Author's Note: Continue on, dear reader. :)
We're getting close to the climax, and then...you know what! And what's more, I feel so happy about my upcoming break from classes, I might update a lot soon!
Song: The Vitamin String Quartet's Rendition of Decode by Paramore (which, as we all know, is a Twilight song) .com/watch?v=gVqvXV8gMbI
Enjoy!
26. What Is He?
"Thank you again for helping me with this autopsy, Dr. Cullen."
"You're welcome." Dr. Cullen flashed a smile so white it seemed to shine. Scully looked down and tucked the cleaned instruments safely away into their covers, hoping she didn't look snow-blind.
Mulder hadn't been too pleased about her change of plan-the emoticon said it all-but now that she was centimeters from solving the case, she was confident she could find some evidence to prove her new theory. The best place to look for that evidence was at the Swan house. That was the site of the last murder, after all, so there was a good chance that the killer left some scrap of himself in the yard. It was a start, Scully figured, and better than nothing.
Scanning the basement-turned-lab for help, Scully spotted a tiny magnifying glass on one of the tables. She picked it up, noticing the scratches on its lens, wrapped it up in a pair of gloves and put it in her pocket. Like she said, better than nothing. She also found a pair of tweezers and a handkerchief; they, too, went into her pocket.
Oh, for a good evidence lab.
Carlisle made no comment during this investigation. Scully looked up and saw him finishing the last post-autopsy cleanup. "I hope I haven't made you late for your next shift," she said.
Dr. Cullen checked his own phone. "It's only eight o'clock. There's still an hour till I'm on call."
"Oh, good." Scully found herself smiling and didn't stop to examine why. "Well, I guess I'll take these samples with me and meet up with my partner. We need to corroborate theories." She actually wasn't going to meet up with Mulder for at least an hour, but Dr. Cullen didn't need to know that. She hadn't forgotten Alice's instrutcion-to take Carlisle with her-but she wasn't sold on the idea. Dr. Cullen might not be a homicidal maniac or a vampire (the more preposterous choice still undecided in her mind). That was great. More power to him. But she was not going to invite him into her personal space or her car with a murderer on the lose. In her opinion, that would be asking for trouble.
"I'll file the paperwork with Chief Swan and save you some trouble, if you like," Carlisle said, rolling his sleeves back down.
...His adopted children stole her last autopsy report. "I would appreciate that, really, but-" Scully bit her lip, "in this case autopsy reports must be filed by the presiding examiner. Just for document integrity." She prayed Dr. Cullen didn't know anything about autopsy procedure, because she had just made that regulation up on the spot.
"Of course, I understand." Maybe she had just imagined the slight raising of her autopsy assistant's eyebrow.
All of a sudden the echoing basement was a little too close for Scully's liking. "Thank you again for your help. I appreciated it," she said, gave another half-hearted smile, and turned and left through the wide doors.
"Wait, Dr. Scully!"
Turning, Scully saw Dr. Cullen emerge from the basement with her recorder in his hand. "You forgot this."
"Oh." She took it, embarassed by her absent-mindedness. "That would have been unfortunate."
"I hope the examination will give you some clues to follow," Dr. Cullen said.
Scully almost laughed; the autopsy had been the best moment of the case so far. That's when she had solved it. "Oh, it will."
With another blinding smile, Carlisle told her goodbye. They parted ways and exited the hallway outside the basement from two different directions, Scully to the parking lot and Dr. Cullen to his office. As she closed the outer door behind her Scully couldn't help but feel a little guilty, then shook herself out it. She owed absolutely nothing, nothing whatsoever, to Alice Cullen. The very idea was ridiculous.
Pulling her keys out of her pocket was a challenge with the magnifying glass smashed on top of them, but Scully managed. She climbed into the car-a police officer's car, actually-and twisted the key in the ignition.
Nothing happened.
"What?" Scully cried, and tried to start the vehicle again. She was met by a dull grinding sound. "No! Crap!" Without flinching at the thought of defacing someone else's property, she hit the dashboard in anger, then tried the ignition one more time. She groaned, resting her head against the steering wheel as the car made its death gurgle.
Now, of all times, the car decided to break down. Perhaps Scully was fated, for the rest of her career, to drive faulty vehicles. It just wasn't fair! With a sigh, Scully climbed out of the car. She had no choice but to call Mulder-
"Dr. Scully?" The pleasant voice was unmistakable. What was he doing out here?
"Huh?" Scully closed the car door and faced Dr. Dexter.
Carlisle Cullen was beside his own vehicle, a Mercedes of some sort. "Is everything all right?"
"My car..." Scully shook her head. "I don't know what's wrong with it."
Frowning, Dr. Cullen gave the car a once-over. "Would you like me to take a look?"
No. No, she would not. "That's all right, Doctor, I think I'll just call Mulder. Honestly, I'm sick of these borrowed cars. They can all rust in a parking lot, for what I care." At Carlisle's puzzled expression, she had to laugh at herself. "My last car from the police station broke down, too. And I've only been here a few days."
"You're on a roll, it seems."
"I guess so. Go on, Dr. Cullen. I don't want to keep you. I'll be fine." Scully took out her phone and was about to punch in Mulder's number when she heard the grating sound of another dying car. The noise was so obnoxious it made her hit 'cancel' and find the source of the sound. She nearly snorted when she realized it was coming from Dr. Cullen's car.
