Godspeed

Pack

"Anything with a heat signature will not make it out. My men will see to that." That was it, I couldn't hold back. I let my emotions free, taking me to my wolf form.

From the very moment I heard Viktor speak, I was struggling to control myself. I couldn't believe how calm Edward was talking to him. I knew the way he loved Bella. It was the same way I did, maybe more. Once this guy knew Bella was the real prize. The error he made had to get to him. Edward could read Viktor's mind. I could only imagine what he was thinking. Edward had a front row seat. I'm surprised he didn't rip his head off right there. Seth had told me exactly what he saw Edward do to Victoria, proving what he was capable of.

When I saw the vamp on the monitor screen, I had to shut my eyes. I didn't want to see. It was too late. Even behind my lids I saw the limp wolf body in his grasp and the sickly grin on his face. I promised Edward though. I had already said, Leah was on her own. At least I knew she wasn't dead, just sedated by a dart.

Viktor was convinced that he had what the Volturi wanted. Edward used this just long enough to find out how he was sedating Leah and Embry. I hope what Viktor said made sense to Carlisle. When Edward's tone changed and he declined to wait for the Volturi to arrive, I anticipated my time to take Bella away was coming. I shifted my angle just enough so I could see her out of the corner of my eye.

Edward responded to Viktor's thought. "You saw that did you? Yes, there is something very special about my wife." There, he was going to tell him. He would know that Embry was not what he wanted, but he wasn't going to have Bella either.

Viktor looked at Edward and started laughing. I missed the joke. I bet he thought Edward was joking about being married to a human girl or maybe the fact that she was special. I felt insulted for Bella.

Then Edward corrected Viktor's assumption. "No, I'm very serious and Aro would be, too."

When he told Edward that he must stay, I wanted to laugh. Did Viktor seriously think he was going to intimidate us? Then I realized he was planning a lock down of the whole silo. Escape from here would be difficult, with eight feet thick concrete and 3 ton blast doors. Luckily Rose and Jasper had rectified that issue already. Edward sent Emmett and the new vamp to go find Sergei and Leah. I knew Emmett had a short fuse. Maybe a vamp would get decapitated yet.

Finally, Edward made a move of action. No more talking about it. Let's get on with it. As I watched the Russian vamp exit, he looked at Bella. I wished I could read his mind. I would make him regret even thinking about her. My rage was escalating again. My control was really being tested. I let Bella walk in front of me but only after Alice and Carlisle went after Viktor. There needed to be a barrier all around her. I had her back. I kept a hand on her ready to grab her up and run from any sign of danger.

When the door opened and I saw him lying there so peacefully, I was relieved. I was afraid I was going to see him hooked up to a bunch of tubes and machines with multiple injuries from abuse. There was none of that, just one IV. I suppose Viktor is conscientious about not delivering damaged goods. The doctor went right to him. I hadn't thought about internal damage until he said something about brain damage. Hopefully the fact that he was a werewolf would work to his advantage. The minute Carlisle removed Embry from the room, some of my stress was gone. I knew it would only take a minute for him to have him up the stairs and out of this stinking hole. Before he left, Viktor had to get one more threat in. At this point, his words were useless. The plans that Sam, Edward and Jasper made were working flawlessly. I quit letting him get on my nerves and concentrated on what I knew would be coming. I knew it would wound Edward deeply to let it happen but it was what he wanted. He believed it to be the right thing, the safest thing for her and I believed him.

Edward took him back out into the corridor. It was coming. Edward's confidence was waning. I was ready. "Take her away, Jacob." His pain was obvious to me. "Bella, please listen to him and do what he says." I hoped she would for now, just until I got her away from this place.

I saw Edward grab at Viktor's arm. I thought maybe he had a gun and was going to start shooting. It was a tiny remote. It might as well have been a gun. He had triggered some kind of alarm. I could hear it in the distance. Was it arming his traps or was it just notifying the mercenaries he hired that there was an invasion. Why didn't he do this sooner? He was waiting for Edward to be distracted. Bella was his only distraction and sending her away had to be a nightmare to him. That was all Viktor needed to seize the moment and seal his doom, I didn't want Bella to see what was coming next. The fastest and safest way out for her was on the back of a wolf. I released my hold and let the wolf flow freely.

