Jasper - 1863
He squinted, his eyes transfixed to the western sky as the sun set slowly. Wiping his eyes, he tried to remove the dust that felt caked onto his face from the past few days of travel across the desolate Texan landscape.
He had always had a bleak love affair with the south and its dry heat, rolling dusty plains and view of the Gulf, but today, he was ready to be somewhere cool and quiet. It was January 2nd, 1863. The battle for Galveston Harbor had been won by the Confederates, and as a major, he was selected to travel even further south along the coast to Brownsville to secure the Confederate hold on the town. The battle on New Year's Day had been a grueling one; more than once it didn't seem like they would win that fight. But the South had held, and eventually won out over the North.
He patted his horse as they slowly trotted into the camp that was set up for the night. The tents were secured in the shadow of a mountain range that ran along the coast, hiding them from the remnants of the hot sun that still peeked out above the ridges.
Dismounting swiftly, he tied up his horse and strode towards the larger tents that were set up for the higher ranking men. Soldiers nodded at him respectfully as he passed, his long legs carrying him quickly to the wash tent that had been erected.
It had been a long, hot day full of travel, and all he wanted now was a bath, a bottle of whiskey, and a woman. He made a chagrined face to himself as he realized that out there in rural Texas, the first of his two wishes were the only ones that would be granted to him this evening.
He was young for a Major; only twenty-years-old. He had moved up quickly through the ranks of the Confederate Army, glad to finally have meaning and purpose added to his life. Back home, he had been nothing but a common, poor farm hand to his father. Now, people looked at him with respect when they saw the markings on his uniform that showed his bravery and responsibility. Here, he was actually somebody of importance and value. Here, he could do something that mattered.
Later that evening, the adrenaline from the past few days was still flowing through him with vigor. His drive for battle made him a challenging match for anyone he came in contact with; he was not one to be trifled with. He sighed heavily as he tossed the quill he was using to write a letter to his mother down on the parchment, feeling too restless to write anymore tonight.
Holding back the fold to his tent, he looked out at the skyline to the west; the sun had almost set, and the weather was cooling noticeably. He grabbed his flask and decided to take a stroll.
He walked for a few miles in the twilight, enjoying the coolness that the nighttime brought to the Texan plains. He walked up on top of a hill to sit and enjoy the view of the sun as it finally dipped below the horizon, sipping the warm whiskey through his cracked lips as he watched. Pushing his honey-blonde hair away from his eyes, he grimaced slightly as the warm, spicy liquid slid down his throat, numbing him pleasantly.
He hoped that the war was almost over; he had been traveling for too long, and he was hoping to go back to a big city like Austin and make a life for himself. He wanted his own house, a woman, and even a family. He smiled to himself as he took another swallow from his flask. Thanks in large part to his service in the war; he would have more than enough funds to do so as well.
The crickets chirping soon brought him back to the current moment, and he stood slowly, feeling the effects of the whiskey on his tired, sore limbs. He chuckled to himself as he loped down the hill he had been sitting on, stumbling clumsily on the way down. He could see the lights from the camp, just a few miles away, and he began his quiet walk in the enjoyable cool night air.
He walked slowly, kicking rocks and sticks on the way, not particularly in a hurry to get back to his tent; he knew sleep wouldn't come for awhile yet. The moon was bright and high in the sky as he ambled along, not paying much attention to anything.
"My my…what do we have here?"
He whipped his head around, his body rigid with surprise at the sound of the velvety voice. His tense face immediately slackened when he caught sight of the three women standing in front of him.
To say that they were beautiful was an understatement. The three of them stood, their pale skin positively glowing in the moonlight that shone in the Texan sky. The tallest, a dark haired Mexican woman, stood in the middle of the three, her black hair shining vibrantly as it blew gently. Another, smaller woman with long, golden blonde hair, stood to her left, and another , round faced younger girl with dark brown hair was to her right. He was awestruck for a few moments before finding his tongue.
"I….I'm sorry ma'am," he drawled, gesturing towards the first woman. "I didn't know anyone else would be out here at this hour."
The three stood still as statues, all staring at him intently for a few moments before the woman in the center spoke suddenly.
"Major Whitlock you are, yes?" she asked, her accent soaking the words. Jasper stared at her, completely captivated by what he could see of her perfect features in the darkness. The smaller, blonde woman looked at her sideways and smiled slyly, her eyes darting back to look at him.
