I'm really sorry it took so long to update! Work is really crazy this time of year. Believe it or not, dear readers, we are well over 50,000 words into this story now! I can't believe it. And I am entirely flabbergasted by how many of you have added me to your favorites/alerts. As always, please review! It is really some great motivation! I can't stand to disappoint you since you seem to love Alice and Jasper as much as I do. So this chapter is dedicated to my mom who gave me my love of reading and writing and thinks that everything I write is great, even when it's crap. I love you, Mom, Happy Mother's Day!
Disclaimer: I am writing this story because I am a fan of Stephenie Meyer and the Twilight Saga. I do not own any of the characters, plot lines or any Twilight-related materials.
Visions of Love
Chapter 21: Tracking
Alice's POV
She was coming. This I was sure of.
I'd panicked when the vision of my dream wedding that I had so painstakingly planned, suddenly vanished. Poof. Just like that. My first thought was that Jasper had changed his mind. I was sure Emmett had said or done something to turn poor Jazz's cold feet into blocks of ice.
So I started searching for the reason my lovely wedding vision vanished and I saw her.
She was breathtakingly beautiful with her luxuriously long black hair that fell to her waist in waves and a figure that curved in all the right places. But her eyes. Crimson. Determined. Cruel. I knew instantly who she was. I'd seen her before although I'd never met her.
Maria. Jasper's maker. "Alice, what is it? Are you having a vision?" Rosalie's voice broke through my reverie. I must have had that blank look on my face that sometimes came over me when seeing certain visions. She confirmed my look when she muttered, "You're definitely in the Twilight Zone." I shook my head slightly to clear it, forcing my eyes to focus on Rose.
I couldn't believe this was happening the night before the wedding! I knew it was too good to be true. No. I had to stop her. I couldn't let her ruin everything. Then it was clear what I should do. Jasper wouldn't approve. Neither would Edward. Luckily for me, they were still gone. Jazz's "bachelor party." Pretty tame stuff by human standards. Which had been more than okay with me. My main requirement was that they have Jazz back in time for the wedding. Emmett had been miffed, having his heart set on hunting polar bears. But I'd been adamant. And now I wished they had gone further north.
"Alice!" Rose's fingers snapped in front of my face. My eyes met her sharp gaze. Not much escaped her attention. It was just a matter of if it was of any interest to her. She usually lost interest quickly if it didn't involve her in some way. Or Emmett. But mostly her. "Is it the boys? Did something happen to them? Please tell me that Emmett didn't plan some idiotic, hare-brained…what am I saying? Of course he did! All right, what'd he do this time?" Her hard gaze was studying my face and before I could stop myself I guiltily glanced away.
No way could I tell her what I was thinking about doing. As much as Rosalie loved herself, she was all about protecting the family and thus her own self-interests. She'd tell Carlisle and Esme. And they would try to stop me. I had to convince her that everything was fine.
We were in her gigantic marble bathroom on the second floor, playing around with makeup and hairstyles for the wedding. Of course, everything we had tried had made her look a million times more beautiful than me. Good thing I was the one wearing the white dress or everyone would have thought Rosalie was the bride. But of course, me getting to wear the white dress, well—that was going to have to entail some fancy footwork on my part. Literally and figuratively. The best tact might be to convince Rose that I needed some time alone. You know, contemplating the biggest day of my life. That kind of thing.
"You know Rose, I think I'm going to go up to my room for awhile." Rose's eyes narrowed, suspicious. I kept my own steady, willing myself not to flinch, to give anything away. I hurriedly added, "I mean, obviously, you're going to look gorgeous tomorrow. And well—I think we've done all we can with…with this." I gestured with my hand, making a sweeping motion down my short frame.
My compliment of Rosalie while pointing out my inferiority had the desired effect. The haughty, prideful look was back in her eyes, any hint o f suspicion gone. I quickly searched out my future and a surge of confidence rose up as I realized that my plan to be alone was going to work. And if there was any chance for a happy ending for me and my soldier, it had better.
I had left Rosalie thumbing through one of the scads of hairstyle magazines we'd gotten, mostly to choose flattering up-dos for Rose and Esme, with their luscious flowing locks. My hair would just be spiky, sticking out all over the place, per usual. It really wasn't fair! Oh, if the only thing I had to worry about was my hair! Focus Alice!
