I WAS IN THAT ROOM FOR ALMOST TWELVE HOURS BEFORE WE GOT THE CLEAR TO LEAVE.

I didn't know what was said or if it really mattered what got discussed in the other room. Aro was home, and I would finally get to say hello to him. We'd been apart for less than two weeks but knowing that he was home I felt something fill that I didn't know was empty inside of me.

The room was tense when I showed up. My own arms had a tremor, the anticipation getting to me. I really wished that part of me could have escaped when I became a vampire.

"River," Aro greeted, immediately leaving his chair to embrace me into his arms. "I have missed you so."

"I've missed you too," I whispered. If only he hadn't come back in such a bad way. He should have come back when he was supposed to. Things were left unfinished in Forks. "Is everything alright in the castle again? Did you guys find Chrissy? He's out of Volterra, right?"

The barge of questions flooded out of my mouth faster than I could think about what I was asking. Oh, fuck it, I was asking what I needed to ask. For my peace of mind and for my safety. I needed that fucker out of my life and I had to know if Chrissy was safe. She had to be safe. Even if she never wanted to talk to me again, I wanted her happy and healthy.

Aro stiffened slightly and I felt him look over at Caius and Marcus, who shook their heads.

"We are trying to find Chrissy's location. The bonds indicate that they are no longer at the same place. She may have escaped him," Marcus explained. "Yet, that is only a theory. We not have any confirmation on that front. I must ask, are you alright, my dear?"

Marcus and I hadn't had much in the way of conversation since he walked in on the morning after between Caius and I, which Aro may have figured out about already. There was an air of tension there, but I hoped that it would resolve on its own after a while. Marcus only wants to protect me, it's only reasonable that in his attempts to do so he messes up along the way.

Just like I would mess up with him a few times. That's whta happens in relationships.

"I'm doing better now. Is he away from the city?" Marcus nodded and I pulled my arms away from Aro. "Then I will be alright. In time. I just need to figure out where she is, to make sure she is safe and not hurting."

The pause that followed hurt a bit. I knew that they had to make sure that she didn't spill the secret, but at this rate nobody would believe her. Making an escape from a madman, she wouldn't put herself in danger by leaking the story now. She would only do that if she were completely safe.

Chrissy wouldn't threaten to leak everything unless he was dead.

From the sound of it, he's alive, but away from her.

"Is there anyone who could track her?" I asked. "There has to be someone who could find her. Her scent is everywhere in that room. Have a guard hunt her down like a dog on a trail."

My best bets were that Felix and Demetri could go as a pair and figure out where she was. They'd mentioned the latter's gift a few times, being the ability to hunt someone down through wisps of their mind. He's guarded Chrissy, he probably has a sense of her mind. I don't really know how that works, but it would be worth a shot!

"We simply must find her. River is right," Caius agreed with my sentiments. Well, that was a relief. "She likely is no threat of exposure but she is a woman who should not know what she does and is also a target of a horrible man. Him being a vampire makes her protection our jurisdiction."

"That is true," Aro conceded. "The Elite Guard should go to Forks to handle things there. We have our best tracker there. Carlisle's note says Canada is his place of residence but he may be lying."

"He's definitely not," I said. "I'm pretty sure he has at least one house there, the nice one. He mentioned one that wasn't as nice."

The house that we stayed in was not nice at all, it was dirty and unkept but that was because of him. Half the time Chrissy and I were too terrified to be able to clean up, worried that he'd slap our hands and call us too useless to do the cleanup. Or that we were purposely trying to sabotage his plans for us.

No matter where that man went, the putrid stink of death followed.

"So we have two or more residences, one in Canada. Gods, he's given us just enough to have leads but not enough to actually track him down. I doubt he has any social medias, so it would be useless to check. Likely no employment, independently wealthy perhaps?" Aro theorized as he began to pace back and forth in the room.

Sure, that could be the case. I'd never heard him mention a job before, would explain how he had so much time in his life that he was able to kidnap multiple people and turn them into his girlfriend slaves that had only one purpose.

We were a 'means to an end.'

"No ways to track this man down. He's left no scent unless we can get to Chrissy," Caius reminded them. "Plus, we've never met the man and we can't get a face to him. Little Alec had his face wiped from his memory."

"Even our Coven's best will have a tough time," Aro said before stopping. "I could not see the Wolves in Edward or Alice's memories."

"What does that have to do with this? These wolves sound like a problem if that is the case," Caius said. "Aro, you cannot possibly be thinking of including the fucking wolves in this investigation."

"It is worth a shot, is it not? They may be able to find Chrissy themselves, if they look hard enough. I suspect that they are already reading over the laws I made Carlisle give to them."

"Fuck, did you get their number?"

"Of course I did, you idiot."

---

CHRISSY HAD SURVIVED BY THE SKIN OF HER TEETH, HAVING FACED SOME OF THE WRATH FROM HER CAPTOR BEFORE BEING RESCUED BY THE TWO WOLVES.

Of course she should have realized that if vampires were indeed real as well as Children of the Moon, others could exist as well. When it came to these beings, though, Chrissy didn't feel the looming dread and anger. It wasn't a secret, things were in the open. Or, it seemed that way, she'd only been in that house for a few hours.

It shocked her to the core to know that the woman that had saved her, Leah, was on the phone with the Volturi, the same Volturi had had wanted her held captive until they knew that she wouldn't spill her soul to whatever FBI agent wanted her for her information and story.

