A/N: I reference a song in this chapter, though I recommend the cover to listen to while reading, it's called "Sleepwalking" and the cover is by This Wild Life, originally performed by Bring Me the Horizon.

Eliza walked slowly through Volterra, her headphones in her ears, playing her latest playlist Melancholy AF. She always titled playlists based on the mood she was in when she made it, or what it was meant to invoke within her. "Time stood still...the way it did before...it's like I'm sleepwalking…" It was an apt description, as of late she did feel like she was stumbling through her life.

As a child, she knew she wanted to get off the Rez as soon as she was able, she had planned and persevered, worked her ass off to get half of her tuition paid for with grants and scholarships, funding the other half with student loans. She had gone straight into the Masters program once she finished her undergrad, partly because she was offered a spot after the chairwoman of the program saw her present at a research competition and highly recommended she apply, and partly because she felt at a loss in life. Sure, she wanted to be a teacher, but where did she want to teach?

Wandering around Italy, listening to the chatter of the locals and seeing how excited they were to practice their English with her, she smiled when spoken to. Perhaps she was meant to teach English to speakers of other languages, no matter what age the pupil. She meandered into a museum or two, her earbuds blocking out the sounds of other patrons. There was something fulfilling about staring at a painting, alone, drinking in the artwork.

When the sun began to set over the sky, inking the world in pinks and purples, Eliza decided to return to the castle. She wandered the streets for a few minutes, turning down paths she thought looked familiar, realizing rather quickly she was quite lost. As it grew darker, the shadows looming larger and longer, Eliza spotted a clock tower blocking the remaining rays of light. She moved towards it, but a loose cobblestone had her sprawling on the ground, wincing as she instinctually pressed her palms forward to catch herself, scraping her skin with tiny rocks. "Fuck…!" Eliza growled, hissing in pain. She felt like fool, wandering around a city she had only just stepped foot in, though it wasn't like she could just put "Vampire Castle" into google maps and have it show her which streets to take.

"Are you lost, little bird?" A voice cooed, red eyes glowing in the dark. Eliza's heart raced at the shock of the man simply appearing, his voice echoing over her music, causing her to pull the headphones from her ears. She crossed her arms, unconsciously attempting to shield herself as the man walked underneath the glow of the street light.

"I'm fine." She smiled tightly, uncomfortable with the way he seemed to scrutinize her, sniffing the air.

"You smell like one of the Masters…." He drawled, stepping closer, she stepped back, he followed her forward. "Why is that?" Eliza blinked, and he was directly in front of her, her breath tickling his face as he curled his lips in a snarl.

"Get out of my face." Perhaps it was the emotional turmoil of the day, perhaps it was because her manifesting power gave her a reckless sense of self security, either way Eliza was in no mood to put up with anyone's shit at that moment. The woman side stepped and went to leave the vampire behind her, but he reached out to grab her shoulder, spinning her back around. Eliza felt fear, coursing over her and reminding her of how mortal she truly was.

The man's face twisted monstrously, fangs flashing in the light. "Are you a pet, a future meal, or a thief?" He looked younger than her, perhaps twenty, twenty-two, but his fingers dug into her shoulder, bruising it no doubt.

"She is your Queen." The man was gone, no longer in front of her but being pressed against a stone wall by another vampire, draped in a pitch black cloak with the Volturi seal. "You should know not to touch that which isn't yours." Demitri grinned, glancing about to confirm no one was nearby before savagely ripping off the arm that had touched Eliza.

She winced, it sounded like tearing metal, not flesh, reminding her of the car accident, of the woman with the mocking voice. 'Death has red eyes.' She reminded herself, turning and walking quickly away while the two vampires fought. Her mind reasoned that she must be close to the castle, if a vampire was aware of her. What did he mean by she had one of the master's scent on her?

"Clever, cautious, Caius…" She mumbled to herself, adjusting the sleeves on the thick coat he insisted she wear. No vampire would touch her if she had been marked, had been claimed. 'Are you a pet, a future meal, or a thief?' The man's words echoed in her brain, rattling in her bones. Were those her three options, to be kept as Tory had suggested or to be made a meal of, or perhaps to simply steal her life back, a thing she no longer had possession of.

The defensive vampire flitted to her side, an arms length away, politely distant. "I'm Demetri by the way." There was a hint of smugness in his voice, as if he expected her to collapse at his feet in gratitude.

"Aro promised me I would not have to be accompanied." Eliza felt like it was the dark ages, the idea that a woman grown would need an escort seeming archaic in her modern mind. She scrutinizes Demitri for a moment, "It seems he lied."

Demitri was polite enough to look sheepish, "When the sun began to set, the kings grew weary, the night can be a dangerous thing."

"For the night is dark and full of terrors…" Eliza mumbled, smiling despite herself. She glanced back, where the other vampire cradled his missing arm and threw her a dark look before disappearing from her view, going off to hide and heal no doubt. "Is it normal to rip off people's limbs?" She was half surprised by her own lack of reaction, maybe because she was expecting blood to gush from the missing limb, spray everywhere like in horror movies, but instead it was like removing a Barbie's arm, it just popped right off, no blood, nothing.

"When someone touches what they should not, yes. Remove the hand from the thief, remove the arm of a man who touches the Queen." Demitri stated, as if it were obvious.

