Sorry about the delay, life kind of got in the way. Anyways, the story is now complete. Enjoy

Chapter 17 - The mission

I was awakened by the strong but gentle hands of Jacob as he squeezed my shoulder. I opened an eye to see him smiling down at me, early morning sunshine pouring in through the thin drapes.

"Morning sleepy head." He said, his smile wide. "We need to get moving." And with that he disappeared into the bathroom. I lay there for a moment listening to running water before I made myself move. To my own disgust I was still in my clothes from the day before, my hair was matted from the travel and stress of the past day. What I really needed was a good, hot shower. Which was a shame really.

Once I was clean and dressed we gathered our things together. "Ok, so we go down to the hotel, then what?"

He smiled "Bella, I really don't think you will have any trouble getting him to come back." He had a point. I guessed when we got back to the house we could cook up the next part of our plan, or just take him to the hospital anyway. The hard part about the hospital was going to be not catching the Spanish flu ourselves. And of course running into Carlisle would be bad, but since we were doing this during the day that shouldn't be a problem.

"But how do we even find him." I asked. "I'm sure the hotel won't just give us his room number?"

He smiled a knowing smile, something I hadn't seen him do for a while. "Yeah, with the whole wolf thing I'm kinda developing my senses?" He didn't sound overly confident in this, but I went with it. "The whole scent thing? Yeah it's strange but I can kinda tell people from their smell. I'm pretty sure I can find him."

I laughed. "Ok Lassie... whatever you say."

We managed to get out of the house with minimum fuss. Elisabeth wanted him back as badly as we did so she did her best to stay out of the way, just supplying us with oatmeal and coffee. It was serious faces all around, and I could kind of tell she wanted to come with us, but was restraining herself. I didn't really want to have to explain the dangers to her, for one thing it would take too long.

The sun was low and bright when we stepped outside. That was good. The last thing we needed at this point was the time team running interference on us. We briskly walked the streets, noticing that the foot traffic was slowly increasing. We were heading towards the busy part of town, and indeed it was getting busy as there were more people around by the minute. The sun was still shining though, which was a good thing. We walked in silence, grim determination now replacing the fun of the journey.

It took us over an hour to reach our destination. The hotel by the bus depot. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Given his upbringing and obvious lack of poverty I was expecting something plush. And this place was anything but. Had it been out of the city it would have been a motel, and I assumed it was probably used as a place of business for the working girls of Chicago. I guessed he must be trying to acclimatise to a less luxurious way of life, as a rich city boy in the army would most likely be eaten alive, but to be fair I didn't exactly think roughing it for one night would do the job.

We walked through the door and straight past the sleeping host on reception. The door was hanging from one hinge at a crazy angle and we had to move it. Touching it wasn't the most appealing thing I have ever done, and I decided to keep my hands to myself. Then we were in the corridors, just rows of blank doors for company.

"Ok boy, go find him!" I said, clicking my tongue. He gave me a look and started walking.

It took a while, but eventually we were on the third floor and he stopped dead. I had expected him to be sniffing like a tracker dog and do the crazy pointing thing when he picked up the scent, but no such luck. Instead he simply walked with a calm expression, breathing in long, slow breaths. Until he stopped dead. He closed his eyes and took an extra deep breath. "Here." He said, pointing at door number 317.

"Good work boy!" I said, patting his head. He was not amused. I knocked on the door and waited. As I was about to knock again I heard a banging from within, and then the door opened. The dark corridor was illuminated by his radiance. He had obviously just woken, and his hair was all over the place. Actually, it was how I had know it in my time. I realised that here he kept it neat in a side parting. Interesting. He stepped back to let us in, rubbing his eyes.

"Bella? What do you guys want?" He croaked, catching himself in the mirror. He touched his hair before letting his hand fall. Had he found a new style?

"Oh Edward." I said, hugging him. He put his arms round me and hugged back. He was only dressed in his briefs, and I noticed Jacob looking awkwardly away. "We need you to come home."

His face lit up immediately. "You decided to stay?" He asked.

"Uh kind of." Was the best I could do, and I saw the look on Jacobs face. 'Really?' It said. I gave him a quick shake of my head, imperceptible to Edward. "We need to get you home."

Straight away he started to gather his things. It was clear that he had been secretly hoping for some kind of secret intervention, with the speed of his agreement to come with us. He seemed very eager.

Soon he had a duffel bag slung over his shoulder, rumpled shirt and slacks, and the unkempt hair I would come to love so many years from now. It was time to move. Just before we set off I noticed that far away look in Jacobs eyes. He had a strange smile and I had no idea what was going on with him. I snapped my fingers in front of his face, but no response. His smile was turning into a stupid grin and looking down I noticed he was more than just amused as his pants were straining against his belt.

