A/N: Sorry I missed last week's deadline, but I hope you can forgive me. If you didn't already know, Dragon-Lady-Editor-Min updates my profile page with current updates, so be sure to check that occasionally. Now onto the rant. AHHH! I went to the bookstore this week to find the special edition of New Moon to read the first chapter of Eclipse with Min. So Min and I sit in the isle of the bookstore, reading it, getting completely engrossed and then the bookstore's phone rings. Not a big deal, right? Oh, yes it was. It just happened to be the longest lasting, most annoying ring in the world. But after about ten minutes it stopped. Then, another phone started ringing. It wasn't even the same one! And then, you won't believe this, the other phone started ringing again, efficiently filling the whole bookstore with annoying noise. AHHHH! All Edward fans can understand why we were so angry, right? AHHH! Well, now that that's over, onto the story. Metaphor at bottom.

Chapter 7

The freezing water shot sharp sparks of pain through every nerve in his body. Swiftly pulsing water engulfed him instantaneously and threw him mercilessly against jagged rocks around the bottom of the cliff, but Zander couldn't feel it anymore. Numbness had enveloped his whole body and as he tried to find the surface it began seeping into his mind. Soon, the length of time he had been under, what direction he was facing, how much air he had left, became useless information as he sank further into the water. "I wonder what'll happen to me," he thought as he finally took a deep breath of water and closed his eyes.

He had no more strength to struggle against the waves and no mind power to worry about it, but he still had enough strength to worry. As the world grew darker, deciding if he was still alive or if he had already passed became consequentially harder. After a minute, he had passed into a state of modified unconsciousness. There was no pain—no feeling at all, really—and it was dark, but he was still thinking. Memories of his parents and his childhood filled his mind: his goldfish, his first (and only) bike ride, and other miscellaneous and unimportant events flashed by. "I wonder if this is what they meant when they said something about one's life flashing before their eyes. Oh, well." And then he began to finally slip away.

Bella was hovering nervously by the door. Zander had never done this before, no matter how angry he was. It had been nearly four hours since he'd stormed out. But the time wasn't what worried her—it was the thought of what he would do in the four hours.

Edward sat on the couch with his head in his hands. He'd already searched the town six times, but had so far come up empty handed. No one really wanted to think about what that could mean—but it was pretty obvious where Zander had gone.

A frantic knock sent both Edward and Bella shooting to the door. In desperation, Edward nearly ripped the door off its hinges and Bella almost went head first into… Alice?

Alice eagerly wrapped her arms around Edward and Bella while Jasper gaped at Bella and her obvious… change. After Alice had finished her hug, she stepped back and turned to Edward with a relieved smile. "You're alright," she observed happily. All Edward gave as a reply was a shocked nod. "And you," said Alice as she turned to Bella, "have joined the club. And, by the look of it, you joined quite awhile ago." This time it was Bella who initiated the excited hug.

"What are you doing here?" Bella gasped.

"Well you weren't coming to me, so I came to you. You're not upset, are you? Because you look kind of disappointed."

"Oh no! I'm elated that you're here! But how did you know where we were?"

"Alice had a vision," Jasper cut in as he stepped through the threshold, giving Edward a curious look.

"What was the vision?" Edward asked as he returned to look. He could already tell Alice had hidden it from him.

"Does it really matter?" Alice sighed as she set her gaze on Edward. "Besides, you two are the ones that should be explaining. Where have you been?"

"It's complicated."

"Well, I'm pretty used to complicated."

"Not this kind, but I'm sure you'll find out."

"Can't we just be happy we're together right now?" Bella interjected. But, even as she said it, her eyes drifted towards the door. Alice followed her gaze and then looked back.

"Are you waiting for someone?"

"No," Bella snapped as she put back on a fake smile. The sudden change in mood caught Jasper's attention, but other than a worried smile, he did nothing.

"Okay…" Alice said as she looked worriedly at Jasper, who was now looking around at the half opened moving boxes.

"Sorry," Bella apologized, trying to quickly clean up, but Jasper wasn't paying attention. He had stopped over one of the boxes and seemed unable to move again. Alice was soon next to him trying to see what was hidden there, but Jasper was blocking it.

"Is that him, Alice?" he asked using a tone that was undecipherable. Alice gently moved him away and looked at the picture in the box. What she saw made her gasp. The boy she had seen go over the cliff smiled back at her. And it was definitely not Edward.

Sam pushed past his still babbling daughter; he had heard all he needed, but he still didn't know why he was doing this. He had come upon Raechel about to jump into the water. It had only taken him a second to figure out what she was screaming at him, but he didn't know if he could save the "kind-of-not-really-vampire-boy-that-looked-like-Edward-Cullen-but-whose-real-name-was-Zander-and-he-probably-didn't-know-how-to-swim boy."

Or something like that. He couldn't really understand her, but Jacob had also told him about this kid, so Sam knew he had to exist. But it came back to why he was jumping after him. Jacob had told him that the kid was dangerous, but the thought of the kid's death brought his daughter to tears. And he couldn't let that happen.

The water was freezing, but Sam just ignored it and searched for the kid. It wasn't long before he had a hold of the kid and was dragging him up. But even before he reached the surface, he could tell the heartbeat was weak. "Come on, kid," he ordered as he pulled the kid on a nearby beach outlet. Unsure of how to revive a vampire, he did what he would do to anyone, and began pushing down on his chest.

When Raechel came down, Sam was breathing into the kid's mouth, trying to get him to breathe, like he had done the last ten times; but this time was different. The kid started coughing. After he cleared his lungs, he seemed to lapse back into a restful unconsciousness.

"Raechel," Sam said. "He's fine, but I think that we should bring him back with us. I have a few questions for him."

It was warm all of a sudden. Zander, reluctant to open his eyes, spread his hands out and felt the crochet blanket that surrounded him. As he moved his arm out further, his hand brushed against someone's fingers. "Raechel?" he muttered, opening his eyes.

"I'm afraid you're not that lucky." An unfamiliar man looked down at him, and Zander quickly pulled his hand away.

"Zander?" Raechel laughed on the other side of him. Zander was about to reply, but the man was already speaking.

"So what are you?" the man asked bluntly. "I sat here for the last hour watching your wounds disappear, so you'd better explain that and why you were with my daughter."

Zander paled slightly, looked at Raechel, and sighed. He really didn't have a choice, did he?

"Well," he began, settling down, "I don't really know what I am. I mean, I know I'm part vampire, but I'm also human. Yeah, I know, weird. I'm not quite sure how it happened, so don't ask, but I obviously exist. I have to drink blood occasionally, but I think it's pretty disgusting. And I also eat real food (like McDonald's). I bleed, but I can heal myself. I can cry, but I normally don't. I also have a heart beat, and I have to breathe, but my parents don't have to. I even have to sleep sometimes. So, basically, I'm a walking contradiction."

"Sounds rough."

Pity was the last thing Zander expected from a werewolf, but it wasn't unwelcome.

"Yeah," Zander replied, looking down. "And to answer your other question, I came here to tick off my parents. Meeting your daughter was just an added bonus." Raechel blushed, but she tried to hide it.

"So," she asked, standing up, "what happens now?"

"Whatever happens," Zander grumbled, "my dad's going to be pissed."

End note:

So there's a little insight about Zander in this chappy. Metaphor's about me this week (even though it's kinda a simile…).

Ahem.

I am as bad a procrastinator as the people in scary movies that sit there screaming while the zombie meanders up to them and then they try to run at the last second, but the zombie eats their brain anyway. Please don't eat my brain, I need it. I'm sorry about last week, so please forgive me. I love you all. DAI.