Sorry this chapter is later than intended; I had a few days where my inspiration to write just wasn't there, or I was too busy preparing for Thanksgiving - I hope the rest of you who celebrate it had a wonderful holiday. I'd also like to thank everyone who reached out to share their opinions on continuing this story in light of the pandemic situation; your guidance played an important part in my deliberations on what to do now. Since no one expressed opposition to my carrying on with the planned storyline, I've decided to keep updating, though anyone who may have been affected by covid should proceed with caution from this point on.
Chapter 17: The Plague-Bearer
Denali, Alaska - 1 week later
"And last night was the third time you've had the dream, or some variation thereof?"
"Yeah, it's been different each time...except for the part where everyone's dead." Peter glanced around as the words left his mouth, wondering if he'd spoken too loudly, but the other guests at Irina's and Laurent's wedding were giving him a wide berth, and the few who were looking in his direction quickly turned away when his eyes met theirs.
His presence had caused something of a stir when he first showed up, seeing as he was the only human in attendance, but since he arrived with the Cullens - who were not only the closest friends of the bride's coven but also the largest group of vampires at the party - everyone held their tongues...at least until they started to take their places for the ceremony, when some tactless doofus muttered that while he was glad the vegetarian weirdoes had seen fit to provide decent refreshments, they should have made sure there was enough to share. Unfortunately, Bella heard him, which caused the wedding party's entrance to be delayed almost twenty minutes while Alice hustled her inside to change into a spare dress and the tactless doofus' friends helped him reattach his arm and lower jaw.
She probably would have torn off more than that if Peter hadn't stepped in, using telekinesis to force them apart - luckily her rational mind was so overshadowed by fury that she forgot to shield against him - then physically restraining her when she tried to go after the hapless idiot again. She'd stopped fighting the instant she realized whose arms were holding her back, but seeing that Peter was capable of overpowering such a young vampire even for a second or two made quite an impression on everyone. From that moment on they'd kept a respectful distance, so there was no one close enough to eavesdrop on his conversation with Alice and Edward as they stood at the edge of the Denali coven's 'backyard' where the reception was taking place, watching everyone else dance and mingle while they discussed portents of doom.
"Not everyone's dead, though," his aunt reminded him with a troubled frown. "In all your visions, you said Bella was there...although, considering what you've told us about her role in them, I'm not sure that's a good thing."
"Maybe we shouldn't take that part too literally; I mean, I can't believe she and I are going to be the last two people left alive on the whole planet. I think her being there is more symbolic - it has to be, because there's no way she would ever attack me," he said vehemently.
"Of course not," Edward agreed. "Still, you have to admit that all this dream imagery makes it difficult to decipher precisely what your visions are warning of."
"Well, last night's wedding theme was pretty on the nose; Bella was even wearing the same dress she's got on now. I know Tanya's coven is the closest thing you guys have to extended family, but I can't shake this feeling that something's going to happen. The sooner we get out of here, the better I'll feel."
"I know, but except for that one idiot shooting his mouth off everything's going fine," Alice attempted to soothe him. "Just a couple more hours and you can take Bella and go, okay?"
Just then Jasper came over to them, his normally somber expression replaced with a rare beaming smile. The festive atmosphere and glowing happiness radiating from Irina, Laurent, and the non-blushing bride's family had obviously lifted his spirits. "What are you three doing lurking in the shadows?" he demanded. "We should all be celebrating one of our dearest friends finding love at last." He turned to Alice, his eyes softening as he remembered the day his life truly began, the day he walked into a diner to find her waiting for him. "Dance with me."
She took his outstretched hand and let him lead her away, glancing over her shoulder just long enough to shoot Peter an apologetic look. It's not that I don't take your visions seriously, but as long as we're here, we might as well enjoy ourselves. Maybe you should do the same.
"She has a point, you know," Edward said, "and it looks like Elle and Bella could use some help." He nodded to where Elle had just dragged her friend onto the makeshift dance floor and was attempting to teach her some moves; unfortunately, while they were both very graceful now, that couldn't quite make up for the fact that neither of them had ever learned any formal dance steps.
