Looking around uneasily, Jasper silently urged the pump to fill up the gas tank more quickly. Instead, as if it wanted to spite Jasper, it seemed to be moving impossibly slow. The sun was out and shining, but Alice had promised that so long as he stayed in the shade of the overhang, all would be fine. Alice was paying the boy working there for the gas, and she turned to smile at Jasper tensely before turning to listen to whatever the human was saying.
They were in Oklahoma, on the border between there and Colorado. Jasper insisted that they avoid both New Mexico and Texas, even if it was the quickest route.
Alice slid into the passenger seat (as she had taken to simply doing, letting Jasper drive) and waited for Jasper to finish filling the gas tank. They had practically been running on vapors, and it was finally time to refill.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the tank was full, and Jasper thankfully sank into the driver's seat. The windows were tinted enough that they could drive in the sun, so long as no one looked too closely, and Alice could always warn them of when that would happen.
"I'm going to half to hunt soon." Jasper said in a sigh, rubbing his eyes wearily, though realistically, he wasn't supposed to get tired.
"We'll go soon. Anyway, we'll have to have full strength to go against Maria." Jasper nodded, not wanting to point out that really, if they wanted full strength, they should kill a human. He knew how well that would go over with Alice. Not at all, that was how well.
Alice watched Jasper and noticed the way that Jasper's eyes were tight, and how he looked around warily. Like the first day in the diner, like he was waiting for someone to strike him. In a way, Alice supposed that she could understand that. She had quickly realized earlier that it got more and more pronounced the closer they got to the old territories that he had used to inhabit.
"I know you don't want to, but maybe we should just drive straight through New Mexico, we'll get there quicker..." Alice suggested tentatively.
"No!" Jasper growled.
Alice frowned, but said nothing. Pulling out of the gas station, Jasper immediately sped up before they even hit the highway. Alice had pinpointed the vague date of when Maria would find Peter and Charlotte, and it was going to happen sometime that month.
"Jasper...what happens if we're too late?" Alice said, carefully choosing how to say it. She didn't want to upset him or something, he was already stressed enough as it was.
"We won't be. We can't." Jasper glared out the front window, and Alice sighed before turning and staring out the window. Jasper was on edge, Alice didn't have to be an empath to know that.
She watched the sparse land pass by, sighing heavily. Ever since she had gotten her first vision of Peter and Charlotte being found by Maria, both Alice and Jasper had grown quiet, sad. Jasper had been a bit snippy, but Alice knew it was because of all the stress. Truthfully, she was just waiting for him to snap. One would think that an empath would know better than to keep your emotions quiet, but that just seemed the way Jasper was.
They drove in silence for a while longer, before Jasper sighed and said grudgingly, "Fine...maybe it would be faster if we went straight through New Mexico. If we stay way up in Northern New Mexico, it should be fine."
"I can check." Alice offered. Jasper nodded, and Alice's eyes glazed over. Jasper kept his eyes trained on the road. Technically, he didn't have a license, and he hadn't even be driving all the long, so it was probably better to focus on the empty road. No one else was on the road, but he didn't want to risk it. Not that they would be hurt if there was ever an accident, but if a cop showed up...
He heard a sigh of relief, and Jasper glanced swiftly at her from the corner of his eye before looking to the street again. "What?"
"We'll make it through, no problem at all, and we'll get there in time. The vision is getting more sharp—more clearly defined. It's going to happen soon, I can tell."
"I wish this wasn't happening." Jasper murmured, and Alice nodded in agreement.
"As do I. And after so much happiness, too. Things were going great, and now? We're going to save Peter and Charlotte from a bloodthirsty vampire who wants revenge, and badly."
"Do we know how she'll react when she sees me? I know she probably isn't to happy with me, either."
Alice smiled. "You won't be hurt." She said confidently before her smile faltered. "At least, not when she first sees us." Suddenly filled with nervousness and worry, Jasper gently soothed her emotions, making her calm again.
"Everything will be fine." He assured.
