A rewrite of the plot of my old story, 'Texan Nights'. I only had 4 chapters up, so I am hoping to start afresh on this fic. I'm changing the plot slightly and changing to to third person. Hope you all enjoy!
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- Prologue -
Italics = flashbacks
''Alice, doll? Can you bring my coat downstairs?''
The petite spiky-haired girl stopped admiring her new dress in the wardrobe for a moment and quickly glanced around the room.
''But I'm deciding what to wear to school tomorrow!'' she whined playfully, reluctant to tear her eyes away from her wide array of blouses and skirts.
A deep laugh came from downstairs and she couldn't help but to giggle along.
''Please, darling,'' the voice pleaded with just as much playfulness. ''I have to go hunt.''
Her golden eyes scanned the room and stopped when they landed on a brown coat draped over the chair in the corner.
''The brown fur one, honey?'' she called. Picking it up in her small hands, she smiled as she drew circles in the fur. She had given him this coat last week for their ten-year anniversary and she couldn't stop fawning over the detail.
''Oh, not that one. I need the blue one by the dresser.''
Whipping her head round to the left, a pool of navy blue caught her eye.
''I see it!'' she chirped. ''How long do you think you'll be out hunting, sweet?'' she asked as she grabbed the coat and dusted it off with her hand.
''Probably only a few hours. I'll be back before-''
She dropped the coat when she felt the familiar beginnings of a vision take hold of her.
I'm probably going to see what animal he's going to catch later, she mused to herself as her vision began to black out.
i. March 17th, 1920, Mississippi
.
Gold boring into brown like fire melting ice, she froze and felt the flames consume her flesh. Her heart was pounding so hard she thought her rib cage was going to break open any moment.
''I think you already know what I'm about to say,'' he muttered darkly.
She scoffed. ''No, because you've been changing your mind every five seconds.'' She glanced at his face. ''But you've been debating whether or not to leave me, haven't you?''
The solemn expression on his face says it all. ''Please don't make this harder than it has to be, Alice.''
''Jazz,'' her breathing hitches, ''my visions have been killing me lately. What's wrong?''
His expression is unreadable and she begins to panic.
''Jazz!'' she groans when he begins to send her waves of calm. ''Stop that! Just feel my emotions for once and tell me what the hell is going on!''
''Alice,'' he drawls very very slowly, as though he was tasting her name on his tongue for the last time. His eyes blacken and he shakes his head. ''I'm...I'm leaving you.''
One. Two. Three seconds pass.
''W-What do you mean?'' she bites out.
''Alice, please-''
''Jasper, don't you dare-''
''Listen. You're-''
''You know why I escaped that god-awful asylum? You, Jazz. I dreamt about you every night. I could've easily died in that shit hole,'' she bit out. ''But now, I have you, Bella, Rosalie, Emmett, Carlisle and Esme protecting me. I have never been safer than I am now, never happier than I am now. You're the reason I'm alive today.''
She closes her eyes in effort to hold the tears back, but the amount of hurt Jasper was pouring out was causing them to slip anyway.
''Alice.'' He paused. ''Maria's back.''
One. Two. Three teardrops fall.
''She found out us and threatened to kill you.''
''But-''
''Edward and I had to physically restrain her last night,'' he said solemnly.
Alice thought back to the previous night when Jasper didn't come back to the Cullen house, only returning in the morning to tell her he was 'busy hunting'. She was worried sick but gave him the benefit of the doubt.
''What happened?'' she said quietly.
He sighed. ''Maria has been following us for the last few weeks.''
''W-what?'' she gasped. ''And you didn't think to tell me?''
''I didn't want to put you in danger, Alice. I thought I could tell her I had no interest in rejoining her lifestyle and then that would be that.''
The silence that followed said it all. She sniffled and blinked back tears. ''So, what happened last night?''
He closed his eyes. ''I had told her to keep her distance from the family and you. She initially agreed, but...''
''But what?'' she probed, a tear falling from her eye.
''Alice.'' He opened his eyes and stared at her. ''She tried to bring five newborns to the house last night to kill you.''
Time seemed to stop. Her heart felt as though it had stopped working, too.
''If it were not for Edward reading their minds in time, it would have been too late.''
She shook her head. ''Then change me! Change me into one of you!''
''That is the last thing I want for you, Alice. You don't want to become a monster like me.''
''Please! You're not a monster! I couldn't live without you, Jazz. I'm begging you, turn-''
''I love you. I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you. I'm so, so sorry, Alice. I'll love you always.''
And before she could even think of a response, he vanished.
.
She's confused, her hands twitching as a blurry vision unfolds in front of her eyes.
Forks High School.
Cafeteria tables.
Doors opening.
Stunned students.
Pale skin, blonde hair...
...golden eyes.
ii. March 24th, 1920
.
Spring was relentless and the wind clawed at her skin.
She stood, once again, in front of the dreaded asylum, preparing to turn herself in - she had no other means of survival.
