AUTHOR NOTE: Sorry it has been such a long time. This whole pandemic hit us pretty hard and I have been in mum, protector and teacher mode for the last 9 weeks. I have managed to write a bit more of this so the good news is the next chapter will be posted in the next week. YAY! They are also the longest chapter to date at nearly or over 5000 each. We are getting closer to the battle. These next few chapters are kinda filler chapters, letting everyone know what they are doing leading up to the battle and introducing a few new players. It also explains Lia and Jasper a little more. As always, let me know what you think!
Hope everyone is staying safe and sound.
Wanderer x

It took longer than I care to admit until I felt steady enough to stand. Seth was by my side the whole time. He didn't speak or ask what had happened, he was just a silent pillar of support. He grabbed my arm and helped me when I started to stand.

"You ok?"

I shook my head. "No." I moved out of his reach and mentally shook myself. I had never, in all my life both human and vampire, had experienced pain quite like that. I knew from experience there were gifted vampires out there who specialised in creating pain. Jane, from the Volturi was the worse known. But her burning pain had absolutely nothing over what Lia did. It wasn't an illusion like Jane's, it was real horrific pain that projected right through my body as well as my mind. I had experienced her pain firsthand as if I was there. If that was her power, I understood now why people feared her. But what power was it? I mentally shook myself. Now was not the time. I was needed back at my family. We needed to plan a battle. Then I would hide and lick my wounds. I just hoped I hadn't caused more hatred from Lia. I turned to Seth who eyed my warily.

"Let's go pup."

We moved as one, a slow walk back to the treaty line. There was no need to rush right now. The silence was almost deafening, and I felt his curiosity.

"She showed me her pain."

"What?"

"Lia." I kept my eyes forward as we passed the treaty line and headed to my home. "When she touched me, I could see and feel everything she went through since I had left."

"But… that…" He seemed genuinely shocked and almost horrified.

"I have never felt so much pain in all my existence." I licked my lips. "It makes me wanna weep for her. But she is right. I don't get to play the victim card. Not after knowing now what she went through."

"So… she has powers to then?" He asked gently.

I shook my head. "I am not sure what they are but yes, clearly she does."

"Shit, I am glad she is on our side."

"She might not be after our talk." I murmured, filled with self-pity. I had destroyed her. A large hand clapped on my shoulder. Seth grinned at me when I turned to look.

"She may be pissed right now, but somehow, I reckon you two will work it all out. You're both crazy and who knows what the lust of war will do." I never wanted to smack a smile off a face as much as I did now.

"Be careful pup. I can still kick your ass." I hissed. He laughed.

"Yeah right. A girl took you down with a hand on your face. You got nothing old man." He laughed before shifting and taking off towards my house. I grinned. I knew he was trying to pull me out of my mood, and I was grateful. Didn't mean I wasn't going to kick his ass when I caught him.

"You wanna talk?" she turned to her partner and smiled softly at the awkward question.

"Do you really want to listen?" She retorted. Sam grinned.

"Not really. But I also know that whatever just happened, was bad. Emily says I need to work on my listening and communication. I am also curious how you bought him to his knees like that. I have seen him fight and he is one of the strongest bloodsuckers I have ever seen."

"Emily?" Emalia tilted her head, keeping the conversation away from Jasper for the time being. "I don't think I met her?"

"No." Sam shook his head. "I kept her away. Emily is my fiancé. She will oversee taking the smaller children away."

"Congratulations." She placed a hand on his arm and squeezed gently. He ignored the cold chill that shot up his arm. He had come to realise after spending a few days with her that she was very touchy for a bloodsucker. "How long have you been together?"

"Years." He scratched the back of his neck. "We umm…"

"You imprinted and your relationship has been clouded by doubt and awkwardness?" Emalia guessed, ducked under a large tree branch. She turned when she noticed Sam was no longer near her. "What?'

"Are you a freaking mind read too?" He asked jogging back to her side. She laughed and shook her head.

"I have heard many stories about imprinting and they always seem to involve a love triangle and a lot of awkwardness. I find the stories amusing if not somewhat tragic."

"I dated her cousin before I turned." Sam coughed out. Emalia nodded.

"That would do it then."

"So, what about you and Hale?"

She rose an eyebrow at him. "I just put him on his knees. I think we are well past awkward."

"Can I ask what happened?"

"I showed him the pain he caused." She said softly, looking ahead. "I let him feel everything I have felt for the last hundred and fifty years. I guess it was more than he could take."

"How…?"

"So, when is the wedding?" Sam's mouth snapped closed. He wasn't the brightest member of the pack by far, but he knew she no longer wanted to talk about it. He would find out what happened. He just had to be smarter about it.

