kellyn_chexmix

He found a visionary girl broken, abandoned and locked away in an asylum in the 1920s and gave her new life through a single forgotten bite: The Beginning of Alice
imagined from stephenie meyer's twilight saga and written by: kellyn

“And I listen for the whisper of your sweet insanity
While I formulate denials of your affect on me” –A Perfect Circle, “A Stranger”


The darkness presses in on me from all sides, silencing all sound, blinding all sight. Sometimes, I don’t know how often because I can’t tell day from night or night from day, the door to this room—my cell—opens, and two men dressed in white lead me down a long hall to another room. The brightness outside of my black prison burns my eyes, forcing me to squeeze them tightly shut. The men strap me down on a hard table, securing my legs, my waist and my arms before shoving a flat object into my mouth to bite, and then stinging pains rip through my body, coursing through my veins. I shrieked in pain during the first few times, but no longer; I’m insensible to all pain and feeling now. Numb. I don’t even fight against the man who comes to my cell, a leer on his coarse face, and touches me. At first, I clawed at his hairy, sweaty arms and kicked him, thrashing and screaming when he pinned me to the bed and forced himself on me. But no longer. There’s nothing left in me to fight.

The two men thrust me back into my cell and slam the door, the metal crash echoing throughout. I curl into a ball on the chilly concrete floor, staring vacantly into the surrounding darkness which hides everything.

Lately the door opens more often, but not to move me to the bright room or to admit the man; in fact, the man hasn’t come to abuse me in a long time, not since a stranger has been coming to my cell and sitting with me in the darkness. He picks me up from the floor and sets me on my bed, cradling me against his hard, cold chest as he carries me. He runs his icy fingers through my chopped hair and along my face. Though I never speak or respond to his presence, he always comes back and stays with me. It’s easier to breathe when he’s next to me.

My cell door opens again and, somehow, I know it’s my visitor. He walks over to me on the floor and bends down, lifting me up. As the white light on the other side of the door stabs at my eyes, I squeeze my shielding eyelids shut. I feel the wind whipping my face and tousling my shorn locks. Abruptly it is dark again, but this blackness is lighter, not as heavy or smothering. Opening my eyes, I find myself outside the realm of my prison. I’m in the middle of a field, still in his arms. Nearby, I can distinguish the line of trees fencing in the forest; the world is bathed in the soft light of the full moon hanging above in the sky.

My mind scrambles to understand what it cannot know, the world it hasn’t seen in so long. I look at my companion’s face for the first time though he’s visited me countless times before; he has become my only savior, keeping away the demons. His skin is pale, the color of the moon, and cold, very cold. But his face is breathtakingly beautiful. Dark curls frame his face, falling onto his forehead and around his ears and neck. I stare at him in confused wonder. He places me on the damp ground; it feels strange beneath my fingers—soft—so unlike the floor of my cell. He sits down next to me and runs his hand over my head, as he usually does in the unseeing confines of my room. My eyes wheel up from the ground and stop at his gaze. His eyes are black and glittering in the moonlight, they pierce straight into my soul.

“Alice?”

The word sounds vaguely familiar, though I don’t understand its meaning. It stirs something within me, some reaction, but I’m not sure of a response. I look back down at the soft, wet hairs of the ground entwined in my fingers.

“Grass. It’s pretty, isn’t it?” his musical voice floats over to me in the night.

I stroke it, pondering its texture. It, too, is familiar. I stand up, swaying on my unsteady legs. He is at my side in an instant, his hands grabbing my waist to stop me from falling as soon as my balance wavers. I walk towards the forest with my hands held out in front of me. I’m surprised when he watches me stumble away and doesn’t follow. A breeze blows softly behind me, ruffling my clothing and propelling me forward. Abruptly, the trees in front of my vision disappear, melting into well-known blackness. In their place appears another pale, beautiful face. He stands in the doorway to my cell, his eyes a fiery, demonic red as he crouches in front of me, a smile on his lips, coiled to spring. He leaps at me like a lion and I feel his teeth tear the skin of my throat.

