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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.

Chapter List
- 7
- 8
- 9
I took Alice’s hand firmly in mine as we followed the three little fairies out of the clearing and into the woods. The scent of green grass and tart berries hung heavy and constant in the air, in a manner that was almost too intense to be real. For once the fairies were quiet, and I was glad. I’d had enough of their banter. Enough of their innuendo. Enough of their big buggy eyeballs ogling Alice.

I know the brown one said he wanted to stay up late and have an intimate heart to heart with Alice about her life, but I’d be damned if that was going to happen. After everything that Alice and I had been through today, I needed some time alone with my mate. Without my ability to sense her emotions, I felt like she and I were experiencing this separately, kept apart although we were side by side.

The landscape began to change in front of us. The forest grew sparse and rolling green hills covered the ground in uniform mounds, each hill sheltered at its base by a thicket of tall reeds. The faeries led us to one such hill, round and low, covered in thick moss and twining dark green vines. Aodhfionn pushed aside the thick green stems, and they bent easily to the side, revealing a small bungalow, completely concealed by the foliage.

“I don’t imagine either of you will need anything… food, water, plumbing?” Donnchadh asked.

Alice smiled kindly at the little man. “Thanks, of course not.”

“There’s a bed,” Aodhfionn coughed. “If you want it.”

Alice looked away and I glowered at the guy. I had to remind myself with each passing second that we needed their help; otherwise Aodhfionn would have been thrown to the hills and quickly pummeled.

Out of the corner of my eye, Riodh was becoming visibly impatient, and it looked like the tiny thing was trying to keep his limbs from dancing off into the cool night air, or perhaps like a human toddler that feels the need to relieve himself. Donnchadh cast an exasperated look in the little faerie’s direction and shook his head pitifully.

“I want to get back to the celebration,” Riodh moaned by way of explanation.

“In time, Riodh. Mary Alice, Warrior, you heard Aine. You’re to stay here this evening. I’d do as she asks, if you would like her help,” Aodhfionn warned.

It sounded well enough to me. I’d seen enough, and frankly, I didn’t trust half of what I’d witnessed.

“You guys are going then?” Alice asked. Did she want them to stay? Had she been looking forward to her conversation with that faerie? I tried to catch her eye, but she knelt down so that she was at eye level with the smaller of the two.

“Yes, Mary Alice, I’m afraid we must go now. But, perhaps, I could return in the morning, before the court?” Aodhfionn suggested.

I shook my head and suppressed a growl and Alice cast a withering glance in my direction. She had to see that the faerie was coming on to her. She had to know what that did to me. “Jasper and I would be happy to speak with you, Aodhfionn. Perhaps you could help protect me and my family by telling us more about the Saelie Court.”

“In exchange for more knowledge about you?” he asked.

I grabbed Alice’s waist and helped her to her feet. I’d had enough and it was time for them all to leave. “We’ll see, Aodhfionn. Perhaps,” I nearly growled.

“Because, Mary Alice, I would do anything to keep you safe.”

*****

The three faeries finally left, and I shuddered to think what those skinny pre-pubescent-looking boys might do at a celebration of that nature. Alice and I wandered into the little hut. I barely took the time to notice a small wooden table, with a pitcher and glasses, a rug that looked suspiciously like it was made of feathers and flower petals, and a low bed piled with an excess of white billowy-looking bedding. I didn’t care. I cared about Alice. I looked over at her, looking so lost as she wandered through the little room, and wished I could reach out to her mentally. That I could make the distance between our bodies alive, like it usually was. We felt so separate here, and I didn’t like it at all. Especially not while that little faerie was practically drooling over my mate, my wife.

I sighed and Alice turned towards me. But the space between us seemed dead and cold, empty. If anything but my family had been on the line, that little faerie would have been dead. Alice was mine, goddammit.

I crossed the room in two long paces, grabbed Alice’s arm and pulled her to me, pressing my lips hard against hers. She gasped and tumbled into me a bit. Right, she hadn’t seen it coming, and she didn’t know how I felt. Well, I felt like I wanted to remind the both of us that we belonged to one another.

But something caught my eye… a topaz shimmer, and my stomach twisted into a knot. I knew what that glimmer meant, it was the way Alice’s eyes shimmered when she was nervous. Nervous about… me? I let go of her, took a step back.

Alice gaped at me. “Jasper, what the hell was that?”

“A kiss.”

“That’s not what I meant. At all, Jasper. What’s gotten into you?” She had her hands on her hips and her mouth was pinched in a look of frustration. With me.

“That little faerie wants you,” I tried to explain.

“Jasper!”

“He makes me angry, Alice. And he knows I can’t do anything about it.”

“Please, Jasper. He’s going to help us. That’s all I care about.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“Alright. And I care that I’m a little bit related to these… people. I’ve never known blood relatives that I remember, anyway. And, well, they really seem like they enjoy having me around. It’s comforting after hearing about… about my human family.”

I immediately had Alice in my arms. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I wasn’t thinking about you like I should have been,” I murmured, rubbing her back, kissing her head. I should have been concerned about how Alice was dealing with all of this, not having a pissing contest with a goddamned faerie. Of all things. I rolled my eyes and mentally kicked myself, vowing to do better the next day.

“I’m really okay, Jazz. I am. We’re in the right place. I think. It’s just hard not to know.”

“It’s hard not to feel,” I added. “It’s like someone cut the connection between you and I. It makes breathing hard, Alice, when I can’t feel you. It makes me nervous, and makes me want to kick some faerie ass.”

