it's Friday aaaaannnd…. another chapter!

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12

Jasper's POV

When I saw the van spinning closer to Bella, I had no choice. I knew it would be difficult to sort out all the chaos I was about to cause, but I was not about to sacrifice my one chance of happiness in life for the convenience of the Cullen clan.

As soon as I had made sure that Bella had not sustained any worse injuries other than the bump on the head she had gotten when I pushed her down, I ran back to the school to deal with the first of many issues sure to arise from this morning's events.

I waited outside Alice's classroom (Edward had not come back to school yet, so she would be on her own) to pick her up. When I felt her eyes on me, I sent her a wave of desperate lust and winked at her. As she likes her creature comforts, she fell for it at once and followed me into the forest to the space where we had been before.

Once there I pounced on her and pinned her to the ground. "Talk!"

"About what?" My ruse had worked; she was completely surprised and shocked at my strange way of approaching things.

"I want to know why you didn't warn me about the accident. Bella could have been killed."

"How should I have known about the accident?" I felt fear from her now and a bad conscience. "I can't foretell accidents; no one makes a decision there."

I snorted. "No one makes a decision about the weather either, and I felt you just before it happened. You were satisfied." I kicked her, and she screamed in shock. "Why? She is my mate! I won't have her hurt by you or Edward."

"Edward doesn't want to hurt her, just the opposite."

"Oh yeah, I felt his bloodlust when he came close, it was enough to almost make me lose it myself, and that would have been a first with Bella. Why are you playing him? He is not in love with her, why are you manipulating him?"

"I'm not. He is in love with her. He is good, better for her than you, because he won't hurt her."

I knew she was provoking me on purpose so I tried to stay calm and collected. "Alice why do you want me here?"

"I love you, and I've been waiting for you to join us. You need a happy life."

"Bullshit. If you loved me, you would not make me suffer so much by sabotaging me with Bella."

"I do what?" She pretended innocence once more.

"I know you must have sent Carlisle to talk to her dad about what bad company I am." I had known that as soon as Bella talked to me about my past, but my Southern education had prevented me from acting out against a female the way I would have toward a male. Now however things had changed. I gave her another determined stare. "Right, you can tell me at once, or things can get pretty ugly. Now tell me why you need me here!" I took hold of her hand, hoping she would not make me turn into the Major once again, but of course the obstinate pixie had no idea what I was capable of. She just smiled at me.

"I told you, I want you for myself, that's why I don't want you hanging around that pathetic human girl."

I looked away briefly, then twisted her hand right off. She shrieked in pain and tried to push me off her, but she was no match for me.

"Alice, why?" I asked calmly, signalling that I had plenty more of her to go on with. I hated myself for what she was making me do, but I had taken far too much from her already, and now she was definitely dangerous to Bella.

"I can't tell…"

I took hold of her other hand, and her eyes widened in panic. "Ok, ok, I'm talking. You know I told Carlisle that I don't have any memories of my human life, but that's a lie."

"Go on!"

"My family sent me to a lunatic asylum because they were afraid of my visions. I stayed there for a time, and then the new head doctor became interested in me." I frowned, wanting her to come to the point. She sighed. "He was a vampire. Then one night he took me away from the place, he promised he would free me, and I believed him. He had always been so nice to me, the only person who ever had been. We travelled for a while; I think he wanted to take me away out of state, so no one would recognise me afterwards. The next thing I remember is the pain of the change. When I woke up again, I was with another vampire. He was… pure evil. He said he had killed Alfred – the other one – but had been too late, he had already changed me."

"Huh?" I didn't understand her drift.

"James… he is fascinated by vampires who get involved with humans, he wanted to get to me in order to torture Alfred, that's his way of hunting, but he was too late. So he was very angry and decided to take it out on me. He made me stay with him for the next forty three years, and believe me, he is not a nice person. What you did with me here before was heaven compared to life with James, and I wanted to get away from him more than anything else. I had seen that Carlisle and his family would take me in, so I went to them as soon as I got away, and the next six years were the happiest in my existence."

"I still don't know what you want from me."

"James valued my gift, and he has been looking for me frantically. Some years ago, I had a vision of him finding me with my new family, but you were there too, and you were protecting us."

I must have looked clueless, so she went on. "You are the one they call the God of War, aren't you?"

"I'm done with that, and you don't want to tell anyone that you know, is that clear?" It was enough that I suspected Edward knew more than was good for any of us. I did not need her to go advertising I could be fought in Forks, Washington, to a psychopath.

She flinched at my implication, but went on anyway. "You can still teach us to fight, you can kill him."

I almost laughed. "You went through this whole charade because you want me to kill a damn vampire, that's all?"

"James is dangerous; he's wily and not easy to kill. Besides, he probably has already gathered a coven of human haters around him."

"Ok", I said calmly, "but I still don't understand why you want me to stay away from my mate."

She looked at me as if I was a bit slow in the head. "James will attack you just for talking to Bella, he will go for her to torture you, do you want that?"

"Why would that make Edward any better?"

She smiled. "Edward would talk to her at school and court her in his fantasies, but he doesn't want to change her, so there is no danger involved. I'm with Carlisle all the way, I don't want humans dead."

She almost had me fooled, but: "The accident?"

She sighed. "Alright, I was a bit tired of trying to manage you both."

"How do you think this James will feel about all the patients Carlisle is treating as well as the charity work Esme is doing in town? You can't really think he will leave them alone, can you?"

"No, of course not, but with you we can fight him. I don't think Carlisle or Emmett will let him take me without a fight, neither will Edward, but we are all… vegetarians. We need you, Jasper."