I may have told her only half of the truth but I did need to go up to the tower room. I had to carefully think through my next steps. And do a little vision-searching, the part I'd left out telling Rose. In all of my existence, I'd never been so relieved to be freaky vision vampire girl as I was at that moment.
In a matter of seconds, I was cross-legged in the middle of Jazz's and my feather mattress. I couldn't allow myself even a moment to indulge in some of my favorite memories of our time together, shared right here. First, I had to search out the guys and see when they might be coming back. I figured Edward would be the safest to search. He'd most likely know when they would be returning. I focused all of my energy on my brother, searching out his immediate future.
Based on what he and Emmett had planned, it looked like they weren't going to be back here until tomorrow morning. I glanced at my watch. That should give me about a twelve hour head start. Next was to search out Maria, see where she was now. She was coming from the Canadian side. And she was much too close. Of course Maria on Mars would be too close for my tastes. She would be here in a matter of hours. I had no time to waste.
Upon searching Maria's future, I found that she had discovered where Jasper was from his friends, Peter and Charlotte. They were in Vancouver, Canada. I felt my brow crease upon this revelation. And it was all my fault. It'd seemed harmless sending them a wedding invitation. After all, they were Jazz's oldest friends. Even if he had been adamant that he didn't want them there.
At the time, I'd chalked it up to him wanting a clean break from his past. I also had thought that part of his reluctance had to do with Peter and Charlotte's typical vampire diet. I'd tried to tell him that Carlisle would understand, wouldn't mind as long as they hunted at a safe distance, but he'd just shrugged his shoulders and shook his head firmly. I hadn't pressed then, knowing that in his mind the subject was closed and he wouldn't say any more on the subject.
I tried not to show my hurt but there was no doubt that I felt shut out of that part of his life. That's why I hadn't told him that I'd sent them the invitation any way. I knew it wasn't rational. I knew he didn't want to expose me to his past or anything he felt remotely dangerous. And of course, a tiny part of me warmed at his protectiveness. But the bigger, more selfish part of me felt like the girl in the corner at the party that no one talked to. I felt left out. Untrusted. Scared. Scared that his old life had a much bigger hold on him than either he or I realized.
Which is why I did not want that bitch Maria anywhere near my soldier, trying to sink her claws into him. She wasn't coming to destroy him. She was coming to destroy me. She wanted him back. She had some new grand plans to rule not only Mexico but all of Central America. And she was convinced her success hinged on Jasper's returning to her. This was coming through crystal clear.
As I felt my stomach tighten at the thought of Jasper with Maria, I couldn't help but wonder how in the world I was going to stop that from happening. A germ of an idea began to form. Who knew Maria at least as well as Jasper? Peter and Charlotte! And they were close…close enough for me to reach in a short period of time. And I could use all of the help I could get. I'd seen Maria's plans for domination and they caused an involuntary shudder to rack my body. It was not pretty.
And I was unsure if Jasper would be able to resist her once she was within his proximity. But if Peter and Charlotte were here, backing him up, like before, the first he left her…well, then that might give me the best chance at having my dream wedding.
I'd tracked them down once. Hopefully Maria wouldn't scare them away from where I'd found them. I wasn't sure I had enough time to track them down again. But first, I had needed to leave something behind. Something that would show Jazz that I wasn't leaving him for good but it couldn't be a note. Otherwise he'd try to follow me and that would never do. And then it came to me. I dashed to Carlisle's study so that I could take the first step in getting my dream wedding and most importantly, my dream honeymoon with my warrior vampire back.
Maria's POV
I needed to go faster if I was going to stop the wedding. Wedding! I snorted in disgust. Such a human convention! I would have never imagined Jasper Whitlock participating in such an absurdity. I had to admit that my curiosity had been piqued about what kind of creature could have possibly connived him to do such a thing.
Well, any vampire who would give in to such fanciful ideas like weddings would be no match for me. And once she was out of my way, there would be nothing standing in the way of Jasper returning to me. It had been a blow when he left. I couldn't deny that. My army had slowly disintegrated, my territory eroded. I hadn't realized until he was gone how much I needed him, his ability—manipulating emotions—how effective that had made him in controlling the newborns. I even missed his strength, his strategy. There was no doubt Jasper Whitlock had been born to soldier. And I needed my best general back.
