A/N: Thank you to all of my readers who have followed with me through "In Jasper's Care". What follows is the final chapter as well as the Epilogue. Then the preface of my next fan fiction which takes place some years after "In Jasper's Care" but picks up following the same events. Please comment and let me know if you'd like to read more. Again, thank you.

Chapter XXIII (FINAL CHAPTER)

Cullen

Seth came to live with us after many debates with Sam, who didn't approve at all. However, since Sam had been the first to begin phasing, he was consequently the first to stop. He could no longer place the Alpha restrictions on Seth, though within the tribe his word was still law.

In order to allow plenty of adjustment time to both the family, and Seth, it was decided that the guest house would be his. He only used it for sleeping, really. He came in for meals because Esme delighted in having someone to cook for again, now that I was no longer human. Seth's incessant praise of her meals guaranteed him many more. Everyone grew accustomed to his nearly constant presence, but none of us really minded. He improved Emmett's spirits noticeably, and having him around was like having a new sun again, or if not a sun, then a warm little star. Seth's presence didn't fill the hole Jacob's death had left in me, but it eased it a little.

Carlisle and Esme enrolled Seth in the local high school where we all went, under the pretext of his being an exchange student. And so it was that Seth fell into the pattern of life at the Cullen house. Contentment threatened to overtake almost all of us. Even Emmett was constantly entertained.

Then one day, as we were watching a practice battle between Seth and Emmett, enjoying the spectacle of Emmett's brute force against Seth's youthful naivety, Edward suddenly tensed up beside me and hissed.

We all dropped into low crouches as Seth exploded out of his clothes. Alice growled, she'd just bought a new wardrobe for Seth for school. Edward looked at Seth. "No, I'm not sure, but go, just in case."

Seth whimpered, barked once and ran for the back of the house.

Carlisle turned to Edward, "What is it son?"

Edward hissed, "It's Marcus."

We all looked up through the trees on the hill before us, hearing but not seeing the oncoming figure. I could tell by the sound of his steps that he was alone and relaxed my crouch. The other's seemed to as well, except Edward.

Marcus came to us at a run. When he reached us, there was no black flowing robe, nor any of his former attitude. I realized he was different somehow, and it took a moment to recognize he no longer looked bored.

"Good afternoon." He said. He looked as if he'd been traveling for awhile. He confirmed this as he continued. "I have been looking for you for quite some time." Edward was still tensed, but relaxed almost immediately, Marcus raised his hands, palms forward, "I am not here for any fight or battle, I am a visitor and a messenger. After I have completed my visit, and conveyed the message, I will leave you again."

Carlisle stepped forward, "If that is truly your purpose Marcus, then you are welcome. Please, come inside and sit with us." Marcus nodded and we all stepped into the house. Just before I stepped through the door, I saw Seth's head peeking through the curtains of the guest house, his room.

Since this house was larger than the Forks home, the living area was also larger. Esme had added furniture, so there was plenty of sitting room for everyone.

Marcus chose to sit by himself in an armchair. He looked around the room at us. He nodded his head and spoke again. "There seems to be no loss among you, so it is true, the battle was indeed won entirely by yourselves." I saw Emmett tense out of the corner of my eye, his expression changing into an angry scowl. Edward spoke before Emmett could.

"We have lost a sister Marcus, Emmett has lost his wife. My wife is now a vampire only because she'd have had to live as a parapalegic if she were human, thanks to Jane. We have lost friends, dear friends. Do not speak lightly of loss Marcus. The wounds are still very fresh."

"I did not mean...I only meant that your relationship to each other remains just as strong. I meant no offense. I have no disrespect for the extreme losses on all sides, I assure you." Marcus replied, his expression was genuine. Judging by Edward's ease, and Jasper's, his words were as well.

Marcus began talking again, "I have come to inform you of events as they have unfolded in Volterra, and of the subsequent changes in our world. There has been a complete breakdown of power in Volterra without Aro, and Caius. The guard no longer follows my command. Those of our kind living in and around the city have grown greedy, and they've had to flee the inner walls as the human population came to recognize the threat. So the seat of power in Volterra has been destroyed. I am outcast and have taken to living as a nomad. Life among our kind has remained much the same, but as word spread of the removal of the Volturi threat, some areas have reverted to the old ways. In the southern section of North America for example, the old territory wars are beginning again, with newborn armies being created. Now that there is no threat of danger for rules being broken, lawlessness has returned."