Alice chuckled a little and traced the line of my jaw with her fingertip. “I miss feeling you, too.”

“How much longer?” I asked, placing a soft kiss on Alice’s sweet lips.

“I don’t know Jazz. Another ten days, maybe? I can’t see a thing.”

“Ten days until you see us with Aro? Until he says he’ll leave us alone?” I left out the part where I planned on doing whatever I could to keep Alice and Aro apart.

“The vision never changed, Jasper. As long as we came here, it always ended with Aro saying we were safe until the New Year.”

I let out a sigh. If nothing else came of this, we’d give our family the time we needed. I could only hope Bella felt the need to turn, quickly. “And that’s the only reason that I’m still here. Still in this little room, with this soft bed, alone with you.”

I thought I heard a small sound in the distance, like a cross between a groan and a giggle. But it might have been the never-ending old-fashioned music that would swell and fade with the breeze.

“It’s good to know more, too. To hear what happened to me. To know why that vampire, Augustin, was there,” Alice added.

I sat on the bed and pulled Alice onto my lap. It felt good to touch Alice, to have her pressed against me. It helped make up for the missing hours, just slightly. There had been so many missing hours, lately. A missing month. God, how I'd never get enough of this woman. “I agree with the brown one, though, on one point. You are exceptional,” I whispered, nuzzling her ear with my nose. “I don’t know how you did it, how you survived. Do you know the first thing that struck me when I saw you, Alice? It wasn’t your charm, or your beauty, although they were there, certainly. But it was your strength. You were so sure of yourself, walked up to me so certain, when all I wanted to do was turn on my tail and run. Because I’d never felt anything like that before. But you faced it, faced me, head on and I had to know more.”

“Maybe I’m not so strong. I knew I’d see you. It wasn’t strength, it was my sight.”

“It’s all you, Alice.”

“Because now that I can’t see a thing, I don’t feel so strong,” Alice confessed, resting her forehead against mine.

“I’d take you all over again, just to prove my point,” I said, kissing the tip of her nose and then moving to her lips. I hoped she understood the double meaning in my words, even without my ability to make her feel what I meant. I saw Alice’s eyes glitter. That was my girl. She pulled away a little and smirked at me.

“Thanks.”

“No need to thank me, baby. It’s the truth. I’m the lucky one; you know that. You were doing fine without me.”

“Only because I was waiting for you. You made me a better person before I even knew you.” She’d told me that before, plenty of times. But now, maybe, it meant something a little different. After seeing all the faeries amazed at what she’d done. How she’d come out civilized and sane on the other end of her ordeal. That ordeal.

I felt my anger growing all over again.

“What you went through was their fault, you know,” I heard myself growl. Finally I felt I had someone to blame for Alice being abandoned as a newborn.

“It’s because of them that I ever made it out of that asylum,” Alice protested, suddenly jumping from my lap.

“But to send some vampire that was going to fall for you? That was criminal.”

“Don’t you believe we’re meant to be together, Jasper?” Alice asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

Her question shocked me silent. She didn’t have to ask; she knew how I felt about her. After all we’d been through, she knew. She was the only thing that kept me moored to this lifestyle during those first years. After every failure, it was Alice that drew me back and made me start over again. Because I couldn’t live without her. Because I knew that with her, I was finally complete. Because I knew that I’d been blessed, and she felt the same.

I looked deep into her amber eyes. “You know the answer, Alice.”

“Then I won’t hold it against them, Jasper. They knew something, and what they did was right. I would never had found you if I were still human. I don’t want to be human. I want us. You’re the only thing I remember wanting from the first day.”

I could never hear those words enough. A million times and it would still sound as sweet. And like that, I forgot my anger all over again. I needed Alice, my body shuddering to life. I stood to my feet and quickly closed the space between us. We’d been apart for nearly a month, and I needed to make up for lost time.

“Oh my!” Alice gasped, her eyes focused somewhere below my waist. “I didn’t see that coming.”

“We do have until the morning,” I murmured, as I let Alice feel just how much I wanted her.

“But we should talk about tomorrow,” she protested, pulling away from me. This was getting frustrating. “What we’ll say to the court, how we can get Aodhfionn to help.” I growled under my breath with mention of the little shit’s name. Alice playfully slapped my chest, and it did nothing to help her case. I grabbed her little hand and pulled her to me.

“We have all night, Alice,” I repeated.

“But, Jasper.” Alice looked around suspiciously. A few more muffled moans drifted through the window on the cinnamon scented wind. The music continued, dipping and swelling in an odd kind of swaying rhythm. A few more voices joined the ones we’d heard before.

“Well, this is awkward,” Alice chuckled.

“We have all night for strategy. If you’re one of the fae, perhaps you should join in the celebration.”

“Jasper! Be serious,” Alice grinned, her eyes on the ceiling.

“Look in my eyes, Alice. I am very, very serious. Don’t you want me?” And I concentrated on forcing the heat that was simmering under the surface of my skin out through my eyes. I could almost feel the burn. I wanted Alice to feel it. The need that had welled up in me was almost unprecedented. It was nearly all I could think about. Let the faeries wait; let the Volturi wait. I had Alice here with me. The soft bedding beckoned me and I wanted to tumble in it with Alice. I needed to feel her bare skin against mine. I could already see her slim little body wrapped up in mine, under those thick blankets, perhaps tearing into them so that feathers cascaded around our heads. It wouldn’t be the first time. Probably not the last…

I wondered for a second if faerie beds were sturdy… maybe we should move the bedding to the floor.

