XXXX

Finding my brothers and father wasn't tough, I mean tracking ability aside, I could hear them almost a mile away anyone with the noise they were making.

Carlisle had fooled Emmett when he acted concerned about the roughhousing/nature, but I mean he was kidding and doing a damn good job of it. When I got closer I scaled a tree and sat contently in the braches watching my family.

Emmett and Jasper had resumed their wrestling match and Carlisle was watching shaking his head and laughing at my brothers. When Emmett tried to tackle Jasper and missed, he slammed into Carlisle knocking our father into the dirt.

"I am so sorry," Emmett said putting his hand out to pull Carlisle to his feet, instead of

reprimanding Emmett, Carlisle simply brushed the dirt off of his trousers and smiled knowingly

"No harm done, Emmett, it's fine." He replied as Emmett turned back to Jasper. When Em wasn't looking, Carlisle glanced up at the tree I was sitting in and winked, grinning. I returned the grin and waved. Carlisle nodded at Emmett, giving me full permission for what I had intended to do anyway, but it's nice to have permission to do it.

I readied myself and took aim, jumping from my perch in the tree.

"Alba gu brath!" I shouted, landing smoothly on Emmett's shoulders, taking him not only by surprise, but down as well. Jasper and Carlisle burst out laughing, Carlisle had to lean on a tree for support and Jasper simply went to the ground they were both laughing so hard. Emmett was completely stunned, he jokingly clutched at his chest, but I knew I had gotten my brother, and I had gotten him good.

"Where the hell did you come from!?" he exclaimed clamoring to his feet. I stayed on the ground, I couldn't get up I was laughing to hard, instead I held my sides and rolled around, my laughter echoing in the clearing, I was laughing so hard, I nearly forgot about the cave, it felt really good to be laughing like this, especially after dealing with Edward's annoying over protectiveness and what could be potentially lurking in that cave.

"I…your…oh bloody hell," I managed to gasp out between hoots of laughter "you had no idea, you really had no idea, I can't believe I got you."

Emmett reached down and lifted me up, his hands under my arms, holding me off the ground a few feet so we were eye level. I was still choking out laughs and I could tell my brother was trying to hold his back as well.

"I will get you back Dr. Doolittle, mark my words." He growled in good humor "I will get you back. When you least expect it, expect it." I couldn't answer him, even though the last thing he said made no sense. I was still dying with laughter, it would be a good few minutes before I could speak properly. Emmett gave me a shake for good measure before dropping me to the ground. "What did you say anyways?" he asked, I knew his curiosity would get the better of my brother

"Scotland Forever," I replied with a grin

"That's your amazing battle cry?" Emmett shot back "you're a book worm that speaks how many languages? I pegged you for something better, more obscure, something in Latin or ancient Greek, but you go with Scottish, weren't you raised speaking Scottish? Isnt it like second nature to you? I mean seriously, if I could speak as many weird languages as you can I'd pick the most out there one to use as a battle cry."

Now I rolled my eyes

"Do you really want to play this game Em?" I asked. It wouldn't be the first time I've carried on a conversation in another language. One time Emmett annoyed me so much about my British accent that I went entire month speaking to him in only Gaelic, reminding him that there were worse alternatives to my speaking with an accent, at least then for the most part he could understand me.

Em started to reply, but then he changed his mind and shook his head, apparently deciding not to even bother. Besides, Jasper stepped in.

"So, Chris what did you say to Edward? He muttered something about hoping that you got eaten by a mountain goat before taking off." Jasper asked and I snorted back another laugh, because of that, it came out more like a hiccup, which set everyone off again laughing.

"I questioned his tracking skills,"

"Or lack thereof," Emmett said gently elbowing Carlisle

"Alice called, Bella went down to the reservation for a puppy play-date, she was more annoyed then concerned, but we all know Edward, he went back to Forks."

"He better not do something-" Jasper started to say

"Edward-ish?" I interrupted

"Yes."

"Anyways I mean I know the wolves are pretty dangerous, but in all fairness so are we. I mean I really don't think Jacob would ever hurt Bella, even unintentionally. I may not like the guy on a personal level, but I've profiled him, he cares about Bella, just as much as Edward does, and I think Bella is actually pretty safe with him and the rest of the pack." I paused and pushed my bangs back "if Bella can't be with us all the time, then the next best group I'd rather see her with is the wolves. They can protect her almost as well as we can."

"That's a different tune coming from you Christian," Carlisle said gently "so you do trust the wolves?"

"I trust them and their intentions. They're bound by their instincts and very being to protect those who are in what they consider their territory." I laughed a little "in a way they're like us, only more controlled by that instinct. We protect because we know it's right, they protect because it's instinct. It's fascinating actually."

"So Edward's going back to Forks to be overprotective, what are we doing?" Emmett asked, he got this gleam in his eyes and I figured he was about to tackle me. Just as he made the move I sidestepped and he hit the ground. "Damn it."

