This Time Is Ours

Jasper POV written by Nat Whitlock Wood

Alice POV written by Lesa Masen Cullen Goncalves

Chapter 21 - Jasper POV

As I left the warehouse, my eyes were instantly drawn to the lightening of the sky overhead. I had thirty minutes maximum before the sun would rise over the buildings of this town and reveal me for what I am. I trembled at the thought, remembering once when I had been a very young newborn how I had feared the sun so much.

Maria had lied to me and the others, telling us that we would burn hotter than the fires of hell if the sunlight ever touched us. It was a terrible thing to tell us, but it had worked, we all stayed indoors from the sun.

I lowered my eyes back to the street as I walked along, feeling so out of place here, but I believed it to be a safer place than the wilderness, with no places to hide and nothing to mask our scents. At least here in the town there were stronger smells to cover our tracks. Rotting garbage, but mostly humans.

I shuddered at the thought of what I had come here to do. I had to feed, my body was weaker now than I had felt it to be for a very long time, but still I had the feelings of not wanting to feed, not wanting to become the monster that I feared the most. No, I feared something far worse than that now. I feared how Alice would react once I have become that monster again. Would she still love me when my eyes were crimson, my thoughts murderous, and my body tense and always ready for a fight once I return to my military ways.

I stopped walking for a short moment, pressing my hand to the wall of a building to support myself. My throat was now ablaze with the need for blood, but it was the fear of the want for blood that had me second thinking my motives.

What if I was going about this the wrong way? We shouldn't have come to this town. If we had remained in the wilderness, I could feed from animals as Alice wished me to and remain running from the unknown threat until I had gained enough strength to face it. This is what we should be doing.

But it's too late now. We're already in the town, already surrounded by humans, and already I could feel the lust for their blood filling me. I have only gone four days without human blood, but already I crave it so much, despite my mind telling me that it is wrong.

I raise my gaze again to the sky as it was becoming increasingly light. I knew I had to move quick, I would just need to take a breath and let the monster within me take over, bite back the shock and pain I would feel from my victims, and in my mind I told myself I needed to do this for Alice.

I pushed myself from the wall, my feet feeling like lead weights as I forced one foot in front of the other to continue down the street. I could hear movement ahead of me, metallic sounds and as I rounded the street corner I saw a man further along the street dragging a street sign out to the front of a shop that was opening for the day.

But it was not the sight of the man that now stopped my feet from moving. It was the sight that lay before me. There was something very familiar about it, I was almost sure I had seen it before. The street was straight for several yards, with shops lining each side, and at the far end the street curved to the left. It seemed familiar to me but I was not sure why.

I forced my feet onwards, straightening my back some more so that my posture did not look so weary, as I continued down the street. I turned my eyes to glance through the window of the nearest shop. The window display showed an assortment of ladies shoes and hats, but it was not these that caught my eye.

I saw my reflection again now, and it differed greatly from when I had seen it in the clear lake. Now my skin was far paler and that caused my eyes to stand out even more. I stepped closer to the glass of the window. My eyes were different, pale and weakened from my need to feed, but they were almost completely black now with only the slightest hint of red…and gold. Gold like Alice's.

I sighed softly and turned from the window to continue down the street. The same man was chaining his street sign to the nearest streetlight to his shop, and as I looked ahead to the sign, I saw that written upon it in chalk was a menu and prices for a butchers shop. The man must be the butcher.

Just my luck that the first human to cross my path would have the stench of animal blood upon him, but I had no time to be picky in my choices of a meal.

The man looked up as I grew closer to his position. I kept my eyes downcast as I gained proximity before stopping in front of his sign as though reading it, though my mind was far from the flesh of animals, instead it was working quickly to decide how I would attack. It would need to be quick, though speed was no longer an asset on my side, and it would need to be soon as I could feel the weakness increasing, and the monster screaming to be set free.

'Beautiful morning, is it not, sir?'

The mans voice snapped me from my thoughts and I wearily raised my head to look to him, keeping my breath held knowing that the second I took a breath the frenzy would begin.

'True enough, sir'

I decided to answer in kind, keeping it polite, we were both 'gentlemen' after all.

'Anything there catch your eye?'

I turned my eyes back to the chalk board as though considering for a moment as though I were a real customer, but inside I was forcing myself to not state the obvious, that it was the butcher himself who had caught my eye, and so instead I read the first thing on the board that had caught my eye.

'Cured back bacon…'

The man instantly smiled as he thought he had himself a customer, and reached an arm out to gesture me towards his shop. The door stood open and through the window I could see several cuts of meat, including a whole pig, hanging from hooks. The sight of the animals caused my stomach to twist violently, but this soon eased when I promised myself that I would only be in that shop for a second, and then my thirst would be satiated.

