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CHAPTER 10

Aria POV

Aria glanced at the familiar scenery in her dream, so she was here again. "Helloooo? Anyone here?" she called out.

"Over here," a voice called, leaning against the tree. It was a man in his early 30'maybe late 20's, he had a slight stubble and messy hair. He was finely built and had a toned body. He wasn't too thin or too big. He was just right and muscular. He wore a tight black shirt that showed off his muscular arms and his fit body. He wore slightly loose, yet fitting jeans. He looked perfect. He gave a nod, "How you been?"

"Michael!" Ari blushed. He was still as handsome as ever. She sat down beside him, leaning against the tree. How Cassie and Mara would be jealous to be her right now. Yet, she didn't feel what she felt for Michael before. Sure they had a crush on her, but now, when she imagined a life with Michael, all she saw was Aro. 'Why. Why,' she thought to herself, 'Why would you…?' "Anyways, do you have any news?"

Michael eyed her, "I should be asking you that," he muttered, "You three are the ones being held captive."

"It's nothing. Aro has been incredibly nice to me since I'm sick." Ari replied, feeling the soft grass before her before leaning back and resting her back against the tree again.

"When do you plan to leave?" he asked, staring at the white clouds in the sky.

Aria froze, "W-Well…I don't know." She said, "I'm still sick and…"

"You know what I'm talking about Aria." Michael interrupted her roughly, glaring at her. "You know how the family is worried about you."

She stood up abruptly, glaring, "You can't expect me to answer that! You know how I feel Michael!" she shouted in anger. "I'm leaving!" She began to stomp off, when a hand shot out and grabbed her, pulling her backwards, "Eeeep!" She landed on Michael, as he embraced her.

"You know what I mean, Aria." He said softly in her hair, his voice and breath tickling her ear, "The family is worried. Carrie's worrying too. Asking when you guys are coming back. When her "mama" is coming back."

Ari sighed, "I'm sorry, I just…" she started off, "I don't know." She sighed, hugging him again before sitting up straight beside him. "It feels nice to know that I can talk to you guys, but I wish I could see you in real life and not just in some dream."

"Just leave then." Was Michael's reply to Aria. He gave her a suggestive wink, "Just run away with me."

She gave him a look and elbowed him, "Not doing so." She chuckled, "At least not yet. I just can't."

He raised an eyebrow, "You plan on running away with me?" he asked, in mock concern. "Should I be worried? Young, teenage girl wants to run away with an old man like me?"

'Oh if only you knew Michael,' she thought, 'That many don't really regard you as old…not with the way you look.' She blushed, "N-No way!" she retorted when he gave her another wink. "I don't…I mean…" she was all flustered, and unable to say complete sentences.

He roared with laughter, clutching his sides. "I know!" he said between laughs, "God! You should see how red your face is right now!"

She jabbed his side, "God! I hate you Michael!" she retorted, "Don't you ever get tired of teasing me?!"

He shook his head, "Never did, never will. You've been fun to tease since you were a baby. I'm not stopping now." He chuckled again, "So you're not leaving." He didn't even question it this time, he just said it.

She sighed. "No. I know it's a lot of effort to send everyone every night. I've read it in the books. To cast this spell isn't easy. Tell the family to stop wasting the expensive stuff. They can contact me once a week or something and when I have a definite plan, you guys can come see me nightly, but until then, once week is fine. Or a month."

He closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep, "I understand. I will relay the message to your family." He replied, "You thinking of getting married?"

She stared at him, "What? What made you ask that?!" she asked in shock.

"W-ell." He began, "There's a girl."

She groaned, "Oh god I see where this is going. You like her?" she asked. Oh how the ladies will be heartbroken.

He gave her a look, "Very funny." He told her, "You know her too."

"Hmmm…do I?" Ari said, tapping her chin thoughtfully, Who could it be? "It isn't…Cassie or Mara is it?"

"No it isn't."

"Me?" she asked in a joke. It wasn't her. She was just asking as a joke, any yet, she couldn't accept it. Cassie, Mara and her had not fawned over the man for the past 2 years for nothing. He was so handsome. So perfect. 'Though not as handsome as Aro…' she began thinking, 'Stop that! Ari you are so stupid! Stop the stupid thoughts!'

"No." he hesitated when he saw her eyes began to roll sarcastically. He leaned forward and grabbed her chin with his calloused finger, putting on his serious face. "It's…my daughter."

