Author's Note: If this chapter looks familiar for you, it's because it is. I had previously uploaded Chapter 3 and 4 as one Chapter (the then-Chapter 3) but decided that it was a little too long and it would be more convenient to read divided in too. Sorry that this doesn't mean an update but there will be a new Chapter up within the next days, promise!
Every one was looking at me, waiting to hear what I had kept from them before. It was too late to turn back. So I cleared my throat and started telling my story - again:
"Like I said, I was turned during the civil war. I served as a Major in the Texas cavalry at that time and was riding back from Houston to Galveston one night, when I came across three extraordinary beautiful women. My horse could feel that something was off, its flight instincts were going wild but I was raised to never turn down a woman need. Especially not during wartime." Emmett laughed when I mentioned my upbringing and earned an angry look from Rosalie for that. "The name of the woman who turned me was Maria. She had lost her mate in a battle with a neighbouring Arizonan coven and was driven from her home town of Monterrey up to Texas, looking for revenge", I continued when Edward stopped me, nodding into Emmett and Rosalie's direction: "They don't know what you are talking about."
Of course, I should have thought about that. Only because Carlisle had heard of the wars in the South, didn't mean that the others, especially the younger ones, would understand. "I'm sorry, I am getting ahead of myself", I apologized, now looking more directly at Emmett and Rosalie. "To understand this, you would have to know that during that time, there were wars going on in the South. Not only between the Confederates and the Union, but between vampires. Wars for feeding territory. They call them the Southern vampire wars. As far as I know, these wars started many centuries ago and go on until today. With their ups and downs of course, but never without a truce. At the beginning of the eighteen-hundreds, however, there was a change in … strategy, you could say."
"A young vampire named Benito had thought about a new approach to these territorial fights that changed everything. He had created an army of newborn vampires. You all know how we are in our first year in this life: volatile, wild, and extremely strong. It took him less than a week to secure the whole corridor down from Dallas to Monterray. Traditional covens were powerless against his army of newborns, so they did the only thing they could think of, to protect themselves: They created armies of their own", I explained the situation, from time to time looking at Edward to see, if they were still following. He nodded every time. "It is hard to keep an army of newborns hidden from the human world, especially one of the size that the armies were back then, and it didn't take to long for the first rumours to spread. Our kind had never been more threatened of exposure than throughout these bloody years."
"It wasn't long before the Volturi intervened. The whole guard came and wiped out most of the vampire population in between Mexico City and Albuquerque in a one year long that no one in the South will probably ever forget. However, after the Volturi left, the remaining vampires were quick to reclaim the now unprotected territories and it wasn't too long before fighting started again. However, on a much smaller scale. Nobody wanted them to come back", I paused for a second to let what I just said sink in. Emmett seemed to enjoy the war stories, smiling and joking at Carlisle: "It's nice to get the history lessen from someone else than you once in a while, old man."
Esme on the other hand, was a bit more sensitive about the topic. "Why are you telling us all of this Jasper?", she asked softly, looking at me. Slowly, I started to roll up my left sleeve while I continued my story: "Like I said, Maria had lost her mate and her territory in Mexico and was fleeing north. When she found me, she was building an army of her own to take revenge on the coven that had taken her home and love. That was the reason why she turned me." I had finished rolling up my left sleeve just over my elbow and started to do the same thing on the right. Esme gasped, as she got a look on the dozens of scars marking my arms, creating an ugly pattern all over the marble skin.
"Maria was a smart woman. She didn't just turn anyone, was very picky with who she saw fit to join her army. She trained her soldiers better than was usual and knew how to discipline them. Plus, she never let anyone outlive their first year… There were six of us, when I was turned, and she quickly added to our numbers. However, she was careful to not overdo it, because – like I said – the Volturi were not forgotten. We were never more than 10 or 11 newborns at that time and I fought my first battles against my brothers in arms. I won them all."
"I was faster than the others, better in battle. And after a few weeks my talent started to manifest, which gave me other possibilities. Maria quickly grew fond of me and started to depend on me, even though she was annoyed by the number of soldiers she had to replace because of me. I was gaining in strength and soon enough found myself in charge of the newborns. Using my gift to control their tempers, I was able to gather a group of 23 newborns, myself included, all strong and well trained within a few months. An army of that size was uncommon at that time, and we were better trained and behaved than all the others. We took Monterrey without too much trouble, killing the vampire who had robbed our leader of her mate in the process. And we did all of that, without a single human noticing. Maria was pleased with how easy that was. Too easy… She grew greedy."
