Turn About is Fair Play

Suddenly, I was hit from the side by another vampire, knocked away from the enemy I'd been attempting to destroy. A large chunk of his throat came with me, and I spit it out as I rolled away, tangled up with the new enemy. I heard the fierce growling of the vampire who was now trying to get enough of a purchase on me to start ripping off limbs, even as we tumbled end over end. Suddenly, the growling was replaced with whimpers, and the deadly female was curled up in the fetal position beside me, no longer a threat.

I moved to decapitate her, so she couldn't come after me or my mate once she recovered from whatever was afflicting her. I wanted her out of the way, so I could finish what I started with the one who wanted to take me away from my mate. He needed to die, so he could never make good on his threat, could never separate or harm me or my beloved Jasper ever again.

Before I could attack her though, I found myself scooped up in my mate's arms as he raced away. Why are we retreating? I wondered, frustrated and worried. We were winning! We should take out the enemy now while we have the advantage, not leave them to recover and regroup. They might build up an army against us if we leave them to their own devices instead of acting quickly and decisively!

Jumbled images assaulted my brain of a red-headed woman threatening everyone I cared about, followed by a reminder of the fear and helplessness of another vampire grabbing my human body and carrying me away much like my mate was doing now, only that one had been an enemy, intending to hurt and kill me. I felt the calm my mate was sending to me and deflected it off to the side, sending him my rage, my need to protect, and my desire to destroy. His steps faltered as he was hit with the strength of my emotions.

He set me down and began decimating a nearby tree, shredding it into wood chips, creating a mound of mulch at his feet. I was pleased to see that he shared my anger and frustration now, but needed him to focus on helping me destroy our enemies instead of a harmless tree.

"Kill! Bad guys! Hurt us!" I spit out, attempting to explain as my mouth repeatedly flooded with venom, making it difficult to speak. Good grief! What happened to advanced thought processes and superior intelligence? I thought, disconcerted by my telegraphic speech. I'm as bad as a toddler! . . . Because I'm a newborn. No wonder they refer to new vampires in childlike terms.

This train of thought started slowly bringing me back to myself, forcing me to focus on something other than immediate death and destruction. Meanwhile, Jasper was able to ground himself again, having dispersed enough of the emotions I'd sent him. He moved over to me, his hands resting gently on my cheeks, filling me with peace and love.

He shook his head, cooing softly to comfort me. "No bad guys. No threat. We're safe. Safe, Bella."

Using my enhanced senses, I could tell there was nobody else nearby. We hadn't been pursued. As he said, we were currently safe. I relaxed slightly, my eyes perusing my mate thoroughly, making sure he was without injury. I was frustrated with the clothing covering his body, preventing me from searching so much of his skin. I quickly ripped off his shirt, tossing it aside, and went for his pants, only to be stopped by his hands on my wrists.

"Wait! Please! I want to keep my pants, honey," he declared. "Use your sense of smell, darling. You can tell I'm not leaking venom anywhere. If I were, you'd smell it a mile away."

I inhaled deeply, letting his scent calm me further. No injuries. Good. We stopped the enemies in time. I thought with relief. Now we just need to keep them from coming back at us later when we least expect it.

"Why did we run, Jasper?" I asked, pleased that I was no longer drowning in my own venom and able to speak in complete sentences without choking on the overflow. "We didn't burn them, so they can come at us again once they recover! What if they bring an army next time?"

He shook his head. "They're not the enemy, Bella. They're our friends. That was Peter and Char."

The enemy now had faces and names to go with the seething hatred and distrust whirling around inside me.

"Peter!" I growled, thinking back on the things he'd said. "He's no friend of ours, Jasper. He intends to separate us and pass me around as a sex toy to other males. He said horrible things about you, untrue but very hurtful things. I don't want any part of that."

"He didn't mean any of that, sweetie, I promise. He was just talking 'smack' to make you lose your temper and attack. It was supposed to trigger his gift, which would've been the fastest way to get a newborn like yourself to trust him and to keep you from being a threat to his mate, since you wouldn't have wanted to hurt him or his mate after getting a dose of it. Obviously, it backfired. I guess Eddie's gift isn't the only one that doesn't work on you, sweetheart," Jasper explained. "I just don't understand why mine and Alice's gifts work, but Eddie's and Peter's don't."

I narrowed my eyes in disbelief. Clearly my mate was influenced by Peter's gift and couldn't see how wrong those statements were. Well, I'm not going to trust the little prankster. His 'charm' doesn't work on me to make me forget or dismiss the hateful crap he spews, and I'm going to protect my Jasper from this asshole, even though he doesn't believe he needs protecting.

Jasper felt my negative emotions and decided we needed a little more time to ourselves before he risked taking me back to confront our 'friends' again. He grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him back to our rock where we'd sat earlier. He pulled me onto his lap this time, cradling me close to him. I rubbed my hands over all the skin of his chest, back, and arms, tracing each and every one of his scars, allowing the contact to soothe us both.

My mate is here and safe, I reminded myself over and over again. He's been through hell and back in the past, but I'll never let anyone hurt him again.

"Don't worry, darling," he promised. "I'll never let anyone come between us. Nobody will ever be able to take you away from me."

I nodded in agreement, rubbing my cheek against his chest, loving the way our scents were mixing together from the skin to skin contact.

He had me press my handprint into the stone, and I was surprised at how easy it was, no more difficult than making an imprint in the sand as a human. He then put his own handprint beside it, tilting it so our curved thumbs and our straight pointer fingers met to form a heart. Then underneath of it, he carved J + B with his finger.

"This boulder has been sitting on this mountain face for thousands if not millions of years, but our love is far stronger than it is," he told me, ducking his head shyly and looking up at me through his lashes.

