Chapter 5: A Brighter Shade of Pale

Jasper's Point of View

This was not good. Jane and some of the other Volturi guard had come and taken Edward away.

I had thought this was just their daily routine. Jane would come in, tell us that Aro had sent her, and ask if we had changed our minds yet about our continued 'self' enforced imprisonment.

Long ago I had considered lying to Jane and telling her yes, I was ready to serve. I would have put on a very good show while I searched for a way to escape, but in the end Aro would have insisted on touching my hand and he would have known in a second that my pledge was not sincere.

I sighed and shook my honey blonde hair from my eyes. I should have done something when they came for Edward. Their intentions had become glaringly clear when the two faceless grey cloaks had each taken Edward's arm and drug him from the room.

But I had been so angry with him. Beyond angry. I could not believe he was reacting this way about our situation. I sighed again, my fingers digging chunks of stone out of the wall in my frustration. Actually, I could believe it, and that was even worse.

Edward had always acted like this where Bella was concerned. Always worried about her soul, terrified that he was taking more from her than he was giving back. In so many ways Edward was a fool. We could all see how Bella had lived for Edward from the moment that she first arrived in Forks.

While other humans ran from us, Bella had slowly gravitated toward Edward. She felt none of the deep seated fear, none of the uneasiness that most humans rightly felt around us.

I had wanted to kill Bella when Edward rescued her from Tyler's van, she could have given us all away so easily. But I was grateful now that Alice had seen Edward and Bella's future together and stopped me. I could see now that I would have killed my brother at the same time I ended Bella's life. He had not yet admitted it to himself, but his life then, and ever since, was inexorably tied to Bella's.

I knew this because it had happened to me once. When I had entered that diner and found my little Alice waiting for me, that was the end of living for myself. From that day on I did not belong to myself anymore, I was completely Alice's. And I knew she felt the same towards me.

I laid my forehead against the cool stone wall of my cell. Maybe it was Bella's shield against Edward's mind that left him unable to accept her devotion towards him. Edward was so used to being able to tune into anyone's thoughts to read their true intentions that Bella had completely thrown him for a loop.

The fool had never been able to take Bella's word for what it was. Of course he believed that she loved him, but he had never allowed himself to understand how completely she belonged to him. Even though that fact was blatantly obvious to everyone else.

Just as I had grown to rely on my mood influencing power, so too had he grown used to leaning on his ability to read other's minds. I believed that his dependence on that mystical part of himself remained a barrier to his ever truly accepting Bella's dedication and love for him.

And that same reliance kept him now from fighting his way to her side. He truly believed that he was somehow helping her, by wallowing in grief in this prison. His downfall was his inability to accept Bella's unwavering love for him, to ever truly know that he was good enough for her.

As if it was his fault that random acts of fate had brought the Volturi down on top of us. As if his very existence was causing Bella pain, when all it had ever brought her was love and light. I had never thought of Edward as unintelligent before Bella entered his life, but the way he saw himself ever after...how many times had I used the word fool?

I sighed again and stared at the door. When we had first been thrown in here, it had taken all the self control I possessed not to crash through the door and run after Alice. That would not have been…tactful. Only my years of military training had stopped my rash thoughts from turning into reality.

Without Edward, useless as he was in his self imposed misery, I would not get very far. Either dropped by Jane, stopped in my tracks by Alec, or taken down by Felix, the result would be the same. I would never escape if I followed that route, never see my beautiful Alice again.

So I would wait. I could be patient. I knew that no enemy could keep up a constant, vigilant guard forever. Be it a month, a year, or several decades, the Volturi would slip. And I would be waiting. I will see my Alice again.

I had been ecstatic when Edward had charged into the house, carrying Bella in his arms the dawn after their wedding. I had never truly believed he would change her, even though I had absolute faith in Alice's visions, but he had. Inwardly, I was a bit ashamed at the reasons for my happiness.

For once, I would not be the one in the family with the worst self control. They could all worry about Bella and hover around her.

And also, I was relieved that Edward had finally found, and now changed, his other half. A part of me had always felt sad for Edward, sad that he had to go through immortality without someone like my Alice. I had once lived like that, and it had not so much been living as it had been just moving from day to day. Edward had changed when he met Bella. Though he definitely had his dark, brooding days, for the most part it was like a light had gone on for him.

