{I'd wanna be felt by you, held by you,
Feel the power of your hand on me}
-h.
"So Texas" Hazel smiled laying down on the blanket, looking up at the stars "you gonna tell me all your deepest and darkest secrets?"
Jasper chuckled and lay next to her " I thought we'd start off with the moderately dark and not that deep before we delve that much."
"Boo you whore" Hazel snarked, rolling over to her side, her hand supporting her head as she looked at the beautiful blonde. Her heart beat a little fast her when he sent her a smirk "come on I wanna know all the gossip of the vampire world!"
Jasper reached forward and took her other hand that was resting on her stomach and interlinked their fingers, gently stroking her thumb with his.
"What do you wanna know darlin?" He asked bringing their fingers to his lips, kissing hers softly.
"Everything" she said a bit quieter "tell me everything about you."
"I was born in 1842, Houston, Texas" Jasper started, rolling onto his back pulling Hazel into his side. She smiled softly, resting her head between his shoulder and his neck, their hands still interlinked resting on his chest "I was born Jasper Whitlock. I had a small family, a younger sister and a mother a father. We weren't poor but we weren't rich either. I was 17 when I joined the confederate army"
"You were a confederate soldier?" Hazel asked quite shocked "but why?"
"At that time in my life, I thought what I was doing was right. Honourable even" Jasper scoffed gently "it took me a while to realise it wasn't."
"Sorry" Hazel mumbled "I interrupted, carry on." Jasper just smiled and held on a little tighter, but careful not to hurt the fragile human.
"In 2 short years I rose rank. I became the youngest major in the Texas Calvary" Jasper said quite proudly, then his voice changed in a darker tone "in 1863 I was helping evacuate women and children, when I came across them. They were like anything I had ever seen. The pale skin, the red eyes. My first meeting with immortals."
"The one who changed you?" Hazel asked quietly suddenly sensing where this was going, feeling a mixture of both apprehension, and happiness that Jasper was going to share this with her.
"Yes. The one who did, her name was Maria. She was with two others, Lucy and Nettie. I offered them my aid, to try and get them to leave. And that's when I was changed. Maria, she wanted a solider for her newborn army. To train them how to fight."
"A new born army?" Hazel asked sitting up. Jasper sat up next to her, rubbing her back. Hazel couldn't explain how comfortable she felt with Jasper, as if they were always just meant to be.
"They were very common in the south. The civil war masked all the killings that took place. There was a lot of human casualties. They were formed to fight endless battles for territory. Vampire against vampire. Maria was one of them, and she won them all. Training the newborns was an endless occupation as she never let them live past their first year."
"But why?"
"Vampires are at their most powerful in the first year of their life" Jasper said looking away into the trees "their human blood lingers which makes them stronger. However your emotions are heightened, you loose control quickly, can't control yourself. That's where I came in. I could control their emotions, make them focus on fighting. But when they started to weaken, Maria, she made me get rid of them." Jasper's voice broke. Hazel leaned forward, placed her hands on his face and turned him to look at her. She rested her head against his.
"I could feel everything they felt." He whispered "they were so scared. So terrified." Hazel quickly pressed her lips against his cold ones, pulling him tightly too her. His arms went around her waist and pulled her into his lap, one arm stayed around her waist the other went into her hair.
"That wasn't you" Hazel whispered, placing her hand where his heart lay even though she felt no beat.
"It was" Jasper murmured "I stayed with Maria for years, in a cycle of endless killing and fighting. It was only when a friend, Peter left. He came back years later and told me what it was like up north, that vampires could co-exist in secret with humans. I thought he was insane" Jasper let out a laugh "but I left with him. I wandered for years by myself. Then one day, I went into a diner to hide from the rain. And there was a vampire sat there, with golden eyes in a booth."
"Carlisle?"
"Alice" Jasper smirked "she looked me straight in the eye and told me I was late."
"And what did you say?" Hazel asked amused.
"I said ''my apologises ma'am' and sat down. She told me about Carlisle and this coven, how they survived off animal blood. I didn't believe it, I didn't think there was another way to survive. And then she took me to meet them, it was in Pittsburgh."
"And now you're here with me." Hazel smiled running her hand through his blonde hair, he took her palm in his hand and pressed a kiss to it.
