Disclaimer: Twilight belongs to Stephenie Meyer and Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi

The New Moon

Bella sat in the middle of her classroom, tapping her foot anxiously beneath her desk as she watched each second tick by on the clock. Edward would be so furious that she was late, but he'd just have to get over it. This couldn't be helped. One of her teachers had decided to reschedule an exam for the very day she'd told Edward to expect her return, and she hadn't had time to get word to him that she'd be one extra day getting back to his time.

Finally the teacher called the end of the class, signalling their release. Bella leapt to her feet, nearly fleeing out of the door.

"Free at last!" she cheered as she exited the room, stretching as high as she could reach. It was such a relief to have that test over and done with. She wasn't sure how she'd done, but at least it was in the past now—no pun intended.

"I wish I was you, Bella," sighed Jessica as she followed her down the hall.

Lauren agreed with a loud sigh of her own, "You're always in the top ten for the whole school."

Bella barely stopped herself from snorting in amusement. Yes, she had been a top student before… but since she'd fallen through the well on her property and begun making more and longer trips into the past, her marks had been severely slipping. Her mother was beginning to threaten remedial courses if she didn't shape up. Again, she almost laughed at the thought. Her mother had never once had to scold her throughout her fifteen years, especially not about schoolwork. Renée had always been a rather lackadaisical parent, some might even say neglectful. Bella had always been the mature one. But now everything was upside down in her life.

"I don't know about the maths test," she said instead of any of this. Just more secrets, more reasons to feel separated from her friends.

At one time, Angela Weber, Jessica Stanley, and Lauren Mallory had been Bella's best friends. At one time, she'd had no secrets from them and nothing went on her in life that they didn't know about. But since Bella's recent foray into the feudal era, it seemed there was nothing they did know of. In fact, Bella couldn't remember when the last time she'd sat down and had a real conversation with them had been.

"Hey Bella! Wait up!"

"Mike," Lauren murmured pointedly, as the four of them watched the boy in question push his way over through the small crowd of students. Bella resisted a sigh of impatience.

Poor Mike had been rather interfering lately, and unlike her friends, Bella couldn't imagine why. Since her grandmother had been making up illnesses (far too many to be believed, at that) to excuse her spat of absences, Mike had been constantly approaching her on the days she did return, showering her with all kinds of "natural" and "holistic" gifts sworn to take care of her ills. Recently, he'd even taken to showing up at her house, asking if he could see her even if she was supposedly bedbound in order to give her more tips and items sure to heal her.

It seemed that that was what he was after this time, as well. He held out a package wrapped in a flower paper, and Bella took a swift peek inside to check the damage.

"They're shiatsu sandals," he explained at her blank look. "They're supposed to be really good for circulatory issues like your diabetes."

Bella had no idea how to respond to that. Luckily, however, her friends had ample ideas as to what to say. They had been speculating about his recent generosity more than even Bella had.

"Gotta give him points for persistence."

"He really does seem nice."

"He might have better luck with flowers, though…"

Ignoring this running commentary of their conversation, Mike grinned easily and asked, seemingly at random, "Do you like movies, Bella?"

Feeling a growing sense of dread rising within her, Bella nodded, praying this conversation wasn't headed where she thought it was.

"Do you wanna go sometime, then? Just you and me?"

Blushing hotly at both the astonished gasps of her friends and this being the first time a guy had asked her out, Bella hesitated. She was spared the trial of coming up with something to say, though, as her friends practically pounced on her and dragged her across the hall for a whispered convention, hissing at her in low, eager voices. Mike looked on, taken aback but not too bothered.

"Did he just ask me on a date?" she asked her friends blankly, still stunned.

"Sure sounded that way to me!" Angie replied cheerfully.

"Will you go?" Jessica demanded.

"You'd be the envy of all the girls," Lauren added, whispering, "Especially considering it's your first date."

Sighing deeply, Bella walked back over to the bemused Mike, leaving her friends to hiss amongst themselves. She was already late enough as it was, she simply couldn't postpone meeting Edward any longer.

"I guess I'll go," she said, surprised at how easy it was to agree to something as significant as a first date. Then she strode down the hall quickly, eager to get back home, and Mike rushed to keep pace with her, beaming delightedly.

"Really? Great! Okay, then, this Saturday. I'll swing by your place at half-past six, okay?"

Then he turned with nothing but a wave over his shoulder and strode off in the opposite direction, confident now that he'd scored his prize. Bella shook herself of her surprise, knowing she had more important things to worry about than first dates and over-confident high school boys. Like Edward and the length of his lecture about "time" and "the Jewel shards" and "completely her fault if they were all lost to other demons" and her "needing to get her priorities sorted." Sighing again, Bella couldn't help but laugh inwardly. Edward could rival any teacher she'd ever had with some of his more long-winded lectures. Who did he think he was anyway, her father?

"Miss Swan!" a voice called, halting her just as she reached the stairs. She turned back to see her maths teacher hurrying towards her.

"Mr Banner?" she asked, surprised. Then, when he told her the reason for his chasing after her, she reiterated, stunned, "I failed?!"

Sure, she'd been worried about not doing well on the exam, but failure had never even crossed her mind! She'd never completely failed any exam before.

Nodding solemnly, the teacher nonetheless kindly offered, "I'm sure it must have been a difficult few weeks for you, what with the diabetes and rheumatism and all. You can make it up this Saturday."

Numb, Bella shakily made her way outside without anyone else, thankfully, coming across her. This Saturday? But that was only three days away! How could she possibly study enough to do better by that time?

When she finally made it home, she took her time packing her things and preparing. She took a good long bath too, which ironically had been her least favourite method of cleaning herself before her ambling into the past. Now she relished them, they were her favourite mode of relaxation. When she finally emerged from her room, to her amazement, Edward was standing on the other side of the door. With a curt, decisive, "We're going home now!" he caught her up by the rucksack she had slung over her shoulders and bounded down the stairs, heading for the front door.

Bella gasped, for once overjoyed to see him. Just the person she'd needed to talk to most! All of this extra studying hinged on him being cooperative. Really, she didn't need his permission for anything, but he could sulk like no other when he felt he hadn't been consulted.

"Edward, what timing!" she cried. "I was just thinking I wanted to see you!"

Caught off guard, the half-demon spluttered for a moment, "You… did?" Then, catching himself, he rolled his eyes. "Not that I care what you want."

He wasn't so calm when she told him her reasoning, however, as she knew would happen.

"Three more days?!" he barked as they came to a stop above the well. The darkness of the well-house made it only slightly less obvious how disbelieving and furious he was, since she could easily imagine his expression. "You're mad!"

Bella wanted to stamp her foot in frustration, but she knew it would get her nowhere. Instead, she pled, "Look, maths is hard enough for me already, without trying to study in the Middle Ages! If I blow this make-up, it'll completely ruin my chances at—"

"No."

"Please, Edward, don't be like this—"

"Absolutely not!"

Something in Bella snapped. What was she even doing, begging for permission like a naughty child? This was ridiculous! She was the one doing him a favour for even helping him! Yes, she had broken the Jewel in the first place, but it wasn't like she planned it that way! Didn't he understand how hard all of this was on her?

Edward noticed the change in the air and asked querulously, "What—?" But Bella had done listening to him.

Hot, angry tears springing her to eyes, she screamed, "Then what are you gonna do about my future, huh?!"

Edward recoiled as if slapped, looking completely taken aback and more than a little frightened, but Bella didn't check herself. All of her pent-up frustrations of the past few weeks were rearing their heads, and she couldn't stop the words from pouring out.

"Maybe all you care about is that stupid Jewel, but I've got a life in this world too, y'know! I have to go to school and actually make something of myself! I've just about put my entire life on hold to help you, and you won't even bend a little to meet me! Well, what are you gonna do when I don't have a life here anymore because you're too selfish to help me?!"

Edward stared at her, absolutely stunned at this diatribe. Too furious for any more words, Bella dissolved into tears. This, if anything, seemed to upset him even more.

"Wait, Bella, listen—"

"Just go away, will you?" Bella sobbed, even angrier if possible—this time at herself for letting her emotions run haywire like this. But she really had been struggling these last few weeks leading two lives. When he tried to touch her arm in his frantic attempts at reconciliation, she smacked his hand away and snapped, "Just go away! I'm not coming back today!" She then turned and fled back to her house, ignoring him utterly.

Bella spent the next three days attending school as normal during the day, and cramming nearly all hours of the night for her make-up exam. The hours began to blur together in such tedium that soon Bella even forgot she'd argued with Edward. When she did remember it, all she could do was shrug and go back to her work. She hadn't said anything that wasn't true, or that she didn't mean… but she was very sorry over how she'd just blown up at him. He may have been selfish in how he treated her, but he'd been genuinely alarmed at hearing her side of things. Maybe he really just hadn't realized how bad things were for her at the moment.

