The minute they got back to the house, Maya headed up to Jasper's room to begin throwing things into a bag for them both. Rosalie did the same for herself, Emmet and Alice, while Esme packed for her and Carlisle. They had no idea what the plan was, but wanted to be prepared in case they all had to take off as soon as possible. While they were doing that, Jasper and Carlisle checked around the house for signs of James while they waited for Edward, Alice and Emmet to return with Bella.
They all worked in tense silence before it was broken by the sound of Maya's phone going off. She jumped in shock before reaching over to answer it. "Hey Dad what's up?"
"Maya, do you have any idea what happened with Bella and Edward?" He asked, an odd tone in his voice.
"What do you mean?" She stopped moving then, wary of what they had told him. She had wanted to keep her father out of this and not worry him, which is why she had planed on simply not telling him anything. She was already set to spend the weekend with the Cullens and figured that Bella would simply say that she was doing the same. That way they would be free to hunt James without having to upset their dad.
"Bella came home upset and declared that she was breaking up with Edward and heading back to Phoenix!"
Maya stood there stunned for a moment. "She what?!"
"Yeah, she said she didn't want to get stuck here like her mom almost was and then took off in her truck" he explained, sadness coating every word.
"I'm going to kill that idiota" Maya growled, "I'm going to skin her alive and make a rug out of her."
"No, Maya calm down. If she doesn't want to live here that's her choice" Her dad reasoned. Although from his tone, Maya could just picture the heartbroken look on his face.
"Oh, I highly doubt its that she doesn't want to live here. The real reason is supernatural shit" Maya spat angrily.
"What do you mean?! Why would she lie?!"
"Most likely because Eddie boy never told her that you were in the know. So, she figured that hurting you was the best answer to getting you to allow her to leave fast." At this point Maya was contemplating joining up with James to tear those two idiots apart for hurting her dad as they had.
"You two aren't in any danger, are you?!"
"No we're both safe as can be" Maya reassured him, mentally wincing at having to lie to him, "we just got to take off for a day or two to deal with something and then we will be back."
"But you guys will be safe right?" He had calmed down a fair amount, reassured that Maya knew what she was doing, but was still worried about his girls.
"Yeah, we'll be perfectly safe. The Cullens are coming with us and I'm sure that all of us together can somehow manage to keep danger prone Bella out of trouble" She joked, trying to ease his worries and make it sound less serious than it was.
He chuckled at that, "I'm not sure that's even possible. But just remember to look out for yourself too alright? I want both my girls home in one piece."
Maya smiled at that, "Don't worry Daddy, we'll be fine. Love you."
"Love you too sweetheart."
Just as she hung up, she heard the sound of Bella's truck pull up. Anger resurfacing, she hastily threw the rest of the clothes in the bag and zipped it shut. Breathing deeply in an attempt to rein in her temper, she marched down the stairs reaching the living room just as Laurent finished speaking and sped away.
"What did you do you cagna!?!" Maya yelled the moment she saw Bella.
Bella backed up behind Edward in fear as he reached out an arm to pull her close. "What are you talking about?" He questioned, glaring at her.
"I'm talking about how you two deficiente thought that it was a good idea to try and completely crush Dad's heart!"
"I-it was the only way" Bella said from behind Edward.
"No, it wasn't! You could have told him that you were coming here for a sleepover! Or if you really wanted, you could have told him the truth! Anything but throwing the words his cagna of an ex-wife said to him before she took off and left him back in his face! What could have possibly made you think that was in any way okay?!"
By this point the Cullens had all gathered and were watching Maya scream at Edward and Bella. When she mentioned what Bella had said to Charlie, they were all upset. Over the past few months, they had gotten to know the man and were very fond of him. He knew that they weren't human and yet he never pried or treated them any differently. He welcomed them into his home and struck up conversations when they met just as he would anyone else.
"How exactly was I supposed to tell him the truth?" Bella demanded heatedly, not liking the fact that the others clearly didn't understand that she did what she had to to protect Charlie.
"He already knows about the supernatural idiota, you could have told him the basics without going into detail and he would have understood" Maya said tiredly, her anger leaving her all of a sudden which she fully blamed on Jasper.
