Chapter Fifteen

Foreboding

January 2005 Forks, Washington

Carlisle was clearly troubled by something. I could tell because he was reciting medical journals; blocking me from his thoughts. I wondered if it had anything to do with the visions Alice had seen of the dark haired girl or the red-head, the visions that were recurring frequently now, still blurry and unintelligible. Alice wasn't around to ask though. She and Jasper had gone hunting.

Esme was worried too. She knew something was bothering her husband. He just wasn't himself when he returned from Forks that day. It was a Sunday and he hadn't been supposed to be working. He had been called in to attend to an incident, which wasn't uncommon. Carlisle never minded being bothered on his day off, which was fortunate for the people of Forks because none of the other doctors liked attending emergencies out of hours.

Do you know what is on his mind? Esme asked me silently when Carlisle had gone up to his office to make some phone calls and complete some paperwork. He looks so drawn.

I shook my head.

Esme bit her lip, a human trait she had perfected over the years. I guess he will tell us when he is ready.

I continued to unscramble Esme's worried thoughts. She wasn't entirely sure if I knew what was bothering Carlisle and didn't want to say anything, or whether I was being blocked.

"The latter," I told her, knowing it wouldn't be much comfort to her.

"What's up?" Emmett asked as he and Rosalie entered the living room.

"Carlisle is bothered about something," Esme whispered to him.

Emmett instinctively looked to me for an explanation and so I shrugged, an indication that I didn't know what the problem was either.

Rosalie glowered at me. What have you done this time, you moron?

Why did she always have to assume it was something to do with me? However, I wasn't going to let Rosalie bother me. I was well used to her jibes. Mostly they were quite amusing.

I wondered how long before Carlisle was ready to talk about it. How long before Alice returned and we could ask her for some insight. Should I talk to Carlisle, should I find Alice and Jasper? The others were wondering the same things. Emmett knew where Alice and Jasper were likely to be. It wouldn't take long to find them, but they were surely heading back now. They had been gone all weekend and we all had school tomorrow.

Rosalie picked up one of Esme's interior design magazines and began idly flicking through the pages, a bored expression on her face. She was annoyed that our family appeared to be facing yet another drama and was wondering what effect it was going to have on her; what compromises she would have to make. With Rosalie, it was always about her. She had to be the most self-centred creature on this planet.

Emmett focused on the television, flitting between the various news channels. He was hoping to find some information about the incident Carlisle had been called to, assuming this was the reason for Carlisle's anguish, but there was nothing so far.

Esme was convinced another of the Quileutes had disappeared but I knew this was way off the mark. Firstly, it wouldn't bother Carlisle unduly. We were all expecting it and knew that if, and indeed when, another one of them disappeared it would purely mean another of them was going through the transformation. It would certainly be inconvenient, but not enough to cause concern. Secondly, a disappearance wouldn't be reason to call Carlisle in to the hospital. No, this had to be an accident, or a death.

"Here we go," Emmett announced suddenly. We all turned to watch the news channel Emmett had picked up on.

"The mutilated remains of a body has been washed up on the shores of the Ozette Lake in Washington State. It was found by some hikers early this morning and is believed to have been attacked by a bear. Police say that the body has been in the water for at least two weeks and at the moment they are unable to identify it."

"Ozette? Isn't that just north of Quileute territory?

"There aren't any bears in that Area. Especially not at this time of year. I should know," Emmett grinned.

"Oh how terrible," Esme shuddered. She was still convinced it was connected to the tribe. Maybe it was, maybe one of them was missing, mauled to death by a rogue bear, but for once Rosalie was on the same wavelength as I was, and unusually, she wasn't blaming me. We both shared the same foreboding thought. Everything pointed to a vampire attack. Bears had been blamed before when one of our kind, the non-vegetarian kind, had attacked a human and not disposed of the body thoroughly.

Carlisle would have recognised the signs too, and this was the reason for his concern. It could only mean one thing. A nomad vampire had wandered into our territory. This could have serious consequences. The treaty with the Quileutes was extremely delicately balanced and they were just looking for an excuse to point fingers at us.

Carlisle had joined us now, presumably overhearing the news broadcast.

"Yes, I'm afraid it is true," he told us. "I didn't want to worry you all. I was waiting for Alice and Jasper to return before I told you all. I examined the body at the hospital morgue earlier. It is not possible to say with any certainty, but it does look suspiciously like a vampire attack. I am just hoping it is a one-off, that it is a nomad passing through."

There was no need for him to continue. We all knew the consequences. Our only hope was that the Quileutes didn't get to hear of it. But of course they would, Charlie would tell them if they didn't hear it for themselves on the news.

"Well, the only thing in our favour is that the police are convinced it was a bear attack." Carlisle continued. "Well, why wouldn't they be? The body was ripped to shreds. It had to be something powerful. I managed to convince them that no other animal could have caused this much damage. It certainly would not be possible for a human to have caused so much mutilation. The Quileutes would not be able to implicate us to the police without exposing us for what we are, and that would break the treaty."

"Was it one of them, the...body?" Esme asked.

"No, it was a white male, late fifties, early sixties I would say, probably a fisherman. There were traces of his clothing. He had been wearing those long waders, the ones that go right up to your chest."

"Well Emmett was pretty cut up when he got attacked by the bear," Esme said, as if corroborating Carlisle's diagnosis to the police. She was, of course, referring to the incident when Emmett was human, when Rosalie had found him after he had been attacked by a bear and had carried him half-dead to Carlisle in the hope that Carlisle would be able to change him in time.