"This is painful to watch," Edward declared after observing them for a few more minutes, then turned to look inquiringly at Peter. "I don't suppose you happen to know the Russian waltz?"
"I don't know about the Russian version, but I can waltz. Mom decided ballroom dancing was one of those life skills Nathan and I just couldn't get by without," Peter admitted with a rueful grimace. "She made us take lessons in high school, and she never listened when we complained about how embarrassing it was. At least now I'll finally get to use it."
They wove through the dancing couples - all of whom spun out of their way without missing a beat - to where Elle was guiding Bella through some kind of awkward two-step, both of them laughing at how ridiculous they looked while bickering lightheartedly over whose hands and feet went where.
"May we cut in?"
Elle turned her head, broke into a huge smile when she saw Edward, and with an enthusiastic, "Sure!" let go of Bella and let him steer her away.
Bella, on the other hand, didn't seem nearly so pleased to see her partner. "Does this mean you're done avoiding me for now?"
"I haven't been avoiding you," Peter denied, but she wasn't having it.
"Really? You barely said two words to me this morning, then you went off with Alice and Edward the minute the wedding ceremony ended. If that's not avoidance, I don't know what is."
"I just needed to talk to them."
"About the nightmare you had last night, which I assume is related to the ones you've been having all week? The ones you haven't told me a single thing about?" she asked pointedly.
"I know I haven't, and I'm sorry. Dance with me?"
Somewhat mollified by his show of contrition, she let him guide her right hand to the proper place on his shoulder and take hold of her left as they picked up the rhythm of the dance - or rather, Peter did while Bella took her cues from his movements and the light pressure of his hand on her waist.
"I know I'm not a seer like Alice or an expert on everything like Edward," she continued as they danced, "but I still want to help. I can't do that if you won't talk to me, though."
"You're right. I wasn't trying to shut you out, I swear, it's just..." Peter's voice trailed off at that point, because how was he supposed to tell her that he kept having visions of her attacking him while in the grip of some horrible malady that seemed to have reduced her to a mindlessly feral state? He wasn't sure there were any right words for that. Eventually he settled for saying, "It's not always clear what these dreams are trying to tell me, and I don't want you to worry about something that might turn out to be nothing."
"But you're obviously worrying about it a lot," she countered. "Now that we're together, shouldn't I worry about the same things you do?"
"Maybe I just didn't want to ruin the wedding for you. I know how you love a good party."
She tried to glare at him, though the slight upward tugging at the corners of her mouth blunted its effect. "Shut up. If you had some kind of apocalyptic vision that could've given me an excuse to get out of this and kept it to yourself..."
Her threat went unfinished, since at that moment a disturbance arose on the far side of the yard. Bella stopped dancing and went to investigate, pulling Peter along with her. He didn't want to go - the same foreboding feeling from his nightmares had clamped down on him like an icy claw, and every instinct he possessed was screaming at him to run the other way, or better yet, grab Bella and teleport out of there - but, as so often happened in nightmares, he was powerless to stop it from unfolding, unable to do anything except follow her.
When they got close enough to see what was going on, they found that a strange vampire had emerged from the forest surrounding the Alaskan coven's home and was wandering around the edge of the yard, sniffing the air. He had obviously roamed the wilderness for some time before finding them; his clothes were torn and dirty, and even his skin was streaked with mud. The strangest thing about him, however, was his shambling gait - he shuffled his feet and listed to one side as he moved, almost like he was having trouble keeping his balance.
"What's up with this guy?" murmured Elle, who had also left the dance when she realized something was amiss. "If vampires could get drunk, I'd say it looks like somebody spiked his blood."
Peter agreed; the newcomer reminded him strongly of the homeless addicts he'd seen on the streets of New York or huddled in the corners of subway stations, but where he had felt pity for them, this seemingly loopy vampire made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. "I don't know," he replied, finally overcoming his nightmare-like paralysis enough to speak, "but I don't think we should get too close."
