Happy New Year all! Sorry for the delay in the next instalment. I took some family time during the holidays.

After cleaning up from being in the barn and riding horses most of the day, I made myself steak and baked potatoes for dinner. While eating, I watched Emmett and Jasper play chess while Rose and Char read books.

When I finished, I took my dishes into the kitchen to clean up. As I was looking out the window above the sink, Peter stood at the door to the barn across the yard and waved at me to come to him. Curious, I dried my hands and went out to meet him.

"Hey, what's up?"

He shook his head and placed his right index finger to his mouth and waved for me to follow him again. I raised my eyebrows but did as requested. We had been walking in the woods behind the barn for about ten minutes before he slowed and then sat on the ground, leaning against a tree.

"Take a seat, I don't want to tire you out."

"Okay, what is this about?" I sat near him, stretching my legs out that were still sore from riding earlier and then the walk.

He tapped his temple as he began speaking. "Something is coming. Something that is going to require you to make a big decision and fast. Because of that, you no longer have a luxury of 'growing feelings'."

My mouth dropped open and I scoffed. "Excuse me? What?"

He sighed. "Look, we all know you love the Major, even if you don't know it yet. I would have let this play out as it should, and Char is going to have my nuts for this. But we no longer have the luxury of time. We cannot wait for the human to become self aware."

I swallowed. "You think I love Jasper?"

He simply raised his eyebrows at me and waited.

I nodded. "I desire him. I don't know if it is love. I mean – I don't even know what love really is. Look at my one and only other relationship with Eddie-boy. I admit, I love to spend time with him, getting to know him, doing things with him, and experiencing new things, like learning to ride horses. I am not sure I can say that it is in fact full love."

"I am only going to say this once. And you should know by now I don't mince my words. Chickie, you seek him out any time you enter a room. You look to him to help make your decisions. You deeply care about his past and those that were a part of it. And I would safely bet my right arm that you spend the majority of your time lately thinking about him. Do you know why?"

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I kept my mouth shut.

"You two are mates. Even if the useless mind-reader did change you, the moment you became a vampire, you would have recognized the Major for what he is to you."

Shaking my head, I tried to deny it. "No, you must be wrong. There is no way that I am Jasper's mate. Fate would not do that to him, sticking him with useless trash like me."

A pinecone bounced off my forehead and I complained, rubbing the spot.

"Sorry – well, okay, I am not sorry. You are his mate. You are not useless. However, we no longer have time to let you come to realize this on your own. He knows, deep down, even if he hasn't said it yet. But you need to be prepared. Things are going to start changing fast."

Peter stood up and started to walk back out of the woods. I stumbled to my feet as I asked. "Wait, you have said a few times we are out of time. What do you know?"

He tapped his temple again. "Shit storm is a brewing, and a human cannot survive what is coming our way."

I stumbled and fell. Once I righted myself again, I looked up and Peter was still walking, far ahead of me. Racing to catch up to ask more questions, I did not get close until we were back in the yard, and he took off at vampire speed.

Screaming out my frustration, I kicked a stone at my feet. "AHHH! Stupid cryptic vampires."

Within only a few seconds, all vampires, except Peter, were standing on the porch, watching me. Jasper approached as I continued towards the house.

"What is wrong? I can't feel you right now, but I can tell something is wrong, darlin'."

"Fucking Peter."

Jasper pulled me into his arms, as he growled over my head towards the barn. "What did my Captain do?" His words were growled out between his clenched teeth.

"Easy Major. I just gave her an appropriately expanded warning that the rest of us don't generally need."

The cocky bastard sauntered his way towards us from the barn. Jasper dropped his arms from me in one second and a split moment later, he had Peter by the throat, lifted in the air. Peter did nothing to stop it, simply smirked.

"Jasper, he said something big is coming our way. I can't survive it."

Jasper's eyes turned to me; blackness deeper than the night sky met my own brown ones. An unearthly roar was torn from him as he threw Peter across the yard, taking out several trees before coming to a stop.

Rose and Emmett stood on either side of me. "We will do whatever it takes to protect her. Do not worry Jasper, we are here for both of you."

Peter yelled out from the woods as he cautiously made his way back. "I will let that one slide that the human couldn't remember what I said."

Jasper crouched ready to attack. Char ran and stood in front of him, arms up in a defensive manner, throat exposed, as she tried to reason with him. "Please Major. Your Captain never says or does something against you. Let him explain."

Her request was answered by a growl, but he didn't move to attack, simply kept his stance.

"Honey, damn well explain yourself now before you lose this chance." Charlotte ground out between her teeth, while trying to maintain a placating smile.

"I told her that a shit storm is a brewing, and a human cannot survive what is coming our way."

Everyone gasped, except Jasper, who simply growled but straightened up. "Captain. What is coming, when, and how much time before the final decision?"

"Volturi. My feeling, a week, perhaps 10 days tops. And that should answer your final cut-off. How much training time do you think we need?"

Jasper sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Turned towards me, he placed his hand on my cheek. "Isabella. What my idiot Captain was saying, is that we have trouble coming our way and the only way you survive is to become a vampire. I don't like the odds here, but I trust him. He just knows shit. Newborns can be very uncontrollable, and I doubt we will have sufficient time to help you control your shield. But you will be stronger than us all at that time."

