Disclaimer: It's still not mine.
Thanks for the review so far, but I hope to get more for this chapter. This chapter is almost twice as long as the last two, but I didn't want to chop it up. I wrote it like this and so it stays like this. I hope you enjoy it.
Please review, if only to let me know that you actually read it. Thank you!
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We ran, this time, far past the limits of discomfort, for two days in an effort to put as much space between ourselves and the newborn's smoldering corpse. The sun was setting when we came up short at Hudson's Bay. I slumped down in the snow, exhausted, and made a snow angel before sitting up straight and looking out at a vast expanse of rugged, snowy coastline in front of us. Jasper sank into the snow next to me. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath of the fresh, frozen air that mingled with his scent.
"Do you want to cross it or go around?" He asked.
I was a little startled by his voice. He'd scarcely said two words to me since we left the burning corpse of the newborn. I'd missed the sound of his voice.
"Around, I think. I need to look at the Cullen's more closely. And you need to feed. Your eyes are black as coal." I said, laying my hand softly on his arm.
"I don't think I have enough control to do it your way." He said, plunging his hand into the snow bank and coming back with a hard packed snow ball. He pitched it, moodily, away. "I'll just end up in whatever town is nearest."
I sighed. I had fed on a moose we had come across that morning. It had been natural for me; instinctual. While running I had caught the scent of a moose up ahead. I had launched myself on it without hesitation, but Jasper hadn't been able to force himself on it's mate. It's scent had repulsed him. "If you . . . need to." I said reluctantly, then my head snapped up as a wet, salty scent crossed my senses.
"What is it?" He asked sharply, jumping to his feet.
I pointed out at the ice covered bay before us. A hundred feet away, a solitary polar bear was trudging by, nose to the ice. "Take the bear." I said as I slowly got to my feet beside him. He raised an eyebrow at me. "Unless you don't think you can." I challenged.
His eyes narrowed and he turned to face the bear, stalking away. I fought the smile creeping onto my face, but failed miserably. Grinning, I watched him slowly, carefully circle around the bear; toying with it. It caught his scent and roared, jumping up onto his hind legs to tower over Jasper. He danced into the bear's sight, left, then right, then he lunged. He fell on the bear with a savagery I'd never before witnessed, tearing into the beast's throat rather than merely puncturing it. He must have been nearly mad with thirst.
He hovered over the carcass, draining it of every drop of crimson life before he loped back towards me. "Happy?" He asked darkly.
I looked at him closely. His eyes were only a slightly lighter shade of ebony than they had been before. "No."
He frowned. "There wont be any polar bears left if you're waiting on me to be fully satiated." He said then grimaced. "It doesn't -"
"I know, Jasper. It's not the same." I said quickly. I didn't need him to remind me what the taste of human blood felt like. "But it's better than senselessly murdering people. Or at least, I think it is."
"I don't like being a murderer, Alice. It's not as though I enjoy it." He said sharply, glaring at me.
"I know. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that." I apologized softly. "Go get one more. Then I'll be happy. And I'll hopefully know better where we're going by the time you get back."
He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. For a moment it looked like he wanted to argue, but he reluctantly trudged off through the snow. I watched his receding back until he disappeared into the trees, then settled myself down into the snow where he had sat. I breathed in the traces of his scent heavily before I closed my eyes and focused.
I'd never attempted to govern my visions before; each of them had been a gift from my subconsciousness and, in all honesty, I had only really been curious about Jasper. But now I needed to focus on the Cullen's. I needed to see where they were if we had any hope of finding them. I hoped my mind would cooperate with my gift and let me prompt the visions I wanted.
I focused my thoughts on Carlisle Cullen, the patriarch of the family I wanted to join. His face came easily to mind, it swam hazily in front of my eyes. It was handsome and kind and my gaze zeroed in on the strange amber shade of his eyes that matched my own. He was standing in a kitchen? No, it was too large, too clinical to be a kitchen. There were pictures of skeletons on the wall behind him. Why? He was wearing a long white coat. Ah, he was a doctor? He must be. I looked around his surroundings some more but there was nothing suggestive about the location except that it was a hospital.
