Russet Noon Chapter 5: The Talisman (Part 4)
In her kind, motherly voice, Esme responded, “You’re right, dear, but that’s not the worst part.”
Already weak by the lack of nourishment, Bella appeared so shaken by the news, that she almost lost her balance. “What are you saying?”
“The blood is the life,” Carlisle began. “Even for the undead. Everything that made Edward who he is: his personality, his mind-reading abilities, his memories. Everything was contained in his blood. You could even go as far as to say that a vampire’s blood is his soul.”
I couldn’t quite predict where this was going, but now I was finally beginning to understand why Dr. Cullen and Esme were so reluctant to reveal the whole truth. Whatever it is that they knew might prove to be too much for Bella to handle.
Ignoring Blondie’s watchful stare, I took Bella by the arm and helped her to a chair. Then, at the risk of making a complete fool of myself, I tried to comfort her by staying optimistic. “Don’t worry, Bells, the transfusion should fix all that. He’ll be back to normal in no time, I’m sure.”
She smiled at me, but the anguish in her eyes remained as depthless as before. Her hand tightly gripping Edward’s, she searched Dr. Cullen’s face for a reaction to what I’d just said. “Is that true, Carlisle?”
“I wish I knew,” he replied mournfully. “I’ve never done a transfusion on a vampire before.” He must have felt that all eyes were on him after he’d said that, because he lowered his head and somehow managed to erase all emotions from his face.
Just then, the front door opened, and Jasper walked in with the transfusion kit in his hand.
“Where’s Emmett?” Blondie asked.
Handing the kit over to Dr. Cullen, Jasper grumbled reluctantly, “We heard something prowling out there, and he went to check it out.”
“And you let him go alone?” Blondie fired back as she headed straight for the door.
Jasper rolled his eyes. “Hey, chill out, sis. He can take care of himself. And, besides, the wolves are out there, too.”
Mumbling something angry under her breath, Blondie opened the door and was about to leave, when Dr. Cullen stopped her.
“Rosalie, I think it’s best if you wait here,” he told her in a kind voice.
“If Emmett can take care of himself, then so can I.” She didn’t wait for Dr. Cullen’s answer and went out, slamming the door behind her.
Dr. Cullen and Esme exchanged glances of disapproval.
As for me, I would have clapped and cheered to celebrate her departure, but I didn’t want to be rude, so I kept it to myself and acted as if nothing had happened.
“Jasper,” Esme said. “Do you mind keeping an eye on them for us, dear?”
I could tell by the way Jasper sighed that he’d been expecting this to happen and wasn’t exactly crazy about the idea. Yet, in the end, he still went along with it. “Alright,” he muttered as he dragged his feet on his way to the door.
Alice blew him a kiss. “Be careful, babe.”
Good, I thought to myself. One less ravenous vampire to worry about. I trusted Dr. Cullen’s self control, but I sure as heck couldn’t say the same thing about Jasper. I’d heard the story about the night of Bella’s last human birthday party at the Cullen mansion. How Jasper had to be restrained because he tried to attack her after she got a paper cut while opening her presents.
I knew that the scent of my blood was supposed to be repelling to vampires, but it was still human blood, so who knows what Jasper’s reaction would have been if he were present during the transfusion. I had a sneaking suspicion that Dr. Cullen and Esme had asked him to leave for that very reason, and I had no problem with that.
As soon as Jasper left, Dr. Cullen asked me to sit back on the couch next to Edward and moved right along to give me instructions. “Okay, we’re going to need a lot of blood from you, Jacob. At least ten pints. So what I’ll do is I’ll take two pints at a time, and then give you a few minutes to recover from it. After that, we’ll repeat the process until we’ve collected all the blood we need.”
“Wait. Two pints?” Leah protested. “I don’t mean to second-guess you, Dr. Cullen, but isn’t that a bit much?”
Dr. Cullen smiled. “For the average human, yes, but I think Jacob can handle donating at least twice as much as the usual quantity. Right, Jake?”
“Of course,” I assured them, although inside I could feel the anxiety creeping up on me. I’d never donated blood before in my life, so I hadn’t the slightest clue about how I would react to it, let alone how my blood might affect Edward. But I trusted Dr. Cullen and figured that if he wasn’t worried, why should I be?
Tying a rubber band around my forearm, Dr. Cullen began tapping the crook of my elbow to find a vein. “We’ll see how you do with the first two pints and then go from there. It’s very important that you tell me if you start getting dizzy or feel like you’re about to pass out. How does that sound?”
“Good,” I replied as if it was no big deal. “I’m ready to go.”
My trust in Dr. Cullen wound up making the process a lot easier than I’d anticipated. I hardly felt any pain at all. Even my worries about Bella possibly going berserk at the sight of my blood were put to rest, as Dr. Cullen’s presence seemed to have a calming effect on her as well.
Still, by the time he finished drawing the second pint and asked me how I was doing, I had to admit that I was feeling lightheaded, and my limbs were a little shaky. He and Bella then helped me up and walked me over to Seth’s room.
I lied down on the bed and closed my eyes, while Dr. Cullen and Bella kept watch. Even though I was half asleep, I did my best to keep up with their conversation, especially when I heard that Bella was still at it in her attempts to get to the bottom of things.
