AN: Hey everyone! so this is another pretty long chapter, I hope you all continue to enjoy this story! That's all for now,
Disclaimer: The song featured in this chapter does not belong to us, all rights belong to Ashely Serena!
Blessed be!
Chapter 11
"The Seer and Her Cowboy"
Alice's POV
February, 12th, 2003
"Hey." Rose nudged my shoulder and I blinked up at her. "You all good?"
I nodded, rubbing my eyes. "Yeah, just tired."
"Up all night thinking about your cowboy?" she teased and I rolled my eyes. I wish.
"You're hilarious." I pushed off my locker where I'd been resting my head against the cool metal. "No, I was up all night trying to ignore the creaking coming from your room."
"Shut up!" Rose flushed, shoving me away. "It's an old bed!"
"Of course it is." I held up my hands in surrender, grinning as we headed to English. "But that just means you were making all that noise by yourself."
She groaned, walking faster to get away from me. "I hate you so much."
Alone again, I let my grin fall away and sighed. I would have far preferred to have been awake all night just thinking about Jasper. It would have been far easier than the alternative—the plague of nightmares that had me throwing up at three in the morning.
Glancing at the time, I could see I still had a few minutes before class started, so I ducked into the bathroom for a breather. Just remembering last night was enough for my head to start pounding. I groaned, pulling out the aspirin Bella had given me this morning. It was one of the few mortal medicines that didn't react negatively to our physiology, and it was one of few that actually worked.
Waiting for the pulsing in my head to stop, I pulled out my phone and read the messages from Jasper last night. Apparently, there'd been another 'animal attack' and so all the Cullens had called in sick today to hunt down whoever was snacking on Fork's residents.
Which meant all my classes were back to being Jasper-less. Yay.
I closed my eyes, slipping my phone away, and took a deep breath. As nice as having Jasper here would be, this was bigger than just a bad dream. I'd only gotten a few of these in my lives, and the only way to get through them was to wait for it all to pass. I took another deep breath.
Nightmares were normal for me—par of the course these days—but a night of recurring, vague nightmares, followed by a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach? Something bad was coming. I didn't know what, and I didn't know when—but whatever it was, it was going to hurt like hades. The last time I had gotten a feeling this bad, was the week before we found out the Church was coming for us.
Opening my eyes again, I pushed back my shoulders and stared at myself in the mirror. Screw it. I'm not going to waste today overthinking everything that hasn't happened yet.
Pulling my hair back into a bun, I headed to class, determined not to let anything get in my way. Certainly not a headache and an ambiguous feeling of dread.
~Scene~
"I swear the asshole goes out of his way to piss me off," Bella growled, slamming her locker shut.
Rose grinned. "What'd he do now? Was he breathing again?"
I snorted, thinking back to Monday when Bella had nearly started a fire in Bio because of Edward's 'obnoxious asshole breathing'. Despite their 'date' last weekend, they were no closer to being civil. Though, I wouldn't put it past her to start a fire for fun—in fact, that was probably what she did.
"And how exactly does his breathing annoy you?" I said neutrally, trying somewhat to pacify her.
"It's that annoying kind of breathing where he takes a huge breath and then expells it." Bella glared at a Senior who stumbled over their friends to get out of her way. "I'd like to expel him from this world!"
"The nerve of him!" Rose gasped, giggling when Bella swiped at her.
"The bastard doesn't even need to breathe! He's doing it to annoy me!"
Rose snorted. "He's not even here and he's annoying you? Maybe he's not the only one obsessed."
Bella sniffed dismissively. "I had to call him for the stupid Bio project."
"You have his number?" Rose grinned wickedly and Bella rolled her eyes.
"Of course—how else am I supposed to give his number to telemarketers and sign him up for gay porno?"
"Don't they usually use emails for those?" Rose questioned.
"Emmett owed me a favour."
Rose's phone pinged and she looked down, snorting. "Speak his name and the demon shall appear," she muttered, grinning before putting her phone away and turning to Bella, barely withholding her laugh.
"Did you really sign Edward up for a magazine called 'daddy's for us'?
"Oh good, he got it! Great! He paid for express shipping."
"Don't you mean you paid?"
"No, he paid. Emmett swiped his credit card for me."
"When are you giving it back?"
"Eventually."
Suddenly, the bell for third period went off and I winced. As much as I would have loved to say that my day had gone better since this morning, it had only gotten worse. The occasional headache and ambiguous feeling of dread from first period had turned into a constant pounding and a choking sensation. All I wanted was a nap.
I pressed the back of my hand against my head to try and cool it down and closed my eyes until the ringing stopped. Suddenly everything went silent. I looked up to see Rose and Bella stopped in front of me, blocking the world out.
"Thanks," I murmured to Bella, knowing she'd been the one to cast the spell.
"It's gotten worse, hasn't it?" She brushed my hair back from my face and placed her cool hands on my cheek.
I sighed in relief and nodded. I was glad I didn't have to explain it. Scrying and visions I could explain easily, but feelings of dread that appeared for no obvious reason? Not so much.
"When was the last time you had one like this?" Rose gave me her water bottle.
"This bad?" I didn't even have to think about it. "The seventh burning."
Rose shuddered, and it was like we were back there again. In our first life, we hadn't had a lot of contact with other witches—beyond Mother Aquila—but even we couldn't have missed the seventh burning. A week before the Church had found us, seven witches had been burned in the village north of us. One for each day; to draw out the spectacle, and to feed the ego of that damned pastor.
On the day of the final burning, a full seven days before our own deaths, I had been overcome with a feeling of dread. But rather than tell my sisters or Mother Aquila, I had waved it off as my own worries. I had convinced myself the feeling was because the burnings had slowly gotten closer to our village; after all, there was only one pitiful lake between our villages. A mere puddle for that hateful pastor to cross.
