The Last Chapter

When White Roses Turn Red

Edward's POV

Four days later...

"...achoo!"

I chuckled at the sound of my lover sneezing, watching with amused eyes as Jasper sniffled a bit as he and I stopped walking along the snowy sidewalk in the Downtown District, the two of us having to kind of shuffle away from the many passersby and city-goers this time of day.

I smiled at my boyfriend's pseudo-irritated face that he made at me because I had laughed at him, as I smoothly turned my back to the flow of the people so I may look properly upon him.

"Are you alright? You're not getting sick, are you?" I questioned with a cheeky smirk and raise of one of my eyebrows, bringing my leather gloved hands up to either of his biceps as I ran my fingers up and down the thick, dark wool of his coat sleeves.

"Net, net..." Jasper assured me with a shake of his curly, blonde head, sniffing again before fixing me with his cobalt blue gaze that seemed to positively glow amidst the softly falling snow that blanketed around us, "...I'm fine now."

I smiled once more as I used my gentle hold on Jasper's arms to usher him towards me the remaining few inches that separated us so I may place a sweet kiss to his forehead.

Just then, a sensation, not unlike that of a quick bolt of lightning, sparked across the back of my neck, making my muscles tense at once from the abrupt sharpness of such fine-tuned ominousness; such impact from feeling it prompting me instantly turn around in my spot.

My emerald orbs were kept narrowed to help shield against the biting cold, as I darted my gaze from left to right, searching for anything even remotely out of the ordinary; my flesh able to feel even more of the pressing cold of the atmosphere as I drifted my vision from corner to corner, passed every snowflake and onto the many, zigzagging streets that lie ahead.

A feeling that dark, that bloodthirsty and unknowable, was something that just could not be ignored.

A feeling that venomous had to have been real...

"Edward...?" my beloved angel voiced from behind me, confusion in his careful tone, as I felt him shift his weight where he stood, "...Edward, what's wrong?"

I could see nothing out of place, but I knew that that meant little given the circumstances of being constantly passed by countless people as well as surrounded by several, high-reaching buildings where any one thing could be occurring right now.

"I don't know what to make of that...maybe it was nothing...paranoia or just the cold...there are too many possibilities..." I mentally surmised, still not entirely buying my own internal reasoning at the moment, as I turned back around to look upon Jasper, choosing to ignore what remained of my racing thoughts still occupying most of my mind as I regarded him.

Lovely blue orbs watched my features closely, Jasper having wrapped his arms around his torso, and I genuinely felt my self-imposed anguish start to leave me, as I smiled my naturally crooked smile at him before speaking.

"Nothing's wrong, baby...come on...it's getting late," I offered warmly, still unable to fully shake the strange feeling lingering in the back of my brain, but wholly willing to smile for my lover and not let him see one ounce of my distress.

X

Third Person POV

Meanwhile, a shrouded figure watched as the two men he had been sent to track walked away, continuing their journey even though the red-haired one had stopped once and briefly looked his way.

The man with short, dark hair and towering stature pulled out a cell phone out of his long coat pocket, speed dialing a number and lifting the device to his ear.

"...he's here...da...da...da, I will follow him...alright," the man spoke curtly into his cell phone before ending the call and placing the device back inside his pocket.

With a turn on his booted heel, the large folds of his greatcoat flapping wildly about his ruggedly tall frame only for a moment, before the man promptly left the bustling area, disappearing in the throngs of people with trained ease.

X

Jasper's POV

Two days later...

I laughed as I hugged Edward's arm tighter in my hands, the pair of us walking another part of the extraordinary city together, having spent the entire morning strolling across the grand canals that offered spectacular views of the ornate monasteries and skyscrapers beyond.

Like me, Edward had been almost entranced with the high-reaching, beautifully designed buildings, but only to have whispered in my ear that he liked the cathedral tattooed on my back the best.

I had laced my gloved fingers with his own upon hearing such a comment, smirking up at him, before I had replied to him that he could visit that church anytime he wanted.

Edward's low groan had been all the answer I needed to inform me that I had won our little battle of wits.