"Emmett," Carlisle warned before chuckling a bit

"Actually, I was wondering if you'd guys check out the cave with me." I reached down and helped Emmett to his feet

"What cave?" Jasper asked

"Edward and I…we found where the hikers were dragged from. It wasn't a mountain lion that killed them." I took a deep breath "I think it was…a vampire."

I hated to kill the fun mood, but we had to look into this, my information instantly killed the mood, as all three sobered up.

"Are you sure Chris?" Carlisle asked

"Positive, I started to go into the cave, after Edward bailed on me. I found something that is not a good sign."

"What did you find kid?" Emmett asked

"Wallets, tons of wallets, leading into the cave, the first one I found, I think it belonged to the first hiker, but there was definitely a mix of guys and women wallets in that cave. They were in a line, like enticing the finder into the cave." I paused "I could smell something rotting deep in the cave."

Carlisle, Emmett, and Jasper exchanged a look

"Chris," Carlisle started "show us this cave."

XXX

Carlisle held me back as Jasper and Emmett moved towards the cave. The smell had gotten worse if that was possible and I'm not sure how it did, but it only made my curiosity grow. I'm also not sure why Carlisle was holding me back, I mean I could've gone into this cave by myself, I decided not too though. I think my father was even more worried about what we were about to find in that cave, then the rest of us. He was pulling an Esme, holding onto at least one of us to reassure it would all be fine.

"Looks clear, you smell that though?" Jasper asked the three of us and we all nodded, "I'm going in to check it out. You guys coming?"

I looked up at Carlisle who nodded

"Lets go," he said.

We found the wallet trail easily; I exchanged a look with Jasper who was clearly unnerved by this. I didn't like that, Jasper isn't afraid of much, there isn't a lot that makes my former soldier brother nervous, but a potential serial killer, especially a vampire one that would definitely make anyone nervous.

The smell was getting worse the deeper into the cave we went, it wasn't just one or two things rotting, there was a lot more than that, four maybe five rotting something's in here and I wasn't really sure I wanted to know what the source was.

"How deep did you go?" Emmett asked

"Not this deep, I stopped when I found the first wallet, I knew something wasn't right and I wanted backup to explore further."

"Good call Chris," Carlisle pointed out, putting a hand on my shoulder "whatever we find in here, I'd rather us be together to find it."

"What are we going to do?" I asked him "I mean what if we find a pile of bodies in here, how do we handle that?" my profile was getting ahead of reality,

"We won't know until we check this out." Carlisle reminded me. Emmett held me back as Carlisle went ahead of Jasper towards the smell. If there was a pile of rotting bodies down here, they might be masking a fresh victim; Carlisle would be the best person to go check that out first.

Carlisle disappeared around the corner of the path and came back a second later. He looked relieved which made me feel a whole hell of a lot better.

"Well?" Jasper asked anxiously and I nodded quickly wishing my father would just tell us.

"The smell is decay, but it's not human, there is about five assorted animals in that cavern in various stages of decay."

I gently pushed past my father and darted into the room to see for myself. He was right, I saw the mutilated body parts of squirrels, rabbits, deer, raccoons, and even half of a bear, thrown in a pile to rot. I could smell the blood on the floor of the cave, it had soaked into the ground from the animals. Whatever had killed the animals had not drank from them, only mutilated them for some bizarre reason. The smell though was enough to make even a vampire gag, some of these critters had been rotting for weeks.

"But what about the wallets?" I asked quickly gesturing to the piles of them on the trail "there's got to be over a hundred here."

Emmett reached down and picked four of them up. He looked at each one carefully before tossing one to each of us

"They're all empty."

"What?!" I exclaimed "no way"

"See for yourself kid,"

I opened it up and shook my head, Emmett was right, no money no ID, nothing. I dropped the wallet and bolted back to the entrance of the cave where I had found Robert Yeltz's wallet, it was still there, right where I had dropped it. I matched it and the scent I had found in the forest clearing earlier, and then sniffed around until I found another wallet that matched the other scent. Both of these wallets still had the victims IDs and assorted valuables. I brought these to my brothers and father.

"These ones arent empty." I stated handing them over

"Are these the two hikers?" Emmett asked and I nodded

"But why the other wallets, I don't understand." Jasper muttered rubbing his chin

"Neither do I," Carlisle replied "something about this does not feel right. The hikers having been drained, yet very little blood spilt the trail Chris followed here to this cave."

"Not to mention PETA's worse nightmare in there." I added "and all these empty wallets, I don't get it." I paused "something is definitely wrong here, but I cant figure it out. I mean why would one of us go through all this trouble just for a meal. I mean it makes no sense." I rubbed my temple my profile was going nuts because I couldn't focus on one scenario, nothing made sense to me so my profile wasn't making sense.

"Well, what I do suggest is that we head back to our site and pack up. I think an anonymous call to the Ranger's office about this cave might be our best option. Let them try to figure out the source, best case scenario the park is closed temporarily so no one else is killed." Jasper said, we headed out of the cave; we tossed the wallets back into the cave where we had found them. It felt really good to be out in the fresh air

"I still have a funny feeling about this," I said as we started back to the site, we were running at this point, but not very fast, none of us seemed in the mood to race, not even Emmett.