The look in his eyes made me wish I had done it sooner. He was terrified. I wasn't sure why. He was a tracker. He had to have been tracking either me or Embry and seen us as wolves. But maybe up close and personal was not his style. Whatever, I was done with him. Edward would get me justice. Alice tossed her up onto my back. I had never thought of how wonderful having her there would feel. I ran, ran to get Bella out and ran to see if Embry was okay. I ran as fast as I could within my limits of being cautiousness. I wasn't totally sure what the alarm had unleashed.

"Embry's out." Quill read my thoughts and was relieved. I saw that Sam, Quill, Emmett and the other vampire had corned Sergei in a circular room that seemed to have endless concrete walls. Sergei had a steel grip around Leah's limp body. Sam was intent on his every move. "Drop the dog, Sergei." Emmett ordered him.

"Don't do it. Don't let them have her alive." Viktor said this as Edward and Alice brought him into the room. All of a sudden, Sergei dropped her and his hands flew to his eyes. He was screaming. "I'm blind, what's happening." In less than a second, Sam and Quill were on him, mutilating him. Their snarls and growls echoed through the passages. They were so intent on avenging Leah that they missed Viktor retrieving her. With a fervent pull on her head, he snapped her neck. Viktor smiled deviously with mortal satisfaction for his last deed. Edward's wrath detonated. Pieces of Viktor went everywhere.

In the horror of it all, I stopped, we would walk away with Embry but Leah's eyes would open no more. She would never get to atone for the way she treated him. She wanted to be there for him. She was falling in love with him. Now she would have to run through the clouds with past wolf spirits and wait for him to join her someday. A small sound of sadness broke free from my muzzle. My horror and grief made me run again. I ran to escape the pain the entire pack was feeling, and the intense agony of her brother. When Sam saw her limp body on the floor, he was debilitated. He tried to deny it, to no avail.

I ran faster, harder. We needed to get out of this tomb. I heard Seth's mournful howl from outside. We were close. I saw the stairs. I stretched up to clear the entire first flight of stairs. She screamed and her hands dug deep into my back, tightening her grip on me. Something was scaring her or hurting her. I couldn't tell. I couldn't see. I wouldn't know till we were outside. She moaned and her body was sliding around more than it had before. I took each flight of stairs one bound at a time and then we were out. I could see the sun about ready to set. A blinding figure flashed up beside me, grabbing her off my back as I slowed. Light was reflecting harshly into my eyes. As he turned away, I saw the back of Jasper speed away from me, holding Bella in his arms.

I failed. My eyes dropped to the ground and there it was the tranquilizer dart. I grabbed it in my mouth and flew to the ambulance. Carlisle was a flash of activity. He had her strapped to a gurney. Her limbs were tense. He checked her pupils and her respirations. I whined and spit the dart on the floor. "I don't have any more. I don't have any for her. I used the only vial down there on Embry. I didn't count on needing more. Jacob, tell Edward to get here now! Esme, Kate, go look again, see if you find any."

Just saying the words to me was all it took. He knew Edward would hear my thoughts. Edward and Alice were beside me instantly at the doors, desperate to know what to do. Carlisle threw a blanket at me. "Jacob, I need you human now. We need to transfuse her. I don't know if it will work."

I phased right there, not even caring who was around. I jumped up to sit on the bench beside the gurney with the blanket draped across my lap. I held my forearm out across her chest. He body was changing from ridged and tense to limp and lifeless. The needle was already in the vein of her neck. Carlisle instructed me to flex my hand. "It will increase the blood flow. Edward, there was only one vial of diprenorphine. I already used it all on Embry." I looked to Edward; his face was nothing but shock. Then Esme was there beside him. "There is no more." She said gravely.

"Jasper, Rose, move Embry outside. He is stable. We need the room in here." Carlisle ordered. I watched them slide the gurney out the back. He looked fine, just as peaceful as before. I kept flexing my hands. I heard her breaths slow, becoming quieter. Her heart beat was weakening.

Edward was on his knees on the other side. He was in the way, but Carlisle didn't say anything. He just continued to do what he felt he could, working around him. Edward was holding her hand to his lips. "Bella, fight, you have to fight for me, for us. I have a promise to keep. It was what you wanted. Please, just fight it."

There was more movement outside the doors. Sam was there, his face streaked with tears. Leah's limp body was in his arms. Seth was holding her head, his forehead touching her muzzle as he wept. Sam didn't move. He just stood there watching and crying.

"She's going to go into cardiac arrest. Jacob's blood is not enough. The dosage was too much. Edward, I'm so sorry." Carlisle said mournfully. Edward's face turned to the heavens and he yelled "NO".