I had been having the most joyous of times as he and I had stopped off for lunch at a nearby bar, our travels having taken us back towards the inner-city streets where shoppes and eateries of all kinds lined the roads, creating a populated, diverse area.

Now, inside the richly decorated bar with our coats draped over the backs of our chairs and plates of piping hot food set out before us, Edward had taken my hand in his own, bringing it up to his softly smirking lips before placing the chastest of kisses to my fingers.

I blushed as I smiled, having to look away from such intense green directed my way, before I lifted my gaze right back to his, feeling my lover gently massage my hand inside his own.

"I love you, Jascha...more than anything I've ever loved...it means a lot to me to see you this happy," Edward professed to me, his words making my world quake a bit beneath my feet, as I, in turn, brought his hand still connected with my own to my lips so I may press a kiss to his knuckle.

"I am happy, Edward...all because of you; I've never been this happy, but I am..." I replied earnestly before dropping my voice a little lower, my tone a touch more somber with him as I continued, "...I really must be thanking you...if it hadn't been for you...you being there for me...for you loving me...I don't know where I would have ended up..."

Our conversation was met with a brief pause as someone walked by our table so he may exit the bar, the man having uttered a barely audible 'excuse me' as he passed from behind Edward, our hands still within the others' grasp even though I did have the courtesy to lower my eyes just as the man approached.

"Shh...baby...don't even think about that...what matters is now..." Edward cooed with a growing smirk and tender eyes, our hands slowly separating so we may continue eating our meal, electric current still sparking magnificently within our bodies as our thoughts quietly dwelt on the magnitude of emotions our words had just conveyed to one another.

Suddenly, a playful comment occurred to me, making me smile at my own internal words before voicing them out loud for Edward to hear.

"...I think I may ask for some hot sauce..." I stated very matter-of-factly, ready to receive my lover's amused glance as Edward smiled as politely as he could around his mouthful of food, "...our time in Mexico definitely changed my taste in food...the spicier, the better..."

Edward laughed once I had finished my humorous observation, my own merry laughter joining his, as he nodded his auburn-colored head before replying, dabbing his napkin to his lips for a second.

"I think you might be right...and, you know, if you want to put hot sauce on your pelmeni, well...I can't say I'd blame you," Edward joked right back, his good-natured jab at traditional Russian cuisine prompting me to childishly stick my tongue out at him before the two of us dug right back into our respective meals, still chuckling softly.

Shortly after, Edward and I both rose up from our chairs, our late lunch having come to a fulfilling end, as we slipped back on our coats, paid the bill, and then looped one of our arms together as we made to walk out of the quaint establishment.

"I had so much fun today, Edward...I want to do it all over again tomorrow," I teased my American boyfriend as we made a left out of the bar and began heading down the bustling sidewalk once more, such vibrancy seeming to never leave my features as I cast my blue orbs onto his striking profile, seeing the way his sharp cheekbones looked even more pronounced as he grinned.

"Oh, is that right...?" Edward jabbed right back, his tone making me snuggle into his side all the more as we took our time strolling through the moderately-sized crowds of people who wove this way and that through the white-dusted area as they all sought out to reach where they were going, just as we were, "...is that really what my baby doll wants...you want to go to the same place to eat and everything...?"

I smiled even brighter, loving our lighthearted banter as I nuzzled my cheek against the curve of Edward's shoulder, my grip on him joyfully tight, as I pretended to need to think over his questions.

"Hmm...that's a tough one...yes! I even want to eat at the same place tomorrow! Say that we can. Please, Edward...say that we..." I was in the middle of playfully begging my lover before Edward's lowly-spoken, confused voice made the rest of my words fade from my mind.

"...huh...what the hell is this...?" Edward murmured the odd question, as he lifted his free hand out of his coat pocket, slowly revealing a perfectly blossomed rose from its depths, the dark red of the petals cutting drastically through the meshed black and white of the wintery city beyond my vision.

"...is it...for me...?" I asked in a small, uncertain voice, only to have my every doubt confirmed in full solely from Edward's off-guard and unsuspecting body language before he even so much as opened his mouth to speak, my shoulders feeling unbelievably tense as I watched as Edward struggled with such a baffling occurrence.

