Chapter 2

(JPOV)

I stop abruptly and take in my surroundings. I can still smell my Captain's scent in the air but he is nowhere in sight. The trail is still brand new and strong. I decided to follow the trail and find out what he is doing back here after I risked my ass to get him out to begin with. So here I go risking my ass again. God forbid Maria smells him on me and I don't have him back with me shit's gonna hit the fan.

After a short 5 mile run, I am barely on the outskirts of town. I immediately spot Peter sitting on a bench looking straight at me as if he was expecting me. Knowin' that cryptic fucker, he probably was.

"Captain!" I growl, narrowing my eyes in his direction. He stands up and makes his way towards me and tips his hat. Cocky bastard.

"Howdy Major! What are you doin' out this fine evening?" He asks.

"Cut the shit Peter. What the fuck are you doin' back here? I risked my ass to let ya escape the first time and got one hell of a punishment. Now decades later, I find ya back in my territory? Give me one damn reason why I shouldn't tear you to pieces and burn ya right now mother fucker?" I asked him.

"Relax Major." He replies putting his hands up in surrender. "I'm here to bust ya out!"

I look at him like he grew another head right in front of me and raise an eyebrow at him.

"And what makes you think I would want to leave in the first place?" I asked him.

"You can't fool me and you know it. My knower has been goin' crazy the past few years especially. It's been sayin' that I needed to come back and get ya. You know you can't stand it here workin' for that psychotic bitch pullin' ya strings!" He answers.

"Well answer me this. How is it gonna be any better where you plan on takin me than it is here?" I ask him.

His signature shit eating grin came across his face and he was practically vibrating with excitement.

"I can give you a number of answers for that question Major. You see, up in the north, it's not like it is here in the south. Vampires don't fight for territory up there. There's no killing, no armies protecting cities. We are even able to blend in with the humans and interact with them without them knowing what we are! We can hunt whenever we want, and all the vampires up there live in peace, aside from the occasional fight."

He must have lost his mind. I just continued to stare at him too dumbstruck to answer him. He seemed to be answering me honestly according to his emotions, but it just sounded so farfetched.

"While you paint a pretty picture Captain, how is it the first I am hearing of all this?" I questioned him.

He laughed at my question and said "Do you honestly think that if any of ya'll down here in the Southern armies found out, that you would end up staying in that shit hole? Maria knows all about what life is like in the north, but she doesn't want to risk any of you escaping her clutches, so she makes ya think that this is how life is for a vamp. Most in the north are nomads but there are some that have permanent residents like me and Char for the most part, unless we want to travel for a few years of course."

What he's sayin makes sense, but - wait. "Permanent residents, Peter?" I ask taken back. "How is this possible?"

"We actually have multiple houses and ranches around the U.S. and Canada and every decade or so we move. We don't usually interact with the humans unless we are in town for some reason, so we are able to maintain living in one place longer than most. We only hunt those who wouldn't be missed and in large cities such as rapists, murderers, druggies, prostitutes, and sometimes the terminally ill. It's worked so far." He replied shrugging his shoulders.

I rubbed my chin and pondered his offer. Fuck, I really can't stand it here and my depression is at an all-time high. I'm so sick and tired of the killing and the torture...what the hell.

"I'm in." I answer. "But I need to hunt first."

"Now that's what I'm talkin' about! Welcome aboard Major!" He pats my back to which I growl at him and we take off into the city to hunt. I dread what's coming next, but if I am escaping, I am going to need to be at my best incase Maria sends someone after me early.

We've been walking around the city for about ten minutes now, looking for a meal when I started to think.

"Hey Pete? Ya think you can show me how you hunt?" I asked.

