“I didn’t have quite the same… upbringing as my adopted siblings here. My beginning was something else entirely.” His voice turned hard as he finished.
“我所受到的……教养与我这里的养兄妹不是那么像，我最初的时光完全不同于此。”他说完的时候语气变得冷酷起来了。
“The same thing that happened to your hand,” Jasper answered in a quiet voice. “Repeated a thousand times.” He laughed a little ruefully and brushed at his arm. “Our venom is the only thing that leaves a scar.”
“发生在你手臂上的事情，”贾斯帕语气平静地回答道，“在我身上重复了千百次。”他大笑起来，声音中略带悲伤，轻拂了一下胳膊，“我们的毒液是唯一能在我们身体上留下伤疤的物质。”
“Why?” I breathed in horror, feeling rude but unable to stop staring at his subtly ravaged skin.
“为什么？”我惊恐不已地吐出这个词，尽管感到有些粗鲁，但还是无法停止盯着他那由于遭受巧妙袭击而产生疤痕的皮肤。
I gaped at him, appalled.
我瞠目结舌地看着他，感到心惊胆战。
The others had heard this before. Carlisle and Emmett turned their attention to the TV again. Alice moved silently to sit at Esme’s feet. But Edward was just as absorbed as I was; I could feel his eyes on my face, reading every flicker of emotion.
其他人以前听说过，卡莱尔和埃美特又把注意力转到电视机上去了。爱丽丝默默地走过去坐到埃斯梅的膝下。但是爱德华还是和我一样聚精会神，我能感觉到他的眼睛注视着我的脸，揣摩着我脸上闪过的任何一丝表情。
“Before I tell you my story,” Jasper said, “you must understand that there are places in our world, Bella, where the life span of the never-aging is measured in weeks, and not centuries.”
“在我告诉你我的故事之前，”贾斯帕说道，“你必须了解在我们的世界上有一些地方，贝拉，这种不老之人的寿命是用几个星期而不是用几个世纪来衡量的。”
“To really understand why, you have to look at the world from a different perspective. You have to imagine the way it looks to the powerful, the greedy… the perpetually thirsty.
“要真的理解为什么，你得换个角度看世界。你得按照世界在那些强有力的人，那些贪婪的人……那些永远饥渴的人看待世界的角度来想象。
I shuddered at the image in my head, at the word feed. But Jasper wasn’t worried about frightening me, not overprotective like Edward always was. He went on without a pause. “Not that the covens in the South care much for what the humans notice or do not. It’s the Volturi that keep them in check. They are the only ones the southern covens fear. If not for the Volturi, the rest of us would be quickly exposed.”
脑海中想象的情景，“猎食”这个词令我不寒而栗，但是贾斯帕不担心吓到我，不会像爱德华那样总是对我呵护备至。他一刻不停地继续讲道：“并不是南方的吸血鬼团体多么在乎人类注意到与否。是沃尔图里家族制约着他们，他们是南方团体唯一惧怕的势力。要是没有沃尔图里家族，我们其余人会很快暴露自己的。”
“Picture, for instance, a map of the western hemisphere. Picture on it every human life as a small red dot. The thicker the red, the more easily we — well, those who exist this way — can feed without attracting notice.”
“比如，想象一下西半球的地图，上面将每一条人类生命标示成红色的小圆点。红色越浓厚，我们就更容易——哦，那些按照这种方式存在的人——猎食而不引起人们的注意。”
“You see, there are places in this world that are more desirable to us than others. Places where we can be less restrained, and still avoid detection.
“你瞧，这个世界上有些地方比其他地方更是我们想要得到的。在那里我们会受到更少的约束，而且不会被发觉。
I frowned at the way he pronounced the name — with respect, almost gratitude. The idea of the Volturi as the good guys in any sense was hard to accept.
我有些不满他说这个名字的方式——满怀敬畏，几乎是感激涕零。把沃尔图里当成好人的想法在任何方面都是难以接受的。
“The North is, by comparison, very civilized. Mostly we are nomads here who enjoy the day as well as the night, who allow humans to interact with us unsuspectingly — anonymity is important to us all.
“相比之下，北方就很文明。我们大多数人都是流浪者，享受着白天黑夜，允许人类毫无怀疑地与我们交往——隐姓埋名对我们所有人都很重要。
“You see, it occurred to someone once that, if he were the only vampire in, let’s say Mexico City, well then, he could feed every night, twice, three times, and no one would ever notice. He plotted ways to get rid of the competition.”
“你瞧，曾经某个人心里想过，如果他是那里唯一的吸血鬼，让我们以墨西哥城为例，那么，他就可以每天晚上猎食两次乃至三次都不会有人注意到。他精心布局要除掉竞争对手。”
“But what are they fighting for?” I asked.
“但是他们为了什么而打仗呢？”我问道。
He waited, so I nodded.
我点头的时候，他等待着。
Jasper smiled. “Remember the map with the red dots?”
贾斯帕微微一笑：“还记得有红色圆点的地图吗？”
“It’s a different world in the South. The immortals there come out only at night. They spend the day plotting their next move, or anticipating their enemy’s. Because it has been war in the South, constant war for centuries, with never one moment of truce. The covens there barely note the existence of humans, except as soldiers notice a herd of cows by the wayside — food for the taking. They only hide from the notice of the herd because of the Volturi.”
“南方是个截然不同的世界，那里的不死之人只在夜间出来。他们白天计划一步如何行动，或者预计敌人的下一步计划。因为南方一直战争不断，几个世纪以来永无休止地在战斗，没有一刻休战。那里的团体很少注意到人类的存在，除了士兵们注意到路旁的一群牛——捕获的食物。他们因为沃尔图里而躲藏起来，从而避免引起牧群的注意。”
“They fight for control of the thickest red.”
“他们为控制最浓厚的红色圆点而打仗。”
“Others had the same idea. Some came up with more effective tactics than others.”
“其他人也有相同的想法，一些人想出的策略比另一些人更有效。”
“But the most effective tactic was invented by a fairly young vampire named Benito. The first anyone ever heard of him, he came down from somewhere north of Dallas and massacred the two small covens that shared the area near Houston. Two nights later, he took on the much stronger clan of allies that claimed Monterrey in northern Mexico. Again, he won.”
“但是最有效的策略是被一个名叫本尼托的很年轻的吸血鬼发明出来的，第一次听说他是他从达拉斯北部的某个地方南下，大开杀戒屠杀了共同拥有休斯敦附近的一片区域的两个小团体。两夜之后，他又与占领墨西哥北部的一个更强大的联盟组织展开较量，他又一次获胜了。”
“You see, though newborns are dangerous, they are still possible to defeat if you know what you’re doing. They’re incredibly powerful physically, for the first year or so, and if they’re allowed to bring strength to bear they can crush an older vampire with ease. But they are slaves to their instincts, and thus predictable. Usually, they have no skill in fighting, only muscle and ferocity. And in this case, overwhelming numbers.”
“你瞧，尽管新生儿很危险，但是他们仍然是可以被打败的，如果你知道他们在于什么的话。他们在身体上强大得难以置信，大概在第一年左右，如果他们能够持续保持这样的力量，可以轻而易举地粉碎较年长的吸血鬼，但是他们是自己本能的奴隶，因此可以预见他们的行为。通常，他们没有作战技巧，只有蛮力和凶残。在这种情况下，还有压倒一切的人数。”
“How did he win?” I asked with wary curiosity.
