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Chapter Eighteen: Bay at Bae

Bella's POV:

We were running at a high velocity, and I was within the equivalent of a vampire having a mental breakdown. Could vampires have mental breakdowns? I had no idea. It wouldn't be the first time certainly that I had seemingly defied all logic of the fantastical world of vampires and werewolves and whatnot.

I couldn't shake the extreme sense of panic and dread that was only building up within me. It wasn't possible to quell the tormenting torrent of emotion I was experiencing, especially because vampiric emotions were the things I was currently having the most trouble controlling. Jasper still had to help me out occasionally with mood swings. It felt at some times like I could just explode if given the chance.

I can feel grief and worry stockpiling up within me. But as much as I'm worried, I'm also angry. Why can't the Volturi just leave me and Edward and the rest of us alone!? Why do they have to keep coming after us with everything they have?! Ever since I was discovered as Edward's mate, we've been under their attack and scrutiny. Why can't they just leave my family alone?! How dare they attack us again, we've done nothing to them! They started it, we defended ourselves, and so that calls for retaliation!? By death?

Edward can surely see the raging emotions battling within me as I struggle for control. My control isn't perfect, and I admit that I punch a tree or two as we run past, causing them to groan and buckle under the strike.

"Bella, should we go back and ask Jasper—" Edward begins, but I brush him off. The anger has taken me, and for the moment I want it. I want to be angry. I don't care about calming down at the moment.

Edward takes the cue and keeps running. We arrive at the house silently, and walk up to the front door.

Edward turns the knob, and opens the door. I step forward to go in, but I feel some pang ring suddenly in my head, like a short burst of headache. What the heck?!

It's like I can't pass the borders of the house. Renesmee and Edward are already inside the house, watching me as I step forward, then back up, snarling softly as I clutch my head.

At first, I wonder if there's some sort of physical shield, separating me from Edward. But when Edward walks up to me, this proves not to be true. Further inspection of my own self leads me to a new conclusion.

My entire body seems to be directing me to stay outside; there's something that's about to happen. I can feel all my senses tensing up, even though I can see or smell nothing dangerous nearby. My muscle feel like they're coiling up, readying themselves for a big spring.

"Bella, love, are you alright? What's the matter?" Edward asks, confused and frankly worried to some degree. As am I.

"Edward, c-can you sense a-anything? Anybody around us?"

Edward opens his mouth, when he stops himself. He looks up.

"Bella, is your shield up?" he wonders aloud.

"No," I reply, staring at him. His expression is concern as he glances around at us, in many directions. I'm confused. To ask if my shield was up would mean he couldn't hear anybody. Anybody but me, which means he should've known that my shield wasn't up. But if he can't hear anybody, why is he worried?

"Carlisle's house is only a mile away, Bella. I should be able to still hear their thoughts from here. It's an ambush," Edward whispered. "Someone has a projecting mental shield like yours."

Immediately I'm on my feet, snarling as I scan the vicinity for any threats whatsoever. My shield expands out from me like a radar, reaching fifty yards easily as I turn, waiting for the challengers to show themselves.

I feel a bright point of light dart in from behind me, and I spin, turning to face the vampire as I flip, bringing a knee between his legs. I know that it's not a very sensitive place to strike as a vampire, but it's still effective place to disable movement.

Following through with the flip, the vampire is lifted up by the sudden attack and thrown backwards, crashing into a large tree forty feet back and about thirty yards up. He lands on the ground lithely, snarling as though the attack were a minor annoyance. I snarl right back.

My expression falters for a moment, however, when suddenly six other vampires join the first one, looking quite ticked off with the one I've already kicked for ruining the element of surprise.

I snarl instinctively. We're outnumbered, and most likely outgunned. Yet still I hear a voice, deep inside myself. A violent voice.

We can take them.

We have strength now.

We are invulnerable.

Rationality dictates to these thoughts that they are just as invulnerable as I am, that against seven vampires my strength is not worth much, and that whatever I do, I should not confront them in a fight.

But my body is yearning for rage. Yearning for blood, and I mean in the metaphorical sense.

