"Snuff On Digital"

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“So this is how it feels,” she lamented in quiet tones, watching out the window as the day slowly ebbed away into inky night. The dying light still illuminated her form, giving her a silhouette that cast its shadows across the beige carpet. For once he didn’t try to use his talent on her. She wanted to feel now.

But even that thought couldn’t keep him from wanting to cheer her back up again. As his other half, he would much prefer her to be content, to feel loved, and to feel secure. Right now though, those were the furthest things from her mind. She kept her vigil at the window, and the moonlight took over in time, giving her a pearly white glow that he appreciated in some other part of his mind.

“Yes, I suppose it is,” he answered after the longest time that he had spent weighing what would be right to say.

They had run away from home for reasons untold to their family. In truth, this was the only way they could be sure everyone near and dear to them survived the Volturi’s visit. For now they were residing in a house that they had rented for a week’s stay. She had already planned the pace of their trip so that each step went off like clockwork. Slowly they would head for South America, where they would ostensibly find the half-vampire she had seen. He was their only hope. Without him, everyone was going to be taken care of, and that was something no one, not least of all him was going to endure.

She only turned away from the window several minutes past midnight, and he straightened up from his sitting position on the end of the accommodating bed. Earlier when he had stretched out on it, he found that it was even long enough that his legs didn’t extend over the end of the bed. A nondescript white comforter was neatly tucked into the contours of the bed, and the color matched the rest of the bedroom which was done up in pale tones. He knew this was one of the reasons she had chosen to stay here; the décor relaxed her if only a little bit.

“It’ll be all right though.”

“If everything goes to plan,” she mused, adjusting her stance so that she faced him. He used his power to see what kind of mood she was in. Worried and slightly numb, he noted a second later. He pulled his fingers through his blonde hair, and inspiration seemed to find him. He stood, and walked closer to his wife so that they were at a conversational distance.

“What are we supposed to do now? What’s scheduled?” he wondered aloud.

“I…well we could go hunting,” she suggested, waving a hand noncommittally. Her eyes were on the darker side, edging towards black. He figured his had to be similar; they always hunted at the same time.

“All right. In what direction do we go? How fast do we run, or do we simply walk?” he asked, the questions pouring from his mouth one after another, seeking to guide her thoughts away from the state of misery they currently were ensconced in.

A faint smile crept on her face as she started to deduce what was going on.

“We run together, east for about a mile. There should be some deer, nothing too exciting.”

“Sounds perfect to me. Shall we go?” he prompted.

“Let’s,” she agreed, turning back into the direction of the window and the French style doors that led onto the second-floor’s balcony. He followed her out onto the little deck, and jumped down first, bending his knees to reduce the impact the spring had on his legs. Quickly he turned, in time to see her jump lithely from the balcony, landing neatly in a half-crouch on the moss-green grass. They exchanged warm smiles, and began running in an easterly direction, heading for the nearby copse of trees where the forest began.

As predicted, about a mile forward there were two deer wandering through the trees, a buck and a doe. The animals were unusually peaceful. Generally animals knew a predator was in the area on instinct, but these two were quite unperturbed. She motioned him forward, signaling he could go on ahead. He let the feeding mindset take over, and quietly stalked the buck, circling until he was in a proper place to get at the beast’s neck, where the blood pumped best. He waited until the buck had its head bent, nibbling at some of the forest’s undergrowth, and then he sallied forward, springing to catch the deer off guard while he bit down with a practiced aim, immediately finding the artery. Beguiling, valentine-coloured blood gushed into his mouth, and he drank, savoring the somewhat raw taste. This was how it was supposed to be. He was keeping to his diet, keeping his promise both to Carlisle and to his wife.

Slowly the animal’s heartbeat faded to a stop, and he pulled away from its neck, having had his fill. His lover was almost done, bent over the doe's neck. He found it oddly attractive to watch her when she was like this, when she gave into her more primal nature.

Approximately three point four seconds later---not that he was counting---she rose up to stand again, wiping daintly at her slightly reddened lips. Everything about her was perfectly put-together as it had been before she had fed. She was always very neat, in fact he couldn't remember a time she had ever spilled any of the blood or shredded any of her clothes in the hunt. Quite unlike their brother and sister in that respect, but of course one had to take into account that those two did a little bit more than feed on their hunting trips....

"And now?"

"And now I think we shall go back to the house and relax. I was thinking maybe we could lay in bed for a bit," she suggested mildly, though he thought he detected some suspicious gleam in her now golden eyes.

"Fine," he conceded.

