A/N Sorry for the long delay guys, life has been pretty hectic. Thank you for all the reviews, they really fuel me to write.

Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, SM does.

Previously

And so their training continued, and soon enough, the sun was setting. Even though she was a vampire, Charlotte still felt tired, her seemingly impenetrable skin aching from all the hits she took from Bella. Whoever said that once you were a vampire, you felt no pain, was clearly delusional.

With a smirk, Bella stalked off towards her tent, calling over her shoulder. "See you same time tomorrow, bitch."

Charlotte's answering glare was filled with hate as she marched off back to her own tent, ignoring the questioning glances from Jasper and Peter.

Chapter Seven: Temptation

"Get up."

Bella's stony voice held no mercy as she glanced down at Charlotte with a hint of disgust. She let out a long, drawn out sigh. "It's been a week, and you haven't improved at all. Seems the only thing you're good at is sex, and even that's debatable, since you can just make them do what you want."

Charlotte growled at her and leaped to her feet, determined to take Bella down. With a swift move, she quickly punched Bella, causing her to stagger back a few feet.

Bella growled and immediately tackled her, twisting her arm behind her back so that she was completely at her mercy. "Good hit. Now if you learned to channel that anger, you might be worthy to fight in Maria's army."

Charlotte looked up at her in surprise. This was the first time that Bella had ever complimented her during their training.

Seeing her astonished expression, Bella snorted. "I'm not as heartless as you think. I give credit where credit is due. Which is more than I can say for my brother and Peter. They believe that the prime motivation factor to keep the newborns in line is the promise of blood. But they don't seem to understand, that newborns search for acceptance and approval as well." Bella stared into the distance. "I know that you are not a newborn, but I think that like them, every vampire searches for a place where they can belong. And they will do anything to protect that." Her eyes met Charlotte's. "And that is why we win against others. We all aim to protect each other. But, the second that our newborns realize that this may not be the right place for them, everything Maria has worked for will be destroyed."

Charlotte had never heard Bella talk so much. And she certainly didn't know why Bella informed her of the very information that could bring everything crashing down around them.

Bella looked up as she saw Peter headed towards them. "We're done here. Leave."

Charlotte felt a flicker of crippling pain for a moment, but then it was gone as soon as it had begun.

Bella's eyes met Peter's as he neared them. He looked at her pleadingly. "Bella…"

She straightened. "Captain Whitlock. If you'll excuse me, I have plans elsewhere."

Peter's eyes narrowed. "Goin' off to fuck Damien, I see."

Bella ignored him, leaving him behind to seethe.

Peter turned to Charlotte. "She can go off and do whatever she wants. I don't give a fuck. Calling me Captain Whitlock like I mean nothing to her, after everything we've been thr-"

Charlotte grabbed his arm, taking him by surprise mid-rant. He couldn't stop his eyes from meeting hers. "Enough talk about that bitch. How 'bout we have some fun of our own."

Peter's eyes glazed over yet again and she smirked as she had him eating out of the palm of her hand once more.

Bella was heading off to her tent to meet Damien when Jasper intercepted her. "Can we talk, Bella?"

She nodded stiffly. "Of course, Major Whitlock."

Jasper grimaced, but decided not to say anything. At least she was agreeing to speak with him.

He led her away from any prying eyes and then turned her to face him. "Why are you acting like this, Bella?"

Bella raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, Major?"

Jasper sighed in frustration. "Stop calling me that! I'm your brother and I want to know why you're with Damien when you know Peter is your mate?"

Her eyes widened in shock, never thinking for an instant that Jasper knew.

He chuckled humorlessly. "Peter may be blind, but I'm an empath, remember? Why haven't you told him, I'm sure he feels the same."

Bella's eyes flashed. "I haven't told him Jasper, because I feel as though my mate should know if he was indeed my mate. And I don't want you to mention it to him. He clearly doesn't know and I plan to keep it that way."

Jasper's confusion was unmistakable. "Why would you keep this from him?"