But I was wrong. Seven days later we were burned alive.
I wasn't going to make the same mistake again. Whatever had triggered this feeling aside, I wasn't going to ignore the warning again. This time I'd—we'd—stop whatever was coming, even if we had to sacrifice everything we had here to do it.
Bella pursed her lips. "Does this one feel the same as that one?" Bella's eyes were narrowed and I could tell she was already trying to plan for something none of us could explain.
But I shook my head. "Not exactly." I sighed, thinking back reluctantly to that first feeling. "That first one, I felt hot—like I was in the baker's oven on a hot summer's day." I looked up at my sisters, swallowing thickly. "This one feels like I'm slowly being strangled. Like I can't breathe."
Bella watched me for a moment before apparently coming to a decision. "Alright. You're going home."
"What?"
"Look, Ali. You feel like shit, and spending time around useless mortals, learning useless mortal facts has never helped anyone. Least of all a witch having premonitions about the future where we may or may not die again." Bella grinned suddenly like she didn't have a care in the world. "So you're going to go home. You're going to take the calming potion I left out for you this morning, and then you're going to spend the rest of the day in bed messaging your cowboy."
I shook my head. "No. I need to figure this out. We need to figure this out. I can't just go home and pretend like nothing's going to happen."
How could Bella be so calm about this? So irreverent? The last time this happened we were a week away from our deaths, and she was smiling?
"No, you're not," Bella agreed. "You're going to go home and take a break. And when you're feeling better, you're going to call me and we'll talk it through. You're going to see if you can scry anything, and if not, we'll start testing to see what makes the feeling stronger and weaker."
She looked at both of us. "I made you girls a promise. Remember—when we got our memories back? I swore to you I'd never let anything like that happen to us again." She grabbed Rose's hand, smiling softly. "And I keep my promises."
Bella kissed my forehead, pushing her familiar magic through me. I felt the feeling of dread start to seep away. "So you're going to go home, and when school's over this afternoon, we'll start to figure it all out." She stepped back. "But until then you're going to pretend you're a silly teenager just skipping class, alright? I'll worry about the rest."
I nodded, falling into Bella's hug with a sigh of relief. As much as I wanted to figure this all out, it was always a weight off my shoulders when my big sister took control.
"And don't worry about us," Rose added before I could ask, winking and grinning wickedly. "I'm sure someone in this town will give us a ride home."
I rolled my eyes and headed outside as Bella cackled. The moment I was outside I took a deep breath, freezing my lungs and let it all out. There was something about freezing my butt off that always seemed to restart my brain and cool me right down. I didn't bother getting the keys to the truck out, just jumped into the bed of the truck and lay down. As much as Bella wanted me to go home, lying in bed would do nothing for me.
So instead I was going to lie in the cold bed of the truck. And call my cowboy, of course.
"Miss me already, darlin'?"
Just hearing his voice was enough to calm those last feelings of dread. Bella's enchantment had worked to settle most of them, but Jasper's voice did the rest.
"Four hours is a long time to go without talking to you, you know." I grinned, folding my bag behind my head as a pillow. "It's been torture."
"Don't I know it," he sighed through the phone. "I'd much rather be with you than these clowns."
There was a kerfuffle on Jasper's end and suddenly Emmett was on the phone. "Don't listen to him, Ali baby. We both know he cries himself to sleep missing me."
"You're thinking of your other brother, Emmie dear. The mopey one who's currently bemoaning his love life with my sister." I closed my eyes at the sudden headache spiking at my temple as I listened to the boys fight over the phone.
"First of all," Edward started, having won the phone, "I am not bemoaning anything; Bella hasn't tried to set me on fire in the last twenty-four hours, so I must be doing something right."
"Bella hasn't seen you in twenty-four hours."
"Irrelevant. Second—"
I never got to hear his second point as Jasper snatched the phone, growling, "Piss off. Find your own girlfriend."
I laughed, only for it to turn into a curse as a sharp pain suddenly stabbed behind my eyes.
"Alice? What's wrong?"
"I'm okay," I sighed. "Just a headache."
"Do you want me to come rescue you from your troubles?" he teased lightly.
Yes. "Aren't you supposed to be searching for the vampires currently chomping on Forks' residents?" I asked instead.
I could hear his shrug in the background. "These clowns can do it without me."
That, of course, brought on another round of distant bickering, but before I knew it, Jasper was leaning over the bed of the truck with that gorgeous grin of his. He shrugged when I raised my eyebrow. he must have been close by to have gotten here within a few minutes "I was in the area." he said, confirming my suspicions.
I patted the space beside me. "Get your ass in here."
He wasted no time clambering in, but the moment his shoulder brushed mine I flinched back with a curse. Those feelings of dread were back suddenly—this time twice as strong. The feelings intensified when Jasper put his hand on my shoulder.
"Alice? Darlin'? What's goin' on?" He was crouching beside me, his brow creased in pain and I realised he was feeling all of this.
"Something's going to happen." I groaned, rubbing my chest like I could rub the feelings away. "And I don't know how to stop it."
"What do you mean? Did you see something?"
But I shook my head. "I can't see anything. That's the worst part. It's just a feeling. I can't do anything about it." I sat up, sighing at his clear confusion, and tried to explain. "It's part of being a seer. Typically I only see glimpses of the future in my dreams, and I have to use my scrying bowl to actually make sense of it all. But sometimes, rarely—I've only ever gotten a few—I get a feeling."
I shifted so there was a little distance between us, and the feelings of dread lessened a little. "I don't know how to explain it. I never know what's going to happen, just that something will happen. If it's going to be good, the feelings are positive and I feel amazing. But if it's going to be bad…" I gestured to myself with another sigh. "It's like some premonition of doom."
