READ THIS AUTHOR'S NOTE PLEASE. It has very important information about the story.
Okay, I'm setting an exact date on things now. If there's one thing I'm horrible at, it's setting up a time line that is in the correct order with the right amount of hours in a day. Technically, vampires don't need to worry about that much, but I want to be consistent in when it's sunny and when it's dark.
Now, I learned a couple more things, seeing as I got the Twilight Saga Official Illustrated Guide for Christmas. The year is 2007 in my story, and the month is May. The exact date it going to be May 21st as of this chapter. As for the time, let's say it's just getting dark out. I'm very sorry if this is inconsistent to what I've said before, but I'll be doing my best from now on to keep things as accurate as possible. Now, enjoy!
"Stop her!" Alice shouted in the same second that Tayla darted off at unbelievable speeds into the forest. Jasper's arms released her and just as fast the two of them were racing after the thirst-crazed newborn.
There was less than no room in Tayla's mind to think of anything. Her brain had completely shifted to survival mode, which could only process the need to get to that irresistible scent that was still blowing towards her in the wind. Humanity had been left far behind her; it was different than the last time she had caught the scent of a human. When she had been returning to Forks with Alice, the scent had been very old, and the trail was partially covered. This time, the human was there in the forest, with fresh blood coursing through its veins. It was an even stronger urge than when Renesmee had been in the same room as her. She was more vampire than human, and so the scent had been much easier to resist.
Unknown by Tayla, Alice and Jasper were still racing after her, matching her speed almost perfectly, but she had a half a seconds head start, and her newborn strength helped to push her faster. They did have one advantage though; they knew this forest as well as they knew their own house. It wasn't like running into a tree would slow you down, but avoiding them without thinking gave you just enough of an edge to catch up to your target.
Within half a minute, Alice gained just enough speed to get herself past Tayla. In her un-thinking state of mind, all she comprehended was that someone was in the way of her prey. She skidded to a perfect stop, still crouched low, and a snarl slipped out through her teeth. Jasper stood behind her, ready in case she tried to get around Alice. Ignoring his warning, Alice took a small step towards Tayla, followed by another, until she was standing a mere foot away.
Something clicked inside Tayla's head. She wasn't in any danger, except perhaps from herself. Very, very slowly, she straightened out of her hunting crouch, and Alice closed the distance between them. She bent to to Tayla's level, putting her hands on her shoulders, her following words gentle but firm.
"Listen to me Tayla. You're better than this. You can walk away right now. You're strong enough to do this. We'll help you. Just walk away."
Tayla was thinking enough to process the words, enough to know the meaning behind them. She felt the need to take a deep breath to calm herself even more, but knew that would be the opposite of helpful. Instead, the young girl squeezed her eyes shut for two long seconds, and then slowly opened them.
"Get me out of here," she hissed through her teeth. Alice stood up straight, her hands still on Tayla's shoulders, and nodded once to Jasper. He moved to her other side, and Tayla didn't fight them as they whisked her away, through the dense forest, and far, far away from temptation.
"You reacted normally Tayla. No one thinks badly of you."
Tayla sighed and flicked her hand ahead of her to move away the branch. However, with the force she was unconsciously exerting, the branch snapped off and flew a dozen metres away, splitting in two when it made contact with a tree. She rolled her eyes and went back to letting the branches harmlessly hit her, as if they were feathers caressing her skin.
Alice looked over at Jasper as they followed Tayla slowly through the forest back to the Cullen house. The human scent was long gone, and now Tayla was feeling guilty for being tempted. However, she felt an odd satisfaction knowing that she had been able, with some help, to walk away. Sure, the scent wasn't blowing straight at her when she had stopped, and Alice had needed to assist her, but in the end no human life was sacrificed.
They couldn't exactly have a private conversation, what with Tayla's sensitive hearing, but it was urgent enough not to wait until they got back. Besides, she was already feeling bad enough.
"That was impressive," Jasper muttered, following along at Alice's side. "Not so much as Bella was, but for a child, she has good control of her emotions. That doesn't mean we should risk anything more of course- we should have someone else come with us next time. But there is something about her, as you said before. Her emotions aren't quite as strong as the other newborns I've encountered, but they certainly are changing rather quickly. Maybe that is tied in somehow to a gift she may possess...?"
He trailed off on that thought, letting it set in for a moment. Alice considered it carefully, taking a second to search for their future, but again it was unclear. That was irritating, but at the moment not worth making a big deal over. She looked over to Jasper again, smiling when she saw how deep in thought he was. She reached her hand over to his, breaking him out of his uncertain reverie. He looked at her as well, allowing a smile despite the situation.
Tayla tried not to show that she was paying attention to her conversation, but in truth she was getting a little worried. Could they know what had been going on before? Did she even want them to know?
"Why are you doing that?" Jasper asked suddenly. Tayla half turned her head back, seeing that he was looking at her for an answer.
"Doing what?" she asked in confusion. She wasn't aware that she was doing anything noticeable.