"Yes, ma'am, I am. It's a pleasure to meet you?" he asked slowly, still very unsure what these three women were doing out there in the dark.
"Yes, yes it is. You'll have to forgive me, Major, but we've been watching you all evening and you've…piqued my interest, I'm afraid," she purred, licking her red lips in a taunting manner.
"I'm sorry?" he asked, stepping closer. He could have sworn he heard her….growl.
He straightened himself out, pulling his jacket into better order and pursed his lips in thought. They have been watching me?
"We've watched him all night, Maria, he's just right…"
"Calm yourself, Nettie," the taller woman hissed, not breaking her eye contact with Jasper.
"He's perfect – she's right. I want to go home. I hate it up north…get on with it," the small blonde woman grumbled, crossing her arms tightly around her chest.
Maria, as he learned the tall one was named, kept her sight on Jasper. She smiled, her white teeth glowing in the moonlight.
"Yes, you're right girls. We can carry him back while he changes…he smells too good to risk taking him back home all…human," she purred again, looking him up and down.
Jasper's eyes widened in pleasant surprise. These women want to take me home? All three? Why….
Still, he couldn't ignore the fact that their words and topic of conversation were strange.
"I…smell good?" He stuttered, running a hand through his hair, smiling sheepishly. "Miss, I've been traveling for three days now, and I don't think I could smell too peachy if you ask me," he said, his southern accent covering his words.
The three women exchanged knowing glances as they laughed together, the noise ringing off the rocky mountain walls around them.
"I was right…you'll be a fine addition for us. A fine one indeed," Maria said slowly, stepping forward closer to him.
"Now don't go draining him Maria, he's no use to us empty!" The smaller, round faced woman laughed quietly. Maria laughed and stepped even closer to him, her flowery scent wafting towards him in pleasant waves.
Jasper recoiled slightly as the light from the moon caught her eyes. They were positively glowing red.
"You're…your eyes…." He gasped, raising a hand slightly in shock. He backed up, suddenly frightened as the hairs on his arms stood up.
Maria smiled, exposing her teeth as she reached out a long, ivory arm to him. Her icy cold hands secured themselves around his wrist, pulling him into a steel hold against her chest.
"You like my eyes?" she whispered quickly. "You'll especially like your own then." His eyes widened as her teeth glinted before sinking into his neck like a razor into butter.
And then everything went black. And warm. Too warm. Hot. Fire…
The women crowded around him in the tent, fully sated, waiting for him to awaken. They waited for almost three days. As the sun set at the end of the second day, he shook violently as his body convulsed from so much pain and horror as his heart thumped it's last beats.
The air in his lungs flew out in a large gust, and he struggled to suck in more as his eyes flew open.
Where am I? What happened? Why do I feel….anxious? Anticipation?
His body stiffened at the strange new scents around him. He flew up from the military cot where he laid, his body coiling into a defensive crouch. He was overcome with new feelings now as he his eyes frantically flew around the room.
The three women stood frozen along the back of the tent, eyeing him carefully as he crouched and ready to spring at the first sign of danger. Instead, a muffled noise caught his attention from the corner.
He laid his eyes on a young man that was bound and gagged, his own eyes wide and wild as he shook with fear. Jasper straightened out his body, his attention now fully on the boy in the corner.
The blonde woman made a move towards him, but Maria held out her arm to stop her. She looked up at her in question, but turned her attention back to watch Jasper. The third woman merely stood in the corner, an amused smirk on her face as she watched.
Japer looked around the small tent wildly, his hand flying up to his throat as he began to realize that it felt like it was on fire.
"Yes, my young solider…" Maria whispered, inching closer to him. "You feel the fire of the thirst, yes?"
Jasper nodded, feeling his cool skin. He felt…different…almost…like stone, definitely invincible. Looking at her, his breath caught in his throat as he saw her for what felt like the first time. Her bronze skin looked like a fine layer of white powder had been spread over it; it was even and breathtakingly smooth. Her crimson eyes glowed with power and knowledge as she looked at him closely, her red lips pursed into an impressed smirk. She raised her chin deftly, looking at him with an amused stare.
He suddenly felt fear, but he paused. The fear was not his own…it was just present in his emotions. It was like he could feel it emulating from somewhere in the room. He looked at the boy who was now panting through his mouth gag and sweating profusely in the Texas heat. Jasper's mind realized that he could see him crystal clear, even in the darkness of the unlit army tent.
