clenching. Sandy wanted to do anything but admit what this feeling was, for she most certainly had the slightest of ideas as to why she was feeling this way.

Vampires were naturally attractive; sure, as were most supernatural creatures. However, the pure attraction she felt for this leader was uncalled for. Uncalled for except in one case — a case that Sandy had always been curious about but at this moment in time did not want to admit.

"Aro," the woman vampire bowed her head slightly before making eye contact with him once again, "I have come to report a crime..."

Aro tilted his head: Sandy blinked and suddenly the vampire leader was standing directly in front of the woman. She jumped at this: he was fast, even for a vampire.

Her father, Liothiovai had many choice words for each of the three leaders respectively. Aro, in particular, he had called him an insane power-hungry man who was perhaps the most manipulative vampire who ever walked the Earth and would go to any lengths to secure his status.

Lithiovai had hated Aro the most; of course, he hated all three leaders with a burning passion — but there was a special place in hell for Aro in Lithiovai's mind.

Aro abuses his power, and Lithiovai claims that the man has gone insane from constantly delving into the minds of those he touches: gaining each and every memory of said person.

Lithiovai once told her it used to drive Aro mad when he fed: to feed only to be bombarded by the thoughts and memories and everything in between of his meal. According to her father, it took the Volturi leader many years to disassociate from his power when he fed.

While Sandy highly doubted Lithiovai was lying — he was also everything he claimed that Aro was.

A part of her did not want to believe her father's words of Aro, but she did not allow herself to believe anything else.

The Volturi were just as much of a threat as Lithiovai. Conceivably even more so seeing as they had more power than he.

"Allow me, my dear?" Aro reached a pale hand out, patiently waiting for the woman to put her hand in his.

Cassandra watched the woman place her hand in Aro's: and immediately afterward, the vampire leader closed his eyes and bowed his head. Sandy had no doubt that his mind was being flooded with thoughts of this female vampire's lifetime.

Seconds passed before Aro released her hand and looked up, a hard gleam in his eyes. While he was still outwardly polite, there was a sort of tense nature lurking just under his skin. It was not so daunting as anger, but rather irritation or annoyance.

"What is it?" A voice hissed from the throne behind Aro.

The voice was not quite as feathery nor controlled as Aro's. Rather it was harsher, filled with a sharpness that could cut.

Cassandra's head immediately snapped to the source, the girl horrified finding that there was now a pressure sitting in her chest that was not there before.

She had no doubts that this vampire was Caius — the sharp edge to his harsh voice telling her more than enough.

Caius of the Volturi: the bane of all werewolves, the most cruel, the one who killed without asking questions.

Lithiovai used to call him the Beast of Vengeance — the one who tore apart covens and families alike. A ruthless gladiator in his human years.

Cassandra was taken aback by his almost angelic appearance, however.

He could not have been older than twenty-one when he was turned. His skin as pale as all the other vampires appeared almost smooth from far away — his hair was a snow blonde that stopped at his shoulders and appeared incredibly soft.

He had the face of an angel, and yet his cruel red eyes reflected that of the devil.

Sandy nearly fell to her knees at the pull she felt toward him, something in her internally screaming that he was safe when he was definitely the opposite.

Lithiovai may have hated Aro the most, but he certainly had many things to say about Caius.

Caius is very ambitious, her father claimed that he was easily able to be considered the cruelest of all three leaders — never extending mercy to anyone. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, he advocates for the most draconian methods of handling situations and is usually in favor of battles and executions.

He is always at the head of any punitive missions. He is also known to be sadistic, finding a sick and twisted joy in killing anything he touches.

Sandy shrank back upon looking at him: horror and dread filling her heart.

Aro spoke, answering Caius's previous question, "Dear Josephine has graciously shown me that a newborn vampire is causing quite a stir in the streets of California: Los Angeles to be precise. He is leaving a rather conspicuous and bloody trail in his wake — not to mention he has walked in the broad daylight a handful of times. It is drawing far too much attention..." Aro sighed while shaking his head, as though truly saddened by the situation.

Cassandra did not believe it as more than an act for even a second. This guy could smile and frown all he wanted, but at the end of the day, he was still an emotionless soulless monster. Then again, if he was soulless why did her soul call out for him?

She refused to even think of the answer to that.

She might throw up if she did.

"We must send the guard immediately!" Caius exclaimed, his voice outraged. "He has already done more than enough, he could expose our kind in seconds!" It was obvious that the blonde was working himself up.

Aro held out a hand.

"Peace, brother..." he said calmly. "You are correct, we will send our guard with you to deal with this problem immediately, Josephine. Alec and Demetri," almost immediately two vampires appeared before them, "you will accompany our dear Josephine to California and bring this newborn back to us... he will answer for his crimes before us in trial..." Aro's word was law.

Lithiovai had told her much about the Guard as well. Jane and Alec were Aro's prized twins: two teenagers turned while thirteen years old over a thousand years ago. Saved from being burned at the stake under the accusation of being witches.

