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Here's Edward's point of view of what happened in the last chapter. I hope you like it!

Chapter 19,5 – Edward's PoV

A few hours earlier

She was sleeping. Her face was partly covered by her hair and she seemed as relaxed and free of care as I had rarely seen her when she was awake. Yesterday evening, there had been a couple of those moments, she had even smiled a few times. I noticed how the corners of my mouth turned upward. All by itself, my hand reached out for her cheek and I marveled at the smoothness of her skin. Then I brushed the hair that had fallen into her face back over her shoulder. The urge to touch her had come more and more often to me during the last days. Usually, I had complete control over my body. For more than 500 years. However, whenever I was in her presence, my control seemed to slip bit by bit.

While I was watching each single hair fall onto the mattress with a soft thud, a cloud of her heavenly scent hit me hard. Simultaneously, a raging fire exploded in my throat which turned every breath I took into my personal hell. As fast as I could, I brought some distance between Isabella and me.

My back against the wall, I lingered with closed eyes and fought against the thirst that overshadowed everything else. I didn't want to hurt her. I couldn't hurt her. I was lucky she was fast asleep, because otherwise I couldn't have allowed myself to act this way.

My fangs pierced through my gums, but I barely felt the pain. My thoughts were spiraling around the girl in front of me. For how long did I want to keep this up? I didn't know what had gotten into me. I couldn't keep her here forever and keep her safe from Aro and his men. And for how long could I resist the attraction of her blood?

Those were all questions I didn't have the answers to, which was a fact that I found immensely frustrating. The only thing I knew I had to prevent was that something happened to her. Considering the few years she had spent on this earth, she had been through too much already. This was why I couldn't give in to the irritating burning in my throat which didn't subside even after I had brought some distance between us. I wouldn't be able to hold back once I started drinking.

One should think that during the many years of my existence, I had come across a similarly attracting scent, but this was the very first time. There was only one single thing I wanted more than to sink my teeth into her carotid artery: to keep her alive. That was the only thing saving her.

Within a second, I had left my house and the front door fell shut behind me. It was better to act on the burn in my throat. Quickly. I had never been hunting so often as during the previous days. Not even in my first weeks as a vampire. To an extent, this was due to the energy I wasted on trying to read Isabella's thoughts. I had been able to hear her twice now, both times without my help. How that had happened, was a mystery to me.

I put up the collar of my coat and went looking for a suitable victim. Since it was early in the morning and the streets were still dark, I could continue in my normal speed, which was a relief. Only a few seconds later, I followed an adequate scent to the south and found a woman huddled in the corner of a small alley. Her brownish hair was unkempt and matted. I was forced to pick the ones rejected by society because no one cared enough about them to notice that their aimless chatter, in fact, proved to be true. It wouldn't even attract attention if they disappeared altogether. Thinking this, I suddenly saw the disappointed faces of my family which I quickly pushed away. I hadn't killed anyone in five years, 64 days, 17 hours and 23 minutes. At least not in this way.

To make sure that the woman was suitable for my needs, I entered her head for a moment. Her thoughts were as muddled as I had thought. A content smile appeared on my face. She couldn't have been on the streets for long since her blood smelled pure and was free of alcohol and other drugs. This was good fortune.

In the matter of mere milliseconds, I had grabbed the girl's shoulders and pulled her up, a hand pressed to her mouth. However, my precaution seemed completely unfounded since she didn't utter a sound but stared into nothingness out of big, glassy eyes. A grim laughter escaped my throat. I would probably do her a favor if I killed her. My teeth hungrily sank into her warm flesh and I began to drink. She didn't even put up a fight, which made it harder to gauge when to stop. For a short moment, I managed to forget Isabella and her scent and gave myself to the taste of the blood cursing through my system.

Eventually, when I felt my thirst lessen, I closed the bite mark and let the girl sink down the wall. I made sure her heartbeat was stable and left so that I didn't change my mind regarding keeping her alive.

It would be safer to look for a second meal. However, I felt myself being drawn back to my house and I didn't like the reason for it. I had never felt as attached to a person as I did with Isabella. To prevent myself from giving in to the urge to go back, I picked up the trail of a second girl whose blood wasn't half as good as that of her predecessor. But at least it quenched my thirst for blood. After I had had enough, I sat her against a wall and left.

The need to get back to Isabella became stronger the closer I got to my house. Judging by the twilight surrounding me, she would wake up in about two hours. Until then, I would sit by her side and watch her sleep. As soon as I noticed her waking up, I'd leave. This had become my ritual for the previous nights.

To watch her sleep was fascinating to me. Sometimes, she made a little noise or snored softly and turned around. Those were my favorite moments and I imagined her cheeks turning pink upon me telling her about my new routine.

By now, I had reached my front door and an unknown feeling spread in my chest while I passed the doorstep. A strange ache which I couldn't exactly place. Since Isabella had stepped into my life, I had experienced so many new feelings and she was at the origin of all of them.

Two seconds later, I was in front of her door and paused to listen to her regular breathing. But I was met with complete silence. Only a second later did I manage to shake off the sudden weight that seemed to push me down and opened the door. It crushed against the wall and I rushed into the room.

She was gone. I couldn't fight the impulse to search for her thoughts. Even though I knew it was senseless. I didn't find her and did a full and slow turn. There was a heap of clothing in one corner of the room which I recognized to be Isabella's night gown. The window was open, and a horrible thought came to my mind. Within seconds, I was at the window frame and looked down. A huge weight lifted off me as I didn't see her crumpled body below. So she hadn't jumped out of the window. Where had she gone?

For the first time in my long existence as a vampire, I felt utterly helpless. What had I done wrong? Hadn't she liked the afternoon we had spent together? Had she gone because our visit to the market had frightened her? Had I misjudged her and she had only acted as if she started to like spending time with me while she had planned her escape?

I should have taken better care of her. It wasn't safe for her to leave the house on her own. Memories of how I had found her kept playing in my head. I growled.

For how long had she been gone? Hastily, I went to her bed, pulled back the blanket and felt for any remaining heat. It was stone cold. She must have left shortly after I had. But there was something else. My hand felt something sticky which might have stopped my heart if it would still be beating.

Only now did I notice that I hadn't yet taken a breath in Isabella's deserted room due to the shock I was feeling. Slowly, I drew in some air which confirmed the premonition I had.

I knew this smell. The realization of what had happened here not too long ago hit me hard. I looked down at Isabella's night gown and grabbed it to take a closer look at it. Here too, I found the milky substance that had started to become crusty. I knew the smell of Jonathan's ejaculation since he gave it off at least once a week when he returned from a brothel.

Hot wrath flared up inside me. How had this swine dared to touch her? This must have been the reason for her flight. Even though I wasn't directly guilty for what had happened to her, guilt burned me up nonetheless. She had told me about her fear of Jonathan only yesterday. And I hadn't taken her seriously.

My vision turned red. Too many thoughts rained down on me. This bastard! I would kill him. But only after I had beaten the living daylight out of him to make him give me all the details. He would die slowly and in agony.

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