La Mort

[Alice Cullen]

Alice took a deep breath as she and Jasper ran across the Malvern Hills looking for prey. She caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of her eye, and she tossed him a comforting smile. The change had been hard on everyone, especially Jasper. Though, it wasn't just the move that had been stressing everyone out. True it was always a struggle to leave Forks behind, but they had done it before. They had left more abruptly than they ever had before, and they had left before finishing out their lives... Wherever they went, the younger they began the longer they could stay. Now they would have to wait to return until everyone had forgotten them... That was, at least, unless something or someone called them back to Forks someday soon. Alice sighed at the thought, remembering the look on Charlie's face when she had told him Bella and Edward were going abroad. She still kept tabs on him sometimes, peeking into his future and making sure that he'd be alright. In the first few weeks Bella had been too incoherent to really do anything that reminded her of home, so Alice had written emails to Charlie on her behalf. Alice knew how difficult it had been for Charlie to say goodbye to his only daughter after three years of living with her, but she also knew he loved the emails he had received. Alice had done her very best to make everything sound normal, so naturally he hadn't suspected a thing.

Alice took a deep breath, taking in the scents of the crisp air around them before breathing out. She always half-expected to see a warm puff of air leaving her body, but it never did. You'd think after over a hundred years of being a vampire she'd be used to not being warm. She smiled at herself for a moment before glancing back at Jasper. He was just as hungry as she was. It had been a long time since they had fed on anything substantial. At least Bella isn't in any danger now... Alice mused silently, remembering what had happened the last time her blood had been spilled in front of Jasper. He had nearly lost control of himself, and if the whole family hadn't been there he probably would have drained her completely. Even Alice had struggled with the smell of Bella's blood during her 18th birthday party... In fact, every time Alice had gotten a whiff of her delicious scent, it had been a struggle. Not so much as it had been for Edward, but it had been a long time since Alice had smelled anyone so tempting.

Being a vegetarian vampire was difficult for all of them, but for Alice it was also easier. With the ability to see the future, once someone had decided to kill a human she could see what would happen to their families. The funerals flashed before her eyes in broken and disjointed images, and at first she hadn't been able to make sense of it but when she did, the thought of killing a human was sickening. For Jasper it was just as difficult. He could feel their fear, but there were times when the thirst within him was too strong to overcome. That was precisely why Alice had never left his side while they were in Forks. She knew that without her there, he could have easily lost it... Every touch, every smile, every word had been a deliberate attempt to keep him sane... To keep him grounded in himself so that he didn't lose control and become the vicious killer he had once been. When they fought Victoria he had needed to become that person again -- and so had Alice. It had been almost chilling to see him like that... But she knew that no matter what, he was still her Jasper.

She glanced over to him, pausing at the top of one of the hills and peering down the mountainside. She took a deep breath, catching the scent of the animal that she already knew was nearby. "There's a large stag in the area..." Normally the Cullens preferred to feed on predators, but Alice was so achingly hungry. Her eyes were nearly black, and she knew it was the same for Jasper. They could easily hunt down the stag and then try to find something a little more fierce to take down. She smiled over at him with her usual mischievous smile, "Ready?" She asked in a sing-song voice before speeding down the hill, hot on the stag's trail.

[Jasper Hale]

The air smelled funny. It wasn’t bad, per say, but rather different then Jasper was used to. The scents for every area was different – even if the setting was similar. A forest should ideally always smell the same. There was trees, dirt, leaves, small woodland creatures beating with blood, and a predator and larger herbivore here and there. Mild human scents on trails that a few sometimes dared to follow – but were always too weak to make a difference. But England smelled funny. Maybe it was the sea in the distance that smelled funny, and that wafted into the leaves. Or maybe the people here just smelled off. Or maybe England just had a strange scent. He was aware that Texas had a different smell then Philadelphia where he met Alice, and definitely different then Washington…but this completely foreign scent was so far off that he couldn’t help be fascinated. What caused the smell to be so different? He was smelling the same exact things – just in a country where they said things like, “bloke,” “bloody hell,” and “wanker.”

