Again, SM has rights to the following: characters and books and movies and barbie dolls and shirts and hot irons and backpacks and sporks and anything that refers to twilight or may be involved in the making or writing of twilight and... the list goes on and on.

BPOV

I waited patiently and watched as Jasper fought with the Major for dominance, his hand gripping my throat tightly, and while it was amusing for the first few moments, twenty minutes is really pushing the boundary where my attention span stops. I started counting the number of scars on his face just to keep my mouth from running somewhere that would lead to my decapitation, or.. worse.

The flicker of a thought made me stop counting, and focus on a particular bite that sort-of peeked out from under the collar of his shirt- it made a lovely mess of his collarbone.

"'

I must've had a lapse in judgement because I did reach out, and swept my fingertips over the mark near his neck, tracing the ridges into my memory. The Major's very startled gasp made me jump and look up at him, but I remained in contact with the bite. It was so much cooler than the rest of his skin; I had an odd 'feeling' that it was his Sire's mark.

His eyes seared my own with a longing I'd never seen in the eyes of another. They were haunted and bottomless, searching me for understanding and for something I couldn't place.. Asked a question I didn't know the answer to.

I think we finally came to an odd understanding because he set me back on my feet, but didn't remove his hand from my neck. Instead, he brushed from ear to my clavicle gently, earning a breathy but short exhale from me.

"You need to learn how to fight."

A creepy-stalker grin spread over my face as images and words printed instantaneously into my memory, muscles itched to spring to life- I could really, truly start to love my gift if I knew how it worked.

Instead of going into detail, I left him with "I KNOW how to fight."

His smirk did wonders for my ego, knowing I'd have my teeth at his neck within thirty seconds of first movement from either party, but somehow I wasn't satisfied with him just finding out from my upper hand.

'Satisfaction must be earned.' I snorted at my own thought.

"This is nothing like what you see on the television, or at a high school wrestling match. Don't insult my decades upon decades of experience." He snarled.

I knew better than to strike while I was irritated, first rule I learned was never to let my emotions run the show. Remain unbiased.

"I'm sure you know more than I do," Lie. "I'm just saying, we don't have to start at square one. We can start at like... square five, or whatever."

"That's not possible."

I stared at him with my mouth agape and collecting dust while I concentrated on keeping calm. The newborn tendencies in me told me to scream at him for assuming, walk all up and down his ass for his over-inflated ego, but I kept myself rigid and still; I closed my mouth and swallowed back a mouthful of venom.

"I'll ask you to do me a favor, Mr. Whitlock. Don't you ever, ever, EVER fucking assume anything about me again after this."

The baffled but amused look on his face spurred my already aggravated tendons to snap faster than I'd ever moved; I sank to a slight crouch after I spun myself in a beautiful arc around Jasper's slow-motioned leap backwards and kicked his legs out from under him. His grunt satisfied me better than my first meal as a vampire had. I flitted to pin his hands behind his back and to keep him firmly planted in the dirt until I could get a good footing.

His thrashing and 'ferocious' growling had me laughing to the point of hurting my sides, which only pissed him off more.

"Easy, Major." I cooed gently. "Easy..."

The low rumble that held in his chest remained but his muscles started unwinding ever so slowly until he was huffing puffs of dirt away from him. I stared down at him for what seemed like hours as my brain literally SCREAMED at me, BEGGED me to lean down and inhale his panty-dropping scent; I released his wrists instead, and pulled him to stand before me. His breathing stopped, and I knew if I could see his eyes, they'd be wide. I let my hands drop as I leaned my forehead at the small between his shoulders blades.

"Isabella..." He whispered.

I remained still as the pressure in my head mounted, and whimpered in protest to the oncoming intrusion.

"Fucking... SHIT." I fell back to the dirt, grasping at my temples, which felt tight and as if they were being twisted from the insides. No information was coming, yet the pain steadily grew worse and amplified at my every movement.

Jasper's hands ghosted over me to check for injuries, and I sighed briefly as his touch brought a wave of calm to my pain-wracked body. As soon as it came, however, it passed, and my entire body erupted in invisible flames.

Screams left my mouth as an invisible enemy tore my entire being apart in order to find room for something unknown. I couldn't form a coherent thought to figure out what it was, nor could I beg the heavens for help. I was nothing, and everything.

And then, it stopped. Silence deafened me.

"Isabella, what're you doing?" A warm voice ran like liquid through my brain. "There's no time for useless battles, especially when the man you're fighting is the one who'll save you."

I couldn't move my mouth to answer.

"I know how painful this must be. But you NEED to listen, or it will all go wrong. You need to be ready, and you're going to need help. The foe you're about to face is many. There will be no room for error, or misguided judgment. Throughout your entire lifetime, you've relied on your gut to make good, steady choices, and I beg you to do the same now, and in the future. There's only so much I can do without taking away your freedom of choice, my child. Only so much help I can offer without interfering completely. Your gift is what will help you fight, but in the end only your choices can help you win. Know that I'm here to help you, and all you need to do... is ASK."

A blinding light surrounded me and I momentarily thought I was on fire, but no pain touched my skin. The face of a man smiled at me from within the light, or... around the light, maybe. No, in.

"Isabella!" Came a fierce yell. The man before me smiled and mouthed 'I love you' in such a way that tears flowed freely down my face, and my entire body shook with grief.

"Isabella!" Came the voice again.

I blinked my vampire eyes, and I was standing before Jasper, who slapped me so damn hard my teeth wiggled in my jaw.

tedum...la... da-dum... la la... te-duuuum... laaaa... hmmmm...