~ Chapter 17 ~

Two days.

It had only taken two days before all their affairs were wrapped up and they were ready to leave Forks. Carlisle's had resigned from the hospital, using the destruction of their home as reason to move to one their vacation house until something else could be solved. Unfortunately, that house was not in the state.

School was also easy. With just a few tragic words from Esme and Carlisle, they were given transfer papers when they had settled down in their new home. No questions asked since the "tragedy" that had fallen on them were no secret. To think that a wiring error could cause such destruction.

Their house had been like ruins, it was easy to say that it was a miracle that it was still standing. There were no doubt that should a construction firm see this they would have questions they wouldn't be able to give a "human" answer to and felt it was better to level it to the ground with an explosion and sell the land.

Bella had returned home to her father and while it was a mess, Charlie was happy to have his daughter back. He had been angry that she hadn't called. Irritated and angry with Edward for canceling the wedding with only six day left. Desperate to comfort his daughter in her sorrow and distress of being dumped a second time.

Although he would never say it to Bella, but what he was most happy about was that Edward would never again come into Bella's life. Ever.

The family had left La Push soon after the most important things had been taken care of the first day, they felt they shouldn't overstay their welcome. So the border was back between their lands. The shifters were also happy that the leeches would soon leave their territory.

Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, and Jasper searched through the remains of their house before they destroyed it and packed away as much as they could into their cars. They had three cars left in their partly collapsed garage. As they said when reporting to the authority about the "accident", they had fortunately parked those cars outside to clean out the garage.

No foul play were found, thanks to Jasper's gift.

So that meant they would be leaving in another hour.

Taking this as a last chance for some needed privacy, Edward was scouting along the border.

He was carefully thinking about what had happened and the fate of the other Jacob. In that moment their minds had touched, he had felt it all. The suffering. The anger. The despair. The desperation. Thoughts stained by the memory of blood from countless unnamed humans and vampires. The world he had lived in.

It was a pure nightmare of insanity.

The crack of a branch snapped him out of his thoughts and turned around to see young Jacob Black standing among the bushes. His dark eyes searched the vampire as if he were expecting something to happen.

Edward said nothing. His treacherous mind playing through the memory of the older shifter standing in the moon light.

'No. This boy have nothing in common with him.' he told himself.

"I heard you are leaving." said Jacob awkwardly.

Edward just nodded.

The young shifter looked around as if searching for something to say, but whatever he had planned to say wouldn't leave his mouth.

Tired of the silence, Edward turned to head back to his family.

"I dreamed." Jacob threw out suddenly.

Edward halted in his steps, but he didn't turn around.

"It felt like a nightmare because I couldn't escape something horrible. I saw your family. Then there was a monster and in the end, I turned into a monster too." he swallowed the vile taste in his mouth. "It wasn't a dream? Right?"

"What makes you think I have the answer?" Edward questioned with his back still to the shifter.

Jacob did a slight shrug, kicking the ground for a moment before he answered. "Because my dad told me some details that I didn't share with him. Like... kicking you. I also don't think my dad would go so low as to lie to me." he rushed the last part.

"Just pretend it was all a dream and go on with your life."

"I would love to do that." Jacob sneered. "But both dad, your dad, and Sam has ordered my to stay away from Bella unless I want to hurt everyone." he glared at the leech's back. "Unlike you, I do not have the ability to peep into others heads. I have to be told when something happens."

"Some things are better not knowing." Edward started to walk again when his sensitive ears heard behind him.

"You self-absorbed, narcissistic masochist." Jacob muttered.

Edward turned around, "What was that?"

Jacob glared daggers at him. "What what? Did it hurt your ego?"

"I don't have time for your childish temper." he once more turned to leave when Jacob came after him with loud, determined steps.

"Oh, so now it doesn't suit your royal highness. Well, guess what? The world doesn't rotate around you, you asshole." Jacob didn't realize it but he was screaming toward the end.

"Don't you think I know that?" Edward hissed while spinning around fully and came chest to chest with the young Jacob. The only thing separated them was the border between them.

They were so close that they could see the details of each others eyes. Jacob's nose-holes flared in agitation as he stared down the vampire who had caused him so much pain.

"You know what I think? I think that you are so damn busy feeling sorry for yourself and dragging everyone else down with you to see who you hurt. Now you've hurt Bella. AGAIN!"

"Is this about Bella or are you pissed about something else? I thought you would be over joyed that I finally left her." Edward hissed loudly, trying in vain to keep his temper from flaring.

"Bella was too good for you from the beginning. You stole her from me."

"Don't act like a baby. If she really was the one for you then you would have imprinted on her no matter what her other relationships. You never did. Tough luck. So she wasn't the one for you. Get over it."

"Don't tell me what to think, you damn leech. You know what? I'm glad that you are dead because then I can at least have the joy of knowing you are really rotten on the inside."

"Oh, that's a classic. Was that tough to come up with? Don't strain yourself too much."

"At least I get to grow up and get out of school."

"Why don't you come over here and we can settle this once and for all." Edward taunted.

"Don't flatter yourself. You are not worth it." Jacob took a step back, his tempter not following. "I've hated you ever since I saw you. Vampire or not. You've always pissed me off."

"And why is that, huh?"

"Hell if I know. I hate your whole undead existence."

Like a movie wheel in an old cinema his mind replayed itself, and finally made sense.

'But the reason why I hated you was mostly because I never imprinted on anyone. It makes sense, I guess, because I can't imprint on the dead.'

Edward's face relaxed as everything clicked inside his head. Intentionally or not. Consciously or unconsciously. The main reason for Jacob's dislike for him was founded in the reason that he was dead. The reason the shifter always came back no matter how much he was hurt was because he couldn't stay away.

Jacob himself didn't realize it because they were born enemies, and he held a torch for Bella who had chosen a vampire instead of him.

Jacob's whole world as a werewolf rotated around imprinting on one person. When the other half of the imprint is already dead and still walking around in front of him, it made the wolf go mad. Angry. Its mate was right in front of them but they couldn't connect. It just wasn't possible no matter how much they sniffed around the other.

So love turned to hate in an attempt to went those feelings.

And he had played right into it.

"What?" Jacob asked as Edward gave him a strange look. He was creeping him out. "What?"

"I'm leaving with my family in another half hour. I'm not coming back to Forks ever again."

"What?" Jacob repeated like a broken recorder.

Edward fought to keep the smile at bay because he found the reaction kind of cute for the otherwise bitter wolf. He reached into his pocket and took out his mobile phone which had been salvaged from their home and threw it to Jacob who had no other instinct but to catch it. He stared at it in confusion.

"If you ever want to reach me you can do so through that phone. It contains all numbers to my family and our other houses."

"Why would I want to reach you?" Jacob asked in confusion while holding the phone like it was a bomb.

Edward shrugged. "Who knows. I leave the decision up to you."

Jacob could only stand there and stare after the vampire who had confused him into the last moment. He stared down at the phone and for several minutes he struggled with throwing it away until he settled with putting it away in his back pocket.

Half an hour later the Cullen family left Forks.

Five years later, in a classic contemporary house in Finland, hidden in the endless forest.

A phone lay on a glass table. It was silent and no sound could be heard through the house.

Then the phone started to buzz on the glass.

A hand reached slowly out and picked up the phone.

Amber eyes looked at the display.

At the fifth buzz a thumb hit the display to answer the phone.

"Took you long enough."

The End.