Disclaimer. All publicly recognizable characters, settings etc, are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. I do this just for fun.
Entrenched and Letsjustdance took the time to help me and my sometimes bad English, and to put some sense into this. Thank you sweeties.
Inevitable
Jasper POV
"You brought a snack?" the stranger asked, with an incredulous expression while taking an involuntary step forward, causing my companions and me to crouch into fighting stances.
I tensed and my body clenched, ready for battle, and I almost reveled in the awakening of my long buried instincts of war and bloodshed. It had been so long since I had been challenged. As much peace as the quiet, conflict-free life with the Cullen's brought me, a part of me really missed a more exciting life.
I could feel that this was not going to end well. These vampires were not the civilized ones that the Cullen's were used to; these embraced their dark nature and reveled in it. I could feel their eyes studying us, looking for our weaknesses as any experienced fighter did. I knew that Emmet was a good strong fighter and Rosalie – whom I personally trained - could hold her own, but Carlisle and Esme were tame like lambs, too kind and gentle to harm someone. Edward and Alice, on the other hand, trusted too heavily on their abilities, were rash and impulsive, and had never really wanted to learn more than basic defense or attack moves. If a vampire fought on instinct or had a gift that counteracted theirs, I knew that they were fucked.
I made a quick assessment of our adversaries. Human drinkers freshly fed. Wild, savage and untamed. Nomads, stealing their victims clothes and money after draining them. Battle scars on the neck and torso of both males. The blond one shared the mating bond with the woman. I immediately knew that taking one out meant killing the other one too. If left alive, the surviving mate would turn this world upside down to seek revenge. It was basic Vampire 1.0.1.
The woman was not by far the weakest. No. Her eyes held the arrogance of a gifted vampire. The same as the blond male! They both were; I knew that for sure. I had too many years of practice in the Southern Wars, learning how to identify the gifted ones so that they would be taken care of first.
The weakest one was the dark haired male. I could feel his fear and his desire to get away from our big coven. He was fighting with his desire to flee and his lust for Bella's blood. I also felt a deep bond with the blond haired one. I saw his eyes dart quickly to me and a flash of recognition lit his crimson eyes. He saw my stance and got a glimpse of my scars, and in that moment, if he were a human he would have pissed himself, his fear was almost overwhelming. He knew that I was experienced, knew that they were in deep trouble - something that the other two had yet to realize. I felt how he weighed his options and let his male pride and determination fight that fear. He would fight for his companions. The other two were cocky. Possibly they had survived many encounters and relied on their gifts.
I could feel the emotions of the rest of the members of my coven. Yes, you heard me right. Coven, not family. I respected most of them and we lived together, but we were not a family.
The only person to whom I extended that designation in this coven was my companion of many years with whom I married, Alice. As my wife and someone for whom I had feelings of love and gratitude, she was my family. The others were simply companions for a stretch of eternity. A part from Alice, the only vampires whom I considered family were my venom brother Peter and his mate Charlotte.
I took the front beside Carlisle. The Cullen's, with the exception of Emmet, did not want to fight, but I could feel their fear and their protectiveness of the little human that had been so accepting of us.
I focused on the blond male and on Edward – who was sick with worry, doubt, possessiveness, anger and self loathing, and was the one more capable of starting the hostilities, by losing his temper - as Carlisle spoke, trying to be civilized and act as head of the coven, but he lacked the authority and the severity needed to make an impact, and these nomads were aware of it. He was a good man, one of the best that I had come to know, but his gentle nature was too pure to do what had to be done here.
Edward was our wild card. He was young when he was changed and thus was a temperamental boy. While he was a good person but he was stuck in a Victorian mentality and was given to brooding and moping for no reason at all. His stubborn and firm belief that we were soulless monsters and were all damned did nothing to make him alter his pessimistic perceptions. Only now, after sixty years, I saw some resemblance of happiness in him. All due to this waif of a girl whom he was in love with, his supposed mate.
I knew however, that he did not feel the deep connection that the mated pairs had, maybe because she was human. I also knew for a fact that it was impossible to mate with a human. Mating only occurred when the two were vampires and the venom connection was initiated. The unique scent of each other's venom caused venom compatibility with its counterpart that made both individuals realize that they were made for each other. They would later fall in love as the emotional bond matured, but the first earth shattering moment would be when they smelled each other's venom.
I have seen it pass between Peter and Charlotte and with many other mated pairs; it was immediate, overwhelming and absolute. There was no escape or denying it. It was impossible to be away, or to be separated from one's mate. It was impossible to even think of such distance.
It was also impossible for a male not to claim the female and I knew for a fact that Edward allowed himself no physical intimacy with Bella. Charlotte, Rosalie and Esme had been claimed physically hours after the venom connection had been made. In Charlotte's case, maybe due to the stress we lived in at the time, it was minutes after she awoke and in the middle of a training field. Before I could see and understand what was happening Peter was buried inside of her, and his teeth were latched on her neck. They had been inseparable ever since.
