From The Snow (Jasper love story)

Chapter 2: Red Leather

Carlisle and the woman sat in his office as he treated her wounds. They stayed in silence, not knowing what to say to each other. The building was new but in Carlisle's office, the furniture was old. You could smell the faint whisky smell from the old wooden desk and the smell of rotten paper from the books.

" So you still call yourself Ashley then?" Carlisle asked her as he stitched up a large slice in her arm.

" Yeah." She whispered to him. Taking in a large breath, she prepared to speak in a way that she never really spoke before.

" Carlisle, I am sorry I caused the fighting, I guess I am just trying to have fun while I can." She whispered lowly. If Carlisle was human he would not have heard her quiet words. He finished up the stitched and placed the equipment into a dish. He looked at her with a funny look. He stepped in front of her and made her brown eyes find his. Carlisle's right eyebrow raised like a father's would when his daughter was hiding something from him.

" What do you mean by 'while I can'?" Carlisle asked her in a tone that said not to lie to him. Ashley looked at him and sighed heavily leaning back in her chair.

" Not now." She whispered only to have Carlisle sigh unnecessarily. Ashley leaned forward and began to cough into her hands. It soon past after five cough and she sighed heavily trying to compose her breathing. Carlisle took his seat across from Ashley of the old scent desk. He sat back in his leather chair and interlinks his finger in one another, propping his elbows of the arms of the chair.

" Now, the favor?" Carlisle asked her. Ashley nodded and shifted slightly.

" I need a place to stay for a while?" She asked him in a manner of it being more a question. Carlisle nodded know there was more to the story than she was saying. So he kept quiet in hope, that she would enlighten him. Which Ashley had taken notice of.

" You know that I worked for The Watchers right? The vampire hunters." She asked him just to make sure he knew that she was not a lone hunter. Carlisle nodded, remembering her mentioning it from their last meeting a few years ago.

" Well, they found out I let you and your family live. They tried to kill me and here I am now." She told him the shortened version of the story. Carlisle nodded and looked her the table, thinking over some things.

" So what you are saying is you came here to hid?" Ashley sighed at his deduction.

" No, now that they know you and your family is still alive and kicking. They will come after you again. I came here to both warn and protect you." Ashley admitted to him. Carlisle still was unable to comprehend her actions.

" Why would a vampire hunter, such as yourself whose name is feared by all vampires. Want to protect a vampire coven?" Carlisle asked her to quench his curiosity with her reasoning behind all of this. Ashley smiled a soft genuine smile as she looked to the ground.

" I have been given a chance to look at life in a new light." She explained to him as she sat back in the chair and pushed herself to her feet weakly. She walked over to the large window that stretched from the roof to the floor. She looked out and watched the snow fall gracefully to the ground.

"I want to make amends. My life has been only about killing and I only saw the bad in people. But things have changed. For once, I want to protect something. To have something to fight for other than myself." She whispered as she looked out over the horizon. Carlisle watched her in amazement. What could have have change the most skilled and feared vampire hunter known, to want to stop hunting? Something that they dedicate their entire beings and life into doing.

" I was given an eye opener. I was given a chance to do something good with my life." She whispered and closed her eyes.

" When I first meet you and your family, at first I did not believe vampire could live they way you all did. But you proved me wrong. It was then I started to doubt hunting all vampires. I decided to try telling others, spread around to everyone that not all vampire feed on humans and that there are some who choice not to feed on humans but live off of animals instead. That those vampires that were golden eyed were our friends. But hunters can be narrow minded." She whispered with shame coating every word. Carlisle watched her with both thanks and sorrowful looks. He was happy that she tried to reason with other vampire hunters and sorrowful because none would listen to her.