“他是怎么赢的？”出于好奇心，我小心翼翼地问道。
“The vampires in southern Mexico realized what was coming for them, and they did the only thing they could think of to counteract Benito. They made armies of their own…”
“墨西哥南部的吸血鬼意识到来袭击他们的是什么，他们做了唯一能想到的事情来对抗本尼托。他们创立了自己的军队…”
“Benito had created an army of newborn vampires. He was the first one to think of it, and, in the beginning, he was unstoppable. Very young vampires are volatile, wild, and almost impossible to control. One newborn can be reasoned with, taught to restrain himself, but ten, fifteen together are a nightmare. They’ll turn on each other as easily as on the enemy you point them at. Benito had to keep making more as they fought amongst themselves, and as the covens he decimated took more than half his force down before they lost.
“本尼托创造了一支新生吸血鬼军队。他是第一个想到这个方法的吸血鬼，起初，他所向披靡。非常年幼的吸血鬼不稳定，而且很狂野，几乎不可能控制。一个新生儿可以晓之以理，被教化学会自我克制，但是十个、十五个一起就是噩梦一场了。就像你指使他们对付敌人一样，他们会互相残杀。由于他们不断地自相残杀，本尼托不得不一直创造更多的吸血鬼，而且那些被他大批杀害的吸血鬼团体在失败之前会歼灭他一半以上的军队。
I shuddered.
我毛骨悚然。
“All hell broke loose — and I mean that more literally than you can possibly imagine. We immortals have our histories, too, and this particular war will never be forgotten. Of course, it was not a good time to be human in Mexico, either.”
“一团糟——我的意思比你可能想象到的还要糟。我们这些不死之人也有自己的历史，这场特别的战争永远不会被遗忘。当然，那个时候在墨西哥当人类也不是什么好时候。”
“Anyone who was found with the newborns was executed immediately, and, since everyone was trying to protect themselves from Benito, Mexico was emptied of vampires for a time.”
“被发现是吸血鬼的任何人都会被就地处决，由于大家都想逃脱本尼托，墨西哥城曾经一度没有吸血鬼了。”
“The Volturi were cleaning house for almost a year. This was another chapter of our history that will always be remembered, though there were very few witnesses left to speak of what it was like. I spoke to someone once who had, from a distance, watched what happened when they visited Culiacan.”
“沃尔图里家族差不多用了一年的时间清理门户，这又是我们历史上会被永远铭记的另一章，尽管只有少之又少的几个亲眼见过的人还健在，能够讲清楚这场战争的真实场面。有一次我和一个人说话，他曾从远处注意到当沃尔图里家族来到库利亚坎的时候所发生的二切。”
“When the body count reached epidemic proportions — in fact, your histories blame a disease for the population slump — the Volturi finally stepped in. The entire guard came together and sought out every newborn in the bottom half of North America. Benito was entrenched in Puebla, building his army as quickly as he could in order to take on the prize — Mexico City. The Volturi started with him, and then moved on to the rest.”
“当人数达到瘟疫般的数量时——实际上，你们的历史将人口锐减归咎于疾宿——沃尔图里最后插手了。整个卫队一起赶来，在北美洲一半的地底下搜寻每一个新生儿。本尼托盘踞在柏布拉，为了获得战利品——墨西哥城，他以最快的速度建立自己的军队。沃尔图里家族从他开始，接着向其他人进军。”
“It was enough that the fever for conquest did not spread from the South. The rest of the world stayed sane. We owe the Volturi for our present way of life.”
“征服的狂热没有蔓延到南部，这就足够了。世界上其他的地方仍然很理智，我们要为我们现在的生活方式感谢沃尔图里家族。”
“It didn’t take long before covens began to dispute again. There was a lot of bad blood, if you’ll forgive the expression. Vendettas abounded. The idea of newborns was already there, and some were not able to resist. However, the Volturi had not been forgotten, and the southern covens were more careful this time. The newborns were selected from the human pool with more care, and given more training. They were used circumspectly, and the humans remained, for the most part, oblivious. Their creators gave the Volturi no reason to return.”
“没过多久不同团体之间又开始争端四起。有很多仇恨，如果你原谅我用这样的字眼儿的话，到处都是家族之问的夙仇。新生吸血鬼的意念已经存在了，但是有一些则无法存活下来。然而，沃尔图里家族并没有被人遗忘，南部族群这一次谨慎多了。他们更加小心地在人群中挑选新生的吸血鬼，并给他们更多的训练。他们被慎重地利用起来，在极大程度上，人类对此毫无察觉，他们的创造者没让沃尔图里有回来的把柄。”
“But when the Volturi went back to Italy, the survivors were quick to stake their claims in the South.”
“但是当沃尔图里家族回到意大利之后，幸存下来的吸血鬼很快就在南部安营扎寨了。”
Jasper shuddered. I realized that I had never before seen him either afraid or horrified. This was a first.
贾斯帕一阵颤抖，我意识到我从前从未看见他害怕或是恐惧过，这是第一次。
“The wars resumed, but on a smaller scale. Every now and then, someone would go too far, speculation would begin in the human newspapers, and the Volturi would return and clean out the city. But they let the others, the careful ones, continue…”
“战争又重新开始了，但是规模要小一些。时不时地，有人会做得太过头了，调查开始见诸报端，沃尔图里会回来清理这座城市，但是他们让其他那些更谨慎的族群继续……”
Jasper was staring off into space.
贾斯帕现在眼睛仰望着天空。
“That’s how you were changed.” My realization was a whisper.
“那就是你如何被改变的。”我的恍然大悟变成了窃窃私语。
“Yes,” he agreed.
“是的，”他认同道。
“My military career was short-lived, but very promising. People always… liked me, listened to what I had to say. My father said it was charisma. Of course, now I know it was probably something more. But, whatever the reason, I was promoted quickly through the ranks, over older, more experienced men. The Confederate Army was new and scrambling to organize itself, so that provided opportunities, as well. By the first battle of Galveston — well, it was more of a skirmish, really — I was the youngest major in Texas, not even acknowledging my real age.”
“我的军旅生涯非常短暂，但是非常有前途。人们总是……很喜欢我，听我说的话，我父亲说这是种魅力。当然啦，我现在知道可能远不止这样，但是，不管是什么原因，我的军衔上升得很快，军阶高于那些年长的有经验的人。邦联军队是一支崭新的军队，拼命地要整顿秩序，这样也为我提供了机会。在加尔维斯敦的第一场战斗中——我是得州最年轻的少校，哪怕还没有承认我的真实年龄。”
“When I was human, I lived in Houston, Texas. I was almost seventeen years old when I joined the Confederate Army in 1861. I lied to the recruiters and told them I was twenty. I was tall enough to get away with it.”
“当我还是人的时候，我住在得克萨斯的休斯敦。当我在一八六一年参加南部邦联军队的时候差不多十七岁，我对招募的人撒了谎，告诉他们我二十岁了。我长得够高足以骗过他们。”
“I was placed in charge of evacuating the women and children from the city when the Union’s mortar boats reached the harbor. It took a day to prepare them, and then I left with the first column of civilians to convey them to Houston.”
“联邦军队的迫击船到达海湾的时候，我负责从城里转移妇女和儿童。让他们准备就绪花了一天时间，接着我让士兵第一纵队负责将他们转移到休斯敦。”
“I remember that one night very clearly.”
“我清楚地记得那天晚上。”
“They had such pale skin, I remember marveling at it. Even the little black-haired girl, whose features were clearly Mexican, was porcelain in the moonlight. They seemed young, all of them, still young enough to be called girls. I knew they were not lost members of our party. I would have remembered seeing these three.”
