Chapter 4: Move In This Direction

The Cullens had moved.

Jacob was happy about that. When I called to tell him he cheered with a loud "Good Riddance." I didn't tell him or anyone else that I cried when I had found out. I felt stupid, really, crying over some guy that I barely even knew because I was so captivated by him. I'd only made myself aware of him a few weeks ago.

I wished that I could relive the night he'd been at my house over and over. He had told me that he was drawn to me. What I didn't tell him at the time was that I was drawn to him too. But now I'd never get the chance. He had told me his family sometimes moved without warning, but I guess that was his warning. Was I supposed to have said something? Would anything I said have changed his mind? I didn't think so.

"It's for the best Bella, trust me," Jacob said over the phone.

"Jake what is it that gets you so upset with them? Not that it matters now…"

"Are you sure they're gone for good?"

"Yep." A hefty sigh of relief came from his end of the phone. I rolled my eyes.

"They're monsters Bella, maybe one day I'll be able to tell you the truth."

"Today?"

"No."

"Fine, I have to be at work anyway," I huffed.

Since the Cullens left I'd become obsessed with them. I'd asked everyone about them, but they were still a mystery to me. They were a mystery to everyone. This is what I thought about most, the fact that nobody really knew anything about them other than how they went camping when it was nice, how they didn't talk to anyone, and how apparently they just picked up and moved at random. For a family of seven people, five of which were teenagers, they sure could keep a secret. But what secret- or secrets- were they hiding from everyone?

I was thinking about them on my shift, I hadn't realized I'd been sweeping the same isle for over an hour.

"Bella, are you alright dear?" Mrs. Newton asked cheerfully.

"Oh, yeah…sorry, I guess my mind is somewhere else today."

"Oh that's alright, I was wondering if you'd do me a favor?"

"Sure, of course."

"Well we're about to close and there's a customer that's been standing at the backpacks for over an hour…could you go over there and hurry up the sale? I'd do it but, let's be honest I don't know jack squat about this stuff," she chuckled. I smiled back at her as I went to the back room to put away my broom and dustpan. I always hated the days it was just me and Mrs. Newton working…I actually had to work. She was right when she said she didn't know jack about outdoor equipment, the problem was neither did I.

I walked over to the backpack display anyways, thinking about all the things that Mr. Newton usually said to customers. Everything I planned to say would sound stupid coming from my mouth, usually I just babbled until customers found someone else to ask. I turned the corner in aisle three and nearly knocked Jim, our outdoorsy-type mannequin, over when I saw him standing there.

"Jasper?" I called out and he turned promptly to face me.

"Bella, I was just…picking out a backpack," he turned his body to the display and gently patted a few hopeful backpacks.

"A backpack."

"Well, you were the one to point out that I had a serious lack of gear while hiking," he chuckled warmly.

"They all said you moved," I wasn't even trying to hide the desperate need for a reason to why he left me in my voice.

"We did, but…I came back, I didn't like being away from you," he glanced at me through his thick lashes.

"You just left…" I whispered, "You didn't call, or email, or anything. I thought we were friends," I could feel the emotional tears forming within.

"I'm sorry Bella, really, I wanted to stay all along but I let them talk me into leaving, they said things would be better for you that way, but a few days of being there…without talking to you or knowing what you were doing, I had to come back," he quickly explained.

"Does it even matter? I mean it's not like you're staying," I may have said too harshly. He looked down at his feet, shuffling them back and forth.

"I am staying…if you promise we can be friends again," his voice sounded like melted butter.

"What about your family?" I knew Jasper had issues with his brothers and sisters but he never spoke ill of Carlisle and his wife.

"I can explain everything," he slowed me down, "But in a more appropriate setting. When does your shift end?"

"Um, well unless you actually intend to buy a backpack…then right now I suppose." Jasper chuckled as he picked up a black light-weight Hiker's Dream Backpack. I rung him up and said goodnight to Mrs. Newton, then walked outside to the nearly empty parking lot.

"Where is your car?" I asked looking around.

"It's at the house, would you mind taking me back?" he asked politely in that tone of his that no one could ever possibly say no to.

"Well, technically it's not your house anymore," I warned, "Couldn't you get into trouble?" Jasper just laughed.

"Technically it is my house," he smiled, "I bought it from Carlisle." My mouth gaped open at his statement. He owned a house now? He was only, what, eighteen? Surely Dr. Cullen had given it to him at what I like to call the "parent price" you know like when your parent will "sell" you the old family car for two dollars or something ridiculous like that. Yeah, that's what it was. It had to be.

"So you have your own house now…that's very impressive," I commented. Jasper just shrugged in response. "So, Jasper, why did you come back to Forks?"

"All in good time," he assured me.

"You're stalling," I pointed out, "You know the longer you stall the more difficult telling the truth becomes."

"I'm not stalling," he retorted, "I can't risk anyone hearing me." He looked around defensively and I followed his gaze all around the parking lot.

"I'm pretty sure we're the only ones out here, but, whatever you say," I unlocked my truck and slid in, he followed suit. I wasn't really surprised by his secrecy because his family was notorious for it. I suppose I should've been a little worried, but when I was with Jasper I found it difficult to worry about anything. When I first saw him in the store I'd been overcome with relief, but I wasn't about to let him know that just yet.

I followed his meticulous directions until we started up a long winding driveway, when we finally got to the house itself I was stunned. In my wildest dreams I couldn't have pictured a more beautiful home. The way it lit up the land surrounding it was magnificent.

"Fuck me…" I blabbed causing an eruption of laughter from Jasper whom I'd almost forgotten was in the truck.

