Sweet Serendipity
Chapter Thirty-One : Piercing Memories

Major J. Whitlock

A. Brandon

Alice sat and watched the grass sway in the wind with a silent, emotionless expression. Internally though, she was screaming in rage and anger. The season was changing, the leaves danced on their last threads of life as the colours turned from bright brilliant greens to the orange hues of the coming Autumn, before falling off towards the ground, swept away by the cool winds that eased in from the North.

She'd been moved, everyone had. She was faintly aware that The Major had taken her to Canada. A safe house, tucked away on the mountain side in a grand cottage that looked as if it had belonged to a rich family. Grand timber beams supported the ceilings, and plush white linen sheets lined the meticulous huge crisp bed. Charlotte had been in earlier to help her get ready for the day, and Alice had been silent, as per usual these days, in her morning routine. She still could barely muster the energy and strength to move her limbs, and the pain radiating through her hands and feet was excruciating. Most days it was all Alice could do to turn over in her bed. Charlotte kept her on a healthy dose of pain killers, but as she tried to ween her off them, she couldn't stand the pleads for death Alice had called for hours on end when the pain from her feet attacked her without the protective haze of her medication.

The Major couldn't stand the sight of her in pain.

Despite her anger, Alice had taken it the wrong way, and a part of her was hurt by the rejection, a part of her had made her believe that she was no longer good enough for him to be around, now that her crippled limbs had maimed her.

When he walked in though, on that chilling afternoon in fall, Alice had more than enough to say.

"Have you decided I'm no longer worth your worry anymore?" she questioned in a croaking voice. Not having used it in so long had made her hoarse, but she needn't care. The Major was still reeling in surprise at the fact she'd even spoken.

"What?"

"Have you come to kill me?" she asked again, her attention never swaying from the view outside her window.

"Why in the world would you ask that darlin'?"

"You avoid me for days at a time, refuse to look at me. I've come to believe that you've decided I'm no longer worth the time, the effort... If you've come to kill me, then I would prefer you find the courage in your spineless wit to tell me in person." Alice found her cold voice say with more menace then she realized she'd possessed as within the second the Major was before her. His cold hard hand gripping her forearms as the initial shock of his cold hands on her skin sending sparks through her nervous system as she tried to resist the urge to shiver under his scrutinizing glare. It'd felt like forever since he'd placed a hand on her, and despite her simmering rage that boiled within her, a part of her still urned for his touch.

"Do not talk to me in that tone again. You know nothing about courage." he spat as the more reasonable part of him monitored her emotions and felt the shift the second the words left his lips. He paused in silence to register what he'd just said, the initial anger wearing right off as he internally cursed himself for his careless words. It was the effect she had on him, she made him say things he didn't mean, and it was his own fault for losing control so close to her.

"I apologize darlin', that was out of line and-"

"I know nothing about courage?!" Alice felt herself practically seething. That accusation hurt more than anything. What did he think she enjoyed her time spent with Samuel. Him violating her as he raped her weak body and stole her blood was pleasant for her? How dare he make such an accusation, such a statement when he knew nothing of what she went through.

"For weeks I waited for you to come. I waited for salvation while Samual Carter drank my blood every day, and that sadistic bitch broke my fingers one by one, and then my toes, and then every other little bone with just a flick of her wrist. I waited, and I pleaded and prayed, and begged for rescue when Samuel Carter raped me. I waited for you. Despite the fact that you took everything from me. You took my family, my friends, my school, my life away from me... I wanted it to be you that saved me. I wanted you to be my salvation. I dreamed about you crashing in, taking me away from it all, away from the pain, and the hurt, and the torment they so happily inflicted on me!"

Alice felt her voice raise an octave as the words got stuck in her throat. It was the first time she'd even tried accepting what had happened to her, the horrible things they had done, and the Major couldn't even look at her. He'd turned away long before, his hole body tense as she stared at him with tears glistening in her eyes.

"LOOK AT ME!" she screamed as he turned to her suddenly, his eyes a dark crimson as his expressionless gaze stared back at her. As if he were peering into her soul.

"They asked me, every day. What plans you had. Who you really were, where you disappeared too on trips. They asked me about Peter, and Charlotte. About your plans for the South, and your alliances. They asked me about you, every day. Over and over again. And when I didn't say anything they'd start with the bones again. The ones that were already broken, they'd wrap their hands and fingers around them and rub them back and forth... like they were trying to grind the broken bones together." she finished with a whisper as Alice turned back to the window once more. The pain almost overbearing as she wanted to scream at just the memory.

"You didn't know anything, you couldn't have said anything." he whispered as a response, his voice quiet as Alice scoffed humourlessly.