“她们皮肤如此苍白，我只记得对此惊叹不已。就连那个黑头发的小女孩，她带着鲜明的墨西哥人的特征，在月光中就像瓷器一般晶莹剔透。她们看起来很年轻，所有人都很年轻，足以称其为女孩。我知道她们不是我们队伍中的落队者，否则，我肯定会记得见过她们的。”
“‘He’s speechless,’ the tallest girl said in a lovely, delicate voice — it was like wind chimes. She had fair hair, and her skin was snow white.”
“‘他说不出话来了。’个子最高的那个女孩说道，她的声音优雅动听——就像风铋一样。她头发金黄，皮肤像雪一样白。”
“We reached the city after dark. I stayed only long enough to make sure the entire party was safely situated. As soon as that was done, I got myself a fresh horse, and I headed back to Galveston. There wasn’t time to rest.”
“黄昏之后我们抵达休斯敦。我只在那里稍作停留，以确保所有人都安全地扎营了。做完这些之后，我就弄来一匹新马赶回加尔维斯敦。那时候，没有时间休息。”
“Just a mile outside the city, I found three women on foot. I assumed they were stragglers and dismounted at once to offer them my aid. But, when I could see their faces in the dim light of the moon, I was stunned into silence. They were, without question, the three most beautiful women I had ever seen.”
“在城外一英里开外的地方，我发现三个步行的妇女。我猜想她们落在队伍后面了，所以立即下马向她们提供帮助。但是，当我在昏暗的月光中能看清她们的脸的时候，我惊讶得呆住了。她们，毫无疑问，是我曾经见过的最美丽的女人。”
“The other was blonder still, her skin just as chalky. Her face was like an angel’s. She leaned toward me with half-closed eyes and inhaled deeply.”
“其他两个有些棕黄色，她的皮肤则像粉笔一棒白。她的脸像天使一样，她双眼微闭倾身在我身上闻了闻。”
“‘Mmm,’ she sighed. ‘Lovely.'”
“‘哦，’她感叹道，‘好极了。’”
“The small one, the tiny brunette, put her hand on the girl’s arm and spoke quickly. Her voice was too soft and musical to be sharp, but that seemed to be the way she intended it.”
“那个小个子，那个小小的黑发女孩把手放在她的胳膊上，飞快地说着话。她的声音非常轻，像音乐一样，一点儿也不尖锐，但是好像这是她故意装出来的样子。”
“I’d always had a good sense of how people related to each other, and it was immediately clear that the brunette was somehow in charge of the others. If they’d been military, I would have said that she outranked them.”
“我一直都能很好地判断出人们之间的关系，我立即明白了这个黑发女孩不知利么原因是她们的负责人。要是她们是军人的话，我会说她的军衔要在其他人之上。”
“‘He looks right — young, strong, an officer… ‘ The brunette paused, and I tried unsuccessfully to speak. ‘And there’s something more… do you sense it?’ she asked the other two. ‘He’s… compelling.'”
“‘他看起来很合适——年轻，强壮，还是军官……’黑头发女孩停顿了一下，我努力想说话但是没成功。‘而且远不止这些，你感觉到了吗？’她问另外两个人，‘他……令人信服。’”
“‘Concentrate, Nettie,’ she said.”
“‘注意，内蒂。’她说道。”
“‘You’d better do it, Maria,’ the taller blonde spoke again. ‘If he’s important to you. I kill them twice as often as I keep them.'”
“‘你最好这么做，玛丽亚，’个子较高的那个金发姑娘又说道，‘如果他对你很重要，我会加倍杀死他们的，就和我保留他们一样。’”
“‘Patience,’ the brunette cautioned her. ‘I want to keep this one.'”
“‘耐心一点儿，’黑发女孩警告她说，‘我想要保留这个。’”
“‘Oh, yes,’ Nettie quickly agreed, leaning toward me again.”
“‘哦，是的。’内蒂立即同意道，又向我靠近了。”
“Nettie frowned; she seemed annoyed.”
“内蒂皱了皱居头，似乎很恼火。”
“‘Yes, I’ll do it,’ Maria agreed. ‘I really do like this one. Take Nettie away, will you? I don’t want to have to protect my back while I’m trying to focus.'”
“‘是的，我会做的，’玛丽亚同意道，‘我真的喜欢这个。把内蒂带走，好吗？我不想在努力集中精力的时候还要防备偷袭。’”
“‘Let’s hunt,’ Nettie agreed enthusiastically, reaching for the tall girl’s hand. They wheeled — they were so graceful! — and sprinted toward the city. They seemed to almost take flight, they were so fast — their white dresses blew out behind them like wings. I blinked in amazement, and they were gone.”
“‘我们捕猎吧。’内蒂热心地同意道，一把抓住那个女孩子的手。她们转身——她们是那么优雅！——朝城里全速跑去。她们看起来差不多就像是在飞翔一样，她们那么快——白色的裙子飘在身后就像翅膀一样。我惊叹地眨了眨眼睛，她们就不见了。”
“‘What is your name, soldier?’ Maria asked me.”
“‘你叫什么名字，士兵？’玛丽亚问我。”
“I turned to stare at Maria, who was watching me curiously.”
“我把目光转向玛丽亚，盯着她，她也好奇地看着我。”
“My hair was standing up on the back of my neck, though I didn’t understand the meaning of anything the beautiful creatures were saying. My instincts told me that there was danger, that the angel had meant it when she spoke of killing, but my judgment overruled my instincts. I had not been taught to fear women, but to protect them.”
“我脖子后面的毛发都吓得竖起来了，尽管我不理解这些美丽的生物所说的是什么意思。我的本能告诉我很危险，那个天使说到杀人时是认真的，但是我的判断力控制了我的本能，我受过的教育是要保护女人而不是惧怕她们。”
“I’d never been superstitious in my life. Until that second, I’d never believed in ghosts or any other such nonsense. Suddenly, I was unsure.”
“在我的一生中我从未迷信过，直到那一刻，我从不相信有幽灵之类的无稽之谈。突然，我变得不确定了。”
“‘I truly hope you survive, Jasper,’ she said in her gentle voice. ‘I have a good feeling about you.'”
“‘我真的希望你活下来，贾斯帕，’她温柔地说道，‘我对你有好感。’”
“‘Major Jasper Whitlock, ma’am,’ I stammered, unable to be impolite to a female, even if she was a ghost.”
“‘贾斯帕·维特洛克少校，女士。’我有些结巴，不能对妇女无礼，即使她是个幽灵。”
“She took a step closer, and inclined her head as if she were going to kiss me. I stood frozen in place, though my instincts were screaming at me to run.”
