Chapter 9
A/N: All right! The reviews are finally picking up! That thrills me! Let's shoot for at least 40 reviews this time (although I will definitely take more! I want to write Rosalie in so bad and you guys are the only ones that can make it happen).
Things were as peaceful as could get around the Cullen household. As summer drew to a close, Alice found herself almost mournful that Jasper would be in classes again. He was very quiet when she was around, but she had begun to notice little things about him. She noticed, for instance, that there was a concert T-shirt that he'd worn so often that its black color had faded to a dark gray. She noticed that he would get a sad smile at the mention of parents. She noticed that his favorite glass to drink out of was a light blue one that had a handle on the side. She knew which types of blood he liked the best (wolf and lion) and the different expressions he got according to his mood. He had let it slip to her once that he could sense other people's emotions. They'd gotten on that subject one uncomfortably hot evening when the air conditioning had gone out. Esme and Bella were asleep in their beds and Carlisle and Edward were upstairs. Alice had gone out to the flower gardens and was laying in the hammock.
"You're in my spot."
Alice was so startled that she nearly flipped herself over. Jasper was standing right next to her and he hadn't made a sound as he'd approached. Seeing that he genuinely scared her, he apologetically placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to spook you. I forget just how quiet I am sometimes."
She breathed a sigh of relief and moved so that he could sit on the hammock if he wanted. It moved slightly under his added weight. Alice felt as though she was being pulled towards him.
"Nice night," he commented, "I just hate that it's so hot."
"I didn't think vampires had that problem," Alice commented.
"Oh, we do. It's just different. Since our hearts don't beat the way yours do, how warm it is affects how fast our blood flows. When it's too hot, it makes us restless. Even if our skin still feels cold."
To demonstrate his point, he brushed his fingers across her cheek. His hands were still cool. It gave Alice a pleasant shiver and she didn't feel quite so bad anymore. He looked to the stars, seeming to be lost in thought.
"I couldn't sleep either," he commented, "this is where I go at night."
Alice hadn't known that. She was surprised she didn't know that. As an afterthought, he added, "I usually wait until everyone else is busy at night. And you're asleep."
She nodded. Fireflies were dancing in the flowerbeds around them. Faster than she could blink, Jasper's hand shot out towards one. In one horrific moment, she was afraid that he'd killed it. Then, his marble-white fingers opened to reveal the firefly, unharmed, in the palm of his hand. Very carefully, he moved his cupped hand to hers and released the little thing. It stayed on Alice's hand for a moment before blinking a farewell to her and flying away.
"Pity that humans have to sleep," Jasper said, "nighttime is one of my favorite times. There's such a wild, untamed beauty about it."
She tried to stifle a yawn, but couldn't.
"Have you ever actually seen all of the garden?" he asked her. She shook her head; she hadn't had the time. They got up from the hammock. The stone pathways were pleasantly cool and smooth under her bare feet and a mercifully cool breeze came along and stirred her hair. The moon shone down on them both, casting a soft glow on Alice and making Jasper appear as though he was glowing. His vampire skin reflected its silvery light perfectly. Something about it made Alice's heart pound. He looked more vampire-like than she'd ever seen him, but it was mysterious and beautiful instead of frightening.
"These are the rose gardens," he said, "you should try to come out here when you have time in the morning. They're everywhere out here."
He plucked one off of a nearby bush and broke away the thorns. Then, he paused to tuck it into Alice's hair. She couldn't see what color it was in the dark. His gentle hands slid the stem into her dark locks, making sure it would stay. An unfamiliar feeling rose up inside of Alice, but it was mixed with fear. She knew he could feel it, but he wasn't giving anything away. Instead of commenting on her peculiar emotional state, he motioned for her to keep walking.
After they had seen the rest of the garden, they passed a splashing fountain and came back to the hammock.
"It's a beautiful garden," Alice commented.
"It was our mother's," Jasper said, "she loved flowers. Dad never understood it, but he made sure they were taken care of after she died. There's a part of him that still loves her to this day. The mate he has right now is named Sulpicia, but she's no Mom. Sulpicia was really spoiled as a child and Jane and Alec definitely take after her. Even though Dad and Sulpicia have been married a long time, they didn't have Jane and Alec. Jane and Alec are hers from another marriage."
