Sic Semper Tyrannis: "thus always to tyrants". This phrase was, in popular legend, cried by Brutus upon the assassination of Julius Caesar. It's been used throughout history at other various points as a rallying cry, and still exists as the state motto for the Commonwealth of Virginia. And while there's not much real evidence that it was a battle cry or informal motto for the Confederate Army, that's another popular legend that fits nicely with Jasper's character and this plotline.

Many, many thanks to all of you who have been helping me sort out the beginnings of this story, particularly Kyilliki and Haemophilus Leona. You guys are the best!

Disclaimer: The Twilight Saga and its universe belong to Stephenie Meyer. No profit is made here and no offense intended.


Late 1941

Central Mexico, the middle of nowhere

Midnight

Jasper POV


A line of statues stood poised along the ridge of the far side of the canyon, their bared teeth gleaming in the moonlight: the Guatemala Coven. I counted nine, only two of which I recognized, though it was possible that more were hidden in reserve. The seven I didn't recognize all had the brilliant red eyes of well-fed newborns.

I didn't know the name of the one veteran, though I had met him in battle twice before. The other was the leader, and he went only by the name of El Serpiente. I had a feeling his human mother hadn't actually named her darling baby "Snake", but she might as well have. He had assassinated his creator twenty-three years ago, seizing control of the coven, and since then had proven a deadly enemy. His method was snake-like indeed, relying not on numbers but on his strategy of lightning-strike attacks and rapid retreats. The borders of his territory were more fluid than most. El Serpiente was cunning enough to give ground when he felt threatened, only to return in force and strike when his enemy was settled and spread thin. The fact that he had come to meet us in open battle tonight meant one of two things: he was desperate and felt he had no choice but to gamble for a significant land victory, or this was a trap. I preferred the first scenario, but it would be foolish to assume anything but the second. I turned to Juan, who stood at my right.

"They have others in reserve," I said quietly. "Probably over that east ridge. Pick four that can stay quiet and have them be ready a quarter mile off that way." Juan nodded and melted away into the shadows. I watched him for a moment, assessing his mood and waiting to see which four he selected, and then turned back to survey the remaining ten soldiers who stood waiting for my command.

They were afraid. That was nothing new, but it was unusual for us to have newborns of so many different ages. The Guatemalans had kept us busy this year, obliging Maria to create new soldiers more often than she liked. We generally stuck to twice a year, so that we always had a wilder, stronger bunch and a more civilized bunch going at once. It had been one of the few ideas of mine that she had actually listened to, but it was plain common sense. You didn't leave yourself vulnerable by having a month where your entire army was new and wild and unpredictable. But this- having newborns at so many stages- was a mess. Their emotions were all over the place: rabid fear, anger, despair, excitement, wariness, the agitation of frantic thirst… I closed my eyes, letting the turbulence burn through me and focusing it until I had control of myself. Then I redirected my calm outward, infusing everyone with it. Some of the older ones settled quickly, their fear turning to focus. The newer ones were harder to influence, but seemed to gain some confidence as they saw the others settle.

"Forward to the edge, and then stop," I ordered. We drifted to the edge, our postures now matching the enemy's… maybe a hundred yards away. I could just barely feel them now: a quiet haze of anger and fear. Juan silently rejoined us. Lily, one of our newest, inched forward of the rest of us, vibrating with excitement. I saw El Serpiente's eyes glint with readiness and he raised his hand halfway. His army leaned forward, ready to spring.

"Lily," I hissed in warning, focusing another wave of calm her way. She drew back.

A few more minutes passed with little change. Neither of us wanted to engage first; that meant either getting caught in the canyon and fighting uphill, or going the long way around and wasting the crucial first edge of battle rage. El Serpiente was having some trouble with his newborns. I waited to see how far his control over them would deteriorate. I could outlast him in this way; my army was larger but they were better trained.

Somewhat.

Another ten minutes. The tension was rising fast now, across the canyon; El Serpiente was shouting for his soldiers to stay together. Two of them seemed to be losing their nerve, and some of the others kept inching in various directions, unable to stand still as their anticipation and fear mounted.