Maybe it was the accents that smelled funny…

Pushing these thoughts aside, Jasper refocused on the hunt. It wasn’t like him to get distracted while hunting prey, but the last month or so hadn’t exactly been uniform. Since Bella had been bitten, he found himself in her charge…a lot. Being the resident expert on newborns, he couldn’t help but keep an eye on the girl and watch her progress. She was doing good – compared to a few newborns he had tired to train all those years ago. What entertained him most was that she was still ol’ Bella – just with blood red eyes, a thirst for blood that overwhelmed her thirst for Edward (which he found amusing, much to Edwards annoyance), and swinging emotions that even he had a hard time feeling and even controlling.

He felt bi-polar to be near the girl. One moment he was happy, and he’d add kindling to that fire, to make her body enjoy it – the next she was literally on top of him, demanding to be let out, because she smelled a human in the distance. Scary girl. It was common, but to know her as a strange human girl, then to see her like this…it bothered Jasper a little. Not as bad as Rosalie, who was livid with the entire thing, but just enough to make him frown when he pictured the difference.

The thing that bothered Jasper most about newborn Bella…was the thirst that he could feel from her. It was more then a want – it was an emotion. That need of human blood that every newborn experiences. It was intoxicating. Jasper, being the newest vegetarian out of all the Cullens, found this wearing on him. He was already not the most stable person around humans to begin with – but this was just eroding at what control he did have. It was like putting an empty liquor bottle in the hand of an alcoholic. Just…tempting.

With all the commotion that had consumed his life – night and day – he had little time to actually feed. Jasper and Alice had been busy trying to patch everything together – Alice with emailing Charlie and viewing the people in Forks future, to make sure that everyone was okay, Jasper with giving advice to Edward about how long Bella would be like this (since Carlisle was a bit busy trying to fit himself back into society as a Doctor), and overall just trying to get a feel for the area.

His eyes were now the color of a cloudy light-polluted night. His nearly black eyes scanned the forest before him, catching a supportive and warm smile from his Alice. He lightly smiled back, knowing that he would still be no better then Maria and her friends, without Alice on his arm. She controlled him. Though her power was to see the future, she had a protective barrier she managed to put around him somehow. Like magic. Without Alice, he’d be nothing.

Jasper couldn’t help but watching her graceful and small form race beside him, bringing the corners of his mouth.

"There's a large stag in the area..." Alice reported, "Ready?"

Jasper took a rather lengthy whiff of the air as if to confer, and froze. It was slight…but it was still there. Humans. He could feel their joyous emotion in the distance. Probably happy to be around each other and had no idea what predators lurked in these parts.

Holding as still as a statue, only his dark eyes moved over to Alice with a begging expression. Jasper stopped breathing. He couldn’t risk it. Not now. He really didn’t need this right now. No…

[Alice Cullen]

Bella's transformation had been harder on Jasper than it had been on any of the Cullens, and Alice was well-aware of this fact. Sure, Edward had done his fair share of sulking and worrying and grieving over the life she could have led, but Jasper was the one who could feel exactly what it was like to be Bella... Whenever he was around her, he could feel her thirst and her rage and her desire. It worried Alice to have him be around her so much, but at the same time he was the best person for the job. He was the only one who could completely soothe her emotions.. He was the only one who could pull out her thirst and replace it with something else, even if it was only for a moment. Edward could comfort Bella as only a lover could, but Jasper was the one who could get rid of her thirst. Unfortunately, this left him clearly struggling with his own lust for human blood. Alice didn't know if the other Cullens could see it, but she could.. She could see how difficult it was for him to be around Bella, and she could see exactly what it was doing to his state of mind. Recently, she had been trying to keep him away from Bella. She had been looking for excuses for him to not be in charge of her - often she told Jasper that Edward was the only one who could pull out Bella's old self. Still, Alice could see Jasper felt like he needed to be there for her, just like all the Cullens did.