After the exam, half-dead on her feet from lack of sleep, she raced out of school towards where her grandmother waited in the car. She passed her old friends on the way, who hailed her cheerfully even as she swept past.

"Good luck, Bella!" Angela called.

"Making your boyfriend wait, huh?" Lauren laughed at her.

Bella had no idea what they meant by this, instead instinctively snapping back, "Will you quit with that? He is not my boyfriend! We were just thrown together by a cruel twist of fate!"

It didn't occur to her until after she'd gotten home that they meant poor Mike. She'd entirely forgotten him in the meantime, so focused on her exam and then meeting with Edward back at the house. She needn't have worried, though. The half-demon's gruff manner meant he had to lay it all out there bluntly for her, no tip-toeing around the bush here. He was waiting for her in the living room, watching the television avidly with Eric. He could never quite get over his amazement at the modern invention, so sure it was "witchcraft."

When he caught sight of her coming in, he stuck up his nose and greeted acerbically, "Bah. Cretin."

It was such an out-of-the-blue insult to call her, Bella couldn't help but laugh. He tried to keep up his affronted posture, but she could tell he wasn't as angry as he made himself out to be. But he wasn't going to let it go either.

"So are we going to hear an apology?" he prompted calmly when it seemed none was forthcoming. "You scream and boot me aside like I'm rubbish in your way, and then just expect things to go back to normal?"

Bella was taken aback by his description of how things had played out. "I didn't know it bothered you that much."

Edward rolled his golden eyes at her expressively. "Noo, I just felt like reminiscing."

She bit back a laugh again and said sincerely, if a little hurriedly, "Well, then, I'm sorry for how I treated you. But I'm not sorry for what I said. I know it's not completely your fault things are really hard right now, but you could make it a bit easier on me."

"Well, I didn't know it was so hard. I still don't understand what's so damned important to you about this world. But I'll try to be more… considerate."

The way he spit the word out made evident his distaste for the matter, and Bella knew nothing could really change in a meaningful way. Things would just go on getting more and more complicated until she chose which world to leave behind for good. If only guilt wasn't such a large factor.

"Ahh!" Bella sighed in abject delight, relishing the rare summer-like day in the beginning of autumn. "This feels great!"

She, Edward, and Seth were floating down a pleasantly babbling river situated between two low mountains in a little wooden boat "borrowed" from a neighbouring village, or so Edward had claimed. Bella hadn't questioned it, too ecstatic over the beautiful weather. The sun was shining bright and warm, the sky a lovely blue dotted here and there with puffy white clouds. It wasn't quite as hot as midsummer, but not cool enough for autumn either—perfect outdoor weather.

"Look, a fish!" she cried, pointing happily. She'd never seen clearer water in her life. The Middle Ages did have their upsides, after all, as pollution didn't really exist yet.

From the front of the little boat, Edward turned and glanced at her irritably. He'd been fine after the stalemate that had been their argument ended and she'd returned to the past with him, but he'd become boorish and surly ever since he'd seen her at work studying in some downtime. At first, she'd assumed wildly that he was angry at her studying at all, but that couldn't have been it. She'd been glancing over her notes all day and he hadn't batted an eye. But when Seth asked her to explain the days of the week he'd seen written on her notes, that was when he'd changed his tune. She'd had to relate the days to the phases of the moon for the two of them to get the concept, and as soon as they'd closed that discussion, his mood had distinctly soured.

"Would you mind focusing, Bella?" he snapped. "We're not here to look at the scenery."

Bella, in far too good a mood to let him drag her down, rolled her eyes and jokingly put her hand to her forehead in a salute. "Aye, aye, mon capitaine," she answered. Edward only rolled his eyes and looked away, but she could tell he wasn't quite so irascible as before.

She glanced cursorily around the banks of the river and up to the forests covering the mountains, but she knew it was pointless. She could feel the Jewel shards long before she could see their glow, and she hadn't felt a single thing all day.

"I'm not picking up any signs of Jewel fragments near here," she informed Edward.

Before he could make any reply, Seth suddenly groaned loudly, throwing himself over the side of the boat to be sick. Edward scoffed at the sight. "Seth, you call yourself a demon? You're not supposed to get seasick."

"It's not like I'm trying," Seth groaned back, hiccoughing. "I feel terrible…"

"Perfect," Edward snapped. "Is anyone taking this seriously?"

Bella shook her head, some irritation finally leaking in to spoil her good humour. Taking what seriously? she wanted to ask but didn't. She knew this mood of his well, and knew that he was liable to bite her head off for her trouble. She'd really only seen him like this once or twice though, all with good reason, which made this temper even more unintelligible. What had set him off?

A sudden scream rent the still air surrounding them. While Bella looked wildly around for the source, Edward's eyes were drawn right to it: a young girl, perhaps around Bella's age or a little younger, standing at the precipice of a small but steep cliffside in the mountain to their right. She was being attacked by something even Edward's sharp eyes couldn't quite make out: it seemed human enough, but its shape was very odd…

As he watched, the humanoid creature somehow managed to extend its neck far enough to actually push the girl off of the cliff using only its head. Edward stared in shock, almost unable to process what he'd seen.

Then Bella called, "Look out!" at the same time Seth wailed, "She's gonna fall on top of us!" finally brought him back to his surroundings.

Scoffing a short, "Relax, coward," at the child, he leapt into the air and caught the girl by her waist with ease.

"Nice catch!" Bella cheered as he carried his new cargo to the banks of the river and promptly stood her on the ground on her own two feet. He turned to look back at the cliff from which she'd come, bewildered and more than a little offset. What was that thing that had attacked her?

Panting with fear, the girl seemed to be trying to collect herself. She caught her breath enough to say, "Thank you for saving me from that… that horrible—"

She broke off, finally getting a good look at her rescuer, in particular his slit pupils in golden eyes, extremely pale, hardened skin, and sharp claws.

"You're a demon!" she cried in horror, smacking Edward across the face with all her might. "Unhand me!"

This reaction was so completely unexpected that she managed to catch even Edward's guard down—her slap pushed him off balance and directly into the stream.

Bella, having successfully steered their little boat onto the banks to join them, tried her best to diffuse the situation, but it was simply beyond even her. The girl clearly had a deep-seated prejudice against all demons of any kind, and Edward had been gravely affronted by his unjust "thank-you" for the rescue.

Furiously wringing out his clothing as far from their makeshift campsite as possible, he was nonetheless quite audibly muttering to himself, "Why do I even bother trying?"

Somehow, Bella was able to get the girl to sit down long enough to treat her wounds with some anti-infective cream and bandages that she always carried around these days.

Trying to make polite small talk as she worked, she asked, "So do you live near here?"

"And why would I tell you that?" the girl snapped back waspishly, her eyes narrowed in suspicion of a human keeping such close quarters to not only one, but two demons. She was on the small side, even smaller than Bella, and her plain brown hair was plaited down her back tightly, her pale face splashed with freckles. The dress she wore was not fine, but coarse and mended in many places. Clearly, this child was closer to a waif than a princess.

"For someone whose life was just saved, you could act a little more grateful." Even Seth, with his usually unflappable good humour, was feeling particularly unkind towards the girl, who had all but kicked him when she'd seen him get off the boat.

"Silence!" With a contemptuous sniff and upturned nose, the girl explained needlessly, "You might look more human than not, but I know a demon when I see one! You're all the same!"

Bella, carefully putting back her supplies, surmised, "So that thing that attacked you before was also a demon?"

The girl nodded. "They are called 'Spider-Heads.' They settled on this mountain just after the spring. They steal the heads of their victims, and weave their nests in the corpses. Many from my village have already been slain."

Bella stared, thinking deeply. She hadn't sensed a Sacred Jewel fragment from that demon that had attacked their new reluctant companion, but surely this was something worth looking into? If so many innocents were suffering, there had to be a cause, or at least something they could do to help.

"Edward," she finally called, though she knew Edward could have heard her easily had she spoken normally. "Let's help them."

Edward was already loading their things into their boat. Without turning to look at her, he responded, "I'll pretend you're joking."

"What?"

Slowly, Edward stood and turned to face her. She was shocked at how resolute he was. He wasn't just angry with the girl and feeling resentful. Something else was nagging at him, making him determined to not help. But what could that be?

"We're going, Bella," he said firmly. "We need to be past this mountain before nightfall. In fact, we should be moving now."

"But why?" Bella protested. What was the big rush? "There are demons killing people! We can't just pass by and—"

At this, Edward sent her a withering glance over his shoulder. "I've told you this before—I don't fight demons for the sake of mortals," he reminded her flatly. "I can remember far too many times where they did nothing to help me, so I don't tend to go running off to 'slay the bad'uns' just because one of the little ones comes running scared to me."

"No one's suggesting you do, but…" Bella started, and then broke off. She knew arguing with him at this point would just end in a huge row. What had gotten into him, though? Usually, he'd at least check things out.

