A/N: A quick thank you to everyone who added this story in their alerts and/or added it to their favorite list. It truly means a lot to me.
Chapter 20- Even the mighty can fall
Jasper POV-
"Son," Carlisle's voice came from behind me, stopping me in the trucks. I haphazardly dumped the pile of clothes that had been in my hand- in the suitcase that I had just been filling, before turning and looking at him.
"Yes," my voice held nothing other than the little bit of respect that I still held for the man, undeserving as it stood, and the sheer coldness that despite trying to, I could not manage to hide.
"I wanted to….." he ran a hand through his hair, the nervousness leaving his skin in waves. "Can we talk?"
His eyes drifted towards my belongings that were all now being packed in the few suitcases lying in front of me, before they shifted to glare at Bella, who was sitting on the armchair in the room- this being my study- glancing over half-heartedly at the few artifacts I had proudly collected over the years.
The only good thing that Alice had done in the past few days, after our divorce had been planned, was that she had shifted all my personal belongings from our shared bedroom to my study, where either way I had spent most of my time before. It helped that I no longer had to walk into our shared space to pack a bunch of clothes or a pair of shoes I had no real need for. I could have always bought these things new, but there were a few artifacts, photos and souvenirs that I did want to take with me, of course, apart from my books, my laptop and the other documents that were required for even a living forever vampire like me. Now that I had no real plans to ever come back and live with the Cullens, it made sense to pack everything and leave once and for all.
I was also yet to talk to Alice- our first meeting downstairs had not gone all that well, needless to point out- about how she wanted to divide our joint properties and the money that was kept under our names in the joint bank account, but knowing the seer in her, she would have already seen the conversation and the outcome that we would be arriving on. Unluckily for me, I would still have to have the conversation with her.
I was so not looking forward to it.
"In private," Carlisle stiffened, still glaring at my mate, annoying the heck out of me by just the way his eyes were glancing over her.
Who was he to come into my room, making demands as such, and then staring at my mate like she was the one intruding on us?
I growled out loud at him, not liking the way he was looking at her, as if she was the dirt stuck under his shoe. If he expected respect from me, he would have to give my mate that same respect in return, or he could very well forget that tad bit of respect, that he so did not deserve.
Bella scowled back at him. I did not need to read her emotions to know that she did not think very highly of this man, not a bit after what had happened downstairs.
We were yet to talk about it as a couple, and with the others who had chosen to be on our side, but this was neither the right place nor the right time to vent out what was on our mind.
We were in a house filled with people who owned supernatural hearing abilities, and that was not something you easily looked over. We would just have to wait for the time when we were alone again.
"Carlisle," I stated, keeping my voice as unattached as possible. "When I come to talk to you about something…. Asking you if I could talk to you, I don't go around making demands such as throwing Esme out of your…her room. So, if there is something you need to talk to me about, you can say it in front of my mate, or you can go your own merry way from here on."
I could feel Bella's eyes on me, the pride she was feeling at my words reaching me, but I kept my eyes trained on Carlisle, waiting for him to react.
"Fine," he stiffened as he pushed the word out of his mouth, reluctantly as so.
I waited for him to speak his mind, giving him the extra few minutes to gather his thoughts. I could hear Esme dry sobbing in the other room as she futilely tried to convince Rosalie to stay back and not leave her and go. It wasn't her fault then why was she supposed to pay for it, was what she was repeating over and over again, but we all knew that in a mated couple, one's decision would affect the other, and Esme would have to bear the consequences of Carlisle's actions. That was just how it worked. Emmett, though, sad to leave, was helping in putting all of his and Rose's belongings in his jeep. They were leaving Rosalie's Porsche behind- it had been a gift from Carlisle when they had last got married.
Anyway, Carlisle had already tried talking to him, trying to convince him not to leave, and I had a feeling that I was in for a repeat.