"That's why we're the better army," I announced, just loud enough for all of my soldiers to hear. "Look at them- undisciplined, unorganized… they'll fall apart as soon as we hit them. Lily, I want you on that girl with the blue dress. Noah, that male who the leader is shouting at right now- that one. He's agitated, so go at him slowly. Raul…" I went on, speaking in a monotone murmur that lulled them into confidence. I began slowly ramping up their courage, both with my words and my gift. Half the battle was saying the right thing, distracting their agitation with assignments and details. I wished I could coordinate something more complicated than giving each soldier someone to focus on, but experience had taught me that they just couldn't handle it. Despite the edge that my gift and careful training gave them, they were still newborns. At least the standoff was going well. Forcing themselves to stand still under pressure was one of the skills I had actually managed to drill into them.

I turned to Juan once my speech was you smell anyone?" He shrugged. "Yes or no?" I asked in irritation.

"I thought I smelled three extra, but it might have just been some of the main bunch, scouting off to the side when they approached earlier."

I ground my teeth, nodding and turning my attention back to the standoff. Juan should be old enough by now to tell a fresh scent from an hours-old scent. We would need to work on that, if I didn't lose him tonight. He was ten months old now, due soon to be eliminated. But I wanted to keep him, as my second like Peter had been; if tonight went well, I would broach the subject with Maria when we reported back. I glanced over my shoulder at the hills behind us, silently cursing her once again for her cowardice. Would it kill her, just once, to stand with her own army? She would be watching, as always, but from a safe distance.

I turned back to my soldiers, noticing that two were getting more afraid. I scrambled to ease their fear; the battle would start in a moment. El Serpiente had his hand over his mouth, which meant he was probably giving some orders that he felt needed to be kept secret; another sign that he had an ambush planned. I made my decision quickly.

"We approach now, along the east ridge," I whispered. "Don't run until I give the signal." One of the older females started to whimper, her feet refusing to move. I pushed her along, focusing the full power of my gift through my hand on her back. Courage, I thought angrily. I had to drag her a few steps, but she soon began to move on her own.

El Serpiente began shouting orders in Spanish. They all turned to face us, but they weren't our targets, not yet. I could already smell the three that Juan had reported. I could hear their frantic footsteps retreating as we quickly approached the trap and confused their plan. "Three ahead," I said briskly, adding a sharp surge of anger to my influence. "All run, NOW!"

The chaos of battle began. I hurled as much fear and despair as I could at the three targets, but my gift would be of little use after this. The emotions of battle were complex and crowded, and shifted much too fast for my gift to keep up. Even if they weren't, I'd be too busy fighting for my life to concentrate effectively. We broke out of the brush snarling, and the three vampires that were supposed to ambush us found themselves backed up to the edge. I couldn't have planned it better myself.

"Don't fight them!" I called out. "Push them off and engage the main group!" We hit them en masse, Juan and I at the front. I shouted in warning too late as Juan leapt, snarling, at the biggest of the three. Idiot! They both tumbled off the edge together. I dropped and rolled at the last second, biting deeply onto the lower leg of the nearest target and throwing him off balance long enough to kick him right off the edge. I let the others handle the third as we turned to face the main group, who were running to meet us now. "Let them come to us!" I called out, knowing they wouldn't listen. My soldiers, notorious for being well-organized and disciplined, had turned into a raging horde of mindless children. It was the same every time; if I was lucky, a tenth of everything I had taught them would stay with them as instinct. At least two of them looked like they were going for the targets I had assigned them; that was something.

