THE MAD BULL

"Bravery without forethought, causes a man to fight blindly and desperately like a mad bull. Such an opponent, must not be encountered with brute force, but may be lured into an ambush and slain."

—Sun Tzu, The Art of War

—

DECEMBER 7TH 2039
8:26PM MST
INDIAN PEAKS WILDERNESS, COLORADO

The sound of a branch hitting the ground echoed loudly in the forest; the few inches of snow did nothing to cushion the sound.

Maria clenched her jaw and counted slowly to ten as she listened to the woods around her. As if they hadn't been stuck in some strange sensory limbo just minutes before, the creatures chirped into the night, resuming their prior tasks without a second thought. Instinct over emotion. The resilience of animals spared from humanoid weaknesses.

The leaves before her had ceased shimmering several minutes prior, yet Maria was being careful. Once more she glared down at the offending branch beneath her.

Well, she was trying to be careful, but treetops didn't make for a good way to travel. Usually when she crept along like this it was for information or reconnaissance and she didn't have a fucking time crunch.

Two… one…

Maria stretched her arm out again, pushing her feet off of the tree she was on before landing softly against the next, her hands coming to wrap cautiously around the branches. Thankfully, the ones she grabbed on this tree held steady.

Where the hell are they?

It had been twenty-one minutes and forty-four seconds since Carlisle had run off to fetch the rest of their coven, and there was still no sign of them. Each second mattered here, and if he didn't hurry up then their chances of finding Emmett and Alice alive would sink to a resolute zero.

She moved to another tree, paused, listened, and then moved forward to the next.

She could see the patch of ground the second Volturi guard member had stood on, shrouded in semi-darkness beneath their cloak. It was intensely close now and Maria knew it would provide her with a perfect trail of all five scents. Seven if you counted Emmett and Alice.

Maria waited another ten seconds and then took the stupidest risk she'd taken since arriving in this snowy nightmare of a town. She dropped to the ground and waited. Ten… nine…

While she counted backwards, waiting for a reaction from some unknown threat beyond, her mind wandered to the Major. He would be there soon, and he was going to be fucking impossible to deal with.

Maria shook her head, waited, listened, and when she finally reached 'one,' started to creep forward. She would deal with his tantrum when it was time and not a moment sooner. If he wanted to waste time by yelling then by all means, it was his mate on the line, not hers.

Maria pushed back the uncomfortable resentment she could feel stirring in her chest; she needed to focus.

If any of them wanted either member of their coven back then they'd better show up, shut up, and hurry up.

There was not a shimmer of leaves in sight, and even beyond where she could see the forest was teeming with life. Maria wasn't stupid enough to charge forward blindly; while the haze had retreated she had no idea how immediately it could be expanded again. She didn't know if it was radial or this ability could be morphed and folded into whatever shape served its user best. All she knew was that between Esteban and the Volturi, they were about to face down some frustrating extra abilities.

Of fucking course they'd grabbed Alice. Why couldn't they have grabbed Carlisle instead? Her life would be so much easier right about now, and she wouldn't have to think about the bullshit the Major was going to say when he arrived.

Speaking of…

In the not-so-far off distance Maria could hear the sound of footsteps approaching, and fast. With how far away they sounded Maria wanted to scream—they were being so damn loud!

Well, they were fucked anyways.

Maria used the last minute of peace that she had and strode boldly along the path that the Volturi had taken. She inhaled deeply and let the scent of each individual wash through her, committing them to memory. Alice's and Emmett's were already familiar, but the four members of Esteban's cult smelled similar—the combination of burning hair and incense had always been strong amongst their number—leaving her to sort the scent of the Volturi minion in a separate file in her head.

Maria moved with a quiet swiftness. If either of these enemies were nearby she would lose the element of surprise within the next few dozen seconds, so it was vital she get as much information as she could before the Major's coven showed up and ruined this entire operation.

The trail their attackers left behind did not head eastbound for long, after a quarter of a mile they turned and made a hard right, moving north, parallel to the town that was only a few miles behind them. She followed the trail for another half mile before the noise growing behind her became too much for her; it wouldn't even be worth it to operate quietly now.

Maria stood firmly in place, at least thankful that the scent was fresh, strong, and left them with a clear direction to head in. They just had to avoid another trap now. And avoid dying, too.

The Major was the first person she caught sight of as the Cullens sprinted toward her. Edward moved himself out of formation to stand at the Major's side, and whether it was to prevent him from or assist him in attacking her, Maria couldn't be sure.

She stood her ground and glared at their noisy entrance to the once-quiet forest.

The Major didn't stop to even spare her a single glance, running farther into the forest past her, as if he didn't even see her. She didn't watch him stop—he rounded a slight bend around a cliffside jutting out of the mountain they were on—but she could hear the sound of his feet skidding to a halt in the snow.

