SM Owns everything. Woo Hoo for her! Of course, without her and her books, none of us would be on this website right now.
Chapter 28
The train might have gone all the way to Moscow, but they never found out.
On the morning of the third day, Bella's throat was on fire. By noon, she couldn't ignore it any longer.
"Jasper," she whispered. "I'm sorry, but I've got to hunt."
Jasper took her head and turned it gently towards him so he could check her eyes. They were pitch black.
"Bella," he growled, frustration filling his voice, "You've got to drop your shield, at least when we're alone."
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I just... I just can't."
"Yes, you can. You're doing a fine job of keeping it up without even thinking about it, apparently. You just need to practice – and this train ride would be a fine place to practice."
"Arghh..." she growled, just as frustrated as he was. "I KNOW that. Don't think that I don't know that. I know this is a problem..."
"It's about to become an even bigger problem, Bella, when we get into Europe. Hunting is going to become more difficult the closer to Italy we get. And there will be a lot more humans around. A LOT more humans. A lot more opportunities for you to slip up, and I know you won't be happy with yourself it that happens. That shield seems to be sucking the energy out of you at a rate that's almost scary. I don't know how you managed to keep it up all that time you weren't feeding..."
"I don't know either, Jasper. Maybe it was because I wasn't doing anything else at the time..." She reached over and gently nipped at his jaw, eliciting a low growl from him. "So, maybe it's not the shield at all that's taking all my energy..." She nibbled her way down to his neck. He tightened his hold on her, and pulled her flush against his body. "All..." nip, "I..." nip, "know..." nip, "is..." nip, "I..." nip, "need..." nip, "to..." nip, "feed". She bit down hard on his shoulder, almost breaking the skin and causing him to yelp.
"Hey!" he said, shoving her away. "None of that. We'll feed, alright? Get your clothes on." He quickly gathered his clothes from where they lay scattered about on the crates and got himself dressed. She finished dressing a split second later. "Now, wait a second while I see where we are."
He checked his GPS and found that - at least coordinate-wise - they were probably only two days away from Moscow using the train's current speed. Bella would have had to feed no matter what before entering the city, so he supposed now was as good a time as any. In fact, it looked like they should be in the Ural Mountains, so that was probably a really good place for him to get her out to hunt. They could catch another train when they were done, or maybe cross through the mountains on foot and hunt again on the other side, now that the threat of the dogs was over. It was a threat he hoped to not have to deal with ever again. By the next full moon, they'd either be dead or home in Alaska.
He crossed the crate to the wooden side of the car, and he quickly punched a hole in the side of the wall.
"What are you doing?" Bella hissed, jumping with surprise at his unexpected action.
"I want to take a look out without sticking my sparkly face out the top."
"Oh. Makes sense. What do you see?"
"Trees."
"Trees are good, right?"
"Trees are great, Bella." He moved over to the hatch and opened it, and he cautiously put his head up and looked all around. "Yep, trees are definitely great. Mountains are even better. Get the bags and let's go."
A minute later and they were on the ground and into the forest, stopping to watch the last car of the train disappear down the tracks.
"Wow," Bella said, as she looked around them. "You know, Russia is a really big place. Really big, and really empty."
"Most of it, yeah," Jasper agreed. "But we came through some pretty populated areas already. These are the Ural Mountains here, dividing European Russia from Asian Russia. We should find them pretty deserted. Living in the mountains for the beautiful scenery hasn't caught on here yet, I'm thinking."
"Do you think they have reindeer here?"
"I'm hoping they have something else here," he told her. "ANYTHING else, actually. Come on, let's hunt."
They took off in a generally western direction, and before too long caught the scent of something. "A cat – probably a lynx," Jasper told her. Finally, a decent predator to eat. "Strip," he said quietly, almost silently, and began pulling off his own outer garments. When she complied, he ran their belongings up a tree, and then dropped back down to the ground next to her.
"Hunt with me, Isabella?" he asked, stroking her arm gently.
She nodded, her venom already pooling at the odor drifting upwind towards them.
He took off running, and he didn't need to look to know she was right there with him... hunting with him... as a mate would.
The lynx came into sight. There were two of them feeding on a kill of their own, and Jasper took the first one down. To his surprise and delight, instead of grabbing the other one, Bella dropped to her knees next to him to partake in his kill. He moved away from the neck, letting her have the artery there, and moved down the body to take the femoral artery for himself. He purred contentedly as they drained the cat together, and he smiled when he heard her purring, too.
Perhaps he really could change this deadly pull towards Italy and redirect it towards himself. Maybe.
After the first lynx, and with a little more effort, they were able to get the other one, and they shared it as they had the first. He and Alice had actually only rarely shared kills, preferring instead to hunt separately and meet up when they were done. Alice was a picky eater, and she had definite preferences when it came to what she drank. She was willing to go without instead of settling for something she was not in the mood for. It had always rather annoyed Jasper, especially since he had such a difficult time ignoring his own thirst.
