Chapter Seven - Blind Fools

Back at the house, the mood was dismal. I did my best to send a wave of reassurance and hope to my family, cooling their emotions enough for me to walk through the front door. Carlisle and Esme were working in the living room at a pace that would be considered slow even by human standards.

"I don't know why you let him push you around like that and tear apart the family, Carlisle. Are you the coven leader or is he?" I drawled, shaking my head.

Carlisle frowned at me, but I felt his guilt. My taunt hit its mark. "Bella is Edward's mate, Jasper, and I feel it is best to support his decisions with regard to her. He believes we are all a danger to her now and that it would be best for her if we all leave. He has sacrificed for this family numerous times, moving on without complaint, and I agreed it was time to return the favor. We all know that no vampire can stay away from his or her mate for long, without going feral from the pain, so he'll be headed back to her soon enough whether he wants to or not. He'll accept the inevitability of their relationship once he realizes he can't stay away."

"Y'all know that means I'm gonna have to stay here, right?" I drawled, rolling my eyes.

Carlisle shook his head, "No, son. I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist that you come with us and let this play out naturally."

"I'm afraid any of us staying is simply not an option for the time being, son," Esme sighed. "Edward is quite adamant Bella deserves to live a normal human life, with all that implies. If any of us stay, he won't believe she was given a real chance."

I snorted and shook my head. "Normal human life? Is he insane? Has he forgotten who she is? Isabella Danger Magnet Swan. Has he forgotten how many times he's already saved her life? Tyler's van, Port Angeles? Need I say more? Besides, like Carlisle said, he'll never be able to stay away, it'll hurt too much. Not only him, but her as well."

Rose scoffed. She and Emmett had come down to join us while Esme was talking. "She's only human, she'll forget and move on without him. She doesn't belong with this family. She should marry some human boy, have kids and grandkids, and grow old."

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Rose? Are you joking? Have you forgotten the law? Are you willing to see your whole family tortured and destroyed? You know what will happen when the Volturi find out that we abandoned a human with full knowledge of our kind. They will torture Emmett in front of you and you in front of him. You'll be raped repeatedly while he is forced to watch helpless to defend you. You can't even imagine the kinds of torture they've spent centuries developing to make examples of those who willfully break their laws regarding exposure."

Everyone was scared now, thinking about what could happen to them and their mates if our secret is discovered. All except Alice.

"They aren't going to find out, Jasper," Alice proclaimed witheringly.

"Oh, yeah? Did you have a vision? Because your visions are so bloody reliable, aren't they, Alice? Nothing ever takes you by surprise, right?" I sneered sarcastically. She huffed but didn't respond. "Even if you don't see anything now, that doesn't mean it won't change tomorrow. After all, it seems like you've missed an awful lot the past two days."

Alice dropped her head and shoulders. She moved over to the couch and curled up in the corner, hugging her knees to her chest. I continued to refute her assurances. "Have you forgotten about Victoria? Even if she doesn't seek revenge herself, do you think she won't tell anyone what happened to James? Do you think she won't mention the human being protected by the Cullen coven? How about our friends up in Denali? Don't all of them know about Edward's human? Won't they be suspicious when he shows up in Alaska without her? How about Laurent? Is he in touch with any other vampires? Will he not explain to his friends why he isn't with James and Victoria any more? If I were in Victoria's shoes, finding myself suddenly devoid of both my coven mates, alone and without the protection and companionship I'd relied on for decades, I'd go to the Volturi myself out of spite, just to get back at the coven who took them away from me. When I recommended we go after her, none of you listened to me or my arguments. None of you wanted to believe either of the males were important to her, though I flat out told you she was in love with James. Even though he didn't return her feelings, and they weren't true mates, it doesn't mean she isn't mad as hell that he's dead now. They were clearly in a relationship together and had been for a long time. It was obvious by the way they were able to communicate silently with one another. I'll bet you a million dollars we haven't heard the last of her. She's gonna come after us one way or another and bring a heap of trouble down on our heads."

Carlisle frowned. "Edward listened to their thoughts, Jasper. He didn't hear any indication she would come after us."

I rolled my eyes. "That was before James was dead, Carlisle. She had perfect confidence that he would win against us, despite our number and skills. She had no doubt in his ability to defeat us whatsoever. She wouldn't have been planning revenge when it didn't even cross her mind he might lose. I warned you before that when we killed James, he wasn't just furious he was being killed. He fully expected to be avenged. He had confidence he would win in the end, that the game wasn't over. Edward was much too busy fretting over his Bella to be getting into James's head as he was ripped to pieces and burned. I don't know why you'd take his advice over mine anyway, considering he aint never fought a day in his existence, neither human nor vampire, while I've got nearly a century's worth of experience with strategizing and outmaneuvering the enemy. Why you won't listen to me when it comes to the safety and protection of this family, I'll never understand."

"Probably because you're so quick to advocate death," Alice complained bitterly. "You always see that as the fastest and easiest solution. The rest of us don't work that way. We value life, both human and vampire. We don't just go off killing vampires or humans because they might represent a threat."

I grimaced. "Maybe so, but sometimes ya gotta fight to protect those you care about. Mark my words. Victoria is gonna come after us, either with friends she's been gathering to fight on her side, or with the Volturi themselves investigating why we killed a vampire over what they'd consider dinner. You're gonna be sorry we didn't track her down right away and make sure of her intentions before she had a chance to tell the rest of the vampire world about human Bella."