They returned back to the white residence, and re-entered the master bedroom by way of the balcony. He noted that she was rather fond of climbing and jumping, which would explain a lot. It was just as they had left it, not that he expected anything to have changed. The nearest neighbors were a good five miles off. This was a country house, which gave them some quiet and peace while they waited to move onto the next stage of their journey.

He pulled back the blankets on the bed while she insisted on changing into more comfortable clothes. When she came out in a blue silk pyjama set, he smiled.

"Lovely as always," he commented. She sent a wave of appreciation his way, and allowed him to tuck her into her side of the bed. She slept on the side closest to the window, farthest from the door. It was always a stipulation of his that he considered necessary, as if were something to happen, he would be in between her and whatever danger there might be.

He held up the blanket so she could slide her feet under it, and then when she was tucked in, he pulled the comforter up just under her chin. She laughed softly.

"You treat me like a small child," she told him, quirking an eyebrow.

"No, I just love you. I'm treating you how you ought to be treated: with the utmost care," he said, pressing his lips to her forehead.

"I love you too," she murmured, reaching out to stroke down the side of his jaw. He relished the feel of it, as her hand was warm against his cold skin, even though they were the same temperature.

He stood up properly and slipped in on his side of the bed, pulling the blanket over himself too. If anything it was very comfortable, and he appreciated that. She moved over to snuggle into his side, resting her head on his chest. He absentmindedly combed his bony fingers through her crop of dark hair, and the motion seemed to soothe her, as she was soon at ease and there wasn't even a trace of worry about her.

"How do you think they're doing?" she asked, and he knew she was referring to their family back at home.

"They're probably confused. Worried most likely. We did just run off without any warning, you know. Emmett and Edward are probably really ticked off with us, they'll be thinking we ran just to save ourselves..." he paused as he thought about how he would handle such a situation.

"Though I would make you run with me if I knew it would keep us safe. I wouldn't even hesitate. Does that make me...?"

"No, it doesn't make you a bad person, Jasper. I know that if you could protect the family, you would. That's the kind of man you are. You care about them a lot," she answered without a moment's lull in between her reply and his question.

"I do. They are our family after all," he reasoned with himself.

"Yes, and because they're family, they will forgive us. Bella has already found my clue, she knows why we left, but she admittedly can't tell Edward. I know she wants to, but she doesn't want to mess anything up. There's too much on the line for that," she remarked.

"Things would have been much simpler if Renesmee hadn't been born," he stated honestly.

"They would have, but she... was special. She is special, in a lot of ways. Rose and Bella even bonded over her," she added somewhat miserably.

"Bella is still your friend, Alice. Just think of it as a good thing. Honestly, would you want to have had to listen to those two bicker for the rest of eternity if our niece hadn't come about?" he attempted to make a joke out of it.

She giggled. "I suppose not. An angry Rose isn't good for anyone, and think of poor Emmett, caught in between. He wouldn't know what to do with himself...."

"Too right," he agreed fervently.

"I don't like that I can't see with her around though, that is frustrating," she admitted.

"I know, I can feel your frustration," he chuckled.

She rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue like a petulant child. He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "You know, you are quite cute when you do that."

"I'm not trying to be cute..." she whined, her lower lip jutting out.

"Too bad," he mocked in a sing-song voice, pressing his lips against her cheek. "Cause cute is cute, my dear, there is no getting around it."

"Oh really?" she demanded, her eyebrow raised for the second time that evening.

"Really," he began as he leaned to kiss her other cheek, but she turned her head so that his lips met hers instead, not that he minded all that much. He was heading there eventually.

"You were being slow," she told him when he pulled away. The look on her face dared him to contradict her.

"Well god forbid I be slow, huh?"

"Too right. Now kiss me again," she demanded. He shook his head mildly but bent to close the gap between them, savoring the little gusts of love she was hitting him with. It was moments like this that he cherished in their life together.

"This is going to be difficult, you know that right? I'm not even sure if we'll find him. His family likes to keep him well hidden because he's a half-breed and they're afraid of persecution, just like we are with Nessie," she reminded him.

"I'm willing to try... it's all I can do. But if all we can do in the end is die trying or abandon and live, I hope you'll know that I would much rather take you and run, but if you want me to, I'll die trying. I won't die without you, Alice."

"I know," she said quietly.

"Then I haven't failed entirely," he muttered, cuddling her against him. She smiled and buried her head against his chest, enjoying this last little moment before they headed off to either success or total ruin. The only thing she could be certain of is that he would follow her anywhere, and strangely, that was enough.

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