"We don't know. Every time we go and plan, something happens."

"You could elope."

"Our families would kill us. As would the tribe. It's not a thing we do."

"There's no timeline on love Sam. Your day will come. Tell me about her."

"Well… if we have time, would you like to meet her?" he was back to sounding like an awkward teenager. Emalia stopped.

"You…want me to meet your future wife?"

Sam shrugged. "You don't have to. I just thought you two would get along. Besides, I should probably let her know what is going on." He didn't know why he had asked. He was well known to not like vampires. Tolerate them for a sake of a battle, yes. Like them, no. Bella was the only member of the Cullen clan to have really met Emily and that was before all this went south. There was just …something about Emalia that drew you in and made you want to trust her. Normally, it would be a false sense of security and Sam would be hesitating, but something in his gut told him from Emalia it was all genuine.

"We have time." Sam looked at her in confusion. "We have time now. She deserves to know what is going on. If she is uncomfortable, I will wait or go ahead to my camp." Emalia shrugged.

"You are so different." Sam said, turning left instead of right and heading towards his house. It was only a few minutes away from here anyway.

"Compared to you, of course I am."

"I meant in general. I have never met a vampire who acts so humanly."

Emalia shrugged. "I was never really normal material anyway." They walked the rest of the way in silence.

"I know you don't want to talk about it, but I have to ask. Did you ever go home?" Emalia sighed at his question. "I heard Hale say he went home, and it got me thinking."

"I went home many years after I was turned. I took a little while to control my blood lust. Wilhelm, the man who saved me thought it was a terrible idea, but I needed to see my family one last time." She stopped and ran a hand through her hair. The pain was clearly etched on her face and Sam felt bad for ever bringing it up. Before he could tell her to ignore the question, she continued. "My town was demolished. Maria sent an army to destroy it. The last piece of her Major's humanity. I guess it must have been after he had left her if he saw my mother when he went. She killed everyone and burnt it all to the ground." Emalia looked up at him. "It was filled with women and children when I left. The men had gone to war. I hope for their sakes it was quick."

"I am sorry." Sam said softly. Emalia shook her head.

"It was a long time ago. I use it to fuel my hatred for the bitch now." They moved in a silence for a little longer, both lost in thought, until a house came into view. It was a smallish house that looked loved and well lived in. Emalia instantly liked it.

"I feel like I should warn you. Emily has… she was injured years ago." Sam said softly, looking at the ground. "It doesn't change who she is. She is gorgeous and kind and loving. But sometimes…it makes people feel weird about it and her. I just…"

She put a hand on his arm. "It's okay. I learnt a long time ago to judge people on their souls and not their appearances." She nodded and he sighed out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He was grateful that at least one bloodsucker had the decency to retain some humanity.

"Thank you." She nodded towards the house.

"Shall you introduce your fiancé to a vampire?"

"To a friend." He corrected. She blinked up at him, amber eyes wide. "Don't let it go to your head." He pushed past her and walked the last few feet to the door. Emalia hung back, giving the couple a minute. The door swung open and he had an armful of warmth. He sighed and hugged Emily back tightly, breathing in her scent and feeling everything go back into place.

"I missed you!" She said.

"I missed you more." He pulled away to cup her face and kiss her. Euphoria shot through his system. "I brought company." He said after pulling away when the need to breath got too much. Emily looked over his shoulder at Emalia.

"Should I be worried?" Emily grinned, looking back to him and lowering herself back to the ground.

Sam huffed out a laugh. "She is that unknown clan leader the Cullen's mentioned. She was the one who warned us what is going to happen."

"She's a vampire?" Emily frowned, knowing his hatred of them. "And you brought her here?"

"She is nice and doesn't drink human blood. I am supposed to go with her to talk more preparations with her clan, but I wanted to see you and let you know what was going on. I didn't realise it would make you feel uncomfortable. I will tell her to go…"

"You need to calm down. I was more surprised you brought her here due to your hatred of them. She is welcomed here. I admit, I am a little intrigued of her after all the shadow and cloak stuff."

"You have no idea." He turned to Emalia who he knew heard everything. "You wanna come in?" Emalia smiled and moved toward them.

"Hi, I'm Emalia." She said as she reached them, holding out her hand. Emily smiled warmly, scars pulling up at the side, and shook her hand.

"Emily. Nice to meet you. Come on in. I have been dying to ask you a few things." Sam groaned knowing this was going to turn into a girl chat. Emalia laughed, the sound echoing in the small house.

"This is going to be fun."