Shaking my head, I focused on Esme Cullen. Her sweet, heart-shaped face floated into view. She was standing in a wide, empty, white-walled room with a paint roller in one hand and a bucket in the other, staring at the wall with a smile of anticipation. Her caramel, wavy hair was piled up on top of her head in a messy bun as her slightly darker amber eyes took in her new project. I looked through the window behind her, but there was only darkness and encroaching forest, nothing indicative of location.
Sighing, I turned my focus on Edward Cullen. He was seated at a piano, chiseled jaw firmly set as his amber eyes focused on the black and white keys flitting under his fingers, composing a quick, complex tune. I had heard it before, well, rather I had seen him playing it before. I frowned. There was no hint of location with him either. Just a room with a piano; no windows.
Rosalie Hale-Cullen was kissing Emmet hungrily. She was only half clothed and sitting astride Emmet, who was grinning like a fool. I took a quick, cursory glance at their surroundings, a huge bedroom. Outside the window, there was only darkened forest. It looked similar to the forest that had been outside Esme's window. It probably was. I forced my vision away quickly.
I looked at Carlisle again. He, at least, was out of the house. This time there was a patient in front of him. The patient had a long, scarlet gash down the length of the right side of his face. Blood leached down his ear, his jaw, his neck, in long, mouthwatering rivulets. Getting a hold of myself, I hurriedly switched my focus to Edward as my throat suddenly burned with thirst. Never again would I taste human blood, I promised myself.
Edward was still sitting at the piano, playing a slower, serene tune. It was calming, relaxing, flowing, like water burbling in a small creek. I sighed, snuggling into the snow a little deeper and listened to the song in my head. Every once in a while Edward would chuckle under his breath or roll his eyes. I'd come to the conclusion years ago that he had a gift somewhat like mine, that he knew more that was immediately visible.
It was thoroughly dark and Venus was past it's zenith already when I heard Jasper returning. I kept my eyes closed, listening to his stealthy approach and to Edward's music simultaneously until he plopped down a few feet away with an angry grunt. He stared moodily out at the bay, frustration exuding from his every pore.
"Couldn't find one?" I asked.
He turned his head and glared at me - his eyes were bright crimson – before scowling back out at the Bay.
"Oh." I crawled over to him lithely and pulled him into a tight hug. "I'm sorry, Jasper." I whispered in his ear as I hugged his back.
He shrugged moodily and we sat for a long time staring out at the bay together in silence, my arms looped around his chest, head resting on his shoulder, cheek to cheek. I didn't want to feel pity for him because I knew he would feel it and resent it. This new lifestyle was hard, I knew that. God only knew that I too had succumbed to weakness; had succumbed to the call of my thirst. It wasn't a transition I expected Jasper to achieve overnight, especially after decades of feeding on human blood. Instead, I focused on my love for him. It was an absolute emotion. It didn't matter to me in the slightest. He could massacre every human in the Western Hemisphere and I would still love him. Unconditionally.
The horizon was beginning to lighten when a cloudy, indistinct vision of Jasper leaving - sneaking away - next time he went to hunt, danced in front of my eyes. I gasped, it felt like he was crushing my heart again.
"What wrong? Why the panic?" He asked quickly, his head perking up to survey our surroundings.
"You wont leave me, will you, Jasper?" I cried in alarm as I crawled around to face him.
His eyes narrowed. "Not that again." He muttered, averting his gaze from my face.
"No, you don't understand, Jasper. I need you."
"Quit it."
I took his face in my hands and made him look at me. "Listen to me, please, Jasper. I can't live without you. There is nothing for me without you. Before I met you, there were days when I couldn't see you. And when I couldn't see you, I couldn't see anything, it was as though my future had been scrubbed out by an eraser. Please don't leave me, Jasper. I don't judge you, at all, for your past or your present or your future. Whatever decisions you make are fine by me, so long as you stay with me." I pleaded desperately.
He glared at me. "Alice, look at me. There's nothing about me to love."
"I am looking at you and there's everything about you to love." I insisted.
