Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story line, SM owns the characters I'm just having fun with them.

Peter POV

After we spent the morning gathering all the parts we could find and burning them, including that horrible bitch Maria, we found a small pond to clean ourselves up and put our dingy clothes back on. I kept stealing glances at the Major; I just couldn't get used to seeing him so peaceful looking. He looked like a sweet and innocent school boy, not the war-hardened lethal vampire I knew him to be.

"Pete, I can't keep up with your emotions- what has you thinkin' so hard over there?"

"Nothing much sir, just seems like you've changed is all. You look so much younger now, gonna make me feel like an old man over here," I halfway joked. Our age difference, either in vampire years or human years had never made much difference to me one way or the other. The major always seemed so much older and more mature than I was. Now that his guard was down I felt like I could pass for the older one, at least in my human age of 26 anyway.

He gave me a thoughtful look and then a soft smile as he answered, "You know, I feel like I'm young again, for the first time since I left my mama and went off to war. I haven't been free since I was 16 years old, and today I finally earned my freedom. I feel like I've been reborn!"

Then his face turned serious as he took my hand and looked me straight in the eye. "Peter, I don't know what we'll do now, but I can't go back to how things were. I can't take anymore killin' and fightin' and wars. We need to get out of here and see if we can't find a different way to live. Will you come with me?"

I couldn't believe he even had to ask me that. When will this man ever learn? "Of course I'll come with you. Where else would I go? You're all I have to live for- you're my mate, sir!"

His answering smile was stunning as he threw his arms around me and pulled me close again. "Thanks Peter. And will you do me favor? Call me Jasper. We're not in the army anymore and you're not my subordinate. You're my partner, in every way, and I'd like us to start our new life on equal ground. Ok?"

I swear he is trying to give me a heart attack, and my heart ain't even beating anymore. What am I gonna do with him? "Ok sir, I mean, Jasper. I'll try to remember, but it's gonna take some gettin' used to! So where are we headed?"

"Much as it pains me to say it, I think we gotta head north. We gotta get close enough to some human towns so we can feed, but we need to be away from the territory disputes down here. Maybe we can find somewhere cloudy so we can look around in the daytime and see how the world is changin'. We need to find some clothes too. We'll just have to be careful and look out for each other; we know we can take on anyone stupid enough to challenge us, but hopefully we can avoid conflict as much as possible," he answered.

I thought through what he said, and as usual it made a whole lotta sense. I was more than a little nervous about heading into unknown territory, but we had heard from a nomad we captured a few years back that there were other ways of living up in the north, away from the wars. Vampires actually traveled around during the day if the weather was cooperative and they walked right down the street among the humans without them even realizing it, or so he said anyway.

"Alright, I guess we better get goin' then. Want to backtrack down to Laredo before we move out or head straight to San Antonio? We shouldn't have trouble feedin' anywhere in Maria's territory for a few days at least. It will take the other warlords' scouts time to figure out she and her army don't exist. Unless they meet up with James, that is." I was back in my Captain strategy mode, planning our best course of action.

"James?" Jasper interrupted me, "What about James? Was he not in on the attack?" Jasper knew anyone who faced his demon was gone but I guess he wasn't really taking names as he killed.

"No sir, he ran off as soon as he saw you. Headed west, away from camp. Probably won't see him again. But he knew what was comin' so if he sees anyone else he'll probably spread the word that you went rogue and took her down." I almost regretted my words when I saw the small frown on his face as I reminded him of the destruction he had just caused. Seems there was a reason Jasper was locked away behind the Major- Jasper was a soldier, but not a heartless killer.

"Ok, we'll head to San Antonio then. We'll have to move fast and stay between towns until dark. After we fill up, we need to get movin' and get as far north as we can as fast as possible. I don't want any other generals decidin' they need to get their hands on me. You are coverin' us right?" I knew he knew I was- I always covered our scent with my shield whenever we left the compound. It was ingrained in me- I couldn't NOT protect my mate.

My shield was my most closely guarded secret. Only Jasper knew I was gifted; the rest of the compound just thought I had no scent. I trained with my shield privately, with only my mate guiding me. He didn't want word of my gift getting around; there was always a more powerful vampire who would love to get their hands on me if they knew.

The biggest threat was the Volturi, of course, but they hadn't been around since I was changed. They had checked in with Maria and Jasper about 10 years before he found me, and according to him they were very interested in his gift. It was only Maria's close ties to Caius that kept them from taking him away back then. If they knew what a powerful mated pair we were, they would be here in a human heartbeat.

"Yeah, I always have us covered. Not that it does any good against James. Wish I knew how to stop him from trackin' us." That had always been a sore spot for me. What good was it to have a shield if I couldn't keep the wrong people off my mate's trail?

"Pete, we have been over this. You're a physical shield. James uses a mental gift when he's trackin'. There's no way for you to stop him. We'll just have to hope he's scared enough not to come lookin'. Now let's get outta here ok?"

After running north and feeding in the outskirts of San Antonio, we turned slightly more northeast. I knew from my human years that there were more cities up that way and hopefully more opportunity for us to blend in and still have our fill to eat. We moved more quickly by night and explored when we could by day.

Several weeks on the road had shown us both more than we had seen in all our years before that. By the time we reached Illinois we had yet to run into another vampire, and Jasper hadn't sensed anyone around us with his gift. We were beginning to think that vampires only lived in the south. However, as we neared the suburbs of Springfield we ran across the trail of two vampires and slowed, our senses on full alert.

"Tighten your shield, I don't want any sound gettin' out either ok? This area may be claimed and we need to move on before they run across us." Never thought I'd see the day the Major would run from a confrontation. He must be really nervous being so far from our home territory. I just hope that nomad was right and there aren't any wars up here. I'm getting used to this different side of my mate, it's like learning a whole new person. Our relationship has evolved to a more equal partnership and even our love life has changed. I'm not always on bottom now, it really makes life interesting. I'm not sure how all that would change if he shifted back into Major mode all the time again now.

I knew he hadn't actually meant to order me but I couldn't stop the reflexive "Yes, sir" from slipping out as I set about double checking the strength of my shield. I saw him glance at me out of the corner of my eye as he smirked at my tone. "Sorry, force of habit I guess. My shield's good." Just as I said that he froze and focused his gaze to the east. I could see his eyes gradually darken and I sighed, he must be feeling the vampires approach now.

"There's two of them," he said, "One feels cautious and the other is... irritated? Are you sure you've got us covered? They're headed straight for us. How did they know we're here?"

I sighed and looked around, spotting a tree about 50 yards away. "Let's hit that tree and wait for 'em. If they got around me somehow at least we'll have the advantage if we need to jump 'em." He agreed, and we started up the tree after rolling our sleeves up and unbuttoning our shirts. Let whoever is coming know they really don't want to mess with us. Our scars should be warning enough, even up here where Jasper probably isn't well known.

I finally heard two sets of footsteps coming at a pretty fast run directly toward us. How the hell do they know where we are? Nobody has ever gotten around my shield like that. I tried to keep my nerves in so I wouldn't tip off my mate but I felt him send me some of his calm reassurance anyway. That went straight out the window when I heard the voice.