Alice cursed the second she had the vision.
How did she not see it sooner?
-Alice?- Edward called. He had halted in his piano and was staring at her both in confusion and alarm.
-Maria's coming.
That single phrase froze the room.
-She will be here in five minutes. We can't outrun her. I- Where's Jasper?
Almost as if summoned Jasper appeared right at the doorframe looking as stiff as he had when he first arrived. His face was neutral and his hands were behind his back but the amount of fear in the air was almost too overwhelming to stand.
-I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I should've seen her sooner, I-
-It's fine.- Jasper cut off failing at sound as neutral as he was fighting to look. His voice came out almost too strained for comfort.
He didn't blame Alice. What was the point of blaming someone for what he knew to be an inevitable scenario? He wasn't naive enough to believe Maria wouldn't find him sooner or later.
His luck wasn't that good.
And she would had never agreed to lose her greatest asset like that. Would never give him up for the sole fact that she had taken too much trouble shaping the perfect weapon for it to fall on someone's else's hands.
Still.
He couldn't help the shiver that ran down his spine as the scent grew stronger. It made his dead heart want to crawl up his throat and his stomach clench so hard he could have thrown up.
Because she was coming for him.
And this time there was nothing he could do to ignore the fact that she had a right to. He belonged to her and Maria would never let her stuff be kept by others.
It made his insides feel disgusting, as if there was filth crawling right beneath his skin.
-She's coming.
He didn't need Edward's words. He could smell her as if she was right infront of him. Could hear her footsteps and he knew she was doing it on purpose.
She was telling him she had found him.
He wasn't prepared to having the Cullens stepping out on the porch nor for Alice to grab his hand and keep him out of sight. Emmett standing closer to the door so as to shield him even more.
There was no fear in the air from Cullens. Anxious but decided was more like it. Protective .
That wasn't something he had seen coming.
Oh if they knew.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The Cullens had been aware that Maria could be alive and while it never occurred to them that facing her would be an actual scenario that didn't matter.
For the second Alice had said those words their decision was made.
That woman was not to see Jasper.
She could be all the powerful she wanted but she was still one and with The Major dead there were no worries over him being here.
And then a hauntingly beautiful woman came out of the forest with her pitch black hair raining down her shoulders and a piercing red gaze able to make even demons freeze. Her gorgeous crimson dress fit her with a near sinful perfection.
Still.
As stunning as she was the bite scars on her hands and the sharpness of her gaze screamed death with an overwhelming strength. The prominent scar of a ravenous bite on her throat giving her a even more dangerous air. All about her seemed to scream danger and power.
Carlisle had to fight back the sudden anxiety as realization struck him of who this woman was. He didn't need to fight it for too long because he felt the waves of calm brushing the anxiety away.
That reminded him what was at stake here.
-My name is Carlisle and this is my family. May I help you?- Carlisle asked keeping his stance calm and hoping that she wasn't seeking a fight. Hoping that when she saw Jasper wasn't here she would leave. How did she even knew he was here?
-You have something that belongs to me and I have come to retrieve it.- Her smile was dangerous and so was her gaze.
-I don't think I follow.- She couldn't smell him could she? Carlisle wanted to use the dumb card if it was possible.
Maria's sudden glare could make even the toughest of men run to hide.
-Jasper Whitlock, I told you before didn't I? You can't hide from me. Now do stop acting like a child and come out before I decide to kill these sorry excuse for vampires.
Her words went ignored.
A light growl came from her which sent shivers down their spines and made their hairs stand on end. It was soft but it sounded like a whisper from death itself.
The sudden flood of unadulterated terror could have brought them all to their knees. And what the hell had she done to him to evoke that kind of terror from him with nothing but a growl?
And Maria smirked .
-Jasper, darling, there is nothing be afraid of, it's not as if I tried to kill you.
-He's not going anywhere with you.- Rosalie's voice could freeze hell itself as she stared Maria down without an ounce of fear.
-You heard her.- Carlisle told keeping his voice neutral. Maria glanced at him and scoffed.
-You didn't create him. He's mine and I happen to not like when others attempt to take things that belong to me.
-You created him but that doesn't mean he belongs to you, he is a person, not a toy.
