Chapter Seventy Two

The Major

We couldn't stay here too long, sooner or later someone would come looking for the old couple but wherever we went it had to be somewhere I could take Bella. I still didn't know why but she fascinated me, her attitude, her way of seeing me. It was all wrong, I'd almost killed her and her father yet she acted as if it wasn't my fault, as if I were someone who should be pitied or treated as if nothing I did was my fault.

What would it take for her to understand that I was a killer, I murdered for fun, it gave me pleasure to see fear and pain in someone else's eyes? As we touched at the top of the stairs something happened, I felt it although I refused to believe what I was feeling. Instead I took the cowards way out and grabbing Peter I hauled him outside with a warning to the two girls to stay inside or else.

"Major what the fuck is going on? You nearly ripped my fucking arm out of its socket."

"Never mind that, we need somewhere to go, somewhere we won't be traced."

"Why? Hey, I'm not killing Charlotte whatever you say, that's just not going to happen. I'd die first."

I could hear the sincerity in his voice and nodded curtly,

"I thought not but remember Bella is supposed to be dead and we're hiding from the Volturi, we need somewhere safe, somewhere we can decide exactly what our plan of action is."

We put our heads together but finding somewhere quiet, somewhere the Volturi weren't likely to look for us was difficult and then it hit me. Peter stopped talking when he realized I wasn't listening any longer,

"You got an idea?"

"I think so Peter but I need to check it out first. I'm going to take Bella and go ahead, as soon as I'm sure its safe I'll send for you. In the meantime start heading towards Texas but don't tell anyone, not even that girl of yours."

"She wouldn't tell anyone but I won't. You want us to move slowly?"

"Yeah and stay out of sight. I don't know if the Volturi will be looking for us yet but you don't want to be seen by anyone just in case. Especially while you are alone, you're more vulnerable."

He looked at me as if I'd gone mad.

"Fuck me! Who the hell are you and what did you do with the real Major?"

I understood I was acting out of character and couldn't even explain why to myself.

"Cut the crap and move. Take the couple's old truck and dump it north before you start out home."

As that last word slipped out I knew he noticed it and that it actually meant something to me for the first time in well over a century.

Going back inside I noticed Bella looked better although her face was more discolored than ever and I could see it hurt her to talk.

"We're leaving, come on."

I took her arm and she tried to shrug me off but it was a half hearted attempt,

"Where? I'm not going anywhere with you. You left my dad thinking he'd killed me. How could you do that?"

"The Volturi think you're dead too and that's all that matters right now. They won't be looking for you."

"He'll find his way to you and when he does he's going to kill you."

I laughed at that idea, a human cop killing me? About as likely as Aro Volturi calling Chelsea off Marcus!

"Well no doubt that will please you Bella."

She opened her mouth then closed it again without speaking and I wondered what she had been about to say but I knew I would never know now so I merely pushed her outside to the barn where the truck waited. There was no sign of the previous occupants which was a relief, the last thing I needed was a hysterical human in the truck with me! Peter and Charlotte had followed us and the girl reached into the truck to squeeze Bella's hand.

"Just remember what I told you Bella, don't be afraid."

Peter looked at me questioningly but I had no more idea what they were talking about than he did only that Bella seemed calmer after wards.

Bella

I didn't want to be alone with this man, not because I feared him, I didn't, but because I feared my own feelings. Charlotte was right, I did have feelings for him but they were pity that an honorable man had been dragged down to the level of an animal by outside influences. I had no idea what he had been through but it must have been horrendous to force him to turn off his feelings and become a killing machine. Perhaps as we travelled he might start to open up to me but the one thing I wanted above all else was to get word to my dad that I was still alive. I knew the guilt of my death and his part in it would tear Charlie to pieces. So we drove in silence for a while before he turned to me,

"You would have been burned as a witch in the past."

This came totally out of the blue and I had no idea what he meant,

"What?"

"A witch, women who used spells were burned."

"Spells?"

He just shook his head and looked back at the road leaving me totally confused once more.

Deciding as he'd broken the awkward silence it was now my turn I took a deep breath,

"I need to speak to my father."

"Impossible."

"Why?"

"I have no idea where he is for one and for another you are dead."

"But I'm not, why would you torture him like that?"

He turned and smiled at me coldly,

"It's what I do, remember?"

I shook my head,

"I don't believe that's the real you."

"Still on your save a sinner kick? Don't you ever get tired of believing you know everything?"

"I'm right about you. Where are we going?"

"You'll see, for now just sit back and be quiet."

The Major

I had no idea why I had said that to Bella although I knew why I refused to allow her to contact anyone. The Volturi and everyone else thought her dead and in that lay her only safety. She was important to me and I intended to find out exactly why once I reached home, the only place left that held any memories for me and those only dimly lit. I had fought so hard over the years to forget everything, to remember was weakness and could be my Achilles heel so I refused any memories space in my mind, no softness, regret, or pity. They made me vulnerable and I had to be strong, more evil than anyone else. I needed everyone to fear and hate me.

Now suddenly I meet someone who doesn't, not only that but someone with the best reason of all to do so. I decided once we reached the ranch, I would find the old root cellar, hopefully unused by the present owners and take Bella down there. What difference being back in my human past would make I had no idea but we would see.

After a few hours I sensed Bella was uncomfortable but it took a little while to work out why and with a sigh I pulled into a small shabby diner at the side of the road. Bella looked at me questioningly.

"Right, a few ground rules. No screaming or asking for help or I'll kill everyone in the diner. You do what you need to do and then join me at a table. Get yourself fed and watered then we leave."

"I'm not a horse."

"No you're not but you are a problem, and I know given the chance you'd go scurrying to a phone booth. Just remember you have no idea where your father is or even if he's still alive and your best chance of remaining alive is for everyone else to think you are dead. You broadcast your survival around and not only you but the Cullens who I allowed to live, Charlie, and possibly even the Denali's will die."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Won't the Volturi kill you too? After all you disobeyed orders."

"I'd like to see them try. Now let's go and remember what I told you. I have no compunction about killing everyone in that diner while you on the other hand hold their lives in your hand."