As they walked down the corridor, Jasper rolled his eyes at Edward's weak attempts to comfort his human. He still was not happy to be there and it was taking almost all of his focus and will to hold the Major back. His Darlin' had been missing for at least a week and one of the people living with her hadn't even noticed or cared, so Jasper had very little interest in helping her.
At this point Jasper was actually only one push away from letting the Major lash out in his rage at the girl. Although he had to admit that some of that rage was directed at himself. He had left Maya alone for six months and hadn't reached out because he knew if he talked to her he wouldn't have had the self-control to stay way. Even if it was only through texts, he knew he would grow greedy. Texts would become calls and from there it was only a matter of time before he forgot all about gaining control and rushing home to her. So he had cut himself off, her voicemails being the only comfort he had. And because of these choices his girl could now very well be in the hands of a vampire out to avenge her mate and it terrified him.
His instincts demanded that he leave immediately to go find her and not stop until she was safe again in his arms. But he couldn't do that as right now he had to worry about saving his family because of his idiot brother who tried to die for a girl that was not even his mate. Which only served to further enrage him.
Pushing down those thoughts and feelings though as he continued to tune out Bella and Edward as they discussed the human secretary, Jasper focused on what was to come. He knew they were in trouble; they were after all walking with a human his brother had told their secret too. But he would still try his best to protect his family and get them all out of there alive. With a deep unnecessary breath, Jasper pushed the Major away fully. While Major was better in a fight, Jasper still held out some hope that it would not come to that. But it could only happen if no one provoked the kings and the Major was never very diplomatic.
Although that did not stop him from preparing for the worst. He could feel the murderous intent seeping out of the room up ahead and had no doubt that it would take everything they all had to avoid a disastrous outcome.
The moment he stepped into the room he began to assess everyone in it. Making note of where the guards were, how many there were and which ones he would have to watch out for or take out first. He thoughts abruptly came to a halt however, as he picked up the scent of his mate. He whipped his head around the room, eyes frantically searching for her. He was almost scared of what he would find; the Volturi were not known for their kindness and he did not even want to think of what would happen if they had her.
As he glanced up at the front, his eyes locked with the bright green eyes of a black kitten sitting in one of the king's laps. Had his heart still been beating it would have stopped then and there. His mate was laying in the hands of the most ruthless and dangerous king of them all, looking very small and fragile under his fingers. He just barely held back a snarl at the sight, not knowing if they were aware that she was more than a cat or not. If they didn't, he did not want his reaction to draw attention to her as it would probably put her in more danger. So with great effort he managed to hold back his desperation to rush across the room and pull her into his arms where he knew she would be safe.
He sucked in an unneeded breath and using all of his willpower, turned away to face Aro just as the king stood up. Jasper noted with unease that while the man might be smiling on the outside his emotions showed that he was only moments away from lashing out in anger. Jasper had never met the kings before, but he was pretty sure this level of anger was not normal. There was no way they could have managed to stay on top of the vampire world if they reacted like this during all the trials. Which made him worried about just what his family had done to earn such hate. Especially since as far as he knew, Carlisle and the Volturi had parted on pretty good terms.
"What a happy surprise! Bella is alive after all! Isn't that wonderful! I love a happy ending! They are so rare!" Aro said sarcastically as he took Edwards hand in his and his eyes flicked about obviously seeing all of Edwards memories.
He said something quietly in Italian then, before switching back to English and asking in a louder voice "Her blood appeals to you so much. It makes me thirsty. How can you stand to be so close to her?"
"It is not without difficulty" Edward muttered.
"Yes, I can see that."
"Aro can read every thought I've every had with one touch" Edward explained, answering Bella's unasked question. "And now you know everything. So get on with it."
Jasper rolled his eyes wishing he could hit his brother over the head. It seemed to Jasper like Edward was deliberately trying to offend the kings and get them all killed. He immediately began to plan then, fully expecting a fight to break out if Edward continued to act this way, trying to figure out how to best retrieve his Maya from the blond king and escape with his family. He was not really listening now, allowing the words to flow past him as he tensed getting ready to make his moved.
He stopped though, broken from his concentration as he heard Edward cry out in pain, and Jasper turned to see him on the ground. Alice was at his side, Jane staring down at him, while Bella begged for them to stop.
"Stop! Just stop! Just stop hurting him please!"
"Jane" Aro said, calling her off Edward. Jasper had not moved a single inch this whole time, knowing that one sign of aggression from him now would result in a fight between him and the guards. Instead he held himself at the ready for anything that might happen.
They all watched, tense as Jane turned to Aro, "Master?"
"Go ahead my dear."