"Do you want me to take it away?" he asked, carefully not touching me.
"Please." I slipped my hand into his, but rather than the cool, soothing wash of Jasper's ability over me, I felt the dread multiply. I bent over with a cry, snatching my hand back. "Okay, not doing that again," I groaned.
Before he could ask the questions I knew he had brewing, I looked up at him. "Will you take me away from here?" I knew exactly what he was going to ask and I didn't even want to think about it. "I need to get away from all this. Just for a couple of hours. Please?"
He watched me for a second, considering, before his lips quirked into that half-smile that sent my heart racing. He jumped down from the bed of the truck and turned his back to me. "Climb on, darlin'."
I hesitated for only a second before clambering on. We both winced against the feelings of overwhelming dread, but as I pressed my face into the back of his neck and breathed deeply, trying to manage around them.
I wound my legs around his waist and rested my chin on his shoulder as he grabbed my bag. "Ready?"
I closed my eyes and hummed. I pressed my face into his neck and breathed through the renewed headache and dread. And suddenly we were moving. The wind was whipping around us and I knew if I opened my eyes they'd instantly be dry. But I tried it anyway. Everything around us was a blur of green as he sped through the forest in that moment I felt more free than I had in days.
I couldn't help but let out a shriek of delight as we flew deeper into the forest. Jasper chuckled, his hands curling tighter around my legs as he impossibly picked up the pace.
~Scene~
Eventually, we came to a stop and he let go of me gently. I slid to the ground and almost fell over, but he wrapped his arm around my waist, keeping me close.
"Oh, we are so doing that again," I giggled, waiting for the dizziness to pass.
I stepped away, taking in where we were. We had stopped in a small clearing; dotted with oxeye daisies and red clovers, we were surrounded by the gentle chirping of birds in the trees. It was truly peaceful out here.
"Take a photo, it'll last longer," I teased when I felt his gaze lingering on me. laughing when he pulled out his phone and did just that.
Sometimes, he'd get a look on his face like he couldn't quite believe I was real. It was my favourite. And he was wearing it now. I bit my lip, utterly delighted, and looked away.
"So do you come here often?" I asked with a grin over my shoulder and he chuckled, watching me explore.
"Every now and then." I raised an eyebrow and he held out his hand. "Let me show you why."
I braced myself for the dread to magnify again, but this time it was parallel to the happiness surging through me as well. I looked up at Jazz surprised and he grinned, delighted with himself.
"I can't touch your premonitions, but your other emotions…" He pulled me closer until I was flush against him. My heart raced as his face lowered to mine. His free hand curled around my waist and I couldn't tear my eyes from his as he reached up to brush a loose strand of hair from my cheek. His fingers grazed my cheek, lighting a fire beneath my skin as he murmured, "...they're easy."
He pulled away suddenly, a knowing grin on his face. "Come on."
Tease. I narrowed my eyes at him as he laughed. I rolled my eyes, fighting my own smile and entwined our fingers. I'll get you back for that.
Together we stepped through a thin patch of trees. When I saw it I smiled as he ducked his head.
"It's beautiful," I said, stepping forward.
And it was, even after the obvious neglect it had gone through, I could still see the ghost of the house it used to be. Parts of the roof and walls had caved in and ivy was strangling what remained of the walls, but I could still see how it used to sleep gently amongst the trees.
I could feel Jasper step up behind me, his presence like a live wire down my back.
"I've been fixing it up every now and then," he murmured. "The last couple to live here died before the turn of the 20th century, unfortunately with no one left to remember them, or the Cottage, so it's been here, slowly overrun by the forest once more."
"Well, Mother Earth always does take back what is hers," I mused, stepping closer, my fingers trailing the vines strangling the eastern wall. My eyes flashed violet in the distorted pane of the cracked glass. "Move, please."
Deep in the walls, a shuffling sound resounded as the roots of the vines began sliding out of the walls. I held out my hand as they unrooted themselves and watched as the vines slowly wrapped around my arm. I waited until they were out of the walls and walked them to the nearest tree. I pressed my palm to its trunk and with a little wild magic, helped the vines slide along its low-hanging branches. I pressed a soft kiss to one of the closest leaves and whispered, "Thank you."
"Those vines had been my biggest struggle with this house," Jasper said, amusement and wonder in his voice. "Had I ripped them out, half the wall would have come with and I would have had to start again." I turned back to see his delightedly fond look. "And then you come along, and five minutes later my biggest problem is gone."
I smiled. "Sometimes you just need a gentler touch."
He stepped closer, his hand tipping my chin up and he murmured, "Or maybe I just need you."
"Mhmm." I rose to the tips of my toes and brushed aside a lock of hair that had fallen into his eyes. "You have me. And I'm not going anywhere."
He leaned down and brushed his fingers against my cheek reverently. "How have I survived this long without you?" he murmured, resting his forehead against mine.
"Valiantly," I murmured back, our breaths mingling.
He pulled back, shadows in his eyes like he wanted to disagree. I cupped his cheeks in my palms, ducking my head to catch his downturned gaze. "But you don't have to anymore. Not as long as I'm here." I pulled him closer and gently, softly, reverently brushed my lips against his. "And I don't plan on being anywhere but here with you for a long time."
A soft, strangled noise left his lips as he yanked me closer, and suddenly he was kissing me.
It was exactly like I had spent every waking moment dreaming about, and nothing like it at all. He pulled me off my feet and I wrapped my legs around his waist, holding him as close as humanly possible. It was messy and perfect, enthralling and insistent. And it was familiar. Like coming home and fireworks all in one.
His hands slid up my back, pulling my hair out of its bun and tugging gently. I tilted my head back, sighing in delight as his lips traced my throat, my shoulders, every inch of skin he could, before I pulled him back up to me.
