AN: I do NOT own Twilight or any of its characters; no copyright intended. Twilight and its characters belongs to Stephenie Meyer, my characters belong to me.
I felt afraid as I looked around my room to make sure it was really a dream; luckily no shadowy figures surrounded me as I dreamed. I glanced over to the small orange bottle on my nightstand.
The sleeping pills beckoned to me, for a simple peaceful sleep. I frowned and shook my head. I refused to take them anymore. I would not become a dependent. I could fight this.
I grabbed them and threw them into the trash. I gently felt my fingertips rise and stroke my silver bone necklace. I enjoyed the cool metal of the necklace on my skin. Not many things made me freak out but there was almost always one thing that calmed me down, the simple silver necklace that connected on each side of a small horizontal silver piece that was shaped like a femur…I loved it dearly and never took it off, it represented me and what I loved to do; it was the best birthday gift I ever received from my parents.
With a quick glance to the clock, I happily sighed. The bright red letters 5:47am. I at least got about six hours of sleep this time. The weather outside my window was a little lighter than last night's dark veranda of thunderstorms, so that was uplifting.
I shake my head.
"No point in trying to lay down, I'm not going to go back to sleep anytime soon," I grumbled to myself and began the process of brushing my teeth.
I hummed to myself and nearly chocked on the water I was using to rinse my mouth as a loud alarm startled me out of my own thoughts. I rushed out of the bathroom and grabbed the blaring cellphone.
I raised a brow in confusion as I studied the name on the caller ID.
Leon Bennett
"What in the world is he even doing up at this time of day?" I press the answer button and hold the phone up.
"Hello?" I ask.
"Bones! Thank the fucking lord! At least you're up!" I move the phone away from my ear slightly, my ears ringing a little.
"I think the real surprise is that you are up. You realize it is six in the morning." I heard him chuckle and then a muffled voice came up in the background.
"Where are you?" I ask.
"Bones, I need you to come down here. I got something that may interest you. I tried calling that bastard Harford but he of course didn't fucking answer." I smile at his grumbles.
"He's nearly seventy, Leon. He won't wake up till eight unless scheduled to, and he most definitely won't pick up his phone for you. He still hasn't forgiven you for the skull incident." I heard him yell in the background. I grin widely waiting for the response.
"HEY! That wasn't my fault! No one told me that the skull was that fragile and it belong to the victim. Anyways…it was put back together and the case was solved."
"Yeah, because Harford made me reassemble the skull after you broke it." I heard him nervously laugh for a second and a "that was my bad" echoed airily into the receiver. Suddenly, he whisper into the receiver.
"We found a body, or at least what used to be a body. Since doctor hard head won't pick up, I need you to come down here." I raise my brow and clip my bra into place.
"Where exactly is here? You realize I am a forensics anthropologist, not the actual coroner. And why don't they ask their own coroner or staff?" I ask, now very suspicious.
"Forks. The town is small, they don't have that kind of stuff and equipment like we do so they usually send for medical staffing from larger hospitals or from the closest cities. Since the old man won't wake the hell up, I need you to come down here." I paused. Why was he even in Forks?
"Alright, send me the coordinates and I'll be there soon." I sighed and patted my cheek; hoping to still be asleep. I hang up and hear the ding of his text message.
I put on a pair of warm black slacks, a soft lilac blouse, and a long black pea coat. Tying my hair was too much of a hassle at this point. I grabbed a bagel and booked it to my car.
The city of Forks.
Not going to lie, it was a very strange name. I wonder if there is another town named Spoons or Knives. Maybe even Sporks.
I kept glancing at the GPS. I frowned a little. I loved solving cases but watching others suffer in the process as I try to identify the remains does still pains me. I hit the gas a little more and carefully sped down the water coated streets.
Forests, everywhere.
'Tree.'
'Tree.'
'Oh! Look, more trees! Why isn't the town called Trees instead? It would be logical.'
I was in my own personal awe at how much forest and vegetation surround this part of Washington. As a kid, I loved the forests and trees, wished there was more than what I had grown up with in Illinois and Toronto. Not going lie here, the forest in this place were a tad creepy looking as the constant grey clouds in the skies made the shadows grow along the forest floors and streets.
I drove down to the very end of one of the forest paths an saw the mass of five or so police vehicles and an Ambulance. I also saw Leon's car, a silver Volvo and a very expensive looking Mercedes-Benz. I parked and saw the midnight color haired man running towards me.
Leon practically ripped my car door off as he pulled me along. I glanced around the grounds and frowned a little, besides the tire tracks there were also animal tracks… large feline ones at that. We walked into the emerald colored forest. The path was winding and the cacophony of voices grew until we hit the highlighter yellow colored caution tape.
