YAY! I finally updated!
I'm so sorry this story took so long to update. Due to life sucking recently, I wasn't able to do much of anything with this story until I had some sense of normalcy restored.
I had to switch between POV's for this chapter, so be prepared for that.
On with the story. I still own nothing.
Jasper POV
I gotta admit that the plan Amanda laid out for us for this upcomin' battle seemed pretty straight-forward, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't look at all the possibilities and ways each one might fail. I was more concerned with her usin' her gift from a distance when she'd never tried to before. We couldn't really afford for our lure to fail when it was necessary for it to work.
"So, what makes ya think this'll work, Darlin'?" I ask my beautiful Siren, wrappin' my arms around her slim waist and pullin' her flush against me. I loved the feel of her body pressed so close to mine. All the right curves in all the right places, and a rather prominent part of me was tryin' to convince the rest of me to just say 'fuck it' and have my way with her here and now. Not that it wouldn't be a good distraction – it would be the best distraction – but I couldn't really afford it when my family's lives were on the line, so instead I had to will myself to focus even if it was extremely difficult.
"Well, Major," Amanda replies placin' her hands on my hips and loopin' a finger of each hand into the belt loops of my jeans, "I'm not quite sure it will. I've never used my gift from a distance before, but if it doesn't work, we could always have Peter lead them here. I'm sure he'd be willin' to lead these asshats to their final deaths."
"Then why don't we just go that route instead? Pete should be able to come up with somethin' to get 'em all here." I state lookin' into the blood-red, fiery, passion-filled gaze of the only woman on earth that mattered to me. When she opens her mouth to reply, I dive in and silence her with a passionate kiss. There's no hesitation from her at all, but instead she willingly lets me in and I swallow a breathy moan from her as our tongues dance together. It gets heated very quickly and I can feel her fingernails scratching the skin of my back trying in vain to pull me closer. I have one hand on her lower back and one hand cradling her head so I can deepen the kiss further, but the unnecessary clearing of a throat slams us back into reality and I growl lowly at Emmett for intruding.
"You don't scare me, Jazz." Emmett says smirkin' at me. "Amanda's gotta go see Bella and Edward if we're gonna get this show on the road."
"He's right, Major." Amanda replies a bit breathlessly, lookin' at me with dark eyes ant the barest hint of red in her irises full of lust and regret. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner you get to have me in your bed." She states with a saucy wink as she makes her way over to Bella and Edward.
I can tell I'm gonna have my hands full with this woman when I finally get her alone. She's a tease and she fuckin' knows it. I can only imagine what surprises she has in store for me, or even what all she'd want me, or allow me, to do to her. She seems like a freak in bed and from our only experience so far, she seems to instinctually know what to do to please me, so I can only hope I can keep up with - and be able to - please her in turn.
I shake my head to clear the thoughts of what my mate and I could get up to once we're alone and remind myself to focus. I don't need to be worryin' about that right now. I have a battle to win and family to keep alive. I send a text off to Pete to let him know the plan and I impatiently await his response which comes in a few minutes later with a 'consider it done, Major' and our trap is set. Now we need to head over to the open field a few miles from here to set up and await a second text from Peter.
Peter POV
I knew my orders would arrive soon, but I wasn't sure what they'd end up bein'. I knew that we had to be ready for anythin' though.
I had been excited when Amanda and the Major finally got together and I had been even more excited when he realized how useful she was gonna be for this whole thing to go our way.
My orders arrived a short time later with a simple text. 'We need y'all to meet us at the clearin' a few miles from the Cullen house. I don't care how you get everyone there, just make it happen.'
As I sent my reply back, Char and I headed to see Victoria. She was standin' just outside our camp and was talkin' to Riley about some shit I didn't bother to care about, but their conversation halted when they saw us and I knew what I needed to do.
"I just received word from Amanda." I began in a truthful tone. "She's spotted the Cullen's and thinks that now would be the best time to move on 'em. She said there was a human with 'em and that she seemed to be finghtin' with one of the Cullen's over somethin', but she couldn't be sure what."
I took this time to really look at Victoria and there was a light in her eyes that I hadn't seen there before. Hopefully she thought that this would be her chance to get her revenge after all. "What do you think? Do you believe that the time is right to attack?"
"I honestly don't believe our timin' could be any better than now." I reply back actually sincere this time and shruggin' my shoulders in a non-committal gesture. "Why wait at this point? What's the strategic advantage of puttin' this off any longer? We have an openin', so I see no reason why we shouldn't take it."
"Where are they?" Victoria asked.
"A clearin' in the forest not too far from here. We should be there within half an hour." I reply. I was gettin' excited about finally handlin' this nuisance and finally bein' able to spend some time with my brother. I'd never tell him, but I sure as hell missed him while he was under the Pix's thumb.
"Let's move out." Victoria replied grinnin' darkly.
Within five minutes we were headed to end this bitch once and for all.
