Turtle Dove

Chapter 1

Author: AliceLuvr53

Pairing: Alice/Leah

Rating: T for eventual adult themes, minor language

Disclaimer: I do not own Alice, Leah, any of the Cullens, or anything from Twilight. I do not own the title either. It comes from a choir piece, ironically enough, called Turtle Dove. I apologize, I only remember the title and some of the lyrics, so I cannot give more information on the piece. If it is asked for, I will explain why I chose the title in the A/N in the next chapter.

For now, though, sit back and relax. This will make a lot more sense than Turn My World Around.

Alice's POV

Sometime in August, 1942. Somewhere in the fields of Wyoming.

It should have felt hot to me. That's all I could think about as Jasper and I ran through the field, me still dressed for the dead of winter. I had lived for years just over the border in Canada before seeing an image of me and Jasper meeting. I knew I didn't have time to waste to find him. Meeting Jasper seemed like the most important thing in the world, like it would be life-altering.

I had met Jasper about two months ago, in a little diner down south. I know that upon seeing me, he fell in love with me. He is the sweetest, kindest man I have ever met. He deserves to find a woman who he can fall head over heals for and spend the rest of his days happily married to and loving.

Too bad that woman won't be me.

I knew while I was racing to meet him that we would never be lovers. I had a strong feeling, even though I had never 'seen' it, that my lover would not be a man. I told Jasper this when we first met, and gave him the option of leaving me then. But, I also told him of Mr. and Mrs. Cullen, and of how our lives could be. I told him of how we could find family, and all we would need to do to have family is give up human blood for animal blood. So he decided to trust me. Now, we were running to meet them in Forks, Washington.

Suddenly, Jasper stopped. We were standing between two fields, one corn, the other wheat. I stopped and faced him, pulling off my down jacket in our pause. He eyed me and grinned. Why had I worn just a tank top under this? Oh yeah, I didn't need the warmth. I needed the disguise. Humans needed to believe I was human on the rare occasion I was seen. It's not like people in Canada run around in tank tops while there are massive amounts of snow on the ground.

Then Jasper's expression got serious.

"Alice..." He said my name quietly. "Coming from the east, human pace. Smells like a dog..." He wrinkled his nose as he said this. Suddenly, I smelled it too. It smelled like a wet dog, those are the only words to describe it. Jasper continued. "Feels confused, lost, sad..." He trailed off. I smiled sadly at him. Poor Jasper, always had such difficulty dealing with emotions that would generally be considered bad. He disliked them, almost to an extent where I could say he hated them.

I looked to the east, wanting to see whoever or whatever it was coming. Mere moments later, I could see a girl walking toward us. She was tall, with darker skin but not black. Her hair was a beautiful midnight black, but it was all tangled, ruffled, and looked like she had been running through everything and anything that stood in her way. Yet somehow, she was still beautiful.

Suddenly she called out to us. "Hey you!" She started running, and reached us in about ten seconds. She grinned when she stopped in front of us, then wrinkled her nose. "Woa! Do you guys smell that?" Jasper and I looked at each other. Who was this girl?

Suddenly realization hit her. "Sorry, that was rude. I just haven't seen other people in so long that it's not even funny. I don't even know how long it's been. What year is it?" She looked at us. Then she shook her head. "Excuse me, that was also rude." The girl stuck out a hand. As I shook it, I realized she hadn't let us get a word in edgewise. And it appeared she wasn't planning to for another couple minutes.

"My name is Kristina. I originally come from Maine," Jasper and I looked at each other in surprise. "and I turned sixteen in July of 1927. Well, that's assuming that July has passed. I haven't been home since June." I glanced at Jasper again and wondered if I looked as shocked as he did.

The girl, Kristina, looked no older than sixteen! She should be thirty-one! Jasper and I looked at each other out of the corners of our eyes, completely dumbfounded. Kristina looked back and forth between us, and her face fell.

"What?" She whispered. "Why do you guys keep doing that? I'm just a little overenthusiastic, not crazy..." She trailed off. How would we tell her? Or there was the more important question, how did she still look so young?

"Kristina," Jasper began carefully, "what happened when you left home?" I realized after he said this that it was a good place to start.

Kristina looked down at her feet. Seconds later, I realized she was crying. Suddenly, I wanted to comfort her. Yes, we had only met five minutes ago, but somehow she seemed closer to me than that.

Then she spoke, choking on her own tears as she did so. "My mother and I got in a fight. I lost it. Next thing I knew, I was running." Her voice strained to a whisper. "I don't even know how long I ran before I realized that something was... wrong." She looked at us. "It took me forever to get back to normal." She probably thought she was exaggerating when she said forever, I realized. It was probably years. "Even now, if I get angry, it happens again." She seemed truly scared.

"What happened?" Jasper asked her in the same quiet tone she had been speaking in. I knew that he didn't want to upset her.

Kristina hesitated before talking again, as if she was afraid we wouldn't believe her. "I lived on a reservation back in Maine." Great, now she was going to get off topic. She was crazy. "There was a legend, at least I always thought it was legend, that our people had wolf protectors, that my great-grandfather was one of those original protectors. These men were shape shifters who protected us from the supernatural, like vampires." She looked me in the eye, then Jasper. "The only thing I can figure out would be that I am somehow one of those protectors, even though no women have ever been a protector before. I know this seems really far-fetched, but please... believe me." She whispered the last words.

Jasper took a deep breath, then looked me in the eye. I nodded, answering his silent question. She should know that we don't think she's crazy. She should know that this made sense, in its own strange way.

I stepped towards her, gently picking up her chin so she would look at me instead of the ground. "That's not crazy." She relaxed as I said the words. "You have just stepped into a world you will probably soon wish that you had never entered. The year is 1927," Her eyes widened. "Jasper and I believe it is sometime in August. We are currently standing somewhere in Wyoming." Her eyes would pop out of her head if she widened them any more. "We are going to meet with more beings like Jasper and I. Would you like to come? Maybe they'll know something about you..." Yes, they would. I could see it. I still had my hand under her chin.

Kristina's eyes lit up. "I would love that." She said the words with the most honesty I have ever heard anyone say anything. Then she hesitated. "Wait... what do you mean, people like you?"

Jasper spoke up then. "Alice and I drink blood. Both of us used to drink human blood, but our diet now consists of animal blood." Kristina looked shocked again. The poor girl was not having a very good day. "We promise not to harm you, and the beings we are going to meet with are like us, will not drink your blood. However, you will probably have to put up with the smell, because you don't smell too good to us, either. It probably has something to do with who we are." She looked back and forth between me and Jasper, only contemplating for a moment, then seemed to have made a decision.

"I'll come with you." No other words had ever made me happier. I squealed, and hugged her before I could think twice. Once I realized what had happened, I pulled back and smiled at her. I picked her up, and Jasper and I started running again. Suddenly, I couldn't wait untill we reached our new home. I just knew it would be wonderful.