Chapter 17

The cold I was feeling was suddenly replaced by the heat produced by Carlisle's body being so close to mine. I could hear nothing but the sound of both our breathing, as he slowly raised his hand, reaching to touch my face.

I dry coughed us both back into the reality that this was my bedroom and we were alone up here. Not forgetting that my youngster sister was just downstairs, within hearing distance.

"That sounded so cringe, I think I've heard that, one too many times." I stated, as I handed him the robe and gestured him to change into it.
He was about to walk towards my bathroom, when I heard the sound of my dad's car pull over at our house!
"Hell no!" I cursed, as I scampered around the room, trying to hide anything that would indicate someone else was in here, though there wasn't anything incriminating lying around.

"You need to please leave...now." I told him, more panicked than the time I first tried out volleyball and broke a fingernail.

"Through where? The front door?" He asked with a note of sarcasm added to his tone, pissing me off.
"I don't know, jump out the window or something!" I sharply replied, not meaning any word I said to him. It was something said out of anger, which Carlisle took literally, for the moment I turned to find where to hide him, he actually jumped down the window!

"Oh my God!" I cried out, rushing to see if he actually survived that fall. If luck was on his side, he might scale through with only a broken rib cage and a fractured ankle.

But to my surprise, when I looked out the window, Carlisle was gone without a trace. I knitted my brows against each other, as my feet involuntarily moved a step back in fright.

A knock on my door interrupted my deep rooted thoughts, following after was Sophia, who somehow barged into my bedroom, I was certain I had locked.

"How did you get in here?" I pensively asked her, blocking her view of the window with my body.
"That's not important, uncle Leslie is downstairs with Mom and Dad. And he wants to see you, I just came here to tell you that if you're going to hide him, make sure you do it well." And with that said, she took off, dropping a bombshell on me.

If anybody could sniff out anything strange, then it'd be my uncle Leslie. Redlake's resident police Captain, with an eighty percent closure rate on all his cases.

**********
"Final year of high school, huh? You picked out any good colleges yet?" My uncle asked at the dining table, while helping himself to mom's infamous meatloaf.

"Yeah, I sent out my applications early and I hope to get accepted." I replied, somewhat tensed, as the thought of what happened to Carlisle couldn't leave my head.

"She knows she'll get accepted, with all that brain power she has going for her, college will be a breeze." Dad repeated the same thing he said to his colleges to my uncle. Who would definitely say the exact same thing to the officers at the precinct.

"Let's just hope it's on a scholarship, I mean, we wouldn't want to run our pockets dry when we're saving something special..." Mom took a dramatic pause, as she exchanged panic glances with Dad, sure that she had spilled the beans on something.

"Wait a moment, you're both buying me a gift? On what grounds exactly?" My interest was fully grabbed the second I heard my thrifty parents were planning on getting me a gift.

Dad sighed in defeat and ran his fingers through his hair, whilst mom just shot him an apologetic stare, cursing herself for being bad with secrets.

"It was supposed to be a surprise graduation gift. But seeing as your mode of transport to school is... uncertain. Your mother and I decided to pitch in from your college savings and get you a new car."

My insides did a backflip when I heard I was getting a car, to top things off, while in highschool.

"That's so unfair! I asked for a scooter last year and you both didn't budge." Sophia inserted into the conversation, raining on my parade.
As usual.

"Don't be envious of your sister, she earned that car because of her good grades. But don't worry she isn't getting it that easily." Mom's tone at the end hinted something they both failed to mention.

"I'm not?"

"No. Peppermint, your mother and I decided you needed to learn a bit more responsibility and get out of the house more. To responsible places." He hardened his voice at the end of the sentence, wearing an all knowing look on his face.

"Watch out Peyton! Your parents are about to give you THE talk." My uncle chimed, stuffing his face with that meatloaf.

"We thought it best to let you work at my friend's animal shelter, the one not so far from your school. You'll meet new people and understand the value of saving before college." Mom told me, serving as the bad cop in the conversation.

When I just thought nothing could ruin the news of finally owning my own car! "Do I have to? I'm supposed to be studying for finals year high school, finishing my bucket list, going out with friends..."

"Speaking of going out, I actually came here to tell you girls a little something we're handling at the station." Uncle Leslie piped up, discreetly trying to avert a huge fight between me and my parents.

"Is it another jewelry theft?" Sophia asked with zero zeal, as tired as I was of hearing his unexciting cases. It was Redlake after all, nothing new ever happened here.

"Oh no darling Sophia, I'm talking about a dangerous animal that's on the loose. We don't know what it is or how we're going to find it, but it's stirring up some nasty tension in the town." He stated, with an all too serious expression on his face.

"Dangerous animal? I haven't heard anything about that." Mom anxiously said, she had the tendency to freak out when something was unknown to her. Especially something that had to do with her town.

"We haven't disclosed the details to the public, hell, we'd like to keep it underaps for as long as possible. If this whole thing were to blow up, it'd eat the town whole and spit it out." He took a pause and drank some water.

"It's only attacked animals so far, and at that, animals close to the woods. But the act of murder is something else I tell you, that thing ain't no bear or wolf. This thing hunted that deer down like it was doing it for fun, then bit the life out of the creature's neck, sucking all the blood out of it. It's only been two weeks, but that thing's preyed on at least five different animals. And it's getting dangerously close to the town."

"Then what exactly is it?" I found myself asking, my tensed fingers nervously clutching unto my dinner fork.

"I don't know myself, but whatever creature it is, it's vicious, ruthless..." He took a pause as he reminisced the gruesome scene in his head. I could literally see the vivid fear in his eyes as he took a second to breathe.

"And it's out looking for blood." He finally said, ending his narration on a dramatic tone. And for reasons I couldn't begin to comprehend, the first and only thing that came to my head was Carlisle.

And whether or not he was safe.

"That's quite the tale, try saying something less... Creative. You're going to scare my girls." Dad teased, casually punching mom's older brother in the chest.

"Yeah Les, geez, you almost made me shiver what that story. We called you here to give the girls a little scare so we wouldn't have to worry too much about their whereabouts..." Mom covered my mouth with her hands, blowing their cover.

"Like I'd believe something far fetched like that, what am I? Six." Sophia sassily retorted, standing up to drop her plate in the kitchen.

"I'm not kidding around here girls, if you stay out late, that thing is gonna to get you." My uncle went on, sticking to the story he must have drafted on the drive here.

"Yeah right uncle Les." Sophia hollered from the kitchen as she did the dishes with some help from mom.
"Looks like the jig is up huh?" Dad said as he left the table as well, leaving only my uncle and I sitting across from each other.

"You believe me, right Peyton?" He asked, staring directly at me for a response. The primal look in his eye couldn't be hidden, even if he made it seem like just one of his regular old jokes.

I could see the clear difference, my uncle wasn't lying.