12. Unexpected Visitors
The next morning found them checking out of the hotel. Their clothes had arrived late the previous evening, laundered and presentable once more. Alice looked down at her freshly dry cleaned coat as they stepped out of their cab outside of Chicago.
Jasper shouldered the bag and stepped out onto the road, moving around to Alice's side and opening her door. He lent down a hand to help her out and smiled in appreciation. "You look great," he complimented and moved to slip an arm around her.
Alice smiled softly, gazing up at him. "You always say that," she teased.
"We'll have to avoid anymore romping through the mud until we get to Peter and Charlotte," she commented. "We're running low on clothes after some of them got…well…shredded."
He chuckled. "Yes, running out of clothes would be an issue," he agreed, lifting an eyebrow as her mood shifted to embarrassment. "You weren't so embarrassed when I was...doing the shredding," he teased and swiftly pecked a kiss to her cheek.
A small flash of embarrassment lit up her features before she smoothed it away, leaning inside the cab again to hand the driver money. She thanked him and shut the door, watching as he drove away.
"In fact you were…very excited," he murmured with a coy smile as she exchanged money with the driver and sent him on his way. His eyes followed the cab until it was out of sight, then he shifted his gaze back toward her. "Ready?" he asked.
Alice pursed her lips at him. "We need to cover some ground today," she sighed finally. "All that talk of you ripping my clothes off…" She shook her head. "If I let you tempt me, we'd never make it anywhere!"
"Right," he agreed, smiling. He chuckled, unable to hide the humor he found in her statement. "Well, not for awhile…anyway," Jasper laughed. "In fact, I could spend forever looking at you, or lying with you in my arms…" he said.
Alice let her fingers trail down Jasper's chest, her expression thoughtful. Finally she sighed again, disappointment coloring her mood. "Okay, let's get going before we have no clothes left at all," she grumbled. Taking his hand, she sprinted for the trees.
Jasper nodded, not sure how long he could last in her presence without a distraction. However, his mind shifted toward hunting when she grabbed his hand and sprinted toward the trees.
"Thirsty?" she asked, noticing the predatory gleam in his eye. She was beginning to realize just how much more he needed to feed than she did. She assumed it was due to the fact that he didn't find animal blood as satisfying as that of humans. A wave of guilt washed through her to think that he was perhaps suffering in some way.
"Very," he replied, allowing a smile to curve his lips. When they broke through the trees he took in a breath, inhaling the scents of the surrounding forest. The earthy scent on the soil, a nutty scent of rodents hiding beneath the underbrush as they moved... He caught the fresh, clean scent of water and the distinct sound of a small brook. Jasper's ears perked up as his predatory switch flipped. He slowed his pace to a standstill and sniffed the air, training his ears on the surroundings to catch a sign of any movement, a scent on the breeze, or a heartbeat breaking through the noise of the stream.
Alice stopped at his side, her eyes roving over his face as he paused and took everything in. The guilt still clung to her as she turned her attention to the forest around them as well, searching for something big enough to potentially ease his thirst. Nothing but the scent of small, woodland creatures reached her and she frowned. "Maybe we should keep moving," she suggested.
Jasper continued to strain his ears past the bubbling of the brook, attempting to pick up any other sounds but he came up empty. Sighing, he slid his gaze over to Alice and nodded. "Yeah, I'm not hearing anything…" he said, shaking his head lightly. The only scents he could catch on the breeze were creatures too small for them to eat. Scents of rabbits, mice, squirrels and even chipmunks...
The heavy fog of guilt clinging to the air caught Jasper's attention, causing him to shift his gaze over to her. "Alice?" he inquired, indicating he knew something was up. "Why do you feel guilty?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.
"Oh," she said softly, knowing she was caught. "It's nothing. I've just noticed how much more often you need to hunt than I do and I know it's because animal blood doesn't satisfy you the same way as… Well, I just feel guilty because I think you've chosen this lifestyle for me and not because it's what you truly want."
"Don't…" he said, shaking his head in disapproval. "It's fine, really," he assured her, flickering a slight smile. "I chose you, not the lifestyle," he corrected her, with a soft smile. "This just happens to be the lifestyle that you lead and so, it's become mine as well, as it shall remain until you run me off." He chuckled.
"But are you happy with it?" she asked, her eyes searching his.
Jasper leveled his gaze on hers as she searched the depths of his eyes for withheld answers. "Of course," he answered truthfully and tacked on a genuine smile. "I'll be happy where ever you are," he said, simply.
She offered him a weak smile in return, still not entirely convinced.
Jasper's eyebrows pulled together at her weak attempt at a smile. "You don't…believe me, do you?" he asked.
"No, I do," she said, sighing. "In so far as your feelings for me. I don't doubt your sincerity in that. I just know that animal blood would not be your first choice and I'm afraid it's not enough for you and that you might be in pain. I can't stand the thought…" Her words trailed off as she averted her eyes, biting her lip.
"It's different that's for certain and it will take some time for me to get used to..." he began, cupping her cheek with his hand. "Do you remember what I told you, about the depression I'd fallen into?" he asked, frowning slightly. "I fell into that depression because of killing humans. I couldn't do it…" he admitted. "Their fear ripped through me every time I took one. I didn't know there was another way, besides taking human life, so I forced myself to do it. My depression always worsened after I fed…" he said, sliding his fingers down to cup her chin and lift her gaze to his. "I am choosing this life because my gift doesn't allow me to kill humans without the consequence of feeling what they feel and wallowing in self loathing, afterward..."
Alice's smile was genuine this time. She nodded, lifting a hand to grip the one under her chin. "I'll always be here to help you," she promised. "I know you can do this if you try…"
"I know…" he murmured softly, spreading a soft smile across his face. "I'll try, I promise," he said, pressing a kiss to her lips.
"I saw a brochure in the hotel lobby when you were returning the key. There's a forest preserve about 200 miles from here. We'd probably have better luck there," she suggested. "Also from there if we start northwest, we'll be able to keep to the forest all the way into Canada. We'll be able to travel more quickly in less populated areas because we'll be able to run."
"Sounds good." He nodded. "I say running at full speed we'll make it there in under a couple of hours..." he mused, calculating the distance in his head and adding in the speed at which they would be moving. "We'll grab a quick meal and as you said…" He glanced down at her. "Take the forest the rest of the way into Canada thus finding Peter and Charlotte," he deducted with a satisfied smile.
