Chapter 8

Jasper got the Denali clan's number from Carlisle, and when he called, Eleazar picked up. They remembered each other, as the run-in with the Volturi over Maria trying to kill Jasper had involved Eleazar. Maria had created her last "army"; they created enough of a stir to attract Volturi attention; Demetri, Jane, Alec, and Eleazar had killed all but Carmen and Maria; and in order to save Jasper, Edward approached the group with Carlisle's name.

Carmen hadn't been killed simply because Eleazar recognized the attraction he felt towards her, and he offered to take care of her until she was no longer a newborn. But after a long talk with Edward, he and Carmen went to Alaska, and had been vegetarians with the Denali coven ever since. They led a simple life, hunting in the Alaskan wilderness. Since few people lived nearby, few vampires had ever come besides other vegetarians.

Laurent had come across the Cullens playing baseball last spring, and became quite interested in the idea of "vegetarianism." Especially after a trip to Alaska led to meeting his mate, Irina. She was the only mated sister, Tanya and Kate still being single, and quite "active on the dating scene."

"So you think they'll show me and Eddie a good time?"

Eleazar coughed. "If that is something you two would be interested in."

Jasper grinned; he could feel Edward fuming from the other room after muttering, "If they start thinking 'Eddie' is an acceptable nickname, I'm going to tear your tongue out."

"Well, Edward might beat me up and start tearing parts of me off, so I better apologize to him first. Sorry Edward! He hates it when I call him Eddie, see."

"And you two aren't mates?"

"Nope! Just good friends. Honestly I don't even know if he'll be interested in the girls if neither is his mate, he's the kind of person who prefers to be in love or something."

"The actual term is demisexual, and it means I need an emotional connection to be sexually interested in someone," Edward continued muttering from the other room.

"At any rate, you two are quite welcome to come up here this weekend, for hunting if for nothing else," Eleazar concluded. "I assume this is your cell number? I'll text everyone else's number to you, Carlisle apparently only had this landline in the main house."

"How many houses do y'all have?"

"They're more cabins, really. Two rather small ones, and one slightly bigger for movie parties and such."

"Right on. Well I will wait for these texts then let you know when we're on our way."

After hanging up, Jasper noticed that Edward's emotions were full of turmoil. He ran to see what was wrong. Edward had been thumbing through his tablet while Jasper was on the phone, but right now he was frozen still, not even breathing. Jasper took a deep breath through his nose, and he could just barely detect the scent of Bella Swan.

Well, damn.

"Hey, it's ok, man," he said softly, rubbing his shoulder. "You aren't gonna kill her."

Edward turned to look into his eyes. The last time Jasper had looked into his eyes, they were honey-colored, but now, now they were black. "I don't understand how any one human can smell so good," he wheezed out, careful not to inhale.

"Baby steps. Like Carlisle said. Every time you smell her and don't kill her, it'll get easier."

"Will it? Or will it just erase all my self-control and start an all-out war with the werewolves?"

"You told me once that you never killed someone you didn't mean to..."

Edward shuddered as he inhaled. "I'd hate to start with Chief Swan's little girl. I think I'd welcome death after killing an innocent."

Jasper's phone beeped with Eleazar's texts. He saved the numbers for each vampire in the Denali coven, then forwarded them to Edward. Edward sighed and did the same with his phone.

"So maybe we should drive up there, then."

"Why?"

"Because it'll take longer, and we can chat easier, and you'll be in a locked vehicle instead of running. Plus, I'm dying to see if that Stingray Aro got me is as sexy as I remember."

Edward rolled his eyes. "A convertible? Doesn't that defeat the purpose?"

"Uh, yes, this one's a hardtop, fool."

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Thursday morning they'd picked up the car, arranged insurance, and their Canadian passports (far more useful than American ones lately) for the drive. Edward had to admit it was a lovely car with an amazing engine, but having to use leaded gasoline was rather an annoyance. Jasper suggested they fill the trunk with gas cans, and Edward had to smack him and remind him that they were more, rather than less, flammable than humans.

The cheapest gas, unfortunately, was near the reservation. They did get Carlisle to tell Sam Wednesday night that they'd be there, but that didn't prevent high school kids on their lunch break from staring at Jasper as he filled up. And at least two werewolves - the ones that were over six-four and looked like steroided body-builders - and smelled like wet dog. Actually, quite a few of them smelled a little bit of dog; those must have been the grandchildren of the former werewolves. Both potential and actual werewolves gave Jasper the dirtiest looks when he finished paying for the gas and lead additives.

"Goddammit, that fucker musta told everyone we'd be here," groaned Jasper as he started the car.

Edward didn't say a word till they got back on the highway. Fear was pouring off him.

"They wouldn't attack us in broad daylight, Eddie."

He snapped, "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that!"

"Chill, man, I was just trying to calm you down. Since you don't like it when I use my powers."

"Go ahead and use them now. You don't want to know what those boys were thinking."

Jasper nodded and let the chill vibes out. "Something to do with filling our trunk with gas cans?"

He shook his head. "They were thinking about Bella Swan's parents, actually. I don't know what the hell Carlisle said about her, but, well, I can let you know that Renee Higgenbotham is definitely her mother."

"Those guys know Bella's mother's name?"

"No, but they know what she looks like. She visits here over summers, now, and, well, she's the same person Demetri met five years ago."

"Huh," was all Jasper could say.

"One of them was the son of 'uncle Billy', too."

"So I guess he would know, huh."

"He's ... rather fond of her. Oh, he doesn't actually believe vampires are real, but he was suspicious that we looked so similar to the Cullens."

"This is all just wonderful news, Edward."

"No, the wonderful part is that vampire presence is what they think activates the change."

"Uh... so all those kids glaring at us that smelled like stinky dawg are going to be werewolves in a couple weeks?"

"It's a possibility."

Jasper groaned. "Thank the Lord I'm getting laid this weekend."

"The Blacks, Atearas and Uleys signed the original treaty, there were about five boys that had the scent I think."

"Is it only the males?"

"Uh, I don't know. I mean, Carlisle only mentioned meeting men in the '30s, but I can't think of a reason why not."

"You don't think we'll be able to change Bella when we get back, do you?"

"It might be for the best, but we'll never be able to go back to Forks again if the tribe thinks we killed her. I think we just need to explain about Demetri, and how she has to change now."

"You don't think she should be given a choice?"

Edward glared at him. "Who among us was given a choice to become a vampire or not? She's met a vampire and lived. Hell, she's met a bunch of vampires and lived, and she's my singer! We'll do the injection, since Aro told you it worked, and we won't even have broken the treaty."

"I just think at this point, it's pure luck that we've found her again, and we know she'll be here till spring, so what's the rush?" asked Jasper.

"You know, Jasper," he said softly. "I don't want to kill her."

"Is it that you don't want to kill her, or you don't want her dead?"

"Well, obviously I don't want her dead either way, but yes, I especially don't want to be the one responsible for her death."

"Funny, when I met you, you wouldn't have wanted her to be turned either."

"Are you never going to stop mocking me for that? So I thought vampires were doomed to hell. It was hardly an uncommon belief! You know I now think being a vampire has many advantages to being human, but the thirst thing is pretty damned bad, figuratively speaking."

"Well, now that I've been only drinking animals, I can see what you mean," admitted Jasper.

"Ferry to Canada, let's get quiet."

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note: normally you would not go to La Push to leave Forks, but they wanted to get the cheapest gas possible, and on this day it was on the rez.