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The Necklace	By : belladonnacullen Category: Twilight Series > Het > Alice/Jasper Views: 4635 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or make any money from this story.

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A/N: To The Necklace readers: So sorry it took this long to update! This story will eventually intersect with Polar Night, so now you're guaranteed regular updates. I hope you enjoy this next chapter. m

For the first time since I was a vampire, I couldn’t see what was in front of me and I couldn’t see the future. And for the first time since Jasper and I were together, I couldn’t sense his emotions. I felt lost, unmoored and skittish, and my hand clutched Jasper’s in an effort to root myself to something. I knew Jasper felt vulnerable as well by the way his strong arm wound protectively around my waist, and by the way his body was vibrating as growls and snarls erupted from deep in his chest.

“Oh my, warrior vampire,” the tiny high-pitched voice cut through the dark, “we don’t mean you or Mary Alice any harm. It’s much more likely that you might hurt us. We’re only doing what we can to keep you at bay.” A chorus of chuckles echoed through the dark.

The voices came from a distance, but the way they echoed and bounced around us made the location of their source difficult to place. And while the air hung heavy with moisture and the bright scent of moss, I couldn’t smell the ones whose laughter taunted us, which was truly disorienting for us both.

Jasper responded with a loud snarl and I felt his muscles tense as if he planned on springing into the dark to attack, even if he didn’t know who or where he would be attacking. I pulled him against me with all the force I could muster. “Please, Jasper, we need their help,” I whispered.

But Jasper simply tugged me backwards in the direction that we’d come. “Alice, let’s go,” Jasper hissed in my ear. “We’ll find another way.”

“No. They know me.” I tried to hold my ground.

“Or they pretend to. Let’s go.” I was no match for Jasper’s strength. He wound his arm around my waist and pulled me off my feet. My body flew backwards and collided with something cold and hard. A rock wall. But where was Jasper? His hand was still wound around my waist, but where was the rest of him?

“Jasper? Jasper! Jasper!” I clutched his seemingly disembodied hand in mine. Spinning around, I tried to find the rest of my mate. All I found was damp rock. “What did you do with him?” I shouted at the darkness. Again, I desperately pulled at his hand, as hard as I could. Suddenly, Jasper was by my side. I threw myself at him, hugging him to me as tightly as I could.

“I’m sorry, warrior vampire.” The deeper of the voices rang out. “Mary Alice isn’t going anywhere without our help. She expelled the decoction. I’m afraid that if you’re leaving, you’ll have to leave without her.”

“Never,” Jasper growled.

“He’s quite imposing. Fierce. I’m quite frightened, actually,” the little voice chimed in.

“Roidh, that’s enough. He doesn’t need to know that you scare easily. That’s no help to us,” a third voice chastised.

“And you’re not afraid, Donnchadh? Hmpf! I’m sure it’s every day you come face-to-face with a vampire warrior.”

“Enough!” the deep voice bellowed. “Enough from the both of you.” The voice paused, and when it began again, it was spoken in our direction. “Warrior, these two may flee like fawns in the face of danger, but I don’t frighten quite as easily. And there are more of my kind that are summoned easily enough.” The voice paused, and then continued in a gentler tone.

“Now, Mary Alice, please tell us why you brought a warrior vampire here with you.”

The air was vibrating with Jasper’s growls. His hand dug into my side as he attempted to pull me behind his body. “Jasper, please,” I sighed, exasperated. We were getting nowhere this way.

I grasped Jasper’s hand in mine, and squeezed to try to reassure him. Then I turned in the direction of the voices. “I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know why I’m here. I need help and Maggie brought us here. She thought you could help,” I spoke to the darkness.

“The vampire? Margaret of The Burren?” the voice asked in response.

“Umm, yes?” I’d never known Maggie by that name, but could there be another? Hardly.

“Why would she bring you here? Does she know you are baobhan sidhe?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve never heard that word before,” I admitted.

A chorus of “Tch, tch, tch, tch,” echoed through the blackness, sounding disapproving, disbelieving. I was even more confused than I’d been before. I felt like I was missing something so very important, and it was right in front of me.

“Jasper, do you know what they’re talking about?” I turned toward Jasper, wishing I could see his face. I touched my hand to his cheek and felt him shake his head in the negative. He held my hand against his face, intertwining his fingers with mine and squeezing. I sighed, momentarily lost in the reassuring feel of his skin.

“Look at that. She loves him,” Riodh sighed.

“And he does her,” added Donnchadh.

“A vampire as a consort, who would have thought?” asked Riodh.

“And he wasn’t even her first.” Donnchadh replied.

“You mean Augustin?”

