A/N: So I think that this chapter is pretty exciting, despite it's slightly shorter nature. I've gotten stuck late at work a couple times this week, so that always gives me more time to write. However, my birthday is Thursday (!!!!!), so I may not post again until next week.
Disclaimer: SM owns the Twilight Saga…but I am best friends with Kate and Marlane (Amanda) in real life…so I win!
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Alice POV:
We stood there frozen in time, no one moving, no one saying anything, me in my slightly defensive position, Jasper ramrod straight, and Maria, hand on her hip, smirking.
"What are you doing here?" Jasper forced the words out of a clenched jaw, as if the asking of that simple question had an unbearably high price.
Maria was entirely too happy, as if she'd just come out of a long, bloody battle victorious. Her lip curled into a vicious grin, her body swayed as if she wanted to dance around us.
"I don't really think you need to worry about that just yet," she spoke sweetly now, a bubbly mockery of June Cleaver, "I just thought I'd pop by to say hello, let you know I'm in the neighborhood."
"You shouldn't have," Jasper's voice rang out both sarcastic and commanding, and there was power in those words. It made me afraid that I'd just agreed to be his friend, but Maria just laughed it off, turning to walk back through the trees.
Just as she was swallowed by the darkness her voice floated back to me, taunting, sinister, "Alice, I almost forgot," and I knew she hadn't forgotten at all, "Liam sends his love."
My first thought was: How the hell does she know my name?
My second thought was: Who is Liam?
I didn't have a third thought, because a vision hit me, hard, pushing me to my knees.
Maria was wearing a black dress, hands covered in blood so that it looked like she was wearing dark red gloves, grinning maliciously, while Peter and Carlisle struggled against what appeared to be nothing. She was in a building I didn't recognize. There was a person-sized lump at her feet, unrecognizable from all the damage inflicted.
"You should have done what I asked, darling Jasper," she spoke as a mother to her child.
And I was back, kneeling on the ground, darkness trying to swallow me whole, pushing at the edges of my mind.
"Alice, what's happening?" Jasper's voice sounded far away.
"Give me happiness, calm, excitement, something else!" I screamed it in my head, but it came out barely above a whisper.
"What?! Are you sure? I promised you I wouldn't…" Jasper's confusion was evident, but right now all that mattered was that I retain control of my mind, that I not get sucked into the black hole that seemed to be forming in the center of my brain.
"Just do it!" I forced out through clenched teeth, slightly louder. I knew logically that the blackness was all in my head, but I swear I could feel it wrapping cold fingers around my body, tickling my spine.
Jasper knelt down in front of me and grabbed my chin in his hand, forcing me to meet his eyes. For a moment there was no change, but then a tingling feeling started to push through my veins, fighting the darkness. Warmth settled in, low in my body. My skin felt tight and…good lord, look at his mouth. The things he could do to me with that mouth. The things I'd like to do to him with my mouth. He leaned in closer, bringing his other hand up to tangle in my hair. His scent surrounded me, spicy cinnamon, and something new, something that made me want to lick…bite. His nose was almost touching mine now, and his eyes were black with desire. His thumb brushed against my bottom lip and something clenched in my belly. My tongue darted out, connecting with his thumb, tasting him, and the spell was broken.
Jasper fell backwards, catching himself with his hands and eyeing me carefully. The warm feeling that had filled me up was receding, but the darkness did not return.
I shook my head, hoping to clear the fuzzy feeling.
"Lust?" I raised an eyebrow, "Really?" Jasper had the good sense to look abashed.
"I was having trouble forcing anything happy, calm, or exciting on you," he explained, "Lust was the only emotion that made it through."
"Probably because it has a darker edge to it," I mused out loud. Jasper was still looking at me as if I was about to spontaneously combust.
"Don't worry, I asked you to do it," I tried to smile, but I'm not sure it came out right.
"What was that about anyway?" concern tinged his voice.
"I will explain, but first you have to go get Peter and Charlotte and meet me back our house," I stood up, already heading back the direction we'd come from, "I only want to explain this once."
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JasperPOV:
Shit damn mother fucker she-bitch cunt from hell!
Ask me why I'm here, Jasper. Her voice swirled around in my brain.
Fuck you! I thought back
That's not very nice, she taunted me
Kiss…my…ass…
I do miss that, she sounded pleased, kissing your ass…and other things.
Why are you here? I finally relented, not wanting to relive my days with Maria.
Ask me out loud, Jazzy, Alice looks left out.