Marcus looked at all of our faces, and then concentrated on Carlisle's. "Carlisle, I have given much thought to this, so do not think I suggest it without giving due consideration to to what it will mean for your family and for us all. I believe that in order for our kind to survive, we must continue to remain a mystery to humans. However, those who are living without rules, need to be informed there will be consequences for their behavior. It is for this reason that I suggest that the Cullen's become the new law enforcing body among our kind. And with your permission, I will spread word in my travels to this effect." There were gasps from most of us, Carlisle looked completely shaken.

Marcus went on, "I believe it is important to note that by virtue of your defeat of the Volturi, you've already in effect, taken on this mantle in the minds of many in our world. A display of your strength would be needed to prove it. There are several small skirmishes happening around Eastern Europe and Africa, but the worst damage is in the south. Texas seems to be the hardest struck."

Jasper breathed out, "Maria!" as Edward, Alice, Emmett and I nodded our heads.

Marcus went on for quite some time. Carlisle made arguments as to why he was against the idea, but Marcus was able to easily dispute each reason. Jasper also was terrified of having to return to the sort of dissatisfying existence he'd had to live through with Maria.

When Carlisle assured Jasper it wouldn't be like that, that Carlisle would never force him to do anything he found distasteful, I began to realize that it was going to happen. I realized I was looking at Carlisle and Esme in a new light. Carlisle the benevolent leader and bringer of law. I smiled widely and even giggled slightly at the thought. And his compassionate mate, justice personified; able to love blindly, without malice being able to sway her judgments.

Some time just before dawn, Marcus finally stood and prepared to leave. He said goodbye and we watched him disappear into the trees on the hill above us. Emmett suddenly spoke, "Wow, cool! Long live King Carlisle and Queen Esme."

Edward gasped, "Emmett!"

Emmett smirked at him, "Oh, I'm sorry, and long live Princess Edward too." Edward's expression soured as he said, "That's not funny." to Emmett, in clipped tones. Therest of us chuckled as Carlisle and Esme looked visibly uncomfortable.

epilogue

After only a few months between Carlisle's efficient ability to maneuver us to places where our enforcement of the law would be most effective, as well as Marcus' dutiful spreading of the news that the old laws were being enforced again, some semblance of order was beginning to show among our kind again.

Alice, Jasper Edward, Emmett and I had just returned to a jubilant Seth who begged us to never leave so long again, from a trip to Louisana where we'd had to remove a threat, with a newborn army nearly as large as Victoria's had been.

Alice, Jasper, Edward and I were walking together by an icy river that flowed across the northern end of our property opposite the hills to the south of us. Edward was asking me about my change.

"I don't remember much of it, honestly. I do remember Jasper telling me, "Easy Bella." I said, smiling at Jasper who grinned back, and reached over to squeeze my hand tenderly just once, before releasing it.

Edward looked at me. "You've had to go through so much in the last year Bella, I don't know how you've made it through."

Alice's bell-like giggle sounded, "That's easy," she said smiling, and looking at her husband. "She was in Jasper's care."

And now the big reveal, this is the end of "In Jasper's Care",.. but the story continues. Following is the preface of my next fan-fiction: "Empire", it begins after "In Jasper's Care". Let me know what you think of it, and whether it should continue:

PREFACE

Empire

(Edward P.O.V.)

When Marcus had come to our new house in Alaska, we had been excited and full of wonder at the idea of being the new enforcing body in the vampire world. We quickly realized it was not going to be as easy as we'd imagined it. Carlisle was amazingly intuitive in his ability to send us where it would be most effective, but we were of course constantly being sent all over the globe, and it quickly became a nuisance. For one of us though, it was exactly what he needed.

Emmett's personality and attitude seemed perfectly suited to this life of enforcement, and he always approached each new threat with the same excitement and focus as we'd all displayed for the first few confrontations.

Carlisle and Esme had found friends who were willing to assist us in our efforts to keep the various covens from fighting. Tanya, Kate and Irina had of course been asked to join us in our plans, Carmen and Eleazar had declined, they remained in Denali.