The vampire in the lead fixes his eyes on me as he begins walking forward. "It is pointless to try to fight back, so you might as well stand very still and make this as easy as possible."

"We're willing to come along peaceably, we didn't realize the Volturi were in town," Edward said politely, playing along with the ridiculous charade.

I snarl. These goons are from the Volturi? My anger, still hoping for violence, is gleeful at the thought of having so many members handed to us, before reason reminds my anger that we are still outnumbered.

"No no, you misunderstand. We're not here to take you anywhere. You're going all by yourselves."

"Where?" Edward asks, shielding my body with his own as he senses something in the posture of the vampire before us change.

"Death," the vampire snarls, and with that the other six leap forward.

Edward stands between me and seven deadly vampires. Sharp gleaming teeth and razor-like fingers glisten on each set of hands and jaws in the moonlight as they lunge forward. I know that Edward doesn't stand a chance against seven individual vampires, no matter how fast or how strong he may be.

Edward is about to die, right in front of me.

"RUN BELLA!" he shouts, growling horribly at the seven oncoming vampires. It's no use. I'm frozen to the spot I stand, watching with wide eyes like time has slowed down.

This is it. Edward is about to die. I am about to lose my only purpose for living, and I can do nothing to stop it.

Why couldn't the Volturi just leave us alone?

I can't move. I feel like I'm carved out of stone as I watch the first vampire get batted away by Edward's strong arm.

Why do they have to keep coming after us with everything they have?

"BELLA, RUN!" Edward shouts, seeing me frozen to the spot as he strikes down another, but they're beginning to overwhelm him.

Why can't they just leave my family alone?!

"BELLA!" Edward pleads, turning to glance at me once more, his eyes shining in the moonlight.

How dare they attack us again, we've done nothing to them!

Well, that's about to change for sure.

What finally jolts me from my immobility is a fierce ripping sound, and a shriek from Edward's lips.

Now what takes over is pure, unfiltered rage.

I feel a spark; the same kind of spark I felt whenever Edward and I touch. The electric tingle that sets my brain awhirl when he kisses me, and caused me to faint while I was still human. I feel it explode outwards like an EMP, charging through my skin like a raging heat I can't contain.

Heat?

My anger only fuels the electric tingle as suddenly the world begins to distort. I feel nothing but the strange sensations running through my entire body. Sensations like limbs elongating, teeth sharpening, body parts shifting, and even a new sort of limb forming.

And growing. I feel huge. Powerful. Apex.

I feel a growl building up in my throat. But this isn't just a growl; it's a roar.

The sound that issues forth from my mouth is like no growl I've made before. It commands attention with the base, predatory snarling, yet also strikes terror with the blasting volume of the roaring growl that resonates in my throat.

The whole vicinity is motionless, as all eight vampires before me, including Edward, just stop and stare at me.

What? I automatically think, feeling the burn on my cheeks where a blush would be from Edward's shocked gaze. The wind feels so good down my back suddenly. All the way down my back, to the tip of my—

Experimentally, I wiggle something that wasn't there before. I feel motion behind me, and I look. I have a tail.

I am a wolf.

'I PHASED!?' was my first thought.

But my attention, however distracting the revelation of my species change may be, is diverted by the sight of something foreign in one of the Volturi vampires' hands. A long white arm, with no torso attached. Edward's left arm is gone.

My mind is almost lost to complete bestial instinct in protective rage. I feel the presence of something else in my mind. The same, instinctual, primitive mindset that I had felt before, when Renesmee was taken from my arms. I knew that the wolf inside of me knew what it was to be a mother too; after all, Renesmee was both of ours. Forged from my human mind and my werewolf body. And now we had double rage that a pathetic pack of interloping whelps has damaged our mate.

Again, my vision went bloodred as I zeroed in on the offending-vampire's neck.

Nobody had a chance to react before I lunged for the kill. Immediately the entire vampire that had been holding Edward's arm was in my powerful jaws, and try as he might, I felt nothing as he clawed at my muzzle. Under the dark-mahogany colored fur, I could see the bare hints of glistening pale skin. I had a vampire's skin, in the body of a wolf?

A BIG wolf. Now that I had an object of reference in my mouth, I realized that I was much larger than the horse-sized wolves of La Push. I was massive. More like the size of… a rhino or something.

