I don't own the characters, just so you know.

I had written this one first, but it was too HP7 Epilogue for me and decided to go with the other ending. Hopefully you enjoy it. ;)


Under a Killing Moon: Alternate Ending

EPOV

Instinctively, I took a step in front of Bella to shield her from the nightmare that was tearing down the road. Alice rooted firmly behind the two of us, her thoughts echoing around my own head. The three of us won't be enough. Bella's grip on my hand tightened. Her shield reached out to me as Alice's thoughts fell silent, and then engulfed Alice. Her thoughts once again invaded my own.

The air around us, that had been still and stale, began to move. Bella's damp hair lifted in the breeze, her hand gripping mine more tightly. Her eyes clenched in concentration. The motor of Jacob's motorcycle grew louder, closer. Alice moved a few steps closer as the sickly yellow hue of the sky around us began to darken.

"Do you think he's doing this?" I yelled over the loud thrum of approaching engine.

Bella opened her eyes and looked up at the blackness that was beginning to spread across the horizon.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite blood-thirsty tick and his little whore." Jacob laughed as he cut the engine. Bella pulled me as I made to move after him.

"What's the matter, Cullen? You letting your woman call all your shots? Last time I listened to her, I ended up like this."

He pulled down a hood to reveal himself. His red eyes gleamed at me while he smiled with a wolf's mouth. He continued to remove his jacket, revealing pale skin and demonic claws. As he shuffled closer, I noticed he had animal feet as well. He was caught between two transitions. Neither vampire, nor wolf, but his body wanting to be both.

"Like what you see," he called to Bella. She stiffened next to me as he took a deep breath.

"Well, this won't be much fun," he started, dipping his head towards Bella. Slowly, Jacob sauntered towards her. "You smell like death and desperation, Bella." He laughed.

"It's your fate, too," She replied, dropping my hand and crossing her arms in front of her stomach.

"You are weak. I am not." He thumbed toward himself then moved his gaze to me. "You letting her speak for you now, too? Either the pussy is really good, or you're just really stupid."

"You better shut your mouth," I growled. Moving forward, trying to stand completely in front of Bella. "I will rip you apart if you speak to her again." My teeth clenched and the bones in my jaw felt like they might snap. Bella placed her hand between my shoulder blades and stepped next to me.

"Let him dig his own grave," she replied.

"I'll make sure to dig you one, too. Whatchya got left? Two days? I almost feel bad attacking you in such a weakened state." He would have raised an eyebrow if he had any hair.

I felt a fire lick through me. An overwhelming need to push Bella back behind me and punch Jacob right in the nose permeated through me. Then, her shield dropped around us. My head snapped to her as she removed the hand from my back and took several steps closer to Jacob. She turned back to me with narrowed eyes and a knowing smile.

I had to stay back. My hand pushed through my hair and my teeth gnashed together roughly.

"So, let me get this straight. In order to rid the world of vampires, you have actually had to ally yourself with the most well known vampire family in the history of the supernatural? You're pathetic. Do you think any of those werewolves you were campaigning for are going to stick around? Look at yourself. You're done, Jacob Black." She halted her steps only inches away from him. His eyes narrowed and darkened. A thunderclap boomed in the distance and the blackening sky's clouds began to swirl slightly.

I was on high alert. Bella was setting us up for an incredibly dangerous situation. As much as I wanted to take matters into my own hands, we were partners. Biblically, even. There was no way I would ever get her to understand the magnitude of our relationship if I couldn't stand back and let her do whatever it was she thought she was doing. Alice crept up next to me as we watched Jacob and Bella exchange insults back and forth.

"I wish I knew what she was doing," Alice whispered.

"She's baiting him," I replied. That much was obvious. Why she was doing it was a completely different story.

"You've been a god damn thorn in my side long enough!"

Before there was a chance to react, Jacob's arm reached across his body and the back of his hand flew out and met Bella's cheek. She slid over a few feet and stumbled back, spitting blood onto the ground close to him.

My hand was around his throat before I even realized what I was doing. His chest vibrated with laughter as my grip tightened. I felt a sharp pull on the back of my head and suddenly I was careening backward into the ground. Dark purple finger –shaped bruises formed around his neck, but I only had a moment to observe them before his fist connected with my eye. His speed was not as great as mine, but I was certainly not prepared for it.

