Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Twilight, its characters, or the quotes that I used in telling this story.
A/N This is New Moon Chapter 1 in Jasper's POV. I tried to follow the book very closely and get all the quotes right. It has kind of a dark, cliff-hanger ending, but we all know what happens later, so I didn't think I needed to go on. If you guys want me to do more, review!!
I always missed Alice when she was gone for the day. We had been through school several times, and every year she enrolled one year below me to be in the same class with Edward.
Today was unexpectedly pleasant in that I now had Emmett and Rosalie to keep me company. Last week, Alice had had a vision and suddenly got excited. I tried to get her to tell me what was going to happen but she refused to blow the secret. This made me anxious; Alice rarely kept secrets from me. She was even keeping it from Edward. During the little bit of time he spent at the house I could tell that she was blocking her thoughts from him because I could feel his frustration.
Last night however, I found out what the secret was. Alice and I were up in our bedroom, Carlisle was in his office and Esme was cleaning when I heard a car pull up. We assumed it was Edward, so we all rushed downstairs to find out if something was wrong that he would come back early. On my way downstairs however, I was hit with strong emotions coming from two distinct people. One was feeling anxious and the other was excited. I could feel Alice's expectation and excitement as she flew down the stairs next to me so I knew this had to be what she had been waiting for.
When Alice opened the door with that beautiful smile on her pixie face I saw Emmett step forward and grasp her in a huge bear hug.
Rosalie stepped in behind him and gave Esme a hug, nearly as enthusiastic as her husband.
Emmett and Rosalie took turns hugging each of us and we soon all moved to the living room. I noticed that they both had small suitcases, so I had asked them if they were staying. They announced that they were only here for a short time. Alice had called them and they came back to celebrate Bella's birthday. At the mention of Bella, Rosalie's face fell and I was picking up resentment clouding her happiness.
Later that evening when Edward returned to change clothes before going back to Bella's house as soon as he walked in the door Emmett jumped up and enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug. As much as Edward struggled against this, he couldn't get away from Emmett's strength, so they continued to stand there, Edward with an annoyed look on his face and Emmett with a silly grin plastered across his features, clearly amused by Edward's frustration.
"So Jazz, you ever going to go do your chores?" Emmett asked me, pulling me out of my reverie. He was clearly trying to provoke me so that I would lose the video game we were engrossed in.
Before Alice had left with Edward for school she had given me a list of things I needed to pick up before the party tonight. Thousands of flowers and vases, a huge cake that only Bella would eat any of, special-order Japanese lanterns, pink candles, special crystal plates and a new table she had bought with an embroidered white table cloth to go on top.
I didn't understand the fuss, Bella was just going to complain about it; I already knew she hated getting presents. She had sat us all down one day last week and instructed us all on how we were not to get her any gifts for her birthday. Of course none of us listened.
I refused to respond to Emmett's comment, and quickly shot down his last player. He looked at me, dumbfounded. Emmett wasn't used to losing, but I had been playing this game often in my boredom.
"Actually, I am, right now. Care to join me?" I asked him as I felt the surprise drained from his emotional makeup.
"Sure, I love running errands," he said sarcastically, but still getting up. He pulled the keys to his Jeep out of his pocket and had them in his hand.
"Great, I'll drive," I told him, snatching the keys from him. Surprisingly, he let it go without a fight.
We drove in silence to the florist. When I opened the door I was hit by the overwhelming aroma of several distinct kinds of flowers. I walked gracefully up to the counter, smiling when the girl turned around and saw me.
She was struck speechless for a few seconds before shaking her head to clear it.
"Order for Cullen," I told her smoothly when she had regained her composure.
"Um, yeah, okay," she fluttered around the counter before walking through a door to the back.
I turned to grin at Emmett and he nodded in approval and slight admiration. Whenever we were out alone we would make it a competition to see who could 'charm the ladies' better. Alice and Rosalie always chided us for it, saying that it was rude to do such things to people and Edward never appreciated it either. We hadn't ever attempted to do it around Esme, anticipating her disapproval.
The receptionist returned and I spun around to face her again. In her arms were dozens large glass bowls containing tons of pink roses. She even had to have another girl come out to help her bring them all.
She set them down on the counter and told us the cost. I rarely paid attention to prices any more, with Alice being able to see the stock market's fluctuations; it was always easy for us to make money. I handed her my shiny black credit card and signed my name on the machine in a flourish.
