I was surprised to hear Edward's car coming up the drive. He'd left to pick up Bella for school, but given the heart beat I could now hear in the car it seemed they had no intentions in partaking in a day of education. Carlisle and Jasper had been engrossed in the television for most of the morning, watching the updates on the murders in Seattle. Jasper had suspected this a couple weeks ago, but had hoped against reason that this wasn't what he thought it was. The more updates that flashed across the television and the newspapers the more unsettled he became. He had urged Carlisle that we should take action before the Volturi caught wind of this and decided to step in due to its proximity to us. We didn't need to be giving them more reasons to be showing interest toward our family, but Carlisle was ever the pacifist and hesitated when it came to actions that could be misconstrued as over-reaching behavior should this already be on the Volturi radar.

Esme and I sat idly on the couch while Alice sat on the stairs. She had been trying for hours to force a vision of what to do but nothing was coming to her. At the sound of Edward returning, Emmett came in from where he had been keeping Rosalie company in the garage.

"Hey, Edward. Ditching, Bella?" He teased.

"We both are." Edward stated, but Emmett laughed.

"Yes, but it's her first time through high school. She might miss something." Edward rolled his eyes and tossed a news paper to Carlisle.

"Did you see that they're considering a serial killer now?" Edward asked and Carlisle sighed.

"They've had two specialists debating that possibility on CNN all morning." Carlisle replied.

"Let's go now." Emmett exclaimed excitedly.

"I'm dead bored." He said and I rolled my eyes at the grin that graced his face. He thought his puns were hilarious. An angry hiss came through the open garage door.

"She's such a pessimist." Emmett muttered.

"We'll have to go sometime." Edward stated grudgingly. He didn't like the idea of leaving Bella unprotected to go handle the situation in Seattle and he wasn't willing to leave her with the wolves, whether because of the danger he thought they presented or the interest that the boy from prom had in Bella, I wasn't quite certain. It was likely a combination of the two.

Carlisle was shaking his head in disagreement as Rosalie made her way in from the garage, the shutting of the door announcing her presence to the rest of the room as she came to stand beside Emmett. She was careful to keep her face expressionless, there were too many conflicting opinions being thrown around and Rose wasn't likely to give hers on a subject like this till it was absolutely needed to make a final decision.

"I'm concerned. We've never involved ourselves in this kind of thing before. It's not our business. We aren't the Volturi." Carlisle repeated his earlier argument.

"I don't want the Volturi to come here. It gives us less reaction time." Edward insisted.

"All those innocent humans in Seattle. It's not right to let them die this way." Esme murmured to Carlisle.

"I know." Carlisle sighed as he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer to his side.

"Oh." Edward said and he eyes moved to Jasper.

"I didn't think of that. I see. You're right, that has to be it. Well, that changes everything." The rest of the room looked curiously between Jasper and Edward, Jasper shifted slightly. He hated being called out like this and his lips pinched as he shot a look at Edward for reacting to his thoughts.

"I think you'd better explain to the others. What is the purpose of this?" Edward prodded.

"What's he rambling on about?" Alice asked as she moved to stand beside Bella.

"What are you thinking?" She asked. Jasper ruffled a little as he looked around the room before he settled on Bella.

"You're confused." He stated curiously.

"We're all confused." Emmett grumbled.

"You can afford the time to be patient. Bella should understand this, too. She's one of us now." Jasper stated and Bella looked surprised.

"How much do you know about me, Bella?" Jasper asked, his eyes flitting to Edward for a moment before continuing to look at her for her answer. Emmett gave a dramatic sigh and flopped down on the opposite sofa.

"Not much." Bella admitted uncomfortably. Jasper looked to Edward for a moment before Edward spoke.

"No, I'm sure you can understand why I haven't told her that story. But I suppose she needs to hear it now." Edward admitted grudgingly. Jasper nodded before beginning to roll up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal the skin of his arm. Bella looked on curiously as Jasper moved his wrist closer to the lamp that was sitting on the end table next to him, allowing Bella to see the crescent shaped scars that adorned his skin.

"Oh, you have a scar like mine." Bella said as her hand moved to the wrist that James had bit. Jasper gave a patient smile.

"I have lots of scars like yours, Bella." Jasper pushed the sleeve further up his arm to reveal more and more of the scars he despised.

"Jasper, what happened to you?" Bella gasped.

"The same thing that happened to your hand. Repeated a thousand times." Jasper gave a rueful laugh and I quickly moved to sit beside him, my hand resting on his leg as he rubbed his hand over the scars almost unconsciously as if he was feeling the burn all over again.

