Sam knew he wasn't dead when he felt pain shooting through his chest and leg. Then he realized that the loud clamoring in his mind had meaning. His brothers were telling him to get up. He was cold and wet. Around him he heard growling and shouting. He saw half a dozen scenes in front of him, and none of them made sense. He tried to merge them into one picture but could not. Forests were speeding by from five sets of eyes, a grimacing pale face darted into his sight line, and he could see a huge black wolf lying limp on dark asphalt being battered with rain. He realized he was seeing himself.

Get up, Sam!

Open your eyes!

Tear him apart, Jake!

He complied and tried to stand, but dizziness overtook him. He tried to sort through all the yelling in his brain, but nothing was clear. As he collapsed, he blinked and tried to focus his vision. An image eventually coalesced in front of his eyes: a gray wolf stood between him and his attackers. Off to his left, Jacob was brawling with the blonde vampire that had been strangling him moments ago. The other two were rushing at Leah. Sam wasn't sure where they had come from, but they arrived just in time to save his life.

Leah snarled and leapt at the male, who tried to grab her head to snap her neck. She ducked to avoid his grip and barreled into his knees, sending him toppling onto her back.

Watch out for Victoria, Sam! It was Embry. The entire pack was watching through Jacob's eyes, and they could see the remnants of what had once been Victoria reaching blindly for Sam, who was right next to where her body lay. Her head was crushed, just as he had hoped, but her arm had managed to reattach its hand, and she grabbed his ankle. He bit it right back off and threw it aside before he gnawed off a leg in order to keep the body from standing up and rushing at them.

The male vampire tried to get his arms around Leah, but she bucked him off. He managed to tear deep gashes into her sides. The female lowered her shoulder and wrapped her arms around Leah's torso while she was still reared up on her hind legs. She shoved Leah backward until they slammed into the building. A few bricks fell down around them, but the wall held. Sam tried to stand to defend her, but his broken leg collapsed beneath him. The female vampire pinned Leah against the wall and shouted over her shoulder, "Snap its neck! Quick!" Leah clawed at the female but couldn't get free, and the vampire was too smart to bring her head or limbs in reach of Leah's powerful jaws. The male jumped at her, but Sam pushed off the ground with his good leg and buried his teeth in the vampire's calf, bringing him down before he could get a hand on Leah.

The male kicked him in the head so hard that he saw stars, but Sam managed to take a chunk out of his leg. It screamed in pain but did not fall. Sam tried to back away to plant himself for another lunge, but the vampire twisted around and reached for him. He nearly got his arms around Sam's neck, but a disembodied arm came flying at them, striking the vampire in the back of the head. The monster glanced over his shoulder to see that Jacob had removed the limb from the blonde vampire. Sam used the distraction to snap his jaws on the closest body part, and he wrenched away the vampire's right hand at the elbow. The thing shrieked and kicked him in the muzzle, sending him toppling back. As he fell, he saw Leah forcing her opponent backward into the pile of burning body parts.

He heard his brothers cheer in his mind when the female's long black hair went up in flames, but she didn't let go of Leah. If she was going to die, she wanted to take Leah with her, and her fury seemed to make her even stronger. Leah raked her claws into the vampire's back, opening up wounds that immediately ignited. Still the vampire did not let her go. Her fur started to singe as the flames licked against her. In the pack mind, Seth began to yell for Jacob and Sam to help his sister, but Jacob was restrained the blonde vampire on his back. It had managed to get its remaining arm around his throat.

Sam rushed to them, but before he could reach them to pry the vampire off Leah, the other male tackled him again. It felt like his broken ribs stabbed into his lungs. He couldn't get enough air. This time his opponent was too smart to allow any of his limbs within reach of Sam's powerful claws. He pummeled at the vulnerable broken bones. It was all Sam could do to stay on his feet. He watched helplessly as Leah started to choke on the acrid smoke around her. She was thrashing wildly, but the vampire would not release her. Through the sound of the vampire's agonized screams, he heard the sickening crunch of Leah's bones snapping under the monster's grip.

