A/N: Chapter 25 will be seen in both Carlisle's and Jasper's pov, so you get to see the full picture of what happens /grin. Merry Christmas and a Happy New year to you all! Hugs Hissy x

Chapter 25 – Carlisle PoV

My beautiful daughter's face lightens into happiness as she opens the gift from Esme and I, I know she misses her mum, but Charlie could never afford to send her for a visit. She places it down on the table behind her, and hugs us enthusiastically. I chuckle to myself as she settles down and then an alien stab of concern runs through me. I subtly look at Jasper and follow his gaze to Edward. His stance, his demeanour is changing; his eyes follow Bella possessively as she lays her hand on his arm.

I move behind them surreptitiously, so I can protect her if need be, remembering Marcus' warnings; I keep half an eye on Jasper - noting his body language, his concern clear. I look back at Bella and Edward, just as she starts to open her present, and the smell of blood hits me. I take in the room; breaths held by all, Rose, Em Alice and Esme freeze, their eyes instantly on Jasper – if only they knew...

Jasper isn't breathing anyway, and is concentrating deeply on Edward, flinching occasionally, his eyes slowly darkening, and then Edward, his eyes black, turns growling at everyone, his head swinging to Jasper, growling out a snarl at him, which sounds oddly tired. The others all slowly start to slouch a little against each other and then suddenly Edward growls at Jasper, "She's MINE!"

Jasper's face flickers between fury and concentration, his eyes almost black now. Edward grabs Bella and pushes her behind him, sending her flying towards the glass wear. Horror runs through me, I fly to catch my human daughter, throwing myself between her and the table full of glass, catching her as gently as I can, knowing she will have arm shaped bruises across her torso, whatever I do.

I move her to the wall, and drop into a protective crouch in front of her. Edward turns towards me, hissing and snarling at me and then he charges at me, sending the table of glasses flying into the wall, and showering Bella with shards of glass. I intercept him, throwing him back into Emmett and Rosalie, and I turn my attention to the biggest threat in the room, a black eyed Jasper, whose hands are slowly crushing the wall and marble kitchen surface that he is using to hold himself back.

I keep my attention on Jasper, concentrating on keeping myself as calm as I am when conducting surgery, and exuding my deep trust in him, hoping that it will help him in his own battle against everyone's bloodlust. Rosalie and Emmett drag Edward from the room. Esme and Alice mutter apologies before running from the room at the same time, leaving just the three of us.

Suddenly devastation runs through me, I start to choke back the emotion, hearing Bella start to sob, the reason becoming clear instantly. The emotion leaves me all of a sudden, Jasper, Oh my Lord, his eyes flood entirely black, all 'human' movement and breathing stops, his hands release their grip as his body straightens exuding power, his charisma unleashing on me, his eyes drawing me in, my body relaxing, my guard starting to drop until Bella's steady pulse starts to rise rapidly, as the glamour hits her – strengthening my resolve, helping me fight against whatever he is doing to me.

Jasper bursts into action, moving toward Bella and then suddenly diverts towards me, his defensive body language swiftly dropping, his arms wide and movements obvious, his eyes shut as his emotions awash with desperation. He is fighting himself…I move forward and intercept him, forcing all the air from his chest, as I use my momentum to push him to the floor, holding him down, watching his face as I encourage him to find control, "Calm yourself, Jasper…"

As I speak those words, my eyes widen as I take in the change in his face, and I stutter, "Domine Iesu, dimitte nobis debita nostra, salva nos ab igne inferiori…" (Trans: 'O my Jesus, forgive us of our sins. Save us from the fires of hell.') For as I look into his eyes, I realise hell is before me…

His face rippled from the desperation he had projected to the absolute power I saw before, but now…now I am close enough to see into his totally black eyes, to see the truth…the horror. I could see the gates of purgatory were in his eyes, and from his maw - the voice of Abaddon himself commanding me to enter. I feel myself starting to fall under his spell, my wants and desires changing, the absolute need to do whatever he asked of me, my sense of self starting to shape into whatever he is making me.

