I've not got much to say for once! Thanks so much for the reception this has gotten, hope you enjoy!

January 30th.

"Major!"

Jasper jumped to attention. Ramiro, one of the senior newborns assigned to guard duty, ran towards him at top speed.

"Major!" he repeated. "Enemy scouts sighted 10 miles southwest!"

Shit.

Jasper jumped into action, he ordered Ramiro to show him and followed to a spot on the edge of the territory. Sure enough, a newborn he recognised as one of Johan's was wandering the trees, looking around. He slowed his approach and hid.

Instinct told him to kill the man, but he held back. A missing soldier might draw Johan to investigate the area further. Instead, Jasper began to push out waves of boredom and disinterest, building up the intensity until the man rolled his eyes, sighed, and turned the other way.

He watched until the man was fully out of sight and his footfalls faded away. He clapped Ramiro on the shoulder.

"Stay here until someone comes to relieve you," he breathed. "Good work, soldier."

Ramiro smiled tightly back at him. Jasper ran back to the camp, formulating his plan in his head.

Once there, he immediately grabbed Peter and ran to Maria's tent. He gave her an in depth report and her eyes sparkled in excitement.

"We'll get our fight, Major!" she smiled. "We're prepared this time!"

He cringed. They weren't as prepared as he wanted them to be, he had been too cautious and now they wouldn't have enough soldiers to guarantee the fight.

"We need to put every spare man on guard duty, Ma'am," he said. "So we don't get taken by surprise, and I say we should put the camp on lockdown so no one is leadin' Johan here."

She waved a hand. "Go do it then, but don't forget to train them all! Double time! And we need to starve them too, so find a way to get some humans here for just us."

Jasper nodded. "Yes, Ma'am."

Peter followed him out of the tent and grasped his arm once they were out of hearing distance.

"What about Bella?" he whispered.

Jasper frowned. "What about her?"

"If the camp is on lockdown, how will she hunt?"

Jasper grunted, shrugged and tried to go about his way. Why should he care how she feeds when he has more important things to worry about?

"Her gift doesn't work as well when she's thirsty," Peter continued, "don't you need her to be in top form?"

"She'll have to have human blood when we do then," Jasper hissed.

Peter paused, Jasper sensed his concern for the girl.

"What if she partners with me for my patrols?" Peter asked. "She can hunt on the way. Please, Major?"

Someone joining Peter to keep him safe did sound like a good idea, although Jasper wasn't sure just how much of an asset Bella would be in that situation. She might have been up to something, but Peter trusted her and he had to trust Peter.

He sighed. "Fine. Don't let her distract you from your work."

Peter smiled and mock saluted. "Thanks, Major."

Jasper nodded and returned to his work. He would protect what was his, whatever it took.

February 20th.

Three weeks.

Three weeks of tension and alert. Jasper hadn't left the immediate vicinity of the camp in weeks, he was always on hand in case the battle he feared started. That was the feeling he was surrounded by these days, since the first sighting they hadn't encountered any other of Johan's forces. Yet he was constantly on duty, constantly listening to reports, constantly making plans, constantly training the soldiers. He hadn't felt truly tired in decades, but this constant stress had him close to it. He couldn't let his guard down, not for one second, lest they be caught unawares; but at what point did he stop? Decide they had evaded Johan's discovery and continue with their original plan? He had no idea.

He was working in the head tent, as he always did. He poured over the maps, trying to find ideas, little topographical advantages they could use in battle. Anything. But this time he was finding nothing, and a little part of him was screaming to take a break - think of anything else.

He sighed and tried not to give in, but he just could not concentrate on war anymore, vampire focus be damned. His mind wandered to Peter and the fact that he and Bella left two hours ago and weren't back yet. That was a little over the amount of time their patrol should have taken. Filled with a vague concern, he decided to wait for them.