Taking another blow to the head before I could move, I could feel the venom begin to pool under my eye. I lashed out toward the low rumble coming from Jacob, managing to land a blow against the side of his head. Dodging two more right hooks, slipped behind him wrapped my arms around his neck, trying to drag him to the ground. He was too strong, flipping me over and throwing me down. Venom began pooling under my skin.

"Enough." Bella stood between us, blood smeared across her cheek and hair wildly falling across her face. She jumped over me and crouched in front of Jacob, waiting for his next move.

Alice's thoughts flitted through my head as she joined me behind Bella. Alice had a notion she knew what was coming next and she encouraged me to begin flanking Bella on the opposite side. Bella sensed our movement and turned her head minutely, still crouched in front of Jacob. He eyed the scene before him curiously, letting out a loud guffaw. Then, his eyes narrowed at Bella and another clap of thunder sounded from the accumulating cloud cover above us.

Bella reached behind her, underneath her sweater, pulling out something that glinted in the yellowing light. It seemed to be a silver stake which indicated that Alice's guess had been right. Jacob, eyeing the stake, flashed a toothy grin. All of his sharp, pointed teeth gleamed with venom.

"You know that's not going to kill me." He sneered.

"Yeah, but it's still gonna hurt like a bitch."

She shot up from her low position and stabbed through his chest with several loud cracks and a wet crunch. He grabbed her leg as she bounced back and stopped her, reaching for her throat. In one swift, solid motion, he flung her across the yard. Resisting the urge to follow her with my eyes and assess the damage, I kept my eyes trained on Jacob. A low growl rumbled in my chest.

Alice, in an attempt to distract him further, twisted and twirled around him. She avoided his grasp several times, allowing me the time I needed to attack. I flew toward him grabbed the stake, pushing it further as I hooked my arm around his neck. He let out a strangled cry and I felt Alice land on his back, offering me more leverage to twist his neck. Violently, he shrugged Alice off his back and rolled backward.

During the current altercation, Emmett and Rosalie and shown up. Jacob attempted to shrug me off as he saw Emmett fast approaching. I spun myself around, using his neck, and yanked him back. Emmett pushed the stake further, causing Jacob to sputter. Before Emmett could draw back to attack again, Jacob had flipped me back over him and I barely adjusted my trajectory to miss Emmett. The two locked fists and shoved each other back, causing ruts to form in the ground under their feet. Emmett landed a blow to the side of Jacob's face before he was thrown in my direction.

Jacob paused as Rosalie and Bella came back into view. I let out an unnecessary breath of relief as I noted her dirty, but mostly unscathed form. She was carrying something large, upright in her right hand. If I hadn't known what she was holding, I would have been thoroughly confused as Alice shot past me toward Jacob. I vaguely registered my yelling for Emmett to move right before Alice dumped something all over the monster and bolted off in a different direction.

Bella strode past me, extending her shield as she went. Her thoughts were indistinguishable.

"Fuck. You." Her voice was even as she dropped the weapon down and a raised it up to aim it at Jacob.

A flame licked out as pulled the trigger, igniting whatever Alice had dumped all over him and catching a hold of the motorcycle that was still parked behind him. Jacob staggered forward, once he was engulfed in flames. Emmett and I took several careful steps back. The flames brightened and grew as I realized Rosalie had taken the other flame thrower and aimed it from the opposite end.

Howls of pain ripped through the air around us as he dropped to his knees. We inched further back, Bella stepping with us. Her aim was steadily focusing on the fiery form in front of us, but her eyes were searching above us. Several more claps of thunder sounded and a streak of lightning lit up the sky a few miles down the road.

The smell of burning flesh overwhelmed me and I was relieved when Jacob stopped screaming and he finally melted away. Bella pulled the flamethrower back as the sky opened up above us. The flamethrower dropped to the ground and her knees followed. The cool rain pelted down, slowing putting out the fire.

Bella's shield disappeared and I rushed to her side.

"She's not breathing," I yelled, but my voice sounded foreign in my own ears.

Her hair was matted to her forehead with sweat and her parted lips were already beginning to turn blue. The pale skin of her eyelids looked more translucent than was normal, her blue veins impossibly vivid. Even to my own eyes. I tucked a wet hair behind her ear and had to make a decision. She would either hate me for it, or be grateful. As the slow pumping of her heart began to stall, the selfish urge to keep her with me always took over.

