Chapter 1

I wandered around the dark and deserted streets of Newport, Oregon, keeping to the shadows lest anyone spot me and realize what I was. I wouldn’t mind anyone finding out what I was, but I hoped to remain unnoticed for the time being until I finished preparing the new house I had bought. Of course, this would be easier if these humans would have had their stores open, so I could pick out what I wanted in person—Charlotte would kill me if the furniture didn’t look perfect when she came to visit.

This world had changed quite a bit since I was human last. About thirty years ago, my kind decided that they were sick of humans being in charge, so they took over. It wasn’t hard to do, and to tell you the truth, things are better now. There’s no war and crime is virtually non-existent because my kind has their own way to deal with such people. Sure, humans knew how to kill us, but we were smarter and knew from experience how to protect ourselves.

I made a beeline for the beach when I heard voices and laughter coming from that direction. There was no way humans could be stupid enough to remain outside at night when they knew perfectly well what was out there.

As I reached the edge where sand met pavement, I saw that there was a bonfire going on. Walking closer, I realized that all the humans surrounding it were teenagers; they had no need to fear the dark quite yet. Human children were protected by our laws until they turned of legal age. These children obviously weren’t and I would find that out for myself by speaking to them.

“Hey.” I looked over to see who was speaking. It turned out to be a boy with spiky blond hair and blue eyes. He also had a baby face, though he looked about the age of being legal. “Haven’t seen you around. I’m Mike Newton.”

“Jasper,” I replied, folding my arms and putting on the chilly human act. “I just moved here from Indiana. My brother and his wife like to move around a lot.”

“How old are you?”

I laughed at that question. I didn’t even see who it was, but they were all curious.

“Seventeen. I turn eighteen in a few months.”

Glancing around at all the teenagers hanging around the bonfire, I was shocked at what I saw. There was a girl with chestnut brown hair that reached her mid-back. She had pale skin—usual for the northwestern United States—though hers was more pale than normal, indicating that she was albino. She had on a long-sleeved crimson turtleneck and a pair of faded jeans, along with a pair of Nikes. What struck me most about her though, was that she had a messenger bag on her lap and clutched a necklace in her hand. All the while, she murmured things no human would be able to hear.

“I am protected by your might, O gracious Goddess, day and night.”

 So she was a witch. This just made things more interesting.

“Nervous?” She jumped and dropped the necklace. The piece of jewelry fell down gracefully and rested against her chest. “You have no reason to be. Aren’t you under eighteen?”

She nodded, biting her lip. “I didn’t even want to come here. I don’t like being out at night.”

“Don’t worry,” I assured her, smiling as I sat next to her. “I won’t let anything get you.” She looked at me in surprise. “I’m Jasper. I just moved here from Indiana.”

“Bella,” she murmured.

Ah, so this beauty had a name and it definitely matched what I was seeing.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Bella.” She gave me a small smile, which made the beast inside of me purr for reasons I couldn’t comprehend. I glanced over at her necklace. “A pentagram?”

She nodded. “It belonged to my mom.”

Now I understood why Bella didn’t like being outside at this time. Her mother was probably killed by one of my kind shortly after she was born.

I was introduced to the rest of the children, but I wasn’t interested in what they had to say. The only one who held my interest, was the beautiful witch. She was a bright girl and would have been a perfect addition to our species, if only it had been possible. We had strict rules about changing someone: they had to be over eighteen and they needed to be the mate to one of us. Only then we were allowed, because we didn’t want our kind killing off the humans.

“Are you starting school soon?” she asked me.

I shook my head. “With how often my brother and his wife move us around, it’s easier for me to be home schooled.”

“Bella!” The two of us looked over at the group of kids. My beast growled in frustration at the interruption. “We have to go! It’s almost curfew.”

It suddenly dawned on me that teenagers had a curfew or they would be grabbed by our police and taken into custody, only to be given back if the parents paid a price.

I watched as Bella slung her bag over her shoulder and started heading towards the parked cars, before turning back and asking, “Did you drive here?” I shook my head. “Well, would… would you like a… a ride?”

That stutter made me smirk.

“If it’s not too much trouble. Which way are you heading?”

“Northwest 20.” She looked confused when I gave her a sad expression. “What about you?”