Between my jaws, the vampire's bones snapped like peanut brittle. Edward's arm fell at his side in the snow as I glared fire at the other vampires in the clearing, which had enough survival instinct left to scream and begin running.

But the wolf wanted more.

I bounded forward, one pounce landing me in front of the vampires. Edward got to his feet and snarled loudly, but I just shot him a glance back.

"It's okay, Edward, I got this," I thought to him, lifting my shield for a moment so I could communicate to him.

All six of the vampires that are left lunge, snarling as they land on top of me and each begin using their strength on me to try to rip me apart. But with my size coming into play, none of them are strong enough to do much damage. I suppose if they all worked together on one specific part of my body, they would be able to do damage. But as it was, my entire bone and body structure had been increased in size.

Whipping my head around, I latched my now-canine fangs onto the vampire on my back as I snarled. The vampire yelped, before in one motion I bit him in half. I turned and snagged the vampires attacking my forepaws next, before beginning to lacerate them with my hardened claws. The final three were each pulling on my tail and my back legs. Quickly, they were disposed of as well as I reached back and ground each of their bones in my jaws.

Edward was quick to rush forward, and quickly lit each vampire on fire as soon as I was done with it. There were no more offenders, though it took me a moment to realize that.

"Momma?" I heard Renesmee's voice say. I looked up, and saw her staring at me, and at Edward's lack of a left arm. "Will Daddy be okay?"

Edward smiled and walked forward, scooping up his arm. "I'll be fine, sweetie. We just have to head back to Grandpa and he'll fix me up."

He scoops Renesmee up deftly with his good arm, and they turn to face me. "What do you think of Momma's new superpower?"

Renesmee's face broke out into a grin, and she quickly bounded over to me, leaping up and over my head like a gazelle and landing adeptly on my back, giggling the entire time.

"Momma, you're very soft!" she said, giggling as she lay down on my fur. I barked a laugh.

Now that I had calmed down enough to get some bearings straight, I felt odd. As though I was off-balance—or maybe disproportioned? I looked. My front legs looked fine, and my back legs looked fine. My tail looked fine. My torso looked fine.

Edward heard my thoughts as I showed them to him. He put a finger to his lips as he thought over my question.

"I don't know, but something does seem off. I can't really place it. Maybe you would know better if you saw the whole thing?"

Renesmee, already touching me, shows me an image of myself as she sees me.

I gotta admit, I look stunning, especially with the perfect setting. Moonlit forest, crisp snow across the ground… But Edward is definitely right. Something is misproportioned.

I look back down at my paws, wondering what it could be.

It takes me a minute to realize.

My paws… look a little too human for a wolf's. They still have the same basic shape as a hand. Long fingers, ending with black sharp claws. A thumb, which I happen to know wolves do not have…

And as I think about it, I slowly realize what it is that's wrong.

Edward laughs as I slowly stand up, as he realizes along with me. Renesmee is giggling as she clutches my fur to keep herself up. I can barely even feel her weight as I reach behind me and hold Renesmee securely in the palms of my enlarged wolfish hands.

"Obviously. You couldn't be too normal, even for a werewolf!" Edward laughs, as he approaches me.

Renesmee shows me a new image of myself; this one has me standing up.

Now I look like the other kind of thing you might see, when you look up pictures of a werewolf on the internet. Not a full wolf, not a man simply covered with fur, but somewhere in between. I feel as normally balanced on my back two legs as I would as a human, even though my back paws are those of a wolf's. My hands are proportionate to my arms, and very human in shape, aside from the claws at the end of each finger. My head is a wolf's head, looking completely natural in standing or trotting on four legs.

I'm an anthropomorphic wolf? I didn't realize—I hadn't even thought of—

And suddenly, I hear something. Not necessarily hear, so much as feel. It wasn't something someone could hear, but it was natural as ever to feel an emotion. An emotion of shock. One emotion of shock turned into three, and suddenly I felt other presences in my mind.

'!'

'!'

'!'

Though I couldn't hear the exclamation, I could feel the intonations of shock. It sounded like Seth, Embry, and Quil from Jacob's pack. I knew what had just happened.