At this awkward lull in the conversation, the girl promptly jumped to her feet, fists clenched tightly at her sides as she declared, "I'm going home."

Bella sighed. She wasn't feeling particularly friendly towards the girl, either, but she couldn't watch her walk away into danger when she could stop it. "Just wait," she said. "We'll see you home safely. It's too dangerous to go the mountains alone right now."

"No thanks," was the girl's sullen retort as she began attempting to scale the cliffside by herself. "I wouldn't put myself in a demon's care if my life depended on it."

Her vine promptly snapped, the girl smashing roughly into the dirt seconds later. None of the group felt very sorry for her.

By the time they had all clambered all the way to the top of the never-ending stone steps leading to the temple that was the girl's home, the sun was setting in a blaze of gold and pink. Edward had grown more and more discomfited as it fell, but that could also have been due to the fact that Bella made him carry their newcomer after she'd sprained her ankle in the fall. It was hard to tell which had been more outraged at that development: Edward, or the girl herself.

An ancient-appearing man walked out from the shadows of an archway at the top, wearing the medieval garb of a Catholic monk. His head was even shaved in keeping with Latin tradition, though Bella privately thought that he needn't have bothered; he had so little hair as it was that the pattern of the shave was almost undistinguishable. Gaunt with deep wrinkles etched into his withered skin, it was clear that this man had seen more than his fair share of troubles.

"Maria?" he said uncertainly, seeing the company the girl kept. His eyes stayed on Edward for quite some time. "Who be these folk?"

The girl, apparently called Maria though she'd not revealed that fact herself, promptly elbowed Edward in the eye and pushed him away, running for the man. Edward, crying out in shock more than the pain of her sudden violence, only watched in impotent anger. She could have asked to be put down, but no, that would have been polite, wouldn't it?

"Master!" Maria cried out, running to him. Before she could reach his open arms, however, her ankle gave out and she fell to her knees on the hard stone. The monk laid a sympathetic, if weak, hand on her shoulder.

"Wast thou assailed by demons?" he asked, deeply concerned.

Scrubbing away her tears of pain furiously, Maria explained, "It spied me while I was attending the grave sites, and then these vile demons forced me to lead them to the temple! Forgive me, Master!"

It seemed Maria had inspired so much venom in Seth that he was willing to leap out of Bella's arms and onto the ground before her to scold, "Would you have rather crawled your way up here? Besides, all demons are not the same, you know."

"Demons, be ye…?" the monk queried in a voice trembling with age, with some margin of wariness in his tone too. It was to be expected for this world, Bella thought, a little scepticism of the supernatural. But it was more than a bit ridiculous the amount of prejudice.

Picking up on the subtle worry in the old man's tone, Edward scoffed, crossing his arms, and declared, "Relax, old man, we're not staying."

"Oh, but please, I ask thee," the monk said quickly, holding out a hand to stay them as they turned to make their exit. "Wilt thou not be our guests but for one night as thanks?"

"Master!" Maria cried, scandalized.

The monk laid a hand warningly on her shoulder. "Go and prepare a repast for our honoured guests," he ordered and there was no room in his tone for argument.

Ducking her head in defeat, the girl answered glumly, "Yes, Master."

Her head still bowed, she limped dejectedly off for the temple kitchens.

Looking after her with pity and overwhelming empathy, the monk explained, "The child is ungrateful, but we must forgive her that. She came into mine care but recently, when her father was killed by a Spider-Head. From that horrid moment on, she can feel naught but terror for demons of any ilk."

Bella was growing distinctly alarmed at the mention of these Spider-Head characters. They were beginning to sound more and more terrifying.

"Er—are there very many Spider-Heads in the area?" she asked nervously.

"As more and more men lose their lives to war and famine," the monk answered, regret awash in his tone, "so the number of Spider-Heads seems to increase." He, like Maria, ducked his head dejectedly. "By leaps and bounds."

"Leaps and…?" Bella trailed off, determined more than ever to find a safe place to stay for the night. She was desperate to avoid any run-ins with the so-called Spider-Heads. She tugged lightly on Edward's sleeve, and when he looked down at her expectantly, she whispered, "Let's take him up on his offer and stay the night here."

"And why do I have to let some stupid demons rule my life?" Edward retorted, once more firmly crossing his arms across his chest in defiance.

The monk smiled reassuringly. "With mine own meagre powers have I shielded this temple, so that no demons may enter unbidden." He looked with frank confusion at Edward as he said this, who alone of the group still stood at the top of the stairs under the arch where Maria had struck and left him.

The more he said, the more Bella wanted to stay. She tugged Edward's sleeve again, pleading, "See!"

Edward scoffed, but the sound was distinctly defeated to Bella's mind. Rolling his eyes, Edward gave in, "I suppose there's no sense in arguing with you."

The monk was still staring at Edward. "Yet, can it be… that thee, sir, are in truth a mere mortal?"

Edward's eyes almost bulged out of his head in shock. "Are you blind, old man?" he retorted.

"Forsooth, thy form is a demon's," the old monk agreed. "Yet from thine soul I feel not a trace of demonic power."

"Oh, don't you?" Edward snarled, and suddenly he was seething with rage, claws bared at this harmless old man. "Well, then, why don't we see if you feel it like this?"

"Sit!" Bella commanded in a flat snarl of her own. The monk gasped as Edward was promptly flattened into the ground before him, his half-hearted attempt to rush the old man foiled. Bella could not understand what had gotten him so riled up in the first place.

"Please forgive him," she said politely to the monk. "He gets a bit testy when he's hungry."

"Nothing a good meal cannot cure, then."

The monk ushered them inside then, and showed them to their room. It was very grand by the day's standards. The walls were stone covered in plaster and painted with detailed artworks. The floors were rich, even wood planks. And everywhere the temple was lit by brightly burning candles.

It didn't take long for Maria to begrudgingly bring them their supper and, as quickly as possible, vanish again. Myoga the flea had even shown up randomly to join them for the meal, though Edward didn't seem nearly as surprised as the others to see him. It was almost as though Edward had been expecting the flea to show up sooner, he was so gruff as he barked, "And where have you been?"

As they sat to eat the sumptuous meal, Bella finally voiced her concerns.

"Edward," she began cautiously, her overwhelming concern leaking into her voice, "What's going on with you? You've been acting strangely all day."

"Have I?" he returned dispassionately, focusing on his own meal.

"Yes! I mean, going off like that on something so minor…"

"She speaks true, master," Myoga chimed in. "You should be proud of what you are. You were born of one of the most powerful demons ever to walk the earth and a great lady; you usually have the grace to conduct yourself a little better than that. You are too noble a mix of both worlds for such behaviour."

Seth snorted into his third helping of supper and muttered to himself, "What's so noble about half-breeds?"

Bella prompted slapped his hands and scolded him for such bigotry. He looked at her innocently, as though to ask what he'd done wrong, and she rolled her eyes back, not falling for it at all. She had an eight-year-old brother to contend with, after all. Puppy dog eyes were nothing to her.

"Have you considered that I might be just a bit frustrated that my own concerns and desires don't seem to mean much to you people?" Edward retorted. "Hmm?"

He was all talk, though, and he knew it. He had been deeply offset by that old monk and his summation of Edward's demonic aura. Has he seen right through me? he wondered, his heart pounding at the thought of someone else being privy to his secret.

Bella, however, had taken his words seriously, and was staring at him in concern. "Edward," she said, drawing his attention back to her, "could it be that you're afraid of spiders?"

Not wasting a moment, Seth leapt into the air lunging for Edward's face, transforming himself mid-flight into a huge, hairy, wonky-eyed spider. Edward promptly slapped him away, scoffing.

"Am I wrong?" Bella pressed.

"Absolutely." Without a backward glance, he suddenly jumped to his feet and headed for the terrace door.

"Where are you going?" Bella asked.

"Out of here," he grumbled flatly. "I'm sleeping alone tonight." When Bella made to respond, he waved her off with a curt, "Hear this, if you pry any further into what doesn't—"

But Bella hadn't heard a word. Instead, an involuntary scream was wrenched from her throat as she pointed to the ceiling above him. Edward whirled around, stunned to see a horde of what must be the famed 'Spider-Heads' surging into the room from up there. Outside, he saw hundreds more. They were surrounded by the creepy things.

Indeed, by looks alone, they were enough to make even the most hardened warrior's skin crawl with fear. They were immense for being so-called spiders, with huge black, hairy bodies and legs that were about the size of Seth entirely. Worst of all, each one of them bore a human head where their own should have been. It was downright alarming to be fighting eight-legged, hairy human faces in the darkness. Yet for all their creepiness, they didn't seem very tough.

Outside their room, Maria was similarly besieged by the monsters. She fled her own small chamber, sprinting down the halls as she ducked under thick, white webs and dodged the creepy demons as they sprang up, hoping to catch her.