“Yes. We said to save her, and look… tch, tch, tch.”

“Well, she’s not technically dead! Perhaps that’s what vampires think when y --”

“Enough!” the deep voice commanded. “I think it’s time that Mary Alice tells us why she brought this vampire here.”

I’d felt Jasper growing more and more tense as the two voices bantered back and forth. “Damn right, it’s enough!” Jasper growled. “Enough darkness, enough jokes, enough telling Alice what she has to do. We wouldn’t be here unless we had to be. Now take this seriously, turn on the lights, stop being cowards, and face us. And then, maybe, we’ll cooperate.”

The silence was so thick I could almost see it. Almost. Really, I couldn’t see anything. Three long seconds passed.

“Fine,” the deep voice agreed. “Light!”

*****

An ethereal blue light glowed in the moonless night sky, which was sprinkled with small, bright white stars. We stood in a grove of alder, beech and Rowan trees whose branches were bowed and heavy with red-orange berries. The hills around us rolled gently toward the horizon, covered with glowing green moss. The entire scene seemed odd, as if the world was backlit, and I was tempted not to believe any of it despite the proof provided by my eyes.

“Oh, Alice,” Jasper breathed at my side as he grabbed my waist.

I couldn’t help smiling as I turned to him. His wild mane of blond hair fell around his face, highlighting his honey-colored eyes, bringing out the gold in them. But his eyes and his face were overcome with concern, and he surveyed my body for any signs of visible damage at the same time he pulled me against him protectively, as if his arms and body were shields against the unknown. I felt the steady rumble in his chest, his muscles were tensed and ready to spring into action.

“Please, Jasper. I’m fine. This will come out all right in the end. I’ve seen that much. It’s okay. They know me, I think,” I assured him, rubbing his arm to try to transmit a feeling of reassurance. But then I remembered that wouldn’t work right now. He couldn’t feel my emotions and I couldn’t feel his. Not since we’d gone through the fall. That alone made me a little less sure about everything, and I looked at my feet. Without my sight, without Jasper’s emotions I was adrift in the unknown. And I was sure he felt the same, deprived of his extra senses.

Suddenly, the air was full of cinnamon and sugarplum, scents that would usually turn the stomach of any normal vampire. But instead, venom pooled in my mouth and I was inexplicably drawn to the odor. I needed to get closer. I spun around to find it’s source, sure there would be a pile of human candy in front of me. Instead three beings stood six yards from Jasper and I.

I hadn’t heard them approach at all. Were my ears going too?

I say beings because I’d been sure the voices were female, but three boys seemed to be smiling at us. Were they boys? I couldn’t tell. They were like nothing I’d ever seen before, but they were very familiar, somehow.

The three weren’t any taller than I was, but nevertheless, they were all long limbs, and long lines. Their joints and edges all seemed a bit pointy: pointy chins, ears, prominent knees and elbows. They were thin, delicate, and graceful in the way they held themselves, but tough as well. Their smiles seemed to mask ferocity held carefully in check.

Well, two of the three smiled, at least. One of the faeries stood a little apart from the other two. His face was anything but happy as he glared with malice at Jasper. This faerie was all white and brown. His skin was the color of milk chocolate, and his curling dark brown hair was cropped close to his head. His eyes were also brown, but his pupils glowed white, flickering under the strange nighttime light. And then something vibrated behind him, something nearly transparent, glimmering white and soft pink. I strained my eyes, something I wasn’t used to doing as a vampire. They were wings! They were as long as the boy’s body, dusting along the ground behind him.

I covered my mouth in surprise. He really was a faerie!

The other two faeries were slightly smaller than the first. They had the same long limbs, the same delicate features. But one had straight reddish-brown hair that hung in his eyes. He brushed his hair away from his face and I could see that his eyes were enormous and almond-shaped, and they were the exact same color as his hair. His skin glowed bronze and his wings were small, like glimmering green and brown leaves. The shortest of the three had tumbling blond hair, chubby pink cheeks, and salmon-colored eyes. His full lips were pressed together into a mischievous smile, and his pearly pink wings drooped against his back.

Suddenly I realized that we were all awkwardly staring at one another. It seemed to dawn on the two little faeries as well. They looked at each other and giggled, then took a cautious step in my direction.

I tried to compose myself. It was rude to stare. How often had I endured the curious glances from humans? But I realized a little too late that Jasper was anything but amused. As soon as the two faeries moved toward us, Jasper growled, crouching, getting ready to pounce. I jumped between them, and the little ones stopped in their tracks and froze. I didn’t know any creature besides a vampire that could stay as still as they were. It was disarming.

