Notes: Warnings for emotional manipulation and violence.

Chapter 2: The Predator

At first, through sheer shock, Bella's cries were gentle, a single teardrop sliding down her cheek. But with more time to think about what Jasper had said to her, she was eating both her burger and tears as she sobbed through dinner.

Jasper regarded Bella almost awkwardly, unsure of how to deal with a human being who was sobbing besides using his powers. But this human didn't want that. So he had to just sit and watch her.

They sat in silence as she ate her meal. Once she finished her last sip of her shake, she was unbearably full and exhausted. She watched him with hooded eyes. Despite his more human appearance, he was still strikingly gorgeous, as if he had walked off the cover of a summer magazine. Though it seemed with every passing minute, the shadows under his eyes grew darker, and his skin became ashen.

"Jasper, I understand it must be hard to talk about any of this, but please, Alice and Edward were important to me too. I want to know what happened to them. And what happened to you."

Jasper looked troubled by her request, despite promising her an answer.

Just then, Jasper looked over at the table behind them as she heard exclamations from some of the group of boys.

Bella leaned over to look past him. The boys were passing around a bottle that they had snuck into the restaurant, egging one another on to drink as much as they could withstand. She noticed Christine, the girl from her Calc class, looking ready to drop from where she sat. Her eyes locked on the arm tight around her shoulders, one boy leaning close to her face, his other hand trying to tip her chip up to him. He tried to kiss her lips, but she was barely able to hold her head up; his lips only caught the corner of her mouth.

"Ugh, that's awful!" she exclaimed. Goosebumps appeared on her arms as she shivered.

"Someone you know?" Jasper asked with a sudden pique of interest.

"Barely," Bella replied. "But I went to my first rager last year and some loser did something like that to me, and it didn't end well for either of us." Her stomach churned as she remembered the horrible smell and slimy feel of a tongue prodding into her mouth. The terrible consequences that came after.

She was already pulling the napkin off her lap and slapping it on the table as she got up. "Hey, Christine!" She put on a falsely cheery voice as she approached the table.

The girl lazily glanced up at her name.

"I've been trying to reach you all night. You said you were going to bring the face masks to girls' night tonight!" She reached for the girl's hand to pull her out of her seat. "Come on, we can walk back together. I'll let Jen know we're on the way."

The boy next to her grabbed Christine's other hand. "Hey! She's with me."

Jasper was now aiding Bella in holding the sagging girl upright from behind.

Bella huffed with a hand on her hip. "You can have her another night. Christine and I have been planning movie night for weeks."

The other boys at the table were quieting down, now noticing something was going on.

"Well, she wouldn't be with me tonight if she was going to make it your 'movie night'," the boy hissed at her. He grabbed Christine's arm again.

One of the other boys piped up, "Dude, just let her go."

The boy assessed the situation. Either he continued to fight and embarrass himself not only in front of two strangers but also in front of his entire friend group, or he had to let go and move on with his night.

He chose violence.

Bella recognized the shift in mood as soon as Jasper did. Jasper's jaw clenched, and as if a gust of wind had ripped through the restaurant and targeted the group of boys at Table 12, all four boys collapsed in unison into their seats and onto the table.

Bella recoiled in shock, unsure whether the boys were asleep or dead.

Jasper gathered Christine in his arms and led her out of the diner, leaving Bella dazed behind them. Pausing for a moment, trying to process what she had just witnessed, she slowly returned to their table to grab her backpack and try to catch up with Jasper, who had bizarrely already left with Christine.

She was about to exit the diner when she heard the waitress behind her. "Where do you think you're going?" The woman had one hand on her hip. "You haven't paid."

Bella gaped and looked back and forth from the waitress to the diner exit. "He said…." When she didn't see Jasper outside the diner, she dumbly accepted the bill and noted the total. Internally, she screamed. "Fucking asshole!" she shrieked indignantly in her head, seething as she scribbled in the tip. She would have to go without food at the end of the month.

