Homecoming

Chapter Fourteen

Even withering in a heat-filled pain, Isabella was aware of her surroundings. She knew the vampire had returned, knew he'd kneeled next to her and was speaking almost pleadingly to her. She felt him lift her and carry her to bed. Was he planning on nursing her to health? Then the words he'd been saying finally penetrated the haze that surrounded her mind.

"I'll give you something to make it all better."

'No,' she screamed inside herself, as her voice refused to do anything other than release pain-filled whimpers of distress. 'It can't end like this,' she all but begged. 'I don't want to be a vampire! I don't want to leave Jacob – not when we've just found each other!'

Isabella laid there on the bed, unable to speak aloud or move as the vampire bent closer to her neck and paused to breathe her in. He shuttered in desire and Bella internally recoiled from disgust. Tears began to leak from her eyes and he moved to hush her, cooing softly in her ear. She forced herself to think of her father and the Atearas, of Sue and even Seth and Leah – her new family she barely knew. She thought of the pack and of Jacob – always of Jacob. She imaged the future she wanted, one with pack meetings and children, and warmth. And as she imagined these things, her desperation and grief turned to anger and rage. How dare he take these things from her – from all of them! What gave him the right? Because he was stronger, or faster than her?

'Embrace my fire's flame,' Hestia's voice fluttered through her mind, and in that moment Isabella Swan knew what she had to do.

As James's fangs sank into her neck's flesh, Bella found the strength to lift her arms and hold his head in place. It was with a vindictive smile that she clutched him closer still as he pulled the first drops of blood from her body to be replaced by his venom. As soon as his vampiric toxins touched her, her body irrupted into a solitary living flame. Her body no longer withered with pain, now it hummed with power and possibilities. The vampire James, however…

Isabella laughed at the way he attempted to push her away, as if he could! "I am no longer mortal," she taunted him. "I am the flame, and now it is you who will not escape me."

True to her word, she held him tight until he was nothing more than a smoldering pile of ash amongst the charred remains of the abandoned cabin's bedroom. Giddiness overcame her at the thought of finally being free of this monster – of all monsters of his ilk. Again thoughts of her Jacob filled her – her alpha, her soul mate – and the inferno that had consumed her body quieted itself until it burned beneath her skin.

Seeing that she was now naked, Bella stumbled on shaky legs back into the main room, which had been largely untouched, and threw on a grey sweater dress and a pair of black leggings from the bag of things James had brought back with him. She hurriedly threw on her coat and her shoes, smiling at the first rays of daylight, and began her long trek down the mountain to where the vampire had left his car the night before.

It was early afternoon when Isabella finally reached the car, her stomach grumbling uncomfortably from hunger as she'd forgotten in her eagerness to take any of the snack foods from the cabin with her.

"No problem," she assured herself aloud to calm her frazzled nerves, "we passed plenty of towns on the way here. I'll just stop and eat at the first one I come to and see if I can't get my bearings. Then I can call the guys or Charlie and find my way home."

Now armed with a tentative plan, Bella got in the car, smiling when she noticed the keys were still in the ignition, and started on her journey. It took nearly an hour to get to the first little town, but she took instant comfort in recognizing some of the local stores from the night before. Glancing down at the fuel gage, Isabella turned into a gas station to fill the car's tank. While paying inside, she chatted up the clerk enough to find out that she was alarmingly close to the Canadian border, and that Penny's Café had the best pumpkin pie in two counties.

Penny's Café also had some of the friendliest staff Isabella had ever met. When asked her seating preference, she'd held out her dead cell phone she'd found in her purse (which James had left in the car) and asked if she could use the house phone.

"No trouble, sug'," the salt-and-peppered blond had said warmly, leading her towards the booth. "In fact out manager, Cheryl, has the same phone as you. Let me see if she brought her charger."

As it turned out, Cheryl had brought her charger and insisted on Bella staying there until it was at least ninety percent charged. To pass the time, she'd stepped in and helped her waitress, Adela, serve orders during the dinner rush and got directions back to Tacoma. Adela had given Bella a Styrofoam container of food when she'd went to leave and told her to be careful.

"There's lots of crazies out there, darlin'!"

"Don't I know it," she mumbled to herself, picking at her French fries every so often as she drove, thankfully making it to a Tacoma motel around eleven that night.

"Hey, it's me," she said to Jacob's voicemail as she sat down on the motel room bed. "I just wanted to let you know I'm fine. I'm heading back home, but I had to stop for the night. I'm going to try Quil's house next. I love you."

