“THE SAME THING THAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HAND,” Jasper answered in a quiet voice. “Repeated a thousandtimes.” He laughed a little ruefully and brushed at his arm. “Our venom is the only thing that leaves a scar.”

　　“Why?” I breathed in horror, feeling rude but unable to stop staring at his subtly ravaged skin.

　　“I didn’t have quite the same . . . upbringing as my adopted siblings here. My beginning was somethingelse entirely.” His voice turned hard as he finished.

　　I gaped at him, appalled.

　　“Before I tell you my story,” Jasper said, “you must understand that there are places in our world, Bella,where the life span of the never-aging is measured in weeks, and not centuries.”

　　The others had heard this before. Carlisle and Emmett turned their attention to the TV again. Alice movedsilently to sit at Esme’s feet. But Edward was just as absorbed as I was; I could feel his eyes on my face,reading every flicker of emotion.

　　“To really understand why, you have to look at the world from a different perspective. You have toimagine the way it looks to the powerful, the greedy . . . the perpetually thirsty.

　　“You see, there are places in this world that are more desirable to us than others. Places where we can beless restrained, and still avoid detection.

　　“Picture, for instance, a map of the western hemisphere. Picture on it every human life as a small red dot.

　　The thicker the red, the more easily we — well, those who exist this way — can feed without attractingnotice.”

　　I shuddered at the image in my head, at the word feed. But Jasper wasn’t worried about frightening me,not overprotective like Edward always was. He went on without a pause.

　　“Not that the covens in the South care much for what the humans notice or do not. It’s the Volturi thatkeep them in check. They are the only ones the southern covens fear. If not for the Volturi, the rest of uswould be quickly exposed.”

　　I frowned at the way he pronounced the name — with respect, almost gratitude. The idea of the Volturi asthe good guys in any sense was hard to accept.

　　“The North is, by comparison, very civilized. Mostly we are nomads here who enjoy the day as well asthe night, who allow humans to interact with us unsuspectingly — anonymity is important to us all.

　　“It’s a different world in the South. The immortals there come out only at night. They spend the dayplotting their next move, or anticipating their enemy’s. Because it has been war in the South, constant war forcenturies, with never one moment of truce. The covens there barely note the existence of humans, except assoldiers notice a herd of cows by the wayside — food for the taking. They only hide from the notice of theherd because of the Volturi.”

　　“But what are they fighting for?” I asked.

　　Jasper smiled. “Remember the map with the red dots?”

　　He waited, so I nodded.

　　“They fight for control of the thickest red.

　　“You see, it occurred to someone once that, if he were the only vampire in, let’s say Mexico City, wellthen, he could feed every night, twice, three times, and no one would ever notice. He plotted ways to get ridof the competition.

　　“Others had the same idea. Some came up with more effective tactics than others.

　　“But the most effective tactic was invented by a fairly young vampire named Benito. The first anyone everheard of him, he came down from somewhere north of Dallas and massacred the two small covens that sharedthe area near Houston. Two nights later, he took on the much stronger clan of allies that claimed Monterrey innorthern Mexico. Again, he won.”

　　“How did he win?” I asked with wary curiosity.

　　“Benito had created an army of newborn vampires. He was the first one to think of it, and, in thebeginning, he was unstoppable. Very young vampires are volatile, wild, and almost impossible to control. One newborn can be reasoned with, taught to restrain himself, but ten, fifteen together are a nightmare. They’ll turnon each other as easily as on the enemy you point them at. Benito had to keep making more as they foughtamongst themselves, and as the covens he decimated took more than half his force down before they lost.

　　“You see, though newborns are dangerous, they are still possible to defeat if you know what you’re doing.

　　They’re incredibly powerful physically, for the first year or so, and if they’re allowed to bring strength to bearthey can crush an older vampire with ease. But they are slaves to their instincts, and thus predictable. Usually,they have no skill in fighting, only muscle and ferocity. And in this case, overwhelming numbers.”

　　“The vampires in southern Mexico realized what was coming for them, and they did the only thing theycould think of to counteract Benito. They made armies of their own. . . .

　　“All hell broke loose — and I mean that more literally than you can possibly imagine. We immortals haveour histories, too, and this particular war will never be forgotten. Of course, it was not a good time to behuman in Mexico, either.”

