Author's Note: Hey guys, thanks for sticking with this story even though I took a long time to update it. My sincerest apologies! I got super busy over the past months with my blog and work that I didn't set time for this story.

I took up the NaNoWriMo challenge for an entire month in order to stay commit and finish this story. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to end the story yet. However, I did write a lot of new stuff which will come to you, my dear readers, each week if I have a chance.

Enjoy this chapter!

Thank you so much!

CHAPTER 4

All the sudden, the good-looking mysterious man suddenly popped out from the bushes, trying to run away. He didn't see where he was going when he collided with Tess hard, causing both of them to fall down on the pavement with a small thump. None of the officers nearby took noticed of the incident as both parties didn't cause any ruckus that could peeled anyone from the current investigation going on.

Tess massaged her forehead as she stood up slowly. She squinted her eyes a bit as she tried to look at the guy who ran into her. "Are you ok?" Tess asked, "Do you need to go to a hospital or something?" She offered her hand to the dark-haired, good-looking man who was coming to his senses as well.

"Naaah, I am ok," the man reassured while standing up, refusing any help from Tess. He turned his eyes towards her to see if she was doing ok too. That was when he heard a gasp escape from the tall, brown-haired woman.

"Vincent...?"

"Who...?"

"Aren't you Vincent Keller?" Tess questioned the handsome man who was standing in front of her with a puzzled look. She was one-hundred percent positive that it was him. It was Cat's Vincent! Sure, there was a slight difference to the man's appearance compared to the last time she saw the former Army soldier. For example, it looked like that all his suave brown locks were shaved off. It also seemed that he lost a considerable amount of weight as his face and frame looked a bit thinner.

Tess continued to glance over the mysterious yet good-looking man as she wanted to confirm her suspicions. She noticed that he was paler than usual when the tall detective focused her attention on his face.

He doesn't look too good, Tess thought, I wonder what happened.

She continued to think as she gazed into his chocolate-colored eyes. Those eyes! These were the eyes she couldn't forgot since the first time she saw them in the sewers. She recalled that time when she accidentally shot him in the abdomen region when she thought he was dangerous. She remembered that seconds before pulling the trigger, she briefly glimpsed into his eyes to reveal that they were full of innocence and pleading for her to put the gun down. However, that expression in his eyes didn't last long as the guiltless eyes changed into ones full of anger as he was transforming into his beast persona. That was when she pulled the trigger, out of fear, and shot him several times, If she only knew then...

Snapping out from a recollection of past memories, the detective knew what do to. "You ARE Vincent Keller! There is no doubt about it!" Tess exclaimed as she reached for the cellphone that was hidden within her pocket, "Wait until I tell J.T. about this." She gazed happily down at her phone, starting to looked up J.T.'s contact information before a hand gently grabbed hers to prevent her from moving her fingers.

"Look, miss. I don't who you are. But, I am not this Vincent Keller guy you are looking for," the mysterious man explained in a husky voice, "As a matter of fact, I don't know who I am or what I am doing here. It seems like I never really had a name or identity. You can search my pockets, I have nothing on me to tell you I am your Vincent Keller! I been wandering around this city as far as I can remember. I also know that I have been in and out conscious these couple days... But that information isn't relevant to your search. I can tell you again that I am most definitely not the guy who you claim that I suppose to be."

Tess stared the man down as she continued to question him, "Are you one hundred percent positive that you don't know who you are?" The middle-aged man shook his head in agreement.

"Or do you know how you landed here at Riverside Park?" the detective asked another question.

"I don't remember that part either. I just know that I slept over there," the man exhaled as he pointed to a section of the park where he took a rest at, "I must of passed out or got knock out in the last twenty-four hours. After I woke up from being disturbed by those police officers over there, I noticed that I had some blood on my hands. I went to a nearby sink to wash it because I figured that it must of been my blood," he responded as he looked down his hands. He heard from the police officers passing by that there was a jogger who was murdered by a some sort of creature. It couldn't have been him, right? He was quite certain that he didn't possess any knowledge or ability to transform into any sort of creature. He just had the ability to not recall things easily at the moment.

