AN:

Wow. I was a little overwhelmed by the response to this. I got home from work the day after I uploaded this and had 17 alerts in my email from people who had flagged this story for alert or favorites or both and reviews. Which is a lot for my stories which have never been way up there on the review scale. So I'm very very pleased and I was going to wait a week before I uploaded the next chapter. But, like always, I got excited and rushed. So here it is.

I hope you all enjoy it and thank you so much for reading.

~Allora

And then in the strange way things happen

Their roles were reversed from that day

The hunted became the huntress

The hunter became the prey.

Conquest – White Stripes

Where the Hell was I now? I turned my eyes on the dismal city around me before glared up at the cloud covered sun. I still hated the sun. I hated being out during the day and for more than the obvious threat of exposure should I inadvertently blind half a city block if the sun peeked out from behind a cloud. When it was sunny – scratch that - when it was day time, there were exponentially more people out and about. But what else was I going to do during the day? Quite frankly, lurking in a heavily wooded area every day was boring. So I risked it on cloudy days and went out during the day, despite the danger.

I was still firmly set in my regimented abstinence, despite a few slip ups. Like the night I'd left Peter and Charlotte. Perhaps his words had been prophetic rather than a demand, because sure enough, the first town I came upon, the first human I'd stumbled across, had the unfortunate fate of becoming my dinner. And again, a month and a half later there had been another, similar incident. But this time, I was coming up on two months without a lapse in control.

In any case, it made it much more difficult to control myself when I was out in the day and had to rub shoulders with the humans, so to speak. Of course that was mostly a blatant overstatement. They generally crossed the street when they saw me coming as the small vestiges of their instinct for survival kicked in. If one of them ever did have the unfortunate luck to actually come into physical contact with me, I'm sure the Volturi would be after me within a couple of days.

But that hadn't happened. I hoped it never would, because if I feared anything, it was the Volturi's wrath. I would probably rather feel the emotions of a thousands human at once as I killed them than face Volturi punishment.

I looked up and glared at the sky again as I felt the first raindrops begin to fall. Of course it would rain. Of course God would take this rare opportunity where it was actually safe for me to be outside in the day and ruin it with rain. Not that the rain actually bothered me that much, but a strange man standing on the road in the rain would probably draw unwanted human attention.

I would have to find cover. My first preference would have been some hidden lair where I could spend the day planning tactical advances. That was the part I'd loved of my old life, when Maria and I would spend hours together scheming against our enemies. I just hadn't been able to bear the other parts, the way I'd been turned into some sort of automated killing machine, like a garbage disposal for vampires. Which may not have been so bad, if I hadn't been able to feel for myself every subtle change in their fear and hatred and despair.

But that was all far behind me now. I couldn't go back now, even if I'd wanted to. I wasn't that man anymore. Of course, if I wasn't feared and loathed Jasper of Monterrey, I wasn't exactly sure who I was. But it wasn't him. That Jasper had had ambition and drive and purpose. This Jasper had none of those things. This Jasper was just . . . existing, despite my dearest desire to find someone to finish me off.

The diner across the street would have to do, owing to the lack of hidden lairs around here. I hoped it wasn't crowded. I sloshed across the street, the gutters already filling with murky rainwater and litter.

And there she was, sitting with her back towards me, bent over the counter. The moment I opened the door I knew what she was. The moment I stepped out of the cold, fresh rain and into the warm, dry, human smelling establishment, I could pick out her scent. Go figure that I'd find one of my kind in a human food establishment. But what the Hell was she doing here? And why the Hell couldn't my life be easy? If God wanted me to run into another vampire, why on earth couldn't it be a big, mean one with a penchant for killing everyone it came across?

She'd noticed me now. Honestly, I could have killed her three times by now if I'd been in the mood. Her head snapped up from her determined examination of the counter top when she noticed my scent and she slowly slipped off her barstool and turned around, her face betraying nothing but astonished surprise. Yeah, I couldn't say I wasn't surprised to see her here too.

Her eyes flitted over my face, as though she were looking for something specific. It seemed to be the scars on my throat and I barely stifled my instinctive reaction to growl at her. Instead, I glared menacingly. I could kill her, of course I could, but not here. Not in front of the six humans in the building. Though I had to admit that they weren't that much of an obstruction. They would be easy to dispose of after I'd taken care of her.