My mouth was hanging open as I looked between him, Peter, and the others. "Oh. Sorry Peter. I misunderstood. If I need to be changed, then I would rather it happen today. That way I do not have a lot of time wasted. More time to practice afterwards."

Rose wrapped her arms around me. "I wish you weren't rushed into this. Think about everything you want to remember from your life during the change. It doesn't reduce the pain, but helps you remember more later. Some vampires lose their human memories through the change."

Emmett picked me up and swung me in a circle. "Well, guess my sis will be as strong as me soon. Looking forward to it."

"Hey, I was told I would be the strongest."

"Never." He smirked at me.

"Fine, I challenge you to an arm wrestle once I'm a newborn."

We shook hands on it, and I smiled.

Char and Peter both came towards us. "We are going to take off and get some 'food'. We will need to be scarce during the change. You may be the only one who can withstand her shield, Major. And Isabella, hurry up and join us. You will be our 'raison de la survie'."

Char gave me a hug and Peter did as well, kissing my cheek quickly before taking off with Char. Emmett and Rose both made their goodbyes and followed suit for an extended hunting trip.

Turning to Jasper, I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, puffing out my cheeks. "So, anything I should know before we do this?"

He closed his eyes and placed his hands on my shoulders. "Isabella, darlin'. Let's talk in the living room. You need to know what will happen and what to expect."

I nodded and followed him inside. Once we settled on the couch, me crossing my legs and sitting sideways, focusing on Jasper, he began.

"So, I know we haven't fully discussed what being a vampire means and I doubt that Edward gave any explanations either. Once you are changed, you will be in an unchanging state. That means your body will always try to repair you to the state in which you were changed at. If you lose an arm, it will try to reattach. If you are sliced open by a guardian or another vampire, your skin will heal back to what it was when you changed – sometimes with scarring, if foreign venom was introduced to the wound."

I nodded my head. Taking in all that he was saying. "So, that is why vampires cannot have children. Their bodies cannot change so a woman cannot possibly carry a child to term."

He nodded before continuing. "The change typically takes about 3 days and will be the most painful experience of your existence. You will scream, thrash, and beg to die. It will feel as if you are burning alive and it only gets worse until it is finally done, with your final heartbeat."

I swallowed. "Okay. Painful, but it is only 3 days and all of you each survived it. I will try to be brave. Has anyone ever – you know – not survived the change?"

"Once the change starts, it is hard to stop, so long as the heart keeps beating. But, yes, if the heart fails before the process finishes, then you simply experience an excruciating death instead of a change." I nodded and waved for him to continue. "It is not unusual to be overwhelmed as a newborn. You will be consumed by blood, thirst, and other primal desires. You will most likely be out of control."

Gasping, I asked, "What if I hurt one of you?"

He smiled and leaned forward, resting his forehead against mine. "Only you would be concerned about hurting us. Darlin' remember what I told you I did in the southern wars?" I nodded. He shook his head. "No, think. No matter how many newborns I made, I always managed to control them. It isn't going to be easy; it isn't going to be fun. In fact, it may be painful, and I am expecting you will likely add quite a few more scars to my body in the process."

"Scars?"

He raised his sleeves and I focused on his arms and hands. It took a bit, but I could just make out crescent bite marks all over his arms and hands. Mark similar to what I had on my one arm from James.

"Do they hurt?" I whispered as I traced one lightly with my fingertips.

"Not now. At the time, they burn like hell. But once they heal up, it is fine."

I looked up to his face, a tear running down my cheek. "I am so sorry you had to endure so much pain before. You appear to have hundreds of these scars."

He swallowed. "It's fine now. Don't shed a tear for me. That is no longer my life. And any I get from you, I will gladly and proudly take if it means your survival."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, me trying to control my emotions again and process what was said. Finally, the question I probably should have asked from the beginning. "How do you start the change? Is it like in the books and movies where I am bit on the neck or what?"

He nodded. "The more venom I push into the blood stream, the faster the change is. I have managed to get inject enough in the past to reduce the change by nearly 20 hours. You are right, it only takes one bite. But, if I bit you in all the key major artery areas, I have a better chance of speeding your change up."

"Um, when you say 'all' the major arteries. Do you mean on the inner thighs as well?"

He nodded. I blew out a breath as I took in that information.

After a few minutes, he spoke again. "So, is there anything you want to eat or do before the change?"

I glanced towards Jasper, taking in his appearance. Thinking over everything he said. Eating seemed like a delay tactic as I would not want food again and my final meal was already a good one. But I was concerned about one thing. I was a virgin and if our bodies stayed as they were when changed, I did not want to spend eternity as a 'virgin'. If my body is always trying to 'heal' itself to the original change form, I do not want to deal with that after sex all the time.

Right. Tell yourself that. You are just jumping for an excuse to act out your fantasy with him.

Shut up, me! Peter said we were mates. Perhaps we are?

Great. Now I was being sarcastic and argumentative with myself. I shook my head. Closing my eyes as my face heated, I bit my lip.

"What is it you are thinking that has you so embarrassed, darlin'?" His hand tucked my hair behind my ear and then his thumb pulled my lip out from between my teeth.

I opened my eyes and took a breath, steeling my nerves. "There is only one thing I want while still human."

"And what is that?"

I lost most of my voice and whispered out the one word that had my face and neck burning up.

"Sex."