Finally, she entered the monk's room, screaming for him as she kicked away another demon and opened the door. To her horror, her elderly master was lying sprawled on the ground, covered in the demons and their webs, apparently already dead.

Bella and her companions were left to face an ever-growing horde. The over-large spiders with human heads attached had sprung from nearly every crevice in their chamber, and were busily swarming the group and covering the room with their thick white webs.

"They just keep coming!" Seth cried, trembling as he leapt into Bella's arms.

Edward cursed under his breath at their situation before ordering, "Bella, take Seth and get out of here."

"But—!" she started to argue.

He cut her off with a sharp, "Bella, for once in your life, do as I say. I need you two out of the way if I'm to figure something out—now go!"

Before he'd finished speaking, several of the Spider-Heads had tired of waiting for their targets to come quietly. They surged forward to Edward, spitting out their sticky webs to trap him as they went. Edward drew the Iron Fang, which remained in its rusted, useless form as he whacked the demons away desperately.

Bella, only having gotten to the door before realizing that Edward was in serious trouble, stopped and turned around, horrified at the sight. Edward was rapidly being buried under a sea of the demons and their webs, his limbs stuck at odd angles. And why wasn't the Fang transforming for him?

Setting Seth down in a safe spot, she hurried back to offer whatever assistance she could. But, surprising her, Seth beat her to Edward.

"Foxfire!" he cried, throwing what looked to be a leaf into the air. The leaf turned mid-flight into a sea of blue-white flames, engulfing all that it came up against. It was another of his illusions, of course, so it caused no real harm. But the size and colour of it, not to mention the brightness, seemed to paralyze the Spider-Heads with fear. They backed into a far corner, a mountain of them crawling over each other, and waited.

Bella and Seth were taking no chances. Bella grabbed Edward up under his arms and started dragging him out of the room as fast as she could, Seth using the un-transformed Iron Fang to clear what webs he could off Edward's body and whack those Spider-Heads that came too near.

It took some time, but they were finally deep into the woods surrounding the temple about half an hour later, panting from exhaustion. Edward seemed to have recovered himself at last, but his temper was mightily frayed as he strode a few paces from his companions, plucked the last of the webs off himself, and sat with his back to them defiantly.

"Edward, what's the matter with you?" Bella asked, her voice trembling if only due to her windedness.

"Leave me alone!" he snapped back.

Seth, taking offense to this affront on Bella, leapt up and smacked the back of Edward's head with all his little might, declaring, "Watch that attitude of yours! She's just worried about you!"

Edward scoffed, finally stirring from his rigid position as he turned to face them. "You should be more worried about yourselves."

Bella's mouth fell open involuntarily as she finally caught a look at him. Gone was the opalescent, diamond-hard skin. Gone were the slit-pupils and golden eyes. In their place, Edward looked like nothing so much as an ordinary human boy. His soft, normal skin was even a little pudgy at the cheeks, as though he hadn't quite lost his baby fat, and was flushed from their exertion. His eyes were a deep, emerald green that Bella had never seen before. She was willing to bet that his claws were gone too, replaced by ordinary human nails.

"E-Edward?" she whispered, stunned, as she reached out an involuntary hand to his cheek, determined to prove this astonishing sight. "Wha… What's happened to you?"

"If you think I can protect you like usual, you're wrong," was all he'd say.

Back at the temple, Maria was desperately trying to free her master from the clutches of the Spider-Heads and their disgusting webs.

"No, Maria," the old monk said, his voice almost a whisper. "Run!"

"But, Master, I can't just leave you!"

"Go! Save thine own self! Make haste, for mine magic cannot hold them long in check! Run out into the woods. Find that demon Edward, and his companion. They canst protect thee…"

Uncertain, hot tears streaming from her eyes, Maria turned and fled the temple at her master's request, still feeling as though she'd made the wrong decision. Leaving the old monk to die alone, devoured by demons… She would surely go to Hell for such an ungrateful act, especially after all that kind man had done for her.

Bella collapsed to her knees beside Edward, unable to remove her eyes from the sight. It was just so bizarre, seeing the person she'd thought she'd come to know fairly well looking so different.

Beginning to fidget uncomfortably under her stare, Edward quipped a little roughly, "I take it you don't like what you see."

The dam of silence broken, Seth leapt onto Edward's head and seized some of his hair to hold himself up there. Thus positioned, he shoved his little hand into Edward's mouth and began fishing around for tell-tale fangs. "Did you file down your teeth?" he asked, not understanding the differences. Edward didn't dignify that with a response.

"Edward, what's happened?" Bella pressed urgently, her eyes still wide and mystified as she drank in this change. "You look almost human!"

Edward snorted drily. "'Almost'?" he retorted, and then began to show off inventory for general inspection. "I have no fangs, no claws, no strength. What else is there but mortal?"

Calmly, informatively, Myoga the flea's voice piped up from somewhere inside Bella's blouse, "In the life of every half-demon, there are times when their demon blood ebbs away. Since they are most vulnerable then, they try never to let anyone else discover that such times must come. For Master Edward, this time is the first night of the new month, when the moon is dark."

"Wait," Bella snapped, picking up on one key detail. "You knew?"

"Only because I, too, had come upon Master Edward during his time of weakness accidentally. He never would have revealed it to me otherwise. No half-demon would."

Furious, irrational tears filled Bella's eyes as she rounded on Edward. "And what about me?" she all but yelled at him, while he cowered in shock. "If I had known about this, I would never have insisted that we stay in this den of demons. Do you not trust me either?"

Recovering from his surprise at her outburst, Edward retorted firmly, "I trust no one!"

Bella stared, unable to stop the tears from spilling out of her eyes and down her cheeks. Some part of her knew that this was a reasonable response, given the way Edward had grown up, but she'd naively believed that their experiences together had warmed him to her at least a little. More than warmed, she'd hoped their struggles had proven to him just a bit that she was a teammate here, not just a liability. This completely negated all of that.

Sensing the direction of her thoughts, he explained coldly, "It's got nothing to do with you. This is how I've always been. It's the only way I know how to protect myself."

Doing nothing to stop the flow of her tears, Bella hoarsely murmured, "I'm sorry for what you went through as a kid and you know it, but… but I just thought you trusted me just a little more now, as your friend."

She hid her face in her hands, still crying. This more than anything had rattled Edward.

"O-Oi…" he started weakly and then, frantically, "Th-This is no time for—for—"

"It's because you're so stubborn and proud," came her muffled voice from beneath her hands, before she lifted her head once more, levelling Edward with the single most venomous, angry look he had ever seen on her, "that we keep getting into these messes!" Edward fell back, stunned, as the girl continued to yell, "If you weren't always trying to do this crap on your own, we wouldn't be stuck in this position! You're such an idiot!"

Seth, who had also backed away at the sheer volume of Bella's quick wrath, was now trying to gather his wits about him. If Edward had been reduced to a mere mortal for the rest of the night, it was up to him as the only remaining demon to protect his friends. He had to stay strong.

With a great crashing and screaming, their party was suddenly joined by Maria, having tripped and slid most ungracefully down the hill towards their hidden thicket. Seth, caught off guard by the sudden noises, leapt onto Bella's back and hid under her hair. Edward took up the Iron Fang, still sheathed, though it wouldn't be of any use to him on this night.

Seeing whom their company was, however, the group relaxed and Edward hid behind a large tree to preserve the rest of his secret. Maria was distraught.

"Please!" she cried, tears of stress and exhaustion and supplication springing to her eyes, "You must return to the temple! The monk is under attack! He's still alive, but please—help him! That demon, Edward—he's strong, right?"

"Erm, well…" Bella hesitated. How did she explain this? She didn't want it to sound like Edward was callously leaving them to their deaths, but she also didn't want to reveal his secret. Finally, she settled for making him answer himself. Calling behind the tree for the audiences' benefit, she asked, "Don't you have anything to say, Edward?"

"Yes," he shot back instantly and decidedly. "'No thanks.' C'mon, Bella, let's not overstay our welcome here."

He climbed to his feet and came around the side of the tree trunk, obviously counting on the darkness and weaker mortal eyes to conceal the majority of the changes he'd undergone. It didn't work.

"You're… human?" Maria gasped.

Edward rolled his eyes expressively and retorted, "Not for long—and you wouldn't want to be in a demon's care, would you?"

"So you'll just run away and leave him to die?" she all but shrieked in anger and disappointment.

Edward shrugged uncaringly. "Call it what you will."

He walked off a few paces then stopped, clearly waiting for the rest of his ragtag team to follow. Bella hesitated, and Seth turned to look at her uncertainly.

"What do we do, Bella?" he asked.

Suddenly, Bella gasped so loudly it was almost a cry. At the sound, Edward immediately whirled around and demanded, "What is it, Bella?"

"The Jewel pieces…" she cried, horrified, "I left them behind in my rucksack!"

"WHAT?"

