Warrior || Jasper Hale {1}

Chapter 2

The clearing in the forest behind the school was not the ideal place that Ellie had in mind when she suggested they go elsewhere, but it had its perks. It was quiet, and there were no unsuspecting eyes to witness the scene if something were to go wrong, which was possible because these were vampires she was dealing with, but she could easily get away if she wanted.

Bronze hair rolled his eyes at the girl, "We're not going to eat you, so you can stop thinking of ways to escape."

Her thoughts were ridiculous. She couldn't just run away from vampires.

"Not that she could," the burly one barked out a laugh.

"I can do more than you realize, Bear Man," she challenged, her eyes narrowed on him.

His laughter only grew, "I like this one! She's feisty."

Rosalie continued to glare at the girl before spouting the first question in her thoughts, "What are you?"

Ellie looked at the vampire in confusion before replying, "Human?"

"It's not possible," Bronze hair stated. "You have no scent and recognized us immediately."

"I'm not stupid, Bronze," she scoffed. "You're not exactly my first vampires. I do what I have to do to stay hi—protect myself."

"And you've managed to somehow erase your scent?" he shot back, suspicion in his voice.

"Something like that," she said, fiddling with ring on her left hand.

"Hidden from what?" Jasper questioned, causing Ellie to flinch in response.

She'd been hoping that they hadn't caught that. Unfortunately with the question, came thoughts of the monstrosity that she was, indeed, hiding from. His black hair and violent, red eyes that gleamed in the moonlight were haunting in ways that she couldn't describe. His bloodlust was even worse. He was not someone that these people wanted to mess with.

"Who is he?" Bronze questioned, noticing the frown growing on her lips.

Ellie clenched her eyes closed for a moment before replying, "Someone terrible."

"What'd he do?" Jasper grit out, anger prominent in his golden eyes.

"Terrible things," she replied, willing the tears building up in her eyes to stay put.

"Like what?" Bear Man asked, ready for a challenge.

A single tear slipped down her cheek before she whispered, "Do I really have to talk about this?"

Rosalie's glare softened minutely before she huffed and uttered, "Talking about it generally helps."

Ellie didn't like the fact that they were pushing her boundaries, but she had to admit they were right to an extent. If she was going to stick around this town, they needed to be prepared for what he was capable of. Because if he's given even the slightest of opportunities to destroy them, he will take it. He wouldn't care who they were. So bracing herself, she did what she believed to be best.

"He killed my best friend... And my sister's boyfriend, and it's all my fault," Ellie murmured, tears falling every so often.

Alice placed a cold hand on her leather clad shoulder, "You didn't do that, Ellie. It wasn't your fault."

"He wanted me. It's as good as my fault," she objected, pain gripping tightly to her. "If I hadn't denied him what he wanted, they wouldn't have died."

"It's his fault, Ellie. Not yours," Jasper said, watching her with saddened eyes as she moved away from Alice's touch .

Alice, deciding that it was time for a different subject, asked, "So what did you see in class?"

Ellie roughly wiped her eyes, thankful for the subject change, but she hesitated before replying, "Jasper. I saw Jasper."

"What about me?" the man questioned.

"Just glimpses of who you were. You signing up for the Confederacy, getting bitten... A few various things," she stated, watching him carefully.

Jasper furrowed his brows. She saw his past and not his future? He had never heard of anything like this before, but then again, not so long ago, he never believed in vampires either. So this was no less possible.

"Why aren't you afraid of us?" Bronze asked her. It didn't make sense. Any reasonable human would be afraid of them. Something was off with her claims.

"Because I can take care of myself," she replied, confident in her answer.

"How?"

"I don't intend to give you all of the details of that," she expressed, eyes narrowing. They didn't trust her, and she most definitely didn't trust them. "I don't exactly fully trust you just yet."

"But you will," Alice grinned, pulling the girl into a hug.

"We'll see about that," she said, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She didn't trust them, but she knew they would eventually pull her into their lives. It happened in every town she entered. The supernatural were drawn to her. It was just part of who she was.

"What are we going to do with her?" Rosalie asked, eyes still narrowed at the blonde. "She knows about us. We can't just let her go freely."

Jasper stepped in front of Ellie, a low growl rumbling in his chest, causing Rosalie to snarl in return. He knew this girl was important to him. He could sense it. She was the only human he had found that he didn't want to drain of life. That had to mean something.

"Ellie won't tell anyone, Rose. I've seen it," Alice said, effectively ending the potentially deadly fight. "Besides, you wouldn't just strip Jasper of his mate would you?"

Ellie rolled her eyes, "Trust me, it's going to take a lot more than a few vampires to take me down. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon... And mate? Really? I literally just met you. Give me a small break."

Jasper's eyes showed hurt, while Alice's showed confusion, "I saw it. You're his mate. We've been waiting a very long time for you."

Ellie sighed, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose, "Look, it's not like I'm denying it. I'm actually very aware of it. I just have issues, a lot of them...a gigantic one being trust. So, I'm going to need some time. I've not exactly had the best experience in this department."

"You can have all the time you need. I have plenty to spare," Jasper stated, eyes gazing hard at the blonde.

"Thank you," she whispered softly. She knew he would wait. The question was: would he wait as long as she would need?

He offered her a gentle smile. She'd come around. He just knew it.

"Okay, not to disrupt the love fest, but we may have a bigger issue at hand,"  Rosalie started. She was sickened. Her brothers knew better than to involve themselves with humans. It was reckless and could endanger them all, especially since this one knew the truth.

"Yeah, like Edward not killing the new girl," Bear Man smirked.

"Oh hush, Emmett. He's not going to kill her. I've already seen it works out," Alice scolded the burly man.

"We should move this conversation to our home. Carlisle and Esme should be part of it," Edward said, not wanting to involve Ellie in this situation. "I'm sure Eleanor would like to leave as well."

"Honestly, I have nothing to do so... It's not a bother to me," Ellie said, but upon seeing Edward's frown deepen, she countered, "Fortunately, I can tell when I'm not wanted. So I'll see you lot later."

She turned to leave the clearing, but paused before doing so, "You're not going to hurt her, Edward, but if leaving is what you must do, realize that I will protect her until you return. No harm will come to Bella Swan."

Ellie promptly left after saying what she needed to say, leaving the Cullens with many unanswered questions.

Edward turned to his siblings, "She's not telling us everything."