Disclaimer: You know that book? Twilight? The one this story is based off of? While I do, in fact, own my own copy of this book, it is not actually my work. It's Stephanie Meyer's. :)

Thanks to everybody who reviewed chapter 20 :) Seeing all those reviews totally made my week. Thanks so much!

I really hope you like this chapter. I know a lot of people have been really looking forward to the fight scene...I really do hope this meets your expectations. You guys are amazing!

Enjoy!

Chapter Twenty-One

Jake's POV

"Will you stop that!"

Owen was screaming at me as I dug my teeth into his arm. I guess I could understand his discomfort- being ripped to shreds by a werewolf such as myself probably wasn't the most comfortable way to go, after all. I growled a little as he kept struggling. He was making it very difficult to do my job, which was starting to really annoy me. At last, I managed to remove his arm with a satisfying ripping sound, and tossed it away.

"Seriously, Jake! I don't want to fight you! I need to talk to you!" He kept yelling at me, trying to get me to believe all this crap about needing to talk to me. I eyed him warily. What was he after? He shows up here, and Victoria orders him to kill me… instead, he confesses his love for my soon-to-be-girlfriend (if everything goes my way like I'm hoping it will) and then doesn't want to fight me. Not only does he not want to fight, but he wants to talk? Isn't it a little late to approach this situation diplomatically?

"I'm not going to turn around and kill you or anything, Jake," Owen sighed. "In fact…when we're done talking, you can kill me. Go phase- I'll wait right here."

I still didn't trust him. What was with this guy? I growled again, just to try and get my point across.

"Look!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air and seeming exasperated. I hoped dearly that this was my doing. "It's about Freya! She's in trouble! If you trust me and phase like a good little dog, we might be able to help her out!"

Freya….. in trouble?

She was supposed to stay at Emily's house…an order she'd obviously disobeyed. Just as I'd known she would. But no…I'd been too selfish, hiding up in my little hole with Bella, to go do something about it- to keep her safe. Now she was running around the forest looking for me while Victoria tracked her down.

Growling some more, I phased and changed quickly, then roughly grabbed Owen's shoulder to turn him around so that he was facing me. "Freya was supposed to stay on the reservation," I told him. "Emily would have told us if she'd escaped. Collin and Brady would have stopped her." Wishful thinking, of course. We didn't call her Calypso for nothing, the sneaky little twit.

"Obviously, they didn't," he replied as if it were, in fact, the most obvious thing in the world. "Listen. All of this was a trick. Victoria brought the army together to try and get to Bella. She knows how to get to your camp. She's probably already there. After she kills Bella, she's coming after Freya…and then you, once she finds out I didn't do my job. Not necessarily in that order, of course, but still. You guys are in some serious trouble."

"Of course!" I shouted, banging my fist against the nearest tree in rage, causing it to shudder. All the signs had been there. The vampire army…it had been so…so obvious. They'd dropped hint after hint after hint…and we ate it right up. And now Victoria was after Freya. "God, how could we have been so stupid!"

"Calm down!" Owen ordered his voice authoritative. "If she hears us, we'll both be dead long before Freya."

"We're going to have to kill Victoria," I decided, my jaw set. "Otherwise, she'll just run away again."

"And she'll keep coming back until they're both dead," Owen nodded. "She's told me more than once."

"Why does she trust you?" I inquired curiously. "How did all this happen to you?"

"When I saw Freya phase in the forest, that first time Victoria and Freya had fought," he explained, "I knew about the werewolves. I was kind of freaked out, and I didn't pay much attention to where I was going. The forest is really dark at night, and I couldn't see anything. I don't know my way around here like you all seem to. It was only too easy for Victoria to catch me in the woods and bite me." He shuddered, as if the memory were still fresh in his mind.

"Victoria changed you?" I scoffed.

Owen just nodded, and continued on with his rushed explanation. "She seemed to come out of nowhere. I was…unprepared. The next three days were absolute hell. Sure, the speed and senses and everything are cool…but they come at a price." He sighed, running his hands through his coppery hair. "When Victoria told me about her plan to kill Bella, and then later added Freya to her hit list…I did what I could to gain her trust. I was the one who told her that there would be werewolves waiting for the army when we got to Forks. I also volunteered for the job of killing you."

"So that you could talk me into helping you kill her," I nodded. It all made so much sense now. "I get it."

"Good," he nodded. "Now, let's get out of here!"

