Bella's POV
I was in my office sitting behind my desk trying to decompress from everything that had happened. I was still quite pissed about what Alice had done to me and Jasper. Killing her had felt good for about an hour, but it was over and now I was angry again.
So much could've been different had Alice kept her damn nose out of my affairs. I wouldn't have had to waste my time with Edward freaking Cullen for one. I'd realized a long time ago that I didn't really love Edward. I thought I had, but that was only because I didn't have anything else to compare it to. I didn't know what love was. Over the years though, I realized that what I had with Edward couldn't have possibly been that. Edward couldn't have loved me. He left me alone without giving a damn what could happen. And over the years, I'd come to hate him. Not because he left me. Well, actually, it was because he left me, but not in the love kind of way. I hated him for leaving me in danger from the Volturi
I was soon pulled from my thoughts by a knock at the door. I knew who it was of course. I didn't even need to pick up his scent to know, though I did. I'd been expecting him. "Come in, Jasper."
The door opened a second later and Jasper walked through. "Hey, Darlin'."
I offered my mate a smile and pointed to the chair in front of my desk, urging him to sit down.
Jasper closed the door and went over to the chair I pointed to and sat down. "Hell of a day."
I laughed. "Yeah, that's an understatement. I went after you to gain more power and numbers. I never thought I'd come back with my mate."
"Neither did I," Jasper said.
"Because you thought Alice was your mate," I said.
"I did up until the moment you declared your intention to kill her. I didn't want her to die at that point, but I didn't try to stop it either. That's how I knew she couldn't be my mate. If she were, I would've fought you and anyone else who tried to harm her to the death. I wouldn't have been able to help it," Jasper said.
I nodded. "I know you want answers. I know you want to know how it is all this came to happen."
"I can't deny that I'm curious. You're much different than you were before. And I know that it's been eighty years and time changes people, but not this much. Time alone doesn't make someone so ruthless. Only life experiences chance someone so dramatically," Jasper said.
I sighed. I knew I was going to have to tell him. Hell, I wanted to tell him. He was my mate. I didn't want there to be any secrets between us. It was just that even after eighty years, it was hard. "Before this conversation goes any further, you need to promise me that you will not breathe a word of this to anyone, not even Emmett or Rosalie. Only two other people know about this. You make three. I need your word that it'll stay that way."
"You have it. I assume the other two to know are Peter and Char," Jasper said.
"You assume correctly. Peter saved me, making himself almost as wanted by the Volturi as me," I told him. Peter truly had risked a lot for me, before and after this war started. Aside from Jasper, there was no one I trusted more, and with Jasper, it was more instinct to trust where with Peter it was history.
"What happened?" Jasper asked. His voice was strong, but I could hear a tad of nervousness in his voice. He was worried about what I might tell him. He was right to be.
"It was about a year after you all left. I was still pretty obsessed with Edward. I won't call it love because I don't think it actually was love. Anyway, one day I was at the meadow where Edward and I spent most of our time. That's when I saw them. I knew right away that they were vampires. The red eyes were a dead giveaway," I said.
"The Volturi," Jasper guessed.
I nodded. "Aro came himself with Jane and Alec. I'm not sure why. Maybe he was intrigued that Edward had fallen for me."
"How did he find out?" Jasper asked.
"I never found out, but after last night I have my guesses," I told him. I wagered that Alice had told the Volturi about me. She probably figured she could get me killed and have Jasper all to herself.
Jasper growled lowly. He'd obviously reached the same conclusion that I had.
"Anyway, Aro approached me with the twins by his side. He reached out to touch me. I was too afraid to move, not that it would've helped if I had run. And when he touched me, nothing happened. He couldn't hear a thing in my head," I told my mate.
"Just like Edward. You were immune to his gift," Jasper said.
"Not just his. Jane's and Alec's too. And when he realized that, he smiled. I knew then that I was doomed. I knew he was going to kill me up until then, but after I saw that smile, I knew that my fate would be much, much worse." And boy was I right about that. There were many times that I wished Aro would just kill me. It would've been much less painful.
"W…what did he do?" Jasper asked. It was the first time I'd ever heard him stutter. His voice was now hesitant and filled with worry.
"What didn't he do would be the better question. He took me back to Volterra, but I'm sure you realized that by now. And he executed every torture on me that you could imagine," I said as I did my best to keep the strong, ruthless voice I'd developed over the years. It was still hard to speak about what happened to me. I remembered every single detail of what happened to me by Aro's hands, even what happened before I became a vampire. I would never forget it and I would never get completely over it.
"Did he…? Did he ever…?" Jasper didn't seem to be able to finish his question, but he didn't need to.
"Every torture, Jasper. Every torture," I emphasized. I knew what Jasper was asking. He was asking me if Aro had raped me.
Jasper grabbed the arm of his chair and squeezed it hard. Within seconds, it broke off. He was obviously very angry by what he'd heard. "How long?"
"Twenty years. I was in Volterra for twenty years and I was a vampire for eighteen of those years," I told him.
Jasper's face held a mixture of shock and horror. He hurt you while you were still human? How did you survive it?"
"Oh, he was careful. He wouldn't allow himself to accidently kill me. Then the fun would end for him. But he did screw up and nearly kill me. That's when he changed me. He could still hurt me as a vampire and even a newborn. He just had to be more creative about it, like have Felix hold me down.
"I'm gonna kill him," Jasper growled angrily.
I gave Jasper a hard, firm look. "No, you won't. Aro is mine! I'm going to burn that son of a bitch burn myself! I will be the last thing he sees before the last part of him burns to the ground. He's gonna know that by messing with me, he signed his own death certificate." No one was taking the pleasure of ending Aro away from me. Anyone else at the Volturi was fair game, but Aro was mine. No one else would touch him, not even Jasper.
Just then there was a knock at the door. "What is it?" I asked a bit irritated. I didn't appreciate being interrupted right now.
The door opened seconds later revealing Peter. "Hey, sorry to interrupt, but there's a bit of an altercation going on between a few of our guys and the dumbass mind reader."
"So handle it, Peter," I said annoyed. I had a second hand for a reason. Peter was supposed to handle the little things. A brawl breaking out was one of the little things."
"I would, but Cullen's been here less than a day and he's already causing problems. I think it might call for your personal attention," Peter said.
"Did you at least break up the fight?" I asked already knowing the answer. My guess was confirmed when Peter looked down at his shoes. "Of course you didn't because you were too busy enjoying watching Edward lose his limbs. Break up the damn fight Peter and put Edward back together. I can't have warriors without all their body parts. Once that's done, lock his ass in a room until I can deal with him."
"Got it," Peter said before leaving the room once more.
"I say you let them finish the idiot off," Jasper said. His anger was evident, as was the fact that he blamed Edward for what happened to me.
He wasn't alone in that. I blamed Edward too, as did Peter and Char, but I didn't blame him so much that I would kill him over it. The only way that would be was if he'd informed the Volturi about me and I didn't think he did. He was an idiot, but he wasn't evil.
I stood up from my desk. "Come on. I need to hunt before I deal with Edward and you should too. Your eyes are dark."
Jasper nodded and stood up.
"One thing though, Jasper. We don't hunt animals. It makes you weak and no one in my army will be weak. Hunt criminals if you want or you can try blood banks, but it has to be human blood," I said firmly.
"The only reason I really stuck to the diet was because of Alice. I know I'm stronger on human blood. Let's go," Jasper said before holding out his hand for me.
I gladly took his hand and we left.
