Blood Moon

Disclaimer: all characters and copyright belong to SM.

Tedium

Bella had never noticed before how time was so much like water; that it can pass slowly, a drop at a time, even freeze, or rush by in a blink. The past three days had passed like thousands of camera frames per second shown one at a time. In this slow time-bubble she had no choice but to maintain some measure of calm, to remain as level-headed as possible as she secretly plotted her escape. All this while her insides felt as if there was nothing there, nothing to need feeding, nothing to have need of anything at all.

To keep up the pretense she needed to eat. Food was her fuel. A way to keep her energy reserves at optimum levels. She could not afford to become weak. She had to stay strong. She must not arouse Edward or Alice's suspicions in any way. On the surface she perfected an appearance of peaceful tranquility, enduring Edward's affectionate touches, his lingering kisses placidly and without complaint.

Jasper was the one she couldn't completely fool. The empath could easily perceive the turbulence bubbling beneath her outwardly calm exterior. Occasionally he would shoot a knowing glance in Bella's direction, as if in a silent signal or a warning that her mask was slipping, almost as if giving her courage to maintain the act. It was during these tense moments that she would get a sudden burst of euphoria, the pleasant sensation damping down her inner turmoil, enabling her to remain calm and focused.

Alice was perched on the arm of the sofa, staring blankly at the TV with Jasper. Bella sat on the floor like before, a plate of food resting in her lap. She ate slowly, watching both carefully. It began to dawn on her after a while that they were too still. They never looked away from the screen, though commercials were playing now. Bella pushed her tray away, her stomach abruptly uneasy. Alice looked down at her.

"Is something wrong, Alice?" Bella made sure to keep her tone mild and unconcerned.

"Nothing's wrong." Alice's eyes were wide, honest….and Bella didn't trust them.

"What do we do now?"

"We wait for Carlisle to call."

"And should he have called by now?" Bella could see that she was near the mark. Alice's eyes flitted from hers to the phone on top of her leather bag and back. The same phone that Bella had been secretly trying to steal for the past few days. She knew when she took it, it must be a last-minute decision. Otherwise, Alice would see.

"What does that mean that he hasn't called yet?" Bella was amazed at how steady her voice sounded in the circumstances. She always thought she was a bad actress, but maybe being in dire peril was giving her the extra incentive to pull it off. "You never really did explain."

"It just means that he has nothing to tell us." Alice's tone was too even, and the air was harder to breathe.

Jasper immediately sent calming waves in her direction, soothing her nerves, allowing Bella to return to her former state of equanimity. She flashed him a grateful look. He didn't return it, merely turning away to focus on Alice's face instead. She guessed he must feel the tenor of her emotions, but was trying not to give her away. Perhaps he wasn't as on board with this as he first appeared. Though that didn't fully exonerate him. He was still complicit in keeping her trapped, his first loyalty would always be to Alice.

After a few moments of tense concentration, Alice moved away from Jasper's side and came to kneel in front of Bella. She touched Bella's cheek with her cold fingers. "It's been almost a century that Edward has been alone. Now he has found you, we will stop at nothing to prevent the two of you from being separated. I know you don't fully believe it, but you can't see the changes that we see, we who have been with him for so long. Do you think any of us want to look into his eyes for the next one hundred years if he loses you?"

With Jasper's unique gift helping to maintain her composure, Bella managed a swift nod of agreement. Any reservations she was feeling subsided the longer she looked into Alice's eyes. But even as the calm spread over her, she knew she had to try and control her feelings, not able to fully trust them with Jasper's continual manipulation, which made it both a blessing and curse in many ways.

It was another very long day.

They all stayed in the room. Edward returned from another hunting session, relieving Alice and Jasper so they could take their turn. He called down to the front desk and asked them to ignore the maid service for now. The windows stayed shut, the TV on, though no one watched it. At regular intervals, food was delivered for Bella. The silver phone resting on Alice's bag seemed to grow bigger as the hours passed.

