BACK TO LIFE
"Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life."
—Sun Tzu, The Art of War
—
DECEMBER 8TH 2039
5:08AM
NEDERLAND, COLORADO
For a long, beautiful moment, Maria dreamed about what it would be like when she returned to Monterrey after all was said and done.
She would need to establish a new home base and rebuild her army as soon as vampirically possible. She could probably force the Cullens to bankroll that operation; for all they would owe her, they should rebuild her goddamn mansion from the ground up with their bare hands. Jasper knew the layout well enough that he could draw them up blueprints.
She dreamed about perfect replicas of all the jewelry and dresses and shoes that currently laid beneath rubble dirt and ash and about the fresh freedom she would feel day in and day out, knowing that one more fucker who thought they could get the drop on her had been burnt to a crisp. She dreamed about being able to put her feet up and relax, knowing that Monterrey was hers like it always had been and always would be.
But despite all of that, Maria's current favorite daydream included wrapping her arm around the warm neck of the taller girl across the room and testing to see how much pressure it would take before it caved in. She dreamed about the sound the shorter girl's flesh might make if Maria decided to tear any of her limbs off.
Her eyes wandered lazily around the room and when she met Edward's annoyed, pointed look she rolled her eyes.
I can't be the only one thinking it.
He looked away and Maria huffed. She crossed her arms and leaned further back into the couch, her shoes shifting on top of one of the Cullens' many laptop computers. No one had bothered to move it out from under her muddy feet; which only proved to her that they could absolutely afford to give her a large supply of human currency to indulge herself with.
"We can't be sure whether we can do that or not," Carlisle stood closest to the two sisters. They kept huddled close together, always touching at one point or another with their backs to the open glass door behind them.
Idiots. Maria could easily go out the front door, walk around, and sneak up behind them that way. They were already in the damn house. If the Cullens wanted them dead they'd already be dead.
Sadly, Maria's desire to kill them and be done with it seemed to be an unshared sentiment throughout the room.
"Then you have nothing to offer us," Serena spoke evenly. Her black eyes remained fixed on Carlisle's innocuous form while her sister's eyes flickered from body to body, not letting anyone standing around the room go more than a few seconds without being looked at. "We don't care about your affairs. They do not concern us."
"They literally do," the tall newcomer muttered to his mate, sotto voce. She did not react to the comment and continued to glare from where she stood in front of him, fists clenched at her side.
Never before did Maria imagine a world where she would be sitting in a room with nineteen other vampires and two half-breeds, and be the only reasonable one amongst them. This would be enough to make any other sensible vampire feel crazy. Instead, she felt like the only sane person watching a circus crash and burn around her.
Maria's only consolation in having to deal with these insufferable mutants was that whatever they were thinking was grating on the nosy boy's nerves.
"We can't guarantee you that it's Jennifer," Edward spoke up, and Maria could hear just how close he was to losing his temper. "The chances that it's her are very, very high, but we can't provide you proof. Either you believe us, or you don't."
"We don't," Maysun glared. "You have given us no reason to."
"If you're underestimating our character then let your brother be the one to assure you, we're—"
The girls both laughed in sync at that, cutting off the rest of Carlisle's sentence. "Nahuel may be family, but he does not understand what it means to be a good judge of character." Serena's voice was dripping with cruelty, and Maria would have been more entertained if they weren't wasting her fucking time.
All of their time, really.
Maysun's humor also fizzled out. "Nahuel is the reason our father is dead. If the Volturi have Jennifer, it is his fault, too."
Even Maria knew that technically it was Alice's fault. Alice was the one who had sought them out at the turn of the century to provide 'proof' that the hybrids were 'harmless'. She'd relayed this story to Maria two days prior, explaining as swiftly as she could manage, the entire story that had landed them on the Volturi's radar in the first place.
Strange for a group of girls to mourn their disgusting rapist of a father, but whatever.
They had been talking in circles for what felt like hours, although it had only been a handful of minutes. Maria let her mind wander again as she took stock of this bizarre gathering of vampires.
