Seattle Nights

Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight series, all I own is the plot and a few original characters.

Chapter Three (written by PuzzlingApprentice – original author.)

My heart rate was slowly falling as the adrenalin left my system. My arm lay limply at my side and I flexed my hand to make sure it was still functional. It throbbed slightly, but I could tell it wasn't broken. I couldn't help but to think sadly back to Jake— well, this wasn't the first time I had hit a supernatural being.

"Is there a reason you're terrorizing the city?" I hissed. Suddenly it dawned on me— if Jasper was here, were all the Cullens? I could feel my stomach drop, Edward had promised I would never have to see him again and it was a promise I had been hoping he'd keep. It would be too painful to see them all and know that they did not miss me at all.

I finally pulled myself back together enough to look up at him. I hadn't seen a vampire in years and the strength of Jasper's beauty hit me harder than Edwards ever had. I shook my head slightly to clear it and noticed he was smirking at me slightly, causing me to roll my eyes at him.

"Bella, you need to leave Seattle. It's not safe for ya here." He said stiffly.

I couldn't help it. I snorted at him in a rather unladylike manner. "Since when do the Cullens care about my safety? Edward told me I would never have to see any of you again, but what? You guys show up and start killing people in the city that I live in?" Towards the end my voice had turned hard and cold, no emotions showing through. I had learned a long time ago how to build this specific mask and had the skill mastered.

He was frowning at me, and quite frankly, I didn't give a shit.

"The Cullens aren't here; I left their coven years ago."

"So you've been killing that many people on your own?" My voice faltered slightly and I cleared my throat.

"No, I only got here two days ago. Actually, none of those were my victims." I realized that as he was talking he had leaned forward and was running his nose along my jaw. The rational part of my mind reminded me that his red eyes meant that he was drinking human blood now and that I had interrupted his hunt— which meant that he was probably very thirsty and I was the closest meal. I also remembered that his eyes had been a vibrant red, not the black that I had come to associate with their thirst, which was odd. The rest of my mind, however, was enjoying the gentle touch and the flames it seemed to elicit. The chills that had run down my back earlier with fear had been replaced with those of pleasure.

"You smell delicious, Bella; like vanilla and lavender." His voice had grown husky and I noticed the undercurrents of a southern accent which I had never heard before. Not knowing how to respond, we stood there for a few moments; me leaning against the wall, Jasper leaning against me with his face buried in my neck.

"If you're planning on draining me, can we get it over with? I've had a long day." I grumbled. Currently, I couldn't find it in me to care about the strange circumstances. Between hardly getting any sleep last night and my energy crash that always comes after my caffeine wears off I was exhausted.

I felt him smirk against my skin before he drew back to look down at me. "Darlin', you have the worst sense of self preservation I have ever seen." He chuckled and I just yawned as he stepped away from me. Stretching my arms above my head, I turned to leave the alley and finally return home.

"Where do ya live?" He asked from beside me, apparently I was still used to the odd grace and silence with which vampires walked because I didn't even jump at the sudden voice next to me.

"Down the street," I answered, knowing that if I didn't he could just follow me there anyway. I paused and turned to him suddenly, "What are you doing in Seattle, anyway?" I asked skeptically.

He just stared down at me from his impressive height, and I could tell that he wasn't going to answer me here.

"Fine," I sighed, "Follow me."

I had no idea what had possessed me to invite him to my apartment, but I wanted answers. What was going on here that was so dangerous? I was just about positive that it was a vampire's doing, in fact I think a small piece of me had known that as soon as I'd heard about the first killing. But what made it specifically dangerous to me?

As we walked I felt his arm wind itself around my waist protectively. It felt oddly natural, as if he had done it tons of times despite the fact that he was the one member of the Cullens, or former member rather, that I had never spent any time with outside the customary 'hello' and 'goodbye.' I leaned into him slightly without thinking and he in turn gave me a light, comforting squeeze. I wrote it off to my exhaustion.

Minutes later we were standing outside the door to my apartment so I took out the keys and let us in. He followed me inside and sat down when I motioned to the couch in my living room. I made a quick stop in my kitchen to find something to eat, remembering with slight annoyance that I hadn't gone grocery shopping in over a week so I probably wouldn't find much. Standing in front of my open fridge, I found a container of yogurt and decided that it would do for now. I returned to where I had left Jasper to find him lounging comfortably, seemingly without a care in the world. But only seemingly, because I could see in the set of his shoulders and the purse of his lips that he was filled with tension.

I sighed and kicked off my shoes before turning and sitting Indian style on the end opposite Jasper, facing him. He slowly opened his eyes and angled himself slightly towards me.

"So," I paused, trying to think of something to say to this vampire whom I hadn't seen in five years. I thought back to him saying that he was no longer with the Cullens and another thought jumped in to my head. "Why did you leave the Cullens?" For some reason, I felt as though it were more than just his eye color.

"It was time," he said simply. "I had always known that it wasn't permanent, and I had no plans of stickin' to that diet for the rest of my existence."

"What about Alice?" I whispered, wondering how she had taken that. I remembered the last time I saw her, when Edward had taken me in to the forest and we had met her there. Together they had told me about how little my existence had affected them and how none of them would miss me. I hadn't mattered to them then and I didn't matter to them now. My stomach rolled uncomfortably and I put the yogurt aside, having lost my appetite. If Alice was somewhere waiting for Jasper, then he could go. I didn't want anything to do with them.

