A.N: My apologies on the little delay in posting – my exams are eating on my time, making my schedule run ahead of me. But this story is still very much alive and not about to be abandoned, in case you wondered ;)

Thanks for sweet reviews, and thanks to JJ Twi1ight whom without you would all have a much more developed imagination, because you would constantly have to find excuses for my lack of punctuality and having to cover up some major plot flaws.

Noises

Bella's point of view

Finally. Finally, finally, finally. For the first time in days, weeks, everything started to sort itself out. I wasn't grounded anymore. I was free to be down at La Push with Jacob. We were out in the open – both Billy and dad finally knew about our relationship. Or, at least some of it. Dad wasn't angry with me – on the contrary, he was pretty much pleased with himself.

He'd been walking around the whole morning, singing and whistling. He was grinning at me when I got down for breakfast today, the food already on the table. When he asked if I had any plans for today, and I had said I was going to see Jacob, dad had only grinned wider while saying. "Good thing, kiddo, good thing." He was so extremely pleased I seemed to be moving on spite everything, he was beyond himself.

I was still immensely mortified after yesterday's talk, both the talk with my dad and then, oh my goodness, the talk between Jacob and dad. But dad seemed only pleased to be done with it, it no longer being his responsibility to bring up. He'd done his duty as parent. And, spite the awkwardness of it, I really think he appreciated Jacob's bluntness on the subject. God heavens I was never that straight forward about these things. But Jake was, and Charlie seemed to appreciate the honesty and not sneaking around. Not that we had been sneaking anywhere, but still.

I looked over at Jacob, sitting next to me behind the wheel in my truck. It was a good day, the sky a dull grey with a few beams of sun peaking through the clouds now and then. Jacob was driving with one hand on the wheel, the other hand clasped around mine, talking happily about tonights patrols with Leah and Quil. Apparently Quil had for a second thought about peeking at Leah when she phased, and Leah had given him hell about it the whole night.

"She can be quite hilarious when she's pissed, as long as she isn't pissed at you. But to watch her being pissed at someone else is kind of entertaining. You should have seen Quil. His ego was seriously shrinking to the size of a pea the way she was yelling at him. I almost felt bad for the guy."

Jacob started laughing, and I grinned and squeezed his hand, willing him to go on. I never wanted him to stop. Jacob continued with his story, and I leaned my head back against the seat content with just watching him and listening to his voice. Right now, everything seemed perfect. Right here, right now, this very day.

Or, I guess it wasn't perfect. Victoria was still out there somewhere, trying to hunt me down. The pack was constantly running shifts, guarding my house at all times. Jacob had gotten permanent shadows under his eyes from lack of sleep.

And then there was Edward. I didn't really know how to solve that part. He was still here, looking out for me in school and taking care of me and protecting me from Victoria the best way he could. He was handling the situation we were in better than I could ever have expected from him, much better than I had. He knew I was with Jacob, and he was trying his best to act as the perfect friend. I knew he still loved me, and I knew he deep down hoped I would change my mind and come back to him. Even after I'd told him I was sorry that time on the porch, I knew he was still hoping. Always hoping.

I remembered that first day I'd seen him, after he came back. When he had saved me from Victoria. Saved my life. It had been a shock. He had taken my breath away. I had been so thankful for not dying, and to see him there when I least expected it had been too much to handle. I'd had an enormous flashback of the months before he left, and I realized how much I still cared for him.

Things were different now. When I'd spoken to him later, in the days that followed, and when he had explained everything that had happened between us and why, it changed. I guess maybe it had been different for quite a long time, I just didn't realize it until then.

He wasn't perfect to me anymore. Before, he'd been perfect, flawless, an angel in human disguise. Now, he wasn't. I had slowly realized that some parts of our previous relationship just wasn't right. I had been too dependent on him, and he had loved me way too much for his own good. It crossed the line, we both did. And it hadn't been right of him to leave the way he did, even if he did it with the best intentions. I didn't blame him or anything, not at all. It was just different. We were different. Now he was every bit as wonderfully flawed as me and Jacob and everyone else. Or maybe not every bit as flawed – but he had his weak points too, and I was finally able to see them. Just as it should be. I liked it better this way. I didn't feel so small now.

