𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄:
Oh, Maria
(1960)

"NO, NO, Wait. Let me read your mind." Emmett squints, looking at Edward intensely, clasping his hands together, leaning forward. "Horny thoughts, coochie empty," Emmett says with a monotonous voice, but his lips betray him as he tries not to laugh his ass off the couch.

Edward rolls his eyes. Already used to Emmett's behavior. Corazon covers her mouth with her hand, looking away from the two. It has proven difficult not to laugh at Emmett's jokes, especially when Edward is his target. Especially when Edward scolds them for having loud thoughts, it's not like they can help it, right?

Of course, they can.

They spent years mastering hiding their thoughts from Edward, especially if they wanted to continue their secret activities. Edward couldn't understand her thoughts anymore because she was thinking in her mother tongue, Tagalog.

They all had their goals.

Rosalie's goal is to kill every known rapist in every town or city they've been staying. Or hunt in the neighboring city they took residence in. They watch every news and read every morning paper about legal court cases concerning rape, sexual abuse, assault, domestic violence, and the likes that failed to bring justice to the women who have been wronged by the so-called justice system that America held with high regard.

Jasper's goal is to burn every Confederate activity in the state, ruin those disgracious statues, accidentally create a mishap when Confederate supporters gather in one place, missing KKK members, fund and support every charity and protest relating to the unfair treatment of African Americans, and every discriminated race in America.

Alice's goal is to shut down every psychiatric hospital that still uses electric shock treatments for their patients. After researching more about the hospital she had woken up to, her file still existed after all these years, and she finally learned her true identity. She was only a girl who was accused and deemed insane to have unnatural visions. In that file, as soon as she entered the psychiatric hospital, she was to be announced dead. She tracked down every doctor who used those abusive treatments — it was not long before they met their demise. But she still doesn't know who her creator is or why she was turned in the first place.

Emmett's goal is to bankrupt every corrupt business in the state. Those who use unpaid and overworked workers in factories and companies. In his human life, all of the things that belonged to their family were taken away by a tycoon who bought their land in an unjust and illegal setup. All the hard work that his parents did was gone because of a man who thirsted for money and knew nothing but greed. With the help of Alice's vision, they are slowly taking away every cent of every man who was known to take advantage and exploit the less fortunate. They donated it to the families that are victims of greediness. Corazon also suggested investing in the properties that they had acquired, making the Cullens richer than they already are.

Corazon's goal is to kill and cause chaos in the lives of every person who extorts Filipino workers. Many Filipinos migrated to America in the 1920s – some migrated to Hawaii to work in pineapple plantations. The treatment of Filipinos in the United States has not changed since the years Corazon arrived in the country.

For example, they were not allowed to live in most neighborhoods or marry a white person. They did not have a union to help them demand better conditions and rights. Some of the most notable jobs that Filipinos are known for are nurses, nannies, factory workers, and farmers. Nurses are treated differently by their patients because Filipinos are known to be "stupid." Qualified nurses in the Philippines are treated as animals abroad. Nannies are either poorly treated, inhumane even. Factory workers are underpaid and underworked. Farmers sought justice against discrimination and adverse treatment in the United States; they wanted increased wages and better treatment but were ignored.

Carlisle knows this, of course, when Edward hunts to quench his thirst. They all briefed the head of the Coven on their plans. They don't proceed if Carlisle tells them not to. After all, they must be careful because of the Volturi, and so far.

Carlisle Cullen has approved every plan.

"How about a nice hunt for today, everyone?" Alice's chirpy voice interrupted whatever Edward was about to respond to Emmett. Rosalie looked up from her magazine with a raised eyebrow. They have different meanings for the words hunt for food or that hunt. "I think a bear would be delicious this time, Emmett?"

"Hell yeah!" Emmett stood up from his seat with a fist pump, "Bears are always good food, sis." Emmett grinned as he offered his hand to Rosalie, which she took graciously. They exited the living room but not before giving Alice a suspicious look in her topaz eyes, and they were gone. Edward soon followed. Jasper cracked his knuckles, looking at Corazon expectantly.

Corazon never really liked to hunt. She found it dirty and a bit barbaric. She dislikes wrestling deer and bears like Emmett or even carelessly snapping birds' necks or bunnies like Rosalie. So, in every hunt, Jasper offers to hunt for her. She never liked getting dirt and mud on her clothes or dirt on her newly polished fingernails and leaves in her freshly styled hair.

