The Descent
by Laura Spudzmom
Chapter 13
“Quit your spiteful shit, Dora,” Jasper said and I watched, still locked in my shocked stupor as he grabbed her and shoved her off of him. She huffed in outrage, but I was still too stunned to enjoy it. ‘He’s still fully dressed. Maybe this isn’t what it looked like…’ My heart took hope from that thought, anyway.
Rising from the bed, he grabbed her discarded clothes and tossed them at her while eyeing me guardedly as he walked toward me. “Come on darlin’,” he murmured while guiding me from the room and into his private study.
I stood, still in shock, as he closed and locked the door before guiding me into the chair that faced his desk which he leaned against while waiting for me to snap out of it. “You okay?” he finally asked and I barked out a laugh before shaking my head.
“Is it true?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer since the blonde he’d ravaged in that alley could’ve been Athenadora’s sister. “Is she your mate?”
His hands tightened on the edge of the desk, the wood creaking under the strain before he finally gave a curt nod. “Yeah, it’s true.”
I shook my head. “Fuck my life…” I muttered before laughing humorlessly. “Only I would find myself pitted against the same woman on two fronts… Fantastic.”
Hopping up from the chair, I went to his elaborate sideboard, found the strongest liquor he had and poured out a glass full, which I knocked back without preamble before turning back to him. “All right, oh great sire of mine,” I sneered. “Talk or I walk and I won’t spare a fucking look back, either.”
He studied me, probably assessing my resolve with his gift, before nodding. “Fair enough. I owe you an explanation at least.”
“Damn straight you do.”
He shot me a glare. “Don’t be a bitch.”
I raised a brow. “I haven’t begun to reach my bitch level, sire,” I said, throwing his official, copped-to title back in his face as I refilled my glass. I turned back to him and saluted him with the glass. “I believe you were about to get started?”
His nostrils flared and I could literally feel him reining in his temper as he took a moment to breathe and center himself. “I realize I hurt you when I denied being your mate earlier and I know how this looked just now when ya got back, so I’m doin’ my best to be patient with ya, but what I’m about to tell ya is my private life, understand?” He pinned me with a black gaze and continued. “So don’t get cocky, thinkin’ you have a right to it. Not even Peter knows what I’m about to tell ya. It’s my life…my affairs, and I don’t owe you anything beyond a reasonable explanation. If I didn’t care as much as I do for ya, I wouldn’t even bother with that much.”
I looked away then, knowing he was right. I really didn’t have a right to make demands, especially where his private life was concerned. “You’re right Jay.” I looked back at him. “You don’t owe me anything, but at the same time, I’m gonna base some future decisions on what you tell me. It would be good to know just what I’m up against, ya know?”
Reaching into his pocket, he took out a pack of smokes, shook one out and lit it before tossing the pack and lighter on the desk top. After blowing out a plume of smoke, he nodded. “I get it, but like I said, if ya didn’t mean so damn much to me, I wouldn’t talk about this at all.”
I took a sip from my refilled glass and nodded.
“This all began back when the southern vampire wars were at their peak. Maria was a crazy bitch and things had gotten out of hand. I tried to talk her down time and again, but she refused to listen. Inevitably, we garnered the attention of the Volturi. They sent a contingent after us, but instead of destroying our coven, they dragged our asses back to Volterra. I guess, with our fighting prowess, we’d made enough of an impression that they didn’t want to destroy us outright. Aro wanted to negotiate instead.
“When we got there, we met with the royals—well, Aro and Marcus, anyway. Caius was absent.” He took a deep drag from his cigarette and met my eyes. “A deal was worked out that we would train newborns for them and keep their army well trained and replenished as needs be in exchange for our continued freedom and a hefty amount of gold. We agreed, of course.
“It was during this time that I met Dora. I’d been walking in the garden, searching for a quiet place to read when she approached me. Long story short, we both felt the pull and she took me back to her private quarters. We mated and marked each other and spent the next couple a’ days wrapped up in each other.” He took one last drag from his smoke and stubbed it out in a crystal ashtray as he continued with a far away look in his eyes, his tone the saddest I’d ever heard it. “I can remember thinkin’ it was the closest to heaven that I would ever get.”
He smirked then, his eyes black and cold as he stared at the floor and I gasped as a choking wave of pain washed over me, making me clutch at my chest. “Oh god…”
It vanished the next second and he lit another cigarette with shaky hands. “Sorry,” he muttered through a cloud of smoke and I nodded before taking a healthy drink from my glass.
“To make a long story short, as they say,” he said with another caustic looking smirk, “it was soon time for us to go home and I was all prepared for her to go with me. She was my mate, after all and we had bonded.”
