You know how sometimes chapters just flow out and immediately everything sounds right? Your words are like paints on a canvas and your fingers are the brush, you just have to wave a few times and suddenly you have the Mona Lisa? This wasn't one of those times. This chapter squeezed itself out five words at a time over a month, and then had to be rewritten twice. I am so so sorry it took so long. All this time and this chapter hasn't even been pre-read! Please let me know if you spot a mistake and I'll fix it. Thanks for sticking with me folks xx

Edited 8/7/23 - quality/turned the spanish book into shakespeare lol

February 20th, 1886.

Carlisle,

I'm sorry I haven't sent you anything in a while. Jasper's letters were right, Johan's scouts have been sighted in the area and the whole camp is on lockdown. I've only been able to get out when Peter comes with me. Don't worry, he doesn't know anything about the time travel, or the plan. He always hangs back away from the post office when I'm here. I wouldn't even know how to bring it all up to him. I guess that's future Bella's problem.

He's just a genuinely good friend. I'm glad to have him right now because Maria's been going crazy trying to prepare for a fight with Johan. She's starving all the newborns and making Jasper train them 24/7. I didn't think the atmosphere in that camp could get any darker, but clearly I was wrong. I am staying safe though, I promise. I keep out of everyone's way.

Jasper's stressed, but I do think he's warming up to me. He's regularly leaving me alone in the camp now, although he still hasn't talked to me. I am still hopeful that this will all turn out okay.

Send my love to the others!

Bella xx

Bella clutched her letter as she made her way to the little post office, her belly full from the coyote she had just consumed. She had been so lucky to get through this situation the way she had, and it was all thanks to Peter. She barely had time to worry about being able to hunt with the camp in lockdown before Jasper ordered her to accompany Peter on his patrols. He had looked conflicted about it, Jasper always looked conflicted these days. She knew how all this would turn out, obviously Jasper's letters had told her. She wished she could tell him, but she could only imagine how that would go.

Peter had definitely been the one to ask him to put her on patrols. It was a great idea, she went out with him multiple times a day and could feed whenever she needed to. The only thing that kept her from contacting her family was that they had no choice of what direction they went in. For three weeks they had been sent north, east and south; never west towards the post office. She wasn't allowed out except to patrol.

She just hoped Carlisle wasn't too worried.

Bella squeaked open the butter yellow door and found a note and a package for her sitting on the bench. She greedily snatched up the note and consumed its contents.

My dear girl,

It has been six weeks since I saw you last. I must confess that despite your reassurances of your continuing safety, I find myself growing ever restless.

Forgive an old man for his need to feel useful, but you mentioned having a rather large amount of spare time so I thought I might give you something to fill it that might remind you of home. Remember, we are all behind you.

Stay safe, Bella.

All my love, Carlisle.

Carefully arranged below the note was a thick stack of paper, tied into a book with a sturdy, black velvet ribbon that Bella recognised from Irina's collection. She brushed the bow aside to see the title; 'The Complete Works of Shakespeare, transcribed by Carlisle Cullen.'.

Bella's breath caught as she traced Carlisle's delicate script, exactly the same as the writing that she had been sent back to the past with; only scratchier for having to dip his pen in an inkwell. She marvelled at the love that had been poured into it, the script was tiny, too small for a human to read but fine for a vampire, every letter and punctuation mark was perfectly formed in miniature.

She flipped through it and noted her favourite lines, remembering the hours she had spent pouring over these masterpieces. Even in this dark and deadly world she had volunteered herself to, however isolated they were - these still existed. Her home and family still existed, and were out there waiting for her.

Carlisle was a genius, this was exactly what she needed.

She placed her letter on the bench, then tucked the heavy tome safely into her satchel and set off back to the camp, taking a quick detour along the way to find another coyote to tide her over. Afterall, there was trouble brewing and she needed to be her fighting best.

Bella slowed to a more human run as her meeting place with Peter swam into view. The tall blonde was leaning against a large oak tree. Since washing his face in the stream and stealing new clothes with Jasper when they first arrived, he had paid no attention to his appearance and it was starting to show. His shirt and pants were caked in the filth that comes with sparring with newborns all day. There were huge tears down his left side from being skidded across the ground like a bowling ball during a particularly nasty fight. Bella could see the skin of his leg, arm and torso through the rips; there were more glowing scars littered there than she was happy with. His hair flicked out around his neck, rendered stiff by the gobs of mud and dried blood that were caught in it. A streak of mud on his cheek met the grin he greeted her with.

