Dark Secrets
When the Volturi come to execute Jasper for a crime committed during his war years, Alice makes a deal with Aro to save him: his life for her service. Semi-sequel to Broken Soul Mended.
A/N: Well, you could read this as a stand-alone. You don't necessarily have to have read Broken Soul Mended to understand this one. But it'd be nice if you did… I do look at my stats, and big numbers make me happy…
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Twilight.
Previously, in Broken Soul Mended:
"Something major must've happened in the South," Edward said quietly. "Aro's come with the guard. Demetri, Felix, Alec, Jane… they're all with him. It's the only thing I can think of that would merit such a large group."
"But then why would they be coming here?" Emmett asked again.
"If I'm going down, I'm sure as hell taking you with me," Maria's voice hissed inside his mind.
Edward turned his attention to Jasper. "You don't think…" he started to say.
"It makes sense," Jasper replied quietly. "It's the only thing that makes sense."
"But you haven't done anything," Edward said. "Nothing –" Then he inhaled sharply, simultaneously with Alice screaming,
"NO!"
"They are, aren't they?" Jasper asked, resigned to the inevitable truth that he'd always known would happen one day.
"But you haven't done anything," Edward repeated, his tone bewildered. As he paused, Jasper went back to Alice, pulling her into his arms securely. Alice moaned in distress, burying her face into his shoulder.
"What's going on?" Rosalie demanded, turning around to look at Edward.
Edward was still trying to find the words when Jasper answered her quietly, rocking his wife comfortingly.
"The Volturi are coming to execute me."
Prologue – A Deal with the Devil
"But why?" Bella asked. "It's been over a hundred years since you left the South."
Jasper frowned, still rubbing Alice's back. "Some crimes aren't forgiven with time."
"I can't think of anything short of creating immortal children that would necessitate an execution a century later," Carlisle said quietly. "Jasper, you weren't –"
"No, of course not. I'd be dead already if I had been creating immortal children," Jasper replied sharply.
"Please don't use that word," Alice moaned. "The future can always change…"
"Then I'm at a loss to explain it," Carlisle said with a shake of his head.
"Don't worry. I know why," Jasper murmured.
"Do the rest of us a favour, then, and don't tell anybody," Edward said sharply.
"Why –" Esme started to ask, when Jasper cut her off.
"Because if I tell you before the Volturi arrive, you're all going to be considered guilty for harboring me," he replied quietly.
"Alice, that'll only make things worse," Edward said suddenly, looking at her. After a brief silence, he continued, "And if you think anybody is going to agree to that, you're insane."
"Alice, sweetheart, there's no use in trying to think of a way out," Jasper whispered into her ear. "There's no way around it."
"There must be…" she cried. "Jasper, you can't…"
"I'm sorry, Lissy," he said, concern beginning to eat away at him as her distress tripled. "There's no use."
The rest of the family began to exit the room slowly at that point, leaving only Jasper, Alice, Edward and Bella.
"What if –" Alice started to say, looking at Bella.
"Alice, Bella's shield is only good against mental attack," Edward cut her off gently. "It won't help Jasper."
"Lissy, there's nothing you can do," Jasper consoled, heart breaking as she broke down sobbing. "Shh, it's okay…"
"No, it's not, Jasper!" she shrieked.
Rather than risking saying something wrong again, Jasper just wrapped her closer in his arms and kissed the top of her head. "Shh, darling… I love you. I love you…" Looking back up at Edward, he asked for one last favour.
Don't let her do anything… rash.
"No promises," Edward said quietly. "I've been there. It sucks."
Yeah. Wrong person to ask. Edward would probably end up putting Alice out of her misery himself.
"That's probably true," Edward agreed.
And don't let her watch them do it.
"Now that I can promise," Edward replied.
*~*~*
The house had been deathly silent – no pun intended – for about an hour when Alice said simply, her voice muffled into his sweater, "They're here."
Jasper took a deep breath to try and calm himself. "I love you, Alice," he repeated for what must've been the hundredth time. "No matter what happens, I will always love you. You made everything in my century of life before you worth the hundred I got with you."
