Chapter 9 Answers
"Is she alright?" Esme asked peeking into the room for the first time. Carlisle had told them what happened as soon as they all got back.
"We're not sure." Jacob answered watching her stir in her sleep.
"Everything is blank again Esme, I don't know what is wrong." I admitted. I hadn't moved since we laid her in bed neither had Jacob. The two of us sat in the incredibly large chairs facing her bed. I registered for the first time that it was Alice and Jasper's room we were in.
"Oh dear." She sighed putting another pillow under head, careful not to awake her.
We needed to find answers, we needed to do something, and the weight in the room was starting to crush me, "Esme, can you stay with her?" I asked getting up.
"Of course." She answered s if it weren't a thought.
"Jake come down, if you can." I answered leaving the room, Esme put a hand on my shoulder as I passed. I tried to give her a reassuring smile but it came out weak and pathetic.
I walked straight into Carlisle's study, "We need to do something." I sighed beginning a slow pace back and forth.
"I've never seen anything with a bite like that Asima. I don't know what would do that." He sighed rubbing his fingers through his pale hair, he looked just as tired as I was.
"When can we leave for South America?" I asked my pace quickening.
"We can leave as soon as tomorrow, but unless we know where to find him it will take too long."
"We'll I can start in Venezuela and work my way down." I pondered thinking about answers.
"Are you really willing to be away from her that long?" Carlisle asked with kind skepticism.
I didn't get to answer him because there was shouting from Japer's room. "Let me go, I have to leave!" She shouted.
Carlisle was in the room before me, helping Esme and Jake hold her against the bed. "You need to relax dear." Carlisle coaxed.
"No I don't I need to leave, I have to get away from here!" It wasn't an angry demand, it was s desperate plea from my Ness. The Ness that wasn't blocking her thoughts, He's coming I have to leave! I have to get out of here.
Jasper calmed the room the second he entered, I didn't even think to do that. I was too busy pulling what little I could from her frantic brain. Looking into every insignificant detail to find clues to what was wrong.
I could see her eyes droop she took deep breaths, trying to talk through Jasper's magic. "You…don't understand…I have to leave."
Jasper sat on the bed not wanting to break the hold. He was actually surprised that she was responsive this time. "Help us understand."
" I don't know how to explain it." She sighed as the room started to fill with everyone else. The expecting faces surrounding her made her feel uncomfortable. I felt it, so I knew Jasper did.
"Why don't we give Nessie some space?" He suggested , starting to get up but when the slightest twitch of her finger went to reach out to him, he noticed and sat back down.
Alice and Rosalie walked out first, then Emmett, Seth and Esme with a kind, "We are downstairs if you need us." Bella, Jake and Edward were set. They weren't going to move at all. Ness nodded already knowing that fact.
I started to get up behind them with Carlisle until she stopped us. "No!" she shrieked before Jasper put a calming hand on her knee. "I mean. Will you both stay?"
"Alright." I nodded going back into the corner of the room.
"Carlisle?" She asked hopefully, patting the other side of the bed in which Jasper wasn't sitting on.
"Of course." Carlisle agreed before sitting at her side.
"Who's coming for you?" I asked filling the silence with the main thought that I was having since I heard it.
"I don't know." She was met by several questioning eyes and then she corrected the statement. "I mean, I know but, I don't know."
"Why don't you tell us what you can tell us." Carlisle offered with kind patience.
"Well, it all started then I went to Cairo a week back. I was done shopping and I went to my private spot where I often read."
"What makes that place special?" Jasper mused. If I didn't know that he was trying to make her feel comfortable and keep her talking I would have growled in frustration at him encouraging her to trail off of the subject.
She smiled weakly and explained, " It's secluded and there's an oasis and the most beautiful groupings of thistles."
"That sounds beautiful." Jasper said not taking his eyes off of her.
