Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is recognizable; everything belongs to their respective and rightful owners. Twilight belongs to Mrs. Meyer, and anything Tolkien related belongs to Mr. Tolkien No copyright infringement is intended, I just do this for fun
A/n: This chapter has been an absolute pain for me to write, but it is also the longest chapter I have written so far. A huge thank you to my beta Anariel Goldenarrow, for putting up with all my silly mistakes. To Dalonega Noquisi, her headaches aren't going to be a major thing in the story; she just got one because of polly2010 thank you for reviewing almost every chapter. Also thank you to everyone else who has reviewed and followed so far. Hope y'all enjoy the chapter.
I woke the late the next morning to my phone ringing. I sit up in my bed, my red mane falling around me in a tangled mess as I sat up and blindly reached for my phone.
"Hello." I answered groggily.
"Good morning Miss Gentry," Jaspers familiar voice came through the phone "I hope I didn't wake you."
"Nope, I was just getting up" I lied as I ran my free hand through my hair "Did you need something?"
"I actually was calling to see if you would like to go on a hike with me; I know you asked for some time to think, but I owe you an explanation for what happened on Friday" He tells me.
"That sounds like a plan just let me go clear it with my mom. Give me a moment to go ask her." I tell him, I mute the phone as I haul myself out of my bed and head downstairs. I quickly locate her in the kitchen.
"Hey mom, would it be okay if I went out hiking with Jasper today?" I ask her, hoping that she doesn't say no because of the impromptu trip to Seattle that Edwin and I went on yesterday.
"I don't see a problem with it so long as he has you home before four." She responds.
"Thanks mom" I tell her before turning to head upstairs. I unmute the phone as I reach the third floor.
"I can go; you just have to get me home before 4." I tell him
"Great, I'll come pick you up in an hour and we'll head out from there." He tells me.
"Okay I'll see you then." I tell him before I hang up and race to get ready.
I manage to get my shower and dressed within thirty minutes before grabbing a back pack and heading downstairs. I throw a few granola bars into the bag and a few water bottles before searching for a travel mug for coffee. Soon, I find one of our travel mugs and fill it with the delicious caffeinated beverage and after adding a little bit of creamer to it I screw the lid on. I lean up against the counter my hair in a mass of wild curls and waves underneath a black slouchy beanie; I had paired a red and black plaid shirt over a white t-shirt and black skinny jeans with some old hiking boots for today's adventure. I munch on a granola bar as I wait for Jasper; the house is quite with the exception of the clicking of the keys on my mother's laptop as she works. It's nice to just enjoy the peace and quiet in the house. Soon the silence is broken by the doorbell. I grab my back pack and coffee mug then, go to answer the door but my mother beats me too it.
"Good morning Jasper." She cheerfully greets him.
"Good morning Mrs. Harris. How are you this morning?" he ask her.
"I'm good. I guess you here for Gen?" She inquires.
"Yes Ma'am, we're just going to go on a small hike then I'll bring her home." He tells her. I smile as I make my way to the front door.
"Morning Jasper," I tell him as I place a quick peck on his cheek.
"Good morning Miss Gentry." He says.
"Well Mom I guess we are off. I'll see you later." I give her a hug.
"See you later, you guys be careful; don't get eaten by any bears." She hugs me back.
"Goodbye Mrs. Harris." Jasper says as he goes to escort me to his car, He opens my door and helps me into the car before going around the car to the driver's side and getting in.
He quickly backs out of the driveway and heads onto the road. All too soon the S.U.V is filled with an awkward silence and the tension between us could be cut with a knife. I decided to break this silence.
"You know when I asked for time to think I had imagined that you would give me a few days." I stated in a tone that I hoped didn't offend Jasper.
"I know but with what happened on Friday the explanation that the Major gave you was inadequate, and you deserve a better explanation than that." Jasper responded.
"So you do know about your second personality?" I asked him.
"Yes I do; most of the time I have him under control, but on occasion he is able to overpower me and take control." Jasper explained to me, I nod my head though I am still confused about the Major but I feel like Jasper will explain it more to me later.
"So where are we headed to" I inquired noticing we were headed out of the city and toward the national forest that surrounds forks.