"And now I'm here with you, Alice told me about you you know? When we first met."
"How did she even know this was going to happen? I thought her visions depended on decisions."
"They do, but some decisions are already decided for us. Have you ever heard of the term 'mate'?"
"Isn't that the English word for friend?"
Jasper chuckled and shook his head gently "yes but also no. See in the animal world, and also the vampire world, a mate is someone who is your partner. Like a soul mate. As in, you're meant to be together, almost destiny."
Hazels heart began to race, the tingling across her skin when her powers were used came back. She leaned back carefully, Jasper raising his legs so she could lean back on them.
"Are you saying, that, that we're" she pointed between the two of them "were, soul mates?"
"Yes Hazel. That's exactly what I'm saying."
Hazel let out a big breath that she didn't even know she was holding, her head was swimming with so much information that she had received in the last 48 hours. She thought about her grams, her parents, Rhys and his appearing ghost but not real ghost cause he isn't dead.
"Hazel? Hazel, darlin look at me. Breathe in, good girl, hold it in for 5 seconds. You're doing great, okay now breath out" Jasper said softly "you're doing good, keep doing that." Hazel focused on Jasper's voice and his commands. After a few minutes, her head stopped spinning and she finally found her voice.
"I'm sorry" she croaked, Jasper shook his head gently and reached for a bottle of water, opened it and handed it to her. She quickly took a few gulps "I need to stop with the panic attacks."
"Don't apologise, ever for that" Jasper told her gently but firmly, brushing a piece of hair out of her eyes "don't ever apologise for something you can't control."
"So me and you huh? Meant to be? Kinda like Romeo and Juliet without the killing them selves part."
Jasper chuckled "pretty much. But this does not define you, or me. It's just a feeling that we share. I feel the most comfortable when I'm with you. I get on edge when you're not around, as in I need to keep you safe. I just want to see you happy."
"Honestly Jasper" Hazel said suddenly feeling quite shy "these past few days have been a total shit show I can't lie, but being with you, is the happiest i've felt for a long long time. And if it means I get to feel like this all the time when I'm with you, then saddle up cowboy cause you're not getting rid of me."
Jasper grinned and kissed the girl in front of him "who said I ever wanted to get rid of you sugar?"
<<<<>>>
Later that night, after stargazing, talking and kissing that never went any further, Jasper dropped Hazel off precisely at her curfew. She leaned over and kissed him once more before heading out the car and into her grandmothers house, feeling lighter then she has in months. Before she went in, she turned and gave Jasper a salute which he smiled and returned, before driving away. Hazel signed happily and sighed as she went in.
"Oh look, Lestat is trying to get in the good books by getting you back on time" her grandmother commented from the couch causing Hazel to smirk. The older woman was half way through a cigarette with a grimoire in her hands "I'm not going to have to start stocking O negative am I?"
"Please Grams" Hazel scoffed sitting next to the woman "I'm more of a B positive type of gal."
"I bet you are" her grandmother chuckled taking a drag "nice night?"
"It was actually" Hazel blushed pulling all of her hair to one side "was nice to take my mind of things yano?"
"Well hate to break it to ya kid, but shit hit the fan and now it's ready to collapse and start a fire" her grandmother told her while flicking the ash of her cigarette into the ash tray "your parents want to see you tomorrow, before the fly home. And we need to discuss this dead ex not really being dead."
"Yeah bout that" Hazel not her lip "I forgot to tell you something."
"If you're pregnant I swear to god-"
"No! God no Grams! I've just kinda being seeing his ghost."
"I'd like to say I'm surprised but I'm not" Melinda sighed rubbing her temples "this just made things a hell of a lot more complicated. Okay, go to bed, we will sort this all out in the morning."
"Night Grams" Hazel leaned over and kissed her grandmothers cheek "thank you, you know, for being supportive and not treating me like I'm a freak."
"Honey if you're a freak then I'm queen freak of the damned. Now go to sleep, you need some sleep before we deal with tomorrow cause it sure as hell is gonna be stressful."
"Can we not just send his ghost back?"
"I wasn't talking about the ghost I was talking about your parents. Causing me enough stress to have an aneurysm."