I didn't look back after saying goodbye to my boy and Tallulah. I had a feeling that I wasn't gonna come back after this trip. The cold started soaking right to my bones the moment it started raining. I couldn't bring myself to eat what Tallulah had packed for me. I started to become depressed. I wanted Jasper back home and I wanted our family to be whole. I fear that he'll never see his boy grow up and turn into a fine gentleman.
I wondered through thick forests now, leaves covered the ground and the rain made them look foul. I began to shake with the cold and fell off my horse. I didn't have the strength to get up again and watched Chess, she didn't know what to do. I heard something begin towards our direction. "Jo?" his voice sounded so familiar.
"An-th-thony?" I could barely see by then and the rain started to come down harder. Chess went over and greeted my brother.
He picked me up and put my back on my horse and got on himself, using his left arm to keep me from falling back down onto the muddy ground. "I'm gonna bring you to where I'm staying. You can warm up, eat, and get changed. I've been worried about you."
I smiled. I've missed my brother.

We arrived a small inn that seemed friendly enough. My brother helped me down and into the warmth of the in.
"General," a soldier stood alert and saluted.
"Private," my brother said. "Get those bags off that horse and bring them to my room, tie her up too."
"Yes, sir!" he ran out the door.
"G-g-general?" I stuttered. "Fancy."
He laughed as we walked up two flights of stairs before getting to a room, there was a little stove in the corner that I immediately went to. "What were you doing out there like that?" I saw the concern wash over his face. "I didn't think I'd see you 'til after the war."
"I was looking for Jasper," I sighed. "I miss you and am blessed that you found me."
"I'm glad I was out," he stood next to the window and looked out into the rain. "Are you and Jasper alright?"
"Yes. We have son now." I didn't know how else to tell him about his nephew.
He turned, "what's his name?!" I saw the excitement in his eyes.
"Anthony Jasper Whitlock," I laughed and looked away.
"You named your son after me?" I loved hearing the excitement in his voice.
"Yes?" I didn't understand what he wanted to hear.
"Has Jasper met him?" he sounded a little uneasy.
"No," I started picking at my nails. "That's why he was supposed to come home, to meet his son."
"I'll help you find him then," he started to sound confident. I looked up at my brother, he was still young and in his twenties, he has yet to marry but walked away from me and joined the army before the war had started.
"You don't need to do that," I started to cry.
He took me in a tight and well needed embrace, "I'll do anything for you.

I followed my brother through the deeper part of the forest in hopes to find another camp, we had very little luck on finding my husband. We finally found where the Major was assigned near Galveston but the other soldiers said that he had gone missing and no one has seen him since. I started to feel ill by this time and took our time heading back to where my brother was assigned.
I slid off my horse and Anthony was getting ready to pull the canvas tent off the back of his when suddenly he fell to ground crying out in pain, the horses ran off frantically. I ran over to him and his right arm was barely hanging onto the rest of his shoulder. I didn't know what to do. I felt my feet come out from under me and a snap in my ankle, I let the tears run down my face from the pain.
"Jo," Anthony manage. "Get out of here!"
I tried the best I could to get up but the pain was unbearable.
I watched a man in a Confederate uniform walked towards my brother. "Demon!" my brother screamed and threw a rock at the man. I struggled to get myself to a tree and stand up. I watched the man take my brother's head in his hands and twist it, Anthony's body fell to the ground with a thud. I pushed myself from tree to tree until something grabbed my from behind and turned me around.
I looked into the face of my husband, but his eyes were now red and his hair was stained with blood. "Jasper, please," I cried and tried to push him away, his body was more solid than a rock and his skin was colder than ice. "Let me go!"
"Why?" he shoved my hard against another tree hurting my back and making it difficult to stand. "So you can go tell people what has happened?" he kind of laughed.
"We have son together, Jasp!" The tears flowed down my cheeks now. I wanted to go home, I wanted to sit with my son and play with him while Tallulah told me some story. "Please! Let me get back to my boy!" I felt weak now.
"I don't believe you." He grabbed my by the throat and squeezed.
"Jasper," I could barely breathe. "It...hur...ts..."
"I don't care!" He let go and bit down hard on my neck, I screamed. After a short second, he was gone and I fell to the ground making my whole body throb in pain.
I started crying hard and looked at my brother's mangled body a few yards from me. I was dying and I would never get to see my boy again. "God, help me!" I barely managed to get the words out.