"To a small hiking trail I know. Nobody real hikes on it but I think it would be a good place to give you a good explanation of what I am and how I came to be it." He said "Actually we should be coming up on it pretty soon."
True to his word we stopped within a few minutes. After parking the car Jasper helped me out. I slung my backpack on and off we went. Jasper was tense as we walked along the trail like a man being lead to his execution.
"You still think I am going to leave you after you tell me what happened." I state.
"Yes I do, like I said before Gentry I have done horrible things in the past and my greatest fear right now is that you will want nothing to do with me." He hangs his head. We had stopped walking and at this I moved in front of him.
"Jasper, I am not going to leave you. I don't care what you have done in your past, you are a good person now and that's what matters to me." I tell him as I grab his chin and force him to look at me "I love you, so much; to me you are a wonderful person. What gives me the right to judge you on what has happened in the past?" I finish my statement and find myself swept into Jaspers chest in a tight hug. He rests his head on top of mine.
We stand like that for a few minutes before he finally lets me go.
"There is a place further up the trail that we can sit down and I can explain everything to you, although it is a ways up the trail and I can get us there faster if you trust me" Jasper looks towards me.
"Sure, I trust you." I reply not sounding completely confident in my words.
I look at Japer to see him smirking and next thing I know am lifted bridal style into his arms. I instinctively wrap my arms around his neck.
"Okay how in world are you able to pick me up like I weigh nothing?"I ask him.
"Well you do weigh nothing, but vampires are stronger and faster than humans." He laughs at me.
"You might want to close your eyes." he says I shut my eyes and next thing I know he is running at an unnatural pace. I feel the wind whipping through my hair; my hat stays on my head solely because of the bobby pins I put in it to hold it in place. I move my face into Jaspers chest and squeeze my arms a little tighter around his neck. I feel him chuckle.
"Okay you can open your eyes now" He tells me after he came to a halt.
I open my eyes to a beautiful small clearing with a few fallen trees in the center surrounded by the forest; the whole thing looks like it came straight out of a fairytale. Jasper sets me down and leads me over to one of the fallen trees.
"How in the world did you find this place?" I asked in awe of the scenery.
"Emmett and I ran across it on a hunting trip, I find that it is a nice place to come to get away from everyone at the house." He shrugged his shoulders and plopped down on one of the fallen trees; I take a seat next to him and watch as the runs his hands through his hair.
"I have no idea where I should start explaining." he huffs looking down at the ground.
"The beginning is normally the best place to start." I tell him as I place one of my hands on his shoulder.
"I was born in 1844 to a relatively wealthy family. I enlisted in the confederate army in 1860; I lied to the recruiter about my age I told them I was twenty when I was only seventeen. My career in the army was very successful I quickly rose through the ranks becoming a major in a mere three years. I was the youngest major in the Texas Calvary; my father had said it was my charisma. I had been evacuating women and children before heading back to Galveston when I saw them, three unnaturally beautiful women. At first I thought they weren't real, but as I moved closer to them I got the feeling that I should run." He paused and took a deep breath. "But I didn't, my mother raised me to be a gentleman so I offered them my help. The next thing I know they had asked for my name and the one, who I later found out was named Maria, walked toward me. I froze as she grabbed my face between her hands before biting onto my neck. Next thing I know I feel like I have been set on fire. Three agonizing days later I woke up to an equivalent of hell. Maria and the other two had been creating an army; it was shortly after I woke up that I discovered what most vampires call a gift, I was able to feel and manipulate everyone's emotions around me."
"You can feel emotions?" I interrupted him.
"Yes and change them. This made me very useful to Maria. I was in charge of training her newborns and disposing of them when they were no longer useful."
"So that's how you got your scars?" I asked him.
"Yeah, newborns are a lot more volatile in their first year of life. In between training the newborns and the actual battles one tends to gain a lot of battle scars, but still I never lost a fight." He told me, at some point I had grabbed his hand and was now tracing over the scars that marred his wrist.
"Along the way Maria had found out that her companions were plotting against her so she had us take care of the problem before they could actually try to do anything to her. Maria rewarded me when I would do things that pleased her or when we won a battle, but she was quick and harsh with her punishment when things didn't go her way. For the longest time I actually thought she loved me, and in a way she did, she loved the power that I was able to get her." He continued on with his story.