“她又朝我走近一步，头向我靠过来好像要吻我一样，我僵在那里，尽管本能大声疾呼要我快跑。”
“Their names were Maria, Nettie, and Lucy. They hadn’t been together long — Maria had rounded up the other two — all three were survivors of recently lost battles. Theirs was a partnership of convenience. Maria wanted revenge, and she wanted her territories back. The others were eager to increase their… herd lands, I suppose you could say. They were putting together an army, and going about it more carefully than was usual. It was Maria’s idea. She wanted a superior army, so she sought out specific humans who had potential. Then she gave us much more attention, more training than anyone else had bothered with. She taught us to fight, and she taught us to be invisible to the humans. When we did well, we were rewarded…”
“她们的名字叫玛丽亚，内蒂和露西。她们在一起的时间不长——玛丽亚召集了其他两个人——她们三个都在最近一场失败的战役中幸存下来，她们是一种相互利用的伙伴关系。玛丽亚想要报仇雪恨，她想要夺回自己的领地。另外两个则迫不及待地想要增加她们的……牧区土地，我猜你会这么说。她们纠集了一支军队，行事比平时更加小心谨慎，这是玛丽亚的主意。她想要一支优质军队，所以她寻找到一些有潜力的特殊的人。接着她比其他人费的心思都要多，给了我们更多的关注和训练。她教我们打仗，她教我们不被人类发现，当我们表现很好时会得到奖赏……”
Jasper paused, his face thoughtful. “A few days later,” he finally said, and I wasn’t sure if he had edited his story for my sake or because he was responding to the tension that even I could feel exuding from Edward, “I was introduced to my new life.
贾斯帕停顿下来，脸上露出若有所思的表情，“几天后，”他终于说道，我不确定他是否因为我的缘故改编了故事，或者是他回应那种紧张感，我能感觉到从爱德华身上流露出来的这种紧张感，我被引人了新的生活。”
He paused, editing again.
他停顿下来，又开始斟酌措辞了。
“Maria was a good judge of character. She decided to put me in charge of the others — as if I were being promoted. It suited my nature exactly. The casualties went down dramatically, and our numbers swelled to hover around twenty.”
“玛丽亚对性格的判断力很强，她决定让我负责其他人——好像我得到提拔一样，这完全符合我的天性。死伤人数急剧下降，我们的人数一度增加，总是停留在二十个左右。”
“She was in a hurry, though. Maria knew that the massive strength of the newborn began to wane around the year mark, and she wanted to act while we were strong.”
“不过，她很着急。玛丽亚知道新生儿的巨大力量在一年左右就开始衰退了，她想在我们还很强大的时候采取行动。”
“This was considerable for the cautious times we lived in. My ability, as yet undefined, to control the emotional atmosphere around me was vitally effective. We soon began to work together in a way that newborn vampires had never cooperated before. Even Maria, Nettie, and Lucy were able to work together more easily.”
“这在当时我们生存的那种谨慎时代是相当惊人的。我的能力，尽管尚不清楚，控制我身边情绪氛围的能力至关重要，也很奏效。我们很快就开始一起合作，那种合作方式是新生儿从来没有过的，就连玛丽亚、内蒂和露西都能更加轻松地一起合作了。”
“There were six of us when I joined Maria’s band. She added four more within a fortnight. We were all male — Maria wanted soldiers — and that made it slightly more difficult to keep from fighting amongst ourselves. I fought my first battles against my new comrades in arms. I was quicker than the others, better at combat. Maria was pleased with me, though put out that she had to keep replacing the ones I destroyed. I was rewarded often, and that made me stronger.”
“我加人玛丽亚的帮派时一共有六个人，她在两个星期里又增加了四个。我们都是男性——玛丽亚需要士兵——这就使我们之间的互相打斗更难控制了，我第一次战斗就是与我那些武装起来的新战友搏斗。玛丽亚对我很满意，尽管她得一直努力给被我摧毁的那些找替代品。我经常得到奖励，那样使我变得更加强大。”
“We crept down toward Monterrey, her former home, and she unleashed us on her enemies. They had only nine newborns at the time, and a pair of older vampires controlling them. We took them down more easily than Maria could believe, losing only four in the process. It was an unheard-of margin of victory.”
“我们向蒙特雷潜伏进发，那是她以前的家，她恣意释放我们攻击她的敌人。那时候他们只有九个新生儿，一对年纪较长的吸血鬼控制他们。我们轻而易举地就歼灭了他们，这令玛丽亚难以置信，在战斗中我们只阵亡了四个，这场胜利的悬殊是前所未闻的。”
“Success made Maria greedy. It wasn’t long before she began to eye other cities. That first year, she extended her control to cover most of Texas and northern Mexico. Then the others came from the South to dislodge her.”
“成功令玛丽亚变得贪婪起来，不久之后她就开始觊觎其他城市。第一年，在她控制内的势力范围覆盖了得克萨斯州和墨西哥北部的大多数地区。接着其他吸血鬼从南方赶来驱逐她。”
“She asked me to tell her when my brothers and I were ready to fight, and I was eager to prove myself. I pulled together an army of twenty-three in the end — twenty-three unbelievably strong new vampires, organized and skilled as no others before. Maria was ecstatic.”
“她要我告诉她我和兄弟们何时准备好去战斗，而我也急于证明自己。最后我带领一支二十三人的军队——他们是二十三个强壮得难以置信的新生儿，他们秩序井然，技术娴熟，这是之前其他人都没有过的，玛丽亚欣喜若狂。”
“Maria grew quite fond of me — she began to depend upon me. And, in some ways, I worshipped the ground she walked on. I had no idea that any other life was possible. Maria told us this was the way things were, and we believed.”
“玛丽亚非常喜爱我——她开始依赖我。在某种程度上，我崇拜着她走过的地方。我不知道另一种生活方式是可能的。玛丽亚告诉我们事情本来就是这样，我们相信她。”
“And we were well trained. We did it without attracting notice. The city changed hands without any human being aware.”
“而且我们训练有素，我们获胜却未引起别人的注意。这座城市在人们根本没有意识到的情况下就易主了。”
He brushed two fingers along the faint pattern of scars on his arm.
他用两个手指轻轻地抚摸着胳膊上的模糊不清的疤痕。
“Maria and I were able to hold on to Monterrey. It quieted a little, though the wars continued. The idea of conquest was dying out; it was mostly vengeance and feuding now. So many had lost their partners, and that is something our kind does not forgive…”
“玛丽亚和我能够坚守住蒙特雷了。那里平静了一些，虽然战争仍在继续。征服的念头慢慢地熄灭了，现在大多数是复仇和夙仇了。那么多人都失去了他们的伴侣，那是我们的族类不会原谅的事情……”
“The fighting was intense. Many began to worry that the Volturi would return. Of the original twenty-three, I was the only one to survive the first eighteen months. We both won and lost. Nettie and Lucy turned on Maria eventually — but that one we won.”
“战斗非常激烈，许多人开始担心沃尔图里家族会回来。在原来的二十三个新生儿当中，我是唯一一个活过十八个月的，我们有赢有输。内蒂和露西最终向玛丽亚宣战——但是那场战争我们赢了。”
“Maria and I always kept a dozen or so newborns ready. They meant little to us — they were pawns, they were disposable. When they outgrew their usefulness, we did dispose of them. My life continued in the same violent pattern and the years passed. I was sick of it all for a very long time before anything changed…”
“玛丽亚和我总是保留十一二个新生儿，使其随时待命。他们对我们几乎没什么意义——他们是爪牙，是可以任意处置的。当他们的利用价值被用尽之后，我们的确会处置他们。我的生活一直以这种相同的残暴方式继续着，许多年过去了。在事情发生变化之前的很长一段时间里，我就已经完全厌倦了这样的生活。”
“Decades later, I developed a friendship with a newborn who’d remained useful and survived his first three years, against the odds. His name was Peter. I liked Peter; he was… civilized — I suppose that’s the right word. He didn’t enjoy the fight, though he was good at it.”
