Previously:

I read the conflict in her eyes. "It's bad, isn't? Whatever you're hiding from me?"

"No, Elise. It's just bad for me. Give me some more time."

Jasper

The one good thing about Rosalie was that she was always an unchanging constant in my life.

Predictable.

Sour.

And painfully nosy.

"Where have you been?"

It was nightfall with gorgeous stars blinking to life. We walked towards the deep forestry. "Out."

"Right." She stepped over a large tree trunk. "Is that what you told us when you left for weeks on end?"

Sour, indeed. "It never seemed like a problem for the family."

"We gave you your space."

Was that their definition of neglect? "I blended in enough to disappear."

Whatever had been brewing in her was coming out. "I liked you, Jasper. You were the closest thing to a brother to me."

She wanted an apology? "What do you want me to say?"

"That you were never a Cullen."

My lips twitched at that. "I'm a weapon that your family has utilized very thoroughly over the years. Hell, I killed Bella Swan with zero repercussions. I suppose you never cared for the girl."

"Yeah, and we shouldn't have given you a second human to toy with. We really went and broke your reward mechanism. But you didn't kill Bella on purpose."

"Doesn't mean that I didn't want to."

Her face twisted into a scowl. She was less beautiful with her emotions bogging her down. "Tell me you slipped up. Tell me you didn't want to kill her. Fuck, you have no regrets, do you?"

"I regret that I took Swan the way I had if it makes you feel better. It was unplanned. Risky."

"And Alice deserved none of that."

I glowered. "She knew."

"She protected you for no damn reason."

This woman was a waste of my time. "Are you out here to hunt? Because I'm heading into the city, and I know the meals there are too scandalous for you."

Rosalie continued her analysis. "Your eyes were always tinted. Carlisle said it was because of all those years of human blood."

"I commend Papa Cullen. He made my job way easier than I deserved."

She shook her head, and I felt her disbelief. "I feel absolutely played. How dare you?"

I shrugged. "You see what you don't like, and you lash out. This was always me, Rosalie. I just don't have to pretend anymore."

"Should I be happy for you?"

"No," I smiled. "It's not in your nature to be happy for anyone else."

She shoved me. "We loved you. Did that mean anything? You were part of the family. You were a Cullen."

I scoffed. "What do you think being a Cullen means? Gathering around deer remnants with a play on Kumbaya?"

"Family. Family."

"We were lucky to pick our family. Most don't. We consisted of the gifted, and the resourceful. The Volturi couldn't touch us." I thought for a moment. "How much crap did you give Alice for holding out on you all this time?"

"None. She protected you because she cared about you, as we did. Her mistake, and our mistake."

I considered that. "Your conscience was always heavier than your ego. A dire weakness."

"And now you have her locked away watching decisions? Is that the punishment she deserves?"

I rolled my eyes. "You can't lock away a vampire. She's free to roam, but she has strict reporting rules. Maria's an obsessive control freak."

She regarded me from the corner of her eye. "Elise says the same about you."

I took a deep, cold breath. "Elise says a lot of things."

"And so do people. The whispers around camp are pretty incriminating."

"Gossip."

"With a very tasty element of truth. There's speculation that you and Elise do more than just train."

I sighed. Sex would always be an interesting conjecture. "Inevitable. A lot of trainers keep up relationships with their recruits. It's not uncommon."

"The suspicion's there. Why not use it?"

My eyes dared for her to continue her thought. "Use it?"

Hers narrowed to a challenge. "What are you afraid of?"

"The world is more than just a stupid bond."

"Who are you afraid of?" Her eyes widened. "Maria?"

I knew I couldn't talk my way out of that one, so I increased my pace. Rosalie kept up with an irritated glint in her eye. And she knew exactly where to push. "You know what's sad? After a century, you're still running from that bitch. You won't claim your mate because you're scared of the power it will give her."

I glared at her. "Keep your voice down."

"Because Elise will hear? You've locked her into a pathetic fence, Jasper. She doesn't have the free will to follow us out here."

"You don't know anything."

"You're a coward."

Her anger fueled mine. "You're in my camp. You're under my protection. Choose your descriptors carefully."

"Fine," she bit out. "Psychopath, murderer, hypocrite. It's what your mate knows you by, too."

"Listen to me," I grabbed her arm. "I don't care if Emmett hunts me down for the rest of our miserable lives, but I will tear you from limb to limb if it will get you to shut up."

Now, she was smiling, and she whispered tauntingly. "Psychopath."

