*** Right, here's the next chapter, don't forget to leave me some reviews. On the weekend I'll get round to answering them. ***
** still don't own anything twilight **
Ch 29
Jasper's POV
We came into the living room at the same time that Edward and Carlisle entered from the other side.
Even though I had been determined to face him coolly, all the resolve was gone as soon as I saw the smooth face and felt not remorse but anger and aggression from him. The picture of Bella, hurt, frightened and shocked appeared in my mind, and I pounced on him. Soon we were rolling around the place, a growling hissing tangle of angry vampires. My rage and experience made me stronger, so that I soon had him pinned down. I had gotten a few good bites and was about to tear him apart, when a noise registered in my head.
"Please, no, he is my son!" Esme.
I took a deep breath and let him go. I'm doing this for her, remember that! Then I got a bit of distance between us and went back to Peter, who was staring at me in disbelief. Carlisle nodded thanks. He looked as if he had aged considerably in the last few hours.
Edward was still reeling from my blows and holding his bite wounds, when something resembling a blonde cannonball came flying at him: Rosalie, eyes blazing and looking like an avenging angel towered over him. "How could you do something like that? Do you have any idea how much that hurts?" She smacked him in the face with all her strength. The force of it sent him across the room, where he got up in an attacking position turned on Rosalie. Before he could jump however, Emmett stood with her and held her close. "No, Rosie, that worm is not worth you getting all hot and bothered about. We'll make sure that little Bella is not hurt by him again." Rosalie curled against him, and her shoulders were heaving. I knew she was reliving her own pain and that Emmett hated Edward the more for making her remember it. I've never seen my friendly brother look so angrily at anyone.
Neither had Edward. He started and put on his mask of civilised indifference.
"What I don't understand", Alice's voice piped up from across the room, "is how you could not notice her thoughts, I mean, she obviously didn't want you…" She shut up, having realised her undiplomatic approach.
Edward was avoiding her enquiring look, so I answered for him. "He can't hear her."
"What?" Alice squeaked, and the others were incredulous too. We usually relied on Edward to warn us if someone became suspicious of us, threatening to blow our cover. We had done so especially with Bella after the accident. Now he had everybody's attention, but he was still not facing anyone.
"Edward?" Carlisle asked.
"She was quiet. That attracted me to her in the first place", he mumbled in that infuriating cold voice and glared at me.
Uproar followed.
After a while Carlisle cleared his throat. "I know everyone here is hurt and upset by what has happened. I asked Edward to leave the family, and he agreed to go to Denali." He squeezed Esme's hand. "I think you can imagine how hard that decision was for me, but I'm afraid I can see not other option at the moment, which would be acceptable to us all."
Rose made a choked noise and I noticed that my hands were still clenched into fists.
"You're going to let him get away with hurting your mate?" Peter turned to me, his eyes round with disbelief.
Edward scoffed with contempt. "Yes, in contrast to you killer beasts we're civilised, but I'd be much obliged if you took your friend away with you, who has managed to weasel his way into my family and turn them against me."
The next two seconds Peter and I were back to our old routine. I was close to Edward, bombarding him with feelings of depression and horror until he was on his knees, holding his head in pain, while Peter was shielding me against anyone stupid enough to get in my way.
"Do you have any idea who you're dealing with here, you stupid boy?" Peter asked Edward in a mocking tone. "He would have the likes of you for breakfast when he was with us, and they'd be screaming for him to end it."
It took a while, but then I realised what I was doing, and the voice of Carlisle finally registered in my head. "Jasper, son, please remember who you are. You're more than a killer, and there's more to you than enjoying inflicting pain."
I turned from Edward in shame, swallowing the venom.
"Major?" Peter was frowning. He was next to Edward, restraining him from getting away from us.
I shook my head. "Let him go!"
Peter shrugged and lifted his hands. "If you think so."
"Do as I said!" Then I turned to Edward. Make sure I never see you again! I thought, and he nodded. Half an hour later we heard the vanquish roar from the garage.
"Peter and Charlotte have come to visit me for a while", I said to the others, then turned to the stairs. "I need some time alone."
Peter followed me to my room, shaking his head. "What has happened to you? Why did you allow that?"
"I'm not the leader of the coven here, Carlisle is, and I've been given …second chances and lenience quite often too over the last fifty years. They are good people, really good, and I can't disappoint them."
"He was let off stealing your mate!"
"No, I had broken up with her. Besides, what Carlisle did is the harshest he has ever been with anyone, and he is Edward's creator. He is in effect sentencing him to the loneliness he was suffering for such a long time. That was no easy decision for him, believe me."
"What about that Bella girl then?"
"She wouldn't like it either if I killed Edward for her…"
"Are you sure about that?"
I nodded. "Yes, she's… incredibly kind and forgiving, but I don't think she would want to live with someone who had killed Carlisle and Esme's son. That is, if she'll ever even look at one of us again."
"You know you have to change her, don't you?"
I turned away from Peter in pain.
"Major, get a grip. How long do you think it will take for someone to rat on you to the Volturi? That will not make her life any safer."
"Her father…"
"… will not survive that either. Major, I'd like to stay a while, if you don't mind. I have a bad feeling about that Edward guy."
I sighed. "You can't feed anywhere near here; those nomads already got us into trouble."
"I know, but I could feed in Seattle, when I pick up Charlotte later, that should last me a while. By the way, how did you vegetarian lot get entangled with Laurent?"
I told him how Alice had met him in New York, and how he had joined us. Peter frowned. "I'm afraid, he is bad news. Majorly bad news."
"Why would you say that?" Edward and I had checked him after all.
"The guys he used to be mixed up with down South are seriously deranged, and he has an uncanny talent for getting out of scrapes, I've heard."
"Yes, but the nomads were his old coven, and so far they've stayed away." Of course, Peter was echoing my own premonitions about the nomads.
"Mm, you know what? I'll keep you company until you're back to thinking straight again. Apparently the military man and the lover don't mix too well in your personality. Besides, I want to see the human who has twisted your mind even more than the evil pixie."
With that he was gone, to get Charlotte, I presumed, and I went to tell Esme that we would have some houseguests for a while and ask her where to put them up.
