Twilight 1. The Day the Music Died

The Day the Music Died

-Don McLean "American Pie"

She was trying to keep up but her legs were so much shorter than the others' legs. She kept tripping and falling, trying to keep pace, but each time she fell behind the others would step on her as if she was nothing more than a stepping-stone. Finally, the wolves got so far ahead that she was unable to catch up and Bella collapsed on the ground exhausted.

It was there, lying in the mud of the forest floor that the man found her battered body. He was tall and thin, those were the only defining things about him, the only things that stayed the same. His hair color, skin tone, even his eyes and facial features were constantly changing. Bella felt that were this not a dream it would be hard to gaze upon the man.

He knelt next to her on the ground and softly stroked the feathers on her back. "Little swan," he murmured, "did no one tell you not to run with wolves when you are not a wolf yourself?"

Bella shook her head and tried to speak. Tried to tell him that the wolves needed her that she protected them, but no words would come.

It didn't matter that she could not vocalize her thoughts the man seemed to understand her all the same. His laugh shook Bella's small frame. "Little bird," he said, "if you want to protect the wolves then you shouldn't be running with them. Instead you should be soaring above them and warning them of the dangers that lie ahead of them."

Of course, she thought, how foolish she had been to run when she had wings. She shook her wings out and gave them an experimental flap. She could do this she could fly. She flapped her wings harder, but nothing happened. Frustrated she fully freed herself from the man's grasp and took a running start, madly flapping her wings the entire time. Yet flight continued to elude her.

The man laughed once more and picked her up. This time as he stroked the feathers on her back she felt the cuts and bruises she had gained from the wolves disappear and saw the dirt and mud that once clung to her fall to the ground.

"I could teach you how to fly little bird. I just can't do it alone. I could teach you how to fly little bird, and so much more, but you will have to leave the wolves behind."

* * *

><p>He was much more overjoyed than she was that today was their three month anniversary. He had gone all out. Dressed in his nicest, cleanest shirt, he had taken her to dinner at the only restaurant in town. At the very least, she felt his was a nice change of pace from eating sandwiches in his garage.<p>

Jake lowered his menu and gave her one of his silly happy grins. "This is great, isn't it Bells? Just you and me."

She gave him a small smile back. "Yeah Jake, this is great."

He smiled again, then, went back to looking at his menu. Bella glanced down at her menu too, but the words were meaningless as she escaped into the turmoil in her head. She did not love Jake. Not the way he wanted her to. He had healed her. Fixed the hole left in her heart by her last boyfriend who had cruelly left her alone on the forest floor filled with thoughts of being unwanted. Jake had her heart covered in patches made from his goofy grins and sunny personality.

She owed it to him to try to love him. She could do that. Do this. Pretend to love him the way he deserved, the way he wanted. There were worse things than loving your best friend and with any luck, she would learn to think of him as more than a friend with time.

Bella was so absorbed in her thoughts that she didn't notice when the waitress got to the table. When Bella finally glanced up the first thing she saw was the waitress eyeing Jake up like a prime choice of meat and Bella planned to say something about keeping her eyes to herself. Then she looked at Jake. His face was one of pure awe, as though he had never seen anything as amazing and beautiful as that waitress.

Although mere seconds ago, she'd thought how much she did not love Jake, Bella could feel her heart breaking. All those little patches Jake had used to heal her simply disintegrated. Walking away from the table, out of the restaurant, and into the driver's side of her beat up old truck she was ashamed of the tears that flowed freely down her face.

Come on Bella, she thought as she stared out the windshield at the offensive restaurant. Why must I be so selfish? This should be a wonderful time for Jake. He's found his soul mate. I should be happy for him; it isn't as though I really loved him anyway.

With the tears, not stopping Bella decided that the best thing for everyone would be for her to put the restaurant as far behind her as possible. She didn't need Jake to see her crying. Putting the truck into drive Bella pulled out of the parking lot with no particular destination in mind. Her thoughts so disconnected from her actions that she was surprised when she found herself parked out front of a small house in La Push.

The house reminded her of her truck with its weathered paint and a look that said it could survive anything because it had already been through so much. Bella groaned when she saw the front door of the house open and a man start to walk up to her truck. Of course, he knew she was there. With the noise her truck made all of La Push, not to mention Washington, probably knew she was there.

The man knocked on her window so she rolled it down. He had long dark brown hair and an unshaven face. The sheer of amount of hair he had combined with his bulky frame gave Bella the impression of a bear.

He smiled at her, an open friendly grin with lots of teeth, before saying, "My son says that you're here to hurt him and that we should pretend we're not home." He glanced back at the house then looked Bella up and down. "You're such a tiny thing and my son is so large that I would certainly be interested in seeing you try to harm him." He laughed a little. "Not that I don't love my son, but you would be like a fly to him."

Bella doesn't know this man and she certainly doesn't know his son, but she felt like this was where she should be. Here the pain from Jake's imprinting was nothing more than a dull ache that she could easily ignore.

Still smiling the man says, "You should come inside. I won't bite."

Bella opened up the truck door and hoped out. What was the worst that could happen in La Push? He walked slightly ahead of her up to the porch and then opened the front door for her. Comfortable was the first thing she thought when she walked into the living room and saw the giant worn couch with a big screen TV almost too big for the room situated in front of it.

In an armchair a little off to the side, she saw Paul who looked less than pleased to see her. "Leech lover," he sneered, "where's the lover boy alpha?"

The man she now knew to be Paul's father pointed her at the couch. "Sit down and make yourself at home and feel free to hit my son should the need arise. He probably deserves it."

Paul narrows his eyes at his dad before giving out a loud sigh of frustration. "Geeze dad, you could at least pretend you like me."

Bella sat down on the couch and thought to herself how odd the entire situation was. She was crying outside over Jake and now she was sitting on the most volatile shape shifter's couch.

"You know I like you son. I just think you need to be knocked around a little." Bella could tell that the two men were merely joking with one another and somehow listening to their banter was helping to keep her relaxed. Bella watched as Paul's dad threw a pillow at Paul, forcing him to move out of the armchair and over to the couch next to Bella.

When Paul looked at her and smiled, the sudden realization that with the exception of when she first got there this was probably the first time Paul wasn't being a complete jackass to her hit her. She briefly wondered if this was the real Paul and the Paul she saw when they were with the pack was simply a façade, but Bella quickly dismissed that idea as being ridiculous.

"Bella, it was nice to meet you," Paul's dad said, "but unfortunately I have work tomorrow and I'm not as young as I once was. Need my sleep these days." He moves to pat Paul on the shoulder and smiles once more. "I leave you in the capable hands of my son." He gives Paul a look that mystifies Bella, but must mean something to Paul before heading up the stairs.

They sit in silence for a few minutes before Bella felt the need to tell Paul everything that had happened that night. "Jake imprinted," she blurted out.

Paul didn't look surprised and the smile didn't fade from his face. "Bound to happen eventually." He shrugged his shoulders. "You knew what you were getting into when you started dating him. You had to know his imprinting was a possibility."

He was right, of course. She had known that Jake could imprint and leave her at any second she'd just never thought it would actually happen. Paul got up from the couch, turned on the TV, and placed a movie in the DVD player, then walked out of the room while the movie started up.

It slightly irritated Bella that Paul dismissed Jake's imprinting so easily. It irritated her even more to realize that his dismissal made sense. It was never a secret that her and Jake's relationship was fairly one sided and she had always been painfully aware of the risks that came with dating a shape shifter.

When Paul returned to the room, he had a blanket with him. "You looked cold," he explained as he wrapped the blanket around Bella and sat back down on the couch.

Bella wasn't certain what movie they were watching since she couldn't seem to focus on the movie for too long. Her thoughts kept straying to either Jake or Paul. Jake was destined to be the leader of the La Push shape shifters one day. It was foolish to think that he needed her, a girl he hadn't even imprinted on, a girl who loved him as a sister would a brother and not as the lover, he deserved.

Then there was Paul. Paul hated Bella she knew this to be truth. Paul's hatred of all things Bella was common knowledge. Yet here he sat next to her with barely a harsh comment from him since she had walked through the door, his calling her leech lover all but forgotten. He almost seemed happy she was there and in the back of her head, Bella realized that she was happy she was there too.

She knew she was upset about Jake. That the hole in her heart had opened back up into a gaping wound. She might not have loved Jake, but she did need him in her life and his imprinting would take him from her. Leave her alone once more. Yet Bella couldn't feel the pain of all that. Especially when halfway through the movie, Paul put his hand on her knee and all thoughts of Jake left her for the rest of the night. She might be broken once more, but in this place, it wasn't important.

When the movie ended, a comedy Bella now vaguely recalled from when she was younger, Paul got up from the couch to stand in front of her. She was briefly embarrassed to realize she missed his hand on her knee. Paul appraised her for a few minutes, and Bella got the impression that he was checking for wounds and she wanted to laugh. Her wounds weren't physical.

Bella was the one who broke the silence. "Thank you Paul." He continued to stare at her, the air filling with a slight tension that she felt the need to break. "Thank you for helping me forget." He nodded at her but did not move from his spot above her.

It was starting to make Bella uncomfortable so she stood up too. When she was standing in front of him, barely any space between them, Paul reached out his hand and touched Bella's face. She was so uncertain what was happening that had he not wrapped his other hand firmly around her upper arm she would have bolted. Bella could feel her heart beating so fast it might have been trying to escape and her arm tingled where Paul was touching it. He took a step closer, effectively eliminating what little space there had been, and Bella got the crazy idea in her head to kiss him.

Had Bella been in her right mind she probably would have wondered why she was kissing a man who, by all accounts, hated her, only hours after essentially getting dumped by the man who, despite her lack of strong feelings for him, made her whole, and why this all seemed to be all right by her. However, this moment filled with comfort and forgetting had caught her up too much for her to care.

The word rebound floated in Bella's thoughts for all of a second before Paul's kisses chased it away. He was strong and demanding but not forceful, and his very touch left Bella feeling amazing. All thoughts of anything not Paul and what he was now doing with his roaming hands fled Bella as he all but carried her up the stairs, down the hallway, and into his bedroom, where frantic kisses turned into something more.


	2. Running Away With Me

Running Away With Me

-The Temptations "Just My Imagination"

The sound of Bella's phone ringing woke them both up the next morning. Untangling herself from the mass that was Paul, Bella followed the noise to her jeans, which she had carelessly thrown into the corner at some point the night before. She didn't have to check the ID to know the caller was her father Charlie. She'd told him she was only going out to dinner with Jake and had ended up staying out all night. She pushed the answer button and mentally prepared herself for the worst.

"Hello? Bella? Bella, where have you been?" her father's voice sounded slightly panicked. "I thought maybe you would sneak in late last night, but you never came home. Are you hurt? Are you with Jake? Put him on the phone, I have some things I need to talk to him about."

Bella was at a loss. She didn't know what to tell her dad. She didn't think 'Jake just broke up with me but it's all right because I just had sex with a man who is like a brother to him' would be the best thing to say. Paul pulled the phone from her grasp and she felt a small amount of relief that at the very least she wasn't the one telling Charlie why she had been out all night.

"Chief Swan?" Paul spoke into the phone. "Jacob broke up with Bella last night and she was in such a terrible way, all covered in tears and snot, I didn't think she should drive home like that."

Bella silently scoffed, covered in tears and snot, her tears had dried by the time she had come inside Paul's house.

Bella raised her eyebrows when she heard Paul say, "I let her sleep on my couch." Would her father really buy this slept on the couch story?

Bella shrugged, if Paul wanted to feed her father lies then that was fine by her. Taking the chance to look at herself Bella realized that she was shamelessly standing in the middle of Paul's room naked and decided to go on a hunt through the room for the rest of her clothes.

"Paul Lahote sir," She heard Paul say as she found her shirt.

Her right sock, "I will tell him sir."

Her bra, "I agree. He is a total asshole."

Her underwear, "Of course I can make sure she eats before she goes."

The elusive left sock, "I won't let her break sir."

When Bella located her shoes, one on the dresser and the other under it, she began to get dressed. "I'm sure she'll be fine Chief Swan. Jake was never the right guy for her anyway."

Paul must have finished talking to her dad because he threw the phone on the bed before grabbing up his pants and beginning the process of dressing himself. "I'm making you breakfast," he said picking a shirt off the ground and sniffing it before pulling it on.

Now fully dressed, Bella walked over to the bed and grabbed her phone. "You don't need to do that."

"I promised your dad I would." He looks at her intensely, Bella wants to think passionately because of the fire that begins to burn with his stare, but throws that thought quickly out the window. "At least eat some cereal."

She couldn't think properly under his gaze. Cereal was quick she could do that. Then suddenly Bella forgot about Paul. Forgot how his eyes made her body tingle and his voice made her melt. Like a lightning strike, she felt the need to leave Paul's house.

Maybe her dad's phone call had broken some sort of spell and she was just now feeling it. She had just slept with Paul he was offering to make her breakfast. Why did she want to leave? Clearly she was a slut. Slut sounded cruel, even in her mind. Maybe she was a lush. No lush just sounded stupid and old fashioned. Easy, perhaps?

"Earth to Bella." Paul's hand was waving in front of her face. "You left me for a second there."

She shook her head and focused back on Paul. "Sorry," she said, "I don't think I should stay for breakfast." He frowned at her, but she pretended not to notice.

The feeling that she needed to leave was getting stronger. It was pounding in her soul that she had to get out of that house as quickly as possible. As tempting as Paul was, and as tempting as it was for him to make her breakfast, she had to get out of there. Perhaps she was simply feeling guilty over Jake. That couldn't be right though. It wasn't as if Jake was feeling guilty about ditching her for someone else. He hadn't even called to see if she was all right.

Bella took a deep breath and looked Paul straight in the eyes. "I will tell Charlie that you fed me if he asks, but I really need to leave." Bella looked around the room one last time to make sure she had everything. She noticed Paul had his right hand out in front of him as if he was reaching for something, and had a look upon his face as though he was having some sort of internal debate.

Using this moment as her chance for escape, Bella grabbed at the door and sprinted through the hallway and down the stairs. Paul's father was sitting in the armchair in the living room with a cup of coffee and a newspaper. He raised his eyebrows when he saw Bella barreling down the steps, but otherwise didn't say anything as she barely registered his presence.

Bella rushed out the front door and into her truck. She had thought that leaving Paul's house would cause her urge to leave to stop, but all it had done was dull the urge into a tingling in the back of her mind. It stayed there, in the background, until Bella pulled into her driveway. Once home the need to leave filled Bella's blood and bones once more. It wormed its way into every nook and cranny of Bella's being. Soon Bella's very essence was nothing more than the word leave.

Charlie was waiting for her by the front door when she got inside. "Bella, we need to talk," he said as soon as she closed the door behind her. "I'm worried about you. I don't want what happened last time to happen again."

She could hear him, could understand what he was saying, but she couldn't react to it. The only thing she could do was leave and attempt to find solace in her bedroom. Leave. Bella walked past Charlie without acknowledging him. Inside her bedroom, with the door closed, Bella began to pace across the room. The word leave turning into a chant her mind cried with each footfall.

She could hear her dad knock on her door. "Bella, it's okay if you need to cry. I understand that breakups can be hard, but you can't check out." Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave.

"Look, Bells. I know we both have a hard time expressing how we feel. I just want you to know that I love you. I have to go to work now. I want to talk to you when I get home. We'll order a pizza, okay?" Leave. Leave. Leave. It was a few seconds before Bella heard Charlie's footsteps on the stairs and the sound of the front door opening and closing.

It didn't matter. The thought of leaving had her too consumed to care. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. Leave. The floorboard was loose. Leave. Leave. Leave. Loose floorboard. Leave. Leave. Leave. She could think when she was standing on the loose floorboard. The urge to leave disappeared in this spot, so she stood there.

Bella realized she had to have been pacing the floor for several hours because she could see the sun setting outside her window. Charlie would be home soon for his father-daughter talk. Maybe if she stayed still on this spot she could get through that. Bella needed to know what it was about this spot that made the urge to leave vanish.

Not seeing anything around or nearby that looked like it could do anything for her peace of mind Bella decided it had to be under the loose floorboard. Getting down on the ground, Bella pulled the floorboard up with very little effort. Underneath the board she found everything that had disappeared when her vampire ex, Edward, had left her.

As Bella picked up the plane tickets, which had been a birthday gift, the word leave slammed so hard inside of her that she fell backward and sprawled out on the ground. Some force clearly wanted her to leave Forks behind, but she was not sure she could do it.

Charlie might be the only thing left for her in Washington, but leaving would devastate him. It was obvious to everyone, Bella included, that Charlie enjoyed having the daughter he missed back in his life. Bella realized, however, that she had shut Charlie out long ago, and had yet to let him back in.

It wasn't like Jake and the other wolves would miss her. Jake had his shiny new imprint to distract him. It would probably be days before he remembered Bella even existed. Paul was nothing more than a one-night stand in a moment of weakness. She doubted he would miss her at all. As for the other wolves, well, she would be a nuisance out of their hair. A danger magnet they would no longer need to protect.

It also was not as if Bella had to worry about school. She had graduated from high school three months ago. If anything, this would end up being the perfect opportunity for her to go to college. Mind now made up in favor of using the plane tickets to leave, Bella grabbed her suitcase from under her bed and began to fill it with the few clothes and personal items she felt she could not leave behind.

She realized, as she was pulling out of the driveway, that perhaps leaving a short letter for Charlie saying nothing more than 'Forks is not where I am meant to be' was a bit cruel. She resolved to call him when she had safely landed wherever it was she was going.

By the time Bella got to the ticket counter, she had decided that her best course of action would be to hop on the next flight out of Washington. This way, if her dad had somehow figured out where she was and cooked up some crazy scheme to take her back home, she would already be gone.

"I can help the next person over here," said an overly cheerful woman behind the counter. "How can I assist you today?" she asked when Bella walked up.

Bella showed her one of the tickets. "I'd like to exchange this for a flight leaving as soon as possible." The woman took the ticket from Bella and typed a few things on her computer.

"Where would you like to go?"

"Anywhere," Bella replied.

The woman typed a few more things onto her computer. "It looks like the next available flight is headed to Florida. Will that be okay?"

Florida was perfect. Her mom lived there and she would be able to stay with her mom until she figured out exactly what she wanted to do. The woman at the counter printed up a boarding pass for Bella before helping to check-in her suitcase. Then, she pointed Bella in the direction of her gate and wished her a good flight.

Once she was safely on the plane, headed for the next great adventure of her life, Bella felt relaxed enough to take a nap.

* * *

><p>She was floating atop a beautiful lake. The water was a clear blue and she could see the fish swimming below her. Looking around, Bella could see that there were other birds at the lake. Some, like her, were floating atop the water. Others were sitting in the trees surrounding the lake, while more flew high above them.<p>

The ever-changing man was there, at the shore of the lake. He had a crow on his shoulder. "I see you've left your wolves behind little bird," he called out to her. She swam closer to the shore so that he could talk to her better.

"Are you nervous?" She shook her head no. If anything, she felt a sort of excitement for what was going to come. "I'm glad." He stroked the crow's head. "Your path will be littered with guides who will take you where you need to be. Teach you what you need to learn. You are not alone little bird. Never forget that."

* * *

><p>When Bella woke up to find the plane descending into Florida her dream fled to the background. There, it buried itself where only the deepest recesses of her brain could recall it.<p> 


	3. Can you Play Me a Melody

Can You Play Me a Melody

-Billy Joel "Piano Man"

Sam grabbed the heaviest looking plate of food out of the car so Emily wouldn't attempt to carry it herself. Then, he did a mental checklist to make sure they had not forgotten anything for their bonfire on the beach.

Emily touched his shoulder and he looked down at her. He could never get over how beautiful she was. She had helped him learn to see past the scars that he had accidentally given her and see her for how she'd looked before. As if, someone had erased his past mistakes and there was nothing but the now.

"You could always send one of the boys to get whatever we may have forgotten." She smiled at him and he couldn't help but smile back. She was amazing.

Sam did not think he would ever get used to how Emily seemed to read his mind sometimes. This was something he had also noticed with the other imprinted couples. Often the couples had no need for words and he wasn't certain if it was a side effect of knowing one another so well or an effect of imprinting.

Sam could not recall it being this way when he had been with Leah. Sure, they had known each other well enough, but what he had with Emily was something more. Sometimes it seemed as if she knew how he felt and what he thought before he did. There was a lot they did not know about imprinting and he was tired of ending up caught off guard each time something new happened.

Sam leaned down to give Emily a small kiss that made their smiles even wider. No words needed.

The whole pack was already here. He felt Emily leave his side to scold Quil and Embry who had already descended upon the food. He laughed as he set his burden down on the table. It always amused him to see his pack mates shamed by his petite fiancée.

He looked around him and briefly wondered if his need to do so came from his position as Alpha, if it was an instinct to protect the others.

Jared and his imprint Kim were near the water helping Emily's niece, and Quil's three-year old imprint, Claire, build a sandcastle. Seth, Brady, and Collin were roughhousing in the water while Leah and Paul sat side by side on a log, staring out at the youngest werewolves. Sam supposed they were both sulking. Leah wasn't exactly happy with Jake and his new imprint. As for Paul, well Paul was always upset about something.

Then there was Jake himself along with his imprint, Meghan. This bonfire was her welcome to the pack party, a chance for her to learn more about the wolves and the tribe. Sam had to admit that she was pretty. She had long dark brown hair and light blue eyes, which indicated that not all of her ancestry came from the Makah tribe where she was from.

She seemed nice enough. Meghan had offered to help Emily and Kim with the monstrous task of cooking for the bonfire when she had heard about it, which earned her Emily's praise. Sam was disappointed, however, that she seemed to lack the cool levelheadedness that Bella often exuded.

When Bella learned about the boys turning into giant wolves she had simply shrugged the whole thing off as not being a big deal. Meghan, on the other hand, had fainted when Jake told her the wolves' secret. When she had finally regained consciousness, she had laughed everything off as being some sort of dream. It had taken Sam, Jake, and Jared shifting in front of her, plus a lot of hysterics and denial before she believed them.

Sam had been a bit sad when he had learned from Leah that Bella had left Washington behind. For all Bella was not an official member of the pack, she might as well have been. She always had time to help Emily and somehow found the patience to deal with the crazy antics of the boys.

Bella and Leah had somehow managed to bond over the men they'd loved leaving and abandoning them in a supernatural world to form the unlikeliest of friendships. Leah seemed like her old self when Bella was around. He hated for that to end. Even though he no longer cared for Leah as he once had, he still believed she deserved some sense of normalcy.

Sam was proud, however, that Bella had found the courage to leave. Bella might have been beloved by all, but the pack was a poison to her. Besides, she deserved normalcy too. Sam had to hand it to Charlie for refusing to tell the pack where Bella had gone. Bella did not need them to disturb her as she carved out a new life for herself.

Sam could hear Sue's car not too far away and figured this would be a good time for the girls to grab some food and for everyone to set up around the fire.

He found Emily talking to Jared and Kim while holding Claire. Catching her eye he said, "Time for all humans to get their food the elders will be here soon."

His words enacted a flurry of activity. The girls briefly left their wolf's side and made their way over to a table so heavily laden with food it appeared on the verge of collapsing. Emily handed Claire to Quil as she passed him. The boys and Leah went about starting the fire and setting up chairs around it.

Sam could now hear Sue, Billy, and Old Quil in the parking lot and noticed Jake going over to help his wheelchair-bound father. It wasn't until everyone had grabbed their plates of food and had a spot to sit that Sam was finally able to relax.

"It's nice no longer having the bloodsuckers around," Old Quil said from his spot next to Sue.

Sam frowned inwardly at his comment. While it was true that they had not seen, a vampire for some time that did not mean there were not any out there.

"The redhead will probably be back." Quil gave his grandfather a hard stare.

Seth jumped up from his seat and flexed his muscles. "We'll be ready for her when she gets here." He playfully kicked Leah who was sitting to his left. "Right sis?"

Leah gave him the barest of smiles. "Sure kid."

Sam frowned even more. The redheaded vampire had been terrorizing them for months. Then about two months ago, she had simply disappeared. They had probably gotten a little too lax since then. There wasn't even anyone out running patrol right now.

If the redhead chose tonight to return, she would find little resistance. Sam toyed with the idea of sending one of the boys on patrol now, but did not want to ruin the bonfire. Everyone here had earned a chance for a break.

Billy clapped his hands, bringing everyone's attention to him. "Tonight we do not worry about our future, but instead reflect upon our past." Billy looked at Jacob and his imprint. "Tonight we welcome our newest member. We are very glad to have you Meghan."

Sam heard Paul scoff and whipped his head in Paul's direction in time to see Leah wrap her arms around Paul in a sideways hug. Sam was surprised to see that Paul did not shake her off. Was there something going on there that he had missed?

"Thank you," Megan said quietly.

"Yes," spoke up Old Quil, "it is good to see Jacob finally making the correct decisions. The pale-faced girl brought nothing but ill to this pack."

Paul was growling. When Sam looked over at him once more, he could see Leah futility trying to stop him from shaking. Why would Paul be so upset? Granted, the comments about Bella were not exactly making Sam happy, but they should not have bothered Paul. Paul had made no secret of his dislike for Bella.

"That girl was a poison to our pack and to our tribe," Old Quil continued.

Paul was standing now and had gained the attention of everyone present except Old Quil. Sam stood as well. If Paul leapt for the man, Sam would try to stop him.

"She was acting like a beacon for the leaches. Calling them here, forcing our boys to change. She would have destroyed us."

With those words all of Paul's growling and shaking just stopped. Sam thought the silence was worse. There would be less of a warning if Paul suddenly snapped.

The silence finally brought Old Quil's attention to Paul. "Got something to say boy?" Old Quil smiled. Sam had to wonder if he realized that he was playing with a live grenade. "You agree with me, don't you Paul?"

Old Quil stood up and walked closer to Paul. Sam thought that maybe, with all his provoking talk, Old Quil might deserve it should Paul decide to attack him. "You agree that she was nothing but trouble. I for one hope she has a run-in with one of her precious bloodsuckers on some lonely road and doesn't make it out." Old Quil laughed. "It would certainly make this world a better place."

Paul's arm shot out and wrapped itself around Old Quil's neck so quickly that even Sam had trouble seeing it.

Sam rushed forward and grabbed Paul's arm, hoping to either break it or convince Paul to let go. "Paul let go. You can't kill him. Calm down."

Paul did not seem to notice Sam was even there. The rest of the pack was now on their feet those with imprints moving them out of the way of the volatile wolf. Sam would have to thank Jared later for pushing Emily backward in the same instant he moved Kim.

Leah ran and wrapped her arms around Paul from behind, but he registered her less than he had Sam. Something was wrong with Paul and Leah must have noticed it long ago. That was the only explanation Sam could come up with for whatever it was that was happening right now.

Placing an Alpha order behind his words Sam shouted "Paul, stop it!" He breathed a sigh of relief when Paul loosened his grip and Old Quil fell to the ground. Paul's shaking, however, was now back.

"What the hell just happened?" yelled Embry.

Glaring at the man below him Paul spat out, "I imprinted on Isabella Swan."

"What!"

"Son of a bitch."

"No!"

Shocked at the turn of events, Sam had to hand it to Paul. Had Old Quil said half the things about Emily that he had about Bella the man would already be dead. He wanted to commend Paul for his restraint.

At the same time, however, Sam did not know what this imprint would do to Paul and the pack. The imprint bonds could be intense. If nothing else, Paul would need to see her from time to time. With Bella gone, what would this do to them? They would need to get her back. She had run with them for so long that he hoped she would understand.

Old Quil picked himself up off the ground. "How dare you imprint on a pale-faced whore."

