I don't normally post 2 chapters at a time, but I figured since I'm working on Chapter 6 right now, I might as well keep updating. Anyway, I own nothing, though I do wish I could have Jasper, even if it were just for a night. Enjoy!
"If you really want to lay it to her straight, maybe you should just go 'look, sweetheart, I'm a blood sucking monster and I think that it would help your situation a lot if you became one too so if you don't mind, I'm just gonna bite your neck now.'"
Everyone ignored Emmet. Again.
"Honey, maybe you should just let it go for a little while," Esme suggested lightly, "Go take a walk or something."
"I need to do this tomorrow," He reminded her.
"Well, you've got all night unless you've got some secret plans you aren't sharing." Rosalie pointed out, smiling slightly.
"Funny, Rose." Jasper retorted, resuming his pacing of the room. He'd been working his hardest to come up with his speech for the better of 3 hours and it was taking its toll on his family.
"Have Carlisle write it," Emmet said exasperatedly after another failed attempt by Jasper on creating something.
"I can't, he said that I had to do this part."
"I thought he said that you have to do the actual telling her part, he didn't say anything about you being the one to word it together."
"He did, but I want it to be in my own words." Jasper's voice was slipping into a more southern drawl as he became more stressed out.
Esme crossed over to him and put a hand on his arm, "Sweetheart, give it a rest for a little bit. Why don't you and Emmet go for a quick hunt, it might help you focus better."
Jasper considered this idea for a minute, "Yeah, that's a good idea. Thanks, Esme."
"Anytime, Jasper." She smiled warmly at him then went and sat back down in her chair next to Rosalie.
"So, what are we going for?" Emmet asked, already to his feet and standing by the door eagerly.
"Mountain lion." Jasper determined, "Rosalie, would you like to come?" He offered politely though he knew she'd decline.
"No thank you." She was busy organizing one of their many CD cases.
"Let's go, man!" Emmet urged. Jasper grinned at him then the two of them launched themselves out the door and into the night.
I'm so cheap
Kyleigh was watching the hands of the clock slowly moving rhythmically in a circle. One would think that doing this would be extremely tedious, but in her feverish state, it was fascinating. Trudy had been in and out, checking on her every half hour. She so rarely saw any of the other nurses, but she could guess that it had something to do with the fact that A. they were in a relatively small town and B. AIDs had a pretty bad rep. I mean, sure it's easily spread and is a very slow and painful death, but that doesn't mean I'm not fun to talk to…as long as they don't try to have sex with me or drink my blood, they'd be fine.
Trudy came in again, looking over all of the monitors.
"I don't think any of your staff went to medical school." Kyleigh murmured, feeling too weak to put effort into speaking loudly.
"And why is that?" Trudy asked distractedly.
"They clearly don't know that AIDs isn't spread via touch or breathing so it'd be perfectly safe for them to come in here and check on me themselves."
Trudy smiled down at her, "You don't like people anyway," She pointed out, "Besides, I like checking on you. When you're weak like this, you're so much cuter." She laughed at the glare Kyleigh shot at her then left the room again.
Kyleigh pursed her lips, trying to think of something to do then gave up and turned towards the clock again, letting its steady repetition lull her into a restless sleep.
Right now behind true lies, a dragon's tongue lashing out
Jasper forgot how frustrating it was to have to wait until it was an acceptable hour to call upon someone. Honestly, it was so infuriating, the whole not sleeping thing. Though, he had to admit that it astounded him how much time he had wasted of his previous life lying in bed when he could've been living. Carlisle left for work and Esme made Jasper wait a few more hours before allowing him to follow suit.
The closer Jasper got to Kyleigh's room, the more apprehensive he felt. This was dangerous. If she started screaming and caused a scene, the Volturi would get involved and they would never approve of purposely changing a human like this. He should've requested a tranquilizer to slip her in case she decided to go into freak out mode. Although, I could probably act as her tranquilizer. He mused to himself, finally reaching her door and knocking lightly.
"Come in?" He heard her rasp out.