Sam managed to turn just far enough to swipe his paw at the vampire's belly. He ripped a few slashes in the skin. The thing did not relent, but instead slammed his fist into the back of Sam's neck. A shockwave of pain and numbness spread throughout his limbs, and then the blows to his skull began. Just then, Jacob plowed into the vampire attacking Sam. A deep slash across his back dropped the monster to his knees. Jacob tried to clamp his jaws around the skull, but the vampire twisted quickly and punched Jacob in the jaw, snapping his head back. But Sam was free.

He could barely move, but he dragged himself toward Leah. She had stopped struggling, and her body had gone frighteningly limp. He was certain that this time she wasn't faking, either. He screamed her name in the pack mind, but she had no way to respond to him. Paul and Seth begged him to free her. The vampire rolled them over so that she was straddling Leah's belly. The creature's hair had all burned away, and her scalp was smoldering. Orange fire licked up her back and along her arms. Raindrops hissed as they evaporated against her sizzling flesh. Her skin was turning to ash layer by layer. Sam couldn't believe she was still moving. When she was confident Leah would not attack her, she released Leah's torso from her fiery grip and reached for her skull. Sam knew she would try to break her neck with the last bit of unnatural life left in her.

Sam leapt, and he clamped his jaw around her burning skull, cleanly decapitating her before he crashed into the ground and rolled away. He flipped around as soon as he landed to see that the headless torso had still grabbed Leah's head and was bashing it into the ground. He howled and dragged it off her unconscious body, sustaining burns to his arms, chest, and face.

Leah? Sam, is she okay? Seth wailed.

Paul said, She's alive, right? She's got to be!

You take care of her, Jacob said as he clamped his teeth into the vampire's leg. I'll make sure none of these leeches touch anyone ever again. He systematically began to dismantle the creatures and throw their remains into the rising conflagration.

Leah's fur was burned down to the flesh where the vampire's arms head wrapped around her, and she was black with soot. She wasn't moving, and she was much too close to the fire. He changed back into his human body, ignoring the agony of his broken bones, so that he could drag her away. When he put his hands on her, he realized that she was still breathing. Her breaths were shallow, and her pulse was fluttering much too quickly, but she was alive.

"LeeLee? LeeLee?" he panted. But she didn't respond. He collapsed next to her, wincing, and stroked her fur. "Please wake up, baby. You need to wake up if you want to yell at me for being reckless and stupid." He laughed desperately as tears streamed down his cheeks. "You have to wake up so that I can thank you properly. You saved my life. You have to wake up so that you can see Victoria burn before she turns into ashes. Because we did it. It's all over. Please wake up and look."

Jacob called out, "Anything?"

Her eyes didn't even flutter under her closed lids. "Nothing."

"How about you? We thought you were a goner."

"I'll live." Sam never took his eyes off of Leah. He was terrified. He would happily trade his life for hers, but no one had made him such an offer. He bent to murmur in her ear, "I miss you. You have no idea how much. You have to wake up so that I can make things right again."

After Jacob gathered together every stray part for the fire, he helped Sam pull Leah farther away. They were incredibly lucky that no one witnessed their fight, but someone was bound to notice the fire and smoke. Then Jacob jogged off to examine the abandoned building that Victoria had commandeered. Sam cradled Leah's head as best he could and tried to wake her without success. When Jacob returned bearing a lifeless body in his arms, he explained that there were corpses scattered throughout the building, victims of Victoria and her soldiers. Two were intended to be her next creations. He had found them moaning in pain and had put them out of their misery. He added the first to the pile and went back for the second. While he was inside, the rain stopped, which allowed the fire to burn to completion.

As Sam and Jacob debated whether they should do anything about the bodies that remained in the building, Leah began to stir. She tried to pick up her head but was too dizzy, and immediately dropped it down again.

"LeeLee? Baby?"

