PETRICHOR , paul lahote.

017. how did you know you were in love?

PAUL'S DAD HAD BEEN pestering his son about Lena since the day they hung out. Paul had been passive, brushing it off whenever he was asked about the girl, but that didn't stop the older man. Terrance Lahote was a little gossip, that much could be said.

"Come on! I saw you hug her at graduation, and you don't even hug me." He said as he dished up his and Paul's breakfast that morning, "I'm guessing you don't hate her anymore?"

Paul sulked at the dining table, picking at the splintered wood, "I guess we're friends now."

Terrance hummed and put both plates on the surface, sitting down and digging in, "How do you feel about that?"

Paul looked up from where he was stuffing his food into his face, frowning, "What are you, my therapist?"

"It was just a question, son." He raised his brows, "Ninety percent of all things you've ever told me about the girl have been complains and insults, sue me for being curious when you suddenly like her."

"Like her?" Paul choked, coughing.

"What?" His dad asked, "You don't like your friends?"

Recovering from his shock, Paul cleared his throat, "Yeah—yeah, I do. I thought that..."

"Ah." Terrance smiled mischievously, "You thought I meant like...like her like her."

The teenager screwed his face up, "Which I don't."

"I never said you did." His dad replied, grinning, "No need to get so defensive."

"I'm not—" Paul cut himself off with a sigh, closing his eyes and shaking his head. He pushed his empty plate over to his dad, who was standing up to wash his own, and stood from the table. "I'm leaving."

"Tell Lena I said hi!" His dad shouted as Paul left the house.

"I hate that you're friends!" His son replied, closing the door.

Terrance opened the kitchen window, shouting out just as Paul was getting in his car, "I bet you love that you're friends with her, don't you?"

Paul didn't reply, simply pulling out of the drive and heading down to Sam's place to meet with the pack before heading off to the woods to train with some vampires.

Once the pack met, they shifted into their wolf forms and headed to the clearing where they agreed to meet the vampires. Lena didn't exactly get why they were being so dramatic, but agreed along with them either way.

"They don't trust us enough to be in their human forms." Edward translated through his mind-reading ability to his dad.

"They came." Carlisle replied, "That's what matters."

The doctor stepped forward to speak to them, "Welcome. Jasper has experience with newborns, he's going to teach us how to defeat them."

"They wanna know how the newborns differ from us." Edward spoke the pack's question.

"They're a great deal stronger than us." The man said, "Because their own human blood lingers in their tissues. Our kind is never more physically powerful than in our first few months of this life."

Carlisle nodded for Jasper to begin, the younger vampire stepping forward to greet the wolves. "Carlisle's right. That's why they are created. A newborn army doesn't need thousands like a human army...but no human army could stand against them."

"The two most important things to remember are, first: never let them get their arms around you, they'll crush you instantly." Jasper said, "And second: never go for the obvious kill. They'll be expecting that, and you will lose."