A/N

Many thanks to Fr333bird for beta'ing and to Im_not_a_lizard (Rhythm Junkie) for pre-reading.

(btw - Fr333bird's started a new multi-chaptered story – Meant to be – it's a Seth/Rile one and there will be many supernatural obstacles on those boy's way :)

I don't own Twilight boys… However they do own me.

Picspiration for this chapter: bit(dot)ly/xVbRhq

9. The Fight

Jasper stands against the wall, motionless, tense, trying not to think about anything, but failing. Edward sits on the other side of the room with his legs bent, hugging his knees with his hands, his head buried in his arms.

He still acts so human, Jasper notices. Because vampires usually stand or sit straight, frozen in their movements, not needing any support or body relaxation.

However the amount of time they both spend in their positions is definitely not human. As usual, Jasper can't tell precisely how many hours have passed, but it must have been a lot. Instead of concentrating on counting the hours Jasper tries to focus on subduing Edward's raging emotions. Human Edward was depressed, resigned, laid back – vampire Edward is mostly angry. His fury is so intense it practically suffocates Jasper. To Jasper, Edward is like a ball of wrath now. Even though he's still sitting motionless Jasper can almost see the hot, red aura of anger that surrounds Edward, wrapping him up in a thick, pulsing layer.

Jasper thinks that he, of all vampires, should know how to deal with the disorientation, denial and anger of a newborn. He's worked with so many new vampires before, often a few at a time. But with Edward it's different. Whether Jasper wants to admit it to himself or not, he feels a connection between them that he's never felt before with anyone. And it prevents Jasper from having the required emotional distance to avoid Edward affecting him too much. Edward's mind-reading ability and clear hostility towards any mood-moulding makes the whole task of calming him down so much harder.

Jasper closes his eyes and focuses on breathing - inhale and exhale - then on clenching and straightening his fingers, then on breathing again. When that fails he starts to play Tetris in his mind – cube, L, long one, L, Z…

"When will I have to do it again?" Edward asks suddenly.

"You mean… feed?" Jasper doesn't know what word he should choose to make it sound less than what it is.

"Yes."

"It depends. How much do you want it now?" Jasper asks, trying to bypass the layer of anger to probe Edward's hunger.

"Oh, I want it. I can't think of anything else. It burns," Edward says and there's a pleading tone to his voice. There's also pain and despair in Edward's eyes when he raises them to Jasper.

"This is so not what I asked you for when you promised to take it all away," Edward spits out bitterly.

"I know." Jasper slowly moves to Edward and kneels in front of him. "And I'm sorry." He reaches with his hand to touch Edward's arm but decides not to in the end.

"Yeah." Edward nods and all his anger goes away suddenly. "I know you are. I'll be… good. Ah…" Edward extends his hand to Jasper, but winces when their skin touches. "God, it's all so… intense," he murmurs. "Even a simple touch. All the sounds. Will I get used to it?"

Jasper shrugs. "Yes, it'll all become ordinary after some time."

"And the other thing?" Jasper can now depict both hope and anxiety in Edward's voice.

"That I don't know," Jasper answers seriously. "I've learned to block my reading of emotions, tame it a bit, but I can't shut it down completely. I guess it must be worse for you."

"I'm not sure yet." Edward hides his face on his knees again. "That moment back there was like hell."

Jasper nods in agreement, "It felt like hell for me at the beginning too." He recalls the first days, Maria pushing him to deal with her errands right away. Then the nights that came later, the dozens of ones he had to destroy, the feeling of loss and entrapment, of hopelessness, of a conviction to eternity.

Edward raises his head again and looks at Jasper. And for one magical moment they're together in this, they're connected, understood, like never before. But then someone's steps outside distract Edward and the moment is lost – whatever there was is not important anymore. The blood is calling to them.

Edward emits a silent growl and jumps to his feet, moving for the door. In an instant Jasper launches himself at Edward, trying to knock him down, but Edward is fast and strong and manages to shrug him off easily. Jasper reaches to grab Edward's legs and succeeds in catching the edge of his jeans, making Edward trip on the way. The young vampire turns around, furious, snarling, and attacks Jasper directly now, going for his face.

"Calm down!" Jasper shouts, guarding his face in the last moment, but not before Edward's teeth sink deep into the flesh on the outside of his palm.

"Fuck," Jasper growls, really irritated, and for a moment fury makes him blind. He stops thinking and starts fighting. He must have battle moves imprinted in him somehow, because once he just goes with his instincts he can fight Edward off.