"Son," he started, laying the guilt on thick. "You know you don't have to leave, right? You can still stay here. This is your home, too. You don't have to leave and go."
I shook my head, a small smile plastered on my face. "I know I don't 'have' to leave, but I 'want' to leave. There is a difference between the two, and this is my decision."
"Is this because of what happen downstairs?" he asked, already knowing the answer to this.
"Partly yes," I stated unapologetically. If he wanted an answer, he would get one. If he didn't want to hear the truth, he shouldn't be asking such questions.
"He is my oldest son, Jasper." he sighed. "I had to save his life. I could not let him die. I just could not." He went quiet for a minute or two before he spoke again. "I asked him to leave the coven, what more can you expect from me? I did punish him for what he had done." he ran a hand through his hair, a nervous habit that he had carried on from his human days.
I wanted to point out the slight flaw in his plan. He had not thrown Eddie boy out because of what he had 'actually' done, but he had been removed from the prestigious Cullen name and the benefits that he had received through it, because he had broken a 'Carlisle Cullen' rule by lying to him and letting the monster in him prevail, which was unacceptable to the man who believed highly in his morals, but neither was I in the mood to point this obvious fact out and nor did I really want to be talking about this, especially not with the man responsible himself.
"I understand, Carlisle. Consider the matter over from my side." I stated with a nod.
He ran another agitated hand through his hair, my words clearly bothering him. I knew that this was one of his weaknesses. He did know when to let go. He expected things to go his way, always, and when they did not, he tended to lose every bit of control over himself.
"Then why are you leaving, if it doesn't bother you?" he said, confused by my words.
I raised an eyebrow at him. "I never said it doesn't bother me. All I said was that I did not want to discuss this any further, especially not with you. You are the leader of this coven and you took your decision. I know the rules of a coven, and when I had joined your coven, I had agreed to follow your leadership, and so I have no choice but to accept what you thought was fair. And about why I am leaving this coven and going, what happened downstairs is not the sole reason for this decision of mine. Even before Bella and I had decided to visit, I had planned to talk to you about this. I want to leave this coven, officially. I don't think my future is connected with that of this coven. That is all."
I had had a good time with the Olympic coven in all these decades. Alice and I had had a good, easy friendship and a comfortable, reliable relationship. I had been close to Carlisle, Emmett and even somewhat with Edward. Esme had been the perfect maternal figure for me and Rose, she had been an almost sister to me, but as they say, every good thing comes to an end one day, and you cannot prolong things more than their journey stands. My journey with the Cullen's had reached a dead end, and the only way forward was to begin again and walk on a different route altogether.
Carlisle stiffened at my words. "If you don't mind, would you tell me the reason for so?"
I sighed. I knew he would not let it go this easily. "Carlisle, I did enjoy my time here in this coven, and I indeed did learn a lot from you, but this is Alice's coven more than it is mine, and I feel that the both of us need some time apart from one another. Also, after being a part of the Mexican coven and then joining the Olympic coven, I feel that I need a break from all this coven business. I would even like to think about being a nomad for a few decades. I did work best as a nomad in the brief years that I had lived as one."
He went silent for a minute or so. "Will you be coming back?"
I shook my head, a simple no. I did not want to give the man false hope. I would not be coming back, not now and possibly not ever. I had contemplated far too long over this decision of being a nomad, and now that I felt that it was no longer just an unachievable dream, I was going to go for it.
Of course I would still have to talk to Bella about this, and whether she would be ready to live the nomadic way of life, but I was sure that we could reach a compromise…..Maybe a few months of following the nomadic life and a house to go back to when we needed a place to relax and spoil ourselves.
He nodded his head, a sigh on his lips. "Will you be forming a coven with Peter and Charlotte?"
I sighed to myself. Had the man even heard a word of what I had just blabbered.
"No." I answered with a shake of the head. "While Peter and Charlotte are like family to me, forming a coven and bringing all these rules in it, would do nothing other than spoil our friendship. Like I said before, I will possibly think about going nomadic."
