Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns all.
Rated M for a reason.
Chpt 17 The Fog
BPOV
"Excuse me?" Pete says mildly.
"Eric." Jonathan jerks his thumb at Jasper. "I know he's Jasper Whitlock."
"An' how might you have come to that erroneous conclusion?" Pete responds.
"Because I'm a civil war buff and I've got a book at home with his likeness in it." He chuckles. "Youngest Major in the confederate army, am I right?"
"That's very convenient." I mutter. I've become very suspicious over the last year or so.
"Yes." Jonathan turns to me. "I can see how it would look that way but obviously my family and I did some research on the Whitlocks before coming to this meeting. I recognised the name." He smiles at Jasper. "It's a pleasure to meet you by the way, I am not much of a military man myself but you have an impressive record."
He smiles broadly around at everyone, he really has a very infectious smile which most of us return automatically. Only Jasper and Matthew aren't smiling.
"Jonathan." Gus breaks the growing silence. "I believe this is not something they wish to talk about at the moment. Forgive me Eric, my son must be mistaken."
Jasper nods shortly, the dumb innocent look gone, replaced by a more familiar 'don't fuck with me' expression. Jonathan winks at me an' chuckles, clearly pleased with himself.
"So." Pete begins. "Where shall we start?"
"I suggest we begin with Jenks, as he seems to be our first link." Gus, nods at Matthew. "We know he is dead, we needed to move and we could not reach him, Matthew went to Seattle to locate him and found a government agency investigating a crime scene."
"It was obvious he had been killed by vampires." Matthew says aggressively, his eyes raking over us. He and Jonathan might look like brothers but so far their personalities are polar opposites.
"Yes." Pete confirms easily. "But not by us."
"Humph." Matthew folds his arms over his chest.
"How did your coven come to be using Jenks?" Gus asks quickly.
"Our sire was introduced to his father durin' The Southern Wars." Pete answers.
"Yes, the scars you and your wife share." He nods and looks Jasper and I over speculatively. Suddenly our clothing feels like a big neon sign drawing attention to our own scars. "Introduced by whom?" He asks eventually.
"Stefan the Romanian."
"Interesting." Gus muses. "Unlike your sire and Big Cypress, I was introduced to Jenks senior by Rutilio Asturias."
I manage to hold my snarl back but being associated with Rutilio has knocked some of the screen idol sheen off Gus for me.
"Do you know Stefan?" Pete asks.
"No." Gus shakes his head with a small smile. "I have never met him although I am aware that Rutilio knew him quite well." He looks over to his wife, when she nods briefly he continues. "My past associations in the vampire world lean the other way."
"The Volturi." Pete states simply.
"Yes. I was member of their guard many years ago."
Well that's a conversation killer. I scowl at Pete, so much for the fog clearing, I can't see my hand in front of my face now.
After a long pause Gus speaks again. "I had always considered Rutilio to be Stefan's man. Although I found him to be extremely untrustworthy I imagined that Stefan would be able to control him. However after what I heard this evening I am confused."
Everyone except Carla and I nods seriously.
Jonathan smiles at our obvious confusion. "Big Cypress mentioned a tracker in Rutilio's coven, Demetri. He is The Volturi's best tracker, an extremely high ranking member of their guard. He would not be loaned out to someone they don't trust."
"Oh." Might as well lay my ignorance out there for everyone to see. "I'm lost."
"That makes two of us Bella." Carla says. Her voice is high and light an' her easy smile could give Jonathan a run for his money. Not that much like Rosalie then.
Gus bestows a megawatt movie star smile on the gathering. Char and I sigh, Harry and Carla giggle. "Then let us see if we can cast some light on recent events." He says earnestly. "I mentioned earlier that we have been having some problems. The US Secret Service has been looking for my family."
"Why?" Jasper asks quickly, before any of us can reveal something he doesn't want us to.
Again Gus looks to Harry who nods once more. "Several years ago Matthew got himself into some difficulties with local law enforcement in Sacramento. We were about to rescue him from his predicament and cover his tracks before The Volturi became aware when the secret service arrived on the scene and offered us an alternative solution.
Matthew undertook a small assignment for the government in exchange for them erasing all evidence of his, ahem, mis-deed. They wanted to remain in contact with us but of course we changed our identities and moved immediately on his return. We were therefore somewhat surprised when they found us again."
"You allowed him to expose himself to humans?" I interrupt. Considering Pete's reaction to Jasper's exploits I am surprised that someone as commanding as Gus, and connected to The Volturi, would have permitted it. Pete is clearly thinking the same thing as he leans forward eagerly for the answer.
"Matthew wanted to do it. He is an American, loyalty does not have to die when you are changed. Also, I am a practical man, the humans were already aware of our different nature due to his previous actions. At the time it seemed the easiest way to keep matters from the attention of The Volturi."
"The secret service were also working with Jenks." Jasper reveals. "Stefan introduced them to him, they have been using him to track vampires they are aware of."
"And you know this because?" Matthew demands. Really, not warming to him at all. Urge to rip and tear rising.
"Several years ago Stefan introduced me to them so that I could do a job for them too." Jasper answers calmly.
