Thank you lovely people for the reviews I received. I've been on a roll with this story and there are two more chapters ready and on the reviewing. It's amazing to me that you're enjoying it (English is not my first language so bear with me if some grammar slips or something feels odd), I adore writing but even more, I love reading that the stories are connecting to people
It wasn't arduous for them to find a reserved spot away from prying eyes with the diner only half-empty. Their hands clasped together was a sensation Alice yearned for the most extended time and induced in Jasper an agitation he hadn't experienced previously. None of them wanted to break from that, but they did unwillingly. Jasper was the one to break it, but before Alice could object, she had a vision that he would pull the chair for her, like the charming southern gentleman he was.
"Thank you." She hummed when the vision came to life, and she secured the seat he was holding for her. Alice awaited him to join across from her, and the minute Jasper did so, her hand enveloped his across the table.
Quite meticulously, Jasper observed the display. He wasn't genuinely accustomed to anyone of their species acting so forwardly and pleasant, especially not toward him. Sure there had been Maria in his life, and although their involvement wasn't just mere business, it was shallow in the very core. This wasn't courtship or lewd desire, no, it was nothing like it. That was intimate and personal in its essence.
For Alice, it all felt so familiar. But she didn't dismiss the fact that for Jasper, things appeared in a whole distinct way. She knew they had numerous details to discuss, and there was so much she had to tell him too. They wouldn't get into it all there at the luncheonette. But time wasn't an obstacle any longer. They had forever. Alice didn't see them ever parting after this moment on, so her heart could quiet and unwind.
She examined his eyes, and like she had foretold, he would be starving. The matter of the diet would have to come up sooner than later.
"I'm Alice, by the way." She said sweetly.
"And I'm J-"
"Jasper. I know."
He was quite shocked at the realization she knew his name. He had said so with such confidence, such firm conviction. He couldn't utter another word just yet, so Alice continued.
"I see you have a million questions," Alice said because she saw it all coming before Jasper spoke them aloud. Alice would withhold the talk about her talents for the moment, while the manageable questions were still circling.
"Am I that easy to read?" His question made her smile, and she shook her head hastily.
"I'm just assuming that from how surprised you were to see me just a second ago." Jasper scoffed amusedly, nodding.
"I must admit I haven't seen any approach as fierce as that not ending in a fight." She knew of that. Alice had also considered he would believe she was going to strike him. Throughout all the scenarios played in her mind, this one had the best outcome. Some parts were even startling her here and there.
"Jasper, I'm not going to hurt you." She found herself in awe, saying his name so clearly and aloud. Alice had repeated it so often in her mind; it felt comfortable rolling out of her tongue.
"You knew I would come here, and you know my name, should I be worried?" He didn't feel concerned, surprisingly enough. All the emotions arising, the feelings she was emanating, were soothing and appealing.
"No, Major, you shouldn't," Alice responded, beaming.
"What is about you, Alice, that is so intriguing?" Jasper could perceive she was unlike any other vampire he had met. She was gifted; indeed, similarly, he had his own abilities. But he couldn't wholly grasp what hers were. There was also... More. Something in her aura evoked Jasper of the good old days when he was still a youthful chap serving the troops, a human.
He had no manners to articulate it. There was only hope.
"The possibility, I suppose." She said simply. Jasper wasn't sure he caught up on that correctly.
"We will find out, I guess." Alice nodded at his words.
"Tell me, it's Alice what?"
"Just Alice, for now." Her orbs faltered down, reflecting momentaneously on her past, which she knew nothing of. It disconcerted her from time to time to have no history, no recollection of what she had been. It wasn't often that those judgments befell, but they always got the best of her, even if for just a second.
Alice felt a flow of peace attaining her, winning over every inch of her figure. It was unlike what she had experienced before because it was so abrupt, so uncontrollable, so... It was Jasper. The vision came to her right there and then, not a prospective one but rather something she had seen a while ago. Maria ordered Jasper to control the newborns' emotions, which appeared to have upset him back then. Alice hadn't thoroughly comprehended it, but he seemed to have a way associating to the creations. Now she endured it, though. He could literally command the emotions that encircled him. That was how his gift worked. It mesmerized her.
Jasper felt all of that too. The sudden sadness, the stillness he extended toward her emanating back, the astonishment with the sentiment, and at last, she was at ease. He didn't need to soothe her, but he felt strongly inclined to brush his thumb against her hand. Somehow the gesture was welcomed as Alice's eyes greeted him after that.
"Don't like or don't wish to tell?" He questioned, after a moment of comfortable silence sank.
