Content warnings: violence, angst


The Swans

Edward's POV

March 21st, 2003

A few hours earlier…

"I should rip your throat out," Paul snarled, his pupils wide and his chest heaving. "I should have ripped it out the moment I found out you betrayed Bella, you lying piece of vampire filth!"

Jasper didn't react, even as the entire pack looked seconds away from shifting and coming after him. He just stood there, silently agreeing with everything they were saying.

"Back off," Emmett growled, stepping in front of Jasper. We might have been pissed at Jasper's involuntary betrayal, but neither of us were going to let these dogs touch him. "Watch your tongue, mutt, or I'll rip it out myself."

"You'd be better off watching that piece of shit you call a brother. It's his fault the girls are being gods know what right now!" Paul snarled

The witches stood aside with apparent disinterest. This whole argument had started because of one comment, one comment implying we weren't trying hard enough, and of course Jasper and Emmett responded in kind, the wolves had lost their shit, like the stupid mutts they were, and now everything was in chaos. Again.

If I hadn't despised them so deeply, I might have appreciated their defence of Bella. But right now I just wanted to shut them up. Particularly Paul who would not shut up. I narrowed my eyes at him. Who was he to think he alone had the right to be pissed on Bella's behalf? They got drunk together one time and suddenly he was her knight in shining armour? I bared my teeth at him. I ought to show this mutt his place.

"Don't pretend you care," I snapped. "You know nothing about the girls and what they've had to go through. If you really cared you'd have shown up before this."

"We know enough to know that the two brats are horrible to their sister, we know you leeches conspired with those spoiled princesses and broke Bella's heart, we know that you all betrayed her when she was already dealing with all that shit the readhead brought up," Leah snapped "And we know she fucking cared about your entire family, she fucking considered you almost to be her own before you broke her heart! We know lover boy over there dined and dashed, leaving her alone after sleeping with her, and we know you had almost conned her into forgiving you before you let your true colours show, hell we know more than her sisters do!"

Finally, Jasper's mask of self-loathing broke into a flinty glare. "Hold. Your. Tongue."

"Why don't I hold yours instead?"

I heard a deep aggravated sigh from amongst the witches, I didn't pay them much mind as I bent into a crouch as the mutts shook and snarled at us.

"Right, that's it." Those words were the only warning we received as the trees around us suddenly began to grow rapidly, cocooning us in some sort of dome as the branches weaved together above us

What the—

"I have had enough of this squabbling." One of the witches stepped forward, glaring at all of us. "You are wasting time quibbling over where the blame lies when none of you are trying to find them. For all you know they're already dead because you couldn't put your egos away long enough to look for them!"

I whirled to face the group, as did the others. "Of course we're loo—"

The witch cut me off. "No, you're not! Meeting up is supposed to be a quick exchange of information before we go out to search again, but all you have managed to do is waste over half an hour at each others' throats when the girls you profess to love and care for could very well be dying, bleeding out on some cabin floor without so much as a hope of rescue all because you lot can't put your differences aside long enough to see to the matter at hand! If we lose them it will be you who will have to look into their father's eyes and tell him he no longer has children because you all lacked proper discipline!"

I winced at that. Telling Charlie that would not be pleasant.

"We will not stand it anymore! We will not be so careless when the lives of three of our own are at stake! You will either enter into a binding magical agreement to put your petty arguments to the side until the girls are home or we will seal you within this dome and search for the McKinnons on our own! Do not imagine us unable to carry our point! Choose now!" the witch demanded furiously.

It wasn't a choice.

"Of course we'll search for them!" I glared back before clenching my jaw. "Consider it agreed."

The witch turned her glare on the wolves.

Sam nodded also, the more sensible of the idiotic mutts.

"Hold out your hands." she commanded.

Wait, an actual binding agreement? I thought incredulously. We don't have time for this!

"And who's fault is that?" the witch snapped, reading my thoughts. "Hurry up before we leave you behind."

We all held out our hands and without missing a beat the witch did the same, a gleam of what might have been magic passed through her eyes before little wispy tendrils of light shot out to all of us and encircled our wrists. The magic was obviously not as potent as the girls, and much less demonstrative.

And just like that, it was over. I glanced at Emmett.

'Looks like our girls are more showy than these witches,' he thought. 'There were barely any fireworks.'

