Chapter Text
Alice
Alice had promised herself, with steely determination, that she would never visit the old lady again because Cynthia clearly gave more problems than solutions.
That determination lasted, approximately, three and a half hours.
After that time she allowed herself to observe her just to make sure she wouldn't have the bad idea of telling someone about her, or at least that was the excuse she needed to follow her movements with her visions as she lay on the floor of the hotel room for the next three days without moving, finally tired of the bathtub.
Cynthia didn't look very… cheerful after their discussion. To begin with, she had cried once or twice in her sleep and that was enough for her determination to stay away from her to break into thousands of pieces, exploding like a balloon, feeling the suffocating urge to come back to her house to apologize and comfort her. It was impossible to stay mad at her after seeing her so sad, God damn her mysterious gift for forcing her to care for her. And that only made her feel like she actually had no good reason to stay angry.
But no, of course she had a good reason. The old woman was not a threat to her physical integrity, but her mind was a disaster because of her. Cynthia was playing with her head like a flesh-eating bacteria. Somehow it was terribly easy for her to manipulate her, and the only way to remain stable was to get as far away from her as possible.
But it was a battle destined to fail. Because if she walked away from her, she wouldn't be close enough to prevent her from dying in the next few weeks like Cynthia was sure would happen and then-
No! She had to get away from her! Prove her wrong! She didn't have those kind of feelings for Bella and how dare she even hint at something like that! The only person in the world for Alice was Jasper, her mate, and she was going to prove it to her! The old woman thought Jasper didn't exist because Alice never talked about him? She was totally wrong if she thought that was evidence of something. Cynthia didn't know anything about her and Jasper. She would prove it to her.
She would call Jasper right then and there.
Getting up from the floor and ignoring her reflection in the mirror next to the phone (she looked like she'd gotten into a fistfight with a bear addicted to cocaine), Alice dialed the Denali house and waited patiently for someone to pick up the phone.
Jasper
It turns out that Club Penguin was the best thing that had happened to Jasper since the invention of headphones.
Of course, in a completely opposite sense to headphones. When humans invented headphones, Jasper discovered that they were very useful for blocking out annoying sounds with music and a great excuse not to talk to people. Most humans (and some vampires) thought twice before bothering a person wearing headphones. They were the universal sign of the desire to be left alone. Not to mention the useful addition of being able to listen to music everywhere. They were by far his favorite technological invention in the last forty years.
Club Penguin, on the other hand, gave him the opportunity to be around people and participate in recreational social activities without worrying about his bloodlust. It was a revolutionary invention that had changed his life. Jasper had never had so many friends in his entire life.
He had been online for the past 72 hours non-stop, exploring Penguin Island, buying clothes for his penguin, adopting pets, learning card-jitsu, becoming a secret agent penguin, and chatting non-stop with other players. He could keep playing forever, or until Alice finally called him back.
She had to call him back soon.
The Denali coven came into the playroom regularly, but the most common presences were always Kate and Carmen. The first to annoy him by asking him to give her back the computer because it was her turn to play (she could use another of the many computers, Jasper was not going to let himself be coerced), and the second because Carmen had decided to make an imitation of some famous paintings as part of an old literary project that, in Jasper's opinion, was very unserious. Doña Carmen had been saying she was going to write her own vampire novel since the 70s when Anne Rice became popular, but she had been procrastinating ever since.
For the past few days, she had been in the room painting an exact copy of a macabre painting, Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan, by the artist Ilya Repin, a painting famous for the horror in Tzar Ivan's eyes when he realized he had killed his son with his own hands. Carmen had the brush and paint in her hands, creating an exact copy on the other side of the room.
Ivan clinging to his son's body, with blood on his hands, madness in his eyes, and unbearable pain on his face.
"Why are you even painting that?” asked Jasper pausing his game of Penguin Dance at the Penguin Disco.
Carmen didn’t look up from her painting. “It's an inspiration for my vampire novel.”
“Are you ever going to finish that thing?”
“It has to be perfect, Jaspercito,” said Carmen, turning around to turn on the stereo. The songs from the opera Carmen: La Habanera filled the room. “I would write faster if I had the original painting, but the Louvre refuses to sell it so I have to make my own.”
“You could just print it. You know, with a printer.”
“You know it's not the same.”
“And you know it's just an excuse not to sit down and write that book of yours.” Jasper rolled his eyes.
“I am going to finish that book,” answered Carmen, raising her eyebrows. “But I need this painting because it’s my inspiration for the villain's arc.”
“No one cares about the villain.”
“The villain is the most important character, Jasper,” Carmen insisted. “The personality of the protagonists never varies much, but with the villain you have to be very careful.” Carmen moved the brush in his direction as if she wanted to throw it at him. “They must have a credible motivation. Or better yet, an arc of corruption, so that the reader sees with their own eyes how the character falls into darkness day after day, one bad decision at a time.”
“You're wrong, villains are overrated,” Jasper insisted, refocusing on his penguin dance game again. “No one remembers the Lord of the Rings because of Sauron. In fact, Sauron is the least important character in the story. He's just an excuse to move the plot forward. He doesn’t even show up until the end."
“Maybe Tolkien wasn't that good of a writer.”
“Tolkien finished his books, unlike you.”
Jasper heard the sound of Kate's footsteps heading towards the room before Carmen could respond. Kate entered the room with an expectant expression, which quickly turned to disappointment when her eyes landed on Jasper. “I’m tired of waiting, Jasper. Give me back my favorite computer.”
“You literally collect computers, use another.”
“No, you play on another computer. That’s my Club Penguin computer.”
“Katrina.” Carmen made a face at her as if begging her not to fight. “The orgy can't really be so boring that you'd rather be here playing with those penguins.”
“Don't even mention it. Irina screwed up and forgot to invite the girls,” said Kate in an angry voice. Jasper briefly thought that she looked like one of the Wayans brothers in White Chicks, but he wasn't sure which one. “I swear that since she met Laurent her brain has been on vacation. This would’ve never happened to her before.”
“Girls for Eleazar?”
“Girls for me, Jasper. Eleazar is prohibited from sleeping with other women, only men. It’s part of his agreement with Carmen.”
Carmen looked a little embarrassed. “I don't pride myself on being so jealous.”
Jasper looked away from his penguin to look at Kate. “I didn't know you liked girls too.”
“You didn't know?” Kate raised an eyebrow. “But you and Carlisle were at the house when we had that big orgy in the '94.”
“I wasn't paying attention.” He and Carlisle had decided to play poker in the most secluded room while they waited for the orgy to end so they could talk to Tanya. “Besides, I thought it was just… you know, for show, rather than a genuine interest.”
“Don't let Eleazar hear you talking like that or we'll never hear the end of it,” said Kate, rolling her eyes. “No, it's genuine.”
“And how do you recognize them?”
"What do you mean?"
“How do you know a girl is interested in other girls? What are the signs?”
Kate raised an eyebrow. “Well, you're the empath, shouldn't you know?”
Even he had his imitations. Jasper could feel what people felt, but not why they felt it or what caused those feelings. Many times it was even difficult to separate his own feelings from the feelings of someone else.
“Just indulge me,” said Jasper smiling, using his gift to discreetly put Kate in a more talkative mood. “I’m just curious.”
Kate shrugged. “Okay, if you really want to know, it's the eyes,” the blonde vampiress answered. “A woman who enjoys the company of other women looks a little too much, for a little too long. Why do you ask? If you have any inappropriate fantasies I can let you watch, I don’t mind.”
“No, I'm just curious. Times change, after all.”
Although he didn't know how reliable the information he could get from Kate was. After all, Nettie and Lucy didn’t even look at each other most of the time, or anyone else. If it wasn't for Nettie's intense jealousy every time Lucy talked to another woman, Jasper would never have suspected their relationship was romantic. And María…
María had a way of staring at everyone, straight into their soul, but only a naive fool would have thought there was affection in her eyes. In María's eyes there was only contempt, madness and cruelty after so many years at war. The only soft things about that woman were her hands, so soft when…
No. No more thinking about María. It put him in a… fuzzy mood.
