Waiting for the Sun - 11 - One Hundred Fifty Years
[MASTER POST]
(Not quite the image I had in my head, but the best picture I could find)
I thought that perhaps, if I kept on staring at Death, that he wouldn’t move any closer. The man, with eyes as dark as thick blood and skin as white as the moon, glided forward. He kept his arms clasped behind his back and tilted his head to look at me as if studying an animal in a cage.
“This is quite delightful.” he continued in a conversational tone. Although I completely understood his words, the fluctuations sounded almost… archaic, as if my ear were pressed up to a dusty music box. “I presumed that that blonde boy had done you in that night. Imagine my surprise when I traveled up here a few days later and caught your scent.”
I croaked in barely a whisper, “Wh-what do you want with me?”
The specter took another curious step closer. “There is something very familiar about your essence, somehow. How could that be?”
Suddenly he appeared before me, breathing in deep a lock of my hair. I shivered uncontrollably. This man’s marble face was ageless - and yet ancient. His red eyes opened in a flash once more and he smiled gleefully, revealing glimmering white fangs.
“Ah yes, I do recall. That was a little more than a year ago. In fact, there is quite a resemblance. Familial, perhaps?”
“I - I don’t understand.” But deep down, my lucid heart was breaking as it told me the freakish, otherworldly truth. I felt absolutely sick. The world began to spin.
“Her blood was delectable, one of the best I have ever tasted in my travels. I am sure you will not disappoint either.”
I closed my eyes tight, unable to bear to witness my last moments as his ice-cold hands slid around my throat - then, a threatening, sinister growl broke through the silence. The ghostly touch released me. I feebly fell back onto the soft earth to see a massive black wolf-like creature leap forth at the phantom. The two grappled back and forth as swift as two demi-gods, only visible when they paused to lunge back into combat. They were thrown back and forth, sending giant boughs crashing to the ground like thunder.
The intensity amplified; I realized that more had joined the battle. Three more wolves had arrived as well as one more - I thought I was seeing double - another man as strong as stone. Jasper. I caught glimpses of his elegant yet deadly attacks, sometimes against the other man, sometimes in defense of the wolves.
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In the midst of the hurricane, the red-eyed man dragged Jasper by the leg and slammed him into the cliff, the reverberation sent the whole mountainside shaking. My cry was drowned out by Jasper’s roar - with one mighty swinging kick he sent the man crashing through the trees.
The skirmish had moved deeper into the wilderness and soon the phantom had disappeared with two wolves in pursuit.
I blinked and suddenly Jasper was kneeling an inch away from me, cupping my face in his gentle hands. Golden hair askew and glowing in the blueness, he frantically searched me over.
“Aurelia, are you--?!”
More terrifying, guttural growls - two of the wolves drew in slowly with gnashing of teeth. Something instantaneously overcame my rational and I jumped to my feet, shielding Jasper with my shaky arms, somehow knowing it was him that they wanted.
“Don’t hurt him!” I wildly yelled at the beasts that cornered us. “He - he’s n-not…!”
The black wolf that had first arrived was silenced. Right before my eyes, it began to shrink, lose its thick fur… stand on two legs… until it was Adam standing in its place.
He held out a cautious hand. “Aurelia, listen to me. Step away from Jasper Hale.”
None of this could possibly be real. I tried to retort, to simply breathe or stay calm, but my lungs would not expand. The spinning finally came in full force - and everything went dark.
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As if I were in the state between wake and sleep, or reality and dreams, my legs felt dragged down in dark waves while the voices in my head echoed and floated past too quickly to fully grasp.
‘What are we gonna do…? She KNOWS now…’
‘-- Please, just let me see her.’
‘Stay back, cold one! You’re trespassing enough as it is.’
‘You still don’t trust me, even after I saved you from getting your head ripped off?!’
‘If you hadn’t been there as a distraction we wouldn’t have had any problem taking him down!’
‘Hush, all of you…!’
My eyes flickered open to hazy shifting images; a woman with satiny dark hair and large, discerning brown eyes slowly came into focus. My body felt numb underneath the swaddling warm blankets.
“She’s awake!” The woman dabbed my forehead with a comforting moist towel that slowly brought clarity. “Don’t worry, you’re in a safe place.”
I creakily managed to sit up against a cushion and surveyed the dimly lit living room. A grey-haired man in a thick vest gravely paced the wooden floor. He looked so familiar…
“Wh-where’s Jasper, is he alright?” I stammered in a panic, the petrifying scene before last jogging back into memory.