The three of her men that had been on the Major's flank looked uneasy as they slowed their run to a stop right by Maria. They looked between where the Major had run and where Maria stood, as if they didn't know who to follow.

Maria snapped her fingers and jerked her head back, silently commanding them to remain. If they knew what was good for them they wouldn't forget who was really in charge here. The Major might be in charge of sharpening her blades, but these weapons still belonged to her.

With the group at a stand-still, Carlisle also broke formation to check back up on everyone as they congregated back into one crowded blur of people. Maria could have sworn she heard the sound of someone sniffling and if those noises belonged to Carlisle's wife then Maria was going to have a conniption. There was no time to waste on crying when their coven mates could very well be suffering a fate worse than death.

It was Edward who reeled on her first. "Where are they?"

Maria gestured wildly to the path they were all standing on. "Where do you think they—" She was forced to step out of his way before his hand could reach out and grab her arm, "Don't you dare touch me!" She snapped, watching as her three men shifted to stand behind her.

"How could you let them go?" He demanded and took two more steps toward her. Behind him Carlisle called his name, a warning lilt to his tone. Edward ignored his idol and took another step. "They were right in front of you!"

"You have no idea the work I've been doing," she sneered, planting her feet. If he wanted to get in her face then he would have to be ready for her to knock him in his teeth. Furious, she peered around the lanky teenager and whistled. Peter looked up immediately and if Maria weren't so goddamn angry she would have grinned knowing that her old call still captured his immediate attention. His expression darkened as he realized this the same time that she did, but she did not give him adequate time to turn away. Instead she jerked her head toward where the Major had planted himself.

The Major still hadn't headed back toward them, and Maria hadn't heard him move from his spot. If he wanted to have a private meltdown he could have it after they tried to get his stupid mate back.

"All you have is a trail that we would've found anyway! What useful information do you even have?"

"It's like you don't even want me to help you!" She screeched. Damn their noise and their tempers and their irrationality. Then, still glaring at him, she replayed everything that he'd missed. The shimmering and the Volturi and the crucifixes carved into Esteban's men. She replayed the leaves and the silence and the slow but steady retreat of whatever trap they'd laid. She even fucking thought about the plan she had that he didn't even deserve to hear about at this point.

He didn't deserve her help one iota.

Carlisle was standing at Edward's side before he could speak again. "How long did it take for them to retrieve Emmett and Alice?"

"Barely three minutes," Maria turned her attention to the man who was, somehow and miraculously, the less annoying of the two people that stood before her. She then described the five she'd seen, and when she started talking about the Volturi member, the one who had remained hidden beneath a hood, Edward interrupted again.

"That had to be Alec." He backed up a couple of steps, running his hands through his messy hair. "It's hard to tell but they look small."

"Just barely taller than me," Maria nodded her affirmation. She'd measured herself against the tree as she'd walked through that patch of woods, right after landing. All it had taken for her was a glance before she knew just how big the guard member was. "They retreated and so did their dirty trap. Now, who is this Alec? We're wasting time."

"You're right," Edward nodded, still backing away from them, "we are."

Maria knew his intent as if she were the future-seer herself. "If you run headlong after this trail without a plan you are sentencing more than them to death!" She shouted, and with that declaration everyone turned their head toward her.

Bella had her arm around Esme's waist, as if supporting her weight—dangerous; the emotional woman was now nothing more than a liability—and Rosalie stood off to the side, next to the smallest of her men, who watched everything unfolding uneasily. The few that did not stand behind her were standing further back, separate from the pitiful congregation occurring in the center of their crumbled formation but still sparing glances at the woods around them.

Good, at least some people were taking this seriously. The fact that her band of newborn vampires were being quieter and more well-behaved than these centuries-old vampires was a fact that should have embarrassed them.

Out of the woods emerged Peter and the Major finally, the latter following the former at an odd distance. Maria did not speak then, instead waiting to see if he was going to reel on her, too, and start screaming accusations about how she hadn't done enough and how she'd failed to hold up her end of the bargain.

For a split second she wondered if he wouldn't just cut his losses early and try to kill her now. It wouldn't exactly be the most surprising turn of events from the last week. If anything it would feel just like old times again.

Not only did the Major not look at her, but he didn't look at anyone. Carlisle called toward him, preparing to beckon him over if his outstretched arm was any indicator. The only response the Major gave in acknowledgement was a slight turn of his head, inclining his ear toward them, but he moved no further and he said no more.

"Jazz?" Edward called out next. His voice sounded strangely hesitant as he turned his attention off of Maria and toward the Major, stepping to the side to get a better look at him. "Jasper."

It was Maria's whip-quick whistle—the same one she'd gotten Peter's attention with hardly a minute ago—that finally forced his head up with an effective snap.