“几十年后，我和一个新生的吸血鬼之间产生了友谊，他一直很有利用价值，而且经过头三年他出乎意料地幸存了下来，他的名字叫彼得。我喜欢彼得，他……很文明——我猜这是个合适的词语。他不喜欢战斗，尽管他很擅长。”
“And then it was time to purge again. The newborns were outgrowing their strength; they were due to be replaced. Peter was supposed to help me dispose of them. We took them aside individually, you see, one by one… It was always a very long night. This time, he tried to convince me that a few had potential, but Maria had instructed that we get rid of them all. I told him no.”
“后来又到了多事之秋。新生儿的力量周期到了，他们终究要被取代。彼得本应该帮助我处置他们的，我们各自把他们于掉，你瞧，一个一个地……这样的夜晚通常非常漫长。这一次，他试图让我相信有几个是有潜力的，但是玛丽亚下令我们必须除掉所有人。我告诉他不行。”
“We were about halfway through, and I could feel that it was taking a great toll on Peter. I was trying to decide whether or not I should send him away and finish up myself as I called out the next victim. To my surprise, he was suddenly angry, furious. I braced for whatever his mood might foreshadow — he was a good fighter, but he was never a match for me.”
“我们快进行到一半的时候，我能感觉到这对彼得的身心造成很大伤害。当我叫来下一个受害者的时候，我思前想后无法确定是否应该让他走，由我自己来完成剩下的。令我惊讶的是，他突然生气了，变得勃然大怒。我准备好应对他的情绪可能带来的一切后果——他是个不错的战士，但是他从来都不是我的对手。”
“He was assigned to deal with the newborns — babysit them, you could say. It was a full-time job.”
“他的任务是管理新生儿——照料他们，你可以这么说，这份工作需要付出所有的精力。”
“The newborn I’d summoned was a female, just past her year mark. Her name was Charlotte. His feelings changed when she came into view; they gave him away. He yelled for her to run, and he bolted after her. I could have pursued them, but I didn’t. I felt… averse to destroying him.”
“我叫来的新生儿是个女的，刚刚过了一年大限，她名叫夏洛特。她出现的时候他的情绪改变了，这出卖了他，他大叫着让她快跑，他则跑在她后面。我本来可以追赶他们的，但是我没有。我感到……不愿意毁灭他。”
“Maria was irritated with me for that…”
“玛丽亚为此很生我的气……”
“Five years later, Peter snuck back for me. He picked a good day to arrive.”
“五年后，彼得溜回来找我，他挑了一个好日子到来。”
“Maria was mystified by my ever-deteriorating frame of mind. She’d never felt a moment’s depression, and I wondered why I was different. I began to notice a change in her emotions when she was near me — sometimes there was fear… and malice — the same feelings that had given me advance warning when Nettie and Lucy struck. I was preparing myself to destroy my only ally, the core of my existence, when Peter returned.”
“玛丽亚被我日益衰退的精神状态搞糊涂了。她从未感到片刻的消沉，我不知道为什么我会不一样。当她靠近我的时候，我开始注意到她情绪中的变化——有时候有恐惧——和狠毒——同样的情绪让我提前得到内蒂和露西要袭击我们的警告。当彼得回来的时候，我正准备着摧毁我唯一的盟友，我存在的中心。”
“In one conversation, he had me convinced. I was ready to go, and somewhat relieved I wouldn’t have to kill Maria. I’d been her companion for as many years as Carlisle and Edward have been together, yet the bond between us was nowhere near as strong. When you live for the fight, for the blood, the relationships you form are tenuous and easily broken. I walked away without a backward glance.”
“在一次谈话中，他使我相信了他的话。我准备要离开了，不知何故感到欣慰的是，我不必杀死玛丽亚。我陪伴她的时间有卡莱尔与爱德华在一起的时间那么久，然而联系我们之间的纽带根本不像他们之间那么强大。当你为战斗、为鲜血而生的时候，你所形成的关系是非常脆弱无力的，非常容易破裂，我头也不回地走开了。”
“Peter told me about his new life with Charlotte, told me about options I’d never dreamed I had. In five years, they’d never had a fight, though they’d met many others in the north. Others who could co-exist without the constant mayhem.”
“彼得告诉我他和夏洛特的新生活，告诉我那些我从未想过的其他选择。五年来，他们从未打斗过，尽管他们在北部遇到其他人。另外一些人远离永无休止的战斗，相安无事地共同生活在那里。”
“I contemplated that. In so many years of slaughter and carnage, I’d lost nearly all of my humanity. I was undeniably a nightmare, a monster of the grisliest kind. Yet each time I found another human victim, I would feel a faint prick of remembrance for that other life. Watching their eyes widen in wonder at my beauty, I could see Maria and the others in my head, what they had looked like to me the last night that I was Jasper Whitlock. It was stronger for me — this borrowed memory — than it was for anyone else, because I could feel everything my prey was feeling. And I lived their emotions as I killed them.”
“我也思考着这一点。经过那么多年的杀戮与流血之后，我几乎已经丧失了所有的人性。不可否认我是梦魇，最令人毛骨悚然的那类恶魔，然而每次当我发现另一个人类受害者，我就会感到另一种生活的回忆带给我模糊的刺痛。看着他们睁大眼睛惊叹于我的美丽，我在脑海中会看见玛丽亚和其他人，看见当我还是贾斯帕·维特洛克时的最后一个夜晚她们在我眼中的模样。跟其他人相比，这对我而言更强烈——这种借来的记，忆——因为我能感受到猎物的感受，而且当我杀死他们的时候我经历了他们的感情。”
“You’ve experienced the way I can manipulate the emotions around myself, Bella, but I wonder if you realize how the feelings in a room affect me. I live every day in a climate of emotion. For the first century of my life, I lived in a world of bloodthirsty vengeance. Hate was my constant companion. It eased some when I left Maria, but I still had to feel the horror and fear of my prey.”
“你曾经体验过我操控身边人的情绪的方式，贝拉，但是我不知道你是否意识到房间里的情绪是如何影响我的，我每天都生活在变化无常的情绪之中，在我生命中的第一个一百年，我每天都生活在嗜血的报复中。仇恨是我永远的伙伴。我离开玛丽亚后，这种仇恨减轻了一些，但是我仍然不得不感受猎物的恐惧与害怕。”
“I traveled with Peter and Charlotte for a few years, getting the feel of this new, more peaceful world. But the depression didn’t fade. I didn’t understand what was wrong with me, until Peter noticed that it was always worse after I’d hunted.”
“我与彼得和夏洛特一起四处游走了几年，逐渐感受到这种新的更加平静的世界，但是消沉的感觉还是没有消退。我不知道我出了什么问题，直到彼得注意到在我狩猎之后这种状况会恶化。”
“Yet I had to keep killing. What choice did I have? I tried to kill less often, but I would get too thirsty and I would give in. After a century of instant gratification, I found self-discipline… challenging. I still haven’t perfected that.”
“然而，我不得不杀戮。我有什么选择呢？我努力减少猎杀的频率，但是我会变得非常饥渴，我会屈服。经过一个世纪的心满意足之后。我发现自律……是很有挑战的，这方面我仍然做得不够好。”
Jasper was lost in the story, as was I. It surprised me when his desolate expression smoothed into a peaceful smile.
贾斯帕沉浸在故事之中，我也一样。当他可怜的表情褪尽，变成一抹平静的微笑时，我感到惊讶不已。
“It began to be too much. The depression got worse, and I wandered away from Peter and Charlotte. Civilized as they were, they didn’t feel the same aversion I was beginning to feel. They only wanted peace from the fight. I was so wearied by killing — killing anyone, even mere humans.”
