Chapter 11: Broken to Pieces
Lexie doesn't hear him; in fact she is hardly aware of what she is doing, all she can think about is that young girl lying dead in the corner, tortured by this creature for sport. The pressure is continuing to build as she focuses on the man in front of her; until only one thought remains….he needs to die. Suddenly, she felt something shift inside her and a surge of energy was released causing the air to shimmer like a heat wave. Hitting the vampire, he cries out in shock unable to believe that this skinny little newborn is hurting him and she's not even touching him
Finding Lexie's trail had taken longer than he had anticipated and Edward could only hope she had found the strength to resist taking a human life. Finally reaching the cabin, he can see Lexie standing against the wall facing a rough looking vampire and rushed inside to help her; but stops when something shifts in the air and the vampire starts to scream.
Realizing that Lexie was causing the vampires pain, he decides to move back towards the cabin door, so that her focus doesn't accidentally shift to him. Carefully, he opens his mind to hear her thoughts and takes a step back when he 'feels' instead of 'hears' the anger directed toward the man. Pushing past the anger, he can now hear her barely readable thoughts, but gathers that the vampire has done something so twisted and evil, that she wants him dead. The power, he feels building up inside of her seems to be a deeply buried strength, perhaps even the very thing that had kept her alive so long lying under that plane. Realizing that something was happening he pulls back from her mind and watches in fascination as the air pressure once again shifts then hits the frozen man like a tornado.
The vampire looks at Lexie in disbelief as a crack appears in the middle of his forehead. "What are you?" he gasps as he feels it widen and begin to spread out like branches on a tree, until he looks like a statue being held together by glue. Then without warning, his body shatters into a million tiny pieces onto the cabin floor.
Shocked, Lexie stumbled back to lean against the wall, feeling the anger drain away until it's replaced by confusion. 'Oh my God, What the hell just happened?' She thought shaking her head in disbelief, 'Did I do that?' Being a rational person, she knew that what had happened was not humanly possible; but then again that man hadn't been human and now neither was she. Lexie wondered what else she could do and what it would mean to her new family. Closing her eyes, she quiets her thoughts then opens them when she remembers the real reason she had been drawn to this cabin. Pushing away from the wall, she looks over to the lifeless body lying in a pool of blood and tries to holds back a sob as she slowly walks over to the girl. Kneeling down, Lexie sadly examines her bruised and battered body with a Doctors eye and shudders at the evidence of torture she endured at that monster's hands.
Edward had remained frozen in stunned silence after witnessing the destruction of the vampire, but was now walking around the cabin slowly surveying the scene. He looked down at the pile of rubble on the floor then over to the young woman, who was now crying over the death of a girl, she had never even known.
Edward knew that a small percentage of immortals developed powers once they were turned; most were indicative of a natural characteristic transferred over from their human life. Jasper for example had been a charismatic person, who could see what others were feeling; so once turned he became empathic and could control the emotions of those around him. His sister, Alice was another example, she had premonitions as a human, but once changed could see the future. He had even had firsthand experience of feeling excruciating pain created by the cruel thoughts of Aro's pet, Jane; but he had never heard of an immortal powerful enough to shatter another immortal without touching them. He would have to tell Carlisle when they got back. Moving up behind her, he put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"There was nothing you could have done, this is what he had planned long before you showed up," he says patiently, but knows they must hurry and burn the vampire's remains before they can regenerate.
"Lexie, we need to get out of here and call the police." He pushes gently and then sees her nod in agreement.
He watches as she puts her hands on the girls head and gently returns it to a more natural position. She moves them away as another tear rolls down her face.
"I wish I could have saved you." She whispers, leaning forward to close the girl's lifeless eyes.
As she touches the girls face, she begins to feel something inside her rising again and moves her hand away in the event that her newfound ability causes more damage to the girl's body. But stops, when she realizes that this was different, it didn't feel hot like the last time. It feels cool and soothing, like water being run over a burn; she feels her arm begin to tingle as she touches the girl's face with the palm of her hand. Sensing a shift was coming; Lexie then ran her hands over the rest of the girl's injuries until her left hand lightly touched the girl's damaged throat and the right rests lightly over her heart. The tingling intensified until it shifted and seemed to flow from her chest, down her arms until she felt a tiny jolt of energy pass from her fingertips into the girl's body. Jerking them away from the sensation, she rubs her hands together and begins to move away. Suddenly, she hears a grinding noise and kneels back down in shock when she realizes that the broken bones in her neck and arm are healing; in fact all of the girl's injuries are starting to fade. Then, Lexie's eyes open wide in amazement as she hears a thump, then another coming from inside the girl's chest and she takes a breath.
Jumping up, Lexie backs away until she bumps into Edward, who had been standing behind her in stunned silence. Putting his hands on her arms he begins to pull her toward the vampire's remains.
"Whatever you just did… I didn't think that was possible.. I've never heard of an immortal with this kind of power." He says without taking his gaze off the girl, whose heartbeat was now strong and steady. "We need to take the vampires remains and go."
Lexie gives Edward a bewildered expression, "No we can't just leave her here alone… what if she wakes up and can't find her way home, or what if…." Edward put his hands on her shoulders and looks her in the eyes.
"We'll call in an anonymous tip to the police with her location and we can stay in the area until they come to make sure she gets help. But we need to get out of sight before she wakes up; there can't be any evidence that we were there."
She looks back at the unconscious girl still lying in a pool of her own blood, then looks back to Edward and nods in agreement. She would probably wake up soon and there would be no way they could explain what had happened to her tormentor or her injuries for that matter. Edward moves away and begins searching the cabin for a sack to put the remains in while Lexie finds an old blanket and lifts the girl out of the sticky blood to wrap her up. She can feel that the girl's body temperature was almost back to normal and smiled, happy that she was alive.
She looks down at the sticky blood coating her hands and feels nothing….her blood lust is gone. This whole situation had brought some deeply buried strength to the surface and she now knew that she could still be a Doctor and save lives.
"Come on let's go." Edward calls from the doorway and watches as Lexie gets up to follow him out into the forest. Pulling out his cell phone he called the police, and then went to destroy the remains, while Lexie washed off the girl's blood from her hands in a stream. Forty five minutes later, they could hear the approaching sirens and moved closer to the cabin to watch as the rescuers came for the teenager. As they brought her out on a stretcher, the girl looks confused, but otherwise totally unharmed. Lexie could only hope that whatever ability she had used to heal the girl from her injuries, had also removed today's tragic events from her memories. If not she was going to need a lot of therapy.
Edward smiled when he heard her thoughts. "You know your special, Lexie. What you did to that vampire and then the opposite to save that girl's life, it just shows what kind of person you were as a human."
"Edward, I killed that man….. I would have never done something like that as a human!" she said fiercely.
"No, Lex. He wasn't a man anymore…. Maybe he never was. You killed an evil and demented monster. You fought to defend an innocent child against a predator and I know that is something you would have done as a human. Today you discovered your gifts; the ability to destroy an immortal with your thoughts and an amazing ability to have so much compassion for a human life that you can heal the body with your touch. It just goes to show what kind of person you were as a human." He says, smiling.
Lexie gives him a smile back and watches as the paramedics work on the girl; somehow knowing she was going to be okay.
"Let's go. We have a lot to talk about. " She says and follows Edward home.