With that, we were off. Faster than lightning, we raced through the trees toward the camp I'd left only half an hour or so before. All I could do was pray to God that I wasn't too late.

"Do you even know where we're going?" I shouted above the wind that was rustling in our ears, forgetting that I didn't need to shout around Owen, since he was a vampire now.

"No," he admitted. "I'm following your scent up the mountain. If you'd rather lead the way, go ahead."

"Sure," I nodded, taking my place in front of Owen to lead him to our camp.

When we arrived, I was surprised to find the place deserted. The tent had been packed up, and Bella and Edward were nowhere to be found. I couldn't find Seth, either. I scanned the campsite quickly, looking for some kind of a note. At last, I found it- the corner of a small white piece of paper fluttering gently in the wind, being held down by a large rock.

I lifted up the rock and read the tiny, neat calligraphy. Edward really should have written a little bigger or at least left behind a microscope or magnifying glass or something. But no- he had to assume that everyone could read his horrible handwriting. I mean, it wasn't a problem for me or the other wolves, but what if he had been writing a letter to a human? It would have taken Charlie hours to read the letter Edward had left for me.

Jacob,

I figured you would end up here eventually, looking for Freya. You always seem to be thinking about her. Not that I've been listening all that intently- your thoughts are so repetitive, it gets tiring for me to listen to. "I wonder what Freya's doing tonight?" "I hope Freya didn't do something stupid again." "I wish Freya were here right now." Listening to this all night and all morning was, quite frankly, annoying…although I'm sure Bella would think it was sweet.

Well…Bella and I took Seth and left. Freya showed up just a minute ago and explained everything. It's all a trick, Jacob. Victoria's set us up and we fell for it. I'm taking Bella up to Alaska, to visit my friends there. She will, I assure you, be quite safe from Victoria until you and your kind deal with her.

I'm not sure where Freya is now. Last I saw her; she had tackled the red-headed vampire in question and was rolling down the mountain. The scent should be easy enough for you to follow, even with your primitive sense of smell.

"Primitive sense of smell? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I muttered, flipping over the paper with my heart racing at about a mile a minute. All I wanted to do was follow the trail, and come racing to Freya's rescue…but I couldn't. I needed to read the last of Edward's letter, to get all the information.

You might want to hurry. I know that Freya's tough- probably the toughest in the pack- but she won't last too long by herself against a monster like Victoria. Try to keep her from getting herself killed, will you? She's the one werewolf I can actually stand to be around.

Wishing you all the best of luck,

Edward Cullen

I snorted as I ripped the letter into tiny shreds- it would be dangerous in the wrong hands- hardly able to believe the fact that Edward actually liked one of our pack. Naturally, it would be Clip. She was just one of those people that it's really hard to dislike.

"Are you coming?" I asked Owen when the letter was ripped beyond recognition, the small pieces scattering in the light breeze.

Owen looked unsure. "I'm not sure…I don't want her to see me. Like this," he added, gesturing to the way the skin on his wrist was sparkling, having been exposed to a small strip of sunlight. "The last time we went out, I think I might have scared her off a little. The last thing I want is to freak her out even more."

"Trust me, Owen," I sighed, not liking the way he spoke about them going out…it was as if he assumed they would be doing so again in the future. "Clip is not the kind of girl who judges people on that sort of thing. People have been judging her for most of her life. When she was a kid, she had braces. Her father worked as a janitor at our middle school for a time before he began teaching. When she became a wolf, she was so much smaller than the rest of us. She knows what it's like to be judged based on what you or the people you care about are. Clip doesn't care if you're a werewolf, vampire, or human. She won't distinguish between Owen the Human and Owen the Vampire. To her…you're just Owen." I finished my little speech with a sigh, my admiration for the girl growing once again.

Owen nodded, seeming encouraged by my speech. "Of course. Clip's never been judgmental. Let's get a move on." With that, we high-tailed it out of camp so fast that all any bystander would have seen is a blur of color. Frankly, I was in a hurry.

After all, I did have a damsel in distress to save.

Freya's POV

"Are you sure you want to do this, child?" the red-head's smooth voice questioned me as I leaned back on my haunches and prepared to pounce. "You remember last time, don't you? How you only escaped with your life because I let you go?" She took care to emphasize this last part, as if trying to make it very clear that she was far more dangerous that I was.

Sure…and the Kansas City Royals are going to win the Super Bowl next year.