"Do you mind bringing a wine bottle with you? I'm not in a mood to hunt. Is that alright with you?" Corazon softly asked Jasper as she peered up at him from the book she was reading in her lap.

"I don't mind," Jasper simply answers, "I'll see you both in a few hours." He tipped his head as he approached the garden; Corazon and Alice heard his fading footsteps.

Alice suddenly released a deep breath she was holding. Corazon gave her a questioning look, "Good, good. Carlisle and Esme are out on a date tonight. Our siblings are out for a hunt, and we have a few minutes before our unwanted guest arrives."

"Unwanted guest?" Corazon confusedly asked with a bewildered expression, but before Alice could answer, her eyes blazed as she went into a trance. She suddenly snapped out of it, her expression alarmed and worried. Alice fiddled with her fingers, "She's here."

"Who's she—" Corazon was interrupted by a ring in their door. Suddenly, with the knowledge of an unwanted guest, Corazon stood up from her seat, stance guarded, expression unreadable as she sped through the front balcony. Alice followed behind her.

They see a woman with a messy array of black hair and toned skin, wearing a light blue long-sleeve dress that looks like it was made during the Renaissance period. The light in the front door illuminated her figure. Shadows danced underneath her feet.

"Maria," Alice called. The woman looked up. Her bright crimson-red eyes peered at them with a curious gaze. Corazon's head snapped towards Alice; the woman at their front door is Maria? The Maria who's been with Jasper during the Southern Vampire Wars?

"He's not here." Alice tells her, then continues as her voice never wavered; she must stay confident and assured, "If you'd like, I can rely on Jasper's message." Alice gave her a soft smile that is reciprocated by Maria with a forceful smile.

"I can wait," Maria answers – her voice almost a purr, as she places her hands on her back. Corazon never felt so much anger before. How dare she? How dare this woman so confidently barge into Jasper's life as if nothing happened, as if she hadn't done the things she did to him back then? How much pain, manipulation, and suffering Jasper had to endure because of her. This woman before them was nothing but selfish and power-hungry.

"You can, but you won't," Corazon tells her. Alice places a warning hand on her shoulder as Maria raises an eyebrow, eyes taunting, and then a grin forms on her lips.

"And who are you to decide for that?" Maria huskily asks as she tilts her head to the side, observing and analyzing Corazon from head to toe. Still, intimidation never worked on Corazon Cecelia Salvador, and it never will.

"As someone who knows why you're really here," Corazon answers, shrugging off Alice's hand on her shoulder as she crosses her arms to her chest. "And you won't succeed. Jasper finally gained a family with us. Would you be that selfish to take that away from him?"

Maria almost snarled but controlled her demeanor. "I'll give him a choice."

"Oh, so now you do?" Corazon counters as she leans on the silver railings. "You never gave him a choice when he was with you. If I recall, he had to escape your bloodthirsty Coven before he could make a choice of his own." If Jasper was here with them, he could probably touch her anger because of how much it radiated from her.

"Cece." Alice whispers-scolds but is ignored.

"What are you implying then?" Maria asks, then Corazon has no hesitation in answering her question, "That you're a selfish bitch that has no sense of respect but of her own and does not value anyone but her own."

Maria was seething, her lips curled as her hands clenched to her side. "Why don't you say it to my face then?"

Corazon only gave her a sinister grin. She hopped off the balcony and strode to Maria with ease. "Gladly," Corazon says. Maria gave her a glare, but Corazon had read her movements. Maria was about to grip Corazon's shoulder. She took two steps back, making Maria lose balance as Corazon grabbed the back of Maria's neck.

Then her gift worked magic, and Corazon gave Maria pain. Corazon made Maria face her, "I said. That you're a selfish bitch that has no sense of respect but of her own and does not value anyone but her own. You are severely mistaken if you think Jasper will join you." Maria was screaming and squirming, trying to remove Corazon's hand from her neck, but the pain was too much.

"Please, no more!" Maria screams in pain, body quivering.

"Beg." Corazon spat out as Maria's legs gave out, and she was kneeling to Corazon. Maria's hands were wrapped around her arms and felt numb because of the pain Corazon was emitting.

Maria's pleas were ignored until a gentle hand was placed on her shoulder. Corazon wasn't startled; she had felt Jasper's familiar touch before.