He seemed to notice the change in my mood and reached out to sweep away some of the hair that I had allowed to fall in front of my eyes. I locked my jaw to keep from leaning in to the comforting touch; I swear to god that something is wrong with me.

"Alice and I are no longer together." He had said her name almost like a curse.

"I thought you two were mates?" I asked confusion and curiosity coloring my facial features.

"The Cullens thought so, too." He smiled amused. "Alice was tryin' to make me believe it as well, but I had known from the beginning that we were not meant for each other. I was gettin' sick of Alice using her visions to corrupt the future in to what she wanted it to be. She was just a stepping stone to get me going in the direction of finding my actual mate and it was time to move on."

"How did you know that she would lead you to your mate?" I asked; my curiosity of this man who I hardly knew growing.

"Friends," He shrugged nonchalantly, giving nothing else away. I sighed and moved on to another question.

"Why are you in Seattle?"

"I could feel in your emotions that you weren't surprised to see a vampire, so I know that you could tell that those killings weren't random."

"I had my suspicions," I agreed.

"Not the best idea to interrupt a thirsty vampire's hunt." He commented.

I nodded, "I wasn't going to let an innocent man be killed when there was something I could do to stop it."

"So much loyalty to someone you had never even met?" He seemed surprised.

"No, not really." He raised an eyebrow at me. "I wasn't trying to get myself killed or anything, the adrenaline just went to my head." I yawned again.

He made a small snorting noise and rolled his eyes at me. "You should be more cautious. You may not have wanted to get killed, but sometimes it's hard for even the most experienced vampire to stop mid-hunt."

"Did you stop so easily because you weren't that thirsty?" I asked, recalling his eye color.

"Something like that," He supplied, frowning.

I shrugged, "If I made you lose your appetite, while slightly offended, I think I'll get over it."

He smirked at me before commenting thoughtfully, "I'm not sure that's it."

"Don't you feel bad about killing innocent people?" I asked quietly, while I was curious I wasn't sure I could judge him for choosing his natural diet. Circle of life or something like that, right? Yup, I was way too tired.

"What makes you so sure he was innocent?"

"That's not an answer," I muttered, but I quickly recalled the events of the night. An honest, innocent, decent man would not have left a girl to fight his battle. He would not have run to save himself, but to help others. Or, at the very least, a good man would not have left me alone and instead would have tried to force me to run with him. Instead that man left me to a beast. It was just dumb luck that I knew said beast and managed to come out alive. I should be dead, and it would have been all his fault. What a jackass.

When he didn't elaborate I again realized how tired I was. I had only gotten about three hours of sleep the night before and it was already eleven. I needed sleep. But before I could make myself stand up, a question popped in to my mind that I couldn't leave until after I rested.

"Who killed all those people?"

Jasper froze, his eyes flashing with an emotion that I couldn't define. His voice was hard and rough as he answered me, "Someone is tryin' to build a newborn army."

An army? I would have to ask about that when I was less incoherent due to sleep deprivation, though somehow the idea felt familiar.

"Is that why you came— to stop them?"

A frown turned the corners of his lips and he honestly did not seem to have an answer to that. He ran his hand through his hair and let out a quiet sigh. "I'm not sure why we're here, Darlin'."

We?

"Did you just decide to take a little vacation to Seattle?" I questioned, not sure what he had meant by his response.

He seemed like he was about to explain something when suddenly he snapped his jaw shut and looked me in the eyes. "Not quite, but I'll explain that another time; I can see the circles under your eyes. You need to go to sleep." Well, I couldn't argue with that.

"Agreed," I said on a yawn while standing up, intent on making my way to my bedroom before I turned around. "When will I see you again?" I assumed that he would leave to continue his hunt as soon as I was out of sight.

"I'm gonna stay here tonight, Darlin'. I don't want anyone coming in here and tryin' to snack on ya while you're catching up on sleep." He said it with more authority than I had ever heard before and it left no room for disagreement. I just shrugged.

"Suit yourself."

After a nice hot shower I jumped in to some yoga pants and a ratty old shirt that was much too large for me. There was nothing more comfortable. I finally lay down, expecting to pass out as soon as my body made contact with the mattress but unfortunately, that did not happen. As soon as there were no more distractions my mind was left reeling with everything that had happened throughout the course of the day. I now knew who, or rather what, was behind the murders, I had run into Jasper, and I had gotten absolutely no information out of him— though that was mostly my fault for being so sleep deprived. On top of all that, there was a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, so faint that I almost couldn't decipher the sensation. A tugging, perhaps?

I started tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable before deciding that it was a lost cause and standing from my bed. Walking out to the living room, I found Jasper where I had left him except with a book in his hands— he must have borrowed one from my bookshelf. I retook my place on the couch as he looked up at me.

"Is it okay if I turn on the TV?" I asked, nodding to the book in his hands after retrieving the remote from the coffee table.

"It's your apartment, Darlin'. Couldn't sleep?"

I nodded my head and sighed as the television booted itself up. The news was on and I put the volume down as low as possible but so that I could still hear it. Not long afterward, I felt my eyes getting heavy and before I could force myself up and into my bedroom, darkness surrounded me. I felt my body slump slightly as all muscle control failed. My last thought was that there was nothing more comfortable than where I was laying and the tingling sensation on my cheek radiating off of whatever had become my makeshift pillow.

But I just wrote that off to the exhaustion.

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A/N: Review and tell me what you think? Again I only changed a few spelling mistakes, with the exception of Jasper's description of her smell.