“这开始变得难以承受了。我变得愈来愈消沉，最后我慢慢地疏远了彼得和夏洛特。在他们那样的文明里，他们无法感受到我逐渐开始感觉到的厌恶，他们只希望远离战争的和平。我如此厌倦杀戮——杀害任何人，哪怕只是手无寸铁的人类。”
“I was in Philadelphia. There was a storm, and I was out during the day — something I was not completely comfortable with yet. I knew standing in the rain would attract attention, so I ducked into a little half-empty diner. My eyes were dark enough that no one would notice them, though this meant I was thirsty, and that worried me a little.”
“我那时在费城。那天狂风暴雨，我白天就出来了——那是我还不太习惯的事情。我知道站在雨中会引起注意，所以我就躲进了一个小餐馆，那里几乎没什么人。我的眼睛已经够黑了，没有人会注意到这一点，尽管这也意味着我很饥渴，这也令我有些担忧。”
“She was there — expecting me, naturally.” He chuckled once. “She hopped down from the high stool at the counter as soon as I walked in and came directly toward me.
“她就在那儿——等待我的到来，必然如此。”他轻声笑了笑，“当我一走进来，她就从吧台边上的高脚凳上跳下来，径直走向我。”
“‘You’ve kept me waiting a long time,’ she said.”
“‘你让我等了很久。’她说道。”
Jasper took Alice’s hand as he spoke.
贾斯帕一边说一边牵起爱丽丝的手。
Alice grinned. “I was just relieved. I thought you were never going to show up.”
爱丽丝露齿一笑：“我只是感到一块石头落地了，我以为你永远都不会出现了呢。”
“It shocked me. I was not sure if she meant to attack. That’s the only interpretation of her behavior my past had to offer. But she was smiling. And the emotions that were emanating from her were like nothing I’d ever felt before.”
“这令我震惊不已。我不确定她是否要袭击我，这是我的过去提供给我的对她行为的唯一解释，但是她在微笑，从她身上散发出来的感情好像是我以前从未经历过的。”
“And you ducked your head, like a good Southern gentleman, and said, ‘I’m sorry, ma’am.'” Alice laughed at the memory.
“你低着头，像个南方的谦谦君子一样，然后说道，‘对不起，女士。’”爱丽丝想到这里大笑起来。
They smiled at each other for a long moment, and then Jasper looked back to me, the soft expression lingering.
他们微笑着看着彼此过了很久，接着贾斯帕又望向我，脸上还挂着温柔的表情。
Jasper smiled down at her. “You held out your hand, and I took it without stopping to make sense of what I was doing. For the first time in almost a century, I felt hope.”
贾斯帕颔首对她笑道：“你伸出手，我握住了，也没停下来想一想我到底在于什么，在差不多一个世纪里我第一次感受到希望。”
“Alice told me what she’d seen of Carlisle and his family. I could hardly believe that such an existence was possible. But Alice made me optimistic. So we went to find them.”
“爱丽丝告诉我她看见的有关卡莱尔和他家人的事情。我几乎不敢相信这样的存在是可能的，但是爱丽丝使我感到乐观，所以我们就过来寻找他们。”
“I didn’t realize Alice had come to stand behind me again.”
“我没意识到爱丽丝早已又站在我身后了。”
“I thought I must be interpreting the signs incorrectly. Because where is the motive? Why would someone create an army in Seattle? There is no history there, no vendetta. It makes no sense from a conquest standpoint, either; no one claims it. Nomads pass through, but there’s no one to fight for it. No one to defend it from.”
“我以为我对这些迹象的解释准是错的。因为动机从哪儿来？为什么有人想要在西雅图创建一支军队？那里没有历史，没有族间仇杀。从侵略的立场来看，这也没有意义；没有人宣布那里属于他们。流浪的吸血鬼会经过，但是没有人为之而战，没有什么东西需要捍卫。”
“When I got home, all my things were in the garage,” Edward continued.
“我回到家的时候，所有的东西都到车库里去了。”爱德华继续说道。
“An army,” Alice whispered. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“一支军队，”爱丽丝轻声低语道，“为什么你没告诉我？”
But the momentary pause in the stress couldn’t last.
但是紧张中的短暂停顿无法持久。
Three pairs of eyes questioned my sanity.
三双眼睛同时质疑我是不是疯了。
“That’s a nice story,” I said.
“真是个不错的故事。”我说道。
Alice and Jasper laughed in harmony, soprano and bass.
爱丽丝和贾斯帕异口同声地笑了起来，一个是女高音，一个是男低音。
“I mean the last part,” I defended myself. “The happy ending with Alice.”
“我指的是最后一部分，”我为自己辩护道，“与爱丽丝的幸福结局。”
“Alice has made all the difference,” Jasper agreed. “This is a climate I enjoy.”
“爱丽丝使一切都变得不一样了，”贾斯帕同意道，“这是我喜欢的环境。”
They all laughed together now.
他们都一起大笑起来。
“Scared the hell out of them, too,” Edward said, rolling his eyes at Jasper before turning to me to explain. “Emmett and I were away hunting. Jasper shows up, covered in battle scars, towing this little freak” — he nudged Alice playfully — “who greets them all by name, knows everything about them, and wants to know which room she can move into.”
“也把他们吓得够呛，”爱德华说道，眼珠子骨碌碌地冲贾斯帕转了转，然后转而向我解释道，“埃美特和我出去狩猎了，贾斯帕出现了，满身都是战争留下的疤痕，还拖着这个小怪物，”他开玩笑地推了推爱丽丝的胳膊，她一开口就叫出了大家的名字，而且知道他们的一切，还想知道她应该搬进哪间卧室。”
Alice shrugged. “Your room had the best view.”
爱丽丝耸了耸肩：“你房间的视野最好。”
The others were intent again, their eyes locked on Jasper’s face.
其他人又变得聚精会神了，他们的眼睛都锁定在贾斯帕的脸上。
“But I’ve seen this before, and there’s no other explanation. There is an army of newborn vampires in Seattle. Fewer than twenty, I’d guess. The difficult part is that they are totally untrained. Whoever made them just set them loose. It will only get worse, and it won’t be much longer till the Volturi step in. Actually, I’m surprised they’ve let this go on so long.”
“不过我以前看见过这样的事情，没有其他的解释。西雅图有一群新生的吸血鬼，不超过二十个，我猜。困难的地方在于他们完全未经训练，不管是谁创造了，他们只不过对他们放任自流罢了。事态只会变得越来越糟糕，过不了多久沃尔图里家族就会插足了。实际上，我很惊讶他们让这种事情继续这么久。”
“What can we do?” Carlisle asked.
“我们能做什么？”卡莱尔问道。
“Maybe we won’t have to.” Edward’s voice was bleak. “Does it occur to anyone else that the only possible threat in the area that would call for the creation of an army is… us?”
“或许我们没必要。”爱德华的声音非常悲观，“有没有人想过这一地区唯一可能的威胁、需要创造一支军队来应付的只有……我们？”
“If we want to avoid the Volturi’s involvement, we will have to destroy the newborns, and we will have to do it very soon.” Jasper’s face was hard. Knowing his story now, I could guess how this evaluation must disturb him. “I can teach you how. It won’t be easy in the city. The young ones aren’t concerned about secrecy, but we will have to be. It will limit us in ways that they are not. Maybe we can lure them out.”
