As the sun set, the house seemed to wake up. Of course, the vampires were literally waking up, but also members of the pack began to reappear having finished with whatever they had been up to for the day. Standing in the dining room beside Michael, Scar couldn't help but feel content, despite the upcoming appearance of the vampires. Undoubtedly she wouldn't feel quite as happy when the blood suckers were amongst them, at least they had their own wing of the house.
“Vamps dovrebbe essere sempre presto. Gioia.” Michael said. His Italian was perfect, unlike Scar's heavily accented Italian. While Scar's Spanish and English were both fluent, her Italian always had a particular accent that marked it as not her native language.
Scarlet's attention was drawn to the door as Luca entered, greeting the small group with an easy smile and a polite "Good afternoon" , before questioning whether the fridge contained any apple juice. Scarlet gave him a friendly smile and returned his greeting, although she was saved from answering by Janelle's prompt reply. Scarlet felt the corners of her eyes crinkle as she watched the two children skip off. Despite what the teachers at their school obviously thought, the two wolf children were rather sweet at heart, as evidenced by Janelle's offer of sharing her mango juice with Luca.
It wasn't long before more of the pack were making themselves known. Stefano entered, uttering a greeting in first German before correcting himself and continuing in Italian. Scarlet gave Stefano a friendly nod, "Evening." She replied in Italian. She could also hear Leanna in the kitchen. The one member of the pack that was noticeably absent was Ryder, Michael's younger brother and the Pack's beta. Michael seemed to notice his missing brother at the same time and asked if anyone had seen Ryder, his voice gruffer than it had been when speaking with Scarlet. An answering call floated down towards the group, identifying Ryder as being near.
At that moment Dante, one of the new vampire residents, stalked into the room. The atmosphere tensed immediately, Scar felt herself unconsciously holding her breath and slowly let it go as she watched Dante leave the are. The tension was broken when Ryder asked whether the pack would be hunting, a question that Scar was interested in hearing answered. "I'd like to go for a run." Scar added, stretching her arms above her head and flashing the small group, and Michael in particular, a smile. "It's been a while since we've gone hunting together as a Pack." It would also be nice to get back to doing something normal. The arrival of the vampires, while a necessity, had thrown of the Pack's routine. Scar could tell that it had taken a toll on Michael, not to mention the little rascals Janelle and Jr.
As the sun set the vampires stirred, the fresh promise of the coming night drawing them all from their sleep. It wasn't long before Jack and Astrid were joined by more vampires in the kitchen, each coming to relieve their thirst. The first was Zakhar, dressed as always in garb that never failed to remind Jack of a pirate. Another accessory he never seemed to be without was a book. Although Zakhar gave both Jack and Astrid a polite, interested greeting, his nose was still stuck within his book's pages. Jack knew that if he were to begin a conversation with Zakhar he would put down the book, but until then the older vampire would try and squeeze as many words as he could out of it. However it was neither Astrid nor Jack who started a conversation with Zakhar, but Darcy who came into the guest kitchen not long after and complained of the confinement in the wolves' house. Jack silently agreed, but chose to keep his silence as he continued sipping on his drink.
From the benches Astrid spoke up, albeit slightly delayed, “You are too kind, Jack. You aren't looking quite so bad yourself.” Jack turned his head to find himself the recipient of one of Astrid's charming and seductive smiles. He found himself mirroring her smile and tilting his head in silent thanks. There was a reason he and Astrid got along so well, not least because they both found the other relatively attractive. Jack also found her take on life particularly refreshing and loved to hear about her many stories. She was far older than the rest of the coven knew and had experienced things that Jack could only dream of. At the tender age of 114 years old, he was still very much a child in the eyes of some vampires.
“There are some flowers I want to take you to see. I can guarantee that you've never seen any like them and you likely never will. Let me know when you're ready to leave and I'll call for our slobbering shadows.” Astrid's words, as intended, caught his immediate attention. Anyone that knew Jack well knew that he was able to manipulate plants, so it wasn't hard to guess that he had a fondness for flowers and trees. However Astrid was one of the few who knew just how much he loved plants. His personal garden, only half of which he had been able to bring with him to the werewolves' house, was something he tended with far more care than he would show another human or vampire. So naturally, upon hearing that Astrid had found a flower that he hadn't seen before, he was all ears.
As she came to join him on the couches, sitting opposite him, Jack downed the last of his glass of blood and placed it on the side table. He was momentarily delayed from replying by the entrance of Mariette. The coven leader greeted those gathered before moving forward and mixing herself a drink. "Bonjour." He replied in greeting before turning his full attention back to Astrid.
"A new flower, eh?" He said, switching to English. "If it truly is then call the dogs, this shouldn't be delayed."