I shudder and pull my thick winter coat more tightly around me as Jasper and I walk from our car to the building where our first class of the day is held. The decorations adorning the campus put me in a bittersweet mood. It is early December, and soon I will have my first Christmas without my dad.
We have been at university for over three months now and I love it. Journalism had been a good choice. Researching and evaluating sources suited my meticulous, detail-oriented character, and the writing appealed to my love of language. Learning more about how society, politics and economics work through the lens of news media broadened my horizons. Studying the work of foreign correspondents I compiled a list of places I would want to visit once I was a vampire and could travel to remote places more easily.
Jasper enjoyed it too. He often remarks how much easier it is to be in a classroom when A he does not want to eat everyone, and B his empathic ability is not overwhelmed by teenage hormones. Of course he says he would have enjoyed any college program as long as he is together with me, but he had not studied this particular major before and finds the journalism classes interesting. I believe it is somehow cathartic to him, after having read so many incorrect history books, to learn how to help ensure that modern history will be captured accurately.
His own history book, which he had spent most of last year writing, had recently been published. I can't help but tease him every time I see 'J. Whitlock' in gold embossed letters glitter at me from the spine of a book under the arm of someone from the history faculty that journalism shared a building with. How funny it would have been if he had decided to study history and they discussed his own book in class.
I have nothing on Garrett though, who ordered a whole stack of the books for a yet to be determined purpose. He has been getting better at using computers, but still has a tendency to leave the screen unlocked with something personal like his email or Amazon order history open. I closed the browser before Jasper could see, and hid the package in his and Kate's room when it arrived, but I have been wondering ever since what he is planning to do with the books. My most likely theory so far is that he wants to give everyone in the family a copy for Christmas.
Kate hasn't said anything either, and she has to know considering how often the two disappear together to "run patrols". I too take our safety very seriously, but even the Victoria situation does not warrant this many. They could just say they want alone time together.
Speaking of Victoria, she seems to have moved to Portland. Her tracks lead south, it is the nearest city big enough to sustain human eating vampires for an extended period of time, and the amount of missing people reports on the news has gone up for the area.
The tacticians in the family are becoming increasingly conflicted on what to do with her. The temptation to just make a grab for her and be done with it is great. However, we still have no idea what other vampires are working with her and what they would do if she is killed. The consensus is still that it is best to keep gathering intelligence, but increasingly sways toward planning an active attack.
Sometimes I wish we still had the help of Alice's powers. If only she would tell us just what vampires she sees Victoria meeting with, it would already be so much easier for us to make plans. However after the stunt she pulled with my father I would not trust her information even if she gave any.
Today I am determined not to care about either of the madwomen in my life though. It is Friday, and after classes end we will drive over to Forks for the weekend.
5 PM on the dot we are packed up and ready to go, all sharing one car. Kate is behind the steering wheel, Garrett next to her fiddling with the radio. He eventually settles on an indie rock station.
I sit in the back with Jasper and use the long drive to write an entry in my diary, which is steadily filling up.
Dear dad,
We are driving home to Forks for the weekend, and if I could I would of course have dropped by your place for dinner and a chat. It would have been the highlight of my week.
Instead I most look forward to seeing Rosalie again. She is nearing her due date and positively glowing. In this late stage of pregnancy her hormones have also calmed down somewhat, making her more pleasant to be around. This to the great relief of her long-suffering husband. Emmett still indulges her every whim, and spends most of his time applying the last finishing touches to their perfect little family home.
I pause my writing. Even in this diary, which my dead human father will never read, I still edit out all supernatural elements. Truth is that it remains hard to estimate Rosalie's exact due date because we don't know when she should have had her last period, and she varied how much human food versus bloodshakes she consumed in the first months. To the best of our knowledge she is between seven and eight months pregnant, and she does look about ready to burst already. Carlisle assures us that by now even at the most conservative estimate Rosalie should be far enough along to give the baby a viable chance of survival if it were born prematurely.
Since they won't be able to take Rosalie to a human hospital without breaking the Volturi secrecy laws, the whole family has been busily preparing to help her through a home birth.
Carlisle has reduced his hours at the hospital and made sure a backup doctor can cover for him when the time comes. Esme has somehow crammed an entire midwifery course including practical rotation into the half year we had between finding out and the estimated due date. She on her own should already be enough help to deliver the baby, barring any serious complications.
Jasper, Garrett and Emmett have made contingency plans for every eventuality any of us could think of. What if the Volturi find out? What if the child is uncontrollable and attacks humans? What if Edward and Alice return? What if a human gets close to the child and realizes it is not natural? What if the wolves attack? The answer to a disturbing amount of the scenarios is violence.
My contribution has been to think of the human details that my vampires would forget. It had been nearly a century since any of them contemplated having a baby, and the world has become a lot more complex since then. It wouldn't do to get CPS after us, and I have at least a vague idea of what paperwork we will need to uphold appearances. After all, we will have to be very careful about exposing the child to the regular world, and raising a child entirely hidden in your home tends to look like child trafficking. With some help form Jasper's favorite forger we believe we now have the situation in hand.
