What happened in the last few chapters:

Jasper and Bella ran into Alice and Edward in Philadelphia. Alice turned out to be waiting for Jasper and had brought Edward, who in turn kidnapped Bella. Jasper, Charlotte and Peter are tracking them and Jasper let Alice tag along because he pitied her. Meanwhile, Edward is trying to win Bella back. She's playing along for now, hoping Jasper is going to rescue her soon.

Chapter 14 – The Chase

JPOV

"Damn, that fucker is good. You have to give him that."

"I don't have to give the bastard fucking anything, Peter!"

In my frustration I opened the car door so fast, I ripped it straight off.

"Fuck!" I screamed my disappointment away and sank to my knees.

One week had passed and we still hadn't found Bella. One week in which she could have been killed a thousand times over. Or worse… My mind stopped working when I went over the possibilities. All the gruesome things I had done in my past came back to haunt me, the knowledge that they might be done to her sending my mind over the edge.

I had to admit to myself that the fucker indeed was good, although you would never hear me say it out loud. Every night I thought we had caught up with them and every time it turned out to be a false lead. And every single time we had to clean up after him. The little sadist went on killing sprees, wiping out entire families and left. We had no choice but to do his dirty work. If the Volturi got wind of this, they'd end him and Bella. I couldn't have that. And that meant the trail was getting colder and colder as time went on.

I felt a small hand on my shoulder, giving me a reassuring squeeze, accompanied by a wave of compassion.

Alice.

She was trying to be my rock. The guilt I felt coming from her was still miles high, but I also felt that she cared for me deeply and wanted me to be happy. It didn't change the fact though, that she was losing hope. She knew Edward best and if she was expecting the worst, what did that mean for Bella? It was sucking me in a downward spiral of self hatred and depression.

Suddenly something hit me full force in the face and I was catapulted a couple of yards back.

"Snap out of it, Jasper Whitlock!" Charlotte screamed, looming over me. "Bella is not dead and we will find her, you understand me?"

She sure was a sight to behold, standing in front of me, and the fury that filled her was quite contagious. I needed that. I needed her to keep me going. At this moment she was raw power, absolutely determined to find the woman we both loved.

"Charlotte, shut up," Peter interjected, concerned about his wife's safety. And normally he should have been.

"No, she's right," I admitted and stuck out my hand so she could help me up. "Thank you, Charlotte, for saying what needed to be said. If I keep acting like that, you have my permission to deck me again."

There were flashes of emotion going around as I spoke, mostly relief coming from Peter and Charlotte, but the one that confused me was the flicker of jealousy I picked up from Alice. Why the hell would she be jealous of Charlotte? Was it even directed at her? She had suppressed it so quickly I had no idea what it was about.

"I think you need to hunt," Charlotte told me and with the way she said the word hunt, I knew she didn't mean no animal.

"I'll come with you, Jasper," Alice said, positioning herself between me and Charlotte. "I smelled a herd of dear not too far away from here."

There was definitely something more going on between those two than their initial enmity, which I had written off as a female thing. I'd have to keep a closer watch on them to find out what, starting with Charlotte.

"I'm hunting with Charlotte today, Alice."

"Oh, I didn't know Charlotte hunted animals too."

"I don't," Charlotte said as a devious grin spread over her face.

Alice looked so dejected and hurt, I felt the need to explain myself. I just couldn't make her more miserable than she already was.

"I'm going after a human because I need to be strong for when we find Bella. This search has been very demanding so far, especially when I have to deal with all the emotions that have been toying around. It doesn't mean I'm giving up on animals. Bella wouldn't want anyone dying on her account, but this is for the best."

She nodded and backed down, still somewhat disappointed in me, and I guess in the fact that she couldn't hunt with me, but she understood my reasoning. She wasn't very happy about it though.

Charlotte and I took off as fast as we could to the nearest town, Peter and Alice following to get the SUV fixed. I was torn between finding the right victim so Bella wouldn't hate me and draining someone in a hurry to get on with the chase. We decided to check out the local hospital, the best place for a quick and inconspicuous fix.

The stench of stale urine, antiseptics and desperation hit us before we even entered. As we walked through the sliding doors at the ER, the smell of blood was overwhelming. Both of us had to still for a moment to regain our composure and not slaughter the entire ward. Apparently the victims of an MVA had just pulled in and chaos reigned around us, Charlotte and I being the eye of the storm. A wave of calm followed when we moved rapidly and stealthily behind the thin green curtains. We were lucky. Two of them were going to croak anyway, with or without our help, and we each chose one.

I remembered how Bella hated the idea of me feeding off pretty girls, like I used to, so I took the fat sweaty truck driver while Charlotte took the young redhead. I stood watch as she disappeared behind the sleazy curtain. With my gift, it was very easy for me to distract people's attention away from Charlotte; I just had to take away their curiosity and give them the feeling that there was something important happening elsewhere. Meanwhile I heard the redhead wake to the sight of the beautiful vampire that was standing in front of her.

"It is time, my child," Charlotte spoke in a slightly husky, melodical voice. She always had a knack for melodramatics during the hunt.

