ARO POV (because I love some Aro and I am just not quite ready to show you into the fragmented mind of our little Sugar.)

Having never been to the United States before, it was decided that we would stay in the area after parting ways with Captain Whitlock and his lovely young mate. While it is not my normal practice to interfere overly much in the lives of those that are not brought before me for judgement, I couldn't, for whatever reason, seem to step back and be a simple outsider in the ordeal pertaining to the young couple.

The reason for that was simple enough I suppose. I owed the young one my life; something that is not easily forgotten or overlooked. On top of that, she was an absolute delight. Her mannerisms were that of a child, innocent and endearing, while she herself radiated a simplistic sophistication. She was also not one to allow boundaries and personal space to stop her from achieving her goals. She knows little at the moment, being so young and new with nothing to recall and fall back on, but she has yet to allow her lack of knowledge and understanding stop her. She is a force, a rock hard wall that cannot be destroyed no matter hard she is hit.

For many years she was knocked down by life, spat on by the devil and denied her salvation of death and peace. There is not a single doubt in my mind that the pureness of the young lady would have given her passage into the realm of light and love had she finally decided enough was enough and simply called it quits. However, there was something always lingering in the back of her mind at every turn, every encounter with the dead redhead that told her not to give in to temptation and to continue on until there was literally no getting back up.

That was her fire, her defiance against allowing a simple minded bitch to destroy her. As a human she was as nearly as invincible as a vampire. As a vampire, with the proper upbringing and care, she would be the definition of indestructible. In impossible situations, she pushes through, doing what she must to see the sun crest the horizon with the birth of the morn. It was inspiration, it was glorious; it was absolutely magnificent. SHE was magnificent. The young Captain was a very lucky man to have claimed such a gem. She would be a very precious commodity to any that gained her attention and favor. The fact that between the two of them they have the ultimate gift of foresight was also nothing to turn one's nose up at.

The Captain's intuition and Izzy's preservation combined, there is literally nothing that they, together, cannot face and walk away from nearly unscathed. This little trial they are traversing together shall leave its mark on the both of them, of that there is very little doubt. However, they will learn and grow from it and be the better for it.

Peter, for as strong as he is physically, mentally, emotionally and psychologically, he is in no way perfect, and from this life lesson he will learn that he doesn't have to do everything on his own, that there is no shame at all in asking for help or listening to a female when her idea is just a little bit better.

As for Young Izzy, though she will blindly follow Peter to the ends of the world without question, from this I wishfully hope she learns to voice her opinions on Peter's asinine ideas. I have zero doubt that she will never deny him his pleasures, as he wouldn't her, but the young man certainly needs leashed at least every few decades and she would be the only one he would allow to collar him. I have seen it happen more in the seven weeks of her new life than it had in his entire 135 years prior to finding her.

Yes, that little bastard certainly needed something to focus on if for no other reason than that I have no desire to destroy him. Captain Whitlock is, arguably, the most lethal vampire alive and talents such as his are not to be wasted. Pain in the ass or no, he is a very special vampire and as such is allowed freedoms and chances not awarded to others. Plus, to a small degree, the fucker freaks me out. With his fucked up ability to answer me before I ever actually asked the question, to this day even with the look into his mind, boggles me. It is as fascinating as it is irritating.

This situation he found himself in is not one I hold an ounce of envy for. To traverse the forests of rocks and hard places is never a good time, but to put a vampire of his caliber in to it, I truly question the lingering intelligence of someone that I at one time considered a close personal friend. If I hadn't already written him off as an eventual loss due to his diet, I certainly would now. Once Peter Whitlock gets his hands on any member of the Cullen Coven, there will be nothing but gravel left. I have every confidence that it will be the young belle that takes out the Southern General, but The Captain, he has already called dibs on the lot of them and I am not one to stand between a male searching for justice on behalf of his mate. From what I saw, he is fully prepared to murder his only true friend for her should he find out that the Major had even an inkling of the goings on. I will gladly add to this that I wouldn't be able to find a single fault to that either as I wouldn't give a second thought to ending anyone that so much as thought of touching my own mate.

As time passed between leaving Peter and Izzy to return to the vampire equivalent of Hell, I have been racking my brain for any and all reason to storm the bitch's camp and personally remove the lot of them. There would be no breach of contract on the Captain's part since there is no arguing should I actually set my foot down and tell them they are coming with me for breaking the army law.