And then she smiled at me. Smiled rather stupidly, I might add. What was wrong with her? No one smiled at me. No one but Peter or Charlotte and this girl was neither of them. I tested the climate of the room around me and nearly stepped back in surprise when I felt her. But that couldn't be her. Those emotions, that relief and happiness and hope was entirely incongruous with the situation at hand.

But I didn't step back. I didn't move at all. I knew better than to concede any advantage to anyone. I knew better than to reveal what I could do to her. So instead I watched her cautiously, prepared for any sudden movements.

"You've kept me waiting a long time." She said softly, though there was veiled excitement and anxiety in it. I was glad for the later. I wasn't used to being approached as though I wasn't intimidating. But what the Hell did one say that? There was absolutely zero hostility radiating off her. I wish there was, I was good at hostile conversations. I was not so good at being civil, and I still wasn't sure why she wanted me to be. And what the Hell did she mean that I'd kept her waiting? I'd never met her before in my life. I studied her closely, and was absolutely positive I'd never met anyone who even looked remotely like her. Not the short, spiky brown hair. Not the pixie-like face. Not those unnerving amber eyes. She was completely foreign to me.

"I'm sorry, ma'am." I murmured as I bowed my head slightly, drawing off hazy, faded memories of my human life. That was the last time I'd been civil.

Her smiled softened, but not in a way that seemed she was disappointed with me. It simply turned from manically excited to tender and apprehensive. And then she held out her hand to me.

I stared at it for a second. What the Hell was she doing? Every instinct in my body was screaming at me to refuse the gesture. To destroy her or flee from her. But there was something in her face, or was it the frantic desperation she was feeling, that made it seem like her entire existence was hinged on my taking her hand.

I reached out tentatively and set my hand in hers, her soft, silken fingers wrapped gently around mine. How long had it been since someone had had the gall to touch me like this? How long had it been since I had had any physical contact without feeling the need to destroy the offending person? Years. Decades. I couldn't remember.

She led me back out of the diner and it wasn't until I felt the first raindrops on my face that I realized I'd completely and utterly surrendered dominance to her. No, we were two individuals. Equals. I was not being submissive to her, I was merely following. Nonetheless, I dropped her hand as soon as she began to slow down. Now to figure out just who the Hell she was and what she wanted from me.

Maybe she was like me, I mused, and just looking for someone to finish her off. That would explain her apparent lack of an instinct for survival. Didn't she understand that she was safest where others could see her, where we had to maintain our human charades? But no, she'd taken me to a secluded little niche in the woods.

"I mean you no offense, but who are you?" I asked cautiously. There was still no sign of hostility in her emotions, she was just . . . happy?

"Mary Alice Brandon." She replied at once with a smile.

Great. Just what I needed; another Maria. I grimaced.

"What's wrong?" She asked quickly and I was blasted by a wave of frantic panic and fear coming off of her.

Why did what I thought of her name matter so much to her? I shrugged, "Nothing. I like the Alice part." I said. And I did. It had a familiar sort of ring to it. I think someone I knew when I was human had been called Alice. My sister maybe? Had I had a sister?

"I can be Alice. For you, I can be anything."

I couldn't stop the look of surprise that crossed my face. What? What the Hell was going on here? And then she blundered on, instantly alerting me to danger.

"But who are you? If you don't mind me asking, sir." She added perfunctorily at the end. My eyes narrowed as I carefully examined her emotions. She still wasn't exhibiting any hostility, only excitement and joy and anticipation.

"I thought you knew me already." I said suspiciously. After all, why would you tell someone you've been waiting for them if you didn't know them?

"I know you're face." She murmured as she reached to caress my cheek. I flinched out of the way and resisted the urge to break her hand off. She frowned and hit me with a wave of emotional anguish before continuing. "I've seen it for years. In visions. For as long as I remember, I have known your face. But there is no name that I can tag to it."

