(Mike)
I found her the moment I crested the last line of trees.
Victoria was already on the porch.
She stood there like she owned the place, red hair plastered to her shoulders by mist, posture relaxed despite the chaos she had left in her wake. One hand rested against the doorframe, nails lightly scoring the wood as if she were savoring the moment. She was smiling.
My parents were still inside, so there was no more room for hesitation.
I pulled hard and the clouds above me answered instantly, thickening, swelling, darkening as pressure gathered in the air. Static rippled through my awareness, sharp and alive. The sky groaned low with thunder, a warning Victoria felt a heartbeat before it came.
I released the first strike.
Lightning tore down from the sky in a blinding column of white-blue fury, aimed straight for her chest.
At the last possible instant, Victoria twisted.
Her gift screamed at her just in time. The bolt missed a direct hit, slamming into the porch beside her instead, exploding wood and railing into shrapnel. But the force still caught her, hurling her backward through the air like a broken doll.
Flames erupted instantly where the lightning struck.
I did not pause.
I followed her and another bolt split the sky.
She rolled, barely regaining her footing as it scorched the ground where she had landed. Another strike followed, then another, thunder cracking so loud it shook the trees. She moved fast, faster than any normal vampire should have been able to, her danger sense dragging her out of the path of destruction by inches.
Four misses in total, but the fifth strike finally caught her.
Lightning wrapped around her arm in a violent coil of light and sound. There was a sharp, wet crack as it disintegrated instantly, ash scattering on the wind where her limb had been. Victoria screamed, the sound raw and animal, stumbling as she tried to compensate for the sudden loss.
I did not give her time.
The next strike was everything I had been holding back.
It hit her dead center.
For a fraction of a second, her eyes locked onto the sky, wide and disbelieving. Then the lightning consumed her completely. Fire roared outward, swallowing her form as her body ignited from the inside out, collapsing in on itself in a blinding flare.
When the light faded, there was nothing left of Victoria.
Only ash drifting in the rainless air.
Relief hit me hard enough to make my awareness stutter.
It was over.
She was finally gone.
Then I noticed the fire.
The porch was fully engulfed now, flames licking up the side of the house, smoke pouring into the night. My parents were inside. I had minutes at best.
I shifted my focus again, this time pulling moisture instead of power.
Rain crashed down in a sudden, violent downpour, soaking the house, the yard, the trees, the burning remains of the porch. Steam hissed as flames sputtered and died, smoke thinning as the fire lost its grip.
The house stood.
Damaged, scorched, but still standing.
Lights flicked on inside.
I saw movement through the windows, my parents rushing from room to room, confused and panicked, but fortunately still alive. I hovered there for a moment, watching them through the rain, wishing desperately that I could say something. Explain. Reassure them.
But unfortunately, I could not, my spirit form did not allow for communication.
All I could do was turn away.
That had been too close.
The thought of Bella slammed into me next.
Had my wolf reached her in time?
I shot forward, leaving my house behind as the rain continued to fall, following the familiar pull that always led me to her. Fear tightened with every second until the trees broke apart and her street came into view.
The front door of Charlie's house was gone.
Wood lay scattered across the yard like debris from an explosion.
I dropped lower, and then I saw her.
Bella sat on the front steps, knees drawn up, hands buried deep in thick white fur.
My fur.
My wolf form lay sprawled across the porch, far too big for the space, tail thumping lazily against the steps as she scratched under his chin. His tongue lolled slightly, posture loose and content in a way that made my chest ache.
Charlie stood off to the side, leaning against the porch railing that had somehow survived, a beer clutched in one hand. He stared at my wolf with the tired, thousand-yard look of a man who had seen far too much in one night.
Bella laughed softly at something he said, the sound small but real.
She was alive.
Safe.
My awareness sagged with relief.
The wolf shifted, ears flicking, as if he sensed me. He lifted his head and looked straight through the night sky, right at where I hovered unseen.
'Good job.'
He wagged his tail harder.
I stayed there a moment longer, watching them, grounding myself in the sight. The night was quiet again, rain washing away blood, ash, and fire alike.
For the first time since this all began, Forks was safe.
At least for now.
…
I let myself fall.
The sensation of reentering my body was never gentle.
