— 𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟔 —
𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬, 𝐖𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐨𝐧

      "And like a butterfly—we would take flight in assisting the Earth during her changing seasons, to renew the bonds of nature, to restore balance to all, and allow life to flourish..." Sandy murmured, her voice quiet despite nobody else in the Swan residence besides herself and Bella.

It was later that same day, now night, and the two girls had got home from the wild forest field of dead flowers. They had showered and finished their homework and were now lounging about Bella's bedroom.

Sandy was explaining faerie lore to her—long forgotten histories of times old. When magic ran rampant and nature overtook all.

"Wait," Bella held up her hands, staring at Sandy from where she sat across from her in her bed. "You can fly?"

Cassandra was sitting comfortably nuzzled between the wall and Bella's bed, staring up at Bella who lay on her stomach.

Sandy grinned. "I'm a faerie, of course, I can!"

"And you haven't mentioned this before! Bu-But you don't have wings? Do you fly like Superman or something?" Bella questioned, her face twisted into one of immense confusion.

Sandy tilted her head. "You've seen me without my shimmer on though?"

"Your shimmer?" Bella was still confused.

"The spell I use to hide my physical appearance—it changes my ears but it also dims my eyes and hides my wings?"

Bella stared at her for a second before responding. "Yeah, you've dropped it a few times, but I've only ever seen your ears and eyes..."

Cassandra realized that she was acting like an idiot.

Because of course, Bella had never seen her wings!

When was the last time she had even seen her own wings? It had to be almost forty years now.

She often forgot that she had a different and more permanent spell on her wings. The last time she took a flight was sometime in the early-70s', she had done the spell on herself then and had not bothered to do the reversal spell since.

Since the fae no longer helped with the changing of seasons—the hiding of their wings became much more common. This was a thing even before Sandy was born seeing as the fae stopped helping change the seasons centuries before she was born.

Right when the fae specifically started declining, in fact. When magic first started disappearing from Mother Earth.

Her wings were the most important thing to hide because they were the most obvious giveaway of her not being a human and the most sensitive thing about her.

In a way—her wings were sacred.

Traditionally, a fae's wings were only supposed to be seen by other fae and those she trusted most.

Of course, Lithiovai all but ripped that tradition to shreds seeing as he forced her to keep her wings visible nearly all the time when she was with him.

Therefore, after she left, she placed a more permanent spell on herself that never dropped unless she specifically performed the reversal spell.

She face-palmed herself. "Of course, you have never seen my wings... okay, yeah, sorry. Remind me to show them to you next time we're in the forest."

Bella pouted. "No way! Dude, you can't just talk about how you apparently have hidden wings and then not show them to me! Please..." She drew out the last word, not realizing just how precious and sacred a fae's wings were considered.

And Sandy did not bother to tell her.

Rather, she looked at Isabelle Swan thoughtfully before shrugging. "Alright, then," She easily gave in; Bella was a trusted friend.

Standing from the floor and moving to the window, she closed the curtains.

Even though it was dark outside and the Swan residence had no neighbors and Charlie was not meant to be back for another hour at least, the faerie would rather take no chances. With that, she wandered to the middle of Bella's room and closed her eyes.

It took a moment before the reversal spell came to mind, a short saying in the nearly dead language of Gaelic. Her lips formed the words quickly—and Bella was left with whiplash from how fast the words came as well as how foreign they sounded. She could not so much as guess what the translation would be in English.

Nevertheless, the spell was successful seeing as there was a sudden glow that formed directly behind Cassandra.

A bluish glow that took the form of large wings—similar to that of a butterfly outlined behind her back before fully forming and filling in until two protruding wings glowed in crystalline blues, purples, and greens.

Other than the first time she had seen Edward Cullen standing amid the sun and sparkling in the middle of their field, Bella had never seen something so beautifully curious or wonderful.

Cassandra stood almost shyly, her skin glowing and ears naturally pointed with her eyes so green that they seemed to reflect divine nature.

But up close Bella could see that Sandy's eyes were not entirely a glowing green: there was rings of gold and purple within.

