When they arrived back at the large house, the illusion had far been forgotten and discarded, the magic wearing off to reveal what was behind the mask. Though, she had to give some of that credit to herself. The masking spell only works as long as the person using it told the truth. If a lie is told, the illusion would weaken until it was fully broken.

Jasper got out of the car, opening her door and helping her out in a rush. She walked into the house with him at her side. Before they could even reach the porch, Esme and Carlisle are rushing out of the house, smelling the blood from inside.

Carlisle walked over, stopping a short distance away from her. "Are you alright? What happened?" He asked, his arm coming up to his nose to cover the scent of the blood. She nodded, "Yes, but my spell is going to wear out soon... Can you fix this?"

Y/N very carefully lifted the towel off of her arm to show just enough of one of the scratches for Carlisle to see. He looked at it for a second, assessing the wound and nodded. She covered it back up and nodded, "Okay."

Rosalie, Emmett, Edward, Bella, and Alice gave her a reassuring look and went into the house to get away from the blood. Carlisle took in a small breath and then held it in. He lowered his arm and went to her side, walking with her into the house as he examined the wound.

Esme walked next to her, holding her breath as they all got into the house. When they got inside, everyone had gone to another room, farthest from Carlisle's office to smell as less blood as possible.

Esme broke off when they got into the house and Carlisle headed to his office, Y/N next to him as she felt the spell wearing off. Carlisle sat her down and began to grab his supplies. "Any pain?" He questioned.

Y/N shrugged, "It's coming back. The spells wearing off..." She screwed her eyes shut as the hurt from the deep cuts slowly returned to her. "Then I better work quickly." Carlisle spoke, bringing his supplies next to the table.

He moved her sleeve down her arm, freeing it so he had more to work with. He looked at where he'd just removed the sleeve, seeing a mark on her skin. "What happened there?" He asked, brushing his hand over it as he tried to see what it was.

Y/N got a small look at what his eyes were trained on and she looked away, "James." The mark he was looking what was one of the punishments she had received from not performing an unknown and, as far as she knew, nonexistent spell right.

Carlisle looked at her facing away from him and asked, "Are there more like them?" She didn't answer. She only continued to look away. That was response enough. Many more.

Most of her body was decorated with them. Most of them from James, then another chunk from Victoria, and only a couple from Laurent, but only because James had made him. Y/N could see it in his eyes that he didn't want to hurt her.

Carlisle caught the hint, telling him that she didn't want to talk about it. Not right now, at least. She would come around.

He removed the towels and examined the wound again, looking at it to see exactly what he needed to do. He spoke to himself, thinking out loud about what he needed to do.

He got to work, trying his hardest against the scent of her blood. Y/N chewed on her lip. "Sorry..." She mumbled.

He glanced up at her before looking back at her arm, "No need to apologize. It's not your fault that you got hurt."

"I know...but the blood... It's-"

"You have no need to apologize for the blood you have. You were born with it, you didn't choose it." Carlisle responded, continuing to work at the cuts. As he stitched up the first one, he asked, "Why is your blood so much more potent, stronger than human blood?"

She shrugged her free shoulder, "A witch thing. The magic in us spreads throughout our body, our blood. We'll smell mostly like another human, just a tad bit off. But when our blood is spilled, it's...this." She motioned to her arm.

Carlisle nodded, taking in this new information. Y/N furrowed her brows. She'd seen the way the others reacted to her blood, how they covered their noses and stayed a safe distance away, trying their hardest not to stand too close or breathe too much in fear of hurting her. But Carlisle was here working away at her wounds, breathing like any other day and behaving in such a normal way, for vampires, at least.

"The others were having so much trouble with it... You don't seem too phased." She asked, tilting her head slightly. Carlisle looked up for a moment as he continued working, "Centuries of practice."

She nodded, "Yeah, but it's only been, like, fifteen minutes... The others were having so much trouble..."

"The others haven't been away from human blood, or witch blood, I suppose, for as long as I have...especially not Jasper." Carlisle responded.

She furrowed her brows as she spoke, "Strange."

"How so?" Carlisle asked, taking another moment to look up at her. She shrugged one shoulder and looked back over at her arm. "Jasper seemed the calmest out of everyone...besides you, of course."

Carlisle's head shot up for a moment, staring in disbelief. "Really?"

Y/n nodded and Carlisle thought about that for a moment before getting back to the task at hand. "Strange, indeed." He slightly mumbled.

There a slight silence before Y/N asked shyly, "Did you ever think about living differently...?"

Carlisle shook his head, "I enjoy my work too much. Helping people, saving lives. I'm hoping there's a point to my existence, even if I am damned."

She furrowed her brows, tilting her head as she asked, "Damned? The Sun Children aren't damned."

Carlisle asked confusedly, "The Sun Children?"

Y/N screwed her eyes shut and shook her head, "Oh, that's right. Sorry, witch talk. Vampires aren't damned."

