14 | THE MAJOR |

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"ARE YOU AVOIDING ME?"

The question was uttered quietly, but it was in the sort of pointed tone that carried across the room or, in this case, a high school hallway.

Rory didn't have to look up to know it had been Jasper who had sent the question her way. She didn't even have the chance to turn around or move away or do anything that would get her out of the conversation.

She had been shut off ever since classes started, lost in her thoughts and worries and insecurities, all brought up in the morning's event. In truth, she had been avoiding Jasper, but not for the reasons he was thinking. Her long silence shifted his expression.

"Well, I guess you already answered that." His voice was laced with pain, a sort of hurt disappointed pain that wasn't surprised.

It struck Rory. She finally looked up from her feet to the tall, leonine vampire strolling beside her as they made their way to one of the many classes they shared together. "I'm not un-avoiding you," she said, slightly cringing at the insensibility of her words.

His jaw clenched. "I see. I'll...see you later."

Jasper sped his gait as humanly possible to put some distance between him and the human that caused all his frustration. He still couldn't figure her out. Every two steps forward, they took three back. It was turning into quite the vicious cycle. He had truly and genuinely hoped that revealing his kind's secret to her and telling her the truth would ease that state of enigmatic proportions, yet he now saw he was wrong, indeed.

Rory didn't like seeing his back turned on her. She reached out just in time, snagging onto his cream colored coat. "—Wait!"

He turned swiftly. They were in the middle of the hallway, so Rory moved out of the way, which succeeded in catching more attention.

"I'm sorry," she measured out her voice lowly, keenly aware of eavesdropping ears. "I'm being an asshole and you don't deserve that. It's not you—"

"—it's me?" Jasper rose a brow cooly. It caused her heart to squeeze painfully. "I never took you for cliches, Rory."

"Seriously, it's nothing that you should be concerned over, it's my own problem I guess," Rory managed to say, meeting his golden eyes apologetically.

"Is this about this morning? That I needed to hunt in order to manage another week at school."

"What? No—" she tried to interrupt, but he continued in that same harsh whisper that only met her ears.

"—Did the realization finally hit you that I'm a monster?" Jasper asked impatiently. "Are you finally scared—"

"Let me stop you right there, Jasper Hale," Rory huffed. "I'm not scared of you. I don't care what you eat, I only care about you. Not what you are, but in spite of it."

"Then why are you avoiding me?" he demanded to know, his achingly perfect face contorted vehemently. "I don't understand."

Rory's gaze flickered to the lingering eyes that rested on them curiously. "Not here. Can we go somewhere we can talk?"

Fortunately, Jasper understood her meaning. Whatever was bothering had to do with the supernatural despite her protests that it wasn't.  The pair fastidiously walked out of school grounds without question. No one noticed and Rory had a feeling Jasper put his powers to use.

He began to head in the direction of the parking lot, but Rory shook hers, her overthinking mind needing somewhere purer, more free for her to relax and ease the anxiety that turmoiled her thoughts. She walked towards the woods that encroached on the school grounds, Jasper following questionably. The thought of running into Bella and Edward brushed her mind but was swiftly dismissed as she knew they were entering the forest from the opposite direction.

The effect of the forest was almost immediate. Her anxiety, heightened in public, had diminished knowing she could finally breath. She waited until they were firmly in the vast greenery to speak, allowing for the therapeutic atmosphere to settle both of their tense emotions. "I'm not good at this sort of thing."

That was one way of beginning. Jasper faced her, his perceptive gaze trained on her.

"I-I just," she struggled to get the words out that had been haunting her since the altercation with the girl. "I want you to know that I wasn't avoiding you earlier because you thought you had frightened me off or some dumb shit like that. I'm not scared of you, Jasper, I trust you."

Jasper took in her words. "If you trust me so much, then please tell me what's the matter? Did someone upset you?" His tone was pleading and entirely sweet.

