Chapter 22

The Wrap - Up

The following day, Bella had packed up her things and left the Cullen house, for good. She had no intention of ever going back. It was funny to her though; after all the time she had spent back and forth between Edward and Jacob….to just really and truly be alone. She was surprised as to how okay she actually was with that, it was rather interesting to her.

Jamie could never seem to get over all the things that Jacob has sprung on her and she didn't know what she was going to do about any of it. What would she tell people? How would she be able to carry his secret to the grave? How long would it before she was in a grave? Would being with Jacob shorten her lifespan? The thoughts that went through her head all the time kept her up at night and haunted her dreams in the few restful moments that she did find.

Jacob was doing alright. He had come to terms with his life and he had decided to make things easier on everyone and give up the wolf. He figured that it would take away the imprint and then he could possibly have one last chance to get Bella back…if she was still human that is. He knew it would hurt Quil, Embry and Seth, but they would get over it. They would eventually come to accept the changes and get used to it.

Edward was a wreck. He had lost the only woman he had ever loved…again. The thought of spending a billion lifeless years on earth alone was one of complete desperation. But, the whole thing was really bittersweet for him. He loved Bella and part of loving her meant doing what was best for her and in this situation, letting her go was her best option.

Bella didn't know where to go after she left the Cullen's. The Volturi was after her and she had to do something about that. As much as she wanted to go home to Charlie and feel safe and comfortable again, she knew that it was wrong to put Charlie in danger. No, she definitely couldn't go there….but where could she go? Well, she figured that going back to Leah's was probably her best bet. She just hoped that Leah hadn't changed her mind back and decided to hate her again.

Bella drove to the La Push lines and that old feeling of weightlessness came over her again. She used to feel free from Edward's dominance whenever she would be "allowed" to see Jacob, knowing full well that Edward could not cross the treaty lines. The Volturi would not have the same courtesy…no, she would not really be truly safe there, but it would have to do.

When Bella got to Leah's house, she pulled into the drive and noticed that the place was silent. The car was gone and there didn't appear to be any sign of life inside the house. Damn! She went to the door and knocked, hoping that she had been wrong and someone….anyone…would come to the door. But, she was not in luck, nobody was there. She sighed, "Come on Leah!"

Then she heard a car behind her and turned expectantly to see who it was. When she caught a glimpse of the driver shock caught in her throat. The girl she saw standing there was the single most gorgeous things she had ever seen; of the ones whose hearts were still beating anyway. Damn, she thought, this must be Jamie!

Jamie walked over to the door and looked at the girl standing there. She didn't look like she was native either, so she couldn't be Leah's sister….well, unless she was adopted or only a half sister. "Um, is Leah home?"

Bella turned to Jamie, "Uh…no, I was here to see her as well."

"She must be very popular." Jamie said, with a smile.

'God, she's pretty!' Bella thought to herself. She couldn't understand why it had been so hard for Jacob; given the choice between the two of them it seemed pretty obvious to her.

"Are you a friend of hers?"

"Yeah, I was just coming over for some advice, really."

"Oh, me too." Jamie said, with a dazzling smile that could light up a room.

"Is everything alright?"

Jamie shrugged, "It's just that the guy I've been sort of seeing gave me some really unexpected news and I knew that Leah was friends with him and I thought maybe I could talk to her woman to woman and see…" Her voice trailed off.

Bella smiled, "You want to make sure that Jake really isn't crazy?"

She laughed, "You must be Bella."

"And you're Jamie."

"So, he's told you about me?"

Bella nodded, "yup."

"I'm sorry." Jamie said, and she truly was, "I never meant to come between you guys. I just want everyone to be happy."

Bella smiled back at her, unable to hate this girl no matter how much she wanted to, "No, it's totally not your fault. He couldn't help it either. It was just meant to be I guess."

She shook her head, "I still don't really get it all, you know? It's a lot to take in."

Bella smiled, "I know how you feel." She laughed, "I never would have thought that I would get myself tangled up between a vampire and a werewolf either."

Jamie grimaced, "You aren't one yet, are you?"

Bella smiled, "No, I changed my mind."

Jamie nodded, "Oh good, that's a smart choice. I would rather die than be a vampire."

Before Bella knew what was happening, she felt a breeze on her face and her hair fanned out behind her. She turned to see what was causing it and turned white as a ghost. There, not ten feet away from the two humans was the Volturi. Bella was glad to see that they weren't all there. They had brought along eight members, including the three leaders Aro, Marcus and Caius. Among the guard Alec, Demetri, Felix, Jane and Renata. Of course the leaders would be there…that was always implied and of course they would bring their secret weapons along with them. She wasn't completely sure why they brought Jane along when they knew that her powers of pain illusions didn't work on her. But, they would work on Jamie, and that left a nasty taste in her mouth.

Jacob was driving, on a mission. He had to get to the Cullen's house and see if there was any chance that Bella was still human. If she was then he would have a chance to tell her of his newfound decision and convince her to come back with him. He had it all figured out in his head what he was going to say to her, but he hoped that he wouldn't get all tongue-tied when he actually saw her face-to-face.

