Chapter Text
Peter
I have no real idea why I'm on this connectin' flight to Italy, my knower just said I had to be here and here I am. The fact that it was a packed pre-valentine's day flight was neither here nor there to me. I was in coach, I'm not that pretentious as to need to be in first class. A seat is just a goddamn seat no matter where it is. The humans smell just as good here as they do in the expensive seats. I was one of the first on the plane and was just people watchin' as they all boarded. This time of year always add an extra layer of somethin’ to the humans make-up, was it the language of love, or the heightened nervous tension? Who knows but they smelt different, richer, deeper, oh hell, just plain mouth waterin’! That's when the literal shit hit the fan, as one smallish, in stature, but not underweight human female stumbled aboard.
She was what my mamma would have called a fine figure of a woman. Her companion had a beyond tight grip of her arm which was obviously painful. This due to the fact her grip was not tempered in the least on the human. When a vampire grips your arm, you'll know all about it. Hell, from here I could hear the bones protestin'. That's when I saw one of the faces I hated most in this world. Mary Alice Brandon otherwise known as Alice Cullen! She was hustlin' the young woman into first class and by the human's slow and dazed reactions, she was heavily glamoured. I had my phone out and was textin' immediately, before we could get into the air.
'Did you know your wife was draggin' a glamoured human female to Italy for Valentine’s day?' PW
I never call her his mate, because she ain't and we all know it, even if he won't admit it.
'What the fuck?'
I gave him the flight number and a description of the human female, well as best as I could since I never saw her face as yet.
'That sounds a bit like Isabella Swan, but she was thin, even underweight back in Forks. But she's supposed to be dead, Alice told us all she died years ago! Like almost four years ago!'
'Well, she will be if they're goin' where I think they are'
"Why are you there?'
'Fucked if I know! I just knew I had to be'
' We 'll all be on the next available flight out. T his has gone on for long enough, her lies have caus ed real harm this time! The family wa s torn asunder by Bella’s death, Emmett hasn’t spoken to any of them since Alice casually announced she was dead , even Rose. While they all blame me, he blames all of them! '
'I'll keep an eye on the young woman, I don't give two fucks about Mary Alice'
Everythin' was quiet for about forty-five minutes, well except for the incessant lovey dovey music piped throughout the plane. Even so, I could hear the young woman squirmin' in her seat. Almost like she was tryin' to get up, on and off but was bein' stopped.
"Have it your own way Alice, but human urine stinks to high heavens and you'll be smelling it all the way to Italy, long before I will!" she said and I smirked,
Clever Miss Swan, if that’s who she is, usin' her senses against the bitch. Why was she bein’ dragged to Italy anyway? The Cullens left Forks more than a few years ago as far as I knew, so why now?
"Can't you just hold it until we get to London at least?" Mary Alice demanded,
"No, you stupid vapid bitch I can't!" Bella replied raisin' her voice,
"Is everything alright Miss?" the stewardess asked hearing the tone of her voice,
"I was just telling my maid Alice, I need to use the facilities! She's not very bright and a little hard of hearing" she deadpans and I bite my lip to stop laughin' out loud,
Mary Alice hissed both in annoyance and at the insult of her bein’ thought to be the servant, but she apparently let, who I now was convinced was Miss Swan’s arm go. I scribbled a note quickly and waited until she was almost level with me to hold it out. She flinched as she saw my pale hand but as our eyes met we both mouthed 'Fuck!' Both for totally different reasons, she seein' my red eyes I guess and me seein' my destiny. At a rough guess she was about twenty-five years old, strangely the same age as myself, when I was changed by the Major. She wobbled sideways and acted as if she'd fallen slightly into me, before she whispered in a panicked strangled voice,
"Help me. Please!"
I nodded while takin' in her amazin' scent and slippin' the note into her hand. I would without question keep her safe now, since not just hers but my own life depended on it. How bad must it be for her to ask a human drinkin' vampire for help. Because I was fully aware she knew what I was and that is down to the Cullen's and them alone. But which one of those obnoxious arrogant assholes was it, shit Edward, of course! I heard her read the note once she was inside the cubicle and them rip it up into tiny pieces and flush it down the toilet, as I said, she was very clever. As she came level once again she mouthed super quietly,
“Thank you Peter, I'm Isabella Marks” and I nodded glancin’ at her left hand,
There was a faint line there but not deep and it was fadin’ already. So she had been married once, but it was not for long. That would have to be a story for another time and I could wait. She now knew who I was and that I was already here to help, even before she asked. I saw the tension was gone from her frame, she trusted me a stranger, more than she did the psychotic pixie! Well, a stranger who was the Major’s brother, meanin' she trusted him too! Looks like my mate is a good judge of character. So I’m wonderin' if the half pint wasn't the only one who'd used glamour on her. I watch as she made her way forward, I was really enjoying the view. She might have been a skinny teen, but now she was a curvy woman. Come on, I’m still a man and that beauty was my destiny.She had curves in all the right places as far as I was concerned.
