Chapter Forty: This Ends in Blood or Something New

Angela (POV)

"I can see the Heavens, but I still hear the flames calling out my name. I can see the writing on the wall, I can't ignore this war.
At the end of it all, who am I living for?" - Katy Perry

"To be immortal is commonplace; except for man, all creatures are immortal, for they are ignorant of death;
what is divine, terrible, incomprehensible, is to know that one is immortal." - Jorge Luis Borges

There was nothing before the fire, there was no life before the flame. I was a person, right? No, I was a phoenix, birthed in fire. Hatred filled me; a boundless anger tied to the fires consuming me. I seethed, I waited. Time was a fleeting notion, from my life before… was there life before? It was so dark. No, there was nothing before. Just pain and anger. The drum beat furiously, hammering away in time with the fire. It was beautiful, until… the fires started to ebb away. I wanted to scream, I wanted them back.

Then they were gone, swallowed up by the drum that went silent as well. All that was left was silence, and cold. Yet, there was a world surrounding me, vibrant and bright. But cold. I opened my eyes to that world, and found I wasn't alone. There were creatures there, that smelled like me. They were curious and dangerous, yet my hate wasn't for them. They felt safe. I looked around, something about their faces tickled at my mind, familiar. Yet… and yet I had no memory. No life before.

"Angela?" The closest one spoke; I recognized the word and that it was tied to me. I hissed at her, she was trying to confuse me, which made her my enemy. I vaulted over the table between us and slashed at her face, she brought her arms up in defense, so I grabbed one and threw her to the floor. She cowered from my assault, shrieking in confusion and pain. I looked around for an escape and found it easily. This was no cage, I smiled and immediately jumped through one of the massive windows. The glass shattering around me as if it were tissue paper.

I started to run and was vaguely aware that some of them were following me. I laughed at the ease of running; it was exhilarating to run without limits… mortal limits. Had I been human once? No, that was irrelevant. All that mattered was the tiny flame still burning inside me, it was the last of my hatred. I held onto it, I needed it. Why did I need it? Why did I hate? I never hated before, even James.

James. Victoria. Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, Bella… Mason… Mom… Dad… Joshua… Issac… no… no nonononono!

I lost control of my new body and found myself tumbling through the air into a tree. I slid down and landed at the base in a pile of leaves and mud. I was screaming, the pain was far worse than the fires. I knew I wasn't hurt, not physically. But something was wrong with my mind, those names. James and Victoria conjured hate, and they felt good to hate. The memories of the rest of those names were good, so why did they hurt? I couldn't understand.

"Angela." It was her again, she was keeping her distance this time, but had knelt low keeping me at eye level. I growled at her, shaking my head as I got to my feet. I didn't know what threat she posed, but her insistence in pursuing me would be the end of her. I pushed my pain away like an inconvenient blanket on an unexpectedly hot night.

Then I felt something else that made me stop. Patterns in the air and trees and even in the ground below me. They were all connected, and I felt awestruck at their beauty. Yet they didn't go into her, there was no life in her. I pulled on the threads around her, and found they easily obeyed my will. I pushed them around her and lifted her up. She made a strange pathetic sound of surprise, which only spurred me on, so I used those threads to grab at her and pull. After a few seconds I could hear cracking sounds, followed by her screams which made me smile.

"Angela! It's me Bella! Please stop!" Her name gave me pause and I stopped pulling for a second to examine her face. A thousand memories flooded into my mind all at once, hazy memories of friendship. She was my sister, and I was hurting her. I let her go and fell to my knees.

"Bella." I whispered staring at her. The fear on her face quickly shifting to something else, and she rushed over to me. I flinched as she drew near, but when she didn't attack, I felt something else. Something strange that I couldn't explain, it felt like the opposite of my hate.

"It's me. Please remember." Bella started to reach out but drew her hand back immediately. I reached out for her hand and pressed it to my face. The contact felt like an electric wire, as even more memories started to fill my mind. I saw her face and broken body; I saw her in a wheelchair, and then running with perfect grace. I saw her above me, lifting me out of a cage… no not a cage.

"What happened to me?" I shook my head violently a few times, trying to push away the memories that were flowing unbidden into my mind.

