Chapter 9

It was surprisingly easy to sneak out of the hospital, which was slightly worrisome. Since I was only wearing a measly little patient garb, Edward offered me his jacket. It was a dark grey pea coat that was very soft to the touch. I accepted it gratefully.

As we raced through the shadows, I couldn't help but feel that I was running towards my end. I knew it was preposterous; I had only just gotten out of trouble. Yet the truth had never felt closer. Something about that left a bitter aftertaste. Didn't they say some mysteries are better left unsolved? Still, I owed it to myself and to Damon to see if he was truly innocent. I wasn't entirely sure if Damon meeting Elena would be good or bad, but I had to know.

My house somehow seemed closer to the hospital than I remembered. I didn't bother asking why Edward thought it best not to take his car.

We crept along the side of my home, Edward reminding me to keep quiet and listen. To be honest, I didn't hear anything when Edward held up his hand, telling me to stop. Then he pointed to the window up ahead, towards the den, and I followed him.

Sure enough, the girls were all sitting around the living room in a circle. Damon wasn't in sight.

"He's not here," I whisper-blurt, admitting to myself that I was, indeed, expecting him to be here. I know Damon has to be in on Elena's plan, I heard it myself at his party. This means she must truly believe that he set up the whole kidnapping and that he's a double agent. My heart pounded. This was not looking good for Damon. But why would he pose as a hostage, himself?

"Bella, what are you thinking?" Edward asks, struggling to keep his voice low. My sister and her friends seem to be in the middle of a heated discussion, not paying any attention to figures lurking outside the house. I decide it's safe to fill him in.

"Something doesn't add up," I tell him quietly. "Damon's not stupid. If he was behind the kidnapping, as my sister suspects, he wouldn't be so obvious about it. He would stay as far away from that warehouse as possible."

Edward's gold eyes flicker with intelligence as he comes to the same conclusion as me. "You think someone set him up?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense right now!" I answer, lowering my head further. "There's someone else pulling the strings here, Edward, I just know it. They knew that we would question Damon's hand in the kidnapping. That way, no eyes are on outside suspects." I pause, fright for the girls wrapping around my heart in a vice-like grip. "Right now my sister's playing right into their hands."

"Sounds like you've got it all figured out," Edward says, his tone changing. "May I suggest an alternative?"

For a moment, his lack of belief in my theory confuses me as I stare at his face. Nothing on it changed; his expression remained the same the whole time I spoke. His calculating gaze was so different from others I'd seen him wear.

"Be my guest," I answer finally.

Edward gulps hard as if swallowing a breath mint. I can't help studying him as he explains himself. Never had I been a suspicious person, but with everything happening recently I needed to remain indifferent. As of right now, the pool of suspects had been narrowed down to a small handful.

"Could it be... that your sister is on to something, and Damon actually is the perpetrator?"

Edward's lips move, but I'm watching his eyes. Those beautiful gold orbs, dotted with black and brown. They don't stray from mine in the slightest.

I pretend to consider his words, since he seems to believe them. "Alright, let's say Damon actually is the kidnapper. Why would he schedule it for the same night as his party? It's safe to assume that he needed it to pull attention away from something else, something much worse, to ... distract."

The word distraction strikes a chord, pulls at a memory. Alice had said I was the distraction. Could that be what she had meant?

"What would they need to distract from..?" I mutter absently, chewing on my bottom lip.

"Bella," Edward says quietly, touching my arm, "The girls are leaving."

My head snaps up just in time to see the light turn out, blanketing us in darkness. I feel Edward pushing me towards the street, and at the same time, the front door opens and closes sharply. Scrambling through the bushes, half hunched over, we reach the corner of the house just as Caroline slides into her Mercedes. Where was she going?

"Come on," Edward said, pulling at the jacket sleeve that was far longer on me than it was on him. As we kept to the shadows again, I couldn't help feeling watched. Could there be someone else trying to uncover Elena's secrets?

Up until now I had more of less been following Edward blindly, not questioning where he was taking me. Now as we turned a corner, I noticed a glint of silver. Parked just to the right, nearly covered in bushes, was Edward's Volvo.

Silently, I got inside. He didn't turn on the car as I expected him too, so we just sat in speculative stillness. "Edward..." I spoke first. "Edward, I need you to do something for me."

.

For a girl in my position, I thought I was handling this all rather well. In a couple short weeks everything I knew about myself and my friends had been questioned. Now not only did I suspect my sister for working in evil ways, but there was someone else out there hell bent on delaying my sisters plan-at whatever cost. Up until the night of the kidnapping I strongly believed Damon and Elena had a partnership of some sort, and that he was heavily involved in her plan. But that didn't seem to be the case any more... For whatever reason, someone was targeting Damon.

With this train of thought, it makes perfect sense that I'm knocking on his door right now.

I take a step away and wave at Edward, who's waiting in the Volvo not too far away. He refused to leave, but I convinced him to let me speak to Damon alone. Now all my cowardice was resurfacing. I had never done anything so bold before. To think, just a few nights ago I had been too afraid to look Damon directly in eyes!