My brother, sisters, Bella and I had made it our practice to let Emmett always front our group as we entered each new warring area. He joked about it, especially with Seth, "Well, I am the dark spirit of retribution, right?" and he'd chuckle, while looking pointedly at Seth who would look slightly abashed. Seth's chagrin usually made the rest of us chuckle as well. We'd been through at least a hundred battles already, and a lot of time had passed. Bella had made incredible progress following her change, and her human aversion to blood had apparently had a strong impact on her ability to control herself afterwards. Carlisle had allowed Bella to accompany us on our missions, and we rarely had to worry about her response. When she had difficulty or trouble, Jasper was always there to help Bella, and calm her. He seemed to be pleased to know he was no longer the sibling with the weakest resolve.

Everything had actually become very monotonous, we'd sweep in, fight if we had to, talk if we could, and destroy what was abhorrent to the world, newborns with no control. Some sort of fire was always lit within me when I saw them, as though they were all a product created to attack Bella, and though she was no longer defenseless, my love for her still made me arrogant and oblivious to things going on around me. It was one of those moments which I blame for what happened to Emmett.

We'd found a new threat in Chicago, a formerly nomadic vampire had taken up residence in a preserve there. His name was Christian and he was a greedy, selfish and wicked vampire. He'd created between 20 - 25 newborns in an effort to dominate that area, and it had taken a noticeable toll on the local population. The word brought to our doorstep by other vampires in the area was that he was also an evil, murderous, and wicked killer, who had been changed from a human serial killer, into a vampire angel of unmerciful death. He liked to play with his food before partaking of it. The thought of the grisly accounts of the state his victims had been found in still made me cringe inwardly.

Naturally, Carlisle sent us to Chicago as quickly as possible, and we'd been tracking Christian and his newborns down ever since. He remained very elusive and for some reason we couldn't seem to find him. Alice, Jasper, Bella and I were tracking down the newborns and disposing of them systematically. By Carlisle's instruction, if any expressed an interest in trying our life of vegetarianism, we spared them and they were sent to Alaska for Carlisle and Esme to work with.

Emmett had the task of tracking down Christian, it was Carlisle's way of giving Emmett a task. When we were able to return home to Alaska, Emmett was fine, he'd spend his days sparring with Seth, and they'd laugh and give us hours of unending entertainment. When we were away on one of our missions, Seth had to remain in Alaska. During these times Emmett would begin missing Rosalie, and he became moody, disassociative and unfriendly. Every bit the irritable grizzly he so loved to hunt.

Emmett was sulking one evening, complaining about how he hadn't been able to figure out what had happened with Christian, he'd followed him, but somehow the vampire always managed to elude him at the last moment and Emmett would find himself going in circles in his search. He'd just returned to the place we'd rented for our time in Chicago. He came in with an irascible expression on his face, and annoyance furrowing his eyebrows.

He walked into the other room and I could hear him going through drawers, slamming them, then finding whatever it was that he was looking for, he carelessly tossed whatever it was onto the table. After a few minutes there was the sound of something breaking followed by a few choice curses. Chuckling, I stood and followed Emmett into the dining room and found Emmett sitting there holding a pair of mangled glasses in his hands, and a look of dark frustration on his face.

Emmett looked up at the sound of my chuckling, "I used to be able to do easy things, now it's like I can't do anything!" He said, putting an end to my amusement. When Emmett was grieving, he became so oddly introspective, I couldn't hear his thoughts. It had given us all some perspective on what it was about Bella's mind which blocked my ability. During these times, I'd have to actually resort to questioning him about anything bothering him. It made me crazy.

"Emmett, you're still perfectly capable, you just allow yourself to get...distracted." I said, not wishing to directly address his grief. We'd all had conversations with him about Rosalie in the years which had passed since our family, and most specifically Emmett had lost her. Regardless of this fact, it was still a sore subject with him.

I pulled a chair out and sat next to Emmett, taking the mangled glasses off the table and crushing them in my hands. I dropped the leftovers of them onto the floor. As the particles fell, Emmett said, "I can't track Christian, Edward. I've followed him into Busse Woods 8 nights in a row, and every time I end up chasing my own trail! What is he doing? Flying?"

I raised my eyebrows, "Myth, Emmett, you know that!" I said.

