I had not been taught to fear women, but to protect them.

"'Let's hunt,' Nettie agreed enthusiastically, reaching for the tall girl's hand. They wheeled - they were so graceful! - and sprinted toward the city. They seemed to almost take flight, they were so fast - their white dresses blew out behind them like wings. I blinked in amazement, and they were gone.

"I turned to stare at Maria, who was watching me curiously.

"I'd never been superstitious in my life. Until that second, I'd never believed in ghosts or any other such nonsense. Suddenly, I was unsure.

"'What is your name, soldier?' Maria asked me.

"'Major Jasper Whitlock, ma'am,' I stammered, unable to be impolite to a female, even if she was a ghost.

"'I truly hope you survive, Jasper,' she said in her gentle voice. 'I have a good feeling about you.'

"She took a step closer, and inclined her head as if she were going to kiss me. I stood frozen in place, though my instincts were screaming at me to run."

Jasper paused, his face thoughtful. "A few days later,"

"Thank you," Edward said, looking like he was fearful that he was going to tell Bella about the painful transformation.

"I'm sure that your book self was a lot worse than you were just now..." Jasper chuckled. "I don't think I had much of choice with that one."

he finally said, and I wasn't sure if he had edited his story for my sake or because he was responding to the tension that even I could feel exuding from Edward,

"See," Jasper laughed along with most everyone in the room.

"I was introduced to my new life.

"Their names were Maria, Nettie, and Lucy. They hadn't been together long - Maria had rounded up the other two - all three were survivors of recently lost battles. Theirs was a partnership of convenience. Maria wanted revenge, and she wanted her territories back. The others were eager to increase their . . . herd lands, I suppose you could say. They were putting together an army, and going about it more carefully than was usual. It was Maria's idea. She wanted a superior army, so she sought out specific humans who had potential.

"How did she know that?" Edward asked, narrowing his eyes. "Did you ever ask?"

"No," Jasper said, "but it was obvious that she thought I was special..."

"And you are, but no one else in her...er...army was, were they?" Edward asked.

"No," Jasper shook his head, "at least no one else had special gifts. I think that she just thought that by choosing soldiers, she would have better fighters...that they would have more knowledge of battle."

Then she gave us much more attention, more training than anyone else had bothered with. She taught us to fight, and she taught us to be invisible to the humans. When we did well, we were rewarded. . . ."

Edward narrowed his eyes.

He paused, editing again.

"Are you happy now?" Jasper smirked at Edward as he visibly relaxed.

"She was in a hurry, though. Maria knew that the massive strength of the newborn began to wane around the year mark, and she wanted to act while we were strong.

"There were six of us when I joined Maria's band. She added four more within a fortnight.

We were all male - Maria wanted soldiers - and that made it slightly more difficult to keep from fighting amongst ourselves. I fought my first battles against my new comrades in arms. I was quicker than the others, better at combat. Maria was pleased with me, though put out that she had to keep replacing the ones I destroyed. I was rewarded often, and that made me stronger.

"Maria was a good judge of character. She decided to put me in charge of the others - as if I were being promoted. It suited my nature exactly. The casualties went down dramatically, and our numbers swelled to hover around twenty.

"So, Jazz, you never did say how many of them you killed before you were promoted," Emmett said, smiling.

"A fair few...they really weren't any challenge for me," Jasper smirked. "You might have had a harder time with it..."

"Hey, you know that's not true," Emmett chuckled. "I would have crushed the competition."

"Sure," Jasper said, slowly rolling his eyes and Emmett started to pout.

"This was considerable for the cautious times we lived in. My ability, as yet undefined, to control the emotional atmosphere around me was vitally effective. We soon began to work together in a way that newborn vampires had never cooperated before. Even Maria, Nettie, and Lucy were able to work together more easily.

"Maria grew quite fond of me - she began to depend upon me. And, in some ways, I worshipped the ground she walked on.

Alice never liked hearing that part and, though she didn't make any move to show this, Jasper gave her one of his smiles that always made her feel better - stupid vampire who could read her emotions, how was she supposed to act nonchalant when he could do that?