Pieces

Adrian nearly dropped the phone. Jasper took it immediately from her hands and covered the phone with his hand. "Who is it?" he asked, but the look on Adrian's face told him all he needed to know.

Adrian got up and came back minutes later with a box.

She pulled a tape recorder out of it and pressed play. Rebecca's voice immediately filled the room.

"Hopefully, you'll understand why I had to do this. It was too much. Life was too much for me. I couldn't handle it anymore." And that was where the tape ended.

"Tell me if it's really her, Jasper. You can compare them, right?" Adrian asked, immediately putting the phone on speaker.

Rebecca's voice filled the room again.

"'Hold on' would have been nice. Look, A, I really would appreciate it if you stopped not talking to me. it hurts me more than you know."

It sounded just like the tape, but Adrian had to be sure. Jasper had said that some vampires were really good at imitating people's voices. But she still wanted to know.

"Is it her?" Adrian whispered almost silently.

Jasper sat quietly, his face the picture of concentration.

A few minutes later, he opened his eyes and looked down at the phone.

He looked back to Adrian and mouthed to her not to say anything important. She took the phone back.

"I know, Beck, I'm sorry. But I...you're dead." Adrian stated rather mechanically.

She would have to tread carefully here.

It was hard not to tell every detail of her life to someone who sounded identical to her best friend, but then she had no way of knowing if it really was her.

"I know."

That was all she said. She didn't try to deny it.

She didn't try to explain it.

All she said was that she knew.

And just as Adrian tried to examine the meaning behind it, a dial tone was heard. Rebecca had hung up.

Adrian looked at Jasper. "Well, was it really her?"

Jasper sighed. "The voice on the tape sounded rather distressed, like she was making it in a hurry. it didn't sound very...suicidal. She could just as easily have been running away. However, the voice on the phone sounded slightly angry, betrayed even. I believe both of them are really Rebecca but the tape was the human Rebecca and the phone was...was the vampire Rebecca. I think this Arthur character turned her." he explained.

Adrian didn't know whether or not she should jump up and down or run for the hills.

Her best friend who had apparently staged her death with the help or force of a vampire stalker named Arthur was now a vampire by free will or by force.

That was a hard pill to swallow.

Adrian looked at Jasper and smiled feebly at him.

"You've been a huge help through this whole thing, I hope you know. Without you, maybe I would have...I don't know. All I know is that I'm glad you're with me and I'm glad I'm with you. I love you, Jasper Hale, vampire or not." It had sounded so casual, so nonchalant coming from Adrian, but Jasper felt every word she said.

It made his still heart beat insanely with excitement, pride, happiness. He couldn't explain it. He took her hand in his. "I love you, too."

Jasper pulled Adrian to his arms and she fell asleep on his chest, her blonde hair fanned out across the left side of his torso.

Her steady, even breathing and heartbeat soother Jasper. He found himself looking down at her, noticing how peaceful and free she looked while asleep.

Rebecca didn't seem to haunt her dreams lethargically. At least not yet.