13th of September, 2007

JPOV

I fidgeted nervously as I sat outside the small house in northern Canada I had rented for Bella's change. I thought it was best to keep her out of public scrutiny until she had a handle on the whole 'vampire' thing, as well as any powers she may have. I smiled slightly to myself. Of course Bella would have a power. How could someone as special as her not?

I cocked my head, listening to any signs of activity in the house. Anna wouldn't make any noise, as she was visiting 'daddy's friend's', the Denali clan. I frowned. There wasn't any noise coming from inside. No heartbeats, no movement, nothing. I took that as my cue to go in, wondering all the while why she wasn't moving.

I walked through the door, and watched in confusion as Bella curled up marginally tighter in a ball.

"Bella?"

She whimpered a little, then hissed. She looked like she was in massive amounts of pain.

"Bella? What's wrong?"

I couldn't distinguish her reply.

"Bella, I… I can't hear you." The first time those words had been spoken since I'd been turned.

This time, I could faintly make out the words "Too… loud…"

"Too loud?" I repeated incredulously.

"Shut up!"

The words were stronger this time.

Slightly confused, I made my way to one of the bags, in which was a pair of earplugs. I tossed them to her, surprised at the haste she pulled them out of the packet and shoved them in her ears. Then she rose off of the floor and moved with a silence that astounded me to a closet just inside the door where she pulled out earmuffs. She then slipped them over the earplugs and gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh my fucking God, that feels so much better."

I gave her an odd look, raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to explain.

She huffed impatiently. "I can hear everything, you dolt. It's driving me stark, raving nuts. I didn't even think half of the stuff I heard had a noise."

I looked at her in shock. It was obvious that this was a power, but that it developed so early and so strongly was almost unheard of. I remembered getting my powers, how moody I would be, but it was never so bad that I felt the need to remove the root of my gift.

I took her hand in mine gently, leading her to the extensive forest behind the house. Upon reaching the perimeter, I released her, covered her eyes, and told her to listen. She smiled, tilting her head. A instant later she was off, not into the forest, but along the edge towards the main road. I was uneasy, getting more worried with each passing moment, I could smell humans.

As I rounded the curve of the trees, I saw that very last thing I wanted: a bleeding human, and Bella. I struggled to control myself as I ran to where she was, fully prepared to yank her away, and carry her home if necessary. But what I saw next floored me.

"Are you all right?" she asked the human gently, binding up his slashed arm with a strip of material ripped from the bottom of his shirt.

"Yeah. I don't know what it was, but some giant bear thing just ran out into the middle of the road. Threw me off my bike."

"A giant bear thing?" she asked, eyes wide. I could almost hear her thoughts; we weren't that far from La Push. Barely over the border. T-that's… unexpected."

"That's for sure," the guy interrupted.

Bella continued like he hadn't spoken. "-You'll be alright now, I hope?"

"Yeah, thanks again, lady."

Bella stood in a daze, blank-faced, staring off into the distance.

"Bella?" I asked quietly.

"Huh? What?"

"Are you… okay? Not… thirsty or anything?"

"No, not at all," she said as if she didn't realize the significance of this development. Actually, knowing Bella, she didn't.

Her eyes widened in shock as she put two and two together. "B-but he was bleeding! What the hell?" Suddenly she was overjoyed. "This means I can see Anna!" And she was in my arms, squeezing the (admittedly non existent) life out of me.

"Yeah. So… let's go hunt, yeah?"

"Sounds good."

And with that, we were both running into the trees.

BPOV

I wrinkled my nose as I finished the caribou I had taken down. It was disgusting. I hadn't liked the scent of the human much. It didn't do much to take the edge off my thirst either.

Jasper noticed my frown and laughed. "I know. It takes a bit of getting used to. But the carnivores taste better, because they're more like humans."

He must have felt my doubt. "Come on, it's not that bad."

"Yes it was," I protested. "Kind of like voluntarily drinking way too much cherry cough syrup."

He stared at me like I was insane. Which I very probably was, but he didn't have a problem with it before, so why now?

"No, it's not," he said like I was three.

"Yes, it is," I said mockingly like he was two. Even slower then three.

"Okay then… that's different. Let's try a carnivore, shall we?"

I rolled my eyes good naturedly and gestured for him to lead on.

"Well that was fun," I said sarcastically, somewhat cranky from the burn in my throat.

Jasper half pouted, half scowled. "Trust you to be the freaky, unfeedable vampire," he said.

I sat on a log and leaned back against the tree it had fallen by. "Since we're here, you may as well hunt, Jazz. I don't want you trying to eat my sister."

"Yeah, whatever. Like I would. That'd get me on your bad side. What good would come from that?"

I grinned. "Shoo! Begone! And take your icky animals with you!"

I looked around me with interest, taking in where we were as he left. It was a beautiful place, really. The snow glittered where it lay on the ground in the pale moonlight, the soft murmur as it fell still audible through the earplugs and muffs.

A snapping of a twig brought me back to reality. The sky had lightened imperceptibly. The snow had stopped falling. The birds were beginning to twitter with the promise of an impending dawn. And Jasper had returned, smelling infinitely better that Edward ever had.

I felt my mouth begin to water. He smelled so good, so sweet. It hit me then: this was the insane bloodlust I was to expect from humans. Hah. I never do anything the easy way, do I?

I didn't realize I had moved until I was straddling him on the ground, my teeth in his neck.

Oooh, cliffie! Something to give me incentive to write when I have assignments hanging over my head. Okay people, review! Review! The longer it takes for you to review, the more time i have to perfect my next chapter (not that it will be) before it gets posted!