CHAPTER ELEVEN
JASPER GETS THE COLD HARD TRUTH

꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷

JASPER HALE HAD NEVER BEEN CONFUSED ABOUT HIS FEELINGS. Being an Empath helped him out in that department — emotions were his thing. He could recognise them, he could change them. That was his specialty. That's what Maria liked so much about him. It was his strength.

And for decades, he thrived on it. He knew who to trust, who to look out for. He knew who had his back and who didn't. He could start fights, and he could end them, all without lifting a finger. He knew that Maria never loved him. And he knew that Alice Cullen — the mysterious girl who cornered him in a diner one afternoon in 1950 — was telling him the truth when she said she could see the future, and that he was meant to join her family and their coven.

He knew that Carlisle and Esme, the appointed parents of the clan, trusted Alice's judgement, and thus trusted him. He knew that Emmett was happy to have another brother, but Rosalie was hesitant on letting in the outsider. He knew that Edward was too worried about his own problems to worry about Jasper. But the other girl. Sabine. She was different.

It's not that he couldn't feel her emotions, it was that she was feeling too many. Happiness, excitement, but also hesitance and slight fear. Maybe she was unsure of him too, or maybe she just didn't like him. It took him a while to get a reign on her head, but by then it was just as normal as everyone else's. He brushed it off.

Although there was always that slight difference in her that he felt he needed to acknowledge. Maybe it was him, but he felt weird whenever someone referred to them as siblings. Of course, none of them were really related (bar her and Edward), but he still felt a sort of unease at the idea. Sometimes he forgot they were supposed to pose that way, until he overheard someone else gossiping about the Freaky Cullen Siblings.

He got used to it. Every new place, every high school graduation, it was the same. The new kids show up, freak everyone out for four years (sometimes longer if they liked the place), and then move away to somewhere new. Nothing was ever different, and he got used to the feeling. Just like he got used to everyone else's.

But then they moved to Forks, and Edward got all weird around Bella Swan. And then consequently, Sabine got weird around him. Jasper had no idea what he'd done, but she would flinch when he got too close, and she would side eye Alice whenever he made a joke with her. Did she not like him anymore? Had he upset her? He didn't know.

Which was arguably worse because that was his thing. His whole schtick was that he could feel what others were feeling, but whenever he tried to check in on Sabine, she was...calm? Relaxed? Completely fine?

He knew she wasn't. Because on occasion she'd slip up — like when they were in the hospital after Bella almost got hit by that van, and he was teasing her about being sad. It confused him, and when it came to other people's feelings, Jasper was never confused.

But then Bella came to play baseball with them. And the nomads showed up, and all of a sudden Jasper couldn't focus on anything else but Sabine. He knew she had a mask, one she kept up most of the time, and he knew it would come as a shock whenever she'd take it down, but he didn't know it would effect him like that. Like he didn't have any other purpose but to take her in. And then it was gone, like that, and he was left with the lingering feeling of bliss that he couldn't recognise.

But, he brushed it off. He was just surprised, that was all. Of course.

But then, Bella turned eighteen. And they threw a party, and she cut herself, and Jasper lost his cool, and he was ready to tear into her, until he wasn't.

She was still there, bleeding on their living room floor. But he wasn't paying attention — everything in him, all his senses, his entire being was focused on Sabine. On her hands on his arms. Her scent in his nose. Her eyes on his. Everything else went away.

And this time it wasn't shock. Because he'd smelt her before, on the baseball field. So what was it?

Turns out, she'd been lying to him. For fifty years. Apparently they were soulmates. And it made sense — the odd feelings, the strange reaction to just a snippet of her scent. It all made sense, and he couldn't have been angrier.

Because his whole life was surrounded by the fact that he knew what everyone else was feeling. He didn't need to question it, or fight it. He knew. Only to find out that Sabine had been lying about it for half a century? To discover that he wasn't as good at reading people's emotions as he thought he was, because how did he miss her deceit? How did he go five decades being mere meters away from his one true love and had absolutely no idea?

Maybe she didn't love him. Maybe that's why he missed it. Which hurt, because the second she took her mask down, he felt it. The love. But it wasn't from her. It was from himself.

꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷

The next few weeks were spent guarding Bella. The Cullens and the Wolves took shifts, swapping over every few hours to ensure she and her father would remain safe. It got easier once they'd left school, in the days leading up to graduation, as Bella spent more time around them during the day.

It was slightly difficult for them to share territory, but they remained civil for the human girl's sake. Jacob and Edward kept their distance from one another, and Emmett and Paul were still salty about their almost-fight in the woods way back when. All was good, though, and there were no other issues.

Other than the fact that Carlisle seemed adamant on putting her and Jasper together on every shift. Maybe it was his sick way of punishing her for lying. Maybe he thought it was funny.

It wasn't.

They spent most of their time alone in complete silence, only sharing info when needed. After their fight — if you could call it that — in the forest on that first night, things had simmered down. He didn't glare at her anymore, but they still didn't talk. She hated it.

But she couldn't think about it, or dwell on it, because things were only getting worse.

