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Chap. Six "A monster with golden eyes"

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Maureen was standing as far away from the Swan as she could; Considering what she had seen and experienced in that accident, Maureen had the idea that death followed the grim Swan. Morgan of course had scoffed at that; but I do not urge her to approach the stretcher where the Swan was with Chief Swan and his father. Ian had gone to represent Tyler as an adult, they were simply there because they had no transportation to go home.

Maureen left the room when Dr. Cullen entered; He bowed his head in greeting and left. Carlisle smiled at him, his sons were right; the Atlantis carried a certain power in them so that their mere presence represented a sign of respect; more with those blue and green looks that seemed to be small and tiny pieces of ocean. Carlisle could also notice some tension in the minor's shoulders. The accident with Bella had unleashed a certain sign of mistrust in the Atlantis. That was the reason why Jasper and Rosalie were very upset, the blonde did not want any of the humans to know her nature instead Jasper who had barely formed a bond of trust with the minor felt sabotaged because Edward had let Maureen do it. Seeing in his hero role, he had exposed his secret when he was just building a relationship with the minor.

Maureen hugged herself; the hospital brought her crudely painful memories, disgust is what tackled her most, she shuddered ... how she would like to forget those memories, bury them and never see them again in her life. But that horrible experience was nothing more than the memories that made her who she was, they were nothing more than a shield, a shell that would protect her heart from future wounds ... but that shell of memories was so painful to carry ...

<< - Please stop! Thomas! Don't do this please Thomas! No, no ... no please! Please don't ... don't. Please, please >>

- Maureen ...- The youngest of the Atlantis jumped in place; her screams fading like a cloud being carried by the wind, she focused on him; the first man she had dared to trust after what happened with Thomas, the same man she had sung to, the man who kept secrets from her

- What you saw...

- You have secrets Jasper- I mutter; her eyes focused on his golden eyes, which seemed to speak to her more than the words he was saying to her. - Like everyone else, I'm not going to ask you anything ... - Maureen approached him; face to face ... Maureen smiled sweetly at him before gently cupping his face in her hands, his cold skin suddenly shuddering from her warmth, Jasper couldn't help but be her faithful slave, as not when she treated him so hard. sweetness, sweetness that was discordant with the agonizing sensation I get from her - Secrets and memories hurt Jasper ... they kill, they hurt ... they trample on the soul ... they make you fall ... I still fight with nails against the same because every day and while I dream, they persecute me, reminding me of wounds that I would never have wanted to be done.

Jasper took her hands but did not remove them from her face instead he caressed them as he tried to stifle his rage ... his pain ... because Maureen's pain and agony was his own, because her happiness was hers too ... and whoever would have dared to put a single finger on it would die for and with their hands - Maureen I ...

- I don't want to know how much weight your shoulders carry if it's not you who voluntarily tells me - I murmur - No I want to pressure you if that hurts you, when you are ready to share with me what you carry on your shoulders, it may be because you wanted to trust me and not because I sought information - Maureen kissed her cheek with a smile - When you share that with me, I too I will share my burdens with you.

-Where have you been all this time Maureen? - Where was he while he was human? Where were you when you had the opportunity to give him a normal human life as an angel of his caliber deserved? - Maureen smiled as if her question had made any sense. -I don't know.

We walked without looking for each other but knowing that we were walking to find each other ... how right was that phrase and until now Jasper found sense in it, perhaps fate did not let him die during his time as a human because fate knew that one day over the years he would find to Maureen. Who made eternity seem like ... a sweet song of joys and love.

Drifting far apart, I can't feel the rain flooding our hearts, we barely remember love, we barely remember each other How do I win this war alone?

Maureen sang as she waited for her turn to deliver her permit for the excursion to arrive, Morgan had gone to ask for his father's signature because he had completely forgotten to ask his permission, luckily Ian was not far from them. She closed her eyes enjoying her song singing it in a low voice so that no one would hear it, of course she did not know that in the distance the blonde relaxed with his voice the other noises and sounds suddenly null when he could only hear Maureen sing

It's like I'm fighting a ghost, we are two battleships that we always let go of but we can't admit this is the fear of getting carried away.

- Hi Maureen! You are alive! - Mike exclaimed enthusiastically; his song ruined by his out-of-tune scream and not at all manly, Jasper in the distance snorted, felt the desire and enthusiasm of young Mike next to a mountain of nerves.

