AN: Prompt 41 from the anon twi fic contest of 2012. I know - I'm still trying to write them all. The shot looked like a jeans clad guy and Edward would never wear jeans… he also looked vaguely malevolent, too. Feebes and I were chatting about how the Alice vision from the final movie changes things- she saw her whole family die when the Volturi came to kill them all- even if they broke the rules (she shouldn't have been able to have a vision with wolves present) - but how does it skew things that happened in the past; in the earlier books? If that was Alice's vision of the future and not them all happy and together?
Disclaimer: the characters and all recognisable situations belong to Stephenie Meyer - this is a work of fan fiction, except for the legends and histories of the Quileute that, of course, belong to them. I pay my respects to their Gods.
Perfect accident
Jasper Whitlock was dangerous. Bella knew that at some level. More dangerous than the other Cullens who all seemed too cultured; too detached from the blood and the darkness by their elegance. The darkness was the stuff that made them what they really were; vampires. Immortal creatures of nightmare and fear.
Bella started to think that maybe Alice shined so incredibly bright to try and make Jasper seem less dark. As if she could push her bright, cheerful bouncy self into him.
He always looked in pain at school. He tried so hard for Alice. Tried to be her perfect high school boyfriend. But it was wrong on so many levels. It was clear to Bella that he hated it, and she didn't need to read minds to know that. He was older than the other Cullens for a start and he had a way of standing with a ramrod straight back that suggested a past in the military. He was clearly done with schooling.
And he had those scars.
He was evidently covered in them; not that her frail human eyes could see them all.
She was fascinated.
The Cullens were sparkling and all frighteningly light, but Jasper was still dark. The bad boy vampire.
Edward always made her think of intensely beautiful Greek gods and marble statues, but Jasper made her think of the controlled violence of a lion; a tawny, golden lion with a mane of tousled blond hair.
The more she learned about the Cullens, the more Bella suspected that Jasper was the most dangerous of them all. Not only for his ability to fight but because being able to change emotions was an incredibly powerful gift. Imagine if he turned it on an opponent? How could people fight him, if all they felt was a devastating sense of hopelessness? The utter certainty that they would lose. They couldn't. They would just give up.
And it intrigued her.
And he knew that it did.
Of course he did! He could read her feelings.
She wondered if fascination was an emotion.
It was irrelevant to think this way. He was with Alice and she was with Edward. If she stayed with him for eternity, as Edward wanted, then Jasper would always be in her life as Alice's husband and life partner. He was most definitely in the no-go zone, but he was so interesting.
Edward had trusted Jasper and Alice to guard her on the trip to Phoenix and she had lost them both to meet James. She had convinced Jasper that she needed to eat and then had gone into the women's bathroom and exited through the other door. She had relied on Jasper's Southern rules of etiquette. She suspected that Jasper was still annoyed with her over that.
They had graduated to a compromise.
She was in the library when a cold hand locked around her wrist and pulled her into the stacks. She had thought it was Edward and was pleasantly surprised to see Jasper's tawny eyes looking down at her.
She didn't need to say anything; her reactions had given her away. She knew it the second he glared at her.
"Be glad he can't read your mind," Jasper said, oddly echoing her thoughts.
"Oh," she said.
"You are a …" He searched for a word. "…liability," he finished.
"I am?"
"He saved you in the car park and almost exposed us all. His continued obsession with keeping you human is a danger. I won't stand for it."
"How is that your job?" she hissed at him.
"I killed James for you," he defended.
She hadn't realised that. That when she was bleeding on the ballet studio floor, Emmett and Jasper had killed her attacker and burnt him.
She held her wrist out to him. "I have a scar now… like yours."
He made an annoyed huff sound. "One," he counted.
"Two," she countered, "When Edward changes me, I'll have the second."
"He wants to do it himself?" he sounded surprised.
"Of course."
"Huh."
"You're chained," she told him.
