Fire and Water

JPOV

I took off after the car. I couldn't just stand by and allow this angel vanish into the night. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and hit speed dial.

"Emmett, meet me on the highway back to Forks."

"You got a lead?"

"No, just pick me up." I replied as I hung up the phone. Damn, how would I handle him? I couldn't tell him that I was abandoning the mission for the night over a woman.

I continued to race after the car that carried my angel of mercy. I jumped towards the ditch as Emmett's jeep pulled up behind me. In one swift motion, I found myself in his back seat.

"Kill the lights."

"What the hell, man?"

"It's nothing to concern yourself with, Emmett. I just saw someone I want to talk to."

"Have to do with the mission?"

"No. At least, I don't think so."

"Okay."

I knew that Emmett wouldn't push. He was the one out of the three of us that was the least happy about our constant missions. He would allow anything to lie dead as long as I told him to. Well, until I knew different, this was one thing I wanted him to leave alone.

The car had somehow disappeared. I bid Emmett a farewell and took off into the woods. I had become a tracker during the 'official' war. That was coming in handy now. I reached out with my senses. The smell of exhaust and gas from the car was being carried on the wind, the sound of the engine and voices were within my range of hearing. I pushed out with my emotions and felt the frustration and loving comfort off in the distance.

At first, I wasn't sure which emotion to focus in on. The frustration was angry and volatile. The comfort was easy and soothing. That emotion changed and I could suddenly feel a sexual tension. That was definitely something that I didn't want to be involved in.

I was vampire but still a man with needs. Needs that hadn't been satisfied in many years. I couldn't allow myself to be connected with those types of emotions. They would be my undoing.

I focused on the frustrated waves leading me in the direction of the one I hoped was the angel that had captivated me. I slowly entered the section of the woods were the cracking and crashing noise was coming from.

She was angry. I was focusing so intently on her that I forgot about my tracking skills. The forest floor crunched under my feet. I stopped. I could hear her pause. I reached out again to judge her emotions.

Defensive. She spoke. Her voice was heavenly.

Worry. She spoke again. Her voice was musical.

Scared. She was scared. Why? I suddenly felt protective of her. I stepped forward again. I silently cursed myself as the leaves under my feet snapped under my weight.

I waited. Her emotions leveled off and I chanced stepping closer. I could finally see my angel. The full moon rained down on her, causing a soft glow against her pale and perfect skin. She was mesmerizing. Absolutely, breathtakingly perfect.

She turned her attention away from the tree she had been walking towards and looked directly at me. Her golden eyes sparkled in the spotlight of the moon.

"Who are you?"

I sensed her tension and decided that honesty might be the proper course of action. "My name is Jasper. And who are you?"

I heard her test my name in a lovely whisper. If I wasn't a vampire I would have never heard it. But, being a vampire, I could hear every pitch and tone that her enchanting voice sounded.

"Alice. How long have you been watching me?"

I was a little shocked at the fact that she recognized me. I thought with my training that I had been a little more careful. As she approached I noticed the way the moon radiated off her. She was most certainly my angel. I cautiously step back from her. I couldn't allow my guard to be dropped.

I answered her with as much honesty as I could find within me. "Honestly, just since tonight. I've never met someone like you."

I could see her confusion. Something about her emotions changed suddenly. I couldn't help but wonder what she was thinking about. Her demeanor was intriguing and alluring. I couldn't help but feeling somehow strangely attracted to her. No, not attracted but attached.

"I'm sorry about leaving so quickly the other night. Are you new around here, I don't think I had seen or heard too much of you?"

She was holding back. I didn't need any abilities to see it. She was behaving unlike herself. She was being cautious. She was being watchful. I couldn't help but feel the attachment to her strengthening. It was frightening to me. I had never met someone who was this hard to judge.

"I am new. My com......what do you mean by heard 'too much' about me?" I suddenly realized what she had said in that musical voice of hers.

I watched as she thought to herself. There was something in her look. Her face was gentle and carefree. As quickly as her face was seemed full of knowledge it went blank again. She was hiding something. I could sense the her feelings. She knew something. She was filled with recognition.

"You're reading too much into the 'too much' remark."

