𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙋𝙏𝙀𝙍 𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙍𝙏𝙔 𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙀
ミ★ ( bewitched, act three ) ★彡

Days later, Lilith watched as Jasper sent Emmett flying backwards. The soil beneath him exploded as the large vampire hit the ground sliding a couple of feet further than where he originally landed and Emmett was up almost instantly and turned to look at Jasper, "Again!" He ordered.

Lilith made a face, "Why?"

"Because he has an ego, that's why." Rosalie rolled her eyes as she leaned against Edward's Jeep beside her, crossing her arms as she said, "Even though this is a regular occurrence for them, he always believes he can beat him just once."

"His heart is in the right place, I guess." Lilith tilted her head, "Too bad his brain isn't."

Emmett overheard it and pointed at her while his wife chuckled, "Hey, munchkin, watch it!" He warned, "With all this training that Jasper is giving me, I'll be able to take you down in a blink."

It was Lilith's turn to roll her eyes as she lazily waved her hand, sending Emmett flying to the side and into once of the trees, causing it to crack due to his size and the momentum.

"Nice." Rose laughed again as she watched Emmett pull himself off the ground while he was fake glaring at Lilith; who stuck her tongue out at him teasingly. After her discussion with Rosalie; she opened herself back up to Rosalie and Emmett completely. She had no reason to not forgive them as she knew they didn't have a choice to leave her and she had explained that they wanted to stay or at least come back earlier because they loved her like family.

Lilith understood that the Cullens all wanted the best for Lilith, but, it was hard to let go of how they had treated the situation—but, nonetheless, she was letting go slowly, and she could see that they were grateful for that and they were letting her take her time as forgiveness shouldn't be rushed.

The Cullens soon turned their heads as they heard rustling and growling coming from the hilled area behind them. The Uley pack emerged from the tree lines, all still in their wolf forms as they made their way close towards them.

"They don't trust us enough to be in their human forms." Edward informed them, reading Sam's mind as to why they were in wolf form.

"They came. That's what matters." Carlisle responded, not feeling insulted or offended by their choice of form, "Will you translate?" He asked Edward.

Carlisle walked towards the wolves, "Welcome." He greeted, "Jasper has experience with newborns. He'll teach us how to defeat them." Lilith's face scrunched as she thought about Jasper's past and what he did back then to give him experience with newborns, and how he was so quick to jump to the opportunity to teach the rest of them how to defeat them.

Sam made a low growling nose, "They want to know how the newborns differ from us." Edward translated.

Lilith's interest was piqued as this information would come in handy if she were to go ahead with her transition, "They're a great deal stronger than us, because their own human blood lingers in their tissues." Carlisle explains, "Our kind is never more physically powerful than in our first several months of this life."

If Lilith were to turn, that would make her stronger, and it would make it easier for her to protect her family and her friends from threats. And who knew, maybe she would even have a gift from her own magic that would come along with it as she was told that as a human, if you showed abilities, it would follow and develop as a vampire.

Jasper stepped forward, "Carlisle's right. That's why they're created." He agreed, "A newborn army doesn't need thousands, like a human army. But, no human army could stand against them."

The wolves let out a growl, all thinking the same thing: They weren't a human army, so they definitely could stand a chance.

"Now, the two most important things to remember are, first: never let them get their arms around you. They'll crush you instantly." Jasper's tone immediately changed to one of power, and everyone could tell he was in charge at that moment, "And second: never go for the obvious kill. They'll be expecting that... and you will lose." Jasper then walked to another spot and called on for Emmett who quickly stood opposed to him, both sporting large smirks on their faces, "Don't hold back." Jasper instructed.

"Not in my nature." Emmett responded almost instantly as he braced himself before running at his adopted brother.

Jasper held his arms out as Emmett went for a tackle, the blonde vampire digging his heels into the soil keeping him grounded and upright as they went backwards.

Emmett grabbed Jasper and threw him up in the air, Jasper spinning while airborne and turning to land on his feet and rolling due to the momentum, before quickly getting up and running back towards Emmett who was already about to meet him halfway.

Emmett swung his arm to hit Jasper, the blonde vampire dodging in time and grabbing Emmett by the chest before knocking him to the ground.

Jasper looked proud of himself as he said tauntingly, "Never lose focus."

Lilith turned to Rosalie, "How regular of a regular occurrence did you say this was?" She questioned as she noticed how much of a change it caused in Jasper, it was as if he was a completely different person and this was natural for him to do this.

Edward walked over towards Lilith, "You doing okay?" He asked her as she hadn't been saying much to anyone about anything besides Rosalie or Emmett.

Lilith nodded, "Yeah, I'm just waiting to see you be put on your ass." She joked and Edward chuckled at her response, opening his mouth to say something witty back before Jasper called him and Carlisle up next. Lilith looked at him expectantly, "Looks like I'll finally get my chance."

Edward looked as if he was about to say something else but decided not to and walked over to stand across from Carlisle.