"It's hard to say." Her face was twisted in pain, and she shook her head almost imperceptibly. I bared my teeth at her, she needed to understand that I had to know, a soft growl escaping my chest.

"What happened to me!?" I said again, letting the tendrils of life surrounding me grab a hold of her again. I didn't want to hurt her anymore, but I had to know. She flinched but nodded.

"You went home for one last night, and there was… there was a car crash. I'm so sorry Angela. They're all gone." She was weeping without tears, her lips trembling. I tried to connect my memories to who she was talking about, and suddenly I realized she meant my family. My mother and father and twin brothers. They were, gone?

"Gone… dead?" I said aggressively, standing and forcing her to stand as well to continue facing me.

"Yes, your family is dead." She said through gritted teeth, the pain on her face was notable. I let her go again and she fell to the ground at my feet. I shook my head in disbelief. I couldn't understand, how could they be dead? But there was another person in that crash, someone more important. I knelt to her; she was starting to back away from me in fear. I just shook my head at her cowardice.

"Is my child alive?" I held no love for her, despite the memories of the emotion.

"They are alive, they're fine. They're waiting for you." She said frantically, the panic in her eyes was clear.

"Take me to them now." I said letting my hatred pour out again. She breathed a trembling breath, and then stood and squared her shoulders at me.

"No, not like this. You're not Angela." Her posture was set, and the fear had almost completely vanished from her expression as she spoke. The statement felt wrong, I was Angela. That was my name. If I wasn't her, then who was I?

"Your name is Angela Weber. Forget about the thirst, forget about the rage. Remember we're your family, and we would never hurt you." The silky voice caught me off guard, and the words pushed deep into my mind. I felt my hate shrink until it was nothing more than an ember, and I suddenly connected to the fuzzy memories that had been swirling in a part of my mind. The tiny voice screaming in grief wasn't a separate person, she was me. I was Angela Weber. I stubbled backwards, as my sense of self returned. I fell back against the tree I had slammed into earlier and slid down to the ground.

"Mama, papa… no." I covered my face and curled into a ball. The pain was different from the flames but seared no less powerfully. My mother and father, my brothers were dead. My human life wasn't just abandoned, it was gone. In an instant. In a blink of darkness. I had lost everything, even myself. I had hurt my sister. I sat up in horror, I had tortured Bella.

"Bella." I whispered, and looked up finding her standing several meters away, wrapped in Carlisle's arms. Her head buried in his shoulder, actively weeping. I had done that, I had hurt her, terrorized her. Rosalie was there glaring at me with disappointment along with Charlie whose expression wasn't as pleasant. He was seething with the kind of anger that I recognized all too well.

"I'm sorry." I said weakly, my voice trembling. She looked up and stared at me, her expression unreadable. Then her expression melted, and she rushed over to me, cupping my face in her hands.

"Angela?" She said hopefully. Her love still present, I hadn't lost her.

"I hurt you, I… I'm so sorry." My voce still quivering with emotions that were so raw they felt like an exposed nerve.

"We knew you might not be fully yourself, I'm okay." She looked over her shoulder at her father. "You will forgive her dad; she lost herself."

"You don't have to, I understand." I said looking down, not able to face any of them.

"There's nothing to forgive child, you were acting on instinct." Charlie's voice was somehow soothing, and I nodded pathetically in Bella's hands. Then I pressed my head into her shoulder, and she just held me without another word.

"Angela, are you okay?" Bella finally asked me. I nodded and took a shaky breath.

"I don't know if I will ever be okay. But I think I'm me again." I looked at her and then to Charlie and Rose and Carlisle. None of them had hatred or anger in their expressions, all of them seemed relieved.

"Well, if that's the case. Chocolate and Snow are waiting for you." Bella said drawing my attention to her again. I looked at her in confusion. "Nicknames for your daughters." Bella explained and it finally hit me what she had said earlier.

"Daughters… plural. You said they, I have twins." She nodded in confirmation smiling wide and pulling me into a hug. I knew it was a possibility, at least genetically speaking, but the truth of it felt heavy and important. I was a mother, and I had two children. Was I ready for that kind of responsibility?

"Do you know what you'll name them?" She asked as she pulled away from the hug. The question brought me out of my immediate quandary over my own self-worth and made me think. The names came to me instantly, as if there were never any other options.

