Chapter Twelve
Horror flashed through both Isabella and Demetri as they took in the scene, Isabella worried for her sister and that she carried while Demetri feared for Jasper's life.
"Maria! What happened? Who attacked you?" Isabella demanded as she rushed forward, taking the male from her sister's arms. His blue eyes wide and almost unseeing, but she could feel his life force thrumming through him faintly.
"It wasn't one of us, I claimed him. It was a Maniarcor, we were coming back from the lava rocks and it attacked." Maria gasped out as she fell forward in pain; she had tried to fight the beast off but was unsuccessful. Its tail had sliced through her arm and back as it spun, its claws slicing through her mate's chest and stomach in the same movement.
"Maniarcor?" Demetri asked as he held Maria up from falling, his brain connecting the dots together as he saw the wound on her back. The yellow substance that covered them both was her blood; she was injured just as much as Jasper.
"It is a beast," Isabella muttered out as she crushed herbs together into a paste before turning back around. "Demetri, I need you to wash his chest with water; I need to see the wounds on it. My sister needs a special herb to extract poison from her blood." She explained as she rushed off, taking her sister with her.
Demetri quickly did as he asked, using the large bowl filled with clear water and the cloth that lay in it. Jasper moaned wildly, his eyes opening as he weakly struggled against Demetri's hold. "Sh, Jasper it's okay. You are safe, Maria is safe with us." He spoke and sighed in relief as Jasper stopped struggling.
"Dem… Demi? Whe… ter…?" Jasper gasped out before coughing, blood splattering across Demetri's face before Jasper's body went lax.
"JASPER! No, no, no stay with me! HELP!" He screamed, "ISABELLA!"
Both Isabella and Maria rushed back into the room, a scream tearing through Maria's throat as she saw her mate lying lifeless in her sister's mate's arms. "NO!" She screamed before rushing forward, removing Jasper from Demetri's arms and into hers.
Demetri backed away as he saw Maria's eyes and body begin to glow a vibrant red; the light encasing both her and Jasper.
"What is happening?" He asked Isabella as she stopped by his side.
"She is saving him, when he wakes I hope he enjoys being mated to her. This is binding, they are wed; he will be like us and yet not." She explained, hoping that what her sister is doing will save him. She had seen it done before, but not so severe or dead.
"Will he be okay?" he had to ask, for he knew if Jasper died, Peter would be crushed.
"I am uncertain, this may bring him to life but he will still need to heal, or it may do both… it may not do anything." She whispered, her eyes sad as she watched.
"Can you show me the beast that attacked them?" He asked after a few more seconds of silence, he needed to know what animal did this.
Isabella nodded slowly before placing her hand against his forehead; an image burned its way through Demetri's mind. It was of a ferocious lion with wings the width of a car and a scorpion tail. He saw the way Jasper fought off the beast with the weapon he had, before the image vanished.
"A manticor, how strange…" He mumbled, his brows pulling down with thought. The beasts he had encountered on the planet so far are those of mythical tales back home. But now that he has seen them, he was unsure if earth has been visited by aliens or not when these creatures supposedly existed.
Demetri turned, his back pressed against Isabella's as he heard footsteps rushing toward them, his hands clenched ready to attack. Only to relax as he saw Felix hanging off the arm of some male, his mind came up with a blurry image of the unknown male and his Isabella together… Randall, his mind supplied.
"Calm down bro, he's my mate." Felix stated with a wide grin before looking behind them and paling. "Jasper?"
Shaking his head, he stood and looked back over his shoulder. "Not too well, we lost him, Felix… Maria is… it's hard to explain."
"She is giving him half her life force and soul. What we do when we bind forever." Randall spoke as he moved them both closer. "The others are not far behind, a half day walk before the blue sun rises." He uttered to his sister.
"Thank you brother, the herbs for your mate are on the stones. His leg will need Roopet but I cannot dive that far, unlike you. Ith would help but he listens to only you. I also need more Correl, they have someone with poison; I used the last with Maria." Isabella informed her brother who nodded and quickly helped his mate make his way to the room where she kept all her healing herbs.
As quick as he could he slathered the mixture over his mate's leg before wrapping it with vines; it would have to do till he came back with the Roopet, a hard-like sea plant that hardened like rock when dry. "Stay here, I will be back as soon as possible." He whispered to his mate before racing off out towards the pools, he didn't even slow when he came to the stepping stones to the other side of the pools and dived off to the great pools below. He felt the gills form as he grew deeper, the plus side of being a water element being.
Ith, his pet, swam around him happily, his body expanding to show his spines before compressing his body once more. It always made Randall smile at how playful and happy his little Ith was at seeing him.
"Find me Correl, hurry Ith." He commanded before pointing off in the direction he knew some to be before moving to the side of the deep pool and gathered some Roopet, thanking mother earth as he did so. Ith came back quickly with a whole plant of Correl, its bright orange shell shining in the light his body emitted.
Thanking his pet, Randall pushed off from the wall and swam back to the top. He shook his head as he breached the water before jumping out and beginning his climb to the top. As he grew closer he could hear voices from his sisters and the other Sky Creatures, his mate's being the loudest.
"Sister!" He called as he strode into the room, the Roopet and Correl in his hands.
"You have them, hand the Roopet to him; he knows how to use it." Isabella stated, gesturing to Emmett who was kneeling next to Felix.
Staring warily at the man he slowly handed the sea plant over, "You are a healer?"
Emmett looked up at the burly man and nodded, taking the seaweed from his hands and began to wrap Felix's leg. "You did well with the splint and placing it back into place. Bells over there told me this dries like our plaster so it should be all good, but stay still till it dries." He ordered in his best doctor voice before smirking. "But these are the shelves to my room; there was a medikit in the chest at the end of the bed."
"Dude, I had to carry my weight to the damn hull and across the damn dead zone of this planet, two shelves and wrapped it with my shirt, so sorry for not seeing the damn chest! You fucker!" He cried dramatically, causing Emmett to laugh.
Isabella looked worriedly over her shoulder towards where the opening is in her home that lead back to where she found Demetri. He and the other male, Peter, left after they had arrived and when he saw the state of his brother. This she could understand, his anger and sadness, she remembered when she was young and hurt the way her brother felt. So helpless and guilty, so full of self-hate because he wasn't there to save her from the pain and it made her hurt.
"Go, I can finish up." Rosalie whispered, "Maggie can help." She continued gesturing to her sister beside her.
Isabella nodded before handing the bowl over, Rosalie was the other who knew to be a healer but the bare minimum. She knew enough how to apply the medicine and dress the wounds, as did Maggie.
"Charlotte." She called as she saw her sister fidget and look towards the way to the opening.
Hearing her name, Charlotte looked at Isabella and quickly made her way to her sister's side before following out to see her mate. She found it amazing that she had finally found her mate after all this time and the same time that her blood sister Rosalie did along with Maggie, Isabella and Maria.
At the sound of yelling and a mighty roar, Isabella and Charlotte shared a look before breaking out in a sprint, praying that their mates were okay.
A/N: What have I done now? *smirks*
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