Alice opened her mouth with a sigh, "Don't recall, actually. I have no remembrance of uh, my former life." She didn't need to be explicit for him to understand; he simply nodded. "Just the present, from the day I woke changed." And the future, she added mentally. Jasper was mesmerized already. He honestly had little knowledge of life outside the war field he had existed in for so long. What baffled him more was as to why she didn't remember her past. Jasper knew every bit of who he had been before becoming a vampire. Although it was a scattered consciousness now, he hadn't forgotten it ever. Perhaps it was associated with the gift she bore, he meditated.
"How long have you been changed?" Jasper tried a more straightforward mystery, knowingly how the name appeared to have disturbed her. It mustn't have been comfortable for her, not knowing it all.
"Since 1920, I was all on my own." That took Jasper by an even greater astonishment. To think a vampire would change someone like Alice and not be there, or use her to their aid was incomprehensible to him. But that only enhanced more questions. Alice knew they would come as they went on, and she was ready to answer. There was no part of her that she wanted to hide from Jasper. But she still played with her choices and the visions in her mind as they befell.
"How?"
"I don't really know, I simply woke up." She shrugged before Jasper carried on.
"So, you don't know who changed you?" Alice shook her head. "Or who you used to be?" With the repetition of her signal, Jasper seemed to be getting more and more involved. "I'm taking, then you picked your name?"
That made her giggle softly, swaying her head yet a third time. "Not exactly, no. You helped me."
"I deem I would remember assisting you, Alice." Spontaneously they both shared a spark. Jasper felt utterly comfortable with her, something he hadn't ever had the prospect to feel. Always grieved, always ready to battle. To have such pleasant conversations with one of his kind, to be in such an inebriating atmosphere, was something that Jasper enormously obliged.
Alice repeated his kind gesture from before, stroking his palm with her index finger, "You're not the only gifted one, Major Whitlock."
"I noticed. I just couldn't entirely grasp what it is." He peered at her curiously, almost as if he was striving to read it off her. Alice solely smirked.
"In a second, I'll clarify, we're about to get company." He frowned at her statement and walking behind Alice came the waitress, carrying her small notepad.
"I see your friend showed up, Alice." By Caroline's tone, it was pretty understandable that the duo looked nothing like just friends. The waitress gaped the perplexed blonde with a flair of intimidation, and that made Jasper eye her and immediately calm her down. She smiled at last, "Would you like to order something or just coffee like your pal here?"
"No, thank you, ma'am." Jasper truly didn't see the point in ordering something he wasn't going to touch.
"Anything to eat?" Caroline suggested, stupefied for a second how striking the man seemed to be.
"We'll be heading out soon, actually, just waiting for the storm to ease. But thank you, Caroline." Alice informed the waitress, who agreed warmly and left them to it.
Jasper didn't delay to ask, "How did you know she was coming?" He was already starting the math inside his head, but somehow he obliged to gather it coming from her.
Alice ran the events of her answer in her mind. If she trailed off, he wouldn't trust her; if she lied, he would walk away. But in fact, there was never anything else but the truth in her resolution.
"I told you, you're not the only one with gifts, Jasper."
"And you know that I do. You also knew me and that I would be here. Then about the server was coming up to the table." She could see he was building hypotheses, and that made her smile affectionately.
"You have a theory."
Jasper nodded, "Mindreader?" Alice had to giggle, swaying her head.
"I have visions." She declared, in a fainter tone. Jasper was visibly astonished, but he was also undoubtedly impressed.
"You saw me coming." He gathered, and she nodded.
"You were the very first thing I saw. You were saying my name, that's how I knew it in the first place." Alice clarified naturally. There was a hint of concern overtaking her, and she knew it wasn't coming from Jasper; it was her own. Indeed, he would feel it, but Alice couldn't prevent it. The sudden serenity came following fast and she smiled passionately at him. "Thank you." Alice softened.
"Why are you worried?" He queried. As much as Jasper had a powerful grasp of emotions, hers were brand new to him. He was trying to read her better, to figure her out.
"I don't want to terrify you." She was crystal clear, looking down for a bashful moment. "It's an understatement to say I can be overwhelming."
"Actually, I find your presence quite calming." He chuckled out air, and the sound of his laughter made something drum inside Alice. It was the most fantastic sound. "So, that's how I helped you?"
"One of the ways, yes." Alice nodded her head once, rather quickly. "I saw we were going to meet here. You were the only I kenned when I woke up, my mind connected to yours more than once. You see, how my capabilities work is when a choice is made, I can see everything more clearly. Before that, it's only a billion possibilities. Not with you, I always saw you so clearly."
