Thanks for the reviews go to Cowboy'sMontana, Alex, Amber1983, PrettyinBlack8, Sabrina Weasley.
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"Welcome," Charlotte smiled when Jasper walked in the door of their home behind Peter.
"Charlotte," Jasper nodded nervously not sure what to make of her welcome.
"Oh don't be so stiff," Charlotte giggled and raced over and threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. Jasper seemed uncomfortable by the gesture but Charlotte didn't seem to notice.
"Charlotte," Peter murmured.
"What?" Charlotte asked innocently. "I can't greet an old friend?"
"It's not that," Peter sighed as he stepped to them and gently took her arm and pulled her to his side. "Remember what we were like when we first left Maria's army. Jasper was there a lot longer than us, it may take him some time to get use to all this."
"Oh, of course," Charlotte gasped and turned her eyes to Jasper. "I am so sorry, I didn't think."
"It is okay," Jasper nodded, slightly in shock at her carefree manner.
"Well, we will help you," Charlotte smiled at him. "I've organised a room for you. I had a good feeling Peter would convince you to come join us. It has its own bathroom so you'll have complete privacy. Maybe you boys should freshen up from your trip and then we can go hunting?"
"That sounds good," Peter grinned.
"Excellent," Charlotte giggled and looked at Jasper. "Come on, I'll show you."
She skipped out of the room and Jasper glanced at Peter and raised his brow and Peter just shrugged before Jasper followed Charlotte. She stopped at a door and pushed it open to reveal a large room with a sofa and a bed as well as a desk.
"I'll take you shopping tomorrow and we'll get you some personal belongings," she told him happily. "For tonight I put some of Peter's things in the bathroom and a change of clothes."
"Thank you," Jasper nodded in shock and Charlotte giggled as she left him alone with his new room.
He walked inside in absolute awe as he shut the door. He hurried into the bathroom and took a quick shower and then slipped on the clothes Charlotte had left for him. He walked back out into his new room and moved over and sank down onto the sofa. He could feel his relief at finally being free from Maria and although he was confused about this new life Peter had told him about he could feel his excitement and anticipation to begin exploring it for himself.
Perhaps it was because he was so unused to positive emotions but he felt strange and then suddenly a wave of pain came over him. He clutched the top of his arm and it stung like he had just been bitten by a newborn. He rubbed at it as the pain intensified and it felt as though venom was coursing through his body. He didn't understand it, the spot was one of very few where he didn't have any bites, old or new, yet the pain of a vampire bite was the only way he could explain it.
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The pain. It flooded through her as Alice struggled against the vampire and he sunk his teeth further into the flesh on the top of her arm. She let out a scream, unable to understand how someone could hurt someone they didn't even know. Nothing she had ever experienced prepared her for this. A burning unlike anything she had ever remembered experiencing began to spread through her body as the vampire let her go.
He threw her again and she slammed against the wall hard, the bricks behind her crumbling a little. The vampire crouched as if to spring towards her again and she looked at him in terror.
"Jasper," she whispered, wishing desperately she had met him already and he was here to defend her in the way she had seen he obviously could.
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Jasper started suddenly as he heard his name and it sounded like someone was hurting Charlotte. The voice was definitely feminine and he wondered why Peter wasn't stopping it. He bolted from the room and stopped cold when he saw Peter and Charlotte sitting on the couch in the living room waiting for him.
"Did you call out to me?" Jasper frowned in confusion.
"No," Charlotte shook her head. "But if you're ready we can go hunting."
Jasper nodded his head and followed them out of the house wondering why he thought he had heard his name being called out to in agony.
XXX
As the vampire sprung from his crouch towards her Alice suddenly realised that while Jasper wasn't there in the flesh to protect her he could still help her. She had seen numerous visions of him fighting off attacks exactly like this and she quickly tried to remember the way he had moved and attacked.
As the vampire reached her she slipped quickly to the side and then grabbed him by the arm and twisted it viciously. Before he had a chance to react she leaned down and bit him hard on the neck and then jumped on his back. She grabbed his hand in hers and twisted his neck savagely and there was a loud pop before they both fell to the ground.
She jumped from his inert body and without bothering to check whether she had actually killed him or just incapacitated him she bolted from the alley. She ran quickly back to the boarding house and rushed to her room and she shut and locked the door behind her before leaning back against it.
She slid down to the floor and rested her head on her knees and she realised she was absolutely terrified. She had never felt this way before and for the first time she understood why Jasper had always looked so sad and lonely in his visions. She needed to find him, she needed someone by her side. She needed him.
XXX
1935
Jasper sat in his room in Peter and Charlotte's house with his elbows resting on his knees and his head hung. He had been with Peter and Charlotte for seven years but this new world was still so new to him.
Over the first couple of years he had only left the house to hunt, worried that Maria might track him down and force him to return to the south. As time passed he became a bit more content but he was still on edge all the time. Once he realised he had left the horrific life he had known behind he began to look forward to his future. As time passed though he became confused. He expected to feel better away from the wars and the south but for some reason he was always depressed lately.
