A/N: i'm so sorry guys! i posted the wrong chapter earlier! i gave something away! urgh! this was suppose to delete the other chapter...so i deleted the other one (which will be the next one i upload) thank you to ToxicFireStarter who brought this to my attention!

*In This Darkness Which You Know You Cannot Fight*

Arii awoke to intense throbbing in her head. Her whole body ached. Tears slid down her cheeks. Opening her eyes, Arii was greeted by darkness. She couldn't see anything. She had no sense of where she was. How had she gotten here? Where was here? Where were her parents? What had happened?

Nothing made sense. How could this have happened? Sobs racked her body, and upon trying to curl into herself, a heaviness weighed down her wrists. Tugging fiercely, Arii cried out as metal bit into her skin. She felt warm blood trickle down her hands and through her fingers.

Moving around, Arii found the rest of her body free from restraints albeit extremely bruised from her unnatural trip down the stairs. Her shows were missing leaving her barefoot. Thankfully, her jeans and camisole remained; tattered but there.

The gloom was suffocating. Her wrists ached and some far off dripping water (at least she hoped it was water) turned torturous.

Minutes felt like hours. Hours turned to days. The only change in Arii's isolated world was the amount of poisonous pain coursing through her frail body. She slept the days away; not knowing for how long, only knowing that fatigue would not release its hold on her.

Crying out was pointless. Wherever she was, it was not in reach of Hope. Hope for Light. Hope for an End to Pain. Hope for her parents. Hope for herself. All gone.

There was nothing left now, but to wait.

For what? She wasn't sure.

Fate had not decided yet.

The grating of locks startled Arii out of a restless slumber. The door was creaking open. crawling as far away from the door as the chain would allow, Arii tried to make herself invisible against the cold, musty stone wall.

Her eyes snapped open, as a hooded figure entered her personal hell. Faster than her strained and bleary eyes could follow, the stranger's pale fist closed around the heavy iron chain and tore the bolt from the floor.

Arii yelped, as she was tugged by the chain manacles on her chapped wrists. Struggling to stand, she found herself half drug out of the cell. Tears stained her face.

The hooded figure loomed at least three heads taller than her 5' 5" frame. Judging by the breadth of the massive shoulders, she guessed her captor to be male. And ruthless. He ignored her cries of pain and simply tugged sharply on the chain as she resisted and fumbled over her own feet. Her wrists and feet were broken into bloody, shredded messes by the time they had exited the darkened dungeon corridor.

With the opening of a heavy stone door, Arii's eyes were assaulted with dim harsh fluorescent lighting. After so long in the dimness of the cell, her eyes burned with even the smallest fraction of light. The pain in her head throbbed intensely. Hot tears raced across her face and disappeared into her camisole.

Her captor led her through a modernized corridor. The cool tile soothed her blistered feet, as she trudged to some unknown destination. She lost track of herself. They climbed endless staircases only to descend again into pitiful darkness. Confusion wracked her brain until Arii was unsure whether they were descending or ascending.

Led through a large marble archway, Arii found herself in a circular chamber framed with alabaster pillars. Her eyes could barely focus, as the brightness blinded her. Surrounding the room stood pale remarkably beautiful men. Eerily still, they watched her entrance into the room with eyes that shone as red as rubies and with a hunger that startled and terrified her. Something just wasn't right with this almost inhuman group of people. Their faces were like stone as they stared.

There was a dais at the front of the chamber that held three elaborately robed men. One stared, bored, out at her. His body was slumped in a high backed, menacingly black chair. Next to him, two identical chairs housed men who had a definite interest in her. The center one had his hair tied back in a sleek pony-tail at the base of his neck that made his pointed features even sharper. His hands were folded in his lap, as he stared at her with a keen, amused expression; almost like she was a shiny new toy.

The third was nothing like his middle-aged counterparts. He was gorgeous; terrifyingly, mouth-wateringly gorgeous. His blonde hair was loose around his pale face and barely brushed his square shoulders. Even with the black robe, she could tell that he was muscular. Not like a body builder, but sleek, defined, toned. His long fingers clutched the arms of his chair so tightly that Arii could swear she heard it cracking under his grip. His face was contorted in a mask of rage. His eyes though…they were a whirlwind of emotion; emotions she couldn't quit place, but, the closer she got, the more clear it was that he wasn't found of her nearness.

Arii was slightly offended and, under different circumstances (those being her not as their prisoner), she would have called him out on it. But, seeing as she was chained and in no position to be defiant, she bit her tongue.

Only upon slamming into what seemed like a brick wall, did Arii realize that her captor had stopped walking. Suddenly, she found herself lying on her stomach, her cheek bleeding profusely. Growling sounded all around her. A kick in her side effectively, and excruciatingly, flipped her onto her back.

"Enough."

Footsteps echoed overhead, as the gorgeous man approached her. Up close, Arii could tell he wasn't much older than her seventeen year. His face was strained, as he looked down at her. It seemed he was about to kneel down, when a harsh voice sounded.

"Caius." So that's his name…

As if startled out of some internal battle, Caius went rigid, spun on his heel and strode back to the dais.

"Now," a different, lighter voice chortled, "we can get back to business. Hopefully before Heidi gets back. It would be so rude to eat our guest."

Wait. Arii's eyes flew open. Did he just say eat me?

Her blue eyes swept over to Caius'. She had no idea why, but something about him drew her in.

His blood red eyes looked into hers for the briefest of moments before gazing at the wall behind her as if it held the some sort of answer.

"So. Where shall we begin? Do sit up, dear. It is quit uncouth to lie like that outside of the bedroom."

Arii blushed crimson, as she picked herself up off of the marble ground and pressed her hand to her aching cheek.

"Thank you, dear. That sight was almost too enticing. Even for one as old as I."

"Aro. Stop taunting her."

Aro (the pony-tailed one, apparently) smiled sweetly. "Oh, Caius, to see you care for a human is endearing, I was almost thinking you had lost all of your humanity after almost 700 years."

Arii's brain couldn't keep up. Human? 700 years? She couldn't hold it in.

"What the hell are you?"

A colorless hand jerked the chain shackling her hands. She fell forward onto her knees in front of Aro.

Slowly, he walked down the short flight of stairs, pushed a strand of her hair from her face, tilted her chin up with a cool knuckle, and whispered one word that brought her world crashing down around her.

One world that stole reality from her.

"Vampire."