She opened her eyes and looked at him with a flash of recognition, and then phased back into her human form. The action caused too much pain, and she immediately fainted again. Sam grabbed her by the shoulders and pleaded for her to open her eyes again, but Jacob pulled him back. Her skin was a patchwork of red blisters, burned welts, black char, dirt, and blood. Jacob wrapped her in a blanket he had recovered from the building, picked her up, and carried her away. Sam limped beside him, holding onto his arm for support. Each step shot fire through his own injured limbs, but they had to get away. Their fire had finally attracted attention, and sirens were approaching.

Sam and Jacob debated whether to take Leah to a hospital, but in the end, did not. Neither was concerned about keeping their secret, but her physiology was so unique that they would not know what to do with her. They worried that a hospital would do her more harm than good. Instead, they found the nearest fleabag motel and got a room, where Sam called Sue.

Watching his unconscious lover was excruciating. Jacob stepped outside to give them privacy and keep watch for any vampires that might come looking for revenge. Sam used warm water and the thin, scratchy towels in the bathroom to clean her up as best he could. She didn't move. He settled her gently on the lumpy bed, lay beside her, and whispered in her ear. He begged her to wake up, asked for her forgiveness, and told her he would do anything to prove what she meant to him. He stroked her hair and kissed her cheek, but she did not respond. Eventually he fell into an involuntary, exhausted sleep clutching her hand.

The next thing he knew, he heard a slamming door and the wrong voices. He struggled to wake, but rising to consciousness was too much for his battered body. He tried to look around, but the only things he saw were a blinding red fire and thick cables reaching through the darkness. It was the imprint.

He heard Paul. What was he doing here? "Look, you're just not welcome here. Can't you just butt out?"

"I'm supposed to be here. I'm his imprint. He needs me." The fire spoke, and the cables were pulling him toward it. The metal glowed, hot to the touch. They wrapped around him, and they burned.

Paul sneered, "He needs you like he needs a frontal lobotomy. Oh wait, you've already done that to him."

She sounded hurt. "I can't believe you're talking to me that way. That's uncalled for."

Sam looked in the darkness for his LeeLee, but she was gone. Where was she? Where had she gone? He needed her, and she needed him. She hadn't died while he slept, had she? It wasn't possible. If she was gone, there was nothing left for him here. He would simply slip away into the darkness surrounding him.

"No, it's exactly what you need to hear," Paul retorted. "You're lucky Leah didn't decide to put you in your place before she left."

Sam was relieved. She wasn't dead after all, so he had a reason to live. He struggled against the cables. He had to free himself so he could return to her. He resisted the pull, just as he had been doing since the imprint bound itself to him. He tested the cables for any frayed wires, any areas of weakness, but found none. They seared his fingers. He searched through the haze of his memories and knew that one had snapped, once. How? He looked directly into the fire, the fire that sat in the center of this universe, the fire from whence the cables emerged. He needed to get closer.

He opened his eyes to see Paul facing Emily with his arms crossed, shaking his head. "Actually, you're long overdue for a reality check. You're not needed here, and you're definitely not wanted."

Sam tried to focus, tried to merge his realities, and he allowed himself to be pulled in. Now he could see both visions at once: the girl and the fire. He allowed the cables to reel him closer.

She pouted, indignant. "Don't be ridiculous. This is exactly where I'm supposed to be."

He had been fighting it for so long, it was almost a relief to allow himself so close. He wondered if this was it, if this was the last of him. When he reached the center, would he be consumed?

Paul snarled, "This is no place for you. La Push is no place for you. Go back where you came from, and leave us the hell alone."

"He's going to be so angry with you when he wakes up. He's not going to let you talk to me this way."

The fire was bright, the color a deep, unnatural crimson. It nearly blinded him, but he stared into its heart, trying to see the tethers at the other end of the cables. The cables wound into a tight knot, and they pulled him closer. He looked for their end. They formed a tangle in the very center. He looked harder, stared into the flames, and marveled that he had not gone blind. He felt the fire on his skin and felt his flesh burning. And in a small gap between two of the cables, he saw them: the crumbling coals at the center. There. There was the only weakness, at the very center of the imprint.