But Bella's eyes always followed Alice when...
And those feelings of envy every time Jasper touched his wife in front of Bella? It had always seemed to him that this envy came from the fact that Bella wanted a relationship like theirs, a perfect love with Edward.
What if...
“I have to get back to Forks,” said Jasper absently, breaking eye contact with Kate to sign out of Club Penguin. Kate's face lit up as she watched him leave her computer. “I need to talk to Bella,” said Jasper standing up.
Carmen looked at him surprised, a little worried. “Didn't all of you go through a lot of trouble to get Edward's human girlfriend out of your lives?”
“I have to talk to Bella,” said Jasper in a dark voice. “She owes me some explanations. No, you don't understand, Carmen. That girl is a psychopath, a liar, a manipulator, a homewrecker and she's going to listen to me-”
The phone started ringing next to the computer, and Kate answered immediately. "Hello?"
“Kate, hello,” said Jasper's favorite voice in the world. “Is Jasper there?”
“ALICE!” Jasper screamed, lunging at the phone. Kate jumped back in time to dodge him, but couldn't help but land on the table, which creaked loudly and broke, causing the computer to fall to the floor and shatter into pieces. “ALICE! You have to come here! NOW!”
“Jasper!” his wife shouted on the other end of the phone, in a scathing tone. “What the hell are you talking about!?”
“You have to…!”
“Remember I told you something about staying calm!?”
Of course. Alice didn't want anyone to know about her plan to turn Bella or they might tell Edward.
Behind him, Kate let out a horrified scream. “SON OF A BITCH, MY COMPUTER!”
Carmen took Kate by the hand and guided her to the exit. “We better give them some space.”
“But my computer!”
Jasper waited until the sound of their footsteps were far enough away to continue speaking, almost whispering. “I've been calling you for weeks, where were you?”
“Jasper,” Alice said in a sweet voice. “You haven't told anyone about Bella, have you? ”
"Of course not!" Jasper exclaimed without raising his voice. “But why the hell do you not pick up the phone!? We have to talk seriously, you and I, about this plan of yours! You have to come here as soon as possible and-”
“I can't leave, I'm busy.”
“BUSY!?”
“Yes, Jasper, busy. Why do you think I haven't been able to answer the phone? Do you think I'm in the hotel room all day? I was busy and I’m still busy.”
Jasper filled his lungs with air. “Fine. I’m coming back to Biloxi.”
“Jasper, I already explained it to you. You're not coming back to the city. You must stay away from the old woman or you’ll have a slip. And I still can't leave until-”
“Did you even listen to my messages?!” Jasper shouted. “I’ve left you fifty-seven different messages promising that I won’t have a slip! We need to talk about Bella! You're ignoring my calls! You sent me away because of some darn crone and you can't even answer the cottonpicking phone?!”
“...”
“ALICE!”
“Can you please stop screaming?” Alice responded in a calm, composed voice. “Look, I like this situation as little as you. I miss you a lot too, Jazz. I wish none of this had been necessary, I'm really sorry.”
Jasper felt his anger slowly disappear, replaced with shame and humiliation. He really couldn't help but be a burden to the love of his existence. “I'm sorry, Alice. I know it’s not easy for you either.”
“Why don't we just talk for a while and forget about the rest? Do you think we could do that, Jazz? I'm not interested in talking about Bella right now. I want to talk about you."
Jasper nodded, hoping she could see him now. "Alright."
“What are you doing right now?”
“Well, I found this game, Club Penguin…”
Rosalie
She had said out loud that she had to talk seriously to the boy and it was true, but when they were finally alone, the expression on Diego's face reflected too much pain, a malaise from deep within, and Rosalie thought that giving him some space first wouldn't be a bad idea. After all, they had hours ahead of them together as they waited for Emmett to return, in the dark as they stared at the house. Some things had become obvious, others she would necessarily have to ask.
Diego had climbed up a tree, sitting comfortably on the branches to keep a better eye on the mansion. Rosalie had stayed on the ground, close enough to talk, far enough to make him feel safer.
She decided to start with the obvious.
“You've run away,” said Rosalie at some point around four in the morning. “You escaped from your army.”
Long seconds passed before Diego answered. “Do you want a pickle?”
Rosalie blinked slowly. “A pickle?”
"Yeah. They're in my backpack. It smells good.”
Why on earth would she want a pickle? It's not like she can eat it. “No, Diego, I don't want a pickle,” said Rosalie, trying to be patient. “I want you to tell me what happened.”
“What more is there to say? You already know most of it, even if I didn't really want to say anything, because it's obvious I'm not as smart as I thought. Just a very lucky idiot.”
Well, that wasn't exactly a lie. The real María would have already killed him. Hell, Jasper himself would have already killed him, thinking that Diego might be a threat to Alice, somehow. But it wasn't his fault, was it? It's not like his case was special in the world. In fact, most of the newborns in the region were exactly like him. And Diego was just a child.
Maybe that's why the redhead woman and 'Riley' were turning children. They were way easier to manipulate than adults, because vulnerable children have the innate urge to trust their elders.
“Maybe I'm the lucky one, boy,” said Rosalie, feeling like it was what Carlisle would say at that moment. “Finding you was lucky in a way, wasn't it? I don't think anyone else in your place would have a desire as selfless as saving your friend.”
“I mutilated your mate,” Diego growled in a dry voice.
Well, yes. But then again, Emmett still had his fingers. Rosalie would be fine. “I thought we were over that.”
“Do you really expect me to believe that you won't want revenge when you get the penis back?” asked Diego with anger and desperation in his voice. “I'm blackmailing you. Stop pretending to be my friend. I don’t buy it.”
It was almost ironic how much the boy reminded her of herself when Carlisle was still dealing with her frenzy. The boy really overestimated his blackmailing skills. What would Carlisle do? “It's normal for you to be worried about that, I guess, but it's alright. I forgive you, if it really makes you that nervous.”
“You're not serious. I don't believe you."
Rosalie almost wanted to laugh. "Why not? It's actually quite easy to forgive you. I have seen the true face of evil, Diego. The true unforgivable,and it's not you. The darkness in the hearts of men is not a scared child in an impossible situation. Evil is cruelty as a source of pleasure,” said Rosalie, Royce's hated face appearing in her mind. “This? This is nothing.”
“You don't know that,” Diego answered. “You really don't know anything about me.”
What a wonderful age, twelve years old. Diego really thought he was unique and different. “Tell me then.”
“How do you know I'm not a liar?”
“Have you lied to me?”
“No, but-Ugh,” the boy growled in frustration.
Rosalie was sure she heard a sob.
“Yes, I ran away,” said Diego quietly. “None of us last too long because the vampires in the other armies are bigger and stronger. And Riley lies to us.”
“About what?”
“Riley told us that vampires couldn't go out in the sunlight or we'd burn, so we only move at night,” said Diego. “But it's a lie. Two other soldiers and I put our hands in the sunlight one day and nothing happened, it just glowed. They went to confront Riley about it and he…” Diego fell into a heavy silence. “I ran away, I had no reason to stay. If I'm going to die anyway at least I could save Bree first. If it's not Riley, it will be another vampire, the Volturi or even you. I know I’m already dead.”
“Diego,” said Rosalie slowly. “I don't expect you to believe me yet, but I told you I wouldn't let them kill you and I'm always, always, brutally honest.”
“Why would you do that?”
Good question. Not even Rosalie knew, to be honest. “Don't you think it would be better if we are allies?”
Diego did not speak immediately. “You should really take a pickle from my backpack.”
What was wrong with this child with pickles? “No, Diego.”
When morning came, Emmett did not return to the island.
By then, she and Diego had already walked around the mansion too many times, counting the windows, doors, and guards. What interested Rosalie the most were the security cameras. Normally they wouldn't be a problem, because a vampire could run fast enough to avoid appearing on video, but they had to move slowly to look for Bree. Rosalie didn't want to say it out loud, but she was starting to worry about why exactly Bree's trail had led them to that house with so many bodyguards.