I dug my fingers through his hair, nails scratching his scalp gently and he shivered. I tugged at his hair and he tipped his head back, baring his own throat as I placed kisses along his skin. I let my teeth scrape along where his pulse point would have been and he let out a strangled groan and froze. I pulled back enough to see his face, my lips pressed thin to keep from laughing. But he felt my mirth anyway and dropped his face into the crook of my neck with a groan.
"Does, uh… does that happen often?" I leaned back, grinning with my arms looped around the back of his neck.
He didn't look up, just said, "Let's forget that happened, please."
I tucked my hand under his chin and lifted his head until he finally met my eyes. I rested our foreheads together and said, as sincerely as I could. "I don't want to forget a moment with you."
The embarrassment in his eyes quickly dropped away and he smiled so tenderly my heart skipped a beat. I pressed another quick kiss to his lips before unwrapping my legs and dropping to the ground.
As much as I wanted to keep doing exactly this—forever and ever—I also wanted to do some different exploring. There would be time enough for that kind of exploring later.
"Come on." I held out my hand, wiggling my fingers with a grin. "Show me the rest of this place. I want to see why you love it so much."
As we walked through the house, Jazz pointed out parts of the house he'd already started working on or things leftover by the previous owners, all in various shades of disrepair. At one point he dropped my hand to climb up onto the second floor to grab something, before landing down beside me with a soft thud. It was a small flower that he tucked behind my ear with a quirk of his lips, before slipping his hand back into mine.
We explored the ruins, only letting go of each other when absolutely necessary. Every now and then I would look over at him and see my favourite smile on his face—only now, I could kiss him senseless each time.
Eventually, we ended back out in the little meadow where he'd dropped our stuff and I reached for the energy drink I knew would be in my bag. Because as energising as spending time with Jazz left me, exhaustion was slowly creeping around the edges of my mind. I pulled out the bottle I knew Bella had left in my bag and sent out a silent thanks for how thoughtful my sister always was.
"How do you feel?" Jasper asked, leaning against one of the trees. "The dread seems to be gone."
I blinked. "Huh, you're right." I sent him a low grin. "If I'd known making out with you was the cure, I'd have done that hours ago."
He chuckled, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me back into his chest. I tipped my head back and he pressed soft kisses to my throat. Jazz had never been shy with touching before, but that kiss had unlocked something in both of us. We couldn't keep our hands off each other. Not that I had a problem with that.
I drained the bottle, and shoved it back into my bag. I should probably get back to class. I looked back at Jasper, who had his head tipped back to the clouds and I knew that wasn't going to happen. I should message Bella though. Let her know where I left the keys. I pulled out my cell phone and saw I already had a message from Bella:
Bells: Don't stress about today. We'll sort it out, I promise. Love you
Me: Love you too. I left the truck keys in the bed. I'm with Jasper. I'll let you know when I'm coming home.
She sent back a smiley face and told me to have fun. I was about to chuck my phone back in my bag when another message came through. This one from Rose:
Drama Queen: Sweet Circe! You're with JASPER! What is the sweet and innocent little Alice doing with a strange man all alone in the forest?
I rolled my eyes. "Here we go."
They were probably in Home Ec with the boys right now, so everyone was probably coming up with wild ideas of what we were doing. Jasper snorted, and I turned to see he had his own phone out. "Apparently our siblings are having fun at our expense."
Me: You're hilarious. The craziest thing we've done is walk through a falling-down cottage
"Rose seems to think we're doing wild and dirty things out here," I smirked when Jasper's eyes darkened, falling to my lips.
His eyes lifted slowly to meet mine, dark and suggestive. "Well, you do have mud on your shoes."
Me: Actually, he does make delightful noises when I pull his hair. Does that count?
"Tell me you didn't just send that," Jasper murmured, suddenly pressed up against my back.
I laughed, tipping my head back to smirk lazily at him. "Are you invading my privacy, Mr. Hale? Reading my texts over my shoulder?"
He showed me his phone, open at a message from Emmett:
Clown #1: Hair pulling and moaning? What kinda walk are you two taking?
I laughed and showed him the message Bella had sent:
Bells: Don't break the poor boy, Ali.
Jasper let out a long-suffering sigh as he pressed a kiss to my shoulder. "Our families will be the end of me." He trailed his lips up to my ear, chuckling lightly when I squirmed. "But so worth it."
I reached back and threaded my fingers through his hair, grinning at his shiver when I tugged. I tipped my head back, pulling him closer, and kissed him with every drop of sweetness and desire I had in me.
Kissing Jasper was like fireworks in the snow and I was addicted already. His hands tightened on my waist and suddenly my back was against a tree. I moaned at the sudden movement and his tongue swept along the edges of my lips, tantalising me with every movement. I tightened my grip on his hair, desperate to pull him closer, but suddenly my arms were empty and I was alone in the meadow.
"Jazz?" My voice was strangled as I tried to remember how to breathe.
"Give me a minute." His voice came out as strangled as mine did. I spun around, but still couldn't see him. "Sorry, I just— Give me a minute. I don't want to hurt you."
Oh. Oh. I couldn't help but smile. Oh, cowboy. I'm tougher than I look. I reached into the forest to find him.
"You won't." I followed the magic and found him leaning against a wall, eyes squeezed tightly shut. "I don't have to be a seer to know that."
I wound my magic through the vines still in the house and directed them to Jasper. His eyes flew open as the vines wrapped around his wrists, pulling him tightly against the wall.
I chuckled, trailing my finger over his arms, his chest. "You know, I think I've had this dream before. Just with less clothes."