The flames licked at his throat, daring him to move towards the struggling boy.
"Yes, my Jasper. The boy will make the fire stop. You must go to him, he will stop the burning," she purred, stepping closer to him. Jasper panted as the feelings of fear and horror washed over him, almost crippling him. He was confused; he wasn't afraid of anything at the moment. He felt powerful and unstoppable.
He inched closer to the wriggling boy, his mouth filling with a strange liquid as he licked his lips and blinked slowly. Stepping closer to him, the intoxicating smell coming from the vein pulsing in his strained throat caught his attention. It throbbed as if it was calling to him…
Tha-thump. Tha thump. .. Jas-per. Jas-per.
His wild, frantic heartbeat quickly sped even faster as Jasper appeared closer to him in a flash. He didn't even notice his incredible speed. He didn't notice the women around him, or the smell of dead bodies that littered the ground around them. All he could focus on was the burn in his throat and the delightful small coming from underneath that pulsing vein.
"Yes," Maria chanted in his ear. "Yes, he is for you Jasper," she breathed.
The boy cried out in horror as Jasper suddenly lunged forward, sinking his teeth into his jugular. The puncture in his neck caused his cries to gurgle off and he eventually silenced, his body falling limp, dead.
But Jasper didn't care.
He sucked greedily at the wound his teeth had created, not caring about the decreasing feeling of fear as it left the young boy's body. He gripped the body tighter and tighter, not even noticing when the bones in his body began to snap and crunch under his iron grasp. He savored every single drop of the crimson liquid as it slid down his throat in thick bursts, slowly smothering the fire that resided there.
He lifted the body in his arms, feeling the weight of it. When he was certain he had been drained dry, he tossed it to the opposite side of the tent with a flourish, jumping to his feet in a flash.
He met eyes with Maria. The other two women stood on either side of her, their stances defensive or ready to pounce.
"Hello again," she said simply.
He nodded, still panting slightly from the thrill of his first feed.
"My name is Maria. I am your new master. These are my friends, Nettie and Lucy. You will not attack us. We own you now," she said quietly, but firmly.
He was overwhelmed with the emotions running through him; once again, he managed to realize that they were not his own emotions…but then where was he getting them?
Shoving the thought to the side, he focused on the beauty that was Maria in front of him. Her long, wavy black hair hung down her sides, framing her low-cut dress and cleavage perfectly. He was captivated by her crimson red eyes, having never seen anything like them before in his life.
"Jasper," she said enticingly, reaching up to his face. She stroked his cheek softly, running her smooth finger down his jaw line. He blinked slowly, savoring the feeling of her touch on his stony skin.
"Maria," he echoed, opening his eyes to meet hers. She traced a finger over his lips, wiping a stray drop of blood from them. Laughing quietly, she placed her finger in her mouth, licking it clean.
He exhaled sharply, completely captivated by her magnificence. She smiled and laughed her tinkling laugh, her red eyes dancing with glee.
"Sit," she said, pointing to the cot where he had burned.
He sat obediently, his eyes falling unsettlingly on Nettie and Lucy, who still stood at her side.
"Now, I tell you what we are," she said slowly, lowering herself to sit on the chair across from him.
"What happened to me?" he asked, his hand moving to enclose his smooth throat. He licked his lips, the blood still fresh. He seemed to fall out of his trance as his eyes fell on the corpse in the corner. Suddenly, he just realized what he had just done.
"I…I killed that boy," he stuttered, pointing to the limp body in the corner. Maria nodded, waving him off with a flourish.
"Yes, well…he was too young. No use to us. He was not strong and bold like my new Jasper!" she said, her Spanish accent dripping over the words.
He looked at her incredulously, not sure what to say. "Never mind that," she said quickly, taking his hand in hers. "You will stay with me now. You no longer have to worry about silly human troubles, or this war they fight in the Americas…now, we go south."
"South?"
She nodded quickly, her crimson eyes flashing as waves of excitement rolled off of her. "Jasper, I can offer you a position of much power – one much more powerful than the one you hold in this army. Would you like to have more? More power?" she asked, batting her eyelashes at him.
Jasper breathed in her sweet, floral scent as he stared at her, suddenly intoxicated with the idea. "Power?"
"Yes…so much. I put you in charge of an army…a different army."
"You have an army?" he asked her skeptically.
"I have quite an army where I am from," she answered seriously, rubbing his hand enticingly. "It is different than these weak men here."
