Author's Note:Ah, so here I am, AT LAST, apologizing profusely. I've been extremely busy lately and haven't had that much time to write. I've had my younger cousin down for a while and have pretty much had to spend all my time entertaining her so it wasn't until a couple days ago I was even able to start on this chapter. So once again I apologize. This chapter is considerably longer than most of them have been so far--about 3,700 words--while most have been say, anywhere from 2,600 to 3,000. Anyways, I don't think you want to listen to me blab right now so go on, read the chapter! I hope you enjoy it! Anyways, last chapter I got less reviews but plenty of hits. Please review! They really encourage me to write and I also love to hear your ideas for the story. I am always looking for input on what you think can make my story better!

Disclaimer: As always I don't own Twilight or anything associated with it. I am just using the characters, places and dates created by Stephenie Meyer to suit my own plot. If I could I would own all the Cullen men (for Stephenie has officially ruined all men for me as I am still hoping Edward will show up confessing his love for me...lol. kidding.) but sadly, I own nothing except Ralph.

Chapter Five

-Texas 1863-

"Are you finished feeding Bella?" Lucy's soft voice rang from the street and into to the alley where I had just killed my fourth meal that night.

"Almost!" I called back softly, although I knew she could still hear me.

I stared down at the two dead corpses which lay in a heap at my feet. While I had been walking around in the worst parts of town searching for a meal, I had stumbled across two men who were getting into it. They didn't even know what hit them. I had sucked them both dry before they could even react.

I still felt guilty about killing but at least I knew that I wasn't killing anyone innocent. The two men that I had killed were trying to kill each other over some business deal gone wrong.

I quickly discarded the evidence of my kill like Lucy had taught me and then left the alleyway. I waltzed into the dark street where Jasper and Lucy were waiting for me. Jasper smiled when he saw me, I managed a small smile back.

"Feeling better?" he asked, referring to my aversion to killing people.

I nodded slightly and kept my eyes trained to my feet, "I still feel guilty and I still don't like it but now that I know I am not killing the innocent it isn't all that bad." I told him truthfully. I still didn't agree with the concept of killing people to feed but I had come to understand that it was necessary for us as vampires.

"It gets better." Lucy said. "Eventually you won't have to feed as much. Right now since you are newborns you will have to feed a lot but as you live longer you will find that you don't have to feed constantly like you did when you first changed." She explained to us. "And look on the bright side—you are feeding to keep yourself strong and you are also helping people at the same time. You are killing off the people who would be a danger to innocent people out there in the world."

"I guess that makes sense." I told her.

Lucy smiled happily, "Glad you see it that way. Don't tell Maria about this though. If she knew about all the things that I'm telling you and teaching you she would think I am teaching you to be soft and she doesn't like that."

"Does Maria think she is ruler over everyone or something?" I asked in a bitter tone.

Lucy frowned slightly, "In a way I think she does. She wasn't always this way, you have to understand that. At one time she was just like you—new, innocent and confused."

"That's hard to believe." I muttered to myself.

Jasper heard and he snickered a little bit. But then he turned serious, I knew he was going to ask a question. "How did she change? And I am not just talking about changing into a vampire—how did she become like she is today?" he asked.

"When Maria was changed she was taught to fight, feed, dictate and be strong and that is about it. She didn't remember anything before her change aside from her name being Maria Veracruz and she that was changed in the middle of the woods after she got lost and a vampire found her. That vampire decided that she would be an excellent addition to his army so he changed her. When she awakened she was immediately brought into the war of fighting and superiority. Basically—this is all she knows. She doesn't know anything else and so she doesn't know that fighting isn't the only way to do things. I don't want you two to end up like she is. There is something special about you two, I know it. You two will become very powerful in this world of fighting and bloodshed. Just don't let it go to your head and don't turn out to be just like Maria is. It would be such a shame…" Lucy trailed off slightly and eyed both Jasper and I carefully.

"How do you know that we will be powerful?" Jasper asked. "You seem so sure of yourself, how can you know for sure?"

Lucy smiled a knowing smile, as if she knew something that we didn't. "I have my ways." She said.

I wondered what those ways were but before Jasper or I were able to question her on her choice of words, she continued. "We should find Maria and Nettie. Maria won't be too pleased if we are still here in the city at sunrise." Lucy commented with a grimace and with that she took off, leaving Jasper and I to follow.

