A/N: Thank you all for reading so far, especially those of you who have decided to take time out of your lives to leave me a review, they mean the world to me. Also a thanks to those of you who follow the story and/or have added it to his/her favorites list, you're the best ;)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, any recognizable part of twilight belongs to SM and whoever holds the rights.
JPOV
I leaned my head back against the wall, closing my eyes in concentration. It was getting harder and harder to read Bellas emotions. It was like thinking back to one of my few human memories as a child where my mother had presented me with the first ripe strawberry of the summer and almost being able to taste it again– almost, because no matter how hard I tried the taste wouldn't be as strong and clear as the real thing, just like now when her emotions weren't as strong and clear as they should be. Bella had always been easy to read before the transformations began. Her emotions were almost always positive, accepting, caring – pure, unlike most humans we came into contact with, it was a relief really. Sometimes I found myself gravitating towards it before Edwards glaring or the burn in my throat would snap me out of it.
A sense of rising panic started to overrule the other faint emotions coming from her, the feel of it becoming clearer.
"She's starting to panic again, try talking to her Esme; she should be able to hear you by now"
I didn't want to interfere unless I had to, whatever thoughts she was having while she burned she needed to process or else they would linger in her new life.
Esme had started talking to her, holding her hand. We were in one of the smaller rooms in our mansion like cabin in a remote part of the Northwestern territories in Canada. It was a two-stories building nestled in the trees by the side of a small lake. A rough dirt road was the only way in and out and helped to keep unwanted human visitors out. The building itself had walls made of dark wood and logs with the southern and northern wall made entirely out of glass. Tall windows on the wooden walls brought light into the rooms that didn't face one of the glass walls. A large high-ceilinged living-room took up one end of the house facing the southern glass-wall with a view of the lake. A staircase lead up to six bedrooms with adjoining bathrooms four of which had already been inhabited by the family, leaving the two smaller ones empty. Downstairs held the game-room and the garage. Esme hadn't bothered with a kitchen when we build this house, since its location was so remote, that human visitors were avoided.
We had stripped the room of anything but the bed, the chair Esme was sitting on and the paintings on the walls. Newborn vampires usually didn't react that well when they first woke up, so we had taken the precaution to remove the antique furniture that had been placed in the room prior to our arrival.
My phone vibrated in my back pocket.
I fished it out checking the caller id, it was Rosalie.
"I'll take this outside and then I'll go for a quick hunt before she wakes up. Keep talking to her and call me if there are any changes." I spoke in a low hurried tone to Esme, seeing her nod slightly before I took off.
I answered the call a couple of seconds later when I made it outside.
"How did it go?"
Carlisle had called ahead of them to warn Carmen and Eleazar and ask for their help, which they had immediately given.
"Emmett had to pin him down for the entire flight after he woke up. He kept screaming at us for ruining everything. He should praise himself lucky that I didn't rip something off him on the way, but fortunately I know ways to get to him that doesn't involve that kind of violence, though it would have been fun."
I didn't have to be able to read Rosalie's emotions to be able to tell by the tone of her voice that Edward had gotten to her, not to mention the fact that he had condemned Bella to the life of a vampire. Rose may not have liked Bella much, but one of the reasons for that was that she thought she was throwing her life away on someone who didn't deserve it - and boy was she right on that one, but that didn't mean that she wanted Bella to get hurt.
"What did you do, Rose?" I couldn't help keep the smirk out of my voice.
"Let's just say that I enjoy the collective works of Justin Bieber translated into 47 different languages."
I chuckled at that one.
"It was worth it though, not ripping him apart. I have never seen Carmen like that before. Both she and Eleazar ripped him a new one and she came within an inch of ripping off his arms. The best part though was Tanya's way of throwing herself at him after they were done screaming at him. She must have been thinking something colorful, because the look on his face when we left were that of a man convicted to torture. Serves him right though."
"Sounds like they'll be able to keep him in place until we can figure out what the hell went wrong."
My mind started whirling at that one; what the hell had I missed? I mean I thought the emotions coming from Edward when he was near Bella was love, but clearly I must have missed something.
"They better, or I'll personally make him familiar with the life of a eunuch if he comes back before Bella asks for him."
I whole-heartedly agreed with that one.
"I'll hold him down for you."
"How's she doing?"
"How anybody going through the transformation would be doing. Esme's talking to her right now, and it seems to be helping her calm down, but her emotions are getting harder to read so I can't be sure she's not hiding anything."
"What do you mean her emotions are getting harder to read?" Rose sounded confused.
"Just that; it's like they're there, but not really. I think it may have something to do with why Edward couldn't read her mind, but there's no way to be sure until she wakes up."