"Hey Bells! Papa dearest leave you anything?"

Bella scooped out the thick volume and held it aloft. "He wrote out Shakespeare for me!"

Peter snorted and took the thick stack of creamy paper. "Fancy handwritin' fer a fancy man!" He said as he flipped through the first few pages.

"He thinks it will remind me of home." They began to run the short distance back towards the camp. "Hopefully I won't look too weird reading around here."

"It's hardly a usual pastime," he snorted. "You've read Shakespeare, then?"

"Yeah," said Bella, "loads of times."

Peter scoffed. "Back where I'm from, you were lucky to know how to read, let alone read some fancy pants play from the dark ages."
"Is this your way of telling me you don't know how to read?"

"I can read enough to get by!"

"There's no fun in 'enough to get by'."

"Imagine reading for fun!" He laughed. "You Northerners and your fancy pants books for your fancy pants lives-"

"Hey!" She laughed back, they slowed to a walk as her tree came into view. "I take offence to that! Reading for fun is not fancy, and I'm not even really Northern. I'm from Phoenix! Spent my whole childhood there."

"Phoenix?" Peter scoffed. "Never heard of it, no need to make excuses for your Northernness to me. I've already judged ya."

"It's a city in Arizona," Bella grinned. "But if you don't know where Arizona is, it's some way west-"

"I know where Arizona is!" The tree shook with Peter's laughter as he jumped onto a low lying branch. "Y'all Northerners always lookin' down on us."

"Well you can't blame us, we are further up-"

"Your whole childhood?"

Bella jumped, she hadn't noticed Jasper standing in the trees beside them. Peter had her so distracted she didn't even realise someone was listening.

"Yeah," she said without thinking, "since I was one."

He stormed forwards and invaded her space, she forced herself to look him in the eye and pretend she had nothing to hide. Peter quivered behind her, for this was not Jasper the friend. This was Jasper the Major, and he was pissed about something.

"In the city of Phoenix?" He hissed. "You are no newborn, how old did you say you are?"

His mouth was taut and his tone clipped, she searched her brain to think of how she might have offended him. Maybe he had been in some kind of battle around there, she wasn't quite educated enough in the Civil War to know.

She absolutely was not supposed to answer his questions with anything specific. What if what she said was wrong? But even if she lied, what lie would she tell? What if the lie turned out to be worse than the truth? She didn't know what she had said wrong.

"I didn't." She foolishly replied. "I was turned 5 years ago, nearly 6."

His jaw closed with an audible click. Bella immediately regretted telling the truth, then checked herself because she knew he could feel it.

"You can't have been younger than… 17 when you were turned." He stated.

Bella felt her own stupidity closing in on her. How exactly was she supposed to back out of this? Lie and tell him she was younger? That wouldn't be very believable considering she had been almost 19 when she was turned. Besides, how young would she need to be to get out of this? She made the sensible decision to stop giving him such specific information and just nodded in reply.

He stared down at her for a second. Peter remained dead silent beside her, whether he was equally as confused as Jasper or just trying to keep a low profile she didn't know.

"The settlement of Phoenix was founded in 1867." Jasper said. "When you were 3 years old, minimum."

Crap.

"Was it?" Bella bluffed. "My human memories are a little fuzzy, I must have been older when I moved there."

"And it was not incorporated into a city," He continued. "Until five years ago, when you were a newborn living in the North." His eyes bore a hole into her.

"I found out it had become a city after I was turned."

That was dumb, Bella admonished herself. Twist the truth, don't outright lie.

"Really?" Jasper had latched on to her now, she could feel his emotional influence surrounding her like a straightjacket. She had felt his powers a thousand times, but this was the first time they had truly been used against her. Not influencing her, forcing her. It hurt. She couldn't think, she couldn't breathe; she could only feel this swell of enhanced conflict and panic closing in on her. Jasper could feel that she was lying and was going to draw the truth out of her through the torture only he could perform. "So a newborn vampire who can barely remember her life in the South decided to stay abreast of the politics of the region? Forgive me if I-"

"Her daddy must have told her!" Peter interrupted. "Isn't that right, Bella?"

