I love you all! This is a big chapter, and I'm so excited to get some of these balls rolling. I'd like to congratulate the five winners of my last review contest. Dawn369, Cathy29jes, Casedeputy, Freekygrl69, and AHealingRenaissance. Your reviews have meant the world and I treasure each of them. You guys have started guessing at some of the plot, and I can't wait to see your guesses after you read this. :) Enjoy.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The atmosphere around us seemed to adjust to our chaos. In the shelter of my darkened bedroom, I heard the thunder outside us clap at startling volumes. If I hadn't felt so on edge and alive in that moment, I probably would have jumped.
It had only been a nap I had taken, but it changed everything.
I suddenly remembered who I was, where I came from and every other piece of the puzzle. I couldn't figure out how the pieces all fell together, but I was determined to see it through. However, in this moment, I couldn't focus on anything else but the mystery with its arms wrapped around me.
He stared at me with a strange mixture of sadness and shock in his eyes, his eyes that gave away so much yet told me so little. I knew him, but he was foreign. I needed him, but I didn't know why. I touched him, but he was the one carrying me- and I wanted answers. I had just witnessed him, or a version of him, kill my father and Colin Black. He had moved impossibly fast to my defense and sunk his teeth into their skin before letting their lifeless bodies slither to the ground. Then he had… No, you can't go there right now. It was only a dream… I shuddered at the memory of the two men.
Running my hands down my body, I was reminded of the emptiness my father had created within me. The past few days with the Cullens was the most alive I had ever felt after a lifetime of vicious physical and emotional attacks from my father and his protégé, Colin. I shook my head, ridding myself of such thoughts for the time being. I was more concerned with Jasper's answer. Regaining my composure, I asked my question again. "What are you?" My voice was steadier this time.
For a while it was just us two, the world swirling around us in its booming thunder and pouring rain. The lights flickered on and off a few times, and the house lost its power. But we were still. We had all the electricity we needed between the two of us, and it ran from his eyes boring into mine. I willed him to answer me, my stare communicating that I wasn't going to give in. The high intensity of emotions was keeping me alive in that moment, not my heartbeat.
He finally spoke. "What did you see?"
"You. You told me to call you 'Major Whitlock', and you killed my dad and Colin."
I saw the surprise register in his eyes at the mention of "Major Whitlock", but he maintained his control. "How did I kill them, Isabella?" His voice was getting deeper and deeper, with woodsy and husky elements intertwined.
I challenged him. "Why don't you tell me?"
He didn't answer.
"What are you?" I pressed on.
He looked at me for a split second, then swept me into his arms and in one second had me in one of his hooded sweatshirts. It fit me more like a dress than a shirt, but he didn't seem to mind. After securing the hood over my head, he pulled me close to his chest and ran at nauseating speeds outside into the storm.
"Don't worry," he told me, "I'll keep you warm and dry."
He ran me swiftly into the woods, and I was struck by what was happening to me. I was even more struck by the realization that true to his promise, I was indeed warm and dry. I should have been miserable, considering my current physical condition. But I wasn't. I was living. I felt like I had come back from the dead. Once we were a deep distance into the forest, he started climbing up a dense tree all while keeping me tucked safely into his chest. I couldn't comprehend how he was doing that, but I was glad he was.
We reached the top of a tree, hidden behind thick limbs swerving left and right from the wind, but kept safe. I had never seen anything more beautiful, save for the man holding me. The view was astonishing, and as thunderous rain deafened the sounds of the outside world, he finally started to answer my question. "You need to know I don't just drink blood." He said with such ironic simplicity, while wearing a wary expression to gauge my reaction.
I wanted to gasp, to scream, to react someway fitting for when your closest friend admits to drinking blood. But I couldn't do any of those things. In some ways, I wasn't surprised. I had always known he wasn't exactly human, hadn't I? It was scarier to me that I seemed to have no sense of self-preservation than Jasper's admission was. I couldn't give a proper reaction, so I instead just looked at him, willing him to continue.
"Yes, I'm a vampire… But my family and I choose not to drink human blood; we only hunt animals. This is why we've kept you with us. We won't hurt you. But this is why you still need to be careful…" He stopped, tore a large branch from the tree we were perched on, and threw it across the forest sky. It flew so far that I couldn't see where it landed. But I heard it. It made a thud that blended in with the thunder, but almost surpassed nature's natural echoes.