"I know you do Chris, but there's not much we can do." Carlisle said, trying to reassure me "we cannot unfortunately protect every human from danger, even if that danger is our kind."

I nodded

"I know," I mumbled Carlisle put an arm around my shoulder and hugged me a little

"you know?" he asked "hm?" he pushed trying to get a smile out of me, it took a few seconds but I gave in and grinned at my father "that's better."

XX

Once we had the site broken down, we made our way back to the cars. The rangers didn't seem surprised that we were leaving early, in fact I think they were kind of glad.

I opted to go with Jasper in the Jeep; we had some things we needed to discuss, thankfully Carlisle didn't feel hurt. I think he wanted to talk to Emmett about something anyways. We followed the Mercedes out of the park and onto the main road. The first few minutes were silent, before I finally couldn't take the silence anymore

"Jasper do you think the wallets in the cave are connected with Seattle, or am I just being paranoid?"

Jasper took a deep breath as he shifted gears

"I don't think you're being paranoid Chris, you are the last person in this family who had a paranoia problem."

"Thanks," I replied, "I think"

"But I'm not sure about the connection, seems kind of coincidental doesn't it? I mean think about it, why would someone bring thirty or so wallets to an obscure cave in the middle of Oregon's Crater Lake National Park?"

"I don't understand it anymore then you do, but I know something isnt right. It's no coincidence that two hikers were killed a week ago and left in that spot. It's almost like whoever did it was taunting. Leaving just enough of a trail for someone with vampire senses to follow to that cave."

"But what makes you think it's connected to Seattle, it's kind of a stretch kid." Jasper pointed out and on a normal level I'd have to agree with him, but I had noticed something in that cave that no one else seemed to notice.

"Not entirely, especially when you realize the number of wallets we found in there, minus the two with identification, it nearly matches the number of missings from Seattle."

Now Jasper looked over at me quickly, he hadn't realized that, I don't think anyone had.

"Chris are you sure?"

"100% I counted them, you subtract the other two, and there was the exact number of wallets for each one of the people missing in Seattle." I paused "the missing ones, not the ones who were found dead. CNN reported the numbers yesterday, heard it when we were heading home from the game."

"And the shadow in the alleyway, how much of a profile did you get? I know it was a quick moment."

"Not long enough unfortunately, it was way to quick. It was definitely a vampire though, that scent was unmistaken and the way he moved, no human could move that fast. But it definitely felt like he was following us. I can't be sure though if it was Carlisle and I he was following or if it was just the group of us in general." I ran my fingers through my bangs thinking that over "Jasper, the last person who went missing, how old were they?"

"Sixteen, give or take. The authorities were brushing him off as at least eighteen so he was considered an adult, but an anonymous source called in a tip saying that he was actually fifteen, but because he was homeless, the news is making it sound like the police were overlooking him."

"Unfortunately, they're probably not far off. I mean he's a kid yeah, but a kid who's living on the streets avoiding the system in a huge city. He wouldn't really be seen as high priority. It's sad, but it's true."

The silence crept into the Jeep again as I stared out the window. Jasper waited a minute or two before clearing his throat, catching my attention.

"Chris, what are you thinking?"

I didn't answer my brother for a second or two, trying to come up with a good response, my profile was in overdrive from this weekend and for the first real time in my vampire life, I was having trouble sorting through it.

"Seattle has me concerned. All the clues that are adding up are telling me that there is a vampire in Seattle being an idiot. That explains the random murders. It doesn't however explain the ones who have gone missing. Are they dead and the police just haven't found their bodies? Or is there just no connection between the murders and the disappearances. It seems to be way to much of a coincidence, but I can't think of another reason, at least not a logical one." I took a deep breath "what do you think?"

"I think you're right Chris, we do need to be concerned, I'm just not sure of what yet. I hate to say it, but we need to wait and see. If this is a vampire being sloppy then we could be looking at more problems than just an obnoxious neighbor."

"You mean an unwanted visitor." I guessed "but they'd wait for proof that it's a vampire before stepping in, so they'd wait it out too. I mean for all we know this could be just the work of a regular human serial killer."

"And if it is there isnt much we can do about it, but if it is a vampire, we might have to step in and take care of it."

"Carlisle won't like that," I reminded Jasper

"I know he won't, but that's why we need to wait and see."

"Whatever is going on, we won't be waiting much longer I can feel that for certain." I said with a sigh "sooner or later, we're going to have to be involved somehow." I pulled out my phone

"Who are you calling?"

"Emmett, we need to pull into the most deserted rest stop Carlisle can find. We have to at least call the authorities about the cave."

Jasper nodded, turning his attention back to the road.

XXX

a/n: sorry this chapter is so short, but you'll see the method to my madness. Also the next chapter catches back with the book, it should be up by next weekend. Till then! Thank you to all my readers