Bella turned away from him, venom tears filling her eyes. "If he cannot see it for himself, he will never believe it. Peter thinks that his gift will reveal to him anything that directly affects us, but he doesn't see that it is a double-edged sword. Every gift has its drawbacks, and his gift is very selective in what it shows him. He believes that his gift would alert him of something as monumental as a mate. And there's no use trying to convince him. I know that he is my mate, but until he realizes it, I will do everything in my power to make sure he's happy. And if that includes accepting his relationship with Charlotte, so be it.

He scoffed. "Bella, you know as well as I do that she's forcin' him to be with her."

Bella shook her head. "You sure about that? He's been spending a lot of time alone with her lately."

Jasper snorted. "He's trying to make you jealous, just like you're doing with him. Why are you with Damien anyway?"

Bella looked at him earnestly. "Can you blame me for wanting to be somewhat happy while my mate is with someone else, not even realizing that he is, in fact, my mate? I admit that originally I decided to be with him because Peter hates Damien, and a small part of me hopes that he'll finally realize that his jealousy is due to us being mates. Obviously that didn't work so I figured I'd just go with it."

Jasper grimaced. "You're both heading down a path that I'm sure neither of you are happy with, but if you won't see reason, then there's nothin' I can do to stop it. Just know that despite what you think, I am here for ya sis."

She gave him a weak smile. "If we really are mates, we'll eventually find our way to each other, you worry too much, Jazz."

Jasper smiled back at her, it had been a long time since she'd called him by the childhood nickname. He sent her his love and support and pulled her into a hug. "I love you, Bells."

She smiled more warmly at him and backed out of the hug. "I'll always love you, too Jazz, no matter what." She sent him her love in return and then headed back to her tent.

Maybe things weren't so bad after all, considering.

She wasn't surprised that Damien was waiting for her when she returned from her talk with Jasper. It seemed that he always showed up when she was at her lowest, her weakest. And she definitely was at her weakest.

She wouldn't admit it, but some of the things her brother said to her were getting to her. Was she really doing the right thing by not telling Peter the truth? Was this really the best thing?

She shook these thoughts out of her head and greeted Damien with a small smile. "Come to take me on another hunting trip?"

His eyes met hers and when she neared him, he pulled her close to him. She didn't know if it was the stress of the day, or if she just really needed male comfort right now, but as soon as his arms closed around her, she couldn't help the broken sobs that came over her. Thank God none of the newborns were around at the moment; she didn't need them to see one of their Captains appearing so weak.

Damien didn't say anything, just held her closer, softly stroking her skin as she poured all of her emotions out.

After a few minutes, Bella finally calmed down enough to look up at him apologetically. "I'm sorry; I don't know what came over me."

Damien shrugged. "It's not good to keep all of those emotions bottled up; everyone needs to let them out some way or another."

They sat in silence, Damien still holding her, when they both suddenly stiffened at approaching footsteps.

Seconds later, Peter and Charlotte came into view. Bella could clearly see that his unfocused eyes were testament to being under her influence.

However, as soon as Peter saw Damien with Bella, his eyes cleared up and darkened with anger. "What the fuck is he doing here? And why is he holding you?" A concerned look flickered over his face before disappearing. "Did something happen? Why didn't you come to me?"

Bella stood up quickly. "I don't see how that's any of your business. If you'll excuse us, we'll be going."

Without a backwards glance, she and Damien took off.

Char grimaced and tried to pull a frozen Peter into his tent. "Come on, Peter."

Peter jerked his arm out of her grasp. "What are you doing? I told you I wasn't interested in you, only for appearances sake."

Charlotte pouted and ran her fingers down his arm. "But Peter, clearly Isabella is relieving her…tension. Why shouldn't you? I wouldn't have any problems with helping you in that area."

Peter stiffened. "I do not want anything to do with you at all."

Charlotte grinned. "Are you sure about that?"

Peter couldn't keep his eyes from sliding to hers, and he was under her spell once more.

Bella sat in Damien's tent, a place that she often escaped to whenever Peter angered her. Which was often.