I had tried to explain this to Edward and his family, but he was so in love, so blinded by the feelings of love and desire that he felt for the first time in his life that refused to see reason. The others were so happy for their enamored son and brother that they asked me to leave him alone, that even if they were not mated, he could at least have some measure of happiness with a companion that was obviously infatuated with him also. I let it go, but told them that this would only end up in suffering for one or both of them.
I felt the determination of the blond male and the increase of his bloodlust for Bella's sweet blood, and I watched as he stepped forward. It was all that it took. Edward, losing the battle with his protectiveness over the girl he considered his, lunged forward and tackled the blond male to the ground in a fury of teeth and claws, and all hell broke loose.
I shoved the dark haired male away as he tried to lunge for Alice, who was now protecting Bella, as Edward's stupid action left his so called 'mate' unprotected. Even though we were not mated, Alice had saved me from hell and I owed her more than I could count. She helped me find my humanity and my sanity and I loved the bubbly pixie, who wanted nothing more than to see everyone happy.
I looked around to see where the others were when someone tackled me to the ground and a searing pain shoot through my arm. I looked to see the dark haired male's teeth attached to my shoulder.
'Son of a bitch! '
I struggled with him trying to make him release me by biting everywhere where I could. In the distance I heard a scream and a terrible screeching sound. Moments later I saw Esme's head flying through the air. Carlisle completely lost his composure and abandoned his battle with the woman. He roared in pain and shoot like an arrow between the fighters with Esme's body in his arms in an effort to get her head, leaving Emmet and Rose to deal with the red haired woman.
I gave a small thanks to God that those wounds were not fatal to our kind. But they took several days to heal and the vampire would be dizzy, for lack of a better word for a few days as his neural connections reconnected. It was one of the worst kinds of wounds to be done to a vampire and extremely painful. I knew that from experience, I had 'lost my head' more times than I liked to remember. I knew that the woman was now toying with both Emmett and Rose, their snarls and growling tinted with frustration. She was indeed gifted as neither of them could keep a grip on her long enough to hurt or to stop her.
It happened in a split second; I heard Edward's scream of pain and the familiar shrieking of metal that indicated that a vampire limb had been ripped off. I got the upper hand on my own fight when I ripped the arm of my attacker and grabbing his head I twisted it and severed it from his body, tossing it away. Immediately I looked at Edward, seeing that he was on the other side of the field and saw that he was in bad shape. One of his arms was almost severed, hanging limply by his side and the other was heavily bitten, leaking huge amounts of venom.
'Stupid boy, he never learns that he must learn how to fight!' I thought to myself in exasperation.
He stood shakily from the ground as I threw myself across the empty space to give Alice some backup. Before I could reach her, the blond one rip off one of her legs, sending her crashing down to the ground and exposing Bella. I roared at the pain that she was feeling and her desperation as I saw, as if in slow motion the bond man lunge for Bella. He latched onto her arm before I could catch him. If I managed to bite his neck his survival instincts would make him remove his teeth without ripping Bella's flesh.
But, in his panic, incapable of thinking clearly, Edward, who had just arrived, made the mistake of ripping him brutally from Bella's arm. As a result he ripped a huge chunk of flesh. Her scream was shattering and she slumped to the ground, her blood gushing out from the gaping wound. I was overcome with the bloodlust of everyone in this field, but due to my control, I got to keep my head clear. The other Cullen's managed it as well, but Edward lost his battle with his demon.
Instead of taking down the attacker, he was overwhelmed by his blood lust and immediately latched himself to the gaping wound, pulling her to him by his good arm. I cringed as I heard the sound of her ribs cracking. Despite Bella's terrified, week pleas and feeble attempts of getting away from him he did not relent. The sight broke my heart. She was going to die by her love's hand and that would destroy Edward.
The blond male, feeling thwarted that he had lost his meal, managed to lunge again at Edward but I grabbed him by the leg, and using my body as leverage I slammed him into the ground, behind me and away from Edward. Pulling myself on top of him I ripped his arms and decapitated him in a single move, tossing the head away. I would burn him later.
I registered the roar of fury of the blond one's mate, but I knew that Emmett got it covered. I rushed towards Edward. He was draining Bella dry. I no longer heard her pleas and she was almost dead. I prayed that it was not too late. I knew what I had to do. Even before he understood what was happening I bit the back of his neck. The pain made him lift his head, snarling and growling and I ripped off his good arm and pulled the other one, dropping them to the ground and throwing him across the field at the same time. That would buy me some time to do what had to be done. Looking into Bella's face I saw that she had already lost consciousness. Her face was paler than ours and her heartbeat was labored. Her clothes were thorn, leaving her bruised body showing, she was bloody and her arm was a mess.
