Elise


Melissa


The car ride back from Rudy's was silent, as my brain fought hard to understand. Jasper had brought me out for dinner, but it hadn't been for me. My stomach rumbled, but his throat burned. Which was worse? He drove us back to the cabin silently, occasionally looking over at me for any indication of a reaction. I kept my arms folded across my chest, defensive. I wanted to defend her. Melissa. She didn't deserve this any more than I deserved the Jovu.

"If you keep me distracted, I won't killer," I heard Jasper say. My eyes shot him three bullets, and my mouth reloaded three more.

He wanted to teach me a lesson? Because his lesson plan was completely botched. "If you starve as a vampire, you'll experience a frenzy. If I starve, I just die. Those are two drastically different consequences."

"Good observation," he smiled. "Though you should consider that a starved vampire will do anything for a drop of blood. The resulting frenzy can expose you and get you killed by the authorities."

"Just don't get caught, right?" I muttered, glancing over at him. He certainly had the skills to evade the authorities. He certainly could sedate his thirst through animals. He certainly could avoid a state of frenzy This wasn't about that. He killed because he wanted to. This was his game.

I sighed deeply. "Don't kill her, Jasper."

"Are you offering me something better?"

Yes. A million times, yes. I was already in this mess, and no one deserved to take my place. I almost smacked him with my wrist, urging him to pick me over his clueless waitress.

The little hairs on my arm shot up when I felt him smile against my veins. He rejected me quickly, pushing my wrist down to my lap.

"I offered. You didn't take it. Find something else to eat."

His resolve never wavered. "I want Melissa."

We went in circles and we got nowhere. He called me disappointing, and I pointed a mirror straight back at him. He tried to talk about the stars, which I was convinced was his only passion in life besides stomping over human decency. Then, as if my opinion of him couldn't dive deeper into the ground, he left me in the middle of the forest in the deep of night with no dinner.

I heard animals slither and scurry around me as carefully navigated through trees. My anger was unprecedented; being angry at a killer for showing psychotic traits was a waste of energy. But I couldn't help my frustration as it grew bigger and stronger each step I took, fighting against sharp branches, and shivering against the cold. The wind was unforgiving, and the world around me quickly turned wet. By the time I saw the front door of Jasper's cabin, I was drenched.

Jasper couldn't feel me, but I made sure he clearly understood my feelings at that moment. But, of course, he ignored me.

"Stand close to the fire," he instructed. "You might get sick."

"I might get sick?" I looked at him disbelievingly. "Or perhaps a bear could have attacked me? I could've fell, and broken my legs, or a serial killer could've had me chopped up in carefully labeled bags."

Except the only killer I should be worrying about sat comfortably in his perfect little living room.

"Did any of those things happen?" his tone was calm. It made me angry.

"You're delusional if you think this is how to treat someone. Who am I to you?"

He got to his feet, and I squirmed at his closeness. My wet clothing and the lack of warmth his body provided made me uneasy.

"You are Elise. A bright, wonderful young woman who has exceptional talent, yet still has trouble with emotional attachment."

Emotional attachment? Fuck, sure. Sure, I probably had issues with emotional attachment. I didn't have parents, close friends, or a future. My friends probably thought I was dead; the local police most likely had stopped looking for me. Anything and anyone that showed any bit of resemblance to my past life probably drew my attention. As my mind tried to hold onto the memories, it also tried to look for similarities and latch on. Yes, I wanted to protect anyone who had a chance of being thrown into this. Because when you were this deep into this mythical world, you weren't allowed to get out.

The food prophet in front of me kept trying to convert me.

"In time, you will learn that animals and humans are very alike. The chicken burger was no different than Melissa."

But his revelations were not welcome. "The chicken burger does not live or breathe, and has no concept of life. It's dead."

Jasper simply shrugged. "Melissa was dead to me the moment I decided she was mine."

Just as how I was dead the moment Damon had made the decision to take me. I called him what he was. "Congratulations on being a psychopath."

Jasper, instead of showing any hint of offense, sat down gingerly on the couch and patted the spot next to him. "Let's talk about that."

I was wet. I was tired. I was hungry. "I don't want to talk about anything with you."

But he didn't care. His twisted sense of reasoning was too convoluted to the point that you couldn't poke a hole through it. He had a way of telling you things in rollercoaster order, where all you could do is sit there and absorb his words, and try to urge your brain to process and sort through the fact and the fiction. It was exhausting, and my head hurt.