'Oh god I just connected to the pack-mind, didn't I?' I thought, before cursing myself for how insensitive that sounded.

There was silence for a few moments.

'BELLA?!' Came the synchronized reply of three male werewolves.

'Hiiii guys…' I thought sheepishly. There was more silence for a moment, and more shock.

'!?'

'!?'

'!?'

'Don't take this the wrong way, Bella,' I heard Seth's voice in my head saying, 'But what are you doing in the pack-mind?'

'Well, remember how Renee said I was a shapeshifter? Well, turns out…' I thought.

I felt Embry's and Quil's surprise as my memories of the encounters suddenly flashed before them, and if I could blush in the pack-mind I would've. I might have, actually.

Edward is laughing, and I know that it's resonating in the pack-mind through my ears.

'Edward can hear us, by the way,' I say. 'My shield is up.'

'So wait, you've finally phased!' Seth said, excitedly. 'Hang on, I'm coming to show you the ropes! Where are you?'

'Well, I'm at Edward and my house—'

'Oh! Nevermind, I caught your scent! You're close!' Seth thought.

'Seth, wait—' I thought, as my embarrassment made itself known to the rest of the pack.

'It's fine, Bella, nobody's gonna judge. We've literally all gone through the same thing,' Embry's voice said.

I heard the sounds of rapidly approaching pattering coming up to my left. I swiveled my large head in that direction.

'No, not like this—' I thought, as Seth loped into the clearing.

As soon as he made eye contact with me, his wolfish jaw went slack.

'Da-yuuuuum, Bella!' Seth thought as he glanced at me.

I could hear Embry's awed whistle, and Quil's surprised silence as they stared at me through Seth's eyes.

'You guys…' I thought, feeling embarrassed again. '…You guys didn't go through this, right?'

'No, this is definitely new territory for us—' Embry thought.

'Not that you look bad, actually! This form looks awesome!' Seth quickly thought, covering up for Embry.

I smiled wolfishly at Seth. 'Thanks.'

'Don't mention it. So, would you rather try to phase back as soon as possible, or would you like me to get a hold of Jacob?' Seth asked.

'Erm, if it's possible, could you get my mother?' I asked.

'Yeah, if I can find her,' Seth said, turning to go.

'That's okay, Seth, if she's not at the Cullens' house, then can you just get…erm…Leah?' I thought.

Seth cocked his head to one side. 'Leah? Are you sure?'

I could feel the others' thoughts concerning Leah's past-aggression towards me, and I could hear that they were wondering if that was a good idea.

'Yes,' I thought. I gestured towards a torn pile of shredded denim and knit fabrics. 'I'm, uh, not wearing clothes at the moment…'

I could feel three minds of embarrassment as they all decided to cough violently at once.

'Right, I'll just go get her. Be right back,' Seth said, turning and disappearing into the forest.

Tuning out the rest of the pack for the time being, I turned to Edward, who picked up his arm. "Well, shall we show the others your new form?"

'I suppose we should,' I thought, 'Did you hear that Seth? We're gonna head to Carlisle's house.'

'Roger, Bella,' Seth said as he tracked Leah's scent.

I turned back to Edward as he walked over. 'What do you think their reactions will be when they see?'

"I'd say Carlisle is going to be fascinated, Renee is going to be bouncing off the walls, and Jacob and Leah are just going to be very shocked," Edward says.

I shrug. That's probably accurate. As he turns and disappears into the forest, I begin to follow before realizing that I'm simply too large to be able to easily navigate through the forest without toppling several trees. At least, I'm too large standing up.

Gently and carefully, I place Renesmee back on my back, and get onto all four paws. I take a few galloping steps forward, before finding the rhythm of the run, and slowly I get faster and faster. And faster. And still faster.

Renesmee is giggling as the wind and branches rush past us at an almost blurry pace. It isn't long at all until I catch up to Edward, and even begin to pass him. He smiles at me as I run by, enjoying the speed that was at my disposal, and leaps up, landing behind Renesmee on my back. His touch sends more electric sparks into my skin, comfortably warming my wolfish body.