He lent a few feet beside her tree, slightly out of sight of the rest of the camp. His mind finally had room to wander. As much as the constant tension had been bad for him, he was at least glad they had suffered no casualties. Especially Peter. But the increased amount of time Peter and Bella had been spending together weighed on him. If she did turn out to be a spy, Peter could be accused of helping her. His brother always felt so deeply for people; first for Jasper, now for Bella. He could be naive, although he wouldn't approve of being called that. Bella could take advantage of his good nature. She could convince him to do things against Maria.

Jasper didn't want to think about what he'd do if Maria ordered him to kill his only friend.

Footsteps sounded in the distance, two of them. Jasper recognised the clip of Bella's sturdy boots and the flap of the broken sole on Peter's. Their voices came shortly after, low enough that the camp wouldn't be able to listen in on their conversation.

"...You've read Shakespeare, then?" asked Peter.

"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 readin' for fun!" Peter laughed. "You Northerners and your fancy pants books for your fancy pants lives-"

"Hey!" she laughed back. "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."

Jasper tensed, it was rare that she gave a straightforward detail about herself away and something about this one sounded wrong. His mind raced to check everything he knew about Phoenix, to fact check the statement she just made. They turned a corner and he slid back a little so he couldn't be seen. They walked side by side, Peter holding a large stack of thick paper and her grasping her little satchel strap like a schoolgirl.

"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!" They made it to the tree and Peter jumped on a low branch. He sat facing her. "Y'all Northerners always lookin' down on us."

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

Jasper realised what was wrong, the mistake she had made. But it didn't make any sense. He tried to hold back, but couldn't take it anymore.

"Your whole childhood?" he growled, essentially jumping out of the bushes at them.

Bella jumped, fear jolted through her colours.

"Yeah," she said, eyes wide, "since I was one."

He stalked forwards and invaded her space, close as he dared. His chin was about level with her forehead and she tilted her head back to look him in the eye. Brave.

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

She bit her lip. Her eyes jumped from right to left, down and up at him again. He didn't need his gift to know she was hiding something. Her colours swirled in uncertainty.

"I didn't," she eventually replied. "I was turned 5 years ago, nearly 6."

So she was lying to him. He did the calculations quickly in his head. Phoenix was founded in 1867, if she was turned 5 years ago that would be in 1881 so if she had been an infant there she would have been 14-15 when she was turned. She didn't look like a teenage girl.

He double checked his judgements, just to give her a chance.

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

Her colours flooded with regret and dread. She nodded.

If she was 17 when she was turned then she was born in 1864 at the latest. He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her what her error was or not. It didn't seem like she knew what it was. She clearly had worked out that she said something wrong, but if she knew exactly what she would be correcting herself. No, she was trying to hide something indirectly related to when and where she grew up. But what?

He decided to tell her, just to guage her reaction.

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

Her eyes widened as she realised whatever her mistake was.

"Was it?" she spluttered. "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."

She stared him right in the eye and lied directly to him. Deceit flooded her. "I found out it had become a city after I was turned."

"Really?" Jasper couldn't understand it. Why would she lie about something so trivial? What could she be hiding? He had to know. He forgot about keeping her here, about working with her, about decency or even treating her well for the sake of his brother. She was lying and he couldn't work out why. His gift reacted without him consciously telling it to, he smothered her with control, let his influence press against her. She knew his gift, knew far more than she should, she surely knew what he could do to her. She glowed with fear. "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?"

Everything stopped. Peter had stayed totally silent for the entire confrontation, and he only spoke up to try to cover for her? Jasper's stomach clenched, Peter's feelings for this girl ran too deep and they hadn't even known each other for two months.

"What?"

"Her sire's real studious like, from what she told me." Peter continued, brazenly making up words on the spot. "I bet he's been keepin' track of what happens down here and keepin' her informed."

"Yes, that's right. My sire likes to tell me about the political situation down here. He thinks it's important for me to know." Bella said.

Jasper wasn't listening. He couldn't take his eyes off his brother, who in only a few weeks had been convinced to lie straight to his face. What possible secret could be worth keeping from him? What had this woman done to turn Peter against him?

Peter's expression changed from the cheeky grin of a lying child to the solemn smile of his brother. He looked him in the eye, raised his right eyebrow and purposely flared out some trust. Peter was telling him to trust him. Peter wouldn't betray him.

