Fever burn (JASPER HALE X MALE OC)

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"Cowboy, how old are you?" Harvey asked, his face illuminated by the light of the moon. Jasper chuckled and shook his head endearingly. 

"Guess," he replied, smiling at the shorter boy. They were going on one of their many nightly drives and they had been asking each other questions back and forth.

"100?"

"Older."

"140."

"Close, but older."

"Holy crap you're an old man," Harvey said with his eyes wide, causing Jasper to laugh, it was deep and genuine. 

Beautiful.

"150?" Harvey asked.

"Older by a little bit, do you want a hint?"

"Yes please."

"I was born in 1844," Jasper said, waiting for Harvey's reaction. It took a few seconds for Harvey to do the math in his head. 

"YOU'RE 161!" Harvey yelled wide-eyed. "Wait, does that mean you fought in the civil war? Aren't you from Texas, did you fight for the confederacy?" Harvey asked, his throat slightly constricting. Jasper winced and rubbed the back of his neck.

"As much as I'm ashamed to say it, yes," Jasper said painfully. 

"Why?" Jasper was surprised Harvey wasn't screaming at him or anything. 

"My father sent me off to war, I became the youngest major in the Texas calvary. I didn't agree with what I was fighting for, but people made it seem like I didn't have a choice, I just did what I was told," Jasper said, anger in his voice. But he wasn't angry at Harvey, no, he was angry at himself for fighting for such a terrible cause. 

"Well that's not who you are anymore, so don't hate yourself for it," Harvey lectured, seeing the self-hatred in Jasper's eyes. 

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you get turned?" Harvey asked cautiously, not sure how Jasper would react. Jasper's jaw tensed and his eyes seemed to harden.

"You don't have to answer that, I'm sorry," Harvey apologized, internally panicking. 

"No it's fine," Jasper said, although Harvey didn't believe him. "I had just finished evacuating women and children from a town when I saw Maria." He spat her name as if it left venom in his mouth.

"She was incredibly beautiful, I walked up to her, and she saw I was a soldier. She turned me, the venom was excruciating. She used and manipulated me into training newborn vampires for her, I thought she loved me," Jasper said, noticing the negative feelings rolling off of Harvey, the most prominent being jealousy and hatred. 

"She had me kill the newborns when they got too old, she planned on killing me, but I escaped," Jasper said with distaste. 

"The newborns were strong and powerful, but I never lost a fight," Jasper said grinning. He rolled up his sleeves to reveal bite marks that scarred all the way past his forearms. Harvey gently took Jasper's arm that he wasn't steering with and pressed his lips to one of the scars. 

"If anyone ever hurts you again, I'll kill them," Harvey said, a dangerous gleam in his eye. 

"The only thing that could hurt me is way too strong for you to kill darlin'," Jasper informed with a small smile. 

"I don't care. Unless it's resistant to fire then I'll at least fuck it up," Harvey said, grabbing a lighter from his pocket and igniting it. The flame reflected in Harvey's eyes and Jasper chuckled. The flame went out and Harvey put the lighter back in his pocket.