"...heh...I wish that I could say 'yes, it's for you'...but, baby...I have no idea where this came from..." Edward admitted, his voice bordering on amused puzzlement as he turned the bright crimson flower within his pinched grip on the thorn-riddled stem as he and I further studied it.

All of a sudden, like long-forgotten childhood memories abruptly swarming an amnesiac patient, I gasped as my brain overloaded with recollections of things, small or otherwise, that I had been told of the Morozov Faction's rival gang, the Krasniy Sem, or the Red Seven.

I could see their faces in the brief encounters I had had with them over the years as Aro's right-hand man, able to hear the words perfectly in my head as if I were hearing them now, as person after person that had come and went throughout my life had informed me something else about such a group of men.

A twisted menagerie of assassins, that was how we had spoken of them at the time – they planned nothing, only settled debts for money and prestige amongst other factions.

I could vividly remember the tall, burly man named Felix of the Krasniy Sem who had looked at me with those cold, calculating eyes of his, as he was brazenly introduced to me as their gang's finest killer.

At the time, I had said nothing, same as him, for I had immediately recognized his unquenchable bloodlust and it had sickened me to no end.

I could remember an equally tall but much more refined man named Peter who supposedly lead the gang by proxy of another who was never directly heard from or seen. Rumors had been abundant of if such a man even existed, as the only things anyone would ever hear regarding him had been through Peter.

I could remember...the general talk as well as the newspaper headlines that had floated about of how the members of that faction would always leave a single red rose on the bloated chest of the person they had just murdered the night before, as if the poor bastard was also receiving a blessing along with their untimely death by their killer.

My senses snapping back to the present, I violently shook my head to rid such horrid thoughts from my mind, as I shouted immediately at Edward.

"Edward, get rid of it! Drop it now!" I yelled, my eyes wide with stark fear as I smacked the damning rose out of my beloved's hands, blind to the misunderstanding plaguing Edward's beautiful features as I next reached my hands out to push Edward out of plain view on the sidewalk and towards a nearby alleyway.

My actions...my putting together of the puzzle...had been too late.

Thwap...thwap...!

"Argh!" I growled in horrendous pain suddenly tearing right through me, my eyes screwed shut as I fell forward, feeling Edward's hands grip painfully tightly onto my arms as he collided onto his back on the frozen pavement and I partially on top of him.

"...ugh...fuck...g-geh..." I steadied my breathing, slowly opening my eyes, forcing my brain to use the pain I felt to remain sharp right now, as I kept my hands on Edward's chest, "...it's not too bad...it's just my arm..."

I could feel where a bullet had grazed my upper right arm, having seared through my coat sleeve which was now running red with my blood, but the view I beheld once I opened my eyes made me forget entirely about the pain and everything else in the world outside of my direct line of sight.

"...nng...mmn..." Edward, my sweet, loving Edward, looked up at me from the snow-covered ground with watery, tumultuous eyes as he visibly struggled with his own crippling pain and that of wanting to remain calm for my sake.

The more my eyes scanned over his body, the more my ability to think was forfeited, as my slowly trailing gaze, as if I were completely engulfed in an overwhelming, silencing melancholy, caught sight of the horrifying red stain expanding and expanding along Edward's chest, painting his clean white shirt and coat a frightening scarlet that only darkened the more I looked at him.

I froze.

I froze with my heart pounding in my ears and my hands not moving on his heaving chest.

I froze with my mind unable to process...any of it...

I did not hear as a young woman screamed in terror from somewhere behind me, causing more and more people to turn their attention to Edward and I on the ground before hurrying away from the scene, their chatter growing and blurring and not at all registering to my faded senses.

The powder snow continued to fall softly on top of us, the fragile flakes turning instantly red and dissipating once they made contact with Edward's blood-soaked garments, as I gazed intently in Edward's milky jade eyes, seeking out answers without uttering a word, seeking out something that would make all of this go away...but only seeing...

