Chapter 13: The Triumph
For a couple weeks, Bella's life settled into a semblance of normalcy. The days passed without incident, and although she no longer knew how to relax, she allowed herself to momentarily believe that Jasper would never bother her again.
Bella made the effort to reconnect with her friends and committed to a study group on Wednesday nights. A cute guy from her Genetics class started sitting next to her at every lecture, and she was amazed at the sensation of butterflies in her stomach. It was something that she hadn't felt in a long time. If he wouldn't work up the nerve to ask her out, she promised she'd do it after the next lecture. Gina welcomed her back to volunteer with the Precious Promises kids every month. Her life began to settle back into a familiar rhythm and it couldn't have been more glorious.
She didn't go to the church the next Sunday, and to her surprise, didn't face any repercussions. No duffel bag on her bed, no hole in her apartment wall, no terrifying visions in the middle of the day. Even Gina had asked her last week whether Bella was able to get in contact with Jasper about when he'd volunteer next or why he hadn't been showing up to Mass.
Despite the return to normalcy, her nightmares haunted her every night. Rosalie had commented on it once, asking offhandedly whether Bella had sought therapy or medications, but didn't persist in her line of questioning. This had prompted her to visit her school's health department where after a couple screenings, diagnosed her with depression and anxiety and sent her off with a prescription for an antidepressant.
She was driving back from the pharmacy when her life upended once again.
I knew my life couldn't be peaceful for long. Bella huffed a bitter laugh. Mr. Marsala was standing outside of her car, after three weeks of normalcy, pounding on the glass desperately to get in. She didn't have a moment to decide whether to let him in because her car was unlocked and Mr. Marsala was already pulling the door handle. He was white as a sheet and looked emaciated. Flecks of blood dotted his cheek as he jumped into the car, gasping for breath.
"What happened to you? You're bleeding!" Bella said, alarmed. How had he escaped Jasper's prison?
"Let's go," he said in a haunted voice.
"Excuse me?" she scoffed. "Go where? I was on my way home. Please get out of my car unless you need a ride to an ER."
"I said let's go!" he bellowed.
"Okay! Jeez," she muttered, uneasiness seeping in quickly. She began to drive on autopilot, though initially unsure where to go, she began to drive to the one place she could think of. "Can you tell me what happened?" When he didn't respond, her frustration grew. "What did you do?"
"Yellow eyes. Red eyes. They're one and the same."
Bella was about to agree but something about his tone made her freeze. Something was wrong. Normally fidgety and talkative, he now sat in eerie silence. She cast a cautious glance at him. She initially thought he was hurt, but now that she looked at his clothes, he was drenched in blood, even seeping into his jacket.
And his eyes terrified her.
Her hands began to shake a little on the steering wheel.
"Mr. Marsala, there are some tissues in the glove compartment if you need to wipe yourself," Bella instructed calmly, reaching in front of him to pull open the compartment.
But before she could touch the handle, he grabbed her hand tightly. "You lied to me! You're one of them, aren't you?" he accused. He pulled out a bloody knife from his jacket and pointed it at her.
Bella screamed. "What the hell! What are you talking about? Put down the knife!" She yanked her hand back from his grip.
"You're one of them! You're a vampire!"
"WHAT?" Bella shrieked. "What are you talking about?"
The knife in his hand was shaking violently. "You've been luring me all this time to kill me! Your lover— Satan —captured and imprisoned me after I attempted to purify the land with Holy fire. It thought it could get rid of me. That's why I killed all those people in the basement—they're all vampires!"
Bella's heart sank to her stomach. No!
"That woman with the red hair, she was in there." Mr. Marsala's expression twisted into horror. "I saw you come out of its house. You knew she was there, didn't you? The one who killed my son . You knew!" He pointed his knife at her again, making a jabbing motion. "I can't believe that after all that I've removed from this world, there's still more. I have to kill you before you kill me." He lifted the knife above his head and brought it down.
Bella screamed and swerved the car in an attempt to pull away from him. The car slammed into something and her head struck the steering wheel and everything went black.
Bella stirred, her head throbbing as she lifted it from the steering wheel. Memories of the last few minutes rushed through her mind. She turned to look at Mr. Marsala sitting next to her and felt a wave of relief wash over her when she saw that he had passed out cold, his head having struck the dashboard.
"Shit, shit, shit what do I do with this crazy asshole?" Bella muttered to herself. If he wakes up, he's going to try to kill me again.
She lifted her head to look at the Haunted House. The shrubs on the left side of the house were on fire, thick plumes of smoke billowing into the air. Through the haze, she saw a figure stumbling out of the house, one hand clutching his throat while the other reached out in front of him desperately. Bella could see Jasper clearly through her headlights; his breaths were visible in quick succession in the cold night as he staggered forward until he teetered and collapsed in front of Bella's car.
Slowly, Bella stepped out of her car, her heart pounding in her chest, and came around to stand in front of her headlights. She stared at Jasper's helpless form on the ground in front of her, his pleading eyes searching desperately at hers. Her gaze darted to the burning house, the flames climbing past the shrubs and up the trellis.
A small giggle escaped her lips.
She couldn't believe her luck. Her daydreams for the last couple months were coming to life in front of her. A slow smile creeped across her face as she crossed her arms, unable to stifle the bubbling laughter. "Looks like you're in quite the predicament," she remarked with a cruel glint in her eyes.
Jasper chuckled weakly on the ground. "It seems so." His hand inched forward across the icy ground towards her foot.
Bella stepped forward abruptly and stomped on his hand.
"Bella! What—" Jasper roared.
"You really can't move, huh?" She chortled. "You look so helpless."
Jasper's face twisted into anger. "You look a little too pleased with yourself. Did you do this?"