It's still not an easy task though, Edward's fuelled with the urge to kill, his moves are fast and his blows are really strong. They hurt. Edward's tight grasp, each snap of his teeth and each strike which reaches Jasper hurts a lot, and Jasper's surprised when he finds out he kind of enjoys this. He hasn't felt anything physical like this for so long. However, he doesn't enjoy the raw anger and the hate that's emitted during such fight, so he's relieved when he' finally able to pin Edward down, kicking his shins and punching him hard in the stomach on the way. He places his forearm underneath Edward's chin, imprisoning him with his whole body.

"Calm the fuck down!" he snarls. "You can't go out to kill people in the middle of a day, and a sunny one on top of that. We can't risk being exposed like that. So you'd better contain your crazy newborn urges or I'll have to restrain you for good."

Edward stops struggling and slowly unclenches his fists before nodding in agreement. But when Jasper tries to release him he makes a sudden move as if he wanted to try escaping again. That's why Jasper pushes Edward to the ground again and twists one of his arms behind his back, trapping it in between Edward's body and the floor, while he grinds his hips hard into Edward's groin. Somehow it's dangerously sexual, and of course Edward picks this thought from Jasper's brain and Jasper can feel the sudden lust flaring up.

"Go for it," Edward says quietly, staring into Jasper's eyes. "I want this. I want you."

For a short moment they are completely still, Jasper wondering if this is something he can really do, while Edward waits, challenging Jasper with his gaze.

And then Jasper flips Edward around so he's lying face down on the floor and Jasper's fumbling with Edward's pants, pushing them down, tearing at the denim. He reaches for both of their shirts, ripping them off as well, and kicks his own jeans off too, because he wants to feel Edward's skin with his whole body. When they are both naked he spreads Edward's legs with his knees, pulling him up a bit. Then he licks his fingers, coating them with slick venom before opening Edward up for him quickly. He knows he can't hurt Edward, not like this, but somehow he believes that he owes him at least this before he shoves his cock inside him.

Edward grunts when Jasper enters him, pushing deep, as deep as he can, bracing one of his hands on Edward's shoulder to bring the boy closer, keeping him still as he thrusts fiercely into him. Edward's erection is trapped between his body and the concrete floor and if he was still human his flesh would probably be scraped raw. But for the vampire he is now the friction is not enough and Edward tries to reach with his hand to stroke himself. That movement ignites something inside Jasper – something like anger, but not quite, something close to 'oh no, don't you dare! I'll give it to you. Me and only me. You're mine. I decide,' and Jasper lets go of Edward's shoulder, pushes his hand out of the way harshly and slips his own around to palm Edward's cock. He grips it hard, probably too hard, his knuckles scratching the concrete with each rough thrust of his hips.

He feels Edward's cock twitch in his fist, spurts of cum spilling over Jasper's fingers and onto the floor. And it doesn't last long before Jasper comes too, deep inside Edward, biting at his shoulder, just a little bit – just to feel the taste of his skin.

"You're a sick fuck," Edward laughs when they're done and sticky with all the cum, lying next to each other on their backs, Jasper still with his hand on Edward's thigh as if trying to not lose the connection, to reassure himself the boy still belongs to him, is claimed forever.

"Yeah," Jasper laughs too and lightly scratches the flesh beneath his fingers, thinking that it was his first full sex – not counting the hump the other day - in almost a hundred years or more.

"Really?" Edward asks in disbelief.

"Yeah," Jasper admits aloud and smiles again, still not wanting to take his hand off Edward.

"Well I'm glad I could provide it then..." Edward says with a smirk, and without any warning he pushes himself up, reaches for Jasper, threads his fingers in Jasper's hair and kisses him lightly, releasing him before Jasper starts panicking about what he should do – reciprocate, deepen the kiss, shrug it off? – and collapsing back on the ground.

They lie peacefully next to each other for a while, still smiling; while the last rays of sun cast little sparkles on their exposed skin.

"***"

Jasper scratches his hand where Edward bit him earlier. Edward notices the movement and takes Jasper's hand to inspect it more closely. The wound is already healing, but it's still fresh enough that small drops of venom glitter around the edges.

"I'm sorry," Edward apologizes quietly. "Does it hurt?"

"Nah," Jasper shakes his head lightly. "It itches a bit. Doesn't matter." It's not like this is his first one, he doesn't mind it any more.

"So, so many," Edward whispers while his eyes roam down Jasper's body - his arms, torso, legs. He moves his hand and traces one of Jasper's scars with his finger.

Edward doesn't ask how it happened, but Jasper's thoughts go involuntarily to those years. He quickly moves on to thinking about here and now, but those flashes were enough to make Edward draw in a sharp breath. Jasper stiffens at that. He doesn't want Edward feeling bad for him, he can't stand this kind of empathy, the pity and hidden disgust.

