"Carlisle, she's not answering!"
The Cullen patriarch frowned in concern. "Alice, tell me exactly what you saw."
"Jasper catches the scent of an injured human mid-feed and the temptation is too great. He hunts the human, and… and… Why isn't Lissa answering?!"
Before Carlisle could respond, Alice was out the door, following their scent. To no one's surprise, Edward followed suit. The others were tempted, but Carlisle shook his head at their questioning glances.
"I think we should wait here. Alice and Edward should be able to calm Jasper if needed. Too many of us surrounding him could be counterproductive."
Carlisle prayed they'd get to Jasper before anything happened.
Jasper had a head start, but Lissa was fast. Being the fastest runner in the family after Edward was an advantage. She caught up with Jasper in a matter of seconds, but she still needed to get him to stop mid-hunt. Lissa let out a low growl – too low to be heard by human ears, but plenty clear to vampire ones.
Jasper stopped at once and spun around to growl back as he sank into a crouch.
It was now or never.
Lissa ran behind Jasper and positioned herself so that she blocked his path to the humans. When Jasper spun back around, hissing like a wild, angry animal, Lissa narrowed her eyes in concentration. Jasper's body suddenly lifted off the ground and flew backwards into a large tree.
Jasper wasn't hurt, of course, but he seemed surprised. The surprise was quickly replaced by a fierce expression, and he growled again.
"Jasper, stop," she said firmly, maintaining eye contact in hopes that he'd realize she wasn't a threat.
He lunged toward her, and she squinted once more. Again Jasper flew back through the air, this time landing on his rear on the forest floor.
"Jasper, it's me… Lissa… your family…"
Jasper came at her once more, and Lissa squinted a third time, gathering all of her focus. Jasper sailed through the air faster than before and slammed into a very old, very wide tree a half a mile away. The tree shuddered from the impact and split down the middle as Jasper fell unceremoniously to the ground.
Lissa ran to where he sat, stopping twenty feet away from the older vampire. "Jasper please…" she pleaded softly.
He blinked and shook his head once. "I'm okay," he murmured in a low voice, taking a calming breath. From where they were, Jasper could no longer smell the blood, which allowed him to come to his senses.
Lissa wasn't convinced, and took a tentative step forward. "You're sure?"
Jasper stood and nodded. "I'm okay, really."
Her eyes studied him several long seconds before she released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and quickly closed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around him in a hug.
The action took him by surprise, but Jasper quickly recovered and wrapped his arms around Lissa in return. Being considerably taller, Jasper was able to rest his chin on her head. "Are you okay?" he questioned.
Lissa nodded and reluctantly took a step back, releasing her hold on him. "I'm fine."
"Good. Perhaps, then, you could explain to me what the hell just happened?"
For the first time it occurred to Lissa that not only had she used her gift, but that Jasper might not be 100% okay with the fact that she'd used it on him. "I had to do it…" she tried to explain.
"Jasper!"
Alice and Edward stopped beside the pair, anxious expressions plaguing both of their faces. Alice's eyes roamed up and down Jasper before she wrapped her arms around him in relief.
Edward glanced around them. "The human…?"
"Alive and well, as far as I know," Jasper replied before leaning down to kiss Alice. "I didn't reach him."
Alice looked up at Jasper, her eyes full of worry. "But I saw… How did you get away?"
The former solider glanced over at Lissa, who was a cross between worried and guilty. "Lissa helped to snap me out of it."
Realization dawned on Edward, and he turned to Lissa. "You used your gift!" he said in awe.
"I didn't have a choice…" Lissa reiterated, growing more anxious by the second. "I didn't hurt him, I promise. I was only trying to distract him so he wouldn't go after the human."
"Why didn't I see it?" demanded Alice in frustration.
"It was a last minute decision," Edward said. "She didn't want to use her gift."
Lissa turned to Jasper. "Jasper, please don't be angry with me," she pleaded; feeling like crying though she knew no tears would come. "I promise I wouldn't have done it if I'd had another choice."
Though he could read the emotions of anyone around him, in the midst of the chaos it never occurred to Jasper that Lissa would think he was upset with her. Now that he was solely concentrating on her, however, her guilt and apprehension crashed into him like waves. He felt a bit guilty on his own accord, not having meant for her to feel guilty about what had happened.
Jasper took a deep breath to steady him and to keep her emotions from overtaking his. Then, kissing Alice once more, he extracted his self from his mate's arms and approached Lissa. Without a word he wrapped his arms around his distant niece… his baby sister… and pulled her to his chest.
"Jasper…?" she asked tentatively, her voice muffled by his shirt.
"You silly girl," he mused, adjusting them both so that her head rested against his chest instead of her face. "I'm not angry with you – not for standing in my way and not for using your gift. You kept me from making a mistake that could have resulted in our entire family having to move."
"But you said… You seemed…"
Jasper pulled back so he could see her face. "I want to know how your gift works, Lissa. That's what I meant. We all know how Alice, Edward, and Bella's gifts work. Everyone in the family knows how my gift works. It seems that Edward is the only one here who really understands your gift."
"Only because he's always in my head," Lissa grumbled. "I didn't want anyone to know. I still don't. If Aro finds out…"
"He'll know what Edward knows if there ever comes a time where he reads Edward's thoughts. The more the rest of us know, the better we can protect you if it ever comes to that."
"You can't protect me from Aro."
Jasper shook his head. "Honestly, I'm not sure that you'd even need protection from Aro. You can apparently repel vampires. It's a strong gift, to be sure, but Aro already has adequate protection, thanks to Renata, Alec, and Jane. Aro doesn't usually covet gifts unless they surpass those he already has at his disposal."