"Yeah, but I have had my revenge several hundred times over," Emmett bragged, a gleam in his eye.

Carlisle bypassed Emmett's comment and answered Esme "Yes, it is extremely plausible and they will not be suspicious. I told them that bears have been known to wander from their territory when they have been awoken from hibernation earlier than nature intended. At this point, they are likely to be extremely irritable, and prone to attacking anything that strays on their path. So, just be on your guard. Maybe we should sweep the area to warn off any stray vampires? Maybe we could also spread rumours of a bear sighting? That might help. I'm pretty sure there aren't any bears around these parts but it only takes a few humans to believe there are and the rumours will spread like wildfire."

"I'll mention it next time I'm in that Outdoor store in town," Emmett offered. "I'll ask them casually if there have been any more sightings and then tell them I had heard someone saying the other day they had seen one. That should do it."

"Thank you Emmett. Could you do it soon? Sometime next week?"

"Sure."

"Could you and Edward do a quick circle of the area later too? Just to see what we can find out about our vampire visitor?"

"We can go now if you like?" I suggested looking at Emmett to see if he had any objection.

"Well, I was intending to wait until Alice and Jasper return, they may already have news." Carlisle informed us.

"I doubt it. They were heading east to hunt." Emmett replied. "Come on Edward, we may as well do a reccy. Beats sitting around waiting."

"Ok, but be careful to avoid Quileute territory." Carlisle warned as we got up to leave.

"Sure thing." Emmett replied raising his eyebrows at me as we left the house. We didn't need reminding.

"He's just being extra cautious," I told Emmett. "He's very concerned about this. It's likely that our visitor, if he or she sticks around, will spark more transformations within the tribe, and newly transformed werewolves are a little like newborn vampires. They are not in control of themselves. If there are a large number of new wolves at once, it will be difficult even for the pack to control them. This could be serious."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever Edward. Jeez, why do you always have to be so sensible?"

"Because if this all goes wrong and we have to move on, your wife will be furious and I will be blamed." Not that it really bothered me. I was so well accustomed to Rosalie's bitter antagonism that a little more hatred wouldn't make such a huge difference.

"Oh, leave Rosalie to me. She's a pussy cat really. Anyhow, I know how to appease her!" He told me with a flash of his brilliant smile and a glint in his eye. He then conjured up some images of such explicit sexual nature that I really didn't want him to share with me.

"Ewwww enough Emmett!" I exclaimed.

His laugh boomed so loudly it disturbed a flock of birds that were nesting in the trees above us. "Well, stay out of my head then!" He told me.

"I wish I could." I replied. It was at that point I became aware of Alice and Jasper returning, which was strange because we were heading in the opposite direction to where they were supposed to have been hunting, but the path they were on was heading straight for us. We were only about a mile from the house. We hadn't even reached the highway.

Emmett sensed it too and gave me a quizzical look as we both stopped dead in our tracks.

"Alice? Jasper?" I called out as their presence became clearer. They were so close now I could hear Alice's frantic thoughts.

Oh Edward, what a mess. The body, it was horrible. Mangled beyond all recognition. We had to come to check...

She stopped her subconscious ramblings as she and Jasper had appeared right in front of us, running full-pelt. They came to an abrupt halt and Alice, a strained expression on her pretty face, her features contorted with anxiety, flung her arms around me.

"Hey, hey, slow down, it's ok." I told her, trying to calm her down.

Her mind was a mess of disturbed images and the red-headed vampire kept flitting in and out of her thoughts. I looked to Jasper for a more reasoned summation.

"We cut our hunting trip short because Alice kept getting these images," he explained.

"Yes, yes, we know about the body that's been washed up. It's been on the news. Carlisle had to examine it at the hospital earlier." I told him.

"Yeah, well, there is more. We came back via Ozette because Alice was certain there were other bodies, and more alarmingly, vampires. The red-head and a couple of travelling companions; she has seen them quite clearly now."

"Did you find anything?" Emmett asked. "We were just going to look."

"No. Just a few trails, but no vampires, and no more bodies. Although we were unable to conduct a thorough search; the whole area is swarming with police. It does appear though that the vampires have moved on, but..."

"But what?" Emmett asked. I didn't need to. I had seen in Jasper's mind where they were heading.

"They headed south, right through Quileute territory." Jasper told him.

Alice, who now released herself from my embrace showed me quite clearly the reason they had abandoned their search. It had nothing to do with the police. The image she presented me with was that of a giant black wolf, snarling and growling, it's gums pulled back showing the full extent of its enormous canine teeth.

"You saw it then?" I asked her. "I thought you couldn't see the wolves?"

She nodded. "This isn't a vision Edward, it's a memory! It was terrifying. We were within yards of it. Jasper was growling and wanted to attack, but I pulled him away. It almost ended in a fight, but the funny thing was, it didn't chase us. It just let out this almighty howl and then growled, arched its back and then loped off in the opposite direction."

"It was just defending its territory then, I guess." I surmised.

"Damn it, why do I have to miss all the action?" Emmett complained.

Alice frowned at him and was about to scold him for not taking the matter seriously, and so I suggested we should head home and report back to Carlisle.

As we headed back, Alice showed me another vision. It was of a dark-haired girl, her high cheek bones torn and bloody from some kind of horrific injury.

"What does this mean?" I asked her. She shrugged.

I couldn't get the image out of my mind. Who was this girl? Was this the same dark haired girl Alice had seen before? What did this have to do with the transient vampires? Had they attacked her? I sincerely hoped not, because this girl was unmistakably one the tribe from the Reservation. One thing for sure; it wasn't the bear, because there was no bear.