I gave him a moderate slap, and he came too very quickly. "What the hell Jake?" I asked, a little more frantic than I would have liked.

"Oh, uh, sorry. Miles away." He said, coming back to normal in a snap. Strange, I thought.

We set off down the hall, down a couple sets of stairs and onto the ground floor. It was very spooky down here, the flickering light in the middle of the corridor not helping at all. We were about two thirds down the hall when I noticed an open door to the right. Jacob was leading and Edward bringing up the rear, so I got a good view of Jacob stiffening up, and his head snapping to the right as he passed the door. Instantly he walked into the room. I ran forward to see a dirty room, much like the one where we had found Edward. The difference being that this one contained a certain blonde lounging on the bed, an absolute mile of leg showing under the split in her skirt. She was pouting and beckoning Jacob to her, and he was proceeding, oblivious to his fate.

I screamed his name and everything turned to slow motion. It may sound odd but it almost felt like he knew what he was doing, even like he had been here before. Her eyes were blood red, matching her lips, which parted as she began to move into a position ready to pounce. I came running into the room, screaming my lungs out, grabbing him around the waist, followed by Edward who seemed totally confused by the entire scene. He must have sensed the danger though, which I guess wasn't that hard since I was going pretty crazy. He barrelled into me, acting on pure instinct, and the three of us went hurtling towards the sliding door. Lucky for us it was wide open, presumably her point of entry. I noticed as we went by there was an amused look on her face and I hated her for it. For what she was doing to Jacob.

We found ourselves out in the bright sun, surrounded by old pots and plants. I looked behind us to see her in the doorway, smiling at me, only ten or so yards away. She puckered up, blew me a kiss and hissed "Later, darling." And was gone.

I hustled the boys out of the garden onto the street where we all took a moment to gather ourselves. Edward spoke first, his look of confusion turning to anger. "What in the name of god was that about?" He asked.

"Let's walk and talk." I said. We turned and set off down the sidewalk, the sun high in the sky now, as the morning was fading away. "Edward, the truth is some very bad people are after us."

"Why?" He asked, his face contorted in confusion.

"It seems we upset them on our journey back." Said Jacob, his face still flushed from the experience. "A game of poker, went our way and they didn't like the outcome."

This seemed to do the trick, as he didn't ask any more questions, just eyed us both with suspicion for a while until it faded and his gaze began to fall on me with affection filling his face. "Well, if that's what brought you back to me, then so be it, I'm sure we can be rid of these scoundrels." He was full of confidence now. I had to admit it helped me feel a little safer, even if he didn't know what he was getting into.

We were passing through a park, across a clearing where there were no other people to be seen, and I was wondering what story I was going to dream up to move us along when suddenly there was a chill. The sun was no longer present, a huge black cloud covering the sky. I would have noticed it had I been paying attention. Then I looked up and there they were, just a matter of feet away, Howe leaning casually on his cane, Brewer in a fighting stance looking straight at me, murder in her eyes.

Jacob was first to react, jumping into the air and exploding into his full wolf form, rushing at Howe who staggered back, trying to shake off the huge dog. Edward had such a look of shock on his face that he was unable to react as Brewer pounced forward, knocking me to the ground and swiftly grabbing him about the throat. I looked up, trying to shake the cobwebs. She had her teeth bared and her head up, staring me in the eye. It was as if she wanted me to watch this. Edward had shaken free of his stupor but was now immobile in her vice like grip, struggling in vain to free himself. Jacob was faring much better, standing atop Howe, taking the odd blow but dishing out some damage himself.

Then she gave me a wink. Edward took her moment of lost concentration to almost squirm free but she caught his arm and casually bent back the forearm. He screamed a blood curdling scream and fell to the ground. As she was about to fall on him with her blood red lips parted wide her head suddenly tilted at an odd angle. Then it fell to the floor, followed by the slumping body. There stood Harker with a Broad sword of all things, and a very satisfied expression.

Howe caught sight of the scene and howled with rage, throwing Jacob into a tree some fifteen feet away. He was about to lunge for Harker, a crazy look blazing in his eyes, when suddenly there was bright light. The vampire turned and ran, disappearing into the shadows.

Jacob was now stood by my side, Harker helping Edward to his feet, holding his arm tenderly. "It is a good thing I found you when I did." Said the Englishman.

Edward raised a hand. "Could someone please tell me what in the hell is..." and he passed out before he could finish his sentence.