I ran for a century, sticking to the shadows and keeping my head low as Santiago's army and territory grew. I followed him silently watching his every move. I knew that I could never win a fight against him and he was never alone now that he was basically king of the south. Santiago's army was full of experienced and skilled fighters who he had stolen from the covens he destroyed previously. He hardly ever turned any humans from what I could tell, but when he did he kept the newborns starved for months before he decided to set them loose on some poor tribe or settlement. He got some sort of satisfaction from watching an entire group of people get slaughtered. The newborns he kept were feral and they were mostly for his entertainment, but I saw something in them that he didn't.
They were stronger and faster than any of the skilled fighters he had. Most of them were stupid about their instincts and very hard to control, but when they were controlled the results were marvelous. I took a break from watching Santiago and his army. I ventured up north into Arkansas were the territory wars weren't as serious as they were in Mexico. I tried to turn humans into vampires, but couldn't control my thirst and ended up draining each and every one of them. I was frustrated by my lack of control and realized that that was when I needed help. I skillfully avoided other covens and searched for older nomads.
Eventually I found Nettie, a vampire who's coven had been destroyed in a battle for territory. She was eager to replace the land she lost and agreed to help me build an army to take over Santiago's hunting grounds. Unfortunately her self control was worse than mine- she could hardly be around humans. Turning one was impossible for her. We roamed Arkansas together for a while while I worked on my control. Eventually we traveled into Northern Texas and met Lucy. Lucy was an exceptionally beautiful vampire, but she was fairly simple. She has lost her mate in the same fashion that I had. He was killed for territory and she managed to escape. She joined our small coven with the hopes of avenging her mate.
We camped in Texas for a while, building our newborn army. Lucy and I lured in unsuspecting humans with our beauty and turned them into vampires while Nettie made herself useful by training them to fight. She was more skilled in combat that the rest of us. Learning from the two older males who had made up her previous coven. We moved deeper into the south, staying in Austin where it was easy to pick off humans because of the Civil War. We were walking on the road- heading back to our camp after feeding in the city when he rode past us on his horse. He stopped to help us and I smiled at his handsome human face.
"Lovely," Lucy whispered to Nettie and I. "And an officer."
"I' shouldn't turn him, I can never stop once I've started." Suggested Nettie, her voice dropping lower as he approached us.
"You'd better do it, Maria. If he's important to you. I kill them twice as often as I keep them." Lucy said at a frequency that only vampires could hear.
"What's your name soldier?" I asked loud enough that he could hear, my Spanish accent thick despite the fact that I hadn't spoken the language in decades.
"Major Jasper Whitlock ma'am." He answered with a deep southern drawl.
"I hope you survive. You may be of great use to me." I moved faster than his human eyes could see and bit into his soft neck. His horse ran off at my sudden movement- honestly I was surprised the animal had stuck around for this long. The boy gasped in surprise while I sucked his hot blood down my throat. Lucy cautiously touched my shoulder reminding me that I was supposed to keep this one, but it was foolish of her to touch me while I drank. I turned to her, dropped my prey, and directed a loud warning growl at her. She backed up throwing her hands up in surrender, but on her face she wore a satisfied smirk.
"Calm down Maria," Nettie warned. "You should be thanking Lucy for stopping you. He'd be dead by now if it wasn't for her." She picked the boy up and threw him over her small shoulder while he screamed and withered in agony.
"Shall we make our way back to camp?" She asked before running away at vampire speed.
Lucy laughed and looked at me with a twinkle in her bright red eyes. "I'll race you!"
I trailed behind her, Lucy's legs were a lot longer than mine and so she ran longer strides than I did. When we arrived to camp I immediately found Nettie and the soldier. She had taken him to my quarters- knowing that I'd want to watch after the boy I sired. He withered in pain on my bed and I stayed next to him for the three days that he burned. I remembered the pain of the transformation all too well. When he woke I presented him with a small human girl that he eagerly drank from. After he drained the body he held her in his arms with a look of great pain.
"What did you do to me?" He asked.
"I've made you a vampire and you'll be my greatest newborn yet. Or at least I hope you will." I answered with a smile. I then explained to him everything he needed to know. The mechanics of vampirism, the dynamics of the army he was now a soldier in, and the rules that he had to follow. He nodded in agreement with everything I said, but I could tell his mind was going a mile a minute. I hoped he wasn't a resistant and spiteful newborn- I had to kill those kind within their first week and it was really all too wasteful.
"Now follow me." I instructed. He did as he was told (a good sign) and followed me outside and into the daylight. I heard him let out a startled gasp behind me and I smirked. I had the same reaction to being out in the sun for the first time as a vampire. There was no doubt that our sparkling skin was a surprise to us all. I led the boy to Nettie, where she sat watching two newborns fight. They were both pitiful in their skills and I knew that Nettie could end them both rather quickly.
"Nettie," I called out. "Mayor Whitlock here has been feed and is ready for his first lesson."
She nodded her head solemnly before shooing both of the fighting vampires away. She called for Alexander who was at the time our best fighter and most controlled newborn. He appeared out of nowhere and bowed in front of Nettie. He was a kiss up and foolishly thought that if he pleased his sire enough she would allow him to live past a year. Nettie advised Jasper to listen to his instincts and to think critically before she instructed Alexander to attack his opponent.
Jasper was obviously faster and stronger than Alexander being a newborn who had just fed. He moved with calculated speed and attacked Alexander with a skill that was unheard of for a vampire only a day old. It was true that he was a bit sloppy, but his potential shone as brightly as the hot Texas sun. Nettie called out tips to Alexander and I did the same for Jasper. The longer they fought the angrier Nettie's boy got, making him lunge at Jasper carelessly. Jasper saw the attack coming and moved faster than I had anticipated. In a matter of milliseconds he was on top of the older male and had him in a deadlock that would've resulted in Alexander's death had it been a real fight.