“Jasper?” Alice sounded lost. “You have a funny way of showing a girl you want her. First angry, then lost in your own thoughts. Where’d you go there?”

And that’s when I saw my in. Alice didn’t know what I was thinking, what emotion was coming next, what I’d been planning just now.

“You don’t know.” I could feel energy building, my excitement mounting.

“I don’t know what?”

“What I’m going to do to you.”

Alice’s eyes went wide. I’d caught her. I knew it. Any indecision was gone and I noticed the familiar tremble in Alice’s legs. We’d always assumed it was due to the emotions I’d projected. Hmm… Was it just her desire for me, after all? I couldn’t contain the swagger in my step as I walked over to Alice. Yep, there was that flicker of anticipation in her eyes that I loved so much. After sixty odd years, I knew the emotion that went with that flicker. It hit me right where it should, and I throbbed with need. By the time I’d crossed the room to Alice, her breathing was ragged and her scent had changed, like flowers on the sea… like that time we’d seen the seaside procession off the coast of Sri Lanka. But better. It was my Alice and she wanted me. And I was going to take her like I never had before.

I stopped two paces before her, and she stood still as stone. Okay, I exaggerate: she stood like trembling stone. Her lips slightly parted, her hands at her side, her fingers scratching reflexively at the denim of her jeans. Oh, how I couldn’t wait to tug that denim off her slim little hips. But first, I wanted to hear it from her, hear that she wanted me.

“Alice?”

I didn’t have to utter another syllable.

“Yes,” she gasped, and her lips collided with mine, pushing us clear across the room. I dug my heels into the ground and braced my body against hers. This was my show tonight. There were skills I’d picked up over the years, methods to tricking Alice and taking her by surprise. But I believe she humored me more than not. She nearly always knew what was coming, even when she didn’t want to. And tonight she couldn’t.

The sound of the cooing faeries in the hills and arbors around us was intensifying. The strange music surged, slow and steady, weaving in and out of the forest around us. The bed beckoned, the mounds of thick, pillowy comforters seemed to grow and expand before my eyes. And without thinking, I picked Alice up and tossed her onto the bed. Alice nearly disappeared in the bedding, and I dove in after her, pinning her underneath me. I knew well what I wanted. But that would be too predictable. I might never get another chance at this.

I started with the crease of Alice’s elbow, kissing, licking and nipping, making my way to her shoulder and up her neck. Alice’s eyes glowed in the dark, excited, her breathing soft and fast against my face.

“Oh, Jasper,” she breathed, locking her lips with mine, pressing her tongue against my mouth.

“Not yet, baby,” I murmured, moving my mouth back to her neck, pulling at the buttons of he blouse.

“Careful, Jazz, no change of clothes.”

I stopped myself, and carefully undid the buttons one at a time. I couldn’t bear to see Alice outfitted in something silky and elfin, decorated with flowers or leaves. So I took my time, kissing my way down her body as each button was undone. But again, I chose a different tack than usual, and paid close attention to her navel, licking my way around it, and then to the side, lightly grazing the spot where her hip met her jeans, then nipping my way back to her midline.

Alice arched her back, pressing her smooth abdomen against my mouth, pressing her scent into my nostrils, until I though I’d come undone. But I grabbed her hips in my hands, and very slowly, very carefully, undid her button and her fly with my teeth.

Alice’s moan mingled with the other sounds echoing through the forest and the hills. And I slid upwards until my mouth met hers. My lips brushed gently against hers, letting the breath of her moan tickle my senses, letting her sigh pull me in, connect me to her. For a moment, I just held her, breathing with her, delighting in the newness of this experience.

Everything was different, but Alice and I were the same. In the place of the thick current of emotion and sensation that usually connected us, there was a very palpable tingling, a charged heat, akin to electricity, and excitement. Alice seemed nearly jumpy underneath me. I’d see what I could do about that. How many ways could I calm her before she felt the need to make me stop and strategize for tomorrow? I’d aim to try as many as possible.

I’ll say this for them; faerie beds are very sturdy.

*****

Afterwards, Alice lay before me, her white skin luminous in the moonlight coming in through the window. Her nose tickled mine, a smile danced on her lips, her one hand tugged my hair, and her other traced my scars. It was something she was in the habit of doing afterwards, almost absentmindedly, memorizing the terrain of my skin in a way that made me feel quite desirable. Just another reason I knew Alice and I were made for one another. I smiled, satisfied and peaceful, emotions I may have considered a little to ordinary to describe my feelings in Alice’s arms. But, this time we’d been, well, normal. And she was perfect and happy, and I was glad. It was that simple. My love. My heart. My Alice.

I bent my head towards hers, but moved my lips to her ear at the last minute, tickling her with my breath, before placing the lightest nip on her earlobe. Alice jumped and wriggled, giggling a little. “Enough, Jasper,” she murmured. “Point taken. I don’t know what you’ll do next. I haven’t for the past four hours.”

I wrapped my arms around her, twined my legs with hers, pulled the blankets around our naked bodies, and as I did so, a layer of feathers fluttered into the air, before settling back over us. Alice giggled again, like the sound of soft rain falling into a brook, while fish splashed and swam against the current.

