Hi guys! Posting this from work, so excuse any typos. Thanks always, always for reading and being amazing! so much love to BuriedAlive and the inimitable Arfalcon.
Grabbing a notepad from the bedside table, Jasper scrawled on it and then turned it so Edward and I could see what he had written.
In messy, hurried handwriting, it read:
Don't say anything. You're in more trouble than we thought.
Chapter Seven: Hostile Take(C)over
Edward and I looked at each other in alarm as Jasper turned the notepad to write something else.
Edward—say that you want to listen to music.
Bella, turn it up loud. Really loud.
Edward and I looked at each other, wondering what had gotten into Jasper. When it was obvious that neither of us had a logical explanation, Edward shrugged, and with an effort sat up in bed. I moved towards him, helping readjust the pillows behind him so he could lean back.
"Bella, will you please put on some music?" he said. "I'm in the mood for some tunes."
I turned on the radio, adjusting the volume so it was quite loud. Jasper pointed his thumb upward and I raised it higher. It still wasn't enough and he motioned that I raise it higher, and I kept on doing so in increments until The Who was blasted so loud I could barely hear myself think.
"What is happening?" I asked, wincing. For a moment, I was glad Edward's hearing wasn't at its highest capability; that would be torturous. Jasper moved close to Edward's side, motioning me in.
Cupping his hands so that we could hear him in the small circle our bodies formed, he spoke. "You guys are in much more trouble than I thought."
"What?"
"I was alerted by Dr. Cullen to some patterns in Edward's test results. Patterns that indicate that Edward isn't getting weaker; he is being weakened. There's something that is draining his strength," Jasper explained.
"What? How can he be weakened?" I struggled to ask over the sound of The Who.
Jasper's face became, if possible, even grimmer. "Edward's being poisoned." I looked at Edward. His already pale, drawn face was ashen in expression, if not in actual color. I mused that for the first time in his life, Edward Masen was speechless.
Seemingly realizing this as well, Jasper continued. "There are patterns in his biopsy, for lack of a better word; they've slowly developed starting about three weeks before he collapsed. When compared to the minimal amount of tests you let us run when you were in better health, it became evident what was happening. And it's only getting worse."
"How do you know all this?" Edward asked, regaining his voice.
"There's a doctor here, Dr. Carlisle Cullen. He noticed the results and then delved into it further. When he realized the patterns match those of blood work in human beings with longer-term poisoning, such as lead poisoning, he was alarmed. He had a hunch there was foul play; he pulled me aside and told me about his findings. We don't want to risk this information leaking out or any suspicion falling onto Carlisle as helping us. He's our greatest ally right now; that's why he's not here telling you about this."
"And you think the room is bugged?" I asked, over a particularly spirited guitar riff.
Jasper nodded. "I've worked with the bugging devices we use. I've discovered a little secret over the years; the bass tone disrupts the devices. Those guitar chords are essentially scrambling the noise the bugs will pick up."
"How do you even poison a vampire?" I wondered out loud.
"There's an explanation for that, too, thanks to Dr. Cullen. What does Edward live on?"
"Blood," I replied at the same time as Edward said, "Bella's adoration." I made a face at him, smacking in the arm lightly. "Be serious," I scolded.
"Well, since Bella's adoration can't be poisoned or tainted, it's irrelevant to this particular discussion," Jasper said, a half grin forming. I rolled my eyes. Edward did not need to be encouraged. "But, yes, the blood supply. I'll save you the complicated science-talk—mostly because I didn't understand myself—but whatever is being put in the blood supply Edward feeds on is stripping it of the element that Edward's physiology converts into energy. It's like if someone gave you food minus any nutrients; you'd run out of energy. Edward's passing out, his decreased hearing, slower speed, the loss of his mind reading ability and other powers; they're all reactions to the fact that he has no energy in his body. He is, essentially, malnourished."
There was one very, very important question left to ask. "Jasper, who do you think is behind this?"
He looked at me, then at Edward. Very seriously, he said, "Definitely Aro and Caius-they completely avoided contact with Edward, except through me, who didn't know anything, which would esnure he couldn't read their minds. Only when they knew that power was comprised did they come in. And I bet they had very special training to shield their thoughts."
"So Aro and Caius..."
