Love Bite

Chapter 40

I DO NOT OWN CHARACTER OR TWILIGHT

Alice lived.

Somehow God or fate or destiny or whatever mystical power there was decided to let Alice survive. Bella was unbelievably, irrevocably grateful. Alice lived. Despite everything, despite being on the brink of death, possibly already crossed over that line, she was alive. Maybe she made it by the barest breath. Maybe she didn't make it at all, but found her way back somehow.

No matter how or why it happened, Bella's blood worked, Alice was alive, and for Bella that would always be enough.

They both were. Their injuries were both grievous, but something about Bella's blood had miraculous gifts, and healed them both in the end. It took an entire week for all their pain to go away -a lifetime in vampire sense— but it eventually did. Alice's burns faded, slowly but surely, from black to gray to soft, adorable pink, and finally one day she was all glowing porcelain again.

Mostly because despite abundant protesting, Bella made Alice drink from her daily.

Psh. Like hell was Alice going to talk her way out of that one. She gave up when she realized Bella was going to have a nervous breakdown every time she tried. Besides, it was clear by now that drinking from Bella didn't harm her as long as she didn't take too much too quickly, and could actually be quite pleasant for the girl.

What could she say? Bella liked the tingle.

Bella's aches went away on their own. Her sore muscles and wounded insides healed. The only evidence that she had ever even been wounded at all was a set of scars in the form of claw marks across the lower half of her throat that were so faint only vampires seemed to notice them, and that was upon close examination. They seemed determined to stay but Bella didn't mind. Maybe they would fade eventually, maybe not. She didn't care either way. They were just a reminder to her of how much she loved Alice.

The emotional aches and pains didn't heal, however, not for any of them. They would take much more time, far longer to even fade a little. Losing so many people was crushing, a heartache that would probably never fully go away, probably really shouldn't.

Zafrina and her friend. The Irish. Marshall. Vladimir. Irena. Seth, Quil, Paul, and Leon.

Friends locked in immortality for the bond forged in warfare, for fighting and dying for the same cause. And maybe they weren't close to Bella, but she would always have a sorrow in her heart for the people who had died for them, for each other, to bring down such a cruel coven for the good of others.

And then...

And then there was Edward. Esme. Leah.

Family. They'd lost family. The Cullens lost a brother, a son, a mother, a mate, and Bella lost a sister in everything but blood. Despite what ran through her veins, Bella knew blood wasn't everything.

Clearly. Losing them hurt in ways so profound it was hard to put into words. She hadn't known any of them long but she knew the pain of losing them would probably always be there in some form or fashion. One day it would be bearable, but for now all they could do was cope and as Carlisle urged them, go on.

They went to the Quileute funerals for their fallen before Alice's skin was even white again. All of the Cullens were allowed, even invited, for their part in defeating Angeles del Diablo. Fighting together with the Cullens seemed to have finally diffused all their age old tensions and hatreds, and that was one good thing that came out of all of this.

No other vampires were permitted due to the fact that they fed on humans, but that didn't matter. The Quileutes buried their dead in their own personal cemetery with the rest of the deceased tribe.