A/N: Holy shit y'all, the email alerts are working again! Thank you so much for all your reviews!
"Edward's here too!" Peter said jovially, not able to stand Jasper's gawking or the tension any longer.
"Edward's here?" Bella was incensed and Jasper's scars ignited a fear in her that kept her from acting on her impulses. Towards him, anyway. She had some anger to get out and Edward would be the perfect target, in Bella's humble opinion. After what he did to her, she deserved some answers and revenge.
"He's out on the porch." Peter said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the front of the house. "Go around though, you'll just rip the doors off the hinges with your newborn strength." And just like that, Bella was off towards the front of the house. He also knew that it would be a bad idea for Bella to see Alice for the first time in the house they wanted to continue living in. Alice had seen that it was a bad idea, which is why she stayed hidden from Bella's sight for the time being.
"WAIT!" Jasper yelled, chasing after Bella.
"Dude, that's fucked up." Emmett said, coming out of the house and rushing over to Peter, dangling his hand out for a high-five. Peter left him hanging however and followed Jasper and Bella around to the front of the house. He was not going to miss this for a stupid high-five. Who knows when Peter would get another chance to watch a vampire gift another a head?
Bella had her hands on the lid of the chest when Jasper turned the corner and saw her, another 'no' on the verge of emerging from his lips when she lifted the lid clean off its hinges, it clattered noisily onto the wooden porch. Her eyes wide, she stands back from the chest mouthing 'the fuck' as her hand came up to cover her mouth in surprise.
Looking down into the chest, even with the pale moonlight, Edward's face was unmistakable. As if he noticed the newfound source of light, his eyes rolled around in his head before gazing up towards Bella, unable to focus on her fully. One eye partially dilated and the other fully black. His mouth making movements that sound couldn't travel through.
"I, uh… wha–? Bu– I, seriously what the fuck." Bella tried to form a coherent sentence and was having barely more luck than Edward. At least her mouth could make sounds. Peter had joined them by then and the rest were again peeking out of Charlotte's dark cerulean sunflower curtains, gawking at the scene unfolding in front of them. This was better than the best rated HBO Drama. Peter clapped his hand on Jasper's back, urging him to own up to his original impulsive decision of gifting his mate-to-be the severed head of the vampire responsible for her death.
Peter thought it was a bit romantic. In a really macabre way. If possible, he would have gifted Charlotte the head of the vampire who killed her. Except… That vampire was probably him or Jasper. Neither of whom's heads were available for gifting. After changing so many people in one night, they tended to blend in after a while. To most newborns, Jasper and Peter looked enough alike to be confused for one another frequently, so Charlotte couldn't be sure who did it either.
"Sorry?" Jasper had given no thought to what he would say when he gave her the head, he had been too busy debating on whether or not he wanted to chuck it out of the plane's emergency exit. He had left Edward's body in Volterra, not caring what Aro did with it. He suspected it was still intact, somewhere.
"Sorry." Bella repeated, without the questioning inflection Jasper's had. "Sorry, here's your ex-boyfriend's head in a basket." She deadpanned. Bella knew nothing about vampires. She had read every single myth and legend she could have found and none of them had ever mentioned body parts. Or gifts of any kind, aside from the gift of immortality.
"It's a fancy chest from Volterra!" Peter supplied helpfully. He was a helpful guy. Bella and Jasper chose to ignore him.
"So, where is the rest of him?" Bella was feeling a bit annoyed at not being able to let out her frustrations out on Edward. She had hoped that with her new vampire strength she might be able to really do some damage. Emmett had told her she'd be stronger than all of them. Jasper just shrugged.
"In Volterra, I suspect." Jasper answered, giving Bella far more questions than answers. Charlotte had mentioned Volterra already but Bella was more curious about the head than she was angry at Jasper, which was Peter's intention. Distracting an angry newborn with something shiny was a well used tactic by Peter during the wars. She gestured towards the box, avoiding looking at the unsightly dome within.
"Can he like…?" Bella waved her arms around, trying to form the right question. She wasn't sure what she was asking, could he see, hear, talk? "Is he alive?" Could a head live without its body? Not a human one, obviously…
"In a manner of speaking." Jasper had been decapitated exactly once, and he had never let it happen again. It was long before Peter joined him in the Wars, and he had told Peter and Charlotte about it once they left. "I have no plans to reunite him… With himself."