“What do you think the hybrid wants to do with all that information she stole?” she asked.
A tone of resignation in his voice, Dr. Cullen sounded like he might just finally give in to Bella’s persistence and dump the whole ugly truth on her. “That depends on what she’s after. If this is all about her trying to persuade Nessie to join her, she’ll most certainly use Edward’s knowledge to manipulate the situation and turn things to her advantage.”
“What was the name of that book you read again?” Bella probed.
Dr. Cullen swallowed hard, so much so that I could hear it even with my eyes closed. “You mean the one in the Volturi’s library?”
“Yes!” Bella sounded hopeful.
“Bella,” he began. “There are truths in this world that are much too dangerous to learn. They could burden you. Curse you even. There’s a painful price to pay for learning them. For mortals, it’s all over when they die, but for us, it’s for all eternity.”
“We’re already damned for all eternity, Carlisle,” she remarked. “We’re already cursed. Don’t you see?”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I wanted so bad to sneak a peek, but I didn’t want to interrupt her, so I kept my eyes closed and pretended to be asleep.
“Having to hunt down and kill living creatures with our bare hands just to survive,” she continued. “Having to drink living blood from an animal whose life you’re ending. Having to long for human blood and not be able to drink it.”
I didn’t hear a sound for a while after she said that. This was probably a slap in Dr. Cullen’s face. To hear Bella speak like that after he’d welcomed her into his clan and loved her like a daughter.
I had a lot of respect for Dr. Cullen and I could empathize with him to a certain extent, but I had to admit I was with Bella on this one. I could understand her agony. It killed me to realize how much she’d been suffering all these years and how she’d kept it all bottled up inside. Now I could see that her dilemma actually ran a lot deeper than I thought.
“I want to know what the name of the book is, Carlisle. Please tell me.”
“I’m only trying to protect you.”
“What are you so afraid of?” she demanded.
Dr. Cullen sighed deeply and kept silent for some time. Then later, he declared, “Of what you might want to do after I tell you.”
This set Bella off. “I’m really sorry, Carlisle, but, if you don’t tell me, I’ll find out a different way. I’ll go to the Volturi if that’s what it takes. I know this has something to do with Nessie’s disappearance and I need you to tell me what you know.”
As much as I hated to admit it, I happened to agree with every word Bella had just said. Luckily, by then, I was pretty sure I had fully recovered from the loss of blood, so I opened my eyes and sat up on the bed. I may have rushed into it a tad too quickly, though, because the room immediately started spinning all around me, and the walls appeared to be closing in.
“Jacob, what are you doing?” asked Dr. Cullen. “Lie back down or you’re going to pass out.”
I did as he told me, but I wasn’t going to let a little dizziness get me sidetracked. “The hybrid’s behind those attacks in Eastern Europe, isn’t she? She’s the one who sucked all those vampires dry, just like she did to Edward last night.”
One of Dr. Cullen’s most outstanding virtues was his patience. But, at this point, it became pretty clear to me that Bella and I were testing the hell out of him with our interrogation, and he was about to lose it. “She might be one of them, alright?” he finally admitted. “But that’s just a theory. It’s not a fact.”
“Wa-wait a second,” Bella cut in. “Them? You’re saying there’s more than one?”
His jaw clenched, he rose from his chair and, at last, we got him to confess what he’d been hiding. “They’re a secret order in Romania. The Order of the Dragon. That’s the title of the book. They started out as a nomadic clan of vampires, but they’ve evolved through the years.” The moment he said that, he paced nervously around the room and then peered through the window as if he were afraid someone might be out there listening.
Everything was finally starting to make sense to me now. “So that’s why they steal the blood, right? To evolve, to become more powerful?”
He nodded. “Yes, Jake, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. No one really knows just how much they’ve evolved because they live underground in caves. They’ve been hunting down vampire clans since the dark ages, and the more powerful they grow, the more secretive they become.”
“How did the Volturi get their hands on that book, then?” Bella asked.
Dr. Cullen appeared a little more relaxed now that he’d shared his burden with us. “They took it from the Romanian clan when they overthrew their empire fifteen hundred years ago. So it’s an old book. Rather outdated. It only chronicles their early attacks, which were pretty sloppy. There were witnesses who found the evidence they’d left behind, and that’s how word got out about the order. Today, they are everything but sloppy.”
“I take it they’ve refined their techniques?” I asked.
He chuckled darkly. “You have no idea. And you know what? Neither have I, because they’re so elusive, they’re impossible to track down. They can shapeshift and take the form of trees, rocks, wild beasts, anything. They’re chameleons and can blend in anywhere.”
Morning came and we were still going back and forth between doing transfusions two pints at a time, and then going back into Seth’s room to talk more about this so called Order of the Dragon.
It wasn’t until we reached the ninth pint of blood that all the hard work paid off. Just as the sunlight shone in through the living room curtains, Edward opened his eyes.
NEW UPDATE ADDED FEB 28, 2010! Click here to read the Final Part of CHAPTER 5
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“Edward!” Bella cried out in excitement, clinging to his neck and pressing her lips against his. But her smile quickly faded when Edward didn’t react to her and, instead, behaved cold and indifferent, as if he didn’t even know her.
