A/N: I never understood the whole 'plot bunny' thing. Really, I didn't. But now it's happened to me, too! To everyone that is currently reading "Be Careful What You Wish For", the story will continue, even though I am terrible at updating, I have not forgotten it. (Come Home just demands more attention in my head right now.) I am still writing, but progress is slow on that one.
As with my other story: This is unbeta'd, all mistakes are my own. The characters however are not mine. Everything you recognize from Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer.
Come Home
The music switched mid-song once again. Charlotte kept fiddling with the radio while driving. By now I knew that she would keep on looking for a station she deemed as 'good enough' until she found something. The constant change of background noise did nothing to soothe my nerves. Both Peter and Charlotte had tried to assure me that this was a good idea but I couldn't shake the feeling of unease. This was like serving ourselves up on a silver platter. At least I convinced them to let me ride in the bed of the truck as opposed to the backseat, I felt more in control back here. Never the less, the closer we got to our destination, the more nervous I got. Peter must have picked up on this and asked Charlotte to stop the car. When the truck rolled to a stop at the side of the road, he opened the passenger door and got out. He tilted his head in my direction and said "C'mon. We can walk from here. Char'll bring the truck". We headed into the woods surrounding us, me following after Peter dutifully. I had no idea where this coven, no, these friends of his exactly lived. As far as I was concerned, there was no such thing as friends among vampires. You had a coven or you had enemies.
After a couple of minutes of jogging next to each other he slowed to a walk. Shoving his hands into his pockets he started to kick some leaves and small rocks while walking. "You're stalling" I accused him. He sighed heavily before he began to speak. "The house is just up there." He nodded his head to his left. The trees thinned in about a quarter mile, I suspected the house to be in a clearing of some sort. "Look, there are some things I didn't tell you about my friends…" he started but a rustling of leaves behind me caught my attention. "Oh, is that so?" I asked, straining to hear who was behind us. I knew there was somebody there, but I'd be damned if I let whoever it was know that I realized he was there. My senses prickled as I waited for another slight movement, a sound, anything really, to alert me to his presence. By now Peter had caught on to my alerted state and he smacked his forehead. "Oh for God's sake!" was all he said before I launched myself at our attacker. He was clearly focused on Peter, his jump was aimed too high to land on me. I grabbed a hold of his calf and tugged, landing him in the mud a few feet in front of Peter. The trees were far too dense here, this was not an ideal place to fight. My mind was racing with possibilities. With no real time to clear enough trees for a good fight I turned and grabbed Peter's wrist and started running for the clearing. Our attacker snarled and followed seconds behind us. I was mad now, really mad. I had told Peter, that this was not a good idea. And where did his stubbornness get us? I gauged the distance to the clearing, calculating the seconds until we would reach it. I needed room to work. Our attacker was a lot taller than me, most likely stronger, too. I did not want to get stuck in close quarters with him if I didn't have to. I just hoped this wasn't a trap, and we wouldn't be ambushed as soon as we reached the clearing. A growl rumbled deep in my throat, a warning to leave us alone. Thankfully, there was nobody waiting for us in the clearing. I let go of Peter, who, as I noticed for the first time, was laughing. I couldn't make sense of this odd behavior before I turned around to face our attacker head on. I jumped, ready to strike him when I looked into his face for the first time. I froze, mid-jump, and awkwardly stumbled to a halt. Our attacker was none other than the Major, wearing a playful smile. The very man I had been trained to save. His smile quickly slid off his face though, when his eyes met mine. He managed to stop with a little more grace than myself, but his face was shocked. I straightened up, clasping my hands behind my back but could not bring myself to look him in the eyes. My dirty shoes were much more interesting now. "I'm sorry Major Whitlock, sir. No disrespect intended" I told my shoes. A pause. An infinity of uncertainty filled with the background noise of Peter's stupid laughter. Then "Bella?"
Peter was howling. If it were possible he would be wiping tears from his eyes right now. "That has got to be the funniest thing I have ever had the privilege of witnessing!" I glared at him, my back still ramrod straight. The Major had yet to punish me, so my eyes sank back to the floor. I didn't dare look up again.
The commotion had attracted the attention of the people inside. Low voices discussed what was going on, and then a door opened. "What the hell?" Someone said. There was a creaking of wood as a set of footsteps crossed the patio and came down three steps, followed by others shortly after. Gravel crunched slightly as they came closer. I counted six pairs of feet. Plus the Major makes seven. I knew exactly who they were and I was in some deep shit. Peter had betrayed me.
"What's going on out here?" one of the men asked. I swallowed. Was the Major planning on doing this publicly? Punishing whoever dared to attack him as an example to not mess with him? The Major spoke again, ignoring the newcomers. "Bella? Is that you? Is it really you?" He sounded so desperate. I looked up and saw a flash of recognition cross his face. I, on the other hand, was confused. Who was Bella? "I'm sorry, sir." I said. "I don't know who you're talking about." I looked at my feet again and clasped my hands tighter to keep them from shaking. He came closer then and hesitated a moment, before he rested his hand on my shoulder. He crouched down a bit to look me in the eye. "What's this 'sir' thing all the time?" he asked softly. Shit. I'd made another mistake without even realizing it. Stupid girl! "I'm sorry s… Major Whitlock. Is there a way you would like to be addressed?" He looked confused for a moment, then he said "You used to call me Jasper". Huh? I had no idea what he was talking about. I knew who he was, sure. Everybody knew who he was. I had seen his face in that painting in Maria's office many times over the years. But he thought he knew me? I had no explanation for this whatsoever. He straightened up again, took two steps back and sighed. "Just relax." I didn't. "And none of that 'Major Whitlock' and 'sir' bullshit. It's been decades since I left the army. It's just Jasper nowadays. And you are?" He looked at me expectantly. "Marie."