Paul punched him hard enough for his head to snap back and put him, once again, on the ground. This time Old Quil was unconscious.

Jacob must have been in a similar thought process as Sam because they both moved forward at the same time and took hold of one of Paul's arms. Together they dragged him into the forest, away from the imprints and elders.

Sam could not wrap his head around how quickly their peaceful bonfire had gone downhill. "When did you imprint Paul? Are you sure you even did?"

Paul began pacing the forest floor. "Oh, I imprinted all right. Seen it enough times from all of you to know that much."

The rest of the pack had followed them. Unless they were chasing vampires, Sam wasn't certain that he had ever seen everyone look so serious.

"When did you imprint?" asked Sam.

Paul ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "The day she learned we changed. Remember that, Jake and I both changed in front of her. I imprinted then."

"That was a year ago. Are you kidding me?" Jake looked angrily at Paul. "How could you hide this for so long? Why didn't you say something? What is wrong with you?"

The group looked expectantly at Paul who glanced back before sighing in defeat and staring at the ground. "She didn't need me. She had Jake and he was so much better for her than I could ever be. She was happy without me."

Paul did not say anything else. He didn't have to. The imprint bond was all about what the imprint needed. If Bella did not need Paul then it would have been easy enough for him to pretend it never happened, although Sam had to wonder at what cost to both Paul and Bella.

With everything that had just taken place, with Bella leaving, and how agitated Paul looked now it dawned on Sam that while Bella may not have needed Paul before she most likely needed him now.


	4. It Opened Up My Eyes

It Opened Up My Eyes

-Ace of Base "The Sign"

She was aware enough to realize that this was a dream. She was standing in a room with a myriad of tools on the walls and wood everywhere. Paul was there, standing in the middle of what Bella assumed was a garage. He was sanding a chair.

Bella's heart called out to him, but she quickly pushed the feeling away. He paused for a second, as if he had heard the sound of her heartbeat. Bella held her breath and waited for him to acknowledge her, but he never did. She was merely an observer in her dream tonight.

Paul resumed work on the chair, and it was not long after that his father walked through the door. He watched Paul for a little while before speaking up.

"Nice looking chair you have there. Is it for me?"

Paul didnot even glance up. "It's for Sam. I smashed one of his kitchen chairs."

Paul's father put his hands in his pockets. "Unfortunate." He shuffled his feet for a bit, looking to Bella like a man clearly uncomfortable. "Speaking of Sam…"

Paul looked up, "Nobody is speaking of Sam," he snapped.

His father sighed. "Sam called Paul. He told me everything. I know about the imprint."

Bella was surprised to hear that Paul had imprinted. She briefly wondered about the poor girl who would be stuck with Paul before she remembered that this was a dream. It was all, therefore, a figment of her imagination.

"Look," Paul's father continued. "I'm sure she's a great girl, but there has to be some way to break the imprint bond. This can't be healthy for either of you."

Bella could tell that Paul was livid, and had some choice words for his father. However, a sudden, shrill, ringing noise drowned out those words.

Bella seemed to be the only one who could hear it. Paul and his father remained oblivious to the sound as an argument broke out between the two. The beautiful chair meant for Sam was broken to pieces as Paul stormed out of the garage. It was then that Bella recalled her alarm clock, which sounded identical to the ringing and the garage began to disappear.

Halfway between dreams and reality the ever-changing man appeared. He spoke quickly, as if he knew he had little time.

"I've sent them for you little bird. Are you ready?"

* * *

><p>Filling out college applications was tedious. She had been doing it since she had arrived in Florida a month ago. Her mother had been ecstatic when she had discovered her daughter was with her once again. Even her mother's husband, Phil, had seemed excited that she was there. Within days of her moving in with them, they had repainted their plain guest bedroom and it became Bella's room.<p>

Bella was sitting at the dining table filling out applications. She had no idea what she wanted her career path to be. When she had first gotten to Florida she had decided that since she had allowed fate to bring her there that it could also choose where she would attend college. She was therefore, applying for many different programs at all the colleges she could think of. She figured the first place to accept her would be where she was destined to go.

Her mother, Renée, bounced through the door in a flurry of elation. She headed straight for Bella. "Bella, oh Bella, congratulations!"

Bella looked at her mother in confusion. "Congratulations? For what?"

Renée briefly looked ashamed. "Now don't get upset, but when I saw it in the mail I knew what it had to be. I just had to open it." She placed a thick opened envelope on the table next to Bella. "Your first acceptance letter."

Bella felt something like a mix of fear and excitement as she placed her hand on top of the envelope. Where had fate decided to place her?

Phil poked his head into the dining room from the kitchen. "Congratulations Bella. Where are you going?"

Renée spoke up first, "She's been accepted into that nursing program she applied for."

Bella felt the pit of her stomach drop out. Nursing. Fate clearly had a sick sense of humor. Bella had never liked the sight or smell of blood and now her future would involve being constantly around it. She had only applied to the nursing program because her mother had insisted. Renée claimed that there was always a demand for nurses and that there always would be. She had said that Bella could not overlook that sort of job security.

Her mother leaped forward and grabbed Bella up in a fierce hug. "You should accept their offer as soon as possible. Don't want them to give away your spot."

Bella pushed her mom away from her. "I will mom. Thanks." She attempted a smile and from the one she received back from her mother she must have succeeded.

"Renée," Phil called from the kitchen, "where is the garlic I asked you to get?"

"I didn't get any garlic," she yelled back. "You didn't ask for any."

Phil joined them in the dining room. "Of course I asked for some. It's a major ingredient in tonight's dinner."

Renée sighed. "I'll go to the store and get some then."

Bella stood up. "I can go to the store."

Phil and Renée just looked at her for a second. "Are you sure honey?" Renée asked.

"Yeah mom, it's no problem."

Bella did not wait for a response as she grabbed her purse from by the front door and headed outside. The local grocery store was close enough for Bella to walk and she was in need of a chance to clear her head.

Nursing was the last thing she had hoped fate would give her. In the cool evening air, Bella searched for the good in a career in nursing. She would be able to help people. Maybe even save lives. She could not say the same of something such as accounting.

She had been in a hospital so many times that she would probably be a quick study. She could potentially learn things just from having experienced them herself. Bella silently laughed at the thought that maybe nursing would make her less accident-prone. That did not seem like a very likely possibility.

At the grocery store, Bella meandered her way over to the cloves of garlic in the produce section. She was in no hurry to get back home. Bella could feel his presence before she could see him. She was uncertain why. Perhaps it was because she had spent so much time with others of his kind.

She tried to be as inconspicuous as possible. Bella knew from experience that her blood tended to call out to vampires. She grabbed some garlic and quickly headed to the checkout. The less time spent in the store the more likely the vampire would not notice her.

Her efforts to get him to ignore her turned out to be in vain since the vampire followed Bella out of the store. Bella could not head home now. There was no way she was going to lead a hungry vampire to her mom and Phil.

Bella started walking in the opposite direction of her house. Vampires had chased her before and she had survived, she could survive this too. She just needed a chance to think. If Bella had not known that garlic had no effect on vampires she would have tossed her burden at him and tried to run. If she had a lighter, she might have been able to set him on fire.

There was a woman jogging toward them. Bella needed to warn the girl away. It would not be good if an innocent stranger with no idea of what was happening suddenly had a vampire stalker. Bella had a chance, however small, to make it out alive. An unsuspecting stranger would have no chance at all.

Bella raised up her hand in a sort of stop signal when the runner got closer. The second Bella's hand went up the stranger stopped running. She stood there staring at Bella in confusion.

"Are you sure sister?" she asked Bella.

Now it was Bella's turn to be confused. Did she know this girl? Why did she call her sister? Did she think Bella was someone else?

Bella's silence must have been enough of an answer for the girl because she instantly assumed a fighting stance. Bella was almost certain this stranger had plans to kick out at the vampire behind her, a plan that would surely end in them both being a vampire's dinner.

Bella was surprised when instead of kicking out the girl's arms suddenly became engulfed in flames. Bella jumped back startled only to have the now angry vampire forcibly push her to the ground.

"Witches," he spat out before disappearing into the night.

The girl, now no longer on fire, gave Bella a hand up. "Are you all right sister?"

Bella looked at her. She did not appear to be a vampire. She was only slightly taller than Bella, and wearing a bright orange jogging outfit. She had blonde hair and grey eyes. Her features were soft, and while her skin was pale, it was not vampire pale. Yet, as far as Bella knew only vampires had seemingly magical gifts such as the one the girl had used to set herself on fire. Bella could not recall the wolves ever doing anything close to that.

She had a million questions for this unknown girl and yet, "Why do you keep calling me sister?" was the one Bella chose to ask.

The girl smiled at her. "My name is Henley. Are we not all sisters under the moon?"

Bella picked her grocery bag up off the cement. "I guess so," she said uncertainly. "My name is Bella."

Henley put her hands on her hips. "I have to say Bella I was surprised when you asked for help. There was only one vampire. That's hardly a bother to a witch with any amount of talent."

Bella felt as if she had been insulted. She had not even asked for help, she was simply trying to warn Henley away. Then there was that word witch again. Both Henley and the vampire had used it.

"I'm not a witch," she told Henley. Poor Bella was always the odd human stuck in a supernatural world.

Henley looked at her in disbelief. "Of course you're a witch. You flashed me the mark of the angel. Only a witch could do that."

It would be nice if Bella was a witch, but she knew that she was not. Henley was so insistent, however, that it gave Bella hope. Maybe she was not as average as she had always believed.

"What is the mark of the angel?" Bella asked.

Henley sighed. "It's the sign of a witch in trouble or in need of help. Kind of like a human's SOS." She gestured toward Bella. "You're doing it again."

Bella glanced down at her palm in time to see a multi-spiraled symbol disappear into thin air. "I am a witch," she whispered.

"You really didn't know, did you?" Henley looked at her in surprise. "My mother once told me that because witchcraft can only be practiced by females that sometimes families forget they have magic in their blood."

She started to pace in front of Bella. "If you have a witch who had nothing but sons, and he has nothing but sons, and this trend continues long enough for the last witch to die off, when the family finally has a daughter she could know nothing of the powers she possesses."

Is that what had happened to Bella? Did her father have some sort of witch gene he passed down to her?

Henley continued as if Bella were not even there. "With nobody around to teach them magic their powers could end up lying dormant and the poor girl would never know what she was. The few whose powers are strong enough to surface, well if they aren't found and taught how to use their powers, they could go insane."

Bella was glad she was not insane. She was lucky to have found Henley, lucky that her magic had called out for help. Bella looked at her palm once more. "What happens now?"

Henley smiled. "Now, I get to teach you magic."


	5. Coming Down in Three Part Harmony

Coming Down in Three Part Harmony

-Three Dog Night "An Old Fashioned Love Song"

Learning she was a witch had created a completely new set of questions that Bella wanted to ask Henley. She wondered if witch stereotypes were as untrue as they were for vampires and werewolves. Would she have to wear a pointy hat and carry a magic wand?

Before Bella had the chance to ask Henley anything, the other girl spoke up. "Let's go to my apartment. I don't live too far and we can talk more about everything there."

Bella agreed and the two started walking side by side in silence. It was Bella's phone ringing that broke the quiet. Bella glanced at the ID. It was her mother. She had forgotten her mother had sent her to the grocery store in all the excitement.

Bella hit the answer button. "Mom?"

"Bella, are you almost home? Phil is driving me crazy. Apparently, he needs the garlic now."

Bella wanted to learn more about being a witch, but she had told her mother she would bring back the garlic. "Umm, mom, I kind of met a friend at the store and she invited me to her place to hang out. I'm sorry, I forgot about the garlic."

Renée squealed through the phone. "Bella, that's great. I'm so glad you made a friend here already. Don't even worry about Phil and me. You have fun with your friend."

Bella could hear Phil in the background saying, "I need that garlic. Dinner is ruined."

Renée continued as if he were not even there, "I am so proud of you. Your life is falling into place."

Bella could feel herself blushing. "Thanks mom. I'll see you later."

Henley was watching her as she hung up the phone. "You still live with your mom?" she asked. "How old are you?"

Bella could feel her blush deepen. She hoped that Henley would not think less of her for living with her mother. "I'm eighteen. I should probably move out, but I don't have a job."

Henley brightened up. "I'm twenty and I could help you with a job. My mom, she owns a little café, most of us in the coven work as waitresses there." She pointed Bella at an apartment complex in front of them. "My apartment is here, come on."

As they were walking up the three flights of stairs to Henley's apartment Bella asked, "Are you sure your mom would hire me?"

Henley laughed. "Of course she would. You are joining the coven, are you not?"

Bella looked at Henley in surprise as she opened her front door and ushered Bella inside. Bella had not realized that Henley's offer to teach her magic included an offer to join a coven.

Henley turned to her in elation. "If you're serious about moving out of your mother's house, and you end up taking the job at the café, you could live here. I have an extra room. Been trying to rent it out for ages, but it is kind of difficult to find a roommate when you have a supernatural requirement."

Bella looked around her. It was actually a nice place. The living room had a fireplace, a comfortable looking couch, and a medium sized TV. The kitchen was a little to the side and had an eating nook. The appliances looked new.

"It's a two bedroom and two bathroom place," Henley told Bella. "You would have your own space."

It was all starting to become too much for Bella. "I'll have to think about it."

Henley shrugged her shoulders and moved toward the couch in the living room. "That's fine. Sit down."

Bella sat next to Henley who sat with her legs under her and turned to Bella. "I'm an elemental witch who exists in flames." Henley laughed. "That's really a fancy way of saying I can create and play with fire at will."

"Am I an elemental witch too?"

Henley shook her head. "It is possible, but I doubt it. The elements are good at making themselves known. You would know if you were. You would be able to feel it."

The two girls ended up talking about witchcraft and Henley's coven for so long that when Bella checked the time she discovered it was past midnight. She bid Henley goodbye and began the trek home.

Bella had learned a lot in the time she had spent there. She now knew there were three types of magic a witch could possess. The first was elemental, and witches with this sort of magic had control of one of the four elements. The second was mentality. It included witches who could control or move things with their minds as well as those with the power of divination.

The third was environmental. Environmental witches had power over everyday objects. According to Henley, they considered witches with the power to teleport or travel through time environmental because their powers affected the world around them. Bella had also learned that Henley's coven had five people in it, and that this was the normal size of a coven.

When Bella finally got home, and in bed, she worried that, her mind would be too busy for sleep. Sleep, however, came to her easily.

* * *

><p>The scene in Bella's latest dream was extremely odd. It was her father, Sam, and Paul sitting in her dad's living room. Bella was almost certain that they were discussing werewolves and imprinting. As far as Bella knew, her dad had no clue about the supernatural world.<p>

Charlie shook his head. "I understand what you're trying to do Sam. Sue already tried the same thing, and I'll tell you right now that I'll be a lot less kind to you than I was to her."

Sam looked disgruntled. "If you know everything then you know how important this is. So why won't you just tell us where she is?"

Bella wondered if Sam was looking for her.

Charlie leaned forward in his chair and looked at the two men as if he were interrogating them. "I promised Bella that I would tell you boys nothing. Even if I hadn't, there's no way I would tell you where she is. She was such a smart promising girl before she came here and started hanging around with boys."

Thanks dad, Bella thought while her father continued.

"First that Edward did a number on her, and then Jake broke her completely. I don't need the rest of you destroying her again when she's finally back to her old self."

Sam wiped at his face in frustration. "She won't be hurt. They're soul mates. That has to count for something."

Charlie sat back in his chair. "She's going to college and making friends. You are not going to take that from her."

Paul stood up. "We understand sir. Thank you." He walked out the door with Sam chasing after him. "I'm fine Sam," Paul said as he calmly walked away from the house.

Sam shook his head. "You are now, but how long will that last. How much longer will it be before all of this sends you both to the brink of insanity, and beyond?"

Paul stopped and turned to look at Sam. "I am all right Sam. You don't have to worry about me."

* * *

><p>Just another night with another incredibly realistic dream, Bella was standing in an empty plot of land that backed up against the woods. Paul sat in the middle of it all just staring out into space.<p>

As Bella watched, Sam pulled up in his truck. "You missed work," he yelled out to Paul.

Paul briefly glanced at him before going back to staring at nothing. "Something was missing."

Sam stopped in front of him. "So you felt the need to skip out on work and hang out here all day? You've finally cracked, haven't you?"

Paul snorted. "I'm not crazy Sam. Don't worry. I simply found what I was missing here."

Sam gazed around them. "You were missing dirt?"

Paul sighed. "I'm going to build a house. I bought the land."

Sam sat down beside Paul. "Is this about Bella? Building her a house will not make her magically appear."

Sam and Paul sat in silence for a while before Paul spoke up. "I think I just need my own space."

The fact that she was constantly dreaming about the pack confused Bella. Did she simply miss them so much that she felt the need to imagine how they were doing without her? If that was the case, then why did so many of her dreams involve the idea of Paul imprinting on her? Was it because of their one-night stand?

Sam slapped Paul on the back none too lightly. "If a house is what you need then we're going to build you the best house you've ever seen. All of La Push will be jealous."

* * *

><p>A week after having first met Henley, Bella found herself back in the other girl's apartment meeting everyone in the coven. She was sitting on one of the kitchen chairs, which Henley had moved into the living room so the space could accommodate six women.<p>

Henley's mother, and the coven leader, gave Bella the impression of someone strict and knowledgeable, like a librarian. In appearance, she was an older version of Henley. They had the same facial features. Looking at the two side-by-side Bella had to wonder if Henley took after her father in any way.

Henley's mother stood in front of Bella. "My daughter tells me she informed you about the three types of magic."

Bella nodded her head. "Yes ma'am."

The older woman placed her hands on her hips. "My name is Sophia, I expect you to use it."

There was a woman who appeared the same age as Sophia sitting on the couch. She had dirty blonde hair with streaks of grey running through it. The lines on her face gave her a tired look. "Don't scare the poor girl away."

Henley and her mother were not the only mother and daughter in the coven. The woman sitting on the couch and the girl sitting next to her were mother and daughter as well.

While Henley and Sophia could have been twins, Winifred and her mother Katherine did not even look related. Winifred was taller than her mother was, had natural red curls, and where Katherine's features were sharp, Winifred's were soft.

Sophia turned to Katherine. "I'm teaching her, not scaring her." She looked back at Bella. "We have to discover what your power is. Have you experienced anything odd that might be your powers manifesting?"

Bella shook her head no.

"I see. Well Henley and I are both elementals. I connect with the earth and she connects with fire."

Winifred spoke up from her spot on the couch. As far as Bella could tell, she was the quietest in the coven. "I can make objects move with my mind."

Katherine interrupted her before she could say more. "Wini is a mentality witch like her grandmother. I, on the other hand, am an environmental witch with the ability to move myself through space in the blink of an eye."

In a show of her power, Katherine disappeared from Bella's sight.

"Over here." She heard the woman say from behind her.

Bella turned around to see Katherine standing behind her. In another blink of the eye, she was gone once more. When Bella turned back to the couch Katherine was sitting there as if she had never left.

"My turn!" shouted a girl who had been sitting on top of Henley's coffee table. She was shorter, and reminded Bella of Alice with her excited personality, and short brown hair. Henley had introduced her as Gwendolyn, Gwen for short.

Gwen jumped off the table and walked over to Bella. "I am technically considered an environmental witch. I have the ability to tell a person's health just by looking at them. I know if you're sick or not, if you have any broken bones or internal bleeding. I can also heal, but not very much. Most of the healing I can do involves more study than magic. I'm going to be a doctor one day."

Sophia frowned at Gwen. "Her powers are very rare, and very coveted. There are many covens trying to recruit her away from us."

Gwen smiled at Bella, and grabbed her hands. "There is no coven better than this one. I would never leave."

Gwen released Bella's hands, and moved back over to the coffee table. As she walked away, Sophia pulled Bella out of her chair, and stood her up.

"Now that you know what we can do it is our turn to learn what you can do. Let's start with elemental. It is the easiest to discover. Close your eyes."

Bella did what Sophia told her. She could feel Sophia walking circles around her. "Look deep inside Bella. Try to find the waves of the ocean crashing inside. Feel the wind as it blows fiercely. Reach for the flames of a raging fire. Touch the earth of a warm summer's day."

Bella tried to do as Sophia commanded, but could find nothing within herself that felt anything like Sophia described.

Katherine's voice broke her away from her search. "She is clearly not an elemental." Bella opened her eyes to see Katherine standing in front of her. "Perhaps you are a mentality. Try to move something with your mind. Simply focus on an object in the room and will it to move."

Bella located a lamp sitting in the corner. As much as she concentrated, the lamp would not move.

"Girl," Sophia called, forcing Bella to look in her direction. "Think fast."

Sophia tossed a small object in Bella's direction, one that Bella almost failed to catch. As soon as the object touched Bella's hands, Henley's apartment disappeared.

She was standing in a bedroom dimly lit by candles. Bella could tell from looking around the room that she was far from modern times. There was a young girl on the bed crying.

As the girl began to cry harder, rain started to fall from the ceiling. There was a downpour in the room by the time it faded away and Henley's apartment reappeared.

"Good," said Sophia as she walked over to Bella and plucked the object, a small gold locket, out of her hands. "This locket has been in my family for generations. It has picked up a bit of magic itself. If anything were to make an untrained seer have visions it would be this."

She stared intently at Bella. "You have the power of divination."

Henley bounded over to Bella. "That is so cool. What did you see? Please tell me you saw my mother doing something she shouldn't."

Divination, that meant she could see the future. Bella had to wonder if Alice had been a witch when she was human. If she had been just like Bella, only nobody ever helped her control her powers.

Bella glanced away from Henley and over at Sophia. "What can I do with divination?"

Sophia sighed. "It is a complicated power. It all depends on how strong a witch you are. You may be able to see only the past, present, or future. If you are stronger then, you might be able to see all three. It could manifest itself when you touch objects or people or only when you touch magical objects like the locket. It could even show itself to you in your dreams."

Bella suddenly recalled all of those odd dreams she'd been having lately. If Sophia was right then they were not actually dreams, but visions of things that had already happened, or were going to happen. That meant that all of those dreams of Paul imprinting on her were real. The most volatile werewolf there was had imprinted on Bella.

"Congratulations Bella!" Gwen yelled from the coffee table. "You will make an excellent seer and mother."

Bella looked at Gwen in confusion. "What do you mean 'and mother'?"

Gwen furrowed her brows. "Did you not know that you are pregnant?"


	6. I'd Like to Meet His Tailor

I'd Like to Meet His Tailor

-Warren Zevon "Werewolves of London"

Bella was sitting in a clearing filled with wild flowers. In the distance, she could see the lake where she had swum while a swan. She was not a swan now. She was wearing a long flowing white dress that had a Grecian feel to it. Bella had trouble figuring out how she could have ever forgotten about this place. It was beautiful, and everything about it was perfect.

She could feel another person sitting on the ground next to her. When she looked over, she discovered the ever-changing man staring at her.

"How could I have forgotten all of this?" she asked him.

He frowned. "It is not that you forgot, but that you did not know how to remember. When the witches I sent to you taught you how to use your powers all you thought you had forgotten came back."

His confession, that he had sent Henley and the others to her, was startling to Bella. "Was that what I needed to know? Can I return to my wolves now?"

The ever-changing man shook his head sadly. "There is still so much more you need to learn little bird. Not just from the witches, but also from others who will cross your path."

Bella picked at the grass beneath her fingers. "I was imprinted on by one of the wolves. I am pregnant with his child. I don't think we can be separated for much longer."

"I know what an imprint is. Both of you will be fine without each other."

Bella was skeptical of his answer. She knew enough about imprinting to know it usually involved a need to be with the other person. "How do you know we will be fine?"

He spread his arms wide. "I will make it so."

She looked at him. Who was he? He was apparently guiding her on some journey, yet she did not know who or what he was. "Are you a god?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Kind of, but not really." His answer told Bella nothing.

Suddenly the ever-changing man was standing in front of her. "It is time to wake up little bird."

* * *

><p>It wasn't as if Bella did not trust Gwen, it was just that when Bella learned she was pregnant she felt the need for a second opinion. Running on the hope, that Gwen's revelation had been some sort of joke Bella had gone to the doctor.<p>

It was there that Bella learned Gwen had been right she was pregnant. Being pregnant terrified Bella. What was she supposed to do now? In a moment of desperation, she accepted Henley's offer to move in.

Bella fled her mother's disapproval, and had moved in this morning. There were still boxes all over her new room. More stuff than Bella knew she owned courtesy of her mother. Renée was so excited that Bella had gotten a job at the cafe, and was moving in with a friend.

She was thrilled at Bella becoming an adult. Bella, however, had yet to tell her mother about the pregnancy. Renée had always told Bella how terrible a thing it was to marry and have children young. While her mother had never said it, Bella knew she had a place in Renée's regrets.

Bella picked up her phone and stared at it. Even though she did not know Paul's number she had a feeling it would not be hard to contact him. If nothing else Bella had Sam's number and if the imprinting stuff were real then Sam would probably have no problem handing Paul's number over.

Bella threw her phone back on the bed. Did she even want to tell Paul? The ever-changing man had said he would make it so neither of them would feel the repercussions of their separation. She could keep the pregnancy secret until it was finally time for her to return home.

Bella picked the phone back up. Paul deserved to know about the baby. It was his child too. He deserved the chance to be a father. It was also not fair of Bella to keep the fact that she knew about the imprint from him. She should tell him everything, including all the stuff about being a witch.

If he knew everything though he would probably want her to come home. He would most likely find a way to Florida and force her back to Washington. Bella could not leave Florida now. She was officially joining the coven tonight and her nursing program started in the spring. Fate wanted her here, not in Washington. Bella threw her phone back down on the bed.

A knock sounded at Bella's bedroom door. "Bella," Henley's voice drifted through the wood, "are you almost ready?"

Bella winced. She had forgotten to get dressed in her distress over whether or not to call Paul. "Not really," she called out.

She could hear Henley laugh. "Don't forget to shower using that soap I put in there. You have to be clean for the ritual tonight."

Bella looked at her phone in disdain. She did not need to call Paul tonight. The baby was not due for almost seven months anyway.

After a quick shower with a soap Sophia claimed had a special cleansing spell on it, Bella found herself in the back of a minivan. The six women were on their way to Bella's ritual to join the coven. An hour's ride later, they all tumbled out of the vehicle in the middle of nowhere.

"We don't want anyone to accidently interrupt," Henley had whispered to her when Bella noticed the minivan was no longer driving on roads.

Gwen ran ahead of the group as they hiked the rest of the way to where the ritual would take place. "The full moon!" she shouted, spreading her arms wide and spinning in circles. Bella could see Sophia rolling her eyes at Gwen's antics.

Bella looked at Henley. "What are we going to be doing?"

Bella thought she had spoken softly enough for the others not to hear, but was proven wrong when Gwen answered, "Dancing naked in the moonlight."

Bella turned startled toward Winifred at the sound of the other girl's laughter. This was the first time she had seen Winifred smile. While the girl was not mean, she was shy and tended to hide her emotions around Bella. She blushed when she noticed Bella watching.

Katherine grabbed hold of her daughter's arm. "We do not dance naked. Gwendolyn is making a joke."

Henley gave Bella a serious look. "We do, however, wear pointed hats. You did remember to bring yours, didn't you? We can't do the ritual without them."

Bella began to panic. They were all wearing special outfits for the ritual. Each of them had on a plain black, loose fitting long dress tied at the waist with a silver cord. Bella did not recall seeing a hat of any kind when Henley had handed the outfit over to her.

Winifred was still laughing.

Katherine turned her gaze away from Bella and Henley. It was with her nose in the air that she said, "We also do not wear pointed hats."