What the hell was going on on that island.
Around eleven in the morning, Rosalie lost her patience and texted her husband asking where the hell was him. Emmett's response was immediate, but it did little to clear up her doubts.
'I'm fine, don't worry. It's going to take a little longer than I thought. I'll explain to you later. Whatever you do, don't let Diego come back to the city.'
That only gave her more questions than answers and a frantic feeling of worry, but Rosalie supposed there was a reason Emmett couldn't give her details yet. She really hoped he wasn't doing something foolish. Without Edward or Carlisle around, his impulse control always descended to apocalyptic levels. But those impulses had led them on the right path until then, right?
For the moment, she had no choice but to trust Emmett and wait for him to return.
But it would really help to take a look at the inside of the mansion, and Rosalie had no wishful hope that Diego would stay still any longer when it had become painfully clear that all he wanted in life was to find Bree Tanner.
“Lieutenant Whitkey had a setback and needs more time before coming back,” said Rosalie out loud. Diego hadn’t moved from his place on the branches of the tree, under the shade to avoid the sunlight. “What day is it, Diego?”
“December 22nd.”
How time flies when you're tracking a human. “Mhm. It's useless to keep waiting. Let’s go inside the house and take a look.”
Diego jumped from the tree and landed next to her, looking at her curiously. “There are humans there.”
"I know, I just want to see the inside of the house. We must know where the private rooms of the owner of the house are.”
“What about the cameras and the guards?”
“Oh, don’t worry, I have a plan. This is not the first time I have to sneak into the house of a powerful man.”
Bella
That wonderful Friday morning broke cloudly, bathing the town in a soft, diffused light. The birds were singing, the weather was acceptable, and Bella had a glorious half-naked vampiress in her bed to do whatever she wanted with.
Their practice was improving slowly but steadily, as evidenced by the fact that Bella was currently able to touch, kiss, and massage the vampiress' bare breasts more or less confident that she wasn't going to die because of it, especially when María's face was firmly covered by a pillow that wasn’t too torn yet, with her left leg under Bella, between her own legs, exerting a soft, delicious pressure.
The trick to moving forward, Bella quickly discovered, was to move slowly and not do things that would excite María too much to make it easier for her to maintain control. She also had to be very, very careful with her strong legs, because it seemed like the vampire couldn't help but close them on impulse, and she was pretty sure that neither of them wanted Bella's spine to break from an accidental orgasm (although maybe that would make María bite her sooner). Not to mention that she seemed to really enjoy it when Bella kissed the scars on her abdomen and arms, which kept putting Bella in the impossible situation of wanting to give her pleasure without giving her too much pleasure. The fact that her face was covered with a pillow most of the time wasn't ideal either, but Bella Swan never gave up once she had made a decision. She was going to fuck that vampire or die trying.
Not to mention that, although the number of things they could do was limited at the moment, Bella never ended up dissatisfied. Their 'assisted masturbation sessions’ had already become customary between them, every night and morning, and one memorable time in the shower two days ago. Bella wouldn't say she was horny all the time, but she wanted sex, spending most of the day waiting for the moment when she would be alone with María again, her mind clouded, hungry for her skin. She had entered this relationship with her heart and legs wide open.
Soon she would be able to do all the things she really wanted to do with her. Baby steps.
The rhythmic movement of the vampire's hard leg was soon followed by her own hand, moving in circles around her clitoris, causing her to reach ecstasy within a few minutes.
As Bella caught her breath, María finally removed the pillow from her face, her eyes black as coal. Tentatively and carefully, María kissed her lips, her cheeks, her forehead, and her ears, but without getting too close to her neck. Her cold, hard hands touched the sensitive skin of her breasts, feeling their shape and weight, tracing circles over her nipples. Bella immediately wanted another session.
Unfortunately, they had plans that day.
“We have to get out of bed,” said María from somewhere above Bella's forehead.
“Mhm,” Bella groaned. “Ten more minutes.”
“Careful, or I might decide I'll keep you here all day.”
It was becoming increasingly difficult to feign even the slightest interest in school, and frankly, Bella was beginning to think that María was right and it was a waste of time. She wondered if her grades had dropped a little the last few months, though she couldn't force herself to care too much. All her effort was concentrated on not running away to go spend the day with María somewhere more interesting. After all, they had already made very careful plans for the next two days.
That day and tomorrow they would be in Port Angeles shopping.
They had paved the way with Charlie days before, telling him that on Friday Bella would have a sleepover with Jessica Stanley at her house. And then, because Bella knew it was very likely he’d do it, she gave him Jessica's cellphone number so he could call her and check it was true himself. Except it was actually the number of a burner phone that Bella had bought at Mike's store, and the one who answered was María doing a very bad imitation of a human voice (Bella tried very hard not to laugh). Luckily Charlie was more willing to give Bella 'her space' after Tuesday's terrible accident.
She wondered if it had always been so easy to get away with everything with the right planning.
Then, when school finally finished that afternoon, Bella quickly walked out to the parking lot before anyone tried to talk to her and waste her time. Once inside The Thing, she started the engine to set off for Port Angeles immediately.
María sat up next to her, after having been lying on the seats for the last few hours. “You look excited.”
Bella just smiled, because it was true. For the first time in her life, she was excited to go shopping.
Rosalie
Dressing up as a maid didn't have the same dramatic effect as wearing a wedding dress, but it would be enough.
Rosalie found the ideal place to come into the mansion in one of the many back gardens, where she had seen the maids enter through the service door. They kept their blue uniforms in the servants' room. The two of them had moved quickly to avoid a security camera and silently forcing the door open, finally entering the mansion, careful to stay away from all human voices. It seemed like Diego wasn't breathing just in case.
Once they found the room, which fortunately did not have cameras so the women could change clothes, Rosalie put on one of the blue uniforms, and Diego got into one of the laundry carts. Perfect. They could move slowly now, and the cameras would only capture a maid with a cart of dirty clothes cleaning around. The smell of the fabric would even help Diego ignore all humans around.
“Repeat the rules to me,” said Rosalie, pushing the cart. It almost looked like a huge baby carriage, but with a vampire child inside.
"Again?"
“I want to make sure you understood.”
“Just exploring the house, see where the cameras are, and hopefully find Bree's trail. Memorizing the internal structure. Locating the owner of the house. Not killing anyone.”
“Good boy,” Rosalie smiled pleased.
And so, they both dedicated themselves to the task of exploring the mansion in silence.
It felt a little like playing that game Jasper and Emmett loved in the eighties, Pacman, running through the halls while avoiding getting caught by the ghosts. In their case exploring the house, avoiding humans as much as possible, memorizing the location of each of the cameras. It took longer than Rosalie expected, because the house was bigger inside than what it looked at first. She knew it wasn't a perfect plan but, well, she had never said she was less impulsive than Emmett (they were the perfect couple, after all). Sometimes there was no choice but to trust your instinct.
The first time Rosalie had done something like this, she herself had been a newborn, the fire of her hatred being more a nutritious food than the blood she craved for all the time, a fuel that fed her self-control and her sanity, almost impossible for a hungry newborn. She had sneaked into the house of her second murderer dressed as Santa Claus when she killed him, after weeks of stalking him, subtly feeding his paranoia. Oh, how she had enjoyed watching him slowly go crazy. The final touch was to kill him at Christmas, dressed as Santa Claus, and attach a pair of antlers to the corpse’s head, whose name was casually Rudolph. Royce's face when he saw the corpse had been delicious.
After twenty minutes, Rosalie already had a clear image of the structure of the mansion, but to her great frustration she could not find Bree's scent anywhere and her heart sank as she thought about the possibility that she was not really there, but it was too early to know for sure. They needed to be able to do a thorough examination of the mansion, leaving no corner unchecked, and that was very difficult with humans inside. All of them seemed to be quite busy preparing a big Christmas party. It was impossible to get too close without one of them noticing something strange about her.