She paused to look at him as he took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of the stag. He looked ravenous, but then so did she. Her dark eyes stood out like black holes on her porcelain skin. She was lusting for blood just as much as he was, but only the color of her eyes betrayed the strength of her desire. It seemed like forever since Alice had last been out on the hunt... Probably the last time she had been able to coax Jasper out of the castle and into civilization. Alice often wondered what this change of scenery was like for Jasper. To her knowledge, he had never left the americas, and europe was a whole nother type of beast. Everything was different here. The sights, the smells, the people... Even the ground felt different beneath her feet. She smiled slightly, wondering what kind of looks they would have gotten from the locals if Jasper still spoke with that southern drawl he had had when they first met in Philadelphia... She found it perfectly charming, even though over the years it had died down significantly, just as all of their accents had. Nowadays they all spoke with the same nondescript accent that didn't betray their origins to anyone.

Alice was off and running, a complete blur and completely unaware of the inner struggle Jasper was going through. Unlike him, her senses were completely focused on the stag. She knew there were people hiking around in the area, but she hadn't really given it much thought. A few glimmers of visions had flickered through her mind briefly, telling her that the humans were in the area, but she hadn't gotten any visions about their affect on Jasper, because he hadn't made a decision about what would happen next... As she ran across the hills and through the trees, she came to a sudden halt, glancing back at Jasper. He was still standing there at the top of the hill still as a statue. Her shapely eyebrows furrowed slightly as she saw him, wondering what was going through his head. Her sharp eyes were locked on his face as he turned to look at her. He wasn't breathing. Alice's dark eyes widened slightly as she caught sight of the pleading look on his face.. A vision drifted hazily across her mind... The humans were coming closer. She could see them... They were a pair of humans, a man and a woman.. Most likely a couple. The man was helping the woman over a large fallen tree. With every step they came closer to the vampires. Fill feared Alice's eyes as the vision passed, and she could see Jasper clearly again as he stood atop the hill looking at her.

Jasper still hadn't made any decisions, so his future was unknown to Alice as she stood a good distance away from him, but she knew it was the scent of the humans that was filling him with pain. "Jasper," Alice murmured, knowing that he could hear her even from this distance. She took a step forward to him, knowing that she had to get him away from this place. They had to go somewhere more remote, and Alice's mind raced as she tried to think of alternatives, but none came to mind. She took another hesitant and dainty step before she began running towards him. While no decision had yet been made, if he took off running after the humans, she'd never be able to catch up with him at this distance.

[Jasper Hale]

It had taken a lot of work to get Jasper to the point where he could even go into public with other humans. Jasper was a willing student to the ways of the Cullen Clan – but it didn’t make it much easier. He could always feel them being uneasy about him being around humans – even now. Though it was a subtle feeling that he could only feel because he was used to sensing them, it still bothered him. Didn’t they trust him? He was fully capable! Sure – he still felt that fire in the back of his throat when he smelled that sweet nectar that humans required for life…but didn’t they all? Jasper was aware that his bloodlust was a little stronger then most – for all human blood smelled alluring and mouthwatering – while the others could smell differences. When Isabella – or rather ‘Bella’ as she preferred – had been a human, he had been able to separate the smell of her blood from others. It didn’t help the temptation, but mixed with her general aroma, he could almost pick her out from a huge group of humans. Almost, anyway. Smelling as much blood as he had during his life had almost desensitized him from the subtleties of the crimson gold. Blood was blood. Blood was good. And as of recently – human blood was bad, animal blood was good…though his taste buds did not agree.

As the smell of the humans with the quick beating hearts wafted under his nose, however, he could feel those years of training and work slowly work themselves away from him. Like sand being blow away. But he couldn’t betray those whom he had grown fond of! He just…couldn’t. The constant reminders of that need for human blood from Bella wasn’t exactly helping the matter either. Memories of her uncontrollable emotions worked their way into his system. Though Jasper could not control his emotions like he could control others – he could he could still feel them – and thus others emotions were his own. Even when he covered and altered another’s emotion with his odd power, he could always feel the original one underlying underneath. A rather annoying side-effect.