"Begging your pardon?" he asked in that southern drawl.
"Like a lion," she told him.
He gave her a very odd look. "I'll be glad when you're turned, it would be nice to not wanna kill you all the time."
And with that, he left.
She shivered. The thought of Jasper changing her instead of Edward tickled at the edge of her mind. But she loved Edward. She knew she did.
By the time her eighteenth birthday rolled around, she was a nervous mess. She hated birthdays. She hated reminders that she was now officially, older than Edward. He should have changed her before. She knew that he wanted to. What was the delay? Jasper, of course, was twenty.
She was very glad Edward couldn't hear her thoughts that day.
Jasper used his empathic power to alter Bella's mood to make her feel comfortable enough to attend her own birthday party. And she was annoyed by that. The whole thing was excessive. They even had a cake that none of them could eat unless they threw it up later. Ugh. They went over the top. It was completely unnecessary.
She blamed Alice. It all reeked of the manic pixie. Which exact part of 'don't make a fuss' did Alice miss? And she had said no presents. She exchanged a glance with Jasper and he gave a half smile at her emotions. She felt a touch of pleasure that she amused him. And she liked seeing his half smile.
But being her usual klutzy self, she gave herself a paper cut opening an envelope. Alice didn't see that one coming.
It all seemed to happen in extreme slow motion. The drop of blood falling slowly to the carpeted floor.
There was a roar. It was Jasper as he came flying at her across the room. Emmett and Carlisle fended him off and restrained him. They threw him into the grand piano with a resounding crash. Edward went for Bella, but in his rush to protect her, he threw her too hard. She fell into the side table with all the glass cake plates stacked on it in readiness for the cake cutting. It was that act that gashed open her arm. Up till then, all she had was a simple paper cut. Now her arm had been torn open and the odour of blood flooded the room. Her especially delicious blood.
Everyone left. Only Carlisle, who was completely used to the smell, was left to stitch her up.
The thought crossed her mind that she now had another scar. She had lost count of how many she had acquired after being involved with the Cullens. She wanted to tell Jasper. She and Carlisle discussed souls and evil while he bandaged her. Carlisle thought she was talking about Edward, but she wasn't.
Edward was weird the next day. He was emotionally distant and she knew it. She had to keep breaking the silence. She told him that she was fine; that she had had worse, that no one had bitten her and she was okay. He had handled her nearly dying in Phoenix much better than this. She thought he blamed himself. Alice and Jasper were gone, he told her. None of the Cullens were at school. She was upset; she wanted to tell Jasper that she understood. That he was an empath and she didn't blame him.
She had to work at Newtons that night. She begged Edward to be at her house. He was, sitting awkwardly in the living room with Charlie. She tried to imagine what the worst was that could happen. That Jasper was off limits? She could deal with that. Maybe.
Edward had got a little better with her blood odour, maybe Jasper could too?
She rationally decided that she would probably be leaving Forks soon, so she got out her camera and took pictures of her room and the house and her father… and Edward. He complained about it.
He didn't stay that night.
At school the next day, she took more photos. And with the roll finished, she dropped it in for processing. Edward has said barely a word all day. The next day was the same, too. She felt a creeping sense of dread. She got double prints and put half in an envelope to send to Renee. Edward offered to post them for her. He had taken them from the truck seat before she could stop him.
He beat her home. He had parked in Charlie's spot and she knew that meant he wasn't staying long. He was still brooding.
But he wanted to go for a walk. A walk?
She didn't like it.
…
And then he stood there and tore her heart out. Not literally, but it sure as hell felt like it. He was leaving. His family had already left without saying goodbye.
And she was not going with them. He made that very clear.
None of them said goodbye.
Her world tilted and shattered. This she had not planned for.
The hole in her chest where her heart used to be was so large that she had trouble breathing around it. He kissed her on the forehead like a benevolent uncle and left her alone.