It was apparent now more than ever that Sandy was no human; she truly was something out of a fairytale. And it was absolutely enchanting.

"Woah..." Bella breathed, finding herself wordless.

Cassandra's wings were solid, but somehow they seemed to go through her clothing. The wings were easily able to ghost through the material of her tank top.

"Woah, indeed," Sandy teased, before closing her eyes and muttering a few more phrases in Gaelic.

Except this time, she appeared far more focused and was breathing much deeper. Her hands faintly glowed green before turning purple and disappearing altogether. In the next second—her wings were gone.

The next moment Sandy looked as human as she had the day Bella first met her, her ears no longer held a point nor did her eyes appear quite so mystical.

"How fast can you fly?" Bella found herself asking.

Sandy shrugged, "Pretty fast—faster than most vampires can run, at least," She explained. "But that's if I'm really trying, almost like sprinting, I can only keep up that speed for long before tiring out, so usually I just leisurely fly. But I haven't flown in almost..." She paused to consider it. "30 years?"

"Isn't that like bad? Like are you supposed to be flying more than that? Stretch your wings, maybe?"

Sandy chuckled. "While it certainly feels nice to stretch my wings and fly—it is not always the safest. Can you imagine how people would react if they saw a girl with wings flying around?"

"Good point," Bella laughed. "But you can just do it around the forests? That's where the Cullens would run around and hunt and everything..."

Sandy crinkled her nose. "Please don't remind me of the hunting activities of vampires—the thought of death via having your neck torn out and blood drained is rather alarming."

Bella rose a brow. "At least they don't do that to people," She challenged.

Sandy nodded. "That is true, but I also do not enjoy the sight of it happening to animals either, all life is important—all life is sacred..."

Bella could not deny that. "Fair point," She sighed while lying back in her bed.

Sandy, who was adorned in a tank top and pajama shorts, launched herself next to Bella in her bed. The mattress gave a small bounce and Bella had to hold onto her DVD player to stop it from flying off the bed.

It was movie night (yet again) and it was Bella's choice tonight. They had already finished their homework—Sandy complaining to Bella about chemistry but both of them finished it nonetheless.

It was only as Sandy got comfortable and looked to see the DVD that Bella had rented for them that she scowled.

"There is no way we are watching Barbie: Fairytopia..." Sandy sassed.

It was a relatively new children's movie that had come out about Barbie as fairy.

Bella smirked and pouted at the fae. "But look—it's you!" She pointed to the menu selection screen that featured a blonde-haired Barbie in varying different shades of sparkly pinks.

"Girl, I am not white... and my wings aren't pink!" Sandy huffed. "I'm not giving pink vibes!"

"First of all, you definitely give baby pink vibes," Bella rolled her eyes. "Secondly, I know you're not white, I meant it metaphorically... you know because she's a fairy... and you're a faerie—"

"I know, Bells," Sandy pinched the bridge of her nose.

Bella bit her lip to keep her laughter in. "Also Disney just announced that they have plans to release to a Tinkerbell movie in the next few years... so we are definitely going to buy the DVD and watch it the second it comes out..."

"What? When are they releasing it?"

"2008 or 2009 is the estimated release year..." Bella explained. "They don't know yet."

Sandy shook her head but could not help but laugh. "Fine, we'll watch Barbie: Fairytopia. Honestly, I bet I'll like this movie more than you do anyway..." She scoffed and got comfortable as Bella pressed play on the menu selection.

"Okay, we'll bet on it..." Bella said right back, her and Sandy cuddling close—their eyes far too intense as though they were about to watch the best movie in existence.

At that moment, Sandy herself could not help but be grateful. Because she could not remember if she had ever had a friend this close, she certainly had never been this close to anybody apart from her siblings. Even then, Sandy thought she might have been far closer to Bella than any of her siblings—especially considering the last sibling she saw was Nicholas back in the early 70s'.

For the first time in a long while, Sandy did not feel alone, she had a friend... a best friend.

————————

Cassandra opened her eyes only to immediately scream and cover them once more.

Unfortunately, the sound came next, bouncing around her in waves: carnal noises of desire in such velocity it was impossible to drown out. Especially considering that she was standing in the middle of it.

