Disclaimer: Twilight, and those characters belonging to it, are property of Stephenie Meyer and I profit none whatsoever from using them for the fan fiction I write.

Aurthor's Note: Previous chapters 14 & 15. Both the Inn and Shop I use in this chapter are based on real places easily located on the Forks Website but have changed the names (slightly,) still want to point out I have not been to either establishment and do not mean to reflect one way or the other on either business. I just like to have somewhere to reference when I write. Nothing I say in this chapter should be held in account with these places of business.

. . . . .

Shoulder pressing into the refrigerator's door, Fork's County Sheriff Chief Swan waited for the line to open, "Sue, hey it's – it's uh," he cleared his throat, "me. Charlie," dark eyes crinkled at the corners knowing how his message was already sounding. "Listen I know things have been busy at the Reservation, but it's been a week now and I'm worried."

Straightening, the officer turned with the phone cord held between his fingers, straightening the tangle as he moved, "I know I'm not read in on things, exactly, but I do know what it's like now as a parent for your kid to be gone." Closing his eyes, Charlie pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh, "Listen just uh, give me a call when you get this, we can talk. I uh… I miss you."

. . . . .

Though his daughter was fully capable of racing to the cabin on her own, Edward held Renesmee in one arm as he opened the door of he and Bella's cottage, glancing up, he caught a distinct emptiness where moments before he had felt Alice's mental presence. A thin line took the place of the telepath's mouth, frowning in thought as he wondered what it was his sister and beloved were finding the need for such privacy for. It would have been far less troubling had Alice been acting normally, however…

Moving with fluidity the brunette had lacked in her previous life, the young Mrs. Cullen came down the hall behind her short haired sister, arms opening for her daughter as soon as Edward set her down, "Renesmee!"

Curls and waves blended together in a sea of altering shades as mother and daughter hugged, temples touching as they turned to look back at the girl's father a moment later, "Are things ok with the Denali Coven?"

Folding pale arms over one another, held against the black cotton of his turtle neck as the young man shook his head, "There have been several suspicious kills in the area, Emmett is headed up now to see if he can help them discover who is responsible."

"You'd have more luck with that." Situating herself on the lounge chair, Alice swung one of her thin legs over the other leaning to rub a perfectly fine foot as though it had cramps.

Falling into trained habit, Edward found himself doing the same and leaning against the couch's back for support after standing a few seconds in the same spot, "He was already headed that way on his walk."

Supporting her dad's claim, Renesmee showed Emmett leaving a few days ago, phone handed to her. Then feeling as though she had to explain further, she showed her mom Carlisle asking about it. Bella nodded taking the appendage away from her face, "Yes, he probably left then."

Alice closed her eyes, hands reaching up to cover shut lids, "It wasn't a conscious thought. He's just… going." When her hands came down to connect with her knees and interlock, "He was probably on auto pilot to something familiar."

Turning to grip the back of the couch, Edward looked to his adoptive sister the same as he had when they'd received the call from Eleazar, "You haven't seen anything going on in Denali?"

"Edward…" Voice soft, Bella reached a hand over her husband's shoulder to stop his questioning before he could press again but Alice was already rubbing her temples as she stood,

"No. Nothing." The psychic was at the front door almost as soon as the words were out, "The best I can do is try to keep an eye on Emmett."

Door left open, Renesmee did not have to replay the scene for either of her parents, Alice's spritely features turned down in a doleful expression was so out of place it was ingrained in their minds.

. . . . .

The trek to Denali was not a long one in comparison with the journeys the brawny dark-haired vampire had made alongside his spouse over the years but finding himself moving with direct purpose instead of merely clearing his head made it seem almost arduous. Thumb still stroking over the keys of his travel phone, eyes warm with a recent feed studied his background, a beautiful angel, and her bear of a protector. Beauty and Beast, Emmett turned the Nokia off, Rose had had it wrong of course when she'd told him theirs was one of the few tales reversed in gender.

Sighing, he shoved the phone back into his jacket pocket, his wife needed to come home.

. . . . .

Scrunch, thup. Scrunch, thup. Scrunch, thup. Dirt piled high beyond the hind quarters of both wolves, large paws digging into the rough Earth with relative ease as they carved out a hole in the ground. The sound continued well into the cover of night as their keen eyes kept watch over the remains, they had put in two piles; Rose's familiar scent easy to distinguish from her assailant's even in dismembered and jumbled fashion. Dry twigs, split branches and leaves formed a thick nest that held the brunette's body parts to Jacob's right, the blonde's body laying side by side in pieces that the young men had been careful not to situate together.

Smoothing a flat bottom for the hole, both the russet and sandy colored canines jumped out of the pit to the surface, looking down at their handiwork and back to each other. The forest was absent of its usual life, silent but for heavy hearts thudding in overworked furry chests. Looking to the carefully arranged portions of their former acquaintance, the slimmer, sandy colored animal bowed his head before turning back to the larger beast across from him,
I can't put her in there Jake.

Shoulders shifting, a heavy breath escaped the dark nose of the thicker shaggy haired creature, head moving in the direction of the nest, Light her up. Though an underlying set of sentences accompanied each of their thoughts, they focused on only the forefronts of directed speech upon an agreement made when they started, they didn't want to recall more than they needed.

The smaller wolf shifted, the first time since his run had begun days ago; all senses wide in attempt to learn as much as possible before assuming the more vulnerable of his two forms to do his given job. Bones breaking apart and shrinking to rearrange themselves in the smaller, bare form rose in the moonlight, striding to the large wood pile they had put together at twilight and pulling the viable starter kindling. Crouching with his back to Jacob's now human guise, Seth began the arduous task of starting the bonfire without the use of a match or lighter.