"Men? I am a man. We are the Confederate army of the South, ma'am-"
"You are no longer a man, my Jasper," she hissed, cutting him off. She gripped his hands together in hers, her crimson eyes set aflame with passion and excitement as she spoke.
"No longer…?"
"No. You are not a man…anymore. You are vampire," she whispered, feelings of urgency and power rolling off of her as she spoke.
"Vampire?" he echoed, his eyes growing wide with fear.
"Yes, and we will leave this place to go to my home."
"Where are we going?" he asked frantically, and she smiled with satisfaction.
"Mexico."
Jasper followed her out of the tent after they finished explaining everything to him. He was now a vampire. A general in Maria's army of vampires. She was on a mission for them to take the Mexican city of Monterrey for their own, and for one reason only: humans.
The city of Monterrey was the most populated city in the northern half of Mexico at the moment, and Jasper learned quickly how important it was that vampires needed plenty of humans to feed from. She had been fighting for control of the city since a rival coven of vampires had attempted to take over and expose her. Furious, she had left with her adopted sisters in search of help.
He looked over at Maria, and she smiled warmly at him as they walked into the moonlight. He followed her eyes as she looked out at the field where his army had put up their tents for the night.
He gasped at what he saw.
Nearly twenty bodies were sprawled disorderly on the ground, drained and lifeless in the darkness. They had all been mauled and emptied of blood, left on the ground like debris.
His fuzzy mind stretched and fought to remember these men; their faces were all familiar. He suddenly realized with horror as his human memories returned to him that these were the men that had fought beside him in battle; they were the men that served with him.
"So many lost…" he mumbled, pushing his blonde hair back and out of his eyes.
"Yes, well," she trailed off, dusting off her long skirt. "We took what we needed and chased the rest south…they ran ahead towards the next town, but we will meet them before they reach it. They will make for a nice snack in a few days, love," she finished, tousling his wavy hair.
Jasper stared at her, trying not to show his horror and disgust. Feelings of pride and satisfaction emulated from her as she glanced carelessly at the bodies that lay littered all over the ground.
It was as if a great battle was fought here… he thought to himself. He swallowed, his throat already burning again for more of the sweet liquid that had tamed the flames a few hours ago. He felt guilty as he thought about what he had done; he had murdered the innocent boy without so much as a second thought.
Maria looked at him, a smile spreading slowly over her face. She glanced at Lucy and Nettie, her smile disappearing.
"Now….we bury them. The last thing we need is silly men on our tails!" she shrieked, waving her hand at the three of them.
Nettie and Lucy were moving in a flash. Jasper blinked rapidly as he watched them begin to dig a large hole in the middle of the army's campsite, completely horrified. Marie looked at him expectantly, turning her head to glare at him with her glowing red eyes.
"Maria, we cannot bury these men out here in a mass grave, in the middle of nowhere!" he begged, suddenly feeling the remorse hit him in waves. "They deserve a proper burial, with headstones and a passage from the Bible-"
She grabbed his arm tightly, pulling him to her. "When I say go….you go!" she hissed at him, shoving him forward. Jasper looked at her in amazement, unsure what she meant.
"Dig!" she shrieked at him again, her satanic eyes widening with rage. The feeling of power and finality hit him suddenly, and he had to stand firm in order to not double over with the weight of the emotions.
He did as he was told, unsure if he wanted to see Maria truly angry. He winced as he dug the shallow hole with his hands, his speed coming to his advantage. Lucy tossed him the limp, lifeless bodies of the men that had fought next to him in battle, wincing when he saw the face of someone he had known.
When the bodies were covered and the tents all burned, Maria ushered them to the road to begin the trip down to Monterrey. They ran for several days, much to Jasper's surprise. Although he was still horrified at what he had done, he was quickly intoxicated by his newfound speed and strength. He could lift and toss boulders like they were nothing more than pebbles; he could swim under the ocean surf for hours without taking a breath; he could run a hundred times faster than any horse.
They continued to make their way south along the coast of the Gulf, stopping only a few times to feed. Jasper hated the ritual, but soon learned that the burning in his throat would not go away unless sated by the nectar from a human's jugular.
He winced, setting the lifeless body down, his thirst finally sated. His throat had been ablaze with flames for hours, and Maria had finally allowed them to stop so that he could feed. They had found the rest of the soldiers that had escaped the first night when he was turned, and they made a quick meal of the rest of them. There could be no survivors.