The whole family had reacted to Edward's newfound happiness. Esme had glowed, delighted that her first son had found someone to love. Emmett was thrilled that Edward had perked up after meeting Bella and was more playful than his usual old, brooding self. Carlisle was proud that his son could resist the ultimate temptation of Bella's blood and allow love to blossom from hate. Alice was secure in her vision of the future and gleeful at the prospect of a new sister. Rosalie was…well, Rosalie. I was pretty sure that she was happy for Edward, deep down, but she had also been deeply shaken that Bella was willing to give up her human future to be frozen in time with Edward.

For the first week after Bella's transformation we had stayed at our house in Forks, but after her first hunting trip the rest of us had begun to quietly make plans. We all agreed that Alaska would be the best place for Bella's tenuous first year. She would act like she had gone off to college, and Carlisle would give the hospital some excuse or other for moving on. The rest of us would not be missed.

In the back of our mind during that week was always the threat of the treaty with the werewolves. We did not want to invite any trouble, so we decided the quicker we left the better. They may not even know yet that Bella had been bitten.

So ten days after Bella had left her humanity behind, we abandoned Forks. Bella had been eager to leave, she didn't want to chance coming across a human. Tension and fear at what she might do had been cascading from her ever since she woke as a newborn.

Edward had taken Bella alone in the Volvo, he had said that leaving Forks and Charlie was hard for Bella and he wanted to be alone with her on the journey. They were surrounded by the other members of our family, all alert for any newborn trouble.

I had decided to make the trip on Edward's motorcycle. I had never been much interested in cars, preferring to ride in the back and let Edward or Rosalie drive. But the motorcycle was much different. Maybe it was the pure speed which was almost as good as running, or maybe it was the fact that a motorcycle was much more akin to a horse, which was my first and only mode of transportation as a human. I had chuckled to myself at that thought, glancing sideways at Alice in her bright yellow Porsche beside me, wondering if she would find that thought as funny as I did.

We had looked ridiculous and very conspicuous to all the other drivers that had passed us during our nighttime getaway. Carlisle and Esme were in Carlisle's Mercedes, Emmett was driving his monstrous jeep, Rosalie following closely in her sporty red convertible, then Edward and Bella in his Volvo were trailed by Alice in her Porsche and me on the bike. We looked like one of those bad movies where the misunderstood heroes ripped off a lot of expensive cars. Except they would never be so stupid as to drive in a big, ripped off car caravan as we were.

After we had left civilization behind and entered into the wilds of Canada, we split up. Emmett and Rosalie raced off ahead while Carlisle and Esme had taken a longer, more circuitous road to enjoy the wilderness. Alice and I had trailed a short distance from Edward and Bella. Alice wanted to be close, just in case, but there had been no trouble. Bella didn't even so much as catch a whiff of a human on our flight from Forks and we made it to our isolated Alaskan house without trouble.

The following year had passed rather peacefully. Carlisle took the time away to study new advances in medicine online while Esme busied herself with small restoration projects. Alice and I hung around the house for the most part, though we occasionally flew into Anchorage for a getaway.

Edward never left Bella's side, not that she would have let him anyway. He began to teach her to play the piano and I had never seen him happier or more at peace.

We all found different ways to let Bella test her new abilities. Edward, always the fastest of us, had raced her for days at a time through the barren Alaskan backwoods. Neither could outrun the other, Edward's superior talent and Bella's newborn speed were equal. Edward was later able to console himself when I reminded him that Bella's speed would gradually fade as her newborn year waned.

Emmett challenged Bella repeatedly to arm wrestling matches, after she had first tested and then bested him at Edward's urging. He was never able to beat her and Rosalie soon grew bored with Alaska, so they left and went off by themselves to Europe for a while.

Bella always begged me in every spare moment to teach her to fight. So while Alice and a scowling Edward sat on the sidelines, watching, I slowly taught Bella how to fight. I showed her how to move beyond her brute strength, to fight by using more subtle moves. We also studied how to approach someone by examining their strengths and weaknesses and then use a planned approach.

It was Carlisle who had first broken through Edward's peace and Bella's fear and began to condition Bella to resist human blood.

He started slowly, first exposing Bella to articles of human clothing that still held their human scent. She had hated herself, the first time she was able to smell the scent on an old shirt. Her body had gone crazy with lust for human blood and her dark red eyes had glared and bulged in her frenzy to get at the human who had last worn the shirt.