"There's no real logical explanation for my behavior," Rory said, this time both of them emitted a small chuckle at the understatement of her analysis. "I think I'm just way over my head. I get these brilliant flashes of clarity, of wisdom straight from my core, that everything is so ephemeral. We're ephemeral, Jasper. I've come to understand how largely insignificant I am—"

Rory looked down at her hands to see them intertwined with his. A small gasp escaped when her eyes snapped to his, golden and sharp and baring into her soul.

"Rory, you are everything to me," Jasper interrupted earnestly, speaking for the first time since they had left the school half an hour ago.

She felt her heart physically seize at his words, "Now who's the one for the cliches?"

He stepped closer, "Why do you believe you are insignificant when you are anything but?"

She sighed exasperatedly. "I just don't understand what you want from me anymore. What am I to you? Why do you even bother? I'm a human and you're a vampire capable of so much more than I could ever give you,"

"So, you believe your being human makes you insignificant?" He took another step closer until he towered over her, their breaths mingling and their emotions churning. His cold as death hand traced down her her face until his palm rested over her heart as he spoke.

"I'm nothing special," Rory muttered self-deprecatingly. She wasn't close to perfect like Jasper or any of his coven members. She was extraordinarily ordinary.

"To me you are," he murmured, winding his hand in her dark waves and closing the distance between them even more. She could count individual long lash of his as her sweet breath filled his world.

"This is just like..." she trailed off, distracted by his mesmerizing gaze.

Jasper raised a brow. "Yes?"

"I've had this dream before," Rory said slowly, almost dazedly, "Where I am not alone in what I feel for you."

"Every feeling, every emotion, every thought I have had since the day I met you, are about you," he said softly and she blinked in surprise at the veracity of his words, not knowing how to respond to the answer she hadn't the courage to ask for.

She looked down and away, but Jasper could tell she was unconvinced by his words. He leaned in closer, "How do I prove to you that what I feel for you is real?"

Her eyes opened wide, full of curiosity, "Show me your world. Show me...everything."

"Do you trust me?"

She nodded.

"Then don't close your eyes."

Or your heart.

He effortlessly carried her on his back and began to run. She held her breath, but not her heart; the pulsating thing was mad with emotion.

What were probably minutes passed by in seconds and the green and gray blur that was her world came to an abrupt stop.

A feeling she hadn't felt in weeks warmed her body and soul as the shining, unhiding sun beams hit her tan skin. They were high enough for the constant coverage of clouds that hung over Forks to diminish. She first looked around the ridge he had taken her too, overlooking the tops of the tall emerald pines that enraptured her when she first arrived in Forks, then she looked beside her to the person that enraptured her heart.

Rory had never been so close to the top of a mountain before and if her breath wasn't caught by the lack of oxygen, then it was the sight of Jasper Hale the sunlight that did it.

"This is why vampires don't show themselves in the sun?" She took a step back, not in fear, but in appreciation like an artist in a museum. His marble like translucent white skin became diamonds in the sun's gaze. Gold and silvers and every shade seemed to glint and reflect off Jasper's skin. As beautiful as it was, it reminded her of... "You...look like a disco ball. A pretty one, but a little ridiculous," she appraised him with a small giggle at the end.

Jasper chuckled at that. "Sometimes I forget you've only just learned the truth a few days ago," he mused, stepping closer again. "You really don't ask enough questions."

"I might have been withholding some...I didn't want to annoy you," Rory admitted, insecurity clouding her eyes.

"You wouldn't annoy me," he frowned, tracing her jaw delicately, the thought of which was impossible. He gestured, "Well, go on."

"Hmm." A thousand questions she's been holding back rushed to the forefront of her mind. "Okay, so the whole eye color thing?"

He shook his head. "Our diet affects the color. Most vampires actually have vivid crimson eyes, meaning their diet is of human blood. Only a few others subsist on animal blood like my family and I—there's a coven up north in Alaska like us."

"Why aren't there a lot?"

