Chapter Thirty Seven

Bella

I couldn't settle, I wandered from room to room unable to concentrate on anything although the others went off to get me books, a TV, and even a computer to help. Thoughts of Jasper and what was happening to him in Volterra filled my mind day and night and the not knowing was driving me crazy. I knew Charlotte watched me but she said nothing while Peter tried his best to amuse me, neither made any difference and when Darius told me he had finally got word from Volterra I could have kissed him. I did actually grab him but stopped myself just in time.

"What did you hear? Is he OK? What are they going to do?"

"I didn't say I'd heard much Bella but he is alive and well as far as I know. He's a prisoner and I rather fancy he had a run in with some of those he captured to free you."

"A run in? What does that mean exactly?"

"I think his comrades objected to being subdued and handed back to Aro like parcels and decided to show their displeasure in the only way warriors understand."

"You mean he was beaten up? Are you sure he's OK?"
"I'm sure, for one thing, if he was actually in any danger he would have taken them apart and for the second, Aro has a plan and it involves keeping The Major alive."

"So, what's his plan?"

"Haven't got that part yet but it might have something to do with the fact that Carlisle and Esme Cullen are also in Volterra."

I wasn't sure if this was a good thing but surely they would try to help Jasper, he had been a part of their family after all.

"You need to settle down Bella. I assure you if the Volturi wanted The Major dead we wouldn't be talking about his health right now. There's nothing about you on the air so I think you're safe to go home now, the sooner you get back to normality the better."

I hadn't expected to hear that so soon and I really wasn't ready to lose my only connection with the Volturi and Jasper but what could I say? These people had put their own lives at risk to help their friend save my life and now I had it I should be thankful and do something constructive with it.

The next morning Charlotte and Peter said their farewells and left me alone with Darius.

"Make us proud Bella, do something with your life now you have it back and maybe someday you'll hear from The Major again."

I shook hands with Peter and hugged Charlotte before they went, glad that I still had Darius for now at least.

"Are you leaving me too?"

He shook his head,

"Not just yet but it doesn't take three of us to keep an eye on you and they have other things like a ranch to run while I'm at a loose end."

The relief I felt must have shown on my face because he smiled,

"You know something Bella, you're the first human who has ever looked relieved to hear something like that. I'll stay in the background but I want to keep monitoring the Volturi for a little longer but in return, you have to promise me you'll start living again."

I nodded, anything so long as I still had this connection,

"Sure, I'll fly back tomorrow, will you stay here or are you coming to LA?"

He made a face,

"LA presents problems for someone like me but I want to be close so I guess I'll be going with you."

"Why problems? You were there before."

"Yep but you saw us mostly at night and the day we had to act out in the open it got cloudy."

"So sunlight is dangerous to vampires?"

I remembered back to Volterra, I had been outside with Athena but it had been in the evening and when I thought back to Forks that was easy, the sun never shone there, or maybe one or two days a year at most.

"Dangerous? I guess so, it means we can be spotted by the humans."

"How? Oh, is it your shadows or lack of them I mean?"

I felt a fool as he burst out laughing,

"You're confusing us with Dracula, Bella. Come here."

He walked to the window and opened it then as I joined him he pulled up his sleeve and stuck his bared arm out until it caught the sunlight. I gasped then without thinking ran my fingers up and down the glittering flesh.

"It's beautiful, like a rainbow."

He grunted and as he pulled his arm back in the rainbow shards of light disappeared once more.

"Now you see why we can't afford to be seen by the humans in sunlight."

"That's why your car had tinted windows, the Volturi too and maybe it's why the Cullens chose to live in Forks, the wettest place on earth, well in the USA anyhow."

I suddenly realized I was standing uncomfortably close to Darius and stepped back,

"I'm sorry, I guess I got carried away, do I make you uncomfortable? I mean...well, I know you live on….I mean…."

He nodded,

"Yes, I hunt humans to live just as you rely on hunted animals, well mostly farmed these days I guess but you get my point?"

Now I was embarrassed,

"No, I didn't mean to sound judgemental, I was just worried I might make you uncomfortable being so close to the scent of a human."

"Then I apologize and no, I'm far too old to be sent crazy by the scent of human blood, Bella. Like most of us who have been vampires for centuries, I learned to control my thirst so I can live among humans when necessary but before we leave I will hunt then you can be sure I'm not going to eat the cabin crew."

It was my turn to laugh and the tension melted from the room, I liked Darius and under any other circumstances I would probably have fancied him like crazy, he was handsome, intelligent, and witty, but I only had room for one man in my life and he was thousands of miles away right now. That thought stopped me cold, it was true though, feelings for Jasper had crept up on me while I wasn't looking and they were powerful, Peter was right and if so then how was Jasper coping so far from me? Was he suffering as only a vampire separated from his mate could? I hated that thought and wanted to fly straight back to Italy to be with him but I couldn't. He had his reasons for sacrificing his freedom for mine and I would just have to trust him but it wasn't going to be easy.

