Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all.
Rated M for a reason. If you are squeamish this might be one of them.
Chpt 9 Jigsaw Puzzle
BPOV
I have never been so relieved in my life as when we finally land at Sea-Tac. Being on a plane with all those humans is like putting yourself on a diet and then cutting a slice of chocolate cake. It was torture, in the end Jasper took pity on me and practically put me to sleep.
As soon as we got to our hotel we fired up the laptop to see if we've received a response from Alice. Nothing yet. I asked her to meet me in a park near Wanaque Reservoir, fairly private and somewhere the guys are happy they can secure successfully. Pete's chased Jenks over the phone but he says he hasn't been able to find out where Rutilio's staying.
Pete and Char have already left to stakeout Jenks's downtown office so Jasper and I are cuddled up on the couch while he watches a biography on some WWII general. What can I say, the man's got narrow interests.
I always find it relaxing to curl up with Jasper, his arms give me a feeling of peace and security I've never experienced and can't really describe. As always my face is pressed against his chest, my lips not straying far from the torture scar over his heart. I kiss it gently and am rewarded with his soft purr and the tightening of his arms around me. Sometimes I wish we could just stay like this forever.
Idly I begin to trail my hand over his chest, feelin' the faint vibration of his purr an' the subtle twitchin' of his muscles. As ever when one of us does this the rest of the world fades away, barely registering in the background. Even my dirty great vampire brain is reduced to merely processing the thoughts and feelings related to the close proximity of my mate, the feel of him under my fingertips, his scent in my nose and the sound he makes as I gently stroke my fingers over his nipple.
"Darlin'." He moans quietly, sliding further down into the couch and pulling me with him.
Absorbed I continue to explore his chiselled chest sliding my hand inside his linen shirt and stroking gently with my fingertips. Its so perfect, I bet that if every woman in the continental US described their ideal man's muscles they would feel like this, moving gently under his silky skin as they react to my touch. Wanting more I undo the buttons of his shirt, opening it so I can trail my lips across his abdomen and hear his breathing quicken as his hand fists into my hair.
Wriggling down I run my tongue across the skin above the waistband of his pants. He tastes divine and I make a low moan of my own, unconsciously rubbing my thighs together. As I'm getting older my need for his body is beginning to rival my need for blood, its like an addiction. A sweet, heavenly, addiction.
Just as I move my hand down his cell rings.
Groaning he answers, holding it up so I can hear Pete. "Stop whatever you're doin' an' get down here. The humans are all headin' home for their dinner an' the building's almost clear."
"Okay." With a sigh Jasper pulls my hand out of his pants and brings it to his lips, kissing it lightly. "That man's sense of timin' is gonna be the death of me."
"Its just his gift." I giggle, fastenin' his shirt an' kissing his mouth chastely. "I'll make it up to you later."
He sighs again. "A moment, once missed, can never be recaptured."
I look at him suspiciously as we walk out the door. "That's awfully deep."
"I'm a very deep man darlin'." He says with a wink, pinching my ass as we enter the waiting elevator.
"Which floor?" The attendant asks solicitously, very professionally ignorin' my squeal.
"We're goin' out." Jasper answers curtly and pushing me up against the back wall he places his thigh between mine, his hands either side of my head and proceeds to kiss me thoroughly.
"Have a nice evening sir." The attendant says in a strangled voice as my mate pulls me, flustered and breathless, out of the elevator and across the lobby.
"You're a very bad man." I scold him when I get my breathing back to normal.
He just laughs.
We walk the two blocks to Jenks's building and quickly spot Pete lurking in the doorway opposite.
"Is he alone?" Jasper asks.
"As far as we can tell." Pete responds.
"Alright then, lets go pay him a little visit."
Silently we cross the street and enter the building, noddin' slightly to Char who is loiterin' near the stairwell as we summon the lift.
Arriving at Jenks's floor we make our way down the plush corridor, the outer doors to his offices are closed but the lights are still on. I can't scent any humans but I can scent vampires and I am starting to smell blood.
Making his way through the reception area Jasper pushes open the door marked J Jenks and slides through coming to an abrupt halt.
"Holy fuckin' shit." He whispers as he swings the door wider to admit Pete and I.
It's a grisly sight. I've seen dead mutilated bodies before, sadly not just in the line of duty, but nothing like this. Somehow torn pieces of vampire are far more acceptable to me than the human flesh and blood strewn around this office and I'm thankful that my gag reflex died when I did.
With my vampire eyesight I can see what an ordinary cop wouldn't. Apart from the obvious blood on the carpet, the walls, the ceiling, the drapes, the desk, there are microscopic droplets on every surface. The room is literally coated in it, liberally festooned with gore like the set of a horror movie. There are scraps of flesh, sliding down the blood slicks on the vertical surfaces and making the ghost of a ploppin' sound as they come into contact with an obstruction. I scan the room quickly and other than the bones and sinews there is no part of this person left that is much bigger than a golf ball. It looks like whoever this was exploded from the inside out.
