Penname: javamomma0921

Derivative Fiction

Rating: M

Disclaimer: All copyrights, trademarked items, or recognizable characters, plots, etc. mentioned herein belong to their respective owners. No copying or reproduction of this work is permitted without their express written authorization.

Prompt: Go

Dialog Flex: "But I love you," she protested.

Go

We stayed in the jungle longer than I thought we would. For the first time in my life, I was reluctant to follow what my visions were telling me. I didn't want to leave our personal paradise and neither did Jasper. Everything here was perfect. We had been here for over four months and hadn't run into any humans. Jas was getting comfortable with my lifestyle and didn't feel pressured to hunt humans because there were none around. And once Joham left, we never ran into another immortal.

But our time had come and it was time to head back to the states. I still wasn't seeing anything definitive about our new family, so we decided to go sight seeing through the states for a while, exploring while we had time. I kept my eye on the future in order to see when it would be time, but I was getting nothing at the moment.

I wasn't being careful. I was only looking for what I knew I would eventually see: the blond haired vampire and his family. I wasn't looking for anything else that might befall us. That's why when the vision hit me that day it was so powerful and so traumatic.

She was coming for him. The replacements had been sad copies of the lieutenant she had come to rely on and she wanted him back. She had smelled him as she passed through the base of Texas and was hot on our trail. She would find us within a day and she would fight to keep him. She would fight me if she had to.

"Oh God, Jas! I'm so sorry!"

When I looked up at him, I realized I was on the ground. The vision had knocked me over with its force and suddenness.

"What is it? Alice, what did you see?"

"She's coming for you," I whispered.

His mouth snapped closed and his eyes went blank. The memories were taking over and I knew he knew exactly who I was talking about.

"Maria," he hissed. "Where is she? I need to get you away."

"No!"

He growled and scooped me up. "Yes. I won't let her near you."

I jumped lithely out of his arms and stood facing him, arms crossed and head down.

"You will not dump and leave me, Jasper Whitlock. You will not do this. That future is certain."

He sighed angrily and turned away.

"You don't understand, Alice. You think Joham was a test for you? He is nothing compared to Maria!" He turned back to face me, his eyes blazing. "To her there are two types of people: those she can use and those who stand in her way. If you are in her way, she will kill you without a second thought."

"No," I said firmly. "She's not going to kill me."

He studied me for a moment and nodded once.

"Regardless, I'm taking you away."

"No you're not," I said. "It's too late."

In a flash, he turned and crouched low in front of me, hissing and growling at the small woman facing us. She was little more than a child, with china doll features and long black hair. Her features had the softness of late adolescence, but that was the only soft thing about her. Her eyes were cold, red holes that bore through whatever she looked at. And right now she was looking through me.

I stared back at her calmly, my insides roiling as I observed for the first time the woman who had given Jasper his first scar. No, she would not kill me. However, her future was swimming.

"What do you want?" Jasper hissed.

She laughed. It was a hollow sound, like a bell struck the wrong way. Everything was wrong about it and it set my mind on edge.

"I want you, of course. Why else would I trek through this decrepit place?"

Her voice was like daggers. I had never hated another being in my entire existence, but I hated her. I hated the sugar in her voice, the honey that she dripped her words with trying to draw him in.

"What a pretty little bitch you've found yourself, Jasper. Does she warm your bed as nicely as you warmed mine?"

Her eyes never left mine though she was talking to Jasper. It was clear she was staking her claim; she'd had him first. I couldn't help myself. I snarled angrily behind Jasper which only made her laugh again. Jasper's hands were hard on my wrists holding me back.

"This is my mate, Maria."

"Fine," she said, dismissively. "She can come too. I don't care; you weren't that good anyway."

"We're not coming with you," he said.

"Of course you are. I want you and I will have you."

Her eyes flicked over to him for the first time and her eyes opened wide, taking in the change in his eyes for the first time.

"What has she done to you?" she screeched.

I couldn't see Jasper's face, but I could hear the smirk in his voice.

"I found a way," he said simply. "The animals don't bathe my gift in fear when I consume them. It's a much more…well adjusted life for someone like me."

I knew that he was attracted to my lifestyle because of the benefits to his gift, but I had never heard him describe it quite so eloquently. Maria's reaction was immediate and fierce. She was angry that he had found a way around his depression. She had counted on that.

"That's disgusting! It's not natural!"

Jasper shrugged easily.

"No one is asking you to try it, Maria."

"You'll never last! You'll just waste away, Jasper. She's trying to kill you, can't you see that?"

"I'm not dying, but thank you for your concern."

"This is ridiculous. This can't be what you want!" Her voice was getting lower, angrier.

"She is exactly what I want. Now, go. Don't make me fight you; you know you can't take me."

She immediately crouched and snarled at him, a small, mirthless smile lighting her lips. I wondered how many times they had fought in the past. Was it foreplay for her?

"But I love you," she protested, her voice rank with irony and rancid honey. It was clear to me and Jasper both that Maria had never loved anyone.

In a moment of distraction, I was able to pull my wrist out of Jasper's grip and slip in front of him.

"No, you don't," I seethed. "You don't love him, but I do. And if you choose to fight me, you will lose."

"You don't know me, sweet thing," Maria hissed, starting forward. "I never lose."

"I do know you," Jasper said, his voice hard and angry. "You have lost. What you don't know is Alice. You don't really want to go against a psychic, do you Ria?"

I balked at the casual pet name he threw out at her, but his words were enough to stop her advance in its tracks.

"A psychic? My, my, the company you keep, Jasper."

She straightened, sizing me up. She was only an inch or two taller than me, but I could see that she had been well trained in the art of fighting. I'm sure she thought she had the advantage over me.

"And how do I know you're not lying, little freak?" she asked me. "How do I know you've seen my future?"

"Take your chances," I replied. "I'd love the chance to rip you apart."

"Fine," she said, pulling her cloak around herself and sniffing. "I have no time for this anyway. But I won't forget, Jasper. When this tart and her strange lifestyle begins to bore you, you come back to me. We'll continue right where we left off."

Jasper growled a low warning to her and she laughed snidely at him.

"I'm going, big boy. You're precious psychic won't be harmed."

She turned and ran immediately away, without a goodbye. His hands were on me the minute she was out of sight.

"What were you thinking?" he growled, his hands in my hair and his face inches from mine. "You could have been killed! What would happen to me then?"

I ran my fingers over his face, instantly calming him.

"And when are you going to learn that I know more about what will happen than you ever will? I couldn't have been killed…that wasn't in the future."

"Alice, I know you see the future," he said softly, kissing me in between his words. "Could you please remember I don't share in that luxury?"

I nodded, leaning my forehead against his. He was murmuring over and over how he loved me and I was content to curl into his arms for the moment. We would need to speak of this soon, in order to be prepared for when she found us again. I knew she would come back; I just didn't know when. This time, I wanted us to be prepared.

A/N: Ah, Maria. I love writing completely heartless bitches. They're full of awesome and so much fun to write. So, seriously, if you want to read an amazing story from Maria's POV, read Chicory's Fear of Fire. It's in my favorites and I'm going to be writing a review and rec of it for The Little Known Ficster blog. Wonderful writng. So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It was a ton of fun to write. I knew I wanted a chapter with Maria in it ad this seemed to go perfectly. Thanks for reading! ~Jen