She spent the rest of the flight humiliatin' her captor, who could do nothin' about it on this almost Valentine’s dayflight with lots of humans. Isabella now was refusin’ to look her in the eye. Just some friendly advice from me about glamourin'. It's one of those things not used by real vampires, since it's seen as a tool for stunnin' your prey only. Not done in the right circles as they say, so did Dr Asshole know? If it was his golden boy probably yes. There seems to be a different set of rules for that clown! I never understood his need to be a doctor for humans and a pretend father figure to a bunch of misfits! I had to stifle a snort when Isabella ordered the smelliest thing on the menu, for her in-flight meal. She might only be human, but she knew a lot about how to get her digs in where Mary Alice was concerned.
“Do you really need all that malodorous food? I don’t remember you eating that much before!” Mary Alice quizzed,
“Yes I do and of course you don’t remember, because it had nothing to do with you so was immaterial to you. Isn’t that right Alice?” Isabella sneered at her, wow she really had her number,
“Stop it Bella! Stop making so many decisions, you’re giving me whiplash! I said stop it!” Alice growled at her,
“Or what Alice? You’ll kill me? That won’t save the pompous virgin boy, now will it, he is still a frigid virgin I hope? You need me, not the other way around. So I suggest you shut the fuck up! Oh and Alice, it’s Mrs Marks to you, only my close and well-loved friends get to call me Bella!” Isabella riposted and I almost guffawed loudly,
“You! You’re married? I! Why didn’t I see this?” came her stunned retort, but she had no real response at all for Isabella,
“Because you only see what you want to see Alice, not what is really happening! Your gift is shit, you are shit and you’re a sad excuse for a vampire. I feel nothing but pity for poor Jasper having to put up with someone as obviously defective and deranged as you!” Isabella spat at her barely above a whisper,
The respondin’ growl was loud enough to draw the eyes of several passengers. Looks like Mary Alice sails way to close to the wind where the rules were concerned. But I was monitorin’ everythin’ and if I had to let that slimy bastard Aro touch me so he saw the truth, I would!
“Go on Alice, hit me if you dare! I know you want too don’t you? But dead me won’t be much of a prize for Aro Volturi now will I?” Isabella hissed as I too had heard Mary Alice raisin’ her arm,
Damn, my mate was brave! She had that little psycho’s number and was usin’ it against her. I liked that even in the face of danger she would not bow down to her captor. She reminded me of Charlotte and her tenacity in similar circumstances. Charlotte of course! She was in Italy with Randall and Mary. That had been a big surprise to find out they were a triad. We had never been more than lovers, lovers who escaped together and spent a couple of decades recuperatin’ together. I was happy for her to find that part of her that was missin’ and Randall’s face when he grasped the fact he now had two strong women to contend with, was hilarious! So when she left with them I was not upset, because we were never mates and knew this could happen one day.
Thank goodness this was a connectin’ flight with a short layover at London Heathrow Airport, that would be where I could get a message to them to meet me in Pisa. I don’t think the Major will catch up in time unless he hires a private plane. She must be desperate to get Isabella to Italy, I wonder who’s money she’s usin’? It ain’t the Major’s because his accounts alert him if anythin’ over one thousand dollars is requested. I set it up myself and she can’t get around it because she’s tried, I think sneeringly. Yeah, that greedy little witch tried everythin’ to get her hands on his money, but it’s me who knows the passwords, the account numbers and not him. When he wants somethin’ he texts and I send him the clearance and then change it as soon as he’s finished.
It’s been like that for more than thirty years and even though he won’t leave her, he doesn’t trust her an inch with his money. We were about an hour out from London when Isabella suddenly asked Mary Alice a question even I wanted to know the answer too.