"It is." She smiled back before sighing. "I was there for not even two hours before I felt someone watching me again. I had walked out into the water, not too far, but just enough to see more of the other side since I didn't see anything close." Her eyes fell to her hands that suddenly had the compulsive urge to lock together in her lap and rotate her thumbs around each other.
She was silent for a while, until Jasper put a single hand on her, causing her stop her nervous habit and rejoin the story. But it was Carlisle that encouraged, "And then what happened?"
"He came up behind me." She whispered still not looking up. "I turned to face him and he grabbed my shoulders and I froze. Not because he was exerting any type of force or anything, but because I didn't want to hurt him, everything in my mind told me he was human, and not to hurt him."
"There is nothing wrong with that." Carlisle nodded looking to Edward pleading with his eyes for us not to interrupt. "Go on."
"It was hard to process any type of rational thought around him. I barely got out a 'Who are you?'" She sighed. "He said his name was Zach, and that he had been waiting for me. That I was his."
"Then what Nessie?" Jasper asked pulling his hand away.
"I told him that I was taken, and he said it didn't matter. I couldn't understand why I didn't just walk away, everything was telling me to stay. I insisted he didn't know me, and he said that he knew I wasn't h-human." She stuttered looking up at me and glanced down quickly in shame.
Jasper started to ask her something else when everyone in the room stiffened, but she continued, "But he seemed so human, smell, soft skin everything!" She reasoned a little louder still not looking up. "So I insisted I was human. I mean surely he couldn't know my parentage right?" The question was a hypothetical.
She was silent again, waiting for some type of outburst from us I suppose, but when nothing came she continued. "He thought my lie was funny. He turned me back around, not forcefully, it just seemed like, my body wasn't my own. He sniffed my neck and told me I didn't smell human, then he rubbed up and down my leg under the water, and he said I didn't-"
She stopped because there was a hiss from Edward, he was no longer holding Bella's hand, and his fists were clenched so tight that he probably would have crushed her stone hand into gravel if he was. Jacob was trembling his hands shaking fighting a phase, his long black hair shivering.
Ness whimpered slightly at the reaction mentally panicking. I knew they would be angry with me. She thought taking their body language the wrong way. I should go, I shouldn't be here.
"No." I said in the same time with Edward, but mine came out a lot softer which was surprising because I was just as furious. "They aren't mad at you Ness. Please continue."
I walked in between Edward and Jacob so that my hold would effect both of them equally calming them down. If you guys don't calm down we won't ever get the story. I scolded both of them Let's figure out what we have to kill and kill it.
They both nodded in agreement but Jake's mouth was still clenched shut. Can you hear this? Do you need to leave? I asked my eyes looking back and forth between him and Ness, who was watching us carefully.
I touched his arm making my influence nearly irresistible and he sighed, "I'm fine Nessie, can you please continue?" He asked softly.
"Well…he said I didn't feel human." She paused waiting for another hiss but once she didn't hear one she continued. "Then he b-bit me," she said looking back down at her feet folded Indian style in her lap. Which was good because I had to literally wrap my harm around Jacob to calm him. "said I didn't taste human either. I think he had venom, because it made me hot and dizzy…. It didn't burn though." She said after a silent pause to herself.
"Then what?" Bella pressed for the first time. Her voice quivering.
"He let me go, and I came home." She sighed simply.
"Just like that?" Jasper said skeptically but hid it to sound conversationally.
She nodded, "I told him I had to leave and I wasn't his. He said I would come around and we were connected now." She whispered softly fighting the urge to try to look at her back.
"Does the bite hurt?" Edward asked softly.
"No, not now." She admitted not looking up at him. "But it burns every now and then."
"Why didn't you leave?" Jake asked and it came out more accusatory than he meant it. She flinched at the harsh words. I glared at him because I knew that she wasn't going to answer him, scared that he wouldn't accept the answer she had and be angrier for it.
So I answered for her. "She couldn't fight whatever was wrong, she couldn't resist giving him what he wished."