"I have so many questions." She said finally, and Jasper believed it. Her anger had died down to a tiny simmer, never fully leaving but now no longer her main focus. She was curious, a little disgust here and there along the way. For once, Jasper felt no awkward insecurity from Bella. During her usual time with the Cullens, Bella had never felt like she belonged, and was always on edge. She didn't believe she deserved Edward, and had desperately wanted not to screw the relationship up, or her chance at immortality. There was none of that now.
"Ask them, we have time." Jasper encouraged her, wanting to get all this over with. His entire body was buzzing in her proximity. He still stood at the edge of the porch with Peter, wanting to give her emotional space but wanting nothing more than to invade her personal space. He wished their audience would fuck off and give them privacy.
"We do." Bella agreed, marveling at her immortality. "We have all the time in the world." Something about that bothered her suddenly, and she couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was. She looked past Jasper and addressed Peter, trying not to get too distracted with new ever passing thoughts.
"Is this who changed you and Charlotte?" They all smelled similar, a similar eucalyptus citrus tint to each of their unique scents. Bella was both surprised and irritated that her mind was flitting subject to subject. She wanted to know more about what happened to Edward but other things kept getting in the way of her getting answers.
"Sure is." Peter confirmed, not realizing it hadn't been confirmed until now. Had they really not explained anything to her? He couldn't understand how she knew so much but so little.
"So why aren't you a coven together?" This wasn't the question any of the vampires present were expecting. They had assumed something along the lines of her change, Edward's head, the mating pull between her and Jasper… "Wouldn't that make Jasper your leader?" Bella's understanding of vampire life was limited, the Cullens didn't participate in a majority of vampiric customs and traditions. To Bella, a coven was a collection of vampires all changed by the leader. Carlisle's Coven was the exception, not the rule. Vampires were solitary creatures, outside of mated couples.
"You would think so." Peter laughed, knowing full well Jasper had enjoyed his time off from being a leader. He had been in charge of others for a very, very long time. "Jasper was just on a well needed vacation after the Wars. That's why he was staying with the Cullens." Jasper was annoyed, he was right here and they were both just talking around him.
"Wars?!" Bella exclaimed, not having heard of ANY vampires participating in wars.
"Christ on a communion cracker, did y'all not tell her anything when she was a human? She couldn't have forgotten everything." Peter chastised Jasper, not knowing about the limitations of Bella's engagement with members of the Cullen Coven, or just how differently they all lived compared to the average vampire. If the Mexico Coven was on one extreme end, the Cullens would have been on the other.
"I didn't spend a lot of time with her while she was human. She doesn't know about my past, Edward never shared the Hale Twins pasts. It was too violent for his tastes." Jasper tried to explain.
"Wait, wasn't Emmett mauled by a bear?" Peter asked at the same time Bella spoke. A bear mauling seemed pretty violent to Peter.
"Yeah, we wouldn't want you to accidentally eat the human." Bella's anger was simmering below the surface, and Jasper was trying to do all he could to keep it from boiling over. "What Wars are we talking about? Were you in WW1 and WW2?" Peter howled with laughter.
"Sweet summer child, Jasper was turned during the civil war." Peter was giving her far more information than she was getting out of Jasper and she appreciated that. To Jasper, it was irritating as all shit.
"The civil fucking war? You're older than Edward!" There had been a time where Bella had worried about the age difference she and Edward would eventually have together, it was one of the reasons she was willing to become a vampire. To stay young with Edward forever.
"Only by two years." Jasper grumbled under his breath.
"In human years, sure. She means vampire years, ya doofus." Peter
"You're from Texas." Bella said suddenly, remembering Alice saying something about it once when Bella had commented on Jasper's accent. Jasper nodded, not liking where this was going.
"Did you fight for the south?" Bella practically threw the question at him, her tone judgemental. Peter snorted, his hands coming up to cover his mouth to keep the laugh from sputtering out. This was perfect. Bella could give him all the shit for being a confederate soldier and what could he do? Rip his mate's arm off, like he had Peter's the last time he had mentioned it? No! He would never.
"...Yes." Jasper had this question come up rarely, usually with other young vampires. Or when Peter wanted to lose a limb. It was hard to explain the fervor around the beginning of the civil war in the south. To most, it wasn't about civil rights to the poor farm boys who signed up with Jasper back in Texas. It was about glory and honor. Growing up hearing about the Revolutionary War, When Alice and Rosalie watched Gone with the Wind, he had told them that the most accurate part was the ignorance around joining up to die in glory for their country, and the 'medical' amputations. For the cause that no one but the rich landowners benefited from. Rhett Butler was Jasper's favorite character. He took no shit.