“So Alice, why exactly have you kidnapped me? I know you said Edward the dickless wonder needed me, but that’s a lie isn’t it? It’s like you have forgotten just how many years have actually passed since you all left. I’m no longer that naive teen, I’m something you will never be Alice, an adult!” Isabella quizzed her and I heard the intake if breath from Mary Alice,
“Well aren’t we the little detective? You’re right, I am only doing my job. I supply the Volturi with gifted humans to turn for the guard. I had someone else lined up, but he selfishly killed himself before I could take him in!” Mary Alice said in disgust that her mark would actually do that,
“You didn’t see it coming? Your gift really is on the blink Alice? Or was it never that good to start with? I know you bugged my dad’s house! The one in the kitchen phone and the other in my room! Did you think they were faulty, a bad batch always breaking?” Isabella laughed at her and I was proud of her,
“How? I can’t believe you knew!” Mary Alice spluttered,
“Cop’s daughter remember Alice. Your visions were always to precise, the small details should have been irrelevant, but to you they were more crucial. So I got a bug detector from Eric Yorke and swept the house and there they were!” Isabella stated casually,
“But! How didn’t I know? I should have seen that” Mary Alice spluttered,
“I never thought about it. Well actually every time I found one of them I called it a cockroach and not an electronic bug” Isabella stated with a slightly smug tone,
I’m guessin’ Mary Alice was now second guessin’ every interaction she’s ever had with Isabella. How gallin’ for her, that a mere slip of a girl had circumvented her visions so easily. Isabella would have only been seventeen back then, so she’s always been smart, they just didn’t know it. But before Mary Alice could say anything more the intercom crackled.
‘Ladies and Gentlemen this is your Captain speaking, we are about to land at London Heathrow. Thank you for flying with British Airways and for those flying on to Italy for a little romantic getaway, your layover will be two hours, enjoy your follow on flight with ITA’
The very efficient flight attendants came around checkin’ seatbelts were done up, trays were up and seats in the upright position. Blankets were stowed away and all food or snack wrappers removed. I was intendin’ to hang back so the humans would hide my scent as we alighted. But there was no way Isabella would be out of my sight for any length of time.
B ella
I can’t believe that damn bitch did this to me. Seven years, they had been gone thankfully for seven years! In that time I saw Edward and my relationship for what it was, infatuation on my part and dangerous obsession on his. True I was devastated back then, but I was young and heartbroken over the loss of my first love. But with every week that passed I felt better and better, until he was just a thing of the past. I started working harder at school and making decisions for me and me alone. College was my focus and I was determined to get there and with hopefully a scholarship. It really took no time at all to forget all about the Cullens and just get on with my life. Apart from a minor bit of interference from Jake, I took back my control and thrived. He insisted I needed his protection, but Sam and Paul said now they’d killed not only the leech with the dreads, but the red head too I was free and clear to do as I pleased.
He of course didn’t like that one bit, but I was ecstatic. In fact it felt more like a dream than reality, as if my mind stopped believing they were vampires and just really weird people. Well, they really had all been a little weird, except for Emmett and Jasper. They at least were as normal as vampires could be, I guess. College was amazing and I threw myself in with gusto and then there he was Austin Marks. We knew each other of course, Forks was a small town and we had been at school together there. It started slow, banging into each other around the college and then ending up in the same group of friends. By the second year we were a couple and by year three living together. Austin was everything Edward wasn’t, normal, loving and giving. Not in a monetary way, but in a real and loving way.
We were happy and yes I did love him, but fate had other plans for both of us, devastating plans. Not right away though, no it gave us time to finish college return home and get married. Then allowed us one year, one lousy year together in Seattle. Christmas was upon us and Forks beckoned us home. In one fell swoop I lost my husband and my father, to the vagaries of the Washington weather. A freak accident causing a tree to fall onto dad’s cruiser killing them both instantly, for that I was thankful. Then everything went downhill fast for me and I basically shut down mentally. But not physically strangely enough, I felt like I was on the outside looking in on my own life. So it’s laughable that the very first time I return to deal with the aftermath of that event brings my past back.
Nobody actually knew I was back in Forks to deal with dad’s house and belongings. Nobody that is but Alice Cullen, that nosey bitch just had to see this chance happening. It was the first time in those intervening years I had managed to convince myself it was time. I had slowly been getting my life back on track, eating better and healthier, not for anyone but myself. So there I was just before Valentine’s day dealing with the personal effects of the first man I really loved, my father. Austin’s things had been easier, as most was still at his parent’s place, we had only just begun to settle down and he was going to have everything shipped after that fateful Christmas. So his parents had dealt with that for me and I was relieved at the time.