Visions? She was a God damned fortune teller! There had been one in Mexico City and it had taken nearly five of us to finally kill him, owing to the fact that he could foresee every move we made. No wonder she seemed to wander through the world without a concern. She'd have fair warning of anything coming at her.

"Jasper Whitlock." I answered gruffly. If she could see the future, did she know what I could do? Is that why I could only feel happy emotions coming off her? Was she blocking her true emotions from me?

"Jasper." She murmured with a small smile as she watched me closely. I closely examined her face, trying to discover any incongruent expressions. But there was nothing to give her away. Either she was a very good actor, or she was actually very happy to see me. The later seemed unlikely.

"Why did you see me? What was the purpose of your visions? What are you supposed to do?" I demanded.

And there it was. Hesitation. Trepidation. And sympathy. My anger flared at the last as I wracked my mind trying to figure out who had sent her. Was it Maria? That would explain why Alice hadn't attacked me yet. Maria would want to recruit me again. If she thought she could lure me back to that hell hole with a pretty face, she had another thing coming. But this lacked the flair Maria favored. No, if Maria knew where I was, she would have come herself. Especially with her talent. It had to be someone else.

I doubted Peter and Charlotte cared enough. They were probably just glad to be rid of me. Someone else from Mexico maybe? I had plenty of enemies in every city I had ever visited. It could have been any one of them. No, it wasn't who had sent her that was important. It was why.

She turned her back to me and I squashed the urge to kill her now. I needed her for information first. "Why?" I demanded harshly as I grabbed her elbow and jerked her back around to face me. She was surprised and a little afraid, and I felt the twinge of pain in her emotions that she was trying to hide from me.

"To love you." She said softly with disappointment and sorrow.

I felt like I had been slapped. That was impossible, I thought, as I dropped her arm and stepped away from her. Completely and utterly impossible. A joke maybe? And then a little voice of pride and possessiveness spoke up inside me. I had a fortune teller. Whatever God or Fate had written out the pattern of my life had given me a fortune teller for a mate. A mate . . .

No. No, I didn't deserve one. Not after everything I'd done. And she looked so . . . innocent. It would have made sense for me to have a mate that was more like me. Maybe someone who had also fought in the Southern Wars. Someone who knew cruelty. Like Peter and Charlotte. Not her.

Waves of sorrow and mortification and disappointment crashed over me as I realized how much I'd hurt her. I didn't like it. I didn't like the way it felt when she was upset. I felt guilty for rejecting her that way. But it could never ever work, no matter how determined she might be. No matter how many times she might have seen it. The future could be changed – would be changed. Because any kind of future that stuck me with her was overwhelmingly unfair.

"I'm sorry." I said softly as I examined her arm for damage. I could only imagine how bad I would feel if I'd actually hurt more than her feelings. Well, if I'd left lasting evidence that I'd hurt her. I had already hurt her physically, even though she'd tried not to show it. "For hurting you. And for hurting your feelings."

"I'm fine." She muttered and I didn't need to have my gift to feel the insincerity of it. She was examining her feet, refusing to look at me. I didn't like that either.

"Alice." I began, mostly just wanting her to look at me. I ignored the little rush that rose up inside me as her name passed my lips. It was a mistake. She wasn't actually my mate. It was all just a misunderstanding. "Why on earth would you choose to love someone as monstrous as myself?" I asked.

"I don't see a monster." She said, pouting out her lower lip.

My breath would have caught in my throat if I hadn't been so practiced at keeping my face neutral and I forcibly squashed down the urge to kiss her soft pink lips. She still hadn't looked at me, so I made her, lifting her chin so she had to face me. The urge to kiss her fought it's way back up, but I resisted. She didn't see a monster? Was she blind? "Look at me, please. Just for a moment, really look at me and see me. I'm not any sort of prince or gentleman."

I wasn't a fairytale hero. In fact, I was about the furthest thing from a hero, far more akin to the villain. She was going to be severely disappointed if that was what she was expecting from me.

She frowned at me, her eyebrows knitting together in determination. "I do know you, Jasper. Better than you see yourself, I think. But we don't have to talk about this now. I didn't want to talk about this now, like this. You don't know me at all and definitely not enough to want me too, yet."

