Alice

Alice quickly and with advanced elegance jumped the deer that passed below the tree she had hid in.

She ripped open the young animal's neck with more vigor and fury than she usually did but not even the soothing taste of blood running down her throat could raise her mood.

Jasper was out on a date. With her. The human. His mate.

Alice had tried to resist using her gift ever since she heard about the date. She didn't want to know, not more than she already did. That girl was Jasper's mate – what more was there? He belonged to someone else now, and that tiny spark of hope she had nursed through all these years had been in complete vain.

But this evening she couldn't help herself but peek a few hours into the future, after Jasper had left the Cullen residence, and she had come face to face with the vision of Jasper, the man she would do anything for, passionately kissing the human girl in his car in front of the Swan house.

The kiss had been eager, like they finally had given in to their longing for each other and feared someone would tear them apart. The vision told Alice the reason – they had taken the step of going steady. Becoming a couple.

She had ripped away from the vision with a shriek of fury and betrayal, even though she knew she had no right of feeling that way.

Jasper had never promised her anything romantic – he had even made it clear to her that he would never see her as anything else than a dear friend.

Alice had felt something for Jasper from the moment she met him. She didn't remember much from her human life and had never met the vampire that sired her.

Jasper had been the first friendly face she had seen in her visions. She had shortly after that seen the Cullen family and knew that her and Jasper's destiny was entwined with theirs.

She understood that she needed to find Jasper and bring him to the Cullens. That was her part. There might be more for her, but that was what she saw most clearly.

It had been 30 years before she found him, but the moment he stepped in to that little café and bowed his head to her she had fallen for him. He was a true gentleman.

She had fallen even deeper when she jokingly chastised him for making her wait so long. The deep southern drawl in his voice as he bowed his head even lower, and said:

"Apologizes, ma'am."

Alice shook her head. Jasper had not known from the beginning how deeply she felt for him. The problems with his diet had been on his mind constantly then, so he had just perceived Alice's feelings as attraction toward him.

Then he had fought so hard to make his change from human drinker to vegetarian. During that time Jasper's gift had been chaotic. He couldn't control it as well as he usually did, so he and Alice had stayed in the forest, away from other people so he wouldn't affect them with his turbulent emotions or suffer from the feelings of others since he couldn't shut them out.

Alice had buried her feelings deeply then as she knew it would only add to his agitation. If he had felt anything from her back then he had probably written it off as concern and sympathy for him.

It was just before they found the Cullens Alice had confessed her feelings. It had also been that moment that she got a vision of Jasper's mate.

She hadn't expected that vision. It just came to her when Jasper broke her hope and then said something that made her heart ache for him.

"I'm sorry Alice. I love you, but … I'm not in love with you. I don't want anything to get ruined between us."

Her eyes had stung with tears she couldn't shed and her voice had trembled when she tried to reassure him.

Jasper had smiled one of his sad smiles and held her hand when he tried to comfort her.

"I'm not the right one for you, Alice. You deserve someone incredible. I truly think you have a mate out there and you will find them."

I don't want a mate, Alice had thought. I want you. But she hadn't said it at loud. Instead she had listened as he looked away with a frown, venom brimming in his eyes as well. She didn't know if they were from her sadness or his own.

"They say there's a mate for all of us out there. All vampires. But I don't think so. Not for me at least. After what I did with Maria … the newborns … I don't deserve a mate. That kind of happiness … it's not for me."

Alice had felt her throat constrict. She wanted to yell at him that he was amazing, that no matter what Maria had made him do he was a good person – he deserved love more than anyone!

Just as she thought so, the vision came. She had felt like she was in a trance and heard her own voice speaking but she didn't understand what she said.

Not until afterward when she came out of it and met Jasper's gaze. His eyes were wide as saucers and his mouth hung open.

He had been so cute in his surprise that she didn't realize what had happened until the surprise turned into joy.

She'd had a vision. Of a human girl coming into their lives. It would be over 50 years until then but she was coming. And she was Jasper's mate.


They had found the Cullen's shortly after that and Alice had bonded with Edward. He knew about her feelings towards Jasper because of his ability to read minds and he sympathized with her.

It was also him that had comforted him when Jasper broke her heart for a second time during the 1970s.

Alice had heard Jasper one night. It wasn't like she had eavesdropped but her room was next to his and being a vampire you couldn't help what you heard. She had understood what he was doing immediately.

So she had approached him the next morning and told him what she heard. He had been embarrassed at first but when she said she could help him if he wanted, that even if he couldn't love her like that it didn't mean they couldn't enjoy each other until his mate came.

Alice cringed when she thought back on it. She hadn't thought that through. The only thing she wanted back then was a chance to be near Jasper.

It didn't happen, of course. It was the one time where Jasper had actually become angry with her. He had told her that he saw her like a sister and that he the mere thought that he would do anything intimate with her then was outrageous.

He had also told her that even if his mate wasn't even born yet he knew about her and knew that she was coming. It would feel like a betrayal. He would never jeopardize his chance with his mate.

That was the last time Alice and Jasper had talked about her feelings toward him. Alice had told him whenever she had a vision about his mate, which for some reason happened a few times after she was born.

She hated it. She didn't want that girl's future in her head but she couldn't stop it. And she didn't dare to keep it a secret either. Carlisle was a doctor and everything that had happened to Ellie – her illness and the death of her parents, he could easily hear about from the "doctor grapevine". If they found out that she had held out on information out of pettiness … Alice nearly trembled at the thought.

Suddenly she heard something further into the forest and quickly hid in a tree before she recognized the scent. A smile broke out and she jumped down to greet him.

Edward was back!

But to her surprise Edward didn't smile back at her when they met up. He seemed almost angry and deeply concerned.

"Jasper's out with the human girl? Bella's … adoptive sister?"

Wow, Alice thought as she gazed up on him. This took a new turn quicker than I expected.