I considered taking a break from ourselves to brainstorm about tomorrow and how we would handle ourselves before the court. But my limbs were happily heavy, and I felt pleased and lazy all intertwined with Alice in the billowing blankets, like a cat after a warm bowl of milk. As if she could hear my thoughts, Alice nuzzled her head into the crook of my neck and purred contentedly, pressing her little hands against my chest.

“Hmm, Jasper, you feel so good. That was… lovely.” I felt Alice’s body connect with mine in all the right places, and I lazily felt my body respond, tingling, burning, aching. It felt so good, and I pulled Alice closer. I felt the light rumble in my own throat, and Alice and I purred in each other’s arms, teasing the nerve endings in my chest, sending an electric current from my surface to my core.

I watched Alice open her mouth lazily, taking in a big mouthful of air, squeezing her eyes closed. “What was that?” I asked her, mumbling.

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I didn’t mean to do it.” And before I could say anything else, I did the same thing myself. It was almost like stretching my lungs to see what they could hold, without meaning to. The upside was that I could taste Alice’s scent deep within, and after the whole thing, I came up smiling.

My brain was working slowly, dimly. With Alice pressed against me like this, I reasoned that we should either pick up where we left off, or we should get dressed and make plans. But it felt so good to simply bury my face in Alice’s short curls. The strong, silken strands of her hair glowed almost blue black in the light from the moon, reflecting the light as I ran my hand languidly through it.

I opened my mouth again, and more sweet air filled my lungs. Alice was heavy and warm against my body, her purring was deep and rhythmic in a way I wasn’t used to. It felt nice, relaxing. I felt my muscles easing under my skin, warm, heavy, and thoughts floated from my brain like they were being born away in bubbles, until the air around me was thick with my thoughts, dreams, and desires. And then the bubbles would pop, and one by one rain like fine phosphorescent mist over Alice and I in our feather next.

I heard the music coming closer, swelling, so sweet, like nectar. No, better, like blood: red and thick and fulfilling. Blood like I hadn’t had in many, many years. But this blood was free for the taking, there was no penalty, no guilt; I could simply breathe it in and feel it in every part of my body. Warm, relaxing, mind-altering. And my mind flew free from my body, like a bubble was taking it away, so that I could look down and see me and my dream girl below, tangled in one another, her shock of black hair against my white skin, both breathing deeply, so deeply, swallowed in the sheets, covered in feathers.

And suddenly, the bubble burst and my mind was the mist, a million glowing droplets, raining down over the still world.

*****

I was in the hotel room with Alice in 1948. It was our first night together. I was above her, against her, and her bright, anxious and impatient eyes glittered up at me. Alice was trying to be so strong. No, Alice was strong. The strongest being I’d ever met. How had she, alone, struck out on her own, and chosen to live off animals, chosen a life of respectability? My body shook, my body shuddered. She was the most impressive and important person I would ever meet, and she’d suddenly saved me, and I was completely in love with her, already. I knew what I was about to do, what I was choosing: the same life that Alice had chosen. If I did this, I couldn’t turn back. I knew it.

“Jasper,” Alice gasped, holding my face in her hands. “What?”

I saw her mind working, and I could almost see the different paths of the future that she was mentally searching. Did one of those paths lead me away from her? Never. I would never let her worry about that, if I could help it. I would never, ever leave this woman.

I thrust myself into her, and it was done. We both groaned, her hips rose to meet mine, my head collapsed against her chest.

“Jasper!” she gasped, her breath washing over me.

My breathing became heavy and labored, my body shook, and cold fire lapped inside me. I moved just slightly and my body erupted in cold flames, enough that I feared we might set the bed on fire. I tried to move again, it was almost painful: the most intense and wonderful sensation I’d ever had the good grace to feel. And I was gone, consumed. I didn’t know where my body ended and Alice’s began, because we were one.

“Jasper,” I heard somewhere.

“Alice?” My voice was a ragged whisper.

I could feel the electricity in the air around us, and as I breathed, it concentrated deep within me. Heating the flames, helping to unite us as one. That’s when I felt my body again. I was moving, rocking, pushing, forcing… Wait! Didn’t I say I’d be gentle? “Alice? Alice? Are you alright, Alice?”

I tried to concentrate as I breathed in the heady scent of sweet wildflowers in the salt sea air. I whipped my head around and caught a glimmer of amber light. Alice was below me, glowing; her eyes like sentinels. And she held my face, and I saw myself reflected back in her eyes. I expected to see myself engulfed in white fire. But no, instead I’d been changed. I was softer around the edges, and brighter inside. And suddenly I was back in body and mind, and Alice was fine, wonderful, and I pulled her to me, against me, and with a thrust, and another, and another, it was done. I felt her around me, her nails in my back, her chest pressed against mine, her head thrown back. And with a swift move my mouth was on her neck, my teeth at her throat. And I marked her as mine above and below.

Pure white light. A moment of calm perfection.

Then the world fell back into place around us. It was just Alice and I breathing deeply on the bed. But everything had changed. After that, she was a part of me and would be mine forever.

I held Alice close. This time breathing deeply, nervously, as I was walking up a long wooded drive in New Hampshire, my eyes darting, peering into the thick maple forest surrounding us. I felt their apprehension. They knew we were coming. I could smell them. Four of them. Alice said there would be five. Where was the fifth?

“Hunting,” Alice answered me before I asked.

“I don’t know, Alice. Are you sure?”

“As sure as I was about you,” she grinned.

In that case, she was very, very sure. I clutched her hand and walked further up the drive, until we made to way to a clearing. In front of us stood a large white house with a wrap around porch. On the porch stood two couples, waiting to see who we were. The large male was ready to pounce, but the other male held him back.