"And you have been viewing these images of me since you woke up?" Alice nodded, and Jasper quickly added, "Twenty-eight years."
"I told you, you've kept me waiting a long time." Jasper smiled at that. There was silence for a moment. His mind dawdled on the comfortable fit the delicate hand had inside his, how befitting it all felt.
"You're so complex, different." He whispered, tracing her knuckles with his index finger. Jasper carried on almost as an inner soliloquy, "There's something about your vehemence. Your emotions are nothing like I have ever undergone before, Alice. And believe me, I have experienced a lot."
"Tell me about your gift." She pleaded.
"Don't you know it already?"
Alice giggled, shaking her head, "I know you possess it and that it affects peoples emotions. I'm assuming I felt it just a while ago." Jasper nodded. "But I don't comprehend completely how it operates. Tell me." The very second he settled on telling her, Alice saw it all, but she nevertheless desired to hear it. She wouldn't want to discourage him. Besides, hearing Jasper converse was close to a sweet cradlesong.
"I'm an empath. I can feel and affect the atmosphere in numerous distinct ways. Not solely transferring to people a particular sentiment, but inundating them in a cloud of those sensations as well as hiding one's emotions completely, in a way others couldn't even regard their presence." She gulped in nearly enthusiasm.
"That's impressive, Jasper."
"I suppose. Many thought so." His face grew a frown, but Alice's emotions were nothing if not supportive and relaxing.
"I'm not like Maria, Jasper." He shouldn't have been stunned that she knew the woman's name, but it still showed that he was. It made Alice grin. "Twenty-eight years, remember?"
Jasper nodded and appended, "You don't feel like her." He agreed.
"I didn't witness your abilities first, I saw you. Your smile, your eyes." Alice had to stop herself before she carried on because there was more to her vision than she let on. But the remark of the eyes caught Jasper back on a point he had been interested in.
"How is it that your eyes are so light and golden and not the usual bright red?" He questioned curiously, and it made Alice simper.
"I have a different diet." That appeared to only confuse Jasper even further. "Bears, mountain lions, deers..." Alice clarified, and Jasper snorted in utter surprise. "I know it's unusual."
"To say the least!" He chuckled amusedly. He marveled at what had lead her to try it in the first place. Perhaps it had to do with the fact she awoke by herself and had no idea how to get by. "But you have savored...?" Jasper's eyes trailed to a few tables down where a couple chatted excitedly, and suddenly he became more aware of his hunger. A scratch of thirst provoking him. There was an anxious desire for human blood flooding out of him, and Alice gave his hand a small squeeze. She tasted those emotions, too, unlike she had endured in years. His eyes hunted back to hers, somewhat apologetically.
"I have tried. When I first awoke. But the visions showed me new alternatives, possibilities." Alice clarified, and Jasper yielded her a nod. "It's different, catering from animals. Like vegetarianism, you get full and the hunger eases, but it's as if you're never absolutely fulfilled. There were misfortunes, of course, notably at the start. A human walking way too close, someone getting an injury within a mile from me. But I learned to control myself, to focus on not desiring to kill. I've been excellent for a few years now."
The proudness in Alice's tone made Jasper smile with admiration. She was so intricate, so witty. "I never knew there were other options."
"Your life and the people around you had different faiths. But you don't ever have to do that anymore. If you fancy, I could practice with you." Even if Jasper didn't want to follow her dietary methods, she didn't see herself walking away from him. Ever. "You can be whoever you want to be now, Jasper." She would stand by him, no matter what.
Truly, Jasper comprehended little of a world that wasn't loaded with killing, fighting, manipulating. It had become tiring for him for a few years now. But being there with Alice in that diner brought him a tremendous peace. It brought him the purest hope.
Alice felt such hope as well and then their gaze engaged profusely, intensely. They were silent for what a human would have thought it was a long interval, lasted minutes even. But they were taking their time sensing each other in.
Jasper was the one to break the silence, "Where do we begin?"
The storm had quieted down in the area when Alice and Jasper hopped out. She prompted her umbrella open, and Jasper gave an amused gaze. Before he could question it out loud, Alice played the next vision in her own mind.
"I just enjoy mingling in, it makes me feel more like them." He could smile cordially at that. Alice motioned with her head for him to join her below the umbrella and Jasper obliged.
"May I?" He pointed the umbrella, and she handed it to him.
Jasper carried it, covering more of her than himself, but the closeness provided him the opening to glide his arm around her waistline, a hand halting on her lower back. Alice glanced up with the movement, and for an intense moment, he was examining her emotions, endeavoring to determine whether he'd been too forward or not.
