A Witch Thing

1️⃣9️⃣

Celene laughed, "Some of the voodoo shops are real, but only the ones run by our witches. And, no, New Orleans is free of vampires since it's practically a witch city."

"Vampires are too afraid to go into New Orleans because they thing there's some strange force there that would kill them. Most vampires don't know about witches because we're supposed to be extinct or we were never thought to have actually existed in the first place," Elizabet added.

Celene nodded, "So any vampire who comes through leaves in no time. We don't get vampire attacks because we put a legend on the city that any vampire who walks in, never walks out. It's a chill town because of it."

Suddenly, a scream was heard outside. Luckily, it wasn't a human cry, it was the sound of a bird. Romina entered the room, opening the window to let the bird inside. A sleek hawk stood on the window sill, dropping a letter from its claw. Elizabet recognized the hawk to be Regan, one of the witch's familiars.

Romina pet its feathers and picked up the letter, reading it quickly. The others had made their way into the room. Eileen asked, "What is it, Mother?"

Romina simply shook her head, dismissing any worry the witches may have had, "It's just a letter from Cooper; I left him in charge. We've got a young girl and her mother coming in tomorrow and he wanted to keep me updated. Nothing to fret over."

Romina magicked Regan a snack and told him, "There you are, Regan." She scribbled a quick note and had Regan take it. She told the hawk, "Thank your little witch, Charlie for me. And tell that lazy hamster Cooper has to get off his arse and take the letter himself."

The witches in the room snickered at that part. There was a light chuckling sound from the bird as he responded, "Will do, Mother Romina. See you soon."

It was then when they caught sight of the sneaking fox trying to pull a prank on that poor bird. As she leapt for the familiar, Regan pulled away from the window sill and told Freya, "I am not a chew toy, Freya."

She sneezed, "You are to me."

"Play nice," Elizabet lightly scolded with a chuckle. Regan gave her a nod and left the to deliver the message and return home to his darling witch, Charlie.

"Now, where were we?" Romina asked as she looked around. When she remembered she called, "Ronin, do you know where I set that bag of mine?"

Ronin flew into the room with the bag only a moment later. She thanked the bird and reached into it, seemingly sticking her whole arm inside the tiny pocket bag. She pulled out a bunch of small boxes and said, "A couple of the witches and I made these for you and your family. It's to keep you from having to hide away from the sun. It'll shield you so you didn't shine in the light."

She handed out the small boxes to the remaining vampires without rings and they thanked her gratefully. "These are wonderful. Thank you, Ms. Feathers, but you shouldn't have," Carlisle told her.

She shook her head, "Nonsense, it's the least I could do. And, please, call me Romina."

Jasper asked, "What was funny about the hamster."

Celene giggled a little as Mariah spoke, a smile in her tone, "Cooper has a bear as a familiar, but he's really lazy, so we call him a hamster." The snake confirmed lazily, "Yesss, that's quite ssso."

They shared a laugh, getting back to their conversations. Romina sighed and said, "Who's hungry? It's been a long trip and I suspect you girls would be."

They shrugged, "I could eat."

Esme spoke, "Allow me, gives an excuse to use the kitchen."

Eileen and Elizabet joined in, "We'll help, wouldn't mind it."

Esme welcomed the help happily, happy to be using the kitchen as the others continued to talk. Cole and Jasper occasionally popped in and let the girls boss them around to help, they were more than happy to anyway.

When dinner was finished, everyone gathered in a large conversation, happily getting to know each other.

The next day, Romina, Eileen, Celene, and Mariah were out with their for some witch supplies from the few witches in New York that Romina had contact with. They'd asked Elizabet if she wanted to come along, but she was going through her emails to see what there was. She sighed as she saw more emails from Bella.

Alice had gotten some of the same emails. It was wearing away at her. She was worrying about Bella, concerned for her. She needed to do something. She'd brought the topic up with Carlisle, who didn't know what all to do.

Jasper had isolated himself in the corner of the living room, away from everyone else as Carlisle and Alice argued with one another. Esme was desolate as she watched the fight with the others and Emmett seemed empty. Rosalie was sitting next to him, irritated about the whole situation. Elizabet was next to Jasper, keeping him from being by himself so he didn't feel alone.

"We need to return to Bella! She needs us!" Alice argued.

Carlisle shook his head, "No, we promised Edward."

"But she won't do well without us! I get flashes of her, but they're unclear," Alice tried to get through to the doctor.

"Forget her," Rosalie pitched in, "Let's drag Edward home."

Esme shook her head, "He'll come back when he's ready. When Bella moves on."

Carlisle nodded, agreeing with his wife, "Yes. When she's living her life, safe from danger-"

"You mean safe from us," Jasper added, his face empty as he spoke, turning his face away from the group. Elizabet's face fell as she felt his sorrow wash over her. She grabbed his hand, laying her head on his shoulder. Jasper pulled her close to him in an act of protection and comfort.

Rosalie spoke again, her voice held a bit of venom to them as she turned to Alice, "And when will that be?"

Emmett finally spoke, "Can you see him, Alice?"

Alice sighed and closed her eyes, trying to get a lock on Edward. She spoke as she watched her vision, "The only decision he's made... is to be alone."

Elizabet looked away, her eyes turning back to Jasper. Rosalie asked Elizabet, tearing Alice's focus from her vision, "Do you have something to say about this?"

Everyone's gaze shifted to the witch and she seemed to shrink under the attention. Elizabet sighed, "Alice... is right..."

Alice turned to the room, nodded, "See-"

"But," Elizabet spoke before Alice could continue, "so is Carlisle. Bella is lost without us, she doesn't know how to move on and she doesn't want to. From the messages I've gotten from her, she finds it harder and harder each day to wake up and not have us. But we gave our word to Edward, we wouldn't go to her. It'd be like we never existed."

They listened to her words closely. She may have been the youngest among them, but Elizabet had a certain wisdom about her that compelled the vampires to listen. "Trust me, I want to go back to Forks, be done with this ridiculousness...but we can't."

She stroked looked down at her hand wrapped in Jasper's, putting her other hand over it. She looked him in the eyes as she continued to address everyone, "Jasper's right. We do put her in danger by being around her. We're a supernatural element in a human's life, and it doesn't usually end up turning out right.

She looked back at the rest of them, "But we're also a reason she's relatively safe with us. I don't know if this will all blow over and end up just being some sort of bad dream, or if this will last a lifetime...or three. But I do know that we need to be able to continue to work together. Whatever happens, we'll need each other and Edward will need us. If we go at each other's throats, what hope is there for any one of us?"

There was a beat of silence as everyone let her words sink in. Cole nodded and spoke, "Elizabet's right. No matter what happens, we need to be a family so we can be there for each other." Alice put her hand in Cole's, who kissed the back of it, and sighed.

Carlisle spoke, "Cole's right, Elizabet's right. We can't let this tear us apart. Now, come on, Elizabet, Cole, Alice, and Jasper didn't fly three hours just to argue."

Alice sighed and then nodded, "Okay."