"I hope so." It was so quiet, that even Jasper barely heard it, despite being right next to Alice, and having such acute vampire senses.
"Think about something happier," Jasper pleaded, not liking her looking so glum, or her emotions felling so down, for that matter. "Like...the wedding! Why don't you think about that for a while. Would you like a small wedding, or a large, extravagant wedding?" He would say anything to make her happy again.
Just as Jasper planned, thoughts of the wedding immediately made Alice perk up. "Small." She said right away.
Jasper nodded. "Alright, small it is."
"I can't have a dress off the rack, though. That would be horrible, definitely designer."
"Never off the rack." Jasper agreed somberly, only half-paying attention.
"Where should it be?" Alice asked—more rhetorical than anything. "And for that matter, when? Oh, there's so much to plan, if only Esme and Rosalie were here to help me." Jasper turned his head to look at Alice. "We're going to get in an accident if you don't keep your eyes on the road." Alice said casually.
Jasper turned back to the front window. "Not like we would get hurt." He muttered to himself.
"Yes, but it would look a little strange for the two of us to walk out of the wreckage completely unscathed."
Unwillingly, his eyes flickered back over to Alice after a short pause. "Would you like to wait until after we meet the Cullens?" Jasper asked finally.
Alice hesitated before she shook her head and sighed, "No. It's not so much that I want them to be there—enough that I would postpone it—but more I wish I had someone to share this with. someone who knows how important this is. Obviously I can't talk to the groom about it. Girl Talk."
"Well...there is always Charlotte. She could always identify with you, to a certain degree. I don't think she and Peter have been married officially. That is how most of our kind are." Then he added thoughtfully, more to himself than anything, "But then again, we aren't like most of our kind."
Thoughts of Peter and Charlotte, and the predicament they were in made Alice and Jasper fall quiet again, silently wishing there was some way they could warn the two, unfortunately, they didn't have any connections with the couple.
Alice was about to say something, but before she could, Jasper heard a gasp. He turned to look over at her, and saw that she was having a vision. Jasper tore his eyes away from her, knowing that Alice would tell him what was going to happen when it was over.
"There is going to be seven of them." Alice whispered suddenly.
"What?" Jasper asked, not getting what she was saying.
"Seven newborns, not counting Maria." She repeated.
"Eight in all." He mused to himself before it really hit him. "That would be two to one." His thoughts immediately went to Alice, so tiny, fighting two bloodthirsty newborns that would be so much stronger than him. Jasper didn't want to think about how it would be for them to go against Alice. An animal? She could take one down in no time at all, that was one thing, but another vampire, not even a year old? "It can't come to fighting. I won't let it." Jasper told her firmly.
"I don't want to lose you. Not after I've finally found you. Not to your old life." Alice admitted quietly.
"Im not going back to that life Alice." Jasper promised her.
"But what if you," She swallowed loudly. "What if you get hurt, or...or die!" Jasper quickly sent her a wave of calm before hysterics could begin. He couldn't handle hysterics, not from anybody, much less Alice.
"I won't. I promise. We'll all get out of there—alive."
"Right. Alive." Jasper could still feel the nervousness that Alice tried to hide.
"Hey, I said we would get to those Cullens of yours, and we're going to get to those Cullens, okay?"
Alice nodded, more sure now, even without Jasper's help. "Right."
They drove in silence then, both Alice and Jasper lost in their own thoughts. Minutes turned to hours, and eventually, they crossed the border into Arizona with the intense speed that they were at. The trip that far had taken almost one third the time it should have at the fast speed they were going at. The tense atmosphere suddenly relaxed minimally, and Alice looked over at Jasper, smiling slightly but still tensely.
"Almost there." She murmured aloud.
Jasper nodded in agreement. "Yes. Almost there."