Right?

Bella had scrambled away from him at some point, he didn't really care when. He wasn't sure what to say, wasn't sure where to start. He opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Anton barrelling towards them from the main tent.

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

Jasper sighed, but he gladly traded his stress and fear for more simple things - like hatred and annoyance. "I have been away from the camp for ten minutes, Anton."

"I don't care!" Anton glared, clearly thinking he was much scarier than he actually was. "Your mistress needs you and you're back here gossiping! You're a disgrace, the lot of you. Now come on."

Jasper rolled his eyes as he turned back to the main tent. Anton was extra annoying when he got on his high horse. He was so drunk on power he even made Bella come too, but Jasper made a distinct effort not to look back at her. He rushed to Maria, rushed to that warm detachment he got from being near her.

Maria acknowledged him, but to his chagrin, she wrapped an affectionate arm around Bella as soon as she saw her, forcing him to look in her direction. He kept his eyes relentlessly trained on his mistress's face.

"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 flushed with disappointment, it made Jasper's heart clench. She 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 desperation seeping into the air around him. "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!"

Jasper's stomach dropped. "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'!"

Maria turned from Anton in a snap, she flooded with anger.

"Excuse me?" she whispered.

"I…" He hated it when she was angry with him, he really really hated it. "I'm sorry-"

She silenced him with a wave of a hand. He gulped. His very being felt cold, if he upset her too much she might prefer Anton, or Ramiro, or even Peter. He could lose her. He didn't want to lose her. She couldn't leave him, he wouldn't survive…

Maria tapped Jasper's collection of maps that were still spread out on their table. "Make a plan then, if it's so important to you. But I want that territory and I want it tomorrow."

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

Her anger dissipated, she smiled and stroked his chin. Jasper almost sighed in relief.

"Don't disappoint me, sweetheart."

She patted him on the cheek and left the tent. Anton was hot on her heels, still glowing with pride.

Jasper let out a breath and tried to let go of the remaining tension. Maria wouldn't leave him. She would never leave him. She loved him.

"Peter," he turned to his brother, "take Ramiro and scout any vantage points over the Martin camp. Be back by nightfall and don't get caught. Got it?"

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

He closed his eyes and shook his head, then refocused on his task. There could be no room for distractions. He turned to the old dresser they always dragged into the head tent, he kept his writing equipment in the top drawer. He had to use an old fashioned quill because they were the only thing he could easily replace.

He tried to focus, but annoyed thoughts immediately rose to the surface. What was Anton saying, 'doing scouting of his own'? Just because one of the scouts told him doesn't mean he did the scouting. Jasper knew about it but hadn't said anything because taking on the Martin coven right now was a bad idea. Had they not learned from trying to take on Johan? The Martin coven could pull anything out of the back pocket and they would be taken completely off guard. They won because Maria let him plan, they didn't run in like idiots.

He shook himself. It wasn't Maria's fault. She was just excited for a fight, he couldn't blame her. He owed it to her to do this properly, she deserved to get what she wanted. He moved to his maps and the notes he had made on the Martin coven.

Someone moved, his head shot up. Bella was still standing in the corner of the tent, she was watching him this whole time. He had been so involved in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed her, and his gift hadn't either. This was the brightest her colours had been in a while, ever since the first time they met. She glowed gold so strongly that it spread towards him, reaching out.

"Can I help?" she asked.

He took a moment to study her. Past the gold, he could see her concern. She was worried about him in a way that reminded him very strongly of Peter; a feeling born out of closeness and care. Why should she care about him?

He couldn't fathom it, but she did. She cared about him. He could see her sincerity just as clearly as he could see her lies. He looked at the gold permeating the air around her and truly allowed himself to feel it. It reached for him and he tried not to cringe, it flickered around his fingers and soothed the tremors away. He let it. For a second he let it make it all better. Suddenly the anxiety and the fear weren't so bad. He was warm, he was happy, he wasn't alone.

Someone who feels things like this can't be out to hurt him, surely?

