Guns and Drums is very good at reminding me that I need to update, without actually saying it. I haven't given up on writing this, I swear!

9. Elizabeth

That goodbye turned out to be a lie. I seemed to naturally gravitate toward Italy. I wasn't even being careful about it. It was strange because I hated them. It was understandable because I secretly missed that family connection. I didn't know it at the time. If I had realized, I would have gone back to Cullens. I hadn't fed since Conner anyway.

When I was almost there, I came across another redeye, my own kind, I reminded myself.

She was my size, with long blonde hair and ratty clothes. "Are you going to Volterra?" she asked.

I didn't speak.

"My name is Elizabeth," she said.

I nodded. I didn't care. Having her beside me was enough company.

"What's your name?"

"Bree." I stopped walking. "There's a village over there. We better be careful."

"Why would we need to be careful?"

"The Volturi." I spat the name.

"You're coming to see them and you hate them?" she said surprise. "That's strange."

"No place else to go." I shrugged. She was starting to annoy me, but I didn't want to fight.

"You must be relatively new if you want a coven."

"My fam—coven—" I coughed at my slip up. "My coven no longer wanted me to be with them. I'm five."

"What did you do? You'll have to forgive me for prying, I don't understand covens."

"I don't know," I lied.

We slipped into silence as we ran. After several minutes, Elizabeth asked, "Do the Volturi know all of the vampires?"

I shrugged.

"You don't talk much, do you?"

"Haven't spoken since I saw Felix and Demetri."

"Are they you're old oven mates?"

I shook my head "Volturi guard."

"I'm from 1870 and I don't know half of what you do. Why do you know who the Volturi are?"

"They and my coven aren't friends."

"You're one of the golden eyes, aren't you?"

I stared at her, "Do I look like a golden eye, Elizabeth?"

She flinched. "No, I'm sorry. I've only know just considered looking into who we are, you know? I've tried so long to not act like I'm a vampire and I'm dying of thirst and yet not dying. Do you why it works like that?"

"Immortality sucks."

She ignored my comment. "I know I don't sound like most vampires from my time, but I've tried really hard to blend in. I watch a lot of those television things. You're really only five? You act so much older."

"I haven't had blood in several weeks, maybe months. It's hard to figure out how long I've been gone."

"Why not?"

"I don't know. No one's sent has caught my nose I guess."

"How can you ignore the burning?" she asked in apparent amazement.

"Da—My coven leader does it easily enough." At the mention of it, I could feel the dull ache. "I should feed before we get there though. I might have to fight them. Bad blood, you know." Then, I smiled. "Horrible pun, sorry."

"How old were you when it happened?"

"Fourteen. You?"

"Sixteen, I think. I don't really remember. My past is a bit strange."

"Do explain."

"I'm not entirely sure what my family chose to do was legal."

Her use of the word family caught me off guard. "I don't mean to be rude, dude, but what do mean by family? Your coven?"

"No, I mean my actual blood relatives. Including my daughter, Scarlett, who is a half-human. I married a vampire when I was a human and after he saved mine and Scarlett's life, my parents burned him."

"I thought Bella was the only human to survive having a hybrid baby. And in 1870? That's amazing…"

"Bella?" she asked.

"Coven mate. Her daughter Nessie and I are the same age."

"What is Nessie like? Is she venomous like my Scarlett?"

"There's a girl hybrid who's venomous? The Volturi are going to love you!" I hugged her. "That takes a lot of the pressure off of me!"

"Why would they pressure you?" Elizabeth asked, pushing me away. "You seem rather innocent."

I snorted. "Dude, you have no idea." I pointed toward a town surrounded by walls. "I think this it. Now, we wait for dark."