“María, I think the owner of the house is in the garden,” said Diego in the cart under all the sheets.
Rosalie approached the window for a quick glance that lasted less than ten seconds, but it was enough to see her target in person and study him in detail. Enrique de la Fuente was taller than she expected, with dark eyes and graying brown hair, an elongated face with equine features. He was talking on the phone with someone unknown but obviously important about investments and film productions. Maybe a producer or a director.
“We're done here, Diego. We’re leaving.”
“But there’s still a lot to check.”
"I know. Don’t worry, I have a plan.”
Bella
Bella finally reached Port Angeles at 6 PM, pleased that they had enough time to visit all the stores she had planned and a few others in the morning. She had already phoned the day before to book a room in the hotel closest to the mall, a pretty and comfortable place, and visibly more expensive than what she could have afforded a few months ago. Bella left The Thing in the hotel parking lot after speaking with the manager at the reception (the poor truck stood out like an ugly duckling among swans) and, taking María's hand, she crossed the street towards the huge shopping center. It was a good weather for vampires, since the sun had hidden behind thick gray clouds, and the mall had a roof. Bella had come many times before with Alice. But this time she had to follow a very specific itinerary for everything they had to do.
First, buying clothes for María.
Bella didn't choose the haute couture fashion store she had visited every time before, but rather a smaller one that seemed to sell normal clothes for normal people. Which was good, because what she needed was to make María look as normal as possible. Even though Bella had gotten used to the vampiress simply stealing her clothes, María was a size or two smaller than her, and Bella's clothes were always too big for her, not to mention that she completely lacked any notion of how to match colors and outfits, and that was ironic coming from Bella. She supposed that getting their clothes dirty was so normal for vampires (whether with dirt or, well, food) that María didn't see why bothering. But in her opinion that was no excuse for not making the minimal effort to look presentable.
María was wearing the heart-shaped sunglasses and the butterfly clip in her black hair that Bella had won for her on Halloween. Bella hoped that would make humans around them not find her too scary. It seemed to work well enough, because the store assistant didn't look too nervous when she showed them the sweaters, jeans, jackets, skirts, and shirts in María's size that Bella had asked for, even if she walked away too quickly.
“I don't see the point in buying so many clothes,” said María as Bella put two different sweaters over her hard body to try to figure out which color looked best on her.
“The point is that you can't keep wearing my clothes.” Green. Definitely the color that looked best on María was green.
“It's not practical, what am I supposed to do with so many clothes?”
“Put it in the closet? Seriously, my clothes don't fit you. I'm taller and you have a bigger bust. And you get my pants dirty because they‘re too long for you.”
“It's still a waste of gas money.”
The universe was very confusing indeed. If this was how Alice felt when she tried to buy her clothes, she owed her an apology. “We have to take you a photo. Just try it on, c’mon, please?”
María rolled her eyes, but at least she had the decency to stop complaining. Then they selected a huge pile of clothes in different shades of green, and the vampiress agreed to try them on in the fitting room to her left, while Bella looked for a blue blouse in her own size.
By pure coincidence and without calling her, Alice's face appeared in her mind once she found herself alone, remembering specifically the first time she had brought her shopping, two weeks after James and Phoenix, when she could walk again more or less without pain. Although maybe for a while she had pretended to need more help than she actually did, only to feel Alice's firm arm around her waist as she helped her walk.
'Everyone has a special color,' Alice had said as she tried on a red jacket whose price gave Bella a headache. 'Mine is red, it matches my skin and the color of my hair.'
'What do you think my color is?'
'Definitely blue,' Alice said, looking at her body up and down with appreciative eyes. 'But you're so beautiful you'd look good wearing a trash bag, Bella.'
Bella used the mirror to decide she was going to buy a blue long-sleeved top, absently pleased that there wasn't too much pain in her eyes at the thought of Alice. She hadn't responded to any of her emails, and by now Bella had stopped expecting her to. She was hoping Alice simply had another email now and would never read all the pathetic things she had written to her in a moment of weakness. Her embarrassing and impulsive declaration of love should disappear forever. She could only panic at the thought of Alice reading that. She would never write an email under the influence of pain again. Written words had the power to immortalize feelings, rather than making them easier to forget.
But when she was distracted enough, Alice's sweet face still appeared in her mind without her being able to do anything to avoid it, as if her mere image increased the serotonin levels in her brain. And the old fantasies about touching her face, her nose, her hair, and her soft lips felt all too real. But immediately afterwards she reminded herself that, in the real world, Alice was perfectly happy with Jasper and she would have never thought of her that way. And wasn't true love, selfless love, the ability of wishing the happiness of your loved one over your personal desires?
No,Bella thought bitterly. She wasn't that selfless.
María came out of the dressing room at that moment with the pile of new clothes in her hands. She had on a nice green long-sleeved blouse, just enough to cover most of her scars, and a long white skirt. She looked so painfully normal (so pretty) that Bella wanted to wrap her in her arms and whisper sweet words of praise in her ear right then and there. Green was the color that matched best with her shiny black hair, the blouse hugging her generous chest and sharp hips in a very appropriate way.
“These clothes don't smell like anything,” María complained.
“They’ll smell like you in a couple of days.” Bella continued appreciating her body. “It's perfect. We’re buying it all.”
After paying for the clothes, Bella told the manager to send all the bags of clothes to the hotel room and they left the store, walking quickly towards a professional photography establishment to take the photos that Seth had asked for.
The photographer was standing at a safe distance, while Bella instructed María to sit in the chair, take off her sunglasses, keep her face as relaxed as possible, and look toward the camera. Bella wondered if the red of her eyes was too noticeable, but she assumed Seth would blame the camera flash and think her eyes are brown.
While the man took the photo, Bella took a moment to admire her figure, her legs and hips, her arms and neck, the beauty of her face and long black hair. She could really stare at her for hours. She still couldn't believe how lucky she was that a girl like that was interested in her. The lesbian god must have decided that she deserved good things in life.
“You're beautiful,” Bella murmured softly.
A tiny smile appeared on the vampire's face. When the photographer took the photo, her red eyes were looking at her, and the image would forever represent her sweet gaze as her eyes met Bella's.
The third store they visited was a place specialized in fishing, to buy a Christmas gift for Charlie, a new fishing rod. Which had sounded simpler than it actually turned out to be, because there were many (too many) different kinds of fishing rods. Bella couldn't help but think that it was complete nonsense. Surely the fish didn't notice the difference.
“What do you think?” Bella asked María, as the two looked at a display case with dozens of different kinds of fishing rods. They were all different in sizes, colors and probably other relevant things that Bella was completely unaware of.
María looked at her as if she didn't understand what she had done to make Bella think she knew about fishing rods. “Just buy the most expensive one. By pure logic that must be the best.”
Well, yes, technically it was true. But it was the last gift she would ever give Charlie, so she wanted to make sure it was perfect. After all, it was the thing Charlie was going to remember her for.
It was a little strange to notice that the abstract idea of never seeing him again seemed more real with each passing day. She wondered how long it would take him to move on. Sometimes she really wished she had siblings, so Charlie would have some kind of replacement. Although it was highly unlikely that that would have changed anything.
“You have that thoughtful look in your eyes,” said María looking at her.
“Mhm,” Bella answered. “Just thinking.”
“What are you thinking about?”
“It's a little hard to explain.”
“With you that's usually the case. Make the effort.”
“Well, don't you think the way parents love their children is a little unnatural?”
María raised her eyebrow slowly. “Most people wouldn't describe it as unnatural, but rather the opposite. Something innate.”
“No, but, really, don't you think it's strange? An adult makes a baby, his brain chemicals and millennia of evolution compel him to love and protect it, and yet…” Yet, he cuts it out of his life with disconcerting ease because the baby’s mother doesn’t like the weather. “Actually that baby is a complete stranger. You deeply love someone you don’t know.”
