Chapter 36

Edward connected his iPhone to the car's speakers and called up Jasper. Normally this went to voicemail, since he'd met Alice, at least, so he was rather surprised when Jasper answered "Hey there Edward!"

"Hello Jasper. Are you alone?"

"Yep. Driving to the ferry from Anacortes."

"You got a car?" Edward was intrigued. Jasper had bought about two cars a year until 1973, but realized this was silly, and sold them in the '80s when they were mostly bumming around Europe and Asia. Edward was pretty sure Jasper sold them to other car nuts, and then kept track of the sixty vehicles or so to make sure they wouldn't get scrapped. "One of your old ones?"

"Actually this one is better than the old one I had!" he yelled. "Alice told me to go to this dealership in Anacortes, wouldn't tell me why, just that I'd be glad if I did. It's a '69 Stingray hard top! In black!"

"Wonderful," said Edward wistfully, although he preferred European styling of that era. He still had, somewhere, the Peugeot 403 he'd bought after Columbo became popular. "So where is Alice then?"

"Oh, she and Esme are shopping. Esme's invited her to move in, since she was just crashing with me, and a lady tends to need her own space, right? I'll probably move in too, but I didn't want to impose yet."

"Well, then, Demetri and I will meet you at our place for a debriefing."

"Oh, I was just gonna go to the Cullens'. She wants us to pick Bella up from school to go shopping, which means I get to drive her truck home." Edward could just hear the glee in his voice. They'd repaired the engine, but of course Jasper hadn't really had an opportunity to experience it. Edward thought the notion of driving that truck to be overrated, even if they'd been there when it first rolled off the lot. (And they'd been in Australia.)

"If no one's currently at the Cullens' place, that's fine."

"Yes indeedy. Hey I'm at the ferry, so I'll see you guys there, ok?" They heard the noise of a car turning off.

"Sure thing." After hanging up, Edward glanced at Demetri before looking at the road again. "The ferry will be the only bottleneck, but I think I should tell you what Jasper is going to want."

"You know what he's going to want?"

"Well, he's not going to want the chance of any more wolves activating, so we need to stay as far from the borders as possible."

Demetri nodded. "And if an adolescent happens to be in Forks when one of us is in Forks, then activates shortly afterward, there's nothing we can do to help that."

"Unless you're the one to meet him. At least then we can track him."

"I meant, what if one of them comes to the supermarket when Esme is there, or something like that?"

"The odds of that are slim. Since they are teenagers, after all."

"Right, right. Well, there's some older ones that could still activate, aren't there?"

"If I hear more wolves are activating than we can handle, I'll just request Jane and Alec," he said, exasperated.

"Aro normally won't let them go together," pointed out Demetri.

"Then Aro can come too. And Caius. And all the rest of the Volturi guard. But I think we can solve this on our own."

Demetri chuckled. "It would be nice if we could just get all the guard here to kill the wolves."

"They aren't just wolves, you know. They're human beings who happen to be able to shift forms. I would honestly prefer if Aro and Caius just let us leave them alone, as they're completely satisfied to be humans that don't shift forms when no vampires are around."

"But Jasper disagrees."

Edward nodded, sighing. "Jasper is far more of a warrior than I am. Always was. Maria brought him past his comfort zone, so he doesn't like to believe it's his true nature - but even before Alice got here, he's been happier planning things here than I've seen him in ages."

They pulled in to the Cullens' driveway and settled in. "So you've spent the most time with this Jacob Black, although you haven't seen him since you two agreed to stop stalking Bella, which was, what, two days ago?"

"Five days!" he said, pretending to be offended.

"Oh, I do beg your pardon."

"That's all right. I also spied on them when they tried to kiss, although that was more like a mile away."

"I didn't know vampires could hear noises a mile away."

Edward laughed. "I meant I listened to Black's thoughts. He found that it was more like kissing one of his sisters than a romantic interest, and the next day she accepted my proposal of dinner together."

"With her as the main course?"

"Don't be vulgar," Edward snapped. "I'm taking her to an Italian restaurant in Port Angeles."

"Oh, so she's dessert then? Sorry, sorry, I'll stop now." Dating a human! So odd!

"These are the things you have to do, if you aren't kidnapping your mate, or meeting them when they're already on the verge of death."

"Who meets - oh, you meant Carlisle."

"And Rosalie, actually."

"Right, right, her Emmett was nearly dead as well. And covered with blood, and her just barely not a newborn!" Is it something about Carlisle's venom that makes his creations almost as masochistic as he is?

"Do you really think having self-control is masochistic?" It was a point of view that many of the Volturi shared, although normally it was confined to thoughts such as "What eccentrics those boys are" rather than "What masochists those boys are."

"Not that you would know, but I think Jasper would agree that drinking human blood is better than sex."

"Granted, I've never had sex myself personally, but I have had the, um, opportunity to read minds during others' encounters..." He stopped suddenly. It wasn't really something he'd ever thought to compare. Sex was sex, he didn't spy on people if he could help it, of course, but sometimes he had no other choice. And that went for humans as well as vampires, and vampires definitely had better sex than humans. How could they not, with all the enhanced senses and sensations that went along with it? But it was true that reading someone's mind during sex wasn't exactly the same as being the person having sex. He couldn't feel all the emotions that went along with it: for example, mated vampire sex was supposed to be superior to non-mated vampire sex, but he couldn't tell why. He knew it was because of the emotions, but he didn't read emotions, just thoughts.

Still, it did seem that mated vampire sex would beat out drinking human blood, although he'd have to ask Jasper since meeting Alice. He pointed this out to Demetri.

"Oh, good point. Maybe I'll ask Emmett what he thinks."

"Emmett's only drank from singers," he reminded Demetri. "I don't think that's relevant."

"But you do think there's a case for the argument to be made, correct?"

"Even if drinking human blood was better than sex, that doesn't mean that Carlisle and the rest are masochists," he argued.

"No, you're quite right there. They're masochists because they hang around humans and never ever give in. I mean, how long have you been able to go without eating before you came out here?"

"I've gone two months before, but that was hunting someone. I don't think I could have gone that long if I hadn't had a specific prey in mind," he admitted.

Demetri was clearly shocked. "Two months! That's ridiculous."

"I know. My average was more like about three weeks."

"That sounds about reasonable," he agreed. "But isn't it harder to go longer in a city compared to sparse populations?"

"Do you think Forks isn't a sparse population?"

"Not sparse enough," he said seriously. "The Olympics are more like a sparse population."

"No one lives there but campers," he pointed out.

"Right."

Edward sighed. "So you're saying that since the Cullens hang out in a city around humans, they get thirsty, and then feed on animals, so the thirst isn't ever fully quenched the way it is after you feed on humans. So this makes them masochists."

"Right. Do you not agree at all?"

"I think you may change your mind after a few weeks of mountain lion," he said shortly. He could hear Jasper's thoughts before he heard the car, but not long before, since he was driving fairly fast.

"Well, Jasper's here, so we may as well table this argument."

Jasper was still grinning about the car as he cartwheeled into the house. "Hey guys! Go check her out!"

The other two obeyed, although Demetri had almost no interest in cars except aesthetically. But Jasper's joy had, as it did, infected them enough to be happy enough to go look at the car.

"I'm going to pretend I've said all the usual car things you're supposed to say, and gotten back to business before the others return," said Demetri after a minute.

The mood shifted. "What's your current assessment?"

Edward explained about the treaty meeting, and then Demetri added, "It seems the best way to get them to break the treaty would be to annoy the younger ones, especially the ones who are apparently friends with Bella Swan?"

Jasper nodded. "Yep. And you, Demetri, get to be the bait."