Chapter 4: One Hundred and Sixty One

Walking into history on Monday, someone grabbed Bella's arm and pulled her back around the corner. She spun right into Jasper.

"Shit, you scared me!"

"That's nothin', darlin'," he grinned, and Bella could tell there was much left unsaid. Before she could ask and pick up their game again, he continued, "Let's go."

"Go? What do you mean go?"

"I mean get outta here. Are you really about to tell me, you'd rather go to history than spend an hour with yours truly?"

Now it was Bella's turn to smirk. "Maybe."

"I'll answer a question if you come."

"Ten."

"Two."

"Five," she said, holding up his jacket. "And I'll give you this back."

"You drive a hard bargain, Miss Swan," he grinned, first grabbing his jacket and then her bag, slinging both over his shoulder, "but I accept."

Much to her relief, they didn't drive anywhere. He lead her into the woods. It was passing period and they easily slipped through the crowd. "I've never done this before," she admitted, following a few paces behind him, her eyes glued to the forest floor to make sure she didn't trip and fall flat on her face.

"Why don't that surprise me?" He stopped and waited for her to catch up, taking her hand in his. "Feels good doesn't it?"

She grinned. "Yeah."

They walked for a few minutes in silence, hand in hand, until Bella asked, "Where are we going anyway?"

"Is that a question?"

"Doesn't count," she laughed, punching his shoulder. "Holy shit, that's one though! Are you all made of stone?"

He stopped them dead in their tracks. "You all?"

Just like that, all humor was sucked from the conversation.

"You and your family. Your... y'know, your kind."

Jasper lowered his head to look her in the eye, though he wasn't much taller than her. "You mean the Cold Ones."

She nodded, not sure she should have said anything.

Jasper ran his thumb over her wrist. "I've always preferred that actually. With all the stories and legends out there, vampire starts to sound ridiculous, even to me."

Before she could respond, Jasper placed one cold finger over her lips. "Questions two through five will have to wait, darlin'. I've got some of my own and I think I can answer some of yours better by showin' you instead of tellin'."

With just a few more feet, they were suddenly beside a flowing creek, sparkling with the sun that danced through the trees above them. "Wow," Bella whispered on a breath as she took in the picturesque scene. "It doesn't even look real. Like something on a postcard."

"It's my favorite place," Jasper smiled, leading her down to the water's edge to sit beside him.

"Do you come here a lot?"

"When I can," he shrugged, stretching out his legs and propping himself up on his arms behind him. "When the house gets too loud or school gets too dull."

Bella frowned, crossing her legs and facing him. "How many times have you been in high school anyway?"

"Guess."

Her frown deepened as she looked him over. He could be a couple years older than her. Three max. But that was just physically. How long did vampires live? If she believed the stories she'd found on her (admittedly very basic) Google search, they didn't age. So what year was he from? "Um," she finally said, "twelve times?"

"Thankfully, no," he chuckled. "This is number nine for Alice and me. We were the last to be adopted. My other siblings've had to endure this particular hell far longer'n we have."

She nodded, dropping her head as she examined her nails. She didn't want to be rude or seem crazy by asking all the questions she had spinning around in her head, but she had about a million.

Jasper laughed quietly. "You've got four questions left, darlin', I'll give you a bonus. Use them wisely."

"How old are you?" she asked, biting her lip as she looked up at him.

He grinned. "Nineteen."

"You know what I mean."

"One hundred and sixty one."

"No shit!"

He flashed her a smile. "Look good for my age don't I?"

"There are so many more questions that go along with that, I can't even begin to sort them out. I'll save them for later. So... sleeping in coffins?"

"Horribly uncomfortable. Not that we sleep anyway."

"You don't sleep?"

"Not one wink," he said, laying completely back and folding his arms behind his head. "Next."

"Garlic?"

"Should be used in more dishes, in my opinion."

"What about the sun? Obviously you're out in the daytime, so you don't burst into flame."

"Thankfully not. That would be incredibly inconvenient," he said, hopping to his feet so quickly, she almost missed it entirely.

"What are you doing?"

He began to pull off his jacket. "You gotta see it to believe it, darlin'."

Bella watched as his Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirt was revealed. Even though it was damp and cold, he looked completely comfortable as he stepped toward the creek where a rare ray of sun was beaming down. He looked toward it, then back at Bella, whose breath caught in her throat. "Strange, ain't it?"

She shook her head. It looked like his skin had been dusted with diamonds. "Beautiful," she said softly, letting her gaze roam over his lean, muscular body. When she traveled back up to his face and saw his smirk, she smirked right back.

"Supposed to be. All part of being the world's best predator," he said, his voice taking on a serious tone again with a bitter bite as he ground out, "Ask me."

"What?" she said, her heart picking up speed.

Jasper winced. "Don't play dumb, Bella. You know what."

She brought her gaze up to meet his. "What do you eat?"

"Blood," he said, his voice dark and sending shivers up her spine. "But, only from animals."

"You can do that?" she asked, getting up and walking over to him.

"It's not as satisfying, but it works. Edward calls us vegetarians."

"Vegetarian vampires," she smirked. Reaching out for his hand again, she moved his arm so the sun made it shine. "Sparkly vegetarian vampires. Not very scary."

"You'd be surprised," he said under his breath, watching as she stepped closer to him. She was so close he could practically feel her heart beating in his own chest. "You're not afraid?"

"Should I be?"

"Yes. Bella, I'm dangerous for you to be around."

She pressed her hands against his chest, and on a long forgotten instinct, he drew in a sharp breath. "Maybe I need a little danger in my life."

His lips crashed into hers before he could stop himself. His hands gripped her hips, torn between drawing her closer and pushing her away like he knew he should. But the taste of her lips, her mouth, her tongue teasing his, was overpowering. She dug her fingers into his hair, pulling at the long golden strands. Jasper ran his hands up under her shirt and across her lower back, and it wasn't until she broke away to breathe that he remembered just exactly who he was and what he was doing.

"That was..." she gasped, "wow."

"It alarms me how calm you are 'bout all this," he said, running his finger along her jaw and down her milky white throat. He could see and hear her pulse beating like a hummingbirds and swallowed.

Bella noticed. "You won't hurt me. I told you, I feel safe with you."

"If I was stronger, I'd walk away right now. If you knew what's good for you, you would too."

"I want you."

He kissed her again, then pulled away to rest his forehead on hers, letting his eyes fall closed to relish a moment of peace that he was sure he'd never felt before. He smirked. "You'll be the death of me, darlin'."