The Black Swan: Jasper & Bella Pairing


CHAPTER 49–VALENTINE'S DAY SOMBER SAMBA


Brazil- February

Edward stood alongside the tens of thousands of revelers and bystanders as the drum dancers, samba dance queens and the elaborate floats filled the Sambódromo. It was Carnival! The battle of the samba schools was taking place. First up: Inocentes de Belford Roxo with their homage to Korean civilization and a tribute to the Korean wind goddess. Samba! Samba!

Edward watched the parade of scantily-costumed butt shaking dancers and elaborate and colorful costumes depicting all kinds themes. This wasn't a parade. It was a nation-wide collective orgy. There was no thought – just the drum beat of music and men, women and children letting their bodies and belly buttons sway to the rhythmic beat. Samba! Samba!

In a way there was something rather soothing about being in Brazil during Carnival. The whole country focused its attention on the pageantry of the festival that would go on for days. No one thought about anything except Carnival. The music was so loud Edward could barely hear his own thoughts. It was easier to just give in to the music. Samba! Samba!

Next stop: Anhembi Parque Logo, São Paulo.

Bella would love being here, Edward thought. It would be a perfect place to celebrate Valentine's Day. Except no, it wasn't his thoughts he heard. It was someone else's thoughts. He zeroed in on the familiar but very faint scent that was barely detectable in the midst of all this commotion. He inhaled and followed his nose, but as he approached, the scent got fainter as Rosalie's gold painted body pranced along the Sambódromo with her fellow revelers singing the samba theme song, the enredo, for the Mocidade Alegre .

Amor, vem viajar na fantasia
E encontrar o poder da sedução

It was a samba theme about temptation and the powers of seduction.

Se entregar à tentação
O fruto proibido provar e sentir o prazer

The Mocidade Alegre Samba School would win that competition. But then who could resist a song where revelers paraded in unison and sang about the power of temptation and seduction?

Edward wondered what caused Rosalie to think about Bella. But then why else would Rosalie come out to Brazil, but to taunt and torture him. That was her way. He took one last look at the Carnival parade and vanished in search of a deeper place to hide where he could dream about Bella in peace.

.oOo.

Forks, Washington

On a rainy and cold Valentine's Day Bree was in between her classes when she received an electronic Valentine's Day Card. The message read:

Come meet me in the park after school. I have a Valentine's Day surprise 4 u.

R-

Bree never did hear from Riley again after the wedding. At first she was disappointed. And then after a few weeks went by she felt stupid for thinking for one second an older and attractive boy like Riley would have any interest in her. But she didn't dwell on that for very long. What she did dwell on was the stunt she pulled.

What was I thinking when I took Bella's shawl during the wedding?

Bree dreaded getting that call from Bella asking for the shawl she "borrowed" from Bella, because the truth was, she had no clue where the shawl was. Well, no, that wasn't it. She did have a clue. The problem was Riley was the answer or at least she suspected he was. What else could "surprise" mean?

When Bree came home from Bella and Jasper's New Year's Eve wedding reception, she felt both elated from the festivities and from the triumph in carrying out a dare.

I can't believe I pulled it off.

She didn't dwell on her little coup. Instead she shoved the shawl in a bag and buried it in her closet, waiting for Riley to call her. He never did: that is, until the moment she got his message. In the meantime she didn't notice the shawl was missing until a week after the wedding when she was searching for her skates and noticed the shawl was gone.

Oh my god!

She panicked when she realized it was missing. Where could it have gone? She kept saying to herself. For she had carried it from the wedding to her home. How could it get lost? She wondered if her mother had been poking around in her closet, but quickly realized there was no foul play from within her household. It didn't take her long to figure out Riley had something to do with it.

He played a prank on me. Figures. But how? She wondered.

She was too embarrassed to say anything, and hoped that now that Bella was back from her honeymoon, that she would be too preoccupied with her new life to worry about a shawl. As for Riley he was persona non grata. If he could play a prank on her like that, she wasn't interested in pursuing their "friendship."

