AN – It's a holiday update. I am going to try to work on updating some of the other stories as well to make this a true holiday week. I have two other updates almost ready so I might actually get to make it happen. Oh well, enough of my rambling…you read and enjoy this chapter. And a quick note, this really is off of the beaten path and on a path of my own creation. Hopefully everyone likes

Chapter 9

JPOV

Looking out into the space over the cliff's edge, I thought about what all Carlisle had said. If I put everything that Raven had told me or let slip then I might be able to believe that Carlisle could be correct. It was almost the only thing that fit as there wasn't anything supernatural out there that seemed to fit what I knew about her. Or what I thought I knew since I had never seen her. This was such a mess and I was tired of second guessing everything. I needed to figure out what I needed to know in order to be ready to finally see Raven.

I began pacing along the edge of the cliff, lost in thought and talking through my thoughts out loud. "She's older than me, even when adding in my human years. She has the ability to either disappear or teleport. I am the only one she talks to."

I groaned. I felt like I was going through the same things over and over again. I roughly ran my hands through my hair, taking some of my frustration out on my unsuspecting head. "She can't be an angel, I never heard wings and if they are anything like what we have been lead to believe, then I doubt you could be silent with wings around the sensitive hearing of us vampires. She leaves me feathers as reminders and they appear to be from a raven. Maybe she is a shifter?"

Stopping momentarily I watched as a hawk flew past the edge of the cliff and out over the water below. Even the beauty of that bird in flight couldn't distract me from the frustration of trying to figure out what I was dealing with. Just then I was glad that I was alone out here as I noticed that I had lost my control of my emotions and I was projecting all of my feelings. Reining them back in, I sighed again and tried to calm myself back down. It wouldn't do me any good to let my emotions get in the way of solving this conundrum I found myself in.

Going back to my pacing, I ran through everything I knew and every conversation that I had had with Raven since she talked to me the first time over thirty years ago. Even after an hour of dissecting everything that she said, I was no closer to figuring her out than I was before I came out here. At this point, I was almost to the point of not caring what she was just as long as I was able to actually meet her. Once I settled on that thought I immediately regretted it as I knew that would keep me from my goal. I needed to settle down and get this figured out.

Hours later I was still pacing along the edge of the cliff and mumbling to myself, going over the same facts over and over again. If I was human I knew I would be doing this in my sleep due to the repetition. "I'm no closer to solving this than I was six hours ago." I growled and I pulled on my hair again in frustration.

"I'm not sure you would look good bald."

I spun at the sound of the voice and was shocked to find Bella standing at the edge of the trees watching me. "Bella."

She nodded at me and stepped out closer to me. "If you don't like your hair I'm sure you could get Alice or Rose to give you a new style."

I just looked at her in confusion. What was this human doing all the way out here?

"You have been mumbling and yanking on your hair for a while now. I just thought that if you needed a change with your hair you could find a less painful way to go about it." Bella laughed.

"Oh." Turning my back on her, I looked out over the cliff again and noticed that the sun was setting. "Well, hell."

"You are a strange vampire." Bella murmured as she walked up beside me. "Do you normally talk to yourself or was this just a special occasion?"

I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, still trying to figure out why she was out here and how she managed to sneak up on me. Again. "What are you doing here?"

"Nice deflection, cowboy." She snapped. "Not going to work. I went walking and here is where I ended up to apparently witness your mental breakdown."

I snorted at her. Mental breakdown? Me? Not bloody likely. I sighed, having to acknowledge that I had been watching way too much Hell's Kitchen with Emmett. "Not a mental breakdown. Vampires do not have those issues. I was just trying to work through a problem and didn't realize I was vocalizing it."

"Oh, well in that case, talk to me. It's always easier to figure something out if you talk to someone. Even if you just use them as a sounding board." She turned to me. "So talk away."

"Thank you, but no. This is something I need to figure out on my own regardless of how frustrating it is." I looked back out to the sunset. "And what is the real reason that I have the joy of your surprise company?"

She huffed. "I told you. I went for a walk and ended up here. Don't believe me?"

I laughed. "Well, out of all of the times that you have been to the house you have never gone anywhere without Edward at your side and I know with how he obsesses over your safety that you have never ventured out of the house alone. Not that I'm complaining that you're here or nothin', I just don't want your boyfriend to get mad and think I tried to kidnap you."

Bella sighed and started her own pacing. "Don't think it will get that far, cowboy. He doesn't even know I came by. Apparently I can be super stealthy without trying and he didn't even notice when I showed up. He was in Carlisle's study and they were arguing over something that had to do with me. I stood outside the closed door for a while and heard enough to send me for a walk. I have learned that I think best out in the wilderness."

