I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who reviewed. I'm glad you all liked Jasper's POV, I know it was a little different but I have my reasons…Muhaha…

Chapter 21

BPOV

Damn right, he has some explaining to do! Ok, I completely feel like one Ricky Ricardo… Lucy, you have some 'splainin' to do! I inwardly chuckled at my joke.

Get a grip Bella this is somewhat important. I nodded agreeing with my inner voice, looked up and locked eyes with Edward who seemed to be highly amused by something. My eyebrows pushed together in confusion. I hope I didn't have anything in my teeth. I cast my eyes down and tried with my tongue to dislodge whatever could be there.

"Bella," he said with a commanding tone.

My eyes popped up and went wide. He was a lot closer to me than a second ago. My heart raced at the sudden closeness. Edward smirked and placed his hand over my heart. It was racing so fast I thought it was going to spaz out and stop working.

He laughed darkly, taking a step back again while I just pouted. He NEEDS to stop doing that! He needs to come over here and stay over here.

"I think it is better if we have this conversation at a distance. It will keep us both less distracted." I couldn't help but notice the tone he used. He was obviously thinking along the same lines as me of what he rather be doing.

I sighed knowing that he was right. I didn't think very clearly with him around and most definitely not when he was touching me.

"I guess I'll start answering some of your questions," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Why am I here you ask? Well that one is an easy one…because of you Bella. Why you? Well because you belong to me. Does that cover everything?" he said with a chuckle and the gorgeous smirk stayed plastered on his face.

I scowled at him and crossed my arms. He laughed and held up his hands in mock defeat, obviously enjoying his joke.

"I do love when you are mad; you're like a ferocious kitten."

I scoffed. A kitten, pfff, I'm more ferocious than that. Tony the tiger doesn't have shit on me….actually that isn't saying much….

I thought that for a second I saw his eyes flash black. I wonder what that is about?

"Bella, when you're a vampire you don't find your mate the same way you do as a human. Someone is destined for you, who complement you in every way. When you find that person your with them forever."

My eyebrows rose. "Kind of like a soul mate?"

He smiled crookedly. "Yes, I guess that is the closest thing that you can compare it to but I think our lack of souls makes the comparison hard to grasp."

I frowned at his statement. I didn't like Edward thinking he had no soul. He continued his explanation while I tried not to go touch him.

"Our 'other' completes us. They actually make us stronger, as we do for them."

"So…every vampire mates with their other?" I feel like I should be taking notes. I forced myself to listen, pushing out of my mind a fantasy of Edward being a teacher and I, his student.

"Actually no, they rarely do." He stared at my face trying to read my expression.

My eyebrows scrunched. "Why not?"

He smirked and let out a small breath. "It rarely happened because the chances of meeting your 'true mate' are so slim that most vampires settle on finding a normal mate. Very few of us wait for the 'real thing' but those who do wait, it couldn't be more worth it."

I nodded my head slowly trying to process everything he was saying.

"Not only is the connection between them unbreakable, they share their strength with each other."

"There vampire strength? You mean they both lift something at the same time?" Right when the question came out of my mouth I knew it was idiotic. My eyes widened and I could feel the blush across my face.

He chuckled at me again. Great, I'm just a one woman comedy show tonight.

"Well….there's always that, but no, I mean their extra power. For example, Emmett power, you know the one with the brown curly hair, he possesses more strength than any other vampire I know so when Rosalie gets mad, she harnesses some of his strength for herself and uses it to her advantage." His eyes widened slightly, as if remembering a time when that occurred.

"Of course, she doesn't possess all of his strength, but draws in a little more from him when she needs it," he stated as if this was an everyday normal thing. Well, it very well could be for him.

"So they are, uhhh…true mates, as you call it?"

He smiled, "Yes, she was the first one of our family to find her mate. It was in Chicago in 1871." Huh, I wonder why that year sounds familiar.

"It was some time before anyone in our coven found their true mate. Carlisle was next, he found Esme a couple decades ago."

"Carlisle? Esme?" I don't remember seeing them among Edward's family.

