A/N: Well, here's chapter Seven. Review and enjoy [=

Chapter Seven- Sun and Shadow

Arianna POV

Swimming when you don't have to breathe is probably the most abnormal thing on the planet. When you're a human there is always that faint feeling of pressure coming from your chest if you're not breathing, that feeling that says, 'Hey, this isn't right'. But when you're a vampire there is no feeling of pressure, I could stop breathing for a year and never notice anything wrong.

The water was a dark blanket around me. For a human it would have been freezing cold, but for me it was fine. I could feel even the most indistinct temperature change on my skin, but nothing felt cold to me. I pulled myself down deeper into the glittering darkness. I could see Alec up ahead of me, I swam to catch up.

We glided through the water, every pull that we took with our arms, or every kick we took with our feet sent us flying forward. It was so easy, we could cross the whole ocean like this- we would cross the ocean like this.

We swam through underwater canyons and caves that no human had ever been through before, most of them were fairly plain, but the dark ocean made everything beautiful.

During the day the sunlight reflected down through the water, it doesn't penetrate very far, only a few meters and then we would be back into the glittering darkness. The sunlight created patterns as the water; you could see each shaft of sunlight reflecting from the surface.

Fish were avoiding us, not surprising really. I agree with them- vampires are scary.

It took us two days to get to the shoreline of Newfoundland, we climbed out of the water dripping wet and laughing. Hopefully there were no humans watching, it would look really odd to have two people climb out of the freezing cold water. Aro already wants to kill us, let's not give him another reason to by exposing our race.

Alec froze and started sniffing the air. "Ari, do you smell that?"

I took a deep breath. I could smell a lot of different scents. They all smelled like vampire, one of them was even floral smelling somehow... strange. "Most definitely. Do you recognize the scent?"

"It's familiar, but I must have been paying attention to something else when I met whoever it is, because I don't know exactly who it belongs-" He froze.

"I take it you remembered who it is?"

"Cullens, along with the entire alliance. That's why there are so many different scents."

"Could we maybe sneak around the coastline and avoid their territory?" I suggested.

"That would probably be a good idea. They'll probably attack on sight if they see us." I heard a footstep a few meters behind me and spun around.

There were eight vampires standing there. All of them had golden eyes and four of them were gifted. There was a tall blonde that was absolutely stunning, the kind of beauty that you'd never forget, there was a huge muscular man holding her hand that reminded me of Felix a lot, except his eyes were playful, while Felix's were just plain dangerous. The man standing at the front who was obviously the leader absolutely oozed calmness, how does he do that? He's not gifted... There was a tiny woman holding his hand, she appeared to be the physically oldest of the group, although they were all very close in age. Behind them there was a short pixie-like vampire that glowed a stunning emerald green. Her mate was a tall blonde man that glowed a light, calming brown. The final pair was a brown haired couple, the man glowed a sky blue and the woman glowed a light baby pink. The last woman's gift wasn't so much glowing as she was surrounded by a shield of light. I could see traces of her gift around the rest of her family.

Alec had previously told me about the Cullens, I started matching up names and faces.

The short pixie-like one- Alice- grinned at Alec and started talking. "That's not a nice thing to say Alec," she teased. "Does it look like we want to kill you."

He chuckled in response, "It certainly did last time we met, not that I don't understand why, the circumstances were quite nasty."

She shrugged, "I blame Aro."

"We definitely agree on that." He frowned, "how did you find out I didn't like Aro though?"

Alice smiled and tapped her forehead, "Seeing the future is a useful tool."

Edward smirked, "I think we should go up to the house guys, there are humans coming."

Carlisle looked at us, "You'd be welcome to come with us. We would love to have you. You could also just cut straight through our territory, it's up to you."

Alec and I looked at each other; he shrugged at me, as if he was saying 'why not?' I looked at Carlisle, "We'd love too, if it's not a problem. We don't want to impose."

Esme beamed at us, "It's not a problem at all dear." She seems nice. I smelled the humans coming from the left. I stopped breathing and took a few steps back, trying my hardest not to give in to the fire, not to douse it with the life of another. Don't kill the humans... don't kill the humans... do not kill the humans.

Alec grabbed my hand and I tried to focus on him. Don't look at the humans Ari, look at Alec...