Maureen smiled too happy and content to get angry over trifles - Yes! Although the truth was not me who almost died so ...

- I wanted to ask you ... he said it's a month away and I ...- Maureen smiled reassuringly at him; Young Mike seemed even more nervous than he was at first, of course Jasper had put his spoon in complicating things for Mike, jealousy a new and unexpected feeling of rage and fury that he was not sure to contain - He said missing about a month ... but do you want to go to the dance with me?

All of Maureen's happiness was gone; She blushed, not because she was going to accept, it was clear that she was not, but Maureen hated to hurt the feelings of others, she honestly did not want to destroy the illusions that were seen in the eyes of young Newton. Maureen had once accepted out of courtesy and later regretted that her date had been such a jerk.

—Mike ... I was going to go to the dance with my brother, it's a kind of tradition that he and I have so ...

Newton took Maureen's forearm hard; He had bragged about being young Maureen's chaperone throughout the school, not coming with her as a couple would demolish the little respect, they had for him, so either by hook or by crook Mike would go with Maureen at any cost.

- You have to be my dance partner ... - It was no longer a question; it was an order.

Jasper was nowhere to go through young Mike; What did that animal think? A was not a not nobody had the right to decide for Maureen, the fact that Newton believed himself to have enough power to demand something from Maureen took him to unbearable limits of anger, it would have hit Newton if Edward had not taken it from the arm.

—Mike you're hurting me - I raise my voice Maureen - Let go of me Now!

Newton seemed adamant that Maureen had to be his mate; All that bravery was gone when someone took him by the collar of his shirt and with an almost superhuman force they pulled him back. Morgan looked at Mike with distaste before looking down and seeing his sister's forearm where red and purple marks began to appear. Rage exploded inside him.

- I don't want to see you near my sister. Have you understood Newton? - His voice is hoarse enough to intimidate - I can see you even looking at it ... I'm going to use you as a punching bag. Do you understand Mike?

Her little bravery when Morgan is around her sister; Of course, they see someone defenseless and they believe they are powerful, the law of the strongest. Mike ran, a coward without the guts or the honor to lift his face and be a real man. Morgan snorted before taking her sister's forearm, careful not to touch the marks.

- Do cute eyes hurt? - Maureen nodded - Newton is an idiot, I leave you alone and the wolves are thrown at you.

Maureen smiled - do I look like wolf food?

Bright blue eyes of an innocence that was rooted in his soul; Maureen was the definition of sweet in the full sense of the word and a delicious snack for wolves, Jasper could attest to that fact. The blonde could still feel her warm hands on his face, her smiles the jewels the vampire would protect. But Jasper couldn't think of such sweet things when his anger was still bubbling inside him, the mark on Maureen's arm an invitation to make Newton his breakfast.

- Calm your jealousy Jasper -Edward said; who looked too bad at the fact that Jasper already started planning an assassination - You'll break our treaty with the wolves if you kill the human.

- You didn't think the same when Tyler asked Bella to be his date for the dance, did you? - Jasper answered; the power of his brother a constant intruder when he thought of his sweet Maureen - Stop reading my damn thoughts Edward.

- Don't worry, your cloying thoughts about Maureen are what interest me the least - Edward looked at Bella - "Is Maureen okay? Is she having nightmares? Does she want a hug?"

Jasper snorted; Of course, privacy was impossible when it came to Maureen. The blonde looked again at the youngest of the Atlantis who seemed tiny in that coat that he assumed was his brother who was hugging her with one of his arms, Morgan's stature somewhat enormous in front of Maureen's small and petite body, but despite from the glaring difference it seemed that the two fit together perfectly. Morgan was strength and Maureen was delicacy. One half of a whole.

Jasper smiled when Maureen seemed to blush at his gaze; she was a treasure, perhaps broken beyond repair but a treasure all in all.

Maureen smiled when she saw her brother talking to Alice; happy that her brother was caring more for him than for her, Morgan would be willing to always be by her side but that would be not letting him live and she wanted her older brother to live as long as possible. Maureen was walking alone after Mike's scandal and gossip spread through the school, leaving Newton a coward and Maureen an unattainable treasure but too tempting to abandon attempts to get her unwanted attention. He stopped when a white rose about to bloom caught his interest and caressed it but did not pull it out; it would have been cruel when that rose had grown in unfavorable weather conditions.