"Alice…"
"You could always try keeping your hands to yourself if you're so worried." I rested my hands on his waist, fingers trailing underneath the edge of his shirt. I grinned wickedly at his tortured groan. "But I am definitely not keeping my hands to myself."
"Menace," he growled as I pressed soft kisses to the underside of his jaw.
"You don't have to worry about hurting me," I murmured between kisses. "I'm not some fragile mortal."
He looked like he wanted to disagree, but as I stepped between his legs, all thoughts clearly left his mind.
"How about we take it slow then?" My lips were a hairsbreadth from his.
"'Kay," he managed, closing the distance between us.
But I pulled away with a grin before he could. "Payback from before," I said, tapping his nose.
"You are an absolute menace," he repeated, looking disastrously delighted.
I dropped my magic, letting the vines around him loosen, and I laughed when he pulled me in for a hard kiss. I pulled back too soon, smiling when he chased my lips for another taste.
I pulled back laughing, "Steady on there, Mister. Take me to dinner at least."
"Now?" He raised an eyebrow and I shook my head, shoving at him gently.
"Why don't we try a normal conversation first?"
"There's nothing normal about you," he murmured, ducking in for another kiss before I could dodge not that I really would. "But, alright. How about I show you somewhere else I like?"
"My pants don't count, you know?" I snickered at his confused expression. I patted his chest. "Alright, show me this place of yours."
He interlaced our fingers and pulled me deeper into the forest behind the house.
~Scene~
It wasn't long before the trees cleared and we were faced with a view of all Forks. We were standing on the edge of a cliff, overlooking all of Forks and the reservation—even out as far as the ocean. We settled at the edge, our feet dangling over the treetops far below us.
"Wow," I sighed, taking in the view. "I can see why you like it."
I rested back on my hands and closed my eyes as the breeze blew through my hair. "It's even quieter up here."
He hummed. I opened my eyes to see him lying beside me, watching me with a small, soft smile.
I lay back beside him, my head pillowed by his arm as I rested against his side.
"We had a view kind of like this, you know," I said suddenly, staring up at the clouds but gesturing out over the forest. "In our first life."
"Mhmm?"
I closed my eyes, remembering how it had felt. "Nothing this fancy, of course, but there was a hill, out past the edge of town that looked over everything. I used to go up there on days when it got too much in the house. I'd go up, without telling anyone, and I'd just sit there, for hours." I laughed softly. "It used to drive Bella mad."
"And what did your parents think?" Jasper pillowed his own head with his other arm, propping himself up to see me better.
"No idea." I shrugged. "Our…sperm donor left the day Rose was born, and our mother died when I was…ten? I have no memories of him, and the ones I have of our mother are grainy at best."
"So you weren't born at the same time in your first life?" His brow furrowed and as I reached out to smooth it, he caught my hand, pressing it to his chest.
"Gods, no," I snorted. "Triplets born in the mid 1600s? We'd have been drowned before our first birthday."
"Well, I'm glad you weren't," he said with a near cheeky grin. "I'd have never met you then."
"A true tragedy," I agreed.
"So what happened after that?"
"We survived," I said simply, laying back down. "Bella made sure of it." I thought back to some of the things she had done for us. "She was down at the market every week, bartering for things we'd need—and always getting her way." I laughed. "I think at one point she even threatened to tell the butcher's wife about his cheating if he didn't give us meat every week. it was our first winter without mother."
"How old was she?"
"Thirteen."
He snorted. "That sounds like Bella. I take it the whole town was terrified of her?"
I shook my head. "No, actually. I think they respected her—until they burnt us alive, of course. I think they admired that she could take care of us and still have time to make sure no one messed with us." I stared up at the clouds, watching them flow above us. "She never took any nonsense from anyone, and she never let us either. She taught us to put ourselves as our first priority."
"She's the one who left the energy drink in your bag, isn't she?" Jasper guessed.
I gave him a curious look. "Yeah. She's always doing stuff like that. She always knows when I've had a bad night, even before I tell her." I shrugged. Bella had always been like that, even in our first life. "That's just what older sisters do."
"I wouldn't know," Jasper murmured. "I didn't have siblings as a human. I consider Edward and Emmett my brothers, but," he laughed, "I doubt they'd have been as kind as Bella."
"What was it like? Your human life?" I rolled onto my side so I was facing him and he curled his arm around my back.
"I can't remember much of it. All the memories seem murky," he explained, stroking my back. "Like seeing through stained glass. I remember my mother kissing my cheek when I left for the army, but I don't remember what she looked like. I don't remember my father at all—I think he might have died when I was young. In a war." Then he smiled, tender in memories. "But then I found a new family with Carlisle and Esme. They filled any gap my birth parents could have left."
'Your second chance." I murmured, intertwining our fingers on his chest. "I guess that's another thing we have in common. Our second chances at a family." I closed my eyes, inhaling the soothing scent of him. "So have you been with Carlisle and Esme since then?"
He tensed, his hand on my back freezing. "No. Not always."
I looked up. His eyes were unfocused, staring up at the clouds like whatever painful memory he could see was painted across the sky. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me."
He closed his eyes for a moment. "I want to."
I rested my head back against his chest and waited. Lying here with him was the calmest I had felt since coming to Forks; I could lie here, waiting for as long as he wanted.
"Her name was Maria." His voice was strangled with the pain and the weight of what he was remembering. "She was creating an army—an army of newborn vampires. She wanted control of all the territories in the South—and that's what she got. She was smart, careful—she never let the newborns live long enough to rebel—and she had me. With my ability to control emotions, she made me her second in command. I trained her newborns, an endless occupation of building them up into the perfect army, and then disposing of them when they'd outlived their usefulness.
