The day came for Nettie and Lucy to return.
Astrid was perched in a tree, avoiding the chaotic newborns. Peter and Major had spent the nights teaching them basic defensive moves before releasing them onto each other. Already limbs had been torn and heads had been tossed carelessly into the air. Astrid had learned early on that she did not have the patience to teach newborns how to fight. She got easily aggravated when they turned on her. After one too many being tossed in the fire, Major had told her to go find something else to do.
Seeing as her entire existence was the farm and fighting, there was nothing else to do beside get comfortable in a high tree and watch as they dueled. It was entertaining when she wasn't involved. Peter was yelling insults at newborns who were slow in dodging or hesitated in swiping at another. Major paced and snarled his disapproval.
They weren't any better than her.
Maria lounged on the patio, wearing a shift that was sheer and allowed her body to show through. She had dragged a chair from the dinning room out to watch her army fight, her eyes narrowing in thought. Astrid looked between Maria and the fights; she could feel the tension surrounding the farm. They were waiting for the sisters to arrive and Maria's anxiousness was seeping into the rest. Even Major was feeling her affects, snapping at Peter if he shouted over him.
Astrid saw them first. What would have looked like two blurs of black mass to the human eye were Nettie and Lucy racing to the farm. They didn't have newborns with them which meant they had perished in battle. Maria would not be happy about that.
Astrid sent out her feelings of being of alert of the danger and worried of the outcome. Major's eyes found hers and held up his palm in a 'stay there' gesture. She hunched low and wrapped her hands around the bark between her feet so she could propel herself if necessary. He turned back to the fray and whistled, bringing all eyes to him.
Maria stood when Nettie and Lucy entered the yard. They walked in synch, heads held high and smiling proudly.
"Sister! We succeeded in bringing down Santiago's camp!" Lucy crooned, clapping her dark hands and pushing back curly black hair.
Nettie sighed, "However, we did loose our batch. Oh hello, darlin'." She gave a toothy smile to Harry, who had been in mid spar with Josephine.
"Delightful news, sisters," The women's smiles dropped at Maria's unwelcome tone. They stopped together, eyeing how Major had stepped in front of them. Peter had crossed his arms and the newborns, sensing their leaders change in attitude, also faced the vampires. "Welcome back."
"I don't feel very welcomed." Lucy pouted. Even though she portrayed that she was calm, Astrid could see her muscles bunch under her green gown.
"You feel correct. I heard your plot to rid of me, how very idiotic of you to think such things."
Nettie stepped back. Lucy bared her teeth and squared her feet.
"You have gone way too far, Maria. We only began this army to rid of Benito and you did! His mate was killed by your monster and he has fled the territory. There is no more reason for this barbaric way in living!"
Astrid was shocked at Lucy's words. She had never questioned why Maria, Lucy, and Nettie had created their army. It had always been. She assumed this was the way vampires lived, fighting each other over feeding grounds and living in deplorable situations. It never occurred to her that there could be something else out there for her.
She looked at Major but he was focused entirely on Lucy and Nettie. They're words seemed to have bounced off of him.
"You twist your words! You didn't want the army to stop, you wanted to take my place. You wanted my monster at your command. Well, sisters, let's see how my monster feels about that!" Maria's laugh lacked humor, taking a deranged tone to it. "Monster?"
Major lunged at Lucy. She twirled like a ballerina, her hair flying around her head like a dark halo. Nettie snarled and grabbed Major's arm when he missed Lucy. Major used that to his advantage and yanked Nettie to him, twisting her hand so it snapped and fell to the ground with a loud crack. She screeched in anger, her eyes wide and frenzied. She jumped back.
Major circled the sisters and they matched his step. Peter stalked forward, grabbing Lucy by the hair and dragging her to the floor. She clawed and cried like an angry cat, trying to yank him down with her, but he merely kicked her to the waiting newborns. They eagerly tore her to pieces, spurred by Maria's shouts of pride.
"Kill! Kill! Do what you have been trained to do, kill them all for your master!" She was screeching.
The focus was on Lucy being torn. Peter made sure no newborns were tarnished by the dying sister however Astrid was more aware of what Major and Nettie were doing.
Nettie was bereaved by her sister's demise. Her eyes were wide and venom was leaking down her chin. Major was calm as he swiped at Nettie, seeing where her weaknesses laid. From Astrid's vantage point she could tell that Nettie was only waiting for Major.
When Major went to hit her in the stomach she laughed inhumanly and caught his forearm. She spun him around and Astrid smelled his venom before she heard the snap of his arm. Nettie used her boot to press on the middle of his back, forcing him to his knees and grabbing both arms to hold him still. The more Major struggled, the more his arms tore from his sockets.
