Previously:

I increased my speed and distracted myself with the darkening sky. However primal and necessary the feelings were, they were barriers that clouded judgement. Elise was fragile, and the things I would very much like to do to her would overextend her physical capabilities. I already pushed her too far emotionally. Physically, I had no right. And this topic needed to be closed. Now.

"Sleep well, Elise. I will see you soon."

Being mated to a human was a bitch.

Jasper

Peter tiptoed around the topic of Elise but never quite hit the nail on the head. His long silences and expectant pauses were irritating, but his nosiness was expected.

I indeed never had human friends. And when Peter walked in to see a living, breathing creature within my radius with no possibility of her being a meal, he had a lot of questions.

The girl's eyes fluttered open a few minutes after midnight, just as Elise had approximated. I felt her confusion the moment I saw her human blood swirl mesmerizingly in her eyes. We didn't have long to marvel at the phenomena. Peter held her down as I tore off both of her arms. She wouldn't be needing those. Dealing with her initial frenzy would be endlessly easier if she had a minimal chance of decapitating either one of us.

Her hunger was fierce, especially after the agony of ripping her limbs from her shoulders. Peter produced two blood bags and stuck them to her mouth. I held my breath as she hungrily devoured them. Her hunger was contagious.

"More," she demanded.

The rest of the blood bags were in the cooler in the kitchen, which she could easily smell. She struggled on the bed to inch closer to the edge, but Peter sat on her legs.

"What's happening to me?" she squirmed. The realization that we had ripped off her arms and that she was still able to maintain consciousness shocked her. Her shoulders moved erratically. If she could claw at the burn in her throat, she would be.

"You're dead, honey. Congratulations," Peter drawled. He reached out to the bedside table where her arms lay and shook one of her hands. "I'm Peter, and this is Jasper."

Her screams were piercing as she tried to comprehend her reality. I felt her horror. I felt everything.

"Shh, shh," Peter soothed her. "You're fine. You're just a little hungry. But if we don't teach you food etiquette now, you'll end up slaughtering most of Southern Nevada."

She shook her head. "I want more of that juice."

"Not juice. Blood."

That earned us more screams. I sighed heavily. "You're a vampire, girl. A new one. We call you newborns. You have too much strength to be left alone, so we will be monitoring you for the next week."

Peter looked at me, and I nodded. I proceeded to test my hypothesis regarding the variation of her shield. Grabbing her left arm from the bedside, I quickly proved it. Her shield only worked through physical contact. But that meant any contact. Even a severed limb.

The girl lay helplessly, staring at us. She couldn't do much without both of her arms.

Peter placed the arms on the kitchen counter. He propped open the white Styrofoam cooler to reveal at least a dozen blood bags.

"Maybe you should have some, too," he suggested.

I planned on making the change to my diet once the Cullens were involved with the alliance. That way, they had no reason to condemn me. It was an easy justification: I needed my strength to protect them.

"Maybe later," I dismissed him. "You'll be good on your own for the rest of the night?"

"Not my first rodeo and certainly not my last. Headed to meet Elise?"

It was the first time he had uttered her name since he had met her.

"Yes," I said simply. "Don't give her any more blood until dawn."

"I won't," he stopped me before I could pick up the door on the ground. The door that we failed to properly fix every time. "You usually don't keep them around for this long. And you most certainly don't tell them about Maria."

I ran a hand through my hair. "She isn't a meal."

"Then, what is she?"

The most dangerous creature that would roam this planet in a few months. Probably the sole human survivor of the Jovu. Someone who meant way too much to me for my own good. So much so that my venom was prepared to end me over it.

The thought of that jolted panic. I was silent for way too long, and Peter most definitely didn't miss that.

"Leverage," he said, and it locked my eyes to his. He threw the same word back at me. I had used it in reference to the most important being in his life. "Be careful."

I threw him a curt nod in acknowledgement. His curiosity peaked, and I could almost read the assumptions he was making.

But Elise was waiting, and I grew hungrier for her presence by the second. My buddy could draw all of the conclusions and explore all of the realities if he wanted. I owed him no explanation. Impatiently, I vacated the cabin.

And the door remained off its hinges, and on the floor.

It was inching closer to 3 in the morning when I quietly inserted my key card and pushed the door open to the hotel room. I was greeted with darkness and an unconscious Elise.

