As promised, here's an earlier May update! Now that I'm down to only two ongoing projects, I should be able to post new chapters every month, with both stories hopefully wrapping up sometime next year.

Chapter 20: Wolves At the Door

Darting into the closet, she came back with a dark green shirt which she thrust at Peter. "Put this on."

Then she hurried out of the room and down the stairs, leaving his fingers racing to button up his borrowed shirt as he jogged after her. She was already at the front door by the time he reached the bottom of the stairs, but when she tried to go outside, an irresistible force yanked the handle out of her hand and slammed the door shut, giving him time to catch up with her.

"Bella, what's going on? Is our infected vampire here?"

"No, it's not him." Abandoning her efforts to open the telekinetically jammed door, she turned to face him, every line of her body still radiating tension. "Do you remember the last time you were in Forks, when you came to me for help with getting a handle on your powers so you wouldn't explode? Remember when I took you out to those cliffs to practice?"

"When you tried to take a swan dive off one of those cliffs to 'motivate' me?" Peter answered, frowning at the memory. "I don't think I'll ever forget."

"Right," Bella said briskly, clearly not wishing to be reminded of her foolhardy actions, "but do you remember what happened after that?"

"Some guys from the reservation showed up. You knew one of them - Jacob, right?" At her encouraging nod, he went on, "You weren't too thrilled to see him, though, because you said he and his friends... Well, that they were werewolves. I thought that sounded pretty far-fetched at the time, even by my standards, but I guess I can't really say that about anything anymore now that I live with a bunch of vampires. Hang on - is that what you smelled out there? A werewolf?"

"More than one, actually."

"So what's the problem? I know you warned me that they can be hot-tempered, but at least one of them is your friend, right?"

Bella shook her head. "That was before. The reason I got nervous when they crashed our training session, aside from how huge they are, is that I was worried my clothes might still have Elle's scent on them or something and they'd know I'd been staying with her and Edward. Apparently they really, really dislike vampires."

She glanced at the door again in an unspoken request for him to let her out, but he made no move to do so. "Then what do you want to go out there for?"

"The Cullens made a treaty with them, to stay off their land in exchange for the wolves not exposing them to the humans. If I explain that I'm part of their coven and I'm not going to break the treaty, hopefully they won't put up a fuss about us being here."

"And if they do?"

"Then it's a good thing you can fly."

The resolute finality in her voice made it clear that this was her last word on the matter, and so, figuring her acknowledgment that they might have to bail out if the discussion went badly was the best he was going to get, Peter finally relented and dropped his hold on the door. "Just stick close to me, all right?"

"Always." Keeping to a human-friendly pace, she strode into the middle of the front lawn and called out to the trees where her nose told her the wolves were watching, waiting. "I know you're there. I'm not here to cause trouble, I promise. Why don't you come out so we can talk?" Without looking away from the forest's edge, she whispered to Peter, "Use your telepathy and see if you can hear them."

He did, pushing his senses to their limit, and estimated that there were at least half a dozen of them surrounding the house on all sides, though it was difficult to pinpoint their numbers and locations due to the fact that their minds were linked, each one's thoughts bleeding into the others'. They recognized Bella and were shocked and outraged that she had become a vampire, and also confused by Peter's presence at her side. The wolves they had met during their excursion to the cliffs remembered him, but they seemed to think Bella should have cut all ties with her human associates when she was bitten, and they certainly didn't understand how a human could look so comfortable so close to her. Mostly, however, they were wary of her invitation to come out and talk, wondering if she was trying to lure them into some sort of trap.

Combining Matt's more active form of telepathy with Edward's larger range, he reached out to the nearest one and projected his own thoughts into their mental network. Come on, guys, this isn't a trick. We just want to talk.

Their reaction was immediate and overwhelming - there was amazement and no small amount of alarm at receiving a telepathic message from someone outside the pack, but more than a hint of curiosity as well. Finally, one brave member volunteered to check out the situation, and was quickly joined by two others. The rest were ordered by what seemed to be the dominant mind within the group to stay back, to watch and only leave their cover if things went sideways.

