Setting her final pieces of clothing in her closet, Alice stepped back and sighed. Only half a rack was filled. The closet was definitely too big. She wasn't used to this much space.

Looking around the room, she held in a sigh. She'd already arranged and rearranged the clothes, settling on keeping them sorted by color. Then she had unpacked her books. They only took up half of a shelf on one of the bookcases.

On another shelf lay a single picture in a frame. It was of her and Josie.

Alice's dead heart ached.

She already missed her unbearably, and it hadn't even been a day. She would have to get some paper to write her with.

Finally, after stalling with unpacking her belongings for as long as she could, Alice realized that now she should probably go talk to Bella. After all, she was curious about the rest of the monstrous house and she didn't want to start wandering aimlessly. At least, not yet. She'd be mortified if she ended up wandering anywhere she wasn't supposed to or unknowingly broke any rules.

Finding herself in front of Bella's room she rapped on the door gently, three times, and waited. In her nervousness, she counted the seconds.

After eleven, the door opened widely.

Alice's smile fell when suddenly a man stood before her. His eyes narrowed in scrutiny at the sight of her. She shifted uneasily then realized who it was.

Bella's mate, Edward.

She studied his features. He seemed younger than the rest of them-barely a man, really. His hair was wild and a deep bronze color. After another couple seconds, she realized she hadn't spoken yet-that neither of them had spoken yet.

Trying to recover, she gave him a nervous smile and meekly held out her hand.

"Um—hi. You must be Edward."

"You must be Alice," he spoke flatly, taking her hand in his. Alice tried to subtly look around him for any sign of Bella.

"She's changing her clothes." Edward explained. Alice smiled, embarrassed. She must have been more obvious than she thought.

Suddenly, Bella showed up behind Edward, leaning around him to see Alice better.

"Hey Alice," she maneuvered around him deftly and was now standing before him, "I'm going to give Alice a tour of the house," she informed him, "want to join us?"

Alice secretly hoped he would say no. Not that she had taken any immediate distaste to him. It was just that so far their small interaction had already been so forced and awkward. It also didn't help that he, for some reason, smelt awful. Eyeing his state of dress she had to work to school her expression into something neutral to keep from wrinkling her nose. Bella had said they'd been out hunting. He definitely needed a change of clothes, and probably a shower.

Edward suddenly was stifling a smile.

"Go ahead without me," he said lifting a hand to run over his mouth. "I need to shower anyways."

Alice raised an eyebrow and looked at Bella for an explanation. Surely she had missed the joke. Regardless, it had been nice to hear that he at least was aware of his state and planned to do something about it. Bella shook her head and pulled the door closed.

"Just ignore him," she advised. Alice nodded even though she didn't understand his strange behavior.

"Okay," Bella said, with what seemed to be practiced enthusiasm, "tour time."

Alice listened attentively as Bella pointed out different rooms.

"Normally I would say it's too big, but the up side is you can always find some privacy in a corner of the house. And with so many people under one roof during all hours of the day, sometimes a bit of privacy is a god-send." Bella explained as she led Alice into a large room. "This is where we train and spar."

The room was large and empty except for a few chairs on the wall just by the door they entered in—chairs that Alice was sure wasn't for them, especially knowing that they didn't exactly need to sit or rest. Still, Alice studied the room in wonder. This was where they would teach her to fight. The idea terrified her, but at the same time a small part of her was exhilarated by the thought.

Next, Bella showed her Carlisle's study, the TV room, the den, the laundry room, the dining room—the large table for meetings only, of course. There was a large, fully-stocked, gorgeous kitchen, which surprised her. Bella was quick to explain that while of course they rarely entertained human guests, it did come in handy often.

Eventually, they fell upon a lone white door.

"This door," Bella explained, "leads into the basement where the library is located." Bella stopped and faced her. "So besides the garage and the backyard, that's about it. Of course there are dozens of empty pockets here and there. Guest rooms, too. But we don't really fill up space when we don't need to." She offered Alice a smile, "Feel free to wander as you wish. The property is huge, too. There's like, a thousand or so acres around so you can always explore that. This is your home too, now. And if you ever want to go hunting, just ask around. Someone is bound to need to go."