Jane and Alec are the Volturi's most powerful offensive weapons as they both hold capable of taking down an opponent, regardless of size.

Alec possesses the gift of sensory deprivation. He can completely cut off all senses of multiple targets.

Jane, on the other, can induce a crippling, although illusory, pain in other people's minds.

Two peas in a pod those two!

Demetri was the most powerful tracker in the world: no one could evade him once he caught even the slightest whiff of a person.

Cassandra felt nothing more than unbridled fear while looking at Alec and Demetri.

"Of course, Master," they spoke in unison, bowing slightly before they sped out of the room.

Cassandra's heart jumped: she did not care, she would be taking no chances. If two of the Volturi guards were heading to Los Angeles, the very place she was currently residing, then she would be leaving immediately.

She'd pack up her car and jump countries if she had to. Sandy wanted to be nowhere near the Volturi's radar, especially when the most powerful tracker in the world was arriving. There was no way in hell that she would allow him to catch even a whiff of her scent.

Of course, she was upset about some newborn screwing up her current situation, but even she had to admit that he was making quite the ruckus. The public had deemed it as a serial killer on the loose thus far, but if he kept making a spectacle of himself then people would begin to catch on.

Then again: the past two decades had been a rather bloody time in the human world. There seemed to be serial killers appearing at every corner.

It was only just now beginning to die down.

Just as Sandy was about to force herself to wake up so that she could quickly pack her things and blow out of Los Angeles — another voice spoke. This one was not light nor was it incredibly harsh.

Rather he spoke with each syllable pronounced and perfected, an almost unnoticeable rasp to his tone.

"Thank you for your visit, you are free to leave..." the last leader; Marcus, spoke quietly.

Litiovai spoke the least about Marcus. That was not to say that he did not hate him, but he seemed less concerned about Marcus as opposed to Aro or even Caius.

Marcus was apparently catatonically depressed — he lost his wife almost two thousand years ago and never got over it.

His late wife; Didyme (also Aro's little sister), was able to manipulate the emotions of those around her, particularly to make them feel happy.

Marcus and Didyme were not true mates, but they were a happy and lovely couple nonetheless. Even if people were not with their soulmate: love can always be found.

Lithiovai described Marcus as wise but pathetic, claiming the man allowed such a weakness as love to bring him down. He was feeble and spineless according to Liothiovai, ready to die at any given second as he mentally had thousands of years before.

The most pathetic of the leaders.

Lithiovai could at least respect Aro's manipulation and Caius's ruthlessness... but there was nothing about Marcus for him to respect or even care about.

Her father had once laughed at Sandy declaring that the only thing to respect about Marcus was his inability to die.

Sandy swallowed harshly, her father's voice and all the vile things he'd said about Marcus ringing in her ears as she stared at him.

He looked to Josephine almost boredly — his lips turned into a seemingly permanent frown despite his fair words.

He was captivating with a beauty not unlike one of the statues surrounding them.

Caius was in his very early 20s' when turned and Aro was no older than 27 but no younger than 24 when he was turned if Sandy had to guess. Marcus, on the other hand, appeared to be the oldest of them all, but not by much.

Sandy could not imagine that he was older than 30 when he turned.

Brunette waves fell down his shoulders, similar in length to Aro's but it was not ruler-straight. His skin too was incredibly pale, his eyes such a dark red that they nearly looked brown from far away.

Sandy supposed she could sit and stare at him for hours without getting bored.

She had been told that he was quite the poet as well — a random fact that Lithiovai told her in passing once. She thought it was odd of her to remember seeing as it was said so briefly and so long ago.

But now, it was all she could think of. The fact that Marcus' seemingly greatest weapon was his word, a man easily able to slay many with his tongue alone. A weapon that he rarely used anymore.

Sandy found herself beginning to wander over to Marcus with the intention of asking him to speak stories to her. Natural fae curiosity seemed to be in her movements, eyes sparkling with wonder.

Maybe it was the fact that Lithiovai did not bash Marcus nearly as hard as the others nor have many horror stories about him as opposed to simple insults that made Sandy less afraid of him than his other two commrads.

But she froze when she had wandered too near to the three leaders, her gaze sweeping over Aro who still stood. Marcus was just as deadly as the other two: the only different was that he was sad and the other two were not.

Many beings in the supernatural world claimed that the Volturi leaders were Kings — and in a way — they were. However, more than anything, they served not as Kings but as the judge, jury, and executioner.

Cassandra could see it now.

ARO: THE JUDGE
MARCUS: THE JURY
CAIUS: THE EXECUTIONER

She swallowed harshly, beginning to take a few steps back. Josephine had left their presence as had the other guard — now it was only the three of them speaking in a language that sounded older than Jesus Christ.

Her gaze kept going between the three of them desperately, begging for this feeling to go away. But the warmth in her chest only grew the longer she took them in.

