"Well then," huffed Alice, pouting at Rosalie. "Someone is touchy today." She turned around and walked back to her room, her ruby velvet flats padding silently against the floors.

"Damn right I am! Stupid Edward and Carlisle….had to drag Emmett out there too…" she muttered under her breath. She turned on her heel and walked back, slamming the door with a boom that echoed through the house and sent small tremors through the ground outside.

Alice sighed and shut her door with a click. She never did understand why Rose got so nervous and prissy whenever Emmett wasn't right by her side. How could you love someone that much without exploding?

She turned to her sewing machine and did what she always did to soothe her nerves: she created. She chose a soft gray material, silver really, and began to sew tiny stitches in iridescent gold thread. The cloth winked brightly in the setting light of the sunset.

***

"Alice, it's beautiful! I love it," gushed Esme, holding the swath of velvety material out to get a better look at it. It was a soft, silvery dress. The neckline was straight, running from one shoulder to the other. In one corner, a swath of the cloth was gathered and twisted into a semblance of a rose. The skirt was long and smooth and fell to the ground in smooth rivulets of cloth. The end was embroidered with gold thread. It would look amazing on her adoptive mother, Esme Carlisle. Esme was rather petite and slim, just a few inches taller than Alice, with soft curves. She had long, soft wisps of amber hair that fell around her exquisitely beautiful face.

Esme was the mother of the small clan she belonged to. She, Alice, Rosalie, Emmett, Edward, and Carlisle were its members. Carlisle was their father. Well, adoptive father, anyway.

Carlisle was the most compassionate man Alice had ever met. He was probably the one of the only vampires in the world that had never killed a mortal.

That's right, vampire. They're gorgeous, super-strong, super-fast, and almost indestructible. They're perfect. But there is one thing…

They drink human blood.

Alice's clan was different. Each and every one of them had bright, golden butterscotch eyes, luminous and glowing. Why? Because they were one of the few vampires on Earth who drank animal blood. Of course animal blood was no substitute for human blood when in came to taste, but animal blood sufficed.

"Rosalie, look! Isn't this beautiful?" laughed Esme in a musical voice as Rose stepped grouchily down the stairs. Rosalie looked up at us, her mouth set in a frown. Esme held out the glittering sliver dress for Rosalie to look at.

Rosalie was beside us in a flash. "This is the dress she made for you?!" Rose said incredulously, her eyes immediately flashing to mine angrily.

"Yup. Don't you love the cloth? The color looks amazing," drawled Alice, smiling back evilly.

She had originally meant for it to be for Rosalie, and she'd told her that, but then Rose had to go and frustrate her.

Rose glared at her behind Esme's back. Alice stuck her tiny pink tongue out at her. Esme just smiled happily at her new dress.

Alice pranced up the stairs two at a time, the skirt of her teeny blue cotton dress flapping against her ivory-white thighs. "Well, back to my creating station," she chirped, shooting one last triumphant glance at Rosalie.

Rosalie glared at her and stalked off into the den to wallow in mindless MTV shows. Alice smiled a tiny smile, but inside she just felt lonely…

***

Alice grimaced as she swung gracefully through the trees. The skin of her hands felt raw from the hunting, running, and swinging she'd been doing for the past few days. Boredom had racked at her nerves until finally she felt as if she would explode. So she's hunted. She'd hunted for every wake moment of the past 5 days (which was a lot, considering the fact that she couldn't sleep), gorging herself on panthers, deer, bears, and the like.

Alice suddenly felt the wind shift, and a new scent overcame her. What was this? A new bird, perhaps? A hybrid?

She leaped over the tiny stream that divided the dark, moonlit forest into quarters and hid in the topmost branches of a tree.

The new animal was longer than a mountain lion, with a glossy amber coat and intelligent black eyes. Alice smiled. This animal was huge compared to her tiny, lithe figure. This was a new challenge.

Ten minutes later, Alice looked up into the silver waxing moon. Her lips were stained red, and the blood-drained carcass she'd thrown to the side seconds before shone in the moonlight. Alice closed her eyes and felt a wave of sorrow overcome her.

She was alone. Completely and totally alone. Carlisle, Esme, Rose, and Emmett were her family, and Edward usually kept her company at times like this, but now he was gone, and she was alone.

The moon cast its glow onto her pale face, as if to console her. But she knew that she would always be alone, forever and always. Edward was close to finding a mate with Tanya, and the rest of her family was perfectly happy with their respective mates. But Alice? Alice, their fun-loving, mischievous, oracle sister, would never enjoy the love they did, never bask in the glow of their mates like Rose or Esme. And that alone pierced her unbeating heart like daggers.

***

Alice gently lowered herself onto the giant balcony that led to her bedroom. The glass doors were wide open, as they always were, and the silky white curtains billowed out with the wind. It was a scene from a movie: moon-lit night, windy but warm. A beautiful girl enters, tears trailing pearly trails down her pale, flawless cheek. Suddenly, a calloused, masculine hand wipes her tears away and turns her around to face him. "Alice, I love you. She was never for me, you were, and you are. I am yours." Then, said beautiful girl smiles through her glittering tears and reaches up to embrace the handsomely rugged man. They lock lips in a passionate kiss, and the credits roll out.

Alice sighed and snapped out of her daze. The only difference was that there was no man to brush away her tears or embrace her. There was only her, all alone.

Alice made a face. Since when was she such a whiner? Ugh. She jumped onto her bed and surveyed her surroundings with approval.

She'd redone her room with Edward just last month, and she loved it. The walls were a creamy white with sponged on gold. There was a round couch covered with gauzy gold swathes of cloth and dozens of embroidered Indian pillows. The ceiling was painted a deep, bronze- y gold. The bed (which was mostly for show) was a golden cloud heaped high with half-finished designs, several drawings, and her cell phone, a limited-edition yellow-diamond studded Jelosy, a phone that wasn't even out in the market yet. (Hey, what else do you do with mountains of money when you don't need it?)

She snagged her phone with one of those too-fast-for-human-eyes movements and flipped it open. She began to compose a very lengthy, pointless text to Edward when she the vision came.

Alice sighed with expectancy and closed her eyes, allowing the vision to seep into her every pore. She hadn't had a vision in ages; this one better be good.

The sun is rising, its mango light casting the house into a golden shade. Rosalie, Esme, and her own self are at the front of the house, their beautiful faces glittering in the early morning light. As soon as a cloud uncovers the sun, a whizzing sound is heard, and Edward arrives, and Alice envelopes him in a bone-crushing hug. Then Emmett arrives, and then…Carlisle.

But he isn't alone. Behind him is a new vampire. All she can see is the glint of butterscotch-blonde on the new vampire's head, and then…

Alice opened her eyes, bursting with excitement. A new vampire! A female, preferably. And one who loved to shop and design and create, just like her. Alice beamed. This was the first time she'd been happy in months.

She raced down the stairs to tell Esme and Rose.