"I see." Bella's eyes narrowed. Peter was trying so hard to think of depressing things, lest his laughter overwhelm him. Jasper ran his hand through his hair exasperatedly, the cowboy hat tumbling to the ground in the process. "And how many slaves did you own?" Bella heard someone in the house then, making a strained noise and then a smacking sound. To her, it sounded like Emmett and Rosalie. She tried really hard not to think about Emmett and Rosalie and focus on Jasper.
"Fucking none! You think my poor farm boy ass ran off to war for fun? Farm work fucking sucked and the last thing I wanted to do was break my back working the land like my father and his father before him." Bella looked over his shoulder at Peter, the sire bond already in effect. She trusted Peter more than him, and it stung Jasper something fierce. Jasper was not expecting that, out of anything, to be an accusation thrown at him by his mate.
"He's right, you know. I was the same way during Pearl Harbor." Peter of course, meant the fervor to join a cause.
"Pete, you were a vampire during Pearl Harbor."
"Yeah, and all the hoopla made me think of you." He grabbed Jasper from behind in a giant bear hug, catching the older vampire unaware. It was extremely rare for Jasper to be caught off guard, and with Peter's arms securely around his keeping him immobile, it made Jasper feel emotions he hadn't felt in quite awhile. Emmett was completely enthralled, and thrilled he had such a great view of Jasper being manhandled. He had thought he'd see Major Whitlock in action in Volterra, but maybe it was his old War Buddy who could get him properly riled up. Jasper had told Emmett on numerous occasions that he held back on purpose, not wanting to hurt the younger vampire. He wasn't trying to hurt Emmett's pride, he was just trying not to hurt Emmett. Rosalie would kill him.
So, it was to everyone's surprise but Peter's when Jasper threw his weight forward by falling to one knee, easily loosening Peter's grasp and sending him into the porch railing separating Bella and Jasper. He grinned up at Bella from her feet, taking note to order plenty of shoes for the newborn. Hers had probably worn off somewhere in the forest. She seemed like a girl who liked to wear shoes.
"Peter." Jasper warned, today was not the day to test his patience. It had been an excruciatingly long week and it wasn't quite over yet. He had hoped to get out a lot of his emotional turmoil and frustrations out on fighting Edward, or maybe a Volturi guard member or ten. He didn't want to lose his patience with Peter.
"Come on Major, lets tussle." Peter said as he jumped to his feet and walked down the porch steps to the front yard, hopping from one foot to another and fake punching the air. The last time Peter had a good fight, was the last time Jasper had a good fight. When Charlotte and Peter came back for him during WW2. Peter hadn't lied that patriotism had gotten to him.
"Now is really not the time." Jasper was deflecting. He didn't want to fight Peter, not right now. Not when Bella was still scared of him. The last thing he needed was his mate terrified of him more than she already was, and serving Peter's ass on a platter wouldn't help anything. He didn't have to worry about Charlotte, she'd know he'd deserve whatever Jasper gave him.
"Aw, is the big bad confederate soldier scared of getting his ass kicked?" Peter was thrilled when Bella spoke up on his behalf. He knew it would irritate Jasper more than anything, and goad him into the fight Peter had been itching for since he came across Bella's broken and bleeding body in Washington, sans the vampire who'd drained her. Having his mate root for his opponent did have an effect on Jasper, but not quite the results Peter or Bella had anticipated. Bella taunting Jasper turned his attention away from Peter entirely, and onto his newborn mate.
"Do you think you're up for the challenge, little girl?" He taunted her, provoking her in more ways than one. She had felt haughty and confident that Peter could kick Jasper's ass, and he fed into that. Hoping to make her feel that way about her own abilities. He had heard Emmett tell her countless times newborn vampires were stronger than other vampires. He instilled a false sense of confidence in the newborn, egging her into action against him. Her fear was still there, pushed down by her rising anger.
"I wont not fuck you the fuck up." Bella said, her eyes narrowing at Jasper. The vibrant crimson fading to dark red. Peter had not anticipated this, and hoped Emmett would come help him keep Jasper from kicking Bella's cocky newborn ass up and down the driveway. Bella had the overconfidence of not only a newborn vampire, but Emmett talking up newborn strength the entire time she had been human.
"That's a big statement coming from someone who couldn't walk down a flat road without tripping." Jasper may not have spent a lot of time with Bella, but he knew all about her insecurities. Vampire houses had no privacy, not with an empath and a telepath. "Didn't they make you sit out during Volleyball because your uncoordinated ass kept clobbering Mike Newton in the back of the head?"