“Jasper…”

His black eyes reflected Alice’s face, as he stared at her – pleading for her to save him. She was the only one who truly knew him. The other Cullens – all turned by either Carlisle or Edward…mostly Carlisle – he was all quite fond of…but it had been Alice who brought them there in the first place. The strange, little vampire who changed his life…

Jasper’s trust in his control was gone. He didn’t dare to breathe. He didn’t dare to move. He didn’t dare to look away from Alice. If he could just concentrate until they left…

“Oh bloody hell! I’m such a klutz!”

Jasper’s jaw tightened, as his eyes darted to the source of the sound. The hikers he could now clearly see – the woman had tripped and scraped her palms – the man helping her up. A hard breeze hit his face, forcing the sent down his nose. He closed his eyes, turning away from them.
“Oh let’s get the dirt out…oh I hate when dirt clots the wound…”

ARE YOU SERIOUS? his mind screamed, as another wave of wind smacked his face.

Warm…delicious…human…blood. And one of them was injured. As easy kill. And it was no one important – just a few random humans in the middle of the forest…

And he was gone.

Before another conscious thought could slow his pace, he was already sensing their fear just as he pounced on them. But he didn’t care. He needed what that bothersome skin was covering. That…source of life for both he and the humans…though they used it in very different ways.

His mindset was back in Monterrey. Humans were nothing. Just kill them and use them for their highest purpose – to feed vampires. With practiced movements, both were down and he was feeding.

So much for control.

[Alice Cullen]

Jasper was clearly struggling, and Alice felt completely useless. She wished she could wash away his pain, just as he had washed hers away so many times in the past. His pleading expression filled her heart with sorrow, both because of his inner struggle, and because he struggled at all. It was true that they all thirsted for blood, but they all were able to control themselves in a way that Jasper couldn't. Alice suspected it was because of his violent past. He had been surrounded by so much blood for so many years, his body was simply accustomed to it even before he had ever become a vampire. Blood was blood. Spilling human blood had been his business as a soldier, so for him it wasn't.. well.. bad. Alice remembered that he had been driven away from his newborn army after he had been ordered to kill the newborns he had helped train, but Alice knew it couldn't just be about the killing.. It was because they had been comrades. They had fought side by side in an army, just like Jasper had fought alongside scores of men as a human. Armies were supposed to be loyal to each other, and Alice had always suspected that was the main reason Jasper had refused to kill them, not because he felt killing was wrong. Of course, she had never outright asked him why he had left his army, and all of her theories could have been wrong, but she knew Jasper better than anyone, and so she knew that regardless of the fact that he wanted to feed off of animals he sometimes came dangerously close to slipping up.

Alice glanced over to where the humans were emerging. Jasper was doing his very best, but Alice could feel that something was going to happen... The stupid woman was going to trip. Alice mentally swore as the woman fell, fulfilling her first premonition. Her eyes glanced back at Jasper, and she could see how visibly pained he looked. It was worse than the look that had been stretched across his face when they had been in school at Forks High, trying to interact with the humans. Alice's nostrils quivered as she caught the scent of human blood, praying that Jasper wasn't breathing. She had to get to him. Alice was running towards him now, but she suddenly came to a halt, nearly toppling over, as though she had been kicked in the stomach. Visions were suddenly blasting in front of her, filling her mind and rendering her momentarily catatonic. Jasper was going to kill them. No -- he was going to obliterate them. She could see it all so clearly now, and she mentally cursed herself for letting Jasper come this close to humans, even though she knew his current state of mind. A moment of lack of judgment was going to cost those humans their lives, and it was all Alice's fault.

