AN – So we have a name for our mysterious woman and maybe she is dropping hints for our frustrated Major. Let's read and find out, you've been waiting so givin' ya a short AN…Enjoy!

Chapter 4

JPOV

The weeks passed by without much issue, we went to school, dealt with the hormonal teenagers and came home. Bella hung around more and more, but we never seemed to be in the same room together and I couldn't quite figure out why. It almost seemed like someone was trying to keep us away from each other, which made no sense. She was Edward's girlfriend or pet and I was just his brother that no one trusted completely around humans. That always stung my pride as I was the one who led a newborn army for a century. It was my job to turn and train the newborns. I personally believed that only Carlisle rivaled my level of control over my bloodlust.

I did notice as the time went on that Bella had amazing control over her emotions. Not once did I catch her feeling anything other than happiness and that was only when I was allowed to be in the same room with her. If we were in different parts of the house, I felt nothing from her. It was almost like if I couldn't see her I couldn't sense her. I tried to not let it bother me, but the more I thought about it the more frustrated I became with the whole situation. Everyone else seemed to enjoy her company, other than Rose that is, while I was somehow always left out.

A month before the holidays started, Edward came home from Bella's and told us that he was going to bring her to the baseball game. I was astounded that he would even think to bring her but I didn't react to the idiotic notion as no one wanted my opinion anyway. By this time I had seriously started contemplating leaving the Cullens and going to find my brother, Peter, and his wife. They at least never treated me like I was just there taking up space. So knowing that I was going to be around Bella that afternoon, I left for a quick hunt to make everyone else feel better. I stopped fighting them about their lack of faith a long time ago. Somehow they think that Bella will get me to do what a school full of teenagers has yet to do.

Running, I scented the area and found a trail leading off towards the cliff. The scent that I had picked up was not something I was expecting, but I followed it anyways. Trying to keep my hopes at bay, I darted out to the middle of the clearing by the cliff and quickly scanned the area. Taking a deep breath, I was able to faintly detect jasmine and I could only growl at having missed her. I moved to the edge of the cliff and looked out over the water, watching the birds flying and diving for their food.

"Oh, Raven." I sighed as I sat down. Suddenly I didn't feel like hunting, I didn't feel like anything to be honest.

"Depression does not suit you, vampire."

I stiffened as I heard her voice. I didn't bother turning around as I knew she would just tell me that I wasn't ready and to stay as I was. I snorted to myself as I realized she had me trained and we haven't even technically met yet.

She chuckled. "You are learning, vampire. I had hoped that you would be ready by now, but you are not quite there yet. Although I am never far from you, I had to talk to you, try to help you through this mood of yours."

I sighed; I really hated being told I wasn't ready yet. This secrecy thing was really wearing on me. "Can you at least tell me your name?"

A wave of mischief floated over me. "I would rather not just yet as you are not ready, but then again, I have grown rather fond of the name you have given me in its place. It's very fitting."

I rolled my eyes. She was almost as cryptic as Alice was and that was saying something. "So you want me to keep calling you Raven?"

"Yes. It is fitting as you have seen by my keepsakes that I have given you. If I had to choose a bird to be my favorite then I would choose the raven so I am honored to be called such. But I will only allow you to call me that, vampire."

I could hear the laughter in her voice. "Why do you always call me that? I have a name you know."

"I know you have a name, vampire, but I guess it does not feel right to call you that until we officially meet. As I mentioned before, I have known you since before you were turned. I was there beside you as you went through all of your stages in your life; I even learned how to ride a horse because you made it look like so much fun." She paused to laugh to herself. "That was a funny day, let me tell you. That horse and I had a big long talk about why he should let me on his back."

I fought the urge to turn around and stare at her. "You talked to the horse?"

"Oh." I could feel her embarrassment. "I shouldn't have said that. Let's forget that and move on shall we?"

I sighed and looked out over the water again. "When will I get to look at you? To know who has supposedly been with me my whole life?"

She sighed. "Soon, my cowboy, I hope. This all rests on your shoulders unfortunately and I am bound by strict laws. Talking to you like this could cause some serious problems for me. I do not want to risk being pulled away from you, so we have to do this as close to by the book as possible."

"Can I at least ask for a hint or something? I'm tired of this waiting and I'm tired of…just everything. I need something to look forward to or I don't know how much longer I can deal with the lack of faith my family has in me." I closed my eyes and felt a gentle caress across my shoulders.

"Oh my sad sad vampire. I cannot stand to see you this way. I know how you feel with your family as mine treated me that way too. A family that does not have faith in all of its members is not a true family to that one person. That is not something that I can intervene with at this time, but I can tell you that I have faith in you and so do your brother and sister. Know that even if you can't see me I am never far from you. Take comfort in that and just be you. Your family will see you for the wonderful man that you are, but know that I already do."

