Chapter 37 - Jasper's POV
It was surreal having walked through the castle before tonight nobody noticing me but now every vampire and human in the entire place gave me a wide birth. I was carrying Bella back to our rooms flanked by three large vampire guards I recognized from Suplicia's own staff. Bella's eyes searched my face for an answer I kind of shrugged, I had never seen this sort of behaviour before it must be a Volturi thing.
Bella's face looked pained I had not had a chance to completely triage her injuries before we were whisked off to talk to Edward and Alice. I should have taken the time after we had finished the telephone call but by Bella's emotional state I didn't want to push things. As we arrived back at our rooms the guard in front of me opened the door. "Anything the human need we are to provide, call on us when there is need." His deep baritone voice echoed down the hall. I nodded to him taking Bella into our rooms. I took Bella straight into the room she had shared with Edward setting her on the bed.
"Bella… I need to see." She looked up at me crossing her arms over her chest. "It's nothing Jasper…. It's just a few bruises, I'll be stiff and black and blue but I'm fine." her nervous feelings swarmed around me. "Bella, it's not nothing I can smell the blood. Please let me see." I moved closer to her on the bed and she backed away "Jasper, I don't want you to, I mean your eyes, the injuries you sustained, you need to go hunt." I backed away "Bella, I am completely in control and I know your not scared of me I can feel it, what's wrong?"
She looked up at the ceiling blinking back tears. "It's just if you see it Edward will see it. You know how he gets." Ahh and there it was she didn't want my poor self deprecating brother to see it in my thoughts and blame himself. "Bella, for cripes sake I'll translate civil war battle plans into Portuguese just let me see the damage."
She finally sighed loudly and turned from me allowing me to pull up her shirt at the back. She had a large hand shaped bruise on her lower lumbar area right on top of her spine. Further up her back a bunch of finger shaped bruises extended around her sides near the lower part of her ribcage. Above those her shoulder blades were a deep black colour fading to a light purple as the bruise resonated out. "Bella, can you point out where you are feeling the most pain I need to feel around to make sure there are no fractured bones." As one arm cupped her breasts holding her shirt close to her front the other moved back to the finger shaped bruises along her ribs. "Right about here on both sides it feels like it's burning" As her hand once again returned to her front I saw what she was indicating. Four small crescent shaped raised scars ran down both sides of her ribcage. Who the hell has venom on their finger nails? A ragged breath instantly caught in my throat. " Jasper what is it can you see something?"
"There's no blood….." the words escaped my mouth without my thinking. Bella spun around to face me "What do you mean there's no blood I felt it, I saw him lick my blood off his fingers." I swallowed down the venom pooling in my throat. Venom the one thing that would heal any wound, the one thing that made us the things that we were. Bella had venom in her blood, but how much? How would such a small dose effect her. It was directly in her blood stream, how long before she felt the effects? "Earth to Jasper, what do you mean there's no blood?" A loud knock on the door interrupted what I was thinking to tell Bella. I stood "I'll be right back" and left the room looking back at Bella several times.
Opening the door a small Human woman stood before me carrying a basket. "The lady ask me bring food for young one." she said in broken English, Handing me the basket she backed away. "Uhmm, thank you." She nodded to me and walked away I closed the door behind me. "Bella Suplicia has sent you some food, do you think you can eat?"
I placed the basket on the table walking back into Bella's room I saw her searching for her own answers with a hand mirror reflecting it toward her back. Toward the scars and she suddenly froze. The mirror dropped to the floor cracking on impact. I raced back to her side wrapping my arms around her. "Jasper….. What I mean, am I…." Her question was interrupted by sobs and tears I stroked her hair. "I don't know Bella, when Carlisle gets here he'll know, it will be okay. Ssshhhhhhh….. Calm down it will be okay." After a few moments she pulled away. Her eyes still questioned me. "I'll ask for ice packs, if we can freeze the area it may keep the infected blood from traveling too far too quickly." She nodded to me keeping her eyes locked on mine.
"I know you were going to…… tell me Jasper, I just couldn't ……stand the not knowing." She frowned at the ground kicking the mirror under the bed with her good foot. "Can I sit in the living room with you until Carlisle gets here?" She lifted her arms for me to pick her up. "Of course, and you should try to eat something" I said lifting her into my arms and carrying her to the sofa. She looked at me with disgust. "Bella, I wasn't able to keep you safe, do you not think Edward will kill me if I can't at least keep you fed?" a tiny grin blossomed on her face. "Alright, but I don't feel hungry…." She sniffed the air, the smells emanating from the basket seemed to be agreeable to her.
I went to the door and requested several ice packs from of the guards there I waited for him to retrieve them and brought them back into the room. Bella had opened the basket and was deftly poking at some sort of pasta dish and drinking something out of a red thermos. She seemed to be enjoying the food. She leaned forward and I positioned two ice packs on either side of her back placing pillows around her to keep them in place. I moved to the other end of the couch lifting her injured ankle onto my lap wrapping another ice pack around it. She smiled at me as I turned the television on, I must have been doing a good job hiding my distress because after about a half hour Bella's eyes fluttered shut. I would never show her how angry and upset I was at myself. If I had only been a moment or two earlier I could have prevented the bruises, the puncturing of her skin…. The introduction of venom into her system. She was my brother's mate, my wife's best friend and my sister…. And I may have killed her by being too late.