She had been sitting there for what felt like hours, seething. Damien sat a few feet away from her, quietly reading some history novel while he waited for her to come out of her mood.

Suddenly, Bella felt an ache come over her, the same pain she had been feeling ever since Peter and her had been at odds. She thought that it had something to do with a combination of the mating pull and her gift, but she certainly wasn't giving in to it. There was only one thing that usually helped in that area, if only for a little while.

She looked over at Damien, who still seemed completely immersed in his book, but she knew it was all in act. Every few seconds, she could see him looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

Determined, she quietly moved in his direction until she was sitting right next to him, her mouth inches from his ear. "Why waste your time, when you could be enjoying something far more entertaining?"

He chuckled mirthlessly, already knowing what she was doing. "You know, any other man would be insulted to be used like this. As nothing more than a distraction to keep them from running into another man's arms."

Bella frowned, when he put it like that, she sounded like a horrible person.

Damien continued. "I, of course, am not those men, so I have no qualms with being your…what do you call it? Lover?"

Bella huffed. "Well, obviously you really aren't doing your job, lover."

Before she knew it, all of their clothes were off and Damien had entered her roughly, causing her to gasp.

Damien smirked at her, at the same time allowing her to adjust. "What was that you were saying?"

Bella lifted her hips off the ground and grinded into him. "I believe I said that you were not doing your job…efficiently."

Damien growled and began thrusting into her furiously, causing any other words to be replaced with moans. Bella held onto his shoulders as he thrust even deeply into her, crying out. "Ohh, D-Damien."

He smirked and pounded into her, his hand reaching down to accompany each thrust with a pinch of her clit.

Bella was now screaming out curses as she reached her peak, and they both came simultaneously.

They lay on the ground, panting needlessly as they came down from their highs, only to be interrupted by a soldier at the tent flap.

"Captain Whitlock, ma'am. Maria has returned and requests your presence."

She jumped up and quickly put on her clothes, leaving the tent immediately.

Jasper and Peter stood in front of Maria, each wondering what she was doing at camp. It was at least four days before she had ordered them to be ready for battle.

Bella suddenly raced into Maria's tent and both Jasper and Peter wrinkled their noses at the smell of sex that she carried with her.

Maria grinned. "Now that we are all here, we can discuss our change of plans. We march today."

Jasper frowned. "You said we weren't going into battle for another couple of days!"

Maria tsked. "Plans change all the time, mi soldado, and we must change with them. It seems that Herberto found out that we were planning to attack and has made plans to intercept us. Now all we have is the element of surprise. I want you to be prepared to leave by the time the sun rises. Dismissed."

They each shared a look, but obeyed nonetheless. An hour later, they had the newborns gathered in front of them.

Jasper paced along the line. "Plans have changed and we will be marching today."

There was a confused murmur amongst all of them and he silenced them all with a look. "We do not question Maria's decisions and so we will be leaving shortly. Remember your training and maybe you will survive. We will be splitting into two groups. Half of you will be going with me and Captain Whitlock and the other half with go with Captain Whitlock and Damien. Any questions?"

Bella was clearly annoyed that Jasper had put Charlotte in Peter's group but remained silent.

One of the newborns, however, raised his hand. "Which Captain Whitlock is which, sir?"

Jasper sighed. "The female Captain Whitlock will be in my group. Any more questions? Good. My group will be attacking from the east and Captain Whitlock's group from the west. Let's go."

They took off at a run until they were less than a mile from Herberto's own encampment. Jasper motioned for Peter's group to take their positions.

At his signal, they all descended on the camp and attacked.

Over the years, Bella and Jasper discovered that with their gifts, they worked much better as a team. Her shield would make sure that no one with gifts would attack them and their empathic abilities combined tended to work together in harmony. Jasper could lull their victims into a false sense of security while Bella would force her negative emotions on them, also using her shield to keep Jasper from feeling them. Their combined gifts tended to confuse who they were attacking, causing them to become sloppy, therefore making it easier for them to be destroyed.

This entire process took less than a few seconds, and they easily plowed through Herberto's army.