María remained thoughtful for a few seconds. “I think a better question would be, actually, what love in itself actually is. Whether it's really something you choose or just, as you said, chemicals in the brain reacting to certain stimuli. A flaw in the principle of free will. What do you think about that, Isabella?”
That she didn't really want to think about it. “When you put it like that, love really sounds like something unimportant in the big scheme of things.”
“It might not be the case, I think. You have the right idea when you say that love is more valuable when it’s the result of a process rather than a spontaneous or innate thing. Or at least, that's the only kind of love I know.”
How long did it take you to love me? Bella wanted to ask at that moment, but she didn't, because then she would have to ask the next logical question. What made you love me? So I can keep doing it forever, and you'll never leave me. And it was really too intense a conversation to have in front of fishing rods.
“How about that red one over there?” asked María, pointing to a fishing rod to her left.
Bella looked at it, considering that it looked bright and pretty enough to be a good gift, and decided to buy it.
Since the next thing they had to buy was the most expensive and important, Bella hurried down the three streets that separated the shopping center from the dealership where they sold used cars and other vehicles, politely declining María's offer to simply pick her up in her arms and run there, reminding her to at least make a minimal effort to look human.
When they arrived at the parking lot where there were dozens and dozens of cars of various colors and models, Bella felt so excited that her hand tightened around the vampiress' cold fingers, savoring the long seconds of euphoric happiness flooding her brain, a big excited smile on her lips. She knew María was watching her, and although Bella knew that something as small as buying a car probably didn't mean much to a two-hundred-year-old vampire, she really hoped she was happy too.
“We can rob another house,” said María, leaning closer to her ear. “So you look this happy more often.”
Bella turned quickly to kiss her cheek, the only more or less coherent response she could think of at that moment. “C´mon,” said Bella, taking her hand. The vampire allowed herself to be guided in good humor.
Buying a good used car was more practical and easier than buying a new one, since a new one would require more time and paperwork. It would be better to leave as few documents with her name as possible before she left. After buying the car with cash they would store it in a nearby parking lot, Bella had already done her research and the price was not too high. Although technically nothing was too expensive for her anymore. She still wasn't used to the idea, but it was a nice feeling.
The salesman was a charismatic man in a red velvet suit, who seemed only slightly afraid of María even with the heart-shaped sunglasses on (Bella quietly reminded her to move her limbs from time to time, and to try to get her voice not to sound too metallic) (The Cullens made it look too easy), so Bella did most of the talking. She was looking for a car relatively new, in the best possible condition. Keeping his eyes only on Bella, the salesman showed her many shiny models that looked in good condition, mostly Renaults, Fiats, and Volkswagens in black, red, yellow, and green. But the car that caught Bella's attention was a sky-blue Ford, built just four years ago. She had probably decided she wanted it as soon as she laid eyes on it, even before the salesman showed her the engine, mileage and its interior.
"Do you like it?" Bella asked the vampiress.
María was looking at her with a small smile on her lips. “It matches with your favorite sweater. And surely it’s faster than the vehicle you already have.”
And so, after testing it by driving around the place to make sure everything worked, Bella bought it immediately, paying half in cash and telling the seller that she would give him the rest the next day, when she came back to take the car to the parking lot she had already rented.
Taking off her glasses, María smiled at the human and told him that she hoped the car would still be in excellent condition when they came to pick it up the next morning. The man nodded quickly, a little pale. Then they left the place to walk back to the mall, the orange sky above them slowly turning purple. It was twilight, and there was still a store to go before returning to the hotel.
“Now that you have two cars, we could fake a traffic accident,” said María as they walked.
Bella looked at her a little distracted, not wanting to ruin such a good evening by talking about her upcoming death. But she supposed the moment was as good as any. “I was thinking more of a maritime accident, to explain the absence of a body.”
“Or we could get a body that looks a little like you, and put your clothes on it.”
“Steal a corpse from a morgue?” If Bella remembered correctly, this was how Carlisle had faked Emmett's death. It couldn't be very difficult for a vampire doctor to steal a corpse.
Unless María meant to kill a random girl who looked a little like her, to which Bella didn't know what to answer. Technically it wouldn't be too strange, would it? María already killed humans at least once a week, it would just be an extra step. But it would be better not to think about that now. “Your plan includes driving the truck and set it on fire so the body is unrecognizable, I guess. But do you know how to drive, María?”
María looked at her as if she didn't understand what she had done to make Bella think she needed to drive regularly.
“You don’t know how to drive, María?” Bella had to admit she was expecting a different answer.
“What exactly made you think I’ve ever needed a car, Bella Swan?”
Still, Bella felt satisfied that she had guessed what she was thinking. “I'll teach you how to drive. Surely you’ll learn quickly, it’s very easy.”
Bella's favorite book store also had a small CDs section in a corner. Walking in there was her favorite moment of the day, and she knew immediately that she would stay there until the store closed, getting lost in her favorite things. And buying many, many books.
First she and María took a moment to look through all the CDs available on the shelves, Bella searching for classics for her and trying to guess what kind of music María would like. But the vampiress had decided that the only selection criterion that interested her was how pretty the cover was or if she liked the artists' faces. So she ended up with a diverse collection that included Abba, The Backstreet Boys, Billy Joel, Metallica, Duran Duran, and Madonna (Bella added Shakira, in case María wanted something in Spanish). For herself Bella chose many collections of classics and instrumentals, the genre of music she had always enjoyed, many CDs of the best songs by Vivaldi, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Bizet and Johan Strauss. It was quite ironic that the 18 year old human preferred nineteenth century music and the two hundred year old vampire were interested in The Black Eyed Peas.
And finally, what Bella had been waiting for all day. The books. Shelves and tables with books for her.
Her first purchase was a deluxe edition of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ that included Mr. Darcy's letters. Then ‘The Professor’, by Anne Brontë, and a collection of twelve different works of Shakespeare that she had never read before, followed by poems by Byron, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Wolf and Mary Shelley. Feeling daring, she bought a more modern novel that Quil had mentioned he liked, ‘The Name of the Rose’ by Umberto Eco, although he had actually talked about the movie with Sean Connery. In the Magic Realism section she bought ‘100 Years of Solitude’, ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold’, and ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’, thinking María would like them, but the vampiress seemed more interested in the graphic novel section. Rolling her eyes, Bella added the Dragon Ball manga María wanted to her increasingly full shopping cart.
But then it occurred to her that she would have a lot of free time when she was a vampire, right? Not to mention that she would be able to read very quickly. She definitely needed more books. And with that thought in mind, Bella began to add random books to the cart, letting herself be carried away by a feeling of frantic greed that she had never felt before in her life, barely paying attention to what books she was buying.
“Wait, I know that man,” said María, catching Bella's attention, pointing to the cover of a book.
Bella saw that it was a book by H.P Lovecraft with his face on the cover. “Lovecraft?” Bella tried to remember quickly. She was sure she'd seen Jasper with a Lovecraft book at school. “I think it's one of Jasper's favorites.”
“Of course it's one of Jasper's favorites. This is the extremely rude writer Jasper killed in 1937.”
Bella blinked slowly. “Jasper killed Howard Phillips Lovecraft?”
“The year before he left,” said María with an absent expression. “He had read in the newspaper that the man was dying of cancer, and he wanted to ask him questions about some book about fish-people. So we went to Massachusetts. But the man was strangely angry instead of scared when he saw me, for some unknown reason. Then Jasper lost control and ate him. He couldn’t even ask him questions first.”
“Oh.”
Bella had long ago stopped trying to ask María questions about her past, since she clearly hated talking about it, so much so that she had almost forgotten that they had only met because she was an old friend of Jasper's who wanted to talk to him. But something in her voice as she spoke of Jasper at that moment made her insides twist, a fleeting, fierce moment of frenzied hatred and jealousy making her wish María would never, ever speak of Jasper again. Suddenly the mere thought of Jasper standing near her made her want to growl like a wild animal, make him disappear, a voice in her head repeating mine, mine, mine.
