A/N: Couldn't resist tying in someone else to my little world. It's not that farfetched either, Mathias could have been in America watching Carlisle! Read on to see what I'm talking about lol xx Alexis
Bella was beginning to really enjoy Malta, now that most of her demons were off her back. But the questions were not so easy to dispel, it was the why? Why would her mother do that to her? She was the reason Bella swore she would never have a child or get married. The answer was too painful to grasp at first, either she didn't really like Bella or maybe didn't care! Worse maybe she was a weak pathetic excuse for both a woman and a mother, one who passed the buck onto her child rather than see and accept her own shortcomings! Yes, Bella could see that Renee was never at fault in her own eyes and now she had screwed up her daughter and of course, that too would be Bella's fault. There are many, many people out there who should never have become parents and Renee Was high up on that list.
What Bella did work out was that all of them were weak. They needed to bully her, to use her to make themselves feel better. Because they were nothing and nobody otherwise, she would be just one of many used by Renee, Jake, Alice and Edward, they were all users and not worth her time or energy. The last two were the most dangerous because they were vampires. In her heart, Bella knew it wouldn't be her, who gave them their just desserts. But she also knew they would all one day get what was coming to them. As for the others, well she could do something about that. What is it they say, paybacks a bitch, well she is and is called Bella Swan! She would do all that was in her power to make sure Jake never became Chief or Alpha and Renee was going to be made to pay for what she did to her!
Sophia may have helped her understand nothing was ever Bella's fault, but she can't help her get rid of the sick, bitter taste it's left behind. Jake would be the easiest because she knew all his little secrets the ones he kept from his father. How he bullied the younger kids on the Rez, how he'd tried to do it to the pack only to get his ass kicked by Paul. He has been strutting around telling them they best do as he said since he'd be the next Chief. Families had moved away already because of him. What Billy didn't know was the pack didn't like him much and kept him at arm's length. Now all meetings were held at Paul's and once over he made Jake leave while the rest stayed and hung out together. Embry and Quill barely spoke to him anymore, having spent years as his lackeys.
Only now they knew he was hated by everyone and they were strong enough to refuse! One of the reasons he moved on to Bella full-time was because they no longer listened to him. Her plan was to write to the elders, tell them she was now a vampire, a real human-drinking vampire and if he ever became Chief or Alpha it would be open season on Quileute Shapeshifters. She would be around for eternity unlike them and would know if he ever got any form of leadership in the tribe, she'd make it her business to know. That he was a nasty little bully to those weaker or less important than him, as he saw it. How he was a coward, who would run at the first sign of danger and a blabbermouth since it was he who told her the tribe's secrets. She wasn't a vampire yet, but they didn't know that and she would be before the year was out.
Therefore asking them if he was worth the tribe being destroyed because she would make sure every vampire knew they were led by a weak ruler and Alpha? If they didn't believe her they should have Sam Alpha order him to tell them all he had done to her and his so-called friends and other tribe members! But if Sam stayed Alpha and another Chief was chosen she would guarantee their safety from all but roving nomads! She knew that hardly any vampires ever went out of their way to go there. The Cullens had told her that, so the elders would never know the truth. She had no such power, but they were so insular and not likely to work it out. Was it cruel to destroy his future, maybe, maybe not! But he brought most of it on himself, being a nasty entitled little shit to everyone.
As for her dad, well she'd do nothing at all; he can work it out on his own. One day he'll realise he's all alone, maybe not until he retires and then he'll have no one. His inability to be a father then would come back to bite him! Well, Jake will have plenty of time on his hands so he can take her place. With Renee, it would be harder, but Bella intended to strip her of everything. Her husband, her job and her standing in the community. Because that was something Renee coveted, attention, praise and respect, if only they really knew her. She wasn't always like that but found she got people's time, their sympathy and help being seen as a struggling single parent. God alone knows what lies she's telling them now? Maybe using her struggling ball-player husband as a way to get sympathy.
Even maybe saying she still had to support Bella because everyone thought Charlie was a deadbeat dad. The first step is to get Phil to watch the money! If Renee was running true to form she would already be siphoning off some of his hard-earned cash into a separate account. Also, Bella knew without a shadow of a doubt she would have told him her pay was far less than it really was. It wouldn't matter to Renee that he loved her and would have given her everything she needed, Renee needed it all! So Bella would start to sow the seeds of mistrust and then prove them right. First with Phil and then move on to losing her, her job. After all who wants someone who neglected their own child to work with other people's kids? Now she was an adult she was going to sue Renee's ass off for all she had done to her in the past.
It's not as if she didn't have proof, she had so much it was disgusting!
