So I originally wrote this the day after I posted chapter six, but fanfiction was being crappy and it wouldn't work when I tried to put it on the story...So now it's fixed and here's the chapter! Oh, and I hope you guys remember Cel... Never mind. :)
The breaks I take between these chapters are TOO long...Sorry! Thanks for the help, Ibby! :] Enjoy!
Jasper
How did April know?
She had told him, the crow flies. That was a code phrase that Jasper and Lyreco had thought of quite a few months ago – something that only they knew. No one else in the Hostium could possibly find out. But somehow, April knew about it. She had actually said it to Jasper.
It meant that the Aeternas were coming.
The Hostium, as Jasper learned when he joined, had to constantly move when they were discovered – or to prevent that. As a warning, Lyreco had joked about a code phrase for this: the crow flies. It meant that the Damnati – what the Hostium called the Aeternas – were coming. Or at least one of them. But this was bad news – firstly, if April was able to hear Lyreco and Jasper's private conversations, who else might have? And second, did she spy on them? If so, how long had she known of Jasper's involvement with the Hostium?
Questions ran through his head, but all he wanted to do now was to actually talk to her – ask her these questions. April sat inside the Cullens' house, which was where she usually spent her time now. It was dark outside, and the moon still rising. It was a waxing crescent, Jasper noted.
April reclined on a wide couch, reading a book. It was Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. She lowered it and looked around guiltily when Jasper entered the living room.
"April?" Jasper asked. "Can I talk to you for a minute?" he couldn't ask the questions here – Carlisle was only upstairs and Esme downstairs. Alice had left for a little while to 'run some errands'.
"In private?" Jasper added quickly.
"Maybe later." April hummed, obviously trying to avoid what Jasper would ask her.
"It's actually quite urgent." Jasper insisted, his tone lowering.
"I'm sure it's not too important." April replied, shifting her attention to her book again. Jasper, annoyed, ripped the book out of her hands and let it fall to the floor, its hard spine clattering.
"Hey – now I've lost my page!" April said with fake annoyance.
"April." Jasper said, his voice strained. "Come on."
"Sorry, Jasper, I just don't feel like it right now." April said innocently. Jasper glared, now furious. He couldn't go out and confront her here – it was too risky with Carlisle and Esme probably listening. Fuming, Jasper stormed out of the living room and into the kitchen, where the drama had earlier happened. Rosalie was now upstairs with Carlisle and Esme, catching up. April had stayed downstairs, since she didn't really know her, and Alice had abruptly departed after a quick 'hi' to Rose.
Jasper now went upstairs, feeling that he should greet his sister properly. She had obviously finished talking to Carlisle and Esme, because she was in her room. A tap-tap-tap sound made Jasper guess that she was on a computer – and he was right. She sat at her desk, long, golden hair gleaming, typing away on a sleek black laptop. She turned when Jasper entered, beaming.
"Hey," She greeted him, standing up. "I didn't get to say hi to you earlier." Rosalie stepped forward and pulled her brother into a quick hug before pulling back.
"Hi." Jasper smiled. "How've you been? Where have you been?" He took a seat on a stray chair, facing her. She closed the laptop as soon as his eyes wandered to it, and sat down.
"Alright," she answered his first question. "Everywhere. I visited Tanya and her sisters, I went to Africa for a little while, and travelled around Europe." Her face lit up.
"You won't believe it – I found other vampires like us. 'Vegetarians'," She giggled. "Different covens, in Russia, France, Germany, China, and I even visited England! I guess my travels got my mind off things."
"That sounds great," Jasper enthused. For almost an hour, he sat their listening to her tales of her adventures around the globe, but what really got his attention was something she'd heard when she visited Rome, Italy.
"Some vampires that I met there – quite nasty people, actually – spoke of...Well, my Italian translations are basic, but they were talking about something like...Aeternates? No, sorry, it was Aeternas. Yep. They kept saying, il Aeternas stanno arrivando – which means The Aeternas are coming. Something about the original vampires? Sounds interesting, right? So then I went to Naples, and those vampires accused me of being part of these Aeternas. Can you believe it?" Rosalie explained, laughing at the end.
"Wait – Aeternas?" Jasper's eyes widened.
"Yeah," Rose eyed him suspiciously. "Do you know what they are?"
"Oh, no, no," Jasper lied. "I think I've just heard that name before."
"Okay."
"Ah, well, it was nice catching up," he said. "I, uh, have to go." Jasper quickly escaped from her room, zooming down the stairs and to April. He grabbed her by the collar and dragged her outside, releasing her out in the trees.
"How did you know to tell me that?" He demanded, glaring murderously.
"I..." April actually seemed afraid of him. "He told me!" she blurted. Suddenly, she looked at something to her right. Jasper looked, too, but saw nothing.
"Sorry, sorry!" she said to the invisible thing.
"Who told you?" Jasper hissed, careful to stay quiet.
"Lyr – Look, I'm sorry, but why can't we just tell him?" April said, talking to the air again.
"What the hell are you doing? Did you just say Lyreco?" Jasper said, his eyes wide.
"Uh, no, I, uh -"
"Don't lie to me!" Jasper cried.
"Lyreco!" April burst. "He told me to tell you, okay?" April yelled, her gaze focussing on Jasper again.
"What do you mean? He's dead!" Jasper yelled, a growl escaping his lips. April kept looking back to that space of air.
"Uh, I...Should I tell him?" she cried, talking to that space of air.
"But -" she was interrupted by the...air. Whatever it 'said', Jasper didn't hear.
"Okay." April nodded, and looked back to Jasper.
Jasper... The voice was in his head, and unmistakably Lyreco's. Jasper gasped, looking around. It was just April and himself though.
