Chapter 11
As Jasper pulled up to the final US/Canada border, Edward asked, "Aren't you tired of driving?"
"Our kind don't get tired, and you know it, Edward. You also know I'm not bored, so the only possible reason you could have for asking is your oh-so-altruistic desire to relieve my hands from non-power steering. And no, you can't drive. I still remember Hamburg."
"Oh God, you wreck one Volkswagon under Nazi fire, and you're never allowed to forget it!"
Jasper was grinning. "Y'know I just like yankin' yer chain. I know you did better than I could have, Mister Telepathy."
"Well, I personally am very bored. I've mastered this simulation game on my phone, and I'm actually raising children to be Nobel Prize winners!" He pulled off his coat, literally, ripping it almost in half. His frustration had been quietly increasing during the entire trip, and now on Tuesday morning he was wondering if it were possible for vampires to go insane.
"Woah, slow ya roll, homedog. I really didn't mean to rub old wounds." Jasper had to concentrate to avoid Edward's feelings from becoming a feedback loop between the two of them, but he'd definitely had practice. Aro joked sometimes that Edward had the temper of a newborn. Jasper knew this to be false, but he was more volatile than an older-turned-vampire would be. On the other hand, Jasper only knew this because of his power. The rest of the Guard found Edward to be the most controlled of them all.
"I was going to get our contacts, but then I remembered we don't need them anymore. Then I remembered why we don't need them anymore, I mean Forks."
"You mean your singer."
"Even as a newborn, I never killed anyone. It wasn't till leaving, and I've never ever killed an innocent." Edward was staring at the line they had just joined for customs. Jasper couldn't even say what the man was feeling now, with his emotions tangled like a ball of yarn after a kitten got done with it. He remained quiet as they slowly progressed forward.
"We used the Canadian passports here, and the US ones for Alaska, right? Could you hand 'em over?"
Edward actually blinked. "Passports. Yes." He handed the correct ones over to Jasper. "Do you really think we should stay in Forks?"
"Not as many people as Seattle, more cloud cover, plus the Cullens? Ain't the worst idea, aside from the Swan girl."
"She calls herself Bella," he said absently. "I suppose Aro wouldn't like it if we didn't look into having her turned soon."
"Right. So I did look her up, by the way, she's just almost eighteen. Her mom remarried summer before this, and if she visits, we can turn her. Fake a plane crash for them."
"You think so?"
"That's why you want to leave Forks, right? No other reason. Um, 'sides the werewolves, I 'spose."
"And the Cullens aren't really any good at watching out for lawbreakers. I mean, even staying here for as long as they have, it could trigger suspicion. Actually I'm a little surprised Bella doesn't suspect them, seeing as she's met Demetri."
"They never got that close, remember? She might'a seen his eyes, but I don't think she knows that he feels the way Carlisle does. And dangit that came out dirtier 'n I meant!"
Edward actually cracked half of a smile. The one that he knew everyone swooned over. Jasper wasn't especially turned on by Edward most of the time, but he had to admit that smile was attractive. "At any rate, the Cullens actually allowed Laurent on their land, from what he told me, and he's hardly faithful to the vegetarian diet."
"He's only even trying for his mate! I mean, he doesn't actually care about killing, he just thinks it's mostly more convenient."
"Yes, he thinks animals taste foul."
"Well, man's got a point."
This time he snorted. "Tastes better than guilt."
"But we'd been here last year, we might'a had to kill him."
"Mmmm, I don't think he was breaking our laws at all. He really does like having a house to come home to, even if he hadn't met Irina." Meaning he was a fan of stability, and disliked being a nomad.
"Yeah but Carlisle sure wouldn't have stepped up." He idly wondered if Emmett would join them for such missions locally. Jasper was an amazing fighter, and when he projected calm onto their enemies, he and Edward were a pretty great team.
"Emmett will definitely enjoy violence, but he won't leave Rose for anything, naturally, and she isn't really happy being a vampire aside from him."
"What? Really?"
"She wanted a real family," he sighed.
And then it was their turn with the border agent. Jasper projected good cheer as he handed over their passports, and just for fun, started in French, as their passports claimed they were from Quebec. He was about to correct himself and speak English with a Quebec accent, but the agent actually admitted to four years of French in high school, so they had a passable conversation. At least, as passable as any conversation with border control ever was. He made up a trip to Vancouver, claiming they stayed at the Columbia Hotel - he hadn't been there in fifty years, but it still existed - and indulged in the nightlife near Hastings. Jasper was capable of cleaning up paper trails, but he was also capable of charming humans and vampires, and that was always easier.
Once they started on their way south, Edward spoke up. "I don't know how long I can avoid killing Bella Swan."
"Hey man, chill out. Carlisle's plan oughtta work, right?"
"Carlisle hasn't ever actually killed anyone, let alone a singer. Emmett thinks he killed two, himself. Even Aro doesn't think what I want to do is possible."
"Aro is a bit of an old fart, yannow. Hidebound, that is," he added when Edward broke down at 'fart.' "Wow, you are switching up and down like a newborn, son."
"I am well aware, thank you," he said stiffly.
"Anyhow, I personally am a fan of human blood, but I drank so indiscriminately back in the day that I honestly can't even tell much of a difference between Bella and say Charlie. Whereas you lasted ten whole years before making a decision to go full carnivore. If I hadn't met you first, I don't think I'd believe Carlisle, I gotta say."
"It's funny, isn't it," he mused, "how different you and I started, but eventually came to eating animals only for almost the same reasons."
"Well, yeah. They're sapient, just like us. OK, they don't have the brain capacity we do, but they still fear dying."
"I wonder if Bella will fear dying," he whispered.
"You mean, when we change her? It ain't fun, for sure."
"No, that's not what I meant."
"OH! you mean when you rip her throat out," Jasper said with a healthy dose of irony.
"Jasper, I don't want to kill her, but what if I - what if I can't do anything else?"
He sighed. "Eddie, you won't. I'll just ask Carlisle and Emmett to help me rip out your teeth, if you really think it's going to be a problem."
They drove aboard the Coupeville ferry. "Well! I feel so much better now," he said with a healthy dose of irony.
"I aim to please."
"Don't call me Eddie, then."
