𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍:
Calm before the storm

IT HAS BEEN A strange, entirely peaceful two weeks for Thalia and the Cullens, making them restless. No news reports, no murders, no visions, no whispers, just peace, and Thalia couldn't help but think, maybe, just maybe, it was finally over.

Maybe, it's just a coincidence that the person behind these murders and the box with a dead heart just stopped and is now rethinking their decision.

"Isn't it strange that nothing has happened for the past weeks?" Emmett asks while sitting on the sofa with the rest of the family, making a face at Rosalie while the blonde just rolls her eyes. The two are always playing with each other.

They shared a bond that made them different from the rest of the Cullens. They always looked at each other as siblings, born in the same year and the same age. They treated each other as brothers and sisters-however, they had different preferences and beliefs.

Emmett is grateful to Rosalie and her wife for saving his life, and it gave him a great opportunity to explore and seek adventure to feed his curiosity and a new perspective on how different his present life and past life are. Rosalie and her wife are his best friends.

Rosalie thinks otherwise. She saw herself when Emmett was covered in blood, helpless, scared, begging for his own life to save him.

However, if it had been a different circumstance, she wouldn't give Emmett this life to be frozen in time, never settling in one place. However, some part of her is thankful if it wasn't for this life, she wouldn't have met her wife.

"Would you like for something to happen? Another murder in the news?" Rosalie drawls again, rolling her eyes at him while reading the latest magazine.

She is honestly glad that it finally stopped. She worried for Thalia, and it wasn't the brunette's fault that a psychotic person was after her.

Thalia is kindhearted, caring, and selfless. It is safe to say that the "cold-hearted" Rosalie Hale has a soft spot for the woman, she doesn't understand why a person would do this.

"What? This is the only entertainment we've had in decades," Emmett says with a grin playing on his lips.

"Not the human with a creative imagination that almost figured out we're vampires?" Christopher asks while wrapping his arm around Esme's waist.

Christopher met Esme when she was in transition. He and Carlisle met Esme when she was only 16 years old and broke her leg when she fell off a tree. However, the local doctor was away, and Carlisle asked Christopher to fill in to treat her leg.

Since then, Esme deeply affected Christopher's life. He thought he'd never see her again until Carlisle called him and told him about the worrisome news.

"Thanks to me," Edward cuts in with a smug smirk.

"You're doing what you are supposed to do. You're the only one who can read minds," Jasper rolls his eyes while looking at Alice, who is currently looking and searching for possible decisions for the near future.

Alice and Jasper never had any romantic feelings for each other, the pixie saw a glimpse of the person she would love, yet it was a blur, a glance. It was never repeated. It was confusing and frustrating for her.

Alice had a vision of Jasper ten years after she was turned, seeing that he was a potential friend, someone of her kind, someone who needs her aid and who understands not being with the person you love, and the blonde vampire is grateful for the friendship that Alice offered him. However, he misses his person.

Jasper Whitlock is only staying with the Cullens because of Alice. The pixie knew, they all knew, he owed this way of life to Alice.

It was the least he could do for her to help him find a new way to feed without killing any human being, without feeling the guilt, sorrow, despair, shame, regret, the grief of taking a life.

He remembers all of it. If given the opportunity, he will return to his betrothed.

However, he made a promise that oh so he wants to break as many times as any can count, so for now, he endures and remains with the Cullens, yet after all of that, he truly thinks of them as his family.

Over the years, the Cullen Coven is different from the other Vampire Covens in terms of their lifestyle, diet, taking residency, going through high school or university (for thousand of times), acting as if they are normal, in layman's terms, "playing human." It made them well-known in the vampire community.

Some of them admired their way of such a domestic life. Some despise the choice of feeding. Well, it is certainly a great topic of conversation, especially for the Volturi.

Meanwhile, Thalia Elie Bennet just smiles at her newfound family. She even forgot how long they had known each other, and it felt as if they had been a family for decades.

She truly is grateful for having them in her life, a family who will go through hell and back for each other. Even though they're not related, they might as well be because of the bond they shared.

"I still don't see anything. Why is that?" Alice asks, fuming at the fact that she can't see any possible decisions of the person. It was just a never-ending void of darkness.

"Don't push yourself too much, Alice. We'll figure this out," Esme says as she places a comforting hand on the pixie's shoulder.

Thalia looks at Alice and concludes, "The person who might be causing the murders might be a creature you never encountered. Maybe that's why you can't see them."

"It's possible," Carlisle agrees while putting his right hand on his chin and intertwining the other with Thalia's.

"Since you are a vampire, and you were human, you can only see the decisions in that category," Thalia adds, adding a smile, trying to reassure Alice that nothing is wrong with herself or her gift.

"My morning class starts in an hour. I'll be heading my way," she says as she stands up her seat, followed by Carlisle, a string of 'goodbyes' from the family.

Thalia looks at Carlisle as they drive to their destination. She smiles and says, "Accompany me to lunch later?"

"Of course, Love."