God, she knew now that it would be impossible to have that. She may as well be killed, they weren't budging and she doubted that this group of wolves wanted to anger the Volturi. If the Volturi had taken out an entire species before, Lord knows what they could do to this one pack of shifting wolves.

"We will make sure that doesn't happen," Leah said, quite calm while on the phone. She didn't feel like the calm type though, so perhaps this facade would come off when she hung up the phone. The man, Jacob, had gotten between her and another man, Sam. Chrissy didn't like Sam at all. Reminded her too much of the kids she knew in High School.

Jacob was on the phone too. He acted like he knew Aro personally by the way he spoke. Chrissy tensed up as he spoke, "Look, we have a lot to lose here, but Leah and I imprinted on Chrissy. She's safe with the pack, we have rules to not harm people's imprints. The guy that took her was terrified of us. I know a bit- okay? Chrissy mentioned Children of the Moon, you did too at the Cullens, but we aren't that."

An idea struck the young woman as she stood up from the couch, deciding that it was best that Aro hear it from her. River probably was still mad that she wouldn't talk to her, so be it. That was a lost cause, she realized that the moment she shoved the information about the Volturi in her lap and River told her that it didn't matter that much since Carlisle would never be friends with monsters.

That girl really had a terrible sense of judgement sometimes.

Or that was how Chrissy saw it as she grabbed the phone, reminding herself to be civil.

"I have the name of him, he told me again and was unable to erase it before his escape. I don't want you looking through my head, though," she explained to the red-eyed vampire king on the other end of the line. "This won't be an issue anymore. Look, I'm clearly within some supernatural world now and it's not like anyone will believe my story. Being kidnapped by Italian vampires is one thing but being taken back by your crazy vampire ex and then being rescued by wolf-human things is another."

Aro sighed. "Good, I didn't want to kill you. River has been quite worried about you being stolen away from your cell. She has been shaken by this event, so I have heard from Alec and Renata."

Chrissy thought about that night a lot. Not the one she'd just had, but of the night that River became a vampire. She let it repeat over and over again until she felt dizzy and wanted to throw up. Too many times had she thought that it could have gone differently. Someone could have saved River.

Not that she could have. Being human had its serious downsides, after all. She was reminded of that when they put her in the cell, when there was literally no way of getting around the vampires that needed her to stay quiet. Before she hadn't been so alone. She'd been with River in her humanity, not that either of them knew that.

The night that she died had been the worst of her life. For the time that they'd spent together in that house, she thought they'd be friends afterwards, even if they weren't lovers anymore. It had been so peaceful, getting to know the Cullens and recovering from their hysterectomies.

Nights where they could be in the cinema and watch whatever was out with Rosalie by their side, with Emmett close by as well. Jasper had been her confidant whenever things went awry with River or Rosalie, which she had to remind herself happened quite often.

She felt betrayed at the knowledge that she'd been captured by something so evil and that her best friend in the whole world would just accept them for what they were. It was only when she'd been told that her bosses and her were mates did any of that make any sense. Chrissy felt alone in that, not having a mate, and in her own way she was jealous.

Chrissy hated being jealous of her best friend and she realized that now on the phone with Aro. She wanted someone who was strong enough to protect her from monsters, she really did. But the idea of finding a vampire mate wasn't right in her head.

Imprints.

She did feel it when she met Jacob and Leah. They'd called her that for the past few hours and she wanted it to be true. She wanted a mate of her own, two of them, actually. She had them to protect her now.

Even if she were always human, she'd get them. Leah and Jacob wouldn't let anyone take her. She'd been saved once by them already.

As much as Chrissy loved being independent, she was terrified. Of vampires, of the supernatural, all of it. She felt so weak in comparison to them. She was emotionally dependent from everyone, but physically? She would be clingy, for sure. She liked it like that, being so close to someone. It was all she knew right now.

"It is wonderful that you are alright," Aro said with clear joy in his voice. God, his voice could be grating sometimes. How could River stand it? "You can stay with your mates in Forks. If the Shifter Pack will allow for it, Rosalie wishes to come and see you, as she has also been notified of your disappearance and wants to know if you're alright."

"Sure, as long as the owner of the house is okay with it," Chrissy answered.

They would have to figure out their next steps later, but Chrissy knew that this was the right path. Things that hadn't made sense in Volterra were starting to come together in her mind. Those disconnects were no longer there. Perhaps she would be able to talk to Rosalie about the falling out between her and River.

She really wanted that to be patched up. The reminder of their parting was eating her up inside. Even if the mending was slow, awkward, and painful, she wanted to start.

"Aro, does River remember anything from the night that she turned?" Chrissy asked.

"No."

It was the answer she feared. So, in her best friend's eyes, she'd just stopped talking to her. Completely rejected her after her turning and refused to speak with her at all. Wow, what an asshole move from someone like her, who had been with her through everything. Chrissy sighed and wondered if it would have been better if she knew, or if her not knowing about the fight would make the mending faster.

"I should warn you that plenty of guards heard your conversation and therefore I've heard it as well," Aro said with a slightly darker tone of voice. "I understand that you two had a falling out. Even if it may be tempting to gloss over that night, do not. She will hear what got said eventually and it will only lead to future resentment."

She hated that he was right.

"You need to tell her, I won't. It isn't my place unless you lie. But I will know if you lie. I always do. The Volturi hear everything. Things will always be found out in the end, no matter how desperately we want to hide. Truth prevails, Chrissy, and the truth is unfortunately only in your memory."

A memory she wished she could replace.