Major Jasper Whitlock's POV

"Will you two just shut the fuck up?" I said as I stopped running and spun around to face my two subordinates; though insubordinates would probably describe these two fuckers I had aligned myself with better.

Seriously. First we have Peter Whitlock. He is an asshole, plain and simple. He will chew you up and spit you out, but not before playing with you until you begged for mercy, or in most cases, death. His self-esteem is too high and he doesn't care what you think about him. Part of me wonders why he's still with me, but I can feel his emotions and I know that he feels indebted to me, what for? Fucked if I know.

Next was Garrett Garrison. Much like Peter he is an ass, but unlike Peter he is extremely volatile. Garrett has a short fuse and is fiercely protective of his and his own. Garrett shows no mercy and I've had to physically stop him from going too far on several occasions. In the end I was just thankful he was on my side and not against me. Garrett and I had been through hell and back twice, so I knew I could always count on him.

Separate, Peter and Garrett would be fine, but you put them together and all hell breaks loose. They are best friends and brothers. They tease each other to the point of torture before forgiving each other and starting all over again. I usually let them do as they please, but it was a headache I could do without. Thankfully I was the leader and when it came down to it they knew I was in charge and they sat down and shut up.

I had endured enough of them today. They were arguing about some unimportant incessant thing that I did not care to even acknowledge. All of their arguments were not worth anybody's time, but they were both stubborn and both argumentative. Usually I tuned them out, but today… I just couldn't even be bothered.

"Shut the fuck up," I repeated.

"He started it," Garrett said, pushing Peter in the shoulder.

"I did not!"

"I said, shut the fuck up!" I roared and they had enough sense to drop their heads. Finally.

I turned and took off running. I could hear Peter and Garrett arguing and fighting behind me, but I ignored them the best that I could.

I didn't get far before wisps of another's emotions began to hit me. I tried to push them away, but they clung to me. At first they were mild. A tinge of sadness and fear, but the longer I ran, the stronger they got. Who the fuck was I feeling in the middle of fucking nowhere? I tried to get a reach on these emotions but they were too far away. Too far away? That wasn't even possible. I kept on running, desperately hoping that the emotions would drop off and leave me be, but I had no luck. They became so great that I had to stop dead in my tracks.

I didn't know much, but I had a strong urge to chase these emotions down and kill whoever was making me feel this way.

"Why are we stopping?" Peter asked as they both stayed a step behind me.

I closed my eyes and stayed as silent and as still as I could. I was a smart man, what were my options? I knew that if I could reach whatever vamp was making me feel these emotions and kill them dead then I would no longer have to feel them. No, correction, I would never have to feel these emotions ever again.

"Stay here," I warned my companions.

I took off running, but they weren't listening to me.

I stopped and had both of them by their throats before they even noticed. "I said stay the fuck here, that's an order. Do not leave this forest unless you hear directly from me."

I let them go and took a step away from them.

"Where are you going?" Peter asked.

"There is something I must attend to, it cannot wait."

"Major, do you need our help?" Garrett asked.

"No, Garrett, stay here and keep Peter with you, I will return."

I took off running again and I was thankful to find that they weren't following me. We were in amongst the Rocky Mountains so I had no doubt they would find something to entertain themselves whilst I set out to find whoever was making me feel like this and kill them. When I was sure Peter and Garrett were going to stay and follow my orders I picked up my pace, following the gut-wrenching feeling as it got stronger and stronger. What was this? All my vampire life I had been feeling others emotions, but I had never felt anything like this. These emotions felt normal, but they were so pure, so raw, and they cut me so deeply.

Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Washington. Washington, this is the right state, I can feel it. The feelings were becoming stronger. I couldn't understand why they were still with me. Why were they constant? It must be a vampire, perhaps they lost their mate. I had seen it before, but it had never been this bad and it had never affected me like this. I pushed on. Whoever it was they were my enemy.

Vancouver, Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle… Wrong turn. I was sure I was headed to Seattle. Port Townsend, Port Angeles, where was this vampire hiding? I got just outside Forks, Washington, population- one month's feeding for me and my boys. I followed the emotions, scenting the air. There were so many vampires in this town. I counted seven different scents and six of those were from mated couples. Was the vampire I was searching for one of them? It had to be.