He ignored me. "And look at you." He said, as though it proved a point.
"I'd say I am looking at me, but it would be a lie." I said in an attempt at humor.
"You're beautiful and happy and innocent, Alice." He said, grabbing my hands from where they were still clasped on either side of his face, pushing them away. "And there's nothing I could give you."
My breath caught. He thought I was beautiful.
"I'm only happy because you're here. And I've made mistakes too, Jasper. I have tasted human blood. And as for what you could give me, Jasper, all I want is you. As damaged and unworthy as you think you are, you're all I want." I pleaded. "So please, please, please, please don't try to run away from me next time you go hunting. Because I will follow you. And when I catch you, I will latch myself onto you and not let go."
"But I am damaged, Alice. And you deserve someone less deformed, less hateful than myself." He said, pushing my hands back against my chest. Pushing me away.
"Too bad I wont have anyone else, then." I said stubbornly. He rolled his eyes at me and I smiled. "I told you, you're fighting a losing battle."
"I believe I was the one to tell you that."
"Yes, but mine's the only one that counts because I'm also a raging force of nature." I quipped. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth and my breath caught in my throat. I was suddenly overpowered by the desire to kiss him. I wanted to kiss those lips, those charming, half-smiling lips that had told me I was beautiful. But I knew he would be resistant to the idea. I had to move quickly, before he caught on.
I all but lunged at him, one arm snaking it's way around his neck as I pushed my lips to his. He gasped and his hand tightened painfully over my arm for the merest of seconds as his instincts kicked in after so many years of attack. Then his hand slipped away and his lips were moving beneath mine, kissing me back; he wasn't unwilling. My hopes soared. My heart felt like it might burst in a fiery eruption of love and lust and sheer joy.
I would have cried in joy and relief, but I couldn't, so I kissed him harder, furiously, and his lips were firm and just as demanding under mine. His arms wrapped around me then, crushing me to his chest as I found that my hand had balled into a fist in his hair. Swirling emotions were crashing around me and I wasn't sure if they were emanating from him or from myself, love and lust and confusion and joy and relief, but the most potent was desire. It seemed so unlike him, and especially jarred with the conversation we'd just had; the conversation in which he'd rejected me again. Did he want this? Was he just appeasing me?
Seconds later, one hand on my shoulder, the other on my hip, he pushed me back into the snowbank. The full length of his body covered me, as he deepened the kiss, demanded responses from me I was only too willing to give. I arched into him, pulling him closer to me and his left arm wrapped around my waist, holding me against him. And all around me was his scent, heady and intoxicating. I could taste it on my lips mingled with the slight residue of human blood; delicious. I breathed in deeply and couldn't help the quiet moan that escaped my lips. Then suddenly he was gone, ripped from my grasp, and standing twenty feet away breathing heavily.
"Damn it, Alice." He hissed.
I sat up, blinking confusedly. "What?" I unsteadily got to my feet. "What's wrong? I'm sorry."
He walked very slowly, deliberately, back towards me until he was less than a foot away, then he took my face in his hands and kissed me very slowly and softly on the lips. It was a heartbreakingly tender kiss. It melted me, for once I felt like I was made of something soft instead of granite, and I sank into him.
He pulled away and looked me very seriously in the eye. "Don't be so accommodating, Alice. Though we are not human, let us follow proper decorum."
I blinked. Then laughed. He was worried about my reputation? His reputation? Who really cared? Who would know any more than we told them? And who would we tell, anyway? I highly doubted the Cullen's would care if he and I had . . . But the thought was so heartcrushingly tender. That he would care enough about my dignity to stop and want to do things properly cut my laughter short.
"And you say you're not a gentleman." I teased.
He looked away across the bay, scowling again. "Were you able to see the Cullen's?" He asked gruffly.
Grinning like an idiot, shouts of victory echoing in my head, I turned his face back to mine and kissed him softly. "I love you, Jasper Whitlock." I whispered, "But I haven't been able to see where they are yet. However, I can see them now, better than ever."
"And what are they doing?" He asked with a raised eyebrow as he took my hand in his and we started westward, following along the bay. "What are they like?"