"I've… never been hunting."

Bella blinked at her. "What?"

Alice would have blushed if she were still human. "I've never been. I only drink what I buy."

"Oh, wow. Well, still." To her credit, she reigned in her surprise quickly, shrugging toward the shorter girl. "The offer stands okay?"

Bella gave her another friendly smile before turned towards the stairs.

Alice waited until Bella was out of sight before turning around. She began to wander, trying to think of something to do. Back in Mississippi if she were ever bored, she would simply sit down at her work table and work on some clothing.

She'd have to ask if they had a sewing machine lying around. Or at least a needle and some thread. If she was going to have any free time at all, she might as well find a way to pass it by or she was going to get awfully bored.

Although as a Protector, Alice wondered just how much responsibility she was going to be tasked with. She still didn't know whether or not to tell them about her visions. Josie had always made sure to promise to never tell a soul.

But these were the Protectors. If there were any group of people on the face of this entire Earth that would be able to help—or even to just understand—surely it would be them, right?

Alice made her way down a hallway, observing her surroundings more carefully. Maybe she'd see if there were some envelopes and stamps lying around. Alice did want to tell Josie all about this place.

A door on the hallway Alice was walking along suddenly opened just feet from where Alice stood. She recognized it as the laundry room door. A tall vampire with blonde hair emerged from the room, an empty laundry basket in his hands. Before she noticed anything else about the man, she saw them.

There were overlapping silver, crescent-shaped markings all up and down his body.

Scars.

And not just scars, bite marks.

Suddenly Alice found herself scared—no, not scared, terrified. And not because of the scars, or because of what they meant, but because these were the scars of a man she knew; a man who had occupied her thoughts every day for almost forty-eight years.

Alice was no fool. She knew that Jasper being here meant that she was finally on track to suffer the fate she knew she'd encounter after her first vision had flooded her so many years ago.

The vision where this very man—Jasper—was ordered to kill her.

Gasping, Alice stumbled back a couple of feet. Jasper's head shot in her direction, finally taking note of her presence. As Alice looked into his golden eyes, meeting his gaze for what felt like the first time (those eyes she'd seen on ten thousand different days) the same vision played for her again, just as vivid as the first time.

She was in a field during the pit of night. Smoke billowed from raging flames all around her, a pungent, sickly smell lingering in the air.

On the other side of the field stood a blond man, scars littering his pale skin.

His eyes pitch black, his glare lethal.

A beautiful woman, tanned skin, long black hair, blood red eyes, sauntered up from behind him, a wicked smile laid upon her face.

She stretched up onto her tiptoes to whisper into his ear.

"Kill her, Jasper."

Then, he lunged for Alice's throat.

Before she knew it, Alice was back in the house, staring back at Jasper, who stood before her, an arm outstretched and his expression confused.

"Are—are you okay?" he asked, genuinely worried. As he took a cautious step toward her, Alice nearly growled, the sound shocking her so badly her hands flew up to seize her throat.

"N—no," she blurted out, "I—please don't."

"Alice, is it?" He spoke quickly, lowering his hand back down to his side. If he was confused by her reaction he hid it well. It was almost as if he were used to this, as if he'd been expecting it. (And with his war-torn appearance, maybe he had been.) "My name is—"

"Jasper," she whispered brokenly, backing up until she was flush against the wall. "I—I know who you are."

Quickly she began to look for a way out. She could run, but she didn't exactly know how fast she was. Hell, she didn't know how fast he was. The moment an idea sprung to her mind, another vision confirmed that it was the best chance she'd get.

As he shifted his weight to take another step toward her—it was only a slight shuffle of his feet, really—his left foot slanted to move forward just a few inches, she lunged. It was surprisingly easy to catch him off guard and set him off balance so as she stepped by him—faster than she knew she was capable off—she reached down and grabbed his pant leg, just tugging hard enough to pull his foot out from underneath him.

But by the time she was running headlong down the hallway she could hear the telltale sound of someone hitting the ground. That's when she pushed her legs harder, trying to find a way out of this house as fast as she could. If he caught up with her now, there's no telling what he would do.