“Southeast Avery.” I could see her brain working, as she tried to figure out if she had enough time to drop me off before driving home. “It’s alright. You don’t have to.”

She shook her head, her beautiful chestnut hair waving. “It’s fine. Come on.” She led me to a beat-up Chevy truck and handed me the keys. “You know the way better than I would.”

I smiled at her as we both climbed into the car. Glancing over, I noticed that she was trying to shove away a book of witchcraft before I saw.

You can’t hide anything from me, Beautiful Witch.

The drive to the house wasn’t too bad, and it gave me more time to get to know her. She explained to me that it’s just been her and her father since she was ten, and how he was the sheriff of the town. She was the top of her class at school and wanted to be an author or publisher some day.

I told her the story Peter, Charlotte and I had fabricated a long time ago. I was Peter’s younger brother and I had been sent here to get the house ready, while the two of them finished up some last-minute things in the town we lived before. I would be on my own for at least the next few weeks, if not longer. There was also the story that our parents had been killed while overseas on their anniversary.

“Bella?” She looked at me as I climbed out of the car and she came around to the driver’s side. I had the decency to wear the apologetic look I was so great at. “I shouldn’t have accepted your offer to drive me home. Curfew’s in five minutes.”

“It-it’s no problem.”

I knew from her face, however, that she was afraid. “I can’t let you risk getting in trouble. Why don’t you call your dad to let him know that you’re safe and staying with a friend?” She didn’t look too sure, but I caught her gaze and held it, as I used my power on her. “You can trust me. You aren’t afraid.”

She nodded and we went inside before she pulled out her phone. I had to admit that I was surprised when she told her father that she was staying with a girl named Angela, who was apparently the daughter of a local pastor. I had to stop myself from laughing at the irony of lying about a pastor’s family.

“Are you hungry?” I wondered, happy that I had ordered the help to get some food earlier. “I’m sure we can find something?”

She shook her head and mumbled something about just wanting to sleep. I led her upstairs and apologized for the lack of female clothes, before handing her a flannel shirt of mine. If she could be comfortable, I could give her something to wear that made my fantasies of her seem more possible.

I led her into my own bedroom, assuring her that I was fine sleeping in the guestroom. I wasn’t going to be sleeping tonight though, and if I would, it certainly wouldn’t be in a room where sunlight could get in.

As she sat on the bed, I moved her hair over her shoulder, revealing her neck. “Look at me.” She stared up at me with those beautiful chocolate eyes and I could see her pupils dilating slightly, as she fell under my control. “I am going to drink from you and you will accept it. If anyone asks, we were attacked.”

“We were attacked,” she said in a dreamy voice.

I nodded in acceptance before leaning down. I ran my tongue across the pulse point, tasting her delicious flavor before biting down. Feeling her body tense—the natural reaction—I paused and waited for her to relax, before continuing to drink. Her blood tasted heavenly; it was the best I had ever tasted.

After a few moments, I pulled away and grabbed the cloth I had brought to clean her up. The only traces of my biting her, were the two puncture wounds on her neck. We may have rules about not killing or changing, especially minors, but there was no rule stating we couldn’t drink from them as long as nothing threatened our kind.

“Go to bed.”

She nodded and climbed under the sheets, closing her eyes. I remained sitting there until I was positive she was asleep, before heading down to the kitchen to sift through what I had. I wanted to be more prepared for the next time I had company.

An hour before the sun rose, I made the human breakfast and took it up to her. She smiled at me and said that I didn’t have to before taking a few bites. We talked a little more while she ate; her thanking me for protecting her when we were attacked last night.

Standing in the kitchen where I had just done the dishes, I looked her over to see that she still looked beautiful in the same clothes from the night before.

“You’ll come over for dinner tonight,” I told her. I hadn’t exactly requested it; actually I had practically ordered her to have dinner with me, but that didn’t lessen the power I held over her.

She nodded, smiling with the same dazed look on her face from the night before. “Of course I will.” I couldn’t help but smirk at how easily I could control her. “See you tonight, Jasper.”

After she left, I leaned against the counter, not quite able to put my finger on what about this human that made my beast vibrate with happiness. Before, it was a strange concept I had never experienced, though I had seen it. This usually happened with mates—Peter and Charlotte are proof of that—but that wasn’t possible. My mate couldn’t possibly be human, could she?