Within minutes, they had somehow found the temple again in the blackness of the dense forest at night-time, despite their own worst misgivings about the place. On their way, Edward had forced them all to collect the wooden grave-markers from the makeshift cemetery off to one side of the monastery. Despite Maria's squawking about his evil intentions, Edward knew they would make decent torches when the need arose, and those Spider-Heads seemed to fear fire.

"Bella!" he suddenly barked, catching the girl in question off-guard. "You wait here with Maria. Keep an eye on her, okay? And take this." He extended the Iron Fang, still sheathed, to her. At her blank, disbelieving look, he explained, "Even if the Fang won't transform, you can hit the Spider-Heads on their heads. That seems to work well enough."

Then he turned away from her, heading back inside the demon-infested temple with a curt, "Let's go, Seth."

"Please be careful!" Bella called after the two of them, already frantic with worry though she knew it'd do neither of them any good.

"So…" came a tremulous, bewildered voice from behind her. Bella turned as Maria finished, "So he'll help the monk?"

"Of course," came Bella's easy reply. "He's a much better guy than he'll admit."

Edward and Seth had reached the room that had once been theirs. It was all but destroyed, the doors hanging on their hinges, great holes in the floor, and everything covered in spider webs. The Spider-Heads themselves seemed to have long cleared out, but Edward wasn't content. He kicked the debris around, frantically searching for Bella's yellow rucksack before giving up.

"All our packs are gone!" Seth cried despairingly.

"Those damned Spider-Heads must have made off with them," Edward agreed. He took one of the grave markers out from under his arm, ordering, "Seth, foxfire!"

Seth obediently lit the end of one of his grave-markers on fire, and Edward tossed it like a javelin for the end of the hall, where it set aflame a sea of webs, illuminating almost everything. A horde of Spider-Heads were there, Bella's heavy pack resting on their backs as they strained and heaved to get it to a certain location.

"So that's why they weren't interested in following us," Edward gathered. "They'd gotten what they wanted—the Jewel shards. Seth!"

Seth lit the end of the grave-marker just as Edward took it out from under his arm, and Edward used it to smack away the Spider-Heads surging forward to attack them. It was surprisingly easy work: with the demons' natural fear of the fire even when only an illusion and Edward's superior strength even when mortal, the Spider-Heads stood little to no chance against them.

They seemed to realize this. Instead of reconvening to form another attack, they all clustered back together in their horde, the yellow rucksack on their backs, and scuttled away as fast as they could. Edward and Seth gave chase, the Spider-Heads leading them right into the main hall of the monastery. It had been absolutely covered in webs. There was hardly a square inch of space that didn't contain a veritable rope of the stuff.

And strung up by them next to the grand fireplace was the old monk. He was hung by his upper arms above the elbow, his lower arms left to dangle at odd angles. His eyes were closed, his neck bent forward awkwardly, and it didn't seem to Edward that he was breathing.

"Oh, the master has been protecting this village from the Spider-Heads with his holy powers ever since they first came," Maria was saying in answer to Bella's rather pitiful attempt at conversation. They had little else to think about, though Bella was already deeply concerned over some things that had only just occurred to her. "He's risked his life many a time to retrieve a body felled by them. And he held great memorials and masses for those left behind. And after my father was killed… the master was all I had."

Bella sat, listening to this story in silence. Maria dissolved in tears once more as she finished, but Bella was preoccupied with more troubling thoughts. So the Spider-Heads turned up around the same time as the monk, huh? And now, conveniently on the night that Jewel shards had appeared in their midst, the monk's magic had failed? It was simply too much coincidence for her to believe.

But, if it wasn't coincidence, that left only one conclusion. Could it be that the monk was somehow in on this whole thing?

"Oi, monk!" Edward called, attempting to scale the webs up to where the old man hung helplessly. Seth waited nearby at the base of the thick ropes of webs, warding off any Spider-Heads that came too close.

"…Edward?" came his old, rattling voice. His eyes didn't open, but his head turned towards the sounds Edward made in his approach. "Thee… came back for me?"

"Seems like. Just lie still, we'll get you out of here."

Edward reached up to grab the monk's hand and tugged, seeing how loose the webs might be. But instead of the webs giving way, the monk's arm did. Edward gasped in shock as the arm suddenly stretched to ten times a normal length, the hand closing around his throat and shoving him back into the wall, cutting off his airway.

"Edward!" Seth yelled, horrified.

The half-demon-turned-human groaned, sucking in a desperate gulp of air as he hissed, "You… damned monster. So… you're the one leading the… Spider-Heads!"

At this proclamation, the demon seemed to feel he had no more need of hiding. His floor-length monk's tunic exploded with the force of dozens of limbs suddenly coming out from within the demon as the human guise fell to shreds, leaving only the head of the old man behind to grin madly up at Edward. The limbs spread far and wide throughout the room, criss-crossing each other.

Seth gasped again, bile rising in his throat as he realized aloud, "He's… His body's a spider web?"

The old man's eyes opened, still beaming that mad grin as he laughed, "Rumour told of a half-breed bearing many fragments of the Jewel of Four Souls wandering these lands, and so I lay in wait for thee… ne'er hoping that into mine very parlour thou wouldst step just as thy demon power fell into eclipse!"

Pinned to his wall, Edward scoffed and reached up, plucking the old demon's thumb away from his neck and twisting it back violently—it broke with a horrendous crack that echoed in the vast room, though the demon seemed to take no notice. Without the thumb, the rest of the hand was useless at choking him.

Edward pushed it away, declaring boldly, "Even without my powers, I shouldn't have a problem squashing a bug like you!"

He pushed off from the wall roughly, propelling himself towards the demon.

"Fool!" the demon laughed, expelling more of its own thick, rope-like webs at Edward, who was immediately ensnared within them.

Desperately, Seth sprang into the air calling, "Foxfire!" to try and burn the webs off his friend. The old demon was having none of it. Almost before the words had left Seth's mouth and the first few threads of web began falling away, he'd backhanded Seth away from Edward and then, using one of his plethora of arms, pinned the cub roughly into the floor.

Satisfied that the fox demon brat would interfere no further, the old demon allowed himself to return his attentions to Edward. He strained, pulling his webs back to himself, and Edward was dragged helplessly along with them, hopelessly entangled.

"Let us see how long thine feeble human body can withstand mine venom," the old man suggested, and promptly sank his incredibly long canine teeth, which had come to resemble a spider's pincers, into the space between Edward's neck and shoulder.

Edward screamed in pain. Seth, frantically beating against the floor and his own assailing limb, called desperately, "Edward!" He realized rather quickly that it was no good. All his efforts were getting him nowhere, and Edward was going to be killed very soon. He hated to admit it, but they needed help. He plucked an acorn out of his pockets and blew on it, before flicking it out of the open door towards the forest. He'd put one of his fox-magic spells on it to send a message to Bella of their dire situation, hoping against hope that they'd get it within a few minutes and come running to aid Edward.

The old spider demon, assured of his victory, watched languidly as his Spider-Heads dug around in Bella's pack, finally resurfacing with her little glass bottle of Jewel shards.

"Excellent," he hissed eagerly, taking the bottle from his minions. "These will extend my life by at least another three hundred years…"

"M-Master?"

It seemed Seth's message had been unnecessary. There was no way Bella could have received and responded to it so quickly—she and Maria must have already been heading this way, probably concerned with how long it was taking them.

The girls stood in the doorway, gazing open-mouthed at the horrors surrounding them. Maria in particular seemed to be in disbelief, her eyes brimming with betrayal.

"So it was you all along!" Bella cried, and her tone sounded vindicated, as though she'd found proof of a conclusion she'd reached some time ago. "How dare you trick these people into thinking you're a holy person, you monster!"

Seth, still pinned, was frantically trying to get Bella's attention where it needed to be. "Bella!" he squeaked, pointing wildly. "Edward!"

Bewildered, Bella's gaze followed where he indicated to the ceiling. She screamed.

Edward was hanging near the ceiling, his limp body caught up in the webs. His emerald eyes were open and glassy, unfocused and unblinking.

The spider demon laughed riotously at Bella's reaction, as though it were the funniest thing he'd ever seen. "I filled his veins well with venom. From the inside out, it is now devouring him… slowly, inch by merest inch."

Bella was not listening in the slightest. She was already scrambling to climb the limb-like appendages forming the demon's body, straining to reach Edward.

"So eager to hasten thine own demise?"

A stream of spider webs was shot towards her and, on instinct, Bella brought up the Iron Fang to defend herself, though she knew it could do nothing for her. Still, the webs were incinerated on contact with the blade and its scabbard. Bella was unharmed and even untouched as she lowered the sword again.

"The Fang has thrown up its barrier!" Myoga chirped from her shoulder.

Bella didn't stop climbing, more determined than ever to reach Edward, but she did mutter to the flea demon, "If you're still here, that must mean we have a pretty good chance."

"What are you insinuating?"

