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Chapter Twenty-Six: Jasper
At home, Bella gently stroked Rose's hair out of her face. She was so grateful to Emmett. He had saved her life.
Rose had been worried about losing Bella but she didn't seem to realise that Bella couldn't lose her either.
She pressed a kiss to her cousin's head and gently got up from the bed, careful not to jostle her and left the room, pulling the door to. She needed to rest. Emmett said his blood would heal her but she'd still need time. They were lucky she didn't bleed out… but that didn't bear thinking about.
When she entered the living room, Edward, Emmett and Nessie were all sat on various chairs and couches, discussing what had happened.
"Did it say anything?" Emmett asked and Nessie shook her head.
"It just screamed."
Bella sat next to Edward on the couch and he wrapped one arm around her and placed the other on her knee. She intertwined her fingers with his and took comfort from his close proximity.
"How are you feeling, love?" Edward asked and if Bella hadn't been feeling so shitty she would have basked in the glow of the nickname.
"Tired."
He pressed a kiss to her hair.
"Rose is going to fine, Bella," Emmett said. "I wouldn't say that unless I believed it."
Bella gave him a small smile—it was all she was capable of.
"Jess will be here in a minute; I want to see if she's ever encountered anything like this."
"Any word from Carlisle?"
Emmett shook his head. "Jake's on his way over too right?"
Edward nodded. "Yeah, he's just running a quick patrol and then he'll be here."
Fatigue began to take over Bella and she was only vaguely aware of Jake arriving and being introduced to Nessie.
The conversation continued quietly in the background and then two more people arrived.
"Jasper?" It was this name that woke her up. Jasper was Edward's other brother. Edward had told her about him briefly; he lived a very different lifestyle to Edward. He was a regular blood drinker and never made any attempts to hide what he was. He was a vampire and proud.
"Not that it's not pleasant to see you but what are you doing here?"
Jasper was a blonde-haired, brown-eyed vampire with a stetson on his head and cowboy boots on his feet.
"We've got a problem," was the first thing out of his mouth.
"Yeah, we know." Emmett stood and embraced his brother. Edward didn't move from my side.
"How do you know? I found out last night and travelled here as soon as I could."
"Well Bella's cousin was attacked…" Edward started and then stopped. "That's not what you're talking about, is it?"
Jasper shook his head. "I'm guessing your Bella?"
She nodded.
"Well I'm sorry about your cousin but that's not why I'm here." His face was serious and his tone grave. "Carlisle's missing."
Bella watched as Edward, Jasper and Emmett strategised, trying to work out what was the best course of action forward. Jessica stood at the periphery of their group, her eyes flicking between the three men but always returning to Emmett. Jake leaned up against the wall and Bella knew he was taking everything in. Nessie was sat next to Bella, completely unsure of her role.
"Why didn't they tell us?" Emmett asked in a hard voice. "As his progeny's we have a right to know."
"Your guess is as good as mine," Jasper told his older brother. "But Amun did tell me this, they think Breaking Dawn took him."
"The Christian Human Rights Group?" Jake interrupted. "The ones who go around and slate vampires?"
Jasper nodded. They'd all seen the clips on the television. The group hated vampires, had a complete agenda against them. They thought vampires weren't 'natural' and despised the fact that they were being treated as citizens and were being given all the same rights.
"They're not so brave to kidnap a vampire are they?" Bella asked. She could feel the tension rolling off Edward.
Jasper turned to look at her. "They're psychopaths. They'd do anything to get their point across. When vampires first came out they would throw Holy water on any vampire leaving a blood bank. It didn't work of course but they're hardly passive."
"Why Carlisle though, why not another vampire?" Bella was curious.
Edward answered her this time "Even though Carlisle isn't a very high profile vampire in the human world, he's someone many vampires look up to. His control around blood is astounding and he's helped many new vampires establish lives. To have him as our maker makes us incredibly lucky."
"If Breaking Dawn has him then nobody's safe," Emmett said quietly. "It's their way of telling the vampire community that."
Silence encased the room—but only for a few moments as it was quickly broken by a groaning noise and the sound of a door opening.
Rose entered into the living room, looking rough. Her eyes were blurry and the clothes Bella had put her in bed in were wrinkled. "What the hell happened?"
It took a second before she realised that the room was filled with people and her eyes scanned them until she found Bella.
"What's going on?"
Bella stood from her seat and went to Rose. "You were attacked-"
"No, I know that—why are there people in my living room?"
"Carlisle's missing."
"Carlisle?" Rose's brow furrowed before she remembered who he was. "Edward's maker?"
"Actually," Emmett's deep voice cut across the room. "He's our maker too." He gestured to himself and Jasper and a flood of colour rushed to Rose's cheeks.
"You saved me." Her eyes took him in and Emmett smiled, his dimples a prominent feature on his face.
"I did."
"Thank you."
"You don't have to thank me."
It was like they were having an incredibly intimate moment.
"You gave her your blood?" Jessica hissed and Bella watched as Emmett tore his eyes away from Rose, his jovial demeanour hardening slightly.
"It's none of your business," he told her.
Jessica huffed and folded her arms across her ample chest.
"I'm sorry to interrupt whatever this is," Jasper said as he waved his hand in the air, gesturing to Rose, Emmett and Jessica. "But Carlisle is missing and we need to get him back before Breaking Dawn decide to stick a stake in him."
Rose coughed. "I'm just going… to get a drink." She ducked into the kitchen, careful to avoid the eyes of everyone looking at her.
"We have to go down there," Emmett said. "It's clear Amun can't deal with it."
"I can't leave Bella or Nessie," Edward said, his eyes finding Bella's. "Nessie's a newborn and Bella's clearly in danger."
"Then don't — bring them with us. We could always use another vampire."
"I can't even fight," Nessie told Jasper.
He just grinned. "Don't worry; a few hours with me and you'll win a fight no problem."
"What about Bella?" Edward asked, his eyes darting to his girlfriend.
"I could be helpful," Bella said and Jasper looked at her, his eyebrow quirked.
"How so? Other than the fact that you smell like a delicious treat?"
Bella smiled and Edward looked uneasy.
Oooh! Finally, Rose and Emmett meet! Let me know what you think the future holds for our little group.
Apologies that this is a day late; I start teaching next week and so this week was a flurry of activity trying to make sure I am ready.
Someone very kindly nominated my story 'Worth the Wait' as a Top 10 Fic completed in January 2021; so thank you to whoever that was and if you wanted to vote for that story I would be very grateful (the poll is on the twifanfictionrecs website).