"When I was a HUMAN!" Bella yelled, angry he would bring up her human faults at a time like this. "Is that why I wasn't good enough for you?" She continued, the flood gates opening and her rage and betrayal on full display for everyone to see. This took Jasper by surprise, not understanding where the feelings of betrayal and heartache emanating from Bella were coming from. "Or him?" She motioned back to the head in the chest. "I wanted to kill him for what he did to me!" She continued, coming down off the porch to where Peter and Jasper were standing in the yard. "And I didn't even get to do that because YOU did it!" She pointed an accusing finger at Jasper before continuing her tirade.
"I thought I was going to die until Peter found me." Peter didn't bother mentioning that he had found her because of her importance to Jasper. He felt like now was not a good time to interrupt the angry newborn. It would take far too long to explain how his gift worked, because he had no idea. "I wanted to die until Peter found me. Edward killed me because you were all bored of me, and now that I'm a vampire like you, I'm good enough to have around?" She had taken a few steps towards Jasper, her anger tampering down her fear in a righteous fury.
That wasn't how it was at all, and even Rosalie's dead heart clenched at hearing that's how Bella thought things were between her and Jasper. She gripped Emmett's hand tightly, knowing hearing that's how Bella felt hurt him far more than it hurt her. He truly loved Bella as a little sister, and never wanted to leave her unprotected and alone. They both knew better than to trust Edward with her safety and could add this to the long list of regrets they both had.
This did nothing but piss Jasper off, right into orbit. What happened between Prom and Edward attacking Bella? While pleased to finally have a confirmation from Bella herself, the delivery left much to be desired in Jasper's opinion.
"What the fuck did Edward tell you?" Major Whitlock demanded, suddenly in front of Bella, with his hands clenched on her shoulders, demanding she answer him. Peter looked towards the house and met eyes with Emmett, noticing the change in Jasper's demeanor and attitude immediately. Emmett had noticed the same, having rarely seen the aggressive side of Jasper's personality, but knew when he did see it, he better watch the fuck out. Both were immediately concerned for Bella's safety, even with Jasper being her mate. Emmett, because from the moment Edward introduced Bella into their lives, she became a member of the coven and worthy of his protection and loyalty. Peter, because Bella was more than just his progeny and his responsibility. He had seen, and helped, Jasper do some truly horrific things in the Wars, and he wasn't sure if he would realize what he was doing until it was too late.
"Did you not expect your little human plaything to become immortal like you?" Bella hadn't noticed a change in the older blonde vampire at all. He was still just as big of a scary asshole as he had been the whole time. She most likely wouldn't have stopped taunting him if she had, she hadn't developed a sense of self preservation as a human, so why would it manifest now that she was a vampire? Some things very much stayed the same. She had taken note of his black irises, and assumed it was thirst not anger.
"Were you not expecting me to be around after Prom? Where's your wife, Alice?" She kept on going. "Is she going to want to play dress up with me still, now that I'm a vampire too? I bet she will be pleased that I can wear high heels without falling down now."
"Bella." Major Whitlock commanded her to look at him and without realizing it she obeyed and looked up at him, her rage still boiling over. "I will forever regret not changing you after Prom, when I realized what you were to me. If I had my way, I would have taken you with me that night and left Forks and the Cullens." This was more than news to Bella, this was a revelation. He would have left the Cullens, with her as a vampire?
"What?" She replied dumbly.
"I was bound from action by the rules Carlisle set for his Coven, and the treaty between the Cullen Coven and the Quilietes. I don't know what bullshit Edward filled your head with, or what he did to you before Peter found you, but you have to know he lied." He spoke so earnestly, so honestly, Bella couldn't help herself from believing him.
For a moment, anyway.
"Are you using your gift on me?" Bella suddenly accused, not trusting her own emotions around Jasper. Jasper was in fact, not using his gift on Bella. He was letting her feel what he felt, but not pushing it onto her and forcing her to feel as he wished. She tried to shove Jasper away from her, but he spun her around and held her similarly to how Peter had grabbed him earlier. It was a death sentence for any other vampire Jasper held this way.
"Isabella." Major Whitlock used her hated first name to get her attention, to impress upon her the severity of what she just accused him of. He leaned down, brushing her hair from her face with his nose, taking a deep sensual inhale of her scent. "When I use my gift on you, you will be begging for it." He whispered lowly, his voice vibrating her nerve endings with desire. Bella could remember it then, how she felt on Prom Night.