-I created him to serve me however I saw fit, it's his price to pay for the gift I gave him. You can play family with yours but mines are good for only two things, fighting and sex, nothing else, nothing more, and he knows it perfectly well. So, do please stop wasting my time and acting like a child and give me what is mine.
Carlisle stared at the woman wondering if he heard what he just heard.
This woman really believed her words to be a statement of fact. Her creations were nothing but belongings to use and dispose of.
Fighting and sex.
How could someone have such narrowed view towards beings she was meant to teach and protect?
And those words did nothing but make him feel sick. The implications behind.
-No. I'm not giving him to you, that's my last answer, so do please leave.- Carlisle asked. His voice coming out as cold as ice.
-You think you can control him? Through what? Love? He needs fear to be kept in line. If not, next thing you know he will be tearing your entire coven to pieces, all you have worked so hard for, destroyed.
-You are wrong. If that's what you think of him that may have been because you didn't knew how to deal with him in the first place. Treat them with aggression and that's all you are going to get from them in return.- Carlisle told fighting to keep his voice neutral. He wanted this woman gone. Now.
-That aggression is what kept him from becoming a crazed failure as his predecessors. You think he can be controlled through kindness? Wait until he gets out of control as he's bound to do. He won't hesitate to make you rip each other apart. You can't control him. He knows he can't control himself no matter how hard he tries. It's not in his nature to have control. He's weak and he will always be.
Each word that came out of her mouth sent a new wave of anger in the Cullens. The nerve of this woman. She even put up excuses for torturing him.
-You have no right to judge what is he worth or if he is weak. He belongs here. It doesn't matter what he does for we will always be here for him. So what if he gets a bit destructive? For you it may have been an issue for all you expected of him was a perfect soldier who had to obey to your every single demand. But not here. He doesn't need to be perfect to belong here.
Maria stared at Carlisle with such an intense gaze Emmett couldn't help but inch close to him in case the woman decided to attack.
-He's mine. I spent an entire year training him, I made sure he wouldn't shut down. He belongs with me and no one else. I didn't work so hard on shaping the perfect weapon for it to fall on some domesticated vampire's hands.
Something about her words didn't made sense.
And then shit hit the fan.
~~~~~~~~~
Hiding wasn't something Jasper did.
Much less when Maria was on the other side of the wall.
But Alice was holding him and the Cullens were speaking for him. Protecting him.
Each word that Maria said struck like a hammer and he ended up with his face buried into the crook of Alice's neck. Her emotions loud and comforting.
He knew she was itching to go out there and give Maria a piece of her mind. But her desire to not leave him alone outweighed her desire to slaughter Maria down.
And he was glad for it. The last thing he wanted was for Alice to be within Maria's reach.
He made sure to focus on keeping the Cullen's calm. To keep them from fearing or submitting down to her.
Not that he had to work hard for that.
Maria's emotions on the other hand were familiar and overwhelming. Rage. Anger. Warning. Greed.
And then her last words made something in her emotions hit him like a railroad that sent his instincts into overdrive.
Bloodlust .
She was going to attack the Cullens. She was mad. She was going to attack. Attack. He had to kneel or she would strike. Strike. But Alice was here. Esme. Emmett. The Cullens were here. He couldn't kneel. Couldn't submit and leave them to her mercy.
And for the first time in a long time he felt his rage be re-ignited.
The level of rage his newborn self had once felt towards the entitled woman who wouldn't stop ordering him around without an ounce of respect whatsoever.
He removed himself from Alice's hold and in a moment of blind rage he bolted past Emmett in time to connect his fist with Maria's chest as she lunged for Carlisle. The force of the impact reverberated across the forest like a thunderclap, sending her flying a few feets away from them, of course she didn't lose her footing, he wouldn't expect less from her.
Surprise and shock flooded the air along with streaks of disbelief and something akind to pride from Emmett and Rosalie.
Her resentful glare upon him along with the whiplash of burning wrath made him tense, but he didn't stand down.
In fact.
He pulled his lips back into a feral snarl as he came to shield Carlisle, refusing to bow down to her. Refusing with all his might the instinct to look down and beg for her forgiveness before it was too late.
The Major crawled under his skin. Clawing at him and fighting to break out. Slaughter her . Jasper could be afraid of her but The Major wasn't.
The Major wanted to tear out and rip to shreds the devil who broke them. It screamed for one thing and one thing alone.
Revenge.