He had just returned from hunting and he felt absolutely miserable. He couldn't understand why, he was sitting in a room on his own in the civilised north but for some reason he felt hopeless. There was a knock n his door and he pulled himself upright before he called out.
"Come in," he yelled.
"Hey brother, can I have a minute?" Peter asked as he walked into the room.
"Of course," Jasper nodded and scooted over to make room for him on the sofa.
"Charlotte and I have both noticed you aren't your usual cheerful self," Peter smirked.
"And I'm usually cheerful?" Jasper asked.
"Well no," Peter admitted. "But you seem to be in a worse mood than normal. You seem depressed Jasper."
"I am," Jasper sighed. "It's nothing to do with either of you. I am so thankful you both gave me a chance at a new life. I want to be happy in it, I really do. But for some reason I can't shake this depression."
"I have a theory on it," Peter told him. "It may sound a little far fetched."
"I'm willing to entertain far fetched," Jasper smiled. "If it helps with this I'll entertain anything."
"Okay," Peter sighed. "Well Charlotte and I have been watching you and you always seem to feel worse after you have hunted."
"Yes, I suppose I do," Jasper nodded as he thought about it.
"Jasper, I was thinking," Peter continued. "When we were with Maria. You always seemed to know what people were feeling, even if they didn't show it. Do you feel that when you feed too?"
"I do," Jasper admitted. "I see their wonder and awe when they first see me and it's like the night I met Maria, Nettie and Lucy. I can feel their fear and terror as they realise I mean them harm and then I feel their pain as I kill them."
"You remember that Volturi you told me about," Peter asked. "The ones Lucy told you enforce our kind's rules."
"What about them?" Jasper frowned, not sure what that had to do with his current depression.
"One of the things you told me Lucy said about them was they didn't need numbers," Peter replied. "Because they had people with special gifts, special powers. Charlotte and I have met a few of our kind like that since we left the south. These Volturi aren't the only ones to possess special gifts. I think any of our kind can although obviously not all of us do."
"What are you getting at?" Jasper asked.
"I think you have one of these special gifts," Peter told him. "An ability to feel the emotions of the people around you."
"You could be right," Jasper nodded. "I always seem to know what others are feeling. Maria was always asking me what the emotional climate around us was. That's how I knew about Nettie and Lucy's betrayal before they marched on us. It's more obvious when I try but I can always feel the undercurrent. Like right now, your feeling pretty smug."
"Well, I am a genius for picking this up," Peter smirked. "And I think it goes further than that."
"What do you mean?" Jasper frowned.
"Maria's army was always more disciplined, more calm than any other," Peter explained. "And I often noticed that the entire army's demeanour was in line with yours. I think you can not only see others emotions but also influence them. I've seen it too often for it to be a fluke. If you were calm we were all calm but when you got angry we were all ready to kill. And I have to admit, lately Charlotte and I have both been feeling a little down. I think your gift is more powerful than you realise."
"Maybe your right," Jasper murmured, what Peter had said giving him something to think about.
XXX
Alice sat in the forest on the outskirts of Albany her senses on alerted although she didn't think anyone would wander this far into the forest. After her altercation in Houston with the male vampire she was more wary and didn't spend much time in populated towns and cities. She occasionally slipped into a major city to shop but she never lingered long now.
Instead she stayed in the forests and found camping grounds with shower blocks to freshen up. She had to admit that the male vampire's attack had frightened her and she shied away from contact with others now, human or vampire. The night of his attack she had hurriedly packed her bags and the next day she had covered herself completely and rushed out of Houston. She had run as far north as she could, wanting to get away from the bloody, dangerous south and she limited her travels to the American states that hugged the Canadian border.
She knew her Jasper was still out there somewhere but she had seen visions of him that suggested he was further north than Houston. She couldn't pinpoint the location but she saw he had left the southern army he had been a part of and was living with a male and female vampire somewhere in the north.
Even if he went back to the south Alice knew she would never venture down there again. Maybe one day when Jasper was by her side she might be willing to go back but she was still terrified of going back alone and risking another attack like the one in Houston.
She reached over into her bag and pulled out a hairbrush and began to pull it through her hair in an effort to tidy herself a bit. She was just deciding whether to make the trip to a nearby camping ground to take a shower when she suddenly slipped into a vision.
She could see the Cullens relaxing in a living room and through the window she could see it was snowing outside. Carlisle, Esme and Edward were now joined by another two vampires, one male and one female. They were all just chatting and then Carlisle spoke directly to the newest couple.
"Rosalie, Emmett, I think you should go to school with Edward starting on Monday," he announced.
"I don't know," the stunningly beautiful blonde said as she glanced at the man beside her, obviously her mate.
"I can handle it babe," he shrugged.
"We could try it I suppose," the blonde nodded.
"Good, I'll enrol you," Esme grinned.
Alice slipped back out of the vision and she grinned as she realised the family she would one day join had grown. As well as parents and a brother she would now have another brother and more importantly, a sister. The blonde looked like fun and Alice couldn't wait to meet this Rosalie.