I walked toward him slowly with caution; I had no idea what was coming next. Bella seemed really distressed and Edward didn't seem too pleased either. What was going on? Maybe the mysteries of Bella's life were about to unfold themselves and Jasper was the key.

I was too nervous to say a word to him so I followed him into the forest in silence. After getting sufficiently deep into the woods and finding no way of escape, I slowly began to panic. Why did I trust him so easily? I didn't even think about what we were going to do here, was he going to speak to me? Or did he have other intentions…

"You don't have to be afraid." He said. He turned around to face me and finally stopped walking. I shifted my weight to one leg uncomfortably.

"I'm not…afraid." I said. He grinned at this and crossed his arms.

"You're a bad liar, and lying won't do you any good anyway. I can sense your emotions, I've always been able to." He said. Okay, now I was getting nervous.

"What do you mean? Like, you're good at reading people? I mean, I'm pretty observant myself but I really don't follow." I said.

"I mean I can sense every emotion that runs through your body." He started to circle me. "I can control everything you feel."

This guy was off his rocker. I just stared at him like he was crazy and before he could continue I felt myself having another anxiety attack. I dropped to my knees and clutched my heart while looking at Jasper for help—he just stared down at me.

"I can make you feel anything I desire. I can fill you with anxiety…" I started to panic. "Or I can make you feel so calm that you're on the verge of sleeping." I stood up again and felt completely fine. "For this occasion, I'm going to keep you in this state." He said with a smile. I just stared at him wide-eyed, on the inside I was completely calm but in reality I wanted to scream.

"What are you?" I asked. He sighed deeply and began to move closer to me; I moved away.

"It's really not fair that Bella had help in figuring it out. You're going to be here for a long time, no?" he asked. I nodded once. "Then you need to know. You need to know anyway because my family is going to be a part of Bella's life forever. Literally forever. And personally, I hope you can understand." He said with a wink. What was he even talking about? Was his family full of serial killers? The only thing I knew was that his siblings were all gorgeous and his father, Carlisle, was the town doctor. What did he mean by forever? Were they immortal? Did Carlisle somehow make a breakthrough in research and develop a tonic for immortality?

"You say forever, does that mean you're immortal?" I asked. He smiled; I took that as a yes. "So you're immortal…did Carlisle develop a serum to make that possible? I know he's a doctor, does he do research as well?" I asked. Jasper laughed at that.

"That was actually a very intellectual guess. I'm impressed. But alas, no, that isn't the case. I'll take Edward's approach to this situation and give you hints." He said. "Take a superhero and villain scenario—who would you want to win?" he asked. I was skeptical, but I decided to play along.

"There are not enough details in that statement for me to know. It depends on what they're fighting over really, and what one's definition of a hero is." I said. He looked a little shocked but continued.

"Well what is your definition of a hero and a villain then?" he asked. He moved away and sat on the branch of a tree; I followed behind him and stood by his feet.

"Like I said, it depends on the circumstances. A hero is someone who can be there for the ones they love when they're needed. A villain is someone who feels so sorry for themselves that they find the need to harm others, I guess. Even heroes can be more evil than the darkest villain." I said. I looked into his eyes and I couldn't read his expression. He just stared into my soul. After a good solid minute of trying to read each other, Jasper jumped off the branch and started walking toward me. He backed me up into a tree and put both of his arms up on either side of me—I could feel the blush rising but it was quickly subsided.

"What if I told you I was dangerous? Would you believe me?" he asked. He moved in closer and whispered in my ear, "Would you be frightened?"

"No." I said. "I already know you're dangerous considering you can toy with people's emotions. Emotions are the weakest part of the human being." He laughed at this.

"Exactly—emotions are the weakest part to a human." His emphasis on the word human made my brow furrow.

"What, are you saying you're not human?" I asked with a little laugh. When he just stared at me my smile immediately became a line. "Then what are you?" I asked. He reached over my head and ripped off another tree branch and threw it thirty feet from us like it was nothing. The loud sound of the branch ripping and hitting the ground scared me, so I jumped backwards and landed on my flank.

"What happened to not being frightened?" he asked.

"I'm jumpy when it comes to loud noises. How were you able to do that?" he stared down at me and helped me off the ground. Before I knew it, he was lifting me onto his back. "Jasper…what are you doing?" I yelled out. Before I knew it, he took off and was running through the forest on a steep incline to the top of the mountain. Except it wasn't running, he was moving faster than a motorcycle! The funny part about it was that I wasn't even afraid. I was actually…excited about what he was telling me. Okay, so he's super strong and runs faster than a speeding bullet—so what was he?

We stopped at a ledge midway up the mountain and the view overlooked the tops of the trees. I slid off his back and walked to the very edge and looked down. I wasn't one for heights so I backed up right into him and he grabbed my shoulders and spun me around to face him.

"You are one weird girl, you know that? How are you not frightened yet?" he asked. I shrugged in response and pulled out of his grasp.

"I just…don't really care. So you're super-human, and?" I said while chucking a rock off the side of the ledge. He sneered at me and his expression darkened.

