Author's Note: Hey guys, sorry for the long delay! I been really busy at work and had no time to post any new chapters. And recently, I been discouraged about things lately, especially writing. Hopefully, I can get back in the swing of things soon.

Enjoy the chapter! This chapter is dedicated to the Tess and J.T. fans because they are a really cute couple.

For the second time in one day, the light brunette detective pulled her car up to the curb near her boyfriend's apartment.

What a day, she thought as she exhaled a deep breath and leaned her head gently against the headrest. She turned off her car swiftly. The woman slowly whirled her attention at the bag full of Chinese food that was sitting undisturbed in the passenger's seat. It was a large bag that carried two separate dinners and appetizers for her and her boyfriend.

They had a lot to talk about.

She sighed once more, internally motivating herself to get up, pick up the food, and get the hell out of the car.

It didn't take long to reach J.T.'s apartment. Once she got there, she knocked on the door and waited for it to open. While waiting, Tess starting to think about her day while staring at the bland white walls surrounding the door frame. From the assignment of interviewing the high-profile business mogul Curt Windsor to Catherine's encrypted story about meeting another beast-like creature, Tess began to feel increasingly confused. Nothing made any sense anymore. Maybe it was easier if she wasn't involved anymore, she could be assigned to a "normal" special crimes case or a basic case like a robbery or a small crime.

Oh well, such a life...

"Hey Tess, welcome back?," a jolly voice greeted her from the doorway, sounding slightly confused as J.T. saw his girlfriend staring off into space, "Is anything wrong?"

Those words brought the tall woman back to reality as she shook off her thoughtful pondering and moved her eyes to the guy standing in the doorway.

"Ah, the same as usually," she responded with an airy voice, "Lots of things are happening. Can I come in and talk about it?"

The detective smiled weakly as she raised the hand that carried the delicious Chinese food in to make him notice what she bought. J.T. smiled back at her and gestured to come in.

Tess walked in and noticed right away that J.T. wasn't the type of man who was into romantic dinners. The first clue was obvious; she brought takeout from his favorite Chinese restaurant. The other clues were slightly less obvious but not hard to spot if you were the type of girl who was hoping for a date night type of dinner. He didn't have lit candles scattered around the room with any type of flowers decorating the scenario. The pudgy man also didn't even have a table that had fancy tableware lying on the top, two handcrafted wine glasses sitting in the middle, or a beautiful tablecloth adorning the important piece of a date.

Instead, J.T. motioned with his hands to place the Chinese food on the long black coffee table with slabs of glasses on the top that was in front of a big screen television. She put the food on the table like he wanted and sat down on the plush couch, sighing once more. This was the far opposite of every girl's typical dream of a date night. Sure J.T. couldn't outwardly show how romantic he was towards Tess. But, he did show it in other ways. Besides, isn't there a saying that beauty is found within?

"So, how was that meeting that you had to urgently rush to?" the science professor asked as he sat down next to her and the food, placing two cans of cold beer next to it. J.T. started to look inside the large bag for his food as Tess began to explain what happened earlier.

"Let's see," she started as she tried to recall the bare facts, "The meeting that I was late to, thanks to a certain somebody, was about the jogger's murder case. Apparently, my colleagues were able to well document the crime scene and gather a lot of evidence. They think the victim died from the vast amount of blood she lost or the puncture wounds that she received near her heart."

Hearing that statement, J.T. instantly became interested as he stopped eating his food to give his full attention to Tess' story.

"The deep puncture wounds were located near the right atrium of her heart. It also seems that the victim had a ton of deep scratches all over her body caused by animal claws or a sharp object. However, she wasn't totally disfigured or had signs that the person or creature tried to gnaw her flesh. She was actually completely recognizable."

Tess took a pause from her storytelling to turn her attention to the rest of the bag's contents. She fished her portion out and dumped it's contents plus an egg roll from the appetizers container on a paper plate provided by the restaurant. She began to eat her food diligently as she waited for the man next to her to start to ask questions. But instead, all she got was dead silence from the man.

