New chapter again. I hope I wasn't very late updating.

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So enjoy this chapter! =D

Chapter 21

It had been pretty much a month since Demetri had gone on Stefan's trail. Even though Demetri called Alec to give him the updates, Alec was beginning to think Demetri wouldn't find anything. But giving up on anything wasn't something he did all that often so he told Demetri to keep on it.

'Anything?' Alec asked, as he called Demetri to get a recent update. He was leaning on the wall by his window.

'I might be onto something,' Demetri said. Alec instantly straightened up.

'What do you mean 'might be'?' Alec asked.

'Look I can't say anything for sure right now, okay,' Demetri said. 'I need a little more time.'

'Alright,' Alec said. 'Let me know.' With that he hung up.

On the other side of the door to his room, Ariana sighed in defeat.

'Okay I have no clue how to do this,' Ariana confessed. 'Alec we've tried this a lot of times and it's still not working. Maybe it was just a one time thing?'

Alec shook his head. 'No power is a one time thing. You can either do it or you can't. And I have seen it for myself that you can. Let's give it another try.'

'Okay,' Ariana said. 'Not that it's going to make much of a difference.'

Ariana was in a small empty room in the castle with Alec and Jane and trying to open mind communication between Alec and Jane. And was failing miserably in all the attempts.

'I can hear your thoughts and I can hear Jane's thoughts,' Ariana said.

'I can hear yours,' Alec said.

'So can I,' Jane said.

'But you can't hear each others can you?' Ariana asked.

'Nope,' Jane said. 'Not a word.'

'Urgh, I can't do this,' Ariana said at last frustrated with herself.

'Hey, you can alright,' Alec said soothingly.

'No I can't,' Ariana said. 'And it's because I don't know what exactly I'm supposed to do here.'

'You're thinking you can't do this all the time maybe that's what stopping you from actually doing this,' Alec said, walking to her and placing his hand on her cheek. 'You can do this okay.'

Ariana sighed. 'Okay,' she said. 'I'm trying one more time and if I can't get this done, then I'm calling it quits.'

Alec didn't argue. He moved back from Ariana.

'Alright,' he said with a smile. 'Go on.'

Ariana took a deep breath and then opened her mind completely. She could hear both Jane's and Alec's thoughts and she was sure they could hear hers. Now she just needed to get Alec and Jane hear each other's.

She could hear Alec's and she could hear Jane's. So the communication lines between her and Alec and her and Jane were there. She could feel them connecting her mind to theirs.

And then she figured it out.

She quickly withdrew from their minds.

'I got it,' she said. 'You guys are not opening your minds to each other. That's why my powers are not working.'

'Excuse me?' Jane said.

Ariana looked at Jane. 'My powers can get me your thoughts even if you don't want to share them. My powers can penetrate through your mind to get your thoughts. But neither of you can do that. So if you don't voluntarily open your minds to each other, my powers cannot possibly be of any use. My powers can just create a pathway for your thoughts to flow not open your mind to someone else other than myself.'

'Sounds reasonable,' Alec said, looking at Jane.

'Reasonable?' Jane said. 'Can't I do this someone else other than you?'

Ariana smiled and Alec raised his eyebrows. He completely ignored Jane.

'Just do it,' he said turning away from her.

Jane rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated sigh.

'Fine,' she said glumly.

'I'll do it again then,' Ariana said. 'And I'm betting it's going to work if you guys do what I said.'

'Go on,' Alec said giving Jane a just-shut-up-and-do-it look.

Ariana opened her mind again and let her thoughts flow over to Alec and Jane and as soon her thoughts hit their open minds, she found she could easily create a pathway for their thoughts to flow. And without any difficulty Ariana accomplished it. She could hear Alec and Jane listening to each others thoughts. A big grin spread across her face.

Yes! Finally! I did it!

Alec smiled at her. What did I say?

Hurray? Jane thought, monotonously. Now get it off please!

Close your mind. Ariana shrugged. My powers will stop the flow automatically.

'Good riddance,' Jane said as Alec and Ariana both felt her withdraw.

Alec rolled his eyes and Ariana smiled.

'See that wasn't too hard was it?' Alec said going forward to Ariana and putting his arms around her.

'No,' Ariana said putting her arms around his neck. 'Just took me like a month to figure it out.'

Alec smiled and then lowered his head and kissed her.

'Urgh, get a room,' Jane said.

Alec pulled away from Ariana and looked at his sister with a look that more or less conveyed the message for her to go away. Alec was exasperated but nowhere near embarrassed. It was quite the opposite with Ariana. She hid her face in Alec's chest even though she knew she no longer had the capability to blush.

Jane shrugged. 'Whatever,' she said and left the room.

Ariana was washing her face when she looked in the mirror and was severely taken aback. She looked again carefully thinking that she must have seen wrong before. But no she saw it again. It was there as clear as anything.