I turned to Jasper. “Jasper, please. Please. Hold it together. They’re not going to hurt me.”

“You don’t know that and neither do I.” Jasper’s voice was gruff and hard.

I knew what he meant. Without our powers it was near impossible to tell what was going on, like the world had been turned sideways and suddenly black looked purple. Not exactly upside-down, but seriously off.

“We are your DinsheenK'ha, Mary Alice,” Donnchadh said in a calm voice. “Tell the warrior that we would never harm you. But you, warrior vampire, you lay a hand on her and we will stop being kind.”

I couldn’t help laughing out loud as I turned back to the faeries. Four sets of eyes looked at me like I was mad. “Jasper would never hurt me,” I explained. I wound my arm around Jasper’s waist. I knew he was sensitive about people assuming he was a dangerous because of his scars. I should have picked up on that sooner, but without his feelings washing over me, I’d forgotten.

“Jasper’s here because he trusts me, and wants to keep me safe, and because he loves our family. He won’t hurt you, as long as you don’t hurt me.” I turned to smile at Jasper, hoping I’d smoothed things over all around, but was surprised to see him look away sadly. That’s when I caught the scent of his venom, and noticed his lips glimmering wet in the light. I thought he’d just been overprotective, but now it looked like he wanted to feed. What I wouldn’t give to see him explaining himself to me in the future right now!

I looked back at the faeries. Sure, they smelled oddly pleasant, but not appetizing in the least. No to me, anyway. Their smell just made me want to get closer to them, maybe touch one? I noticed the little one gulp and shuffle back slightly as I gazed at him. I shook my head to try to shake it all off, closed my eyes for a second to try to collect myself, and opened them determined to finally get somewhere.

“All right, enough of this! Jasper would never hurt me. And you three, you’re, you’re… Dinshey-somethings.

“DinSheenK'ha.” The little one offered. “Your protectors.”

“Right… Unh huh... My protectors. Thanks, Riodh,” I grinned, more confused than ever, but glad to have put a name to a face. “So, Jasper, they’re not planning on hurting me. I’m safe.” I looked between each of the three faeries. “Now, please. Would one of you tell me what you’re talking about? My protectors? What’s a DinSheenK’ha?”

“The young these days,” the reddish-brown faerie sighed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. “No respect for their ancestors. How quickly they forget us.” I recalled from the earlier conversation that this one was called Donnchadh.

“I thought vampires never forget… Or is that elephants?” the little pink one asked, grinning broadly at Donnchadh. He looked as if he were trying, with much difficulty, to suppress an outright laugh.

“You’re right on both counts, Riodh,” the large brown and white faerie replied, without a trace of humor. His voice was grim and disapproving. “But this little baobhan sidhe wouldn’t know. She’s never been told.”

The other two faeries sighed, suddenly close to tears. “So sad,” they murmured in unison.

“And please tell me what you keep calling me. It’s very rude not to explain yourselves like that.”

“She’s right, Aodhfionn. If she needs our help, like she says, we’ll have to bring her to Aine. We can’t just march her into the celebration knowing absolutely nothing about us, or about herself. We’re her protectors, after all,” Riodh said, wagging his finger at the large faerie.

“The court would never hurt one of their own.” Donnchadh argued.

Riodh rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Don’t be naive, Donnchadh.”

“Riodh is right,” Aodhfionn announced. The other two fell silent immediately. “Alice has been owed her past for too many years now. It’s our fault.”

“No, I disa --”
“That’s going a bit --”

“I said enough! It is our fault that Mary Alice doesn’t know about us, or about herself. We owe her as much before she meets Aine.” In his indignation, his eyes glowed intensely white, and his wings stood in angry attention. Then his wings swept through the air behind him, and he was very quickly and very gracefully sitting cross-legged on the mossy ground.

“We have much to explain, Mary Alice, but not much time. Aine will be expecting us. Please, make yourself comfortable. I have a story to tell.”

*****

“My name is Aodhfionn, this is Donnchadh and Riodh. We’re called DinSheenK’ha. We were raised to be protectors, protectors of women. When we are asked we avenge women who have been wronged. And we are in the service of our queen, Aine. She is the one that may be able to help you. But more on Aine, later.”

“But why are you my protectors?” I couldn’t help interrupting. “And why do I need them?”

“Oh, Mary Alice, isn’t it obvious? You were imprisoned for being one of the fae,” Riodh chimed in.

A white fire glowed in Aodhfionn’s eyes. “And that is unacceptable.”

“The fae?” I asked. They thought I was a faerie. This was awkward.

“Riodh, please. I don’t need your help,” Aodhfionn chastised.

