Chapter Nine

Bella

I walked slowly to the edge of the trees and waited, then,

"Jasper I know you can hear me so I'll talk, please listen."

I told him what had happened after my party, how I'd begged Edward to let me speak to him, to tell him that it wasn't his fault, that I forgave him. Then how I'd run into Peter. Esmes reaction to my appearance, Alice's warning call and now. The only time he made a sound was when I mentioned Alice's name then there was a low threatening growl.

"So you see Jasper none of it was your fault. You aren't a monster and you shouldn't be with Maria. I'd like to see the real Jasper some time. Not The Major who is Maria's invention or Jasper Hale, Alice's creation just the real you. Don't go back to Mexico please, or I'll never be able to live with the guilt."

I saw a movement as I finished speaking, he appeared as silent as a ghost. His face wore that empty expression but his eyes blazed with something that wasn't rage but self loathing and irony. The muscles in his jaw jumped as he spoke.

"Go home Bella and forget about me. This is what I am, not the phoney you saw with the Cullens. I'm dangerous."

I shook my head disbelieving as Peter came to join us very carefully.

"Major"

"Take her home Peter before she gets hurt."

"She doesn't have a home any longer but I'll take her to the cabin until I know she's safe from Maria."

"She's safe. I'll tell Maria I killed her. Get her away and don't tell me where"

"Don't go back to Mexico Jasper, please."

His eyes swiveled back to me,

"Go, and forget Bella, Jasper doesn't exist, he never did in this world."

"I don't believe that and neither do you. He's still here, don't destroy him because of me. Come with us"

He smiled at that

"Just go."

He turned and vanished as quickly and as quietly as if he were a ghost.

Peter

I hoped he'd got my message because I had a feeling he wasn't going to be able to stay away, however much he wanted to. Bella had got her hooks in him without even knowing it but was there enough left not under the monsters claw? I thought so.

"Is that it? I can go home safely?"

"Yes Bella if that's what you want."

"Why shouldn't I? What's to keep me here?"

"Nothing or everything, the answer is whatever you choose it to be."

She looked at me searchingly, this girl was no fool.

"Why did you tell him where we'd be?"

"I'm not answering any more fucking questions. You work it out then tell me what you want to do. I'll be with the others."

Bella

I sat on a tree stump and closed my eyes, running through all that he'd said, Peters cryptic words and the look on Jaspers face. What did I want? I should go home, back to my apartment and job. Why had Peter said I had no home? He was right though if home was where the heart is then I had no home because I had no heart. Something in its place beat and kept me alive but apart from a sadness for Jasper and anger at the Cullens I'd only felt my heart beat once and that was today. Only back in the vampire world had I started to feel again. If I didn't go home though, where did I go? My only friends were vampires and I wasn't welcome at the Cullen house, that had been graphically illustrated. Peter had told Jasper I would be at the cabin, why? Did he expect Jasper to appear there? If so and I went at least I might get another chance to see him...no I meant talk to him...I still felt responsible so...

Peter

When Bella walked back over I knew she'd made the right decision.

"I'd like to take you up on your offer for a while. Do you think Jasper might turn up there?"

"He might but why do you care? You already said what you wanted to. He might not, would that bother you? as for the offer, great."

"Could we impose on you too? Only I don't think we'll be welcome back at the Cullen house for a while, we upset Esme."

Bella smiled when Char nodded and I was happy too, the more the merrier. We could hunt and still keep an eye out for Bella. She looked better than when I first met her but she needed some friends and we seemed to suit her well enough. The most important thing was that she was our only hope of keeping Jasper from returning to Maria. They had a connection neither of them acknowledged, yet. The only question was how long before he showed up?

Bella

We went further into the hills where it transpired Peter and Charlotte had another house, very similar to the other but smaller and cosier. There was only one bedroom but as Peter so beautifully put it,

"Hey Bella you're the only one who sleeps and the rest of us can make out anywhere."

He was growing on me, more and more, as was Charlotte. Rose and Emmett were trying really hard to give me space and I knew they felt guilty about what had transpired but I was finding it hard to get past there former actions. Emmett was hurting, he wanted his little sister back but she had gone, disappeared along with Bella Mark One. Bled out through the hole they had punched in my chest. Thinking about that, I noticed it didn't hurt quite so much, I was so used to it that the lessening wasn't readily apparent. Perhaps being around vampires and making a kind of peace with at least some of the Cullens had helped.

Peter

I knew he was around, I could feel it and it was just a matter of time before he contacted us, or more to the point, Bella. It might be the number of us putting him off so I suggested Emmett and Rose went hunting with Char who knew the best places for bear. Char knew the reason for my suggestion and I was sure Rose guessed because she scanned the area before running after the others. I called Bella out to see the sunrise which although an excuse was spectacular. Then leaving her to read on the porch I went yo the barn out of the way, leaving him a clear field to approach if he was ready.

Bella

The sunrise was beautiful but I felt edgy, restless, as if there were something I wanted to do but couldn't work up to doing it. As I sat reading, or rather absently turning the pages of my book, I got a feeling I was being watched. I put the book down, knowing who it was, and waited. It was some time before Jasper stepped out into the open.

"Hello again. I thought you were going back to Mexico"

"Why didn't you do as I said? You should have gone, you'd be safe then"

"I'm safe now"

"No, you're not. You are surrounded by vampires, two of who feed on humans and I know where you are."

"Peter and Charlotte won't hurt me, they've had plenty of time and opportunity for that. As for you, why should I be scared of you?"

He laughed but there was no humour in it.

"Everyone's afraid of The Major"

"I don't see him, I see Jasper, the man who protected me from James, who killed him to keep me safe. Why would I be afraid of him?"

He stood looking at me and slowly shook his head.

" You should be remembering the monster who attacked you on your birthday, the one who drove Edward and the others away. The one who ruined your life. That's what you should see when you look at me Bella."

My name on his lips made my heart react oddly, not the thing that had been in my chest for so long now but my heart, the one I thought had been destroyed. It beat faintly inside my chest, a mere echo but it beat again never the less.

"I can't see him because he doesn't exist Jasper, he never did truly exist. He was a phantom given life by the desire of the people there. What I want to know is how come I was the only one to see the truth? They all knew you were an empath and what that meant, far more than me. Everyone in that room with the possible exception of Carlisle wanted my blood, all of them, and you sucked all that thirst up but still you resisted, until Edward threw me into all that glass. Which raises even more questions. why didn't Alice see all this coming? And why did she have a huge stack of crystal plates and glasses there when I was the only one who would be eating or drinking? Have you ever asked yourself the same? If not, do it now and tell me your conclusions, I'd like to see if it matches mine.