Chapter Nine
EVE - 2020
Rosalie and I sat together in the public library, our shoulders touching as we looked over a book together, "do you think there's a cure?" Rose asked while brushing her long, blonde hair over her shoulder.
"A cure to what? Shifting?" I had recently started sharing my work with Rosalie, she seemed quite invested with what I was doing on the reservation.
She shook her head and lowered her voice, though we were the only people in the library this late in the evening. "Vampirism." Her hushed voice sent chills down my back. Rose and I had gotten close over the last few weeks, we shared the same distaste for immortality and both longed for a simpler life. One day while hunting she shared her past with me, told me how she had been turned, what had happened to her. I empathize with her, being a woman was hard any century, the two of us shared a lot of similar experiences.
"Rose…" I looked at her, and we both knew what my answer would be. "If there was a cure, I wouldn't be here to tell you about it." She nodded her head and went back to rereading the same paragraph she had been stuck on for twenty minutes now. "I'm sorry, I know this isn't the life you wanted, and I can't help but to think it's my fault. If I hadn't turned Carlisle."
Rosalie stopped me there, "if you hadn't turned Carlisle he wouldn't have turned me, but that was his choice, not yours. You didn't force him to damn me to this life, it's not your fault Eve." I smiled back at her and took the book out of her hand. Neither of us spoke fluent Dutch, but this book seemed promising from what we were able to translate. "Let's grab a couple of these and go, they'll be closing up in a few minutes anyway," Rose said grabbing a stack of books off to her left that we hadn't gotten to yet.
After checking out the books we headed towards my car, filling the passenger seat with half the library's supernatural section. I wasn't only looking for information on shifting, but also information on potions for memory recovery. Jasper and I weren't any closer to finding help for our situation, though Afton was headed to Chile to meet with a coven I had worked with a long time ago. He hoped to find someone who might be able to help.
In the meantime I was working night and day on research, and training the shifters. I had separated them into groups of four and we were working on controlling their phases. Anger wasn't always a driving force for shifting, I told them about other groups of shifters I had helped who were able to take all emotion out of their shifting so they could only shift when they actually wanted to. So far Jake's group was the most advanced, and he took every opportunity to brag about it. Sam's group wasn't far behind, but the younger groups were struggling to focus their attention and energy into the yoga practices we had been doing.
After dropping off my books at the hotel I made my way to the reservation to meet with the Tribal Counsel and discuss the work we were doing. I was pretty intimidated by the elders of the counsel who seemed less than thrilled to have a vampire on their land, but even they couldn't deny the progress that was being made. After a twenty minute drive I passed over the border and was met by Seth who hopped into the passenger seat; I still wasn't allowed on their land without a chaperone, but luckily Seth was true to his word and stuck by my side as often as he could. "How's the search going?" He asked, settling into the passenger seat.
"Not gonna lie, it could be better," I looked over at the young man and smiled. He was one of the few people on the reservation who seemed to enjoy my company, and not simply put up with me because of my work. I was glad to call him a friend, and as we drove to the town hall we made easy conversation about our personal lives and training.
"You think I might be able to shift into something other than a wolf?" Seth had been stuck on this topic since seeing a book of mine the first day we met.
After a lot of research I found that no Quileute had shifted into anything other than a wolf. Seth continued to insist that he would be the first, so we had this conversation daily. "I don't know Seth, keep practicing and we will see. I've called another pack I helped a few years back, they can shift into wolves and horses, I'm hoping to hear back and maybe they can teach you something."
Seth bounced excitedly in his seat and didn't stop until we parked and I forced him out of my car. We walked into the building I had entered not more than three weeks ago to when I first met with the counsel. Every time we met was just as nerve wracking as the first time. This was supposed to be a shorter meeting, though. We were discussing how to best move forward, and whether or not the counsel felt comfortable with my providing the shifters with herbs and crystals to help with their training. I didn't expect the meeting to go on longer than an hour, so I texted Afton to call me later and update me on his search.
The meeting only ran forty-five minutes over, the elders wanted me to sign a contract before I was allowed to start creating any potions or handing out any crystals. After going over all of the fine details I was dismissed and escorted back to the border with Sam in the passenger seat this time. Sam wasn't my biggest fan, but he was kind to me anyway. "I just wanted to thank you, I feel a weight has lifted from my shoulders recently, and I know Emily feels the same way. She knows that I would never hurt her again, but being more in control of my phasing has made both of us feel better." Sam had never said that many words to me before, so I wasn't quite sure on how to respond. Luckily, he saved me from any awkwardness by throwing out, "if you tell anyone that I was nice to you I will deny it, so don't even bother." I laughed but gave him a friendly pat on the back as he exited the car before I drove back to my hotel.
Despite the meeting going on longer than expected and then the twenty minute drive home I still hadn't heard from Afton. This wasn't unusual, but since we had been reunited he seemed better at making contact with me at least once a day. As I settled into my room for the night I started thinking back to the last time we had talked. It had been over three days ago. Trying not to worry I decided to text Alice and see if she could do some digging, but I also knew that it was a long shot. Afton's power was mentally hiding himself from others, so chances were Alice would see and hear nothing, but I wanted to try anyway.