. . . . .

White sheets spread across the table, pages from the folder Esme had given Kady lay in wait for a final choice as the smell of cinnamon and apple wafted from the kitchenette the Inn provided in each of the guest rooms. Following the six days since Seth had left, 3 since her lunch with Alice and her mother, Kady had been thinking about the discussion they had had after dinner in the Cullen's living room. Staying was not as hard a decision as it might have been for the west coast outsider in any other situation, but leaving Seth was not an option she could accept given the change of events since arriving and meeting her childhood friend. To be honest, the young woman had started looking for a job not long after her arrival but had not been able to find anything with promise until last night.

Having been seated on her bed for most of the evening, fingers at the keys of her laptop, the dark haired woman had beamed at the sight of a link requesting help for a bakery off Forks Avenue. Finally, selecting the printer stationed in the downstairs visitor's lounge she had called the front desk to request permission to use it before choosing the application and going down to retrieve it. Form resting between a cover letter and resume on the bed, Kady zipped the black jacket closed over the white of an old band shirt to hide the lack of hiring wear she owned at the moment. Glancing outside at the dreary appearance of the day's gathering clouds she stuck a mental tag at the forefront of her mind, Find a store to replenish my wardrobe…

Sealing the clear box of layered pastries, Kady set them carefully in the bottom of the bag she had emptied and slid her papers in as well before heading out the door. The jog down the stairs greeted by the Inn's owners with words of good luck gave her an inner warmth to meet the cool climate between the shore and mountains that Forks rested along. Pulling her jacket's hood up, she swallowed against the gust of air coming down the street and tightened her hold on the bag during the fifteen minutes it took her to travel to her destination. Walking with Seth, the companionable wolf she was destined to love, she had been previously kept from having to deal with the temperature on her own. Now she was not sure it was the lack of his heat or lack of presence that caused her to feel the difference so acutely.

. . . . .

Taking the pages from the slim hand of the brunette across the counter, the red headed woman studied the pleased expression the applicant wore over the rim of her glasses, "It's not often we get in person applicants."

Brightening the short figure pulled a tray from her bag, three round cinnamon rolls neatly displayed inside, "I could not offer these on the internet."

Taking the clear box out of polite habit rather than a desire to eat them, the woman set them on the counter behind her own display case of similarly sized rolls noting the difference in the consistency of the glaze over the textured product. Decent workmanship, "I have an appointment for a consult on wedding cakes coming in shortly, I can't promise you'll hear back today."

Nodding the girl offered her hand and on contact the owner of Sweets Bakery noted how much cooler her temperature was than her own, "Just glad you'll consider me. My number is on both application and resume. Anytime is fine to call. It was nice to meet you."

As soon as the black jacket and jeans disappeared out the door, past the glass window of her displays, Patricia turned her hip on the side of the register and read over the cover letter, Kady Gearings. Formerly an east coast native her letter introduced the woman as a newcomer to Forks with an interest in baking from the time she was young. Several technical courses taken during high-school and mention of a certificate from a community college were listed in her application, but it was a half-page list of references labeled 'Prior Bakery Sales' that caught her attention, flipping back to the letter she had skimmed she took in a paragraph of an attempted look into a home start business that had been postponed-

Ring! The chimes above the front door jingled and tinged against one another, announcing the arrival of her Eleven thirty appointment. Setting the papers under the black register, Patricia smiled in greeting and lifted her wedding portfolio from its shelf, "Welcome!"

. . . . .

Bundled in unnecessarily thick layers, four figures blurred over the land nearly invisible but for the flurry of snow kicked up in their quick wake and the flash of dark hair in three spots as they'd slow every now and again. They moved in sync despite the distance between them, one in every direction around the cold town of Denali, attempting to ferret out troublemakers that had intruded on their land. Scarlett blushed along the snow and tree line where one of the darker haired figures ran and legs pushing into the land, the woman's hair whipped around her in thick ringlets, no breath ghosting from her lips despite the exertion her search would have caused others. The heady scent of salt and iron thick with wet filled the woman's nostrils and her eyes darkened considerably, her stand still posture lurching forward into the trees to find ambrosia.

Six bodies were piled, one over the other like gutted pigs after slaughter, open bites staining shirtless chests. The bronze beauty stared at the rivulets that had trickled down their bodies, dark eyes wide, nostrils flaring as she approached. The snap of twigs on either side had her spinning to face her attackers, arms raised in preparation when her vision focused on their faces, claws dropping, "Eleazar, Emmett."

The dark hair latin-esque man watched his wife with dark eyes, his gaze taking in her defensive posture and the mound of bodies behind her. Reaching forward he took her outstretched hand in his and pulled her away from the mass, "Carmen," he wrapped his arms around her cradling the back of her head against his shoulder as the other man passed him by.

Emmett surveyed the grouping of dead humans with eyes devoid of thirst, disgust filling his gaze, "They were-"

Eleazar nodded, chin scraping his wife's forehead as she grasped the lapels of his coat, shielding her nose from scent that spiked her thirst, "Half are lovers Tanya had taken recently, one Carmen and I… we do not know the other two."

Holding his breath, Emmett leaned forward to turn their bloodied limbs to inspect, "No doubt, others are here." Swallowing he took a huge whiff of the intermingled scents that layered over the dead bodies, nose twitching with something close to recognition, "It's different, faint. Maybe a few days old." He straightened, turning around to face the couple, "Whoever they are they must have been watching you."

The lovers looked at one another, trying to guess at what they may have missed in the week that had passed to draw such attention to them. The only thing they could think of that would bring others so close was… "Someone from the Witnessing?"

They turned to look at their Cullen visitor, the vampire still at the implications.