We reach the house in virtually no time at all. But I stay just out of the range of sight, hidden by the trees. Edward gets off of my back, and takes Renesmee in his arms as he smiles at me.

"Wait here, I'll be right back," He says, smiling at me with his perfect smile.

'And get your arm stitched back up!' I think. Edward laughs and waves his detached hand as he walks towards the house.

I can hear as he opens the door, and the gasps of shock as they see that one of his arms is off.

"Edward, where's Bella?" I can hear Alice saying. "I saw the two of you fighting a bunch of vampires!"

"Bella's outside. She wants you to see something," Edward's honey-smooth voice says.

"Is she alright?" I can hear Jacob ask.

"She's just fine. She's the reason that we weren't both killed by the attacking party. Come on, you'll want to see this!"

I can hear them approaching, and I prepare myself for this. Old human habits die hard, and embarrassment is one of those. I never liked showing off, but this is… this is a little too hard not to show off. Besides, all of them wanted to see me like this anyways…

Jacob is the first to round the corner, and for a moment only he looks confused, obviously looking for me and not finding me. That is, not finding me in human form.

Then he actually sees me, and his jaw drops open, though his eyes tell me that he's impressed. Next around the corner is Emmett and Rosalie, Jasper and Alice, Carlisle and Esme, and finally my Edward and Renesmee. Alice looks hyper-excited, Emmett looks insanely jealous, Carlisle looks fascinated as Edward had predicted, and Esme looks simply proud of me.

'Still there, Bella?' Seth asked.

'Yeah, I'm still here. Is Leah on the way?' I ask.

'Yeah, she's coming. I told her not to phase though, so you could see her reaction. She was confused, but I don't think she understands what's going on yet.'

'Thanks Seth, I owe you one,' I thought.

'No, it's fine! I totally understand, you don't owe me anything,' Seth thought back as he ran. 'Er, Leah might take a little while to get here though. It's slower to take a car and drive. I'd give her about fifteen to twenty minutes to get here by car.'

'Thanks again,' I thought. I don't have time for much else as Carlisle steps forward, and immediately I can tell that I'm going to be the subject of his study for at least the next twenty minutes. I feel an intense burn on my cheeks, which do not fluctuate from their beautiful paleness under my fur.

Leah's POV:

Rye and I hadn't stayed much longer after the Cullens decided it would be in everyone's best interests to try and save Ben and Tia from the Volturi. I remembered Ben vaguely from the last fight. He was supposed to have been a really powerful vampire, and for a moment I couldn't remember why.

Only after Emmett had mentioned Ben shooting fireballs did I remember; Ben had control over the elements. To have him on our side was to have an advantage the Volturi did not have. But to have him against us… With a click of his fingers he could destroy our entire army, most likely.

I shuddered as Rye flew back towards La Push, holding me like he had last time since it was easier. I still held a death-grip on his neck, but I was miffed enough that he had volunteered to fight in such a dangerous battle that I could keep my eyes open as I glared at him.

"Ryyeee—" I said, groaning a little as I tried to convince him to stay out of the fight.

"Leah," he said, his voice gentle and even as he flapped again, propelling us forward. "I can't leave them to die."

"Demetri hasn't met you yet, you're still safe from the Volturi," I said. "This is your… our chance to still escape if we have to."

"You have duties to your pack, and I have duties to mine as well. We can't just neglect them," Rye said, giving me a look that gently told me he was serious.

I sighed. "I wish your argument wasn't so well put-together. How am I supposed to convince you to run if you convince me to stay here first?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Rye said, his eyes twinkling a little as he knew he would win this argument.

He lightly landed outside my house in La Push, and put me to my feet. The porch light was on, and I immediately remembered the conversation I didn't want to have with my mother inside. I sighed.

"Ugh," was all I wanted to say at the moment.

"Something wrong?" Rye asked, looking around for what had seemingly upset my previously somewhat-good mood.

"I don't want to have this conversation with my mother if she's still angry," I sighed. "I really hope she isn't still ticked off. C'mon, let's go inside."

"Leah," Rye said, stopping me as I took his hand to go inside with him. "I think for your sake and your mother's it would be best if I stayed outside, or maybe I should just go back to the Cullens for the time being."