"So you are Jasper Whitlock then?" Jonathan asks with a grin. "Because, no offence, but I doubt the US government has much use for Eric."
Jasper nods.
"Will you tell us why it is necessary for you to appear dead?" Gus enquires.
Jasper looks around at us. One at a time we nod. Some friends or allies would be useful right now and even I know trust has to start somewhere. Really how much worse off can we be at this point?
Obviously in agreement Jasper pushes his hat further back on his head and explains Rutilio's pursuit of us in order to have him fight Caius and our subsequent faking of his death, glossing over the details that reveal too much about my gift. Nevertheless I can see Jonathan watching me with interest.
"You're really The Major?" Matthew asks with something like awe in his voice. The first positive reaction he's shown but it doesn't endear him to me. He sounds like one of the morons who come looking for my mate as part of their quest for fame and glory.
"Yes." Jasper confirms curtly, effectively killing that topic dead.
Pete takes over the story and explains our move to New York, the discovery that Alice is Rutilio's new mate, the meeting with her and our own brush with the secret service.
"Carlisle Cullen?" Gus asks when he is finished. "You know him too?"
"Yes." Jasper answers. "Alice is my former wife, we were part of his coven for several decades."
"I met him once, in Volterra." Gus seems amused. "The Volturi were entertained by his lifestyle choice but they greatly respected his scientific mind, well, Aro did. He was a very mild man, if I recall. And this would explain Jasper, why you and your mate have golden eyes?"
"Rutilio has golden eyes now too." I pipe up.
Gus laughs heartily. "Then this Alice must be a truly formidable woman, as little as I know him I cannot imagine Rutilio giving up feeding on humans, after all he went to war for the right to do so in the richest feeding grounds of the south."
I sigh heavily. All this information is just stirring up the fog for me, if I were still human I'd have the mother of all headaches by now.
My sigh gets Jonathan laughing too. "Do you not like a good mystery Bella?" He teases.
"No." I huff. "At least not when it involves any kind of danger to my family."
"An admirable sentiment young one." Gus raises his face to the sky. "Dawn is approaching and I think we still have much to discuss. Would you do us the honour of accompanying us to our home? I do not need your Alice's ability to know that it will be a sunny day in New Mexico."
As one we all rise to our feet.
"I think that would be a good idea." Jasper responds, inclining his head respectfully.
"Then please follow us, we are an easy run away from here." With another flourish of his toothsome movie idol smile he leads the way.
"What about the car?" I whisper anxiously as we run, my trust issues to the fore.
"I can't feel any deceit in them." Jasper murmurs back squeezing my hand.
"An' my BFF is doin' a happy dance lil' sister. Let's go with it for now." Pete chips in, talking out of the side of his mouth like a gangster. Beside him Char smiles encouragingly.
So we follow them, a few yards behind, keeping up with the Joneses so to speak. I start to giggle, it might be nervous tension but I crack myself up sometimes. Jasper squeezes my hand again and supresses a smile.
Half an hour later we arrive at our destination with the first rays of the sun.
Instead of the one big house I was expecting there are four smaller dwellings, all hacienda style and facing each other around a central courtyard with a fountain and some clearly well-tended shrubbery.
"We have found it easier over the years for the couples to have their own homes." Harry explains when she sees my surprise. "And Matthew requires solitude. The fourth is for guests, so please, make yourselves at home and we will meet in our house in an hour."
"Thank you." We say in unison like the polite vampires we are, and troop off to the building she has indicated.
Jasper and Pete poke around the living room, bedrooms and bathrooms for a few minutes before declaring it safe. Jasper takes up position by the door overlooking the courtyard an' the rest of us collapse into the chairs gathered around the huge stone fireplace with a collective sigh.
"What now?" I ask.
"Now we need to find out what else we have in common." Pete answers.
"Is it bad that he's worked for The Volturi?" I want to know, since from everything we know so far it seems like if we're on a side, its Stefan's.
"Not necessarily." Jasper says. "I think that Gus an' I are on the same page with regard to our suspicions so I'm proposin' that we be completely honest with them and see where it leads us. Like I said, I can't feel any deceit from them, they seem genuinely keen to work with us to discover what's goin' on."
"An' if we eventually end up on opposite sides?" I ask.
"That's a reality of war." He shrugs. "Just because someone's on the other side doesn't automatically mean they're bad people or that you have to hate 'em. The civil war was littered with families fightin' on opposin' sides."
"What a cheerful thought." I grouch.
"Sorry darlin'." He shrugs again a favours me with a small smile. "Ain't nothin' black an' white in life."
"I could do with some black an' white clarity right now." I grumble to no one in particular.
"J do you really think there's a war comin'?" Char asks.
"I don't know Char, I really don't." Jasper turns away from the door and faces his family. He looks weary again. "Someone's up to somethin', I don't know how it involves us or if we're just in it by accident because we went to New York lookin' for Rutilio."
Pete an' I exchange a look. The Whitlocks only went to New York because he an' I couldn't let go of our hatred for the Spaniard. Has our desire for revenge dragged the people we love into the middle of somethin' far bigger an' nastier?