Of course, Jasper had to admit that she had considerably better control than he did, and she could indulge in her picky eating habits. He didn't know if it was Bella's thirst that caused her to be an indiscriminate feeder like himself, or if she just enjoyed sharing with him. He really hoped it was the latter.
After they finished the cats, they retrieved their things and headed west through the mountains. "Let's plan on hunting as we go," Jasper told her "Since we're unfamiliar with the territory, we don't know how often or where our next meal will be."
"Aren't we in a hurry?" she asked him.
"Not anymore. Those wolves are long gone behind us, and we have almost four weeks until the next full moon. We can't stop and play, but I'm not feeling quite as...desperate...for speed," he told her.
She shrugged and fell into step beside him. They ran, but it wasn't the full out speed they'd put on in eastern Siberia. In a way, Jasper knew it was more dangerous – at these speeds, which were still extremely fast, humans could see them, and they would know they couldn't be human. But he didn't care. This was the equivalent to a stroll in the woods for vampires, and he intended to enjoy his time with Bella.
They continued to hunt, as he'd suggested, and they took some smaller prey as they went. Bella discovered that wolverine, while it put up a good fight for such a small beast, tasted like crap. Jasper had to agree, having taken a single swallow at her suggestion that it tasted like bear. She also didn't care for minks or martens, both of which Jasper declined to sample after the wolverine incident. When they came across a small cat of some sort hunting in the trees, Bella let him have it all to himself to repay him for tricking him with the wolverine.
They even took some time to observe the humans in the area. Bella found it fascinating to sit in the trees on the edge of the forest to watch them go about their daily business, oblivious to the predators watching them.
"Maybe you should go to school and major in sociology when we get back home," Jasper teased her.
She stuck her tongue out at him. "Isn't that like the vampire equivalent of 'animal husbandry' or something?" she asked, causing him to laugh so hard he almost fell out of his tree. In fact, his laughter was so loud that the couple they'd been watching do chores in the farmyard below heard him. They looked startled, staring into the woods right at Jasper and Bella's location, and they then quickly headed inside.
"Well, show's over," she said. "Good going, Jasper."
"Yeah, because watching old people chop wood is SO exciting," he shot back at her.
"It IS," she insisted. "It was so obvious they loved each other. You could tell – even doing the simplest of everyday chores, they wore their hearts on their sleeves."
He couldn't argue with her. He could tell by what they were feeling that the old couple was still deeply in love after decades of life together.
"Come on," he said abruptly. "We need to hunt again."
After three elk, he stopped her from taking a fourth. "Look, I know we've been following the track, sort of, and heading towards Moscow. We could probably get there by tomorrow morning if we ran fast. But I've been thinking, and there's really no need for us to go there. Let's just head southwest now, and cross into Europe. We're probably going to have to start traveling mainly at night, even though we can still manage to avoid populated areas fairly easily in this part of the world. We'll go through the Ukraine, then Romania, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia, and then swim across to Italy."
"What about the clothes you like so much? Won't they get wet?" Bella asked, laughing at him.
"We can ship them home before we get in the water."
"Ah! UPS or FedEx?"
"FedEx," he said, smirking. "They have better service from Europe."
She snorted. "We really are getting back to civilization, aren't we?"
"Well, it depends on your definition. Rosalie and Alice would definitely disagree...but yeah. So...is that alright with you?"
"Is what alright with me?"
"Skipping Moscow and heading straight to Europe?" he repeated patiently.
"Oh." She was silent for a moment. She closed her eyes and slipped down inside herself. She felt the pulls, all three of them, and she examined each one carefully. She'd ignored two of them for the last several days, concentrating instead on the third, and newest, one - the one pulling her to Jasper. She was more than a little pleased to see that it was much stronger than it had been before. It was stronger than the one pulling her to the east, back across Russia, across the Pacific, and to the Cullens. That one, actually, was almost gone entirely. No, not gone... but...hazy. Fuzzy. Like it wasn't sure which way it wanted her to go. The other, the one pulling her to the southwest, was still the strongest, but not by much. Maybe soon it wouldn't be the strongest at all. She smiled to herself, and opened her eyes. "That would be fine, Jasper," she said, smiling up at him and taking his hand. "Europe, here we come!"
They traveled at night and hid during the day - in barns, in trees, in abandoned buildings. They hunted as they went and fed mostly on smaller animals now, mostly foxes and such. Bella's thirst was never quite sated, not that it ever would be just feeding on animals instead of humans. But she was doing alright, in both her and Jasper's opinion. They'd crossed over into the Ukraine and were spending the day in an isolated hay barn. They'd just finished making love when Jasper spoke up.