But it was stupid and Bella should stop acting like a fool. Jasper was just an old friend, who was also not, in Bella's humble opinion, María's type. She was María's type.
Furthermore, Jasper was physically incapable of being interested in anyone but Alice. That was obvious.
“I'm surprised,” said Bella in a deadpan voice. But the lie sounded too obvious. “Actually, no, I'm not surprised. It seems like it's common for Jasper to lose control out of nowhere." He was lucky Alice was always around to help him stay in control.
María didn't seem to want the book, so they left it on the table so they could continue looking for more interesting ones. But Bella remained thoughtful for a while, wondering why María, who had hated talking about her life so far, had just told her a harmless-looking (by her standards) anecdote in a very casual manner. It was a good thing, wasn’t it? That she was finally opening up to her.
But then why did she have a bad feeling?
Rosalie
“We could have checked a little more,” said Diego standing on the beach, under the shadow of the trees, watching Rosalie as she drew a plan of the house and its rooms with a branch. “I didn’t need to stay in the cart.”
“Can you assure me you weren't going to pounce on the nearest human, young man?”
Diego looked down, frustrated. “Will I ever be less useless?”
“It's like that for everyone. The first year is always the most difficult. Surely next year it’ll be a little easier,” said Rosalie.
“You could go in alone,” said Diego. “Since I’m a burden.”
“You’re not a burden.” Furthermore, it would be a terrible idea to leave the child alone and unsupervised. He had too much imagination and even less impulse control than she and Emmett.
And Emmett's words were still present in her mind. Don't let Diego leave the island. Rosalie felt a flash of worry at the thought of that, but she couldn't allow herself to feel anxious at that moment. She had to keep a cool head and hold on to the steel of her determination.
Just as she had done back then.
Rosalie wasn't quite sure why she thought about her revenge so often lately. That old burning desire for violence felt less like a distant memory since they had arrived on the island. Was her subconscious trying to tell her something?
The foreign millionaire… The expression on his face was a little similar to Royce’s. Powerful. Unpunished. Fake smile and empty eyes.
Why had Bree Tanner's trail led them to that island?
For a moment Rosalie looked at Diego, studying his soft, angelic childish face. He still hadn't lost the baby fat on his cheeks when he was turned. She could almost imagine what he had looked like months ago when he was still a human child, vulnerable and fragile in a world full of predators. Only not all of those predators had been vampires.
It was then when a violent, visceral wave of protective instinct hit her like a punch, as if someone had actually pushed her, the fierce desire to eliminate from the face of the earth anything that was a danger to that child almost taking over any rational thought.
Diego noticed the change in the expression on her face. "María?"
“Anyway, the camera problem doesn't go away if I get in alone,” said Rosalie quickly, regaining control of herself. “We need a distraction to delete the recordings. The Christmas party is perfect, but the house will be so full of humans that it’ll be impossible to go unnoticed.”
“Well, what if we wear masks?” Diego proposed. “You said the problem was hiding the fact that we’re vampires. Why don't we wear black masks and pretend to be the Chilean mafia? It’ll be easier to scare that guy and force him to tell us where Bree is.”
He truly had a lot of imagination. “Diego, you’re a genius. That's a great plan. It could work perfectly. We just have to make sure no blood is spilled so you don’t lose control.”
Diego smiled, proud of himself. He looked so cute that Rosalie wanted to pinch his cheeks. “I can handle that. But how are we going to avoid spilling that guy's blood if we have to, uh, convince him?”
“Leave that to me.” Rosalie still remembered perfectly how to break bones without spilling a drop of blood. At least Royce had served some useful purpose in his pathetic life.
“What will we do until then?”
“It’d be useful to go to the basement to look for the fuses, in case we have to cut off the power. You’re going to destroy the videos from the cameras in the security room, since there aren’t many humans there.”
Diego twisted his mouth with a thoughtful expression. “You know, it's a big house and that guy has a lot of money. I can't think of anything he’d want from Bree. Do you think he kidnapped her? Why?"
“It's because of the taxes,” said Rosalie immediately.
“Uh?” Diego raised an eyebrow. "Taxes?"
“Yes, taxes, I've seen it many times before. A house this big needs a lot of domestic staff, doesn't it? Maids, gardeners, and cooks, not to mention the guards. That's a lot of workers, which means a high tax rate. Some rich humans kidnap vulnerable people to force them to work for them for free, and save a lot of money on taxes.”
“You say that guy may have kidnapped Bree to force her to cook and wash dishes?”
“It's possible,” said Rosalie, her eyes on the drawings in the sand. “Many powerful people simply have no scruples.”
“But he has money, he could hire someone.”
“The more money a person has, the less willing they will be to spend it. It’s a universal law.” Rosalie thought about how to change the subject. “Anyway, you and I have things to do while we wait for Lieutenant Whitkey to return. Let’s go look in the basement.”
“Lieutenant Whitkey is taking too long.”
“Don't worry about him, he'll be back soon.”
Diego looked at her slightly anxious, as if the idea of feeling concern for someone else had taken him by surprise, but he didn't respond.
Alice
Talking to Jasper was turning out to be a little more difficult than usual, even his words felt more like a dull noise in the background than sounds with meaning. She had taken linguistics classes once, the last time she had gone to college. In one of the classes she had learned that sometimes the mind separates sounds and letters from the meanings that the brain automatically gives them, if a person is focused (or in her case, distracted) enough.
Jasper had asked if she had finally read her asylum file, to which Alice had curtly replied that she had been busy and had no time to waste on that stupidity. Jasper had sighed, as if he were disappointed but not surprised, but he didn't insist, admitting that perhaps it would be better to wait for a better time so Alice would be ‘stable enough to deal with it'. That had irritated Alice in a burning way, with a ferocity that took her by surprise, wanting to hang up immediately.
But no, she loved Jasper and she was going to prove it. So she asked Jasper to tell her what he'd been doing in Denali.
Which ended in a very long explanation about a supposed penguin game.
“And if you find the famous penguins you get a gift,” said Jasper in a calm voice on the other end of the phone. “So far I've found Rockhopper the pirate penguin, and Sensei the ninja penguin. I need to find Aunt Arctic, the journalist penguin, Cadence, also known as K-Dance, the DJ penguin…”
“Mhm,” Alice answered. “Sounds like fun.”
What would happen if she called Edward? She suddenly felt a terrible urge to talk to him, to hear the sound of his voice, to let him know that he was loved. But then, Edward was fully aware of how much they loved him, and that had never made him feel less depressed. It was something beyond his control. Alice could understand it because her gift had similar results. Excessive knowledge, natural omniscience, brought a very specific kind of alienation.
I love you, Alice would say to her brother if he could just pick up the phone. I miss you. I’d do anything to make you happy. Please don't leave me alone in this darkness.
But it would be useless, and she knew it. The only thing that could make Edward want to keep living was the same thing he denied himself. Bella.
He would hate her when Bella was a vampire and Alice knew it, but a happy Edward who would hate her forever was preferable to a miserable, dead Edward. Her brother was a fool if he really thought she was going to let him die out of sadness. It was his damn fault, for putting her in that impossible situation, forcing her hand, thinking she wouldn’t do anything to save him.
“And you can adopt pets called puffles. The red one goes surfing with you, the purple one can dance, the black one is a miner…”
"Excellent."
But even though Alice tried to be angry with her brother, she couldn't anymore. Instead of anger there was only sadness and a bit of resentment, because while she would do anything for Edward, Edward couldn't even not kill himself for them.
And as much as Edward thought such self-destruction was inevitable in their species, Alice knew she would act differently if she were in his place.
