Maria took a step back in surprise, shock flickering across her face before she quickly covered it up. She suddenly grinned wickedly. "My, my, it has been a while, Jasper darling." She crooned softly.

Looking at her, Alice could see immediately why Jasper had stayed as long as he had with Maria. She had a soft, young look, but with curves that obviously belonged to a woman. She was slight, only a little taller than Alice herself. At first glance, anyone would feel this need to protect her. Beneath the nice exterior though, was the fierce, vile, evil, truth. Maria was the epitome of a monster. Her eyes were a bright red. Red and bloodthirsty, but at that moment, it wasn't humans' blood that she craved. No, right then, Alice knew, she wanted Jasper gone. Dead.

Alice longed to step between the silent face off between Jasper and Maria, but she had to keep watch on the newborns, who were waiting for Maria's signal eagerly. For what, Alice didn't know, or particularly want to know.

"We could have been wonderful together, you and me. Think of all the territories that could have been ours, Jasper. The multitude of humans," Maria frowned then. "but of course, you don't hunt humans anymore." She sneered.

Jasper said nothing, not taking the bait.

Maria scowled, she had obviously been wanting to get reaction out of him. "All because of her, too." Jasper moved subtly to shield Alice completely from Maria. "How long have you been with her? A few years? Less? More? It's nothing compared to how long we've been together, Jasper."

Jasper snarled, and Maria smiled, a glint in her eyes now. "I hit a soft spot, I see. The Jasper Whitlock I knew had no soft spots. I suppose I could just...eliminate the problem." Her eyes flashed past Jasper to where Alice was standing, her eyes doing nothing to hide the excitement that the prospect brought.

"Leave Alice out of this." Jasper hissed menacingly.

Maria's tinkling laugh disoriented Alice for a moment. Such a laugh didn't seem to fit someone as horrible as Maria. There was a hint of menace to it though, Alice noted, if she listened close enough.

"Jasper, you went AWOL. You left when you didn't have the right to. Surely you can see why you must be punished." Abruptly, her smile fell. With a flick of her hand, she ordered the newborns, "Bring them."

The seven newborns, with their superior strength, easily grabbed the four older vampires, not letting it come to a fight, which even they sensed they would lose, looking at Jasper's battle scar covered skin. Jasper snarled when one of them grabbed Alice roughly, pulling her hands behind her back and forcing her after where Maria had disappeared into the trees. It only took seconds for them to get Peter, Charlotte, and Jasper to follow closely after.

When they arrived in a clearing a little ways away, Maria was already there, circling Alice in the middle, the newborn standing off to the side.

"Leave her alone! Don't touch her!" If you hurt a hair on her head I'll kill you!" Jasper shouted at Maria. The newborns bared their teeth at him for threatening their leader, but Maria ignored them.

She stepped closer to Alice and pulled a single strand of hair off her of her scalp, letting it fall lifelessly to the ground. "There. I won't hurt a hair on that pretty little head of hers."

Her expression turned gleeful. Sadistic. She sunk into a crouch then. "I suppose I should simply get it over with."

Alice closed her eyes, not saying anything. Maria assumed she was giving up, but Jasper understood quickly what she was doing. Maria leapt forward, but Alice stepped to the side lithely, having already seen Maria's plan.

After a few different—and unsuccessful—tries, Maria straightened up from her crouch. Jasper let out the breath he had unconsciously been holding.

Maria laughed. "I like you. I think we can keep you around for a little bit longer." She told Alice before turning to the other newborns. "Put them in the tent. All of you on guard. Don't let them out of your sight. You can take shifts to hunt." Maria stalked off the field, amused and angered simultaneously. Jasper wasn't paying attention to her anymore, though.

He rushed forward and caught Alice in his embrace. the other vampire snarled in warning, but they ignored them. "Don't do that again." Jasper reprimanded, breathing in her scent. "I got scared half to death when I saw you there." He admitted, using a human saying.

