Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, or anything to do with it, however the OC's are all my own. The concept of Jasper being the 'God of War' is something that I've read in a few fics, but I don't know where it originates, so I'm sorry for not giving credit where credit's due! Plus, I have no idea what Louisiana, or Wisconsin are like - I'm from England, so please, forgive any mistakes. Have a great day, and I love you guys!
The night before…
Clyde POV
November 2020
Just outside of Madison, Wisconsin
Leaving Ali in the basement, quiet and alone, I hopped up the narrow staircase, and pushed open the door, leading to the wide, gleaming kitchen. It was nearly midnight, and after checking my phone, I had missed three calls from my dad, and nine from Cammy. I turned my phone over on its front, to hide the glaring missed calls from my sight. It made my stomach roll. I didn't want to lie to her, I had never lied to her before. Not really, anyway. I didn't know how. My mind just didn't work that way. I had fucked up many a birthday surprise because I couldn't keep my mouth shut, and I didn't know how I was going to keep something this big from her. She always instinctively knew when I was going to lie to her, and when she looked at me, she looked through me and she would glare at me, like I had burned her. It was frightening enough, I tell you that.
"Hey, Clyde," Emmett stepped out from the Games Room, his eyes downcast and his expression shadowed with guilt. His entire form radiated shame, with his hands knitted in front of his gut. I quirked my brow, feeling discomfort settle deep in my stomach, and I said, curtly, "Em."
I wasn't mad, I really wasn't. Shocked, yes. Surprised, for sure. Freaked out, of course. But not angry. I couldn't be angry, not at these guys - they were just too nice. They did all they could for me and my sister. They opened their home to us, their warmth and their honesty encased both me and my twin, and for that, I could only be thankful. But I didn't want them to feel like they could just go ahead and lie to my face, as if nothing was wrong. I wanted to make them at least sweat a little. It was petty, but it was my own twisted branch of pay-back. He rubbed the back of his neck, well, it was more of a rough scratch, and asked, clearly bothered by something, "You.. You know about us then?"
Curtly, I nodded, as I wasn't really up for talking at this moment. And, truthfully, I didn't trust my own voice. He sighed, heavily, and answered, his voice sturdy but his expression uncomfortable, to say the least, "I'll show you upstairs, man."
Following behind Emmett's burly, broad form, I found that I was lost in my own thoughts. No matter what happened, I wasn't scared of Alice. Even though I watched her kill those guys, she was still Ali-Cat to me, and I loved her.
I was in love with her.
And it was tearing me apart inside to ignore her advances. I wanted to hold her. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to love her freely, but I couldn't. Not right now. I needed to digest the lies, and when I came to her, it was because I wanted to.
Emmett led me towards the first floor spare room, and said, "I'll get you some clean clothes. Carlisle wants to come up in a bit to check on your head injury," then as I brushed past him into the cold bedroom, he grasped my upper arm, tightly, causing my body to jerk forwards. He levelled me with a hard, cold stare, and said, seriously, "Look. I care about Alice. She's my sister. Do. Not. Hurt. Her."
Baring my teeth in a way that would probably be intimidating to others but to them, I probably looked like a kitten. I growled, "If the thought that I could hurt Alice crossed your fuckin' mind, then you don't know me at all Emmett. Now," I pulled my elbow out of his grasp, and even though I was sure he could have broken the bone without a flick of his wrist, he let me go, "Get out."
And I slammed the door in his face, my hands running through my hair, tearing at the strands.
What am I supposed to do?
Alice. The girl that I had been in a relationship with for the last two and a half months. The girl that I was in love with. The girl who, apparently, was a vampire.
What did I walk into?
Why didn't she just tell me?
Why did she lie?
Why was she asking me to lie?
To keep Cam safe? To keep her secret? To keep her family's secret?
It made me sick to my stomach.
To know that every time I touched her, in the quiet of her bedroom, her entire family had overheard. To know that every word that fell from her mouth could have, quite possibly, have been a lie. That my baby sister was in a relationship with one of them, and I couldn't do a damn thing about it.