Peter and Charlotte had always believed that they were a mated couple, with a few several friends who often lived with them in the same house. There were no rules to be followed; no dictator standing somewhere dictating what he felt was right to the others. Everyone had an equal say in what happen in and around the house, and I craved for that kind of freedom, now more than ever. With them around it was like we were a coven, just without the tag and beliefs that came with being a coven.
Peter had once told me, decades back, that after leaving Maria, he had taken one decision that he would be taking to his figurative grave with him; he was never getting chained again in life. Joining a coven and not being the coven leader was somewhat similar to that. While you had limited choice in matters of say, the coven leader's decision was always the final one. Carlisle also had often given us a say in things, things that really did not matter all that much, but in the bigger matters- the say was always his, just like the say had always been Maria's all those centuries back.
Carlisle made an hmm like sound at that, bringing my attention back to the present.
"And, is your mate okay with this…. this deplorable, disgusting, below par nomadic lifestyle?" he scowled at that, using several adjectives to describe his current state of mind.
I would have laughed at the expression on his face if I wasn't so annoyed by his this attitude of pretending to be superior to the rest.
Carlisle Cullen for one had never thought very highly of a life beyond the coven way of living. Nomads were the dirt beneath us, or rather him, in his opinion. He just could not understand why someone wouldn't chose to be civilized when it was an alternative. I was also aware that he did not think very highly of Peter, Charlotte or Garrett, who had been a true nomad for a long, long time, but accepted them, somewhat, because they were still the civilized version of nomads, or what he felt was civilized for being a nomad.
Either way, I had shared a different perspective to life. I had seen the rough and real version of being a nomad, something Carlisle Cullen would never really know, while living and working for Maria, and was aware of what the reality of being a vampire was. I was in no misconceptions of being a vampire. Sure, I chose to stay away from all the gruesome aspects of it, but we were not human, Period.
We could pretend all we wanted, but it just did not work that way….. and I was done pretending to be something I was not.
Living between humans was far easier said than done. It had been a constant life of bearing the bloodlust and pretending like we were meant to live with this pain and suffering, something that I now desperately wanted a break from.
"His mate is sitting right here." Bella scoffed, seeing the look of disgust on Carlisle's face. "Don't pretend as if I have no say in a matter of my life. We are in the twenty first century, you know?"
Carlisle huffed at that as she continued. "And as a couple, we are perfectly capable of taking a decision for ourselves of what kind of life 'the both of us' want to live. We have certainly not asked for your advice on what is deplorable and what is not."
"Jasper," Carlisle turned to look at me. "Certainly you wouldn't agree on your mate talking to me in this manner. I am far more experienced than she is, and living in a coven is the far more respectable way for our kind. We need that authority over ourselves to survive, not losing ourselves to the monster within. You know how quickly the nomads lose themselves and end up in fights they clearly have no chance of winning. You should certainly rethink on this decision of yours, son."
I sighed to myself, rubbing the nonexistent headache developing. I had witnessed the brutal side of this 'authority' that he was talking about, and I had also heard several tales of how advantage had been taken of this simple fact.
Amun, the leader of the Egyptian coven, would not let his adopted son, Benjamin, feed for a month or two if he did not accept Amun's taken decision. The Volturi guard had no choice other than to jump when Aro told them to. They were threatened with dismemberment if they even thought anything against Aro.
This was clearly not what I wanted for the rest of my eternity, and while Carlisle was not this bad or rigid in his approach, I wanted a clean slate from all of this.
Being a nomad sure may be the disrespectful way to go, but it did come with its share of freewill.
"I have thought quite a bit about this and no my decision cannot be changed. And, also in the future, I won't be this kind to look the other way when someone talks to my mate in that tone. So, you might want to remember that."
I stared into his eyes until he gulped and nodded his head, his emotions clearly telling a different tale.