He thought she repelled vampires? Oh boy. "That's not… I don't…" Lissa shook her head. "My gift isn't repelling vampires." At Jasper's look of disbelief, Lissa tried to clarify. "I mean, I could hold you off, but it isn't about repelling anyone or anything. That's not how it works."
"All right," Jasper said. "So tell me how it does work."
She glanced around nervously. Though she was sure she didn't hear or smell another being near them, mortal or immortal, she was reluctant to talk about her gift in the middle of the forest. "Could we maybe talk about this back at the house?"
"It can't possibly be that bad…"
Lissa shook her head adamantly. "Not here."
"It'll be better that way," Alice insisted. "Everyone will be there. Edward, you and Lissa should head back to the house. Jasper and I will meet you there after we go for a hunt."
"I just hunted," Jasper protested, more interested in finding out about Lissa's secret talent than satiating his thirst.
"You didn't even finish your mountain lion," Lissa said, contradicting his statement. "Your eyes are still dark."
Jasper narrowed his eyes slightly at Lissa, put out that she had essentially ratted him out. It was such a little sister thing to do. Before he could point that out, however, Alice grasped his hand and graced him with one of her dazzling smiles. "Come on, Jazz. Lissa won't tell the others before we get back." Not waiting for a response, she pulled him deeper into the forest.
Lissa turned to Edward. "I never meant for this to happen."
As usual, he understood what she meant without her needing to voice it. "Jasper was right about one thing, Lissa. This family will be able to better protect you if everyone knows what you're capable of."
"You can't protect me from Aro," she repeated.
Edward wore a small smirk. "You'd be surprised."
A couple of hours later, the entire family had gathered in the great room. Everyone's eyes were trained on Lissa, something that had her feeling extremely self-conscious.
"Okay," Jasper said when no one else spoke. "Tell us about your gift."
She took a small breath. "I can move things."
"You can move things?" Bella repeated with interest. "As in telekinesis?"
Lissa nodded. "Yes. Or at least, it started as that. I was able to move small objects with my mind as a human. Pencils, books, and such… After I was changed, I found I could move larger objects." She averted her gaze to address Jasper. "You experienced that firsthand today."
The former soldier nodded in agreement. "Are you only able to move objects in one direction?"
Glancing at the coffee table, Lissa focused on a small stack of books. The books floated into air and "danced" around.
"Gifts normally grow or magnify over time," Carlisle commented, intrigued by this revelation. "When Bella was first changed, her shield only protected her own mind. Now she can shield others from mental attacks, and even pull back the shield from her own mind to allow Edward in. Before, she was the only person whose thoughts he couldn't hear. Has your gift expanded since you were turned?"
Lissa allowed the books to float back down into a neat stack. "Yes."
When she didn't elaborate, Jasper raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Well?"
"Before I could only move whole objects. I've since developed the ability to move things at the cellular level."
"Perhaps a demonstration might be in order," suggested Carlisle.
Walking past the others to the glass wall, Lissa pointed to a tree. "Watch," was all she said as she focused on a branch. Moments later, an impressive crack was heard as one of the larger branches snapped off, falling to the forest floor with a thud.
"You can break things with your mind," Emmett mused. "That's pretty badass."
"Language," Carlisle murmured, though the reprimand seemed half-hearted to Lissa. "I've never met or heard of a vampire before who could move things with their mind like that. Benjamin is able to manipulate the elements, but his gift differs a bit from yours. I've certainly never seen him do what you've done. No doubt Aro would be intrigued by you."
"That isn't all," Edward said when Lissa didn't say anything further. "It's even more impressive than that."
Lissa frowned at Edward. "So much for not saying anything."
"You already told them half of it," he pointed out. "Why not tell them everything?"
"You can only tell so much…" she tried to explain. "Some things are better explained visually. I can't possibly give them a demonstration."
The mind-reading vampire chuckled. "I'm sure you'd have a willing participant in Emmett."
Her eyes widened in surprise that he would even suggest such a thing. "I couldn't do that to him!" she exclaimed in indignation.
"Emmett is a thrill seeker. He'd get a kick out of it."
Emmett's eyes lit up. "What can you do? You're welcome to use me as a guinea pig!"
"No. I won't do that to you, Emmett. Trust me, you don't want me to, and I don't want to incur the wrath of your wife."
Not one to take 'no' as an answer, Emmett took a step toward Lissa, a devious glint in his eye. "I could make you show me."
"Emmett…"
He didn't flinch at Carlisle's warning, instead taking another step toward Lissa as she took a step back.
"You don't want this, Emmett," Lissa told him honestly, her eyes locked on his face as she watched his every move.
Another step forward. "Just show me. I'll get it out of you one way or another."
"No."
She heard a low growl from deep inside his chest, and bolted out the door a fraction of a second before he lunged. Esme called out Emmett's name in surprise. Lissa stopped several hundred feet from the house, hoping Emmett would stop before things escalated.
"Emmett, that's enough."
Lissa could hear Carlisle's firm command, but Emmett ignored it as he sprinted out the door straight toward her. Frowning, she mentally threw him backwards, sending him over the house into the front yard. "Stop!"
It didn't deter him. Seconds later he was running toward her once again. She threw him back, this time several hundred feet in front of the house, and put another 1,000 feet between her and the house. She'd just turned around when she saw him coming for her. Yet again, his body soared backward through the air as the rest of the family watched in awe. "Stop it, Emmett!" she said loudly, growing frustrated. She wondered if none of them had stepped in because she could hold him off, but it didn't look like Emmett was going to back off. She went to run further when she heard him on her tail.
Spinning on the spot, she let out a growl of her own. "I said STOP!" she shouted as Emmett roared in pain.
Fear immediately overtook her. She'd done what she'd swore she'd never do – she'd hurt one of them. They wouldn't possibly forgive such a thing. Before anyone could say or do anything, she bolted, running as fast as her legs could carry her.
