𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑, 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐓𝐰𝐨:
Angelic Devil

"CONFIDENT." Eloise chuckles as she looks at Jasper with a mischievous grin. "How about this, a warm-up with Jasper first, then we'll fight."

"Deal." Edward nods. Bella looks at him as if he has grown two heads.

Bella had only known Eloise for what Jasper had told her, that Eloise taught Jasper how to fight.

Bella thanked her mind and could not be read by Edward, and he would've been offended by her lack of support.

"Are you damn stupid?" Christopher asks, his face cringing, raising both of his hands and then pointing his finger towards Eloise, "You ask the woman, who led the Southern Vampire Wars, conquered territories left and right, to fight you?"

"It was a group effort." Eloise pitched in as she looked at Jasper, who dismissed it with a wave of his hand.

Jasper knew Eloise was the main reason they always won.

"Hell no! Don't you dismiss your efforts now. That was all you, and the vampire community knows it," Christopher tells her, and Eloise feels herself smiling.

"You just want a shot to fight her," Edward tells him with a roll of his eyes.

"Nuh-uh. I very much value my arms and limbs. I would if I were you." Christopher tells him, and Alice snorts as Edward's decisions remain, her eyes glazed over, immediately closing her mind so Edward can't read her thoughts.

Cordelia puts her arm around Alice's shoulder, Cordelia's thumb brushing her shoulder blade.

"What did you see?" Cordelia asks, her tone hushed for only Alice to hear.

Alice flutters her eyes open and says, as her lips try to fight off a smile, "Something funny." Cordelia shakes her head lightly as her fingers interlaced with Alice's

Then Alice pouts, her eyebrows furrowing, her visions suddenly black.

Making her uncomfortable for being blind, and there is only one reason.

The shifters are on their way.

Carlisle, noticing Alice's reaction, asks Edward. "When will our guests arrive?" Carlisle asked Edward.

Edward concentrated for a moment and then sighed. "A minute and a half. But I'm going to have to translate. They don't trust us enough to use their human forms."

Carlisle nodded. "This is hard for them. I'm grateful they're coming at all."

Bella stared at Edward, her eyes stretched wide. "They're coming as wolves?"

Edward nods in confirmation. It was a sudden change of atmosphere from playful bantering to serious and guarded.

It always remained to be like that when the shifters were the topic of their conversation, it was in their nature to loathe shifters, and the same for the shifters to want their teeth sank to their skin.

"Prepare yourselves--they've been holding out on us."

"What do you mean?" Alice demanded.

"Shh," he cautioned and stared past her into the dense forest before them.

Eloise and Jasper knew that the shifters were being cautious and alarmed.

The Cullens' informal circle suddenly widened out into an open line with Jasper and Emmett at the spear point.

They heard their footsteps coming as figures emerged from the trees. Eloise did her best to hide her surprised face.

The shifter's form seemed to look bigger in the sunlight than when she had first encountered them in the chase, and something more had changed.

"Damn," Emmett muttered under his breath. Emmett took the words out of Eloise's mouth, and the shifters were huge.

All of them seemed surprised. Thalia, Rosalie, and Esme exchanged wide-eyed glances.

Eloise's mind suddenly clicked. The last time she encountered the shifters, there were only six members of the pack.

As she scanned and counted, there were now ten members of the pack in a form only thick with muscle and fur--and teeth like knives, impossible to overlook.

Carlisle took a slow, deliberate step forward. It was a careful movement designed to reassure. "Welcome," he greeted the shifters.

"Thank you," Edward responded in a strange, flat tone, and Eloise realized at once that the words came from Sam.

She looked in the center of the line, the highest up, the tallest of them all. It was impossible to separate the shape of the big black wolf.

Edward spoke again in the same detached voice, speaking Sam's words. "We will watch and listen, but no more. That is the most we can ask of our self-control."

"That is more than enough," Carlisle answered. "My son Jasper and my daughter Eloise" -he gestured to where Jasper stood, tensed and ready, and to Eloise, who stood on the sidelines.

A shifter bared its teeth toward her.

Eloise rolled her eyes.

It didn't escape Eloise that Carlisle introduced her as one of his own -"Has experience in this area. They both will teach us how they fight and how they are to be defeated. I'm sure you can apply this to your hunting style."

"Do you know when and how they'll arrive?" Edward translated, his tone less indifferent now.

"They'll come across the ocean in four days, in the late morning. As they approach, Alice will help us intercept their path."

"Thank you for the information. We will watch."

It was silent for two heartbeats, and then Jasper looked at Eloise, who gave him an assuring look.

He stepped into the empty space between the vampires and the wolves. Jasper threw a wary glance toward Edward, who nodded, and then Jasper turned his back to the werewolves.

He sighed, clearly uncomfortable.

"They want to know how newborns differ from us." Edward then translates.

"They're a great deal stronger than us because their own human blood lingers in their tissues. Our kind is never more physically powerful than in our first several months of this life." Carlisle explains and takes a step back and lets Jasper take over the explaining.

