"Why would anyone die, Mad? What's going on?" Carmen asked. They could hear in her voice that she was scared.

"I told you, I can't say."

And she also truly didn't want to. She had probably already endangered them by coming here, but the less they knew, the better.

Tanya's head was spinning. Of all the things, she would have never expected to hear that. Never. She knew Carlisle, and he was a truly good person who never had ill intentions or held grudges.

"Do you really believe your father is dangerous?"

Maddie turned around on the stairs and nodded, but did not make eye contact.

The elder woman tilted her head to the side while she eyed the girl. "What makes you think that he is?"

"Jasper told me," she admitted.

Okay, wow.

"Is that why Jasper wants you to learn how to fight? Because of Carlisle?"

"I think because of him and others of our kind, yes."

"And please tell me again, because I just don't understand: So far, Carlisle has never lashed out at you, am I right? He has never snapped and attacked you."

She shook her head.

Phew, that was good. Very good. Tanya felt relief go through her. She knew how the doctor dealt with his children's misdeeds as they took the same approach, but she was glad to hear that what Maddie was fearing had indeed never happened.

But just as she felt relief over hearing that, it was quenched again.

"Not yet," Maddie added softly and looked down at her feet.

Tanya's eyes widened, but she managed to quickly suppress that reaction. She cleared her throat briefly. "You expect him to suddenly change and turn on you?"

"Not suddenly," she replied. "But that's what happens when you leave a coven."

"Baby, you're here now, but that doesn't meant you actually left your family," Carmen told her. Even if she would stay with them, she would never really leave her family as they were connected. Also, she might loathe her parents now, maybe even Jasper in the future, but she still had Rose and Emmett, Alice and Edward, who she cared about and who cared about her. This misunderstanding or whatever it was, could and would be cleared up in the near future and then the family would be together again, just like before.

Maddie didn't respond to that, instead just pulled at the sleeves of her sweatshirt.

"He allowed you to come to Alaska."

The girl nodded. "Still."

"You are in no danger whatsoever and even if you had the wish to leave your family, Carlisle would not, I repeat, not come after you and harm you in any way. That's not what he does or what he would ever do, he respects each and everyone of you as well as your wishes. All he wants is to make sure you're safe, wherever you are."

"Well, he better stays where he is because he is not the only one who can be dangerous." Maddie's voice had changed. It was hard and held anger.

"Don't go there, Mad. No one is going to die, and there is no need to use threats." Tanya looked at the girl very seriously. When would Maddie snap out of it? She couldn't honestly believe what Jasper had told her.

"Yes, if he leaves us alone. If not, we can always force him to stay away from us."

The blonde woman blinked her eyes at her. "I cannot seem to follow."

"He doesn't want to endanger Esme, you know."

Her eyes bulged. "Maddie, this is madness. I don't know why Jasper would tell you such nonsense and give you these crazy ideas, but you have to believe me that your father is not a threat."

"Are you done?"

"Excuse me?" She practically gaped at the girl.

"That's bullshit and you know it."

"What? No!"

"He beat Jasper to a bloody pulp after I left, and we all know what happened to Edward."

"Jasper was being disciplined for his disrespectful behaviour, no more and no less. I highly doubt he was beating him and certainly not to a 'bloody pulp'. And Edward is just mopey and on a road trip by himself. Carlisle let him go because he knows that's what your brother needs right now."

Maddie tilted her head to the side while she studied her. "I don't know if you're lying or just completely blind."

"Maddie, I've known Carlisle, your mother and your siblings for several decades now, a whole lot longer than you have. Not a single one of them has ever made me doubt my loyalty to them, in fact: We became family. Not because we fear them, but because we appreciate and respect them. I don't want to be associated with traditional covens, nor want I be part of one. Your father is a kind and gentle man and he does not deserve to be talked ill of by anyone. I know that you currently have your doubts about him, but please listen to your heart and don't let someone else's shady opinions become yours."

"Do you know where Edward is?" Maddie asked her with a scrutinising look.

"No, he's travelling."

"Did you know that Alice can't see him?"

Tanya shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sure he just wants to be left alone for now."

"Sure," Maddie said with bitterness in her voice and ascended the stairs.

"That poor girl has gone loco," the dark-haired vampire said as she entered her and Eleazar's bedroom, shut the door behind herself and leaned against it, looking exhausted.

"Did she talk?" her mate asked, his eyebrows raised. He hoped that she did, because every single word from her brought them closer to the truth.

"Eleazar," she replied and raked both her hands through her dark locks. "I don't know how we can fix this. Every time she said something, I was sure it couldn't get any worse, but it did."

"So?"

"Oh, let's see, where do I start? You still remember that apparently she is the weakest link of the coven and should be put down?"

"Yes," he replied and swallowed hard. These words made him so incredibly uneasy. Just knowing that Maddie heard her brother call her that was dreadful. "That's what she overheard Jasper saying."

"Yes."

"That's really, really cruel."

"But it gets worse," she told him and held her index finger up.

"How?" This was already going to be a lot of work to try and fix.