Jane turned on Bella then. "This may hurt just a little," she warned before focusing on the human with a smirk. She had heard Maya's stories about this human girl that was her adopted sister and Jane was looking forward to some small payback for how she treated the girl she considered her sister.
But unlike with Edward, Bella did not collapse to the ground in pain, she stayed standing seemingly not feeling anything.
Jane began to frown as Aro laughed. He clapped his hands "Remarkable. She confounds us all. So what do we do with you now?"
"You already know what you are going to do Aro" Marcus said frowning, looking between the human girl and his niece. The only reason they hadn't kill the human yet was because of Charlie and how he would feel. Or worse how he would act. But Marcus was worried that his brothers and the guard might take this opportunity presented to kill off the girl anyways. Which was the very reason he had talked Aro into asking for Maya's presence at this trial. He had hoped that her being here would remind them of why they hadn't killed the girl yet, but it didn't seem to be helping.
"She knows too much. She's a liability" added Caius, more than willing to take the chance provided to remove the human that was mean to his little girl. When they had first watched Maya before taking her home, he had not been impressed by the girl and judging by the stories Maya had told, she had not improved any over the years. Honestly he thought his little niece would be safer if she were no longer in the picture.
"That's true", Aro sighed in fake sadness, "Felix."
And with that a fight broke out. Edward was quick to put Bella behind him, rushing forward to intercept Felix, while Alice was held back by Demetri. Jasper himself was held back by three other guards at a signal from Caius, making him realize that the king had been watching him this whole time and had figured out that he was the biggest threat. He looked up to meet the king's eyes and let out a growl of anger at the sight of him holding down his Maya as she struggled to get out of his hold.
At the sound of stone breaking though he turned and watched as Edward was thrown about before finally being slammed down on the stairs near the kings. He was pinned down by Felix there and the guard looked ready to tear his brother's head off at the king's command.
"Please no!" Bella shouted, "No! Please! Please!" Aro raised his hand in a signal for Felix to hold. The only thing better than simply killing the two in Aro's mind was watching them believe they had a small chance of hope before ripping it away.
"Kill me, kill me. Not him" Bella begged.
Aro walked towards her. "How extraordinary. You would give up your life ... for someone like us? A vampire? A soulless monster?" he mocked, using the words he had picked up from Edward's mind.
"Just get away from her!" Edward choked out, enraged that the king would mock him like this.
"You don't know a thing about his soul" Bella declared.
Jasper wanted to hit her at this. Rule number one of a fight; if you are outmatched and pinned down, don't upset the enemy any more than they already are. Especially not when they are very obviously only playing with you.
Aro said something in Italian again before turning to Edward with a sigh, "this is a sadness. If only it were your intention to give her immortality."
Which he honestly meant. He knew the human's death would upset Charlie and affect their relationship with Maya, but if the human were turned ... well that would be a different situation entirely.
He took a step towards Bella, just as Alice cried, "wait! Bella will be one of us. I've seen it. I will change her myself."
Aro held out his hand for her to take and sighed in pleasure as he read her mind, "mesmerizing to see what you have seen ... before it has happened." He dropped her hand and made his way back towards Bella, "your gifts will make for an intriguing immortal, Isabella." He brushed his hand along her face, in a way that was completely at odds with the murderous emotions Jasper could sense coming from him.
It was honestly throwing Jasper off completely. Every single one of the kings felt like they were moments away from snapping and killing them all and yet Aro kept acting like they were the best of friends. He also knew for the emotions coming off Edward that whatever Aro was thinking it was making no sense to him either. Which meant that they were both in the dark about his reasoning and it worried Jasper. He didn't know how he was supposed to ensure that his mate and sister made it out safely if he had no idea what the motives behind the kings actions were.
Just then the quiet of the room was broken by the sound of a ring tone and everyone whirled to face Alec who was pulling a brightly coloured phone out of his pocket. A phone Jasper instantly recognized.
He offered it towards Caius, "its for you."
Jasper and the others watched in shock as the small kitten jumped down off of Caius' lap and made her way over to the phone. When she reached it, a guard draped their cloak over her body just as she began to shift. In a moment Maya was standing there in human form, cloak held closed by one hand, as the other reached out to take the phone.
"Hello?"
"Maya! Thank goodness you picked up! Have you heard from Bella?" Charlie's frantic voice could be heard by every vampire in the room.
"You know she doesn't really talk to me these days Daddy."
He let out a sigh, "I know but I just got home from Harry's funeral a few minutes ago and realized that she was missing. There's no note and one of her bags is missing."