To myself, I thought privately that the sisters just liked showing off. Particularly Bella. And after everything they'd been through, they'd earned that right a thousand times over.

Please be safe. I can't lose you, Bella. Please, please be safe, I begged silently.

My phone rang, startlingly sharp in the quiet of the clearing. Glancing down I saw that it was an unknown number and picked up immediately. "Hello?"

Is it Bella? Did she find a random phone to call me from? Is she calling to tell me where she is?

"Edward? It's Angela, do you have a moment? I need to tell you something."

And just like that, all hope came crashing down.

"What?" I snapped impatiently.

She took a deep breath before beginning to ramble. "Okay so I know this is something I should be saying in person but we don't have time for that. I know you and Bella had a fake pregnancy to ward off Renee, but when Bella had her heart attack they did an ultrasound on her, and she's actually pregnant—she had a second one done to confirm. She's pregnant and the baby is yours. Obviously. You have to find her and soon, I don't know a lot about witches but I do know they need to eat more and the girls are probably starving by now which can't be good for the baby."

The phone slipped out of my hand as I froze.

"Edward?" Her voice was distant on the ground, but I could barely think. "Are you still there?" Angela was silent for a moment, then my phone buzzed. "Right. You're probably shocked, probably don't believe me, but I've sent you a photo of the ultrasound."

Seeing I wasn't moving, Emmett picked up my phone and opened it to whatever Angela had sent. Then he swore. And swore again.

She's pregnant and the baby is yours. She's pregnant and the baby is yours. The words played round and round in my head until it was all I could think of.

"Of course she's pregnant." One of the witches shook her head. "That makes so much more sense."

I looked up in shock at the witches.

"What?" I demanded. "How?

"Much like scent, a witches aura lingers in places they have been. We have been to places the McKinnons frequent. The eldest's aura is different from the others outside the common way. It is more charged, more infused with wild magic." She rubbed her forehead and sighed. "This means that she is pregnant because when in the womb a baby's magic is wild as they slowly absorb magic's essence before it calms—"

"So she's actually pregnant," I said dumbly.

Jasper closed his eyes, and I could hear the mental lashings he was giving himself for his part in their abduction, yet again, but I couldn't focus on anything apart from that ultrasound in Emmett's mind.

I had seen enough ultrasounds over my years helping Carlisle in the hospital and the medical degrees I had done over the years. So I knew exactly what that tiny shape meant.

A baby. My baby.

"Bella's pregnant?" Esme gasped, clasping Carlisle's hand. They shared a look and the thought they both had made me want to throw up. After everything Esme had gone through it was natural for her to think of that but I hated it with every fibre of my being. "I hope she and the baby are okay," she whispered. "Bella will be devastated if she miscarries!"

Carlisle squeezed her hand, looking equally as concerned. His thoughts gave way to what he wouldn't voice, that given the current situation there was a high chance of miscarriage.

The idea made me want to throw up. I hadn't even thought about that. But of course it was a possibility. With everything that had happened recently, added to whatever was happening to them right now, logically I knew a miscarriage was far more than likely.

But every cell in my body rejected it. I had just found out we were going to be a family, there was no way in hell that was changing. Not just for me, but for Bella as well. Losing a baby she'd never thought she'd have would break my Bella. I couldn't let her go through that.

"Forget devastated, she'll be broken," Leah said. "Do you know how much that girl wants to have kids? She could barely talk about not being able to get pregnant without tearing up, and that's with having years to come to terms with it. If she loses this baby, it will destroy her."

Seth nodded. "Fuck, I hope her baby is okay. Bella can take alot, but not this," he added worriedly

"Wait, hang on a moment," Paul cut in. "We're just going to skip over the fact that a leech infected Bella? What will that leech's dna do to her? Is this going to be some alien bursting from her body horror shit show? And we just let it happen?"

"I'm going to tell Bella he called her baby an alien." Seth muttered. I saw from his thoughts that he was disgusted with Paul's words and thought Bella would set him straight faster than anyone else could

Paul pointed at him furiously. "That was not what I meant, you idiot," he growled. "We have no idea what that leech's DNA will do to our friend. What if his part in it fucking eats her from inside out like the father probably wants it to do!"