The moonlight spilled onto the sheets, blanketing her in a white luminous glow. Her mouth was parted, and I watched as her chest rose and fell with every slow breath.

I hoped she looked and felt this peaceful during her change, but I knew it was too much to hope for. I shook my head. She would go through the burn like the rest of us. Nothing could pacify it, and I shouldn't get wrapped up in useless thoughts and what-ifs.

She stirred slightly, and her eyes flew open.

"You scared me," She whispered, and scooted up on the bed to a partially sitting position.

"Expecting someone else?" I teased.

She pulled the fluffy white comforter up to her chin. "I could sense being watched."

I sat at the foot of the bed, placing my hand on where her ankle would be if not for the covers. I squeezed gently. "Your instincts are important. Listen to them."

She suppressed a yawn. "How was training? How's the girl?"

"Systematic, dull, time consuming."

She snickered. "The training or the girl?"

"Both. She's fine. Peter has her."

"Isn't she supposed to be extremely strong? Why did you leave him alone with her?"

I wanted to see you. "We ripped her arms off. She can't quite utilize her strength."

In the dark, her eyes widened as large as the only light source bathing her in white. "You did what?"

"Precautions, sweet Elise. We couldn't risk her overpowering us."

She had no rebuttal to that. Anything that clashed with her morals, she kept to herself. Maybe she was tired?

Maybe? It wasn't even dawn. She was probably exhausted.

"When did you get to bed?" I crawled up on the other side of her and rested my back against the headboard.

"A bit after midnight," she mumbled. Her eyes closed. "I thought you'd be here by then."

"I'm here now."

She hesitated for a little bit. "Jasper, I'm in a little bit of pain."

Of course. How could I have been so ignorant? As if on cue, my phone vibrated. I dimmed the screen and swiped a glance. Emmett.

Carlisle wants to know when you both are coming back. He said she's missing her morphine injections.

"I'll take you back to Carlisle tomorrow," I quickly began to respond to Emmett. A hand came up and rested on both of my hands to stop me.

"No, don't end this trip early because of me," she said. "It's really not awful. In fact," She smiled slightly. "It kind of reminds me that I'm human."

She needed reminders? The ticking clock in her chest wasn't enough? Because that was all I thought about.

I flipped to my side to face her and reached over to stroke her forehead. "If my gift worked on you, I would help you sleep through the pain. You don't deserve this."

"I know. In a few months, it'll all be over."

I looked passed her, and out the window. "Exactly."

She whacked my hand away and flipped towards me, mimicking my stature. "So. Finally got me in your bed, huh?"

This again. "It's not my bed. And you seem tired. Are you tired?"

She peered at me with feigned concern. "You seem flustered. Are you flustered?"

"All the time."

"Jasper!"

"What?"

She grinned. "You're flustered."

"And you're a hypocrite."

"Oh?" She batted her eyelashes slowly. Her exhaustion wasn't lost on me. Delirium often always followed exhaustion. It was another trend I had seen in the over-worked new generation of humans.

"You tell me that you don't want me meddling in your physical bubble, yet you speak like that's all you want me to do."

She raised an eyebrow, then scooted closer until her head rested against my chest. "You're a hypocrite, I'm a hypocrite. It's unavoidable. Anyone who claims otherwise is just plain dishonest."

I couldn't have agreed more.

"This is kind of nice," She said, pressing her head closer to me. "You have no heartbeat."

"That's desirable to you?"

"The beating drives me crazy, especially my own. Particularly if I'm trying to sleep."

I chuckled softly. "You're going to love being dead."

"I know. That's what this crazy vampire keeps saying. It makes no sense at all. I think he's obsessed with me."

Obsession was unhealthy. Then again, there was nothing healthy about this arrangement.

"And," she continued. "If you don't mind, please find other ways to subdue me besides ripping my arms off. Please."

That could be arranged. I could think of a few other ways.

My phone buzzed again. Emmett, again.

I grinned as I read his text. "You better get some rest. You're going skiing tomorrow."

Emmett arrived at our doorstep a few hours after dawn. He was fully equipped with ski gear and a few shots of morphine.

"I brought multiple," he held up the syringes. "Skiing is a demanding sport. At least for humans."

Elise was ecstatic to put it mildly. The adrenaline junkies took the jeep and started their journey to Tahoe City, California. Emmett had wanted to take Elise to do some sort of winter sporting activity and, when he found out we were in Nevada, he deemed was the opportune moment to do so. Elise had her shots, an immortal companion, and another chance to cross off something from her human list. I appreciated Emmett tremendously for taking the lead in her human experiences. It was something I didn't have the patience for.