No sooner were the words out of his mouth than Tanya and two other members of her family, Carmen and Eleazar, broke through the loose cluster of curious onlookers and approached the stranger with the purposeful stride of people who meant business, while Carlisle and a few other guests followed them but hung back, giving them space to deal with the unexpected presence in their territory as they saw fit.
"Hi," Tanya greeted him in a polite tone that held a well-concealed note of caution. "We weren't expecting anyone to pass through today, but you're welcome to join us; we're celebrating my sister's wedding. What's your name?"
As she spoke, the stranger slowly stopped his aimless sniffing and turned toward her, but didn't answer.
She waited a moment, then tried again. "I can tell by your eyes that you haven't hunted in a while. Where have you come from?"
The vampire cocked his head to one side as if confused by her question.
"Maybe he doesn't speak English," Carmen suggested. Stepping forward, she addressed him in Spanish.
The stranger stood stock-still, nostrils flaring as his black eyes focused on her...then he lunged forward and snapped at the hand she'd extended to him, sinking his teeth deep into her wrist. She cried out in shock and stumbled back, but the stranger held on until Eleazar knocked him loose. The strange vampire attacked him next, and a full-scale brawl broke out as everyone got in on the action, with a few exceptions.
Bella took an automatic step forward when the fighting began, her instincts urging her to join in the fray, but Peter grabbed her arms, using his superhuman strength to hold her back. She shot him an inquisitive look over her shoulder, surprised that he didn't want her to help Carlisle and the others, but didn't try to free herself.
Meanwhile, Elle skirted around the edges of the knot of vampires, sparks dancing at her fingertips. "I can't get a clear shot," she complained. "I could take this nutjob down in a second if these idiots would just get out of the way."
"Good idea," Bella replied. "Peter, could you-?"
She didn't need to finish voicing what she wanted him to do; in this, at least, they were completely on the same page. He began telekinetically yanking vampires out of the melee while she used her force fields to keep them from diving back in, until at last the stranger was exposed. Elle immediately hit him with a powerful lightning bolt that sent him crumpling to the ground, his body twitching uncontrollably. Before he had time to recover, Tanya and Eleazar tore his legs off at the knee, as well as his arms.
"I know it seems brutal, but this is the only way to restrain someone who can't be held by ropes or chains," Edward explained when he noticed Peter cringing as he watched them. "We can reattach his limbs once he's calmed down and we're certain he won't attack a- Ouch!" (This last was in response to Elle zapping his hand.) "What was that for?"
"For jumping into that fight like some testosterone-fueled moron."
"Carlisle was in the thick of it," he defended himself. "You're not saying I shouldn't have helped him, are you?"
"I'm saying you should've let me handle it since I could knock him out from a distance," she retorted, jabbing him in the chest with her forefinger. "That guy seems crazy - he could've hurt you."
Edward could have pointed out that, despite his apparent derangement, the unknown vampire wasn't very dangerous - the uncoordinated, almost clumsy way he'd lashed out at everyone who approached him did not indicate any great prowess at combat, and in any event he'd been outnumbered seven to one, so that Edward never even got within arm's reach of him - but, recognizing that scolding him was Elle's way of showing her concern for his safety, he merely said, "You're right, of course. I'm sorry for being so reckless."
She scrutinized him through narrowed eyes for a moment as if gauging the sincerity of his repentance, then took his hand and tugged him in the direction in which Tanya, Eleazar, and Carlisle had taken the stranger. "Come on, let's go see what they're gonna do with him."
###
They carried the partially disassembled vampire into the house Tanya shared with her sisters, though only she and Kate lived there now; like Carmen and Eleazar, Irina and Laurent were moving into a separate cabin that their family had built for them as a wedding present, so they put the stranger in her newly vacant room. He didn't protest as they carried him away; in fact, aside from a few moans of pain - despite the fact that they weren't handling him roughly - he didn't speak at all. He just laid there on the bed where they deposited him, gazing blankly at the ceiling and refusing to answer any of their questions.