"Ja...Jascha..." Edward fought to voice, his body trembling underneath my hands, as I felt my eyes blot heavily with tears that spilled over my cheeks, as I slowly, gradually, came to understand exactly what was happening to him in this moment...to us.

Then, Edward's trembling stopped, his body still.

The war in those beautiful eyes of his that I usually loved so much to gaze into...had settled.

Edward had died.

"...n-no..." I breathed hollowly, before my actions were suddenly rushed out of me, my brain having gone from failing to comply with any bit of this situation to overworking at a pace that my feelings and body simply could not keep up with.

"NO!"

Both of my gloved hands gripped onto one of his own, squeezing his fingers as firmly as I could, as I lowered my chest and head down to him, sobbing uncontrollably...sobbing with everything I had, what was left of me, sobbing with so much pain ripping through me that had my physical body feeling less than the man I had been a few minutes ago.

It was unbearable; I could not take it...I could not...take it, as my hands tore at Edward's clothing while I screamed out my tears, my frustration that he was not responding to me anymore.

"...please...! Please wake up! D-don't you fucking leave me...Edward, please, goddamnit!" I hollered desperately, my constricted throat making me choke on my wails of unfathomable torment as I lowered my head down to my curled fists resting on top of Edward's collarbone, hating that I would no longer feel it move up and down as he breathed.

"...good work..." drawled a cool, collected voice from close behind me, followed by what sounded like gloved hands clapping together once.

I did not move from my spot...I could not...

"Get him up...I hate seeing him on the filthy ground like that," the voice said again, still only being somewhat heard and processed by me as I drowned in my anguish where I was, my emptiness...feeling absolutely nothing in this moment other than raw, burning desolation, as if God Himself had rejected me.

I could feel my body shaking, my unshed tears stinging at my eyes, as I sniffled and just barely lifted my head up from my hands, my hurting gaze looking longingly over Edward's handsome, peaceful features, forever frozen just like this.

Suddenly, two pairs of hands latched onto both my arms and began hoisting me up onto my feet and away from Edward's body.

I panicked upon being moved away from him so quickly.

"No! No! No! Let me go...please l-let me go..." I cried out as I struggled uselessly against their grips, sobbing once more before I went limp against them, every cell of my body and soul feeling utterly defeated, utterly destroyed, and I simply had no more fight left within me.

My breathing ragged, I cracked open my watery eyes as I felt leather-gloved fingers boldly wipe away a trail of my tears before gently taking one of my honey curls in between his thumb and index finger.

"Jasper...it's good to see you again...do you remember me...?" said none other than Peter of the Krasniy Sem as he rubbed the lock of my hair in between his fingers for a second before releasing me and looking indifferently at the small red lines of blood now present on his black leather.

I said nothing, unable to solidly think of much of anything at the moment, as I could not stop my body from shivering, or my eyes from displaying my mind-breaking distress...possibly even my own indifference to being in the situation I was.

Being restrained the way that I was, I honestly would not have minded if they had put a bullet in my head right this second.

"Ah, well...I suppose your silence should be expected...but perhaps your tongue will loosen if I tell you that the hit...had originally been put on your head instead of your unfortunate lover," Peter spoke with such silk in his voice that I felt my stomach turn with the urgent need to empty its contents, something I had to concentrate constantly to avoid.

"...w-what...?" I muttered pathetically, picking my head up from its tilted position as I placed my broken, cobalt stare directly into Peter's pleased, coffee eyes, searching for the truth in his words.

"Da, tovaras...but alas...I decided to do what has already been done because instead of killing you, I want you to join us, Jasper," Peter stated like he was extending a simple business offer to me, grinning a disgustingly charming grin my way as he patiently awaited my answer.

I dropped my curly head completely, running my tongue over my dry lips as I shoved away my pressing need to cry, to vent, to yell and sob and pray to God, as I felt more and more of my confusion turn to anger, my meekness into a blade screaming inside me to strike.

"Felix...Demetri...we're not barbarians, release him..." Peter continued calmly to his henchmen at my sides whom immediately dropped my arms from their crushing hands, my injured arm falling more lamely at my side as fresh blood dripped from my fingertips and onto the white pavement, "... it appears one of your shots, Felix, nicked his arm..."

