We didn't hurry to get back to the lodge and made a wide circle around the area the wounded hiker had been in. But eventually, we arrived at the house and I couldn't help but stiffen up by the sight of it. Alice noticed the change in my behaviour and stopped. "Have you seen what they are going to do? Are they going to send us away?", I asked under my breath, so that they would not be able to hear it. "Of course they will not! Family doesn't give up on each other", she replied as if this was the most natural thing in the world. But it wasn't to me. To me, the world could be reduced to a simple chain of cause and reaction: You mess up, you get punished. And Maria always took her time to deliver the second part.

Alice guided me towards the front door and once we entered, I immediately wanted to turn around and leave again. Rosalie and Emmett were clearly more interested in each other than in our return. Unfortunately, I also couldn't spot my usual accomplice in these situations anywhere and concluded that Edward most probably had already fled the scene. Before I could say anything about the situation to Alice, Carlisle appeared. He had changed and his eyes were now a bright gold. "Jasper, might I have a word?", the patriarch requested and I immediately saw a way to get out of here. And I needed that right now "Of course. Would you mind if we took this outside?"

Feeling a bit unwary, I followed Carlisle outside. I was thankful to him for not delivering whatever punishment he had decided on, in front of the others. Or at least I hoped that that's what him granting my request for a walk, meant. Following him into the woods, I wondered about the nature of it. I hadn't first-hand witnessed any punishments during my time in the army, though I knew that flogging was a popular choice. Nothing that would ever work on a vampire, unless maybe if the whip was lined with our venom. Maria, on the other hand, had devised a number of ways to discipline her soldiers that managed to put any vampire into a world of hurt. Next to the common punishments for newborns in the South, including starvation, isolation, dismemberment or death, she also implemented a set of more sadistic physical and psychological forms of punishment and she liked to take her time with it. I had been more or less lucky, only having been subject of her fury a handful of times, but I would never forget them.

From what Alice had always told me and what I observed myself over the course of the last few weeks, Carlisle, however, wasn't the violent or sadistic type - and this made him borderline unpredictable regarding my punishment. His emotions didn't help me either, since he didn't show any signs of anger or reproach. All I could feel from him was compassion, mixed with the occasional flash of worry. The blonde vampire stopped when we were about a mile from the house and turned towards me. I approached, carefully keeping eye contact with my superior. "I am truly sorry I attacked you and Edward, and I take full responsibility for my actions", I apologized and bowed my head. "I forgive you Jasper. I know you didn't mean to hurt us", Carlisle replied, and the pure force of his compassion, understanding and forgiveness shook my whole body. I was not used to this kind of emotions and I had no idea to handle them. Especially not, since I expected him to punish me for my misdemeanour.

Carlisle seemed to notice my confusion and I could feel worry lighting up inside him. "Is everything alright Jasper?", he asked and I stood still like a good soldier would, even though everything in me screamed to run. "I'm not sure... I don't understand", I replied and couldn't stand to be this close to him any longer. His emotions were so overpowering that it became difficult to distinguish them from mine. Thus, I took a step back. Now that his compassion wasn't so omnipresent anymore, I could finally sort through my thoughts and express myself: "I didn't expect you to forgive me…" Perplexedly, I watched as a gentle smile appeared on the doctor's face. "Unfortunately, none of us can truly understand the struggle this must be for your Jasper. But no one in our family is ever going to blame you for it. We can all see that you are trying your best", he assured, and I let another wave of his emotions pass over me, calming my nerves. I had been wrong – perhaps it was worse to just be forgiven. I would have taken any punishment over this right now, since I truly had no way to handle this much compassion. "However, there is something related to this, I want to talk to you about", he continued and started walking again. I shook my head in an effort to clear it, and then quickly followed him.

"I'm glad that we were able to restrain you but - I don't want to lie to you - it was a close call. Too close for my taste. One of us could have been hurt." I resisted the urge to apologize again, since it was not appropriate to interrupt one's superior. "We have to expect that this was not the last time that such a situation will occur and I would be more comfortable moving forward, if I knew that we are able to hold ourselves against you", he concluded and now turned his head to look at me. "You want me to train you?", I asked, not believing what I just heard. "Yes, me, Emmett and Edward. Maybe Rosalie and Esme, if they want to." The request came as a complete surprise and though I could understand where it was coming from, it also made me wary. If I truly wanted to prepare them for another situation like this, I would be teaching three strong vampires - one of which with an incredibly powerful gift – how to fight and eventually win against me. I would have to reveal my weaknesses, devise strategies on how to take myself down. This could have disastrous effects, if the day came when I would have to fight them. But then again, even though it was nicely formulated as a request, it felt more like a command. One I couldn't turn down.