She supposed that she should not be surprised the rumors were true —her mates were, in fact, vampire overlords.

Of course, they were bound to host a fucking orgy.

It was considered a damned thing to do by many and they were certainly more than damned.

Begrudgingly, Sandy opened her eyes again, if only to find the nearest exit.

But it was hard to ignore the various undead people screwing themselves silly. Some of them moved faster than the mortal eye could ever catch gripping each so strong that it would cause instant death to a human.

Others were slow, patient and intimate in their movements.

The room was lit only by torches hanging against the walls—fine silks and soft carpets were placed around the room along with various ancient pieces of furniture.

The entire place looked as though it came straight out of the 1200s, which it probably had. That had no doubt been the last time this room was decorated.

The place was naturally dark and Sandy had dreamwalked long enough to know that it was no doubt located on one of the lower levels of the Volturi castle.

Then again—'castle' was a very generous term to call the place that the Volturi resided seeing as the entire thing was basically underground. A catacomb of sorts under the clocktower that ran the entire length of Volterra.

Surely an interesting place to explore, but spooky in all other manners. Cassandra could not imagine that she would feel anything but frightened if she ever entered the place physically (AKA, in any other manner apart from dreamwalking).

The fae shied away from the sight of Heidi sandwiched between a very naked Demetri and Felix, the noises that they all made being anything but proper. Other vampires were situated elsewhere, a few faces that Sandy recognized and a few that she did not.

The most disturbing part was the poor humans that lay in pools of their own blood—dead but not to the point that they had started rotting. Sandy could not tell if they had been a part of the orgy and ultimately became a snack or if they had always been a snack.

Foul.

This was disgusting—she wanted nothing more than to wake up.

The sight of this made her already low opinion of her mates fall even further.

Sadly, before she could attempt the process of waking herself, the woman caught sight of a familiar snowy-haired male.

Caius.

He thrust into Athenodora from behind as his wife drank from the neck of a dead man.

They coupled in the middle of room, both of them on the carpeted floor in the midst of many other vampires.

Sandy's lip curled—they were lucky that she was not there in person. Because if she was, she would not hesitate in dragging Caius away by his hair. If she was there, her mates would surely not participate in such atrocious activities.

Not if they wanted a chance of even an inkling of her affection.

On second thought, knowing who they were they probably would not give a damn about her feelings and do as they pleased.

It was not even so much the orgy that bothered her but more so the dead people they drank from.

But that did not matter because she was NOT there, and she would NEVER be there.

Sandy could not stop herself from walking to Caius, circling he and his wife as they coupled. The noises they made were anything but soft, and Caius was certainly not gentle.

Sandy had never appeared to Caius during an intimate moment—but she was not sure that this could be considered 'intimate' with the borderline hateful way he was screwing Athenodora. She seemed to be enjoying herself, though.

Caius had the appearance of a fallen angel—it was hard for him not to with his long hair made of light and pale skin. Even naked as he was now, his build was beautiful—lean muscle and not a blemish in sight.

Sandy could not stop herself from biting her lip at the attractive way his long blonde locks fell into his face, his eyes closed and head tilted back as he groaned in pleasure.

Caius was indeed a talented love-maker.

But that was soon wiped away with hatred as she remembered he was quite literally screwing his wife in an orgy as she drank from a person!

Utterly ridiculous!

In a pixie-like manner, Cassandra rolled her eyes, huffing as she walked away from Caius and pushed through other coupling pairs.

She did her best to ignore and completely disregard the ache of pain and longing stemming from her chest.

Her form, of course, ghosted through them all. No one noticed, but Sandy shivered in disgust, doing her best to avoid them all.

"Renata..."

Sandy immediately looked toward the familiar voice speaking—a playful taunt. The jade green of her eyes narrowed at the handsome vampire leader.

Aro was sitting on a large chair in the corner with a glass of red liquid in hand.

The substance in the glass looked similar to red wine, but it was a little too thick to pass as true wine.

A mixture of blood and wine—if Sandy had to guess.