One newborn stepped forward, more brave—or stupid—than the rest. He ushered them into a small tent that was set up, the other six pushing Peter and Charlotte in after them.

"Well," Peter finally said, taking off the 'cowboy' hat he was wearing. "This is quite a predicament we've gotten ourselves into."

****

"Great, just great!" Jasper cried in frustration, throwing his hands up in the air and scowling around the empty tent. Maria was obviously planning on doing something, but for the past three days, all they had been doing was sitting in the tent they had first been kicked into. His eyes were starting to get black, and he was starting to get irritated. "Not even a visit. Not a taunt, not a 'Haha, now you're going to die.' What is with her? Can she hurry up and decide what to do with us?" He called out loudly then to Maria, "Get on with it, woman!"

Clearly more than 'starting to get irritated.'

"She's trying to decide between killing us all, or forcing you guys to join her again. She doesn't know what do with me. She doesn't want us to be together." Alice told Jasper softly, placing a tender hand on his forearm.

Charlotte sat down on the ground in dejection. "This is exactly what we were running from when we left." She murmured. Peter got down on his knees to comfort her, giving Jasper a meaningful look.

Jasper sighed, now done with his rant, and calmed Charlotte down. "It's okay, Lottie." Peter comforted her. "It's only been three days, we'll be out of here in no time. Right guys?"

Alice got down to comfort Charlotte too. "Of course. Don't worry Charlotte, we'll definitely get out of here soon."

"Yeah." Jasper mumbled his agreement..

"Alice," Peter started tentatively. "Do you think you could...look and see if—when?"

Alice nodded. "Sure." Instead of finding if, no, when they would leave, Alice found something else.

"People are starting to get suspicious." Edward stated to the rest of his family. "We've been here for four years, and Carlisle, you haven't changed at all. Emmett, Rosalie, and I have all already graduated, I think we should move again soon."

"East coast!" Emmett cried in excitement, pumping a fist into the air.

"Not New York." Was all Rosalie said.

"Maine?" Esme suggested.

"I know of one little town in West Virginia..." Carlisle trailed off.

"Elkins?" Edward asked, pulling the name out of Carlisle's train of thought. Carlisle nodded.

"I stayed there for a little while when I was traveling alone."

"I visited an aunt that lived down there...I think." Rosalie added.

"Anybody object?" Edward asked. Nobody said anything, so he shrugged. "Elkins it is then, I guess."

Alice groaned. She wanted to be mad, to throw a fit, but she knew that it wasn't anybody's fault. Her and Jasper were just very unlucky right now. "What's wrong?" Jasper asked her, noticing the upset emotions she was now emanating.

"The Cullens are now moving to Elkins—where we just were!"

Jasper sighed. "I'm sorry, Alice. I know how upset you are, trust me."

Peter looked up at them from where he was sitting with Charlotte. "What are you two talking about?"

"We're trying to find a coven like us. They don't drink human blood." Peter grimaced, but Alice ignored this and went on. "Carlisle Cullen is at the head of the coven. They're more like a family though, right Jasper?" Jasper nodded silently in agreement.

"Carlisle?" Charlotte asked, looking up now.

"Yeah, do you two know him?"

"We met him once, briefly. It was on our way to return to get Jasper here, actually. We ran into him. Very nice man. He was all alone then, though."

"Four others have joined him now. They've all adopted his lifestyle."

Charlotte shook her head in amazement. "I don't know how you two do it. Animals hardly smell appetizing, they must taste horrible."

Alice shrugged. "You get used to it. Besides, so long as you avoid herbivores," She made a face. "And only go for large animals—bear, mountain lion—then it really isn't too much different from humans, except I don't feel like a murderer."

Jasper nodded. "I no longer have to feel the horror and pain of my prey as I kill them." He added quietly.

Peter just shrugged. "To each his own, I guess."