The visions didn't cease, and Alice could barely see him as her sight was completely overwhelmed by premonitions. Images flew in front of her one after another.. Images of him crouched over bloody and broken humans.. Images of him sinking his teeth into them and drinking until he was satisfied. She had to stop him, but she was still a good distance away from him. He was faster than her - and if he started running for the humans now she'd never catch up in time. "Jasper!" She called in a wavering tone, as her sight cleared and she was able to run again, racing towards him so quickly that she was like a bullet sailing through the air. She could see he was running -- but she had to try to stop him. She would be too late, but she had to try. She wouldn't catch up before he reached them but just maybe she'd be able to wrestle him off of the poor stupid humans... "Jasper!" Alice called again as he pounced upon them, sinking his teeth into both of them like a ravenous animal.

Alice threw herself onto Jasper's back, trying to wrestle him away from them, hoping that maybe the humans would take the opportunity to free themselves and run, but it was to no avail. "JASPER NO!" Alice shouted, wrapping her arms around him and trying to heave him off of the body of the woman, whose life was already fading. Alice was in such a panic she was almost unaware of the human blood spilling across the ground, but she still kept herself from breathing. After years and years of not tasting human blood Jasper had lost it. He had broken his promises to Carlisle and the others. Carlisle had no tolerance for feasting on humans, even if it was accidental. Would Jasper be cast out of the Cullen family for this slip-up? Alice dug her fingers into his shoulders and tugged again, trying to throw him off, but it was like trying to move a mountain. Alice's eyes caught the look of the man who was struggling and wailing as blood seeped through his clothing. Jasper had broken both of them before starting to feed... He was still the methodical killer he always had been.

She couldn't stop him from killing them - it was already too late. The light had left the man's eyes and he was now nothing but a corpse.. A vessel of blood for Jasper to feed on. Alice bit down onto Jasper's shoulder, hoping to startle him out of his feeding in time before he emptied both of them completely of their blood. It was too late to save them, but if Jasper kept feeding it would be too late to save him too.

[Jasper Hale]

The world swam. The control which he once possessed faded away, pushing his instincts past his actions. Somewhere in his head, he knew there was a voice screaming for him to stop – how he was betraying everyone, and practically removing himself from his family. The one thing they never did…and he just broke it. That voice was nothing but an addition to the sound of the wind whipping past his ears – as another familiar voice attempted to penetrate his mind. He knew that voice. Who was it? Were they calling his name? What did they want? He was busy.

The voice continued through his disabling of both humans – growing more and more frantic, as the weak humans feel to the ground around him. HE didn’t want to lose either one of them to running away and just wasting their blood on the ground – so disabling was a must.

His senses were heightened, yet muted. All he could hear, feel, and see was the kill before him. It was all he wanted. The feel and taste of that hot liquid down his throat – the thrill of making the kill…it all raced through him. If his heart still functioned, it would be pounding with delight.

His teeth sunk into the woman’s flesh, starting his true feeding. Before was just the ‘foreplay’ – the dance before the kill. Even though he enjoyed that part, it was the feeding – the real reward – that made it all worth while. Something pulled on his shoulder, causing him to compensate by leaning further over his prey. The woman cried a gurgle moan beneath his hands – his senses being filled with what she was feeling. The pain. The fear. The horror. The pure agony. The love for her love that lay a few feet away. She was dying and still in love with him.

Then a sharp pain jolted him, causing his automatic reaction of whipping around and hissing at the perpetrator.

Alice.

The look on her face snapped it all out of him. The desire to feed. The bloodlust. The fun of the kill. It all faded away, just like his control had only a few moments ago. His defensive stance softened, Jasper’s face falling into shock. His eyes glanced over at the two mangled bodies before him – both long gone. They no longer felt anything. Because of him.

Clenching his jaw, he looked back to Alice, terrified.
What have I done?

Not daring to breath, he closed his eyes, for a moment – as the realization enveloped him. Everything he had worked for – gone. Years and years of struggle were simply thrown out the window with one mistake. One very big mistake. He had killed two humans. Not one – two. In this, he betrayed Carlisle, who had given him the freedom from human blood. He had betrayed his ‘twin sister’ Rosalie, who had never had a single taste of human blood. He had betrayed Edward, who had only killed the criminals of the human world – and he been strong enough to suck the venom out of Bella nearly twice, without killing her. He had betrayed Emmett – who always joked about his inability to be around humans. He betrayed Esme who loved him like a son. And most of all – he betrayed the one person who cared for him most; Alice. His Alice. Without her he would be…what he had just become.

