Now You See Me [Jasper Hale story]

XIII. Parties and Other Disasters

"The grace of God means something like: Here is your life. You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you." ― Frederick Buechner

***

What kind of being was able to move as fast as him? Were all the members of his family like him? Was it in their eyes - the golden pools of melted gold? Were they dangerous, would any of them hurt me? Bella didn't have the same eyes though. Was she involved in this, did she know about them?

Or others. Did Jasper refer to Alice, mentioning his wife? How long were they married, if they were married? Was it even legal for adoptive siblings, to get married?
That was only a fraction of the questions that had been piling in my head, when Alice came and saved me from Jasper's steely grip. She told him to calm down, that she knew how he felt. That answered one of my questions - in this field, Alice was same as Jasper. Alice then repeated Edward's words, about that this evening belonged to Bella. When Jasper calmed down enough to let go of me, he disappeared in a blink of an eye. I remained standing in the same place, in the hall, my jaw dropped, eyes still anchored on where Jasper disappeared only a few moments ago. Alice was staring in the same direction, however, when I breathed in to ask her, she interrupted me, lifting her right hand up, shaking her head.

"We will talk later, I promise," she sang quietly, offering me a worried expression, "Let's go downstairs. Everyone is waiting for us."

She was right. Bella had been holding a present from Carlisle and Esme, the moment we entered the room. Alice smiled with a huge smile, pulling out a small camera, taking photo of Bella, with the particular present. In fact, hundreds of photos were taken by Ms. Cullen that evening; no matter how acid the glares Rosalie kept gracing her with were, she was absolutely determined to make Bella's party memorable.
Edward then wrapped an arm around Bella's waist, pulling her to him and pressing a kiss on the top of her head. I had never considered myself to be sentimental, or pathetic for that matter, but today appeared to be hell of a day for my standards. I wrapped my arms around myself, for that both a hint of cold made me tremble, and a thought of how would Hale's freakin' arm, wrapped around me like that, feel.

I doubted Edward Cullen was a freaking mind-reader, nevertheless, he smirked at me, the moment the dangerous thought passed through my mind. He then leaned to Esme, whispering something I wasn't able to catch in her ear. Mrs. Cullen looked at me compassionately, taking off her flowery sweater. Before I managed to notice, Esme was barely a few inches in front of me, handing her sweater to me .

"Here, Honey. Take this, it will warm you up." I honestly doubted any piece of clothing would help me get out of my cold depression. Taking it from her though, I thanked her politely.

"Huh! Don't think clothes are what Gwyn wishes to warm her up," Emmett's voice sounded from behind me, and so there, I turned around, frowning at the huge man. I hissed at him to shut up, before he gave an absolutely angelic grin to me. I rolled my eyes, only to notice Bella had opened another present. Thanks to Mr. Big and Funny, I had no idea whose present it was. Great... just, great!

Because of Emmett's having distracted me, I had nearly even lost the most interesting moment of the party. Bella's finger stuck behind the layer of the paper her present had been covered with, as its edge pierced through the skin of her finger. The girl hissed in pain, once drops of blood started to appear. I expected Esme Cullen to bring a patch to Bella, as quickly as she brought her sweater to me, yet, when I looked at her, she stood in her place, dumbfounded. Actually, everyone in the room seemed to be dumbfounded, for a few whiles. I, naturally, wondered why...
This foolish question of mine was answered soon though, by no one else, than Jasper Hale. He crouched as a predator before a leap, jumping forwards, to attack Bella. That was the last thing I was able to see. All the actions that followed were just a fuzzy bunch of movements, at least for my eyes. Another thing I noticed - Edward threw Bella onto a wall. The painting, that was hanging over a dark, wooden table, shattered under the weight of Bella's body. Now, blood was everywhere. And Cullens still didn't seem to be able to help her.