A/N: Hello and welcome to WOWZAcoolBEANS's triumphant return back into the world of Twilight fanfiction. And good news, she's not a bad writer now! Well here's a quick summary of the story. It's starts with the night before Jasper becomes a vampire and if I could, I'd like it to extend to when he meets Alice. It'll have a lot to do with Maria and the vampire wars and there will be a one-sided MariaxJasper thing (on Maria's side, of course). There will be minimal human interaction (besides screams of death) outside of the second chapter, just so you know. Um… that's it! Read, review, enjoy. Oh, and one more thing, the dialogue between Jasper, Maria, Nettie and Lucy is my own version; it's not from the book. The lines do somewhat resemble the book's, but I didn't want to plagiarize anything, plus, it's my fanfic, what's the use if you don't actually write it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or General George Pickett. Twilight and Jasper Whitlock both belong to Stephanie Meyer and General George Pickett, having been a real person, belonged to his mother.

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He could see the girls giggling from the corners of his eyes. He smiled and walked closer to the three females, now bursting out with girlish happiness. They were young, and were overly excited to be at the party in the first place. Jasper tried to think of where he had seen them before, but he wasn't sure until he heard the eldest looking girl let out a howl of laughter. It must have been Captain Conner's daughter; Captain Conner was the only man that Jasper could think of that could produce a child with a more annoying laugh than his own.

"Hello ladies." He said with his small, but noticeable southern drawl. "Is there something that I can do for you all?" The girls' eyes became wide and the giggling stopped. Jasper just continued to smile at the girls, no more than ten years old.

"Hello Mista Whitlock." The youngest one said. "We was just talkin' about how nice a party this is. Right girls?" The two girls both nodded in agreement, both awestruck by Jasper's presence. It wasn't like Jasper wasn't used to this sort of reaction. He was twenty years old and already a Major in the Confederate Army. Though on the behalf of those who put him in that position, they did believe that he was three years older than he actually was. But nonetheless, life could not be any sweeter for the young charismatic honey-blonde man.

"Yes, it is a mighty fine party." Jasper said with a smile. He noticed, like always, that his cheerful mood was beginning to rub off on the three girls. They were no longer shy, but they were smiling as well. "Hey, how about we…" Jasper began, meaning to humor the young girls and ask them for a dance when an arm came across his waist.

"Jasper." Said the shy voice of Annabel Scarlett, the girl that he was currently courting. Jasper looked at her in the beautiful red gown that she was wearing. Her chestnut brown waist length hair was pulled up into a half ponytail and her brown eyes were shining with the light of the ballroom. A brilliant smile came across his face.

"Excuse me ladies, but duty calls." He gave the three girls a wink and in a spontaneous act of happiness nearly dragged Annabel onto the dance floor. They immediately began to waltz. Annabel was laughing and out of breath, but they continued to dance. Jasper had never been happier in his entire life. It seemed as if the universe were conspiring to make his life perfect. When the waltz ended and the musicians took a break Jasper and Annabel sat down at a nearby table.

"You look lovely tonight Ms. Annabel." Jasper said the smile unable and unwilling to leave his features. He would return to the army tomorrow, but tonight was his time to play. This party was scheduled just for the important people in the Confederate Army and he was considered to be one of them; being invited to this party was one of the biggest honors that Jasper Whitlock had ever received.

Annabel giggled in her high-pitched voice that sounded like a piccolo whenever she talked. Soon after meeting Annabel the piccolo had become Jasper's favorite instrument. "Why thank you Jasper. That's so very kind of you." Jasper and Annabel made eye contact for a moment, but she quickly turned away. Jasper grabbed her face and tilted it back up to him. Keeping one hand on her chin as she giggled Jasper reached into his pocket for the ring that was sitting in there. He had been planning this night for a long time and so far it had been going flawlessly. He had wanted to propose to Annabel for a while now, but tonight was the perfect night to do it. Jasper let go of her face and cleared his throat once, a serious look now on his face.

"Miss Annabel, I'm sure you have known of my intentions for awhile now, I sure have known them and…" As Jasper reached for her delicate and pale hand a cannon shot; making the foundation of the building shake. There were a few scared screams from the younger patrons of the ball, but Jasper stood up straight waiting for orders from his superiors.

"Whitlock!" General Pickett said as he rushed over to Jasper. "Get the civilians out of the city; we're being attacked." The General ran off and Jasper turned to Annabel, who now had a scared look on her face.

"Come back safely." She said as her eyes filled with tears.

"Listen to my instructions," Jasper said seriously as her face turned from worry to seriousness. "Get your family into my spare carriage and get out of the city as quickly as possible. Don't stop for anything. Try to get to my family's farm in the east; you should be safe there. Stay safe…" Jasper grabbed her hand and placed the ring inside of it, closing her fingers around it delicately. "This is for when I return." He said. Annabel gave him one last look but he had to wrench his eyes away. This was the job that he had signed up for and these were the sacrifices that he had to make.