"When did the Major come about?" I asked him about the second personality.
"The Major came out shortly after I had been turned and was thrown into the wars. I think it was my way of protecting myself. The Major was ruthless and everything I was not; he wouldn't hesitate to kill someone for looking at him wrong, and a lot of newborns met their end because of it. Although one newborn didn't know what was good for him and kept coming back" He chuckled at his last statement, I tilted my head to the side curious to know more about this newborn.
"This newborn would come up and try to befriend me and even when I beat him senseless he would still come back, saying that we would be friends and when I asked him why he said that he just knew shit. I found out that his name was Peter and we did become good friends; I managed to convince Maria to keep him so he could be my captain after his first year was up, and because of his gift his life was spared. Peter's job was mostly to watch the newborns, which is a full time job itself because newborns can be like toddlers."
"Why did you have to dispose of them after their first year?" I questioned him.
"After the first year of life the power a vampire has as a newborn goes away, and while we are still stronger than any human a newborn can still easily destroy another older vampire. I killed so many newborns for Maria when their year was up I would take them aside and they knew what was going to happen so they would try to fight back…" he trailed off "I could feel everything they felt."
"It was during a time when I was disposing a batch of newborns that everything started to go crazy. I had called the name of a newborn, Charlotte, and Peter went nuts he pleaded with me to keep her, that she was useful, but she showed no signs of any type of useful gifts so I had to follow through with my orders. That's when I felt it, Peter and Charlotte's feelings for each other; they were mates. Mates were forbidden in the army, and normally if a pair is discovered both of them are killed." he says with a grim look.
"Why are both of them killed?" I asked.
"Because if just one is killed the other will be driven mad, you have to kill both of them. I made a decision that night and I told Peter and Charlotte to run for it to leave. Peter promised me that he would come back for me before disappearing with Charlotte. When Maria found out that they had escaped I was severely punished. I was starved and tortured for many weeks; it was at this point that the Major had complete control and it seemed like I was fading into the background." he cast his gaze to the ground.
"It was a few years later when Peter came back and helped me escape after explaining to me how much more civilized the north was. I spent a few years being a nomad with them, but eventually feeding off humans was slowly starting to chip away at my sanity. I could feel everything my victims felt as I fed off them. Slowly I was fading away again and the Major was taking total control. Sometime in the late 40's I was roaming around Philadelphia, on the edge of becoming a complete monster; it began raining so I stepped inside a small café to avoid suspicion. In the café I sensed another vampire so my guard immediately went up. I looked and found a small pixie-like vampire; she looked at me and bluntly said that I had kept her waiting long enough. I tipped my hat and apologized to her. She invited me to sit down with her, and I did because I was curious about her. She introduced herself as Alice and proceeded to tell me about a family of vampires who fed a completely different way than we did; I was shocked I didn't know there was another way. Then handed me a piece of paper, I looked at it to find a drawing of myself smiling with my arms wrapped around a small angel with long wild hair." as he said this he picked up a strand of my hair and began to play with it.
"I remember thinking that I looked so happy in the drawing and I was fascinated with the girl in my arms. "It will be a while but if you come with me you will find her," Alice's voice broke me out of my thoughts. I left the café that day with Alice and we found Carlisle and his family and joined them and their lifestyle. Nearly 60 years later I finally found you." He let go of my hair and moved his hand to my cheek.
I leaned into his touch. I was saddened by his story; even though he went through hell, he still manages to be a wonderful person.
He looked at me worriedly "What's wrong?"
"It makes me sad that you had to go through all that." I tell him.
"You aren't disgusted by my past?"He asked me with a look of disbelief.
"What gives me the right to judge you for doing what had to do to survive? You did what was necessary for you to live, and it has shaped you into the person that you are today. It makes me sad that you had to endure it but in the end it led you to me, so I have no right to judge you for what you did back then. Your scars show that you survived, that you were able to live through hell and still turn out to be a wonderful loving person. " I quickly find myself scoped into Jasper's cold embrace and onto his lap; I feel him rest his head on top of mine.