Ari collapsed in shock, "You're going to marry Carrie?!" she shrieked, "She's your daughter!"

He smiled, "She told me today she was going to marry her papa when she grew up." He said proudly, puffing up his chest. He knew of Ari's affections for him. Michael was no fool, but he could not reciprocate it. There was no way. Yet, there was something strange about Ari right now. It seem like….like she had moved on. Michael was glad, he didn't want to deal with three more young adults in his life. If he had chosen Ari, Ari came along with Cassie and Mara, and had he chosen Cassie, vice versa would have happened. The girls cared for each other, and stuck together they did.

She laughed at him, "Every little girl says that when she's young!" she said, laughing, "I said it to daddy too!" For a moment there, she had thought Michael had really found someone. An image flashed through her mine of a certain female. Maybe it was her. She would be Michael's beloved wife. Ari didn't feel sad anymore. She had moved on. Moved onto Aro. She giggled to herself, would Aro be able to accept her? Would he accept her? He still loved his dead wife didn't he?

Michael just gave her the glare, he stared at her. "Well…I suppose there really isn't any reason for me to be here." He muttered, looking away, "Do I?"

Ari shook her head, "Not really. But it's peaceful here."

Michael raised an eyebrow, "One," he began, "Staying in the dream world isn't healthy and you know it. Two, is there something going on in the real world?"

"I would never attempt casting a spell," Ari muttered, "I never learned. Told daddy and mom that I would study my witchy skills after I came back from a year or two of traveling."

"Seems like you're going to be gone way more than a year or two." Michael grumbled under his breath, "You didn't answer my second question. Is there something going on?"

Ari shook her head, "No. It's just…when I wake up, I wake up to reality, I wake up to what and where I was last before I fell asleep." She said, "And…reality isn't always a gentleman."

Michael gave her a small smile, "Is this about some vampire I've been hearing about?" he asked, giving her wink, "C'mon out with it." He paused, thinking and then continued, "And tell me about the other two girls too. Any targets?"

Ari sighed. "I…we…we have crushes on widowed men."

Michael gave her a look before sighing in a sarcastic manner, "I knew it. You girls…why the older men? He has to be at least 18 to be married…unless….Middle East? Africa? Asia? Where are you? I thought you were in Europe." He interrupted her, "Say the word. I'll come rescue you."

Ari gave him a glare, "Look Aro is a nice guy who—"

"A-hah!" Michael said gleefully, "So his name is Aro, huh? So what he's like?"

"If only you'd let me finish—"

"Since when did I not let you finish your sentence?" Michael interrupted again, unaware he had done it again. She glared at him, and then it dawned on him. "Whoops. Sorry. Continue please."

"Anyways, he's kind of nice until I got on his bad side, but then I got sick and he's really nice now." She said, "And…his wife was…murdered." She glanced away, not wanting to meet this eyes, "Though they're vampires and his wife along with two other vampire females—wives of the other men, Cassie and Mara like, were killed during the shopping spree. But on brighter subjects, Aro does drink blood, and he's well, cold like other vampires, and he's really tall—"

"Hang on," Michael interrupted again, "How tall?"

"Well if you'd let me finish, you'd know that he is…" she paused, cocking her head, pondering, "Well…he's tall. I'm up to his chest-ish area. He's not the tallest of the three. Probably the 2nd tallest. Marcus is the tallest. He just towers over everyone."

"Marcus is….?"

"Oh. Mara likes him. Marcus is really quiet. He's really nice apparently, but the loss of his wife, has caused him to have a bit of…trouble, but generally he's nice around Mara or so Mara says." Ari replied.

"What does Marcus look like?" Michael asked, absentminded, he was twirling a ring his finger. His old wedding ring.

"He's tall…has kind of wavy hair. Got that super masculine look. Slender. Well, most vampires are slender-ish."

"Uh-huh. Attractive?"

"Ummm….Mara likes him…" Ari replied, "Not me...well all vampires are attractive in general, but yeah."

"How does he treat Mara?"

"Like….a person? I don't know, but Mara seems to have a content life…sort of. She has a ton of books to read and Marcus is apparently very adept in the language of books."

"And Cassie?"

"Cassie…well….is a bit less fortunate."

"Why?"

"She got stuck with Caius."

"Who is Caius?"

"Caius. Blond. Shortest of the three brothers. Hates humans. Beats up Cassie." Ari replied, in words, not using many sentences.

Michael sat up, angry, "And…? Where is she?"