Bella was spared from replying by a group of Spider-Heads flinging themselves down from the ceiling at her. She screamed in disgust and fright, but managed to deflect each one by giving it a good whack with the Fang on their human heads, as Edward had recommended earlier.

"Bell…a…"

The muted groan, the voice gurgling frighteningly, made Bella's heart almost burst with relief. She turned and started to climb the disgusting demon's body-web faster than ever, more determined than ever. Edward was still alive! There was still hope!

"I'm coming!" she cried up to him. "Just hold on a little longer!"

"No… run…"

"Not a chance!" she all but screamed back at him. She'd reached him by now, hacking away furiously at the thick webs with the Fang.

"You're such… an idiot," Edward managed to gripe.

Bella glared at him, though her eyes were filling with hot tears. "I know I am, okay? You can tell me all about it later, but I will not leave here without you!"

Suddenly his tone changed. "Behind… you…!"

The old spider demon had taken advantage of her distraction and was trying a new technique. Seeing as his webs and Spider-Heads had failed, he'd apparently decided that when you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself. He'd managed to manoeuvre his web-like body around so that his wrinkled bald head was at Bella's ankle, his mouth opened and poised to bite her, too.

Bella immediately sprang forward, only to realize after the fact that she'd thrown herself onto Edward's chest. Her body weight was too much for the few strings of web left holding him up. The demon's jaws clamped on empty air as she and Edward were suddenly thrown to the floor. They hit hard, Bella trying her best to land off of Edward and onto the ground beside him to spare him more pain.

Still, despite the situation, she managed to quip, "Cut right to the point next time, will ya?"

"Bella! Here!"

Maria was waving frantically at her, beckoning her over to where she already stood at the mouth of a smaller, shabbier back hall. Bella hastened to lift Edward under his arms, but with his paralysis, his dead weight was just too much for her. Seeing this, Maria scrambled over to lift him by his other arm, and the two girls dragged Edward with them down the hall as quickly as they could, the old web demon hot on their heels.

"That way!" Maria cried, pointing down another hall. "There's a little room at the end we can hide in!"

They just barely managed to get Edward inside and clamp the door shut before the demon was upon them, almost banging the door down in his fury.

"Quickly, Bella, thrust the Fang into the door! Hurry!"

Without questioning the flea demon, Bella obeyed. She withdrew the untransformed sword, throwing the scabbard away in her haste, and, raising it above her head, she thrust it into the thick wood of the door with all her strength.

"Damn you!" came the frustrated voice of the demon outside the room.

"We should be able to hold out for a while with the barrier cast by the Fang," Myoga explained, re-emerging once more from Bella's blouse. "Though I shudder to guess at how long it will last…"

Still panting from her exertions and overwrought emotions, Bella turned back to Edward and asked, "Are you alright, Edward?"

But the half-demon had lost consciousness, either from the pain of his injuries or just due to the extent of the internal damage he was suffering. Bella bit her lip, tears welling again in her eyes, as she reached out to take Edward's hand. His skin was as cold as ice.

"Please hold on, Edward," she begged, still holding his frozen hand.

Myoga jumped onto Edward's chest, assessing the damage to his shoulder and throat from the spider demon's bite. "You must not shake or move him any further, Bella," he pronounced, "or the venom will only circulate that much faster. Though it could be too late, regardless… His human body is likely not enough to endure this amount of demonic venom."

"So he's… he's dying?" Bella whispered, the tears gathered in her eyes falling, burning her cold cheeks with their heat.

The flea demon refused to meet her gaze, instead focusing once more on Edward's small twin wounds from the bite. "It is a radical treatment," he finally said, "but I might be able to suck out the venom… It would probably be better if you don't watch, Bella."

"What?"

But the flea demon was no longer listening. He'd landed right in the middle of one of Edward's wounds and was sucking the blood there with loud, sickening slurps. Bella knew he was only trying to save Edward, but Myoga had been right—it was very difficult to watch. Her stomach revolted at the sight.

"What the hell is he doing?" Maria demanded, plopping onto her knees beside Bella, her own horrified, disgusted gaze on Myoga.

"Well, h-he's a flea demon," the older girl responded shakily, "so he's trying to suck out the venom."

After a few moments, Myoga rolled off of Edward's neck, hitting the floor with a dull thud and a pained groan.

"Myoga?" Bella asked tremulously.

"I'm fine," the flea demon groaned. "Just waay too full."

As he spoke, Edward suddenly jerked his head to one side, letting out a low groan of pain himself. Bella, delighted to see Edward moving around on his own again but still worried out of her mind for him, promptly slapped Myoga out of her way and took Edward's hand again, crying out the half-demon's name.

Edward slowly opened hazy green eyes, which he attempted to focus on Bella's face. When he finally accomplished that task, his brow furrowed weakly. "Bella, why the tears?"

To her own surprise, Bella realized that her tears had once more returned, whether out of her extreme worry for her friend or relief at his awakening, she neither knew nor cared.

"You're alive," she explained briefly, brushing the tears away quickly. "I thought… I thought you might be gone."

It took him a moment, but he finally scoffed with none of his usual gusto, "Who, me? Don't be ridiculous."

Bella gave her own watery sound of derision, tears still coursing down her cheeks without her consent. "You're not invulnerable, you idiot! I was really worried!"

Edward stayed as he was, his head turned away from her, his eyes already half-lidded again as he muttered bitterly, "So?"

A sudden rustling in the corner drew Bella's attention away from Edward. Maria, too, leapt to a kneeling position, leaning towards Bella as though the older girl could protect her.

"What is it?" Bella whispered, afraid to make more noise in fear of whatever the rustling was caused by.

"There's something in here," responded Maria, her voice quavering.

Bella took up the scabbard, determined to protect her group—especially the weakened Edward—for as long she could, by whatever means necessary. Maria cowered behind her, fretting, "D'you think it's a Spider-Head?"

Slowly, Bella raised the scabbard high above her head with both hands, waiting until the creature revealed itself to bring it back down with all her might.

"Waah!" whatever it was wailed in a high, soprano voice. "Don't hit me!"

A… a something came wobbling uncertainly from a crack in the wall. It was covered in grey hair, except for a long tail that stretched out with pink naked skin from behind it. It was the size of a small cat, and stood on its two back legs. Its snout was far too short to be a rat, but too pointed to be a cat…

"What is that thing?" Maria cried, but, somehow sensing its harmlessness, she ventured out from behind Bella for a closer look.

"I think it's a cat?" Bella guessed, though she honestly had no idea.

"It's me!" came Seth's voice, as he once more transformed himself back to normal. "I transformed and hid, and I got these back!"

He tossed Bella something tiny and glinting in the scant light, as he griped, "And I was a mouse!"

"The Jewel shards!" Bella gasped delightedly as she caught the little bottle. "How did you get them back?"

With a smug, self-satisfied grin, Seth leapt into Bella's outstretched arms where he seated himself, preening for his admirers. "I did it while the old monk was distracted by you and the others."

"Nice work, Seth!" He beamed under Bella's praise, still looking very pleased with himself.

Interrupting their mini-celebrations, however, came a loud scraping noise at the door. Clearly, the old demon had discovered the absence of the Jewel fragments, and had determined where they had been taken. But even still, he couldn't get through the Fang's barrier… at least, not yet.

A frightened hush fell over the group as they stared at the door, listening to the scratching and waiting to see if the barrier would hold.

"How long are we going to stay in here like this?" Seth asked Bella, his voice shaking.

Myoga, still laid out on the floor from his exertions, answered, "As long as the Iron Fang's barrier holds, we are safest here. Besides, until Master Edward's powers return, staying put is better than any other plan."

Decided, they all spread around the tiny room as best they could, preparing for a long night. Maria sat against the wall that held the door, her knees pulled tight to her chest, a look of intense fear wrinkling her young face. Seth went to the opposite end of the little room, lying down under a small window. Bella stayed by Edward, who by far had taken up the most space. He alone was spread completely out on the floor, but no one held it against him as they curled up at the walls surrounding him.

Eventually, as the hours ticked slowly by, they began to drift off to an uneasy sleep. Seth was the first to fall, followed by a very reluctant Maria, who kept glancing to the door uncertainly.

Bella alone stayed awake the entire night, listening to the scratching noise outside the room and, even more frightening, the silence that followed when the old demon had decided to try something else. She gazed down at Edward's unconscious form, noting with concern that he was now dripping in sweat, his cheeks flushed with high fever.

Wishing she could do more, she pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and dabbed at his forehead. At her touch, his emerald eyes opened and she backed away, whispering apologetically, "I'm sorry. Did I wake you?"

He turned his head to the side again, away from her, but he answered, "No, I've been thinking. Why… Why were you crying?"

For some unknown reason, Bella answered honestly. She didn't know why she'd reacted the way she had, why she had been so deeply affected at the thought of Edward being gone, but she had, and she saw no reason to deny it. So, she admitted in a whisper, "Because I thought you were going to die."

