10. Discovered

-   Alice, Cullen

We had found the scent. We were closing in on Jasper. Like Edward to Bella, he was the only reason to live, to breathe – he was the only reason I was here in his murky desert. His abduction had left me with a spreading void in my chest, a black hole even, that seemed to deepen every time we had to track backwards and find the strong trail to where he was being kept.

Bella was determined; she kept low to the ground, her mind focused. I on the other hand, was racing ahead searching for the cure to my injured heart. “He has to be close, it’s getting stronger.”

My throat constricted, “Bella?”

“Yes,” she looked up into my pleading eyes.

“Do you catch that extra trail; it’s a bit east of Jasper’s? I don’t recognize it,” the confidence in my voice was depleting. Another trail could mean he’s gone forever, I lamented to myself.

“Alice,” she answered. “There are several scents, all leading the same path, don’t you think it is possible?”

We had talked our thoughts over several times while searching for Jasper; I thought he was kidnapped, whereas Bella thought Maria had something to do with it. She recalled the story Jasper had told her before we fought them newborns ages ago, but it was impossible. Maria was dead! Gone! “She was killed by him, I highly doubt she has anything to do with it,” my tone angrier than usual.

“Well than, what about Peter and Charlotte?”

“No. Jasper spared their lives and they wandered together for a while before he met me.”

Her voice ceased and a sigh escaped, “Oh.” She had not recalled that part of the story.

The journey was long and tiresome; my mind was wandering further than it usually would. I imagined a fairy tale ending: running towards Jasper and him pulling me into a grasping hug, his lips against mine once again, everything perfect. Bella was being the tracker; Edward had taught her some of the skill during one of our many boring days, he had learnt it himself – though he wasn’t very good at it – when he had left Bella where she found comfort in Jacob Black, the local shape shifter and imprint of Renesmee Cullen.

I chuckled to myself quietly at the conversations we shared with each other sometimes. He was a comfort knowing that he evaporated my headaches, but Jasper was my scales. He weighed everything out and settled it at a balance. He knew when to stop or to start, I thought internally, my thoughts smothered by his mere image.

The black hole in my chest seemed to grow bigger, and advance more to my heart with each coming step closer to Jasper, where it could cause the most ultimate pain. Losing my other half! How could I describe the despair I would feel, not that I would be tutored by it for long, there would be no words or a syllable to utter to describe my definitive emotions.

“Alice!” Bella’s voice was sharp in the deathly silence of the parched desert, it rung out for miles. Her face portrayed her thoughts: eyes filled to the brim with joy, her lips curved in a smile, her angular brows no longer furrowed.

I snapped my head up.

“We have found him, he’s here! It leads north for about an hour and then curves off for a while. That’s where he is!”

It was like a dagger had plunged into my chest, and been twisted. The pain to run was unbearable; the adrenaline threading itself through my vein’s gaining me momentum, with each fastening step he seemed to be disappearing – my mind was deceiving me. The void stayed constant, throbbing, pushing me onwards. I could even catch the scent in my nose as we ran; it was like a rare perfume. Speed was everything at this crucial moment. Bella was at my side, her new born powers slowly decreasing therefore putting her at my left, our velocity at incredible speeds unknown to even Edward, whom was the fastest in our coven.

When we came to the entrance of a cave, loads of different scents darting in each direction from it, I felt a tugging motion occur. It pulled me inside, like a cable was attached just above my heart and the same for Jasper, and if we were ever separated that cable would snap and it would cause internal bleeding, the void would corrupt me and I wouldn’t be able to live. He is my everything!

Bella cautioned me, “Don’t do anything harsh. Do you smell that scents, they could be however many vampires in that cave.”

“I know,” I moaned. “But he’s in there, Bella; I can’t wait for Edward or anyone to come. Jasper’s just that close I can feel him, his touch, his voice, everything.”

Her shield pulled up, her mind was now occupied and I had to be the rational thinker. Just then a figure emerged from the cave. Her eyes found us, the voice shrill and high-pitched. “Ya’ll must be new. Come on inside,” she invited in her southern American accent.