"I'm going to have to search the future pretty regularly so we can find them," she explained. "When I see them more clearly, I'll know we're going the right way. When they start to fade away, I'll know we're not. If we get close enough, do you think you'd be able to find and track their scents?"
"I should be able to, yes..." he said. "I still remember Peter's scent so once I catch it, I should be able to track it," he explained. "Nomads don't stay in a single place for long, so we'll have to keep on the move once we have a solid location in order to track them down. If we wait too long we could lose them," he said, flashing a brief smile.
"Well that won't be any problem for me," she said, grinning from ear to ear before taking off in a sudden burst of speed. "We'll just have to see if you can keep up!"
"Oh, yeah?" he laughed with a hint of challenge in his tone. "Hey!" he yelled and shot off after her, blurring through the trees right on her tail. "We'll see!" he laughed, flashing up beside her and capturing her hand with his own.
Alice increased her speed with an infectious giggle as they headed north toward the wildlife preserve, a random ray of sunlight breaking through the clouds and casting rainbows off their conjoined hands.
Nicolet National Forest stretched out before them and the moment Alice had set foot inside its borders, her lips had curved up in a smile. It connected at its northern edge with Ottawa National Forest and thus was teeming with wildlife. Already she could scent deer and a few random bear. She turned her gaze to Jasper, beaming up at him.
When they crossed the border to Nicolet National Forest, he slowed his pace to a stop. The forests occupying the areas they'd been frequenting paled in comparison to this. He drew in a breath and immediately pulled in the scents of bear, deer, elk, caribou, moose, wolf, cougar and bobcat. "Wow…" he said, in awe. The menu was much more expansive then he had ever thought possible. He shifted his gaze down to Alice's beaming smile.
"This was a good idea," she said proudly.
"Yes..." he agreed, still in awe over how large this place was. Mountains hung in the background, followed by large expanse of grassland bordering the forest.
"So what do you want to hunt? Not the stinky deer I am guessing," she said with a wind chime laugh.
"No…" He shook his head, displaying a crinkled nose. "I'm thinking I might want to try something larger. What other herbivores are in the area?"
"Herbivores? Large ones?" she asked, turning her head and sniffing at the air. "Um, moose? They're fairly aggressive but I don't think they taste very nice," she said scrunching up her nose in distaste. "Too tangy and bitter."
Jasper's expression turned thoughtful. "What of the predators?" He asked, sniffing the air and suddenly becoming interested in a peculiar scent toward the north. The distant sound of howling caught his ears. "What's that?" He asked, his interest clearly peaked at the strange sound.
"Those are wolves, silly!" she answered. "What else do you know that howls like that?" Her smile became a mischievous grin. "Want to try?" she asked, feeling his excitement seep into her own mood.
"Oh, wolves..." he said with a sheepish grin. His gaze remained fixed on the direction of the sound. The scent was appetizing and venom flooded into his mouth. "Yeah, I think I do," he said, flashing her a grin."Want to come?" he asked with an inviting smile and sprinted off toward the noise, sniffing the air tentatively to keep tabs on the scent.
Alice ran after him. "No, I think I'll just sit on a fallen log and gather moss," she said sarcastically. "Of course I want to come!" Her laugh tinkled like musical bells as she followed his lead through the trees.
Jasper flashed her an amused smile. "If you'd rather," he teased, catching her note of sarcasm. Laughing with her he barreled into the trees, cutting a straight line through the forest until the smell became so strong his steps faltered and finally halted. The fresh scent of blood hung thick in the air and as Jasper rolled into a crouch and stalked forward, it became obvious that the wolves had made a kill when he spotted the downed elk through a gap in the trees. Two wolves, the alphas, were eating, while three, the betas, waited impatiently, snagging strips of meat before being reprimanded and chased off from the kill. Two of the lowest ranking ones lay nearby, waiting for their turn.
"Bag," she said, holding out her hand to take it from him.
Jasper nodded, sliding the bag off of his shoulder and handing it over to her.
Jasper shifted his feet and slunk forward as far as the shadows would allow. Suddenly he shot out into the clearing in a blur of movement, causing the wolves to scatter in confusion. Still they had no intention of leaving their kill.
Jasper cut a path to a large grey male, one of the betas, and wrenched his arms around his neck, snapping it with a resounding crack all in a matter of seconds as he redirected his course and bounded off of a tree. He sailed across the space between the now dead beta and a large black female, one of the lower ranking wolves, and landed directly on her. Sinking his teeth into her neck without hesitation he kneaded his teeth into the course fur of her coat. The others gathered, growled and sniffed the air, trying to figure out this foreign predator but being such a small pack, they lacked the confidence to chance losing more members.
He finished his meal quickly, pulling up in a blur and flashing over to the cooling carcass across the gap and hastily sunk his teeth in, greedily drawing in the warm liquid with all the desperation of a hungry man inhaling a steak.
Alice, not being particularly thirsty herself, hung back in the trees watching as Jasper downed two wolves and took his fill. Smiling to see him relishing in his successful hunt she decided now might be a good time to get their bearings and see where they were in relation to finding Peter and Charlotte. She allowed her eyes to unfocus from the scene before her as she searched for them, the task a bit more difficult as she had never met them before and had only a previous vision to go on. Still she recalled their faces and cast her mind outward much like casting a fishing net amongst a sea of possibilities.
Forests and small towns flashed into her mind, distant in the future, as she swept through a swirl of faces looking for the ones she sought above all else. She sighed, growing frustrated with her task when suddenly a face flashed into her mind that caused her to stumble backwards in terror. It was unfamiliar, strange and foreign, but the look of pure malice contained in its features was enough to strike fear into her heart. The face was soon joined by nine others, equally violent and determined.
Ten. There were ten of them and they were closing in fast. She sniffed the air and their faint scents on the breeze only confirmed the worst.
"Jasper," she breathed. "Run…"
Jasper's head snapped up as the breeze shifted, carrying Alice's words over to him. The remaining members of the wolf pack were already gone, retreating into the trees. He sniffed the air warily and blurred up, bolting over to Alice's side and briefly checking her over before shifting into a protective crouch in front of her. The scents grew stronger as the large group of vampires drew closer.