As I was beginning to form that plan, I was pulled from my thoughts by Demetri clearing his throat. With nothing but a cocked brow, I got him to explain his interpretation.

He bowed his head and spoke to the floor, "Forgive the intrusion Master, but there is a problem."

Brow raising a little higher, "Go on."

He then looked up at me, his eyes slightly worried as he chewed on the inside of his cheek. After a moment, he blinked a little, "The young one, Miss. Izzy, has separated from the Captain. She is currently heading further south while he is more or less staying in the same place. Do you think there is a problem, Master?"

I blinked at the knowledge once before pulling out my phone, dialing his cell number and grabbing my shoes. I had no idea what would prompt him to allow his mate to leave his side at the moment, but I had every intention of finding out. Should harm befall her during this time, his head would roll.

The other line rang three times before it was picked up, the quiet, bell like voice of the one I was actually looking for sounding in my ear. "Hello?"

I looked at Demetri a moment before turning back to the call, "Izzy, My Dear, is everything alright?"

"No! Peter, Jasper and Garrett got fucking arrested and Peter told me to run south and I don't know where the fuck I am!"

I dropped my hand down into my palm at her words. Again? Arrested again? I think it is just about time that someone finally told those boys that getting arrested is not, in fact, a good idea. But first, I needed to calm the young one on the phone before this bad situation got any worse. Keeping the exasperation towards the three most important people in her life out of my voice, "Calm down, Stella. Just stay right where you are and Demetri and I will find you. If you move around too much, it will take us longer. Do you understand?"

"Yeah."

"Very good. I shall see you shortly. If you have any difficulty whatsoever, do not hesitate to call this number back."

I heard a hard sigh on the other end of the phone, "Aro, I'm hungry and there are a lot humans here. I don't think I can..."

Demetri and I were already out the door and heading her direction. Cutting her off, "if you are hungry, Stella, eat and we will take care of any issues once we arrive. You are not yet two months old. I do not expect miracles when it comes to your control, alone, around humans. All infants are entitled to a massacre or two over their first year. Just be sure you actually kill any you bite, understand me, Young Lady?"

"Yeah."

"Wonderful. Call me if you are in need too."

"I will."

"Perfect. See you momentarily." I heard her say a farewell and the call got disconnected. Looking over at my tracker, "How far is she?"

He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye a moment before turning back to his path, leaping over a fallen log. "About ten minutes from here."

I sighed lightly at that. A single newborn can cause untold amounts of chaos in mere moments. I shudder to think of how much this particular one, hungry and probably drunk if her protectors were arrested, was going to cause before we arrived. This was going to be a fuck of a mess to clean up and one that I am holding the Captain, the Major and whoever the fuck this Garrett was, responsible for.

*X*

Nine minutes and forty-five seconds from the end of the phone call Demetri and I broke the tree line into a sizable clearing housing not only a very messy and extremely sated newborn vampire, but also ten headless human bodies. I skidded to a hult and just stared at the bones and flesh that littered the clearing like gory confetti. It was everywhere; an arm hanging from a tree, a head still spinning like a top in a pool of crimson, it was nearly a masterpiece; the focal point being the infant vampire sitting in the center of death licking her fingers like a kitten.

Demetri took a step towards her prompting her head to snap around with a snarl from her toes, bloody teeth bared and eyes black and full of challenge. I reached over and grabbed his arm and yanked him back to his previous position and out of the kill zone. For the moment, anything that was within the blood pool had become her territory, her possession, and she would fight to the death for it. There wasn't a beating heart or sounds of breath, but in her mind it didn't matter. So long as she was still feeding, we were a threat to her meal.

It took her nearly a half hour after our arrival to finally feel full enough to allow us entry into her picnic. I had spent that time in a tree to keep an eye on her while Demetri ran a tight perimeter to keep any scavengers from intruding. He was old enough for others not to want to fuck with when it came to blood, and I didn't want certain others to know I was in the area just yet. I wanted to be gone and, preferably, on a plane home by then. I wasn't going to be forcing any of three moronic little fuckwads or the young lady to come as well, but I was going to make it look like it.

There was absolutely zero chance that I was going to allow Izzy to be forced to go back to that situation after seeing just how hungry she is being forced to be to survive. I have no doubts that Peter fed her before going out, but she was used to eating much more often that she has been. Changes are, she was afraid to eat anything for fear of repercussions should it be found out, but that shit wasn't happening on my watch. Starving an infant vampire is no more right than starving an infant human. While the vampire baby cannot die of starvation like a human baby will, it can, if done long enough, drive them crazy with bloodlust, something that needs to be avoided with this particular newborn. She is suffering enough as it is, and it would snow in hell before I let anyone make it worse.