Her babysitters handled the suspense better than Bella did. As the strain finally began taking its toll, she began to fidget within the icy prison of Edward's arms. She tried to occupy herself by memorizing the room in an attempt to quiet her mind. She took in the striped pattern of the couches, tan, peach, cream, dull gold, and tan again. Sometimes she stared at the abstract prints, randomly finding pictures in the shapes, like she had found pictures in the clouds as a child. She traced a blue hand, a woman combing her hair, a cat stretching. But when the pale red circle became a staring eye, she looked away.

As the afternoon wore on, Bella went back to bed, simply for something to do. She hoped to have some time to herself, seeing as Edward didn't need to sleep. But to her disappointment he immediately followed, tucking a thick blanket around her as he held her in his arms, the terrible fears hovering on the edge of her consciousness unable to be suppressed without Jasper's careful supervision.

As Bella lay across the bed, her eyes fluttering under her closed lids, Edward hummed the lullaby he had written for her. If he meant it to be soothing, it was having the opposite effect. She tried to ignore him at first, suddenly tired enough to sleep. But after a few minutes, the panic that held off in Jasper's presence made itself known.

"Edward?" She asked.

"Yes?"

Bella kept her voice very calm. "When can we go home? How much longer will we have to stay here?"

"Not too much longer." Edward answered carefully. "You just need to be patient a little longer, my love. Carlisle will call soon."

In that same moment, Alice's phone rang, shrill and demanding. Neither of them moved. It rang again and again. Bella tried to tune it out while she pressed her fingers together to stop them shaking.

The phone kept on ringing. She wished Edward would just get up and answer it. Why was he stalling?

Ring! Ring! Ring!

Finally, the annoyance broke through everything else. Bella couldn't stand it any longer. She eased away from Edward, murmuring that she needed a human moment to use the bathroom. He let her go, flipping onto his back to stare sightlessly up at the darkened ceiling, his expression preoccupied.

While he was so absorbed in his thoughts, Bella quickly bypassed the ensuite and slipped out into the living room to grab Alice's phone. This may be her one and only opportunity to do so. The split-second decision meant it would be too late for Alice to do anything about it.

Grabbing the phone from the top of Alice's leather bag, she glanced at the called ID, her heart skipping a beat as she recognized the number. It seemed fate was on her side for once.

Bella was shaking with nerves, anxious that Edward would suddenly appear and catch her. Would he hear her from this far away even if she whispered? There was no way to know. Either way, she would have to take the risk. She crossed her fingers and answered the call.

"Hello?" the voice like golden wind chimes responded.

"Rosalie?" Bella whispered. "Its me. Its Bella. Please. You must help me."


Elation ran through Bella as she snapped the phone shut and quickly replaced it to its former position. Part of her head was sorting through all the possibilities of what might happen next, while the other half – the one that controlled the ability to move even the smallest muscles- was stunned that she had gotten away with it.

In that same moment Edward's own phone rang, startling Bella, and making her heart pound. It had to be Alice. She must have seen her decision after the fact. What would Edward do now?

"Hi, Alice." He said, his velvet voice drifting through the partially opened door of the bedroom.

Bella stood pensively listening, her breathing coming in short spurts.

"Is it possible?" Edward's voice was so low that she had to strain to hear it.

There followed a long minute of silence.

"Are you sure?" Edward fell silent again and then said, "Yes. Yes, I will."

A feeling of impending doom bubbled in Bella's chest as Edward ended the call. She moved closer to the bedroom, peering in through the gap in the doorway. Edward was on the phone again. He was talking so quietly and so fast she couldn't hear a word he was saying. She presumed he must be talking to Carlisle. She couldn't be a hundred percent sure, though, as from his tone it sounded like he was arguing.

While he argued he moved seamlessly around the room packing. He whirled around like an angry tornado, leaving order rather destruction in his path. He threw a set of Bella's clothes on the bed without looking at them, so she assumed that they were finally about to leave the room at last. He continued with his argument, gesturing occasionally with sudden, agitated movements.

When Bella could no longer bear the violent energy radiating out of him, she snuck away again. His manic concentration was making her sick to her stomach. She couldn't talk to this icy, focused Edward who honestly frightened her. There was no telling what he would do now that he knew of her betrayal.

However, there was nothing she could do but wait - wait and hold onto hope that her frantic call to Rosalie would prove fortuitous.

A/N-thanks for reading!