Henley took hold of Winifred's arm and yanked her away from her mother's grasp. She then looped her arm through Bella's and the three girls made their way toward Gwen who was spinning in circles far ahead of the others.

Gwen stopped spinning when they reached her. "It is a shame we don't dance naked. Imagine how freeing the experience would be."

Henley glanced at the two women lagging behind them. "Leave me out of the naked dancing. I would rather not see my mother in her birthday suit."

Gwen got a sad look in her eyes. "Be glad that your mother is here, and able to share this experience with you. Not everyone is as lucky as you."

Henley had no response to that and a silence descended over the four girls. The silence was short lived, as soon as Gwen noticed Sophia and Katherine catching up she shouted out, "Zombies!" and took off running. Henley and Winifred chased after her, with Henley dragging Bella along with them, giggling the whole way.

After walking ahead for a while, the girls allowed Sophia and Katherine a chance to catch up. Sophia looked upset when she reached them. "Running ahead like that was very immature of you girls. What we will be doing tonight is important, not some joke."

Sophia gave each girl a hard stare. Bella was red with shame. She was a new member and should have acted better behaved. "None of you girls are children. Each of you is a grown adult and I expect you to act as such."

Bella noticed Henley had hung her head and appeared unable to look at her mother.

Sophia continued, "I expect more from you Henley. You will be leader of this coven one day. Try to act accordingly."

In a surprising turn of events Gwen stomped away angrily from the group at the end of Sophia's speech.

Sophia sighed, "Looks like we will be meeting back up with her at the site."

Henley took hold of Bella's arm and waited for the others to walk a little bit ahead. "Sorry about that," she whispered.

Bella looked at her. "I'm the one who should be sorry. The coven seems to be about sisterhood, and by running ahead, we excluded your mother and Katherine. We probably shouldn't be falling behind now."

Henley shook her head. "That isn't what I meant. My mother and Katherine expect us to form a bond without them. The coven may be about sisterhood, but it is also generational. They are not a part of our generation. What I meant was sorry for the way my mother reacted. It had nothing to do with you and everything to do with Gwen."

Bella looked at Henley in confusion. "I noticed Sophia always seemed impatient with Gwen. I just thought she disliked Gwen's perkiness."

Henley laughed. "Goodness no, it is so much more than that. My mother full on hates Gwen."

"Why?"

Henley watched the quiet group ahead of them to make sure none of them were paying attention. When she answered Bella, her voice was much softer than it had previously been.

"Gwen's grandmother was leader of the coven before my mother was. She had two sons, no daughters. So when she retired and it came time for the coven to be passed down from mother to daughter it had to instead be given to the most powerful witch in the coven."

Henley glared at her mother's back. "My mother can be a little power hungry, and being handed leadership of the coven was like a dream come true. When I was born, my mother felt I had secured her legacy. She had her leadership role and an heir."

Henley glanced at Bella and gave her a sad smile. "Only Gwen was born two months after I was and that created a crack in my mother's perfect world. Technically, Gwen should be the next coven leader."

It seemed to Bella that the politics of the coven were similar to that of the pack. In the pack, Sam was only Alpha until Jacob took over his birthright. Like Sam, it appeared Sophia was a placeholder until Gwen took what rightfully belonged to her. Only it did not look as if Sophia planned to give anything to Gwen.

"Why does your mother say she's going to give you control if it's meant for Gwen?"

Henley sighed. "The one thing Gwen and my mother can agree on is that neither of them wants Gwen in the coven. Gwen stays out of duty to her grandmother. The woman raised her after her parents died in a car accident. My mother wants Gwen to leave so she can secure her legacy once more."

Bella thought how terrible that was. It was not fair that Sophia treated Gwen poorly just because she didn't wish to relinquish control of the coven to her. As Bella was lost in her thoughts, she and Henley caught up with the others. Bella started noticing her surroundings once more as the others climbed over a long lavender bush.

"Magic," whispered Henley when she noticed Bella doing more falling through the lavender than climbing over. "This place is pure magic."

As Bella picked herself up and moved away from the lavender she noticed they were in a small clearing completely circled by the lavender bushes they had just climbed through. There were several other plants ringing the clearing that Bella was unable to identify. In the middle of everything was what looked like a stone table of sorts made up of many stacked small stones.

Sitting on the top of it was Gwen. She jumped down and joined the others as all but Bella and Sophia moved to form a circle around the stone table. Sophia took hold of Bella's shoulders. "Are you ready to join us as our sister in not just magic but blood?"

Bella could feel magic all around her. It was a warm feeling that tugged at her very being. Bella felt like she could do anything in this place. She nodded her head in response to Sophia's question.

Sophia then wordlessly led her to a spot within the circle between Henley and Winifred before taking her place next to Katherine and Gwen. Sophia took a knife that Bella had not noticed her carrying to the clearing and cut both her palms with it before passing the blade to Katherine who did the same thing.

When Winifred passed the knife to Bella, she knew they expected her to do as they had and braced herself for the pain in her palms. She tried not to think too much of the blood as she handed Henley the blade.

When the blade was back in Sophia's hands, the older woman allowed it to fall to the ground where it pierced the dirt and stood straight up. The six women held hands as Sophia began to chant in a language Bella could not understand.

It was as they were driving home that the full weight of what had just occurred hit Bella. She had magically tied herself to these women. There was no leaving Florida now.


	7. It's A Supernatural Delight

It's a Supernatural Delight

-King Harvest "Dancing in the Moonlight"

It was not until three mornings after Bella joined the coven that she finally had her first run-in with morning sickness. Bella decided that emptying your stomach of anything and everything you had ever eaten was not the ideal way to wake up in the morning as she rinsed out her mouth in the sink.

Once she felt there was nothing left in her stomach and she had brushed her teeth to perfection Bella attempted to make her way to the kitchen. The moment she stepped foot into the hallway, and the smell of Henley's cooking wafted its way toward her, however, she discovered that she had much more left in her that needed emptying out.

Bella was too busy to register somebody knocking on the bathroom door before opening it wide. She did however notice the hands that moved her hair out of the way and rubbed soothing circles on her back. Bella felt a stab of regret that Paul was not here. He should have been the one to hold her hair and comfort her when morning sickness reared its ugly head. She should call him when she could find the chance to walk away from the bathroom.

Henley, who had been whispering nonsense words of comfort, stopped rubbing Bella's back. "When my mother heard you were pregnant she gave me a recipe for an anti-morning sickness potion. Winifred is in the kitchen making it now."

Bella managed to mumble out a 'thanks' as she pulled her head away from the toilet.

Henley stood up. "Wait here and I will grab it from her. It was a fairly simple potion."

Bella nodded her head as Henley walked out. Pulling herself up to brush her teeth once more she wondered what Winifred was even doing in their apartment so early in the morning. It was not all that unusual for either Gwen or Winifred to be there since they seemed to be teaching Bella about magic as much as Henley was, they just tended not to show up until somewhere around lunch.

Walking back into the bathroom Henley handed Bella a vial with deep blue liquid inside. Bella stared at the vial's contents for a moment before grimacing and downing it in one gulp. The potion's effects were immediate and Bella felt the last of her nausea disappear.

Now feeling like she could conquer the world as well as whatever new magic lesson the trio had to throw at her, Bella wandered into the living room. The living room was an explosion of fabric of every color imaginable. There was even one piece of fabric that was changing color every few seconds.

In the middle of the fabric chaos, sat Gwen who was giggling madly as she pulled even more fabric out of a giant bag.

"Watch your step," said Henley as she gingerly made her way over to Gwen and began helping her in her apparent endeavor to cover the apartment in as much fabric as possible.

"How are you feeling?" Winifred asked from the kitchen.

Bella swore she stepped on a pointed hat as she made her way toward Winifred. While fabric did not cover the kitchen, it still wasn't faring any better than the living room. Their kitchen looked as if an apothecary had exploded. There were herbs and potion ingredients everywhere, and one of the pots on the stove was giving off blue smoke with random sparks here and there.

Winifred looked slightly ashamed as Bella glanced at the mess around her. Bella knew she would be the one to clean it up.

"Sorry, we had trouble finding one of the main components to that potion I made you." Winifred gestured to the pot with the blue smoke coming out of it. "I made extra for you. You can keep it on your nightstand or something."

Bella smiled gratefully at the girl who began filling vials with the blue liquid. Bella sighed to herself before cleaning the kitchen up. When Bella finished with Winifred's help, the two girls made their way into the living room where Gwen and Henley were wearing corsets, blouses, and long skirts.

Bella raised her eyebrows when she saw them. "Is the Renaissance Faire in town?"

Gwen looked at Bella as if the comment insulted her. "Don't be ridiculous, the Renaissance Faire is in the spring. Everyone knows that."

Henley made her way over the mess of fabric to where Bella was standing. "Do you not remember that today is Halloween?"

Bella had known that Halloween was soon. The decorations littering the neighborhood and grocery store had made it impossible for her to forget. She just hadn't realized that the day was coming up so soon.

"Tonight is the Witches Ball," Winifred spoke up.

Henley gestured to the fabric on the ground. "Everyone dresses up as the most stereotypical witch they can think of."

Bella thought she'd stepped on a pointed hat earlier. She took a closer look at the fabric and realized it was a multitude of costumes. Corsets and skirts like the ones Gwen and Henley were wearing, a velvet dress that made Bella think of a powerful sorceress, and even a gown that looked like Glinda's from The Wizard of Oz.

Henley watched Bella glance at everything. "Winifred made them all."

Bella looked at Winifred startled. "I didn't know you could sew."

Winifred, who was as red as a tomato, shrugged her shoulders. "It's my hobby."

Gwen jumped up and down while clapping her hands. "We're all going to look so pretty."

After a day of playing dress-up Bella found herself wearing, a long-sleeved black dress that tied in the back, along with a pointed black hat. Henley was wearing a black dress so short that Bella was certain Sophia would force her to change, and a hat like the one Bella wore. Gwen still had on the green corset she had been wearing earlier along with a green and yellow skirt and a dark yellow blouse. Winifred was wearing the deep blue velvet sorceress dress with her hair in an intricate knot of braids.

Winifred had almost decided not to wear the velvet gown when Bella had mentioned it looked like something a sorceress would wear. In a world with werewolves, vampires, and witches Bella should have realized that there were sorcerers as well.

"What's the difference between witches and sorceresses?" Bella has asked after the revelation.

"Sorcerers rely on wands and science while witches depend on the magic within themselves. Sorcerers create magic while witches are magic. Because of that, witches and sorcerers tend not to get along very well. Sorcerers can also be either men or women," Henley had answered.

"Witches are men haters," Gwen had shouted from where she'd been doing Winifred's hair.

Standing in the living room all dressed up with the others Bella began to wonder how they would be getting to the Witches Ball. Turning to Henley she asked, "Whose car are we taking?"

Henley laughed. "The Witches Ball is in New York. We're using a teleportation spell, not driving. We're just waiting for my mother and Katherine to get here."

As if on cue, there was a knock on the apartment door. Henley opened it, to reveal Sophia and Katherine both of whom looked as though they had stepped straight out of the Salem Witch Trials. Katherine was even holding what appeared to be a noose.

Sophia walked straight into the living room. Bella was grateful they had picked up the mess before Sophia and Katherine had arrived. She had no doubt that Sophia would have had some harsh words had the mess still been there.

"We have magic to do. I hope you girls are ready to go."

Moving to stand in the circle they had been in during Bella's joining ritual the six women joined hands. Sophia began chanting in what Bella now knew to be Latin. The other girls joined Sophia's chant, Bella included. It was as if the words were a part of Bella, as if she had always known them but never realized it.

The apartment began to swirl around them until it became a blur of colors. When the spinning finally ceased Bella found herself in what appeared to be the lobby of a grand hotel surrounded by other women in witch costumes. There was even one woman who had painted herself green.

"Don't look so impressed," Henley whispered to Bella. "The women you see here are the only witches left in the world. We are a dying breed."

Following Sophia into the hotel's ballroom Bella supposed she looked like a fish out of water with her mouth open as she stared at the grandeur around her. Bella was so absorbed in the beauty of the building and the brightly dressed people around her that she failed to notice Sophia and the others stopping. Recovering from having walked into Henley, Bella noticed that standing in front of Sophia was a small woman with her hands on her hips trying to stare Sophia down.

Loudly clearing her throat, she addressed the woman before her. "Hello Sophia, what a pleasure to see you and your coven here."

Something about the way the woman's eyes gleamed made Bella think that she was going to stir up trouble, and from the frown on Sophia's face, she must have thought the same.

"Lucy." Sophia nodded before she attempted to step around the woman who quickly moved to block her path once more.

"I must say Sophia, when I heard your coven had a new member I briefly considered the possibility that you were beginning to recruit for a war. Only now that I see your newest member I can tell how ridiculous that idea was." Lucy gave a fake chuckle and Sophia returned it with the most strained smile Bella had ever seen.

"Come now Lucy, we are all sisters. What benefit would a war give me?" Sophia tried to sidestep the other woman only to find Lucy blocking her path again.

"What benefit indeed? Are you not, however, the least bit curious why I find your new girl to be no threat?"

Sophia rolled her eyes. "I would assume that it's because she is a dream psychic and, therefore, useless in a war."

Lucy smiled widely at Sophia's response. "Ah yes, a dream psychic, that is the only power you told the Witches Council she possesses, no?" At Sophia's confirming nod, Lucy continued, "Imagine my surprise then when I attempted to read the girl's mind and discovered nothing."

"Now either your girl is so simpleminded that she has no thoughts or you lied to the Witches Council, but we both know you would never do that. Poor little power hungry Sophia would never lie about a mental shield. That could be considered an act of war."

The glare Sophia was giving Lucy had Bella marveling at the fact that she had yet to burst into flames. "Lucy, since we are both in agreement that I would never lie to the council perhaps you would do well to worry about your own coven and how simpleminded they may be and leave me to mine. Also, try to recall that reading a fellow witch's mind, no matter how unsuccessful, is against council law."

Sophia's smile combined with her glare as she watched Lucy disappear into the crowd terrified Bella. As soon as Lucy was out of sight Sophia whipped around to face Bella so quickly that Bella was certain even a vampire would have difficulty seeing the movement.

"Well?" snarled Sophia.

Bella was uncertain what it was Sophia was asking and had to remind herself that responding with 'well what' would probably not end well.

Sophia must have understood Bella's thought process as she continued with, "Well do you have thoughts in your head or not?"

Once more Bella had to bite back a response since her first instinct was to tell Sophia that of course, she had thoughts. "Nobody has ever been able to read my mind. I always assumed I was running on a different frequency than everyone else."

Sophia pinched the bridge of her nose and inhaled deeply. "Are you a radio?"

Bella shook her head no.

"Then your mind does not run on a different frequency. When I had asked you all those weeks ago if you had ever done anything out of the ordinary shielding your thoughts from mind readers should have been the first thing you mentioned. Instead, you told me that there was nothing odd about you. I will ask you one last time, and heaven help you if you tell me you have no other powers and it turns out you do. I will not be made a fool of."

Bella had stood her ground against hungry vampires, and angry werewolves, but nothing she had experienced was half as terrifying as Sophia was in that instant. "I am sorry Sophia. There is nothing else," she answered.

Sophia nodded her head before turning to Katherine. "Come, we should inform the Witches Council of Bella's newest power before Lucy gets the chance."

The second the two women were no longer within earshot Gwen excitedly turned to Bella. "Please tell me you have more powers, and you just didn't tell her about them."

Still recovering from Sophia's rage all Bella could do was shake her head.

"A mental shield is such an awesome power," Henley spoke up. "Any powers that mess with the mind would be useless against you."

"You know," said Winifred, "if your psychic abilities extended outside of your dreams you would be considered more powerful than Gwen."

Bella was uncertain how to react to that news. She was still a beginner in the whole witch thing and Gwen had been practicing for years. Bella meant to protest Winifred's statement and claim she would need practice before she could be as powerful and well versed as any of them were when it occurred to her that she might have one other power that Sophia did not know about.

If anyone would know whether it was a power, it would be the three girls in front of her. "I don't know if this is a separate power or not," Bella started, "but sometimes I have dreams that are neither dreams nor visions. In them, there is a man whose appearance is always changing. He knows things and tells me things. I'm not really certain who or what he is."

From the looks on Henley and Winifred's faces Bella could tell that they had no idea who the man was either. Gwen, however, had a look of understanding, and Bella had to strain to hear Gwen's whisper of, "You can see the Dream Walker."

As if they all understood that this was a secret of some sort, the four girls huddled into a tight circle, and Henley asked the question they were all thinking. "Who is the Dream Walker?"

Gwen shrugged her shoulders. "I don't really know that much about him, just that he was a sorcerer once. My grandmother can see him too. She could tell you much more than I can."

"It's settled then," Henley said as she straightened up and broke the huddle. "This man cannot be that dangerous if Gwen's grandmother can see him too. We shall consult her about him some other day, but tonight we enjoy the Witches Ball." She grabbed hold of Gwen the two girls laughed their way to the dance floor.

Winifred patted Bella on the shoulder. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Sophia has gone to clear everything with the council and Gwen's grandmother will probably have the answers to any questions you have about this sorcerer person. Try to have some fun."

Bella fully intended to take Winifred's advice. She even succeeded for a short while, and danced without a care. It was as the four girls were taking a breather at the refreshments table that Bella saw them. The one person who could ruin a night quicker than either Sophia's rage or a mysterious sorcerer could.


	8. Fancy Dancing With The Fleas

The Ants Were Fancy Dancing With the Fleas

-Burl Ives "The Ugly Bug Ball"

Bella turned toward Henley. "Are vampires allowed at the Witches Ball?"

Henley looked at Bella in confusion before shrugging her shoulders. "I don't see why not. Witches don't exactly hate vampires. In fact, we are neutral with most other supernatural groups and only attack them if they attack or threaten us first. The only supernatural groups we actively hate are sorcerers and other covens."

That explained why most people at the party did not appear to care that there was a vampire walking among them.

"Why are you asking about vampires?" Winifred asked. "Is there one here?"

Bella was unsure how to answer the question. She guessed that a simple yes would suffice, but it caught in her throat, so she pointed instead.

Walking straight toward them was Victoria. She was wearing a white dress that was better suited to a club than the ballroom of a hotel, and made Henley's dress look conservative in comparison. That mixed with her bright red hair had her sticking out like a sore thumb. Bella was surprised there weren't more people watching her based on her outfit alone.

The closer Victoria got to their small group the more Bella began to panic. She wasn't sure how, but Victoria had managed to find her here, and Bella couldn't be certain that the woman wouldn't take the opportunity to eliminate her for good. Surely, the witches present would kill Victoria for harming Bella, but perhaps she saw that as an acceptable loss.

Once Victoria was only a few feet away, she flung open her arms and rushed forward the last couple of feet to embrace Bella in a hug. Bella could see Henley giving them a curious look before saying, "Do you know her, Bella?"

Victoria answered. She pulled Bella away and held her at arm's length, then gave Henley and the others a very convincing smile. "Of course we know each other. We were the best of friends back in Washington."

She turned her gaze back toward Bella and Bella saw her eyes, for a split second, turn menacing. "Weren't we Bella?" Victoria wanted her to lie. Before Bella could answer, however, Victoria pulled Bella back in for another hug. "Of course we were."

Winifred was the only one who did not seem convinced by Victoria's act, and she asked with a voice full of skepticism, "How did you even meet?"

Victoria giggled. "Oh it is the most interesting story. The short version though, is that we met through our boyfriends. Bella was dating a vampire back then. Such crazy times those were." Not exactly the way it had happened, but Bella guessed it sounded better than her boyfriend killed Victoria's mate.

Gwen sighed. "Your life is so fascinating Bella. I wish I had dated a vampire. Sophia would have died." Bella knew Gwen was thinking about doing it, finding a vampire, and dating him, simply to rile up Sophia.

Victoria crushed Bella into one more hug that left her feeling bruised. Perhaps Victoria planned to hug her to death. While Bella attempted to catch her breath, Victoria addressed the three girls. "I'm certain that you're Bella's new friends, but I hope you won't mind giving an old friend the chance to catch up. I've missed my best friend so much."

When Winifred looked at her questioningly, Bella hoped that her eyes held the message not to leave her alone with Victoria, please, but Winifred didn't seem to understand since she walked away with Gwen and Henley.

As soon as the girls were out of earshot, Bella could feel a shift in Victoria. Her smile still looked friendly, but Bella could see the malice beneath it.

"Who would have guessed that defenseless Bella Swan was a witch all along," sneered Victoria. "Were you simply pretending to be human so you could watch those boys try to protect you?" Victoria gave a small giggle that sent chills down Bella's spine. "If you were I applaud you on your ability to get each of those morons to do your bidding. You should know, however, that it just makes me want to kill you more."

Bella knew it Victoria was going to kill her right there in the crowded room. Victoria leaned in closer and Bella could feel her heart beating so wildly she was surprised it had yet to manage to jump out of her chest completely. Victoria's smile widened. This was it, the moment she was going to die.

"Let's play a game," whispered Victoria before leaning back away from Bella.

Bella could feel herself trembling in fear. She was not ready to die, not now, and certainly not in some sick twisted game rigged up by Victoria. It also wouldn't be fair that her baby would die alongside her. She had to live so her baby could.

"I have been informed that you are a seer. My game will focus on that. All you have to do is prove how good of a seer you are and you win."

Bella was not that great of a seer. If someone had told Victoria, she would be there and that she was a witch then they probably told her that Bella was a dream seer, not very powerful at all. Victoria wanted her to fail her terrible game.

Bella, however, could not give up now she had her baby to protect. She had to try to win. "What do I need to do?" she asked, her voice sounding much more confident than she felt.

Victoria laughed once more. "I have a surprise waiting for you and your new friends. All you have to do is figure out what the surprise is and stop it."

Bella could feel some of the courage she had managed to gather flee her at Victoria's vagueness. Victoria pulled Bella into a hug one last time before turning to walk away, and wiggling her fingers in a wave goodbye.

Bella briefly considered running after Victoria and handing herself over to the woman in exchange for her leaving her friends alone, but thoughts of her baby kept her from doing so. Her baby deserved a chance to live, a chance to grow up. As she thought more and more on the baby growing inside her, Bella's determination grew.

She could defeat Victoria she just needed a vision. Bella tried to concentrate on thoughts of Victoria, and attempted to will herself to have a vision. She had yet to have a vision outside of her dreams other than the one that Sophia had prompted when they first met. Bella, however, had no choice she needed a vision now.

Bella could feel the beginnings of a headache. She was trying too hard to force her magic into working in ways it hadn't. Bella recalled Alice once saying that you could not force visions that they just had to happen. Alice.

With that thought, the room around Bella began to disappear. Looking around Bella discovered she was standing in front of a couch in a grand looking living room. Sitting on the couch with confused expressions on their faces as they watched their third companion were Emmet and Jasper. Bella could feel a small ache in her heart at the loss of their friendship.

Smashed between the two men sat Alice who was staring straight at Bella and looked surprised. "Bella?" she whispered before the room abruptly vanished and Bella found herself in the ballroom once more.

Bella felt a moment of elation for her first true vision outside of her dreams. There was no time to dwell on more than that. Feeling more confident in her abilities Bella went back to concentrating on thoughts of Victoria.

This might be Victoria's game, but Bella would not allow her to win. She had to do this she just needed a vision of Victoria's surprise. Bella's headache was getting worse, and Bella could feel herself becoming nauseous.

Bella pushed the pain away. She had to defeat Victoria in order to protect her friends, her family, her baby, Paul. There was no time for pain. Paul.

The hotel's ballroom disappeared again. This time Bella was in a room filled with chairs all facing toward a coffin. Her father was there being comforted by Sue as he cried. Bella was unable to think of a time where she had ever seen her father cry.

Her mother and Phil were also there, with Renée sobbing into Phil's shirt. The only other people present were the pack and their imprints. Paul was standing near the coffin. Out of everyone there Paul was the only who did not look sad, instead he looked furious.

Bella found she was unsurprised to discover that she was the one in the coffin, although she had to admit that this had to be the most unhelpful vision ever as she felt her confidence in her powers draining away. This vision was clearly showing her what would happen if Victoria won.

Sam moved forward to put a comforting hand on Paul's shoulder. "If there's anything you need, just name it. We're all here for you."

Paul's responding laugh sounded hollow. "You know what I need Sam? I need you to take your perfect little imprint to your perfect little home, and live your perfect little life. I need you to leave me alone. Then when the day comes that you think 'hey, what about Paul?' I need you to feel confident in knowing that I didn't deserve the same wonderful life you got."

Paul turned away from Bella's coffin to look at Sam. "I just lost my imprint and a child I knew nothing about because nobody could give me the one thing I actually needed, an imprint that wasn't a selfish bitch."

Sam stood still in shock at Paul's outburst before finally muttering, "I can't do that Paul. You deserved better than this. I won't leave you alone."

Paul slumped forward into a defeated looking posture. "Thanks Sam, but clearly you're wrong." Paul then moved to storm out of the room with Sam quickly jumping out of his way.

With each footstep, Paul took toward the door Bella's vision faded further until the only thing left was Paul's retreating figure. Bella could feel the tears streaming down her face as Paul finally vanished. She was a terrible person.

Sam was right. Paul deserved much better than her. Paul had been nothing but patient with her. When she thought she needed Jake, he let her have him. When she needed to be comforted, he had comforted her, and when she needed to leave Washington behind, he had let her go. Now, selfish Bella was going to repay him for everything by dying in Victoria's game. Paul deserved better, but if she was all he had then she had to defeat Victoria, and be better for him.

She had managed two visions outside of her dreams now she just needed one more. Thinking back on how she had achieved those visions Bella realized that when she had tried to get a vision of Victoria nothing happened. It was not until her thoughts strayed elsewhere that her visions occurred.

Bella knew that Victoria had a talent for staying alive, and that talent must have been keeping Bella from getting a vision about Victoria. Therefore, Bella would have to get a vision about someone else. Henley, the vision would have to be about her.

Victoria had said the surprise would affect her friends, and Henley was the person she was closest to. Bella's headache felt like a thousand elephants tap dancing on her forehead. Henley.

This time the room around her did not disappear, instead Bella and the people around her simply found themselves standing in new places. Only Bella seemed to notice the shift. There were vampires coming out of the kitchen one at a time. The people around them, having already seen Victoria earlier, paid them little attention. Bella almost laughed when she realized one of the vampires was a Victoria look-a-like she was even wearing the same slinky dress that Bella had seen Victoria wearing.

This one ended up nearest Henley and the others. There must have been some sort of signal because they all attacked at once with the Victoria wannabe ripping open Henley's throat before Winifred set her on fire using a candle on a nearby table.

Henley crumpled in a heap on the floor in a pool of her own blood. The larger the pool became the dimmer the vision was until it was as if Bella were watching ghosts re-enacting a battle. The witches in the room killed all the vampires in very little time, but there were losses, including Henley.

As Bella returned to her former position in the room she discovered a woman was staring at her and standing uncomfortably close.

"Did you see it too?" the woman asked. "The vampires have come to play."

Bella was in a room full of witches, of course someone else had had the same vision. Bella took a step back from the woman, but two more women gathering around her quickly filled the distance she put between them.

"What do you think we should do about the vampires, Eva? We can't just let them attack us."

Bella suddenly found she was in the middle of a mob of witches who all knew about the upcoming vampire attack.

"We should attack them first."

"Where are they going to be coming from?"

"The kitchen."

Bella watched as every piece of furniture in the ballroom was stacked against the kitchen door. Victoria was losing her game, but it did not appear that Bella was the one winning it. After what seemed like a never-ending argument that Bella was not involved in, the witches decided that they would let the vampires out of the kitchen and kill them.

