(Thomas POV)
I waited expectantly for the girls to come up to Bella's room, and as soon as Edythe stepped inside, she came straight to me and pressed herself into my side. I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and turned my attention to Edward and Alice.
"How could you miss this, Alice?" Edward's voice was sharp with fear more than anger. "Someone was in her room. He could've been here when she accidentally walked in."
"First," Alice said, steady, "we don't know it's a he. Second, I would have seen Bella in danger if that happened. Same with Charlie." She added the last part when she caught the look on Bella's face.
Edward's jaw worked, but he didn't interrupt. Alice's eyes flicked between us, focused and frustrated in that way she got when she was trying to hold too many futures at once. "You have me watching the Volturi, watching for trouble with the pack, watching for danger to Bella, watching for danger to Charlie and Renee, plus everything else we keep an eye on." Her voice softened but didn't lose its edge. "If I split my attention too much, I start missing things. Dangerous things."
Edward's shoulders dropped. "I know. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take it out on you." His gaze darted to Bella and back again. "I was just… scared."
"I get it," Alice said, and took Bella's hand. "I was scared when I heard about it too." She drew in a breath, then turned her head slightly, like she was listening to the air itself. "I don't recognize the scent," she said. "Do you, Edythe?"
Edythe, who had already been tasting the air, shook her head. "No one I've come across before."
"So most likely a fairly new vampire," Edward said.
I frowned at him. "Why does that make you think new?"
Edythe answered before Edward could. "When we travel, we tend to seek out others and let them know about the alternative to human blood. There are very few we don't know by scent… and even fewer who don't know ours."
Bella spoke up, cautious but trying for practical. "So maybe it was just a vampire passing through. Curious why there's so much of your guys' scent here."
"Maybe," I said, though the word didn't sit right. I looked at Edward. "Why don't you and Alice stay here with Bella and Charlie. Edythe and I will see if we can pick up the trail outside. I'll be able to talk to Sam once I'm shifted."
Everyone nodded, even if nobody looked happy about it. "We'll take my truck," I added. "Park it close by, then we'll look for the scent. No reason to make Charlie suspicious."
With that decided, Edythe and I went downstairs to say goodbye. Charlie was still in his chair, eyes on the TV.
"Hey, Charlie," I said lightly. "We're going to head out. Alice and Bella are planning some kind of slumber-party-slash-shopping thing upstairs."
Charlie's brows lifted. I heard the unasked questions and watched him decide to let them go. "I certainly hope they aren't thinking about going to Seattle," he muttered. "That place is making a run for murder capital of the U.S."
"Nah," I said. "At least I didn't hear anything about Seattle. But you might want to bring it up to them."
Charlie's mouth tightened. He lowered his voice a notch. "Keep this to yourself, but Tacoma's having trouble too. Word through the police grapevine is they might have a copycat situation of Seattle's issues."
Edythe gave him a convincing look of worry. "There hasn't been anything on the news about Tacoma."
"They're trying to keep it hushed up," Charlie said, irritated. "Damn stupid, if you ask me. But it's not my town, so my opinion doesn't count for much."
"Well," I said, forcing a small smile, "on that cheerful thought, I'm going to take my wife and go get some… rest."
Charlie's ears went a little pink. "Yeah. Sure. See you later."
We went straight to the truck. I opened the door for Edythe, then got in on my side, shutting it and starting it up. As I backed out of the driveway I asked. "What's got you worried about Seattle and Tacoma?"
Edythe sighed, "I didn't want to bring it up with the wedding and all. But… we think it may be a newborn. Someone turned and left to fend for themselves. It's bringing too much attention at a time we don't want the Volturi focusing on this side of the world."
Looking for a place to park out of the way, I asked, "What does it concern the Volturi?"
"Making this kind of noise is a danger to our kind and usually they are quick to clean it up. But for some reason they are reacting very slowly this time around. It's not like them at all."
Finding a spot to park, I pulled in and killed the truck. Stepping out, I began taking my clothes off. "So why don't a few of us head over there and take care of it? Me, Jasper and Emmett could be there and back in just a couple of days."
Once I had my clothes off, I closed the truck up and hid the keys. When I turned to see why Edythe hadn't answered me yet, I saw her staring at me with what I had come to know as her bedroom eyes. I laughed as she seemed to shake her head and whisper "later" to herself.
Once she was focused on the task at hand, she answered me. "The Volturi take a very dim view of others doing what they see as their job. They want everyone to know they are the ones to enforce the laws. And thank you very much for not saying anything about going there in front of Emmett and Jasper, Carlisle is having a hard time holding them back as it is."
I just shook my head at my friends and shifted to my dire tiger form. {"Jump on love, unless you want to run."}
"This is not what I had in mind when I was thinking of riding you again today, Thomas."
I gave out a loud chuffing laugh and reached my mind toward Sam. {"Hey Sam, The Pack find anything?"}
{"Nothing on our border. You have any more information for me?"}
I filled him in on everything I knew and our plan to try and track the smell if we could pick it up near Charlie's house. After a long pause from Sam, I was nearly back at Charlies and starting to sniff for traces in the air, when he reached back out to me.
