ALICE POV
"Today's the day," I hopped around singing, "I'm going to meet him tonight!" My apartment was sparsely furnished with a writing desk with a small radio on it, and a twin size bed with a solid oak frame. I quickly packed what few belongings I had in a small bag and hid it under the bed in preparation for what I knew was going to be my last night in Philadelphia.
I had been having visions of a powerful vampire that was to be my mate. I did not know his name yet, yet I knew we were destined to be together and that we would join a "vegetarian" family and be very happy together. But first I had to find him. From my visions I had seen a diner and I saw the vampire that I did not know yet but somehow did in a corner. A fight broke out in my vision and I saw blood being spilled and my soul mate jump in and drain the drunken fool of his life's blood.
Well that was not going to happen. I was going to get there first before he got himself killed by exposing himself to the humans as a vampire: A person they thought only existed in fairy tales. I vowed, plus I wanted my happily ever after damnit. Looking out the window I noticed the sun setting.
I left my room, quickly walking down the street to the diner from my vision. The scent of another vampire hung heavy on the air and I knew he was inside. I opened the doors and stepped over the thresh hold and heard the laughter of a couple drunken men having dinner. Just as I found him, a fight broke out, just like in my vision, near him, and I knew I had to move fast to prevent my vision from succeeding. It was officially show time.
JASPER'S POV
I was hiding in the diner. What made me go to that particular diner in that particular city I do not know, nor do I wish to hazard a guess. I was tired of living the life of a killer. Tired of feeling everything I felt as I fed, I was just plain tired. I had become a monster and no one was safe around me. The once proud Major Jasper Whitlock in the Confederate Army, in a diner, in Philadelphia, in 1948 trying to figure out why, I was there.
I didn't want to be around people, I could feel everything they did, from the joy, the pain, the heartache, even the drunken stupidity of the men in the booth next to mine. My eyes, blood red, from feeding off humans since Maria had made me at the tender age of 19, were downcast as I stared at the table.
Not paying attention to the drunken fools, I caught a scent of another as the doors to the diner opened, and I vowed I would not go back to Maria; they would have to kill me first. I looked up sharply as the scent got stronger just as the two men in the next booth broke out into a fight and I caught the scent of blood as one of the men punched the other one in the nose, effectively breaking his nose.
I started to jump up, but a little pixie the size of a child stood in my way. She had a welcoming smile on her face as she held out her hand. I took her hand without stopping to make sense of what I was doing. Why was I not attacking the men? I had not fed in days, not since the child a few states over. I had vowed to myself then that I would slowly die from hunger, that I would never take the life of an innocent again. Yet the two men fighting were not so innocent. I felt their lust as soon as the little pixie stepped in the place. I wanted to tear the men limb from limb, yet with her there, holding my hand, I felt peace, I felt hope.
ALICE POV
I was so excited to finally see him. He had a mass of golden curls atop his head, and his eyes, even though downcast, I could tell were blood red. I knew I had to do something. I had to save him. I walked up to him oblivious to the danger, oblivious to the men who were looking at my small body, and held out my hand. My vision blurred just a little as I saw him wage a war with himself on weather or not to trust me. And even though he was still wary, even though he wanted to push past me and feed on the fighting men, trust won out and he placed his hand in mine. I smiled, radiating peace, so as not to alarm him and pulled him outside with me.
"Hello," I said, "My name is Alice. What is yours?"
"Jasper Whitlock Ma'am," He replied in his soft southern drawl, "How can I help you Miss Alice?"
"Well first of all Jasper Whitlock, it is I who is going to help you," I said smartly, "I know what you are, just like you know what I am. I'm going to teach you a new way of life. You don't have to be alone anymore. We are destined to be together, me and you and the family that we are going to find on the other side of the country, we're going to be so happy! Won't it be just grand?"
JASPER'S POV
I looked at this little pixie bounding around me like a puppy with excess energy. Her gamine curls bounced as she did, and her face looked like an angel. She seemed so earnest with what she was saying, but how could she know this? How could she know that we were "destined" to be together?
Holding up my hand, I said, "Now wait a minute here Ma'am. How do you know these things? How do you know that we will find this family that may be several states away from us, and more importantly how do you know that we are destined to be together?"
Linking her arm through mine, she looked up at me, and said, "Let's take a walk and I will explain everything to you." Without having a choice in the matter, I obediently let her lead me away from the main city off to the forest. He dainty little mouth going a mile a minute talking about how pretty the day was and how she had had visions of me for the past few years. I was blown away by her carefree attitude and her ability to find the good in everything, even me, a person who thought of himself as a monster.
We sat down on an outcropping of boulders and I turned my full attention to her. The excitement she felt from having found me radiating off her, along with something else. Something I had only felt from Maria, a tiny bit of lust mixed in with all the emotions that were going on within her small frame. "So tell me, Alice," I said, "How is there any other way of living? We feed on humans. That is what they are here for aren't they?"
"Oh No, Jasper," She countered, "We can live off the blood of animals. It is not quite as satisfying but it keeps us alive. I think it is the reason that your eyes are red and mine are amber. I brought us out here because I figured we might want to grab a bite before going back into town to freshen up."
I looked at Alice horrified, what did she mean, feed on animals? Did she not know that we were supposed to feed on humans? That was after all what they were there for. I looked at her face, earnest and truthful and knew that she actually did feed off animals. What the hell, I thought, why not? I was hungry and since I did not want to feel what my prey was feeling, I decided to give it a try. After all, how hard could it be?
ALICE'S POV
I watched the myriad of emotions cross Jasper's face and smiled. Good, he decided to trust me and give it a try. I waited for the precise moment I knew that two does would be wandering across our path, oblivious to the mortal danger they were in. I made sure Jasper was watching me as I took one of the deer down and sank my fangs into the artery. I drank my fill and watched as he took down the other one, none to gently and mimicked me biting into the soft warm flesh of the neck.
I beamed at him as I watched him feed off the deer, noting that the red had faded, leaving behind a soft golden brown. Not quite the amber of mine but very close. A few more feedings on the animals and they should be the same shade as mine. I tackled him as I kissed him softly, so happy that we were finally together.
When I pulled back, there was a hunger in his gaze that I had not seen before in anyone that I remembered. Of course I had no memory of my human life, so I could not say with certainty that anyone had looked at me like that before. It was quite unsettling, yet at the same time it sent a thrill down my spine warming my heart.
JASPER'S POV
As Alice leaned in and kissed me, I felt a shock of electricity go through my body. I had not felt like that since Maria. I did not know how this little witch had found me, but I was glad she did. Her exotic taste mixed with the taste of animal blood made my blood boil. The innocent way she pulled back and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear as she looked down at the ground, a soft blush coming to her face.
She honestly did not know the power she had over me, and I wasn't about to tell her. "Thank You for showing me a better way Alice," I said reverently as I caressed her face.
"Any time Jas,"She responded smiling, "I think we need to go to my place and clean up a bit before we go find the others." She jumped up, her lithe form moving fast in the gathering darkness as she held out her hand to me.
I took it, not bothering to think about the craziness of following someone I had just met hours ago. She took my hand and led me back through town to a house that had three stories to it. We went around back to the entrance at the back door and went up to her room.