He frowned back at me, "What?" he said, distractedly, "Oh! Yeah, I know, I was being sarcastic. I'm just tired of playing chase! I want to catch him, and pulverize him...cat and mouse is more your style." He grumbled.

Jasper passed through the room, grabbing a towel, Alice was in the front room trying to blow off her boredom by attempting creation of a glass piano out of all the available glasses in the apartment. If she found a glass with too little, she'd fill it, too much, she'd siimply pour it onto the carpet. This was the third towel Jasper had come in to retrieve. I wondered if the condo had an unending supply.

"Get over it Emmett! You'll catch him when you catch him. Grumping around like a spoiled princess won't accomplish anything." Jasper called out. Emmett's short fuse burned immediately and he stood up, knocking the chair out from behind him. Jasper grinned mischievously and sent a wave of calm towards Emmett that even I felt.

Emmett calmed down, but glared at Jasper, "Knock that off! Just because you're a blood relative now doesn't put you beyond my ability to annihilate you little brother." Jasper walked out mumbling and grinning, but I heard him thinking could be interesting to see you try.

I made a mental note to talk to Jasper. He'd grown a little braver since Bella's change, and he'd moved from quiet observer into audacious and verbal full-fledged annoying brother. I loved his new brazen attitude, but Emmett was taking a little longer to warm up to him.

Emmett was casting dark glares at Jasper's retreating figure, and I chose to distract him, "Emmett, if you're having so much trouble tracking him down, perhaps a new set of eyes would help you?" I offered, thinking he might find Christian easier with people who understood his mindset. When Emmett started thanking me, I was confused at first. Then I realized he thought I was offering my own help.

"Not me!" I exclaimed. I was in no hurry to try to understand the mind of someone so mentally similar to all the nefarious criminals who I had executed in my early days following my change. My response to Bella's would-be attacker, had been enough to make me realize how close I was to someone like that myself. "I meant someone who searches for murderers and psychopaths for a living, Emmett. Find a human professional, a criminal investigator or someone to that effect."

Emmett's face lit up, "Yeah, you're right, maybe I should, I mean,...could. He has been killing a lot of humans as well changing many of them. Maybe..." Emmett jumped up and ran out of the room,

I heard Jasper's annoyed tone as he said, "Emmett! What the..." from the other room, and as Emmett returned to the kitchen he was calling back to Jasper, "Sorry, can I use the computer for a minute?" He said belatedly, a smirk on his lips as he looked down at the computer screen. He placed it on the table, and then sat down again. He hunted and pecked across the keyboard, considering how dexterous he was when playing video games, it surprised me to see him so incapable on a keyboard.

He pecked a bunch of keys, watched the screen, scanned down it and frowned, then went back to hunting and pecking again. I watched him go through this same process three times, the sag of his shoulders deepening with each new attempt. After the third time he finally exhaled loudly and pushed the computer back, then looked up at me.

"What should I search for?" He asked. I took a deep breath, and reaching for the computer, turned it and pulled it close. I glanced sideways at him as I began typing quickly. He narrowed his eyes at me, and rolled his eyes, "Show off." he said, causing me to struggle not to grin.

After a moment I turned the laptop back around in his direction; "There is a list. Choose whomever you wish, any of them will likely be able to help you much better than I could." I stood then and walked away as I heard Emmett mumbling in a girlish voice and mimicking me, "Choose whomever you wish, any of them can help you better than me, because I'm a prancing perfection barometer..." he trailed off as he read the list of names.

"Hmm...Lisa Sterna-Sterna-leeyow...oh hell no, not with a name like that. Ooo, maybe a guy? Darren Carrow...yeuch! God no, sounds like a soap character...Well, maybe this one, Lena Leighton Kors. Fifty years serving the greater Chicago community...MBA...advanced Criminal Psychology for the purpose of Investigation, with an emphasis in...Holy Cow, how does anyone study that, let alone doing it for a living..." Emmett's ramblings continued.

Had I been aware of the significance of what that name would mean to me within a few short weeks, I'd have walked back, torn the laptop out from under Emmett's disjointed nose, and provided all the help I was too cowardly to offer. Because Alice, Jasper, Bella and I, and most especially Emmett, were about to get to know Lena Leighton Kors too well, for all the wrong reasons.