"Carlisle's right," Jasper spoke only to his family; he seemed to be trying to ignore the audience behind him.

"That's why they are created. A newborn army doesn't need a thousand like a human army, and no human army could stand against the two most important things to remember are first," he told them and looked at them intently, his hands clasped at his back, his stance guarded.

"-never let their arms around you. They'll crush you instantly. The second is never go for the obvious kill. They'll be expecting that, and you will lose. Emmett?" Jasper turned around to face him; he took a fighting stance as Emmet did the same position.

"-Don't hold back."

"Not in my nature," Emmett says with pride and a smirk on his face, cracking his knuckles.

Then as what happened earlier, Emmett lost again. Jasper had Emmett in a chokehold.

"Okay! What the hell?!" Emmett exclaims, frustrated. Edward steps forward eagerly as he glances in Eloise's direction and says, "My turn." He rubbed his hands together.

"In a minute." Jasper grinned, stepping back. "I want to show Bella something first."

Bella watched with anxious eyes as he waved Eloise forward. "I know you worry about her," he explained to Bella as she walked toward him. "I want to show you why that's not necessary."

Bella didn't know how Jasper knew that she was anxious for Eloise.

Of course, Jasper felt her emotions, Bella had only heard how Eloise is good at fighting, but she had never seen it in action.

With Eloise's small height and angelic appearance, Bella didn't know that Eloise was capable of winning a fight.

And that was exactly what Eloise wanted to portray to anyone, to deceive their judgment that she was an easy prey and that anyone could take her down.

Only a fool would actually test her capabilities with ignorance engraved in their mind.

"You really shouldn't." Rosalie chuckled with a shake of her head. "Eloise could easily win a fight with Jasper."

"So much for a twin," Jasper mutters. "Sorry, brother." Rosalie laughs, not really sorry.

"Remember our agreement?" Eloise asks him as she ties her golden blonde hair into a ponytail.

As Jasper watched her movements intently, seemingly in a daze, that was when Eloise knew she got him exactly where she wanted to.

Jasper clears his throat and nods as he recalls. "We're not in a relationship when we spar."

"We can't use our abilities," Eloise adds. Edward groans as Emmett snorts and says, "And Edward is a big ray of sunshine."

Eloise looks at Emmet questionably, yet with a smile plastered across her face, "What?"

"I thought we were saying ridiculous things. We all know Edward has a scheduled brooding session every day, but no abilities?" Emmett asks, a bit curious why they don't use their abilities when Eloise and Jasper spar.

It would have been entertaining.

"We play fair and square. Believe us when we say if we use our abilities, our spar will never end. We did it before." Jasper tells them, as he remembered that he and Eloise sparred for three consecutive days.

"Spar already! Rose, Lia, Emmett, and I made a bet!" Christopher exclaims as Esme places a hand on her forehead.

Thalia looked at Carlisle; amusement glittered in her eyes.

Carlisle betted in secret, he didn't want his children to know he was taking sides, but he placed his bets on Eloise.

The shifters seemed interested, and they didn't know why the Cullens seemed so enthusiastic about Eloise and Jasper sparring. It made them curious. They'll have to wait and see.

Eloise nods her head at Jasper and says. "Gentleman first." Bella watched more anxiously and intently than the rest of the family.

Jasper stalked towards Eloise. She expected that Jasper always had the offensive movements just like before.

She took a step back as she observed his stance. She calculated his next movement. Jasper lunged as Eloise caught his right arm and pushed him back forcefully, his tracks embedding the dirt ground.

He moves toward her again as Eloise moves faster, avoiding every punch he throws toward her, twirling and curling herself. She suddenly crouched as Jasper swung his left arm.

Their movements are far too quick for any human eyes. But the Cullens and the shifters see their every move, except for Bella.

As Eloise was crouched towards the ground, she swung her left leg, making contact with Jasper's leg, causing him to lose balance as Eloise sped behind him, wrapping her right hand around his neck.

"What the actual fuck." Emmett mumbles with a shocked expression.

Rosalie grins like a Cheshire cat. Oh, she is totally winning the bet.

"It's only thirty-five seconds in!" Cordelia exclaims. She threw her hands up in exasperation.

She had placed her bet on Jasper. Cordelia looked at Alice, with her only shrugging in response.

As Alice tried to hide her grin, she told Cordelia to bet on Jasper, even though she knew Eloise would win.

The Cullens are competitive with each other when it comes to betting.

"That's really impressive." Thalia blurted out with wide eyes, mouth slightly agape. Carlisle grins.

"No fair! The woman taught Jasper how to fight! How can we beat that?" Emmett yells at the back.

"Y'all just saw what I saw, right?" Christopher asks them. Esme chuckles as she nods, rubbing his shoulder soothingly.

Bella didn't even know what happened.

"My angelic devil," Jasper mutters as he turns around. Eloise gives him a grin.

"At my utmost presence."