The Haunting of Bella Swan

Chapter Thirty-Two


"My father left?" Bella advanced on Jasper. "How could you let him leave?"

"He had no choice. Someone in the council summoned him, and he couldn't refuse to answer. For decades, he's managed to avoid having the council watch his every move. They had no idea that he's been in your lives in the last century."

"He hasn't answered all of our questions. What about our son?" Edward couldn't help but feel as angry as Bella. "We have a right to know about him, Jasper."

"There's something about the timing of all this." Bella brow tightened with confusion. "Our son's illness is not enough reason for my father to risk exposure. Why did he help me so much in this life? He's never been so involved before now."

"After an incident, the council realized he was helping you in every life, and they cast a spell to hide your identity from him. We only managed to break it—no, more like change it, so they couldn't find you three lifetimes ago. When we realized you were pregnant for the first time, we had to bind your son's powers, or else the council would be able to find him."

"How?" Edward had to know. His son would only be in his early fifties; men lived well past that age if they were healthy.

"Magic leaves traces behind, and powerful magic is like a beacon. The council can pinpoint that and track it, as well as the user." Jasper rubbed a hand over his face. "The spell we put on your son is weakening. We believe that's why he's suddenly fallen ill."

Edward felt the tight grip of Bella's hand on his arm, her anger turning to hope. The tension in the room lifted enough to realize what Jasper's words meant.

"Can we save him?" She dared to question first.

Jasper's lips tipped up on one side. "Me? Maybe a little, if I fiddle with his aura. You, on the other hand, along with Edward, I'm starting to think you two can do anything."

"We don't have all the answers." Bella shook her head. "How can we do anything without the council finding out we had a son? Without risking our own exposure?"

"Your father allowed me to see some of his memories, since I didn't know everything about your mother. So, bear with me as I process the information he's given me."

Bella and Edward nodded.

"Like your mother. Their individual magic can't touch her."

"My father said she was banished from our world by their magic." Evident in Bella's voice was her anger and clear distrust in the council.

Jasper nodded. "At first, she let them believe she had been. It was the only way to save you. An incident in one of your lives clearly indicated that wasn't the case so they worked together. Their combined power did work…to a certain degree."

Bella started to pace in the kitchen where they continued to snack on some food. The gnawing exhaustion that came from purging and phasing still churned their stomachs.

She faced Jasper again with a longing in her eyes that glazed them with tears. "'To a certain degree'? If that's the case, why isn't she here with me?"

"She has been, Bella. Think about it. She can only hide among us for a few years at most before she's forced into hiding and regenerates. Even your father doesn't know the extent of her gifts."

Tears spilled over her cheeks as her face lost all color. "Renee?"

Edward looked from Jasper and Bella. "The woman that fostered and adopted you along with Charlie in this life?" He remembered Bella stating that Renee had left after a few years, deciding being a mother wasn't for her.

Tears filled her eyes once again. "She didn't want to leave me."

"No, she doesn't."

"Okay, but in almost every life, my birth parents don't keep me." Bella shook her head, tugging on her hair. "Why didn't they want me?"

The crack in her voice had Edward pulling her into his arms again, wishing they didn't need all the answers they sought. Some would anger her, and some could break her.

Jasper wished he didn't have to answer her. Damn Charlie for leaving him to do all the dirty work. "Most humans have a natural instinct to push away what they can't understand. Some are worse than others. You were unusual as a child."

Bella's breath hitched, her arms tightening around Edward. "I know."

"You had little control of your gifts as a baby, and they continued to grow in each life. Some feared you so much they tried to kill…"

"I don't want to hear this," she choked out, grateful when Jasper stopped immediately. "Tell me how Edward became involved."

Jasper cursed, knowing they would want to know that answer. "It's the incident I spoke of, but you may hate your immortal parents more because of it."

"Tell us," she insisted.

Edward feared the answer. What if it drove a wedge between them? Could anything at that point? He turned to Bella, cradling her face. "Whatever it is that they did, I don't care, Bella. Being with you in every life is my choice."