Rosalie leaned over lightly after having witnessed the interaction, "What's going on with you two? You guys are acting strange—and by strange, I mean more strange than normal."

Lilith looked at their surroundings, seeing how the pack's eyes, along with the rest of the Cullen family, were trained on Carlisle and Edward as Jasper explained what he wanted the two to try, meaning they wouldn't be listening or concentrating on her conversation, "At the graduation party... Edward kissed me." Lilith confessed and Rosalie looked slightly disturbed, "And I may of kissed back before running away from him."

Rosalie couldn't help but laugh. All of that awkward tension between two people who were still clearly in love with each other, over a kiss? Her laughter died down at the look that Lilith gave her, "Sorry, not funny." She lied. Lilith didn't look so convinced and Rosalie bit her lip trying to think of ways to change the subject, "Well, how did it make you feel?" She questioned, hoping it may give her the right insight on how to get them back together.

"Confused." Lilith sighed, "I don't know how to feel about it. It's brought back feelings that I was trying to suppress, and I'm struggling to hold them back again."

"Did they really bring them back though, or did they never really leave in the first place?" Rose questioned, making Lilith think before turning her head again to face Edward and Carlisle.

Carlisle nodded his head and Edward took it as his 'go' signal and ran at his father who ran to meet him halfway. Edward jumped up to kick him and Carlisle ducked and slid underneath Edward.

The bronze haired vampire quickly turned around and ran back towards Carlisle, both reaching each other and grabbing onto each other's throats. The two continued to swing and block before Carlisle managed to grab Edward's arm and throw him to the side.

Edward was up instantly and went back towards him, the two swinging and ducking from each other again and again until Edward finally grabbed Carlisle by the throat and pinned him to the ground.

Edward stood up and looked at Lilith who made an impressed face and lightly clapped her hands at him, the vampire giving her a small bow jokingly. His expression then turned to one of confusion as he saw Lilith smirk.

"One more thing." Jasper said and Carlisle was instantly up again and grabbed his adoptive son and tackled him to the ground, "Never turn your back on your enemy." He said in an obvious tone making Lilith laugh out loud.

Edward walked over towards her looking defeated and she giggled a little, "So you got to see what you wanted." He said to her.

"I did." She responded, reaching out to pick the bits of bark and dirt out of his hair instinctively, ignoring that part of her brain that was screaming at her to get away from him. She then stopped when she realised, "You let him do that, didn't you? You let him kick your ass on purpose."

Edward only shrugged slyly, refusing to answer. He wanted to give Lilith what she wanted, and she wanted to see him be put on his ass; and he let it happen, "I plead the fifth."

Lilith's eyes narrowed and she pouted, "I hate you."

"No, you don't." Edward shook his head.

"You're right." Lilith said softly and Edward halted as he looked at her slightly shocked from her words, "I don't."

The day continued on with everyone getting a turn to spar with each other and Lilith watching them all have a go. She cheered on Rosalie when she tried to fight with Jasper and she enjoyed watching Jasper try to keep up with Alice even though she could see every one of his moves coming.

Eventually, everyone was finished for the day. The wolves would need to go for the patrols and need to regroup and figure out how to incorporate what they learned into their own methods. Lilith waved goodbye at them all, letting them know she would visit them soon before they disappeared to go back to their own territory.

Jasper walked over towards Lilith, "How are you?" He asked her and Lilith gave him a small smile.

"I'm doing okay." Lilith answered truthfully. She was doing better than she once was and she didn't feel like she was on the constant edge of a breakdown like how he had seen her at the graduation party. After figuring out a way to solve on of her problems, it gave her hope to be able to figure out the rest which made her feel slightly better, "How are you?"

Jasper held up his bracelet, "Much better, thanks to you." He answered her with a smile. The vampire had never felt so much relief until when he was at the graduation party and he didn't feel the constant urge to kill everyone there like he normally would in social settings, and it was all thanks to Lilith, "I can still feel you worrying about something though."

Lilith gave a small sigh, "I just wish I could do a little bit more to help, I guess. It'll help fight my guilt about you all doing this to save me—that way I don't feel like I'm just running and hiding, but, I'm actually helping stop my own messes."

"Well, your presence alone—your scent—will distract the newborns. Their hunting instinct will take over and drive 'em crazy." Jasper told her.

"I meant that maybe I could be in the fight rather than hiding." Lilith responded, "Do a little bit of good before my magic possibly goes again."

Jasper chose to ignore her last words as he didn't exactly know what they might mean and he didn't want to jump to any conclusions, "You could maybe place a spell on the battlegrounds to stop any newborns from getting in or out." He suggested, "Or you could even spell the rest of us to keep us protected."