The onslaught of emotions paused in their efforts to smother her for a moment as Jasper turned his attention to his friend. "What?"

"Her sire's real studious like, from what she told me." Peter continued, his eyes darted wildly from Jasper to Bella, a false confident grin on his lips. "I bet he's been keepin' track of what happens down here and keepin' her informed."

Bella thanked whatever god was listening for Peter's quick thinking and blind trust. "Yes, that's right," she said. "My sire likes to tell me about the political situation down here. He thinks it's important for me to know."

Jasper was still staring at Peter, his eyes narrowed. Bella took the opportunity to silently scramble away from her position below his towering figure. She tried her best not to project any emotion, especially not regret for making such a stupid slip up.

Jasper opened his mouth as if to start berating his brother, but was interrupted by Anton bustling through the tree line towards them.

"Are you slackers done having a little tea party back here?" He hissed. "Maria has been waiting for you for hours!"

Jasper sighed, his trance and fury shattered into simple annoyance. "I have been away from the camp for ten minutes, Anton."

"I don't care!" Anton's eyes flashed dangerously. "Your mistress needs you and you're back here gossiping! You're a disgrace, the lot of you. Now come on."

Peter slipped the book into Bella's bag as he followed Jasper back to camp. She went to climb back up her tree, but was stopped by Anton's hand on her shoulder. "You too."

Bella frowned. "Me?"

"You're a lieutenant, aren't you?! Yes. You." Anton shoved her in the direction of the main tent.

Bella tried not to look confused as she made her way to Maria's residence, for she felt the eyes of the starved newborns boring into her. This was the first time Maria had summoned her with the other Lieutenants since she came to the camp two months earlier. She could only hope it wouldn't herald the beginning of her having increased responsibilities. She was perfectly happy sitting in her tree all day and pretending that none of it was going on around her, plus now she had reading material.

She felt the newborns' eyes on her as she matched Anton's quick pace towards the tent. She wanted to dawdle, but after her recent errors she needed to avoid drawing attention to herself.

She ducked through the tent flap. Jasper and Maria were gathered around the large table that was always in the tent, the one that held Jasper's maps. Peter stood at attention behind them.

"Oh my Belle is here!" Maria crooned. "So nice of you to finally join us, my sweet."

Bella forced an uncomfortable smile and stepped into Maria's cold embrace. The older vampire tucked her arm around her waist and held her uncomfortably close as she continued talking. "Now, Major." She said. "Have we had any more sightings of Johan's men?"

"None." He replied. "His entire operation has gone underground. He must be rebuilding his forces just like we are. Our edge in battle is that we actually train our soldiers, but we can't risk them being too injured since they haven't been fed. The attack we have been preparing for just hasn't come. I suggest that we get some humans in immediately, turn some more and train all of them so we are more prepared in a few months."

Maria sighed and twirled a long piece of ebony hair around her finger. "Pity... I was hoping for a fight…"

"But we could still have one!" Anton cut in, his crimson puppy dog eyes out in full force. "Maria, I have been doing scouting of my own. The Martin coven to the west tried to expand north just yesterday but suffered massive losses. They are weak and we could just waltz right in and take their territory!"

Maria gasped, "Oh my Anton, I knew you wouldn't fail me!"

Anton practically glowed under the praise, but Jasper looked panicked. "Wait, we aren't prepped for that at all. We can't attack another coven just 'cause the newborns are starving. I haven't been able to make a plan or do reconnaissance or nothin'!"

"Excuse me?" Maria hissed.

Bella suddenly had the very strange experience of watching Jasper; strong, intelligent, intimidating Jasper, cowering under the glare of this tiny warlord. Maria was short and slight, there was no way she could ever beat Jasper in combat. Yet when she got angry, men twice her size seized in fear. There had to be something else going on, Bella thought. Something altering their perception of her.

"I…" he whispered. "I'm sorry-"

She cut him off with a gesture and tapped the hand drawn map spread out on the battered mahogany wood table. Place names and topographical notes were printed in Jasper's meticulous handwriting.