"Sure." He answers no questions asked. I think he already knows why. I am hoping that it will help with my depression. The emotions and guilt really gets to me, especially right after hunting. I've tried to just hunt less and when I do hunt, I go for young girls and fuck em. When they cum I'll bite em so they are so blissed out they don't register what's going on until it's too late. The guilt still consumes me though. Hunting less weakens me and the blood lust from the newborns really doesn't fuckin help. Maria pitched a fit after a few months of it and forced me to hunt more than only once every two weeks. Of course I got punished for it. I can't train her newborns right if I'm too weak and thirsty to control them. This past week has been the longest I've gone without hunting in years.

"Can I ask ya somethin', Major?" Peter asked. I nodded at him to go ahead. "What did Maria end up doin' to ya when she found out we escaped? I don't mean to get in ya business and all, but it's always been somethin' that bothered me."

Shit. I didn't want to answer that one. It was probably the worst punishment she gave me. Peter and Char were the only ones to ever escape her, so she really was pissed.

"Not now Captain. Maybe someday, but not now." I sighed. He didn't press further and we continued our hunt in silence.

A few minutes later we came across a biker bar that was blaring country music. Motorcycles and trucks were parked out front, and the occasional customer was outside smoking a cigarette or talkin on their cell phones.

"In here." Peter said motioning to the joint. I looked at him in question and sent him my confusion. "Just follow me." He answered waving his arm for me to follow.

We walked through the doors and scanned the room. People seemed to have taken no notice to our arrival. Peter led the way to the bar and we took a seat at the bar stools.

"Let me get a bud in a bottle." Peter told the bar tender.

"Same." I answered. But there was no way I planning on drinking it.

After we got our drinks, Peter leaned into me and spoke too low for human ears.

"I have my gift and yours will help for this as well. Look around at the people in here and get a read on them. Watch their behavior and let me know when you think you've spotted someone that would be in the category I told you about earlier."

I gave him a nod and started looking around the bar. I immediately came across a guy sitting alone in the corner, watching the waitress serve her drinks radiating pure lust and hate. I watched him hit on her and her reject him. I watched him ask her another time and as she rejected him again, his anger and hate would skyrocket. From there he would continue to grope her and grab her ass. Fuckin perve. The waitress was getting scared and was starting to panic.

I elbowed Peter and nodded to the man I had my eye on and he nodded his head and in a whisper told me "He's a go. He's planning on following the waitress home tonight and you can only guess at what that sick bastards gonna do."

About ten minutes later he leaned in and told me that he's got his all picked out and she's about to go out to the alley to shoot up and to wait here.

I watched as a skinny blond with dark circles under her eyes picked up her purse and left money for her tab. She then got up and walked out the door. Peter quickly followed suit two minutes later.

I pretended to sip my beer, all while keeping an eye on my meal, watching as he continued to assault the poor waitress.
About 15 minutes later, Peter came back inside and took his seat next to me. I noticed that his eyes were bright red, showing he just fed.

"Your guy is about to go out for a smoke in the alley on the side of the building. Go now and wait for him." Peter told me in a hushed tone.

I nodded my head and headed out around the back of the building next to the alley and waited for my meal. One minute and thirty seven seconds later, I could smell that pervert in the alley. I waited until I heard the flick of his bick and could smell the smoke coming from his cigarette.

I rounded the corner and at vampire speed ran across the alley and appeared in front of the man too quick for his eyes to follow. His eyes got wide when he saw that I just "appeared" and I felt his fear spike.

"W-Who are you?" He asked. I didn't answer. I just kept my hat low on my eyes. I grabbed him by his throat and pinned him against the wall. His cigarette dropped out of his hand and he put his hands around my wrist trying to pull my hand off him.

"What...do you...want?" He choked out. Again I didn't answer but picked up my head enough so he could see my eyes. Again his fear spiked and heard his heart start to beat faster and harder. I could hear his blood pumping through his veins and tilted my head and brought it to the side of his neck and took a deep breath in. He wasn't the sweetest smelling, what with the alcohol, but he would surface. The man started to visibly shake and started pleading with me to let him go.