The tent flap was pulled back suddenly, and they all looked toward the front where a girl was standing there. She couldn't have been older than 15. Jasper noticed the way she was nervous and wary, with threads of fear mixed in. "Maria wants to see you." She told them. "So, uh...get out there." She clearly wasn't too happy with ordering around older, more experienced vampires who could possibly rip her apart and throw the pieces into a fire, if they wanted. As if they had the means, Jasper almost scoffed aloud at her fear, but, he supposed, it was better than her thinking that she could actually win in a fight against any of them.

Another vampire came marching up, a man this time. "What's taking so long?!" He demanded, glaring at the girl. "Maria's getting impatient." Very need to please, Jasper decided. He reminded Jasper of himself when he was first changed.

Jasper sent the girl a burst of over-confidence, and she threw a glare at the other man. "Well tell Maria that she can just go—"

He growled and dropped into a crouch for almost insulting Maria. She mimicked his actions. The man leapt forward, his teeth bared, aiming for her neck. She sidestepped and then went for his shoulder blade.

The girl grabbed his wrist and started to pull back, trying to rip him apart. Her wide eyes shone with excitement, and Jasper tried to calm her down now, to no avail.

"Stop! Stop! Stop it!" Maria suddenly screamed as she hurried into the clearing. She looked half-crazed, her hair, tangled and in knots, blowing wildly and her eyes a bright red that were brimming with anger. She had a snarl on her lips, ready to lunge at the newborns if they didn't obey her order.

No longer influenced by Jasper's power, the girl immediately backed down, and the male reached for his discarded arm that she had thrown to the ground. He winced, attaching it back on to his body, but Maria paid him no mind. She continued screaming at all the newborns.

Meanwhile, Jasper was thinking over the fight that had just happened. If they could just get that to happen again then maybe some of the newborns would destroy themselves. Fighting among newborn vampires was common, he could mess with their emotions and then play it off as a fight over something trivial. Once, when he was first with Maria, one newborn had killed another, simply because he had 'gotten too close.'

Maria was done yelling at the newborns, and was now on the verge of telling him and the others something. Jasper sighed, he really didn't want to deal with Maria right now, or ever, actually. He sent her a shot of weariness, frustration, and annoyance. She eyed him once, knowing he was to blame for her sudden mood swing, but growled out, "I don't want to have to deal with all of you right now! Get them back in the tent!" She stalked off, and Jasper smiled in relief.

"What was that?" Peter stage-whispered loudly to Jasper.

Jasper smiled, and the other vampires growled at them in warning. The two newborns that had been fighting were now off licking their wounds somewhere—metaphorically, of course.

Peter and Charlotte slipped back in silently. Alice glanced at Jasper once before following them in. Jasper stepped in so that he was at the very edge, a clear view of their 'guard.'

"Get back in there." She told him.

"Why should I?" Jasper challenged. She glowered at him, but said nothing. The others watched silently, wondering what he was doing. "I honestly don't think Maria would be too happy if you killed me, but hey, you could always try. Let's see how that turns out."

She looked tempted to take him up on the offer, but Jasper carefully made her uncertain slowly, so she wouldn't notice as quickly, if at all. The girl bit her lip, unsure of what to say now. "Maria wouldn't care. Maybe at first, but she would get over it." She bluffed, her facial expression and emotions giving away the lie.

Jasper leaned back leisurely, not giving way to the nervousness that he was really feeling. "Go ahead and try it then."

Her eyes scanned the trees, as if afraid Maria would suddenly appear out of nowhere.

"What's your name?" Both Jasper and the newborn looked over toward Alice, who had asked the question seemingly at random.

"I—uh, Lizzie." Lizzie was taken off guard at the unorthodox question.

"Hello Lizzie, I'm Alice." Alice greeted kindly, smiling warmly.