I handled the appropriate check-out procedures with the hotel and trudged back up to the cabin. My weekend wasn't going to be filled with fluffy white snow and hot cocoa. We had a newborn on our hands.

Peter and I spent the next week breaking in the girl. It was unfortunate that her venom had wiped out her name. She couldn't remember it. We decided to call her Rebecca.

Her hunger got worse as we deliberately starved her, but she would hit a turning point soon enough. The bloodlust was heavy and demoralizing for the first few days as a vampire. If you let them drink whole towns away, they would never get it under control.

After about the fifth day, she drank calmly from the blood bags. The sixth day, we brought her a human.

Her interest piqued immediately as we dragged in an old man Peter had found on the streets. Venom oozed gently down the side of Rebecca's chin. This was what she had been waiting for. Her arms were still detached, so we held the man and slowly dragged him forward. He tried to fight hard against our grip. His words were pleading, even though he clearly had no sense of what was about to happen to him.

When Rebecca was in reach, she didn't hesitate to dig straight into his jugular. It was a fountain of blood, and all I could think about was how much bleach I had to buy to scrub the floors. Newborns didn't know how to properly position their mouths. Their teeth gripped too hard and they couldn't balance the rate of flow of blood to the beat of their inhalation.

"Practice," I muttered, and hoisted the man up further so that her teeth would sink in more evenly.

Fully drained, we let go of the man. He slumped to the bottom of the bed.

"Good," Peter spoke decidedly. "Perhaps you deserve your arms, after all."

We delivered Rebecca to the Arizona compound. I gave Maria a quick report of my findings with her shield. She ultimately wasn't pleased that Rebecca required touch to activate her shield against her opponent, but the fact that even severed parts of her enacted her gift was a promise.

She intended on ripping her apart and spreading her across the groups to shield them individually. And she would do it without batting an eye.

It wasn't my problem. Hell, it sounded like the smartest move to make in this game. The smartest move if you didn't add Elise into the equation. And that was an equation I kept her far away from.

"So, you've accepted it?" Alice asked. We met up in Oregon where she assumed her second temporary residency. She hadn't liked how the cold impacted the wildlife in Alaska. She claimed it made the animals too reclusive.

"Accepted that I have a mate?"

She smiled. "I see you have."

"You're celebrating, but this is a funeral."

That didn't falter her spirits. "I want to see you transform into the man I know that is inside you somewhere, Jasper. The one that has purpose. One who protects, cares, and fights for his rights."

Empty words. Empty conversations. I had a purpose, and I already fought for my rights. The alliance, if successful, would guarantee a place for me in the new world. If not, I would remain in hiding. Away and out of reach of the Volturi. Non-existent.

"I want to see that you value something other than yourself. I understand that the Cullens are more of a background noise to your daily life."

"They have value."

She quickly shut me down. "That doesn't mean you value them."

Why was this so important? What I thought or felt would not impact the world today. It wouldn't prevent the sun from rising or a battle from commencing. I was just another decaying leaf in this orchard of rotten apples. The color of my roots wouldn't make the apples more or less rotten. They would still end up falling, and others would grow in their place.

Value was relative. Gold had value. It was a form of investment and currency. Humans valued their money. They also saw value in time. It was ticking, constantly winding down. They measured everything by it. A sense of belonging came close behind – a family. They valued the people around them that brought them happiness, peace, and joy. They put value to materialistic things along with experiences they could never partake in again.

Value to the world we knew it revolved around scarcity. The most valuable things were the ones you would eventually lose.

But what was scarce for a vampire?

Nothing.

Which was why the concept of value didn't apply to us. But Alice humanized the world she touched. She wanted an answer.

"I value Elise. Is that what you want to hear?"

She frowned, plucking a leaf from a tree and holding it out to the sun.

"No, Jasper," She said. "I don't think you do."

A/N: Call him out, Alice. Do it. DO IT. So, we have a shield. She's been packaged and delivered to the alliance. We have Elise jumping from mountain tops to get her last human wishes out of the way. We also have our beloved, stubborn Jasper. Everything seems in order.

I've been working on the later chapters, so apologies for the delay. I just really know you'll like Elise's perspective.