Have fun, another chapter!

Twilight does not belong to me

21

Bella's POV

Again I paid no attention whatsoever to the lessons, always looking forward to being with Jasper in the afternoon. Why did school take so long that day?

Finally gym was over and I could leave for home. I still wasn't happy about going against Charlie's wishes, so I called him before I set off for the house. I had planned to tell him that I was going to see Jasper against his wishes, but I was telling him so he would not find me lying again. To my greatest surprise, he was not angry and told me about Esme coming by in the morning and me being ungrounded. He repeated his warnings about Jasper though and told me only to visit him at his home if there were other people around. "But the Doc's wife will keep him in line, I'm sure of that", he finished. "Take care, Bells!"

Hooray!

Sometimes things do turn out just like you want them to. I drove home singing and parked the car rather sloppily when I saw Jasper already parked outside. I did not even dump my book bag inside, but went straight over to the passenger side of the car and got in.

To my surprise the car took off immediately – usually Jasper always kissed me first. When I turned toward him, my heart almost stopped: It wasn't Jasper at all who was driving, it was Edward.

"Stop! I want out! Stop the car right this minute!"

He shook his head and kept driving.

"Hey, this is kidnapping. Let me out!"

"No. I'm going to drive you to Seattle and the airport. Your things are in the back, your ticket is booked."

"Ticket booked? To where? Have you lost your mind?"

"No. You have", he said in that infuriatingly calm voice of his. "You need to get away from Jasper to get some perspective again. I took the liberty of booking you on the next flight to Jacksonville to spend some time with your mother."

"I… Why the hell would you be doing that? I want to go back right now. Jasper wanted to meet me … I…" What the hell was going on with that boy?

"Bella, you're blinded, dazzled by Jasper, by his looks and his gift, but in truth you have no idea what he is like."

"I love him and I want to be back with him", I said stubbornly. "And all of this is none of your business!"

He turned toward me and gave me an earnest look. "But it is, Bella dear. I care about you a lot, too much than let you be with that… monster. He will kill you!" His hands gripping the steering wheel looked as if he was about to break it.

I shook my head. "Jasper will not hurt me, and I'm sorry that you feel that way about me, but I want…"

"You have no idea what he is. Listen to me for once, will you?" His voice had become as angry as I had never heard him before.

"Please calm down. I know he is a vampire, like you, and I know that he only joined you quite recently, so he is still new to your 'vegetarian' lifestyle, but he is absolutely fascinated by it, he loves this life, and…"

Edward interrupted me with a sneering voice. "Do you have any idea how he fed himself before?" Before I could answer, he continued. "He only fed on women, seduced them and then drained them dry."

I swallowed. I had known that he must have killed before he came to live with the Cullens, but obviously I had chosen not to know any details. Yet surely: "And how would you know that?" Somehow I doubted that Jasper's hesitance in speaking about his past was only with me.

"I can read minds, Bella, I can hear people think." Patiently.

"You what?" Oh dear, that was awful!

"Jasper is not the only gifted vampire around." Slightly smug.

I shook my head again. "But then you should know how I feel about Jasper. And about you."

"I can hear everyone's thoughts, even your precious Jasper's, except for yours. You are silent to me, which enables me to actually try to have a normal relationship with you. But you can trust me when I say I know what goes on in the monster's mind."

"Stop calling him that. I love him."

"You wouldn't if you knew him. He killed thousands, Bella, humans and vampires alike."

"Why would he kill vampires?"

He sighed and told me about the vampire wars and Jasper's involvement in them. "We're all killers, except for Carlisle, but Jasper is certainly in a different league altogether. The thought of a sweet girl like you being with that … beast makes me sick, and I'll do anything I can to prevent him harming you."

I closed my eyes for a while. The picture he had painted of my lover was the blackest one imaginable, yet somehow it rang true, especially when I remembered what Jasper himself had said about his past: "I was a nightmare."