Emmett slid in between the humans and me. I didn't have any air to talk with... but there is a mind-reader here. Edward, if you don't mind, tell Emmett I said thanks. Edward nodded. "She says thank you Em."

Emmett grinned at me, "Awww, it's no problem; you're just like my own baby sister." Alice sent him a look. I must have missed something. Oh well, I doubt that it's that important.

Jasper turned to everyone. "Let's go home guys. Everyone else is probably starting to worry."

We turned and walked, at human speed, back into the woods. When we were out of the line of sight of the humans we started running. Eventually we could see a huge house through the trees. It was an old Victorian home, with a few changes I'm guessing. The entire south wall was made of clear glass, and there was a new looking garage as well.

Emmett was the first one there. He pulled the door open and gave a huge dramatic bow, "Ladies first." I seem to be getting the strangest sense of déjà vu.

Why not test the waters? If it goes badly Alec and I could always run, and Emmet seems a lot nicer than Afton. I doubt he'll try to kill me "Go ahead then Emmett, I wouldn't want to be rude." There was a moment of dead silence, and I started going oh shit in my head and then all the Cullens started laughing. All of them, I could hear more laughter coming from the house. Even Alec was laughing... though his was more relieved than anything.

Alec is probably thinking. 'Thank god we're with a group of people that will laugh, as opposed to trying to kill someone'

Emmett gave another booming laugh, "Go ahead Rose, we all know you're a lovely lady." Rosalie waltzed through the door, grabbing Emmett's hand as she went.

We made it into the house without further mishap. We all piled into a room that held twenty or so vampires in it. That's a lot of vampires.

Carlisle began to introduce us, "I'm sure you all know Alec," there were a couple of chuckles from around the room. I'm surprised none of them have tried to kill him yet. They didn't exactly see him under good circumstances last time. "And this is Arianna."

"Ari," I corrected, a bunch of hellos sprang from around the room and Alec and I both muttered hello in response. Awkward...

"You two come with me," Alice sang. "You are in serious need of clothes. I have some that will fit you upstairs."

We followed her up the stairs into a spare room. How big is this house? I could see a door that led to yet another staircase. Three stories plus basement, a bigger house than I had ever seen. I grabbed Alec's hand; I was feeling just a bit overwhelmed.

Alice looked into a closet. "Here Alec," she tossed him a button-down T-shirt that was blue, and a pair of black dress pants. "I tried not to do anything too colourful, since you haven't worn anything but black in centuries." She shot him a look that said what she thought of that.

Alec held up his hands. "Not my choice, remember? Aro picks the capes, not us."

Alice nodded, "I loved what you two did with your capes by the way. Except both Demetri and Afton want to kill you now."

"They already did." I snorted. Alice pulled out a white sundress.

"Go get dressed you two. Alec, use the washroom down the hall if you want to, and then come back here. Ari, come with me, I need to do your hair."

I looked at Alec, "Help me." I mouthed.

He just laughed. Some mate he is. "Alice, try not to annoy my mate, I'm supposed to kill whoever hurts her, and you seem nice."

Alice just grinned even more. "You know, Edward said the same thing to me when I met Bella. You'll thank me after I'm done. They always do."

"Alice, stop torturing the children!" I heard Bella yell from down stairs.

"Well, most of them do anyways..." Alice muttered under her breath. Alec and I started laughing. "Go get dressed," she huffed at Alec. "You come with me," she said turning to me.

We walked across the room into the washroom. I tried to get a glimpse of myself in the mirror, but Alice jumped in front of me. "Don't even think about it. I know you haven't seen yourself since you changed. I'm not sure how you managed that, but you haven't seen yourself. Don't think I'm going to let you look until I've fixed your hair and got you into a dress. I made Bella do the same thing."

I spun around so my back was to the mirror. I can wait. Alice tossed me the dress. "Get into that while I get the stuff out." I heard Alice start pulling different things out from the cabinet when I pulled the dress on.

"No hairspray Alice, the stuff smells like crap." She shot me a glare that I could feel burn into my back. "Or you can put whatever you want in..." The smugness started rolling off of her.

Alice sat me in a chair so that my back was still turned to the mirror and began to work. I heard Alec knock on the door. "Can I come in?"