Opening his eyes, he looked over at the humans again, too sickened to feel the desire to feed…though the fire did still burn in the back of his throat. Their spilt blood soaked into the dirt, giving odd halos of dark red earth around their bodies.

It was an odd sensation, being both repulsed and enticed by the same image. The blood in his mouth was still being washed down by the venom that had long since replaced his saliva, and forced him to relive drinking the woman’s blood. He felt so out of control yet shaken.

“I can’t believe I just…” he couldn’t finish the statement, the words tasting both bitter and delicious in his mouth.

[Alice Cullen]

Even as the life left the humans, Alice struggled with Jasper. She knew it was impossible to save them, but she was more worried about him. She knew that once the lust had waned and once he returned to himself, he would be filled with horror at what he had just done. When had he last even fed on a human...? Alice couldn't remember. They had all been tempted to plenty of times, but had any of them actually fed on one after joining the Cullen family..? Alice's mind was swirling with fear and uncertainty. Everything was still up in the air, and any visions that she was receiving now were completely unwritten. They were simply images of what might happen now that Jasper had fed on not one but two humans. What would Carlisle do? Would he kick Jasper out for breaking the rules...? The closest any of them had ever come to taking human life had been at Bella's birthday when Jasper had lost control, but they had all been there to stop him Jasper Alice thought forlornly, as the memory of that night filled her thoughts. That night had set everything in motion for the Cullens... And for Bella. They had realized it was simply too dangerous to have Jasper around humans, but Alice had done it again. She had brought him too close to humans, and he had lost control. She had completely and royally messed up. If she had brought Jasper somewhere else to hunt, or even if she hadn't run off after the stag so easily, none of this might have happened. Hell, she was better off bringing a live animal to him.... But half of the reason she had asked him to come hunt with her had been to get him out of the house... to get him away from Bella's wild desires.

When Alice bit down onto Jasper's shoulder, he seemed to be jolted back to reality. He whipped around and she slipped off of his back, dancing a few steps back in case he tried to attack her in his bloodlust. Her heart filled with pain as she saw him, ignoring the hiss that flew through his parted lips. His eyes.. The black was already being filled with a glint of red. They weren't quite as red as a vampire that fed entirely on humans, but the tinge of human blood was there, obvious for all to see. Upon Alice's face was written all of her sorrow and pain. Looking into those eyes was like looking back into the past... Back at the Jasper she had first met. Back then he had been blood-crazy, sure, but he had also been ready for change... Otherwise she never could have foreseen herself meeting him and taking him to the Cullens. Alice opened her mouth to speak his name but found herself unable to. It was haunting to see him like this again, especially knowing just how terribly he would feel once he realized what he had done.

The moment he saw her face, he seemed to have realized it... His face, that had once been contorted with his lust for blood, changed reflect his terror at what he had just done. Alice watched silently as he glanced back at the mangled bodies. He returned his gaze to hers, clearly shaken. Alice was beside him in seconds, placing one hand on his arm and the other on his neck as he closed his eyes. What could she possibly do to comfort him...? There was nothing anyone could do right now.. Alice knew just how traumatized she would be if she fed from a human, and for Jasper it was almost worse. He was forced to feel what they felt.. Not to mention what would happen once Carlisle found out. Alice wasn't sure what to do in this situation... Should she go to Carlisle first? It would be obvious to all of them that Jasper had fed on humans, so what were they supposed to do now? Alice's eyes glanced over to the bodies of the man and the woman. They were from the city, out on a holiday in the country. Alice could see the worry in the faces of their families... Why had Molly and James been gone so long? Had something happened...? What? They hadn't ever returned from the hike? Alice felt dizzy as she saw the frantic families.. The search parties... They had to get rid of the bodies.

