AN: SM owns the characters, I make them do things they probably shouldn't, and JaspersDestiny makes sure that it all makes sense...sort of.
Chapter 36
Jasper and Carlisle flitted down the hall and down the stairs in silence. They were stopped from exiting by Stefan, who stood in the remains of the front door of the keep, blocking their way.
"Problems?" he asked Carlisle, pointedly ignoring Jasper.
"A bit of a misunderstanding. Bella's still quite young and easily startled, I'm afraid. Especially after all she's gone through... I'm sure you understand." Carlisle attempted to sidestep Stefan, but the older vampire intercepted him.
"I understand very well." His gaze flickered to Jasper and then back to Carlisle. "Things have certainly been exciting since you arrived, Carlisle."
"I apologize for that, Stefan. I assure you, I'd like nothing better than to gather my family together and be able to leave. If you could just let us by..."
"A newborn - especially an unstable one - does not travel well." Stefan looked at Jasper again, his gaze resting on him longer this time. "Perhaps you should think about leaving her here - just until she's settled down. Her mate would be welcome to stay as well, of course."
"Well, that is very generous of you, Stefan, but I don't think that will be necessary. I'm sure once we find her we can get her settled fairly quickly. If we could just get by?"
Stefan bowed slightly and stepped to one side of the doorway. "Of course. I'll be dispatching Edmond and Marton into the village immediately for damage control. Good hunting, Carlisle."
"Wow," Jasper muttered when they'd gotten out of earshot. "Not very subtle, is he?"
"Bella and her shield are a much sought after commodity, even untested as she is. You yourself are also a well-known talent," Carlisle said shortly. "This way – the window is on the north wall around here."
Jasper started to run, but Carlisle grabbed his arm. "Slowly, Jasper. It is broad daylight and there will be humans about." He glanced pointedly toward the front gate of the castle where the gift shop was located. "It's bad enough that you already ripped the door off the keep on your way in from the tower."
"Bella is out here somewhere," Jasper hissed. "Stark naked. And I'm guessing SHE'S not going slow."
"Bella will not stray too far," Carlisle said, confidence in his voice.
"She's probably halfway to Italy already!" Jasper was becoming agitated.
"Calm down. She won't go anywhere without you."
Jasper looked at him like he'd lost his mind. "Have you not heard ANYTHING I've told you about this whole trip?"
"I've heard everything you've told me, Jasper." Carlisle paused at the wall of the keep and looked up at the empty expanse to where several small windows began thirty feet off the ground. He inhaled deeply, and then turned and looked at the outer castle wall behind them. Crossing over to it, he walked slowly along it, unobtrusively taking in the scents left on the stones, before stopping and looking at Jasper again. "I've also watched you both since you've been back. I'll say it again - she won't go too far without you."
"What, you think this pull of hers is broken? You think it's gone?" Jasper felt excitement build in him. Had he succeeded and not even realized it? Why had she not said something? Unless…maybe it had happened during the night when they were hunting with the family. But Carlisle wouldn't have known of it yet either...
Carlisle was shaking his head, though, and the excitement drained out of Jasper as fast as it had appeared.
"No, I don't think that kind of pull disappears until, well, until the imperative for revenge has been satisfied. I really think she is trapped by that, even if it becomes not so strong over time or if she chooses a new mate. If she even CAN truly choose a new mate."
"Forever," Jasper said dully. Bella had implied as much, telling him of her fear that her pull towards Volterra would always be hanging over them.
Carlisle nodded now, sadness on his face and defeat in his emotions. "Forever. Or until she succeeds. But I also think she has tied herself to you now – more than willingly, I'd say, based on the events of yesterday." Carlisle smiled at his son briefly. "And that is to our advantage now. To YOUR advantage. She's run, yes, but she won't stray too far. She wants AND needs to return to Volterra – to the Volturi – to the revenge she thinks she'll find there. But I think you've managed to stop her blind flight by tying her to you. No, I don't think Bella will leave without you. And as long as she can't convince you to leave WITH her, she'll stick around." An unspoken warning was in those words. "You might have trouble, though, convincing her to go AWAY. Going back to the States, for instance, might prove impossible for you – for her. It's a fine line you have to walk, Jasper, to keep her alive."
"And no way to fix it as long as whoever killed Edward is still alive - or, at least, whoever it is she blames for killing Edward."
"I think so, yes. I could be wrong. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't think I am."
