Waxing Gibbous

Bat in the Belfry (A)

'Hey Al, thought you said you wanted me at dusk. How come you didn't have Leah wake me up before she crashed?' Seth asked as he phased.

'You needed rest, and everything was fine. I'm still good.' He was already picking up the north half of the circle.

'Anything?' he asked.

'Nope. Nothing but nothing.' I replied.

'You did some scouting?' He'd caught the edge of one of my side trips, as he headed up the new trail.

'Yeah—I ran a few spokes. You know, just checking. If the Cullens are going to make a hunting trip...'

'Good call.' Seth looped back toward the main perimeter. I was thinking about the others going on a hunting trip, it worried me. I wanted Rose to be safe. I felt a little jealous of Edward. I know Bella is sick and the baby isn't good for her health, but he got to be with her for the entire pregnancy. I kinda wished I could be more help to Rose, and I told myself that this was helping.

Thankfully though when I wasn't with her, Seth and Leah took up residence in the home, keeping Bella warm and ensuring Rose was okay. Leah was still wary about wearing the clothes from the Cullen's, but she was okay with wearing my clothes since they smell less like the vampires but more like me.

Amazingly both Seth and Leah were developing a deeper sense of smell and could smell past the painful scent and focus on the underlying smells.

They think because I am trying to be as open as possible that they are picking up on my sense and that's slowly replacing the others.

'Maybe we should run a sweep east?' Seth suggested. 'Go deep, see if they're out there waiting.

'I was thinking about that,' I agreed. 'But let's do it when we're all awake. I don't want to let down our guard. We should do it before the Cullens give it a try, though. Soon.'

'Right.' If the Cullens were able to get out of the immediate area safely, they really ought to keep on going. They probably should have taken off the second we'd come to warn them. And they had friends up north. Take Bella and run. It seemed like an obvious answer to their problems. But then I thought about the Denali Coven... Irina hated us, she would never have let me be around.

'I asked Edward about that' Seth added, startling me a little bit. It was still odd to have everything on display. I was only grateful I had other things to think about than Rosalie. 'yes, please don't think about that... not that Rosalie isn't pretty, but I think it would be better for all of us'

'right... so why didn't the Cullen's leave?'

'It takes some time to build up the kind of medical access that Carlisle has here. He's got all the stuff he needs to take care of Bella, and the credentials to get more. That's one of the reasons they want to make a hunting run. Carlisle thinks they're going to need more blood for Bella soon. She's using up all the O negative they stored for her. He doesn't like depleting the stockpile. He's going to buy some more. Did you know you can buy blood? If you're a doctor.'

It made sense it would be harder for them to take everything, and Carlisle would never condone stealing. And the risk it would put Bella under... they should have left the moment she got here, then Jacob would never have figured it out and they could easily cover up everything with them moving.

'at least Bella's better now' Seth added. In his head, he was comparing my memories of Bella hooked up to the tubes with the last time he'd seen her as he'd left the house. She'd smiled at him and waved. 'But she can't move around much, you know. That thing is kicking the hell out of her.'

'yeah'

'Broke another of her ribs,' he told me somberly. 'Carlisle taped her up again. Just another crack,' he said. 'Then Rosalie said something about how even normal human babies have been known to crack ribs. She read about it; she's trying to find anything to help Bella'

'she's having a better time than Bella that's for sure. But the baby is still taking her nutrients – Rose just isn't as fragile.'

Seth was in full report mode now knowing it was all vitally interesting to me, though I'd never asked to hear it. 'Bella's been running a fever off and on today. Just low grade—sweats and then chills. Carlisle's not sure what to make of it—she might just be sick. Her immune system can't be in peak form right now.'

'that's not a good thing though... I know how bad a compromised immunity can be'

'She's in a good mood, though. She was chatting with Charlie, laughing and all—'

'Charlie! What?! What do you mean, she was talking to Charlie?!'

Now Seth's pace stuttered; my outburst surprised him. But I think I was too worried about my mom too. 'Guess he calls every day to talk to her. Sometimes her mom calls, too. Bella sounds so much better now, so she was reassuring him that she was on the mend—'

'On the mend? What the hell are they thinking?! Get Charlie's hopes up just so that he can be destroyed even worse when she dies?' I don't get it.

'she might not die' Seth thought quietly.

'but if she becomes a vampire she can't see him. I thought that was the end goal, Bella was going to turn?'

'Think it's Bella's idea. No one said anything, but Edward's face kinda went right along with what you're thinking now.'

I looked around the perimeter, not catching anything before continuing my patrol. 'humans aren't supposed to know about Vampires... I think my mom has an idea but even she doesn't know everything'

I replied sadly thinking about the last time I talked to her.

'Bella said she's with Charlie a lot... Rosalie talked to her while you were asleep. Sam had looked for you there, but Val stands behind your decision.'

We ran in silence for a few minutes. I started off along a new line, probing south.

'Don't get too far.'

'Why? What's wrong?' I asked.

'Bella asked me to ask you to stop by.' I furrowed my brows or as good as I could as a wolf 'Alice wants you, too. She says she's tired of hanging out in the attic like the vampire bat in the belfry.' Seth snorted a laugh. That I couldn't help but return 'I was switching off with Edward before. Trying to keep Bella's temperature stable. Cold to hot, as needed. Leah's been making sure Rosalie's okay so if you don't want to do it I can, but if you do it you can be around Rose'

Seth easily picked up on my desire to be with her, 'okay... I'll do it after I make this run'

'Okay.' Seth didn't make any more comments. He concentrated very hard on the empty forest.

I kept my southern course, searching for anything new. I turned around when I got close to the first signs of habitation. Not near the town yet, but I didn't want to get any wolf rumors going again. We'd been nice and invisible for a long while now. I passed right through the perimeter on my way back, heading for the house.