Smiling wistfully, I began to describe the Cullen's to him. "Carlisle Cullen is their leader. He made all the rest of them. He works as a doctor, I think. And he must be immune to human blood, because last night I saw him taking care of a human with a nasty gash." I shook my head, trying to clear the vivid memory from my thoughts. "He's very caring and compassionate from everything I've ever seen of him. He was the first to decide to live like they do. They call themselves vegetarians.
"Carlisle's wife, Esme, is also very caring. She acts like a mother to the others, she likes taking care of everyone. She also likes redecorating houses. Several times when I've seen her, she's been painting, or putting together new furniture, or laying bathroom tile or something like that. It's kind of neat. I think they always live together, in a big house, just like a human family.
"Edward is their oldest "son". I think he has a gift like mine, though I'm not entirely sure how it works. I know that sometimes he knows things others don't. He's . . . he's kind of quiet, self-absorbed, in a way. Or maybe he's lonely. I'm not sure. He plays the piano very beautifully. I was listening to him play before you returned.
"Their other son is Emmet. He's a big, friendly guy, from what I can tell. He likes to play fight with Edward whenever he can, he likes that he's strong. He's also a prankster. He keeps the rest of the Cullen's on their toes. He's also completely head over heels for his wife, Rosalie Hale-Cullen.
"Rosalie is . . ." I hesitated, for the first time a little worried about meeting the Cullen's. What if Jasper liked Rosalie more than me? "Well, Rosalie is very beautiful. But she seems a little arrogant," I said, trying not to let my insecurities show, and trying not to depreciate my future sister unnecessarily. "She likes cars. I've seen her a couple times, working under the hood of a car."
"Hmm," Jasper said distractedly, "So there's five of them." He concluded grimly.
"You don't have to worry about them attacking. They wont hurt us."
"That's what you said last time." He pointed out.
I grimaced at the memory of the bloodthirsty newborn. "I only said that he might not attack us."
He chuckled grimly and squeezed my hand. It was reassuring and a swelling of giddiness rose up in me. He was mine. I wouldn't share him with anyone. Mine. I had won the battle he had told me I would lose, and we both knew it, no matter how much he may try to resist it.
We'd scarcely run more than an hour, frost covered trees glistening in the early morning gloom around us, when a different scene altogether slid before my eyes. I could see myself standing next to Jasper, hands linked expectantly, in front of a huge, polished log cabin. The front of the house was interrupted by three tall, floor to ceiling windows, which reflected off the early afternoon sunlight.
The house was encroached on all four sides by a wide, familiar-looking, snow covered forest. It was the same forest I had seen the previous night through the windows of Esme and Rosalie's rooms, I was sure of it. Towering pine and spruce trees waved in a breeze, creaking softly. Beside the house was a detached garage where I could see the hood of a brand new Corvette propped open. I wondered if Rosalie was behind it, tinkering with the car's inner workings, but it was impossible to see from this angle.
I had never seen the Cullen's house like this before and I was positive it was the Cullen's house. It felt like them. I had seen individual rooms within, but never the exterior visage. And the clarity of the image was astonishing. The colors and definitions of everything was so sharp. I could see the shadows within the shadows of the garage. I could see the furniture, very designer, through the windows of the house. I wondered if the rest of the family was in the house. Would I catch a glimpse of Carlisle or Esme or Edward or Emmet or Rosalie through the window if I watched long enough?
But the image shimmered and began to fade before I could some to any constructive conclusion about the house; like it's location. Instead, Jasper's concerned, crimson eyes swam into view.
"Alice?" He asked anxiously.
I blinked and smiled at him. "Hi."
"Are you okay?"
"Yes. I just saw the Cullen's house. I think . . . I think it means we're going the right way." I answered.
He raised an eyebrow. "You think?"
"Well, I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I saw us arriving there, so I think we must be doing something right." I offered uncertainly.
He frowned. "How do your visions work?"
"I've never really experimented with them before. For the last forty years, my priority has been finding you." I smiled at him, "But every time I focused on seeing you, all I could see was you in that diner. I think I only had one shot at finding you. If I had decided not to be in that diner when you walked in, I think my entire future would have disappeared."