She was still staring at him, worry clouding her buttercup eyes. He decided to give her job, trust her just a little. Sure, she was lying to him; but he had no idea why and honestly at that moment he didn't care.

"The men should be at the front of the camp right now, practising," he said. "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 was surprised by his own laugh. "Sure. Go get 'em."

"The next man to ignore me gets reported to the Major!"

Jasper snorted into his maps. Bella was truly terrible at policing anyone or anything. She was hardly an authority figure, this posh little lady with her intact clothes and clean fingernails.

If she looked this prim when she didn't have any lady things available to her, imagine how she was at home. He imagined her lounging in a formal sitting room, a fancy one with a window seat. Her dress is all clean and neat, her hair's pinned back all pretty like. She's reading a book and is too engrossed to notice the sunbeams touching her face and sparkling out. She touches the tip of her finger to her tongue to turn the page.

He shook himself, this train of thought wasn't helpful.

He tried to focus on his work, but a portion of his mind couldn't stop keeping track of Bella outside. Every raised voice or snarl made his instincts scream to run down there. He clamped it down, he was just on edge.

"Hey!"

There was a particularly loud snarl that made him put his pen down to listen fully.

"Back off! I said no removing limbs. You're sparring, not killing each other!"

She was trying to break up a fight, he inched a step towards the tent entrance without even thinking about it, head cocked to the side.

"Why the fuck do you care?" A male voice growled, Jasper recognised it as George - the bastard he had taken a finger off a few weeks prior. He'd lost it in the woods somewhere a couple days after. "You're a liability. Just like him."

A grumble formed in Jasper's belly, if George was going to talk back to authority then it was clearly about time for him to be culled.

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

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

Jasper crept further towards the tent entrance as he listened to the soldier rant. He didn't take the words in, it was all complaints he had heard before.

"You took us from our homes! 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!"

That was enough to finally draw Jasper out into the open. The idiot soldier was charging at her, a stupid move that he should have been well trained enough not to use. Starving newborns of blood really did make them stupider. He was poised to jump in, but curiosity held him back.

She didn't look afraid, in fact she looked like she was going to fight back. She crouched into an attack stance and waited until he was close, then jumped straight up over him and struck him from behind.

Jasper admired her form as George stumbled, that was a good move - clever. The kind he would make.

George quickly recovered and turned to try to crush her. But as his arms surrounded her she ducked down and slid through his legs to come out behind him. She jumped up and kicked him from behind again. He nearly fell on his face.

She knew what she was doing, he realised. She was trained - unpractised, but trained. She had the knowledge to use her strengths and avoid her weaknesses. She knew specifically how to deal with newborns. She fought the way he would have trained her to fight.

Interesting.

George turned and managed to get a hit on her. A punch right to the underside of the jaw. That was dangerous, a strong enough hit could take her head off in one. He watched as she was thrown into the air and cracks spread across her throat. He couldn't help but be drawn halfway down the camp, close enough to save her if he had to.

The soldiers far back enough in the audience to notice him cringed away. He barely noticed them but became distinctively aware of his own stance and snarl.

He didn't need to be so concerned, she had just fed. She rubbed her neck and the splinters disappeared instantly. She had knocked down a tree on her way through the air and was back up before it hit the ground. She leapt back over George's head, grabbed his hair and slammed him into the ground with her own momentum. He jumped up, but she was already behind him.

She did it again and again, hit him from behind and then zip away as he span to try and hit her. He was getting frustrated, Jasper could feel the heat of his fury and the cold focus flowing through Bella.

She leapt into a tree and let him stumble stupidly for a few seconds, then pounced down for her killing blow. She landed on his shoulders, clamped her legs around him so he couldn't immediately throw her off, sank her teeth deep into his neck and with a tilt of the head ripped his clean off.

It landed a few feet away, rolling a little before settling. Disembodied heads couldn't scream without lungs to force the air out, but Jasper could see the scream on his face; the silent agony, the desperate begging to be whole again.