As the gaggle of women moved to surround the kitchen doors, one woman grabbed hold of Bella's arm. "You are the newest witch, are you not?" Bella nodded her head in response. "Here is a little helpful spell then. When the vampires come near you hold your hands up like you are pushing something away and say feuer."

That last word didn't sound like the Latin that Henley had been teaching her. "Is that German?" Bella asked.

The woman gave Bella a small smile. "Not all spells have to be in Latin."

The defeat of the vampires in the kitchen happened so fast that Bella was ashamed that she was disappointed in its length. She stood at the back near Winifred for the whole thing, and watched as the older witches quickly ended the lives of the vampires Victoria had chosen to sacrifice.

When it was over the party continued on as if nothing had happened, but Bella could not shake the feeling that the entire thing had been too easy to enjoy the party anymore. The game had been to test Bella's abilities, and to try to catch her off guard, Bella had no doubt about that. There was no way Victoria had failed to take into account the other witches when she had created her surprise. There had to be something more.

The now familiar sensation of having a vision occurred, leaving Bella standing in her apartment as it was being ransacked by three vampires. The vampires in the ballroom had been the distraction. These vampires were the actual game.

Once Bella's vision faded away, she went to track down Sophia and the rest of their coven so that they could teleport back to the apartment and end Victoria's game permanently. Explaining about Victoria was a lot easier than Bella had expected.

"I knew she wasn't your friend," announced Winifred. "You kept giving her these horrified looks. I am just sorry I didn't try to convince the others she was no good earlier."

Bella gave Winifred a grateful smile. "It's all right. We just need to kill the invaders in the apartment, and prove to Victoria that we are not the weak targets she thinks we are."

Katherine was the only one who appeared upset that they were leaving the Witches Ball early. "Honestly Isabella, you are more trouble than you are worth."

Sophia pushed Katherine until she was standing in her proper place within the circle. "We have more important things to worry about right now Kathy than who is and is not worthy of being in our coven."

Once inside the apartment they found the entire place was a disaster. If Bella had thought Gwen and Henley's clothing mess from that morning had been bad it was nothing compared to this. The vampires had smashed furniture, shredded books, and left unidentifiable broken things everywhere.

Bella could not see any vampires nearby, but the sound of things breaking from inside her bedroom was evidence that they were still there. Quietly the six women made their way toward Bella's room to discover the three vampires going through Bella's closet.

Sophia was the first one to react, reciting a spell so quickly that Bella was unable to catch what she said. The vampire nearest Sophia found his hair was on fire, and he pushed past his friends in an attempt to put it out.

Winifred used her powers to push one of the vampires backward into the waiting arms of Katherine who used a spell that caused the vampire to explode. Gwen and Winifred collected the pieces of exploded vampire, and placed them into a fire they had started in the center of the room.

Henley finished off the vampire that her mother had set on fire while the final vampire rushed toward Bella. Holding her hands up as the witch from the ball had told her to Bella shouted, "Feuer!" perhaps a bit louder than necessary. To Bella it appeared that the vampire both simultaneously caught fire and exploded with nothing left of him, but the scorch marks on the carpet.

With the vampires dead, and burned, the women simply looked at one another over the glow of the burning apartment for a few moments before they silently began the task of cleaning everything up, with Sophia dousing the flames with a simple water spell.


	9. I Took Some Comfort There

I Took Some Comfort There

-Simon and Garfunkel "The Boxer"

Sam looked around Paul's plot of land. It was decent sized and backed into the forest where they spent so much time. Tucked away at the end of a street, its closest neighbors weren't visible from any angle.

Construction on Paul's dream home had yet to start since Sam and the rest of the pack were going to be the ones to build it, and prior obligations meant they would be unable to begin until the spring. Most of the pack had been using their supernatural strength and speed working for a construction company in Forks. Sam, however, was considering using Paul's home as a test run for starting up a construction company of their own.

Paul, the reason they were all there, was sitting at the door of a tent placed in the middle of the lot. He had been living there ever since an argument with his father over his imprint. Sam had tried to convince Paul that a tent was no place to live, had even offered him the spare bedroom in his own home, but Paul was too stubborn to leave his tent.

Sam sometimes wondered if Paul thought that doing all of this would cause Bella to appear magically one day. Paul had said he was doing fine without proximity to his imprint, and Sam wanted to believe him. At first it had appeared, that Paul was correct, and that he was coping just fine, but as time wore on with no news of where Bella was or what she was doing, Paul slowly started to fall apart. The last couple of weeks Paul had only left his tent to run patrols and the enthusiasm he had once possessed, the one that made him their most prized fighter, had disappeared.

The barbeque had been Emily's idea. She thought that if the pack surrounded Paul and reminded him how much they all cared for him that it might tempt him to leave the tent more often. Sam was unable to imagine that anyone could look as downtrodden as Paul did. He was sitting at the entrance to his tent with a look that made Sam think he was only half there.

Leah was sitting nearby. She had been trying to get Paul to stand up and join everyone. Sam judged that from the sour look she was giving Paul, Leah had been extremely unsuccessful.

"You know Paul, I think I enjoy the set up you've got here," Sam could hear Leah saying. "It's kind of minimalist, but I like it. Would you mind if I set up my own tent here?"

Paul gave her a weary look.

"I'll take your silence as a yes," continued Leah.

Sam locked eyes with Paul and could tell he wanted Leah to leave him be. Sam ignored him and turned toward Jared who was in charge of cooking the burgers. If Paul wanted Leah gone he would have to tell her himself.

"This is just sad," whispered Jared when Sam got close. "Any luck getting Charlie to tell you Bella's location?"

Sam had been begging Charlie to give them at least Bella's new phone number to no avail. He pitied Bella for having to deal with so many stubborn men in her life.

"Not yet. He doesn't understand how serious this is. Sue said she would try to sneak a peek at his phone, see if she could get Bella's number from it."

Jared shook his head. "We wouldn't be having this problem if Paul had just owned up to the imprint from the start."

Sam had to admit that Jared had a point. Not for the first time Sam thought about how Bella never would have left had she been aware of everything from the start. Bella knew all about imprinting, and that she had a choice. Even if she chose not to love Paul, he still would have been there for her as the greatest friend she could ever have. Paul had never given her the option and that was the cause of all their troubles now.

As absorbed in his thoughts as he was, Sam failed to notice when everything became silent. There was no laughing, no shouting, no chatter of any kind. His normally impossible to shut up family wasn't so much as moving, and Sam suspected a couple of them were even holding their breath. Glancing at Jared, Sam saw that he was staring in shock at something behind Sam.

Quickly spinning around Sam found Paul standing there. Paul looked like his normal self, the slightly agitated, always ready for a fight Paul. There was no trace of the werewolf who had been wasting away in a tent, only moments earlier.

Not knowing what else to say Sam said, "Are you all right?"

Paul shrugged his shoulders. "I feel fine."

"You looked like death not too long ago," pointed out Sam.

"I was sick," Paul replied.

Sam knew that what Paul had been experiencing was no illness. Their ability to transform came with the added bonus of rapid healing. Colds never had a chance to take hold with any of them.

"We don't get sick."

Paul shrugged his shoulders once again as if it did not matter to him if he had actually been sick or not. "It was a really bad cold. The burgers are burning."

With that, the spell of shock that they had all been under broke and a flurry of noise and movement broke out on the lot once more. Sam watched as Jared attempted to save the charred remains of what had once been perfect burgers. They would probably end up eating them anyway. There was no wasting food when your stomach was as bottomless as theirs were.

"Who wants to play football?" Sam heard Paul shouting. The pack seemed to be pretending that nothing had ever been wrong with Paul.

Emily came up and wrapped her arms around Sam's waist. She smiled up at him, and he couldn't help smiling back. Her smiles were infectious.

"I told you he just needed to be surrounded by people who love him," Emily whispered.

Sam looked over to where Paul and Embry were taking on Quil and Jacob in an impromptu football match. Sam had been feeling a knot of stress ever since Paul had revealed he had imprinted on Bella. Sam knew that whatever had made Paul return to normal was only temporary. While he wanted to feel as happy as Emily was he was unable to pretend his family wasn't as broken as it actually was.

"Son of a bitch!" yelled Quil.

"Quil!" chastised Emily. "Watch your language."

Sam couldn't blame Quil for his use of profanity since he could see that Quil's arm was at an unnatural angle.

"You big baby," growled out Paul. "I'll fix it." Paul moved to take hold of Quil's arm and gave him no warning as he yanked the arm back into its proper position.

"Sam." Emily was poking him in the side. Sam looked down at his petite imprint to see her pointing toward the edge of the lot. Standing there was Paul's father, Julian.

He must have driven up unnoticed while Quil was making all his noise. Julian had been a strong advocate of Paul pretending he had never imprinted in the first place. Sam could understand that he just wanted his son to go back to acting like his old self, but now that Paul's imprinting was well known there would be no way to ignore it.

Sam had a feeling Julian's presence would be what sent Paul back to his tent. While Sam had not heard the man drive up, he could see the front of Julian's truck past a grove of trees. Sam was surprised to hear heartbeats coming from inside the truck. Julian had brought other people to his confrontation. Sam could feel his stress knot tighten while he hoped Julian's guests were not about to be let in on the wolf secret. Sam could only faintly hear the heartbeats, as if Julian had parked slightly out of earshot, and the heartbeats were so synchronized Sam had trouble telling if there were only two or more.

Julian walked past Sam and the others and headed straight for Paul. "We need to talk."

Paul kept his focus on Quil despite the fact that Quil's arm seemed to be facing the correct direction and had healed. "I have nothing to say to you."

Julian sighed. "Then I'll talk and simply hope that you listen."

Paul walked toward the food table. While pack rules dictated that humans ate first Sam wasn't about to prevent Paul from eating what he could before he inevitably reverted to his zombie-like state.

Julian followed Paul, seemingly unfazed by his son's attempts to ignore him. "I'm sorry for asking you to try to break your imprint bond. I realize that was something I never should have said, and was a line that I shouldn't have crossed. You're my only son Paul, and I didn't want to see you get hurt. You've been through so much in your life, and I haven't protected you nearly as well as I should have, but this was the wrong time to try. I'm sorry."

Sam had known that Julian had wanted Paul to ignore the imprint, but he hadn't realized the man had gone so far as to ask Paul to break it. Sam wasn't even certain breaking an imprint was possible. Trying would most likely end with the wolf killing himself. Sam doubted that that was what Julian wanted.

Julian continued his speech to Paul who was attempting to eat as nonchalantly as possible. "Forgive me Paul and come home. You can't live in a tent. It's going to be winter soon, I'm worried about you."

Paul snorted. Julian reached out to Paul only to have Paul move away. "Come home Paul, please."

Paul placed his food on a chair before turning to face his father. "I can't come back home dad. This is my home now. This is where I'm supposed to be. I can feel it. I forgive you, but I'm not leaving."

Julian nodded his head. "I thought you might be a little stubborn. You've always been as strong willed as I am. That's a good thing, you know. It's also why I brought back-up."

Sam felt the knot of stress grow larger and stronger as Julian headed toward his truck. Paul and his father were clearly trying to send him to an early grave in the most roundabout way possible. He suspected it was their way of avoiding blame for his murder.

Sam wasn't certain whom Julian had brought as his backup, but he was imagining a scenario that involved cops trying to drag Paul, a legal adult at the age of eighteen, away from the lot. A scenario that Sam was certain would end with many broken bones and the need for alibis. Sam pinched the bridge of his nose in anticipation of the headache this was going to cause.

"Bella!" Sam looked up at Jake's shout in time to see the young Alpha to be leave Meghan's side and race toward a very much actually there Isabella Swan. Julian had managed to conjure up the woman they had been trying to find for what felt to Sam like years as if he were Houdini.

Paul growled in a loud and menacing way as Jake threw his arms around Bella in what looked like a rather tight hug.

Bella looked uncomfortable, and Sam could tell she was trying to push Jake away. "Jake? I think you should let go now. What would your imprint think?"

Jake looked slightly ashamed as he pulled away. "Sorry Bells. Sorry Meg."

Sam noticed Meghan looking hurt, and Jake must have noticed it too since he walked over, and wrapped her in his arms. Shortly after Meghan had officially joined the pack, Leah had made it clear to the girl that she was second best in everyone's hearts, including Jacob's, when it came to Bella. Leah then proceeded to threaten Meghan, promising she would maim her should Paul die due to Bella's absence. Jacob and Sam had done their best to keep Leah as far away from Meghan as possible ever since then.

There were two women with Julian, Bella, and a confused looking blonde. Leah pushed Julian away from the women and gave Bella a quick fierce hug.

"Morons, the whole lot of them," she said. "What do you say we find a couple of good-looking guys in a bar and forgot all of them? I for one could use a drink."

Quil went up, and put his arms around Bella's shoulders, nudging Leah away with little protest. Paul growled again, and Sam couldn't help rolling his eyes. He could not wait for all of this to be over.

Quil winked at Bella. "You could find me in a bar anytime."

Bella giggled while her blonde companion raised her eyebrows before speaking up, "I believe it. You look like a drunk."

Quil switched from Bella to the woman next to her. "You better believe it, baby. I am always looking for some fun." Quil was mostly talk and everyone there knew it. Poor Claire was going to have a hard time reining him in when the time came.

Bella smiled at Quil. "As lovely as it is to see you, you are, unfortunately, not the reason why we are here."

Quil gave a fake pout as he walked away, and Sam took the opportunity to speak to Bella. "We wanted to find you, but your father refused to tell us where you were. Something has happened."

Bella frowned before glancing briefly toward Paul, who Sam noticed looked slightly stunned at Bella's presence.

"I know," Bella said. "I know about the imprint. That is part of why I am here. A lot has happened to me as well."

Sam was only mildly upset that Julian had told Bella about the imprint. On the one hand, the imprint was something Bella's wolf should have told her about, but on the other hand Sam had to admit that if telling Bella had been the only way to get her there then he would have done the same.

Emily went up and hugged Bella. "Hopefully it wasn't too long of a flight from where ever you were. Are you hungry?"

Sam knew that was Emily's way of asking Bella where she had been, and from the look on Bella's face, she knew it too.

The blonde snorted. "Flight? More like a short teleportation."

Bella gave the other woman a stern glance. "Henley! We weren't supposed to tell them yet."


	10. Shame On You, You Told A Lie

Shame on You, You Told a Lie

-The Four Seasons "Big Girls Don't Cry"

Bella was nervous. Her stomach was a twisted ball of knots as she paced across the living room. The day had finally come for her to return to Washington, and explain everything to Paul. It was time for him to learn not just about the baby, but also about Bella's knowledge of the imprint, and her newfound status as a witch. Bella was uncertain how Paul would take the news. Paul was a well-known hothead, and Bella was most definitely not looking forward to being on the receiving end of his temper.

Henley walked into the living room where Bella was in the process of battling her nerves. Henley had on a short summer dress with flip-flops, and looked to Bella like she was ready for a day at the beach on the hottest day of summer, not helping Bella teleport to Washington State in November. Clearly Henley wasn't taking what was about to happen very seriously.

A man was about to find out he was going to be a father. The wolves were probably going to prevent Bella from leaving La Push. This day was going to change lives. If Bella hadn't taken an anti-nausea potion earlier, she would probably be vomiting right that second. As it was, her stomach was rolling uncomfortably.

"We're not going," said Bella as she flopped onto the couch.

Henley finished putting her hair up into a messy ponytail before responding. "What do you mean we're not going? You're the one who has been planning this. I suggested we tell your baby daddy about the kid through a congratulations card."

Bella glared at Henley. "You can't divulge that sort of information in a greeting card. Besides, you can't go dressed like that to Washington. You'll freeze. We'll have to tell the baby's father another day."

Henley gave Bella a weird look. "You do know that I can set myself on fire, right? I doubt I will freeze."

Bella didn't care what Henley could do, she wasn't about to let the other girl teleport somewhere cold wearing practically nothing. "We're not going."

Henley gave a loud frustrated sigh while rolling her eyes. "Fine, crazy lady, I will change." She turned to head back toward her bedroom.

Bella was scared of facing Paul and the pack. She had been dreaming of possible scenarios that could happen when she got to La Push, some of them good, but most of them ending badly. The lock turning on the front door snapped Bella out of a daydream where she was smacking Jake's imprint for calling her a whore.

For a split second, Bella hoped that the person on the other side of the door was Victoria there to attack her once more just so she would have an excuse not to teleport to Washington. Bella felt a small pang of disappointment when the door opened to reveal Gwen.

"Did you just pick the lock on our door?"

Gwen gave her a guilty smile as she walked inside the apartment, and shut the door behind her. "I may have used the key your landlord gave me when I told him I lost mine. He may also be under the impression that both Winifred and I live here with you guys."

Bella couldn't blame anyone for thinking all four girls shared the apartment considering they all probably spent the same amount of time there. "Henley and I are on our way out, so there won't be any lessons today."

Gwen placed a rather heavy looking backpack on the ground near the coffee table. "I know. I just came to tell you that my grandma wants you to come over tomorrow so she can talk to you about the Dream Walker."

Bella was uncertain what would occur in Washington, but she needed to know about the man who talked to her in her dreams. "I'll be there."

"Excellent." Gwen sat down on the ground next to her bag, and began to pull books out of it.

Bella gave the other girl a confused look. She was about to ask what Gwen was doing when Henley walked back into the living room dressed much more appropriately for cold weather.

"What are you doing here, Gwen? Bella and I are on our way to deliver her to her kidnappers."

Bella wanted to scream. Gwen looked up from her stack of books. "Grandma is watching game shows again," she plainly stated. "She always yells at the TV, and I need to study for midterms. Don't you love me enough to let me take advantage of your empty apartment?" Gwen gave Henley puppy-dog eyes.

Henley let out a defeated sigh. "Fine, but don't make a mess." Bella found Henley telling anybody not to be messy funny considering some of the messes she had seen Henley create. Henley turned to look at Bella. "Are you ready to go?"

Bella was not ready to go, instead she wished she could return to bed, and forget the whole day. She was aware, however, that she couldn't actually avoid going to Washington, but that wouldn't keep her from attempting to stall. She sunk further into the couch. "There's something that I need to tell you before we leave."

Henley gave Bella an impatient glance. "Hurry it up. You're wasting time."

Bella sighed. "The baby's father is a shape shifter. He also isn't just some guy I had a fling with, he's my soul mate."

Gwen and Henley looked at each other before bursting out laughing. "What are you doing? Are you dating your way through the supernatural community?" Henley choked out between laughs. "Are you sure he's even a shape shifter? Maybe you were tricked by a wood nymph."

Bella glared at her moon sisters. "I am certain he's a shape shifter. You're both being mean. I'm sure you've both dated people from other supernatural groups before."

Gwen stopped laughing and gave Bella and odd look. "Shape shifters are extinct. The last group died out two hundred years ago. If your so-called soul mate is really a shape shifter then he is the last of his kind."

Bella had seen the boys change into their wolf forms so many times, that there was no doubt in her mind that they were shape shifters. She knew there was a lot the pack didn't know about themselves, and she could see where it would be possible for previous Quileute packs to know nothing about the greater supernatural world.

"If I've learned one thing since coming here it is that nothing is impossible. Maybe he is the last of his kind, but it seems to me that all supernatural groups are dying out. I'm going to tell him that I'm a witch."

Henley continued to giggle as she said to Bella, "We get it. You're a witch and he's a shape shifter. Now stop stalling, and let's get out of here."

Bella attempted to calm her nerves by taking a deep breath. Standing up and walking toward Henley, she realized that her nerves wouldn't be leaving her any time soon. "What do we need to do?"

Henley reached out and took hold of Bella's hands. "Teleportation isn't very complicated, you already know the spell. It just happens to be power consuming. Lucky for you everyone in our coven is rather powerful, and we can do the spell with just the two of us combining our magic. All you need to do is picture where you want to go in your mind, and start the spell. You're the one doing the spell I'm just here to give a magic assist."

Bella closed her eyes, and thought about where in Washington she wanted to go. She considered teleporting to Jake's house, but she dismissed the idea when she remembered Jake's imprint, and how their friendship was currently somewhere in limbo. She hoped that she and Jake could still be friends when all of this was over. She missed Jake and his sunny personality.

Paul was the one Bella was going to Washington to see, so it made sense to teleport to his home. Bella pictured Paul's home while starting to chant. She saw the weathered looking house that, for one night, had brought comfort and escape. When Bella opened her eyes, she gazed upon the home she had been imagining.

Bella and Henley were standing in the same spot Bella's truck had been parked all those nights ago. This was it. Bella's nerves finally gone, she ignored Henley, and walked toward the porch. She was finally going to see Paul to tell him about the baby and confront him about the imprint.

Bella's doubts didn't set in until she had raised her fist to knock on the door. What would she do if Paul weren't even home? She could hear Henley walking up behind her and knew that if she didn't knock soon Henley would do it for her. Before Bella had the chance to knock, however, the door opened to reveal Paul's father standing on the other side.

The two of them stood there staring at one another until Henley broke the silence. "Are you Paul?" she asked.

Paul's father gave her a confused look. "I'm Julian," he snapped before turning back to Bella. "What are you doing here? Come to break my son some more? You know, when I told you to try to hurt my son, this isn't what I meant. Go away."

Bella knew the imprint would affect Paul. It had been a foolish hope to believe the Dream Walker would actually be able to stop Paul from feeling the imprint. "I need to talk to Paul. Is he home?"

Julian looked as if he were about to tell Bella off when he stopped, and stared off into space for a moment. "Paul isn't home, but I could take you to him."

Julian's change of attitude caught Bella slightly off guard. One second he had been angry with her, and the next he was offering to help her. "Sure?" she answered tentatively.

Julian pushed past her and Henley, heading toward his truck, and getting in.

Bella looked at Henley who leaned in, and whispered, "If crazy man tries anything I'll fry him." Feeling more confident that getting in the truck wouldn't be a completely terrible idea, Bella and Henley hopped in.

They drove in silence until Julian took a deep breath, and spoke, "When we get there stay in the truck until I come get you, and try to stay as quiet as possible. I want to surprise him."

Bella and Henley gave each other wary looks, but verbally agreed to stay silently in the vehicle. Julian parked his truck on the side of the road in an area of La Push that Bella had never been to before. Bella realized she should probably be a bit more concerned about where Julian had driven them as Henley obviously was, but she couldn't help feeling she was exactly where she was supposed to be.

Despite the feeling of comfort, Bella's nerves were starting to return. She was uncertain how she would start the upcoming conversation, or what to tell Paul first. She should have practiced it in her head more.

It wasn't very long before Julian returned to the truck, and indicated that the two women should follow him. Bella was surprised to see that Julian had brought them to some sort of pack gathering. It was great to see everyone, but she was there for a reason that didn't involve most of the people there. She was glad that at least Sam seemed willing to get straight to the point with the imprint. Telling the pack she was a witch was going to be the last thing she mentioned. Bella figured it would probably be what enabled her able to return to Florida. That was why she was upset with Henley for mentioning they had teleported there.

"Teleported?" asked a confused-looking Sam.

Bella stared at Sam, not ready to reveal what Henley meant by teleported just yet. Instead of telling Sam anything, Bella looked at Paul, and decided it was time to address him, and finally confront him about everything. Maybe everyone would forget Henley's slip in the conversation to come.

Bella walked over to Paul who reached out to touch her face, as if reassuring himself that she was really there. "Why did you never tell me that you had imprinted? I would have understood."

"You were better off without me," whispered Paul.

Bella moved forward, and pulled Paul into a hug. "I was not better off without you. I never was. You're such an idiot."

Paul laughed into her hair. "I'm not the idiot here, love. You're the one who was convinced Jake was actually good for you." Bella looked up at Paul, and stuck her tongue out at him. Paul smiled. "Welcome home."

Bella frowned, and pulled away from Paul's embrace. "It isn't that easy Paul. There's more I need to tell you."

Paul reached out to pull Bella back into the hug. "It is that easy. It doesn't matter what you need to say, or what's happened in the past. We're both where we're supposed to be right now."

Paul was right. Bella knew that in his arms was where she belonged. Within his arms, she felt like she was home. She was safe and comfortable there. Any thoughts of returning to Florida were whispers the pull of the imprint was drowning out. Bella breathed Paul in.

Telling him she knew about the imprint had been the easiest part. The things she had to tell him next would be much more difficult. Bella briefly considered pulling away for her next confession, but she couldn't bring herself to move. "Paul, I'm pregnant." Bella could feel Paul stiffen within the embrace.

"Oh my god! Jake is going to be a father! Pack baby!" Quil shouted out.

"I thought your heartbeat had sounded off!" exclaimed Sam.

Sam's statement caused an echo of agreement from the rest of the pack, minus, Paul, who all claimed that Bella's heartbeat had sounded different. According to the wolves, it had sounded like Bella's heart had an echo, and it made sense that there were simply two heartbeats coming from her.

Bella glanced up at Paul as he started to growl. "The baby isn't Jake's. I've only ever slept with one person, and it wasn't him."

Paul stopped growling, and glanced down at her. "Mine?"

Bella didn't think it was possible for Paul to hold her any closer to him than she already was, but he proved her wrong once she had given him a nod confirming that the baby was actually his.

"How is this not easy?" said Paul as he smiled down at Bella. "You're here, you know about the imprint, and you accept it. I accept it. We're having a baby together, and come spring construction begins on a beautiful home for our beautiful family. It doesn't get easier than that." The vision Paul painted sounded perfect. She could have a happy family in a wonderful home.

Bella could feel someone pulling her out of Paul's arms, and was surprised he was actually allowing it to happen. Henley spun Bella around to face her. "Bella, don't forget about everything else. Don't forget about your sisters."

Henley was right. Paul and the imprint had wrapped her up so much that she had forgotten about the coven, the Dream Walker, and Victoria. There was much more going on in Bella's life than just Paul, and their baby. So much more that needed to happen before Bella could have the perfect life with Paul.

Bella could stay in La Push with Paul now, but she would be leaving her coven behind having learned very little. The Dream Walker would still plague her without her knowing why, or what sort of threat he posed. Bella didn't even know if the Dream Walker was friend or foe. Staying in La Push would also mean exposing the wolves to Victoria once more. Bella didn't want to burden them with the dangers Victoria brought again. Bella had seen the trouble Victoria had caused for the pack the last time.

Bella turned back to Paul. "I'm not staying. I can't stay. I'm needed somewhere else. I just came to tell you that I know about the imprint, and inform you about the baby. I want to keep in contact with you. We can call, and I'm sure Henley would be willing to help me teleport here every now and then. I'm leaving today."

Bella heard Sam say, "There you go with that teleporting thing again." She didn't acknowledge him, however, as she saw the anger on Paul's face.

"Bullshit!" Paul shouted. "You're not going anywhere. You're my mate, and you are carrying my child. Don't think for a second that I am going to let you out of my sight. You're staying in La Push, even if I have to lock you up to keep you here."

Bella was angry now too. Paul had no right to threaten to lock her up. "I need to leave. I have a life that doesn't revolve around you and La Push. A nursing program accepted me, Paul. I am going to learn how to help people, and you can't say that knowledge wouldn't be helpful for the pack considering none of you can go to real doctors. I also recently discovered that I'm a witch. A powerful witch too. That's how I knew about the imprint. I'm a seer, but I'm still in training to learn how to control my powers. I am not going to be told by a bunch of shape shifters that learning how to control my own supernatural abilities is useless because you of all people should understand how important learning control is."

Paul looked murderous. Somewhere behind her Bella could hear Quil and Embry laughing. Paul took a step away from her. "I hate you," he said with so much venom in his voice that Bella could feel her heart shatter.

Paul turned toward the forest, and ran into it, changing into his wolf form as he went. There wasn't anything left to say. Bella had said the magic phrase at the beginning of her rant. The imprint was all about what Bella needed.