I sunk my teeth into his neck and squeezed his neck tighter to muffle his screams. His emotions were of fear, panic, pain...I could feel it all. With each and every pull of blood I took it increased until he lost a sufficient amount of blood and started to go limp. I was shaking as well and just kept pulling mouths full of blood.

After the last pull and he was completely drained, I dropped him to the ground and I collapsed next to him and put my head in my hands rocking myself. Though the guilt was not as bad having saved that young waitress and who knows how many others, the emotions he was feeling still affected me pretty bad. I could still feel them in the air. I still can't get the look of fear out of my head of all my victims and remember what they were feeling at the time. This is where I see my vampiric brain and my gift as a curse. I guess after all I've done, I deserve it.

Five minutes later, I was still sitting on the ground next to the corpse still shaking and rocking with my head in my hands. I smelled and heard Peter at the top of the alley approaching cautiously. He stopped and squatted down to my level.

"You okay Major?" He asked. He was emitting worry and concern for me. It has gotten worse since he was last with me in the wars.

"I'll be fine. The emotions still get to me. It's gotten worse over the years." I answered still not looking up at him.

"Damn. I'm sorry to hear that man." He said putting a hand on my shoulder while sending me his calm. "I'm gonna go ahead and get rid of this for you and then we can get going. Drinks are already paid for."

I sent him my gratitude and listened as Peter disappeared down the alley with the corpse.

Ten minutes passed and I was now standing against the wall smoking a cig when I felt Peter come back.

"Ready to hit the road?" I just nodded and followed Peter through the streets to a parking garage near a mall. He stopped at a green Ford F-150 truck that seemed new enough and unlocked the doors. We climbed in and hit the road heading north through Texas.

Throughout the drive, I couldn't seem to pull myself out of this depression that comes after feeding. Usually the newborns keep me busy so I don't have time to dwell and their emotions are constantly changing so I don't have time to concentrate on my own. Just my fuckin luck!

Peter thankfully kept quiet sensing my distress and turned the radio on a rock station but kept the volume low. An hour later, I must have started projecting because out of nowhere he turned off the road onto the shoulder and turned off the engine. I stayed quiet and sent him my confusion in question.

"I can't stand to see you like this man! This shit has gotten so much worse since Char and I left. Our way didn't even help ya!" He exclaimed. I just nodded my head and continued to look out the windshield.

"Ok, tell ya what. Char and I have someone else living with us. I'm her sire." He said and my head snapped to him to look at him.

"What the fuck do you mean you have someone else livin' with ya? Why are you now just tellin' me this?" I asked him. I was really fuckin pissed that he kept this shit from me up until now. I don't know this person enough to live in the same god damn house! On top of that she is still relatively new! Shit!

"Easy Major," Peter started. "She's an amazing woman. I rescued her from a small town in Washington. A vampire was trying to attack her and I killed him and saved her. I knew she was gonna be important so I changed her. She was 18 when I changed her and she's been stayin' with us for about two years now."

"And what does this 'amazing woman' have to do with me? Is that why you fuckin came for me? You want me to help you with this new vamp?" I exclaimed. I couldn't even keep my emotions in check. I knew I was projecting but I was to fuckin pissed to give a damn.

"What? No! God no! I thought you fuckin knew me better than that!" He yelled. "I came for ya because I care about your ass! I woulda came sooner but I 'knew' it wasn't the time! We had to get our shit straight before we could help you in any way. When we did, I 'knew' the time still wasn't right yet! So we waited and while we were waitin', I saw this girl in my head and knew we had to find her. It was the first time I ever got an actual picture in my head."

I kept watching him with a scowl. He seemed to be in thought sending out waves of protection and love. This surprised me. He must really care about this girl.

Peter kept his head down and started twisting his wedding ring on his finger and went on to explain.