A few minutes later, a young man dressed only in a pair of cutoff jeans emerged from the woods, flanked by two enormous wolves, their heads higher than his shoulders. Peter tensed and gripped Bella's hand, ready to teleport away at the first sign of aggression, but the trio came to a halt ten feet away, the leader folding his arms over his chest as he regarded them with an unreadable look in his dark eyes, his face set in a carefully blank, almost masklike expression. "What do you want?"

"That's exactly what I wanted to ask you," Bella replied with as much politeness as she could muster, though her voice still held a slight edge. "Peter and I were just minding our own business when I caught your pack's scent, so do you mind telling us what you're doing here with so many wolves?"

"Jacob took his father into town to visit yours and smelled a vampire in the woods near Charlie's house. We were concerned for his safety, so we followed the trail, which led us here."

With his hand still clasping hers, Peter felt Bella flinch at the mention of her father, though she kept her voice impressively steady.

"You're right, I did look in on Charlie. I just...wanted to see how he's doing...make sure he's okay. I didn't hurt him, obviously, and I don't intend to hurt anyone else, so there's nothing for you to worry about. I'll abide by the same terms you agreed on with the Cullens."

"What makes you think that accord is still valid?" Sam demanded, his carefully neutral expression taking on a harder cast. "Or didn't they tell you that one of the conditions of our treaty was that they weren't allowed to change anyone else?"

"It wasn't a Cullen who bit me," Bella replied with a perfectly straight face, not a trace of hesitation in her voice. It was technically true, after all, since Elle's last name was still Bishop - a state of affairs that seemed unlikely to change any time soon, much to Edward's chagrin. She just hoped the spokes-wolf wouldn't think to ask her who had bitten Elle.

Luckily, he didn't, though he still seemed to doubt her story. "You know, I remember hearing that you spent time with them while they were still living in Forks, after you were assaulted in Port Angeles. Now you turn up as a vampire, and you expect us to believe they had nothing to do with it?" Although he refrained from asking out loud just how stupid she thought they were, Peter heard him thinking it.

"She's telling the truth," he confirmed, drawing the man's eyes to him for the first time. "The Cullens have been helping her adjust to vamp life, but they weren't responsible for changing her." Like Bella, he didn't consider this assertion a complete lie since it was his failure to control his powers that had necessitated her transformation; therefore, in his view, he was the one who was truly responsible for what had happened to her.

Sam gave him a long, measuring look before deciding to accept his assurances, which he couldn't prove were false even though the situation was highly suspicious, and move on to the next item on his agenda. "And what about you? You smell human, but somehow you broke into the pack's mental link and spoke to us. What are you?"

"Just a regular guy with a few special abilities."

"A few?" The other man's eyebrows shot up. "As in, more than one? What-?"

"Look, Sam," Bella broke in, "it is Sam, right? Peter clearly isn't a vampire, so you don't need to worry about him, okay?"

Once again, Sam took a moment to think it over before shrugging. "Fair enough." A human telepath was unusual even by his standards, and he was curious about what other abilities the man might possess, but without any evidence that he was actually dangerous there was no real reason for the pack to concern themselves with him. He was, however, concerned about why Bella Swan had returned to the area around Forks when she was supposed to be dead, and what might happen if she showed herself in town. "We'll honor the treaty as long as you do the same - stay off Quileute land and don't harm any humans - but I'd still like to know why you came back. It was hard enough for Chief Swan to accept your 'death', so I hope you aren't planning to contact him. Leave him alone and let him move on with his life."

Bella was initially tempted to say it was none of Sam's business what she did as long as she didn't violate his precious treaty, but she repressed the impulse when she looked into his dark eyes and saw that he truly was worried about what her getting in touch with Charlie, what him seeing her like this, would do to him. "Don't worry, I'm not here for him. Well, not to try and see him, at least; I'm here to protect him. If you must know, Peter and I are looking for a man infected with a rare virus who we expect to show up somewhere around here soon."

"A virus?" Sam was visibly startled by this, and even the pair of wolves behind him looked surprised. "Since when does your kind care about viruses?"

"Since some mad scientist created one that can infect us. Carlisle's trying to come up with a cure; in the meantime, the rest of us are tracking down everyone who was exposed, trying to stop it from spreading."

