Bella
RING!
The sun was rising in the east and all I could hear was that irritable noise.
RING-A-RING!
"Get the phone, Edward," I insisted as I removed my lips from his.
"You get it," he growled playfully back.
"Liberty would prefer to speak with a vampire of more experience."
One second, Edward was grinning mischievously at me. The next, I was holding the air where he had been and heard the shower turning on. "I'm in the shower, love. You don't expect me to get the phone when I'm all wet, do you?"
"You're cruel," I mumbled under my breath, as Edward chuckled from the shower. I picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Good morning, Mrs. Cullen! This is the Algonquin desk manager."
I breathed a silent sigh of relief. "Oh, good morning," I said, yawning as humans would do.
"Your neighbors next door called the desk to complain about banging coming from your room. We're just calling to make sure everything is okay."
Banging? "My husband and I got home late yesterday, ma'am. Perhaps it was the rats…?"
"Rats?" Doubt filled the manager's voice.
"Rats can come back," I replied. "And, just yesterday, my husband found a hole in his bag of…onion rings."
"Oh my…Well, I'm sorry to have disturbed you, Mrs. Cullen. Have a nice day…" The desk manager hung up the phone with a rather loud clank.
I heard Edward chuckle and turned to see him wearing a towel around his waist and towel drying his hair. "You do know that the only reason why they're not forcing us out is because we have money that human's desire… Besides, banging? Judging by the way we were at it, I'm surprised the building is still standing…"
"That's something Emmett would say," I replied, getting up to shower. As I passed by him, I poked him lightly in the arm. "Are you going to join me?"
"I'll have to consider it," he teased, chasing me into the tiny stall.
By the time we hopped out of the shower, our skin was like prunes. It was somewhat funny watching Edward covered in wrinkles. "So, what's on today's agenda?" I asked, drying myself with a hotel towel.
Edward thought for a moment. "I was thinking we could go to Ellis Island and then to the Bronx Zoo. But, Liberty said they would contact us in time…so I guess we have to be close to the hotel."
I sighed and opened one of the drawers in my dresser. I finally decided on a fringed white blouse and jeans, with a buckled brown belt to show off the waist. I also had to consider the weather outside and took out a green jean jacket. Edward was already waiting by the door. "Even as a vampire, you take so long to choose what to wear," he teased.
"Hey, I'm not the one who hid in the shower when the phone rang," I replied, closing the door behind us.
We stayed extremely close to the hotel. Bored out of our wits, we wandered in the hotel, playing in the game room and watching television in the lounge. When the hotel got boring, Edward suggested we stay in the block radius. We went window-shopping for hours and entertained ourselves by passing the Radio Shack, where the sale clerk saw us and got this weird look on her face. We finally decided to see a new movie at the theater nearby.
It was ten pm when the movie ended. We walked back to the hotel, chatting about the movie. Okay, mostly I chatted about the movie. Edward seemed to know every green screen change, every special effect, and every computer detail. He just nodded along with me and talked only about the plot of the story.
As we passed by the front desk, Edward leaned over to the desk manager. "Is there any messages for us?" he asked in an irresistible voice.
The manager looked at the paper in front of her, to look and to probably hide her blush. She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Mr. Cullen. Would you like me to notify you when there is one?"
"Yes, thank you," he replied, walking back to my side.
The elevator ride was strangely quick. Usually, people would be hopping on and off it, going where they needed to go. The hallway was equally quiet, and as I opened the door with the door key, I wondered what was going on. The little light signaled the door was unlocked and I turned the doorknob. As we entered, I immediately noticed that there was no light in the room and that the curtains were drawn. Wait a second…doesn't Housekeeping usually turn on the lights? "Edward…" I started to say.
BANG!
In an instant, I was tackled onto the floor. I knew this wasn't Edward, because he had never attacked me in such a way that I would land on the floor with a loud CLUNCK. I managed to grab the light switch on my way down and instantly, the room was filled with bright light. Sitting calmly in one of the stuffed armchairs in the sitting area was Jennifer. I was guessing the person holding my head to the floor was Jesse; I saw the dark hair growing on his arms.
"Get up," Jesse hissed quietly. The nicer, calmer voice I had heard yesterday had disappeared, and was replaced by a hissing snake about to kill its prey. I pulled myself up, with Jesse still twisting his hands around my wrists. Once off the floor, I looked in Edward's direction and saw both Claudiena and Tomas struggling to hold him back. His eyes were confused and somewhat wild.
"What is the meaning of this?" Edward demanded as he continued to fight Claudiena and Tomas.
"Relax yourself, Edward, or I will have Tomas freeze you," Jennifer replied coldly.
Edward stopped struggling but by the look on his face, it was obvious that he was looking for an opportunity to shake them off and run.
"We came here at noon, looking for you," Jennifer began, "While we were waiting, we saw your laptop on the floor. Tomas knows a thing or two about computers, so he hacked into your laptop for enjoyment. And then he saw your chat logs."
Edward froze. Realization shot through me like a bullet. "We can explain," Edward started to say.
"There's nothing to say," Jesse replied quietly, "It's quite obvious that you were going to abduct Tomas and myself in order to secure that our mates do your immortal child no harm.
"She is not an immortal child!" I cried, sounding like a broken record.
"Please, Bella, don't even try and defend it," Claudiena replied, silencing me.
"Bella, it has become quite clear that your coven has some issues with the Volturi. I myself have some issues with them. That is no way to deal with the problem; bringing a dangerous being into the world…What if that child was to escape you? The whole vampire nation would be threatened!"
"Us, threaten the vampire nation?" Edward laughed blackly. "We are not the ones who have picnics of blood in parks and break into private property without permission."
Tomas waved his hands to silence him. As fast as I could, I whipped out my shield and stretched it towards Edward. But, just as the shield came a yard away from Edward, Claudiena held out her hand. A brilliant crystal sphere shot out of her hand and stretched into a crystal wall. My shield banged into it and, with a loud snap, it bounced back to me. My body stung from the recoil and I looked at Edward. His body was utterly still, with only his eyes moving. They were frantic and wondering what was going on.
"While we were reading the logs, we discovered that you, Bella, have a wonderful gift of shielding. Unfortunately, for you, you forgot that Claudiena can play with your powers," Jennifer said, rising from her chair.
It took me a moment to realize what she was doing. I started sending my shields faster than the speed of sound. But Claudiena's blocks traveled at the speed of light. Repeatedly, I sent my shields to protect Edward, but repeatedly, Claudiena blocked. Every shield recoil stung my skin and body but I ignored the pain and kept trying.
With the last of my strength, I pushed the biggest shield I could manage out of me. Claudiena sensed it and released Edward to push her hands together. A wall twice as big as my shield appeared and the recoil hit me hard. I flew back and banged against the wall. Jesse, who had been holding my wrists, had sensed the battle and released me at the last minute. He had not been hurt.
Picking myself off the dirty carpet, I glanced up to Edward. His eyes pierced mine and he held it there for a moment. A rush of strength pulled through me, and before Jesse could stop me, I ran towards Edward and I pressed my lips to his. He would have kissed back if he hadn't been frozen. It held for probably a second before Jesse managed to pull me away.
Then I saw it.
Jennifer stood next to Edward and leaned towards him. Then with delicate motions, ran her long pale fingers along his cheek. Tomas moved his fingers slightly and Edward fell from the frozen state but then he was grimacing in pain. He looked up to me again, whispered Bella, and then his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
I screamed. And for the first time ever, I wished that I could cry.