Trouble Town Chapter 7

Mr. Crepsley explained to Carlisle his situation. Dr. Cullen listened carefully.

"You do not have to help me. We barely know each other and you owe nothing at all to me, but I thought I would ask, given your medical experience." He finished.

"Re-make the antidote? Have you ever done it before?" Carlisle asked, intrigued.

Mr. Crepsley shook his head. "I never have, but my creator has. I would go to him for help, but he is at Vampire Mountain.. I do not have time to go there, make the antidote, then come back. Darren would be long gone by the time that happens."

He nodded. "I understand. Do you happen to have some sort of sample of the poison your spider releases?"

Mr. Crepsley nodded. "I thought you may want to examine it, so I brought this much." He held out a vile filled with the poison. Carlisle took it and nodded.

"I am not exactly good at finding substances in a substance, but my daughter, Charlie, is."

They both got up and Dr. Cullen led the way to a room across the hall. Before he even knocked, the dark haired, emotionless girl opened it and said,

"I heard. Where's the stuff?"

Carlisle handed it over and she closed the door again. The two adults waited in silence. Fifteen minutes later, she opened the door again, with a box in her hands. She gave it to Carlisle, telling him that those are the ingredients to make the antidote. Then the door closed and Carlisle and Larten were left alone in the hallway. The two of them walked back to Carlisle's study.

In Caspian and Jess's room, they talked of what was happening.

"Interesting story," Caspian noted, "Do think they'll do it?"

Jess shrugged. "I have never even heard of this stupid spider, but if the poison it releases is as bad as that guy said, I don't want to be in his assistant's shoes."

"Tell me about it," Rosalie said from the kitchen downstairs.

"I haven't heard of almost anything he talked about. Does anyone know what 'Vampire Mountain' is?" Alice put in.

"Well doesn't the name give it away?" Emmet laughed, "It's a mountain named after vampires."

"Carlisle went to it half of a century ago," Charlie remarked, "it's a meeting place for vampires. They discuss events, issues, and what not. Now can you all please be quiet. I'm trying to draw."

No one bothered to ask what the man's happiest moment was, she would never tell.

AT THE CIRQUE DU FREAK

Evra came up to Elena with a frown and creases in his forehead.

Elena was focused very intently on the clothes she was washing, though she didn't care at all about the stain on Rhambus's huge t-shirt.

"Uh…how is he?" Evra asked.

Still scrubbing, Elena responded, "He's hanging in there. I gave him this potion yesterday that Mr. Crepsley gave me. It'll postpone his…you know for a few days."

"That's…good. Where did he go anyway?"

"He didn't really tell me much, but he said that there was a vampire who may be able to help 're-make' the antidote."

Evra nodded.

"Don't you have chores to do?" Elena asked, looking up from the wash tub.

"You're doing them. I had clothes duty today." Evra said, smirking for the first time.

Elena thought about that for a minute. "Then what am I suppose to do?"

Evra shrugged.

Elena pinched the bridge of her nose. "I need coffee."

When she walked away, Evra continued where she left off.

THE CULLEN HOUSE

Hours passed as Carlisle and Mr. Crepsley worked. Putting all the ingredients in the proper order and in the right amounts was a delicate procedure. "We should probably get started with the combinations." Carlisle stated.

"Yes. I believe we start with magnesium."

"Right."
And the two vampire began their work.

Many hours later, Charlie groaned, "Jeez! How long does it take to make a silly antidote? There are few ingredients. You'd think it would go by faster."

"It's a delicate process. And some those ingredients are hard to find. So it needs to be done right the first time. I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate your sass missy," Esme scolded. She entered the living room with a tray of glasses filled with deep red liquid-blood-and went upstairs.

"What did you do with that poison anyway?" Jasper whispered, so those upstairs couldn't hear.

"It's still in my room. When that guy is gone, I'm going to study it more closely."

"Be careful with that stuff Charlie," Caspian warned, "You're always doing experiments and tests and they're dangerous sometimes. You could get hurt."

"I'll be fine," she assured him, "Like you said, I'm always doing experiments. I have been for many years. So one may conclude that I have the experience and know what I can and can't handle. Don't worry about me."

Then, Edward walked in and immediately smelt a new scent in the room. Reading the minds of those in the room , he didn't need to ask questions. He only nodded and began to walk up the steps to get to his room, but alice stopped him.

"Where's Bella?" she asked.

"Home," he answered. "She was tired."

Alice grunted in frustration as Edward continued up and disappeared around the corner.

"That's okay," Alice said to nobody. "This gives me time to work on Jess."

"Wait, what?" Jess asked.

"A mate," she said as if it were obvious.

"Huh?" he stared at her, eyes squinted in suspicion and confusion.

Alice sighed dramatically and explained. "You are the only Cullen that doesn't have mate. Charlie has Caspian, Emmett has Rosalie, I have Jasper, Edward has Bella, and obviously, Carlisle has Esme-"

Charlie cut her off by bluntly stating, "But you are the only one who hasn't gotten some."

"I wasn't going to put it that way, but yes, Charlie is right," Alice said. "Now, lets look through the yearbook to see if any girl catches your eye." She reached out to drag Jess off, but he pulled away before she could.

"Woah woah woah! Who said anything about me wanting a mate? And another thing: the yearbook? Every girl in the yearbook is human!" Jess argued.

"What's wrong with humans. Are you racist to humans? Hmm?" Emmett questioned with fake seriousness in his voice.

"It's not that. It's just that I have no desire to get into a relationship with someone I'll wind up outliving greatly. So, I'll stick with the immortals. It's less complicated that way." Jess quickly stood up and flitted out of the living room and up to his and Caspian's room.

There was silence after that. Finally, Charlie broke it with,

"Well, this is awkward." She started chuckling quietly and walked up to Alice. "Sorry, denied again."

She scowled at Charlie. "Why is everyone so unwilling to trust me and do as I say?"

Charlie put one hand on Alice's shoulder. "You're losing touch. Sorry Sis."

Everyone in the room broke out into laughter.

Esme came back down with an empty tray. "What are guys doing?"

Everyone did their best to compose them

"Nothing Esme," Jasper said.

"Yeah, nothing," Caspian and Emmett said together. Charlie just left without another word.

"Well, alright…" She walked back into the kitchen.