He opened his mouth to argue some more, when Alice's terrified scream pierced through the air, her almost shaken figure appearing in front of me less than a few seconds later, commanding the attention of everybody in the room.
"Jas," she whispered with her voice shaky and her eyes wide in terror.
I knew this expression well of hers. I had seen this look on her face several times over the decades.
"What did you see, Alice?"
"I…. he….. Houston….. He has…." She stumbled over her words, the intensity of her vision rendering her helpless and disturbed.
"Calm down," I said, softly, sending a big wave of calmness her way, a bit of confidence and determination added in the cocktail. She sighed audibly, in relief, before looking at me, the extra help sent her way doing its work.
"What did you see?" I repeated my question.
"Jas," she started hesitantly. "Edward….he…"
"Is he okay?" Carlisle interrupted her, almost instantly, worry evident on his face
I rolled my eyes at that. Carlisle was seriously a confused soul. Why kick the boy out when he was going to waste his eternity worrying about Edward's whereabouts?
Alice ignored Carlisle's question, as she kept looking at me.
"What about Edward, Alice?" I said, keeping my voice firm but even. It did no good to lose control over your emotions and behavior.
"He has gone to Houston." She whispered, looking at the carpet in the room.
"Why?"
I had a brief suspicion, but I was hoping that I was wrong.
"He wants to take revenge on you. He blames you for….." she trailed off, waving her hand in air.
"What has he planned?" my voice shook a bit at that.
No…..anything but that….
"Carl and Liz…. He knows about them from reading our thoughts. He is….." she mumbled nervously.
"What has he planned, Alice?" I questioned her, losing my temper.
He had fucking crossed a line…. Edward Cullen, you have gone too far.
I felt Bella's hand slip into mine and I squeezed it, needing the extra support. She knew how important Carl and Liz were to me. They were my descendants… my family. I would not let anything happen to them.
Edward Cullen had another thing coming if he thought I would forgive him for this.
"He is going to tamper with the electric wiring in their car. It will catch fire with them being inside it. They won't realize it until it's too late. The fire will start near the wheels and the brake. Carl will hit his head hard and lose consciousness before it happens, losing control over the car, and Liz… she will….." Alice shuddered with every word spoken. "They will both die, on spot."
"No," I whispered to myself. This could not happen. I would not let it happen. "She is pregnant. She is going to have a child."
"Jasper, we will stop it." Bella's shaky whisper grabbed my attention. Her eyes were wide with worry and anger. Even Carlisle looked heavy in disbelief at the moment.
"Yes, we will. We have to." I said to her, and to myself.
I had no other choice. I had to save my family.
He knew he could not go against me or against Bella. Bella was a newborn. She would easily tear him apart, and so he had decided to commit this act of ultimate cowardice.
Was he really thinking of taking the life of an innocent couple expecting their first child?
Just because he thought he wanted to hurt me?
He was an asshole… an irredeemable monster.
"Where exactly is this going to happen, Alice?" I asked. "How much time do I have?"
We were in Ithaca. Even if I were to run to Houston, I would still take a few hours at least.
"I am coming with you. They will be coming back from their doctor's appointment. I am not being able to figure out the exact location, but it happens mid way. And, we definitely don't have much time- two or three hours at max."
"Can we try stopping Edward, you know before he….?" Bella asked, leaving the rest of her question unspoken.
Alice shut her eyes for a minute before opening them again, her eyes terrified over whatever she had seen. "No, we will be late. We won't be able to stop him. Going after him before we save Carl and Liz is futile. We will end up wasting precious time. It will be too late by then."
I nodded my head, only one thing on my mind. I had to save Carl and Liz, anyhow possible. I would not let them die, and definitely not because of some maniac who thought that he could mess with their lives in order to hurt me.
That silly boy had not seen or even imagined what I was capable of doing. He wants to be a monster. I will show him how a monster behaves. He wants to torture innocent humans to teach me a lesson; I will teach him what torture really means.
