Jasper listened quietly to her musical voice. His onyx orbs watched her intently, noting small things about her. He caught himself watching her, and wondered briefly if this analytical nature that had been instilled in him would ever fade away. He doubted it. Thanks to Maria, he would live forever, never resting, always watching, always having to pay attention to every detail of his surroundings. He noticed that Alice sometimes bit her lower lip before she was about to say something. She smiled at him often. Her hand was graceful and swift as it brushed a stray strand of air out of her fantastically beautiful face. A human most likely wouldn't notice the intensity of his gaze because his irises were the same obsidian color as his pupils. Usually they needed the assistance of the difference in colors to know where exactly he was looking. It was like having sunglasses; only they only covered his irises. But her eyes would be able to pick up the subtle color difference between his iris and pupil.

Thinking about his black eyes made him realize the subtle burn in his throat. Up until a moment ago it had only been a small irritation, but as he realized it, it roared up his throat. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to focus. The broken men in the bar were slowly starting to smell better and better. He listened intently to Alice, focusing only on her. She described her power to him, and his interest won out over his thirst. As far as he knew, not every vampire had a power. He remembered back during the wars when he would have to alter his fighting strategies when his opponent had a special ability. Her story made more sense now. Her ability explained everything. She had known he would be here because she had seen it. She had known his name and that he would be willing to hear her out because he had been in her visions of the future. Briefly he thought back to when she said that they were going to stay together for a while. He wondered what this future looked like. He had been traveling alone for so long, he had forgotten what it was like to have a companion. But he admitted that any future with this girl in it seemed like a good one.

She knew nothing of her human years. Sadly this wasn't the first time he had heard of this. He had met a vampire once who remembered nothing of being human. The best that Jasper could piece together is that the vampire subconsciously suppressed memories of his mortal life, and he soon forgot about it all together. It was easy to do that with a vampire's memory. Though he could remember with infinite clarity every moment of his existence as a vampire, his human memories were clouded with haze. Some parts of his childhood he had forgotten all together. But the memories he revisited often were ones that were cemented now in his vampiric memory, never to be forgotten again. But if someone didn't know that, a lot of time would be lost, probably never to be remembered again. He wondered what it must have been like for Alice to wake up alone, not knowing who or what she was, with a thirst that she didn't know how to quench. He couldn't imagine the confusion. When he had risen from his burning, Maria was at his side with a catlike gleam in her eyes, stroking hair out of his face. She had told him everything about what he was, what he could do, what he needed to live off of, and why he had been made. Dozens of newborns had died as Jasper began to discover his strength. He couldn't imagine how Alice had made it through when she discovered what she was, having to discover it alone. He frowned. "That must have been very hard for you."

She asked about him, and it was his turn to explain. He wondered just how much she knew of him. If her visions had told her his name, what else had they told her? He watched her hand as it moved across the table and took his. Her finger traced the crescent shaped scar on his palm. He tensed a moment, knowing that she was analyzing his scars, and he wondered if she would turn away at the sight of them soon. But he read her emotions, and there was no revulsion or disgust. This surprised him. Every vampire he had ever come across always eyed his ravaged skin with either disgust or pity. He had become accustomed to the reaction, and even began to expect it from all the beings he came across. Even humans, though he knew full well that they would never see his scars unless they carefully inspected him under bright light. His scars disturbed even Charlotte sometimes, though she tried so very hard to hide it. Jasper had served in Maria's army a lot longer than her lover had, and Peter only carried a few scars with him to this day.

He didn't want to recount his dark past with Alice, who seemed so happy and pure. He didn't want her to see him any differently. But even as she looked upon the scars up and down his arms, even as she surely felt the gentle crescent shaped rift in his palm, the emotions radiating off her were nothing more than genuine curiosity and fascination. It seemed she was just as interested in hearing his talk as he had been for hers. She honestly wanted to know more about his life. She never did what he expected. It was this that convinced him to let her into his life.

"I was born in Texas in 1843. I was born in just enough time to become a man and serve in the Civil War. I lied about my age and enlisted in the Confederate States Army when I was seventeen. My father raised me to be a soldier. War was my life. I had many glorified and romantic ideas about what it would be like to fight in a battle. I was very charismatic, and rose quickly through the ranks. I was soon the youngest major in the army, even when I was lying about my true age. I was twenty when I met my maker. I was helping transport civilians away from the front lines, when I came across the three of them. They were the most beautiful women I had ever seen in my life." He focused his eyes on Alice, and then added. "Up until that point. They argued among themselves for a moment as I stood there, paralyzed by their unnatural beauty. The leader of the three said that she saw something in me. She couldn't place it, but it compelled her to change me. She didn't ask, she just did it." He was going to smooth over the technicalities, but then he remembered that she had no memory. She probably wondered why she woke up the way she did. "When a human is bitten, but not drained, our venom goes immediately to their bloodstream. Essentially, it strips away everything that makes you human to only the basics, and then builds you back up again as a vampire. It enhances everything. Sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing. Even things like strength and speed. We become more durable. To humans, our skin feels like solid stone. Our body temperature drops. Not to mention incredible longevity. And yet we still look exactly as we did the day that we were changed. Now, it takes an incredible amount of change to our systems to become like this. It's excruciatingly painful. It feels like burning. Like your entire body is on fire, and no matter how hard you try to escape it, or turn your focus away from it, it never leaves. It feels like you're on fire for centuries, but it's roughly three days. Slowly, you become more aware of your surroundings, until finally the burning is only in your throat, and the pain is much more manageable. I woke up, and the one who had changed me, Maria, was at my side. She showed me what I was, how much I was capable of, and…what I needed to survive."