Alice gripped his shoulders, shaking him slightly. "We should run!" she shrieked, reaching down to grab his hands and pulling with all her strength.
Running was not something he did. Even if they wanted to, they didn't have a chance with them being so close. A sudden emotional shockwave of confidence came crashing through the trees, slamming into Jasper with enough force to cause him to clench his teeth together.
Alice slipped behind him, pressing herself against his back and peeking over his shoulder at the trees in front of them. "Jasper, I'm scared…" she whimpered, cowering into him.
Alice's terror was thick around him, threatening to seep into his own emotional climate. "It's ok. I'll protect you…" he said, offering some reassurance to her without taking his gaze off of the trees ahead of them, the source of the scents. He was confident in the fact that Alice would not be harmed. He wasn't going to allow it.
"We're not going to run?" she whispered, panic straining her words. Overcome by a sudden wave of terror she hid her face against his back, wrapping her arms around his chest in a desperate need to feel safe.
"No, we don't need to," Jasper said, confidence coloring his tone. He held no fear in his body as he'd faced worse odds than this. His concern lay in Alice. She was small, fragile and definitely not a fighter. If something happened to her, he would never forgive himself.
The forest grew quiet which fell in stark contrast to Alice's ears next to how it had been only minutes earlier. There was no sound…not of animals, not the breeze in the trees, nothing. All she could hear was her breathing, hard and fast, and Jasper's, deep and even. Her eyes darted around them, alternately flashing back and force between the present and the future.
The sudden silence was unnerving but it didn't shake his position. Alice's panicked breathing had suddenly become the predominant noise, causing Jasper to frown slightly at the fact that she was terrified. He didn't like the fact of her being in potential danger and if he could help it, she wouldn't be touched. "It's ok…" he murmured again in an attempt to calm her down. "Don't panic, everything is going to be fine…" he soothed. But he knew despite his efforts this was all new to Alice and no amount of soothing words would calm her. She was scared and until this was over, she would continue to be, no matter what he said.
The shaking that had seized her was so intense her teeth rattled. Jasper's words fell on deaf ears. She understood them but didn't see how they could possibly be true. "There are ten of them…that's so many…"
"Ten?" Jasper mused, letting a smirk touch his lips. "I've faced more than this... They shouldn't be a problem," he assured her.
Alice's jaw dropped open at Jasper's assertion. She was about to speak when another vision took over, the image it contained freezing every muscle in her body in a renewed wave of fear.
"There," she said, pointing one trembling finger to the trees at their right.
Jasper's gaze flashed to where Alice was pointing, his muscles tensing in anticipation.
A few tense moments passed and then a lone vampire emerged from the trees. He was large. Where Jasper was lean and muscular, he was huge and brawny and his shocking red eyes found them immediately. Still he said nothing and made no move toward them, just stood still and frozen, observing.
When the first vampire appeared from the cover of the trees, Jasper assessed him. He let his gaze rove over him, mentally marking down his advantages and disadvantages. He fed on people, Jasper could tell that by the bright red color of his eyes and he was large. His strengths were his size and his power, but he appeared new and being that large could also lend a disadvantage. The way he stood there, observing, watching, set off alarms in Jasper's mind that this could've been planned, as if he were sizing him up, as well.
Alice peered over Jasper's shoulder but upon seeing the vampire standing there, the one whose face had appeared to her first in her vision, she quickly hid her face in Jasper's shirt again with a whimper. Her fear increased exponentially to the point where she thought she might shake out of her marble skin.
Alice's terrified trembling had only increased when the other vampires converged in front of them, forming a straight line and fanning out. They obviously weren't very well trained because in the short period of time that they had formed together, Jasper had already picked out two weak spots in the formation. He suppressed an amused smile, noting the obvious flaws. He could feel Alice burying her face into his shirt, clutching him in pure terror, and it wrenched his heart to know that she would have to see this.
The large male's gaze shifted from Jasper to Alice trembling behind him, confusion momentarily flickering across his features before it was replaced with a malicious smile. She would be easily dealt with since she obviously posed no threat. His eyes refocused on Jasper and he looked him up and down assessing the level of threat there. Confidence emanated from him as he took in their size difference and he slipped into a crouch.
Jasper never took his eyes off of the lead vampire, watching his every movement like a predator watches its prey just before it strikes. Jasper's gaze narrowed as a hunger for battle sparked in his eye. He was ready. He'd been born in battle, lived it, breathed it. The leader's confidence was tangible, having, apparently written Jasper off as a minor threat. Jasper's alertness shot sky high when the leader slipped into a crouch. "Let it begin..." he mumbled, ominously.
Alice let forth another whimper. Jasper seemed oddly confident but she couldn't bring herself to share it. Her every instinct told her to flee and she eyed the forest behind her with longing. However, she wasn't going anywhere without Jasper, no matter what that meant.
There was a rustling in the trees to both his left and right and then slowly, the other nine came into view. Seven men, all near the size of the first, and two women who were smaller but no less aggressive in their stance, their unkempt hair as wild as their eyes.
As the others emerged from the trees, flanking him right and left, Jasper mentally sized them up as well. They were similar in size to the first one, excluding the two females, and all of them appeared new. A low, threatened growl rumbled up Jasper's throat in warning. Low, but loud enough to carry across the gap between him and the opposition.
Alice chanced a look. They were all here now. It would begin soon. She debated taking another look into the future but before she could do so, all nine vampires charged forward with a collective snarl so horrifying that the sound alone elicited a scream from her that seemed to rip through her very soul.
The collection of snarls ripped through the air, cutting through the silence and became one unanimous sound. Jasper fanned his arms out in a protective manner to shield Alice as a flood of flashbacks came crashing through the barriers of his mind. Battles, fighting, killing, burning…all blurring together as Jasper cut loose a loud yell of defiance.
Alice let go of Jasper reluctantly so that he was free to move. "Your left!" she screamed, a vision flashing into her mind, showing her what was to come.
Jasper nodded quickly, as Alice gave him the heads up and quickly turned his attention to his first opponent.
The lead vampire rushed Jasper head on, swinging his arms up from his side in an attempt to wrap them around Jasper's chest. Another of the males and one female feinted to either side of him intent on dispatching Alice and coming at Jasper from behind. The others rushed in from all sides, looking for an opening. One managed to grab Jasper's left arm, the one Alice had seen doing so, giving it a vicious yank.
