The entire castle seemed blanketed in the chill, though vampires had no need for air conditioning, humans did. Eliza scurried to her original destination before Sam intervened, her bedroom. Or at least, the room where her stuff had been placed. It felt strange, considering anything in the castle to be her own, even her own body, in light of the blood lust that followed her beating heart in such a still place. It was not a place for humans, for they tended to end up on the menu rather than welcomed as guests and she was both the exception and the rule.

The room was comfortable, packed with human amenities and, she noticed with a slight sense of dread, her suitcase had already been unpacked, clothing hung in the massive closet or placed in drawers, her laptop resting in the center of an old, dark oak desk. She sat down in the massive chair, like a child in their parents' office, and opened the device. Notifications lit up the home screen, causing her brow to furrow, the castle seemed ancient, yet someone had set up her computer with WiFi? She snorted through her nose, a long exhale of humor at the thought of them being able to do something so modern. Her computer was connected to her phone, so there were almost two dozen texts waiting for her. She passed on reading those from her family, even her grandmother's one line message and went to her friend's. Fiona had written a paragraph, asking how she was, if she would visit, if she had found a place yet. Fiona had moved to London after completing her Masters degree, intent on getting her Doctorate in English in England. Eliza remembered her saying it felt right, to study the language where it originated from. It made her laugh to hear her friend call a sweater a jumper after only being across the pond for a few months.

Impulsively, she clicked to video call her friend, knowing the time difference was smaller between them than anyone else they knew.

On the second ring, Fiona's face appeared, brown, curly hair in a messy bun, amber eyes lighting up with delight upon the video connecting to show Eliza, no doubt in a state. "Damn girl, you look like you got rode hard and put up wet! You took my advice then?" In the weeks between the funeral and her coming to Volterra, Fiona and Eliza had spent hours on video calls, sometimes talking, sometimes in silence. Fiona had told her it would be okay to move on, to have a rebound relationship to get herself on track. If Eliza remembered right, Fiona's exact words were 'the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else,' which Eliza in return had barked out a laugh over, the first laugh in a long time.

"Not exactly, I mean…" She smiled sheepishly, fingers combing her hair—which no doubt was in a state considering Marcus had wound his hands through the strands when they had….had sex? Made love? She couldn't find a proper title—only to reveal a bruise on the side of her neck. "Hello to you too, Fi!"

"And hello hickey!" Fiona laughed, bright and cheery, exactly what Eliza needed to hear, though perhaps not at her extent. "What's their name? Romeo or Juliet?"

Eliza scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Romeo." Though she hoped it would not end in death like in the play. She noted Fiona on the screen, studying her loose t-shirt and messy stack of books and random paperwork that was barely visible around her. "Did I interrupt your writing?"

Fiona made a 'psh' noise and waved her hand in front of the camera, "Can't interrupt something that isn't happening, love! Writers block is a real bitch, you saved me from looking at an empty paragraph. It's like writing has become work, who knew agreeing to write another thesis could be such a bitch?"

"Life's a bitch and so are you, Fi." Eliza joked, a play on a previous musing between the two of them. "I'm sure it'll be great and some undergrad will use it as a source in their Intro to Lit paper in a few years."

Fiona rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless. "Enough shop talk, tell me everything about Italy, about Romeo, about Tory driving you nuts. I want to live vicariously through you! Take me to Italy in my mind, girl!"

What should she say, though? From what Tory had explained, humans aware of vampires should be turned or killed, unless they were a wolf or an imprint of one. And how could she explain she had three ancient, albeit incredibly attractive, men after her? The best lie was mainly truth, she supposed, so she painted on a fox-like smile and told a story.

"Well, Tory and I were touring this castle when I slipped on the old stone. Who polishes the floors when a tour is coming through, anyways? And I fell right into this guy's arms. Tall, dark and handsome, he legit catches me right before my head would have smacked the ground! And-"

"Damn!" Fiona interrupts, fingers splayed over her mouth in surprise. It makes Eliza grin, though she feels bad for telling lies to her friend. "That's some knight in shining armor shit right there. Does he have a brother?" Her friend says it jokingly, but Eliza sees an in.

"Two actually." The blush that dusts her cheeks gives her away and Fiona whistles.

"And which one is Romeo?" Fiona asks, leaning closer, like she was being told about Beowulf and not the latest gossip.

"Marcus, but Aro and Caius are also….interested….in me?" She laughs sheepishly and Fiona loses her mind, hands clapping as she laughs and wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.

"Damn girl, get it!" Fiona teases, "Are you gonna be play Bachelorette and give out roses or just have a harem?"

Eliza laughs this time, shrugging. "They're all like...super hot….would it be bad to be in a harem?" She smiles with a sense of light heartedness that only Fiona can seem to give her, mostly because they can talk so freely with one another, without judgment, exactly what she needed after the run in with Sam.

"Yaaaas, queen! Live that anime life!" Fiona half screams, "Okay, I'm going to look for flights, next break from school, I'm coming to meet your harem and maybe find myself a cousin or something!" She's grinning from ear to ear, but it fills Eliza with dread. How good are the Volturi at playing human? "Also, have you found a place yet, it seems a bit too posh where you are now to be your new place."

"Too posh, is it?" Eliza teases with a horrendous attempt at a British accent. In a normal voice, she continues, realizing it is what she wants the moment she says it, "I'm spending the weekend looking for apartments. One close to work, hopefully. I have a week before I start, so hopefully I can find a more permanent living situation before Tory flies home in a few days."

Fiona smiles, "Good. I'm proud of you, you know. It must be hard, being in a new place on your own, it'll be hard for a while but it gets better. Sam would want you to be happy, to move on, you know?" The words are meant to bring her comfort, but they only fill her with dread. Sam was not happy at all that she had moved on, but she couldn't tell Fiona that, so she just smiled.

"Thanks, Fiona. I appreciate it. It was great talking to you, I'll let you get back to your thesis." She laughed at Fiona's imitation of flipping a table in response.

"Thesis writing sucks! But I love and support you, Liza. Call or text anytime, okay?" Fiona asked, to which Eliza nodded and they ended the call.

"Who was that?" Aro, silent as the grave, stood in her shadow, just outside of the camera's view when she was video chatting. How long had he been there?

A/N:

I feel like I leave notes at the end of each chapter at this point haha. Happy chapter twenty! I had been debating on adding Fiona to the story but I felt like Eliza needed someone to talk to and I got a lovely review today telling me this was the best Volturi poly story they had read and asked me to please update, so reviews make stuff happen! Love you all just for reading, though haha.