I closed my eyes and remembered back to yesterday at lunch. I had been sitting outside with my usual crowd, when Edward had come to join me by my perch on the bench. He usually joined me during school, either in class or in the breaks. We could talk without being overheard; the Cullens were still regarded as strange, so no one really cared to listen in on our conversation.

"Where is Alice?" I asked him, as he sat down lightly beside me on the bench.

I watched his face as he chuckled quietly. "I guess she's somewhere trying to make out your future. You're making my sister crazy, you know that? You are almost completely blank to her now. She's never been this frustrated before. I swear, yesterday her face was starting to turn blue with concentration."

"I don't believe you, Edward," I laughed, happy that we could have this easy joking tone between us.

Edward chuckled again, shaking his head to himself. "Honestly. You should have seen her."

He turned to look at me, and slowly his smile became solemn. I gazed back at him, wondering what to say next. I guess the easy light tone couldn't keep forever.

"I'm sorry if I made Charlie mad at you yesterday," he said. "I know I should have left sooner. I never meant to give you any trouble."

I just smiled. "Don't worry. He degrounded me, actually. I'm sorry he yelled at you like that, don't listen to him. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He was just upset."

Edward smiled his crooked smile, one corner of his lips lifting up. "No, I guess I deserved that one. But I'm glad you're no longer grounded."

I smiled at him, but didn't say anything else. We sat in silence for a little while.

"Are you happy?" he suddenly asked me, after studying my face for a few moments. He turned his eyes on mine with full force, his beautiful caramel eyes gazing into mine. Once, that look had made my knees go weak. Not now. Not since that first shock of seeing him again. Of course, he was still beautiful. He always had been, always would be. But he didn't make my knees tremble.

"Yes," I said honestly. "I'm a little confused about this whole thing, but I think so."

"Were you happy before? Before I came here?" he wondered quietly. I studied his face for a long time, trying to decipher his expression, but he seemed only completely calm. Like if he truly was interested and curious and wanted nothing more than for me to be happy.

"Yes," I finally said. "I was. In the end, I was. But I am happy you came back, too."

He smiled at that, and turned his eyes out on the school yard. We sat there silently side by side for a few minutes, neither of us having the need to fill it with pointless chattering.

"You love him," he said suddenly, taking me completely off guard. I knew he must be talking about Jacob – who else, really? His voice was calm, completely relaxed and natural. As if he was only stating the obvious. He was right, I guess. But Jacob and I hadn't talked about that yet.

Edward turned to look at me when he realized I wasn't going to reply. I didn't know what to say. I could feel the uncertainty on my face.

"You do," he insisted, with a slight smile. "I know you, Bella." He smiled, his eyes warm and affectionate. How he could talk about this so calm was beyond me. I knew he was sad things were not like before between us. Sad being in lack of other words. He might know me, but I knew him as well. And even if things were different, I didn't want to hurt him more than I already had. He didn't deserve that. I did care for him, and he deserved nothing but the best.

"I love you too," I said, trying to be honest. "I care for you. Just … just not the same way as before. It's different now."

"I know," he sighed, and turned his gaze back to the school yard. His tone was not resentful, not even sad. Just relaxed and at ease. "You love him more," he said. And as he did, I knew he was right.

I opened my eyes, and got myself back into the presence. Today was not a day to worry about this. This would all sort itself out somehow. I guess in some way it had. Or I least I hoped it would.

"...And then, I swear I heard his joints crack, but Leah held him down by the neck. Quil's stronger, but Leah never gives up. She's insane like that. And then she just kicks his side and bam he rolls around like a spring roll. It was hilarious."

Jacob turned to grin at me, and I smiled back at him. Yes. It would all sort itself out. I loved just being here, listening to him talk. He really was sort of beautiful. He was wearing a tight black t-shirt, dressed for the occasion I'm sure. I followed the veins and muscles with my eyes, up his neck and disappearing into his pitch black hair. No, not sort of. He was beautiful. Really.

"Everything okay?" he asked, cocking his head to the side as he turned to look at me. "You're so quiet."

I smiled a genuine smile. "Yeah. I'm just happy to be here with you, that's all."

I truly was. There was no other place on earth I'd rather be than here with Jacob. He grinned back and squeezed my hand lightly before returning his eyes to the road.