Safe. Secure… Loved?
The very same feelings she had spent agonizing over during her final few days as a human. The very same feelings she had disbelieved ever feeling in the first place. The guilt she had felt in the weeks before, for betraying her boyfriend and her best friend was there again, like the ghost of her former life.
"Why didn't you?" She asked suddenly, her mind looping back around again. She remembered leaving her window open that night, hoping he would climb through it like Edward once had. Would she have gone with him, if he had asked?
"Why didn't I…?" Jasper had gotten a bit caught up in the moment and had a few seconds to remember. "I told you, I couldn't."
"Why couldn't you?" She insisted, twisting around in his arms to look into his eyes. Trying to get a more elaborate response out of him was proving difficult. "I don't understand what rules Carlisle had, and what the Quilietes have to do with anything?" Jasper reluctantly let her go, his eyes drifting over to the audience in the sunflowers. There was so much Bella didn't know about vampires, let alone the unique dynamics of the vegetarian coven, or their traitorous treaty with shapeshifters. Who, now that Jasper was thinking about it, should be warned that the Volturi are aware of their existence. There was no way Alice could have kept Aro from her memories about them. Caius Volturi's hate for werewolves did not discriminate between shapeshifters, werepanthers, or otherwise. To Caius, they were all worthy of mass extinction.
"Let's go inside and I'll start from the beginning." Jasper said finally, his hands taking their time drifting down the length of her arms, reluctant to leave her touch.
"Can we leave Edward outside?" Bella asked, when he finally broke physical contact and they started walking back to the house together.
"I should have left the damn thing in Volterra." Jasper grumbled under his breath. He had made a lot of stupid impulsive decisions before in his life but this was proving to be top tier.
"No, I think it's sweet." Bella said, grinning up at Jasper.
"WHAT?" Peter had stopped walking behind the two and the echo of a similar 'what' in the house could be heard. "No you fuckin' do not!" He insisted.
"No, really!" Bella defending herself, and Jasper. "I wanted to kill Edward, and I knew I'd have newborn strength on my side but I've never gotten in a fight in my life." She looked up at Jasper, with big moony eyes and smiled. "Now I don't have to. All the satisfaction and none of the hard physical labor." Completely forgetting that earlier she had been furious at Jasper for killing Edward before she could.
"It was hardly physical labor." Jasper wasn't trying to downplay his actions, it just took no effort at all to remove Edward's head from his body. There was no resistance, Edward died like he lived. Easily. He had spent so long feeling abashed about even bringing the head, but hearing that Bella liked it, strangely elated Jasper. When moments before he had been so angry at her… The embarrassment still lingered, however. He was going to get shit for this forever. Bella could feel the embarrassment leaking off of Jasper and couldn't help herself.
"My big strong vampire!" Bella exclaimed brightly, a high pitched obnoxious lilt to her voice and threw her arms around Jasper's neck, his arms encircling her waist instantaneously. Jasper took the moment that was presented to him, the second her exuberant face tilted upwards, he kissed her.
This kiss was nothing like their first kiss. That was brief and fleeting. A prelude of things to come. This was the kiss that was promised to Bella, when he left her alone that night with Alice. This is why she had left her window open that night. All the things Bella had read about in Renee's romance novels had nothing compared to this kiss. Lips pressed against one another, their nerve endings sizzled with pleasure as their mouths opened to welcome the tangle of their tongues together. One of Bella's hands found itself tangled in the hair at the nape of Jasper's neck, trying to pull him closer to her. While Jasper's hands gripped her waist and pulled their lower halves closer still, one of his legs finding its way between hers.
Bella had never been kissed like this before in her life. There were the chaste kisses between her and Edward, the awkward kisses when she was a preteen at boy-girl parties back in Phoenix, even the tiny peck between her and Jasper when she was human, all couldn't compare to this. With Jasper's mouth slanted over hers, their bodies as close as possible, it was easy for Bella to forget about everything else that had been bothering her since she woke to this new life.
The things Edward said still lingered on the edges of her mind, and they were getting harder to believe with each passing stroke of Jasper's tongue against hers, each unnecessary inhale just to breathe each other's scents in… Jasper's mouth left hers to trail kisses down her neck, causing an embarrassing whimper of want to escape her now empty lips.
"We really should talk." Jasper conceded finally, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly to his chest. Not wanting to let her go even though it was his own suggestion. It had taken just about all his willpower to get this far. He really needed Bella to meet him halfway.
