Taptaptaptaptap tap.
The noise is grating on my overly sensitive ears. I frown, and Jasper pauses his typing.
"You can tell Kate to work you less hard you know.", he says, sounding superiorly.
"I can. But I won't."
Jasper smirks and resumes typing. I groan.
"I would stop, but this assignment is due today."
"I know, that's why I did it yesterday.", I reply smugly.
While we were in hiding to let me assimilate into my vampire existence, the university had temporarily allowed us to work remotely and email our assignments. As far as they know I have caught a rare illness that requires specialized treatment out of state.
Taptaptaptaptap.
Could he not have gotten a les noisy keyboard?
Working a computer had been one of the hardest thing to re-learn as a vampire. The slightest pressure of my super strong fingers could irreparably damage the fragile machine. As I had experienced, repeatedly. Touch screens were even worse than buttons and keyboards.
Languishingly I drape myself over the couch feeling very sorry for myself. It is truly unfair. After becoming a vampire I should never have had to suffer physical discomfort anymore, but I am experiencing what can only be described as a splitting headache.
"Really, if you go on like this I will have words with Kate."
I grunt in response. Kate was indeed the source of my current discomfort. After waking up as a vampire the priority had been to gain basic control of my strength, thirst and instincts. With the aid of the bloodshakes that was relatively easy though. Once I could make my way around the ranch without breaking something or pouncing on Jasper every five minutes, Kate had laid claim to my spare time to experiment with my shield ability.
Over the course of the bloodshake experiment I had begun to think of my odd quirk as less valuable. Switching diets gave the other vampires instant protection against Edward as well. It even protected against Alice, who had always been able to see my future. With Rosalie's due date approaching the priorities changed though.
We will have to deal with the Volturi sooner or later, and the more information we can keep from them the better. From Carlisle various tests we know it is possible to return to a regular seeming vampire by switching back to an animal hunting diet. Only the aging cannot be undone. However, we do not know how that affects our gifts, and our vulnerability to others' gifts.
We do know my shield ability is impenetrable to both Edward and Aro's mind reading.
Consequently I have been very busy practicing with it. A hard thing to do, because it has always come automatically. That is, protecting me has come automatically. Something it does not naturally do that I need to get it to do, is shield others. Most notably Jasper, then the rest of my family.
It is exciting to stretch this new part of myself to its limits, but hard work too. It drains energy out of me to an extend that I was glad I did not need to hunt for the blood to replenish it, but could just mix up a shake. And yes, it makes me experience something that feels like a really bad headache.
I rearrange my limbs to dramatically drape myself over Jasper's lap. His fingers briefly linger over the keyboard before he resolutely shuts his laptop, puts it aside, and grabs a hold of me. His eyes darken, and tantalizingly slowly he strokes a hand down my neck into my shirt while he presses me into the couch.
Until we are interrupted by Peter flopping down next to us.
We give him an affronted look and Jasper makes to push him off the couch, but he has already grabbed a hold of the remote and is turning on the TV.
"A sec, I need to see something." There is an urgency in his tone that I never heard from him before.
I look at Jasper, who is looking at Peter intently. He once told me that Peter has an uncanny sense of intuition, which Jasper is convinced is a gifted ability, even if Peter refuses to consider it thus. He does rather have a knack for being in the right place at the right time and anticipating things. Playing board games against him is no fun.
We wait in anticipation while Peter flicks through channels. He smiles in satisfaction when he lands on a news report.
"And now we continue to the investigation of the explosion that devastated the border zone of New Mexico last month. While the scale of the destruction makes a terrorist attack likely, no group has stepped up to claim the attack. Further research has led to wondering if the cause could have been an accident. Ruins of what is presumed to be a former drug trafficking base have been discovered in the center of the blast zone. The compound was extremely well hidden, most of it underground where satellites could not discover the scale of the buildings. The lengthy network of tunnels underneath is now carefully being explored by a team of seasoned excavators..."
"Maria.", Jasper whispers. "You think she got blown up?"
"Hard to be sure.", Peter answers. "But I have a feeling about that explosion. By the look of it there was certainly enough fire to destroy a vampire. Multiple vampires. A whole newborn camp perhaps."
"The date fits with the time of my change.", I chime in. I have grabbed Jasper's laptop from where he put it on the side table and am furiously looking up all available information on the event. "Even the timing. If Maria was killed in the first blast, and your sire bond immediately dissolved, it fits perfectly with the moment you bit me."
"I need to know for sure.", Jasper says resolutely.
"Let's go investigate!", Peter immediately exclaims with a great deal of enthusiasm.
We quickly gather the others to make a plan. To his great chagrin, Jasper eventually ends up staying behind. He did not want to be away from me, but also did not want me in danger. Or, he did not want an inexperienced fighter to be a liability in the middle of a war zone. That is how he phrased it to placate me. Either way, someone had to stay behind to man the ranch in case Rosalie and Emmett need to flee there, and we were the most logical choice.
Peter, Charlotte, Kate and Garrett all piled into one jeep and drove south.
The next few days are eerily quiet. I had become so used to being surrounded by my family that it is odd to be alone with only Jasper. We make the most of the privacy, barely emerging from our bedroom. I resolved that soon we would plan a little honeymoon together. I wanted some more of this alone time, but then without the imminent threat of our loved ones sneaking around a newborn army camp. Even while we are making love we keep listening for Jasper's cellphone to go off, hoping for good news, dreading the worst.
Information slowly trickles in. Mostly over text messages, to avoid the risk of being overheard. All four of our friends are also equipped with GPS trackers, through which we can easily map out which ground they have covered. By day two it is absolutely evident that the explosion has indeed destroyed a vampire camp. Some spare limbs are found lying around the surrounding countryside, with no bodies to match. What remains to be seen is just how large this camp was, whose it had been, and if anyone got away.
The body parts are a dangerous complication. If humans picked them up they could find out our secret. If the Volturi found out that humans found them they would launch an investigation. It is definitely in our best interest to keep the Volturi in Europe at present. Thus it falls to our friends to clean up the mess. The blast radius of the explosion had been several kilometers, leaving a vast area to scout. Methodically every last inch of it is scoured for suspicious things that should not be there.
A full week passes before the jeep pulls back into the driveway, and we can all breathe properly again.
"We brought you a souvenir!", Peter exclaims gleefully, and I shuffle backwards behind Jasper. I have experienced enough of Peter's "jokes" by now to be wary.
He produces a wriggling sack. When he holds it upside down a hand falls out - a moving hand, which scuttles towards us. Jasper catches it beneath his boot and picks it up to study it. Peter tosses him a lighter, and Jasper takes perhaps a little too much delight in setting the hand on fire.
"She's really gone isn't she?"
"You're free."
"Of her at least."
Peter punches Jasper in the arm. "None of that now! That Victoria and the Volturi can go fuck themselves for the day, tonight we celebrate." As we speak he is opening the liquor cabinet.
Ninety-nine problems, but at least Maria is no longer one. I want to get drunk.