"All right; look I gotta go drag Emmett on board our flight back to Forks, but you better call Carlisle and let him know about Bella, maybe he will have some insights."
"I will"
I ended the call and let out a frustrated huff. Bellas continuous screaming had been getting to me, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why. I mean I was the god damn Major of the southern vampire wars, a brutal and fierce killer. I had slaughtered countless humans and newborns for decades, and never once had the sound of their screaming elicited any kind of emotion from me. In fact it often spurred me on; unleashing my inner demon who reveled in their screams, making me even more vicious in my dealings with them. But something about the sound of Bella was different, or maybe I was just getting soft in my old age.
I decided there was no time like the present, and brought out my phone again to call Carlisle. He picked up before it barely had a chance to ring, probably Alice's doing.
"Hello Jasper, how is it going?"
"Like you would expect, though it's getting harder to read her emotions, it' s like they're there, but not – well either that or she's found some kind of dimmer switch for them."
"Interesting, seems like our Bella might be gifted. It's probably connected to whatever made Edward unable to read her mind, but we won't know anything for sure before she wakes up and we can get her to meet Eleazar."
"That's the theory I was getting to as well; it should only be 32 hours now before she wakes up and we will know more. Did you stage the accident yet?"
"Yes. Alice took care of that the minute we got back. She drove the truck a couple hundred miles before she crashed it and set it on fire. It will burn enough that they won't expect to find a body. I just hope that in time she will forgive us for this."
"Me too, but there's nothing we can do but be there for her and show her that she still has a family despite what Edward was capable of doing."
"You're right. How did your flight from Forks go?"
"You know there's nothing like a good dose of southern charm, a little manipulation of the emotions and a healthy tip to make them ignore that the screaming girl in the back is still on board even though the doctors not." I drawled, laying on my southern accent thick.
"Good to hear. Make sure you call me if there's any change with Bella."
"Sure will"
Once again I ended the call and stuffed the phone in my back pocket. I noticed with a hint of annoyance the constant burn in the back of my throat was getting worse. Grateful that I had time for a quick hunt before Bella woke up I took off for the woods that surrounded the house. I knew it wouldn't do to be on edge because of my thirst around a newborn, I needed that clarity that came from having recently fed to be able to handle all the volatile emotions and reactions that I normally associated with a newborn. Even though Bellas emotions somehow seemed to be muted I didn't want to take any chances.
I ran swiftly through the forest, opting for the quick meal as I came across a couple of elk. I drained them quickly, feeling the relief their blood gave to my burning throat. Finally somewhat satiated I started to walk back towards the house at a human pace, needing the downtime before I returned to the house.
I knew I shouldn't be away for long, and not just because Bellas transformation was moving into the last phase, but because something inside me felt off now that I wasn't near the house. But I was selfish, I needed time to sort out my head and enjoy the feeling of only being in the company of my own emotions before I returned.
That was something Alice always had a hard time understanding, my need for solitude. When you're able to feel other people's emotions like they're your own, sometimes the line becomes blurry between what you feel and what everyone else feels. So every once in a while I would take extended hunting trips by myself; enjoying the solitude and the freedom of not having to relate to what everyone else is feeling. When I eventually came back, Alice would always give me hell about it. Sometimes even for days depending on how long I had been gone. We never did have the kind of relationship that Carlisle and Esme did or even Rosalie and Emmett. We were always more private, more prone to get into lasting arguments. Even when we were intimate she would sometime ask me to keep my shirt on so she didn't have to see the full extent of my scarring, or she would simply just keep her eyes closed. She argued it was because she didn't want to be distracted by the instinctual fear the scarring caused, marking me as dangerous, while we were intimate and I had never really questioned it. Fear was the natural response to the scars, they were a billboard poster to any vampire that ever came near me that I had fought and won against hundreds of our kind and therefore posed a significant threat. That Alice had the same reaction to them, even when we were intimate, would bother me sometimes. I hated that I could never escape my past even for a single moment and it made me self-conscious about covering up my scars.
To top it off Alice had been withdrawing from me over the past couple of years. The time in between we were intimate would grow until we stopped a year ago. I would feel like the biggest prick on the planet every time I would confront her about it and she only ever answered that she had her reasons, and that they were important but she couldn't tell me.
I put my fist in a nearby tree when I thought of that, enjoying the splintering sound that followed as the tree fell to the ground.
The house came into view then, time to snap out of my little pity-party.
I made my way upstairs through the house, and resumed my position next to Esme, where she sat holding Bellas small hand and talking about everything and nothing in a soothing tone trying to calm her down.