He parked the truck by the side of the road under a little hill, close to the cliffs. I got out, and we followed the edge of the pointy rocks until we reached the cliffs. Not the ones on the top, but the ones further down, not far above the crashing waves. The view here was still fantastic though.

I looked up, and could clearly see the spot where I'd jumped those months ago. I don't think I'd ever realized how tall it actually was. It was so different to look up at it than to look down, strange as that might sound. It seemed much more intimidating from here. Maybe it wasn't so weird that Jacob had nearly freaked out when I'd jumped that first time after all. Good thing I wasn't afraid of heights.

I felt a slight nudge in my left hand, and turned to find Jacob watching me. I squeezed back, his hand warm in mine. I knew he'd noticed I was eyeing the cliffs.

"I like you, you know," I said, as I strolled over to sit down by a bigger rock a little while away from the cliff edge. This wasn't a place for cliff diving though; below the edge was only more rocks, no water. I leaned against the hard stone and closed my eyes against the light coming from the blurred sky. I felt Jacob laugh as he sat down beside me.

"Well, that's good to know," he chuckled, and I felt his arm slide around my waist. "I sort of like you too."

"What kind of answer is that?" I retorted, pretending to be offended. "Here I tell you I like you, and what do you say? You sort of like me. Jeez Jake, what a compliment."

I turned to grin at him, and his eyes twinkled at me from the shadows under his eyebrows. I leaned against him, letting both his arms pull me closer. His chest vibrated under my cheek with silent laughter, and I watched the waves crashing in the horizon. The air was fresh and salty, the wind from time to time whipping my hair over my face. It was a perfect moment.

"Were everyone out running tonight?" I wondered lazily without taking my eyes off the waves, thinking about his story about Quil and Leah.

"Nah," he said. "Not everyone. Embry and Seth were off, and Jared was over at Kim's I suppose, as normal. I swear, Sam's giving him special privileges."

He said it as a joke, but I thought I could detect some bitterness in his voice.

"Special privileges?" I repeated. "Why?"

It took Jacob one beat longer than usual to answer. "Uhm," he finally said. "It's nothing. Just some werewolf-stuff."

"Werewolf-stuff?" I repeated again, not understanding.

There was another brief pause. I turned around to peek at him. Jacob was already looking at me, his lips slightly pressed together as if he was debating with himself. A shadow crept over his face.

"I guess you should know," he said, more to himself than me. I only looked at him, wondering what this was all about. "Bells," he finally said, drawing a deep breath while tightening his arms around my waist. "Have you ever heard of imprinting?"

I sat silently, listening to his words as he explained. They confused me at first, and I didn't understand what this had to do with him. Or any of the guys in the pack for that matter. But then I understood.

Imprinting. Something froze within me at the word. One look, that's all it took. While Jacob talked, other words started to swim around in my head too. Words like 'soul mate' and 'destiny' and 'love' and 'unconditionally'. Jacob's voice turned bitter, and I didn't have to ask to understand that he didn't like it.

"I hate it," he said anyway. "We all do."

His arms around me were heavy now, holding me to him in a way that could no longer be described as casual. Still they could not take away the stone-like feeling in my gut, sinking lower and lower while I listened to his words.

I couldn't help but realize something, something that made it all so many times worse. Jacob had not imprinted on me. This sentence replaced the words already swimming around in my head. He hadn't imprinted on me, which wiped out all those all those other words; neither 'soul mate' or 'destiny' were no longer right for the two of us. I was glad he hadn't – I had no wish to have a bond over him like that, some weird wolfy magic forcing him to like me, giving him no other choice. But this also meant something even more terrifying; if not me, then it meant that someone else … One look. Done deal. Nothing I could do about it.

"It's a lot of bullshit," he finished darkly, absentmindedly threading his fingers through my hair. "It's not normal, in the beginning we only thought it was a myth. So far there's only Sam and Jared, but it's not very likely that it will happen again."

"So far?" I repeated, hanging on to those two, simple words. My voice sounded funny. Was it only me, or did it sound like he wanted to reassure himself as well as me?

Jacob smiled then. "Don't think about it," he said. "It's not cool, but that's their problem. It has nothing to do with us."

