Chapter Thirty Three
Aro
We were holding an emergency meeting after Felix returned with news of yet another fiasco in Mexico. Maria had never been a problem to us before. Once she turned Major Whitlock and he became her commander the Southern vampire wars soon came to an end. He brought all his battle and tactical knowledge with him from his human life and became unbeatable. Caius, Felix, and I were actually in awe of him, we'd never seen such iron determination, such ruthless efficiency before. If he went into battle he was victorious but he picked his battles wisely, refusing any he thought unnecessary or not to his advantage. Maria had listened and as a result become the most powerful of the warring covens, in fact the only one still standing by the close. Why she had driven him away none of us could understand. He was the reason she stood where she did with so much land and power and she had rashly thrown it all away because she couldn't accept that he was a man not a machine. Maria used sex as a tool but when using it on a man who could read your very emotions you needed to be sincere and she was not. Maria began to countermand his orders, she took another lover to her bed, and she rubbed The Majors nose in it. Athenadora and Sulpicia nailed it when they explained that the atrocities Maria had forced him to perform under her influence had come to haunt him. He needed to get away from the savagery and finally when she tried to put Nathan at his shoulder in the line of command he had finally had enough.
For a while after he left we kept a close eye on The Major, worried he might be a loose cannon, ready to explode in an orgy of violence at any moment, but Felix and Caius had bid me wait, be patient and slowly our fears were proved unfounded. He wandered killing only when his thirst became too strong and always covering his tracks. Then he met up with Alice Brandon and they made their way to the Cullen family, our old friend Carlisle with his strange notions but it worked for them. The Major melted away and Jasper Hale rose from the ashes. He was nothing like his alter ego, Jasper was a quiet man who shunned violence, who fed almost exclusively on animals and made a life for himself with the family. Understanding that this was to be his future we lost interest, he was no danger and our eyes were needed elsewhere, down south in Mexico for one. Word filtered through that there had been several small massacres in the vicinity of Carlos compound which we found puzzling as well as disturbing as he hadn't been active in any real sense for some time. One had been discovered by the humans but put down to bandit activity and then animal predation which was just as well.
We sent Felix and a couple of the guard to watch for a while and see what the problem with Carlos was. If he had become sloppy then Felix had orders to stop him by whatever means was necessary, and all the men he still had with him. When Felix reported back we were puzzled, Carlos only had a small number of soldiers now and no newborns. In fact his stockade was more like a sanctuary now with the walls reinforced and huge towers built from wood looking out to the East. The significance of this wasn't lost on any of us, the only vampire compound to the East of Carlos was Maria's, therefore he was expecting trouble from her, enough trouble that he was reinforcing his defences. So if the massacres were not down to Carlos then they must be Maria but she had never been careless or sloppy, she knew better. Felix and his men watched from a distance for several weeks but nothing happened so they reconnoitred her camp. Felix reported she had an unusually large number of newborns even for her and they were ill disciplined and thirsty which was not a good combination.
The day Nathan took a group of his newborn soldiers on a raiding party we understood what had happened.
"He's fucking useless Aro."
Felix, never one to mince his words, was explaining the fiasco to us.
"He's got no idea how to maintain discipline, they range all over the place. He couldn't organise a gang bang at a brothel. They take little notice of anything he says and any humans within scent distance are fair game even if they are close to villages. We're going to be forced to act soon."
Caius, Marcus, and I discussed the matter and decided a formal warning was in order, we didn't want to destroy Maria's camp unless there was no other way, she might be ruthless and evil even by our standards but she kept the peace down in Mexico, or at least she had until the last few years.
So it was decided to send Jane to join Felix, as a show of strength,
"But remember Jane, Felix is in charge of this operation. Maria responds far better to a strong male presence so stand back unless called upon."
We were having our own problems here with discipline, both Jane and Alec knew we were considering adding another to our small group of leaders especially as Marcus was withdrawing from much of our activity but both thought that place should belong to them. It was our fault for talking them up for so long. They were under the impression that they were the most valuable of the guard when in fact we put more stock in Felix than either of them. Alec was arrogant and usually spoiling for a fight, frustrated that he did not get to use his talent very often but it was one that was better for the threat than the reality. Jane was equally arrogant because unlike her brother she got to use her talent much more often. She thought she was more useful but what she did with a glance Felix could do just as well with his fists if taking a little longer. Vampires in general reacted better to a show of physical force and Felix menacing presence had served us well for centuries.
We were still undecided and both the twins wanted to prove themselves angling for any duties that gave them the opportunity to show how indispensable they were. If truth be told I think even Caius who mentored Alec was more inclined to hand any advancement to Felix, especially if he were to resolve this problem for us. He went in the following evening after Jane reached him and reported back as soon as he left Maria's compound,
"She is very nervous, she knows that Nathan is useless but she has no one to replace him with. I think she wishes The Major back, that'll teach the bitch."
"So what does she intend doing about the problem?"
"She has no fucking idea Caius but she tried to bluster her way out. I gave her a month to get her act together or we'd shut her down permanently,"
"Good. Did you have any trouble?"
"With her newborns? No Marcus but then I seldom do, they see their destruction in my face and back off."
"What about Jane?
"She did as instructed and stood back but she was fuming, I imagine she thinks me weak for giving Maria time to sort out the idiot."
"Was Nathan there?"
"Yes, he makes me laugh, standing there hands on hips thinking he looks tough like The Major when in fact his chin is at just the right angle for a punch to decapitate the ass hole"