Ravens were preying upon the battlements. Cries of women, children, men echoed upon the silent castle, though they were all long dead. The ravens feasted upon their bodies, and the sun made the stench in the air particularly fowl. Though she had no need to breathe, her lungs collapsed and then expanded with great speed, staring at the destruction she had caused.

The throats she had ripped out, the blood she had drained. It was now crusty on her gown.

"You know what will become of you now, Josier." The voice was hollow, almost disappointed. She closed her eyes, breathing in the rotting skeletons around her, as she nodded. "You have exposed the secret, and therefore the law must fall unto you with the fullest force."

"Tell him... Tell him I will come back to him some day," she told the man that was approaching her. Her body was tense, as though waiting for whatever the man approaching would deliver her. A death blow, she knew.

"He will be most heartbroken... Why did you slip?"

"It was my singer," she admitted. "Their scent was over everyone... I apologize, Master. I was weak. I failed in-" The blow was so sudden that she could say no more.

She awoke gasping, a sheen of sweat upon her skin as she clutched the sheet tightly. Again. She had died in her dreams again. Whenever she died in her dreams, it was always that event, the same exact order as always. Sometimes, the dream began with her murdering the people, and others it would begin as it had tonight. The death.

She didn't know why she dreamt of it. In fact, she didn't ever imagine anything like it. Since she was a girl, she had these... these images flashing in her head whenever she slept. Always of the same women, always of the same sort of setting. If it wasn't death, it was happiness, it was sadness, it was love.

She didn't know who the man was, but he wouldn't call her Bella. She wasn't Bella to him, it was almost like it was another woman.

A Josier. That was her name. It wasn't a first name, Bella knew that, but it had to be a last name, because the man would have called her by her first name if they were closer, wouldn't they? She called him Master... Master. Did this mean anything?

"What's wrong, love?"

"Just a dream," she told the vampire boyfriend lurking in the rocking chair nearby. She found it incredibly creepy he enjoyed watching her sleep. She ignored him, however, falling back into her pillows and letting out a brief sigh. She was one step closer to finding out who the woman she dreamed of was.

Shutting her eyes, she tried to fall back asleep, but it was as if a beast had awaken inside of her, with a bloodthirsty desire to find out what was going on in her head.

She was granted a small moment of peace that morning as Edward went back to his house to get ready for the day, and Bella turned on her computer, glancing towards the window every few seconds as if expecting Edward to show back up. What was she going to say, if he showed up? Oh, just this name I heard in passing? No, it wouldn't work. Bella knew that Edward would be suspicious.

So she quickly typed the name into her search bar.

Josier female.

Perfume results showed up, and modern results suggesting that she had misspelled Josier, instead thinking of maybe Josie. But her dreams weren't in modern times. She was wearing clothing of a distinct era centuries ago. And the man that had killed her was wearing a heavy cloak. Not even close to this era.

She tried again.

Josier Medieval Massacre.

Still nothing of importance. Things about the Crusades.

She tried many different results, but found nothing. References to people dying overnight with the plague. Which, Bella supposed, could have been the excuse given to many villages being massacred. But Josier was definitely a vampire. She had used that word. Singer. Bella knew it. She had been called it.

Only one person would know really old vampires. Turning her computer off, Bella quickly got ready, and by the time she made it down the stairs, Edward was pulling into the driveway, to drive her to work.

"Hey, Edward? I was wondering if I could head over to your house after work," Bella said as she slid into the passenger seat. Edward paused from closing the door. "I have a few questions to ask Carlisle about something he mentioned the other day, and I know you have to hunt this afternoon-"

"What questions? About the Volturi?"

"Well, not really. But sort of at the same time. It's complicated. I just... it's been on my mind for a while and I'd just like to ask." Edward seemed a bit suspicious, but gave a nod. "Sure, Alice is probably seeing this and letting him know."

So Bella just tortured herself the entire day, trying to figure out what could possibly be an explanation for her dream. Maybe she just had an overactive imagination?

But as she spent some time reading a book in the Cullen's enormous living room, Alice doing her shopping and the two brothers doing their video games. Edward and Rosalie disappeared with Esme to hunt and Bella just needed Carlisle to get home from his shift at the hospital. It was all she could think about.

Josier. Who was she? A woman, a vampire. A murderer - but one that hadn't meant to. And she had left a message behind for someone - to tell them that she would be back. Who? A friend? A boyfriend or husband? Father or family? Bella had no idea. She saw so little about Josier's life. Snippets of a castle, paintings, the massacre. Fire. But nothing ever as definitive as the massacre. Her final moments. Bella just needed to know if they were real, or if she needed to find some therapist and fix whatever was wrong with her. But she would likely still need the therapist. Something wasn't right. It couldn't be.

She knocked on the door to Carlisle's study, doing her best to keep from getting nervous. He had been home for a half hour before she had worked up the courage to excuse herself and wander towards the study in the first place. Edward, Esme, and Rosalie were due back any minute now, and she wanted to get it over with before Edward could find out about her dreams. But she knew it was inevitable anyway. He could read everything in Carlisle's mind. Carlisle was always forthcoming with information.