"Edward, do something. You can't just let her die. Carlisle," I pleaded fiercely.

"I promised her. We promised your forefathers. I can't. It was all for nothing." He fell back on the floor, leaning against the bench. His elbows propped on his knees, his hands holding the sides of his head, like it might explode.

"Damn it, you can't let this happen. You can keep her here. You know you can. You know she wants this. So damn it, do it, do it now before it's too late." I yelled and looked to Sam. "Sam, tell him!"

Edward wasn't moving. I wasn't even sure he was listening to me. Then Sam spoke very seriously "Edward, she will be gone forever if you don't." Edward and I both were fixed on Sam. "Go ahead." He said and then moved his eyes to the wolf in his arms.

That was all Edward needed to hear. In a flash he was at her neck. Then he ripped her shirt open, his mouth on her chest, at her heart. He pulled away just as quickly. There was a small amount of blood on his lips but none in his mouth, or his tongue. He was brushing her hair back, watching her face. Then he was at her wrists repeating the previous actions. What was supposed to happen? She had told me it took three days and it was excruciatingly painful. I waited for the screaming to start.

I could still hear her heart, just barely, but it was constant, not erratic. I saw the slowed shallow rise and fall of her chest. As long as this was happening, she was still here. I kept flexing my hand.

"I don't know Carlisle. The drug has saturated her system. I don't know if the venom can work overcome the contamination even with Jacob's blood.

Carlisle checked her eyes and her respirations. "The bites in those places should have stopped her heart by now. I have never seen this. It is out of our hands now. It is totally up to her now." Carlisle stood up, looking puzzled.

"We need to get her back where I can monitor her better, where her screams won't be heard. Rose, help me with Embry." Edward said jumping out of the back of the ambulance.

"I don't think we need this anymore." Carlisle said removing the needle from my arm and from her neck. I leaned over her and looked at the bite, the red half circle, Edward made. It was right across her jugular at the base of her neck. My eyes moved down her still form. I looked at the perfect crescent on her chest moist with a trickle of red.

I quickly sat back up when Edward backed in holding his end of Embry's stretcher. They secured him to the other bench. He wasn't awake, but I saw him sigh. I hoped Carlisle was right about him being stable and I hope that meant Embry's mind was still intact.

The doors were shut. Edward was on his knees on the floor by her head, stroking her hair and holding her hand. Carlisle started the ignition and we were moving. Esme turned around in her seat and looked at Edward. It was a look a mother would give at her son. There were times when I was younger, that I wished I could remember my mother looking at me that way. She spoke to me. "Jacob, thank you." Her eyes were so richly golden and sincere.

"You're welcome." I said in return.

I watched him watching her. He never blinked. He never stopped stroking her hair. He never looked away from her face. He never let go of her hand. It had to have been at least an hour. "Esme?" I asked.

"Yes." she answered.

"What is he doing? Is he in shock or something?" I didn't know if what Edward was doing, was some ritual they did when they changed people or if he was losing it.

"This is very upsetting for him, yes, but he is listening and watching. Her heart still beats and she breathes. He knows this should stop, so he is waiting." She replied.

"Shouldn't she be in pain? Isn't she supposed to be screaming, begging or something like that, or does that come later?"

"Yes, she should be. It should be instantaneous, when the venom is introduced into the system. That is how it was with all of us. I don't know why it is different this time." She explained.

Edward never did stop and neither did Bella. I watched him right up to the point when Embry woke up. He looked over at me and said "Hey". I was happy he recognized me. Then he was asleep again. Carlisle said this was a good sign.

When we got to the Cullen's house, the doors were swiftly flung open. Alice stood their smiling. "She's still with us. I knew she wouldn't leave him."

"Do you see her future, Alice?" I asked.

"Not with you sitting beside her or in close proximity to her." She answered. She was not mean when she said this, only honest. "Has he said anything, anything at all?"

"No, he just watches her." I replied.

Jasper moved passed Edward to stand at the head of the gurney. With Alice at the foot they lifted and began moving her out of the back. Edward stood and moved along beside her, still watching. I watched them carry her into the house and could see them carefully taking her up the stairs. I wanted to go with her, too, but I wasn't her husband.

I felt a cold hand touch my arm. I looked down at Esme. "Carlisle will take Embry home now. He's has recovered enough that his mother can care for him. You should go with him. He can take you home, too. There will be things you will need to explain and take care of. You are welcome here any time. Emmett has already returned Sam, Quill, Seth and Leah." When she said that name, her name, I felt guilt. Guilt that I hadn't given her one single thought the whole ride home. She was part of my tribe, part of my pack and I owed her more. I went with Carlisle.

