Treasurer


Chapter 2
Its Not The Ritz


"Early one morning, with time to kill, I borrowed Jebb's rifle, and sat on a hill."

Bella was gently roused, a sweet honey voice luring her from sleep. Painfully, she peeled her eyes open. They were coated with a sticky crust, the kind that glued them together - usually following extended crying sessions.

"I saw a lone rider, crossing the plain, I drew a beard on him, to practice my aim."

She was disorientated. Her body ached, and all around she was surrounded by daunting black rock, glistening with reflections. A small fire lit the...cave? She supposed.

"My brothers rifle went off in my hand, a shot rang out, across the land."

She gingerly sat up, and Bella was struck immediately by how cold she was, and how much the movement hurt. She gazed around, looking for the source of the heavenly singing. Fear was starting to rise up inside her like the tide. This was not her bedroom. Her purple duvet lie under her but was doing little to shelter her body from the digging rocks.

"The horse, he kept running, the rider was dead. I hung my head. I hung my head."

A dull roar nearby sounded like a...waterfall? What the fuck was going on? Her clothes were damp, as though she'd been swimming a few hours ago.

Sitting up, Bella tried to take stock of her body in the darkness. Her wrists were thin, but she wasn't sure if they were any thinner than they'd already been. Her head hurt. Her body ached all over like a throbbing bruise. She wondered how long she'd been left on the rough, painful rocks. She had no shoes.

Bella never went anywhere without shoes. She swallowed heavily, and tried to not let white-hot terror take over her mind. Where was she? Whose voice was that? A shiver ran down her spine.

"I set off running, to wake from the dream. My brothers rifle went into the sheen."

She tried to focus, to remember. But it felt like swimming through glue, so she quickly abandoned that endeavor. She wrapped her arms around herself and slowly began to crawl towards to fire. The sharp rocks cut her legs and hands painfully.

"H...hello?" Bella called out, unsure if it was the right thing to do.

But the haunting singing didn't stop.

"I kept on running into the south lands, that's where they found me, head in my hands."

It echoed around the cave. Bellas stomach was screaming for food, and she felt dizzy.

And then she heard footsteps, slow, lazy. In the darkness extending past her little light source, she couldn't see a thing.

The voice was so familiar, Bella felt like she was grasping at the edges of a memory. But all she could remember was telling Charlie she was heading upstairs and curling up in bed. Everything was foggy after that.

Frantically her eyes searched, trying to find the source of the noise.

"Hello?" She called out again, a little louder this time. "Who's there?"

She wasn't able to beat back her panic, her heart thudding heavily in her chest. She was in no state to fight anyone off.

"The sheriff he asked me, why had I run? And then it come to me, just what I had done, and all for no reason, Just one piece of lead, I hung my head. I hung my head."

She was getting ready to scream, to maybe try and run, when he appeared out of the darkness, like an angel of death, beautiful and terrifying.

"Good, you're up." He said, a small blade in his hand, whittling at what looked like a piece of wood.

"Jasper?" She asked, surprised. She had not expected him. Maybe Laurent? Not Jasper. "What's going on? What...why am I here? Where's Edward?"

He looked like he was going to keep singing, but the last question stopped him dead.

And that's when she saw the red eyes. Bright red. Her heart began to pound, a cold sweat breaking out over her body.

She threw her hand over her mouth and the sudden quiet in the cave felt oppressive.

Red eyes. Jasper killed...

"Don't you remember?" He asked, and he wasn't moving. No breathing, no fidgeting, no blinking. His gaze was intense, and she felt like the only thing he could possibly care about in the world. It gave her a heady rush, fear and intrigue coiling together inside her.

Bella was very aware of his lack of humanity right now. Jasper had always been the least human of them all, and now...he was just as scary as James had been.

"No?" She was suddenly very aware of her bleeding knees and subtly wrapped her arms over the small wounds. That would be why he's not breathing. "What happened?"

Instead of replying, he walked closer, to the other side of the fire.

"I must have gone a little too hard with the...adjusting." He lowered himself down across from her, and Bella furrowed her brow.

"What adjusting?" She asked, and her fear was drifting towards annoyance. He kept ignoring her as though she wasn't speaking at all.

"You're bleeding." He said, eyes alighting disinterestedly on her person. "Is that a bad wound?"

Bella uneasily glanced down at the scrapes.

"No. They'll stop bleeding soon." She said, and he nodded. Bella puzzled over how he was controlling himself so well. Last time she'd cut herself he'd nearly killed her.

"It's not easy." He said, and Bella wondered if she'd spoken out loud. His voice struck her again though, beautiful and clear. It was intimidating, being this close to him. Jasper had always eluded her, never getting close. His accent was thicker than she remembered. It reminded her of the old Western movies Bella's Granny used to watch.

"What's not easy?" She asked.

"Being around you." He smiled at her, but it was off. Slightly sadistic.

She didn't know what to say to that. When did you slip? Who did you kill? Where are we? Is Charlie okay? Where's Edward? How did he know that had been what she was thinking? What day is it? WHY WAS SHE HERE?

Before she could ask any of those though, a violent shiver rent through her body.

"What's wrong?" He asked, quickly rising and crossing to her side.

Bella flinched away as best she could and he withdrew a step, hurt. Then his expression suddenly turned angry.

Guilt flared for a second, but she shivered again, painfully.

"I'm...c...cold." She said, and her dizziness was growing worse. She was about to pass out.

Maybe hypothermia? Maybe dehydration? Starvation?

"Fuck…" Jasper ran a hand through his hair, "Shit, what do you need?"

He sounded panicked, the most emotion she'd ever heard from him. He was giving Bella whiplash. One moment he was cold, and then intense, and the next angry, and then worried. He was more erratic than Renee.

"Duvet." She got out as best she could. "Food, water. Fire."

Before she could blink, he was gone. Her duvet was wrapped firmly around her shoulders and he'd moved her closer to fire pit. Some distant part of Bella knew getting warmed up too quickly could be dangerous, but her fading consciousness and the bone-deep chill overpowered her sense.

She was alone in the cave again, and through her relief, fear gnawed at her. Her brain was screeching red-alert, but the cold was quickly pulling her under.

Bella knew she was in trouble. But she couldn't seem to make herself get up.

So, so sleepy.

She let her body slouch onto the pointy rocks, and closed her eyes. The darkness welcomed her like an old friend.


Authors Note:

The song Jasper is singing is called "I hung my head" by Johnny Cash. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and if anyone is keen I could use a beta reader, for grammar and just to bounce some plot bunnies off of. Thank you for any and all reviews, they are truly appreciated.

- Sister Onnie