He had come up to stand at her side and had put a comforting arm around her. She knew this was partly her fault for not telling Bella that she was more than human, but she had assumed that Edward would have at least told her something about their dad knowing.
"What?! How could he know?!" Bella demanded, outraged that he had known all along and not told her.
"Because I'm not human" Maya admitted with a sigh. "He knows that supernatural creatures exist, and that the Cullens are some of them, but he doesn't know any specifics besides me."
Bella just stood there in shock, processing the idea that the girl that she hated was not human. As her face darkened and she opened her mouth the start another fight, Carlisle cut in, "We need to get moving."
Nodding in agreement they all moved to the garage, Jasper speaking up as they did. "I've had to fight our kind before. We're not easy to kill." He pulled Maya closer to him as memories of his past flashed before his eyes and his worry over what might happen if she got caught in the cross-fire grew. He had seen what a vampire could do and wanted her nowhere near what he knew would eventually lead to a fight.
"But not impossible" Emmet jumped in with, "We'll tear him apart and burn the pieces."
"I don't relish the thought of killing another creature, even a sadistic one like James" Carlisle said with a sigh, while gathering supplies.
"What if he kills one of us first?" Rosalie asked, sitting on the bench instead of helping. Maya held onto Jasper tighter at that, worried about all of them. If James was as skilled as Laurent had made it sound, then there was a very good chance that someone would get seriously hurt.
"Couldn't we use Bella as bait or something?" Maya muttered too low for a human to hear. She was not being serious about putting the girl in danger given her promise to do a better job to look out for her, but the situation was getting to her and she did not like feeling like someone else's prey. She was a predator at heart and with this threat to those she cared for looming over them she wanted to go on the offensive.
Hell, she was even considering calling up her uncles to ask for help. Lord knew they would take any opportunity to send some guards down to keep an eye on her. The only thing stopping her was that one, they didn't know about Jasper and this was not how she wanted them to find out and two she would never get rid of the guards once they got here. So for now she just crossed her fingers and silently prayed that they would be able to handle James and Victoria themselves.
Edward growled at her and took a threatening step towards her, opening his mouth to yell at her, but stopped the moment Jasper turned to glare at him.
Jasper said nothing, but the look in his eyes and the threats running through his mind promised a painful death if Edward tried to harm Maya in anyway. Edward bowed his head in submission and backed up a few steps, pulling Bella with him. He knew that he was no match against Jasper. Even without the Major fighting and with his mindreading skills to help he would not be the one to come out on top if they fought.
"I'm gonna run Bella south. Can you lead the tracker away from here?" Edward asked instead, turning to look at Carlisle so he did not have to face Jasper anymore.
"No Edward, James knows you would never leave Bella. He'll follow you" Carlisle rejected.
"I'll go with Bella" Alice volunteered, "Jasper, Maya, and I will drive her south. We'll keep her safe Edward." Jasper nodded in agreement with this, happy that it would keep Maya far away from James.
"Can you keep your thoughts to yourself" Edward asked, a grimace on his face.
"Yes" Alice said, taking hold of Bella's arm and pulling her towards the car. Jasper was already over there loading their bags into the trunk.
Edward opened up Bella's bag, throwing a jacket to both Esme and Rosalie, "Rosalie, Esme could you put these on so the tracker will pick up Bella's scent?" He asked, though it was more like a demand.
"Why? What is she to me?" Rosalie practically snarled, dropping the coat to the ground, still angry that her family was at risk because of this human.
Carlisle stopped packing and turned to her, picking up the coat and telling her "Bella is with Edward. She's part of this family now. And we protect our family."
At this Jasper felt a spike in Bella's emotions; smugness and satisfaction. Rolling his eyes at her emotions, he held back a growl and brushed it aside to finish putting what they would need for their trip in the car.
As Edward went over to talk to Bella, Jasper and Maya tuned them out, although Jasper still felt another spike of smugness coming from Bella as Edward told her the family would keep her safe. Alice slid into the back seat, leaving Maya the passenger seat as Jasper grabbed the keys. They all sat in the car for a few moments, waiting for the rest of their family to lead James off before pulling off and heading down the road.
Translations:
Cagna – bitch
Idiota – idiot
Deficient – morons