"It probably doesn't stop with them. If Edward's blood supply is being contaminated and I don't know about it? It means that there is an order coming from so high up that they've deemed me a liability."
"And they what? Want to kill Edward?" I ask, glancing down at him. I don't know what expression I expected to see on Edward's face; perhaps worry to match mine, or a stony-faced determination, like Jasper. It was neither.
"Jokes on them. I'm already dead!" he announced, slapping his hands to his face in a way that reminded me of Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone.
Jasper looked at Edward for a long moment, a wry grin on his face. "You're really never serious, are you?" he said, admiringly, like he liked Edward's ability to keep his mirth. "Anyway, my best guess, Bella, would be that someone thinks Edward is worth more to the government dead than he is alive. Or er, whatever manner of alive he is. I'm guessing their goal is to weaken Edward to the point where they'll take him in as a hostile and conduct all the tests they haven't been able to thus far."
"All this just for some tests? I agree, his physiology is fascinating—"
"Oh, baby," Edward interrupted, giving me a lecherous smile. "I think you're physiology is fascinating too. In fact, I'd like to inspect it more closely." He weakly reached his arms out to grab me.
Ducking out of his reach, I ignored him and continued addressing Jasper. "But… doing this—it has to be a violation of human rights."
"I guess they don't care since he's not human," Jasper replied dryly.
My heart tugged at that. For all his otherworldliness, Edward was so very human. He was suffering, just like any of us would. He ached and he cared and he loved and he was loved. He was as much of a person as I was. He had never made the choice to be a vampire—only to use his abilities for good. And now, he was being betrayed. "To what end?"
"Well," Jasper said, swallowing. "They're obviously quite taken with the idea of an indestructible, immortal soldier."
I blinked once, then again. I glanced at Edward, who was wearing a poker face, and Jasper, whose expression was equally imperturbable. "You mean, they want to… weaponize vampirism?"
I started laughing. I couldn't help it. Between Pete Townsend singing about teenage wastelands and the information that it was highly likely that the entire government wanted to turn Edward into a lab rat and the consideration of the possibility of an army of vampires, I became a bit hysterical. I cracked up uncontrollably, laughing to the point of pain, as Jasper and Edward both stared at me.
"Well, it had to happen sometime," Edward said. "Bella's finally gone crazy."
I managed to tamp down my giggles, though one or two still escaped. "I've worked for you for six years. This breakdown is actually five years and three-hundred and sixty four days late," I retorted.
"Anyway, the most important thing is—" But Jasper was interrupted as a nurse came in.
"I'm going to have to ask you to turn that down!" she yelled.
"What?" Edward yelled backed.
"Turn it down!" she yelled louder.
"Earn a frown?" he replied.
"Turn it down!"
"Burn what town?"
Jasper and my heads bobbed back and forth as we watched.
"Turn it down!" she said, finally going to the stereo and doing it herself. "There!"
"I'm sorry," Edward said, sounding far too innocent. "Was it very loud?"
"You—of course it was!" she said.
"Oh. I'm sorry! You see, I'm losing my hearing so I couldn't tell." He made such a sorrowful face that I almost believed him. What's more, the nurse did believe him, despite the fact that Jasper and I probably both looked visibly relieved when she switched off the music.
"Well, never mind that," she continued. She walked to Edward's bedside and handed him a packet of blood, looking completely unsurprised that she was doing so for a patient without a drip. What types of things had she seen in her tenure that handing someone a packet of blood with no means to consume it but orally didn't phase her? Did she know that the blood was poisoned? I couldn't decide what was worse: if she, a nurse who had sworn the Hippocratic oath, knew and was complicit in the scheme, or if she didn't know and falsely believed she was working for the greater good. Sighing, I pulled myself out of my thoughts and looked over to Jasper, who mouthed "flush it" behind the nurse's back. I nodded.
As soon as she exited the room, I pulled the packet from Edward's hand and ran into the attached bathroom. A snapping sound caught my attention and I turned to see Jasper gesture for me to only empty half. I did so, flushing it down the toilet and brought the remainder back. Edward smartly took a little and rubbed it around his mouth to make it look like he'd consumed it. But really he looked pained. From what he'd told me, the scent of blood was hard to resist and he was already so weak as it was.
