BPOV

It was official, the 5-Step Plan to defeat the Romanian's was under way.

The first step was simply being here on a plane headed back to Romania with a contingent of about fifty soldiers who were ready to fight. On the plane though, things had gotten quiet. I had only been home for just over three days before I was back on a plane to Romania, but my troops needed their Captain there and the fresh meat I was bringing with me would be a welcome sight to the Guard that was already on the ground. The war-weary would be leaving as soon as we arrived and they would be headed back to Volterra for a month's rest before being brought back with Aro and Caius for the falsified surrender to take place. A month didn't seem like much time to get our plan in motion, but that was all the time Caius and Aro were willing to give before they showed up.

Courtesy of our spies in the Romanian camp, we all knew what we were in for once we landed. Although the spies that we currently had in place were speaking directly to Demetri at the moment, Demetri had been giving me regular updates about our current situation. Yes, I had ignored him for the most part, and yes, I did in fact feel guilty about it. However, I don't think he would begrudge me for taking my break for all it was worth. I knew he wasn't going to respond to the regular updates that I sent him once he was back in Volterra, and honestly he shouldn't have expected me to.

Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for the information that Demetri was sending and it did in fact help to have eyes on the situation, but if things had really gotten out of hand, Demetri would have done more to get my attention than send the occasional text message. I knew he had things under control, so I felt that checking my messages every time my phone made a noise was not really taking full advantage of my leave. The fact that I may have been distracted by the addition of the Whitlock's was...irrelevant. Plus, stressing about the ongoing battles when I was thousands of miles away and unable to really do much wasn't exactly beneficial to anyone, so I had waited until I had boarded the plane before checking anything.

Fortunately, there wasn't really much in the way of news. Sigrid had been overwhelmed during a skirmish with some Romanian newborns who had almost ripped her apart in their rage and madness, but Felix was able to find most of her and reattach what he could without too much hassle. She was still missing two fingers from her left hand, though and thought Felix might have accidentally burned them when dealing with the newborns. Chelsea had been able to turn half of the newborns that attacked her and Sebastian on their comrades and had broken and re-tied their bonds to attack each other at every turn so far. That little gift was turning out to be a bit more formidable than I had originally thought before this all started, but I could see the benefits to it now. As much fun as it was for Chelsea, it also exhausted her to use her gift repetitively like that and I was sure she was more than ready for a break. As for Demetri himself, he couldn't wait to be on the plane back home. A mixture of boredom, frustration, and annoyance about his current predicament followed him everywhere and his tone was getting sassier the longer we took to get back. The poor guy would send his reports every few hours, but they became less and less about what was happening at the front and more about questioning when I was coming back.

I rolled my eyes at his last message obviously whining about wanting to come home and responded back with "On our way" and put the phone back in my pocket. Demetri got a little dramatic when he was being ignored. I knew he was fine and I knew that there would be a huge sense of relief when he actually read the message. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Demetri was down-right pleasant when we landed.

Looking around the plane, it seemed everyone felt the pressure was on and we all knew that this plan needed to go off without a hitch. We couldn't afford for any part of this to go sideways. Not even a little bit and that line of thinking was permeable amongst those currently here. This entire plane had become a cargo of statues about fifteen minutes in and each statue was lost in their own thoughts about how disastrous this could go. My own thoughts sure weren't sunshine and rainbows right now and I could only imagine what Jasper was picking up from everyone. I did feel bad for him considering he couldn't block any of these negative emotions that I was almost positive everyone was throwing off, but I was grateful that he was here. I had briefly thought about shielding him from everyone's emotional onslaught, but had quickly dismissed the idea since I hadn't talked to him about it beforehand. His empathy was just another sense to connect to others and by cutting it off without warning, there's no telling what he might do. I felt it best to just leave him to it. I did, however, send a little gratitude his way just to break up the monotony of the emotions I'm sure were overwhelming to his senses. I could tell when he felt it because he turned and met my eyes from across the plane and sent his understanding right back.