He pulled up to the huge mansion that was anything but inconspicuous, and hopped out of the rabbit. He couldn't believe how quiet the house was, but thought that they must be trying to avoid unnecessary attention or draw the Volturi to them.

He walked up the stone walkway and up to the front door, where he knocked heavily. He waited….no one came. Then he ran around to the back of the house and knocked on all the windows and doors that he came across. The entire back of the house was glass and he knew that if someone was in there he would see them….but no such luck. Nobody was anywhere to be seen on their property. Fuck! They must have already been married and had fled to wherever they were going to start their new lives together.

Somewhere far, far away, no doubt. Bella had always hated Forks…well, until she fell in love with the vampire and he had changed all that. Jacob was so livid it wasn't even funny. Why was life turning out this way for him, once again? 'God!' he yelled in his head, 'why can't you ever just throw me a bone?'

"Jamie, stay back." Bella whispered to her newfound friend.

Aro stepped forward and smiled brightly at Bella. "I am glad to see that you are well. However I am sorry to see that you are still human."
Caius joined in, "We had hoped that you would have changed that prior to our arrival."

"You have been awfully hard for poor Demetri to track." Aro said, taking the reins again.

Bella sighed, "Oh, how incredibly rude of me."
Marcus was in Bella's face, lightly running his hands over it, "It was rude, Bella, after all we came all this way just to see you."

"And, we're so thirsty." Aro said, his red eyes shining.

Bella stiffened and reached over to grip Jamie's hand.

Marcus smiled, "She feels protective of that other human." Marcus moved closer to Jamie, inspecting her, "And she is a beauty, is she not?"

Aro smiled, "She sure would make a beautiful addition to our coven."
"No!" Bella screamed, "You came for me, so take me!"

Aro laughed, "Bella, Bella, Bella, always so willing to throw herself in front of her friends. It's one of the things we admired most about you when we met. That and the amazing powers that you possess."

"What powers?"

Caius laughed, "Oh, come on, like you haven't figured out that you're a shield."

"Or you could be, if you'd ever be turned." Aro added, exasperated. "But, no matter, you have refused our life, so we shall refuse yours." He nodded to Felix, who immediately grabbed both girls in an iron grip. He held them both so tightly they thought they might burst.

"Relax, little girls," Felix taunted, "It will make this a lot easier."

Bella bristled, "I will not go quietly."

Aro smiled, "I would expect nothing less of you, my dear." Aro made a motion with his hands and Bella was immediately released from Felix's grip. She immediately screamed and started to run, trying to attract any attention she could. Aro laughed at her nonsense, she was not going to win. "You know, Bella, we really are fond of you. You could have been such an amazing addition."

She glared at him, "I would never join your sadistic bunch of animals!"

Aro laughed and nodded at Felix, who took a giant whiff of Jamie's neck and sunk his teeth in, drinking in a wild, passionate frenzy. The smell of her blood was intoxicating to the other vampires, but they had to remain cool. They could not lose focus and allow Bella to escape. Aro, coming back to reality, grabbed Bella and forced her to watch as Felix drained Jamie of her blood, "See, you could have prevented all of this if you had just kept your end of the bargain." Bella was crying, sobbing….feeling desperate and helpless.

While he was in the middle of his pity party, Jacob felt something. Something was wrong! He always felt the invisible cord to Jamie but he had never felt anything like this. The wolf in him was frantic. There was definitely something wrong, but what was it? He had no idea, but there was no other choice…he had to find her. He got in his car and drove to where he could feel the cord pulling him to.

Leah got there first. She pulled into the driveway and got out of the car in a panic. "No!" she screamed, watching what Felix was doing to Jamie.

Aro turned to see her and smiled, "Oh, how precious; another human for our dinner." The other vampires laughed along with him and Bella fumed.

Leah glared at them and barred her teeth and in less than the blink of an eye, she was in her wolf form. The vampires were stunned momentarily. The diversion even caused Felix to loosen his grip on Jamie and cause her body to land on the grass.

The vampires looked at her, fascinated. It wasn't night time…so she couldn't be a child of the night. But, what was she? They didn't know, but they didn't care. Having ones of this kind, who could easily morph into the human society, would be a truly magnificent and essential part of their coven.

Leah braced herself for an attack and went right to the top. She ran and pounced on Aro, taking him by surprise. He pushed Leah off him and across the yard, where she landed harshly against a hard tree trunk.

Leah was not about to give in, they would have to kill her before she would surrender. She jumped back up and ran back at him, as he started off in the other direction. Before he could get away, wolves jumped out from every angle and surrounded them. The vamp's eyes popped open in shock.

A battle was brewing and Leah was determined to be on the winning team. Aro took off running, but she, Jared and Paul took him down, ripping him to pieces. The others began to attack, kicking wolves into the woods and running with lightening speed.

The wolves worked together to divide and conquer. There where at least two wolves to every vampire, but the vampires were super strong and really, really fast. Once they took down Alec and Renata the wolves started to feel as though they could actually win this fight.

They were far into the woods, chasing and attacking vampires, right and left, when Carlisle and his coven arrived on the scene. They immediately assessed the damages and jumped into the fight wherever they needed the most help. Emmett, Carlisle and Jasper jumped in head first and began ripping vampires to shreds and lighting them on fire as they went.