"There is no good and bad, Elise. The justice system will condemn you for your actions, but none of the defines your character. When you let yourself emotionally attach to someone based on these binary definitions, it means nothing. You need to get ahead of the defaults that your brain will try to push you towards. If you don't, you will be stuck trying to make logical decisions based entirely on your emotions."

And soon after ending his lesson, he left. He left to kill Melissa.

The front door slammed shut, and I leaned back into the couch. I looked out the window, and a jolt of energy ran through me. What would he do if I left? Was he lingering outside, waiting to snatch me in case I tried? I stood up, eyeing the door. I took a step forward only to sit back down. No. Trying to leave would get me nowhere. I waited ten minutes, then went into the bathroom. Reaching into my bra, I pulled out the little phone. I waited for it to boot up, as I had it switched off to preserve battery. Finally, I opened the latest message.

Status.

I placed the phone down onto the sink ledge, its light glaring up at it me hauntingly. I placed the toilet seat down and took a seat.

Jasper would take Melissa's life tonight. Not because he needed to teach me something. Not because he wanted to prove himself. He would kill the girl because he had been planning it, because it was his natural understanding of life. And who was to say that not all vampires had this desire? Certainly, Damon did. So did Jasper. The Cullens? Their casual, near-perfect adaption to human life was eerie. A part of me couldn't help but question their odd motives, because mimicking your prey was a very effective hunting strategy. But even if they weren't all killers, I couldn't guarantee my safety with them. Yes, any family would put themselves first. And yes, I was not family.

Today, Jasper had showed me his sweet destruction first-hand. And I wanted no part of it. I would not spend the rest of my days, immortal with the Cullen venom, running through small towns, and luring humans to cabins.

And the only way out of it?

You'll be stuck trying to make logical decisions based entirely on your emotions.

There was nothing wrong with that. I was human, damn it. Human.

I picked up the phone.

I have something. I replied.

My fingers tapped away. The venom, the patients. Carlisle. And after a long while of spewing my knowledge, I got the response I had been dreaming about.

Nice work.

Jasper said to trust no one. He was right. Damon was the only wall I had to hike over. But after that, I would be free and far, far away from all of this.


Melissa wasn't dead. Melissa was here.

And as her screams grew stronger, a dark part of me wanted her dead for teetering my headache into a migraine. I didn't think people my age could have migraines.

I did my best to coax her through the door. Jasper had locked her into the room late last night. This morning, Melissa had woken up in screams, and Jasper, being the responsible kidnapper, just up and left. And thus, I was left alone with the girl I had too much in common with. The more I heard her pleas, the more anxious I got. This was terrifying, and I had no idea what to do.

I pulled my knees further into my chest, focusing on my breath. But my heart wouldn't calm down when the man behind all of this appeared in the hallway. He walked closer to me, and I felt myself push against the door.

"He's here," I said helplessly, worsening Melissa's reaction.

Jasper shook his head at the girl's outbursts. "What are you doing?"

"Keeping her company." I refused to make eye-contact. "She's traumatized, Jasper. She reminds me of someone."

She reminded me of myself. The Jovu weren't kind, and I wasn't the most logical. Yes, my first few days were filled with panic screams. For some reason, we believed that screaming and crying would always get us out of things. Perhaps us women never had the chance to grow out of being babied. As a baby, if you screamed and cried enough, you'd probably get what you want. Or we all shared the same defense mechanism regardless of gender. When I got out of this mess, I planned to see a psychologist to ask these questions.

Jasper wasn't experimenting on Melissa. But she was here to feed him, and she was here against her will. The people who cared about her would find her missing soon, and another family would be torn apart.

"Her throat's beginning to hurt from the careless screaming," Jasper whispered as I watched him utilize his gift. "She'll need a break before she starts again."

He was putting her to sleep.

"I don't agree with what you're doing here, and I really would rather you kill her. This isn't nice," I murmured.

Suddenly, the man next to me started a low chuckle that bubbled up into a full-on, whole-hearted laugh. Had I missed a joke? I eyed him curiously.

He calmed himself. "I'm sorry. This is the weirdest situation I have ever been in. And I've been alive for more than a century and a half. I can't believe I'm having this conversation with you."

I couldn't believe I was here. "That makes the two of us."

"She's falling asleep," Jasper spoke quietly. "She's expelled a lot of energy, and her brain will want to shut down into sleep for recovery. I don't have to influence her as much to keep her asleep."

This was messed up. "I should be running away from you," I said abruptly. "I should be setting her free, or trying to at least. But I know it's pointless. You'd hunt me down before I could do anything."