"Umm, he's been treating her better if that's what you mean," Ari replied, "She's been "good" apparently, for my sake, but Caius doesn't know that. He thinks she's bent to his will." She snorted, "As if Cassie ever would. Sometimes I wonder what goes on in that girl's mind."

"Does she like him?"

"She finds him attractive, if that's what you mean. A hot, angry sexy god, I think or hot, angry god."

"Do you three…what would you do if we came randomly to save you?" Michael asked laying back down, resting on his arms, that were outstretched, and folded behind his head.

"Well. I'd be angry. We want you to trust us. We can do it." Ari said, "We'll escape at some point."

"Are you sure?"

Ari narrowed her eyes, "What is this?" she demanded, "20 questions? What are you planning?!"

"So you wouldn't escape with us if we came to save you?" he asked.

"Answer my question, Michael!"

He sighed, "We had some plans." He muttered, "Nothing definite. I'm trying to see what the situation is right now."

"Well, you can be sure to let the families know that when we plan to escape, we'll let them know. Until then, don't bother us."

"We're not going to have to wait until you become like a vampire or really old are you?"

She glared at him, "No. And I need to rest. So good night." She closed her eyes, hearing him whisper goodbye to her as she fell into a dark abyss, where tiredness overtook her tired soul.

BACK TO REALITY ARIA POV(still)…and somewhat Aro's...pov

When Ari woke up, she felt so disorientated and bored. She stared up, thinking. What was she to do today? There wasn't really anything to do since she was sick. Aro hadn't given her permission to leave the room. Perhaps…perhaps someone was here guarding her? Perhaps she could talk to them. She cleared her throat, "Umm, is anyone there?" she called out, shivering when a cold breeze rushed by. There stood Alec. "Hi Alec." She smiled at him, her dimples showing.

"What is it?" he asked, not meeting her gaze. He felt so guilty for not paying attention to her condition. She had been sick for crying out loud.

"Not much, you want to sit and talk with me?"

"No, not really." He paused, "I…I got you sick."

She gave him a playful glare. "I thought vampire couldn't get sick." She teased, sighing when he gave her a glare, "Look, I'm not mad at you. I get sick easily okay? I can go a long time without getting sick and then bam! I get sick, big deal. Humans need to get sick every once in a while."

"My….Jane…we had an older brother. He died….because he was sick to," Alex said, "At that time, mother had said that he had gone to God, and we believed it, but now… God does not exist. What exists is vampires and werewolves."

"Oh. Well I'm not big on the whole religion thing, I mean I swear and say "God" and stuff, but…" she paused, "Well, you're entitled to whatever you believe in."

"Uh…huh." Alec said, letting an uncomfortable silence fall upon them.

Ari cleared her throat, "Anyways, I'll repeat again, it's not your fault." She said, "If you feel sorry, you can help me by getting me so paper to doodle on."

He nodded and sped out, coming in moments later with a pen and a huge stack of unopened white printer paper. "Is this all you need?" he asked.

"Ummm, I hate to ask, but do you have a pencil and eraser? Some colored pencils hopefully?" she asked, "Not that I can't draw with a pen, but I usually like to erase so…"

"Right. Sorry. I'll head out to the city to buy some once night falls."

"But…isn't that a lot of work?"

"It is, why don't you just go steal from Caius?" another voice said, causing Ari and Alec to whip their heads around and look. Cassie.

Ari sighed, "Cassie, you just got on the good side of Caius and you want to go steal from him….?"

"Look, he's got a whole frickin' room of art supplies, okay?" she countered, "He's got a lot. He won't miss a few pencils here and there missing."

"Cassie, I'm sure I can ask Aro for some pencils later." She paused, "Look it's fine. Pens are good too. You've seen amazing works of art using pens before."

"For some reason, I feel like irritating Caius today." Cassie said, ignoring the look Ari sent her. "Hey, Alec. Want to join me?"

He glared at her, "I will not commit such acts of thievery against one of the Masters." He declared, eyes narrowing, "and I won't allow you to steal either."

"You scared, pipsqueak?" Cassie said, the grin on her face growing bigger by the second, "I should have known. Vampire babies can't do much anyways—"

Alec growled at her, "You stop it!" he commanded, "I will not fall for your tricks."

"Say, tell me, what's it like being a coward?" Cassie taunted, "Coward! Coward! Coward!"

Alec growled, "I'm not a coward!"

"BABY! BABY!" Cassie sang, covering her ears, "COWARD! COWARD! COWARD!"

