Well, its done. Jasper’s on the mend after being unable to feed for over a week. Turns out the area he was in was a dump for radioactive waste. Exposure to nuclear waste caused his cells to begin splitting before venom could fully heal the damage, allowing the needle to pierce his flesh. At least that’s how I heard it. That hardly matters now.
Yesterday, he made a break for the woods. Understandable. I can only imagine how the thirst scorched him, a need demanding to be met. Charlotte and I saw him and decided to follow; although I don’t understand or agree with Jasper’s choices, I hardly want to see him slip in this odd diet he’s chosen to live by. I can only imagine what that might do to him, to his…family. We stopped him. We had to talk, had to get answers, but more importantly I had to get him back to normal.
Carlisle, no doubt, would’ve continued to wait while Jasper grew weaker and weaker. In Maria’s coven, venom was used regularly as a way to help cure wounds. It truly can work miracles; if you know where to bite, which angle to hold the limb at, etc. vampire venom can reattach limbs and then some. I bit him. With all the well-meaning intentions in the world, I bit Jasper. He understood immediately, holding still as the venom burned through his body. His bouts of purging were hardly helping him to heal; he simply didn’t have enough venom in his system to fight the toxins. I helped him; I helped the Cullens get him back as he should have been.
Jasper couldn’t answer our questions. I’m sure he would deny it, but he gave us no answers when we asked about his recent behaviors. Crashing a Jaguar, wrapping it around a tree, is not normal for him. Snapping at me, the one he claims is his best friend, is neither normal nor is it acceptable. Things have been stressful for his coven, his family, but he didn’t seem to understand the trail of self-destruction he seems to be walking. That more than anything convinced me: Charlotte and I are no longer, have never been, members of Jasper’s family.
Once he left us, once he met Alice and joined the Cullens, once he changed so much, the ties between us were severed. Everything changed between the three of us. We started arguing more than we talked. We used our powers on one another without consideration or hesitation, a flagrant disregard for our once long-standing moratorium. Things have been knocked off balance between the three of us. Nothing is as it once was and too much has changed for us to ignore any longer.
Charlotte and I have left Jasper. I have no intention of ever going back to the golden-eyed coven of vegetarians or the blonde soldier amongst them that I’ve known for so many years, who I once considered to be a brother. Instead, my mate and I will return to the life we’re supposed to live. We’re nomads. We feed from humans and depend on our prey for everything from sustinence to clothing to money. Perhaps, with enough distance, I can ignore this ache that has settled in my body, this unseen specter that keeps telling me to turn around. I’d try not to let Charlotte see, but we are never apart. My wife can read my every expression and gesture just as I can decipher hers. I know she is hurting as well. I’m sure she’s asking some of the same questions I am, but, as the saying goes: time heals all wounds.
I hope the epithet applies to this situation as well. For now, I will stay with my wife and we will roam the country, giving Forks a wide berth. Perhaps we’ll avoid Washington altogether. Perhaps not. Only time will tell.
- Peter Devereaux