I let her go more roughly than I should have and walked away. Because that's all I could ever do.

"You've been fighting your whole life to not be anyone's puppet," she called out. "It's a shame you can never escape your maker."

My hands balled into fists and my feet stopped moving. The wind shifted, and I felt a male presence.

Edward. Cautious eyes, examining deep into my soul. "Jasper, don't do something you'll regret."

He stood in front of his sister in a straight, protective stance.

"I don't need you to protect me, Edward," Rosalie growled, as I imagined how delicate it would feel to rip her tiny head off.

"Elise loves Emmett," he spoke to me directly. "Don't ruin your relationship with him. Don't make her pick between you."

If I killed her best friend's mate, could she really hate me more than she currently did? "She'd pick me."

Doubt laced his tone. "Would she?"

"We haven't been perfect" I argued. "But I've been good to her."

I let her hunt her way. I plowed through Michigan snow to dig through her parents' rubble of a house. I brought her mementos from her childhood. I was good.

"Please," Rosalie rolled her eyes, then stared me down. "Tell her she can run, and I can guarantee that she wouldn't even look back. I'm sick of hearing about you abusing women."

"Stop muddying the waters with your past," I sneered. "This isn't about you."

"No," she agreed. "It's about Maria. Why don't you retaliate? She deserves everything you should be throwing at her. Yet you're working right beside her."

Edward's gaze hardened as she looked between us. "Why Maria, Jasper?"

"The alliance is more than just Maria."

He shook his head. "You see some sort of correlation, don't you? Maria ruined you. And you did the same to Elise."

"No."

"You're maintaining neutrality with your maker. And you hope Elise at least ends up in the same position with you."

I took a few steps back. The comparison stung. My anger boiled and I was probably projecting. A fleeting thought of killing Rosalie had been on my mind, which had drawn Edward into a very unnecessary conversation. Killing a Cullen would be a waste, and the amount of suspicion regarding an unprovoked internal execution would not be worth the hassle.

"Neutrality is not in the cards. She'll hate me, or she'll love me, and those are her only options."

"Yeah?" Rosalie cocked her head to the side. "And how do you feel about the girl?"

"She's done more damage in a few months than Maria did in decades." I looked at Edward. "Is Carlisle back?"

He frowned, looked back at his sister, then at me. "Just got back. Why?"

"Good. Keep your mouths shut."

Rosalie went around her brother to stop me. "There's no way you can avoid this. You're making a mistake."

I moved past her. "I appreciate your concern."

"Stop doing this to her."

I turned back so I could look her straight in her pretty golden eyes. "She is here, and she is protected. I don't agree, but I respect her morality enough to make arrangements for her diet. She is still a newborn who needs training and guidance, which I am doing my best to provide. And given your concern, I don't touch her unless she lets me. So, what exactly am I doing that's really messing you up, Rosalie?"

With her lips pursed, she watched me walk away.

Fuck, I needed to eat.

I found Carlisle the day after and requested that he help prepare an outline of the Volturi's current guard. He followed me a few miles out of camp before I stopped us.

"I do need that outline, but I need something else from you today."

He nodded sharply and I led him on a journey that took us further West to Arizona. Our feet crunched over branches as dirt turned to grass, then back to dirt. We were far from civilization when we came upon on a cabin.

Carlisle eyed me warily. "I don't condone your practices, Jasper, and I won't be an accomplice."

His assumptions were valid. "I know."

I knew that he could sense the humans that were inside, and he shifted uncomfortably. "Why am I here?"

"I need your expertise."

Rattling the front door elicited groans from inside. The cabin's living room was mostly empty with just a few bare mattresses lying around, one propped up against a wall. There were four bedrooms that were firmly locked. The smells were the first thing that hit us, but it wasn't hard to get used to. Carlisle's medical background should have prepared him for this.

"Hello?" A weak feminine voice came from one of the rooms, followed by a low, long groan.

I unlocked that door and let the doctor in. The woman was alone, lying on a mattress with torn sheets. Her dark hair was a knotted mess, her clothes drenched in sweat. The blue bucket beside her was filled with vomit. "Please…"

Carlisle knelt down to her level and put a hand on her forehead. The woman stiffened at his cool touch.

"Fever," he murmured. "She's shivering."

"Please…" she croaked when Carlisle's hand left her. He stood, seemingly unsure of what to make of the situation.

"I'll need bloodwork," he said finally. "I'll need my equip—"

I held up a hand. "No, you won't. She'll be dead by the time you're back."