As she slipped out, she heard the waitress exclaim from the back of the diner, "What the hell! Y'all can't sleep in here!"

When she stepped outside into the chilly air, Jasper was nowhere to be found. Bella didn't know why she thought he would be standing outside waiting for her after he left her with the bill. She was about to just start screaming into her scarf in frustration over everything that happened tonight when she heard a low moan.

Panic began to course through her veins. "Jasper!" she exclaimed. She bolted towards the sound. She was terrified at the prospect of losing him, while the mystery of his condition and the deaths of Edward, Alice, and Emmett remained unknown.

Bella's heart pounded in her chest as she rounded the corner of a dimly lit alleyway near the diner. Her footsteps faltered as she froze in her tracks, her eyes widening in shock and horror.

There, before her, stood Jasper, his face contorted with hunger, hovering menacingly over Christine.

Fear and disbelief rooted Bella to the spot as she watched Jasper's sharp fangs elongate, ready to pierce the vulnerable skin of the girl's neck. It was a sight she had never imagined witnessing: a vampire—a Cullen—about to indulge in the forbidden act of feeding on a human.

She struggled to figure out what to do. Edward had told her on more than one occasion that she would never be able to watch him feed otherwise his instinct to hunt would overpower any positive feelings he had for her. But she couldn't let Jasper do this to an innocent girl.

Summoning her courage, Bella found her voice, her words trembling. "Jasper, stop! You can't do this!"

Jasper's head snapped towards Bella, his eyes glinting with a mix of hunger and desperation. There was a wildness in his gaze, and Bella's heart dropped at the thought that he might try to kill her instead. With his lips still on Christine's slender neck, he locked his eyes with hers, eyes half-lidded, looking almost drugged. "Bella," Jasper murmured. "Go away."

The girl beneath him whimpered, her eyes glazed with confusion. His fangs glinted dangerously in the dim light, the temptation of fresh blood overpowering.

Jasper leaned down and traced the tip of his nose from the base of her collarbone up her neck; his lips parted slightly. It looked like an addict was torturing himself by getting as close to the drug as possible without using it.

"Wow, some knight in shining armor you are," she said, her voice wavering. "Save the girl from one predator, only to prey on her yourself. Nice one."

Jasper's eyes flickered with self-reproach. Slowly, he released his hold on the girl, his features twisted with spasms of irritation.

In a moment of intensity, Jasper closed the distance between them, pressing Bella against the rough brick wall of the alley. His grip was firm yet gentle, his eyes searching hers. "Do you think I enjoy this, Bella?" he asked, his voice laced with frustration. "I'm a vampire. This is what I am."

Bella's heart raced, memories of other monsters holding her in place flashing before her eyes—James…Andrew…and now Jasper—and she almost started kicking and punching until she realized he was only staring at her. "You have control, Jasper. You're stronger than this. I've seen your control, your restraint. I know you can resist this."

"You've seen my restraint?" He laughed humorlessly.

Bella knew he was talking about her birthday debacle. "You know what I mean."

He leaned in, his forehead gently resting against hers. "You don't understand," he whispered. "There's no going back once you've had human blood." He shuddered. "The thirst... it's unbearable, and animal blood—Bella, it's not as it once was. Not anymore." His head tilted down so that his mouth hovered over her throat. She could feel his cool breath against her skin—a mix of temptation and anguish. Her thighs squeezed together on their own accord.

He abruptly lifted his head to look into her eyes with surprise as he inhaled deeply. His pupils yawned wide, and she felt a rumble of a purr against her body.

Bella tentatively brought her shaking hands to hold his arms. Tears welled up in her eyes. "There has to be another way."

This seemed to snap him out of whatever had just happened to him. He blinked.

"I won't kill her," he promised. "I don't have venom."