I collapse on the cool ground, screaming, my fingers clawing at tufts of my hair. Icy hands are on either side of my face before the first scream rips through the still night air. He pulls me to his marble chest, rocking me back and forth. He stops suddenly, his muscles tensed and his eyes riveted to the forest. I feel and hear a growl rumble in his chest. I’m torn from the grass and the wind whips past me, again. The bright lights of the area outside of my cell cut my eyes for a second and then I am alone on the floor of my black prison, locked away, again…

I don’t know how much time passes after my brief excursion to the world outside this place. I’m not sure if my eyes are open or closed. It’s all the same. Suddenly, out of the darkness, bloom the trees of the forest and the pale face of my friend. His white, cold hand wraps around my frail wrist and he brings the inside of my forearm to his face. Where his lips touch my ivory skin a fire explodes, coursing up my arm and spreading throughout my body. I sink to the ground, the trees swaying above me.

Still lying on the floor, I pull my legs to my chest and hug them tightly…

I realize the door to my cell is opening when a light slices through the darkness of my prison. Icy hands shred something thin and wide encircling my wrist and lift me from the floor and, as before, we’re outside and away from everything but the trees in a matter of heartbeats. He races through the forest, carrying me in his arms.

His dark eyes look down at me while I stare at the surroundings streaking past. “I’m taking you away from here, Alice. Someone’s coming for you. One of my kind. Don’t worry, I’ll make you safe. You’ll have a new life and we’ll be together.”

I watch the wilderness flying past as he runs, I don’t understand his words. I reach a hand up and touch the waves of his dark hair falling in his eyes. He stops and I recognize the clearing within the forest depths. I’d seen it in my cell. He sets me on my feet in front of him, his hands resting on my shoulders. I gaze at him in wonder, knowing what is about to happen. The trees dance and bend in ritual.

His cool fingers twist around my wrist. He holds my gaze within his own before raising my arm to his face. My eyes widen, but no sound escapes me, as his teeth penetrate the skin of my arm and the burning sears through my veins. I remain unfeeling, insensible to all pain, only distantly aware of the burning spreading through my body. He lowers me gently to the ground at the base of a tree and cups my face with his hand.

“I’m sorry, Alice. I had to keep you safe. It was the only way. Alice,” he whispers in his velvety voice, pressing his icy lips to my warm forehead.

An enraged growling rips the forest in two and he wheels around, crouching in front of me, hissing. A figure emerges from the trees, snarling, his teeth glinting like pearls. I hear a deafening noise, a crash, and more growling before the fire takes over completely and I am lost…




I awoke, new born. I knew I hadn’t been asleep, only unaware, lost in some sort of state between conscious and unconscious...but for how long? I could hear the birds singing, each individual bird’s song, its different tones, notes and rhythms, and their feet scratching on the tree limbs. I could hear a twig snapping under a deer’s tread. I could hear the deer breathing, its pulse throbbing in its neck, and my nose picked up its scent drifting in the air. It was a few hundred yards away, near a stream. A scorching thirst inflamed my throat and an unfamiliar yearning pulled deep in my stomach. Where was I? I opened my eyes and squinted in the daylight filtering through the trees. I was in some sort of clearing in a forest. A burned area of ground was a few feet away, had something been on fire? I was amazed at how clearly I could see everything, every single particle floating in the air. I stared at a leaf hanging from the branch above me. I could distinguish every vein under its green skin. I noticed the sun shining on my leg and gasped. The skin there shimmered like a rainbow. Entranced, I found myself moving into the sunlight to admire the facets of my skin more closely. I felt the dry ache in my throat, again. I was thirsty for something. Something warm. I began walking through the forest, confused, letting only my instincts pull me along.

A breeze caressed the forest, stirring the air around me and shaking the leaves on the trees. Suddenly, my muscles tensed and my lips pulled back from my teeth. I broke into a run, following this scent that flooded my mouth with liquid…with venom. Before I could process what was happening, I’d discovered the source of the delicious, mouthwatering scent—a man hiking. He stared at me, bewildered and frozen in place. His expression quickly turned to horror as my muscles coiled, my mouth dripping with venom and my teeth bared. I sprang at him, eagerly crushing his throat to my teeth. He didn’t fight me. The flow of blood was warm and soothed the scorching thirst. His body became pale white and stiff in my grasp as I greedily drained the blood from his veins. The blood gone, I let him drop to the ground, staring at the lifeless form.