Eventually, just after Irina dropped in to tell them that most of the guests were leaving despite her and Jasper's best efforts to calm them down before going back outside with Laurent, Edward was asked to try reading the stranger's mind. Accompanied by Elle, Bella, and Peter, he went into the room where Tanya, Eleazar, and Carlisle had been unsuccessfully interrogating the stranger for the last hour, and two others - a nomad called Charles and an Irish vampire named Maggie, both of whom had lie-detecting abilities - left, grumbling that their powers were useless on someone who wouldn't talk.
Edward took Maggie's place at the head of the bed, listened hard for a few moments, then shook his head. "I'm sorry, I can't get anything from him."
"Does he have a mental shield like mine?" Bella asked from her spot at the edge of the room, just inside the doorway; even though the mysterious vampire had shown no further signs of aggression since being overpowered and his capacity to inflict harm was greatly reduced, Peter had still urged her not to get too close to him. She didn't understand what it was about this lone weirdo that had him so on edge, but she could see that he honestly believed the guy was dangerous, so she agreed to keep her distance.
"No, he's not like you," Eleazar told her. "I have a certain talent for detecting and identifying others' gifts, and as far as I can tell, this fellow has none."
"It's not that I can't hear his thoughts," Edward elaborated, "it's more that they're...incoherent. A meaningless jumble of images and the occasional word, all too fleeting for me to make any sense of them. If I didn't know better, I'd say he's delirious."
This statement was met with startled looks from everyone in attendance, and Tanya asked, "Is that even possible?"
She looked to Carlisle for an answer, but he just shook his head. "To my knowledge, there has never been a case of one of our kind falling ill or being affected by mind-altering substances, which are the primary causes of delirium, but it's clear that something is very wrong with this man."
"Perhaps Peter should examine him," Edward suggested. "His telepathy is more advanced than mine; where I can only hear what a person is thinking at the moment, he can probe deeper into their thoughts and memories." He turned to the empath, who was hanging back near the doorway with Bella. "If you're willing, of course."
Tanya also turned a thoughtful gaze on him, one eyebrow raised slightly; while she hadn't hesitated to welcome him into her family's home since he was with the Cullens, it was plain that she, like many of the other vampires, didn't quite know what to make of a human who shared the special gifts most of them had thought were the sole province of their own species.
"Please," Eleazar spoke up when Peter didn't respond right away. "I've never met anybody like you; you have more power than anyone I've ever encountered, human or vampire, and I need to know what is wrong with this man who attacked my wife."
"Sure," Peter said at last, "I'll try to get inside his head and see what I can find."
He came closer to the bed and carefully sat down on the mattress' edge near the stranger's head, but the vampire made no attempt to bite him; in fact, he didn't react to Peter's approach at all. Taking a deep breath, the former nurse leaned forward and cautiously probed the vampire's mind.
True to Edward's description, the surface thoughts he heard first were a chaotic swirl of light and sound, but he pushed through them, delving deeper in search of something that made sense, something solid and cohesive. At last he found it - a memory of a wet, snowy night when the stranger must have still been human, judging by the way the cold seeped into his bones and bit at whatever skin was left exposed by his dirty, threadbare clothes. He was trudging along an unlit street, hoping to find some kind of shelter from the driving wind, when something streaked past him so fast he had no chance to make out any details; his mind only registered a fleeting impression of a red and white blur before it vanished into the darkness.
A second later he felt something stinging his arm and rolled up his sleeve to find what looked like a ring of teeth marks embossed in his skin, though he couldn't be sure since the edges were ragged, as if whatever had bitten him had been in a great hurry. He didn't have long to wonder about the wound's mysterious appearance, though, because it started burning almost immediately - a horrible, searing agony like acid flowing through his veins, and it spread outward from the bite, crawling up his arm until he collapsed on the wet, cracked pavement, screaming for help he knew wouldn't come...
