Now You See Me [Jasper Hale story]

XXXI. The One Who Is Staying

Do you know the moment in a really gripping film, when the soldiers, cops or secret agents lead a suspect of a crime (that he never really did), through a dark, scary corridor, towards a room where they would torture him to make him confess to something he never did, and kill him eventually? 'Cause I knew it was my case once two random, tall, pale guys appeared by my sides. The taller of them stretched his arm forwards, instead of telling me to go, and even though I wanted to shout at them that I wasn't going anywhere with such obvious criminals, I just swallowed all the rebellion and started moving in the direction of a huge, wooden door. I wanted to run away. I wished to get back to the hotel and find out that Jasper had stayed in there; I would kiss the hell out of him, apologize to him, beg for his forgiveness and never be mad at him again. Yet, something told me that my presence in Volterra castle wouldn't end up as easily as it started.

Once the two gorillas by my sides opened the door, I lost all of my illusions. The first scene I spotted was Edward, being thrown against a marble pillar, breaking it in half. Not that I hadn't been glad to see that idiot suffering, but - hey - breaking stone pillars with him? That was too much even for me. Bella shouted out, in a vain attempt to stop him. My heart started beating faster. I noticed Alice and Jasper, having their own gorillas behind their back and I prayed to god for them to stay passive. As long as it was "just" Edward who changed into a punching bag for the most powerful vampire guys in the world, it was still kinda "all right", if you know what I mean. I rather refused to think about what I'd do if Edward's place was taken by Alice or Jasper...

However, karma obviously focused on me and decided to knock the nail into my coffin right ahead. Alice spotted me, therefore, felt a urge to call out my name and try to break free, most probably in order to come to rescue me. That was a move I would have considered to be very noble, if only our lives hadn't depended on every single, little, goddamned action we did. Of course that Alice's move caused a chain of reactions. For example, Jasper threw his guard over his shoulder and ran to help Alice; Alice's guard pinned Alice to a wall hard enough to make cracks in it; by the time, Jasper's guard was back on his feet again, rushing after Jasper and drowning in combat with him. Suddenly, there were more Volturi guards than would have been healthy while in the end, something happened and all the present Cullens were rolling on the floor, twisting with pain. And then, all the looks of those who weren't suffering from pain were on me. Great. Just... great.

"Uhm... hello?" I beeped quietly, unsure what to say. I had thought about: "That was cool," or "Really, bro, really?" but considering the current situation of my allies, a simple, plain hello had to do. After that, someone laughed with a sincere, short laugh. It was a short man with longer, brown hair, who rose from his throne between two other thrones, and started making his way towards me. As he was approaching me, I found out that he wasn't as short as he seemed to be at first. His height was actually pretty scary, against my, bare 5' 7".

"Why, hello there, child," the moment he reached me, he rose his palm to my chin, lifting it a little, "Who might you be? Do not say that you are another pathetic human soul under the protection of the Cullens."

"G-gwyneth. I'm Gwyneth Callaghan and I'm not pathetic. Seriously, have you met Bella yet?" It took him a while to proceed my sarcasm, but when he did, his lips twitched up in a grin. The contrast between the man's strong, obviously healthy, white teeth and his exceptionally pale, almost ash-coloured skin made it clear that he must have been as old as Methuselah. Jasper once told me, that the lighter vampire's skin was, the older the vampire was in fact. That was why I started feeling even more stressed.

"You really are a Callaghan, aren't you? The unobtrusive humor must be a matter of genetic predisposition in your bloodline," the man shot a glare somewhere behind me, as I assumed, to my aunt. Afterwards, he took my palm, bringing it to his lips and kissing the back of it. I had no idea what he did to my goddamned brain, but the moment he touched my skin, all of my memories, that involved Hayden, the Cullens, my parents, Bella and the strange accident with the afroamerican vampire started running in front of my eyes. It was as if... as if he was pulling them out of my memory. I would surely have panicked, if only I hadn't lived among guys who were able to change my emotions, or figure what I'd do even before I did it, for nearly half a year. Dammit, to hell with those who think they can manipulate us, poor humans!