He ran out of the ballroom and mounted his horse. He knew what to do, he had been through this routine many times before. It was a hard job, harder than being on the front lines. This was the job where he had to watch people leave their homes, their loved ones, everything they had ever known. Some of them would never return, others would return only to find everything that they had loved in ruins. It was sad, one of the worst jobs that Jasper could ever think of, but at least he knew that at the end of the day, he had saved many lives.

It was grueling work; Jasper could barely leave the saddle of his horse for more than five minutes. There came a point at which Jasper thought that if he rode around any longer his private parts might just fall off. That would make for an interesting wedding night. Jasper thought as he led the pack of refugees to Houston. He wanted to stop thinking about Annabel, but he was finding it difficult not too. Between the hunger and fatigue that came with being in the saddle for the past day and a half, it was hard not to think of the beautiful girl that he wanted to return home to.

He rode until the people were all safely in Houston, then got a new horse and began to ride back to Galveston. There would be other important jobs for him there and he could not risk his career by being called the coward who stayed in Houston. He rode until he was almost at Galveston, but then he stopped.

A mile out of the city Jasper saw the three most beautiful women he had ever seen. Two of them were tall and elegant with blonde hair that shimmered in the moonlight, but it was the shorter one that really caught Jasper's attention. She couldn't be more than a child, but she seemed to be leading the other two women. She had the features of a Mexican, but her skin was pale and porcelain in the moonlight. Jasper found no way to describe it. It was the same with the other two, however. They all appeared to be… glowing. Jasper knew that was crazy and that people didn't glow. He thought it was just a trick of the moonlight. There was nothing unusual about the moon playing tricks with someone's eyes.

The three women seemed to be traveling without a man and they were wearing old, battered clothing. The immediate thought that came to Jasper's mind was that the three of them were part of his group but were somehow left behind. But he quickly erased that thought. If he had been traveling with them he would have surely remembered those faces. They were just so… beautiful.

"Can I help you all with something?" Jasper asked to be polite. He saw the three women's eyes upon him and was suddenly nervous. The tallest, a blonde one looked at him approvingly as he dismounted. This made him very uncomfortable, and at eye-level, the three were even more intimidating. The one of middle height came up to Jasper and sniffed him. He was confused, but said nothing.

"Wonderful." She said with a dreamy look in her eye. The small brunette one, however, did not like the words that came out of her mouth.

"Careful Nettie." She said, making Jasper's idea that she was their leader clear. Nettie scowled and looked away from the brunette. "He's good. Young and strong. And…" she looked closer at Jasper's uniform for a moment. "And he's an officer." He tried to speak, but he could only stuttered. But none of the girls seemed to notice; they were hooked on the Mexican girl's words. "And there's something else. He's… compelling."

"Yes, yes." Nettie said as she came closer to Jasper again. He was reminded of a bird that was hovering over a tree while him and Annabel were once having a picnic. It had stared at them the entire time and as soon as Annabel had dropped something it swooped down and ate it before Annabel could even scream.

"Nettie," The brunette said with a slight authority, though it was hard to tell because of her soft voice. "I think I'd like to keep this one." Nettie frowned and looked annoyed. The other blonde spoke instead.

"Go ahead Maria, if you want him so bad. I daresay I kill them more than I keep them." The girl had a slight British accent and seemed somewhat sophisticated and somewhat bored. Jasper was utterly confused, but he understood that he was in some sort of danger, but he could not move. He was still transfixed on the faces that resembled those that he had seen in artist's depictions of the angels in heaven. He thought that they were too beautiful to harm him.

"Yes, I'll do it." She said with a smile. "He's a good one… but take Nettie away Lucy. I'm going to need to focus."

"Fine… we'll hunt." Lucy said as she grabbed Nettie's hand. The two of them ran away gracefully, but more quickly than Jasper had ever seen anyone run before. He thought it was strange how anyone; especially a woman; could be that fast. As a boy Jasper was taught that woman were delicate and should never be feared or teased, only helped. He refused to believe that any woman could be capable of hurting someone like him.

Now that Maria and Jasper were alone Jasper became terrified. He had never believed in the stories of ghosts or other superstitions. But as Maria stared at him curiously, Jasper was unsure. Perhaps she is a ghost…

"Do you have a name major?" She asked Jasper with a childish smile that made him feel uneasy.

"Major Jasper Whitlock." He said adding a "Ma'am." to the end to be polite. It was hard for him to be impolite to a woman, even if she may be a ghost.

"Well Jasper, I dearly hope that you survive this. I have a great feeling about you." She said as she walked closer to him. She looked as if she were trying to kiss him; she tilted her head to one side and went up to Jasper's neck. His mind was screaming at him, telling him to run, telling him to leave, but he was frozen in pain.

There was a bite and then he began to scream.

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A/N: Well, I hope you liked it, God knows I worked hard on it. Review if you want. Give me feedback; feedback is awesome. Don't worry; Annabel doesn't last long. Have a great day. Thanks for reading. Oh, one quick question. When you're reviewing could you answer me this one question? Would you like me to do alternating chapters on the pasts of Alice and Jasper, or would you like me to just do Jasper? I want your input on this. You all, of course, are the ones who will be reading this.