Chapter 7: Debrief, Discourse
"Go to sleep Bella," Edward whispered into the chilly air. He was sat cross legged on the floor with his chin resting atop the very edge of Bella's mattress. Wrapped up in a thick blanket with her cheek nestled into the white sheets, she looked at him with pleading eyes.
"I can't, not without you here," she whispered back. The moonlight filtering through the window made her bandaged hand look ghostly as it reached out to stroke his cheek.
"You'll be asleep, you won't even know I'm gone," Edward answered back catching her hand and sniffing her wrist tentatively. His head went dizzy with longing; the burn in the back of his throat intensifying a hundred-fold – of course he would resist.
"Why do you have to go?" She asked frowning. He smiled into her wrist before taking one last sniff and tucking it back under the covers.
"Carlisle will be back from the hospital soon and we all want to discuss the new people in Forks. I'll be back in the morning to pick you up for school," he said in what he hoped was a placating voice.
"Oh... them," Bella said the shock evident in her voice. Edward chuckled at her sudden change in attitude.
"You don't like them?"
She blushed that delicious colour and nestled her way deeper into the sheets. "I don't not like them; their presence just makes me wary... sort of like Jasper – Hermione especially. She looks at everything with such intensity, she's got all those lethal looking scars and her hair is so wild. It's all a bit shocking," she mumbled in one long rush, her blush burning brightly in the moonlight. He chuckled before standing up lithely. He hadn't realized that any of the new-comers were as intimidating as Bella seemed to think.
"Will you be alright?" He asked bending down to kiss her head.
"I suppose..." She mumbled, burying her face into the sheets. Edward merely chuckled once more before kissing her hair again.
"Get some sleep," he whispered not quite jumping out the window fast enough to miss her mumbled: "Sure, if I don't have nightmares about that crazy looking Brit murdering me in my sleep."
Grinning into the wind whipping his face as he ran back to the house Edward arrived to see Carlisle's black Mercedes already parked in the garage.
"Edward's back early," Esme said as he made his way up the porch steps.
"Isabella must have a 'headache'," Emmett snickered. Choosing to ignore his sibling's laughter Edward walked through the front door into the softly lit living room of their home. The white on white colour scheme became creamy under the dim lighting; the wall of glass that usually ran along the back length of the room was covered with soft white vertical blinds. Rosalie and Emmett sat on the couch nearest the massive television watching a muted football game while Jasper and Alice sat in another couch facing Esme and Carlisle, all talking idly while waiting for him to join them.
He walked leisurely over to where the four were gathered and dropped into the armchair nearest Jasper. He watched Esme drawing on a notebook in her lap and listened as Carlisle discussed the strangers' scent with Jasper who was – like the rest of them – thoroughly intrigued.
"Animal blood?" Jasper asked curiously.
"Their blood doesn't smell entirely like an animal, only vaguely; there's another tinge to it that I don't recognise at all. It's not a wholly appealing smell. It's like nothing I've ever come across in all my years," Carlisle explained while his mind raced a million miles a minute.
Jasper's mind too was reeling, whizzing from fighting formations to escape routes and possible disposal plans if the strangers presented more of a threat.
"That's a bit drastic," Edward murmured in Jasper's direction.
You can never trust the unknown, Jasper thought shrugging his shoulders.
"Young Ginny's blood smelled faintly like a horse's," Carlisle pressed, eyes skimming along the ceiling as he leaned back into the couch.
Edward hadn't considered the unconscious girl – Ginny – enough to elaborate. His mind turned instead to Hermione who caught his attention with her scrutinizing stare. His fingers moved absently over his leg again, the melody he thought of in the hospital coming back to him. "Hermione's blood had a faint sea-creature quality to it... a seal's… or an otter's."
"Harry's blood had a familiar tinge to it too. Similar to the blood of a Stag," Carlisle observed, the eagerness in his tone growing stronger.
Edward stood up and paced around the room slowly before coming to a halt at the baby grand. Listening to the endless questions floating around his family's heads, he slid onto the bench and let his fingers drift over the keys. The soulful melody he'd only been playing on his leg earlier filled the room. It did nothing to calm the frustration that consumed him when no one had any answers as to who exactly these new people were. The rich harmony he played morphed into a beautiful mess of notes tripping over one another.
It was at least ten times more satisfying than the conversation playing in the background.
