Now You See Me [Jasper Hale story]

XXVIII. Fooling a Vampire

"The choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility." - Eleanor Roosevelt

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Our days spent in Volterra literally couldn't have been better. The beginning had been a bit rough - I have to admit that, since Bella insisted on our immediate going to find Edward. The time shift was 9 hours though, so there, it had been nine in the evening in Volterra, when our plane landed. I tried to explain the fact, that if her boyfriend really wanted to get himself killed, he would wait until the morning to Bella, however, she wasn't listening to me. Quite the opposite actually. Swan accused me of that I came to Volterra only to enjoy my holidays and that I had been insensitive towards her relationship.

That was enough for me to stop intending to help her and start enjoying the pretty, sunny weather of lingering, Italian summer. After we had come to the hotel (which was situated in the very centre of the town) Alice checked us in and I went straight to my . I was so pissed about Bella's behavior, that I wasn't in the mood of seeing anyone. And fortunately, no one decided to come. Jasper must have sensed my mood, then shared the information with Alice, which I was grateful for. I went to shower, then directly to bed. For my being tired from the long-haul flight, I thought I'd fall asleep before I'd know; however, my mind obviously wasn't going to give up on creating images of what would happen if Jasper found out what I had been capable of.

He had already experienced it, during the slap I gave him, outside the house in Alaska. What if he hadn't passed it just like that? Jasper was pretty mysterious; sometimes, I couldn't even know how he felt, not to mention what he was thinking. No matter how ridiculous it sounded, could he be afraid of me? Afraid of what I was able to do to vampires? And where the hell did the power come from? Almost 20 years of my life, it was happilly hidden somewhere inside me and now - the moment I met the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with - it just... appeared?

Goodness, why me, of all those filthy sinners that were walking on Earth?!
For the last time, I sighed; then, I rolled onto another side, closing my eyes.
***

"Good morning," I smiled at the woman who was arranging various types of cheeses on plates in the dining room.

"Good morning, carissima!" The woman smiled at me sincerely, wiping her hands in a cute, blue apron. She was speaking with a strong, Italian accent. "I hope you have slept well. Your friends must have slept bad. They did not eat anything!"

"It's probably just because of the time shift." Of all the things, I truly didn't feel like explaining why vampires (and Bella) avoided food. "Uh... they were here already?"

"Naturalmente," the lady nodded her head. "The two girls left about two hours ago, the man only about half an hour ago. The girls said they went to the city centre, to do a bit of... how is the word... sightseeing? Yes, sightseeing!"

"Oh... uhm... sure. They said they would go sightseeing in the morning." I blurted out, trying to disguise the disappointment that flooded me. It was clear that they went to the castle of Volterra. Without me. And what about Jasper? Where was he? Did he betray me too?
The woman suddenly started to simper mischievously, yet, before I managed to start preoccupying myself about it, someone covered my eyes and blinded me for a moment. My heart started beating fast and hard in my chest. Of course, the options of who it might have been were rather limited; therefore, it wasn't a big problem for me to come up with a simple solution...

"Jasper," I breathed out almost inaudibly, knowing he'd catch it.

"Mornin' darlin'," he whispered in my ear huskily, pressing a butterfly kiss on my cheek. I had to do my best to forget his having taken part in BBC (Bella's Big Conspiracy), as I decided to call it.