"It's over," he said. "Sam separated Victoria from her army and single-handedly took her down while the rest of us managed to take out the newborns. Their fighting was so sloppy, it's any wonder how they managed to injure any of us. Jacob's on his way."

My head wasn't working right. The only word that caught my attention was injure. "Who was injured?"

"Leah and Paul, but they'll be okay. Just a couple of scratches. Nothing to worry about."

"And Jake?"

"Bella, quit worrying. He held his own and is perfectly fine. I'll tell you this though: he can't wait to tell you about his part of the fight." Seth looked over his shoulder, "Oh, here he comes now."

"Bells!"

"Jake!" I ran over to greet him in a tight embrace and gave him the once over; exactly as Seth had promised, Jacob had no wounds whatsoever.

"Seth told me everything you told him. I hate to say it, but I did leave a note on your nightstand about meeting with the pack, but I wrote no invitation. The vampire must've added to it. Damn bloodsuckers."

"Is it true?" I whispered "Is Victoria really gone?"

"Yes, Bella. I saw it in Sam's head. I watched him clamp down on her throat. I watched her fall. She won't be bothering us anymore."

I could tell he was holding back some of the more gruesome details for my sake and I was glad for that.

"But enough about that. Do you wanna hear what I did?"

I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but at the same time, I didn't want to have nightmares about my Jake risking his life for me.

"Okay, shoot," I decided.

"So there I was in the middle of a standoff between Leah and this vampire chick. I knew it wasn't going to end well. Can you say catfight?" He chuckled at his lame joke.

I smiled weakly.

"I watched for a little bit and waited to see if Leah needed any help. Of course, she heard my 'allegedly' offensive plan and kept telling me to back off and chase someone else, but you know me: Can't leave a good fight."

"Why didn't you take her advice?"

"Well, right after she said that, I saw her confidence waver and that's when I decided to step in. The biggest problem with being fast is that you're usually not very strong. She needed me."

I winced at the word needed.

"I'm sorry, I meant to say that she was slipping so I stepped in to pick up the slack. In no time at all, we took care of the leech."

"Is that all?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Unfortunately?"

"Well, yes. By the time our little scuffle was over, Sam had already taken out Victoria and the others had killed most of the rest of the army. There was little left for us to do."

Trying not to dwell too much on the word kill, I asked, "Now when you say most of..."

"I mean there were one or two others left, but by the time they realized that, it was a done deal. They surrendered their lives and gave up the game."

"Why would you kill them if they surrendered?"

"We are vampire hunters, Bella," he said with finality as if it should never be questioned.

I didn't argue.

"So your scuffle," I changed the topic, "it lasted as long as the battle?"

"Not quite. See, we already had a plan to break up any groups larger than 3 and it worked out beautifully, but, as with most battle plans, something went wrong. While I was splitting up a pair so me and Embry could have fun chasing one down each, it was at the last second that I realized I was sending my vampire straight to Leah who was patiently waiting for a certain command. The fact that it never came was a very good thing because this vampire was a lot stronger than I'd given her credit for."

"What was Leah waiting for?"

"The command to howl."

I was bewildered.

"Only she can howl at a certain frequency that hurts the bloodsuckers' ears. It's a beautiful distraction. If things got out of hand, she'd howl and keep the leeches in check and we'd be free to take them down. It's a damn good thing they never did because what I did would've made it impossible for her to fulfill her duties.

"Overall, I'd say the army was way weaker than we anticipated with a few exceptions, of course."

"This is all very fascinating. Can I have my coat back?"

I was so engrossed in Jacob's tale, that it took a decent conclusion before I realized I was shivering violently.

"Oh right. Quil!"

"What!" Quil said from several yards away.

"What'd ya do with Bella's coat?"

"Nothing bad. I'll just go get it, shall I?"

"Yes, you shall," Jacob turned to me as I watched Quil's receding figure. "Don't worry, he'll be back. Hey, when he gets back, you wanna go to my place?"

"I've never wanted to be in a house more than right now."

We waited a full 10 minutes before Quil came back in wolf form with my jacket hanging from his mouth. He opened it and I quickly put it on, unreasonably hoping that it still had some of my body heat. No surprise that it didn't.

He retreated into a bush and reemerged as a human. "I forgot where I put it. Sorry for the wait."

"Whatever," said Jake, "Let's go."

We all began walking towards the neighborhood. Jacob and I put our arms around each other and I looked at him like he was a god. At that very moment, if you'd asked me, I wouldn't have hesitated to tell you that Jake would take a bullet for me anytime.