"What are they?" Jasper mused aloud rising to his feet and pacing the same pattern Edward had earlier. Edward had no answer and the confused melody his fingers beat out faded into nothing, unresolved.
"They're human, but their blood isn't. It doesn't sit right – I don't like it."
"You don't like anything," Edward murmured. He dodged the pencil Jasper threw (like a dart) at his eye, effortlessly.
"You can't hear their thoughts," Jasper pointed out, pivoting sharply on the spot and tilted his head in Alice's direction. "What have your visions shown you of them?" He asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. She'd been silent throughout the conversation and that was never a good sign.
"I haven't had any visions of them. I didn't see them coming to Forks and no matter how hard I try I can't see any of their futures. I can't see them at all.
V
I wonder if it's enough... Esme thought standing back to observe her days work. Edward looked up from his book and glanced around the kitchen.
"It's more than enough. They'll all be morbidly obese by the end of the week," he observed, smiling wryly. The kitchen of the Cullen residence was filled with (what Edward would assume was) mouth-watering aromas of a master chef's cooking. The usually bare countertops were laden with dishes of food and baked goods.
"Maybe I'll draw the line at the casserole then," Esme said, a little crestfallen.
"You should have drawn the line a few dishes ago," he murmured lifting the lid off a container of curried lamb and sniffing. His nose wrinkled in displeasure at the smell.
"And here I thought I raised a kind and considerate son," said Esme, flying around the kitchen in a whirl of caramel hair, leaving sparkling clean surfaces in her wake.
"Considerate enough even to make this delicious pavlova for our already well fed guests," Edward replied, proudly lifting the dish into the air. It was more a piece of art than dessert with the whipped cream falling in soft tufts and valleys on and around the sponge and intricately cut kiwifruit and berries weaving in and out of artfully placed shaves of chocolate.
"Very manly dessert you've made there, Edward," Emmett snickered sauntering into the kitchen. Placing it down gently before he crushed it, he shot Emmett a cold glare.
Oh no, not the precious pav! Emmett taunted in his head lest Esme hear. Smirking Edward flicked his wrist and faster than a bullet, a rolling pin flew straight for Emmett's forehead. Before it could make contact Esme's hand whipped out and snagged it mid-air.
"Now that we actually have a use for kitchen utensils I'd rather you two not destroy them," she scolded mildly, removing her spotless white apron.
When Edward moved to follow them through the living room and out to the car Esme turned to look at him, the question in her eyes if not her mind.
"I thought I might join you at the hospital since my 'visiting hours' with Bella don't begin for another hour," he supplied.
"You're all going to the hospital; Carlisle's already there; Alice is with Bella which leaves me here by myself. Some family," Rosalie spat from the armchair in front of the television.
"Jasper's here," Esme said laying a hand atop Rosalie's head briefly as she drifted past.
"Actually... I thought I might come with you. I want to test a theory. The wolves from the reservation are immune to Alice's ability in the same way the Harry and his friends are but unlike them, the wolves aren't immune to Edward's telepathy. I'd like to see what other… similarities… there are," Jasper said from near the wall of windows, rising up to join them in the middle of the living room.
"He wants to see if Harry and his friends are immune to his talents as an empath," Edward clarified as they made their way at a leisurely human speed to the front door.
"Great, that's just great. Go then, all of you." Rosalie seethed, glaring at the television.
"Ah babe, you could always come..." Emmett suggested, hovering at her side even as his feet inched towards the door.
"We already have one human we can't get rid of why do we need four more?" She all but growled at him.
"Because Isabella's grounded and the new ones are so interesting," Emmett gushed bending down to peck her on the cheek before joining the others at vampire speed in the garage. As they drove away from the house, ignoring Rosalie's mutterings about abandonment, they balanced countless containers on their laps and let out a collective groan when Esme barely let the car's speedometer reach the legal speed limit.
V
Arriving at the hospital they piled out of the car and walked swiftly through the always-nearly-empty waiting room of Forks Hospital. Jasper held his breath and deliberately looked in the opposite direction as they walked passt the Nurses station. The others exchanged polite greetings with a Nurse while Jasper continued to stare the other way, following Esme who knew the way to Ginny's room well enough by now.
After walking down a long empty hallway they came to a halt outside the last pale gray door. Jasper took a moment to ready himself, mentally and physically. Despite what his family had said about the newcomers (supposedly un-appealing) blood, he didn't want to be unprepared – to break cover and murder anyone.