"I haven't heard of anyone being able to project something like that before." Carlisle paced his office. Upon returning to the house, I had asked for a moment of his time. We had, as a family and Seth, discussed the plans agreed upon as well as when it will all go down. I had allocated jobs for each of my family to do and left Alice to search for any information. Edward was worried upon reading my mind of what went down but I strived off his curiosity by reminding him that we still had to work out what to do with Bella. I knew he wouldn't leave it alone, but I took the cowards way out and had been hiding with Carlisle since. As far as I knew, Edward and Bella were now currently holed up in their house, working (arguing) about what their plan was. Normally we would send her to the pack but now that they were gearing for war or leaving, there was very limited options. Personally, I hope he just turned her and got it over and done with. A newborn would be a benefit right now anyways.

I sighed and run a hand through my hair. "No one you know would know anything about it?"

"Honestly, it sounds like projection but then why the pain and the adding flashbacks?"

"Emotional projection?" Carlisle shook his head.

"Psychological or emotional projection is a human belief that you project your pain onto another through different ways. There is no actual mental projection or powers involved other than the aftereffects of said bulling on their poor victims and they certainly can't share mental images of what they went through. I have never met a vampire who can do it."

"Jane can. Edward can project mental images."

"Jane projections illusions of pain, not actual pain. From what you mentioned, Emalia can project real pain and emotions onto others as well as her memories, as if her victim is reliving the memory itself. Edward can only project if someone is open enough to receive and it is never with pain. What happened before she attacked you?"

"I brought up how I went home after I realised, she was dead and saw her mother cryin' over her grave. She told me not to play the victim card." My voice was small. Saying it out loud made me feel ten times worse. I had turned to emotional abusing and trying to guilty her into listening to me instead of respecting her feelings. A wave of sadness swept over me. This time it was from Carlisle.

"Oh Jasper." He said softly, sitting across from me. "Son, that was probably not the best way to go about it."

"I know. The second it came out of my mouth, I regretted it. I just wanted to her to understand. She told me how much pain I had caused, and I wanted her to feel the guilt I had been carrying ever since. She wouldn't listen so I used her mother against her." I spat in disgust. "Her mother was one of the best people I ever met, and I used her like a tool. I wouldn't be surprised if Lia hated me even more now."

"There is no need for pity son. Hopefully these few days apart will make her realise your real intentions and you both can move on. Her powers are confusing though. You said that Maria could make projections?"

"Maria made compulsions." I corrected. "She would make you believe what you were seein' or hearin' was the truth. That's how she trapped a lot of people. Me included. I was turned cause she made me believe she had Lia captive and would let her go if I didn't agree to be part of her army. I saw Lia many times in that camp for the first few months that when the real Lia was brought forth, I didn't believe it. Maria never shared mental images though within people's mind and memories. Just mind tricks focused on their worst fears." I scratched my chin. "Could it be telepathy?"

Carlisle shook his head. "I am not sure. It might be a little bit of many things. I guess the only answer we will get is if we ask Emalia herself." I snorted.

"That'll go down well."

"It will all work out son. One way or another. Fate brought you two back together and she must have a reason for it." I always found it funny that a vampire believed in Fate when most of us never had a choice in being turned or not, but this time, I felt comforted. Maybe he was right, maybe Fate had a different plan for my wife and me. I stood and nodded once. I needed to stop my self-wallowing and prepare my family for war.

"Enough of this mushy stuff. We should take her powers as a blessin' and hope to God she doesn't turn on us. I will go and talk to Pete and Charlotte. Work out who the members of Maria's army we should take out first."

"I am always here if you need Jasper. I will also put my feelers out for any mention of this memory projection. I will also ask our friends to stand by us. The one's I have already spoke to have agreed to stand with us. Most are on the move and will arrive within the next day or two."

"Thank you." I hugged him in a rear moment of vulnerability. He squeezed me back, radiating surprise and happiness. "For everything."

"That is what I am here for."

_

"She is lovely." Emalia broke the silence as they crossed over a river and towards her camp. They had spent four hours with Emily and as Sam predicted, the two women had gotten along famously. Emalia had offered a couple of guards for when she left with the kids, but Sam was worried that it would cause more wolves. Emily said she would discuss it with the leaders and see what they said. She would send word when she heard back. The thought of Emily leaving made Sam's heartache fiercely.

"She is." He replied to the vampire's statement. "Thank you for letting me see her."

"Separation between imprints is hard. I am sorry to have dragged you from her."

"Don't be. I need to do this for my pack. She understands."

"There are a lot of members at the camp. Some more should have arrived while we were gone. Some…don't like were-folk. I apologise for anything that may be said, but I ask you to let me deal with it."