She quickly typed a reply message.

"That 'surprise' had better be the shawl that 'mysteriously' disappeared from my bag," she typed back. "Thank you for 'finding' it. See you at three o'clock at the park near my school."

She hit the send key and picked up her books from the locker and went to her next class.

.oOo.

Bella

I slipped on my dress that I wore during the New Year's Eve wedding festivities. I had a date with Jasper to celebrate Valentine's Day. We had been married for six weeks.

In some ways my life was the same. I went to school – well, on a part time basis since I had signed up for an independent study. I still ran most days with Mike Newton, and I saw my father perhaps more than I did before I got married. The Quileutes permitted Jasper to come on their land, but he was only allowed to visit Sue Clearwater's house.

After all my grandstanding, I did continue to stay on the pill, and Jasper and I resumed our robust sex life. We didn't talk about babies and we didn't talk about his changing me. We were taking things one day at a time. So far so good.

Carlisle organized a search mission to find out more about Nahuel. Alice, Peter and Charlotte traveled to Argentina to find Nahuel and get more information about him and perhaps the vampire who fathered him. Emmett was supposed to go as well, but he and Rosalie argued. The compromise was that he would take Rosalie to Brazil where Carlisle and Esme had a private island for a second, third, whatever honeymoon. It didn't escape anyone's notice that the reason Rosalie was kicking up such a fuss was that it was Carnival in Brazil. Alice made snide comments about Rosalie's samba "costume." I had no clue what they were getting at. Although Emmett seemed pretty psyched. They would be participating in the big samba school battle in São Paulo. Oh well, watch out Brazil!

Of course no one mentioned directly that there was a possibility of running into Edward. Alice let something slip that suggested that's where he was. Jasper and I didn't talk about Edward or the possibility of looking for him. I wasn't ready to see him or find him. But when the time would come for the reunion, I was pretty confident we would all figure out a way to move on. We had to.

"Bella, darlin, if you don't hurry, I'm going to have to carry you on my back to Seattle and ruin a perfectly good pair of shoes."

Jasper was getting a little cranky. I was late coming home from school and we didn't get to make love. And now we were running late – according to his clock.

I emerged from our bedroom wearing my blue wedding veil as a shawl. I had been searching around for my black cashmere pashmina, but I couldn't find it. Oh well. I was wearing a fancy pair of high-heeled black Proenza Schouler pumps, a present from Rosalie, so I could look at Jasper square in the eyes when I kissed him and say: "Ready." He kissed me back and quickly undid the bun I had spent a good deal of time arranging. Sigh. God, I loved this man, as annoying as he could be.

"Tonight, Mrs. Whitlock, I want every man cursing me because you're with me and not them."

"Jasper, we're going to a performance. No one's going to notice me."

"Hmmph."

Jasper was unpredictable at times. Sometimes he got annoyed if he thought I looked too attractive and other times, like now, he was trying to show me off. But he was so happy. It was contagious. I was feeling on top of the world.

Jasper held out his arm and hooked it through mine. "Shall we?" he said

.oOo.

Jasper

I couldn't remember looking so forward to an evening with a beautiful woman and with this young and beautiful woman in particular. Not even our wedding. That was an exaggeration of course. We had tickets to see the Cirque du Soleil and then go for a light supper and dancing at the tango club in Seattle. I packed some snacks for her to eat during the drive since we, rather she, would have a late supper. We arrived in Seattle slightly before seven o'clock. The show would start at eight o'clock.

.oOo.

Forks Junior High School

At fifteen minutes past three o'clock Bree sat in a park near her school. She looked around to see if Riley was perhaps around the corner. She checked her phone: no messages. She had texted her mother that she needed to go over an assignment with the algebra teacher and would be home a little late. She figured that would be a much more acceptable cover story than saying she agreed to meet a nineteen year old boy. She was having so many doubts about Riley. She figured meeting him near school in broad daylight was safe. She just wanted the shawl and put the whole stupid prank behind her.