"Make a plan, then." She ordered. "If it's so important to you. But I want that territory and I want it tomorrow."

Jasper nodded frantically. "You'll get it, I swear."

Maria's mouth twisted into a smirk. She stepped forward and stroked Jasper's stubbled chin. "Don't disappoint me, sweetheart."

With a patronising pat on the cheek, Maria swept from the tent with a grinning Anton scurrying after her. Jasper let out a breath.

"Peter. Take Ramiro and scout any vantage points over the enemy camp. Be back by nightfall and don't get caught. Got it?"

"Affirmative, Major." Peter replied, clapping Jasper on the shoulder on the way out.

Jasper sighed and turned to a chest of drawers along the side wall, he rummaged through the top drawer and produced a bottle of ink and a homemade quill. Bella felt a little awkward as he started fussing over the map as if she wasn't there. This was the first time they'd been alone together since she first joined the camp, and the first experience was hardly pleasant.

Still, this is one of the few times when she was seeing the Jasper she truly knew. The man who got hurt trying to be everywhere at once when fighting the newborns and wrote an entire dossier on the wars to prepare her for this journey. Jasper was a planner, and a stresser. And she couldn't stand to see him suffer.

She cautiously stepped forward. "Can I help?"

Jasper's gaze shot up to meet her like he'd forgotten she was there. He studied her for a moment, until the little wrinkle between his eyebrows smoothed out.

"The men should be at the front of the camp right now, practising. Go supervise and stop them slacking off or killing each other." He paused.

"You gonna be able to stop them killing you?"

"Long enough for you to come pry them off me when I yell?" Bella joked.

He mustered a snort. "Sure. Go get 'em."

Bella pondered the morality of what she was doing as she watched the starving, enslaved soldiers rip into each other for no reason. It wasn't like she could stop any of them hurting each other, it was kind of the point of the exercise. She drew the line at actually removing body parts,

something she had heard the other lieutenants doing when this was their job. With the newborns starved as they were, their arms and legs most likely wouldn't fuse back on properly and then what use were they?

They all continued to watch her warily. She didn't blame them. They got so much abuse from the lieutenants and Maria was absolutely indifferent to them. Bella had just waltzed in with her strange eyes, assumed a position of authority over them and then immediately spent all her time up in a tree. She was bound not to be a popular figure. If they did start acting out she wasn't even sure if she could stop them.

As if by magic, there was a roar from the peripheries as a detached arm was thrown into the air and landed with a thud several miles away in the trees.

"Hey!" Bella shouted and made her way to the fight still going on.

The now one armed victim was a thin, twitchy boy that could be no older than 14. He was one of those who had forgotten his name when he was turned, and no one had bothered to give him a new one. She just called him Squeak in her head.

Squeak was cowering on the ground away from his aggressor. It was the nine fingered newborn Bella now knew as George, who she had watched be attacked on her first day there. He was advancing on Squeak's trembling form, clearly about to strike again.

Bella got between them. "Back off!" she shouted. "I said no removing limbs. You're sparring, not killing each other!"

Bella wasn't sure what she was expecting. She certainly hoped that George would back down, go find Squeak's missing arm, apologise and they'd call it a day. That didn't happen.

George got up in her face, his nose half an inch away from hers. "Why the fuck do you care?" He growled. "You're a liability. Just like him."
Bella had no time to react before he shoved her up into the air and away from him. She just barely managed to arrange herself so she would land on her feet.

"Are you really trying to pick a fight with me, George?" She asked. "Do you really think that will end well for you?"

"I don't CARE!" He screamed. "I'M SO THIRSTY!"

Bella was very aware of that. His skin had turned a flat white, his eyes were pitch black and had sunk deeper into his skull, every muscle of his was tense and every breath was a pant. And it wasn't just him. Every newborn she was surrounded by looked desperate.

"You took us from our homes!" George continued. "Our families! You turned us into these monsters and now, WHAT? You starve us?! This is BULLSHIT. YOU ARE GOING TO GET ME SOME BLOOD OR I AM GOING TO RIP YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF!"

Bella blinked and he was coming at her, charging like a bull.