Emmett and I easily got all the roses out to the Jeep and loaded them into the back. We climbed into the monster vehicle and we were off to the next store.
"I'd rate that a seven," Emmett started.
"That was a solid eight and you know it. Did you see the way she totally forgot where she was going? As if there would be all these roses just sitting on the counter waiting for us." We argued over what my rating should be of how dazzled the girl became, deciding upon seven and a half as we pulled into the bakery parking lot. This was Emmett's turn.
The rest of the morning passed smoothly and Emmett and I continued our game the whole time, going into the early afternoon. By the end of our little trip I had gotten twenty-two points and Emmett had gotten twenty-one.
When we returned to the house, it was almost time for Alice to be coming home to set up. Together with Esme's help we got all of our packages out of the back of the Jeep and we started bringing them into the house.
We laid it all out in the living room so that Alice would have everything at her disposal as she needed it.
Just as we were finishing Alice came through the doorway. She came up to me and after giving me a short kiss she turned to see that I had gotten everything on her list.
"Bella doesn't want to come to the party tonight but Edward and I are going to make her come. She just doesn't know how much fun this is going to be," she told me. Her enthusiasm seemed to be unaffected by Bella's undeniable distaste for celebration. "So he took her back to her house and they will be here around seven, so that means I get some extra time to get set up!" she was nearly bouncing in place. The waves of excitement coming off of her were staggering.
With Esme's assistance, Alice had the entire house decorated in less than an hour. She had the roses placed both outside the house and all around the expansive living room. She had moved some of the furniture to make room for the table she had set up with the clear glass plates stacked neatly sitting next to the giant pink-frosted cake. She had put pink candles in all different sizes throughout the room, so many that I would have been worried of the house catching fire if she wouldn't have been able to see it beforehand, and she strung several of the lanterns along the overhang on the front porch.
Bella was going to hate it.
I didn't dare to tell her this because I was honestly afraid of Alice, more so than Bella or even Edward. Alice was small, but she could be one frightening vampire when she wished to be. So I endured the decorating in forced good spirits.
Once she finished with the decorating, placing last minute touches where she thought needed and at last putting the silver-wrapped gifts on the table with the cake, she went off to help Emmett reason with Rosalie. We all knew that Rosalie didn't like Bella, but we wanted her to be a little more reasonable and come to the party tonight. Bella would feel bad if Rosalie wasn't in attendance. The whole family understood that Rosalie was jealous and we knew why, but Bella didn't know Rosalie's story, so she didn't understand.
After a long talk eventually involving everyone at the house we were able to soften Rosalie enough to convince her to come tonight and not ruin the party. I loved her dearly as my sister, but she could be so stubborn sometimes.
It was nearly seven before Bella and Edward showed up. We heard the roar of Bella's ancient truck and the doors closing.
As the couple walked onto the wrap-around front porch we could hear the end of a round of Edward's laughter at something Bella must have said too quietly for even us to hear. The minute the door opened we all yelled "Happy birthday, Bella!" just as Alice had rehearsed with us. I saw her cheeks flush as she looked down in embarrassment; I had to fight back the monster that was threatening to break through at the sight of her blood pooling just beneath her delicate skin.
Edward attempted to make her feel better by placing an arm around her waist and kissing her forehead, and I could feel the surge of love that went through them both.
Esme walked up to Bella and gave her a gentle hug, kissing her forehead. She stepped back to make room for Carlisle, who put an arm around her shoulders in a fatherly gesture. "Sorry about this, Bella. We couldn't rein Alice in," he whispered loud enough to make it clear that he wanted the rest of us to hear.
Rosalie and Emmett stepped forward next and I didn't detect any surprise from Bella at seeing them here, so Edward must have told her beforehand. Rosalie managed to not glare, so it was an improvement. Perhaps our discussion did help.
Emmett, on the other hand was beaming with excitement at seeing Bella again. "You haven't changed at all," he said. Anyone could tell that his disappointment was fake. "I expected a perceptible difference, but there you are, red-faced just like always."
"Thanks a lot, Emmett," Bella said, blushing deeper and causing me distress, both with her blood and my frustration at my weak self-control.
He laughed at her response. "I have to step out for a second," he said, winking conspicuously at Alice, "Don't do anything funny while I'm gone."
"I'll try," she said as he left, confusion coloring her tone.
