Houston, Texas
June 1854
Jasper
"Isabella!" I roared my voice not quite high pitched but not close to deep. I ran after the girl as fast as my legs would take me. She never failed to knock my pride down a couple rings on the tier, especially when we played games like this. She had always been fast, and strong and now that I think about it quite peculiar.
"Jasper, this game is no fun if you choose not to participate!" Isabella chastised. She sighed and blew a stray curl out of her eyes. I made a face at her and she just smiled in return. She was always blaming the fact that she was better at absolutely everything than me on her age. Isa was a whole two years older than me making her 12. It shouldn't be such a dramatic difference, but it obviously was.
I looked up towards the sky and noticed the sun was beginning to dip below the horizon. Mama would be none too happy to find my behind home after dark. I gave one last look at Isabella's retreating form and ran in the opposite direction towards my own home. Mama was waiting on the porch as usual with my little sister propped on her knee. She smiled as I reached the top step and I walked over to place a kiss on her and Delilah's cheeks.
Houston, Texas
January 1860
Jasper
I was tired. After the rough year we had on the farm it was up to me to get the fields ready for this year's crop. I had been working my butt of day and night trying to show Mama I could be the man of the house. It had been tough since Papa had joined the Army again. A storm was brewing he had said, a revolution! He was dead set on being a part of something he saw to be such influence on his home lands. He was never the type of man to stand down in the face of danger, or to retreat when a threat was made known. I had always admired him for this skill and hoped one day to be as strong a man as he.
"Jasper come back to me, you're all wrapped up in your own thoughts!" Came a voice to my left. I glanced out of my bedroom window and saw a picture of perfection. Isabella had grown beautifully over the years and now held a special place in my heart as well as caused a certain reaction below the belt. I had never yet met a woman as enticing as Isabella Swan had come to be. "I'm sorry" I quickly responded. It was an honest apology, but I had been stuck in my thoughts for months it seemed, and I didn't see myself coming out any time soon.
"Let's play a game!" Was her wild request. This girl, I swear will be the end of me. Everything she does intrigues me, but I would never have the boldness to speak on my feelings. I couldn't imagine if she was to deny me romantically and then withdraw her friendship afterwards. I would lose my mind, I was sure of it. None the less I nodded my head to her request, raising an eyebrow in question to what game she wanted to play.
Several hours had passed but Isa looked unaffected by the passing hours. I on the other hand am exhausted and starved. I had no idea how she managed to look, and act just as refreshed as she had this morning when we had first met up. I stood stretching my arms and legs and shook my head at her smirk like smile. She was checking me out and I had caught her. Ha! "See something you like darlin'" was my less than charming response to her grazing eyes. She giggled and shook her head before disappearing from the room. I grumbled all the way back to my room, how was I going to make her mine?
Houston, Texas
August 1862
Jasper
"You can't be serious Jasper!" Her voice was quiet, but I could hear the sadness and fear seeping through. She looked up at me her strange, enticing eyes welling up with tears. I watched her reach up as if to cup my cheek in her hand but then drop to her side as she changed her mind. A flash of anger flared beneath the sadness and I knew that if I did make it out of this war alive Isabella would not be waiting for my return. "Isa darlin' its my duty as an able-bodied male to stand with my brothers and fight!" I shook my head and shifted my gaze to the ground. "I have to do this it's the right thing! My father is out there right now fighting for what we know to be right! How can I stand back and watch when I could be out there on the battlefield making a difference!"
The silence that followed my outburst was painful. I had no more words to give her to make her understand why this was what I needed to do. She wouldn't come to understand why I had made this choice until well after I had left. I loved her, and I knew she loved me, but our love was a stubborn one, filled with passion and heat. Me leaving had started a fire within us both that would never be put out until we both were reunited again.
"I love you Jasper" Her words were as soft as the wind that was gently caressing my face and playing with my hair. I had almost missed the emotion that came along with the statement. "I love you until my heart stops beating" Was my response. This was goodbye, whether it be forever or not neither of us knew. I gave her one last kiss first on the lips, and then on the forehead before mounting my horse and riding off to enlist into the army.
My heart broke with each minute that passed, each second taking me farther and farther away from the only woman I would ever love. She had captured my heart and soul over the years and if the war didn't kill me, never seeing her again would.
Texas
1864
I had known that the three women were no good the moment I got close enough to really look at them. Close enough to see the almost luminescent paleness of their skin, the bright red of their eyes. It was the short dark-haired girl that approached me. She was undoubtedly gorgeous, with an amazing aura about her that made me want to bow down and do her bidding. She was a new type of woman, I was no longer surrounded by the safety of my farm back home. No longer surrounded by the easy going southern women I was accustomed to. No, this was something new entirely. And as she spoke her first words to me I knew that this was something otherworldly. This woman and her friends were not like me and those I had known before. They were unlike any human being I had ever met, which meant one thing to me. I was going to meet my end tonight, in the arms of a beautiful supernatural woman.