HLMWAINS
Alice's head shot up, she'd been telling some love-struck fool her fortune when she got a real vision. In fact, it was the first real one in a very long time. She snorted and quickly turned it into a cough, good grief he was so stupid! Edward of course had finally made a concrete decision, so much so that even Alice received it. He decided to contact all of Carlisle's friends to complain to them about what he'd done to poor him and the other two as well! Jesus, he's so stupid, they were not humans, a sire and coven leader can kill you if he feels aggrieved enough, so throwing them out was nothing! They will laugh in his face and tell him to go to hell or maybe the Volturi if he dared! But this is Edward they were talking about, he is really that stupid and Alice was guessing he will eventually go to Italy assuming they will side with him.
Unlike Alice and Rose, Edward was still calling himself Cullen and didn't have any plans to stop. He was convinced Carlisle would take him back eventually, but even after a few months he was tired of waiting and was trying to push things along. But all he was doing was digging the hole he was in deeper and nobody would talk to him, if he went to their doors they were shut in his face. All he was succeeding in doing was wasting his money. He was now in Ireland heading for the Irish coven's home, how he expected that to pan out was debatable. Since Maggie was a walking vampire lie detector, how he planned to get around her defied logic. Maybe he was idiotic enough to assume if he told them what they wanted to hear it would not be seen as a lie!
Siobhan was nice enough to invite him in, but it only took Maggie five minutes at most to shake her head and declare Edward a bare-faced liar! Liam didn't even give him time to refute her claim and physically threw Edward out on his ear. He was trying to act indignantly and hard done by, but Liam's aim was good. Making the pile of horse manure Edward was sitting in do nothing for his cause. He even heard Liam say,
"Begorrah Siobhan, you have no idea how much I've always wanted to do that!"
"Aye, I can't understand how Carlisle could stand that child!" Siobhan replied in disgust,
Without waiting to hear more Edward took to his heels and headed for the last person who might listen to him, not knowing Carlisle and Esme were also in England and had reached him first. So while he headed swimming to clean his clothes off, for mainland Britain, Carlisle and Esme were in Kent with Tobias' coven, technically Carlisle's too. They had long since moved further out and no longer hid underground. Now he was not an active leader he could resume his place with them, he probably wouldn't but since he and Tobias were finally talking again he would keep in contact and be there if needed. Any of the coven who might not have been pleased with Carlisle's return were at least happy to bring Esme into the fold. She was Carlisle's one redeeming feature as far as some were concerned.
It had been many years since Carlisle had had to put up with the vagrancies of the English and although pleasant enough, they were also extremely cool towards him. This he knew he had no one to blame but himself for and his arrogant past behaviour. Why he was so hell-bent on leaving them all behind eluded him now, but back then he thought them uncultured and that they would hold him back. But now he found out it was Alistair that helped them make the move, he who convinced them that it would be a good thing. He did for Carlisle's old coven what he himself should have stayed behind and done. It really was just a little galling to hear them all praise someone he always thought he was better than. Yes, that old arrogance was still lingering there and tripped him up once again.
Alistair was home and blissfully unaware of what was happening back in London or Kent, he hadn't helped them for any other reason than he could and it was the right thing to do. Edward had arrived and after breaking into the London house found a change of clothes. Not once noticing the scents of his former pseudo parents were fresh, vampire skills were not high on Edward's list and that would be his downfall. He felt he was quite within his rights to break in and had not a morsel of guilt, if he had known what was about to happen he might have thought twice. For a fool who heard voices in his head all the time having one talk directly to him was disconcerting. He was a little scared for a few moments and then his arrogance surfaced once more.
"Edward! I know a way of regaining all you have lost. It's there for the taking, you just need to reach out and grasp it"
HLMWAINS
Luca didn't see any problems with Bella seeking retribution for the past; in fact, he encouraged and aided her in doing so. Sophia tried hard to temper said revenge as she knew it wasn't the real answer, justified but not the real solution. Meanwhile, Luca had another iron in the fire that he had said nothing about. He had been hearing through the grapevine of Edward's attempts to gather sympathy for himself. That boy was beyond stupid; no other coven leader would interfere or intervene on his behalf! What happens in his old coven was nobody but the Volturi's concern if it got out of hand. Not that that applied here in Malta, but Luca did not stand in anyone's way if they needed their help. He knew of many who just paid lip service to them but really did not feel they had any right to tell them what to do.
Mainly nomads and a few small groups or couples like the Whitlocks. He found it amusing how they, the brothers insisted they ruled the vampire world, but they really did not. Spain, Romania, Scandinavia, China, Japan, Australia and New Zealand, also of course he in Malta did not bend the knee to them. But only the Romanians and the Spanish tried to oust them every thousand years or so! Luca found ignoring them worked far better, he didn't bother them and they didn't bother him. Anyway, he had been informed Edward was now in London and that would mean he was about to fall foul of Mathias. Tobias might be Carlisle's sire but Mathias was his and the coven leader. He had been for more than two thousand years and didn't suffer fools gladly, that included Carlisle, but for Tobias, he would keep him safe.
