I should have been hesitant when she said that, but I wasn't. Clearly there was something different about me, I had seen it in Lucy's eyes the night before. She feared me, feared something inside of me, that was clear. Was I stronger than her? Than all of them? It didn't seem likely as I watched them fly out the doors, their feet barely touching the wood.

Maria dragged me behind her, quickening her pace as she leaped off the porch.

I followed after her, the movement seemed effortless to me. All I did was will myself into the air and then I was flying. I told my feet to move faster and they flashed across the grass beneath me. It was amazing to me; gravity, time, none of it affected me. We had covered what I estimated to be several miles in just a few seconds as we were standing now in an empty field.

Maria released my hand, dancing away to Nettie's side with the same sinister look in her eyes as when she brought the girl to me.

"We should find something for him to hunt"! Lucy said eagerly, grinning up at me. "Cattle perhaps"?

"No. We need something faster! Horses"! Nettie said as Maria shook her head.

"No. Something smarter." She shook her head sharply as she looked from them to me. "Human." She sang as the other two clapped their hands.

"Oh yes! That is great! Or better yet would be a vampire"! Nettie chimed as I watched the three talk amongst themselves.

The word vampire seemed to come so effortlessly off her tongue. She spoke as if there were others besides the four of us. It didn't seem to sit right with me, knowing there might be.

A creature that I had just recently believed to be nothing more than a myth was now known to me as the ultimate predator, and I was one of them. And there were others, somewhere out there. Would I know when I saw them?

"In due time". Maria said waving her hand as she tossed her hair. "He must be ready first, otherwise he might turn on one of us".

Nettie's eyes flickered up at me, her brows pulling together. "That is true. Wouldn't want that."

I looked over their heads, my eyes dragging over the miles and miles of plains that lay before us, the world seemed to open before my eyes.

"Jasper". Maria said appearing at my side, I looked down at her slowly, her crimson eyes burning into mine. "Let's go into town, I want you to hunt some more."

I nodded obediently, running beside her as Nettie and Lucy followed behind.

When we entered the town everything changed. In the fields I could think, my mind was clear and free to move from one thought to another. But when we entered the town, all I could think of was my thirst. It consumed me entirely, leaving little room for any other thought or feeling.

We stalked down the dirt road, Maria floating ahead of us. Naturally she took the lead, Nettie and Lucy flanking me on either side. I wondered why they did this. Was Maria stronger than them? Why did they show her such allegiance? Did they perhaps feel the draw I did toward her, the willingness to obey?

Maria fell back, ordering me to take two women walking a few feet away.

I processed this, and then acted, flying across the space between us and wrapping my arms around the girl's necks. I pushed them into an alley between two of the houses, crushing them to the wall as I drank from one neck and then the other.

Maria was ecstatic; she kissed my lips, muttering praises against them as her hands wrapped around my neck.

The rest of the night continued in the same fashion; them watching while I killed. The hunt was exhilarating and wondrous. Frightening and enthralling.

Enthralling because I loved the way all my senses were intensified. I heard footsteps of victims several streets down, tasted their blood, and felt their heartbeat ripple through me. And my body, I felt every minute movement of muscles and bones beneath my skin. I felt the joints in my fingers bending as I closed my fists, the balls of my feet pressing into the ground just before I leaped into the air.

But it was frightening, because I knew I was truly not human. I seemed to hiss as I flew through the air, and strike down my victims with otherworldly speed and strength. I could take a woman away from her husband's side without the man even noticing she was gone, and a moment later I could kill him.

It was late in the night when Maria finally ended this endless slaughter, taking my arm in her hands and pulling me alongside her as we departed back to the house.

When we returned home, Lucy and Nettie quickly departed to other rooms in the house while Maria and I went upstairs. We watched the sun rise beyond the railing of the balcony, our legs hanging over the edge.

She told me of what was to come, the wars and ambushes. I listened with mild curiosity, musing as to just how many of our kind there really were. She told me of the Volturi, warning me that they were never to be trifled with. Everything she told me seemed to be so impossibly human. Wars, territories, police that governed over us all, it just didn't seem as fantastical as I would have believed.

"But why do we fight? Why can't we all just co-exist in peace"?

Maria was quick to answer, saying that everyone lived this way, that no matter where in the world you went you would find warring covens and hostile nomads.

I didn't try to argue with her. She was the elder one even compared to Lucy and Nettie, she lived longer than my mind could comprehend.

I watched her touch my cheek, her expression stern.

"Know this, there can only be peace for so long. Even if you exile yourself to the deepest jungles you will still meet others who will try to slay you. The only way to exist is to fight. God gave us the gift to live once more, and it is our destiny to fight to keep that gift".

She kissed me again, the gesture seeming so devoid of any warmth of love.

The next few nights I hunted alone with Maria, rarely seeing Nettie or Lucy until we returned home just before dawn.

Maria had taught me how to attract the humans to me. I had to do next to nothing to do it, merely look at them. I didn't have to smile, glare, or smirk to draw them to me. They came willingly, stuck in a mute trance, their arms curling around my neck and head bending backward so their neck rested against my lips.

It was too easy. And Maria, she might have invented the technique because of how well she drew them to her.

I watched sometimes in shock as women and men crowded around them, all eagerly pressing against her. Sometimes she danced, swaying her hips back and forth smoothly as she grinned darkly.

It seemed as if an invisible rope was thrown out from her, coiling around her victim and pulling them to her. So helpless they seemed as they leaned against her shoulder, blank eyed and unsuspecting as her lips traced along their necks.

