Hello! This time the wait was shorter but still, thanks for sticking with me! Here we have the next chapter... will your theories be verified?
Regardless, I hope you'll like it! Gaia xx
PS: Don't forget to leave a review! I don't answer to any of them personally, but I make sure the story does it for me ;)
BELLA POV
I cannot believe it.
I don't want to believe it.
I vaguely feel my father's hand on my shoulder, squeezing, trying to offer me some meagre form of comfort in this shitty situation.
Pity that nothing he can say or do can help.
The blue and red light of his cruise are reflecting on the pool of blood on one of the rock in the back of our school. I remember this rock. It was near this now bloodied rock I confessed to Edward that I knew his secret.
Now it's completely splattered with blood. Mike's blood.
First Jess, now Mike. Who's next? Angela, Tyler, Eric? No, I won't allow it.
I asked my father to give me a moment, so he stopped the guys from dragging Mike's mangled body away. It's both so I can come to terms with his death and to keep the scents on the scene as clear as possible for when Carlisle will arrive to analyse the body.
I can barely recognise him—no, not him, it's it, now. That thing is most certainly not Mike, not anymore. His hair are matted in crimson blood and only his blue eye—the only one left—and his work badge, the same I have, allowed me to recognise the body as Mike.
"Bella" a voice says, dragging me out of my thoughts. I turn and see Carlisle looking at me with sympathy. Jasper is a few steps behind him, speaking with my dad.
"Hi" I say lamely.
"I'm so very sorry, Bella. I'm truly consternated."
"Don't, Carlisle. It's not your fault. I believe it's Victoria, but I cannot prove it for sure. I have managed to keep everyone away from the scene. You might find the scent of my dad, a couple cops that were already studying the scene and Miss Cope's—she's the one who found the body" I say, and find some solace in reporting everything without any particular emotion.
He smiles, and I feel a wave of calmness, support and pride washing over me—in my peripheral view I see Jasper smiling at me. I notice he has put on some contacts that make his eyes look a muddy brown. The colour is hideous compared to his red—or former butterscotch gold.
I send back some thankfulness and am rewarded with a small smile. My father, if he even notices, doesn't let it show.
"That was smart, Bella. You did good" Carlisle smiles at me, patting my arm comfortingly. "I know this must be difficult for you. You can go home if you want. Jasper will accompany you."
I've almost complained, but since he said Jasper is taking me home… I'll grab the opportunity to run some things by him. I might be smart, but the God of War is surely so much more suited for this.
"Alright. Thank you. If you find something, text me" I tell him. He nods with a smile and a wave.
I wave back and make my way towards Jasper—who is done talking with my father—as Carlisle starts examining the crime scene.
I let him do his job and go into the cold, welcoming and familiar arms of Jasper.
"How you holdin' up, darlin'?" he asks me, kissing my cheek. I feel blood rush to my face and hear him inhaling deeply, tasting my scent. I try to pull away, not wanting to make him uncomfortable, but he hold me even closer. "It doesn't bother me, sugar" he whispers, kissing the crown of my head, and I blush even harder.
"If you say so…" I mutter, then get my bearings together, "I'm okay. Not fine, but okay" I say, more sincerely than I thought I could.
As I think this, I feel like I want to be sincere with him, to tell him what I think, to run things by him. And I want him to do the same with me.
Heat pools in my belly and warms my heart. Not sexually—not only, at least, because let's be honest: Jasper is one fine piece of vampire ass—but emotionally.
"Darlin' that was a strange mixture of emotions just there. I don't know who those are for, but the guy sure is lucky" he winks at me, and I smile shyly.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" I say, winking right back. He laughs.
His laugh is so beautiful I find myself joining him. A few officers glance at us inquisitively, but mostly ignore us. I don't even notice we are moving until we reach his car, a gigantic black Jeep with tinted windows. He must feel my surprise, because he snickers. "I must have succeeded in distractin' ya, if ya didn't notice us movin'" he jokes, flicking my nose.
I laugh again, but this time it's more subdued, the shadow of the threat to my friends clouding my thoughts again. I just have enough time to jump in the jeep and buckle up, Jasper right beside me, before I break down crying.
Ugly sobs wreak havoc on my composure, shaking me and making my throat close. I haven't even finished shedding the first of many tears when Jasper, speeding away towards the Cullen mansion, hugs me close with one arm.