I felt Alice’s relief, her happiness, and another feeling I was hard pressed to give a name to. But the emotion was buried deep within me, and Alice was shaking it from my soul. It was a feeling I’d looked forward to as a human, but never had the chance to experience first hand. After her long, hard journey, Alice was glad to be home.

And then the clouds fell from the sky. They fell all around us, and it was only Alice and I holding hands. I pulled her to me, and wound my body around hers. She felt so good, so solid and soft against my skin. Her clothes were gone, and my clothes were gone, and her skin slipped against mine. I could feel that same fire all over again. I moved against Alice and she shuddered. The clouds supported us, thick, soft, and all there was, was Alice and I.

“Oh, Jasper,” Alice cooed. “You’re here.”

“Of course I am, Alice. Here with you.”

“What happened?” But even as she asked, she was moving against me, discovering me all over again.

“Sweetheart,” Alice called from a distance, even though she lay in my arms. Her hand was on my face, solid and smooth. I felt my eyelids flutter and open. Golden sunlight was streaming through a window at the far end of a bare wooden room. “Jasper?”

I was lying on a bed with Alice, naked in my arms. Birds twittered outside the window. Three little bluebirds came and lit on the doorstep, twittering and dancing, before flying off.

“Alice?”

Alice’s eyes were wide, delighted. “It’s daylight, Jasper. Were we…?”

Three sharp knocks echoed through the little hut and a silhouette stood in the doorway. I’d know his sweet candy scent anywhere. It was morning somehow, and that was Aodhfionn.

“Sleep well?” he asked.

*****

Alice clutched the blanket, pulling it around herself and I flew out of the bed to stand between the faerie and my mate, teeth bared. One look at my skin, and my quick movement, I suppose, and the faerie flew backwards, hissing, wings held firm, eyes glowing white.

“Out of here, faerie, if you know what’s good for you!”

Aodhfionn was gone quicker than the blink of a human eye, and his voice called out from beyond the little hill surrounding the hut. “I’m here to be of service. There’s scarcely a half hour before first mist, and I believe Mary Alice asked for my help. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll both dress and meet me, immediately.”

I heard myself grumble incoherently as Alice darted around the little room, collecting her clothing. “Jasper, dress,” she instructed sternly.

“I just don’t like him, Alice,” I hissed under my breath.

“You don’t have to. But you should be nice if you want his help.”

I reached my arms out and caught Alice as she dashed past me, “Wait, just a second, Alice.” My eyes pierced into hers. “Last night, you and I…” I felt a smile grow on my face, uncontrollable, as my hands grasped Alice’s arms, and I remembered myself holding her to me as my mind left my body.

She smiled back, her amber eyes shining in the slanting sunlight. “We slept together. Really slept. Did you dream?”

“About you,” I answered, suddenly wanted to get right back to bed.

“Why?” she asked.

“Who else would I dream about?”

Alice smiled, and kissed me softly. “That’s not what I meant,” she giggled.

“I think there’s a brown faerie out there that might be able to give us some insight,” I offered.

“Well, I’d prefer if you put on some clothes before we ask him.”

“Would you, really?” I asked, pulling her body flush with mine.

“It might go better for us at court.” Alice looked me over from head to toe. “Unless they’re all ladies, I guess. Then maybe we should keep you just like you are,” she murmured.

With Alice’s eyes on me like that, clothing was not going to come naturally. Alice stood half-dressed and eyeing me, but it was quite likely that Alice might be completely undressed very soon.

“Yes, it might cause quite a stir among the queens if the warrior showed up unclothed. I can’t say exactly what they would do,” the reedy voice from outside mused.

I growled and Alice threw my clothes at me, mouthing the word ‘later,” and pointing between herself and me. Later, indeed.

Three seconds later, Alice and I walked hand in hand out into the slanting sun of the sidhe. A warm breeze blew about our heads, bringing with it the smell of spices, earth, and brine. Aodhfionn was perched at the top of the hill that hid the little house, his hands under his chin, his wings fluttering in the breeze. His eyes settled on Alice and lit bright white. I clenched her hand in mine.

“Sleep?” I asked.

“Aillen’s harp. Does it every time,” he said, quite nonchalantly.

“But, we don’t sleep,” I countered.

“There’s no choice in the sidhe. We all sleep. And we can’t have two vampires prowling about in the dark. Surely, some of us wouldn’t make it until morning. Was it unpleasant? I’ve never heard of a nightmare in the sidhe.”

Alice slipped her arm around my waist and squeezed and I wished I’d had time to ask her about her dreams. Then she sighed, and leaned her head against my arm. I couldn’t wait to hear about her dreams.

The little faerie looked purposefully away.

“No, Aodhfionn. It was simply surprising,” Alice assured him. I was familiar with the deep notes her voice was hitting, and I was flattered.

“I don’t know how you do it. One long, unending night,” the faerie sighed.

“I thought you were here this morning to help,” I grumbled.

The faerie shook his head, then shook his wings, and turned toward us with a sudden business-like air. “What would you like to know, Mary Alice?” he asked.

Alice and I looked between each other, and simultaneously settled to the ground. Sitting wasn’t necessary, but it wouldn’t do to tower over the fellow. At least I knew that’s what Alice would prefer. I’d be happy to intimidate the faerie any way I could.

“Who will we be seeing? What should we say? What do we need to know?” Alice asked all rapid fire, leaning in toward the faerie.