Maria hadn't been introduced to their newcomers so she didn't even know if they knew who she was. Thankfully she had gathered enough information on her own over the last two days to piece together who they were. Maria hadn't known that the Cullens weren't the only braindead animal eaters on this continent. It made her shudder to think about the fact that other covens of yellow-eyed morons could very likely exist elsewhere in the world, too.
Ugh. It was nasty.
The two standing on the opposite end of the room were the tall, gangly newcomer—Garrett—and his spectacularly powerful mate—Kate. Maria couldn't wait to see the woman in action again. She'd never watched a single person take on and manage to walk away from eight newborn vampires, perfectly unscathed.
A gift like hers would be priceless in Nuevo León.
Since the back door was situated to her right, the two irritating non-humans were lingering close by, still refusing to move further into the house. Carlisle stood a few feet in front of them and Bella stood just slightly behind him.
Bella had been the first person to try and talk to the girls but had been swiftly shut down by both of them, forcing Carlisle to step in and do what he did best: whine about moral obligations and ethical responsibility.
Yawn.
Farther off to the right was their large kitchen where the larger gathering of fools was transpiring. There had been too much going on in the flurry of confusion that gripped the house when Jasper and Peter returned with two more than they'd left with. The newborns fucking knew better than to go anywhere but the garage, but when Esme held the back door open for them and beckoned them to come inside, only Jamie and Brian had hesitated in the yard. But even those two quickly followed through the glass doors where everyone else had gathered.
Maria's curiosity at their new arrivals had been too great to divert her attention, but now she was intensely annoyed at the sensitive, yellow-eyed, crybaby idiot for doing something so irresponsible. Not only that, but Esme was standing with her back turned to all of them, right at the front of their idiotic group! Peter, the only person who seemed to have any fucking sense left in his brain, stood against a row of cabinets where he was able to face the newborns but still turn his head to see the rest of the room. His arms were crossed, his face was stern, and when his eyes found hers he stared back at her blankly.
Maria wished he possessed Edward's gift so he could hear her calling him a brick-faced moron, but she turned her eyes away from him before he could react to her stare. For as much of an imbecile as he was, he appeared to be the one in charge at the moment. It was a curious diversion from their old relationship, but Jasper had huddled himself in the very back of the group, hardly in the room at all.
Jasper stood in the doorway of the hallway that led to the garage and kept his eyes focused on the nine uncomfortable men that were scattered through the kitchen. Only Conner had made himself at home, sitting his backside on one of the kitchen counters. When he'd jumped up originally, he'd accidentally elbowed one of their faucets, and Esme had spent the next ten seconds shutting off the water beneath the sink before the kitchen could start to flood.
That had been when Maria realized that not only had the newborns been invited to take part of whatever conversation was going to happen next—something Maria had expressly forbid, prior—but Esme was speaking to them like people.
Such a empty-headed fool!
Maria's eyes fell back to Jasper. He looked…more aware than he had before. Gone was the blank stare and open eagerness for her to give him any commands or instructions. His face was marginally more expressive and his outright refusal to look anywhere in her direction hinted to her that maybe he'd shaken off his fucked up condition.
Had that all been nothing more than an adverse reaction to the news that his puny mate had been taken into enemy hands? Sure, Alice would have been better off being taken captive by almost any of the other warlords (except maybe the French lunatic) since a majority of them didn't have such a personal vendetta against them, but Maria had not expected a complete detachment from his reality around him.
Shit, she'd been anticipating having to defend against a physical attack when Carlisle had returned with everyone after Alice and Emmett had been taken. She'd already planned out how she would've had to kill Jasper if he didn't stop or couldn't listen to reason. Turns out, reason wasn't something he had been capable of forming on his own nor absorbing from any of them.
Still, it was curious to see the way Peter watched Jasper without even trying to hide what he was doing. In fact, everyone in the area had been shooting fleeting glances their way over the past fifteen minutes.
Almost everyone.