I settled back in his arms, turning my eyes back to the sea. My attention was another story though. The words were still swimming around in my head, not wanting to leave. We sat silently for maybe a whole minute, the uneasy feeling in my stomach growing bigger as the clouds of doubt came closer.

"Jacob?" I asked quietly, trying to suppress the doubt that was growing inside me. I tried to ignore it, but it just wouldn't do.

"Mmm?" he mumbled, his voice sleepy but otherwise unreadable.

"What if you imprint?"

I couldn't look at him, but glued my eyes to the crashing waves. I felt his head lift, and then he tilted my face up making me look at him anyway. He looked both serious and surprised and defiant at the same time. His eyes searched mine, his brows furrowed.

"I wont," he said, searching my eyes again.

I swallowed, and tried to delete the doubt in my gut. He lifted his hand to rest it on the back of my neck. It sent a shock of warmth down my spine. I knew he meant it, but somehow that still didn't ease the doubt.

"You can't know that," I told him truthfully. It wasn't his fault, I knew that. If that happened, he couldn't help it. I didn't blame him. I just had no idea how I would be able to survive it.

Jacob seemed to hear every thought passing through my head. His eyes darkened some as he took in my expression.

"I wont," he said again, pressing his lips together. I knew he meant it.

That's not something you can promise me, I thought, but didn't say anything. I just nodded. I knew there was no point in thinking about this now. We wouldn't get anywhere, because there was nothing any of us could do about it. Apart from locking Jacob up in my room to be sure he would only see me for the rest of our lives. Which was absolutely twisted and frighteningly tempting.

I smiled, trying my best to make it real. Jacob didn't smile back. Hm. Obviously I was doing a poor job. He lifted one hand to catch a stray of hair that was dancing over my forehead. He slowly tucked it behind my ear before he leaned forward and pressed his lips to mine.

A rush of heat spread throughout my whole body, successfully and smoothly erasing the doubt in my stomach. I was glad; I was tired of worrying. His mouth was so unbelievably warm, and I melted into him never wanting to let him go. The warmth from his body wrapped around me, enclosing me in our own private bliss. The wind couldn't whip against my cheek anymore. Not with my personal sun around. He still had one blistering hand resting behind my neck, and I could feel my cheeks starting to heat up.

He kissed me long, not letting go. I didn't want him to. I was glad he didn't. I sneaked my hands up to rest on his shoulders, pulling him closer while he tightened his hand around my neck. His breath was warm and damp against my cheek. When I pulled back, he was already looking at me. His eyes were twinkling above his tall cheekbones.

"Feeling better?" he wondered.

"Much better," I said, as I stretched back up to kiss him again. The doubt had been pressed aside for me to worry about later, replaced by pure contentment.

The world became warm. It became blissful and fantastic and amazing. His lips wrapped around mine, and my heart reeled. This was different. It had been so long since he had kissed me like this. Not urgent, not stressed out. Not out of fear. Not polite, not as if one of our dads was around. Not joyful and smiling either. He kissed me seriously, taking his time for once not in any rush. Oh it felt good.

Something warm and nervous had started tingling in my stomach. His hands moved to my waist, moved up and down my sides. My own hands were quickly running out of my own control, having their own way with the muscles of his arms and shoulders. I stroked my fingertips down to the hem of his t-shirt, and sneaked my fingertips under it. He shuddered as my fingers came in contact with his skin. I inched his shirt up, touching his stomach. The tingling in my stomach increased, and his hands around me tightened. He drew a deep, unsteady breath. I was just considering how visible we would actually be to other possible hikers and if I really cared at all, when his lips suddenly disappeared. Hey, what-? One second he had been kissing me, but now he was gone. I opened my eyes slowly, a little dazed.

Jacob wasn't looking at me. His head was turned abruptly to the side, eyed open and alarmed. I had barely had time to take him in properly, when his long fingers wrapped around my upper arm and abruptly dragged me to my feet. He yanked me back, away from the cliff edge and the whipping wind. I stumbled beside him, his movements too fast for me to be able to keep up. His hand on my arm didn't let go though, so I didn't fall.

"Jake...?" I choked out, my voice breathless with surprise and all the yanking. "What's-?"