I picked her up gently in my arms, she was cold to the touch and I could feel that she was going to die. She had lost too much blood and Edward had left no venom in her. But something in me stirred. I could not let her die. She was precious and I could not figure out why. It only registered to me as a weak thought on the back of my mind, that I felt absolutely no wish to drain her. Her blood, as sweet as it smelled didn't even register. All I knew was that I would not let her die.
"I am so sorry, little one. I wish I could ask you what you want. But I can't let you go."
Gently, as I had never been in my life, I bit her neck, pumping as much venom as I could. I repeated the operation on her wrists and on her legs, and finally, when I felt her heart failing, I bit directly into it, pumping huge amounts of venom.
There was nothing to be done for the wound in her arm. Even my venom would be incapable of healing it. It would close but it would remain a scar on her vampire body. She would have that bit missing for eternity. I did what any merciful person would do. I picked up her arm and licked it, pumping venom inside and gently pulled the edges together, trying to make my venom to glue the flesh together. Her arm would be heavily scarred, but functional. Providing that she survived, of course. I laid her on the ground, ripped a stretch of fabric from her shirt and tied it tightly around the gash; it would keep the edges together.
I waited. For a long moment her heart stopped but then, in what looked like the longest seconds of my life, it stuttered. One. Two. Three. It picked up speed. Her change had started and now we had to wait. I covered her body with my shirt and with a last look at her turned to finish this mess.
I knelt by my Alice, quickly assessing her. Her only injury was her leg, and her pride; both of which she would recover from.
"Alice, go stay with Bella and don't let Edward anywhere near her," I said to the little pixie that was reattaching her leg. Sadness and grief covered her like a blanket and I was tempted to ask what was going on but now was not the time.
"Jasper, we have to finish the woman...if we don't…," she told me with a weak voice, her pain still overwhelming. I nodded before going to help Emmett. Rose was on the ground nursing one arm, her sleeve was gone and I could see two bite marks. She was spewing a steady curse of profanities, and Emmet was crouched in front of her, beside himself with anger.
I did not need to intervene. In a quick move he grabbed the woman's hair as she was distracted by my appearance and threw her at me. I pulled her to me, my arms like a vice around her torso, keeping her from moving, and lowering my mouth to her neck I bit savagely several times, severing her head. I dropped her to the ground in disgust as he looked at me. It was over. We had won, but there were lessons that needed to be considered.
"This bitch wanted to kill us. She bit…,"he snarled. He kneeled by his mate's side and pulled her into his lap, taking her arm and licking it slowly, to close the wounds. Her soft whimpers were matched by his answering purr as he attempted to comfort her.
"I know Em, but now, I need you to give me a hand with this mess." I looked pointedly at where Edward was getting up from the ground and at Bella's writhing form on the ground, her head on Alice's lap.
"But Rose needs…,"I interrupted him.
"Em, I know that you want nothing more than to take Rose to safety but we are the only ones in any shape to do anything." He looked at me, and I saw him steeling himself to do what had to be done.
"Jay, where…what…?"
"I took care of both males. Bella is changing. Edward lost control of his thirst after the nomad bit her and let's just say that I did what I had to do to save her life. We almost lost her. Alice is wounded, but her leg is healing. I ripped both of Edward's arms to get him away from Bella and threw him over there," I nodded with my head to the line of trees where Edward was getting up on shaky legs, "Carlisle is behind those boulders, Esme got it bad," I sighed, "I need your help . We must burn the pieces. Rose, darling?"
She looked at me, a pained look.
"I never wanted this life for Bella, Jasper. Edward did what I knew he was going to do. He destroyed her life by dragging her into our world," she sobbed.
"I know Rosie, but now I need your help too. Can you take care of Esme, Bella and Alice? We must take them home, and then Alice must leave with Bella. Leave the Jeep. Pack only the essentials and leave everything else, one bag a person. Carlisle, Emmet and I have some work to do and Edward is useless."
She nodded and with a passionate kiss to Emmett went to Bella's and Alice's side.
I went to Carlisle while Emmett went to Edward. I saw him pick up limbs and heads along the way. I approached the usually kind and collected vampire. He had his unconscious mate on his arms, cradling her and I could feel his raging emotions. Love. Protectiveness, anger, pain and sorrow. Shame. Disappointment. Self loathing.
'Oh, Carlisle!'
"Carlisle," I called gently as to not disturb his edgy instincts.
He tensed but then I felt recognition. The shame, guilt and self loathing almost swallowed him whole. He refused to meet my eyes. He felt that he had failed us, and his disappointment in himself was overwhelming.
"Jasper…I am so sorry…I failed you all…I just couldn't…"
I knelt down by him and put an understanding hand on his shoulder.
"Carlisle, you did what any mated male would do. You protected your female. She was badly wounded, and anyone would do the same. Don't blame yourself, Esme needed you. We handled it."
"Not we, you handled it. I just lost it. If not for you they would have killed us all. What kind of coven leader am I?"