"If someone has a problem with me, I can deal with it." Sam growled. He didn't like the thought of someone else handling his battles. He had been doing it all on his own for as long as he could phase.

"I know you can. I need calm and cooperation in my camp though. We don't have time for petty fighting between ourselves. If they have a problem working with your pack, I will make them see sense." The smile she sent him made him shivered. He had mental images of her ripping apart vampires like she did with the scout. A hand flung out and gripped his shirt, causing him to stop with a gasp.

"What the fu…" the same hand wrapped around his mouth and she shook her head. She crouched and dragged him down with her behind a large bunch of shrubbery. With a finger to her lips and his nod, she removed her hand.

"Something isn't right." She murmured so quietly he nearly missed it. "We should have come across my guards by now."

The silence of the trees was eerier. The hairs on the back of Sam's neck stood to attention and a growl let slip through clenched lips. He didn't know what was causing it, but he didn't like it.

"Shift Sam, shift now." Emalia hissed. He didn't hesitate before fur erupted out of his skin and he growled softly. Four men stepped out of the bush, covered in blood. A column of smoke began to rise above them and the smell of smoke and a burning sweetness need his nose itch. Emalia stiffened and her lip curled back over her fangs. These beasts had murdered her men.

"This will send a message." The first man said. He was tall and thin, the very image of a Hollywood vampire.

"Think it will scare them?" The second asked, a shorter blonder male with a thick beard covering the lower half of his face.

"Bitch better be scared." That was the third man, a dark-skinned youth who looked desperate for attention. He was bouncing on the tips of his toes. "Bitch knows not to fuck with Maria. Bitch thinks she's all that. We'll show her."

"We need to get an accurate reading of the numbers before we return. Maria will have our hea…" The forth vampire stopped talking as Emalia stepped out in front of them. She had the hood of her cloak up and had told Sam to stay until she needed him. She stopped in the middle of the bank and folding her arms behind her.

"What the fuck is this?" The first vampire asked, somewhat shocked.

"It ain't Halloween yet stupid. What the fuck are you doing?" The third vampire laughed. Emalia stayed silent. He apparently didn't like being ignored. "I asked you a question." Emalia merely tilted her head.

"Fucking humans man. Fucking dumb as shit." The third vampire snarled before leaping towards her. She side stepped him, grabbing his arm as he fell past her. She pulled and he screeched in shock and pain as his arm was torn form his body. She kicked him to the ground and planted a foot on his throat.

"Let him go before I rip your throat out." The first vampire hissed, taking a step forward. Emalia pressed down harder on the vampires throat; small cracking sounds echoed around them.

"You can try but I promise you won't get very far." She said softly.

"Who the fuck do you think you are? Do you know who you are fucking with girl?" He yelled.

"Mikey, Martin, Duke and King. Scouting party of Maria. Known as the Terror Quad. Probably sent to kill the scouting parties and gather intel of how many numbers the enemy has right?" She said steadily. The vampires hissed and looked at each other in question. How did she know? Sam stared at her in awe. Gone was the softness and human qualities of her. Instead, the Emalia in front of him looked like her name sake. She stood taller, colder and radiated power. He felt another shiver worm down his back. He was very glad she had decided to side with them.

"I can tell you that there is an army of over six hundred vampires two clearings over with more on the way from the South." She pressed slightly harder on the vampires throat, ignoring how he clawed at her leg with his good hand. "I can tell you that over fifty of those vampires have special gifts." The cracks in his throat echoed loudly now. "I can tell you that an army of shape shifters have joined them. Their strength and sped are unrivalled, even now our standards." A loud snap rang out as she snapped the vampires head clean off and picked it up. "And I can tell you that you and the bitch you call a leader will lose." The vampires roared in anger and moved towards her.

"Sam!" she called flipping over the first one to reach her and slam his head with the head of his fallen brother. Pushing him into the ground, she let her nails sink into his chest as Sam leapt over her head, biting clean through the second vampire. The last one stood frozen as if unable to believe his eyes. Emalia ripped her victims chest open before snapping his head. She turned to last vampire right as Sam flung the torn carcass of his victim away. He moved to stand next to her, lip pulled back and a deep growl rumbling in his throat. He could smell the fear and he liked it.

"Who…who are you?" The forth vampire asked shaking in fear as a venom dripping vampire and a snarling wolf moved towards him. He and his brothers were known to be the best and undefeated when it came to take out scouting parties. How had he missed these two? Emalia removed her hood and smirked.

"I am El Diabla." Her and Sam surged forward. The last thing the last vampire ever thought was how wrong Maria had been. They were certainly not going to win against El Diablo.