That was the point where his memories melted into the disjointed mess that was his current mental state, in which everything else was pushed to the fringes of his awareness by the all-encompassing pain that never went away even after his transformation was complete. Still, Peter was able to pick a few things out of the jumble: a room with stark white walls and stainless steel furnishings, a pair of voices, male and female (though he couldn't make out anything they said), the sensation of a needle being jabbed into the man's arm just before he finished changing (which he barely noticed since it paled in comparison to the burning in his veins, and anyway this man was no stranger to needles), then a brief flash of him being pushed from a helicopter somewhere over the Alaskan forest...
It was around there that Peter realized that the pain the man felt, while it never relented, had changed; it was now concentrated in his head, a merciless throbbing that made him feel like his brain was being torn apart and drove him into a frenzy of mindless aggression. Peter himself had experienced something similar when his powers became too much for him to handle, and he tried to pull back, not wanting to revisit that feeling of being out of control...only to find that he couldn't. He was trapped in the maelstrom of agony that the mind he'd invaded had become, and now it was consuming him, breaking down the barrier between his own thoughts and the tormented vampire's...
Then came a sudden, sharp jolt, as if the body he'd left behind in the real world had been poked with a cattle prod. The shock of it helped him begin to separate his own mind from the one he was immersed in once more, and then he heard another telepathic voice calling him back. Latching onto this new mental presence like a lifeline, he followed the voice back to its source, pulling himself out of the stranger's head.
Next thing he knew, he was back in his own body with Bella, Edward, and Elle bending over him while Carlisle hovered over their shoulders. As soon as she saw that he was back with them, Bella wrapped her mental shield around him, shutting out the clamor of everyone else's thoughts so he could reorient himself. After a moment, he managed a slightly shaky smile for her. "Thanks, Bella." Then he tried to sit up, which was how he became aware that he was now lying on the floor. "What happened?"
"You sat there with him-" She jerked her head toward the bed where the stranger lay "-for almost five minutes, just staring at him, and we tried asking what you were seeing but you didn't seem to hear us. Then your eyes rolled back and you fell off the bed..." Her voice cracked, and he could only imagine how badly that must have frightened her. "That's when we knew something was wrong."
"I'm sorry." Peter pulled her closer, slipping his arm around her as she curled herself against his side and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I didn't know I'd get sucked in like that."
"Now that you know it's a possibility, you might want to be more careful in the future," Edward advised solemnly. "After encountering Maury Parkman and seeing what happened to you just now, I've come to the conclusion that penetrating another person's mind too deeply is a dangerous undertaking."
"You did it, though. You got into my head and pulled me out."
Edward waved off Peter's gratitude with a self-deprecating shrug. "It was more that I focused on amplifying my own thoughts and directing them at you; my family - mostly Alice and Emmett - often do that when they want to get my attention. Even so, Elle had to shock you before I was able to get through."
"Thank you," Peter said with an insistence that made it clear that he was still grateful for whatever they did, even if Edward didn't think it was such an extraordinary feat. "I don't know if I would've been able to come back without you guys' help," he added, turning toward Elle to include her.
Like Edward, she was - for once - uninterested in praise or gratitude. "So did you see anything in there?"
"Just flashes," Peter admitted, rubbing his forehead with his free hand. "His last clear memory was of the night he was bitten, but it happened so fast that he never saw who did it. After that, it looked like he was taken to some kind of lab. There were at least two people there, a man and a woman, and they did something to him... I don't know what, but he's been in constant pain ever since. I tried to keep it out, but after a while it was too much..."
Tanya, Eleazar, and Carlisle exchanged looks of consternation before the doctor came closer and crouched down in front of where Peter and Bella were sitting. "Our visitor came from a lab?" he repeated.
Peter nodded, closing his eyes as he tried to recall more details. "He was given an injection before he'd finished changing... Then the burning eventually stopped, but he's got a killer headache; I think whatever was in that needle must've affected his brain. The pain's driving him crazy, that's probably why he bit Carmen... And there's one more thing." He opened his eyes and looked past Carlisle at the two Alaskan vampires. "Whoever did this to him dumped him in a place that looked a lot like this. I don't think it's an accident that he found his way here."