"Bella, would you mind a bit of a side trip?"
"Sure, Jasper," she said, trailing her fingers across his stomach, and enjoying the way his muscles tensed under her touch. "Where do you want to go?"
"Mmmm..." he said, catching her hand before it could drop lower. "I'd like to go to Kiev. I've never been there before. The family spent a couple of years in Moscow back in the early '90s, after the so-called fall of communism, but I never made it to Kiev. It's just one of those places I'd like to see...and we're so close."
"Whatever you like, Jasper. What's in Kiev that's so fascinating?"
"There's a lot of history in Kiev, Bella. It is a very old city. Lots of museums..." he trailed off, looking hopefully at her.
"I knew you liked history, Jasper, but I had no idea you were such a fan of museums," Bella said teasingly.
"Yeah, well, it was always kind of difficult for me to handle going to them before because of my...blood lust. But now, with you, it's not such a problem. So, I thought, since we're so close..." The longer it takes us to get to Italy, the more time I'll have to change your mind, he added silently to himself.
"Okay, I'll buy that. Kiev sounds like a great place to visit. But let's eat first. I don't want to eat dogs again, like in Yakutsk, unless it's absolutely necessary."
They hunted and then changed into their 'good' clothes outside of Kiev, and they slipped into an outlying village in the early hours of the morning. When the sun rose, they were able to hitch a ride – for a few rubles – in the back of a farm truck that was heading towards the city's markets. By the time the sun rose – luckily behind heavy cloud cover – they were in downtown Kiev.
"Let's get a room," Jasper said.
"Alright," Bella agreed. "Hot water, here I come."
They were able to check into a nice hotel with no questions asked, and they soon found themselves soaking together in a large tub filled with bubbles.
"This is great," Bella sighed. "I LOVE Kiev."
"Tomorrow we'll tour the city," Jasper said, sinking lower until only his head was above the water. "It's supposed to be cloudy for the next few days, according to the hotel clerk. But for now..." He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her further down into the water with him.
The next morning, they headed out into the city. Bella loved the architecture of the old cathedrals and palaces, and Jasper enjoyed being able to go through the museums without the urge to eat the other tourists. At the end of the day, they returned to the hotel, and they were already making plans for the next day.
"Should we call them?" Bella asked later that evening.
"Probably," Jasper murmured against her skin. "But not right now. Right now I want to love you..." He licked the sensitive spot below her ear, and then ran his tongue across the bite mark on her neck. Her eternal mark. Edward's mark - the one that had been partially mangled by the werewolves. She shivered in response, and he felt a surge of jealousy, wishing it had been his bite that had claimed her. It was ridiculous, he knew that. He and Alice had still been very much in love when Edward had claimed Bella as his eternal mate. Bella had been barely a blip on Jasper's radar - just a welcome addition to the family. He had seen very little of either of them before her change because the Cullens had kept them apart for her safety. And after her change, it had been Edward who'd helped her adjust to her new life.
She loved it when he licked her there, across the crescent-shaped scar. Their skin was always more sensitive over their scars. It made his own body an easy target for Bella, as scarred as he was. He'd noticed, though, that as much as she enjoyed his attention to them, the scars on her back from the werewolves did not hold the same sensitivity. He could only guess that it must have something to do with the werewolves' poison.
She started purring, so he ran his tongue across it again. "They're probably worried about us..." she whispered.
"Maybe, maybe not. Alice probably knows we're fine. You've shown them plenty of our decisions lately," he whispered back, giving her collarbone a gentle nip.
"I'm sure they were FASCINATED by our tour of the city today," she murmured against his hair as his lips moved lower.
"Mmmhmmm," he replied.
"We should call them. Make sure Carlisle's idea of me dropping my shield a little bit when we decide things is working.
"Tomorrow, Bella. We'll call tomorrow."
"Promise?"
"Promise. Tonight, I just want you... in a bed."
"Mmmmm....alright...."
"Jasper," Bella called from the bathroom a few hours later. "There isn't anymore shampoo. Can you call for some more?"
"Bella, it's three in the damn morning. I doubt they have anybody available to bring us shampoo."
"Well, can you go down and get some for me? There must be somebody at the front desk."
Jasper sighed. "Yes, dear," he called out, pulling on his shoes and standing up. "Almost like being married," he mumbled to himself.
"I HEARD that," she called out to him from the bathroom.
The clerk might have thought it was odd that he was asking for shampoo at that hour of the morning, but he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he went into the back room and returned with a bottle, which he handed to Jasper with a smile.
"It is SO difficult to get the stink of the Taiga out of one's skin, is it not?" came a familiar voice behind him as he was crossing the lobby back towards the elevators. Jasper spun around.
