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Song for this chapter :
- Dance with the Devil - Breaking Benjamin
Bella POV
I came back to myself, Enyo retreating to the depths of my mind, she came in handy at times. I rolled my shoulders and hissed as I felt Jasper's venom in my system. I could still hear the wolves heartbeats in the bushes so I was expecting a visit at some point from them, they were probably wondering what the hell had just happened.
Jasper pulled me in for a hug, I smiled and inhaled his scent, which calmed me almost immediately, he smelt like grass and rainfall with a slight musky scent. I frowned and pulled away slightly at my thoughts, I could not allow my feelings for Jasper to grow, he was a mated man and his mate was mere metres from us.
Speaking of his mate, she wasn't acting like one right now, normally she'd be right by his side, acting possessive and checking his injuries. She sure as hell wouldn't allow me anywhere near him. I looked at him to find him looking at Alice, confusion radiating from him. I looked to her to see she was looking at him with disgust and disappointment, not a shred of love or compassion and it made me angry for unknown reasons. A brief thought asked if they really were mates, Alice sure didn't act like one, not since I've met them.
"What the hell was that?" Edward demanded, his face pinched up in anger as he placed his forefinger and thumb on the bridge of his nose. To me he looked constipated instead of threatening.
"I was saving your asses, that's what," I hissed out, annoyed at them for not being able to understand.
"Jazzy wouldn't hurt us, would you?" Alice asked in a sickly sweet voice that made me wish I had the ability to vomit.
"Oh, did you see that in a vision?" I asked sarcastically, both Edward and Alice growled at me but it was merely irritating, hardly intimidating I chuckled to myself.
"Alice, my beast can't recognise people, even family, he can only recognise threats and that's what most of you were, only my mate could have calmed me down from that state," Jasper said, throwing a pointed glare at the Pixie Bitch, "If Isabella hadn't have been here then who knows what may have happen," Jasper said with a shrug.
"You two acted more like savage animals instead of actual people," Carlisle stated, with a look of disappointment. I rolled my eyes when he wasn't looking, he was so full of shit.
I could feel my anger boiling through my veins as they condemned us for our actions, so we may have acted like actual vampires, the Cullen's acted as though that was a federal crime. They mustn't have realised that they aren't human, they're vampires. The looks of disapproval were on everyone's faces, they were condemning us and my anger turned to rage as I thought about Jasper having to deal with this on his own. He had no support in this family. No real friends, when Peter and Char turn up they can show him what he's been missing and hopefully knock some sense into him.
I growled at Carlisle, who looked stunned, as if no one had ever dare stand up to him, well if he thought that I was going to be a good, obedient little bitch who rolls over on command then he had another thing coming.
"Do not snarl at your father Isabella," Esme scolded me and with that, my rage exploded.
"He is not my father!" I roared out, the birds in a half mile radius flew out of their trees and I heard the wolves heartbeats pick up.
The Cullen's who were still stood on the back porch looked at me with shock, Enyo purred as the smell of fear permeated the air, she loved that shit. A growl rumbled through my chest continuously, I was close to losing it again if they didn't shut their mouths.
"To be honest Carlisle, it could have been a lot worse," Jasper said with a shrug.
"How could it be any worse Jasper? You've ruined my yard!" Esme yelled at Jasper who suddenly smirked.
"Well ya'll are still in one piece aren't ya? And so is Forks," I drawled out, wanting them to realise the danger that our inner beasts could cause, if one of these Cullen kids inner beast came out then they would have no idea what to do and potentially expose us all if they went on a rampage.
"What do you mean?" Alice asked with confusion. I rolled my eyes and she glared back.
"Well lets put it in simpler terms for you that don't understand, if our beasts weren't happy then we would have to find the next best thing. Blood. Human blood as animals don't satisfy us," Jasper confessed.
"Are you that irresponsible?" Carlisle shouted at us.
"Us irresponsible?" I asked, my chest rumbling with a growl, "you are the irresponsible one Carlisle for three different reasons, a) for allowing your mate to speak to a male that way, b) for angering the Major and c) for not teaching your 'children' our traditions, they would never survive in the real world."
