Chapter Thirty Six

Bella

I wasn't sure what to do so I talked, I reminded Jasper of the first time we met, of the baseball game and the run in with the nomads James, Victoria, and Laurent. How he and Alice had driven me to Phoenix to keep me safe and how we had kissed in the hotel room then waited to see if any of it meant anything to him.

"You look at me as if I should remember all this"

"Well you were there."

"No, Jasper was there, If I'd been I would have bitten you just as James did and taken you away with me"

"Why?"

"Because if what you say is true then I would have recognised you as my mate. Yet here you are, still human and pathetically begging Jasper to remember a single kiss. I doubt it crossed his mind once it was done."

"Well maybe you are right but if so why didn't you kill me when you had the chance? You could have before Faith or anyone else could have acted. Yet here I am still human."

"I can't reach you can I?"

"If you could would you kill me?"

He opened his mouth and I knew he was going to say yes but then something stopped him, his jaw worked and his eyes changed. There was that hint of Jasper and I leaned forward looking into them,

"I know you're there Jasper and I know you can win this struggle."

I hesitated then touched his face, my personal shield melting in just the place it needed to,

"I know this is wrong but I love you Jasper. Please come back to me."

His eyes closed and I could see the violent struggle going on inside his head in his expression which meant I knew the moment he lost the struggle and The Major opened his eyes.

"Very good Bella Swan. So he does feel something for you. Now that makes it even more interesting since my task is to kill you, he will feel that as physical pain and once you are dead he will be too and I will be the one left behind in this body."

I sat back but I didn't stop staring into his face,

"You're wrong you know."

"About what?"

"If you kill me you are killing yourself too. Jasper isn't some individual trapped in that body you want to own. He's a part of you. If you kill me you'll both die, you're just different sides of the same coin."

"Really? Well maybe its a chance I'm willing to take"

"Why do you want to kill me so much Major?"

He hesitated and I saw a frown cross his brow,

"It's difficult to answer isn't it? Shall I tell you why? Because it's not your feelings, it's not your desires, you're doing what you've been programmed to do. The great and powerful Major doing some one else's dirty work for them."

"You have no idea what you are talking about. I'm a vampire, we kill humans, we feed on them and discard the dry husk."

"That doesn't answer my question though. You've killed other humans so why are you here? In this place and why are you fixated on my blood. I'm not your singer."

He leaned forward and his red eyes glowed,

"Are you sure of that?"

"Yes because I'm not Jasper's singer and you are Jasper. It's very hard keeping him hidden, away from your conscious mind isn't it? That's because he belongs there, both sides of you do. Samuel tried to destroy him but he couldn't and you know why he couldn't?

"I'm sure you will enlighten me if I wait"

"Because you can't survive without him any more than he can survive without you. The darkness and the light. Think about that."

He got up and went to the door opening it and peering out,

"Maybe I'll start with your friends, with his friends, as I can't reach you for now."

I shook my head,

"I can't allow that, I wont. You can't leave this barn."

He tried to leave but my barrier stopped him just as I'd hoped and prayed it would. He cursed and whirled to face me.

"You are human and soon you'll need food, water, and sleep, while I don't so who do you think will last the longest? And as soon as those pretty little eyes close I'll rip your head off and drink your blood then I'll start killing your friends."

He went to the far corner of the barn and sat down on another bale watching me from the shadows. At first this worried me but then I understood, he was scared of me, of the control I had over him and he was trying to get some distance so I moved to sit closer,

"You can't hide from me Major, we're in this together. You want me dead and I want Jasper back so I guess we'll just have to wait and see who wins the pissing contest wont we?"

I hoped I sounded stronger than I felt and waited to see his reaction. His eyes softened again and I heard my name on his lips,

"Bella you should go. I can't fight him, he's too strong."

"Yes you can Jasper, you have to. I need you back please"

After this we sat in silence looking at each other both waiting for the other to make the first move but when it came it was from neither of us but from outside.

We had been sitting in silence for more than two hours when his head snapped up,

"Someone's coming. Perhaps my first victim Bella, I wonder who it will be."

I ignored his words as Peter came running in looking worried,

"Look I hate to interrupt this bonding workshop but we've got trouble. The Volturi are on their way with orders to kill you Bella. Alice the witch rang to warn us, no idea why but I can't afford to ignore it as a trick. You need to get the fuck out of here now. Leave him, we'll deal with our friend"

I shook my head,

"I'm not leaving Jasper behind. If the Volturi have orders to kill me then it's a sure bet they are either out to kill or capture him."

"Yeah well Alice may have mentioned something about that but its you who should be worried...about yourself not him."

"You should listen to the Captain, just occasionally he gets it right. You want to live...then leave while you can. The Volturi will kill you Bella Swan and if they do it will save me the bother."

"Oh no, if anyone's going to kill me its you Major. You don't get out of it that easy. If I'm going you're coming with me"

"I'm not going anywhere girl."

"Then neither am I"

I smiled at Peter and sat down aware they could both hear my rapidly beating heart as it tried, unsuccessfully for now, to break through my ribs.

"Fuck! I knew as soon as I saw you that you were going to be trouble so I took precautions"

Faith stepped around him and lifted a hand to me but I shook my head with a wan smile,

"Do you really think she's going to get through where The Major couldn't Peter? Shame on you"

I concentrated and they were both pushed back out of the barn and then the door slammed shut.

I looked back at Jasper,

"Well I guess we wait now for the fun to start."

"You're willing to risk death rather than leave him behind?"

"There's no point in living if you die so we'll meet our fate together. It took me a long time to work out what had changed so much as a result of that kiss and I didn't want to believe the conclusion at first but you can't fight fate. I fell in love with you Jasper and all I've done since I left is think about you. Now I've found you I'm not leaving again."

"He's gone Bella. Why wont you just accept that? Why do you have to be so stubborn?"

"No he hasn't, you're still here and so is he and we live or die together because I wont go on without you Jasper."