"Our venom is the only thing that leaves a scar." Jasper explained.

"Why?" Bella asked as she stares at the scars in horror. I had the strong desire to pull his sleeve back down. I hated when people looked at Jasper like that, like someone to pity.

"I didn't have quite the same… upbringing as my adopted siblings here. My beginning was something else entirely." I could hear the reserve in Jasper's voice as he hurried to think of how best to tell Bella his story, likely trying to edit out and minimize the grizzlier parts. The others had heard his story before and turned back to the tv though I wound my fingers through Jasper's, a silent show of support. He gave my hand a squeeze before continuing.

"Before I tell you my story, you must understand that there are places in our world, Bella, where the life span of the never aging is measured in weeks, and not centuries. To truly understand why, you have to look at the world from a different perspective. You have to imagine the way it looked to the powerful, the greedy… the perpetually thirsty." Bella was looking to Jasper with wide eyes, completely enraptured.

"You see, there are places in this world that are more desirable to us than others. Places where we can be less restrained, and still avoid detection. Picture, for instance, a map of the western hemisphere. Picture on it every human life as a small red dot. The thicker the red, the more easily we, well, those who exist this way, can feed without attracting notice." Bella gave a shudder.

"Not that the covens in the South care much for what the humans notice or do not. It's the Volturi that keep them in check. They are the only ones that the southern covens fear. If not for the Volturi, the rest of us would be quickly exposed." Bella frowned when Jasper spoke of the Volturi, likely noting that he spoke of them different then how she was used to Edward speaking about them.

"The North is, by comparison, very civilized. Mostly we are nomads here who enjoy the day as well as the night, who allow humans to interact with us unsuspectingly, anonymity is important to us all. It's a different world in the South. The immortals there come out only at night. They spend the day plotting their next move, or anticipating their enemy's. Because it has been war in the South, constant war for centuries, with never one moment of truce. The covens there barely note the existence of humans except as soldiers notice a herd of cows by the wayside, food for the taking. They only hide from the notice of the herd because of the Volturi."

"But what are they fighting for?" Bella asked and Jasper smiled.

"Remember the map with the red dots?" Bella nodded.

"They fight for control of the thickest red. You see, it occurred to someone once that, if he were the only vampire in, let's say Mexico City, well then, he could feed every night, twice, three times, and no one would ever notice. He plotted ways to get rid of the competition. Others had the same idea. Some came up with more effective tactics than others." Jasper paused for a breath before continuing.

"But the most effective tactic was invented by a fairly young vampire named Benito. The first anyone ever heard of him, he came down from somewhere north of Dallas and massacred the two small covens that shared the area near Houston. Two nights later, he took on the much stronger clan of allies that claimed Monterrey in Northern Mexico. Again, he won."

"How did he win?"

"Benito created an army of newborn vampires. He was the first one to think of it, and, in the beginning, he was unstoppable. Very young vampires are volatile, wild, and almost impossible to control. One newborn can be reasoned with, taught to restrain himself, but ten, fifteen together are a nightmare. They'll turn on each other as easily as on the enemy you point them at. Benito had to keep making more as they fought amongst themselves, and as the covens he decimated took more than half his force down before they lost."

"You see, though the newborns are dangerous, they are still possible to defeat if you know what you're doing. They're incredibly powerful physically, for the first year or so, and if they're allowed to bring strength to bear they can crush an older vampire with ease. But they are slaves to their instincts, and thus predictable. Usually, they have no skill in fighting, only muscle and ferocity. And in this case, overwhelming numbers. The vampires in southern Mexico realized what was coming for them, and they did the only thing they could think of to counteract Benito. They made armies of their own…" Jasper stopped for a moment, collecting his thoughts.

"All hell broke loose, and I mean that more literally than you can possibly imagine. We immortals have our histories, too, and this particular war will never be forgotten. Of course, it was not a good time to be human in Mexico, either." Jasper said sardonically and Bella shuddered.

"When the body count reached epidemic proportions, in fact, your histories blame a disease for the population slump, the Volturi finally stepped in. The entire guard came together and sought out every newborn in the bottom half of North America, Benito was entrenched in Puebla, building his army as quickly as he could in order to take in the prize, Mexico City. The Volturi started with him, and then moved on to the rest. Anyone who was found with newborns was executed immediately, and, since everyone was trying to protect themselves from Benito, Mexico was emptied of vampires for a time."

"The Volturi were cleaning house for almost a year. This was another chapter of our history that will always be remembered, though there were very few witnesses left to speak of what it was like. I spoke to someone once who had, from a distance, watched what happened when they visited Culiacan." Jasper gave a shudder and I wrapped my arms around him, tucking myself into his side.

