Chapter Sixty
Bella
I liked Charlotte very much and by the time we landed I thought were were going to be good friends but looking at Jaspers face I thought he'd had a much less enjoyable time. He came over to me and put his arm around my shoulder pulling me close for a kiss as Charlotte mumbled some apology for her husbands behaviour and went with Peter to rent a car.
"What do you think of Charlotte? Did you get on OK?"
"She's really nice and easier to get along with than Alice or Rose, she's not as pushy."
"I know. Peter however might give you a hard time, he's not so accepting as his wife."
"Don't worry I can hold my own."
"Against two Peters? Don't forget Darius is very much like him."
I hugged him,
"Don't worry Jasper, what's the worst they can do?"
He looked at me with one eyebrow raised and I grinned,
"Well apart from drink my blood that is?"
He laughed and ruffled my hair,
"How did I get so lucky? Come on, it seems grumpy has got the keys."
I turned to see Peter dangling a set of keys from his hand while watching me closely, it was going to be an interesting visit if nothing else!
Peter
The Major seemed really smitten and Charlotte liked the human girl, she had even decided they really were meant for each other but I was reserving judgement. If she was the right one then she'd cope with me, if not then good riddance, she could go the way of Alice Cullen. Charlotte seemed to read my mind because she grasped my arm really tightly.
"Peter Whitlock I'm warning you. If you give Bella a hard time I'll give you an even harder one and you know what that means don't you."
"Yeah, all marital privileges cut off! OK but don't expect me to bend over backwards to be nice or kiss ass, it's not going to happen."
"Just keep your mouth shut then and give us all a break."
Charlotte climbed in the back with Bella so I didn't have to make small talk on the drive.
"Right, you're navigator. I've never been to Darius bat cave."
The Sat Nav in the car pinged softly and displayed a route.
"What the fuck?"
The major grinned,
"I think Darius just arranged your route for you."
"Now you can see why I don't like him, he's a creepy fucker, chopping into my Sat Nav like that. It's not right."
"I think you mean hacked into your Sat Nav not chopped."
I turned round to glare at Charlotte,
"Hey what doesn't a man like?"
She sighed
"A smart mouthed bitch!"
"Yeah well just remember that."
Bella looked at Charlotte and they both burst out laughing, so I was the day's entertainment was I!
Bella
I saw Peter glance at me in the mirror every so often but I ignored the looks, maybe he was in a bad mood or maybe it was his normal one, I didn't know and I wasn't going to ask while he was listening in, I wanted time to get his measure first. Jazz had threaded his hand between the front seats to take mine and I felt at ease and comfortable even when Charlotte looked at our clasped hands and smiled. I could hardly believe I was the other side of the country with the man I adored weeks after we met and with my dads consent, although I was pretty sure he didn't know that we were sleeping together! Still he had his own little secret with Tanya so I think it was a case of people in glass houses. I wondered if they had gone back to Forks yet and if so what the citizens of the town thought of Tanya, not to mention the Quileutes who would be enraged at the very least. I took out my phone and checked for messages finding one from dad,
"Hope you are OK. We're going back to Forks tomorrow with Carlisle and Esme. Speak soon. Love Dad.
I text back with "Good luck" thinking you're going to need it then put my phone away explaining to Jasper about the message.
"Lets just hope he doesn't run into Dante but I think with the family back too they should be well protected. I told Emmett and Alice to keep a close watch on the wolf pack, they are more likely to be a danger than Dante is."
"What about the Volturi? If they know about me what about Charlie and the Denali clan?"
"I think they'll wait and see what happens for a while at least, after all I just saved them a costly war, they owe us."
"And you think Aro will see it like that? Major you're losing your grip on reality. I think this girl's got you all turned round."
I waited, would Charlotte agree and more importantly would Jasper?
"Peter I warned you. One more rude comment about Bella and you and I are through."
Peter glared at me as if he would like nothing better than to sink his teeth in but he didn't reply to Jaspers threat and soon after that we pulled up at what looked like an old nuclear war shelter at the edge of an industrial area.
Peter
I got out without waiting for the others and went to the battered looking intercom hung from the wall,
"You gonna let us in or do I have to call for a nuclear strike on the fucking place?"
"So nice to hear your friendly tones Peter. Just a minute"
I waited impatiently as the others joined me and then the huge iron door slid back and a light came on illuminating a long concrete corridor leading deep inside the structure. I went in hating the claustrophobic feeling when the door slid shut again but walking onwards feeling the floor sloping gently downwards,
"Great he's living like a fucking mole!"
My mood wasn't made any better by the walk down the silent corridor broken only by Bella's rapid heartbeat and footsteps, glancing to my left I saw Charlotte a little behind me with a face like a smacked ass, great! We were going to be a merry little party when and if we ever reached Darius lair. A few minutes later we reached another metal door with another intercom, this one mounted and looking much newer.
"Open the door Darius. I'm sick of feeling like a fucking lab rat in a maze."
"Hey if I had a rat with your temperament I'd have it gassed!"
"Bollocks!"
The door swung open and we entered his living area all brightly lit with so many computers flashing it looked like a Christmas tree complete with coloured lights.
Bella
I looked round the huge area, it was too big to call a room, and saw someone scooting towards me on a wheeled office chair. He skidded to a halt close to us and smiled,
"Major, its been too long. Sorry we didn't get to fight but there you go."
"It's your fault we didn't. If you'd kept your big mouth shut we could be in Romania now."
Darius looked at Peter and grimaced
"I see you're in a good mood as always!"
"You haven't been stuck in a tin can with hundreds of humans for hours on end then in a car with another."
Darius looked at me then,
"So this is the troublesome human, Bella Swan I presume?"
I looked at his outstretched hand and saw a finger missing but put my own out to shake his which was cold and hard just like the Cullens. I had noticed that Jaspers didn't seem quite the same to me, in fact as the weeks went on it felt more like my own and the temperature didn't bother me.
"It's very nice to meet you Darius. I owe you my thanks for helping to foil Dante."
Peter snorted but Darius smiled a little,
"Well you're polite I'll grant you that. Now come, sit down and keep quiet. I have a few things to tell your Major"
He scooted off on his chair and we followed Peter muttering darkly. I think he had hoped Darius might be as unhappy about me as he was.