Discovering Alice chapter one.
Disclaimer: i don not own any of the Twilight characters and am not making any profit of of them.
The wind whipped at my trench coat as i walked down the highway just outside Philadelphia. I bent my head against the relentless pounding of the rain. It had been over three hours since the dark clouds up above had broken. The thunder up above reminded me of a newborns growl.
Up ahead was a roadside cafe, a truck stop, hundreds of people passing through every week. The kind of place where nobody would pay to much attention to a face that was slightly too pale. Although the thunderstorm perfectly suited my mood I saw no real need for further discomfort.
Dropping my speed to human pace I read the emotional vibes from the cafe, although i doubted anything in there would be a threat to me after years of watching my back it was second nature to me. The room showed a range of normal human emotions, vague shadows of boredom impatience and unhappiness no real strong emotions but enough so that nobody would look at me for too long.
Casually i walked through the door head bent down to hide my face, all too attractive to my human prey. The wave of human scent hit me burning me throat, It had been so long since I'd eaten but the second hand horror i suffered every time i had to fed was enough of a deterrent for me to put it off for a few more days. It was the thirst that distracted me, the other scent in the room took a few more moments to hit my nose. Vampire, female, she smelled fruity, like apples perhaps. By then two peoples heads had already turned and seen me standing there, i couldn't just disappear like i had never walked in. I was sure i could take down any threat, being better trained in fighting than any of my kind i had encountered so far but I really wasn't in the mood for the fight or the massacre of the humans that would come afterwards.
I froze in the doorway, maybe it didn't have to come down to a fight perhaps if i showed enough respect i could walk away. My eyes searched the faces of the diners finally coming to rest on the beautiful and pale face of a girl sat at the counter. She looked to be a few years younger than me, slight and small she would be fast but not strong. I allowed another few seconds to read her face, she had eyes like I'd never seen before, wide and heavily lashed with pale gold irises that didn't belong to our kind. I sniffed the air to be sure that i hadn't been mistaken but the sweet and fruity scent was definitely that of a vampire. The eyes stared back at me with recognition. I expected her to be tense or openly hostile yet she didn't show either of these things. Her emotions were those of excitement, joy and trust. I was completely taken aback, nothing i knew of my kind explained her reaction to me. I froze waiting for her to make a move hoping that she wasn't somehow hiding hostile emotions from me. Though she wouldn't know about my extra senses.
With exaggerated slowness she jumped down from the bar stool she was sat at and walked towards me. With the way she was moving i could easily pounce on her before she had a chance to defend herself, but i was intrigued. She was stunning as no other female i had seen before had been. Although all beautiful none of them had the calm smile that graced her perfect cupid bow lips. She was small and fragile looking and moved as if she were dancing across the floor. She acted as if she were going to greet an old friend she hadn't seen in a long time though i had no recollection of ever meeting her before and a part of me knew that if i had en counted her on any day other than this i would have killed her. No questions asked.
She came to a stop a few feet away from me, looked me up and down with an unhidden glance and smiled wildly. I didn't understand this strange and attractive creature but i automatically knew she didn't mean me any harm. I relaxed my stance ever so slightly knowing that she would see this and know that i wasn't going to attack her. I didn't know the correct way to act, i had been alone for several months and would have like to have had a brief conversation with one of my own kind yet i had not had much chance to socialize with others. Her behavior suggested to me that hers was not an abnormal reaction to a chance meeting even though all past experiences had told me that it was.
"You've kept me waiting for a long time."
Her voice was musical and light. I wondered if this was an act for the humans but the deep emotion in her voice that she was scincer. Somehow she had been waiting for me. Utterly shocked I replied with the only words that enter my mind.
"I'm sorry Ma'am."