Edward stood on the complete opposite side of the area, his back to the ajar library door at the far end of the den. He met her eyes when she turned toward him, having already heard her thoughts.
How far is he from losing his shit again? Maria's curiosity was partially amused but entirely serious.
Edward, who was not as good at his poker face than he probably should have been, glared at her and turned his attention back beyond her to focus on the pair of hybrids.
Dickhead, she thought pointedly. It had been a genuine question. After all, she was the one who would likely have to take Jasper down if he snapped again. Especially if he was still at risk for mercy-killing his mate.
Alice was somehow the luckiest and unluckiest bitch on the goddamn planet.
Maria's gaze fell toward her next. Alice stood behind Edward, barely visible, with her fingers tangled in the back of one of his shirtsleeves. Alice was not looking toward the two girls that Carlisle, Bella, and the rest of this circus act were trying to get information out of. In fact, Alice was not arranged in a way where anyone could see her face. Maria wondered if she weren't huddled against Edward's back, cowering like a scared child.
Her eyes had been glassy when Bella had escorted her back down into the den, shaking like a leaf. Alice had been redressed, her gait had looked good, and her hair had been dripping onto her shoulders. Then, Edward had found a space at her side, Alice had reached out and gripped the back of his arm with viper speed, and that's where she'd been ever since.
All things considered, she'd looked quite normal. Alice's expression had been a little detached, her eyes focused somewhere far away, but unless you knew what she looked like previously no normal person would've been able to tell that she'd just been stitched back together after being brutally torn to shreds. That tenacity would've impressed Maria if she hadn't watched Alice scream, thrash, and vomit like an squalling infant mere hours ago.
Her shaking had stopped right before the army and the hybrids returned, and Maria wondered whether it was proximity to the abominable girls or her own mate that forced Alice to pull herself back together.
It was such a shame for someone who possessed such a powerful gift to have such profound weaknesses.
It only emphasized the brilliance of the Volturi Kings. Maria was not yet out of her element—she'd been crafting and implementing complicated plans of battle, destruction, and acquisition for as long as she'd been in the business of maintaining her own lands in Nuevo León—but she was impressed by the way they'd gone about this entire scheme.
Maria didn't even need to ask how the Volturi had discovered this supernatural blind spot. They'd fucking home grown one within their very own backwoods coven and then summoned an army of "witnesses" to ensure it—and the rest of them—wouldn't get destroyed. The hybrids' ability to hide from Alice Cullen's visions was a fact that the Volturi would absolutely have zeroed in on the instant they discovered it. They would have tucked that information into their back pockets to pluck out when the time to retaliate called for it.
And boy, was that time now.
Maria was no imbecile. She knew the presence of one little hybrid did not account for the full blindness that had previously shielded Father Esteban from Alice's visions. If that were the case then Alice would in no way be able to reside under the same house as their Renesmee. If proximity equalled total blindness then Peter would've probably ended up getting more than just one good shot in on Maria when she'd showed up to help their ungrateful asses.
Maria sighed and did not care that the other newcomer—Carmen—visibly stiffened in the seat she'd taken across from her. Maria looked at her for a few seconds, just to feel the satisfaction that she received when she could tell someone was pointedly avoiding your gaze, before turning back toward Edward, and therefore, Alice.
Maria wondered if Alice would snap out of it if she offered to kill the hybrids or yelled at Jasper until he left the room. Or both.
Edward shifted slightly to the side and caught Maria's stare again. His glare had intensified and Maria watched as his nostrils flared and his hands balled into fists. God, they were such a sensitive group of babies. Maria wasn't dumb and she knew that they weren't either. Alice was their biggest advantage in this entire debacle even despite whatever tricks the Volturi guard were pulling behind the curtain.
As a weapon, they couldn't afford to lose Jasper, but if Maria had to pick between him and his obscenely gifted wife, then the choice was clear.
Edward must have been considering moving or speaking or doing something other than standing there and occasionally chiming into the conversation, because Maria watched as Edward's sleeve tightened around his arm. Alice must have seen some action and was pleading against his intentions.