****
Alice looked at the sign fleetingly, welcoming them to Cottonwood, Arizona. She searched the future again, trying once again to pinpoint when it would happen, but found nothing that could really help. Alice looked down at her rumpled clothes, a little disgruntled with the fact that neither of them had been able to change because of their need to get there as soon as possible. She took in her maroon colored dress before it really registered what she was wearing. Distraught now, Alice searched the future twice as hard.
"Come on," Jasper said, opening his door quickly. "We'll catch their scent better if we're outside. No one is around, we're well out of the city. Besides, we can run faster than we can drive."
He stepped out into the sun and scanned their surroundings carefully.
Just like her, the Jasper in his vision was wearing the same thing as the real Jasper. "Jasper," She moaned, understanding what this meant. "I think it's happening today! We have to hurry!" Jasper nodded tensely and the car accelerated. Cottonwood flew by in a blur of speed. Grocery store. Hardware. Diner.
"It's sunny!" Alice wailed frantically when she looked out the window. "Jasper it's going to happen today, I'm positive now. It's outside the town somewhere, but I don't know where! It could be happening this instant."
Jasper fingers tightened around the steering wheel. "You still see us there, so we have to get there in time. We'll drive out of the city and look around from there."
Alice gasped. "She just found them." She whispered. Jasper's eyes narrowed, and he stiffened slightly in the seat.
Alice buried her head in her hands while Jasper sped the car up. "We'll get there in time. We will get there in time." He told himself quietly. In mere minutes, Alice looked up when the motion of the car suddenly stopped. "Come on," Jasper said, opening his door quickly. "We'll catch their scent better if we're outside. No one is around, we're well out of the city. Besides, we can run faster than we can drive."
He stepped out into the sun and scanned their surroundings carefully.
Alice nodded and opened her own door. The sun shone down brightly, and the both glittered as much as the engagement ring on Alice's finger. Jasper closed his eyes, trying to catch a familiar scent. Peter, Charlotte, hell even Maria's scent would work right then. Turning his head to the left, Jasper froze as a gust of wind hit him full force from that direction. "They're that way, Alice."
Alice nodded again slightly, already running ahead. She ran through the trees, dodging around any branches that were actually low enough to hit her. "We'll make it!" She called over her shoulder quietly. Jasper guessed that she must have had a vision or something, though her pace never once wavered. He gave a curt nod at her cry, although she couldn't see it.
They stopped when the scent of other vampires drew much closer. Jasper wished that the familiar scent wasn't quite so familiar. Unfortunately, he would know it anywhere. Maria was here, just as Alice knew she would be. He had known that they would run into her soon, but actually being in such close proximity with his past, well, Jasper wanted more than anything to be able to wake up and find out that walking straight up to Maria was only a nightmare.
Too bad vampires couldn't sleep.
At the edge of the trees, Alice peered out before glancing back at Jasper, reminding him silently what was about to happen. Ten vampires, just as Alice had predicted. The seven newborns, Maria, and Peter and Charlotte. Peter was standing protectively in front of Charlotte, although she looked just as fierce and ready to fight Maria as he did.
Jasper took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Opening them finally, he locked his eyes on his creator from so long ago, and stepped out of the cover of the trees. Alice followed after, their skin sparkling and the sun shining, such a contrast from the emotions in the air. In an instant, Jasper was in front of Maria, Alice right behind him, watching the newborns warily while still paying attention to Jasper and Marie behind her.
"Hello Maria." Jasper said cordially, and Alice noticed the way his accent was more pronounced now. "Long time no see."
WOW! 27 reviews on this chapter alone, and I got over 100! You guys are the best! Also, wish Jackson Rathbone a happy belated birthday, he is now 24 years old!
Okay, question. For characters such as Maria or Peter and Charlotte, whom Stephenie Meyer created, but we never met them, so we know nothing of their character, when we write about them, would they be considered an OC? Because technically, we make them exactly as we want, the only thing that we had to follow was their name (and perhaps a past, in this case).
I now have a story banner that I posted on photobucket, go on my profile and I have a link to it in my stories section.
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. Cottonwood is a real place to, so I can't even claim ownership for it, either.
~Tally