Jasper couldn't agree more. "You're smarter than that."
Was that a compliment? "I'm smart enough to know I wouldn't make it. Being on this side of the door means I get to look out the window, but besides that, I'm no different than Melissa."

Since my captor had denied me food last night, I hunted down the paper bag he had brought back for me. The coffee was a nice touch.

Jasper followed me into the kitchen. I had made him upset.

"You're not Melissa," he insisted. "Don't compare yourself to her."

I took a long sip from the paper cup of coffee. "Then what am I?"

"You've lived with yourself long enough to know who you are."

What? Was he avoiding the question?

"No," I pushed. "What am I to you?"

He crossed his arms. "Power, protection, potential. Not in any particular order."

He was so full of shit. "You see me as power, but you make me feel absolutely powerless. Protection? I can't even protect myself. There's no potential in any of that."

Jasper came close, his voice red, passionate, and angry. "You know damn well how strong you are, Elise. I will not let you discredit yourself."

"I'm not strong enough to save Melissa from you. I wasn't even strong enough to save Bella."

That hit a nerve. He told me I was wasting my time worrying about humans that didn't matter. "Why do you do this to yourself?"

I didn't back down. "Maybe, just maybe, because I'm human?"

Was he quick to forget my beating heart? I grabbed his hand and placed it right by my jugular as a reminder. "I'm not dead yet, Jasper. You seem to forget."

He stared at me for so long, I wanted to hide from his gaze. His touch ran upward, onto my face, and over my lips. I was in a petri dish, and he poked me with utensils as he stared at me through a microscope.

"You're never scared," he whispered. "You're just so stubborn."

I was scared. I was always scared. I pushed his hand away.

"I don't know what you're doing, but you seem very confused." I swallowed the lump in my throat and told him everything he needed to hear. I wasn't protection. There was no treasure chest of potential he was searching for. I had no power. "This is a vampire-human arrangement, and those only end one way."

"And what way is that?"

Wasn't it obvious? "Melissa's way."

He didn't like that. His demeanor changed from defensive to protective. "There will never be a timeline that exists in which that will happen to you. Not anymore."

Was he kidding? As long as I had vampires in my life, it could all happen. And it would never stop. I challenged him with that.

His response was shocking. "Leave," he said simply. "You can leave."

I stood, rooted into the ground. I didn't know what to say. "What?"

"Go," he insisted. "If you think you're a prisoner. If you think you're held here like Melissa, I'm giving you the opportunity to leave."

I rolled my eyes. He still held the strings. "How gracious of you to grant me the opportunity."

Determined, he walked over to the front door and held it open. Except the top hinge popped out of place. His strength was intimidating.

"Go," he emphasized. His outburst was curious, but I was smarter than that.

"This is a test," I said, my hand coming up to wipe a few tears off of my cheek. There was no way this man would ever grant me freedom this easily. Yet, his protective demeanor was curious. I put it into the back of my brain to think about later.

I moved closer to him, examining his destruction. "You broke the door."

He went on to break it completely. "Always finish what you've started."

While he focused on securing the door against the wall, a stain on the corner of his lip caught my eye. I moved closer to get a better look. "I'm not failing another lesson," I told him. Because failing lessons cost me food, and that would hinder my ability to think, which was unacceptable. When I was close enough, I reached my hand up to his face, slowly, as if asking for permission. I used my fingernail to dislodge a fleck of dried blood from the corner of his lips. I scolded him lightly on his food hygiene.

"You should clean up after you eat. It's unbecoming of an organized killer like you."

He stood up straighter. "I believe we like to be called serial killers."

I had some knowledge in the area. "You do have the Ted Bundy type."

He beamed. "You think I'm a charismatic enough villain to envoke Bundy?"

I reminded him that the infamous killer had also stalked young women in Seattle. He proposed that I become his secretary. The relationship that was unraveling between us wasn't standard. No, it was inappropriate. But that didn't mean it wasn't interesting. Whether the opportunity provided was a test or not, Jasper struggled with the idea of freedom. Particularly, mine. The conflict was evident in his eyes. There was a part of him, no matter how small, that wanted to firmly defend my capabilities.

And there was an even smaller part of him that believed in my freedom.


A/N: She's a skeptic, and she's seeing two new sides to Jasper. One, the killer. Two, the defender. Her dislike of vampirism, fueled by her lack of knowledge and immense uncertainty, has cornered her into spilling secrets. I dislike how much she trusts Damon to set her free, but trying to make logical decisions based entirely on our emotions is something we're all guilty of.

Her perspective is refreshing for me to write. I am enjoying this trip down memory lane, and I'm excited for newborn Elise.