At half past three o'clock there was still no sign of Riley. She let out a heavy sigh that was a mixture of annoyance and exasperation. She finally stood up and texted her mother.

On my way home - B

Two blocks from her home she heard a familiar voice.

"Hey girl? Where are you going?"

She turned around and was startled to find Riley literally at her heels. "Riley?" Bree exclaimed. She shivered. Yes, she was a little cold from sitting and waiting in the cold for Riley, but she suspected that was not why she felt so cold all of a sudden.

Maybe I'm just hungry. My blood sugar is probably low, she thought.

She stepped back to put a little distance between them and said: "You know I waited over half an hour for you. Do you have the shawl?"

A stranger appeared at Riley's side. "Impatient, isn't she?" he said.

Bree was not one for fainting spells, but at that moment her head was spinning. Warning bells were going off in her head. For the first time the fight or flight instinct meant something very real to her, but she couldn't move. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. She opened her mouth to scream. It was still daylight. Someone would hear her. But her mouth was covered before she could utter a sound.

"Tut, tut little, girl. I wouldn't make trouble if I were you," the stranger said. "Victoria hates whiners. Besides, you'll be leading the charge. You should feel honored."

The hand covering her mouth was smothering her. She couldn't breathe. Just as she was about to succumb to the light-headedness, a horrible burning pain took hold over her. The source was her wrist. She was incapable of crying out in pain.

Mommy, I'm sorry was her last thought and then she was lost to the world.

.oOo.

Seattle

Jasper

Halfway through the performance I felt my phone vibrate. I looked at the ID. It was Charlie. "I'll be back," I whispered to Bella and then I got up to go to the lobby to take the call.

"Hi Charlie."

"Hi Jasper. I'm sorry, son. I'm going to get straight to the point."

I could still catch my wife's scent through the double doors. She was safe with me. Whatever he was going to tell me, well, it couldn't be that bad.

"There's been a disappearance, possible kidnapping of two young women from their homes tonight. One of them was Bree, you know, the baby sitter for the Weber's twins. I'm going out to investigate."

"Charlie, what time did the girls disappear?"

"Sometime between 4 and 6pm. There doesn't appear to be any unifying MO. It's like they vanished into thin air. There was a third girl, but they found her body 30 miles away. Same thing. She kind of vanished. We can't figure out if it's one serial killer, or a gang or coincidence."

"Okay, Charlie, I probably need to let you go. Thanks for trusting me with this information and for letting me help keep Bella safe. I'll see you in the morning."

"Goodnight, Jasper. Tell Bella, I …"

"I will Charlie. Good night, all right?" I said before pressing the end button.

Newborns. The news smacked of the shenanigans of newborn vampires run amuck. I would have to keep close tabs on Charlie to get good intelligence and keep a close watch on Bella. I slipped into the seat next to Bella and took her hand in mine. I could see she was worried so I softly reassured her and said: "I'll tell you later. Just enjoy the show, darlin."

I made a supreme effort to banish all dark thoughts from my mind. This was my first Valentine's Day with my wife. All that ugly bullshit going on, well it could wait. I brought Bella to the Tapas bar we first visited when I was courting her just a few months ago. Back then we were innocent. Our biggest worry was Edward. Now, well . . . Oh! Damn! I'm worried.

Bella sensed my mood. Clearly, I wasn't doing a very good job of shielding her from my worry. I was grateful that she wasn't pressing me for details. She was being patient with me. Still, she was picking at her food despite the fact that I knew she was hungry. I ordered a dulce de leche for dessert and custom chocolate truffles that seemed to brighten her mood.

"Have some champagne, honey" I urged. "

Lord knows I was in the mood for some vicarious giddiness. Bella and I didn't get a chance to fool around when she came home from school, and I was feeling a little jumpy, especially after Charlie's phone call. I was going to have to tell her about Bree. But tell her what exactly?