I opened my eyes and then shut them again quickly, it was blindingly bright. I lay there for a while listening to my surroundings, a distant chirping sounds, a creek, leaves rustling, and the sound of men marching. I sat up and slowly opened my eyes, I could see every detail in every leaf, a bird a mile away, and as I looked down, I saw blood soaked into every fiber of my dress. I saw my brother's body laying on the ground, his arm torn away and his head to one side. I stood up and walked over to him. "You're dead!" I cried, my voice sounded different and startled me a bit. I went through the pockets of his uniform and grabbed things I would need to remember him and take to my son.
I walked through the trees and stayed away from any roads, I noticed that I could move faster than I ever had before and could hear and see everything! I stopped when I heard a heart beating and smelt something foul in the air. I turned and looked in all directions and couldn't see anything unusually so I started running again.
I found a simple but growing town and figured I some how was in the North. I could hear people's hearts beating and I had the unreasonable urge to bite their wrists or neck, but I held my breath and ran into a tailor's store and took a dress, leaving what little amount of money I had on their counter. I ran back into the safeguard of the forest and changed into the pale green dress and throwing the soiled blue one aside.
I figured that I should find out where I was now that the blood was cleaned off of me, but I shouldn't be seen in this dress, the tailor might think that I stole it. I kept walking until someone stepped out in front of me. I couldn't help but stare at their throat watching their pulse. "Where are you from, my dear?"
I just stared at him before lunging out and biting down hard on his neck, he didn't scream or cry out, but went limp and cold very quickly. I jumped up and started running until a large black and smelly wolf darted in front of me and it looked at me with sympathy, staring directly into my eyes.
As it started coming towards me, I put my hands out to push it away if it came to close, but it got tossed in the air and back a ways. That in itself startled me, so I started running again.

I felt the hunger surging through me as I walked through the streets of a town, I had no idea where I was, and no one would be out at this time of night, so I thought it would be okay to walk around. I started taking in every detail about the place, from the cracking paint on the shop fronts to bindings on books behind thick glass. I heard a small group of children at play not far off from me, their blood smelt sweet. I headed towards the playing and watched from the shadow of a barn. There was two boys and a young girl who must have been no older than three, they played about in the shiny tall grass that was beginning to wilt, and the moonlight brightened their faces.
I was absolutely amazed by their enjoyment at life, I sat and watched them until they retired to their home just a ways out.
"I've never seen a 'pire so at ease around helpless children," I didn't know the voice but I didn't move either. "My name's William."
I felt a bit of scare run through me as I stood up. "Josephine." I turned and looked at the man, he was handsome and his eyes were red and his hair was brown ad shaggy at different lengths.
"Were ya just watching or protecting?" he smiled at me and came closer to me.
"Maybe both?" I took a step back and watched him walk forward where the children were playing and picked up a worn doll. "She's gonna miss this."
"Give me that!" I snapped and went to grab it from him, he put his arm up higher. I remembered throwing the wolf, so I focused on the doll and brought my right hand towards me, the doll flew out of his hands and into mine. "Ha!"
He looked at me startled, "ya have a gift?"
"I'm assuming." I looked down at the doll in my hands, her pink dress was dirty and the yarn hair was caked with mud. I heard the young girl crying from the house, obviously upset about the doll. "I'm gonna bring this to her."
"Why ya being so nice?" He watched me as I walked away.
"She's a child." I whispered and placed the doll on the doorstep and hid before the child's mother came out and picked it up.
"Ya have no desire to bite 'em?" William was next to me.
"Not in the slightest." My throat began to burn. "But the resistance hurts."
"How long have ya been changed?" He stared at me concerned.
"I don't know," I stared at my palms, my skin had lightened with my new life. "I just remember who did it."
"Where do ya reside?" He started walking, I followed, not wanting to be left alone again.
"In Texas."
"Ya quite a ways from home!" He laughed. "Tell me ya story."
"I have son, and I'm scared that I'll hurt him if I go back." I stopped, clouds were sliding their way across the sky with a storm rumbling in their bellies.
"How ya handled yaself with those children, ya be fine." I had an odd amount of trust for this stranger. "If we run, it be quicker."
I told the man my story as we headed back down South to my home, Tallulah knew what had happened just by looking at me, and kept my son close to her knowing what might happen. William showed a fondness to my help and I enjoyed that; she needed a companion.
The two of them showed me how to stop the thirst by surviving on animal's blood, but let me have a hand at a few criminals who tried to pass through town. I watched my son grow and he came to know William and Tallulah as his aunt and uncle, but questioned often about his father. I home schooled my son and he grew into a fine young man and met a girl in town whom he brought home to me one day, Jessy was her name, with her reddish brown curls and her liking my son. She never questioned how young I looked for having a son who was now eighteen.
In the months before the two would be sealed together, Anthony went missing. I was never able to find him and he never came back home. I waited patiently for years, sitting and watching. Tallulah worried about me and tried to get me to move on as the world was changing and we would have to move soon and start a new. I was scared.