I stepped forward to the butcher's gesture and entered his shop. My ears caught the sound of movement from above and I saw at the back of the shop was a staircase, most likely this man lived directly above, possibly with a wife and children, but I forced this thought aside, if I lingered on it too much then I would find excuses not to feed.

The butcher rubbed his hands together and moved to walk past me and I allowed myself the breath I had been denying myself since leaving the warehouse. The burn was instant, scalding my throat and causing me to flinch, but it was starting now, I could feel the old part of me beginning to rise, completely overtaking the side of me that Alice had created.

My arm shot out so quickly, snatching the butcher around the middle and pulling him back to me. The panic was instant from this man and the fears quickly began in me. I raised a hand to the mans head, flicking my wrist quickly, the crunch of bone was loud to my ears as the mans neck snapped and lolled sideways to his shoulder.

My eyes scanned quickly around the shop and out to the street, but it was still too early in the day with no one else around, and with speed, I bit into the dead butcher's throat. The second the blood touched my throat, the frenzy began, too strong for me to hold back even for a moment, and I drank so fast as though my life depended on it. But it wasn't true…not my life at least. I didn't care enough for that. It's Alice's life that depended on it.

The butcher had been a large man, but it seemed that after only a minute, his body was empty of blood, and I dropped him unceremoniously to the tiled floor, so unlike how I had treated the body of my victim back in Philadelphia.

I glanced down to the butcher whilst flicking my tongue out to catch the last drop of his blood that had gathered at the corner of my mouth, and instantly the monster in me yelled for more. I would need another before I felt full, felt strong enough again to protect Alice.

I walked from the shop, leaving the body where I had dropped it. I could already feel my strength returning. The wonders of human blood. I continued down the street and took the turn left at the end, my hands clenching and unclenching at my sides as I picked up my pace a little more, testing my new found strength. It had only been four days, but it felt like I had been deprived for a month.

The new street was similar to the last with shops on one side and alleyways on the other. I stopped for a moment. Now it was looking very familiar as though I knew where it was I was going. I let my eyes scan down the left side of the street, but all the shops here were still locked up.

I inhaled. All around me was the scent of humans, but the lust for more blood did not win over this time. It was something else. Something I had caught the scent of, and I moved my feet onwards again until the scent became stronger, leading me to one of the alleyways on the right.

I stopped where the scent was strongest and peered into the alleyway. At first I thought it to be a pile of rags that I saw, but as my eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness of the alley, I realised it to be another body. The drained body of a street sleeper, and the scent I had followed was that of my kind, a vampire.

I instantly tensed at the sight of the body. There was another like me in this town, and also like me, that other had fed recently, perhaps still was feeding somewhere nearby. I would need to be sure before I continued to feed. I stepped further into the alleyway towards the corpse following the vampire scent to the wall at the rear of the alley. The scent went upwards and so must I.

With my new found strength from the human blood, I scaled the wall in less than a second to crouch at the top, my eyes quickly scanning all around and again I inhaled. The vampire scent was still in the air but fading, whoever it had been had moved on from this part of town.

I turned slowly glancing back down to the body of the street sleeper, then raised my eyes to look back at the streets I had walked down. I could still hear the faint movement above the butcher's shop. The body had not yet been discovered though I knew it would not be long. But as I gazed back along those streets it suddenly occurred to me why I had recognized these places.

It looked different now in the daylight, but I remembered now that I had been here before. This was a town I had passed through and fed in earlier in the year as I wandered the country searching for my phantom, that had turned out to be Alice.

I closed my eyes a moment and turned my back to the scene, opening my eyes to look down at my hands where they rested atop the brickwork of the alley wall where I remained crouching. My eyes followed the paths of scars along the back of my hands before landing on the newest to the collection, the one I had caused myself when I had nearly destroyed Alice.

I raised my right hand to gently tug at the sleeve of the green shirt to see the wound better. It still stung a little at my touch but it was healing better now that I had human blood in my body once again. I sighed softly and dropped the sleeve back into place, tracing my fingertips over the tear in the fabric where I had bitten through to my wrist.

Alice had been unhappy that I had damaged such a fine shirt, but I wondered how much damage I would do to Alice's heart when I returned to her as the monster that I had once been, that she had not yet seen in me, only heard about.

A slight morning breeze passed me and I inhaled, the want for more human blood causing me to do so instinctively in order to find my next prey, but the vampire scent caught my senses again and I raised my head looking in the direction that the scent led.