Bella laid her dessert fork on the edge of the plate and looked at me. I had a fleeting image of the young teenage Bree at our wedding. So innocent - not so different from my wife. They could be sisters.

No, not now!

I stood up and pulled her chair out. I bent low to press a kiss behind her earlobe. "Let's dance, darlin."

There was a slow moving song playing where I could contentedly sway with her without a whole lot of steps. "Happy Valentine's Day, Isabella Whitlock," I said as I danced with her.

She pressed her warm lips against my neck and then looked at me with such joy and said: "Happy Valentine's Day, Mr. Whitlock. I love you."

We did a few walking and rocking steps we picked up from the tango dancers we saw in the streets of Bariloche. I stretched out this moment of perfection with my wife, my heart. I twisted her hair back into a bun as we danced to give her the look of a dancer, plus I wanted to nuzzle her neck. She was giggling. There, ugliness be gone!

It was midnight by the time we got to the car. Bella had an early class in the morning but at least she didn't have an assignment due. As I escorted Bella to the car I was struck by an intense feeling of blood lust. It was not directed at us, but close enough. I tightened my grip on Bella and she didn't question it. When we were safely inside the car and on the road, she asked: "Were there many?"

"No, but there was an unusual intensity about it. If I didn't know better I would say there was a newborn running loose and that's not good. For any of us, vampires included.

"Why is that?"

"Because it risks exposing all of us. Even Maria insisted on keeping a tight rein on the newborns. This was the most valuable assistance I provided her."

"Jasper, so what does it mean that there's a newborn?"

"That it's probably not by accident. We have a very careless vampire or someone is building an army."

We didn't speak the rest of the way home. The combination of Charlie's news and my sense of the newborn in Seattle set me on edge. I would have to contact Jake and the others when we got home. Maybe I would have them meet me at the house.

When Bella had fallen asleep I pulled off to the side of the road and called Jake.

"What?" Jake answered the phone gruffly.

"Happy Valentine's Day to you too" I answered snidely and then quickly recovered, realizing that Jake's rudeness was probably being triggered by something.

"Maybe I should ask you, Jake. What's wrong?"

"Paul and Rachel are missing."

A familiar sick feeling was building inside of me.

"Jake, were they in Seattle?"

"Yeah, Rachel kept complaining that Paul never took her out and so he surprised her for Valentine's Day by going up to see her and taking her out on a date. He was supposed to drop her off at her place on campus at midnight and then check in with Sam. He hasn't checked in. And when we called Rachel she didn't pick up her phone. That girl is glued to her phone. Something's wrong."

I was silent trying to fit together the pieces of information I was getting. Disappearances in Forks, near run-ins with vampires in Seattle. Did I really need any more clues? There was no mystery. I could smell Victoria's and Maria's stink from wherever they were hiding.

"What did you want, Jasper? Is Bella with you?"

"Yes, she's asleep in the car with me. We're just leaving Seattle and I got the strangest vibes that reminded me of newborn vampires and I thought we should meet just in case."

"Jasper do you think there's a connection with Victoria?"

"Yes, but I don't think she's the one pulling the strings. I think she has help. But what bothers me most of all is that I think she might be putting an army together. "

Bella woke just as I finished my call. I told her everything that I knew, but not what I feared. But even my fears I couldn't really hide from her. She raised her wrists to my nose so I could smell the blood pulsing through her veins . She was trying to comfort me with her smell.

Now is a good time to change her, I thought. Now in the brewing chaos, we could slip away.

Bella felt the trend of my emotions. "No, Jasper, I'm not ready to leave. Please," Bella said in a clear strong voice. We gazed at each other in the darkness for several minutes and then she kissed me, while she undid my pants. No time to scramble into the backseat, but enough time to pull the lever to adjust the driver seat backwards. Thank god, we were in my car and not the truck. I leaned back with my head against the window and pulled her on top of me. My hands snaked up her gold metallic dress. I removed her panties and then hiked her dress up to her waist. She licked the inside of my ears. Her heart was pounding. Her breaths were eloquent phrases.