I smiled, swept away by the love and joy his words made me feel, sharing the overwhelming emotions with him as my reply. "When all else passes away, my love for you shall still remain," I assured him.

His answering grin made me feel ten feet tall and ready to take on the world. Sensing the tenor of my feelings, he hesitantly reminded me, "We really need to find out what's been going on while we were out of it with your change. Apparently, a lot has happened with the curse in a relatively short period of time."

I sighed, knowing he was right. "Okay, lets go interrogate the usual suspects."

He snickered. "Leave the interrogation tactics to me this time, okay, little miss terrifying? It may be a while before one of them is even capable of speech."

I grinned triumphantly. The bastard got what he deserved. Let's see him try to talk trash about my mate now, without his voice box. I bet that burns.

We returned back to the house at a leisurely pace, wrapped up in our own little peaceful bubble, giving the other occupants time to heal and recover their equilibrium.

Char was hovering protectively over a silently morose Peter. Garrett, on the other hand, was practically bouncing in place, eagerly awaiting our arrival.

"Well, if it isn't my new best friend!" he declared happily upon spying us. "That old coot has had it coming for a long time now, and anyone who can put that punk in his place is worthy of my warmest affection. He's been harassing the rest of us and getting away with it for far too long."

I smiled slightly, but kept myself hyper-alert to the whereabouts of both Peter and Char at all times. I noticed Char seemed equally wary of me.

"What happened?" Char asked Jasper plaintively. "How was she able to hurt him?" It had been quite a wake-up call for Char, since her mate had always seemed invincible before. She'd never had to worry about losing him prior to today.

"Remember I told you Edward was never able to read Bella's mind?" Jasper reminded her. "I didn't really think anything of it, because both Alice's gift and my gift always worked on her just fine. A few minutes ago though, she was able to stop my gift from working too. I think she may have some kind of gift that protects her from being influenced by others' gifts."

Char's mouth dropped open, her expression horrified. "But if his gift doesn't work on her, that means she can kill him!"

Jasper simply nodded, while I narrowed my eyes at her.

"He called Jasper an ugly, scarred freak and threatened to take me away from him and offer me up to his friends to have sex with," I growled. "He deserved it!"

Char frowned and shook her head. "He was just spouting nonsense. He didn't mean anything by it. He was just playing with you."

"Oh, really? Well, guess what, Char?" I drawled. "Peter is an ugly, scarred freak. Nobody would want to look at him, much less touch him, not even his mate. He doesn't deserve you. I'm going to do you a favor and take you away from him, maybe introduce you to some better lovers."

Char let loose a ferocious growl and tried to attack, murderous rage in her eyes. Of course, Jasper promptly dropped her to the ground mid-pounce, writhing in pain. He was crouched protectively in front of me. I put a hand on his back and sent him some calm, pleased that I'd made my point.

Jasper eased up and let Char sit up, where she promptly glared hatefully at me. Jasper was giving me a disappointed look that I didn't quite understand.

"What's the matter, Char?" I challenged. "I was just kidding. Why weren't you laughing?"

"That wasn't funny, you little bitch!" she snarled. Garrett nodded, frowning.

"But I only said to you the same thing Peter said to me. Why is it okay for Peter to say those things to me about Jasper, but not okay for me to say those same things to you about him? Think about how that made you feel, and now you understand how I feel. I don't have Peter's gift operating on me to make me think whatever words come out of his mouth should be viewed with humor and camaraderie. I agree with you - it wasn't funny at all. Those words were extremely offensive on so many levels!"

Everyone's eyes widened as they realized the truth. I saw understanding register in Jasper's eyes, removing the disappointment. Nobody had been able to evaluate Peter's words and their effects properly until they heard them spoken by someone else. They had all been condemning me for saying such hateful things to Char, and now realized that Peter was the one who deserved the condemnation.

Everyone turned to look at Peter, and he grimaced. I was pleased to see the large scar on his throat. It would serve as an eternal reminder not to mess with me or mine.

"I'm sorry, Bella," Peter apologized, his voice raspy. "I was way out of line. I know how I felt to hear you say those things to my lovely Char, and it helped me understand in a way nothing else ever has. I promise to never insult or threaten you or Jasper like that ever again."

I watched him suspiciously, inclining my head slightly in acknowledgement, though I didn't fully trust his words.

He turned to Jasper. "I'm sorry, brother, very sorry. I never should have said such hurtful things. It's one thing to tease, but I went way too far. I know we were trying to get my gift to work on Bella so she would automatically trust me, and neither of us realized the dangers, considering her ability to block Edward even as a human. I guess I'm going to have to earn her trust the old fashioned way, and I've only made that harder with my stupid little stunt."

Jasper smiled and nodded, appreciating the sincerity, remorse, and love Peter was sending him.

Peter turned back to me. "The way it usually works, my gift would've ensured that all was forgiven and forgotten, erasing any hurt or hard feelings. As a result, I've never worried about guarding my tongue or thought about how terrible the things I say really are. I never meant to cause such pain and resentment between us. I really am truly sorry and will work to earn your forgiveness and trust."

"Forgiven, but not forgotten, my friend," Garrett confessed. "Your words can come back to haunt us when we're away from you."

Peter's eyes widened and filled with shame, now knowing that he had been hurting people all these years. He could still play pranks and have fun without being insulting.

"I'm sorry for blaming you and not understanding how you felt to hear such horrible things," Char added. "I understand why you attacked. After you turned Peter's words back on me, I was ready to shred you, seeing you only as an enemy who wanted to separate me from my mate, triggering all my protective instincts, and I'm not an hours old newborn. You're right, as much as I hate to admit it. Your attack was fully justified. He deserved it."

Peter winced, hearing his mate's condemnation. It only solidified his resolve to make things right.

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