"You think he was sent here to attack us?" Tanya asked, startled. "Who would do that? Why?"
"Have you pissed off any mad scientists lately?" Elle asked in return.
"A mad scientist with a vampire partner," Bella chimed in. "It would be too big of a coincidence for him to have been bitten at random just before somebody who wanted to experiment on vampires came along and scooped him up."
"I need to check on Carmen." Eleazar turned toward the door, but Tanya stopped him with a hand on his arm.
"She's with Kate; if there were any...unusual effects from this man's bite, Kate would let us know. For now, the best thing we can do is try to learn more about him."
Bella's head popped up when she heard that, and she sat up straight, glaring at the other woman. "You're not having Peter read his mind again!"
"Of course not," Carlisle assured her before Tanya could speak. "That's obviously too dangerous. I suppose we'll just have to hope he regains enough lucidity to talk to us."
"You could try feeding him," Peter suggested. "I don't think he's had anything since he was turned."
Everyone agreed this was a good idea - if nothing else, at least it gave them something to do. Tanya and Eleazar left to assemble a hunting party, while Carlisle and Edward stayed behind to monitor the possibly diseased vampire; despite her lack of scientific expertise, Elle decided to stay with them. Peter thought he should stay too, but Bella wouldn't hear of it.
"You've done enough. It looks like we're going to be here a while, so you need to eat and get some rest - away from him."
"She's right," Edward agreed. "There isn't much to be done at this point, and Carlisle, Elle, and I are perfectly capable of watching him. We'll call you if there's any change."
Faced with such undeniable logic, Peter finally gave in and let Bella usher him out of the room.
###
He wasn't sure how much time passed before she woke him up, though he had a feeling it couldn't have been more than a few hours. "What's the matter? Did he start talking?"
Bella shook her head. "I don't know exactly what's going on with him," she said between anxious nibbles on her lower lip, "but something's changed. They want you to come take a look. I told them it could wait a couple more hours, but-"
"It's fine; I feel a lot better." Peter untangled himself from the mess of blankets Esme had dug out for him - the guest room he'd decided to take a nap in, which was closest to the one where they were keeping the stranger, had originally been prepared for her and Carlisle, so Tanya and her sisters hadn't bothered to put anything more than light sheets on the bed. Seeing Bella's dubious expression, he smiled reassuringly at her and said, "Really - the room might've been chilly, but at least I didn't have to sleep in my suit. Good thing Alice made us pack all that stuff in case this turned into a longer visit."
"That's true, her clothes-horse tendencies did come in handy for once," Bella agreed with a reluctant grin; although she hadn't needed more comfortable clothes to sleep in, she had still been happy to trade her evening gown for jeans and a long-sleeved t-shirt. "But don't tell her I said that."
"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."
Their brief moment of levity came to an end when they stepped into the room down the hall to find Carlisle, Esme, Edward, Elle, Jasper, and Alice all standing around the bed, gazing down at its occupant with expressions that held varying degrees of perplexity and worry.
"What's he doing now?" Peter asked as he edged into the circle. As far as he could tell, the vampire wasn't doing anything to warrant such concern; he was just lying there, staring up at the ceiling as he had ever since they put him there. The only noticeable change was that he wasn't twitching or moaning anymore - he'd gone still and silent as a statue, but Peter had spent enough time among vampires by now to know that they could do that.
"He's not doing anything now," Elle reported, "but about ten minutes ago he had some kind of seizure, then he went limp and hasn't moved or made a sound since. They think he's dead."
"Dead?" Peter repeated incredulously. "Is that even possible? I thought fire was the only way to kill someone like you."
"So did we," Carlisle told him, running a hand through his hair (Peter noticed that it was rather ruffled, suggesting that the doctor had been doing that a lot in the last few hours). "However, if your theory about this man having been altered in some way is correct, I believe it's safe to say we are now in uncharted territory."