I could see her point, but I was not wholly convinced of her strategy. Besides, there was still a feeling of mistrust coming from her.

"What else?"

"Nothing else."

"You're lying!" I took hold of her hand again.

She took a deep breath. "I have a human mate too."

I shook my head, but she had already talked on. "If I can wait until James is finished, so can you. Don't be so selfish. I would never endanger him the way you endanger Bella."

"I have waited for more than three years."

"So what? James is coming here, soon. Help me, or would you rather have him slaughter the town just to watch Esme and Carlisle suffer? I'm reasonably sure he won't leave Bella alive either just for her chocolate eyes."

Another fight. I thought I had gotten away from all that horror. On the other hand she was right. I would not have Esme or Carlisle suffer, who had taken me in, nor would I risk that anything happened to Emmett or Rosalie. "Ok", I said, reattaching her hand with my venom. "But no more secrets from now on. You will tell Carlisle what's going on, and you will not endanger Bella, is that clear?" I stood above her.

She nodded, getting up and holding her injured hand, still stinging from my venom.

We made our way back to the house after she had fed some to heal.

Carlisle's POV

"Alice, what happened?"

She told us about her past and how she had been lying to us about not knowing anything.

"Why would you do that?" Esme wondered, still comforting her in her arms.

"I… I did not want you to think badly of me. Living with James was not exactly life like you would approve."

"Poor child, we would never have turned you away, you must know that." Esme was shaking her head, and of course Alice was forgiven everything, but I felt that there was more to be discussed here.

However Rosalie beat me to the next question. "So you're saying this psychopath is on his way here to snatch you and torture us, and you want us to do fight training with Jasper?"

She nodded. "If Jasper is willing to do that." She sounded uncharacteristically meek, and I suspect that she had never expected Jasper's reaction.

I did not like the prospect of a fight; neither did I want to send Alice away. Besides with what she had just told us, if James had done his research, he would come for my family anyway. "Jasper?" I asked.

"You can't be seriously considering keeping him here?" Edward cut in. "He almost exposed us today."

Jasper turned on Edward with a look of contempt. "I had this impression that you were between the cars as well, and you were not about to safe her."

"Of course I was."

Jasper snorted, and I too could tell that my son was lying.

"Can we come to the point here?" Rosalie asked tiredly. "I know we have to do something about that James character eventually, but first of all, what about the accident?"

"The girl is not talking about Jasper's involvement", I said. I liked the Chief, he was a good man, and he had been a lot happier since his daughter had come to live with him.

"Yes, but she has already been asking questions of Edward", Rosalie said.

"When?" Jasper asked sharply, and Edward flinched.

"I went to warn her about you", he said not looking into Jasper's eyes.

"Now that would certainly put her off the tracks", Emmett was shaking his head. "Any success?"

Edward shrugged his shoulders, and Emmett guffawed. "I bet she told you to get lost. She looks like a tough little thing." After having seen her medical history I certainly agreed with that assessment.

"Leave. Her. Alone!" Jasper growled. "She is mine!"

"That was exactly why I had to warn her about you. I was afraid you would take the opportunity to whisk her away. The Chief would send the whole FBI after you."

"I really don't know how you came to have the impression of me as a bumbling imbecile", Jasper shook his head at him, then turned to me. "I'll do what Alice wants on one condition. I want no more interference with Bella…"

"Carlisle, you can't just give that sweet girl to this…this animal!" Edward screamed appalled. When I tried to calm him down, he left the room and we heard crashing furniture in the house.

Jasper rolled his eyes. "… and I want my own people in." He told us about his friends.

I saw Esme's worried face, but Jasper beat me to it. "They are the nicest people you could imagine, Esme. They won't hurt anyone without a reason."

"Well, I'm all for it", Emmett said. Rosalie shook her head at him, but nodded her consent. "I think we can take Edward's reaction for a no."

Esme looked to me and nodded, as did I. What choice did we have after all?

"You need to contact the Quileute about Peter and Charlotte here. They won't feed here, of course, but we don't need another fight as well", Jasper said and told me about the wolves.

"Yes, you're right. I'll talk to the Blacks at once."

"Hey, when will we start training?" Emmett came up to Jasper to slap his shoulder eagerly.

"Oh, we'll have lots of time next week. It will be all sunny from Wednesday on." Alice beamed at everyone and danced to Jasper to whisper something in his ear. At least she holds no grudges.

I sighed and went to look for Edward.

I found him in my study, pretending to read. "Care for a run?"

He nodded, and we went out to be out of earshot for our talk.

"Are you sure about your feelings for Bella?" I asked when he repeated his plea from earlier.

"Yes, of course I am."

"And what about her feelings for you?"

"I can't tell, damnit", he kicked a tree in frustration. "But in effect, I think it's a good thing." He told me about his theory which I found intriguing as well, but I feared I had to warn him too. "Edward, Jasper is not going to give up on her, and he does not take interference lightly."

"Yes, like I tried to tell you, he is like a wild animal when it comes to her; I hear his thought about her, and you wouldn't believe…"

"Edward, stay out of his head…"

"No, he is thinking vile things about the girl I love. You wouldn't stand for that either if it was Esme."

I sighed. "Please calm down. In the end it will be down to Bella to decide between you, do you understand that?"

His eyes were pained. "You really think that monster will be giving her a choice to reject him?"

"I don't think he is a monster. You might be right in that he has had nothing but hate and violence in his existence so far, but I don't think there can be such a thing as an insensitive empath."

Edward shook his head in disbelieve. "You just wait and see", he said ominously and took off running. I understood he needed to be alone and left him to it.