Just as Alice had predicted, one of the newborns had gotten Jasper by the left arm and attempted to yank his arm off. Jasper, realizing the situation, wrapped his right hand around the newborn's arm and threw all of his strength into swinging the newborn like a mallet, taking out the leader and one other to the right before letting go, sending them flying into the trees. In one fluid motion, Jasper moved to the left and swept his foot under the fourth newborn, sweeping him off of his feet and twisting off his head before he hit the ground.
Alice barely had time to react to the two vampires attempting to attack her before Jasper sent one flying into the trees. The other Jasper quickly decapitated, the sound a metallic screeching she had never before heard but which jarred every nerve in her body. She took a staggering step backward, clapping a hand over her mouth to contain her scream.
As the fifth rushed in, Jasper hooked his arms around his neck, using the newborn's momentum to pull him downward and flip him onto the ground, wrenching off his head as well.
Two more vampires closed in on Alice, one female and one male, both of them lunging for her almost simultaneously. Reflexively she ducked down and to the right, feeling the air coming off the sweep of the first vampire's arms as they whizzed over her head. She quickly spun, leaning backwards to avoid the second one, moving so quickly that he ended up grasping nothing but empty air. She darted to the other side of Jasper to escape the female who stalked forward with a murderous glare.
His head snapped up as newborns six and seven rushed him. He discarded newborn five's head and ripped off an arm, swinging forward with all of his strength to connect with newborn six's chest, sending him hurtling backward. As the only female left, number seven, tried to get around him, Jasper hooked an arm around her throat and slammed her backward onto the ground and yet again, twisted off her head.
A snarl from behind her caused Alice to spin around. A male vampire that Jasper had sent flying through the air had recovered and was heading straight toward them.
Jasper, hearing movement from behind, quickly calculated his reaction as newborn six came back into view. He flipped backward, locking his feet around the sixth newborn's head, and tore it off as he flipped over Alice and landed on the other newborn's back rushing up behind her. Locking his arms around his neck he twisted his head off, leaping off of him backward before he hit the ground. Jasper spun when vampires eight and nine darted in and feinted to the right and left. He grabbed a hold of vampire eight's right arm with both hands and swung him around to crash into nine and spun underneath his arm, twisting his arm behind him and sweeping his foot underneath him to sweep him off of his feet.
Alice kept moving in a blur, afraid to stay in one place very long. She checked the immediate future in short bursts, loath to be without her sight for longer than a second with so much happening around her. What she saw didn't prove to be very helpful. Everything was occurring so fast, a thousand little decisions altering the future more rapidly than she could make sense of it.
Quickly, Jasper blurred down to pin him and wrapped his arms around his neck, tearing his head off in seconds, when suddenly he felt a searing pain in his shoulder. Somehow, newborn nine had managed to regain his footing and in a flash had his arms around Jasper's neck and his teeth in his shoulder. Jasper bit back a cry of pain and threw his head backward, crashing the back of his head into the newborn's face and sending him stumbling backward. He quickly blurred to his feet and spun on the stunned newborn, launching himself at him and wrapped his legs around his waist and his arms around his neck, ripping his head off.
Jasper leapt off backward and landed in a solid crouch, blurring up to an erect posture and rolling his shoulder, hoping it would somehow ease the searing pain.
The lead vampire, finding Jasper distracted from the bite he had taken to the shoulder, fixed Alice with one last pointed glare before he turned and sprinted off in a blur. At his departure Alice sank to the ground, her eyes wide and staring at the carnage surrounding her. The battle over, her trembling began anew as she turned her eyes to Jasper.
"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice shaking as much as the rest of her.
Jasper lifted his hand to rub his shoulder where he'd been bitten, turning when he heard Alice's voice. "Yeah, I'm fine…" he said, letting his hand fall away from his shoulder and deciding to deal with the burning himself rather than involving Alice. "Are you?" he asked, sifting through her mood and finding her still quite shaken. He moved over to her side and knelt down in front of her. "Are you ok?" he asked, scanning his gaze over her briefly.
Alice nodded her head, clenching her teeth together to bite off a sob. It was a moment before she could speak. "Yes," she whispered. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm not hurt."
Jasper nodded with her confirmation that she was fine and stood. "We need to finish ripping them apart and burn them…" he noted with a slight frown. Moving over to the nearest tree, Jasper snapped off one of the lower branches then proceeded to snap it in two. "I'll need tender. Dry moss or leaves…" he remarked, turning his gaze to Alice. "Want to help me gather some things?" he asked, glancing at her from over his shoulder.
Alice stared at him. He was in full military mindset, giving her a small glimpse into who he had been before he had found her. Finally she nodded and rose to her feet, looking around her feebly for moment and trying in vain to avert her eyes from the strewn body parts. Cringing inwardly she stepped gingerly over a leg and then an arm as she searched for what he required.
Suddenly fingers clamped around her ankle and she shrieked, looking down to find a hand attached to a severed arm clinging to her. She shook her leg in horror trying to dislodge its solid grip.
When Alice's shriek pierced the air he dropped the sticks and whipped his gaze back around to her to find her trying to shake off a severed arm. He flashed to her side and grabbed it, giving a hard yank and pulling it free of her leg. "I meant to tell you...they can put themselves back together," he said with a distasteful frown and threw the arm behind him.
"They can what-!" Alice's eyes darted around her, her apprehension growing as she lifted one foot and then the other, making sure nothing else was in imminent danger of grabbing her.
"Put themselves back together," he repeated, flashing his gaze to her quickly. "We need to hurry," he instructed with an underlying urgency and flashed over to the tree line, scooping up some leaves and bringing them over to where he'd dropped the sticks.
He placed them on the ground, taking up the two sticks again and standing one up amidst the tender. He palmed his hand over it to keep it steady while swiftly swiveling the other stick back and forth against the one planted into the ground. When the first sparks hit the leaves, Jasper bent down and blew on the tender, trying to get the fire going. He brought up the sticks and nursed the little smoldering tender until a small viable fire was started. "Get me some sticks," he instructed, flashing his gaze back to Alice quickly.