I managed not to laugh in her face. She knew me? She knew nothing about me. But telling her that would probably hurt her feelings, which was an emotion I couldn't bear coming off of her. So I went along with it, ignoring the part of my mind that wanted to examine more closely why I cared what she was feeling. "Then what now?"

"We find the Cullen's" She said immediately, exuding confidence and surety in every pore of her body. No doubt this was also something she had seen. Nevertheless, I wasn't about to just barge in on a strange coven without some indication of just who they were and what they were capable of.

"Who are the Cullen's?" I asked as I sat down on what had once been an upright tree.

She sank to her knees in front of me and the most dazedly happy smile yet crossed her face. "I've seen them. They live further North somewhere. Such wonderful people. But I could only see them when I could see you. So obviously, I can't go there without you."

Was she asking for my permission to fulfill whatever the future had in store for her? Or did she understand me better than I thought? No coven in their right mind would ever accept me. They just had to look at me to see that I would probably get angry and kill one of them some day. "Who says they would welcome us? They could just as easily kill us." I scowled. In fact, they would more than likely just kill us to save the suspense of when I might snap.

"Not the Cullen's. They're different from others like us. They're a real family, like humans have. They love each other. I'm sure they will be very welcoming. I've even been hunting like them, practicing." She said, naively confident as always.

But practicing hunting? What kind of bizarre hunting rituals did these people have? There had been times, when Maria had gotten carried away and created too many Newborns at once, when I'd had to take them out hunting in a pack. I had liked the fluidity of it, how it was almost like commanding an invasion, like a perfectly oiled machine, until the killing had started and I had had to feel the terror of more than my own prey. But I found it difficult to see how Alice could have been practicing something like that on her own. "Practicing?" I asked.

"Um, well, yes. The Cullen's only hunt . . . animals." She said nervously.

If she had slapped me, I would have been less astounded as I felt myself slipping off my makeshift bench. Was I an idiot? For almost a century, I'd been suffering with the emotions of my victims and the thought to try alternate food sources had never occurred to me. No, it couldn't be possible. . . could it? She had to be lying.

I grabbed her face, examining it and her emotions for any sign of falsehood, but I could find nothing. "Really, Alice? That can be done?" I finally demanded. Surely it was impossible. But was that, perhaps, the reason why her eyes were amber instead of crimson? No, it had to be impossible. But she nodded! And she was sincere, I could feel it in every bone of her body. She had been living on animals and these Cullen's lived on animals. It was possible. And I would learn to do it too. "Then yes. I will go with you to these Cullen's." I said with a determined smile. I would feed from animals. If she could do it, I was sure I could too.

She shrieked in exultant excitement as she shot to her feet and danced around. She reminded me of a child as I rose to my feet in a much more dignified fashion. And then she danced over and hugged me, chanting "Thank you." over and over again as she kissed both my cheeks.

I felt the second the gesture lost its innocence, felt the sudden surge of lust and love and determination as her eyes fluttered shut and she began to raise her lips to mine. For one moment of blissful insanity, I was tempted to let it happen. For one moment, I was tempted to let her have me, if only so I could enjoy the physical contact.

But that was what Jasper of Monterrey would have done and I wasn't that man anymore. And the utter travesty of letting her love me, of leading her on, was unbearable. So I stopped it. I stopped her and pushed her away from me. "No, Alice. You're fighting a losing battle there." I said firmly.

I was expecting hurt from her. I was expecting pouting and the sad imitation of tears that our kind could manage. But she smiled at me mischievously and tapped her temple instead. "Maybe you're fighting a losing battle, Jasper Whitlock."

I rolled my eyes at her and smothered the groan that almost escaped. I would have to get used to that; to the way she knew more than was obvious. Except in that matter. In that matter, in the matter of her being my mate, she was absolutely wrong. "I'm ready to leave whenever you are. There's nothing holding me here." Wherever here was.

She smiled sadly and a creeping wave of pity fluttered past me. I bit back my instinctive angry response to the emotion. She didn't know I could feel it. "I know." She murmured before turning away from me. "Northward, then, sir?"

I took a deep breath. Everything was going to change now. But it couldn't really get worse. I'd already hit rock bottom. "I think so, ma'am."