There had been decades since Jasper felt that way, so irrationally moved by a woman. He was over a hundred years old now, and before Maria came into his life, he had met women over the years. When Jasper joined the confederates army, he was young, the youngest there was, but that didn't change the fact he had been a teenage boy even before. Jasper had courted girls before. He was invariably very polite but very charming as well. All that seemed way too long ago, and yet Alice made him feel like the human he had been all over again. That vivid young soldier full of expectations and aspirations.
All Alice could feel, with their closeness, was utterly ecstatic. She had fallen in love with Jasper the minute she first saw him in that vision, eyes intense, so scared but so beautiful. She loved him for twenty-eight years before they met. Being there with him now, by his side, at last, was all Alice had hoped for.
Jasper felt that thrilling sensation emanating from her, so he took the move wasn't too grave. And then he relaxed again, "Where are we going?"
"My home." Ever since leaving Vermont, Alice had rented another residence, nearby Philadelphia, just an hour drive out from the city's main center, in an area where it would be more inconspicuous for her to feed. "I see you need to hunt, and if you want to give my methods a try still..."
"I do." Jasper didn't know why he wanted to satisfy her so badly, but sure, he would give the animals a try if it implied he didn't have to torturously kill another person.
"We can hunt there, it's way outside the city."
Jasper smiled playfully, "How do I know you're not taking me there to take me down?" It made Alice chuckle.
"You'll just have to trust me." This tiny vampire was not one that Jasper would typically be worried about attacking him, but he felt he already had fallen under her spell and it wasn't something he aspired to run away from.
And he also didn't know how but he felt strongly that he could trust her blindly. "Lead the way, Alice."
Although driving would have taken them an hour to make it there, once they were out of the streets and into the woods, Alice told Jasper not to bother about the umbrella and sped through the pine forest. Alice led the way, but Jasper followed right behind, just as close. Outsiders would think he was trying to catch her, but he was catching up. Alice was impressively fast for her size, and Jasper felt he had underestimated her again. Not any longer. They dived deep in the woods, turning every once in a while, jumping one or two broken trees. Both of them were soaked from the drizzle when they made it to the small cabin hidden in that pine forest's depth. There was a short path that led to it and before a little fence and a metal gate.
"Voilá!" Alice said in sheer enthusiasm.
Jasper examined the place and somehow thought it looked so suiting of the woman he had just met. Funnily enough, he knew so little of her and felt as if the cottage couldn't be more her. It was simple but not the slightest modest with the well-kept flower arrangements, the pots set on the porch, and a swing. Very southern, Jasper thought to himself as he gaped if she had selected the porch with the swing because she recognized he would appreciate it. Undoubtedly a possibility that he mused.
"That's a darn charming house, Alice."
"It is, isn't it?!" She gleamed, holding his hand in hers.
The gesture was still something Jasper wasn't accustomed to, but the overwhelmingly soothing sentiment that always resulted was reassuring. And for a moment, Jasper realized that the emotion was formed within. It wasn't Alice herself that tranquilized when they touched; it was he who got that sudden peace when she held him. On the other hand, she was filled with excitement and delight, as he noticed while letting her drag him through the gate and the stone path leading to the house.
"I wasn't certain when you would come, so I busied myself. There are numerous books here if you ever get jaded." She rambled as they walked up the two steps to the porch.
"I don't think I could grow bored of you, Alice." There was something about the way her name rolled out of his tongue that sent a tingle down her spine. She blandly smiled over her shoulder toward him before ramming the house door open.
The place inside was even more remarkable. The extent was very quaint, a roomy living room with two couches and a television set. A small rocking chair dwelled right by it, and behind there was a counter that led to a small kitchen, which immediately made Jasper frown.
"A kitchen?"
"Blending in." She noted simply. "Not many humans haunting the place, but you never know!"
Jasper nodded, and his eyes continued to inspect the room. There was a small hallway with two other doors and a flight of stairs with some nooks underneath, adorned with art pieces. On the walls, that were a pastel grey shade, a few paintings from the renaissance era, all very feminine and bright. The place conjointly was an outstanding combination of refinement in art and books.
"You weren't kidding about the books." Jasper teased, and Alice grinned.
"Come, let me show you my studio." She strolled with him still in hand to the first door. The room was neatly organized, boxes everywhere with needles, threads, ribbons, fabrics, patterns, buttons, and sewing needs. By the window, there was a large wooden table with fabrics stacked on the side and a sewing machine in the center.
"You sew." In fact, it was quite clear that she did, he just voiced out loud and Alice nodded.
"I found myself searching for a hobby, and I absolutely love fashion." There was such enthusiasm in her voice, and the climate around them was suddenly similar to a five-year-old on a sugar rush. "It's just so fascinating how it shifts throughout the years, with history clothing is always following."