We flew back to LA the following day and after checking I was safe back in my apartment Darius left but he wrote his cell phone number on the chalkboard in my kitchen and programmed it into my cell phone.

"If I hear anything I'll call and if you get worried about anything you contact me, Bella."

I nodded unwilling to see him go even though I knew he must but when I shut the door on him I felt so alone it was painful. My life had changed so completely in a matter of days. I had been a carefree writer enjoying life and spending my time with my best friend Sally wandering Europe and naively debunking mythical creatures then suddenly she was dead and I was only alive because one of those mythical creatures had risked everything for me.

I sat at the table and stared at the few papers that Sally and I had worked on which still existed, notes on vampires in eastern Europe. Seeing her familiar handwriting hit me hard and I began to cry unable to stop myself. Only with great difficulty did I pull myself together and sort through the mail that had accumulated while I had been away. It was all so mundane but I put those aside that needed a reply and binned the rest then checked the refrigerator and threw away the perishables making a shopping list as I did so. Was I really just going to carry on like this? Paying bills and buying groceries while Jasper languished in Volterra waiting to hear his fate?

Forcing myself to boot up my computer I checked my emails noticing there were several from my publisher, he had a problem with my manuscript. When he tried to open the file he found it was empty, the Volturi had been thorough, whatever else happened my book would never be published. The last had been sent the very day he died in the fire and now the only proof of all the hard work Sally and I had put into the venture was the short magazine article that had been published and the few notes I had hidden away in my bedroom. I had checked and they were still there even if I couldn't use them, to do so would mean death for too many people I loved.

There were also several emails from my mother, each a little sharper than the last, she may be at a festival but that didn't stop her complaining that I was ignoring her feelings with my continued silence. Figuring the sooner I got the evil deed over with the better I rang hoping she had been held up at the festival but I no such luck.

"Well, you are still alive then? I was beginning to think you must have been abducted by aliens or had you just forgotten you had a mother?"

I apologized with as much humility as I could conjure up but of course, it wasn't enough.

"It's not good enough Bella, I've been worried sick about you, where on earth have you been?"

"I was upset when Sally died, I just went off for a few days.

"For heaven's sake Bella, she was just a work colleague, you really shouldn't get so attached to people. What happened to her anyway?"

Renee obviously hadn't heard of Sally's death,

"She committed suicide."

"Probably frightened herself to death after all those silly tales about vampires, I knew nothing good would come of dabbling in such topics."

I cut her short before I said something I would later regret, using the excuse that I had to go to the bank.

"I would have thought you'd have more than a couple of minutes for me, you young people are so selfish."

Before I could defend myself she put the phone down and I groaned fully aware the phone lines between Forks and Jacksonville would be red hot as my mother rang my dad blaming him for my lack of consideration but then he was used to her rants by now, he had a thick skin when it came to Renee.

The call had put me in a bad mood and paying my utility bills and rent didn't help, especially as I had no income with the book manuscript having gone missing. Knowing my bank balance must be pretty low I decided to check and was amazed to see the result, something was very wrong and with a sigh, I made my way to the bank to get it resolved but as I was about to step inside my phone buzzed and the message puzzled me,

"Bank balance correct, don't question it. D."

D? That must be Darius which meant he was watching me, I turned around but I couldn't spot him anywhere then another message came through,

"It's amazing what CCTV can do! D"

He must be linked to the city's CCTV and was watching me that way, very smart!

When I got back to my apartment I found him waiting in the hall although the concierge hadn't mentioned any visitors and they always made any wait downstairs so Darius must have sneaked in. He smiled when he saw me and took the grocery bags so I could unlock my door.

"Are you going to be spying on me full time?"

"Nope, just until I'm sure everything is as it should be. It would have been a mistake to query the bank."

"So, you are responsible for my sudden wealth?"

"Not me, I just move money around for other people."

"Then whose money is it?"

"Yours."

I sighed,

"Darius."

He smiled,

"OK, it was The Major, he asked me to transfer funds into your bank. I think he knew you would be a little short with all this trouble, he was just trying to help."

"Well, you can just transfer it back, I'm not a charity case."

"No can do, The Major is my client, not you. If you have a problem with your bank balance I suggest you take it up with him…...oh right, you can't, well then I guess you just have to grin and bear it."

I sighed heavily glaring at him but it was water off a duck's back.

"Any news?"

He hesitated,

"Yeah, his trial is set for the weekend."

My stomach turned backflips worrying about the outcome but there was no point questioning Darius further if he'd known anymore he would have told me, so instead we talked about what I should do next.