Day: 8

Thirst. That was the most prominent feeling that Jasper could register. Scorching, burning, and torturing him. It had been eight days since he had last hunted. Alice brushed the hair out of his eyes, understanding what was wrong. Her eyes were getting dark, but she had so much more experience than him. Jasper's eyes were the blackest of black.

"Alice..." Jasper moaned. "I need to hunt. Soon."

"I know Jazz, I know. We could always...ask Maria." Alice suggested tentatively.

"You know she won't allow us to."

"Actually, I don't, not until you decide to ask her."

Jasper sighed. "Fine." He poked his head out of the tent. "Let me talk to Maria." He told them.

"Why should we?"

"Because I told you to." He growled at them, but they stared back, determined not to back down.

Maria stepped forward over to where Jasper was. "Yes, Jasper?"

"We need to hunt." He told her simply. Straight-forward and to the point, as Maria didn't care for beating around the bush, and right then, as much as he hated to admit it, he needed to be on her good side.

Maria laughed. "Of course, what was I thinking. Don't worry, something will be brought."

Jasper blinked. That had been easy, too easy considering this was Maria. She was planning something, he could tell. Jasper had known her for much too long.

Alice gave Jasper a look. "That was—"

"—Too easy, yeah." Jasper finished.

"We'll just have to wait and see why she caved, I guess." Alice murmured, sitting down in Jasper's lap.

****

Jasper felt the emotional shift before he smelled the human. But when he did, it took all of Alice's strength to keep him there. The terrified emotions helped Jasper calm down, but after going so long with hunting of any sort, he almost leapt out and onto the human immediately.

"Jasper, Peter, Charlotte, Alice, you can come out..." Maria called in a soft voice, sounding almost innocent and child-like. Jasper snorted. Innocent, right...

Maria threw open the tent flap and practically kicked them out. The human man was lying on the ground, terrified and nervous and upset. There were tear tracks running down his cheeks on his face. "Please," He begged. "I have a family. A daughter and wife at home."

Alice looked at the man with pity, keeping a firm arm on Jasper to keep him from lashing out and killing the fragile human. Peter and Charlotte, on the other hand, were in ecstasy.

"He's yours." Maria drawled before leaving the clearing. The newborns eyed the man frantically, practically jumping on him.

Charlotte growled at them. "He's ours."

"Alice..." Jasper moaned, looking over at his mate.

"No Jasper. Control yourself." She told him softly before calling to Peter and Charlotte, "Don't spill any blood please."

Charlotte bit the man's neck quickly, sucking his blood out, while Peter did the same to his wrist. The newborns went crazy, but Peter and Charlotte had enough control to at least share the human between themselves.

Jasper watched them with a frenzied look in his eye. "He has a wife and child Jasper." Alice reasoned, her hand moving to his. She tightened her grip on him though, just in case.

"He's already going to die though. Just. One. Little. Taste."

"No!" Alice said harshly.

Jasper looked as if he might argue, but when he saw the look in her eyes, disappointment, covered by love, he seemed to realize what he was about to do. He grit his teeth together and squeezed his eyes shut. "I will not give up now, not when it will give Maria the satisfaction she wants. Not when it will disappoint you."

Charlotte moaned as the man was finally drained of the last drop of blood. "So wonderful..."

Jasper grimaced when he saw his friends' now red eyes. "Maria's coming." Alice announced to them.

Alice was right. Maria swiftly and silently walked over to them, observing the human corpse that was lying on the ground. Her eyes flickered up briefly to all of their eyes. First Peter and Charlotte, with their red eyes, and then Jasper and Alice, their eyes still black. She 'hmmed.' "You didn't take it. You let them share a measly little human, and you just stood by and watched. So pathetic." She spat at him.

Jasper glared at her so menacingly that Maria unwillingly flinched ever so slightly. Despite that, she met his eyes, and they started a staring match. It would have been comical to Alice if she didn't know what would happen to the loser. Of course, since they didn't have to blink, there might not be a loser.

Jasper finally broke the eyes contact and glanced around at the rest of the newborns angrily before taking Alice's hand and leading her back to their prison silently, Peter and Charlotte following after them.

"I don't get why we don't just fight them off, we could so take them, it's two to one, we've had worse than that, Jasper." Peter exclaimed quietly.

"You, Charlotte, and I have been trained to fight like that, but what about..." Jasper glanced toward Alice.

Peter and Charlotte realized what he was talking about. "I'm sure she would make it." Charlotte reassured him.

"Stop talking about me like I'm not here!" Alice cried angrily.

"Alice," Jasper pleaded. "I don't want to risk losing you. Please, I don't want to start a fight we might not win, or if we do, we might...lose too. If she starts a fight, then we will fight back, but I will not initiate it." Peter opened his mouth to retaliate, but Jasper cut him off. "And I won't help you if you initiate it, either."

That was lie, and any of them could probably call him on it, but instead they said nothing, all of them falling silent.

"Maria's really indecisive." Alice stated, trying to break the tense atmosphere. It worked, Jasper gave a bark of a laugh and turned to look at Alice.

"She always was. Maria would make the multitude of plans, and I would pick the best one and help her execute it." He said ruefully.

"So what is she thinking of doing?" Peter asked.

Alice shrugged. "Who to kill, who to keep. Or if she should just kill all of us." She said it nonchalantly, but Jasper felt how scared she really was.

"We're getting to the Cullens." He reminded her firmly. "We're getting out of here alive."

****

Day: 14

If Jasper had thought that going 8 days without hunting was hard, then going 14 days had to be hell. It felt to Jasper as if he would die from dehydration like a human that hadn't drank anything in three measly days. Unfortunately, he had to live with this burning throat, because they couldn't die from something trivial like that.

"It feels like I've started all over, before I met you when I would go as long as possible without hunting." Jasper confessed.

"It's okay Jasper, we'll get through this." Alice told him, running her fingers through his hair as Jasper sat on the ground. She stood next to him, for once taller than her lover.

"I hope so." Jasper put his head in his hands in defeat.

Alice sat down in front of him and lifted Jasper's chin up to look him in the eyes. She gave him a small smile, and Jasper pulled her into his lap. "Happy anniversary," Alice sighed, knowing how depressing it was to say that when you were locked up.

Jasper buried his face in her hair, breathing in her scent. "Happy anniversary." He whispered back to her.

****

Day: 17

Alice jerked forward from where she had been leaning against Jasper in boredom. Her eyes glazed over, and Jasper knew she was having a vision. He took her hand in his own, silently comforting her as she gasped again.

The vision ended, and Alice glanced over at Peter and Charlotte before turning back to Jasper.

"She's decided." Was all she said, fear in her eyes betraying her.

Unbearably short, and the next one probably will be too, but I'm hoping on posting them close together, so hopefully that will make up for it, I just don't think they would fit well together as a single chapter. It's really to just show the passing of time that the group has had to go through with Maria.

Merry (late) Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Disclaimer: Still don't own it.

~Tally (though I am more commonly referred to as 'Tibby' instead)