He went into the room, "I liked the question mark at the end, that was a very assertive answer."
Kyleigh was about to respond, but began coughing. She waved him away when he tried to hit the nurse call button, instead burying her face in the sheets, her body wracking with each cough. He reached over and lightly pressed his cool fingers against the back of her neck. As her coughing subsided and her breathing returned to normal, she sat back and looked up at him, her eyes watering lightly, "I added the question mark because most people don't knock in hospitals," She coughed lightly a few times, "They just barge in like they own the place."
"Are you alright?" He murmured, his fingers still on her neck.
"In relative terms, I suppose." She cleared her throat then wiped her eyes with the bottom of her shirt.
"Good, cause I need to talk to you."
"Oh Jesus." She muttered, taking one of her pillows and covering her face with it.
"I need you to listen really carefully," He sat down on the edge of her bed, pausing for a second to see if she would object. When she didn't, he continued, "This is a huge secret, technically I can't tell anyone, but we've decided that we can possibly make an exception for you…if you promise that you don't tell anyone and you don't start screaming."
She lowered the pillow, "I wasn't nervous at all until that last bit."
"Kyleigh, do you promise?"
She was going to say no, but when she looked into his eyes, she suddenly trusted him, "Fine, yes, I promise. Tell me your secret."
"Do you believe in supernatural things?"
"Like ghosts?" She shrugged, "I guess so."
"Werewolves?"
"I'm fairly certain my first doctor was one."
"Vampires?" He tested the word carefully.
"Well, there is that vampire disease, porphyria. So I suppose that in a way, vampires exist."
"No, I mean it in the literal sense of the word."
"You mean like only comes out at night, sucks people's blood, can't be near garlic? That kind of vampire?"
"Well, you're right about the blood thing, but we can go out during the day as long as there's no sun…and garlic doesn't affect us, unless you're like me and don't like the taste of it."
"Vampires can't go out during the day!" Kyleigh began to argue, "They'd burn-" she paused, "Wait…did you say 'we?'"
Jasper merely nodded, using all of his powers to keep her calm; Carlisle would rip him apart and burn him up if this backfires.
"So you're saying that you think you're a vampire." She said slowly.
"Darling, I don't think, I know I am."
"Oh." Kyleigh stared at him for a second, "You are a freaking nutcase." She declared.
Jasper laughed, "I'm glad that that's the only thing you think."
"Look, I know I have a fever and I'm pretty loopy right now, but even I'm lucid enough to realize that you are crazy."
Jasper leaned forward, unleashing his powers on her as best he could, "I'm not crazy, Kyleigh. All those things you've read…except for the garlic thing, are true. Vampires exist. If you don't believe me, touch me." He held out an arm.
Kyleigh stared at it, "Why?"
"Just do it, Ky." Jasper said exasperatedly, annoyed that he was getting nowhere with the whole emotional manipulation thing.
Kyleigh tentatively reached out and brushed her fingers over his cool skin, "So? You're freezing, I'm cold all the time too."
"Squeeze it."
Kyleigh looked mildly put out, but did as she was told, "You're…strong. It's like touching stone, or something."
"How many humans do you know that have this kind body?"
"Please, you could be a 'roid user."
Jasper sighed heavily, "I didn't want to do this." He reached over and took hold of one of the metal bars holding up the IV bag, slowly and deliberately twisting it around as if it were rubber.
Kyleigh gasped softly, "Okay, so you're really strong…that doesn't necessarily mean you're a vamp-"
Jasper reached over and pressed a finger against her lips then moved at lightning speed so he was next to her bed just as Trudy walked in.
"Kyleigh, honey, I brought you red jello and I also managed to nab a pack of Oreos…Oh, hello Jasper." She looked over at him, surprised to see him there, "I didn't realize you had a visitor."
"We're becoming quite chummy." Kyleigh informed her, taking the jello happily, "Red's my favorite." She informed Jasper.
Jasper wished that Emmet could be here to see the irony in her statement; if she became a vampire, red would still be her favorite, just not as jello, "Would you like for me to leave?" He asked politely, his southern manners shining through.