His top lip curled back then and a low snarl ripped from him before he took another drag from the smoldering cig and blew it out sharply. “It was only then that she shared that she was married and just who she was married to. It was also then that she told me in no uncertain terms that she would not be leaving Volterra or her marriage…ever. She also made it quite plain that she wanted me gone and would only allow me back when the bond demanded it.”
I gaped at him. “She…made you leave?!”
He looked at me sharply. “No pity, Isabella. If there’s one thing I can’t handle, it’s pity.”
I nodded and looked away while doing my best to squash my emotions. It must have worked because he muttered his thanks a second later while putting his smoke out in the crystal tray. He gestured to the glass in my hand. “Pour me one of those, will ya?”
“Sure.” I filled another glass and walked it over to him before taking up my place leaning on the sideboard again. “So, then what?”
He knocked back half the drink and shrugged a shoulder. “I’ve seen her a total of five times through the years—well six if you include when I took you to meet with Caius.”
“That’s it?!”
He looked at me and his eyes were dead looking. “I only go back when the stress on the bond threatens my sanity, Bella. She,” he sneered, “is the older vampire, so it doesn’t affect her as badly.”
Just the thought of what the cold hearted bitch had done to him had my blood boiling within seconds and the glass shattered in my hand as a growl tore from deep in my chest. “I’ll kill the bitch.”
Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say as the next thing I knew, Jasper had me pinned against the sideboard, with his fangs at my neck, his hands trembling with destructive tension as they held me. “Do not say such a thing in my presence,” he hissed slowly. “I’m fighting every instinct I have not to kill you right now, Bella. Bitch she may be and yes, I hate her for what she’s done, but my vampire is bonded to her as a mate, understand?”
The tips of his fangs just barely pierced my skin and I nodded slowly, not even daring to breathe as we stood there, locked in a pose that could end me in a second while Jasper fought with himself.
My eyes shifted down to watch as his lethal black eyes closed and he breathed deeply, his hold gradually loosening until, with a growl, he tore himself away and paced across the room, running both hands through his honey blond hair. After moments, and still facing away from me, he spoke, his tone tight with tension. “Don’t ever say something like that again, Bella, please. If I see you as a threat…”
Finally allowing myself to move, I straightened from where he’d had me pinned and nodded. “I get it, and I’m sorry. I won’t ever say such a thing again.”
I watched as the tension leached from him, his shoulders relaxing and muscles uncoiling as he turned to look at me.
“Please tell me I won’t have to be nice to her though. I don’t think I can manage that, Jay.”
He walked over and poured himself a drink in a fresh glass before taking up his spot leaning on the desk again. “Avoid her, Bella. I’ll keep her and her sharp tongue in line while she’s here. Hopefully, it won’t be too long.”
“What are they here for?”
“To assess the readiness of the next batch of fighters. From what Pete told me while you were out, the royals have been makin’ these trips into a bit of a vacation for the past few years; something I’ve been fortunate to avoid until now.”
I nodded. “Because you were with the Cullens.”
“Yes.”
I walked over to him and picked up the pack of cigs and the lighter, cocking a brow at him as he watched me. “You mind?”
He smirked and raised his glass. “Knock yourself out, sugar.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled as I walked back over to my spot and lit one up. “So,” I said while studying the glowing cherry after taking a drag, “what led to what I walked in on?” I was curious. Had he intended to follow through if I hadn’t interrupted? I needed to know. I had rejected Caius after all, and Caius wasn’t such a dick that he didn’t at least want me around…
His lip curled and his free hand clenched into a fist. “She wanted to talk…privately. When we got in here, she stripped and pushed me back on the bed. A second later, you showed up.”
I sighed. Sure, I now had a picture of what had happened, but he still hadn’t told me what I wanted—no, needed—to know. “Were you willing, Jay? Were you going to…”
He walked forward at a human pace, took the cig from me and tossed it into a glass and pulled me close. I closed my eyes and rested my head against his chest, taking comfort from the pleasant rumble of his voice as he answered. “I got the bitch outta my system the day I took ya to meet with Caius, so no baby doll, I wasn’t willin’. She clearly wanted me to fuck her, but I wasn’t goin’ to.”
Wrapping my arms around his waist, I held him close as relief flooded me and I soaked up his comfort as his fingers ran through my hair. “You know I will have to at some point, right? Just like you’ll have to attend the bond with Caius through the years. The bond demands it, Bella and there’s really nothing we can do to change that.”
I squeezed him a little tighter and nodded, all the while wishing there was a way out for us; some way to break these infernal bonds that kept us chained…
Maybe one day, we’d find a way.