Bella stood and stared, flooded with disbelief and pride. She did it, she fought and won against a newborn twice her size. Jasper would have been proud too, if it was him. He couldn't help but feel a little on her behalf.

It was time for her to finish the job, but she just continued to stand staring at her handiwork. Jasper was about ready to jog the rest of the way towards her when George's body gave a sickening jerk and lunged for her. She jumped and clumsily ripped off his limbs, something she clearly hadn't been taught how to do. George's shredded remains formed a pile before her and she was so full of indecision that Jasper had to intervene just so the day could move on.

He moved close enough that she could see him and let out a low whistle to get her attention. When she turned she was so relieved to see him that it shook his very core, he crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow, put on a facade of joking.

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

"I thought about stepping in, but it was fun to watch." He moved to her side and inspected the writhing pile of body parts. "You've been trained, haven't you? By someone who knows what he's doing."

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

He resisted a smile. "Yes. I could absolutely see you doing that."

He noticed George's torso lying a little away from the pile of limbs and kicked it closer, then grabbed the silently screaming head by the hair and tossed it on top. Since Bella wasn't going to finish the job, he might as well do it. Maybe she didn't have matches. Maybe she had never done this before.

He pulled a matchbook from his pocket and struck one as she watched, transfixed. He threw it onto the pile and the flammable venom burst into an instant bonfire. She flashed surprise, then drenched herself in deep grey horror.

"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." She was panicking, she was guilty. She clearly had never killed before. "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.

Was she so innocent and inexperienced that she would let someone get away with trying to kill her? What was she doing here? Who let her come here?

He couldn't understand, so he did what he knew he could, he hurt her.

"Well… I helped. "

He regretted it immediately, her horror morphed into such sadness and self loathing that he couldn't help but hate himself too. He shook himself, it wouldn't do to get so invested in this silly girl's emotional wellbeing. He didn't want her to keep her innocence, did he?

"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.

"Okay," he murmured as he went back to his precious maps, trying to get his head back in the game. "So your part in the fight will be-"

"My part?"

He looked up at her, eyebrow raised. "Yes, Bella. You have to fight."

"What do you mean?" she gasped, full of fear and disbelief.

He frowned. "I'm sorry. When you voluntarily joined an army, were you expecting a peaceful experience?"

"No. But mercilessly ripping newborns apart isn't really my thing."

"You didn't seem to have a problem with it just now."

She flinched, self loathing shot through her.

"That was a one off! Look…" Bella panicked. "I'm here to fight Johan. That's all I care about. The man disrespected me. If I go fight some other coven and someone realises that I have a shield, then Johan could find out and our entire strategy will go out the window!"

"Are you not listening?" Jasper raised his voice, exasperated. Why would this stupid girl train and voluntarily go through the wars without the slightest intention to fight? There was no good reason to do something so idiotic. He couldn't let her softness wreck their chances.

He sighed. "The only reason why anyone would know you have a shield, or know that you're even there, is if something goes very wrong and you need to step in. I haven't been able to do much reconnaissance. The scouts can only tell me so much. All we know is that they got beaten up north. They could have a gifted vampire on their side that we just don't know about. If you go and don't have to use your shield, then no harm done! If you don't go and it turns out we needed you, then half the army is dead!"

"But what if I die?" she asked. "Then you'll never kill Johan."

"You won't die unless the rest of us die." Jasper rolled his eyes and gestured to his tactical drawings. "Look, I'll put you at the back, right next to Maria. If the rest of us are all slaughtered, I give you full permission to run like hell."

"Newborns are faster than me, but I appreciate the sentiment."

She was so worried, so afraid. Her colours were swirling in darkness, he couldn't help but feel bad.

"They may be fast, but they're also dumb," he said. "Quit worrying. This should be easy. I'm just being cautious."

She looked him in the eye, and white hope cut through the darkness, gold leaping through the cracks. He stared at it as it reached out to him, inviting him in, pulling him towards her.

"Fine," she said. "I'll stay at the back."

He swallowed and nodded. "Be ready in an hour."

She huffed and left the tent, bringing all the colours with her.