"What is she talking about Carlisle?" Emmett asked, Rosalie tried to shush him.
"It's nothing Emmett and its absolutely none of your business how I run my family Isabella," Carlisle replied, looking a bit shaken at my outburst.
"You forget something Carlisle, I work for your masters and as long as I do, your coven business is my business and Aro willbe hearing about this," I hissed at him, anger controlling me. I could feel Jasper trying to calm me down.
If possible Carlisle paled and looked taken aback, Edward looked at his 'father' before glaring at me, I raised an eyebrow when he looked like he was about to speak, if he even spoke one more bad word about the Volturi then he was losing an arm. He closed his mouth and I smirked. I was just about to leave when Alice opened her mouth.
"I cant believe that you were could have killed all those innocents Jazzy, your control must be really bad," disappointment oozed from her annoying voice, I rolled my eyes. I turned to Jasper with an eyebrow raised in question. He sighed.
"I've struggled with the animal diet since I came to the Cullen's, I've had a few slip ups here and there," Jasper admitted.
"Slip ups? Jasper you murdered innocent humans," Alice screeched, my ear drums ached at the pitch of it. I scoffed as I thought about it, Jasper looked to me with disbelief.
"Are you telling me that the great Major Jasper Whitlock suffers control problems?" I asked in disbelief, Alice nodded sadly.
"I'm sorry but I call bullshit," I announced.
"Isabella, language," Esme scolded which I returned with a glare.
"What do you mean Bella?" Jasper asked, I looked to Alice who looked a little bit guilty and fearful, could have just been because of me.
"Well think about it Jasper, you are an empath, an empath feels emotions, bloodlust is an emotion, did you have slip ups before you came into the Cullen's?" I said slowly, hoping he'd catch on and boy he didn't disappoint. "When you turned all those newborn's in the war, you must have had control otherwise you would have drained them all," I finished.
It was a light bulb going off over his head, realisation dawned on his face as he thought about it. He then looked to the Cullen's and zeroed in on Alice, Alice looked him in the eye for a few seconds before dropping her gaze and fidgeting uncomfortably. Jasper must have sensed something in her emotions due to his next words.
"You knew Alice?" He roared out, I flinched as he was right next to my eardrum. Alice nodded meekly and I gasped in surprise.
"It was for the best Jazzy, it really was. If you hadn't absorbed everyone's bloodlust then we all would have slipped by now, even Carlisle. We couldn't have handled the guilt," She whispered but of course with our supernatural hearing, we heard everything.
Jasper growled out and I stood there hoping that the God of War wouldn't come out, I'm not so sure fighting would calm him down after the betrayal of your mate. I would fully understand if we did, I just would hate to clean up afterwards. Maybe if he tore the Cullen's apart then I could 'accidentally' lose a few pieces putting them back together, I chuckled to myself. Jasper must have been sensing my emotions because he turned to me.
"Not helping Bella," he rasped out.
"Oops, sorry," I grinned back, he just rolled his eyes at me. Jasper turned back to Alice.
"Alice, as my mate I demand you come with me, we need to talk in private, now," Jasper demanded, wording his sentence just right. I knew his beast demanded punishment for her betrayal.
"No," Alice replied, I could see fear in her eyes, she thought staying here could protect her. How pathetically cute.
I sucked in a sharp breath at her refusal, Jasper had worded it so that if she truly was his mate then she couldn't have refused. But she did, which makes me think a certain Pixie Bitch is a Big Fat Liar. I saw Jasper's eyes widen at her answer before looking at me, I knew he caught on to what I did and if she really wasn't his mate then there would be hell to pay. My dear old sister would also be in the shit for not telling Jasper using her gift. I knew I needed to get Jasper out of here before he did something he regretted.
"Jasper, do you want to go hunt?" I asked, I knew we both did, we had both lost a lot of venom in our fight and I could still feel venom weeping out of one or two deeper bites he had left me.
"Sure," he replied before turning on his heel and running into the forest, I followed, ignoring the Cullen's protests.