"Mstislav," he hissed. "What the hell are you doing here? Why are you following us?"
"Why, indeed, Jasper?" the werewolf said, a smile playing around his mouth. "I would have thought a clever man such as yourself would have figured it out by now."
"You know, I don't know why you don't just deliver the damn message yourself, since you're apparently traveling right along with us," Jasper snapped.
"Ah, well, I guess I figure you to have a better chance of actually getting close enough to do the delivering. I would assume that my presence would cause some distress in those circles, and the message would probably get lost in all the excitement."
Jasper snorted. "No doubt." He found himself relaxing a bit, much to his surprise. He'd already decided that, at least during this time of the moon phase, he had the upper hand and could beat Mstislav. Of course, he could hardly do that here in the lobby of the hotel. The clerk was already watching them with curiosity. "Forgive me for not inviting you up," he told the werewolf. "I'm sure you understand."
"Oh, completely. Completely."
"So, what is it that you want now? I have your message. I'm clearly traveling in the right direction to deliver it, although you understand you'll just have to trust me that delivery is actually on my agenda. What are you doing here? Checking up on me?"
"After a fashion. I just wanted to make sure the message was still fresh in your mind. You've been rather distracted lately, you and your sister..." He smirked at Jasper. "I wonder, when all is said and done, what your 'mate' will think of all this when you return to her."
Jasper said nothing.
Mstislav sighed. "I told you, Jasper. We have a similar agenda, you and I. I'm rather disappointed that you haven't figured it out yet. Although, again, I blame the distractions. Perhaps I should have just killed her when I had the chance – your mind might have been functioned better. But, no, then you would have had no other reason to go to Italy, would you? I have no doubt that my message is not what draws you there. SHE is what draws you there, is she not? And what is drawing HER there, eh, Jasper? Have you asked yourself that? Have you figured that out yet? Perhaps you will have no need to explain ANYTHING to your mate, if you never leave Volterra." With that he turned on his heels and exited through the lobby door onto the street. Jasper watched until he was out of sight, and then turned, got on the elevator, and returned to their room.
Bella was waiting for him when he entered the room, and he handed the shampoo to her.
"What happened?" she asked, taking the bottle from him. "What the hell could have happened on a 3 AM trip to the lobby for shampoo?"
"It's Mstislav," he said with a sigh.
"HERE?" she yelled.
"SHHHH," he hissed.
"Here?" she asked again, whispering. "In Kiev? IN OUR HOTEL?"
"Keep it down, dammit! The humans are sleeping. YES, in our hotel."
"What the hell? Is he stalking us?"
"Apparently," Jasper said grimly.
"Oh, MY GOD! Can't he just leave us alone?"
"Apparently not. He wants to make sure we really go to Italy."
"To deliver his damn message?"
"Yep."
"He should just deliver it himself. He's certainly close enough now."
"I pointed that out to him," Jasper said, dropping onto the couch. "He pointed out that he'd never make it that far."
"So, what's our motivation for doing this for him?"
"None, as far as I can tell..." Jasper said, frowning. "Although, he seems to think I SHOULD have some motivation. Obviously he can't hurt us right now, but he IS a persistent tracker. We should assume that if we don't deliver the message, he will continue to harass us. But that makes no sense, either – I could have easily killed him tonight. And believe me, if this keeps up, I WILL kill him, and I'll be damned if I care if people see it. But he seems so SURE that we would be willing to deliver this damn message. I feel like I'm missing something here..." he growled in frustration. "What the HELL am I missing?"
"I don't know, Jasper. Maybe it'll come to you..."
"Maybe. I hope so. This is very frustrating. We're in such a dangerous situation." He looked sideways at her, and tried to gauge her reaction to what he was saying based on body language alone. "And there are just so many unknowns. TOO many unknowns. Well, no use letting it get to me yet. We still have time, right?"
"Does this mean we need to leave now?" she asked, glancing back at the bathroom, clearly not wanting to go anywhere but back to her bath, and just as clearly not wanting to talk about it anymore right then.
"No, I don't see any reason to. Obviously, running from the...man...doesn't do any good. And, apparently, he is not really a danger to us outside of those few days a month, which are still almost three weeks away. No, I say we stick with our plan."
"I don't think I could enjoy going to the museums tomorrow, knowing that he might pop out at any minute," Bella told him.
"Alright. We'll leave in the morning. Go ahead and finish your shower. Our clothes should be back from the cleaner first thing in the morning, and then we can pack up and go."
A/N: The Lambs are hosting another contest, the 'We Don't Need No Stinkin' Coven' Contest! Dedicated to those hot and wild nomads! Go to the Altered Lions and Sacrificial Lambs web site and click on the link, or look up "We Don't Need No Stinkin Coven" under "authors" on FanFiction, and read the great stories. Better yet, write an entry!