Her eyes!

They weren't crimson anymore.

They were…gold?

Was that normal?

Definitely not! She hadn't seen anyone with gold eyes. Her eyes turned black when she was thirsty but that happened with everyone. And she wasn't thirsty now. She had just hunted the day before.

Something had to be wrong with her?

What?

She expected her eyes to hurt. But they weren't. They had just changed colour, just like that with no other symptoms indicating that she had some sort of a vampire disease! Did vampires even get sick? She thought not.

Ariana shook her head. She was fretting over nothing. There had to be a perfectly rational explanation for this. She would just ask Alec what it was calmly. She was sure it was nothing.

She stepped out of the washroom and found Alec on the bed pouring over something on his laptop.

'Alec! I think something is wrong with me!' Ariana totally lost it. Her calm composure was completely gone. 'Can vampires get diseases? I think I have some sort of a vampire disease!'

'What?' Alec asked. Whatever Ariana had said had completely flown past his mind. He didn't understand a word Ariana had just said. Nonetheless, he was up from the bed and in front of her in a heartbeat.

'What's wrong?' he asked, his eyes filled with concern.

Ariana looked at him. 'Is this normal? Or do I have some sort of a vampire disease?'

'Okay, firstly there's no such thing as a vampire disease,' Alec explained. 'We don't catch any sort of diseases. So calm down. And what did you ask is normal?'

Ariana looked into his eyes. 'My eyes,' she said. 'They just randomly changed colour today! Is this normal?'

Alec looked into her gold eyes and then relieved that it was nothing more serious, he threw his head back and laughed.

'Why are you laughing?' Ariana asked.

'You're perfectly alright, Ariana,' Alec said. 'Vampire disease!' Alec laughed again.

'But-,' Ariana protested. But Alec cut her off. What the hell was so funny?

'Vampires who hunt animals have gold eyes,' Alec explained, a grin still on his face.

'But I started hunting more than a month ago!' Ariana said. 'Why did they change colour now?'

'Because you still had human blood in your system,' Alec explained. 'It takes time for it to completely go away.'

'Human blood?' Ariana was shocked. 'In my system? But I never hunted a human!'

'Your own blood Ariana,' Alec said. 'Your blood was still there in your body even after you changed. It's this blood that stays in contact with your tissues for a while and makes newborns stronger.'

'So there's nothing wrong with me?' Ariana asked. 'I'm fine?'

Alec smiled. 'Absolutely.'

Ariana sighed.

Alec lifted her face up by her chin so she looked at him. It didn't matter to him what colour her eyes were. They were still the most captivatingly beautiful eyes, Alec had ever seen. He had to admit he missed those oceanic pools. But gold seemed to suit her way better than crimson. Her eyes upheld the reputation of being different and intriguing to Alec even after she became a vampire.

'This suits you better,' he said softly, playfully touching the tip of her nose.

She smiled up at him. 'If you say so,' she said.

'I personally have never seen anyone having those eyes in the Volturi,' Alec said.

'But there are other vampires elsewhere?' Ariana asked.

Alec nodded. 'Quite a few,' he said.

Then he smiled again. 'Your eyes will forever remain the most beautiful mystery to me,' he said softly. His gaze was boring into her eyes and he couldn't look away.

Ariana stood up on her tip-toes and pressed a kiss on his lips. Alec reacted instinctively by moving his lips against hers and wrapping his arms around her and pulling her to him so there was no space between them.

Right then Alec's phone buzzed in his pocket. He ignored it at first. But it was persistent.

Ariana pulled away from him and gave him a soft smile. 'Are you going to pick that up?'

Alec let out an exasperated sigh. 'Of all the time in the world,' he said taking his phone out of his pocket. The caller had already hung up. But Alec saw there was a short text from Demetri.

"Onto something. Meet me ASAP."

Alec tried to put the phone back inside his pocket before Ariana got a glimpse of the text. But it was too late. Ariana had already seen it and the smile had disappeared from her face.

'I have to go,' Alec said. 'I'll see you later.'

Ariana didn't reply but she wasn't letting go of Alec's hand.

'Ariana,' Alec said.

She looked at him, her eyes filled with apprehension and distress. 'I know this isn't going to work but I'll still try one last time. Alec, don't go. Just forget it. Please.'

Alec sighed but didn't reply. He went near Ariana and placed a soft kiss on her forehead, conveying the message that he would be fine.

After that he slipped his hand out of hers and was out of the room in a blink. Ariana could do nothing but stare at the place where he had just disappeared from her sight.

I know it's a bit shorter than my other chapters but I will write a longer chapter for the next one.

Thank you Wednesday, Cetacea-of-Time, Berry Smoothie, A Blood's Promise and BFABB for your encouraging reviews. They seriously make my day! =D

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