Guardian × Edward Cullen

one | first meeting

RAIN FELL AGAINST THE SOFTNESS OF HER SKIN as she held her hand out of the window, palm outstretched, as if attempting to catch a piece of the Heavens. A small smile danced across her lips, not at all bothered by the coldness of the rainwater as it settled against her palm. Clara Thorne had grown a gentle admiration for the weather on Earth, and for good reason – at least, according to her, anyway.

"Clara," the brunette in the backseat whined, tapping her foot against the passenger's seat. "Close the window, I'm getting soaked back here."

Her blue eyes shifted to the rear-view mirror, already expecting to see that oh-so familiar pout on her best friend's face. "It's just a bit of rain, Soph," she said, but she was already withdrawing her hand back into the car as she rolled the window up anyway. "How close are we?" Clara asked,glancing over to her other best friend as he drove the car.

"Just a few minutes," Asher answered, sparing her a brief glance. "We have a place on the outskirts of the town. It'll be a hassle driving to the high school every day, but at least we won't have nosy neighbors."

"Good," Sophia said happily,using the sleeve of her sweater to dry the rain-water off of her face. "So we can still train like usual, then?"

"Yeah." Asher paused as he finally pulled into the long, winding driveway of the place they'd be staying at indefinitely. "Here we are."

"I just don't get it," Sophie told them as the car rolled to a stop. "The Doyen wanted us to come here, for some apparent battle – but this town is so quiet and tiny, I just don't see anything out of the ordinary happening here."

Clara frowned, her eyebrows pulling together in thought as she got out of the car. Her ankle boots immediately met with a puddle of rain-water, something she already figured would be constant in this town that seemed to permanently reside under heavy clouds. "This town is surrounded with a supernatural presence, Soph," she murmured, glancing around. "You can't feel it?"

Sophia sighed deeply. "Yeah," she admitted. "I was just hoping that, for once, we could have some peace and quiet without having to fight all the time."

"We're Guardians now, Sophia," Asher pointed out while the three of them approached their new house."This is kind of our job."

"I know, but –" Sophia huffed as Asher simply entered the house, apparently deciding the conversation should just end there. He'd been a Guardian longer than the two girls had been, and subsequently settled into the role that had been decided for him a long time ago. In Asher's mind, Sophia should just be thankful she was given a second chance at life –even if this one was tied to the expectations of the Doyen. "Is it so bad to want a life of my own, Clara?" Sophia asked softly,turning to the blonde at her side with sad brown eyes.

"Not at all," Clara assured her, squeezing her shoulder encouragingly before heading inside as well."Now, hurry up before Asher chooses the best room."

The house Asher had chosen for them to stay in was modest, but big. There were three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms. It was decided Asher would get the bedroom with its own bathroom, while the girls shared the large bathroom. Clara let her friends choose their rooms and settled with the one that had been left behind. She didn't really mind which one she got since this was supposed to be a temporary stay, anyway.

Who was she kidding? Every stay was temporary. She was immortal now, with all the time in the world,though bound to move from one town to the next in search of the next innocent human needing to be protected. Some of them they came across on their own; others, the Doyen directed them to. The latter was the reason they were in Forks to begin with; they weren't given much information to go on, but from what Clara could gather, something big was about to happen here. Something that could potentially put all of the humans here in danger.