"I will assume you are simply ignorant, and worried for your friend and not take offence to that statement, dog." Alvira snapped. "Sit down and listen, mutt. The vampire DNA will do nothing to Isabella due to how Witch pregnancy's develop. The babe will have, almost from conception, been encased in a protective bubble within the womb, this prevents the mothers magic from interfering with the baby's developing magic, as babies are filled with wild magic from conception. This bubble also protects the mother from both a constant stream of wild magic and anything the baby emits.

"The babe will not eat her, but I am worried for its development as the babe would need the constant presence of both the mother and father to keep them balanced." Here she turned to me. "If you have not been around Isabella constantly from the moment of conception then at best the babe will favour Isabella in looks and attributes, at worst it will be born with health issues.

"A witch is never more vulnerable than when she is pregnant and the baby's attributes, personality, and looks all depend on the environment they develop in." She paused to nod at the dogs. "For example, I imagine Isabella has been spending an inordinate amount of time with the shifters due to their attachment to her. The babe may be more at peace around them or have a similar level of attachment to close friends seeking out a 'pack' or perhaps it will even have some of the abilities of a shape shifter such as broadcasting their thoughts."

"Regardless, we need to find the sisters immediately," an older witch cut in before I could wrap my head around that. "For all their sakes."

This cut right through all discussions entirely. I shared a glance with my brothers. Our mates and my unborn child were hurt, they were in pain and suffering somewhere where we couldn't help them. And every minute they stayed missing was another minute they could be being tortured in some fashion. Another minute closer they came to being killed.

"See you in six hours." Alvira nodded to both our sides and the dome began to dissipate.

I can't wait another six hours, Emmett thought, glancing at me. I clenched my jaw. Neither could I. We had overturned every stone in the area the witches had given us, and we'd found nothing.

As the dome above us broke apart, five bright lights speared down from the centre, aiming at my brothers and I, and the wolves.

Everyone stiffened, but for the first time in days, I felt hope. I reached out to the one diving for me and I could have cried as the familiar coat of her magic settled against my skin.

Bella. I grinned as the purple swan settled into my cupped palms. It was exactly like the one from our date.

'She sighed happily, then she turned to me, her eyes bright with remembrance, "Do you want to see one?"

Her smile brightened, like a child being told that Christmas had come early, and I felt my heart constrict…

with a start I realised that it wasn't her breath, but her magic in its base form. I was instantly transfixed. She used her finger to swirl the magic slightly, before moving it, shaping it into some kind of animal….

opened her hand again to reveal a purple glowing swan. The wisps of magic swirled in her palm, but were now confined to the shape Bella had placed it in…'

"They're alive," I murmured and relief rippled through the clearing. I'll find you, my love, I swear. "It's Bella's magic, I'd know it anywhere."

Questions followed immediately, but I didn't care. I raised the swan to my face and my throat constricted as the swan nuzzled my cheek.

"It's child's magic." Alvira's voice broke through my relief. Her eyes were trained on the swan that had settled in Jacob's hands. "It requires very little magic."

"What does that mean?" Carlisle asked.

"Most likely?" There was a graveness in her eyes and tone that had my chest squeezing. "That they're low on magic. And running out of time."

"Then we go after them!" Leah leaned forward, eagerness in her eyes. "Bella wouldn't have sent them if there wasn't some way of tracking where they came from."

"They also have beacons attached," the high priestess pointed out. "That flower engraved on the forehead of the swan—it is the McKinnon sigil. They will know when we get close to them and will perhaps be able to call out to us."

"No." Jasper shook his head. "It's more likely Bella set that up to know when to make their escape." My brothers and I shared a glance. "She'll know when we're close enough and turn herself into a distraction."

My heart constricted at the thought. No, love, please don't do that.

"Not if we get there first. We'll distract them," I growled. "The three of them against all of us? They won't make it to midday."

At that moment, another phone rang out—Sam's this time. He stepped away to answer it, but we all still heard both sides anyway.

"Sam, there's a red-headed leech here. She's standing on the beach like she's just waiting for us." It was one of the younger wolves they had left to protect the reservation.

Sam swore and I wanted to echo the statement.

"Wait for us," Sam instructed, nodding to the wolves here with us. Most of them began darting into the forests, shifting mid leap. "Don't approach her until we get there. Follow if she moves, but keep your distance. Don't let her into town."

