Apologies for the long time since my last post. Be so very busy. Anyway, enjoy and thanks for reading.

Jasper POV

Maria was gone. I would never waste my time thinking of her again.

I knelt down beside Jo, cradling her gently. She was awake, but barely. Each breath came with a terrible struggle. Maria's companion, Marx, had to be dead. Jo's healing ability would kick back on, but could she keep herself breathing long enough for her body to heal?

"Keep breathing, Jo." I pleaded with her. She had fear in her eyes. It was a look I rarely saw in her. "Focus on nothing else but breathing."

Emmett and Devon returned to the building, carrying the pieces of Marx. They dropped them carelessly before approaching us.

Rose placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. "Get her back to Carlisle. We'll take care of things here."

I looked up at my siblings, sending a feeling of gratitude to them, not just for cleaning up the mess, but for helping me fight. I then scooped up Jo into my arms and flew from the building at top speed. I sprinted as fast as my legs would carry me, focusing on every beat of Johona's heart. Her heart was slowing down. She had to fight harder and harder for each breath.

Why was her healing ability not helping?

I had no idea how long it took, but I soon made it back to the house. I was met at the door by Carlisle and Edward. Eddie, no doubt, had heard the desperation in my mind as I kept telling Jo to hold on and keep breathing. I rushed her up the stairs to the room we had been using for her treatments.

Carlisle worked on her as I gave everyone a quick rundown of what happened. The feelings in the house were almost enough to drive me crazy. Too many positive and negative emotions mixed together. I step outside the room with Esme, allowing Carlisle space to work.

An enormous feeling of guilt was coming from Edward. "I"m sorry, Jasper. I should have been listening closer. She might have been silenced, but I'm sure she could probably still think. I was blocking out the party to strongly. I could have stopped this from happening."

I just hugged my brother. "No you couldn't. Maria would have killed you if you had tried to stop her. It's not your fault."

My words help alleviate Edward's guilt only marginally. Unfortunately, it was the best I could do at the moment. I was doing my best to send calming waves into the room with Jo and Carlisle. I was helping her fight the only way I knew how.

Almost an hour later, Carlisle came out with a grim look on his face.

"Well, I got a tube through her crushed windpipe and she's on life support now. Without doing X-rays, this is only a guess, but I'd say all of her ribs are broken, a good portion of her spine is crushed and there is probably more internal bleeding that even surgery could fix. As far as I can tell, her body is not healing."

My mouth fell open. "But the vampire suppressing her healing is dead. She got her control back right before Maria attacked her. Why didn't her healing come back, too?"

"I can only guess at the reason. Maybe it's just coming back slowly. It might not come back at all. Right now, all I can do for her is keep her heart beating and pray her own shifter healing turns back on. Surgery would only kill her. "He paused, as if wrestling with a decision. "There is one other option, but…"

"What is it?" I asked.

"With her healing and immune system down, we could pump her full of venom and try to turn her."

I leaned up against the wall and ran my hand through my hair. "That's the exact opposite of what she would want. She's rather die than be a vampire."

Carlisle nodded. "Which is the reason I was reluctant to mention it as an option. You know Johona the best. I think you are the closest thing she has to family. It should be up to you to decide how I proceed."

I sighed, taking a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Is there any chance she'll wake up?"

Carlisle gave me a sad look. "There is always a chance, but it's a fairly slim one."

I walked slowly into Johona's room and took a seat next to her, taking her hand. Carlisle closed the door and I was left alone.

Alone to think. Alone to decide.

To Be Continued...