A Game Gone Wrong

Let's put it this way, if I owned any of these characters, I wouldn't be typing on a laptop that likes to crash or twisting the story around for my own amusement

CH 3

What could have happened in his past that makes him think of himself like Sirius Black? Bella thought to herself, watching Jasper bury himself in the book. Even having lived with the Cullens for years now, 4 years actually since she hadn't technically moved in with them until they started college at Dartmouth, she still didn't know Jasper's story. She slowly learned everyone's story, even Rose's absolutely horror, but every time she had asked about Jasper, she was turned away.

1 year earlier

She was lying on the bed with her head on her arms. Her fingers were picking at the blue comforter while Edward's hands roamed up and down her back, sending shivers down her spine on occasion. Breaking the silence she decided to ask the question she had asked every other member of the family,

"Edward?" His hand stilled at his name.

"Yes, my love?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, you know you can always ask me anything Bella."

"Ok…why does no one ever talk about Jasper's past? What happened?"

Edward stiffened and removed his hand from her back completely. She had been afraid of this reaction. It was the same reaction she had gotten from everyone else in the family.

"It's not my story to tell Bella. It's enough to say it is not something that any of us wanted to know."

This was also the same thing she had heard, well at least the first part. The others weren't rude enough to say they wished they didn't know. She sighed, knowing it was useless to ask anything more. At her sigh, Edward's hands began their lazy path on his skin, neither as relaxed as before.

"Jasper?" His head jerked up at his name.

"Yes, Bella?"

"Can I ask you something?" He nodded. "Will you, I mean the others wouldn't tell me, so I was wondering if you would, you don't have to if you don't want to, I won't take it personally, it's just…"

"Bella, you're babbling."

"Right, sorry. Would you tell me your story? From before meeting the Cullens?"

"Bella my story isn't like the others. I wasn't changed by the good doctor, I didn't live this lifestyle for long time. I don't think you want to hear it."

"Please Jasper? I want to know, I can handle it, really."

He stood from his seat in the chair across the room and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. Bella scooted over so he could swing his legs up and brace his back against the headboard. Closing his eyes, he began his story.

"It was the fall of 1863 when I was changed. I was a Major in the Confederate army…"

I had moved up the ranks quickly for someone my age, only 20, and now I was the youngest major ever, even if no one knew it but myself. I had been moved to the Texas-Mexico border to evacuate the small pueblo town nearby. It was getting late and I was checking to make sure the last cart of people made it safely out of town when I saw them. Three lone women on horseback. I, of course, went over to them, intent on telling them that they needed to evacuate the town like everyone else. My words caught in my throat at the sight of them though. They were the most beautiful women I had ever seen. The one on the left spoke.

"Look Maria, we found a soldier boy." The middle one, Maria, turned to me and asked for my name.

"Major Jasper Whitlock ma'm."

She asked my age, and stupidly I told her my true age. The fact that I had become a major so quickly intrigued her. She changed me right there, with no one around to hear my screams since I had so efficiently cleared out the town. For the next hundred years I was HER major. I did her bidding, heeding her every whim.

She wished to build an army of newborns, and it was my job to train them. When I did well, she rewarded me with young girls. When I failed her, I didn't feed for days. I didn't fail often. We raided nearby towns, destroying everything in our wake. We ruled Texas, and part of Mexico with an iron fist.

It was also my job to destroy the newborns when they passed their one year mark, the end of their usefulness. Rarely, they were kept. Maria saw potential in them, like she did me. Peter was one such newborn, gifted with knowing things. He became my brother, even more so because we shared a maker. I shared my last name with him, as he had forgotten his own. One day however, a newborn named Charlotte was created. Peter fell in love with her, his mate.

Unfortunately, Charlotte had no gifts and was to be destroyed like all the others. I made sure it was me set to destroy her. I escaped that day, with her and Peter. We ran from Maria and never looked back. For a while we lived together, living on humans who had done evil or who wouldn't be missed, but I left anyway. I didn't like being a monster.

"I met Alice within a week of leaving them, at that diner in Philadelphia. The rest, I'm sure, you know." He refused to open his eyes. Refused to look at the expression on her face, unwilling to see the horror and disgust he was sure was there. It had been there with all the others, of course the human, the one whose race he had been destroying, of course she would hate him. So he didn't open his eyes.

"Jasper?" He still didn't look. "Jasper please look at me." When he still refused to acknowledge her, she placed her hand on his cheek. The warmth startled him, and his eyes snapped open. But her face held no horror or disgust only,

"Pride Bella? What the hell do you have to be proud of me for? I'm a monster, a killing machine! For the love of Christ, they called me the God of War!"

"And I'm proud of you because you overcame all of that to become the man you are today. You are no more of a monster than I am Jasper. As soon as you found a better way of doing things, you did. Wholeheartedly. You didn't have a choice with Maria until Peter and Charlotte came along. Then you had a new and better choice with Alice. You took it. You, Jasper Whitlock, Cullen, Hale…you are a hero, not a monster."

Jasper looked at her, unable to believe it. He had found the Harry to his Sirius. She understood him better than his so called family ever had. He couldn't stop himself from wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to his chest in an almost bone-crushing hug. She didn't struggle, she let herself be held, knowing that this was what he needed. Exhausted from the day's events, she fell asleep still held to his chest.

A/N So I really still have no idea where I'm taking this story but I hope you're liking the ride so far. Next up, at least one of the confrontations…not sure yet if it will be Jasper/Alice or Bella/Edward…or maybe Jasper/Alice/Edward… Review!