Alice made a face.
"Vampire society is weird," she commented.
Jasper laughed.
"I think that a lot and I'm part of it," he said, "there are a lot of marriages of convenience. Dad and Sulpicia are one of them. I don't think they'd ever actually....have a child. It's political, you know. Kind of like our sister."
"You have a sister?"
"Yeah. You haven't met her. She doesn't live here. She's married to a guy named Emmett. Emmett's one of the regional governors. At first, he and Rosalie hated each other. Then, hate turned to love, at least on Emmett's end. He really has grown to care about her. Rosalie's a little bit slower, though. She still sees him as a friend with benefits."
Alice laughed.
"You'll probably meet them tomorrow. They said they're coming to visit eventually. I promise you it won't be as bad as Jane and Alec."
The two of them drifted into a thoughtful silence. Alice's eyes began to slide closed. She felt safe here with Jasper. The last thing she saw before she finally did drift off to sleep were the moon, the stars, the flowers, and the twinkling fireflies.
"Alice! Time to get up!"
Esme shook her sister awake. She protested, rolling over. Esme yanked the covers off of her head.
"Come on, Alice. You know the routine."
She sighed and sat up, rubbing her eyes.
"That's better. Breakfast is going to be served in a few minutes. Be thankful I gave you that long."
Alice glared at her sister's retreating back. She'd been having the most wonderful dream.
Then, she noticed something laying in the floor. Very, very carefully, she picked it up. It was a rose blossom, blood red.
So...it hadn't been a dream.
Suddenly, getting up to face the day didn't seem like such a bad deal. The sun was beginning to rise and she sang to herself as she prepared Jasper's blood.
"What's with the song and dance this morning? That's usually Melody's job," Bella commented.
"Just...I don't know," Alice admitted, putting the blood into the microwave to heat.
"It's Jasper, isn't it? I saw that rose earlier," Esme said, "did he give that to you?"
She nodded, blushing furiously.
"ALICE!" Bella exploded.
"What?" she asked sheepishly.
"They're making us work our butts off for them and you're falling in LOVE with one? What's wrong with you?"
"I don't know!" Alice yelled, tears coming to her eyes. What would their parents have said? Suddenly, her great day wasn't so great.
Esme came over to her sister and wrapped one arm around her shoulders.
"We'll talk about this later. Don't cry; I promise you it's not that bad."
Not that bad? Was loving a vampire a sin or something? What was love, really? She had so many questions. Sighing, she wiped the tears away and took Jasper's blood out to the dining room. Of course, he noticed how upset she was.
"Are you alright?" he asked. Alice nodded and went back to the kitchen as quickly as she could. Before anyone else had a chance to think, however, there was a strange chaos outside. There weren't words to describe exactly what they had heard, but it sent them all rushing to the door. Esme was the first to open it.
"Oh my God..."
A squalling baby lay on the front step. It was still brand new: the stump of the cord had been tied off clumsily with a scrap of material. Whoever had left it hadn't even bothered to clean it up; it was still covered in pearly white vampire blood. Without even thinking, Esme snatched it up and ran back towards the others, who were coming into the hallway with confused expressions. Not knowing what to say, she surrendered the poor thing to Carlisle. Everyone's eyes grew big when they realized what she'd been holding.
"Did you see anyone outside?"
Carlisle barely spoke above a whisper, but his voice seemed abnormally loud in the nervous silence.
"No," Esme admitted, "but I heard a loud banging sound."
Carlisle shook his head in disgust.
"Whoever the mother was, she's been very foolish. She could risk infection without the right care. She's probably got a gaping hole in her body right now."
The mental image made them all ill. Without wasting any more time, Carlisle took the baby into the medical room. Forgetting breakfast entirely (which she hadn't eaten yet), Esme followed him. Carlisle cleaned the baby up first, then sealed his cord shut properly.
"He's not the first one that's been left here," Carlisle told Esme, sounding very angry, "this happens at least three or four times a month. I'm surprised we went so long without getting one."