Edward detested seeing Bella so upset and he had insisted that he didn't mind living isolated with her for the rest of his existence, but Carlisle and I had been firm on strengthening Bella's resolve against tasting human blood.

After she was able to resist the human scent on the clothes, Carlisle obtained donated human blood. Bella had to start her internal struggles against her true nature all over again.

At times I believed I felt almost as much agony as Bella. I could clearly remember the intense efforts and time it had taken me to change my ways. After so many endless years of never denying myself blood, it had been next to impossible to stop cold turkey. I would never have done it had it not been for Alice at my side. Now, I believed it was the same way for Bella. She hated to cause Edward pain through her struggles, so she tried twice as hard to resist the tantalizing scents and burning hunger.

Eventually the moment had finally come, though Edward and Bella both tried to delay it. She had to be exposed to real, living humans to ever fully be able to deny her thirst. Bella had been a vampire for almost three quarters of a year before we were finally ready to try in the middle of spring.

The night before Carlisle and I had scouted the perfect location. It was a mountain ledge, high above a little resort village. The scents of humans were carried by the wind all the way up to the high vantage point, but there was privacy and plenty of distance to control Bella.

I hiked up to our pre-chosen spot with Edward and Carlisle, the girls and Esme far ahead of us. We spoke quietly, trying to hide our words.

'This is a really rough time for Bella, the year is ending at university. Bella has Charlie convinced that she is going to take summer courses, but he has been pressuring her to come back to Forks for a visit in between semesters. Its hitting her harder than she thought it would.' Edward sighed and roughly kicked a rock out of his way.

Carlisle grimaced, clearly sympathizing. 'It's going to be rough no matter when we have to do this Edward, but it has to be done.' He put his arm lightly around Edward's shoulders, and I suddenly felt like an intruder. 'It will be much better to do it this way. None of us want her to run into a hiker while on a hunting trip, and you know that now summer is coming the odds of that are going to be even greater.'

He squeezed Edward's shoulder encouragingly before dropping his arm. 'Trust me, exposing her like this in a controlled environment is the best way. She'll be fine, Edward.'

I quickened my pace and caught up to them, clapping Edward on the back. 'Yeah, it'll be so nice when Bella can be around humans, it will all be worth it. Cheer up a bit, your acting like we're on our way to a funeral.' I inwardly cringed as Edward frowned. A funeral, not the best choice of words I could have used there.

We caught up to the girls right before we reached the cliff. Edward immediately went to Bella and took her hand and she smiled gratefully up at him. I focused my mind and began to transfer my calm to everyone else. From this point on, I would use every advantage I had to make Bella feel in control and at ease.

Alice's eyes were closed as she furiously concentrated. They slowly slid open and she smiled. 'You'll be ok Bella, I don't see you hurting anyone.' She leaned up onto her tiptoes to give Bella's cheek an encouraging peck, then she stepped back as I moved to Bella's other side and we rounded the corner.

A sharp gust of wind immediately crashed into us, and I could smell humans. I forced as much calm as I could outward, all the while tensing my body, ready to restrain Bella.

I heard a jagged gasp from beside me as the scent assailed her. I knew exactly what she would be feeling. Venom would instantly fill her mouth, her mind would try to give itself over to her ingrained hunting instincts and her throat would be consumed by flames.

Edward was speaking softly, urgently to Bella. 'You don't want to do this Bella. These scents belong to real people. It could be Angela, Ben, or even Charlie down there. You won't hurt them.'

I could feel the anguish and desire rolling in waves off of Bella. I winced, sharing her thirst. My power could only help her so much, in the end she had to be strong enough to resist.

The wind abated a little, giving Bella a brief respite from the torturous scents. She slumped noticeably and gazed up at Edward. 'I never gave you enough credit. I can't imagine how you do this day after day.'

He grinned. 'I have had a little practice, love.'

'But how did you defend against my blood, I can't imagine anything stronger than the pull I feel now. How did you ever resist?' Edward smiled tenderly down at her, making me once again feel like an intruder on some private scene. 'You had a hold on me that was greater than your blood, Bella.'

Alice slipped beside me and wove her fingers into mine, my much larger hand hiding her delicate fingers as I enclosed them within mine. Alice's love for me was the best thing in my world. At that moment I was very grateful that Edward had found something similar for himself.

We remained on the cliff for some time longer, letting Bella grow accustomed to the strong pull of human blood. After that first time, we took her almost every night. It was remarkable the progress that Bella made. When summer broke out in full force, she was able to get closer and closer to people without too much trouble.