"Thank you." he whispers softly into my hair as I wrap my arms around him.
We stay like this for a good bit, not talking just enjoying each other's presence. Soon though we break apart and Jasper helps me up.
"Would you like to formally meet my family?" He asks me out of the blue.
"I would love to; I will just have to let my mother know so she won't freak out like she did the other night." I told him.
"What happened the other night?" Jasper raised an eyebrow.
"Well, remember that impromptu trip to Seattle I told you about last night, yeah it didn't roll over well with her and I don't feel like getting into more trouble." I explained to him he shook his head and laughed.
"Do you want to hike down or would you rather go down the fast way?" he asked me.
"Let's go with the fast way." The next thing I know I am in his arms bridal style again and not long after I shut my eyes he takes off; I unconsciously tighten my arms around his neck and I can feel him chuckle at me.
Soon we come to a halt and Jasper gently places me down. He stopped a little ways from the entrance to the trail so we have a short walk to the car. Once we got to his car he helped me into the car and made his way over to the driver's side. I sent my mother a quick text telling her that we had finished our hike and we going over to his house for a little while so that I could meet his family and then we were off. Once we got on the road I decided to break the silence.
"So how much of the vampire mythology is true?" I asked him hoping that I didn't offend him
"Not much of it is true actually." He chuckled "I think the only part the mythology gets right is that we are inhumanly strong and that we drink blood."
"So you don't sleep in coffins?" I joked
"We don't sleep at all actually." He stated
"What happens when you go out into the sunlight?"
"Something happens when we go into the sunlight but we don't burn." He says sounding embarrassed
"What happens?" I inquire, my curiosity spiked by his comments he mumbles something that I didn't Catch "What was that Jasper?"
"We sparkle." He mutters embarrassingly
"That sounds emasculating." I comment
"The girls don't seem to mind it but us guys have to find some way to gain our masculinity back." He laughs
We laugh and I ask a few more questions before we get to the Cullen's house. Jasper helped me out of the car; he held out his arm for me to take and I gladly accepted. However, as we got closer to the house I got more nervous. My hand gripped on to Jasper's arm slightly harder as we walked up the steps to the Cullen's house. I was worried about what they would think of me even though I had met all of them previously. I knew that Edward and Rosalie don't particularly care for me, but I had only met Dr. and Mrs. Cullen briefly in the past. I felt my worry shift into calmness as we neared the front door.
"Thanks." I whispered to Jasper, he smiled at me and held the door open for me. I look around the entrance of the house in awe of the brightness and openness of it.
"You have a beautiful home." I say to Jasper.
"Esme designed it herself, and she'll love the compliment." He says as he leads me up the stairs. He leads me to where the rest of his family is; I am immediately swept into a tight hug from Emmett.
"Hey Short stuff, it's good to see you" He laughs.
"Emmett…" Jasper starts.
"Hey Emmett, it's good to see you too, but could you put me down?" In an instant I am placed back on the ground. I look to see most of the Cullens smiling.
"Gentry it's good to see you again." Mrs. Cullen says to me as she walks forward and gives me a short hug.
"It's good to see you again too Mrs. Cullen. You have a beautiful home." I tell her.
"Thank you." She responded with a beautiful smile.
"Miss Harris, it's good to see that you haven't found your way back to the emergency room again." Doctor Cullen lightly laughs.
I laugh at this "It's good that I haven't had to come back and visit your emergency room Dr. Cullen."
"Hi Gentry." Alice appears in front of me and gives me a tight hug.
"Hey Alice." I say as I return her hug.
"Come on Rosie say hi to gentry." Emmett's voice travels across the rooms as he drapes one of his arms across Rosalie's shoulders; Rosalie herself looks less than impressed that I am here.
"Hello." She curtly says. I smile and nod to her; the room soon falls into an awkward silence, until Edward decides to break it.
"So Jasper told you about the monsters that we are?" He speaks with disgust.
"Technically it wasn't Jasper who told me." I tell him 'it was the major who told me not Jasper 'I thought.
"Edward Don't…" I hear Alice's voice before I suddenly felt pain radiating from my wrist, Edward had stepped forward and grabbed my wrist and tightly squeezed.