Alice stared at the corpses for a moment, still not daring to take a breath. The very sight of the blood was enough to fill her with the same lust that Jasper had felt, but she had more self control than he did. Still, she quivered slightly at the thought of it, aching silently for the taste of human blood. “I can’t believe I just…” "Shh," Alice shushed in a soothing tone, pulling Jasper to face her "It will be okay." She spoke with fake certainty, as she was prone to doing sometimes. "We... We have to get rid of them." She looked around him, back at the bodies on the ground. "If we bury them the search parties will find them." There was no way these wounds would pass off for an animal attack. The pair had been broken so deliberately before being mauled, the crime would definitely be treated as a homicide. She had to burn the remains. She sent Jasper a worried look for a moment, reluctant to let go of him before leaving his side and grabbing a number of sticks. Starting a fire with two pieces of wood was never too much trouble for a vampire. Alice rubbed the sticks together with such speed that the friction caught them on fire in no time, and a small stream of smoke began to rise from the sticks.

Soon Alice had manage to work up a small flame began traveling along the length of the wood before she knelt down beside the man. His blood soaked clothing wouldn't catch fire easily, but it would still burn. She held the fire to the hair atop his head - which burned easily , before placing it against a dryer spot of clothing so that too could be set aflame. She then moved to the girl, doing just what she had done to the man. After a moment of surveying the small flames licking at the bodies, Alice dashed to a tree and snapped off some branches before dashing back, scarcely having been gone for a second. She held them to the small flames, allowing them to catch fire before placing them on top of the bodies. The search parties would find the scorched ground, but no bodies.

Alice looked back at Jasper for the first time since she started destroying the remains. The sight of the red glint to his eyes was almost sickening... It was like seeing a Jasper she hadn't seen for a very long time. She moved noiselessly to stand beside him, reaching out to hold his hand to attempt to show him some form of comfort.

[Jasper Hale]

Who were they? Were they engaged? Married? Friends with benefits? Just dating? Who were their friends, family, and other loved ones who he had just destroyed as well? How could he let this happen? It was against everything he stood for now – everything he had become. He was no longer Jasper Hale – but that Jasper Whitlock that had been born when Maria bit him while he walked down the street at night. But there was a difference – he actually cared now. Instead of dismissing the pain as a simple side-effect he had to just used to, it gouged itself deeper into him, everything reality smacked him across the face again.

In a sense, he was doing it to himself.

The sudden weight on his neck and arm relaxed him a little. Alice was such a forgiving and amazing soul – if vampires had souls – who could cheer him up better then if he stood near a happy person. Her acceptance released a little of the weight from his chest – but not much. After she shushed him from admitting what he had done, Alice spoke for the first time since he was back to being himself.

"It will be okay," she promised, "We... We have to get rid of them."

Jasper nodded in agreement, his mind racing with how. Well – first off – they couldn’t burry them, because someone might find them, and those wounds would not come off as animal.
"If we bury them the search parties will find them."
Almost a smile relaxed his face slightly, as Alice read his mind better the Edward could.

With vampire speed, she took off, setting up a fire around the male, using friction with two sticks to start the flame, before spreading the flame around to consume them both. The vampire turned to watch her actions, his focus changing to the flames as soon as they licked the victims’ flesh. The hypnotic movements of the flame were broken n on Jasper was broken by Alice returning to his side. His posture became less rigid as her hand found his. Automatically he gave it an extra squeeze, feeling reassured by her actions.

“Thank you,” he honestly thanked, before turning his gaze back to the fire.
“And I’m sorry,” he sighed, careful not to inhale.

He paused, as the sounds of the crackling fire echoed around them, as thoughts intricately wove themselves around his mind. Feeling Alice’s anxiety, worry, and sadness, he pushed a warm and relaxed emotion around her, wanting to protect her from the moment.

“Do you think they’ll let me come back?” he asked, leaning some of his weight on her, so they could be closer.