As I feel this happening within me, I realise that I am shaking in terror as I watch as his mouth twisted into the beginnings of an almighty fury filled roar, sucking air into his empty lungs, the rumble starting deep within his chest, vibrations gathering force, the snarl forming, as he raises his hands to my shoulders, grasping them tightly in his claw like hands, the pressure on the joints starting to separate arm from socket, the pain indescribable. The snarl forming as he pushes himself up off the floor into my face, moving me as if I were nothing, dropping me to the ground, in front of Bella…and then he stops, freezes still in silence, except for his nose sniffing the air, and his tongue tasting it, a rumble of great pleasure filling the room.

My mind clears, suddenly I am my own man again, and then I realise what I am hearing in the background, the beautiful regular beat that is Bella's pulse and that it has dropped back to its normal speed. I don't dare look towards her, Jasper appears to be ignoring her existence, and I don't want to remind him. Ever so slowly, I get my feet under myself, and keeping myself between them, I rise cautiously to a low crouch, presenting an open, calm, unthreatening stance, but still in position to defend Bella should I need.

Confusion batters at me as Jasper starts to search the room visually, his voice rumbles, "No blood?" He queries, and then growling out, "I thirst!" He starts to prowl around the room, ignoring Bella entirely, confused growls dropping from his chest, as he stops where Edward was thrown, sniffing deeply, "Where is it?" he plaintively moan, "It was here!"

It finally sinks in what he is doing, he has tracked in on where the highest bloodlust was, where he pulled it from, into himself, the bloodlust for a singer… before I can say or do anything, I sense Bella start to move, getting to her feet. I watch Jasper intensely, waiting for him to react to her, not daring to move or speak to her, lest I provoke him.

She slowly moves into my eye line, I realise she has removed her shoes, her socks dampening any sounds her steps make. She steps to my right, keeping behind me, within my protective reach, yet I see her straighten up, her movements reminiscent of how Jasper's body had straightened earlier, her eyes focus on him, her face calm, her pulse dropping to just below normal, like when she was practicing on the field with him. She moves her wounded arm, gasping in pain – I freeze still, as Jasper's head swings towards her, his voice echoing her pain, "No more pain…" and she sighs in relief. He continues pacing, muttering, "No blood – I don't understand," bewildered.

Bella calls out softly to him, "Jay?" he stops and turns his head towards her, eyes fixed on her face, the hell in his eyes softening into a fervent fire I have never seen before in him. He turns to face her fully, cocking his head to one side, inquisitively. She smiles softly, "Jay, I need to clean my wounds…" raising her arm slightly.

Jasper pauses, his face taking on a look of alarm, his eyes searching her head to toe, flinching at each wound he spies. He lets out a mournful sounding rumble and then flies to the display with the floating candles, batting them out of the bowl, and then lifting it carefully and padding over towards Bella, concerned growls rumbling away, a deep need starting to emit from him.

As he nears us, I growl softly in warning to him. Jasper snarls dauntingly back at me, stopping, watching me. Bella touches my back; I glance over my shoulder to see her nod at me, all the while Jasper growls unhappily at her, confusion and rejection exuding from him. The growling stopping as soon as she removes her hand from my back and the emotions easing off.

Observing him carefully, I note he is in control, at a semi feral level, but in control – his emotions are all broadcast, the threat I felt is no longer here - Her blood isn't affecting him at all… He isn't even acknowledging it as thirst quenching… My mind starts to spin with the revelations hitting me.

I move to one side, giving a last warning growl, and watch as he approaches her, mournfully rumbling and sorrow rolling around the room. I watch as he pulls off his over-shirt and gently cleans the wounds, picking out shards of glass and then wiping the blood away, using the cloth as we vampires would use our tongues to cleanse a bite. Bella smiles at him, and the oppressive feel in the room lifts instantly, lightening to a happier mood. Jasper pulls off his t-shirt, and I just manage to stifle a gasp, his back is covered in bites, his neck, his arms, Blessed Lord, those lines at his joints, Saint Edmund, have mercy on him, no!

I am startled out of my shock at Bella's furious words, "Who hurt you Jay?" Her hand on his chest, and then I see the dreadful scarring she is touching, I close my eyes briefly, digging deep for calm.