"Um, could you?" Kyleigh asked, setting her jello aside, "You can come back after, but I need to talk to Trudy…"
"I understand." He assured her, nodding at Trudy then stepping out into the hall to wait.
Inside, Trudy lifted Kyleigh's shirt, "Well, your hives seem to be relaxing a bit. Are they still itchy?"
"The ones on my stomach aren't."
"They've spread?" Trudy asked, "Where are they now?"
"I have them on my back now. I'm hoping they don't spread to anywhere visible."
"Keeping up appearances for the male company." Trudy grinned knowingly.
"No, just keeping up appearances in general." She insisted.
"Mhm." Trudy clearly didn't believe her, "You haven't been scratching, have you?"
"Does rubbing count?"
Trudy sighed, "Well, I suppose not. Are you sure you don't want any Benadryl?"
"Positive." She said firmly.
"Okay, let's just write everything down so when Carlisle comes in, he can go over everything quickly."
"Hey Trudy?"
"Hey Kyleigh,"
"What's my T Cell count?"
"I don't know, hon. I haven't gotten the results back yet."
"Are you lying?"
"Nope, they're still testing, I think."
"I think you're lying."
"That's okay, I think you're lying too. It all evens out in the end. I'll go see if they're up, but I make no promises."
"Okay…thanks for the jello."
"Anytime, anytime." Trudy left and Jasper returned, sitting on the edge of the bed with her again.
"So…you're a vampire." Kyleigh asked, taking her jello and ripping open the container.
"Yes." Jasper smiled at her, "You believe me?"
"I'm not sure, to be honest." She sucked on the spoon thoughtfully, "But considering Trudy's lying to me about my blood work which means I probably have AIDs now, I guess I'm willing to believe anything."
"Well, I suppose that's good logic." Jasper was eyeing the jello with slight disgust.
"Wait a second," Kyleigh froze, "Oh my God. Oh my God! Carlisle's one of you! He's a-" Jasper clapped a hand over her mouth again.
"Kyleigh, you have to keep your voice down. Yes, we all are. Me, Emmet, Carlisle and the rest of our family."
"…How many of you are there?" Her jello was forgotten as she stared at Jasper in rapture.
"In my family, there's the 3 of us then Emmet's wife Rosalie, Carlisle's wife Esme, my brother Edward and his wife Bella oh and they're daughter Renesmee. But there are a lot of us out there, more than one might think."
"Oh my God…" Kyleigh was blatantly staring at Jasper.
"Would you stop doing that, you're making me nervous." He complained.
"Can you blame me?" She hissed, "After everything you've just told me!"
Jasper was waiting for when she'd freak out about the whole blood sucking thing.
As if on cue, Kyleigh reared away from him, "Wait a second, wait a second! You suck blood!" She dodged his hand as it tried to cover her mouth, "What the hell are all of you doing here if you like to snack on unsuspecting people?"
Jasper worked her emotions back down a bit, "We like to think of ourselves as vegetarians."
"…plants don't have blood." She pointed out dumbly.
"Darling, I know that," Jasper laughed, "We only eat animals, not humans."
"Oh." Kyleigh absorbed this, "Why are you telling me this, Jasper? Not that it hasn't been interesting or anything, but why?"
"This is the part you can't scream about." He warned her, "Part of being…like us…is you live forever. You don't get sick, you're almost invincible. Yes, there are ways to die, but they are too difficult to even mention. You're stronger and faster than anything else in this world; all of your senses are heightened…it's like living on some ridiculous drug all the time. Of course, there are drawbacks: you don't sleep, you don't age; once you've changed, you stay the way you look forever,"
"Then there's the whole drinking blood thing." Kyleigh muttered under her breath.
"Right." Jasper nodded.
"I still don't get it."
"You've been sick since you were 12, yes?"
"Yup."
"And you're how old now?"
"19."
"You've probably missed out on a lot in life. And now you're going to die soon and you'll never have those experiences."