"Right foot forward, chest low, elbows back." Jasper's instructions floated back to her from a time long gone.

"Make sure you stay in motion, zip around me and break my focus. Hit me and run to confuse me."

She waited until he was almost within reaching distance before bending her knees and springing straight up into the air. She landed behind him and struck him from behind while he was distracted.

"Stay in motion, don't wait for me to hit again."

The much larger man turned and swung his heavy arms around her, trying to crush her against his body. Bella ducked under his arm and skidded between his open legs to spring up behind him. She reared up and roundhouse kicked him from behind, grateful for the slits in her skirts that freed her legs. He stumbled forwards.

"Your advantage is your ability to keep a clear head."

George spun again, this time to hit rather than grab. Bella dodged, but his fist connected with the underside of her jaw with such force she felt cracks splintering down her neck. She was propelled into the air and landed against the trunk of a tree, which snapped and crashed to the ground where Bella once was.

"Newborns will always be stronger than you, but they are easily enraged."

She was already up and leaping over him. She grabbed the top of his head on her way over and pulled him to the ground with her own momentum. He jumped up immediately, but she had zipped behind him again.

"Your advantage is your ability to keep a clear head. If you dodge them for long enough, they will get frustrated and distracted."

It was almost like dancing. He would turn to attack her and she would jump out of his view over and over. They span in tandem as he tried to hit her and she dodged. Until he blinked, and she was gone.

"That's when you find higher ground and jump on them from above."

Bella sprang out of a nearby tree and landed on George's shoulders, her skirt covering his eyes. She avoided his grabbing hands and sunk her teeth into his throat. She had never done this before, but followed instinct to clamp down, cock her neck and rip his head from his shoulders.
The head fell to the ground with a sickening thud that echoed in the resulting silence. Bella jumped off George's stumbling body and watched as it crumbled to the ground.

Bella wasn't sure of what to do next. He wasn't dead. He had been disarmed, but would find his head and rejoin it with his body eventually. She didn't have that dark streak that determined what to do in these situations. She wasn't angry at all because really she agreed with him. He lived a nightmare, and she would want to drown her sorrows in blood too if she were him.

Her decision was made for her as George's headless body turned and lunged towards her. Bella jumped and grabbed both his arms, using her momentum and all her strength to yank them off his torso. She kicked his legs out from under him and pulled one off at the knee, leaving his mangled body writhing on the ground, trying to pull itself back together.

She heard a whistle close behind her and turned to see Jasper with his arms crossed over his chest and an eyebrow raised.

She glared. "Thanks for the help. You're a real pal."

"I thought about stepping in, but it was fun to watch." He stood beside her and gazed down at the body parts on the ground. "You've been trained, haven't you? By someone who knows what he's doin'."

"You think I would walk into a warzone completely unprepared?" Bella scoffed.

"Yes. I could absolutely see you doing that." He kicked George's torso closer to where his head and arms laid and grabbed his head by the hair to toss it in the pile.

Jasper reached into one of his linen pockets and pulled out a tiny packet of matches. The kind you would get at a bar or hotel. He struck one and Bella couldn't take her eyes off the flame dancing so close to his ignitable skin.

She didn't even stop to think why he would bring fire into the equation until suddenly the match had been flicked and George's body went up in flames with a whoosh.

Everyone stumbled back from the licking flames. Bella was horrified.

"Why would you do that?" She whispered.

Jasper frowned at her. "Bella, he was trying to kill you. What was I supposed to do? Promote him?"

"No.. but… he didn't have to die." Bella was looking anywhere except George's pyre, but his burning body was all she could see. "He was still useful, surely."

"Not really. His third year was coming up." Jasper replied. "And we can't let anyone think they can get away with attacking lieutenants."

"So you killed him…" She whispered.

"Well… I helped."

Numb horror consumed her and she could swear he winced.

"Cmon," he murmured, "I need your help with the battle plans." He turned to the newborns. "About your business! If I hear any trouble you'll be fighting without limbs!"

There was a murmur of affirmatives and he stalked back to the head tent, Bella close behind him.

Fun fact, Bella messing up about Phoenix was the first scene I ever thought of for this fic - back when I thought it would be 10k words max!