Family Portrait (A Jasper's Sister Story)

04: Reconnect

**EDITED: 5/15/17**

"Annabelle?" I looked up slowly and saw Jasper approaching me slowly, the rest of the coven watching. I choked out a dry sob and immediately felt Jasper's arms around me. The feeling was familiar as he comforted me, and I gripped him tightly. The fact that I had my brother back crashing down on me.  I looked at his arms, noticing vampire bites covered them. Some new, I realized were from fighting the newborn army, and some were old. I frowned, wondering what had happened to my brother.

"As much as I'd hate to break up this love fest," my gaze snapped up to the burly man, who shifted his gaze to the leader. "Carlisle, you should go help Jacob."

The leader, Carlisle, nodded. He glanced at Jasper then to me, "You're welcome to stay in our home. Any family of Jasper's if family to us," I nodded gratefully and watched as he left. Jasper helped me up; I silently cursed Jane as I winced.

"You're name is Annabelle?" I looked up at the woman who had stood beside Carlisle and nodded. I noticed she winced slightly at my gaze, probably wary of my red eyes. "My name is Esme." Esme pointed to the blonde girl behind her, "that's Rosalie," then to the burly man, "Emmett," then introduced Alice, Edward and Bella.

"We met last year," Edward told Esme who looked sad, probably remembering the state Edward was in when he came to the Volturi. I frowned, watching the interaction with interest. Esme acted like a mother to Edward, making me think that she and Carlisle were the 'parents' of this coven.

"I'm so glad to see you again!" Alice grinned and hugged me tightly before moving to stand by Jasper's side. I noticed that he wrapped an arm around her waist breifly and smiled to myself, glad that my brother had found someone for himself.

"It's nice to see you again, Alice." I nodded and smiled politely, clasping my hands in front of me.

"Wow, you really are Jasper's sister aren't you?" Emmett let out a booming laugh. I'm sure I would be blushing as I noticed that Jasper was standing in a similar position to me, except his hands were clasped behind his back as Alice looped her arm around his. I huffed and crossed my arms.

"Emmett behave," Esme lightly scolded Emmett who just rolled his eyes. "Why don't we all go back to the house?" The others nodded, remaining silent. "Jasper can show you the way, Annabelle." I nodded and looked to Jasper, averting my gaze as he and Alice shared a quick kiss before she, and the others, left. I sighed, letting my breath go after Bella left. I could resist her, but I didn't want to test my limit with her sweet scent. I glanced at the fire as it died down and frowned, wishing I could have saved that girl.

"Shall we?" I looked up at Jasper who held out his arm and smiled.

"We shall," I looped my arm in his and leaned my head against his shoulder as we walked through the woods. We had a lot to talk about, so might as well walk slowly.

"Why were you with the Volturi?" His voice broke the silence. I sighed and kept my gaze forward.

"They found me when I turned into a vampire and kept me because of my gift. Living them was bearable, until Alice came. Then I found out there was another way to live." I frowned and looked at Jasper. "How did you end up with Carlisle?"

Jasper frowned and sighed. "I'll just start with the beginning. I was evacuating a town when I met these three girls, whom I know now were vampires. The leader, Maria, turned me and used me to command her own army of newborns. I did what she told me to do, which involved both training and disposing of the newborns. Except I could feel everything they felt. That's my gift; I can feel and manipulate the emotions around me. Anyway, one day I met a newborn named Peter. He became my second in command, until he met his mate. I let them escape together and Maria grew suspicious of me after that. Eventually I grew depressed from the killings and I ran away. I met Alice in a diner one rainy night; she scolded me for keeping her waiting. Then she took me to where the rest of the Cullens were residing and I've been part of them ever since." I frowned, taking in all the information. Those newborns he trained probably gave him all those scars. I knew what it was like to kill innocent people, but to feel their emotions while you kill them? I can see why he became depressed. I stopped walking and pulled Jasper into a hug.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," I whispered. "I'm glad you got out of it," I felt Jasper hug me back quickly and pulled away, keeping his hands on my shoulders.

"I'm glad you're still alive," He countered and we began walking again.

I smirked and nudged his shoulder, "Ya know you can't get rid of me that easily," I laughed, noticing my southern accent come out. I haven't spoken like that since I first became part of the Volturi. Aro told me I had to learn to speak without the accent so I wouldn't stick out in Italy.

"So, you and Alice huh?" I teased poking him in the side. Jasper rolled his eyes, but smiled anyway.

"Yeah, we're really happy together. She's amazing, a bit eccentric, but I love her just the same. She saved me from the darkness that had taken over my life." I smiled at the lovingly expression Jasper wore when he talked about Alice. "What about you? Anyone spark your interest in Italy?"

I snorted and shook my head, "No. There never was anyone there for me."

"You never know, maybe you'll find love here" Jasper said and poked my side. I slapped his hand away and rolled my eyes.

"Yeah right. I'm about as likely to find love as I am to finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Besides, my top priority isn't to find love."

"What is your top priority?"

I shrugged, "I guess figuring out what to do now that I'm not part of the Volturi. Figuring out where to go and how to live."

"Well like Carlisle said, you're welcome to stay with us. Besides, I'm not going to let my sister live on her own when she needs me." He smiled and I rolled my eyes.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea, Jasper. Aro already isn't a big fan of your coven. If you let me stay, now that I left, he's going to dislike y'all even more." Jasper shrugged.

"Then we'll deal with him if he does something." I rolled my eyes and froze when we reached a small clearing. A beautiful house sat in the middle, the glass windows taking up the walls, letting sunlight pour into the house. "Welcome to our home," Jasper said grabbing my hand and tugging me towards the house.