As she made to pass by me again in her pacing I turned and put my hands on her shoulders. "Ok, little human, why don't we start at the beginning and you tell me what's going on. I might be able to help you out where Eddie boy is concerned."

Bella momentarily let down her guard and let me feel her emotions. I was hit with sorrow, worry and fear all tinged with a hint of hope. "Maybe I should start with prom?"

I was taken aback, I had completely forgotten about her promise from before prom. Nodding, I dropped my arms and sat down facing the cliff again. I waited for her to gather her thoughts as she sat next to me. With a sigh, she folded her hands in her lap and shut off her emotions again.

"I know you feel every emotion around you and for my part in that I am very sorry. After Edward explained your gift to me I did my best to not let my emotions be a problem to you and yet, the harder I tried the worse I felt. I wanted to talk to you about it but he always managed to have something for us to do so I couldn't talk to you. He never did explain to me why he felt the need to keep me away from you."

"Maybe I can explain that one for you." Closing my eyes, I prepared to explain to the one person here that accepts me why they shouldn't. "I know he told you that I had a rough start to this life and you've seen some of my scars. Because of my upbringing the family finds it hard to trust me around humans, always afraid that I will slip and drain someone. It's hard for me to live with that but I have grown to expect it over the years. So I'm sure both of us will be getting an ear full when the family, especially Edward, learns that you are out here alone with me, the family's black sheep."

She sighed as she looked at me out of the corner of her eye. "Why do you let them treat you so badly?"

"That's a very good question, one I have been trying to answer for the past couple of months actually. I know they don't mean to hurt me with their lack of faith in me, but none of them had the same start to this life as I did. Carlisle resisted blood until he found himself in the woods and a herd of deer caught his attention and he learned that he could survive that way. Edward was changed by Carlisle and was introduced to this lifestyle from the moment he woke as a vampire. Being the teen that he is, he rebelled against his 'dad' and left for about a decade and hunted the criminals thanks to his gift. After he came back to Carlisle, he has never slipped again.

"Rosalie has killed humans but has never fed from our natural food source. Her story truly is her's to tell, but her control around humans is amazing. Both Esme and Emmett have had minor slips, usually relating to one of them finding their singer or being exposed to a human's blood when they were hungry. And Alice, she knew from the time she woke to this life that there was another way to live and that she had to bring me to it. She is another one that has only slipped a time or two, which is amazing when you think about it. Then there is me. Edward thinks he is a soulless monster when out of our family, only I can claim that. Everyone else is an angel compared to me."

Bella let out a sigh as she reached over and took my hand. "Both you and Edward have told me bits about your life and I fully believe that there is nothing that you can tell me that would make me believe that you are a soulless monster. You may have started that way, but you are anything but that now. If you were, I doubt I would be sitting out here alone with you."

"You wouldn't be sitting, that's for sure." I grimaced as I caught how that sounded. "Let me explain. When I was changed by Maria and indoctrinated into her army, we were rewarded for jobs well done with blood and sex. It didn't matter to us if the sex was with other vampires or with our food. Back then playing with your food was not frowned upon like it is now. I remember going weeks without food due to some kind of punishment and then taking out another newborn army that we were pit against. I lead the assault and had most of the newborns at the mercy of my gift so it made it possibly for a clean and quick win. Maria was so pleased with me that I was given first pick of the humans that had been captured for our food. I still remember the horrid things that I did that night and it makes me cringe just thinking about it now. Those are not things that you need to hear so I won't go into detail. Needless to say, I was big on the playing before eating, quenching multiple thirsts in the process.

"Remembering those decades helps me to stay on the vegetarian diet and allows me to subject myself to the constant torture of living the Cullen lifestyle of constantly going to school. Believe me, going to school is not something that I want to do nor do I enjoy it, but being a part of this family you have no choice if you are introduced as one of the 'kids'." I looked down and noticed that she still had a hold of my hand and was tracing circles on the back of it with her fingers.

"I hope one day, cowboy, you will tell me your whole story as I believe it will do both of us a lot of good." Bella looked out over the water, a sense of sorrow escaping her blocked emotions. "I don't understand their reaction to you, but I guess that does explain why Edward acts the way he does. I wish he would listen to me, but everything has to be done his way. I know he does things to protect me, but I did manage to survive for eighteen years just fine without him. So I guess now you know about the issue that I had before prom. He forced me to go, said it was a human moment that I had to experience whether I wanted to or not. Human moment. That's another issue with us. It's like he is intrigued with being with a human more than being with me. Does that make sense?"