I scanned my eyes to the distance seeing the street of warehouses where Alice would be waiting for me to return. I was not yet strong enough, I had not fed enough, but I also feared to leave Alice alone for long. But mostly I feared returning to her unrecognisable in my blood filled state.

I lowered my gaze to the bricks below me again before straightening up, able to balance with ease like a cat on a narrow fence. I walked along the top of the wall before dropping down onto the roof of a shop. The vampire scent was here too. I was following the route that the vampire had taken after his or hers feeding, but it was heading in the direction I was going, so it wouldn't hurt to find the vampire and see if they were a threat.

As I continued heading east back towards the warehouses, jumping from roof to roof as I went, the scent became stronger to my senses, then up ahead I saw a slight movement from my peripheral vision. I crouched instantly low to the roof I stood on, raising my eyes to watch the shadowy movements of the vampire several rooftops away.

His back to me, I had not been spotted. He seemed to be following a scent of his own, another victim perhaps, for as another breeze passed my face, I inhaled again, and the scent of the vampire was strong, the same vampire I had caught the scent of further back.

I watched as he disappeared through an access door on the roof of a warehouse, the door remaining open, swinging lightly in the breeze, and as I stood to turn north to return to where I had left Alice, that was when another scent travelled to me on the breeze. I turned my eyes quickly back to the swinging door, the scent being blown towards me. It was Alice.

My whole body tensed as I stood rooted to the spot for a moment. I must be mistaken. Alice was still in the warehouse a few more streets away from here, but I had to be sure and I pushed my feet onwards, leaping the gaps between the rooftops with ease.

It took just a minute to reach the swinging door and I stopped its movement with one hand. Alice's scent was upon the door as well as the other vampire's scent, and I turned my gaze now to look down the metal steps leading down into the warehouse.

Shadows moved across the floor cast by the light from the rising sun as it passed over the rooftops of the town, but I remained in shadow cast by the open door. Below I could hear a voice, a deep male voice that had to belong to the vampire I had seen, but it was the anger and fear that I was feeling from below that confirmed my worst fear. Alice was down there too.

I felt Alice's anger and fear begin to increase, it pained my head as though a great pressure was bearing down on me, but it was the excited and lusting feelings of the other vampire that hurt more, to know that Alice was down there with him now only increased the tension in my body further as my foot moved forward onto the top step of the stairs allowing the door to shut silently behind me.

Alice's fear increased again and I clenched my eyes closed to try and get myself under control but it was no use. I could already feel myself being pushed aside by the man I had once been, Maria's Major, and all the knowledge that I had once been tasked in passing onto others now returned to me as I took another silent step down the stairs.

There was a movement of shadow from below and I watched it for just a second before glancing upwards. There were wooden beams crossing the line of the roof with enough room to crouch upon, but my attention was drawn to the fact that the light from the windows had not yet lit this area.

I sprang up catching a hold of the underside of the beam and quickly swung up to crouch on its top side in the dark before moving slowly and silently further across the wooden beam almost to the highest point in the centre of the room, getting myself into position before glancing down to see the situation.

Alice was stood rigid just below my position, and the vampire stood right behind her, his hands around her waist, and I watched on in disgust as he raised the hand to cup and squeeze her breast. I felt the anger rise in me instantly, wanting to attack, to destroy, becoming the killer I had once been, but I was frozen by the vampires words as his rough voice spoke.

'Hmmm, still just as sweet as you were back then.'

I shifted my position. I wouldn't allow this to happen. Not to my Alice. The vampire lowered his hand again then, tracing a line down Alice's front before it came to rest between her legs. I felt a growl building up within me but forced it back, not wanting to betray my position. Alice's fear was hitting me full force now, mixed with the lust from the other that held her and I could hold myself back any longer.

I shot a quick pulse of my fury into Alice. I didn't want to harm her by doing so, but I was far from collected myself to send calm to her. I just wanted her to know I was here, I was coming, and she had to move so I would not harm her.

As I jumped from my position, I saw Alice tense from the fury she had felt from me, and she must have understood. She quickly wrenched herself forward from her attacker with just a second to spare before I collided into him sending us both across the dusty floor.

He growled with annoyance and got back to his feet as I rolled up to mine, remaining in a defensive crouch between him and Alice who had backed to the far wall. He eyed me up as he brushed dust from his leather jacket, his crimson eyes reaching mine before he smiled.

'So you have a newborn protecting you, my dear….it's almost a shame to have to destroy him, so handsome and all.'

He stepped forward and I tensed even more, my fingers clawing slightly, just waiting, willing him to attack already and not play games with me. It had been so long since I'd had a worthy opponent and he definitely seemed that. His eyes bore into mine as he approached me before his eyes turned to look to Alice.