“Sorry, Aodhfionn.” The little faerie hung his head. But when Aodhfionn turned away, he snuck a glance at me and winked. I was beginning to like that little guy, even if he did think I was a faerie.

“I’m sorry, Mary Alice,” Aodhfionn apologized. “Where was I? Right, at the beginning. Your story intersects with ours over sixty years ago. Your grandmother Shannon came to see us.”

“She came to court, Aodhfionn. If you’re going to tell the story, tell it properly,” Donnchadh lectured.

Aodhfionn cast Donnchadh a withering glance. “Over sixty years ago, your grandmother Shannon came before the Saelie court. She asked for the help of the fae. For years she thought you were dead, Mary Alice. But many years later, something your little sister said to her in passing made her think otherwise.”

“Cynthia?” I’d only found out last fall that I had a sister.

“Yes, Cynthia. Cynthia mentioned something about a dream. A dream where doctors took you away. Your parents were always vague about your death. They never spoke of it. And with that one comment, your grandmother was sure you weren’t dead. She knew it. She’d always felt your presence, but she couldn’t see you, you know. She believed they put you somewhere to hide the fact that you’re one of us. That’s why she expected our help.”

“But, I’m not one of you! I’m no faerie. My mother and father were human. I was human.” It was best to get this straightened out now, before it went too far.

“Oh my! Such strict ideas about what it means to be human, what it means to be a faerie! Mary Alice, your grandmother was half faerie, on her mother’s side. She had the sight, just like you. She always embarrassed your mother; she never accepted the sight for what it was, an enormous gift for any partial human. So when you started showing signs, she tried to beat it out of you, Mary Alice. Your father was no help, I’m afraid. He was very Christian, and he believed your sight was the work of the devil.”

I shuddered. It was along the lines of what I’d expected, everything except the faerie part anyway. But it hurt to hear, all the same. Jasper rubbed my thigh. “Are you all right, Alice?”

“Sorry, I don’t think so, Jazz,” I said, glancing up at his wide eyes, full of concern.

“Mary Alice, is this too much?” Aodhfionn asked in a quiet voice. I turned to look at the faeries and their eyes were all cast on the ground.

“Please, you guys, you didn’t do any of that. Don’t you feel bad about this. I don’t even remember it.” The two little faeries shrugged their shoulders, nodded their heads in agreement, and seemed to come around quickly with my words. I decided to pity myself later. There were more important things at hand at the moment. But first I had to know one thing. “I’m really part faerie? That’s crazy.”

Aodhfionn was still angry, though. “That’s what they called you, crazy, and they locked you up. Rest assured, Mary Alice, I would have killed your parents myself if your grandmother asked. For a mother, to torture her daughter, for a faerie to hurt one of its own… it is the worst offense. Your mother’s life wasn’t pleasant, but she got off easy, Mary Alice. She should be glad I never got to her.” Aodhfionn’s eyes flashed like lightening, and then I noticed the edge of his wings catch the light. They were sharp as razors. I shuddered. Maybe faeries were something to fear, after all.

He looked away and took three deep breaths. When he continued, he was more composed. “Your grandmother petitioned Aine to find you; to see if you were alive, and to help you if you were. Faeries love to help.”

“I’ve heard as much,” I agreed. Maggie told us so on our way to Pollnagollum.

“From Margaret?”

“Yes.”

“And in your own experience?” Aodhfionn asked.

“What do you mean?”

“What about you? Do you love to help? In ways that some might find…”

“Pesky?” Riodh chuckled. “Annoying?” I immediately thought of Edward… And Bella.

Jasper’s laugh echoed through the air. I was both happy to hear that he’d calmed down a bit, and annoyed that he was laughing at me.

“The warrior says yes,” Donnchadh confirmed, smirking.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest. “I’m not pesky!” Jasper laughed harder and wound his arm around my shoulders, reassuringly.

“Only in the most helpful of ways,” he smiled, kissing the top of my head.

“And of course, you have the sight,” Aodhfionn added, completely missing the humor the others were enjoying at my expense.

“Usually. Now it’s on the fritz,” I admitted.

“Yes, I know. That brings us to the next part of the story. The part where we let you down, I’m afraid.

“After your grandmother asked Aine for help, Aine set us to the task of finding you. But faeries don’t have the sight when it comes to others of our kind. That’s why your grandmother couldn’t find you, and it’s why we didn’t know where to begin. We needed one with the sight. Augustin was a friend that owed a favor to the fae. No one wants to be in our debt for long, you see.”

Riodh batted his eyes. “We had a feeling about him! He always loved the fae.”