I bared my teeth and growled, making myself look about as menacing as I was able. What was this lady's problem? Edward goes and rips up her hubby…so she raises an army in the middle of Seattle, marches them halfway across the state, leads them to a clearing where they are certain to be killed…

All so that she can get her hands around Bella's neck. And, I suppose, mine. Some people took revenge way too seriously.

"As you can tell," she smiled at me, her teeth glinting dangerously, "I am a very generous woman. We can end it all right here, right now. Just a twist of my wrists, and it's all over." She pantomimed twisting her hands around, much the way one would do to a chicken an hour or so before dinner. "Or," she continued when I failed to respond, "we can do this the hard way, which would, by the way, include a much less merciful and much, much more painful death."

Oh, bring it on! I growled at her.

She sighed, cracking her knuckles out in front of her. "Have it your way then," she shrugged, right before she pounced.

Sure, the suddenness of her attack was a bit surprising, but I'd had my legs tightened back behind me and ready to spring forward at a moment's notice. I pushed off the ground with my back legs as hard as I could, and sent myself flying. I connected my claws with Victoria's face in mid-air, and began making swipes at her neck. She howled when one of the swipes connected, resulting in a large gash on her pale neck.

She grabbed me by the fur around my neck and tossed me off to the side, right into a tree, before twisting- extraordinarily cat-like- in mid-air to land gracefully on her heels.

Victoria didn't give me time to recover from my impact with the tree. She went straight for my throat, just as I had done to her, using one of her long, rock-hard fingernails to make a gash on my own neck.

"There," she smiled sweetly, licking her blood-dripped nail the way I had done on more than one occasion when I'd gone a bit crazy with the Cheetos. It was disgusting. "Now we're even," she concluded.

I shook my fur out, as if I could shake away the sting that was coming from the spot on my neck she'd sliced. Was it just me, or did I see blood spattering the trees? I wanted to puke- this had to be the most sadistic vampire I'd ever come across in my entire life. However, I knew that if I had actually puked like I'd wanted to, Victoria would just laugh, and then take advantage of my weakness to go ahead and kill me.

No. This was not a time for weakness. This was a time for strength. I had to be strong if I was going to beat this vampire. I squared my shoulders, narrowed my eyes in concentration. I began to hear a low, guttural growl. It took me a moment before I realized that it was coming from me. I could feel the growl vibrating, down in the back of my throat. I could feel this growl begin to grow as Victoria inched her way closer.

I took a moment to think about Victoria. She and her kind had ruined everything for me. Before the vampires showed up, I was just a regular teenage girl. I had friends, a family who loved me. I was getting straight- A's in school- even in Calculus. All my teachers believed I was a shoo-in for some major scholarship to an Ivy League school. I could have been whatever I wanted to be…now, I would probably never even get to go to college.

She and the vampires had taken my family from me. They'd made my father into a werewolf. They'd bitten him, so that he could no longer be a werewolf. They'd made me into a monster, as well, which had driven my mother to leave me. Vampires were the reason my mother was gone, and the reason my father had become so distant. They were the reason Riff had finally decided to grow up and get a job. They were the reason I hardly ever got to see him anymore.

Being a werewolf had changed everything for me, my past, my present, my future. I knew from my experience with Owen that I would probably never marry. I would be forever afraid of imprinting. I'd seen what happened with Sam and Leah. Happy as clams one day- their love for each other had been so incredibly strong when they were in high school. Next thing we knew, Sam was with Emily, and Leah seemed to be allergic to smiles.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that being a werewolf had ruined my life. I'd had everything going for me, and I'd worked hard for everything I'd gotten. As soon as I'd transformed that first time, all my hard work went out the window. None of it mattered. Because all my good grades, friends, and reputation I'd worked so hard for? All of that was training- training for a world that I was never going to get to be a part of.

Werewolves and vampires, we didn't get to be a part of the normal, human world. We had to be on the outside. The two species were constantly fighting, always at war with each other. While we fought, we did our best to keep our existence from becoming known. Humans were so fragile. Not only were they physically weak, but mentally as well. Werewolves were meant to protect them. All I'd done for the past year and a half was protecting the humans.

Yet I could never be human. I'd had my chance to be human, to live in that world. Now it was my duty to protect that world. To protect it from the very things who had kicked me out in the first place.

Yes…there were some good vampires out there. The Cullen's were living proof of that. But overall, the vampire species was not good. They were parasites, forever living off the lives of others. Vampires fed off the blood of others to keep themselves alive.