He grinned. "I'm sorry Bella I keep jumping around. Carlisle is the head of this coven. It was Carlisle, Rosalie, Alice and I for a very long time. We were the originals."

What does he mean a very long time? How long was he with that shrimp of a vampire? Have they ever done anything? Oh and of course Rosalie was there! That blonde is like walking sex!

I noticed my breathing started to increase and I decided it was better to calm down and let him talk. He raised one eyebrow at me. When I didn't say anything he continued to explain.

"None of us wanted to bind ourselves for eternity to another who was not met for us…well except Carlisle, he's very impatient but that's a whole other story, but he is now with his true mate."

I nodded my head slowly. Yup, really should have brought a pen and paper. My mind wandered back to my teacher fantasy…maybe Edward should punish me…oh shit, mind don't go there right now…

Slightly shaking my head, I remembered something else. "Wait, what about James? Wasn't he apart of your family?"

Boy was that a mistake and a half to bring him up. I saw Edward's lip curled back showing his very shiny and very intimidating teeth. I gasped as a snarl ripped through his throat and instinctively took a step back.

He immediately noticed my reaction. He his eyes closed while he pinched the bridge of his nose and was trying to control his breathing. I decided not to say anything and wait for him to tell me what's wrong. Keeping your mouth shut for a change Bella, that is something new and different. I rolled my eyes at myself because even my inner voice is mocking me.

"I apologize again Bella. There's no reason for you to be afraid." I really wasn't but I wasn't going to correct him.

"It's just every time I think of him, I wish he was still around so I could rip him apart over and over again. It almost pains me to think that excuse of a human got to do the honors."

I let out a breath. Great first Jasper now Edward. I should just host a town wide measuring contest and get this over and done with. Come one! Come all! Find out who is the manliest man. The winner will receive some fire, so when he drags his woman back to the cave by the hair, they can have some light!

His breathing finally seemed under control and he slowly opened his eyes to look at me. "No, James is not a part of our coven. He was the equivalent of an annoying mosquito that we had to put up with."

"Oh." I wondered why Edward didn't kill him long before because it certainly sounded like he wanted to.

"I was hoping to bring this up later but he is from another coven."

"O..k…" I wonder what the big deal is…

His hand ran through his gorgeous hair, jealous that I could not do it myself. I really hope that this no touching rule is going to end soon. It felt like I was crawling out of my own skin.

"He works for another coven. They are from Italy and they are known as the Volturi."

I nodded my head. "Ok…why was he here with you then? Are they scoping you guys out or something?" I said trying to make a joke.

He chuckled and nodded slightly. "You could say that. I guess you could say the vampire world is run kind of like the way your human kings and queens ran their kingdoms. There are certain vampires who are considered 'royalty' who are in charge and uphold the law."

I started to worry. "If James worked for them and he was here with you, does that mean you family is in trouble?" They better not do anything to my Edward; royalty or not I swear I will kick an ass or two!

He closed the distance between us. Finally! He brought his hands to my face and smiled down at me. My heart raced and I blushed.

"No Bella…we aren't in trouble. We couldn't be and they wouldn't dare try anything against us…" he paused taking in my expression "…because our family is royalty as well."

My face dropped and I heard the distinctive gulp from my throat. "Royalty?" I squeaked out.

He laughed so close to me. I felt the air from his lungs on my face. It smelt amazing. Closing my eyes, lost in the intoxication that was Edward, I said, "So that means…."

He kissed my cheek and pulled away. "Well…if you want to get technical. I guess that makes me a 'prince,' even though we don't use such foolish terminology."

"Oh…" He kissed me along my jaw line and pulled away to look into my eyes. His eyes were completely black and full of lust. I probably just looked back at him like a deer in the headlights. So does this mean…

"And you Bella, you are my other, my true mate, you belong to me and you will be my bride."

Well I hope you liked it. I'm a little nervous about the chapter. It was difficult to write. I must say that there is a lot more things to explain, I only gave you guys some answers and some of the answers I did give, I have to still elaborate on.