"Jezebel and Rebekah, after my mother and grandmother. Rebekah also means something to Mason; she was a special woman from his past." I said with a touch of reverence, the names living on. I knew my mother would be honored, and it felt right.

"Lovely, way better than mine." Bella said with a very warm smile, and Rosalie and Charlie both let out a small chuckle. Carlisle was looking down.

"Yeah, Reneesme was special. I mean, I'm sorry. You'll never get to have that. But you'll be there, right? To help me?" I felt like a fool for bringing up a child that would never exist and rubbing it in Bella's face. Yet she just smiled wider.

"Where else am I gonna go… actually on that front I have some news." Her bright expression faltered somewhat, and I immediately worried she had bad news.

"Mason?" I asked feeling a wave of desperation threatening to crest over my nascent self-control.

"No, we haven't heard anything from him yet. We finally had a parlay with the wolves and it didn't go well. We have just few days left to move. The house is already packed up, and we have houses in Maine ready to go. You get your own house if you like. And when Mason the boys come back, we can just live. We'll miss Forks but maybe it's for the best." All of it was too much, and I briefly wondered how long I was out, but the math was easy. If the twins had just been born and I had been one week through four weeks of pregnancy, I was unconscious for three weeks. I pushed that aside, I would deal with that mindfuck later.

"That seems totally unfair." I frowned. "You know, maybe I should feed, that helped you and Charlie, right?"

"It helps, it isn't perfect, but it helps. Are you okay with our lifestyle?" Bella asked, and I nodded emphatically, horrified by the monster I had been when I woke up.

"Yes, but I have no idea how long Rosalie's influence will last." I looked up at her and she shrugged.

"I'm just glad it worked. I was worried your memories were gone like Alice. That there was nothing left inside of you to remember." Rose gave me a half smile, and I wondered if there was anything missing. How would I know?

"The memories had come back, but I was disconnected from them, as if I were a separate person, filled with hate. Wait, that power. What was that?" I looked over at Carlisle who just shook his head.

"I have no idea, but you somehow lifted Bella into the air. Was that telekinesis?" Carlisle suggested, but I only had a vague idea about superpowers from Ben Chaney who had been obsessed with comic books.

"It was life, patterns of life all around… wait. I can see life within you Carlisle, and you too Rose. I… your shield." I looked at Bella in awe. "My god, your totally blank."

"Neat?" Bella said with a heavy shrug.

"What about me?" Charlie asked.

"Different, I can feel your connection to the world, but I can also see you almost deflecting that life away from you as well." I tried to explain, but it was not really all that clear. He looked strange, like a part of him was surrounded by life but that life wasn't his own.

"I've never heard of anything remotely like that." Carlisle said with a furrowed brow and wide smile.

"I bent the patterns of life into new shapes." I said trying to explain further, but as I spoke, I felt something twinge in my throat. It wasn't overwhelming, but the tickle felt urgent. "Okay, enough dawdling, I need to feed."

I got up and looked around, the thick lines of life in the forest were breathtaking, and I could feel them attached to millions of animals and insects scattered throughout the miles of wilderness surrounding us. As I searched, I found a weaker line, an animal closer to death than the rest somewhat nearby and I took off towards it. I found a giant elk, a beautiful creature, limping from a leg broken. It would never set fully, and even if it recovered from the injury it wouldn't make it through the upcoming winter.

I reached out and pulled on the connection I had to it, and it stood still as I approached. I could feel its fear and pain, and as I touched it, I pushed that pain away and gave it an overwhelming sense of peace as I snapped its neck. Then I leaned in and drank heavily, and the fire in my throat died down significantly. Then I pulled on the patterns as the life drained from the beast and pulled it down into the forest so it could rest properly as a part of the forest again.

"She's like a vampire version of fucking Snow White." Rosalie said with a small chuckle. I looked over at her in confusion. Bella just smiled.

"You seemed to beckon that animal, and it stayed as you walked over to it. Then you gently touched its face, and I swear it looked happy. In the next second you viciously snapped its neck and fed like a savage. When you were done, you just waved your arm and it was kind of pulled into the ground." Bella explained looking a little awestruck and slightly terrified.

"Oh, I guess that would look weird. I really did that?" I said feeling overwhelmed and a little fragile.