"We searched the states for months and finally when we got to Forks, Washington, I knew we were there. We ended up catching up to her in a field in the woods. There was a vampire drinking from her and I knew I had to save her. I destroyed him and when I checked on the girl it was too late. She lost too much blood so I had to change her. While she was changing, I noticed a crescent scar on her wrist from a vampire. We took her to our home in Montana where we're going. She ended up finishing her change in a full week. Do you believe that shit?" He asked me shaking his head. I listened to him intently while he continued. "When she woke up, she already knew what she was, what we were. I was surprised but at the same time I wasn't considering the bite on her wrist. I asked her how she knew all of this. She said told us her story."

Peter then looked up at me and continued. "She just moved to Forks about a year prior. Her first day in school she was at lunch and came across from this beautiful family of adopted siblings. Two boys and two girls. Two of them were together. Her friend told her that they moved from Alaska three years before. When she got to biology, she was seated next to the one boy who was single. He reacted to her badly and acted as if he hated her immediately. She couldn't figure him out. He missed the next few weeks of school and when he finally came back he acted like that first day never happened. He was polite and introduced himself. She said he had mood swings and it was driving her nuts. It turns out that she was actually his singer. One day a van flew across some ice in the parking lot of the school and one second he was across the lot and the next he was by her side and just as the truck was about to hit her and pin her to her truck, the boy, Edward, stopped it with his hand and lifted it off her legs. She kept that information to herself and made up a story for the police.

"Shortly after, she ended up finding out what he was and was going to talk to him about it, only it was a rare sunny day and he didn't show for school. She went dress shopping that night and got separated from her friends. Four guys tried to come onto her and that Edward guy came out of nowhere and saved her. He took her out to dinner and at some point he slipped tellin' her he could read minds. Well, every mind except hers that is."

"Why's that?" I asked. A human that can block a vampire's power is very rare. Maria used to look for humans that would promise talent in the groups we would pick up for the newborns to feed.

"I'm gettin' to that Major." Peter smirked at me. He obviously noticed how curious I was about this girl he was talkin about. I'm not sure why, but it's like I'm already enthralled with her.

"Anyway, she ended up confronting him and he admitted to it. They started dating after that since he didn't have to hide himself or his family from her anymore. He showed her his speed, strength, how we sparkle. She met his family soon after that. There were two mated vampires that pretended to be the parents, and then there was the other couple who played seniors and one more who played his sister who turned out to be able to see the future. They all got along great, except for the older girl. She became a member of their family.

"Months past and right around her 18th birthday, they decided to go and play baseball. Three nomad vampires stumbled across them. Two males and a female. They found out she was a human and one of them liked to make a game out of hunting humans and decided she would be his biggest conquest. They were outnumbered so they left them alone for the time being. Her boyfriend knew the tracker was gonna go after her so they split up and had his sister and mother take her to Phoenix to hide her while they make false trails and try to catch him. He ended up figuring out what was going on and went to Phoenix to find her. He called her cell and told her that he had her mother and to meet him at her old ballet studio alone or he would kill her mom.

"When they went to the airport to pick up the other four, she gave them the slip and left in a cab."

"Wait. So you're saying that a mere slip of a human girl gave two vampires and one of which is a seer the slip?" I asked quite stunned.

"She's special man. You have no idea." He answered. "Anyway, she showed up at the ballet studio and it turned out he tricked her using an old tape with her mother's voice on it. He videotaped the whole thing of him torturing her and taunting her. Her boyfriend ended up coming in the nick of time but not before he bit her wrist. His family quickly caught up and destroyed the tracker. She was starting the change and instead of letting it spread, her boyfriend sucked the venom out. She woke up in the hospital two weeks later.

"She said that after they got back to Forks, things weren't the same between her and her boyfriend. Three days later he ended up taking her out into the woods and breakin' up with her. Tellin' her that he was sick of playing human and she was nothing more than a pet. That she's no good for him and it will be like he and his family never even existed. Left her there and she tried to go after him and ended up missing for 13 hours. A shape shifter she became friends with found her on the forest floor soaked. She was catatonic for two months after that. He dad snapped her out of it by threatening to send her to her moms.

