**Yayyy! Sorry for the cliffie of the last chapter, but i hope this makes up for it; i could hardly wait to release it!! Hope you all enjoy it--writing it out, i sure did! :D I think we all know who that little angel voice belonged to...**

Shoutout to HonourDesperation for your awesomely helpful feedback. I wish you had amazing Edward mind reading powers so you could preread my chapters and tell me the most creative routes to take. Well, i did incorporate a little snippet of your suggestions--the most i could do. Thanks a ton for the helpful review!

Another shout out to ekp95m, whom i haven't seen much of, but sent an amzing review that really touched me! Go read it after this chapter--it is soooo poetic! Thanks for that review--i will remember it for a long time!! Meant alot alot alot!

Oh, and one more thing--i've been getting reviews asking for longer chapters. Sorry if they are a tad short, always around 1,500 to 2,000 words...but it's all typed up already and i am just trying to distribute them evenly. Pace myself, y'know? I'll try to add more stuff in when i edit, deal? :D

Ch. 8--Merciful Angel

A haze had washed over my eyes--leaving my nose as sensitive as ever. The scent of rushing human blood stained them, made me cringe inwardly. It burned like acid--washing down my throat. Just before I had heard her first words, I had been eyeballing an old man sitting at the bar. He was old--he was through with life, I could somehow lure him into the dark alley...if we even made it that far.

Why I would wonder about this man after the moment I heard the voice was...the thought of killing him became the farthest thing in my mind. The voice washed clear of my ravenous thoughts, leaving only a subtle burn. I was so amazed that I had been so easily distracted.

It was such a beautiful voice, warm and comforting--something that was nearly exotic to me--and I scrambled to match it to a face. Surely it was just as lovely. I tried to banish away the fog sheathed over my wary eyes. Was it an angel, come to mercy me and my pitiful life? Was she about to beckon to me with a slender finger, her face glowing amidst a white aura? Was she an angel of death, perhaps? I wouldn't care if she was...to spend my last moments of life with her would be the best thing to ever happen to me.

I could imagine her floating towards me, her face peach and aglow as the humans went about sipping their sluggish, muddy coffee and smoking their stubby dirty cigars. Even if they didn't know she was there, they were more blessed than they could ever believe.

My eyes finally adjusted, and there she was. It was an angel.

Her eyes were huge and lovely. The candles and drinking glasses--everything shiny, reflected from them. They were so deep and intriguing…and golden. I quickly whiffed her. Yes, definitely vampire. But why did she have golden eyes?

The way she glanced back, with almost an awe puzzled me. Why should she be intrigued in any way to me? I was a rugged demon, really, flecked with the scars to prove it, marked with the horrid memories. I'm sure she had taken other men like me from the world.

I was blinking in utter shock at this beauty, and I had to recall her words to answer. "I'm sorry, ma'am." That dreaded Texas drawl betrayed me again, before this angel. I was horrified. I longed so much to reach out and touch her--may it be that she was here to kill me, I could care less. If she was an illusion, so be it--I may as well take advantage of my better hallucinations.

Imagine my utter shock and excitement when she held her hand out to me. I knew I shouldn't--should I? What could happen? At that thought, Maria's face flashed into my mind. She had been beautiful…innocent looking…

But that cream-colored palm was so beautiful. I could gaze upon it for years and still find joy in its sight. The creases were so clean and delicate, her skin so porcelain and thin. It was absolutely breath-taking. As I dug my grimy hand from its soggy coat pocket, I felt it. For only the third or so different time in my life, I felt love.

This was so different, though. Not like I saw it between my prey or even Peter and his mate. It was flowing through my veins, circling my hollowed arteries with warm, colorful emotion. It was delicious and numbing and addicting, I thirsted for it more than any blood I'd ever smelled.