"Gee, thanks for reminding me." She rolled her eyes.
He gently reached over and took her hands, "Kyleigh, think about everything I've just told you. You'd get to live a long life, you'd never get sick again, it'd be a do over."
Kyleigh was chewing her lip, trying to figure everything out. Then it hit her. "You…you want to change me so I can be like you?"
"I want to give you a second chance." He amended.
"By…sucking my blood and killing me?"
"Kind of, but you'd just be the living dead. All the perks of being alive without actually living." Jasper tried to sound upbeat about it.
"You're out of your fucking mind." Kyleigh tried to push him away, but he didn't even move, "Why should I do this?"
"Do you want to die?" He locked eyes with her again, working hard at winning her over, "Do you want to die at 19 without ever being kissed or falling in love or having a career?"
Kyleigh felt tears spill over, "Stop." She begged, "Please, just stop. Of course I don't want to die! But I don't want to live this way either."
"I'm giving you an opportunity, Ky. It may sound bleak, but then again, so does dying for real." He shrugged.
Kyleigh was sobbing. Carefully, Jasper slid closer to her and pulled her into his arms, her scent intoxicating him almost to the breaking point, but he managed to control himself as he stroked her hair. Either I've developed a new resistance to human blood or this girl is a lot more important to me than I realized. "I didn't want to make you cry." He soothed as her sobs quieted down, "I'm just trying to…help you. It may not seem that way now, but maybe at some point, hopefully soon, you'll realize it."
Kyleigh had finally stopped crying, but she had her face buried against his rock hard chest anyway, the coolness of his skin soothing her hot forehead through his shirt. He rubbed her shoulders gently, proud of himself for not trying to devour her.
"Kyleigh?" He asked.
She giggled as his chest rumbled when he said her name, "What?"
"Do…do you want kids?" He blurted out; if he had blood, he would've been blushing.
"Excuse me?" Kyleigh asked incredulously, pulling back to look at him.
"This is important: do you want kids?"
"I'm 19, of course not. And even if I did, I couldn't have them because if they managed to be born without the disease, I'd still die before seeing them grow up. Plus, no one would want to procreate with me." She said quickly, blushing herself.
"Okay, just checking." He pulled her back against his chest, tucking her face into the crook of his neck.
She sighed as his marble like skin soothed her fever, "Why?"
"If you become like me, you can't have kids. It's another drawback."
"Oh. Well. I guess it's a good thing I've already written it off as a non-option."
"I should go and let you think about everything."
He was about to get up, but she clung to him, "Wait, I have a question."
He tried not to laugh; he figured she probably thought she was holding him in place when really he barely felt her pulling at him, "What's up?"
"Will this have any effect on Carlisle? My disease?"
"No. He doesn't have any blood in him," Jasper spoke in a low voice, "How it will affect you, we're not sure. Typically, newborns are extremely strong and dangerous because they still have human blood in them. But since your blood isn't as good as a normal person's, you might not be quite as powerful. Believe me, that's not a bad thing. Newborns can be very dangerous if not controlled."
Kyleigh nodded then yawned, "Okay."
Jasper detached her from around his neck and gently laid her back down. He glanced over and saw the metal pole still bent out of shape. Grimacing, he grabbed it and straightened it out as best he could, smiling when he heard Kyleigh laughing, "Get some sleep. Carlisle and I need to talk before we talk to you."
"Jasper, I haven't even made my decision yet." Kyleigh pointed out sleepily.
"I know, but you will." He gave her his signature half smile, "Go to sleep." He left and Kyleigh drifted off into a nice dream about her being strong and beautiful. No nightmares for Kyleigh that night.
To be honest, I have no idea whether or not changing a person with HIV would affect a vampire, but I'm fairly certain it wouldn't and it doesn't matter since this whole franchise is a suspension of disbelief. Anyway: thoughts, comments, concerns? I'll update soon! Oh and the italics that separate the story lines are the lyrics to the song Darling You're Mean by The Duke Spirit. I recommend the song, it's really good. Really now, I'm done.