"STOP IT!" Alec yelled, losing his temper. "You stop it right now or else!"

"Or else what, Alec?" a cool, voice demanded, shocking the three of them, they turned to the door again, seeing Aro and Caius. "Well?" Caius had walked forward, and lifted up Alec's chin, glaring at him.

"M-Master Caius…" Alec stuttered out, "I was simply…."

"Simply, what, Alec?" Caius hissed, "Did you not threaten my pet?"

"Yo! Caius! I'm not your pet!" Cassie interrupted, turning away, when he sent her a glare. She went over and sat next to Ari, pretending to be innocent.

Ari giggled a bit, causing Aro to raise an eyebrow, "Care to tell me what you were giggling about?" he asked, gliding smoothly over to her, ignoring Caius's disapproval.

"Hnn, they were…" Ari paused, searching for a word, "acting. I suppose."

Aro said, nothing, knowing that she was lying. She never could lie. Unlike that foolish of a girl, Bella—though her talents were extraordinary, Bella could not lie very well. Ari, on the other hand, though her heart did not speed up any more the usual when he was around, she had a nervous habit of rubbing her fingers together whenever she lied, and that was what she was doing now, under the covers. He quickly reached to touch her, ignoring her gasp at the sudden contact. He could barely read anything, he caught glimpses of Caius's charge, Alec and Aria immersed in a conversation of stealing from Caius. Hmm, that could be interesting to see. "Right. I suppose—"

"Well, boy?" Caius spat again, interrupting after a long glaring contest between the two of them, well, it had been mostly Caius. Alec was too nervous to look Caius in the eye.

"Brother, it was nothing," Aro said, grinning like a happy fool, "Now shoo! I must tell Aria something!" he looked expectantly at Caius who widened his eyes in shock.

"But Aro!"

"Now shush! You need a good, long rest! Go on, go take a break for a bit. In fact, I encourage you step out into the city for a bit. I heard a fresh wave of tourists have just come in." he added, encouragement lacing his voice.

"But—"

Aro cut him off with a glare. "Don't you think the weather is just lovely for a relaxing day in our city, Brother?"

Caius's expression changed immediately, and Ari wondered why. "I understand." With that Caius gave one last glance at Cassie, who still sat by Ari and disappeared, without a further word, leaving them in a silence.

Aro clapped his hands together, smiling, "Now! My brother will be away in the city for a small amount of time, what do you want to do?"

"Master, if I may be so impudent," Alec said, bowing, "I had a request to get some…pencils from the City and was to head out. May I be excused?"

Aro waved dismissively, "Nonsense! No need to leave! Why, go borrow some of Caius's!" Aro said, smiling, enjoying the reaction that spread on the faces of the three before him.

"Aro! You can't certainly mean that! Caius would throw a fit!" Ari admonished him, "Isn't he really sensitive about that?!"

"Caius is away right now. He won't know." Aro said, a smiling tugging at his lips, oh how he could trick his brother.

"But—"

"Caius's art supplies are kept in a different room. It is easily accessible if you have a key."

Cassie pursed her lips, "We don't have a key." She said as Aro dangled a key before them, stunning them.

"How did you—?" Ari began, in a strangled tone, "I thought…"

"Well, as a Volturi King, I have many privileges," he began, cocking his head slightly, "One of them is having keys to every single room."

Cassie swore, "We'd never get secrecy then would we?"

Aro smiled, "Of course not!" he said, "But it's not like you'd really need it right?" Cassidy didn't really need it. Caius was always putting her under constant surveillance and there wasn't a chance he'd let her be alone with male, nevertheless, anyone in general. The other girl, what was her name? Ahh, yes, Mara. She spent every waking moment of hers in the library with or without Marcus or with the other girls. Finally, Aria, there was no way that he, Aro Volturi, would ever ever let Aria be alone with anyone he didn't trust, nevertheless in a locked room.

Ari sighed, "This is getting ridiculous," she muttered, "Look, Cassie is going to get in trouble and Aro, Caius isn't going to be happy with you."

Aro looked at her, his serious face on, "Are you, ARE YOU suggesting that my brother is stronger than me?" he bellowed, glaring. The cheeriness was out of the window in that room, as Ari widened her eyes in shock.

"N-No!" she stuttered, shaking, "Of course not! It was meant as like…well. Brotherly love. He'd be upset you know a-and—"

"Hey! Scaring Ari ain't funny!" Cassie butt in, shouting at Aro. "It ain't cool man! Scaring a defenseless girl!" She, by this point, had leaned over and shielded Ari from Aro's direct gaze.