"No, no," Edward says quickly. "I like them. They are very you." He takes Jasper's hand again and kisses the bitten place. "But I'm truly sorry for the ones I caused and the ones I will cause, because it will happen again, right?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. But I really don't mind this. I… um… I enjoyed fighting with you. You're quite a decent opponent for a skinny, lame newborn." Jasper chuckles.

"Must be the mind reading thing," Edward says. "I guess I anticipate your next move. How did you do it today without thinking?"

"I used to be a soldier," Jasper responds as if it explains everything, but Edward seems to get it because he only nods, acknowledging the answer.

They sit up and dress silently, choosing clothes which aren't too dirty.

"I think we need to move out from the city," Jasper says aloud what's been on his mind from the moment that he stopped drinking Edward's blood. "It's too risky here – too many witnesses." And too many people you could hear the thoughts of, Jasper adds in his head, catching himself right away and smiling because Edward must have caught it anyway.

"Where?" Edward asks. He's resigned, but underneath this Jasper can see some growing energy that he hasn't noticed before.

"I've no idea. We'll just go and see. Let's wait for the night though. You need to feed anyway if we're to go anywhere, otherwise you'll cause us trouble. I guess I should feed too." He sighs. "Would you wait here so I could bring someone for you? I really don't want you to go out there again."

Edward nods and Jasper turns to leave before stopping with his hand on the door frame. "Can you promise me… can you promise you won't go anywhere? That you'll wait?"

"Yes," it's all Edward says but it's enough for Jasper. He believes him.

"***"

Jasper has no idea where to look today for someone for him and for Edward. Normally he'd go to a bar and play the whole charade, but he's afraid of leaving Edward alone for too long and he doesn't want to pollute the memory of their fuck with some quasi-sexual behaviour now. He goes to the docks again and hides in the shadows waiting for some smugglers. They're always here, he's seen them thousands of times while he was around. And soon enough he's rewarded with what he's been waiting for.

Jasper grimaces when he spots some men talking together, clearly arranging a deal. They talk in hushed voices, but that doesn't prevent Jasper from hearing them. He moves quietly towards them, wraps one of his arms around the throat of one man, cutting his breathing while he strikes the other one with his fist. He goes straight for his throat and drinks him up while keeping the second man still with his hand. It's awful because the guy can see what's going on and the fear he emits makes Jasper want to puke. The scent of piss – because the man has wet his pants by now - doesn't help. Jasper gulps on the blood, closing his eyes and pretending he's not really there. He just wants to be done with it as quickly as possible.

When he can't take any more of the blood, he leaves the body, throwing it down with disgust, and not bothering to hide or cover it. By the time the day comes and someone finds him, Jasper and Edward will be long gone. Then Jasper drags the second, half-conscious man back to their place. He carries him up the stairs, but doesn't even need to open the door because Edward is already there, snatching the gurgling man from Jasper's hands and pushing Jasper out of the way harshly. He growls when Jasper makes a move, so Jasper decides to stand very still against the wall while Edward practically rips the man into pieces in the hallway. Jasper doesn't know if he's horrified or amazed, or even a little aroused by the sight of it. He tries very hard not to overanalyse it though, he really doesn't need to feel any more like a freak than he already does.

Edward finally leaves the body, or what's left of it, and turns to Jasper. He's got blood all over him. He's still in a state of slight frenzy so Jasper decides to tame it down a bit, sending a small wave of calmness toward Edward and praying that his little manipulation won't aggravate Edward further. Edward blinks few times, takes in the sight in front of his eyes and kneels down while dry heaves twist his body.

"Oh fuck," he says. "Fuck."

"Edward?" Jasper tries to reach for him but Edward shrugs him off, shakes his head and covers his mouth with his hand. Jasper leaves him alone, silently going into the apartment, waiting for the boy to deal with it on his own.

"***"

Jasper doesn't comment on what's happened when Edward finally enters the place, going straight for the make-shift shower, scrubbing himself meticulously and then picking some fresh clothes again. Whatever he had to think about he's clearly put it behind him now because he seems quite confident again.

"Let's move on," Jasper says, wanting to make use of the state of mind Edward is in now.

"Okay." Edward ties up his shoes and jumps up onto his feet. Jasper once again thinks that he really enjoys the new energy that vampire Edward has in him.

They walk out of the place, not looking back, not taking anything with them. There is nothing a vampire would need on their journey. They run through the streets quickly, trying not to attract attention, Edward not breathing, focused on the goal in front of him. When they reach the city limits and then move past the 'farewell state sign' Edward stops abruptly, turns around and stands for a while, looking back. There is sadness and regret in him, but also relief. Edward stays for a minute longer while Jasper waits, and then Edward turns back and follows him north.