Jake started to interject again but Carlisle spoke after seeing my face. "I think it possible that whatever this Zach is, he may contain a talent of some sort like Eskarne did, making his will irresistible. Maybe he doesn't even have to voice it to make it so."
Jake shut his mouth, this speculation made perfect sense to me. "What did he mean by connection?" I asked.
"I don't know, she admitted, but I do know that I have dreamt about him almost every night since I met him. The dreams are so vivid, like he's there with me." She explained looking up at Jasper and down at her feet again.
"What happens in your dreams?" Jasper queried.
"He mostly talks to me, tells me how I don't fit with you all anymore, that I need to be free and learn to live. That I belong with him and not trapped." She said barely above a whisper and so quick that I almost didn't catch it.
"Have you seen him again? Since that time in the oasis? Literally I mean." Bella asked.
She hesitated and then nodded. "When I was shopping in Cairo yesterday. He followed me in a store, came out of nowhere."
"What did he want?" I asked silently furious that I wasn't with her. I was holding secret meetings about getting to the bottom of things with her and all that day she was actually waist deep in it. I wondered if he would have showed if I were there.
"The same, but he disappeared again when I declined." her mind flashed for only a millisecond towards the opposite end of the shopping plaza we frequented. It was so quick I don't even think Edward thought anything of it, I memorized it before continuing. Maybe I could find this guy myself.
"Which brings us to your outburst when you awoke." Jasper continued. "He's coming for you?"
Ness looked around the room, falling on me last, she froze momentarily and then looked back to her feet. "I-I don't know." She sighed bare breathing.
"Well what gave you that impression?" Edward asked calmly, though his thoughts were raging at what was happening to his only child.
"Bad dream." She sighed shaking the thought from her head before it go too into detail.
"You dream about him a lot?" Carlisle inquired.
"Yes, only, they don't feel like dreams." She explained. "I don't know that I am dreaming until I wake up."
"And what do the dreams entail?" I asked tucking my hair behind my ear because my stillness along with silence, was starting to "freak her out".
"I- I barely remember them, but I know they feel real."
Being around Maggie less than a week ago gave me the intuition that she was lying, but her reason behind lying I wasn't quite sure of.
"Ok… well tell us what you can remember Nessie. Anything is fine." Jasper encouraged with a very contagious smile.
She smiled weakly at him before looking back at her feet. "Well, they take place in the oasis mostly. And we just….talk. He tells me about how I belong to him, and how he will wait for me…"
Jacob was once again seething. I touched his arm calming him again before Ness noticed and shut down completely. You good? I asked mentally making sure before I pulled away. He nodded and I receded my hold- slightly.
"Is he telling you that you need to leave us?" Bella asked softly wanting to be next to Ness but unsure if another person on the bed at her side would be too much.
"No, yes," She sighed in frustration. "A mixture of both."
"Explain baby." Bella pressed deciding to
"Well yes he thinks I don't belong here." She explained, "But I think that it might be best that I leave. I feel like with me not being myself all the time, it's best that I don't make myself a burden." Everyone stared at her with controlled expressions apart from me. I was wondering if she had seriously just lost her mind.
"What else does he say in your dreams?" Carlisle asked getting her to talk again.
"W-well..." She started, nervously biting her bottom lip, a habit she picked up from her mother. "He says that he's growing restless with waiting. That he wants me to come to him, but he will come to me if I don't soon. He doesn't like me here. He doesn't like it when-" She stopped but Edward and my eyes got wide as we heard her continued thought in our heads.
"Like it when what?" Jasper pressed staring to Edward and me. I shook my head.
"Go on Ness tell them." I encouraged and it sounded a lot colder than I meant it to.
"But, Jake-" She protested before glancing for a second before her feet were her main focus again.
"We need to hear it Ness, Jake included." I reasoned a lot softer.
"He hates it when what, Nessie?" Jasper pressed relaxing her.
"He doesn't like me to be t-touched." She murmured.
