Circling Stars

🌟Chapter 24🌟

"You certainly keep interesting company," Sarah said while looking at me. She had an accent I'd never heard before. The three men, guards I guessed, spread themselves across the room and then turned into living statues. It was really creepy seeing them go so still. Not even their chests or shoulders moved. The Swans didn't need to breathe just as these vampires didn't. But my vampires had to or at least look like they were or people would notice.

"Theo is my girlfriend."

Sarah waved his comment off. "I figured but that's not why I'm here. Maria is causing problems for us. You must have noticed the lack of vampire activity in the area." It was a bit of a shock to hear this woman speak. Most of the other vampires I'd met had an air of old world about them, and their speech patterns more or less came from the times they had lived. I didn't know how but I got the feeling this woman was older than Jasper. Far older, perhaps even an elder to Carlisle who was over six hundred at this point. But she spoke in modern terms using contractions that Jasper usually only fell into when he was reliving the past or upset.

"Maria and I haven't kept in contact. I assumed she had moved her operations." Jasper stiffly sat beside me. I took his hand and squeezed it lightly. As was his habit he ran his thumb over my knuckles.

Sarah groaned. "That's partly true. She lost a battle to another coven and ceded the territory. Adding insult to injury the coven didn't keep it but Maria hasn't returned. Currently she is in Siberia creating an army that rivals what she had in the 1860's. If we were capable of insanity I'd say Maria had fallen into that state of mind. You know Maria better than anyone and are one of the most skilled when it comes to killing our kind. Jasper, I want you to join me until we have eliminated her."

"Why can't you do it yourself?" Perhaps I shouldn't have said that, or maybe phrased it more kindly but I couldn't. I had seen the scars that covered Jasper's body. Bite marks from enemy vampires fighting against Maria's territory expansions. The look in his eyes when he spoke of his time with Maria and the anguish it caused him was heartbreaking. Even the best warriors could fall, Hercules, Hektor, Achilles, it only took one mistake. I didn't want Jasper added to that list.

"I have been the head of the vampire world for only fifty-five years. This is the first real challenge to my authority and I must win," Sarah told me, her tone wasn't exactly kind but I didn't detect hostility.

"I didn't mean to be rude, ma'am," I said quickly. "I just–"

"You are worried for your love," she cut me off. "I understand that and I can respect it but this isn't a request." She let that hang in the air.

"Very well. I'll do it." Jasper's voice never shook. Sarah thanked Jasper and told him to meet her in three days in New York City. From there they would charter a private plane to Russia where most of her soldiers were already waiting. Then suddenly the red eyed vampires were gone.

"Jasper...I..." I couldn't finish my sentence. Jasper held me to his chest.

🌟

Our time in Texas was cut short by Sarah's visit. We booked a red eye back to Wisconsin that night. I didn't tell my parents I would be home early. Instead Jasper took me to his home so we could spend as much time together as possible before his departure. Oddly enough the other Swans weren't there.

Dr. Swan was working, his wife Esme went to visit their "cousins" in Switzerland, Edward and Bella had gone back to Forks for a few days with Nessie and Jacob. I'd been here a few times and the house was never silent, so this quiet was strange.

The Swans had bought land a ways from town and then built the house during the summer. It was large, with many windows, and very open. I was just getting out of the shower to find Jasper staring out the window of his bedroom. I watched our reflections as I came up beside him, an Olympian god and a mortal about to be separated by the supreme lord of all. He'd already told me that it was unlikely he'd be able to call or text often, if at all. Even that small distraction could be fatal when dealing with vampires.

"Jasper."

"Theo."

I pulled him over to the bed and sat down. "How long do you think you'll be gone?"

"It is hard to say. Maria will not be easy to defeat. The longest conflict we ever fought with a single coven lasted three months."

Three months. Ninety days and nights of worry.

"I don't want you to go," I whispered.

"I know. I do not want this either, but Sarah doesn't make idle threats."

A few giggles escaped me I was so strung out by this situation and trying hard not to cry. That wouldn't help Jasper. "If you were human you'd give me the line about how you're shipping out soon."

He smirked. Some of the life and warmth I loved so much returned to his eyes. "It's temptin', darlin'. Especially with you wearin' nothing but a thin towel." One of his hands traced my collar bone and then slowly slid down my arm, starting a fire inside me that was reflected in his eyes.

"Jasper could we?"

"No. It's not that I don't want to, Theo, I do but every physical union with a male vampire and human woman produces a pregnancy at the expense of her life. I would not let any child of ours grow up without you. Since you are uncertain about immortality that's not something we can do now."

"What if I went on birth control?"

He paused. "I do not know. After Bella became pregnant, Carlisle did some experiments with condoms and found they would not be enough. I would bet that other forms of protection would also fail. Abortive procedures wouldn't work either since a hybrids skin is that of a vampire."

I had trouble sleeping that night. I was terrified what horrors my mind might conjure about what was waiting for Jasper in Siberia. Eventually I did fall into a deep sleep as Jasper softly hummed.

🌟

It was a dark and stormy morning the day Jasper had to leave. A severe snowstorm warning was issued until at least midnight. Carlisle would take me home later after his shift. Jasper packed extremely lightly. Two changes of clothes, his phone, and passport all of which fit in the backpack sitting at my feet.

I leaned against the window gazing into the swirling white snow while waiting for him to come say goodbye. I felt guilty because I couldn't even act cheerful. Women have sent their warriors off with memories of smiling faces for millennia, but I couldn't even do that because my warrior would vividly feel the falseness of it. Of course those ancients had to have known the truth behind those looks too but they could ignore it.

"Theo."

I turned and gave him the best smile I could but felt like it was weak. From his face I couldn't tell. He took my hand and kissed it before letting go.

"I was going to wait until our trip to Russia but I do not know if I will still be away." Even as he got down on one knee my addled mind didn't register what was about to happen. A small black box he opened it to reveal a trio of diamonds set into a white gold band.

"Theodora Vasilissa Halliwell, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" genuine elation filled me. He smiled and slid the ring on my finger before picking me up and twirling me in a circle. We kissed for a long time after that. Eventually we let each other go and I watched from the window as the love of my life disappeared into the falling snow.

Thanks to the storm I didn't get to go home that night. I called my parents and they agreed that it would be best if I stayed at the Swans until the snow stopped. I was back in Jasper's room.

Though I didn't consider myself a religious person I had always believed in God. I couldn't look up at the sky and hold to the belief all the beauty of space and earth had come from nothing. That's why I got out of bed and did something I hadn't done in years. I prayed.

I prayed for Jasper's safety and a quick end to the conflict that had taken him away.