“You can decorate your own igloo and invite your friends…”
Because it would be indescribably painful to lose Jasper, right? Devastating. If Jasper died somehow, someday, in some unimaginable way beyond her control, her heart would break into a thousand pieces with eternal grief like it did for all vampires who lost their mates. But precisely out of love for Jasper, out of his sweet memory, and because of the family they had built together, Alice knew she would never want to kill herself if Jasper died. Jasper wouldn't want her to do that. She would suffer eternally, but... she would find support and comfort in her family. If Jasper died, they would be there for her, Edward, Carlisle, Emmett, Rosalie, Esme.
Bella.
They would be enough, if the worst ever happened.
If Jasper died.
So feeling a little mad because they weren't enough for Edward was understandable, in her opinion. Why couldn't they be enough for Edward? Was he really that broken? Only one of them had been locked up in a damn asylum and Alice didn't treat their family like that.
Why did Edward have to be so weak?
“Some penguins can become secret agents.”
“Oh.”
“And fight Herbert P. Bear, the villain of the game.”
Jasper would want her to keep living if he ever died, and that's why their love was pure and real. As she had said before, Cynthia didn't know anything.
“Herbert has an evil crab henchman named Klutzy.”
Cynthia really, really didn't know anything. Too many years alone. She didn't even use her real name because apparently... her family had started dying in strange ways...
It was a little weird in retrospect, wasn't it? The fact that Cynthia had lived most of her life under a false name but had told her her real name immediately, when she didn't even know her yet. Why would she do that? And more importantly, how could Alice be sure that the old woman hadn't lied to her? The first of the letters was dated 1930. Why? What happened in 1930?
“You can give a flag to your penguin, but the game doesn't have the Confederate flag, so I left that space empty in case they add it later.”
The old woman had tried to talk about it once, when she had said that her real surname was Brandon. And that the Brandon family had begun to disappear. Her mother, her sister...
“Alice?”
“Mhm?”
“Are you listening to me?”
“Sure, Club Penguin. We should play together someday.”
“I want to go back to Biloxi.”
Alice put her hands to her head and growled in frustration. The same conversation again.
“No no, listen. Just tell me the human’s name and where she is so I can avoid her. I'm not going to have a slip. But I have nothing to do here, I should be by your side, helping you.”
“You help me by staying in Denali!"
“Alice, I've been here for weeks. Just tell me where the woman lives and-”
“Oh, because that worked wonders with Edward,” Alice replied bitingly, losing her patience. “If Edward with all his self-control and discipline can barely ignore Bella’s blood on a good day, what makes you think you can resist a complete stranger? I already told you no, so stop insisting. Stay away from Biloxi. Forget about that old woman, Jasper,” said Alice, feeling a protective instinct so deeply intense it turned into rage, until she couldn’t control her tongue anymore. “You'll stay away from her. I would have sent you to the other side of the planet if it were possible, but someone has to be your babysitter.”
"...You don't mean that..."
"Are you kidding me?!" Alice yelled into the phone, feeling her emotions bubbling under her skin. “You think I don't know how bad your self-control actually is?! Every day at school I have at least eight different visions of you killing someone! And I have to avoid them all! I can't even leave you alone for ten minutes! And now I can't deal with you because, oh surprise, once again I'm the one who has to fix everyone else's problems without anyone ever being able to help me with mine! So for once in your life, Jasper, just make things easier for me and stay in Denali! Keep playing Club Penguin and stop being a god-damn nuisance!”
Alice hung up before Jasper had the bright idea to say another stupid thing, a little too hardly given the crack she heard. Damn, she was going to have to buy another one.
But at least she had accomplished her goal and proved her point. Only the purest, most honest and sincere love could give her the patience to share her life with Jasper for the rest of her existence.
Rosalie
It was getting dark when Rosalie and Diego were able to sneak into the basement of the mansion, beginning the preparations to get Rosalie to lay her very convincing hands on the owner of the house. It was a good thing that the plan included Diego being somewhere else at the time. She really didn't want the boy to be near her if it was necessary to get rough with that man to get him to tell them where Bree was. While she did that, Emmett would lock all the humans in a single room so he would have a clear path to search for Bree's scent. It was a three-persons plan, so Emmett better be back on time from whatever he was doing.
Getting into the basement hadn’t been so easy, because the doors were surrounded by humans and there were not many places to hide, but after hours of waiting with an impatient Diego, the place finally cleared enough to reach the door and go down to the basement. The fuses and the rest of the wires that controlled the house's electricity were in a huge control panel on the wall. They were quite similar to the cables on the purple Lamborghini Alice had bought a few years ago. In a low voice, she gave Diego a brief explanation of which cables to cut and which not to touch. She also reminded him insistently that he should always wear rubber gloves when dealing with electricity, because electricity was one of the few things in the world that could harm a vampire and perhaps even burn him, just like fire.
In comparison, finding the security booth where the guards were looking at the cameras had been easier. There were only three humans inside. If Diego made sure not to breathe, handcuffing and gagging them shouldn't be too difficult.
In short, the day had ended with them sitting on the sand in comfortable silence and looking out at the ocean, while Rosalie wondered when Emmett would come back. She couldn't shake that dark feeling in the back of her mind, that feeling that something was about to change. Suddenly she really wanted to call Edward, or Alice, or Carlisle for help. But then...
But then she thought of Royce. And fury bubbled within her like fire in her veins. Realistically, Rosalie knew that Carlisle and her siblings might try to stop her, like they had stopped her and Jasper from doing what was best for everyone and killing Bella Swan, like Carlisle had tried to convince her to stop when she only wanted revenge, all those years ago. But stopping her from doing what,exactly, Rosalie didn't know yet, or wasn't willing to say out loud, because first they had to find Bree Tanner.
Emmett returned to the island at midnight, emerging from the waters with an unredeable expression on his face. The very bad news he brought with him soon explained his bad mood.
“There are at least ten newborns Diego's size looking for him in Corpus Christi. They followed him there,” Emmett announced, getting straight to the point. “They all have their hair painted bright red, just like him.”
“These are Riley's orders,” answered Diego, a fleeting glimpse of fear in his eyes. “He makes us dye our hair red to distinguish each other more easily when we fight and not accidentally attack each other.”
“I was able to follow some of them after getting rid of the body. They're looking for you, kid, but they won't find your scent in the water. We can't go back to the city anymore. We have to find Bree and return to Monterrey.”
“No, not Monterrey,” said Rosalie, thinking quickly. “The army could recognize our smell and look for us there. I think we'd be better off in Tennessee. There is less population and more forests to hide in.”
They hadn't been in Tennessee in seventy years, not since that fateful day when she found Emmett dying in the woods. But they still had their old house there, and the less sunny weather would allow them to move more freely, at least enough to think of a better plan. Plus, Alice was still in Mississippi, much closer in case they needed help.
Emmett looked at her surprised. "Tennessee?" he asked as if Rosalie had proposed going to Narnia. “Okay, I guess. It's true that the kid will be safer and we need a quiet place for Bree. Tennessee then.”
Diego looked at them confused. “But what about your territory? Don't you have to protect your territory?
No, I have to protect you, Rosalie thought fleetingly, fiercely. “When you’re as old as us there is no rush for certain things, Diego. Our territory isn’t going anywhere. Now it’s more important to put as much distance as possible between us and that Riley guy.”
“Yes, it's a military strategy,” said Emmett. “Just like in the Civil War. That's how we defeated the Confederates. It wasn't that difficult because they were all very, very stupid, especially that guy, Major Jasper Whitlock, who envied me because he wished he was as smart as me and-” Rosalie nudged him. “Anyway, now it's the best we can do.”
Diego looked at him with an expression of doubt and, Rosalie could swear, some sadness on his childish face. “Lieutenant Whitkey…”
"Yup?"
The boy seemed lost for a moment. “Do you… Do you want a pickle?”
“Uh?”
“You should have a pickle,” said Diego in an insistent voice. “I have them in my backpack. They smell good. Take one. I mean it.”
“Uh, no? Why would I want a pickle? Kids these days. Anyway, we don't have time to waste. Babe, tell me the plan.”
Bella
One of the reasons why Bella had chosen that hotel, even though it would actually be a little silly for anyone else, had been crucial in defining her choice. Room service included caviar.