Char would normally be the one brightening the atmosphere up, but Char wasn't here. Neither was Peter. They had both been sent on ahead to enact the second step of our plan right after The Major looked over our new recruits and deemed them fit for action. The Kings were thrilled to hear Jasper's report and had practically pushed Peter and Char out the door hours before the rest of us in their excitement. Both should be well and truly in enemy camp at this point, if Peter's plan to get them in worked as it should have.

I wasn't nervous for Char being in the clutches of those Romanian pigs. Not really.

Ok that was a lie.

I wasn't nervous for Char in the sense that she can take care of herself and has proven herself to be more than capable in any hand-to-hand combat situation. The Kings wouldn't have let her come on this mission otherwise. I was just nervous that I wasn't there beside her and couldn't watch her back like I'd been doing for decades. She had Peter doing that now and I had faith in Peter.

Ok, that was kind of a lie, too.

I did have faith in Peter. In a way. I had faith that he would do whatever was in his power to make sure that his and Char's mission was a success and I knew that he would try his hardest to make sure nothing awful happened to her. However, I also knew that Peter was incorrigible and tended to act before he fully thought a situation out. He was impulsive and that could get both of them killed.

I was reminded during times like this that my brain has immense and enhanced computing power and sometimes that could be more detrimental than beneficial. In my heart, I knew that Peter wouldn't put himself, Char, or the mission at risk, but my mind came up with about a hundred different scenarios in which Things Could Go Horribly Wrong and shutting the part of my brain off that was screaming 'Panic! Panic! Panic!' to me was getting to be more effort than just letting it have free reign. Either way, I would give myself a headache before too long.

I shook my head to try and rid it of the intrusive thoughts, but unfortunately, they were still there and begging for attention. What I needed to focus on was our current attack strategy. Clearly what we had been doing wasn't getting us anywhere and although Jasper and I had discussed strategy when we were training, it was honestly not anything to write home about. I decided then that working would be better than living in my head and took it upon myself to make my way over to where Jasper was sitting.

He had managed to make himself at home in a seat towards the front of the plane and it didn't look like anyone had wanted to sit near him. I couldn't figure out why. He was a nice guy and relatively easy to get to know, not to mention really easy on the eyes. However, there seemed to be a two-row radius in which no one wanted to sit. Maybe he was giving off Don't Mess With Texas vibes or something, but I made myself comfortable next to him. "Since we didn't really get the chance to go over this much, I felt like now would be a good time to discuss possible weak spots in the Romanian camp." I laid out my maps in front of Jasper, who reluctantly took one side of the map and held it up as I held the other side.

"Are these the most recent satellite images?" That southern drawl was going to be the death of me one day, I was almost certain.

I cleared my throat unnecessarily, "Yes. These were printed just before we boarded. You see this section here" I pointed to a section of the image that didn't seem to be a part of the enemy encampment, but did seem to be important somehow "this is the section I'm most interested in. For some reason, this part of the mountainside seems to be heavily fortified for an area that isn't exactly part of the Romanian stronghold."

"Have ya been able to tell where they're gettin' their victims from?"

"No. Although the spies that we've put in place were supposed to divulge that information, we still don't have an answer. I'm hoping Peter or Char will be able to help us out with that."

"Well, it's out of the way from the main encampment" Jasper points to the main part of the castle on the image, "so I would think that this area is either where the brand new newborns or the humans that they're feedin' from are located. I'll need to see it closer to determine which."

I put the map down and turn to face Jasper, "Look, I know I've said this before, and I'm going to have to say it again. I know that the last thing that you want to do is go into another battle. I can't begin to understand how this must be affecting you, but I do want you to know how grateful I am that you're here. I wasn't lying when I said that you could have done the bare minimum and called your duty done, but the fact that you're here and willing to be on the front lines with me through all of this..." I sigh a little heavier than the tone had called for, getting slightly choked up in the process, "I really can't thank you enough."

"Normally if a woman confesses her thanks to me, I'd be trippin' over myself to tell her it was 'my pleasure', but we both know I'd be lyin' to ya if I said that." The corner of his mouth lifts in a semi-smile as he looks over at me.

"You don't have to say anything." I reply as my eyes meet his. In that moment we come to an unsaid understanding. I don't know how I know it, but I feel it in my gut that he will be with me through every gain, comfort me after every loss, and support me through every decision I make. The look we shared couldn't have lasted more than a few seconds, but that was all it took for me to trust this man implicitly.