Alice nodded quickly and leapt gracefully over things lying on the ground she didn't even want to contemplate, grabbing fallen branches and random sticks littering the forest floor amongst the severed heads and limbs. Repressing a shudder she made her way back to Jasper, narrowly avoiding more grasping hands. She held the branches and sticks out to him, looking back over her shoulder warily. She could hear them now, teeth gnashing together in severed heads. She clenched her teeth to keep herself from screaming.
"Thanks," Jasper replied, offering her a slight smile. He took the branches from her and placed them onto the fire, one at a time. When the fire was large enough, Jasper threw on the last remaining twigs and stood. He flicked his gaze over to Alice briefly, before blurring into a flurry of quick movements and retrieving the two severed heads on the ground and flinging them into the fire.
Alice looked on in horror as the two severed heads sailed through the air, their mouths working in silent screams, before they landed amongst the flames and ignited. A sickly sweet smoke began to rise from the fire and it burned her nose and throat. It wasn't the same as being thirsty. In some ways it was far worse. It was just as painful but sickening in a way that almost made her retch.
He darted around dragging bodies over and began the process of ripping limbs off and throwing them into the fire as well. After rolling the bodies in Jasper darted around gathering what was left over of the dismembered body parts and lobbed them into the flames. He moved around the fire, almost in a dance, the primal feeling of the old days coming back in a flood of memories from both his human and vampire life.
Alice watched Jasper as he threw the last what remained of the vampires onto the fire, the thick smoke hanging pungent in the air. He didn't even seem to notice the smell the way she had nor did he look disgusted with his task. In fact, he seemed oddly cold and calculating, his demeanor calm in a way that struck her as eerie and out of place considering what had just happened.
She hugged her arms around her, trying desperately to keep herself together. The fighting, the ripping and burning…never had she witnessed such a thing. Hearing Jasper speak of it and seeing it in action were two different things completely and she couldn't shake her sense of horror and revulsion. Her hands shook as they gripped her arms and she wondered if she'd ever stop trembling again, the images of violence burning as bright in her mind as the flames before her.
Jasper froze and turned toward Alice, her feelings of disgust and horror almost as thick as the smoky haze around them. The way she held herself gave creedence to the feelings exhuding around her. She was appalled, if not completely shocked. He flashed over to her, checking her over before drawing her into his arms. The smell and the violence didn't bother him, not in the least. In fact, it had the complete opposite effect on him. He reveled in it, becoming the machine he once had been, an unstoppable force that held very little emotion. Now, as he held Alice, he found everything rushing back to him.
A sob broke forth from Alice's lips as Jasper folded her into his arms. Her Jasper. The one that was familiar to her and not the stranger he had seemed only moments before. She buried her face in his chest and inhaled deeply, seeking out the pleasant scent of him, but choked and coughed to find that even it was tainted by the smell of the smoke that clung to his clothes.
"It's ok…" Jasper cooed and pressed a gentle kiss into her hair as he continued to slide his fingers up and down her spine. "I'm here," he murmured in reassurance, lifting a hand to cradle her head against his chest.
Protecting her had been the objective and that task had been successfully completed. Now, as his mind switch from militant and protector back to lover, Jasper lifted his hand to trail his fingers down her back, releasing a small dose of his influence to calm her trembling. "It's ok. It's over," he soothed, as the searing pain in his shoulder began to dull to tolerable sting.
Still nestled in his arms she nodded, allowing him to calm her. She needed it. Calm was the last thing she was capable of feeling on her own.
As his influence began to take effect, working into the tenor of her mood and purging out the shock and disgust she'd been feeling earlier, he felt a wave of relief wash through him when her trembling had all but ceased.
"Who were they? Why?" she asked, her voice small. "Did we stray into their territory maybe or-?"
Alice's questions were good ones, causing him to freeze as his mind ran back through the ordeal. Their numbers, their organization, and the fact that they were new were suspicious. "It's odd…" he murmured, thoughtful. "What were they doing here? That's the real question..." he said, puckering his eyebrows together and drawing back to shift his gaze to the horizon. "They were organized. Not well, mind you, but they were all the same. They were new so I don't see how so many of them can work together. It's not normal behavior for vampires who feed on humans to travel together in such large numbers. Most are nomads and it's less conspicuous to travel in pairs than in such a large group. There's something... off," he explained in a soft voice, never taking his gaze off the horizon.
"One got away," Alice suddenly remembered, pulling back to fix Jasper with a look of pure panic. "You don't think he'll come back, do you?" Her bright golden eyes flew to the surrounding forest, sweeping the trees and then going blank as she desperately searched the future for any sign of danger.
"I doubt it…" He said, shaking his head. "I think I gave him more than enough reason to keep his distance," he surmised, shifting his gaze back to Alice to find the sheer panic in her eyes. He lifted his hand to cup her cheek.
Settling back into his chest, she bit her lip in thought. "Are there still vampire armies in the south? Would they venture north for more land?"
Jasper's expression turned thoughtful once again. "I wouldn't think so. After the Volturi's last massive cleanup many of the main creators were destroyed. Most panicked and quit, while some became craftier in their creations and only targeted prospective fighters. Military personnel, prize fighters…that sort of thing," he admitted. "Most of the wars revolved around the southern states and Mexico. Most vampires down there have no idea about the lands up here or what they hold. But if they've caught wind I wouldn't put it past them to do so..."
Alice turned her head ever so slightly to gaze out into the trees again, their darkened depths now appearing sinister and foreboding. She had never been afraid to travel in forests before, away from public view and the safety it provided, but now she found herself searching every shadow, her ears perking up to every sound.
"Jasper," she whispered in a voice once again wrought with fear.
"Yes?" he replied softly, angling his gaze down on her with a look of concern written across his face. His forced emotions had deadened the fear inside of her, but hadn't completely expelled it from her body, only lessened it. The tone in which she spoke carried with it the remnants of such fear.
"Would you teach me how to fight?"
"Of course," he replied in a voice of velvet. He would never allow Alice to be placed in a situation again where she'd be totally defenseless. Teaching her to fight would give him peace of mind that, if need be, she could defend herself. They could be equals, partners in the event one got past him to get to her anyway.
"Watching you, I think I have a lot to learn," she admitted, wrapping her arms around him even more tightly. "You didn't even seem to be afraid…"
"I think you'll catch on quick enough. I'll let you beat up on me for awhile until you get your confidence," he chuckled, trying to picture Alice attacking him.
"I'm going to have to…hit you?" she asked, her eyes wide.
