The Bear

Chapter 23 The Last Walalo

I've been the Quileute Walalo for a year now. I can see why Leah had such a sense of humor. Honestly, it is the only way I've been able to get through it. Well, that and having Edward staunchly at my side. It seems as though he has always been there, my best friend, my confidante, my lover, my rock.

I was surprised—shocked, really—when he brought me a bouquet of flowers one day and said, "Happy Anniversary, Bella."

"Anniversary?"

"Yes, we met each other one month ago today." I had been Walalo for a few weeks and it had already seemed like years. A lot sure happened since then.

Billy Black decided that he couldn't live on the reservation with me and Edward there, especially as I was Walalo. He had Jake pack his things and he moved to Port Angeles. I don't think he is any happier there than he would have been he had stayed, but he's a stubborn man. I hope that he softens his attitude eventually. I'm sure he misses his home. Maybe as time passes and he sees that we're not a threat, he'll relent.

The wolf-pack has grudgingly accepted me. Really, the only reason they voted for me in the first place was because they'd lose their ability to transform if they didn't, and I understood that. But in the months since, I've proven myself to them, I think.

The Cullens decided that it would be best if they left Forks. With the Volturi turning vegetarian, and the discovery that you can make flavored SdL, the family decided they needed to be headquartered closer to production centers. Besides, not only did the wolf-pack give Alice a headache, now I did, too. I was sorry about that because I knew how close Alice and Edward were, but as he said, there was always the telephone or the computer.

To our great astonishment, what remained of most of the Volturi decided to go into the bed and breakfast industry. They completely remodeled Castle Voltura turning it into a five-star resort, complete with a soon to be renown restaurant. Evidently, they had turned the huge room where they used to gorge on the unwitting humans that Heidi had lured inside into a fancy place where humans gorged on pâté and pasta. Now, if that isn't an example of irony, I don't know what is.

Felix and Demetri took Sulpicia back to Italy. She wasn't interested in going to Disney World with them, to their utter relief. While the rest of the guard didn't quite welcome her with open arms, she did eventually fulfill a position as the resident ghost of Castle Voltura, a role she grew to enjoy. It seemed that her old-fashioned clothing tastes and habit of roaming the halls, sighing and groaning her grief for Aro was inadvertently seen by a few guests now and then, scaring the pasta right out of them. When word got out about Sulpicia the ghost, their bookings doubled. Humans were such strange creatures.

Felix and Demetri finally where able to audition at Disney World to become cast members at the happiest place on earth. So, if you should happen to decide to spend a better part of your savings and come to Orlando for a family vacation, make sure you take a hard look at Mickey Mouse. It could very well be Demetri. And check out The Beast, while you're at it. That's Felix. Those two old vamps couldn't be happier. And Disney and company couldn't have asked for better employees. They were always available, never complained about the heat while wearing their costumes, and the guests loved them.

Meanwhile, back at Walalo's island, Edward was turning into a mad scientist using Leah's SdL recipe to concoct all sorts of different vegepire foods. (I made that word up, by the way. Edward didn't like it, but I thought it was cute.) He had successfully created some solid forms of SdL that could potentially be manipulated to resemble honest-to-goodness human foods, but now they were more like tofurkey than the real thing. I am sure that eventually he'll be able to achieve his goal and develop solid food that will look fabulous and taste delicious. I've become partial to his chocolate milk shake SdL. Carlisle was angling for Edward to work on a good single malt whisky, but that was on the back burner for the moment. Edward wasn't too sure that having drunk vampires running about the place was a good thing.

I found that becoming the Walalo meant several things. First, the acceptance that I was a now a magical being—me, prosaic, plain, down-to-earth Bella—was now something quite supernatural. My own self-image had to undergo a terrific upheaval, and the confidence I developed from it was a good boost. The tribe had accepted me as their own. The knowledge that they relied upon me spurred me to use whatever talents I had to the best of my ability.

This was helped by the gifts I had inherited with my new role. No, I can't shape-shift like Leah did. I think my vampirism prohibits that. However, the moment I had been invested as Walalo during a mystical midnight ceremony on First Beach, I suddenly had the "long vision" that Leah had told me about. I could "see" what was happening around the world if it affected the Quileute tribe and that enabled us to react wisely to events. So far, I found the most frustrating issues came from the government passing laws that could badly impact our way of life. There was always some yahoo gazillionaire wanna-be who had plans to do something commercial with the pristine environment that we lived in. Usually, they'd cozy up to the politicos in the government to get things their way. Have I ever mentioned that I hate politics? Well, I do. Fortunately, Edward is a good advisor in these cases.

Actually, I'm thinking about putting someone up for an elected position within our state government—perhaps even our national government—in order to have a voice on the inside. Just yesterday, Edward mentioned that Billy Black should be encouraged to run for office. I think that's a good idea. He's smart, and cagey, and he does love his people. He may not be able to tolerate living with me here, but he can still do a lot of good for his tribe if he became their representative in Olympia or Washington, D.C.

The second talent that I inherited was the ability to "hear" the thoughts of the wolf-pack. I'm not so sure that this is a wonderful thing. A more perverted bunch of lunkheads I've never known. Ninety percent of their thoughts have to do with sex. The other ten is about food. Believe you me, I certainly understand why Leah moved out to the island.

After the first council meeting, I swear I needed brain bleach.

When I returned home, I exploded. "Yuck! Do all men think about nothing but sex?"

Edward looked amused and asked, "What makes you ask?"

"Because that's all the wolf-pack was thinking about during the council. They weren't thinking about anything that was on the agenda. Not the fisheries. Nor the condition of the boundaries. Nor recent strange visitors to the beach. No, all they thought about were tits and asses. Not even mine were off limits. I gave Sam Uley such a look."

Edward took me in his arms and said, "They do say that men are sexual beings, even vampires have been known to have a wayward thought or two." He grabbed my derriere as he said this.

"Do you think about sex all the time, too?" I was incredulous. Edward had always been such a gentleman. He was romantic and loving. There was nothing crass about him, as there had been with the wolf-pack.

"Since I met you?" He asked, a wicked smile on lips.

"Do you really?" I was certainly surprised.

He pulled me closer and in a lofty tone said, "I have the ability to think of more than one thing at a time, my love. But yes, you do take up a lot of my imagination."

"All the time?" He was beginning to distract me with his errant hands.

Nodding, he grinned and said, "Yes. Like right now."

Suddenly, he tackled me with such force we flopped onto the sinfully plush, down-filled sofa that was the centerpiece of our living room. But as we landed, there was a loud pop and, like confetti on New Year's Eve, feathers flew throughout the room.

We were both stunned at first, but soon I started to giggle which progressed to outright howls.

"What's so funny?" Edward looked a bit put out at my reaction to our predicament.

"You're so funny."

"Me?" He was even more put out.

"Yes. You look as though you expect Stella to start scolding you for horsing around and busting the furniture."

His eyes darted around the room, but a smile tickled the corners of his mouth and he whispered, "I still feel a little strange that she's always there, listening, and watching."

"You can ask her not to, you know."

"Really?"

"Yep. Watch. Stella, take a break and ignore us for five minutes."

Stella's disembodied voice said, "Okay. I'm going to read a book. Call me when you want me."

Edward blinked and said, "I don't know whether to be amazed that our sentient house chooses to read a book when it's on its own time, or irritated that you think I'll only take five minutes."

I really started cracking up then, and Edward joined me but not without proving that he could last a lot longer than five minutes when he put his mind to it.

And so, he did.

The end.