"Shush," he cut me off, never taking his eyes away from the edge of the cliff. Not the edge facing the sea, but the one to the right. I didn't know what was over that edge, other than more rocks. Jacob dragged me with him until one of the big rocks was pointing in my back and we couldn't get further. Then his grip around my arm tightened, and he very distinctively put himself in front of me. His other hand had turned into a fist. I stood behind him, trying to be as silent as my heaving breaths could be to his overly sensitive ears.

"Vampire," he said, through gritted teeth. My insides froze for a second, and I searched my mind to find any reason, any reason at all why Edward would come here now. He knew he couldn't come here, he knew there would only be consequences if he did. He wouldn't be breaking the treaty unless he had a very good reason to do it, and I had no idea what that might be. Whatever it was, I didn't understand why Jacob was being this defensive. He knew Edward would never hurt me, or at least he should know that by now. I opened my mouth to argue, for a second annoyed with Jacob for overreacting this badly and possibly giving me a heart attack, when out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of red.

The next things happened very fast. My insides froze again, and this time it didn't pass. One second, Jacob was covering my every view, and I couldn't see anything other than his t-shirt clad back. The next moment he was gone, leaving a gush of cold wind in his wake. A few meters in front of me, crouching and letting out snarls that were nothing less than terrifying, was a reddish brown enormous wolf. With him not pressed up against me, I could see everything.

There, on the edge of the cliff, with hair blowing wildly in the wind like it had in all my nightmares, was Victoria. She was soaked, and she was crouching. She had her blood-red eyes fixed on the wolf in front of her, not sparing a glance at me. I knew her ears were fixated on me though, listening to each and every thundering beat from my heart that I knew she so badly longed to crush. My breath hitched as I took in her terrifying exterior.

Jacob's tail brushed against my stomach, as if making sure I stayed where I was.

She looked wild. Her dripping clothes told me she had very obviously just appeared from the water. Which also explained why Jacob hadn't smelled her earlier. I remembered the last time I'd seen her as if it happened yesterday. It didn't feel like a long enough time ago.

A deep rumble was running through Jacob's body. I could feel it as the ground vibrated beneath my feet. Victoria snarled. Jacob snarled back.

"I'd like to go slow," Victoria said, just loud enough for me to hear, her thin lips transforming from a smile into a grimace. "But I've run out of time."

Then she lunged.

I felt Jacob's tail whip against my shoulder and I stumbled backwards with eyes closed reflexively and arms in front of my face. I fell, and landed hard on the cold ground against the big rock. I heard a terrifying crash, and the snapping sound of teeth and a heavy, rumbling exhale that turned into another growl.

When I opened my eyes, because it was too unbearable to keep them shut, Jacob was still blocking the path between Victoria and me. I noticed the fur on his right side was wet. Victoria was perched in front of him, looking angrier and deadlier than ever.

There must be something I could do. I would have to do something. Jacob couldn't beat Victoria. He was strong, but she was deadly. He had no idea how deadly she could be. I would have to do something. I just had no idea of what. Calling the chief of police just wasn't really an option in this situation. The only thing I could think about to do was to throw myself over the cliff and hope that Victoria would follow. The only problem was that she was sort of blocking my way to get there. And Jacob would probably get killed trying to prevent me.

Through squinted eyes I watched as he blocked her again, not letting her get near me. He started to corner her up, pushing her dangerously close to the cliff edge. Maybe he was winning, I had no idea. Her movements were too fast for me to see, as were his. It was like if they didn't move at all, except that they did. Or maybe it was me almost passing out. This just wasn't happening. I felt my eyes close, too horrified to be able to keep them open. It didn't block out the terrible snarling though.

The shuffling grew more violent. Paws thumping, jumping, slipping. Snarl. Ice cold laughter. Growl. More shuffling. Heavy, rumbling breaths. A earth shattering crack. A hiss. Rumble. Thumping. Paws planting themselves firmly on the ground. Hiss. Snarl. Paws leaping.

Then I heard the terrifying sound of ripping, of breaking, then the even more terrifying sound of stumbling paws that lost contact with the ground. I opened my eyes wide, and yelled out just as the wolf stumbled over the edge along with a shadow of red flamboyant hair. The next second I was left alone on the clearing between the rock and the edge, companied only by a unmoving, marble, headless body. It took me half a second before I realized I was staring at the remains of Victoria. Jacob had actually, literally, torn her head from her body. Jacob, and mentioned head, was no longer to be seen.