　　I shuddered.

　　“When the body count reached epidemic proportions — in fact, your histories blame a disease for thepopulation slump — the Volturi finally stepped in. The entire guard came together and sought out everynewborn in the bottom half of North America. Benito was entrenched in Puebla, building his army as quicklyas he could in order to take on the prize — Mexico City. The Volturi started with him, and then moved on tothe rest.

　　“Anyone who was found with the newborns was executed immediately, and, since everyone was trying toprotect themselves from Benito, Mexico was emptied of vampires for a time.

　　“The Volturi were cleaning house for almost a year. This was another chapter of our history that willalways be remembered, though there were very few witnesses left to speak of what it was like. I spoke tosomeone once who had, from a distance, watched what happened when they visited Culiacán.”

　　Jasper shuddered. I realized that I had never before seen him either afraid or horrified. This was a first.

　　“It was enough that the fever for conquest did not spread from the South. The rest of the world stayedsane. We owe the Volturi for our present way of life.

　　“But when the Volturi went back to Italy, the survivors were quick to stake their claims in the South.

　　“It didn’t take long before covens began to dispute again. There was a lot of bad blood, if you’ll forgivethe expression. Vendettas abounded. The idea of newborns was already there, and some were not able toresist. However, the Volturi had not been forgotten, and the southern covens were more careful this time. Thenewborns were selected from the human pool with more care, and given more training. They were usedcircumspectly, and the humans remained, for the most part, oblivious. Their creators gave the Volturi noreason to return.

　　“The wars resumed, but on a smaller scale. Every now and then, someone would go too far, speculationwould begin in the human newspapers, and the Volturi would return and clean out the city. But they let theothers, the careful ones, continue. . . .”

　　Jasper was staring off into space.

　　“That’s how you were changed.” My realization was a whisper.

　　“Yes,” he agreed. “When I was human, I lived in Houston, Texas. I was almost seventeen years old whenI joined the Confederate Army in 1861. I lied to the recruiters and told them I was twenty. I was tall enoughto get away with it.

　　“My military career was short-lived, but very promising. People always . . . liked me, listened to what Ihad to say. My father said it was charisma. Of course, now I know it was probably something more. But,whatever the reason, I was promoted quickly through the ranks, over older, more experienced men. TheConfederate Army was new and scrambling to organize itself, so that provided opportunities, as well. By thefirst battle of Galveston — well, it was more of a skirmish, really — I was the youngest major in Texas, noteven acknowledging my real age.

　　“I was placed in charge of evacuating the women and children from the city when the Union’s mortarboats reached the harbor. It took a day to prepare them, and then I left with the first column of civilians toconvey them to Houston.

　　“I remember that one night very clearly.

　　“We reached the city after dark. I stayed only long enough to make sure the entire party was safely situated. As soon as that was done, I got myself a fresh horse, and I headed back to Galveston. There wasn’ttime to rest.

　　“Just a mile outside the city, I found three women on foot. I assumed they were stragglers and dismountedat once to offer them my aid. But, when I could see their faces in the dim light of the moon, I was stunned intosilence. They were, without question, the three most beautiful women I had ever seen.

　　“They had such pale skin, I remember marveling at it. Even the little black-haired girl, whose features wereclearly Mexican, was porcelain in the moonlight. They seemed young, all of them, still young enough to becalled girls. I knew they were not lost members of our party. I would have remembered seeing these three.

　　“‘He’s speechless,’ the tallest girl said in a lovely, delicate voice — it was like wind chimes. She had fairhair, and her skin was snow white.

　　“The other was blonder still, her skin just as chalky. Her face was like an angel’s. She leaned toward mewith half-closed eyes and inhaled deeply.

　　“‘Mmm,’ she sighed. ‘Lovely.’

　　“The small one, the tiny brunette, put her hand on the girl’s arm and spoke quickly. Her voice was too softand musical to be sharp, but that seemed to be the way she intended it.

　　“‘Concentrate, Nettie,’ she said.

　　“I’d always had a good sense of how people related to each other, and it was immediately clear that thebrunette was somehow in charge of the others. If they’d been military, I would have said that she outrankedthem.