The enemy reached us. The air was filled with the frightening clamor of rock on rock as we all collided and tangled together. Emotions sizzled and flipped and shot through me, but it was actually easier to deal with, now that it was all a garbled mix. El Serpiente's veteran came straight for me, as I thought he would. I jumped as he dove for me, landing a nice kick on his face as I swatted down toward another soldier with a clawed hand. I landed and felt a sharp pain on my left forearm; I spared only a second to bring my knee up into whoever's face was there and yank my hand away. It was too crowded now, bodies and teeth and scents and emotions, to even see who had bit me. I felt someone pushing against my back and felt a hand tearing at the back of my shirt, but I was too busy with the veteran. We crashed together again, my teeth straining for his shoulder. I felt his breath on my exposed neck and felt a surge of my own panic; I couldn't pull away at the moment. I pushed forward harder instead, so that when his bite came it was on my upper arm instead of my neck. I was high enough to bite through the tendons on the top of his shoulder now; I tore deep and retreated, pleased to see his arm suddenly go limp. Another fighting pair surged between us and we lost each other for the moment.

I spared a tenth of a second to look around, worried to see that our four extra hadn't engaged. The numbers were close without them, too close. My nose twitched and my instincts quivered; someone had started a fire on the eastern ledge of the canyon. Several feet to its left, Juan had his hands full tearing an arm off his opponent. At least he had made it up out of the canyon alive; that was truly impressive, considering he had been down alone in there with three of the enemy. I wondered how many of them had made it back up. I anxiously scanned the night around us, looking for my four, but I was already being attacked again, this time by a pair fighting in tandem. Probably mated, judging by how close they kept one another. Good.

I lashed out at the female first, grabbing her skinny forearm and breaking it away before she could react. I threw it right at her mate, who screamed in wild fury but broke off his attack for half a second, seeming torn between giving the female her arm back and killing me. It was all I needed; I spun around him, biting deep into the back of his neck and wrapping my arms around his shoulders. He finally dropped the arm, struggling uselessly to bite at my arms while his mate attacked me from the side. I dropped one arm and spun him around with the other, snapping the arm off with the momentum as I simultaneously feinted a bite at the female's face. She checked her attack long enough for me to get between them. I launched myself into the tight space and kicked out, separating them long enough to attack her again on her dismembered side. I grabbed under her chin and wrenched as I bit, flinging her head toward the fire just as her mate hit me. He went completely insane, shrieking and diving past me to catch his mate's body as it collapsed.

"Lolita!" he screamed. I stumbled over my feet for half a second, paralyzed as his frantic grief stabbed through me. I drew in a deep, sharp breath, willing my gift to focus outward, on the tangled, more neutral mess of emotion surrounding me. It was easy after that; he didn't even protest as I hauled him up by his good arm and tore his head off. I threw it into the fire and spun around in a circle to see what was next. But before I could complete the turn a fist crashed into my face and the night sky was swirling around in front of my eyes. There was a sharp pain and a heavy weight at the back of my knee. I let my body continue to spin, focusing on bringing my other foot toward the pain. I felt something solid and kicked hard; I was rewarded with a feminine yelp and a tearing pain down the side of my leg as whoever's teeth it was tore away.

I landed hard on my side, rolling out of the way of Juan's fight; he was battling El Serpiente himself. I gathered myself to pounce on them, but saw that Miguel was already coming to help, so I shifted my weight and sprang off toward the left instead. Noah, one of my newest, was faring badly against his opponent. He couldn't have been more than fourteen years old, tall but weak and skittish; why Maria had changed him was beyond me. A chunk was missing out of his face and his left leg was gone at the knee; by the time I reached them the enemy had him on his back, hands on his throat. I paused, waiting until he moved his head down to bite, and then I struck. I pulled the headless body off Noah and busied myself tearing the limbs off while he shakily got up onto his hands and knees. He was looking away toward the hills, filled with fear and a rising determination.

I dropped the writhing half-body and darted over to him, hauling him up by the neck with one hand. My face was an inch from his wide eyes. "Don't even think about it," I hissed, digging into his throat with my nails and lifting his one remaining foot off the ground. "If you desert, I'll find you and I'll kill you myself. I'll do it slowly. You'll wish you had died in battle." He closed his eyes and froze in my hands, paralyzed with fear. I dragged him over to where a girl was crouched, hissing and dodging the fights going on around her. "That one," I yelled in his ear, so angry that I couldn't gather my gift to help his fear. "You don't need both your legs to kill something that little. Go. GO!" I released him and shoved him toward the girl so hard that he collided headfirst with her. She shrieked and bit him right in the face. It was just what he needed, it looked like; he screamed and began to fight with a new, impressive rage.