"Um…well, yes…" he said, slightly confused and lifting an eyebrow as if questioning her sanity. "Teaching you to fight would entail letting you hit me..." he chuckled.
"Okay…" she breathed, biting her lip. "I think I can do that…"
"I was...more concerned about you today than I was about myself," he admitted. "I just knew I had to keep them away from you. No matter how many times I got bitten or hit, I wasn't going to let them touch you. Aside from their strength they're fairly predictable. Just don't let them get a hold of you. Keep moving and attack them from the side. They won't be expecting that. New vampires are so driven by their thirst and instincts that they simply charge. There is no…attack plan," he explained.
"I managed to dodge two of them but I don't know as though I could have kept it up much longer. There were so many…" she whispered.
"You did well," he said with an encouraging smile.
She lifted her head, tilting it back to look at him. "If it hadn't been for you, I'd be dead now. You saved my life," she said, her voice reflecting the awe she felt towards him.
If he could blush he would have flushed a deep crimson. "Well, I…" he began, clearing his throat nervously. "I couldn't allow you to get hurt," he said with another sheepish smile. "Like I said, I'm overly protective of you… "
Alice nuzzled into his chest with a soft sigh. "Thank you," she said. "For loving me, for watching over me…"
"You're very welcome," he replied, smoothing out his expression to reveal a soft, loving smile. "I will always watch over you..." he said softly and squeezed her with his arms, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
Alice turned her head to glance over at the fire. "They can't come back now, right?"
"No…" he assured her, turning his own gaze in the direction of the flames and plumes of smoke. "They can't. They're burned to a crisp," he chuckled.
"Now what?" she asked.
"Now we come up with enough dirt to smother out the flames..." he said, pursing his lips together.
Alice unwound her arms from around him and turned to face the fire, grateful that there was nothing recognizable in the flames to set her stomach churning. "I'll help," she said.
He could tell it bothered her to even look at the flames. "You don't have to if you don't want to," he offered, giving her the option to sit out if that was what she preferred. "It's ok," he added, giving her a slight, encouraging smile.
"No, I want to," she said as she took a few steps forward, assessing the fire and trying to think of the best way to go about dumping enough dirt on it to put it out. Her eyebrows knitted together in thought as she returned her gaze back to the flames.
Jasper moved off out of sight to gather dirt. He stripped his coat off, knowing Alice would be appalled at what he was about to do. Laying his coat out on the ground, he began scooping up dirt and dumping it into the middle. It would be much faster this way than to throw it on by hand.
At a loss as to how else to go about it, Alice bent down and dug her fingers into the earth, rapidly scooping up handfuls and throwing them into the flames. She frowned when it didn't appear to be making much of a difference.
When he came back into view with the dirt securely enfolded in his coat, he flashed a glance at Alice with an apologetic smile before moving past her and casting the dirt from his coat and onto the fire.
Alice's mouth dropped open as Jasper dump a mound of dirt onto the fire from his coat. The flames died down considerably to reveal blackened corpses. Well, parts of them anyway. For once, Alice was less concerned with the state of his clothes and more with the evidence before her.
"What do we do with them now?" she asked. "Surely we can't leave them out in the open like this…"
"Well…" Jasper said, shaking his coat out and turning toward her. "We need finish putting the fire out. Then we'll um…take care of the evidence…" he said, casting a sidelong look to the fire. "Or rather, I'll take care of the evidence," he said moving around her, coat in hand and ghosting back toward the clearing where he'd gathered the dirt. Only this time he kept in sight of her in order to keep an eye on her.
She watched Jasper move away, noticing that he kept where he could still see her and that he frequently looked up as if checking to make sure she was safe. Feeling a bit more secure in her surroundings she walked over to what was left of the fire and peered down into it, forcing herself to look at what was left of her attackers. If she was going to learn to fight, she'd have to learn to deal with the aftermath as well should it ever be called for.
"Toughen up, Alice," she muttered to herself with a frown.
Jasper moved quickly, throwing up dirt with his hands and piling it back into the middle of his coat before glancing over in her direction as if paranoid that more vampires might come out of the trees. He folded up the sides of his coat and flitted back to the fire, once again casting the dirt over the flames.
The fire grew even weaker, very close to being extinguished completely. "This would go faster if I did the same," she said, shrugging out of her coat. She felt suddenly like she needed to prove to him that she could be a help rather than a burden.
Jasper's eyebrow shot up as Alice began stripping off her coat. He'd not expected her to actually get her coat dirty. Little surprises. He shook his head with a soft chuckle as he turned toward her with a quirked eyebrow and cut loose a smile. "That's very surprising," he pointed out, suppressing a slightly amused grin. "Thank you," he said in all sincerity.
"You're welcome," she said, returning his smile and feeling rather proud of herself. She marched over to the clearing where Jasper had been and carefully laid her coat out on the ground. It was then that her smile faded. She looked at the ground and then back to her coat several times before bending down with a frown to scoop up her first handful of dirt. With a grimace she sprinkled it over her coat, peering down at it for a moment before taking up another reluctant handful.
Jasper nodded in response as he shook out his coat and turned to see Alice heading over toward the clearing he had just came from. He trailed after her, leaning against a tree and watching as she begrudgingly dumped handfuls onto her coat. He bit back an amused chuckle as she went about the offense of getting her coat dirty. She hated every minute of it. He could tell by the way she frowned every time she attempted it. He started to think getting her coat dirty actually bothered her more than the fire.
He shrugged away from the tree and flitted up behind Alice, kneeling down beside her to lay out his own coat. He fought to suppress the amused smile trying to break through his features. He cleared his throat, confident he'd won the battle over the humor and turned his gaze on her. "Having fun?" he asked, quirking a smile and scooping up a handful to dump on his own coat.
"If I said yes would you believe me?" she asked, rocking back on her heels and looking up at him pitifully. She returned her eyes to the task at hand, scooping up an even larger handful of dirt and throwing it onto her coat with an expression that belied her distaste.
"Well…" Jasper said, eyeing her in a sidelong fashion as a clearly amused smile touched his lips. "Your emotions are telling me differently…" he replied, lifting an eyebrow as she dumped another handful onto her coat, clearly sickened by it. He shook his head, returning his gaze to the dirt in front of him. He moved quickly, scooping up handfuls and dumping them with little thought to his own coat. Jasper's mind ran on a practical basis, not designer and fabric.