I still had my eyes closed and I felt a light kiss on the top of my head causing me to sigh. "Don't wait so long to speak to me next time, Raven."

"Hopefully, vampire, next time we shall meet face to face."

"I won't let it be any other way." I replied, determination flooding me. I looked out to the birds flying over the water and knew that I would have another feather to take back with me. I sat there for a while, giving her time to leave and myself time to gather my thoughts. I needed to figure out what I was supposed to be ready for and what I had to do to get ready.

I stood from my spot on the edge of the cliff and looked behind me, sure enough; on a low hanging branch at the edge of the clearing was a black feather. Grabbing it as I made my way back to the house, I tried to come up with an answer as to who I was dealing with. There were a few factors that I had gleaned from the few talks we had shared. I knew that she was older than me; she had to be if she had been there when I was a child. I knew that she was here for me for some reason and based off of the talks it didn't seem as if it was something bad. I knew that she comes from a family like mine, where she was not trusted to act accordingly, however that might be for her. I knew that she has an affinity for ravens, which is probably why she leaves their feathers behind for me.

I thought about asking Alice to peak into my future and see what was in store, but that doesn't always work as a decision has to be made for it to work. Add to that, do I really want Alice to know about Raven? With her knowing, do I want Edward to know? Right now I didn't want anyone to know about her. She was mine. She did also tell me that I shouldn't talk to anyone about our meetings and even if she hadn't requested that, I would have done it anyway. My family already doesn't have faith in me and if I start talking about some strange woman that won't let me look at her and talks about how she has watched me my whole life, yeah, they would probably think that I was the first ever vampire to go insane.

Taking a deep breath, I knew I needed to gather my thoughts as I headed back into the house. Darting up to my study, I added the feather to the growing collection and changed into a pair of warn jeans, my trade mark long sleeved baseball tee and a ball cap. I was ready to go play ball. Heading back downstairs I vaulted over the railing on the last part to land in the living room. Right in front of Bella. Her gasp was probably heard throughout the whole house.

I smiled, I couldn't help it. This was the first time that we had been this close and it was nice to be around her. She seemed to help calm my emotions. "I'm sorry, Bella. Didn't mean to startle you. I'm just excited to go play some ball."

She ducked her head as she stepped back. "I can understand your excitement."

If I didn't have my vampiric hearing, I would have missed her response. That was one thing that never made sense to me, she was so soft spoken that you had to be a vampire to hear her. I shook my head turning away from her. I knew I would be ousted from the room soon enough, no reason to make the family actually do it. I turned before I left the room. "Did you bring a rain coat?"

Bella briefly lifted her head and shrugged. "Didn't think to grab one."

"Silly human." I sighed and darted up to my room. From the lack of sounds in the house the girls had already headed out and it was just Bella, Edward and me here. Going into my room, I grabbed my raincoat and darted back downstairs, careful to slowly enter the room this time. "Here, you can wear mine as I bet Edward's wouldn't fit at all."

She caught the coat after I tossed it. Looking it over, she pulled it over her head and readjusted her ball cap as it had been knocked aside. Tucking her hands into the front pocket, she smiled up at me. "Thank you, Jasper."

"My pleasure, ma'am." I tipped my hat at her, letting my southern drawl come out. "Edward, hurry your ass up or I'm leaving you two behind."

I heard him sigh up in his room before he responded. "Thank you for letting her use your coat, I should have thought ahead."

I knew she hadn't heard him and I grimaced as he started his martyr act. "That's what brothers are for right?"

Bella stared at me, she had to know that we were talking, but she just couldn't hear it. She let out a huff. "Stop being so melodramatic, Edward, or I will leave you behind."

I couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled out of me. "Well, who knew that Bella could be spunky?"

She raised an eyebrow at me before she quickly ducked her head down, throwing off waves of mirth and happiness. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me, cowboy."

I reeled as her words wrapped around my senses. I understood why she would call me that, but up until then only one other had done that. Suddenly I wanted to go hunt down my mysterious woman and not play baseball, but I was suddenly hit with a wave of worry. Looking over at Bella I tasted her emotions and she was the source of the worry. Before I could ask her about it, Edward bounded down the stairs and moved to her side.

"Are we all ready to go?" He asked, looking over at me.

I nodded and followed them out to Emmett's jeep. Edward got Bella all hooked up in the passenger seat before moving over to the driver's side. I was undecided if I wanted to run or ride along. I was still standing there, undecided when Bella opened her door.

"Jasper, get in so we can go."

Shocked out of my indecision, I opened the back hatch and slipped inside. Edward glanced at me in the review mirror and I shrugged, not knowing how to answer his silent question. I had no idea what was up with me anymore. Leaning my head back as Edward drove us to the field, I closed my eyes and just let my mind wander to pointless thoughts since Edward loved to pick through my brain.

