Marianne Swan used to have a fascination with the fragile nature of mortality until it was her own life on the line. Marianne is not scared of much in this world, with one key exception: the name Edward Cullen. She reunites with her father - chief o...
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Something was off during the sleepover. Alice seemed to be in another world the majority of the evening. I found it useless to sleep in a house of vampires, who apparently were incapable of sleeping, so I spent the entire night awake even after Alice had 'sent me to bed'.
I am in one of the guest rooms when there is a knock on the door. I see the familiar lean build and honey blonde hair of Jasper, "You should be asleep, I heard it helps your body heal."
I shake my head, "I can't."
"Why?"
"Well come in; don't just stand in the hall like a weirdo," I sit up against the headrest. "For starters, it's hard to sleep in a house of people that physically can't sleep. And, two, I have a terrible feeling..."
"I can feel that," Jasper affirms, he's now sitting on the far edge of the guest bed.
"Well call me a damn psychic, but I feel like something bad is happening... to me," I clarify.
"You're friends with vampires," Jasper tried to ease the tension with his tone and his manipulative talent.
"No, like, I shouldn't have escaped death..." My voice is a whisper, I hope the others can't hear me.
"Have you seen anything?" A new tone takes over Jasper's voice, his eyes are noticeably darker.
I shake my head quickly, "No. I just worry. What if Edward-"
"Don't worry about Edward," Jasper's tone is still clipped. "I - as well as the rest of the family - wouldn't let him hurt you. It was a wrong place wrong time, he wouldn't intentionally harm you."
"Let's talk about something else," I dismiss his last statement.
"What do you want to talk about?"
"Last night. Tell me about why it's harder for you to be around humans."
"Are you sure you want to know? I've told you I have killed humans before..." Jasper frowns, avoiding eye contact.
My curiosity takes over, "I know, just start... start at the beginning."
Jasper stiffens and his eyes look back at my own, "My name was Jasper Whitlock. I was born in 1844 in Houston, Texas. I can't recall much of my human life, the transition, that pain causes the human memories to fade. And with time I can hardly recall any details of my life before the army."
"Army?"
"The Civil War. I have always been... charismatic. People, even in my human life, listened to what I said, I was able to enroll in the army before I was 17 years old-"
"You were a Confederate solider?!"
Jasper shrugged, "I've had time to reflect on my human life; decades of reliving US history classes. Even without them, I am not proud of that affiliation. I was enticed by the glory of war, and I quickly rose ranks becoming the youngest Major in Texas.
"I was 19 years old by then and that's when I met her... Maria. I was evacuating civilians back to Galveston when I encountered three women on foot. My ego was at it's peak, I immediately went to help what I thought were defenseless civilians. Maria, Nettie and Lucy were their names. I offered my assistance and that's when Maria approached, she was the leader, I let my guard down and she bit me.
"It is my sharpest human memory: the burning... About three days later I woke up in a barn. These vampires were nothing like the Cullens, there were raging wars in the Southern United States and Mexico over hunting territories. Maria chose me because of my military background, she made me her second in command.
"My battle strategies and planning were useful, but my talent, the ability to manipulate, was something of Maria's wildest dreams. She convinced me it was love, her words of affirmation, physical affection. She used it all to manipulate me to kill newborns, they were just pawns to her."
"Newborns?"
"New vampires, within the first few months of this new life is when we are in the least control. The thirst, newborns will do anything for blood. I had to kill the fledglings by the time they reached a year, they were no longer stronger than the rest of us, no use to Maria.
"Nettie and Lucy had gone off to start their own armies, but I could sense their true intentions. Convinced I should protect Maria, we set up a plan to kill them. It started to take a toll on me, the emotions in this environment were so low, fueled by anger, despair..."
"It's okay, Jas- Jazz. You don't have to-"
He gave me a tight smile, his eyes light again, "I'm okay, I promise. There was one newborn, Peter, that I became friendly with. I was able to convince Maria to keep him alive and he promptly left her army once he found his... his mate in a newborn lined up for execution, Charlotte. The two ran off, I allowed them to escape.
"That's when Maria changed. Her emotions were guarded, she feared me. I stayed with her for a few more decades - a tension building - I had hoped she might kill me. The emotions of the newborns, of my human victims... But in the 1930s, Peter returned to inform me of the lifestyle of vampires up North. There was less competition with high population densities especially in major cities so I left Maria - finally - to join Peter and Charlotte. But I could still feel my victims fear, pain... I was unhappy.
"I left the couple, we kept in contact, but I thought isolation might be beneficial. I hunted only when on the brink of starvation... we can't starve, but if we don't feed the bloodlust consumes our rational thinking and we become pure monsters. I ended up in Philadelphia, at a diner of all places, I was scouting for my next meal when I met her... Alice. She had seen me coming, of course, her golden eyes were unusual. She told me about her visions of Carlisle and his small coven. She told me that we didn't need to feed off of humans. She became my friend instantly, and for the first time in nearly a century I had felt hope."
"Wow," I tried to stifle my yawn. "Sorry, I'm not bored I-"
Jasper smiled at me, "I know, you're a good listener, thanks for humoring me."
I shook my head at him, covering another yawn, "No no, that was so interesting! Maybe Alice's visions aren't so bad, she essentially saved you from your own self torment."
"I suppose... I should let you sleep, I can feel your lethargy from here."
"Wait," I sit up, he hasn't left the edge of the bed yet.
He raises an eyebrow at me.
"Stay, I need my emotional support vampire to go to sleep."
Jasper rolled his golden eyes at me, "At your service." He moved to the center of the left side of the bed swinging his legs on top of the comforter.
Now that he was closer, I could see the faintest crescent scars illuminated by the low light, the scars littered the upper half of his body - the exposed parts of his arms, his neck, his jaw... "Jazz, what are those scars?"
"Vampire bites, from the army, venom is one of the only things that can damage our skin."
"Did they hurt?"
He gave a short nod, "I got used to the physical pain, at times I preferred it to the emotional pain."
"Jazz, that's awful," I frown.
"You're emotions are strange."
"Excuse me?"
"You're feeling sympathy for a vampire when just days ago another vampire tried to- anyway, go to sleep or I'll make you," He teased.
"Yeah bringing that up isn't going to help, send over that lethargy Mr. Hale, I don't want my dad seeing me later and thinking I joined the undead while in your family's custody."
"Goodnight, Mary," Was the last thing I heard Jasper say before succumbing to sleep.