“Strap in Alice, didn’t Carlisle teach you anything? I thought you were supposed to keep a low profile? Oh, does Aro know you flaunt the rules as if you were someone of importance? I said smirking at her,
I know I was really getting on her nerves and I relished it. I had gained much more bravado knowing Peter was on the plane too. Jasper had only mentioned to me once about his brother, who as he said ’Just knew shit’. I had been shocked seeing a red eyed vampire on the plane, but damn he was one good-looking guy! His casual appearance couldn’t hide the fact that his clothes were high end. He was like Jasper, understated. They knew their worth and didn’t feel the need to ram it down anyone else’s throat. So nothing like Alice, Edward and Rose. Yes, Carlisle was a pompous snob, but he was much more self aware. Really only Emmett and Esme were just themselves and not in the least pretentious. But they just couldn’t hold their ground against all the others.
Realising that I was now pinning my hopes on a vampire I didn’t know, but one I felt I could trust instinctively, I prepared for the planes landing in London. I hope he had a plan and just as I was about to disembark the stewardess pressed a note into my hand. Alice was ahead of me scanning the airport for anything or anyone who might thwart her. The woman smiled at me and nodded towards Peter, I smiled and acted like a lovestruck fool and held it to my heart. I guessed he’d given her a story of star crossed lovers, and at this time of year who wouldn’t believe it. Alice demanded I follow her into the first class lounge and I nodded curtly to her. Once there I insisted loudly about freshening up before the next leg of our journey, and escaped into the well appointed facilities and I noticed they were soundproofed too.
The note was short but concise, Alice would be distracted in Pisa by three vampire friends of his and he would whisk me away before she would realise or be able to stop him. He told me to hang back slightly and be as relaxed as possible. I surmised that was so he wouldn’t hurt me in the grab and go scenario he had planned. Once again I tore up the note and flushed it before actually turning to the job of freshening up. I was so glad I was in jeans and flats and not ridiculous heels and a tight skirt like Alice. As always she was overdressed for the occasion and looked like she was trying to hard. There is such a thing as dressing down, but she had never really mastered that skill. It was amazing what a few years could do to one’s perception, because now I saw just how fake and really out of touch with humans she was.
I really wish I’d had time to get a change of underwear in my bag, but since this wasn’t a planned trip I did not. A quick freshen up isn’t quite as good without it. Normally I’d have had an emergency kit in my bag, yeah, I grew up over the last few years. I guess having a cop for a father, had an effect on me. He always said being prepared was half the battle. Just as I exited ready to rejoin the bitch, an attendant approached me.
“Mrs Marks, here are those items you requested” she said holding out a bag,
Alice’s head flipped around but she couldn’t stop me accepting it without causing a scene. One glance in the bag had me smiling widely. If I hadn’t known before that Peter ‘Just knew shit!’, I did now. They were a beautiful storm grey colour, but best of all it was boy shorts and a comfortable bra, perfect for travelling in and I glanced up smiling. I saw him for a second before he quickly disappeared, in case Alice saw him.
“Oh thank you, this is such a relief” I replied and the woman nodded knowingly,
Alice was beside me looking like she wanted to demand to know what was in the bag. I moved before she could snatch it and sneered at her.
“Clean undergarments Alice, to replace the ones you forgot to pack!”
Before she could reply I was back in the restroom changing into the lovely, clean and very pretty garments. I was trying to puzzle how he picked the colour, when an odd thought came to me. Were they the colour of his eyes when he was human? I bet they were that deep turbulent shade of grey, I would have to ask him later. During the flight I had realised Alice couldn’t see me anymore and and I knew why. She had caught my decision when I was at a low point, I was upset and distraught at knowing I had to deal with Dad’s things, but now I was angry and once more she saw nothing. So this would be easy, I just had to stay mad at her and all my decisions would stay where they belonged, in my mind. They would be known to only me and that was the way it should be.
By the time I returned again it was almost time for our next flight, so I barely needed to talk to the demented pixie at all. But I couldn’t refuse the chance to get another dig in.
“Ah, so much better, I feel human again. That’s something you should try to remember Alice, these small things are what separate us from being savages!” I said loudly, then in a lowered tone just for her,
“Or Bloodsuckers and Leeches!”
Her loud intake of breath was very satisfying and nobody but her understood it if they actually heard. Before she could answer the intercom crackled and we were instructed to head for our departure gate. I was the first to the door and started chatting to other passengers as we progressed. Alice was following, but she was shocked and confused by my attitude and behaviour. I guess she always expected to have the upper hand, to be the one in control of every situation. She just couldn’t grasp how I had outmanoeuvred her at almost every turn. I know why, I grew up and she was still exactly the same as she always had been, but she didn’t see it or know how to change it. I couldn’t help but smile and that too seemed to confuse her, she had kidnapped me but I was smiling.