It was working. As I closed my eyes to concentrate I could sense that a small amount of relief and hope had mixed in with the pain, fear and betrayal that were the dominant emotions.
I relayed my phone calls to Esme in a hushed tone.
And that's how we stayed, keeping vigilant over the writhing and screaming form of Bella. After a while we could hear a change in her heartbeat, the pace of it increasing.
"It'll only be a day now, her heart rate is picking up" I said mostly to Esme but keeping the volume loud enough for Bella to hear if she was able.
She heard it; the small amount of hope she was feeling, that was buried underneath the pain of the transformation, increased along with a small amount of doubt.
Another twelve hours passed. Her screams had diminished, become farther apart and she had stopped thrashing around. Right now she was lying as still as any vampire could, the only movement was her shallow breathing after her last scream. You could start to really see the changes the venom had caused. Her injuries from the ballet studio were long healed, her skin had become even paler than when she was human, her hair had become thicker, the mahogany color of it had become more intense and the small human flaws of her face had disappeared. She almost looked like a full vampire by now if you didn't count the erratic heartbeat and shallow breathing.
A short while later the nature of her screams changed, becoming more intense. She started moving again, her hands reaching for her chest in what I knew was an attempt to claw her heart out. This was the worst part of the transformation, just when you experience a relief from the burning in your extremities the fire moves to your heart making you wish it would just explode already. I moved in and pinned her arms to her side. I knew she probably wouldn't be able to hurt herself, but I didn't want to risk it. There was a lot of things I didn't want to risk with Bellas transformation, but I didn't allow myself time to dwell on it, that could come later.
"It's almost over now Bella"
I wouldn't be long now. Her stuttering heart was closing in on beating for the last time.
"I think it's best if you go to the other end of the house Esme, there's no reason to overwhelm her newborn senses with more vampires in the room than necessary." I whispered to Esme. She nodded and left the room.
I wasn't trying to be mean, but the moment newborns wake up their senses are in overdrive and usually telling them any vampire close is an enemy. I had been dealing with newborns for decades during the war, my job being to train them and then to dispose of them when they had stopped being of use. My dealing with them were different than what it was going to be with Bella, but I knew that it would be easiest to get her to calm down if there weren't any distractions for her in the room. The kind of distraction Esme would pose until Bellas newborn instincts would calm enough for her to recognize Esme.
I released the hold I had on her when I heard her heart stutter and moved to stand in front of the door a couple of yards from the foot of the bed. Her heart stuttered for the last time before it came to a stop, the sound of our breathing the only sound in the room.
I took the stance of the major that I had adopted so long ago during the never ending vampire war, expecting her to sense the presence of a vampire in the room and attack at any moment now.
Her eyes opened and I could see the distinct red color of a newborn in them, but she just kept lying on the bed gazing up at the ceiling. Her emotions were a little easier to read now that she wasn't burning and I didn't have Esme in the room to distract me. I could sense the overwhelming thirst she was experiencing, but overriding that was a sense of awe and wonder as she looked up at the small details in the ceiling. This was something I had not experienced before. Usually newborns were so overcome by their thirst that they didn't stop to wonder at the brilliance of the world through their new eyesight before they had fed.
"Bella" I said her name softly, not wanting to scare her.
She sat up instantly. Shock and a small dose of fear ran through her as she realized how fast she had moved. I was prepared for her to attack when her eyes landed on me, but she never did. When her eyes landed on me I could see recognition on her face. When her gaze then went to the scars visible at my collar and sleeves I felt her curiosity and intrigue with a dose of fascination, awe and a hint of longing instead of the fear and rage I was expecting. Slowly though, fear became the dominant emotion causing her to jump of the bed to the corner in the far end of the room, taking a defensive crouch, a snarl escaping her lips. Her eyes kept darting around the room, not pinpointing me as the threat, but searching. I was confused; this was not how any newborn I had ever encountered had reacted. I could sense her panic rising and decided it was time for me to step in and use my powers to try and calm her.
I focused on a sense of calm and serenity and tried to project it to her. I wasn't sure what effect it was going to have, since her emotions were still muted to me, but I would at least try.
As I started to project the feeling of calm her eyes became wide, focusing on nothing in particular, before her hands went to her head as if she were in pain and she sank to her knees in the corner of the room, squeezing her eyes shot. Barely a second later a transparent orb of energy appeared around her and I stopped being able to sense her emotions entirely.
I had not expected this. I was sure the shock and disbelieve I was feeling was plain on my face for anyone to see. This was after all the first time in my 150 years on this planet as a vampire that I was not able to sense a person's emotions whatsoever. She was obviously projecting some kind of shield ad that must be why I'm not able to feel her. I took a small step back relaxing my pose and features to appear as non-threatening as I could while not moving too much. Her eyes opened again appearing large and round, focusing on me, while a hand moved from her head to her throat. Her face as wary, searching and by the placement of her hand she was thirsty, that much was apparent.