Seized by a sudden flash of inspiration, Peter added, "You could help us."

"Help you? Assuming I believe there's a new disease out there that can harm vampires, why would we want to stop it?"

Bella made an angry noise, and Peter tightened his grip on her hand while fighting back his own surge of irritation. "Because," he answered through gritted teeth, "this virus attacks the brain, which means it sends its victims into a violent delirium before it kills them. If you think normal vampires are dangerous, you should see what one who's out of their mind with pain, whose brain has deteriorated until all that's left are their basic instincts, can do. Actually, you don't have to see it; I can show you, if you're up for a little more mental communication."

"Our telepathy only works when we're in our wolf forms," Sam said uncertainly, eyeing him with obvious skepticism.

"Mine works on anyone," Peter countered.

The pack's leader still seemed unsure, but finally nodded. "All right, show me what this virus of yours does."

So Peter showed him his memories of the infected - their mindlessly vicious behavior and the slaughter just one could leave in their wake, as well as the fact that the virus appeared to be capable of jumping to humans. By the time it ended, Sam was clearly shaken, perhaps even sickened by what he'd seen, though he quickly shook it off and regained his normal carefully maintained composure.

"You're right," he said solemnly, "this is a threat that must be contained at all costs. You have my word that the pack will help however we can."

He extended his hand and Peter shook it, fighting back the urge to comment on how Sam had reached right past Bella without offering his hand to her as well.

###

Once Sam shifted back in order to share what Peter had shown him with the rest of the pack and inform them of his decision to aid in hunting down the carrier, they got on board immediately - not that refusing to obey their alpha's orders was an option, but the horrific images Sam showed them ensured that no one even tried to argue - though they were still uneasy about working with a vampire. After a couple of heated exchanges between Peter, Sam, and the latter's most trusted lieutenants, however, they adopted a slightly more lenient stance, allowing Bella to come right up to the border of their territory unchallenged. If she crossed paths with whichever wolf was on patrol, sometimes they would even acknowledge her presence with a look or a curt nod, but that was the extent of their interaction with her; when it came to actual discussions about coordinating their movements, they preferred to speak only with Peter.

Therefore, it came as quite a surprise when, upon completing her second nightly sweep of the coastline, she found Jacob waiting at the boundary in human form, prowling the invisible line that separated the forbidden land from where she was permitted to roam with an air of nervousness that was very much at odds with the rigid stoicism she usually observed in the wolves.

"Hello, Jacob," she called out while she was still several yards away, wanting to give him plenty of advance warning before coming closer.

He whirled around as she cautiously approached, looking as if he wasn't sure, now that she was actually there, whether he really wanted to follow through on whatever had prompted him to wait where he knew she would eventually end up or hightail it out of there.

"Peter's not here," she said when she was within a more normal conversational distance, though still farther away than most humans would stand while talking. "He may have superpowers, but he still sleeps, you know."

"I know. I was actually hoping to... Well, to talk to you," Jacob admitted. "I mean, Sam never explicitly said we couldn't, so..."

"So what?" Bella asked, aware that the words sounded flippant but unable to think of any other response. Try as she might, she couldn't imagine what they could possibly have to talk about.

After some awkward shuffling, he finally said, "I just wanted to...to say I'm sorry, I guess. That this happened to you," in the same somber tone people typically used for greeting bereaved loved ones at a funeral.

"Offer your condolences, you mean? Except I'm not dead, Jacob," she dryly pointed out. "Although Peter says that's how you see it, which according to him is why I make everyone so uncomfortable; it's not just what I am, it's that you knew me before."

"Yeah, it's weird," he agreed with a fervent nod. "Usually when someone dies, you think of all the things you wish you'd said to them that you'll never get a chance to say now that they're gone; that's how I felt when Charlie came home from New York and told Dad you were brain dead, and then that you'd died in a helicopter crash on your way to some long-term care institution... Then you show up here, but you're not the same - as far as some of my brothers are concerned, the jury's still out on whether you're even still Bella at all."