She stumbled after him as he glided silently away. He had extracted a promise that she wouldn't do anything stupid and she broke it immediately by chasing him into the forest. But she felt that chasing him into the dank, dark forest was the more sensible option. If she stood there she would just die.
She ran; crying and calling out his name until she slowed to a walk. She fell a few times and banged her sore arm again. She finally stopped and looked around.
She was lost.
She tried to retrace her steps but she had not taken any notice of where she ran. As the light faded, the forest became more impenetrable.
Eventually, she fell to the ground and didn't want to get up.
The mist crept in and she shivered with cold, exhaustion and fatigue.
Through the mist she saw a figure approach. A man who walked with the elegant glide of a vampire. But it wasn't Edward. This figure wore jeans, a denim shirt with the cuffs folded back and boots. His legs were slightly bow legged as if he had grown up on horseback.
It was Jasper.
Her heart leapt to see him. She was flooded with joy. They had come back for her.
He stopped near her and looked down at her.
"Jasper," she breathed.
His head turned sharply as if he heard a noise in the forest.
"What is it?" she asked. Her voice was croaky.
"Search party."
"For me?"
"Yes. It's been hours."
"I didn't want to be found."
He shrugged. "But I found you."
She gave him a tiny smile. "Yes. You found me first."
"Yes."
He scooped her up and carried her as he ran. It took her a little while to understand that he wasn't carrying her towards the search party. She didn't care about her rescuers. Jasper had her.
He stopped at the base of a rocky outcrop. A tree had fallen against the rocks and made a natural ramp. "Perfect," he said.
He carried her up the tree to a protected ledge; an overhang that kept the rocks under it dry.
Bella was shivering by then. It was probably shock and a mixture of exposure and the beginnings of hypothermia. It made her slow. Her brain was still trying to put things together. He set her down on the dry rock.
"You didn't take me to the house… or to my house," she said.
"No." He was staring out into the forest.
Edward had told her to live. He had said goodbye. Why was Jasper here? She couldn't think. "It wasn't your fault that you attacked me."
"I have Pathokinesis. The blood lust of six vampires at once was too much for me." He glanced at her.
"And Edward finds my blood… special," she said. His blood lust would have been a hundred times worse.
"You are his singer. Every moment in your presence is painful to him. An exquisite torture."
"It is?" She wasn't sure that she had known that.
"Only Edward would punish himself, so."
That made sense to her. "Yes."
"And there was you, too," Jasper added.
"Me?"
"You wanted me to attack you. You wanted me to bite you."
Her exhaustion made her truthful; she didn't have the energy for lies. "Yes."
He sighed.
She felt that her time was running out. She could feel it trickling away. "Talk to me, Jasper."
He crouched down; with one foot underneath him to support his weight and the other bent up to rest his arm on. He told her his story. He joined the confederate army. He rose quickly through the ranks until he was a major.
"You were a good soldier," Bella said.
"I followed orders."
That sounded ominous.
"And then you became a vampire?" she prompted.
He told her about Maria and her army of newborns. How he kept them under control for her. How it was his job to get rid of them when their newborn strength had waned and they showed no other special abilities. Or when they were no longer useful to Maria. "Following orders again," he said. "I was the executioner."
She felt a chill that wasn't from the air. Something had changed. If Jasper was following orders, then someone had sent him. Someone that he would obey without question.
Alice. It had to be Alice.
"Did Alice have another vision?" she asked.
"Yes."
Ah. She pressed the bandage over her stitches. The pain helped her to think. Clearly Edward hadn't known about another vision. He told her Alice and Jasper had left. He had left her alone in the forest. And if that was the case then Edward was not going to rescue her. He would not have known that Jasper was looking for her.
"What changed?" she asked.
"I don't rightly know, but if you stay with Edward, if he changes you, then the Volturi will come here and attack the Cullens."