Maya closed her eyes and squeezed the hand holding the cloak into a fist. "She just left without leaving a note? On the same day you were burying one of your best friends?" She talked slowly wanting to make sure that she heard what her father had said correctly. She turned to glare at Bella with murder in her eyes.
"Yeah, look if you hear from her can you let her know to at least call me? I'm really worried about her."
"No need Dad. I just found her. Apparently, she decided to take a little trip to Italy." She growled out.
"ITALY! What on earth is she doing there!?"
"I don't know. But I promise you that I will have her on the first plane home and will be personally escorting her to make sure that she makes it back to Forks." Maya had yet to take her eyes off Bella, and if looks could kill Bella would be six feet under.
"Thank you, Maya. I'm sorry to drag you away from your friends early."
"Don't mention it daddy. We can always get together again. I'll shoot you a text when I know more about when we will be home."
"Okay see you soon."
"See you soon Daddy." Maya hung up the phone and turned to face the kings. "Welp I guess I'm headed home."
"And we shall miss you little one." Marcus stood up for a hug, which she gladly moved to accept.
"Yes, although before you go, I believe we have one last matter to settle about that Blond man over there" Her uncle Caius added making her flinch.
"We do?" she asked with false innocence. She had been hoping to get out of there without anyone noticing her connection to Jasper. She was in no way ashamed of him and would in fact be happy to shout her love for him from the roof tops like someone in a cheesy movie, but she worried about how her family would react. She fully intended to tell them, had planned on it and rehearsed her speech time and time again. But when she arrived, she just found herself putting it off. Now she really regretted it as she was springing it on them with no warning. Which she knew they would not take kindly to.
"Yes, a very fine soldier from what I noticed. He immediately began to scan the room and take note of the dangers the moment he entered. Yet then he stopped all of a sudden and immediately focused on me. Or rather ... you" he finished sending her a pointed look as Marcus tightened his hold on her.
"Yes, I noticed an interesting little bond between the two of you" Marcus stated, making her wince. She had forgotten about his ability.
"Well, it appears I am out of loop. What are they talking about my dear" Aro questioned.
Maya let out a sigh, knowing there was no escaping it, "I ... kind of ... imprinted on him."
"And this is the first we're hearing of it?" Aro brought his hands together and gave her a wide-eyed look signalling that he was about to snap.
"When did this happen?" Caius growled.
"The first day of school" she muttered.
"I'm sorry what was that?" Aro's psychotic smile growing as he cocked his head as if to hear her better.
"The first day of school" she repeated louder.
"And you never told any of us" Caius stated.
"Well I told both mom's" She defended.
"But not me?!" Jane cut in.
"You tell the kings everything! And besides I knew that at least neither of them would try to murder him!" She defended. Jane had the decency to not deny it and simply shrugged her shoulders instead, accepting it as the truth.
"You're telling me that this little shit has put his hands on our baby sister?" Felix growled taking a step towards him along with Demetri and Alec.
"No! Well, yes. But he has been a perfect gentleman." She said in Jasper's defence attempting to stop her brothers from killing him.
Aro held up a hand to stop them all, "I will be the judge of that." He moved forward and held his hand out towards Jasper. "If you please."
When he finished reading Jasper's memories, he turned to her with raised eyebrows, "A gentleman?"
"Yes. Except when I go running off into danger, then he's a caveman. But you guys are no better!" Maya pointed at him and then moved her hand to encompass them all.
"That is very true." Marcus agreed, "Brother I can see from here that their bond is strong and true and she obviously has the queen's blessing given that they have not barged in here these past months demanding his head. Perhaps we can give him a chance."
"What!? No! She is far to young to be dating!" Caius yelled, her brothers nodding along in agreement.
"I'm 18! When is old enough for you?!"
"Add another 0 after the 8 as a start" was Caius's reply.
"You want me to be single forever?!" she turned to face Aro, "please talk some sense into him Zio!"
"Why? What he said is true."
"I will tell your wives on you both!" She yelled in desperation.
From there it dissolved into a shouting match between them as the guards joined in adding their opinions on her relationship. Mainly on how Jasper should be killed horribly and Maya come back to live with them full time so that they could be sure no one else would try to lay on hand on their sister.
Through all this Jasper stood off to the side in shock at the discovery that the vampire family she had talked about was the Volturi. He had realized early on that she was careful not to mention names when talking about them, but had respected her privacy and had been waiting until she felt comfortable sharing with him her reasons. But now it was clear why she had kept quiet; if word got out that a young girl like her was important to the Volturi, nothing would stop their enemies from hunting her down.
Alice was coming to a similar conclusion, while Edward and Bella could feel their tempers rising. If Maya had this sort of connection and pull, then why did they have to go through this in the first place? Why couldn't Maya have simply had it dealt with it instead of them both almost dying?