"Then you and I agree - Edward doesn't believe there's an afterlife for our kind. He thinks we've lost our souls." Carlisle explained.

Y/N shook her head, her eyes slightly glazing over with golden hints dancing in them as she spoke of some of the witch history seared into her mind. "The Sun Children were made with people who had souls big enough to contain the powers they would be given. And, if they were to pass on, they were given a special place with the ancestors. When red eyes and golden eyes came to be, those who died with red eyes would be put in the afterlife the spirits placed the traitors while the golden eyes were given a place with the purest of the witches."

When she stopped speaking, she shook her head and closed her eyes. She apologized, "Sorry. Witch talk. When we speak of our history, it comes from our ancestors before us. Like we're in a daze. It's...definitely a trip once you leave it..."

Carlisle only shook his head, "Don't apologize. You and your kind are very fascinating and I'd love to know more when you decide to share." Y/N slowly smiled. Being given kindness like this was still so strange to her, after her years with James and Victoria, and the times with her frightened and strict parents, she hadn't received much of it.

"I'd be happy to. I hope you enjoy rambling because that's kind of what happens." Carlisle laughed and continued with his work.

Soon enough they finished up and everyone slowly returned from the farthest sides of the house. "Do you know any healing spells? Maybe something that can speed it up?" Carlisle asked.

Y/N chewed on her lip, "No, I'm not powerful enough for healing spells. It's advanced magic and I have a lot of practice until I get there. So, we'll have to do it the human way." Carlisle nodded and gave her a smile before letting her go.

She was exhausted and she knew she had to sleep, rest up because questions would be asked tomorrow and she didn't want to do that tired. She told everyone a good night and walked off to her room, a little on edge about going up the stairs alone. She was still a little afraid from what happened earlier with Victoria.

She got to her room and opened her door slowly and cautiously, stepping inside as she got ready for bed. After she was dressed and getting ready to climb in the bed, there was a knock on the door. "Come in." She said after a moment of hesitation.

The door opened and Jasper stepped in. He stood tall as he walked in just a little and said, "I didn't want to bother you, Y/N, but I have a question."

Y/N gulped a little and asked, "Yeah?"

"Why did you lie earlier?" He asked, narrowing his eyes as he spoke to her.

She looked down at her feet and asked, "What do you mean?" She must have been in trouble. She had to have been in trouble.

Jasper shook his head, "You know what I mean? Why did you lie back there? What really happened?"

Y/N was growing a little anxious, inching toward fear. It was a habit for her after the time she spend with her previous coven. They would ask her why she did what she did and some form of punishment would follow. She swallowed back a tear that wanted to escape, shrinking in her spot as her memories of some of her punishments flooded in, Victoria's words.

"I'm sorry..." She croaked, her voice a whisper, so small that only Jasper would be able to hear. Jasper could sense her distress and walked up to her carefully, deciding not to use his speed and scare her further. He wrapped his arms around her, the first contact making her jump in surprise, thinking he was going to do something else.

He pulled her into a reassuring hug as he told her softly, "Hey, hey, hey. There's no need to cry, darlin', no one's going to hurt you." She fell into the hug, a silent sob leaving her. Jasper used some of his power to calm her down a little, giving her just enough warmth, careful not to overwhelm her or give her so much that she felt wrong about it.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to lie, I just didn't want to worry any of you." She whispered a small cry. Jasper rubbed circles against her back and whispered, "It's alright, everything going to be okay. Don't cry. Who attacked you tonight?"

Y/N sniffled and said in a whispered and broken voice, "Victoria."

Jasper looked back at her, closing his mouth at the mention of her name. "She's not going to hurt you again. Not if I can help it, I promise."

"Don't tell the others." Y/N said quietly, "I don't want to worry them with something that won't happen yet."

"How do you know she won't attack now?" Jasper asked.

Y/N sighed, calming herself enough to speak in a steady voice, "Victoria said she would wait until the time was right. She can be very patient. We won't be seeing her for a while... I don't want anyone to be constantly worrying about me if it's not going to happen anytime soon."

Jasper didn't like it. He didn't like not having more defenses for her, but he agreed anyway. He nodded and pulled her into his chest again where she breathed in his scent and sighed, letting shaky breath come out as her senses calmed.

"I won't tell anyone. But I can't promise Edward won't find out." Jasper spoke.

She nodded, "He'll understand. I have a feeling..."

Jasper nodded and sighed, he kissed her head, not having a full grasp on what he had done, as it was completely impulse and instinct. Y/N smiled at the kiss, though, and sighed, "I need to get to bed."

Jasper nodded and wished her a good night, beginning to leave the room. "Um," she started as he reached the door, "Could you stay with me? For tonight? I'd feel better if I had someone here...and I'd like it to be...you."

Jasper nodded and walked over to her, climbing in bed with her. She laid her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around him, falling to sleep with him next to her. She felt safer already. Jasper felt so safe to her.

Maybe it was a witch thing.