School was always a challenge being so close to so many mouth-watering humans but this was a much more intimate setting. The closer quarters would make things even worse for his thirst, pushing his self-restraint to its limits. It was only a few months ago since Bella's birthday where he'd lost control of himself and become the monster that was always so hard to control.
He was so tired of being weak.
Jasper heaved a sigh and squared his shoulders in determination, sensing Emmett's excitement intensify, overwhelming the emotional atmosphere.
"Excellent, Luna's here! She's an awesome oddity," Emmett managed to whisper as Esme knocked on the door softly. A muffled 'come in' sounded and Edward squeezed his shoulder reassuringly before following Emmett and Esme into the room. Refusing to let his thirst rule him Jasper took an untainted deep breath of air and stepped into the brightly lit room after them.
The door clicked softly closed behind him. He hovered near the exit, keeping his brothers in front of him to stop him in case he was too weak and attacked the others. Still holding that one breath, Jasper's eyes flew around the room in an impossibly fast movement. The generic white double room was occupied only by Ginny Weasley because only in Forks were there an abundance of empty hospital beds. Scattered around the two hospital beds were faded maroon office chairs reflected dully on the beige linoleum floor. A girl with flaming red hair was propped up by no less than eight pillows nearest the rain-drenched windows. It had to be Ginny; the older ginger-haired woman in the chair next to her, her mother.
From his family's descriptions he assumed the lean man on Ginny's right was Harry. On the un-occupied patient bed next to him could only be Luna whose big black gumboots clashed so horribly with her lime green overalls and rainbow-striped thermal it caused Jasper to wince on Alice's behalf.
Bracing himself Jasper sniffed the air tentatively. Barely a second had passed since he'd entered the room; Esme and Mrs Weasley were not close to done greeting each other. The air was filled with the strangers' exotic scent but for the first time in living memory Jasper's throat didn't burn with need. The dull ache was still there but he didn't feel the need to drain these humans dry. It was a completely new experience for Jasper, to be so in control of his state of mind that he could actually interact freely with these humans. He looked to a beaming Edward – who had already read his thoughts – and let out a rare smile.
Jasper moved around the room introducing himself; shaking hands and nodding like the good Southern gentleman he'd never been. It was the first time he'd made physical contact with humans (apart from biting into them). He couldn't help letting his amusement contaminate the emotional atmosphere. It was a strangely diluted one, considering how many people were in the room and Jasper noted with incredulity that he couldn't feel Harry's, Luna's or the Weasley's emotions in it.
Jasper felt more intimately for the air in the room. With great effort he stripped away his own scattered emotions; he moved past Emmett's eagerness and Esme's tender feelings. With great difficulty he blocked out Edward's mounting pot of emotions; his amusement, disappointment and slight irritation (at what Jasper couldn't wonder lest his own curiosity pollute the emotional climate even more).
And found nothing.
The air around the strangers was thick with something but he couldn't feel what exactly, no matter how hard he tried. When Jasper's own frustration clouded the atmosphere too much to make any progress he decided to change tact.
While Harry and Luna were laughing at something Emmett had said, Jasper made his move. "I'm going to try something. Don't react," he whispered only loud enough for his family to hear. He sent overwhelming waves of euphoria into the room and watched as his family's dispositions changed noticeably. Emmett's laugh became deliriously gleeful, the jubilant tone in Esme's voice as she spoke to Mrs Weasley was almost bordered on exultant. The smiles that tugged at his family's lips were unmistakable and their eyes beamed a thousand shades brighter. Yet the new-comers disposition changed none, showing no signs of joy or happiness.
Letting it simmer in the air for a moment longer didn't change a thing. Puzzled he changed tact once again and instead let a chilly despair settle thickly upon the room. He scowled at his family's inability to hide their reactions better. Their smiles faded, their faces tried to remain frozen in place as they struggled with the unsettling sadness taking root in them. Their eyes became unbearably sad and their shoulders drooped. Yet still none of the strangers' displayed any small amount of depression.
Deciding he better stop before Emmett smacked him upside the head he sent waves of calm out and saw his family visibly relax. Jasper let his shock and irritation settle clear upon his face. They were immune to all of his family's vampire gifts.
A/N: Maybe it's a wasted chapter, but I like to make things Super Obvious.