I didn't have long before I needed to finish getting ready to leave for Texas and I needed a chance to heal before fighting tomorrow, I was kind of worried that I was going alone but I knew I could handle it, if I needed to, my shield would come in handy as well.
We ran back towards my house, following the scent of animals, we separated and hunted. Twenty minutes later, four elk down, I was feeling so full I felt sloshy. I walked back to where I scented Jasper, who sat on the forest floor with his head in hands, I could feel the anger and disbelief pouring off of him, he must be projecting.
"Jasper, are you alright?" It was a stupid question but I couldn't think of anything else to say to the poor guy.
"Not really, you caught onto it as well didn't you?" he asked, raising his eyes to mine, they burned into mine.
"Yes I did, but we could be mistaken," I said optimistically, even if I didn't feel very.
"I don't think we are, I feel like such a fool," he growled out, I sighed and placed my hand on his arm in a show of comfort.
"If its true then I'm sorry but we can find out for definite on Saturday," I smiled, he blinked in confusion.
"Saturday? Why Saturday?" He asked, I rolled my eyes.
"Have you forgotten Char's gift?" I asked. Recognition lit up his face. Char's gift was very similar to Rose's but I knew Char's was more accurate and she would tell the truth.
"Why can't we go ask Rosalie now?" He asked.
"Well if you two aren't mates, then she's been lying to you for decades," I told him softly.
I honestly felt bad for Jasper, if he had been lied to and Rose knew all about it, I doubt I could trust her again, lying about soul mates is a big no no, Jasper or Alice's mate could walk straight passed them and they wouldn't know because they'd be too focused on each other.
"Jasper, you may hate me for this but I need to inform Aro of Carlisle's negligence and Edward's poor comments towards the Volturi, it is my duty," I informed him softly, waiting for his anger. It never came.
"I know, it saddens me to think of how in the dark they are, they would never survive the real world."
"Is it okay if I also inform them that you are here and part of their coven? They won't bother you, it just saves the surprise," I asked.
"Sure, I don't mind." Was his reply.
I picked up my phone, which I had grabbed on my way out with Jasper and managed to not break it, and dialled Aro's number, within two rings it was answered.
"Ah Isabella, what a pleasant surprise," Aro greeted me kindly.
"Hello Master, I'm afraid this isn't a social call, I have some important things to tell you," I said with a sigh.
"What seems to be the problem?" Aro asked, sounding troubled.
"Well the main issue is it seems Carlisle Cullen is negligent towards his 'children' they barely know any traditions, laws or even common respect for our kind, not to mention Edward's reaction to me working for you was most unpleasant, I had to put him in his place," I chuckled as I remembered the fear in Edwards eyes.
"I'm afraid my old friend Carlisle has turned out to be rather the disappointment to our race, he is too busy hating what he is to realise the true beauty of immortality," Aro replied, I couldn't agree more with him. "What else dear?"
"It seems that Carlisle has been hiding the fact that Major Jasper Whitlock is part of his coven," I said softly, I could hear Aro's angry murmurs in the background along with that who sounded like Caius, who I'm pretty sure was at this moment sending a team out to dispatch of the Cullen's, he hated them.
"Oh dear, is he going to be a problem?" Aro asked, sounding troubled, I saw Jasper tense up ever so slightly.
"No he isn't master, he is actually becoming a friend to me, I also have some more news to tell you, it turns out Rosalie is also part of the Cullen Coven," I said sadly, thinking about how my sister had been acting since I came back into her life, at first I thought we were going to get along but now I see that we aren't the same people anymore, we're just too different. That doesn't mean I don't love her though, because I do, very much.
"Rosalie is a Cullen? How did that happen?" Aro asked surprised.
"It seems Carlisle found her in the alley that night and decided that he was going to change her," I explained.
"But then why didn't he find you? Surely he must have sensed you," Aro said with confusion lacing his Italian accent.
"I'm not sure," I replied.
"Anything else I should know?" Aro asked
"Two more things Master, first is that the La Push Shapeshifter's are back, they pose no threat, and secondly, one of them is my mate," I whispered, my voice catching as I thought about what happened.