And she was not picky with her victims, not by any means. Man or woman, she took them against her bosom, kissing them briefly before she slew them.

I watched once as she took two brothel maids, courting them in the dimly lit room of the hotel. One laid on the bed beside her, her blue eyes turned up at her as Maria stroked the top of her head. The other was kissing Maria's neck, eagerly trying to draw her attention toward her. Maria turned toward her, lightly tugging away the sleeve of her dress as the woman moaned. She flashed me a wicked smirk as she pushed the girl onto her back, her fangs sinking into the soft flesh of her chest.

It was a vicious cycle of seduction and death, pleasure and pain, and Maria said it was to always be this way.

But as the weeks went on, I felt discontent with this; something was different in me, I was unlike Maria in so many ways.

Maria played with her prey, seducing or frightening them before she killed them. I preferred to kill them quickly; to not keep my gaze lingering on their unsuspecting faces just before I drained them. And Maria was indifferent after each kill, happy actually, almost to the point of singing. But I always felt the same, sad or in pain. I never understood why.

One rare night we hunted as a group; Maria, Nettie, Lucy and me. We paced along the edge of a camp full of soldiers Maria explaining to me that I must kill them quickly as one of these men might recognize me. I didn't believe her as we walked out of the trees, the men looking up at us sharply. How could they recognize me? I looked so monstrous with my red eyes and glowing skin.

Maria and I walked forward, Nettie at my side and Lucy at Maria's. Maria smiled coyly up at the captain, his eyes widening as he looked at each of us. After a brief explanation about being lost, Nettie and Lucy broke away, gliding around the perimeter of the camp. I remained at Maria's side, looking at one of the men staring up at me from beside the fire.

What did I look like to him? Did I appear to him as Maria, Nettie and Lucy did to me the day I died? Like a ghost? I could hear his heart quicken as I smirked, the corners of my lips pulling up.

Maria was against the captain, her lips pressed into his and her hands clenching his brown wavy hair.

I turned to look at him, a lustful glimmer in the man's eyes, but it quickly faded into horror as Maria's teeth pressed into his lips. The blood trickled down his jaw, maneuvering through his stubble as his eyes squeezed shut. She was tearing the poor man's lips to pieces and his men were oblivious. Maria trailed her hands down the man's shoulders, holding to his sleeves as she forced him backward to the ground.

He slumped forward, his head falling against his chest as Maria released his lips.

"Leave none alive". She hissed to me as I nodded sharply.

Before I could react, the camp erupted in chaos. Lucy and Nettie sprinted around, effortlessly taking men as they ran for their guns. Bodies flew through the air, crumpling on the grass as Maria entered the fray.

A man darted past me, and I wrapped my hands around his neck, pulling him to face me. His eyes widened, the veins in the corners tightening as he stared up at me. A flicker of recognition passed over his face as his lips quivered.

"W-w-Wh-Whit-Whitlock"! He screeched as I stared down at him.

Whitlock? That was my former name, did I know this man? I didn't give myself the moment to think on it, as my teeth were already in his neck sucking down every drop of his hot blood.

When everything was over, the camp was littered with bodies, Nettie and Maria snickering softly beside the fire. We piled the bodies into a large heap, Maria setting them aflame with a smirk.

I sat away from them; adjusting the coat I'd taken from one of the men to fit my body. Nettie laughed at me, floating to my side and brushing her fingers through my hair.

"Isn't that cute"? She sang as she kissed my cheek. "He's trying to become a soldier again! Do you miss being a weak human soldier Jasper"? She said into my ear as I turned toward her.

I glared at her silently, my hand clenching on my knee. "Actually I took this because I needed something new to wear. The clothes I was wearing when I died were rotting off my body, and I wasn't about to start wearing one of your dresses". I hissed as she laughed lightly.

"Oh I should very well hope not", She muttered as her eyes danced down my body. "We wouldn't want to cover up that taunt little physique now would we?" She unbuttoned the top most button, revealing my pale chest to the orange light of the fire.

"Nettie." Maria said sharply, her eyes narrowed. "Leave him be".

Nettie's expression darkened as she jumped away, folding her arms tightly as she strode to Lucy's side.

Everyone fell silent, nothing but the crackling of the embers and the sizzling of human hair filled the air. Maria was at my side, her arm wrapped around my waist and her head against my shoulder.

Nettie and Lucy fell into their own conversation as Maria traced her fingers lightly along my jaw. Suddenly her eyes flashed up, and the tense atmosphere became even tenser. She stared over my shoulder darkly, her face a mask of utterly frightening malice.

I glanced weakly to where her gaze lingered, on a thicket of trees not far from us.

Nettie and Lucy were beside us a moment later, hissing and crouched down defensively.

Before I could ask what everyone was so nervous about I felt it. Steady footsteps echoed on the grass as the scent of several other vampires washed over the air. I knew it immediately as I had come to know Maria, Lucy and Nettie's scents, this one was foreign to me.

I could scarcely detect the number of the vampires, I guessed four, dead even. Rising to my feet Maria moved with me.

"You remember what I said about leaving none alive"? She hissed as her eyes remained on the trees.

I nodded slowly, feeling the aura of the stranger's envelope us.

"That includes our kind. Leave none alive, kill everyone and tear them to pieces."

I briefly felt nervous but then became calm and confident. Perhaps it was Maria's doing, she was so close to me I could feel her arrogance. She was ready, eager for the coming fight, and that made me eager as well.

They leaped out of the trees, hissing and growling as they flew through the air toward us.

.