"Your gift is remarkable, just like Mason predicted." Carlisle said drawing my attention. "Angela, there is something I need to say." He paused as if trying to find the right words. "It is my fault. I couldn't save your family."

I felt a surge of anger at his confession, but it quickly abated as I thought about what he had taken onto himself. He had been a doctor for centuries and must've lost countless patients over the years. Even if he had made a mistake, those deaths were not his fault, and neither were the deaths of my family. Maybe the person who hit us was at fault, or my father for entering the intersection without looking… the cage. Bella was the one that found me. I had to remember to thank her later.

I thought about his grief, and how he was displacing his sorrow for my pain with a feeling of failure. I had survived, and I could keep the memories of my family forever. I knew I would struggle with the pain of their loss for a long time, but they would always be with me. All Carlisle had done was fight for them, fight for the chance for me to hold onto them. That was what my father would do for his parishioners, and it bound Carlisle to me more completely than I had ever felt before.

"You fought for them. That's all I could ever have asked for." I reached out to him, and I could see his shoulders shake and his eyes shut tightly with emotion. I rushed over to him and pulled him into a hug, and I could feel him let go as he wept in my arms and I pressed my head into his shoulder and let go as well.

"Thank you, Angela. I tried so hard and nothing I did worked. I'm so sorry." He whispered into my shoulder, and I shook my head.

"Carlisle… father. I love you." I replied hoping he would understand and forgive himself. He just held me tighter. After a few minutes I pulled away and smiled at him.

"Will you introduce me to my daughters?" I said brightly. He immediately looked down and shook his head.

"I haven't… I couldn't. Not after what I had done." He sounded devastated.

"Idiot stop blaming yourself. They will need to know their grandfather. Mason's family died thousands of years ago, and with my human parents gone, your it. I hope you like children." He looked overwhelmed with emotion, and I hugged him again and then held out my hand for Bella who was there in a second.

"I'm honored, and proud to call you family." He took a deep breath and I looked around feeling grateful I didn't have to do any of this alone. Even though my heart hurt with grief, and I could still feel that hatred deep inside this was enough for me to live on.

We slowly made our way back to the house, and the closer we got the more I could feel my children off in the distance. There was no mistaking the connection I had to them, it was undeniable and felt like an un-severed umbilical cord. Once we made it to the house, I felt a surge of anticipation well in my stomach. It was strange, because it wasn't physical, more like a phantom response to an old biological reaction to emotion. We entered the living room and found Esme and Alice waiting, holding my babies towards us. They were staring at me, watching my every movement. Their long locks of hair were hanging in loose curls around their faces. Immediately I felt love well up inside of me, unlike anything I had ever felt before. It made the love I felt for both my human and vampire families pale in comparison.

I felt what I now understood as my thirst tickle my throat, but Rosalie's command tempered the impulse. As I took in their scents, I realized while they were partially human, they were very different and easy separate from the concept of food. Enough that they weren't really appealing to me at all. I approached them slowly, but Charlie stepped forward, in a very protective manner.

"Dad, let's give her the benefit of the doubt. If she acts violently, well Rose will turn her into a zombie." I wasn't sure if I should've been insulted or comforted by that, until Bella winked at me.

"It's true, sorry Angela but I have no compunctions about making you think you're a turnip." There was sarcasm in both her voice and expression. But it was clear that my children meant as much to her as they did to me, I could see a mother's love in her eyes.

"I understand, really I do. But I think... no, I know I'm in control now. But I'm glad you're all here." I looked around at all of them and sighed a little as I got within arm's reach.

"Angela, I would like to introduce you to your daughter." Alice held out Rebekah, and my heart swelled. There was nothing else in the world that was so beautiful, except for her sister. I stepped closer to her and with an extremely attentive expression she looked to me longingly. Then she held out her hand and began to cry for me. The connection was so powerful that I had to force myself to restrain my impulses and move slowly.

I closed the distance as quickly as I could without setting off any warnings. Then I knelt down and crawled over on my knees to her as Alice sat down with her in her lap. But as I reached out to her, my hand collided with a strange almost ethereal barrier.