I looked at Bella, my thought process visible in my eyes. I had to go to save them. There were no two ways about this.
"I am coming with you." she squeezed my hand in support, getting a nod from me as the both of us, followed by Alice, left the room and then the house, everything else forgotten for now.
I could hear Carlisle and Esme talking in the background, but I tuned out of it. Edward was no longer a Cullen, and even if he would have been, I didn't give a fuck. There was no saving him from me now.
This was too far gone to let go. Some things could just not be erased from the mind.
I started into a run, taking my fastest speed, as I pushed myself in the direction of Houston. I had no time to waste. I heard the others- including Rose and Emmett- join us mid run, with Alice and Bella filling in wherever required, but my attention was solely on the trees in front of me.
I pushed myself harder and harder. I had never been the fastest runner, my ability was strategizing and getting myself out of the problem, but I was no bad runner in comparison. Luckily I had fed before coming here and so feeding was the last thing on my mind, not like I would have wasted any time in mundane things like this, but still it was reassuring to know that I had my full energy to tear apart Edward into a several billion pieces.
Rose was storming in anger behind me, forming plans of killing Edward with her own two hands, but she and everyone else knew well that Edward was my target. He had attempted to hurt my family, and I would be the one to make him pay for it.
The scenery started to slightly change around us as seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours but the eleven of us continued in our journey. Finally after what seemed like hours of running, Alice's voice broke through the silence, giving us directions on which way to go ahead.
"Here," she stopped near the edge of the woods, facing a road which was clear of cars at this point of time. "They will come from the right in exactly…" she turned to look at her watch. "Three minutes and forty seconds."
"Has their truck caught fire yet?" Bella asked, coming and standing beside me.
Alice nodded her head. "A little near the wheels. They have not realized it yet. Carl will soon hit his head on a speed bump, unable to keep the speed under control, and will lose consciousness. We won't be able to stop that from happening. This was the best place to get them out, no witnesses around."
I nodded my head, my brain forming all the strategies that would be required for us to move ahead.
"Charlotte and Tanya- go and stop any and every car from coming this way. We cannot afford the destruction that would occur if more vehicles were to be stuck in this mess; also we definitely don't need the extra attention." I said to the both of them, who nodded their heads and quickly disappeared.
"Alice, where is Edward right now?" I turned to look at her.
She shut her eyes again, forcing herself to see a vision, before opening them again. "A little towards the south….. not very near. He is waiting to see their car go up in flames."
I nodded my head. "Garrett, Kate and Charlie- stop him from escaping. I want to talk to him once this ends. Do whatever you need to do in order to stop him from running away. Kate, do whatever it takes."
She smirked at me before the three of them, following Alice's instructions left to stop Edward from running away. Luckily we were far away from him so as for him to hear our thoughts and know of our arrival.
Not for long, though.
"Jasper," Alice's voice grabbed my attention. "The truck needs to be manually stopped, or else it will bang into that tree, the impact of which will not be good."
I nodded my head in response.
"Emmett, I need you to stop the car. Be mild, no jerks. Liz is pregnant."
He nodded his head. "On it,"
"Rose," I turned to look at her. "You are the only one here who has any knowledge of medicine. Till we can get them to the hospital…."
She nodded her head. "I will try my best, Jas."
I sent her my gratitude before looking at Peter for the final instruction. I did not trust anyone more than Peter here. I loved Bella, but Peter, he was my brother. I had known him for centuries, and I almost trusted him as much as I trusted myself. He knew how important Carl and Liz were for me. They were my family, and by that respect, his family.
"Major," he interrupted me before I could speak ahead. "The truck is on fire. We are vampires, and extremely inflammable. Even if we come close to it, we will directly go up in flames."
Alice nodded her head, a sad expression on her face. "Why do you think Edward decided to do this? He knew it would be very risky for you to even think about."