Aodhfionn grinned; probably pleased to have her so close and so intent on what he had to say. “One question at a time, Mary Alice.”

Alice smiled back at him and I wished I could retch all over him, again.

“Who’s going to be there?” Alice started.

“The three tributary queens will be there, as usual. But Onagh is joining them today. They all defer to her; she reigns with her consort Finvarra. She’ll be the one with the black hair and black eyes. Make her happy and it will go well for you. It’s likely she’ll do most of the talking, along with Aine.

“You petitioned Aine directly, and ultimately, you are her responsibility. Aine is there for you, but she must also show Onagh that she acted wisely by taking the course of action she did. Make Aine proud, help her, and she will help you.”

“And will there be anyone there besides the four queens?” she asked.

“Of course: their guards, the horsemen, musicians. You don’t think we would walk one of the baobhan sidhe and a vampire into a room with four solitary queens, do you?” Aodhfionn snorted.

“I don’t know and I don’t care,” I muttered. Alice kicked at my ankle, a light warning kick.

“Where do we start? What should we say?” she asked, trying to make up for my comment with double the earnestness.

“They’ll know your story from Aine. And due to the peculiar circumstances surrounding, well, you, Mary Alice, they are bound to help. When they offer the help, you must take it. They don’t give gifts lightly. A refusal is not acceptable.”

I thought over the conversation I’d had with Aodhfionn yesterday.

If you ask the fae for help, you are in a position to take what you can get. We mix things up. It’s our specialty, you might say. And we find that when you put unlikely companions together, people learn something of themselves.

I decided to take the faerie’s words seriously. I didn’t need to learn about myself. We were here for our family, and I’d be damned to struggle with some personal milestone of the faeries’ choosing, while the lives of those I loved hung in the balance. Respect, I could do respect. I’d been an officer. Respect came naturally.

“Anything else?” I asked. I heard new conviction in my voice; my words were hard, clipped and serious. Aodhfionn jumped, surprised at the change, and Alice smiled. I was getting better at living without feeling her emotions. I could tell that she smiled because she knew that I was on board.

Aodhfionn took a second to regain his composure. I smirked. He didn’t want to show me that I’d rattled him with my voice. “They may ask you to do them a favor,” he said, not meeting my eyes. “As a way to show your fealty. I would grant it them. You do not want to be in their debt. A favor would assure that the arrangement is over after you receive your aid.”

“What kind of favor?” Alice asked.

“I couldn’t say.”

A filmy white wisp of cloud drifted between myself and the faerie, momentarily obscuring his face.

“One more thing, Mary Alice. You mentioned virgins yesterday. The one you spoke of, the human wife. Was she a virgin?”

“Yes,” Alice admitted.

“It is significant that you came on Ferragosto. Mention this. It will be taken as a sign.”

And then as if it fell from the sunlit sky, a blanket of wet cloudy air materialized above our heads. Moisture coated the emerald green grass around us, almost like it had been drawn from the ground. Life suddenly sprung forth with the mist. I felt myself drawn again, drawn to all the living beings around me. From the butterflies with the glittering purple wings, to the three bluebirds I’d noticed this morning (they were back, eating the orange berries in the trees over our heads) to a family of deer that grazed in the meadow on the other side of the house, to a group of faeries playing hide and seek in the arbor to the right.

“First mist?” Alice asked.

“Yes, it’s time. Come,” Aodhfionn said, standing and brushing his knees.

He led us through the trees along the path we’d taken the night before, all the while asking Alice his own set of questions: where life had taken her, about her diet, how she’d come to meet her clan. Not a question about me, I noticed. It was just as well. The less he knew of me, the better.

Alice answered his questions eagerly, and the sound of her voice was like a soothing lullaby as I focused on the scenery around me. The ground was a vibrant green that grew up the tree trunks and little houses in the form vines and moss. The forest on either side of the path was low and squat, and each tree seemed to glow and vibrate, like its light was coming from within, each bearing fruit that glistened with moisture. Slender white horses ambled through the forest, trailing long golden tethers, picking bright red apples from the trees.

Then it hit me, what was wrong with this picture. Birds, horses, and was that a golden cocker spaniel running through that horses legs? These animals were relaxed, almost as if Alice and I weren’t here at all. I wondered if I could jump on one of the horse’s backs and ride, something I hadn’t done in well over one hundred years. I thought back to my days as a boy and the pride I’d felt when I broke my first horse with father and the stable man. I could almost feel of dust and wind in my face as we galloped across the rolling Texas plains.

Alice’s hands brought me back to the present. Her fingers intertwined with mine, her other hand pressed against my heart. “Where were you, baby?”

“Where are we, now?” I countered. “It’s not real, is it? Any of this. If it were real, could I do this?” And I ran my hand along the flank of the nearest horse. His coat was soft and lustrous, and he shook and whinnied with pleasure at my touch.

Alice’s eyes went wide and I saw her turn to question Aodhfionn on the matter. But he had stopped in his tracks, the path barred by a line of faerie men in purple sloping helmets.

“We’re here for the Saelie Court. They’re waiting,” he stated to the guards.

“For these two? Before the court? I don’t think so, Aodhfionn. Onagh is here this morn’,” the guard chuckled.

Aodhfionn’s wings fluttered, and he straightened his white silk tunic and squared off against the guard, eyes glowing.

“Your powers of observation seem sorely lacking, Barram. I may have to mention that to Onagh. Have you seen their eyes? These are The Two.”