I groaned and closed my eyes. I knew this day was coming, the day where she would figure out that her relationship was very one sided. This was not a conversation that I was looking forward to having, especially today.

"How long have you know, cowboy?"

"You are much more perceptive than we give you credit for." I opened my eyes and looked into her worried gaze. "You are correct. Edward's fascination with you is that you are silent to him. Around you he gets to relax, as long as no one else is around. That he does enjoy, but it also drives him crazy as no one should be immune to his gift in his mind. I can sort of understand as you are able to block your emotions from me, but as much as I may desire to know what you are feeling it is nice to only feel my emotions."

Bella wrinkled her nose in frustration. "Well, I am glad I am able to give you some sort of peace. As for Edward, his actions don't sound like those of a loving boyfriend. Am I just some kind of distraction or science experiment to him? That is what it sounded like from his conversation with Carlisle earlier. As much as I am grateful to you and your family for taking me in and saving me from James, I don't know what I'm going to do about Edward. I don't want to lose the family, but I also don't want to be with someone who doesn't want to be with me for me. I…"

Sensing emotions close to us I held up my hand, cutting her off. Standing from the ground, I turned so I was looking into the woods behind us. I could sense a multitude of emotions, sorrow and rage were the two strongest emotions and they were getting closer very quickly. I could also sense fear, but that was farther away as though that person was chasing whoever was so full of rage. I felt Bella stand next to me and I put my arm out in front of her to keep her behind me. A shiver ran through me as she placed her hands on my arm and I almost missed it as we were joined by a new vampire.

"Well, blondie, I wasn't expecting to find you here. All I want is the human."

Bella shuddered as she looked upon the vampire before us. In her shock she dropped her shield and I was hit with her emotions. At first the strongest emotion I felt from her was her fear and that almost knocked me to my knees, but then I felt something I only ever felt from two others in my entire existence. The fear was still there but it was almost completely drowned out by her faith in me to protect her. Her trust kept me on my feet and had me crouched before her, ready to take on the redheaded menace in front of us.

"Honestly, I only came for her. She was the reason that I lost my James and for that she needs to die. You lot took my mate from me and for that I am going to take the mind reader's mate from him." Victoria took a menacing step forwards. "Hand her over. She is not yours to protect."

I growled low in my throat. "There is nothing for you here, nomad. If your mate wouldn't have attacked one of our family he would still be here. As he decided to try to take her away from us, he is now ash. As she is my family, she is mine to protect."

"Jasper, you don't need to protect me. It's not your place." Bella whispered behind me.

Without taking my eyes from the threat, I curled my arm around Bella and pulled her into my back, keeping my body between her and Victoria. "Bells, you are family no matter if you are with my brother or not. So just accept that I am going to protect you as I have before. I will do whatever I have to to protect you."

Victoria laughed. "How touching. Are you trying to steal your brother's mate from him? How sad is that? Makes me glad that I am of the nomadic life, that way I don't have to deal with the humanlike drama of mate stealing."

The thought of what she was implying brought my beast to the gate of the cage I kept him locked up tight in. He was rattling the cage, demanding his release and I was close to letting him have it. The only thing that gets to me more than the ones I care for being in danger, is someone insinuating that I could in any way shape or form cause them harm. I growled again and sunk lower in my crouch.

Bella seemed to sense what was happening as she placed her hands on my shoulders and leaned down so she could whisper in my ear. "I trust you, Major. I know what is in your heart and know that what she speaks is just filth. Do not let her pull your strings. You are an honorable man, Major, and I know you will keep me safe."

"How touching." Victoria snarled. "Even if I have to go through you, blondie, I will get what I came for. I would, however, like to get this over with soon as I am actually feeling a might peckish and would like a snack before I go."

Just the thought of her trying to harm Bella had me pulling her tighter against my back as I growled. "You will not lay a hand on her."

Victoria snarled and launched forward only to be caught unaware as Edward came crashing out of the woods causing her to stop to reassess what was going on.

Edward stopped and looked from Victoria to where I stood with Bella and back. I could feel the fear and confusion coming off of him in waves. He just stood there, lost in his emotions.

Victoria broke the silence with her laughter. "Well, now it seems like I will have the pleasure of making the mind reader suffer while I drain his mate. Definitely hadn't expected things to turn out so well when I thought up this little plan of mine."

Edward looked at me and then at Bella behind me, his confusion apparent. "Jasper, what is she going on about and why is my Bella out here with you?"

