Chapter Thirty Seven –CSI: Forks, Washington

Emily jumped up from her seat to answer the door. She'd been expecting Quil and the boys and was shocked to see Leah Clearwater on the doorstep. Standing behind the open door she gestured for Leah to come inside. Her cousin took a reluctant step over the threshold while Emily closed the door behind her.

"Hi Leah", Emily said as she folded her hands together in front of her. She wasn't sure what to do or say. This was one of those moments that you've thought about a hundred times, always planning the perfect response. Until the moment arrives that is. Then you find yourself lost in the awkwardness with no recourse.

"Sam needs his truck." Leah's hands ran through her long thick hair. She was thoroughly soaked. The rain dripped from her clothes and puddled on the floor of the living room.

"Ok." Emily nodded. "The keys are over here." She headed into the kitchen and opened a drawer. Taking Sam's keychain in her hand she turned toward Leah only find her cousin standing just a few feet away with her face buried in her hands.

"Leah?" Emily said gently. "Are you alright?"

Leah lifted her head and wiped her tears away with angry fist. "No Emily. I'm not alright."

Emily reached out to embrace her but Leah held her arm out, keeping the distance between them. "Don't" Leah said angrily.

"But.." Emily began to reply.

"Just give me the keys." Leah snatched them from her hand. "I'll let myself out."

Emily's body jerked as the door slammed hard. She was close to tears herself. The situation with Leah had just gotten worse with time. But there was nothing Emily could do about it.

****

"See anything yet?" Quil yelled to Brady and Collin.

"Not yet", Brady replied.

The three of them were jogging through the treeline that surrounded Sam Uley's house. The crash sounded very close, but so far they hadn't been able to find the cause.

"Maybe we should just go back to the house and wait for Sam", Collin suggested.

"Fifteen more minutes and…" Quil went silent.

"Holy.." Brady gasped.

"How in the.." Collin's jaw dropped.

A tree had fallen over. Not just any tree, one of the old redwoods that stood over two hundred feet tall. The roots were still in the ground along with a third of its trunk. The top two thirds of its length had come down taking several large evergreens with it. All the debris took up an area close to the size of a football field.

"I can't believe we're seeing this." Quil moved forward slowly climbing over the thick pine branches toward the redwood. Brady and Collin followed behind him.

"It's like a big crop circle." Brady mumbled.

"I don't see any burn marks." Collin replied.

"Knock it off Men In Black," Quil told the pair. "This isn't the work of extra terrestrials."

"Don't be so sure", Collin answered.

Quil rolled his eyes continuing to make his way toward the redwood.

"What's that smell?" Brady asked wrinkling his nose.

"It smells like something is rotting", Collin replied.

"Ugh" Quil caught the scent too. "That is putrid"

They climbed up on the fallen portion of the tree and walked across it single file. Their bare feet gripped the rough wet bark. As they neared the point where the tree had severed from its base the smell became stronger. Brady and Collin pinched their nostrils closed and exchanged a glance.

"I think something DIED", Collin said loudly. He nearly bumped into Quil who had stopped short.

"Hey", Collin poked his back "Keep the line moving"

Quil spun around and grabbed Brady's arm. "We're going back to the house NOW", he ordered with an authority that was very out of character.

"Why?" Collin asked as Quil led him back the way they came.

"We have to get Sam."

****

"Where's Seth?" Jared asked Leah as came running through the forest.

"He's getting our mom." Leah replied.

"Your mom! What's she got to do with this?" Jared tried to keep up with Leah's fast pace.

"We need somebody to examine the body."

Jared and Leah joined Paul, Embry and Sam at the gravesite. The rain hadn't stopped, but it had slowed down considerably.

"How are we going to do this?" Paul asked Sam.

"We'll wrap him up and put him in the bed of the truck, I'll drive him back to the reservation and then we'll go to the Elders." Sam told them. "Unless anyone has a better suggestion"

"I don't think we should move him" Embry shook his head. "I mean this is definitely a vampire bite." He pointed to the mark on the man's neck. "We should call the police and let them handle it."