What a depressing way to live.

At least I, as a werewolf, got to keep my humanity. I didn't go crazy whenever I smelled blood. When I turned wolf, I got to keep my head firmly on my shoulders. Vampires didn't necessarily get that luxury. I'd seen a vampire on blood frenzy before, and it wasn't pretty. Their eyes had the same empty expression my father had adopted when he'd attacked me. In fact, now that I thought about it, he was probably having a similar type of experience to what the vampires went through.

So yeah, I concluded. Being a werewolf kind of sucked. I'd given up so much to be what I'd become…but it could always be worse. Nobody could say that I wasn't good at what I did- at what I was. I'd managed to concoct this plan- this crazy, brilliant plan that was absolutely fool-proof and was certain to save the lives of just about everyone I cared about. Not only that, but I'd managed to keep just about everybody in the dark about it. I had finally earned the name of Calypso, and had finally learned to bear it with pride.

Which brought me back to my current situation, so here I was, circling this vampire who had pretty much destroyed my life. And I felt…sorry for her? Yes…I recognized the feeling of sympathy as it coursed through me. I suppose I could see where she was coming from. I mean…someone she loved had been taken from her. I knew how that felt, didn't I? I'd lost my mother, when she left…and then Jacob, when he'd chosen Bella over me. I'd been angry both times, and had gotten revenge in the best ways that I'd been able.

So really, Victoria and I weren't that different. Only, she was prepared to kill to get her revenge. I wasn't quite that daring, didn't posses the same cruel brutality. I killed because I had to. I killed because if I didn't, someone I loved was going to die instead. Frankly, Bella's life, Jakes life…my life, even, all ranked much higher on my list of priorities than the life of this vampire. Just because I understood her, even pitied her, did not mean I was going to let her off easy.

No. I had a job to do, a family to protect. And I was going to do just that until my dying day. Whether that day was today, tomorrow, or fifty years from now, I had no idea. But there was no way in hell that I was going to let Victoria get past me again.

At last, with a mighty roar, I launched myself at the vampire one more time.

I attacked with a force that surprised even me. Victoria and I were both knocked off our feet, and I heard a sickening crack as her head slammed up against the tree. I brought my teeth to her arm and pulled. RIIP! There went one arm. She screamed, kicking me hard as she picked up her arm and allowed it to reattach itself.

No fair. Once you ripped the arm off a werewolf, there was no getting it back on.

I can't even count how many times Victoria got a swipe in at me. I had cuts and bruises and probably even a couple broken bones all over my body, but I was running on adrenaline and instinct now. Pain was the least of my worries right now. I was more concerned with Victoria, and the way she was flying at me yet again.

Again and again, she flew at me. Again and again I managed to barely doge her. It was like some kind of messed up ballet. We were dancing around each other, going faster and faster the longer we were at it. Even I, the conditioned werewolf girl with abs of steel, was panting. My legs were on fire, and my lungs felt as if they were about to pop. But I had to keep moving. Because Victoria wasn't going to get tired, and if I stopped moving…I was dead.

At last, the dance ended.

I'd taken one wrong step- just one step to the left when I should have gone right. Victoria took the opportunity to take a jab at the kink in my armor. She caught me by the back legs, laughing madly, and broke them like twigs.

If I'd been human, I would have screamed.

As it was, I let out a long, pained howl. It was the cry of help- the one we only used in a terrible emergency. I'd say that this was an emergency.

"Oh, shut up," she snapped at me. "You could have saved us both a lot of time and trouble if you'd just let me kill you in the first place."

I glared at her, panting still and trying not to move too much. I knew I had to get up, run away- to escape. But I couldn't. The pain in my back legs was so terrible, so immense…I almost welcomed death…

But not quite.

She stepped closer to me, her face coming into my view. "You are quite pretty, you know," she sighed, brushing a strand of curly hair behind her ear. "If only you were one of my kind, instead of theirs. We could be great friends, you and I…we aren't so different."

I looked at her in surprise. Had she been reading my thoughts earlier? Had she, too, seen the similarities between us? Surly not. If she had, she would have seen the differences also, and thus known that we could never, ever be friends.

She chuckled. "Yes…you see it too. We've both lost a loved one, haven't we? and too little Isabella, no less!" Victoria threw her shoulders back in a hearty laugh at the irony of the situation. "But yet you protect her," she sighed, sobering up a little. "Why?" she wondered.