We lifted the map back up again and continued scanning over the area. "So where do you see trouble spots for us, or do you see anywhere we may want to concentrate our forces?"

We pour over the maps for the rest of the flight. It was interesting to see Jasper's perspective on strategy and battle planning. His style was so different from mine and there were occasions that I was reminded of exactly how different, and how he came to think the way he did. My style was more upfront than Jasper's: while I tended to want the fastest and most effective plan without risking lives unnecessarily, Jasper was more subtle in that he preferred to use his enemy's most valuable members against themselves. Apparently planting emotions into others to make them wary and distrustful of their own leaders was a bit of a specialty and he took full advantage when the need arose. I would have said something about how that was an unfair advantage, but we had Chelsea...so I wasn't going to throw stones.

When we finally landed in Romania, it was snowing. I hadn't really noticed the change in season when I was here the first time, but I suppose that the seasons change whether we pay attention to them or not. I wasn't really bothered by the snow or the cold, no one on this flight was, but I took my fatigue jacket with me anyway as I prepared to disembark. I idly wondered what date it was and how close to Christmas it might be. Things like dates seemed to be unimportant when war was on the front of your mind and all of your days tended to run together.

Feeling the plane slowing beneath me, I knew it was my duty to let everyone know what the next step was. "Alright everyone, listen up" I addressed the others on the plane as it jerked to an uncomfortable stop. Luckily there was no reason for me to raise my voice in this tiny plane. "Remember that we're headed into an active war zone and from the moment you step off this plane you are a target for the Romanians. Once we disembark, I want you to find Felix who will give you your bunk assignments. I know we don't sleep, but you'll need someplace to go to rest and relax when you aren't actively fighting. After you have unpacked everything from the duffels that you brought, meet myself and Major Whitlock in the Command tent for debriefing before Demetri and his troops leave."

The vamps on the plane thawed out long enough to respond with a resounding chorus of "Oohh-Oohh!" and soon everyone was grabbing duffels out of the overhead storage bins and headed towards the door. Jasper and I were no exception and I found Demetri waiting for the both of us at the bottom of the stairs.

"So happy you could join us, Captain." How he managed to lace every syllable with sarcasm and yet still sound genuinely happy that we were there, I would never know, but I paid it no mind. It was typical Demetri.

"Hello to you too, asshole." I smiled sweetly at him. "This is Major Whitlock." I gestured behind me as Jasper came down the next few steps to join me. "He's here to help with our pest control problem."

"Your reputation precedes you, Major." Demetri says sticking out a hand for Jasper to take.

As they shake hands, Jasper responds with "As does yours, Demetri."

"Now that we've gotten the formalities out of the way, what wouldn't you tell me over text?" I ask Demetri trying to get us back on track.

There's a moment where I don't think he'll actually answer me, but he knows he can only push me so far before I lose my cool. He smiles wolfishly at me before turning to Jasper and mock whispering, "She thinks that just because she has the rank of Captain that she can demand answers from me, but sometimes I think I'd much rather keep the information to myself."

Jasper just looks at Demetri and raises an eyebrow in a silent question. Demetri just sighs and mumbles something about us not being any fun before he takes us to the Command tent. On the way he divulges that according to his scouts both Peter and Char had made it inside of the Romanian stronghold about four hours ago without much fuss, but there was no further news about either of them since. I didn't honestly expect there to be news, but it still hurt something in me to know that I wasn't going to be there to have her back if something went wrong. I just had to trust Peter to get both of them out of there if it went south.

Jasper and Demetri were going over the last magical interference report as we walked into Command. "I honestly don't see what we can do about him. He seems to be the most well guarded member of the Romanian coven apart from Stefan and Vladimir themselves. We still can't even manage to break through whatever barrier they've placed around the castle in order to stop all this at the source. And trust me, it isn't for lack of trying."

"This may be a stupid question," I begin "but how exactly did Char and Peter get in?"

"Well," Demetri answers "we aren't quite sure."