Maria sighed again. This time because it was funny to watch everyone tense up. No doubt they were waiting for her to start screaming at the stupid girls. But this part was hardly any of Maria's concern. Whether these girls were able to rescue their sister did not matter to Maria. She didn't care if Alice's newfound ability to see Esteban was due to the girl's extermination.
Maria was not sitting on a plush couch amongst sweater-clad vampires in order to contribute to some fruitless conversation. No, she was trying to accomplish what none of them were apparently capable of. She was trying to sort out their next move.
Maria knew she was missing something despite what she'd figured out in the few minutes since the girls had arrived. For Alice to be rendered blind implied that somehow this hybrid infant were calling the shots, which absolutely wasn't the case. Out of the information that the girls had been willing to share, their sister had been missing for somewhere between four months and six weeks.
It was during this window of time that their shitty begetter had been destroyed and their sister had been taken.
She had a firm suspicion that Alice had left some parts out when she'd relayed the story of their meeting thirty years ago. If you tell me more, she called out mentally, knowing that their resident mind reader would be forced to reply to this call eventually, you know I can help you better. But despite this, Edward ignored her. Maria's urge to stand up and leave the room stubbornly warred with her desire to sit, plan, and idly pay attention to the nonsense transpiring around her.
The only two people who did not currently occupy this level of the house were most likely listening in from where they'd hidden themselves away on one of the upper levels. Levels that Maria hadn't even been able to see yet, which was unbearably rude if you asked her.
Emmett Cullen and his insufferable mate, Rosalie, were on a separate floor. Exactly where they were wouldn't be hard to find if Maria were given four seconds to look. They were still being unbearably loud. Or at least, the blonde wretch was.
Maria's disappointment at witnessing Rosalie's weakness so loud and prevalent, was still powerful. Rosalie Cullen's mate would be fine. Emmett might end up walking a little funny and he, Peter, and the Major looked like three cards from the same deck now, but at least he wasn't dead. Rosalie's mate was whole again, entirely alive, and it was all thanks to Maria.
Who hadn't even gotten a fucking thank you, yet.
"Try not to wander far, please." Carlisle's request drew Maria's attention back toward the conversation. The girls were readying themselves to step outside and talk amongst themselves. "We don't know how much time we have, but we fear it isn't long before the people who have your sister come looking for us."
Those people knew where the Cullens were, but Maria just let the simpleton talk. She wasn't about to try and keep the girls nearby. Sure, bodies were bodies, but if they weren't willing to include themselves as part of their number, then they were fucking useless to her.
Maria was the first to move after the creatures disappeared back into the yard. "We're wasting time," she sang as she walked toward the kitchen. With a quick snap of her fingers she gestured for the newborns to move. Esme Cullen was disappointed and delightfully irritable as she watched the men move. Jasper stood off to the side as they passed him, waiting patiently as they filed out of the room.
"Maria," Carlisle called after her. Maria made a big show of turning toward him, holding her arms out and not bothering to hide her annoyance. "Can you spare one or two of them for a few? I'm afraid the girls may wander too far and I'm worried about their safety."
Maria actually laughed at the request. "How funny! Those are two things I am expressly not concerned with. If they don't want to fight then they are no use to me."
Carlisle seemed stunned at the words, but Maria's satisfaction was snuffed out when Esme spoke up. "Even if they worked with us we could never ask them to fight." She was affronted by the very idea. "They may be half-vampire but they're still very human."
"Not human enough that any of my men tore into them." They were as human as a spruce tree as far as Maria was concerned. There had been an errant thought that crossed her mind when they'd first returned and Maria noticed none of her men had gone for them yet, and she'd wondered if they were even edible.
That had been the thought that had earned Maria Edward's first glare of the morning.