Astrid pushed off the branch and landed silently behind Nettie. The older vampire couldn't hear nor smell her and was shocked when two cold hands wrapped around her throat. Astrid flipped Nettie over her shoulder but Nettie caught herself on all fours and hissed at the five year old vampire, frazzled by her sudden appearance.
Major was behind Nettie before she realized what was happening. He grabbed her arms, just as she had done to him, and without needing a signal, Astrid used all her strength to yank the woman's head off. Her outraged scream was cut short.
The only screaming on the farm was Maria.
"Yes, my pets! You make me so proud! So delighted! Yes!" The last of her sisters, Maria was elated. She clapped her hands and was buzzing with joy.
"My beautiful monster, did she hurt you?" Maria was between Astrid and Major, running her hands over his shoulders.
His face was expressionless, "No ma'am."
"Of course not! No one can hurt my Major! No one! We are unstoppable, my pets!"
Astrid gazed at Major over Maria's shoulder, still smelling his venom. She knew he was in terrible pain. Just having one arm yanked off sent Astrid into a frenzy, she never had the displeasure of both of her arms being torn. She could tell by the way his fingers hung lazily by his side, something that Major rarely did.
Maria was unaware, or did not care. She was in a tizzy, fluttering from one vampire to the next to proclaim her overwhelming ecstasy. Peter rubbed the back of his head, an extremely human thing to do, yet nodded when Maria patted him on the chest and swooned over his part.
"Tonight we feast! Peter, take five to gather food. Let's celebrate our victory!"
Maria, in her own world of bliss, disappeared into the farm house. Astrid expected she would continue her plans for attacking the other armies in their territory. She turned back to Major but he was already gone.
Peter gathered up his five and gave Astrid a parting look of concern. She knew that he too had noticed Major's arms. It was rare that Major was hurt and when he was, he usually went alone to deal with his wounds.
She followed his scent to the mountains, almost three hundred miles from the farm, yet only a quick run for her. He was sitting on a large rock amongst the trees, trying to fix one arm while the other was broken. He snarled at his arm, angry that it wasn't cooperating with his orders.
"You can't yell your arms into position," Astrid said as greeting. He snarled at her, not for speaking to him, but for not letting him hear her approach. "Sorry, Major. I can't turn it off, you know that."
Her first months as a newborn had been spent learning how to let her shield down so Maria could smell her. Maria worried over the idea that Astrid would take off and find another coven who would see her gift and use it to their advantage.
"Let me." She cautiously approached him. They hadn't been alone since Christmas, a day ago.
"I can do it!" He snapped.
She repressed the need to roll her eyes, "No, you can't. If you could you would not have ran so far away."
He sucked his lips in and turned away. She was right but he didn't want to acknowledge it.
She had never touched Major before. If he was wounded it was never this dramatic. A bite here or a torn off limb that he could easily fix himself. But both arms needed a medic.
Astrid gently touched his shoulder blades, wary of the way he spat at her. His back was hunched and he was closed in on himself, she couldn't feel his emotions either. Usually he projected enough for her to be aware of the situation she was getting into. With no warning, she snapped his arm back into place.
He jumped but kept his growling in his chest. She walked behind him, and not understanding why she did it herself, she let her fingers trail from one shoulder to the next. His body tensed furthermore. His eyes watched her every movement and narrowed when they met. Without breaking his gaze, she pushed his shoulder back into place.
As quickly as his arms had healed, his anger made a show. He grabbed her by the neck and slammed her to the rock. It cracked from her body and the sound thundered in the forest. Major crouched over her, holding her at his mercy.
How many times had she been in this position? She had lost count.
They stared at one another. Once again, she could not breathe yet she found herself panting beneath him. She couldn't understand this feeling she got around him. She chalked it up to the anxiety of not knowing what he was going to do next.
"I had it under control." Major growled.
He was mad at her for intervening with Nettie, "Major, with all due respect, you did not."
Astrid expected the hit she received in the stomach. She swallowed down her body's reactive sound to pain, not wanting to let him hear. Feeling it was enough for him.
"I told you to stay in the tree-"
"And I did! Until Nettie had you at her mercy and I'd rather have you furious with me again then have you dead." She snapped back, not able to hold her words back any longer.
She didn't understand why he was being so crude. Maria was happy with the results, why couldn't he?
Major hissed and released her. He sat back in his position, back to her. She rubbed her throat as she sat behind him, watching him cautiously.
He grumbled something and if it hadn't been for her inhuman hearing she wouldn't have caught it.
But, the words put a brilliant smile on her face and made her want to hug the Major. Almost. She refrained and stood up, dusting off her poor blue dress. It was time to get a new one.
She walked past him, tossing a simple, "You're welcome," over her shoulder. Hearing thank you coming from his lips had been a dream she never imagined.