"I know about the Cullens, and your alliance with the Volturi. I know where Charlotte and Peter venture off together when they leave for a few days every two weeks. I know about the covens you've been monitoring, and the new borns... and Maria-"

"You couldn't possibly! It's not possible!" he roared suddenly, crossing the room to stand infront of her, a breath away as he stared into her eyes with such intensity her breath caught in her throat momentarily. "There is no way you could know about those things. About any of them!"

"Well I did." she whispered as he shook his head and pulled her face into his grasp, his fingers harsh and holding her too tight for comfort. She clenched her eyes shut in pain, and she knew she'd have bruises to show for tomorrow. "Tell me." he demanded in a voice that left no room for argument. "Tell me how you know... now." he hissed as Alice's eyes opened to stare directly back into his, once a brilliant crimson, now an ocean of black that stared back at her with menace.

"The nightmares." she felt herself whispering as he stepped back, breathing heavily as he ran a hand through his blonde hair and turned back to the window, leaning on the ledge as he stared out at the view beyond the glass.

"I saw the Civil War..." she whispered, finding that once the words left her lips she couldn't stop them. "I saw all the dead, I saw the soldiers that went down. And the three women at night. Maria, how she used you. The armies you lead, the battles you fought..."

"You know nothing!" he roared suddenly, rounding on Alice as the feral look on his face had Alice genuinely frightened for her well being around him for the first time in what felt like a long time.

"You think I don't. But I was there. Maybe not in person. But I felt your pain, I felt your anguish. All those things you went through, I've been through several times." she whispered, voicing the pain her nightmares cursed her with for the first time since they'd started all those weeks ago. "If you thought they were bad enough the first time, then you haven't lived through them more than once." she stated as he turned on her, a look of pure anguish on his face and Alice felt her heart break.

"You see the future... not the past." he tried to reason as Alice shook her head.

"I saw your past." she answered. "I don't know how, or why. But I have. And I can't take it back. I can't undo it."

"Forget it then. Do whatever you need to do to forget it." he begged.

"It doesn't work like that."

"The make it!"

"I can't Jasper... I'm sorry."

"Don't call me that!" he roared suddenly as Alice flinched and shrunk back into the seat. "You had no right to see any of those things! No right. I am the Major, and you'll do well to remember that."

"I saw the boy. The young one. The one you trained and fought for, and I saw how she made you kill him. How she would starve you, and order you around. I felt your anguish when you had to kill all those young vampires. The emotions you got off them when-"

"ENOUGH!" he roared as Alice flinched. She couldn't stop though. She'd suffered enough for him in the past few weeks she had a right to know why he'd hid so much from her, and why he hid it from the rest of the world as well. "I told you to forget about it!"

"I can't Jasper! It happened, alright. It happened and I can't help it and neither can you. But you can't just push these memories away forever! What if next time they go after Peter, or Charlotte. You give the memories power over you if you're forever scared about revealing them!"

"I ordered you not to refer to me by that name!" he hissed again, obvious rage present in his eyes as Alice shyed away from the sudden change in him. She'd never expected this side of him to emerge. The tenderness once present in his eyes had vanished, replaced by a cold exterior that had seen too much to reflect any forms of love anymore. "If you cannot learn respect, then it will be taught again. And if you refuse to forget the past in which I have instructed of you, then I have no choice but to take it from you!" he stated as Alice stared back at him in question as suddenly he was upon her. His lips attached to the cavity in her neck as the scream barely had time to register before his teeth had pierced the skin.

Alice was faintly aware of someone screaming "no" when she felt the first shot of venom pumped into her artery. Like a lethal injection, the venom pierced through her body like liquid fire, her vision blurring as the Major was ripped off of her. But not before he'd pumped enough venom into her system to change six adult men.

The last thing Alice heard was an animalistic growl rip through the air when her world shifted into blackness and the fire consumed her soul.

EriksAngeldeMusica - sorry, couldn't update any faster, but better late than never!

ElizabethandDarcy - awww haha well I'm glad this is one you decided to review, it's excellent and I love hearing from you. hope you liked this chapter as well! and thanks for the review!

USNeshama - that she will! haha thanks for the review, glad you liked it!

Guest - No... Thank YOU!

LizzyWXOX - I love that you love this story and everything about it haha. I know, I hate waiting for updates, but im a hypocrite because I take forever as well. I'll try and get better at it though. thanks for the review!

keirabaker - ohhhhh I'm sure she'll have lots to blame him about after this!

Rzweenie - hahaha needy is the best kind! hopefully this chapter was enough to tide you over until the next chapter I'll try and update ASAP! thanks for the review!