I reached over and took his hand, squeezing it. He looked at me and smiled, squeezing back.
"Anyway, Edward, Bella," Jasper said, breaking the silence and speaking measured and deliberately. "It was nice to see you again. I'm sorry to tell you we have no progress as far as your weakening condition is concerned, Edward. But I do appreciate listening to The Who."
"No problem," Edward replied. Meaningfully, he added, "Let's listen again sometime soon."
"Definitely. Soon," he said, nodding and walking out of the room, leaving Edward and me with far too much to talk about and no way to do so.
If Jasper was right—and I had little doubt he was—both Edward and I were in far more danger than we could ever imagine.
It was nearly twenty-four hours before Jasper got the chance to talk to us again, sneaking in the room just after midnight and carrying a strange, small box with him. That day of waiting was the most harrowing I'd ever been through; not only did I startle when anyone walked through the door, but Edward, unable to consume the blood being given by the hospital for fear of what might be in it, only grew weaker.
I folded my arms on the edge of Edward's bed, resting my chin on them. Gently, he cupped my face with one hand, giving me a weak smile. He already looked ten times worse and it had only been a few hours.
"I hate this," I mumbled.
"Hate what?" he replied.
"Hate having to sit here like this. Waiting," I told him. Through notes and whispers, Edward and I agreed that if the room was bugged we couldn't talk about anything.
"I can think of something we could do," he said, but the normal playfulness in his tone was dull.
"Why are you making that strange face?" I asked him.
He grimaced. "I was trying to wiggle my eyebrows but it seems to be taking too much effort."
I laughed, knowing he was partially joking. But my heart was only slightly in it because there was so much truth behind this joke. We needed Jasper to tell us what happening and we needed it now.
As if he heard my mental plea, he strode in the room a few minutes later, closing the door behind him. He fished a small device from his pocket and placed it on the side table next to Edward, flipping a switch.
"So Bella's mention got me thinking about—"
"Wait, Jasper, what about the room being bugged?" I interrupted.
"Oh, yeah. You see this thing?" he asked, picking up the device. "It's the most ingenious little invention. A friend in Tech lent it to me. I was worried that if I kept playing music loudly, whoever was listening would get suspicious. That's where this thing comes in handy. It picks up the frequency of the bug and plays a false conversation, modulating the voices."
"Hah," Edward laughed. "It's like a technology version of the muffliato spell from Harry Potter."
Jasper smiled. "Where do you think he got the idea from?" Edward and I grinned back at him.
"Anyway, what Bella was saying about Volterra, it got me thinking. It sounded a little familiar so I did some snooping with the help of a friend—"
"You sure have a lot of friends, Jasper," I teased.
He shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a charming guy."
"I certainly have a crush on you," Edward joked.
Jasper shot him an exaggerated wink before continuing. "Anyway, I looked into it and Bella, you were right. There is classified information that other vampires exist; and not only that, they're in Volterra. I can't be sure but my guess is that is what might have precipitated their whole change in attitude towards Edward. Now, more than ever, they need to know vampires' weaknesses, probably because they're scared that vampires will attack us."
"Despite the fact that they've hidden themselves for what is most likely hundreds of years," I said dryly.
"Don't concern yourself with logic, Bella. This is pre-emptive war." I shuddered at the grave tone in Jasper's voice, the sinister shadow that crossed his face.
I snuck a look at Edward, noting that he had been conspicuously quiet during this rather revelatory conversation. He was in bad shape, his eyes drooping with exhaustion. I grasped his hand and brought it quickly to my lips, feeling both thrilled and odd at displaying my affection for him. He gave me a weak smile back, and even though it was just the tips of his mouth turning up, it made me feel like perhaps I ought to show him how I felt more often.
"So what do we do?" I asked.
"Well, there's not much to be done, I'm afraid," Jasper said, frowning. "I have no idea how high up this goes or how many people are involved. And with Edward getting weaker by the second, we have no choice but to get out of here."
Suddenly, all the pieces began to fit together. "We're all going to Volterra."
Soooo here it is. A lot of you are a whole bunch smarter than me and figured this out, although the theories about Bella/her blood/her kiss being his cure were so interesting to me
I'll update soon but in the meanwhile, whatcha thinking?
