Chapter 3 - Contemplate
Emmett was the first to speak. In what couldn't have been more than 5 seconds, the vampires surrounding me and the small girl shrinking in life, a lifetime had seemingly passed. Even Carlsile had seemed frozen, watching after the door that his two gifted children had escaped through, one on his word.
The slightest waft of guilt measured in my peripheral. He was as hurt as Edward would've been.
"Ok….so, a human is still on the ground, and changing as we speak." Emmett ground out slowly, careful not to startle anyone; as if we hadn't been wracked with surprise enough in the last 10 minutes.
"If no one makes a decision soon, I'm gonna go ahead and welcome the newest vamp to our motley crew." An uneasy smile split his tense face in two, his eyes shifting between his adoptive parents and my stiff figure.
His smile did nothing to cover the wavering urgentness in his deep tenor. Rose shifted her gaze slightly to her mate, a blank face staring back at him; she seemed to still be processing the events that brought us to where we stood now.
Esme's gaze did not shift from the girl, her statuesque fingers resting upon Isabella's forehead, as if she was a mother taking her child's temperature for a fever. Carlisle did not move, but spoke in his gentle voice with a tone of certainty.
"...Her heart is fading. But in lieu of Alice's thoughts, I'm still inclined to try." A quick, deep sigh escaped his lips as he quickly shifted out of his frozen state. Kneeling deeply, he took Isabella's strained arm and straightened it gently. I could hear the bones pop, and mirroring Carlisle, I felt a physical wince rush through my body.
Abandoning his previous hesitancy, Emmett straightened in tone. He so rarely was as serious as he was at that moment.
"We all know that she's going to be one of us one of these days. I don't see how she would want to stay human when instances like these are not going to be rare. We're putting her in more danger by not changing her!" Tenacity graced Emmetts' strong voice: such fervour was not common for the man. I felt a sway of intense protectiveness wash over the room. Familial love was strongly rooted within his broad chest towards the young girl.
"Emmett, I know you look forward to her joining us, but don't forget her age. 17 is much too young to be kept forever."
"Edward himself is too young; I'm not going to trap her into this life with no wisdom. There are some things that venom cannot fix." Carlisle's gaze softened as he consoled his son; the decision was strong in his voice.
Rosalie's disbelief shot out roughly towards her mate, as Esme watched carefully, not moving from her protective crouch over Isabella's body. I felt so very out of place at that moment. I'd felt much more accepted in the past couple of years, much more ingrained; but family discussions such as these often made me feel like I was infringing on something personal. It was times like these that Alice would slip her hand onto my back comfortingly, and tell me to focus on her. My jaw clenched hard at the thought.
Could I slip out before they noticed?
"Even if it is just a year, it still gives her more time to grow. She's had such little life till now; a year is so much time for such a young human." I agreed with Carlisle, I really did. We had all had such rough changes; such hard entrances into our eternal world. We could buy her time, make the transition easier: that was the beauty of preparedness. Maybe even Edward could change her; if he got over himself and listened to Isabella.
Something strung harshly in my chest, humming with its renewed fervour.
Thank you, Alice.
Panic rose from the immeasurable figure a few feet to my right as Emmett took a step forward. Alarm coloured his features, as his voice hurried out, pleading with his father.
"Carlisle, I know you think that she's too young, but, well, you've heard her. Maybe this is a sign-"
Rosalie stepped in front of her mate, a surprising protectiveness surmounting the panic that was swimming around me. The odd nausea returned, as I placed a cool hand on my throbbing head.
"If there is a chance, we are going to see it though." A cold voice extended, singing like bells. Emmett's surprise spiked even further.
"I am not going to let you whine your way into this; there is still time for this girl to have a full life, to have what all of us can never have. Listen to Carlisle." Her voice was quiet and nonvenomous, but that seemed to slice through Emmett harsher than any admonishment she could shriek at him. Still, after a moment of surprise, the giant pushed on.
"Rose, come on! Bella's smart, she knows what this life is like. I remember you yelling at Edward for all that she knew, and that was before she was even told anything!"
"Edward hasn't told her jack-shit! She's in the dark half the time! She's smart enough to see that; but she is too young to see that that won't change based on her ability to die or not. If she really wants the change, then we'll deal with that when we get to it, but I will protect her ability to make that choice for herself. Not like I had."
Rosalie rose a hand threateningly towards Emmett's advancing frame, her eyes narrowing and voice increasing in volume. Carlisle's guilt grew upon her last delivery of words, but understanding danced around the edges. He knew that the autonomy that Rosalie was speaking on was not something he was directly involved with; at least not this time.
Rose's tall frame was powerful in front of her mate, her stance wide and strongly set. Contrasted with her usual perfected shrug, I couldn't stop my interest in this renewed energy she was displaying.
Emmett seemed to reel at the accusation, horror and hurt flashing on his usually soft features. He huffed unbelievably as he stared at Rose again.
"Ro- You know that's not what I meant! Are you not doing what Edward is doing? Hasn't she said that she's wanted to join us ever since she found out? I mean, Jesus! And what are you insinuating? I-"
Esme was between them in an instant, her back towards Rosalie, mirroring her daughter's strong stance. Emmett quieted immediately at the shock of his mother glaring up at him.
"Enough." Her soft voice commanded. She was the mother, the second in command of this family. Emmett shrunk quite a few inches before her, as he clamped his massive jaw shut; stopping his complaints at their source.
Her auburn curls shifted as she looked over her shoulder at Rose; her face, now visible, was devoid of the usual easy care she usually displayed. Pure frustration creased between the perfect arches above her eyes.