Jasper was gone.
iii. April 4th, 1920
.
''Jazz!''
She's running to him and flings herself into his tall stature, not caring that his rock hard skin cuts her lip.
''Oh, Jazz! I've missed you. I've been seeing you every night in my dreams. The asylum is horrible. Can't you come rescue me again? I have so much to tell you. I love you, I love you, and I love-''
''Mary Brandon?''
She abruptly wakes up in her cell.
The glaring asylum worker tentatively sticks her face in between the gaps of her cell's bars and raises a brow.
''Your experiment, Miss Brandon.''
.
It had been almost one-hundred years.
Too long.
Too damn long.
One-hundred fucking years.
Sure, almost an entire century had passed - to an immortal like her, it felt like nothing.
But so much had happened.
So much had changed.
They didn't know her anymore. She didn't know them. They were strangers.
...what the hell were they doing in her visions?
iv. April 22nd, 1920
.
Electrocutions. Bloody knees. Broken arms. The smell of death was raging in the atmosphere.
''Are you alright, Miss Alice?''
Her heart burns when she looks up at him, his red eyes reminding her too much of the man who left her.
''Kumboh!'' she rushes to her cell door and peeks through the gaps of the bars. ''Are you on duty today?''
The new vampire asylum worker is looking at her kneecaps, a slight twinge of sympathy in his red eyes.
''You're bleeding.''
She shrugs. ''It's okay. I'm used to it.''
''Would you like me to bring you more bread or water?''
Her heart warmed at his kindness and she shook her head with a small smile.
''That's quite alright, Kumboh. I'm not hungry. I just have a headache.''
He frowns and proceeds to bend the metal bars of her cell open to pass her a small bag of sweets.
''Sweets!'' she gasps excitedly and takes them from his large hands. ''Kumboh, you shouldn't have!''
''Just lookin' out for a friend, Miss Alice,'' he chuckles.
Tearing the bag open and popping a red sweet into her mouth greedily, she smiles when the strawberry taste melts into her tongue.
''Have your visions gone back to normal?''
She rolls the sweet in her mouth for a few moments before shaking her head.
''I've not had one over a month.''
And she liked it, because she could forget everything for a while.
.
v. August, 1920
.
The starless sky from her cell window is making her uneasy.
An hour ago, she had the first vision since he left;
Rosalie's planning on buying a new dress.
She smiles sadly.
''Come back, Jazz. Even as a shadow. Even as a dream.''
.
vi. August 25th, 1920.
.
'Alice? Alice!''
She cracks a brown eye open.
''Ku-Kumboh?''
''Hurry, quick!'' he hissed from the window of her cell.
''What- What's happened?!''
He's panicking, eyes wide like saucers.
''Have you seen anything in your visions lately?''
She frowned, standing on her tip-toes and craning her neck up to see him. ''No, I haven't been having them lately. What's wrong?''
''You're in danger,'' he began to explain, frantic. ''A nomad came by here. James was his name.''
''W-Who's James?''
''He said he was passing through the city when he smelt you. Miss Alice, you're in grave danger. He's planning to kill half the asylum just to get to you.''
She's shaking. ''What?!''
''This is why I came to you in such a hurry. You have two options: let James kill you, or let me change you.'' Kumboh's voice got lower. ''Either way, he is coming for you. Once a vampire sets his sights on their singer, he has got to have them. No matter what.''
She's at a loss for words. ''I...I...''
''Your choice, Miss Alice. Hurry.''
.
She needs to sit down. Her world is spinning.
Bouts of visions filled with blurs of pale skin, trees, and high school students filled her mind.
All the memories she had been suppressing for the last few decades came crashing down on her like tidal waves -
- and she was drowning, drowning, drowning.
vii. August 29th, 1920
.
The unusually crisp sound of nurses' hushed whispering and birds chirping all at once made her open her eyes in agony.
She placed a hand on the bar of her cell and tried to lean further out, only to jump when she bent the bar completely out of place.
''Um...Kumboh?'' she calls out. ''Kumboh, can you hear me? I feel strange.''
No answer. Instead, her confusion grew as she began to hear conversations between the other patients, although the nearest cell next to her was all the way down the hallway.
''Hello?'' she mumbles. ''Who's there?''
She shrugs, still disorientated, and rises on her tip-toes to peer outside.
''Is anyone there-''
She widens her eyes and took a step back, the gruesome view suddenly in front of her causing her to almost faint.
Kumboh lay dead on the floor, his bloody head and tattered limbs spewn across his stomach.
Finally, the visions she had been having came to an abrupt stop. Her rock hard body collapsed onto the wooden floor with a loud bang.
''Alice? Alice!'' a masculine voiced called.
She lay on the floor, entrapped and suffocated by the weight of her memories, unable to bring herself up.
.
.
.
.
They were coming back.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the prologue. Also, I'm looking for beta-readers! :-)