Aro's shirt was unbuttoned nearly completely as were his dress pants. His zip was down revealing dark boxers—and his long black hair was still neat despite where he was. His dark locks were halfway pinned back.

Renata, one of the personal guards to the leaders (mostly Aro's) as she was a physical shield, sat before him on her knees.

Renata, the only shield of the Volturi was a lovely-looking woman—beautiful just as any vampire.

She was of Caucasian descent, with glassy pale skin and wavy brown hair that neared red in color. Her features were nothing exotic nor dramatic; thin lips and slightly narrowed eyes that worked in favor of giving her beauty.

She was taller than Sandy and curvier, a little on the muscular side. Very attractive.

Renata was nearly naked—the woman only adorning a bra—and her head was bowed. She did not dare make eye contact with her master.

Sandy felt the icky sensation of jealousy creep up as she glanced at the six-pack of abs that Renata sported. A six-pack she would never lose seeing as she had one when she was turned.

At that moment—Sandy wanted to work and get back the abs she had during the 80s.

While the fae was not quite as muscular or lean as she had once been, her body was always changing. Seeing as she was not doing much other than hanging out with Bella in Forks, it was apparent why she did not have abs and only adorned a softer stomach at the moment.

She rarely got jealous or compared herself to someone else, but her subconscious, unfortunately, did it at the sight of the fit vampire kneeling before her mate. And her mate giving his full attention back to Renata.

It was out of her control.

"Renata, Renata, Renata..." Aro clicked, leaning forward, and tightly gripped her chin before forcing her to look into his eyes. "My lovely and loyal guard... do follow my commands and give my wife the utmost pleasure..." He smiled softly, but there was an undertone of lust and chaos in his gaze.

A feeling of anger ate at Sandy—something she had to fight away.

There was a reason that everyone who was participating in this orgy was not mated.

It was then that Sandy noticed Sulpicia was sitting next to Aro—the slender woman suddenly standing up and dropping her loose robe revealing herself fully naked.

She smiled at Renata.

"Come, my dear, and satisfy your Queen..." Sulpicia sighed, sitting back in her chair as Renata crawled to her, placing one of Sulpicia's long legs over her shoulders and immediately delving into the softest part of her.

Aro watched, and although the two women had his attention, the man almost looked bored as he sipped away at his glass.

He was only able to watch them for a few more moments before his attention drifted to the others around.

Aro of the Volturi had been turned sometime in his mid-twenties, he estimated that he had been about 25 or 26 based on his physical appearance. It was hard to know for sure seeing as he remembered little of his human life—a common effect of the transformation into vampirism.

That along with his age seeing as human memories are the only memories a vampire it capable of forgetting.

Despite his forever-youthful face, he had more knowledge than most on this planet.

More experience... in everything. From strategy, to understanding, to different cultures, to the arts, to vast histories... and certainly in sexual affairs.

He was not sure how many times he had made love or participated in an orgy, he never bothered to count.

However, this was the first orgy the Volturi had held in a few decades. For the unmated vampires, at least, the mated vampires never participated.

Volturi orgies of such caliber only happened every so often, while they were all more than capable of keeping it professional in all other manners of the coven—the leaders did not want to make it a casual thing.

Such celebration was a gift to the entire coven for their continued prosperous nature.

Usually, if Aro chose to participate in sexual affairs apart from Sulpicia; he and Caius would join together with both their wives.

A fun time, indeed.

At least it used to be, even that seemed to bore them as of late.

Unfortunately for Aro and Caius—their wives were not their mates, and one can only be married for so long before they get bored of each other. Orgies were a great way to fight off such boredom without truly being unfaithful to one another.

Not that such faithfulness mattered anymore, after over three millennium of being married but not mates, there had been many mishaps.

Marcus had been the only one who was truly faithful to his wife, and that was solely because she had not lived along enough for boredom to set it.

Like true vampire lore suggested, the leaders were certainly not against orgies. They had been around too long to give any real fucks. Let alone about social norms which were always changing.

Without a mate, they had to try to keep it interesting somehow.

Marcus was the only one who never participated. It did not matter how much Aro badgered him to join, he was too caught up on Didyme, and even though Didyme had not been Marcus's mate, she and Marcus held a strong love.