"Well, if I get a vote, I think I am," she retorted, her tone of voice now dancing right on the line between dry and downright caustic. "I remember everything about my human life, even if some of the memories are fuzzier now, and my mind still works the same. Sure, there are some new instincts I didn't have before, but the way I look at things - literature, politics, likes and dislikes - that hasn't changed. And Peter thinks I'm still the same person," she added, her voice softening as she recalled how he had taken in the altered features she'd been so afraid he would find off-putting, including her bright red newborn eyes, and simply said, You just look like Bella to me.

Then she realized Jacob was still watching her and shook off the pleasant memory. "So if there was something you didn't get a chance to tell me and you think saying it now will give you some kind of closure, I'll listen."

"Okay." He nodded hesitantly, still unsure if he truly believed she was the real Bella Swan but knowing that this was the best opportunity he was likely to get. "I just wanted to say...when I heard you were dead, I was sorry I wasn't a better friend to you while you lived in Forks. After what those scumbags did to you, I wanted to reach out, but I didn't know what to say, how to act around you, and it seemed like you just wanted to be left alone... Then you left, and I kept meaning to call or email you but I never did..."

He let what felt like an increasingly lame apology trail off into silence, leaving her staring at him in surprise. "Oh. Well, don't beat yourself up over it. You were right, I did want to be left alone. I was too scared to let anyone get close to me."

At first he seemed relieved at receiving absolution, but his face darkened at those last words. "I bet."

"Not just because I was afraid of what they might do to me," she clarified. "I was scared of me. After those men were finished with me, they wanted to kill me to cover their tracks, but I guess I wasn't ready to die. That was when my ability kicked in for the first time, or at least developed into something I could use as a weapon; I know a telepath who told me I already had a mental shield before then."

Seeing Jacob's startled look, she went on, "Yeah, I used to be like Peter before I became a vampire; there are more of us out there than you'd think. Anyway, it saved my life, but the active side of my power could also hurt people if I wasn't careful, if I got scared...and people scared me in a way they never had before, so I decided it was safer to just keep my distance. Even after I got good at controlling it, I kept my walls up... All I wanted was to shut everyone out, and my new 'gift' let me do it very effectively. I wouldn't have let you in if you had tried to be there for me."

"Wow." Jacob blew out a long breath and ran a hand over his close-cropped hair. "That has to be one of the worst superhero origin stories I've ever heard."

"Believe me, there was nothing heroic about me," Bella demurred with a self-deprecating laugh. "All I cared about was protecting myself...until I met Peter. He made me want to be a better person, and he believed in me even when I didn't."

"He must really be something special, huh?" Of course, Jacob thought, he would have to be to not mind kissing an ice statue.

"He's the most special person I know," she said at once, her response much more serious than the question had been. "It's not just all the things he can do, it's that most people, if they were given that kind of power, would probably use it for themselves, but all Peter wants is to help people. I mean, how many people do you think would go all the way to Texas to save some girl they've never even met, knowing there's a chance they'll die doing it? But he didn't even hesitate... He always does the right thing, no matter what it costs him."

A brief silence fell between them; then, catching sight of Jacob's slightly uncomfortable expression and realizing he probably hadn't wanted such an effusive answer to his casual comment, she decided to change the subject. "So, how did it happen for you? Your, uh, origin story?"

"Well, it was nowhere near as traumatic as yours. Remember that eclipse that happened last year, back at the beginning of October? Well, a bunch of us who had the wolf gene changed for the first time that day, just like that. Not much of a story, huh? Of course, it felt like a huge freaking deal to us, but we were lucky that Sam, Paul, and Jared had already been doing it for a while, so they were able to help, and then our elders knew all the old history, how we first became wolves... I must've heard those stories dozens of times when I was little, but I just thought it was a load of superstitious nonsense."

He ducked his head in embarrassment at his old attitude, but then a thoughtful look came over his face. "Funny thing is, though, in the stories, they always said the transformations only got triggered when there were vamps nearby, when we were needed to defend our people. They never said an eclipse could cause it, but we know there were no vampires anywhere around this time."

"You know, Peter's powers manifested for the first time during that same eclipse - I think a lot of people's did, actually. That can't be a coincidence, can it?"

"It'd be a hell of one if it is," Jacob agreed, "but if not, what do you think it all means?"