"I mean both of you, your father has spoken. Bella will be one of us, but not today." Finality rang through in her chiming voice.
It reverberated throughout the entire endeavour, the reminder of how easy it was to forget how young all of us were. My agreement with Carlisle only grew with such a realization; even the few years physically he and Esme had on us were enough to place them as the relative parents of our group; the only sane ones among us. I smiled bitterly as Carlisle's earlier words rang through my mind.
There are some things that venom cannot fix.
Uncertainty bloated the tense atmosphere; Carlisle still sat gazing at his wife, hesitant towards his children's actions. Knowing his careful demeanour, he wanted no risk to the health of his human child. My frown deepened, as it registered that Isabella's scent was different again; her constant salivating quality that sat underneath her qualitative scent was gradually fading. Her heart was on its last leg; I felt my own surprise rise at Carlisle's unarrived realization. My attention had been taken partially towards the obviously reducing human quality throughout the entire ordeal. Finally letting my voice detract from my clenched throat, I broke my silence for the first time, joining the conversation.
"Carlisle…" I was as measured as possible, as unfazed as I could possibly have appeared.
My years in the army had never left me; so ingrained was my training that even in familial disputes I found myself reverting back to my ways. I knew I appeared impartial to the rest of them, but panic tore at my iron insides. If this fight were to continue, the stability we all relied on so much would threaten to destroy us: and this girl they all cared for so deeply would not survive on her terms.
From my strong stance, my wide legs, and straightened spine, the emotion of the room seemed to be far away; out of reach. Curtaining my edges, the menial taunt of my gift seemed to wane ever so slightly; my bones, as hard as they were, felt steeled. Tension, unpainful in my state, was still palpable; still there, as my lungs clung for unneeded air. The figures in my vision turned towards myself in acknowledgement, sitting frozen; simply heeding, awaiting my word.
To comply with their attention, I moved in the slightest; lifting my teeth to pull needed fuel for my words. And seemingly, as if malignant gas leaked into the studio without our knowledge, my lungs stopped and stuttered on the simple oxygen. Alarm shot through my chest, and I finally noticed the heavy vapour that sat around our heads: it took me much too long to register it as my own panic, pushed outwardly and reverberating through the studio.
The rest of the coven quickly flashed horror on their pale faces, bracing each other upon their reflex.
"...Jasper? A-are you alright?" Rosalie ground out, her smooth acoustic tripping.
I pushed down a sarcastic quip to dissolve in my misery; it took every atom of my previously indestructible being to focus on not keeling over. The sweet smell that had brought attention to the changing human harshly turned a sickly saccharine; as if it'd sat in the sun far too long. I gasped in the vapour, trying desperately to dilute its concentration in my body. Sitting heavy on my skin, it pushed me further to the ground; buckling my knees and pummeling my shoulders with crowing aches. The thick, syrupy mist assaulted my eyes, mouth, nose and ears; bubbling and burning worse than the venom from so many years ago. I had to get it out, and fucking quick.
In an almost growl - half a shriek - a guttural sound escaped my clamped throat; tension burst through my chest, providing only momentary relief through my loud scream. In what seemed an infinitely long moment but what couldn't have been more than a millisecond, I dropped to the floor; my back arching up harshly as soon as its weight was relayed to the floor. I could hear my own strength struggle through my hard skin; finally breaking through as a fissure ran somewhere down my spine. Suddenly the smell was not my primary concern. My groans turned from insurmountable calamity to unbelievable pain; nothing else registered within my overwhelmed psyche - apart from the faint recognition that I was the only one on the floor.
"God! Fuck!"
The rest of them were stooped above me, half crowding my agonized form; the others crouched lowly around Isabella. Confusion expanded through my head, only extrapolated by their mirrored emotion. If Edward was still here, I'm sure he could tell me I wasn't the only one asking questions. What is fuckin' happening? Before I could tell what had happened, I was at the broken window to our left; arms splayed out, bracing myself against the pane of the surrounding glass. Barely held together, my back screamed as I gasped the night air into my infected lungs. My legs struggled, kicking around the wall below me; something wrapped my waist in hot, red hot, string. With every movement away from the main hall, It tightened harshly, whipping up and down my sides. The pure air of the Phoenix skyline rushed my undead lungs enough to return some autonomy to my despairing form.
I reeled in the strident echo of my gift, leeched it back from the confines of the room; it returned to sit harshly on my own shoulders.
In audibly broken gasps, I panted a command I hoped Carlisle would know, greedily gulping the air through the window.
"Get. It. Out."
A/N: I just wanted to stop by here and thank everyone for the kind words on this fic. I tend to write more one-shots, and this is my first foray into longer-style prose. I do have a plan for this, and I'm thinking it will end up ~20 chapters, but please be patient with me as I am a Uni student and am learning the ins and outs of this as I go along :). Your encouragement is so welcome and appreciated; I love reading all the reviews!
Sorry about the long ~contemplation~ of Bella's life, but I initially wanted this to be a one-shot and inadvertently it became a whole story. So apologies for the long drawn-out beginning; I have decided on the next couple of chapters, so things should be picking up soon. Also! I realize this is kind of an odd reaction of Jasper, but everything will be explained, and hopefully, it won't have to be completely spelled out, but at least a little understandable haha.
This is not going to be a bash/hit fic towards Edward and Alice, so please be warned. I am always interested in how to portray characters as realistically as possible; that goes for uncharacteristic actions + traits that come out of nowhere as well. There will be misunderstandings and arguments; as that's life! So please, be warned about that. I hope you enjoy :D
