It was on an adventure out in the desert where she met a vampire for the very first time. Or more accurately a whole coven of them. She had been out for few hours, wandering aimlessly and chasing small animals when she heard the sound of screams and fighting. Being the curious cat that she was, she went to investigate. It was then that she came upon a very one-sided fight.
She sat and started up at the scene in front of her, watching as a bunch of pale people in cloaks tore apart other pale people in ragged clothes. As the fight ended, she approached as quietly as she could and shifted, sliding on one of her father's old sweaters as she did to cover herself. Something her father had insisted she do ever since she first began shifting. Though she mostly only did it because she thought a black cat with a sweater tied around her neck was funny.
"Did they do something bad?" She asked, startling the people who had not heard her approach.
They all turned to look at her in shock not saying anything, which prompted her to ask again. "Those people did they do something bad?"
"You're not scared little one?" a man with long dark hair and deep frown lines on his face asked.
Maya tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Should I be?"
"Well, you did just watch us tear a bunch of people limb from limb. Most kids would be crying by now." Another man, this one with long blond hair explained with an eye roll.
"That's why I asked if they did something bad. Why are your eyes red?" She really did have a bad habit of jumping from topic to topic when her curiosity was peeked.
"Haha, you really are the strangest little girl, aren't you?" A third man asked with a bright smile on his face.
"And you're weird" she replied. A few members of the group of people standing behind the three that had talked lifted their hands to cover their mouths at this.
"I'm Maya."
"Hello Maya. I am Marcus and these are my brothers; Aro and Caius and our guards." Marcus, the first to have spoken, gestured to his group as he introduced them. "Now, what are you doing all the way out here, young one?"
"I'm on an adventure" she declared with as much dignity as a six-year-old could manage. Which caused a few members of the group to let out chuckles.
"I see, perhaps you should be going then as it is getting late." At Marcus's words she looked up at the sky to see it was indeed starting to get dark.
"We can't just let her leave," Caius snarled, "she's seen too much."
"Caius, who would believe the words of this child?" Aro questioned.
"Hey are you guys special like me? Because I promised my daddy that I wouldn't talk about that stuff with other people." They all stared at her in shock at this.
"Special?" Aro questioned. He was already intrigued at how she did not fear them and the idea of her being 'special' only added to it.
"Yep. Do you guys turn into cats too?"
"No, we are vampires." Caius looked as if the very question offended him.
"Oh, that's too bad. It would have been fun to have someone to play with." She looked at the ground sadly before perking up again, "well I have to go now. Bye-bye!"
She then turned around before any of the vampires could think of something else to say. They all watched in shock as she pulled her arms from the sweater and shifted into the form of a small panther. Still too stunned to do anything they watched as she picked up the sweater in her teeth and bounded off into the desert.
"What ... was that?" Demetri asked, breaking the silence.
"Something interesting." Aro had a gleam in his eye at the thought of getting a chance to observe the girl more.
"Well, whatever she is she knows too much and she is a risk. She could expose us if she is caught. When humans find one supernatural creature, they will inevitably look for more."
"She had family ties." Marcus was still staring at the direction the girl had gone.
"So?" Caius scoffed.
"Family ties to us." They all looked at him then, so he continued, "if given the chance she could be someone we all care for."
"Well, then let's follow her and see if it will be possible to bring her back with us" Aro decided, causing them all to set off in the direction she had gone.
They spent the next week observing her. Watching as the person they assumed to be her mother, locked all the first-floor windows and how moments later Maya would poke her head out of a second floor one with a giggle before jumping out and heading off.
They took turns following her, keeping to the shadows, as she, in cat form, would head out to explore and would return home only to be scolded by her mother. They also saw how her sister treated her and they were not impressed. Over the past week they had grown fond of the overly curious child that loved to roam and finally they decided that they would bring her home with them.
They couldn't just take her, not if they wanted to avoid attention. So it was decided that the three kings would approach the mother with a fake acceptance to a boarding school in Italy. They had seen her school records and knew that it would not be too much of a stretch for the human woman to believe. What surprised them the most was how willing the woman was to part with the child. At least until Aro had taken her hand in the pretext of shaking her hand.
Apparently, the woman was not the most responsible and was getting tired of having to look for the girl all the time and would prefer it if Maya acted more like Isabella who liked to stay inside. Needless to say, the kings were not impressed with this woman's desire to cage the poor child and change who she was.
After getting her packed up to move, which she had agreed to the instant Marcus had told her he would take her out to explore all of Italy, they were off to Forks to get her father's permission. Arriving there, she directed them through town, getting them lost a few times, as cars cannot take the same routes cats can. But they finally arrived, only to find that the man was unwilling to give up his daughter so easily.
The kings were happy that she at least had one decent parent, but it was making taking her home much harder. At least it was until she spoke up.
"Daddy, these people are taking me to a special place for special people like me."
"What?" They all asked at the same time, turning to face her.
"They're special like me daddy and they are going to teach me more about it."
He looked them all in the eyes, "is this true?"
"Yes, sir it is" Aro said, knowing that they would probably have to kill him later for knowing too much, especially if he kept asking questions.
"Well alright then. She can go with you but I have some conditions. First, she is under your care and I expect you to look after her. Secondly, I want her to be able to come home during the year for like summer and Christmas and other holidays."
"You don't want to know what we are?" Caius was beyond shocked at this.
"Nope. You're special like my girl here, that's all I want to know so long as you can assure me that she will be in no danger with you."
"She will be perfectly safe" Marcus assured him.
After that, Charlie signed all the needed documents, that actually weren't needed seeing as they were all fake. Then he said goodbye to Maya, who promised to call when she got there and they were off. Maya slept most of the trip there, the whole thing tiring out the poor six-year-old. When she woke, she was already in Volterra and was introduced to the rest of the guards and two queens.
It was there that she lived for the next 11 years, growing close to all the members of the Volturi. The queens had immediately loved her, treating her as their own child and the three kings had become her uncles of sorts. Felix, Demetri and Alec had dubbed themselves her big brothers and Jane had been quick to claim the title of best friend and sister.
She had learned a lot from all of them. They had gotten her tutors for her school subjects of course, but besides that, her family had also taught her other things. Aro taught her about diplomacy and politics, Caius had taught her strategy and art, while Marcus taught her music and history. The queens had spent many afternoons teaching her manners, how to carry herself, how to dress to leave the right impression as well as how to dance.
Her "brothers" had taught her how to prank without being caught and had, with the help of Caius, trained her so she at least knew how to defend herself. They had claimed it was necessary if she continued to go on her adventures, which they never tried to stop her from doing. Although they did have two members of the guards follow her every time she left the castle. She had noticed them eventually and happily spent many afternoons playing games of tag and hide-and-seek with them through the streets of Volterra. Finally, Jane and Maya had taught each other how to be little girls. This was the first time that either of them had really had a female friend who was not an adult, so they learned together what that meant as she grew up.
But her absolute favourite part of living with the new members of her family was in the evenings where she could curl up by the fire at her uncle Marcus's feet and he would tell her all sorts of stories from long ago. She loved all his stories and he adored his little niece and the way her eyes would light up as he began a new tale or reached an exciting part of the story. It had been many years since he had lost his mate and though he had resigned himself to an empty life years ago, Maya was helping to fill it with happiness as she gave him something to look forward to each day.