"I hated every minute of it. I could feel everything they felt," his voice broke. "But I kept going anyway," he whispered. "Because I thought it was right. I thought she was right." He opened his eyes, betrayal and self-contempt swimming in his eyes. "But I was just her puppet. She pulled the strings—always dancing me at her command. And I couldn't leave. I hated every second of it, but I couldn't walk away. I didn't know there was another way." There was a quiver in his voice, a tremble that spoke of tears that wouldn't come.
"But then I made a mistake, and she started to hate me." His voice grew hard. "I knew I had to kill her first—before she could kill me, but I couldn't. She was the only thing in my existence that I cared for and despite how much I wanted to hate her—I couldn't." He breathed deeply. " then I met a group of witches," he smiled down at me, even as his eyes grew conflicted. "They showed me there was another way to live."
He looked away. "They showed me a better way to live, and I betrayed them."
I wanted to ask, so desperately, what on earth he meant—if this was what had set him off so suddenly that day behind the school—but he moved on quickly, likely sensing my burning curiosity.
"They led me to Carlisle and Esme, to my brothers, my family." His smile was real then. "And they taught me that I could live differently, that I didn't have to kill constantly." His smile took on a sardonic quality. "I didn't want to believe Carlisle, but there was something about his earnestness that made it impossible not to. He taught me that I could survive off animal blood—that I didn't have to feel the emotions of the humans I killed." His smile curled softer as he looked back at me. "After that, life wasn't so awful."
I sat up and kissed him before resting our foreheads together. "Thank you for telling me," I whispered. And I let the witches part drop. I was curious about what he'd done—what could have been so horrible he was still tortured by it—but apparently, we weren't there yet.
He cupped my cheek in his palms, his eyes turning tender and soft. "I think life will get even better with you in it."
I agreed. With Jasper I had changed already, even after a couple weeks. As we kissed, I could imagine how my future was changing with him in it.
That thought threatened to drag me back into the dread from earlier—back to the ridiculous thought that Jasper was somehow involved in the horrors that awaited us, that he might be one behind it. I shoved the thought down. No. There was no way in Circe's sweet favour I was going to ever believe for one moment that Jasper would hurt me.
I kissed him firmly, and he curled his fingers through my hair like he knew a fraction of what I was thinking. His lips trailed down the column of my throat and I gasped as his teeth scraped against my skin. never breaking it.
"Well that definitely answers the question about witch blood being unappealing to vampires," I groaned as his hands pulled me closer.
"Don't worry, darlin'," Jasper smirked. "The rest of you is definitely still appealing to this vampire."
"Flirt," I grinned.
In a smooth movement, too fast for me to detect, he rolled us over so he's hovering above me. "Darlin', you haven't seen anything yet."
I tilted my head and licked my lips. "Prove it."
He grinned in wicked delight and I couldn't help but laugh as he peppered my cheeks, neck and shoulders with featherlight kisses. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him down for a proper kiss (I have needs, dammit) when the clouds above us opened and Jasper lit up like a Yule tree.
"You, ah haha—did you roll around in glitter while I wasn't looking?" I raised an eyebrow, taking in his entire glittery form—it really did look like he was covered in glitter. Or tiny crystals.
He snorted, pulling back with a sigh I felt in my soul. "No, this is how we look in the sunlight. Carlisle could probably explain it better—Emmett just calls it our 'glittery shit'."
Yeah, that sounds like Emmett. "So you're all like this?" I snorted. "Oh, Bella's going to have a field day."
He laid back down beside me, watching me as I watched his glittery-ness. He waved a hand, half grinning lazily. "I can feel your questions bubbling—ask away."
I shook my head with a small laugh. "I think I'm just going to enjoy the first full sun I've seen since moving here."
I laid back down next to him, soaking up the heat that contrasted sharply with the cold body beside me. Jasper wrapped his arm around me and entwined our fingers on his chest again.
It really is a beautiful view, I thought, staring out once again over everything. The cottage isn't far away—I could sit out here at night and watch the stars with Jasper, and then we got back home to our cottage. Or sleep out under the stars where there aren't any walls to knock over, and we—
I blinked my eyes awake and breathed deeply as sleep tugged at the edges of my brain.
Jasper curled me closer and murmured, "Sleep. I won't let anything hurt you."
I shook my head minutely and whispered, half asleep, "No. The bad feelings come when I sleep."
He pressed a kiss to my forehead, "I'll keep the bad feelings away, darlin'. Sleep."
And I did. Curled in my heart's arms, I slept deeper than I had in years.
It was dark when I woke. In my sleep, I had curled further around Jasper until I was draped over him. I lifted my head from its place on his chest to look at him and he smiled.
"Hi," he murmured.
"Mhmm." I laid my head back down, ready to go back to sleep.
His chuckles reverberated through me. "As much as I'd love to watch you fall back asleep, we should probably get you back home. Bella called a few hours ago wanting to know if you were coming back home for dinner."
"Dinner? Don't be silly." I nestled back into my warm place in his arms. "It's just past midday."
He ran his fingers through my hair with a hum. "It's nearly one in the mornin'."
I sat up at that and looked around. He was right. It really was dark.
"How long was I asleep?"
"Above twelve hours."
"more than twelve hours?" I was shocked to say the least. I hadn't slept that long in a single day since I was a toddler. "But I didn't wake up!"
"I told you I wouldn't let you," he replied simply.
Looking down, I realized that in my astonishment I had sat on his chest. I stood up, holding my hand out to help him up too, smiling when he didn't let go.
I reached up to cup his cheek. "You are amazing." I couldn't help but grin at him. "That's the best sleep I've had in years."
He leaned into my touch. "The least I can do for the person who's made life worth smiling for," he said, making me melt.
He kissed me, deep and slow, and it was like coming home after a long day.