The baby seemed to sense the tension in the air because he was crying harder.
"It was most likely an unwanted pregnancy," Carlisle muttered, wrapping him up in a pastel blue blanket, "stupid women..."
She listened to his rantings with a near fascination. It was the first time Esme had ever seen Carlisle truly angry. There had been times when he'd been frustrated or annoyed, but this was true anger. He handled the baby as gently as he could, but there was no disguising the irritation he had for his parents.
"Esme, take him. I have to report this before I take him to the hospital. Make sure he doesn't bite you or you'll risk getting venom."
He handed the baby to Esme and picked up the phone. While he was talking, Esme looked down at the tiny creature in her arms. Already, he had a tuft of dark hair on his oval-shaped head. She hugged him closer to her chest and began to rock him. His cries gradually ceased, but he seemed to look at her more in confusion than anything else. Esme didn't know very much about vampire babies, but she knew that they grew very quickly in comparison to human babies. She knew that vampire babies could start talking in a matter of weeks.
"A woman just came in this morning who had a bad stomach wound. I wouldn't be surprised if that was her," Carlisle commented, hanging the phone up with more force than was necessary.
"But..." Esme hugged the baby again.
"Trust me, she won't get him back. We have to do a DNA test," Carlisle told her, getting his jacket, "if she's guilty of abandoning him, we can press charges and the baby will be sent to a good home."
They didn't talk much as Carlisle drove. Esme suddenly felt scared for the wriggling infant in her arms. With each passing second, it became harder and harder to tolerate the idea of letting him go. By the time they reached the hospital, she was blinking back tears. The little vampire baby looked up into her brimming brown eyes and his little hand freed itself from the blanket. He made a whimpering sound and placed it on her thundering heart.
The cold sterility in the hospital made her shiver. The baby was no longer crying, but whimpering. His eyes were darkening, meaning that he was getting thirsty. He didn't cry when his blood was drawn, but looked up at Esme with the saddest eyes she'd ever seen on a baby. Then, Carlisle came in with a bottle full of blood. As soon as the baby smelled the blood, he snatched at the bottle with his little hands and sank his teeth into the top. With a little too much pleasure as the bottle "bled", he sucked down the blood. His eyes soon turned a brilliant ruby as he settled back into Esme's arms.
"The test was ninety-nine point five percent," one of the other doctors said, "we have a case. We'll keep the baby here for a while."
"All right. Come on, Esme."
When one of the nurses moved to take the baby out of her arms, it let loose a scream like nobody had ever heard. It took everything Esme had not to cry as she watched the little one being taken away. Carlisle sent her a sympathetic look. Once outside, the tears spilled over and she cried silently.
"He imprinted you," Carlisle commented, opening the car door for her. She got inside and wiped them away on the back of her hand.
"He did what?" she sniffed.
"He imprinted you. When a child loses its mother or somehow becomes separated from her, it finds the next closest thing to a mother in its environment and bonds with it. By staring into another woman's, or in some cases, another man's eyes, it causes the brain to release a huge flood of oxytocin. That's the hormone that's released during labor. Both genders have it, as it also causes bonding, love, and closeness."
As her tears began to dry, Esme started to think more coherently.
"Why do they do it?"
"Evolutionary, of course. Vampire babies have had to grow very quickly in the past to avoid being killed or injured. They also have to grow very quickly to keep from wandering out in the open. It helps them ensure that they're protected and provided for."
Esme shivered. It was hard to believe that something so tiny, so new, could actually manipulate her mind.
"I know that was very difficult for you and I'm sorry, but I couldn't risk it," Carlisle told her, "if we kept every stray vampire baby that showed up, we'd have a house full of children. Come to think of it, we already do."
Esme laughed, remembering the day that Jasper and Edward were play-fighting.
"Will you keep me posted on how he's doing?" she asked, talking about the baby.
"Yes. I will."
They turned into the driveway. Esme noticed a bright red car that hadn't been there before.
"Oh, great," Carlisle sighed, "our sister's here. I hope she hasn't been giving them too hard of a time."
Instead of asking, Esme just got out of the car. She had a feeling she'd find out soon enough.