"One with a heart, Carlisle." I responded but he just shook his head, the shame and sadness claiming him once more. "You cannot blame yourself for what was out of your control. We won. Now there are things that we must address. Bella is changing. I did all that I could for her, but she must leave. We have to stage hers, Edward's and Alice's deaths as Bella will need someone to stay with her, and we must get the hell out of here. I need you to get a grip and let Esme go with Rose and Alice to the house to start packing the essentials. Then I need you to go procure us bodies, a male and two females and we need to stage an accident with Emmet's jeep. We must stay here long enough for Bella's burial and then we will leave to mourn our loss."
He just looked at me silently, completely lost. I send him a wave of awareness and fear. I knew that his fear for his family's safety would jolt him out of his shocked state.
"Carlisle, we need you now. Get a grip," he nodded and seemed to leave the stupor that he was in. Standing, he took Esme to Rosalie and handed her over to his daughter. Kneeling by Isabella, I saw him take her bloody shirt, and then pick Alice's vest. He exchanged some words with his pixie daughter and I saw Alice respond by closing her eyes, certainly searching for a vision. She snapped out of it and nodded. He kissed her forehead and as he came back to me he seemed to be in deep thought.
"We won't need bodies. We can drive the car to some cliffs outside the wolf's territory…with this storm it will look as if the car swerved and fell down into the ocean. If we plant some clothes of theirs in the car, everyone will think that the bodies were washed away by the ocean. I will stage the scene. I know how to make it credible."
I nodded, even though we had no signs of the shape shifters being back, Carlisle was adamant about respecting the eighty years old treaty and its territorial limits. To me it was fine, as long as it helped to clean this mess. I looked at Emmet as I smelled the sickly sweet scent of vampire flesh burning. He was tossing the last limbs in the fire while Edward, his two arms already attached, stared at the flames. His nearly crimson gaze gave away what he had done and his expression was empty, his emotions numb. I didn't know if he would recover from this.
"Take care of that then, but you must be at the house at 19.45. The story will be that we finished the baseball game and then the three of them went to take a ride," I looked at my watch, it was 17.30 pm, night was falling, "at 20.00 we will call Chief Swan to see if they are there. When he says no, we will tell them that they left us at 17.40 and went for a ride. Afterwards we will comply with everything he asks."
He nodded and took off, getting on the jeep after retrieving Edward's cuff.
I rushed to join Emmett and Edward. He was irresponsive and I decided to let him be, but he needed to hunt and then get the hell out of here.
"Edward!" he looked at me with orange eyes, burnished with Bella's blood. But I could feel his emotions now. Sadness, pain, sorrow, shame, guilt, self loathing, hatred, disappointment. He looked every bit the lost teenage boy that he was. Sheltered and incapable of coping with this mess. I raked a hand thorough my hair, wincing when I felt the venom of the bite on my shoulder made by dark haired one, stinging. It would take some hours for the pain to ebb.
Man, if a vampire could feel tired I am sure I would have been. I felt like this family just crumbled in a matter of hours. I needed Edward to get away from here and hunt. Then head to the new house to set everything ready for a newborn vampire. I would have to be stern with him if I wanted to take him out of his misery.
"I know that you are sorry. And that you didn't mean to do it, but we have things to do. We have to cover our tracks. You can brood later, but we need you to get your shit together. You must leave. Go hunt to help your healing and then head to Rosalie's house in Neah Bay and prepare it for us. You know where it is?" he just stared stupidly at me. I reached down and shook him harshly.
"Edward, do you understand what you have to do?" he looked shocked for a moment before swallowing.
"Bella…I…." he started to sob.
'Jesus…emotional teenagers in love!'
"Bella is none of your concern right now. She is changing and there is nothing that you can do. You will see her soon enough, just get the house ready." I almost flinched with the amount of disgust, self hatred and loathing that he felt when he heard she was turning. "I know your thoughts about the subject but I was not going to let her die. It was not you that turned her, it was me. She didn't deserve to die like that." I told him harshly. He looked at the field and at then he took off. Not as fast as usual due to the huge amounts of venom that he lost.
"Em, do you found all the parts?"
"Yes, all is done. I burned the bastards. We should be going now. Man, Bella will have to travel while changing. It already hurts so much. I hate this."
"I know Em, me too! But we must do this now. Our time frame is limited and we must secure our side. Let's go."
We ran full speed to the house. Even from the distance we could hear Bella's screams.
'Poor girl!'
The next hours were a flurry of movement and action. Our most prized possessions were put into boxes and hidden in my truck. Alice, who was still in pain but ignored it to do her part, left with a screaming Bella laying on a cocoon of blankets in the back of her Porsche. Esme woke up but as expected was dazed and confused. We all showered and changed clothes, and Rosalie even made a mockery of a meal, so that if someone came to the house, our alibi stood strong.
Carlisle arrived almost on the dead line, his clothes thorn and filthy. At 20.00 he called Chief Swan, pretending that they had escorted Bella home and asking him if they were still there. As expected he was surprised by our call and didn't know where they were. Carlisle told him the story that we had concocted and that we were incapable of reaching their phones. He promised to say something as soon as he had some news and he was heading for the station to see what he could do.