We pulled back with soft smiles meant only for each other. We had only known each other a few weeks, had only spent a few hours together—just us—but I already knew this man was my future. Some people might say we were rushing into this, that we should slow it down, but for a boy who lived life at warp speed and a girl who saw the future, slow took too long.
"You ready to head back?" he asked softly, rubbing our noses together.
"As long as we go fast." I pulled back with a smirk. "And go slow this time I know you were holding back on me."
He laughed softly, delightedly. "My apologies, ma'am. Fast it is."
He grabbed our things while I jumped on his back. This was fast becoming one of my favourite things to do—one of other things of course. Human blood was apparently a drug to vampires. This was my addiction (that and making out with a certain gorgeous vampire).
He chuckled, feeling my desire ramp up again. "Later, darlin'."
I kissed the side of his neck, his cheek, the arch of his ear. "Don't let me distract you then."
"Terror," he said fondly.
I tugged at his ear lobe with my teeth, grinning when he stumbled. "Come on, now. I'm late as it is."
The look he gave me said exactly what he thought of that and I giggled. I placed one last kiss on his cheek and said, "I'll behave."
He snorted. "No, you won't."
He took off running and suddenly we were in the open air. I shrieked, gripping him tightly as I stared at everything below us. Every time he showed me something new it always quickly became my favourite. It made me wonder what a lifetime of new experiences with him would be like.
He landed through the trees, ripping through the branches and I ducked my head to avoid any scratches. He quickly jumped back up grabbing a branch and suddenly we were off swinging.
~Scene~
All too soon he stopped and I was home. I stumbled off his back, giggling when I almost fell again. There was a look in his eyes as he watched me, and I couldn't help myself. I pulled him in with such force a mortal would have complained, but he just swept me up, kissing back harder. I pulled back after a hot moment, breathing heavily and unable to look away. His eyes flickered to something behind me and he huffed a soft laugh.
He dropped me softly back to the ground. "I should probably go. Bella might kill me." He nodded over my shoulder.
I turned to see my sisters watching from Rose's bedroom window. I gave them a cheeky wave and I could see Bella's fond eye roll from here. I turned back and gave him one last kiss, deep enough to feel in the depths of my soul before I pulled away reluctantly Bella might actually kill him. I turned to the house.
"Hey." I paused at the driveway to see him still standing there, hands in his pocket and eyes burning into me. "My family and I play baseball—you should come sometime. Your sisters too. You can see what we're really capable of."
I nodded, looking forward to it already. "When?"
He shrugged. "Next storm."
I reached out to the ever-present energy swirling at the edges of my reach. "Next weekend then." I thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Saturday next week."
His adorable brow puckered. "How could you possibly know that?"
"Storms are bad for scrying." I smiled as he walked closer, no doubt desperately wanting like I was. "As a seer, it's my job to know."
He rested his hands on my waist and ducked for another kiss, this one sweet and soft. "You are a wonder of mysteries."
He stepped away, reluctantly, before heading to the forest.
"Hey." He turned around and I pulled him in for another kiss. "You're picking me up for school tomorrow."
Jasper grinned. "Yes, ma'am."
Charlie's (3rd) POV
It passed midnight when Charlie heard the front door open. He breathed a sigh of relief once he heard Alice's voice; finally able to relax into his pillows. When he'd gotten home from work earlier—already late for dinner—he'd been worried when he'd heard Alice was out in the forest. Bella had assured him that she was absolutely safe with Jasper (and her pepper spray), but as a dad, he couldn't help but worry when his girls weren't safe at home. Particularly when there was a wild animal killing folks so close to town.
"You're back!" Rosalie cried, Charlie shook his head, she never was one to be quiet, or subtle. "Oh, my darling sister—how I've missed you!"
He smiled softly listening to them. Sometimes his daughters were odd, particularly Rosalie who was prone to dramatics whenever she thought it was warranted—which was always—but he wouldn't change a thing about them. They were his girls and he loved everything about them—dramatics and all.
"Yeah, right. You're just annoyed I wouldn't answer my phone to hear all your teasing," Alice replied, sounding like she was trying hard not to get wound up.
"Well, you are the one coming home late after spending the day and night with your gentleman caller." Bella laughed quietly. "And you wouldn't respond; what were we supposed to think?"
Alice groaned at their teasing. "I should have stayed with Jasper. At least he's nice to me."
Bella and Rosalie giggled loudly "Don't wake Dad," Alice admonished, but even she was giggling a little.
Charlie couldn't help but feel warm and happy inside. Recently they'd all started calling him 'dad' when they thought he wasn't listening, rather than just Charlie. They had always called him by his first name whenever they thought he wasn't listening—even when they were young—and it had made him feel like he was a stranger to them. He knew it was probably Renee's influence. Or the fact that I've barely seen them since they were seven, he thought regretfully. Really, he wished he could blame it all on his ex-wife, but he also knew he could have tried to visit more.
But lately they'd gone back to 'Dad' and he couldn't be happier.
Eventually the girls made their way upstairs and to their own rooms, settling in for the night. Charlie burrowed deeper under the covers, but didn't try to fall asleep. Ever since Waylon… Well, sleep wasn't an option lately. He couldn't. As the Chief of Police in Forks, he had a lot of people under his care, and if he couldn't stop this animal soon, then more people were going to die.
And he prayed to whatever god was listening that none of the future victims were his daughters. It might be wrong, but he couldn't help hoping every time a body was brought in that it was quite literally anyone else but his girls.
A few sleepless hours later Charlie heard soft padding past his door. He'd eventually given up on sleep and had moved to his desk to do some paperwork. He figured it was one of his girls heading for the bathroom, but then he heard them stop outside Alice's room.
"Feeling any better?" he heard Bella ask softly.