- Your smiles are my white roses that I am willing to grow - Maureen jumped when a thick voice whispered in her ear calmed down when Jasper smiled at her - Hello ...

Maureen smiled - Hello ...

Jasper offered Maureen his arm; A silent invitation to walk together, Maureen laughed softly before denying and accepting his arm. Jasper smiled when he saw her blush that he would notice even if he wasn't around. Both; vampire and human walked silently, slowly and unhurriedly, without the intention of speeding up something they both enjoyed.

- You're good? - When he saw her raise an eyebrow at a question mark, he explained - With what happened to Newton ...

Maureen smiled sadly; It saddened him to see the level of machismo in a person who had previously considered a good friend - It is not the first, nor the last time that a man is going to treat me like a trophy ...

Jasper snorted - Maureen you are not an object ...

- I know ... - She understood that no one had the power or even the right to treat her as an object that could be bought - I am saddened by the fact that children grow up with the belief that women are only housewives or incubators with legs ... who believe that we cannot be policemen, military, doctors, lawyers ... who believe that we cannot grow without the help of a man or offering sex for a position - Maureen sigh - Mike is not bad ... only rudeness can change even the sweetest child.

Jasper nodded; He had been born in a time where the strength and presence of a man was necessary for a woman to be treated with respect, of course he had grown up with the example of his father who had treated his mother as the most precious jewel.

-I think women are even stronger than us men - Jasper watched her; she saw his sea eyes because what he was going to say was for her, it was to fight with the demons that tormented her at night, many times she had tried to calm her but her manipulation only made her more upset - There is an innate force in her soul, a courage that does not let her fall, a sweetness that makes me believe that I should enclose her in a steel and glass box so that they do not get hurt.

Maureen blushed; He seemed to be talking about another person but the way he looked at her made him believe that he was only speaking to her and for her, as if only she existed in his panorama. Maureen smiled before raising herself on the balls of her feet and placing a kiss on Jasper's cold cheek. Grateful because he made her see that not all men were bad, that not only family protected you, that not everything was darkness in an era where women were only disposable objects.

- Thanks Jasper ... - Maureen leaned down to rest her head on Jasper's arm; his shoulder somewhat unreachable for his small stature - You make my fears look like adorable bunnies ...

It made her feel protected; sheltered and safe. She had never felt anything like that, had never had a boyfriend; most ran at the threats of their brother. But apparently Jasper was either too brave or too stupid to face his brother without fear of anything, he had heard Morgan complain about not having managed to drive Jasper away.

Jasper shook his head; She gave him a lot of credit when it was Maureen who had managed to tame her inner monster, Edward's words addressed her mind as an omen of bad things - I am not a hero Maureen ... I am the monster and the villain of the story.

Maureen smiled as if she had said something good to her - I need a monster to fight the princes who want to keep me in their locked tower, a prisoner behind bars of gold. I don't want even Prince Jasper; I want a villain who won't let anyone hurt me.

Jasper looked with surprise at the smallest of the Atlantis - What did the princes do to you so that you had that image of them?

- He wanted to possess me without my consent - Thomas! Please do not do it! - I stopped believing in princes when I realized that their supposed honor is a lie, I stopped believing in them when I realized that they were the real monsters. Predators looking for the perfect moment to attack.

Jasper sighed; because if that was what he thought had happened to him, he himself would murder whoever had the courage to touch Maureen with just one of her silky hair. It would drown the bastard in fear, fill him with terror, make his body tremble with desire for death, a death that would slowly come.

He would take revenge for her; he would tear the world apart in search of whoever dared to view Maureen as prey. - Would you like to see Prince Maureen dead? See how he drowns in his misery? Watch him die?

Maureen stopped in her walk; neither her father or her brother had asked her that, to be the executioner of the barbarian who wanted to take her by force. Was she capable of that? Jasper thought he would get an affirmative answer but what she said to him was something that appeased his anger.

- No ... - Maureen couldn't shit with the weight of death on her shoulders; her sweet heart suddenly dead and wounded by the guilt that she would carry if she was guilty of a death - I will let time and fate bring the prince his punishment.

Once again Maureen was showing Jasper that it wasn't all death and war.

That princes were not always good and that sometimes it took a monster to balance the scales a bit. Maureen showed Jasper that in times like these; where the woman was a sign of weakness it was necessary ...

A monster with golden eyes.