Watching something so large and powerful looking back away in surprise was quite comical. It took me a moment before something else clicked.

"You heard me?" I asked. I was absolutely positive that my physical form was still sitting a few miles away at least on a log, talking to Jasper about goodness knows what. And yet here this large, confused wolf was, looking directly at me. I looked straight back at it. At him. I just knew it was Jacob. Somehow it looked like him. I wasn't sure if it was his eyes, or the colour of his fur, but if I had ever had to picture Jacob as a wolf, then this is exactly what would have come to mind. He scrambled to his feet, and then walked towards me intently.

Bella?

Jacob's rich voice sounded in my head, clearer than I'd ever heard it before. I smiled at him.

"Hey Jake, you look awesome. Glad you figured out the whole shifting thing." I said, reaching out instinctively to touch him. My hand passed straight through his shaggy mess of fur.

Bella, I don't - I mean - what? The wolf stood there, looking as aghast as anything. I looked briefly back to the direction I had come from. I wondered how long Renesmee and Jasper would be talking before she 'reeled' me back.

"I'm not sure how much time I have to explain. Whatever I don't get to though - we'll talk face to face again soon, right?" I asked.

Yeah. Absolutely. Uh - you should know that there are others listening to you to right now.

"The mental connection thing right? Your pack?" I asked. Wolf Jacob's jaw dropped. "Again - it's kind of complicated, but let's say I have an inside source into the workings of your tribe, and most of the stuff that you think you might need to explain, I already know." I was so nervous I was twitching my fingers, itching to sign and speak, to communicate to my fullest potential.

"I... um, I'm kind of sharing my body, with an aboriginal shaman from way back when your tribe first discovered the whole spirit walking thing. She accidentally thought my body was vacant, and now we're stuck together. She's awesome. Her name is Renesmee, I think you'll like her. But both of us can't be in there at the same time. Right now she's driving the meat suit, so she can talk to someone. I'm running around, and exploring, since I can actually run through a forest without falling over. I didn't realise I'd made it to Quileute territory. I certainly didn't realise you were up and running about, or I would have come to see you sooner."

This has got to be the strangest thing I've ever heard.

"Ha. Ha." I said, sardonically. "Trust me, I'm having a hard enough time explaining this to myself, let alone other people, without it sounding utterly insane. But it's true. How else could I know what I know? How else could I be here now? How else could I have jumped the gorge there? And although you can see me right now - which is - by the way - something no one except Renesmee and I have been able to do - you can't smell me, or touch me. I'm like some kind of Star Trek hologram."

He stood, silently for what felt like a few minutes, and then looked behind him. Three other wolves appeared, two smaller, but one comparable in size and stature to Jacob. He was big, black, menacing, and angrier looking than the goofy face of Jacob. I wondered if that was because of my predisposition to view Jacob as friendly, and if to others he might look just as menacing. I glanced at Jacob, his head lolled slightly, one eyebrow raised. No it was definitely just Jacob.

Bella, this is Sam. He's pack leader. Jacob supplied, jerking his head towards the large black wolf.

"Sam Uley?" I asked, picturing the man I'd met once, the leader of the 'cult' Jacob had been so worried about before his transformation. At least Jacob seemed on good terms with Sam now, and probably on better terms with himself. The black wolf nodded slowly, and courteously. Although curious, he seemed much less happy to see me.

I see a few things have changed for you Bella.

"Understatement of the year." I replied, and began my story anew, as quickly as possible.

Jasper

"You don't believe us?" She asked me simply at the end of her explanation of their joint situation.

My lifetime's worth of experiences with the supernatural had taught me that nothing was outside the realms of possibility, but for Bella to be entangled with not one, but two forms of supernatural being was just incredibly unlikely. Everything about the person in front of me was different. It certainly looked like Bella, but everything about her was off. He posture was relaxed and strong, her face made words differently. She didn't twitch her hands when she spoke, like Bella was always doing, ready to sign in a moment. She didn't focus her gaze purely on the lips of those talking to her. Even without my talents it was clear that someone was in her body, brand new, testing things out. This person had a habit of biting on the inside of her cheek as she thought - unlike Bella, who preferred hand-based habits. My talents also opened up a world of information. I thought back to every instance over the past few weeks that made so much more sense now. The callous disinterest that came with come scenarios, or the irritation at odd moments. When I looked hard, I could see the moments with the third person in the room, where Bella, or Renesmee, would respond to empty air, with an emotional response of some kind. I could also feel the difference when it came to their overall calm state. Bella had been right, describing Renesmee as old, patient, frustrated, and all the other things that made no sense except to an old, solitary being now forced into a shared inhabitant state.

