Emmett and I spent the rest of the morning playing chess in the living room. He and Rosalie had created a set of extra rules, expanding the playing field to two chess boards to keep the game interesting and going longer - even at vampire speed. However, it wasn't long before we added another two boards, a second set of pawns and four new rules to make our matches more interesting. The time flew by and I was about to take his queen when we heard a car coming up the drive way. "I only hear one engine, you loose", Emmett noted and ran to the front door. I followed on his heel, reminding him that we hadn't yet seen the end of the matter: "No premature conclusions, I only believe what I see with my own eyes."
He opened the door just in time for us to see Alice and Rosalie exiting the car, bags in hand. "Ha, one car. Pay up!", Emmett declared his victory and turned towards me in triumph. I took my purse out and tried to fathom how Alice had held herself back so much, when I noticed that Esme was missing. "Wait a minute, where's Esme?", I asked looking at the girls who were just coming up the stairs leading to the houses entrance. "We had too many bags, so she went to see Carlisle. His shift is over in a few minutes anyway and he can take her home", Rosalie explained, surprised that her words made Emmett curse. "Well that is interesting, isn't it Emmett?", I said and couldn't contain a triumphant smile, "It seems like you are the one who'll have to pay up."
"Oh no!", Rosalie groaned as she saw Emmett handing me five dollars, "Please don't tell me you are encouraging his betting obsession?" – "Encouraging and obviously winning", Alice commented as she reached us, several bags in both of her hands. I quickly put the bill away, took the bags from her and carrying them inside. With Emmett's help it didn't take more than a minute to assemble all the shopping in the kitchen and the girls spent most of the following hour cutting tags of the clothes they had bought. Emmett and I preferred to finish our chess match.
"Check and match", I said, finally taking Emmett's king and winning the game. My opponent grumbled and kicked my figures of the board: "Is there anything you are not good at? It's no fun this way." I shrugged my shoulders and picked up the fallen figurines. "I'm far from being good at everything. I only won the bet because I know how Alice shops. And I won this game because you were too occupied staring at Rosalie in between turns", I explained pointing a finger at how Emmett had gazed at his companion's behind whenever she walked by. And it had been frequently since she and Alice were carrying everything upstairs at the moment.
"Pha, you're just jealous Mr. Uptight", Emmett responded, joking around again, "I mean seriously, who sits like that for hours on end!" I looked down at myself and back to the dark-haired vampire: "What's wrong with the way I sit?" – "You look like you have swallowed a stick", Emmett replied and I just shrugged my shoulders again. This was not something I had ever noticed but it didn't surprise me. After all I had been army trained.
Picking up the leftovers of our game and putting everything back where it belonged, Emmett hovered around me before finally asking: "Come on, don't you have something to criticise as well?" I closed the board I had been working on and looked up, not getting what he was hinting at. "You should be a little more specific if you expect an answer from me", I replied and handed him the board. "Are you ever going to tell me what's wrong with my fighting style?", he blurted out, storing the boards into their designated place on the shelf and then turning to face me.
I smiled, remembering our fight from a few days ago. "There is nothing wrong with it, per se and I guess you'd be fine against most vampires. As long as your opponents are weaker than you anyway", I explained my comment from back then. "And yet you had an easy time winning at that as well", he replied and took a seat on the couch. "Oh please, it would have been a major disappointment if it had been otherwise. I have almost a century worth of fighting experience and you, how old are you again? 30 something?", I returned and placed myself in the armchair opposite him.
"I've been a vampire for 32 years, if that's what you are referring to", Emmett replied and I noticed that he was eyeing the exposed scars on my neck. "Did you ever lose a fight?", he asked without holding back and I shook my head: "Wouldn't be sitting here if I did." He nodded thoughtfully and looked at me for another minute before the smile returned to his face: "Well' it's a good thing then, that I do not plan to kill you." – "Nobody is going to kill anyone", Alice remarked, stepping into the living room and taking a seat on the armrest of the chair I was sitting in. "Never again", she added, looking at me with a gentle smile on her face, which I returned.
I started to relax and settle in with the others even more over the course of the next days. Having the burden of my history out of the way and experiencing how the Cullens welcomed us into their lives was something I would never have expected. I had always been sceptical of Alice's tales regarding this vegetarian family that would accept us – even me – as part of their own. But after living with them for only two weeks I knew, that she had been right. They truly were vampires capable of the love, kindness and forgiveness Alice had described, and I felt incredibly thankful and blessed for being able to get to know them.