That sent Bella's mind reeling, but she was persistent and shook her head. "No, Jasper—"

The girl stumbled forward, disoriented and frightened. Jasper's hold on her was wearing off. Bella wanted to rush to her side, offer support and comfort. She cast a cautious glance at Jasper.

Slowly, he released Bella, stepping back with a haunted expression. The weight of his struggles hung heavy in the air, and suddenly Bella knew she wouldn't be able to intervene. Every cell in her body wanted her to turn away and not notice what was happening right before her eyes.

With a shaky breath, she said, "No." She swallowed thickly. "Don't use your abilities on me." She looked at Christine, who now appeared sedated once more, tears welling in her eyes from the guilt. "Please don't do this."

But somehow, she lost interest, and she turned away from the scene without another glance behind her, hurrying out of the dark alley and sprinting down the street. Suddenly aware of the harsh cold, Bella snapped out of the hold he had on her.

She imagined herself running back to persuade Jasper to let Christine go, fully aware that by the time she returned to the alley, apathy would overwhelm her and force her to turn back. She imagined hearing from campus police the next morning about a dead girl discovered near a popular diner and that they were hoping witnesses would share information ASAP. Maybe they would knock on her door after nearly dining and dashing and then being the last person to be seen with Christine. Or she imagined Christine as another missing girl as she transformed into a vampire.

Wait, the campus police. Even knowing that he might be able to just use his powers again on anyone that tried to interfere, it seemed as if he had struggled to use the full force of his power on both herself and Christine while he was in his state of hunger.

She pulled out her Razr and called the university police department. When the operator answered, she blurted out, "There's a group of men behind The Diner, and there's a girl back there screaming! Please help!"

Jasper may be able to take on a couple cops. But a force of police officers hurrying to take on a gang? If he wanted to hurt someone that badly, she'd make him work for it.

A million thoughts raced through Bella's mind as she walked home to her apartment on Pacific Street. It took her two unsuccessful attempts to return to the alley before she began to experience a splitting headache.

Even if Jasper kept his promise and didn't kill the woman, his previous statements only reinforced her mistrust of him.

He had said, "I won't kill her. I don't have venom."

Whatever Jasper was hiding from her, it had caused his vampirism to change. When he had pale, crystalline skin, bullet train speed, and monstrous strength, she would not have believed his promise. When James had bitten her, Edward had to suck out the venom, or she would have died and changed fundamentally into another species. But now, whatever kind of monster Jasper was, she didn't feel as confident that his bite would be the death sentence it once was.

What a horrible night, she thought. She would have never imagined that her reintroduction to the supernatural world would be like this.

Emmett, Alice, Edward... gone.

She had given up the hope that Edward would take her back once she started going to therapy, but she could have never in her lifetime fathomed this outcome. She thought that maybe she would see him again in passing. Or even never at all, at least knowing he would be around for eternity.

Clearly, Jasper wasn't dealing well with whatever happened to him. She wondered how Rosalie was doing and what she thought about all this. She must have the same condition as him. Bella remembered his earlier statement that they no longer strayed too far from one another in case they experienced "further change," whatever that meant. And if she was anything like Jasper is now, that probably means she was feeding on humans. She shivered at the thought, remembering that Rosalie now worked with children.

And Carlisle and Esme—they must know what happened to Jasper. Yet they trusted him enough to leave the country.

As she continued back to her apartment, her sobs were loud and ugly, with fat teardrops rolling down her cheeks. She had to stop walking for a few minutes and pause to look at the lonely Haunted House on Fox Hill in the distance when it felt like her entire body was crying. Her heart ached so much that her sobs became silent, and she couldn't even take another breath. She couldn't make another move. She thought she understood pain when he left her. That was not a fair comparison to what she felt at that moment.

She was finally able to lean against a wall and breathe. She recalled all of the skills she had learned in therapy and attempted to put them to use by taking slow, deep breaths. "A universe without change would not exist, for everything and anything requires change," she recited her mantra. "And loss is nothing else but change, and change is nature's delight."

Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Bella had walked another half-mile towards her apartment when her phone rang following a string of new text messages. She quickly scrolled through them to see that Jenny, her roommate, was at the party she had invited her to earlier and needed someone to make sure she got home safely by the end of the night.

Bella almost ignored the messages and went straight home and into bed, where she could sleep and stop thinking, or even drop off her backpack first. But after witnessing Christine being violated by two different men within fifteen minutes and knowing that Jen was one of the very few people who had supported her after what happened last year, she knew she would never forgive herself if something happened to her friend.

It was eerily quiet, with very few cars and buses passing by. As night fell, the city grew darker, and the spaces between the apartments turned black. On occasion, she noticed some people on the sidewalk, but they would quickly enter a building nearby.

She wondered if the cops had arrived to save Christine.

She felt alone.

She felt alone even when she was surrounded by people, even after months of therapy. Until Jacob, that is. Then he left her too.

She could hear the music before she saw the house. There were students all over the lawn, and groups of people were restlessly going inside, packing themselves like sardines. Her backpack weighed heavily on her shoulders.

She let out a sigh. New mission: find Jen and go home.

It took her ten minutes to find Jen doing shots in the kitchen with a couple of their friends from the school's UNICEF organization. Bella gave them a little wave when they were done making sour faces, and the girls descended on her, squealing.

"Bellaaaaaaa, you came!" Stephanie slurred.

Bella was sandwiched between three girls, all of whom were hugging her and each other. "Guys…can't breathe!" she said dramatically.

Jen, a pretty girl with corn silk hair and a long, narrow face, measured and added various alcohols and mixers to a red Solo cup before handing it to Bella. "We thought you would be stuck in the library until tomorrow morning. Looks like you headed straight here, huh?" she said, pointing to Bella's backpack.

"I told you not to bother studying for Chu's physics final. Answer 'BABDC' in that order for the entire exam, and you've earned yourself an A," counseled Rupa after taking a long swig from an amber beer bottle.

"I told my roommate that, and she got a C on that exam," Stephanie complained.

Bella had met Jen, Rupa, and Stephanie when they were all sophomores last year. While Bella had been held back a year, her friends had moved on as juniors, already career planning and taking graduate school exams. She initially felt shameful at the start of this year, but her friends hadn't once spoken to her with pity and that helped dissipate her worries.

She didn't know what to say about the previous hour, so she simply explained, "I just had a date who ditched me to munch on another girl and left me with the bill."

Rupa cackled next to her. Bella playfully punched her on the arm.

"Ouch," Jen sympathized.

"Was he hot, then?" Stephanie inquired.

Jasper's numb, blunted face as he fixed his gaze on her throat flashed through her mind. "Fuck, no." She immediately felt ashamed, remembering that she had once had countless erotic dreams of Edward and even Jacob doing the exact same thing to her.

"That makes it almost worse," Stephanie said with a scrunched-up face.

"Sorry, Bella. Sucks to suck. Alright, ladies. I'm gonna go make my rounds," Rupa said with a wink.

The three girls watched Rupa saunter away with confidence. Although all four had jokingly vowed to be sexual deviants this year, Rupa was the only one who managed to keep her promise, bagging a guy almost every weekend. The girls sighed—this was the curse of being shy nerds.

The party buzzed with excitement as Bella, Jen, and Stephanie navigated through the crowd. Whoever was in charge of music had put on a song from the 80s. There were some groans and laughter, but some people started singing along. 'I have a picture pinned to my wall….'

She fidgeted with her drink, absentmindedly tracing her finger along the rim of the plastic cup and doing her best to ignore the dirty looks she received from some of the people who took notice of her. Someone whispered harshly, "Who invited her?"

But her mind was miles away, lost in a whirlwind of thoughts, flitting from Edward, her finals, Edward, Jasper's fangs hovering over Christine's neck, Edward, Edward, Edward, Did I abandon a girl to die?, Edward, Jasper's cool breath on her lips, Edward, Edward…Edward.

