Dancing with the Devil's Daughter Chapter 4 Teaser

“He’s having trouble today.”
It was lunch once again and I had been staring so hard at Isabella, determined to hear something from her mind, that I almost missed Alice’s thought. I looked away from Isabella and looked at Jasper, obviously the “he” Alice had been speaking of. I felt a pang of shame. I had been so caught up in the mystery of Isabella Swan that I had almost forgotten to keep tabs on Jasper’s thoughts. I always kept tabs on Jasper’s thoughts; it was one of the most helpful things I could do for the family.
“Have to resist. Think about Carlisle, about Alice, about the whole family.”
Jasper was sitting next to Alice, his gaze focused on the desk in front of him. His brow was furrowed, and his hands were gripping the table tightly. I was surprised he had broken anything yet, his control was that frayed.
“Just one nibble. It can be passed off as an animal. No one will know.”
I frowned at the thought. It sounded like Jasper, yet… not. Over the years I had become so used to the… flavour of my family’s thoughts that I could pick them out of a group of a thousand minds. This voice sounded like Jasper, but there was something off about it. It reminded me of when Emmett would impersonate Carlisle’s voice. It sounded almost perfect, but there was something off in the pronunciation and flow of the words.
“Jasper!” I said sharply, too quiet for human ears, but loudly enough to catch Jasper’s attention. “You can resist it. Concentrate!”
Jasper looked at me, his expression a little dazed. That was odd. As a rule, vampires were rarely, if ever, dazed. A furrow appeared between Jasper’s brows for a moment, before he shook his head and his eyes cleared.
“Yeah. You’re right. Thanks Edward.”
The five of us got up as one unit and headed to discard our untouched food in the garbage bin. As we walked, my gaze once again travelled to Isabella.
She was holding an apple in her hand, her gaze fixed on Jasper, and a contemplative look on her face. As if she could sense my eyes on her, she turned hers away from Jasper to look at me. Raising an eyebrow, she took a large bite out of the apple and gave me a close-mouthed grin.