"Corazon." Jasper's deep voice whispered in her ear. "Let her go."

"Why?" Corazon looked behind her shoulder, meeting Jasper's eyes.

"I'll deal with her," Jasper answers. Corazon purses her lips as she pushes Maria to the ground, the woman landing with a loud thud as she rolls on the ground, still squirming from the pain.

Jasper moved in front of Corazon swiftly, covering her figure. His stance is more guarded and protective than usual. "Maria, to what do I owe the visit?" He asks with a clipped tone.

On her hands and knees, Maria said, "I came for you."

"Then your long travel is a waste." Jasper tells her, "I will not be going with you."

"Jasper, we belong together—" Maria softly says as Corazon scoffs in her mind, "Are you going to throw away all those precious years we've been at each other's side?"

Jasper purses his lips as he shakes his head. "Decades with you, Maria, yet you never sensed how miserable I was with you until you felt me dissociating myself with your coven, and you wanted to eliminate me." Jasper's voice is rough and stern, and Corazon silences a gasp.

Maria wanted to kill Jasper?

"That was my mistake." Maria stood up from the ground, stepping towards him; a hand went to Corazon's waist as they stepped back from her. Jasper raised a hand for Maria to stop her movements.

"And so is coming here is a mistake." Jasper tells her, "If you ever come near my family ever again, I will not think twice to kill you, Maria."

"You left me for them!" Maria exclaimed with a bewildered expression and a forced huff. "For that woman?" Maria pointed towards Corazon, and the latter only rolled her eyes.

"I already left," Jasper answers shortly.

"She will never give you what I can only give." Maria snapped, and Corazon raised an eyebrow; this woman had the confidence to throw whatever insult at her when she begged Corazon to end her pain.

In a blur, Jasper was holding Maria back to the ground, hand wrapped around her neck, Alice and Corazon could hear Maria's skin breaking like glass, and they both held their breath as they watched the scene before them unfold. "Never speak ill of her, never." Jasper's voice is hard and harsh.

He lets go of her, and Maria loudly gasps as she claws her neck.

Jasper's stern gaze is set to Maria, "Leave."

Maria was gone in an instant.

Corazon released a deep breath as she took careful steps towards Jasper, "Jaspe—"

Jasper turned around, looking at her from head to toe with a concerned expression, "Are you alright?" Jasper felt her emotions as if they were radiating from the house. He didn't go far to hunt, but he felt everything; he had a gut feeling from the beginning.

Corazon only smiles, "I'm okay." Jasper didn't believe her as he stepped forward to her, only inches away from each other. Jasper's hands were itching. He needed to ensure that nothing happened to Corazon while he was gone.

Corazon placed a soft hand on his cheek as Jasper instinctively leaned into her touch. "I'm okay," She repeatedly assures, her thumb brushing his cheekbone.

"I thought Maria had done something to you," Jasper whispers to her.

"Did you see what her predicament was when you arrived?" Corazon laughs softly as Jasper musters a smile, "I did."

"Are you alright?" It was Corazon's turn to ask as her eyes connected with his, confronting the person who took advantage of him for decades, that took everything away from him, his choice, his morals, his beliefs, his self-respect, his humanity — it would have never been easy.

Jasper shakes his head as he purses his lips, "Oh, Jasper." Corazon didn't need to be an empath to feel Jasper's feelings. Alice was grinning as she left them alone.

Corazon pulled him into a hug, her arms wrapped around his neck. At first, Jasper didn't know what to do; he knew how much Corazon didn't like to be touched unless she was the one to initiate it. But this, he needed this. He craved it as much as he craved blood, as much as his lungs needed air when he was human.

Jasper closed his eyes as he relinquished Corazon's presence; his left hand went to her back as he brought his right arm to the back of her neck, burying his face at the crook of her neck. The intoxicating and addicting scent of cherry and bitter almond invaded his mind. Jasper immersed himself in her. How his senses focused on nothing but her.

Jasper never felt at home until he felt what being in Corazon's arms felt like.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

━━ I am establishing a new rule that I won't update any chapters until the previous chapter I posted isn't receiving the amount of attention/hype (comments & votes) I would have preferred, so this time I know that ya'll actually want to read my updates. This might get a weekly update if I am satisfied with the feedback!

━━ Double update cause y'all have been so supportive! ❤️