But if it had been a struggle for Jasper, an over century old vampire who had more than enough practice with restraint and controlling himself… It was impossible for the newborn vampire, lost in the emotions she had the barest hint of as a human. The depth of her feelings for Jasper, a vampire she barely knew, were as new and confusing to her as waking to this new life with enhanced senses and abilities.
"I read once that kissing is talking without words." Bella was unwilling to assist Jasper's restraint, and he groaned against her neck. Luckily for them, they had a willing audience.
"That shit is from a romance novel!" Peter hooted, and it worked well enough to untangle the two. Jasper took a step away, still keeping his arms encircled around Bella reluctant to break that final physical connection and smiled down at her.
"Really?" If Bella were still human, this would be when she would blush and be embarrassed and self conscious about her choice of reading material. Bella wasn't a human anymore and Jasper wasn't Edward. He wouldn't look down on her for reading cheap literature. He would give her shit for reusing lines from trashy literature though.
"Yeah so? I don't have a century of experience like you do." Jasper just laughed, suddenly embarrassed about his dating history.
"Darlin', I didn't have time for courtin' ladies when I was fighting in the Wars. Human or otherwise. Afterwards, I was too busy trying to acclimate to the new world around me and then Alice found me and sh–" He cut himself off abruptly as Bella took an even bigger step away from Jasper, leaving the comforting circle of his arms entirely.
"Yeah, what about Alice? Isn't she your wife?" Bella asked accusingly. Alice knew now was the time to make her presence known, but she wasn't sure which of the visions she had seen would be the outcome of this meeting. She loved Bella so much, it was with fear and trepidation that Alice stepped out of the house and onto the porch. If worse came to worse, she'd be missing an arm when this was all over. 'That wouldn't be so bad, would it?' Alice thought to herself, knowing that Jasper had his limbs successfully reattached numerous times.
"Hi Bella." She said softly, pretending to brush out the wrinkles in her skirt. She had been in the same clothes for several days, and for Alice that was the worst thing imaginable. She had always imagined meeting Bella as a vampire going differently. In fact, she had seen it go differently a lot of times. In most of them she had clothes ready for Bella to change into. An easy to put on dress, nothing too expensive, of soft cotton so it wouldn't irritate the newborn's newly sensitive skin. Nothing was going how Alice wished or envisioned.
"Alice." Bella was torn between running and hugging her friend and wanting answers about her friend's husband kissing her and killing her boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend, actually. Edward had dumped Bella before he killed her. She felt elated, guilty, angry, curious, jealous, she couldn't pick just one, but guilt was the strongest contender.
"Why didn't you see what Edward was going to do and stop him?" Bella asked finally, guilt being overridden by her curiosity and anger joining forces.
"I saw," Alice said sullenly, "I saw it over and over. But intervening would have taken you away from us forever. No matter who tried to stop him, he killed you every time. Then I saw Peter and Charlotte and I knew it would be okay, even if I couldn't see anything past them finding you dying."
"Alice, why didn't you say anything?" Bella had taken a few steps towards her then, wanting so badly to squish her friend with an all too tight vampire hug and return the favor from so many hugs previous.
"I couldn't, any time I thought about it Edward was there. I couldn't prevent your death, but I could prevent Jasper from being taken prisoner by the Volturi. I had to get him to realize who you were to him after Phoenix, and it's very hard when you're both so obtuse." Jasper just scoffed.
"Like they could take me prisoner." That had happened exactly once before, and was how he became a vampire. He wouldn't be repeating that experience.
"They try." Alice placates him, not wanting to go into detail on how many vampires die in that scenario. None of the vampires present do, except him.
"Where are Carlisle and Esme now?" Bella asked, she knew Emmett and Rosalie were inside with Charlotte, she had seen them peeking out of the windows earlier and there was no mistaking Rosalie smacking Emmett backside the head.
"Prisoners in Volterra" Jasper couldn't stop himself from grinning at that one. He had oftentimes tried to get the Cullen Coven leader to at least educate his Coven on the finer points of vampire life, but was met with staunch resistance every time. Carlisle had been adamant that since they maintained no connections to traditional vampire life, they had no need of traditional vampire rules. His arrogance directly led to Edward's death and the downfall of his Coven.
"What?"
"I told you, we really need to talk." Jasper again insisted. Because the sooner they talked, the sooner his lips could be on hers again. Alice stepped away from the door, pushing it open.
"Come on, Emmett's dying to see you."