A Witch Thing

• 2 •

He nodded, "Yes, when I was human, I lived in Houston Texas. I was almost seventeen when I joined the Union Army in 1861. I lied to the recruiters and told them I was twenty. I was tall enough to get away with it. I was the youngest major in Texas, not even acknowledging my real age."

He rolled up his sleeves and she nodded, "I know. The battle scars. I saw them the night we..."

He smiled at her shyness on the topic, "Yes, I know." He kissed her forehead, moving over to put an arm around her waist.

She traced her fingers over the white, crescent shaped scars. He spoke, "All the training the Union Army gave me...was useless against the newborns. Still, I never lost a fight."

"I was headed back to Galveston and, just a mile outside the city, I found there women on foot. I assumed they were strangers and dismounted at once to offer my aid. But, when i could see their faces in the dim light of the moon, I was stunned into silence. They were, without question, the most beautiful women I had ever seen."

Elizabet looked down at her hands, a little jealous those words. He put a finger under her chin, lifting her head once again to look into her eyes, "Hey, I said were the most beautiful, not are." She smiled again and he continued.

"She made me a vampire, wanted me to lead her newborn army. The fighting was intense," he traced some of the scars on his skin, remembering the fights, "Many began to worry that the Volturi would return. Of the original twenty-three, I was the only on to survive the first eighteen months. We both won and lost. The two girls turned on Maria eventually - but that one we won.

"The idea of conquest was dying out; it was mostly vengeance and feuding now. So many had lost their partners, and that is something our kind does not forgive...

"Maria was smart, careful. And she had me. I was the second in command. My abilities served her well. I trained her newborns. An endless occupation since she never let them live beyond their first year.

"Decades later, I developed a friendship with a newborn who'd remained useful and survived his first three years. His name was Peter. I liked Peter, he was...civilized - I suppose that's the right word.

"It was our job to dispose of them when they outgrew their newborn strength. I could feel everything they felt. One night, we were about halfway through when he was starting to grow reluctant with the task. I was trying to decide whether I should send him away and finish myself while I finished. The newborn I summoned was a female, just past her year mark. Her name was Charlotte.

"He yelled for her to run, and he bolted after her. I could have pursued them, but I didn't. I felt...averse to destroying them.

"Maria was irritated with me for that..." Elizabet's hold on his hand tightened slightly at the idea of Jasper getting hurt.

"Five years later, Peter snuck back for me. He picked a good day to arrive. I thought what Maria and I had was love."

There was a pang of jealousy in Elizabet when she heard that last part. Jasper was quick to assure her, as always, "But I was her puppet. She pulled the strings. Her emotions when she was near me were beginning to change - there was fear...and malice. I was preparing myself to destroy my only ally, the core of my existence, when Peter returned.

"Peter told me about his new life with Charlotte, told me about options I'd never dreamed I had. In five years, they'd never had a fight. Though, they'd met many others in the north. Others who could coexist without the constant mayhem.

"I traveled with Peter and Charlotte for a few years, getting the feel of this new, more peaceful world. But the depression didn't fade. I didn't understand what was wrong with me, until Peter noticed that it was always worse after I'd hunted.

"In so many years of slaughter and carnage, I'd nearly lost all of my humanity. I was undeniably a nightmare, a-"

"Don't say it," Elizabet told him firmly. She didn't like when he referred to himself as a monster, no matter the situation.

He chuckled light-heartedly and continued, "Yet each time I found another human victim, I would feel a faint prick of remembrance for that other life. Watching their eyes widen in wonder at my beauty, I could see Maria and the others in my head, what they had looked like to me the last night I was Jasper Whitlock. It was stronger for me - this borrowed memory - than everything my prey was feeling. And I lived their emotions as I killed them.

You've experienced the way I can manipulate the emotions around myself, Elizabet, and you
realize how the feelings in a room affect me. I live every day in a climate of emotion. For the first century of my life, I lived in a world of bloodthirsty vengeance. Hate was my constant companion. It eased some when I left Maria, but I still had to feel the horror and fear of my prey.

"It began to be too much.

"The depression got worse, and I wandered away from Peter and Charlotte. Civilized as they were, they didn't feel the same aversion I was beginning to feel. They only wanted peace from the fight. I was so wearied by killing - killing anyone, even mere humans."

Elizabet saw a faint smile on his lips and the mood in the room changed, calmed as he said the next words. ""I was in Philadelphia. There was a storm, and I was out during the day - something I was not completely comfortable with yet. I knew standing in the rain would attract attention, so I ducked into a little half-empty diner. My eyes were dark enough that no one would notice them, though this meant I was thirsty, and that worried me a little.

"She was there - expecting me, naturally." He chuckled once, "She hopped down from the high stool at the counter as soon as I walked in and came directly toward me.

"It shocked me. I was not sure if she meant to attack. That's the only interpretation of her behavior my past had to offer. But she was smiling. And the emotions that were emanating from her were like nothing I'd ever felt before."

Jasper smiled down at her, "She held out her hand, and I took it without stopping to make sense of what I was doing. For the first time in almost a century, I felt hope."

The door opened suddenly, revealing Alice and Edward. She stood there with a smile, "I was just relieved, I though you would never show up."

She came over and Jasper asked, "We're you listening in?"

"Only the last part. I was coming to see what was taking her so long," she pointed to Elizabet, who laughed. Edward muttered, "She dragged me in here to see what was going on as well."

Jasper chuckled, pulling Elizabet closer into his side. Alice came over, sitting on the floor in front of them like a child being told a story. Edward leaned against the door frame.

Jasper continued, "Alice told me what she'd seen of Carlisle and his family. I could hardly believe that such an existence was possible. But Alice made me optimistic. So we went to find them."

"Scared the hell out of them, too," Edward said, rolling his eyes at Jasper before turning to Elizabet to
explain. "Emmett and I were away hunting. Jasper shows up, covered in battle scars, towing this little freak" - he nudged Alice playfully - "who greets them all by name, knows everything about them, and wants to know which room she can move into."

Alice and Jasper laughed in harmony, soprano and bass. "When I got home, all my things were in the garage," Edward continued.

Alice shrugged. "Your room had the best view."
They all laughed together now.

Elizabet, still laughing said, "Well, I'm glad you got Alice, then. Remind me to thank her later for making your life better. Bet she saw me coming, too."

Alice shook her head with a pout, "No, I can only sometimes see witches. I was so confused when you showed up with the nomads."

They laughed lighter at her childishness. "Do I still have to do a fitting?"

She nodded, "Yes! I'll take the long time, backstories get you mercy, but not excuses. Let's go!"

She snatched her arm and dragged Elizabet from the room. Elizabet held onto the door frame, holding on with all her might to keep from having to go to fitting. Alice groaned, "I'm going to rip you in half if you don't let go! Come on!"

Elizabet's fingers slipped and she was pulled from the room with no help from her future brother or future husband.