Phase 8 (Epilogue)

Cleaning up all the vampire remains was probably worst part of all of it.

After the creepy old vampires left, we gathered all the parts into two piles and set them on fire. The smell was worse than anything I could imagine. It stank of death and burning hair and flesh, all mixed in with the sickly-sweet stench of vampire.

James tried to explain to us what had just happened, something about the little vampire being a representative of the Volturi, which were like the ancient vampire police or something. Apparently they wanted James to join them but he refused. Anyway, I didn't really follow it all. I was too busy making sure Edward didn't get freaked out by all the gore. He seemed to be okay though. The noxious odor bothered him the least of anyone, because he had the worst sense of smell.

I thought maybe seeing the field of body parts would gross him out, but he just took in everything with wide eyes. I made him stay near me though. After having been so close to losing him, I was maybe a little clingy. He didn't seem to mind.

"You all right?" I asked him while we waited for the fires to burn down.

"It's still kind of surreal," he said. "I've read a lot of stories with battles in them. You never really think about what happens afterward. Are you okay? How's your shoulder?"

"It's okay. I heal fast, you know. I guess I don't think it has sunk in that this is over."

We stood quietly watching the fire, hand in hand, until Paul came over to check on my shoulder.

"Hey, who won the bet?" I asked him, after assuring him it was healing fine.

"Uh," Paul said.

"Er," Jared added as he wandered over to us.

"Garrett kicked both their asses so much, they decided to call the bet off," Embry called out with a laugh.

"It wasn't like that," Paul started.

"Yeah, it was more like we decided how juvenile it was to put bets on something like this," Jared said, puffing out his chest.

"Plus, Garrett's been doing this for centuries," Paul added.

From across the meadow, I heard Garrett laughing.

We all went back to the Rez, the three vampires included. The elders and Emily, Rachel and Bella, who was officially a "wolf girl" now, were all waiting for us. When we first appeared, a huge cheer rang out, and we were all swarmed with hugs and pats on the back. We were all talking over each other to explain what had happened, until Harry finally stopped all of us with a raise of his hand and asked to be introduced to our guests.

After introductions, Garrett took his leave right away, claiming that he had some business to attend to in Alaska. Apparently that was code for going to see a woman. As soon as Laurent introduced James to the elders, my pack mates took it upon themselves to bombard him with questions they had been holding back in the meadow. Laurent just watched James fondly through the entire thing, holding his hand.

Eventually, weariness hit us, and Laurent and James took off back to Seattle, promising to keep in touch with us.

Edward and I trudged back to my house, where we collapsed on my bed and took a three hour nap. When I woke up, my shoulder was feeling almost completely healed. Edward panicked a little about how late it was and realized he needed to go home. I had a hard time letting him go, but he just kissed me and laughed.

"You know I'm a sure thing," he said.

"I know, but I can't help it if I miss you when you aren't around."

I might have pouted a little.

After Edward left, I had a long conversation with my dad. I asked him about what the red-head had said.

"Am I really the great-great-grandson of Yaha Uta?" I had grown up with the stories of our people. It never really occurred to me that they really happened or that I was so closely related to the people in them.

"Yes, son, he was your grandfather Ephraim's grandfather."

"Why didn't you ever tell me before?"

"Well, you always marched to a different drummer. You didn't seem interested in being a leader or becoming an elder."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, technically, by birthright you are the pack leader, not Sam."

Huh. I wondered if that was why Sam seemed to trust me with information and talked things over with me more than anyone else. I thought about all the responsibility Sam had and how he was able to keep us all in line. Dad was right, it wasn't really something I was interested in.

"Sam's so good at being a leader," I finally said.

"He is that," my dad agreed.

"You aren't disappointed in me, are you? For not stepping up?"

"Jacob, I could never be disappointed in you."

"Thanks, Dad."

It took me awhile to get used to not having the threat of vampires breathing down my neck. It seemed like for the first time in a long time, I was finally just allowed to be a teenager.

It was weird.

The pack kept patrolling on a regular basis, but not nightly. Laurent called on us sometimes when he and James were tracking a particular criminal and needed information about the area. A few times they even asked for backup. Garrett also kept in touch with us. He had mated with the female vampire in Alaska and was now a full-fledged "vegetarian." On occasion he would come down and hunt with us. Of course, this lead to Jared and Paul betting with him that they could pull down more game.

We never signed an official treaty, but after the events with Victoria, the tribe changed its official stance on vampires, allowing for the possibility that they weren't all dangerous to us.

I finally was able to spend some time with Laurent and James on my own. Putting aside the fact that until a few months prior we were sworn enemies, and they were 270 and 210 years old, they were surprisingly easy to talk to. They had both seen how the acceptance of gay relationships had changed over the years and had hope it would only get better. They promised to take Edward and me out once we both were old enough.

They had a good laugh over how young we both were.

Things with Edward and I were great. We stayed in the closet at school until one day Edward marched up to me in the cafeteria and asked me to go to prom with him in front of the whole school.

Of course I said yes, and then we both got detention that afternoon for "showing too much affection." It was just a kiss, along with a chorus of cheers from all the Cullen kids, along with Bella, Quil, Seth and even Leah. Later on there was some name-calling and disgusted looks, everyone was too afraid of me to give me or Edward a hard time, even if they wanted to.

Being a wolf still paid off.

Eventually I would stop phasing, with the lessened presence of vampires in the area there wasn't really a need. At some point, James and Laurent would settle somewhere else, or I would move away from the area.

My life was still strange, but it was starting to even out.

With everything that happened - the responsibility of protecting my people, battling with supernatural creatures - I wouldn't have changed a thing. Because at the end of the day, I had Edward.

And that would never change.

The End.

A/N: Thank you all for reading my first attempt at Jakeward! And to David Bowie for providing me with a title. :)