"Jasper?"

To say I was shocked that she was addressing me again would be just the tip of the iceberg of emotions I was feeling. I answered without opening my eyes. "Yes, Bella?"

"I…" She paused, sending off waves of embarrassment.

"You can ask me anything." I hoped saying that would make her more comfortable.

"Well, I was curious as to why you always wore long sleeves even in the summer and Edward told me I had to ask you." She whispered.

I could feel her blush from back here as the heat rose in her cheeks. I knew that she was curious about how all of us ended up in this life and I had expected Edward to tell her about everyone, save her from having to ask us all individually. I guess out of everyone, Rose and I would be the hardest lives to tell and I understood why he would leave it to us to explain as ours were both more gruesome. I needed to know what she already knew though. "Has Edward told you any of my background?"

"Only that you had a very rough start to this life that left you scarred. I can imagine how anyone not choosing this life would be mentally or emotionally scarred." She answered compassion clear in her voice.

"Well, I won't go into major detail right now as we are almost to the field. I will tell you that yes, I had a very rough start to this life and I have the scars you mentioned, but I also have physical scars." I pulled up the sleeve on my left arm and leaned forward, placing it up between the front seats so she could look. I chuckled as Edward made sure to keep his eyes averted.

Bella turned in her seat as she caught sight of my arm and gasped, her human eyes traveling up and down my arm, taking in the multitude of crescent shaped scars. Slowly she reached out to touch my arm, stopping just short of making contact before looking to Edward. At his nod she turned to me, "May I?"

I could only nod; her compassion and sorrow over just those few scars had me floored. Everyone else that had seen them had cringed away in fear or looked away in disgust like Edward did. When I was with Alice it was either lights out or I had to wear a shirt so she didn't have to see the scars. I closed my eyes as I felt the first light touch of her fingers as she traced over a few of the scars.

"What made these?" She whispered.

I sighed and pulled my arm back, rolling down the sleeve to hide my skin yet again. "I was brought into this life in a time of war. I was turned so that I could train newborn armies and in the process I had to break up fights or take on the more dominant newborns to make sure they all stayed in line. I am covered in those scars, Bella. They are a sign to other vampires to stay away. They cause fear and/or disgust. Did you see Edward's reaction?"

"Yes, I just thought it was because he felt bad that you had them." Bella turned to look out her window, a frown on her face. After a few moments of thought, she turned back to look at me. "They all react that way to your scars don't they?"

"All of them."

She sighed and turned to look back out the windshield as Edward stopped the jeep. Immediately she started working on the five point harness that Edward had snapped her into earlier and had it all undone by the time Edward was at her door, opening it to help her out.

I climbed out the back as I was hit by a wave of sorrow coming at me from Bella. I could tell that she felt bad over how my family treated me and it made me feel a little better knowing that someone cared. Shaking my head clear of the depressing thoughts, I took off into the clearing and pounced on Emmett's back, taking him to the ground.

"Ugh…get off me you…you…damn sneaky bastard!" Emmett growled into the dirt.

Laughing, I leapt from his back and turned to watch him stand, brushing the dirt from his clothes. "If you would pay better attention, I wouldn't be so sneaky."

Emmett snarled and darted after me, starting to chase me around the field. I kept dodging him until Alice called us over to go over the teams.

"Now, we are going to be doing this a bit differently since Bella is here. She is going to help Esme out at home plate. The first team batting will be Carlisle's which will include Jasper and Rose. I will be pitching for my team with Edward and Emmett. Any questions?"

I sauntered over and picked up the bat. "I'll bat first, pixie."

She laughed and moved out to the mound in the middle, tossing a ball in the air. "I hope you're ready, Jazz. I don't see this as going in your favor."

"Come now, pixie, give me your best pitch and we'll see just how wrong you are." I took my position over home plate, preparing for her fast pitch. As she readied her throw, I was already swinging the bat and the ball connected solidly. Dropping the bat, I was already at second base when I saw Edward shoot out into the surrounding woods to go fetch the ball. He was just coming out of the woods and throwing the ball when I slid into home plate. I was paying so much attention to Edward that I completely misjudged my angle and slid into Bella, knocking her legs out from under her.

"Safe." Esme called as she laughed at the mess before her.

I reached up as Bella landed on me with a gasp and I caught her shoulders, stopping her from slamming into my stone body. Pushing up on her shoulders, I passed her to Esme who steadied her on her feet. "Sorry, Bella."

She looked down at me and offered her hand to help me up, before pulling it back with a laugh. "Guess that wouldn't have worked huh?"

Jumping to my feet I flicked her hat back so that it was dangling off the back of her head, hooked on her pony tail. "Would have pulled you right back down."