I shrank from it in horror. What was I? I collapsed at the bottom of a fat, ancient oak, my face in my hands. I had just killed, killed someone like a monster. Staring at the corpse lying a few feet from me on the ground, I wrapped my dirt-encrusted hands around my legs, rocking back and forth. The movement felt strangely familiar and calmed me enough to think. Where had I come from? I didn’t know. I glanced down at what I was wearing for clues. A baggy, white knee-length gown hung from my tiny frame, my feet were bare. I concentrated as hard as I could, but all I remembered was darkness, suffocating and heavy darkness. My name? I could hear a voice saying “Alice” in the emptiness of my memories. My name was Alice. There was another noise after the voice, a sharp, ripping sound. I shuddered.

What was going to become of me? As I thought about my future, what to do next, the view of the forest melted away and in its place I saw myself in a diner somewhere, waiting for someone. He walks through the door and I feel safe, whole. He’s tall and blond, and he’s like me. The image fizzles into another. This man—Jasper—and I with more of our kind. They live as a family and feed on animals, not humans. Could it be possible? Yes, I was certain it was. Somehow, I didn’t know how, I knew what I had just seen was the future. I didn’t have to be a monster. I had a choice. I had to find this man in the diner.

I looked back at the hiker’s body. First things first. I wanted a change of clothes. I approached the stiff form cautiously and picked up his backpack from the ground. I rifled through it. There was only a jacket; the rest was food and supplies. I would have to take the clothes off of the body. I found a knife in the bag and studied its reflective blade. I took a deep, unnecessary breath and held the blade up in front of my face. I caught a glimpse of two, vividly crimson eyes. My eyes. The reflected eyes widened in shock before the knife fell from my fingers. I would have to find a way to hide the crimson irises. I picked up my makeshift mirror again and admired my face. It was so very pale, yet so very beautiful. It unnerved me. Had I always looked like this?

I tossed the knife away from me. No wonder the hiker had looked so bewildered and frozen in fear; I was terrifyingly beautiful, the perfect predator. My focus moved back to the bloodless body on the forest floor. I struggled with the stiff form to remove some of the clothes. The pants and shirt were, of course, too big for my tiny body, but I rolled up the hems and sleeves. The shoes would never fit, no matter what I did to them, so I was forced to remain conspicuously barefoot. I tossed his backpack over my shoulder and started walking aimlessly through the forest, hoping I wouldn’t cross paths with another human but knowing I would unavoidably kill again soon, the thirst was already burning my throat again and making it hard to think. I focused on the one thing which kept me calm. My future with a family and with the man in the diner. Jasper. I would find him.





“He’d better show up today,” I mumbled to myself, black high-heels clicking on the sidewalk as I walked towards the Philadelphia diner in the pounding rain. I didn’t own an umbrella and while many men had offered me shelter beneath their own, I didn’t trust myself to be that close to a human. I’d been living off of animals on my own for a few years now, but I was still too unsure of my self-control to be rubbing elbows with a human; I still had the occasional slip-up. Animals just didn’t satiate the thirst like humans; they were just much easier on my conscience. Plus, searching and waiting for Jasper in Philadelphia hadn’t allowed me much time for hunting and I was dangerously thirsty.

I slipped into the half-empty diner from my visions and took a seat on a high stool at the counter, ruffling my wet hair and removing my dampened jacket to expose my bare arms. I saw the pimply-faced waiter’s eyes bulge as he eyed me at the counter. He sauntered over, notepad in shaking hand.

“H-h-hello, there. Is there anything I can get for you?”

I grinned, which made him blush an appetizing color as his heart pounded, the veins in his throat pulsating with warm, inviting blood. My hands balled into fists as I restrained myself, denying the monster within me. “No, thank you. I’m waiting for someone.”