One moment I was weightless, awareness stretched thin across the sky, and the next I slammed back into muscle and bone. The world crashed in on me all at once. Smell, sound, texture. Wet grass. Burnt wood. Beer. Blood long gone but still lingering like a ghost.
My wolf senses hit hard enough to make me stagger.
I sucked in a sharp breath and focused, grounding myself.
Bella's hands were still in my fur.
She was scratching behind my ears absentmindedly, like nothing in the world was wrong, like there hadn't been a vampire in her living room just a few minutes ago. The familiarity of it settled something in my chest.
I turned my head and licked her face.
Her reaction was immediate.
"Mike!" she yelped, jerking back and wiping her cheek furiously with her sleeve. "That's disgusting!"
I huffed, tail flicking once in satisfaction.
Charlie snorted quietly into his beer.
I pushed myself up and trotted past Bella toward the trees behind the house.
The woods swallowed me quickly.
I followed a familiar path, moving by memory more than sight until I reached a hollow log tucked beneath a cluster of ferns. I nudged it aside with my snout and retrieved the bundle hidden inside.
A hermetic bag containing jeans, underwear, socks, a t-shirt and sneakers.
One of several stashes.
I shifted.
Bones snapped and realigned, fur retreating, heat rolling through me in waves until I was human again, breath coming a little too fast as the last of the transformation faded. I pulled the clothes on quickly, fingers still trembling faintly from adrenaline and exhaustion.
When I stepped back out of the trees, Bella turned immediately.
Her eyes widened slightly, relief flashing across her face before she caught herself and schooled her expression into something more neutral. Charlie eyed me with the same tired suspicion he'd been wearing since the night went off the rails.
"You okay?" Bella asked.
"Yeah," I said. "You?"
She nodded. "Yeah. Just… wow."
That about summed it up.
I took a breath and filled in the gaps.
I told her about the clearing. About the newborn army. About how close it had gotten. Her face paled as I explained how Victoria had planned it all, how she'd tried to distract everyone while making her real moves.
"She sent an army?" Bella whispered. "Here?"
"Yeah," I said quietly. "But it's over. We stopped them. And I killed Victoria."
The words landed heavier than I expected.
Bella let out a shaky breath she'd clearly been holding. Her shoulders slumped as the tension finally drained out of her, relief washing over her features.
"She's really gone?" she asked.
"For good."
Charlie cleared his throat.
"Did you do that alone?" he asked, studying me over the rim of his bottle.
I shook my head. "No. I had help."
He waited.
"The Quileute wolf pack," I continued. "The Cullens. And their cousins from Alaska."
Charlie blinked. "The Cullens?"
Bella jumped in immediately.
"They're vampires, Dad," she said quickly, then rushed on before he could react. "But they're good ones. They don't drink human blood. Only animals."
Charlie stared at her.
Then at me.
Then at the wreckage of his house.
His shoulders dropped a fraction, like something inside him finally unclenched. "That's good," he muttered. "I guess."
He took a long pull from his beer, not even pretending to care that it was barely dawn.
I didn't blame him.
Bella hesitated, then asked casually, a little too casually, "So… is Edward here too?"
Charlie sighed loudly and looked away, clearly choosing not to involve himself in that conversation.
I shook my head. "No. He didn't come."
"Oh," Bella said.
She looked down at her hands, pretending it didn't matter. I could tell it did. But I chose not to push. Tonight had taken enough out of all of us.
The silence stretched, awkward but not uncomfortable.
"I should let the others know everything worked out," I said finally. "They should still be worried."
Bella nodded. "Yeah. Okay."
I turned to Charlie. "I'll come back later and help you fix the door."
He opened his mouth, probably to refuse out of sheer stubbornness, then glanced at the splintered remains of what used to be his front entrance.
"…Thanks," he said after a moment. "I appreciate it."
I gave a small nod.
As I stepped back toward the trees, the weight of the night finally started to settle in. Exhaustion. Relief. The quiet aftermath of something that could have gone very differently.
Behind me, Bella sat back down on the steps, my wolf form already forgotten, my presence still grounding.
Victoria was dead.
Forks was safe.
And for the first time in a long while, I allowed myself to believe that maybe, just maybe, the storm had finally passed.
…