Chapter 34 ~ Defending Her Honour
~Alice POV~
3rd May 11.45PM
Jasper looked nervous. No, it was more than nervous. He looked terrified. I didn't blame him. He was sat in the armchair where Carlisle had told him to sit, and the rest of my family were standing around him glaring at him. They'd kill to protect their family – which was me in this case – and I think Jasper knew that. If I was in his position, I'd be terrified too. Hell, I was terrified – even standing in my safe position across the room. Come to think of it, everyone looked a little scared. I shot a look at Jasper, because this had to be something to do with his empathy powers making everyone feel what he was feeling. Well, that was going to get annoying.
Despite being scared, I was reasonably calm for someone who'd just almost been killed by the love of their life who was being controlled by their crazy ex girlfriend (If you could call Maria that – Jasper seemed to think that they were never a couple, and Maria seemed to think that they still were a couple!) but the truth was; I really wasn't phased by it. I think part of me was still in shock, and I think I still didn't really believe what had happened.
"Jasper, would you like to tell us why a random woman turned up and tried to kill Alice tonight?" Esme asked in a parental tone – even though I was pretty sure Jasper was older than her technically. Come to think of it, how old was Jasper?
"I can't apologize enough for Maria's behaviour." Jasper said, "I didn't want her to come here – she followed me. And you know I would have never forgiven myself if something had happened to Alice."
"Who is Maria?" Carlisle asked. Jasper wore a pained expression on his face.
"It's hard to explain without making everyone hate me." He said. I offered him a weak smile, but I knew that Carlisle and Esme weren't going to be happy when they found out that Jasper was involved in the recent disappearances. They already disapproved of the fact that Jasper drank human blood, but they could just about deal with that – it was his nature after all. But this? This wasn't going to go down well. "Maria was the woman who changed me. It was 1863 and I was the youngest major in the Confederate Army. I was riding on my horse when I saw them; not just Maria, but two other women. Nettie and Lucy were their names. I made the mistake of thinking they needed help, and I got off my horse to approach them. That was the night I became a vampire. Maria, Nettie, and Lucy were forming a newborn army; they wanted to gain land and power. At first I was just another newborn, but once Maria realised the potential of my gift, she decided to keep me. I was in charge of keeping the newborns in control – making sure they didn't kill each other before they were of any use to Maria. Once my control got stronger, it was also my job to create more newborns, along with a couple of other older vampires."
Everyone was watching Jasper intently as he continued with his story, "Maria knew that I wouldn't stay around forever, so she would trick me. Her vampire gift is mind control, and it's so strong she can make anyone do anything with simply her voice. She tricked me into thinking that we were in love – though now of course I know we never had anything close to love. We moved here a little while ago – Maria wanted the land around this area. We'd never been this far North before; not where the vampires lived more peacefully amongst humans. Maria wanted to be in control of everything and everyone – perhaps because she was so used to having control due to her gift. She didn't like it when I began spending time away from her, when I went to school, and when I met Alice – although at first she knew nothing of Alice. Maria never really loved me, but she was still driven crazy with jealousy when I told her I loved Alice. She was probably scared that I would leave her completely and she would lose an important member of her army. She would have been right to be scared. Earlier tonight I went and told her that I was leaving her for Alice. I foolishly thought that she would let me go that easily, but of course I was wrong."
"She followed me back here and…well, you know the rest. I think she thought that if Alice were dead, I would have no reason to leave her. Of course she didn't know that if Alice were dead then I would have found a way to end my life too." Jasper finished the story and finally looked up from where he'd been staring at the floor. He looked straight into my eyes and I stared right back.
"What did she mean about a hotel room?" Emmett growled from his position next to Jasper.
"It isn't like she said it is." Jasper said quickly, "I would never…I should probably explain how that all happened." Jasper turned to look at me, "Alice, the man who you saw about to change that girl…the man who then attacked you. That was Rex; another one of Maria's coven. His job was similar to mine – to create and control the newborns. He was never supposed to go after you and I wish I'd gotten there sooner." Jasper's eyes flicked back to Emmett. "Alice was badly hurt and she couldn't walk. It would have been too far to take her back home, so I checked into a hotel. It was nothing like Maria was making it out to be; I swear to you Emmett. Maria somehow tracked me to the hotel and showed up at the door, and that's how she knew Alice was there. Alice got mad at me because Maria said she was my girlfriend and that's when she called you to come pick her up."
"The things that Maria was saying about Alice weren't true, obviously." Jasper said, "She was saying them to get at me and to upset Alice." Jasper turned to Carlisle now. This was like watching a tennis match. "I would never lay a finger on Alice if she didn't want me to, and as for things of that nature, I wouldn't dream of it without your permission for her hand in marriage first."