Finally, after a good half hour of shouting, Maya had finally convinced them to not kill Jasper on the spot or do anything else to interfere in her relationship with him. Mainly it had been a fight between her and her uncles, Caius and Aro, as her brothers would have to back off if they said so.
She had won over Caius by pointing out Jasper's reputation, shooting Jasper an apologetic look as she did. While all her family was protective, Caius took it to new levels and hearing that his niece (read: daughter) would be protected by the "God of War", a fighter who made a name for himself in some of the most brutal vampire wars in history, made him feel better.Especially once he had gotten Jasper's nod of confirmation that he would do whatever it took to keep Maya safe.
Aro had been a little harder to convince. Eventually Maya had resorted to threats. She was not above using his wife to scare him or threatening to declare Caius her most favourite uncle of all time to get him to agree. But finally, the argument came to an end as the kings allowed her to continue seeing Jasper, acting as if they really had a say. Which just made Maya roll her eyes behind their backs.
Aro smiled tightly, still not completely convinced about sending his niece *cough* daughter *cough* off with them. "Very well, then I bid you farewell. Go and make your preparations."
"Yes, let us be done with this." Marcus said "Heidi will arrive any moment." He always tried to make sure his daughter niece was far away when their meal arrived, "Thank you for your visit" he said, aiming it mostly at Maya.
"We will be sure to return the favour," Caius added, still upset that his little girl was dating and the human that dared to disrespect his child was leaving here alive. "I would advise that you follow through on your promise soon. We do not offer second chances." Rounding on Jasper he glared at the man that had taken his niece's heart. "As for you, if I hear one whisper of you upsetting her, I can guarantee that by the time I'm done with you death would be a mercy."
Maya rolled her eyes at that, but still walked over to give him a hug goodbye.
Edward and Bella were quick to leave the throne room, Alice following after as Jasper waited for Maya to say goodbye to everyone.
As they travelled down the hall they passed a group of tourists being led by a beautiful vampire and they exited the lower levels accompanied by the screams of the poor humans. Maya let out a sigh of relief when they could finally no longer hear them. She loved her family, but this was a part she did not enjoy about who they were.
"You can wait here until nightfall. We wouldn't want you risking exposure again so soon." Demetri commented before turning around to head back to eat, giving Maya one last hug as he did.
Edward sat down, Bella immediately curling up with him, while Alice sat close by them. Maya meanwhile set off down the hall.
"Where are you going Darlin'?" Jasper was reluctant to let her out of his sight, but knew that he could not go recklessly running around the castle after her.
"To change. Something tells me the air line will not let me fly home like this" She gestured to herself, bring his attention to the fact that she was still dressed only in a cloak. Another man's cloak at that. The thought made Jasper growl.
"I'll be back in a few" she waved lazily as she set off down the hall to grab her stuff and say goodbye to her mothers. At this point she basically had two sets of everything, one in Forks and one here, but there were a few small things she had to get like her passport, wallet and such.
The minute she was out of sight however, her uncaring façade collapsed and she took off at a run, not stopping till she was in her room. There she collapsed on the ground and gently banged her head on the floor with a growl.
How on earth am I supposed to stay mad at that man for not calling when he looks that damn good? she thought as she threw a few things in her carry on and headed towards the garden where her mothers should still be. She fully intended to ask them for some quick advice about this while she wished them goodbye.
Jasper would be lying if he said that he was not hurt by her actions. Bella was clinging to Edward's side, while his Maya had barely looked at him since he set foot in the throne room. He was still pondering this, worrying about whether their time apart had made her regret being with him when she returned. Yes, she had fought to reach him when the guards pinned him down and defended their relationship, but now she basically acted like he didn't exist. She took a seat across from them and began to pointedly ignore them all, even as Edward and Bella pelted her with questions about the Volturi.
The only time she broke her silence was to turn to Bella, "could you tell those three that I don't talk to friends who leave for months without saying goodbye or mates who take off to parts unknown and never call to let me know that they are all right?"
"We didn't mean to leave without saying goodbye" Alice said sadly attempting to coax her into talking to them.
"Your words are empty. If you wish to convince me, use chocolate."
Jasper let out a snort at this and pulled out his phone to begin texting Esme. She was probably the only one he could rely on to get the chocolate he knew Maya loved. She was the only one that actually went shopping for food to keep their cover after all. Also she was probably the only one that would not go overboard and buy a ridiculous amount. Not that he would ever deny Maya her chocolate, but she tended to eat it all at once and he did not want her to make herself sick.