{"If you are staying in neutral territory, I can send Jacob and Leah to help with the tracking. Jacob is worried about the threat to Bella and Leah is willing to watch his back."}
I felt Edythe shift on my back a bit at Leah's name but didn't think much of it. {"Seeing as it concerns my family's safety, I will take all the help I can get. Also, if they smell this vampire, they can pass it to all of you through the pack mind, right?"}
{"Exactly why I was thinking of sending them."}
{"Okay, I will wait for them in the woods near Charlie's house."}
{"They are on their way"}
In the silence that followed, I began walking the forest area behind Charlie's house looking for the scent to match the one in Bella's room. On the east side I found it. It was strong, like the vampire had stood here for a time, possibly waiting for the house to be empty so they could investigate it.
Edythe jumped off my back and followed the scent into the yard and around the house to just under Bella's window. When she came back, she whispered, "Looks like they went in through Bella's window. I know she keeps it unlocked for Edward and this vampire probably followed his scent there."
As we were waiting for Leah and Jacob my mind filtered through many different scenarios as to why this vampire was so interested in Charlie's house.
Edythe brought my attention back to the surroundings, "They are close, let's move further in to avoid accidents this close to the edge of the forest."
I started moving the direction the scent had come from, and probably gone, when I caught a flash of movement out the corner of my eye. I saw a large grey and silver wolf first, Leah.
Then seconds behind her came a massive russet brown wolf that was Jacob.
Leah slid up beside me, while Jacob had his nose in the air, I assumed he was registering the scent of the intruding vampire.
Edythe nodded her head like she was answering a question when Jacob turned his head to look at her. "Yes, it was all over the house but strongest in Thomas and Bella's rooms."
Jacob growled in response to her words. "We aren't happy about it either, but Alice would have seen if she were in danger. We are hoping it was just a curious nomad passing through but better to be safe than sorry."
Jacob then looked at me as if speaking, but as he wasn't an Alpha we couldn't connect mentally. Edythe noticed and addressed Jacob and Leah. "If you want me to ask Thomas a question, I will say it out loud, just let me know."
Leah looked at Edythe, "Thomas, Leah suggests you and I follow the trail directly while she and Jacob circle us to make sure this vampire was alone."
Edythe relayed my reply, "That a very good idea… thank you, Leah. We were focused on the one scent in the house. We didn't even consider someone hanging back."
When Leah heard this, her head lifted like she was proud of the compliment.
On impulse, I turned toward her and pressed my cheek along her muzzle…an instinctive gesture that felt natural in a way I couldn't have explained if someone asked.
Leah went still. Her eyes went half-lidded, and a low rumble vibrated in her chest, close enough to a purr that it made my ears flick in surprise. Then she shook it off like she was annoyed at herself for reacting at all.
Edythe's hand landed lightly on my shoulder. "Okay," she said, business again. "Let's get started."
She climbed onto my back. Leah's tail stiffened for a moment before both her and Jacob moved in opposite directions to start circling around us as Edythe and I followed the trail we had.
My head down and focused on the trail left by the vampire we moved farther and farther from the lights of Forks. The scent got cleaner as we moved from the town. The unnatural smells from there no longer clouding the scent. For about a mile we moved in something of a wide circle around the town, like the vampire came from that direction, and circled the town to avoid people.
Then, without a sound, Leah appeared in front of us, blocking the line of travel, eyes locked on Edythe. Edythe's posture tightened. She was listening. "Leah found another scent," Edythe said after a beat. "Different from this one. Jacob is with it now. I think we should check it. see if I recognize it."
I just nodded my head and looked at Leah to lead the way, knowing we could pick up this trail as we wished. In moments Leah brought us to the new smell. It was strong. Definitely vampire, but it had something that stood out. Almost familiar for some reason, I asked Edythe about it mentally.
She didn't say anything at first as she too was sniffing the air. After a few moments she answered. "This is interesting and could explain some things as well." Leah and Jacob looked over, obviously listening.
"This is the smell of a Newborn vampire, if I had to guess it's just under a year old. The extra strong smell is the last of its human blood still in their system."
Leah or Jacob must have asked a question because Edythe started to explain, "When a human is first bitten by a vampire they go through a change that is excruciatingly painful. It takes about three to four days to pass. But because their body is still filled with their human blood, it makes them stronger than any normal vampire until it works its way out of their system."
She paused to let that sink in. "Not even Emmett is strong enough to match power with a fresh Newborn, and he is the strongest Vampire I have ever come across. Not even the Volturi's champion Felix is stronger than Emmet, a better fighter maybe but not stronger physically."
I mentally asked, {"So why do you think this may explain anything? I am a bit more concerned that there were multiple vampires looking into my family."}
"I said it could explain some things because a vampire this new would have trouble controlling himself if fresh blood was in the area. The fact that it was left behind makes me think the one in the house wasn't looking for trouble."
{"We are assuming that they were together. It could be coincidence that they are both in the area at the same time. I recommend Leah follow this trail and Jacob keep sweeping while we return to the other and see if they meet up at some point."}
Edythe nodded and passed my thoughts to Jacob and Leah. Right after that we returned to the earlier trail and followed it. Much as I thought, the trails connected and then moved together. We followed the trail until it came to the old 101 highway, where it seemed they got in a vehicle and left the area.
So much for them being here as a coincidence. Bella will not like the new restrictions we were going to have to put on her to keep her safe. Think I will do the smart thing and let Edward tell her when its time.