Cold. So cold she thought. Pain like she had never known as it wracked her broken body yet found no strength in her lungs to scream. She could hear voices filled with panic and rage as she desperately tried to call to them. She knew them, knew those voices better than any other as she tried to find them, realising that her eyes could not see beyond a blinding light and panic began to set in. Was she dying?

"You are not truly dying Felicity…. Merely transitioning"

The voice was that of a woman and did nothing to sooth her fear as she realised her own voice could not answer or question those words, only listen as they continued to flow from the darkest recesses of her mind, a place filled with long forgotten memories of a woman who had loved her like only one person could.

"You have grown… become a woman that I never had the chance to know… You were so young when we were separated but I am grateful that they raised you with love, even though it was they who took that chance from me"

The pieces of the puzzle began to click as she continued to listen. Mother. Her mother was here. A subconscious conjuring in her hour of greatest fear. She couldn't see her face but a memory began to surface as she placed an image to the voice that seemed to fit. Blonde hair, a few inches longer than her own and only slightly darker, skin as pale as her own and eyes filled with kindness and hope, the same shade of blue.

"Despite the path fate has sent you down, I am proud to have been your mother for even the shortest of time…. I only wish we had known each other better. They are waiting for you, my beautiful child… The ones who fill your world with love like no other could"

She began to feel her consciousness falter as she tried once more to call for the mother she had lost, a strange warmth passing over her that felt like the final goodbye she had never had as a child, light flooding her vision as three blurred figures rushed to her side. The ghost of a whisper the last word her mother spoke as her eyes squinted against the brightness that flooded her vision and a feeling of rage rushed through her.

"…Travelli"

Four days they sat by her bedside. Four nights they prayed to old gods and new that they had not been too late, that the venom of their bites had reached her heart and started the transition.

It was taking too long. Three days was the usual transitional time from human to vampire. Her body was still torn, and no sign of her beautiful eyes opening. They had cleaned and tended to her wounds, in hopes that it would help, knowing that the venom would heal it quickly, but it had only proven to them how serious her injury had been and that, perhaps the venom would not be enough in the end.

Aro held her hand within his own as he refused to look away from her, his eyes desperately searching for some sign of movement from her. Roxanne had awoken not long before the third day, reborn with a new fire and a hunger that only Felix seemed able to satisfy as he helped her through her first feed.

Marcus sat limp in the armchair across the room, facing directly towards her bed, eyes vacant as he processed the fear he felt that she may never return to them. That, this time, they had truly lost her and that eternity would once more return to the never ending hell it had been after Didyme had passed and before Felicity had been carried into their lives as a child.

"I don't think I could continue on without her brothers"

Caius' voice was vacant as he stood facing the window, watching the garden below, the place she had been before all this had happened. He couldn't bear to see her so broken now, couldn't bear the thought that this would be his final memory of her.

"… Agreed… Since she came to us, I have not wished for a single moment without her. I thought I had known loss when we betrayed her trust and were forced to watch her walk away… This is so much worse"

Marcus clenched his fists as he listened to his brother's lament and mourn. What would they know of pain? Of having all the joy ripped from your life, of having hope in your heart only to be destroyed not once but twice. He was about to leave, turn his back upon the two but stopped, his eye catching a slight movement in the corner. Why on earth was the bedside table beginning to rattle?

"Aro. ARO! Beside you!"

It was swift as Marcus shouted his warning and the table began to shake increasingly more violently, Aro moving swiftly away as it was sent flying across the room, a scream ripping from the bed as Felicity's eyes seemed wide and burning with rage, her fanged teeth bared and eyes a glorious shade of red, objects soaring through the air as her telekinesis went out of control and her hands tore into the bed she lay on with new strength.

"TRAVELLI!"

She was on her feet in an instant, Caius catching her as she made to flee through the window, mind seeming deranged with anger as she fought against his hold, Aro and Marcus joining the struggle as they endeavoured to calm her mind.

"My love! Felicity! You are safe"

"My precious, all is well, calm your mind"

"Shhh my treasure, there is no need to fear. There is no need for anger"

It had been so long since they had witnessed such rage within their young mate, not since her teen years when hormones had been the major factor for all her emotions. Her eyes darted between them as she slowly began to calm down and allowed the three to hold her for a moment before pulling away and speaking.

"my kings… my loves. We can talk later but, right now, there is somewhere I must be"

Marcus frowned at this. It was the middle of the night but it was still too dangerous to allow a newborn vampire out into the world, even if they joined her for protection.

"you know the dangers little love… We can't allow you to leave just yet"

"I know who did this to me… I know who forced my change"

They were the only words she needed to speak before the four were gone from the castle, following her lead as she tracked her path for revenge.

"I'm coming for you Travelli"