I turned around, relieved to see that our extra four had finally joined the battle, shifting the emotional balance in the air toward excitement. I scanned the writhing mass of vampires around me, judging that we were doing well. Three of the nearest fights were already going our way, and so I broke out of the mayhem to survey things from the outside for a moment. El Serpiente had also broken away from the fight; for a moment, our eyes locked and I felt the thrill of fear and exhilaration at a real challenge. I leaned forward, silently daring him to attack, but after a moment of posturing he turned and ran. I ached to go after him, but my duty was with my army. I barreled my way back into the fight, doing my best to keep my own soldiers focused and brave, dishing out fear when I had the time to focus long enough on a particular of the Guatemalans. The ache in my throat grew as the emotional barrage wore on. It was always like this for me in battle; vampires weren't capable of exhausting themselves, at least not physically. But the constant, extreme exertion of my gift always took its toll, manifesting as a throbbing need for blood and solitude. Soon, I promised myself wearily.

I dispatched another of their bigger soldiers and then stood back out of the fight altogether, watching how my newborns handled themselves as the balance began to tip dramatically in their favor. There were two big fighters left: the veteran, whose arm was working again, and another one. I watched as first one, then the other, was pulled down by my remaining eight able-bodied newborns swarming upon them. I grimaced as the emotional balance of the fight shifted again, this time to glee and savage pleasure. Most of my soldiers had realized we had the victory and were enjoying themselves as they tore their few remaining enemies apart piece by piece, inflicting more pain than was necessary.

I backed away, eager to put some distance between myself and the disturbing emotions of my army and their panicked, despairing victims.

"Don't let it get out of hand," a hard voice snapped behind me.

I didn't bother to turn around and acknowledge her. I merely ground my teeth and stepped forward again, reluctantly pushing my way back into the oppressive cloud of hate. Maria was right, of course; aside from the prospect of actually losing a battle, this was the most dangerous time. Once a crowd of energetic newborns got themselves going with the hate and the rage and the exhilaration of violence, they often couldn't stop themselves. Once they ran out of enemies, they had a tendency to turn on each other. Or on their leaders.

It took me a few moments to bring everyone down a notch. Once it was safe, I strode into the mess of newborns and bodies and limbs and ash, to where Juan and Manuel were finishing off the veteran. Juan finally stood, waiting for Maria's command, or mine.

I looked around, waiting until I had everyone's attention. "You did well." I locked eyes with Noah, who was surprisingly still alive and busy reuniting his leg with his thigh. I was still angry at his weakness but pleased with his performance at the end of the battle. I could give him this, at least. "All of you," I said meaningfully. I held his gaze another moment, instilling him with pride. Finally I released him and glanced around at the others again. "Don't burn anything more until you've all found your missing parts. Help each other clean out any bites that aren't healing. "

The grim cleanup began. I silently took the veteran's head from Juan's hands, hoping to get some information if I could reunite it with his torso. But I felt nothing from him; too much had already been burned for him to be any use. I chucked the head into the fire, turning to take a final survey of our own damage.

Lily was gone. All that remained was one of her feet, twitching randomly on the ground. Raul was nowhere to be seen or smelled. Most everyone had taken some sort of damage, though most of it was either negligible or reversible. Keeping my eyes trained on the others as they worked, I twisted my left forearm up to my mouth, sucking the venom out of the bite and spitting it out on the ground. I'd get to the knee later; there were others hurting more than I was. I went around, showing the inexperienced ones how to reattach fingers and such, bolstering confidence and easing anger, helping clean out bites that their owners couldn't reach.