"If you wish, but I'll need a few days to prepare", I responded still trying to understand the man and his intentions. "Of course, we don't want to rush you." Carlisle turned onto a small footpath and we continued uphill until we reached the top. The treeline faded and revealed a breath-taking view of the sea and the surrounding mountains. I turned towards the see, my eyes were fixated on the panorama for a moment as Carlisle stepped next to me. "There is a second thing I wanted to talk to you about. Like I said before, we cannot truly comprehend what you are going through since neither my children, nor Esme or I have ever truly lived on human blood for an extended period of time. However, we have friends up here who have gone through the transition to vegetarianism as well. And I was wondering if you maybe would like to meet them?", he suggested, and my gaze shifted from the horizon to his face.

"Friends?", I echoed. "Yes, although we usually refer to them as our cousins. Their family is made up of three sisters, Tanya, Kate and Irina, and a pair, Eleazar and Carmen", he explained, and my eyes widened. Five. Another coven of five vampires that were living peacefully together. Or that's what I believed they did as Carlisle called them a "family" as well. How was this possible? It must be the blood. I suddenly realised. Maybe animal blood didn't only make our kind weaker but also less provocative. But still, even if this hypothesis turned out to be correct, it was a great risk to meet five strangers, especially since I wasn't one hundred percent sure whether I could trust the Cullens with not only mine but Alice's life. On the other hand, maybe he was right. Maybe they would be able to help me gain some more control. Alice would love that.

"Can you guarantee that they won't pose a risk to Alice's life?", I finally asked and now looked straight at him. I could see and feel his surprise to my question, but he didn't comment on anything other than my question: "Yes I can. I trust them just as much as I do Esme, Edward, Rosalie and Emmett." I nodded. This was the best I was going to get. He trusted them just as much as any of the others. Alice trusted the others as well. And I would have to rely on that trust. "In this case, I'm fine with meeting them", I agreed and could immediately tell, that he was pleased with this response. "I'm sure the others will be thrilled. Esme has wanted to visit them for a while now, but we somehow didn't find the time until now." When he mentioned his wife, I shifted my gaze downhill to where the lodge was located. My thoughts were with Alice once more and I had no doubts, that she would be just as excited as Esme. "She truly means a lot to you", Carlisle said more like a statement than a question. Apparently, my feelings towards Alice were more obvious than I had thought. "She means everything to me", I replied without moving my focus away from where she was at the moment.

xxxx

Of course, Alice had seen that we were going to leave the moment I agreed to the visit, and already instructed the others to pack up. I was used to this kind of behaviour by now, but Carlisle's was taken by surprise when we entered the lodge and his wife was waiting with their belongings packed. "Jazz, in here", Alice called to me as soon as I stepped foot into the cabin and I followed her voice. She was in our room, pointing to a pile of clothes on the bed. "I chose something for you, please get changed quickly. I can't wait to meet our cousins!" I raised an eyebrow and then took a closer look at what she had picked out. Brown linen trousers, a matching west and a beige button down for underneath it. The outfit itself was perfectly fine, but I didn't see the need to change. One look at Alice however told me, that she would not argue about this and so I yielded, quickly closing the door and changing into the ensemble.

"What would you do without me", Alice noted as she approached and stood on the tip of her toes in order to be able to straighten the collar of my shirt. "Oh, wait, I know. Run around in rags and those awful cowboy boots for the rest of your life", she joked and took a step back, examining her masterpiece. "Those were fine boots", I objected and pulled her close, lowering my head to place a gentle kiss on her lips. It was incredible, how fast she could take my head of the very strange conversation I had with Carlisle. Or of the fact, that I screwed up. "No, they were awful Jazz and I am very glad we got rid of them", she returned, handing me the backpack as well as a brown scarf. I gladly accepted it, wrapping the woollen item around my neck. I had to live with the fact, that I never would be able to hide all of my scars. But I still did the best to hide most of them. Especially, since we were going to meet new vampires and I didn't want to alarm them. "As far as I remember, you got rid of them. Secretly and without my consent", I pointed out as we left our room and Alice led me towards the front door. "I had to Jazz! Just looking at them gave me the creeps", she justified, and I tried my best to stay serious while teasing her: "They didn't give me the creeps. I loved those boots."

"What boots?", Esme asked as we approached them. "Oh, just a really old and worn out pair of cowboy boots that I freed the world from when we first met", Alice explained and I could feel Esme's sympathy towards me. "We could always get you a new pair, if you want too", she proposed and I looked at her and smiled gently. That woman truly was the definition of motherly instincts and her overall calm, loving and gentle nature was just a pleasure to be around. Especially for me. "Thank you, Esme, that won't be necessary. But remember this when you can't find your favourite shoes one day", I returned and Aliced started to pout. "That won't happen. In contrast to you, Esme has a wonderful fashion sense." However, she couldn't keep her act on for too long and nearly immediately started to smile again. "Are we ready? I cannot wait to finally meet Tanya, Irina, Kate, Carmen and Eleazar in person. Oh, and Esme, you are going to love what they have done to the house!", she changed the subject and stepped from my side, hooking herself into Esme's right arm. I followed her with my eyes, only noticing now that Emmett and Rosalie were missing.

