Chapter eighteen
"So did Jasper tell you anything about me since you left after my birthday party?" Bella asked.
"No, he said it was horrible what Edward did but he wouldn't tell us. He said it was your story to tell." Rose whispered.
"Alright I'll tell you everything but I need you to keep calm and let me finish. There's a lot to say for a year and a half absence." Bella pleaded while Rose and Emmett nodded.
"Well he asked me to go for a walk in the woods and told me that he was leaving. He clarified when I asked who, telling me it was only the family and not me. I of course begged and pleaded to go with you and that's when he told me his true feelings. He called me a toy, a distraction. He said he didn't love me anymore and that in time I would forget about him. He said that he was tired of pretending to love me and that I was no good for him. He then asked for one favor, for me to not do anything stupid or reckless and in return he would make it like we never existed. He then disappeared into the woods. I tried to follow him but in turn got lost. It rained and the temperature dropped, I nearly died of hypothermia. The wolves found me and brought me back to Charlie. I was in a zombie state for months before I finally snapped out of it. I graduated high school and went off to college but then disaster struck again." Bella explained.
She took an unnecessary breath and I squeezed her hand before she continued.
"My best friend Angela was abducted one night while we were on break. Jessica Stanley and I were meeting to figure out a way to find and save her. There was a note left claiming that she ran away but I knew better. I managed to get my hands on it and had the wolves take a sniff of it. It wreaked of vampire and one disgusting human by the name of Mike Newton. When I was leaving a bar after meeting with Jess I was kidnapped as well. I woke several hours later in some dank cell at an underground auction house. Mike Newton was hired by vampires to steal girls as sex toys and slaves for vampires. Most of the girls don't last longer than a year before the vampire either turns them or drains them. While I was there I met a girl named Arianna, I just found out the other day that she is the Major's last living niece. She was purchased in a private auction and then I was put on the block for sale. Luckily Charlotte was there with funding from the Major and bought me. She brought me to Denver, the Major returned from one of his trips, he changed me and here we are."
"I can't believe that arrogant asshole lied to us." Rose seethed and growled.
"Baby bear I promise you I had no idea. He told us all that you hated us and wanted us to leave without saying goodbye. I was heartbroken. I loved you so much and then he said you hated us for what happened. I have been so miserable without my baby sister, Rose has been just as upset. She doesn't hate you Bella, she just didn't want to see you controlled by Edward. You deserved to be free and allowed to make your own decisions." Emmett rambled before being cut off by Bella.
"Brother Bear I've forgiven you all for leaving me. I understand your need to disappear out of the limelight so to speak but I'm still upset that you all believed Edward so easily. I know you all heard me that night at the party after it happened. I know you heard me telling everyone that I wasn't mad at Jasper or anyone else. The only thing that bothered me that night was Alice's need to overdo things and Edward's insistence to hide me away from those that love and care for me. Don't beat yourself up about it. I may be somewhat upset but I will get past it all. I just may give you a hard time once and again." Bella said with a giggle and wink.
"You mean like earlier? What was that Bella? I didn't think you swung that way." Rose asked.
"I don't I was just messing with Emmett. Jasper told me that you both used me as your fantasy girl to keep Edward out of your head from time to time. I guess I over did it a bit but that's why I told you Rose not to look me in the eyes. What I wasn't counting on was the fact that my voice also elicits a reaction." Bella replied.
"Your voice, hell your voice, your scent, your touch; everything about you gave me a reaction. Do you have some sort of ability that Jasper failed to tell us about? What was that blue shimmer thing you were doing to Em?" Rose confessed.
"That was the physical part of my shield. I let down the mental portion to entice Em with my Succubus allure." Bella replied.
"Say what?" Emmett so eloquently replied.
"D-did you just say Succubus?" Rose asked.
"Yes I am both a Succubus and a shield. The physical shield keeps a physical attack from penetrating and my mental shield keeps all the people around me from going bat shit crazy with lust for me." Bella replies with a slight smirk.
The next thing that came out of both Em and Rose about made me fall out of my seat.
"Fuck me." They both replied.
"Aaw, as tempting as that is Em you are my brother and I think that's considered incest. Rose sweetie, I really don't swing that way. I just like messing with the guys." Queue my warning growl at my mate.
"Shut it Major!" Both Bella and Rose said in my general direction. Great now I don't even get the respect of them addressing me eye to eye.
"So Jazz man, you plan on telling us how you found out that Bella was your mate. I mean you left us after finding the Pixie and the Mind Rapist buck ass naked in the woods and you looked completely broken. Rose and I already knew that you two weren't mates so I knew it couldn't be because of those two. Actually you looked a bit messed up since the day of Bella's party." Emmett said and I whimpered.