"Oh Isabella that's fantastic Sweetheart, why don't you sound too happy? Has he hurt you? Is it because he's a wolf?" Aro questioned.
"He rejected me," I tried holding back a sob as I said these words, it made it seem all the more real, decades of waiting for my mate, everyone telling me how amazing it would be, just to be let down and my visions of happiness to explode. I kind of wished that I could have thrown myself on a pyre but that was the easy way out and I was not a quitter, I just wouldn't have anybody who loved me like that. Jasper grabbed my hand in his and squeezed reassuringly, he must have felt my depressing emotions.
"Mia Piccolo, that wolf must have no taste then, to throw away such a beauty, once your mission is completed, would you like to come home for a while?" He asked gently.
"I would like that," I smiled, even though I hadn't left Italy that long ago, I still missed my family.
"Okay, then we'll make rearrangements when your mission is over," Aro announced before hanging up. I sighed and ran my hands through my hair, grimacing as I pulled out a twig, Jasper laughed.
"So Jasper, what are you going to do while I'm in Texas?" I asked curiously.
"I'm not sure, I know I need to talk to Alice but I can't wait till Saturday, just to get peace of mind, whichever way it turns out, I think I know the answer already," he smiled sadly.
"Well if you need a place to get away from the Cullen's then my home is always open, as long as they don't encroach on my territory," I smiled.
"Thanks Bella, you're a good friend," he smiled back. My heart tugged as he said the word friend, I ignored it.
"So do you want to come back with me real quick so I can give you a spare key?" I asked.
"Sure."
We both stood up and raced towards my house, Jasper was slightly faster than me, I stopped just inside my treeline when the scent of shape shifter hit my nose, I could make out Sam leaning against my back steps, I walked out of the forest with Jasper beside me, Sam froze when he saw us. I was actually expecting him to come hunt us down earlier, I could sense the other wolves in the trees surrounding my home.
"Hello Sam, is there something I can help you with?" I asked politely.
"Hello Bella, Jasper, I was hoping to talk to you Bella," Sam replied. I figured as much.
"Sure, let me just grab a key for Jasper and I'll be right with you," I grinned. I ran into my home, found the spare key in the kitchen cupboard and came back outside, handing it to Jasper who was watching Sam warily.
"You going to be okay Bella?" Jasper asked, searching my face. I nodded.
"I'll be fine Jasper, they can't hurt me," I smiled. "I'll see you when I get back okay? Good luck with Alice," I pulled him into a tight hug, he hugged back before kissing my cheek and running back the way we just came. I hope things work out for him.
"Are you going somewhere?" Sam asked, irritation shot through me that he had blatantly been eavesdropping on my conversation with Jasper.
"Yes, I'm going to Texas," I replied.
"Texas? Why Texas?"
"Well there's a rogue vampire warlord on the loose, creating havoc for us all, so I'm going to go kill him," I announced cheerily, Sam looked stumped.
"Oh," was his oh-so-brilliant response.
"Would you like to come in?" I asked, gesturing towards my home, he nodded.
I turned around but I wasn't stupid enough to leave my back unprotected to him, I didn't trust them yet so I pulled my physical shield tight around me as Sam followed me into my house. He observed everything as he walked into my living room, I sat in my comfy armchair whilst he sat on my sofa, I noticed him eyeing my DVD wall with interest.
"Your house looks so different to the other Cullen house," Sam confessed, I raised an eyebrow.
"That's probably because this isn't a Cullen house, this is my home, brought with money I earned," I was a little annoyed he was jumping to conclusions.
"I thought you were part of the Cullen Coven?" He asked with confusion.
"No, I never said I was, Carlisle assumed and made an ass out of u and me," I grinned at my little joke but Sam obviously didn't get it. "It seems just because my sister is part of their coven, I'm automatically a member, which is utter bullshit," I scoffed.
"So you know that Paul is rejecting the imprint right?" Sam asked almost hesitantly, even though I knew that already it still hurt my feeling a little bit.
"Yes I know," I answered.