With mention of being reported, the guard’s face blanched, and when he gazed at my eyes, his body visibly shook. I don’t know why they bothered with these guards. I’d take them all in a human heartbeat. Take them all and then what, I wondered, my breath caught in my throat.

“Jasper?” Alice asked peering between the quaking guards and my breathless body. I simply shook my head. I had no idea. The draw that I felt between the faeries and myself was back, more potent than ever.

The line of guards quickly disassembled, and Aodhfionn led us into the clearing from last night. Along one side of the open space, a line of faerie men were seated on horseback, long spears clutched against their chests. The ever-present musicians stood in a circle on the other end of the clearing. And directly opposite us, four tall, slender faerie women were quietly murmuring to one another as they sat behind a table.

One woman sat apart in a polished silver throne, quietly observing the others with a regal air. Her jet black hair cascaded in waves down her back, her black eyes seemed too large for her face. She wore a filmy, shimmering gown that matched the complexion of her pale pink skin, making it difficult to tell where her dress began and her body ended. That, I figured, must have been Onagh, the high queen.

With our entrance into the clearing, all conversation ceased. The women turned to gaze at us. I could tell that they were working hard to look uninterested and unafraid, I’d seen that enough in my time on this earth, and it made me feel powerful before these faeries. Queens or not, I still had something of the upper hand. I remembered Aodhfionn’s words after we crossed the falls into the sidhe. I could break them in two like twigs. I tried to suppress a smug grin.

Onagh noticed my facial twitch and grinned at me outright.

Aodhfionn fell to his knee, head bowed. “Your graces. This is Mary Alice Brandon and her warrior consort, Jasper. They are here to petition the court for a favor.”

The black haired faerie raised her eyebrows at Alice and I. Alice tugged my hand, and I bowed my head. Right. Respect. Get this over and done with quickly.

“Your graces,” I mumbled.

“That is your man, Aodhfionn, is it not, Aine? Please explain his words to the court.”

“These are The Two,” Aine stated simply. Her reply was met with murmurs and hushed exclamations.

“Let me see your eyes,” Onagh ordered. I looked over at Alice, our heads still bowed and she nodded. We slowly picked up our heads to face the court. My gaze locked on three sets of wide, unblinking eyes. Hands were held over gaping mouths.

But Onagh was unfazed, nodding a little and almost smiling. “She was yours to protect, Aine, was she not?” Onagh asked, pointing a thin finger at Alice.

“Yes, your grace.”

“Her clan brother avenged Augustin’s death?”

“Yes, your grace. Her brother killed James, Augustin’s killer.”

“But they interrupted the celebration to ask you a favor? That seems a bit self-centered and inconsiderate.”

“Your grace?” a small voice squeaked. It was Aodhfionn, shaking like a leaf at our feet, his head still bowed.

“Faerie?” she addressed Aodhfionn.

“They interrupted the celebration with good cause. The ones Mary Alice is here to help. They are virgins.” The music suddenly stopped, and all of the faeries in the clearing stood very still.

Onagh simply raised her eyebrows in Alice’s direction, an unspoken question.

“Well, until last night, anyway, I think. I don’t have the sight right now, you know,” Alice answered, embarrassed.

More murmurs whispered through the air. This time it wasn’t only the queens, though. The guards spoke in hushed voices to one another. The horsemen on horseback coughed and turned away. One of the faerie musicians dropped her lyre to the ground.

“Very well. It is predetermined. Aine, in this situation the power is yours to do as you see fit. I am here to observe, out of curiosity. They have captured my attention,” the last sentence rolled out of her mouth low and smooth. “Show me how this is done, Aine.”

Aine seemed suddenly insecure, almost flustered, as she pushed her thick red hair behind her shoulders, and looked around at the assembled faeries, and then at Alice and I. But the other three queens looked to her with respect, nonetheless.

“You come here seeking help, and help is owed you,” Aine stated to Alice and I.

“Surely it isn’t as simple as all that, Aine,” Onagh retorted.

“Surely, not, your grace.”

“How will you help The Two?”

“We must distract Aro. Give him something he wants more than their family.”

“I can’t imagine what that would be,” Onagh said, her voice smooth, dripping like honey. “Just look at them, their eyes, their hearts. They are very strange. What could be more attractive than they are?”

“There’s only one thing I can think of, your grace.”

“Please tell, Aine.”

“Augustin took something from Aro when he left him. Something that meant enough to Aro, that he pursued Augustin for centuries. Something that drove Augustin to us, in his search for protection. I think Aro would be grateful to have it returned.”

“You have our interest piqued, Aine. Now without delay, what treasure do you speak of?”

“Funny you call it treasure, my grace. Augustin took the crown jewels of England.”

“The crown jewels?” Onagh couldn’t hide the surprise from her voce.

“Lost by King John in 1216.”

“Oh, my!” the faeries gasped.

“We’ve kept them for Augustin after his death. I believed they might be put to good use one day.”

“Good use for the fae, surely, Aine. You didn’t plan to give them away to vampires.” Onagh’s voice was hard like nails.

“Their use in this situation would be a sacrifice. But in this case, given the unique connection between the jewels and The Two, it only seems right and just. After all, the jewels do not belong to us, Onagh. We would only be returning them to their previous owner.”

“Yes, Aine. Your judgment is sound. But in this exchange we lose something. Jewels in exchange for the life of a vampire or two? What do we get? How will this benefit the fae?”