Edward ran to Bella's side, as did Alice, who was sobbing uncontrollably and apologizing for not seeing it until too late. Rosalie did something that shocked all of them who were still in front of the house…she knelt beside Jamie, picked up her broken body and lay her in her arms.

"Is she….?" Bella's voice trailed off, her head buried into Edward's chest.

Before anyone could answer that question a car flew into the drive and Jacob jumped from it and ran, his door hanging by a thread. He dropped to his knees besides Jamie's lifeless form and began to sob….he had been too late.

Alice wiped at her own tears, "There's too much venom in her bloodstream. She will be changed."

Jacob cried out in anguish, "No!" He felt so desperate, knowing that he had let her down. He had failed to do the one thing he knew he needed to do…keep her safe. He had been too wrapped up in his own feelings for Bella to pay attention to what the wolf was trying to tell him.

"No! You have to suck the venom out!" Jacob cried, staring at Alice.

Alice shook her head, "It has spread quickly and she has lost so much blood already that we will kill her if we try to suck it out. She will lose too much blood. We have to take her somewhere safe so that she can continue to make the change."

Bella sobbed and Jacob looked at her. Had she been here the whole time? She looked awful. He felt a wave of compassion surge through him and he wanted to hold her, to comfort her.

"They wanted me! They wanted me!" She screamed into Edward's chest. "Why couldn't they have just killed me and left her alone?"

Jacob's heart shattered into a thousand pieces. As he looked back and forth between Bella's depressed face and Jamie's anguished, lifeless one, he felt something that took him by surprise. He was completely desperately upset about what had happened to Jamie but he was also relieved that it wasn't Bella's life that he had to mourn. And as he watched Bella sobbing uncontrollably over the possible death/definite vampire change that had happened to Jamie he fell even deeper in love with her. She really was a selfless person, a beautiful and true person.

"We need to get her out of her, to take her where it's safe. We can't let her stay here, bleeding while those assholes are still out there." Alice said.

Edward nodded, she was right. "Yes, we should get her out of her and take her back to the house."

"NO!" Bella screamed and they all stared at her in complete disbelief. "Moments before they showed up she told me that she would rather die than be a vampire."

Edward and Alice looked at each other, "Surely she wouldn't still want that now."

Jacob looked into Bella's eyes and he knew she was right. Jamie didn't want this life; this was not where she belonged. True, it was a complete shame to waste a beautiful life like this, especially when she would have made an exquisite vampire, but it wasn't right. It wasn't what she wanted. "Bella's right."

Bella looked into Jacob's eyes and nobody could deny the love and devotion that flickered between them and almost singed the hairs on Edward's head. They were on the same page and they knew what they needed to do.

Leah came out of the forest and around to the front yard of her house, covered only in some leaves and Jacob thought that was how Eve must have looked in the Garden of Eden. A small part of him wanted to laugh, but he was in too much pain for that. He stood up, "Leah, I need your dad's old hunting rifle."

"Jacob!" Alice shouted, "You can't be serious!"

Jacob looked at Alice with more pain in his eyes than even Bella had ever seen there. Alice retreated as Jacob nodded, "It's the right thing to do."

Leah ran into her house and was back in two minutes with the rifle and an outfit. She slipped into her clothes and handed the rifle over to Jacob, looking into his eyes as she did it. He took it from her, sadness in his eyes. He went back to Jamie's side.

"You don't have to do this, Jacob. One of us could do it for you, you know." Edward told him.

Jacob gave him a look of compassion and said, "No, I need to do it." He got down on his knees beside her, taking her hand into his. "Jamie, I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm sorry." Tears were flowing from his eyes, he couldn't control them and there wasn't any point in trying. "I'm so sorry I brought you into this mess. You deserved so much more than all of this. But, I want to honor your wishes. I know you have to be in a lot of pain right now and that will be over really quickly."

He wasn't sure but he thought he saw some movement in her eyes. He stared at her face and with every ounce of determination in herself she reached a hand up to place it on Jacob's face. He wrapped his hand around hers and cried harder. He bent down and placed a kiss on her lips, feeling as though she was returning it. He knew he was doing what she wanted him to do, so with renewed courage, he stood up, backed up and aimed the rifle at her heart. He wanted to make a perfect, clean shot, just like he used to do when he would hunt with his dad and Charlie. Through tears and sorrow, he pulled the trigger and shot the rifle right at her heart, killing her almost instantly. The light went out in her eyes and the horrified look on her face dissolved one of calmness and serenity.

Rosalie laid her down on the grass, and lightly closed her eyelids, making it appear as though she was only asleep instead of dead. Jacob knelt beside her and let loose a fit of despair against her still-warm chest.

Bella went to him, her hand on his shoulder. She wanted to comfort him and let him know that she felt responsible for Jamie's death. Jacob was comforted by her touch. He looked up at her and he knew instantly that something was remarkably different. They looked into each other's eyes and it was evident that they both felt it. They could both feel that invisible thread between them and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that this was an imprint he would never fight.