'You can call your little attack dog off if you want him to survive. We can keep him as a slave if you wish.'

I watched as he walked ever closer, now only a few feet from me and he wasn't even ready for this. He assumed me to be a newborn, inexperienced, but I would bet my last dollar that my age and experience was far beyond his.

He stopped walking then, standing before me as I remained defensive, and Alice remained fearful against the wall behind me, and he just shrugged.

'Ok, have it your way then.'

He took a quick step towards me and I snarled viciously. This was what I had been waiting for, what I had been promising myself ever since Alice had her first vision of this vampire. I moved faster and was behind him in less than a second. My arm hooked around his chest, lifting him slightly from the ground before I threw him across the warehouse, sending dusty boxes falling down around him.

I cast a quick glance to Alice to be sure she was well out of harms way, then back to the other, he had already gained his feet and was growling angrily now. He dropped his stance just a little before charging at me.

I planted my feet and prepared for the collision. When he slammed full force into me, my feet remained rooted to the ground as his strength pushed us both backwards several feet. I ducked under his arm then, using his own propulsion to throw him over my shoulder into the brick wall that he had been aiming me towards, but he was back up again instantly having realised now that I was no simple newborn, I had training and experience on my side, and I felt the slight fear pass through his mind before it was replaced with fury to match my own.

He returned with speed to charge at me and I turned to meet him. He slammed into me again, and forced me backwards but I knew how his mind would work, he would expect me to use the same move again and so his mind would work quickly to avoid that happening, but with experience on my side I was quicker still.

I dropped to the ground and his propulsion sent him tripping over me as I rolled back to my feet returning to my defensive stance, and as he hit the floor I threw myself forward landing onto him, sinking my teeth hard into the side of his neck, to bite through and rip his head off.

He cried out with the pain of my venom as it entered through the wound, but he moved suddenly, taking me by surprise and throwing me off of him into the far wall. I felt myself slam into the ground and he was there again. He was certainly faster than me, but not as experienced…or so I thought.

I could already feel my body beginning to slacken in speed and strength. I had not fed near enough as I should have, the one human had not satisfied the intense thirst I had felt, and now it was absorbing through my body too quickly.

His strong hands grabbed me and lifted me up, slamming me front ways into the wall and I felt my ribs protest and crack causing me to draw in a quick breath from instinct. I tried to use my strength, to push myself away from the wall into him to give me leverage to throw him, but he was too strong and he only pinned me tighter.

I felt the sharp pain, unable to stop myself crying out as his teeth sank deep into my upper right arm part way between my elbow and shoulder. He dug in deeper and his top jaw met with the bottom. I pulled from him and his teeth tore through towards my chest, severing my arm part way off leaving it useless at my side.

I felt the fear from Alice intensify before she screamed.

'Nooo!'

The vampire had the upper hand now and he pulled me away from the wall turning me to face Alice as he walked me towards her, stopping in the middle of the room and forcing me painfully hard to my knees as Alice began to sob.

He released me for just a moment before one arm curved around my damaged ribs and the other around my neck. I kept my eyes downcast as my breathing came in sharp painful spasms from the cracks in my ribs, but the vampire had other ideas and wrenched my head upwards forcing me to look at Alice.

My crimson eyes met hers for a moment, I could see the whites of her eyes were turning red as she continued to sob, then she dropped her head into her hands half turning away, not wanting to watch.

I felt the grip tighten around my neck as the vampire readied to pull, but there was once thing he hadn't taken into consideration. That my right arm that he had tried to sever, was not my strongest arm.

I reached round suddenly catching his arm that had gripped around my chest and pulled forward hard, the movement causing him to trip forwards over me, and I was on him in less than a second, I wouldn't make the same mistake again as I ripped into the opposite side of his neck from before, my left hand gripping in his hair as he screamed in pain again from my venom and I flicked my wrist, twisting with a pull, his head came away from his body.

I stood wearily to my feet, glancing to the head in my hand before dropping it to the ground next to the body. My chest was still heaving with the pain of my injuries, and now and again a growl left my throat as I glared down at the remains of the vampire that had caused Alice so much fear and emotional pain.

I raised my eyes to look to Alice where she had sunk to the ground against the wall still covering her face with her hands and rocking very slightly as she sobbed. I stepped over the body and slowly approached but Alice only tensed more as she heard my footsteps approaching.

I stopped, not wanting her to fear me, I thought she feared me for what she had witnessed me having to become, knowing that I had had to take human blood to become strong enough to fight for her, and seeing the viciousness of me once I was in the mindset of what I had once been, the fighter, the killer, and I lowered my gaze to the dusty floor, dropping my left hand to my lower back.

'I'm sorry, Alice…'