They fought the curse and lost time and time again, tried to forget each other, but in the end, their hearts always led them to one another.

"The curse was intended to punish your father, not you. You aren't supposed to remember your past lives, not to this extent." Jasper closed his eyes, as he pulled memories from the compartmentalized spaces in his mind. "Because of whatever your mother is, we believe it's why you regain your memories of your past lives once you meet, and why your powers continue to grow." He looked at them both. "Personally, I think your soul is undergoing a transformation."

Bella's eyebrows rose high. "You think I'll become like her."

Jasper smirked. "I fucking hope so, because she was a healer. Not only in mind and body, but she could mend a soul and any spell, even auras, to an extent we'd never seen before. One day, maybe in this life or the next, the council will not be able to touch you."

"Is this why her blood samples always disappeared?" Edward looked at Jasper for confirmation.

"Guilty, sorry. Any decent lab tech would know there was something very different about your blood, Bella. Edward's will soon show the same abnormalities as well."

"What do you mean?" Edward asked, his tone brisk. All the new information and the anger still coursing through Bella was taking a toll on all of them.

"You're her mate, Edward. Her mother's kind has that form of bond. Your soul found Bella's in her fifth life and was eternally bound to hers, and her parents ensured the ties would remain with every life. They wanted her to be happy."

Edward's mind worked hard to search for the memories. "It was a spell that required a piece of my soul that can only be willingly given."

Bella looked at him. "You gave up a piece of your soul to be with me?"

"Of course, I did, Bella." He pressed his forehead against hers. They shared a few moments, lost in the distant memories of their pasts.

Bella turned to Jasper again. "Binding our souls was the incident that made the council realize they couldn't touch my mother with their individual magic."

"Yes, and that Charlie sought you out and helped you in any way he could in every life. He couldn't bear to watch you needlessly suffer. The council chose to cast a spell to shorten your life spans upon meeting, and then another to hide your identities."

Edward scoffed. "If the punishment is meant to make Charlie suffer, why hide her?"

The answer became clear to Bella. "They knew how helpless and guilty he would feel, knowing I was out there suffering, and that he could do nothing. It was enough in their eyes."

"We think they hoped to force him to ascend," Jasper stated, shaking his head. "That the guilt and the loss of his mate and only child would eat away enough at him that he would leave this plane of existence. It almost worked when you became pregnant. He feared the pain of another innocent suffering needlessly because of him. Then, Anthony survived the trauma of your death, and Charlie found even more reason to fight."

Bella shook her head. "Their magic works on us, though. So how can we fight them?"

"Together." A soft voice startled them all, forcing them into fighting stances. The front door was open, and a woman shielded by a light that seemed to infuse her stood on the other side of the threshold. "Hello, sweetheart."

Bella recognized the voice. "Mom?" Not her birth mother in her current life, but Renee, the being the council seemed to fear.

The woman stepped toward them but hissed when she tried to come inside the house. "You have to let me in, sweetheart."

The resemblance between Bella and the woman was remarkable, and Edward had to wonder, despite her birth parents in any of her lives, if she always looked the same. To him, she did, but to others, he wasn't sure.

Jasper looked confused as Bella walked closer to the woman. "I think we should call your father, Bella."

Bella didn't listen. Instead, she stood before the woman and cocked an eyebrow. "You're not my mother. Our world's magic has no effect on her, so the wards I placed wouldn't hurt her. Judging by the smoke rising from your skin, I'd say you were a demon."

The woman's ethereal appearance morphed into something more sinister. Her pale complexion turned to ash; her eyes entirely black and menacing. It no longer stood up proud, but hunched over and broken, hair falling off in chunks, disappearing before they hit the ground.

The creature snarled. "The council would like a word with you all."

"Tell the council to go fuck itself." Bella slammed the door closed.


AN: I apologize for the delay, I've been blocked on this fic for months. Thanks to kyla713 for her help with the chapter, any mistakes are mine since I can't leave anything alone.