While this man was going over the possibility of having the capacity to become a monster or not silently, the detective's mind began to panic at the moment when he mentioned the word 'blood' and the odd location on his body where he found it. Did he just say he had blood on his hands? Holy shit, he might of just confirm the fact that he killed that female jogger in the very same park. And maybe, without even realizing it too. Could it be that he just "beast out" without knowing about it?

Tess contemplated grimly on the man's statements. What made the situation even stranger is the fact that he even doesn't remember who is he. It also seems like the guy had no recollection in how he ended up in Riverside Park today. Muirfield must of had something done in order to have his memory erased. What did that agency do in order to have him forget things easily?

Well, I can't waste time on what type of experiments did Muirfield conduct on him, Tess stubbornly thought as the tall detective came to a conclusion in hopes to solve the mystery of the man standing in front of her, I MUST take him to J.T. right away.

"Here is the thing; you don't know who you are while wandering around a crime scene. Do you see those guys over there," Tess spoke as she pointed to the police officers milling around the crime scene a short distance from them, "They are cops looking for clues in a jogger's murder. And if they see you, they might think you are a witness. Or even yet, the murderer! If you want your ass saved, I suggest you come with me right this minute without any questions." Tess stuck out her hand in the direction of the mysterious man, waiting for him to agree on the deal.

The well-built man in front of her pondered at the detective's offer for a bit while flashing a look of confusion to Tess. Can I trust this woman? he mused as he turned around to focus his attention clearly on the situation, I don't know who she is although she claims she does. I honestly don't know anyone in this city or even my own identity. Since she is sincerely offering to help me to recover my identity, I guess she could be trustworthy.

Once he made a decided, the middle-aged man turned around to face Tess once again. He looked straight her eyes as he began to speak. "I am willing to work with you," the mysterious man spoke as he took a hold of Tess' hand and shook it lightly, "I don't know who you are. But, I am willing to trust you if you can figure out who I am." He continued to look into her hazel eyes as he waited for her response.

"It's a deal," Tess smiled as she took a firm grip of his hand to lead the guy in the direction of her car's location. While walking, Tess took her car keys out from a jacket pocket and navigated them without bumping into her fellow co-workers or Gabe. I can't risk the chance of having Gabe see this guy right now, Tess worried as she traipsed through the park, One look at him and that good-for-nothing ADA will get his grimy hands on this guy. She grimaced at that thought as she continued to walk to their destination.

Once they reached the location, Tess opened the passenger door and gestured for the man to get in.

"Ok buddy, get in and fasten your seat belts," Tess sighed as she closed the door.

"It's going to be a bumpy ride."

"What do you mean you lost trace of him?"

Agent Reynolds stared angrily at the gray wall in front of him while waiting for a response from the other agent on the phone. His face turn a bright red as he got angrier and angrier when Agent Landon explained further about how the corrupt agency lost their prized experiment. He started to pound his fists gently into the gray wall in front of him. How could they lose their test subject, Vincent Keller?

How could they be so irresponsible?

The other agents looked at him quietly, afraid of what would happen next. Reynolds turned around and saw the awe and fear in the agent's eyes. In one swift gesture, he urged everyone to get out the room before he lost the ability to contain his temper. The others complied and left the room hastily. While the other left, Agent Reynolds trudged along to the table in the center of the room, plopping down in one of the metal chairs. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in hopes to calm down.

"Excuse me for my bad behavior, Agent Landon. Let's start over, shall we? Can you explain to me, in full details, what happened?" The man with salt-and-pepper hair spoke calmly. He was hoping that it was all a joke. That Vincent Keller was still in the secure lab, behind the steel bars of the cage that they kept them in, and that, in all reality, nothing ever happened.

Agent Landon explained of the events of last night, "I don't know exactly how it happened. I just got to the lab this morning. However, the scientists stationed here stated that they heard a loud bang and animal-like growls around two in the morning in the lab. The security guard claimed that he saw Vincent. Well, the Vincent we don't want to be associated with."

