SKIN DEEP
fourteen | late night talk

Imogen's eyes opened suddenly, ripped from her sleep as she heard a noise echo around the house. She shot up into a sitting position and looked around her room. Everything was the way it had been before she went to sleep, after she and Alice made her bed while Rosalie and Esme took the bowls of sweets which only Imogen had eaten back down to the kitchen.

Letting out a yawn, Imogen rubbed her eyes before looking out at the woods she could see from where she sat in her bed. She could see her reflection in the glass due to the lamp that was switched on besides her bed. 

She closed her eyes, still extremely tired but also very curious as the what the noise was. So, she let out a sigh and pulled the covers back before throwing her legs over the side of the bed. She found the floor to be cold, making her shiver slightly, but she stood anyway instead of retreating back to the warmth of the bed.

Taking a deep breath, she bent over and picked up the backpack, throwing it over her shoulders and making her way to the door. As she opened it wider from its already slightly cracked open position, her head popped out and she looked up and down the hallway at all the closed doors.

She took in another deep breath before leaving the bedroom, walking towards the stairs. No, she didn't know where the sound came from, but she wasn't about to walk up and down the hallway knocking on the doors to find out. So, if it was in one of the rooms behind the closed doors, her curiosity would have to hold off. But, at least she could go downstairs and see if the noise emanated from there.

She walked around for a few minutes, not finding anything that could cause the noise until she came to a set of sliding doors. Outside the closed glass doors, hunched over the balcony, was Jasper. She took a deep breath and stared at him for a few minutes, his position not changing once. 

Taking one more deep breath, her hand reached out for the handle and slid the door open. His head snapped up and around to face her, a slight smile quirking at the corner of his lips. "What are you doing awake at this time?"

Imogen shrugged her shoulders and stepped out to stand besides him, leaning her own arms on the balcony. "I could ask you the same thing, but the answer isn't the same as mine," she said. 

He smirked slightly and stated, "Well, you know why I'm awake, so please indulge me on why you are." 

She blushed slightly under his gaze and let a small smile slip onto her face. Imogen stuttered out, "I heard a loud noise." Now, hearing her say it aloud, she realized how much it sounded like the movie had given her nightmares and caused her to wake up.

He smiled, sensing her nervousness and managing to sense how stupid she felt, and stated, "It was me and Alice." Imogen rose he eyebrow in question, not understanding what he meant by it. Obviously he meant Alice and he had caused the noise, but what they did to cause it is what she didn't understand. He smirked slightly, "We're loud. We jumped onto the balcony from that tree above," he pointed towards the tree just a small distance away.

Imogen smiled brightly at the fact that he was already speaking so openly about the truth of them being supernatural creatures. She stared at the tree, her eyes slightly wide when she actually took in the  distance it was. She let out a short breath, "You jumped from such a great distance?"

Jasper let out a light chuckle, his eyes on the small, frail human besides him. If he ever lost control, he'd snap her in half in a second. He took a deep breath at that thought and scowled to himself, but Imogen picked up on it and placed a hand on his arm. "Are you okay?"

He nodded, shaking off the thoughts about him ever harming a human, especially one as innocent and small as Imogen. He glanced at the tree, bringing his attention back to her first question. "We're pretty stealthy."

Imogen rose an eyebrow and cast her gaze to the woods below, noticing that there were little night lights placed around the house. "Stealthy? Like a cat?"

Jasper let a smile grace his lips, his eyes brightening, despite them not being as gold as they normally appeared to be. He shook his head, "No, not exactly like a cat."

She sighed and shook her head, resting her hands on the balcony and leaning forward slightly as if she would get an even better view of the woods that was shrouded in darkness, the only light through the trees being from the reflection of the moon. "Well, you're not like the vampires in the stories who turn to dust in the sun and sleep all day," she stated, looking back at him to see that he had his full attention on her and was slightly amused. "So, what are your abilities, Jasper Hale?"

He smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Do you want to know about ordinary vampire abilities or my own?"

Imogen was surprised by his question, not realizing that they could possibly have their own abilities that no other vampire shares with them. She wanted to know the answer to both, "Ordinary vampire abilities first and then your own, Jasper?" It came out as a question as though she was unsure as to whether or not he was actually going to tell her and she didn't want to ruin the chances of him telling her by demanding.

He smiled, his extremely white teeth on show, making her want to ask that if he had been a vampire for quite a while, long enough to go back quite a few decades, why he had such white teeth when they didn't care for them so much years ago. But, she held off when she realized that it was both inappropriate as she would be finding out his age and that he was also about to speak and answer her questions.

Jasper looked out, his gaze on the woods in front of them, eyes shifting back and forth as he licked his lips before speaking. "Vampires are extremely fast, extremely strong, a better sense of hearing and an above-average intelligence," he smirked slightly at the third one, something which was really only true if you were old and had experienced so much. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, noticing that her full attention was on him, her own golden-brown eyes staring at him. "As for your earlier remark, we don't turn to ash in direct sunlight nor sleep in the day. We don't actually sleep at all, sadly." He let out a sigh before stating something which made Imogen let out a slight chuckle in disbelief but also at how stupid it actually sounded, "We shine like diamonds in the sun."

As she chuckled slightly, she managed to say through her teeth, "That explains why the only day it has been sunny so far this year, you disappeared for a 'camping trip'. It also makes sense why you live here, where it's always gloomy." He bit down on his lips to try and hide the large smile that was about to grace his face, which suddenly disappeared when Imogen asked, "And you? Your abilities?"

He bit his lip and turned to look back out at the woods, his fists clenching slightly where he held the banister. "I can feel the emotions of others," Imogen took in a sharp breath, "and I can manipulate them." 

Imogen was staring at him with slight shock, but managed to get herself through it as fast as possible and asked the question that made her heart beat slightly faster, "So, you can feel what I feel?" He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and gave a sharp nod, his lips pursing. She took a deep breath and lowered her head before bringing up the only other question she could think of that she wanted to ask him, "And the marks on your neck?"

His eyes widened as he turned his head to look at her, surprise written across his features, "You can see them?" Humans weren't supposed to be able to see them.

Imogen nodded and brought her hand up slowly to his neck, pulling at the collar lightly when he didn't move away. She saw a scar of a bite that definitely was no little mark, "Is that a scar of a bite?" He nodded, too shocked at the fact that she could see them. He would definitely have to bring this up when he ran into Carlisle. 

He only managed to mumble out as her finger brushed over the scar lightly, making him flinch away, "You shouldn't be able to see them. I believe that you wish to know how I got it," then her unbuttoned his sleeves of his shirt and rolled them up, "and these?"

Imogen just stared at the mass amount of bites littering up and down his arms. They looked savage, as though his arms may have been ripped to shreds, healed and then ripped to shreds again. Her eyes connected with his and she smiled sadly, reaching out her hand to his slowly, before holding his slightly rough, large hand with a feather light touch. "You don't have to." 

When he didn't make a move to speak, she dropped his hand and moved away from him, making her way back inside to attempt to sleep the rest of the night off. His eyes followed her until she disappeared into the darkness and he turned back to the balcony, putting his hands on the banister and clenching them up, dropping his head down slightly and closing his eyes tightly. Sleep, for Imogen would probably be impossible now that her head was full of thoughts and ideas and even more questions than before.