"Is this Jenks?" I gasp.
"It was." Pete mutters, edging past me into the room.
Jasper is stood on the threshold, still as a statue and as I watch The Major takes him over.
"Pete, get Char up here now, we need her to hack into the computer system."
"Yes sir." Pete pulls out his cell and makes the call.
"Bella, are you okay with all this blood?" The Major asks without looking at me.
"Yes." There is nothing about this scene that is making me remotely thirsty, there is so much blood its almost abstract.
"Pete, search this office. We're lookin' for anythin' relating to us or the Cullens." He pauses for a moment. "And anythin' on any other coven name you recognise. I'll search next door. Bella, you're on watch."
As The Major leaves the room Char breezes in and with a little whistle at the macabre sight slides into the chair behind the desk to access the computer, I move back into the doorway automatically behaving like I would have done at any similar crime scene when the experts got to work. I even feel an unexpected craving for a doughnut an' a cup of coffee.
While Pete and Char work in silence I catalogue the room without really thinking about it, which is something I will probably regret later. As the minutes tick by I manage to find most of the body parts, a bit like mentally puttin' a jigsaw back together. Jenks's sightless eyes are starin' at me, one under his desk, the other skewered on the hilt of his letter opener. Surprisingly one of his big toes is intact, bobbing incongruously in a carafe of water on a side table. I can smell two strange vampires but I cannot for the un-life of me imagine why they would have killed anyone this way. Its so, extreme and unnecessary.
The Major returns and walks over to Char. "Anything?"
"There's nothing much." She says. "But I've got the address of the archive facility where he stores all his old documents. We should check it out."
"There's a computer next door, its not connected to the network."
She jumps up and follows him into the other room.
It's probably a stupid question but I asked it anyway. "Pete did you ever meet Jenks face to face?"
"Once, about 20 years ago when he was a young whipper snapper."
"Did you tell him you were a vampire?"
He snorts. "No. Keepin' our existence a secret is about the only rule we got. The Volturi enforce it with a certain degree of eagerness."
"Did Jasper ever tell him he was a vampire?"
"I doubt it, he ain't stupid either."
"So how did Jenks know you guys were vampires? Would the Cullens have told him?"
"No, I'm pretty sure not. I mean, I know they told you but Edward was in love with you so it kinda made sense. I'm pretty sure even Carlisle's got more nous than to let Jenks in on the secret."
"Then how did Jenks know about vampires?"
"I don't know." He is quiet for a moment. "He always knew, I suppose we just kinda accepted it without thinkin' about it. He musta known we were somethin' different, we never aged."
"Yes." I say patiently. "But why on earth would he come up with vampires to explain that? Anti-agin' serum, robots, clonin' or even chronic inbreedin' would have been more rational explanations. How did Jasper find Jenks?"
"As the world changed an' government evolved we had more an' more of a need for identities an' documentation. Someone recommended Jenks."
"Who?"
"Fuck." I can see the light bulb go on. "I guess we'd better find out."
The Major returns again.
"J, who introduced you to Jenks? Pete asks.
"Stefan."
We both look at him, the question obvious.
"Romanian Stefan." He expands.
"What the fuck?" Pete practically shouts. "You never told me you knew the fuckin' Romanians!"
"Only Stefan. I met him before I changed you, he knew Maria. I haven't seen him in about a hundred years. He told us about Jenks's father, he dealt with any human matters that came up."
"The fuckin' Romanians." Pete mutters, shakin' his head to clear his obvious shock.
"Who or what are the Romanians?" I ask.
"Later." The Major orders. "We need to get out of here an' remove any traces of our presence before someone comes. Char! Are you done?"
"I'm done." She responds emergin' from the other office with a computer tucked under her arm. "Its encrypted an' I'll need a little time to hack into it."
Pete takes it from her and we move back out into the reception area wiping our feet furiously to remove the blood from our shoes.
When we reach the lobby Char peels off and heads for the office behind the empty reception desk.
The Major takes my arm and guides me out onto the street. "She's goin' to trash the security systems." He explains.
A few minutes later she joins us on the street corner.
"What now?" Pete asks.
"We can't risk goin' back to the hotel. Unknown vampires did this an' there's a risk that someone might have seen enough of us to describe us to the cops." The Major, is silent for a moment, thinking. "We have to visit that archive facility but there ain't enough time left tonight for a thorough search. We need to get off the street, we're covered in blood, and we need somewhere to lay low."
"Where?" I ask, afraid that I might know the answer.
"Forks. There's some stuff at the house I've been meanin' to get anyway."