"The Volturi? Edward told me about them." He had said that they were an ancient self-appointed ruling class of vampires. They demanded secrecy and they enforced that rule with a heavy hand. They had talked about them in Carlisle's study while Alice was setting up the party. There was a painting hanging on the wall of Carlisle with them. "Come here? To Forks?"
"They even bring their wives. And every single fighter they have."
Against a family of seven. It was like using a sledgehammer to kill an ant. "Who dies? In Alice's vision?"
"Almost everyone in the family. And a lot of others, too."
Of course. Secrecy would demand the death of every witness to keep that silence.
"But… Edward left me. He just said he didn't love me. I won't be with him. It won't happen."
He looked at her calmly. "He lied."
So simple.
He lied. Of course he did. It all made sense now. Typical of Edward to not tell her the truth, or discuss it with her. To make her decision for her.
"Alice's visions can change," she argued desperately.
"Not this one. Edward will come back for you or you will find him. The vision is set in stone and it frightens her very much."
"Enough to send you."
A half smile. "Yes."
"Following orders."
He nodded.
Bella understood. Jasper was her executioner. She was never going to be a vampire. She felt disappointed. She was never going to get grey hair, or arthritis, or even finish High School and have babies. She was going to die a virgin, too.
She tried to think but she could see no way out of this. Even threatening Jasper with Edward was pointless. Jasper was not scared of the foppish Edward. The statue was no threat to the lion. And if Alice was away from Edward then he could not read her mind. Even if they were together, Alice was very good at hiding things from her brother that she did not want him to see. And Edward would be less observant because he was devastated. So devastated, because he had just dumped the love of his life; his singer. Alice would have thought of every possible solution. Her family would always come before Bella, because Bella wasn't part of her family. Not yet.
And now she never would be.
She was still trying to think of a solution. She had escaped vampires before. If she could get him to bite her, he might lose control again. "Will you drain me?"
"No. For Charlie. Alice likes Charlie. It has to look like an accident."
"Good." Her father would be alone again, but the murder of his daughter he would never let rest. It was better that it looked like an accident. She knew it was for Edward, too. At least until he read Jasper's mind and saw how his singer had died.
Jasper said nothing. He watched her calmly. He could read all her emotions. He could tell as she cycled through disbelief, scepticism, understanding, panic and finally, to grief and acceptance.
"I am going to die," she stated.
"Any last requests?"
"A kiss?"
He was surprised by that, but he nodded.
He stood and held out his hand. She took it and he pulled her to her feet.
Exhausted, she leaned against him. He felt hard, like Edward, but different, somehow. She looked up at him.
He held her face in his cold hands and looked into her eyes. "You have always wanted me to do this."
"Yes." No lies, now.
He kissed her. He really knew how to kiss and unlike Edward, he didn't hold back. It was her final request, after all. She inhaled the scent of him. It made her head spin. And then the delicious taste of him as he plunged his tongue into her mouth. It was indescribable and addictive. She could have stayed there forever. Her skin burned with a fever. She grabbed at his body to hold him closer. His hands slid down her back to hold her ass and he ground her into his groin. She gasped for breath as she felt his physical reaction to her.
"You're a danger to me, too, Bella Swan," he whispered to her.
She laughed; an oddly joyous sound.
He kissed her again as his hands reached for her throat.
He broke her neck and let her limp body fall from the small cliff. It looked like a perfect accident.
The black wolf found her still, lifeless body. He had tracked the vampire trail from where her scent had disappeared from the ground. They knew the Cullen's scent. They hunted in the same forest but not for the same prey. The Cullens were as yet, unaware of the pack presence and the newer members didn't always stay behind treaty lines.
The animal sniffed at her. Jasper, he muttered to the other wolves in his head, before phasing into a tall, dark skinned man.
Sam Uley put his cut-offs on and lifted her in his arms. He was not willing to leave her to be preyed on by anything else, even if it broke the rules.
He started the slow walk back. He would take her home.