"Animal blood can't quench the thirst completely, just enough to ease the burn. When we taste human blood, a sort of frenzy begins—it's difficult to stop." He didn't explain it further.

Rory had an inkling that Jasper wasn't always a vegetarian and it didn't bother her as much as it should have. Everyone had their pasts, but it's who you are today that counts. She trusted him.

The hours seemed to pass in seconds, and turned to Jasper and Rory sitting side by side on the ridge, overlooking that tranquil emerald sea that went on for miles.

"So you can manipulate and feel others emotions—besides mine, of course—can all vampires do that? Or is it different for everyone?" Since learning the truth, each time she saw his siblings she had to wonder if they had their own secret superpowers like Jasper. She remembered Bella had said something about Edward reading minds...

"Not everyone has an ability per se, but when we become vampires, certain characteristics we had in our human lives are amplified, and for some it may manifest as something more tangible," he explained thoroughly. "It's really rare, actually."

He still didn't answer if his family members had abilities. "Can I guess who has powers?" she asked half-playfully, half-seriously because she already had her suspicions.

"Be my guest," he raised a brow, interested at the determined look on her face.

"Alice and Edward," she stated in one breath. "I don't think Emmett or Rose do, unless she has really powerful glares or something,"

He chuckled deeply, "Alice can see glimpses of the future and Edward can read minds—all except Bella's."

Rory raised her brow, "So Alice saw me coming?"

The sides of his mouth upturned, "Something like that."

"And why can't Edward read Bella's mind? It's like how you are with me, right?" Rory went on, her mind trying to work out all the information she was being told.

"Carlisle has his theories," he said with a shrug.

It took her a second to gather that Carlisle must be Dr. Cullen. "Interesting," Rory raised her brow. "Care to share?"

"I did say they were theories," he warned her.

"Indulge me," Rory grinned childishly.

"One is that both you and Bella might potentially be shields if you two were to ever change," he said after some thought.

"By change, you mean become like you—a vampire, right?" Rory was apprehensive of his next response, the prospecting topic was something she had already made a decision on. She hoped Jasper wouldn't mind she would prefer to stay human.

He didn't answer. She let out an inaudible sigh of relief, grateful to avoid the topic.

"There are other theories," Jasper finally said. "I think you like to keep a mental wall up to protect yourself. So even supernatural abilities can't go against your own personal will."

Her brows knit together, "But can't Edward read my mind?"

"That's why it's interesting."

"Any others?"

He nodded and began spieling out so many theories Rory could hardly process each one. Clearly, all of the Cullen's were at lost upon the possible reason Bella and her weren't normal. "—Our abilities may just not work on everyone. Rose thinks you and Bella might be wired differently from other humans. Carlisle thinks mates can't use their abilities on each other. Esme thinks our powers are meant to exclusively affect vampires more so than humans. Alice—"

"—what's a mate?"

"Vampires, despite being undead and feral creatures who feast on the blood of others to survive, have the ability to form few special bonds with each other. You see, my kind are typically nomadic in nature. My coven is very rare as we comprise of two mated pairs, Carlisle and Esme, and Rosalie and Emmett, and three unmated vampires—Edward, Alice, and I, all bonded together through something Carlisle calls vampire consciousness. We are one of the few of our kind who value human life."

"Is that why you don't drink human blood?" Rory asked curiously.

He sighed and shook his head. "I guess I should tell you the truth about myself now. There's no easier way to keep you away from me than this."

Rory frowned. "I already told you it was too late. Nothing you can say will change my mind about you."

"It's not what I will say, it's what I did."

If that wasn't ominous enough, his entire disposition darkened and he backed away from her. She didn't try to close the distance between them again, realizing he needed space to tell his story to her.

"If you didn't notice before, I have the most difficulty controlling my bloodlust out of my family members. I'm the newest to this diet." Jasper closed his eyes, "I wasn't always a vegetarian. Before I joined Carlisle's family, I belonged to a very different one—it can't even be counted as a family, really."

