Clairaudience / / F. Volturi

{18}

Lilith Swan 

Almost everyone had left the clearing now, the rest of us straggling behind. "Jasper?" I called to the southern boy, causing him to stop and face me from my position on the Jeep. "Are you sure there's nothing I can do to help?" I asked, mainly for the benefit of Rose and Emmett. I sure as hell wasn't going out of my way for Bella or Edward but the brunette girl seemed perfectly content with letting everyone else die for her. Minus her batted eyelashes at Jacob every time she saw him, practically foreseeing his death with the amount of times she was telling him he would die.

Softly smiling he shook his head "Bella's presence alone, her scent, will distract the newborns. Their hunting instinct will take over and drive 'em crazy, and I am very much inclined to agree that this isn't your problem so don't worry too much about it anyway" he finished giving the side-eye to the girl currently enamoured with Edward.

"Well if you're sure. Hey, if you don't mind me asking, How do you know so much about this? I mean if it's too personal you don't have to answer" I didn't want to make the poor boy uncomfortable with my questions.

"I didn't have quite the same upbringing as my adopted siblings." He rolled up his sleeves to reveal his pale white arms, though unlike the rest of the Cullens whose smooth stone-like skin looked like pure porcelain, his arms were covered in bite marks.

"Vampire bites?" though the answer seemed obvious.

"Battle scars" he smirked "All the training the Confederate Army gave me was useless against the newborns. But still, I never lost a fight." At the mention of his past military service, you could see the guilt and regret swarming in his honey eyes. Though he perked up just a bit at his win ratio.

"So you were turned during the Civil War? Pardon my inquiry but they don't teach us about these things in Britain"

His smiled ever so slightly softened "I was the youngest Major in the Texas cavalry, all without having seen any real battle" there was a deep bitterness in his voice. A solemn sounding tone mixed with remorse that couldn't be shaken.

"What happened? If you don't mind me asking."

"I met a certain immortal. Maria. I was riding back to Galveston after evacuating a column of woman and children. When I saw them, I immediately offered them my aid." His eyes became distant and unfocused, and I began to wonder if I was pushing too far but before I could stop my questions we were interrupted by my sister.

"Maria was creating an army?" Bella asked seemingly uninterested, as she leant against the bonnet.

"They were very common in the South. There were constant brutal battles for territory, Maria won em all. She was smart, careful and she had me, I was her second in command. My ability to control emotions served her well. I trained her newborns, an endless occupation since she never let them live beyond their first year. It was my job to dispose of them. I could feel everything they felt. I thought what Maria and I had was love, but I was her puppet. She pulled the strings." His once smooth voice became thick with a tense recollection of the past, venom ever so slightly pooling in his eyes. Though a relieved smile slowly took over his face. "I didn't know there was another way til I found Alice. She'd seen me coming, of course." A look of adoration could clearly be seen now on his face.

"You'd kept me waiting long enough." the pixie-like vampire joked, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

"My apologies, ma'am." his accent thickened "I don't know what I'd have become without her." she playfully shushed him in return. the love between the two vampires was clear. It was clear between all the Cullen clan pairs. All except Edward and Bella. But before I had any more time to ponder on the toxic relations of my family Felix picked me up off the Jeep.