So that was it, her being standoff with Jake, her pulling back when any type of embrace from the rest of us lasted for more than a second. It was because he didn't want her to be touched. Jacob fumed, and I could swear his angry aura was visibly to everyone, but they ignored it focusing on Nessie. She continued with a sigh. "Jake especially, but its not just him, all of you. He says it… pollutes me."
"How does he know when I touch you?" Jake asked strangling to be calm.
"I don't know. He just knows, he always knows." she sighed running a hand through her reddish brown curls before looking to Carlisle. "He says we're linked, so he will always know."
I wanted to kill myself for even thinking it, but it was possible that she was right. I needed to talk to them without her there, to go over any possible explanation other than the one I was thinking. It scared me to even try to entertain it.
"Maybe I should leave, go on the run." She suggested frantically after a moments thought. I once again started at her like she had lost her mind. I looked to Jacob, apparently his thought were along mine. She took the silence as us needing more explanation. "I mean, I was thinking, Jake and you all, could take care of Rosabella for a bit while I'm gone , I mean she doesn't need to see-"
"Absolutely not!" Jake interrupted in almost a roar.
Ness froze a frightened whimper escaping her lips. She misunderstood again, he wasn't mad at her, but the thought of her leaving him. Bella turned shooting him a warning glance thought there seemed to be a hint of empathy around her eyes. "What I think Jacob is trying to convey, is that, we don't want you to leave. You are in no way a burden to us, and you do belong here."
"We are going to get to the bottom of this, Zach character, just like we are going to get to the bottom of what we need to do to help you." Jasper vowed.
"But, what if he finds me?" She whimpered and this time I saw the fear in her eyes.
"Then we will be ready." I promised. "Jennah is a fortress, so even if he could find you, there was no way that he would get to you. I think that trying to separate you is what he wants. For that reason. All of us are way to strong."
"I don't want you all to get hurt." She reasoned again frantically trying to find an out. "He can bite through our skin. He's not human."
"You also said he was soft. Which means he isn't vampire either, makes him more breakable if you ask me." Jake snarled.
"Enough." Carlisle sighed rubbing his hand down the bridge of his nose exhaling. "Ness, I am going to let Jasper put you to sleep. We will keep you safe don't doubt that, but we need to research what we will be up against."
Jasper was already working his magic before she could began to protest. "But…."
"You need rest Nessie. Someone will be at your side every minute, but sleep darling." Edward crooned in her ear as he helped tuck her in with Bella as if she were a toddler all over again.
We waited in silence until Jasper had her deep enough not to hear us moving around. "Study, now." Carlisle ordered rougher than normal but we filed out behind him. Esme poked her head upstairs to see if everything was alright when he called Emmett upstairs.
"She's sleeping," he answered not wanting to lie to his wife for over a century, " can you wait with her?"
"Of course." She answered before ducking into the room.
When Emmett reached the study and he shut the door behind him I gave Jake a thump in the shoulder. "Control your temper." I muttered under my breath.
" How can you expect me to keep still when I hear shit like that?" He questioned.
"When it is a make or break situation." I answered in a low hiss as I watched Carlisle pulling books of the shelf. I didn't say anything else, I just turned my attention to Emmett, "Did you hear that?"
He nodded solemnly, "Most of it." He turned to Carlisle, "Got any theories?"
"None I am afraid." He growled flipping through a book.
"I am worried about this connection Edward." Bella admitted expressing my concern aloud. "What if it is like, yours and Jabril's and Asima's? What if he can see everything through her mind as clear as you can? That means-"
"That her thoughts aren't safe." Jacob speculated.
"More than that," I added shaking my head. "That means that whatever this Zach is, that means he knows us. What we are capable of, about Jennah, about everything." "Giving him a bigger advantage over us since we know nothing about him." Jasper added thoughtfully. I nodded glad that we were on the same path of thinking.
"Well what about her actions Jacob added? Her letting him do all of that to her?" He shivered with anger again.