Once the young one moved from the middle of the clearing and off to one side, I cocked a brow as she bent down and picked up a random head, tossing it in the air like a ball. Now that was a new one for me. I have seen vampires do some extremely odd things with human bodies, but never like this.

Dropping to the ground and slowly walking up behind her as Demetri began to collect the dismembered bodies and preparing to torch them, I called out to her, "What are you doing?"

She glanced at me over her shoulder, rapidly drying blood sliding down her face and neck, and smiled a little at me before tossing the head in the air again, "This is a little exercise that Peter came up with to help me learn to control my strength a little more. The object is to toss this in the air as many times as I can, a little higher each time, until I crush it when I catch it. The ultimate goal is throwing it as high as I can and not crush the head." At that, pure excitement and personal pride lit her eyes, "I am now up to six tosses before it breaks."

What in the fuck is with southern army brats and heads? First it was putting a random vampire head on a random body and now they use them as training tools? What the fuck is next, bowling balls? Thinking about who the hell I was thinking about, I honestly wouldn't doubt it.

Turning my attention back to the young lady, I could see it in her eyes she was looking for approval to this so I nodded to her, "Wonderful job, Stella."

At that she just kinda giggled, "You think this shit is fucked up too, don't cha?"

I chuckled at that and nodded again, "I would be lying if I said otherwise, Stella. However, I suppose given the situation and tools at your disposal, The Captain is doing as well as he can."

She shrugged a little at that, "I guess. I mean, we certainly don't have a shortage of heads lying around camp. The little bastards in the army are forever ripping each other apart." Then she turned to me and cocked her head to the side, "As a matter of fact, I was drug into a game of 'monkey in the middle' earlier."

I held my hand out for the head in her hands and when she handed it to me, I let my fingers graze her skin, allowing myself to enter her memories and see just what it was that the terrible two did this time.

This thing about my gift is, I see everything they do, as if I was them at the time of the memory. So, knowing what little I did about the night, I wasn't surprised to find myself in a bar, but a little shocked at the KIND of bar.

FLASHBACK

Looking up, Peter was looking back, soft eyes full of affections and care, "Alright Sugar. Remember last time we went out. You get hungry, you say something."

"I promise."

Peter winked back before pressing a kiss to her temple, "Good girl."

"Get a room."

Turning to look to the other side of a Peter, I saw him give someone I didn't recognize the finger, "Fuck off, Garrett, or I'll make sure your ass never fucking gets laid again."

So nice to put a name to a face.

The next while was a blur of shots and drinks, the gentlemen getting dance after dance from the human females, Peter talking Izzy into a few as well. It was, at my best guess, four hours later that the memories began to slow and the reason for the arrest became apparent.

I could see two empty whisky bottles on the table and a third less than half full, empty beer glasses literally covering the table top and a fresh pitcher was just arriving. A shot glass collection numbering in the dozens were stacked and scattered. Dear Jesus, had the four of them been human, every one of them would be dead. Now how in the fuck did the humans not notice this as well?

Before I got to far down that road, I was pulled to look away from counting glasses when I felt a jerk, prompting Izzy to look up at Peter, who had his arm around her shoulders. He was looking over at Jasper, who had surprisingly caught the bottle cap that was thrown at him, and smirked, "Let's go."

I glanced up at Peter only to then again look back at Jasper when he questioned, "where?"

Looking back up at Peter, I watched as he nodded towards the stage, "Up there. I guarantee that we make back every dollar we just spent."

I watched as if I were Izzy, looking back and forth between the two, looking for one of them to be the voice of reason only to have that dashed to shit when Garrett stood up from his chair, "I'm game."

'What a bunch of idiots.' I felt Izzy shake her head and pinch the bridge of her nose a moment before looking at them and speaking out, "I really don't think this is a good idea, guys."

I felt something under my chin only to find out that it was the side of Peter's finger as he tilted her face up to look at him. He was smiling and clearly, completely smashed. There was a spark in his eyes that I knew perfectly well that she was still learning. There was a smirk on his face as he dipped his head and butted noses with her. Once he pulled back, "Come on, Iz; where is your sense of adventure?"

WIthout missing a beat, "Apparently kickin' it high and dry with your common fucking sense. Seriously, this isn't a good idea, Peter."

