A Whole New World ~ Act 1

Chapter 7

Why was I nervous? It's not the first time I've played meet the parents. Granted normally they're not my mate's parents and said mate and said parents are not normally Cold Ones, not that that fact scares me. I mean I'm stronger than them and everything - I'm rambling. Emotions are stupid.

Suddenly, I smelt my boyfriend's arrival and opened the door for him ready.

"Hey doll, you ready?" There was no use hiding my slight apprehension from Jasper, he knew me too well already (that and there was the small fact that he was an empath, but that's besides the point!)

I looked down to check my outfit for the fiftieth time before looking back up at him.

"I'm ready." I said, leaning up to give him a kiss.

It took us less than a minute to get to the Cullen house. Superspeed was both a blessing and a curse. I took an unnecessarily deep breath before I felt Jasper's cool hand link with mine. He looked down at me and I calmed as soon as our eyes connected. Ewwww, I have become that sappy girl who depends on someone. Gross.

Biting the bullet, I started to move towards the house with Jasper at my side. Rosalie opened the door before we reached it, smiling and nodding at me. I gave a small smile back before pausing at the threshold.

"What's wrong?" Jasper said, looking at me concerned.

"I haven't been invited in. Vampire failsafe that is a real pain in my ass."

"Well my lady, would you like to come into my humble abode." Jasper said, crossing the threshold while still holding my hand. I smiled as I moved, Jasper twirling me under his arm before pulling me in for a deep kiss.

"Get in there Jazz!" Emmett boomed from behind Jasper. Jasper pulled back as I gave Emmett the middle finger, pulling Jazz back down to me.

"Carlisle and Esme will be back in a few minutes. They're just hunting quickly." The Pixie said, coming downstairs.

"Tour?" Jasper said, pulling away again. I nodded quickly, taking his hand towards the stairs. As we were walking up the stairs, I looked at the pictures lining the walls. The Volturi - love those guys - took pride of place at the top of the first set of stairs but it was the next picture that would have made me fall if I'd been human.

I ripped my hand out of Jasper's grasp and tore it off the wall. Anger boiled inside me as I felt my eyes go red and veins appear.

"Arielle? What's wrong? Darlin' talk to me." Jasper begged, seeing the look on my face.

"Who's is this?" I whispered lowly. "WHO'S IS THIS PICTURE!" I yelled out causing the rest of the Cullen-Hale's to join us including Carlisle and Esme.

"Mine." A smooth baritone voice stated from behind me. I snapped. Suddenly Carlisle was pushed against the wall, cracks forming from the top of his neck.

"Carlisle!" Esme shrieked, at the same time as Jasper said my name.

"Arielle. You don't want to hurt him. Look at me darlin'." My face snapped towards him, my hand still around Carlisle's neck. "Let him down. He can tell you who those people are."

Suddenly, I snapped out of it and fell to the floor, grabbing the painting with both hands.

"I know who they are. My question is why their painting is here." I ran my finger over my father's face, tracing it down to the baby me beaming up at him. "They're my family."

Everyone's jaws dropped around me. Wow, so that's how you stun a room of Cold One's.

"Let's go downstairs. We can talk down there." Carlisle said, completely healed. I nodded rising to my feet, still holding the picture close to my chest.