"How do you feel about it? Are you going to be okay?" Sam asked, worry contorting his face, he was worried, probably afraid I was going to go rip out Leah's throat, as tempting as that sounds I didn't want to kill anyone today. Blood was a bitch to get out of shoes. And I had to save all my killing efforts for my mission.
"As long as he's happy, there's thing's I can't give him that Leah can," I said, my voice catching near the end, I felt venom fill my eyes so I looked down and took a deep breath through my nose, Leah could give him so much more than I could ever dream about giving him. It was better that she was with him and I wasn't. It wouldn't have worked anyway. I wasn't even allowed on their land.
"So you're not going to fight for it?" Sam asked surprised.
"Why would I? It's obvious him and Leah are in a serious relationship, it's not fair for me to try and split them up, if I cause any tension then maybe I can go away for a while, maybe go to Italy," I said with a smile as I thought about my Italian family.
I thought about how I met them all, Jane and I had a bit of a rough patch at first, she tried using her gift on me. When she couldn't, she became frustrated until she couldn't take it anymore and started yelling at me. I earned her respect when I had yelled back as no one had gone against her before due to her gift. I was knocked out of my past by Sam.
"What's in Italy? If you don't mind me asking," Sam asked curiously.
"The Volturi are based in Italy," I replied.
"The vampire royalty?" He asked.
"Yes," I replied simply.
"What exactly is it that you do for them?" Sam asked with curiosity radiating from every pore.
"I basically go out with normally three other Volturi guards and we go gather information for our masters and then if they deem the particular vampire a threat to our race then we take them out, I guess you could say I'm an assassin of kinds, only last year I took out a warlord and an army of 100 newborn vampires on my own," I said, Sam looked shocked.
"Newborn armies?" He gasped out, I nodded.
"Down South, there are a lot of greedy vampires, mainly near Texas and Mexico," I explained but Sam cut me off.
"Why Texas and Mexico?" He asked.
"Because there are more humans, less chance that they are going to get caught if a few people go missing, they hunt for feeding ground," I stated bluntly, eyeing Sam as he started to shake. If he dared to phase in my living room, I was going to kick his furry ass, after a few minutes the shaking decreased. What a good doggy, maybe I should scratch his chin and hand him a treat.
"What are Newborns?" Sam asked curiously, didn't these 'protectors' know anything, Jeez.
"They are newly made vampires, the warlords make them because they have even more strength, speed and they're incredibly vicious with their ever changing mood swings," I said, Sam looked sick, "Most of them don't survive the first year," I shook my head.
"Why not?" He asked.
"Because most of them are either killed on the battle grounds or their creators cull them because when they reach the one year mark, that's when their strength and speed starts to wane, only maybe 1 in about 100 will survive, if they are deemed useful by their creators or they manage to escape and survive," I said, leaning back in my comfy chair.
"This goes on a lot?" He asked.
"There's always one or two at a time, it's trying to hunt them down that's the tricky part, they like staying under the Volturi radar, then there are the people who create Immortal Children," I said with sadness in my voice.
"Immortal Children?" Sam asked.
"Immortal Children are human children from the age of birth to 14 years old that are changed into vampires, after the age of 14 they are fine to be turned as their brains can function normally, though it must suck to be in the body of a 14 year old forever," I shuddered.
"Who would do such a thing?" Sam choked out.
"Some vampires, mainly female, can't ignore their maternal instincts, especially if they had children in their human life, it become an obsession to them, its all their thoughts revolve around, the reason the children are outlawed are because, a) it's just cruel to have the brain development of an average vampire but the body of a child and b) they can't control their tempers, one temper tantrum could destroy a whole village. These children are untrainable and too much of a risk to be allowed to survive."
"That's disgusting," Sam spat out angrily. I narrowed my eyes at him.
"These women get desperate, obsessed even," I spat back, thinking about the story of Irina's mom and sire, Sasha and Vasili.
"So you created one of these monstrosities," Sam said, starting to shake, I hissed out in warning.
"God no, doesn't mean I can't understand their pains and urges," I said angrily.