"Maybe it's something like Eskarne's talent." Carlisle speculated again, not looking up from the book. "I honestly don't think it's her. The fighting us, the temper, none of it is her, it's the only thing that makes sense."
I had a oddly nagging feeling that some of this felt familiar, that I was missing something. Or not that I was missing it necessarily but my mind was too rational to let myself think it. Damn what is it? I thought to myself alone as Emmett continued.
"Is that possible, that kind of control from so far away?"
"Maybe its not as strong as when he's close, that would explain why she comes back to us for moments at a time." Bella responded, biting her own lip in thought.
"That too is plausible." Edward agreed.
"Ok we have a this guy knowing all of her moves, God knows how far away, we know nothing about him, he's freaking bit her and has been close enough to take her on sever occasions. How are we going to help her?" Jake asked wanting answers.
In that moment I groaned, "Crap…" turning away from everyone and bumping my head against the wall repeatedly. Hard enough to make a sound but not soft enough not to cause damage. This thought I didn't even want to throw out there. It seemed completely asinine.
"What is it Asima?" Emmett asked walking over to me. I sighed rubbing my hands covering my face groaning again. I didn't want to think this especially when I knew that it didn't make sense to even entertain it. That this wasn't the way that things actually were.
"Asima…" Edward asked urgently.
"No, no, no." I groaned thumping my head against the wall again.
"What is it?" Jake ordered as I sighed again.
"I can't say it, it's too crazy." I groaned again. "It can't be."
" Crazy theory, is better than no theory." Carlisle reasoned with patience.
"Not this one." I rebutted shaking my head groaning again. I couldn't even bring myself to say it.
"Asima!" Jake growled again making my head snap up. "Please…." He requested a lot softer.
His panicked voice made me realize, crazy or not my friend was in trouble so I had to say something. "Ok, ignore everything else that we know about your kind. The human perception of it. What do you have?" I asked
They were all lost. Jasper spoke. "Burning in the sun, crosses, garlic, etc?" He asked.
"Yes, but where did that come from?" I encouraged.
"Myths through out time." Carlisle answered still not understanding.
"Right!" I agreed nodding, "And what is the biggest myth?"
"Coffins?" Emmett asked setting the progress back.
I sighed giving up and just spelled it out. "Dracula."
"Dracula isn't real." Bella stated firmly shaking her head still confused. Jake thought I had lost my mind.
"No, you're right he isn't but think about it," I started counting on my hand everything. "The connection, the dreams, the inability to resist him, the bite. These are classic signs of helotry."
"You think she's under the thrall of something?" Edward asked making me instantly regret stating my thoughts.
"One of our kind has to have the ability to do it, because that's the only thing that links them all together. I mean this goes back before Anne Rice and Bram Stroker, maybe, just maybe there is a hint of reality there."
"So we're looking for Dracula." Emmett scoffed sitting in a chair.
"No, but something with that ability." I stated.
"Is there something like that that you've heard of?" Jasper asked. "Something that can control a persons being through venom?"
I didn't know if he was talking to me or to Carlisle, but Carlisle spoke first so I kept my mouth shut. My answer was the same as his anyway. "No, not in all of my years."
"Dracula isn't real." Bella repeated again.
"But what Nessie is going through is real." Emmett sighed folding his massive arms.
"Are we really continuing this line of research?" Edward asked as if it were ludicrous.
We looked to Carlisle. He sighed. "Though, I don't plan to do research into old vampire novels, the word thrall does tend to sum up her situation." He continued. "I suggest, we try to find out who we are up against and handle it from there.
Everyone could agree on that much.
"Maybe we should check out this oasis that she visits." I suggested standing myself upright.
"Get the others in here." Carlisle suggested. "Its best to plan while she is asleep, we don't know exactly how much he knows as it is."
Rosalie, Alice, Seth came in first, Sami, Rami and Jabril following. No matter what they decided. I was going to follow that street that was in her mind, I felt like that would hold a lot more answers than the oasis.