"So what happens now?" I heard Jasper ask. We had just returned from the hunt, to my surprise Maria had seemed like she was in a better mood after feeding. But that was probably because she had stumbled upon three run-away Confederate soldiers. She bit all of them—with Nettie's help—and brought them back to the same place where Jasper and I were changed so that they could undergo the transformation as well.

It turned out that not long after Maria, Nettie and Lucy had decided to band together, the three vampires found an abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods—far away from any of the other vampire's who were after them. Maria decided it would do good to use as a home base for taking vampires who were undergoing the transformation as well as newborns who needed to be trained. That was where we were residing now.

The cabin wasn't large but it had plenty of space. It was the typical two story cabin with a parlor, kitchen and dining room—although the dining room and kitchen were not used—and four bedrooms. There was plenty of space outside and Maria had informed us that training would take place in the grassy areas in the backyard behind the cabin.

We were now all seated in the parlor. The three soldiers that Maria had changed were all in the upstairs rooms. Maria had decided to have them go through their change in the upstairs rooms in hopes that it wouldn't be so noisy but no such luck. I could hear their screams with my oversensitive ears from where I sat in between Lucy and Nettie on a couch.

Breaking from my thoughts, I saw Maria roll her eyes slightly at my elder brother's question, almost as if the answer was completely obvious and Jasper was overlooking the answer. Which he probably was but who was I to judge that. I decided on sitting quietly until Maria decided to grace us with her answer.

"As you know Nettie, Lucy and I have formed an alliance. The three of us are all survivors of recently fought battles." Maria started.

Jasper interrupted, "But I thought women couldn't fight in the war." He commented.

Maria let out a laugh but it didn't reach her eyes, "Not that type of war Jasper. We aren't speaking of the silly war you humans are having." She said. Jasper looked insulted and looked like he was about to retort but suddenly stopped and didn't reply. But he still glared at her. "The war I am talking about is a territorial war between vampires. The one I told you about earlier." She said.

"Normally I am very careful about whom I choose to be part of the army but right now we don't have much time. After our last defeat—before Nettie and Lucy joined me—I was the only one of my leader's army left. We are practically defenseless at the moment. I changed the both of you to help fight but I think we need to find out what your powers are before we decide where I want you on the battlefield. Isn't that right, girls?" Maria asked, turning towards Nettie and Lucy who nodded in approval.

"Powers?" Jasper asked in confusion.

'I am starting to think that vampires are very confusing.' I thought to myself. 'Either that or Maria just doesn't do a good job at explaining things.'

"Yes, powers. Most vampires are blessed with either a special power or a trait that was passed on from when they were human." Nettie explained. "Maria is a tracker which means she can track people easily. Lucy has an enhanced intuition. She was the one who convinced Maria to change you—although Maria already felt that you two would be good for the job. And well, I have no power." She said with a small shrug.

'Maybe that is why Lucy knows that we will be very powerful. Maybe it is her intuition telling her this.' I thought to myself.

"So not all vampires get a trait or a power?" Jasper concluded.

Nettie nodded, "Not all of them but it is very rare when a vampire doesn't have a trait or power. I guess I am one of the special ones—or rather non-special ones." She muttered softly although I still heard her.

Maria snorted loudly and I watched as Nettie's face fell slightly and a quick flash of hurt sprung in her eyes but was gone before anyone else could notice it. Lucy and I both glared angrily at Maria. I was really starting to get annoyed with Maria. She was so rude to the other people around her and acted like she was superior over everyone else. I knew that this was everything she knew but it didn't give her the right to dictate over others and be rude constantly.

'Newsflash—you aren't the dictator here Ms. Think-You-Know-It-All-Vampire!' I thought angrily as I put my hand on Nettie arm.

Suddenly a feeling of calm spread through the tense atmosphere and everyone started to relax—except for Maria.

"What was that?" Maria demanded, her face a mixture of frustration, irritation and uncertainty.

"What was what?" Lucy asked Maria, raising her eyebrows slightly.

"That feeling." Maria said. "Everything was tense and then all of a sudden everything just calmed down."

Lucy shrugged, "Don't ask me." She said.

Maria turned her eyes to me and Nettie in a questioning matter. Nettie and I exchanged a glance and we both shook our heads. "I have no idea what it is. I am just as confused as you are, Maria." Nettie answered.

"I think it was me." I heard Jasper say slowly.