I'd known if I found those weak cowards, Peter and Charlotte, I'd find Jasper. I had expected him to be with those two imbeciles. And he had not been. I'd tracked them north finally finding them in Vancouver. Canada! How very…boring. I liked the heat and spice of the south. Snow, pine trees and pasty humans—bah! It must be the cold but my most recent meals had consisted of thick, sluggish blood. I'd tried two or three different ones to test, see if it was an anomaly. But they all tasted the same. I might as well have eaten a moose! Maybe they needed more spice in their diet.
Speaking of which, I really needed to feed again, gather strength for what was to come. Okay, maybe need was too strong. I wanted to feed again. Better safe than sorry. Jasper wouldn't be pleased. And he could be fierce when he got into his misplaced sense of protectiveness. But that was okay. I could be fiercer when I wanted something. And I wanted Jasper Whitlock. He was my key to my new reign.
I smiled widely, displaying my full set of razor-sharp teeth as I thought of the first night I'd come across Jasper under a Texas full moon. Not too unlike the moon shining down on me as I darted through the Canadian forest. But of course warmer. I'd known he was special, even then in his weak human form. But after I turned him—well—then I knew he was going to be magnificent. And he was. For nearly 90 years. Until those fools, Peter and Charlotte preyed on his emotions. His one vulnerability
Oh, I had to admit, I'd been getting a little bored with him. All that melancholy! It could really bring a girl down and all that questioning about if what we were doing was right. I'd tried to show him that we were gods and gods didn't have to worry about right and wrong. We took what we wanted. When we wanted. How we wanted. But no matter what tactics I used to pull him out of his depression—either tempting him with my body or giving him the pick of our spoils of war(even trying to tempt him into fun games with our human spoils)—none of it worked. In fact, he kept getting worse.
Toward the end, I'd even considered disposing of him as I had done with Nettie and Lucy, my companions before Jasper. They'd been with me the night I'd turned him but after a few years, they too outlived their usefulness. I suppose I'd felt nostalgic about Jasper. He'd been my first soldier to make it past the newborn stage. So I'd wavered, trying to decide. Then thanks to Peter and Charlotte, he'd decided for me.
His voice had been soft, almost weary as he'd told me he was leaving. But sure, steady. And I'd never felt such fury in my life. And shock. In fact, I'd been so stunned by his words that he'd been gone before my scream of rage made it past my lips. I had started after him. Because as good as Jasper was at manipulating emotions, I was an even better tracker. And I had caught up to him. But he didn't know that. Something had stopped me at the last minute from ripping my unsuspecting faithless spawn limb from limb. I suppose it had been my strategic ruler's logic. I had known that he would be useful to me again. I just needed to give him time, let him get over his dull melancholy.
And so I had. But now I needed him whether he was over his little tantrum or not. When I'd found Peter and Charlotte, they'd denied any knowledge of Jasper's whereabouts. Typical. They'd been frightened of me. They had tried to put on a brave united front. But they were weak. Peter's biggest problem was that he'd always been willing to put his own safety on the line for Charlotte. Deluded into believing in the biggest lie of all—love.
I put them off-kilter by pretending I believed them, was leaving. But honestly, if they were going to lie, it probably would have been smart of them to dispose of the wedding invitation. The invitation with a map to a house outside of Gustavus, Alaska. Where Jasper was marrying someone named Alice Cullen and was going by the last name of Hale now for some odd reason. I hissed just at the thought of her name. I couldn't wait to dispose of her. Slowly. Painfully. I mean, really, a wedding…a tulip-shaped invitation to that wedding…inviting Peter and Charlotte as if they were…were…family or something!
I inhaled sharply and caught the scent of fresh prey. Thank goodness for one thing about Canada—remote logging camps. Just a short detour and then on to Gustavus and reclaiming Jasper. He'd been mine first and one thing Alice Cullen would soon learn was that I didn't like to share. Ever. And then I gave myself over to tracking my next meal confident that I would be reunited with my greatest creation soon.