I saw him make a face before dipping his face once again and getting nose to nose with her, "Then stay here and watch." And he was gone, leaving her and vanishing right along with Jasper and that Garrett fellow into the crowd.

I saw the palm coming at my face and very nearly flinched at it in memory of seeing this young lady hit others. There was a groan before I saw a peek through her fingers and felt her shock like it was my own at the sight that befell me. There, center stage was a shirtless threesome of fucktards.

It wasn't so much the sight, but the reaction of the crowd that garnered the reaction from my borrowed body. The females were screaming for less clothing while the men were yelling about paying for a dance that the dancers weren't giving. When the entire female population of the club rushed the stage, the tips that they had been working for all night being waved in the air, Izzy jumped back from the table right before she was trampled. I could feel a snarl on her face and hear the growl in her throat only for it to catch when her male grabbed on to the stripper pole and begin to climb it, much like she had seen some of the ladies do all night.

While her focus was mainly on Peter, from the corners I was able to see what the other two retards were doing and I was not impressed. Jasper, for the mean son of a bitch as he portrays, was on hands on knees, crawling like a human toddler towards the edge of the stage before kicking his legs out in front of him and sliding the rest of the way, and coming to stop in his side, running his hand through his hair and gave a thrust with his hips sending the females into another screaming fit.

From the other side of the stage that Garrett person was doing much the same thing, only he was going all out it seemed as he reached for the zipper of his jeans.

Turning my attention back to Peter, he was now hanging upside down on the pole, his hands running across his chest before he lifted himself back up and began to spin. I don't know how, it didn't look like it was physically possible, but there he was, spinning like a top.

This fucked up little show, that was going to leave mental scars for the next eon at least, only lasted about ten minutes, but it was ten minutes far too long for my tastes. The room spun for a moment at Izzy whipped her head around at a commotion at the from of the bar, a sense of horror setting in as she saw the bouncers of the club making their way through the place, pushing and shoving the men and, while being a little nicer about it, moved the ladies as well.

Turning back to the stage, Izzy opened her mouth to yell at them to get down only for her to pause when she saw the biggest fucking human I have personally ever seen rip her male off the pole like he was nothing and dragged both him and Garrett back off stage, leaving a different guy to handle the Major, who did not seem to want to leave anymore.

From a distance, only because I had to push my way out, I followed behind them outside and watched, personally with gratitude that it was now completely over, as they were handed off to the police and snorted as they were slammed face first onto the cars and cuffed.

Seeing all I needed to, I left Izzy's mind for the serenity of my own and vowed then and there to learn how to forget something. Opening my eyes and looking up to the sky, I sighed hard and looked back at the young lady, "Well, that was certainly interesting. Shall we go retrieve them or let them stay there for awhile and hope they finally learn that this is not alright?"

Both her brows vanished behind her bangs and she seemed to choke on her breath, "this isn't the first time?"

I snorted, "Heavens no. These two make it their mission to end up behind bars when they spend any real length of time together."

She scratched the back of her neck a second before shrugging, "We have get back to camp soon."

I nodded and waved a hand to her, "Than let's go. I seem to need to have a word with them about this since it seems that they will not learn otherwise."

She just giggled a little before twisting on her toes and darting into the forest, myself and Demetri right on her heels.

*X*

It was about a half hour run to the station that the fucktards were taken to. Once we arrived and told the guard who we were there to see, we were lead back to the holding cells, just in time for us vampires to hear the sound of rock on rock and Peter yelling at Jasper for doing something wrong when in fact, it was him that started this mess.

I glanced down at Izzy and she shook her head with a slack jaw, "He really didn't just say that, did he?"

I nodded, "Yes, Stella. He really just said that."

She chuckled a little, "fucking hell. This is the very last time I don't punch him in the mouth to make him listen." Then she smirked a little as she looked up at me, "There isn't a really pressing reason to get them out right away is there? I mean, how are they ever going to learn if they aren't punished for doing something wrong?"

Both Demetri and I snorted at that. I knew the girl was magnificent. Looking back down at her, I nodded, "I see no reason as to why they cannot spend the night in here, to give them a little time to think about their actions. You are welcome to stay with me for the night and we will return for them in the morning."

She giggled, "they are going to be pissed." Oh, that I do not doubt.

When we were close enough to be able to speak and humanly be heard, I responded to the Captain when he spoke of breaking out, "I would highly recommend against that, Captain. You are in enough trouble as it is."