Sighing deeply, she hung up and quickly dialed the Ateara's house phone. "Hello," an anxious male voice answered.

"Quil?"

"Bellsy," he shouted out in relief. "Where are you? How are you?"

"I'm fine," she assured him. "I got away. I've stopped off for the night in Tacoma, but I'll be home by tomorrow."

"Thank the powers above," Quil huffed out. "Jake's gonna be – Wait, have you talked to him?"

"Called him first," she admitted. "Left a voice message on his cell."

"Figures his not there. He's been running us ragged trying to find you." There was a brief pause before he asked how it was she'd managed to escape a leech.

"I didn't," she told him. "You know I've been working with your grandfather on connecting with my powers. Well, I connect alright. Turned into the living version of Johnny Storm and cooked him like a crispy critter."

"Sweet."

"You're such a dork," she replied with a soft smile, before again reassuring him she'd be there the next day. Once hanging up, she quickly turned out the lights and went to sleep for the night. Bella was up before first light the next morning, grabbing a cup of coffee and a honeybun from the complimentary breakfast bar as she turned in her room key, and began the final few hours back home. She drove fast, almost dangerously, until she reached the safety of La Push's territory.

Isabella had never been so thankful in all her life to be home as she was the moment she saw Jacob's cabin. She fled up the stairs and inside almost as soon as she'd turned off the car's engine, searching every room eagerly for her wolf, but he wasn't there. With a sigh, she settled for taking a thorough shower – no doubt she reeked of vampire – and quickly got her things together.

Two hours later, and her wolf still hadn't returned home. Bella busied herself, cleaning up after the large meal she'd prepared and packed away. It was early afternoon, and she was honestly starting to get worried. How did a wolf react when their imprint was missing anyway? She didn't know, but she didn't think it would be very good. With a determined glint in her eyes, she called the Uley house and found out that – yes, the pack had just left there from a lunch break but, no, Jacob wasn't with them. In fact, according to Emily, Jacob hadn't eaten since she'd been taken.

"Seth convinced Charlie you went off on a teacher's workshop and that Jacob is suffering from blue balls or something," the girl snickered out before quickly sobering. "But seriously, Bella, you need to go out and find him. Embry told me he hasn't been going home either."

"I was only gone a few days," she argued softly.

"And thank God it wasn't longer," her friend added. "Now quit yacking with me and go find your man!"

So that's what led Isabella Swan to be stumbling over herself as she worked her way through the La Push woods. "Jacob," she called out every once and awhile, "Jake!" She was thankful to be wearing her own clothes again, especially since jeans and sweaters were much easier to hike in than dresses and leggings, but as she tripped over the umpteenth tree root she couldn't help but wish she were curled up with her Jacob instead. "Where are you," she cried out, leaning against a random tree to rub her sore ankle.

"Near the cliffs," came a soft feminine reply. Bella smiled as she glanced towards the native woman that stood next to her.

"Hey, Aunt Sarah. How has our boy really been doing?"

"Not well, I'm afraid," she answered with a frown. "Nearly lost his temper and killed poor Quil when the boy called to say you and the van were missing. They trailed you pretty far, but that tick was clever…"

"I know," Isabella sighed, remembering her hopelessness at realizing the wolves weren't going to be able to track her and James. "But I dealt with him, and he won't be causing any more worries for anyone."

"I saw that," Sarah smiled. "To think, my little Bella, a fully realized witch, and so strong! Your grandmother would be proud."

"She is," Bella agreed with a nostalgic smile before focusing back on the conversation at hand. "But Jacob –"

"I won't lie, he's more wolf than man right now," the spirit warned. "He's been running the pack hard, killing any leech whose scent passes onto our lands, and searching for you with every spare minute he has."

"Hasn't Quil told him I called?"

"Jacob ordered him not to speak to him."

Bella frowned. She honestly didn't like the sound of this at all. She wanted the men to work out their differences and hard feelings and be happy again. But more than anything, right now she knew she needed to get to her Jacob. Sarah, however, cautioned her against it.

"Call him to you," she advised. "He's in such a state, his wolf may demand he claim you upon sight – even with the entire pack present. Call him to you, and he will come."

Isabella swallowed thickly and settled down on her knees, digging her fingers into the moist soil. Closing her eyes, she focused on her Jacob, her wolf, and whispered softly, "bring him to me." The wind whipped around her a few times, the leaves of the trees rustled against another, and a strange warmth pulsed from her hands into the ground. Soon the earth beneath her shook and her heart began to pound as she recognized it as her wolf's foot falls. "He's coming."