Maria continued speaking but directed all her words toward Carlisle. "If they can't fight, or more appropriately if they won't, then they're nothing more than a hindrance to us at this point." She lifted a hand and pointed upward, wanting to wrap up her point quickly and clearly. "If that is what happens to your strongest in Esteban's possession," then, to drive her point home she gestured toward where Alice was still hidden behind Edward, "while left looking after your smallest? Then your idea that you can protect those mutts during a full-fledged assault leads me to believe you're stupider than I assumed."
"They want to fight," Edward spoke up, drawing everyone's attention back toward him. His brow twitched in annoyance and now Maria really wanted to know what he'd been overhearing in their minds. "They just don't want anything they do to benefit us in any way."
"Oh, I know the feeling." Maria crossed her arms and laughed at the way the straight-haired woman, Kate, glared at her. Trust one blonde annoyance to take the place of the pitiful one upstairs. "If they want to help then they have to agree to fight. After they do that you know where to send them." She glanced over her shoulder, finally meeting Jasper's eyes for the first time since his return. "Jasper here will show them the ropes once they get over their hissy fit."
He stiffened at her attention and Maria was pleased with that particular reaction. It was closer to the way he'd tensed up two days ago when she arrived, and it was far better than how he had acted over the past several hours. Maybe he had shaken off whatever his fucking problem was.
Maria looked at his eyes, satisfied at what she saw. The human blood certainly helped, too. No wonder he'd been acting like a mad man. Drinking vermin could only help you keep your sense for so long. It was a wonder so many of them were able to coexist under the same roof without killing one another.
"We need all the people we can get, Carlisle." The man, Garrett, sounded tired. Maria wondered if this had been a point of contention in the past, too. More questions about their previous clash with the Volturi arose within her and she put her curiosity aside for now. After all was said and done, she wanted details.
Jasper finally had the decency to look ashamed of himself when he replied, but his voice was at least steady. "I can only teach them so much."
"They'll die if they fight alongside us!" Esme's distress was embarrassing.
"Tanya and Eleazar are already dead," Kate's snarl made Esme jump and turn. "I'll be damned if we turn down two willing bodies just because they're a little warm."
"Kate," Carlisle sounded acutely miserable, "I—"
"He's after you, right?"
Maria expected to look up and see the question directed at her, but instead Kate looked clear over her head and arrested her angry gaze on Jasper. She took multiple steps forward and only stopped when Garrett jogged up behind her and rested his hands on her shoulders.
Maria somehow didn't think that would stop her if she wanted to lunge at any of them. Her eyes flickered toward Bella who was already watching Kate closely. There was a good chance she'd already wrapped Garrett in her shield; maybe Jasper, too.
"What's keeping Aro and the guard from blowing us up where we stand? What the hell is stopping them from sending their whole army here, within the hour?"
"Sunrise, for starters."
"Now is not the fucking time, Bella," Kate reeled on the girl, who stood at Carlisle's side. Maria would have been delighted to see one of their own turn on the Cullens, but instead she was vaguely annoyed. All of their hours were numbered. If they wanted to waste each one bickering, fine. But first, she wanted Jasper and Peter to show her what these stupid men could do.
"I'm not joking." Bella gestured toward Maria. "Only fighting at night is a whole thing for them apparently. There's a good chance we're safe until sunset."
Kate turned her glare back on Maria. Maria's anticipation got the better of her and she turned fully toward the woman's growing tantrum. "If the Volturi can commission one of these to step in and do their dirty work, what's stopping them from getting the rest of the warlords on their side?"
"I prefer the term 'General' if you don't mind," Maria replied sweetly, her grin deviously wide. "I'm afraid you have no idea who you're speaking to—"
"I don't care who you are! I care about the fact that we are all going to be dead by nightfall and we're instead talking about trying to protect strangers we don't know! I care about trying to make it to tomorrow and not seeing us all eliminated for some mistake or another! I care about the fact that I have been forced to watch half of my coven die and it always comes back to you guys!"
"Kate, hey, stop," Garrett muttered, leaning in close to her, his hands pulling her backward. "It's not their fault."