It was 21.30 when we heard the frantic sounds of the police cruisers rushing towards the coast.
"The gas tank was full. It made a bright fire. I made sure that it was seen," Carlisle said with an ominous voice. Emmett followed them and saw when Chief Swan got confirmation that it was the Cullen's Jeep and mobilized all resources that he could.
By midnight, a deputy sheriff came to our house, sorrow and sadness surrounding him as he gave us the news. We didn't need to pretend our horror to the news that our brother, sister, plus Bella were dead. Esme's knees buckled as she was still incapable of standing for a long time, and Rose and Emmet just held each other while they sobbed. The phone started ringing but we dismissed any offers of help or company.
We got news from Alice. By dawn she had reached the house. Edward was already there but Alice shooed him away from Bella because all he did was sob and ask for forgiveness, saying that he was the worst kind of monster and that she should have stayed away from him and from us. Afterwards, he had been so convinced that she was going to hate him that he didn't even go to see Bella. Alice was with her and the change was progressing. She told us that no one would blame us for leaving. By that time we were fulfilling our role as a grieving family. The whole town was in an uproar about the accident. They didn't link anything to us.
By the end of day two, our most prized possessions were already stored in a storage unit in Seattle and Carlisle visited Chief Swan to make the arrangements for the memorial. I had made myself scarce during this time. It helped to keep the façade of grieving boyfriend as the others had to make painful public views and statements.
I only went to the Chief's house with Carlisle to pay my respects and to tell him that I had to get away from Forks as it was too painful to stay with all the memories. I even told him that I was going to Texas to be with family friends. He simply hugged me and said that he wished that he could do that too, and then wake up and realize that this had been a dream.
We got to meet Renée and Phil, but only briefly as they were both too overwhelmed by grief and pain to really be hospitable. Chief Swan was more composed and controlled. He understood my need to get away and wished me well, telling me that one day I would love again, to not give up. We left a few moments later, when I felt his friends from the reservation coming. He would have support through this.
We arrived home and my truck was already in the driveway.
"Thank you for being our rock, son. Call when you arrive. I think that we will be going tomorrow after the ceremony. Give my love to Bella, Alice and Edward." With a friendly squeeze on my shoulder he went inside the house.
I entered my truck and headed out of town. Alice would need an experienced hand when Bella woke up because Edward, at the moment, was caught up in his misery to be useful.
The ceremony, discreet and tasteful was arranged for the next day with a small group of invited people only, and then the Cullen's too would leave. I looked at the passenger seat and saw a large duffel bag. I immediately knew what it was. Emmet had managed to break into Bella's room and took some pictures of her human life, of her parents and family and friends. These would be a great comfort for her.
I drove all night to the northern part of Washington State, where Rosalie's house was in Neah Bay. It was a secured location, situated on an isolated cliff, with no neighbors for miles and surrounded by forest. According to Alice's information's, Bella had one more day of change. As she had lost enormous quantities of blood, the venom had a harder time spreading.
I reached the house and heard her screams. I could hear Alice trying to comfort her and help her, but Edward was not present.
'Damn that boy!'
I rushed to the room and Bella was no longer the innocent, sweet human that she was before. In her place was a goddess. Her scent was the most alluring that I had ever smelled and her figure was a sin. In the place my heart used to be a strange tug was forming. Pulling me towards the beautiful woman lying on the bed. Her legs were miles long and shaped. Her hips and breasts had filled and she was now a voluptuous woman. The gash in her arm had closed but had left a huge and nasty looking scar with the shape of a circle. With long sleeves she would be fine. Her hair was also considerably longer and darker that it used to be. She looked older than her seventeen years. She always seemed a bit more mature than her peers, but now she could pass easily for nineteen or even twenty.
Alice was looking at me, the same sorrowful, pained expression on her face. She looked as if she could cry at any moment. Something was up.
"What is it, Ali? Why are you so sad?" I asked her as I closed the distance to embrace her. She was so small. I send her all the tenderness I felt for her. Many times I had wished that she was my mate, but it was not meant to be, we loved each other, we had great sex together, but we were not in love with each other. She was a ball of energy of pure and loving feelings wrapped in a very small package. She sighed as she melted into me, all the while keeping her eyes on the moaning Bella.
"I had a vision. It was clear, set in stone. She is coming. Your love is coming now!"
If she had told me that I was the missing link in the evolution chain I would not be more surprised. Of course we had talked about our true mates – which she could not see clearly - and how happy we would be with them, but now that she had had a vision of mine, it seemed somewhat unreal.
"Are you sure, Ali? When? Where? Who? How?!" I was frantic, my mate was coming. My completion, my love, my everything. Suddenly I could not wait to meet her, to see her.
She smiled a watery smile and just hugged me tighter. I could feel her happiness and at the same time her sadness. We were saying goodbye and starting a new life. But I could not understand why my eyes kept wandering towards the screaming Bella whose scent was becoming more alluring by the minute.
