CHAPTER FOUR:
BLINDED BY MARIA

1892

WHILST JASPER TRAINED WITH the newborns, Maria would stay with Emma to help her gain control of her gift. The two would practice for hours on end and Emma found that when she used her gift too long, she would grow exhausted and she would lose her strength. Whenever this happened, she was forced to feed.

When Maria found her fit enough, Emma was forced to join her brother in training the newborns. If one of them did something wrong, Emma would allow her chaos magic to enter their heads, pulling out their worst memory that made them cry out in terror. This happened month after month, and Emma was no longer the sweet and innocent girl that she was when she was human.

She was a monster that was cruel and showed no mercy. She was always found with a blank look instead of her usual smile that held comfort. She was damaged. She hadn't laughed or smiled a real laugh or smile in years. Yes, years. That's how long they had been with Maria. It was now 1892, they had been with Maria for a little over a decade. It took Emma Whitlock several years to control her powers. Usually gifts, like Jasper's, would only take maybe a month to control. But not Emma's power. She was cursed with a gift so powerful that it would make her lose control.

It took Emma almost three years to fully get her gift under control. And those three years only consisted of manipulating the chaos magic to her will. Now, if she wanted, the chaos magic could form a ball in between her fingers, allowing Emma to stretch the size of it or shrink it. Mind warping was harder for her.  She really had to concentrate. If she was disturbed, the wrong thing could happen. She could potentially kill her victim, putting too much pressure on the mind and make his head implode on itself.

If Emma used too much of her power at once, it would make a pain that was so unbearable form in her mind and it would cause her to scream out in agony. There were so many faults that came with her gift, that she felt it was a curse instead. Jasper was worried for his sister. He could tell how much pain she was going through and he wanted to fix it, make it go away. But the siblings had come up with a rule. They weren't allowed to use their gifts on one another. Though that was easier for Emma than it was for Jasper.

Jasper could feel everything his sister was feeling. He could feel her pain, her sadness, her frustration. He wished he had never come across her that night. He wished she had never went looking for him. It brought him so much guilt to know that he was the reason his baby sister was forced to deal with her gift. He felt so much guilt to know that he couldn't control himself enough to protect her from himself. It physically hurt him to see Emma like this. She was screwed up in the head. Her sanity was constantly flowing down the drain and he was scared for her.

She was always angry, but he could never tell who she was angry at. So, whenever she was forced to train the newborns, she would take it out on them. Emma and Jasper had their parts to play in the Mexican Coven. Jasper was Maria's second in command whilst Emma was his. Jasper was forced to train the vampires, but Emma was forced to torture them―︎forced to kill them. And whenever Emma wasn't around, whenever she was practicing her control or she was hunting for someone to drain the blood of, Jasper was the one to kill them.

Whenever Emma was forced to kill one of the newborns, no matter how angry or upset she was, she would always feel remorse for their deaths. That's how Jasper knew she was hanging on. When Emma no longer felt remorse, that would be the day that Jasper knew she was gone. But that was not today. Emma Whitlock was a strong girl. She could take anything that you would throw at her. She had always been that way. That factor only grew when Emma found out that she was interested in the same sex. She kept herself protected, or she tried to at least.

Emma sat there in Maria's home―︎today being the day she was allowed to practice her chaos magic―︎with her eyes closed as she meditated. Her focus was sorely on the magic that would flow through her veins. She could feel the power wrapping around her body, slowly lifting her from the ground as she used more and more strength. She stopped only when the sound of the front door closing grabbed her attention. She opened her eyes, falling back to the floor as she stopped using her magic.

She turned her head and was surprised to see her brother enter the room. Emma cocked an eyebrow at him. "Aren't you supposed to be with the newborns?"

"Yes, but I decided to visit my sister instead." Jasper informed her. The smallest of smiles twitched at the corner of her lips before it fell. Jasper was the only one that could make her smile, and even then that was starting to become a complicated task for him. Emma was slowly starting to build up walls around her mind, trying to protect herself from the horrors that had become her life.

"Won't you get in trouble with Maria?" Emma asked, not being able to help the small amount of venom that fell from her mouth when she pronounced the female's name. Emma knew about Maria. Emma knew that her original mate had died and that she was just using Jasper. As well as two others in the coven. Maria fooled everyone, making them fall at her feet. But not Emma, she was smarter than that.

"I'm sure she'll understand." Jasper responded before walking over to his sister. He sat down beside of Emma, the two leaning their backs against the couch. Silence took over the two, something that didn't happen too often between them.

"I don't want to be here anymore, Jazz." Emma whispered, her voice cracking as she spoke the words that broke the silence. "I don't know how much longer I can do this." Emma was sure that if she could, she would be crying.

"What other choice do we have?" Jasper asked, turning his head to look at her. "I can't just leave me Maria. She's my mate."

Emma let out a bitter laugh as she shook her head. "You're so blind, Jasper."

"What are you talking about, Em?" Jasper asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Maria. That's what I'm talking about. She's not your mate, Jasper. She doesn't love you. Why can't you see that?" Emma asked with a deep frown. Jasper's jaw clenched.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Jasper stated.

"If you say 'you're just jealous' so help me god Jasper I will send you flying through that wall." Emma snapped at him. "You're so blinded by her that it makes me sick."

"Please don't talk about her like that." Jasper requested. Emma's mouth fell agape in shock. Did he really just-? Maria always talked Emma down. And though she would always say she was sorry for it afterwards, Emma never believed her. She talked bad about Emma to Jasper and he wouldn't defend her. But when Emma talks about Maria he defends her.

"Wow." Emma scoffs, shaking her head as she stood up. "My own brother would rather defend a manipulator than his own sister." Jasper stood up so that he was in front of her.

"Emma, it's not like that-"

"Then what's it like, Jasper?! Please tell me! She spends hours of her day talking me down right in front of your face and you do nothing about it. But when I talk about her you defend her? What kind of brother does that?" Emma asked.

"Jasper, is everything alright?" The sound of Maria's voice made Emma's lip curl into a snarl. Emma glared at her brother before plastering a blank look on her face as she turned to face Maria.

"Everything's fine, we were just talking." Emma told her. "I'm going to go hunt if that's alright?" Maria nodded her head, sending her a kind smile that was fake. Emma returned the favor. On her way out, she couldn't help but slam the door.

1,433 words

Authors note: I hate Maria goddddd.

I hope you all enjoyed! Stay safe! Until next time,bye loves!♥️

@HAHA_LIFEISTOUGH