She pulled out of his grip and kept going. "Eleazar used to be on good terms with Aro. Irina had only been doing what she thought was right to keep us safe!" Her voice caught and Maria finally turned away. She pushed past Peter and entered the hall that lead to the garage without a second glance toward any of them. She gestured to the men who waited by the garage door and they quickly opened the door and scurried inside.
No way was she going to stand around and watch another grown adult have a breakdown. This was ridiculous!
"Tanya would have never put you all in this amount of danger!"
Carmen's voice was closer now, and she also pleaded with her coven mate. "Kate, don't."
Maria looked back for a second and was pleased to see Peter turning to follow. It wasn't until he realized that Jasper hadn't moved yet that he stopped and walked back up the hallway. Once he fetched Jasper they'd be able to hurry up and put a better goddamn plan together.
"When does it end?! Is this punishment for standing as witnesses in '06? Are they so displeased that they'd go to all these lengths to get us killed? To torture us? This Esteban man is not doing what the Volturi want, I can tell you that much, so there's more at play here. If this was all about gaining power then they wouldn't have tried to kill me. They wouldn't have hurt Alice the way they did."
At that comment, Maria, whose hand had paused on the edge of the door, preparing to yank it closed after her, turned back around. She could only see Jasper's back and—oh, for fucks' sake. Peter must have moved back into the kitchen to put himself between Jasper and the stupid shrew who continued to yell.
Had Kate not seen how demented he'd been when they'd returned to the house? Was she hoping he'd lunge at her? Maria released the door and walked back into the house. She should have fucking known she'd have to step in. If the reference to Alice's torture made Jasper snap again Maria was going to be supremely annoyed. Especially because it would end up being her job to reign him in, and she was getting really tired of having to keep him from tearing heads off.
Next time he snapped, she might just let him run wild.
"If the Volturi were there she would not have gotten away!"
"They were there."
Maria watched everyone's head snap toward the library. By the time Maria was standing beside Jasper she could finally see her. Alice was still behind Edward, clinging to his shirt like a child, but she'd stepped to the side in order to speak directly to Kate, her eyes downcast.
"Alec was there, and Rohit, the man who can amplify gifts. That's how Esteban could hide from me," her voice cracked on the name and Maria grimaced. "They're using the girl and Rohit together to keep me blind. But I can see him now because the Volturi have retreated from the rest of the army." There was a pause, and then Alice started the wretched recitation she'd been doing since the moment they'd brought her back to the house. "He's wandering elsewhere with a group, they're moving fast but they aren't fleeing. It's not familiar but it can't be far in—"
Edward turned and started shushing her softly. Esme was by her side suddenly, too, speaking softly overtop of Alice's unfocused words.
Maria had not expected Alice to be so quick to reveal details about what she'd seen while in captivity. To be honest, she'd anticipated Edward being the one who would fill the rest of them in. Maybe Emmett, when his mate was finished fawning over him. But not Alice.
"Then there's a chance your shield might not work…" Garrett sounded uneasy, looking toward Bella.
"I really don't think he can nullify it. If anything he might make it stronger if I can get him beneath it…" Maria appreciated the way it sounded as if gears were turning within that empty skull of hers.
"They are not in touch with Aro." Alice's voice held no inflection as she spoke, shaken free from whatever vision she'd automatically recited for them, and Maria moved further into the kitchen.
Maria did not bother to hide the way she wanted to get a good look at Alice; she ignored the glances from the rest of the Cullens and their guests. This was the information Maria needed; the info she'd sat through the last frustrating thirty minutes for. "No one in Volterra is making any of these calls. That's why I didn't see it coming. That's why I couldn't see them coming. I didn't see it. That's why. I couldn't…"
Fucking hell. Edward and Esme were cooing at her again and even Carlisle moved across the room. Maria scowled at the sound of Alice repeating herself over and over again. It was almost funny how Jasper had his sense return to him just in time for Esteban to apparently rip the sense from Alice.
Only it wasn't funny at all.