I look over at him, visibly confused, but he beats me to the punch by finishing his thought before I can begin mine. "We honestly weren't all that convinced that whatever Peter had planned was going to work, but we indulged him and let him do things his way. His plan was to be seen avoiding our camp entirely and making his way over to the Romanian encampment from the forest to the east. Once he got to the point that he couldn't go any further, he and Char waited at the edge of the barrier for a while. The waiting game got to be so tedious that I would have lost my patience entirely, but Peter kept waiting for something. He must have found whatever it was because it was only a few hours ago that we saw both him and Char reaching out, almost like they were waving at someone, but we couldn't see anyone else there. I'm assuming that it was a movement to touch the barrier itself, but I can't be one hundred percent sure about that. Once their hands stopped moving, they just...vanished."

Jasper looks at Demetri and we both can see Demetri's cocky façade beginning to crack. Demetri takes us to the table that he's been using as a base of operations and we can see all of the notes he's managed to take about the place in the past three days. The closer I look at Demetri, the more I realize that I was a complete ass for waiting as long as I had before coming back. He was worn down when I left, but this looks like a new level of exhaustion entirely and I can't help but feel guilty about that.

Neither of the guys notice my internal struggle and I quickly deflect. "Do you think it has something to do with the magic surrounding the place?" I can't help but wonder aloud. It's a stupid question. I know it. The guys know it. Hell, even my father would be face-palming right now if he could hear me, but neither one of the guys seems to care if the answer is an obvious and resounding 'yes'. Even in the circumstances that we find ourselves in with Vampires being the reality, Magic is still a foreign concept. Something that we haven't had to deal with in the past and something that we don't have the talent or capability of understanding.

Jasper eventually pipes up to answer. "Pete's entire mission was to disable that sorcerer as soon as possible without being suspicious about it." And as if on queue, that breaks us out of our spiraling thoughts.

"I just hope that whatever plan he's managed to hatch works." I state moving over to the opposite side of the table and reading more of Demetri's notes.

"The crazier the plan, the more confident I am that it will work." Jasper replies with a small smirk. "For now though, we need to stop the Romanians from bein' able to get any new victims to either feed from or change. Have you made any progress in that area?"

"A little." Demetri replies moving paperwork around until he pulls out another map of the area and points to a small village about 20 miles away from the far side of the castle. "This village here wasn't listed on any of our newer maps, but from what I was able to gather, it used to be a mining village that had several large mines that were dug into the mountain just here." He points to a mountain fairly close to the village, but a good distance away from our current location and point of interest. "This used to be a copper mine about a century and a half ago, but due to the minor population explosion when that mineral was found here, the mine wasn't open for very long before the copper was mined out."

"Please tell me you sent in a scout to see how far the tunnels were dug into the mountain." I responded, suddenly excited about the possibility of having an upper hand anywhere. Demetri just smiled at me and I could tell it was a genuine smile and he was happy to have provided this little bit of new information.

"My question is, why didn't you find this out in the months that you were already here?" Jasper asks, quirking an eyebrow at me and looking at me with an expression I couldn't name.

"Ok, first off hotshot, I didn't think looking at outdated information would be all that relevant to our current circumstances." I say getting a bit heated and more than a little defensive. "Second, this area seems to be too far away from our current location to be of any use, so I didn't see any reason to investigate something that I didn't know was there. I was more concerned about all of our people surviving the relentless attacks than possible closed mines."

"I understand where ya were comin' from, I really do" Jasper replies in a tone that means he doesn't want to upset me, "but this could be the one point that they're usin' to get past all your defenses."

"How does that saying go? The best offense is a good defense?" I ask a little petulantly.

"That may be the case for a lotta things, but in this case, I really don't think that applies here." Jasper responds calmly. There's no sign my attitude is making things difficult, but I can't help but feel like an absolute idiot for missing something this big.

"Right," Demetri takes over again, "about those mines." Jasper and I are all ears as he explains what all he's been able to find. Demetri sent three of our crew into the mine to learn as much as they could, but as of now, we were still waiting on those scouts to get back. Demetri was very clear about wanting as much information on every inch of the mine and what we could potentially use to our advantage. Mines are tricky things. They're a veritable maze of pathways and tunnels that someone could very easily get lost in...if they weren't a vampire. Luckily for us, we have the ability to smell the places that we've gone before and remember where each tunnel leads. Getting lost isn't really a problem. Photographic memory for where each tunnel leads and what all is found where doesn't hurt in this situation either.