He knew what he had to do.

Sam interrupted, "Where is she? Is she okay? Where did she go?"

Emily rushed to his side as he tried to sit up. The movement was too painful, and he fell back onto the bed. She crooned, "Oh, Sam, sweetheart, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. But where's Leah? When I fell asleep, she was right here." He put his hand on the bed beside him. "Is she okay?"

"She's miles from okay," Paul answered, "but she's not dead, if that's what you're asking."

"Did she wake up?"

Paul nodded. "Yeah."

"Why didn't she wake me? I wanted to see her. Where did she go? She couldn't have been well enough to just take off. She was hurt really badly."

"I know. I saw. We all did. But she's tough as nails, you know that. She just wanted to let you sleep. She wasn't planning on going anywhere until this one barged in." He gestured at Emily.

She protested, "Hey! I came to help."

Paul glared at her. "Yeah? What exactly do you bring to the table? Drama and nothing else. Have you done a single thing to help any of us since you showed up?"

Sam knew that Emily wanted him to defend her. He felt foreign words bubbling up in his throat, words of devotion and reassurance, but he thought about the girl he thought he had lost. He focused on the glowing coals at the center of his vision, and he knew they were nothing to him. They were just coals. He smiled at Paul, and Emily noticed. "Sam?"

"Emily?" He tested a cable. It was strong.

"Aren't you going to say something?"

He obliged. "Paul, what actually happened to Leah? You started to tell me." Emily's mouth dropped open. She had been expecting him to admonish Paul for insulting her.

"Her mom and brother came to get her. Sue wanted her to stay here longer, heal up some more, but as soon as Emily showed up, she decided to book."

"Why are you here?" Sam asked her. He examined a cable again. It was just as strong as ever, but this time it moved. Its foundation had shifted.

She looked visibly hurt. "I wanted to see you. It's been too long."

Paul muttered, "Not long enough."

"Emily, a battle is no place for you," Sam explained.

"But it's over now," she said. "You've been taking such good care of me. Now it's time for me to take care of you."

Paul asked, "I know you want to give him a sponge bath, but can you splint his leg? Do you know what to do about his ribs? Can you dress those burns? He needs a nurse or a doctor, not a groupie."

"Is it really that bad?" Emily looked at him with an anxious expression.

It was, but Sam knew that whatever pain Leah felt was worse. "I'll be fine," he said. He yanked at the cable, but it wouldn't move farther.

Paul started to intervene, but Sam raised his hand. "Wait," he managed.

"Sam?" Emily asked.

He pulled the words from his heart. They came out strangled, but he found the strength to give them voice. He stared at the glowing coals and knew they were weak in comparison to the cables. He forced the words past the choking around his throat. "You can't help me."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

He pulled at the cable. It moved again, this time a few inches. He smiled.

"Sue wants to check you out when you get home. Come on." Paul moved to help him up. "I'm driving you back. I'll take you to their house."

Sam was hopeful that he would see Leah soon, but Emily piped up, "I can take him."

Paul shook his head. "And if another vamp attacks on the road? I don't think so. He can't phase and fight anyone off right now. He's coming with me."

She shook her head. "I thought it was all over. I thought it was finally safe."

Paul said, "Victoria's dead, but we can't be completely sure that she didn't have some allies or new soldiers still out there somewhere."

Now she was nervous. "Then maybe I should ride back with you guys."

Paul rolled his eyes. "Nobody's running back to Seattle from the Rez just to get your car."

"But if it's not safe..." she protested.

Sam pulled hard on the cable. The imprint tried to silence him, but he had found the weak point in the imprint. It was Emily herself. He smiled at her, but it wasn't the smile she wanted. "No, Emily. I don't want you with me," he whispered. Her eyes revealed her dismay as she absorbed his words.

In the center of the fire, one coal cracked, sending embers into the nothingness, and one cable broke free.

X-x-x-x-X

A/N: Thanks again to Babs81410.