"It's a trap," Jasper warned, his voice low as Sam hung up.

And yet my chest squeezed again, this time with hope. If Victoria was here, it meant only James and Laurent were between us and the girls.

"Don't care." Sam turned to follow the other wolves, nodding to Paul, Seth and Leah as he passed. "You three stay with them. Make sure you bring our girl home safely."

But even before Sam had fully left the clearing, Orchid was shaking her head, eyes trained on her phone. "Laurent is just south of Port Angeles." She looked up at her mother, alarmed at what she was reading. "He's hunting two of our youngest."

The High Priestess's voice was tight with worry and anger as she spoke. "And I suppose instead of getting to safety they are leading him on a merry chase deeper into the forest?"

Orchid nodded once.

Alvira turned to my family, her back straight and her glare fierce. "You will have to take on James by yourselves then." Her lip curled. "We have a witch hunter to eviscerate."

"We'll contact you when the sisters are home safe." Carlisle nodded to Alvira and Sam who lingered at the clearing edge. "Good luck to each of you."

"And to you." The High Priestess raised her chin. "Don't let your quarry leave alive."

"He won't." Emmett's grin was nasty. "And don't worry. We'll send pictures."

Feel free to toss yourselves on the fire with him, Jacob thought with a curled lip as he and the rest of the wolves disappeared into the forest.

My family, the remaining wolves and I didn't wait to watch the witches vanish as the swans suddenly had all our attention. The swans rose in sync and flew south. We darted after them.

~Scene~

Charlie's POV (3rd Person)

Charlie's pounding head had only gotten worse with every hour his girls had been missing. He hadn't left the office since he'd found Alice's recording and even the Mayor hadn't had the desire to send him home. Not with every report coming in that this bastard was a far bigger serial killer than anyone had realised. Charlie's headache soon became a migraine. But he still didn't leave. He couldn't. He couldn't go home to his empty house, or walk past Bella's destroyed room. It just wasn't an option.

He closed his eyes and rested his weary head on his desk, searching for some minor relief in the cool wood. Instead he found a soothing, familiar warmth. His head shot up. Alice! But she wasn't there. Instead, a violet swan floated by his head, ducking and weaving around him like a puppy delighted to see him again.

Magic, he thought slowly. This is their magic.

And watching that swan, he knew. His girls were coming home.

Charlie was out his office door and barking orders before even his thoughts could keep up with him. "Biez, Samson. Call Forks General and make sure they have a team on standby in the ER and a bus ready for the call. I'm not sure where they'll be coming in from or what shape they'll be in, but my girls are going to need medical support immediately. I want everyone ready." He stalked towards the door. "Be ready for when I bring them in."

Officer Samson hesitated. "Ah…sir. Are you aware there's a…?" He pointed at Charlie's swan.

Charlie waved the boy away. "Of course I am. Now get to it!"

Biez immediately spotted the swan floating about the Chief's head and instantly knew what it was. "Sir…I don't know if you are aware but those things are meant to lead you to whoever made them. You can't follow it—"

Charlie cut her off with a growl. "The hell if I can't! Those are my girls and if this thing can lead me to them, I'm going to find them!"

Detective Biez took a deep breath before staring hard at him. "With all due respect, sir, you're no good to them dead. If there is a hunter holding them, and at this point it's all but confirmed there is, he is not alone. You would be dead before you walked through the door. Hunters are stronger and faster than normal humans. That suspect having three sets of cuffs on him was not us having fun, that was the minimum required to keep him contained so unless you plan on your girls seeing you in a body bag you should really let the covens handle this," she said firmly.

"Jesus, Biez," an officer off to the side muttered. "Way to be fucking gentle."

"She said what was needed," a voice called from the reception. They all turned to see Savannah Fiona and Lucinda walk forward.

"The Cullens have gone after the McKinnon sisters; they have the tools needed to overpower the hunters. Two young ones are herding the one called Laurent and the Quileute boys are chasing the redhead Victoria," Fiona added.

Before Charlie could argue, his swan darted around his shoulders and landed on his head. Suddenly, his mind was overwhelmed with flashes of images, snatches of visions that were gone before he could process them: trees blurring past, sirens blaring, someone yelling "chest compressions", his knuckles white against the steering wheel, the 'welcome to Forks' sign, a nurse yelling for "OR 1", Bella's sightless eyes.

