Friday after school, while her dad was still at work, Maya settled down int he kitchen and pulled out her laptop so that she could chat with her family face-to-face. She had called them earlier this week to fill them in on how she was doing, leaving out the Cullens so she didn't worry them while they were busy cleaning up that mess in Germany. But now that they were back at Volterra, she wanted to get the full story on the vampires with golden eyes.
As the line rang, she picked up her drink and fiddled with the straw, trying to figure out how to ask them her question. She wanted some information on the Cullen family, but was not quite ready to tell them all about her imprinting just yet.
As the line picked up, she smiled at the screen, amused to see that everyone had apparently decided to join the call. The three kings were seated beside each other, Aro and Caius with their wives in their laps. As Jane leaned down over the couch between Aro and Marcus and her three brothers were all waving at her from behind them. But all four of her siblings were quickly waved off as the kings told them they could have the chance to talk to her later.
Her Uncle Marcus was the first to greet her. "Ah principessa, how are you doing? How are you finding school at Forks?"
"Its good Zio. Classes are totally boring like I told you, but its kind of nice getting to experience school."
"You could have done that here" Aro reminded her, all but pouting.
"Yes, but let's be real, with your reputation no one would have dared approach me Zio" she teased. Though the fact that they were vampires was a secret, that did not stop all sorts of rumours about them spreading throughout Volterra. During her explorations of the city, she had heard everything from the castle being inhabited by demons to angels to all powerful kings. The one thing that remained the same however, was that everyone in town was terrified to approach anyone who seemed to be connected to them.
Caius scoffed. "Is that such a bad thing?"
Maya just rolled her eyes fondly at them. "Anyways, I called for a specific reason this time. I wanted some information about a certain coven of vampires."
Her whole family came to attention at that and focused in on her.
"Are you in any danger?" Unsurprisingly, her uncle Caius was the one to pose the question. While he may not be the best at showing his love or be as gentle as the others, he was the most protective.
"Do you want us to come and get you?" Aro would take any chance to bring his little piantagrane home.
"Yes, we will send your brothers to fetch you" Athenodora told her, already motioning at someone off screen. Presumably her brothers to urge them into action.
"Calm down guys!" Maya waved her arms around in a halt motion, trying to stop them before they got too worked up. "I'm not in any danger!"
"Cara Mio, if you want to ask about a vampire coven it means you have encountered one. Following that logic, you can hardly claim there is no danger" Sulpicia reasoned.
"Okay, yes that makes sense, but in this case, there is no danger. I just wanted to ask why they all have golden eyes."
"Golden Eyes" Aro mused. He knew of only two covens that had that.
"Yep. You guys know anything about a coven called the Cullens?"
Caius made a sound of disgust at the name. "They're a group of so-called vegetarians."
"Vegetarians? What like they eat tomato soup instead of people?" Maya cocked her head to the side, genuinely confused by the term and how it applied to blood-drinkers.
Her family all laughed at that, enjoying her literal take on the term.
"No. They prefer to drink from animals instead of humans" Marcus explained to her, a smile still on his face.
"Ahh gotcha. So that's why they're able to blend in with the humans so much better."
"Yes, Carlisle and his coven prefer to live in peace with the humans and avoid any situations with our world as much as possible" Aro confirmed.
Maya made a sound of acknowledgement at that. She now felt pretty bad for turning Jasper down all those times when he offered that she could sit with him at lunch. She had wanted to of course but had avoided his family, wary of what danger they might pose.
"So, they're safe to be around?" Maya asked hopefully.
"Humph. I would never consider anyone to be truly safe" Caius grumbled. "Remember what I told you Piccolo, don't trust too easily and if you're ever unsure of someone, go on the attack. Its always better to be safe than sorry."
Maya rolled her eyes at his over-protectiveness. "Yes Zio."
"Don't roll your eyes at me, young lady. Your safety is important. In fact, I should probably send a few guards down to keep an eye on things."