I had never been so hopeful. This honey blonde Texan was going to be the star player in my game of revenge. I kept him by my side as the months passed. I grew fond of the boy and soon he became my second in command. I allowed him to lay with me and in my bed I discovered that he had the ability to read others' emotions. It was during an argument with another newborn did I realize that he could manipulate them too. He became golden to me then and I gave him Lettie's job. As a former Major in the Confederate army he had experience and skill in training soldiers and my army thrived under his leadership.
Our first battle was in Dallas where I had met Lucy. We claimed the territory that had once belonged to her and her mate and she ripped the vampire who had taken it away from them limb from limb before setting the pieces on fire. She stayed with our coven even after she avenged her mate as we moved deeper into the south. We fought many battles and after a few years we found ourselves in Mexico. I hadn't been home in so long it felt strange to be there again, the air was thicker and I began speaking Spanish with the humans instead of English.
Even after all my time in the States Santiago was still in control of most of the country. We started taking territories in the far north of Mexico, slowly going deeper and deeper into the south. We won every battle we fought and after a while we owned all of northern Mexico. Nettie was content with our territory and thought that we had expanded enough to stop. I reminded her that this wasn't about territory for me and threatened to remove her from the coven if she wouldn't contribute to my true goals. It was three days after that talk that Jasper warned me of Nettie's and Lucy's deceitful emotions. I knew Jasper loved me and I never worried that he would do me any harm so together we ended them and continued pushing further into the south.
The closer we got to Santiago the more nervous I was about the upcoming battle. Jasper had let one of our best fighters and his small mate run away from my army, my trust in him was waning. And to top it off there were vampires under my command that were sure to die quickly in any battle. I commanded Jasper to kill all the vampires that lacked potential. After he executed my orders I sensed a difference in my once thriving companion. It used to excite him to train the army and win my approval. Now he was depressed and I worried were his loyalties lied. I made plans to kill Jasper with a few power hungry newborns in the army, secretly promising each of them Jasper's position after our big battle. I had no plans on sticking around with the army after Santiago was dead, but I didn't want to leave Jasper alive if he had plans to hurt me. I distracted him with sex, blood, and the army as much as I could as we continued expanding our territory.
We kept quiet about our victories unlike Santiago had. We killed every coven member, leaving behind no one to spread the word about my army. Soon we were right under Santiago's nose and Jasper and I had a plan to take him down. Unfortunately we weren't the only ones with Santiago on our hit list. He had gained attention from the Volturi, a powerful coven from Italy. I watched from afar as the vampires in cloaks tore through Santiago's skilled army. When every vampire but Santiago was dead and roasting in a large fire I edged closer to the scene. The thick smoke was fragrant enough to hide my scent and I was protected from sight through the thick forest of trees. A large vampire stepped forward and spoke rather loudly to Santiago.
"Santiago of the Mexican Coven, there have been claims made against you that state you are disobeying the laws set by the Volturi Coven. These laws include failure to kill inconspicuously and failure to control the newborns you've created that have killed inconspicuously. The disobedience of these laws have led or will lead to exposure. For these crimes against the vampire world you are to be sentenced to death."
My stomach was in knots and if my heart still pumped blood it would have been beating violently. I didn't know if I could sit back and watch as another vampire killed Santiago, but at the same time I knew that all I ever really wanted was him dead. I waited for the big, burly vampire in the robe to dismember Santiago but it never happened. Santiago fought the cloaked vampire and was about to tear his head off when he was suddenly on the ground, writhing in pain. I stared at him in horror as his loud shrieks filled the otherwise silent night.
The smallest Volturi member stepped up to him and tsked almost silently. Santiago's pain stopped suddenly and the girl leaned down over his body before speaking to him in English with a dull, bored voice. "Now, now Santiago. We can't have you killing our Demitri can we? The masters would be very upset if I allowed that to happen."
She stepped around him and once again his body spasmed in pain. He spit out harsh words in an old language that I didn't understand, it sounded oddly like Mam which I had heard enough of in my travels with my maker. It made sense that he spoke a Mayan language. His dark skin and Mexican features suggested that he was a native.
"We heard you were strong and fast. Stronger and faster than most. Do you want to run Santiago? You can try, but Demitri here would find you in a second. And he's pretty upset about you almost killing him." Her voice was light and airy, but bored and mocking all at the same time. "Do you want to die Santiago?"
His screams stopped when she asked her question and he quickly answered the girl. "No!"
"Master Aro is very interested in seeing just how fast and just how strong you are. So you have a choice Santiago. You can die right here and right now," Again he withered in pain until he begged her to stop. She relented and finished her statement. "Or you can come live with us in Volterra where you'll serve in the guard. Answer quickly."
"I don't want to die!" He yelled. I felt my body shake with rage when they picked him up off of the ground and ran away with him, leaving the fire blazing. He was gone. He was gone to live with the most powerful coven to ever exist. It would take a miracle to get to Santiago now. I ran faster than I ever did before back to camp. I burst into my room, fully expecting to see Jasper lounging on our bed and reading a book. But he wasn't there, I didn't panic and assumed that he went out to hunt or breathe or something. We stayed at camp for a full week when I realized that Jasper had left me and my best strategist wasn't coming back.
[A/N] Most of the words spoken between Nettie, Lucy, and Maria when they meet Jasper are from Stephanie Meyer or Eclipse the movie. Also I want to say thanks for sticking through this ridiculously long chapter with me there's only one more left. Review please I'll gladly answer questions and consider any constructive criticism. Or you could just tell me you like what you're reading.
