Eradicate ?Jacob Black [The Final Chapter] (Discontinued)

That night there was a still silence that engulfed the air. As Kate sat on a fallen log in the middle of the forest, she felt as if the falling snow was choking her. It fell silently, but seemed to only enhance the pounding in her ears. The weight of the snow pressed heavily on all of the supernatural gathered in the small clearing. While a few people were talking, many just stood in silence observing the falling flakes.

Despite the cold, her body was warm, rather too warm. Kate wanted to let the snow burry here beneath its weight in such a way that she never need to resurface. Being buried under an avalanche seemed preferable to being buried under the weight of her own thoughts.

On the other side of the log, Benjamin sat with his mate holding hands with her and just staring at the ground. He didn't seem perturbed by the silence, he actually seemed to be enjoying himself. 

Jacob wandered over to them with his arms full of chopped up firewood and dropped them on the already full pile of wood in front of them. Benjamin lifted his hand and on the tip of his forefinger, danced a brilliantly bright flame. He smirked at Jacob before having flames on top of four of his fingers before flicking his hand toward the wood which was soon engulfed in the fire.

"That's what I'm talking about," Jacob smirked.

Kate snorted, "Show off."

Benjamin, in mock offense, held his arms out in an outraged manner before allowing his face to split into a wide grin.

Jacob sat down next to Kate and brushed his hand along her leg to rest on her knee, "A pre-battle bonfire. Telling war stories."

"How cliche," Kate muttered to the small group.

She looked out at the vampires and observed them. They each kept to their own small groups. That is, until Rosalie and Emmett came over to them. Rosalie sat to Kate's right while Emmett stood beside them. Rosalie kept her nose slightly turned toward the fire and away from Jacob. Despite making her best efforts in her own way, Rosalie still wasn't keen on Jacob. Though, Kate supposed, Rosalie wasn't keen on most people.

"Looks cozy," Emmett teased, "Is this the part where we all make peace and promise to spend holidays together."

"Emmett," Kate scolded tiredly.

Jacob chuckled, "I'd still take a bite out of you."

At this, Emmett laughed, "Oh you're on, mutt."

Rosalie rolled her eyes, "Men." Kate couldn't help but agree.

Rosalie seemed stiffer than usual, more cold. The way that she tried to avoid Kate's gaze was enough to tell her what was wrong. There was a darkness in her eyes that Kate knew she had seen before.

"Stop it," she told the blonde, "This isn't your fault. Stop blaming yourself."

The boys stopped laughing and looked at the two of them. Even Benjamin and Tia looked over at them. Rosalie didn't make any indication that she had heard her, but Kate knew that she had. For as long as she had known her, Kate knew that Rosalie blamed herself for Kate's sudden transformation so long ago. It was inevitable but with Rosalie's fatalistic demeanor, the vampire had clung onto the blame.

"You wouldn't even be -" Rosalie finally began but Kate cut her off.

"Stop! Okay, the next time you bring this up I..." but Kate's voice trailed away. What would she do because there's not going to be a next time. This time tomorrow, they would be mourning Kate's memory and not arguing over why all of this happened. But she had to say something, something to give Rosalie, Emmett, and Jacob hope; something to have them looking forward to the future.

"...won't make you my maid of honor," Kate finished.

For the first time that night Rosalie looked at Kate head on. She seemed confused by Kate's answer.

"You two are getting married?" Emmett asked.

This time, Jacob answered, "No! Not yet. We're not following in Bella's footsteps. Besides, I think Charlie would have a heart attack."

Emmett let out a booming laugh, "Yeah, he'd turn you into a carpet."

Rosalie still was looking at Kate, "Me? Not Bella?"

Kate rolled her eyes before turning and looking at the fire, "Please, you're the only one who has been honest with me since the beginning and the only one who has always been on my side. Plus, I think you'd plan the most beautiful wedding, even topping Alice's. Anything to show her up, I'm game."

She stopped speaking to look back at Rosalie who had a smile on her face. Kate leaned over and knocked her shoulder into Rosalie's who allowed herself to be shifted.

"Come on, Rose. I like bitchy you, way more than wounded puppy you," Kate laughed.

Rosalie raised an eyebrow and turned back to the fire, "Watch it."

"Though I'm not exactly sure that making you maid of honor is doing you a favor. You'll have to deal with my friend, Jessica."

At the look of disgust on Rosalie's face, both Jacob and Emmett burst out laughing. The sound of their laughter must have drawn the attention of others because almost instantaneously Garrett had appeared next to Jacob.

"You guys look like you're having fun unlike those mopers over there. Did I hear something about war stories? Name any American battle, I was there," Garrett announced with an air of superiority.

Jacob took up his challenge, "Little Bighorn."

A wistful look crossed Garrett's face, "I came this close to biting Custer. But the Indians got him first"

Rosalie sighed dramatically, "Pity."

Almost as soon as she said this, the vampire Kate appeared and sat on top of Garrett's lap.

"Try Oleg's assault on Constantinople. He didn't win that one on his own."

The Irish clan wandered over. "If you're talking battles," Liam told them, "You're talking the Eleven Years War. No one does rebellion like the Irish."

Siren Kate chimed in, "You mean the Eleven Years War that wasn't eleven years?"

Rosalie nodded, "Or that nobody does failed rebellions like the Irish, you mean?"

"Aye," Liam answered proudly, "But they're hell of rebellions."

The entire group started to laugh. By the time that they had all finished, the rest of the vampires had come over to join in the discussion. They had taken turns sharing more stories but it wasn't until Vladimir and Stefan that they reached a supernatural war: a war of vampires.

"When we ruled, everything came to us," Vladimir told them, "Prey, diplomats, favor seekers. Such was our power. But we never put on white hats and called ourselves saints."

"We were honest about what we were," Stefan said.

Vladimir continued, "We sat still for a very long time. We didn't notice we were beginning to petrify."

"Perhaps the Volturi did us a favor when they burned our castles."

"We've been waiting 1,500 years to return that favor. We've been ready to do battle for ages."

...and now so was Kate.