Bella felt someone place a hand on her shoulder. She looked over to see Sam frowning down at her. "So you're a witch?"


	11. Through Your Busy Dying Day

Through Your Busy Dying Day

-The Rolling Stones "Mother's Little Helper"

The house Gwen and her grandmother, Anna, lived in was nothing like Bella had expected. She had imagined something similar to her own grandmother's house, a home built sometime in the fifties, filled with furniture purchased when her mother was a child smelling faintly of mold and dust.

Instead, a large Victorian, clearly meant to house a family much larger than just Gwen and her grandmother, greeted Bella. The interior of the home was as unexpected as the exterior with a human skeleton in the entryway that was obviously being used as a coat rack startling Bella. There were books littered all over the place. They were under, as well as on, tables and chairs, and shoved into every nook and cranny Bella could see.

Not long after arriving at Gwen's home Bella found herself seated at a table in a kitchen dominated by a large wood burning stove that Gwen mentioned her grandmother kept burning through magical means as Grandma Anna went about making tea. On the kitchen wall was what looked like a clock with pictures of the moon instead of numbers that Winifred explained they used for keeping track of the phases of the moon. On the kitchen counters, were potion vials of every shape and size.

"It was an absolute disaster." Henley was in the process of telling Winifred and Gwen everything that had transpired the day before with the wolves. "It was like they didn't even care about our obligations here, and what Bella leaving could do to both her and the coven. Bella could go crazy if she doesn't properly learn control, and we all know that control takes time."

Grandma Anna began filling the most beautiful porcelain teacups that Bella had ever seen with a sweet smelling tea. "I doubt that is the case Henley," she said as she moved about the kitchen. "It seems to me like there was a lot of miscommunication, and unwillingness to compromise on either side."

"That's not true Grandma Anna," exclaimed Henley. "Bella and I were both willing to compromise."

Grandma Anna gave Henley a hard look. "First of all Henley dear, I highly doubt that. Secondly, what would you need to compromise? Bella is the one in need of compromise, not you."

"But we…" Henley started to say before Grandma Anna cut her off with a simple finger in the air, and a commanding "No".

"I no longer wish to hear you ramble on about a situation that is not yours to deal with. Now shut your trap and keep it that way until you are addressed."

Henley pouted into her tea while Bella watched Gwen and Winifred attempt to stifle giggles behind their hands. Bella had to agree with Henley that yesterday had been a complete disaster. Paul had never resurfaced after running off, and Bella had spent the rest of her time in La Push explaining as much as she could to Sam and Jake. After hours of talking almost nothing had been resolved and Bella left Washington feeling slightly broken.

Grandma Anna took a seat at the head of the table and took the time to fold a linen napkin and place it on her lap. When she glanced up, she caught Bella's eyes. "I've been informed that you have the potential to be a pretty powerful witch."

"Not just potential," interrupted Henley.

Grandma Anna rolled her eyes before pointing her finger at Henley and giving the girl a menacing look. As she watched Henley frantically claw at her mouth, Bella realized that she was unable to open it.

"Calm yourself dear. I'll take the spell off when the visit is over," said Grandma Anna.

"How did you do that?" asked a wide-eyed Winifred. "You didn't even say a spell."

Gwen was smiling as if the spell was one with which she was familiar. Given how talkative Gwen was Bella didn't doubt that she had been on the receiving end of her grandmother's silencing spells before. She was just uncertain why Gwen had never mentioned her grandmother could perform spells without speaking.

Grandma Anna took a sip of her tea before answering Winifred's question. "Not everything is pretty words and fancy spells." She looked back at Bella. "You, my dear, have the potential to be a powerful witch. You will never reach that potential, however, if you cannot overcome one simple fact. You cannot allow who you are to dictate what you do."

That made no sense to Bella. What she was seemed to be a combination of her personality, powers, and mortality. As far as Bella was concerned, there was no way to separate these things from what she did with her life. "I don't understand. How can I separate who I am from what I do?"

Grandma Anna gave her a sad sort of smile. "I can't give you all the answers. You would never learn like that. You might make a few correct decisions if I were to hold your hand, but until you can come to understand what I mean on your own you will continue to make mistakes."

This entire conversation was quickly confusing Bella. "What am I supposed to do then?"

Grandma Anna took another sip of her tea. "Stop being selfish."

That was the last thing that Bella had expected to hear. She had never thought of her actions as being selfish. The room fell into silence as Bella tried, and failed, to think of something she had done that had been selfish. A need to protect others had provoked most of her actions. Perhaps the only selfish thing she had done was to go to Florida, and even that had had the added benefit of drawing a psychotic vampire away from the pack. Without Victoria around the pack would be safer, and no more boys would phase.

Finally, Gwen broke the silence. "Bella isn't really here to gossip about her poor life choices Grandma. You were going to tell us about the Dream Walker."

Grandma Anna sighed loudly. "Very well, I hope you girls are comfortable because this is a rather long story, and I will not tolerate unnecessary interruptions."

Once the girls had nodded their heads, Grandma Anna placed her napkin on the table. "Before we begin, I want you girls to know this is all information I had to discover on my own. The Dream Walker isn't known for talking about his past." Grandma Anna paused for a second before finally beginning her tale.

"Long ago, hundreds upon hundreds of years, the supernatural community was hardly as hidden as it is now. Our kind felt safe in showing humans what we could do, and humans, in turn, felt safe paying us for our help solving their problems. During this time, a sorcerer appeared who claimed he could cure any ailment."

From what Bella knew about magic, being able to cure any ailment was something that would require a lot of power. Even Gwen could only heal a few things, and certainly nothing too major, at least not without help.

"The sorcerer traveled the world healing those who could pay the hefty price he asked. He dined with lords and their ladies, kings and queens, and eventually he found himself a royal wife. He loved his wife dearly. He bought her a castle, and servants, and made sure she never wanted for anything. Life, however, seems to have a way of knocking down the proud, and the sorcerer was as proud as a person could get."

Grandma Anna paused for a second to take a sip of her tea, making Bella finally realize that she had yet to taste the tea placed in front of her. She held onto the cup, forgetting to pick it up to sip as Grandma Anna went back to her tale once more. "One day while the sorcerer was out visiting a king in need of healing, and willing to pay handsomely, his wife died giving birth to a stillborn child. Death was the only ailment the sorcerer could not heal. Devastated by the loss of his wife and child the sorcerer began a journey to find a way to bring them back to him.

"The sorcerer devoted the rest of his life to researching how to bring people back from the dead. After years of traveling the world, and pouring over books, his research turned into experimentation. Perhaps he had been close to doing the impossible. From all I know about him I don't believe he would have started experimenting if he hadn't been close. One thing I do know is that his experiments weren't ready. One of them failed. The failure destroyed the sorcerer's body, and sent his consciousness into the dream world."

Grandma Anna locked her gaze on Bella, and leaned forward across the table as if to tell a secret. "Have you seen the lake?"

Bella nodded her head, and Grandma Anna straightened up in her seat. "The sorcerer created the lake, the whole thing is a figment of his imagination. The birds you see around it are his representations of those people who can see him."

"I'm a swan," Bella spoke up, "but I don't always look like that. Sometimes I wear a long white dress."

Grandma Anna smiled. "I'm a little blue finch, but I don't always look like that either."

Grandma Anna's smile faded and she went back to giving the girls a serious look. "Be wary of the Dream Walker. He lost his powers when he lost his body, but he is still dangerous. Gwen told me that you think he has sent you on a journey. Know this about any journey the Dream Walker sends you on, no matter how much it looks to be benefiting you, be certain it will bring the Dream Walker one step closer to his own goal."

Bella thought about that. So far, her journey had only consisted of going to Florida, and discovering she was a witch. What could learning she was a witch possibly do for the Dream Walker, especially when he already had Grandma Anna whose powers seemed to be both similar to, and stronger than Bella's.

"Think back on things he has said to you, and things he claims to have done. The Dream Walker can do little without his powers. The one thing he is capable of, however, is manipulation. Roaming through the dream world as he does the Dream Walker can peek into people's minds, learn what they know, and then use their dreams to get them to do things for him."

"That's creepy," exclaimed Winifred. "Do you think he has manipulated us to do things before, even though we can't see him?"

Grandma Anna sighed. "Considering the journey he has Bella on I would say it is more than likely that he has manipulated each of you girls at some point."

Everything Bella had just learned about the Dream Walker had created a question she was unable to answer. "How could learning I am a witch benefit the Dream Walker?"

Grandma Anna got out of her chair, and walked over to her, taking Bella's hands in her own. "You are only on the first step of his journey for you. There will be so much more that the Dream Walker will send your way. You might not always recognize how it will benefit him, but it will. Be careful, because the Dream Walker wants one thing, and doesn't care how he gets it. The Dream Walker wants both himself and his family to live again. He won't hesitate to hurt you in pursuit of that goal."

Bella could never get a break. As if Victoria trying to kill her wasn't enough, now she had a crazy sorcerer to look out for too. At least now she was aware.


	12. Trying to Keep Up With You

Trying To Keep Up With You

-R.E.M. "Losing My Religion"

Sam couldn't understand how Paul could be so calm. If Emily had left him to live out her life in Florida, he would be going insane trying to find a way to get her back. Yet, even with Bella gone, Paul still sat at Sam's dining room table devouring the large amount of food Emily had placed in front of him as though nothing was wrong. While it was true that Paul had never done much searching, let along caring, for Bella when she had been missing Sam still expected his most volatile wolf to put up a bit of a fight for his imprint.

Sam rubbed at his face wearily. "Your father told me you moved back in with him."

Paul grunted something that sounded like 'yeah', barely taking a breath away from his meal. Had Sam not been familiar with the bottomless pit that was a wolf's stomach, he might have been worried about how much food Paul was shoveling in his mouth. He looked like a man who had not eaten in years.

As it was, Sam was simply surprised that Emily had yet to reprimand the other man for his poor table manners. "Your father also told me that you talked to Bella."

Paul swallowed his current mouthful. "She called."

Sam waited for Paul to elaborate a bit more, but he went back to his plate of food instead. "And?" he prompted, hoping to glean a bit more information.

Paul sighed deeply before glancing over at Sam. "And we've agreed on a year."

"What do you mean you've agreed on a year?" Getting information out of Paul was quickly turning into one of the most frustrating things he had ever had to do. To be fair, however, Paul and Bella had frustrated Sam since the entire situation had begun. He was looking forward to the day when this whole mess was resolved.

Paul pushed his plate toward the center of the table. "Bella said she needed to complete her training, and that it wasn't fair to tie her here when she needed to be somewhere else."

Sam gave a short, hollow laugh. "We're tied here because we protect our people. Bella does not have that same obligation in Florida. You're both being ridiculous."

"Bella claimed that if she didn't learn to control her magic that she could lose her mind. She is also under the impression that a year will be enough time to learn what she needs to. She will be back in La Push in exactly a year from yesterday."

Sam was about to tell Paul that there were better options available than Bella remaining in Florida when Paul continued, "It's enough for me to know where she is, and hear her voice, even if it is over the phone."

Sam stared at Paul while he gathered his thoughts. Paul did appear to be back to his regular self. He had given up his tent, and moved back into an actual house. The fact that Paul was there in Sam's dining room was proof enough that he had regained a semblance of normalcy. Sam, however, couldn't help feeling as if both Paul and Bella had jumped into the deep end of the crazy pool where they were both currently drowning.

Sam ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. He would probably be bald in a year if things kept on as they had been. "What about the baby?"

Paul simply looked at Sam. The look on his face was answer enough. Bella would be keeping the baby in Florida with her, and Paul would be unable to see the child until they returned to La Push. All Sam could do now was throw them a life ring, and hope they would grab hold. "Ask Bella if the baby can live here with you when it's born. This is where the child will grow up anyway, might as well start living here as soon as possible. Plus, the pack is a giant family that could take care of a baby easily. It can't hurt to ask."

Paul shrugged his shoulders. "I'll ask."

* * *

><p>Bella was in the clearing by the lake wearing the same white gown as before. It was her first trip back to this place since her talk with Grandma Anna a month prior. It looked different, as though the Dream Walker had altered it to correspond to the harsh winter that was currently taking place in reality. There was snow everywhere, and Bella could see that the beautiful lake had frozen solid. Despite the look of winter that had settled over the Dream Walker's realm Bella did not feel cold in her light dress.<p>

Bella had thought the place beautiful before, and found that even in the grips of winter it retained that beauty. The realm was silent. There were no sounds of wind or animals. She suspected the silence was the Dream Walker's way of adding a sense of mystery to the frozen land.

Walking closer to the lake Bella realized a significant factor in the silence was that the birds who usually gathered at the lake were not there. She couldn't help wondering if the birds would return when the snow left, or if the Dream Walker had permanently removed them from his realm.

Footsteps in the snow behind her broke the silence. Bella whipped around and found herself face to face with the ever-changing man once more. He was smiling at her as if she were an old friend. For the first time since Bella had met the Dream Walker she found herself unable to look at him with his constantly changing features. She turned back to stare at the lake once more.

The Dream Walker appeared not to notice Bella's unease as he moved to stand beside her. "I've always found winter to be the most magnificent of seasons, everything so clean, and perfect."

Refusing to so much as glance at the creature who had once been a man Bella mustered up the most monotonous voice she could find. "I know what you are, what you were. I'm no longer an innocent in the dark for you to manipulate."

The Dream Walker laughed. "Let me guess, a little bird told you everything you wanted to know, and more. If you happen to be so knowledgeable then tell me, what is my name?"

Bella delivered her answer quickly, and in the same tone as before. "You're the Dream Walker."

The sound of his laughter echoed through the icy realm. "That is but one of many titles that I have possessed in my time. Perhaps we could play a game. Guess enough of my titles and I shall give you a prize. Correctly guess my name and I will give you an even better prize."

Bella did not want to play the Dream Walker's game. She was certain any prize he might offer would benefit only him. "I don't care what your name and titles are," she snapped angrily, her dull voice from before now gone. "I know what you are, what you do. You will not manipulate me anymore. You are nothing more than a dream, a nightmare trapped in a lonely world with nothing to do, but plot, and scheme. You have no powers, no friends, and there is nobody waiting for you to join them."

Silence descended upon them once more until the sound of the ice in the lake cracking began. Before Bella's eyes, the entire surface appeared to crack, and shatter, leaving behind a lake filled with raging waters.

Some of the water splashed up around Bella's ankles, and she was surprised to find the water was cold. She could both hear, and feel a strong gust of wind blow. The wind felt just as cold to Bella as the water did, each gust feeling like sharp, tiny icicles were stabbing her. The whole realm was becoming chillier, and Bella's gown did little to protect her.

Glancing toward the Dream Walker in shock Bella discovered that his features had finally stopped changing. Standing before her was a rather handsome looking young man, who seemed incredibly angry.

His eyes flashed sinisterly as he spoke. "Who are you to tell me who I am, and what I can do? I might be a dream in this place, but no matter where you go you will always be a foolish girl who thinks she knows more than she actually does. You, who have been fed lies your entire life, who are you really?"

Bella took a step back, away from the venom of the Dream Walker's words. As she moved, she caught a glimpse of a bird's wing out of the corner of her eye. Looking up Bella found all the birds that had been missing from the lake earlier perched in the tree above her. Not a single inch of branch was unoccupied.

With a final shout of 'foolish girl' from the Dream Walker, the birds leaped from their perches, and dove toward Bella. Right as the birds were about to make impact Bella woke up. In that moment, she could not have been happier that the Dream Walker did not possess powers outside of the dream world.

* * *

><p>It had been almost three months since Bella's disastrous trip to La Push. Two days after Bella had returned to Florida she decided to call Paul, and finally have the civilized conversation they so desperately needed. Bella now talked to Paul every night before going to bed. While neither of them always walked away from their phone conversations completely happy it was still something. At least Bella had a year to formulate a plan to eliminate Victoria for good. Victoria was the one piece of baggage that Bella refused to bring with her to Washington.<p>

Knowing they only had a year to teach Bella the most important of magical lessons Henley, Gwen, and Winifred had increased the amount of time devoted to magical study each day. Gwen and Winifred now spent so much time at the apartment that Winifred had officially moved in, and shared a room with Henley. It also wasn't uncommon for Gwen to spend the night on the couch, although she still lived with her grandmother.

Between shifts at the café, and witch lessons Bella was surprised she could find time to fit in her nursing program classes. She would often enlist Gwen's help with her studies in hopes that doing so would put her ahead of what they taught in her classes. Bella had a feeling that once the baby arrived her perfectly organized schedule would fly straight out the window.

It was during one of her study sessions with Gwen that Henley rushed into the apartment seemingly home from her shift at the café. She was leaning against the door as if she were trying to stop someone else from entering.

Bella gave Henley a questioning glance.

"Now, don't be mad," Henley said, her face lighting up in a mischievous grin, "but I may have done something you might not like."

This could only end badly for Bella, and she was almost afraid to ask what the other girl had done this time. "What did you do?" she asked wearily.

Henley's smile got impossibly wide. Rather than vocalize her answer she pushed away from the door, and opened it, standing back as a horde of woman flooded into the apartment carrying brightly wrapped boxes and colorful bags. Sophia and Katherine were both there, along with a few other girls who worked at the café, and Winifred.

The very last person to walk in was Bella's mother. Bella had finally found the courage to tell her parents about the baby not long after talking to Paul. Bella's father had been upset, and urged Bella to return to Forks immediately. It probably didn't help her case with her father that he knew everything about Paul, the imprint, and the wolf secret.

Bella's mother, on the other hand, had squealed in delight, and had chattered to Bella about how she and Phil had been trying to have a baby of their own. Renée was convinced that it would be an absolutely wonderful thing for both of their children to be near the same age, and made some joke about how Bella's child's uncle or aunt would be younger than them.

Bella's mother had even gone as far as talking about going to baby gym together, and asked Bella if she had looked into preschools yet. When Bella mentioned she hadn't even thought that far ahead Renée dug up a list of schools in the area that she thought would be perfect. Bella had never been more horrified by anything than she was by her mother's reaction.

Renée currently looked elated as she practically leaped at Bella and enveloped her into a tight hug. "A baby shower," she exclaimed. "It's so exciting. I just wish you knew the gender of the baby. Are you sure, you don't want to know? It would make shopping so much easier."

Bella sighed. As soon as Renée had discovered Bella was pregnant, she had wanted to know the gender of the baby. Bella, however, had no desire to know, wishing to instead keep it a surprise.

"We've been through this already mom."

Renée waved Bella away as if she were an annoying fly. Bella had the brief feeling that perhaps, in her mother's mind, she was nothing more than an annoying fly. "I know, I know," Renée replied as she wandered away from Bella toward Sophia.

Bella had never been to a baby shower before, so she was uncertain what to expect. After a few hours of baby games, and cooing over all things baby related, the party started to wind down. As the guests were leaving Bella had to admit that the whole thing had been kind of fun. If nothing else, it had been a much-needed break from her rigorous schedule.

Bella crashed onto the couch as Henley ushered out the last guest. Looking around at the baby shower's aftermath Bella realized that the apartment looked as if they had bought out the local baby store, and were now selling the leftovers out of their living room. "What are we going to do with all this stuff?"

Winifred collapsed onto the couch next to Bella. "I've been thinking about that," she said. "We could rearrange the apartment."

Bella raised an eyebrow skeptically. "I doubt moving the furniture will really give us that much extra space."

Gwen giggled as she leaned over the back of the couch. "She means magic silly. We can use magic to move all the rooms to different spots. Take a foot here, maybe a couple feet there, push out the exterior walls, and you've got an instant nursery."

Push out the exterior walls? While Bella was still unfamiliar with the laws that governed witches, she was certain they would not allow something like that. "Wouldn't people notice?"

Henley shrugged her shoulders as she joined the group. "Who would believe them? Humans want their world to be as normal as possible, and tend to go to great lengths to ignore what they can't explain."

Winifred got up and disappeared into the kitchen, reappearing a few seconds later with a notebook, pen, and tape measure. The girls spent the next hour carefully measuring every inch of the apartment, and recording their findings on a drawing of the apartment's current layout. Once they had completed that, Winifred went about designing a new apartment while Henley and Gwen went to each room, and marked up the walls using chalk.

"Don't worry," said Henley when Bella noticed what they were doing. "The marks will disappear when the spell is done."

Performing the spell involved the girls standing in a circle of chalk in the exact center of the apartment. Just as Henley had said, the moment they completed the spell the chalk marks, on the apartment walls vanished.

Rather than following the other girls in their exploration of every inch of the apartment Bella immediately made her way to where Winifred had said her bedroom was now located. She found herself amazed at the amount of space they had been able to find. The new nursery was attached to Bella's own room and was large enough to fit a crib as well as a few other pieces of furniture. A pretty glass door led from her bedroom to the new nursery, although Bella wasn't certain that she would ever keep that door closed.

Standing there in the nursery, Bella felt a bit silly when she addressed her growing bump. "Baby," she whispered. "I hope you can forgive me. This is not where we are supposed to be, but it will have to do for now."


	13. Everything Will Turn Out All Right

Everything Will Turn out All Right

-Beach Boys "Don't Worry Baby"

He was standing there, a ridiculously goofy grin on his face, waiting for her to reach him. She was trying to walk calmly toward him, but it had been so long since she had last seen him that she was finding it difficult not to break into a run. Bella wasn't certain why she shouldn't run, but she got the feeling that for some reason she couldn't.

Bella had almost reached him, almost crossed the border into La Push, when she suddenly found an unusually large coyote blocking her path. Surprised, Bella took a step back only to discover a second coyote behind her. Bella looked toward Paul for help with the coyotes, but he was no longer there.

The two coyotes walked closer to Bella, forcing her to walk farther away from her destination. As Bella stumbled backward she could hear the sounds of a baby's cry from somewhere nearby, but as she glanced around her she could see nothing other than the forest that the coyotes were pushing her deeper into.

Distracted as she was, trying to discover the upset baby's location Bella failed to notice the large rock jutting out of the ground behind her. She did what she assumed must have looked like a rather impressive backward tumble over the rock, landing hard on the ground.

Bella took a glance toward the coyotes only to realize that they had seemingly stopped their pursuit of her, and were standing a short distance away. Standing up Bella moved in the direction she hoped Paul would be. She didn't get far, however, before a tall fence appearing out of nowhere forced her to halt.

Turning with the intention of walking around the fence, Bella discovered that she was actually in a very large cage. The coyotes who had previously been standing farther away were now circling the cage in an almost lazy fashion, as if they were bored with the whole thing.

As she watched them more coyotes joined the two already circling the cage, and Bella could see the eyes of even more within the darkness of the surrounding forest. She felt herself beginning to panic. Her heartbeat was racing and her breathing was heavy. She could still hear the sounds of the child's cries from some unknown location, a noise that did little to help her calm down.

All she'd wanted to do was return home to Paul. Their planned year was over, it was time for her to return and never leave his embrace again. The man she had once known little about had become her closest confidant and emotional rock just from their phone conversations and brief visits.

Now, Bella found herself the prisoner of a band of coyotes, and she needed Paul to rescue her. She was holding on to the hope that the reason Paul had not been there when she had glanced to him for help the first time was because he was already on his way.

The baby's shrieks began to get louder, forcing Bella to hold her hands over her ears to protect herself from the increased volume. The cries, however, became soft once more just as quickly as they had become uncomfortably loud. Bella could now tell what direction the baby's wailing was coming from. As she looked in the direction of the sobs, Bella saw Victoria walk out from behind a tree carrying a small bundle in her arms.

Victoria walked closer to Bella's cage while holding the crying baby, coming to a stop a few feet away from the circling coyotes. She held the baby up from Bella to see. The second Bella saw the child's face she knew that the crying baby was hers. Bella rushed toward the bars of the cage, and reached out as far as she could in hopes of somehow being able to snatch the child out of Victoria's arms.

It was clear to Bella that the coyotes meant to keep her trapped, but they didn't attempt to stop her from trying to rescue her child from Victoria's grasp.

Victoria laughed at Bella's efforts. "Such an ugly thing," she sneered. "I doubt this one will be winning any beauty pageants. Shame you make such hideous children, I might have let a pretty one live."

Bella tried to squeeze her way through the bars. In a corner of her mind, she was hoping that her need to protect her child would be enough to release her from the coyotes' trap. Bella had heard stories of mothers being able to lift cars off their children so surely she could squeeze herself through the bars of a cage.

Victoria laughed again. The sound made Bella want to rip out the vampire's throat just so she would be certain never to hear it again. "Now, now Bella, don't be so unreasonable. Think of this as me doing you a favor. You don't really want this child. It would just get in your way. Besides, the world doesn't need another half-breed mutt."

The baby's cries turned into screams as Victoria softly stroked the child's cheek, as if the child knew the danger it was in. Unable to do much more than watch as Victoria ended her child's life before it had begun Bella started to scream as well. She screamed for herself, screamed for her child, and screamed for Paul to come and save them both.

Somehow, over the sounds of both her and the baby screaming Bella was able to make out a voice shouting her name. "Bella," yelled the strangely familiar voice. "Where are you? Are you all right?"

Bella caught a glimpse of the Dream Walker before the world around her disappeared and she found herself sitting in her bed in the apartment she shared with Henley and Winifred in a cold sweat. Waking up and realizing that none of what had occurred was real did little to comfort her. She had not had an actual dream since she had learned she was a dream psychic and she doubted that this was the night her ability to dream suddenly came back.

* * *

><p>Bella's classes for the nursing program had ended the week before and thanks to Gwen's help during their study sessions she'd passed the semester with excellent marks. Now with classes over and her due date just around the corner Bella found herself with nothing to do. She didn't even have magic studies to keep her busy because the girls had decided they all needed a break from the intense pace they had been keeping in order to make sure Bella knew as much as possible before the end of their year.<p>

That was how Bella found herself sitting alone at a booth in the café. Tired of being home alone doing nothing she'd decided it would be much more fun to do nothing in a crowded room. She wasn't hungry so she ordered a cup of tea, and sat there people watching.

Winifred stopped by her table under the guise of delivering something. "I am almost off want to go see that new superhero movie with me?"

Bella wasn't a fan of action type movies like the one Winifred wanted to see, but she was so desperate to do something that there was no way she would tell the other girl no. "Sure, I hear it's supposed to have that one villain, with the lasers and the eyes."

Winifred laughed. "You mean Mr. Precision? He was the villain in the last movie. The new villain in this movie is The League."

Bella knew nothing about superheroes and their various villains. Winifred must have realized that from the look of confusion on Bella's face as she giggled, and walked away.

Henley was the next person to interrupt Bella's people watching, moving to sit in the seat across from her. "Did Wini ask you about the movie? It sounds stupid. I'm trying to convince her to go see The Secret instead. You know that new romantic comedy?"

Bella shook her head. "Shouldn't you be working? Won't your mom get mad if she sees you sitting here?"

Henley shrugged her shoulders. "Probably, but what is she going to do? Fire me?"

Bella gave Henley a doubtful look. "If you made your mom mad I'm sure she would be more than happy to fire you. At least pretend you're doing something productive."

Henley sighed before getting up. "Fine," she said in an irritated tone before walking off. Bella didn't know what was going on with Henley. The girl had always been a bit selfish and lazy, but lately she had been taking it to the next level. It was really getting on Bella's nerves, and she was certain if Henley didn't change her attitude sometime soon she might have to smack her.

Gwen was also working at the café that day, but unlike Henley and Winifred, she had yet to stop by Bella's table to so much as say hello. Instead, Gwen was flitting around in a frenzy of taking orders, delivering food, and being talkative and friendly to her customers.

In general, Gwen was being the exact opposite of Henley who was doing as little as possible. Henley was doing so few things, and Gwen so many that Gwen was taking care of most of Henley's customers for her.