Alice let go of my hand, dancing forward, smiling at Bella, her beautiful teeth gleaming in the bright light. I smiled at Bella, but was wary of getting too close to her for fear of losing control. I could feel that she felt bad that I wasn't able to be near her, even after all that time we spent so close in the hotel in Phoenix. I could tell that she knew it was only for her safety but she still felt it was somehow her fault.
"Time to open presents," Alice said animatedly. She grabbed Bella's elbow and pulled her over to the table with the silver gifts.
"Alice, I know I told you I didn't want anything—" Bella started.
"But I didn't listen," Alice interrupted, a tinge of smugness clouding her excited emotional state. "Open it," she instructed, giving Bella the box of the gift that Emmett, Rosalie and I had given her and taking Bella's new camera from her hands. Bella became confused when she felt that it was so light but we knew that it was because it contained nothing; Emmett was putting the stereo in her truck outside.
She quickly looked at the tag to see that it was from us then began pulling the paper off self-consciously. Bella looked at the box, clearly confused with all of the numbers in the name of what it had contained. She opened it, hoping to find a clue as to what it was but what was inside, but she only found that it was empty.
I felt several different emotions go through her head as she quickly thought over the issue. She was confused, and she was worried that she would hurt our feelings if she didn't appreciate what she assumed was all of her gift.
"Um…thanks," she said hesitantly. I saw Rosalie smile and I laughed.
"It's a stereo for your truck," I explained to her. "Emmett's installing it right now so that you can't return it." She was clearly relieved at understanding the purpose of the empty box.
"Thanks, Jasper, Rosalie," she told us heartily, smiling at the gift I could tell she truly appreciated. "Thanks, Emmett!" she called to him; he was just finishing up installing it outside, and we could hear his deep laughter echoing outside.
"Open mine and Edward's next," Alice said in her beautiful sing-song voice. She held out a small flat box for Bella to take.
Bella ignored the package and turned to glare at Edward. "You promised." If she could've growled I'm sure she would have.
At that moment Emmett came bouncing through the doorway. "Just in time!" he announced excitedly. He came in behind me, pushing me even closer to Bella; I had unknowingly drifted closer to her to better see what was going on.
"I didn't spend a dime," Edward told her reassuringly. He lovingly brushed a strand of hair from her face, trying to comfort her. Even at the gentlest of touches, her emotions went wild, though she kept up her angry façade very well.
She inhaled deeply and turned back to face Alice, who was still grinning excitedly and holding out the next present. "Give it to me," she said, signing theatrically. Emmett chuckled behind me at her reaction.
Bella took the gift slightly unwillingly and, rolling her eyes at Edward, she slid her finger under the edge of the paper to open it.
It happened so quickly then. If I tried to remember the sequence of events, I would have much difficulty, but I avoid the memories whenever I can.
Bella said something when she felt the paper cut. She pulled it out from behind the paper to see the damage and a single drop of blood came out of the tiny cut.
Her blood. Her precious, savory, delicious blood. At that moment I became the predator and she the prey. No more, no less. I was no longer her brother, she no longer my sister. She wasn't Edward's love, his reason for existing. She wasn't the reason for my brother's happiness and joy. None of that mattered anymore. Bella was my prey.
I felt myself launch at her. My mind was screaming at me to stop. But knowing that this was wrong was not enough. My body seemed to act of its own will, no longer needing my mind and senses for direction.
Edward cried out and flew across the room toward Bella. Somewhere deep inside I felt his denial and his determination to protect Bella. Protect her from me. But those feelings were shadowed by something much more pressing—her blood.
He threw Bella into the table with the glass plates and the cake, causing the glass to shatter and Bella to fall on it. I slammed into Edward with unbelievable force with a sound like boulders crashing into one another in a land slide. This wasn't enough to bring me out of the bloodlust—I was too far gone.
I saw that Bella had gotten a long cut on the inside of her left arm, causing just that much more blood to be spilled. I growled, deep in my chest, trying to get Edward away from Bella. He was just an obstacle in the hunt. I tried to get past him, snapping my teeth just inches away from her.
Suddenly, I felt a set of strong arms grab me from behind, locking me into their steel grip. I struggled against Emmett, oppressing the knowledge that I wasn't going to get past his strength. I still focused on Bella, who only cowered away from my wild blackened stare, as I struggled to take her life.
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