"...yes, sir," Felix responded mechanically beside me, unflinching at the way Peter stepped directly in front of him and then reared one of his hands back.

Smack!

"He's no good to us if he can't use that arm!" Peter roared at his employee as if he should have known better, his voice having become uncharacteristically furious in this brief occurrence of him disciplining Felix, but as quickly as the change in him came, it disappeared, bringing him back to his smooth-talking ways once more.

"Jasper...you're hurt...let me take care of you, da...?" Peter cooed softly against my cheek, having slipped in close to my side, as he placed one hand on my shoulder and the other on my chest.

Like a thinly stretched cord snapping in half, like an hourglass running out of sand, like a man suddenly knowing without a shadow of a doubt that he had nothing else to lose, I felt all of my transformed anger flare wildly inside me until it wrapped me completely upon feeling Peter touch me the way he was.

The sudden white-hot jarring of my tortured soul made me forget everything I had ever felt and learned because of Edward, placing me perfectly within that darkened mindset of just solely needing to kill, to punish, to seek vengeance.

How dare he touch me after what he had done to Edward.

How dare he think that he could persuade me to join his ranks...after what he took away from me.

He took away my life, so now I shall take away his.

With a liveliness bred only from a sense of desiring pure destruction, I grit my teeth harshly beneath my fallen waves, before fluidly reaching my bloodied hand into the folds of Peter's coat while the other one gripped securely onto the front of his collared shirt.

I watched through eyes having become a little less human as Peter's face twisted with bafflement at my actions, as I swiftly yanked his handgun out of his hidden holster, my grip on him not allowing him to stumble too far away from me.

Uncaring of consequences, uncaring of everything, I ignored how Felix and Demetri were already on the move to pry their boss away from me, as I jammed the barrel of the gun hard into Peter's ribs and pulled the trigger.

Boom...boom...boom!

I hardly had it in me to care to watch his face as Peter vomited dark red blood before falling back towards Demetri who was momentarily torn between trying to catch his employer or to move out of the way.

I used his hesitation to lift the heavy handgun higher, casting my fiery, forever-changed blue gaze into his light-colored one before firing off another close-range round into his skull.

Demetri's penetrated head was thrown backwards at once, his lengthy black hair fanning out against the bleak background of the city before he collapsed as well.

Thwap!

"...ugh!" I gasped roughly, my breathing unbelievably difficult to manage beyond such a harsh scope of pain making me nearly see white, as I was suddenly forced down to the ground from the impact of the bullet passing through my side.

"...haa...haa...haa..." I focused on breathing evenly as I now lie flat on my back peering up at the drifting snow that looked like tiny crystallized tears coming from the blue-grey sky, as if it knew of my pain and wept just for me because I was now lost.

"...it was not a killing shot..." Felix stated as he stepped into my line of sight, standing over me as he trained his gun somewhere in between my chest and stomach, fixing me once again with those chilly eyes of his...just like he had all those years ago.

"I really am lost now...now I don't have anyone...not anyone..." I mentally sighed, softly closing my eyes, practically able to feel my life draining out of me right along with the slow streams of blood that escaped my wounded side.

"No," I thought firmly, opening my eyes at once, my ears only sort of able to understand Felix's continued words to me above my own internalized conversation.

"Come with me, Jasper...it's not too late...we will form our own Krasniy Sem," Felix prattled on, even going so far as to remove pointing his firearm from me altogether.

"Edward would not have wanted me to give up. He never gave up on me...I shouldn't either...I need to do something..." the words comprising my thoughts were clear and concise, as I muffled my wince of pain as I rolled over onto my stomach, a solid plan forming inside my mind.

"This is pointless, Jasper...stop delaying...I need an answer..." Felix stated above me as I crawled on my forearms towards my deceased lover, pushing aside my physical pain in my endeavors to reach his side once more.