The end of July approached and it wasn't too long before Emmett, Rosalie and Edward would be going back to College. I had finished reading through Carlisle's history of the last century and turned to some more classic literature like Hemmingway and Shakespeare, while at the same time expanding chess rules with Emmett and fleeing the house with Edward whenever his brother and sister couldn't contain themselves. It was a peaceful life and I enjoyed it more than I would have ever expected.
One night, Emmett and I were sitting on the floor, setting up our third chess match of the evening, when Rosalie and Alice entered the room, taking seats on the couch next to us. "I can't understand how you play this for hours on end. Don't you get bored?", Rosalie asked, half-heartedly flipping through a magazine. "It's fun. And besides, do you have any better ideas?", Emmett replied, placing his king and queen on the board. "Why don't you teach them one of the card games we used to play with Peter and Charlotte, Jazz?", Alice suddenly proposed and I looked up. Emmett was immediately intrigued, asking what game she was talking about. "It's just something we used to play back during my time with the Confederates", I explained but he seemed even more interested now, so I continued: "It's called stud poker, have you heard of it?"
"I've played some poker when I was in London in the 1920s but I would guess that what you're talking about is an earlier form of it?", Edward said, entering the room and taking a seat in one of the armchairs. "I don't know, I've only ever played 5-card-stud and Mexican stud but there are some other forms I have heard of over the years", I replied, getting up from the floor. "Well show us!", Emmett decided and Alice quickly ran upstairs to get my cards. She returned, tossing the deck over to me and I caught it, suggesting that we move to the dinner table. "I don't think we should really bet money. I would have an unfair advantage since I've played before and Edward and Alice would have an advantage as well", I suggested and Alice left her place at the table again. I had just dealt the first cards and started to explain how the game works, when she returned, placing a vase filled with white stones on the table. I recognized it instantly. This vase had d previously decorated the stairwell but the stones would be a good fit to replace coins.
I continued to explain the rules and how the betting system worked – Emmett was very excited about the latter – and then finally opened the first round. We were well into it, betting fifth street, when Carlisle came home and joined us. A few minutes later, the game was over. Rosalie won since even Edward and Alice's talents were useless against her good hand. Emmett was eager for a rematch and asked me to deal again, when Esme joined us as well. "Oh good, you are all here!", she said, taking a seat next to Carlisle. "The weather broadcast has been unusually sunny for the next few days and since some of you are going back to College in a couple of weeks, Carlisle and I were thinking it would be nice to go on a longer hunting trip, all of us together. We could head north for a few days, Carlisle still owns that nice hunting lodge near Juneau… What do you think?", she proposed and suddenly the game was forgotten. "Juneau? Grizzlies? Hell yeah!", Emmett responded, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
Nobody objected to the idea and so it was quickly decided, that we were going to leave within the hour. Everyone went to their room to pack for the trip and while Alice put a few days' worth of clothing into the backpack Esme had loaned us for the trip, I collected my book and the cards we just used. Once finished, we met up with everyone else downstairs and it wasn't before long that seven white shapes ran north, to fast for any human eye to recognize. We kept to the parks and wildlife reserve, crossing Banff, Jasper and Willmore before turning into Spatsizi Plateau. Alice and Edward continuously checked for hikers or hunters in the area to avoid any unfortunate run ins with humans and I was grateful for that. Without any bigger stops on the way, we reached the hunting lodge Esme had mentioned by noon – and boy was it beautiful.
The lodge was about 10 miles southwest from Juneau on a promontory, seated atop a small hill in the forest and overlooking a small inlet. While Alice followed the others into the house to settle in, I stayed outside, taking in the view for a moment. The sun was breaking through the clouds from time to time, reflecting on the clear and still water. As someone who had grown up and lived in the South for most of my life, I had always been astonished by the beauty of the north. The rugged landscape, the huge trees and deep blue lakes - it was something I would probably have never seen in my human life.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?", Alice approached from behind and climbed onto a tree stump next to me. "Yes, it is", I replied, turning towards her. Even standing on the stump she was still a good five inches smaller than me but that had never bothered me. "You are beautiful", I added and placed a short kiss on her lips, letting her taste the emotions that took a hold of me, whenever I looked at her. "I love you", she whispered softly when I let her go, keeping her voice down since these words were only meant for my ears. I smiled and replied: "I love you too" while gently taking her hands into mine. We stood silent for a moment, simply enjoying each other's company and the fact that we were lucky enough to be here together.
