The Haunting of Bella Swan

Chapter Twenty-Nine


1963

Jasper groaned as his phone rang; the offending thing was all the way across the living room. His head spun, which only aggravated the thrumming behind his right eye. For a fucking immortal, the fact that alcohol still affected him was both a blessing and a curse.

Blessing in that it numbed the pain of living for centuries with nothing to look forward to, ever. A curse because a goddamn immortal should be above that shit. The mere idea that alcohol could hurt him was ludicrous.

Bitterness clung to his tongue as he glared at the rotary phone on his kitchen island. Another look around his place made him cringe. He hadn't cleaned in a while, possibly as long as six months. Dirty dishes and boxes from various restaurants littered the limited counter space. The brightness of his yellow kitchen cabinets contrasted against the wood paneling of the walls.

Fucking humans had the worst taste; they clung to the latest fad or fashion for their clothes and residences. His recent home purchase had come fully furnished, and though he wanted to have it all packed up and sent far away, he knew he had to play the part—a rich, twenty-something asshole.

The phone finally decided to stop, and he contemplated another few hours of sleep, even if he would regret later. His body hated stillness for long periods since petrification was possible for his kind.

He slipped into a particularly interesting memory in his dreams of a harem in the Mediterranean he had access to over half a century earlier when the phone started to ring again. A groan reverberated deep in his chest as his patience snapped. That fucking thing was going in the trash can under the sink. Despite the dizziness upon standing, he stomped to his phone and growled a response. "What the fuck do you want?"

"Good morning, Jasper." The voice on the other end of the line sent a chill through his blood, instantly sobering him. His master hardly ever took the time to acknowledge his existence, since the council believed Jasper to be a waste of space.

The only time he did call or message him was when he found his daughter.

"I found them."

"They're already together?" Unusual since they were usually found before they meet for the first time in each life. Their coming together made the young couple light up like a beacon in the middle of a dark sea on the magic spectrum.

"Yes, but I already sense their impending demise."

Jasper sighed, meaning he wouldn't have much time to help them. For the last two centuries, his master financed his life to keep him on call to help his daughter and her mate when his services were needed. It fell on him due to the fact that he once believed the couple was possessed and had attempted to exorcize the demons from within them, killing them in the process. He would only find redemption if he could successfully break the curse that plagued them, then he'd be granted his greatest wish—mortality.

Nothing he did had worked in every life cycle they had since that dark period of his existence.

"Should I attempt contact then?"

The silence on the line made him question if his master was still there. "She's pregnant."

Jasper dropped the phone as dread filled him. A child? How had they not been found sooner?

"Are you there? Jasper? Jasper!"

Shaking his emotions away, Jasper picked up the phone again. "What do you want me to do?"

"It may be too late for them, but do what you can to save the child. He or she may be the answer to all of this. I knew making you a doctor with this identity would be useful this time around. Good luck."

Jasper knew he was going to need some and much more.

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Present time

Jasper sped toward Bella's home; his master already called and insisted he keep an eye on Bella and Edward. His cell phone began ringing incessantly for some reason, and he pressed the button on the screen of his SUV. "Edward?"

"She's gone!" The panic in Edward's voice had Jasper speeding up.

"Fuck." He already suspected that things had taken a dangerous turn; his master wouldn't have called otherwise. Bella had taken in so much negative energy on the Lexington Property, and Edward only suppressed it while in her presence. "Head to her house. I know she's there."

"Wait? How would you know?" Suspicion dripped in his voice.

"I'll explain later. Get your ass over there now. I'm almost there, and if you want to survive this fucking life cycle, you need to drop the anger until we save her. Because if she dies from her injuries, so will you."

"Understood."

The silence on the other end made Jasper wince, but he understood. Any trust in him had disappeared by keeping the truth from him. He'd known Edward for years and had plenty of opportunities to tell him something. If they only knew how hard it had been to keep them from meeting in this life cycle, to prolong the inevitable. Or the fact that Jasper killed them more than once, by accident, a few times by design, and some to put them out of their misery.

Jasper pulled up the long driveway up to Bella's secluded house, and an inspection made him wonder if they were already too late. If that was the case, Edward would likely crash if he'd been driving, kill others, only adding to the sentence hanging over their heads.

He closed his eyes briefly and cursed the gods that allowed it to happen.

Every window appeared broken with ragged glass glittering in the light, curtains fluttered in the wind. Lights flickered throughout the house, at every window and every room. The front door lay ajar, hanging on only two of its hinges, the imprint of fingers on the door's trim.

Her strength grew in every new life in comparison to the one before it, and tenfold under the influence of the energy moving through her at the moment. Any assistance on his part would undoubtedly hurt, but in the end, it would be worth it.

Not only for his beautiful Alice, or his redemption on the line, but for Bella and Edward and their eternal love that had withstood the test of time, death, and life.

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Edward cursed when he saw Jasper's SUV parked haphazardly on the driveway and lawn. More filtered through his lips upon seeing the condition of Bella's house. It looked as if it had been in the middle of a Category 4 hurricane. Ignoring the pain in his chest, he ran up the porch stairs and through the front door. A quick adjustment allowed him to close it and lock it behind him. He was unwilling to risk an unsuspecting, nosey neighbor or anyone for that matter.

