Disclaimer: Of course, I own nothing but my own words. The characters belong to Ms. Meyer and a very small number of the words do, too.
1949
Chapter 5
Hunting had been a success on the whole. Jasper had enjoyed chasing the animals. He had not chased humans like that since the last century and he had not enjoyed it as much. Deer were faster than humans and bears fought back. He enjoyed chasing his food when he did not have to feel their emotions.
He had carried the animals back to Bella after he caught each one so she could see him feed. The first, a deer, had been messy. He snapped the neck first and drank, but he misjudged how to cut the pelt and vein and so some blood spurted on him. He had not eaten so messily since he was a newborn. It had been a little embarrassing to have the human, Miss Swan, watching him. He may even have projected his embarrassment. He had never been embarrassed about anything before—maybe as a human he had been embarrassed? Certainly not as a vampire.
He had not spilled blood again, and he had not snapped the neck of the second animal, a bear, before draining it. It had been truly pleasurable to drink straight from the artery as the bear's heart helped push the blood into his mouth. He had not fed from a human like that since he had left Mexico.
The blood had not tasted good at all. The bear was marginally better than the deer, but neither compared to human blood. It had also taken several hours to get out of Philadelphia and into a forest where he could hunt animals. However, everything else about the hunt was superior to hunting humans. It was enjoyable, there were no horrifying emotions to feel, and he could act like a vampire not like a human when hunting. Best of all, he was quite full. A bear had more blood than a human and a bear and a deer together was like having fed on two humans, not one. Even if the blood was less satisfying, if he could keep himself full so easily, it should be quite possible to avoid humans altogether.
There had also been some entertainment. After killing the bear, he had jumped up into the tree in which he had located the human, landing on a branch in front and just below her. She had been shocked, but seemed to recover and then she had fainted. He had had to jump out of the tree again to catch her. It had taken several minutes for her to awaken and Jasper had been at a loss what to do besides lay her on the ground. Apparently she was made faint by the sight of blood and seeing it on his shirt right in from of her had made her ill. He buttoned up his jacket so she would not have to see it. He would have been annoyed that she had kept such pertinent information to herself had the whole situation not been so amusing. The only human he knew who lived after knowingly meeting vampires and she was unusually sensitive to blood. He scolded her about not telling him about the blood, though, so she would understand to keep him fully informed in the future.
She was asleep in her bed right now. He sat in the front room waiting for his shirt to dry from a thorough washing and thinking about the day and what would happen next.
He had put the human at some risk, taking her hunting with him. Not the kind of risk her boyfriend had talked of, but the kind the boyfriend had actually put her in. It would have been a problem if another vampire had come across them out there, with her scent on him and his on hers. He had prepared a story just in case. He would say that he was about to turn her and that he was making sure he was full before trying because he did not want to drain her. That should keep them both alive long enough to make the other vampires leave, or for Jasper to find an advantage so he could kill them. He was not sure if he would actually have turned her or not if the situation had called for it.
The real reason he had taken her with him hunting was because he decided that the risk of coming across unknown vampires while hunting was much smaller than the risk that Victoria would take the human while he was gone. There was no smell of vampires other than himself on the girl or in her apartment, but that did not mean that she was not under some sort of surveillance. It could be that Victoria merely checked on this Bella girl periodically and it had been awhile since she had done so. Jasper agreed with Bella that it was surprising that she had let Bella go. He also wanted to know more about why Bella had assumed that he himself was connected with Victoria. There may be more information to root out there than she had given him so far. She would need to tell him every detail she could at some point so that he could find and kill Victoria and Laurent. He would need to do this regardless of whether the human was changed.
He laughed softly, thinking of all the unnecessary questions about feeding from animals he had asked the girl so that she would not realize he had brought he along as much for her protection as for his need.
He wasn't planning on lying to her for long, but he thought easing in to constant surveillance would be better than telling her flat out. Besides, some of his questions were real.