How was it possible for her to be so open with me and then so cryptic at the same time? How could an angel be so quiet. Not quiet with her voice, her words but with her actions, her emotions. She was holding herself back. She was trying to deceive me of who she really was.

I tried to step back from her. I backed myself against a tree. She had me cornered. Her scent was was arousing something long dead within me. Her eyes were her window. She was smart. She was cunning. She was fascinating.

"Tell me, Jasper, what do you do for fun?"

She was trying to change the subject. I couldn't allow my guard to be dropped. Even as wonderful and intoxicating as she was, I had my mission to complete. I had to try and remember that.

"I'm not a 'fun' type person. I do what I must. What about you? You've been asking the questions. Do you live around here?"

"I live around here...I have on and off for many years. I enjoy shopping, decorating, and a bunch of other girlie things that I am fairly sure you have no interest in but you are more than welcome to accompany me on my next shopping trip, Jasper. I don't mind the fresh mind and new company."

"Shopping?" She did have another side to her. She was trying to act for my sake. There was something about her that told me to be mindful of her. The roll of her eyes was accompanied by a burst of disappointment. Something had brought her down from the high she was trying to hide. She was attempting to be someone she wasn't. Mellow and quiet didn't seem to suit her movements.

I took in a deep breath as she stepped closer. There was her scent again. It was like lilacs on a sunny spring day. It was refreshing and innocent. I couldn't decide what it was about her that was so spectacular but I suddenly felt the overpowering urge to wrap myself around her. Breathe in her perfection forever.

I stepped forward and reached out and gently laid my hand on her cheek. Her skin was soft like a newborn rabbit. Her lips were plump and aroused the man within me that had laid dormant for so many years. Her eyes closed, taking away the sparkling magnetic connection that had been part of the pull that had drawn me to her. Her eyes opened and I saw sadness in them.

I abruptly broke the contact with her. Something in her feelings was suddenly wrong. She was scared. Was it of me? Was there something here that had frightened her? I watched as her eyes shifted towards the field that I knew existed close by.

"My family is coming, I have to go..."

I felt my dead heart smash and crumble. I wanted this to last. I felt so alive around her. I felt softer and more emotional than I had in years. I wanted these feelings to last forever.

I started to back away from her when she did the most unexpected thing. She leaned in and took a deep breath. Her smell and touch were more magical the closer she was to me. Her rosy, soft lips brushed against my cheek. I felt an energizing flutter crawl across my skin.

Suddenly, she was gone. I watched as she entered the thickness of the trees. I waited for her to turn back but as her silent movements took her from me, she never once turned back.

I stood for a long time. Waiting, hoping. I could hear voices in the distance. They were too far away from me to understand the words. I heard as they got softer, proof that my angel was leaving.

I walked slower than a human but in the direction of the town. She was a confusing woman. Her emotions jumped from one extreme to another. When she focused on her thoughts, it almost felt like she was feeling someone else's emotions. However, when she focused her body and mind on me, her emotions were almost lustful and confused.

I thought about my angel all the way back to the house. I entered and felt nothing. The house was empty. I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and flick one button. It rang once before Emmett picked up.

"Hey, man. What happened?"

"Nothing. I just saw someone I thought I knew."

"Cool. Was it?"

"Was it what?"

"Someone you knew?"

"Oh, no. I was mistaken."

"Hey, Jazz. What's wrong? You sound a little weird."

Emmett was right. I did sound different. Alice had done something to me. She had awaken the man within me. I was no longer a soldier. I was no longer a leader. I was a man on a mission. Not the one to find and capture a woman but the kind of man who was on a mission to find and capture the heart of a specific woman.

"I'm fine. Where are you?"

"Rose needed to feed."

"Where?"

"She sniffed out a human. He was out after curfew. His loss. Don't worry. We'll be back soon."

I silently swore. I hadn't even thought about that complication between my angel and I. I was a Hunter. She must have seen my eyes. She was, obviously, a Kindred. I had never seen such gold in a vampire's eyes before. This would be the first of what, I was sure, would be many issues separating Alice and I.

"Well, get your asses back here soon. We need to figure out our next move."

"You got it."

I hung up the phone with Emmett and hit another button.

"Hey, Peter. I need a favor."