He stumbled away, grabbing a coffee pot and pouring refills with a trembling hand. Humans’ reactions to me always confused me. If I could remember my life before this one, maybe it would clear things up. What were their reactions to me before?

I unclenched my hands as soon as the waiter was downwind and placed my fingers to my temples, shut my eyes and concentrated, trying to see. Clear as glass, I could see Jasper walking through the diner door, the door I’d just come through, but there was no clock anywhere so I didn’t know when he would walk through the door. Instead, I tried to gauge the time by concentrating on the people in the diner when he appears. A girl in a horrible, loose-fitting navy dress which does nothing for her figure with a boy, holding hands on top of the table, a tall glass of soda between them. An older couple sitting at another table and a man sitting a few stools down at the counter.

I opened my eyes and checked my surroundings. The older couple was in position and the younger pair was walking through the door. I looked down the counter. The man was sitting there and staring at me in obvious curiosity.

Perfect. He should be here soon. I wouldn’t be alone much longer.

I looked into the future, again, at the coven of vampires Jasper and I would soon join. I knew them all; I’d watched them constantly. Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Rosalie and, the newest addition, Emmett. They seemed so different from the rest of our kind. They were…a family.

“Hey, sweetie. You all alone?”

I knew by the intensity of the appetizing smell setting my throat aflame, that the man from down the counter had moved closer to me. Opening my black eyes, I looked into his face; he was sitting on the stool next to me and leering. “No, I’m waiting for someone. He should be here in a little while.”

“Seems to me you’ve been waiting a long time for him.”

“You have no idea how right you are.”

“How about you let me buy you a drink, baby?”

I swiveled in my seat. “No, thank you.” I smiled widely, revealing all of my venom-coated teeth. The man’s eyes popped and he leaned away from me, his instincts for self-preservation pulling him back to his former seat.

I turned around on the stool and stared at the door. Finally, after what seemed like a century, I spotted him outside. If my heart were beating, I think it would have started racing at the sight of him. He looked uncertain and uncomfortable as he hurried toward the diner to escape standing in the rain and drawing attention. He pushed through the door, the bell above tinkling. He shook the water from his jacket and I could instantly tell he wasn’t breathing.

I hopped down from the stool and stifled a giggle as he watched my approach in astonishment. His black eyes were wide with confusion, shock and expectation. I smiled. “You’ve kept me waiting a long time.”

Jasper ducked his blond head, “I’m sorry, ma’am.”

Such the Southern gentleman. I held out my hand to him, palm up, and, as he put his hand in mine, a surge of emotion coursed through me. For the first time in my memory, I felt something. I felt whole, able to feel pain and happiness. I felt like my existence had a purpose now. I wasn’t left alone in the woods anymore.

I pushed my fingers through his. His hard expression softened into amazement as he studied my face. “Let’s sit down,” I said.

I pulled him to a booth in the back corner of the diner where we wouldn’t be easily overheard. He sat down across from me, our fingers still locked together on top of the table. He stared at my face for a long time before speaking. I gazed back at him, exploring the face I’d memorized in my visions during the lonely nights in the woods. Crescent-shaped bite marks, easily visible only to our kind’s eyes, embellished his neck and jaw. I couldn’t see his past, just like I couldn’t see my own, but I could see our future so clearly.

“I’m Alice.”

He smiled, tilting his head in curiosity as he looked at me. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Alice. I’m Jasper.”

I laughed. “I know.”

His eyebrows furrowed, revealing two scars over his left eye.

“I see visions of the future. That’s how I knew to meet you here. I knew you were looking for me.”

“I was looking for you?”

“Uh-huh,” I nodded. “Well, you might not have known you were looking for me in particular. But you are looking for another way to survive. Other than the obvious one.” My eyes gestured to the waiter behind the counter watching us. “Aren’t you?”

“Is there another way?”

I smiled. “I’ve seen it. There’s a coven of our kind living on animals.”

“On just animals? Is it possible?”

I nodded, again. “Mm-hmm. And we’ll be a part of their family soon.”

Jasper’s eyebrows shot up his forehead. “You’ve…seen this?”