Peter acknowledged the validity of this point with a nod before asking, "So how can you tell if he's really dead or not? I mean, it's not like we can check his vital signs."
"We've been testing our abilities on him," Edward answered. "It was just after he stopped convulsing that I realized I no longer heard his thoughts-"
"I'm not sensing anything from him either," Jasper added. "Before, I felt pain, confusion, and fear, but now...nothing."
"I've tried looking into his future, but I can't see anything," Alice finished. "Of course, if his mind was too muddled for him to make choices that would shape his future, even something as simple as deciding to sit up, that would create a blind spot, but we also let Elle zap him a couple times - you'd think that would get a reaction out of him, but again, nothing."
"Still, in the interest of being absolutely certain...we wanted to ask if you might be willing to try once more to reach him," Esme said with a trace of hesitation. "We understand that we're asking a lot after what happened last time, but you're the only one who's been able to glean any useful information-"
"No," Bella said before he had a chance to respond. "Absolutely not."
"Bella..." Peter began, placing a calming hand on her arm.
"No!" She spun around to face him, treating him to the same glare she'd given Esme. "You almost got lost inside his mind once - how can you even think about taking that kind of risk again?"
"I won't go in that deep this time; I'll just see if he still has any brain activity and get right back out. Besides, I have you here to cut me off from him if things get out of hand. I can always count on you to help me out whenever I need you."
"I see what you're doing," Bella grumbled as she shook his hand off and crossed her arms over her chest. "There's nothing I can say to talk you out of this, is there?"
"I'm sorry...but we need to know what's going on here. If whoever did this to him has come up with a new way to kill vampires..."
"Well," she sighed, dropping her arms to her sides, "if I can't convince you not to take crazy risks, the least I can do is make sure you don't hurt yourself."
Peter gripped her hand tightly as he tentatively reached out with his mind, hoping her touch would help anchor him to the real world...only to find that such precautions were unnecessary. This time, his telepathic probe found nothing but emptiness. Frowning in concentration, he pushed harder, determined to uncover any tiny spark of the vampire's consciousness that remained, but there was only silence.
Turning to Bella, he said, "Well, you don't have to worry about me getting sucked into his mind again - there's nothing there. He's gone."
Her relief was palpable, but she said nothing; instead, it was Alice who spoke up, leaning over the bed to get his attention. "You mean gone, gone? He's really dead?"
"If by 'dead' you mean that his brain isn't working anymore, then yes."
This pronouncement was met with a shocked silence; only Elle uttered a single word, which pretty much summed up what they were all thinking: "Damn."
"So," Edward ventured after a moment, looking uncertainly at Carlisle, "I suppose an autopsy is in order?"
"Oh...yes," the doctor said distractedly, shaking off his torpor with some effort. "Yes, we should definitely attempt to discover the exact cause of death, if possible."
Most of them stepped back to clear the way for those with medical training, but before he followed suit Jasper said, "Here's something interesting - his eyes are completely black. At first I thought it just meant he was starving, but now even the whites have turned dark."
Of course everyone had to look, and saw that he was right - the sight sent chills down Peter's spine, but he said nothing, not wanting to bring up his nightmares until he knew more - but it was what they found when they removed the stranger's clothing that made them all gasp. His body was covered in a web of black streaks that resembled the swirls in a block of marble, though with a much more distinct pattern.
"Are those his veins?" Alice asked, wrinkling her nose.
"Whatever they are, they're gross," Elle declared.
"Hush, both of you," Esme quietly chastised them. "Let them work."
"We'll have to open him up to be sure," Carlisle announced. "First I'll need something that can cut through his skin..."
He reached toward the man's mouth, intending to take a tooth, but Peter stopped him. "Wait - let me try something first. This is how Sylar took people's brains, although I don't know if he ever tried it on a vampire..." He traced his finger over the dead vampire's chest, focusing every ounce of his concentration on tearing through the hard flesh...which sliced open as neatly as if he'd cut it with an invisible scalpel.