"Corazón" she whispered. She teased.

It was more magical than hearing her call out my name. We were locked in a heated embrace with no space and no time. Bella called me her heart. But hers beat for the two of us. Lord, I was so hard.

Bella was grinding her hips against mine. She began her rhythmic and feather light thrusting. I was lost to the world. Nothing mattered anymore except us.

Charlie called back later with news that it appeared Bree had run away with a boy she had been exchanging emails with. There was something in the tone of his voice that made me think he was holding something back. A teenager running away to be with her online Romeo was a little too convenient. But hey, it was a more palatable explanation than falling victim to death mongers: human or otherwise.

At three o'clock in the morning I wrapped Bella in a sleeping bag and brought her with me to the designated place to meet Jake and his pack. It was a full moon. Leah came out to meet me first. The rest of their pack and Sam's pack were hidden in the forest. Waiting.

"Leah."

"Jasper."

She looked briefly at Bella's sleeping form huddled in the low lying shrubs yards from where we stood. Then she looked back at me.

"Paul's dead. We just received word that Paul's naked body was found a few miles outside of Seattle.

"Rachel?"

"She's safe – at least her body is. Paul died trying to protect her from some vampires. He was alone without the pack for back- up so he never had a chance. Rachel managed to escape. She's hysterical. Jake is with her now, making arrangements to send her to Hawaii to be with family after the funeral. She'll be safe there.

Leah was not one for sentiments so I moved on.

"Leah, I don't know for sure what's going on other than this is not a coincidence."

"What do you want? From us."

"An alliance."

"We already have one."

"No, I mean a military alliance."

"What?"

"There's a pattern. I can't yet make out the whole picture, but the not so random disappearances and killings are part of it. I'm not entirely sure that it's even related to Bella. But it's a pattern I believe I've seen before."

"So how is this alliance supposed to work?"

"All I can say right now is that it will take 3 to 6 months to amass the army I think is underway. Depending on how motivated they are it could take less time. My guess is that they will seek to attack the reservation first because they have evidence you pose a threat. Then they will come after us partly in revenge, partly to take over what they perceive is our claim in Forks.

"I along with Peter and Charlotte can help train the pack to more efficiently confront what I believe will be a newborn army. They're going to start testing your defenses much more aggressively. Unfortunately, losing Paul is going to embolden them a bit."

For so long Leah I had just treated Leah as just a scrappy member of Jake's pack. At that moment, under the moonlight with her head held up high, she seemed like an elder - - like the shaman she was aspiring to become. I felt her power and her wisdom.

"Jasper, I can't speak for either Sam or Jake, but I can relay the message. But I'm warning you. If what you say is true, and we become the first line of attack, then I'm not sure that we can spare enough people to provide the same level of security. If it comes right down to it, we have to protect our people and as much as Bella is still kind of family, especially on account of Charlie, she's your responsibility now."

I nodded my head in understanding. "Got it. Anything else?"

"No. I'm sure Bella will get the details about Paul's funeral from Charlie. Sam and Jake will be in touch when they're ready."

Leah turned to go.

"Leah, I'm sorry about Paul."

"Don't be. He will be praised as a great warrior defending his mate and his tribe. There can be no greater honor. He wasn't my favorite person in the world even when we were in the same pack, but I am honored to have been able to call him my brother."

I nodded again. Leah went closer to the trees and then phased into a wolf and was gone.

I went to Bella who was miraculously still asleep and picked her up. She stirred and I kissed her cold soft lips and proceeded to walk home, my mind heavy with worry. Time to plan.

Peter's familiar ringtone sounded as I walked inside the house. I answered the phone. In the time it took me to put Bella to bed Peter said: "We're on our way, brother."

.oOo.