Leather and Lace

Revelations

Peter stopped running when he found a gas station. I wandered inside at his urging, irritated that he'd managed to convince me to pay for the food and drink with his money. I glanced out of the convenience store windows and saw Peter leaning lazily against a pitch-black pickup truck. I grinned. He was the epitome of a Southerner… Well, the epitome of what I thought of as a Southerner. He was polite, wore an easy smile, and had the Southern accent that echoed in my head softly. The cashier cleared his throat, and my attention shot back to the present. I felt my face flame, and I hastily shoved the ten at the kid.

"Have a nice day," he called, and the door slammed shut with a jingle as the bells that were attached clattered against each other angrily. I grumbled and stumbled on my way to Peter's truck. Peter was bent over laughing, and I wasn't sure if it was because of the kid, my humiliation, my miniature trip on my way to him, or all of the above. I held out my hand and the cash that was left over.

"You knew that would happen," I accused, and Peter nodded, grinning. He opened the passenger door for me, and I clambered into the cab of the truck. Almost simultaneously, my door shut and Peter was in the driver's seat.

"I did. I've a gift for just sorta knowin' things." I pouted, and turned to look out the window. Peter'd started the engine and was chugging out of the gas station. "For instance, I know that you and I are gonna get pretty close on this little journey. And that if I don't warn you that we're stoppin' in Texas to get Char, you'll get mad." I laughed at him. I couldn't help it. He was warmth, the sun that barely showed its face in Forks. He made me feel really safe. He was a non-empathic Jasper.

Jasper…

My good mood drained away. There was so much that I didn't know about Jasper, things that I wished I did know. Like, where was he before he was with Alice and the Cullens? How was he changed? Where was he from? I knew that he had something to do with the Southern Vampire Wars, but that was it. I knew that he was scarred more than any other vampire I'd ever met, and I knew that he'd mentioned a coven of two nomadic vampires that he'd saved from the Wars.

I turned to look at Peter, and gasped. "Oh my God, Peter! You're scarred like him!" I winced, wishing that I hadn't left it so cryptically. Too late to help that, though. Peter smiled.

"Yup. I was the Captain of an army durin' the Vampire Wars. I wish that I hadn't been in it, but I was. Thanks to me, lives were saved. This scarring, though, is rare. It marks me as a survivor, and the only way to get this many scars is to have been in her army. There's one other survivor who has more scars than me, and that's my brother. He was the Major. He… was terrifyin'. He buried all of his emotion, could barely be considered a vampire when I first met him. Thankfully, he took a likin' to me," Peter grinned. "He asked her to let me stay, told her that I'd be a good Captain. For him, I was. For her, I went outta my way to be awful."

I smiled. He made it sound like he was being a teenager in a rebellious stage. "How old are you, Peter?"

"I'm twenty-eight." He glanced at me sideways. "Now, don't go gettin' any ideas, I'm mated to Charlotte." I burst out laughing, dropping my bag of soda and chips on the floor to grip my stomach. If I didn't pay attention, I'd laugh so hard I'd get a stomachache. Peter grinned. "Now you're happy again, muffin, and that's good. Eat your goodies and sleep. We've still got a drive ahead of us."

I sighed and pulled out the soda. "Fine." My mind conjured up images of warm, honey-gold eyes as I sipped the soda, eyes that slowly died in front of me. I felt the tears drip down my cheeks. "Hey, Peter. How do you repent the sin of bringing someone's world crashing down around him?" Peter didn't respond for a few minutes, and I played with my soda cap as I waited.

"Well, I think that depends, Bella. Sometimes you can't repay for doing that. But it depends."

It wasn't what I'd been hoping to hear. "Oh."

"I mean, Jasper nearly brought my world crashing to a halt when he almost murdered Charlotte, but he didn't. He let us go. So I forgive him for that."

I bolted upright and stared at Peter. "Jasper? Jasper Hale?"

Peter made a funny face at me. "No, Major Jasper Whitlock. My brother." My heart sank. For a second, I thought Peter knew Jasper. But it turned out that Jasper was his brother, not my Jasper. "Why?"

"Because yesterday, I sent Jasper Hale's world into a spinning inferno of hellfire," I cried, and I didn't stop my tears now. "Alice and Edward were fooling around behind our backs, and then Edward tried to r-rape me. I had to tell him, I had to. I didn't want to but he needed to know! Alice was manipulating us the entire time! D'you think he'll forgive me if I can find him again, Peter? Can I be forgiven for that?"

Peter released the steering wheel with one hand and tousled my hair. "Shh, little muffin. You've got nothing to worry about," he said firmly. "Jasper's gonna forgive you. Alice wasn't worth the dirt on the road beneath his feet. Jasper Whitlock isn't gonna hate you or anythin'. He knows your emotion, remember?"

My heart stopped. Jasper was Peter's brother.