"Where am I? Are you a doctor? Where's my boyfriend? Oh my God, the truck…"

The girl started hyperventilating as her memories of the car crash surfaced. I cast a wave of calm over her just as I heard Charlotte sitting down on the bed.

"Shhh… You have nothing to fear, child," Charlotte whispered and I was imagining her putting her cool hand on the girl's forehead.

"What is happening to me?"

"You are going to a better place."

I almost snorted when she said that. Come on. How those people always fell for that, I didn't understand. The girl was in fact calming down on her own now, accepting the inevitable.

"Are you an angel?"

"Yes."

The only sound after that was the tearing of delicate flesh as Charlotte buried her teeth in the girl, and the little sucking noises she made draining her body. Charlotte emerged shortly after and truly did look like an angel. The way she wore that white cotton dress, like it was a wedding gown, and her eyes shining brightly, even made it hard for me to look at her. With the fresh blood filling her, she was even more vibrant; it seemed like she was glowing. Maybe those humans weren't so stupid after all.

She nodded her head towards the bed of the trucker and I too slipped behind a thin sheet of fabric. No theatrics with my kill. The man was already in a coma from which he'd never wake up. He had a gaping wound in his thigh where a piece of the steering wheel had torn through and that was where I would drink. Normally I preferred the jugular, but I wasn't about to leave a trace of my presence behind. The femoral artery it was then. I pried loose the bandage and stitches, separated the sides of the wound and bit down. His warmth filled me instantly and I sucked greedily. I didn't finish him off completely and was done before a minute had passed. I wiped my face clean with some paper towels and walked over to Charlotte. As we left, she casually touched some people here and there, absorbing their memories of the short time we had been in the hospital.

When we reached Peter and Alice, clearly something had happened between the two of them. He was more furious than I had ever seen him and he had obviously hurt Alice's feelings, because she was a miserable sobbing mess, sitting in the passenger seat of the car.

"What the hell is going on here, Peter? What did you do?"

"What did I do? Don't you mean what did she fucking do?" he said disgustedly.

"Did she have another vision?"

"Damn right she did."

Alice had a couple of visions this last week, none of them making us any wiser. She'd see Bella tied on a motel bed, but couldn't see the name of the motel. When she did see the name of some place, it always led us to one of the massacres and never to Edward's lair. I felt panic grip my chest as I realized she might have seen Bella getting seriously injured of even killed.

In less than a second I was in the car, gripping Alice tightly, yelling: "Is she dead? Please tell me she isn't dead!"

"No, she's fine, Jasper," she quickly answered while she pried my fingers from her arm.

"At least physically she is," she added as an afterthought and I immediately tensed again.

"Explain yourself."

She was clearly reluctant to share her vision with me, knowing how Peter had reacted. But I also knew she and Peter didn't get along at all, and he is prone to overreaction at times.

"Just tell me the fucking vision, Alice," I sighed. "I promise, whatever it is, I won't take it out on you."

"Okay, I trust you, Jasper," she said, and suddenly she wasn't feeling miserable anymore, just pity and concern directed my way.

"I had a vision of Bella dressed in a red Versace dress, having an intimate dinner with Edward. She was smiling and drinking red wine, the room was draped with red and there were candles burning all around. That's all I saw, no conversation, no hint of their location. I'm sorry."

A million thoughts and emotions started going around as I tried to find a meaning in that vision. First, I was relieved. If Bella was smiling and drinking wine she was still human and unhurt. Then, my jealousy flared as I thought about her reasons for smiling. Was she falling for Edward again? She had told me he was very charming and had a strong personality. And as a vampire he could easily dazzle her and manipulate her emotions, even without a gift like mine. But Bella was stronger than that. She wouldn't let him get to her like that. But then why was she acting all cozy with him? Was she faking it? Was he forcing her in any way? Would he make a move on her? She wouldn't allow that. Or would she? Would she sacrifice her life if it came to it? Would I want her to?

I was going around in circles and couldn't get out. Again, it was Charlotte who came to my rescue. Unlike Peter, she was radiating relief and it puzzled me.

"Have a little faith in Bella, Jasper," she softly spoke. "She's wearing a designer dress, having a romantic dinner, sipping wine… Does that sound anything like our Bella?"

She gave me a pointed stare, until I shook my head agreeing with her.

"There's no way Bella would willingly cooperate with such a charade," Charlotte added and she was right. I had to keep faith that Bella was doing everything she could to stay alive long enough for me to find her. Now it was up to me to find her before she had to resort to desperate measures.

I gave Charlotte a hug and sent her my thanks. There was a subtle hint of jealousy coming from behind me and I realized that it was Alice. There was an overwhelming loneliness constantly present in her emotions and with Peter angry at her and Charlotte's aversion it was even more prominent. I had to deal with this now, before it escalated. It annoyed me to no end, because now I had found my fighting spirit again, I wanted to take action.

"Peter and Alice, come here."

I motioned Charlotte over to stand beside her husband and addressed the three of them together.

"We all know our way of handling things so far hasn't worked," I stated. "I'm not gonna play the blame game here, but we have to start working closer together."