"Nope!" Alice sang.

"Yes! You can come in Alec. Ignore Alice, please."

"Go, Ari!" I heard Emmett yell from down stairs. "You take on that big scary pixie vampire!"

"I guess you can come in Alec, just don't tell her how she looks."

"I don't even need to look at her to do that," he said before he opened the door, "I know she's beautiful, she always is and always will be."

He walked through the door. "Done!" cheered Alice. "Take a look."

The minute she said that we had a group of vampires at the door looking in. "We want to see how she reacts," explained Zafrina.

I turned and looked in the mirror. I gasped and touched my face. The beautiful girl in the mirror did the same movement. I was slimmer, more muscular. Even the bone structure of my face was finer, more delicate. My lips were fuller and redder, and my skin had become paler, and there wasn't a mark on it. There was a certain way I looked, this kind of otherworldly beauty.

And then there were my eyes. They were a bright blood red, if my body didn't scream 'not human' my eyes definitely did. Nothing looked the same. Everything except my hair had changed. My hair was still so bright it looked like it was on fire, I guess it's because hair is dead cells.

Alec walked over. "What do you think love?" He wrapped his arm around me and I leaned towards him.

"I look so different. It's overwhelming. I've changed so much."

He looked at me gravely, "You're still the same person Ari, nothing has changed who you are, just what you look like."

I thought about that. It was kind of true, I had changed, but my core features were still there. Alec was right, I was still me.

I nodded, "You're right," you could hear the wonder in my voice.

"I normally am," he chuckled.

"Maybe he has a bit of a superiority complex after all," speculated Elaezar.

We both turned to look at him; he had a playful grin on his face. "No, despite what everyone thought, that wasn't my problem," laughed Alec.

Elaezar inclined his head, smiling slightly. "I know that now."

Everyone filed out of the room. Edward looked at us. "Carlisle and I are about to go hunting. Do you want to come?"

The minute he said the word hunt, my throat flared up again and I felt like I had an inferno in there again. I nodded eagerly and Edward chuckled. "Let's go then." We walked out the door.

Edward and Carlisle started running north towards where Alec and I were originally headed. We ran for about ten minutes at a speed that, although it was more leisurely then when we were fleeing Volterra, still made you feel like you were flying. I started grinning.

Eventually Carlisle stopped and looked at me. "What do you smell Ari?" I took a deep breath through my nose. A musky odour hit us, it was strong and didn't smell all that appetizing, but it still made my throat burst into flames.

"Some kind of animal. It doesn't smell very good." I said, wrinkling my nose.

"That would be deer." Said Carlisle, "The carnivores always smell better than the herbivores, but the herbivores are easier to find."

"Now what?"

"Go with your instincts," said Alec. "Just take another deep breath and let go."

I did what he told me to and felt myself fly forwards. I leapt out into a clearing and jumped for the nearest deer without even thinking about it. My teeth reached its neck and cut through it like a knife through butter would. The warm blood flowed down my throat soothing the burning of my throat and putting out the fire. It took one more deer to mute the fire so it was only the barest echo of what it was before the hunt.

Alec was already done; it had only taken him two deer as well. His eyes had already turned to the bright gold of the Cullens, and he didn't have a speck of dirt on his clothing. I sighed enviously and sat down beside him, curling up with my head on his shoulder. "Why the big sigh, love?"

"Your clothing is clean and your eyes are gold. My clothing is dirty and my eyes are still bright red."

"When you get older you eyes will turn gold too, and staying clean when you're hunting just takes practice." He replied. "You're doing amazing."

Edward laughed, "You definitely look better than Bella did after the first time she went for a hunt. Her dress had claw marks in it and her hair was full of leaves, not to mention she was covered in dirt and blood. She decided to wrestle with a lion the first time."

I laughed to. Carlisle walked over and joined us, "if you guys are done we should probably get home, the news starts soon and I'd like to watch it."

Yep, the normal pastimes for a vampire, killing stuff, fighting, and watching the news. We all followed Carlisle back to the house. Most of the vampires had spread out so that they weren't all crammed into a room anymore. I could hear Alice upstairs talking to the Amazons. I could also hear-I really didn't want to hear- Kate and Garrett off into the room to my right.

Take a wild guess what they're doing.