She'd expect to hear Sarah's reply, but when she turned her eyes towards where the spirit had been, there was nothing. When next she glanced back towards her right, her vision was filled with the sight of her russet wolf. "Jacob," she sighed happily, lifting up her arms to pet him should her come closer.

She watched as his large, furry body blurred and was replaced with a naked man's, though his eyes remained lupine and wild. Bella didn't get up, didn't move as he appraised her, her heart beating frantically inside her chest. "Mate," his voice growled out possessively, his body moving towards her in fast, jerking movements. And then he was next to her, knees touching each other's and the earth as their hands clasped on to each other and their mouth sought the other's out. She could feel his need for her, and she whispered for him to take her as he desire rose to match his own. "It's alright," she reassured as he literally ripped her clothes from her body, "we both need this."

There was no warning, no need for one, as he slammed his member forcefully inside her. Isabella hummed with approval, lifting herself just enough to wrap her legs around his waist, somehow managing to draw their bodies even closer together. Their claiming wasn't long, but it was intense. Jacob pounded into her from every angle he could think of, as fast and as hard as he was physically able to until he spelt himself inside her, his teeth sinking in over the place James had bitten her earlier.

"Mine," he'd panted out as he'd pulled their exhausted bodies to the ground, the animal in him seeming to retreat enough for him to cuddle her against his side. "Bells," his husky voice had asked her moments later, an odd nervousness to it, "I know it's kinda sudden and all, but will you marry me?"

"Are you serious," she asked him, sitting up enough to look into his eyes. He glanced her way and nodded, physically relaxing as a smile began to spread across her face. "I don't know," she teased. "I'm not really the marrying type."

"You bettered be," he grinned right back. "Or you can be the one explaining to junior in there why mommy and daddy have different last names."

Bella's face fell a little, her hands moving towards her bare womb. "Are you kidding? Are we… are we really..?"

Jacob nodded. "Your scent's been changing for the past few minutes," he began to explain, only to have his mate's arms thrown around him as she buried herself against him.

"We're going to have a baby," she sighed out dreamily, her lips curling up at the ends. "I suppose I can allow you to marry me then," she joked, and he laughed, leaning over to tickle her until she was breathless. Of course with all the wiggling involved, Jacob soon found himself making his new mate breathless in other ways.

Epilogue

Seventeen years later…

Isabella Black smiled across the bon fire at her husband, who was retelling the tribal history stories to the new generation of wolves – their eldest child, William Charles Black, and his new imprint Stephanie Call among them. Billy had passed from this land to the next nearly nine years ago, but Bella wasn't surprised in the least to see his spirit standing next to his son, a look of extreme pride on his face as Jacob stressed the importance of protecting the tribe and their families from cold ones.

Looking around, Bella knew she'd had a good life. She'd married a wonderful man, raised two lovely children, and had even managed to forgive Embry Call along the way. Leah, now Embry's wife, was her sister, and so she'd found the grace inside her for the sake of family to push away the hurt she knew the woman hadn't wanted to cause her. Good thing too, as it turned out the Call's first child, Samara, was a witch, and one of her favorite students.

"Mom," a frustrated sigh brought her back to reality, her eyes brightening when she looked up at her daughter standing in front of her. "I can't get this spell right!"

Isabella laughed softly, patting a spot on the log next to her and waited for Sarah Renee, her second and youngest child, to join her. "Let's see here," she murmured, taking the book her daughter had been glaring at from her and looking it over.

"I know the arrangement is out of order," the girl chirp up. "I've even rearrange some of the phrasing," she added, pointing to her hand writing in the books margin.

Bella nodded. "Looks good. Did you remember to invite the elements, or did you demand their presence again?"

"I –" Sarah sputtered heatedly, "of course I… Okay," she sighed in defeat, "I may have been a little forceful in my invitation."

"Then maybe you should apologize and try again," she laughed, watching as her daughter marched back off towards the clips. Again her eyes glanced around her. Yes, she decided, she'd done very well in life indeed. Isabella smiled as she could suddenly see generation upon generation of witches and wolves before her eyes. Years and years of love and pain, happiness and sorrow. The wheel would continue to spin, every beginning would continue to find its end. And it all started with her, a broken and lost girl who'd decided to finally come home.