Opal and Brass • Jasper Whitlock Hale

Keahi

I was never unsociable in my human life, but I was always careful. My gifts were present even then.

That is why I was changed.

The ancient one living in the forest waited until nightfall before stealing me away and turning me into this. He wanted power, but I was more than he had imagined.

My first touch burned him to ash, and the forest he lived in burned with him.

My fire is a curse.

I am a curse as well.

I have burned villages, forests, dwellings to the ground. It was worse during my first years when I lacked control.

My existence was driven by thirst, and when I was thirsty, I was not calm.

I was making my way north when I met her.

She stood at the edge of the charred clearing, watching the fire race up and down my arms. She did not run after dodging my attack.

"I'm Sarah." She said, "I haven't felt heat in a very long time."

Her eyes were golden. Unlike any I had seen before in the other immortals I had crossed paths with. I asked her why.

She said it was because she didn't drink humans.

We traveled together for a short time, and she served as my guide to the north. She mentioned the abundance of large game. A place that did not easily burn. A place where I could not hurt anyone.

I liked her well enough. I even allowed her to know my past. She was not judgmental when she learned of the mistakes I had made.

When we reached the north, she showed me how to hunt.

I prefer the taste of human blood, but this is enough.

She visited. I was grateful. I prefer the solitude, but isolation is not healthy for anyone.

She asked for my aid when the Volturi threatened her and her new-found coven. I was shocked that she had found so many other golden-eyed immortals.

I could not help her.

I was afraid.

She and her family stayed in my thoughts for days before I began the journey. Fear had consumed me for too long.

I was finished.

Her mate, the empath, was helpful in aiding my control. He calmed me, and I was not used to so many of my kind in one place.

Many of the immortals gathered there were very gifted as well. The Egyptian Benjamin has a gift similar to mine, and I asked him to stay near incase I slipped.

He was more than willing to agree.

The Cullen's were a powerful coven, though they did not seem to realize it.

The day I arrived, I saw her.

I knew I would not be returning to my cave.

Tanya smiled at me as though we were old friends. She was not hesitant around me as the others are.

After the battle, or lack thereof, I gained a family of my own.

And for the first time since the beginning of my new life, I was happy.

And I have been ever since.