Chapter Thirteen

Jasper

I found my chance when Peter left me to report to the others that I was awake and aware what had happened. He locked the door but I figured I could probably kick it open with the right force in the right place or I could probably just about get my shoulders through the round window although whether there was deck or sea below I had no idea. Then again I figured drownin' was preferable to being turned into one of these monsters. I gave him a few minutes to get far enough away then broke the chain and tucked the loose end of it in my boot so it didn't clink and give me away, unfortunately it was too tight to slip off with the boot. I moved quietly to the window but it was just too narrow, I would never get through there so I went to the door and listened.

I could hear voices in the distance that sounded like the cabin boys chatting so I tried the knob which turned so far but then froze at the point of the lock. I judged I would stand a better chance using my foot than my shoulder and standing back I raised my booted foot and kicked out as hard as I could. As I suspected the doors were only thin and it burst open banging loudly as it hit the wall of the corridor. I didn't wait for the response just ran for the stairway hoping to get on deck before any of the creatures had time to stop me. I was almost there when I ran into a cinder block wall, or least ways that's what it felt like. I looked up and met a fist headed towards my jaw and everything went black.

Peter

I should have known, I should have expected he'd try to escape and watched him more closely after all I knew The Major better than anyone but I'd failed. I turned the companionway as Alex dragged him back into his cabin while Felix grabbed the two cabin boys who had seen what happened by the throat. They didn't scream, they couldn't, they couldn't even breathe as he dragged them into the cabin too and I followed shutting the door with difficulty, the lock splintered by his attempt to get away. Inside Alex threw The Major onto his bunk then he and Felix fed from the two boys and threw their drained bodies in the corner. Felix turned to me then,

"Stay with him until we dock. If he tries anything again it will be your body going over the side in pieces."

"What about them? They'll be missed."

"Let him see his actions had consequences. We'll dispose them after dark, but you stay here."

They left me alone with my friend and two dead boys jamming the door closed. I wet a cloth and washed the blood from The Major's mouth where his teeth had gone through his lip when Felix fist landed but I could do little about the bruising and it looked like his jaw was dislocated. I'd seen one of those put back on the battlefield but I wasn't sure whether I could do it myself. Deciding if I didn't then he'd be in agony for the rest of the voyage and unable to eat I grabbed his jaw and pulled. At first nothing happened but as I jerked a second time it snapped back into place with a sickening click. As I took my hands away I could see the blood on them and I felt thirst blossom in my throat. Before I could stop myself I had licked the blood and the taste was exquisite but I stopped myself with great difficulty from draining him. I wouldn't become the killer of my best friend even if I had been responsible for his capture.

Jasper

I came to feeling sick and with a pain in my jaw that threatened to overcome me but I bit back a scream and sat up slowly looking around. I could see Peter watching me from the door but he hadn't attacked me in the corridor, that had been a giant of a man and he had been fast, I hadn't seen the fist coming and couldn't duck or ride the blow. Turning my head slowly and feeling my jaw I saw two bodies crumpled in the corner, two young boys and I turned back trying to ask Peter who they were and why they were dead. He shrugged,

"They saw Felix stop you so they had to die. It didn't take long and they didn't feel much after a minute just cold then unconscious. Its what happens when all your blood is drained or so they tell me."

It was my fault, the deaths were on my hands and Peter didn't seem at all worried about it, about two boys losing their lives for simply seeing something they shouldn't have.

"I was lucky not to lose a body part too, ya are my responsibility until the ship docks so now I'm stuck in here with ya."

"What about them?"

I found it difficult to speak but I'd dislocated my jaw once before in a bad fall from a horse so I knew what to expect.

"Felix and Alex will throw the bodies overboard when its dark."

"Why not change em?"

"Are you loco? Two newborns on a ship in mid Atlantic? There wouldn't be anyone left alive by the time we reached Italy."

I didn't understand but I was in too much pain to care and I lay back closing my eyes and hoping this was all a terrible nightmare.

I was woken again by the sound of the door being opened and the huge guy who had hit me in the face came in ignoring Peter and grabbing the two bodies, lifting them as if they weighed nothing at all. He looked over at me and smiled,

"I've heard a lot about you Vampire Hunter, I look forward to seeing just how good you are once you're changed, it might be fun."

He turned and was gone with the bodies before I could speak and Peter put the door back in place.

"Who is he?"

Peter shrugged again,

"Volturi, one mean son of a bitch and fast as a rattler, I think he's in charge of the guard."

"The guard? Volturi? Tell me what ya know."

He knew I had lost all respect for him, had ceased to see him as a friend but he still told me all he knew so by the time the ship docked I was starved but the pain had eased and I knew everything Peter did about these creatures and their rulers. It wasn't enough but it was a start and I would find out what they were and how to destroy them.

We were met by a carriage with a covered cage in the back on the dock side and Felix grabbed me by the throat and threw me inside locking the door and smiling,

"It's not going to be long now Vampire Hunter, then you will meet our rulers and discover what fate has in store for you."

I spat at his feet and turned my back, he might be a hell of a lot bigger than me but he was only quicker because he was one of them. In a fair fight I could take him, I knew I could, and one day I would get my own back. The journey from the docks to our destination was long, hot, and rough, but I conserved my energy by sitting as still as I could and watching through a ragged hole in the canvas cover. The countryside was unfamiliar, the strange trees, the few people I saw who all looked away when they saw the wagon approach. They knew who these creatures were which meant there were more than just a few and they didn't feed too close to home but then that was only intelligent, you don't draw attention to yourselves when you live in an area. I wondered what would happen to me once we reached our destination and as we approached a hill top town surrounded by stone walls I knew that time was fast approaching.