He didn't respond to this in any way for a very long moment. He just gazed distantly at the wall opposite her, thinking. No emotion except sheer exhaustion showed on his face. Then, seemingly at random, he asked, "Could you lend me your lap?"

Confused but willing to do about anything if it meant the difference between Edward surviving the night or not, Bella gently lifted Edward at the shoulders and laid his head on her lap. His eyes closed again almost immediately, and he seemed too tired to open them again.

"How's this?" she asked, still whispering so as not to wake their companions. "Are you any more comfortable?"

"Yeah." Eyes still shut, he turned his head towards Bella. His words came slowly, as though he were already half-asleep and unaware he was even speaking. "You smell good."

Bella felt her face go red and her heart start racing, but she still managed to hiss, "Okay, what's up with you? You made a point of telling me before that you couldn't stand my scent."

"I did," he agreed, and the words were still slow and garbled, "but I was lying."

Her heart pounding harder at this declaration, Bella breathed slowly, trying to calm herself. What was she even getting this worked up about? He clearly had no idea what he was saying, and for all she knew, he could be lying right now. Besides, it wasn't like appreciating the way someone smelled equated to anything momentous.

But for all her adamant denials in her mind, her heart refused to calm itself, her cheeks refused to lose their colour. She just couldn't understand why she was feeling so strangely.

"Edward, are you…?" she began to whisper, but Edward didn't respond, already unconscious once more. She finished the sentence unintentionally aloud, "…asleep?"

"You should get some sleep, too," came an unexpected reply. Bella about jumped out of her skin at the thought of a witness to her embarrassment. Maria sat where she'd always been, next to the door, but she was looking over her knees at Bella, her own cheeks darkened with embarrassment too.

Despite this, she continued to Bella, "You haven't slept at all tonight, have you?"

"Er… Were you… Did you hear all that?" Bella spluttered.

Awkwardly, trying to be diplomatic, Maria replied, "It's a really tight fit in here."

Maria stayed awake long after Bella had finally fallen asleep. She'd been worrying about the older girl's health—it couldn't be good for her to stay awake so long, especially after such an emotional night. She stared at the ceiling desolately, so confused. How could everything she'd known up to this point have been a lie? The kind, good-natured monk who'd comforted her after the death of her father was nothing more than an act?

Nothing had been the same since these strangers had appeared on their mountain. The half-demon and his weird friends. She just couldn't make sense of any of it.

"Maria…" a familiar voice suddenly crooned from the other side of the door. Maria froze, listening in horror, begging silently for the barrier not to break. But it was so hard to picture this kind, elderly voice as belonging to a demon. "Thou art there…"

Maria jumped away from the wall, looking back at the door with disgust. "Demon! You tricked me from the start!"

"Dost thou not understand, child? Mine holy power… 'twas not enough. Thus was thy poor master possessed by demons…Thanks to those who art by thee now."

Maria flinched, staring at the door blankly. She refused to believe it… though she herself had been thinking along similar lines… "What are you saying?" she finally demanded.

"The immense powers of the Jewel of Four Souls… 'twas they who brought it here, and thus doomed us all. 'Tis a Jewel filled with evil magic… and from it this mountains' demons drew new might… and I could no longer resist them."

Jewel of Four Souls? Maria had never heard of such a thing. But that thing Seth had brought back to Bella earlier… She'd called them "Jewel shards." Was that what the old monk meant?

"Are the pieces not there with thee? Now, while the sun rises and evil rests, if I might raise my powers with the Jewel… then shall I exorcise the demons, and we shall both be saved."

Maria glared at the door. "I will not be deceived again!" she cried, and turned her back on the murmurings on the other side, covering her ears.

But memories played behind her tightly shut eyes, memories she couldn't stop though she willed them to. Shortly after her father had been murdered and she'd found the body, still inhabited by the Spider-Head who'd killed him, the monk had come upon her. He'd slain the demon and helped her bury her father. She remembered with crystal clarity the kind words he'd given her, the tact with which he'd guessed her situation and offered help.

Poor child, I shall pray for his soul's peace… If thou hast no other obligations, thou might consider work at mine monastery. We always have need of pure souls looking to improve the world in which we live…

She felt tears course down her cheeks at the memory of his kind smile as he extended a helping hand to her, still preserving her own dignity. Could he really have been nothing more than a ruse set out by a cruel, far-reaching demon?

Slowly, a strange sound was invading the unconsciousness of the group. Edward was the first to react, his green eyes slowly opening, staring at the ceiling in confusion as he tried to identify the bizarre creaking noise. Bella awoke next, rubbing her eyes blearily, before she let out a terrified scream and jumped up from her slouch. Edward was almost thrown to the ground from her lap, but stopped himself with an arm, looking to follow Bella's gaze.

Maria was being crushed under the weight of the wooden door, caught in the act of pulling the Iron Fang out from it. The old spider demon and his minions were flooding into the tiny room, stomping right over the poor girl, who cried at the shock and pain of it.

"But why?!" Seth yelled at her, dismayed and disgusted at her betrayal.

Following their gazes, the old spider demon laughed, "She is a trusting lass, indeed. 'Tis a trait most endearing… and so easily deceived."

As he spoke, he scooped up the bottle of Jewel fragments that had been left on the floor. Edward leapt from the floor to stop him eating them, but it was too late. The little glass bottle cracked and shattered between the demon's lips, and he swallowed the fragments, even the glass, before Edward had even taken a step.

With renewed vigour flowing through him, the old spider demon slammed Edward back into the far wall by the throat, squeezing tightly as he declared, "This time, I finish thee!"

To his surprise, however, the boy laughed. Beneath the demon's very hand, Edward's skin was hardening, becoming smooth and firm as stone. His eyes were turning a queer sea colour, green tinged with gold, his blunt teeth lengthening into fangs. And against his arm, the boy's nails were lengthening and hardening into claws as well… Edward's human night had come to an end, and his demonic powers were rapidly returning.

Noticing this, the demon took his only chance: he used the power of the Jewel. Before Bella and Seth's horrified eyes, the demon's veneer of an elderly man literally ripped away, to be replaced by a giant, hairy, bulging-eyed spider head. The eight red eyes gleamed in every direction, its enormous pincers trembling at the ready for Edward.

"The demon's transforming faster!" Seth cried, looking from Edward to the spider. If Edward didn't hurry things along, he'd be killed before he could even fully return to normal.

"So, young pup, thee wouldst, I imagine, wage a battle on similar terms. But still, thou art no more than half a demon! Dream not that thee art a match for me, who have swallowed the Jewel's power! I shall twist thee in half!"

Edward couldn't be bothered listening. Grasping the demon's arm that held him pinned to the wall, he growled low in his throat and ripped the limb apart as easily as splitting a bag open. Not satisfied, he kicked against the wall hard, pushing himself up towards the demon's throat, which he slashed to bits with his claws.

"Edward's back to normal!" Seth cheered, leaping onto Bella's shoulder and hugging her ecstatically.

Hearing him, Edward gave the old spider demon a cocky smirk. "Too bad, eh?" he said sarcastically. "Should've killed me while you had the chance. Now your drawn-out life ends here, but first you're going to spit out those Jewel shards!"

"Think ye the victor already?" the demon attempted vainly to taunt the half-demon, who laughed at the puny jab.

"Oh, shut up already," he retorted carelessly, and slammed the demon's head down so hard it hit the floor and punctured right through it, sending splinters and chunks of wood into the air. But to Edward's cheering audience's confusion, the half-demon withdrew his hand from a suddenly empty hole, looking back into it perplexedly.

Then, in one of the web-like limbs behind him, the demon managed to manifest another head, the face seemingly appearing from blank skin to laugh at Edward's efforts. Edward slashed out at that one, ripping it apart, only to have another emerge on another limb farther away. More and more popped up, until almost every joint in the web of limbs had a head jutting out of it, laughing madly away at Edward's confusion.

"Edward!" Bella suddenly called. "Go for the one next to the monk's clothes! It has the Jewel shards!"

"Right!"

The half-demon was halfway there by the time she finished speaking. The old demon, frantic and infuriated at this turn of events, thrust out several long-fingered, clawed hands, desperate to grab any of the half-demon's companions that he could use for a diversion. Instead, his hands found Maria, but that was just as well.

The girl screamed as he lifted her into the air with one gigantic hand around her waist. Edward focused on that immediately. He knew what the old demon was trying to do, but he had to let it work. He tried desperately to slash the head containing the Jewel shards before he could get the girl to cover him, but he was mere seconds too slow. As he brought down his hand to strike, the spider demon flung Maria over him. Edward forced himself to stop, snarling in frustration. He couldn't get a clear shot around the girl, and he couldn't risk hitting her.

In his brief moment of hesitation, a head behind him sprayed him with the thick, rope-like webs, and he was ensnared once more. Kicking and fighting only left him more entangled. The demon laughed wildly.