"Ok, ok. Get to the point," Reynolds cut in, frustrated with Landon's roundabout way of reporting information.

"Well," the agent on the other end continued, "The security guard said Vincent was like his usual animal self with the growling, massive claws, the teeth, and a changed personality. However, the security felt that Vincent was more powerful ever as he didn't react to the stun gun, tranquilizer, the use of force, or any other restraining techniques done by the guard. It was like he was made out of steel and was unstoppable.

One of the psychologists who woke up from the noises came to the scene and tried to use sincerity to restore his human side. The psychologist tried others methods to subdue Vincent, however they didn't work. It was like he didn't hear a single thing from her. In fact, it was worse! By the time of the psychologist's fourth or fifth attempt to calm him down, Vincent nearly killed the poor woman by sweeping his claws in a neurotic way that had his hands attacking her chest.

After the failed interventions by the guard and psychologist, Vincent ran out the facility with little haste. The outside guards reported that they found a huge tear in the northeast section of the fence surrounding the facility. Those guards also reported that things were happening too fast for them to have a chance to encounter Vincent. By the time they got to that section of the gate, Vincent was long gone.

Of course, you heard about the mauling attack of a young female jogger this morning in the park. It is too early to tell if it is Vincent's doing or not due to the fact that the only reports out right now are from the local news bureaus. Word has it that the city police have set up a special task force and are investigating the crime scene right now. The person in charge of this operation, ADA Gabe Logan, should give a briefing about the case before the end of the day. Should I alert you when the press conference starts?"

"By all means, Agent Landon, please do. Please be safe," the older man instructed as he hung up the phone and placed it on the bare table.

The situation was worse than he feared. Vincent has become more animistic, more lethal, and less humane. This was what Muirfield wanted; to create monsters to do their dirty deeds with little or no compassion. Sure, they stated that would destroy all the initial test subjects during their experiments in Afghanistan. He knew their plans since he was a lab assistant to Vanessa Chandler for her cross-species experiment at the same time. The former assistant remembered the exact moment when the head of Muirfield told the lab's staff that they had a change of plans. They had to eliminate all of the test subjects. He could recall Vanessa's pained expressions as Muirfield agents destroyed the test subjects without any mercy. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, they were killing real humans.

It was later that he learned the dark side of Muirfield's true intentions. When Reynolds came upon information about the beast attack involving his own daughter in 2003, the head of Muirfield, McCleary, gave his agents a new order: capture the so-called beast creature at any means. The logic behind the orders was that the head of Muirfield wanted to conduct further experiments on Vincent to test his limits and improve on their mistakes. At that point, Reynolds realized what was Muirfield's true intention: they didn't care for Vincent's humanity anymore, McCleary and his minions only wanted to make Vincent into a killing machine.

Reynolds thought that if he could capture Vincent for himself, then Muirfield's plans would be foiled. The agent could have the man-beast kill the very same people who destroyed Vincent's and other lives at the sake of Reynold's thirst of revenge. This was the reason why Reynolds had to capture the former army soldier last spring. But once Reynolds was able to track down the beast, he didn't expect that he would see his daughter again or see first-hand that she was caught up in an romantic relationship with Vincent.

However, the FBI agent's plans fell through two months after his team successfully captured Vincent. It happened in the middle of hot, smoggy July night when a team of Murfield agents infiltrate his concealed basement lab by killing the security team. It seemed that the team was ever so stealthy as there were barely any signs of them entering on the security tapes. Once they got access, those scumbags, as Reynolds would put it, got a hold of Vincent, tranquilized him to make sure he wouldn't wake up during the move, and kidnapped him. Since that day, Reynolds would keep on watching the video over and over, cursing himself inwardly on how easily those agents got into his lab and got a hold on his secret weapon. It infuriated him.

The older man stood up and slowly walked the entrance of the room. He opened the door and saw that the very same agents who were in the room with him awhile ago were standing at attention in the hallway, waiting for further commands. Reynolds handed the cellphone back to the young blonde-haired agent and instructed him with a semi-harsh tone in his voice.

"I want you to keep an eye on my daughter. She is going to be in serious danger".