Tanya and Siobhan were having a playful fight over who was going to get the remote for the T.V. next.

"I really want to watch Wife Swap." Argued Tanya.

"And I really want to watch Survivor." Siobhan shot back, "we can't all have what we want."

Carlisle walked over to the remote grinning. "And since it's my house," he began, "I say we're watching the news."

Tanya and Siobhan looked at each other and shrugged. "Why not? We were more or less fighting over the remote for something to do anyway."

Carlisle flicked it over to the news channel; we went and sat down with our backs leaning up against the front of the couch. Not because we had to sit down, but because that's where we can get the best view.

It started off with some pretty boring stuff, well... not boring, just unimportant to our lives. There was a fall hurricane going into Florida, and a couple of tornados went through Toronto, a serial killer is loose in Washington DC. The usual disasters that make you wonder why the reporter even bothered saying it's a good evening.

The next event got a totally different reaction from the people in the room. The reporter began "And police are still searching for whoever made a bomb threat call in a tiny community in Newfoundland." The entire group started laughing.

"I'm obviously missing something..." muttered Alec.

"Same here..."

Edward eventually took pity on us and told us what was so funny. "We had a contest to see who could cause the biggest bang to get out of school. That was Alice's idea, her idea wasn't the funniest, but it had the biggest impact." He looked wryly at the screen, "Bella and Emmett both pretended to have some form of schizophrenia. And Rosalie pretended to be pregnant."

"Alice would do something like that," Alec chuckled.

The next news segment was entirely not-funny, and entirely not-boring. There was a missing child in Ontario, she'd been missing for a couple of weeks now, police weren't sure where she went and the entire community was searching for her. They suspected she was dead, but nobody was entirely sure.

Oh yeah... one other tiny unimportant detail. You know that girl, well... guess what? I know her too.

It just happens that I'm the missing child.

Yeah, seeing your family sobbing on national T.V. can be a bit of a downer. It's even worse when they're sobbing about their lost child- who just happens to be you. I hid my face in Alec's shirt. All I could think was make it stop- there's nothing I can do about it. I'm dead. If they know they'll die too. I wanted more than anything to call them, to say that I'm okay. But of course, I can't do that- all thanks to the Volturi's damn laws. I mean really, first they kill me, then they torture me, and now I get to see my family suffering too? My mental sadness became anger; a deep burning rage that made me really wanted to kill someone. To make them pay for hurting innocent people that I cared about.

My mood swung violently between a wild depression and fury. I clung to Alec like a lifeline, I knew that if I let go of him I'd snap. So I just grabbed him.

I heard someone at the other side of the room get up and start calling for Jasper. People were leaving the room. Eventually it was only Alec, Carlisle, Edward and I in the room.

I felt Jasper walk in, huge waves of calm rolled off of him. I fell into a kind of trance, it isn't possible for vampires to sleep, but if I was a human I'd be out cold right now. I lifted my head up from Alec's shoulder. He had picked me up and put me in his lap sometime so I could hide my face on his shoulder.

I felt kind of out of it, I couldn't really concentrate on anything. Like I had just opened my eyes in the morning and I was still half asleep.

Carlisle was talking. "There's nothing you can do about it Ari, they're better off not knowing. They'll be upset about it now, but eventually they'll get over it and go on with their lives."

Alec went next, "He's right love, telling them would just put them in danger. There's nothing you can do except be happy. Do you think they want you to be miserable?"

"No," I sniffed.

"Then be happy."

I felt Jasper slowly start to ease off on the calmness so that I could feel again, and actually think over their words. They were right, I knew that they were, but it's hard to believe it when you get drowned in emotions.

"So... now what do you want to do?" asked Alec. Everyone stood up and went back to what they were doing; people came back into the room. It was as if nothing had happened, humans would have been throwing me sideways looks, but the vampires didn't bother.

Violently powerful mood swings are normal for newborns apparently.

"Tell me the story you told me in Volterra, not the actual story with all the pretty lines, I remember that, I just didn't really get what it was about. All the thee's and thou's were pretty, but I didn't understand what was happening at all" I smiled at him.

"The legend is from three thousand years ago Ari, I just told it the way I was told it" he teased, "You just need to learn how to speak English like a normal person."