'On our way, Major.' I sent.
Jasper POV
My mate had spent the better part of the past ten minutes on the other side of the clearin' with Edward, Rose, and Bella to mimic their many arguments on the topic of Bella's change. Edward and Rose remembered everythin', of course, but Bella didn't remember all of it and Amanda was never there, so she's experiencin' this fuckery for the first time. I didn't envy her one bit, but I certainly was gonna sit back and enjoy the fireworks once they started. I was never one to pass up good entertainment.
"I can't believe that you told her that we don't have souls!" Amanda shouted angrily at Edward. "The hell we don't! We have a soul now just as we did when we were human. God! You're so stuck in the extremely repressed puritanical 1900's that you can't even see how truly fucked that line of thinkin' is! I mean hell, my grandfather was a true bible-beatin', podium slammin', hellfire and brimstone Southern Baptist Preacher and I know better than to believe the shit you were spoutin' at her!"
Even without my gift I could tell that she was about to blow a fuse. Her beautiful southern accent only slipped when she was passionate about somethin' and I couldn't help but chuckle at the whole situation. What she said was pretty spot-on considerin' that Eddie could be more than a bit repressed when it came to…well…everythin', but honestly I'd thought that him losin' his century-old v-card would have un-bunched his panties, but apparently not as much as I had hoped.
"I was just trying to keep her safe and happy and give her a chance at another life!" Edward nearly screams back, causin' more than just Amanda to growl at him in response. "It's not even something I have to worry about anymore anyway! Jasper and Emmett changed that when they bit her! So what's the point in rehashing all of this?!"
Amanda hissed at him and jammed a finger in the center of his chest before replyin', "You're lucky I have somethin' else to focus on right now or I'd rip you apart myself for the way you treated the one you claim to love." She moved away from him and began pacin' up and down the clearin' tryin' to get her anger under control. After a few circuits she returned, "Rose, I think I can manage a decent argument from this fuckhead's perspective." She stated jerkin' her head in Fuckward's direction. "Let's get set up."
Rose flitted toward Emmett for a kiss as Amanda headed my way and before my lips met hers I had one last bit of advice to give her. "Be safe and watch your left side." I told her seriously.
"Don't worry, Major." She replied back with a smirk on her lips. "I'll come back to you in one piece. You just worry about your own self and let me worry about me." She pulled me into a gentle, but very passion-filled kiss, but before we had the chance to really enjoy it, the girls were off into the trees and it was time to spring the trap.
As the wolves and the rest of the Cullen's spread out just inside the tree line on the opposite side of the field, I could see Rose and Amanda in the middle of the natural openin' that the trees provided. They had their heads bent close together and were obviously talkin' about somethin', but their voices were too quiet for even me to hear. I wasn't concerned about whatever they were discussin' because their emotions were calm with a bit of frustration, anxiety, and a slight bit of humor. Whatever it was eventually had both Rose and Amanda laughin' so hard both their heads were thrown back with mirth. It was a beautiful and appeasing sight to see that they were so unconcerned about the results of this fight that they were just handlin' it like they would anythin' else. I honestly didn't expect them to feel any sort of humor before this, but everythin' else they were feelin' was common when preparing for battle.
The rest of our group was a mixture of anxiety, nervousness, fear, and excitement. I sent a small wave of calm out to everyone in the clearin' so they could keep their heads in the game. I didn't want anyone freakin' out on us when the shit hit the fan.
I snuck a glance over at Em and noticed his attention was on his mate, just as most of mine was on my own mate. I suppose it was natural to worry that they were puttin' themselves in harm's way for no reason, but Amanda had a plan and as far as we were concerned, Rose and Amanda were the two least likely to get hurt during this foray. Their combined gifts would make them less of a target.
Which reminded me that Bella also had a part to play in this charade.
"Bella," I whispered to her, "do you have us all shielded against Rose and Amanda?"
"Yeah. We're good." Bella replies with a hint of annoyance tapping her left temple idly.
"Good, now on a more personal level," I reply staring at her coldly, "you may not like my mate for whatever reason, but you need to get over it. She came here to help us with your damn problem when she could have just asked me to leave and I wouldn't have thought twice about goin' and leavin' all y'all to deal with this shit yourselves. Show her a bit more respect."
She just held my gaze for a few seconds, mimicking the coldness in my eyes, but she had no chance of winning. It was only a few seconds later that she broke and turned her eyes towards where Edward stood and givin' me a curt nod in acknowledgement.
With a subtle shift of the wind, the easy camaraderie that Rose and Amanda had with eachother immediately changed to one of tension and anger as they started arguin' in Bella's and Edward's voices. It was more than a little unnervin' lookin' at Bella and Edward who were about ten yards from me and stayin' silent as the grave as their voices flowed over us loud enough to get anythin's attention that was within a five-mile radius from us.
"But your soul is in jeopardy!" Amanda shouted at Rose in Edward's voice.