The only difficulty was that this method wasn't as effective on more experienced fighters, and so they had to rely less on their gifts, and more on their experience. Their gifts still had an effect, only older vampires could snap out of their stupor much more quickly and put up more of a fight. These vampires were usually the only ones that could injure them at all. But, they still never lost a fight.

As they came down upon a group of newborns, it was almost amusing to see their gifts' effects on them. They would freeze for a second and attack anything that was around them, not really focusing on their opponents. It was only too easy to rip them apart.

Once that group was disposed of, they moved on, coming upon a pair that were clearly more mature than the ones they left behind. One was burly and clearly relied on his strength, while the other was lithe and struck with precision as he took apart one of their own newborns.

But Bella was faster, so leaving Jasper to deal with the other vampire, she took him on. She could tell that this vampire already underestimated her based on her size and she would be only too happy to prove him wrong.

One of the first rules she had learned under Jasper's instruction was to never strike first. That first move that a vampire made told you a lot about their fighting style, how they would react to a surprise attack. So Bella stood quietly, egging her opponent on.

It seemed that he had been taught this rule as well, because he stood just as still. Now it was only a matter of whose patience would run out first. And Bella was a pretty patient person, in case you hadn't noticed.

But, this was a newborn battle and so she knew that at any time a newborn could intercept them and it made it so much harder to be fighting a mature vampire and a newborn at the same time. Not impossible, just not very desirable.

And so she used her gift to her advantage. Sending a wave of elevating impatience in his direction to break his concentration. It worked and he struck in her direction smoothly, and she probably would have been hit by him if she hadn't been paying the utmost attention to his movements.

And with just that one move, she could analyze his fighting methods and how best to use them against him. He would strike with power and precision, sort of like a newborn but with more control in that he would go for easy hits but do them very effectively.

How would she use this against him? She would attack him almost erratically, he would expect her to be just as calculating and careful as him, and that would be his downfall. Of course every move would be executed with the same amount of precise measurement, but on the outside, she would seem like nothing more than a newborn.

With this in mind, she struck next, clearly going for one of his legs, but as soon as his arm moved to intercept her, she grabbed it and ripped it off with ease.

She smirked at the shocked look in his eyes and used this against him, coming closer to him and attempting to rip off his other arm. But he seemed to recover quickly and when she neared him, his teeth sank into one of her arms and she hissed in pain, shoving him away from her.

But that one hiss was the only acknowledgement she gave her injury, and she struck again, kicking him until he stumbled slightly and tearing his other hand off.

He growled at her, all his precision gone as his pain clouded his mind. Bella loved when this happened, because it meant that he would stray completely from his controlled attacks and more into instinct. And once he turned over to instinct, he was just another newborn. And newborns were only too easy to destroy.

Two seconds later, and his pieces were scattered around the ground. Her eyes searched for Jasper and saw that he had finished his vampire almost simultaneously, but she saw that he was pressing a chunk of his skin back onto his arm.

And then they were off again. Bella's eyes shot over to where she knew Peter's group were attacking and saw that they were faring just as well.

Peter seemed to be limping slightly but it certainly wasn't detracting from his efficiency, as he tore apart newborns as if they were butter. But what he didn't see was that one of their opponent's newborns was coming up behind him. She wondered how they had slipped through their tight formation, but turned to rush to his aid. However, Charlotte came out of nowhere, jumping on the newborns back and quickly dissembling him. Bella saw Peter's look of gratitude and snarled. He shouldn't be looking at her that way. But there wasn't time to dwell on such matters and she turned back to the battle.

Looking ahead, she saw that the battle was nearly over, some of the older newborns surrounding Herberto who looked terrified now that his army was destroyed. Their newborns knew not to ever destroy the leader of the opposing army without getting Jasper's okay. They always wanted to check to see if he was hiding anything up his sleeve, metaphorically speaking.

She and Jasper strode over to him, joined by Peter seconds later.

Jasper studied him for a moment, presumably testing his emotions, before turning away. "Destroy him."

They heard the screeching of metal and the nauseating smell of perfume and Herberto was no more.