Part of me was dead before her, and I didn't even know.

I began piercing her flesh at every pulse point, hoping that the venom already in her body would accelerate it before heart completely stopped.

~!*!~

The time it took for her to make the change was longer than I expected. During the days that followed, I had to consider the possibility that I had made the wrong, selfish choice. Charlie sometimes paced with me, wondering the same thing. He was both relieved and wary. I understood, because immediately after I made my choice I began to consider what Bella had wanted.

She wished for death.

But, as things began to shift around us, I was hoping it would be a better choice than hers. After Jacob's death, we moved to another location. Most of the area around us had been decimated by the lightning storm, but I was concerned about Jane coming after Bella.

Once we were secure, however, a riot broke out in Volterra. Any Volturi that were left went into hiding and the vampire hierarchy crumbled. Murder broke out everywhere as Keeper cells emerged and began trying to control the rebellion. As Alice predicted, the supernatural world was at a complete unrest as they struggled to find a suitable replacement for the little order the Volturi offered.

Bella was about to awaken at the dawn of a new era. Her human death granted Charlie all of the Keeper powers she possessed, as was part of the spell that was cast at her birth. From his position at Bella's side, he began rebuilding a ruling class for the paranormal from Bella's bedside.

It had been his plan all along. To take his daughter's place in the prophecy. It was her parents' plan the entire time and I was disappointed that I hadn't noticed it sooner. I was still undecided as to whether or not my entire relationship with her had been orchestrated for this exact purpose. And even though it was Charles Swan that was using his political prowess to halt a war that was about to rage, it was Bella and I that he intended on using as the face of his policies.

The Cullen family was about to replace the Volturi and it made me uncomfortable. But it made sense. Between Alice and me, it would be impossible to cross us. Carlisle would be a symbol of compassion. We would be met with a lot of resistance, as we had quite the reputation.

Once again, I shifted nervously wondering if I had made the wrong choice for Bella. My pondering was cut short as she began to stir. Charlie disconnected his phone call, eyeing his daughter expectantly. She stretched casually then shot up, stiff as a board.

"Jacob?" She choked.

"He's dead," I replied flatly.

"I'm so thirsty," she coughed.

Her eyes popped open and I was met with piercing pale blue eyes. I hadn't expected them to be red, but this was something different all together.

"You changed me!" She shrieked, rattling the windows.

"I had to," I replied quietly.

"Thank god," she sighed. Charlie and I both stared at her. "You know I'm not done kicking ass yet. They think they're gonna send Jacob Black after me? Just wait until I get my hands on Jane." Her blue eyes flashed and a smile grew across her smooth, pale face.

"Everyone else is okay, right?" She asked meekly, checking her reflection in a mirror and furrowing her brows.

"Yes, everyone is fine," Charlie answered.

"Good. Why are my eyes blue?" She turned to face her father.

"Usually, the irises indicate diet. But, I think yours are more indicative of the incredible change your body had to go through," Carlisle answered from the door. "I'm concerned that the need to feed isn't taking precedent over all your other senses."

"The need to beat some vampire ass is taking precedent right now, Carlisle." She spun around and faced him. Considering something, she looked at Carlisle and then back to me. "Actually, now that I think about it, I am starving."

Watching Bella hunt was incredible. She took two deer down in minutes, the cleanest kills I'd ever seen. Bella took her new strength and speed easily, darting through the trees and taunting me to race her. It was as carefree as I'd ever seen her. Her laugh surrounded me and I couldn't help but join in when I finally caught up to her.

She stood at the bank of a creek, the cool air blowing through her sleek hair. Looking over her shoulder, she smiled at me. I threaded my fingers through hers and followed her gaze out over the woods. A content sigh escaped her and I bent down to capture her lips in mine. She melted into me and we stayed like this for a long time.

"We have to leave for Italy tonight," I said, finally breaking the kiss.

She rested her forehead on my chest and groaned. "I'm only going if I can say 'off with their head!' every time someone pisses me off."

"You'll have to learn how to say it in Italian," I chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

"Well, I will have the rest of forever to learn it in every language."