Her heart ached at the mere thought of him. The absence of him gnawed at the familiar, patched hole in her chest. She couldn't help but replay the memories of their time together—his gentle, feathering touch, his mesmerizing gaze. The void he left behind was a constant reminder of what once was and what could never be again.

"Are you okay?" Jen asked. "I invited you and didn't even think about..."

"I'm fine," Bella said quickly, dismissing her worries. "Just stressed about finals."

"Ooooh, Bella, don't look," said Stephanie. "A very delicious man is looking at you. Hey, dummy, I said don't look."

As Bella's eyes wandered aimlessly across the room, her thoughts abruptly ceased their chaotic dance. They settled on a pair of intense ruby eyes, staring right back at her. Jasper, standing near the doorway, seemed to be the only person in the room watching her.

'Look at our life now—all tattered and torn. We fuss and we fight and delight in the tears…'

At that moment, time stood still. The noise of the party faded into the background, and the world around her came into sharp focus. Bella's heart skipped a beat as she met Jasper's gaze. It was as if an invisible connection had been forged, pulling her back to the present and leaving her breathless. Bella's attention was irrevocably drawn to Jasper, who stood across the room, his enigmatic gaze fixed on her.

'Hold me now….'

A shiver of anticipation—dread—tingled down Bella's spine as their eyes met. His eyes were blank, but she felt a sense of disbelief from him. As if he were trying to say, "So you really tried to do the exact opposite of what I wanted you to do, huh?" She could almost feel the anger rolling off of him in waves.

'Warm my heart...'

As if he could read her mind, Christine walked by in front of him, the collar of her jacket covering her neck. She still appeared drunk, but she was more alert than she had been in the diner or the alley. She chatted with a couple people, completely oblivious to the vampire still behind her.

'Stay with me!'

Bella tore her gaze away, her heart pounding in her chest, relief spreading across her body. The noise of the party crashed her back into consciousness, jolting her to the present. So Christine was alive. But when her eyes darted back, he was gone. She looked around wildly for him. She both feared that he was hidden somewhere amongst the throngs of people and that he might be gone.

"Mr. Delicious, 10 o'clock," Stephanie whispered. "I swear, I didn't think this kind of shit happened outside of movies."

"It doesn't," Bella muttered, though feeling content that she could place him again. "He's the one who ditched me earlier." She shot him a dirty look, knowing he could hear her.

"Okay, then are you blind?" Stephanie said it incredulously. "That guy is hot as fuck. That guy could ditch me all day long."

Jen and Bella both looked at Stephanie. "Gross," they said simultaneously.

Turning to Jen, she forced a smile and suggested, "Hey, let's head out of here. The party's getting a bit too crowded, don't you think?" She hoped the music masked the trembling in her voice.

Her friend nodded in agreement, glanced at Jasper and looked back to Bella as if to ask, "are you sure you're saying no to that?, oblivious to the invisible web that Bella was caught in. "Steph, you're free to join us. I have wine coolers and Beauty and the Beast on DVD." She raised an eyebrow to entice Stephanie into accepting the tempting offer.

"Let's blow this popsicle stand," Stephanie agreed.

As they began to make their way towards the exit, Bella could feel Jasper's gaze lingering on her, the weight of his stare pressing against her. What he wanted from her, she didn't know. What she wanted from him was, well, quite a lot.

She fought the urge to look back. Deep down, she yearned to. She was afraid she would never see him again. Afraid that, like the Cullens before, he would leave her to be the sole keeper of secrets, her resolve crumbled as they reached the threshold, and Bella stole one last glance over her shoulder, meeting Jasper's gaze for a fleeting moment.

Suddenly, she felt a calmness that was unlike the feeling Jasper used earlier to relax her. It was assuredness, a sense of knowing.

Bella would see him again.

She gulped as she stepped back out into the chilly night, unsure whether she wanted that anymore.