I shook my head. "Don't leave me yet, but if you could just wait outside, I'll explain it all to her. Just… wait here for a minute, will you?"

Rye nodded, and I breathed outwards, not wanting to face my mother if she was still upset with this news that was supposed to be happy. Probably one of the happiest moments of my life.

I stepped forward, opened the door, and walked inside.

Rye lived in the cave as the days began to pass by, too young and afraid of the wide world to venture out, too scared of the reaction of his family if he tried to come back. If they'd even let him back in the house…

For the first day or two, he just sat in the cave, staring at the overcast clouds as he tried to think of how to survive. He knew he would have to eat, and he was quite hungry already. He didn't know where he could get food, though.

The overcast weather depressed him, though it seemed like it always hung over his tiny town. It was damp and cold in the cave, but he barely noticed, as his body only kept changing, slowly, day by day. He felt something like a fever come over him, on the third day of his forced exile into the cave. It only grew in temperature, until eventually he no longer minded the cold or damp of the cave.

But then the fever continued to rise. His whole body could feel the fever, not just his head. And he was starving too. The small six-year-old child was wasting away in the cave, no courage to go out with his oddities and try to find food for himself to eat, with a fever too hot for his comfort.

At about day three of the fever, the sixth day of no food, the heat began to overtake his normal senses. It was like he was being burned at stake. His body was too weak to do anything but lay there on the stone floor as he slowly wasted away. His wings were shrunken to the size of a napkin on his back, and his ribs were prominent. The fever ripped through his body mercilessly, twisting and knotting in his ribcage as he groaned in pain. His eyes were dimly glowing, flickering almost like a candle.

This was it. His last day alive, if he couldn't get food or water soon. He could feel it.

His vision blurred, as a bright object in his peripheral appeared, reflecting some sort of sunlight. His eye closed to block the offensive light automatically, as he groaned in pain again.

There was no sound to herald the approach of the woman, her diamond-skin which had been glittering in the sunlight became pale and smooth in the shade. Her golden blonde hair waved silently down the center of her back as she knelt next to the famished young boy. As fast as a viper she moved, though her touch was more like the whisper of a cool wind, providing much-needed relief to Rye's burning fever.

She placed her forearm against Rye's forehead, hissing as her skin came into contact with the extreme heat. After the initial shock, she placed her arm again upon his forehead, allowing her own body to cool Rye's. His eyes weakly opened to express his gratitude to the woman. He only saw the vague outline of her features. Warm, caring eyes that were a bright golden color. Smooth skin that was as pale as the moon, and a smile that belonged on the face of a mother.

Rye fell unconscious due to lack of nutrition, and immediately the woman jumped up, disappearing in the blink of an eye though she moved as fluidly as water.

It was moments later that she returned, a bottle of water in her hand. She began administering the water to the parched lips of the boy, and occasionally snuck crumbs, only crumbs, of food into the water as it passed down his eager throat.

Without conveying the slightest expression of shock did the woman note Rye's shriveled wings, and the horns on his head. His eyes she just stared into his reptilian pupils as he slumbered unaware, and his red feet she simply touched to cool them off. If she was surprised, she didn't show it.

She worked efficiently and determinedly, as she kept administering care to the small boy.

The day passed, and Rye awoke, immediately that he was both alive and that there was water in his mouth. He swallowed as fast as he could, before finding another mouthful of water cooling his fevered tongue.

The woman was sitting over him on her knees, gently placing spoonfuls of water into his mouth as he swallowed.

"Who—" Rye said, only able to make out this word before his rebellious throat protested.

"Don't speak," came a whisper that may have been the woman, or may have just been the wind. "You are too weak right now. Just rest."

Rye's limbs were unresponsive, the only thing that he could move were his lungs. He could only barely raise his eyelids as he stared at the woman with his reptilian pupils, dimly glowing.

Slowly, gently, the woman reached up. She placed her fingers over Rye's eyes, and gently dropped them downwards, closing his eyes forcefully. His body responded immediately, falling asleep deeply as it recuperated. The woman smiled once, before sitting back and waiting. Waiting for the boy to wake again.