6:14:19 → j. hale, a. cullen

24; in which a soulbond is created

4:14:17

Esme watched as Jasper sat on the edge of the sofa, his pale hands almost reddening at the strength he used to make fists. 

No one else in the room was any better. Rosalie paced by the descending stairwell on the second floor of the home, Emmett in tow and watching her in worry. Alice stood behind the marble family table, her face uncharacteristically neutral and her body tense without any motion. 

The smell of the oxidizing blood in the two cups on the kitchen counter made Carlilse's nose scrunch, the smell of it calling to him and disgusting him all at once. 

"We made a choice, and that was to protect her," Rosalie began, her index finger tingling as she gently ran it over a sharpened tooth, her feet moving against the carpet in a repetitive, restless motion. "We had to kill them. There was no other option. If we were anything more than ten seconds later, Emery's neck would have been snapped, and she would be the one dead." Ignoring the flinch from Alice at her sharp words, she continued. "We can't be the one's at fault. We can't be the ones that she's afraid of."

Emmett gently placed a hand against his mate's shoulder as her voice began to crack and sound tearful, before delicately tugging her back into his arms.

"This isn't the end." Carlisle rang out from behind Esme, his forearm gently caressing the middle of her back as he took in the distressed look on her face. Although the vampire hadn't spent much time with the older Swan, she felt an instant, familiar and maternal connection to her. 

"If Bella was able to come around and accept Edward, she should hopefully be able to do the same," raising his hand to stop Jasper from speaking up in protest, he continued. "The circumstances may be incredibly different, but we did save her. We all have to sit back and look at things from her perspective. This town, and us, are still relatively new to her. She spent a majority of her childhood and early teenage years in a hospital, battling cancer, to which she still is today. She knows nothing about the supernatural, except for the few strange occurrences she's had on her own, and from the attack a few days ago. She is not like us, and she is not like her sister, Bella. We have to take this one step at a time. We have to give her space, and we have to keep some distance."

Alice's face crumpled as her father spoke, her eyes burning with the tears she was unable to physically shed. Glancing at her mate, her chest tightened painfully as she took in his exhausted and disheveled state. The last few days have not been easy for them. For any of them. Even Edward began to come home, himself looking guilty and saddened by his family's and mate's turmoil. 

Although Edward wasn't close to Emery, and at times, disliked her and did not favor her for reasons that his family and mate are unknown to, he still felt bad and sympathized for her. 

Speaking up for the first time in hours, Jasper graveled out, "So, what do we do now?" His voice so dry and painful sounding, causing his father to cringe at the sound. 

Glancing over at the kitchen counter, Emmett raised an eyebrow and grimaced at the stale sight.

"You feed."

Shaking her head, Alice fully stood up and began to walk away from the second living room, but paused as a cold hand encircled around her elbow. 

Looking up into her mother's eyes, she slowly forced herself to relax at the sight of her mother looking at her, silently pleading. "You can't do this to yourself, baby. One of you is already sick, it shouldn't have to be all three of you." Esme looked over to her husband and gently nodded towards the cupped blood, before looking over to her son. "I know this is an incredibly tough time for you two, but we shouldn't make anything worse. There were two unknown vampire's miles away from our home, which means that there might be more within the area. The more strength we can build, the more we can keep not only ourselves, but our loved one's safe too. So feed not only for yourself, but so you can protect Emery, and the rest of us too. She'll come around. She has to. She was made for you two. She's your soulmate."