The sound of soft flesh hitting rock hard stone was the most terrifying sound of them all.

I was up on my feet faster than my brain was able to acknowledge, scrambling my way over to the edge while giving the unmoving form of marble white a wide berth. When I peeked over the edge, my heaving breaths stopped.

It was longer down than I had expected. Not extremely, only a few meters or so, but still. Jacob was laying on his back, now changed back into his human form. He had obviously fallen, hard. Maybe phased back mid air, or maybe after he landed. Probably mid air. A few meters right from his head was only a bundle of red hair.

Jacob's face was twisted into silent pain, and he didn't breathe either. The fall seemed to have knocked the air out of him completely. His arms were closed over his chest, his hands tightly bound into fists. His knuckles were white. My vision blurred, and I couldn't think, but I remember very specific how I noticed his knuckles were white.

I didn't really know how I got myself down to him, but somehow I did. I remember scraping my knee up while sliding down a rock, so I must have climbed my way down the side. When I reached him, he still wasn't breathing.

"Breathe," I ordered him helplessly, my voice shaking as I stumbled forward and knelt down beside him. When he did, low and strangled, he made a sound so filled with pain I only wanted to cover my ears and block it out by singing to myself. I never wanted to hear that sound again.

He still hadn't opened his eyes, his face was still twisted into the same expression of indescribable pain. He moved his lips as if wanting to say something, but there was no sound other than the rasping from his throat as he took another breath. My eyes filled with tears.

"I'm here," I said lamely. I was afraid that if I touched him I would only cause him more pain, so I only stroked my pinky over his cheek helplessly. "You're going to be okay, the others will be here any time."

With one hand I fumbled around in my jacket pockets for my phone. I could call Billy, and then he could-

"Bella," Jacob said, his voice making my ears shrink. That's all he said. And then, as if someone had heard my previous thoughts, we weren't alone anymore.

"This is bad," Jared said, as he knelt down by my side, to take a closer look at Jacob. He wasn't talking to me; he was talking to Sam which just knelt down opposite us, on Jacob's right side.

"His bones must be broken. They might already have started to heal," Sam muttered to himself, his brows furrowing up as he lightly, lightly touched Jacob's chest. Jacob made a pained, angry sound which gave the message pretty clearly. I looked up, only to find myself surrounded by Quil and Embry. They looked a little pale. A few meters behind, looking forlorn and angry, was Leah. Paul was there too, poking what was left of Victoria's head with his toe.

"Damn," he muttered. "It knew we had no chance in catching it when it came from the sea."

Of course. Too late I realized that they knew. Of course they knew everything that happened. The second Jacob phased, they'd known what was going on. They had been on their way over here as fast as he phased. I looked back down at Jacob, who was still clutching his chest. If only they'd been here seconds earlier.

"Coward," Quil muttered beside me. I turned to find him scowling at what was left of Victoria's head. "She knew we couldn't get her in the water. So of course she would use that against us. Suddenly she was just there. And she knew there would only be a matter of time, so she knew she had to be quick."

"Whatever, it's over now," Paul spat. "It wont be coming back this time. I just wish I'd been here to take it down."

He poked her face with his toe again, repulsed. I was glad what was left of Victoria's face wasn't facing this direction.

I realized, again too late, that Victoria was dead. She would no longer come to get me. I would never see her again. Jacob had killed her. But at what price? Jacob winced beside me, and my attention returned back to his face.

"How bad is it?" Embry wondered, kneeling down beside Sam.

"It seems like several of his ribs are broken," Sam frowned. I gasped, but no one noticed me. "The healing process is already beginning. This isn't good."

What did he mean by that? I looked around, puzzled. The faces of the werewolves around me were all solemn and serious. Embry looked a little sick. But the healing process was good, right? It meant he would be all right? I felt like I was missing out on something.

"Why is that a bad thing?" I whispered. My voice was shaking like a tree in storm.

Quil put a heavy hand on my shoulder. "We'll explain later. We should get him out of here, now."

The guys gathered around Jacob, and I was gently pushed away from him. He had closed his eyes again, and it seemed like he was struggling to stay in the presence. In one, fluid movement, as if their minds were still connected, Sam, Jared, Quil and Embry lifted Jacob up on their shoulders.

