Here is the next chapter as promised. This is the beginning of Jasper and Bella getting to know each other a little better. Enjoy!
Chapter 5.
They were walking across the fields and Bella kept looking at him; wondering what he was thinking and contemplating asking him to tell her. He seemed a little better since they'd left the house but she wasn't sure. Just as she was about to say something, Jasper startled her by starting the conversation. "How are you finding being a vampire, Bella?"
It was probably the least antagonistic thing he'd ever said to her; a genuine tone of concern in his voice. "To be honest, there's been so much else going on, I haven't really thought about it that much. I've not really had time to think about anything."
"I know I wasn't exactly what you needed yesterday but when you took down that lion I was really proud of you. They are one of the hardest preys to kill; being one of the best predators themselves, it's difficult to do it right. You made it look easy."
She looked up at him in surprise; truly shocked by what he'd said. "Really? I thought I messed up a little."
"That wasn't the case, Bella."
"What is the hardest to hunt for?"
He actually smiled when he answered her. "Grizzly bears; it's one of the reasons Emmett craves them so much. They tend to fight back. I think his like for them stems back to the fact he was killed by one when he was human. He was hunting and got taken by surprise by a bear; Rosalie found him and took him back to Carlisle so he could change him."
"One day, I'd like to give it a try as well but the lion was great. I didn't think I would like it but the taste was so good."
"Why did you think you wouldn't like it?" Her words had confused him and his desire to hear her answer and to get to know her better was growing the longer they were together.
"When I was human I used to faint at the sight of blood. I had a serious aversion to it so I was worried some of that would've come over with me after I was turned."
"So I guess me being a bastard to you didn't help that much. I'm sorry." He looked embarrassed.
"You don't need to apologize, Jasper. Actually in a weird kind of way it did help; I was so busy trying to work out why you hated me I didn't have time to think about it; I just tried to focus on what you'd told me to do." She smiled at him shyly, "It was only after I'd finished draining it that I realized everything had been okay."
"I don't hate you. I never sensed any concern; just anger towards me."
"That would be right. I was very angry." Her smile grew as she admitted that to him.
"I can understand that. Like I said, I'm sorry."
"Stop apologizing, Jazz."
"Sorry…" he smiled at her as he realized he'd just done it again. He grabbed her hand and then walked towards the trees. He looked at her and then pulled her towards him. "Do you trust me?"
She didn't even have to pause before she answered him. "You know I do."
He pulled her closer and draped her over his back; her arms and legs automatically wrapping around his neck and body; she tried not to think about Edward as she was held in such a familiar way but the pang of loss still hit her. Before she could do anything else he was climbing the tree he was nearest to; right up into the canopy that towered above the ground. He stepped onto a branch near the top and helped her down from his back. She looked out over the panorama and for the first time really saw Earth as it was meant to be seen. The colors were so much more vivid than when she'd done this with Edward; she could hear every sound and she felt at peace for the first time since she'd woken after her transformation. "What do you think?" he said.
"I could've climbed the tree, you know."
"I know." He smirked at her.
"Then why?"
"Because." He said; as if that answered her question.
She could tell he wasn't going to explain any further but she was glad that he seemed a little more relaxed than he had done. "The view is amazing; so much better than the last time I did this."
"You've done this before?"
She nodded at him, "When Edward brought me over to the house to meet you all, we went out after we went up to his room and he climbed the trees with me on his back; we really talked to each other a lot that day. It wasn't like this though; this feels so different. I hadn't really appreciated how different it was to be a vampire but I can see and hear everything so much more clearly; my senses are much stronger than they were when I was human. It's quite overwhelming." The pain she felt was building in her chest as she spoke of that time but she pushed it away; wanting to not cause Jasper to feel it.
"You'll soon get used to it."
"I also didn't realize how beautiful it was up here. I never took the time to look, I guess. I was so caught up in getting to know Edward; I didn't really take the time. His beauty was all I really took in."
"Nice to know I don't have the same effect on you." He said; a smile on his face as he stared into the distance.
"God, I didn't mean it like that. That was so rude of me, I'm sorry." Embarrassment washed over her and she knew he'd be able to feel it. The thing she noticed as she pushed away the emotion was that when she saw him smile he did have the same affect on her. More disturbingly, it didn't feel wrong to feel that way.
"Don't you start apologizing…" He said; smiling slightly again.
"Why don't we both stop and just take this time to get to know each other?"
"Okay. What do you want to know?"
"Everything. Edward never told me about how you became a vampire and what your life was like before."
He looked at her briefly as she spoke; noticing she was finding it easier to say his name but he turned his attention back to the distance again as he thought back through the many years of his life. "I was a confederate soldier when I was human. I signed up when I was sixteen; pretending to be older so I could do so with my cousin."