"Oh, believe me: it is better this way", Edward commented on my thought and I raised an eyebrow. "Yes, we are ready. Emmett and Rosalie chose to enjoy some time alone and stay here", Carlisle confirmed Alice's previous question and counting two and two together, I now understood Edward's comment. Hopefully, this meant that they would be a tad less obvious around each other when we returned to Calgary. "Unfortunately, no", Edward adressed my thoughts again as we started moving and I tossed the mind reader a look. Somehow, their very brazen nature and the fact, that we both suffered under it more than the others due to our gifts, provided something he and I could bond over. "I wonder what's worse: having to hear what they think or actually feeling it first-hand", he continued as we started to run through the woods. Alice, Esme, and Carlisle were behind us, as Edward and I were faster. The current speed was demanding for me, but I knew I could keep it up for a while. Edward on the other hand didn't even seem to try very hard. "Have a guess", I replied to his comment, conjuring up the immense lust and desire I had felt from them earlier inside of me and then projecting it all onto Edward.

The bronze-haired vampire stumbled at the sheer force of the emotions that hit him. It wasn't the first time, that I used my talent on one of them. However, until now I had been more subtle, encouraging or decreasing emotions that were already there - like when I made Emmett even angrier during our fight or calmed Esme's sorrow when I told my story. "Stop that", Edward hissed as he found his pace again, clearly uncomfortable by the emotions I was feeding him, and I complied. "Well?", I asked after we crossed the small river in front of us and continued farther northeast. "I guess you win. Hearing their thoughts and everything is annoying but at least I can distinguish between my own thoughts and theirs. That just now... It was like the emotions were my own. I couldn't tell the difference even though I knew it was you. Is it the same for you?", he replied, and I nodded. "At the beginning it was. I've since learned to distinguish between my own emotions and those around me. But with the very strong ones it's still challenging to not let them affect me too much."

I surprised myself with how easy it was to open up about my gift to him. Alice and I had talked days upon days about her gift and I had given her some insights into mine as well, but it seemed like it was easier for Edward to understand it. Even though his gift was not as physical as mine, they both made us intruders in other's privacy. "Affect you?", he echoed, "Like get aroused when Emmett can't keep it in his pants?" I was surprised at the very blunt example but didn't hesitate too long to answer. "Now you see why I prefer to leave in these situations. Fortunately, my range isn't as big as yours and the influence gets weaker with distance", I replied and jumped over a fallen tree trunk before returning to his question: " See, my gift is very physical. I don't see or hear your emotions, I feel them. I can be aware of the fact, that some emotion isn't my own, but it still affects me. Like, for example the other day, when Rosalie wanted to tear your head off? It wouldn't have taken a lot to get me to do it, even though I had no reason to be mad at you."

Edward nodded thoughtfully and slowed down a notch. I matched my speed to his as we let the others catch up. "Can't you block it out? Like, if I focus on one or a few people at once, I can isolate their thoughts and block out the others", he suggested and I shrugged my shoulders. "Something like that works to keep one person out, but if I really concentrate on another person, I feel their emotions more intense. So, this would be more like a trade-off between one option and the other. It's easier to just keep everyone calm and avoid escalations", I replied just as the other's reached us. Alice sped to my right side and smiled brightly, obviously happy over the fact that Edward and I were talking. I swiftly brushed her hand with mine and sent her a wave of pure love, before looking ahead again as Carlisle announced that we were almost there.

Soon after the trees parted, and we burst into the sunlight, leaving the forest behind. The morning sun reflected from our skin and I couldn't help to admire Alice for a second. She was just perfect, dancing over the grass like a beautiful but very deadly fairy. There was a huge cabin style house ahead and we fell back behind the others as we approached the driveway. The inhabitants must have heard us approaching since the door opened and two vampires - a woman with blond hair and a man with a more Mediterranean look with his olive skin and dark hair - exited. We had slowed down to almost human pace and Esme went first, her arms open in a friendly gesture. "Tanya, it has been too long", she greeted the blonde vampire and embraced her, while Carlisle and Edward shook hands with the man. Alice moved from my side as well, but my arm shot out and I stopped her. The Cullen's had reacted very calmly to her greeting them with their names. I wasn't sure that this would be the case here as well, especially since they were outnumbered two to one. "Jazz, it's ...", she tried to convince me to let her go but I looked at her with a stern expression and she gave in - at least until Carlisle stepped aside and gestured towards us.