When Bella heard someone call her name, she thought it was Henley again, but when the voice yelled at her with a bit more force the café disappeared and Bella found herself standing in the middle of a forest. Hearing her name called once again from behind her Bella turned around to discover Alice standing there with a faraway look on her face, the same look Bella remembered seeing her wear every time she had a vision.

"Bella, can you see me?" Alice asked.

Bella was uncertain what was happening right now. It felt like she was having a vision, but she was confused because if this was a vision then it was perhaps the oddest one she had ever had. It appeared that she was having a vision of Alice having a vision of her.

Alice's voice was distant when she spoke. "If you can hear me you need to say something. This form of communication is a little weird."

"Alice?" questioned Bella.

Alice suddenly became excited, although she remained within her vision. "Bella!" she exclaimed. "I was worried it wouldn't work. You look so confused. This is psychic communication. It's kind of like a weird phone call. You did it once before and contacted me."

Bella couldn't remember ever calling Alice, and took a second to think if she had, and just forgot.

"On Halloween," prompted Alice.

Halloween had been a crazy night. It had been the first time Bella experienced visions outside of her dreams, and the night Victoria attacked her at the Witches Ball. She hadn't seen Victoria since that night, but Bella was certain that Victoria had not given up her vendetta against her.

Bella had thought about Alice that night in order to help her determine Victoria's plan. She had ended up having several useless visions, including one of Alice looking confused that she had given little thought to after that night. That was most likely what Alice was referring to now. After all, what had happened that night felt like nothing more than a normal vision, just like all of this did now.

Alice smiled. "You're seeing me in my surroundings, while I am seeing you in yours. You're currently sitting in a restaurant looking like a crazy person who talks to herself."

Oddly enough, that made sense to Bella. They were both having visions of the other and using it as a way to talk to each other. It was weird, but it worked. "What did you call this again?"

Alice began to bounce on the balls of her feet. "Psychic communication, it's what happens when one psychic tries to force a vision about another psychic. Apparently, it's a common practice used to talk to colleagues across great distances."

The only thing Bella was having trouble grasping about all of this was the fact that Alice didn't know that she was a psychic as well. As far as Alice was concerned, Bella was just another human. "How did you know that you could contact me?"

Alice laughed. "Because you contacted me first." Bella felt herself blush at Alice's answer.

Alice frowned a little, and her demeanor took on a serious tone. "Are you all right? I was worried about you after the last time. I was afraid something had happened to you, and that's how you were able to contact me. I've been studying up on psychic communication ever since."

Bella felt a pang at the thought of Alice believing she was dead. "You thought I was a ghost?"

Alice shrugged her shoulders. "Why not? Vampires are real so why not ghosts. Just because I've never met one doesn't mean they aren't out there."

Ghosts, just another supernatural creature Bella knew nothing about. "I'm fine. I had just discovered my psychic abilities, and was testing them out. Sorry to worry you."

"Don't tell me too much," Alice cautioned. "Don't want anybody to read my mind about this meeting."

Bella understood. She was glad Alice respected their once friendship enough not to ask the questions she obviously wanted to.

Alice gave her a small smile. "I'm glad you are all right."

Bella stood there awkwardly for a second. "So how do we end this?"

Alice closed her eyes and in an instant Bella found herself once more at her booth in the café, only this time she wasn't alone. Gwen was sitting on the bench across from her. She must have noticed Bella's return to reality as she started speaking not long after Bella returned to the café.

"People were starting to stare at you so I sat down, and pretended you were talking to me. Grandma does it all the time, the psychic communication. She wasn't the one who contacted you, was she?"

Bella shook her head no. "It was an old friend. I accidently contacted her before, and she was simply making sure I was all right."

Gwen nodded her head. "Friend like that vampire girl, or an actual friend?"

Bella gave her a small smile. "Little bit of both I guess."

Gwen moved to get up from the booth, and as she did, Winifred and Henley walked over to them. "Shift is over," exclaimed Winifred. "Who is ready for the movies?"

It was at some point during the movie that Bella's contractions started. Gwen had been using her magic ever since to monitor Bella, insisting that it wasn't yet time for Bella to go to the hospital. Bella sent Winifred and Henley to Washington to inform Paul that her contractions had begun, and bring him back to Florida via teleportation.

It wasn't until close to midnight that Gwen declared it was time for them to leave for the hospital. Bella, who had been experiencing contractions for a few hours already felt like they probably should have left sooner, but Gwen was the one with healing magic, as well as the one who was studying for a medical degree.

When Gwen and Bella finally made it to the hospital it occurred to Bella that Winifred and Henley should have returned with Paul in tow hours earlier. In a panic, that something had happened to them Bella refused to listen to the nurses and doctors telling her to calm down. She kept envisioning the absolute worst since it would take a lot to delay two witches and a werewolf from getting to her side.

Everything was simply a blur of panic and pain from there. Bella could vaguely recall Gwen trying to tell her something, and was certain the other girl had discreetly used her magic on her when nobody was looking, but otherwise her memories were nothing more than a jumbled mess. She must have lost consciousness at some point, because she later found herself waking up in an empty room.

Bella had been looking at her surroundings, wondering where Paul, the girls, and her baby all were, and if everything was all right when a nurse walked into the room. "You're awake," she said, flashing Bella a large friendly smile. "Would you like to meet your baby? I can get them for you."

Bella simply nodded her head, and the nurse walked out of the room promising to be right back. The nurse, however, was not the person who brought Bella's child into the room. Instead, it was Bella's nightmare come true. Victoria walked into Bella's hospital room holding a small bundle that Bella knew contained the child she had carried inside her for nine months.

Unlike the child Bella had dreamed about, however, her actual baby did not cry at Victoria's touch, and did not seem to realize that it was in any danger at all.

"Please," Bella pleaded. "Don't hurt my baby. You can kill me right now. I won't stop you, just leave my child unharmed."

Victoria laughed and moved so she was standing with the baby as close to the window as possible. Bella got the sick feeling that the vampire planned to toss the child out the window, knowing that a closed window would be of little hindrance. Victoria softly stroked the baby's cheek. "Such an ugly thing just like his father. You should thank me for doing you a favor."

Victoria's threats and insults went in one ear then out the other as Bella discovered that the child she had just given birth to was a boy. She had a son. Paul would be so proud when he got there. Bella just had to get him away from Victoria first.

Victoria sniffed the air before leaning down and sniffing the baby with a look that suggested what she smelled disgusted her crossing her face. "He even smells like his father."

There was a sound of running, and Victoria replaced her look of disgust with one of pure joy. She cackled as Paul stopped in the doorway and growled.

"Little mutt has come to rescue his family," she sneered.

Paul stumbled forward into the room, and Bella realized that Embry, who moved to stand next to Paul and growl at Victoria along with him, had pushed him farther into the room. Embry and Paul weren't the only ones now in the small hospital room along with her and Victoria, Henley, Winifred, and Gwen were all there as well.

Victoria kept laughing, knowing nobody in the room would do anything against her as long as she was holding the still-living child. Despite how excited Victoria currently looked Bella could see she was trying to decide if killing the child would be worth losing her own life or if she should just attempt to go after Bella another day. Bella prayed to anyone who might hear that Victoria would choose to attack another day.

Someone must have heard Bella's prayers as moments later a nurse walked into the room. "What is all the noise in here?" she demanded. Then, taking in the number of occupants she added, "There are too many people in this room." She walked over to Victoria, and Bella watched in amazement as she plucked the baby boy out of the vampire's arms and passed him over to her. "Mother and child need rest and quiet. Who is the father?"

Growling, and laughter having given way to shock at the small nurse with the nerves of steel Paul tentatively raised his hand. "I am," he said.

"Good," exclaimed the nurse. "Then you can stay while the others leave." The nurse glared at the other occupants of the room as they all filed out. Despite the fact that they were all walking out alongside Victoria, Bella knew that the vampire would still manage to escape the hospital.

Once everyone had gone, Bella gazed down at the beautiful baby she had created. "What is his name?" She heard Paul ask as he moved to sit on the edge of her bed and stare down at the baby in her arms.

Bella gave Paul a small kiss before responding, "Sage, his name is Sage, and I am never letting him out of my sight."

Paul sighed. "He's perfect, and I understand. I don't want to let either of you out my sight. I should have been here sooner."

Bella gave Paul a sidelong glance, "Why did it take you so long to get here? The girls left hours ago."

Paul laughed. "Embry imprinted on your friend Winifred."


	14. For The Right To Hold You

For the Right to Hold You  
>-Betty Noyes "Baby Mine"<p>

Bella was on the phone with her dad, apparently he had been out shopping with Sue when the two of them came across an adorable outfit for Sage. The child was barely five months old yet he already had more outfits than Bella did.

Charlie's voice floated through the phone. "I've given it to Paul to bring with him. Sue wants pictures of Sage wearing it. She says to text them to her."

Bella was so grateful that her father seemed to be taking everything in stride. She had seen how unaffected he had been at learning about the werewolves, but had expected something more from him at the revelation that she was a witch. He had treated her announcement as something that he knew all along.

Bella assumed her dad's lack of surprise over all things supernatural had something to do with the witch gene he carried. It was the only explanation for Charlie's quick dismissal of everything, at least, that she could think of. Even in the vision Bella had of Sam telling Charlie about the wolves, he had simply shrugged the whole thing off.

"Hey Bella?" she heard her father say through the phone. "You know I love you, right?"

Bella had to wonder where this was going. Neither she nor her father had ever been very good at sharing their feelings with one another. The fact that he felt the need to remind her of something they rarely had to say meant he was going to tell her something he didn't think she would want to hear.

"Yeah dad, I know."

Charlie sighed, and Bella imagined that her father was shuffling his feet, unable to sit down in nervous anticipation.

"I think it's past time you came home. I know you've got friends in Florida, and your mother says you're doing real well, but your family needs you here."

Bella knew it was time to go back. She was ready to return in her heart, but her head knew there was more she needed to do first. She had to finish her training, and finally destroy Victoria for good. Besides, she had promised Paul she would only be away for a year and that time was almost up.

"Dad," she began, she was growing tired of having this increasingly monotonous conversation with everyone. She wanted to come home, but she just couldn't yet. "My year is almost up. I just need to finish training, and I will come home. I promise."

Bella could hear Sage starting to get fussy and moved to pick him up, one hand cradling the baby while the other cradled her phone, Bella paced across the room. When Charlie spoke next, his voice held a tone Bella had never heard from her father before.

"You're not your mother Bella so you need to stop acting like her. I'm worried when this year is up you'll come up with more excuses to stay away. Don't make pretty promises you don't plan to keep."

Bella had always compared herself to her father. Their personalities and mannerisms were almost identical. He held a quiet maturity, and never pushed Bella to do things she would not like. She was immensely grateful to the man who actually knew how to behave like a parent, a concept her mother had never fully grasped.

To be compared to the woman she never wanted to be by the person she admired most was like an electrical shock to her system. "I'm not mom."

Bella could picture in her mind's eye the disappointment etched on her father's face, and wished her imagination wasn't nearly as vivid as it was.

"You've got a child now and an opportunity for a good life here. You say you're going to come home, and that this is what you want, but have you ever so much as been on a date with Paul? What will you do when you finally get here? Are you just going to move in with a man you know mainly over the phone? You can't claim he imprinted on you, and expect that to be enough. Don't run away like your mother did, especially without giving that boy a fair chance first."

Bella didn't know what to say, she wasn't running away, she was trying to protect all of them, her father included. She couldn't tell him that though, he would have the pack in Florida to go on the hunt for Victoria in the blink of an eye. That was the last thing that Bella wanted. She needed to protect them on her own.

"Dad, I…" Bella began.

"No," Charlie interrupted. "I don't want to hear whatever excuse you've got. I've heard enough for a lifetime from your mother. Just do what you need to. Finish your witch training, and then come home."

A silence descended over the phone. Charlie had said all that he needed to, and left Bella with no chance to defend herself. Sage's fussiness had turned into tears by the time Charlie spoke once more.

"I still love you Bells. I'll talk to you later." With that, the phone line went dead, and Bella allowed her cell to drop onto the bed as she readjusted Sage once more.

Winifred and Henley had gone to retrieve Paul and Embry, and would be teleporting back soon. The boys had agreed to babysit while the girls went to the Witches Ball. Moving about, getting Sage ready for father-son bonding time, Bella found she couldn't shake what her father had told her.

Looking back Grandma Anna had said something similar. Both claimed Bella was wrong, that she wasn't taking responsibility, nor behaving like an adult. Each of them also felt the need to criticize her relationship with Paul. Sure, she and Paul had gone about their relationship in an odd way, but they talked every night, and constantly texted.

Paul was no longer the stranger he once was. He was teleported down to Florida every other weekend, and on the weekends he didn't come to her Bella and Winifred would teleport down to La Push. She saw him, which meant that their relationship wasn't purely over the phone as her father claimed.

While it wasn't perfect she would return to La Push soon enough. Had it really been as selfish of her to ask for a year as everyone claimed? She required the year for good reasons. She had been developing a plan to eliminate Victoria ever since the last time she saw her.

It unnerved her how close Victoria had managed to get to her and Sage that day. When the others had returned from their chase to say that neither the wolves' abilities, nor the witches' powers were able to track Victoria they had reinforced her belief that she had to get rid of Victoria before she could return to La Push. Victoria had simply disappeared somewhere outside of the hospital.

Despite this, nobody other than Bella seemed at all concerned about Victoria. She thought that they were all so confident in their abilities that they were unable to see Victoria for the threat that she was, but then some days Bella had to wonder if their dismissal was a part of Victoria's survival abilities that did not affect her.

Bella was not her mother. Renée had always done what was best for herself. While Bella was certainly benefiting from currently being in Florida, her motives for being there had to do with more than her own needs. Bella gazed down at the small child she had brought into the world, and thought once more of Sam and Paul's plea to let them take Sage back to La Push. If Bella was anything like her mother, if she was being selfish in any way, it was because she refused to remove Sage from her care.

Bella had never doubted that her mother loved her, but the most selfish thing she had ever done was take Bella with her when she left Washington. Had Renée considered Bella's needs for even a second she would she would have left Bella with her father.

Bella heard the front door open, and the sound of voices filled the apartment, snapping her out of her thoughts. Paul burst into her bedroom as she finished changing Sage. He gave no verbal greeting as he walked in, dropping a small bag on the floor before moving to envelope Bella in a hug.

Bella could feel her worry disappear in his warm embrace. She was certain that Paul could feel her distress over what her father had said through their imprint bond, and knew what she needed in that instant was the comfort and reassurance that a hug could give. Bella shifted Sage to make the embrace a bit more comfortable before allowing herself to sink into Paul's warmth. Bella wasn't certain how long they had been standing there when she felt Paul place a gentle kiss on the top of her head as he released her.

The biggest difference that Bella had noticed between when they talked on the phone and when they were both in the same room was that when Paul was there standing in front of her there wasn't always a need for words. In the months that they had been visiting one another they had developed a silent form of communication.

Paul smiled before moving to take Sage from her arms, and sitting down on her bed. Bella looked over at the bag Paul had brought, which was very obviously the outfit Charlie had mentioned to her. Bella made a face as she addressed Paul. "My dad will spoil Sage if we're not careful."

Paul tickled the baby in his arms, eliciting a small smile from the child. "Not if I get to it first."

Paul had surprised Bella with how quickly he had taken to fatherhood. He had proven attentive to both her and Sage's needs, as well as incredibly gentle for a man as intimidating as someone of Paul's abnormally large size could be. Bella was also certain that Paul had changed more of Sage's dirty diapers than her father ever had of hers.

Before that ill-fated night where Jake had imprinted, Bella had thought of Paul as an ill-tempered ass. He always had a rude word, or name, and rarely showed Bella any kindness. In the time since Bella had been able to see a side of Paul she was sure few people got the chance to.

Though she did not know the man very well, Bella assumed that Paul took after his father, a man who had done the best that he could when it came to raising Paul. Julian had played the role of both father and mother when Paul was growing up. It was obvious to Bella how much he cared for his only son. Paul's mother had been very much like her own, in that she was unable to handle the slow pace of small town life, and took off in pursuit of something more. Bella had to hand it to the woman for doing the one thing neither Bella, nor her own mother could, leave her child behind in his father's care.

Paul was making silly faces at Sage, who seemed completely enamored with his father. Bella could feel her smile fading. Paul was perfect, everything a child deserved, and more than Bella did. Her father's words, Grandma Anna's words, they were all floating around in her head. Paul looked up as she felt herself starting to panic. He gave her a look, silently asking what was wrong.

Bella's thoughts were a whirlwind inside her mind. She didn't know what to say or where to start. She wanted to tell him to take Sage now before she changed her mind, that he was so much better than she was. She wanted to ask him to take care of Victoria so that she could finally stop worrying. She had so many things she should say to him, but the words refused to come out. The phone call with her father seemed to be on permanent repeat.

Paul was looking at her expectantly so Bella blurted out the first phrase she found she could grasp. "We should go on a date."

Paul raised an eyebrow. "That's what has you so upset?"

It might not have been the only thing concerning her, or even the most important, but it was part of her troubles. Bella nodded her head, not certain what would come out next if she allowed herself to speak.

Paul chuckled softly. "That's fine Bella, whenever you're ready. We can do anything you'd like."

Bella pushed the rest of her anxieties from her mind. She would have to deal with them later. "We can't do the date tonight. The Witches Ball seems to be a mandatory event."

Paul rolled his eyes. "I know. Maybe we could do it next weekend."

Bella was about to tell him that next weekend would be perfect when her bedroom door was suddenly flung open by Henley who tossed a balled up gown at Bella's head. When Bella had removed the garment Henley was gone, and she was relieved to see that Paul had used his supernatural speed to remove Sage from the path of the projectile.

Bella wanted to be upset with Henley, but Paul's laughter was removing that feeling as quickly as it had come. Paul shook his head. "Never a dull moment here, really makes a man feel at home."

"Smells prettier than home too," came Embry's voice from somewhere within the apartment, "barely a whiff of wet dog here."

Bella smiled as she got off the bed, picking up the dress from where she had let it fall to the floor. Her life might be a bit crazy, and her relationship with Paul extremely odd, but Bella could imagine that one day their future would be perfect. Bella got ready for the Witches Ball while Paul entertained Sage.

When it came time to leave Paul gave her a quick peck on the lips before she joined the circle so they could teleport out. She gazed at Paul who was smiling as he held Sage's arm in a wave goodbye. Such a happy scene shouldn't have filled Bella with as much dread as it did.

She just couldn't shake the feeling that this would be the last time that she saw her boys, which was silly considering Paul and Embry's werewolf status. Their super strength and speed would mean only the strongest denizens of the supernatural community would be able to take them on. While Sage would be defenseless on his own, there was no doubt in Bella's mind that both Paul and Embry would willingly give their lives to protect the youngest member of the eclectic group that made up the pack's family.

She was being ridiculous to think anything could go so horribly wrong that she would never see them again. As the room swirled, however, Bella found herself being plunged into a vision. She had had this vision once before. After the last time, she had studied magic harder, trying to be as proactive in her pursuit of Victoria as possible.

Bella was in the cage, circled by coyotes. Her heart sank as Victoria walked into the clearing. The vampire was laughing as she held Sage just out of Bella's reach. The child's cries were deafening to Bella's ears. Bella was ready to go home the second her feet landed on the stone floor of what appeared to be an old European castle.

Inspired by Sophia and Katherine's matching outfits from last year, the six women had decided to wear identical clothes. They were going for a very classical style of witch with flowing cloaks and gowns in dark colors. Winifred had even managed to talk her mother into wearing a fake wart.

Bella had wanted to enjoy this year's ball since Victoria had prevented her from doing so last year, but her vision, combined with the feeling that something was wrong, meant that would not be possible. She tried to smile as she followed behind the others.

Had she not been so distracted she would have loved to explore the ball's location. An old castle in a foreign country would be the perfect thing to spark her imagination. At that moment, however, she was wishing her imagination wasn't quite as vivid as it was since it showed her all the things that could possibly happen to her boys.

A woman she vaguely recalled from the year before wrapped her in a hug, pulling her gratefully from her thoughts. Bella gave Henley a questioning look. Henley shrugged her shoulders as the stranger continued to crush Bella.

Sophia rolled her eyes as she pried the woman off. "Adriana," she exclaimed in a sort of motherly reprimanding tone. "Must you be so rude? Try introducing yourself before attacking the poor girl next time."

The woman who Bella now knew as Adriana smiled before extending her hand for Bella to shake. "Adriana Goodwin," she said as Bella accepted her handshake. "My mother is on the Witches Council so I've heard a lot about you. You've been the biggest piece of gossip for over a year."

Bella wasn't certain how to respond to that. She obviously didn't need to introduce herself since Adriana had made it clear that she already knew whom she was, yet Bella didn't want to comment on the fact that she was the center of gossip. She didn't really want that sort of attention.

The smile she finally decided to give the other girl must have looked as forced as it actually was since Sophia gave a heavy sigh before linking her arm through Adriana's, and leading the girl away with Katherine following behind.

"Come dear," Bella heard Sophia say as they walked away. "Show us where your mother is. Katherine and I have been dying to speak with her."

Once they were out of sight, the rest of Bella's companions broke out into giggles. "Bella!" Gwen shouted as she flung her arms around Bella's middle. Henley and Winifred's laughter increased as Gwen started petting Bella's head. "I know we've never met, but I just love talking about you. You're all I've talked about for a year. Accept this as I hold you."

Bella wished she could joke around the way they did, but she currently found no humor in their antics. Instead, the worry made her want to push the girls away, and run home to Paul's arms where she could reassure herself of his safety, and cry at her foolishness.

Winifred was the first to stop laughing. "Are you okay?"

While Bella felt anything but fine, she knew there was no reason to feel that way. The boys could handle themselves, so she nodded.

Henley finally allowed her giggles to subside, although her smile was still that of someone who'd heard a funny joke. "Let's go find some food."

Bella wasn't certain she could stomach anything, but she followed the others regardless. They were halfway to the buffet table when an older woman holding a very real black cat stepped in Bella's path. "Isabella Swan," she said in a voice that was reminiscent of nails on a chalkboard. "I am so sorry about your son."

Bella could feel herself go numb. This woman knew something was wrong. She must have been a seer who had witnessed the whole thing in a vision. Bella was a terrible mother. She shouldn't have come here. Bella was about to demand Henley and the others teleport her home immediately when the older woman continued speaking.

"You're young though, you still have plenty of chances to try for a girl."

"What!" screeched Bella in a pitch so high that everybody nearby recoiled from the sound. Even the cat who had previously seemed perfectly content just to sit in its master's arms was now giving Bella a death glare.

The woman took a step back before responding. "With our numbers as low as they are it was a shame to hear you had given birth to a son rather than a daughter."

Bella stared at the woman with a mixture of horror and shock. The other girls were no longer smiling. Henley looked angry as she pulled Bella away from the woman, giving a tense, "your sympathies are appreciated," as they walked away.

"I don't mean to sound rude," whispered Henley once they reached their prior destination of the buffet table, "but you might hear other people say similar things like that to you. Our kind covets daughters much more than we do sons."

Bella understood, they had told her before that they were a dying breed. A son could pass on the genes, but he couldn't join the sisterhood. A daughter, on the other hand, could do both. Bella shrugged, this ball was turning out worse than the last one.

The girls each filled a plate with food in what Bella assumed was an attempt to shake off the memory of the unpleasant events. She followed suit, although she placed very little on her plate since she knew she would actually eat none of it.

Gwen led them all to a relatively empty alcove with a couch where they could sit and eat. She was the only one of them who no longer outwardly appeared phased by the older woman's comments. She was, however, the first one to bring the situation up again once they all sat down.

"It isn't fair," she said as she gazed at Bella. "Sage is such a sweet, happy baby nobody should regret that he was born."

Bella agreed, her son was perfect and deserved to have others treat him as such. She put her plate down in anticipation of the conversation that was about to occur. The one where they would discuss all the things wrong with the institution of witchcraft, as well as gender inequalities, not just within the sisterhood, but the world. Bella was ready to sit there and discuss these things when she felt a pang in her chest, as if someone had ripped her heart in two. From the way Winifred was gasping while clutching her own chest she could feel it too. Something was wrong. Bella never should have left her boys alone. She should have demanded Henley teleport her home the second after they arrived. She should have put more trust in her vision, and her own intuition.

Bella could see Sage's happy smiling face as Paul held him, and she prayed to every god she had ever heard of that he was safe. Gwen was hovering over her, trying to find something medically wrong with her. Bella knew she would find nothing. There was nothing medically wrong with Bella and Winifred. The problem lay with their imprints.


	15. You Ain't No Friend of Mine

You Ain't No Friend of Mine

-Elvis Presley "Hound Dog"

Henley and Gwen were hovering over Bella and Winifred. Gwen was trying to use her powers to see what was wrong with them so she could attempt to heal them. She was trying to be helpful, whereas Henley was doing no such thing. Henley was wide-eyed and kept getting in their faces asking what was wrong. She was screaming everything she said.

Henley had gained the attention of almost everyone present at the party, and a crowd was beginning to form around the girls. Bella felt caged in. She didn't understand why Henley was overreacting the way she was. She had seen the other girl remain calm in situations involving fighting off vampires, or dealing with the craziness that was their coven.

Why Henley couldn't remain calm now was a mystery to her. She wished the other girl would just shut up. Maybe then, more women wouldn't be rushing over to the little alcove to see what had caused all the excitement. She would probably be known as the witch who caused problems from here on out.

Bella could see Sophia and Katherine in the mess of people coming toward them and felt a small amount of relief. With any luck, one of them would have the good sense to take them out of there. Bella needed to get home. She had to find out what had happened to her boys. She couldn't remain trapped there. She had to go home.

Gwen shook her head helplessly at Bella and Winifred. Bella watched the realization dawn on her face as she discovered there was nothing that she could do to help them. Gwen glanced up and Bella could see her helplessness turn to anger as she saw the commotion Henley had caused with her screaming.

Gwen turned to Henley and stared at her for a second before raising her arm and slapping the hysterical girl. "Shut up!" she yelled. "All of you, shut up!"

Henley reeled back in shock, finally quieting down. A loud roaring in Bella's ears she hadn't realized was there disappeared. Looking at those who had gathered around them, she discovered that Gwen had managed to not only quiet Henley, but everyone else as well. It seemed as though every witch in attendance was silently staring at them. Through the silence, she could hear Winifred crying.

Pushing a witch in a hideous pink gown out of her way Sophia finally reached the girls. Katherine was close behind her followed by five women in matching robes.

"Tell me Sophia," asked one of the robed women, "why must your coven cause so much trouble?"

"It worries us Sophia," spoke another of the women. "Perhaps you should not be the leader of your coven if you are so unable to control them."

Sophia's face matched Gwen's in anger. Bella hoped she wouldn't go off on these women as Gwen had done Henley. They had to get out of there as quickly as possible. There was no time for a fight. Katherine had moved forward while the robbed women were speaking, and was rocking a sobbing Winifred in her arms. She was giving Sophia the same look Bella knew she was, a look that begged Sophia to take them home.

Sophia took a deep breath as she squared her shoulders, and turned toward the robed women. "Council," she calmly said. "I apologize for any inconvenience my coven and I may have caused. It has been a lovely party, but we shall now be taking our leave."

Bella forced herself to stand while Katherine helped Winifred up. Bella had never been as terrified in her life as she was at that moment. The uncertainty of what they would find once they teleported into the apartment pained her. Would Victoria be there, standing over her boys' lifeless bodies? The thought made her want to vomit.

Standing in the circle, waiting for the spell to be completed was turning into the longest moment of Bella's life. If Bella thought that her imagination had been running rampant when she simply suspected something might happen, it was nothing compared to the images currently running through her mind. Knowing there was something wrong made everything worse.