His one word answer, saying everything, "War." He lets out a subdued rumble and he lifts his hand to her face, "Pretty Girl," gently touching her cheek, and then all of a sudden, he blurs past me, into a protective stance, roaring out a viciously protective snarl towards the front of the house.

I then hear the footsteps approaching the door, hushed voices muttering to each other. I sniff the air, family, 'Why can't they be sensible for once!' I take a deep breath, "Go hunt – until I call you," and steel myself for Jasper to turn on me.

He turns and growls warningly at me, snarling out a guttural, "Know your place," but continues to listen until we hear them move away.

Bella's mobile beeps, causing Jasper to swing round searching her for the noise, his brow furrowing as she pulls the mobile out and glances at the message, nodding slightly to herself. She pushes it back into her pocket, and looks directly at Jasper, "I need to sit down, Jay – blood makes me dizzy remember?" She looks at the seating area, and then focuses on Jasper's favourite chair. She starts to move slowly but confidently towards it, Jasper tilts his head on one side, watching her curiously, his growling settling down to a soft expressive rumble.

Bella climbs into the chair, looking doll like on the huge cushioned seat, and then pats the space next to her, "Come here Jay," He cocks his head listening, and when she repeats the command, his eyes widen, a pleased look settling on his face as he prowls over to her, until he is standing in front of her, smiling tenderly. She reaches forward grabbing his left hand, and tugging it slightly, and she softly requests, "Sit with me, Jay." I shake my head in disbelief, such faith, such trust she has for us.

He allows her to tug him into the chair, curling his legs up to his side, and leaning lightly against her. She fidgets around until she manages to extract her arm and raise it to around his shoulders, fiddling with his hair, combing her fingers through it. His rumbling growls turn pleasure filled once again, almost sounding… sated – but that makes no sense, he hasn't quenched his thirst, his eyes are still fully black, not even the slightest bit of the whites showing. I watch as she continues running her hand through his hair and then down across his shoulder, down his arm, just like stroking a cat, again and again, until the room suddenly fills with contentment and his body language starts to relax, the incredibly strong charisma calming and slowly dissipating -It is as if he is slowly shrinking back into himself.

I watch as she stops stroking and puts pressure on his shoulder, and he allows her to push him into her lap, his deep relaxed breaths, calming the room further. She looks up at me, smiling as she mouths, "Peter." I return her smile and nod, watching as the whites of his eyes start to return, and the black retreats to a very dark honey, as she continues gently playing with his hair.

Sleepy, happy vibes start floating around the room, as he stretches out his body, muttering, "So soft." He rolls onto his back, a relaxed arm over his head the other draping across his chest, the back of his hand lightly resting against Bella's stomach. As he starts to move, Bella raises her arm to let him settle himself before returning her left hand to gently smooth the hair away from his eyes, and her other arm relaxed along the back of the chair. All of a sudden, the peaceful mood is shattered as shock and panic briefly fly around the room before he rapidly sits up, his head cataloguing the room. Pain, horror and distress fill the room as he throws himself away from Bella; venom flooding his eyes as he looks at me in anguish then flees from the house.

I smile sadly at Bella, as the emotions take their toll on her, tears running down her face, "C…Carlisle, why does he feel so dreadful?" she begs me to tell her, as I wrap my arm around her gently, rubbing her back as Jasper's emotions finish leaving her.

Her phone rings, she digs in her pocket and shoves it into my hands, I look, "It's Peter," I tell her. She indicated to answer it for her, and she sniffles. I put it on speaker, "Hello Peter."

The warm voice of Peter bounces into the room, "Hi Carlisle and Bella – you both okay now?"

Bella cries out, "Peter, Why? Why is he so distressed and filled with horror? He ran away!" She pulls herself to her feet and starts pacing, wiping furiously at her eyes.

I fly to the kitchen and grab my first aid kit and gaining Bella's attention, sit her down and start dealing with her wounds.

I hear Peter sigh, "Well, Bella, it's to do to with his past… War does horrible things to us vamps, and we cannot forget it." His voice becomes pained as he continues, "What you just witnessed was something no human should have survived; I believe bloodlust pushed Jasper over the edge, and that the last thing he remembers is charging at you."

"Remembers? " Bella mutters confused.