"I could never understand why someone would do that," Sam said.
"No you wouldn't because you get to live a fairly human life and you get to have as many children and grandchildren as you like, whereas most female vampires are turned against their will, most of them already had families and children and others crave them like people crave oxygen," I said with anger clear in my voice, thinking about my struggle with not being able to have children. I started to rise out of my seat, I would not be disrespected in my own home. Sam hung his head in shame.
"I'm sorry Bella, I never meant to offend you," He said with a sigh, I waved off his apology.
I sat back down, keeping my muscles tensed in case of a sneak attack. I couldn't believe that he thought I created an Immortal Child. Anger was free flowing through my body at being judged by someone who didn't even know me.
"There's something you have to realise Bella, because you're an imprint, if you go off into battle and get injured then Paul would feel it, which means the rest of us feel it, us werewolves have a telepathic bond in wolf form."
"You're not werewolves." I said seriously.
"What? Yes we are," Sam argued.
"No, you're not, you're shape shifters. There's no way your werewolves otherwise known as Children of the Moon," I shook my head at their naivety.
"How do you know?" He asked with suspicion.
"I've been attacked and killed a few werewolves in my time, they're rabid, dangerous creatures that only change under the full moon, their change takes hours and is so painful plus they don't have packs, they are mostly loners unless they're mated," I explained.
Sam's jaw dropped, I rolled my eyes, how could they not realize that they were shape shifters, all they had to do was Google werewolf, the lore is actually pretty accurate for once.
"You've seen real werewolves?" Sam asked in disbelief.
"Well yeah. I'd have to see them to kill them, it was one of my missions, a particular werewolf was turning people, killing them left and right, made a bloody mess that I had to clear up, "I said with exasperation.
"If working for the Volturi and whatever it's called is so dangerous then why don't you leave them?" Sam asked like it was the simplest thing ever.
"Why would I want to leave? They are the family I've never had, they've supported my decision to turn Vegetarian, hell they were the ones that told me about feeding off animals instead of humans," I said defensively.
"So why haven't you joined the Cullen's?" Sam asked curiously.
"I'm already a member of several other covens, plus they creep me out a little," I explained.
"Do you mind me asking which covens?" Sam asked, I shook my head.
"There's the coven in Denali, the Egyptian Coven, The Italian, The Amazonians, The American Nomads and then there is the Whitlock coven, you've already met the leader of the Whitlock Coven," I said.
"I have, who is it?" Sam asked.
"Jasper," I replied.
"The Cullen?" He asked incredulously.
"Yes, he's actually one of the most feared vampires in the world," I said nonchalantly.
"He is? Why?" Sam asked with horror in his eyes.
"Not my story to tell," I replied, Sam looked a little disappointed, I thought he was going to argue with me for a moment but shut his mouth back up.
"Talking about Whitlock's, the remaining two coven members will be coming to Forks to stay for a little while," I announced, better to get it over with.
"What? Why?" He asked.
"Coven reunion," I smirked.
"Are they vegetarian?" Sam asked cautiously, this part was going to be tricky.
"They will be for the duration of their stay in Forks," I replied.
"What does that mean?" Sam growled, I glared at him.
"Exactly what I just said," I replied.
"They cannot come here if they are not vegetarian," Sam snarled.
"You can't stop them, it's a free country," I replied.
"We'll kill them," Sam said, I let out a feral snarl.
"You'll have to kill me first, you can't kill every red eyed Vampire that crosses into Forks without a proper reason, not all red eyed vampires are evil, if you try taking them all out you'll have a war with the vampires on your shoulders and I shall side with my family every time," I said with fierce protectiveness of my family and fellow coven mates.
Sam looked surprised and got out of his crouch, his eyes widened.
"You would fight your mate?" Sam asked with incredibility.
"If he was a threat to my family yes, I don't even know the guy and it's not like we're together so it's really no skin off my back but would you be prepared to fight hundreds of vampire's hell bent on revenge?" I asked seriously.
"I guess you're right," Sam sighed, a sign of defeat.
"Damn straight I am," I replied then sat back down.