“如果我们想要避免沃尔图里家族牵涉进来，我们就得摧毁这些新生儿，而且我们要迅速采取行动。”贾斯帕一脸坚定，因为已经知道了他的故事，我就能猜到这样的估计一定会令他感到不安的，我会教你们怎么办，在城市里不是很容易。这些年幼的吸血鬼不在乎隐匿性，但是我们不得不在乎。这会让我们束手束脚，而他们则不会，或许我们可以把他们引诱出来。”
Jasper’s eyes narrowed; Carlisle’s widened, shocked.
贾斯帕眯起了眼睛；卡莱尔则瞪大眼睛，惊讶不已。
“Tanya’s family is also near,” Esme said slowly, unwilling to accept Edward’s words.
“坦妮娅的家族也很近。”埃斯梅慢条斯理地说道，不愿意接受爱德华的话。
“They’re not coming after us,” Alice insisted, and then paused. “Or… they don’t know that they are. Not yet.”
“他们不是追随我们而来的，”爱丽丝坚持道，接着停顿了一会儿，“或者……他们不知道自己在做这样的事情，至少目前还没有。”
“What is that?” Edward asked, curious and tense. “What are you remembering?”
“这是什么意思？”爱德华问道，既充满好奇又万分紧张，“你想起了什么？”
“Flickers,” Alice said. “I can’t see a clear picture when I try to see what’s going on, nothing concrete. But I’ve been getting these strange flashes. Not enough to make sense of. It’s as if someone’s changing their mind, moving from one course of action to another so quickly that I can’t get a good view…”
“忽明忽暗，”爱丽丝说道，“我试着看清楚发生的事情时无法看清楚画面，没有什么具体的事情，但是我现在却能看见这些东西奇怪地闪现出来，不过不足以判断是什么。就好像有人改变了主意，从一个行动迅速地改变到另一个行动，速度快得我根本无法看清楚……”
“Indecision?” Jasper asked in disbelief.
“悬而未决？”贾斯帕难以置信地问道。
“Not indecision,” Edward growled. “Knowledge. Someone who knows you can’t see anything until the decision is made. Someone who is hiding from us. Playing with the holes in your vision.”
“不是悬而未决，”爱德华大叫着吼道，“只不过，有人知道在他们做出决定之前你是无法预见的，有人在躲避我们，钻你的预见力的空子。”
“The newborns aren’t ravaging Anchorage, Esme. I think we have to consider the idea that we are the targets.”
“新生儿不会抢夺安克雷奇，埃斯梅，我想我们得考虑一下我们是目标这一主张。”
“I don’t know…”
“我不知道……”
“Who would know that?” Alice whispered.
“谁会知道这一点呢？”爱丽丝轻声问道。
Edward’s eyes were hard as ice. “Aro knows you as well as you know yourself.”
爱德华的眼睛像冰一样冷酷：“阿罗知道得很清楚，就像你自己了解的一样。”
“A favor,” Rosalie suggested, speaking for the first time. “Someone in the South… someone who already had trouble with the rules. Someone who should have been destroyed is offered a second chance — if they take care of this one small problem… That would explain the Volturi’s sluggish response.”
“那是特许，”罗莎莉建议道，这是她第一次开口说话，“南方的一个人……已经违背了规则。如果再有机会的话，那个人早应该被消灭掉了——如果他们会管这个小问题的话——这就解释了沃尔图里家族为什么反应迟缓。”
“But I would see if they’d decided to come…”
“但是我会看见他们是否决定过来的……”
“Unless they didn’t want to get their hands dirty.”
“除非他们不想弄脏自己的手。”
“It was there,” Edward disagreed quietly. “I’m surprised it’s come to this so soon, because the other thoughts were stronger. In Aro’s head he saw me at his one side and Alice at his other. The present and the future, virtual omniscience. The power of the idea intoxicated him. I would have thought it would take him much longer to give up on that plan — he wanted it too much. But there was also the thought of you, Carlisle, of our family, growing stronger and larger. The jealousy and the fear: you having… not more than he had, but still, things that he wanted. He tried not to think about it, but he couldn’t hide it completely. The idea of rooting out the competition was there; besides their own, ours is the largest coven they’ve ever found…”
“原因很显然”，爱德华平静地反驳道，“我很惊讶这一切来得这么快，因为其他的想法来得更强烈一些。在阿罗的头脑中，他看见我在他的一侧，而爱丽丝则在他另一侧。这种想法的力量令他沉醉。我曾想到过让他放弃这样的计划需要的时间要辱鸳多的——他非常想要这样。但是也考虑到了你，卡莱尔，我们的家族日益壮大。这种嫉妒与恐惧：你拥有的……不会多于他所拥有的，但是，你拥有更多他想要的东西。他努力不去考虑这些，但是他无法完全隐藏起来。这种要将竞争对手连根拔起的念头一直就存在；除了他们自己的团体外，我们的家族是他们发现的最大的……”
“Why?” Carlisle asked, still shocked. “There’s no reason for the Volturi –“
“为什么？”卡莱尔问道，仍然很惊讶，“沃尔图里家族没有理由——”
Jasper leaned forward, shaking his head. “No, Carlisle is right. The Volturi do not break rules. Besides, it’s much too sloppy. This… person, this threat — they have no idea what they’re doing. A first-timer, I’d swear to it. I cannot believe the Volturi are involved. But they will be.”
贾斯帕身体向前倾，摇头说道：“不，卡莱尔是对的，沃尔图里家族不会违背规则的。此外，这太草率了。这个……人，这种威胁——他们不知道自己在干什么。他是新手，我发誓是这样。我不能相信沃尔图里家族与此有关，但是他们很快就会插手的。”
I stared at his face in horror. He’d never told me this, but I guessed I knew why. I could see it in my head now, Aro’s dream. Edward and Alice in black, flowing robes, drifting along at Aro’s side with their eyes cold and blood-red…
我惊恐万状地盯着他的脸，他从未跟我说过这些，不过我猜我知道为什么。现在我能在脑海中看见这些，看见阿罗的梦想。爱德华和爱丽丝身着黑衣跟在阿罗的左右．他们的长袍在风中飘舞，双眼冰冷而血红……
“They’ll clean up afterward. A double betrayal,” Edward said in a grim voice. “No harm done.”
“他们之后会清理干净，不留痕迹的。这是双重背叛，”爱德华令人生畏地说道，“没造成什么伤害。”
Carlisle interrupted my waking nightmare. “They’re too committed to their mission. They would never break the rules themselves. It goes against everything they’ve worked for.”
卡莱尔打断了我清醒的梦魇：“他们非常忠于自己的使命，决不会自己违背规则的，这与他们一直致力于的事情背道而驰。”
They all stared at each other, frozen with stress.
所有人都面面相觑地你看看我，我看看你，紧张地僵立在那里。
“Then let’s go, ” Emmett almost roared. “What are we waiting for?”
“那么我们去吧，”埃美特几乎咆哮着说道，“我们还等什么呢？”
Carlisle and Edward exchanged a long glance. Edward nodded once.
卡莱尔和爱德华交换了一个长长的眼神，爱德华立刻点点头。
“We’ll need you to teach us, Jasper,” Carlisle finally said. “How to destroy them.” Carlisle’s jaw was hard, but I could see the pain in his eyes as he said the words. No one hated violence more than Carlisle.
“我们需要你教我们，贾斯帕，”卡莱尔终于说道，“怎么摧毁他们。”卡莱尔的下巴绷得很紧，但是我看见他说这些话的时候眼里充满痛苦，没有人比卡莱尔更憎恨暴力。
Jasper held out a cell phone. “We need to hurry.”
