Alice's POV

Idiot! I married an absolute moron! I always knew guys could be pretty dense, but I always thought Jazzy was the exception to that. But, no, he was the example! It had been a week since I changed my phone number. I finally decided to look into the future to see what the outcome would be, and what did I see? I saw Jasper and Bella avoiding their connection for months. Months! All because they 'owed' it to me.

I didn't blame Bella so much. She was human, so she didn't really understand the full extent of the whole mate thing, and I hadn't talked to her before she left, so she had every reason to believe I'd be upset with her.

Jasper on the other hand had no excuse for his stupidity. He knew that fighting your connection to your mate could never end well. We'd also spoken just before he left. I looked him in the eye and told him that if he moved on, it would be alright. But did he listen? No, apparently not. And, yes, I knew that he'd be stupid at first, but I didn't think it would last long. I figured maybe a few weeks or a couple of months tops. That had been how it was before, but apparently, Jasper and Bella would decide differently. Now when I looked into their future, I saw them six months later with still no real change.

I thought once more about contacting them, but that still ended badly when I checked. I knew that if I left them alone, they would find their way eventually. They wouldn't be able to help it. They were each other's other half. The problem was that I wasn't a patient person. I wanted them to be together and happy already. I wanted that both for them and for me. Once they moved on with each other, maybe I would be able to as well.

Suddenly an idea popped into my head. I couldn't get actively involved with Jasper and Bella, but I knew someone who could. Someone Jasper would listen to.

I quickly pulled into a vision to see what would happen. By the time it was over, I was smiling. This would work. Maybe not at first, but soon Bella and Jasper would stop fighting their feelings for each other if I did it this way.

I immediately pulled out my phone and dialed a familiar numbed before pressing the phone to my ear.

A male voice with a southern accent answered after the second ring. "Hello."

"Hey, it's me," I told him, knowing he'd figure it out.

"Alice? Hey, little lady, long time no hear from. Did you change your number? I swear I had you programmed into my phone," he said.

"Yeah, I did. Listen, I need your help."

Xxxxxxxxxxx

Bella's POV

I found myself sitting in a small coffee shop. Jasper was hunting and I needed to get out of the hotel room, so I went to a small coffee shop in the small town of New Jersey where we currently resided so that I could think.

Things had been really uneasy between Jasper and me since he told me he was my mate. To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. I knew that we had a connection, but I never would've thought that it was that of soul mates. I thought Alice was Jasper's soul mate.

Though when I think about it, Jasper being my mate made a bit of sense. Jasper dropped his entire life to come travel with me and he stayed even after I told me I couldn't be with him. Only a mate would do something like that.

I hated telling Jasper I couldn't be with him. I hated it because it went against everything I actually wanted. I hadn't been able to get him out of my head since our kiss. My guess was that I did feel the kind of mate connection he mentioned on some level. I wanted to be with him. But I couldn't. I couldn't do that to Alice. It was bad enough that I'd destroyed her marriage. I couldn't betray her by taking her place in his life.

I was soon pulled out of my thoughts when I heard someone come in. I looked up and saw a tall man with short blond hair and bloodshot eyes. Wait, blood shot eyes?! He was a vampire?

The man in question smiled and nodded to me in greeting before walking over to a table in the back.

I felt my heart beat wildly with fear. There was a vampire in the coffee shop and he was obviously a human drinker. Not only that, but he seemed to be interested in me. Why was it that every crazy vampire in the world seemed to take interest in me? Did I have some kind of sign on my back that said 'vampires, eat me please.'?

I took a few deep breaths to calm down and then took out my phone. I immediately dialed Jasper. He answered on the first ring.

"Bella, is everything okay?" he asked as soon as he picked up the phone. He knew that I wouldn't call him when he was in the middle of a hunt unless it was important.

I spoke in a very low voice in hopes that vampire in the back would not hear me. "Jasper, I'm at that coffee shop we passed on the way into town. A vampire just walked in."

"What?" Jasper asked sounding surprised. I couldn't really blame him. Vampires didn't often walk into coffee shops as far as I knew. He and the rest of the Cullens might, but then they weren't exactly typical.

"Yeah, and he's staring at me," I said before involuntarily glancing back to see that he was indeed still watching me with a grin on his face.

"His eyes are red?" Jasper asked.

"Very," I told him.

"Okay, I'm on my way. I'll be there as soon as I can. In the meantime, don't leave that coffee shop. He will not attack you there," Jasper assured me.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Positive. He won't risk the Volturi coming down on him for attacking in public."

I vaguely remembered hearing about them from Edward. I remembered that they were kind of like kings in the vampire world. It was weird to think of vampires having laws, but if it stopped me from getting eaten right now, it was fine by me. "Okay, just hurry," I said before hanging up.

I tried to pretend like the vampire wasn't there, but it wasn't working. I kept looking back at him despite my brain telling me not to. And every time I looked back at him, he was still grinning.

About the fifth time I looked back, he started to get up. I immediately turned away as not to draw any further attention to myself.

I felt it as the vampire stopped directly in front of my table. "Hi, there, sweetness. May I?" he asked in a southern accent as he gestured to the chair on the other side to me.

"Uh, I'm waiting for someone," I said nervously. I wouldn't tell him I knew what he was. If he thought I didn't know, maybe I could stall whatever he was going to do.

He laughed and sat down across from me. "Yeah, I heard."

I inwardly cursed. Stupid vampires and their hearing! "My mate is on his way." Wow, that sounded weird. Jasper and I hadn't referred to ourselves as mates out loud except for when Jasper informed me that that was what he was.

The vampire laughed at me. "Oh, wow, this aint gonna be too hard after all."

"What?" I asked in confusion.

He waved me off. "Nothing. It's not important."

"Whatever. Look, you should go. If you really did hear then you know my mate is on his way. If you eat me, he'll kill you," I warned him. I hoped it would be enough for him to back off. Though knowing my luck, I kind of doubted it.

He laughed again. "Well, that's temping, sweetheart, but I had a big lunch. I'm kinda full."

"If you don't wanna eat me, what do you want?" I asked curiously. Was this just some kind of game to lure me away or something? What did he want from me?

"Just to chat. What a guy can't talk with a girl he meets in a coffee shop?" the weird vampire asked me.

"Not when the girl is human and the guy isn't," I retorted.

"What are you some kind vampirist?" he asked me with a grin.

"What?" I asked. Vampirist? Was that even a real word? Who the hell was this guy?

"A vampirist. Someone who hates vampires because of what we are. It aint my fault I got bitten you know. I was just like you at one point," he said in mock outrage.

I looked at the vampire like he'd grown a second head. Was this guy for real? He was either playing some kind of weird ass game or he was the strangest vampire in existence. And I'd met Emmett! "Who are you?"

"Consider me a friend of a friend," Weirdo told me.

"I seriously doubt that," I told him. Even if the red eyes didn't make it impossible for him to be friends with anyone I knew, his irritating personality would.

"You don't think I could have friends?" There was the mock outrage again.

"Well, not with anyone sane anyway. I've known you for like two minutes and I must say, you're the most irritating person I've ever met, and I mean of all species. Anyone ever told you that before?" I asked. Fear was completely gone now. This guy didn't want to eat me. He just wanted to irritate the crap out of me.

The irritating being just smiled at me. "Why yes. My lovely wife tells me that all the time."

I looked at him with fake shock. "Somebody married you? Was she drunk?"

"I always thought so," another voice said.

I turned to see Jasper standing nearby looking irritated and slightly amused.