A tall dark haired man with an equally dark mustache and eyes suddenly stood in front of us.
"Hold up. This is a crime scene. You can't bring civilians in here, Detective Bennett." I frowned.
"I'm-" Leon piped up.
"Chief Swan! She's the forensic anthropologist I called since the old bas- I mean doctor isn't here. Dr. Cullen isn't a forensics doctor, she can tell us more." The police officer, Chief Swan, raised a dark eyebrow at me in disbelief but relented, he nodded after I pulled out my badge to prove him wrong.
'I wonder who Dr. Cullen is?'
"Really? She looks like she just came out of high school." I felt my brow twitch and bit on my bottom lip, trying not to laugh.
"Alright. Follow me." He raised the tape and I followed behind Leon.
Woah.
This was a massacre. Luckily, it looked like only one person was the victim.
I looked off to the side and watched in amusement as a police officer suddenly bolted to the side of the forest and I could hear him vomit.
I walked up close to the scattered remains and saw the coroner's lab kit waiting. I reach into my coat and put on my glasses and then gloves on with a sharp snap.
I crouched next to the dismembered thoracic and pelvic cavity, and began to prod around. Feeling the remaining pieces of the organs, and along the rib and spinal cord. The whole left side of this person was completely crushed, whatever animal did this was a full adult by the sheer amount of fracturing I could see and feel.
I heard more than saw Leon gag as I removed the scattered intestines that obstructing my view of the spine.
"I seriously can't believe you can do that and not retch." I smile halfheartedly.
"Comes with the job I suppose." I reached into the lab kit and took out a liver thermometer. I looked inside the cavity and pierced what remained of the liver and waited.
"Oh that is so damn gross. Bones, ah! Stop holding it like that is normal! Ahk! I'm done. I'm done." I smile wider and turn to Leon.
"Go wait by the tape or a tree while I do this. It is only going to get worse when I open it up." I watched the Leon turn green at my words and he nodded.
"That is really impressive." A velvety voice made me look up and I felt myself go in awe.
This man was very handsome. Honey blonde hair, pale as the moon, early thirties, tall, and had the most particular eyes I have ever seen. They shone like fresh amber.
I raised my brow and saw his stark white lab coat. Was this the Forks medical doctor I heard about?
"Thank you. I am assuming you are Dr. Cullen?" I looked back down and noted the liver temp. I pulled out the needle and swiped the dripping blood off. I saw the officer out of the corner of my eyes shiver in disgust.
"I am, Dr. Carlisle Cullen. Wonderful to meet you. You are the forensic anthropologist from Seattle? Doctor…?" I half mindedly nodded to his question and answered as I grabbed some tweezers from the kit and began to scavenge for particulates.
"Dr. Avalon Abernathy. May I ask why a surgical doctor is at a crime scene?" I raised my brow at him. I didn't want to be rude but I had to know why.
"I am one of the best doctors here." I gave him a blank look trying to process his words.
"Ah. Were you out in the forest trying to find more of… our lovely guest here?" I looked down and pulled out a large fragment lodged inside one of the vertebras of the spine. I hummed. Dr. Cullen smiled humorously at my dry joke.
"Yes. I sent out my son and daughter to see if they can find anymore." I stopped and looked up at him. He was writing down what I was doing with the remains.
"Are they a part of the police?" He smiled and shook his head. I look over my glasses' frames and stare hard for second.
"No, they are just very good at tracking things." That made me nervous.
"Civilians aren't supposed to be in the crime scene. They can contaminate and alter the evidence. Please refrain and call them back." I state and grab the saline bottle from the kit. I douse the fragment in the solution in grunt softly in recognition. I looked up and noticed Carlisle seemed nervous at my words and I raised a brow in defiance.
"Is there something wrong, Dr. Cullen? Do I need to send some of the officers here to retrieve them for you?" I kind of felt bad being so mean to him, he was a full grown man being scolded like a child by a much younger woman. He kept a tight smile on his face and looked to the forest where two people walked through the trees. They were unearthly beautiful like Carlisle.
The boy was tall and looked to be about eighteen possibly twenty. His hair was a dark copper color, pale like paper, and his eyes were just like Carlisle's own amber eyes.
The girl had to be around the same age as the copper haired boy, just as pale, unearthly beautiful, petite and seemed to elegantly walk as if dancing in her steps. Her hair and stature was super short, pixie like, and her eyes were the same ungodly amber.