Rory didn't speak a word or show any reaction, knowing Jasper needed to focus, to tell his story just like she needed to the night before.

"I was born in Jasper Whitlock in Houston, Texas in 1844. I was almost seventeen years old when I joined the Confederate Army in 1861. I lied to the recruiters and told them I was twenty. I was tall enough to get away with it."

Rory stared at him wide-eyed, quickly doing the math in her head as he continued speaking.

"My military career was short-lived, but very promising. People have always...liked me, listened to what I had to say. My father said it was charisma. Of course, now I know it was probably something more. But, whatever the reason, I was promoted quickly through the ranks, over older, more experienced men. The Confederate Army was new and scrambling to organize itself, so that provided opportunities, as well. By the first battle of Galveston, two years after joining the army—well, it was more of a skirmish, really—I was the youngest major in Texas, not even acknowledging my real age."

"I was placed in charge of evacuating the women and children from the city the night I changed. I remember that one night very clearly." His eyes were dark with the memories of his human past. "We reached the city after dark. I stayed only long enough to make sure the entire party was safely situated. As soon as that was done, I got myself a fresh horse, and I headed back to Galveston. There wasn't time to rest."

"Just a mile outside the city, I found three women on foot. I assumed they were stragglers and dismounted at once to offer them my aid. That's when she turned me—Maria," he snarled the name under his breath. "She was creating a vampire army of newborns. My abilities to control emotions served her well, training her newborns—an endless occupation since she never let them live beyond their first year. I became the second in command. It was my job to dispose of them. I could feel everything they felt. I thought what Maria and I had was love. But I was her puppet. She pulled the strings."

"I didn't know there was another way...Until I found Alice," he grinned at the thought of his best friend. "Or, to be truthful, she found me. She knew my name, of course, and then we found the Cullens—who miraculously accepted me to my surprise."

"Why wouldn't they have accepted you?" Her brows furrowed in puzzlement.

"Most vampires typically stay far away from me at first sight," Jasper said bitterly. He caught her confusion and sighed, rolling up his sleeves to show her his hideousness. He brought her hands to feel the raised lines on his forearms. The unfiltered sunlight cast a shadow and made the slightly raised half-moon marks somewhat visible to her human eyes, the barely iridescent marks glittered a bit differently from the rest of his marble skin.

"These are bite marks," she gasped, realizing what the pattern was. Rory stared at the mirage of silvery crescent shaped scars. She had seem them before, sort of, because they were very faint, but it had never occurred to her where they had come from. She should have known it wasn't anything friendly—vampire teeth must be the only thing sharp enough that could penetrate their marble skin.

He had always been intimidating, easily scary to most of their classmates, but she now understood why vampires could be intimidated of him. She had a feeling the marks didn't end at his arms and neck and face. Thousands must have marred his skin in attempt to kill him and a thousand died trying.

He had never lost a battle.

"Battle scars."

"In so many years of slaughter and carnage, I'd lost nearly all of my humanity. I was undeniably a nightmare, a monster of the grisliest kind. Yet each time I found another human victim, I would feel a faint prick of remembrance for that other life. Watching their eyes widen in wonder at my beauty, I could see Maria and the others in my head, what they had looked like to me the last night that I was Jasper Whitlock. It was stronger for me — this borrowed memory — than it was for anyone else, because I could feel everything my prey was feeling. And I lived their emotions as I killed them." He was ashamed of his words and Rory wished she could comfort him more than just holding his hand.

"I've told you how I can manipulate the emotions around myself, Rory, but I wonder if you realize how the feelings in a room affect me. I live every day in a climate of emotion. You're the only person I feel normal around." He looked at her like she was his savior, despite it being the other way around—multiple times.