"Oww!" I squeaked.
"Why were you around the Major he is…" Edward didn't get to finish his statement before Jasper roared and forcibly removed Edward's hand from my wrist and slammed him up against the wall by his neck. I felt someone grab my shoulders and pull me behind them as Jasper snarled and gnashed his teeth at Edward. Next thing I hear is a terrible ripping sound and I look to see that Jasper has pulled Edwards arm off. My eyes widened in shock at what was happening and how fast it was all happening. After Jasper had tossed Edward to the ground like a rag doll he made his way over to me in the blink of an eye he quickly pushed Rosalie, who apparently was the one who pulled me behind them, aside and pulled me into his arms growling at anyone who came near. After a few minutes Jasper finally calmed down and was purring lightly, my wrist however was still throbbing in pain.
"Major, may I please look at Gentry's wrist to make sure it is not broken." Carlisle quietly addressed Jasper.
"I'm not the Major just yet, Carlisle." Jasper replied shortly but allowed Carlisle to look at my wrist, Carlisle eyes widened in response.
"Well it's not broken but it will be bruised for a while." He announced after he examined it the bruise was quickly forming on my pale skin.
"Will Edward be okay?" I asked as I looked at Emmett and Alice helping him across the room.
"Edward will be fine. I am sorry you had to witness this today." Carlisle apologized to me.
"It's not your fault Dr. Cullen." I tell him.
"Still Edward should know better than to try to harm someone else's mate." He tells me.
Jasper remains quiet and pulls me into his chest, his eyes glancing around the room as if he is expecting something else to happen.
"Jasper, why don't you take Gentry upstairs?" Esme suggests; Jasper nods and then begins to lead me up the staircase.
After we make it up the stairs he leads me to a closed door and, after opening, it he ushers me inside. He shuts the door behind us and I take in the room. It is and office with an oak desk near the window, but the main feature in the room was a glass display case. In the case was an old Confederate uniform with the name J. Whitlock stitched into the collar, an officer's sword, a rifle and a weathered confederate flag. There are several other objects in the case but these stand out the most. I feel Jasper wrap his arms around my waist as I look at the object.
"These are your things from your human life?" I ask him.
"Yeah, I have a few other pieces that aren't in there but those are some of my things from when I was human." I can feel the vibrations of his voice against my back as he talks. I turn around in his arms and wrap mine around his neck.
"What happened back in the living room?" I asked him about the event that happened Earlier
"You're my mate and when Edward grabbed you my instincts took over and I had to protect you. Edward hurt you and I was making sure that he couldn't hurt you more than he had already done." He states and drops his gaze to the floor.
"Hey it's okay," I tell him and grab his chin. "Thank you for protecting me." I tell him and rise up on my toes to plant a small kiss on his lips.
"I want to show you something." he quickly changes the subject and strides over to the desk. He picks up the lone picture frame and walks back over to me. In it I see a pencil drawing of Jasper and myself with his arms wrapped around me both of us smiling widely.
"Is this..." I begin to ask.
"It's the picture Alice gave me in Philadelphia." He tells me.
"You kept it all these years?" I looked at him
"Yeah it kept me motivated, it made me want to be a better person for you when I found you." He tells me eyes start to water up a bit.
"Jasper." I whisper. He gives me a soft smile a kisses my forehead.
We were going to sit down in the chairs that he had in the office when my phone went off, I looked at the caller id to see it was my mother and immediately answered it.
"Hello?" I spoke into the phone.
"Hey Sweetheart, I know your hanging out with Jasper but would you mind coming home soon? We're having company over for dinner and I could use your help in the kitchen." Her voice softly floated through the phone, I quickly muted the phone.
"Would you mind taking me home now?" I asked him.
"Sure it s no problem." He tells me.
"Sorry." I whisper before unmuting the phone.
"Hey mom, Jasper's going to bring me home now so I will be there soon." I inform her.
"Alright I will see you when you get here, bye." She chirps.
"Bye," I respond before hanging up.
We left the Cullen's house shortly after I hang up, although when we left the only ones in the house were Esme and Carlisle and after saying goodbye to them we were on our way to my home. On the drive back my mind began to wander back to the incident earlier today. How in the world did Edward know that I had talked to the major when I didn't mention it to him?