Seven vampires, I wasn't afraid. I could best seven vampires on my own any day. The only trouble would be if they had gifts. I passed where the scents seemed to accumulate and there was only one scent left. I brought it inside me and focused on it. You couldn't tell much by a scent, but I could tell this was from a boy. I hit the center of town and the vamp boy's scent disappeared. I couldn't worry about that now. I stuck to the trees and continued on. Whoever was making me feel this way would be dead soon enough.

I hit the end of the trees and broke free. There was a modest two story white house. The vamp boy's scent was here, but it was faint. He didn't live here and he wasn't here now. What was going on? I could feel the emotions. Whoever was affecting me was in this house. I stopped and scented the air. I could smell no vampires, just a human or two, and some blood. I strained my ears. I could hear two hearts beating, but one was weak. They were in the house.

I sprinted to the house and kicked open the back door. Blood, there was blood everywhere. I stopped and looked down. A trail of blood went from the back door to inside. What was going on and why was I here? But most importantly, why wasn't this blood sending me into a frenzy? Blood was me. I was born in blood and I kill in blood. Something was going on here.

I followed the blood and came across a body in the living room of the small house. It was a middle aged man with dark hair and a mustache. It looked like he had a uniform on, but it was hard to tell. This man had been attacked, but by what? Not a vampire that's for sure, but something else, something not normal. Something was going on here. I knelt down next to the man. He was bleeding out in front of me. His heart was still beating, barely, and his breaths were coming out in short gasps. He was choking on his blood, drowning. He was past help, so why didn't I want to kill him.

I heard a noise upstairs and my focus shifted. This man was not the one affecting me, it was whoever was upstairs. I left the man to die and ascended the stairs. One more death in this house won't affect anything. I climbed the stairs slowly. Whoever was affecting me was in the room at the end of the hall, the door was slightly ajar. I stood at the door and looked in.

There was a girl, a silly little girl. These emotions were coming from her. Who was she? She was human, I knew that much, and that surprised me. How could she feel this greatly? She was merely a human. Was that her father downstairs? Is that why she felt so much despair and grief? But why? People die all the time. You don't just give up. You're supposed to move forward, no matter how much it hurt.

The girl moved. Her long brown hair shifted away from her face and she looked so broken, but I could also feel her resolve. What had she decided? Her grief had overtaken her, but she had accepted it, and then it hit me. She was suicidal. She was going to kill herself. Why? Why would you waste you own life? Silly, silly girl.

"Bella?" I faintly heard and I looked back towards the stairs. Why was the man whispering about beautiful? "Bella?" There it was again, but it was too faint for the girl to hear.

I looked back towards the girl just wondering what she was going to do. How was she going to kill herself? If she succeeded would I no longer feel her pain? Why wasn't I killing her? I knew she wanted to die, I could feel that, so why wasn't I killing her? I would be killing two birds with one stone, I'd be doing us both a favor.

I watched the girl debate with herself. She was clearly trying to figure out her best method of death. She didn't have many choices. She could hang herself, cut herself, take some pills. Personally I would take a swan dive out the window, head hits ground, neck breaks, you die. But with most acts of suicide they are never certain, any number of things could go wrong and you could fail, dooming yourself to live when what you wanted most was death. But then it all came back to the same thing, why wasn't I killing her? Her blood smelled good, so what was the problem?

"He's not dead, not yet," I found myself saying and she spun around. I moved away from the door, but she caught the movement.

Her anger flared and I was rooted to the spot. I wanted to move, but I couldn't. The door swung open and the girl was in front of me. Her brown eyes were wide and she felt so much anger. I looked past her and into her room. A piece of paper on her desk caught my eye, it held her name, Isabella Swan. She didn't talk, but I also noted that she wasn't afraid of me. My eyes were dead black, I was covered in scars, my face was twisted in malice, she should be scared of me. Perhaps she was just too overwhelmed to process me presence properly at this stage.

"If your name is Bella, he's calling for you."

It took a second for her to realize what I said and she pushed past me and ran down the stairs. I followed her, slowly.