So once the two of them returned to the hotel and went up to their room, Bella called reception and ordered a plate of caviar, absentmindedly watching María sort all of her new skirts by color. They were all ankle-length, long enough to hide the deep scars on her legs. Of all the clothes they had bought, it seemed like she genuinely liked the skirts.
She really looked pretty when she wore skirts. Bella was about to stand up and hug her from behind to whisper compliments in her ear when the bellboy arrived with the caviar.
"So? What does it taste like?” asked María sitting at the table next to her, after Bella tried the first bite with a spoon.
Bella swallowed slowly. “Like eggs, but saltier.” It wasn't bad, but definitely not worth the price. Bella put a spoonful of caviar on a piece of bread. Better. “Not a big deal.”
María gave the piece of bread a disapproving look, but Bella changed the subject before she could complain about junk food or take the bread away from her.
“Do you remember what was your favorite food when you were human?” asked Bella.
The vampiress shrugged. “I guess meat. It's fun, actually. My parents didn't remember that humans cook meat to kill bacteria, so at first they gave me raw meat thinking it was the same thing. It took them a while to realize. I think I preferred milk anyway.”
It was really a miracle she was alive. “Were there other human things you liked?”
“I was never human, not really. Why do you ask?”
“Well, you'll have a fake ID. I was wondering if there’s some specific human thing you’d like to do.”
“I can't imagine what. There’s nothing human about me, Isabella. There never was.”
“What about school?” asked Bella casually. “Have you ever wanted to go to school?”
María's face was unreadable. “Why would a vampire go to school, Isabella? I don’t see the point.”
Well, there was a point. After all, the Cullens went there for a reason. “Meet new people, maybe. Make friends, if you want.”
“You don't really believe that. You don’t like making friends.”
“Just because I'm not good with people doesn't mean you can't do it, right?”
“You forget, however, that humans who are not you cannot help but fear vampires.”
True. Except for Carlisle, the Cullens also had a hard time interacting with people, so they usually kept to themselves. Suddenly the idea of going to school as a vampire, which had seemed so exciting before, didn't sound so good anymore. “There are other ways to meet people without scaring them.”
"Like what?"
“Pen pals, for example. Or the internet. Technology is advancing too fast. Who knows what we will be able to do in ten years.”
“Do you still intend to go to school when you're a vampire?”
“Not immediately, of course. I wouldn't want to kill a teacher by accident. I think it depends on how well I will be able to control myself.”
“I don't want you to get your hopes up about it. Resisting the smell of blood is very difficult.”
“I know, I don't,” said Bella. “Besides, it’d be very boring to go to school without you. More than once I wish you were by my side in History class. And hiding under the table doesn't count,” Bella added, smiling.
María's eyes sparkled for a second. “Ask me again in ten years.”
And strangely, Bella could almost hear the unspoken words between them. If you still love me in ten years.
“I'll definitely ask you again in ten years,” said Bella, taking her hand. Then, because she was the most beautiful woman in the known universe, Bella put her hands on her cheeks and kissed her sweet lips.
Jasper
Useless.
He was useless.
He couldn't help his wife because he was a useless and pathetic burden.
After Alice hung up the phone he didn't even feel motivated enough to be angry, he could only feel a deep melancholy as he stared at the red wall for eternal minutes.
A burden. He was just a nuisance. Because he couldn't control himself.
In the last hour it had gotten dark, and that meant that the mansion was full of humans for Tanya's parties, which usually always ended in sex. He could hear their voices and music clearly from where he was, on the other side of the house, the noise of all those feet dancing in the main room, Eleazar with his guests in the bedroom, Tanya and Irina in the jacuzzi with four humans. Kate was much closer, in the room to his right, trying to fix her favorite computer, until she finally gave up and went back to the game room, probably to yell at him.
“Asshole, you ruined my computer!” yelled Kate angrily as she stepped inside. But her emotions immediately changed to worry. “Jasper? Are you okay?"
“Mhm,” he answered without looking away from the wall. It was a very pretty red tone.
"What's the matter? Did you fight with Alice?”
“No,” Jasper responded in an automatic voice. “We never fight.”
Even when he was a nuisance.
“Hey, don't make that face. All couples fight. You should see Carmen when Eleazar doesn't take off his shoes to enter the library.”
“Not us,” said Jasper absently. “Never.”
Kate nodded slowly. “Let's go to the party. You’ll feel better.”
“I hate parties, there are too many humans together.”
“C’mon, Jasper. Those humans don't smell that good, I promise. Plus, their emotions will make you feel better. Everyone is having fun.”
It wasn't a lie, although he really wasn't in the mood. But did he have something better to do? No, not really, just sit there, stay out of the way and be miserable. A burden for Alice. A useless loser. Until he eventually got tired of saying no and when Kate took his hand to gently drag him to the party, he let her, a fog in his mind mixing all his thoughts and ideas. Feeling a deep indifference that he hadn’t felt in fifty years.
Watching the humans with his back against the wall, Jasper could almost pretend he was one of them. It was very dark in the room, so no one would be able to make out the obvious signs of his inhumanity clearly, his posture, his eyes, the expression on his face. For a moment Jasper felt deeply envious of all of them. Their existences were so simple, so easy, so fluid. None of them were broken like him. None of them needed love the same way he did, because they loved themselves enough for it to be enough. But Jasper couldn't remember a single moment in his long life when he didn't find himself despicable.
That's when he saw María in the dark, dancing on the other side of the room.
In some conscious way, he immediately recognized her as the girl from the book store accompanied by her friends. The human María with beautiful dark eyes and bright black curls, smiling in the low light, dancing in the darkness like a fairy in the forest under the moonlight. And suddenly he was no longer in Alaska in 2005, but in Texas in 1870, following his creator from a safe distance so that she wouldn't notice him as she went to town, only to discover that María liked to dance when she was alone, when she said she was going hunting, when she thought no one saw her and her survival was not in immediate danger. When she did more than suspect, manipulate and kill.
María was dancing in front of him at that moment, in Alaska in 2005. Her curse had not come true, because she was there, and Jasper could see her. You will never see me again? Liar, she had never left.
Jasper approached the girl slowly, until he was close enough that he could smell her better, touch her if he just extended his hand.
She was really beautiful, now that he could see her up close. The bittersweet smell of her blood called to him from beneath her warm, sweet cinnamon skin, almost the same delicious color as his sire. If he put his hands on her waist and inhaled the smell of her hair, he would be back in Monterrey in 1895, the first time María allowed him to touch her after they killed Nettie and Lucy, after decades of coexisting in that limbo. Back then Jasper had believed that they were the only two people in the world, on that strange, distant planet before Alice, when he didn't mind being her puppet, because the hands pulling the strings were beautiful and almost soft against his skin.
María grunting, moaning and moving. María above him, under him, and around him. María naked, delicious and insatiable. Milk in coffee.
The girl looked up and her soft eyes found him, her lips pulling that mysterious smile that women used to flirt. Her emotions were exquisite, a relief from the crippling pain he had felt the past few weeks. Would María have been able to smile that way when she was human? For him and only him? If he reached out and put his arms around her, and managed to take her to a secluded place, he could put his lips on her neck and feel the sweet taste of María's blood as it warmed his cold, cold body...
“You’re doing amazing, Jasper,” Kate laughed from across the room, dancing with two humans. “I told you you’d have fun. A short brunette, looks like you have a type.”
His delight turned into horror, and he immediately stepped away from the human girl. María was gone, that was just a human girl looking at him with confused eyes as she saw the change in the expression on his face.
Suddenly the noise around him bounced painfully in his ears and the smell of so many humans, so much blood, burned his throat as if he were breathing liquid fire.
Without breathing and as fast as possible, Jasper headed for the front door, fleeing into the cold night air, running down the mountain so fast that snow and water splashed on his face. Seeing his reflection on the frozen lake at the foot of the mountain, it almost looked like he was crying.