I was so entranced by it, that when I came to, my hand was in hers. It felt like heaven. Her skin was so silky, making Maria's seem calloused. Her touch was so soft, rendering Peter's concerned prods like punches. I nearly melted right then and there--collapse in front of them all, for this love I was feeling from her was so huge and amazing, unlike anything I had felt.

"Come with me." I heard her voice; I longed to respond, but my eyes were closed, my body light with confused bliss. I let myself be carefully led outside, even as the rain poured on and on around me. I didn't feel it, even when I heard the bus shriek its honk and splash me with gallons of filthy gutter water. It was almost like her emotion had created a protective barrier around me, and I was, for once--invincible.

I could care less, but by the sound of the angel's gasps, she cared about me. That was all the more reason to fall over. I was shocked by her feelings, for I was a strggler in her glorifying presence, and the barreling water hadn't exactly helped.

The water pooled in my eyes, my head was prodded by cobblestones. "Jasper? Are you alright?"

She said my name. I hadn't told her my name.

I was deeply confused, but too rubber-like to respond. I tilted my head, letting the water drain from my eyes like tears.

I felt her hand on my arm then, and I could barely keep my eyes open. Every touch was a caress, leaving me feeling drowsy in bliss. It was a great feeling, but I didn't want to be some sort of zombie in front of this woman. I struggled to prop myself up, and she helped me. She helped me.

It was now that my daze faded, rather quickly and harshly. The cold water's bits of dirt grounded against my hard flesh. The stones jutted up into my back, and I had to reach up to brush away the hair matted over my eyes. My labored breathing, full of sudden unease, was silenced when the angel used her own hand to push away the hair. Her touch was so wonderful--both warm and dry and soft and beautiful. Had there ever been a touch like it? I thought not.

"W--who are you?" My words were broken and soft through my frozen lips. In the darkness, I could only make out a silhouette, but when another car honked by, the headlights threw over her face.

This face amazed me to silence. My joints locked, and I was practically pinned to the stones. This face made Maria's look apish and ugly. I never thought I could say that, but it was plainly true.

Her lips were deep burgundy, her skin milky crystal white. I could see no pores or scathes across the delicious planes of her face.

Her eyes were dressed in soft brown hues, and her eyelashes were long and inky black. Her eyes were wide--the first thing I had ever seen of her. Those beautiful butterscotch eyes; they seemed to glow and glisten like a rising sun even now in the filthy streets.

Her jet black hair was tugged by the growing wind, and plastered to her beautiful face by the soaking rain. Her clothes hung upon her body in huge soggy folds, and I couldn't help but notice the subtle curve of her hip. Under her large clothes, I could see she had a beautiful body, which seemed only fitting for an angel, of course.

I tried to adjust myself once more. I waited, trying not to become lost in her orb-like eyes.

"My name is Alice." She said, barely audible in the fierce screeches of the storm. Her face angled to the sky, which was growing darker and darker. The gray clouds of that evening were now angry and harsh stains of ebony. The white rain droplets pelted us, leaving us in freezing clothes. The people in the broken down cars with rickety spokes looked at us with disbelief as they rolled by.

"We must get out of this storm, Jasper." she said, her eyes catching the light from some unknown place. It was all dark here. I found myself shaking my head wildly enough to have my bangs slap across my face.

"T--tell me who you are! Are you real…?"

That was when she stood up and gripped my hand, yanking me to her with vampire strength. She pulled me close, and I had to admit I was elated to be touching her body with mine. I was about to scold myself for such thoughts when she hissed, "I will tell you everything later."

She dashed off, and I was nearly horrified for her departure. That was when I found my hand remained in hers, and I was running along her side. I couldn't help but feel the warmth of the love overcoming the freezing rain.

**YAYY! haha i'm just super excited to see how you all take this chapter--sorry it's a tad shorter than usual. It's so fun to look back at Jasper and Alice's story of how they met--i think they have the most gorgeous background story of them all. Jasper was the walking dead, hopeless and suicidal, and Alice devoted her life to finding him. Perfection! Stephenie Meyer is the Queen of the World.**