All of our heads snapped in Jasper's direction. I felt my eyes open wider in question. 'What is he talking about?' I wondered silently to myself.

"What are you talking about Jasper?" Maria asked.

"Well, both Lucy and Bella's anger was rising fast and Nettie was feeling a mixture of both anger and hurt and if I know my sister any—if you get her mad enough she will act upon it. I didn't want a fight so I just thought about calming her down and calming everyone else down and then…" he trailed off. "Everything just calmed down."

"How do you know what everyone was feeling?" Lucy asked him.

Jasper shrugged, "I have no idea. I just do. It's just obvious for me." He explained. "I don't even have to think about it, it's almost as if I can feel what that person is feeling."

I looked from Lucy to Nettie to Maria. Lucy and Nettie's face both showed surprise with a trace of confusion but as I looked at Maria she had a large grin plastered on her face and an evil glint in her eyes.

"I think we have found your power Jasper." Maria said—her grin growing even bigger.

I watched for about the tenth time that day as Jasper defeated yet another vampire—ripping them to shreds or just biting them wherever he could. Although, most of the time he bit their neck. Maria said it was the most vulnerable spot and if you bit them there the other opponent stood no chance against you.

The other three Confederate soldiers had woken up after three days and Maria had put us straight up to training in the land behind the cabin. She had explained the concept of the fighting in more detail and explained how to fight other vampires. In all there had previously been seven of us. Maria, Nettie, Lucy, Jasper, myself and the three soldiers.

That was two weeks ago. Since then Maria had added six others to the mix. Four males and two females. They didn't even last a week before Jasper had killed them all during training.

I didn't particularly like fighting. I didn't have to grace that everyone else seemed to have while fighting but I did have the strength and I new the game well. Having a brother obsessed with military paid off I guess. Maria was impressed with both mine and Jasper's improvement in fighting although Maria had said that I probably wouldn't do much fighting. She had a more important job for me.

Lately Maria had been more tolerant and lenient of me. Ever since she had discovered my power—it was on accident really—she had been more acceptant of me. She said that both my power and my brother's power were very useful for her.

It had started out like any other day. We had only been staying with Maria for about four days at the time…

-Flashback-

I was up against one of the soldiers that had just finished their change. They were much bigger than me and defiantly stronger but luckily, I was faster. The soldier's name was Ralph. He was around Jasper's age and was well muscled and tall.

"I don't want to hurt a pretty lady like you. I will go easy on you okay." Ralph had whispered before we even started.

I snorted slightly at the male's ignorance. Men could be so judgmental towards women. Did they think that women were incapable of taking care of themselves? While some may not be able to, I knew that I was certainly able to take care of myself with no help.

"There is no need for that." I said haughtily.

Ralph had just laughed and shook his head. I was defiantly going to make sure that I killed this one.

Normally I wouldn't actually kill the opponent like Jasper did. Maria often got a little ticked because she had to replace the vampires that we killed. I was going to make sure that I made Ralph suffer.

In a way I knew that I was changing. I wasn't the soft, innocent, little Bella that had been human but I had come to realize that I couldn't be so soft and innocent out here in a bloodthirsty world where there were always people who were out to destroy me for feeding on 'their' hunting lands.

Of course I still didn't like the killing and there was a part of me that would always hate the killing but there was a larger part of me—the vampire part—that actually enjoyed it.

I watched as Ralph took a step towards me and fell into a crouch. I knew he was waiting for me to make the first move. I would make mine carefully.

We started to circle each other slowly until finally Ralph got tired of waiting for me to make a move and he went in for the kill. That was his mistake. I was too fast for him and moved quickly out of his range. We fought like this for a while. Ralph would make a move at me but I would dance out of his way at the last second. I would give him a 'told-you-so' grin every single time he would miss me.

This seemed to irritate him to no end.

He was started to get more aggressive in his fighting and I knew I really needed to actually start fighting now instead of just dancing away from his attacks. While he had his back turned I pounced up onto his back ready to bite into his neck when suddenly he flipped me over his neck and pinned me down to the ground.

I struggled and tried to get away but Ralph was a lot stronger than me. I started to panic as his mouth started to head towards my throat. I couldn't loose. I just couldn't.

'I wish I was invisible. I wish there was so way I could escape this' I thought to myself in panic.

Suddenly Ralph stopped and looked down at the ground where I was pinned in confusion. I took this time to flip him over and without another thought drove my teeth into his throat.