"Jasper you have got to quit kicking yourself over that. I told you already that you weren't reacting to Bella's blood. You were reacting to Edward's lust and everyone else's thirst. I saw you take a step back but Edward was thirsty and trying to push his tolerance like he usually did with Bella." Rose softly spoke while patting my knee.
"I tried to tell him that but he likes to make himself suffer. He thinks he doesn't deserve an HEA." Bella quipped.
"What the fuck is an HEA?" Emmett questioned.
"Happily Ever After you retard!" Rose and Bella chuckled.
"Chicks." WHACK! "Ow woman, what was that for?" Emmett grumbled to Rose.
"For being a caveman you retard." Bella chastised. "Harder next time Rose."
"Okay you three let me tell you my story. Maybe I can get you three to act like grown-ups for a bit as well." I bellowed.
Bella got up from her seat and wiggled her way in between Rose and Em. She put her hands under her chin and her elbows on her knees and waited with baited breath for me to tell my tale. This woman of mine, always has to be dramatic. I think she gets a sick pleasure out of making me squirm.
"Okay so during the party I had the psychotic pixie in my ear the whole time complaining about how no one would help her with the decorations or the planning or the cake or the full stack of china to eat the cake off of, blah blah blah. I wanted to gouge my ears with a pair of scissors but knew I would only come out of it with a mangled pair of scissors. Once Bella got there it was 'Jazzy work your mojo', 'Jazzy she looks embarrassed', 'Jazzy she needs to be happy', 'excited', 'content', 'surprised', this list goes on and on. But then you cut your finger and I immediately stopped breathing and took a step back. Edward knew that I was trying to distance myself but then he got a whiff and Esme and Carlisle, then Alice, even Rose and Em could smell it. Edward didn't shove you into the table because of me, he was being possessive because he read Alice's thoughts. I could feel the hate and jealousy coming off of her. My suspicions were confirmed at that moment. I knew from the moment Edward proclaimed that you were his mate that something wasn't right with Alice. They were always spending time together but anytime he showed interest in something other than her or the family it showed in her emotions. She learned quickly how to clamp down on them but it didn't escape my notice. I knew we weren't mates but it's lonely being on your own so we went for the physical rather than platonic relationship."
"I was confused because one minute I was backing away from the situation and the next I'm attacking you. I couldn't understand it and actually think I might have blocked some of it out. I heard you telling Carlisle and Edward that you forgave me and that it was an accident but my own mind was reeling with how I lost my control so quickly." I continued.
"I started to piece it all together then and even realized that I hadn't even looked you in the eye until your birthday when we were in the hall at school and even then I never focused in on your eyes to really see you."
"What had you pieced together?" Em asked. I gave my best impression of a fish. Mouth open. Mouth closed. Mouth open. Mouth closed.
"I can answer that." Peter said from the doorway. "He finally figured out that Alice and Edward were too close for a couple of vampires claiming to be just brother and sister. Also his subconscious, the God of War to be precise, was screaming that Bella was his mate. He didn't believe it though until Arianna was taken."
'Why not until then?" Bella asked.
"Because pervypire over there didn't clue me in until then." I interjected.
"I told you it had to be that way." Peter countered.
"Says you. She would have come around, I can quite charming when I want to be."
"Had I told you back then she would have run and you would have lost her forever and I would be short a brother, sire and friend." Peter confessed.
"What are you two talking about?" Bella asked.
"Had I told him back then about the mate thing he would have come running to you during your zombie state. You would have rejected him and he would have found someone to destroy him or he would have gone back to the South."
"You knew back then and didn't let him know. He could of come back to me. I could have saved my father and friends the heart ache I put them through for all those months. How could you Peter?" Bella wailed.
"It had to be that way. You would have rejected him and possibly did yourself harm in turn."
"Like how by killing myself?" Bella asked.
"It's possible, I only saw that you would disappear from his life and shortly after he would disappear from ours. I'm sorry but you had to suffer to be open to finding your true path. Cheesy as it sounds it is the truth."
"That's bullshit, I've never been that emotionally unbalanced not to weigh all my options carefully before acting." Bella argued.
Bella was angry and quickly losing control on her emotions. I was trying my best to calm her but my feelings were bouncing off her shield and coming back my way.
"Stop it Jasper, I don't need nor do I want you to control my emotions. I am fine and I won't flip out like most newborns."
"Isabella I was only trying to help calm you down. We all love and care about you and getting angry now does not fix the past. Please just listen to what I'm saying you know I'm right." I pleaded.
"Isabella doesn't need your help Major." Bella snarled at me using a voice I didn't recognize. It also didn't escape my attention that she referred to herself in the third person. Apparently Bella's demon is making an appearance.
"Oh shit." Peter whispered. "Emmett grab Rose and run, get out of the house or go to your room. Don't come out until I say so." Peter demanded.
In a flash Emmett was gone and the only thing of Rose that lingered was her perfume.
"Captain report." I growled.