Caius and Marcus suddenly stood from their thrones as well: Sandy yelped when the three of them walked through her and to the table with many books on it. They quite literally passed through her phantom form, moving as though she was nothing more than a ghost.

Aro and Caius continued on as though it were nothing, but Marcus froze after he passed through her — turning around suddenly with furrowed brows.

His face changed for the first time from depressed boredom to confusion.

Cassandra stood petrified feet away from him as he seemingly stared at the spot she was standing in. She knew it was impossible for him to see her, but if he had a strong enough connection to the forces of nature then it was very possible he could sense her energy and presence in the room.

However, that was highly dependent on if he had any extra vampire abilities or not.

She could have sworn that Lithiovai mentioned he did, Sandy just for the life of her could not remember what it was.

Marcus stood almost an entire foot taller than herself and she did nothing other than square her shoulders and glare bravely at him. Then again, it was not like he could actually see her.

However, her glare faltered as she looked at his face of confusion.

"Brother, what is it?"

Marcus turned to Aro who had spoke with a curious look on his face. Marcus's expression once again turned to blank boredom and disinterest.

"Nothing brother, I simply thought I sensed something odd..." he sighed before ghosting over to the other side of the table to pick up a large book.

Aro continued to stare at Marcus for good moment before finally averting his gaze back to his own book. Caius, on the other hand, sat at the head of the table looking over a chess set determinedly — it appeared as though he was halfway through a game.

"Ever going to make a move against me, Caius? It has been three days now, brother..." Aro spoke cheerfully although there was a hint of mirth in his tone.

Caius glared at Aro heatedly. "Silence! I will make my move when I am ready!" He snapped sourly before going back to staring at the chess board.

Aro only laughed before his gaze flitted back to his book.

Sandy was not surprised that these ancient vampires spent their free time reading and playing chess as true old people did. Then again, she sometimes chose to do these activities as well, but she only wished to give them a harder time about it.

It was difficult to admit, but Cassandra knew that she would not make it anywhere without admitting the truth of the matter.

She knew what this pull was — this attraction. The need to go and place herself in Aro's lap and play against Caius in his stead. This foolishness was a mate bond.

Of course it was just her luck to not only have a psycho vampire kill her entire family and then proceed to adopt her and force himself as her abusive father... but now she also had PSYCHO mates.

Not one, not two, but THREE!

It was not unheard of for a person to have multiple mates, but it was certainly uncommon. Cassandra had never forsaw herself to be in one of those unique situations; in fact, she barely wanted a mate at all. Sure, she was curious about it at times, but seeing as she was constantly on the run it was never at the top of her list.

Now, she definitely knows that this is something she does not want.

Cassandra was quite literally kidnapped along with her siblings to be used as weapons AGAINST these very people! She may have escaped that fate for the time being but that did not mean she wanted to run and get cozy with her father's enemies.

These people would probably kill her if they knew who she was and what she was raised to do.

She had no clue if they even knew of the fae's existence as a species, but she assumed they must have with their age.

They did nothing to help her dying species, they might not have been the reason for her people dying off but they did nothing to help.

Just like they did nothing to help her and her siblings when they were younger. Of course, they did not know about her situation, but they SHOULD HAVE!

If they were as righteous as they claimed themselves, the law and order of the vampire world, then they should have been keeping better tabs on a threat as big as Lithiovai rather than writing him off and turning their heads away.

When Sandy was a little girl she prayed the Volturi would put a stop to her father's madness: waited for the day they would come to rip his head off and burn the ashes. And maybe... just maybe they would set them free.

But that day never came.

It mattered not for they were monsters as her father was. All vampires were the same, evil bloodsucking monsters with a soul purpose and diet of ripping apart humans and consuming their blood.

Sandy stared at her mates for a long while.

Who knows what they would do if they ever found her. Kill her? Kiss her? Lock her away in a tower never to be heard from again, just as Aro and Caius have done with their wives.

She did not know and she definitely never wanted to find out.

Sandy took one step back and then another. Internally, she sealed her fate — she does not ever want to meet her mates in real life. And she would do everything in her power to avoid the Volturi for the rest of her existence.

With that thought, her body rushed back — it felt as though she was quite literally being pulled away as the sight of throne room and her mates got smaller and smaller.

————————

Cassandra awoke with a loud gasp, jumping into sitting position from where she had previously been snuggled on the couch. The sound of sitcom television laughter filled her ears as the tv flashed.

Her eyes darted around wildly and her heart was pounding in her ears. Dreamwalking was not for the faint hearted, but she now knew the truth.

Cassandra Lillith Rose was mated to Aro, Caius, and Marcus of the Volturi. Now she was not only running from her father but she was also on a mission to avoid the biggest vampire coven in the world.

With that thought, Sandy jumped up and immediately began rushing around her apartment packing. Her car would be packed in the morning and she would be on the road by noon.

It was time to move on from California and she thought that New York City sounded quite interesting.