"You've kept me waiting a long time."
I watched as he attempted a slight smile, unsure of what to say or what to make of the whole situation. Surely walking into a random diner to find another one of your strange breed waiting for you must be nerve-wracking.
Jasper dipped his head in apology. Had he a hat, I swear he would have tipped it.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," he said quietly, and I smiled at his voice, the same deep, dulcet tones I remembered hearing in my mind dripping over me like honey. That delicious little twang was there too, hidden just under the surface, as if he had left a home in the South long ago. Had he? I wanted to know more, to rush into a barrage of questions, to pick his brain until I knew just why he was here and what he was looking for. My heart longed to understand him while my brain ordered me to slow down and try to not further scare him away. Yet the look of fear that had been on Jasper's face moments before was entirely gone, and he was gazing down at me with hope, calm, and just a bit of confusion in his dark eyes, eyes slightly tinged with a burgundy hue.
My hand shot up to the side of his face. His eyes focused on mine.
"You're thirsty," I murmured, allowing my hand to drop from the smooth, perfect marble that was his skin, only slightly embarrassed that I had touched him so readily. It was quite obvious that he was, with the way his muscles tensed and his breathing stopped in an effort to lessen the temptation.
This was shocking; I had no idea Jasper drank from humans. My own beginnings were so unclear that I cannot remember having ever tasted anything but animals. A circumstantial choice turned into a personal one when I found that I couldn't stomach drinking from the innocent, despite my nonexistent memory of ever being human myself.
I had to get him away from these people, away from the city before he snapped. I held out my hand, and he took it without stopping to think. I grabbed my purse and threw a dollar onto the counter to cover my bottomless-cup-of-coffee bill then walked out the door into the rain, pulling Jasper behind me.
He didn't say a single word, merely followed me down to the end of the block where my beauty of a Buick Eight was parked, the soft top folded up to protect it from the rain. I opened my door and sat down, gesturing for Jasper to get in. He ran a hand over the glossy baby-blue paint job before sliding onto the seat next to me and slamming the door behind him.
He obviously hadn't been in many cars; his eyes swept over the dashboard, examining all the knobs and buttons, while his hands absent-mindedly stroked the leather interior, appreciating its buttery-soft texture like a newborn testing out his senses. I backed out of the space and began driving towards the hotel, still slightly unsure what I would be doing once I go there.
"I…"
Jasper's voice broke through the hum of the engine, soft and rich. I looked over at him, keeping my hands on the wheel.
"I don't even know your name," he said embarrassedly.
I smiled and returned my eyes to the road. "Alice," I offered. I saw him out of the corner of my eye mouthing my name, testing it out.
"Alice," he said aloud, and the word sounded like it had never sounded before. I wished I had a heartbeat for a moment, just so I could hear it stop. He went on. "I'm not sure what to say."
"Just say what you feel, Jasper," I suggested as I turned onto Broad Street. It was the first time I had said his name to him, and it obviously shocked him that I knew it.
Jasper paused a moment, contemplating what to ask first. "How did you find me here?"
"I saw you," I replied simply.
"You saw me?" He turned in the seat to face me.
I hesitated. Might as well tell him earlier than later, I thought before continuing. "I guess you could call them visions. They aren't always stable, though."
He nodded slightly, settling back into his seat. "So you're one of the lucky few with a gift."
"I suppose I am," I confessed. "Have you met many that have something like that?"
"Nothing like yours, but other gifts, yes," he answered.
"Like what?" I was intrigued.
"Like physical control. Or the ability to sense others of our kind," he said.
"And you?" I guessed. A vampire who associated with such a talented group had to be talented himself.
Jasper smiled sheepishly, and I knew my assumption to be true. "I work with moods." I raised an eyebrow quizzically, and he went on. "I can feel what people are feeling and alter their emotions."
I was less confused and more intrigued, but I felt an immediate sense of calm and happiness wash over me, senses I now knew to be caused by Jasper's gift. So that was why I had felt his fear in the diner. I smiled at the display of his talents and turned the car onto another street.
"So now I know how you found me," Jasper said, the words quickly rolling off his tongue now that we were better acquainted. "But why? Why me?"
I laughed a little. "You know, I'm not rightly sure. I was hoping you could tell me." He looked confused, so I continued. "I was living in Georgia when I first started getting visions of you. You were walking in the rain…you looked upset, and something told me that I needed to find you."
