Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight.
** Wednesdays seem to be a better day to update for me than Saturdays. Hope you don't mind**
EPOV
I listened to the girl breathe. It was soft and deep, suggesting that she was dreaming of happy times that I knew nothing about. Dreams had been lost to me for years now. I could kind of remember the peace of sleep, but that was as close as I got to that serenity.
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
"You have no idea how lucky you are, Bird girl," I sighed as I stared off into the darkness that surrounded us as I stretched out on the small bed next to her.
"Luck is a very subjective thing, Edward. I would think that you would have learned that by now." I heard the soft drawl of the angel who haunted my every move. His words were taunting and laced with laughter directed at me.
"I should have known…" I muttered in irritation over his sudden appearance, but I couldn't even begin to decipher whether my anger was directed at the fact that he was here or that I had somehow missed the cues that hinted at his arrival.
"Yes. Yes, you should have," he chuckled as I listened to his wings softly scraped against polished wooden floor of the girl's. I didn't bother to look at him. I wasn't interested in what he had to say even though he was my lifeline to what I was supposed to be doing since I was still lost over what exactly it was that I supposed to accomplish.
Jasper let the silence settle between us as the girl grumbled in her sleep, suggesting that our private conversation was privy to her ears as well.
"I think she can hear you," I whispered over her sleeping form as I watched Jasper smile in response. It was a wicked looking smile followed by an exaggerated eye roll.
"There is no way…" he began in a loud voice that matched his over the top appearance as one of Father's warriors, but that didn't mean he was smart. All it meant was that he thought he knew it all.
"Would you shut up?" I growled at him low and steady as I sat up, trying not to move the bed since I knew the girl was ultra sensitive. She could feel the movements I made, so I had no doubt that she would be able to hear him. It only made sense. I twisted away from her so that I might immediately face the imposing angel that I had tried to avoid in order to silence him just as Bird girl turned over abruptly with a choppy sleeping motion.
"I swear to god you never shut up" she grumbled loudly before flopping back over to her side with an angry grunt that was far from the cool reserve that I had seen her operate within.
I stood up and motioned for the angel to follow me with a frantic wave of my hand as I breezed past the old woman who had stood guard over the girl and me before the asshole arrived.
"Let me know if she wakes up," I whispered to the woman who was too lost in her memories of a life lived to really pay attention to my simple instructions. I knew she wouldn't, but I still asked all the same.
"You know," Jasper began slowly as if he was the bearer of bad news, but cut him off with a harsh look. I knew the woman was useless so there was no need for him to tell me. She was lost to the present, stuck in a past that had trapped her inside. It was an ugly fate that happened to those of us who were left behind by the light. It was the same fate that I was courting the longer I remained here amongst the living. I knew this. I had witnessed it more than once in the twenty-nine years that I had been left alone to wander unobserved by all, and it was tragic to watch these souls slowly lose their minds as well as what humanity they had to the darkness of life without light.
"Just so you know," he murmured discretely as we walked down the dark hallway that was lined with pictures that I ignored. I didn't need to see what had happened in this girl's life or even Charlie's. It didn't matter because all that did matter was that I had found my way out of the dark.
I listened to the angel's heavy sigh. It was thick with irritation that could not hide the concern that haunted him. I braced myself for I knew what he was about to say, and I didn't give a fuck. I knew what my fate was if this so called mission of mine failed, so he didn't need to remind me.
"Listen, I don't need the reminder," I groused as I walked down the steps while trying not to gag over the sickeningly sweet scent that filled the air every time Jasper was near. I didn't bother to look at the immortal until we were in the middle of the sparsely decorated living room below the girl's bedroom. It was about as far away as I wanted to get from her until I figured out what I needed her to do.
"Seems like you found yourself a seer," he mused softly with a pleased look on his face as he looked around him, taking in the emptiness that was Bella's home.
"What do you mean?" I demanded from him as I watched him walk closer to the wall to peer at the pictures that graced it.
"I mean, you found a seer," he commented slowly, enunciating each syllable like I was hard of hearing.
"I have no idea what that means," I bitched at him as I flopped down on the beat up couch that was over-used and in need of repair, much like everything else I had noticed in the house.
"It means you did very well," he commented as he shifted his wings in order o sit down across from me with a smirk on his face that made me nervous. I knew that look, and it never led to anything good. I listened as the sword sheath he always carried clanged against the metal of his body armor. It was a bleak reminder of the fight between good and evil that he fought consistently.
"Yeah, well, she's not interested in helping me do… whatever the fuck it is that I'm supposed to do," I sighed as I looked over towards the wall and immediately found the girl's smiling face staring back at me. It was an older picture since she looked so much younger, but it was clearly during happier times. It was sweet but left a coldness sweeping through me I could not shake.
"Of course, she doesn't want to," Jasper scoffed with a rich laugh that echoed off the walls around us.