He went on, telling Alice about the vampire wars in the south, how he fought for his life every night for roughly sixty or seventy years. He explained that these fights were how he acquired his many scars. "Vampire venom is the only thing strong enough to leave a scar on our bodies." He explained. He told her about Maria, and how they were lovers for a time. But it wasn't a healthy relationship. He told her about the newborn army. "I discovered that I also have a special ability, like you. Not all vampires have an ability, and of those who do, there is never the same power that works in exactly the same way, though some are similar. I think this is because no one is exactly the same. From what I can best guess, when we change everything about us is enhanced. I was very charismatic as a human, and could often fool people in believing what I wanted them to, simply because of my attitude. So this got enhanced, and I found that as a vampire, I could actually control the moods of other people. I can quiet a room of angry people; soothing their emotions and making them feel calm. And I can also do the opposite." He figured the bet way to get this across would be to show her. There were more people in the bar now. He took in the atmosphere for a moment, and then exercised his ability. It could be imagined sort of like a bubble. It was very small, but he forced it to expand over his head. He pushed it out towards Alice, and expanded it all throughout the room. It was dark, and heavy, suppressing all the good feelings in the room, and spreading desolation and emptiness, like all the happiness had been sucked from the room. He watched as the people at the bar shifted uncomfortably. One old man stared into his beer, seemingly collapsing into himself with sadness. Jasper looked to Alice, who was also effected by this. Quickly, he withdrew his power, and the imaginary bubble could be seen drawing back from the edges of the room, all the way back until it was once again just a small bubble over his head. Then he did the same thing, only this time the room turned light and carefree, with giddy happiness and hope radiating out into the room, like the warmth of the sun had risen in the establishment. That same old man looked up from his drink, a pleased smile creasing his face. He turned his gaze out the window, not even noticing the bleak rain outside. Jasper looked again back to Alice, who seemed to notice this change in the atmosphere as well. Again he withdrew this feeling, and returned his eyes to rest on the woman in front of him. "When surrounded in a room by irrational, volatile newborns, it comes in quite handy. I can affect the feelings of others, but their feelings also have an effect on me. I feel the emotions of others just as clearly as they themselves feel it. Like an empath."

He went on to tell her about how, after a long time with Maria, depression consumed him. He told her about his companion Peter, and how when they were ordered to kill the newborns, Charlotte among them, Peter went rogue and ran away with her. He left Jasper alone in his depression, with Maria, who was growing continually more tense around him. He was worried he would soon have to kill his maker, or risk being killed first, but Peter returned some time later, telling him about a life he never knew he could have. "I'd never known anything other than fighting, my whole life as a human, and my whole existence as a vampire. But I was sick of it. Peter convinced me that there was more to being a vampire. So I left." He counted his years of traveling, but being around the blissfully happy couple only worsened his depression. "I couldn't even feed in peace. I would feel their fear as my own. It made me sick. Sometimes I would resolve to not hunt at all, reasoned to waste away alone in some grave, too weak to move or speak but unable to die. But I don't have strong enough control to keep from feeding. The farther I am from feeding, the weaker my resolve. I just can't help being a monster."

He looked away from her as he said the last, not able to look into her unique amber eyes. He couldn't understand why they were that color. Unless animal blood affected one's system differently, in which case she must have already tried the diet. He was quiet for a long moment, and then looked up, ready to switch the topic of conversation away. He was done discussing his past. He had lived it already, and now preferred not to remember it. "Animal blood, huh? I would very much like to hear more about these Cullens." Someone opened the door to the bar, and the gust of wind carried her scent to his nose. In his hunger, she smelled delicious. He wrinkled his nose and slammed his eyes shut, trying again to only focus on Alice. If she had already committed herself to this animal diet, he would never forgive himself if he killed in front of her. His eyes were still closed as he spoke again. "Perhaps you could tell me more outside. Somewhere away from people?" He asked, his words strained, and his body tense. He wasn't willing to test how much longer he would be able to keep his control. It was a mistake to come into a bar, a place where humans were sure to be, in his hunger. But then he opened his obsidian eyes to look once again upon Alice. No, not a mistake. He could regret his decision to come here. It had brought him to her, and he was not yet willing to be away from her. To wish they had never met, even though he had only been talking to her for a small amount of time, seemed already like a blasphemous wish.