While we waited to hear back from our scouts, we discussed the next phase of our 5-Step Plan. The main goal over the next few weeks was to hold our ground as much as we could. Let the Romanians think that we are getting too worn down, too impatient, too desperate. Fake them out when necessary, but not at the cost of lives lost. We had about a month of time to spare before things really started playing out the way we hoped they would. Which meant that we had a month to get all of our pieces in place and ready to spring that final trap. Now that we had Peter and Char in the Romanian camp, our first move was made. Now it was up to Maria and the Romanians to respond. A month seemed like a long time for this plan to work, but it also seemed like the blink of an eye compared to what we had already been through.

The more I spoke with Jasper and Demetri, the more I came to realize that this would be vastly different from the way the past seven months had gone. Jasper had this mindset to look at this whole situation like a game of chess. The map we were all huddled over was the board, and only he could see the pieces. From what I could remember about chess, you wanted to stay several moves ahead of your opponent so you could head them off at every turn and eventually get them to play a move that you wanted them to. Jasper it seemed, had the experience, wherewithal, and knowhow to be able to pull this game off.

Felix came into the Command tent not too long after having unloaded all of our supplies from the cargo hold, given out bunk assignments to the newbies, and readied our delegation for debriefing. Trailing behind him were our scouts from the mine. As they spoke about what all they had seen, I wrote everything down to think on later. I was almost sure we would need to use the mine for something, but I didn't know what at this point.

Report finished, I followed Jasper's lead. From this point on, he would be in charge. I was just here to make sure that whatever he needed doing, actually got done. Demetri and I followed Felix and Jasper out of the tent and found our Army waiting for us at attention. If I didn't know Jasper better, I wouldn't have seen the discomfort in his eyes, but it only lasted for a second before he closed himself off.

"Those of you that are slated to go back to Volterra today, please make your way to the tarmac, I know you all are ready to go home and I won't waste your time with unnecessary speeches." Demetri states to the crowd. There is a cacophony of wordless exclamations as Demetri's forces almost rush to the plane as requested. "Those of you that have just joined us, or wish to continue to stay, let me draw your attention to Major Whitlock who will be taking command from here." Demetri holds out a hand for Jasper to shake and once done, dismisses himself to board the plane as well.

Felix smiles at Jasper and says a short "All yours Major." before saluting and following Demetri at a lumbering run.

At this point all eyes are on Jasper, including mine. "At ease." Jasper begins as we both get comfortable in front of the contingent before us. "I'm not one for motivational speech-makin' but I know that one way or another, by the end of the month these Romanian dogs will be nothin' more than ash on our boots." A round of Oohh-Oohh!'s follow his statement as he begins to pace in front of everyone. "The plan while we're here is simple: stop the Romanians from gainin' any ground, puttin' a stop to their rampant feedin', and findin' where they're changin' their newborns. Anythin' else we might accomplish is just a bonus." He takes a deep breath before continuing, "You are now a target for any Romanian that may decide that they don't like us bein' where we are, or they don't like you in particular. Not even in this Base Camp are you entirely safe, so keep your guard up at all times. We all want to leave here alive at the end of this, so I expect every one of you to remember your trainin', follow orders, and stay safe. The Captain has your assignments by division and will distribute 'em to each Sergeant shortly. If you have any concerns or issues that arise due to your assignment, please let the Captain know and she will handle it as she sees fit. Anythin' else that needs my attention, please let me know. I may be a Major, but that doesn't mean I'm unapproachable. Dismissed!"

"All Sergeants report to the Command tent for assignments!" I manage to get out before the cacophony of sounds becomes too much for me to be heard.

We had four different divisions that we had come up with and each had their own specialties.

Alpha Division was by far the largest and our main force against the Romanians. These troops would be the ones fighting the newborns on the front lines. Appointment to this division meant that your skills fighting hand-to-hand combat were strong enough to take on various types of styles and opponents. Newborns were notorious for being unpredictable and these men and women had proven that they could adapt and overcome anything thrown their way. Michael was head of Alpha Division and even though he was wiry, he could take you down without a second thought. I was more concerned about the partners that he sparred against than what they might do to him.