I felt Maria's eyes and apprehension on me. She was waiting for me to say something more, to rally everyone in their victory they way I used to. Back in my first decades, when I was high on blood and victory and her approval, I used to speak more to the newborns on these occasions: heartfelt, inspiring speeches that would burn their hearts with zeal and purpose, and pride… precious pride. But I rarely bothered anymore. What was the point? They'd all be dead in a matter of months, one way or another. And this was just a defensive victory; we'd merely reasserted control over a dry patch of land and a few measly villages, long ago stolen from the clutches of the Guatemalans. Which was the exact opposite of where we were supposed to be fighting. Arizona was the goal, always Arizona; their leader, Lorenzo, had killed Maria's mate once upon a time. If I didn't know better, I'd think she was stalling.

But that was the world we lived in: a planet-wide eternal War, thousands of covens frozen in place because they were locked in battle on every side. True conquest was rare anymore, Maria had told me when I was new; most battles were fought to keep what had been gained when the human grandparents of today's coven leaders hadn't even been born yet. We inched toward Arizona, but we spent most of our time guarding our backs. Keeping control of the bloodfields necessary to sustain our army, larger than most, was a full-time job.

"A victory," I announced unnecessarily; she had watched the whole thing. "A decisive victory. They had an ambush waiting near the canyon, as we suspected, but we beat them to it. They lost six, at least." It was always a tricky business, counting enemy parts to try and guess how many we had truly killed- especially when a fire was already going and had already consumed some. I had seen, out of the corner of my eye, at least two others turn and run, besides El Serpiente. It was possible that Lily had deserted too, limping away when my back had been turned. If she had, she wouldn't last long without that foot. She'd be picked up by the patrols of whichever direction she ran and killed on the spot as a worthless invalid… or used as cannon fodder in the next battle. Good luck to her. I picked up her twitching foot and tossed it into the flames.

"El Serpiente?"

"Ran off."

Maria spat an oath, scanning the hills around us with fury in her red eyes. Her hate surged, filling me like a black smoke. I extended the very lightest touch of calm towards her; I was not permitted to tamper with Maria's emotions unless she ordered me to do so. I took care to keep my eyes away from her, very slowly ramping up my influence.

"Well done!" Maria called out, forcing her features into an unnatural smile. "We feast tonight!" Everyone broke out in grins and cheers and hungry chatter. That was really the only speech they wanted to hear, anyway. I closed my eyes and sighed in relief, eagerly taking in the positive change in my emotional environment. But it was short-lived; Maria's hate would be satisfied. "But first we have one unpleasant matter to attend to."

Instant quiet… instant fear. I flinched as it hit me; no matter how many decades I existed in this sea of negative emotions, I would never get used to it. I ached for numbness, for peace, but it would never come.

"As I said," Maria continued, "you did well- this was an important victory. You'll feed tonight on one of the villages that we kept- that we rescued, once again, from the greedy teeth of the Guatemalans. But we lost two tonight, and the worst part of it was that it didn't need to happen. I waited, and waited for you four to engage! What took you so long?!" The four who Juan had set aside in reserve froze as Maria fixed her rage on them. "You!" she shouted, pointing at Louis. "Answer me!"

So that was it: she wanted Louis executed tonight. I had expected it would come soon: he was the last survivor of last year's April batch and long overdue at fifteen months. She had been hoping he would be killed in the battle tonight, so she was using this as her excuse instead. It was one of the things about Maria's method that infuriated me, and she knew it. Honor aside, if a soldier survives that many battles, it's for a reason. Why waste a good fighter just because his newborn strength has waned? He had earned his right to stay alive, to fight another day. But it would do no good to protest; Maria didn't take kindly to me questioning her in front of the others.

Not kindly at all.

"We weren't sure when we were supposed to join the fight," Louis mumbled, keeping his eyes down in submission. But I could feel his fear… his boiling rage. This execution would not be easy, emotionally at least. "Juan told us to wait because the enemy had three in reserve. We thought we were supposed to engage them, but the others did instead."

"So you thought you were excused from the rest of the battle. A free pass to sit and watch the show, is that it?!" Maria hissed, inching toward him. I knew my duty. I moved further away from Maria, slowly coming at him from the side.