He had been wracked with pain and emotion as he drained several men that he could indeed recognize. The emotions that they emulated were pain, fear, horror, disgust, sorrow. They were horrified at the monsters as they glittered in the sunlight before they killed; they were full of sorrow when they knew they were about to die and would never return home; and mostly, they were full of pain as their teeth sliced into the paper thin skin of their throats while they fed.
Jasper learned quickly that humans did not die right away as they were being drained. No matter how hard he tried, it still took nearly half a minute of inhumane suffering before they were drained of life and blood.
Jasper dropped the human he had just fed on and stood, wiping the remnants of his meal from his mouth with his tattered sleeve. Maria smiled at him from a few yards away where she had just finished draining her own meal for the day.
"Come," she growled, pulling her upper lip back over her teeth slightly. He followed her obediently as she ushered them further south. By the time they arrived in Mexico, Jasper was relieved. He was looking forward to having some time alone so that he could figure things out. The last few days of his new life had been a blur, even for his new vampire mind.
He had figured out that he could feel the emotions of the people or vampires around him; he soaked in whatever feelings they had, able to read and access them with incredible speed.
His talent was not a pleasant one.
Each man he drained seemed to feel more horror and pain in his last moments than the one before. They sometimes went silently, wanting to die bravely, but some screamed and fought before death found them. It was the quiet ones that hurt him the most. Their silence while they were drained of life stabbed him in his dead heart, and he carried their deaths with him wherever he went.
Jasper looked around the dreary, dusty ghost town. As if on cue, a dead, dried bush blew across the bleak looking gravel street that ran down the center of the town. The desert wind blew across his face, but he didn't notice. He was watching Maria.
She strode into the abandoned little town with Lucy and Nettie on their respective sides of her, waiting for their orders. Jasper followed obediently, suddenly aware of all the eyes on him. A group of twenty vampires stood off to the side, their stony skin glittering in the afternoon sun. Their eyes glowed crimson with fresh blood, and they stood as still as an oil painting while they waited for their orders.
"Tonight," Maria began, walking up to them slowly. "We fight. We practice our technique for two days. Then, we go to the city. We fight the enemy, we destroy them. And then….we feed!" she howled, raising up her arms in triumph.
The young vampires around her growled and hissed in agreement, the crimson eyes lighting up at the mention of feeding and fighting – two of their most beloved activities.
Jasper learned quickly that newborn vampires were the most volatile of all vampires; their human blood still flowing in their veins gave them power that could rarely be contested against. They were also wild and mood-driven; they became overly emotional fairly quickly when barely provoked.
He was no exception to this rule.
Several minutes after their arrival in the small, dusty town, Maria gathered Lucy and Nettie with her in the middle of the street, standing in front of Jasper with feelings of pride and power rolling off her. He closed his eyes and savored the emotions that came from her in waves; it was almost like he could soak them up and store them to feel later.
"Jasper," she purred in her usual, velvety voice. "I want you to fight Lucy…she will show you how to train the newborns to fight. They must be quick, fearless….and not be afraid to die!" she added, her crimson eyes lighting up.
Jasper nodded, turning towards the small blonde on her left side. Lucy was pale and petite, her blonde hair gathered into a long braid that hung down the side of her neck. Her crimson eyes glowed, but not as vibrantly as Maria's seemed to. Lucy looked tiny next to Maria's frame, but he was not about to underestimate her.
Lucy hissed, her body flying into an attacker's stance, the rest of the vampires around them quickly dissipating from the battle that was about to take place. Jasper concentrated on the feelings coming off of Lucy - confidence, but with an underlying feeling of fear added on top of that.
She looked at him, smiling an evil smile that exposed her teeth to him. He looked around at the other vampires watching them, and he felt a growl rumble deep in his throat. He was not about to be made a fool of.
He mimicked her stance, and the two began to dance and stalk each other in a tight circle, both trying to debate how to attack. Maria watched off to the side, hissing with delight as she watched the two of them prepare to spar.
"Yes, Jasper…let your instincts guide you…feel the power of the animal inside you!" she squealed with delight as he sunk even further down into his crouch.
Lucy hissed at her sideways, visibly annoyed that Maria would help him over her. Jasper read the feelings of jealousy and hate that rolled off of her and recoiled slightly, shocked at the vigor of her emotions. She took her opportunity, growling fiercely, and sprang.