"What are you thinking about?" Jaspers voice pulls me out of my thoughts.
"How did Edward know that the Major told me about your kind; when I never said anything about him?" I asked him, Jasper sighed at this.
"Well you know how I can feel and manipulate emotions?" He asked me and I nod.
"Well sometimes when a person is turned they have gifts; like Alice can see the future, and Edward's is that he can read minds." He states.
"That's kind of invasive." I comment.
"Try living with him."Jasper retorts and we softly laugh.
Soon we pull into my drive way. Jasper walks me up to the front door.
"I'll see you later."I whisper.
"Yes Ma'am, I love you." he tells me.
"I love you too." I feel Jaspers cold hand grip my chin and tilt my head back. He leans down and kisses me on the lips.
I wave to him as he walks back to his car before heading inside.
"I'm home!" I call out.
"In the kitchen!" my mom calls back in response.
I walk over to the kitchen rolling my sleeves up preparing to help cook.
I enter and find my mom already bustling about the kitchen I walk over to the sink and wash my hands.
"So how was your day?" my mom asked me before her gaze fell to my bruised wrist "What in the world happened to your wrist!" her voice quickly escalated.
"Did Jasper do this?" She asked her voice filled with worry.
"No Mom, his brother did. It was an accident we were all roughhousing around outside, and he grabbed my wrist just a little too hard. I'm fine." I just flat out lied to my mother 'please believe me' I thought worried that she wouldn't.
"Are you sure your fine?" she raised an eyebrow.
"I'm fine Mamma; it's just a bruise it will fade in a few days." I attempt to reassure her.
"Okay." She said before telling me what I could start on.
We finish cooking a bit later and our company arrives. Turns out my mother had invited Charlie Swan the police chief of forks, his friend Billy Black and Billy's son Jacob over for dinner. Charlie seemed to be a nice fellow who cared about Forks. Billy I learned lived on the Indian reservation La' Push which was near, he seemed to be okay but after he found out that I was dating one of the Cullen's he kept trying to convince me that I shouldn't be near them. This seemed to upset not only my dad who actually approved of my boyfriend, but Charlie who liked the Cullens. I just nodded to his comments and kept on eating. Jacob was a typical teenaged guy who I was okay with until he turned to my brother and failed at trying to whisper that he thought I was hot and if he could ask me out. I theatrically whispered back to him that I had a boyfriend and that I would not go out with him.
Dinner dragged on for quite a while but soon Chief Swan and the Blacks had left. My father quickly interrogated me about the bruise on my wrist and I told him the same story that I had told mom and he eventually let it drop. It was after this that I finally made my way upstairs to my bedroom. I end up taking an hour long shower letting my mind wander over everything that happened today. I got dressed for bed and made my way into my bedroom, and after a failed attempt of towel drying my hair I flop onto my bed and groan. I am exhausted and all I wanted to do was go to sleep. However as I turn my head to look out the window, instead of an empty balcony and clear view to the forest I see Jasper standing at the door. I nearly jump out of my skin and just barley manage to hold in a scream. I roll off the bed and make my way over to the door.
"What in the world are you doing here?"I angrily whisper to him as I usher him in before it starts raining.
"I wanted to check up on you. Make sure you're safe. "He tells me.
"Is this what you do with your nights?" I ask him he nods in the affirmative.
"I'm too tired for this."I sigh.
I walk back over to my bed and sit down and pat the spot next to me, Jasper takes his shoes off and sits down. Maedhros seems wary of Jasper but still hops up onto the bed.
"Lay down." I tell him "You're here so I might as well use you as a body pillow."
He laughs but lies down anyways. I move my head onto his chest and drape my arm over his stomach.
"You know for someone who feels like granite you make a rather good pillow." I comment
He chuckles and soon begins to quietly purr.
"Love you." I sleepily whisper.
"I love you too Miss Gentry." he whispers back and that is the last thing I hear before I fall asleep.
A/n: What do ya'll think so far? Feedback would be great; however if you don't like it please don't be rude about it. Review if you feel like it, constructive criticism is always welcome. Also thanks to those who have reviewed.