Peter immediately walked over to Bella, roughly looking her over and growling at the addition of yet another scar as she did the same. They were both leaking venom, but there was no time to take care of it now. As soon as the battle was over, they were expected to report back to camp immediately.

Taking a head count, Bella was surprised to see that except for five, all their newborns were still more or less intact.

With a shouted order from Jasper, they headed back to camp to report back to Maria.

As they reached the camp, Jasper dismissed all of the newborns before they followed him to Maria's tent.

Maria sat looking over a map, but jumped up when she saw them enter.

"I hope you destroyed the leader this time, Major."

They were quickly reminded of the time when Jasper had let one of the leaders go with a warning, and he had returned to attack them again not too long after.

Jasper nodded stiffly. "He and his army have been disposed of."

Maria smirked. "Good. You are all dismissed."

Bella turned to leave, ready to take care of some of the nastier wounds that Peter had.

"Except for you, Isabella."

Jasper and Peter looked back in surprise, but kept going, knowing that it wouldn't do to disobey Maria.

As soon as Maria deemed them out of earshot, Maria continued speaking. "Please sit, Captain."

Bella sat down slowly on the chair in front of Maria.

Maria began to pace around Bella. "I have many people who keep an eye on things while I'm gone, Captain. Just to make sure things are running smoothly of course. And I've been getting word that our other Captain Whitlock gets distracted quite often by our dear Charlotte."

Bella stiffened, taking notice of the glee in Maria's voice. She carefully fixed her expression to a neutral one. "Perhaps she has been using her gift on him."

Maria's eyes narrowed. "That may be true, but none of my other soldiers seem as distracted by her as he is. Clearly, he is not strong enough to withstand her gift. And that makes him weak. And you know that I do not keep soldiers in my army who are weak, no matter what position they have in it."

Bella almost wanted to point out that clearly Charlotte was only taking an interest in Peter and not the other way around but she wanted to hear where Maria was going with this. "And how do you plan to..fix this situation?"

Maria grinned malevolently. "That's where you come in, Isabella. I do not like such liabilities in my army. So I am going to task you to destroy Peter and Charlotte."

Bella bit the inside of her lip to stop herself from growling at her.

Maria continued, pretending not to see the distress on her face. "Charlotte will be easy to get rid of, I'm sure. No one will question her demise, seeing as she's such a lowly soldier. Peter, on the other hand, will be much more difficult. He is one of the second highest ranking officers in our army. It will have to look like an accident, of course."

Maria noticed her shock. "Oh, don't worry. I have it all planned out, you don't have to worry your pretty little head about it. Our next battle is in a week. All you have to do is make sure Jasper sends him into the thickest part of the battle, I will have commanded the rest of the newborns to retreat from him and he will be destroyed. It will all be a tragic accident. Regrettably, the newborns will all have to be killed, because, we can't have newborns in our army that run away at the first sign of danger can we?"

Bella could not believe these words were spilling out of Maria's mouth. She knew that Maria had to have been planning this for a while to come up with such an elaborate plan. Remembering her talk with Charlotte when she'd first arrived, she realized that this had to have been their plan all along. Charlotte would use her power on Peter to cause him to be distracted from his duties and 'someone' would inform Maria of this. She would then have to punish him in some way. By Isabella being the one to make it happen, Jasper would blame her and their bonds to each other would be broken. Obviously Maria would somehow rescue Charlotte from death, or decide to just get rid of her. But surely Maria would know that she would never do anything to hurt Peter.

Looking at Maria, she saw that she did. If Maria was that stupid, then Isabella wouldn't do anything to convince her otherwise. Bella nodded at her. "I will do as you ask of me, Maria."

Maria smiled brightly. "Wonderful. You're dismissed now."

As Bella left Maria's tent, she realized that the escape she had been planning for years would have to happen sooner than she had anticipated.

A/N Bet none of you saw that coming. Is Maria really that clueless, or does she have something else up her sleeve? Next chapter, Bella's escape plan comes into fruition, but are the results what she had anticipated? Review please and tell me what ya think.