His golden eyes were just as ugly and bright as they'd been before sundown, but there was something in his expression that was familiar to her. It made her fiercely uncomfortable. His expression was hardened, completely unmoving and void of emotion, his jaw was clenched, his fists were curled tight but his posture looked relaxed in a way she hadn't seen in a long, long time.

This was the man she was used to. But the emptiness behind his eyes was something new altogether.

"Get over here," she barked the command, testing a swift theory and using the old tone she used to take with him. He obeyed without a second thought. Even Peter, standing only a few feet from him now, did a double take between the Major and Maria, alarm in his own blood-red eyes.

Well, this was an interesting development. Maria had seen the Major throughout many phases of his life. His turbulent newborn year, ready to fight and eager to impress. She'd known him as a trusted partner and co-conspirator, mind quick and genius for strategy undeniable. Maria had also watched him turn into a wretched man, with a quick temper and a death wish.

Never before had she seen him in an apparent dissociative state like this. With the absence of Alice, was it possible for him to regress this quickly? It seemed like an impossible thing, but the evidence of a change in him was right before her eyes.

The Major stopped moving just behind Carlisle and within arm's reach of Edward, and Maria quieted her voice. "Don't forget your formation," she spoke, her tone brooking no argument, then, she started talking to him in a way that she hadn't done in over one hundred years.

"Strategy firm?"

"Shifted," his response was immediate, his unsettling gaze trained on her, "numbers down."

"Clockwise shift?"

"Vertical."

"A full offense?" Maria was perturbed by the information she was gathering from this quick exchange. If the Major was rearranging their strategy to place more emphasis on attacking than on preservation and resilience, that did not mean good things for the Cullens.

That meant he was willing to sacrifice lives.

One truth about war was that while you could factor in losses preemptively—it was all simple statistics and basic calculations if you had all the information you needed—you could never anticipate who you'd lose.

The Major nodded once. The motion was quick, executed with military precision. "More important for a through-way."

Then, Maria asked a question she somehow knew the answer to. "A cut and dry?" Were you willing to march through and leave the losses behind?

"Cut, round and dry." March through, draw enemies inward, and leave the losses to distract from the rest of the offensive line. This strategy had always led to heavy losses, with a greater chance of mission success.

The Major had just confirmed to her that he was not all there. A screw or three had come loose, or maybe they had never been screwed in that tight to begin with. This was not Major Jasper Whitlock or Jasper of the Cullen coven. This was something Maria didn't recognize; something that was just as dangerous to them as he was to their enemy.

"Gather up, you're pumping air." Retreat with your army, I'm going to fix your mistakes. Back in the day this particular order would've triggered a full-blown fight, or at the very least a spirited argument. The Major had always hated when she made edits to his strategy.

He did not argue, nor did he spare her a second glance. He simply turned around, gestured to the group as a whole, Cullens and newborns both, and began to speak in a low, measured tone, instructing them to resume their previous formation but wait for Maria.

Maria watched as Bella and Rosalie shared a startled look, not subtle at all with their exchange, before both women looked over to her.

Fucking great.

Maria laughed and turned back toward the two men that were also exchanging uneasy glances. She kept her voice low so that only Edward and Carlisle would hear it. Edward's face was already stony and his eyes were wide as he met hers. "What he just told me is good for this mission," she couldn't even bring her tone to feign humor, as the dark realization dawned upon all of them, "but that is not good for you all."

The Major had always been willing to sacrifice bodies before. This time, unlike any other, Maria found herself experiencing a rare bout of concern.

"I'm going to be watching my back," she muttered, her eyes landing again on the Major, where he stood at the front of the formation. Peter, who had overheard his and Maria's exchange, looked distraught. Maria wondered if he felt betrayed, but then shifted her attention back to Edward and Carlisle, "I advise you to do the same." With a point of her finger, she watched as their eyes landed on the Major's back. "You can not trust that man anymore."

Then, Maria walked forward to fix the Major's irresponsible plans. The fact that she was having to protect his coven now meant that he would owe her endless favors after all of this. That is, if he ever was in his right mind again.

Oh, well. That wouldn't be her problem.

A/N: Welcome to the second half of the story. I'll be including content and trigger warnings on each relevant chapter over the next several weeks. I'll also be summarizing, using vague, non-descriptive language, chapters 40, 42, and 43, in their end-chapter author's notes for those of you who are squeamish or sensitive to the content in each of them. So, if you're someone who has to tread lightly around any of the content I list below, please read the author's notes before you read the next several chapters, just to be sure you can stomach what I will be describing, in vivid (and sometimes horrifying) detail.

General TW for the entire rest of the story for: derealization/depersonalization, dissociation, graphic descriptions of torture/body horror/sexual assault, mental/emotional breakdowns, suicidal ideation, and for some generally horrific stuff of the Catholic variety.