She laughed a tinkling laugh and held out her hand. My smile as i took it was honest. How could it not be when just a few minutes before i had been preparing to fight and now it looked like i was going to be having a pleasant conversation with a beautiful female who was happy to see me. I noticed the slight difference in color between her hand and mine that was slightly darker, too small a difference for human eyes to see. Her hand felt so small in mine and i realized that it had been years since i had felt this casual type of touch. She looked over at me her strange eyes sparkling. The feelings that erupted out of me were like nothing I'd experienced since my human death. I believed that if my heart were still beating it would have stopped at that moment. I felt hope as if this happy and oddly innocent creature could teach me to be happy and care free like she appeared. I was surprised again when i came to realize that some of the hope i was experiencing wasn't my own. She too was feeling hope at our meeting, i had so many questions all of a sudden. She confidently turned her back to me showing absolute trust and lead me to a table at the back of the room. As she briefly glanced at the menu and signaled somebody over to place an order i kept my eyes fixed on her. It would have been impossible for them to have gone anywhere else. She was wearing the lose fitting brightly colored clothes considered fashionable at the time with her hair cut shorter than shoulder length and sticking out in all directions like an organized mess. Her face had a pixie like quality with high cheek bones and a small button nose. Her eyes again caught my attention, mainly because they were looking at me in exactly the same manner that mine were looking at her. Taking in every detail possible.
"Jasper."
She whispered quietly, leaning in so her face was mere inches from my own.
The shock must have clearly registered on my face this time. How did she know my name? Had she been tracking me without my knowledge? No I was to careful. Did she process some strange additional power like mine? Read minds maybe?
"Jasper Whitlock."
Memories stirred at her words, nobody had called me via my full name in almost a century. It was almost as if that name didn't belong to me anymore, it belong to somebody who had died a long time ago. An enterprising young Major who had the bad fortune to wander across the path of three beautiful women on a dark night. The remnants of whom had disappeared over the years with the killing of hundreds of people and vampires. For a brief second I glimpsed a face i thought I'd lost years ago, the face of a beautiful tall woman with long blond curls. She had died in childbirth when i was six. My mother. It made me realize that that there was still a little humanity left in me, buried deep but still there.
"Do you read minds?" I asked concerned about my sudden vulnerability. "Dredge up long forgotten memories?"
"No." She denied. "And if you remember them they're not forgotten just buried."
" Well, if you are not reading my mind how is it that you know my name?"
"It's a little hard to explain. It's a little like how you know what every person in this room is feeling."
This time i wasn't so taken back, simply because once you've been surprised so many times in a short amount of time your ready to believe anything.
"You know about that?"
"Obviously."
"How exactly is it that you know so much about me?"
"Your face is my first ever memory. I see the future, mostly just vague glimpses, so many things are uncertain. But you've always been there. I didn't know when I'd met you, not till yesterday. I've seen so much about you, I've known your every move before you made them and i know you're in pain, and i know how to end it."
At that moment we were interrupted by the serving girl placing plates of pie and two mugs of coffee on the table in front of us.
"Can i get you anything else?"
"Not right now thank you."
"Okay call if you need anything." The girl in front of me lifted the mug of liquid to her lips, i copied her knowing the importance of keeping up an act. I didn't allow the coffee to touch my lips though, human food was just various degrees of disgusting.
"You see the future." I pushed to get her to speak again, unsure that I could comment at that time so happy to let her carry on her strange story.
"Is that so hard to believe? After all the things you have seen."
"No." I admitted. "It's not. It just that such a power would make you extremely powerful. Do you see everybody, or just our kind?"
"Just those I focus on."
"And you've been focusing on me?"
"Yes."
"Why me?"
"Because I see my future primarily, and you are a big part of my future. We're going to search together."
"Search for what?"
"The place where we can both be happy, like I said I see your pain, you can see mine as well can't you?"
I read her feelings again at first only feeling the happiness and excitement but I now saw below that was a deep pain, confusion and loneliness.
"Yes." I admitted. 'But your happy at the moment." I added.
'Because I've found you. I've been waiting a long time to met you." She smiled another dazzling smile and i wondered if I would ever get used to it. It was then that i knew for certain that i would travel with her, it had been decided without any real thought but the moment that she had mentioned searching together i knew we would. I doubted that iI could ever find a place where i could be happy, what with the constant emotions around me. But i hoped that i could, and i was just starting to discover that hope was a very powerful thing and my future looked to be full of it.
" I'm glad we did." She reached across to me to me taking my hand. I had a thousand questions to ask her but time enough to ask them.
"What's your name?"
"Alice."
"It's nice to met you Alice."
To be continued.