He had also thought that proving to her that he could feed in front of her without hurting her might cause her to relax around him. She was still apprehensive, sometimes almost overwrought, all of the time.
Jasper's brain came back around to what he had been trying to avoid since hearing the girl's story, something the hunting had given him a chance to put off for a short while. He would have to find Peter and Char soon. He had proved he could hunt with the girl, but it would be difficult (and eventually annoying) to stay with her all day every day. It would be better to split the responsibility between 3 people. And that was true if she remained human or if she was turned.
He wanted to see Peter and Char and talk to them of his new diet, get them to try hunting with him and see what they thought. He was not sure that they would want to change themselves. After all, neither of them had the trouble he did feeding from humans. He could not believe that the solution to his problems had fallen so easily into his lap. It was almost too good to be true. He owed Bella for telling him about feeding from animals.
But he didn't want to tell Peter and Char about Bella. He did not want to hear form Peter about the great Major following a little human around. Not that he was. She was following him around. He did not want Peter and Char to say that of course he should kill her, or, worse, offer to do it for him. There was still a month before they should get back to the small house they had all bought in Montana. Jasper and Peter had been able to sell things they had accumulated over the years when they left Mexico. Old coins, weapons, books. They had not taken much with them, either when Peter and Char fled or several years later when Peter came back for Jasper. But everything they had taken was worthless when they acquired it, but valuable now. Peter and Char had gone traveling for a year when he left. He could travel to the house right now, but he did not think he should even consider turning the human without discussing it with Peter and Char. She would be a part of the coven for at least a few years, possibly permanently.
Waiting a whole month with the human seemed like a cheat if he was not going to turn her. He was already in her debt for teaching him to feed from animals.
The problem boiled down to two things, one more important than the other. First, while Bella had clearly wished to be a vampire before, she may not want to be anymore. She had been lied to about vampires before, kept from the reality of a vampire's life. He would not let this stop him from changing her if he thought it best, but it would be annoying to have a resentful newborn on his hands. And that led to the second problem. He did not want to deal with a newborn ever again. Nor did Peter. Probably Char was not interested either, though her experiences in Mexico had been only a year long and she had never had to train other newborns, like him and Peter. He and Pete had promised each other that they would never have to go through any of that again. True, one newborn was not much compared with 20 at a time. And there would be the three of them to help her.
What if they refused to help? Would Jasper be willing to train her on his own? He rather thought yes, if he was deciding to do it in the first place. This human already knew and respected him. She had modified her behavior and emotions when he had set limits already. It would be a different experience training a newborn how to survive and defend, not fight. She might be less unwilling and he could be less harsh. He felt his objections weakening. Training Bella might not be so bad. And it would only be one or two years, not 80 years of torture.
There was also the issue of Victoria. The woman was clearly unhinged since she slaughtered Bella's father and then allowed Bella to leave. She was a danger not only to Bella and the Cullens, but to all vampires because she was clearly just as willing to risk the secret as the Cullens had been. Yes, Jasper would need to track this Victoria and kill her, even if he decided to kill Bella.
Then there was the issue of the Cullens. They had behaved recklessly. They should not escape the consequences of their actions or they might do something like this with another human. It was not clear to Jasper if they understood how dangerous their decisions had been. It was also possible that they did things like this frequently, an idea which filled him with disgust. Bella may not have been the first girl seduced by the vampire, or by the family. He could not believe they regularly left girls behind for vengeance-seeking females, but they might have told girls all over the world about the secret. There was no way to know. He would not have known about Bella, despite her odd behavior in the diner, if it had not been for the scar on her wrist.
What is Peter and Char thought he was wrong to change her at all? He could not have a rift in the coven. He realized that he had asked the wrong question, really. If Peter or Charlotte did not want Bella changed, they would all discuss the reasons and decide together. Either he would be swayed by their arguments or they would be swayed by his. This was not something that could damage his coven. No final decision could be made until Pete and Char met the human and heard about the situation.
When the girl awoke he would tell her that they were leaving for Montana.