"But that means you're…" she paused slightly as she mentally calculated, "over one hundred and forty years old."
"As a vampire, yes. I was twenty when I was turned so technically just over one hundred sixty years."
"I never realized… so only Carlisle is older than you."
"Yeah; by about one hundred years."
"Wow. What was it like being there?"
"Amazing. I loved it and I was good at it. I was the youngest person in confederate history to be made a Major; little did they realize I was years younger than they thought on top of that. I guess I had some of my empathic ability even when I was human because I was very good at reading people and I suppose in some way I could manipulate people a little; not in the same way as I can now obviously but still it wasn't so much of a surprise when I had this ability after I was turned. In fact it helped me greatly."
As he spoke his accent came out more and Bella wanted to know more; enticed by his story. "How were you turned?" Bella saw his face darken slightly, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"No, it's fine. I stopped to help some ladies that appeared to be stranded on the side of the road; it was the gentlemanly thing to do. Unfortunately they weren't stranded at all; they were vampires and one of them, Maria, was the one who turned me. Then she took control of the coven and I became her right hand man. Times were much different in the vampire world then; in the South there were a lot of conflicts as one coven tried to overpower another."
"So your ability must've come in handy."
"Absolutely. I was able to use it to gain an advantage over whoever I was fighting. As Maria's coven became stronger we had to turn more humans so we had a larger number of newborns to train and manage. She became more reliant on me as she was able to see how I controlled them so I continued to use my skills to keep control of my people; much as I had when I was human."
"You must be a good fighter." She murmured.
"I can hold my own."
Somehow she knew his comment didn't even come close to covering it. "I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit." He refused to meet her eyes and she wondered just what he wasn't telling her. Was she brave enough to ask him? She took an unnecessary breath and decided to go for it. "Were there times when you didn't do so well?" she asked hesitantly.
He turned to look at her and she saw the pain on his face; feeling his emotions again as he sent them towards her. Her body jolted at the intensity and she almost lost her footing on the branch until Jasper's arm shot out and pulled her towards him. "I never lost a fight; I wouldn't be here if I had but I didn't always escape injury."
"But injuries heal, don't they?" she whispered; hoping he couldn't sense how her body was reacting to being next to his.
"Not all the time. Let's get down from here… and I can tell you about it easier." She nodded at him and he pulled her into his arms and jumped gracefully down the tree until they landed on the ground. He released his hold on her but took hold of her hand instead. He walked backwards further into the cover of the trees; pulling her with him. He lifted her hand and held it in front of her face, "When you're bitten by a vampire, the venom in the bite leaves a mark on the skin. See where James bit you." She stared at the mark on her arm; seeing how true his words were.
"So, you've got scars too?" she asked; a frown of concern on her face as she looked into his eyes. He smiled at her gently; he let go of her hand and her frown deepened as she bit her lip; the loss of his touch affected her more than she thought it would. Slowly he pulled his sleeve up his arm and revealed to her the imperfect skin beneath; the thing he hated about himself more than anything. Part of him was reluctant to show her this; it was something he didn't ever want people to see. It took him a long time to show anyone other than Alice what he really looked like; and he'd only shown Alice because she said she'd seen them in a vision but it wasn't something he relished revealing; even now. He watched Bella's face as her eyes gradually lowered and held his breath as she stared at his arm. Her hand reached to touch him and she traced the curve of the scars she could see. "We match," she said as she held her arm against his.
"They aren't just on my arm, Bella." He said softly; only just loud enough for her to hear.
"Oh." She looked up at his face again and he could feel the sadness flowing from her. "Will you show them to me? Not now, when you're ready to?" Jasper nodded once and was then surprised as she threw herself into his arms; her arms wrapping around his neck and pressing her face into his shoulder. He froze slightly as he felt her lips against his throat; if she was looking she'd see many more scars just where they rested. He tested the atmosphere to try and judge what she was feeling and all he could feel was love for him; an emotion which still surprised him after the way he'd treated her so recently.
There were a couple of things he still needed to work out; firstly how she felt about him – was it just love of a sibling or was it more than that? Secondly; and arguably more importantly; how he did he feel about her. The problem was when they were standing like they currently were; he had a horrible suspicion he could get very used to this and that just let a wealth of guilt build in his gut. Guilt and a whole other emotion he couldn't bring himself to think about.
"We should be getting back to the house. They'll be wondering where we are." He said quietly.
"You're right." She murmured and reluctantly pulled away from him. They began to walk back to their home; both deep in thought and therefore in silence. Jasper realized he could feel a lot of confusion ebbing off her body and he decided she was probably just as confused about all this as he was.
TBC
A/N: So there you go. Next chapter will be soon. Let me know what you think... I promise more information about the bond is coming very soon.