"Bella" I called to her again, keeping my voice calm, hoping it would help now that I couldn't reach her with my gift. "I'm not a threat to you, I only want to help."
"I know."
Her voice was barely a whisper, but I heard it clear as day. Yet again I couldn't keep the shock I felt at her small statement from registering on my face. She hadn't registered me as the threat? Bella has got to be the first vampire, newborn or mature, not to be afraid of me. But what was she afraid of then? Before I could ask she continued, her voice the same whisper as before.
"But my mind keeps screaming at me that whoever did that to you are coming, and then that invading calmness… I didn't want it, it was distracting me."
The surprises just kept on coming. Not only was she able to figure out what her instincts were telling her and that alone takes months usually, she was afraid of who caused my scars and not me for having them, and that was something I had never met before. I found myself explaining my scars for the first time in my existence.
"Bella, the scars you see don't mean someone is coming after me, they mean that I have spent a long time fighting our kind and won. The calmness you felt was me trying to use my gift on you trying to help."
I kept it brief, not wanting to explain my dark past while she was this frightened. I felt bad that it was my influence that had triggered her to raise her shield and I vowed to myself that I wouldn't try to use my power on her again until we knew more about how her shield worked.
The frantic look in her eyes calmed, but a whimper escaped her lips as her hand started rubbing her throat and a look of desperation overtook her features. Her thirst was getting worse, I had to hurry up and get her to let down her shield to take her hunting before she lost contact with whatever thread of logic she held on to.
"You need to hunt, it will soothe the burn. Let me show you how."
I slipped into a crouch, aware to keep my movements slow and non-threatening, letting the worry I felt show in my voice as I spoke, while trying to look her in the eyes.
"You would do that?"
Her voice was small, frightened.
"You're sure that there is no danger?"
"Yes Bella, and I'll protect you if there's any sign of trouble, you can be sure of that"
I kept my voice calm and sure trying to impress upon her the conviction I had in my words by the tone in my voice. And I was going to protect her. This precious girl who didn't fear me because of my scars but feared for me instead, who had been turned on by the person she had loved the most. I would make sure nothing happened to her. I may have been too late to stop Edward, but I would not be too late again.
I held her gaze and watched as her frantic fear and desperation started to settle and calm. After a couple of seconds her protective bubble disappeared and I could once again feel her emotions, though they were still muted.
She reached out her tiny hand and I moved forward to take it, keeping my movements almost humanly slow. As our hands connected, and I helped her stand, I felt a sense of peace settle within me and I could tell by the look in her eyes that she had calmed as well.
"You ready for your first hunt?"
I smiled at her and looked from her to the forest outside.
A small smile started to appear on her lips and she got a glint in her eye as she nodded timidly.
I tugged on her hand leading her towards one of the windows set into the glass wall. When I opened it and let go of her hand to jump out I felt a wave of confusion and fear coming from where she stood behind me.
I looked back with my signature smirk on my lips.
"It's faster to get outside this way, and besides its fun."
"But it's a long way down, won't you get hurt?"
I didn't want to remind her of the way Edward used to enter her room, so instead I said;
"It takes a lot more than that for any vampire to get hurt, just do what I do, and I swear when it's your turn and I see you fall, I'll catch you."
She relaxed somewhat and smiled again, but I could still sense some nervousness.
I stepped out of the window and landed lightly on the ground below. Smiling I turned around to look up at her.
She looked nervous, but she still had a smile on her face and the excited glint in her eye was back. Esme had put her in some jeans and a simple blue sweater that she picked at the hem while she looked down at me. She put her hand on the edge of the window and stepped up on the ledge.
"Promise you'll catch me?"
"Promise, but you'll be fine."
I had stepped back a bit to give her some space.
She jumped out, putting a little more force behind the jump than I think she realized, and landed gracefully at the edge of the woods twenty yards away from me.
Beaming she turned around to look at me and I could feel the giddiness roll off her. I couldn't help but smile widely as I took in her look of pure joy at her accomplishment.
In a second I was beside her again.
"Let's get going."
I said while I took her hand and lead her towards the woods.
A/N: I know I promised you the first hunt in this chapter, but I decided I wanted to do that in Bellas POV first so I'm saving that for the next chapter, so that's something to look forward too ;)
Anyway a huge thank you for reading this far, and please leave me a review to let me know what you think and if you have any questions.
Stay tuned ;)
