Chapter Seventy Five

The Major

A part of me wanted to run from this place and the painful memories it held but common sense told me it was probably the best place to hide out for now, at least until I decided what the hell was going on with this girl. She followed me scowling but it wasn't as bad as she had thought. There were the old and slightly rusted oil lamps but the oil in them still burned and gave light and the wooden bed bases my father had built with my elder brothers help still stood on the packed earthen floor with its faded rag rugs. I remembered the day my little sister Amy finished her first rug and brought it down here laying it proudly beside my mother's. I felt something rising in my throat, a mixture of sorrow and joy. I had been very lucky to have such a family although they had been taken from me so unfairly and far too soon.

She looked around then nodded her approval,

"No stove?"

I pulled a small camping stove from the cupboard my pappy had built and showed it to her,

"Its not exactly luxury but with some small sticks for fuel it works pretty well."

Sitting down on one of the bed bases she pulled out a can of soda and popped the tab taking a drink before looking up at me.

"You certainly know how to show a girl a good time Major. How long until the others join us?"

I shrugged,

"A day maybe two at the most why?"

"I want to talk to you. Will you sit down with me?"

I sat hesitantly, it had been a very long time since I was asked to sit by a woman and I felt awkward and unsure of myself.

Bella

We didn't have that long and I needed to try getting through to him. If Charlotte was right then we had to find a way to connect and now seemed the ideal time, after all no one was going to interrupt us down here. Looking around I saw what looked like a roughly made crutch standing in one corner and standing up I went over to it picking it up.

"Was this Samuel's?"

He jumped to his feet fists clenching,

"How did you know about Samuel?"

"I helped an old guy in the store and in return he told me the story of the family who lived in the farm house. He said your brother was wrong in the head, that they blamed him for the murders and hung him. That was an excuse wasn't it? To hide the real killers. If he needed a crutch to walk he could hardly kill his parents and siblings could he?"

He took the crutch from me shaking his head but unable to speak for a while. When he finally forced some words out I understood a little more about the man who stood before me.

"It's my fault he died. I knew he would try something if I wasn't there. He used to wander and this time he went home, back to the farm house. The deputies were looking for someone to pin the murders on and he was as good as any. He wasn't stupid, he couldn't walk well and he was a little slow but he wasn't a murderer. Sammy wouldn't have hurt a fly, he loved his family and we all loved him. I...I almost got there in time. If I'd just been a few minutes earlier...just a...he would have lived...if I hadn't volunteered and gone to war...if I'd left as soon as peace was declared...its my fault, all of it was my fault. I should have been here to protect them, especially after my elder brother John died."

As he spoke The Major fell to his knees still holding Samuel's crutch like a talisman and I could see exactly what happened to this man. He blamed himself for everything and he became the killer he was to make sure he was never hurt again.

"Did you find them?"

"Who?"

His voice was choked by emotion but I didn't approach, not yet.

"The vampires that were responsible for killing your family?"

"I killed a lot of vampires. I was extremely good at it and that was my downfall. Ironic isn't it, the best vampire hunter was a human so the Volturi turned me so I could hunt vampires for them. You see Bella its all I can do, all I know, killing, death, I live it, I have for well over a century and that's too long. It marks you, everyone understands in their gut that you are a killer, you carry death with you. He waits at my shoulder for the next soul, be it human or vampire and he's always greedy for more."

"You aren't responsible for their deaths, that lies at the feet of the men who did it."

He shook his head and I could see the wood of the crutch splintering in his fist.

"No, whoever killed them was merely following their instinct for blood trying to find a way to quench the fire in their throats and the rage in their heads."

"So why are you so different? You understand their motives, so why be so hard on yourself?"

He grabbed my arms and pulled me close so he could stare into my eyes, his glowing crimson with a terrible fire that scared me although I was still certain he wouldn't hurt me.

"You have no idea of things I have done Bella, terrible things, dreadful things, things I hope to God you never have to witness and I have no excuse. I didn't do them because I was thirsty for blood or in a newborn rage. I did what I did because I enjoyed it. I killed, mutilated, tortured humans as well as vampires because I could. Because their terror, their pain filled me with pleasure."

"Who turned you Major?"

"Does it matter?"

"Who turned you?"

"The Volturi, they turned me to be their ultimate weapon and I became just that and more. Even they fear me so why don't you? I told you what I've done, what I'm capable of. You saw me duck so your father would hit you instead of me although the blow would have been nothing to me. After all that you still don't fear or hate me."

I shook my head,

"No I don't. That would be too easy for you. Its easy to be the devil when everyone views you as such but I don't. I think you are a victim, just like poor Samuel."

He shook his head his whole body shaking,

"You can't say that Bella. You can't forgive me, I don't deserve any forgiveness, I don't deserve any compassion, keep it for someone who does."

I moved even closer so I could speak in his ear,

"I forgive you and so do your family. They know the truth and they forgive you."

He wrenched his head away shaking it violently and marched me back to the bed pushing me down on it and looming over me,

"I could take you right now, I could fuck you and kill you. Leave you here to rot just like they did and no one would ever know."

"But you won't."

This enraged him and he let go of my arms punching a hole in the wood lined walls scattering earth over me and making me cough.

"Don't ever push me Bella, you have no idea how evil I can be."

I could see his eyes had gone black with rage and for a second I thought I might have been wrong. The next punch made a hole in the base beside my face and a splinter flew into my cheek. I put a hand up crying out in shock and he froze. I could feel a trickle of warm blood between my fingers and wondered if I had signed my own death warrant by pushing him too hard.