I don't even think about it, I simply hide my face in his rock-hard chest, flooding my senses with his scent and wetting his shirt with my tears.
"She killed them" I sob, and he runs his hand through my hair. "She killed them."
"We'll catch whoever is doin' this, baby. Don't ya worry" he says, his accent even more pronounced now that he is the God of War.
My heart skips a beat as he says 'baby', but I choose to ignore it. I don't have time for this.
I recognize that I'm getting closer and closer with Jasper, and that our relationship is slowly but surely changing, but now it's not the time to dwell on that.
A fucking vamp is killing my friends, and I want to put a fucking lit torch inside the bitch who is doing this.
I killed Kai, I can kill Victoria.
I can, and I will.
"Bella, sugar, I don't know what's goin' on in your pretty head but the murderous feelings ya exudin' don't make me feel good" he tries to joke, but I can tell he is as worried about this as I am.
I stop crying as abruptly as I began, and a slow smile stretches across my face as I form a plan in my head.
"That smile promises nothin' good" I hear Jasper mutter.
I chuckle, "Don't worry, Jazz, you'll like this" I grin.
"This, what?"
"My plan."
"What plan are ya cookin'?"
"One that will enable us to capture Victoria once and for all, and kill her" I snarl.
He looks dubious as he stops the car in front of the house.
"And how're we gonna do that?" he says.
"Why, by using me as bait, of course" I tell him candidly.
My plan is genial: Victoria wants me, so we'll make her think I am alone and easily killable and she won't hesitate. [A/N: I WON'T HESITATE, BITCH! Ahahaha sorry I couldn't resist! Kudos to those who get the reference!]
Jasper, though, doesn't agree.
"Hell no!" he exclaims.
"Why not?"
"Because ya ain't gonna be bait for that bitch" he shouts.
"What?" a confused Emmett runs in the house, clothes mussed up—from a hunt, most likely—and muscles twitching.
"Bella wants to be bait for Victoria so we can capture her" Jasper says, exasperation in every letter.
"Hell no!" Em yells.
Overprotective goofs.
"Bella, dear, I think this is not a good idea," Esme interjects, coming out of seemingly nowhere.
"But…" I start, but she gently cuts me off.
"We don't even know if it's truly Victoria. We should wait for Carlisle's observations, and then we can start planning, but I don't think it's wise to begin planning now while we still don't know every detail. I'm sure the God of War will agree with me, right?"
She glances at Jasper, whose eyes have turned dark red, and he nods slowly, never taking his eyes away from me.
I huff "So what I'm supposed to do now?"
"I called Charlie, I told him you'll be sleeping with me tonight" Alice interjects.
Why are they all coming out of nowhere?
"Fine, then I'll go to bed, I'm tired." I say, cutting off any attempt to reenact a Bella-Barbie moment. She looks put out for a second, then I recognize the signs of a vision.
The others do too, and all eyes fall on her small figure.
It's not even one minute later when she comes out of it. "Carlisle has news. He is going to call in five, four, three, two, one…"
Sure enough, my phone rings in my pocket and I quickly take it out. "Carlisle? You have news?" I ask, not giving him the time to say a word.
He laughs lightly, "Yes, sweetheart. Are all the others there?"
I look around, seeing the entirety of the family—sans Edward, of course—is here.
"Yeah, we're all here."
"Good. I'm afraid that Victoria is indeed involved in this, but proof is very faint. Her scent is very, very light, but still detectable. There is also another vampire's scent that I have never encountered. It's not a newborn, but rather a several-decades-old vampire. But one thing that confuses me even more is that the scent seems to be modified somehow."
"How is that possible?" I ask the question I'm sure everyone is thinking.
"I still don't know, but one thing I can tell you, regarding both Jessica and Mike, is that they were both heavily drugged—cocaine, ecstasy and LSD. They didn't feel any pain" he tells me compassionately.
A tear escapes my eye, "Thank you, Carlisle."
We say our goodbyes and hang up.
Every eye is on me now.
"So now we know that Victoria is involved" I say flatly.
"We do. But we still ain't gonna do as ya say, not if we can help it" Jasper tells me, coming to stand in front of me, placing his big hands on my shoulders. "Now go to sleep, I can feel your tiredness emanatin' from ya like waves."
I nod. I may have lost this argument, but I know my plan is the only one that can work.
"Goodnight, everyone." I don't even know what time it is, but I feel as if I've been awake for ages.
Sleep will do me good.
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