Alice pressed her lips together in determination as she rapidly grabbed several handfuls of dirt and piled them in the center of her coat. She stood and gathered the fabric up carefully so as not to spill any and slung it over her shoulder before marching back towards the fire, muttering the whole way.
Jasper wiped the amused smile off of his face when he got a whiff of Alice's determination as she stomped off. He finished loading his own coat and gathered up the fabric, folding the dirt inside and stood, heading back toward the fire.
After dumping his coat free of its contents onto the fire, he scanned his gaze over it. The flames were barely a flicker and he was quite certain Alice's load would do it to snuff it out. He nodded, satisfied, and turned to Alice. "I think we're about ready," he said.
Alice stood on her tiptoes and fanned her coat out, smiling to see that the dirt she had gathered was what extinguished the fire completely. A sense of accomplishment washed over her as she patted the dust off her coat and swept her fingers over it. She eyed it, happy to see that it didn't look too bad. She had placed the dirt on the inside anyway so it didn't show. She swept it around her shoulders and slipped her arms inside.
Jasper stood back, watching as Alice proudly snuffed out the fire. The feeling of accomplishment surrounding her was undeniable. He shouldered his own coat and let his gaze drift over to her after the last flame went out. A bright smile lit up his face when he caught the look of satisfaction on hers.
"What should I do now?" she asked, eager to help with the next task.
"Well, well, well…" he said, clearly impressed. "Now we need to crush these corpses down…" he said, waving her over to follow him as he stepped into the soot.
Alice crinkled her nose as she watched him pulverize a charred corpse to ash with his boot. She looked down at her dainty flats with a frown. Her shoes really weren't suited for such a task and she shuddered at the idea of using her bare hands.
Jasper eyed Alice from the corner of his eye, her reluctance obvious. He could tell by the way she paused at the edge of the soot pile that she wasn't too thrilled about getting into it with her shoes. He moved onto his next target, pulverizing it into ash with multiple hard stomps just as he had the previous ones. He couldn't help the excited smile spreading across his face.
A grin spread across her face as she had an idea. Being resourceful she picked up a nearby stick and holding it over her head she brought it down to hit what appeared to have been a leg at one point in time. A cloud of ash swirled up from the fire and she danced back to avoid getting any of it on her.
Jasper felt the whoosh of air from the stick and spun to see Alice wielding it like a sledge hammer. Obviously she'd found another way to help besides having to get in and get dirty. He couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of his little vampire, wielding a stick that was almost as big as she was. She was nothing if not determined. Shaking his head, he turned back to the task at hand and stomped across another corpse, crushing it into powder under his boots.
He pivoted himself around to see her dancing out of the way of another cloud of ash, trying not to get any on her. He beamed proudly, watching as she bashed in another corpse.
"Am I doing good?" she asked, her eyebrows knitted together in concern.
"Fantastic, darlin'." he replied, proudly. "Very nice. You're very resourceful," he chuckled. He picked up the concern filtering into her mood and puckered his eyebrows. "Everything ok?" he asked, moving to her side and eyeing her with a concern of his own.
A smile replaced her frown at his assertion that she was doing a good job of helping and she tilted her head to beam up at him. "Yes," she said, raising her stick back over her head and bringing it down again and again as she danced around the pile, smashing charred body parts with it. The terror she felt earlier was almost gone. Jasper was proud of her and she was helping and that made her feel good.
Jasper took a step back, regarding Alice with a bizarre look as she danced around and smashed carcass after carcass. He was impressed at how she'd turned a complete one hundred and eighty degrees from being terrified to almost excited at the idea of helping. Fascinated by the way she moved, dancing like a tiny ballerina, so graceful, so elegant, Jasper found he couldn't take his eyes off of her.
Soon there was nothing left to destroy. She sat her stick on the ground and looked to him. "Is that it?" she asked.
"Yup, that's it," he laughed, leaping out of the pile and turning to reach out a hand to her.
"Let's go," she said, pulling him with her as she turned and picked up their bag.
Jasper nodded as she took the lead, pulling him over to their travel bag. He instantly held out his hand, motioning for her to give it to him.
"Are you thirsty again?" she asked, handing him the bag and raising a hand to swipe away a bit of soot on his cheek. She tried not think about what it was as she brushed her hands together.
He hadn't given much thought to his thirst, but the heightened emotional spike during the battle had sparked his hunger and he felt his throat ache in protest. "Maybe, just a little…" he murmured and quirked a smile as she brushed some soot off of his face.
"I'm still not thirsty yet. I probably won't be for a while, actually, so you lead the way." She sniffed the air, trying to sense anything beyond the smoke which still hung thick in the air. Her nose wrinkled in distaste and she shook her head as though to rid herself of it.
"Well, I've found that I like the taste of wolf," he drawled, giving her a smile. "I'm definitely favoring it over the others," he added, chuckling and shouldered the bag, glancing down at her, assuming by the way she crinkled her nose that she was ready to leave the smell behind.
Alice nodded. "Maybe we'll find some once we resume our previous course. After all the noise and excitement I'm sure all the wildlife fled."
Jasper chuckled. "Yeah, I'm sure this wood is cleared for miles."
"Let's head north a ways," she suggested. "I'm ready to leave this behind, I think." She looked over her shoulder at the pile of black ash, her mouth turning down in a frown. She wasn't afraid any more but she remembered with perfect clarity the fear she had felt during the heat of the fight.
"North sounds perfect," he agreed with a nod. "Let's go," he said as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze and started north with her in tow. Jasper sighed as his thoughts returned to the newborns he had just destroyed. Where had they come from? Who had created them? How could they be running in such a large group? Nomads didn't run in large groups. No, they ran in pairs or singular. It was more inconspicuous to hunt alone. The only thing that he could think of was that somehow someone had gotten wind about the northern territories and had in fact built any army to claim them.
"Interesting…" he murmured, puckering his eyebrows together.
"What is?" she asked, her face confused.
"I think you might be right," he said in contemplation."I think someone may've gotten wind of the northern territories in the south and traveled up this way to claim it..."
"Do you think there might be more?" she asked, looking around her nervously. "I mean, why create an army if there's no one to fight?"