The next hour was spent much the same way, laughter peeling out as we collided with one another trying to catch the ball or at someone dodging being tagged with the ball to make it to home plate. It was a fairly even matched game, as usual, and I was up to bat again when Alice called a halt to the game.

"Stop." Everyone turned to look at Alice. "Everyone needs to surround Bella. I thought they wouldn't hear our game, but they changed course."

Edward growled low as he saw what Alice was seeing. "Three nomads. They heard the game and are on their way here to join in."

I glared at Alice, she should have known better than to allow us to bring Bella out here if there was any threat. Instead of voicing my annoyance, I went and placed myself in front of Bella as Edward stood to her right side and Emmett stood on her left. Carlisle stood in front of me with the girls standing behind us, forming a circle around our little human. I could feel her worry, but there was also a thread of acceptance. I wasn't given time to try to understand her emotions as my attention was drawn to the other side of the field.

Three vampires broke through the trees and stopped halfway across the field. They stood there staring at us before the one in front spoke.

"Hello. My name is Laurent, this is Victoria and James." He gestured as he provided their names. "We were just passing through and heard your game. We wanted to know if you had room for more players."

Carlisle stepped forward as I tested the emotions. I caught worry and caution coming from behind me and Bella's little emotional cocktail. Reaching forward, I picked up on Carlisle's determination to protect his family. In front of him I could sense curiosity, amusement and indifference. They did not show any threatening signs but I never did trust other vampires, especially nomads.

"Actually we were just finishing up our game. Maybe another time?" Carlisle smiled at them, softening the rejection. "My name is Carlisle and this is my family."

I did not miss the annoyance that flowed through them as Carlisle did not introduce us individually to the nomads and that caused me to wonder exactly what they wanted. As I began to study them more intently I noticed James looking closely into the group behind me, specifically right over my shoulder. Just as I noticed he was staring at Bella's hat covered head, I felt a breeze pick up from behind me, bringing Bella's scent across my nose and to the nomads in front of us.

James took in a deep breath and his eyes almost rolled back before focusing on Bella again. Taking a step forward he smiled at us. "You brought a snack."

I heard hisses and growls behind us as we all sunk into defensive crouches, even Carlisle started to copy our posture before forcing himself to stand up straight.

"She is a part of my family. We live here and do not feed on humans." Carlisle gestured to the general area surrounding us. "We maintain a home here and kindly request that you leave the area before feeding as we do not need to draw attention to ourselves. I'm sure you understand."

Laurent stepped forward, placing a hand on James' shoulder. "Of course, our apologies. We meant no offense."

I watched as a sort of silent communication passed between James and Laurent before James straightened and moved back to stand next to Victoria, slinging an arm around her shoulders.

"Yeah, we aren't used to our kind keeping pets and not sharing." James laughed.

I felt Edward tense behind me so James must have been having some rather nasty thoughts floating through his mind. I focused on James and didn't sense anything that immediately caused me to worry until he looked over my shoulder again. That is when I felt his joy and determination double and I knew we had a problem on our hands.

Laurent stepped back by James. "As you are no longer playing, I believe we shall take our leave. I am suddenly feeling a bit peckish and I'm not overly fond of that feeling. We will wait until we are a few towns away so as to keep any backlash from falling on your coven."

"Thank you." Carlisle smiled at them as he stepped back to stand next to me.

I straightened out of my crouch as they disappeared into the trees. Turning back, I looked to Alice before glancing at Edward. He had pulled Bella into his arms and was holding her tightly. Fear was coming off of him in waves, but she was oddly complacent. She caught me looking at her and quickly averted her gaze as her emotions became too dull for me to read. Still baffled over how she was able to block me from her emotions, I walked over to Alice.

"Hey, pixie, are they really gone?"

She looked up at me before her eyes took on that faraway look when she is searching for visions. She allowed a small smile to play across her face before she responded. "Yes, they are gone, but not for long."

"We need to get her out of here." Edward snapped as he had seen whatever it was that Alice saw. "James has fixated on Bella."

I looked over at him and was hit by his fear and anger. "What did you see Edward?"

He looked me in the eyes as he shook his head. "Just know that he is a hunter and he has decided that Bella is his next prey. He will not give up until he gets her."

AN – Well hell, I bet y'all hoped the nomads wouldn't make an appearance, but I'm sorry to disappoint. There were just some things that deserved tweaking and this is where said tweaking happened…and will happen again as I love to tweak. Ok, tweak stories people, come on ;-) So, some things are the same and some are different, what did y'all think? Let me know as we authors live on reviews…and food of course!

Don't forget there is the FB page for updates and discussions. Just search for Bella & Jasper – Love Under a Blood Moon and you should be able to find it easily. It will be the hub for all Twilight fanfic discussions as I have Darkness as well as one shots that are in the works. If you aren't reading Darkness…I highly recommend it, lol, but I may be a bit biased.