Because I actually have a life outside of plotting revenge, I muttered to myself, wincing as another shot of pain traced its way up my spine.

"Hmm," she mused. "I suppose…well. I did make a promise, didn't I?' she sighed. "How would dear Owen feel about my leadership if I didn't follow through?"

I flinched at the name. Owen. My friend…turned vampire. I hoped he was doing ok. The thought of Owen's once beautiful, sea-green eyes turned ruby red brought the anger back. My strength renewed, I took a snap at Victoria's ankle. I wrapped my teeth around her, and sank down.

"Ah!" she screeched, trying to shake me off. I, being the stubborn little twit that I am, refused to let go. At last, she swung her leg up in a mighty kick, which sent me flying up against the tree. My head hit the ground with a bang.

I saw stars.

I always thought that was the kind of thing that only happened in cartoons…but I literally saw little stars floating above me. They were pretty…bright, white light shining down from an ocean of black. It would have been only too easy to lose myself in the light.

But didn't they always say to stay away from the light?

I groaned. My head was pounding, my muscles were still on fire, and I was fairly certain that I was about to die. The only comfort I had was that I'd seemed to have lost all feeling in my legs. So at least that was one thing that didn't hurt.

"Giving up, are we?" Victoria chuckled. "About time. I knew you were a feisty one, but I was hoping you'd come to your senses a little sooner…I'm going to have a scar on my ankle, thanks to you," she pouted pathetically.

She really wasn't stable, was she?

She knelt in the grass next to me, her cold breath tickling my skin. "You're going to die, Freya," she whispered sadistically in my ear, her teeth inches above my skin. "I can't stand the taste of werewolf blood," she continued, "but I will endure it long enough to bite you. And then I will watch you die."

You are really sick, I growled at her. Of course, all she got was the growl…she howled with laughter, plunging her teeth into my neck.

I could feel my form melting, shifting into my human self. I could feel Victoria's razor sharp teeth buried in the muscle in my neck- could feel it all too well when she bit down even harder. Victoria seemed to enjoy my blood even more than she had anticipated. I could tell that she was finding it hard to let go, to remove her teeth and stop drinking.

What little strength I'd had left was draining away. I felt dizzy, light-headed, and sick. I wanted so badly for her to stop…especially once the venom started to make its way into my neck. It burned so badly…it was as if someone had set me on fire. I just wanted it to end.

Why, oh dear God why, couldn't it just end already?

My thoughts weren't coherent. I know that you always hear about people's lives flashing before their eyes right before they die…and I imagine it's something everybody looks forward to. It gives you a chance to stand back and go, huh. Maybe I have made a difference in this world.

I didn't get this luxury. My thoughts were a tangled blur and swirl of color, light, sound. Events I didn't remember and faces I couldn't recognize swam before me, making the ache in my head even stronger. Now, I was wishing for death. There was nothing else I could do- my body was broken beyond repair, and my mind seemed to have finally cracked, as well. There was nothing I could do to save them…

My family.

Jake.

I saw his face in my mind's eye. I remembered his dark eyes, killer smile, and the way his hair always seemed to be in his face. I felt his lips, soft on mine, and suddenly, I was in heaven.

Or maybe it was Hell. Being in so much pain…not only the physical and mental pain, but there was also an intense emotional pain that came from knowing that I would never get the chance to tell Jake I loved him. God, how I loved him…I really hoped Emily found the letter. That way, she could tell him for me, since it didn't look like I was going to make it.

The burning in my neck was gone now. I couldn't feel anything, actually…so I suppose the venom had done its work. It had made its way through my body, paralyzing me. I only had a few precious moments left. There was no saving me. Not this time. My time was up.

I noticed then that the stars were back. They were burning brightly, pulsating almost, beckoning me to join them. I wasn't particularly eager…but I knew that there were some things you just couldn't stall forever. Death was one of them.

"Please forgive me, Jacob," I thought. I knew he wouldn't like hearing that I was dead. I only hoped that he wasn't too angry with me- that he wouldn't think I'd given up without a fight.

"I love you."

And with that, my time as a werewolf was over.

Ok...I know, this was a MAJOR cliffhanger. And I'm sorry. Please don't hate me!

I do hope you liked this chapter, despite its admittedly craptastic ending. :)

Just out of curiosity...What would you all say to a sequal to this story? The end is near...depressingly near. If I were to attempt a sequal, would you guys be interested? :D Again, just out of curiosity:)

Penny for your thoughts?;)