Jasper walked into the large building where he could smell Maria's scent. He and Lucy had sparred for almost an hour straight, and she had beaten him several times, stopping just before she would have normally ripped him apart. Although she was aggressive and quick, she had taught Jasper a lot about fighting as a vampire. It was not like fighting as a human solider.
He was already amazed with his speed and strength, and it was almost an unbelievable high to know how powerful he had become.
Looking around, he decided that the large building in the center of the town was once been a hotel. The downstairs hosted a large room with a bar on one side. Overlooking the big downstairs room was a balcony lined with individual rooms that had been rented out to patrons when it was a functioning town. Bullet holes decorated the walls; broken glass lay everywhere, and everything was covered with a thick layer of dust as nothing had been touched for years. Once inside the abandoned hotel, he looked around at the other young vampires who stood around the room, being babysat in a sense, by Nettie, who was perched on the bar, a bored expression on her face.
Unlike Lucy, Nettie was an older vampire who was actually Maria's real sister. Her short, slightly round stature and oval face made her not as attractive as Maria, but her vampire state made her appealing all the same.
"Maria wants to speak with you…Upstairs," she said in a low voice, giving him an amused expression.
Jasper nodded, flashing up the creaky steps to the room where Maria's scent was most potent. He entered the small bedroom, his eyes falling to the floor when he saw her sprawled on the bed in her undergarments.
She laughed haughtily when he averted his eyes, holding out her hand to beckon him. "Jasper, come," she growled.
He obeyed immediately. Over the past few days he had seen what happened to those who did not obey her. Maria had no patience for those who didn't' follow her orders, and quickly at that. He winced slightly when he thought of the vampires he had seen ravaged and pulled to pieces; Maria didn't have room in her army for rambunctious vampires.
He sat on the bed, still inches away from her, his eyes on the floor. He was not used to seeing a woman this unclothed before, even if he had lied and bragged about it to his friends in the service.
"Jasper? What is wrong?" she asked, her Spanish accent falling over her words.
"Maria…I…I don't wish to make you unhappy, but I don't want to be disrespectful to ya," he replied, looking at her quickly.
She laughed again, grabbing his arm to pull him close. "Trust me, Jasper. Together, we will be quite happy," she said before forcing her mouth onto his. He paused slightly, reading the feelings of lust and the usual feeling of power that emulated from her.
Pushing him back slightly, she moved to straddle his hips on the bed, moving against his body erotically. "I saw how you fought Lucy…you are a natural fighter Mr. Whitlock…I'm very happy that you've joined me," she purred.
Her red lips moved against his, and he could taste the remnants of her last meal on her tongue as she kissed him forcefully. He felt his body begin to respond to her as she kissed him, again and again as they fell back onto the old mattress together.
The next few days were full of nonstop training. Maria had made it clear that he only had two duties; training her army and making her happy. Making Maria happy included several things.
His main job as one of Maria's close knit coven was to train the new vampires that were brought to the little abandoned town where they stayed. They were about fifty miles away from the city of Monterrey, way on the outskirts of the city.
The four of them were assembled in the bar of the abandoned, gritty hotel one evening as the sun had set on the little town. Maria had gathered the twenty or so vampires that had already been in the town when they met. The waited anxiously for them to get started.
The last few days had been a whirlwind for Jasper. He and Maria had barely left the shabby little room, or the bed for that matter. He was absolutely intoxicated by her power and beauty and seemed to shine forth from her as she stood in the dark room, her crimson eyes scanning the followers she had assembled.
He had asked her to leave several times to feed, but she had grabbed his wrists and begun the cycle all over again of offering herself to him willingly. Needless to say, he had been easy to distract for those long hours.
"Three days," she had purred to him, stroking her perfect hand down his chest. "Then we shall be able to leave and see what a gift I have assembled for you!" she giggled playfully, digging her fingernail into his cheek. He had been a bit confused why they would have to wait three days, but he did not want to question her. Ever.
So now they stood on the evening of the third day, waiting in the shabby bar to see what she had done. Jasper looked over at Nettie, who was standing beside him, looking bored as usual.
"What are we waiting for?" he whispered, his red eyes full of question. She shrugged, giving him a knowing smile. "You'll see," she replied.
He looked around the long forgotten hotel and turned back to her. "This town been empty long?" he asked.
She glowered at him, then rolled her eyes. "What?" he asked.
She turned to look in the direction of the back windows of the bar, and his gaze followed hers. There, behind the bar and outside the windows was a large hole that looked like it had been sloppily filled in, the center sagging down a few inches further than the rest of the untouched ground around it.