"Alice? What-?" But before Emmett could ask her what was happening, she shot out the back double doors. It wasn't until she set her sights on the tree line ahead of her when she realized that she didn't have her bracelet on.

She'd never left home without it. It was an old, fragile thing, and she had been so afraid of losing it during her trip up north with Carlisle that she'd packed it away in one of her suitcases. The only sign of her old life, it was the only possession she cared about on this Earth.

Her name, imprinted carefully into a medical bracelet, had given her the only clue as to who she'd once been.

Even knowing that there was a chance she would never get another opportunity to escape like this, Alice waited two seconds before she turned back around, sprinting back into the house as quickly as she could. She simply couldn't leave the bracelet—and the girl she once was—behind. Not again.

"Hold on—" a fraction of a second before he reached out for her, Alice saw a vision, and when Emmett stepped in front of her, ready to grip her arm and still her, Alice twisted her body, flipping over his head. As she spun she grabbed the bottom of his shirt, pulling it over his face. Landing, she heard him stumble behind her, a string of expletives falling from his mouth before she heard a rip, and she was sure that black t-shirt was as good as gone.

But the distraction had given her enough time to fly up the stairs and make it to her room. She just hadn't been expecting Edward and Bella to be there first.

"Alice, stop," Edward held one hand in front of him, as if trying to physically get her to calm down, "you need to relax."

In his other hand, her bracelet.

The growl that ripped its way out of her throat shocked her, and before she knew what was happening she was sobbing. "Please," she begged, "please let me go. Please give it to me. I need to leave."

The sounds of feet running toward her room caused her to gasp and turn, stumbling back as she caught two blonde heads peer through the doorway. Rosalie looked furious and Jasper looked… sad almost.

"You—!"

"Not now, Rosalie," Edward snapped, forcing Alice's attention back toward him, "Alice. We are not going to hurt you."

"She's mad! What the hell set this off?" Rosalie was not about to be silenced by Edward.

"It was me," Jasper spoke up from behind her, "I caught her off guard—" following after Rosalie he took a step into her room and Alice nearly lost it.

"NO," she backed herself up into the wall so hard that she could feel the plaster crack like styrofoam behind her, "just let me go—please let me go. Please, please—" a flash of the vision flickered through her mind as she met his eyes—not golden they were black dark black thirsty for blood ready to kill and dark dark dark—and another sob fell from her lips.

"What was that?" Edward demanded, his voice so loud that Alice couldn't help but snap her head toward him, "what did you just… what did you see? Jasper," the blonde man looked toward him, "what did you do?"

"I don't want to die," she begged, all traces of pride completely dead and gone, "please don't kill me. Please, I don't want to die." She looked at Jasper as she spoke, pleading to get through to the black-eyed monster that she simply knew lived inside him. "I'm sorry, I'm—I'm sorry!"

Not even aware of what she was apologizing for, Alice simply sank to the floor, entirely accepting of her fate as the group of vampires slowly moved closer to her. She was going to die. Maybe it wouldn't be in the forest from her vision, maybe they'd simply do her a service and kill her now, in this room and spare her the days or weeks or months of anxiety.

"I don't want to die," she whispered brokenly, a last-ditch plea for her life before she pulled her knees into her chest and hugged her legs close, wishing to disappear into the floor before they could come any closer.

Slowly, but seemingly all-at-once, she felt herself growing calmer and calmer. Idly, she wondered if she were really as accepting of her inevitable fate as she suddenly felt, or whether the vampire equivalent of adrenaline was simply all used up and fading from her body quicker than she could've anticipated.

She didn't even flinch back when she felt someone wrap their fingers around her wrist. But when a few seconds later their hand pulled back, she felt the comfortable weight of her bracelet.

Head shooting up, she pulled her hand close to her chest, checking and double-checking that yes, it was her bracelet, and no, they hadn't done anything to it yet, or to her.

Bella crouched directly in front of her, a sad expression on her face. "We aren't going to hurt you."

"He will," Alice found herself saying with surprising calm in her tone. "Jasper will."