Carlisle sighed. "If you feel so strongly about it Jasper, then why don't you go ahead and track her down while we wait for Edward to come to his senses and change her. Once she's become a vampire, we won't be in violation of the law anymore, so we won't have to worry about it."

"Why don't you just change her now? Don't you realize the risk Edward will be taking to leave her and go off somewhere? What if her soul changes while he's gone? What if she doesn't want him anymore when he returns to her? What if she's already moved on to someone else? Then what are you going to do? You should just send Edward away for a few days and go ahead and change her while he's gone."

Rose snorted. "I love how calmly you suggest her imminent death, Jasper. Not all of us are so cold and clinical about taking away the girl's humanity while she's whole and healthy."

I rolled my eyes at her and didn't bother to reply. Bella had expressed her wishes on numerous occasions. She wanted to become a vampire. Who were we to tell her no? Especially since we were required by law to change her anyway. I figured everyone was upset at being kicked out of not only one of their favorite homes, but also out of Bella's life, even for a little while. She brought joy, peace, and love to our family. She changed us all for the better. We all needed her, and she needed and loved us just as much. I had never known a human to have such strong, pure emotions. Well, it wouldn't take long for Edward to snap, and then he'd be bringing her to us, ready to join our family forever.

I saw that it was almost time for Edward to be back and didn't want to be there when he returned, so I decided to go for a run. I heard Rose and Alice yelling at me for leaving instead of packing, both swearing not to do my work for me, but I ignored them. I wasn't planning on leaving. Not without Bella anyway.

I knew Edward thought banishing everyone would be safer for her, but it really wouldn't. It wouldn't take long for him to snap and try to return to his mate to stop the pain. At that point, he would be acting purely on instinct with little or no rationality. He would have spent days without her scent, days in which he felt too shitty to hunt. Without me around to absorb Edward's bloodlust for Bella, it would overwhelm him as soon as he got close to her. Of course, I doubted he would kill her. He cared too much about her to become her murderer, and his beast would recognize his mate. Instead, he would drain her until he could think straight again, and only then would he stop. He would have no choice but to allow the change to progress at that point, for she would be much too far gone to recover any other way.

The biggest problem would be if her soul changed enough that his could no longer fit with hers. If that happened, which was a distinct possibility given the way Edward intended the entire family to leave without a word, giving her feelings of abandonment and betrayal, then he wouldn't stop. Edward would drain her dry, would kill her completely before he even realized it, if she was no longer his mate when they met again, for her blood would still sing to him, though her soul would not. That would destroy not only Edward, but our entire family. That's the reason I couldn't leave her here all alone once Edward did his dastardly deed. She would still need to be protected, if not from Victoria, then from Edward himself.

I stayed away from the house until sunrise the next morning. I approached the house slowly, until I was certain Edward wasn't there. Walking in, I could tell that all the others had left only a couple of hours before. I found a letter waiting for me on the kitchen counter. I recognized Edward's handwriting and wondered what the little prick had to say.

Jasper,

Please gather your belongings and be out of this house, out of this state, by noon today. If you are still here when I return, I will kick your ass from here to Denali. If your things are still here, I will destroy them.

Edward

I chuckled at his arrogance. That stupid child dared threaten me - the God of War? Did the asshole have a death wish? It certainly seemed like he did. Maybe he was hoping I'd end him and put him out of his misery. Hell, no. If we had to suffer, then I'd be certain he'd be right there suffering along with us.

Up in the room I shared with Alice, I found another note, this one from my lovely little wifey.

Jasper,

It looks like you win, you selfish jerk. I went ahead and packed all your clothes for you. They are boxed and ready to be loaded into your truck. If you want anything else, you'll have to pack it yourself. Otherwise, the rest of your crap can just stay here.

Alice

It didn't escape my notice that neither of them had put 'Dear' in front of my name, or signed with any sentiment before their names. I doubted that was a coincidence, and I was starting to get a niggling suspicion about Alice in the back of my mind. She wasn't responding to me like a mate should. For one thing, she had gone off with the family, instead of waiting to travel with me. I rubbed my chest thoughtfully and noticed I really didn't miss her at all, despite the fact there were clearly unresolved issues between us that should be making me worried and unsettled. I examined my emotions carefully. Nope, not a single bit of pain or remorse. Quite the opposite, in fact. I was relieved to have her gone. How disturbing. How could she possibly be my mate as she'd sworn all these years if I was happy to be rid of her?

I furrowed my brow. This was not something that could wait. I knew Bella would need me, but if Alice had been lying about us being mates, then what else had she lied about? What if Bella and Edward weren't mates either? I already knew Edward was lying to the family. If both of them were lying, who knows how long they had been playing us? I thought about all the decisions we had made over the years, all the times we had listened and done what the wonder twins wanted because their gifts gave them an inside edge that could work for the benefit of the family. How many times had they twisted things to make it for their own benefit, rather than for the family? How many times had one of the rest of us sacrificed, suffered, changed, or submitted, based on false visions or fake thoughts, lies told and agreed upon by the Determined Duo?

AN: See? Things are starting to fall into place. I know you all want to jump right to where Chapter Two ended, and I promise we're getting there. Just hang in there, please. This is all important to the plot, I assure you.