It was a mass grave, much like the one he had to help dig for all the victims that scattered the ground back at his army camp, when he first woke up as a vampire.
His useless stomach turned, and he growled as a feeling of pride and satisfaction rolled off of Nettie.
"That's disgusting," he spat at her quietly, turning back to face forward.
She snorted a laugh and shook her head.
Maria cleared her throat, and every vampire's attention was immediately drawn back to her. "We shall move to the big city in five days. We go at night, we come quietly, we kill all others in the way. No humans will see us," she said simply. "Then…all of the blood will be for us, my children," she added with a low growl. The others hissed in agreement, their crimson eyes widening.
She stalked out of the bar, motioning for them all to follow her. She broke into a run, and Jasper, Lucy, and Nettie all followed her closely, the other small group trailing not far behind. Jasper wasn't sure where they were off to, but he decided against asking questions. They ran for almost an hour, due east towards the Gulf. When they reached the ocean, she led them over a tall rock base and peered over the edge. The rest of them followed all hungry to see what she had in store for them.
Jasper braced himself and looked over the edge of the tall rocks down into the beach canyon. There, lying haphazardly on the ground as if they had been dumped, were bodies. Only, they weren't dead.
Maria cackled to herself as they began to stir, almost all at once. Jasper counted quickly; there were nearly two hundred of them down in the canyon, all beginning to move and wake up.
He suddenly cried out, the brick wall of emotions coming off of them and hitting him with full force. He fell to his knees, gripping the sides of his head and then his chest as their confused, volatile, and rampantly wild emotions all collided with him simultaneously.
Below, the newborn vampires began to stand, their crimson eyes glowing fiercely as they realized that something about them was different; new, and powerful. They had been reborn.
Maria paid little attention to Jasper as he doubled over with the force of their combined feelings, turning her eyes downward to look upon her new army.
"You have been saved, my children. My family has rescued you all from a life of pain, regret, poverty, and mortality!" she yelled with a hiss, motioning to the vampires that stood beside her. The newborns below hissed and growled, several of them getting so excited that they began to move in celebration.
Jasper winced as one bumped into another, and then another accidentally brushed against another and got too close, triggering their defenses. Then the fighting began.
They ripped and tore at each other, growling and howling as nearly ten or fifteen of them began to brawl. Their emotions were wild with confusion and hate as they tumbled, jeering and egging each other on. He exhaled sharply, digging his hands into his honey blonde hair in frustration and pain.
He looked up at Maria from the ground, his red eyes screaming with desperation. "Maria…all of these people..." he gasped, glancing down at them again.
He quickly counted; nearly nine of them were gone already; ripped to pieces and scattered on the ground as the rest of them looked on, their faces void of any remorse.
"They're like wild animals…how could you do this to all of those innocent people?" he gasped, wincing again from the torturous flow of feelings being slung at him from the wild newborns below.
"Yes, my Jasper, they are like animals. Wild, untamed animals. We shall train them; teach them to work together and fight. We will take the city quickly, with almost no resistance!" she said excitedly, her crimson eyes lighting up with a passionate glint.
Jasper recoiled against the ground, looking back at the crowd of confused and unstable newborn vampires. His dormant stomach twisted as he cringed, his fingers digging in the dirt as he struggled to hold onto his sanity despite the emotions around him. He looked up at her as she stood, her teeth and eyes shining in the moonlight.
"Maria…what have you done?"
Well there was Jasper! Hope you all enjoyed my take on his first few weeks as a newborn vampire…next we head north to the city of Chicago, where Carlisle will encounter a young man and his mother, dying of Spanish Influenza…
Edward is up next!
Please let me know what you thought of Jasper…I did the best I could, but I think it would have taken him awhile to realize the full potential of his powers, like Bella did in Breaking Dawn. It was really something she had to practice and develop, just like a real skill. Thoughts?
Another big thanks to my awesome beta, Rain-It-Shall for dealing with my madness and spending a large part of her spring break editing for me. You rock!
I only hope that this story is as much fun to read as it is for me to write =)
The story will go in order of what dates the characters have been changed in. The list is as follows:
Carlisle
Jasper
Edward
Alice
Esme
Rosalie
Emmett
Sam
Jared
Paul
Embry
Jake
Quil
Leah
Seth
Colin
Brady
Renesmee
Bella
*****