"In my first year we expanded our territory throughout most of Texas and Northern Mexico and were able to keep it, something that had hardly been done for such a long time before. I had just passed my first year when the first Mexican covens aligned to take back their territory. The fighting got intense, many feared the Volturi would return. Out of our original group I was the only one to survive the first 18 months."
"Despite all odds, we were able to hold Monterrey but from that point on, it was more or less a stalemate. Some battles we won, others we lost. Maria and I always kept around a dozen newborns at hand but didn't really care for them, they were just puppets for us. It took me a long time to realize, that I was just one of her puppets as well", I recounted, absently following the outlines of the bitemarks on my left arm.
"Decades later I grew fond of one of our newborns, Peter. He wasn't made for this life, didn't like to fight. And still he was a better fighter than most of the recruits I had seen over the decades. He survived his first three years and I made him responsible for babysitting the soldiers, while I trained them, and Maria still forged her grand plans of revenge... I don't remember exactly when it was - dates or seasons did not have any meaning for me back then - but I recall that it wasn't too long after the end of the first world war, when the time had come to once dispose of our soldiers and replace them once again. They had lost their strength and were useless to us."
"Peter was supposed to help me. We did it as we always did: taking them aside one by one, beheading and dismembering them, burning the parts. But when we were about halfway through and I called up a young woman - Charlotte - who had just past her year-mark, Peter suddenly grew furious and yelled at her to run. I could have easily caught and killed them, but I didn't want to. I couldn't punish him for finding some happiness and love in the godforsaken world we were in. So, I let them go", I told and winced, as someone suddenly touched my arm.
I hadn't realised that Esme had come closer, looking down at my bare skin. Carlisle was standing next to her and listened to the story attentively, even though he had heard the short version of all of this before. His hand rested gently on her shoulder while his gaze was fixated on my scarred underarms as well. I could feel great sorrow and regret in both of them. They pitied me. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you", Esme excused herself and backed a way a bit. "Don't, that's not it. I was just a bit too lost in the story", I replied and indicated that it was all right for her to come closer. She did and gently touched the scarred skin of my arm, examining it with curiosity and sadness in her expression, as I continued.
"Five years later Peter came back for me. It was good timing: Maria was alienated by my deteriorating state of mind. All the decades of fighting took their toll on me eventually… And I had noticed the changes in her emotions, suspected she was plotting to get rid of me. I was actually preparing to kill my only ally, when Peter arrived and told me of his travels with Charlotte. I could hardly believe what he was telling me. After over sixty years of thinking that the only way for our kind to live was constantly battling over feeding-territories, he told me that there were others, who lived in peace, travelling the world and living – compared to what I had been doing – civilized lives. It didn't take much to convince me and I left with him without looking back. I spent most of the following decade with him and Charlotte, getting to know this new, peaceful world", I looked up and into Emmett and Rosalie's eyes. I could not see repulsion in any of them, the overall mood in the room leaned more towards regret and pity – with the exception of Emmett. His emotions were mixed with excitement, which I couldn't really fathom at the moment.
"The rest you more or less know. My depression did not fade because I was still killing to satisfy my thirst and eventually, I left Peter and Charlotte, knowing that I pulled them right down with me. I travelled alone for a few years, before I found Alice in Philadelphia. And she had seen me coming, of course", I added, turning my sight towards Alice. She had been sitting still on the couch with her eyes closed during my tale, listening to everything I said. Most of it she had heard or seen before but never told by myself like that. Her eyes opened, as if she had felt my gaze on her, and a loving smile appeared on her lips.
"I told him, that I had been waiting and he went all Southern gentleman and excused himself", she remembered and looked at me, laughing softly at the memory. I could feel her love spill over on me and took it all in. For a brief moment, I nearly forgot that we were not alone in the room. Her positive emotions were the complete opposite to the sadness Esme was exuding. I held on to Alice's emotions for another second, then let go and cleared my throat. "I am truly sorry I did not tell you all of this yesterday. I am used to people backing away from me, just because of my appearance. I didn't want to risk Alice's lifelong dream", I explained my decision and looked at Carlisle while uttering the words. He was the leader of this coven and I owed him an apology first and foremost. Of course, I had already told him most of this yesterday, but only after they had asked us to stay.