"Dad?" she asked tentatively from the bottom step. She was scared, but hopeful. Why would she trust me? Trust my word at that? Who was I to her? A stranger in the shadows.

"Bella?" the man spoke.

"Dad! Dad!" Isabella was off the stairs and by his side in an instant. I followed, but stopped on the bottom step.

Isabella grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you," I told her as I leaned against the bannister. She turned and faced me and glared. Who did she think she was? "You're making his blood pump faster and therefore you're making him lose his blood faster."

Isabella let go of his hand.

"I'm so sorry, dad."

"Bella, please listen to me."

"Dad, no I can't. Please don't do this to me. I can't lose you too."

Who else had this girl lost in her short life? Her mother perhaps.

"Bella, you need to know that I love you."

"Dad, don't do this."

"I can save him," I spoke without thinking and Isabella turned to face me. "I can't guarantee anything, but he'll live long enough for you to get him to the hospital."

"And you would do this for me?" Isabella asked. I watched as she got up from the floor and stood in front of me. "Why?"

I had no fucking idea why. I was just glad Peter and Garrett weren't here to see me like this.

"I only ask for one thing."

"Of course you do," she muttered. Watch your tone you silly girl.

"I will ask something of you one day and you'll have no choice but to say yes."

"I'm not agreeing to that. I'm not stupid."

"Isabella, your father is dying, make your decision."

She looked up into my eyes. What was she searching for? She looked away from me and back at her father.

"Save him!" she screamed at me.

Finally.

"I need a sewing needle, some thread, alcohol, cloth, and your dad's first aid kit."

"How did you know he had a-"

"Isabella, now!" I watched as she bowed her head and ran up the stairs.

I walked over to Isabella's father and knelt by his side once again. I quickly observed and categorized his injuries. He was definitely attacked by an animal. I could see bite wounds, but the worst was the claw marks all over his body. Isabella's dad was attacked by something that was bigger and stronger than him. He didn't stand a chance. I wondered why he was still alive. Any human I've come across with similar injuries would have just given up, but he was fighting. Why was he fighting?

Isabella came back and dropped everything by my side. I closed my eyes, bringing my objective into the forefront of my mind. This brought me back to my human days on the battlefield. I was one of the youngest major's in the Civil War. I was in charge of a group of young men, one of which was a vampire Garrett, I of course didn't know this at the time. Anyway, whenever one of my boys got injured I would stitch them up the best I could until we could get them en route to the makeshift hospitals. I proudly had the lowest number of casualties because I believed heavily in leaving no man behind.

I knew Isabella's dad would be going to the hospital very soon, so I decided to just focus on his major injuries. I found the main arteries and blood vessels that had been sliced open and stitched them closed. It was a messy job, blood everywhere, and once again I wasn't tempted by the blood at all. Why the fuck was that? No time to dwell on that. I opened up the first aid kit and saw that it was filled with gauze and bandages, but the cotton bed sheet Isabella had grabbed seemed more appealing to me. I grabbed it and easily ripped it into pieces, using it to stem the bleeding further by packing it inside the wounds.

"Get to your car," I told Isabella. She took a second, but she followed my command.

When she was out the front door I picked her father up and followed her. She was sitting in a rusted orange truck. Her mode of transport surprised me. I placed her father carefully in the back and stepped next to her window. She wound it down and I could tell she was gearing up to ask me something, I spoke first.

"You tell no one about me or my presence here today, do you understand? I will be nearby and trust me when I say that I will know. If you slip up you will pay with your life, or your father's life, the choice will be mine. I will come back to you before I leave town, whether it be for the 'favor' you owe me or just to say goodbye for now." I watched as she just stared at me confused. "Drive, Isabella! I stitched him up well, but he's prone to more infections now. Get him help or he will die."

My words stuck a nerve in her and she was backed out of the driveway and onto the road faster than I expected. I watched her leave. I felt her emotions as she left. I had noted that being near her they were less intense and now that she was leaving me, the further she got from me, the worse I felt. I needed to follow her. I should just kill her and her father now, and leave all this mess behind me. Maybe when they're next alone.