"That day, she went to the meadow that her ex used to take her too deep in the woods. The other male nomad came upon her and told her he was there as a favor to the female that was with them. Turns out she was mated to the tracker the family destroyed. She wants revenge for her mate's death and figures that by killing her, it would rectify the situation. But he was too hungry so he decided to just take her life then and there.

"That's where Char and I came in." He paused. "They fuckin left her there to deal with this all on her own! But don't get me started on those fuckers..." He shook his head radiating hate, anger, protectiveness, and love.

"She was the most controlled newborn I ever saw right from the gate." Peter continued. "Had full conversations, handled her emotions and strength. And it very gifted. She is a physical and mental shield as well as a telepathic. She shields others besides herself as well and choose listen to someone's thoughts as well as project her own. She is able to turn her telepathy on and off, so she has it off most of the time. Says that she doesn't want to invade our privacy so she pretty much uses it as a defensive tactic for when we come across the odd vampire/s. Uses it communicate to us here and there. She can use it over a vast distance as well."

"That's all amazing Peter, and not to be a prick or anything, but what does that have to do with my situation?" I asked him.

"I was just getting to that Major, slow your roll!" He smirked. "That family that she used to hang around with had a special diet. They called themselves vegetarians because they only drank the blood of animals. Sweet thang followed their example. She's very compassionate. Tried to take her to hunt our way and she stopped mid hunt with blood in the air her first day. Guilt swallowed her no matter what kind of monster they were. She was afraid for the people they left behind. She says that they are innocent." He paused sending waves of admiration and familial love "She respects our life style, and has no problem with it, but she says that it just isn't for her. I respect that. So she hunts animals. Our ranch is pretty much out in the middle of nowhere with plenty of woods and game. I was thinkin' if huntin' humans is so bad for you that maybe you would want to try her diet? It doesn't hurt her or nothin'. Still is as strong as any of us and as fast. No differences, just in diet." He finished.

I thought on this for a minute. No more having to feel the emotions of my kills, or kill anymore innocents. Even though this seems so far-fetched, I know he was telling me the truth. It almost seemed too good to be true.

"Would she be willing to help me?" I asked. I didn't want to force myself on her.

"Of course. She already knows all about you. Read all my old journals from my days in the wars and after. She doesn't know your story exactly, but everything from when I was there to when you helped us escape." He said.

Great. She probably already fuckin hates me then. Why would she want to help a monster?
"Cut that shit out Major!" Peter growled. Shit, I must have been projecting. "She admires you. She has such a kind heart and is so excepting of everyone. When I told her I was goin' to get you, she took her time to fix your bedroom, order you sheets, clean clothes, boots and hats, the whole bedroom set!"

I was speechless. "She did?" I was surprised. Fuckin wow.

He laughed. "Yeah she did. I told ya, she's not only stunningly beautiful, but one of the best people I've ever known. She's gonna become to mean somethin' serious to you as well."

This threw me for a loop. I wasn't familiar with any kind of positive relationship weather friend, or more other than my Captain and his mate.

"What the fuck are you talkin about?" I asked him annoyed.

"You know I can't answer that for ya. Just try to be nice to her. Things will fall in place." He replied. I scoffed. Fuckin cryptic asshole.

"Ok, whatever then." I began, "Let's just get the fuck going."

"Yeah, Yeah!" Captain said laughing as he put the car in gear and took off towards Montana.

A/N: I hope everyone liked this Chapter so far! Leave reviews and let me know what you think! Also, if anyone wants to hear a certain story written out for them just send me it in a message or leave it in the reviews and I would be more than happy to.

Bella is going to be making her appearance in the next chapter! Don't worry; I am getting right to work on that one for ya! Thanks everyone!

Bella'Xo