It truly fortified my earlier reasoning when I said that she could not be Edward's mate. If to me, her scent was becoming the most delicious thing that I had ever smelled; to him it should be mouthwatering. He would not be able to leave her side.
"Jasper, I want you to know that it will be okay, even if things seem to have turned badly. The divorce papers are with Jenks already. We cannot fight against fate. Everyone will understand…and you will always be my best friend," she stopped as Bella gave out a particularly high pitched scream and my little pixie moved to her side and took hold of her hand to comfort her. I felt a brief pang of something in my heart when I saw Alice kiss her forehead and a thought crossed my mind, it should have been me that was kissing her.
I frowned at the direction of my thoughts. It was not good to think things like this about Edward's girlfriend. I noticed that Alice was looking at me with a small smile on her face.
I stood in the room with them for hours. I tried to send the moaned and pain ridden Bella all the calm and love that I could conjure to help her. Alice never left her post by Bella's side, showing her how much she loved her and how much she wanted her to wake up. Edward only came in once briefly before taking off into the wilderness. He wasn't coping with what had happened and I had my doubts that his relationship with the girl would work. Some hours later we could see that Bella's change was almost over.
"The family will come in three minutes and Edward too. Go meet them. She will wake up in an hour tops."
I nodded and felt strangely reluctant in leaving the room. The strange tug in my gut way getting stronger as time passed. I forced myself to go downstairs and to open the door. As she had said I saw the lights of Emmet's and Rosalie's BMW and of Carlisle's Mercedes come into view. From the side of the house that faced the Pacific Ocean came a disheveled Edward.
I could not believe that this was the same boy who was so in love a few days ago. He hadn't changed his clothes since the mess in the clearing, and even though he had obviously fed he looked like a ghost. A mere shadow of the man that we all knew and liked. It was obvious that he was taking this hard.
"Edward, my son, how are you?" Carlisle asked, worry and concern flowing from him.
He didn't answer. He just looked at his father figure with tortured eyes, the shame, the guilt, the anger, the self loathing, the disgust and hatred so strong that I gasped and winced. My gasp startled the others, forcing everyone gathered in front of the house to rush into action. Esme grabbed Edward and flew into the house with her dejected son dragging behind her like a worn doll. This gave me the necessary time to compose myself.
"Oh, Edward, what have you been doing to yourself? You should be happy, she is alive and she will be with you. You have a chance on happiness," I heard Esme talk to him in the house.
"Happiness? What happiness can a monster like me have, Esme? And now Bella will be one too, her immortal soul destroyed because of me." My growl was followed by several others, startling the boy.
'Him, and his self deprecating theories really were getting on my nerves.'
Rosalie put a calming hand on her husband. Emmett was ready to throttle Edward. He too, was tired of the same talk every day.
"Edward Cullen! I know that you are hurting right now, but I won't allow you to speak of us, of Bella on that manner. What happened was unfortunate but no one here is a monster, not even you. No matter how much you think you are," Carlisle's tone spoke with finality and I heard Edward's mumbled excuses.
"Jerk!" Rosalie said, and then she looked at me, her eyes inspecting me closely.
"You look happy, is something the matter?"
I could not hide my grin, "Alice has seen my mate. She is coming. She will be here soon."
Emmett stepped up and patted my back.
"I am really happy for you, mate. You deserve it. It will change you."
Rosalie was smiling too and I felt her happiness for me. A particular high scream from the house brought us back to business.
"Alice is inside with Bella, she will awake soon. Emmett, we will need to go hunt with her as soon as she wakes. Edward is not of any use and may even say something that may hurt her if he sees her hunting. Rose, I know that I will ask too much of you in the next weeks, but I need you to be here for her. She will need your input on things."
Alice and Esme were capable of being a bit overbearing; even more so with the conditions in which Bella was turned. Rosalie was going to be the necessary counter weight. She would be impartial and completely honest with Bella.
"Jasper, come now!" Alice's frantic scream alerted everyone in and outside the house. With swift movements, we made our way inside and up the stairs where Carlisle, Esme, and Edward stood just shy of the entrance to where Alice and Bella were. I was pleased to see that they differed on me in this situation, allowing me entrance first.
The alluring scent in the room was even stronger. It was making my mouth water and my body ached with the need to be nearer the source of this wonderful fragrance. My cock was painfully hard and I was feeling a lust like I never, ever felt in my life. I had never felt anything like this. I wanted to gather this female in my arms and drown in the scent that came from her skin. I wanted to drink it and bathe in it until there was nothing else for the rest of my life. It felt like if I could live on this scent alone and be happy. None of the others seemed affected by this.
'Why can't they feel this?'
I looked at Edward and I could feel anger and jealousy sipping from the self hatred and guilt that enveloped him at my thoughts.
'So, you are alive enough to be jealous! Thank God.'
