AN: First of all, sorry for the wait. This was a complete update fail. Second, go read!

Chapter 11 – A Chance Encounter

BPOV

"Tell me what you're thinking."

"Why?"

"Because I want to know everything there is to know about you."

"Wow, that's just…"

"What?"

"Way too cheesy."

"No, seriously. Your emotions are all over the place and I can't make sense of them at all. So, please tell me what you're thinking."

I should have known not to keep anything from Jasper, but I really didn't want to hurt his feelings.

"You're not going to hurt my feelings as long as you tell me the truth, darling."

"Okay, now that's just creepy."

He grinned at me and I realized I could tell him everything. Compared to what we shared last month, this was almost trivial. But I still felt a little bad. Basically, my life was perfect. And that irked me. I was starting to get uneasy and bored. Uneasy, because I expected something to go wrong at any time, fucking up my life. Bored, because there wasn't much I could do. I didn't work, didn't go to school and I sure as hell wasn't doing any housekeeping. Spending my days in the sun, having sex, reading, watching DVDs – although fun at first, it was getting tiresome. Now, I had to find a way to phrase all this without coming off as an ungrateful brat.

"You know I like living with you here," I started and he nodded, not sure where I was headed.

"You've given me anything a girl could want, but frankly – and I never thought I'd ever say this – I'm bored."

"Bored?"

"Maybe that's not exactly the right word. It's more like I feel purposeless. I don't feel like I'm actually living."

I expected him to be irritated or even a little angry, but he just started grinning.

"I'm so glad you said that, 'cause I'm going fucking crazy being locked up in this place."

Then his face turned grave and his expression seemed pained.

"Does that mean you are bored of having sex with me?" he softly asked.

For a moment, I didn't know what to say. Of course I wasn't. But I was human and having sex with a vampire could be quite draining – pun intended. But when I looked into his eyes, I felt tiny bits of amusement sipping through his façade.

"You bastard," I said laughingly and pushed him roughly. "Stop messing with my head."

"I can't help it. You're such an easy victim."

We were both laughing out loud by now, and I was happily surprised with how our relationship had evolved. It had started out all intense and mysterious, but ever since we came clear with each other, it had been easy. Our silences were comfortable and conversation came naturally. I had been thinking my being bored would fuck everything up, so I was immensely relieved to hear Jasper had been just as bored as me.

"So what do vampires normally do when there aren't any humans around?"

"Actually not that much," admitted Jasper. "Our main pass time is hunting. The three of us used to take extended hunting trips every couple of weeks. Peter and Charlotte need to feed less than I do, because they only live off humans. Since I've started draining animals I need to feed almost every week, as you've noticed."

I had noticed him feeding more than Peter and Charlotte, but I had always thought that was caused by his close physical relationship with me. I never once considered he was doing his body short by living this way.

"Killing animals every week is quite taxing for the local wildlife, so normally I travel with the others to the city they're visiting to check out the surrounding fauna. I try to vary the hunt as much as I can and that takes a large amount of time. And I like playing with my food a bit, of course."

"Of course…" Since witnessing him hunt, I knew how messy it could get and thinking about him playing with his food weirded me out a little.

"Okay, so normally you spend a lot of time hunting, I get that. But what else do you do? Don't you want to do something with your life?"

"You're still so young," he said with a sigh, "I tend to forget that."

That comment had me perplexed for a minute and I didn't know whether to feel insulted or complimented.

"I didn't mean it like an insult," Jasper quickly added. "You are young and idealistic and I should have thought about that earlier. You probably had plans before you met me and now you've thrown that all away."

That was true, actually. I tried not to think about it too much, but ever since I had gotten away from Edward, I had planned out how my life was supposed to look. Even though I hated high school, I was determined to finish it with good grades and apply to colleges. I saw college as my escape from all the misery and small-mindedness I had faced in school. I didn't care if I had to work my way through it, I had been very resolute about college. My mind wasn't made up yet about what I was going to study, but I had been thinking about social studies, putting my own experience to practice.

While I was contemplating the future I had abandoned, Jasper could sense my melancholy mood and he wrapped me into a tight embrace.