"They would never let a dog like this run around without a leash." Kate's temper hadn't subsided yet, but at least her ire was directed more toward their common enemy and not her supposed allies. "Someone has to be keeping him in check."
"Demetri is," Alice said, and that was when Maria spun around. Jasper pulled it back before anyone else could react as swiftly as she did, but the head-pounding hatred that had thrummed through them had been powerful and jarring.
"Jasper," Peter's whisper wasn't subtle, "let's go."
"Why would he want you hurt?" Kate appeared content at Alice's willingness to talk, if not uneasy at her terrible appearance. "That doesn't make any sense."
"He doesn't. That's why I ran." Maria faced the pair of psychics again and stepped off to the side to get a better look at Alice. They'd attempted to sit her in one of the chairs in the corner, but she wouldn't budge out from behind Edward. Her eyes were still unfocused and tremors had once more seized her frame.
Maria's need to remove Jasper from the area warred with her desire to stick by Alice and hear more.
"That still doesn't make any sense," Kate said.
"Alice, you don't have to—"
"Yes I do,"Alice cut Carlisle off. "If I'd waited for Demetri to retrieve me there's a chance none of you would be in danger right now."
That statement made the entire atmosphere of the room shift. This time it was not because of another lapse of control on Jasper's part. Maria hated the eerie feeling that trickled down her spine at Alice's admission and was instantly suspicious over the fact that the room hadn't erupted in fury from Jasper's end.
Maria turned and watched his face, uneasy at the blankness there.
Overtop of the silence, Alice started muttering again, reciting whatever vision had thrust itself into her brain. Her words were soft, and despite Esme still shushing the girl—hovering close by, not touching, but with a hand perpetually outstretched—they were loud and clear to everyone.
"'I am looking for two people.'" They were not her words, but she quoted her vision as if they were. "'If you can help me locate either, or if you are either of these yourself, it will benefit you greatly.'"
A loud thump from upstairs startled half of the room. The steps were heavy and uneven but they were unmistakably Emmett's as he quickly limped across the upper level.
"Alice," Edward's voice was loud now, his eyes wide and scared. He turned toward her and tugged her hand off of his arm to hold her wrist firmly. "Alice stop. Alice. Carlisle, bring me the chair."
"'Where is your psychic? Your demon? Your witch?'"
The sound of heavy feet bounding down the stairs drew attention toward where Emmett was barreling toward them. Maria looked over at Peter, who had a hand pressed against Jasper's chest, keeping him in place.
Somehow, they all realized the same thing in the same instant.
This wasn't a vision, it was a memory.
Everyone exploded into motion.
Maria was across the room and at Peter's side in an instant, readying herself for the worst as the Cullens scurried frantically behind her. When Jasper allowed himself to be turned around and hustled down the short hallway and through the garage door, Maria was shocked. Peter had his hand firmly against Jasper's back and did not remove it until she'd closed the door behind them.
It didn't matter in the end, because despite the distance, the shushing, and the panicked muttering, they could still hear Alice's next words, crystal-clear.
"'And where is the mate of Major Jasper Whitlock?'"
Maria and Peter stood, tensed and ready for several long seconds, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Jasper did not fly into a rage. He did not snap and revert to the state of mind he'd been in hours ago. He didn't even turn to face the door and stare toward where his mate was experiencing a traumatic breakdown.
His shoulders deflated and he let out a haggard breath.
A few seconds later, the door to the house opened again and Kate and Garrett joined them, their countenance shifted and their expressions disturbed. Before they closed the door behind them, Maria saw the flash of curly dark hair as it passed from the Cullen's foyer into their den where Alice was.
"Hey, hey!" They all heard Emmett's voice loud and clear after the door closed behind Garrett. "Alice, it's okay."
Edward's voice carried higher, "Em, give her space."
Emmett was persistent. "Hey kid, look at me. He's gone, okay? Look at me, we're out."
It was an awful thing to listen to but quickly all of their voices dropped and Maria could no longer hear the constant hum of Alice's voice as she recited Esteban's words to the room.
