Chapter Thirty Two
Maria
Things were going badly and had done for a very long time, ever since The Major left if truth be known. I had thought Nathan could step into his shoes, he seemed competent enough and he had none of The Majors qualms but I was wrong. He had been a good second in command, guided by his superior but as a commandeer in his own right he was little short of a disaster. Where The Major had been calm and collected, a tactician unrivalled in our world Nathan was impatient, impetuous, and rash. Several of the campaigns he had led for me had been little more than disasters and where I gave him the benefit of the doubt he proved me wrong. Nathan just didn't have it in him to be a competent leader of a newborn army and I found myself leading more and more of the expeditions myself. As the years passed I tried time and again to train Nathan but every time he let me down and then rumours started that the Volturi were becoming interested in my actions which was not a good thing. What I needed was my Major back, preferably with his Captain but I didn't see any way of persuading them to return. I had rather burned my boats with both and understood I needed little more than a miracle to save my territory, my army, and even more importantly my life.
When Nathan brought in the few prisoners he had managed to stop the newborns from feeding on and killing they were a sorry bunch. There was however one who interested me, a young male vampire who seemed to have attitude which while intriguing me only served to fuel Nathan's anger and I watched as he was beaten to the ground but refused to stay down. Deciding there might be something in this young man I could use I called him to me and took him away into my cabin leaving Nathan to deal with the transformation of the remaining humans. Finding he had a mate who had not been captured I knew we had a problem here, we were breaking one of the Volturi laws by keeping him away from her but I was reluctant to allow him to leave so I gambled on the Volturi not finding out about him. I kept him close for the next few months watching as he pined for his mate and slowly began to fade before my eyes.
Nathan was stupidly jealous of the young man and I found him trying to persuade one of the newborns to attack him. Now Nathan knew better than to annoy me or go against my orders and I had him punished as a lesson to the others. Even in this he was nothing like my Major who had stood stoically and taken whatever I threw at him refusing to go down until there was no way he could stand any longer and even then I never managed to get him down completely, only as far as his knees. Of course I had found him extremely attractive which helped his cause. I could never have had The Major killed,. Even when Nathan came to me with the tale that he had allowed Peter and his mate Charlotte escape. I punished him severely but I refused Nathan's pleas for him to be executed.
Perhaps something inside me had seen in the future that this young man would be useful to me, call it women's intuition if you will. When I heard that his mate was searching for him I decided to have her brought here, it would solve the problem of breaking the Volturi law. I sent Nathan to fetch her with threats of his own destruction if he harmed her in any way. My "new" commander was far too ready to use his fists or his dick and I wanted her unharmed. When they appeared I could see Nathan had behaved himself but then he was still healing from his punishment when he went against my orders and killed two children they stumbled upon. I did not make war on innocent children, he knew that and I made sure he would never forget again. I had the young man kept in one of the other cabins and took the girl, Olivia, into my own to talk. She begged to see her mate, for his life, but first I wanted to know something about her and what she had been doing since losing him. It seemed she had become involved with a pair of nomads and moved north. Now that was interesting, why would she go north when her mate was quite obviously being held down south if not dead?
Eventually she told me she had been persuaded to go by Siobhan the female nomad who said the South was far too dangerous for lone travellers. She also told her she had influential and intelligent friends up north who might be able to help her locate her mate. My ears pricked up when she mentioned these friends name, the Cullens. That was where my Major had ended up after leaving me and wandering for some years. I wondered if he were still there with Alice Cullen, the all seeing witch. I listened and then I saw it, this girl Olivia had brought me what I needed, a way of convincing The Major to return to me. How had he become tied up with a human girl? A weak and defenceless human girl who could be threatened or even hurt if he refused my invitation to return and he knew better than anyone that I never made idle threats.
I had Nathan take her to join her mate then come back to me with four of his best men, best? Well they were the best he could muster which wasn't saying much. Of the four only two could be trusted to follow orders to the letter and stay out of trouble so I gave them their orders and money and sent them on their way much to his disgust.
"You should have sent me Maria,. I would have snatched the girl and sent him a finger or two. He'd soon come scurrying back then."
"Actually Nathan he would move heaven and earth to find her and save her before raining hell down on my compound. Do you learn nothing?"
Nathan scowled at me, he hated being scolded in front of "his men". He just didn't get the problem, they weren't his men, they were my men and I would decide what they did and when. I had years of experience in motivating men and I knew exactly which buttons to press to get The Major back here. If he thought I was interested in his girl Bella Swan he would understand that any threats I made I would carry through on.
It didn't take long, the message was left and received and The Major was on his way back where he belonged, at my side. I ordered the two of my newborns who had gone to deliver the message to take some pictures of this girl and bring them back so I could see who had finally captured his heart. Nathan was in a foul mood, he understood that The Major would be taking his place at my side once more knocking Nathan from the position he had such pride in. As a lover he was excellent, he did everything I told him to, but as a commander he was sadly lacking. I didn't think I would coax The Major back into my bed although possibly if he thought I still had people watching Bella, that could be interesting, satisfy me or I'll kill your precious human. Of course this whole strategy wasn't without its own risks. If the Volturi found out I was keeping him from his mate or worse still threatening her life I could find myself in deep trouble. By freeing the couple Olivia and her mate I could show I didn't see myself as above the law but by threatening The Major's mate I could be putting my head in a noose. I would have to show that with The major at my side I could regain control of north Mexico and hold it then Aro might choose to turn a blind eye. The trouble I was in now was due to the fact Nathan couldn't keep Carlos in his own territory but The Major could, he'd proved that in the past. I waited impatiently for his arrival, ready to welcome him warmly.