"Hey Jasper, are you coming or not?", Emmets voice finally interrupted our moment. He, Edward and I had decided to circle back to the mountains, looking for Grizzlies since Emmett insisted, that they were the most delicious and fun to hunt. "Be right there", I responded, without averting my gaze from Alice's deep golden eyes. "Go, I'll wait for you. That's one thing I am really good at", she said, donning a happy smile and gesturing towards the lodge where Edward and Emmett waited for me. Gently squeezing her hand one last time, I finally let go and ran back to the others.
Our search for the big bears took us about 60 miles inland and into dense forest. Emmett was the first one to smell his favourite snack, however, he did not immediately act on it. "You go ahead", he proposed to me and I raised an eyebrow, surprised at the offer. "Come on, the whole reason of this trip is to convince you that grizzly tastes better than mountain lion", he added and pointed into the direction of the bear while shooting Edward a triumphant look. "Wait, you are using me to settle whose favourite is better?", I realized and shook my head. Their restraint astonished me. "Go on Jasper, Emmett needs to be told a lesson", Edward pointed out and without flashing them another look, I took off. My throat had been burning for a good two hours and I was glad to finally appease my thirst.
I found the bear quickly, so fast in fact, that it didn't even see me coming. With all my force I slammed into the beast and threw it against the closest tree. The grizzly yelped and roared, getting back up on his paws again and charged towards me. But being the superior predator, I had no trouble in evading his attack and breaking its neck in the process. Without hesitating a moment longer I sunk my teeth into its flesh. The warm blood running down the inside of my throat was a relief but the taste was still revolting. Comparing this to human blood would be like comparing stale beer to a fine wine, although the blood of carnivores was less repulsive than the life juice of its plant eating relatives. Dropping the drained carcass I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and turned back towards where Edward and Emmett were standing. They were closer than I expected and I was reliefed I hadn't noticed them earlier. Who knew, if I would have attacked them in my bloodrage.
"You really need to learn a lot", Emmett schooled me and shook his head, "One does not simply kill a Grizzly like that. You need to savour the hunt, make them angry, fight for a while!" This proposition sounded completely ridiculous to me and I raised an eyebrow. "What fun would it be to fight an animal? They are no match for our kind. You'd have to be careful not to break their fragile bones with every move", I commented and Emmett wanted to object, when a loud roar interrupted him. Another bear, bigger than the one I had killed, appeared and Emmett grinned. "I'll show you how it's done", he exclaimed and I felt his anticipation while he ran towards the Grizzly. The beast seemed pretty angry already and I wondered if I had just killed its mate. If that was the case, it would be a mercy to kill it. I couldn't imagine having to live on without Alice if something happened to her.
Edward and I watched Emmett fight the animal and it was like I had predicted: the bear was no match for him. However, he seemed determined to make this fight last and managed to evade the Grizzly's attack without inflicting any major injuries to the animal. "His mother certainly never told him that one should not play with one's food", I commented as I watched the back and forth and Edward chuckled, without commenting on the matter any further. A few minutes later, Emmett delivered the final blow and sunk his teeth into the flesh. I could smell the blood from where I stood and while animal blood was way less tempting than human would ever be, my throat still flared up again. Trying to distract myself from the blood, I turned towards Edward and asked: "Don't you have to hunt to?" He shook his head without taking his gaze from the scene before us: "No, I'm fine for now but I'll seek out some mountain lions with Carlisle tomorrow or the day after that. You are welcome to join us."
I had noticed, that the Cullens hunted way less than I was used to. That I needed to. It had been the same with Alice, when we were travelling together, only less extreme. While she usually hunted every five to six days, this trip had been the first time I saw any of the others hunt since we met them two weeks ago. Two weeks – that sounded like forever for to me. I needed blood at least every three to four days, more often if I was to spend time around humans. "This will change over time as well. You're just not used to go for longer times. From what you've shown me, I gathered that blood was flowing frequently in the South?", Edward addressed my thoughts once again but it didn't bother me as much as it had at the beginning. "More or less every other day, I guess… Maria used it to reward us", I replied and added And she had many reasons to reward me frequently during my first years.