1,726AN: I got really encouraging reviews for this story...so here's another chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of it's characters.
Humans sure were interesting these days. Jasper patted the pocket of his vest, retrieving his pack of cigarettes from within. After barely a second he had a cigarette between his lips and was lighting it with the zippo he always kept on him, the pack safely returned to his vest. He took a deep drag before speaking to the woman in front of him again. He had a feeling he would need the familiar feel of smoke filling his dead lungs to deal with this spitfire.
"And why would I eat cha, kitt'n?"
The brunette beauty rolled her eyes at him again. A twinge of amusement and annoyance colored the air around him and her emotions made him duck his head and smirk.
"Bella. My name is Bella. For god's sake call me that. As long as you don't call me kitten anymore."
Jasper tilted his hat back up and observed her. Bella. Mm. It seemed to fit her in a way; musical in its pronunciation, short and spunky. Yes. Bella was the perfect name for the beauty in front of him.
"Well then, Bella," He let her name curl off his tongue, tasting each syllable of it. He might have even seen her shiver. "Why would I eat you?"
Bella shrugged her shoulders and flopped her body down so she was staring up at the clear sky above them.
"Why wouldn't you? That's what you came for right? Drain the pitiful human who is all alone in the desert; throw her body down the cliff to make it look like an accident. I'm the perfect prey really for red eyes like you…"
Her voice trailed off into a whisper.
"Maybe that's why I'm out here anyway…to die now that I'm no longer needed…"
Jasper stubbed out his cigarette against the bottom of his boot and flicked the dead butt at her relaxed form. Bella shot up like a bullet and glared at him with a fire he was becoming quite familiar with.
"What the fuck was that for?"
He shrugged at her angry expression. A pissed off human hardly scared him. She looked even more like a spittin' kitten now than ever.
"Why should it matter? Ya obviously don't give a damn 'bout yourself any more. Sayin' ya want me to kill ya…why should ya care if I flick a dead cig at cha?"
Her stance slowly relaxed as she stared at him. Her eyes flickered from the cigarette butt laying on the desert floor, and back to him. Her chocolate brown met his ruby red without any hesitation.
"What kind of vampire smokes anyway?"
Her reply made him toss his head back and laugh. He felt mirth fill him that he hadn't felt in over 50 years. Not since his Captain had tried to use some new contraption called a 'skateboard' or something like that, and skate off the roof. He had promptly fallen on his ass despite his enhanced coordination and Jasper's amusement had kept his coven laughing for at least three days straight.
Jasper looked back to this funny little human just to see her smiling tenderly at him. The sight quickly sobered him up. It had been quite a long time since he had seen a woman other than Charlotte look at him like that. It made him uncomfortable. He propped himself off of his rock and rolled his shoulders lazily, trying to find a movement that comforted him.
"It's not like the smoke is gonna kill me, ya know?"
Bella's expression went blank and she nodded.
"Guess you're right. Guess you're going to drain me now too, huh, cowboy?"
Jasper was suddenly in front of her, less than an inch separating their bodies. He absent mindedly twirled a lock of her chestnut hair around his long, pale finger.
"That would be right, Bella."
Bella shivered at his words, as well as his cold breath ghosting across her cheek, breaking through the constant heat of the desert around them. Jasper buried his hand into the very hair that brought him to her in the first place; fisting it and yanking her head to the side to expose her neck. Bella gasped at the sudden movement and Jasper took that moment to breathe in her addictive scent of freesias and strawberries one last time. She certainly was mouth-watering…
He lowered his head so that his exhale caressed her neck, the spike in her unease and fear sweetening the blood just begging to him from beneath the thin surface of her skin. Slowly, in minute measured moments, he descended his mouth closer to his food source. Just as he was about to open his mouth and bite down, when his lips graced the delicate, smooth, skin of her neck.
Everything in the moment changed.
Suddenly his body was assaulted with intense feelings of protectiveness, longing, lust, and the most frightening of all, love. The feelings were so overwhelming they could only be his own, and he pulled away in alarm, the same moment Bella arched forward with a moan. Her breasts pressed into his chest and suddenly Jasper was overwhelmed with her own emotions that echoed his very own. Bella's hand went to entangle themselves in his long, shaggy, blonde curls and Jasper pulled away in a flash leaving her grasping at air with a disappointed whine bursting from her throat. He stumbled back in alarm, his back hitting the rock he leaned against just moments before, and he slumped against it, happy for its support.
"Shit."
His voice came out a strangled whisper as Bella stood where he left her, gasping for breath.
"W-what was t-that?"
Her voice echoed his in breathlessness and her molten chocolate eyes met Jasper's wide, shock filled black as he stared at her.
"You're my mate."
AN: I hope you enjoyed this new chapter. It certainly was a blast to write. I wonder what's going to happen now that Jasper knows Bella is his mate? Hm...