　　“‘He looks right — young, strong, an officer. . . . ’ The brunette paused, and I tried unsuccessfully tospeak. ‘And there’s something more . . . do you sense it?’ she asked the other two. ‘He’s . . . compelling.’

　　“‘Oh, yes,’ Nettie quickly agreed, leaning toward me again.

　　“‘Patience,’ the brunette cautioned her. ‘I want to keep this one.’

　　“Nettie frowned; she seemed annoyed.

　　“‘You’d better do it, Maria,’ the taller blonde spoke again. ‘If he’s important to you. I kill them twice asoften as I keep them.’

　　“‘Yes, I’ll do it,’ Maria agreed. ‘I really do like this one. Take Nettie away, will you? I don’t want to haveto protect my back while I’m trying to focus.’

　　“My hair was standing up on the back of my neck, though I didn’t understand the meaning of anything thebeautiful creatures were saying. My instincts told me that there was danger, that the angel had meant it whenshe spoke of killing, but my judgment overruled my instincts. I had not been taught to fear women, but toprotect them.

　　“‘Let’s hunt,’ Nettie agreed enthusiastically, reaching for the tall girl’s hand. They wheeled — they wereso graceful! — and sprinted toward the city. They seemed to almost take flight, they were so fast — theirwhite 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 suchnonsense. 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 aghost.

　　“‘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,” he finally said, and I wasn’t sure if he had edited hisstory for my sake or because he was responding to the tension that even I could feel exuding from Edward, “Iwas introduced to my new life.

　　“Their names were Maria, Nettie, and Lucy. They hadn’t been together long — Maria had rounded up theother two — all three were survivors of recently lost battles. Theirs was a partnership of convenience. Mariawanted revenge, and she wanted her territories back. The others were eager to increase their . . . herd lands, Isuppose 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. Then she gave us much more attention, more training than anyone else had bothered with. She taught us to fight, andshe taught us to be invisible to the humans. When we did well, we were rewarded. . . .”

　　He paused, editing again.

　　“She was in a hurry, though. Maria knew that the massive strength of the newborn began to wane aroundthe 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 allmale — Maria wanted soldiers — and that made it slightly more difficult to keep from fighting amongstourselves. I fought my first battles against my new comrades in arms. I was quicker than the others, better atcombat. Maria was pleased with me, though put out that she had to keep replacing the ones I destroyed. Iwas 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 beingpromoted. It suited my nature exactly. The casualties went down dramatically, and our numbers swelled tohover around twenty.

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

　　“Maria grew quite fond of me — she began to depend upon me. And, in some ways, I worshipped theground she walked on. I had no idea that any other life was possible. Maria told us this was the way thingswere, and we believed.

　　“She asked me to tell her when my brothers and I were ready to fight, and I was eager to prove myself. Ipulled together an army of twenty-three in the end — twenty-three unbelievably strong new vampires,organized and skilled as no others before. Maria was ecstatic.

　　“We crept down toward Monterrey, her former home, and she unleashed us on her enemies. They hadonly nine newborns at the time, and a pair of older vampires controlling them. We took them down moreeasily than Maria could believe, losing only four in the process. It was an unheard-of margin of victory.

　　“And we were well trained. We did it without attracting notice. The city changed hands without any humanbeing aware.

　　“Success made Maria greedy. It wasn’t long before she began to eye other cities. That first year, sheextended her control to cover most of Texas and northern Mexico. Then the others came from the South todislodge her.”

　　He brushed two fingers along the faint pattern of scars on his arm.

　　“The fighting was intense. Many began to worry that the Volturi would return. Of the original twenty-three,I was the only one to survive the first eighteen months. We both won and lost. Nettie and Lucy turned onMaria eventually — but that one we won.

　　“Maria and I were able to hold on to Monterrey. It quieted a little, though the wars continued. The idea ofconquest was dying out; it was mostly vengeance and feuding now. So many had lost their partners, and that issomething our kind does not forgive. . . .

　　“Maria and I always kept a dozen or so newborns ready. They meant little to us — they were pawns, theywere disposable. When they outgrew their usefulness, we did dispose of them. My life continued in the sameviolent pattern and the years passed. I was sick of it all for a very long time before anything changed . . .

　　“Decades later, I developed a friendship with a newborn who’d remained useful and survived his firstthree years, against the ............