"That maybe your wolf genes are similar to the ones that give evolved humans their powers?" Bella suggested with a shrug. "Or maybe it means something big is coming, and your pack has a part to play in stopping it."

"The virus, you mean?"

"I don't know." Bella turned to gaze out over the moonlit waves, her face falling into a pensive frown despite the gorgeous view spread out before her. "I'm definitely worried about it, but I have a bad feeling that we're just seeing the tip of the iceberg."

She said nothing more after that, and Jacob didn't try to continue the conversation, now lost in his own thoughts as well. It should have been comforting to learn that he and his brothers weren't alone in having been affected by the eclipse, that there might actually be a reason his life had been turned upside down, yet Bella's confession about her feelings of foreboding had exactly the opposite effect.

###

It was past sunrise, though still early in the morning when Bella returned to the house to find Peter already up and washing his breakfast dishes.

"Morning. No sign of our friend yet, huh?"

"Nothing," she sighed. "I did have an interesting encounter with Jacob Black, though."

"So he finally decided to buck the pack mentality about not associating with vampires and talk to you? Took him long enough."

"He'd been thinking about it for a while, then? You could've given me a heads-up," Bella grumbled.

"Well, I wasn't sure if he'd work up the nerve or not. I thought about telling him to just go for it, but I didn't want to embarrass him by reminding him that I knew what was on his mind."

"Why would that embarrass him? We didn't really hang out a lot when I lived here, but we did see each other a few times when he drove his dad up to see Charlie, so it's only natural for him to feel weird about me being back here, now that I'm...different."

"That's true," Peter agreed, "although the real reason it bothered him as much as it did is because he used to have a crush on you."

"What? But we- I didn't- He never said anything!" she sputtered. "I had no idea!"

"I didn't think so," he assured her, responding to her obvious discomfort with a sympathetic look. "I guess he didn't bring it up, then?"

"No," she said emphatically. "Why would he - I'm a filthy bloodsucker now, remember?" Although, in light of this new information, she suddenly found herself wondering if disgust at her sappiness was the only reason Jacob had looked so uncomfortable when she detailed what she loved most about Peter, before putting it firmly out of her mind. "It doesn't matter anyway; even if he had made a move while I was still human, I don't think I could ever have loved him the way I love you."

She leaned across the countertop between them, her eyes closing as he did the same... Just before their lips met, they were interrupted by the ringing of his phone, which he reluctantly answered after checking its caller ID.

"Hey, Sam. What's up?" he asked, shooting Bella an apologetic look as she pulled back and straightened up, glaring daggers at his phone.

"I just heard from Billy Black that someone at the electric company noticed that there's been power usage in the Cullen house even though it's supposed to be empty as far as anyone in town knows, so they called the police. Chief Swan's on his way there right now."

"Charlie's coming here?" Bella's eyes widened in alarm, her displeasure forgotten.

She was fairly certain Sam could hear her over the phone just as clearly as she heard him, but he ignored her, continuing to speak to Peter. "You should tell Bella to make herself scarce... Peter? Are you there?"

Snapping out of her panicked haze, Bella glanced up at Peter's face, saw the glazed, distant look in his eyes, and grabbed the phone just in time to stop it from slipping out of his slackened grip. "What is it? What do you see?"

"The carrier," he answered in a dull voice that seemed to come from much farther away than the other side of a kitchen counter. "He's here...making his way inland. He'll cross the main road leading out of town in less than twenty minutes..."

"That's the same road Charlie will be taking to get here!" Snatching his phone away, she brought the speaker closer to her mouth and said urgently, "Sam, I need you to get as many wolves as you can out there to patrol the road - make sure Charlie doesn't run into that infected vampire. Kill him if you find him first, make Charlie turn back if you can... Just don't let anything happen to him, please!"

She hung up without waiting for a reply and moved to Peter's side in the blink of an eye, shaking him a bit more roughly than she would ordinarily dare to. "Peter, come back to me, I need you!"

He blinked, his head slowly turning toward her as he shook off the remnants of his vision and dragged his mind back into the present.