"I-I'm sorry Aro." Ari said, not looking at him.

Aro relaxed and let out a laugh, knowing he had tricked the two of them. "Got you!" he bellowed again, chuckling between the words, "You should take a look at your faces, my dears, your expressions were hilarious!"

Cassie glared at him, "Ya didn't have to scare Ari!" she yelled at him, "Sure it's funny to you, but Ari here is scare of you!"

Aro stopped laughing, hurt by Cassidy's words. Ari was scared of him. Of him. Since when did his Ari become scared of him? His. His. His. That word replayed in his mind many times. When had Ari become his? Must have been because of the fact that he got her sick. "I apologize, Ari," he said, "If my….joke was not understandable."

"I-It's fine." Ari said, "I just didn't know. I thought, you know, were actually angry at me because…" she stopped, not wanting to go farther. She had heard hints of the fact that Aro actually loved power, but whether it was true or not, she didn't know.

"Hmm," he said, "But it would be fun to annoy Caius. But as you have mention, perhaps, not in a way where your friend, Cassidy, here, would get hurt. Caius has always, always disliked quite a few things. Should we annoy him perhaps?"

Cassie smirked, "I like this idea of yours," she said, raising her face to meet his, "Perhaps, we can work out a negotiation."

Aro eyed her, the competition between their eyes evident, "Are you suggesting—?" he was cut off when she touched his hand, knowing of his talent. Ahh, so she was suggesting a competition. Who could annoy Caius the most, of course, all damages and punishments do not count and equal blame is taken by both parties. Interesting. He withdrew his hand from her, grinning. Wait, how did, he, Aro read Cassidy's mind? He tried to touch her hand again, only to have her frown. He gave her a frown, and touched her hand again, noticing her reluctance. This time he couldn't make much out of her thoughts, it was fuzzy again. So she had unconsciously allowed him to read her thoughts, perhaps. "I see. I accept. Keep in mind that I have spent hundreds of centuries with Caius. You may know of little things." He raised his eyebrow, mocking her, "Perhaps, I should assign you an assistant?"

Cassie frowned, "While you may know him for centuries," she said, "I have spent every waking moment of mine with him." She paused, when Ari tugged on her sleeve. "What Ari?"

Ari grinned slightly, winking at Aro's curious expression. She knew vampires had insanely good hearing, so she had written down what she wanted to say. She tapped the clipboard that held a stack of printer papers, some of the papers had drawings on it already. In. Pen. Cassie glanced down, thinking it was a picture she had wanted her to see. 'I know you Cassie,' it read, 'I know you're going to reject the assistant idea, but I know that you need that help. You hate losing. They're vampires. Accept the handicap.' Cassie glanced up at Ari, seeing the foolish smile of hers on her lips. "What do you think, Cassie? It probably needs a bit more shading right?" Without a further comment, she had lowered her eyes and inking in the place where the words had been.

"What did you talk about?" Aro asked, intrigued. He just knew they were communicating somehow, perhaps through the drawings. He wanted to see it, but Ari had kept her on him while Cassie had looked at the picture.

Cassie smirked, "Nothing." She replied, "I accept the assistant as well. She said, "Perhaps, if you're so…sure of yourself winning, you would let me have more than one assistant, let me pick them, and don't force them to tell you what I plan to do with your hand-touching thingy."

"Very well." Aro said immediately, "Who would you like?"

Aro groaned, "Aro…." She began, leaning over to him, whispering, "Cassie is the Queen of Pranks."

Aro raised his eyebrow and turned his face to look at her, amusement was evident, still in a whispering tone, that made Ari shiver with excitement, in that same tone that sounded so husky, so alluring, so—"And I, my dear, am the King of Tricks." He gave her a wink, smiling when she turned red, he cleared his throat and turned his eyes to Cassie, "Let the games begin."

A/N: Needless to say, this has to be one of the most random chapters ever, but it will explain itself in due time….hopefully. I think this was kind of long….ish. Let me know, and also, I don't know if I should do 2 more stories of Cassie/Caius and Marcus/Mara. Kind of feels like Aro/Aria was enough, but meh. Let me know! And uhh, as always, leave a review and I apologize if my characters are too Mary-sued or if any of the Twilight characters (Aro, Caius, Marcus, etc.) are a bit too OOC for you.