I went over to the cracked bedside table and opened the drawer. Three syringes—two full, and one a quarter full.

"I haven't been able to get this right," I told him, holding out the partially filled needle. "They die. Either they turn or their body gives out."

"Is that—"

"No." I had anticipated his question—it was an important one. "Not my venom."

Carlisle took a moment to compose himself. "What exactly is your purpose here?"

"I need to replicate the Jovu's experiments."

"They had a full-fledged lab."

And I had a cabin. Multiple, in fact. What was his point? "They also had venom, which we also have plenty of."

"It was illegal and highly dangerous."

I looked down at the woman growing paler by the second. "We're rewriting what the term legal means. This should excite you, Carlisle. You're all for venomous experiments."

He looked grim. "This is for the alliance?"

"What else would it be for?"

The doctor frowned, putting his hand back on the woman's forehead.

I turned towards the door. "If you think you'll be able to turn around her progression, be my guest. From the evidence I've gathered, the fever is a bad sign." I looked down at the bucket. "And so is throwing up dinner."

"I need proper equipment."

The cabin experience wasn't good enough for him. It wasn't good enough for any of the Cullens. "I bet the alliance will be okay with allocating some funds."

"You haven't told them?" His concern was warranted.

"I'm pitching it to them this afternoon."

The group of delegates were always tight-lipped about meeting times, dates, and locations. We met at odd hours in abandoned buildings all across the country. If our recruit count was low enough, I would have even suggested to move around our bases. But we were growing in numbers by the day, and it would have taken too much coordination.

Today's meeting was four hours South of my Arizona cabin. I left Carlisle with the vomiting, fever-ridden woman, plus the two others who were on the brink of their death. I told him to study them. If he could save them enough to balance their cell levels, great. If not, I would be back to deal with the dying. None would be allowed to turn without a promise of a gift.

"There was news that the Volturi interfered with a biological experiment run by the Jovu clan." I began the meeting, sitting beside Peter and Maria. "The group was quickly disbanded, and most of their subjects were killed."

I noted how certain delegates nodded at the statement. The Volturi's raids were a popular item of discussion in the vampiric community.

"The purpose of these experiments were unclear, but certain rumors came around that the Jovu were trying to trigger gifts in the humans they were experimenting on. Certain rumors say they had succeeded."

Maria turned her head towards me. "Rumors?"

I opened my mouth, but a female delegate jumped in. "I've heard about this. They injected humans with a very small amount of venom, and some developed gifts."

Another delegate spoke up. "Is this method proven?"

I smiled inwardly. The one thing the vampiric community unfortunately lacked was a base of scientific process. "I would classify the results as rumors, but with enough severity that they should not be ignored."

Murmurs broke out. I let the room discuss, question, and argue. This would be a promising experiment for the alliance, and I needed them to see the value.

"Let's say we begin some experimentation." An older-looking gentleman clasped his hands together on the ruined table. "How would this unfold?"

"We have at least one member with known medical expertise. Carlisle Cullen. I think it would be best to put him as head of this project. We will need to set up a secure location with any medical instruments he would need."

"And humans," Maria added.

I nodded. "From a strategy stand-point, adding to our arsenal will only benefit us. I'm sure all of you can see the advantages of turning only the gifted."

Maria's fingers drummed on the table. And from her distant stare across the room, I could already read her pleasure.

"Invite Carlisle to the next meeting," she said decidedly. "We should iron out these details, and make a final decision."

"Do we know of any ex-Jovu members? Were they all executed?" A female delegate questioned.

"Aro wouldn't give them that pleasure," a delegate remarked gruffly. "He probably sentenced them for a few centuries."

Their curiosity here was important. "Damon Vouvali, an ex-Jovu, was the mastermind behind the experiments, I'm told," I said.

Maria drew a finger over her lower lip in consideration. "Well, there's no harm in trying to find Mr. Vouvali, is there?"

"There absolutely is." A member who hadn't spoken interjected. "We can't waste time tracking a source with evidence as good as hearsay."

Oh, they were right. There was absolutely no basis to my proposal, and the only thing going for me was my reputation I had built around contributing a shield to the cause.

Maria tapped her feet with impatience. "We'll discuss with Carlisle's input next time. And Major Whitlock, maybe you can refine your evidence."

A/N: I cannot say this enough. Jasper is an unreliable narrator.

How do you think Elise would feel given the events turning in Jasper's world?