"Please, Jasper…" she begged. "Don't leave me. Don't…"
"Shh, Lissy," he soothed. "If it were up to me, I'd never leave your side. But it's not up to me, darling." He could hear Aro's indistinct voice downstairs, Carlisle's cautious replies. "Stay here, okay? For me."
"Mmmm," was all he could make out of Alice's distressed reply, as Emmett appeared in the doorway.
"They're asking for you downstairs," he said quietly.
"Asking?" Jasper said dryly.
"Well, asking in a very stern, 'do-it-or-die' kind of way," Emmett amended.
"No, Jasper, please…" Alice gasped when he got to his feet. Swiftly, Emmett had gently uncurled Alice's fingers from their death-grip on Jasper's sweater, pulling her into a half-comforting, half-restraining hug. The apology in his emotions convinced Jasper that Emmett wasn't doing this because he was eager for Jasper to be gone. "No, Emmett, let me go…"
"Thank you," Jasper said quietly to his brother, leaning down to kiss Alice one last time. Trying to memorize the taste of her lips against his, he lingered longer than he knew was good for her, until finally he had to break away, emotions threatening to overcome him.
Apparently he'd lingered too long, because before he'd even realized it, Alec had appeared in the doorway with Felix, suspicion in their emotions. And his world went black within seconds.
*~*~*
"No, no, no, let me go…" Alice cried, struggling valiantly against Emmett's grip as she watched Felix lift Jasper's inert body into his arms easily. Alec followed along smugly behind Felix, his eyes still focused on Jasper. "Let me go, Em, they can't… Jasper…"
The others appeared in the doorway at that moment, Jane's angelic face fairly glowing with ecstasy as Aro said nonchalantly, "I was beginning to wonder if you were stalling me for a reason, Carlisle. It seems that I was mistaken."
"I'd merely like to know what it is you're accusing my son of, Aro," Carlisle replied quietly.
"We know he's done it," Jane spoke up, barely-contained glee in her voice. "Master has seen in the minds of the ones in Mexico."
"And what is so terrible that you feel the need to go after Jasper more than a hundred years later?" Carlisle asked coolly. "Or would you have gone after him if he hadn't been with us?"
"Why don't you let him tell you himself?" Aro replied, his eyes flicking back to Alice momentarily. There was a hint of longing in those blood-red eyes, and faint hope. "Felix, let him down. Alec, release him."
"But Master," Alec protested, even as Felix did as ordered.
"Alec, release him," Aro repeated. "He'll speak on his own."
Alec broke his gaze with Jasper, a dark pout on his face. Jane squeezed his hand comfortingly.
Jasper groaned as he came to, slowly sitting up with one hand to his forehead. Alice let out a slight whimper, trying once more to free herself from Emmett's arms.
"Jasper," Aro said casually, leaning back against the wall, "Carlisle would like to know why it is you're being executed. Please tell the whole story, if you would. Maria gave me everything before we eliminated her. I shall know if you aren't being truthful."
Jasper hesitated, shame flooding his eyes. "When I was with Maria in Mexico, we – I –" he amended quickly, as Aro frowned at him, "– accidentally came across a way to create a sort of… well, a sort of super-powerful newborn."
"You'll need to tell him more than that," Aro prompted.
"They became known in the south as newborns who were endemoniado, possessed by the devil," Jasper continued quietly, focusing his gaze on the floor. "The endemoniado are… difficult to control."
"Next to impossible, as far as I can tell," Aro commented calmly.
"It's possible," Jasper snapped; immediately, Alec and Jane had appeared on either side of Aro, awaiting his orders.
"What makes them different from any other newborn?" Edward asked, before Jasper's temper could get him into any more trouble.
Jasper hesitated again. "The endemoniado… they're much more powerful than even the most powerful of newborns. They could rip Emmett apart without the slightest effort exerted, even if he were using all of his strength. Their sense of self-discipline is practically nonexistent. What they want, they go for. Their thirst… it's impossible to sate. I've seen some who would kill as many as ten humans in one night and still be screaming for more when Maria and I would force them back to headquarters. The worst of it – their newborn stage, I guess you could call it – is the first five or six years after they're turned. It varies, depending on how bad their transformation was."
"Aren't all transformations bad?" Rosalie asked bluntly.