Embarrassment from Peter and Alice and a defiant glare from Charlotte, at least two of them knew what I meant.

"Alice, your visions haven't been helpful yet, but I'm sure they will be at some point, so keep trying. Peter, every time she has a vision, you're gonna pull your yoda-crap so we have a better idea whether it's a false lead the fucker has put out for us. Would that work?"

"I don't know, Jasper. But there's no harm in trying. We'll work together."

He gave Alice a small smile which she returned gingerly. Meanwhile I was getting the stink-eye from Charlotte. But she had helped so much already I was going to let it slide.

"So Peter, why is your radar failing?" I said, turning completely to him.

He was at a loss for words, mouth agape like a fucking fish. But then it dawned on him and he got angry with himself.

"Fuck me. I hadn't even realized it wasn't working as well as usual."

He closed his eyes and turned south west, the direction we were headed. I had no idea how his mojo worked, but I had seen him do this before. Normally he'd open his eyes after a few seconds and say something like '10 miles straight ahead' or 'he's heading round that mountain' or some shit like that. This time he was eerily silent while his frustration was building.

After a couple of minutes his shoulders slumped and he cursed under his breath.

"I know why it isn't working like it should. She's human. We've never tracked a human before. It's messing up my shit. I can't believe it didn't see it before."

I couldn't believe either, but there wasn't anything that could be done about it now. Once this was over, we were going to have a long hard talk about it though. We were getting sloppy, were spoiled by our current lifestyle and that wasn't going to fly anymore.

"Jasper can kick your ass for it later," Charlotte interjected. "Finding Bella is our priority, everything else comes second."

"She's right, Peter. Let's go."

Days passed by and we still hadn't found Bella, but we were closing in. The wild goose chase was beginning to turn into an actual hunt. Peter and Alice teaming up seemed to work and we were able to drop some of the false leads in her visions. Now that she was putting a real effort in it, their frequency had increased as well. That was a good thing, but also disturbing at times. It seemed that my Bella was no longer locked and chained, but meant she came in much closer contact with dickward. From what we learned out of the vision, we deduced that he was turning her into some kind of fantasy version of her, his fucked up idea of a Stepford wife. At least he was trying to. And I had to keep believing she could resist him; that she would remain Bella.

Exactly 15 days, nine hours and 26 minutes since I last saw her, we caught the break we were looking for all along. Not far outside of Denver, in a shabby Super 8 motel, I caught Bella's scent. Peter and I followed it to a room on the first floor. I knew not to get my hopes up, because the trail was at least 24 hours old. We listened carefully at the door, but there was no one there. Peter quickly picked the lock and I entered, leaving him to stand guard outside. Her scent was more concentrated here, not yet tainted by other humans and I inhaled deeply. Intermingled with hers was the smell of Edward; were I human, I would have retched at that point. The stink of death surrounded him like a blanket.

There was one place in the room where her scent lingered more and I sunk to my knees next to the king size bed. Why the hell would they need a king, come to think of it? He wasn't sleeping. If he touched her in any way I was going to rip off his balls and feed them to him, after I burned his dick. I found a loose floorboard and it came out easily. Underneath it there was a small hole with a piece of paper. I must have been projecting my nervousness and anxiety because Peter was next to me in an instant.

"Is that…?" he whispered.

"A letter from Bella," I struggled to answer as I folded open the note. It was written in a hurry, but it was clearly her handwriting.

My Jasper,

It's been exactly two weeks since Edward took me and today is the first time he left me untied long enough for me to write this letter. He hasn't hurt me and treats me well.

I am yours. Do not doubt that for a second. No man will ever own me in the way you will. You have my heart, my body and my soul.

At this point I'm doing what I have to in order to survive, and it has bought me a little bit of freedom. I will leave you more notes when I can. I don't know why you haven't tracked me down, but I trust in you that you will eventually. In case it takes you too long, I have a plan, but I'd rather leave that as a last resort. I can't go into details should Edward find this letter, so you'll just going to have to trust me like I trust you.

I love you with all my heart, with my whole life. Tell Peter and Charlotte I love them and miss them.

Yours,

Bella

Reading her words nearly broke my heart as I realized I had been failing her. She counted on me to be rescued and it had been an utter disaster so far. And still, she trusted me. Self loathing and despair were embalming me in their sweet caress when I heard a thump that shook me out of my stupor. My emotions had brought Peter to his knees and he was sitting next to me with his eyes closed, hands fisted in his hair.

I tried to reign in every negative emotion and focus on the positive. Bella was still alive. She was still fighting and so would I. There was more hope now than there had been before. I just hoped that she wouldn't have to put her plan in action, because thinking of her words made the chills creep down my spine. I was going to find her before that. No doubt about it. I was going to see her again. My Bella.

AN: Wow, wasn't that fast ;).

So I need to get something off my chest. I was reading Underneath Your Scars by Hammerhips this week (amazing story btw) and she was giving credit to Idreamofeddy for her Peter 'that knows shit'. I had been so wrapped up in reading all sorts of fanfiction that I didn't realize the knowing shit wasn't canon. So credit where it's owed, thanks to Idreamofeddy for creating the Peter we all love.