"A bit," Alice replied. "Just worried now." There was silence for a moment. "It got worse—when Jasper was around." She was quiet for a second before she whispered, "Tell me that doesn't mean what I think it means."
Charlie's heart broke at the pain in her voice. Bella didn't respond and Alice's voice cracked as she said, "He won't. I know he won't. He won't betray me, Bella. He won't."
Charlie sat up straighter. He didn't mean to eavesdrop, but these were thin walls and someone was breaking his daughter's heart.
He heard Bella walk further into the room, the bed squeaking as she sat on the edge. "He won't," Bella reassured her gently. "He loves you too much to even consider it."
"But that's what it means! It gets worse around anyone involved! Which means Jasper is involved! In whatever's coming for us!" Alice cried. "Last time this happened, we died!"
What the hell? Charlie thought. His mind immediately went to the most logical conclusion, thinking the girls had gotten into some sort of accident and possibly flat-lined. Just the thought made him pale before fury took over—he was going to throttle Renee for keeping something like that from him.
"But it went away, right? Your premonitions?" Bella replied softly, soothingly. Alice didn't respond and Bella must have taken that for a yes. "So don't worry about it. Let me handle it."
"Can you sing to me?" Alice asked after a moment, her voice so small Charlie's heart ached. "That lullaby you made up when we were kids?"
"Okay," Bella said softly. "Lie down. Careful not to wake Rose." there was a bit more squeaking and it seemed like they were changing positions
Charlie sat up in his chair, shamelessly listening in. He hadn't known Bella to be the creative type, so he was eager to hear about this song she'd made up.
"Hush, my rose, still, and look at the moon tonight. Do you see the shadows there?" Her voice was soft and melodic, and Charlie couldn't help but be reminded of how his grandmother had sung to him like that as a kid. "This world is full of twisty frights and spooks to scare."
"Feel how the wind blows through your bones;
See how the treetops shake and shiver;
Just like the wind;
We take to flight and make the grown men quiver."
There was something familiar about the lyrics that made Charlie sit up straighter.
"There is magic inside of you.
Hush, my rose, still;
And watch as they fly away;
With the moonlight on their wings;
You'll join their merry haunt someday;
Hear how they howl and sing."
That was when it clicked in Charlie's head. It was so familiar to him, because his grandmother had sung it to him when he was a kid. It had always made him so sleepy and warm.
"There is magic inside of you," he murmured, caught in the memory. Just hearing it again was close to putting him to sleep.
Charlie didn't need to be in the room to know Alice was asleep. There was a certain power to the song that just made you want to fall asleep when you heard it. He got up and headed for Alice's room.
Stopping at the open door, he watched as Bella sat against the headboard, both her sisters were curled up beside her. Rose had snuck in earlier during the night, something she often did if she couldn't sleep. Bella's head was bent so she hadn't seen him yet. r
"Hey, Bells," he whispered, not wanting to startle her, but her head snapped up anyway.
Were her eyes just violet? Charlie shook his head. Wow, I really am getting tired. Maybe I should ask for a tranquilizer dart from one of the Parks boys—that ought to really put me out.
"I didn't realise you were still awake," Bella murmured back.
"The school called me today," Charlie said quietly, watching his three girls lay curled around each other on his youngest's bed. He wanted to ask what they'd meant when they said Jasper was going to betray them. To ask about the 'thing' that was coming for them. But somehow he knew, in the tightness of Bella's shoulders, that she wouldn't answer.
Eventually he decided to broach a different subject: "Said Alice didn't come in for class. And then you said she was out with Jasper."
Bella nodded, her fingers drifting through Alice's hair. "She hasn't been sleeping well lately." Charlie nodded. Sharing a wall with Alice he was familiar with her frequent nightmares and sleepless nights. It was something that tore his heart out regularly. "She had a headache this morning that wouldn't go away so she went for a walk to try and clear it—and she fell asleep."
"I know you girls could probably take on a—" he fished around for the right word, "I don't know—a bear—by yourselves; probably just glare it away or something, but you should still be careful. For your old man's sake."
Bella laughed softly. "She was with Jasper, Dad. And they were still in sight of the school. No bear's gonna come that close."
Charlie frowned. He still wasn't sure he wanted his youngest wandering the woods with a strange boy, especially if he wasn't trustworthy. "I thought we didn't like the Cullen boys."
She huffed out a chuckle, looking like she wanted to roll her eyes at his dramatics. "Edward saved my life, remember?"
Except there was something in the way she said it like she hated the fact. She looked peaceful, lying next to her sisters, but Charlie hadn't worked his way up to being Chief of Police by just sitting on his butt. "Well, sure, but a little birdie told me that you and he got into it last week. Plus the amount of times I've been called up by the school for the fights you girls get into with the boys—or the drama you stir up. Not to mention how you look like you want to bite off his head every time his name comes up, and—"
"Okay, okay." She grinned ruefully and he finally smiled. "So maybe I don't like the Cullens," she looked at her sisters, her smile slipping, "but Jasper makes Alice happy, and Emmett treats Rose like she's a heavenly treasure. All I want is for them to be happy—so if the Cullens do that, then I'm okay with it."
Charlie's grin slipped a little. He didn't know what life was like with their mother—he knew it couldn't have been easy—but the last time he'd seen his girls they had been so light and carefree, and now they all seemed like the weight of the world was on their shoulders. He just wanted to sweep his baby girls into one giant hug and never let them go. Anything to let them be kids again. Instead, he walked over and pulled the covers tighter around all three of them.
"You don't have to carry it all, Bells. Let your old man carry some of it. That's what I'm here for." He brushed her hair out of her face and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Whatever you're going through, you're not alone anymore."
He walked out of the room, turning off the lights as he left, and so he didn't see the tear roll down Bella's cheek as she snuggled in closer to her sisters.