Jaser was supposed to come over to help me continue my research, so after texting Alice and getting no immediate response I decided to change up my makeup and outfit for his arrival. It had been over three weeks since I had met Jasper, for the second time, but we had done no more than hold hands. After Afton shared a story of our past encounters we decided to take things slow, though I had no idea just how slow Jasper had meant. I couldn't remember loving anyone, in a romantic way, since Carlisle, though upon recent discovery Jasper and I had fallen in love a while back. Despite the long stretch of being single, I was still a person who liked to make connections. I was never one to have a dry spell, but now I was playing a waiting game.
Rummaging through my suitcases I found one of the only outfits that wasn't made up of jeans and a plain shirt, so with only seconds to spare before Jasper showed up, I pulled on my low cut top and tight skirt, while also adding a little lipstick to my look. I made a mental note to take Alice up on her next offer to go shopping, but for the meantime I could make this work. Taking a final glance in the mirror and appreciating my quick work I made my way down to the lounge where I could hear Jasper speaking to the bartender.
I entered the room and Tommy, the twenty something bartender let out a long whistle, "Miss Eve, you dress up real nice," he said, looking me up and down.
Jasper smiled and turned, looking at me slowly, "he's right, you look stunning." I did a mock spin for the two of them, which resulted in an applause before making my way to our sofa.
"You boys are too kind," I said, flipping my hair over my shoulder as I watched Jasper approach, two beer bottles in tow. We always ordered a beer each, though by this point Tommy knew we never drank them; he gladly accepted the bottles when we left and finished them for himself. As Jasper sat next to me Tommy pulled out his phone, as usual, and began swiping away, mentally clocking out until we left.
Jasper and I made small talk, discussing our days and catching eachother up on any progress we made while doing our own, individual, research. Tonight we both came empty handed. I continued to check my phone, waiting for Afton or Alice to get back to me when Jasper took it from my hand. "Alice is at a party with Edward tonight, she helped plan some art exhibit in Seattle for Esme, so you won't be hearing from her. As for Afton, he's in some remote jungle searching for a coven who you haven't been in contact with in over a hundred years, so relax."
I tried to take his advice, but I was growing more and more anxious as time went on. I wanted to uncover our past more than anything, but without Afton's help I wasn't sure if I would be able to. I could feel Jasper trying to calm me down, but my stress was blocking out his efforts entirely. "I don't know, Jazz, I just feel like he should have said something by now."
Jasper began rubbing comforting circles onto the shoulders, "I promise, the second he finds something he will tell us. He's your best friend, you've got to trust him, Eve." I sighed, I knew he was right, but I couldn't stop worrying. "Perhaps there's something else we could do, to take your mind off of it?"
If my heart could still beat I was sure it would be going a mile a minute, I looked up into Jasper's perfect face. His golden eyes looked mischievous and flirty, his smile was smug as his hands, which were once drawing calming circles on my back, began to stray lower and lower. "I know I said we should take things slow, but I am growing tired of waiting, and seeing as we have actually known each other for a century, I don't think we can go much slower." He laughed as I leaned into his embrace.
These were the words I was waiting to hear, I hadn't been able to think of much else when I had time to settle down. Now I was about to get everything I wanted. I took his hand and led him out the door and up to my room, Tommy shouted about putting the drinks on my tab, but neither of us bothered to listen. We were in my room in mere seconds, throwing caution to the wind and forgetting about our human mannerisms for the time being. Once the door was shut Jasper had his hands back to my waist and was pulling me flush against him. He leaned his forehead on mine, our eyes staring into one another for a minute before our lips met with a ferver I hadn't thought possible. All the sudden we were no longer two separate people, but one person melding together entirely. I had a hard time believing that a kiss like this was something I could ever forget.
My hands locked into his honey blond hair, pulling at his scalp so he couldn't back away. One good thing about being dead, you didn't have to breathe. We could be locked in this kiss for the rest of time and neither of us could grow tired or short winded. I was perfectly happy staying like this forever. Jasper, however, seemed to have other plans, as he led me backwards, towards the bed that I had never made use of. One side was completely covered in books, but to my surprise Jasper simply pushed all of them to the floor. Without breaking our bond he sat on the bed, and pulled me into his lap. His hands trailed from my waist up to my face, cupping my cheeks in his hands and deepening the kiss further.
I brought my hands to the first button on his shirt and made quick work of undoing it, trailing down to the next button and the one after that. As I undid the last button my phone rang in Jasper's pocket. I broke our kiss, "leave it, it's probably Alice," Jasper said, pulling my face back to his.
The call ended, but started up again right after. Jasper moaned and rolled his eyes as I broke our kiss again. I pulled the phone out of his pocket and looked at the caller-id. It was a number I didn't recognize, but as the call ended and started up again I decided to answer. "Hello?"
"Evie!" The voice I heard on the other line had me frozen. I felt my eyes roll back into my head as my body slumped over. Jasper was able to catch me just in time, hefting my now limp body back onto the bed. The line went dead after Jasper grabbed the phone from the floor and questioned the voice on the opposite end. For the second time in my undead life, I had passed out.