"We fought!" Louis protested, his eyes wide as he saw my movement, and the blankness in my expression. I hated this moment, when I could feel the shock and betrayal of those who had thought I was on their side, despite my harshness in training. He crouched slightly, ready for anything. I did what I could, tiredly giving him all the apathy I could muster. For both our sakes.

Apathy was easy these days.

"Once you saw that victory was assured," Maria accused.

"No! Maria, we… tell her, Jasper! We were waiting for the other three to-"

Maria struck, and I flashed into place as well. It wasn't a fight; it was a slaughter, right in front of the wide eyes of our army. Louis didn't even have time to scream before his throat was separated from his lungs. The fire blazed, its purple smoke billowing larger. It took all my effort not to double over with the emotions that Louis had left me with… but I would not give Maria that satisfaction. More importantly, I could never, never show weakness in front of my soldiers. I trembled only slightly, my expression and posture giving nothing away. The other three who had been accused drew tighter together in fear, their own little army, ready to face Maria's wrath… and mine. They had already been afraid of me before this; I didn't look forward to the extra fear every time I walked up to someone from now on.

At least she was done killing for now. Her rage had been appeased with its offering, and her spirit lifted. "Now that that's over," she said calmly, "Who's thirsty?"

The emotional heaviness eased again, though the fear remained this time. Maria and I handed out instructions as we approached the village as a group. We didn't normally take the whole bunch this close to human civilization, but they had earned the right to be trusted like this, and I told them so. Maria made it painfully clear, however, that anyone caught venturing beyond the row of hovels and cottages we specified would be dealt with severely. We finally released them to feed, and stood alone watching them go. I turned to face her.

"That was-"

"Save it," she snapped, and I shut my mouth. I didn't know why I even bothered anymore. I scowled down at her instead, letting my angry disapproval speak for itself. She returned my glare and wore her contempt openly, letting it sharpen the dark, sculpted perfrection of the face that my fingers knew so well. Maria was beautiful, if a beautiful mask atop such an ugly spirit could be called beauty. She was free of scars, at least- a testament to her cowardice more than anything else. She always stood back and watched while everyone else spent their lives on her behalf. And tonight's execution was a typical example of how everything she thought and did… everything she made me do just went beyond dishonorable. Honor, I thought caustically. I didn't even remember what the word meant anymore. It was better that I didn't.

"So," she began, a fine black eyebrow lifting delicately. "What's this about Juan giving orders?"

I waited, assessing her mood. Apprehension… suspicion. It was best left for another day, but it was too late for that now. "I've been trying him out. He's intelligent, relatively patient, he has the respect of the others, and he has good instincts." Maria gave me an incredulous look. "Sometimes," I allowed.

"So?"

"So I want to keep him."

"No."

"I need a second again."

"Why?" Her suspicion grew. I would need to tread lightly here; things hadn't been the same between us since Peter's desertion, and my subsequent "treason", as she put it. My crime was letting him and Charlotte go. Hardly a mercy, considering what had no doubt happened to them within hours of their escape. I still didn't know why I had done it. It was shock, more than anything, that kept me from pursuing them. How I had missed their developing feelings for one another was truly a mystery, but it was more than that. I discovered, in those milliseconds it took me to realize what they were doing, that I couldn't bring myself to hurt Peter, and that meant not hurting Charlotte.

I had long since let go of seeing these people as anything but tools; it was the only way to keep my own sanity. But I had become attached to Peter, had come to depend on him… friendship was no longer a word that belonged in my mouth, or my heart, but it was something like that. Charlotte was important to him, had somehow come to mean more than his own life. It was a phenomenon I had witnessed only a few times- and like with the pair I had fought tonight, I was often the one to put an end to it. But I realized, in those milliseconds, that I couldn't do that to Peter. What he was doing was suicide, but I had to give him that right. I had to let him die in the way that seemed best to him, not the way that was waiting for him, or at least for Charlotte, back at our camp.

