Chapter Thirty Seven

Jasper

After about twenty minutes I had extricated myself from the wreckage without causing it to fall further and crawled to the shelter of a rock overhang to take stock of my situation. The snow wasn't a problem for me or the strong wind but it would make hunting more difficult as most animals would seek shelter until it was over and with the injuries I'd sustained I needed to hunt. The only good thing was that Bella was safe and warm in the cabin. A sudden screeching sound alerted me to the fact the mangled wreck had finally given in to gravity and dropped to the ground some hundreds of feet further down. I gave myself an hour to recover sufficiently to stop leaking venom and allow wounds to close up, then moved out, climbing back up to the road. No one else had passed and it wasn't likely anyone else would as the snow blocked the roads for weeks if not months up here. Already the signs of the accident were being hidden beneath fresh snow and I turned back up the mountain looking and listening for prey.

There was nothing moving for a while then I cut away from the now vanished road into the trees ranging further and further as I searched for elk, deer, or preferably mountain lion. When I finally came across a hibernating bear I dug it out unable to go on any longer. I hated killing a helpless creature but necessity made it unavoidable and the rich warm blood gave me the much needed energy to continue back to the cabin, although if I came across any more prey I would hunt again. I did, tracks of two elk headed further into the trees and I found them about twenty minutes later almost invisible in the snow. I killed them both quickly and drained them knowing I would be OK for the next few days now so I headed back up to the cabin unable to run fast through the deep snow.

I came out of the tree line and stopped dead, I could smell burnt wood and freshly cut timber. What the hell was going on? As I turned the bend in the track I stopped again, unable to believe the scene of destruction ahead of me. With a cry of disbelief I ran to what was left of the cabin struggling in through the snow filled doorway but everywhere was covered in a white blanket of snow drifts, bits of charred timber sticking out like rotten teeth. Taking a deep breath I smelled a familiar scent, Victoria had been here! I'd left Bella alone and unprotected and Victoria had traced her. Had I lost my Bella?

Looking around it occurred to me that Victoria wouldn't have caused this destruction, Bella was no match for her, she would have been in, killed Bella, and out again, without disturbing anything. This had been caused by Bella and her gift which meant she'd put up one hell of a fight, had she survived? She must have done. I looked around for a sign of life, then calming myself with a struggle I let my senses hunt for me. I couldn't pick up her scent but then I heard it, a heartbeat, very faint but it was her and she was alive. With renewed energy I scanned the ruins of the cabin and found a huge mound of snow in the bedroom that didn't look as if it had just blown there naturally. Digging fast I almost fell through the thick crust into the nest Bella had built for herself. She sat among the blankets and pillows covered except for her face which was blue with cold but the rest of her was hidden.

She opened her eyes and I saw she'd made a fist sized hole in the outer wall of the snow mound leading outside so she had fresh air. Seeing me she smiled,

"Jasper I'm really sorry about the cabin, my gift got out of hand a bit when Victoria turned up."

"Victoria?"

It was all I could say, I was still stunned,

"She burned."

I slid into her little igloo and held her through the blankets so as not to make her any colder.

"What happened to you?"

Her hand came free of the blankets and touched a fading scar on my face,

"I had a little accident but I'm OK."

"We have a problem Jasper. The weather is too bad to get down the mountain without me freezing."

I nodded knowing she had worked all this out while she waited for me.

"I think you're going to have to change me now rather than later, if you want that is"

Her words were forced out through numb lips and chattering teeth.

"When the alternative is losing you? Are you crazy? Of course I'll change you Bella, I want nothing more. I'm just sorry it was forced on you."

Her eyes drooped a little and I realized she was very cold already, hypothermic even.

"I held on, I knew you'd find me eventually I just needed to stay alive long enough but I'm not sure I have anything left now, that gift took it out of me."

Saying this she smiled then closed her eyes her hand still touching my face and I knew she wouldn't survive much longer as a human in this cold. I moved the blankets away just enough to bare her throat and kissed her before sinking my teeth into the soft but cold flesh and pumping my venom in, praying her system could struggle along just long enough to pump the venom round and give it a fighting chance. If her heart stopped too soon my venom would only pool where the blood settled and Bella would die.

After pumping in all I could I wrapped her back in the blankets and held her the hand against my face, cold as ice itself. As we lay there together in the freezing cold I prayed to every God I could think of, bartering my body and soul for Bella to live long enough for the transformation to take effect. I listened intently for her heartbeat holding her hand which was colder than my own now and heard it struggling to pump blood and venom round her failing organs. I held her tightly and whispered my love for her and the plans I had for us over and over, not knowing if she could hear me or not, her body writhed occasionally which gave me hope that it was working knowing if she died I would stay buried beneath the snow with her and when the thaw came would find a way to join her in that endless sleep.

I stopped in the middle of a sentence hearing the sounds of someone moving about above us. Who could be out here in the middle of the snows? The sounds stopped above us and then I heard the snow being dug away and tensed. Had Bella been mistaken? Had Victoria survived after all and come back to finish her off? As the darkness was pierced by a weak light I heard a voice above,

"Fuck, I leave you alone for a little while and you get yourself buried with a transforming human, shit Major!"