Seraph

55

Once Jasper felt comfortable wearing short sleeves and revealing his scars, he immediately drew the Denalis' attention. Not in a negative way. They were just curious. Eleazar was part of the Volturi guard and had several scars of his own, but the newborn armies didn't start until after he had retired. Jasper explained how it had all started with a vampire named Benito. Serafina was surprised, but she told them about the man Benny she had met in the past. Jasper was confident they were the same. They couldn't believe that even after knowing Benito's fate, there were still vampires in Mexico willing to tempt the Volturi's wrath by playing with small newborn armies.

After learning more about his work with the newborns, Kate was more curious about Jasper's skill, which led to their current situation underneath the trees. They worried for her safety until she assured them she would be fine and that she actually had some fighting skills and had even been somewhat of a bodyguard in her human life.

Everyone was excited about the upcoming match. Serafina had, of course, set up betting. But even in the frivolous atmosphere, Emmett still managed to complain.

"Why did you never ask to fight me?" he complained, "Look at me! I'm way stronger and better at fighting than Jazz! I mean, look at that form. No offense, Jazz."

"How could I not take offense to that?" Jasper scoffed. The others just laughed at that.

"It's not a matter of form or strength. That's why I don't want to fight you. I'm sure I can take you down in less than a minute. Jasper here is used to fighting multiple unpredictable enemies. The fact he's still here shows he's a fighter. A warrior. That's why I want to fight him," Kate explained as she tied her hair up.

"So you like that non-traditional fighting style?" Emmett asked. She nodded in agreement, "I can do that too! Well, I can fight against that if that's how you want to fight. I sometimes spar with Serafina, and she's a big-time cheater." He said seriously.

She ignored him again but turned her attention to Serafina, "You fight?"

"No, that's just so Emmett will shut up and leave me alone," Serafina answered.

"But what if you were to be attacked?" Kate trailed off, eyeing Serafina and Rosalie up on the branch they were on—a dangerous glint in her eye.

A tree immediately to Kate's left burst into flames instantly, shocking everyone present but Rosalie. Rosalie grinned in amusement as she leaned back to kiss Serafina on her neck before looking down at the others domineeringly. "Hypothetically speaking, if I were to sense a threat. I'd just kill it before it got close." Serafina arrogantly answered with a mocking grin of her own.

Kate put her hands up in surrender, "Just asking."

"Show off," Edward coughed into his hand.

The couple ignored him. Serafina gently put Rosalie to the side as she calmly dropped down and began her duties collecting bets. She, Rosalie, and Irina placed their bets on Kate. Emmett still complained but put his money on Jasper. Edward did as well. But Serafina was surprised when Alice did the same. She didn't look very confident in her choice, which caused Serafina to give her a confused look.