The woman soothed me calmly. “He’s waiting outside with my son Adam.”
My heart began to race on its own once more. “Adam, he - he…”
Finally the old man sighed reluctantly. “You saw it all, huh.”
Looking me straight on, face fully illuminated by the lamplight, I now recognized him as the tribal chief Saul Quilson who had presided over the honorary banquet several weeks before. His dark eyes were not filled with rage, but with a weary burden of secrets that aged him by many years.
“Do you think you can handle the reality? Not that you have a choice in the matter, anyway.”
He was right - I was already involved whether I wanted to be or not. The wolves were inexplicably linked to Jasper, and to that red-eyed man… and to my sister’s death which I once believed would never be solved or brought justice. As terrifying as it might be, I simply had to know the truth.
“Please, tell me what’s going on.”
Saul pulled up a chair right in front of Adam’s mother and I, and pointed to the symbols embroidered on his vest. Closely studying the intricate threads, I was able to make out patterns of people dancing under the sun, and majestic wolves howling at the moon.
“A long time ago,” he began somberly, “The warrior Utlapa was hungry for power. Cognizant of Utlapa’s dangerous greed, the chief Taha Aki banished him from the tribe. One day, Taha Aki’s spirit left his body to survey the land for danger. While he was away, Utlapa found his body and destroyed it, and took control of the tribe.
"Eventually the chief’s spirit found a wolf’s body and returned, singing Quileute songs to be known to his people. Another warrior named Yut recognized him and while entering the spirit realm, was also killed by Utlapa. Enraged, Taha Aki, in wolf form, avenged him, and in this passionate deed, was transformed once more into the human form of his spirit. Him as his descendants are our people’s protectors. We call them shape shifters.”
I sat still for a moment, letting the legend - which was in fact legitimate - sink into my reality.
“So Adam is one of them?”
“Yes.”
“And the other three wolves?”
“Other young men of the tribe.”
“Where are they? Did they get hurt?”
“No - but now they are off tracking the other cold one across the Peninsula.” Looking into my flitting eyes he somberly elaborated, “The new world would call it a ‘vampire.’”
Vampire. The word echoed in my mind and weaved through the tidal wave of memories that somehow were always permeated by a fresh scent and open arms faintly beyond reach. To finally hear the truth from an outside source brought authority to the answer I had hardly dared to consider for months. Nothing else made sense but the conclusion that Jasper wasn’t quite human.
“Are you frightened?”
Without hesitation I found myself saying, “No.”
He frowned darkly. “No…?”
“Jasper has never tried to hurt me.”
“You don’t understand; it’s only a matter of time before he does, intentional or not.”
My gaze, quiet but resolute, seemed to be nothing that Saul had expected. “Can I talk to him? Alone?”
The old man grudgingly sighed and painfully relented. “Let him in, Adam.”
Immediately, Jasper came barging through the entrance. He stopped short, as if correctly remembering his place. There was no going back. No more hiding, no more feeble lies… no more safety, either. Saul and Adam’s mother reluctantly closed the door behind them and left us alone.
Head bowed low, Jasper’s blonde waves obscured his eyes; his shoulders slumped, and he clasped his hands behind his back like a soldier.
“Ja--”
“-- I’m so sorry you had to bear witness to that.” he grimly interjected. “I’m sorry that I put you in danger, and got you involved - I am so very sorry.”
Amidst all the bewilderment still swirling in my head, I was only sure of the fact that I didn’t want him to be ashamed. Gently, I pat a chair and he obediently sat in the seat furthest from me.
“Can I ask a few questions?”
“Of course.”
Choosing my tone carefully I began, “That man. He said he wanted my blood… Why aren’t you that way too?”
Jasper’s cold lips ironically tweaked at the corners. “But I am ‘that way,’ as you say. It… it’s very difficult for me to control myself around people sometimes…” His amber eyes flickered as he tentatively added, “Especially around you.”
I gulped, heart in a frenzy.
“… I apologize, I know that sounds threatening. Many years ago, when I met Carlisle’s coven, I adopted their ways - of only feeding on animals - and have kept them ever since.”
“How long ago, exactly?”
An entire minute or more might have passed before he hoarsely muttered, “1864. That’s when I was turned. I was only twenty years old.”
I frantically calculated in my head - 1864 had been over 150 years ago. Not a hair on his head seemed to have aged since then. The man before me was literally a piece of history suspended in time yet moving through time as if it were irrelevant. We sat there in silence for a long time as Jasper let me quietly process this radical information at my own pace.