"I know college isn't an option right now," I said, laying back down on the bed. Jasper came to lie next to me on his side, waiting for me to speak my mind.

"It's just… College has been the plan since forever. And now I don't know what to do."

"What did you want to do after college, besides getting a job?"

"I don't picture myself as the child bearing type, so I wasn't planning on settling down. I guess I wanted to see the world, go to exotic places, and travel Europe or something."

"We'll start with the traveling then," he said immediately with a big ass smile plastered over his face.

"What?"

"There's no reason we can't travel right now," he started explaining. "We could go anywhere you want, as long as we don't come into the direct sunlight. So what do you want to see first?"

I was speechless. I never once imagined having enough money to travel any place I wanted to.

"Well, I've always wanted to visit Yellowstone," I admitted and Jasper's smile became wicked.

"Excellent choice. The wildlife is sublime."

"Hey, we're not going there to hunt. We're going to be tourists. I want to see the geysers erupt and I want to see bears and bisons and wolves and…"

Jasper's lips were on mine, stopping the word flow that was erupting from my mouth very efficiently.

"We'll do all that stuff, as long as you shut up now and pay some attention to my dick."

I had to admit I loved it when he talked to me like that and for the next hour, there were no geysers or bears on my mind.

As the four of us were making the necessary arrangements to go on a holiday, we realized there was one detail we didn't pay attention to: the weather. Summer in Yellowstone is short and we had to wait a couple more months before it was warm enough for me to visit. Instead, we decided to go on city trips to keep ourselves busy. I don't think I had ever seen the inside of a museum outside of school and I loved every minute of it. I even started making lists of museums in Europe I had to visit.

Jasper was clearly amused by my enthusiasm, but in the course of these months, I felt him becoming uneasy. His moods were getting darker and he was more demanding sexually. He was turning more and more into the dark, military looking man I had met months ago. I didn't know how to talk to him about it, and eventually asked Charlotte when we were alone in my hotel room.

"He's having trouble being around so many people," she told me after a moment's hesitation. If I hadn't caught that moment, I would never have pressed on, but I had a suspicion there was more to it. I looked into her ruby eyes and held her gaze. She looked away after a couple of seconds and that was all the confirmation I needed.

"Tell me, Charlotte," I demanded, pretending to be more confident than I felt.

She sighed and in a very human gesture sank down on the bed.

"It's time for him to hunt a human again, but he's afraid he'll scare you away."

She took my hand in hers as if to prevent me from making a run for it. "You have to understand this," she continued, "The animal blood is a poor substitute for the real thing. It keeps him alive, but never satisfied. And now, being around you, it is becoming extremely hard for him to ignore his urges. He expected the bloodlust to stay away, since he became accustomed to your smell. But in the last few weeks it's been returning – I guess because his last human kill has faded from his system."

Hearing this, some events of the past weeks began making sense to me, especially his increased libido. I had seen Jasper's eyes darken more often around me, but I didn't link it to his bloodlust. And he had camouflaged it very well by turning it into regular lust like before. At that moment I couldn't believe I didn't realize what was happening. I'd have to talk to him about this as soon as he got back with Peter.

The talk didn't go over well, later that day. Mostly because I had to stop Jasper from attacking Charlotte for spilling the beans to me. He was blazing and raging on about how it wasn't her place to tell me and that he was in charge and she had to listen, when I just couldn't take it anymore.

"Shut up!" I screamed at him and ran to the bathroom to calm myself down. I didn't want to snap like that, but he was becoming a little too dominant and self-centered to be comfortable around him anymore. It brought back too many memories of the past. I sat down on the closed toilet seat, put my head in my hands and tried to control my breathing. There was no way I could calm Jasper down when I was on the brink of breaking down myself.

He knocked softly on the bathroom door, but entered before I could say anything. He sank down on his knees in front of me and wrapped me in his arms.

"I'm sorry. I'm a dick," he whispered and I instantly felt better.

"And I'll always be a dick," he added.

"Probably," I said, looking up into his eyes. He grinned, but I could feel the sincerity of his apology. Not that I thought it was never going to happen again. I'm not naive. He has been on his own, the leader of his coven for almost a century. It took more than a pretty face to change him, and I was well aware.