As the spell completed, and Bella found herself standing in the apartment living room, she discovered that being at the scene of the crime removed a weight off her chest. The pain was still there, but it wasn't as intense as it had been at the Witches Ball.

The apartment was in a complete state of disarray. Nothing was where it should have been. There was furniture that had previously been located in the bedrooms smashed on the living room floor. There was even a hole in one of the walls, and the apartment's front door was wide open.

Bella ran through the apartment, room after destroyed room, in hopes that her baby was still there, and still alive waiting for her within the mess. Bella's fragile hopes shattered as she entered the final room in the apartment, and only found more mess. She felt Winifred come up behind her and let out a cry at the sight of her and Henley's shared bedroom. Bella hadn't realized the other girl had followed her in her search. Bella reached out, taking hold of Winifred's hand, each of them finding comfort in the fact that they weren't the only one feeling pain.

Grasping Winifred's hand a bit tighter, Bella pulled her out of the bedroom, and toward the living room. The others were still in the front room. They appeared to be searching for something. Katherine paused as Bella and Winifred entered the room, and attempted to grab her daughter up in a hug. Bella, however, needed to find her mate and son. She had no time for Katherine's sympathies.

She increased her hold on Winifred and dragged the girl with her though the still open front door. Bella mentally recounted the various spells she had been researching for when the time to face Victoria came. Perhaps she could use one of the tracking spells she had found now. She needed to find Paul and Sage, make sure they were okay.

Walking out of the apartment building and onto the sidewalk Bella stood still for a moment, allowing the cool night air to clear her mind of horrible possibilities. In some part of her mind, she knew that she wasn't thinking back on her spells just because she needed a tracking spell. Bella was certain that when she found her boys Victoria would be there. Had her vision earlier not been confirmation enough, there was always the knowledge that Victoria was the only one actively trying to ruin Bella's life before ending it.

Bella had hoped that when her final showdown with Victoria occurred it would be of her own creation. Bella had waited too long, she had pushed away the date of something that should have happened long ago. Now that Victoria was forcing the fight Bella simply had to pray that she, and those she loved, would be able to walk away from this alive.

Winifred's voice broke Bella away from her mental preparation. "To the left," she said in a voice that reflected the pain Bella knew she was feeling. When Bella didn't respond she spoke again. "There are a bunch of new homes being built a couple of streets down to the left. That's where the boys are, I can feel it."

Bella knew enough about imprinting bonds to realize that Winifred's pain was probably just as good as any tracking spell would be. She nodded her head in agreement, as she and Winifred headed to the left. It was a small relief to Bella that Winifred could feel the location of her mate. It meant he was most likely still alive. If Embry was still breathing then her boys might be too. The fact that her pain had lessened upon arriving at the apartment had already been a small clue that they weren't dead, but until she saw them, and held them, she couldn't be fully convinced.

With each step the girls took toward the construction site, Bella could feel the pain lessen a little bit more. Her mind became a bit clearer, and with that clarity, she began to regret bringing Winifred with her to a fight that was not hers. It was Bella's responsibility to eliminate Victoria, and protect her family. Bella paused at the entrance to the new neighborhood, releasing Winifred's hand.

Taking a deep breath, she turned to face her companion. "You don't need to come with me," she stated. "This is going to be dangerous, and we're probably walking into a trap. I can do this alone. I've been preparing to do so for months."

Winifred looked at her as if she had grown an extra head. "My mate is in danger too, of course, I'm coming with you. Besides, if this is a trap then you're going to need me."

Bella still wasn't happy about dragging others into this. Victoria was after her, not the pack, not the coven, just her. Winifred must have noticed her reluctance. "I've been doing magic for longer than you. I'm going whether you want me to or not."

Fate clearly didn't want Bella to face Victoria alone. Accepting that she had to throw all her carefully laid plans out the window Bella decided to give Winifred a small warning. "Victoria isn't after you or the boys, if there is an opportunity for you to escape with them, even if it means leaving me behind, you need to take it. Don't worry about me."

Winifred nodded her head. "All right."

Convincing Winifred to leave her behind was surprisingly easier than Bella had thought it would be. She had expected the other girl to protest, the fact that she didn't made Bella think that perhaps Winifred understood more about the threat that Victoria represented than she had thought. Bella had been under the impression that the others didn't care about the danger Victoria posed, that there was even some sort of supernatural thing preventing them from doing so. Maybe she should have talked to them more, been more forceful.

Winifred moved forward to hug her, briefly startling Bella. "I'm sorry," she whispered before releasing Bella from the embrace. Taking a deep breath Bella prepared herself, she had to go into this battle with a clear head if she wanted to defeat Victoria, and get her boys to safety.

Stepping onto the sidewalk of what was clearly still a construction zone, Bella felt the last of the pain she had been feeling since the Witches Ball disappear. She could do this she had to do this. Now was the moment she had been preparing for. Her son was depending on her.

Once she did this, she could take Sage to Forks where she would finally have a proper relationship with Paul. Embry imprinting on Winifred, guaranteed that her coven would never be very far away. Winifred would eventually move to Washington too, and together they would find a way to destroy the Dream Walker's influence so she would never have to worry about him again. Bella's life would be perfect she just needed to finish Victoria so she could never harm her or her family again.

Walking through a street filled with dark, empty homes should have added an air of eeriness to the situation, but instead it confused Bella. She was certain that her vision should become reality now, yet the vision she had been having took place in the woods, not an empty suburban street.

The idea that her vision was showing her something much further in the future terrified her. This was going to be the end, not another narrow escape like every other encounter with Victoria had been. She wasn't going to live the rest of her life in fear of when Victoria would attack next.

Bella heard Winifred gasp as she pulled the back of her blouse. When Bella glanced behind her, it was to find Winifred staring wide-eyed at the empty space between two homes. Her voice was so quiet when she spoke that Bella had to strain to hear what she was saying. "Did you see that? Something is there. We're being followed."

It figured that Victoria would have someone watching for her so that she would have warning of Bella's presence, and she could spring her trap.

Prying Winifred away from her Bella began to quicken her pace. "Ignore them, it's to be expected."

Despite Winifred being the one more practiced at witchcraft, it was becoming increasingly obvious to Bella that she had never really faced an enemy. She suspected Katherine had sheltered her daughter from those within the supernatural community who meant harm as much as possible. Sometimes it amazed Bella how different each member of the coven's upbringing was.

Henley had once admitted that her mother had forced her to hunt vampires when she was younger in order to increase her skills. Henley's training had been intense, while Winifred's focused on nothing but book learning. Gwen's, on the other hand, had been a nice combination of both on-hand practice and learning through books since her grandmother had raised her. Moving into the apartment with them had helped Winifred step away from her mother's grasp. Maybe this would be a necessary step for Winifred to gain confidence in her abilities.

Bella could see something unusual in the street. Moving closer to get a better look at whatever the mysterious object could be. Bella was careful to keep her distance, wary that it could be part of Victoria's plan. Once she was close enough to make out what it was in the darkness Bella recoiled a bit, in the middle of the street was a pile of dead birds.

She stepped backward, taking Winifred with her. "Regret coming with me yet?"

Winifred shook her head. "Not yet."

As they placed the birds behind them, the laughing started. It was loud, and echoed through the neighborhood in a way that made it hard to tell which direction it was coming from. The laughter was Victoria's, yet the longer it continued the more it began to distort until it sounded male.

Victoria was trying to spook them, and catch them off guard. Bella wouldn't allow that to happen. She did her best to tune the laughter out as well as ignore the figures moving in the shadows. Her son needed her, she couldn't afford to be distracted as she walked further into Victoria's trap.

Bella could see lights on in the distance, and she knew that this was where Victoria wanted her to go. The moment had come to face her. She didn't feel nervous, she was too determined to save her boys and end Victoria's reign of terror. Bella was doing well remaining calm and focused until they got close enough to the lighted portion of the neighborhood to hear Sage crying.

Sage's tears were the proof she had been waiting for, proof that her son was alive. The only question left was whether Paul and Embry were too. The sound of her son's cries made Bella want to run, to forget how that would simply play into Victoria's hands. Bella grabbed Winifred's hand and used it as an anchor to keep her level headed.

As they turned the corner and stepped onto the lighted street the laughter that had been following them since the birds vanished, Bella could immediately make out the form of Victoria, who had Sage in her arms. She was grateful that at least this seemed to be happening like her vision. The coyotes would probably show up soon, and fully ensnare her within Victoria's trap.

Bella and Winifred reached a point only a few feet from where Victoria stood, and the figures that had previously remained within the shadows moved at inhuman speeds to form a circle around them, which effectively blocked the girls from Victoria and Sage. Bella felt a twinge of disappointment that vampires, not coyotes formed the circle around them. Maybe the coyotes in her vision represented the vampires standing around them now.

Bella could feel Winifred shaking, and squeezed her hand reassuringly. Victoria smiled as she pulled Sage a little closer to her. Bella had no doubt that she was using the child as a shield. "Little Isabella Sawn what a surprise to see you here. Come on a moonlight walk like we have?"

Bella was about to say something snarky in response when Winifred cut her off. "Where are Embry and Paul? Give them and Sage to us, and we will think about not killing you."

Bella had to hand it to Winifred for giving Victoria her demands despite the fact that she was obviously terrified. Victoria's smile widened. "Such a brave little witch, don't worry, you're friends are around here somewhere. As for the child, I'll hold onto him."

Bella wanted this fight to end as quickly as possible so they could find Paul and Embry then take Sage home. She knew Victoria would spend the majority of her time talking if they allowed her to, keeping them distracted while her minions prepared to do her dirty work.

Bella had no idea where Victoria had recruited so many vampires, and she doubted very many had joined her willingly given her history of using others as cannon fodder as she had done to all those who had helped with her scheme the year before.

Bella couldn't attack Victoria, not while she still held Sage, so instead she focused on the nearest vampire in the circle. He was a young man who looked barely out of high school, she almost felt bad for having to kill someone so young. She reminded herself that all vampires were already dead.

"Feuer," she said, looking away as the vampire burst into flames.

His screams set off the ensuing chaos. The remaining vampires, minus Victoria, all moved forward at once. Winifred was holding so tightly to Bella's hands that she worried her fingers might break, yet Winifred didn't hesitate when the vampires attacked, using her powers to throw as many vampires away from them as she could. She didn't hurt them instead she was giving Bella a chance to fight off one or two at a time rather than the two of them taking on a horde all at once.

Defeating Victoria's minions was surprisingly easy. Winifred and Bella's powers seemed to have caught most of them off guard. Bella doubted Victoria had warned them of their magic. Once they had reduced the previously circling vampires to ash on the street Bella looked around to discover that she couldn't see Victoria anywhere.

Bella whipped Winifred around so she was facing her. "Where are they?" she demanded.

Winifred stared at her in confusion. "I don't know."

Bella grabbed her shoulders. "You do know, now tell me where are they?"

Winifred closed her eyes for a minute before pointing to the backyard of a nearby home. Bella was done being calm and careful as she ran toward where Winifred pointed. Victoria was there in the unfinished home's unfinished yard, no longer holding Sage.

Her baby was lying quietly on a blanket placed on the ground near the crumpled, broken forms of Paul and Embry. A small amount of movement was enough to hint that they were still alive, although how long that would remain as such was a mystery to Bella. She admonished herself as the thought that it would have been better if Gwen was with her rather than Winifred flashed in her mind. Winifred had proven to be a strong ally. It wasn't fair for her to wish that she wasn't there now since Bella might not make it through this without her.

Victoria's voice forced Bella to look away from her boys and at the woman who haunted her nightmares. "We should do this alone." In the blink of an eye, Victoria moved from one side of the yard to right in front of Winifred, and just as quickly, she lifted her arm, bringing it down on Winifred hard enough to leave the girl unconscious on the ground.

Bella concentrated on Victoria, and said the spell to light her on fire, but as the words left her mouth Victoria moved once more. The home that had been behind Victoria caught fire as the spell hit it. Bella looked around herself, trying to locate Victoria so she could attempt the spell again, but hands as cold as ice grabbed and stopped her.

As Bella flew through the air, the idea came to her that perhaps if she flapped her arms like wings her magic would allow her to fly. Her body connecting with the ground was proof that it wouldn't. Bella had no time to recover as Victoria laughed while picking her up once more. In a moment of clarity, while Victoria held her up in the air, Bella used a spell that caused the arm holding her to shatter. Victoria screamed, kicking Bella as she tried to catch her breath on the ground.

This fight was going nowhere near as well as Bella had hoped it would. She tried to put some space between herself and Victoria, but the vampire had other plans as she grabbed Bella by the collar and tossed her to the ground again. This time Victoria gave her no chance to attempt to stand, she grabbed hold of Bella's throat and pinned her down.

"I don't need two arms to kill you," she sneered.

Bella kicked out in a last ditch effort to protect herself and her boys, but she was nothing more to Victoria than an insect easily crushed.

"Accendo."

Victoria leaped back as she burst into flames. Bella hadn't been the one to cast the spell that was currently ending Victoria's existence, but she was too busy reassuring herself that this was truly Victoria's end to see who had. It was only once Victoria was nothing more than a pile of ash blown by the wind that Bella glanced about herself.

The rest of the coven was there. Katherine was kneeling on the ground over Winifred who was now awake, although she looked as if she wouldn't remain that way for much longer. Gwen was with Paul and Embry, most likely healing them. Bella gave a sigh of relief that everything was over, and that her boys were safe. Sophia, who had been standing nearby holding Sage, walked closer to Bella, passing Sage into her arms.

Sophia looked mildly upset, yet her voice betrayed a hint of worry as she spoke. "Witches have covens so they don't have to face an enemy alone. Do you understand?"

Bella nodded her head, pulling her son in closer as she began to cry.


	16. Ease My Worried Mind

Ease My Worried Mind  
>-Eric Clapton "Layla"<p>

Bella found that it was nice to be going on her real first date with Paul, finally. After months of either phone conversations or weekends spent wasting time at the apartment with the coven or in La Push with the pack, it was about time they had a moment for just the two of them. Henley had agreed to watch Sage while Paul and Bella went out, and Bella was excited to have the opportunity to have Paul to herself for the night.

Bella was wearing an outfit her mother had given her shortly after Sage was born, a light blue dress that was just the right amount of sexy. Renée had insisted that Bella needed it in her wardrobe to remind her that she wasn't just a mother, but also a smart capable woman who deserved to wear more than just a comfortable pair of jeans with a stained, over-sized shirt every now and then. Henley had wanted to do her makeup, but Bella was more comfortable without it. She didn't need makeup to make her feel beautiful.

The incident with Victoria had been the week before and it was a relief to Bella to know that she no longer needed to look constantly over her shoulder for another attempt on her life. Victoria had been haunting her for so long that it would be wonderful to move on and allow her life to be the perfect thing she felt it should be.

It was time for Bella's happy ending. She had a beautiful son, and a wonderful mate who she could finally spend some time with. There was no longer a threat lurking in the shadows, and Bella's witch training was almost complete. Henley claimed that Bella would have learned enough of the basics within the next couple of weeks for Sophia to declare her in complete control of her powers.

There were still a lot of questions regarding her move back to Washington that Bella needed to work out, but tonight she wanted to focus on her first real date with the man with whom she would spend the rest of her life. She wanted to talk to Paul, learn everything she could about him. Bella wanted to know all those things you couldn't discover over the phone.

She was ready to make their relationship normal. Paul must have felt the same way because he insisted on pretending he was arriving at the apartment for the first time to pick Bella up for their date despite the fact that he had been staying there for the past week.

Paul and Embry had spent the time since Victoria's defeat staying with the girls at the apartment. Both Bella and Winifred had been shaken up by the events of Halloween night, and had difficulty sleeping for a couple of nights afterward. The boys decided to stay for as long as Sam would permit them in order to ensure that their imprints were both emotionally and physically well. Winifred and Bella had to return Paul and Embry to La Push the next day.

Bella smiled as Paul held his arm out for her to take before escorting her to the car. They had agreed to start the night at a nearby restaurant. It wasn't any place fancy, but it was quiet so they could talk while enjoying their meal. The waitress seated them in a secluded booth near the corner of the restaurant. The location mixed with the high backs of the booth made it feel as if they had the entire restaurant to themselves. It was nice, or at least it would have been had they not been staring at one another in awkward silence ever since the waitress had abandoned them there.

Bella was uncertain what to say, she couldn't figure out where to start the conversation that would lead them to perfection. It wasn't as if they never spoke, there was no reason for either of them to be silent now. Bella could always find something to say to Paul when they were on the phone or hanging out. There hadn't even been a lack of conversation in the car, so what was the difference now.

Looking back Bella realized that most of the things they talked about had something to do with either Sage or the imprint. They rarely strayed from those two topics. The one exception to this was the time they had discussed their parents. Bella had told Paul about how she had been the one raising her mother, not the other way around, as well as how her father was the most influential person in her life. Paul, in turn, talked about how his mother had abandoned him, and what it was like having his father raise him.

Bella had to admit that even a discussion about Sage had brought this on. They had been chatting about what they expected from one another when it came to raising their son. She had told him that she hoped to be a better mother than her own had been when the topic changed to her and Paul's own childhoods and parents.

It saddened Bella to realize that they couldn't even discuss the simplest things without one of them saying the phrase, 'but the imprint' at some point. They were like broken records. Bella watched her happy-ending disappearing, not because of some supernatural threat to their lives, but because her father had been right. Bella didn't know Paul as well as she thought.

The sound of Paul's sigh pulled her from her thoughts. "What's wrong? You look as if someone just slapped you."

Bella took a second to think about how to tell Paul her realization, but all she could come up with was, "We're not normal, are we?"

Paul gave her a look as if asking if she were serious before bursting into laughter. "Honestly Bella," he said in between chuckles, "of course we're not normal. What about us would make you think we were?"

Bella smiled, the whole point of this date was to make up for every mistake they had made in their relationship so far. She knew she hadn't actually told him what was bothering her, but his laughter at her silly exclamation was putting her at ease, and making her see things more clearly.

Bella leaned on the table, staring at Paul. "Tell me about yourself," she said.

Paul placed his arms on the table, mimicking Bella's position. "What would you like to know?"

By the time the waitress returned to take their order, they had to send her away since neither of them had glanced at the menu. Bella blushed as she looked to see what the restaurant had to offer. She might not have known what she was going to order, but she knew that Paul's favorite color was green, and that he enjoyed listening to Rock-a-Billy music and although Bella didn't know, what that was, Paul promised to show her his favorite bands, and songs later.

For every piece of information Paul shared with her Bella shared something with him. "I'm not very good at this dating thing," Bella admitted once they placed their orders, and they were alone at the table once more.

Paul leaned across the table a little more. Had Bella been as stretched out along the table as he was she would no longer be in her seat, but he was so tall that he would have been able to lean across the entire table, and then some with ease if he wanted. "This is the first date I have ever been on," he confided.

Bella moved back against the booth confused. "That isn't right, you're the player of La Push you always had a girl."

Paul nodded his head. "Right, I had girls, but I didn't date them."

Bella shook her head at him in disbelief. "Then what did you do with them?"

Paul laughed once more, although Bella realized his smile from earlier had never truly left. "It's cute how innocent you're pretending to be," he said as he finally straightened himself up and off the table. "Imagine the first time you came over to my house. Then subtract how upset you were over Jake and how upset I was that you existed, and you're left with what I did with those girls."

Bella sincerely doubted he meant that they watched movies, part of her wanted names so she could beat the girls who dared touch her mate while the other part was happy to know, but wanted to forget.

She knew he could sense her internal battle when he told her, "There are no other girls, but you now."

She knew it was true. She would be able to tell if he was lying, but there was something else still bothering her about his confession. "You were upset that I existed?"

Paul shrugged. "It doesn't matter now." He reached across the table and took her hands in his. "It wasn't that I didn't like you, but that I couldn't stand to have my choices taken from me. I didn't know you then, but that's why we're here, we're trying to move past the mistakes we made. Between Jake and you running away we never had a chance back then."

Paul squeezed her hands reassuringly. "Last year everything changed, we were finally able to behave the way we were meant to. I wasn't upset with you, just the situation."

Bella didn't find Paul's words comforting, if anything, they were making her confused, and upset. She stared at him helplessly, not certain what to say.

He sighed heavily as he released her hands. "We've talked about all this before," he said. "Let's not talk about it again, not tonight."

Bella nodded her head in agreement, thinking sadly how the conversation had managed to turn to the imprint once more. The awkward silence had returned. He was right, they had had this discussion before, and tonight was not the right time to have it again.

The silence lasted until the waitress brought out their dinner and placed it on the table. As soon as the waitress left them alone again, Paul spoke up. "Tell me about yourself."

Bella smiled and the unease from earlier disappeared. By the time they finished dinner, and were leaving the restaurant behind, she had learned more about Paul than she knew about even Jake. They'd sat at the table discussing every little thing they could think of long after the waitress had cleared their food away.

Paul glanced down at his watch as they walked toward the car. "It's still early," he stated, "want to do something else?"

Bella thought about it for a moment. Of course, she wanted to do something, preferably an activity that gave them a chance to talk. A movie was not an option, and she had a hard time imagining Paul mini-golfing.

Mind made up Bella told Paul her decision. "Let's go bowling."

Paul raised an eyebrow at her. "If that's what you want."

Bella smiled goofily as she nodded her head.

Paul chuckled. "Bowling it is then."

Once at the bowling alley Bella was surprised to discover that Paul was actually pretty good at bowling despite the fact that he clearly had to hold back his strength. The first couple of turns Paul took he got a strike each time, while Bella's first few turns all ended with her ball in the gutter.

The two spent more time chatting than actually playing the game. As the game progressed, however, Bella found that she was able to hit more pins until she at last got a strike on her final roll. Paul, on the other hand, missed more pins until his last ball landed itself in the gutter. Bella wasn't certain if he did this on purpose, in order to make her feel better about her own abilities or if he had been so confident after his strikes that he was no longer thinking about what he was doing as he rolled.

Bella had to admit at the end of the night that her date with Paul had been the best first date she had ever had. As they returned home, Paul stopped her before she could unlock the front door to the apartment. He turned Bella around so that she was facing him.

They stood there simply staring at one another for a few moments. To Bella it looked as if Paul were trying to memorize every line of her face. Before she could ask him why he had turned her around, or why he was looking at her so intensely he moved forward, and captured her lips in a soft kiss.

This kiss was different from any other she had ever shared with him. It was sweet and spoke of beautiful promises of the future to come. Bella could feel a heat rising within her and as Paul pulled away only seconds later Bella found herself wanting more. Tonight, however, was not a night for more. That kiss, as small as if had been, was the perfect end to a wonderful night. Bella gave Paul a small smile before turning around to open the door.

They found Henley passed out on the couch with the TV still on. Paul turned it off as Bella went to check on Sage who was fast asleep in his crib. She gazed down at her beautiful baby boy while she pondered how her life was at last falling into place.

* * *

><p>She was floating upon the lake in the clearing, the songs from the other birds blending into a calming sound. She hadn't been there for very long when the figure of the Dream Walker appeared on the shore. Bella pushed herself toward him. It had been a long time since she had last found herself in his dream realm.<p>

"I've missed you little bird," he said. "Your life has become so promising. You have defeated your enemies so your family can live in peace. Your path should be clear now."

He was right, her path to a perfect life was clear, there were no longer any obstacles standing in her way. However, Bella didn't feel as if she needed the Dream Walker to tell her what she already knew. Bella remembered that while he was powerless he was still manipulative.

She no longer felt the need to sit there with him in case he should choose to ruin her happiness with his words. She began to swim away with plans of relaxing in the middle of the lake with the bird songs as a lullaby until she left the dream realm and awoke.

"I've sent them for you little bird," he called out. She ignored him his words could not hurt her. "They are coming for you."

* * *

><p>Paul had to leave the morning after their date. Winifred, who had spent the evening with Embry, helped her teleport the boys home. They landed on Paul's driveway. Paul's father, who had been sitting on the front porch when they arrived, waved in greeting, but stayed seated in his chair.<p>

Embry laughed when he saw where they had landed. "Why do you always have the girls bring us here when neither of us lives here?" he asked, looking over at Paul.

Paul shrugged. "Maybe because your mother doesn't know about the supernatural, and it might scare her if we all just appeared on her front lawn."

Embry took Winifred in his arms, and gave her a big hug before telling Paul, "So have them take us to your front lawn. It's closer to my house from there."

Paul was glaring at Embry, and Bella feared he was on the verge of attacking his pack mate. She recalled a vision she'd had months ago of Paul living in a tent. She remembered that when she had come to tell Paul about the imprint and Sage he was still living there. She could have sworn he had moved back in with Julian though, previous weekends spent in La Push had never led her to believe otherwise.

Bella placed a hand on Paul's arm, drawing his attention to her. His face softened as he gazed at her. "Where do you live?" Bella asked. "You never told me you moved. Is everything all right?"

Paul smiled at her, then, leaned down to place a kiss on the top of her head. "Don't worry about it," he said. "I'll call you tonight, and we can start making arrangements for you to move down here."

Bella almost felt like pressing Paul to tell her, but she could feel that he wasn't ready, so she nodded her head. He would tell her when he was ready although she might try to get a vision on him later just to make sure he wasn't living in a tent.

Paul smacked Embry in the back of the head before flipping him off. Embry grinned as he released Winifred and attacked Paul. The two boys wrestled on the ground as the girls laughed at their antics. Winifred took hold of Bella's hand, and began to chant, they reappeared in Florida before the boys had even realized that they'd left.

Bella could hear Sage giggling in the other room. Henley had agreed to babysit again while Bella and Winifred took the boys home. She would miss having Henley as a live-in babysitter when she moved back to Washington. The other girl was often a bit of a lifesaver when it came to taking care of Sage.

Usually Bella's mom watched Sage while she was at work or school, but there had been a few times where she had bailed at the last minute, and Henley ended up being the only reason Bella could make it on time to class for an important test, or even to work at all.

Bella had only taken a few steps toward the bedroom when she felt a hand gently grab her arm. "Wait," Winifred said. "I need to ask you a question."

Winifred looked nervous, she was wringing her hands, and the look upon her face begged Bella to take pity on her. Bella nodded for her to ask whatever it was she needed to. Winifred took a deep breath before speaking. "I want to move to Washington with you. I promise I won't get under your feet. I can help with your magic, and it would be easier to teleport to the coven if there was an emergency."

Bella smiled at the other girl's ramblings, and went to cut her off as she was about to explain all the potions she could teach Bella if they moved to Washington together. "Of course you can come with. You would be moving to Washington eventually anyway, might as well make it sooner."

Winifred gave an uncertain smile back. "Are you sure?"

Bella hugged her. "We are sisters under the moon," she said. "Wherever I go you can come too."

That night when Paul called to discuss Bella's move she told him that Winifred would be living with her. She was surprised to learn that he had assumed that would be the plan all along. In their following conversation, they determined that Bella, Sage, and Winifred would all be moving in to the home where Paul had been staying. Paul refused to tell Bella any more about the place other than that there was more than enough room for them to join him, and that the owners wouldn't mind all the extra people invading their space.

When it came time to discuss how they would be moving all of their belongings from Florida to Washington, Bella and Paul had a small argument when Paul insisted they teleport multiple times until they brought everything over. Paul's plan seemed like a waste of magic to Bella, it would require every member of their coven to assist, and would leave each of them drained by the end.

Bella argued that she and Winifred could rent a van, and drive to Washington with little to no magic wasted. Eventually Henley had to get on the phone to explain that there was no way Sophia would authorize them to move using teleportation spells, and since she was the coven leader what she said went.