"Hiding your emotions like that," he clarified as Tayla fell back slightly to walk alongside them. "I can feel it; you're trying to stop yourself from feeling something. I noticed it before, but only a little. Why would you need to do something like that? What could have happened in your human life that gave you need to hide your emotions like you are now?"
Tayla hesitated a second to long in answering. It wasn't that she didn't know, but she didn't want to bring any attention to it at the moment. How long had she known Jasper for? Since that morning? Maybe she would have told Alice, but she wasn't even sure about that.
Jasper sensed every emotion as they changed faster than natural, even for a vampire. For this to be still happening in her immortal life, it must have happened extremely often during her recent human days. She was such a young girl, and yet he was getting such a bizarre reading from her that he was even surprised. Why would a ten year old have such violent mood swings, but be in complete control of her emotions? And she was still a newborn, so it would have to be involved even more with her human life.
"I guess... I just found that if I showed people how I felt, I'd get hurt," Tayla finally answered, after a lengthy pause. She looked down after that, and began speeding up rapidly, going at a vampire pace rather than a human one. Jasper and Alice looked at each other worriedly, and then sped up after her.
"I'm worrying about this too much. I just need a minute to relax."
When the three of them had returned to the Cullen house, Edward and Bella were back. Hearing what had happened on the trip through their thoughts, Edward raised an eyebrow but said nothing. Alice and Jasper told everyone what had happened, and Tayla was surprised that they weren't mad at her, not at all. In fact, Esme, Carlisle, Bella and Edward had seemed very sympathetic towards it, while Emmett remained mostly indifferent to the topic as usual and Rosalie wasn't exactly going as far as sympathy, but at least she looked more at ease than she had been before. The decision was simple and acceptable: when Tayla went to hunt, she would be accompanied by at least three of them, and they would scout ahead first to ensure no human scent would be in her path.
Maybe it was that that finally made Tayla decide to stay with them, at least for a little while longer. She had been planning on leaving as soon as she got back, even more so when she nearly ended a human life, but she could hear it in their voices as they spoke. They actually cared for her already, enough that they were willing to risk trouble with the Volturi to ensure her existence. When the Volturi had been mentioned, Tayla realized she knew little about them, and asked for further explanation. She could see that they were downplaying it for her, most likely to refrain from frightening her, but after hearing even a little of what they could do, and what they would do if they found out about her, was enough to convince her to stay. At least with the Cullens, she was protected by eight mature vampires who were going to treat her as family, despite the fact they had just met her and she would bring them nothing but trouble.
When the sun finally disappeared below the horizon, the Cullens were ready to go about their usual nighttime routines. Bella and Edward left for their cottage, Rosalie and Emmett decided to go hunt by themselves, and Alice and Jasper were craving more time alone. This was easily picked up by Esme and Carlisle, who were the other two who remained, and fortunately, they had anticipated the exact situation.
"Tayla, I have something I'd like to show you," Esme said, a hopeful smile on her face. "Would you mind coming upstairs with me?"
Tayla glanced at Alice, who nodded encouragingly. There was less than a seconds pause, and then Tayla drifted up the stairs after Esme and Carlisle. Alice smile wide. She knew what the surprise was, and she hoped Tayla would like it. They left the two of them alone, and so they made their way up to their bedroom on the second floor.
They had recently redecorated the large space, which was several times larger than your average master bedroom, with an attached closet that was larger still. There were many paintings on the walls as in the rest of the house, all of them priceless originals from one legendary artist or another. In the far left corner, there was a large work desk devoted to Alice's clothing designs, which was covered the entire surface in fabrics and sketches. A few odd tables were placed around the room, and against the left wall there was a black sofa, large enough to be comfortable but small enough to encourage close proximity to the other person seated there. A few metres in front of it was a huge flat screen television, measuring about seventy inches. The most noticeable feature of the room however, was the king sized bed against the back wall.
"We all have reason to be stressed right now, you more than most of us," Jasper said to Alice, addressing her previous statement. "Would you like me to help you calm down?"
Alice smiled, and instead of answering, leaned her head back against him, showing just how calm she felt. It was easy for her to feel calm like that, lying on the bed in Jasper's arms, able to ignore the rest of the world. That was pretty much what the bed was for, even though sleep wasn't even possible. The couch would have done just fine, but there's something more relaxing, even for a vampire, about pretending to be human in even that simple way.
A small smile crept onto Jasper's face as well, for despite the previous situation, he was happy in that moment. That was what really counted, that Alice was there with him, and, for the time being, safe. He worried about her too much, and he knew it, especially considering she was more than capable of protecting herself, but how could he not? She was his single reason for existence. Without her, he had nothing, and so he was determined to make the best of every single moment they got together. He certainly wasn't planning on wasting that night.
You wanted more Alice/Jasper? How's that? The next chapter will have a lot more as well, as well as an even deeper look into Tayla's mind. I'm sure you're all very confused right now- sorry about that. There will be some interesting twists coming up, ones that you wouldn't be expecting, but I think you'll like how they turn out.
Oh yeah... Merry Christmas!