"...ha...hih..." I winced once more as I felt the gunshot wound in my side stretch from my actions, my lips trembling as I fought to deal with the hellish, white-hot pain shooting through me once more, as I finally approached Edward's unmoving side.

I immediately breathed easier, my pain no longer at the forefront of my mind, as I reached up a hand to Edward's porcelain profile, gingerly tracing my fingertips along the sharp contours of his jaw, before I slowly brought my head down so I may press my lips to his one last time.

A new tear silently slid down my cheek as I savored the feel of his cool lips against mine, taking my time with such a heartbreaking act, as I solemnly recalled Edward telling me that he never wanted to be without me again...how he had said those words to me right after we had made love for the first time.

'...just keep sleeping...I'll be right there with you...' Edward's remembered words sang through my thoughts, making me gasp for air in spite of the way my tears flowed freely now, as I slowly separated our lips, my heart and mind full.

"Jasper, I've giving you to the count of five to get up from the ground and join me. Do you hear me? Pyat...chityri..." Felix's harsh, firm voice sounded once more as the Krasnit Sem member was obviously annoyed with my prolonging of speaking to him, already starting his countdown.

'I love you, Jascha...more than anything I've ever loved...'

"...tri...dva..."

Suddenly, knowing that Felix would not have anticipated such quick movements, I retrieved Edward's handgun from inside his blazer jacket and hurriedly flipped around onto my back, holding the pistol with both hands as I aimed directly for the bastard's heart.

"Boom...!"

The sound of the single shot echoed down the open city, bouncing off the walls of the local shoppes that made up this area, as all went silent for a heavy moment.

For what seemed like an eternity... nothing moved...nothing happened...just nothing...

The next sound that met my ears was the thud of Felix's knees as they met the sturdy pavement, his mouth open in pained shock as he murmured something, something I could not hear completely, as my eyes watched intently as sickening waterfalls of blood poured out of the gaping hole in his chest that soaked through fabric and earth alike.

Mustering the tattered remains of my strength into my legs and arms, I pushed myself off of the ground as Felix sank even further down in the unforgiving snow that lay about the city, Edward's frozen gun resting in my lowered hand as I opened my mouth to speak to my lover's killer before he passed away.

"...fuck you...and do svidaniya..." I half-whispered, half-growled my parting words to the monster that now lie dead at my feet, along with all of the others who remained lifelessly sprawled this way and that just ahead of me, leaving me alone to stand above them all.

I had never felt lonelier than this moment right now, surrounded by snow-kissed corpses on the streets of my native country, all of them murdered in cold blood...including my Edward.

"...my Edward..." my brooding thoughts halted at the few words that seemed to spin endlessly in my mind until I turned around in my spot and looked upon him once more, causing everything to stop and my words just seem to drift from my lips at once.

"I am so sorry, Edward...so sorry...I never...thought that...I was so happy with you...we were happy...you did so much for me, sweetheart...let me feel...beautiful love when I probably didn't deserve it...or you...and now...I am just...so sorry...I...I will never forget the things you said to me, the things we did...and how...worthwhile...you made living turn out to be...I love you, baby..."

My aching body feeling a breath lighter, my splitting mind drawing back the tiniest sliver of peace from my sincere good-bye to my beloved Edward, I lowered my mournful eyes, licked my cracked lips, and turned around.

The first step away from him felt like another bullet passing through me, and second only felt a shade less intense...but the third...and the forth...made me think that I could actually do this...that, because of him, I had such strength to keep going.

The far-away noise of police sirens swirled vaguely within the atmosphere, my steps a bit staggered from my wounds, physical as well as emotional, as I walked away from the white scene turned red, having no idea where I was going or what I was supposed to do now.

The only thing I did know...was that whatever I decided...it would be with Edward in my mind and heart.

X

Author's Note: I'll tell ya...I have just been in a mood lately. Guess it kind of showed in my writing, da? XD Nonetheless, this is basically how I knew I wanted this story to end. Remember when I first started this little fic I mentioned that I would be going kinda crazy with this one...? Well, there we have it lol. Thanks be to all who stuck by me, who continued to read my updates even though they would come like a month later. THANKS A BUNCH!