"There are definitely signs of corruption here," Carlisle concluded after inspecting the dead vampire's organs, which held traces of the same black taint, "but I don't believe this was the cause of death since none of these organs were essential to his survival."
"Seems like the only organ you guys really use is your brains," Peter commented.
"Quite right," the doctor agreed, "which is why we should look at it next, if you would be so kind...?"
So Peter, trying very hard not to compare himself to Sylar, opened the cranium, allowing him to remove the stranger's brain.
"Hmm...yes, I think we've found our answer; the deterioration is much more pronounced here."
"And largely concentrated in the frontal lobes," Edward observed, "which explains his cognitive decline and reversion to instinctive behavior, such as lashing out when Carmen approached him. Unfortunately, our basic instincts tend toward aggression - and of course, I'm sure the fact that he was in constant pain didn't help."
"No, I would imagine not," Carlisle agreed. "What's truly disturbing is the way whatever toxin was introduced into his body actually degraded the brain tissue - feel the pulpy texture here?" He showed his findings to everyone, though only Edward and Peter took him up on his invitation to actually feel the softened areas (most of the vampire's organs, like his skin, had been hard as rock).
"So you think this is what killed him?" Esme asked after politely pushing the brain away.
"Yes, I think so, although I'll need to study it further, with proper equipment, to be sure. Meanwhile, the rest of this poor soul's body has told us all it can. We should dispose of his remains with dignity."
Esme nodded and took Alice, Bella, and Elle outside to collect firewood while the men gathered the stranger's various parts and the few personal effects he'd had with him. They emerged with a large bundle tied up in a sheet and placed it on the pile of wood, which Elle set on fire with a few sparks from her fingertips; then she retreated to a safe distance along with the others, and they all stood watching as the flames consumed the body.
"It's so sad," Alice murmured. "Everything that man went through, and we don't even know his name."
Jasper put an arm around her, while Esme moved closer to her other side and patted her shoulder. "At least he's not suffering anymore," she said soothingly.
The solemn moment was interrupted by the return of the rest of the Cullen and Denali covens - Tanya, Kate, Emmett, and Rosalie came out of the woods with a carcass meant to feed the now-dead vampire, while Carmen and Eleazar stepped out onto their front porch. Even Irina and Laurent, who had gone off to spend some private time together in their new house after the abrupt end of their wedding reception, came out to see what was going on.
"I'm afraid you're too late," Jasper told the returning hunters. "He died a short time ago."
"Died?" Emmett repeated, stunned. "How?"
"Basically, whatever happened to him in that lab turned his brain into sponge cake," Elle told him.
"Thank you, dear - once again, you display a remarkable talent for phrasing things in the most simplistic and insensitive way possible," Edward said with a slight roll of his eyes.
"You're welcome."
"Still, she's correct; our unknown visitor suffered such an extensive degree of neural degradation that his consciousness was extinguished, rendering him dead for all intents and purposes."
A hush, broken only by a dull thud as Emmett let the carcass slide off his shoulders, descended over the group as everyone struggled to process the unbelievable news. At last, Carmen and Eleazar came closer, their expressions troubled.
"And you think this happened as a result of the experiments performed on him?" she asked. "Someone gave him a poison that caused his brain to decay?"
"That's our theory," Carlisle replied. "We collected samples of his venom, but I'll need to run tests to find out if it was contaminated."
"That won't be necessary." She rolled up the sleeve of her jacket to show where the stranger had bitten her; the skin around the wound had turned black, with dark tendrils beginning to branch out from it and spread up her arm.
I know viruses don't usually turn victims' veins black, so I think this is a good time to remind everyone that the science fiction elements in my work tend to lean more toward fiction than science. I do try to get basic facts right, but ultimately it's about entertainment more than accuracy. I also wasn't able to find much info about what the Shanti virus actually does to people, except that it attacks the brain (which explains why it robs evolved humans of their powers) so I made some stuff up.
In other news, I'm pleased to say we're now more than halfway through this story; I don't know yet exactly how many chapters are left, but 15 feels like a reasonable estimate.