There was silence in the clearing. Benefit the fae? I thought this had been about helping Alice and I.

A smaller faerie with curling golden hair and orange freckles stood up and turned toward Onagh. Her eyes were bright blue, the same blue as the birds that landed on our doorstep this morning, the same blue as the sky of the sidhe. What there but one shade of blue in this world?

“You grace,” she addressed Onagh. “Aine spoke with us last night after visiting with the Sluagh.”

“And?” the queen asked the golden haired one, eyebrows raised, arms crossed.

“I believe I know how this situation might benefit the fae. There is one among them that has the power to defeat Cirein Croin.”

“No!”
“Oh, my!”
“Really?” the other faeries exclaimed.

I noticed Aodhfionn’s fluttering wings, giving him easily away. He was nervous, trying to contain his fear, his eyes resting protectively on Alice.

The high queen waited in silence. Alice glanced at me, searching my face for some explanation, but I could only shrug my shoulders. I’d never heard the name Cirein Croin.

“Explain yourself, Aoibhinn,” Onagh commanded the golden haired queen.

And the freckled queen smiled a smug smile, and looked around to make sure that all eyes were on her. “The warrior has been traveling as of late, and has won many hearts along the way. He has been given many gifts: friendship, fealty, and the ability to harness his inner strength. I believe he has the ability to use these gifts to slay the dragon, Cirein Croin.”

Suddenly, all eyes were on me. Slay a dragon? I’d never seen a dragon. I didn’t believe in dragons, until…

“Sakhmet?” Alice whispered.

I didn’t think dragons were real until I met two dragon fighters that guarded Sakhmet in the desert. Chun-Tao and Dung-Mei helped train Rosalie, Emmett and I to face a newborn army that vastly outnumbered us. They fought off three of the Volturi and nearly killed Jane before our eyes. But just because I trained with them, it didn’t mean I could kill a dragon.

I saw the terror in Alice’s eyes, as she silently shook her head, clutching her hand over her throat. She shook her other hand free of mine and stepped toward the queens of the court.

“No, please,” Alice begged. “Not Jasper, again. There must be something else we could do.”

But then it struck me. Their plan was flawed. Whether or not I had any practical experience, it would never work.

“Uh, your graces,” I started. “I don’t know what you’ve heard about me. But, a man can’t slay a dragon. At least, that’s what I was taught. It’s got to be a female. Something about the balance of energy.”

And wouldn’t you know it, that sweet golden-haired faerie, smiled the slyest smile I’d nearly ever seen. “Yes, warrior,” she replied in a sugary-sweet voice. “But if the Sluagh is correct, you are in the unique position to convince two experienced female dragon fighters to help the fae. And you alone could convince their employer to let them leave.”

“No!” Alice yelled, stomping up to the table of queens. “Not a chance. Not Jasper. Not again!”

“Excuse me, Mary Alice?” Aine scolded, eyes on fire.

“Not again, Aine!”

The other faeries gasped. Aodhfionn was on his feet, trying to drag Alice back, without any luck. Somehow, my two feet were stuck to the ground. They wanted me to go back to the desert, back to Sakhmet. Somehow it all made sense. We’d played into their hands.

We find when you put unlikely companions together…

“Cierin Croin has been an enemy of the fae for many centuries. If you slay him, we would be in your debt, which we would immediately repay by gifting you the crown jewels, to do with what you would. I have seen that Aro will give concessions to your family as a reward for their safe return,” Aine was explaining to Alice, who was now on her knees before the court.

“I thought you said you’d help,” Alice nearly whispered.

“We are,” Aine stated, through clenched teeth, her green eyes hot and flickering, her hands clutching the table at her sides.

Onagh smiled, her lips pressed together, the corners of her mouth tugged smugly upward. Her skin glowed like a pale peach in the sunshine, as daylight began breaking through the morning’s haze. “Very good, Aoibhinn. That’s how it’s done. We will gift the crown jewels in exchange for Ceirin Croin’s head. The vampires’ family will live, Aro will get his treasure, and we will finally have safe passage to and from our northern shore. Perfect!”

“I thought you said I was one of you! That you were bound to help,” Alice asked Aine. “How does this help me?”

“You will not be in any danger, Mary Alice. Aodhfionn will accompany you, for your protection.”

“Hah!” I finally found my voice. “Leave the little faerie here. I would die before I let anything happen to Alice.” I certainly didn’t need to deal with a faerie with a crush while I faced Sakhmet.

“And so would Aodhfionn,” Aine countered. “Let us try to avoid a scenario that might lead to one dead vampire and one dead faerie, warrior.”

Alice looked desperately between the faerie queens and me. “We haven’t agreed to this yet, your grace,” she muttered as she ran to my side. I held her close, wishing desperately that I could comfort her with my emotions.

“Isn’t your family worth it, Mary Alice? Haven’t you seen a happy ending?” Aine asked.

I held Alice’s head to my chest, trying to ease her worry with the steady sound of air entering and leaving my lungs. Aine was right. Alice saw the happy ending. And if the faerie actually came… I looked up at Aine. “Alice will stay with me, and Aodhfionn will accompany us at all times?”

“Absolutely, warrior.”

“And if the faerie is with us, our extra abilities…?”

“Your powers will return once you are free of the fae. If Aodhfionn accompanies you, you will work without them.”

I smiled for the first time since we’d arrived before the court. “Then we should leave immediately. Let’s not waste any time.”
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The Necklace