"And you did," he said with a smile.
I smiled too. "I've been sitting in that diner for three days, waiting for you."
Jasper stared at me with shocked eyes, and I laughed. "But why?" he asked. "What was so intriguing about me that you sat among all those humans for days just waiting?"
"I…"
How on earth was I supposed to explain this to him? That I had seen a future with us joining a strange, unknown family, a future that included us holding hands in a fairly intimate way? I bit my lip and paused.
"Why are you so nervous?" Jasper asked, staring at me. His face was furrowed with a mirrored image of my own anxiety. "Is something wrong?"
I had forgotten about Jasper's 'talent' and tried to calm myself down for his sake.
"I'm sorry. Don't worry about it." I tried to seem breezy as I pulled into the front circle of the Crown Hotel. A valet came running and I stepped out of the car, handing him the keys and walking into the hotel with Jasper in tow.
We were both quiet as we entered the elevator, taking it all the way to the top floor where my suite was located. I pulled the key out of my purse and unlocked the door to 1202, ushering Jasper inside. He seemed to be intrigued by the beauty of the new space, just as he had been with the car, but he tried to hide it well. I went to draw the curtains open, letting the gray, rainy day pour into the room while Jasper sat on the sofa, tapping his foot anxiously.
I turned around to face him, resting my back against the cool windowpane. Jasper's ruby gaze met my topaz, and his eyes narrowed. I could see the worry written on his face as plain as if I had his gift to inform me.
"What is it you aren't telling me?" he asked softly. "Why did you have to find me? Are you one of the Volturi? Am I finished, is that it?"
I furrowed my brow. "Volturi?" I repeated the foreign word. Jasper seemed to relax at my genuine confusion.
"Never mind, I'm just jumping to conclusions." He sighed and stood, joining me near the window, staring out at the city below us while I stared at him. He seemed more at ease now, strange enough for a man who was joining an unfamiliar girl in her hotel room but maybe not so strange for the only two vampires in Philadelphia.
"I had a vision," I confessed. His eyes flickered over to me, and I continued. "I'm supposed to find another group of our kind. And apparently you're supposed to be there too, to help me find them."
I conveniently left out the rest. Might as well save the scaring-him-off bit for another day.
Jasper sat quietly, taking in this new information. I wished I could feel his emotions like he could feel mine, even though his face said them plain as day. He was intrigued, bewildered, and still a little confused. I reached over to pat his hand, but a sudden shock of electricity ran through my body when we touched. I wrenched my hand away, never having felt any sort of reaction like that before. Jasper's eyes told the same story as he stared bewilderedly at his own palm.
"So," he said in a brighter tone, trying to lighten the mood as he sent a wave of clarity over the both of us, "what are we supposed to do now?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm not sure…wait for another vision?" It seemed to be the only way I could figure out where we were headed next.
"About how long will that take?" Jasper asked.
"It depends," I replied. "They seem to come just when a decision is being made."
"Then perhaps we ought to make some sort of decision to spur it along?" he suggested. It seemed like a good plan to me, and I tried to think of what we could do to jumpstart my sight.
"Perhaps if we went on a hunt, that would clear my head," I proposed carefully, trying to gauge his reaction. Did he think I met humans? Surely my eyes told him otherwise. But no, the moment I had mentioned the hunt, his mind was elsewhere, thinking about the many people that teemed in the city below our window.
"Yes, a hunt," he agreed hungrily, his senses suddenly keyed up. I could smell our combined venom in the air and knew I needed to drink just as much as he did. Perhaps if I got him out of the city, showed him how I got by, there wouldn't be any trouble.
"Let me get changed, and we'll go." I opened a drawer and pulled out some clothes, heading into the bathroom. Hunting in a dress wouldn't do, and I wasn't about to ruin my favorite outfit with dirt and blood. I pulled on a blue loose-fitting sweater and a pair of black capris. There was an abandoned park deemed unsafe just outside the city limits that was swarming with bears and whitetail deer. I had hunted there before, and I sorely needed it now; the circles under my eyes were turning a deep purple, and my eyes would be completely black in a few more days.
"Ready?" I asked, emerging from the bathroom and running a hand through my short black hair, smoothing it down against my scalp.
Jasper was up in a shot, ready and willing. "Where are we going?"
I bit my lip, hesitant. I would wait to tell him about my choice in game.