"He said he was bad in the past, but he has changed. He did not kill those men who attacked me in Port Angeles."

Edward scoffed. "No, he did not kill them himself, he called his friends to do it for him. I can show you the reports in the local papers about the animal attack on four men near the harbor in Port Angeles that night if you want."

"But… I still love him, and I can't imagine being without him", I told Edward after some minutes of silence.

"Don't you understand that he will kill you one way or another? He might not be after your blood initially, but he could easily lose control if you …try to be with him that way." He sounded as if he would be blushing if he still could. "Or he will… crush you or break you some other way."

"Why would he do that? He's been waiting to be with me for three years!"

Edward reached for a steel tire iron in the glove compartment and crushed it into dust with one hand without effort. "I did not say he would do it intentionally, he's probably not thinking it through. Anyway, he won't get the chance for that, if it's the last thing I do."

"You expect him to threaten you again?" I could imagine Jasper getting extremely angry at this attempt of taking me away from him, but he had said he did not want to become monster like yesterday.

"Open your eyes to reality, Bella, for god's sake", he hissed. "Jasper tore off Alice's hand, and he took off my right arm yesterday morning. Carlisle is worried he will kill me. He is a threat to my whole family, and now he has his old friends here as well, who will do anything he tells them to. If he kills me for taking you away, I don't mind, at least my existence has made some sense then."

I frowned. "I … don't believe you. He is not… like that."

Edward slowed down marginally, took off his jacket and pushed up the short sleeve of his t-shirt to show me a ragged slivery line around his upper arm. "He was about to tear me to bits with his teeth before Esme brought him to his senses again." The jacket was back and he accelerated to the same break-neck speed he had been driving before. "I'm trying to get you out before it's too late for you."

I did not know what to say to that and turned away from him. When I looked at the road ahead, I suddenly noticed a silvery sports car parked across it and a man leaning against the side of the car leisurely. Edward had already started slowing down, but surely at the speed he was going he would crush that man to a pancake and the car to scrap metal, not to mention the way this would turn out for us. I closed my eyes.

When I opened them again, we had come to a stop an inch in front of the man's kneecaps. I recognized him as Jasper's tall friend Peter. He gave me a smile. "Hey there, li'l Bella. Mind gettin' into this here car so I can get you back to Jasper?" Then he turned his attention to Edward shaking his head. "As for you: I've seen idiots, bigger idiots, but you fall into a whole new category of idiot. Get the Major's car back pronto, and hope he hasn't figured out what you were doin' here…" He stopped and looked down the road we had come on. "Too late.

The next second a yellow Porsche screeched to a halt behind us and Jasper got out looking like the wrath of god. His eyes were black holes, his whole body was tense. "Bella, are you alright?" He asked in a rough voice. When I nodded, he said: "Please let Peter drive you back, now."

I frowned, and Edward turned to me, sneering again. "He does not want you to see him fighting with me."

"Jasper?" I turned to my enraged friend.

His face told me that Edward had not been lying. He was already growling at his brother. "Peter, take Bella and go ahead to Texas, I'll meet you later."

"What? I can't go to Texas! Charlie will be apoplectic", I squeaked.

By now Alice had gotten out from the yellow car as well and started arguing with Jasper in a very fast way. He was shaking his head at her abruptly.

Edward turned to me again. "He also wants to kill me, and is sure that the family will not keep him then."

"Jasper would not…", I started, but the look at Jasper's face told me otherwise again. The next moment Edward was bending over in pain, even though no one was touching him. I saw Jasper's eyes were fixed on him, and after a minute Edward rasped. "He's using his gift on me. Now do you believe me?"

I did not know what to say or do when Peter took hold of my arm. "Come on, Bells, let's get out of here."

Edward managed to get upright again and got in his way. Peter growled at him menacingly. It was clear he would rather be slaughtered than give up without a fight.

"NO! Stop this right now! Everyone calm down!" I had not known I could scream that loud. At least I finally had the attention of all the vampires present now.