Chapter 54

Chapter 54
“Edmond? It is me. Jenna."




Edmond frowned.

Jenna rolled her eyes and took off her head covering. “Who is that behind you?"pointing to the human behind him.

"Jenna, fancy meeting you here?”

“Stop with the angry tone. I am here because I need help. Who is that?”

“This is Raymond, my old comrade, a human messenger, but is that wolf behind you?" Edmond responded as Raymond came around, took Jenna’s hand, and kissed it. She was indeed a stunningly beautiful woman. No doubt that fact explained at least in part her popularity in the witches community. Her features were delicate and aristocratic, with striking green eyes and silken light auburn hair. Her lips were full and gave her mouth the appearance of a slight pout. Her petticoat hugged her delicate body perfectly. She was indeed royalty in the witches' congregation. Her posture says otherwise; she rather looks like a princess rather than a stowaway. “Nice meeting you, my lady," Raymond said, ignoring Edmond and Alpha Henry behind her.

“A human messenger... Nothing new," Jenna replied with the same adoring gaze to Raymond. "But enough with that, I'm here because we need your help. We've been attacked by a sanjinn, and one of my companions has been poisoned.” She looked at Alpha Henry, then back to Raymond and Edmond. “We need your help, Edmond.”

“Then let them in."

Jenna sighed. “You know I can't without your permission.”

With a smile, he nodded his head, opened his cabin, and let them all in. “Oh, indeed. Let your companion in, Jenna.” With his words, the cottage enchantment vanished, and Alpha Henry was able to see Edmond and Raymond. His eyes widened. “Raymond? Goddess me, thank heaven you’re here. I need your help.”

With his voice turned to a high octave, Raymond went to the alpha side and frowned at the woman on his shoulder. He held the woman’s face and gasped when he saw it was Eve. "Alpha, what happened to Eve?"

“Sandjinn happened," he replied, and he walked to the nearby small open door, went inside, and Jenna followed.

She frowned. "You two know each other?" She raised a brow as he helped the alpha put Eve on the wooden bed inside a small room.




It was Raymond who replied to her, "Yes. We both have the same mission. I was instructed by Eve to send a message to the others."

Edmond followed Jenna inside, and Alpha Henry went to the side wall. "Faster, Edmond, I need to know what kind of poison the sandjinn use this time on their blood," Jenna said with urgency.

Checking the woman, Edmond expertly scanned her wound and mumbled coherent words. "This is not good. This is frog poison."

“What?” Alpha Henry and Raymond asked in unison.

"What does it mean?" Jenna inquired.

"Frog dart poison is deadly for seers and humans,” Edmond replied. “See, dear, a single frag may contain enough poison to kill more than twenty thousand mice or more than ten people, I mean, humans. Venom equivalent to two grains of salt is enough to kill one person. The poison permanently prevents nerves from transmitting impulses, which leads to heart failure. Death occurs in less than ten minutes and there is no cure." Edmond explained as he took some wild plants to cover Eve's forehead, "But since he is a seer, I guess a day or two or she'll be dead, for now, she was paralysed and in a deep coma. However, the blood of a powerful seer could heal her though."

“Powerful seer? You mean, someone more powerful than her?” Jenna asked.

“Yes.”

Raymond panicked, "No! No! We better do something about that poison. We have to do something, Edmond; we can just leave her like that."

“Raymond, stop panicking; we need to think this through—”

Alpha Henry raised a brow and said, “I know someone who is more powerful than Eve.”

“Who? The trio asked in unison.

“Diana—”

Raymond's eyes widened as he nodded his head in agreement. “Oh, yeah, she is powerful. But the problem is she is on the other side, on the north."




No one talked for a few seconds, and they all thought the same. It would be too late. “We can do something else, right? Aside from going after Diana and Andrew?"Alpha Henry inquired.

Raymond agreed. "It was a golden dart frog, right? It's deadly. Toxic," he added while Alpha Henry looked at him with confusion. He said, "Jenna, how on earth has his wound obtained such poison? Does the sandjinn have that sort of golden frog poison in their blood?"




"No, it wasn't their blood; it was their nail," Edmond replied.




"What? Their nails have that level of poison?"

“Yes,” Edmond nodded. “How did the Sanjinn got—”

"I don't know, Ed, but it was a poison liquid from the frog the servant had obtained."

"How come?"

"Local servants would catch the frogs in the woods and confine them in a hollow cane. When the sandjinn or anyone needed poison, the servant would take a frog and pass a pointed piece of wood down its throat and out at one of the frog's legs. Unsurprisingly, the frog would become agitated and begin sweating poison, especially on the back, which became covered with white froth. The servant would dip the tip of the sandjinn nail in this poisonous liquid, which remained potent for a year, and use it to scare the human or the enemy, though it seldom happens with werewolves."

Alpha Henry shook his head disappointedly. "That's sick! So what happens now? Do you know any antidotes?"

"The blood of a powerful vampire or seer’s blood, Alpha," Edmond stood and took water from his clay pot and gave them each a tin of water when they all reached the small living room. Edmond mumbled, "For now, I need charcoal to make a concoction with my herbs to slow down the poison on her veins. Jenna, dear, hold this herb and leave it on Eve's forehead while I get myself some charcoal from my kitchen, alright?" He stepped away and went to his dirty kitchen.




Alpha Henry, who was listening, had someone on his mind but was not sure, so he asked Raymond. "Raymond, tell me about Diana. What can you say about her? Do you think she can help, Eve?”




"Without a doubt. Oh, yes. I saw her talk to plants and animals. No one can do that; even Eve couldn't do it." Raymond answered back as he watched Jenna follow Edmond's instruction and muttered, "Who is this seer you talking about?” Edmond asked from the kitchen. “A seer and a vampire? Never heard of anything like it."




"She's the mate of Lord Andrew Lawvosky. Heard of him?" replied Alpha Henry.




Edmond's eyes went wide. "The legendary vampire? The keeper of souls?"

"Oh, so you knew him as well?"

"Who doesn't? He was, after all, a myth in our community. But if this seer is a vampire, I’m not sure if her blood could heal Eve.”




Minutes later, Edmond appeared with a spoon of black pasted charcoal. He then settled it in Eve's wound slowly and explained about its usage: "You know activated charcoal has been used as a universal antidote for the majority of poisons."




"Really? I did not know that," Jenna mumbled.




He frowned. "Because I'm a scholar and because of its ability to prevent the absorption of most toxic agents from the gastrointestinal tract and enhance the elimination of some agents already absorbed."

"Wow! Good to hear that, but the poison from the dart frog won't be cured by it, right?"

"Yes, Jenna dear, it won't; somehow, if used appropriately, activated charcoal has relatively low morbidity. Due to the lack of definitive studies showing a benefit in clinical outcome, it should not be used routinely in ingestions, though. But it works somehow too, but just to buy time."

"Then we better go now, and we need to look for the seer blood. Diana, is her name, right, Raymond?" asked Jenna.




Raymond nodded his head. "Yes, and I know exactly where they are now. With my estimation, they are already in the devil's forest."

"Why there of all places?" Jenna shook her head.

Alpha Henry looked at her with sad eyes. "We were looking for Elizabeth, Jefferson's

daughter of the Whiteland pack. She was abducted by the ferals."