As far as Mathias would be concerned Edward was expendable and London and all that happened there was his business and domain. He had done many things over the years which might be considered questionable, but he was a true and loyal friend and leader. It was when Alistair approached him about his family, human family that was, they became friends. He listened to all the, then young vampire said about getting out of London, but still being in control and it had made sense. After all, there were not many covens in Britain and his was the largest. Two vampires always stayed there, reporting back whilst the others lived in a more rural part of Kent. They rotated who and it had been working well for many years, he had always managed to keep Tobias away from Carlisle when he passed through.
Not for any other reason than to stop him from being hurt, but now Carlisle knew just what it felt like to be used mercilessly, well they had finally found some common ground. There was no way he would allow a snotty-nosed arsehole like Edward to ruin their reunion. One phone call to Ireland had confirmed to him that the boy must be silenced. So he took it upon himself to deal with him, before Edward learned anything about them or as he now knew Alistair's connection to the Cullen's past. How did he know, well Luca of course? It seemed he had a soft spot for the young lady in question and as soon as Alistair had contacted him, Luca sent a shield to follow that foolish child, Edward. He admitted he was surprised about Alistair, but he had known she was drawn, even as a human to England.
Luca didn't want to interfere, but he would never allow one of his descendants to be harmed f he could help it. Mathias felt the same that was why he never once tried to involve himself in Garrett's life. He didn't know he had turned him until well after the event, the battle had been bloody and he had gone a little overboard he knew, sometimes the bloodlust took you over. So finding out later that he had left a turning human had shocked him, but once he was aware he kept a watchful eye over him. The fact he hated the British amused Mathias greatly and he was glad he turned out to be a good vampire and had strong allies; strangely one of them was Carlisle. It really was a small world as they say, but he would never bother him unless he was needed!
But they had one thing in common, a lack of scent, something he must have passed on to Garrett. It had served him well over the years, never being noticed in a crowd or even a room by other vampires. He would use it to his advantage today, he felt inclined to taunt and tease Edward with stories of hidden wealth and then trap him in the act of stealing from another coven. Was it cruel, yes, but sometimes the end justifies the means!
HLMWAINS
The vampire having the least problems seemed to be Emmett, he had found his mate and much as he didn't mind Charlie Swan, it was more than apparent he didn't really want Orsel and Alessia there in his home. He wasn't rude or unkind, just nonplussed and Emmett wondered if this was how he acted with Bella. Orsel said he always thanked her for his meals but never spoke to her other than that kind of thing; she wanted to move but where? Emmett had smiled largely and told her to leave it to him.
"Mom, I found my mate! Can I move her into the Forks house? You'll never believe what happened" Emmett started the conversation with Esme,
"Of course Emmett. Do you need me to come back?" she asked thinking they might need her,
Emmett proceeded to explain it all and although sad for several reasons she agreed to stay away for now. Emmett's mate was not a child; in addition, she had the backing of a large coven. Added to that she was a guardian already and didn't need Esme's guidance, maybe that was a good thing. So Bella was in Malta and related to Luca, wow! Esme told Carlisle and Tobias the news and didn't miss the slight grimace Carlisle wore. Was he not happy for Emmett or pleased that Bella was safe and protected now? Ah, it dawned on her; they didn't need him to survive anymore. He wasn't as indispensable as he thought he was, a bitter pill she was sure! While he flailed about after the betrayal of those three the others had gotten their acts together, yes they really were not children and should never have been treated as such.
Emmett was ecstatic, he tore around the house removing all traces of Rose, Alice and Edward, it was quite cathartic and he decorated Edward's room for Alessia and Alice's pink monstrosity for Orsel, leaving Jasper's study for him. Emmett's room was no longer anything like before and he was okay with being in there now Rose was gone. For once it reflected his tastes and not someone else's, he had no intention of rushing Orsel into something she wasn't ready for and would wait as long as it took to have her by his side. She had informed Luca of her change of status to a mated human and he although surprised was happy for her. She promised she would not be changed until Alessia no longer needed her. He assured her that everyone would be there for them when she was ready.
He asked her how Chief Swan reacted when she said they were moving out and wasn't surprised when he was relieved. Yes, he seems to be so insular it was to his own detriment, the man was a fool! Family was everything and those who didn't see it were to be pitied, well in his eyes anyway! Emmett was on cloud nine just having her near him. He was happy with just that and it proved to him that his relationship with Rose was so wrong. It wasn't all about sex, but togetherness and sharing, he was so happy and having Alessia there was good too. That was the standout thing, no jealousy, no unwillingness to share the limelight, Orsel was a confident woman and knew her worth without having to be constantly validated. He saw nothing but a bright future for them all.
Bella had laughed happily when she was informed about what had taken place in Forks. She was pleased for Emmett, that he had found his real mate at last. Plus now they would really be family, both of them part of Luca's extended family. Her school days were now over and her change was imminent. She couldn't wait, she felt herself being called from afar and didn't understand it at all. When she asked Luca he smiled,
"It's your destiny, my daughter, calling you from afar. When you're ready you can go out and find it waiting for you!"
begorrah exclamation, old-fashioned informal Irish English (also begorra)