The sound that escaped his throat made me want to bury myself a hole in the ground. I swayed on my feet, unable to move my eyes from his twisted face.

"Someone have to follow Bella back," Sam ordered to no one in particular. "This place is still swarming with leeches, so it's just pointless to let her off on her own."

"I'll be fine," I squeezed out, both my voice and hands trembling uncontrollably as I looked at Jacob. I knew there was no point in telling them I was safe now, that the other vampires he was referring to never would dream of hurting me. At least not physically. "I'll just take my truck, it's parked over there."

Quil actually smiled at me then, shifting his hold on Jacob as they started carrying him away. Jacob winced.

"Bella," Quil said. "Your hands are shaking so bad if you tried to drive anywhere you'd just run straight off the road."

Jacob somehow managed to grunt in agreement. Or maybe it was just another sound of pain. I tried to shrug, but I think it came off more as a shudder.

They started moving then, the four guys maneuvering Jacob away with swift, smooth movements. With this pace, they would have him home sooner than I would be able to drive.

"I'll take care of this shit," I heard Paul mutter to himself, and watched with sick eyes as he dug out a lighter from the pocket of his sweats. Then he moved with determined steps to get the remains of Victoria's body. Okay. Time for me to leave. With trembling feet, I turned and started to walk blindly in the direction I thought the truck might be. I had no wish to witness what Paul was about to do.

I stopped short when my eyes on the ground encountered with a pair of naked feet. Someone was standing in front of me, my blurry brain told me. The feet were dark and dirty, but also pretty. Not like the other pack feet. Less hairy. Why was I staring at these feet, I wondered. I moved my gaze up, and realized I was standing face to face with Leah.

Okay, face to face was perhaps exaggerating a little. I had to tilt my head back to be able to take in her face. She was staring at me, looking a bit puzzled. I guess I was behaving rather weird. I looked up at her, feeling a bit humbled by her size. She was nearly as tall as Jacob, only Jacob was always bright and happy and shining and mine. I think Leah was all the opposite to those words, which made me feel even smaller. She stood in front of me, measuring me out for a second before she made her decision.

"Come on," she finally barked. "I'll drive you."

I stood still, startled as she turned around to walk away with quick determined steps. Did she just offer to drive me? I fell in behind her, terrified by the prospect of being inside a car with her. I could see the muscles in her thighs bulge under her cutoffs as she strode out in front of me, obviously not going to wait. I had to run to keep up with her long legs.

By the time we reached my truck, I was panting and sweating. Leah didn't even stop to wait, but strode straight over to the drivers seat without a moments hesitation. I handed her the keys, and she yanked the door open and got inside. I got in beside her before she would start driving without me. I think she might have; she didn't seem like the patient type. As I got inside, I could feel a sweet, thick scent, almost like smoke, filling my nose. I shut the door quickly.

I tried to calm my breath as Leah slammed the gear and zoomed the car out on the road, as fast as the truck allowed. We sat in silence as she sped up, and I caught myself gripping the seat. She was a fast driver – poor truck – but that wasn't new to me. I was glad she was driving fast – the sooner we would get to Jacob. Maybe he was already home. Was Sue there? Billy? Would that be enough?

"Are you afraid of me?" Leah interrupted my thoughts. When I turned to look at her, she was eyeing my hands with a speculative and slightly curious expression. I realized I was gripping the seat so hard my knuckles were white. Just as Jacob's had been.

"No," I huffed automatically. "Not you."

She nodded to herself. "Jacob?"

I didn't reply. Almost a whole minute past, as Leah continued to zoom down the curvy road. Not far now.

"Do you think he will he be all right?" I finally asked. I didn't care if my voice was trembling or not. Everyone could see I was a mess anyway.

Leah turned to look at me again, her previous curious amusement all gone. "I don't know. He was hurt very badly. If his bones are broken there's a chance they might grow wrong. If they do..." she stopped short, and turned to frown at the road ahead. I got a icing feeling deep down in my gut. This was what I had been wondering about earlier. Leah drew a breath before she continued. "If they do, we might have to re-break them."

I gasped, but Leah didn't stop. "Problem is, none of us is a doctor, we can't be sure if we make it quite right. And it will be excruciatingly painful. And if we do it wrong..."