"Seriously? Do you have dress that way?" I asked him as I listened to him clang and bang while trying to get comfortable. My words caused him to stop and glare at me for a moment before snapping his fingers in an impatient manner. He changed before my eyes with his metal chest plate and worn red pants giving way to a gray t-shirt and worn-out looking blue jeans.
"Listen, Edward, no one ever wants to help," he sighed as he looked at me with a knowing look like I should have been aware of this potential problem.
"The chosen…" he began slowly, preparing me for some lengthy history lesson concerning the world that I now lived within, but it was too late. I was already on my tangent concerning what he was suggesting with Bird girl.
"What do you mean chosen?" I questioned with a loud voice that made him shake his head at me in disdain.
"I mean, those chosen by God often are the most reluctant to serve," he sighed in an impatient manner like I had somehow failed him by not knowing those ancient stories.
"What does that mean?" I asked as a shiver of panic settled over me as I saw my escape from days and nights of nothingness disappearing before my eyes. The bright light I had once avoided disappeared into darkness while I stood by, powerless to stop it.
"It means that you have to try to harder," he stated in a firm tone before pulling out an old looking leather journal that had seen better days.
"What to do you know about this girl?" he demanded from me as I sat there, staring at him more dumbfounded than the night he had found me huddled over my dead body, struggling to return to a life that had ended too soon.
"I don't know… I mean, she can see me. What more is there to know?" I asked as I watched him shake his head at me in what was clearly disappointment.
"You have to know this girl better than you know yourself," he sighed as he stood up, stretching his wings as if sitting like a human somehow was uncomfortable.
"What does she most desire?" he asked me abruptly as I stared at him slack-jaw in response. I had no idea what the girl wanted outside of being left alone and that was not about to happen. I didn't care. I just wanted out, and she was my chance.
"How the fuck would I know?" I shot back at him in a growl that made him grin.
"Listen, you told me to find someone, someone who could help me, and I did. Now, you tell me what the hell I am supposed to do now?" I demanded as he smiled and shook his head.
"For starters, watch your mouth around me," he reminded me in a cruel tone that caused me to roll my eyes. Jasper was always trying to intimidate, but he didn't understand he didn't frighten me. There was nothing he could do to me that hadn't already been done.
I was alone.
I was lost.
I was on the verge of nothingness, so his threats were laughable to me.
"What does this girl fear?" he asked me as I stared at him in disbelief.
"If you know her fears, you can control her future," he schemed with a grin that was as evil as what he was suggesting.
"I don't want to control her future," I replied sighed as I listened to his dark laughter.
"Oh, Edward, Edward, Edward," he laughed as I watched him stand there with a sinister grin on his face, that for the first time ever, left me with an uneasy feeling in my chest. It was the same sick feeling that had swallowed me whole the night that I died.
"Do you want out or don't you?" he asked me softly, almost sweetly, but I could hear the darkness in his tone.
"Yes, but…" I began slowly, only to have him shush me with a wave of his hand. It was as ghostly white as his wings were but not nearly as perfect since his skin was marred with scars from battles won and lost.
"You have to make decision, Edward," he stated as he looked at me with his black eyes that reminded me that this man had never been human.
"What is it that you want?" he asked while not allowing me to answer his question.
"And what are you willing to do to get it?"
"I won't hurt her if that's what you're implying." I scoffed as I felt a desperate chill wash over my soul. I couldn't do it. It wasn't me at all.
"Not hurt the girl," he sighed in an exasperated manner that suggested I was missing the point. "What I mean is you need to remind her of what is important. Who she is serving and more importantly, who's the boss here."
Jasper's words that dripped with condescension as he eyed me with a scowl that I knew had everything to do with my alleged lack of leadership. He didn't know this girl, but I had no doubt that she would not be easily lead or intimidated.
"Yeah, I don't think that's going to work," I found myself chuckling as I thought about the look of defiance in her whiskey colored eyes as she stood before me naked and proud.
"You need to find something that will work." He grunted as he turned away from me with a frown while pulling me out the daydream of the girl's creamy skin. "Time is ticking, don't forget that."
His words were dark and ominous, leaving me speechless as he stood up to leave.
"What does that mean?" I called after him as I watched him open the front door to leave like any other mortal would. Jasper stopped before turning to look at me. He wore a casual grin as if we were discussing something as mundane as the weather or his morning plans, not my future existence.
"It means time is ticking, Edward. Don't let this opportunity slip by you. Here in our world, second chances are quiet rare. Please be mindful of that."
AN:
Thanks for reading!
Thanks to Tracy, Andi, Sarah, Terry, & Lou for helping me fix this hot mess up. I have to confess that I added about 400 words after their corrections so any lingering mistakes are all mine.
As always teaser for Ch 11 will be posted on FB, my FB page & in review replies. For the three review replies I missed for ch 10 I apologize.
xoxo
Mamasutra