I have heard of extremely rare cases where eyes pigmentation is reduced in brown eyes patients that reflect to showcase the color of amber, but having so many in one place was just plain unlikely. I mean, I have no room with my deduction as I have unnatural eyes myself but still.
I frowned in confusion.
'Something isn't right here.'
The copper haired boy snapped his attention to me and frowned. I raised a brow at him and went back to the battered trunk of the corpse.
"Dr. Cullen, if you will?" I made a writing motion. He nodded and smiled to me with blindingly white perfect teeth.
"Time of death approximately around…" I looked at my wrist watch. "…2300 hours last night. COD is sever vertebral compression fracturing. By the looks of it from the bone fragments that I found lodged in the T3 vertebrae and the mass fracturing along the entirety of the upper thoracic vertebrae and cervical vertebrae suggests an animal mauling. You see this? I would say this fragmented claw comes from a species known as Puma Concolor, the typical Cougar or commonly known around these parts as a mountain lion. I spotted some tracks near the entrance, so the Cougar is most likely gone by the vast number of square feet of the forests." I smiled widely as I heard the dark haired and eyed officer next to me whisper to Leon.
"You have any idea what she was saying?"
"Not a clue. I've been trying to figure that out since day one." I found amusement in their conversation.
With a large inhale, I held the large curving claw up to show Dr. Cullen. I raised my brow at him when I noticed he and his "children" seemed to look relieved at my diagnosis. Like they were praying it was an animal attack or something along those lines. I gazed at Carlisle as he stopped writing; he looked back at me curiously.
"Can we get a possible ID?" I hummed and tried to ignore the tense look the copper haired boy was giving me and then he turned to his "sister". I'm sorry they honestly didn't look like siblings judging by their bone structure, biological color pattern, etc. all except their eyes.
I sigh and peel back the torn flesh around the pelvic cavity. I heard the officer next to me move suddenly and then the sound of vomit hitting the forest floor. Lovely day it has been.
"The pelvic girdle indicates male. Caucasian no doubt. Approximately late forties based on intervertebral discs' deterioration and the spinous and transverse process' calcification. Weight at an approximate two hundred and forty pounds. Were there any remnants that your children managed to find around the grounds?" Carlisle looked over to his children.
I gazed at them. The pixie like woman elegantly walked over to us and she smiled at me. Then the boy walked over and shook his head.
"Not that I know of, let me ask." Hmm. The copper haired boy tried to hold up a restrained smile.
"Pardon me, Dr. Abernathy. These are my children. Alice and Edward." I nodded my head and looked back to the remains.
"Did either of you manage to find a femur or possible shin I can estimate his height by it? Or even a head?" Both of Alice and Edward shook their heads.
"No. There was only the body we found." Oh so they were the ones who discovered it. Strange.
"Well that is all I can determine until I have a head or limb. Officer…" I gazed at the green faced policeman who had originally blocked my path earlier. "Pardon me, Chief Swan. Please take these note to your Identification system and make note of anyone who may have hiked these trails or went hiking in the recent week; take a DNA sample and send it to your analysis lab. You should find the ID to this man. It is not common for mountain lions to attack but it does unfortunately still happen. My condolences to his family."
I stood, relishing in the feeling of the blood rushing back into my legs.
I take off my blood stained gloves and dispose of them in the hazardous bag. Leon glances at the officers wrapping up the body then at me with a nauseous expression. I push my glasses up the bridge of my nose.
I smile and tease him. "You hungry? I think I could go for a churro from that cute pastry shop near the police station~" I laugh when I watch him turn greener and he wobbles a little with me. He grabs onto my shoulders and sags his body weight onto my back, trying to stand.
"Bones, I can't even understand how you do it." I shake my head and throw my hands in the air.
"They are just remains. Pieces of human, I have seen them before just as you have." His deep chocolate eyes twitch shut.
"Not torn to bits or rotting though!" I sigh and open my car door as he heads to his own.
A crack of thunder rings out and we both look up to the thick, molten silver colored clouds. I sigh a little as a drop of ice cold rain splatters on my flushed cheeks.
"Well, so much for hoping for a sunny day," I say with a sarcastic twang. I wave to Leon and briefly hear him say he is heading back to the city; I wave at him. I don't quite hear him as I focus on Carlisle and his two children in the distance.
I watched as the girl, Alice, as Carlisle introduced her to me, suddenly stiffens and both Edward and Carlisle suddenly turn to her. I raise an eyebrow. Did she need help?
She seems panicked and Carlisle hands her his clipboard and pen. I feel my breath freeze and watch her hands begin drawing something on the board at light speed.