When the door opened, I didn't notice at first. I was looking over my shoulder at Edward, whose expression suddenly turned guarded.

"Oh," I gasped, surprised to find Damon standing only an arm's length away. "H-hi."

His eyebrow quirks up. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Sorry to disturb you," I say, and then clear my throat awkwardly. Come on, Bella, don't be a fool! You came here for a reason! With this resolve in mind, I look into Damon's eyes, preparing for his reaction, "I just needed to make sure you were okay."

His eyes soften marginally, although I can guess this wasn't what he expected I would say. That ironical smile, the one that makes you think he's sharing some private joke with himself, it creeps onto his face. "You worried if I was okay? Bella, that's absurd. You're the one in the hospital gown."

"I know," I sigh, closing my eyes. "But ... you were injured that night... and you saved my life, so ..." I open my eyes to find him gazing at me with an unfathomable expression that mystified me. "I owe you one."

Damon's night black eyes regard me as if he knows everything I know. "Is that everything?"

The wind blows, spiraling up my legs and leaving me shivering. A dark grey cloud settles itself over the moon.

"No," I respond, my eyebrows creasing. Why was it so easy for him to dismiss me? "I also believe you're innocent."

"Obviously," Damon remarks shortly.

I cross my arms defensively, "Yes, but Elena and the girls think you're the one who's done all these terrible things. It's true that it looks bad for you but I'm guessing that's just what he wants us to think. Maybe that makes me a fool..."

Damon's squints as if piecing together everything I was saying, but remained silent.

I lower my voice for this next part, even though Edward couldn't possibly hear, "Damon, I know who kidnapped us. I saw her for myself."

He raises his eyebrows, "Really?"

"I wouldn't lie to you, Damon," I answer earnestly.

Damon pauses, reading the sincerity in my expression. Eventually he must decide that I'm telling the truth because he saunters away, towards a bench I hadn't noticed at first. When he drops gracefully onto the seat and drapes his arms across the back of it, I can't resist joining him.

"Tell me what you know," Damon says when I've settled.

Pleased he believed me, I told him without a second thought. I was already positive Damon couldn't be the bad guy. I tell him about Emmett, and how they all had superior strength. When I get to the part about Alice, I pause, looking towards the Volvo. Edward had been sitting so still since we arrived.

"They must have been working under Alice," I whisper, "I think she's the right-hand man to whoever is running the show. For whatever reason, she told me more than she needed to. I know, it sounds crazy, but I think she was trying to gain my trust. I can only assume that she's planning on using me in the future. Something big is coming, something not even my sister can control."

Damon purses his lips thoughtfully, considering my words with a gaze that only suggested the brilliance of his mind. "Do you have any clue at all to who might be in charge?"

"I can't say I'm positive..." I answer timidly. If I tell him the truth, who would it jeopardize? How can I know my words won't have serious consequences? Lying is my only option, for now—even if it's to the ones I'm supposed to trust. "But I don't think it's you, Emmett or even Alice."

"Interesting..." He says, his eyes flicking once to the left. "Are you aware that someone is watching us?"

My heart skips a beat. I try to tell myself there's nothing peculiar about Damon noticing him, that Edward being here shouldn't be a secret in the first place. Yet I know it would only end badly if Damon began suspecting Edward. So I respond as casually as I can, "Oh, yes, that's my friend. He wouldn't let me come alone."

"I see," Damon says, his eyes slowly traveling from Edward's Volvo to my face. When they reach mine he gives me a slow, smoldering smirk, "You're more perceptive than I gave you credit for, Bella."

His praise takes me by surprise and I can't help blushing. I try to keep my smile from looking too satisfied.

"I should be going now," I respond after a minute. "I snuck out of the hospital, you see, and they should be making rounds soon."

Damon snickers, somehow looking even more handsome. "This boy broke you out of the hospital in the middle of the night? Sounds like you've got another accomplice."

"Something like that," I mumble. Truth was I couldn't shake Edward even if I wanted too. My ally watches me observantly and I have to remember to keep my emotions in check. Edward's silhouette remains unmoved.

"You don't trust him," Damon suddenly suggested, his voice deep and whisper-thin.

With a startled heart, I reply, "Honestly, I'm not sure who to trust anymore."

He nods somewhat solemnly and then stands to leave. "I'll let you go now. Thank you for sharing your theory, Bella, but for now that's all it is; an idea. I don't think we should make any rash moves just yet."

I watch him walk away, stunned. After all that, he just shrugs me off? Not sure what else to do, I start to leave. But when Damon turns back towards me his expression is uneasy. He holds his hand out, keeping it in the shadows. My gaze flicks to Edward and back to Damon. Keeping my eyes locked with his, I grasp the small slip of paper in his hand, brushing his skin.

"I understand, I do, but I hope you'll keep your options open," I respond lightly. Damon's lips curve into a smile, the first real smile I think I've seen him give.

As I walk towards Edward, I slip the note in my pocket.

.

A/N Thanks for reading and please review!