Chapter 37
I woke up to find myself lying in a puddle, a warm, clear, but wait… expensive feeling leather puddle? Slowly pulling myself to a sitting position, I realized that the puddle was, in fact, my own saliva, which had pooled beneath my cheek as I lay, unconscious, on a beautiful tan leather seat. Fantastic. I looked around seeing that I was actually on a private plane, sitting across from two very large vampires dressed all in black and Victoria was pacing up and down the aisle of the plane. My heart dropped to the floor as reality came crashing down on me. Crap, I was hoping all that had been a dream.
Slumping back into the chair, I stared at the two men across from me. If one didn't know better, you would swear they were statutes. They were not moving, not blinking, just doing a whole bunch of nothing. Wasting space. Victoria stopped her pacing once she noticed that I was up and decided to come over and sit down next to me. This action woke up Felix and Demetri as they shifted their blood-red eyes to her, watching her every movement as if they were ready to attack her at the slightest notion if she were to do something to antagonize them.
I sighed deeply as I turned to look at Victoria. Her red hair was its usual state of dishevelment, her clothes looked like she slept in the woods. It was hard to tell if she had actually been pretty at one time in her life. Most vampires that I had ever seen were stunningly beautiful. Even the two goons across from me were extremely handsome, if one could overlook the fact that they were most likely going to kill me. However, Victoria just didn't fit the beautiful vampire bill. Perhaps if she smiled, or stopping shifting restlessly or fidgeting, or even cleaned herself up, she might be okay looking. My eyes noticed that Victoria's mouth was moving, but I had blocked her out. I had no interest in what she was saying and, now that I knew Felix and Demetri were under orders to get me safely to Aro and they were ready to take her out at the slightest indication that she was going to attack me, I had developed a sense of security, however false it may have been. So, I turned away from her and let her drone on and on about getting my just desserts, finally receiving what was coming to me, slow and painful death, I'd rue the day….blah, blah, blah.
Finally, I'd had enough. "Victoria, are you about done yet? Perhaps you could find the chase and cut to it? I'm trying to enjoy some peaceful time and at the moment I am finding it extremely difficult with you yakking in my ear." Perhaps I was a glutton for punishment, but if I was going to die today, I might as well go out swinging. I noticed that Felix smirked a little at my comment. Victoria's nostrils flared wide as her eyes narrowed until they were evil little slits.
"Watch that pretty little mouth of yours, Buffy. You never know when these two might be done with you and then it will be my turn to play and trust me, you aren't going to like the games I have thought of." She stood up and moved to the other side of the plane, glaring at Felix and Demetri as she moved. I'd probably pay for that comment later, but at least it got her to move away from me and to be quiet. Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard and I'd give my right hand to get her to shut up and move away. However, pissing her off and being rude worked just as well.
"So, are you guys body guards for Aro?" I asked the men across from me.
"You could say that." Felix answered. However, it was more of "You cuda say dat" in his Italian accent.
"Why does Aro want to meet with me?" I whispered.
"I don't know." He responded which sounded like, I dunno know. I giggled in my mind as I made fun of their accent. No, I wasn't on verge of hysteria, not at all.
Why on earth did Aro want to see me? How did he even know about me? What a crazy life this is. My best friend is a werewolf, I'm in love with a vampire, for the second time in my life and I am now on a luxurious private plane on my way to Italy and, most certainly, a very painful death. It was hard to tell what time it was or how long I had been on the plane, but I knew that by now Jasper would know that I was missing. It broke my heart to think of him waiting for me to return. He'd probably think that I had run into Needy again. Oh god, I hope that is not what he thinks. He'd probably hunt him down. God, and poor Jacob! He'd blame himself. I knew he would. Hopefully he wouldn't blame Jasper and start something, but who was I kidding. Jacob would so totally blame this entire thing on Jasper, which, of course, Jasper would more than likely, agree that my being with him put me in danger. Well haven't I done this dance before?
I groaned out loud and put my face in my hands, I wished there would be a time in my life when I didn't continually hurt the people around me. Danger magnet did suffice. No, that wasn't strong enough, I was just like a reactor in Chernobyl. Everyone that came within a certain radius of my being was immediately pulled into my toxic sphere, which was bound to infect them and, ultimately, kill them, slowly, painfully and gruesomely.
Victoria's haunting words came rushing back at me. She had killed my father. She had killed Phil and my mother. All of these deaths were on my hands. Their blood was on my hands. How many other innocent people had she killed in her search for me? I might as well have been the person that did the actual killing, each death was directly linked to me and I was at fault. All those innocent people she would have fed off of while she looked for me were deaths that lay at my feet and my feet alone.