"Of course I do." I admitted. "And to be honest, I'm a little relieved that Bella isn't suffering from some kind of psychotic break."

"I wouldn't go that far. As I said, your brother managed to rip enough of her soul out of her body that I thought it was brain-dead. Her lack of emotional control, and her ability to so quickly pick up focusing of a destructive gift that has taken me years to refine, is extremely disturbing. I need to keep teaching her control, or she will end up killing someone, but at the same time, that level of emotional destruction can't just be buried. It has to be dealt with. I'm just not sure how many people might explode in the process. You saw what she did to that cigarette." Renesmee looked at the patch of scorched ground beside us.

"Bella isn't one to be underestimated. I've come to think of her much like one of my own kind. She has a uniquely unmatched emotional depth and maturity, while also having an insane capacity for attracting trouble." I smiled, thinking about how my family had grown to love her. "There's a reason we're still here, after all. None of us believe Edward should have left, even though he almost killed her. Most of us think that he should have just changed her already."

"Edward doesn't love her enough to keep her around?" Renesmee asked, bitterness evident. Her emotions were cold, and approaching annoyance. Clearly she'd gotten attached to Bella as well.

"It's not that. It's that he doesn't want to doom her to an existence as unchanging and sorrowful as ours. Driven by animal instincts, and base desires, emotionally isolated and forever hidden away. My family is the most unusual one, aside from the Volturi perhaps, in the world. The largest permanent gathering of non-related vampires. We've lived together longer than the majority of our kind can stand even living."

I sighed as I continued to press on. "I can't tell you what's going on in his head - only he has that capability - but I can tell you that emotionally he's one of the most restrained, self-loathing pieces of shit in this family. Even Rosalie has enough sense to try and search for happiness. Bella walks into his life, as brilliant as the sun, and he's moping around."

"You obviously don't agree with him then. Is that why you took Bella's side?"

"We took Bella's side because we love her, and she needs more support and strength than he does right now. Human life is a gift, a fragile and unpredictable one at that. Bella managed to charm us all. Even Rosalie likes her."

Renesmee gave me a skeptical look. "I haven't met her because Bella told me that when Edward split, her and Emmett left too?"

"Yeah. But Rose likes her. Rose loves Edward, and seeing how happy he is with Bella. She's just complicated, and envious, and jealous, and... well Rosalie. You learn to live with it. Emmett had to follow his wife, but he's always been protective with Bella."

"And so here we are." Renesmee said, looking up at the trees. "I'm here, I'm joined with Bella until we both kick the proverbial bucket, and there's a complicated mess I've managed to dive into."

"Well, I am sorry, but you're probably going to have to explain all this again. Alice has difficulty seeing you, or else she would have already passed on our conversation. It's been driving her half mad, thinking she was losing her gift."

"I am sorry about that. I can't explain why she can't see me." Renesmee stood up, and closed her eyes. A light coating of steam suddenly erupted from all over her body. It took me a moment to realise she was evaporating all the moisture she had accrued during our conversation off of her hair and clothing.

"Would you like a lift back to the car?" I asked, stretching out my hand. Renesmee smiled curtly.

"It's funny. Never in my life did I think I'd not only be fine living with vampires, but accepting close physical contact." She took my offered hand, and I whisked her into a fireman's hold, running swiftly to the car. She sat calmly, and stiffly. Once we were back to the car, she took the passenger seat, opening up the glove box to pull out a cigarette. Within a second it was lit, burning away.

"It's funny watching these now. My last host was quite the smoker. It feels comfortable, and familiar, and yet not one part of Bella's body physically wants this." She rubbed her fingers gently over the lit end, and suddenly the flame was out, transferred onto an imaginary wick on top of her finger. That too, extinguished.

"Is Bella going to be joining us for the conversation with the others?" I asked, entirely unsure as to where she was currently. Renesmee and Bella had described the physical and spirit body differences, and I wondered if she was in the car with us. An entity with full consciousness and emotional range that I couldn't perceive. Carlisle would have a field day.

"I don't know." Renesmee muttered. "But unless you want your house burned down, I'd suggest leaving her wherever she is, until we're done with the Edward part."