"Lyreco?"
Yes.
"But...You're dead!" Jasper whispered in disbelief.
I am. But my soul, or mind, or whatever you'd like to call it, is still conscious. April has a gift of speaking to me, and it takes a great effort of combining her gift and my power to be able to communicate with you.
"Oh, my God..." Jasper murmured. This was...Amazing. Incredible. Completely unbelievable.
I gave April that warning to pass to you – because it's true. They are coming, Jasper, and you must prepare. But remember: Now that you are leader, the Hostium's safety is your top priority – that means you must choose them over your loved ones if needed. I know it's hard, but it's vital that the Hostium stays intact.
Jasper nodded. "I understand." He said.
Oh, and one more thing – Lyreco's voice was suddenly cut off.
"Lyreco? Lyreco?" Jasper said, looking around.
"What happened?" he asked April.
"He's gone. I – I couldn't keep that connection up for long." She said, concentrating on something. After a second, Lyreco's voice returned.
- Don't –
His voice was quiet, and sounded like there was static on the other end.
- Trust –
Again his words were cut off, but Jasper was eager to hear more. Who couldn't he trust?
- A-
-RI-
-NA-
Suddenly, Lyreco was cut off completely, and April gasped, stumbling forward to crash into Jasper, who scornfully stepped back and let her trip. Before she could fall face-first on the ground, her arms shot out in front of her and boosted her back up to stand straight. With vampire reflexes, this happened in only a fraction of a second.
Jasper went over what Lyreco had said, piecing the name together.
Don't trust Arina.
. . .
It turned out that April had no idea who Arina was – but Jasper did.
He remembered when he had caught Alice on the phone talking about Lyreco, and he vaguely remembered her mentioning Arina.
What is it, Arina...Alice had said.
Okay, thanks Arina. So Alice knew Arina. And apparently trusted her. Jasper needed to warn her – but where had she gone? He pulled out his cell phone, ignoring the sudden rumble of thunder above. In the dark sky, grey clouds were starting to gather. He dialled Alice and waited, looking up. Was it just him, or were those grey clouds focussed only above their area? He saw bright flashes of lighting in the clouds and heard the endless rumble of thunder.
A few wet drops informed him that it was drizzling. April stood patiently.
"Come on, pick up the phone..." Jasper muttered. It went to voicemail, and he hung up quickly. He noticed that April was now staring upwards, her eyes wide. The Cullens' house was in view, and looking up, he noticed that the sky was completely clear – and night-black – above the grand house. And, well, the rest of the forest in sight. The tiny clearing in which Jasper and April stood had low thundering clouds above it. It was strange – too much of a coincidence. Why would a storm be here only?
"Come on, let's go." April said, heading towards the house. Jasper nodded and followed her, dodging branches and leaping over underbrush. When they got to the front door of the Cullens' house, they looked up and noticed with horror that the gathering of storm clouds had moved, and was now directly above them. It was worse, though, the lightning now too visible. A streak of it shot down and hit the ground right behind April, making her jump and shriek. They ran inside, barely missing another freak strike of lightning.
"What the hell?" April cried. "What was that?"
"Obviously not natural." Jasper muttered. Carlisle, Esme, and Rosalie were already with them, looking concerned.
"What happened?" Rosalie asked.
"This storm – tiny – it just, like, appeared above us! And we came back here and it followed us. I nearly got hit by lightning!" April whined, running a pale hand through her paler hair.
"Calm down," Esme soothed.
"She's telling the truth," Jasper said quietly. "It's directly above us." As if on cue, a rumble of thunder sounded above them. The floor vibrated slightly.
"Where's Alice?" Rosalie asked.
"She left earlier – I don't know where." Jasper answered quickly. At that moment, there was a knock on the door. The five vampires exchanged frowns of confusion, and Jasper went cautiously to the door. April was right behind him, peering over his shoulder.
Jasper swung the door open – and was met by a completely unfamiliar face. It was a woman, and she was actually...quite short. She had long skinny eyelashes in the colour midnight that she flicked almost constantly. Her skin was whiter than ivory, with a metallic rose coloured tint to her cheeks. Her faultless black hair fell loosely over her shoulders into skinny, slack curls. Her lips were like a frozen rose, dangerous but beautiful.
She wore a simple black chiffon shirt with large, slit sleeves that reached her elbows and a long necklace with a simple black rose. On her legs were black, slim jeans with no pockets. On her feet was more black still – tall black boots with a small heel to give her some height. The mysterious vampire smiled slightly, revealing perfectly white teeth.
"Hello." She greeted them. "Nasty weather, isn't it?" her accent was slightly English, but had a hint of something else...Italian?
"Who are you?" Jasper demanded. The woman laughed. It was a beautiful noise, like wind chimes.
"Now that's quite rude, don't you think?" she said. "You may have heard of me already – I know that your dear Alice has." Jasper's eyes widened.
"Where's Alice?" he asked, his breath coming faster.
"Don't worry," the woman smiled. "I haven't laid a finger on the girl."
"Who are you?" Jasper asked again, anger laced in his tone.
"I suppose I should say, shouldn't I?" she sighed. "I am Celeste. One of the original vampires." With this, Celeste opened her mouth wider to reveal two long, sharp, and delicate-looking fangs. When she closed her mouth, they tucked neatly in front of her bottom teeth. April gasped.
"That's right," Celeste smiled. "I'm here. You can't believe it, can you? An Aeterna, on your very doorstep."
TADA! I've now introduced four Aeternas! (Lyreco, Francesca, Lucifer, and now Celeste!)
Please review. :]
Chapter Seven