We relaxed, accessed the situation quickly, and followed her in. It was dark and the uneven ground made Bella stumble, she was never good at being graceful – we had joked about this ourselves several times. Further inside, old candle-lit lamps lined the walls and voices echoed from in the caves – loads of them.

“It’s a shame ya’ll didn’t come in sooner. You missed quite the gossip!”

We stayed silent, our lips tightly shut. She lead us into a largely lit room, at least twenty vampires sitting against the walls, we breathed a sigh of relief that our eyes had turned a black so we fitted in the crowd.

“We have new additions to our little groups, ya’ll,” she announced. “These are –” She looked at us.

“Alice and Bella,” I whispered.

“These are Alice and Bella. You must be thirsty?” she asked turning to us.

Bella was still concentrating on shielding our minds so I answered, “No we are quite alright.”

“Was Roxanne with you?” a short girl questioned, her red eyes glowering at myself.

I cleared my dust evaded throat, “No-one was with us? We found our way back,” I lied.

She sneered, “Maybe she has taken my advice. Her idea of creating a new-born army was great, but that girl was just soft with new recruits. She needed to toughen up.”

Our frozen hearts leapt into our throats, the void in my stomach coiled and grew – contaminating the calm, cool, tone I had adopted that was necessary for this infiltration. “Stacey,” the girl who had shown us in hissed. “They don’t know anything yet. Here like me explain,” so with that she explained the whole situation. She told us about Roxanne being Maria’s sister – Bella winked at me and then continued to listen intently – and how she was re-creating her army of newborns and how she had recruited a ‘Major’ to help. Here questions poured from my mouth, I couldn’t contain myself until Bella held a firm hand on my shoulder.

“Sorry she’s still in shock from the turning.”

When we got ourselves alone we talked over it quietly, we would find Jasper, destroy these newborns and run for it. We couldn’t repeat another Southern Purge of vampires so we had to destroy them, about Roxanne we couldn’t decide. I wanted her to suffer, but Bella was more compassionate. I sulked about it until it came the time when all the newborns were crowded in the social room; we sneaked out and headed towards the main chamber. When we came near the entrance, all the lights were extinguished, fumbling through the dark we followed Jaspers scent until we came into an enclosed cave, in the back was a running foundation, the trickling water soothing my rapidly beating frozen heart.

In one of the corners was a slumped figure, its head bent forward. I hissed through clenched teeth, venom covering my tongue. I was ready to pounce, but Bella was persistent and pulled me back. “We can’t hurt her, she has mental problems remember. We can’t hurt little Roxanne, even if she did kidnap Jasper,” she whispered.

The void continued to grow, it was edging closer to my heart. I would only have a few minutes before it corrupted my entire being. The figure moved, the voice was harsh but it was drained and fatigued. “I will not take part in your army no more, Roxanne, and if you bring Stacey to give me another illusion I will not give up. Alice is not dead or buried under rocks, she is alive and safe and I will not let you harm her.”

I threw myself forward, my body circling it’s self around the shadowy figure. “Jasper, oh Jasper!” I crooned, stroking his hair. I pulled his face forward, kissing him but his features were reserved. He looked like he paid no attention to me. “Jasper, are you in there? Please!” I begged.

He threw me off, pulling my hands together and pushing me away. “I will not give into your illusions Stacey,” he shouted. His strength was wavering.

The void was too close now; it was burning the edges of my heart. Closing in on its prey. I only had seconds left until I wouldn’t be able to cope no more. I hurled my body back to him in a swift motion, Bella was standing silently in the corner, and I grabbed his face and kissed him hard on the mouth – All my suffering and pleasure of seeing him again going into the kiss.

-Jasper, Hale

The illusion was so real; I could feel her lips crushed with mine. Her scent leaped off her skin, it was a rare gift and I inhaled deeply. It was like heaven! The spectre of Alice wrapped her arms around me and crushed her body with mine, I wanted so much to respond but that would be giving in to Stacey’s illusions. I wouldn’t do it! I am strong!

