Esperance || Paul Lahote

.x.

"you want to be a soft child but you cannot, you came out of your mother with your fists clenched, screaming and covered in your mother's blood.
war paint."
w o r d c o u n t : 1,078

"She's here!" Alice gasped in delight as the crackle of lightning faded from Ezra's palms. "Once more, strike that tree!" Ezra held his hand out and a bolt of lightning struck the tree beside his target. "Very good Ezra. Your control is getting a great deal better. Now it's time to work on your aim and your emotional control. Jasper can help you with that tomorrow." Alice explained, waving Ezra forward. "Go ahead, they're making Italian."

Jasper smiled fondly at his wife, wrapping an arm around her waist. "We'll catch up." It was one of the few times Ezra had ever heard him speak and every time he was surprised with how deep the man's voice was.

Ezra reentered the house, letting out a soft sigh at the smell of the cooking food. The Cullens learned recipes so quickly they made amazing cooks.

"Ez, c'mon. You're on dish duty. You gotta load the dishwasher." Esme called, smiling sweetly as the witch began to collect the dirty discarded dishes.

"Of course, your wish is my command." He said and Carlisle's chest rumbled with laughter.

"If I didn't know any better I'd think you were coming onto my wife." He teased, tossing in strips of vegetables and herbs from Ezra's garden to sauté.

"You have no need to worry Carlisle, you were always more my type." He put soap in the dishwasher and it began to hum quietly as soon as it closed. "I hope you were careful with my dear plants."

"Of course we were, Ezra. We know they're your only friends." Emmett joked, nudging the witch with his elbow. "We made some with tofu for you."

"Is she even Italian?" Rosalie demanded as she held the crystal bowl of salad for Niki to pour in the vegetables she was chopping.

"Her name is Bella." Nik pointed out and Ezra snorted. "Ha! Ez likes my jokes."

"He also likes cock." Rosalie huffed and Esme gasped.

"Rosalie!"

Ezra cut in. "She's not wrong."

"I'm sure Bella will love it no matter what." Carlisle insisted in an attempt to steer them away from dick talk.

"Get a whiff of that," Esme remarked suddenly as the front door closed. "Here comes the human." She sang as she glanced back to her husband with a contagious grin. "All of my children, happy." Edward and Bella stepped into view of the kitchen and it was the first time Ezra had ever gotten a glimpse of her.

She was a pretty girl, short and thin with pale white skin almost rivaling that of the vampires in the room. Her brown hair hung just past her shoulders in gentle curls. Her best feature was her stunning eyes, like light shining through a glass of whiskey framed with dark lashes. Her pink lips were parted in amazement as her eyes scanned the room, suddenly settling on Ezra.

"Bella this is Esme." Edward introduced and Bella's eyes were dragged away from the boy. "My mother for all intents and purposes."

"Bonjourno." Bella greeted in slightly sloppy Italian, rubbing her neck nervously.

"And this is Ezra. He's living with us and training with Alice." Edward introduced and Bella glanced once more at the rough looking witch, her eyes raking down his long hair and intense eyes, down his flannel covering an unintelligible band t-shirt and black jeans showcasing too many holes to be intentional.

"Pleasure to meet you, Bella." Ezra smiled, waving lightly at her.

"Training for what?" She asked quietly, terrified to offend.

Ezra cut in before Edward could. "To quit exploding light bulbs and lighting houses on fire."

"Ezra is a witch. The species is relatively extinct so Ezra has none of his own kind to learn from." Edward explained.

"Thank you for reminding me that I am doomed to an eternity with no one that can truly understand me because of my peoples' genocide at the hands of yours." Ezra sighed, not sounding angry, just annoyed.

"You're welcome."

"I hope you're hungry." Esme insisted to distract from the conversation of the two men.

"Oh absolutely." Bella smiled, glancing around at the bustling kitchen.

Edward cut in. "She already ate."

A loud crash echoed out and everyone turned to Rosalie who was surrounded in the shards of the crystal bowl and the now depressing salad.

"Perfect." Rosalie huffed, stepping out of the mess she made as Bella glared at her boyfriend.

Bella attempted to reconcile. "Yeah, it's just because I know you guys don't eat."

Ezra grabbed a broom and a dustpan from the corner, sweeping the shards of glass and salad into the plastic container before dumping it in the trash and then returning to ensure every shard was gone.

"Of course, that's very considerate of you." Esme said as Niki rounded the island to wrap an arm around her angry girlfriend's waist.

Edward whispered to his girlfriend. "Just ignore Rosalie. I do." He pulled the human closer to his side.

"Of course!" Rosalie huffed, clearly gearing up for another argument. "Let's just keep pretending like this isn't dangerous for all of us!"

"I would never tell anyone anything." Bella promised, her grip on Edward's hand tightening.

Carlisle wrapped his arm around his wife, pulling her close to his side as she rested her head on his shoulder. The two were clearly tense, not wanting an argument to start in front of their guest and absolutely not over her. "She knows that."

"Yeah, well the problem is you two have gone public now, so-" Emmett trailed off and Ezra rolled his eyes at the ominous aura the vampire was trying to create.

Esme turned to him with a bewildered look. "Emmett."

"No. She should know." Rosalie cut in, her harsh stare not leaving Bella. "The entire family will be implicated if this ends badly."

Lightbulbs began to shatter and one of the outlets caught fire as Ezra glared harshly at the blonde. "Stop it, Rosalie. You're terrifying her. Fuck, I am so damn tired of you two screaming at each other." He turned to Bella and shook her hand. "It was nice to meet you, Bella. I'll be in the woods if anyone needs me."