Beta Division was the division that we put all of the Gifted vampires in. It may seem like this would be a bad idea, putting all of our "special" eggs in the same basket, but honestly it was just easier to keep up with them this way. This division would be distributed further into the other three and used where they were most needed based on the gifts that we had at our disposal. Frank was in charge of Beta Division. His gift was unique in that he could see a person surrounded in a vivid color almost like looking at a person's aura, but more advanced. He said that the color determined friend, foe, or something in between, but he had to hear them speak first. I didn't understand the point or purpose to this particular gift, but we tried to use it the best we could anyway.

Gamma Division was our version of Spec. Ops. Anything that needed to be done under the radar, or without general knowledge was handled by these vamps. They just had a knack for things like extremely well-written tech, explosives, or vampire-grade weapons-building, and they all seemed to have a screw or two loose in their brains, too. I wasn't really one to judge though. I already had an assignment for a few of them, whoever was up on first rotation would look further into the copper mine and the abandoned village in case we missed something the first time. Shannon headed up Gamma and was a right genius when it came to, well...anything really. There was no problem she couldn't fix, no area that was off-limits to her, no tech she couldn't crack, and nothing that she couldn't make explode.

Delta Division was the division that we had placed our scouts in. These weren't your typical spies that we had meant to put in the Romanian camp (we had those already), but these were men and women that had a gift for getting into and out of places without being heard or seen. They were the ones that would be closest to the castle and reporting on all of the goings-on there. Raymond was the head of Delta Division and he deserved it. There had been plenty of times he knew what my next moves were before I had the chance to think all the way through them. He just had a way of standing so perfectly still and blending into his environment so well that people just...forgot he was there. He became a part of the scenery and we needed that in our scouts.

Each Division was given a set of three rotations. These rotations would be the active period of time that they would be on duty for. These time slots were given based on what Division they were placed in. The Alphas and Betas were only on duty for six-hour overlapping rotations with twelve hours off. The Gammas were given eight-hour overlapping rotations with sixteen hours off. Finally, the Deltas were given ten-hour rotations with twenty hours off. Since we don't sleep, these hours shouldn't be difficult for them to keep. They also had the option of working more if they wished, but not more than twenty hours at a single stretch. I wanted to make sure they had plenty of rest between their rotations and I wasn't in the habit of taking advantage unnecessarily.

Once the assignments had been handed out to the Division Sergeants and the soldiers were being moved for their rotations to begin, I looked for Jasper to give him a status update. He wasn't in Command, so I followed his scent and found him about three miles north of base on an outcropping of rock, overlooking the Romanian stronghold. From this angle, you could see nearly every part of the castle itself, but you just couldn't get to it.

"Better than aerial photos, huh?" I ask.

"This task doesn't seem quite so dauntin' from up here." Jasper has one arm crossed over his chest and the other elbow propped up on it to hold his chin in his right hand. I can tell by the set of his shoulders that he's stressed, but I know he won't show it. Not now.

Trying to distract the dark train of thought, I report to him everything that has been handled since I took the Sergeants back into Command. He nods in understanding, but surprises me with "Bells, when we're alone like this, please don't report to me as a subordinate." He makes eye contact with me and I can see the anguish there. "I need someone here to keep me grounded. Make sure I don't lose myself in this. I don't mind if we keep the professionalism in Base Camp, but I don't want you to keep it when we're alone."

"Ok Jasper." My heart aches for him at this moment. He's willingly showing me this vulnerable side of him and I don't want to potentially screw this up, so I make my way over to him and gently place my hand on his arm. "It's ok."

He closes his eyes and gently touches his forehead to mine in a sweetly intimate gesture before taking a deep breath, re-opening his eyes to meet my concerned ones and stating "Thank you Bells." He slowly pulls away and starts to turn away from me and back down the mountain before grabbing my hand and dragging me along. To say that I was completely unprepared and shocked would have been an understatement, but I was nowhere close to complaining.

For now though, it was time to get our heads back in the game.