AN: All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer.

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Chapter 10 The God of War

Galveston 1863

Jasper Whitlock was the youngest major in the Confederate Army. He joined at 17 and quickly moved up in rank. He had a very charismatic personality and many leadership qualities. It was for this reason that he was chosen by Maria to join her army. She felt that because he was a major in the army, he already had military expertise and that certainly appealed to her. On a mission to evacuate women and children from Galveston to Houston, Jasper ran into three beautiful women.

"He's speechless", the tallest one said.

"Lovely", said another one. She was blonde and her face was like an angel's.

"He looks right, young, strong and an officer. There is something more about him, he is compelling," the brunette who was with them. She seemed like the leader of the group. She slowly approached Jasper. She asked for his name as she leaned in as if to kiss him on the neck. The last thing he heard as he succumbed to the pain was her wishing that he survives because he could be useful to her.

When he woke up after his transformation, he was still a major. However, he was in a very different army. Jasper had no choice but to play the cards that were dealt to him. Maria used him to create a better and stronger army under her leadership. It was in this army that Jasper found and created Peter and Charlotte, who turned out to be mates. After decades in the army, Jasper allowed Peter and Charlotte to escape and later they came back for him. He lived a time with them but still felt like something was missing from his life. He decided to break off from them and wander on his own and soon after he found Alice and later they both found the Cullens.

"Jasper, I'm so sorry you lived that life and I am glad that you found Alice and the Cullens. I love you, big brother." Jasper had decided that it was time to tell Bella his story so she could understand why Maria wanted him back.

"Thank you, Darlin' I appreciate that you accept me and my family so readily and I have never seen my brother as happy as he is with you and I love you, too Sister."

As Jasper and Bella embraced, Edward and Alice walked into the room. They both knew Jasper's intentions and how it would end so they gave the two some alone time.

"Hey, love" Edward greeted Bella. "Would you like to go for a walk?"

"Yes", Bella answered. By walk, he meant did she want to ride on his back to their favorite spot. When they reached the meadow, Edward set Bella down on her own two feet. She had gotten used to the ride over the last two months so she was not so dizzy anymore.

They hadn't seen the nomadic vampires in a while but everyone was still on alert. Charlie had a vampire and werewolf bodyguard at all times. The Wolves and the Vampires were getting along much better. The treaty was amended to allow at least one vampire to cross the line into LaPush.

As they lied down in the soft grass of the meadow, Bella began to drift off to sleep. Edward did not mind her sleeping. He wished that he could, sometimes. It looked so peaceful. Suddenly, Bella began to whimper and moan in her sleep. At first, Edward assumed she was having a nightmare. That thought was quickly diminished when he got a whiff of her arousal. He could not help himself. He began to kiss her and she woke immediately. They fought for dominance in the kiss and Bella relented and let her vampire lover take control. He slowly undressed her and himself. He looked into her eyes as he entered her. Very slowly, they made love and brought each other over the edge of ecstasy. Afterward, Edward carried an exhausted but very satisfied Bella back to Charlie's. She was tucked in and asleep for the night by the time Charlie got home from the late shift at work.

Victoria

Texas

Victoria was tired of James and the humans he loved so much. As far as she was concerned, he couldn't love them anyway. He was a vampire. They were just food. She was reporting to Maria immediately. She wanted James to let go of the façade and be hers for eternity. She did not like him attached to anyone but her. She was almost tired of his attachment to Laurent but she felt that he would come in handy, for his fighting skills, when they escaped Maria. Her years with Maria were coming to an end.

She had convinced James to leave with her but Maria wanted one more scout out of James. To find the god of war. Easier said than done. It took them months to follow all the leads to Washington. She hated to go that way because James always took a trip down memory lane to rainy Forks to 'visit' his human little brother. It had been years since they stalked the human. The last time they did not even get close to him but this time James wanted to get close because of his niece who had recently moved in with her father. Their scents were mixed with vampires, at least five of them, so James wanted to investigate.

During their investigation, James picked up that one of the scents was the vampire they were looking for but instead of them following the scent to find the vampires and finish this mission, James stalled to get a glimpse of his niece. Victoria could not have that. The girl was young so that meant many more years of spying on humans to appease James' curiosity with a life he should have forgotten by now. She had tried to get to the humans while James was hunting in Seattle but there was another complication-more vampires showed up and wolves. She was going to try to get Maria to pay a visit to this town. It would kill two birds with one stone- she would get James and Maria could get her precious god of war.

A few lines in this chapter, Jasper's flashback, was taken from SM's Breaking Dawn.

Sorry for the very late update; my internet connection is not too good.

I wanted to do a story where James was not a psychopath and a lot of you already figured out part of my plot...James and Tanya.

Thanks for reading. MJ.