Jasper was a bad guy in my eyes. Even before I knew what he was. He just gave off this dangerous, uncomfortable vibe. I didn't feel like she was safe. He looked at her like she was some kind of dessert that he wanted to devour, not love, and it irked something inside of me that I couldn't shake the feeling.
Through my musings, I had shuffled over to the four poster bed, and threw myself down, face-first, burrowing my nose into the sheets, and I heard a light knock resound through the room. Rolling my eyes towards the ceiling, I moved onto my back, and said, tightly, "I'm gonna assume you can hear what I'm doin', so just come in."
The door was pushed open, the light spilling into the darkened room, and, from the corner of my eye, I saw the pale blonde hair of one Carlisle Cullen. Pushing up so I was reclined on the headboard, and crossed my ankles, feeling my head throb in pain. He flicked on the lights, making me wince in pain, and asked, "How are you feeling, Clyde?"
His voice was perfectly calm and professional. This was Doctor Cullen, and he had completely switched off daddy mode, and if I wasn't so pissed off, I probably would have laughed. Shrugging petulantly, I lied, smoothly, "Fine."
He smirked, steadily, both of his eyes sparking with amusement, and answered, almost sardonically, "I can hear the lie in your voice, Clyde. Tell me the truth," he settled on the edge of the bed, his small first aid box besides him. He clasped his hands together, and his calmness pissed me off but I couldn't disrespect someone's father. It just wasn't how I was raised, and I wasn't about to start now.
I said, quietly, through clenched teeth, "Carlisle, I am fine. Look. I have a headache, and I want to sleep, so.. If you wouldn't mind leaving me to get myself together?"
He sighed, deeply, and levelled me with a plain, open stare. The blonde asked, "Alice told you about us. I need to know the psychological affects of what you saw earlier tonight."
Hitting the back of my head against the headboard, I groaned, lowly, and when I spoke, my voice was tight and thick with confusion. "What am I supposed to think, Carlisle?"
I had gotten into the strange habit of calling both he and his wife by their first names instead of Mr and Mrs Cullen. The atmosphere between us was tense, to say the least. He clearly wanted to ask something, and I, too, had my own questions, but I held them back by pressing my tongue against the roof of my mouth, and counted my teeth, absentmindedly. He said, tiredly, popping open the case, distractedly, "Ask what you need to ask, son."
Running my hand through my hair, I winced as I brushed past the particularly irritated skin of my forehead, and asked, "What.. What does it mean for Alice and I? She's not.. Human, and I am. Can this work out?"
His lips quirked, and asked, "Do you know how Edward and Bella met?"
I shook my head, softly, as the thumping behind my eyes was getting too intense. He said, "She was human and in a relationship with Ed for three years before her change. And they're still together, and just as in love, if not more than when they first met."
My brow puckered then, and I asked, curiously, "Wait.. How old are you?"
He grinned, widely, and stated, "Thirty."
"No," I said, with a roll of my eyes, "How old are you, really?"
With a slight dip of his head, and said, "Three hundred and eighty, kiddo."
Wait.. What? Excuse me?
Three hundred and eighty?
Apparently I had voiced those thoughts, and he laughed, rather loudly, and said, "Yeah."
"But.. How?"
He shrugged, "Vampires don't age."
A sudden sense of dread filled my body, and I found my lips moving without my permission as I asked, "How old is Alice?"
"Specifically?"
Nodding, unable to speak. My tongue had bled dry, and I felt my stomach turn with discomfort and sickness.
"She's one hundred and nineteen, I think."
Good God, I was in love with a woman old enough to be my great grand mother.
Swallowing, thickly, I asked, "How-How did she turn? What happened? How did-"
He had already started shaking his head as I began speaking, and simply stated, "It's her story to tell. Not mine. I'll answer any of your other questions, about our kind, but only that."
"Ali.. She said that you don't feed from humans, but from animals. How does that work?"
He grimaced, deeply, and asked, "Are you sure you want to hear the details?"
"Just give me the run-through."
He smirked. "We hunt."
"How often?"