“Most vampires do,” added Donnchadh matter-of-factly, looking Jasper in the eye. I turned to eye Jasper myself. He suddenly saw the need to study the low-hanging branch of a tree.

I turned back to Aodhfionn. “Who was Augustin?”

“He was a vampire. A vampire that we could see was destined for love. We thought it meant he would follow our orders: be indiscrete, find you and find a way to inconspicuously rescue you.

Riodh interrupted again. “’Keep Mary Alice safe!’ we said. Those were our words.” And then the little faerie’s eyes glowed red. “‘And avenge her pain,’’’ he hissed menacingly.

“At least he got the part right about avenging you. He burned that place to the ground,” Donnchadh interrupted.

“But the three of us miscalculated with safe part of the plan.” Aodhfionn continued, looking at the ground. “And I’m sorry for that, Mary Alice,” Aodhfionn said very quietly. Very quickly, he was looking at me again. His white pupils had grown soft, like the clouds, and a tear fell from the corner of his eye.

“Aodhfionn is too hard on himself. James was unexpected. We couldn’t have seen that. He didn’t plan on finding you,” Donnchadh added in their defense.

Aodhfionn wiped his eye and continued. “And when James did find you, it threw everything off. Augustin had spent so many careful months integrating himself into the institution. And he did love you, just like we saw. He was so careful with you, he went to such great lengths to keep you safe, while he found a way to get you out without raising suspicion. But James ruined everything.”

“She’s alive, isn’t she?” Donnchadh challenged.

“If you call that alive,” Aodhfionn spat.

All four of us heard Jasper’s chest rumbling.

“Augustin did what he could,” Riodh huffed, his pink-hued hands on his little hips. “How else was he supposed to save Mary Alice from the tracker?”

“And then James killed Augustin instead. Leaving you alone, with no memory,” Aodhfionn added with grim finality.

“Wait, how did you know I don’t have any memory of the past? I thought you didn’t have the sight when it came to… me.” I couldn’t bring me to call myself a faerie. Yet.

“It happens with all the baobhan sidhe. With the venom, you become someone else. A different person, almost. Well, same person, different DNA. So you lose the sight. Everything is wiped out, like you never existed before. It requires so much guidance and patience to raise a new vampire faerie. So many become bloodthirsty killers.”

“We were so worried that’s what you had become,” Donnchadh admitted.

“But look at you! So beautiful. So refined. And not a killer at all, quite the opposite,” said Riodh, blushing. I did like that little one.

“Maybe it’s because you are more human than most,” Aodhfionn surmised, looking deep into my eyes. Something inside fluttered with him looking at me like that.

“More human, what do you mean?” Jasper asked, grasping my hand a little tighter.

“The baobhan sidhe are half vampire, half faerie,” Aodhfionn explained. “Mary Alice is much less faerie, and much more human than most.”

“There are others?” I asked.

Riodh giggled. “Many, many! Vampires love faeries. A little love here, a little nibble there, it’s near inevitable.”

“What are the others like?” I had to know.

For the first time Aodhfionn grinned. He had a handsome smile. “Just take a good look at yourself, Mary Alice. Strong, thin, graceful. Like a faerie in that you’re helpful, you have the sight, and I imagine you love to dance. I see it in the way you walk. But like a vampire, you subsist on blood.”

I bit my lip and looked at Jasper for support. It was like my mate was looking at me for the first time, but this time I had no idea what he was feeling. His eyes were wide, his mouth hung open a little, and then I saw him gulp.

“This Augustin,” Jasper asked, his eyes still on mine. “Was he… honorable?”

I spun to look at the faeries. All three were blushing deep crimson.

“Well, I don’t --”
“It wasn’t or place to --”

“I made him swear,” Aodhfionn murmured quietly. “After all, you are one of us, and you were defenseless.”

“Thank you,” I whispered, touching the faerie’s hand. It was like touching chiffon over steel, soft and hard all at once.

“Yes,” Jasper agreed, taking my hand back from the faerie. “Thank you.”

“It was the very least we could have done,” Aodhfionn murmured.

Donnchadh interrupted. “But, I’m afraid our little getting to know you time is up. Aine is expecting us. She doesn’t suffer tardiness.”

“Yes. If you’re here for help, you must ask Aine. We can do nothing without her orders,” Riodh agreed.

“To Aine?” I asked Jasper. He was definitely more relaxed now, his lips pressed together thoughtfully, one hand in mine. An odd thought danced through my brain. This must be how it is for humans to hold hands. Trying to guess what the other is thinking, and never knowing what would come next. It was awful and exciting all at once. Jasper squeezed my hand and shook his head.

“Fine, Alice. To Aine.”
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The Necklace