Carlisle, Emmett, Jasper and Sabine were gathered in the upstairs sitting room, eyes firmly on the newscast on the TV — people were still dying in Seattle, and others were still missing.

"We're gonna have to do something."

"It takes more than one of our kind to cause something like this." Jasper muttered, staring at the screen, "Quite a few more. They're undisciplined, conspicuous."

"It's newborns." Edward finished his thought. They all shared looks of dread.

"What...like, new vampires?" Bella asked, looking between them.

"Exactly." Sabine nodded, "The first few months after the change are the most dangerous."

"We're at our most uncontrollable." Jasper continued, "Viscous. Insane with thirst."

"Something to look forward to." Emmett smirked at her. Nobody shared his sentiment.

"No one's trained these newborns." Jasper, the only one out of them who knew the most about newborns, explained the concept, "It's not random."

"Someone's creating an army."

Sabine pressed her lips together, glancing in Jasper's direction. He knew all too well the efforts one foes through to create an army of newborns. She felt for him, but didn't dare say anything. Emmett stood up, "Well now we're definitely going to Seattle."

"An army of vampires?" Bella asked incredulously.

"And they've been created to fight someone."

"We're the only clan even close to Seattle." Edward shook his head.

"Regardless of why they were made, if we don't put a stop to them, the Volturi will." Carlisle said grimly, "I'm surprised they've let it go on this long."

"Maybe they're behind it." Sabine shrugged, "They know all about us, it makes sense that they could deceive Alice's visions."

"It's a possibility." Her twin added, nodding, "In Italy, I read Aro's mind. He wants me and Alice to join him, but he knows we'd never chose them as long as our family is still alive."

"So, what, he wants us all dead?" Sabine exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air.

"An army could solve that for them." Jasper reasoned.

"Yeah, but they've never done it that way before." She rebutted, "Usually they'd find a stupid excuse to kill us. Make up some fake rule that we've broken."

"But if he wants Edward and Alice to trust him, he'd need someone else to do the killing."

"Oh." She breathed, "Right."

The next day went as they usually did — Bella spent most of her morning at home with her dad, Esme and Rosalie guarding the whole time. Later in the afternoon she headed to the reservation, and Jasper and Sabine took over to keep an eye on Charlie. As usual, it was quiet.

The wind was slower than usual as they headed into the warmer months — although that was about as different as the weather was going to get for summer. Sabine was in some straight leg track pants and a long sleeve, Jasper wearing a similar getup, and the pair were stood in the trees in the backyard of Bella's house. They could see Charlie through the living room window, watching a fishing documentary on TV with a beer in hand. Every now and then he made a comment about the bait or the hook, or commented how he could do a better job than any of those shmucks. It reminded Sabine of whenever Rosalie would turn on a documentary on cars, and explain through the screen what they were doing wrong.

"Emmett took us fishing once." She mumbled, "Back in the 40s. He wanted us to learn it the human way, like he had. We were terrible."

She chuckled, but Jasper only managed a weak smile. She supposed he was still on non-speaking terms with her, but it didn't hurt to check. Plus, if she did it when they were alone, she couldn't get embarrassed at his lack of response. Although, in her opinion, they had unfinished conversation. But whatever.

Okay, actually, not whatever. They needed to do this.

She turned to him, "Are you ever gonna talk to me again?"

Raising a single brow, he glanced at her, "What?"

"Because whether you like it or not, we're still soulmates. We're still in the same coven. You can't ignore me forever." She shrugged.

He didn't reply for a moment, and he didn't look at her when he finally did, "It doesn't feel like we're soulmates."

She pursed her lips, "How come?"

He didn't look like he wanted to reply, but she burned her gaze into the side of his face until he did, "I don't know. It just doesn't."

His dismissal hurt — a lot. It was clear to her then that he didn't love her, that she'd waited too long to tell him the truth and the effect had wore off. She turned back to face Bella's house, folding her arms, "Okay, so what now? We pretend everything's fine? That none of this ever happened?"

Jasper shrugged, "You've been in control of this arrangement for fifty years, Sabine. We'll do what you want."

She paused, brows furrowing. Then she turned to look at him — staring at the Swan house with his jaw tight and hands balled in fists. Holy shit. Her lips parted, "Do what I want? Jasper, you think that I want to forget about this?"

He looked at her in equal amounts of confusion, which was all the answer she needed. She stepped back in shock, "I — I couldn't forget about you even if I tried."

His gaze spun into shock, and she shook her head, "I mean — I know that — that in the past I haven't been very open about my feelings, but..." She laughed incredulously, "Jasper, you can read emotions. You can know exactly what a person is feeling just by looking at them, and you're telling me that you can't tell how unbelievably in love with you I am?"

His face fell into complete disbelief, and he stared at her with wide eyes, "You are?"

"Yes!" She answered immediately, throwing her hands out, "Why do you think I did all of this?"

"To — to keep me safe. To not remind me of my past, I — " He stammered, shaking his head, "As a courtesy."