That along with her power of making people happy caused Marcus to form addiction to her from how much he was around her.

So along with missing her greatly, he was also suffering from the biggest withdrawal in the known ages and has been seemingly permanently bound to a depressive state.

Aro and Caius had tried everything to pull Marcus out of it, but nothing had worked in over the last thousand years.

The only hope was the chance that their mate would appear.

But that was doubtful.

Seeing as the three leaders had an odd tie between all of their souls—effectively making them 'soul-brothers', as horrid as it sounded—they suspected that they were destined to share a mate should one ever appear. However, seeing as they had been around for over three thousand years with none appearing, they weren't holding their breaths.

Aro's attention had been taken by a recruit, a lower guard of the Volturi.

She was a pretty little thing, and Aro figured that it was about time he had some fun and showed this new recruit just how to please her master.

By new—he meant thirty years. But thirty years was still relatively new in the eyes of the Volturi.

This recruit; Lucille, had initially been changed in Germany during World War 2.

Demetri and Felix had stumbled upon her in the 70s' while they were tracking an out-of-control nomad in Poland. Apparently Lucille and the nomad had been fighting over hunting territory when the two arrived.

They killed the nomad but spared Lucille and brought her to Volterra for Aro to see her gift.

Gifted vampires were always to be brought to Volterra before being destroyed in case they had an ability that was of interest to Aro.

Upon her arrival, she was invited to join the coven due to her power of voice mimicry.

It was not powerful, but she had her uses. Usually important phone calls when the Volturi needed to interact with the human world.

It was convenient and Aro liked having an array of vampiric abilities in his collection, even those that were not so powerful as they were practical.

"Lucille, come here," Aro cooed, curling his finger in a motion of 'come here'.

Lucille looked at him with wide eyes, but there was an easily identifiable lust hiding underneath. It was obvious that she was shocked one of the leaders would call upon her, especially as she had shyly been standing in the corner still fully clothed—not quite comfortable in joining the festivities.

She had never been part of something like this before.

Cassandra did not stay to watch any longer when Aro called upon Lucille, the short vampire who was around her height quickly walking over. She had to look away when Aro tossed his belt to the side and sat up straighter upon Lucille's bashful arrival.

Cassandra and Lucille did not look very similar, but they shared the same height and enough small features that it made Sandy even more uncomfortable.

Her anger was reaching concerning levels, and she did not want to do something she might regret. AKA, wake herself up and use Bella's house phone to call Volterra and demand Aro and Caius to stop such acts of sacrilege.

That would certainly be an interesting turn of events.

She had noticed that the only one of her mates who was not present was Marcus, and with the strongest desire she had ever felt to find him—her form suddenly popped from existence and reappeared next to the vampire in question.

Sandy gasped, never having done that before—stumbling as she reappeared. It felt similar to blacking out, most likely because she was technically sleeping so the few moments she was 'teleporting' was akin to her subconscious going back to sleep with her physical form.

Is it so much to ask for a dreamless restful night of sleep?

Nevertheless, she was glad to be out of that horrid environment. Instead, she had appeared next to a fully clothed Marcus—the vampire leader wearing one of his expensive dark suits as he sat by himself at a table in his study.

Countless large books and scrolls were before him, all about one thing or another, but all for the same purpose. Marcus was trying to figure out if the flower incident from a few years ago had actually been Didyme's phantom.

Seeing as Marcus was able to sense a warm presence that seemed to randomly appear at times, he was hoping this might be a ghost of his late wife coming to visit him. He was desperate to find anything that could prove it.

He had been looking since it happened. Even as his brothers lost interest seeing as nothing similar had happened since—Marcus still searched for answers.

Sandy herself was rather alarmed when Marcus seemed to abruptly stop reading and look directly at her. Not necessarily at her, but rather through her—he sensed her there. His eyes narrowed as he looked about the room, but his shoulders were relaxed, and truthfully, it was the most emotion that Marcus emoted for months.

The only times he did not act as a complete shell was when he either sensed this presence or was doing research by himself. Both of which he was currently doing.