"You knew this earlier on the hunt, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did. I did not want to say anything in front of Emmett. I have not said anything about it in front of any of them." Carlisle looked around the courtyard and Jasper followed his gaze.
"We could be stuck here forever," Jasper whispered, a sick feeling forming inside him. "Or Bella and I could. Does Stefan know this? Is THAT why he made his offer back there?"
Carlisle shrugged. "I've told him very little, merely that we had lost Edward, and in so doing, lost Bella. He might very well have formed his own theories about what is going on. He and Vladimir have been around longer than even Aro, Caius, and Marcus. But Jasper, you needn't worry about being here forever."
Jasper looked at him, the sick feeling growing. "We're trapped, aren't we? Bella and I are trapped - even with her shield to hide us. She can't run away; she can only run closer. Or not run at all and wait for them to come to us..."
Carlisle nodded again.
"You have to leave," Jasper said suddenly. "You all have to leave. Go home and leave us here. You HAVE to." His earlier words to Bella and his thoughts about destroying the Volturi – or at least damaging them enough to distract them from pursuing the Cullens – came back to him, along with the memory of Mstislav and his words. "It's the only way you'll be safe." When she'd told him she loved him in the windmill, he'd begun harboring a fantasy of him and Bella running away somewhere - somewhere safe where they could be together. When she'd accepted those words from him the day before, the fantasy had only grown stronger. Now it disappeared almost like it had never been.
Carlisle reached out and gripped his arm. "Son, we will never be safe. We will all stay together - no matter what happens. I will not be leaving you here."
"But you must! We can damage them and you'll be safe. If I could get Demetri...if I focus - with Bella's shield to help - I can make sure I at least take him out…and probably several others. Then you'll be safe..."
Carlisle laughed, sounding harsh. "You think that hasn't occurred to them? Jasper, you're the military man. You know as well as I do they will just continue to hunt us down, leaving you – or, rather, Bella – for last. They KNOW she has no choice but to come for them. Were you not listening to ME earlier? You'll just end up following them all over the globe - as they follow us - and we'll all end up in the same place together in the end. It's better to figure out a plan TOGETHER first. Come now, we have to find Bella." He looked up at the wall again. "She crossed over here. I think we should do the same. The damage, after all, has already been done." They were out of sight of prying human eyes on this side of the keep, and in a flash he was climbing the wall - so quickly he was almost lost to Jasper's vampire vision. To a human he would have been nothing but a blur - dust, perhaps, stirred up by the slight breeze in the courtyard. Jasper followed him without thought.
As Jasper followed Carlisle's incredibly fast – but still human - progress through the village, his words to Bella from months ago about Carlisle's hunting prowess came back to him. Where Jasper was deliberate when it came to tracking, Carlisle seemed to rely almost on instinct alone, moving much quicker and more confidently than Jasper would have been able to, for all his own experience. After a few minutes of flitting up and down alleys in the small village, Carlisle stopped and turned to Jasper.
"Can you feel her? Are you pulled to her? Can you feel any kind of draw?"
Jasper shook his head slowly. "I can tell she's not far...but nothing very specific. I think her shield interferes with my pull to her. I don't know what it might do on her end, though. She says she can feel a pull to me, too. She says it's as strong as the one pulling her to Italy. I can use it to narrow down where she is, but at that point I'd just have to follow her scent - like you're doing," he whispered, his voice cracking.
Carlisle patted his shoulder sympathetically. "No problem. She seems to just be running around rather aimlessly – but, so far, I don't hear any screaming and we haven't come across any bodies, so I'm feeling fairly optimistic."
"I can tell," Jasper said, almost smiling.
"Yes, well, let's go."
A few seconds later they were in the back garden of one of the village houses, staring silently at the carcass of a large mastiff-type dog.
"Oh, my..." Carlisle said.
"Well, it could be worse – it could've been the owner."
At that moment, the apparent owner slammed open the back door. Still shocked at seeing the drained dog, both vampires jumped. An older woman, dressed in more traditional garb, started yelling at both of them. Jasper didn't speak Romanian, but he didn't need to to know she was pissed.
She wasn't frightened; she was angry. About the dog, he presumed.
Carlisle held up gloved hands to stop her rant and began speaking to her in her own language, using his best 'bedside manner' tone. Jasper attempted to help him out by flooding waves of calm at the woman. It seemed to work.
