Ch 10
It was nightfall again before it was safe enough to leave. Aro left with the guard first, heading to an airport, while we were free to do with the busses as we pleased. Some of the other vampires wanted to hang around and chit chat, but there was still the business of Jessica's secret looming ahead. She had known, all along according to Aro. Not brainless, as Rosalie had accused.
There was also the matter of hunting. We had planned to hunt after the ceremony, but were interupped. I could tell Jessica was almost to her breaking point.
It was lucky for us that Maria and her army fed exclusively from humans. Darkness had brought out the night critters so we, the Cullens, and the Denalis hunted. Some of the more curious covens joined in only to be disgusted by taste.
A pity.
Fed and content we hopped on the bus Kate Denali was determined to drive. Since we were on the way, they had offered to drop us off. I suspected the courtesy was so Eleazar could learn more about my mate and her gift. Since we didn't know much about it, we welcomed his input.
My mate had the power to stop time itself. It was a frightening realization, but Peter's prediction was true. Without our messiah, we would have died in that field. Aro, unwittingly driving us to our doom.
I held Jessica tighter.
How much did she know?
We returned to Montana and went off with our respective mates. Facing death had changed us all and we needed time to cope. Helping Jessica out of her dress, we made love through two sunrises.
"It's time to meet the others," Jessica sighed. I felt her defeat and held her a few moments longer.
"They don't have to know," I assured her. She owed no explanations at all.
We gathered inside the chapel and each sat with our respective mates in a semi circle on the floor. An intimate setting for a sensitive conversation.
"I'm here to apologize," Jessica announced with a whisper. "I've manipulated all of you."
I heard gasps, but stayed focused on my mate.
"Yes, I remember the night in the alley. I remember the newborn, the burn, Peter, everything. I remember because it's happened numerous times."
I didn't understand. Numerous times?
"It wasn't the first time in the alley, it wasn't the first time in Mexico, meeting Aro, all of it has happened before in one form or another. Except every other time, we died. All of us."
Fear. Whether I was projecting, or receiving, I wasn't sure, but that was the only emotion I could feel in that moment.
"Sometimes we didn't make it to Mexico. Sometimes I died in the alley, sometimes one of you slipped. Everytime I changed something, it would change the outcome. Like some fucked up equation with an infinite amount of variables."
It was hard to wrap my head around this, but she continued regardless.
"I learned to see patterns. Each major change I would make would change things drastically. In one process, just by deciding to move to Forks earlier, before being attacked, you never noticed me. Alice was with Jasper and Edward became obsessed with Isabella Swan eventually getting her pregnant, giving birth and going to war with the Volturi that way. Fucked up right?"
Alice growled, probably wishing she hadn't spared her. Edward nodded my confirmation.
"In other cases, Maria slaughtered us all. Or the Volturi did after we helped them defeat her."
"How do we know time just won't reset again?" Rosalie asked.
She had a point. I was curious too.
"Time resets when I die."
She dies, you die, I die, Eddie boy dies, we all die. Peter's words echoed in my brain. He wasn't seeing our deaths he was sensing a time reset.
But she had lived and we were here, continuing on.
"Why didn't Aro destroy us this time?" Edward asked.
"I never actually stopped time before this time," she shrugged. "Didn't know I could until the cheeseburger incident."
"Cheeseburger Incident?" Emmett asked.
"She froze us and went for a joyride in the pick up." I explained dryly. I was still upset about that.
"I really wanted a cheeseburger. It was vile. But I had to see if my theory would work. It did, so, well you saw the rest."
Indeed, we had.
"Why were you so scared when I revealed myself?" Rosalie asked, suspicion rolling off of her.
"Of the thousands of times I've looped you killed me 112 times. 40 of those times were in that moment. Of course I was fucking scared. You don't kill as gently as Edward," Jessica answered.
"None of you do. Carlisle and Esme excluded."
So we most of us had been responsible for her death at least once. I wondered darkly how many times I had killed my mate.
"The Volturi wins by a long shot. The rest doesn't matter."
Still upset that Edward was a gentler killer than me, I huffed. First, he gets to see her naked now he gets to give her a pleasant death. It was unfair.
It didn't help feeling the smugness coming from Edward. We'd definitely be having a talk later.