Again, Jasper hesitated. "The transformation of an endemoniado," he continued, his voice becoming more and more detached from the subject matter, "is much different than anything any of you experienced. As much pain as your transformation was, Rosalie, Carlisle wasn't interested in intentionally hurting you. That's what differentiates an endemoniado from a normal newborn."
"Torture," Rosalie said simply.
"Yes," Jasper said, and there was a new tightness in his voice as he kept his gaze focused on the floor. "A transformation intentionally made more painful than necessary."
"Are these… endemoniado recognizable?" Aro asked. It was clear that he was trying to lead the conversation in a particular direction.
Jasper turned a furious glare on Aro. "Is that pertinent to what they wanted to know?" he asked tersely.
"Absolutely."
Sighing, Jasper continued, "The endemoniado have extremely bright eyes. They almost look like they're glowing, especially as newborns."
"That would be for ones who drink human blood, of course," Aro cut in swiftly. "If one were to have your family's rather peculiar taste –"
"That is not pertinent," Jasper hissed immediately, flying to his feet even as Edward let out a sharp gasp of shock and Alec and Jane flew into action with identical snarls. Then he collapsed to the ground again, prisoner again to Alec's power.
"Edward, would you care to finish your brother's statement?" Aro asked pleasantly.
Edward's face was still horror-stricken.
"Edward?" Carlisle asked warily.
"No." Edward's voice was firm. "No, I won't."
"Very well," Aro sighed dramatically. "Maria told me a few very interesting tidbits before she died. It seems one peculiarity that these endemoniado seem to share is a curiously blank memory. If they remember anything at all from before, it's only one or two small pieces of information. The more torture they underwent, the less they recall." He paused. "I had the opportunity to see inside the mind of an endemoniado in Maria's army. It was as though the memory had actually been erased. Not simply forgotten, but as if it had never happened. I've only ever encountered such a mind once before."
"Me," Alice said hoarsely, eyes still focused on her husband's motionless body.
Edward spoke again, his voice soft and compassionate. "It took him decades to piece it together, Alice. Your eyes… it's extremely faint. He isn't sure that anybody else has ever noticed it. And once he'd realized it – it makes him actually physically ill to think about it, Alice. He doesn't like the thought of somebody putting you through that much pain. He thought you were better off not knowing."
"Well, I believe we've stalled this long enough," Aro said briskly, cutting off the conversation before it could start. Felix and Demetri stepped forward, Alec and Jane both wearing identical smirks on their faces. Immediately, both Edward and Emmett had taken hold of Alice, who had let out another cry of distress at his words and began struggling anew.
"For God's sake, Aro, wait until she's gone!" Carlisle exclaimed sharply, pulling Esme's trembling form into his arms. "Edward, Emmett, get her out of here. All of you, out," he added to the others authoritatively, passing Esme off to Rosalie.
*~*~*
It was like it had just hit her all of a sudden. She knew how to save him.
"Wait!" Alice gasped, still trying to pull away from Emmett.
"Yes?" Aro asked, a faint tone of triumph in his voice as he turned to her. Holding a hand up to Felix and Demetri, he waited for her to continue.
"Alice, don't," Edward ordered sharply, hearing the words and seeing the vision in her mind only milliseconds before she spoke them.
It's the only way, Edward… "If I agree to go to Volterra, would you let him live?" she asked, wincing as she saw the vision again, clearer and closer than ever before. Her, at Aro's side, dressed in the dark cloak of the guard. Jasper, alive, waiting for her in the doorway of the chamber, soundless words leaving his mouth as he spoke to Aro with the same cloak thrown over one shoulder.
"Alice, no," Edward repeated.
"Shut up, Edward," Alice snapped. Shocked, Edward fell silent, a dark glower on his face as Aro's eyes betrayed his thoughts to the rest of the family.
"Why don't you tell me?" Aro replied, obviously trying to contain the triumph in his voice when he stepped towards her.
"Emmett, let me go," Alice requested quietly. Reluctantly, Emmett released her, and she remained perfectly still as Aro touched her forehead lightly, her eyes focused on Jasper.
Finally, he removed his hand, a gleam in his eyes as he said, "Well, you have your answer already, then, don't you, Alice?"