Her Keeper – a Different Love Story

Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. I just like to play with the characters. My thanks to Jaspersdoll for coming up with the title, and to my wonderful beta EdwardsMate4Ever.

This is a Jasper-Bella fiction. It takes place in current time. Vampires are in hiding but have a more structured society. They take human "pets" for food, and some humans are held in captivity to be bled for vampires. They bottle blood much like humans bottle beer, and this product is sold in the underground vampire clubs and bars. There are a number of "designer" blood labels. Bella's blood has been featured in a blend called "LaGuerra" and is the most popular designer bottled blood of this vampire black market.

Chapter 28 – The End

My father's reaction quickly changed from acceptance to astonishment to horror, as he took in the scars on my arms, neck and bosom, then his eyes cut to the vampress, and he gave a low growl. She shrank back into her expensive chair and dropped her eyes to the floor. It appeared she was now more afraid of him than she was of Jasper.

"You knew?" my father demanded.

The vampress dropped from the chair to the floor, where she knelt in front of him with her head down, hands stretched toward him appealingly. "Please," she said, "I love you."

"Did you know?" he said again, his growl growing louder. He stepped forward, and Jasper quickly pushed me behind him.

"She came to visit us, several times a year," I said with surprising calm. "Each time she had the guards cut my mother's arm so that she could get a shot glass of her blood."

I saw Carlisle grimace and felt a growl rumble through Jasper's chest.

My father, however, roared and leapt on her. It happened so fast, that I barely saw the flash of his movement, but suddenly he was gone from the doorway, and then in the next instant, he was standing over her.

"Cover her eyes," Carlisle ordered Jasper, but he didn't need to. I had already buried my face in Jasper's chest, sobbing. This was not how it was supposed to happen.

I could hear her pleading with him in a low voice, though I couldn't make out the words. Whatever she was saying didn't work, because she went from pleading to agonized screams of "No". Her wails were cut off quickly, and soon there were just noises that sounded like something metallic was being ripped apart, and thumps as if furniture was being overturned. Finally the loud noises ceased, and I looked up from Jasper's shirt.

The room was trashed. Furniture was tipped over and broken, curtains torn, and pictures on the wall had been knocked off or were hanging crookedly. Carlisle was gathering what I realized were body parts. When he saw me watching, he dropped them behind a sofa that he quickly righted.

Mike was on the floor amid the remains of the chair where the vampress had been sitting, hands over his face. He was keening softly, rocking back and forth on his knees. I felt the urge to go to him and stepped forward, but Jasper caught me around the waist.

"Jasper, take Bella home," Carlisle ordered. "Mike and I have things to discuss, and she doesn't need to be part of this."

"Come on. Let's go home," Jasper said, lifting me up and carrying me to the door. When he opened it, Emmett was standing outside, leaning against the wall.

"Over, huh? 'Bout time," he said, though his face looked grim.

Jasper hissed at him before motioning for him to go in. Emmett tossed him a set of car keys and went inside.

When the elevator reached the first floor, Jasper set me on the ground. We walked out, and the doorman, who was on the phone, looked up and said, "Have a nice evening, folks."

The car was at the curb, and Rosalie was sitting in the passenger seat. She took one look at us then reached for the keys, sliding into the driver's seat.

Jasper paused and nodded, handing her the keys before getting into the backseat with me. I was almost asleep before we got to the hotel. I vaguely remembered him putting me into bed before climbing in behind me.

I heard the door open at some point, and I looked up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Carlisle was standing by our bed, talking to Jasper.

"What happened to my father?" I asked groggily.

Carlisle exchanged a quick look with Jasper before sitting on the bed next to me. He took my hands in one of his, then patted them gently.

"He asked me for final death," he said.

I felt tears forming in my eyes. "Why? Didn't he want to see me at all?" Was I such a disgrace he didn't even want to get to know me?

"No, no," Carlisle said quickly as Jasper started to growl. "You must resemble your mother. It would appear your mother was, or would have been, his true mate. As newborns, we are all confused when we awaken, and we're vulnerable. He believed whatever Adelle told him in those early years. She told him that she loved him, and he was her mate."