He had a good few hours before he was needed anywhere seeing as his brothers were... otherwise occupied.

Sandy sighed and allowed herself to sit down across from Marcus.

"Well hello, Marcus," She muttered thoughtfully, looking around his study.

Marcus, of course, did not answer, only continuing to flip through the pages of his large book.

He was equally as beautiful as his two counterparts, but rather than deep raven locks or white snowy hair: Marcus adorned chestnut brown waves. His face looked as though it was carved from the Gods with a straight nose that only enhanced his beauty.

Marcus appeared around the same age as Aro—if not, a little older. While Caius was physically the youngest of them all, he was the oldest vampire followed by Marcus and finally Aro. And while there was no more than 80 or so years between them all—a feat that was nothing in the grand scheme of their long lifetimes—Caius liked to shove his slightly older age in the face of the other two.

Marcus suspected it came from a small insecurity of Caius looking physically the youngest, even if it did not matter seeing as Caius had been turned at either 20 or 21.

"Any good reads today?" Sandy asked, fully knowing she would get no response.

Her fear of them had long since dissipated.

Well... that was not the right way to put it because Sandy still feared them greatly. It's the entire reason she was staying under the radar from them.

It was more that Sandy was no longer scared of them when she dreamwalked, so much to the point that she would even talk to them as such.

She expected no response back, of course, but it was still quite fun. Especially when she said sassy out-of-pocket comments to them without them even realizing she was there. She could only imagine their faces if she said some of that stuff and they could hear her.

Caius would no doubt have a fun time punishing her. Not that such a thing would ever happen because she would do everything in her power to stay out of their presence physically.

While the bond had taken slightly on her side, they were still unaware of her existence making the mating bond impossible to fully develop. Not to mention, even as it had taken just the slightest bit on Sandy's side, she had still technically never met them in person and therefore did not feel the same heart-wrenching effects.

She brought her knees to her chest as she sat in the large desk chair, eyeing the different books and scrolls. Sandy spoke many languages, but even these languages seemed to be far too old for her to fully grasp.

However, she was able to get the general idea—they were all on phantoms.

Guilt hit her harshly, she was driving Marcus crazy. He thought she was his late wife and he wanted to prove it. Only, Sandy was not the late Didyme, so Marcus would never be able to prove such a thing.

Marcus himself was focused on staring into space, eyeing the dead bond that had once connected him to Didyme. It was completely severed on one side and a translucent black; a sign of a dead bond.

It led to nowhere, the bond was nothing and Didyme was not in his presence. But perhaps the dead had no ties to the old bonds of their life? Maybe Marcus should be looking for new bonds.

And upon thinking that, Marcus opened his inner eye to any potential new bonds. He was fully expecting disappointment, after all, what are the chances?

And disappointed he was because there was no new bond linking him to any kind of phantom. It made Marcus want to flip this entire table and destroy everything in the room, but he controlled himself, only letting out a sad sigh.

It was useless, everything was useless—he hated living as an undead lifeforce on this forsaken planet. Every day it seemed he prayed for the sweet relief of death.

He hated it, he wanted to be dead and gone.

He was so caught up in his thoughts about death and despair that he nearly missed it. But alas, it caught his attention at the last moment, causing his horrid and suicidal thoughts to come to a standstill.

Because—as the young generation might say—what the hell was that?

It was not a bond to Didyme, no, it was an entirely new bond. A thin string of gold and green linked him as well as his two brothers to an unknown source. While it did not lead to anywhere in particular, it seemed to lead to everywhere and nothing all at once.

A mate bond, something that Marcus never would have thought to appear. Certainly not after over three thousand years.

Marcus had only ever seen mate bonds between other people, and every bond was a different color depending on the relationship.

This one was without a doubt a mate bond, a rather colorful one at that, something that was also rare to see.

It most likely had to do with there being four people in the mating bond. That and their mate must have been a rather kaleidoscopic individual.

In the next second, as Marcus openly gaped at the bond everything clicked into place.

Because the presence had not been Didyme, it had never been Didyme, it was their mate. This entire time, it was his mate.

