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I had not yet heard from Alice as the next day drew to a close, and I felt very apprehensive. How soon would she arrive? Would she tell the others? In that case it may only be a few days time. Emmett, Edward and Rosalie would be all to eager for a fight, Esme concerned and Carlisile would object to violence but would consent to the plan, knowing there would be no other way.
That left me with very little time, I needed to put into place everything that would make the fight vastly unmatched. I would have to commit myself to subtly slaying more newborns, and it would have to be subtle or else Maria would suspect me. Then I would have to gain her trust, a very easy task even though what it required meant having to do something I deeply was fearing. But if it would save Alice I would do whatever I must.
Another day passed, and I stayed close to Maria, keeping up the front that I was committing to her cause. She seemed relieved, bragging how she always knew I would come around. I did not argue with her, it was crucial to keep her oblivious.
Finally when I was able to sneak away, I hurriedly dialed Alice's number, listening to the dial tone anxiously. I crouched behind a high rock beneath the moon, perched on the balls of my feet as my eyes searched the darkness. It rang several times, and fear clenched my chest. Could she have left already? Did she already take to the road the moment the line went dead last we spoke? No. Alice couldn't do something so reckless. She would confere with the others, make a solid plan or at least an excuse that would ease thier minds. She would say something brilliantly believable, and decieve Edward with her thoughts. She would make it as painless as possible for them if things should end badly for us.
The phone suddenly went dead, the bars on the corner flickering.
"Shit." I hissed, breaking into a sprint down the hill nearer to the road, the phone held high above my head. These useless modern day devices, so unreliable and fragile. Hopefully I would not have to run to far to get a signal again. If I suddenly passed into Texas Maria would know something was going on and give chase after me. I breathed quickly as the phone recieved it's signal, my feet planting in the dirt as I brought the phone back before my eyes.
Dialing her number again, I flashed a glance over my shoulder as it rang twice. Her breath echoed in my ear as she picked up. Thank goodness.. She was being smart about this. Hopefully the others were there as well.
"Hello? Jaz"?! She said frantically as it took me a moment to answer.
"I'm here love". I muttered into the phone, scanning over my shoulder carefully.
"Jasper"! Esme cried, her head snapping up as everyone in the room edged closer to Alice.
"I'm gonna kill him". Emmett muttered darkly, wringing out his hands as Rosalie leaned across his shoulder with her eyes on Alice.
"Things are okay right"? Alice said glancing swiftly at Jacob as he stepped back into the kitchen. Her mind was so damn cloudly with him around, it was heartwrenching not being able to know what was going on with Jasper. She squeezed the phone to her ear, listening to Jasper laugh dryly on the other side.
"Things are fine Alice. Are the others there as well?" He muttered swiftly as she glanced around at the faces of her family members.
"Yes they're here. I've told them of what I want to do. They said-"
"You can't come". Jasper bit off as her mouth dropped open.
"Jasper I'm not discussing this-"
"No. I mean come, but give me time. Let me make things right here. We cannot dive into this rashly Alice. If she suspects one thing or even gets the faintest wiff of you scent she will have made a hundred more new borns within the hour. She will do something drastic, you must let me handle this over here". Alice nodded, already knowing Jasper was speaking the truth as she saw the outcome in her mind. "Alright Jaz".
"It won't be long I promise." His whispered warmly, love and endless devotion filling his voice. "I swear I will not keep you waiting for me any longer. I will do everything I can in the coming weeks. You will know when the time is right". He sighed heavily, the sigh reverberating through her chest. He felt his anguish and guilt through his sigh almost as powerful as if he were right beside her. She was so attuned to him, his pain was hers and vice versa, she knew this was killing him just as much as her. She nodded slowly, her lips trembling. "Okay Jasper. Be safe." She muttered almost feeling him smile on the other side.
"I will my love. Do not make a single move before I tell you to, no matter what. I love you so much". He whispered before the line went dead and the phone lay stiffly on her palm.
She hadn't even been able to say she loved him back, but it didn't matter, he knew she did. It just would feel nice to say those words, and he would definetely need to hear them when he faced the darkest element of his past very shortly. Sighing she looked up at her family as Edward nodded at her, his expression impossibly tense.
The next nights were difficult for me, nearly as hard as the first. It was too much to hear her voice, and know she was still so far from him. I was a fool for ever thinking they could be apart, but that was another matter, what mattered now was his task at hand.
I needed to appear as if Maria's methods of tempting him were working. I needed to act as if I were falling back into place as her minion and strongest accomplice.