"Come in, Bella."

And calm. He was so kind and calm. She turned the knob on the door and walked into the room hesitantly, hanging halfway in and out as she spotted Carlisle leaning over an old book. "If you're busy-"

"Not at all, just some light reading," Carlisle answered, giving her a calming smile. "Edward mentioned that you had a few questions earlier. What can I do for you?"

"I... You know many people in your world, correct?" Bella asked, pressing the door closed and walking a few steps closer to the desk. At his nod, she quickly continued. "It's just... I was wondering if the name Josier meant anything to you?"

Carlisle's face turned unreadable. "Where did this come from, Bella?"

So he did know the name. "I've been... It's going to sound crazy," Bella backtracked, sitting heavily in the chair across from his desk. "I... I've been having these dreams for as long as I can remember, since I was a little girl at least... and I'm always this woman... I didn't know her name until last night... in my dream, someone spoke to her. She kept calling him Master... And he called her Josier... Is she a vampire?"

"Dreams?" Carlisle asked, dodging the question. He shut the book, not bothering to place a bookmark in his place. Bella ventured that he had already read the book more times than ever. "What kind of dreams?"

"Well, I'm her, so... so I'm standing at the wall of this city... it's old, like a village, and... there's bodies everywhere," Bella murmured. "Drained. I know I killed them... And it was against the law. Apparently my singer lived there."

"Then you know about her," Carlisle said carefully. He rose, walking towards his bookshelf. "Her name was Evangeline Josier. She was born in 1433 in Toulouse, France to a wealthy landlord and the illegitimate daughter of the King of France at the time. It is said she was as beautiful as an angel, and as gentle as a flower." He selected a book, flipping through the pages.

"Was? So... she's dead?"

"She was turned at the age of sixteen, in one of the most violent attacks vampires have ever done to humans." He paused at a page in the book, a thoughtful look on his face. "Her entire family was murdered, but she survived, cursed to live for eternity alone. Her abilities, however, were... they were extraordinary. She was able to use the traits given to her in her human life in order to compel people to come to her, for food. It was something that attracted the Volturi to her existence. Almost immediately, she was put on the guard and trained... taught how to defend the three kings."

"What happened?"

"She and a few others were sent to search for a group of newborns believed to be hiding in the south of Austria. While there, her companions went ahead and she strayed... a scent caught her unaware. Her singer had fallen and drawn blood, and she was unable to control herself. She destroyed the entire village, all three thousand, and was promptly executed by the Volturi for nearly exposing the secret. It was 1694 when that happened."

"You had met her," Bella guessed. "You were with the Volturi then."

"Yes," Carlisle admitted. He passed the book he had selected to her, and Bella found it wasn't any book, but instead a sketch book. "She was even more beautiful in her vampire form." Bella's eyes widened. The woman, indeed, was beautiful. Carlisle's sketch showed she had long, dark hair that was braided, and a fair complexion. But it wasn't what caught Bella's eye.

"We look similar."

"Similar? Identical, I'd say," Carlisle admitted. He gazed at Bella a moment before walking back to his own seat. "How often do you have these dreams?"

"Every night," Bella murmured. She set the book down on Carlisle's desk, her hands shaking and her heart pounding. "What does that mean? Is it a bad thing? Is she haunting me or something... do ghosts even exist?"

"I don't know... I can call Aro, seek his opinion, if you'd like answers... but the truth is, Bella, you shouldn't even know she existed."

"I know, that's why I came to you," Bella murmured. "Carlisle... what if... what if this means something... like she's got some unfinished business-"

"She wouldn't haunt you over it," Carlisle promised. "I'll contact Aro... with your change scheduled a few days from now, asking such questions shouldn't be an issue... I'll be careful."

Bella nodded, biting her lip. "So, this won't harm us, right?"

"No."

At least there was that mercy. Edward had told her stories about the Kings, and how she was violating the law by knowing about them while still being human. It was why the change was so important, why the pack had made a special exception once Carlisle explained why it was necessary. And how they were helping cover up her death so that Charlie wouldn't spend a lifetime looking for her if she just disappeared.

It was better that way.

But she wanted to resolve the dream issue before she couldn't dream any longer. "Good. I just... would like to know what's going on. But I don't want to put your family in danger."

Carlisle gave her a calm smile. "Aro is a very understanding man, and Marcus is equally as curious about things." Bella glanced towards the painting of the three kings. They looked anything but Carlisle described. "Everything will be fine, Bella. And we'll get to the bottom of your dreams. I'm sure they aren't anything to worry about, but we can never be too safe."

"No, I know... which is good," Bella admitted. "It's just all so confusing, really."

"It'll work out." But would it? Involving the Volturi... it made Bella feel suddenly a little sick - but not in a bad way. Almost sick with anticipation. She had no idea where it came from.