His blood burnt like a river of molten lava and he could almost feel the tip of his fangs slipping out.
She took a step forward and The Major growled. Guttural and dangerous.
And he knew she noticed the change in behavior for her shoulders squared up. A twinge of fear in her emotions.
Maria could speak all she wanted about how she created a demon such as him but at the end she was no better than the others. She too feared him.
But unlike the others she thought herself above them. She had the leash.
Well, no more.
Now, Carlisle Cullen was the one who held the leash of The Major, even if the man himself wasn't aware of it.
No.
Carlisle was the one who burnt the leash. The man who cared nothing about absolute obedience. He whose pride was warm.
He liked this one.
Liked this place.
The Cullens held no real abilities whatsoever on how to fight in a real fight but that didn't matter.
He and The Major alone could protect them all.
He would do whatever he had to in order to keep this peace and warmness.
-Leave.- His tone was iced and commanding. Much like when he ordered rebellious newborns around. It left no room for argument and promised imminent death if the sole thought of disobedience was ensued.
And much like with those newborns he laced the order with his gift so as to force submission and terror.
It wasn't something he had ever used against Maria.
But he had to protect his mate and the Cullens.
Maria wasn't important. She was something that was threatening his coven. Threat .
-How dare you use that tone with me?- Maria's voice was incredulous but her emotions were gaining a new sense of rage.
No.
Murder intent. Bloodlust. Rage.
Danger.
Threat .
His instincts reacted as Maria trained them to.
She took a step forward and he lunged for the threat. Grabbing her shoulders and slamming her against the ground with such force he felt her shoulders dislodge right beneath his grip. His claws dug into her skin and he bled his hatred and resentment over her. His pain. All the pain from each one of his memories from each one of her punishments.
And The Major took the reigns. He felt absolute glee over the sound of her pain. Of her screams. Loosening his hold as she writhed beneath him in absolute agony. He pushed and pushed with his gift into her emotions. Merging their pain together and strengthening it until it felt like his own emotions would rip apart.
But he didn't care.
She was suffering and he felt ecstatic over it.
There were arms around him but he refused to let her go.
He let her live once.
And she came back to threaten his coven.
No one who threatened this place could live. She couldn't live. She had to suffer. She deserved this and so much more.
He growled at the arms around him. Fangs aching to rip her to shreds. She deserves to die.
-per! Jasper that's enough!
The coven leader's voice was sharp and absolute and still part of him refused to bend down to the order. She deserves to die. She will come back. She will kill them all. She deserves to die for the pain she brought to those around her. To him. To Peter. To Charlotte. To the newborns he had to kill. For what she turned him into.
Why couldn't the leader see it? Why couldn't he see this woman had to die? Why couldn't he see it?
He dove down to bite and finish her off.
What he bit instead was the leader's arm. The taste of his venom making a guttural growl tear out of his throat in unadulterated wrath and warning.
-Don't do this Jasper, don't throw it all away because of her.- Carlisle plead biting back the pain. He couldn't let him do this.
He couldn't no matter how much he wanted to .
-At the end you will be the only one who will suffer, please. You are better than this. You are not a killer, not anymore, you have come so far and I'm proud of you, we all are.
The bite loosened ever so slightly and Carlisle couldn't help but gain more confidence from it.
-Jasper, I know you are angry and I know you have all the right to be, what she put you through was horrible but killing her won't change the past. It will just prove to her right on all her thoughts about you. Don't let her win. You walked away from her once you can do it again, please .
The bite tightened and Carlisle could have sworn he felt a pull on his arm.
He didn't understood the meaning until Jasper released his arm and Maria. Spat venom on her face and proceeded to take a swing of her face.
Carlisle reacted in time to pull him back but that didn't stop Jasper from clawing one of her eyeballs out and leaving her face in quite a mess. The venom making sure that when it healed it did so with scars behind.
He kept him in a tight hold holding his wrists against his chest.
-Edward, Emmett, take her away, if she wakes up and tries something kill her.- He ordered sharply pulling Jasper towards the house.- Don't you even think about it.- Carlisle warned as Alice took a step forward with all the intent of following Emmett and Edward.
Alice hadn't even tried to stop Jasper from killing Maria. Reason on the why it had fallen upon him to stop him.