"Let me introduce the newest addition to our family: Alice and Jasper", he introduced us and Alice immediately ducked under my arm, speeding towards the other two vampires. "Tanya, Eleazar, I have been dying to meet you! But where are Irina, Kate and Carmen?", she asked, and placed a small kiss on Tanya's cheek. I tried my best to keep the surprised vampires calm without being to obvious. "I... they are in the city... we needed paint", Tanya stuttered thoroughly confused and took a step back. Another step backwards followed as she proceeded to look at me and gasped. I immediately increased my grip on her emotions and calmed her down. There was nothing she had to fear from either Alice or me. "And what a talented addition, Carlisle", the man - Eleazar - now commented and I detected a familiar accent in his words. Spanish maybe? But it wasn't quite like Maria's accent... However, I didn't really waste time to think about this, as I didn't like the way he looked at Alice or what he just said. Two quick steps forward and I stood behind her, my hands protectively on her shoulders and my eyes fixated on him.

"You are gifted?", I didn't pay attention to Tanya's question. My thoughts were entirely focused on Eleazar, assessing whether he posed a threat. I couldn't detect any animosity from him, but my gut told me that something was wrong. There was something in his gaze I didn't like. It was as if he looked directly through her, but not quite in the way Alice did whenever she had her visions. "Jasper, nobody is going to hurt Alice", Edward assured, and him and Carlisle stepped closer to me. However, before either of them could touch me or do anything else, I hesitantly let go of my angel and took a step back. This family was important to her. She had told me a million times, that I could trust them, and Carlisle had given me his word, that these "friends" were peaceful. I couldn't risk Alice's dream just because my gut told me that something was wrong. Thus, I finally yielded and returned to examine the situation, both visually and emotionally. Both of the strangers were looking at me and I stared back, until Alice turned around and danced over to me, gently taking my hand. "It's okay Jazz", she quietly promised, and I relaxed since she now was safe back at my side.

"You have to excuse Jasper, trusting strangers doesn't come as natural to him as it does to his mate", Carlisle apologized on my behalf and I didn't really think what I should make of it. It was a nice gesture, but I was perfectly fine coping on my own. "It's fine Carlisle, we understand. Why don't you all come inside and catch us up? A lot seems to have changed since we last met", Tanya replied after sorting her thoughts for a minute, and gestured towards the open door. Alice immediately started moving, pulling me along as I refused to let go of her hand just yet. However, once she reached Esme, I knew she would be safe, even though our hostess was just next to them. Esme wouldn't let anyone hurt one of her children, and I could feel that she already regarded Alice as one of them. Letting go of her hand, I let myself fall back to walk next to Carlisle. Eleazar was behind us, talking to Edward. "I'm sorry Carlisle. You gave me your word but...", I started but his gesture interrupted me, waving away the topic. "… but you are looking out for your mate. I understand and respect that, Jasper. All I ask is that you give them a chance to earn your trust", he replied and gently smiled as we entered the house and took of our shoes, once more leaving me flabbergasted by his never-ending sympathy and understanding nature.

The blonde vampire led us into a large but very cosy living room. A fire was burning in in the chimney and the walls were adorned with paintings from different eras. Someone had taken a lot of time decorating the room with warm colours, furs and antlers to give it the "cabin in the woods" feel. The only thing that stood in stark contrast with that was the huge window opening up to the back and revealing a scenery that probably was breathtaking during the wintertime, when it hardly ever stopped snowing up here. Tanya took a seat on one of the big brown leather couches and Esme chose to sit next to her. Edward and I arranged ourselves to Alice's left and right on the second couch, while Carlisle and Eleazar ended up in the armchairs. "It's a pity that Rosalie isn't here. My car has given me some troubles over the last weeks...", Tanya hadn't stopped talking to Esme while we entered, but I hadn't given it any real attention until now. I was still observing Eleazar out of the corner of my eye. "Oh, I'm sure she'd be glad to have a look at it. We were actually staying in Carlisle's hunting lodge and they decided to spend some time alone. But we could send them your way once we return", Esme offered but the blonde shook her head. "Don't worry, Esme. I'll bring it to the mechanic in town as soon as the roads are safe again. But why do I keep talking, you have so much more to tell us!" Her eyes shifted towards Alice and me, "How did you two get so lucky and run into Carlisle's and Esme's beautiful family?"

A/N: Thank you for reading! I hope all of you are just as excited to meet the Denali's as I am. I always liked them in the books and wished that there was a little more context to the individual relationships between them and the individual Cullen's – especially Alice and Jasper. I always felt, that Alice and Jasper would really work well with Carmen and Eleazar, especially since both pairs joined an "already functioning" family and had travelled "alone" for some time. So that's what the next chapter is going to be about!

Thank you so much Stoic's Dream and anonymous guest for reviewing! I have so many ideas for this and would love to hear what you think (or maybe you have some suggestions yourself)? So leave a comment, it certainly makes this writer's day ;-)