“Yes. I know them all from my visions. There are five of them. They’re different. They live as a family. I’ve been waiting for you so we can find them, together.”

Jasper sat in silence for a long moment, staring at our hands still entwined on top of the table.

As soon as he’d taken my hand, the shimmery vision of our future together had solidified, so I knew his answer before he said it.

He cocked an eyebrow. “You already know my answer, don’t you?”

I smiled at him in response, pleased that our thoughts could already be so attuned to one another.

“Okay, Alice. Let’s go,” he said, a smile pulling at his lips. He moved sinuously up from the table and we headed out into the rain, still hand in hand.





“Are you sure they won’t attack us?” Jasper asked, worry coating his tone. We’d been running through the woods and had slowed down to a human-pace walk as we neared the Cullens’ dwelling in the Alaskan wilderness. I knew he wasn’t worried about his own safety. He held my hand tightly in his own and on his back was our backpack. I hated wearing the same outfit day after day and had insisted we bring different clothes with us; a change of clothing was an unusual accessory for nomadic vampires, Jasper had informed me with a chuckle when we first set out together.

I smiled. “Jazz, I’ve told you. They’re not like others. They’re peaceful. It’ll be fine.”

He stopped walking and his dark eyes stared into my own. “I’m not sure. You don’t know the behavior of covens like I do. You were on your own before finding me. I know you’ve seen their reaction to us, but I’m still not sure about this.”

I glowered at him. I hated it when he held my inexperience against me. I may be lacking firsthand experience but I thought my visions made up for that. But he did have a point. I had lived on my own before finding him and after that we’d met up with Peter and Charlotte, but other than that, I didn’t have any experience with the behavior of our kind. But I had watched the Cullens in my visions and knew what their reaction would be. “I thought you trusted me and my visions. It’s perfectly safe. I promise.”

“I do trust your visions. And you. But—”

“Not when I’m directly involved in the outcome,” I interrupted.

Jasper grinned. “Alice, I’m sure you’re right. Still, I think you should let me approach them on my own, just at first, to make sure it’s safe.”

I rolled my eyes and twisted the collar of his white shirt in my hand, jerking his face down on a level with mine. “Please relax. Everything’s going to be fine.” I sighed, exasperated, “But I can see you won’t believe me. Overprotective as always.” I brought my lips to his for a quick second before releasing my grip on his shirt.

He remained hunched over, resting his forehead against mine, his eyes boring into my own. “Okay. Just make sure you stay behind me.” His arm wrapped around my waist and he pressed me against his body, lifting me from the ground as he stood up. His lips pressed lightly to mine at first, and then with more urgency. I locked one arm around his neck and buried my other hand in his blond hair, knocking the stylish hat I’d gotten for him off his head and to the forest floor. Kissing Jasper clouded not only my vision of the present, but the future too, distracting me from everything but the way his body felt touching mine.

We arrived at the edge of the trees, peeking out at the house. I closed my eyes and flipped through images of the future. “There are only three at home. Edward and Emmett are off hunting.”

“Good. I feel better with more even numbers.”

I stomped on him foot. “Carlisle and Esme would never attack us.”

Jasper arched an eyebrow. “The other one?”

I bit my lip. “Well…Rosalie won’t do anything to upset Carlisle or Esme,” I hedged.

Jasper tightened his fingers through mine. “Stay behind me.”

We passed out of the trees and into the clearing, ambling slowly, non-threateningly, towards the house. I saw the three vampires emerging out onto the lawn seconds before they actually did. Jasper stopped a few yards from the house to show we meant no harm and let the others come towards us. He put the hand wrapped around mine behind his back, forcing me to stand further behind his body.

Carlisle and Rosalie approached side by side, Esme trailing behind Carlisle, obvious apprehension mixed with compassion written on her heart-shaped face. Rosalie and Carlisle took in Jasper’s ravaged skin, their muscles tightening in response. I kept a watchful eye on the future, sifting through my visions to make sure there was no possibility of this encounter erupting into a sudden fight due to someone’s split-second decision change.