-You can't let her go. He deserves to kill her after all she did to him.- Alice told biting back the urge to growl at the unfairness of the situation. Esme and Rosalie got to kill their torturer how come Jasper wasn't allowed? It wasn't fair.
-Revenge is not the answer.
Carlisle's words ended up flickering Alice's instincts into absolute overdrive. Unfair . He was being unfair and she knew why. He was afraid Jasper would become feral if he killed someone. And she hated how even after he was calm Carlisle was still holding him like that. As if he was some kind of beast to be restrained.
And thus she did what her instincts told her to. She grabbed her mate and hissed at Carlisle who released him in surprise.
Alice didn't waste time to pull her mate inside the house and upstairs. Locking them both in their bedroom.
Jasper dropped to the ground as his gift refused to fall under his grip. The Major crawling back under his skin in an attempt to keep himself from hunting down Maria and finishing her. Alice held him but her arms were lax and he knew she was checking with her gift on Edward and Emmett.
He was pissed and hurt.
Hurt that Carlisle had denied him this.
Hurt that he had chose to spare the same woman who never had an ounce of mercy towards him.
He hated it.
Hated that Carlisle chose her life over his peace of mind.
He hated it.
Because why was Carlisle protecting her? She was nothing to him!
He was suppose to be on his side not hers! He was suppose to be on his side!
A sob caught in his throat as his fingers curled on Alice's shirt.
He was in pain. A pain bigger than any torture had ever given him. This one ate at his chest and made his throat burn until all he could do was release it in the form of tears. Tears that would drown him if he didn't let them out.
It wasn't fair. He had done all Carlisle had asked of him. He had been good . Why not give him this? Why chose her over him? Didn't he knew what she had done to him? He didn't .
No one could ever know what she had done.
Not even Alice.
Things she deserved so much more worse than death for.
He had given her the chance to forget he ever existed and move on. Leave him be.
But she had come back.
He should have let Peter kill her. Should have killed her himself when he still had the chance.
But now it was too late.
And then Alice's hands touched his face and as dark gold met dark orange beautiful words were spoken.
-Kill her. They won't stop you.
That's all The Major needed to know to resurface. Kiss her forehead and climb out of the window.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Edward and Emmett were aware of Carlisle's love to preserve each life that roamed the Earth.
But neither of them expected that he would go as far so as to want to preserve this life. Like. What the fuck? Was this some kind of cryptic lesson? A joke? Why wouldn't he let Jasper kill her? No one would miss her and the world certainly would be a better place without her.
None of them knew what she had done to Jasper aside from that haunting flashback Edward saw but it didn't took a genius to know that her treatment was inhumane and cruel. Carlisle should have let him kill her.
Esme and Rosalie got their revenge on the humans that hurt them. Maria was a friggin' vampire who managed to create a demon and slaughter thousands of innocents. She would live forever if she wasn't killed for fucks sake.
Was Carlisle willing to take the risk of letting her go?
Then both of them felt it.
Jasper .
His scent was growing closer at a speed that shouldn't be possible. And then he appeared, and as aware as Emmett and Edward had been of his approach neither of them could keep themselves from taking a step back.
Something about his gaze was dangerous. The orange had grown an impossible dark that seemed to go past black and right into the void of absolute darkness. It was as haunting as it was unnerving. It made their instincts flare in alarm. Danger .
He stood rigid and something about his face and stance was unfamiliar. Foreign. Dangerous. His gift was all over the place coating it all in an overwhelming sea of murder intent. It threatened to make their knees give in under the pressure.
It gave them the sense of mouses standing before a lion.
A very, very dangerous lion.
-Hey man.- Emmett had to clear his throat as his voice came out way too squeaky, the void looked back at him. It could have been his imagination but he could have sworn he saw something pointy flash when Jasper growled at him.
No.
Correction, dark Jasper.
But not even when he faced the Denali had he looked or felt this dangerous. This was new and prolonged and dangerous .
-We are leaving. Alright?- Edward told tugging at Emmett's shirt as he began backing off from the unconcious form of Maria.
Jasper followed them with that unsettling gaze. Though Edward was far from acknowledging this as Jasper. Those eyes didn't belong to the vampire he had grown to like these past years, there was something predatory about them, too predatory even for a vampire.
The weight of the murder intent in the air was like nothing Edward or Emmett had ever felt in their lives and both of them were glad when that weight lifted off their shoulders.