"I don't care!" Rose replied as Bella. "You can have my soul! Take it! It was yours the first day we met!"
As their arguin' continued, I trained my gift to the opposite side of the clearin' and felt Victoria's Army on the edge of my gift, movin' swiftly in our direction. I recognized Pete and Char immediately due to the years of battle we had shared and the familiarity I had with their mixture of emaotions. Pete was givin' off a very excited and mischievous feelin' and Char was just aggravated and lookin' to relieve a little stress. They wouldn't be disappointed.
"They're here." I stated quietly enough for only our side to hear.
Fifteen seconds later, Victoria and her Army emerge from the trees and halt to find two vampire women arguing instead of a vampire boy and a human girl.
"Hello, Vicky." Amanda states simply at Victoria's bewildered expression.
I have to admit that seein ol' Vicky's face at realizin' that her golden goose was fightin' on our side was worth the headache that she caused us. Her sheer outrage and hate will be somethin' I will cherish until the day I burn.
"What have you done?!" Victoria practically squawks.
Instead of answering, Amanda glances at Rose who immediately starts to sing Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight" and half of Victoria's Army stops in their tracks to listen. Half was more than I had hoped for with Rose doin' this for the first time, but I'd take what I could get at this point.
"Bella! Cover Peter and Charlotte, too!" I shout to her as we head out to meet the first wave of vampires.
"Who the hell are Peter and Charlotte?" She shouts back as I remember she's never met them before. I turn to look at her and gesture to my two best friends, who have their hands clasped tightly over their ears, before Bella nods her assent and I see Pete and Char immediately relax. Knowin' they can take care of themselves, I turn my attention back to the fight.
Amanda doesn't bother usin' her gift for the first wave, but meets them head on with the rest of us and heads right in Victoria's and Riley's direction smilin' like this is the most fun she's ever had. Bella and Edward are also headin' towards Victoria, but the wolves, Carlisle, Esme, Pete, Char and I all begin takin' out the rogue vamipres around us. Emmett chose to hold back, takin' the opportunity to protect Rose while she worked her magic.
Unfortunately Rose's gift doesn't last long and before we know it, the rest of Victoria's forces were upon us. Rose tries to keep them under by startin' on another song, only to be hit from behind. Emmett was fightin' off two more that had tried to get at Rose before she could sing again. She wasn't too thrilled about her failure or bein' distracted, so after throwin' the female vamp from her back and screamin' at her like a banshee to keep her down, Rose dispatched that vamp's head with little more than a flick of her wrist. Once the threat was eliminated, she tried again to get her voice to work.
I managed to take the heads off two newborns on my way to assist Em with protectin' Rose, but after seein' that they had everythin' under control, I made my way through the Army to assist with whoever needed it.
I managed a glance at Carlisle who seemed to be injured and missin' an arm, but still managin' to hold his own against two vamps who seemed determined to take him apart limb by limb. What they didn't count on was Esme comin' to his rescue. She took the lesson Amanda gave her to heart and attacked one from above, beheadin' the girl before she could realize what was happenin'. Esme's appearance gave Carlisle a bit of a respite so he could locate his missin' limb, but he seemed unconcerned with the pain at the moment.
The wolves had formed a circle a few yards away from Carlisle and Esme and had three vamps in the middle. It looked as though the wolves were just toyin' with the trapped vamps, but were instead dartin' into the circle and dartin' back out with a ripped limb from one of the three. It was a slow way to go, but effective.
This time Rose was successful in getting' the rest of the Army to turn their attention to her. Although I think she'd started takin' a leaf outta my mate's book with her choice of In This Moment's "Sex Metal Barbie" not that it isn't fittin', but I may need to separate them for a few days or Em and I could be in real trouble.
The wolves seemed to be handlin' themselves fairly well once Rose's trance hit the vamps and the fightin' ceased for the moment. The pause in the attack gave the rest of us the chance to properly behead and dispose of the rest of Victoria's Army without much fuss. Although, the wolves seemed far too happy to be destroyin' my kind, in my opinion.
I had been watchin' my family fight against the Army for close to a half hour now. These fighters were more skilled than my family realized they would be even after I told them not to underestimate the enemy. We had several injuries on our side, unfortunately, but we were handlin' things the best we could.
Once the fightin' ended, I could see Embry had a broken leg, Paul was missin' part of an ear, Leah seemed determined to look over every inch of Seth and I could feel varyin' levels of annoyance comin' off both of 'em, but the other wolves seemed alright for the most part.
The vamps looked a little worse for wear, but at least none of us had been burned. Carlisle still hadn't found his missin' arm yet, but seemed to be hopeful. Esme was still searchin' for it amongst the piles of ripped vampires.
It was at that time I noticed that Amanda, Bella, Sam, Peter, and Charlotte were not in the clearin' and I immediately reached out with my gift to find them. What I felt from about a quarter mile out was…not what I expected.