Chapter One

Jasper

Things were going wrong and I didn't know how to fix them, I knew Nathan was looking to take my place but he didn't stand an earthly. I was faster, stronger, and more intelligent than him. Maria needed me to win her war against Pedro and the others, I was her only hope. As I walked into her room I found her in bed with Nathan and saw red, Maria was mine not his and I grabbed a hold of him and pulled him naked out into the compound slamming the door behind me and quite literally tore him to pieces before kicking the door to her cabin in and taking what was mine. When I finally calmed down I could see the destruction I had caused. All the furniture in the room was smashed to matchwood and Maria lay naked on the floor among the debris nursing several fresh bites and looking furious.

As soon as she saw I was back she started screaming at me in rapid Spanish.

"How dare you do this to me? Who do you think you are Major Whitlock? I decide what happens here in my compound not you, I decide who I sleep with and who leads my army so be careful."

"Are you threatening me Maria?"

I felt my rage growing once more as I stood over her, enjoying the sight of her naked and battered body at my feet.

"It looks to me like I'm the one in control and remember this, without me you are nothing"

Dragging her to her feet I kissed her savagely then threw her back down striding out and across the compound where several of the captains were helping Nathan to piece himself together. They shrank back as my eyes raked over them but I just spat in the dirt and carried on to the stables where I took my stallion and rode out of camp. Riding was the only way to calm myself when one of these rages was upon me and I headed south towards Pedro's territory, looking for more destruction.

I found it in a small village inside his boundaries where I allowed the monster in me full rein and by the time I was finished not a single thing still lived. There were bodies scattered all around but I didn't feel a thing for any of the broken humans only a few of which I'd drained. The rest died purely as a way of dissipating my rage. I waited some time hoping Pedro would hear of my deeds and come looking for revenge but he never did and eventually I became bored and rode back towards Maria's, the only home I had. As I rode I thought about Peter, the captain I had allowed to escape with his mate before she was culled. That had cost me dear but I thought they deserved a chance, Peter was the only one who had ever shown me any true friendship and I missed him and the way he could calm my temper with a few sharp words. He had come back once at great personal risk to try to persuade me to join him. I hoped by threatening to take him back to Maria I had persuaded him to stay away but the thought he might return again made me uneasy.

Aro

When we heard of the problems in Mexico I decided the Volturi needed to act and rang Maria personally. Not before sending Felix and a group of the guard of course but she didn't need to know that.

"Aro, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"We hear disturbing rumours that you have lost control of your men Maria"

"No, I have control of all my newborns, we do only what we are permitted to do."

"Really? Then perhaps you could explain the attack on the village of Santa Miguel?"

"That wasn't my men Aro."

"Then who was responsible?"

She didn't want to answer that question but she had no choice,

"I understand The Major had a...loss of control."

"The Major? I find it disturbing that such a dangerous warrior could lose control. Was there a particular reason for his outburst?"

Of course I already knew but I wanted to see how much she would be willing to tell me.

"It was a pure misunderstanding, it wont happen again."

"I'm pleased to hear that Maria because if it does then the Volturi will be forced to act and I'm sure you would prefer that not to happen."

"Don't worry Aro, the situation is in hand I promise."

"Good, I'm glad to hear it Maria"

I would tell Felix to hold off for now, it would be a pity to destroy The Major, we all had a lot of respect for him but a rogue warrior could not be tolerated.

Jasper

I rode back into camp to find a subdued Nathan in the barracks with the latest batch of newborns and smiled as I understood he was serving his punishment, not for riling me but for losing the fight.

"So, found your level at last have you? Stay away from Maria Nathan or next time I'll kill you"

He didn't answer me and the newborns turned away unwilling to catch my eye. Feeling I'd made my point for now, I went back outside and saw Maria arguing with one of the Captains so went to help her, or save him possibly, arguing with her wasn't safe at all as I knew to my own cost. I rubbed absently at the scar just under my jaw where she had shown her displeasure the last time I criticised her even though she had to acknowledge later that I'd been correct. She glanced at me but didn't smile,

"So you decided to return? I didn't give you a leave of absence, where have you been?"

"Scouting"

"Scouting? Did that involve an attack on a village on Pedro's territory?"

So she knew!

"It may have done, why is he complaining?"

The captain she had been talking to tried to interrupt and I lost my temper again picking him up and throwing him out of the compound into the river beyond.

"Well did he?"

Maria flew at me but I held her off smiling,

"So my little hell cat you want some more?"

I dragged her into her cabin and took her on the floor without hesitation although she fought me all the way.

Before I left her an hour later she had calmed down enough to tell me we were headed out to attack one of Pedro's supporters who had a camp across the river, right on the boundary line.

"I want the camp destroyed and the newborns he has there brought back. Do you understand me Major?"

"Of course."

"And leave no trace, I don't want any trouble with the humans."

"To hell with the humans, I'll kill any I see"

"No, we don't want problems with the humans Major. Just attack the camp and bring the newborns back. Take Nathan with you. He needs some experience"

"Wrong, Nathan needs a brain transplant. I'm not taking that idiot with me"

She grabbed me by the throat and pulled me close hissing in my face,

"Do as you are bidden Major"

I smiled and kissed her angry lips,

"Just let me do my work Maria"

I called together a group of men I trusted, I'd trained them myself and ignored Nathan who went running to Maria like a spoilt child to its mother and she came storming out of her cabin to confront me. Did she really think I would allow her to beat me in front of my men? Bad move on her part if she did!

"Major I ordered you to take Nathan with you."

"And I decided he was too much of a liability."

"You will take him"

Her eyes flashed dangerously and the group of men I'd assembled backed away fearfully but I just laughed,

"No"

Then I turned to my men, ordered them out of camp, and we left watched by a now seething Maria. By the time I got back she would be ready for me to show her what a real man could do for a woman. If she went to bed with Nathan in the meantime to console him so much the better. She'd just see how much more a man I was in comparison.

We attacked the camp at dusk and soon killed the inhabitants, all except the newborns who we herded into a group, they weren't the best specimens I'd ever seen, in fact I wouldn't have entertained them and I decided the hell with it.

"Kill them. They aren't worth our trouble to take back"

I knew some of my men thought this was foolish but they obeyed my orders just as they'd been trained to do. There was movement at the edge of the camp and I saw two white figures run for the trees so leaving the carnage behind I chased after them only to find two young women wrapped in rags hiding in the lower branches of a tree. Seeing me they began to scream and one grabbed a dead branch and smashed me across the face with it. In my anger at her presumption I knocked her from the tree and she fell to the earth with a dull thud, her head lolling to one side, her neck quite obviously broken. The other tried to fight me off but she stood no chance, why did she think she could win against a vampire? I pulled her from her perch and threw her to the ground falling on top of her and taking her as a punishment for her actions against me. When the red mist cleared again and I stood up she too was dead, her throat torn out and her eyes staring glassily at me in accusation. Her look of terror and pain rocked me back on my heels. I'd seen that look before, young women taken prisoner and violated by soldiers for no reason except that they could. I truly was the God of War with no way back.