To her credit, Bella didn't turn or look fazed by her accusation. Instead, she smiled. "No he won't."

"You don't understand, I—I know. I saw it. It'll happen."

"Premonitions," Edward's voice was more accusatory than what Alice had been expecting, she couldn't help but flinch.

"You're fucking kidding me. This is insane—"

"What on Earth is happening?" Carlisle demanded, plowing into the room, Esme closely behind him, Emmett pulling up the rear.

Upon sight of her on the floor, a cracked wall behind her, Esme gasped. "Oh, sweet girl," by her side in an instant, Alice didn't have the energy in her to resist—nor did she have the desire to—when Emse pulled her into a comforting embrace.

"I don't know!" Rosalie threw her arms up in exasperation. "Jasper set off Alice and the next thing you know, Emmett's in the den with his shirt ripped and this one is having a meltdown!"

"Visions," Jasper spoke, directing Alice's attention back to his strangely stoic face, "you have visions, don't you?"

For some reason Alice couldn't even bring herself to nod in confirmation. So when Edward said a simple "yes" for her, she was incomparably thankful. Of course, she couldn't force her lips to utter a simple 'thank you' either. But with Edward's correct assumption, she couldn't help but wonder if Edward had a gift, too.

"I do," he spoke, catching her off guard as she pulled herself back out of her thoughts. She watched with tired eyes as he approached, taking a knee beside his mate. "I have a gift, just like you do."

There was an understanding in his eyes, a look that she'd never seen in another vampire but somehow she knew it all the same. Lifting a heavy hand, she tapped her head with a knuckle. You can read minds?

He nodded.

Everyones?

"Yes," he paused, "with exceptions." He eyed Bella pointedly.

Alice couldn't help but grin. It was a lethargic thing, and she couldn't help but realize that she'd never felt so serene before. "Must be frustrating."

He gave a tight-lipped grin back at her. "You have no idea."

"I'm… I feel funny. What's wrong with me?"

Edward was suddenly hesitant, perhaps not expecting her to take note. "Well, you see—"

"It's me," Jasper spoke. Eyes flickering back to his face, Alice was grateful when he remained where he was standing, although she wished he simply wouldn't look at her any further. If only he was the mind reader, she wouldn't have to tell him that. He seemed hesitant to speak any further, but a quick glance toward Carlisle seemed to give him whatever confidence he was lacking. "I can sense and manipulate emotion."

"Oh," Alice blinked, not able to look him in his eyes for longer than a second at a time. "Oh." The realization hit her as she looked back at Edward. He's calming me down.

Edward nodded.

He knows I'm scared of him.

Edward nodded again, suddenly looking grim.

Good.

"Can we perhaps have this conversation out loud, please?" Carlisle asked, a frown of disapproval over his features.

"And downstairs," Esme added, gesturing toward the damaged wall behind them, "these walls need a bit of a break."

As the vampires began shuffling out of her room, Alice heard Rosalie make a remark.

"Yeah, let's just have her knock down the dining room walls instead. Not like there aren't $10,000 paintings hung on every wall."

Even as Bella helped her onto her feet, Alice was glad someone had their priorities set somewhere beside her.


A/N:

Thank you to all three of you who reviewed. I wasn't expecting any so soon into the story and it inspired me to say 'fuck it' to my tentative schedule and start putting those already-written chapters together now, instead of later this month. So congrats y'all, you have about 40+ pre-written chapters coming your way over the next several months. And after I finish writing it, another 20 or so on top of that. This chapter is dedicated to deltagirl74, ganthet2814, and Girl Who Writes. Thanks for the motivation, you guys.

Another note: if you haven't already guessed, this story was inspired by a single thought.

What if Alice's first vision of Jasper hadn't been a happy one?

From that worst-case-scenario idea, more questions followed. What if Alice never sought out the Cullens? What if vampires lived outwardly among humans? What if Maria had been used as an in-series antagonist as opposed to a backstory character?

From all those "what-if" cases, this story was born.

Please let me know what you think. I'll try and get you all another update within the next week or so. Or just the next time I have some free time to spare. Thanks angels.