The Right Swan: Edward LS

Chapter 27

Edward's P.O.V.

We were running through the woods towards Toni's location after Alice received a startling and scary vision regarding Toni and three nomadic vampires. It started with Toni sitting on a rock in the forest and ended with Toni getting drained by two of the three vampires. I was scared for Toni's life and I knew that if I didn't get there in time, I would lose her. After the Port Angeles incident, I told myself I would not let her get hurt again.

Seeing her upset or hurt because of something I did or did not do caused me to feel regret and pain. Every time Jasper felt her negative emotions, I winced. I tried to keep everything from her to protect her, but I was doing the opposite. Of course, she was almost completely okay with it, but at the time, I wasn't sure how she would feel. I was a vampire and she was a human, I would live for millenniums and she would die within decades, I was almost indestructible while she was fragile. We were complete opposites, regarding species, and it seemed like our relationship would never work out. I knew that I could turn her and condemn her to this damned life, but I wasn't sure if she wanted to be one of us.

We heard the nomadic vampires before we saw them. They were taunting Toni, laughing as she begged for her life. My fists clenched and I almost let out a growl. I refrained because I didn't want them to know we were coming. I looked through Toni's mind and saw that she was thinking of her dad, my family, and me. She thought she was going to die, so she wanted to see something beautiful before she did. Though I was saddened by her thoughts, I was even more determined to reach her in time.

I saw through one of the vampire's minds, Victoria was her name, that she and her mate, James, were about to sink their teeth into Toni's throat. I ran faster than I ever had and yelled out as I finally reached them.

"No!" I yelled. I saw one of the vampires slink away and surprise flicker throughout the two who had ahold of Toni before I pushed them away from my mate. I crouched defensively in front of Toni and bared my teeth in warning. I was snarling loudly, so loud that I almost didn't hear the rest of my family approach. James and Victoria were crouched in a defensive position, as well, but they were not in a position to fight. My siblings rushed to my side, causing Victoria to become cautious. James was not cautious at all. His thoughts were focused only on getting to Toni. He was frustrated and worried, but not about us. He was worried about ruining a plan and worried about someone else, someone who wasn't present with them, yet was part of their group. The face that popped in and out of James' head seemed familiar, but I couldn't remember where I had seen it before.

"So, we meet again, sister," Cecilia said snarkily.

"So it seems," Victoria cautiously replied.

We stood there sizing each other up, waiting for Carlisle to give the signal. In these types of situations, Carlisle was always the one to decide whether we should fight. All of us knew how he felt about killing another of our kind, but we also knew that he knew sometimes it was the only way.

"We have to do it, Carlisle," I said quietly so Toni wouldn't hear. I didn't want to freak her out more than necessary as I knew she was already shaken up.

"Edward's right. He's not going to give in," Jasper said with a snarl to his voice.

Carlisle sighed before he said, "Do what you must."

We shot after them as they tried to escape our clutches. Victoria was very fast and we had a hard time keeping up with her. James, however, was not as fast as his female counterpart and I quickly caught up to him. I grabbed him and threw him into a tree, causing the tree to break. He got back up and snarled as I stalked towards him. I was going to rip him to pieces and show no mercy.