Chapter Four

Alice

I should have known that I would suffer for my freedom and when my saviour explained what he wanted from me I understood. I understood that he knew of my gift and believed it was real. That I wasn't a witch but a very special person touched by the Gods and able to see things that might be. He was the first person to understand that my gift was powerful but not infallible.

"Alice, you see what will be if things remain the way they are but often things change, people change their minds or someone else becomes involved and your vision isn't able to pick up all the possible permutations so be careful to use it wisely and never ever rely totally on it. I am willing to make you an offer, one I think you would be silly to refuse but you have that option. If you choose to refuse me that is your right and you can walk away from me. I will even give you enough money to survive comfortably until you are called to meet your maker."

"I'm listening"

I sat nervously in the drawing room of a big house outside the city, it was warm and beautiful and I wanted to stay here for ever but I knew that wasn't likely. I had been given a fresh set of clothes, new ones made from fine linen and edged with lace. There was a hot bath with scented soap and food, real food, fresh vegetables and meat, and fruit and cream to follow. I felt I was in a wonderful dream and I hoped it would never end, but fairy tales always did. I just hoped mine would end the same way as the others, "and they lived happily ever after."

"I will make you immortal, a rich woman, with only one stipulation. I want you to travel to Philadelphia and help a young man who is very troubled. He needs your guidance, to find a new way to live. I will give you all the knowledge you will need to help both him and yourself. You take him to the family I tell you about, wait for him to find the one he is looking for and your task is done, your debt repaid. The rest of time is yours to spend as you like, you may stay or go as you please."

"Immortal?"

"Yes, that I'm afraid is non negotiable because it will be a long time before you meet him and he finds the one he is looking for, she has yet to be born."

"How do I become immortal?"

"I'm afraid that is unpleasant and painful but short-lived, and then no one will ever be able to hurt you again."

I thought about his words, I knew all about unpleasant and painful, it had been my life for so long. It sounded easy enough, too easy in fact.

"Who is this man?"

"Oh I think you will like him. His name is Jasper, that's all you need to know now. You'll see him in your visions soon enough. So, would you like to think about my offer or have you already made your decision? What do you say?"

"Will this man be a force for good or evil?"

I think you can answer that as well as I, look for your future and tell me."

I closed my eyes and let my mind drift and there it was, a vision of myself among others who looked like my stranger and I was happy. So, this Jasper couldn't be a bad person.

I opened my eyes and nodded my head,

"Very well. I agree."

He smiled and came to stand very close to my chair then knelt down to look into my eyes,

"There is one thing, after you change you will not remember your human life or me, just the task you have agreed to. Does this alter your decision because this is your last chance to back out?"

I thought about my family, my father turning away as I was led from the house screaming in terror. My mother and brother visiting that terrible place and leaving again without me.

"I don't think forgetting my past will be such a bad thing. I haven't changed my mind."

He smiled and kissed my forehead before lowering his face to my shoulder then I felt a terrible pain in my neck followed by a burning sensation in my flesh as if fire were racing around inside me. It became hotter and hotter and I screamed in fear and pain falling to the floor as I spun into the terrible heat and darkness, chanting my name over and over, 'Alice,Alice, Alice.'

I have no idea how long I suffered, only that it seemed months before my body finally cooled and I could open my eyes again. I sat up in a beautiful bedroom alone and with a burning thirst in my throat. I got up and went to look at my reflection unable to believe the face that looked at me. I was staring at a stranger, I didn't recognise myself, had I been ill? I tried to remember my past but it was just an empty darkness. Only one word remained in my head, Alice, that must be my name, Alice. My skin was very pale and my eyes were a startling deep red which shocked me although I wasn't sure why.

Going to the window I looked out across rolling countryside dotted with trees and a river glittering in the distance. I looked down and my hand, caught in a shaft of sunlight, glittered like the water. What had happened to me? I hadn't been like this before had I? But before what? There was no before in my memory.

I explored the room and found a closet full of beautiful clothes and a tapestry bag that reminded me of something although I couldn't remember what and I opened it feeling that it contained something. Inside was money, a lot of money, and a piece of note paper with writing in a beautiful script. I sat on the bed to read it.

"Alice, follow your visions and remember your task. Be careful to hide your true nature from those you meet."

It wasn't signed and much as I tried I could remember nothing prior to waking up except my name and a task I had agreed to. I was to head for Philadelphia and wait for someone... a young man, a troubled man. Suddenly his name came to me from the blackness in my head, Jasper. He was to join me but it was for me to trace where that would be using my gift. I closed my eyes and lay back on the bed waiting for a vision to tell me where I was to go. I saw a café in the centre of the city. It was raining hard and the windows were foggy but I knew there was someone outside, hesitant to enter, but he would, because our futures were bound up with each other. He needed me, but why?

The next vision terrified me at first. I saw myself chase after a child and sink my teeth into its neck, drinking its warm blood which stopped the burning in my throat. Was this my fate? Immortality came with its price, I was now reliant on human blood to keep me fed. Then I saw another vision, this time of a man like myself but with the most beautiful golden eyes. He was showing me how to feed on animal blood to satisfy my hunger rather than humans. I got a name, Carlisle Cullen, and a place, Boston, New England. Now I had a place and person to find but first I had to assuage this terrible thirst and try to work out how long it would be before I would meet my new friend.