"For the first century of my life, I lived in a world of bloodthirsty vengeance. Hate was my constant companion. It eased some when I left Maria, but I still had to feel the horror and fear of my prey." The hopeless look on Jasper's face devastated Rory. "It began to be too much. The depression got worse, and I was so wearied by killing — killing anyone, even mere humans. Yet I had to keep killing. What choice did I have? I tried to kill less often, but I would get too thirsty and I would give in. After a century of instant gratification, I found self discipline ... challenging. I still haven't perfected that."

Rory twisted her torso to hug him tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck, sensing he had said all he could about his past. "So, Major Jasper Whitlock, that's your human identity?"

"Yes." He hummed thoughtfully, liking the way she said his human name more than he should. "That wasn't enough to scare you away?" He felt slightly wary of her answer, despite being wrapped in her embrace.

"No," she rolled her eyes. "I'm tougher than you think."

"Did I answer all your questions then?" He looked into her eyes.

"Well, you never really answered what a mate is..."

He sighed, he had hoped she had been distracted. "When vampires form an unbreakable bond with each other...of the romantic nature, it's something stronger than your human marriages and much more dangerous," Jasper explained, avoiding her eye for some reason. "That's how I knew Maria wasn't it. I would've killed her if I had too. Mates would do anything for each other. And if one were to be killed...the other would stop at nothing to avenge their mate. The vengeance would consume them entirely. As a general rule, only the bond between mates is strong enough to survive the drive for blood and now Carlisle believes our gifts may not affect mates."

Rory took a moment to process Jasper's dark past, his dark desires. It changed nothing. Her thoughts led back to the beginning of their conversation, what had been prickling at her heart for the last few minutes. She looked away from him and out at the pine forest thoughtfully, almost shy of his reaction. "So, Carlisle...thinks we're mates?" Her brown eyes briefly flickered to him.

He nodded promptly, carefully eyeing her as if scared of her reaction, her heart was beating fast. Instead of freaking out or panicking, Rory appeared calm as she turned his head towards her, until his golden gaze met her warm hazel eyes, her palm cupping his cheek.

The sun had begun to disappear and with it, the glittering of Jasper's skin. The blossoming couple watched the darkening sky, holding hands and each others hearts. All doubts had diminished and Rory finally felt relaxed in Jasper's arms again, unafraid of the consequences.

Another day gone. Another twilight.

"And what do you think?"

His next words were simple, but undeniably truthful, answering nothing and everything all at once. "You were worth it all."

She smiled brightly. Then, her petal-like lips tentatively, gently, passionately met his cold, surprised ones in a flurry of warmth.

His eyes fluttered shut and he allowed himself to feel. All the battles, the loneliness, every scar that littered his body—he would relive it a thousand times just to meet Rory Aden once.

His cold lips were a fire that blazed of a warmth that touched every part of her, stemming from her lips and flooding her entirely, body and soul, her heart was consumed by it—by Jasper.

Rory realized what the feeling was. The reason she had felt so scared, so anxious like she had been about to fall off the top of the highest skyscraper in the world. The fear that she was about to plunge into the unknown. She wasn't scared that Jasper didn't have feelings for her, she was scared of her own for him—the plunging deepness of which that had begun to bloom for the blond vampire with an unthinkably darker past than her own the moment she walked into that classroom.

She didn't know how possible it was to love someone so quickly and so effortlessly, but Rory could no longer deny it.

Aurora Aden was truly, madly, and deeply in love with Jasper Whitlock Hale.

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A.N // is it ok to cry over your characters? like happy cry? i feel like a mother crying over her babies? is that even possible? i love jaory so much omg and jasper's past was taken almost verbatim from chapter 13 of eclipse, edited of course

also ive basically finished writing twilight for crimson, it's basically just meeting the family + a lil frickle frackle ;) + baseball scene and those events so about five more chapters so ive started writing part two and im deadass crying at what ive planned out so far like do i really wanna tortue jaory THAT much omg...itll be an interesting plot twist though

next update: 10 likes, 2 comments ??

(i literally dont like doing that^ but i just wanna hear some more input, thoughts, etc)

love yall 💕