I'd almost forgotten Alice, wrapped up as I was in my anger and shock at seeing Maria.
"What are you doing here?" I hated with every fiber of my being giving her the satisfaction of following her order. I hadn't followed her orders in over sixty years.
Good boy…her pleasure shivered along my veins.
Bitch! Was all I thought back.
Maria was unfazed by my vitriol, instead she looked, if possible, even happier.
"I don't really think you need to worry about that just yet," she answered me out loud, sounding for all the world like a Stepford wife, "I just thought I'd pop by to say hello, let you know I'm in the neighborhood." As if she were ringing the doorbell to my house and dropping off a casserole.
"You shouldn't have," I put feeling into those words, trying to use my power to make her feel unwelcome, unsure, unhappy. I had a faint glimmer of hope that my power would work on her, but as in the past, her gift made my attempts seem weak, ridiculous.
Really Jasper, you should know better…she laughed out loud, turning to walk away from Alice and me. I'll be back, she promised, only it wasn't really a promise. It was a threat.
"Alice, I almost forgot," I couldn't see Maria anymore, but when Alice shifted imperceptibly, I realized that she was speaking out loud. "Liam sends his love."
I stayed still until I couldn't feel Maria's emotions any longer, maybe 15 seconds, but it felt like an eternity. I sucked in a deep breath, knowing I would have some explaining to do, and turned to face the music…err…Alice. Only I wasn't looking at her, because she was on her knees, shaking. I crouched down in front of her, triumph, rage, fear, stabbing into me. "Alice?" I whispered, but her eyes were blank, unseeing, and I knew she hadn't heard me.
She gasped for air suddenly, a sound that echoed through the clearing.
"Alice, what's happening?" I asked, more desperate this time.
"Give me happiness, calm, excitement, something else!" she whispered, gravelly, voice tight with effort. She looked like she was battling a demon.
"What?! Are you sure? I promised you I wouldn't…" I wanted to help her more than anything, but I had to make sure, be absolutely clear on what she wanted me to do.
"Just do it!" Whatever unknown enemy Alice was fighting looked to be winning. She was vibrating with so many emotions, every last one of them dark and sinister, and the effort it cost her to ask for my help had bent her head down so that her chin touched her chest and I could hear her teeth grinding.
I shifted so that I was directly in front of her, kneeling, and grabbed her face in my hand. I squeezed, but she didn't even register the pain she should have felt. I tried happiness first, but it was like hitting a brick wall. Calmness and excitement were no different, bouncing off of some invisible force field that surrounded her. Desperate to save her from whatever invisible force she was fighting, I tried one last emotion, pouring it into her, gazing into the black pools of her eyes. I felt the moment it leaked into her, the lust, spiking her body temperature, still not warm for a human, but warm for us. Her eyes cleared a little and left mine to travel my face. I tried to keep from feeling the lust myself, but once it grabbed hold of her it came back to me doubled. It wrapped us in a cocoon, pulling my body taut. My hand rose of its own free will, and I felt her skin like satin on the pads of my fingers as I slid my hand along her cheek, wrapping my fingers in her hair. The sweet apple scent that emanated from her was thick and heavy, flaring my nostrils, coating the back of my throat. I couldn't seem to stop myself from leaning in closer. Our faces were almost touching now. I had an unholy desire to know if her lips were as soft as they looked, and my thumb decided there was no harm in that. She shivered when I touched her there, and then her pink tongue peeked out and licked.
Holy shit!
It was as if that cool, wet touch had brought all my missing sense back. I leaned back and promptly lost my balance. I watched her, hoping she was going to be okay, not sure I could stand another episode like that anytime soon.
She shook her head slowly, but I was relieved to see that her eyes had returned to their normal caramel color.
"Lust?" she lifted an eyebrow at me, questioning, "Really?"
I was, all of the sudden, shy and a little ashamed.
"I was having trouble forcing anything happy, calm, or exciting on you," I wanted her to be sure that I wasn't taking advantage of her, "Lust was the only emotion that made it through."
"Probably because it has a darker edge to it," she said, noncommittal, but I was still waiting for a blow-up of epic proportions.
"Don't worry, I asked you to do it," she gave me a sickly sort of smile.
"What was that about anyway?" I needed to know…what it was, where it came from, if it would ever happen again.
"I will explain, but first you have to go get Peter and Charlotte and meet me back our house," she was up and already walking away from me, "I only want to explain this once." And she was off, sprinting through the trees.