Between the Perennial Blooms || Paul Lahote

Thirty Eight | Verbena

"My mind is a battlefield of melancholy and anxiety. In the heat of my mental warfare, you embraced me like the wind. When your softness made this restless mind stay so silent, you felt like a room full of safety."
—Conee Berdera | 'Clarity'

• • •

"Seattle is in a state of terror..." The CNN news anchor reported in a raspy feminine voice as the hoard of Cullen vampires sat staring at her from their various positions around the living room furniture. "... Police are baffled by the escalating murders and disappearances. Theories range from a vicious new gang to a wildly active serial killer..." she continued while the two Swan sisters and Edward chose that exact moment to enter the home.

Opting to lower the volume on the TV for the sake of their newfound visitors, Esme offered the two girls a warm, unassuming smile and a more weighted look in the direction of her son.

"Hello," Bailey greeted the family happily as she absentmindedly took off from Bella's side and instead made her way over to Jasper who stood leaning against the wall shrouded in shadow off in the far corner. His nostrils flared for a moment as she walked closer, yet upon feeling her tiny hand take hold of his own, he relaxed almost immediately. No one knew why her presence calmed him the way it did, but perhaps the fact that her emotions always remained light and significantly less overwhelming in comparison to the vast majority was partly to blame. Nevertheless, Jasper didn't question it, and as Alice skipped over to stand on the girl's other side and began playing with her hair as they took to whispering and giggling back and forth between the pair of them, Jasper couldn't help but smile fondly at the pixie woman he called mate and the little fairy girl he called friend.

"Well look who survived the dog park," Emmett's loud voice boomed in the silence that had followed Bailey's reciprocated greeting. His eyes were trained on Bella and the older Swan girl couldn't help but wince at the decibel of his tone. "Need something for those flea bites?" He joked.

Nonplussed, Bella was quick to sigh. "I'm good, thanks."

Meanwhile, never one for straying too far from the matter at hand, Edward paid them no mind. "Seattle?" He echoed, ignoring the conversation between his beloved and brother and instead focusing on the voices sounding faintly from the TV. He looked to his father with worried eyes and pried for understanding. "What's going on?"

"It's getting worse," Carlisle responded solemnly, gaze flickering to the image of a crime scene roped off by yellow tape as it flashed across the screen. Another quickly followed after it, and at the sight of this one even worse than the one before, the head vampire had to force himself to look away. "We're going to have to do something soon."

"Alice still hasn't had any visions about who's doing this," Edward rebutted, shooting his sister a serious look that had her giggle dying off in the back of her throat.

Bailey, noticing the way Alice's shoulder's stiffened, reached out with her other hand and entwined their fingers together. She offered the vampire girl a placating smile and Jasper, grateful as he was for her help, squeezed her little human hand gently in a silent gesture of thanks.

"So we track him down and kick his bloodthirsty ass!" Emmett piped up from where he lay sprawled out across the couch. His exclamation startled Bailey and she jumped, and Alice ran a comforting hand down her arm as a result while Jasper simply flashed him an irritated glower. "In fact, let's go now," he told his family as he abruptly stood to his feet. "I'm bored as hell and ready to rip something to pieces!"

Suddenly appearing at the top of the stair steps though, Rosalie made quick work of vanquishing her lover's excitement. "Emmett," she warned. Then, upon notice of his thoroughly scolded expression, she disappeared back to wherever she'd come from with a smug tilt to her lips and naught but a backwards glance in her coven's direction.