"Unfortunately," interjected Jasper, "I can tell you that you would believe anything the person who changed you told you. My sire was named Maria, and she told me she loved me and had me do terrible things for decades. But that was long ago. I never dreamed I would have the chance of meeting you and knowing true love," he said softly, raising my hand to his lips.

"He didn't want to talk to me?" I persisted, despite the flinch Jasper gave. I wanted to know. This was the central mystery of my life now.

"I think your resemblance to your mother undid him," said Carlisle. "He was overwhelmed with guilt and the pain of the loss of the mate he never got to know as an immortal. He did love her as a human. Learning of her death that way…it was too much.

It is impossible to describe the pain of losing one's mate. Few vampires survive it, and often if they do, they go mad and have to be destroyed. One of the more painful aspects of my job," Carlisle said.

I started sobbing and finally fell asleep in Jasper's arms. I don't know how long I slept, but when I woke up, Jasper half-walked and half-carried me out to the car, and we caught a plane home to Texas.

Once there, I slept another day or two. Finally, a morning came when I felt like getting up. I ate, and Jasper and I had a normal day, catching up with Peter and Charlotte, watching the sunset.

As the sun sank, Jasper lit a fire in the fireplace then lay down, and I curled up in his arms. Jasper looked at me.

"Are you done?" he asked softly.

Slowly I nodded my head. Yes, I was done. Then I thought: Millicent. I must somehow get to Millicent.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jasper watching me, his face first turning to stone, and then a slow smile creeping across it. He pulled me against his chest, nuzzling my hair.

"I'm OK," I said.

"I know." He sighed.

I began to relax.

"Just as I know you're not done," he whispered. "You're thinking of someone else."

I looked up at him, startled. He wasn't a mind reader, so how had he guessed my thoughts? A slow terror began to creep through me, and I shivered.

He smiled ruefully.

"Well, this will change. I haven't really been able handle the situation as I needed to, because you're still human." He paused and sighed. "I really wanted you to get a little older, a little closer to my age.

But now I can't take that risk, little mate. You're too independent and scrappy for your own good," he said affectionately. He started pulling me closer, nuzzling my neck.

For the first time in a long time, I was afraid of him. I pushed at him, starting to struggle. Didn't I just hear about what happened to vampires who lost their mates? Was he going to kill me? Fear spiked deep inside, though I fought hard to suppress it.

"Shhhh….shhh…I'll be waiting for you. I'll never leave your side. I love you," he said, as he nuzzled down to my neck and bit hard.

The pain from the venom was instantaneous, as both fire and his love flowed through me from the site of his bite. I felt him release my throat, only to hold me down as he bit my wrists and ankles. As I began to succumb to the flames, I struggled hard to cling to his chest. I could feel the rumbling of his purr as he tried to comfort me through the pain that was only just beginning to consume me, purging me of my human life.

THE END

Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed or added my story to your alerts. I've really appreciated all the support for my story.

I recently had a number of wonderful comments via guest posts. Unfortunately, I can't reply to guest posts. If you sign in under your names, I can reply to you.

Also, I currently have another story going based on this story word, a dark drabble called "Prey for Him." I have a new Jasper/Bella story I'm currently working on. I'm hoping to post it by the end of this year, probably after "Prey for Him" is finished at the end of October. I still don't have a title, though I'm thinking "Animal Instinct." I hope you'll check one of these out.

Once again, I appreciate all the support everyone has shown for both versions of this story over the past year.

++++++++Postcards from Forks+++++++++++

(So you don't have to read if you're not interested)

I hope everyone got their postcards! I just had to share something that happened today. I put my return address label on postcards. Yeah, really I do. Today I got an envelope with a return address from Forks in the mail. I opened it, and it contained four postcards. Weird, I thought, right? Three were blank, and the fourth was one that had been returned from Florida, apparently to Forks and not to me. So someone in Forks had taken the time to put that in an envelope, along with some new postcards, and mail them to me. No note, but there was a phone number under the return address so I called and thanked them. I'm going to contact the person whose postcard was returned to check the address, but I just had to tell everybody what happened. They are so nice there.

So if you didn't get your postcard (or still want one, but just a postcard of Forks, mailed from California), send me a PM. Cause now I've got more, LOL!