Her desire to live amongst people without harming them drove Bella to throw herself headfirst into practicing. When Alice pointed out midsummer that the red in Bella's eyes was fading she was more determined than ever to get beyond her thirst.

When the time came to bring Bella among people we were all nervous, but we started out slow and Bella came out of all her trials with flying colors. She could now walk beside humans and keep her thirst under control.

Alice had insisted on throwing a party for Bella when she returned from hunting one day and her eyes were no longer an angry red, but a soft, buttery gold. For once Bella did not resist.

The Alaskan tourists had gradually started to fade away as the nights grew colder. We had heard from Emmett and Rosalie and they were ready to return so we could discuss our next move.

Then, our fragile little world all came crashing down.

Alice and I had been lying on the back porch, watching the stars come out. We were also looking at a world map in front of us, trying to pick out our choice for our next home. I had just pointed out that it rained a lot in London when Alice's eyes had gone blank and I knew she was seeing some vision of the future. I wasn't worried though, having lived with Alice as long as I had her visions were just a part of regular life. I absentmindedly traced a pattern along Alice's arm with my finger while I waited for her to come back to me.

Then she screamed.

I was on my feet in an instant, eyes and senses scanning the horizon for any possible threat. I couldn't find anything so I dropped to my knees in front of Alice, taking her face in my hands urgently.

'What is it Alice?!' I had never heard Alice utter a sound as terrified as that scream. I didn't know what to do, she was rocking back and forth on her heels now, moaning. 'No, no, no.'

Suddenly a shape came falling softly next to us, Edward had leaped out of his third story window. One look at his face made me snarl, my head whipping around to spot the unseen danger. His eyes were desperate and wild, his whole body shaking. I knew he had seen what Alice had seen.

Carlisle, Esme and Bella came out of the back door, their eyes on Alice. Bella knelt next to Alice and took her hand. 'Alice, tell us, what did you see?'

Alice finally opened her eyes, her usually musical voice stuttering. 'He's sent them for us, I don't know how I didn't see it before now, I'm so sorry everyone…Aro sent the guard.' Someone gasped. 'It must have been a split second decision, when I let him touch me before he must have figured out how my visions work.'

She blinked furiously and looked around at us all, her eyes finally stopping and lingering on me. 'They'll be here in less than three hours.'

Carlisle took Esme into his arms, Bella remained next to Alice and Edward stood, frozen. Suddenly he howled in absolute agony, his fingers tearing at his hair.

'You can't run Edward.' Alice spoke in a quiet, dead voice. 'Demetri is with them, it would only prolong the inevitable.'

I was confused. We had faced the Volturi before, and Bella was a vampire now. We had nothing to fear from a visit. Was Alice really so shaken that Aro had discovered a way around her visions?

I reached a comforting hand down to Alice. 'Its ok Alice, they're just coming to see if Bella is still human. They will see she is a vampire and they'll leave us alone.'

She shook her head, eyes seeing into the future again. 'No, Jasper.' She shuddered. 'Aro is incredibly interested in Bella, he wants to know if she has developed a special power.' Her voice lowered even more. 'And he always wanted me and Edward by his side. They will take us back to Volterra with them.'

Bella's eyes widened. 'But there is nothing special about me. I can still block Edward from reading my mind, but I can't do anything new!'

I frowned, still not understanding. 'But why would we want to go with them?'

Alice bared her flashing teeth and snarled. 'Of course we don't want to go with them. They will take us by force.'

So many intense emotions assaulted me all sides as my family reacted to Alice's vision.. I could barely keep my own emotions in check. My free hand reached out, flailing for the railing to support myself. The Volturi…were coming for us? They would force us to go with them? No, not my Alice.

Suddenly I was standing straight again, my eyes flashing with fire, my snarls joining Edward's in the night air. 'They won't get us without a fight.'

Esme whispered quietly behind me. 'We can't fight them, they'll overrun us. Carlisle, what can we do?'

Quiet filled the air as all eyes moved quickly to Carlisle. His face was bright with shock and he spoke slowly. 'I cannot believe Aro would take any of us against our will. But Alice has never been wrong before. I…I don't see anything that we can do. We will just have to try to talk them out of this.'

After Carlisle spoke we were all enveloped in our own thoughts. I could not take my eyes from Alice. Behind my back, the sun began to rise.