Shifting Moon

 I shrank into myself after the visions finished playing in my head and slumped down more on the rock where I sat. Poor Edward both visions show his greatest fear. Turn Bella into a monster or become a monster himself. 

 If I was honest with myself, I really didn't think that being a Vampire was a monstrous thing. It could be, yes. But if I needed to feed on humans, I was better equipped than any to pick and choose the worst kind of humans. Once, Edward and I had done this. But unlike me, Edward couldn't turn his gift off and even to the monstrous humans we were monsters and their last thoughts of fear and helplessness started to affect Edward. So, we returned to our family and rededicated to the 'Vegetarian" diet. 

 In fact, of all my family I think I am the most Volturi like Vampire. The only difference was that I refused to consume the innocent. The Volturi are too indiscriminate in my opinion, especially these days. I again wondered if Carlisle and Edward's work on clone blood would be accepted by them. 

 Our numbers in this world were small enough that Vampires could exist on donated blood alone if we got organized about it. But too many enjoyed the hunt, the power they held over the majority of the world. Clone blood would not satisfy those types of Vampires. 

 Edward spoke and interrupted my thoughts, reminding me of his request to distance myself from Thomas. 

 "This is some of what Alice has seen, but I think there is a third path that I can walk. If I truly love Bella, then can I stay beside her and keep her human? Keep the monster from both our lives? My hope is that I can watch from afar and just revel in her life, a silent witness. Protect her from the darkness of the world. I am asking for some time to see if my plan will work." 

 "Does that mean you want me to walk this path beside you? Forever watching Thomas from the shadows? Never having him for myself? If that is the life you want for yourself brother, then you are welcome to it. But I think you are grasping at straws, trying to protect only yourself. Have you asked yourself what Bella may want? Or are you making her decision for her?" 

 He frowned and harshly asked, "You would condemn Thomas to our life? The life of blood and loneliness. Rulers that feel they can do as they wish so long as they look good doing it?" 

 "I would not. But I also will not hide what I am if he truly cares for me. The Volturi do not know everything, they don't have eyes behind every bush. It would not be hard to hide for years from them. Think of the many that do keep themselves from the reach of Aro and Caius. To this day, they hunt the rulers before them. Yet the Romanian coven still wanders the world. In your fear don't make the Volturi out to be more than they are. A power, yes. But not an omnipotent one." 

 Edward asked with frustration in his voice, "Then what is your plan, Edythe?" 

 "I was thinking of one before you got here, and I think it may work. I want to get to know him. See if he can accept the weirdness around me without asking too many questions or accept it when I tell him I can't answer just yet. You have seen how observant he is, he spends so much time with the least human of our coven. Able to be around Alice when she has visions but not bug her about it or think her less for her pause moments. Spend time with Jasper and only brush the question of the scars he can clearly see. Don't you think he sees that Jasper doesn't sweat during their workout sessions? He watches us not eat at school." 

 I take a breath from my rant, "Despite him seeing more of us than any human in the school or even the town, he continues to spend more time with us than any non-Vampire we have ever met. I will not hide from him as you wish to do with Bella. I will not voluntarily tell him about us until you say it's okay, I can agree with that for now. I am not trying to make things with you and Bella more difficult Edward, but you have to realize that her thoughts and feelings matter too. Just like mine and Thomas's do. We can't read their thoughts, so it may be better to relearn the human way of communicating. I plan to ask him questions and get to know him, and hope he has questions for me." 

 With that said, I stood and walked back home. Leaving Edward behind to come to terms with my plan. 

 (POV Thomas) 

 The next two weeks passed in a blur; I was happy that people had finally gotten over the accident with Bella and Edward. Now I was just Thomas, their large classmate. Coach Clapp was still persistently trying to get me into some kind of sport, but he was finally running out of steam. My art project had stalled for some reason. I had plenty of concept drawings but none of them felt right yet. 

 The idea of music was such a broad concept that I couldn't settle on which aspect to focus on. The musician? The listener? The instrument? I was getting short on time and really needed some inspiration. Another frustration was that my workouts were no longer very fulfilling. I wasn't getting the muscle burn that I was used to. Anymore it was only the days me and Jasper spared in the forest that I felt like I was making any progress. 

 I was still growing, and my muscles had not lost any definition. Last check I was now 6ft 6in and my weight had increased to 283. I really hoped my height would stop going up because it would mean standing out even more than I do now. 

 But apparently my growth hadn't put Edythe off. She was very curious about me, asking some of the most off the wall questions I had ever heard. When I told her about my top 10 movie's she seemed fixated on why I like The Lost Boys so much. That was an on and off conversation that lasted two days. The other movie she was interested in was The Crow, it was one she hadn't watched before but loved to talk about once she had. 

 Bella was getting by and fitting in finally, her friend circle was small but in this town that was normal. She still preferred to read her old book and stare at Edward more than expanding her social circle but who was I to talk? Tyler had joined our lunch group and was trying everything he could think of to make things right with Bella. If only he realized, he was going about it in the most opposite way she would appreciate.

 Ben and Angela were starting to get comfortable talking together, so there was hope between me and Bella that Angela would ask Ben out to the Spring girls choice dance. They would make a great couple and as both their friends we couldn't be happier for them. 

 Edward was still ignoring Bella, I had hoped that him saving her would thaw some of the ice Bella said he had for her during class. I couldn't make sense of their interactions; Edward simply ignored her but wasn't rude or hostile from what little Bella told me. If he didn't like Bella, all he had to do was say so and she would accept that. But just ignoring her was making her more curious about him and then throw in her own stubbornness, and you have a recipe for an obsession. 

 I thought about talking to Edythe about it but then I remembered how badly that went last time and just decided to keep my nose out of it for now. If I saw it becoming something unhealthy, then I would have to take some action though. During Spanish, Edward and I were just classmates that didn't talk much and I was fine with it.

 I paused my wandering thoughts to admire the surrounding forest, you could tell that spring was definitely beginning. Traces of new green buds were evident on every tree and some moss and mushrooms had already grown considerably. Since I wasn't getting much of a workout during my actual workouts, I have noticed my temper getting shorter. Being short with Bella was bad enough, but I almost lost my temper at Mr. Banner for him implying that I was cheating on his tests. 

 Telling him to shove his unsubstantiated idea up his ass was one thing, but getting up and approaching him with nothing but violence in my eyes was going too far. I managed to stop myself and just left the classroom, but it still resulted in Charlie having to come to the school and an hour-long conversation about intimidating the teachers with my physical size. 

 Mr. Banner was also told to work on his professional behavior as a teacher and stop implying that anyone breezing through his class was cheating. It was implied that he had been complaining that the Cullen's were cheating their way through his class too. 

 This time in the forest was helping me contain my anger in the same way working out did in the past. As I looked around, I noticed that it was unusually quiet all of a sudden, the birds had stopped making noise and it felt like the forest was holding its breath. I heard something in the distance that sounded like a snort. Like something taking a great breath in and out again. I quickly reached for the pepper spray that Charlie gave me because I knew that now was the time for hungry bears to be waking up and start looking for food and mates.