He shrugged. "It depends on our thirst, but usually three times a week, at least, if we're going to be around humans."
"You're attracted to our smell?"
"No, not your scent," he smiled, briefly, before flashing his surprisingly sharp canines, "Your blood."
Apparently my entire body seized up, and my skin bled of all colour, as he exclaimed, apologetically, "I didn't mean to frighten you, Clyde. I've never fed from a human in my entire life, and I don't plan to start now. You haven't anything to fear from me, I swear."
"What about the rest of your family? They could hurt me, right? And my sister?"
At the mention of Camilla, my entire body tensed, and a harder, colder gleam shone in my eyes. I wouldn't allow for any harm to come to her.
"We don't want to hurt you," he said, honestly, "Either of you. But, it's a possibility. As a coven, we have exceptional control. There is a significantly lower likelihood of an accident taking place. Plus," he said with a shrug, "If you're worried about Camilla, you shouldn't be."
Quirking a brow up at him, I asked, acerbically, "And why is that?"
He let out a soft chuckle, and said, earnestly, "Because Jasper would tear us apart if he thought any harm would come to her."
Huffing heavily, I repeated, obviously annoyed, "Jasper?"
He nodded, sure of himself. "He's very.. Protective over her."
"Why is that?"
He frowned, almost as if he didn't want to explain himself, but he knew he had to. He coughed, even though I'm sure it had nothing to do with relieving himself of an irritated throat ache, and said, uncomfortably, "They're mates. Like you and Alice. The same unyielding protectiveness that Ali-Cat feels for you, he feels for her. He's in love with her, even if he doesn't show it."
Uneasily, I asked, "How can I trust him?"
"You don't have to trust me. I wont hurt her. I couldn't."
Turning to look at the still-open door, I saw the dangerous outline of one Jasper Whitlock, and I felt genuine fear trickle through my veins. It was an uncomfortable sensation, but it was there. Cold, wet and black in my body, making me want to throw up, but it was like my body just wouldn't listen to me.
I wanted to march over there and tear him a new asshole.
I wanted to tell Alice I never wanted to see her again.
I wanted to get out of this fucking house, but I just didn't.
Not that I couldn't. I just didn't. And that was the frustrating thing about it all. Why couldn't I move? What was wrong with me?
Carlisle finished re-patching up the wound in my head with the dissolvable glue that would eventually soak up into my body, and plastered it over with a square of thick cotton, then slipped out of the room, with a small pat on Jasper's shoulder, and promptly closed the door behind him, leaving the other man and I in an angry, tense silence. He approached the bed, and sat in the chair tucked beneath the desk, angling his body to face me, his expression stoic and his posture collected.
"You don't have t' believe me when I say I love her, but I do. She's more important to me than anyone else in this world, and I couldn't imagine myself without her," he said, the honesty in his tone forcing my mouth to clamp and seal itself shut. He looked into my eyes, straight into my soul, sending pure ice through my veins. "She is the reason I get out of bed and enjoy myself every day. Don't be the one to take that away from me."
It wasn't an outward threat, but I could almost taste the intimidation in his words. Steeling myself, I said, "And what happens if I am?"
His expression darkened, considerably, and I felt the same fear from earlier nearly triple, making my heart clench in my chest. He said, seriously, sitting forward slightly, and his eyes glowing with quelled fury, "You do not want to be in that situation. Trust me."
And that was the end of that.
He promptly stood and left me alone, switching off the light, relieving me from the sharp, sparking ache behind my eyes. Closing my orbs, I tugged off my shirt, and kicked off my pants, throwing them to the side, and turned on my front, getting comfortable. Or at least as comfortable as a person could in a house full of people who had hypersensitive hearing. Luckily, whatever sedative Carlisle had given me earlier sunk in, and my vision blurred, then blackened completely, rendering me dead to the world.
-0-0-0-
I hope you enjoyed it guys.
This was originally supposed to be chapter 43, but I messed up a little. I hope you liked Clyde's input.
Also, I've completely changed the ending of this portion of the story, so the next chapter might not come for a while.
Have a wonderful day/night!