'That is not normal. Then again, I'm technically on the same boat of abnormal.'
I almost feel ashamed as the copper haired boy suddenly turns towards my direction. I look away, blushing in embarrassment. It's like he heard my thoughts. He quickly stands in front of the panicked Alice and sufficiently blocks my eyesight.
I shake my head and get in my car, turning on the heat and enjoying the silence for a few seconds. I briefly glance in my rearview mirror for split second as I began to back up my car and felt a certain cold wash over me like someone is watching me.
Lo and behold…
The Cullens were staring at me from their position in the forest grounds. All of them had a look of horror and/or surprise.
'That's really creepy.'
I shook my head and quickly pulled out the Forks area, trailing Leon a good few meters back. This was a strange day indeed.
*With the Cullens*
"Oh, she smells really good," Edward raised his brow at Alice's deduction but chose to say nothing as he, Alice and Carlisle watched nervously as the woman didn't say it was a murder… they knew only one kind of person could do this damage, Vampire. They didn't smell any vampires nearby though. They knew for a fact the wolves in La Push would never do something like this and there was a lack of wet dog smell.
Alice and Edward stared at the strange woman, Dr. Abernathy, if they heard correctly from the distance in the forest. She was prodding around the corpse with not an ounce of nausea or facial change like every other human officer or detective around her, but what she said next made the Cullens sigh in relief as she finally stated what they were praying for…it was an animal attack. Carlisle watched carefully out of the corner of his eye as Dr. Abernathy stood and began to walk away from the crime scene and officers, Alice froze suddenly and moved her hands out.
The honey blonde quickly gave her his clipboard, flickering a piece of paper onto its blank backside. Carlisle and Edward watched with horror growing on their faces as Alice's quick hand began to sketch out a beautifully detailed illustration of the good doctor, Avalon, nervously standing in a large marble room with three figures in front of her on a three step floor. Three dark thrones were easily scene behind the three figures.
Two of the men in the picture had dark hair whilst the third held white hair. And the Avalon stood there looking at them with her feet pointed inward and holding something in her hands. The middle figure stood directly in front of her with a smile on his face whilst the other two sat watching. The room held a darkened lining of five figures standing around the room.
"Alice… is that who I think it is? The Volturi?" Carlisle asked, his voice low and shocked. Edwards suddenly turned to look at Avalon who quickly pulled her head down and got in her car in embarrassment.
Alice reeled back as her vision ended, and Edward blocked the human's view of Alice's vampiric movements.
"Carlisle… we can't let her go to Italy. She's…." Carlisle's face twisted in thought.
"What did you see Alice?" Alice shook her head, the ebony spikes of hair flying around her face in the process. Her amber colored eyes held disbelief.
"She's in danger. I can't be for sure, but I think… I think she's… I am not completely sure as the future changes. All I know is that she is of some sort of strength to them." Carlisle, Edward, and Alice all turned to look at the purple eyed woman as she drove off in a hurry. Most of them held a look of horror at the news.
"Can you imagine the strength that the Volturi would get if they found someone like her?" Edward suddenly asked Carlisle as said blonde raised his brow in confusion at his son.
"Carlisle, I read her thoughts. She is not normal, she is gifted. With something she doesn't even understand." Carlisle held a tight lipped expression and glanced at his children.
"We cannot interfere. If the Volturi is involved, it is best to leave it be and hope for the best. I understand you want to help her, but we need to let her make her own decisions; she may not even go or even meet them. But if she really is that dangerous and she makes it into their grasps, with Aro's gift, they would know we interfered with trying to make her stay here away from them. It would not end well for us." Carlisle looked away as Edward and Alice glanced to one another.
"So, we are just going to let her walk straight into their arms? She's human, Carlisle. They may kill her if they don't change Dr. Abernathy for whatever her gift may be." Carlisle snapped his head in Edward's direction, amber eyes hardened.
"I am saddened to say this but it is best to hope they kill her beforehand if what you say is true about her gift. But, maybe we can keep an eye on her in some way." Alice held in a sad gasp and held the paper to her chest tightly.
Alice didn't want this poor girl to die. She had done nothing wrong to anyone. She seemed so sweet and kind… The weight of the reality hung on her shoulders.
Carlisle glanced to Alice's saddened expression and gently put his hand on her shoulder. "Perhaps we can help her. Alice, I do not believe you have been shopping in quite a while, isn't Italian Vogue your favorite fashion trend?" A large grin spread over Alice's face and she nodded.
"I understand!"
*End with the Cullens*
AN: And the Cullens make a brief appearance! Yay!