Jasper caught on to what she was doing. It was the same thing he had being planning by getting the newborns to fight amongst themselves. If they became friendly with Lizzie, then she might be more hesitant if it came to fighting. Alice was probably already aware of what he had been planning for the other newborns, clever as she was. "Hi Lizzie, my name is Jasper."

Lizzie nodded, now confused. Jasper nodded mentally. Good, confused was good. He made her slightly more trusting, but not enough to alert her that something was wrong. "I know. Maria told me about you. And them." She motioned toward Peter and Charlotte.

"We didn't know about her, though." She added, gesturing toward Alice this time..

"And what did Maria tell you about us?" Jasper asked kindly. He could sense Peter and Charlotte's confusion, as well as their wariness.

"She said that...that you abandoned her, and we had to find all three of you to get revenge. You don't argue with Maria, not if you want to live."

Jasper nodded in understanding. "That's why we had to leave, Lizzie. Peter, Charlotte, and I? We didn't like the fight. We grew tired of it, I was depressed, so they helped me escape. Tell me Lizzie, how long have you been like this? When were you changed?"

Lizzie grew more comfortable with him, and smiled shyly. "A little less than a year."

"Oh?" Jasper was surprised, he had thought that Maria would have brought younger, stronger vampires, not one that she would soon be getting rid of. "Lizzie, do you know what Maria does with the vampires she has created after they've passed their year mark?"

"She says that she let's them leave, so as not to frighten us into leaving, but we know she really kills them." Lizzie shuddered.

"If you came with us, Lizzie, you wouldn't be killed. Do you want to end your life?" Alice asked, stepping closer and placing a hand on Jasper's shoulder, who was sitting on the ground beside Lizzie.

"But you don't hunt humans, do you?" She made a face at the idea of their diet.

"No, but we could help you escape, and then you could travel on your own." Alice suggested.

"I—," She looked torn, and was about to say something more when another vampire stomped toward them angrily.

"Hey! What are you doing? You're not supposed to be talking to them."

"Lizzie," Jasper dropped his voice to a whisper so only she could hear him. "We could help you, right now. The five of us are more experienced, we could fight them."

"Maria told me about you," The approaching vampire called. "Don't listen to him, and don't trust your emotions, he can manipulate them!"

Lizzie whipped around to look at Jasper with wide eyes. "Lizzie, you're just a pawn to Maria, don't listen to them." Jasper continued urgently.

Lizzie glared at Jasper before turning around and staring stoically at the forest in front of her. Ignoring him. Great.

Jasper sighed and rested his head between his knees. She would've caved if that other vampire hadn't come. Alice frowned and sat down next to Jasper. "We'll figure something else out." She assured Jasper.

"What was all of that?" Peter asked.

Alice sighed. "We were trying to convince her to help us get out of here, in turn we would have protected her from Maria. We were also," She dropped her voice so low that only those three could hear her. "We were also going to try to get two of them to start fighting. If one killed the other, then they would be left without two, and we would gain one. We would've been able to beat them then. Too bad it didn't exactly work out."

"Just like you said Alice, we'll figure something else out." Jasper agreed, closing his eyes and leaning his head back. Had he been human, it would have looked like he was asleep. As it was, Jasper was only trying to relax.

Alice, Peter, and Charlotte continued talking quietly, and Jasper simply listened, his arm wrapped around Alice's waist protectively.

"Maria's plans are becoming more defined. She still has a couple different ideas that she's tossing around, but she's decided to actually do something." Alice whispered to them after the sun had slipped beneath the mountains, although none of them could actually see the sunset as it happened.

Jasper smirked then, and his arm tightened from where it was resting around her. With his eyes still closed, Jasper murmured, "Bring it, Maria. I've been ready since the day I left."

Okay, so I have the next chapter typed up, but I'm ending it on a cliffhanger, so I can either post that tomorrow and then post the next chapter a couple days after, or you can wait a few more days and I'll post them one after the other. Which way do you want? Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

~Tally