"I can attest to that." He had seen quite a lot of adjusting himself.
"How old are you now, Jasper?" Once he decided to tell, she would obviously know, but never having that talk with him, she didn't precisely.
"A hundred and four." Jasper cleared his throat a little, and Alice thought he might be bothered by the age he had, but then it sunk.
"Ah, you're still hungry! I'm sorry, I entirely forgot, I fed before we met." She said, but Jasper shook his head gracefully.
"Show me around, I'm enjoying learning more about you." And he felt there was still so much more to know, to find out.
"Are you sure?"
"I've had to endure long periods without feeding." Casually, Alice grazed his hand.
"That door is just a bathroom, I mainly use it as a beauty room." She shrugged and led their way up the stairs where two more doors awaited.
Alice started the first door to reveal a modest room. Two tall shelves covered one of the walls; one was filled with books while the other was completely bare. There were also two sofas by the window and a lamp.
"I cleared that for you." She explained quite frankly, smiling at him. "I'm not sure you'll enjoy all the novels I fancy reading." That solved the boxes of books he had seen on the first floor. Jasper pondered for a moment how kind it had been of her to do so. It seemed like such a human life to have a single place to live, a home full of life, books, art, details. Nothing close to what Jasper had in the past hundred years. One could find themselves oddly alarmed by the possibilities it all implied, but somehow Jasper felt at ease. It was peculiar, but nothing ever felt more suitable than being with Alice.
"Thank you." He said as they stepped out of the room to the second door. A bed spaciously took the middle of the bedroom, and Jasper got genuinely puzzled by it. "Does the animal diet make you sleep?"
"No." Alice shook her head considerably promptly, but it was a vision a little harder to explain. As clear and easy as it all played in her mind, declaring it out loud was entirely another thing, aside for reasonably being too early yet for that sort of development. She knew Jasper was a gentleman through it all, so she didn't see it emerging to reality just yet. Instead, she went with a different alternative for the bed. "I like lying down to read. There's also something very charming about an actual bed in the room, don't you think?"
Alice had her own ways of trailing off things, but Jasper was a clever man. He was not young nor naive, and he caught up to it. But her was anything but forward, so he pointed the two doors inside the bedroom.
"Closet and bathroom?" He asked about each.
"The other way around, but yes." Alice nodded and continued. "Actually, let me show you something."
She let go of Jasper's hand to walk up to the closet. Inside the tiny space, she lit up a small bulb that dangled from the ceiling. The little room displayed several of Alice's creation and purchases on one side, while on the other, a few male clothes hung.
"I got you some things, made some as well. I presumed you might need a few changes, particularly after feeding the first few times."
Jasper smiled at her so genuinely. "That is very kind, Alice. You didn't have to."
"Honestly, you're the one indulging me when you let me do that. I truly enjoy it." Alice promised, looking back at him and then, only then, noticing their proximity. She had been so pleased about the clothes she didn't see neither predict his approach. That surprised her, and Jasper caught up to that emotion. He hadn't managed to surprise her all that often.
Both took in their height differences as Alice had to look up at him to meet his gaze. Standing just an inch away from each other, Jasper could smell how luscious her scent was. She was a remarkable little creature, so petite and yet so fierce. What was it about her that got Jasper, this resolute skeptical being, so at ease and trusting?
If Alice's heart still beat, it would have been slamming against her chest, drawing a flush of redness to her cheeks. His scent enveloped her like a magnet. Her orbs caught up on a few battle scars he bore on his neck and jaw, the only parts flashed. They were crescents like the sole one her body carried and exactly on the spots she'd seen in her visions. Alice hadn't stood so close to him earlier, neither at the diner, and that gave her an excellent prospect glimpse Jasper. It was all more pleasant than she had presumed it would feel. Intuitively she reached out to touch one of the scars, and Jasper retracted.
There was a pause in her journey, and then he let her carry on, inspecting the marks with light fingertips.
"Do they bother you?"
"No," Alice said firmly, looking at his onyx iris. "Will you tell me about them later?"
Jasper knew Alice would foresee it the minute he decided to, but he would still do it if she wanted to hear who he really was.
"I don't want to scare you..." He echoed her words from before, and as Alice beamed, he added, "...Away."
"There's nothing you could say or do that would scare me away from you."
And Jasper knew she meant it, so he would tell her everything.
"How about you teach me how to hunt first?"
Alice nodded immediately and took his hand again. They were quickly leaving the house into the woods again faster than they had made it inside the house before.
"Let's find your prey, Jasper."