Athenodora gave her husband a smack on the arm. "Really Caius that is taking it too far. The Cullens obviously aren't out to cause her any trouble."
"Yes," Sulpicia agreed. "I mean really, as much as you boys don't want to admit it our little girl is growing up. She can look after herself now."
"We know that my love, but we just worry." Aro was quick to reassure his wife.
Maya let out a sigh, knowing that this would spiral into another debate if she didn't stop it. "Anyways ... getting back on topic. The Cullens are totally safe to be around, yes?"
"Ye-"
"No" Caius cut Aro off.
"Really brother" Aro chided, "Carlisle is wonderful man. I'm sure our piantagrane will be perfectly safe living so close to his family."
Caius growled at this. "You can't know this for certain."
"Just as you can't know that they will be a threat" Marcus reminded him. "Besides it might be nice for Maya to have the chance to make some friends that can know her secret."
Maya nodded along at this, excited at the idea. She loved her brothers and sister, she really did. But the thought of making some new friends was truly exciting.
Noting her excitement, her mothers turned to focus on her again, ignoring the kings as they continued to argue.
"Are none of the humans at the school to your liking?" Sulpicia asked, worried her daughter was all alone.
"Yes, I thought you mentioned that there was one girl you liked. Angela, was her name, correct? Has she not been what you hoped for?" Athenodora added.
"No Angela's great Mamma" Maya reassured her mothers. "There's just one or two of her friends I don't particularly like."
"Oh?" Athenodora raised an eyebrow.
Maya let out a frustrated huff. "Jessica is a very ragazza superficiale and is getting on my nerves. Then there's this one boy." At the word "boy" her uncles all perked up to listen. "He just acts like a regular horny teenage boy. He keeps hitting on me and I've often caught him staring at my chest."
All her uncles were growling at this point.
"Maybe I should come down for a few days. I could educate the boy on how to show a woman the proper respect" Caius offered, wearing the same look that caused century old vampires to cringe back in fear.
As her uncles began to nod along in agreement, she rushed to cut them off. "No! There is absolutely no reason for you to do that! He's just a regular boy who is excited by the new girl. Give him a few more days and he'll leave me alone."
"Are you sure, principessa?" Marcus, and everyone else, were still worried despite her reassurances.
"Yes Zio. Positive."
"Very well" Aro conceded with a sigh. "But you will tell us if any boy decides to 'make a move on you' as the humans say now? We would all like to have a chat with any boy that catches your eye."
Noticing the looks on all their faces, Maya reluctantly agreed. "Sure, whatever you say Zio Aro."
I'm never telling them about Jasper Maya silently promised herself. She had only known him for a week and already she liked him too much for her to want her family to do anything to him. Especially if they found out he wasn't human and they wouldn't have to hold back with their warnings.
She only hoped that when they did eventually find out, as she had no doubt they would somehow, that her and Jasper would have bonded enough that he wouldn't run for the hills in fear of them.
Luckily, her family quickly moved on from the topic of boys, meaning that she would not have to lie to them anymore about her interest in the Cullens. They shifted instead to talking about what she had missed this past week. Regaling her with tales of the crazy vampire and their hunt for him. They all chatted for another hour before she eventually had to go and make dinner for her and her father.
Later that night as she was getting into bed, she thought back on what they had said about the Cullens. She giggled in excitement as she pulled the blankets up over her. She had been wanting to get closer to Jasper all week but had held back, worried about what his family was like. Now that she had the king's reassurances that they were safe, or as close to it as they ever really came, she could finally begin to get closer to him and his family. She just hoped that they were as fun as Jasper had made them seem.
Translations:
Principessa = Princess (Marcus)
Cara Mio = My Dear (Sulpicia)
Piccolo = Little one (Caius)
Piantagrane = Troublemaker (Aro)
Zio = Uncle
Mamma = mom
ragazza superficiale = shallow girl