"It was enough that the fever for conquest did not spread from the South. The rest of the world stayed sane. We owe the Volturi for our present way of life. But when the Volturi went back to Italy, the survivors were quick to stake their claims in the South. It didn't take long before covens began to dispute again. There was a lot of bad blood, if you'll forgive the expression. Vendettas abounded. The idea of newborns was already there, and some were not able to resist. However, the Volturi had not been forgotten, and the southern covens were more careful this time. The newborns were selected from the human pool with more care, and given more training. They were used circumspectly, and the humans remained, for the most part, oblivious. Their creators gave the Volturi no reason to return."

"The wars resumed, but on a smaller scale. Every now and then, someone would go too far, speculation would begin in the human newspapers, and the Volturi would return and clean out the city. But they let the others, the careful ones, continue…"

"That's how you were changed." Bella whispered her realization and brought Jasper back to the moment. The next part was always the part I liked hearing, the happy moments before Maria entered his life.

"Yes. When I was human, I lived in Houston, Texas. I was almost seventeen years old when I joined the Confederate Army in 1861. I lied to the recruiters and told them I was twenty. I was tall enough to get away with it. My military career was short-lived, but very promising. People always… liked me, listened to what I had to say. My father said it was charisma. Of course, now I know it was probably something more. But, whatever the reason, I was promoted quickly through the ranks, over older, more experienced men. The Confederate Army was new and scrambling to organize itself, so that provided opportunities, as well. By the first battle of Galveston, well, it was more of a skirmish, really, I was the youngest major in Texas not even acknowledging my real age." Jasper smiled proudly and I hummed contentedly.

"I was placed in charge of evacuating the women and children from the city when the Union's mortar boats reached the harbor. It took a day to prepare them, and then I left with the first column of civilians to convey them to Houston. I remember that night very clearly." Jasper voice lost all the pride and happiness that had been present when he had been humbly bragging about his accomplishments.

"We reached the city after dark. I stayed only long enough to make sure that the entire party was safely situated. As soon as that was done, I got myself a fresh horse, and I headed back to Galveston. There wasn't time to rest. Just a mile outside of the city, I found three women on foot. I assumed they were stragglers and dismounted at once to offer them my aid. But, when I could see their faces in the dim light of the moon, I was stunned into silence. They were, without question, the three most beautiful women I had ever seen. They had such pale skin, I remember marveling at it. Even the little black-haired girl, whose features were clearly Mexican, was porcelain in the moonlight. They seemed young, all of them, still young enough to be called girls. I knew they were not lost members of our party. I would have remembered seeing these three." This part always bothered me, it was the pain that crept into his voice at reliving the end of his human life and the knowledge of the hold Maria had once had over Jasper, I hated both parts equally.

"I was stunned speechless, a fact that amused them immensely. There was the tiny black haired girl and two blondes, though the one her hair was light enough to call white. They observed me, took stock of me like I was a prize bull up for auction, both of the blondes looking to the dark haired girl for her final opinion, if they'd been military I would have said that she outranked them. I was assessed, they spoke like I wasn't even there till they decided that they liked me, called me compelling before deciding that Maria would change me because the girl they called Nettie killed those she tried to change twice as often as she kept them. Nettie and the other one left, disappearing into the distance faster than my eye could follow. I'd never been superstitious in my life till that moment." Jasper seemed to lose himself in the memory till I tapped his arm. Jasper blinked before going back to the story.

"She asked my name and I finally managed to make my brain work long enough to answer her. She told me she truly hoped I would survive, then she stepped closer, almost like she was going to kiss me, I stood frozen even though every instinct in my body was telling me to run." Jasper stopped and looked to Edward before continuing.

"A few days later, I was introduced to my new life. The women, their names were Maria, Nettie and Lucy. They hadn't been together long, Maria had rounded up the other two, all three were survivors of recently lost battles. Theirs was a partnership of convenience. Maria wanted revenge, and she wanted her territories back. The others were eager to increase their… herd lands I suppose you could say. They were putting together an army, and going about it more carefully than was usual. It was Maria's idea. She wanted a superior army, so she sought out specific humans who had potential. Then she gave us much more attention, more training than anyone else had bothered with. She taught us to fight and she taught us to be invisible to the humans. When we did well, we were rewarded…" He stopped again editing out some of the details that Edward would probably rather Bella not have to hear.

