A Vampire's Love - Edward Cullen (Twilight saga)

Chapter 40 - Disaster

And unfortunately, not only wasn't I the only one to notice it, but I was also too late.

Through Jasper's thoughts, I saw the unthinkable : Aiyanna being drained out of her blood by his teeth.

I heard him get rid of his reasonable thoughts to act on his predatory ones, before he lunged forward in a jump. At this moment, the thoughts of my other siblings were only a faint whisper to me while all I could think about was to not repeat the same mistake I did three months ago.

While everything happened rapidly, I could catch every detail as if it had happened in slow motion.

Jasper pushed Aiyanna's back against the ground covered with dead leaves, hovering over her. For a second, their eyes met, and I saw what Jasper was seeing.

Terror.

Aiyanna's face went through terror to confusion, until it became calm as she surrendered to Jasper's power. Here, I could recognize his hunting trick. And I hated more than anything on earth, to see him use it on her.

I pushed Jasper off of Aiyanna right when the sounds of his jaw and teeth closing reached Aiyanna's ears. Jasper went flying into the woods, Emmett and Rosalie following the direction where he was thrown.

I'm so sorry, Edward. I should've seen it sooner...

Edward ? Edward what happened ?

Jasper, man ! What the hell ?

Please, no...

The thoughts of my siblings, mixed with the ones of Carlisle and Esme who heard everything from inside, started to get clearer to me. From afar, I could hear Emmett fighting with Jasper to get him to calm down. I could hear the distress in Esme's thoughts, and Carlisle's urge to see what was happening to bring everything back in order.

"Carlisle, don't." I said in a low grunt, I knew he could hear.

I couldn't risk having Aiyanna's parents see what happened here. No matter how painful he'd be for him to sit still, Carlisle would have to endure it.

Of all the thoughts I wanted to hear, not once had I caught hers. The one I put in danger once again. The one I failed to protect.

How foolish I was to believe I'd be able to protect her from anything. My kind was the one thing she needed protection from. She didn't need to train to fight against any other human. The only people she had to fight against for her safety, was us.

I couldn't ignore it anymore. The threat I represented to her was too great for me to ignore it.

Aiyanna was still on the ground, frozen in the position she was left in by Jasper. Now that he was out of reach, the calm suddenly vanished to let the terror take place on her face expressions again. It took her a few seconds to understand what happened.

A part of me wanted her to forget everything that just happened. But images were starting to replay in her mind.

I kneeled beside her, and put my hand over hers. I saw her eyes quickly acknowledging my presence, and for what seemed like forever but in reality happened in a few seconds, she started breathing again.

I held her eye contact, wanting her to focus on me instead of the current situation.

Edward, what happened ? I smell blood - Carlisle asked.

I looked down at Aiyanna's right hand and saw the red liquid oozing out of it. It was a small cut, yet big enough for any of us to go in frenzy. The smell of her blood was the accentuation of her pleasing scent. Although I had more control than Jasper, I knew that at the sight of this much blood, I'd feel the venom rush to my canines, waiting for it to be relieved from its prison.