When he dropped me off at my house, he told me, "Jacob, what you did today for Edward and Bella will never be forgotten. We all will be in debt to you for as long as you chose to live. You will always be welcome in our home. Please come by soon, when you can."

"Yes, thank you." I said and turned to go inside. I knew Billy would not be home. He would be with Sue. I found some clothes and headed to Sam's.

Emily answered the door. She had a Kleenex to her tear streaked face. Heaving sobs came one after another. I stepped through the door and held her. That night, I stayed at Sam's. I sat on the couch with Emily, holding her while she cried herself to sleep. Sam was in the chair beside us. Everything had taken its toll on him. He had nothing more to give right now. It was all he could do, to be in the room with us. Once he finally fell asleep, I felt comfortable enough to do the same.

The service was two days later. The story was, she was cliff diving and broke her neck. Sam was very reserved but able to help Sue with the arrangements. Emily spent most of her days at the Clearwaters helping Sue and Seth. The Church was full. Carlisle, Esme and Alice came. I understood why Edward was not there. As far as anyone else was concerned, he was still on his honeymoon. Embry was there. Quill told him all the details, even about why she did what she did. How she felt about him. Embry was dealing with that in his own way. Emily and Seth spoke at the service, each one ending their speeches in tears.

My dad spoke last. He spoke about living and loving; love from a mother, love from a brother, love from a father and love from friends. He spoke of the unity of the tribe and the support to get through the loss. He encouraged us to live and to speak our minds. He ended with "She had passion in her words and love in her heart. She was a good soul. May we never forget all that she was. Godspeed Leah, run fast and true."

I went to the Cullen's house that night, after Billy was asleep. Alice answered the door. "How are they doing?" I asked.

"Edward is talking but he does not leave her side. She is the same as the day we brought her home. Carlisle is watching her closely. He is not sure if he should be treating her as a human or a vampire." She said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You will see." Alice said heading up the stairs.

When I walked into the room, I saw her lying in the bed, Edward at her side, holding her hand. She looked the same to me, maybe a little paler. I wasn't sure. Edward held her hand out for me to take. I held my hand out and he placed hers in mine. It was cold, not icy, but like she had been in front of the AC for a while. Her skin felt like porcelain, like a china doll. "She is not always cold, but her skin has changed to this for good, I think." He said.

I looked at her chest going up and down. "She's still breathing."

"That can happen, more of a habit than a necessity. Her heart still beats though. It is very faint but it is there."

"Was there pain? Did she scream?" I asked.

"No. For that I am glad."

"Have you tried talking to her? They say people in coma's can still hear you if you talk to them."

"Yes, I talk to her, but Carlisle says this is no coma and I agree. It is more like her body is trying to decide which it wants to be, vampire or human."

"Maybe she's keeping the parts she wants from each." I added.

"Maybe, I wish she would wake up and tell me." He said sadly.

"It's not quite been three whole days, maybe tomorrow. Can Alice see anything?"

"No, but I need to tell you about what she has seen. The Volturi are here. They did not have enough details to know where to look for Viktor when he didn't show. That benefits us. Emmett and Jasper went back and made sure all evidence was gone from the silo. It should look as if we were never there.

"Are they coming here? Are you going away with her?"

"Yes, they will be here tomorrow. You cannot be here. I'm not taking her away, though. I don't want to take her away from Carlisle and what his knowledge can offer. The Volturi also need to see that she is changing, at least partially. I am hoping they will not demand a visit to the Fathers. Bella would not be happy with that."

I heard her take a deep breath. She stirred and then there was movement under her eyelids. Both Edward and I stared intently at her face. Her eyes were closed but fluttering. Suddenly they were open. I expected to see her big brown pools or maybe they would be yellow like Edward's, but her irises were white and iridescent. I stood back, not sure of what I was seeing. Edward just continued staring intently into her face. Maybe this was not the first time she had opened her eyes.

"Bella, love, can you see me? Can you hear me?" Edward asked her.

Her eyes closed. She said nothing for about a minute. Then her eyes opened again. They were the brown pools I remembered. She seemed very groggy. Then she said "Yes." and fell back asleep. She never woke again. I waited right up until I had to leave to make myself scarce. Edward said he would have someone call me and tell what happens when the Volturi visit.