Considering my function as the intermediary for the paperwork, Rosalie and Emmett have had to tell me what they plan to name their baby. I feel very smug to be the only one in the family to know, and have kept the secret religiously. Even from Jasper, to his great dismay.
None of those are exactly details I could have shared with my father. My thoughts wander to more innocuous topics.
Kate's efforts at learning to knit baby clothes still continue, she has now absolutely mastered the art of producing Edwardian era style garments with an unholy amount of ruffles. When the weather turned colder she made me something which I think is supposed to be worn as a scarf.
I don't know how to further explain to dad about my efforts to get Esme and Kate's knitting styles out of their birth era. I had asked Sue if I could borrow some of her old knitting pattern books for Kate to work from, so that the style would at least be closer to the 1990's than the 1890's. I wanted to write how amused she had been. Her son Seth came to drop them off, seemingly the only werewolf with no scruples about vampires. I wanted to tell dad how much I miss my old friends from the reservation, and how happy I am that at least one of the tribe has put the stupid creature prejudice aside and is now on speaking terms with my family again.
"Hey kids, want something from the drive-through?", Garrett interrupts my revery.
I am quite hungry so I pass on my order and Kate pulls over. Right as we approach the order window, I suddenly feel two sharp teeth sink into my neck.
"FUUUUUCKKKKKK. JASPER WHAT THE FUCK MAN!", I cannot make out whether Garrett or Kate is shouting, but the car jostles again, the teeth leave my neck, and someone is growling.
"Don't know... Suddenly... Mate.", my hearing is getting vague as a burning pain takes over all other sensation.
"More venom", I barely catch the end of the sentence before teeth pierce my skin again, this at the pulse point at my left wrist, and I can feel more venom entering my system.
The already all-consuming burn somehow doubles and I lose my grip on comprehension.
After an unknown amount of time I am gradually getting acclimatized to the burn, and perceive some input from my environment. There is a sense of movement that makes me believe the car is driving again, and I feel I am laid out flat on my back now.
Most overwhelmingly though there is a scent, which after some consideration I identify as Jasper. I try with all my might to focus on that rather than the burning, and it helps some. Thinking of Jasper makes me remember a conversation we had about how the change goes, how I might be able to retain more of my memories if I manage to focus on them during the change. Immediately I pull up all my memories of him. Our first meeting, our first kiss, his changes during the bloodshake experiment, how much happier he became after Alice and Edward left.
I cling to the memories, and through them remember the rest of the family. Cooking dinners together at my place to eat with dad, finding out about Rosalie's pregnancy, helping build Emmett and Rosalie's house, talking with Carlisle, baking with Esme, pranks, games and parties with Emmett, Garrett, Kate, Peter and Charlotte.
As I lay there, I focused on my memories, on trying not to scream, and the scent and strange warmth of Jasper next to me. The burning was nearly bearable this way.
Afterwards Kate and Garrett would tell me in great detail exactly how my transformation went. With strong emphasis on their frustration with Jasper.
"JASPER. AGAIN. WHAT THE FUCK?", Garrett seemed to finally get through to him once they were back on the highway.
Kate had somehow managed to maneuver the car out of the drive-through without any of the employees spotting what was going on inside.
Jasper, meanwhile, was mostly confused. "Why isn't she screaming? They always scream. Can we even turn someone into a normal vampire while on the bloodshake diet?"
Garrett shook his head and instead chose to confer with his mate.
"Kate, we should head over to Peter and Charlotte."
"Already changed course for Montana.", she replied. "Can you call to warn them and to get the exact coordinates that we need to navigate to?"
Such practicalities were quickly dealt with. Then came another necessary phone call.
"Carlisle, we have a... Situation.", Garrett started. He wondered how it must sound at the other end of the line, with Jasper still muttering to himself and Kate cursing behind the steering wheel. He struggled to find words to explain
"Hmm, I wonder if it was the diet that made Jasper suddenly able to form a mating bond, despite his past.", Carlisle reacted to the story. "The only other feasible explanation is if his creator has died. I'll ask around, but if Peter and Charlotte haven't heard anything about Maria I'm not likely to find out anything either. I have no acquaintances that keep up to date with the south other than them and the Volturi, and the latter I prefer not to call until Rosalie's child is safe."
"Of course.", Garrett answered, already re-dialing Peter's number.
Before he even hit the call button Kate spoke up. "Garrett, the tank is nearly empty. We're going to have to hit a gas station."
Slowly he turned his eyes from his phone screen to his mate, passing over the rearview mirror in which he saw Jasper still frantically inspecting his deadly silent human girlfriend who was in the middle of changing into a vampire.
Fuck me.", he whispered, empathetically staring into Kate's eyes.