"Marie? That's it? You have a last name, too?"
"I don't know." He furrowed his eyebrows. The others started to murmur. Peter chose this moment to step forward and sling his arm around my shoulder, grinning like a madman. I glared at him. "We will be having words." I growled out through clenched teeth. My thinly veiled threat didn't faze him. "Why don't I introduce you to everyone and when Char gets here we'll all move this party inside? Sound ok, sugar?" I glared at him for another second and debated, whether or not I should tell him, that I knew exactly who these people were. The Yellow Eyes. The Doctor and the Mother, the Giant, the Siren, the Witch and the Mind Reader. I knew several ways to kill them, too. I let another second tick by and pressed my lips together tightly, then nodded once.
"Just, wait one minute here. What in the world.. Bella.. Marie.. Whatever! Am I the only one that has no idea what's going on here?" I looked at the speaker, the Giant, who had taken a few steps away from the crowd and raised his hands in frustration. I tried to take a step back, but was firmly held in place by Peter's arm. Gauging the Giant's reaction I tried to calculate how long it would take me to free myself of Peter's hold and how much time that would leave me to attack in case I needed to. I barely registered the awkward silence while everyone stared at me as if I held all the answers. Before I could say anything, Peter finally spoke "Emmett, I really think we should introduce you first. Obviously there is some sort of history here.." I turned and raised my eyebrow at him ".. or not, you know. Whatever. Anyway. I'm not going to stand here and watch you guys put this puzzle together while she stands here glaring at me. You can be nice and civilized about this whole thing. Ain't that right, Marie?" He squeezed me closer to his side and gave me a slight shake at the same time. I looked down and mumbled a quick "Yes, sir", afraid of what was about to happen. He wanted me to play nice with them? Did he not know what they were capable of? Another shake. "We were passed the 'sir' stage weeks ago. Jasper, I swear we weren't this skittish when we left the army." The Major barked out a laugh "Speak for yourself, but I think I was worse."
The low rumbling sound of a motor growing steadily louder drifted towards us. "Ah, that'll be Char and the truck. Let's get a move on then." Peter strode forward, not so subtly dragging me along with the arm he had still slung around my shoulders. "This, little Marie, is the Cullen family." He pointed to each of them in turn as he introduced them. I nodded at each of them in greeting but stayed silently at Peter's side. Internally I was matching their real names with what I knew of them already. When Peter pointed out the Mind Reader – Edward – I noticed that his expression held so much longing, it made me uncomfortable. There was something there, something .. off. I had no name for it, nor could I place exactly what it was, but something just didn't seem right. It gave me the creeps.
"And then there's Jasper, who you already know.." he trailed off here, clearly waiting for me to explain. I shrugged, kicked a piece of gravel and told my shoes that everyone knows Major Jasper Whitlock. By now the low rumbling of the truck's motor had gotten very loud, and moments later Char drove up in front of the garage, effectively saving me from this conversation.
She parked the car and stepped out, the slamming of the door the only sound disturbing the awkward silence. "Well, doesn't this look like a happy reunion? Hi everyone!" She smiled and waved but when she looked at me her voice hardened. "Marie! Did you get into a fight, again? Just look at this!" She stuck her fingers through a tear at the back of my shirt. I was about to tell her, that it wasn't my fault and that we were attacked but stopped myself. I couldn't accuse the Major when clearly we were trespassing on his territory. Especially since he had yet to punish me. So I kept my head down and mumbled "Yes, ma'am. Sorry."
"That's it? You're sorry?" she sounded incredulous. "Whatever happened to the spitfire I met two months ago?" she paused then. "Jasper, what did you do to her?!"
"Me? What did I do?! I.. I didn't do anything. I mean, it's like she's not even there!" he spluttered. That made Charlotte angry. "Not even there? Are you kidding me? Now you're just being plain rude. She is right there, Jasper. What is wrong with you?" Peter had started laughing again. This was turning out to be the weirdest and most terrifying day of my life. I took pity on the Major, I knew what he was getting at. Peter and Charlotte didn't know about my gift and if I had my way, it would stay that way. "Charlotte, drop it. He didn't do anything. It's ok, everything is fine, I'm fine." I nodded at the Major and pulled Char back a few steps to stand next to me. Pete was calming down again but it was the Mother who reacted first. She stepped in front of the Yellow Eyes, gestured toward the house and invited us in. I stiffened. This was not good. Out here there was room to maneuver if I needed it. I didn't know what was waiting inside. I knew that the Major would most likely fight for the Yellow Eyes since the Witch had deluded him somehow. This did not help my odds and since Pete and Char apparently were great friends with them it was even worse. Nine against one was not a fight I could win. If it came to a fight which one would I take out before I fled? The Mind Reader, I concluded. I am the key, because they lose an advantage if they lose him. While I was calculating possible escape routes Pete slung his arm around my shoulders once again and started dragging me toward the door. He didn't say anything but he also let me know that declining the offer was not an option. I noticed that the Mother and Char had linked arms. "Motherhood suits you, Charlotte." They smiled at each other. "I never understood Esme.. but now.. I get it now."
This annoyed me. I was not Char's daughter. I wasn't anybody's daughter. Vampires did not have mothers or daughters or families. They had sires and covens. There was something seriously wrong with the Yellow Eyes.