They stopped a few feet from us in a V formation, Carlisle standing at the point with Rosalie close by his right side. Esme smiled at me like a concerned mother from her place behind Carlisle. Three pairs of golden eyes stared at us.

“Hello,” Jasper began uncertainly. “My name is Jasper. And this is Alice.” I peered around him, unable to hide my ecstatic smile at seeing the faces I’d watched in my visions for so many years; they’d been my only comfort in some of my darkest and most uncertain times.

“Hi, Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie,” I greeted them by name, forgetting they hadn’t introduced themselves. Rosalie’s eyes widened in shock and her lips curled back from her teeth. Jasper tried to shield me behind his body, but I refused to move. “Sorry to drop in on you so unexpectedly. We really didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just that we’ve been looking for you for a long time. I had a hard time pinpointing exactly where you were. We’re here to join your family. Which room can we have?”

Esme’s hand moved to her still heart as she stared at Jasper and I with a mother’s eyes. Rosalie glared furiously, a hiss escaping her. Carlisle’s expression became both stunned and intrigued, the concern for his family conflicting with his desire for new information.

“How have you learned of us?” he asked.

Before I could answer, Jasper interjected, “Alice sees the future. She saw your coven and the possibility of a different existence. And then she found me, and since we both desired a different life, we set out to find you.”

“She sees…the future?” Carlisle asked, his topaz eyes sparkling with fascination.

“Yes, I do,” I answered. “But my visions change as decisions change. But I’ve seen Jasper and I as part of your family. I’ve seen that particular vision of the future since I began this life. It’s what has kept me sane.”

We stood in silence as Carlisle mused, his hand cupping his chin. Rosalie glowered at Jasper, sizing up both him and his battle scars. He did the same with her, sampling the emotions radiating from her while also trying to keep me safely behind him.

Esme watched me fondly. One delicate hand touched Carlisle’s arm, “Carlisle, we have room. Surely there’s no harm. They want to try a way of existing that doesn’t involve the death of innocents. We can help.”

Carlisle put a hand on Esme’s and looked at her. “I’d feel better if I could speak to Edward about this,” his eyes slid over Jasper and his war-ravaged skin, “Just to make sure.” I knew why he wanted to speak to Edward. I knew Edward could tell him what no other vampire could. Our thoughts.

I searched through images of the future, looking for one piece of information in particular. “Edward and Emmett will be back tomorrow. Can we at least stay as visitors until Edward returns and tells you what Jasper and I are thinking?”

Carlisle stared at me in shock. Esme sucked in a breath. Rosalie tensed.

Jasper used his talent to control emotions, a flood of calm emanating from him and enveloping them. Carlisle looked between us and his question-filled eyes settled on Jasper. When I’d first discovered Jasper’s talent, I’d made him promise never to use it on me unless I asked. I’d had a vision of being irritated with his tendency to be overprotective and then all of sudden I became extremely calm and agreed to one of his more ridiculous plans for my safety. I’d confronted a confused Jasper and made him agree never to calm me without my permission again, even though he’d never actually used his gift on me before. I knew it would cause more arguments between us than it would solve.

“Alice isn’t the only one with an extra talent,” he explained. “I can control the emotions of those around me. The atmosphere around Rosalie was getting a bit too volatile for my comfort,” he glanced swiftly at me; it didn’t escape Carlisle’s notice.

Rosalie would have attacked him, but she was forced to remain calm by Jasper’s curious ability.

Carlisle took Esme’s hand in his own. “You are welcome to stay with us. At least until the rest of my family returns and we can all discuss this matter together. Please, come inside.”

I danced along behind Esme and Carlisle, towing Jasper behind me. Rosalie stalked off towards the woods after Carlisle spoke, but she’d be back within minutes and in a worse mood.





“Alice, I don’t know about this,” Jasper said, watching me piling Edward’s stuff into a big heap in the center of the room.

“What? Esme and Carlisle said to make ourselves at home. And this room has the best view.”

“But how’s this Edward going to react when he comes home and you’ve taken over his room? I don’t think he’ll be too willing to tell Carlisle that we’re not harboring any secret motives in wanting to join their family. I wouldn’t be surprised if he made up something and said that’s what we were thinking.”