"She was in a hurry, though. Maria knew that the massive strength of the newborn began to wane around the year mark, and she wanted to act while we were strong. There were six of us when I joined Maria's band. She added four more within a fortnight. We were all male, Maria wanted soldiers, and that made it slightly more difficult to keep us from fighting amongst ourselves. I fought my first battles against my new comrades in arms. I was quicker than the others, better at combat. Maria was pleased with me, though put out that she had to keep replacing the ones I destroyed. I was rewarded often, and that made me stronger. Maria was a good judge of character. She decided to put me in charge of the others, as if I were being promoted. It suited my nature exactly. The casualties went down dramatically, and our numbers swelled to hover around twenty."

"This was considerable for the cautious times we were living in. My ability was yet undefined, to control the emotional atmosphere around me was vitally effective. We soon began to work together in a way that newborn vampires had never cooperated before. Even Maria, Nettie, and Lucy were able to work together more easily. Maria grew quite fond of me, she began to depend upon me. And, in some ways, I worshiped the ground she walked on. I had no idea that any other life was possible. Maria told us this was the way things were, and we believed."

"She asked me to tell her when my brothers and I were ready to fight, and I was eager to prove myself. I pulled together an army of twenty-three in the end, twenty-three unbelievably strong new vampires, organized and skilled as no others before. Maria was ecstatic. We crept down to Monterrey, her former home, and she unleashed us on her enemies. They had only nine newborns at the time, and a pair of older vampires controlling them. We took them down more easily than Maria could believe, losing only four in the process. It was an unheard-of margin of victory."

"Darlin', a little less detail." I teased as Jasper was getting a little too into his story telling. He smiled sheepishly while Edward looked to me gratefully.

"We were well trained and the easy success made Maria greedy. It wasn't long before she began to eye other cities. The first year, she extended her control to cover most of Texas and northern Mexico. Then others came from the South to dislodge her." Jasper's fingers moved to skim along some of the deepest scars on his arm.

"The fighting was intense and some started to worry about the return of the Volturi. Of the original twenty-three, I was the last standing after eighteen months. There were wins and losses, Nettie and Lucy turned on Maria eventually, but we won that. Maria and I were able to hold on to Monterrey, though the war continued, it quieted a little. The need for conquest was dying out, it was mostly vengeance and blood feuds at that point. So many had lost their partners, a loss they couldn't forgive…" Jasper eyes found me and I gently stroked his hair from his face with a smile. I knew what was going through his mind and I felt the same. If anything ever happened to him, there would be hell to pay.

"Maria and I kept a dozen newborns ready. They meant nothing, they were just pawns, disposable. When they outgrew their usefulness, they were disposed of. It was a violent cycle that went on for years. I had been sick of it long before anything changed…" Jasper stopped, likely thinking of what to keep and what to leave out.

"Decades later, I developed a friendship with a newborn who'd remained useful and survived his first three years, against the odds. His name was Peter." I smiled as I set my head against Jasper's shoulder.

"I liked Peter; he was… civilized, I suppose that's the word." Jasper smirked and I giggled, picturing Peter's reaction to being called civilized.

"He didn't enjoy the fighting, though he was good at it. He was assigned to deal with the newborns, babysit them in a sense. It was a full-time job. And then it was time to purge again. The newborns were outgrowing their strength; they were due to be replaced. Peter was supposed to help me dispose of them. We took them aside individually… it always made for a very long night. This time, he tried to convince me that a few had potential, but we'd been instructed to get rid of all of them, I had to tell him no."

"We were almost halfway through, and I could feel that it was taking a great toll on Peter. I was trying to decide whether or not I should send him away and finish up by myself as I called out the next victim. To my surprise, he was suddenly angry, furious. I braced myself for whatever his mood foreshadowed, he was a good fighter, but he was never a match for me. The newborn I'd summoned was a female, just past her year mark. Her name was Charlotte. His feelings changed when she came into view, they gave him away. He yelled for her to run and he bolted after her. I could have pursued them, but I didn't. I felt… adverse to destroying him."

"Maria was less than pleased to put it mildly. Five years later, Peter snuck back for me. He picked a good day to arrive. Maria was mystified by my ever-deteriorating frame of mind. She'd never felt a moment's depression, and I wondered why I was different. I began to notice a change in her emotions when she was near me, sometimes there was fear… and malice, the same feelings that had given me advance warning when Nettie and Lucy struck. I was preparing myself to destroy my only ally when Peter returned."

"Peter told me about his new life with Charlotte, that in the five years since they'd left they'd never been in a fight. That they had met others that could coexist without constant mayhem. It only took one conversation and I was convinced. I was relieved that there was a way out and I left without a backward glance. That's how I met this little vixen, Peter led me back to the woman that had taken them in, taught them peace and tranquility without knowing a single thing about the outside world." Jasper's smile was proud and smug and I batted at his chest.

