Us ○ Jasper Hale 1

American Passtime

"You sure you wanna go by yourself?" I ask Edward as I pull my ponytail through the hole at the back of my baseball cap. He looks a little hesitant now and I chuckle. "Let's get going then." I sigh and wave everyone off, winking to my mate before jogging out of the house and into Edward's car. He slinks in with a sigh and looks over to me as he pulls away from the house.

"What?" I ask with a chuckle.

"You're control, it's.... not normal." He grumbles and I raise an eyebrow, snapping my fingers as a flame appears in the palm of my hand and I pass it from hand to hand like a ball. I need to learn how to be comfortable with this. If I don't then it could get out of control and hurt someone.

"That's freaky." He complains and I laugh, smushing the fire out between my hands.

"So are you!" I protest, "Jesus, are you nervous Edward?" I shoot to him, feeling more than slightly offended.

"Sorry." He mumbles and I will the fire into my palm again without snapping. "You're getting better at it." He compliments and I smile a little, slouching in the seat and resting my knees on the dashboard.

"I'm still afraid to make it any bigger, I'm afraid of losing control of it, especially around you all." I mumble and extinguish the flame. "It scares me." I could be the sole puppeteer to all of their demise. With a flick of the wrist, I could engulf them in flames and they won't be able to escape unless I have control of it.

"That won't happen." Edward tells me, looking over to me but I don't meet his eyes.

"You're not Alice." I reply, a sad smile on my face. Edward can read minds but he can't read the future.

The rest of the way to Bella's house is silent and after ten minutes, Edward's slowing to a stop. I jump out and follow him up to the door as Bella opens it.

"Hey, I didn't think anyone else was coming." Bella says, looking to me and I smirk.

"Every guy needs a wing am I right?" I ask, clapping him on the back, making Bella smile before she leads us over to her dad, Charlie Swan. Chief of Police.

"Hello Chief Swan, I would like to formally introduce myself, I'm Edward Cullen." He says and the whole time I couldn't take my eyes off of the gun on the table behind Mr. Swan.

"Hello Edward." He says.

"Dad, this is Xanthia." Bella says, still not sure if she could call me a friend.

"Oh, that's right, you were at the hospital." Chief Swan remembers and I smile kindly, shaking his hand.

"Yes Sir." I nod with a grin. "Bella's a really great friend." I add and he smiles, nodding. "Well, I'll get a head start. See you guys in the car. It was nice seeing you again Mr. Swan." I nod to them before walking out of the house, feeling the heat rushing through my body. "What's going on...?" I mumble. It feel like I'm getting the flu or something, but that's impossible. Vampires don't get sick.

"Ready to go?" Edward asks and I switch my thoughts to how I'm going to smoke him. "This is my first time playing with you guys. Hell yeah I'm ready." I reply quickly so Bella couldn't keep up with what I was saying. Edward chuckles before opening the back seat door for me. I slide in and he opens the door for Bella up front before we tear away from her house. I can't even gloat about how it's her turn to be the empire. I had always been the empire because up until recently, I couldn't keep up.

~

I zip over to Jasper, jumping onto his back with a giggle. He smirks to me and I rest my chin on his shoulder.