Treasurer
Chapter 1
Reunited And It Feels So Good
Bella smiled serenely at Jasper, her heart rate finally slowing. She had been scrawling in her notepad, trying to do homework. Another sleepless night. And then, he had appeared in her bedroom window, leonine as ever. She had been scared, then surprised.
And then she had felt pure bliss.
"What are you doing here Jasper?" Something was off, not how it was meant to be. She couldn't put her finger on it.
She was so relaxed though, so cheerful, that she was struggling to care. This wasn't quite right. But it felt so good to not feel sad.
Jasper smiled at her, and she was surprised all over again that he was here! In her bedroom!
"How...how did you get here?" She asked, and she tried to beat the fogginess in her brain back, but another wave of peace came crashing down on her instead. Something was wrong.
Bella was curled in her duvet, her long brown hair piled in a ratty mess on her head. She couldn't remember the last time she'd brushed her teeth.
She knew she had black circles under her eyes. She hadn't slept more than a two hour stretch in 3 months. She had been depressed, she knew that. Severely depressed. Because Edward had left her, alone in the dark, after breaking her heart in the cruelest way he knew how.
But Jasper was here now!
She was giddy, and a laugh escaped her lips. Bella was happy.
"Did you know Bella," Jasper was squatting in her window frame, lanky limbs folded awkwardly. His hair had sticks and leaves in it. He didn't appear the least bit human, not at all. He was distinctly other right now. "That the first day you came to school, Alice saw 5 possible futures?"
His voice was a honeyed drawl, and Bella felt a hot coil of pleasure roll through her body.
"No." She replied breathily. She probably sounded like a complete idiot. But he was so beautiful, and she was so happy. The moon cast him in an unearthly glow and Bella's heart began to gallop in her chest.
His nostrils flared and his pupils rapidly dilated. Bella felt dizziness twisting in her mind. She must smell good, or at least...pungent. She hadn't left the room for a fair while now.
And that's when she realized what was wrong.
Jasper's eyes were a bright and bloody red.
Panic ricocheted momentarily in Bella's mind. But it quickly was absorbed into the fog in her head, and the giddiness returned.
Jasper would never hurt her. She knew that now.
"Well, she did." He said. Jasper slowly unfolded, and began an easy, deliberate stroll into her room. He picked up her things, a journal, an old mug, a snow globe, looking at them distractedly and discarding them. "You see, Alice fancied herself in love with me. And she knew in her heart that we would be together forever. I never thought to question it."
"And then," he turned towards her, a dirty bra of hers stretched between his fingers, an appraising look on his face, unimpressed. "You came along, and she saw me bumping into you, and we had a connection Bella. A real one. It was the clearest future, the one that made the most sense."
Jasper was now watching her with intense concentration.
"Alice decided otherwise." His tone became bitter, angry. "I'm quite independent. I'd like to decide myself."
Bella's heart was pounding, and some distant part of her was trying to scream that what he was saying was wrong, wrong, wrong.
But instead all she did was nod adoringly at the beautiful man in her room, red eyes and all.
Of course we belong together. Jasper says we do.
"We'd have shared more of a connection than you and Edward would ever have." He snarled this, and the hairs on Bella's arms stood up, goosebumps rising over her skin. "You were meant to be mine."
He stood over her, and Bella felt tiny on her bed. Tiny and happy. The grey fog in her brain was growing heavy though, and her eyes began to drift closed. He seemed to realize something, and took a moment to calm himself down.
"You need to come with me Bella," Jasper scooped her into his arms with ease, duvet and all. Bella's small bare feet poking out the end were funny to her for some reason, and she giggled stupidly. "Is that okay?"
Bella let her head rest on his chest and nodded contentedly.
He leapt out of the window, landing lightly on the front lawn. Charlie's cruiser was in the driveway.
He began to run and the steady pace he set helped to lull her to sleep.
He smelt like fresh blood.
She found she didn't care.