"I need you to take me to the place you just saw," she implored, still desperately clutching his arm. "With Charlie and our carrier both out there, they could be on a collision course, and we have to stop it!"

Those words served to fully jar Peter out of his precognitive trance, and the next thing Bella knew they were out in the woods, hidden among the trees that pressed in on either side of the only road that cut through the forest surrounding Forks, almost as if the wilderness resented its intrusion and was trying to squeeze it out. They didn't have to wait long before a familiar police cruiser came into view, and Bella breathed a sigh of relief at seeing Charlie behind the wheel, safe and unharmed; then the breath froze in her throat when a distant flash of light caught her eye - a stray shaft of sunlight that had managed to penetrate the leafy canopy overhead glinting off vampiric flesh.

The man she and Peter had spent the past two days searching for staggered out of the trees on the other side of the road, his movements erratic, uncoordinated, yet still blindingly fast, and stumbled to a halt right in the middle of the pavement. To Charlie's eyes, it was like he'd appeared out of nowhere, and though he tried to swerve around him, it was too late. Vampire and vehicle collided with a loud crunch, the metal folding around his unyielding body, the hood and everything under it caving in as the cruiser's momentum carried it forward, pushing it against the immovable obstacle in its path.

Just when it looked as if the vampire would go straight through the windshield and end up in Charlie's lap, the car hit a wall of solid air courtesy of Bella that stopped it cold. The vampire began flailing madly, ripping off chunks of metal and tossing them everywhere as he sought to free himself from the twisted wreckage, though nothing passed through the invisible barrier separating him from Charlie. Then, before the sheriff's disbelieving eyes, he was picked up by another unseen yet immensely powerful force and hurled backward, landing several yards away.

Two wolves, each roughly the size of a bear, charged out of the woods and set upon the downed vampire, tearing at him with teeth and claws; one of them got his arm in their mouth and ripped it off, but then he managed to kick them away before lashing out at the other with his remaining arm, his nails leaving a long, deep gash in its hide. The wolf staggered, a wave of blood spraying the road even as the wound sealed itself, but not fast enough - the crazed vampire was already barreling into him, fingers digging into his fur, jaws snapping wildly less than an inch from his snout as they tumbled end over end together, locked in a deadly embrace...

The other wolf had quickly picked himself up and came bounding back from where the vampire's kick had sent him flying but couldn't help his brother, unable to find an opening in the whirling mass of fur and pale limbs. Then the two combatants rose into the air, frozen in the midst of their efforts to tear each other to shreds, as if they were an image on a TV screen that had been paused in the middle of an action sequence.

Peter and Bella stepped forward, his face set in a look of intense concentration while she carefully pried the immobilized figures apart. Once they were untangled, Peter separated them and released his hold, letting them drop gently to the ground. The wolf immediately scrambled to his feet, panting. The vampire also tried to get up, but Bella was already behind him, her hands closing around his lower jaw; she removed his head with a quick, brutally efficient twist, his body crumpling like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

The wolves pressed in, tongues lolling out of mouths open in eager canine grins, and together the three of them finished the dismemberment, then backed away so Peter could light the pieces on fire with a few sparks from his fingertips.

Silence fell over them as they watched the diseased vampire burn with a profound sense of relief - until it was broken by the bewildered voice of Charlie Swan, who, moving at human speed (which was further reduced by his astonishment at the bizarre scene unfolding in front of him), had just then managed to climb out of his wrecked car.

"Will somebody please tell me what the hell just happened here?"

Uh-oh, looks like our heroes have some 'splaining to do. That should make for a fun start to the next chapter...

For anyone who remembers my less than charitable take on Jacob in my previous series, it may be surprising that I'm making him less of a jerk here, but I thought he might have a different attitude in a world where Bella never dated Edward or any other vampire, so Jacob can't be bitter over how he never had a chance with her because some bloodsucker swooped in and stole her. He also mentioned how becoming a wolf felt like 'being drafted into a war he didn't even know was going on', but since his transformation here had nothing to do with the presence of vamps, he doesn't have that reason to resent them either even if he still considers them his natural enemies. As for how big of a part he'll ultimately play... That's one of those fine details I'm still working out, but hopefully I'll think of something interesting to do with him.