"She is convinced that Carlisle is dangerous."

Now that was something he had not expected to hear. Carlisle, his friend, was such a calm and gentle person, always ready to help and very protective of his family. He would never let harm come to anyone of them, much less harm them himself. Heck, his entire life revolved around helping others. "Carlisle. Her father. A doctor… he's dangerous." It did not make sense.

"Yes… while she had never been in a situation where he actually seemed dangerous, she still believes that he is because Jasper said so."

Now it started to make a little sense... it was quite obvious that the soldier was trying to manipulate the girl but why, he did not know. "I'm going to rip that boy apart."

"And now she is supposed to learn to fight so she can protect herself from her own father."

He blinked at his wife in disbelief. He had lived for so long, but some things still managed to surprise or shock him. This was one of them. "That's insane."

"Because Jasper also told her, that no one can ever leave a coven. You're either a part of it or something very bad will happen. Personally, I assume she means death."

Eleazar rubbed a hand over his eyes and sighed. "She is still so young… why would he do that to her? To the family?"

"I don't know. But apparently raging violence is the way to go, so they were scheming to threaten Carlisle that they'd do something to his wife if he would try and take her back home."

His hand dropped back to his side and his head snapped up to stare at her in disbelief again. "That is not true."

"It's what she said."

"But that can't be true...," he whispered, then lowered himself onto the bed. "She thinks he would force her to stay with him? Why would he do that?"

Carmen shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. "I really don't know."

"Since when is she so gullible? I understand that she wants to learn about covens and how they work, there's nothing wrong with that. But does she truly believe that her family is exactly like this just because Jasper said so? They follow a different diet than any traditional coven, so why is it so hard to believe that they function differently? Have more compassion, long for peace and safety? Care about others and not just themselves? We are no different... she trusts us but not them? How... why?"

She stepped over to him and hugged him to herself. "You ask me… but now it's our job to get her to calm down and help her realise that these are all lies, and then we can try and find out why Jasper would do such a thing."

Alice opened the door a crack and peeked at her siblings. "Leave, you shouldn't be here," she said.

"Yes, I don't care. Tell Jasper to come out."

Rosalie stood in the hallway, her mate right beside her. She looked threatening with her hands on her hips and her red lips were pinched thin.

"No, I won't. You are getting involved in something that has nothing to do with you."

"And you were not getting involved at all, little Miss Future," she hissed sharply. Yes, she did not just blame Jasper for this mess, but Alice, too.

"Alice, shut the door," Jasper called from inside the room. She glanced back at him.

Rose pressed her tongue against the inside of her cheek in annoyance. "Jasper, come out, you coward. We want to talk."

The seer took a deep breath. "No. You're only here because you want to start a fight."

"Oh, we don't want to, but your charming mate has already started it. We're just here to finish it."

Alice's eyes glazed over for a split second. "You should go," she quickly said before she shut the door in their faces.

Rosalie and Emmett exchanged a look, before Rose just shrugged her shoulders and stepped out of her black high heels.

Neither the two inside the room nor Emmett saw it coming. Rosalie huffed, then simply kicked the door in.

It fell to the ground with an incredibly loud bang, and Alice jumped out of the way as the blonde vampire just marched on in, wiping a strand of her hair out of her face.

"So, where were we, coward?"

Jasper was anything but a coward, and being called one did not go down well with him. He got up from the bed and stood in a half crouch, ready to throw his siblings back out if they would try anything funny.

Alice glared at her tall sister, who just narrowed her eyes at her. "Wait your turn, Allie."

She looked almost calm and controlled, but underneath she was seething with rage, and Jasper felt it.

"What's wrong with you?! Get out of here, you madwoman!" he shouted and sped over to Alice to hug her with one arm, while he pushed Rose away with the other as she was just standing way too close to his mate.

"That's my wife!" Emmett roared, then charged. He threw Jasper right into the opposite wall, then rushed over to him and picked him back up by the collar of his shirt.

Immediately Emmett punched Jasper right in the face, and Alice jumped him. She was on his back, pulling his head back by his dark hair and was just about to bite down on his neck, when Rosalie seized her by the jacket and threw her away from her partner, right into the hallway. She crashed into the wall, the back of her head shattering the glass of the window overhead.

With lightning speed she got back up, growled and tackled her sister. With her right hand, she got hold of Rosalie's ear and she pulled until all she could hear was the sickening sound of skin tearing and Rose screaming in agony and blind fury.

Jasper had freed himself from his sturdy brother and socked him in the jaw, before he landed a blow to his opponent's stomach. Emmett doubled over, but got a hold of Jasper's shoulder and immediately gripped so tight that he could hear bones cracking.

"What is going on here?!"

Carlisle and Esme had run up the stairs as fast as they could, but where shocked to see what could happen in that one second between hearing the crash and actually arriving at the scene.

"Enough, get off of her!" Esme yanked her pixie-haired daughter away from Rosalie and pried the girl's ear free from her vice-like grip. It was still attached, luckily, but just barely.