I tossed some clothes from the closet onto the pile. “We. We’re taking over Edward’s room. And I don’t see any problems coming of this,” I smiled at him as he stood against the window.

He looked at me strangely; he was wearing the uncomfortable and pained expression his face contorted into when I forced him to hunt herbivores instead of humans. “Rosalie’s making the emotional atmosphere in the house particularly hard to bear. I wonder whether she’s doing it on purpose.”

An answering hiss sounded from the other side of the door.

I skipped around the mess I’d made in the middle of the room and wrapped my arms around his waist. “This better?”

He sighed. “Much. You have an emotional climate I enjoy.”

He kissed the top of my head. I knew Esme would knock on the door in three seconds and it took all of my concentration not to pull Jasper’s lips to my own and throw him on the sofa that was against the wall.

Esme’s knock resounded, light and respectful.

“Come in, Esme,” I answered, unwillingly taking my arms from around Jasper.

Her round, golden eyes swept over the chaos of our new room. “I just wanted to see how you two were doing,” she said tentatively.

“Perfect. I was just about to move Edward’s things into the garage.” I giggled at her anxious concern. “Don’t worry. He’ll be annoyed but he’ll like us enough to forgive me quickly.”

Esme’s shock at my casual reference to Edward, a vampire I’d never met, softened into motherly indulgence. “I’ll help. We can discuss options for re-decorating this room to better suit yours and Jasper’s tastes or even renovating the house to add another room.”





I pulled Jasper by the hand, towing him behind me as I entered the Cullens’ “dining room.” I’d informed Carlisle that Emmett and Edward would be arriving in exactly two minutes. Rosalie had immediately stalked off to meet them and tell them all about “the intruders.” I thought the phrase she was going to use of “take over” was a bit extreme.

I perched on the edge of a chair at the opposite end of the table from Esme and Carlisle. Jasper sat next to me, feeling the emotional climate. I could tell by his relaxed grip on my hand that Carlisle and Esme were both relatively calm; his hold would tighten when Rosalie came near.

Esme looked anxiously from Carlisle to me, wondering what would be the outcome of this meeting. I knew she wanted to trust my vision. I really liked her. I imagined she was just what a human’s mother would be, not that I would know. I still couldn’t remember anything about my human life which irritated me. When I concentrated on my past, all I could see was darkness. Nothing more. How could I know so much about others’ and my own futures without knowing anything about my past, where I had come from? Jasper had retained his human memories and he was much older than me, although he told me they weren’t as clear as the memories from this life. I just couldn’t understand it. Where had I come from? Did I have a mother like Esme? Was it possible she was alive and wondering what had happened to her daughter years ago? Could she have known who gave me this life?

Jasper touched my face, tracing his fingers along the line of my jaw. I looked up to see his brow creased with concern; he’d felt the change in my emotions as I thought of my past, or rather, my lack of past.

“I’m fine. Just…thinking,” I answered, unable to hide a glance at Esme. Jasper followed my eyes and seemed to understand at once. He lifted our locked hands and kissed the back of my hand. What should my past matter when I now had Jasper? I smiled.

Jasper’s hand squeezed tightly around mine. Rosalie strode into the room and sat down, tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder with an obviously irritated huff. Emmett and Edward followed warily. Emmett’s muscles flexed in warning as he sat down in the chair next to Rosalie. Edward sat in one of the two empty chairs facing them, one eyebrow arched and his golden eyes fixed on me as he listened closely to the thoughts flitting through mine and Jasper’s minds.

“Hi, Edward. I’m Alice. Jasper and I want to join your family. I have an extra ability like you do. Although you already know that because Rosalie told you when she met you and Emmett on your way to the house. I saw that she would provide you with an extremely colorful version of what actually happened.” I rolled my eyes, smiling, and I saw the corner of Edward’s mouth twitch as he fought a grin. “Anyways, basically the story is that I see visions of the future. I saw Jasper and I as part of your family for the first time a few years ago,” I ran through the memory in my head, showing him the visions I’d seen over the years of him and his family, how I’d started this life alone and then how I’d searched for Jasper and how we’d both wanted a different way to exist.