"There wasn't any more information after that. Everyone is giving the medical examiner hell so he or she can examine the body as soon as possible. Our new Captain is extremely pissed that it wasn't done now. A bit odd," she continued while chowing down on her food.

"Anyways, we will get more information in a couple days. Gabe has order everyone involved to be hush-hush about the whole thing. He doesn't want the whole city panic as this could be a beast-related attack. Just be careful." She looked at him seriously to make sure he understood the last statement before taking a sip of the cold beer he offered her earlier.

"You know I wouldn't tell a soul about this. I have done it perfectly with Vincent and his secrets for the past ten or so years. Don't worry," J.T. laughed it off as he too took a sip from his beer.

Outwardly, he was laughing at how serious Tess was taking in the whole secret information business. However, he was a bit afraid inwardly. Judging by what he was hearing, the attack was possibly caused by Vincent. The way how Tess described the marks left on the jogger's body sounded something like Vincent would do.

"This whole investigation got confusing right after the meeting. Gabe pulled me over after everyone left and told me that I had to have a chat with the well-known businessman Curt Winsor. Do you know anything about him? What is his connection with this attack?"

That last question seemed like Tess was jumping the gun, she inevitably thought, but it had to be asked. None of this was making sense to her.

J.T. replied, "Well, Mr. Winsor is all over the news for what he does for New York and everywhere else. But, according to the stuff I was seen, like documents and hacked emails from Muirfield, it is said that he has supplied some money to the organization at some point of their livelihood. It's odd that Gabe would ask you to interview them about this case. Unless...

Tell me how can Gabe link what happened in Riverside with Muirfield just yet. Something is going on and Gabe ain't telling."

Tess looked a little relieved that someone else was puzzled by Gabe's action.

"You are right, Gabe's actions are confusing right now. Hopefully, I can find answers tomorrow," she concluded.

However, something else was bothering her; it was what Catherine said in the office before she left. "One more thing, Cat might of have seen something during a questioning on an unrelated rape case. She said that she saw a beast-like creature with red hair and strange colored eyes. She got out of the car and pursue the creature unsuccessfully. Do you know anything about any other beasts?"

That made J.T. ponder for a while. He knew that there were other beasts out there as Vincent and his regime weren't the first or last test subjects for Muirfield's ill-fated cross-species DNA program; Gabe was living proof of that. However, Vincent and he never came into contact with such beasts until recently as they lived secluded, far away from normal human contact. Sure, during his time of researching a cure for his best buddy, J.T. did find out about the people that Muirfield experimented on. Yet, he never had the guts or could trust these people to really met them. He didn't know if those people were still working with Muirfield or not. It was a game of chance he didn't want to gamble on.

"To answer your question," J.T. started off with ease, "I have read about the possibility of other beasts when I was interested in finding a cure for Vince and researching Muirfield's experiments. However, I haven't really met one in real life until Gabe came along. There could be a uncountable number of people who possess beast-like abilities in the New York City area or even in the world but I wouldn't know. Even Muirfield can't keep track of them."

That last statement didn't surprise Tess a lot as she thought that the organization was recently disorganized due to various variables. She smiled a little at that thought as she continued to drink her beer.

All the sudden, the petit detective heard a familiar ring coming from the cell phone in her pocket. She took it out and checked who was calling. "Oh god, it's Gabe again. I wonder what he wants right now? Another person to interview about this case?" Tess rolled her eyes as she stood up to take the call. She tapped the talk button and began to speak, "Hey Gabe, what is up?" However, the voice on the end of the line didn't sound calm or relaxed. Instead, it sounded frantic and worried.

"Tess, you have to come to New York General as soon as possible. It's Cat, she was attacked by a possible beast near Hudson River tonight. She is barely alive and unconscious, You need to see her."

Tess reassured Gabe that she was coming right away. After she heard a click from his end of the line to signal that he had hung up, Tess turned around with a look of pure anxiety and worry written all over her face. She looked at her boyfriend with the grimmest face he had ever seen on a human.

It looks like that phone call was about bad news, he pondered while noticing that she was also hastily grabbing her stuff.

She locked eyes with him briefly and spoke with a very grim tone.

"J.T., we have to go. I think Cat met Vincent and it didn't go down well."