“Quit your spiteful shit, Dora,” Jasper said and I watched, still locked in my shocked stupor as he grabbed her and shoved her off of him. She huffed in outrage, but I was still too stunned to enjoy it. ‘He’s still fully dressed. Maybe this isn’t what it looked like…’ My heart took hope from that thought, anyway.
Rising from the bed, he grabbed her discarded clothes and tossed them at her while eyeing me guardedly as he walked toward me. “Come on darlin’,” he murmured while guiding me from the room and into his private study.
I stood, still in shock, as he closed and locked the door before guiding me into the chair that faced his desk which he leaned against while waiting for me to snap out of it. “You okay?” he finally asked and I barked out a laugh before shaking my head.
“Is it true?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer since the blonde he’d ravaged in that alley could’ve been Athenadora’s sister. “Is she your mate?”
His hands tightened on the edge of the desk, the wood creaking under the strain before he finally gave a curt nod. “Yeah, it’s true.”
I shook my head. “Fuck my life…” I muttered before laughing humorlessly. “Only I would find myself pitted against the same woman on two fronts… Fantastic.”
Hopping up from the chair, I went to his elaborate sideboard, found the strongest liquor he had and poured out a glass full, which I knocked back without preamble before turning back to him. “All right, oh great sire of mine,” I sneered. “Talk or I walk and I won’t spare a fucking look back, either.”
He studied me, probably assessing my resolve with his gift, before nodding. “Fair enough. I owe you an explanation at least.”
“Damn straight you do.”
He shot me a glare. “Don’t be a bitch.”
I raised a brow. “I haven’t begun to reach my bitch level, sire,” I said, throwing his official, copped-to title back in his face as I refilled my glass. I turned back to him and saluted him with the glass. “I believe you were about to get started?”
His nostrils flared and I could literally feel him reining in his temper as he took a moment to breathe and center himself. “I realize I hurt you when I denied being your mate earlier and I know how this looked just now when ya got back, so I’m doin’ my best to be patient with ya, but what I’m about to tell ya is my private life, understand?” He pinned me with a black gaze and continued. “So don’t get cocky, thinkin’ you have a right to it. Not even Peter knows what I’m about to tell ya. It’s my life…my affairs, and I don’t owe you anything beyond a reasonable explanation. If I didn’t care as much as I do for ya, I wouldn’t even bother with that much.”
I looked away then, knowing he was right. I really didn’t have a right to make demands, especially where his private life was concerned. “You’re right Jay.” I looked back at him. “You don’t owe me anything, but at the same time, I’m gonna base some future decisions on what you tell me. It would be good to know just what I’m up against, ya know?”
Reaching into his pocket, he took out a pack of smokes, shook one out and lit it before tossing the pack and lighter on the desk top. After blowing out a plume of smoke, he nodded. “I get it, but like I said, if ya didn’t mean so damn much to me, I wouldn’t talk about this at all.”
I took a sip from my refilled glass and nodded.
“This all began back when the southern vampire wars were at their peak. Maria was a crazy bitch and things had gotten out of hand. I tried to talk her down time and again, but she refused to listen. Inevitably, we garnered the attention of the Volturi. They sent a contingent after us, but instead of destroying our coven, they dragged our asses back to Volterra. I guess, with our fighting prowess, we’d made enough of an impression that they didn’t want to destroy us outright. Aro wanted to negotiate instead.
“When we got there, we met with the royals—well, Aro and Marcus, anyway. Caius was absent.” He took a deep drag from his cigarette and met my eyes. “A deal was worked out that we would train newborns for them and keep their army well trained and replenished as needs be in exchange for our continued freedom and a hefty amount of gold. We agreed, of course.
“It was during this time that I met Dora. I’d been walking in the garden, searching for a quiet place to read when she approached me. Long story short, we both felt the pull and she took me back to her private quarters. We mated and marked each other and spent the next couple a’ days wrapped up in each other.” He took one last drag from his smoke and stubbed it out in a crystal ashtray as he continued with a far away look in his eyes, his tone the saddest I’d ever heard it. “I can remember thinkin’ it was the closest to heaven that I would ever get.”
He smirked then, his eyes black and cold as he stared at the floor and I gasped as a choking wave of pain washed over me, making me clutch at my chest. “Oh god…”
It vanished the next second and he lit another cigarette with shaky hands. “Sorry,” he muttered through a cloud of smoke and I nodded before taking a healthy drink from my glass.
“To make a long story short, as they say,” he said with another caustic looking smirk, “it was soon time for us to go home and I was all prepared for her to go with me. She was my mate, after all and we had bonded.”