"Like the days you couldn't see me?" He asked as he regarded me tenderly.
"Exactly like those days I couldn't see you." I whispered. The creeping terror that had taken up residence inside of me those days, that I had missed my chance somehow and that I would never see his face again – in my mind or in reality, was not easy to forget.
"Why do you think you couldn't see me sometimes?" He asked.
"I think because you hadn't made whatever decision that would bring you to me. That maybe you were indecisive?"
"Mmm, about leaving Maria, yes." He confirmed thoughtfully.
"And your friends?"
"Yes, Peter and Charlotte too."
A moment of silence passed as he watched my face contemplatively. His eyes were narrowed and his lips pursed in thought as he tapped his chin with his index finger. "So, let us suppose then, ma'am, that your gift works on the outcome of decisions. We decided to travel west and you were able to see our goal. If I'm right, if we decide to travel in a different direction, we may see a different outcome. "
I liked the way he said "we" and "us" and "our". It made us sound like a collective unit. To my ears, it made it sound like he thought we belonged together too. I smiled and turned due east, taking his hand in mine, I focused very hard on my decision, I began sprinting.
This time I felt my body stop short only minutes later as images flitted over my vision. I saw us reemerging on the craggy coastline, not much further east than where we had spent the night. I also saw, distinct against the blinding glare of the sun on the snow, two dark shapes lithely sprinting towards us. They seemed to be smiling as they came towards us, but I couldn't ever remember seeing them before.
"Alice? What do you see?"
I blinked and tried to smile reassuringly at him. "Visitors." I said, knowing that he wouldn't like the news.
He stiffened, a frustrated snarl crossing his face. "How many?" He demanded.
"Two, but I don't think they mean us any harm."
"Let me remind you that you're not a very good judge of that." He snapped.
I grimaced. "But they were smiling as they came towards us. I think they were following our scent. They weren't very far from where you found that polar bear."
His eyes narrowed further as he took in a deep breath, trying to catch their scent. Of course he couldn't; the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, exposing us to our pursuers. ""What did they look like?"
"A man and a woman, probably mates. They were holding hands. The woman was very small – well, like me – but she's very fair. Her hair is almost white. The man is brown haired and . . . like you a bit." I answered awkwardly.
"How so?"
I didn't want to answer, didn't want him to realize that I had noticed his scars despite trying very hard not to notice them. Not because I thought they made him look deformed or dangerous, but to keep in check the rising swell of ache and pity that would have overflowed if I allowed myself to think of his suffering. Instead, I ran my finger lightly along a faded gash over his left eyebrow. A low growl emitted from his throat before he checked it.
"Peter and Charlotte." He said darkly.
"Your friends?" I asked, confused by his tone.
He looked down at me and grinned wryly. "We didn't part on such good terms."
I nodded then paused. This was it, the decision I had been struggling with for so long. Which did I want more? Jasper or the Cullen's? And suddenly the answer was so much clearer than it had ever been before. It was obvious, really. Sure, I wanted the Cullen's in my life. I wanted to become a part of their happy family, but I needed Jasper. I needed him more than I needed blood. "Wherever you go, Jasper, I'll go with you." I promised.
He snorted and shook his head. "You are such a . . . I don't even know what to call you, Alice. How could you promise to give up your future, for me of all people, if I chose to go back to Peter and Charlotte?"
"Easily. I love you." Then, acting braver than I felt, I took his hand in mine and began walking slowly east again. Heart breaking with every step I took, I watched how the face of each of the Cullen's grew fainter and fainter in my mind as I grew more resolved. Jasper was the pivotal center of my existence. I could live, however marginally, without the rest.
He wrapped his arm firmly around my waist and pulled me close to his side. "I said I would go with you to the Cullen family, didn't I?"
I nodded mutely, desperately fighting against the hope rising in my chest. I so wanted to have my cake and eat it too - figuratively speaking. "But they're your family, Jasper. I would never presume to make you choose between me and them."
"You would rather that I force you to make that choice then?" He asked, squeezing me a little tighter.