"A courtesy?" She exclaimed, eyes wide in complete disbelief, "You think I hid my feelings, buried my thoughts, gave myself up to Dale as — as a courtesy? Are you completely insane?"

"I didn't know that you —"

"Dude." She spoke with seriousness, "I've been in love with you forever. I mean, the only reason I was so ready for Dale to kill me was because I knew you didn't love me back."

Now it was Jasper's turn to look at her like she was crazy, taking a step back, "You thought I didn't love you back?"

"You wanted to kill me!"

"I was lying!"

"Yeah, I know that now!"

She couldn't help it. She laughed — she bit her lip and tried to hold it in, but she laughed out loud. She shook her head at him and laughed so hard she stumbled back a bit and then laughed harder at her own unbalance. Jasper cracked a smile at her, and she settled down, blowing out a puff of air, "So...so you do love me? Or —"

"Yes." He nodded immediately, grinning at her, "Yes, Sabine. I always have, I just didn't realise it until that day at the cabin."

"Okay, good." She breathed, "Because I was worried that you were so angry about the lying that all the love sorta disappeared."

Jasper shook his head, stepping closer to her, "No amount of anger could ever overcome my love for you, Sabine."

"Oh, wow." She muttered lowly. They were so close, noses practically brushing. All she had to do was push herself forward, and they would —

"Edward — !"

"If you ever, touch her again her will again — !"

Their attention snapped to the front of the house, where Edward and Jacob were locked in an a angry brawl, Bella attempting to mediate. All previous conversation forgotten, they shot over.

"Hey, don't do this to him —"

"She's not sure what she wants."

"Well let me give you a clue," He got in his face with a sneer, "wait for her to say the words."

"Fine." Jacob snarled, "And she will."

"Jacob, just go, okay?"

"Hey, hey hey!" Charlie exclaimed, running down the steps in a hurry, "What's going on here?"

"Yeah, what the hell is going on here?" Sabine added, and Bella jumped at her presence, clearly not noticing her before.

Charlie pushed the boys away from one another, giving them firm looks. Jacob glanced between him and Edward with a sigh, "I kissed Bella."

Sabine's mouth dropped into an O and she shared a glance with Jasper, who raised an intrigued brow.

"And she broke her hand...punching my face."

She snorted, shoving a hand over her mouth when Jasper nudged her.

"Total misunderstanding."

Charlie looked between the three of them in disbelief, and the teens stayed silent. Edward looked down, ashamed that he'd shown so much aggression in front of Bella's father.

Jasper stepped forward, "I think we should take Bella to our place. Get Carlisle to look at her hand."

The Chief nodded, stepping back and wiping his eyes of the stress, "Yeah, that's a good idea. Get it checked out. Jacob, go home."

The boy nodded and Charlie retreated back into the house. With one last look at Bella, Jacob ran off through the trees, leaving her alone with the three vampires.

"Sabine, you go with them." The blonde nodded, "I'll stay here with Charlie."

"But — "

"Go." He firmed, "We'll talk later."

"Okay." She nodded, turning and taking the keys from Edward's hand before shooting around to the drivers seat of his car. Bella hopped in the passenger seat and Edward climbed reluctantly into the back. She revved up the engine and started down the dark roads.

"Not mad at one another anymore?" He asked.

"Shut up and get out of my head." She narrowed her eyes.

"I don't need to be in your head, Sabine." He spoke calmly, "You're my twin sister."

Sabine scoffed out a laugh, shaking her head and kicking up the speed. Soon enough they were pulling up to the Cullen house, and Alice was greeting them with an uneasy smile. Trust her to tell Edward about the kiss — instigator behaviour.

"It's just a sprain." Carlisle said softly, wrapping Bella's hand up in a bandage, "Should heal quickly."

Emmett entered the room with a grin, hopping up on the counter, "Trying to walk and chew gum at the same time again, Bella?"

The girl chuckled, "I punched a werewolf in the face."

"Badass." He nodded with a smirk, "You're gonna be one tough little newborn."

"Tough enough to take you on." She grinned, raising her brows at him. They chuckled.

Across the room, Rosalie stood with a grimace, making it a point to leave the room angrily.

"Don't worry about it." Emmett said, tilting his head.

Jasper entered then, Alice and Esme having taken over for him after Sabine left him alone. He glanced at Bella's hand, shaking his head.

"Any leads?" Carlisle directed at them both.

"No signs of the intruder." He shrugged, "But Victoria continues to make appearances."

He was right. Earlier in the afternoon, they had caught a whiff of the redhead further back — too close to Bella's house for their liking. They'd chased her to the Canadian border before coming back, but it wasn't the first time she'd shown up. Emmett and Alice almost had her a few days back, and Sam Uley reported a similar incident last week.

She kept showing up, and if they didn't catch her soon, it wouldn't be long before she slipped past them.

꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒷꒦︶︶︶︶︶꒦꒷

— mills speaks!

i am sooo weak for them bc why was jasper only mad at her for all of two (2) chapters...

all my oc's hate jake xox

speaking of...Lena Parkinson returns to our screens in the next chapter 😁😁😁