But Maria hadn't seen it that way. All she had seen was that I had betrayed her with my inaction, and it scared her. She was too afraid to lose me, but too angry to back me up. But it was more than that: I had, after long years of obedience, broken her trust. I had hurt her. I could feel her sense of betrayal, her wounded fury. That fact alone was enough to make it worth it. Even when she called the other newborns to swarm on me and I knew I was dead, it was worth it. Even when she spared me and settled for badly scarring me, for nearly two months of acidic, physical pain as her venom ate deeper into my back, it was still worth it.

It was worth it because ever since that day, Maria had never touched me again. That day spelled at abrupt end to what Maria, in her cruel, beguiling way, had called our romance. I hadn't just betrayed her as her second-in-command; I had chosen Peter, and his love for Charlotte, over the pathetic imitation of love that I shared with her for nearly eighty years. I had hated every minute of it, and so had she. But sometimes even people as heartless as Maria will do things they hate in order to take something they think they need. And sometimes, men who used to believe that they lived by a code of honor will do things they despise in order to survive… to prove to themselves how fully that honor had been driven away.

"Just listen to me for minute, if you can manage that," I began scathingly. This was no time to act calm, even if I could have; her suspicion would double instantly if she thought I was playing any kind of role. Her eyes narrowed, but she waited. "How many soldiers do we have right now, counting myself and minus the two we lost tonight, and Louis? Twelve. How many did we have when we had Peter to help keep things in order? Do the math."

"I'll make more soon."

"And who's going to manage them? I have my hands full already with this mix-matched bunch, created at what, six different times?! I can't train them nearly as much as I need to, what with the new ones needing constant attention and all the border patrols we have to keep up with. You saw how they fell apart in the battle tonight! And since you're not willing to get your pretty little fingernails dirty-"

She slapped me so hard I felt something crack in the back of my neck. Two fingers went numb, but I didn't even acknowledge the interruption. "-then what am I supposed to do? You can't manage this big of an army without another veteran, not effectively. To say nothing of getting back up to the numbers we had back when Peter was here. If you would-"

"If you say that name again, I'll tear you apart!"

"Go ahead," I growled. "You'd be doing me a favor!"

Maria's hand twitched again, but I was ready this time. I grabbed her wrist and wrenched, hard, until I felt her skin began to fracture and splinter under my fingers. Her rage, so close to my gift and so personal, was quickly escalating both of us. My vision was going red. I could snap her like a twig, and I wanted to. I wanted to kill her, more than I ever had before. But I shoved her away instead, hating the part of myself that felt a thrill at her fear. We stared each other down, teeth at the ready, for another second.

"Let me know when you're ready to have an intelligent conversation about it," I hissed, turning and stalking toward the village. I needed blood, and I needed it right now. I looked back over my shoulder. "But in the meantime I suggest you take a look at your priorities. The last time we had any chance of success at reaching Arizona was five years ago, when Peter was here!" She shrieked through her clenched teeth behind me, but made no move to follow.

I went on, holding myself tall and confident, but I was shaking inside. It had never come that close with Maria, never. So much for not touching. So much for treading lightly, I thought with fury. I had just guaranteed Juan's execution and made a bad situation worse. I grabbed the nearest human- he was a big fat man, cowering under the counter of a tortilla shop and screaming as he watched his neighbors get mown down by a thirsty crowd of newborns. I shivered from his terror being so close. Human emotions were normally more blunted than those of vampires, but they knew how fragile they were. The terror that struck them when they saw death approaching was awful.

"I'm taking you to safety," I told him harshly in Spanish. "I'm with the National Guard. Don't make any noise, or you'll get us both killed." The man nodded and his screams quieted along with his terror, somewhat. I dragged him far enough away from the others so that I was free of the painful emotions of their victims, and then I gave him a quick blow to the back of the head. He died in silence, but not quickly enough. I raced through the feeding and the frenzy while the blood was still hot, only to come back down to earth and plummet into hell. His dying horror flooded through me, combining with all the emotional stress of the battle, the execution, and the mess with Maria. His corpse slipped from my hands and I slowly collapsed into a heap beside him in the dirt, shivering and gasping and waiting for it to pass. From the crest of the hill far away, Maria watched me with smug satisfaction. It was all the revenge she needed.

At least I hoped it was.