"But we need a doctor then!" I nearly yelled, desperate. And then it hit me. A doctor. Of course!

"Don't be stupid, we can't bring him to the doctor," Leah argued, annoyed. She was obviously thinking I was more stupid than she gave me credit for, which was saying some. I had my doubts about that credit in the first place. "He's a fucking werewolf!"

"No, no, no," I chanted, nearly laughing out loud. This was so easy! Why didn't I see this before? Leah turned to stare at me with incredulous eyes, seeming positive I'd finally gone mad. I grinned at her. "We'll just get Carlisle!"

The next thing I knew, my chin was being slammed into my chest as my whole head was slung forward, and the safety belt driving into my chest. Leah was practically standing on the break, and the truck strolled a few meters before it shredded to a halt, choking the engine profoundly. She was glaring at me, and she was furious.

"You want us to go and get your precious leeches?"

I noticed the car was shaking slightly. Uh oh.

"No, no, just Carlisle!" I insisted. "He's a doctor! He'll help Jacob, he'll know what to do!"

Leah was panting now, trying to kill we with just a look. "There is no. Fucking way. We are going to get. Your bloodsucking scum," she said, her voice trembling with anger.

"But he can help!" I yelled, finally getting angry too. "He is the only one who can help! If we can't get a normal doctor, we have to get the only option there is!"

"I knew you were going to run back to them," Leah fumed, snarling and rippling beside me with frustration. "I just knew it!"

"Is that what you think?" I cried, my voice turning up an octave. "Pardon me, but that's just plain stupid! Jacob needs help, and he needs it now! He is in pain! Who else, Leah, who else?" I cried, stomping my foot in frustration.

I was the one who was fuming now. Did she really think this had anything, anything, to do with the vampires-and-werewolves-are-natural-enemies nonsense? Or even more crazy, me choosing Edward over Jacob? She must be insane. I glared at her, seeing red. Leah had calmed down a bit now, and the shaking had stopped. She sat quietly beside me. Just staring at me. Maybe I surprised her with my yelling. I had no idea what her problem was. I was just about to unbuckle my seatbelt to get out of the car and walk to the Cullens, when she replied.

"Okay."

I froze, not sure if I'd heard her right. Her expression had changed, she was no longer repulsed. Instead she had on a speculative look, and I didn't like it one bit. I got the idea she was testing me, but I didn't know how.

What the heck, as long as she agreed.

"Well, go then!" I said, waving my hands in front of her to make her start driving.

With a last, distrustful look at me, she slowly moved her hand to the gearshift, and started to speed up. Instead of turning left to Jacob's house, she turned right towards the main road. When she did, I heard her mutter something like "he so owes me for this."

I ignored her sour face and unknown agenda, and hurried to retrieve my phone from my jacket pocket. I found Edward's number, but then hesitated for quarter of a second and searched for Alice's instead. I had no doubt that Edward would do anything to help me, even for Jacob if I asked him, but I wasn't sure how helpful Leah would be if I did that.

It took Alice unusually long to answer – it had to ring almost twice before she picked up.

"Bella!" she beamed, obviously very happy and surprised that I was calling her. "I haven't' seen you in ages! Are you okay? You have no idea how weird it is when you call and I don't even know you're about to call. Are you with the werewolf now? I haven't seen you all day! Wait, are you driving? You know, it isn't good for you to drive and speak in the phone at the same time. I should get you one of those hands frees, but I don't think you'd use it even if-"

"Alice!" I cut through her joyful banter, clearly run out of time. "Is Carlisle there? I need to speak to him, quickly."

Her voice became suddenly alert as she caught the urgency in mine. "Bella, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

"I need Carlisle!" I repeated, getting impatient. "Is he there?"

"Of course, he's right here..."

I waited for some sort of shuffling when she would hand away the phone, but instead I was startled when I heard Carlisles voice only a second later. Of course. Vampires had no reason to shuffle.

"Bella, this is Carlisle," he said, his tone gentle as always. "I understand you wanted to talk with me?"

His calm, in control voice made me let out a quiet sigh of relief. Carlisle would fix this. He would know what to do. When I spoke into the receiver next, it was the calmest I'd felt since Victoria appeared.

"I need your help."