I sighed to myself. "Pete, I have no other choice. I have to save them. This is happening to them because of me. I won't force you if you don't want to take the risk. But I am still going to be doing it."
I knew that this was risky. I could very well lose my life trying to save theirs, but I could also not force Peter to put his life in danger. It wasn't fair to him.
This was my responsibility, not his.
He smiled to himself. "Jasper, if I had thought about my safety, I would have never come to rescue you from Maria and neither of us would have been here. Count me in."
"You sure?" I confirmed.
He rolled his eyes at me. "Come on, Major. You know me, I love the thrill and excitement that comes with doing something risky and life threatening, and I have a feeling than even Charlotte won't be giving me shit for putting my life in danger this time around."
I nodded my head, smiling at him in agreement. "Okay, you get Carl out and I will get Liz out. If we work together, we won't waste that extra time."
"Pull them out at vampire speed." Peter added, tapping his forehead. "We won't have any problems."
I nodded my head in agreement. Bella squeezed my hand in nervousness, and I softly kissed her on the forehead before letting my forehead rest on hers.
"I will be fine." I promised her.
"I know." She said, letting me feel the love that she felt for me and the confidence that she had in me.
"I know this is hardly the time… but, I love you." she whispered to me.
I cupped her cheeks in my hand, grinning at her. "I love you, too. Don't worry darlin, we will have all the time in the world."
She nodded her head at me, letting her face rest in my hands for a few minutes of peace, before Alice's voice broke out. "It is time."
I pulled away from Bella, looking at the road, and less than a minute later, a completely out of control car started coming our way.
I could smell the smoke in the air. The fire was spreading, and quick at that, but if we worked fast, it would be possible to get them out and manage to save our lives.
"Now," I let the word reverberate in the air, just as Emmett jumped out of his place in the woods, stopping the truck using part of his strength, and turning off the ignition as soon as possible.
Their windows were up, not a good sign, and while Peter went to get out Carl, I ran to where Liz was.
"Break the windows. We can't risk opening the door. Be careful not to hurt them when you break the glass."
Peter nodded his head in understanding and in one quick minute, I had broken the window on Liz's side, being careful to not let the shards fall on her.
I could feel the heat of the fire come close to me, but I ignored it. This was not the time to focus on it.
I broke the seatbelt that had kept Liz in place, pulling her out through the window as fast as I could, keeping in mind to be mild and using only half of my strength.
The truck was almost up in flames by the time I had managed to get her completely- safely- out, and I ran with her in my arms to where Rose was standing a bit far away- away from the toxic fumes, placing her on the floor. Peter with Carl in his arms just a few steps behind me.
I took a sigh of relief noticing that we had made it out before the car went completely up in flames.
Bella ran up to me and I pulled her in my arms, glad that this was over and we were safe, before pulling back and looking at Liz who was being checked over by Rose. Emmett had already called 911 and they were on their way. Carl was still out of consciousness, possibly with a concussion, but Liz's unresponsiveness and fast shallow breathing was what worried me.
"What is wrong with her?" I asked Rose.
I could hear the extra heartbeat within her, and that relieved me. At least her child was safe.
"She is in shock." Said Rosalie as she elevated Liz's legs and feet slightly, making sure to keep her still.
I nodded my head. "Will she be okay?"
I was looking at Rosalie, but Alice was the one to answer. "Yes, both of them will be. The ambulance will be here in a minute or two. So many of us should not be here when they arrive, there will be too many questions asked. Emmett, Rose and I will stay. The three of you go to where Edward is."
"You sure," I asked her.
She nodded her head in agreement.
I sighed. "Okay, if you are sure."
I nodded my head one last time at Rose and Emmett before running in the direction of where Edward was being kept in place by Kate, Garrett and Charlie.
He looked similar to a caged animal as he tried to free himself from Charlie- the newborn's- grip. Kate was continuously shocking him, making him growl out in pain and despair.