For a while I thought that he was dead to the world.
"Sorry man, but her scent is amazing. I would be gay if I didn't react to it." I thought to him. He tensed even more and I decided to block my mind. In his current state of mind Edward was a problem that I didn't want triggered given the situation we were in.
I looked at the others. They were all huddled near the door. I looked at Edward again to tell him to come closer and he just lowered his eyes. I had to stop my growl at the disgust and pain he felt when he looked at the goddess that was on the bed. What was there to be disgusted? She was perfect and alluring. She was making my body tingle with anticipation of something. A snarl once again took me from the contemplation of the sexy and absolutely fuckable woman that lay on the bed.
"You better keep those emotions and your mouth in check, boy. You don't scare me and I won't have your misplaced morals ruining her happiness." I dropped my block enough to mentally threaten him.He just stared at the window and I knew that I had to keep an eye on him.
"How long?" I asked Alice. I could hear Bella's heart giving its last beats.
"I am not sure, but every minute now," she responded vaguely. She got up and walked towards the others, getting behind Carlisle. I stood in front of them all. And then, a final heart beat and it was over. My body tensed for what was to come. Newborns were often irrational, answering to only two calls, sex and blood. And not exactly in that order. I needed to take control of her if she bolted from the bed.
I could feel her awareness and her fear. For the next two minutes she just inhaled the air, took in the scents and paid attention to her surroundings with her eyes closed. I heard Emmett shuffle on his feet and Bella tensed. She was aware that there were others in the room with her now.
"Bella," I whispered, knowing that she could hear me. In a fraction of a second she was up, growling and crouched against a corner. She was a sight. Beautiful, sexy and deadly. The smell of her was amazing and I wanted it for me like I never wanted anything else in my life. I wanted her. I wanted to make her mine. I wanted to claim her, to fuck her, to tame this savage beauty in a way only a male vampire can. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Her eyes roamed the room and landed on each of us, saving me for last. I felt recognition but also some confusion.
"You were bitten." She tensed at the sound of my voice. " You were going to die and I decided to change you. Do you know who we are?"
"Cullen's. Jasper." I felt her surprise at the ethereal sound of her voice. To me she had the voice of an angel. I could listen to her for the rest of eternity. And then, Edward, who was gradually feeling more excited since she woke up, as usual, made a mistake.
"Bella, my love, I am so sorry for what I put you through," he exclaimed while advancing towards her. It was all that it took. Before he could even touch her, her instincts interpreted him as a threat and he went flying towards the wall, cracking the plaster. Bella was suddenly snarling like a rabid beast. I flooded the room with calm as Edward struggled to stand and slinked behind Emmett. Coward! Bella followed his movements with her eyes, but then she took a big breath. I could feel her emotions, anger, confusion and…love, longing, desire and overwhelming lust.
Her red eyes danced over the others as she inhaled the air, trying to find what had captured her attention. Then her beautiful crimson eyes locked on me and time stood still. The world, the universe came to a halt. All that mattered was us. Me and this red eyed beauty. There was nothing else besides this. I could feel the threads of the mating being tied together to become indestructible. Her soul reached out to mine and entangled with it making us one. Mine took hold of hers and sang in happiness. We were one, we were complete. We were mates. She was my mate. Alice said she was coming. And now she was here. Mine! Isabella was mine and I was hers forever.
I saw her taking big gulps of my scent and in a blur she was in front of me, our bodies so close that not even air could pass through, our lips locked and our hands feverish. We were both lost in our discovery of one another. The need to be one, to bind our souls, to share our venom overtook our rational minds and we just surrendered.
I need her as much as she needed me. I ripped her clothes as she ripped mine. My hands explored what was only mine to see and to feel and I found no fault in her. Her breasts were firm and perky and delicious. Her waist was thin and her curves drove me insane. She was all woman. She was perfection in my eyes.
The presence of the others in the room didn't even register as my hand probed her sex and found her ready for me. I turned her around and steadied her on all fours. In a quick, strong thrust I was buried as deep inside of her as I could ever be, making her scream in both pain and pleasure. She had been pure before me and the thought of having taken her maidenhead made me feel incredible. She was mine, I was her first man and I would be her last. No one else would taste her or have her.
My teeth found the way to her neck and bit down hard enough to mark her as mine forever. I kept my teeth on her flesh as I buried myself inside of her over and over again, her hands making indentations on the floor from the strength of my thrusts. The pleasure that I could feel from her only fueled my own and my instincts made me throw it back to her. Her moans and small growls of pleasure were the sweetest music that I had ever heard.
I don't know how long we were lost in our lust and in our mating. I knew that we were alone as I claimed my mate in every way possible for hours or days on end. We didn't know and we didn't care. I only cared to be buried inside of her and she only cared to be filled by me. I mounted her in any way possible as she mounted me, riding me to the stars of earth shatering climax after climax, like someone who had made it all of her life.