"Dad!" Bella scolded her father, with a serious look he began to grumble, then an instant later the shield was pulled away. I looked at him a bit stunned, I knew he had a shield, but it was startling to see something so effective. I shook off the awe and looked back at my gorgeous girl and I touched her tiny hand for the first time. Jezebel wanted in on the reunion too and started pull at Esme's grip. I smiled and reached over with my other hand. I easily picked both up and cradled them in my arms. Their hands immediately went to my face, and I giggled in joy at the warmth of their skin. Then in an almost eerily synchronized motion they buried themselves in my chest, using each other for support and fell asleep.

I moved over to Carlisle and took a deep breath. "This is Jezebel." I handed him my daughter with snowy hair that reminded me so much of Mason. Carlisle wrapped his arms around her, and she woke up and with a wide smile touched his face before snuggling against him and falling asleep again.

"I think I'll hold on to Rebekah for a while, we'll introduce you two later." Holding my daughter felt perfect, it felt like I had come home. I sighed in contentment and moved over to the rear window overlooking the forest. I knew I could stand there for hours as she slept, and so I did without a word. The family came and went, all taking turns holding one of them. Until I was alone with both of them in my arms again. I started to hum, the same melody my mother sing whenever she was in the kitchen. I had never done it justice before, but my voice held the tune flawlessly.

Night eventually fell and I knew I had to do something; I couldn't abandon this place. Not yet, I needed time. I couldn't let the wolves dictate the rules of my life, not when they had been unwilling to listen at every turn. First threatening Bella at her wake, then when she went to visit her dad. They threatened Alice for protecting Charlie, and now they declared us unreasonable and our century long treaty void. I felt fury, a fury that I knew wasn't truly healthy, but I couldn't help it.

"Rose?" I said softly, knowing she was close by.

"I'm here." She said coming up beside me.

"Could you take them for a while, I need to get some fresh air." Rose smiled happily and took them but gave me a worried look.

"You shouldn't be on your own, not yet." She said but was already distracted. I knew that if I didn't return from this, they would have a mother who would love them forever in Rosalie.

"I'll be just out there." I said reassuringly. "I just need to think, get myself together."

"You're an adult, just don't go far. Just in case some stupid human is hiking out there." She sighed, but then focused on the girls who had shifted slightly with the transfer. I looked at them longingly, hating to abandon them, but set my resolve and left, because my family depended on me now and I had to protect them.

I propelled myself into the wilderness, unafraid of anything in front of me. The woods were cold, not in temperature but in starkness. Unfeeling towers of dark gnarled shapes and textures coming up to interfere with the path before me. Still I made my way towards a new fate, furious with the seeming inevitability of things.

Then Alice screamed in the distance, and I knew that soon she would be alerting the rest of the family of my decision. Except I knew it was too late, they couldn't catch me now. Not that they could've done much to restrain me. Mason was the only one that could've really stopped me, and he was so far away. The reminder of him forced me again to realize that a piece of my heart was withering without his presence.

I hardly noticed as rain began to fall from the starless sky, which thankfully masked my trail. Not that my destination was all that secret. I knew that it wouldn't take Alice long to figure out where I was going. Then I crossed the imaginary line and a chorus of howls broke the silence of the rain swept night. I stopped in place, just a foot into their territory.

Within seconds the wolves descended, and their anger was obvious with their gnashing teeth and stamping paws. After another moment, the second largest of the pack, a black furred monstrosity stood into a man shrugging off fur and claws, as if they were nothing more than an unwelcome coat unabashedly naked.

"Explain!" He wasn't courteous, not that I expected him to be. His expression was more than hostile, it was bordering on deadly.

"I want peace, or I will force war. I will not live with threats from all sides anymore. This ends tonight, in blood or in something new. Either way it's over." It was an ultimatum that I expected him to reject. Yet I had to give him an option.

"Then war!" As if they had planned the moment, they all cried out in unison. But as I observed them, I noticed that two of them were not howling with the rest. These creatures were pure, their connection to the world incredibly strong. But that simply made it easier to control them. I grabbed ahold of all their lifelines and forced them to the ground except for the leader who I lifted up above the rest.

"Poor choice." I said bringing him close. His rage was clear, his frustration at being unable to move was making it worse, but at the same time I could see fear in his eyes.

"Weber, isn't that your name." He spit out.