"Shall we go inside Bella?" he invited and I practically melted in my seat. The inside of the house was beautiful and well decorated just as expected. Tyler's mom had been right when she'd said the Cullen's had left everything in place.

Jasper sat down on the couch looking very uneasy. After only a few seconds he stood back up and walked to one of the plated windows.

"I'm good at asking questions," I said softly.

"What do you mean?" he turned to look at me, his honey colored eyes were darker than they'd been last time I'd seen him.

"I just mean that, if you don't know where to start then maybe I could ask you some questions that have been on my mind, just to get you started," I explained.

"That doesn't sound half bad," he smiled a little more brightly and sat down beside me on the couch. "Ask away."

"Well, for starters, why did you guys leave so suddenly?"

"Ah, well, I suppose you can thank your Quileute friends for that," he muttered. My Quileute friends? What the hell did they have to do with anything. I wasn't so sure that I appreciated Jasper assuming anything about Jake, or the rest of the tribe for that matter. Jasper seemed to notice the change in my emotion.

"You…don't know, do you?" he asked slowly.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I mean I know they have some weird beef with you guys but it's just their superstition, just some ancient fable."

"Do you know anything about that fable?" he asked seriously.

"No…but I suppose it's just because of how different you all are."

"How are we different?" he looked somewhere between amused and concerned.

"Well, your family is so private, so secretive like you're in the mob or something. And, well, you all look different," I blushed feverishly.

"Go on…" okay now he was just amused.

"You all are unreasonably…gorgeous." I couldn't look him in the eye.

"I suppose that's part of it, but this fable is very complicated, very deep on many levels," he insisted.

"Tell me."

"I can't tell you any Quileute legends Bella, they aren't mine to tell and I'm not sure I'd want to deal with the repercussions either," he said.

"Well just tell me what your family has to do with it," I begged. I was on the edge of the couch with anticipation.

"I suppose…" he wondered, "It all began with Carlisle, I wasn't with them yet. Carlisle lived here in…Forks…many years ago. He made a treaty with an elder from the Quileute tribe that we'd never go onto their land, and we haven't ever since, we're very unwelcome."

"So how long ago…I mean Carlisle is only 30 or something?" I urged.

"A very, very long time ago."

"You know, for someone who wanted to 'explain everything' you're being very cryptic," I spat. He sighed deeply.

"I know, but there are just so many rules I'm breaking," he whimpered.

"Jasper, I know we haven't been friends very long but you can trust me with anything. I'll take all your secrets to the grave, and you have my word on that," I assured him.

"Alright, but you have to promise me that no matter what I say you'll stay here with me and not run away, okay?"

"I won't ever run from you." I wondered if he knew just how serious I was when I said that.

"Where the treaty is concerned, I believe it was made at least over a century ago."

"Jasper I don't want to play games," I let out a frustrated sigh.

"It's not a joke Bella!" his tone was definitely serious.

"I don't understand," I mumbled.

"I'm not eighteen," he muttered, so low I could barely hear him.

"Okay…how old are you then?" I was trying to figure this out, but every time I tried to make sense of what he was telling me I failed.

"Well, realistically I'm 20, I just tell everyone I'm 18 so I can blend better, but technically I'm honing in on 170 years old," he winced as he waited for my reaction. There wasn't one, I honestly did not know how to feel about this piece of information. I kept looking at him waiting for a giggle, or some evidence of a joke, but his face was serious, dead serious.

"This is impossible," I breathed.

"It's not impossible when you're…like me."

"What are you talking about?" I was starting to hyperventilate.

"I'm…I'm a vampire."

"You're a what?" this had to be a joke.

"Feel my skin," he stuck his hand out for me to touch. I slowly inched my fingers towards his and made contact. His skin felt like smooth stone, it was ice cold like he'd just dived into the Arctic Ocean.

"I saw you in school, in daytime," I tried to reason to convince myself that this wasn't real, that he was playing a mean trick on me.

"It's the sun that shows us for what we truly are…why do you think we chose to live in a place where it is sunny only fifteen to twenty days out of the year?" he asked. I stared at him, his eyes that were such an odd color, but not an immortal color.

"So you don't melt?"

"No, but we do look different, people would know."

"This is a lot…this is a lot," I stammered. "You're a vampire."

"Yes…are you alright, should we go outside for air?"

"Air…"

He grasped my arms and led me out onto the balcony. The fresh air felt nice, but it was no relief from the tornado spinning around my brain.

"How can you live like this, around the very humans that you…drink?" I asked.

"We don't feed on human blood, we only feed on animals. It makes us less of a monster and more human feeling. That's why my eyes are this color."

"Okay. You're a vampire. Okay."

"I know this is a lot of information Bella, would you like me to take you home?" he asked sympathetically.

"No, I'm- I still have more questions." Jasper smiled to himself.

"Fire at will."

"Why did you come back?" This had originally been my first question, I kind of wished I'd have started out with it now.

"I came back because of you. In all my years with Carlisle I've never been able to control my thirst, I've always been tempted by the scent of human blood," he paused to make sure I hadn't fled off in terror. "When I met you in the forest that first day…I resisted you. I still smelled your blood, and it smelled divine but I didn't want to drink you, I was drawn to you and I have been every moment since," he finished.

"I'm glad you came back Jasper," I placed my hand gently over his on the railing of the balcony. We stared at each other for a long time, just standing there in the cool night breeze.

Author's Note: Hey everyone, so sorry it's been a while since my last update but it's mid-term week at school, so things have been hectic this week. Anyway, thanks for all the great comments and alert subscriptions. I'll try to keep pumping the chapters out this week to make it up to everyone that's been waiting. Thanks!