"Never. I go where you go, Jasper. Consider the Cullen's already forgotten." I proclaimed with false bravado.
He laughed, a sardonic little chuckle, "Well, I hope not. I'm not sure how we'll find them without your incredible talent."
I looked sharply at his face to see, reluctant to believe, if he was only leading me on. But he was watching me earnestly, a small smile playing on his lips. "Really?" I demanded incredulously.
"Of course. I cannot live the way Peter and Charlotte do, anymore. The Cullen's are an answer for me."
I couldn't help the hysterical laugh that erupted from my chest as I danced out of his grip then jumped into his arms, legs wrapping around his waist like a bizarre monkey, I took his face between my hands and kissed him fervently. He leaned away far too soon for my liking. "I love you, Jasper. I would have followed you anywhere, no matter how miserable it made me."
He rolled his eyes and looked embarrassed while I disentangled myself from him, before his expression turned serious again. "Did you want to meet them?" He asked tentatively, doubtfully.
I paused and frowned. Did I want to meet them? If it had been Maria, I would have said yes in an instant, if only for the simple pleasure of being able to kill her for what she'd done to him. I would have hoped that I lasted just long enough to do some damage before she loosed her newborn army on me. But Peter and Charlotte - the two newborns that had escaped then come back to rescue him - I didn't feel any animosity toward. No need to destroy them for the marks they had left on my one true love. Instead, I felt a great rush of gratitude towards them for fishing him out of the mess he had been in.
"I would love to." I said brightly.
He hesitated, his gaze flicking over my face before he nodded slowly. He took my hand in his, before he began leading us back the way we'd came. I smiled. I liked the new way he seemed comfortable touching me; liked the reassuring warmth of his hand in mine, the comfort and safety I felt when he put his arm around me, the flutter in my dead heart when he kissed me. My mind dwelling on these thoughts, it seemed we were almost immediately back where we had started out that morning.
We passed the corpse of the polar bear out on the ice, snow already drifting around it, my snow angel, my comfortable divot in the snow where I had watched the Cullen's, the larger depression where I had comforted him and kissed him for the first time. It seemed an age ago already, mere hours after in incident. It seemed like a distant dream, that there had been a time when Jasper and I weren't so naturally comfortable with each other. I leaned and kissed his shoulder, the nearest point to me, and watched, with satisfaction, the small smile that tugged at his lips.
And then we could see them; the faint silhouettes of Peter and Charlotte trudged across the snow at the outer limits of our vision. They caught sight of us and quickened their approach while Jasper protectively tugged me a little behind his body. I allowed him to shield me with an exasperated sigh, content that there was no real danger, before wrapping my arms around him and pressing my cheek to his back. His hands ran lightly over my fingers where they rested over his stomach.
"Jazz!" Charlotte called cheerfully as they closed the distance between us.
"Jasper." Said Peter in a warm, hearty tone.
"Peter, Charlotte, hello." He replied crisply with a perfunctory nod.
"We've been tracking you for days. We caught your scent just west of Cincinnati." Peter said.
Jasper nodded again, accepting the explanation mutely. He didn't seem inclined to say anything more. I sighed and stepped out from behind him, eager to meet his friends. "Hello, my name is Alice." I introduced myself cheerfully.
I was expecting chipper hello's or embarrassed musings at Jasper's manners from them. I wasn't expecting the way they both instinctively took a step back, crouched and growled. Jasper pushed me behind him again and snarled ferociously.
"Her eyes." Charlotte hissed, her white blond hair fluttering around her face.
"What is she?" Peter demanded.
"Calm down, please!" I cried in shock, putting a restraining hand on Jasper's shoulder. My protest snapped Peter and Charlotte out of their stances, they straightened up, watching me warily. "Jasper, please." I pleaded softly. He slowly straightened, every fiber of his being tensed and ready to attack his old friends.
"Alice is like us, except she feeds only on animals." Jasper explained testily. "And you will not touch her."
Peter took a deep breath. "Of course not. We apologize." He said, addressing me. "Forgive us, your appearance startled us. It's very nice to meet you."
