It's going to be OK, he kept repeating in his mind, trying to convince himself. Edward ran at superhuman speed, but it wasn't fast enough. The anxiety seemed to be eating him and the scene he'd just witnessed played over and over in his mind. What could possibly be wrong with Jasper? Him, of all people, who had to be almost inmune to vampire venom, who was a warrior. And how could he have missed something as big as that? Was he so infatuated with his pretty little family that he was leaving everybody else abandoned? He promised to himself to pay more atenttion to his relatives, and ask what was going in their lives more often, so something like that wouldn't happen again.
It wasn't long before he arrived at the house, and he felt a wave of relief when he saw that the guests were gone. He heard Esme thinking something about some broken vases and went to her, knowing that a clock was ticking.
"Esme" he said, when he got near her.
"Oh, Edward, dear" she said, with her usual warm smile "did you find Bella and Jasper?"
"Where is Carlisle? I need him to come with me right now!"
Esme took in Edward's anxious expression and the urgency in his voice called her husband.
"Coming!" said Carlisle's voice from upstairs.
"Edward, son, what's going on?"
But Edward didn't say a word and waited until his father was downstairs to listen to everything. The blonde vampire noticed Edward's distressed look inmediately:
"What's wrong?"
"Something happenned to Jasper, he's in a lot of pain and is vomiting blood" Esme gasped in surprise at this "He's with Bella and Emmett, Bella helped him out last night because people's emotions hurt him. And that's why we need you to figure out what's wrong with him, but no one else can come."
"Ok, I'll take a couple of things and I'll go with you"
"Be quick" Edward told Carlisle, remembering Jasper's state when he left. Suddenly, Esme sweet voice stopped all his thoughts.
"Edward, honey," He looked at Esme, whose thoughts were now all of Jasper. "whatever is it, please don't give up on him."
Bella's POV
I was trying to make conversation with Seth (because he had to be feeling quite uncomfortable with his place filled with vampires) but couldn't find the appropiate words. Emmett was sitting on a chair next the rusty bed where Jasper lay, staring at the ceiling and Seth I were standing in the other corner, near the window.
Jasper moaned and whimpered every now and then, and had a new symptom: he was burning up. He had been throwing up blood for several minutes after Edward left, and he had grown extremely weak. He was awake (at first) but couldn't move, or speak and could barely keep his eyes open. Emmett had carried him from the clearing to Seth's homemade bed and had been talking to him, to keep him awake, but to no avail. Everything was getting worse. And now his temperature had scalated, and the little hope I had started vanishing.
Edward and Carlisle arrived shortly after, and the doctor checked Jasper straight away. I was always amazed at Carlisle's efficiency and speed, and at the grace with which he dealt with the sick and the injured. While he examined Jasper, Emmett and Edward looked at him expectantly, and when he finished we were all waiting for a diagnosis.
"Well?" I asked.
The doctor seemed to be deep in thought, and then his whole expression changed.
"No... it can't be..."
Ok, those words from Carlisle only freaked us out further.
"What?" asked Emmett "What is it?"
"It smells like Vervain" Calrisle said, solemnly.
"And what is that?"
"An herb used to finish off vampires, a couple of centuries ago. There was a group, a society of humans who became aware of vampires and started hunting them down, with different tools. The most effective of them was the vervain, innocuous for humans but extremely toxic for us... but it was supposed to be extinct... The last Vervains died on the early 1900's..."
"Ok, and what is the cure for that?" I asked the doctor.
Carlisle's voice suddenly seemed three tones graver.
"There is no known cure. When the intoxication is light it goes off with time, but in this case...I'll search my books, but... Vervain has been always considered deadly for vampires..."
A lot of questions came to my head. How come Jasper was poisoned and we were all right? What had that poison? And who had access to a rare herb like that? And how did they know there vampires around? It was a targeted attack, no doubt, but why Jasper? And the most important of all, how were we going to save him?
Meanwhile, Jasper, unaware of everything, kept tossing and turning in an uncomfortable sleep, while fevered deliriums about war and bloodied newborns plagued him. A shoothing hand caressed his face, and he wished he could wake up.
But he couldn't. As hard as he tried, he couldn't wake up.
A/N: Did you like it? The twist of the chapter, was it any good? Please tell me! As you may have guessed, I'm a vampire diaries fan and I got the idea of the vervain from the show. Thanks to all the people who'd reviewed, you motivate me a to write more! And keep'em coming! You know you want to review?