Without glancing down at Ralph again I jumped back up to my feet and faced where Maria, Nettie, Lucy and Jasper stood watching. The thing that surprised me though was that they were staring at me with wide, open mouths.

"What are you staring at?" I asked them after I had stood up.

Nettie's mouth was hanging open in shock and she looked like she was gasping for breath as she tried to speak, "Bella—thin—air—disappear—voices—how?" she stuttered almost incoherently.

"Where are you Bella?" Jasper called out worriedly as his eyes surveyed the backyard in a frantic frenzy.

"What are you talking about Jazz?" I asked my brother slowly.

Maria for once was at loss for words. I was surprised. It seemed like she always had something to say.

"What on earth are all of you blabbering about? I am right here!" I said as I marched right up to them and waved my hand in your face.

"We can't see you Bells. You just disappeared right before Ralph almost bit you. I still can't see you. Where are you?" Jasper explained, his voice almost trembling.

'What is she babbling about? How could I possibly disappear?' I thought to myself.

"Are you crazy? It isn't possible for anyone to disappear into thin air." I scoffed, voicing my silent opinions for them all to hear.

Nettie shook her head, "She's right. Unless—" she trailed off.

"Bella I think we have finally discovered your power." Lucy said.

A small smile crossed my face, "What is it?" I asked excitedly.

Up until that point none of the other newborns besides Jasper had received a power. We had discovered that Jasper was able to feel and manipulate others feelings.

"I think you can turn invisible." Lucy said.

-End Flashback-

We had figured out that my power was that I could make myself invisible. As cool as that sounds—it isn't all that really. As we practiced and experimented on my power we found that I could make my scent and any sounds I made disappear as well as my body. I could also make other's disappear as well.

I wasn't sure why on earth I would have gotten that power of all powers. Nettie had told Jasper and I that our power was a trait or a gift that we had previously had during our human life that was enhanced when we underwent the transformation from human to vampire. I knew that I was never able to disappear before so why did I get the power of invisibility?

Jasper thought it had something to do with the depression that I had fallen into when he had ran away to join the army. I'm not sure how he knew but he knew that I used to lock myself in my room away for hours while he was away and wallowed in my guilt and self-pity while trying to hide from the rest of the world. He thought that maybe that triggered the invisibility power now that I'm a vampire. Lucy and Nettie had agreed with Jasper and said that it was a very possible explaination while Maria had just scoffed at the idea of me trying to hide myself from others as a human.

But dispite how Maria had treated me when she first found out about my power, she had decided than instead of me doing most of the fighting, she wanted me to be her spy. She said that sense I was able to go out in the day (since I can make myself invisible and people wouldn't see me sparkle) I would be able to sneak up on our enemies and find out their every move. This actually pleased me. I would much rather sneak around than have to fight in battle. Without my invisibility and speed, I was pretty much defenseless—even with my newborn strength.

I shook my head slightly to clear my thoughts. My eyes refocused and I looked up in time to see Jasper look up from his kill and up at me. A triumphant smile was placed on his lips and his eyes were shining happily. Fighting was his thing—anyone could tell. He was practically made for it. It didn't surprise me at all that he hadn't lost a battle yet. Not even once. He always came out victorious.

I felt someone come up behind me and turned to face Maria. She was staring at Jasper with judgmental eyes—although I could tell by the spark in her eye that she was pleased with his success.

"Congratulations once again Jasper." Maria said in a sickly sweet voice. Jasper's gaze snapped from me to Maria in an instant. "You are better than most at combat. I am very pleased with you." She said, rolling the 'r' in 'very.' I knew that by that point I had been completely forgotten. In the short time we had been here I noticed that Jasper seemed to follow Maria around like a puppy dog.

"Thank you, ma'am." Jasper said happily in his southern accent.

"Now, I have a proposition for you." Maria said to him slowly with raised eyebrows.

"And what would that be?" My brother asked.

Maria smiled slightly, "I want you to help train the newborns. You are the best that I have seen in years, you really know your combat and the newborns seem to listen to you." She offered him.

Jasper grinned happily. "It would be an honor."

My jaw dropped in surprise. I was happy for my brother—I truly was. And he really deserved it but at the same time, I just couldn't believe it. Just like in the Confederate Army ranks, my brother was rising fast here in the ranks too and much to my surprise—so was I.

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