He quirked a brow at me, and awaited my reaction to his demonstration of strength. And once again, it should have scared me. As someone who has lived through abuse, such strength should have crumbled any sort of confidence I had. And I should have explained all of that to him. But I didn't. I simply took his hand into my own trembling grasp, so small and frail in comparison to his masculine palms. I ran my thumb gently down his hand, touching it so lightly that our skin was barely in contact. Even so, I felt him soften under my attention. After his reaction became apparent to me, I just looked at him and said, "You won't hurt me. You don't scare me." I meant it. I had never felt safer. I didn't know if I was ready to trust the entire Cullen family. I didn't know if I could. Not that they had done anything wrong, of course. But if I had learned one thing in life, it was to never trust someone based on surface level impressions.
If I had learned that lesson earlier, maybe things wouldn't have turned out so bad. Maybe Mom's death wouldn't have been for nothing. Maybe Colin Black never would have had the chance to hurt me, and maybe he would still be alive today.
But my impression of Jasper wasn't surface level. I knew him. I still couldn't figure out why he was such a longstanding friend of mine, despite my recent gain of memory. But I knew that I could trust him. Perhaps it had been that he was the only presence in my entire life, tangible or not, that hadn't let me down or disappeared. He had always stood in my defense, whether that was Jasper or "Major Whitlock." I still couldn't understand why my angel had told me subconsciously to call him by a name I didn't know, but that could come later.
As I reflected on my own past, I began to wonder more about his. Given Esme's previous comments on his life of suffering, and my new knowledge on him… I was in awe of the man. He had clearly been through so much, but was still kindhearted enough to keep a measly damaged human safe in the midst of a storm- both figuratively and literally. I admired his strength, but not his physical capabilities. "Jasper, how old are you?"
He lowered his head, and I saw a faint smile threatening to paint itself on his lips. "I don't want to freak you out, darlin'."
I rolled my eyes. "You tell me that you drink blood, and that's okay. You demonstrate to me that you could grind my bones to dust in the blink of an eye, and that's okay. But you're right, a number might be too hard for me to handle. Good thinking."
He smirked and rolled his eyes right back at me before answering. "Okay, okay… Point made," he paused, and held his hands up in mock surrender. His gaze softened. "I was born in Houston, Texas in 1844."
I nodded, trying not to show how caught off guard I was. It made sense, he always acted so much wiser than the average teenage boy- so much more sensitive to those around him. Wait a second…
"How do you do the whole emotion thing?"
He looked at me, startled. "The what?"
"I know I'm not imagining that my emotions are always more noticeable and changing around you."
He shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe you noticed that…" He murmured to himself.
I waited for a reply.
"Some vampires have gifts, extra abilities. We don't know for sure what the determining factor is, but Carlisle has a theory that the strongest feature from humanity is brought forth into this life. For example, Edward must have been very good at reading between the lines in humanity because he has the ability now to read minds." I gasped, and he looked at me with a smile.
"He can't read your's, so maybe that means you're just that insanely stubborn in your humanity." He laughed, and I silently thanked whoever was listening that my mind was protected. Now that I had my memories back, I wasn't ready to share them all… particularly with strange men. I felt guilty for a second, because Edward had been such a welcoming presence to me in the past few days. But so had Colin…
"Alice must have had a good sense of how actions play out or premonitions of some sort, for she now has a type of psychic ability. And I, well… I must have been able to easily influence those around me because I can feel and influence the emotions around me." He winked. "You know, because I'm just so charming." He smiled, then furrowed his brow. "I've been trying not to influence you too heavily though. I don't know how you noticed anything."
I shook my head, confused. "My emotions have been super-heightened every time I've been around you Jasper. Every time we touch…" I trailed off, suddenly unsure of myself.
I felt him look at me, but I hid my gaze back into his chest. Eventually, he gave up on finding an answer and pulled me closer to him with a sigh. "We're going to figure all of this out Bella." He moved to take us back to the house, but my simple tug on his sleeve prompted him to stay put. I knew as soon as I returned to the Cullen home, I would have to start dealing with everything. With Colin's death, with Dad, with my injuries and insecurities… I would have to teach myself to speak to and trust those who weren't Jasper. I would have to begin relaying my memories to my surroundings, and I just wasn't ready to do any of that.
So we stayed. And we rested. And we ignored the storm around us. We breathed each other in, somehow knowing what we needed from each other. He held me, and I let him. I trusted him, and he slowly began to trust himself not to hurt me. As we lingered in our safe cocoon, only one question took its home in my head.
"Jasper, who's Major Whitlock?"
And every muscle in his body stiffened.
Alright... New contest! Leave a review with a guess at Jasper's reaction, and the closest one will get a sneak peak of the next chapter. :) Reviews are everything so keep em coming. I will post the next chapter if we can get 20 reviews on this one... Let's do it! Love you all.
-loverunknown