I rested my forehead against the window of the plane and closed my eyes. I could feel the tears soaking my face as they quietly ran down my cheeks. I was never going to see Jasper again. I'd never tell him again how much I love him or be able to thank him for making me whole. I shuddered to think about what this was going to do to him. He had finally opened up to someone and had finally conquered his thirst and now, this. I just hoped that he didn't go over the edge in trying to find me. Looking over at Victoria, I thought about how her need for revenge for the deaths of James and Laurent had obviously taken over her life. James was her mate, the same way that I was now Jasper's, and though that specific term had never been spoken between us, I knew that was what we were. Victoria apparently had thought of and had done nothing else but try to find me for the last few years. I didn't want that for Jasper, but I knew that in my heart of hearts, Jasper would not rest until he found me, until he discovered what had happened to me and then once he did... I didn't want to think about it. How could one person cause so many people so much pain? My parents, Jasper, Jacob, Billy, Raven, anyone that ever came to care about me paid the price, a price that was much too high.
The tears continued to flow as I realized I was already thinking of myself in the past tense. There was no future for me. No future for Jasper and I.
Jacob would blame himself for pushing me to move off the reservation and go to school. He'd say that he should have tried harder to keep me from Jasper, he'd do everything except acknowledge the fact that my destiny had been preordained. No matter what I did, or where I hid, Victoria was going to find me, she was going to continue to kill the people I loved until she found me. She had already proved that several times. We had just been prolonging the inevitable as she would never give up, never stop until she had her revenge.
My only hope was that Jasper and Jacob never found out where I had gone. I dreaded the thought that they might find out that I had been taken to Italy and then follow me. I knew from Edward that the Volturi were not to be messed with. They were the royalty of vampires, the ones that kept all other vampires in line, the rulers that all other vampires feared. The freaking vampire mafia. They took out vampires that became reckless or threatened to expose their existence. From what I could remember, the Volturi had been in existence for well over three thousand years. I cringed at the thought that they might discover that werewolves existed in La Push and that the Cullens knew about them. The repercussions of that would most likely be severe. That would be two strikes against the Cullens. First, they let a human live after becoming aware of their existence, which was the number one rule of being a vampire. Keep.The.Secret. Secondly, they not only knew about the werewolves, but bartered a treaty with them and existed peacefully side by side with them for years.
While Edward had explained to me that Aro held Carlisle in very high regard, I doubted that those two offenses would be overlooked. The Volturi would come down hard and swift on the Cullens, making them pay for breaking their laws. They would most likely send vampires to La Push to take out the werewolves who were now my family. No matter what happened in the next few hours, I had to do everything I could to protect both the family that once loved me as well as the one that always would. I would not betray either, no matter what happened today, I would not sacrifice those who had done so much to protect me. Though the Cullens left when Edward did, I never doubted Carlisle, Esme, Alice or Emmett's feelings for me. They would have accepted me in their family had Edward really loved me and wanted me to be with him forever, I knew they would have.
Thinking of Edward and our past actually made me feel guilty. I felt like such a fool for what loving him had done to me, done to my life and those that I loved. I had convinced myself all these years that Edward was the love of my life, that I would never feel for another the way that I felt for him. Never had I been more wrong. The feelings that Jasper evoked were so much stronger, so much more complete than what I ever felt for Edward. Being with Edward I was always worried I wasn't good enough, that he didn't love me as much as I did him, which, of course, I now knew was correct, but never once has Jasper made me feel that way. I was so positive that Jasper regarded me as his equal, not a frail human being that needed protecting. He allowed me to deal with things my way. He didn't dominate me or convince me to do things his way. His allowing me to make my own mistakes and to stand beside me while I made them, supporting those decisions, only proved that he truly loved me and everything about me. To Jasper I was a strong, sexy, confident woman who was his equal, a person he didn't want to change or mold into something else.
I sighed out loud and noticed Felix and Demetri looked my way. Not bothering to acknowledge them, I stared out the window, thinking of the last few days and how wonderful they had been. My only regret was I hadn't been able to explain to Jacob how happy Jasper made me and how in love I truly was, so he would understand that this was just not a fling, this was total and utter completion of the piece of me that had been missing for so long.
I had never experienced such happiness and knew that if I only had a few more hours left on this earth, I was going to spend every second thinking about the people that I loved.