I growled. "Victoria here is wanting revenge for the death of James and Bella…"

"Focus, Major." Bella tightened her grip on my shirt before cutting me off. "Edward, not like now is the time, but I stopped by earlier and you were talking with Carlisle. I overheard you and decided to go for a walk to think and I happened upon the growling one you see standing or crouching before me."

As he took in her words, his confusion started to melt away into annoyance and fear. "Bella, love, I'm not sure what you heard, but I can explain. Let me get you out of here and we can talk."

I shook my head at his ignorance. "Edward, we have a slightly bigger problem here if you haven't noticed. You care to help rectify this situation or will I have to do everything?"

"Don't take that tone with me, Jasper. I know we have a problem, that's why I'm here. I heard her snooping around the house and followed her as all she was thinking about was killing my Bella." He ignored Bella's snort as his claim of ownership. "I wasn't worried until I picked up her scent outside the house so I followed Victoria so that I could stop her. Imagine my surprise when I come across this little scene with you holding on to my Bella."

"Again, bigger problems." I snarled as I kept my eyes on Victoria.

"Both of you boys can squabble over who will get to save the girl and while you do that I will take the girl. Everyone is happy, yes?"

I watched as Edward was about to start to argue her point, but he didn't get very far as he was knocked to the other side of the little clearing. In the time it took for him to land, Victoria had pulled a lighter out of her pocket and I was then watching as she moved towards me with a flame getting dangerously close to my very flammable body. I moved to take a step back but found that with Bella behind me, we were already on the edge of the cliff. I could survive the fall, but even if I shielded her body I didn't think she would make it.

"Major, now is a good time to do something." Bella whispered into my shoulder.

I growled at her, not enjoying her pointing out our predicament. Quickly glancing around the clearing, I saw one chance for us to get away without going over the edge, but I had to time it just right. "Do you trust me?"

"Silly vampire, of course I do." She giggled, she actually giggled her response.

I shook my head at the crazy human and kept my eyes on Victoria, but also kept my senses trained on Edward who was still trying to extract himself from the bushes he was thrown into. Seeing that our chance was fast approaching, I tightened my arm around Bella, preparing to lift her onto my back so I could run us to safety. "Get ready."

Her only response was to place her hands on my shoulders as if getting ready to hold on for her life. Her trust in me gave me the hope I had been missing before in my life and it was something that I would have to figure out later how I was going to keep that hope alive. Seeing my chance, I lifted her off her feet and smiled as she wrapped her legs around my waist. With one last glance, I darted to my right, away from Edward, hoping to get away from the crazed vampire in front of us.

What happened next left me shocked to my very core. As I took my first steps away from the cliff's edge I was cut off by an unexpected bought of flame that sent me stumbling back. Normally I would have been able to catch myself, but the added weight of Bella on my back kept me stumbling backwards until there wasn't anything under my feet. I had a moment of confusion before I felt my body begin to fall through open air.

"Holy fuck!" I shouted as I quickly pulled Bella around so that she was on top of me. I looked up into her face and wondered at her lack of fear. "I'm sorry, Bells. I will try to use my body to break the fall. I can't promise that you won't get hurt, but I should be able to keep you in one piece."

Bella laughed as she essentially laid out on top of me and then she wrapped her arms around me. As I started to twist to get her arms back to safety I felt her tighten her hold on me and it was much tighter than it should have been for a human. Her arms loosened long enough to flip me so that I was going face first towards the water and I grimaced as I knew that would actually hurt me.

"Bella, what are you doing? I need to land on my back so that we both make it out of this."

"Oh my silly vampire." She whispered into my ear. "You will want to see this, I promise, as it appears that circumstances have forced my hand. Fate seems to think that you are finally ready."

"Ready? Ready for what? What are you going on about?" Again, crazy human.

She sighed in my ear as she tightened her arms around me, her right hand lying flat over where my heart no longer beat. "I told you, you are ready. So, my vampire, get ready to meet your elusive raven."

I gasped, there was no way that she could know about her and yet, as those thoughts flew through my head I saw that she had to be correct. Instead of hitting the water I felt myself being jerked up away from the water. In my shock it took me a few seconds to notice that we were gliding across the water almost as if we were flying. Looking over my shoulder, I saw first her smiling face and then the great expanse of her black wings.

AN – It shouldn't be shocking that Victoria ended up being the catalyst to force the issue with who Raven is. Is her identity a surprise to anyone? Any ideas on what Bella heard Edward and Carlisle talking about? Ok, it's time for you lovely readers to review and for me to get back the story. Till next time….

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.