Stunned, the two doctors looked up at one another. Dr. Cullen opened his door and sat there until Scully broke the silence. "Coincidence?"
"No," Carlisle said, sighing wearily. "No, probably not."
The situation was so ludicrous that Scully succumbed, leaning against the car in helpless laughter. When she sobered, she saw that Dr. Cullen had gotten out and was now examining her car. "I think this is something I can fix," he said, lifting the hood. "It just looks like a disconnected belt."
"What about your car?"
With an ironic laugh of his own, he shook his head. "My children are the car experts, Agent Scully. I'm out of my depth in anything but basic models."
"Well, we doctors can't be good at everything," Scully said. "Otherwise we'd be unbearable."
It took Dr. Cullen roughly five minutes to realign whatever was wrong with the borrowed Toyota. "Try it now," he instructed, and the car roared to life with gusto. "Well, that's one obstacle taken care of."
"Do you have a ride?" asked Scully, dreading the answer. She really shouldn't ask, but...he had fixed her car. It would be unforgivable to leave him standing in the parking lot.
"No. Esme doesn't have a car and the children are in school..." Dr. Cullen just seemed to catch Scully's drift. "But don't worry about it, Agent Scully. I was just going back to Bella's house to make sure she was all right."
Coincidence again? Like Carlisle, Scully thought not. "That's just where I was going. Pull up a chair."
Half of the ride to the Swan residence was full of the sort of talk that would bore anyone esle to death but fascinated the two doctors. Scully wouldn't consider the conversation easy. She certainly wasn't completely comfortable with Dr. Cullen yet. Her mind kept returning to the bite marks on the victims and the way her autopsy partner had lingered over them.
But she knew who it was. She did! She had solved this case and she was going to prove it, so help her!
Scully spotted the orange light on her dashboard just as her phone buzzed. She tapped its screen and pulled it out, setting it on the dashboard. "Uh, Dr. Cullen? What do you think that light means?"
"It's a low coolant light," Carlisle answered after a moment. "I don't think you have to worry about it."
That brought on a wry smile. "Well, I wouldn't, either, except my luck ran out on cars this week. Maybe we should stop and check."
"If you like."
For the first time since the ride began, Scully noticed what had been bugging her about Dr. Cullen's position in the car. "Dr. Cullen, don't you think you should put on your seat belt?"
If Scully's passenger was going to reply, she never found out.
The light on her dashboard and Dr. Cullen's seat belt had distracted her long enough for her not to see the large fallen tree sticking out into the road. With a bolt of adrenaline like an electric shock coursing down her spine, Scully knew she didn't have time to stop. What's more, she was going too fast, over the speed limit. Even though her foot jumped to the brake, she knew she would be too late.
There was a horrible bump-crunching sound, Scully was thrown forward against the steering wheel, and a shattering sound deafened her right ear. A second later she gasped in horror; Carlisle Cullen had gone flying through her windshield. When he hit the ground at over fifty miles an hour, she just knew he was dead.
Dr. Cullen rolled twice on the pale dirt road, his next movement was so fast it appeared blurred. All Scully saw was the result; Carlisle was now several yards away, up in a bizarre crouch. Scully touched her head, wondering if she had sustained a concussion. Surely-surely-she was hallucinating. But, no. The doctor was definitely crouching defensively in the middle of the road, scanning the surrounding trees like a hawk. He was alive, unharmed-
And whatever else he was, he was not human.
Scully threw the car into life before the thought was a conscious one, and she reversed almost that fast. Luckily, the car was functional. As she shoved into gear her heart began to pound, making up for her shock of the last few minutes and covering her in sweat.
What had she just seen? It couldn't be-it would be so typical-not what Mulder-Her mind was in a tizzy trying to piece together the images of the accident. One thing she knew for certain: she was right to feel uneasy around the Cullens because they were not human. They were not human. No mortal man could recover so quickly after going through a windshield like that.
Scully shuddered and revved the car, shooting to sixty miles an hour. Whatever Carlisle Cullen was, she would put as much distance between him and her as she could. It just wasn't possible for him to be all right, moving around, crouching. Moving so rapidly that her eyes couldn't process him.
Unfortunately for her, Scully's mind was still rattled from the accident. She didn't realize that, rather than heading toward the police station as she'd intended, she was driving to the hotel. Every thought of the case had been blasted out of her. She was possessed of an animal instict to get away from the creature that was Dr. Cullen.
Consequently, she drove through the deep puddle in the road without slowing down. She had time to think, 'Not again,' and then she hydroplaned and hit the tree.
Scully awoke a moment later, disoriented by the glass covering her in a chunky dust. She stared at it for a second, then groaned, rolling her head to clear it. Not her day.
Something moved by her window and then her door swung open. "Mulder?" Scully asked, looking to the side.
She gasped at the unfamiliar face leaning toward her, the syringe in his hand, his rough grip as he hauled her out of the car. She pawed uselessly at the holster on her hip, but the needle bit into her her neck and her hands fell limp. Her body followed soon after.
On the sandy floorboard of the Toyota, her cell phone rang.