"And what if the vampire is still hanging around and kills one of them." Paul snapped. "Let Sam take the body back, have the Elders put the Res on lockdown and we patrol until we are certain there are no vampires around."

"What about Jacob?" Leah screamed at him. "We can't stop looking now!"

"Jacob would want us to keep everyone safe" Sam growled at her.

Leah slapped him across the face. "How do YOU know what Jacob would want? I don't think ANY of you should be speaking on his behalf, especially YOU" ,she growled back.

Sam held his arms up in surrender "You think you think you can do a better job as Alpha – go ahead." He backed away. "I'm going back home to patrol. Everybody listen to Leah, she's in charge."

"SAM!" Jared called after him, but Sam had phased and was sprinting back toward the reservation.

"I'm not listening to you." Paul snapped at Leah. "Maybe you don't give a shit about the tribe, but I do."

"I didn't say I didn't care" Leah growled. "Seth, Quil, Brady and Collin are all there. They'll let us know if they find anything."

"Help me with this body, man", Paul said to Jared. The two of them lifted up the body and began carrying it toward the truck.

Leah turned to Embry who was standing there quietly. "What about you?" she snorted. "Are you going to let Jacob down too?"

"Leah", Embry began. "Jacob has been one of my friends since the sandbox. I love him like a brother. I want to look for him, I really do. But we HAVE to protect the reservation. If that vampire kills someone – I'm sorry." He phased and ran down the trail to catch up with Sam.

Leah crumpled to the ground. "What the fuck is happening?" She grabbed chunks of her hair in desperation. Her mind filled with conflicting thoughts, if anything happened to her mom…

"I'm sorry Jacob. I tried." She pushed herself to her feet and ran toward Sam's truck.

***

SAM! SAM! SAM! Quil was phased and screaming in his mind for the Alpha. He paced outside the back door of the Uley residence while Emily, Brady and Collin waited inside.

SAM! He cried out again.

What's wrong? Sam suddenly linked to him.

You have to come home NOW!

What happened? Sam sensed the overwhelming panic in his brother wolf.

There's.. There's .. There's. He couldn't get the words out.

Is Emily alright?' Sam's voice was fearful.

She's fine. But a tree fell and… Just come now – PLEASE

Show Me. Sam demanded. Suddenly his mind was filled with Quil's thoughts. He was looking down onto the ground at a pile of body parts: arms, legs and a head.

I'm coming

Me too. Embry's voice broke into the link. Right behind you Sam.

***

Leah opened the driver's side door of the truck. "Move over", she told Jared. "I'm driving."

He slid across the bench seat onto the passenger side without saying a word.

"Paul, are you all set back there?" Leah shouted through the rear sliding window of the truck.

"I guess." He replied looking down at the body wrapped up like a cocoon.

Leah threw the truck into gear and made a U-turn in the middle of the highway. She pressed the gas pedal to the floor and the truck groaned in response. Jared reached up and grabbed the seat belt, buckling himself in – just in case. Leah had already been in one accident tonight.

The road was deserted and they made it back to reservation in recording breaking time. Leah drove straight her house and parked in the back. She saw Seth coming and rolled down the window. "They want you to take it down to the caves."

Leah nodded. "You coming?"

Seth shook his head. "I'm going to start patrolling with Brady."

***

Quil and Embry stood next to each other on the far side of the fallen tree in an attempt to stay out of Sam's way. They were angry, but Sam was absolutely mad with fury. When they'd broken open the hollowed trunk , they found it stuffed with dismembered bodies. There were three heads, and one could only assume that meant three bodies as well. The parts were jumbled like puzzle pieces in a pile and no one wanted the task of putting them together.

Even more disturbing was that they were barely half a mile from Sam's house.

Sam's mind was seething. This is MY territory. MINE. Why didn't I catch them? Why didn't I smell them? How DARE they come onto the reservation! He looked at the trunk again. The carving in its bark had been done crudely – but the single word was very readable.

CARLISLE

Small spoiler: Once the pack gets past the initial shock they will realize that the Carlisle was not responsible, however there's always a twist and timing is everything.