"I doubt it. If there is only one creator behind this," he said, glancing warily around them just in case and unwound their hands, slipping his arm around her and pulling her close. "We didn't just fight other covens," he chuckled. "No, any nomads in the area were fair game and we would seek them out and destroy them. I'm thinking whoever has created these vampires, had created them for that reason…to clear out the competition. Which could have been why there were only ten because ten would have been enough to clear out any nomads in the area."
"But what I can't understand is why a national park?" he mused. "Nomads exclusively feed on human populations and unless passing through, they don't frequent national parks or forests..."
"Maybe they picked up our scent? You said that they might be eliminating any nomads in the area. Maybe that's why they targeted us?" She stopped for a moment, recalling her vision.
"Maybe..." Jasper mused, coming to a stop along next to her. "That's very plausible. It would make sense as to why they were out here in the wilderness," he said, shifting his gaze off of hers and casting it out ahead, scanning the trees around them.
"I didn't see much that can help in figuring it out. Just the one that got away...I saw his face first before I saw the others. I saw that they were coming and even then I didn't have much warning."
"Really?" he asked, curiously, quickly shifting his gaze to hers. "That would mean...he was the first one to decide, correct?" he implied.
"Most likely," she said. "Why do you ask? Do you think he was their creator?"
"No, he's too new..." he said, becoming thoughtful. "He wouldn't have the self control," he said as his expression shifted into something of confusion. "But, if he's not the creator then who gave the orders? And why didn't you see their decision instead?" he asked.
"I don't know," Alice said, furrowing her brow. "I'll keep a watch though for anything unusual."
"Maybe you didn't see it because you didn't know to watch for it?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow. "And you only saw his decision because they weren't ordered to attack only observe and he made the decision himself to do so..." he mused, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Either could account for it. I wasn't watching for anything actively at the time because I didn't know I needed to be and if they made a split second decision, I wouldn't have seen anything until that decision was made…"
Jasper nodded. "Yeah. We'll have to be careful because whoever made them will probably create more once the only survivor gets back and reports," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"We should try to cover a lot of ground today," Alice said, her voice trembling ever so slightly. "Get as far from here as we can… It doesn't seem safe anymore."
"I agree," he said, flashing a reassuring smile when he noted the trembling in her tone. "You're safe with me," he reaffirmed softly.
"I know." She squeezed his hand. "After you hunt, do you think you might teach me a little about fighting?"
Alice's voice cut through his thoughts and he quickly shifted his gaze to her. "Oh, of course," he readily agreed. "We'll start with the basics."
"Such as?" she asked, curious. She was still apprehensive about the idea of attacking Jasper. It wasn't that she was afraid she would hurt him. His performance in the fight proved that was an impossibility. Still just the idea of trying to hit him or cause him harm felt horrible. It was something she would have to get over if she wanted to learn how to fight though, she told herself. Jasper could get hurt trying to keep her safe and apparently her world was much more dangerous than she had thought.
"Well, we could start with blocking, punches and some kicks," he said, thoughtful. "Blocking is easy to learn. Now, leg sweeps and incapacitation is a little more difficult for a first timer, so we'll save those for the next lesson," he added, grinning.
"Is your shoulder okay?" she asked, looking up at him, her eyes sad. "You were bitten."
"It'll be fine," he assured her, noting the sadness in her eyes. "Stings a little, but nothing I can't tolerate."
She pulled him to a stop, reaching up to slip her hand under his coat and seek out the tear in his shirt. "Can I see it?"
Jasper was slightly confused by her request because he wasn't quite sure why she would want to see it but he didn't argue. "Um, sure..." he replied, giving her a quizzical look before shrugging out of his coat.
Alice stood on her tiptoes to examine the bite with a frown. Jasper would tell her he was okay even if he wasn't and she wanted to see with her own eyes that he was, in fact, fine. The bite had begun to heal into a puckered white slash in his skin, transposed over hundreds of others. It didn't look to be any worse than the others he had suffered before but this knowledge still didn't take the sadness out of her eyes. She ran a finger over it, wishing she could make it, and all the others, disappear.
Jasper's confused expression smoothed out as Alice stood on her toes to examine the wound. He had gathered that she wanted a second opinion to verify his words. Sighing, he lowered his shoulder for her to get a closer look at the now puckered and healing slash on his shoulder. The wound would soon take on the same texture and blend with the others.
"Okay," she said, taking up his hand again. "Sorry but when you tell me you're alright I don't always believe you. You lie sometimes to spare my feelings or to keep me from worrying."
He pursed his lips together as he entwined his fingers with hers, having no real response. She was right and arguing wouldn't do any good. Nodding, he agreed. "You're right, I do," he said, suppressing an amused smile. "Only because, as you said, I don't want you to worry. But this time I wasn't. It's only a bite and will become just like the others..."
She wagged a finger at him in a teasing fashion. "I'm catching on to you," she warned, finally able to return his smile now that she felt confident that he would be fine. "I'm learning all your tricks and soon you won't be able to get anything over on me."
Jasper rolled his eyes playfully and chuckled. "Well, I guess that I'll just have to come up with better tricks…" he teased, ducking in to plant a quick kiss to her lips. "Or..." he said, suddenly grabbing her around the waist and pulling her to him, "I can just kiss you all over until you believe me!" He laughed, planting feverish kisses all over her cheeks and neck.
Alice howled with laughter, kicking and screaming in his arms but not really wanting to get away. "I think that would be a good strategy," she giggled.
Jasper laughed, continuing to kiss her everywhere as he growled playfully. "Of course it is!"
"I'd probably believe anything!"
He laughed, pulling back briefly. "That's the plan…" he teased.
She paused for a moment, scenting the air as her eyes darkened ever so slightly. "Do you smell that?" she asked. "About a mile to the northwest, maybe two..."
Jasper furrowed his eyebrows together and tentatively sniffed the air. "Yeah, I do…" he agreed, shifting his gaze toward the northwest.
Alice pulled him along, taking off into a sprint in that direction. "More wolves, I think," she whispered.
Jasper ran along beside her, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Let's go!" he urged, pulling her along as he kicked up his speed. Hunger sparked in his eyes as he thought about the potential meals, not to mention the challenge.
Alice allowed Jasper to take the lead, ghosting behind him in silence. The scents of the animals they tracked became accompanied by sounds of them moving through the underbrush and Alice shifted into a low crouch as she moved forward.