A part of me wanted to feel bad for him, he had been my brother once upon a time, but what he had done today was not worthy of being forgiven. He deserved to die, nothing less than that.
It did not go out of my notice that Carlisle had not even made the effort to save him. He knew that Edward was too far gone to be saved.
He had crossed every line ever been made, and death was the only thing waiting for him now.
"Having fun, Edward?" I smirked at him, as Kate shocked him once again.
"Fuck you." he spat at me.
"Tch, tch," I shook my head at him. "Is this the way to talk to your brother? Where are your manners, boy?"
He growled at me. "You asshole,"
I smiled at him in return, a pitiful smile. How full of pity it was that he still could not understand that these were his last few minutes.
"You know, Edward." I roughly pulled on his hair, making sure that it hurt him. Charlie let him go, taking a step back. He knew that the major in me had come out to play.
"I was ready to let you live." I continued. "After Carlisle took his decision, I wasn't happy with it, but I was going to let you live. I would have convinced myself of letting you go alive. Bella was at least safe and with me. But not after this, this is inexcusable."
"I don't regret it." he spat at me.
"You sure," I asked him, you know, just to be sure.
When he stared into my eyes, his expression not changing a bit, I had my answer.
"Captain, start the fire."
"Sure, major."
He knew what I was about to do. Apart from him, only Charlotte knew what was going to happen here. Even Alice had never known of this torture technique I had once frequently used. I wasn't proud of it, but it was as it was.
Peter quickly started a fire, knowing well to hide his thoughts from Edward.
"You want to rethink on that?" I asked, brutally pulling his last finger out and roughly throwing it in the fire.
Edward shouted out in pain, almost falling to the ground. While dismemberment didn't really pain us much, we could always join back our torn limbs, a part of our body being burnt while we were still completely out of fire, was fucking painful. It felt like slowly being burnt alive but having no way out or to end the pain.
I can't say I regretted it, though.
"No," Edward shouted at me. He was still not ready to give up.
"You sure," I raised an eyebrow in question, pulling another finger out of his and throwing it in the fire.
He screamed at me to end this pain once and for all, but I was really not done here.
A big part of me was afraid to let Bella see this side of mine, I was a literal monster when this side of mine came out to play, but this was who I was. I was the good and the bad. I could not live with one and throw out the other. It Jasper existed, so did the major.
And this was the price that had to be paid when someone messed with my family- be it my vampire one or human one.
"You deserved to see your family die. They deserve to die." Edward growled out at me.
I took another step forward to pull another finger, or maybe a toe, of his out, when Bella's hand on my arm stopped me.
"End it, Jasper, please." She pleaded with me.
Her eyes were begging me to stop, and for once my body complied even without waiting for the command of my brain.
"Okay." I nodded my head at her, the major taking a step back for Jasper to come back in control.
Edward kept muttering obscenities at me as I walked towards him one final time. He was not himself. He had lost himself somewhere in the way. He was not my brother, the broody, piano playing, shy soul, that he had been less than a year back. This was someone completely different. Maria had once told me that Vampires, too, could go insane. I had never believed her before, but now I had a reason to believe her.
He had never recovered from letting the monster in him prevail when he planned to murder Bella. It had all gone downhill for him after that. The person, the human side in him had lost and the thread of sanity that had kept him in place had been cut.
"I am sorry, Edward." I said in a whisper. "I wish it would not have come to this."
I did not wait for him to reply. With one quick step his body had been thrown in the blazing fire, the flames turning purple from the venom that burnt.
It was over. Edward Cullen was dead. The story that had started with him changing Bella had now come to an end.
This was the end.
Bella came closer to where I stood, leaning her head on my shoulder as I wrapped my arms around her.
One story had indeed end, but ours was just starting. We were somewhere near the beginning, waiting for our eternity to start.
A/N: Thank you for reading! The final chapter, a sort of epilogue, will be posted in a few days…..