"Jasper," he called out, shivering at the temperature in the living room. It had to be at least below fifty degrees inside. Picture frames hung crookedly on the walls, furniture turned on its side, or lay broken against a few walls. Bits of flooring had come up and twisted, reminding him of the hands reaching from the deepest pits of hell. "Jasper!" He didn't dare to raise his voice, afraid to set off Bella wherever she was in the house.

Basement. The detached voice had him turning in every direction, looking for the source. Hurry. The choked response sounded like Jasper as Edward ran to the door leading down into the depths of imposing home.

Darkness lay beyond Edward, his penlight not penetrating it, much like the time Irina, the vengeful spirit haunting a client, managed to create in her attempt to destroy Alec and Tanya. He wedged his wallet under the door to keep it from closing behind him in case they had to make a quick escape later.

"Bella?" His first step into the darkness almost crippled him, the energy stirring an unhappy memory of this life. Another step down brought up another, threatening to bring him to his knees. He quickened his pace and had to swallow down the pain, counteracting it with good memories. It seemed impossible to conjure positive images when faced with every bad thing that had ever happened to him. The sweet, smiling face of his cousin, Alice, camping out with James before he died, or even the memory of the three spirits that kept him sane interacting helped him from negative memories drowning him.

"Jasper," he gasped, doubling over at the foot of the stairs to catch his breath. A golden circle of light suddenly appeared on his right; the hum of electricity filling the eerie silence and stillness that blanketed the room.

"He can't talk at the moment," Bella whispered, a sinister smile on her lips as she stood to the right of the light.

Bella was fully formed, no longer corporeal, which could be dangerous for long period of times. Her head tipped toward the wall in front of her, where Jasper lay suspended up against it, his boots five feet off the ground.

Jasper's fingers clawed at his throat, choking under the invisible fingers around him.

"Bella." Edward kept his distance, wondering where the fuck her warded chair was and why none of the protections on the house seemed to be working. He knew from discussions with her that she kept an extra chair in the house and another in the trunk of her car.

He caught a glimpse of the gold piece of furniture a few feet from him, and he inched toward it.

Bella's lips curled into a snarl, her blackened eyes growing wider. "Don't move."

"You won't hurt me." Edward hoped the emphasized "you" would reach the part of Bella he knew would never intentionally harm him.

She watched and took a step away from Jasper, cocking her head in question. As if she didn't quite understand him or who he was at the moment. "Edward." That sounded like his Bella, but the cruel tilt of her lips told him otherwise. She was there, but the darkness within consumed her too much.

Sit in the chair. It'll protect you while you try to reach her.

Jasper was able to communicate through their minds. "Shouldn't I put her on it?"

She'll break your neck if you try. She's broken mine twice since I arrived. If she does that to you, you'll both die and start the process all over again.

Edward groaned due to Jasper's memory running through his mind as they "talked", and Bella's eyes narrowed as if she realized that they could communicate.

"Stop," she growled, snapping Jasper's neck again. He went limp against the wall, his chin dipping toward his chest.

Edward held out his hand and prayed his new gift hadn't waned since leaving the property. The chair instantly rose to his fingers, and he slammed it against the concrete floor and sat down as Bella flew toward him.

"Bella," Edward tried again, holding out a hand for her to touch.

She retreated with a screech, backing up against the wall where Jasper's body lay crumbled, crawling up it and onto the ceiling. Her body trembled, her teeth clicking together, and a hum vibrated through her throat. "No touching allowed, love. No, no, no. Must expel. Don't want to touch you."

For every life cycle, touching her through that difficult time had always been the rule—the one she asked him never to break.

Not this time. He remained rooted to the chair as she hovered on the ceiling above him. She cocked her head from side to side, trying to get a read on him, but he blocked her out. He wasn't sure how, but he knew if she realized his intention she'd move away. The element of surprise was the key to help her, no matter the consequences. He was done watching her suffer alone.

In a lightning quick move, he jumped onto the chair and grabbed Bella by the face. She screamed in agony, while his own lodged in his throat. Pain radiated through every fiber of his body, standing every hair along his neck and arms on end. The fear was so intense, his body seized from it, the breath stolen from his lungs. It was as if every horrible memory, every painful moment in every life they'd endured coalesced into that one point in time and space.

They screamed and fell in a heap on the floor, yet his grip on her never faltered. His hand curled around the back of her neck, his forehead leaning against hers. Though his senses were overloaded with pain and fear, he realized Jasper had risen again. He hovered, speaking on his cell phone, but Edward couldn't hear the words. He only saw them as they formed on his thin lips.

"Are you sure?" Jasper grabbed the nearby cuffs Bella kept with her chair at all times. "How do we know if it'll work?"

"We don't, but there's little choice in the matter. Keep them together. It's the first time he's touched her when she's like this."

"If they die…"

The sigh on the other end of the line was devastating. "I'm aware of the consequences. They'll never be able to meet their son before he dies."


AN: Thanks to kyla713 for her help with the chapter. Any mistakes are mine, I tend to tinker. Thanks to those still reading and for your patience.