His top lip curled back then and a low snarl ripped from him before he took another drag from the smoldering cig and blew it out sharply. “It was only then that she shared that she was married and just who she was married to. It was also then that she told me in no uncertain terms that she would not be leaving Volterra or her marriage…ever. She also made it quite plain that she wanted me gone and would only allow me back when the bond demanded it.”
I gaped at him. “She…made you leave?!”
He looked at me sharply. “No pity, Isabella. If there’s one thing I can’t handle, it’s pity.”
I nodded and looked away while doing my best to squash my emotions. It must have worked because he muttered his thanks a second later while putting his smoke out in the crystal tray. He gestured to the glass in my hand. “Pour me one of those, will ya?”
“Sure.” I filled another glass and walked it over to him before taking up my place leaning on the sideboard again. “So, then what?”
He knocked back half the drink and shrugged a shoulder. “I’ve seen her a total of five times through the years—well six if you include when I took you to meet with Caius.”
“That’s it?!”
He looked at me and his eyes were dead looking. “I only go back when the stress on the bond threatens my sanity, Bella. She,” he sneered, “is the older vampire, so it doesn’t affect her as badly.”
Just the thought of what the cold hearted bitch had done to him had my blood boiling within seconds and the glass shattered in my hand as a growl tore from deep in my chest. “I’ll kill the bitch.”
Apparently, it was the wrong thing to say as the next thing I knew, Jasper had me pinned against the sideboard, with his fangs at my neck, his hands trembling with destructive tension as they held me. “Do not say such a thing in my presence,” he hissed slowly. “I’m fighting every instinct I have not to kill you right now, Bella. Bitch she may be and yes, I hate her for what she’s done, but my vampire is bonded to her as a mate, understand?”
The tips of his fangs just barely pierced my skin and I nodded slowly, not even daring to breathe as we stood there, locked in a pose that could end me in a second while Jasper fought with himself.
My eyes shifted down to watch as his lethal black eyes closed and he breathed deeply, his hold gradually loosening until, with a growl, he tore himself away and paced across the room, running both hands through his honey blond hair. After moments, and still facing away from me, he spoke, his tone tight with tension. “Don’t ever say something like that again, Bella, please. If I see you as a threat…”
Finally allowing myself to move, I straightened from where he’d had me pinned and nodded. “I get it, and I’m sorry. I won’t ever say such a thing again.”
I watched as the tension leached from him, his shoulders relaxing and muscles uncoiling as he turned to look at me.
“Please tell me I won’t have to be nice to her though. I don’t think I can manage that, Jay.”
He walked over and poured himself a drink in a fresh glass before taking up his spot leaning on the desk again. “Avoid her, Bella. I’ll keep her and her sharp tongue in line while she’s here. Hopefully, it won’t be too long.”
“What are they here for?”
“To assess the readiness of the next batch of fighters. From what Pete told me while you were out, the royals have been makin’ these trips into a bit of a vacation for the past few years; something I’ve been fortunate to avoid until now.”
I nodded. “Because you were with the Cullens.”
“Yes.”
I walked over to him and picked up the pack of cigs and the lighter, cocking a brow at him as he watched me. “You mind?”
He smirked and raised his glass. “Knock yourself out, sugar.”
“Thanks,” I mumbled as I walked back over to my spot and lit one up. “So,” I said while studying the glowing cherry after taking a drag, “what led to what I walked in on?” I was curious. Had he intended to follow through if I hadn’t interrupted? I needed to know. I had rejected Caius after all, and Caius wasn’t such a dick that he didn’t at least want me around…
His lip curled and his free hand clenched into a fist. “She wanted to talk…privately. When we got in here, she stripped and pushed me back on the bed. A second later, you showed up.”
I sighed. Sure, I now had a picture of what had happened, but he still hadn’t told me what I wanted—no, needed—to know. “Were you willing, Jay? Were you going to…”
He walked forward at a human pace, took the cig from me and tossed it into a glass and pulled me close. I closed my eyes and rested my head against his chest, taking comfort from the pleasant rumble of his voice as he answered. “I got the bitch outta my system the day I took ya to meet with Caius, so no baby doll, I wasn’t willin’. She clearly wanted me to fuck her, but I wasn’t goin’ to.”
Wrapping my arms around his waist, I held him close as relief flooded me and I soaked up his comfort as his fingers ran through my hair. “You know I will have to at some point, right? Just like you’ll have to attend the bond with Caius through the years. The bond demands it, Bella and there’s really nothing we can do to change that.”
I squeezed him a little tighter and nodded, all the while wishing there was a way out for us; some way to break these infernal bonds that kept us chained…
Maybe one day, we’d find a way.
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