"Is that all they want?" Kate sounded skeptical, but Maria could see the puzzle pieces falling together behind her eyes. "That's what these people want? Aro and this Esteban bastard? They just want Alice?"
"We're wasting time," Maria finally said. Before she could ask the two newcomers if they knew how to fight in a group, someone else spoke up.
"He wants me dead." Jasper turned slowly and looked directly at Kate. He looked horribly old in that moment, as if he'd been aging the entire time, his hopelessness sucking the life out of him. "He'll do anything to hurt me in the process. He'll kill as many people who have allied themselves with us as he can get his hands on." He swallowed. "There is no way he would have agreed to this if he knew that the person Aro wanted was…"
He did not finish his sentence. Instead, he started a new one. "I'm the target. She is the goal. Everyone else is collateral." He held Kate's gaze for a long, tense moment. His shoulders were drooped, his hands were limp at his sides, and his misery was abundant.
Kate squared her shoulders. "Are your lives worth everyone else's?"
"Mine isn't," his response was immediate. "Alice's is."
It wasn't the reply Kate had been hoping for but she nodded nonetheless, sizing him up with a look of disgust. "Good to know that eighty years of civility means jack shit to you. Your family will be excited to hear that." Then, she turned and exited the garage. Garrett sighed and spared the room one last glance before he followed his mate.
The joke was on Kate. Jasper's family already knew he'd sacrifice them for Alice's sake.
They were all such goddamn drama queens! Maria couldn't believe that the last half hour had truly happened. If she hadn't had a front seat for it she would've never believed that so many people could stand by and give into such childish displays of distress.
"Hurry up!" She snapped her fingers at the men that now stood silently around the room. "I'm sick of all of this. Plan now, training later. You can save your conniptions for when Esteban is dead and we're gone." She made sure to slip into the plural at the end. Maria knew that now that she was being forced to acknowledge these men more, they'd need a small amount of attention.
Then, to her shock and anger, Morgan spoke up. "How much of a chance do we have at beating these people?"
"Yeah," Isaac chimed in, too, and Maria could have burnt them both where they stood. "Is it such a sure thing that we're all going to end up dead?"
Not for the first time, Maria wished that her canon fodder didn't talk back. She hadn't spoken to any of them directly, outside of delivering orders, since they'd arrived. And she quickly decided she was not going to start doing it now.
Maria did not turn to Jasper. Instead, she looked at Peter. "Show me what they can do. We've wasted enough time." Sunrise would be upon them soon. The tiny windows situated at the top of the wide metal garage doors showed the pale clouds illuminated behind the rising sun. "This is our last day. No doubt that tonight Esteban and whatever the Volturi gives him will be ready to fight. We need to be, too."
Inside the house, conversation ebbed and flowed, and Maria ground her teeth together at the sound of people soothing one another senselessly.
To be immortal was not to be without pain. It was not to be without death. It was about time other people besides her realized this. If they couldn't, their end would be swift.
And it would be painful.
A/N:
This is the longest chapter in Act 5. I hope you enjoyed seeing this weird little reunion of sorts. Besides this one, you only have three more Maria chapters left (and four Alice, and three Jasper, and two Esteban, and three [REDACTED]) plus the Epilogue. Yup. We're that close to the end baby!
Also: if at any point during this story you've thought to yourself "hm...why do Maria's newborns all have American white boy names...?" it's because they are all American white boys. That might seem strange but I have a reason for it okay LOL. This stems from my theory/headcanon that Maria only changes white people because direct action or whatever. This is backed up by the fact that Jasper, Nettie, Lucy, Peter, AND Charlotte are apparently ALL blonde, white people. Which is insane? Like? She has to be doing it on purpose. She HAS to be doing it on purpose. And I just think that's ridiculously funny.
Anyways, thanks for all the love, support, reviews, favorites, etc. Every day I'm over the moon knowing people are reading this, enjoying it, and in some cases, even loving it. Sending all of you love right back.