“Before you continue,” Jasper began again uncertainly, “May I ask you one thing?”
“Of course.”
“Now that you know some of the truth about who I am, what I am… Should I - should I completely leave you alone from now on?” The shadows under his eyes seemed to deepen as he savored the bitter words at the tip of his tongue. In response to my silence he insisted, “If you want me to remove myself from your life for good then I will do so immediately.”
My chest stirred sadly at the idea of never seeing him again, that he could disappear so easily like a ghost should he so decide.
“No.” I indignantly whispered. “That’s not what I want at all.”
For the first time he looked up to meet my gaze in astonishment and guardedly studied my expression as if he didn’t quite believe my words.
Just then, the door flung open once more and Adam barged in impatiently.
“Rhea has to get back to camp, now. The teachers sent a search party out looking for her.”
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The morning came far too soon. Only when the shifting of squeaky polyester sleeping bags forced me awake did I realize how little sleep I had actually had. I stumbled to my knees and gathered my belongings in a haze alongside the others.
“How did you get back last night without anyone seeing you?” Claudie hissed. "You should've seen the teachers' faces when they thought you'd been sleeping in the tent the whole time."
I remembered desperately clinging to a carpet of thick, musty fur, racing through the dense brush at lightning speed.
“Just snuck back slowly.” I shrugged vaguely.
“I got assigned to clean-up.” Hillary groaned. “You’re so lucky you weren’t caught.”
credit: Alex Strohl
I sorely stepped out of the tent and shivered. Slowly crawling out of sleep themselves, my classmates lazily rubbed their eyes and stretched in the open frost, breath coming out in puffs of mist. Breakfast was ready; the enticing smells of frying eggs, sausage, and toast wafted all around and mixed with the fresh scent of pine needles and smoky logs. It felt so strange, that life could continue on so normally while these supernatural forces lived and breathed amongst us. Our existence seemed so fragile in comparison. Rob and Claudie noted my wandering expression with concern but I assured them it was simple fatigue.
We joined the queue behind the cooking pit when Mr. Clemons walked up to us and barked, “Mr. Caldwell, Ms. Johannesburg, were you two not given serving duty? Hop to it!”
Rob and Claudie whined in embarrassment but trudged to grab aprons and spatulas and accept their penalty. Others were busy collecting wood, while others struggled to take down the tents. I remained in the short lineup as one of the few who hadn’t been caught and disciplined. A warm body appeared next to me.
Adam gruffly cleared his throat. “Morning…” Nothing was mentioned about the events of the night before, or his secrets. I supposed it wasn’t necessary.
“Morning. Did you sleep okay?”
“Mhmm. You?”
“Yup.”
Just then, the sound of a name fully woke me like a shot of coffee.
“Mr. Hale, don’t worry about that!” Mr. Clemons called. “The students need to learn to do it themselves. Come, have some breakfast.”
My head turned every which way until I spotted Jasper kneeling beside Landon, helping him fold up a tarp. Jasper seemed to apologize to Landon before rising to his feet. What was he doing here? Futilely, I tried to control my heartbeat as I felt Jasper’s presence come closer until he joined the teacher, right behind us in line. Adam’s instinct was to tense. No acknowledgments were made.
“What time did you arrive, Mr. Hale?”
“Early this morning.”
“Tell me again - what were you up to yesterday that you couldn’t make the hike up with us?”
“I had to do a favor for some friends.”
“I see, I see…” Suddenly, he spoke to me. “Say, Ms. Fairfax, what’s that they’re stirring in that big pot? I can’t see from here.”
Tiptoeing to see the pale yellow mush I guessed, “It err - looks like some sort of porridge thing.”
“Those are grits, sir.” Jasper murmured.
I turned back and we made cautious eye contact.
“Grits? I’ve never had that before.”
“You must try some. Much better than it looks.”
“Really now?”
“Then again I might be biased, being from Texas.”
There was still so much I didn’t know about Jasper. I wanted to know everything. After filling our portions we somehow ended up sitting together (Adam understandably farthest away from Jasper) on some tree stumps. Of course Jasper did not touch his food, merely moved it around the plate while he entertained Mr. Clemons. I took my first bite of the buttery grits while Jasper curiously studied my reaction.
“How is it?”
I chewed and swallowed tentatively. “Not bad!”
When he smiled, his golden eyes shone nostalgically. I wondered if he still remembered the taste.