There were no thoughts on how, who, or why—only astonishment as Marcus came to understand that after three thousand years and many centuries of lost hope, he actually did have a mate.

All three of them did.

She had to be gifted of some sort, there was no other explanation as to why he was feeling her presence at random times. Although, he did not have the slightest inkling as to what kind of gift she would possess that could allow her to do such a thing.

Furthermore, how did it work? Could she hear them? See them?

Sandy watched Marcus stare off into space in astonished wonder with immense confusion.

What had happened? One second he was reading and the next he was looking at nothing with more emotion than she had seen from him in a while. It was obvious that he was studying the bonds of something—an activity he typically only did when Aro asked it of him.

What bonds was he looking at?

Hopefully, it had nothing to do with the dreadful thing going on a few floors below.

Sandy once again shivered in rage and disgust.

Marcus hummed in thought, looking upward as he spoke.

"So, our mate has finally come into fruition..." He sounded almost bemused.

Her heart dropped, her soul dropped, her metaphorical balls dropped. And her mouth certainly dropped open as she gaped at Marcus.

"What did you just say?" She demanded, standing from her spot and slamming her hands on the surface of the table.

She was in disbelief. Because there was no way after nearly twenty years of avoiding them completely while knowing she was their mate and an additional 200 plus years while not knowing—this was the day she was caught.

No way fate would fuck her over in such a way.

Then again, fate has been playing games with her since she was born.

Of course this would happen. She shouldn't be fucking surprised at this point.

They were three of the most powerful and intelligent vampires in the world, the fact that it took them as long as it had to notice something was amiss is amazing in itself.

The target was hit when Marcus looked directly through her yet again, his expression more than curious.

"Who are you, Tesoro?" His voice was gentle, whispered in a soft tone.

Sandy did not know whether to scream, laugh, or cry with the flutter her heart gave of being acknowledged after 20 years of invisibility to them.

But it also gave a horrible tug of fear... because they knew she existed.

Well, only Marcus did as of now, but she knew he would not hide this from his brothers. He couldn't even if he wanted to—not with Aro's powers.

And more than a mate; Sandy was one of the eight weapons that her father crafted with the sole purpose of destroying these very men.

While they did not know of that crucial information now, it was bound to come out at some point if they managed to find her.

It was going to be exponentially harder for her to hide from them now that they knew she was out in the world. At least they did not know who they were looking for.

An unnamed mate with an unseen face; extremely difficult to find... but; unfortunately for her, it was not impossible.

Especially for such a powerful vampire coven with eternity to search.

What would they do if they found her? Lock her away, no doubt, lock her away in a silver cage without any hope of ever seeing the light of day again.

Sandy would never again see the beautiful greens of Mother Earth nor experience the fury of the sun as she sat under his light.

The life she did see would be far and few between, other than the times that she would be forced to listen as innocent people screamed while the vampires ripped them apart for sustenance.

She'd be forced to live here with them, in the dark catacombs under Italy. As though she too was a vampire, forever trapped in darkness.

There would be no way out.

She'd be used—they would use her for their own pleasure and gain. And she would be tricked into being content with her situation by Corin, no doubt.

No, no, no.

Not again—never again.

Sandy backed away from Marcus, her breathing picking up.

As though sensing her pulling away, Marcus's brows furrowed and he subconsciously took a step closer to the warmth of her.

That was the last straw before Sandy forced herself awake.

————————

She woke in a cold sweat, terror gripping around her throat like a noose.

Sandy was not screaming, but she was wheezing loud winds of panic, seemingly unable to catch her breath.

Cassandra was taken back to the many years she spent trapped—nothing more than a slave to Lithiovai first and then the cruel white men next.

She did not recognize her own panic attack, her breathing fast and tears falling from her eyes.

They are going to find her. They are going to abduct her. They are going to use her. They are going to take away her freedom. They are going to hurt her.

Her body was shaking and she was only briefly pulled out of her stupor by Bella tugging her into a tight hug.

Bella awoke to loud wheezing breaths. She could not get Sandy's attention any other way, so she did the only thing she could think of.

The only way she knew to show Sandy that she was safe and that she was not alone.