"Do what? Make you deal with the consequences of your own actions?" she retorted sarcastically. "What happened, Mr. Big Bad? Did a silly little human outsmart you?" She scoffed in disgust and stomped on his hand once more.
Jasper gritted his teeth as he spat out, " I haven't killed anyone. Victoria killed your classmates. I merely disposed of them. Your friend over there slaughtered those innocent humans in my house. Who's the Big Bad here?"
Bella paused. She hadn't expected him to say that. I should leave him here like this. Let the fire department find him and Marsala together with a burning house full of human and vampire corpses. He should suffer like she did.
Immediately, a conflicting surge of empathy wrestled in her mind and she wondered whether that was the right thing to do.
Bastard! Was he attempting, albeit very weakly, to make her sympathetic to his pathetic form?
"You're lying," she accused.
"I swear on every second of Alice's life that I did not kill any of them!" Jasper insisted firmly. His fingers dug into the ground as he said this.
Suddenly, she heard the sound of the door handle of the car behind her.
No! Crap. Mr. Marsala was struggling to open the car door. There was vomit on his jacket and he appeared completely disoriented.
"Bella," and Bella could already hear the faint smile in Jasper's voice, "It looks like you're in a predicament too. What if we lend each other a hand?" Bella whirled back to face him. "You and me, as a team. What do you say?"
"Shut up! What do I get out of helping you!"
"Freedom," he stated. "Save me, I'll let you go."
Bella looked back and saw Mr. Marsala still struggling against the door. Her mind raced, weighing her options. Jasper had tormented her for two relentless months, inflicting mental anguish. He had even threatened to kill her once and violated her mind with the onslaught of emotions more than once. Yet, he had never actually attempted to kill her. On the other hand, she had known Mr. Marsala for only one month and he had already murdered three humans and a blind vampire in a single day and attempted to murder her only fifteen minutes ago.
Which was the lesser of two evils?
She took a deep breath. "Freedom? Sure. But I want my life guaranteed too," she demanded firmly. Rosalie had told her he was a man of his word. Let's see about that.
Jasper looked up at her, alarmed.
Got you. "No matter what happens, you won't kill me. Say it."
Jasper's expression smoothed out and he chuckled weakly. "Fine."
Bella hurried around her car and pulled open the passenger side door. Mr. Marsala groaned as he leaned his body back into the seat. She seized him by his jacket collar and forcefully dragged him out of the car. He tumbled to the ground in a dazed heap. Thanks to the icy road, she was able to roll him effortlessly to the front of the car, bringing him closer to Jasper.
"What do you need? Blood?"
Jasper grew paler by the second. "Yes…." Every word seemed to be a struggle for him to get out. "But I need a little help from you."
"He's got a bunch all over him. What do you need me to do?"
"His blood—give me his blood. It doesn't have to be much, but I need to smell a drop of his blood."
Bella reached into her pocket and pulled out the pink pocket knife Charlie gifted her. "Why the hell do I need to do this?" she whispered, her hands shaking as she held the blade next to Mr. Marsala's cheek. There's no turning back from this, Bella. This is it. With a swift motion, she sliced the skin and waited for the blood to seep out quickly. "Okay, this should be enough right? Jas—"
She screamed when she looked behind her to find Jasper already on his feet, his eyes flashing scarlet, his fangs elongated and bared beneath his sinister expression. He lunged forward and for a split second, Bella braced herself for an attack, but he surged past her, his body a hair's breadth away, his focus entirely on Mr. Marsala. The sickening sound of Jasper's fangs sinking into Mr. Marsala's flesh pierced the air before Bella could fully process what was happening. She kept her eyes locked on the burning building, the flames dancing before her, as Mr. Marsala croaked unintelligible words and his words faded into the night.
It was only when she heard the dull thud of the body hitting the ground that she forced herself to turn around, her breathing shaky.
Too far.
Jasper stood by her car, a satisfied smirk playing on his lips as he wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. He pivoted to face her and took one step towards her. Then another, closing the distance between them with each measured stride.
"Stay back, stay away from me." Bella's voice quivered as she staggered backwards. Her foot caught on an edging stone, sending her tumbling to the ground. "Get away from me!"
Jasper continued to approach her. "Don't worry, little swan. I'm keeping my promise," he assured, crouching in front of her. "On one condition."
Bella bared her teeth. "We didn't say anything about conditions!"
"Come to church every Sunday."
A beat. "What?!"
He tilted his head, a familiar motion that already translated in her mind, Are you stupid? "You know too much, Bella. It's a wonder we left you alone for so long. Don't you think I should be monitoring you a bit closer?" He reached forward and picked up a small strand of hair on her shoulder and slid it between his fingers.
"That's it? That's your condition? And otherwise, it's really over? You'll delete the videos of me?"
He nodded.
She smacked his hand away from her, her hair slipping out from between his fingers. "Don't ever do anything to me ever again. Don't lay a finger on me. Don't use your powers. Stay out of my life" she demanded.
Jasper's smile belied that he knew something she didn't, something that amused him. "Yes—"
Bella slapped him hard across the face, wiping the smile clean off his face..
"I'm done . Damn you. I never want to talk to you again. I never want to see your smug face. I wish I could scrub you from my mind," she seethed. "Stay out of my life and I'll stay out of yours." She rose to her feet and marched away from him, refusing to acknowledge Mr. Marsala's lifeless body in front of her car. Climbing into her car, she drove off, her gaze fixed on the road ahead. Her eyes darted to the rearview mirror, where she saw the house blazing with a roaring fire, but her focus remained on the lone figure that stood at the open gates, watching her drive away.
Bella drove a couple miles before the tears flowed from her eyes. "I survived. I'm free."