I felt like banging my head repeatedly on the wall when four pairs of topaz eyes and one pair of brown ones all stared at me.
"You want to marry Alice?" Edward asked in slight astonishment. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. It was a miracle we'd managed to keep the whole marriage thing hidden in our thoughts for this long.
"One day, if she'll have me." Jasper said, and all the eyes landed on me again. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.
"Alice?" Esme prompted. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. CRACK! Wouldn't that be great? If the wall could just crack and swallow me up right now?
We'd talked about marriage. I knew that I wanted to marry Jasper…but my family were acting like he was proposing right now. I wasn't ready for that! I'd proved that with the whole Vegas fiasco.
"What Vegas fiasco?" Edward asked.
Crap. Think about something else. I started chanting the alphabet backwards in my head. I'd gotten to 't…s…r…q…' when Edward's death glare forced me to stop. "Alice?"
"It's kind of a long story." I said. p…o…n…m… "Nothing interesting really." L…k…j…i…
"Alice!" Edward said in an annoyed tone of voice. I couldn't even bring myself to say it out loud. We almost got married in Vegas on the way home but then we backed out because neither of us was ready. As soon as I'd thought the words I clapped a hand over my mouth, even though the betraying words hadn't actually left my lips. "You did what?"
"Nothing." I squeaked, but Edward's eyes were growing dark. He turned to Jasper.
"You almost eloped with my baby sister in Vegas?" He asked.
"I'm not your baby sister, Edward." I said, coming to stand in between him and Jasper. "And it didn't happen, so stop getting stressed about it."
Edward stared at me for a second before simply disappearing. I bit my lip and turned back to the rest of my family, who were all staring at me and Jasper. Emmett looked angrier than Edward had, but Esme and Carlisle looked like they were confused about how they should feel. Why couldn't I have just kept the almost-wedding out of my thoughts? It would have been so much easier if they didn't know!
"Alice, do you want to explain what exactly is going on?" Esme asked.
"Uh...well, it's a funny story actually." I said with a laugh that sounded completely fake. "So, after Jasper came and found me to bring me home we kind of decided to get married. We went to Vegas but then we called it off because we realised that we weren't ready and we'd just been caught in the moment."
They were still staring at me. My eyes found Jasper's and he gave me a reassuring smile. That meant that their emotions weren't too crazy, I suppose. Edward came back now; he looked like he'd been running to calm himself down. I tried smiling at him, but he didn't return the smile. I tried again, "Look, I don't get why you're all overreacting! It didn't happen so can we just forget it?"
"It actually got called off because Alice had a near on panic attack when she couldn't find her something blue." Jasper said, a smile twitching at his lips. When he said the words (and I've got a feeling he was using his gift to make everyone feel happier) then tension broke and my whole family started laughing at me. I rolled my eyes, but at least they weren't all staring awkwardly at me anymore.
For the first time I was suddenly aware that it was the middle of the night and I was standing there in pyjama shorts and a tank top. Carlisle and Esme also seemed to remember what time it was.
"We should all get to sleep." Carlisle said, "There's been enough excitement tonight, I think."
I turned to Jasper, "Do you have a place to stay?"
Jasper shrugged, "I'll go to a hotel."
"He can stay here, can't he?" I asked, turning to Carlisle and Esme.
"Of course he can!" Esme said immediately. Edward and Emmett didn't look happy, but no one argued.
"Where's he going to sleep?" Emmett asked.
"He can sleep in my room." I said.
"If he's sleeping in your room, then you are sleeping on the couch." Edward said with a glare.
"Don't be silly, I'll sleep on the couch." Jasper said.
"But-" I began.
"Alice." Jasper cut me off with a look. I rolled my eyes.
"Whatever." I said. It was late and now that the adrenaline of what had happened had begun to wear off, I realised that I was really tired. "I'm going to bed." I skipped over to Jasper and kissed his cheek, "Love you Jazz."
Edward and Emmett made vomiting noises and I glared at them before disappearing up the stairs. I went straight to bed and drifted off into sleep. I wasn't surprised when I was awoken an hour later by Jasper slipping into bed beside me and putting his arms around me. I smiled and went back to sleep, dreaming of what tomorrow could bring.
Heyy,
So, sorry this took longer than usual to update...I found this chapter hard to write and then my laptop started spazzing out and stuff...anyway, I hope it turned out okay? Let me know :):):)
I probably won't update much (if at all) in the next two weeks because I have solid exams every day and I'll be studying for them most of the time…real life's a bitch :/ BUT after that I'll be back to normal and updating regularly I promise!
Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter….This story now has over 175 reviews! I seriously love you guys!
Go check out my newest story 'Like A Wild Daisy' on my profile...it's all about how Jasper and Alice defy the laws of nature and have a baby! :):) R&R :)
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