The fire was raging. I was no longer sure of anything. Where was I? How had I come to be burning in this never-ending inferno. I couldn't remember where I had been when I stumbled into the blaze. I remember traveling across the plains on my way to our base camp and running into a group of women who seemed distressed. That was it. Nothing else but burning. Eventually the flames had to consume me and put me out of my misery. Unless I was in Hell, it was true I had killed many in my two years in the army. I had climbed the branches quickly and become a major in less than a year. I was ruthless and good at my job, war was my skill. But did I deserve to burn for eternity? I had been killing for the right reasons, the men I had slain I believed to be the enemy. All there was to do now was wait.
1868
"Major!" I knew that screech and it never meant any good. I shook my head and entered the tent in front of me bowing my head slightly to my mistress. The woman who had created the monster I am today. "How is training going?" The woman asked as she neared me. I felt her breath on my neck before her tongue slid up behind my ear. She thought herself sexy, but I had become immune to her advances over my time with her. I felt her panic though she would never show it on the outside. She knew I was slipping from her claws and it would be a matter of time before she had to continue without me by her side. That was, if I decided to let her continue after I took my leave.
"Maria, you know the training is going well. It always goes the same, the weaker newborns are up for disposal tonight as you ordered." I couldn't help the sarcasm that left my lips. I was tired of the monotonous game we played. She asked the same questions each time and I executed the same tasks day in and day out. I bowed once more and made my leave from her tent into the one I shared with my commander and brother. "Pete" I sighed as I entered. His head popped up from whatever it was he was reading today. "Yes, Major?" He questioned. His face staying ever calm but I knew with his gift of knowledge he had already suspected a conversation happening between the two of us tonight. "I can't keep up this life much longer" Was all I said as I gestured for him to follow me to the pit where we kept the undesired newborns. They were classified by their ability to learn simple battle techniques and show mild thirst control over the first two months. If either of those qualifications were not met they were disposed of and a new batch was created. It was tiring and the amount of emotions I had to wade through during it all was too much for me to handle most days.
I found myself hiding behind a new persona I had created once I realized Maria was not going to release me with out a fight. I would need the strength and reputation the Major could give me to defeat her and truly escape this lifestyle and that was going to take time and determination. I would have to conquer myself before id ever have a chance against her.
1942
"Pete I just can't shake it" I admitted after a long drawn out staring contest between the two of us. "I know that there's something for me out there, but I can't seem to run in the right direction. I've been lost since I left for war as a human boy." I declared not caring how immature I sounded. I had been through hell and came out on top. If it wasn't for my brother and his mate I would still be knee deep in the vampire wars, killing without second thought.
"Your time will come Jasper, trust me" Was all Peter said. I threw him a quick but powerful glare and swept out of the house. I needed the time to think on my own, to battle my demons on my own time in my own space. I thought back to my life as a human, my time with Isa. These were memories I looked back to often, something I never wanted to forget. Although I knew I would never again have her love, she would forever have mine.
I continued traveling across the world at first and then slowly throughout the united states. I hadn't been to most places beyond the south in my human life or my vampire life. It was refreshing to see how the many various places in this world are developing in these changing times. People truly were magnificent. I had met a few vampires on my travels as well, some kind and some that had me weary. But as I traveled the more I realized what a name I had made for myself. For no matter how, weary I might have been of a certain vampire at any time, they were always wearier of me the God of War.
It had been several years, and I was becoming unsure of myself. I had never truly set out to find a specific thing hoping that with time it would seek me out instead. Or maybe I would come across a relic during my travels that would point me in the direction I needed to go but nothing of the sort happened. This is how I found myself wandering into a cheap diner in the middle of Philadelphia. There was no reason for me to enter the diner and yet I couldn't help myself. It was like all my instincts were telling me salvation was up ahead. That the answers to my questions were waiting to be found out, that I no longer would be a nomad seeking out what I was not sure existed.
"You've kept me waiting a long time" A tiny little thing spoke up. I glanced down at her and smiled. "I'm sorry Ma'am my names Jasper" I responded releasing the full drawl of my southern accent. She grinned and took my hand leading me back into the night and into her car. Promises of the future on her breath as we drove off in search of a family neither of us had met.
"Don't worry Jasper! I've seen them, and they are going to welcome us right away!" Was all she told me and there was nothing to do but trust her.