After that, we formulated a plan. He was going to hunt a human, but I had some rules. Based on our first encounter, I knew he liked hunting young girls and toying with them for a while. That had to stop. I could live with him preying on old and sick people and even criminals, but his seducing days were over. He had me for that now. The final condition was that I couldn't notice. I didn't want to know when, where, who or any other detail. I tried to convince myself that in that way, I wouldn't have any part in the killing of a human being. Of course that didn't keep my conscience from acting up. I was still human after all.

Despite me not wanting to know about 'the hunt', I knew immediately when it had happened. We were in Philadelphia at that time, not because there were so many things to visit, but because our plane needed to make an emergency stop. On our flight from Washington DC to New York, an elderly man had a heart attack. By the time we were ready to move on, the sun had been up, burning brightly in a cloudless sky. Jasper didn't want to take the risk of being exposed, so we forfeited our seats and booked a hotel room.

Unfortunately for us, there weren't any places available for the next flights to New York, so we were stuck in Philly for two days. And it was the second day when I woke up that I knew he had done it. His skin felt almost warm when he slid in bed with me and when I looked into his eyes, the red was winning out over the gold. He didn't speak a word and kissed me roughly, rolling on top of me. His arousal was very prominently pressing into my stomach as his kisses got more intense. He quickly tore my panties from me and started rubbing my nub. The feeling he needed to claim me was almost oozing from him and against all my instincts, I submitted completely. He reacted to my surrender immediately by thrusting into me. His moves weren't gentle by far, but he locked eyes with me and his love for me was obvious. He flipped me over to my hands and knees and entered me from behind. This way he could pay attention to my clit and within minutes he had me screaming his name. My release triggered his own and shivers ran down my spine as he growled: "You are mine."

Afterwards, he was very sweet. There was no need for words; we both knew what had happened and were fine with it. We took a shower together and he rubbed my shoulders and back. We shared long kisses and when my stomach started protesting, he even took me out to eat instead of ordering room service. We found the cutest little diner, decorated like it were still the fifties and I ate the best burger I ever had. The picture was perfect.

It wouldn't have been my life if it didn't get fucked up right that instant. I was sitting with my back to the door, when I noticed Jasper stiffen.

"Two vampires just walked in," he said casually, knowing full well that whispering wouldn't make a difference.

"Are they hostile?" I asked, hoping Jasper could get a good read on their emotions. He shook his head and I let out my breath.

"They're coming over here. I'll do the talking," he said and stood up to greet them, shielding me with his body.

"Jasper Whitlock," a high pitched voice sounded, belonging to a tiny woman with spiky dark hair. "Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you here? We're going to be so happy together."

Jasper went rigid at her words and withdrew his hand from hers. I, on the other hand, was livid for her disregard of my presence and got up from my seat to tell her to get the fuck away from my boyfriend, vampire or no vampire. That's when I saw the man standing behind her and the words got stuck in my throat. My mouth went dry and I had the overwhelming urge to run away.

"Edward," I whispered.

"Hello Isabella," he greeted me, his velvety voice more beautiful than in my memories. I wished I could have fainted right then and there, but my body kept functioning. I couldn't tear my eyes away from his face, which had gained an ethereal beauty, like a statue carved of marble. I couldn't make out the color of his eyes, but I'm pretty sure they weren't green any longer. As the first shock of seeing him was wearing off, fear and rage were battling inside of me. I realized I harbored so many unresolved feelings; I had no idea whether I wanted to kill him, beat him to a bloody pulp or run away screaming. So I did the only thing I could think of, which was ignoring him. I sat back down and finished the last of my fries.

AN: Thank you all for sticking with my story, I know I'm a louzy updater. And a big thanks for nominating this story for an Immortal Sins Award from the Darkest Temptations blog. Yeah, that's right, I've been nominated in the category of Best Darksper. So please go vote for my story on darksper (.) blogspot (.) com and check out all the other wonderful categories and stories.

Also, sorry for the the cliffie. I promise the next chapter is already on its way.

Last, thanks to mcruscito for performing beta duties despite her busy schedule.