Peter continues, "Right now, from my past experiences with Jasper, he is probably reliving every last time during the war, that he lost memories, and then came back, like just now, to the outcome of being lost to his beast..." Peter's voice breaks, "He will remember eventually, but it usually takes days or weeks – Carlisle, when you have finished stitching Bella up, you need to take Bella home, and get Alice to stay with her until Charlotte calls. You will need to find Jasper for me, and get him to feed, then drag him back to the house, if need be."

I nod, and then pull a sheepish face, "Okay Peter."

"Now Bella, I need you to take the phone up to Jasper's study, I need you to do something for me." Peter requests.

Bella looks at me to check I'm finished, I nod. She smiles and heads upstairs, listening to Peter chatter and make her laugh, and then the study door closes, making their conversations private.

Bella PoV

After listening to what Peter had to say, I hung up and started to dig through Jasper's clothes, looking for something for him to wear. I finally found where he stored his jeans, and dragged out his black jeans and a black undershirt, and my favourite dark purple shirt, which makes his eyes shine. I held them to me, rubbing my pulse point along the collar line as Peter suggested. He told me it would soothe Jay; reassure him that he hadn't scared me away.

I snort as I remembered what I told him, "When is Jay going to remember I KNOW what it's like to have a hunting vamp charge at me, that what Jasper did was NOT that… I could see the despair in his face, I could feel it, he wasn't in hunt, not until he breathed after clashing into Carlisle, and then he ignored me totally."

Peter had laughed at my reaction, "I know Bella Bee, he just has to remember that – Rage will remind him slowly, but it takes time…"

I remember being confused at that, "Rage?" I asked.

Peter chuckles, "Rage is his name for the beast, only we three know that," then he paused for a while – and when he next spoke his voice changed slightly, very certain, commanding, "Use it to help him Bee…"

I have never heard him speak like that – I had to know, "Did you just get that?" I asked, softly.

"Yeah…" He replied, sounding sheepishly quiet.

I look at the piece of writing paper in front of me; I found it just where Peter said it would be. I sit at his desk and start writing,

Dear Rage

Thank you for protecting me and taking care of my wounds so gently and softly.

Your dear friend,

Bella x

I fold the letter and address it to Jay, pulling a hair from my head and sealing the letter with sticky tape over the hair – a reminder of his gift to me. I rise from the chair and take the letter into Jay's bedroom, placing it propped up on the pillow in his nest of a bed, laying his clothes out for him next to it. As I was laying out his shirt, I noticed the state my arm is in, Charlie will have a fit if he sees the stitches… I look around the room, trying to figure out what to do, and then it hits me… I rummage through Jay's chest of drawers, grabbing one of his many black long sleeve t-shirts. I take my top off, and pull the fresh t-shirt on. I consider briefly, and then dial Peter.

My call is answered before the first ring finishes, "Hey Bella Bee, what's up?"

I smile at his use of my nickname, "Hey Peter, Would leaving my top that I was wearing today help Jay? It might have some blood scent on it."

I hear Peter hum to himself, "It would be perfect Bee! Your blood scent isn't a problem, except in his mind, which your top will dispel for him. Now, let Carlisle take you home, family will stay nearby to ensure Ed has calmed down and hunted well, Charlotte is on her way to you – she will be there tomorrow morning, she will text you before school, so Alice can keep near Edward during the day."

I smile ruefully, "Okay Peter, See you soon!"

"Bye honey – we will talk soon!" And with that, he is gone.

I fold my top, and place it on his pillow, next to the letter, and head downstairs, shutting the door to keep the scent in the room. I smile at Carlisle, "Okay I'm ready to go, I've laid out fresh clothes for Jay, and left a letter on his bed – Could you let him know I have nicked one of his t-shirts, so Charlie doesn't see the mess on my arm."

Carlisle grins back at me, "No problem, Bella dear, let's get you home. Alice is waiting for you with some dinner…"

A/N: Quick explanation on Carlisle's prayer to St Edmund for Mercy on Jasper.

Saint Edmund, recognised as an English saint, revered on the 20th November, Martyred 870AD, is the saint for Torture victims. Letter from John Paul 2nd, expressing his pleasure of the St Edmund School when they visited Rome, recognising Edmund as a saint and a martyr.