Charlie's chest squeezed, but in all of that, he knew what he had to do.

Charlie brushed past them, his keys in his hands. "Then it's a good thing I'm not going there, isn't it?" As he walked past the bullpen, he pointed at the officers watching him with wide eyes. "I want everyone off the roads. Tiber, you're in charge of sectioning off the main road—I don't want to see a single person so much as stepping off the sidewalk. Banks, Cheney and Tindal I want you to call everyone in town and tell them to stay off the main road for the next four hours. Call Muriel first, she'll get the stragglers and anyone else." He spun around to point at Biez and Samson. "You two, with me in the cruisers, we'll be escorting them in. Oliver, tell the bus we'll meet them at the Forks welcome sign and they need to make sure it is fully kitted out with everything they would need for a code blue."

Charlie strode for the door, before spinning around once more. "Actually, make it two ambulances, Oliver. Bella will need her own, and her sisters won't want to leave her, but I want another one there if they need it. And make sure the hospital is ready for them when we get there." To the witches he said, "If you would, I would like at least one of you with me, for whatever witchy, magicky, whatever my girls need. Can I count on you for that?"

"You saw something," Lucinda murmured, her eyes on Charlie's swan still nestled in his hair. "It showed you what will happen." She shook her head. "But child's magic is never that complex…"

"I think the youngest one, Alice, has visions… I've seen her stare off when around town getting intuitive nudges and flashes, I know the look," Biez said as she grabbed the keys to one of the cruisers.

"I'll go," Savannah volunteered

"You are just volunteering because you hope to run into a hunter. Saving these three won't bring your sister back. Nor will killing the hunters," Fiona pointed out not unkindly.

"I know that," Savannah snarled, whirling on the girl. "I don't see you volunteering," she hissed.

Charlie shoved his way out the door. "I don't care if all of you come. We're running out of time. We need to move."

I'm coming, girls. Just hold on a little bit longer.

~Scene~

Edward's POV

I tore through the forest after the swan, pushing myself faster and faster, using every bit of my energy to chase after it. I had to get to her. I had to get to my love before she did anything drastic.

And our baby.

Bella was pregnant and being held by psychos willing to hurt her for who knew what reason. I had to get to her before—

I cut my thoughts off. No. I couldn't think like that. She would be fine. She had to be. She would be fine and I would take care of her and our baby.

Our baby. Just the thought made me elated and terrified at the same time. I had just learned of this baby but loved them already and wanted to protect them with everything I had. However I feared for the baby and Bella, and what it would do to Bella if she lost the baby. Bella, who wanted a child so badly, yet had always believed she could never have one, would be devastated if she lost our little miracle, and I feared that the loss of a child would be too much for Bella to bear.

My family ran close behind me, I didn't even try to keep pace with them as I pumped my legs faster. I could tell I was outstriping them by a wide margin however I paid no heed to that as I kept following the purple swan that seemed to match, and even exceed my pace.

Then I ran into it. Her scent. Bella. She'd been here. I stumbled to a stop in a clearing and spun around, searching for something, anything. But the scent was disappearing. It was a few hours old at least—I'd learn nothing from delaying here.

At the edge of the clearing, my swan hovered impatiently, and I took off after it again. As I did, Bella's scent strengthened. I was getting closer.

I pushed myself harder. I had to get to her. I had to.

Time blurred as I tore after the swan. I didn't know how long I'd been running, I wasn't even sure of where I was. All I knew was my heart was close and I had to find her fast.

Soon a cottage came into sight and the minute the small swan disappeared through the walls I put on a burst of speed and burst through the door just in time to hear Alice and Rosalie scream for their sister as James swung on them. I scanned the room frantically for my Bella, and my heart dropped to see her at the base of a mirror, unmoving with a pool of blood beginning to collect around her torso.

At that moment I knew I would kill James. Nothing else mattered. I swung my eyes over to my prey and the red haze descended as Alice and Rose screamed again for their motionless sister.


Authors' Notes

From now on we will be uploading a new chapter on the 19th of every month.

Courtney: hehe I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know we certainly did.

Joy: Don't murder us! After all you only have to wait a month until the next set lol