She calmed down and began conversing with Carlisle, apparently answering his questions. She was still excited but no longer angry - although she did keep gesturing to the dog and waving her hands about quite a bit. After a few minutes, Carlisle reached into his robe and pulled out some money. He started handing her bills, pulling them off of a stack he held in his hand, and continued to do so until she finally closed her hand around them and nodded, apparently satisfied. Turning her back on them, she marched back into the house.
"I take it Bella has been here," Jasper asked.
"Oh, yes," Carlisle said with a snort. "Sparkling naked witch girl appeared out of nowhere, killed her dog, and then disappeared again - not ten minutes ago."
"Great."
"Will she go and hide now that she's fed?" Carlisle asked.
Jasper shook his head slowly. "I think she'll feed more first. I can't imagine her stopping at just one, even if she did feed earlier. The shield takes a lot out of her, and it was as tight as I've ever sensed it back there in the castle." He nudged the carcass with his foot. "Even though it is a big brute of a dog."
"Wonderful." Carlisle made no move to leave the yard.
"Carlisle?" Jasper asked after a moment of silence. "Do you think Bella will be alright?"
Carlisle looked at him, surprised. "What? You mean this? This episode?"
"Episode? Is that what you'd call it?"
"Well, what would YOU call it?"
Jasper just stared at him, not sure how to answer.
Carlisle sighed. "She's young, Jasper - not a newborn, but still very young - and she has had a traumatic life so far. Beyond traumatic. She has not been brought up properly, or cared for, or any of the things that any of us wished for her. She was brought into our world with the promise of eternal love and eternal family, and look what she got instead. Nothing she has done so far has surprised me. I am, however, surprised that YOU are surprised, considering your background."
Jasper nudged the dog again, harder this time, thinking before he answered. "I have more experience with newborns than any of you - this you know," he finally said, and Carlisle nodded. "But creating a vampire for the purpose of building an army, and then destroying that same vampire less than a year later when their usefulness is over... My experience with newborns is very different, Carlisle. Very different. Any erratic behavior like this…well, the vampire in question would have been destroyed and a new one created without a second thought by me. "
Carlisle chuckled a little. "Well, obviously that is not going to happen, Jasper."
"I know that. I just...do you…are you going to still want her to come home with you? With your family? I mean, supposing that it ever becomes possible. I understand if you don't..."
"Enough of that talk, Jasper." Exasperation filled Carlisle's voice, and aggravation and anger were his dominant emotions. "I never thought of you as the dramatic type."
"Carlisle, she attacked your MATE."
Carlisle snorted. "Yes, she did. Jasper, do you seriously think Bella is the first one in the family to take a snap at me or Esme? I realize you all seem to think we have some sort of magical vampire parenting skills, but I assure you that is not the case."
Jasper was shocked. He had actually thought, well... "I always pictured you as the Cleavers of the vampire world, especially when Alice and I first arrived," he admitted. "I've never seen anything to disabuse me of that impression."
Carlisle snorted again. "Please. Things are just more...settled now. Even by the time you'd joined us, they'd become fairly settled. It wasn't always like that. A newborn in the coven always stirs things up."
Jasper thought for a moment, savoring this little piece of information - a secret he'd never known, in a family that had no secrets. For a family with no secrets, it seemed they had many, and he wondered briefly what else Carlisle might be hiding. Before he could pursue that line of thought, however, the sound of screeching and howling came from closer to the edge of town.
"Well," Carlisle said briskly, "I do believe the canine population of this lovely berg has taken a hard enough hit. I've heard her make at least three more kills while we've been standing here chatting, and now she's heading for the woods - presumably to find a hole to crawl into. I think that is our cue to go 'rescue' her and get her back inside."
Jasper shook his head, amazed once again at Carlisle's hidden skills.
"You knew all along."
"What?" the older vampire asked innocently.
"You knew where she's been the whole time we've been chasing her. We could have stopped her at any time." Jasper was more than a little bit aggravated.
"We could have," Carlisle said agreeably. "But sometimes it is better to just let them get it out of their system – something you never needed to do when you were in the business of making newborns."
"How could you be sure she wouldn't kill anybody?'
"I know my daughter, Jasper," Carlisle said softly, his voice full of love. "I may not have sired her, but she is my daughter. No, she needed to run, or else there would have been more biting and fighting back there. Now we can go collect her. And perhaps, if we're lucky, we'll escape bite-free ourselves."