After minutes of tense silence, Edward sighed and tore his gaze from Jasper and I, looking toward Carlisle. Emmett leaned forward in anticipation. Rosalie remained seated with her back against the chair, still glaring daggers.

“Well?” Carlisle prompted.

“They mean no harm. They’re telling you the truth. They want to be a part of this family,” he looked back at us, deliberating whether or not to divulge a piece of information. As soon as he made the decision, I saw what he was about to say. He addressed Jasper, “Normally, I wouldn’t tell everyone your private thoughts like this, but they need to know your mind as I do so they can understand your motives.”

Jasper nodded. I turned my face to look at him, eyes wide and emotion flooding my body.

“Alice wants to be in this family more than Jasper. He’s from a…different sort of coven and finds our diet more difficult to stick to than Alice. But he’ll follow Alice wherever she goes. And he’ll never do anything to upset her, even if it means he must learn to deny his thirst as we do. Their bond is strong though it is still relatively new; they’ve only been together a couple years.” He smiled at Carlisle. “Remember how we once discussed powerful emotions or connections permanently altering a vampire, a being that is supposedly unchanging?”

Carlisle looked at Esme and answered without taking his gaze from her angelic face. “Yes, I do.”

Edward gestured to Jasper and I. “Well, here is another instance. Alice has altered Jasper in a drastic way. And he has altered her.”

I still had my gaze locked on Jasper’s profile. His head turned and he looked down at me, his black eyes burning into mine. I squeezed his hand underneath the table.

“No, they’re not,” Edward answered an unspoken thought from Carlisle.

“So? What’re we gonna do?” Emmett prodded.

“Well, this is a most…unusual occurrence,” Carlisle began. I couldn’t stop my face from breaking into a euphoric smile as I saw his answer before he spoke it. Jasper’s head jerked in Carlisle’s direction as he felt the surge of emotion pulsating from me. “But I see no reason why we shouldn’t welcome you as part of this family.”

Rosalie growled and pushed her chair back from the table with such force it broke when it hit the hardwood floor. She stalked off, Emmett laughing and shaking his head. “Thanks for that,” he said, looking at Jasper and I with a smile. “She’s gonna be in a mood for days.” He arched a dark eyebrow at me, “Any idea how many days she’ll be like this?”

I smiled at him. “Hmmm…looks like it’ll be around a month before she accepts the idea of Jasper and I as part of the family,” I said before dashing over to Edward and throwing my arms around him. “Thank you,” I sang ecstatically.

He smiled, it pulled one side of his mouth up in a crooked way. “It’ll be nice having someone else with a, uh, strange gift around to talk to. I won’t feel like such a freak among freaks.” He laughed. “Seeing your visions in your mind is fascinating. It’s kind of like I can see the future as well.”

Emmett bounded around the table to challenge Jasper to a wrestling match, excitement overflowing at the thought of an opponent who couldn’t pick the moves he would make out of his head before he made them. Jasper’s appearance also made Emmett eager to test himself against Jasper’s many years of experience. Jasper shot a nervous look at me as they headed outside, beckoning me to follow for reassurance, and I danced along behind them, Edward following and no doubt still listening in to Jasper and I. Carlisle and Esme drifted along behind us, arms around each other.

I turned quickly to Edward as we emerged out into the spacious area at the back of the house and Jasper and Emmett seemed to be enjoying joking around in playful attack. They were circling each other, each bent in a crouch and smiling.

“By the way, Edward, your room is perfect. Jasper and I really love it. It has a great view. I put your stuff in the garage for you.”

His mouth gaped in surprise. “You did what?”

I laughed, shrugging. He hadn’t read that particular piece of information in my thoughts; I’d made sure to not concentrate on the fact I’d kicked him out of his room as I’d been showing him what a great addition Jasper and I would be to the family.

Jasper and Emmett were about to spring at each other. Esme called out, already worried, “Be careful you two. Don’t do anything too rough, Emmett. Be nice to Jasper and no cheating.”