That was how Bella and Winifred found themselves driving down the interstate in a van filled with as many items as Renée and Katherine could cram into the back, two weeks away from Christmas. They had been on the road a few days. Sage had fallen asleep in his car seat an hour earlier. Bella and Winifred had been switching off who would drive so Winifred was wearily gazing out the passenger-side window as Bella drove.

Bella was tired of driving. It was wearing them further down as the days went by. The first day had been fun as they sung along to the songs on the radio, and watched unfamiliar scenery fly past. The novelty had at last worn out the day before, and Sage seemed to be getting fussier quicker.

It didn't help that it was snowing making it harder to drive, and the view thoroughly boring. Bella couldn't help thinking how grateful she was that they had almost reached the hotel where they would be spending the night so she could get out of the van.

She wasn't going to willing drive in a car again for a while once they reached Washington. Not only was the drive getting to her, but it had also been some time since Bella had seen another car on the road. She was beginning to wonder if all the other drivers knew something she did not.

Bella had just managed to shake off her feelings of unease when Sage began to sneeze. Out of the corner of her eye, Bella could see Winifred move to wipe the little boy's nose, and check, to make sure he didn't have a fever.

After Sage sneezed for what Bella counted to be the tenth time in quick succession she had to glance over to check that her son was all right for herself. Her eyes were off the road for all of a second, yet when Bella turned back, it was to discover that there was something blocking the road immediately in front of the van. She didn't take the time to think about what she was doing as she swung the steering wheel in order to avoid whatever was up ahead. Bella cursed her own stupidity as she lost control of the van. Her curses turned to pleas that something out there would keep them safe as the van crashed, and flipped, and her world went black.


	17. Don't Be A Fool With Your Life

Don't Be a Fool With Your Life

-Paper Lace "Billy Don't Be a Hero"

Her head was pounding and the pain made her want to vomit, as if doing so would eliminate the pain. Bella took note of how bruised her body felt as she slowly began the process of waking up, still caught within the realm between dreams and reality. Bella was uncertain why she felt as if hell had chewed her up before spitting her back out.

She attempted to rub the sleep from her eyes, but found she was unable to move her arms. Concerned about why her limbs were immobile Bella's eyes snapped open. She was in what appeared to be an office. There was a desk in front of a window that had heavy curtains, which someone had drawn closed. There was also a bookcase against the wall next to her. Someone had tied Bella to an office chair, designed more for looks than for actual comfort. As professional as it may have looked, it was obvious to Bella the room was a home office.

Panic began to set in as she recalled driving in the car with Winifred and Sage when something in the road had caused her to swerve. They had been in a car accident, and now she was in an unfamiliar home tied to a chair.

Bella glanced wildly about the room in hopes of finding Sage there, unharmed. While her search didn't turn up the most important person in her life, it did reveal Winifred tied to a chair similar to the one Bella occupied. Winifred was awake, although she looked as bruised as Bella felt. The other witch seemed to know what Bella was looking for, and sadly shook her head. Sage was not there with them.

Bella's panic fled, replaced by determination. Whoever had brought them there clearly didn't understand that it would take much more than ropes and pretty chairs to keep her from protecting her son.

Winifred was ahead of her as she whispered a spell that caused the ropes binding her to the chair to come undone. Standing up Winifred moved to remove the ropes holding Bella in place, but as she was half way between the chairs the sound of the door opening before being violently shut reached their ears.

The sound of voices accompanied the noise from the door, but Bella found those drowned out by the unmistakable sound of Sage crying. Bella planned to teach their capturers a lesson they would never forget, to make sure they knew exactly what a mother was willing to do in order to ensure her child's safety.

Bella was about to destroy the place in order to free herself and reach Sage when she noticed Winifred looking at her wide-eyed, frozen in place, as she shook her head. Upon realizing that she had Bella's attention, she placed her finger to her lips in a shushing motion. Trusting that Winifred knew something that she did not Bella calmed herself down and focused on the voices of the people who must have had Sage in their possession.

"We're not criminals David," said the voice of a man. "We're good people, we can't do this to them."

A second male voice responded to the first, and Bella suspected that this was David. "It's what we do, what we've been told to do. We're protecting the world Tony. This child is evil, and it is our responsibility to eliminate him."

Bella felt her heart sink, that man planned to kill her son. She was finding it increasingly difficult to trust Winifred and remain still.

"He's a baby," spoke the man now identified as Tony. "How evil can he be? Perhaps he was to be a product of bad parenting, and that was what would turn him bad. We can change that, we don't have to kill him."

David's response was quick and defensive. "We have our orders. All of us were given our powers so that we could protect the world from evil and this is how we do it."

These men must have been supernatural just as Bella and Winifred were. That was most likely what Winifred knew that Bella did not. The only question now was what type of supernatural the two witches were dealing with.

Tony's voice was steadily increasing in volume. It was clear to Bella that he was arguing with a man who would not listen. "Where do these orders come from?"

"Our god!" shouted David.

Tony's laugh was short and cold. "Your hallucinations you mean. You told us a god had spoken to you in your dreams, that he explained what we are, and how to control our abilities. You claimed he told you where to find us, and we each believed you because we were each desperate for answers about what we had become. You've never given me proof that your god is nothing more than a figment of your imagination. We can't become murderers based on the whims of a being who may not exist."

Bella found herself wishing that this David person would listen to Tony. Her son was not evil, and he didn't deserve to die. Sage's wails had become almost deafening during Tony's speech, and Bella's heart ached to hold her child in order to calm his fears.

Suddenly, David's voice grew quiet and between that and Sage's crying, Bella almost missed what the would-be murderer said next. "He saved us."

Tony's voice was softer now too, and it seemed to Bella as if the owner had given up on the person to whom he spoke. "He saved you, and even then I'm not so certain. You were a good person once, don't let all of this change you. Give me the child. I can take him to my sister; she'll take care of him. She's a good woman; he will grow up well with her. At the first sign this child might be evil I will let you do what you must. Please David we're not criminals. What god would ask you to kill an innocent child?"

"At the first sign," David agreed.

Suddenly Sage's cries became quieter until they were nothing more than hiccups. Bella could hear a man making shushing noises and she felt a small ounce of relief at the thought that Tony must have said what the other man needed to hear in order to hand her son over, to agree not to kill him.

"At the first sign," Tony repeated.

The sound of footsteps reached her ears before the noise of the door opening and closing happened once more. As the door slammed shut, Winifred began to move quickly reaching Bella and removing the ropes still holding her to the chair. The second Bella was free she was ready to go into mama witch mode in order to retrieve her son and go home.

Before she had the chance, however, someone flung open the door to the office. The man who stood in the open doorway was unnaturally tall. He was dressed in clothes that were a few sizes too small covered with holes. His height mixed with muscles that she had only ever seen on the men in the wolf pack led to Bella to believe the man who stood before them was a shape shifter. She had thought the only people in the house other than her and Winifred had left when the door had opened and closed. Obviously, she had been mistaken.

"Where do you two think you're going?" He spoke in a voice that Bella immediately recognized as belonging to the man referred to as David. This man had wanted to kill her son, had kidnapped her and Winifred, but the man Tony had proven that he could be reasoned with.

Thinking back on the conversation she had overheard, Bella had the idea that perhaps this man knew less about being a shape shifter than the wolf pack did. Bella was certain she could use that information to her advantage so that the two witches could leave without doing too much damage to this home.

Before she had a chance to speak, Winifred had used her magic to fling books off the bookcase and send them hurling toward David. Bella knew that David's supernatural strength would prevent the books from actually hurting him, but the man still flinched each time one hit him.

He remained standing in the doorway once the barrage of books had finished although now he was wide-eyed and appeared uncertain about whether or not he should be afraid of the two women. "What are you?" he asked as Winifred used her powers to raise a lamp that had been sitting on the desk.

Bella moved to place a hand on Winifred's arm, silently asking the other witch to trust her to handle the current situation. "We're witches," Bella explained, watching from the corner of her eye as Winifred replaced the lamp on the desk. "You're a shape shifter, aren't you?"

He looked at her in surprise. "How do you know what I am?"

"There are others out there," Bella replied. "I've met them. I could tell you what I know. I could teach you about shape shifters, and what it means to be one."

In the blink of an eye, he moved so he was standing nose to nose with Bella, a large hand wrapped around Bella's arm. She tried to remain calm, but the sudden movement had thrown her off guard. Bella was certain the hand on her arm was bruising the skin underneath, and she feared if he kept applying pressure it would soon break. Winifred had lifted the lamp back off the desk along with a few other items around the room.

"Tell me then," he growled. "Why have we been cursed this way?"

Bella took a deep calming breath. "It isn't meant to be a curse. Shape shifters are protectors who keep humans safe from vampires."

Bella cried out as David's grip on her arm tightened. "What do witches do? Who do they protect, or are they evil?"

Bella couldn't tell him that witches didn't really protect anything that they just tried to keep to themselves. She had a feeling David would declare her evil if she told him the truth, and since he still had hold of her arm she would have very little opportunity to defend herself from him should he attack. "Witches protect the supernatural community from exposure. Humans would destroy us if they knew we existed, no matter how good we may be."

David's hold became looser, and Bella was relieved to think that he finally believed that they could help him. She found her most reassuring smile, and moved her non-bruised arm to give him a friendly pat on the shoulder.

It was in that moment that Bella realized David's eyes had become glassy, as if he were looking at something far off in the distance. She glanced at Winifred who gave her a confused look in return. Neither girl knew what was happening to the man before them. Winifred didn't give Bella a chance to check if the shape shifter were all right, instead she took hold of Bella's hand on her uninjured arm, and dragged the other girl with her out of the room.

A short hallway, dimly lit by a window near what must have been the front door, was outside of the office. Pictures on the hallway wall showed David with a beautiful young woman smiling at the camera, scenes of the two people at beaches, parks, and even one that looked as if they may have been rock climbing peered out at the witches making a dash for the door.

"You lie," came David's scream from the room they had left behind.

The sound of furniture breaking followed by hurried footsteps reached Bella's ears as Winifred used her powers to fling open the front door, and the two girls rushed outside into the snow. They found themselves in a suburban neighborhood not all that different from the one Bella had grown up in in Arizona.

Rows upon rows of identical homes covered in snow littered Bella's vision. Glancing back at the home behind them Bella witnessed an oversized coyote exiting the building, and chasing after them. David's super speed meant the chase wouldn't last for long.

Now running through a populated neighborhood the girls would have no chance to defend themselves with magic, and they wouldn't be able to defeat David otherwise. She had to think of something, but they couldn't continue to be as exposed as they currently were. Luck did not seem to be on their side.

A loud, piercing scream that echoed off the surrounding buildings brought David and the witches to a halt. A young girl who had been building a snowman on her front lawn had caught sight of David's giant coyote form. The girl's parents rushed from their home to see what the problem was. Upon seeing David, the father rushed to pick the girl up and move her to the safety of the porch while her mother pulled out a cellphone.

Bella had a feeling the woman was calling the police about the coyote terrorizing the neighborhood. A man in the home next to the one with the young girl ran toward Bella and Winifred, pushing the two behind him and acting as a barrier between them and David.

A second man was running toward them shouting, "Run" as he went. The new man was uncommonly tall and muscled, another shape shifter Bella realized. Apparently, this place was as full of shape shifters as La Push was, although these ones had clearly been misguided somewhere down the line.

He wasn't directing his order to run at those standing around watching from porches and lawns, but at David who had been standing still in the middle of the street, frozen like a deer caught in headlights. The command from the other shifter uprooted him, and David turned to run.

The man who had been shielding them spun around once David was out of sight. "Are you girls all right?"

Bella nodded her head and smiled. "We're fine, just a little shaken up."

Bella could see Winifred nodding her head in agreement. "He didn't hurt us."

The man eyed them, making sure they truly didn't have any visible injuries. Bella was grateful that her inability to handle the cold weather very well meant she had put on a long-sleeved shirt in an attempt to layer her clothing before they left for the road that day so that the bruises David had given her would not show.

"I can walk you home in case the coyote turns up again," the man offered. "Where do you live?"

Before either girl could decline, the shifter who had joined the crowd earlier interrupted. "They're my cousins I can walk them home."

The man nodded his head. "Stay safe that was the largest coyote I've ever seen. Pollutants in the water must be making them that way."

The shifter gave a smile that failed to reach his eyes. "I'm sure that is exactly what it is." Once his gaze had moved back to the witches his smile was gone, but when he spoke it was in a loud overly cheery voice. "We should go. I'm sure Aunt Mary is worried about you." The next thing he said was in a quieter voice. "You're still our prisoners, don't make a scene and I won't hurt you."

While it would have been easy enough, for the girls to simply ignore the shifter and wander away, but he probably had an idea of where Sage was. Bella squeezed Winifred's hand to show that she wanted to follow the shifter. The other witch hadn't released her hand since she had grabbed it back at the house.

The shifter walked ahead of them, leading them away from the gathered crowd, toward a home two streets behind the one they'd left. After they had entered a home with a layout similar to the one David had been holding them in he locked the door behind them.

"I remember you girls from when we captured you yesterday. What did you do to David? How did you manage to escape?"

Winifred backed herself against the wall in a move that Bella was certain was meant to protect her back when the time came to attack the man in front of them. "We didn't do anything to him. He attacked us and we ran."

Winifred wasn't going to tell the man exactly what had happened, Bella could understand that since it would make for an easier escape if he didn't know all their secrets, but Bella wanted to find her son, and getting this man to trust them could end up being the only way to do that.

"We know what you are," she said. "We can help you. We're witches and we can introduce you to the supernatural world."

His face was hard, giving Bella the impression that he didn't believe a word she had just spoken. "Prove it," he said his voice cold.


	18. I Heard It Through The Grapevine

I Heard It Through The Grapevine

-Marvin Gaye "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"

In an instant Winifred had every item in the small hallway floating in the air above their heads. Bella had learned months ago that Winifred's powers were exceptionally strong. Most witches with the ability to move objects could rarely move more than one or two objects at a time, depending on their size. Winifred, meanwhile, could move a multitude of objects at once, including large furniture.

The shifter was eyeing a table that had started on the floor near the door, but was now floating close to his head. He quickly looked at the two girls before turning his gaze back to the table. "If you're witches then where are your wands?"

Winifred allowed the objects to fall and the man flinched as picture frames, knick knacks, and the hallway table crashed to the floor. Once the noise of breaking glass and splintering wood had dispersed Bella responded to the man's question. "We don't use wands, you clearly watch too much TV." She gave him a hard look. "Where is my son?"

The shifter straightened up and glared at the two witches. "I'll tell you what I know if you tell me what you do."

A few minutes later Bella and Winifred found themselves sitting on a worn green couch in the living room with the man they now knew was named Liam sitting in a dinning chair across from them. Bella knew sharing stories would be the best way to get Sage back, but she felt impatient sitting still rather than doing something. She had the thought that if Winifred hadn't stopped her at David's home while Sage had still been there then they could be on their way to Forks right now.

Liam didn't appear any happier to be there than Bella was. The scowl on his face almost seemed permanent. "The two of you can go first. Tell me why David went to so much trouble to capture two witches and an infant."

Bella could see Winifred preparing to answer and rushed to say what she had to first. There wasn't time to risk Winifred not cooperating. "We don't know why David wanted to hurt us or why he thinks my son is evil and needs to die. We're good people, our powers have only been used against others in self defense. My son won't even inherit my powers since only women can be witches."

Liam scoffed. "That's your story? Here I thought we would be telling each other everything, instead you give me some sob story that informs me of nothing. You mentioned that there were others like us, explain to me how you know. Maybe I have the information you seek, but I won't help you until you give me a reason to. Perhaps you could start with 'once upon a time'"

Bella placed her hand on Winifred's arm to prevent that other girl from launching an angry attack. "Once upon a time," said Bella, as Liam's scowl turned into a smirk. "I had a friend who became sick. When I went to visit him I discovered that the boy I had known all my life had lied. He was not sick. instead he had undergone a change. The scrawny, happy boy who had been my best friend was now unnaturally tall, strong, and angry, plus he wasn't the only one. An argument showed me that my best friend and the others he had ignored me for were no longer human, that they had the ability to change their forms at will."

Liam leaned on his elbows. "These people, are they the ones you think are like us?"

Bella nodded her head. "They're shape shifters. The supernatural community thinks their kind have died out, but obviously that isn't the case."

Liam thought for a moment. "If nobody knew that they existed then did they know what was happening to them when they changed?"

Bella had gotten the feeling from overheard conversations that nobody had been there to help the band of coyotes. "They had stories passed down from father to son, but nothing else."

Liam sat back in his chair. "All right," he said. "Then what happened?"

Bella spent a moment organizing her thoughts. A lot had occurred after she discovered the boys could change into wolves. Most events, while interesting, would probably just waste time by telling them to Liam now. "My friend imprinted while we were on a date."

The confusion on Liam's face told Bella that he had no idea what imprinting was. Before she could explain what it was that had happened that fateful night Winifred spoke up. "Imprinting is when a shape shifter finds their soul mate. Suddenly nothing in the world matters other than them. The shifter will do or be anything for their imprint."

Bella hoped Liam wouldn't dwell on imprinting too much. She knew what a clump of thoughts and emotions imprinting caused. Now wasn't the time for a debate on something that could not be changed.

"That's when I ran away," spoke Bella. "I ended up leaving one supernatural group only to end up in the embrace of another when I discovered I was a witch, and joined the coven that had found me."

Liam nodded his head. "These shifters you ran away from, would they be willing to take us in the way your coven took you?"

Winifred was once again the one to respond. "I have no doubt that if you help us that they would be willing to help you in return."

Bella had wanted Liam to understand that they were not evil, that they had the ability to explain the supernatural world he had been thrust into. Bella believed the thoughtful look on Liam's face meant that was exactly what was happening.

"My son," Bella said, "his father was one of the shifters I ran away from. One day he will be a shape shifter too. He isn't evil, shape shifters are protectors."

The scowl was back on Liam's face once more. Bella was getting the impression that he didn't enjoy being reminded of Sage or David's claims that Sage was evil. Liam glared at the two witches before launching into his story with no warning.

"I didn't understand what was happening to me," he began, "all I recall is being angry. It wasn't until I managed to calm down a little that I realized I wasn't alone in my head. This other person introduced himself as David. He explained that what had happened to e had also happened to him. He said that we could help one another, only neither of us knew how."

Bella remembered hearing from Sam how scary it had been to phase for the first time, all alone, with no idea what was going on.

"As time went on," Liam continued, "more voices entered my mind, each belonging to someone trapped inside a coyotes body like we were. There was five of us total. We were scared and decided to run into the mountains to distance ourselves from the lives we had once led as much as possible. So we could hide the monsters that we had become."

Liam's gaze drifted to the side as he became caught up in his memory. "One day David told us a man had spoken to him in his dream, that he had told him how we could turn back into humans."

Liam shrugged his shoulders. "We didn't know what to think about the man in David's dreams. We had all been feeling a bit crazy. I mean we were giant coyotes, but a man giving orders in dreams just made us think David had cracked. We were worried we would crack too, after all, David had been in that form for longer than the rest of us."

Bella felt sorry for what the band of coyotes had gone through. They didn't even have the tales to give them an idea of what was going on. All they had was one another.

"David's dream man had provided him with good advice, and soon enough the five of us were back on two legs rather than four. David, however, kept dreaming of the mysterious man. When he would wake up he would have more information for us on what we were, and what we were meant to do. David referred to him as a god. A few of the others still thought David was crazy, but he had yet to tell us wrong and it is difficult to lie when every thought you have can be heard by the others in your group."

Bella had heard the pack complain about the lack of privacy their telepathy created, but she couldn't help but be reminded of how Paul had managed to keep his imprinting secret for so long. To her it didn't seem impossible that David could be hiding something from his band.

Liam took a deep breath before continuing his tale. "We never had a real reason to doubt David until he claimed his god wanted us to hurt someone."

Suddenly David's voice became distant until it disappeared completely, along with the living room as Bella was pulled into a vision. She found herself standing in Grandma Anna's kitchen for all of a moment before she was plunged into darkness. Bella could hear Grandma Anna yelling her name, but the sound faded away as soon as the kitchen did.

As Bella stood there in the dark she pondered what a vision such as this could possibly mean. A horrible thought that perhaps Grandma Anna was going to die crossed her mind as Liam's living room reappeared and she could hear him recounting his story once again. Bella tried to shake the odd vision as she refocused on Liam's voice.

"He claimed it was to prevent something terrible from happening," she heard Liam saying. "David had saved us, made us human again, but when we saw the three of you in that truck more doubt took hold. We didn't know you were witches, we thought you were much more innocent than you actually are. We helped David tie you up, but then he said that we had to kill the baby, that it was the only way. I may have had my doubts about him, but David had never led us wrong. I left to allow him to do what he had to."

Bella was grateful to know that, for the moment, her son was still alive since it was looking as if Liam would end up being less helpful than she had originally hoped. "My son is still alive," she exclaimed.

Liam looked surprised as he replied, "is he?"

Winifred sat up straight in her seat, making her look rigid and cold. "We overheard someone named Tony say that he was taking the child to live with his sister."

Liam sighed. "Tony has always had the strongest doubts about David, and the man in his dreams. It would poison our minds, sometimes I forgot how it was David who saved us and brought us back to our human forms simply because Tony did."

Someone was yelling her name. Bella looked around, trying to find whoever it was that was shouting for her. The living room briefly disappeared, almost as if she had just experienced a slow blink. A voice screamed her name out, faint and distant. When the room descended into silence Bella realized that Winifred and Liam were staring at her in concern.

"Was that one of those witch things?" Liam asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

Bella glanced at Winifred. "I don't know, nothing happened."

Winifred appeared worried. "You looked as if you were in a vision, did you not see anything?"

Bella shook her head. "I'm not sure what it means, but there wasn't anything."

Winifred eyed her before turning back to Liam. "We need you to take us to Tony. We need to find our baby so we can get out of here. We will send our shifters to help you as soon as we reach them."

Liam's concern for Bella's vision that wasn't had disappeared, and the coyote was back to being his angry self. "We will call your shape shifters now, only once they have agreed to allow us to join them will I take you to your son."

"Okay," agreed Bella before Winifred had a chance to object.

Once Liam left the room in search of a phone Winifred turned to her and whispered as quietly as possible in the hopes that Liam's super hearing would be unable to detect what they were saying."The boys will never agree to letting a group of strangers join the pack. We need to get Sage and get out of here. Are you sure you saw nothing? A vision could be very useful right now. Maybe you should try contacting Grandma Anna."

That is when it clicked, the vision of Grandma Anna's kitchen that had turned into darkness as well as the person yelling her name a few minutes earlier must have been Grandma Anna attempting to contact her. Only the connection didn't work, but why? Bella had contacted Grandma Anna before without any problems, and the brief conversation with Alice ran into no issues either, so what was different now?

Before Bella had a chance to think much further on her malfunctioning powers Liam had returned and was shoving a call phone under her face. As Bella took the phone from the shifter's hands she was briefly tempted to call Grandma Anna in hopes that she could tell Bella what was wrong, but the number she finally punched in was Paul's.

"Hello?" came the sound of Julian's voice over the phone.

"Oh," Bella said, startled that Paul had not been the one to answer. "Is Paul there?"

There was a pause on the other end. "Oh sorry Bella, looks like I accidently grabbed Paul's phone. Hold on, I'll get him."

Bella flashed a quick smile at Liam who was glaring at her. She could hear shouting in the background on the phone followed by the sound of Julian telling Paul that he had a phone call. Paul ignored his father and continued what sounded like an argument with the pack until the older man told him that it was Bella on the line.

"Where are you?" Paul yelled.

Bella tried to think of the best way to phrase what had happened without worrying him with the information that they had been kidnapped and that their kidnappers wanted to kill Sage. "We had some car trouble," she began. "We're fine, but our phones died, and we haven't been able to contact you until now."

"Where are you?" Paul growled again.

"You know how I happen to be a bit of a supernatural magnet? Well-"

Paul interrupted Bella before she could start her pretend story about how they had been rescued from their car trouble by a friendly group of shape shifters. "Where are you?"

Liam took the phone out of Bella's hands before she could respond. "Are you the shape shifter?" Bella wished she could hear what Paul was telling Liam. "The witches told me you're the same as we are, that you'll help us if I help them and their kid get home."

Bella had a feeling that Paul's language was anything but polite, and that he was most likely demanding she be placed back on the phone. She could see it was upsetting Liam and soon enough the shifter was shouting obscenities at Paul. From what little she could hear Bella could tell that there was very little actual conversation happening on the phone. Bella was in the process of thinking of ways to take the phone from Liam when she heard Winifred mutter a spell under the breath, and watched as the phone flew from Liam's hands and into Winifred's.

The other girl shrugged her shoulders when she noticed Bella staring at her in question. "I tried to use my telepathy, but he was holding the phone too tight." Winifred placed the phone to her ear. "Put Embry on."

Paul must have obliged because a few seconds later Winifred was giving the person on the other side of the line an abridged version of what had happened. "There are shape shifters here, and their alpha is a lunatic who wants to murder Sage because some man in his dreams is telling him to. This dream person is giving them orders, and telling them what it means to be a shape shifters. Now the group here has everything all messed up."

Bella hadn't planned on letting the wolves know that the shifters here were debating if they should kill Sage or not. Her son was not being given a break. First the witches were saddened that he was male, and now some imaginary man in a dream had declared her son evil for no reason at all. If she had the ability maybe she could enter David's dreams in order to tell him that her son did not need to die.

Bella may not have been able to enter people's dreams, but she did know of someone who could. Someone who was known for using his ability to manipulate others. Someone that Bella had been warned might be trying to manipulate her. "The Dream Walker," she said out loud, causing Winifred to pause what she was saying to Embry so that she could look at her. "Let me see the phone."

Winifred handed the phone over to her. Bella knew that the whole pack was probably listening in on the other side so she said what she said what she had to. "It's the Dream Walker. He's trapped us here, he's the one lying to the shifters. He wants me to release him and he's using them to accomplish it."

She turned to Liam so she could address him. "Where are we? Tell them, then bring me to my son."

Liam sat back down in the dinning chair. "What are you talking about?"

The urge to destroy a home that she had suppressed at David's home came rushing back. It only took a few muttered spells in order to set Liam's chair on fire and leave the living room in tatters. Winifred was the one smirking as she assisted Bella in her destruction, making objects fly about the room. "They can't help you if they can't find you."

Winifred laughed as she threw a vase in Liam's direction while Bella shattered a mirror behind him. Suddenly Liam was rushing towards Bella, but before she had a chance to react she found the phone ripped from her hands. Bella was grateful Liam had refrained from hurting her, she knew how strong a shape shifter could be.

Liam held the phone up to his ear, his voice hysterical as he spoke to the pack. "I'll text you our location, I'll give you the kid, just call off the witches. They're crazy." Liam paused, listening for Embry's response. He was much gentler when he handed the phone back to Bella.

"Give him hell," came Paul's voice.

The place was in shambles by the time the girls had gotten over their desire to create a mess. Liam was hiding in a corner, a pile of debris surrounding him. Clearly the Dream Walker had never ordered them to attack a vampire before, Bella doubted the coyotes knew how to deal with another supernatural at all. Bella wasn't really certain what the Dream Walker thought he was going to accomplish with untrained shifters.

Kneeling on the ground, Bella gave Liam a cold stare. "Now where is my son?"

* * *

><p>I am so sorry that this chapter seemed to come out much later than my chapters usually do. My mother was in the hospital and I ended up having very little opportunity to write this chapter. As always I would like to thank everybody for reading my story. Special shout out to those who reviewed ladyelmo323, CrazyCountryGirl12, Matthias Stormcrow, and bellasmomma. Thank you so much everyone. Until Next time.<p> 


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