"Emmett, stop it!" the head of the coven stormed into the room and got in between his two fighting boys. The moment Emmett let go, Jasper grunted when the pressure on his battered shoulder suddenly ceased. This was painful.

"All of you, calm down, now."

Esme was stunned. "I cannot believe you! Why in the world are you fighting?"

Now with the two of them in the room, everyone grew silent. There was only the sound of heavy breathing as the teens were trying to get their anger under control.

"So?"

Nobody wanted to go first, they just glared at each other through darkened eyes.

"Who started all this?" Carlisle queried and looked around. A broken door, a shattered window, several deep cracks and holes in the walls, the carpet covered in plaster and a couple of venom stains. All of them had tears in their clothes, some bigger, some smaller, and they all had tousled hair and black eyes. Emmett was fumbling with his lip, Jasper was holding his nose and Rosalie had her hand pressed tightly over her ear. Out of all the things he had expected to happen today, this fight was not one of them. The day at work had been long, his wife was upset and he needed to be there for her, and now his brilliant children had decided to destroy each other and the house.

Jasper cleared his throat. "Rosalie did."

"Me?! You did when you destroyed Maddie with your lies! She helped you, you jerk!"

"That's enough, Rosalie."

"No, it's not enough," Rose hissed at Esme and shook her head. "I heard you, Maddie is a nervous wreck, she is suffering." Then she turned to look at her father again. "And you don't care, you don't care one bit."

"I care, of course I do. But what you are doing here is not helping. Wrecking the house and ripping each other apart is not helping. It doesn't help you, and it surely doesn't help your sister."

"Thank you," Jasper said and nodded his head in consent.

"Jasper, don't play innocent. You could have called for me, but instead you throw punches."

"I merely defended myself, Sir," he replied, stood a little straighter and clasped his hands behind his back.

Emmett was fuming. "He attacked my Rosie, that's how it started. All she wanted was to know the truth!"

"Is that true, Rosalie?" Carlisle demanded to know.

Rose did not like pointing fingers, it was just too childish. They could sort out the matter without their parents interference but she doubted they would leave if she'd ask them now.

"He pushed me," she admitted. "I did not touch anyone at that point. And yes, I still want to know why he has turned into such a despicable being."

"Rosalie." Esme warned and had her eyes fixed on her, but Rose did not look in any way contrite.

And it was Carlisle's turn again. "Rosalie, Emmett, what are you even doing in here? I told you explicitly to go straight to your room."

"I just wanted to stop by and say hello." Rosalie's lips were drawn back in a wicked grin.

"Who kicked the door in?"

No answer.

Carlisle crossed his arms over his chest. "Emmett?"

"Yeah, I did," he replied, his gaze not quite meeting his father's.

"He's lying, it was Rosalie," Jasper spat and snuffled as venom was leaking from one of his nostrils. His nose looked a bit crooked and was definitely swelling up.

"Shut up, you dirty-"

"Emmett, stop." He gave his son a warning look.

The bruin focused on his father while he used the back of his hand to wipe venom off his split lip.

Carlisle realised that he needed to separate them. They'd just continue to growl and hiss at each other, getting increasingly irritable due to the pain they were in. Alice looked fine except for a few scratches on her forearms and wrists, thank God, but his other children needed to be patched up and calmed.

"All right, enough for now. You two," he said and pointed at Alice and Jasper, "stay here. Emmett, please go to your room. Rosalie, you are coming with me."

Emmett's eyes bulged at hearing that. "No! Carlisle, it was me, she didn't do anything!"

"I want to take a look at her injury, boy," he replied in a calming tone of voice. "There's something wrong with her ear and she's in pain. I would like to treat the wound."

"It's nothing. Focus your attention on your darling son," Rose snarled at her father while giving Jasper a poisonous glare. Then she just turned around on her heel and left the room.

"Rosalie."

She did not stop, so Carlisle hurried after her. "Rosalie, don't you walk away from me. You're hurt."

She whipped around, now holding the tip of her index finger against the helix to keep her ear in place. "I don't need your help, Carlisle. Go play doctor at the hospital like you always do, help the humans instead of your own daughter. They are so much more important, aren't they?" She let the anger she was feeling drip from her voice like venom.

Carlisle knew she was not referring to herself, but to Maddie. The young woman in front of him was hurting, not just physically but emotionally as well. She was so protective of the girl that she sometimes wasn't thinking clearly and ended up getting herself in trouble. She was fully aware of that, but at these times she just didn't care as this was her outlet.

"That's completely uncalled-for," Esme said in a flat, hard voice, appearing right beside her mate. "Apologise at once."

Rose cocked her head to the side and glared at her mother. "No," was all she said, then turned around and headed for her room.

Just as they were going to call her back, a loud thud startled them. They rushed back to Alice and Jasper's room, only to find Emmett with his fist buried deep inside one of the walls.

Argh, the vamps are out of control. I swear, there is nothing I can do. I tried to rewrite it several times, and it always ended like this.

I'm so sorry, but I hope you liked it anyways :-/

Thanks for reading and reviewing!