In later years, when we visited the Cullen's they used to tell us that we had sex, even before she fed and that we may even have broken Peter and Charlotte's record in mating. That they barely had time to walk out the bedroom door, grabbing a rabid Edward on their way out, before we had ripped both of our clothes and I threw my mate on the floor. They had not even reached the threshold of the main exit before our growls of pleasure filled the cliff-side home. We couldn't remember those details. At the time we had been lost in the feeling of each other, in the joy of being together, of having found each other.
We woke up from our frantic lovemaking some time much later, sated and happy but hungry for blood. We hunted naked and made love for days on end in the forest. It was a week before we got back to the house. Alice had left clothes for us, so we were at least decent when we met the family. It was impossible however to not notice our mingled scents and the smell of sex that emanated from us. But we didn't care.
We were meant to be.
When we got back to the house, there was no guilt, no regret, and no shame. We were mates, and that transcended everything. We knew that we had broken Edward's heart but mating can't be denied. Bella felt nothing for him anymore and she told him that, saying that she was sorry, but what she felt for me now had no comparison to what she had ever felt for him. She also told him that she forgave him for killing her, but that he had to let her and his guilt over her death go. They were not meant to be.
I knew that Alice had explained it to the family and they were very understanding. No one blamed us, and we were welcomed back as if nothing had happened.
All except Edward. He only stopped antagonizing me after I showed him that I meant business and that no one would get away with trying to steal my mate, or turning her against me.
In the end, co-habitation became impossible. He was not a bad person, but he had a lot of growing up to do. His constant interference in our relationship, his feelings towards Bella and the way he tried to guilt her into being with him instead, and his inability to understand and accept that Bella and I were mated and that she was mine, led to so many fights that we decided to leave to start a life away from the family. The Cullen's wanted us to stay with them and did their best to diffuse the situation with Edward. But we knew that was now impossible.
We had to get away from Edward's bitterness and stubbornness. Alice, the most understanding of all the Cullen's, bought us a cabin in Alaska. She knew that we wanted, no, needed to be alone. A month after Bella's awakening we moved.
Alice met her mate in a trip to Brazil a year later. He was a Special Forces cop and Alice was present when he was fatally wounded in a raid against the drug dealers that were swarming the touristic sites. He collapsed in front of her, and asked her to tell his mother that he loved her. Alice was so overcome with emotion that she decided to bit him, not knowing why, but she could not let him die. She took him away, into the forest and waited for the change to happen. When he woke up they discovered that they were mates.
She immediately called for me to help with him, and he spent his newborn year with Bella and me in Alaska annd they never left us again. He too wanted a different and productive life.
Edward met his mate thirty years later in a trip to Greece. She was a small, shy little thing that never spoke unless spoken to, and had been a vampire for the last twenty years. But even mated he never stopped pinning for my Bella, whining about how much she had changed, and how perfect she was before when she was human, and how I had stolen her from him, which caused many problems with his wife and with me. We really pitied Karina, his poor mate, whom he controlled and treated as if she was made of porcelain, not giving her any space.
But we still visited every once in a while. We had not much patience for Edward and his nostalgic rants. With time the Cullen's became more like friends than family. Bella and I, and Alice and Robert were okay with that. Even though we followed the diet, we didn't follow the life style. I had had enough of high school. As soon as Bella completed her remaining high school years we went to University. We both enjoyed working better. She worked as an editor, and I worked as an author. We had our own publishing company in association with Alice and Roberto and it went smoothly.
I was taken out of my trip down memory lane when my beautiful mate came to the balcony. My love and passion for her were ever growing and I could feel that she felt the same.
"You have been out here for a while now. Is something the matter?" she asked, light concern flowing from her. I took her in my arms and kissed her, smiling when she kissed back passionately. It always amazed me that I could ignite a world of passion within my mate with only one kiss.
"No, Mrs. Whitlock, I am only thinking about what brought us here," I assured her. We were in our castle in Scotland. Our permanent home, that we had transformed and renovated ourselves. It had miles of land, forest and wild life and no neighbors for miles. The harsh climate was perfect for our kind and we enjoyed this kind of wilderness and solitude. We were expecting the Cullen's to arrive soon to spend New Year's Eve with us. Charlotte, Peter, Alice and Roberto were already here.
"Fate brought us here, Mr. Whitlock. We can't fight fate. It was inevitable," she responded, melting further into my arms.
I looked at the amazing woman in my arms.
The other half of my soul. The better half.
The love of my eternal life.
And I knew that she was right. Even if the mess at the clearing had been different, as soon as she had been changed we would have recognized each other. We were meant to be together and we would have found a way.
"Yes, my Bella. We were inevitable."
And we were. We can't fight fate.
FINIS
A/n - Did you like it? If you did, please leave a review, I love to know your opinion. I had lots of fun writing this. I have had this plot bunny in my head for a while now, and he was eating way too many carrots…lololll…
And to you, my sweet loyal readers…don't worry…I am working on the other stories too. This was just something light.