"Hadst thou been a demon true, thou would have sliced the girl in twain!"

"Tell me the truth," Maria suddenly commanded, though she was in no position to do so. "Has the old monk already gone?"

The demon laughed again, louder than ever. When he finally calmed himself enough to speak, he cried, "Idiot girl! There never was a monk! 'Twas all a lure to snare the half-breed said to possess most of the Jewel! I loosed the Spider-Heads on this mountain, knowing the rumours would finally draw him."

"So you… you sent the demons that killed my father?" Maria screamed.

The demon laughed once more in frank enjoyment, "'Tis a strange irony, is it not? Trusting thy life, pledging thy service, to thy father's killer. And thou hast served me very well up to now, Maria."

With an enormous scream of betrayal, pain, and fury, Maria drove the untransformed Iron Fang, which she somehow still clutched, into the demon's nearest head, the one that had been talking to her. She completely impaled it through one eye. Instead of doing much damage, however, this only seemed to infuriate the demon. He grabbed the girl by both wrists, using another limb to belt her across the face. The head that she had struck vanished, reabsorbed back in the limb, but the Fang remained stuck there.

"Ungrateful child," he scolded. "After all the days I've let thee live."

"I'd rather have died long ago, with my father!"

"Well, seest thou, child, how I give thee everything?" Another head extended out of his plethora of web-like limbs, its maw wide to sink his fangs into her throat.

He never made it that far. Instead, about halfway there, his face met Edward's fist as the half-demon announced cheerfully, "If you two have finished your little chat, it's time to deal with me."

He was standing on the very limbs that held the girl aloft in the air, holding onto the rope-like webs that had tried to detain him for balance. On the ground far beneath them, Bella was watching the bit of flesh where the Iron Fang was embedded. The flesh beneath it, though no longer a head, still contained the Jewel shards. But the glow she could see from them was changing, becoming less a solid mass and more diffuse…

"Edward!" she gasped in sudden realization. "He's absorbing the Jewel pieces! Hurry! They're right next to the Fang!"

The demon heard this however and in a last bid to keep the half-demon—and anyone else—from getting to the Jewel shards before they completely dissolved in his body, he curled up tightly, like a spider that's been killed. Every limb recoiled back to the source, swelling with muscle and squeezing the two captive within them tightly.

Next to Bella, Seth recoiled in disgust, muttering, "Gross!"

"He's going to crush them!" Bella cried.

Deep within the ball of flesh squeezing tighter and tighter, it was getting hard for Maria to breathe. Instead of panicking however, she was berating herself. She was so stupid for believing that demon. Without ever suspecting that he might have something to do with the Spider-Heads after they appeared simultaneously… The one responsible for her father's death, and she'd allowed herself to be taken in by the monster—and what was worse, she helped him! And now, perhaps her most stupid act yet, she'd fallen for his lies again and helped him to become even more evil. She deserved the death that was coming for her.

Suddenly, instead of the death she was expecting, the fleshy limbs pressing into her back and front were suddenly wrenched apart, and the half-demon was before her, looking at her perplexedly. Then he sighed. "You humans are just an embarrassment, turning every little thing into a death scene." He stopped, staring at her as though waiting for something. Maria stared back, at a loss.

"What are you waiting for?" he suddenly barked, causing her to jump. "Grab on! Or do you want to stay here and be crushed?"

But he was a demon! She didn't understand why he'd want to save her. "You're going to help me?" she asked aloud, bewildered.

As she wrapped her arms around his neck, allowing herself to be dragged along as he pulled more bits apart and wedged them through, she heard him counter, "You're just a side-trip. My business is over there."

She glanced where he'd pointed his chin. His rusty old sword was sticking out of one of the limbs, only metres from them. But, as though sensing how close they were to escaping, the demon pressed even harder. Even Edward had a hard time then forcing the flesh away.

"Forget about me!" Maria finally cried, her breath coming in gasps as she fought for air. "Leave me behind, just get vengeance!"

Edward stared at her. "This 'vengeance,'" he asked after a pause, "would be for you and your father? Give me a break." Maria stared, open-mouthed, as Edward continued forcing their way over to the sword, snapping as he worked, "Since it's your fault we're even in this mess, I'm not feeling especially obliged to avenge anyone."

Getting impatient with their slow progress, Edward abandoned his pushing. Wrapping one arm around Maria, he slashed the remaining limbs away with his other hand. He reached out, straining to reach the Iron Fang—he was almost there—

One of the demon's heads suddenly appeared behind the two, shooting out a stream of webs that caught Edward's ankle and yanked him back.

"Come on!" he yelled in acute frustration, and accidentally dropped the girl as he was pulled away.

But somehow, miraculously, Maria landed right beneath the sword jutting out from the limb. She had no idea how this rusty, useless-looking piece of waste could help them in any way, but the half-demon seemed to regard it highly so it must have some hidden power. She seized the hilt and pulled as hard as she could, nearly falling over when it finally came free.

"Here!" she cried, thrusting it into Edward's outstretched hand.

The instant it touched his skin, the blade transformed into a beautiful, deadly weapon. Within moments, Edward had sliced through all the limbs surrounding him, and those threatening to catch at him and slow him up. Maria, cowering against the sudden onslaught of power, flinched as Edward turned his attention to her.

"Don't move from that spot, Maria!" he cried.

"No, move, girl!" the spider demon cried, a dozen heads popping out around her, attempting to frighten her into fleeing.

But Maria had realized how important it was that she stay put. She was now the only thing marking the spot where the Jewel shards remained inside the demon for Edward. He needed her to stay there, or he'd lose the site in the masses of undulating flesh surrounding them.

"I won't move, even if you get us both!" she promised fiercely, sinking her nails into the flesh beneath her and holding on for dear life.

It was over in a moment. Edward made a clean cut just above Maria, the exact spot of the dissolving shards. The demon screamed a curse, but could do nothing as his body quickly began to evaporate into smoke, the power of the Jewel no longer sustaining him. Maria landed roughly on the wood floor back in the temple on her stomach, crying out as the wind was ripped from her chest. Edward landed much more gracefully, on his feet as he sheathed his sword once more to the cheers of his companions.

Maria regained her breath and stood, too.

"Thank you," she said to Edward. "For saving me, I mean."

Edward rolled his eyes. "I just paid that old geezer back for what he'd done to me. Which you're partly to blame for, I might add."

Bella was crossing the floor to the other side of the room, where a large chunk of the Jewel sat waiting. It was smooth and rounded on the outside, jagged and sharp on the inside, and formed perhaps slightly less than a third of the completed Sacred Jewel.

"Our pieces must have fused inside him," Bella guessed, showing the large piece to Edward and the others.

Edward gaped at it, deflating a bit. "Is that all? I would've thought we had a lot more by now!"

"Oh, calm down, it's not so bad," Bella retorted dismissively, laughing.

"This will be fine," Maria promised, jumping out of the little boat as it hit the shore. "There's a village just down that path."

"If you're sure," Bella agreed, smiling and waving as Maria turned to walk away. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

Maria nodded in response, but said nothing. Turning slowly back to the group, she stared at the ground, blushing hotly and muttered, "Thank you, Edward. I suppose you may be one of the good ones, after all. I'll try to remember some demons aren't as bad as others."

"Don't kid yourself, Maria, we're all bad," Edward scoffed in return, but Maria smiled at Bella's rolled eyes in her direction and took off for her new home.

The group rowed downstream, continuing the path they should have yesterday. Seth was once more collapsed over the edge of the boat, trying to contain his raging nausea despite the gentle flow of water under the boat; they were hardly rocking at all. Bella was basking in the sunshine again, but a little less enthusiastically than before.

"Edward," she asked suddenly, "are you really all back to normal now?"

He stared at her. "'Course I am. But while I'm thinking about it, listen up, you two—"

Myoga the flea suddenly appeared from within Edward's shirt, piping up, "Please, allow me. This unfortunate occurrence on the night of every new moon could mean life or death for all of you, if it were known to the demons hunting the Jewel shards. We must all remain silent on Master Edward's weak point."

"And it is a glaring weak point," Seth chirped, laughing snidely.

"Shut up!" Edward snapped.

Bella stared at the bickering pair from the back of the rowboat, leaning her head pensively on her knees. It really did seem that everything was back to normal. Edward and Seth were certainly at each other's throat like normal, and Myoga was even there trying to break the two up, scolding Edward for his immaturity just like usual. But still, she just couldn't forget…

You smell good…

Had Edward really said that, or was it just the product of her overwrought imagination? It shouldn't have meant as much to her as it did; or at least, it wouldn't have if Edward himself hadn't gone to so much trouble normally to tell her he hated her smell. She wanted to ask him about his sudden one-eighty, but she knew what she'd get for her troubles.

"And what the hell are you staring at?" he suddenly barked at her, drawing her out of her thoughts.

On second thought, she mused, it didn't matter. He'd never seriously change.