𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐮𝐱 | 𝐚. 𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧 & 𝐣. 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐞

twenty-one | acceptance

Alice lays on her back, facing Persephone as her hand is held in Jasper's.

"So, how old are you?" The human questions, still fiddling with the grass in her hands. They had yet to move and the air had become colder, causing Jasper to place his jacket on her shoulders before settling back next to Alice. The vampires were determined to give her enough space that she was comfortable, while staying close enough to her that they could speak privately. They were waiting on her to make the first move in touching them, because they didn't want to scare her.

"Nineteen." Alice says.

"I was nineteen, too." Jasper replies. Persephone laughs softly.

"Sure. How long have you both been nineteen?"

Alice purses her lips in thought, then blurts, "A while. A hundred and sixty years.." She turns her head to Jasper. "Is that right, Jaz?"

"One hundred and sixty-one, darlin'." He replies. Persephone whistles lowly, eyes widening in shock.

"Wow."

"Is that.. okay?" Persephone frowns at Jasper.

"What do you mean?" Alice sits up and sighs, facing Persephone.

"Sweetheart," she says, inching closer to Persephone. "We're waiting on you to react how you should."

"How should I react?"

"Um, running away? Even just a little frightened?"

"You've felt nothing close to fear since you've arrived on our doorstep." Jasper interrupts. "It's a little worrying, honestly."

"Why would I fear you?" Persephone pauses, narrowing her eyes at Jasper. "How would you know if I'm scared?"

The two vampires exchange a wary glance.

"Let's discuss that some other time?" Alice questions. Persephone stubbornly shakes her head.

"I want to know the truth now. I don't want anymore secrets between us." Her eyes reveal the sadness she feels to Alice, and Jasper can feel it clearly building up in his chest and prickling at his eyes. His instincts scream at him to comfort her – to take away her pain, and hold her in his arms until she forgets what it even felt like to be unhappy. He restrains himself.

"Sweetheart-"

"It's something called a gift. Vampires can get them when they turn – the turning process heightens all of our emotions and senses, which sometimes leads to special abilities being formed from previous abilities we had as humans. Alice sees the future because she had constant dreams of the future as a human. I can feel people's emotions and manipulate them, because as a human I was very empathetic and took on other people's pain if they shared it with me. Edward can read thoughts because he was good at reading people's expressions as a human. Carlisle and Esme have strong compassion because they were extremely compassionate as humans. There are others like us, but.." He clears his throat, feeling uncomfortable with how close they got to discussing the Volturi during a conversation that could very well get them and their coven killed. "They're unimportant."

"So, Edward can read my thoughts, you can see my future, and you can manipulate my feelings?" She repeats, feeling uncomfortable. She wondered momentarily if her feelings towards the couple were her own. Were they thoughts planted in her head by Edward? Were her emotions manipulated by Jasper? She quickly chastises herself for thinking so. She loved them on her own. Her feelings developed naturally, they are entirely hers.

"Yes." Alice replied, glaring at Jasper. She wanted to ease the human into things – not throw her into the deep end with complex explanations that weren't even fully accurate. "But it's limited. Edward can read the thoughts of people he's near or of whom he knows personally and has had contact with, but even then there's a limit of a few miles distance between himself and that person. Jasper can feel and manipulate the people in the same room as him, but no farther than a mile away. I can only see the future if a decision has been made, and it often changes based on a change in decision. It's not definitive."

"Did you see me?" The human feels better knowing that her emotions when she leaves Jasper and Alice are entirely her own. Her love doesn't fade when she leaves the room with them – the late nights of tossing and turning and dreaming of their hands and lips and skin prove that much.

"I did. I'm not sure why – at the time, I knew little about you and hadn't made the decision to approach you yet. Sometimes that happens, though. Gifts are strange. There's no rules for them – we have to figure them out as we go, and they can sometimes change and evolve as the years pass. We're immortal, after all." Persephone hums, processing everything she's been told.

"The sunlight thing is a myth, right?" Alice watches as Jasper pulls her hand into his lap to play with her fingers.

"What sunlight thing?"

"That vampires burn in the sunlight."

"Oh. No, but we are affected by it. We'll show you sometime." Upon seeing the human's frown, she hurries to reassure her. "We're not injured by it, love! Don't worry."

"Okay, good. Garlic?"

"Doesn't do anything. We can't eat human food, either. I mean – we can, we just get really, really sick afterwards."

Persephone sits in silence for a moment, before rising to stand on her knees. She crawls over to her partners and looks down at Alice, who is now directly in front of her. Slowly, she raises her hand and presses it against Alice's chest. Alice inhales audibly, frozen.

"You don't have a heartbeat." Persephone can feel the vampire take in a deep breath before replying.

"No. We don't have to breathe, either, unless we have to talk." Her voice is strained. Persephone finds satisfaction in the knowledge that she affects her lover by simply resting her hand on her chest. She pulls her hand away and sits back on her feet.

For a while, it's quiet – her and Alice stare at each other, with Persephone's breathing picking up and Alice's stopped altogether. Emotions are building up inside of Persephone in a jumble, but she focuses only on one. There's a pause, and then Persephone is leaning towards Alice and the vampire is leaning in, too.

Their lips press together and it's cold on both sides and so, so perfect. It's a kiss full of acceptance and love and Persephone let's out a soft sound from the back of her throat and Jasper's hand lands on her lower back and his other hand removes her hair from her neck and—

The sky opens up above them, and it begins to rain. Persephone pulls away, eyes widened in shock, and Alice bursts into laughter. Jasper hurries to pull his coat off the ground where it landed when Persephone leaned into Alice. He holds it above the two girl's heads, but realises quickly it's raining too hard to help much. He's soaked within seconds, and Persephone's hair is sticking to her skin. Alice is amusing herself by laughing and rubbing the water from her eyes.

"Oh my god." Persephone says after a moment of them all listening to Alice's laughter and the thundering rain. Alice nods, a smile still gracing her lips. "I hate Forks."

Jasper bursts into the laughter at that, and soon they're all laughing with his jacket resting against the tops of their heads. They're all soaked along with the jacket, but none of them seem to care. Jasper can feel her acceptance that had earlier been hidden behind apprehension and confusion, can feel her love and fondness and can't stop himself from pressing a sweet kiss to her lips. She tastes of herself and Alice and rain, and their lips slide together easily. It's perfect and sloppy and loving and Persephone thinks she wouldn't rather be with anyone else – vampires or not.

—

comments make my day. thank you all for reading and leaving feedback – it makes me smile every time i get a notification.

–A