I took to killing the newborns, just as I had done so very long ago. It awoke in me a strange feeling, like looking back at a memory from a past life. Similar to when those whom had been reincarnated came in contact with something similar to that in a former existance. It was odd. Familar yet not. Each kill awoke in me the dark images of my first years of life, and yet they made me all the more numb. I wonder had I stayed in this life from the beginning, would I'd have a soul at all?
I shuttered at the thought. I couldn't even picture never meeting Alice; never seeing her wonderfully carefree smile or feeling her calm and comforting emotions. My life was changed from the moment our meeting, and there was no going back to this former life.
But I acted just as I should, which was gradually gaining Maria's trust. I thought perhaps I had her almost convinced, but I knew what I would soon have to do. And the thought made my stomach quake.
It was a stromy night when we went hunting, Maria and I and one of her newborns. We lingered near the bar district, Maria attracting the drunken men into the alley where I and the newborn male waited. She glided toward us, sauntered really, the men staring hungrily after her. They should have been smart enough to run. Her movements were so inhuman they should have feared her immeidately and ran from her. Yet just as all intoxicated men did when a strikingly beautiful woman paid attention to them, they followed blindly.
The newborn was waiting anxiously, licking his lips hungrily as he bounced up and down. He would blow our cover with this behavior. I snapped my hand out against his chest, focing him backward against the brick wall as I shook my head.
Maria stepped through the mouth of the alley, the humans close behind her. I could hear their twittering hearts getting closer. My stomach twisted and clenched, my thirst shooting up my throat and setting my insides a flame. Every nerve awoke, my muscles tightening, I tried to keep rooted to the ground as they came within three feet, still not able to see us from the darkness.
The newborn suddenly lurched out, claws bared and fangs exposed as he flew over Maria's head. He latched onto one of the men, tearing and ripping apart his soft flesh as both men screamed.
The other took off running, his feet thudding heavily on the ground.
"Get him!" Maria hissed at me in the most demoic voice. That voice, how it haunted my memories.
I flew effortlessly through the air, dropping down in front of the man in a flash. The man screamed, turning on his heel, ready to bolt away from me. Maria appeared in front of him, smirking darkly with her hands hanging loosely at her sides.
"What's the matter?" She sang through clenched teeth as the man backed toward me, his eyes darting at my expressionless face and back at Maria. "Don't you wanna play"? She whispered raising her hands smoothly.
The man screeched loudly, stepping away from her and I as I swooped behind him. This was a tireless game of cat and mouse, such nonsense really. Maria loved to play games with her victims, one of the most sickening qualities about her. Perhaps she should have joined with Victoria and James, they too loved games. All three demons were so strikingly similar if it weren't for their different appearances one might have thought they were the same.
The man thudded against my chest, looking up at me wearily.
Slowly I lifted my hands, closing them on his biceps and holding him firmly in place. How I dreaded do this, but it was necessary, if Maria saw me let the man escape she would surely lose all faith in me and distrust me once again. I closed my eyes tightly, trying to ignore the man's thrashing beneath my hands. I felt Maria's breath was over my face as she leaned forward until she was eye level with the man.
"Look at it this way". She sang, running her finger along his jaw. I opened my eyes partially, just enough to see her pulling the man's face toward her. "You can be my victim or you could be his". She whispered turning his head slowly toward the alleyway where the newborn was hovering over the mutilated body of his friend.
The man began to thrash against my grip, kicking Maria's shins and tossing his head back and forth.
"Jasper". Maria said coldly, drawing my gaze to her. "Finish him." She smiled as she glided away from us, moving toward the newborn as he jerked his head up.
Dammit. I got too committed to this cause, and now I would once again have to kill after so many years. Glancing down at the man, I let out a sigh. Carlisle would be so disappointed.
I placed my hands on the sides of his head, the man letting out an earsplitting scream that shook the very air around us. It made no difference to my ears, but his frantic emotions were clawing away at my core.
"I'm sorry". I muttered softly, jerking my hands sharply in a circle, listening to each vertebrate cracking. His heart began to twitter to a stop, each pulse pulling me deeper into my guilt.
I released his limp body slowly, watching it fall heavily to the ground as I closed my eyes. Turning away, I faced my body to Maria as the new born leaped out past me at the body on the concrete. I sighed heavily, feeling Maria approaching me. Her hand touched lightly against my shoulder, her lips brushing across my ear as she spoke.
"Very good Jasper. Perhaps you are not as much a lost cause as I first believed". She sang in her otherworldly tone before she drifted back to the body, shoving the new born away with a hiss as she began to feed.