"I am not a queen." She laughed, thinking of her brother, Louis, and his nickname for their mother: the Queen of Mariposa Drive. Would that make her a princess, even if the name was given in jest, because their mother treated her home like a castle.

"You are the mate of my kings, does that not make you at least queen consort?" He was a sarcastic man, who slowed his quick pace to remain in step with her. Her heart ached for Louis, who would do the same while complaining that at five-foot-five, she was too short compared to his bulking frame.

Eliza sighed, stopping once they reached a corner that diverged into two roads, pausing and glancing about. "You don't know how to get back, do you?" Dimitri asked, clearly amused.

"So you have been following me…" Eliza grumbled, crossing her arms. The sleeves of her coat were too long, making her wonder if the man from before thinking her to be a thief was right in his assumption, it was obviously not her's. The thought stretched, she imagined sneaking into Caius's closet, rustling through all of his fancy suites just to steal the coat and sneak off into the night before anyone caught her. The thought was ludicrous, though the idea that she was a queen was even more so.

"One does not have to follow to see who is lost." Dimitri said with a quoting tone, though she had a feeling he just pulled the phrase out of his ass. "I simply stumbled across you heading home...the wrong way."

She skidded to a halt, home? The word was foreign to her. Once, she would have pictured La Push, another her apartment with Sam, but now? Home was a construct of shadows, of darkness.

"Miss Elizabeth?" Dimitri asked, in a way that seemed to not be the first time. How long had she paused herself? He placed his hand, gently onto her upper arm, she shivered.

He stared at her, as if seeing her for the first time, before linking his arm with hers and softly leading her towards the castle. Neither spoke, they simply listened to the echoes of their footsteps as they returned to the vampire coven.

'Home…' The word lingered in her mind, opening to reveal the modest three bedroom home on the Rez, with the back porch that opened to a garden blooming with tomatoes, cucumbers and other vegetables she could not recall, but with soft soil and bugs that the cats loved to chase. She needed to call her grandmother soon.

When they walked into the castle, Eliza felt eyes on her, whispers scraping against the air as she passed through it. 'A human, with Demetri? How odd…' 'She smells of Master Caius, faintly…' 'The human scent haunting the castle, is it her?'

She was an oddity, an outsider, a human. Eliza stared straight ahead, focusing on the feeling of calm that overwhelmed her the closer she got to wherever Demetri lead her. The feeling of unease that she seemed unable to shake after her conversation with her sister had almost completely ebbed when the man opened the door for her, revealing all three kings upon their individual thrones.

They each rose immediately, flitting to her side, touching her in some way, her cheek, her arm, her waist, making sure she was safe and unharmed. When Aro searched her thoughts, he frowned, turning to glare at Demitri. "You let him touch her?" His words were a hiss of rage and though he had no context, Caius was ready to fly into a rage.

His hands cupped her face, searching her eyes for a sign of distress, "Who touched what is mine?" There was a promise of death and vengeance in his expression, blood lust as well.

"Anton." Demitri informed easily, "He was unaware of her rank." When Aro held out his hand expectantly, Demitri placed his palm against his master's flesh, watching Eliza's movements. She looked beautiful, staring into the depths of a painting, moved by the beauty. He withheld a laugh at the sound of her voice 'get out of my face.' Oh, his feisty little mate!

"He shall soon know his place." Caius hissed, planning and plotting how best to punish the man. Eliza merely frowned, still rattled by the casual use of violence.

Marcus, who had remained mute up until that moment, raised a hand for silence. He glanced at his brothers, who paused and listened as well. "The Cullens are here!" Aro remarked, quite pleased. Though, he did not recognize two of the six pairs of footsteps. "Perhaps it's time for you to freshen up before the evening meal?" She would be the only one eating, but Aro used the excuse nonetheless.

"I want to at least say hello to Doctor Cullen and his wife." The man had told her many times to call him Carlisle, but it seemed too familiar of her to do so. Caius looked ready to argue, perhaps recognizing the threat as well, but the door swung open before either had the chance.

Felix looked quite pleased with himself, grinning at Demitri before presenting his caravan. "The Olympic coven, my lords. At least, the half residing in the U.K. currently. The others are arriving shortly."

Carlisle and Esme seemed fearful, looking at anyone but Eliza. She did not realize the tension until she moved to shake Carlisle's hand, as she had been raised to be polite, and Caius moved between the two. Peeking from behind his shoulder, Eliza watched three more women enter the throne room. Victorya looked grim, growing pale at the sight of her sister. Behind her, was a brunette with shortly cropped hair and Dominican complexion, hovering closely to a newborn vampire with ash blonde hair, who's eyes used to sparkle the brightest shades of green, but were now cherry red.

Fear and despair were a cocktail in her brain, sending her sputtering backwards. 'Oh god, Sam!' The voice mocked, the face once blurred by fear now coming into focus before her.

"Radimaze…" The words were a sigh on the newborn's lips, so full of hope when Eliza felt only pain.

"Samantha…." Her heart broke all over again, her skin so numb she did not even feel Aro's fingers digging into her wrist harsher than he meant to, bruising her human flesh with his vampiric strength.

Her tears filled the room with the scent of salt.