Chapter Thirty Eight.
Bella
I didn't understand why Maria would choose now to try and grab Jasper and I was looking for answers,
"Why Peter? Where will she take him? I don't understand"
Peter came over to me and took my hands in his and suddenly he wasn't the amiable clown any longer but a warrior,
"Bella I don't have any answers yet, but I promise you I will and I'll bring him back if she's got him and that isn't a given, he's very good Bella, scarily so."
Then he turned to Esme,
"Did you hear anything? Anything at all Esme? It's very important you tell me every single thing you heard"
Esme closed her eyes and rubbed the wound on her temple,
"We were turning back. Carlisle and Jasper were talking about Edward and Alice. I think he was telling Carlisle that he'd made a mistake giving up his leadership when he stopped and looked round. His face changed, went hard and angry and he told us to run. I saw the two guys come through the trees and another hit me on the side of the head with something, a fist I think and I went over. I rolled down a slight incline until I crashed into a tree which stopped me. When I got back up they were fighting. There was a figure watching in the background but I didn't see her face."
"It was a woman? Are you sure?"
"I think so. She had long hair, wild and curly."
"Curly?"
"Yes or wavy. She was tall and slim."
"That doesn't sound like Maria Peter"
He nodded at Charlotte,
"No it doesn't but it had to be her. She's the only one with anything like an army. Did she speak Esme?"
"I don't think so but she wasn't happy. I don't know how I know that but I'm certain, things weren't going her way, someone wasn't...Yes she did say something. "This isn't what we agreed." Yes."
"Who was she talking to?"
"I don't know, not the men fighting. It was someone I couldn't see, behind her or at the side. There was something though, her face...oh...I didn't recognise her then."
"Who Esme?"
She looked at me and suddenly I knew who she had seen,
"Victoria. It was Victoria you saw"
She nodded,
"Yes I remember now, it was. But who was she talking to?"
Peter
This was getting more confusing not less, I had a really bad feeling and we came back at top speed but I knew whatever I'd felt had already happened or started at least and when I heard Esmes words I just knew Maria was involved in some way but I didn't know this Victoria so Bella explained about her while Rose tended to Esme and Charlotte explained things to Charlie.
"What you are telling me then is that this Victoria has a grudge with you because Edward Cullen killed her mate James?"
"Yes, she thought we were mates. Edward was concerned she might try something but then I forgot all about her. Besides Edward didn't kill him, the others did, Emmett, Jazz and Alice."
"I don't suppose she saw it that way though. So she was looking for revenge and when she finds you she sees you are tied up with Edwards brother, so its going to be more difficult but she still wants you. She's fixated on you. She finds out about The Major if she hasn't heard of him and she knows she can't do it alone so she finds some help...from the one person who would jump at the chance of getting her talons into The Major again. Maria."
"If she has got him what will she do Peter?"
"I don't know Bella. She could never trust him to work for her again...unless she threatened you but she's sure to find out you've got Garrett and myself not to mention Charlotte, Emmett, and Rose, looking after you so that's not an option. I'd say she'll make an example of him. Take him back to her headquarters and kill him publicly but that's not as simple as it sounds."
"Why? She's got the numbers"
"True Em but have you ever seen The Major fight? I mean really fight Emmett?"
"I guess not."
"If you had you wouldn't need to ask. The first thing we need to find out is if she's got hold of him at all or Carlisle. If she has then I guess we have a trip to Mexico, if not then I guess its down to us to find out where they went."
Bella
"Peter I'm coming with you"
He looked over shaking his head but I wrapped my arms around my chest to hold the pain at bay,
"I have to Peter. I need to find him, she can't take him away from me, I won't let her. That bitch is mine."
"Bella"
I turned to Charlie,
"Dad I have to find him. If Maria has him then I have to go with them."
My dad went quiet for a few seconds then turned back to Peter,
"Right. What's the plan?"
"Plan? Hey Charlie, you're asking the wrong person, I'm a fighter not a planner."
"OK then. Emmett, you take Rose and Esme in your truck along with Garrett and Tanya. Peter, you and Char take Bella and I. That way both vehicles have fighters in them. We all go."
"Charlie this isn't your fight."
"Peter, Jasper is my son in law, that makes it my fight. Now I may not be as strong or fast but I am armed and I know how to plan so..."
Dad waited as Peter took this in then he shrugged,
"OK the more the merrier I guess but which way do we go? Garrett, you and me better go tracking first, see if we can pick up a trail."
"No, we stick together. Get what you need Bella, you have five minutes. Peter I want to ring the Res, the wolves were out looking for Jasper for me after Bella got worried. They might just have some information that will help."
Dad and Peter went through to the kitchen to make the call while I flew upstairs to grab a few things relieved there hadn't been a fight about my going.
Peter
I listened in as Charlie spoke to the leader of the mutts.
"Quil its Chief Swan. Any news?"
"The pack didn't find the missing Cullens."
"That's not what I asked. Now you can either tell me what they did find or I can come down there and get it personally but I will be arresting the elders for obstructing an investigation, your choice."
There was a short silence and I thought the old guy was going to call Charlies bluff but he sighed,
"There were a lot of vampires in the forest, it became too dangerous for the pack although they weren't being hunted."
"No the Cullens were the ones being hunted. We already know that, go on."
"Sam saw Carlisle and the one they call The Major running with many others in pursuit but no one saw the doctor's wife."
"Which direction were they headed?"
"They skirted the reservation and went up to the cliffs. I think your friends tried to escape into the sea."
"Did they make it?"
"We saw several fires on the cliff top but no one knows who."
"Did the pack see anything else?"
"No, they returned to the reservation once they were sure the vampires had left."
"They all left?"
"Yes, all of them. I can't tell you anything else Chief Swan."