All things Twilight belong to Stephenie Meyer. I just like to play with the characters. My thanks to my wonderful beta edwardsmate4ever.
Chapter 25 – New Life
Jasper and Bella were alone in the living room. After the confrontation with the Volturi, the silence felt dense to Bella. She took a deep breath and turned to Jasper.
"Why did they just leave?" she asked.
"Carlisle told Aro that if something happened to you," Jasper said, "well, he put it politely, but basically he told Aro that I would go mad," Jasper replied grimly. "Aro's guard might be needed to resolve that situation."
Bella gasped. "You mean kill you?"
"Destroy me," Jasper confirmed. "He felt that I would by driven mad by my grief and would not be controllable."
She put her arms around him. "Then change me," she said softly.
"I can't stand the thought of dooming you to this life," he replied.
"We would be together," she said.
"Let's enjoy the time we have right now," Jasper said, as he got up from the sofa, pulling Bella behind him. He went outside then surprised her by tugging her onto his back. She wasn't expecting the sudden movement and shrieked.
"Hang on," he said. "This will be better than any motorcycle ride!" He took off running down the mountain.
As she wrapped her arms around his neck, she had a pang, thinking about how the sight of that motorcycle had brought back her painful memories just a short time ago.
Jasper came to an abrupt stop, pulled her from his back, and had her in his arms before she even realized he stopped running.
"What is it?" he demanded. "What were you thinking?"
"That was sudden," she panted before looking up at him where she saw pain and worry etched across his face.
"What was that feeling you just had?" he asked, more gently.
Looking into his anguished face, she touched his cheek before saying, "I was remembering seeing your bike at the Cullens, that's all."
"Yes, that was intense," Jasper said.
She pulled him closer, burying her face in his chest. "We're together now, but I still feel the pain from when we were apart occasionally," she whispered before pushing back to look at him. "Now where were we going?" she asked.
He chuckled, pulled her onto his back and started running again, and this time she let go and gloried in the speed. Finally he stopped in a meadow with a view of a glittering blue lake ringed by pine trees. When he let go of her legs, she slid to the ground.
"It's beautiful," she breathed, looking around while rubbing her head.
"Headache?" he asked.
"A little."
"Sit next to me," he said, pulling her down onto the ground. He leaned forward to kiss her and she put her arms around him. Clutching her closely, he deepened the kiss and soon she forgot all about the natural beauty around them, reveling only in the feeling of being in his arms. That feeling was occasionally disrupted by a pine needle sticking into her back, but that was a minor annoyance compared to having him so close.
Days passed. They explored the lake, walking along the shore, scrambling up the embankment on the western edge. Emmett found an old row boat which he and Jasper portaged down to the edge of the water, and Jasper and Bella ventured out onto the lake in it. The water was very cold but clear. When Jasper playfully splashed her with the oars, their laughter rang across the lake and mountainside.
But however much she was enjoying her time with Jasper, she ached thinking about Renee. She sent e-mails to her worried mother, saying she needed some alone time, and apologized a few more times for leaving without telling her in advance.
Renee didn't like it but let it go.
Bella loved exploring the wilderness outside the house, watching the eagles soaring overhead. Once a week, Jasper hunted with Emmett at night while she slept, and on those mornings when he returned, he was full of energy and stories to tell. Jasper loved going after mountain lions, and Emmett loved hunting bears.
One morning when she woke, she was alone in bed. When she came downstairs, Esme told her Carlisle had gone hunting with the guys, and they had gone out a little further than usual. Carlisle had texted to tell her the threesome was on the way back. While she waited, Bella walked out alone. She heard a noise behind and turned, expecting Jasper.
It was a bear cub, a fuzzy little guy, sniffing at something on the ground. He was only about twenty feet away from her. She froze. If she was seeing a bear cub, she knew the mother couldn't be far away.
"Jasper?" she said quietly, standing very still.
Suddenly there was a roar from the forest behind her. She turned around to see a large bear charging toward her. She panicked. What do you do when charged by a bear? Run? Play dead? She didn't have time to think as the bear closed in and swiped at the arm which Bella threw up in front of her face. The bear jumped at her, shoving her to the ground, thrusting its muzzle in her face.
Bella couldn't feel anything but fear. Suddenly the bear was gone, but pain was exploding across her face, neck and chest.
She tried to say, "Can't breathe," but was choking on blood. Someone was over her, she couldn't make out who, just a dim shape through the blood in her eyes.
There was a growl answered by a roar, and someone picked her up.
She tried to speak, but spit up blood. "Jasper?" she tried to say, but the words weren't coming out.
"I've got you," Jasper said tensely.
Within seconds, she was back in the Cullen house.
She was no longer able to speak and barely able to breathe. She heard what must have been Esme's shocked voice, asking what happened. Though she could barely make out words, she focused hard when she heard Carlisle's voice. "Her windpipe has been opened. I can't heal this. You'll have to choose," she heard, flicking in and out of awareness.
She tried to grab Jasper's hand, but her fingers didn't function. Where was he?
She felt him nuzzling her ear.
"Do you want me to change you?" Jasper whispered in her ear. She felt someone holding her hand. How long had he had it? She couldn't remember. She squeezed his hand as tightly as she could, but didn't know if he could feel her.
Then she sunk under the blackness, trying to fight but losing the struggle.
At first it was just black. Then the pain started. A burning inside, quickly echoed in her arms and legs.
They're burning my body. They think I'm dead.
The fire kept burning. Soon she found the energy to scream, and then she could feel him.
"I'm right here," Jasper was saying from far away. "You've started healing, as you can now scream."
I'm becoming a vampire? Will I survive this? No wonder he never told me what this was like.
She could feel him lay his cool body next to hers, and she clung to him as she felt flames burning across her body.
She heard something and realized she was screaming. But not for long. Her voice wore out and she went back under, alone into the fires that were consuming her body.
How much longer?
Finally the pain began to slowly withdraw from her extremities, but it concentrated in her core. She felt her heart beating, thumping, in the middle of her chest. It felt as if the fire had withdrawn into her heart, saving it for last. Finally it went quiet inside. Her heart stopped.
She flicked her eyes open.
"Hello, darling," a voice said from right next to her.
She jumped up and landed with her back against the wall, growling.
Have I lost the ability to talk?
She opened her mouth. "Jasper," she said.
She tried to focus on him, to make sure he was the one she saw standing in front of her, but tiny specks of light bouncing around her distracted her. What were they? She swatted at them and as they floated around her hand, bubbles in the air, she realized they must be dust particles.
"I'm right here," Jasper said, his voice bringing her focus back. "I never left."
She stared at him. It looked like Jasper but in sharper focus. He was surrounded by dust particles that moved around him in the air. There was so much to see.
He smiled encouragingly and reached out his hand to her. She edged toward him, finding her footing, trying to focus on him.
He stood still as she got close enough to touch him. She gingerly reached out and touched the back of his hand. Warm.
She grasped it and he pulled her toward him. Their lips touched gently, then she jumped up and wrapped herself around him. He laughed as he pulled her closer, staggering back against the wall, making a hole in the plaster.
Together. Forever.
THE END
I can't believe this story is over. I hate letting go of it.
I really appreciate all of the reviews, follows and other support you guys have shown for my story.
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I'll start posting some Halloween stories on October 1st. Hope you will check them out. Vignettes of vampire Jasper (don't we just love him this way?) finding his human Bella on Halloween.