It was just then that the figure whispered against my lips, “I love you so much Jasper, please, please, wake up!”

It was like opening my eyes for the first time after a lifetime of torture and affliction. Her face was carved by angels, a perfect statue of beauty. I felt like I could cry in happiness, my heart swelling. She pulled back, her face creased with sadness and pain. It was an instant reaction, I pulled her back and crushed my lips to hers, pulling her body close so there not a breath between us. She reacted back within a second. Everything at that moment was about us. Alice and me! My Alice! Alive and here!

When we pulled away, I was standing up, her head was cradled into my neck. “Oh Jasper, I thought you were gone. I could never have lived if you have gone! I love you with all my life!”

“Alice,” I breathed.

That’s all I could say, she was here with me and that all I wanted. Then a flash of the newborns and Roxanne came into my head. “You have to get out of here,” I said harshly.

“We know about the newborns Jasper, its fine. There in the social room.”

“How long have you been here?”

“A couple of hours,” Bella who had standing in the corner, revealed her presence. “I came with Alice, to help save you,” she said softly.

A breath of relief, “Thank you.”

She inclined her head and headed towards the shadows once more. She was giving us privacy! “Alice, we have to get out of here. The newborns don’t stay in their very long, it’s only while they discuss tactics. You shouldn’t have come for me?”

“Don’t be silly,” she sighed joyfully. “It’s fine. We’ll be out of here in no time.”

“Don’t count yourself lucky,” someone echoed from behind them, it was a cold chilling voice. Stacey and all the newborns emerged from the cave entrance; they were crouched and ready to pounce. Bella came running up behind us and put her shield. “We will kill you all before you can leave, I told Roxanne this would happen sometime soon.”

I don’t know how to explain the happiness of seeing my Alice again and the littered corpses around the cave when the battle was finished. Limbs were sprawled around the floor, bodies lay everywhere. The venom no longer stung when they had bit me, Alice was my antidote, and she soothed the pain. Bella and Alice had cornered the first lot and took them out; Bella’s gift came in very useful. Alice was as graceful as ever. She danced around to me, “Time to go home.”

The desert light felt like it stung my eyes, I was so used to the dim-lit cave, however it didn’t last long and we were soon running towards my old house were we would rest. It was just as I had left, or should I say the way Roxanne left it, it was as desolate as ever.

“I will take a head start and let the others know your alright,” Bella interrupted our silence.

“Bella,” Alice said happily. “You don’t have to go.”

She chuckled, “I’ll leave you to some privacy, see you’s when you get home. Take all the time you need.” And with that Bella was gone, headed back to the Cullen house to tell everyone the news. We knew she was anxious to see Edward and her daughter again.

“I’ve missed you so much,” Alice said dreamily as she cuddled into my chest.

I kissed her hair, her scent still as rare and pungent than anything I have ever smelt, even more appealing than human blood. It was blissful four hours just sitting with Alice, just holding her. When the moon rose we went to take leave, but we were stopped.

Roxanne was sitting on the roof, murder in her eyes. “I gave you everything,” she screamed wildly. “And this is what I get back. A pile of dead newborn bodies, I will get you Jasper Hale!”

She leapt down with such ferocity it was like the ground shook, Alice went to grab her but I pulled her back. “Don’t harm her, she has mental problems. It wasn’t her fault – Maria put all of this into her head.”

“MY SISTER DID NOTHING FOR ME!” she shrieked running head one towards me and Alice. I was waiting for the impact but Alice leapt onto her shoulders gracefully and dislodged her head until it was a tangle of hair on the ground. Her dismembered body fell to the floor with a thud. “That takes care of things,” she chirped in.

The body was buried, but was left without a head stone. Roxanne deserved a better life than the one she had, but Maria was a cruel woman and the last person she would corrupt was her sister to save her dreams of a newborn army.

The night was the end of her life, and the beginning of ours. We were together again, and we would never be separated. Our love is eternal!

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