"You guys give me too much credit. I just didn't care enough to try to kill them." I looked to Bella with mirth filled eyes.

"The first time I met Peter and Charlotte, I threw a body at them." I informed and Bella's eyes widened as she looked between Jasper, Edward and I. She was probably hoping I was joking but when Jasper laughed with a nod and Edward grimaced before giving his own nod she looked a little horrified.

"Why would you do that?' Bella squeaked.

"They stole my dinner. I was a little upset." I defended and Emmett laughed.

"Life was good, but my depression still stood in the wings. It always came crashing down on me as I fed. Each time I found another human victim, I would feel a faint prick of remembrance for that other life. Watching their eyes widen in wonder at my beauty, I could see Maria and the others in my head, what they had looked like to me that last night that I was Jasper Whitlock. It was stronger for me, this borrowed memory, than it was for anyone else, because I could feel everything my prey was feeling. And I lived their emotions as I killed them." Jasper looked to Bella as he finished.

"You've experienced the way I can manipulate the emotions around myself, Bella, but I wonder if you realize how the feelings in a room affect me. I live every day in a climate of emotion. For the first century of my life, I lived in a world of bloodthirsty vengeance, hate was my constant companion. It eased some when I left Maria but I had to feel the horror and fear of my prey. It began to be too much. Abilene tried to distract me from it as much as she could, but it only got worse. I tried to kill less often, but I would get too thirsty and I would give in. After a century of instant gratification, I found self-discipline… challenging. I still haven't perfected that." Jasper cast a gaze across the room to where Alice was sitting at Esme's feet.

"Abilene and I split off from Peter and Charlotte after a time and we were in Philadelphia. There was a storm and we were out during the day, something I wasn't completely comfortable with. I knew standing out in the rain would bring attention, so we ducked into a diner that was mostly empty. Our eyes were dark enough that no would notice them, though that meant I was thirsty and I was a little worried about that. Alice was there, expecting us naturally." Jasper and I chuckled as Alice beamed brightly at us.

"She practically skipped over to us, a bright smile on her face. I didn't know what to make of her and Abilene was off put by her 'bizarre' behavior." Alice stuck her tongue out at me and I stuck mine out at her in return. It was a teasing game we had every time the story was told.

"She comes up to us and announces 'You've kept me waiting a long time'."

"And you ducked your head like a good southern gentlemen and apologized." Alice giggled and I decided to wrap up our little story time.

"Alice took a seat and told us everything she had seen about Carlisle and his family. Told us that we were meant to be family too. The hope that there was finally an opportunity to lessen Jasper's sadness was enough to convince me to follow her, with a little more convincing of Jasper we went to find them." I finished with a smile as Alice leaned over the back of the couch to hug me from behind.

"Scared the hell out of them, too." Edward said with a roll of his eyes before turning to Bella.

"I was away hunting. Jasper shows up, covered in battle scars, towing this little freak," Edward said teasingly with a grin at Alice.

"Who greets them all by name, knows everything about them, and wants to know which room she can move into. And then there's Abilene who was happier to stay outside and paint rocks." The three of us laughed at the picture he painted.

"When I got home, all my things were in the garage." Edward continued with a pointed look at Alice. Alice just shrugged.

"Your room had the best view." We continued to laugh and Bella smiled.

"That's a nice story." She said and I looked to Bella questioningly.

"I mean the last part. The happy ending." Bella defended.

"Alice made a big difference." Jasper nodded.

"This is a climate I enjoy." I smiled and tucked tighter into his side as his arm wrapped around my shoulders. He pressed a kiss to my forehead before looking to Alice as she sighed.

"An army?" She questioned. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"I thought I must be interrupting the signs incorrectly. Because where is the motive? Why would someone create an army in Seattle? There is no history there, no vendetta. It makes no sense from a conquest standpoint, either; no one claims it. Nomads pass through, but there's no one to fight for it. No one to defend it from. But I've seen this before, and there's no other explanation. There is an army of newborn vampires in Seattle. Fewer than twenty, I'd guess. The difficult part is that they are totally untrained. Whoever made them just set them loose. It will only get worse, and it won't be much longer till the Volturi step in. Actually, I'm surprised they've let this go on so long."

"What can we do?" Carlisle asked.

"If we want to avoid the Volturi's involvement, we will have to destroy the newborns, and we will have to do it soon." Jasper said gravely.