Lilith's eyes brightened at the idea of doing something that didn't make her feel useless to this fight. She wasn't exactly in the fight per se, but, she was doing something, and it was a lot more than what she was previously doing. And besides, she doubted anyone would let her get in on the fight anyway without putting up a fight themselves, "I'll get onto that." She nodded her head, already thinking of ways to do it and the spells she would need to put together, "Even though it's not exactly the brave thing to do compared to you guys actually fighting for me."

"Good. I'm glad." Jasper winked at her, "And you helped me with my hunger when you were just human, you're more brave than you let yourself out to be." He pointed out before turning around and taking a step away from her to walk away.

"Can I ask you a question that could possibly be very intrusive?" Lilith asked and Jasper stopped to turn back to look at her, "How do you know so much about this?" Jasper opened his mouth to speak before the blonde witch held up her hands, "And you totally don't have to answer by the way, I'm just a nosy person. You don't have to fuel my nosiness whatsoever, I can live without knowing."

Jasper chuckled at her small rant before licking his lips, "It's okay, I want to tell you. We know so much about you, it's only fair you know about us as well." He assured her, "But, I didn't have quite the same upbringing as the rest of my adopted siblings."

Jasper then pulled up his sleeves to show the hundred of bite marks that had scarred that were imprinted on his skin. Lilith's gasped as she inspected them, lightly brushing her hand over them and seeing the images of how he got them and how much pain it caused him, "They're battle scars." She said to try and make him feel better. She then uncovered her own scar that she had gotten from James, the one she had refused to heal because she wanted to be strong about it and not hide it, "Yours are more cooler than mine, but, I guess that makes us twins now."

Jasper stifled his laughter, knowing what she was trying to do—it was a thing between the both of them, they would always try to make each other feel better without making it obvious, "All the training in the Union Army gave me... was useless against the newborns. But, still... I never lost a fight."

"This all happened in the Civil War?" The blonde witch's eyebrow raised, she never really did know how old Jasper was. She had assumed that he was just over a hundred years old, but, she didn't know he was born in the 1800's.

"I was the youngest major in the Texas cavalry." Jasper said proudly, "All without having seen any real battle."

"And by 'real battle', you mean...?" She questioned and then shook her head, "Sorry, intrusive question again. Pardon my nosiness."

"And again, I want to tell you." Jasper reassured her once again, making sure that Lilith knew she wasn't overstepping any boundaries, "I thought I had seen real battle, but, that had all changed when I met a certain immortal—Maria" His face turned to one of disgust, "I was riding back to Galveston after evacuation a column of women and children to safety. I went back to make sure that I hadn't missed anyone." Jasper began to explain his story and Lilith sat down on one of the logs beside her as Jasper stayed standing.

"That's when I saw them. They were standing by a lake by themselves in the dark. I immediately offered them my aid. It was too dark to see their eyes and to see that they were blood red, and I thought it was strange how they were discussing me and how Maria better do what she had to do, because they couldn't. But, I was taught to be respectful towards women, so I didn't question or demand answers." The blonde vampire continued, "She asked me what my name was and she told me she hoped that I survived because I could be of great use to her. She then walked closer to me, grabbed me gently by my face before she bit me and turned me into what I am now." He finished and Lilith pictured what she had seen from his scares and placed it into his story; getting the full imagery.

Lilith looked up at him, "Maria was creating an army?" She assumed, piecing together everything she had seen and heard.

"Once I was turned, I came to find out that they were very common in the South. There were constant brutal battles for territory." Jasper explained to her, "Maria won 'em all. She was smart... careful, and she had me. I was her second in command. My ability to control emotions and my fighting skills served her well. I trained her newborns—it was an endless occupation since she never let them live beyond their first year."

"She was keeping her armies strong." Lilith realised, remembering how they had said that vampires were never more stronger than in their first few months of their vampire life. Once they grew older, they got weaker and she assumed that Maria couldn't have that if she was taking over territory from countless of other armies.

"She made it my job to dispose of them. I could feel everything they felt. I felt the pain they felt; the betrayal, the confusion. Everything. But, she couldn't have any weaknesses." Jasper's voice slightly broke, "I thought what Maria and I had was love. But, I was her puppet. She pulled the strings. I didn't know there was another way..."

"You know, my mom used to always tell me that  scars remind us where we've been, but they don't have to dictate where we're going." Lilith said to him, "That was your past, but, it doesn't mean that it's always going to be your future—even if we're all about to head to another war."

Jasper smiled, "And again, I'm reminded how much of a treasure you are, Lilith."

Lilith's smile matched Jasper's, "I try." She said, "But, you have Alice and the rest of your family now, and you don't have to be that way again."

"She's right you know." Alice stated as she joined the two, walking over to Jasper's side, "Even though you kept me waiting long enough."

Jasper chuckled, "My apologies, ma'am." Lilith smiled at the couple, seeing how happy and deeply in love they were, wishing she still had that, "I don't know what I'd become without her." His golden eyes softened at hers.

Alice softly hushed her mate, "Like Lilith said, you never have to be that way again." She said before kissing him.