贾斯帕拿出一只手机：“我们要快一点儿。”
“We’re going to need help,” Jasper said. “Do you think Tanya’s family would be willing… Another five mature vampires would make an enormous difference. And then Kate and Eleazar would be especially advantageous on our side. It would be almost easy, with their aid.”
“我们将需要帮助，”贾斯帕说道，“你认为坦妮娅家族会愿意……另外五个成熟的吸血鬼会极其重要，而且那时凯特和以利亚撒站在我们这边会特别有利于我们的。有他们的援助的话，这件事差不多就很好办了。”
There was something bothering me, and I couldn’t put my finger on it. I was numb, horrified, deathly afraid. And yet, under that, I could feel that I was missing something important. Something that would make some sense out of the chaos. That would explain it.
有什么东西令我不安，我不能参与此事。我精神麻木，恐惧万分，害怕得要死。然而，在其背后我能感觉到我错过了某些重要的事情。某些能够帮助我们理清这团混乱的东西，那会解释清楚这一切。
I’d never seen Carlisle’s innate calm so shaken. He took the phone, and paced toward the windows. He dialed a number, held the phone to his ear, and laid the other hand against the glass. He stared out into the foggy morning with a pained and ambivalent expression.
我从来没有见过卡莱尔天生的镇定自若如此动摇过。他接过电话，快速地朝窗户走去。他拨了个电话号码，把电话放在耳边，另外一只手放在玻璃上。他凝视着窗外雾蒙蒙的早晨，脸上流露出痛苦不堪的迷惑表情。
Edward took my hand and pulled me to the white loveseat. I sat beside him, staring at his face while he stared at Carlisle.
爱德华牵起我的手，把我拉到那张白色的情人椅上。我坐在他身旁，看着他的脸，而他则盯着卡莱尔。
“We’ll ask,” Carlisle answered.
“我们会问的。”卡莱尔轻声说道。
Carlisle’s voice was low and quick, difficult to hear. I heard him greet Tanya, and then he raced through the situation too fast for me to understand much, though I could tell that the Alaskan vampires were not ignorant of what was going on in Seattle.
卡莱尔的声音很轻，语速很快，难以听清。我听见他问候坦妮娅，接着快速地描述了目前的形势，他说的非常快我无法明白其中的内容，尽管我敢说阿拉斯加的吸血鬼对发生在西雅图的事情并不是一无所知的。
“Oh,” he said, his voice sharper in surprise. “We didn’t realize… that Irina felt that way.”
“哦，”他说道，声音因为惊讶变得有些尖锐了，“我们没有意识到……伊莲娜是那么想的。”
Then something changed in Carlisle’s voice.
接着卡莱尔的声音有些变化。
Edward groaned at my side and closed his eyes. “Damn it. Damn Laurent to the deepest pit of hell where he belongs.”
爱德华在我身旁含混不清地说道：“该死。该死的劳伦特该下十八层地狱，他就该去那里。”
“Laurent?” I whispered, the blood emptying from my face, but Edward didn’t respond, focused on Carlisle’s thoughts.
“劳伦特？”我轻声问道，血色在我脸上消失了，但是爱德华没有回答，仍然聚精会神地听卡莱尔的想法。
My short encounter with Laurent early this spring was not something that had faded or dimmed in my mind. I still remembered every word he’d said before Jacob and his pack had interrupted.
我今年初春与劳伦特的短暂相遇是不会从我脑海中褪色或模糊的。我仍然记得在雅各布和他的同伴打断他之前，他对我所说的每一个字。
Though he’d kept up his old ties with Victoria after James’s death, he’d also formed new ties and new relationships. He’d gone to live with Tanya’s family in Alaska — Tanya the strawberry blonde — the closest friends the Cullens had in the vampire world, practically extended family. Laurent had been with them for almost a year previous to his death.
尽管他在詹姆斯死后保持着与维多利亚的老关系，他也形成了新纽带，新关系。他跑到阿拉斯加与坦妮娅家族生活在一起——坦妮娅是个草莓一样的金发女子——卡伦家族在吸血鬼世界里最亲密的朋友，实际上是个大家庭，劳伦特在死之前与他们一起生活了差不多一年的时间。
I actually came here as a favor to her…
我实际上过来是帮她个忙……
Victoria. Laurent had been her first maneuver — she’d sent him to observe, to see how hard it might be to get to me. He hadn’t survived the wolves to report back.
维多利亚。劳伦特是她操纵的第一个对象——她派他过来观察，看一看接近我会有多么困难。他没在狼人的袭击中幸免，因而也就无法回去报告。
“There’s no question of that,” Carlisle said in a stern voice. “We have a truce. They haven’t broken it, and neither will we. I’m sorry to hear that… Of course. We’ll just have to do our best alone.”
“那不可能，”卡莱尔严厉地说道，“我们有条约的，他们没有违背，我们也不会。听到这我很抱歉……当然，我们会竭尽所能单独行动的。”
Carlisle was still talking, his voice not quite pleading. Persuasive, but with an edge. Then the edge abruptly won out over the persuasion.
卡莱尔还在说话，他的声音不是那么恳切。很有说服力，但有些尖锐，接着这层尖锐突然超过了说服力。
“What’s the problem?” Emmett murmured to Edward.
“出什么问题了？”埃米特对爱德华低声说。
Carlisle shut the phone without waiting for an answer. He continued to stare out into the fog.
卡莱尔没听回答就关掉了手机，他继续盯着窗外的雾。
“Irina was more involved with our friend Laurent than we knew. She’s holding a grudge against the wolves for destroying him to save Bella. She wants –” He paused, looking down at me.
“伊莲娜深深地眷念着我们的朋友劳伦特，比我们知道的还要深。她对狼人们为了救贝拉而杀死劳伦特耿耿于怀，她想要——”他停顿了一下，颔首看着我。
“Don’t worry,” he told me in a flat voice. “Carlisle would never agree to it.” He hesitated, then sighed. “Nor would I. Laurent had it coming” — this was almost a growl –“and I still owe the wolves for that.”
“别担心，”他干脆地告诉我，“我也不会答应。劳伦特罪有应得，”——这几乎是在咆哮——“我仍然为此欠狼人的人情。”
“Go on,” I said as evenly as I could.
“继续。”我尽可能平静地说道。
“No!” I gasped.
“不！”我吃力地叫道。
His eyes tightened. “She wants revenge. To take down the pack. They would trade their help for our permission.”
他眉头皱得更紧了：“她想要报仇，要挫一挫狼群的锐气，他们要我们拿许可交换他们的援助。”
“This isn’t good,” Jasper said. “It’s too even a fight. We’d have the upper hand in skill, but not numbers. We’d win, but at what price?” His tense eyes flashed to Alice’s face and away.
“这可不是很妙，”贾斯帕说道，“这会是场势均力敌的战斗。我们在技能方面更胜一筹，但人数上不及他们。我们会赢，但是会付出什么样的代价？”无论怎样，他紧张的眼睛还是扫视到了爱丽丝的脸上。
We would win, but we would lose. Some wouldn’t survive.
我们会赢，但是我们也会输，有些人不会活下来。
I wanted to scream out loud as I grasped what Jasper meant.
我领会到贾斯帕的意思时已经想要大声叫出来。
I looked around the room at their faces — Jasper, Alice, Emmett, Rose, Esme, Carlisle… Edward — the faces of my family.
我环顾着屋内的脸孔——贾斯帕、爱丽丝、埃美特、罗莎莉、埃斯梅、卡莱尔……爱德华——他们都是我家人的脸庞。
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