I smiled. "I didn't realize I was so startling. It's nice to meet you too."
"Is it your . . . unusual diet that causes the coloration in your eyes?" Charlotte asked.
"Yes." I affirmed.
They seemed more curious now than anything and asked numerous questions about my way of life. "How do you manage to hunt them?", "Why hunt them?", "Does the blood taste better than it smells?", "Is it filling at all?".
"I'm trying out Alice's way of life now." Jasper affirmed when the conversation turned back to him.
"Of course, I understand, Jasper. I know how the hunt . . . affected you." Peter said with a nervous flick of his gaze my way. "How has it been coming along?"
A bitter smile crossed Jasper's face, but he nodded his head in the direction of the snow covered polar bear corpse on the ice in the distance behind us. "It is . . . difficult, but not wholly impossible." He answered.
Their eyes fell on the corpse in the distance and Charlotte raised an eyebrow, "Polar bear?" She asked.
Peter chuckled. "I have to say, though, Jasper, I was a bit surprised to see you waiting for us."
"Alice saw you coming. She wanted to meet you." Jasper said coolly.
"Saw us coming?" Charlotte asked suspiciously.
"Alice is also . . . gifted." Jasper replied cryptically.
I rolled my eyes. "I can see the future, somewhat." I confided. Jasper sighed in annoyance beside me.
Both of their eyebrows shot up. "Impressive." Charlotte murmured.
"Indeed," Peter agreed, "But that wasn't what I meant. I was a bit under the impression that we would have to tackle you down to speak with you."
Jasper grunted. "What did you want to speak to me about?"
Charlotte sighed heavily. "Jasper, you know we love you. We're sorry, we should have been more sensitive."
"Peter's neck was plenty sensitive." Jasper said acidly.
"Jasper!" I cried in outrage as Charlotte snarled. Peter stood immobile, tensed in the same stance as Jasper.
He looked at me for a long second before sighing loudly. "I'm sorry, Charlotte, Peter." He said and he sounded the most relaxed he had the entire conversation. "My behavior has been unacceptable, both now and . . . before. Can you forgive me?" He said as he took a step toward them, allowing the largest gap between us since he had first heard they were coming.
"I can, Jasper." Peter said before pulling him into a tight bear hug. "Ah, my friend, my comrade, my brother, I would have nothing if it weren't for you."
Charlotte nodded a bit begrudgingly. "Of course, Jasper."
"I suppose you'll be going with Alice now, then?" Peter asked. "Can we visit you? Where are you headed?"
"Alice has seen a family of vampires named the Cullen's. They're like her. She thinks that they'll welcome us." Jasper answered, taking my hand in his.
I smiled ruefully. "I haven't been able to see exactly where they are yet. Somewhere west of here, we think."
"I hope you find them." Peter said sincerely. "When you do, Jasper, you know the address I keep. Send me a letter."
"I will." Jasper promised with a genuine smile.
"Well then, we'll be off and leave you to your search." Charlotte smiled. "I think we'll be heading south now. I know the cold doesn't really bother me, but I miss the warmth and humidity of the South. It's comforting to me."
"Nice to meet you, Alice." Peter said pleasantly, then shared a secret smile with Charlotte, the kind of smile one gave when something they had silently suspected finally came to pass.
"Nice to meet you too." I said graciously before they turned and sprinted southward.
Jasper wrapped his arm around my shoulders before kissing the crown of my head. "You're too likable. I was ready to kill them last time I saw them."
"Mm, I gathered. Maybe you're just too irritable." I quipped.
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A/N: Jasper may seem a bit confusing in this to you, I'm not sure. In my mind, Jasper in this time period isn't quite the same as he is in the Twilight series. His entire existence, he has taken anything he wanted by force. But now he's at war with himself. Don't let his rejections fool you, he wants Alice very badly, but he doesn't think he deserves her. So now he's warring with the choice of taking the easy way out and taking what she wants to offer him, or doing what he thinks is right, and resist her. He doesn't want her ending up regretting her love for him, later, when he thinks she will find someone more suitable for her. Of course, he doesn't realize just how determined Alice is either.