The years seemed to be ticking by with Alice. She was already 12 and much more intelligent than any 7th grader should be, but when you had a house full of vampires who were willing to teach you anything you wanted to know, it was hard not become smart. I walked the mall with Alice while she gossiped about all the silly trivial human things that had happened at school today. We seemed to be spending a lot of time at the mall lately and I was beginning to think Ali was a bit of a shopaholic, not that it mattered when you had an infinite amount of money at hand. But still, shopping was not my favorite activity. I laughed lightly when she told me that a boy named Jason had tried to hold her hand in the hallway and she had yelled at him, I applauded her bravery which of course she liked.
"You're hungry" I noted as I heard her stomach grumble
"Yes, but forever 21 is just around the corner" she complained as I took her arm, pulling her in the opposite direction, toward the food court.
"Eat than shop" I told her sternly while she grimaced. Her priorities weren't exactly in the right order I thought to myself. "What do you want to eat kiddo?" "Hmm" she said puckering her lips the way she always did when she was thinking hard.
"Don't give yourself a headache" I teased her poking her side; she stuck her tongue out but otherwise ignored my comment.
"I think I'll have an Italian from su-"her sentence cut off and her body began to fall towards the floor. I caught her quickly and let my body curl over hers protectively until she came out her vision. When she opened her eyes her emotions bursted with happiness.
"What is it Alice?" I asked as I towed her toward subway,
"There's a sale at forever 21 Jasper! We have to go!" I laughed loudly.
"After you eat" I told her one last time before sitting her down at a table with her sub.
"Fine, I'll eat if you tell me something"
"Anything"
"What are you?" She asked nonchalantly biting into her sub, but keeping her eyes on my face, reading my reaction.
"W-what?" I managed to stammer, at a loss for words.
"It insults me you all think I'm stupid enough to not know your different, ill love you all either way, but I think as a member of this family" She took another bite "I deserve to know. And I know you won't lie to me Jasper, so lay it on me" I starred at her in shock. Of course I wouldn't lie to her; she knew my weakness only too well, so I opened my mouth to explain but no noise came out. I tried again finding my voice this time
"We're…well…I…not so easy…"
"Spit it out Jasper"
"vampires" I kept my voice low hoping that people in the surrounding tables wouldn't hear our conversation.
"Vampires" she repeated just as quietly, testing the word on her lips. "What do you eat?" She asked with her head cocked to side, I tasted her emotions for the fear I was waiting for, waiting for her to run away screaming, but I only found curiosity. Honest to god curiosity.
"Mostly deer and Elk, but I prefer cheetah" I said with a small smile. Alice nodded and took another bite of her sandwich like we were talking about something no more magical than the weather.
"May I ask another question?"
"Anything" I said with an almost buoyant sense of relief, the worst was over.
"Where did you get those scars?" she said skimming my forearm. Okay so maybe the worst wasn't over.
"You can see them?" I asked incredulously
"Only when the lights hits them right" She replied nonchalantly "But that doesn't answer my question" I couldn't answer this question I couldn't reveal to this sweet little girl the monster I once was. She would surely hate me forever.
"They're hideous" I said disgusted with myself, disgusted with my past. "No they're not. There's nothing hideous about you." Alice reassured me smiling at me "Please tell me about them" Her face slipped into a pouty face. I sighed; she knew I couldn't resist the pouty face.
"I was born in 1844, in Houston Texas" I began my story, starring at my hands.
"The civil war?" Alice asked
"Yes the civil war. I wanted nothing more than to be a part of the war, so I lied about my age, joining the army at 17. I slowly made my way up in the ranks, people said it was because I was persuasive, but now I know it was really my gift."
"gift?"
"Just listen" she silenced herself and starred at me, urging me to continue.
"I was on a mission that night, sent to evacuate all the woman and children, but as I rode by on my horse I saw 3 woman, who I thought must have been separated from the group. I immediately offered them my aid. They were by far the 3 most beautiful woman I had ever seen, almost as beautiful as you" I added and I liked the way Alice's face lit up at the compliment. "They whispered to each other until the little Mexican in the middle, clearly the leader, stepped forward. 'I really hope you live, you could be of great use to me' she purred and stood on her tippy toes as though to kiss me, but she bit my neck. I won't tell you all the gruesome details, but I will say that becoming what we are is the most painful experience in this world, worst than being burned at the steak." I didn't want to scare her, but I wanted her to double think ever becoming like us "when I woke up, I was strong, I was fast, and I was a part of an army. You see wars over territory were very common in the south, vampires fighting over more populated cities, cities they could feed in more often and not be noticed. Maria, the one who bit me, made me her second in command, I was to train her newborn vampires and prepare them for war." I gestured vaguely towards my arms "Venom is the only thing that can leave a scar on our kind, very painful. But I never lost a fight" I stated with a small smile "But when Marias newborns were no longer strong, because their strength began to settle down around the one year mark, she asked me to…dispose of them." I took a shallow breath "I could feel everything they felt, as I killed them."
"Felt?"
"Yes this brings me back to my gift as Carlisle calls it, you see Alice, I'm what you would call an empath. I can taste the emotions of the people around me, and I can manipulate those emotions. So whenever I … fed on a human, whenever I killed another vampire I could feel the fear as strong as if it were my own. It was brutal. Eventually I grew depressed and wandered away from Maria and her wars until I found Carlisle who showed me I could feed off animals. He saved me. But that doesn't distract from the fact that I was a monster…a murderer" I hung my head in shame, sure that Alice would be terrified, disgusted with me. I couldn't bring myself to taste her emotions, I was much to coward.
"Jasper" She started slowly, her voice shaky "I'm so sorry all those horrible things happened to you. But you're not a monster. You're the man who saved a silly little infant from a tree and has protected her ever since. You're my guardian angel." I looked up in shock "You don't hate me? Your not disgusted?" I asked
"What! No of course not!" she sounded appalled at the idea, like it had never even occurred to her. I fell into hysterics, laughing so hard I thought I was going to fall apart.
"Ok, that's enough for one day" I said pulling her from her seat at the table "Let's go to forever 21" Alice's smile lit up her face as she grabbed my hand and pulled me forward, tugging me along. She was so understanding, such an amazing person.

Oh hey chapter 4! Anyway, thanks for the reviews guys, im glad some of my old readers have taken a liking to this story. Im kinda fast forwarding through Alices childhood, only highlighting the parts i find important so that i can get to the juicey stuff quicker. But the more reviews i get, the faster i update, so pretty please tell me what you think of the story? Next chapter im doing shout outs to all the people who have reviewed this because they have made me soooo happy! Well bye guys, again, tell me what you thought of this chapter. See ya!