"Yes, it was. I'm a Cullen now. You have declared war on my family. You are forcing us from our home. I cannot allow that. Not when our lives hang in the balance. You are supposed to be noble, supposed to protect life. Yet, you join with monsters to kill my family." I was trying to understand their actions, was their prejudice so strong that they couldn't see we meant no harm?

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said struggling, and I could feel my ties to the world starting to fade. Whatever power I had was more tenuous than I thought.

"Alice, she can see the future. She has seen you attack us when we must defend against others who wish to destroy us. We just want peace, to live our lives and try to find happiness. Can't you just back the fuck down!" I spoke with hostility, unable to find a rational explanation in the vision. Were these men nothing more than beasts?

"Release me, and we'll talk." I looked at him and nodded letting him fall to the ground.

"Talk, and it better be good because I have children to protect. If you force my hand again, I'll rip you and your pack apart one by one!" This time it was a threat, even though I wasn't sure I could back it up, my power already diming dangerously low. My hold on the rest of the pack slipping by the second.

"Angela!" Bella shouted as she and the rest of the Cullen's broke the tree line and bounded across the river onto the Quileute side of the border.

"Carlisle, she will release my pack now or…" The Alpha started to demand.

"What? Finish that sentence. You'll threaten us with war again?" Rosalie said sharply. She took a few steps towards the Alpha and narrowed her eyes. "We have held back, because don't want to hurt you."

"You're bluffing." He spit back at her.

"Oh, am I now. You will sleep, now." As she spoke, I could hear an echo in her voice, reverberating deep in my ear. He immediately collapsed and she approached him and leaned down to whisper in his ear, Carlisle cleared his throat.

"You've made your point Rose." Carlisle scolded her, and then he looked at me. "Whatever you are doing, release them." I gritted my teeth and let go, and my power snapped back at me like an extended rubber band. I felt weak, and it took everything I had left to remain standing.

"Wake up dog." Rose said and the Alpha shook himself and stood.

"We are not leaving." I said defiantly.

"You will regret this Carlisle." He spit down at Carlisle's feet and glanced at me briefly before shifting back into a wolf and taking off. The pack immediately followed him, except for the same two as before, who followed a few seconds later.

"Angela, what were you thinking?" Carlisle said rounding on me.

"That I had to do something. Like I told them, I cannot live with threats on all sides anymore. We have chosen to give in to their intolerance and prejudice and I will use everything I have to defend the home I just found. I've lost too much; I cannot lose this too." I had to make him understand, wishing Alice were there to fill in more about her vision.

"Your home is safe. We can leave this place, as we would've had to eventually anyway. Three people who are supposed to be dead under one roof is problematic at best." Carlisle said with obvious defeat, he was utterly unwilling to risk war no matter the cost to us.

"I don't care. I'm not leaving. Not until this is over." I said shaking my head. Hoping this wouldn't end up as a massive unending argument.

"Then we have to figure out how to solve this." Bella said with a sigh.

"Maybe I can help." A figure wearing just a pair of cutoff jeans exited the forest. I recognized him vaguely as Jacob, one of Bella's friends from La Push. We had met once several months back after the accident.

"Jake?" Charlie said stepping forward with Bella.

"Yeah. I kind of left Sam's pack. What he's doing to your family isn't fair." He shrugged and blew a short blast of air through his mouth.

"Don't forget about me." A younger kid dressed similarly to him, but with enough modesty to wear a basic white t-shirt bounded up beside him. His eager and friendly expression immediately made me second guess my opinion of the wolves.

"Seth, you know…" Jacob started shaking his head.

"What, I'm with you." Seth said with a chipper voice, fist bumping Jake's shoulder.

"Whatever. They won't attack if we're helping to defend you, so would you consider a new treaty?" Jake said with a small shrug.

"Friends don't need a treaty." Bella said pulling him into a tight hug. "Thank you."

"Yeah, I'm fucking idiot." Jake said shaking his head. "I'm sorry about threatening you Charlie. It was a dick move."

"No worries kid, glad to have you." He sighed and looked around at the group of us. "So… now what?"

"Now we go home, and try to plan for this fight come soon." Bella said with a far away look.

"Um, what fight?" Seth said looking confused.

"The one where we all die horribly." I said with a smile, and Seth opened his mouth in shock unable to come up with anything else to say.

End of Part One

Author's Note: The story will be continued in Part Two which will be posted in the near future.