"I'm not super-human. I'm not even remotely close to being human, actually." He said.

"So stop beating around the bush then! You obviously brought me out here to tell me, so just tell me. I doubt it'll change anything." I said. In a flash he was next to me with his hand cupping my jaw; my eyes widened.

"If only you knew how easily it would be to kill you right now. To kill you and never have any suspicion is was me. How satisfying it would be to finally just end your life…" he trailed off. I smacked his hand away and got into a fighting stance.

"So you took me out here to kill me? And you would be satisfied by it?" I spat. He sighed and put a hand to his temple.

"I didn't take you out here to kill you; I came out here to tell you about my life. It would be very satisfying to kill you right now, but not because I want you dead. It's because you just smell so sweet." He inhaled the air and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

"You're a cannibal with superpowers?" I asked. He laughed at that.

"Well at least you're getting closer. I don't eat people, I'm a vegetarian much to my own personal dismay. I'd rather live among humans than constantly thirst for them all the time." He looked at me quickly through the corner of his eye. He gave me a context clue and I think I picked it up.

"When you say 'thirst'…do you mean human blood? Like, you drink blood?" I asked warily. He took another step closer but didn't speak. "Vampires drink human blood." I said. In a flash he was next to me and his lips grazed my ear.

"Bingo."

I took a step back and just looked him over. It made a little more sense now: how alluring he was to look at, it felt as though my entire body just wanted everything about him. It's how they catch their prey. How he and his siblings never eat at lunch. How his eyes were orange.

"Hm. Well that makes everything make more sense." I said. He cocked his eyebrow at me and gaped.

"That's all you have to say? I tell you I'm a blood-sucking demon and you're not even the least bit afraid? I felt it flicker for a brief second but then it was replaced by something else I can't put my finger on." He said. I shrugged again and walked to the ledge again.

"I'm not afraid of you. If you wanted to drain my blood you would have done so by now. You've also been a lot nicer to me today so I'm assuming you just recently…fed." I gulped.

"I said I was a vegetarian, in vampire terms it means I only drink the blood of animals." He said. I was baffled by that, I never would have imaged a vegetarian vampire.

"That's a thing? So why are you so worried about how I feel about you being a vampire if you don't even drink human blood." I said. I turned back out toward the forest and felt him appear right behind me. He was standing so close to me that his torso was against my back, but his arms hung limply at his sides.

"I'm the newest to be adopted into the Cullen family. I was turned during the Civil War era and was trained to destroy humans in war since I can't be killed by their weapons." His southern drawl was starting to get to me again. "Rosalie really isn't my twin, in case you haven't figured that out. We just say we're related because we look alike and it's funny. But I came under Carlisle's wing because I was disgusted at myself for being a monster. Drinking the blood of animals doesn't make me feel like a killer, though I should feel just a bit guilty. It's not quite the same as killing people though so it gives me peace of mind. But human blood…" he turned me around to face him. Now our torsos were touching and I felt the blush creep up—this time it didn't go away.

"Human blood is much more satisfying than animal blood ever will be. And your blood in particular appeals to me more than any other human I've ever come into contact with. There's something different about it…that's really what attracted Edward to Bella by the way. The fact he couldn't read her mind and the fact that her blood made him want to kill himself was what brought them together." He laughed. My mouth fell agape for a second, I completely forgot about Bella knowing about this already. How could she keep the fact that she was involved in a family of vampires a secret from me? Oh well, I would have preferred to hear it from Jasper anyway.

"Also, sorry to break it to you but you haven't been blushing lately because I haven't been letting you. Although it's a truly catching feature of yours, it just brings your blood out more and I'm afraid of my lack of self-control. I'm surprised I even took you out here into the wilderness away from civilization—I deserve a medal or something." He said with a goofy grin. I was still so confused about so many things.

"You said Edward could read minds?" I asked. That made me very uncomfortable; I don't want anyone prying into my mind.

"Yes. Certain vampires are granted certain…gifts when they're changed. I can control emotions, Edward can read minds, and Alice can see the future." He said.

"She can see the future? How is that possible when the future is ever-changing?" I asked. He smiled down at me.

"You're a very smart girl, Demetria. Alice can see the overall future as a whole, but her visions are always subject to change. Nothing is ever set in stone—she didn't exactly see you coming until you were pulling into the front of Charlie's house and jumping into Bella's arms." He said.

"She saw me coming when I was already here and she said 'we're going to be great friends'…was that because she saw us being great friends?" I asked.

"Yes. She's very close to Bella; therefore she knows she's going to be very close to you. The thing I always enjoyed about Alice is that she understands the things that need to be done in the world and does them without complaints. She sees things and then follows suit accordingly. She left to Europe for a while after leaving me in order to find a new mate, I know it. And I'm okay with it and am actually relieved I no longer have to feel guilty." He said.

"Feel guilty about what?" I asked. He smiled down at me and suddenly threw me on his back again.

"That's a story for a different day." He said before taking off back toward civilization.