Chapter 6

Few Hours Earlier...

Mrs Smith barely settled down when she got home before receiving a phone call, it was from her husband and it seems weird to her. Richard is not the type that calls during work hours.

"Hey babe," she said into the phone as she poured herself some water she got from the refrigerator. Trey had got himself busy with a leftover pizza he found in the refrigerator, eating it like someone who hasn't seen food in years. Fear can either increase a man's appetite or make him lose it, she smiled.

"Can you talk?" The question made the smile on her face turn into a frown. That was definitely weird. Richard's voice sounded like that of someone in fear.

"What's going on?" She asked dropping the cup of water on the dinning table as she slowly moved away from where Trey was busy devouring the pizza.

"I... I don't... I don't know Lucy, but there's a problem in the school... It's crazy, I know but... Damnit! I don't... I'm confused"

"Hey, hey," she cooed softly, "just calm down okay? Take a deep breath and explain everything to me. What's wrong? Are you in trouble?" She asked

"I think so. I'm in a big mess which literally, I don't know how I got myself tangled in" he replied.

" Spill it all out, honey, I'm right here, I'm listening"

" Okay, so there's this girl that killed her friend in school today..."

" What?!" Mrs Smith wasn't expecting what she heard. " How the hell did that happen?"

" Honestly, no one knows the truth. But the dead girl was killed with a pen I think, she was stabbed several times at the neck and also got her stomach ripped open" he paused as his voice became shaky with emotion. " Her liver was out, Lucy. She ripped out her liver and put it in a plastic sack bag" he said sniffing.

" Woah, woah, woah! Hold on a sec!" She was surprised. "Did you just say an High School student killed someone in such a brutal way?" She asked to be sure of what she heard.

"Literally, every single word" he confirmed.

" Oh my God! What did the school authorities do about it?"

"I'm coming to that Lucy" he said, " the suspect was arrested and the body sent to a morgue. Then there's this strange detective, uhmm... James Clark. He claimed to be in charge of the case and that's where I come in"

" I don't understand," she said confused.

" He requested to see the video footage of the park where the girl was killed and I swear it Lucy, I saw something in that video footage, but he claimed there's nothing there."

" And?" Mrs Smith pressed on, she was now getting worried more than ever. It doesn't sound normal anymore.

" He was able to manipulate the whole school into believing I was trying to mess with the footage and all. Emisson was right there and he was the first to point out that there's something strange in the video, but he changed all of a sudden. He acted as if none of it happened." He told her.

Mrs Smith was getting tensed up as she hurried to her window, peeping out into the street, she was a little more paranoid than usual.

" Your bracelet, did you take it off?" She asked.

" No, I didn't. And he said something about the bracelet too"

" Like?" She was almost raising her voice as her breath became deep.

" Nothing much, just appreciated it and asked where I got it from"

" Did you tell him anything?"

" Yes, I told him I got it from you as a gift"

" Jesus christ!" Mrs Smith said hurrying down a secret passage that looks more like a wall in the living room. She placed her thumb on the security system which scanned her prints. The walls paved way into a control room with several computers that has footages of the coffee shop, the house environment and almost the whole street.

"What? Is anything the problem?" Richard asked.

"What else do you know?" She asked him.

"Look, I don't believe in the supernatural world, but I think I saw his face change when he tried to convince me that I saw nothing..."

"You mean compelled?" She said cutting in.

"Yeah, and I'm in a mess right now, cause the principal and Emisson think I destroyed the footage" he said.

"Vampire, great!" She muttered to herself while moving to her desk as she opened up her laptop, logged into the encrypted website before typing something in it with her right hand.

"Can you leave the school environment now?" She asked?

" No I can't. They have evidence against me" he replied.

" What evidence?" She has a frown on her face.

" I don't know how he did it, but there was a screwdriver in my hand with loosed screws when Emisson allegedly saw me and the CCTV was completely wiped out" he said, making her pause as she retreated her hand from the laptop's keyboard, displaying what she was searching on the secret web, 'Vampires'.

" Impossible" she said almost in a whisper. " Vampires can't do that". She added deleting what she wanted to search earlier.

" Did you say something?" Richard asked.

" Uhmm... No, nothing" she replied staring blankly at her computer's screen.

" Now, the school authority are about to question me. I didn't do anything, I swear it... I... I..."

" It's okay Richard, I believe you and I understand"

" You do?" He asked softly.

" Yes, I do" she replied.

" They'll have me arrested for it, Lucy. They want me to admit it, claiming I'll have a fair trial" he said.

" Just hang on, okay. It's gonna be fine" she said hanging up the call without waiting for him to say any other thing. She exhaled heavily, dropped her phone on the desk and smoothened her hair backwards in frustration.

"God! What the hell's going on?" She thought aloud.

"Clara! Yes, Clara!!" she said and grabbed her phone, immediately dialing a number on it. The recipient picked on the first ring.

"Hello Crazy" the voice at the other end said.

"Snap out of it Clara, we need to talk" she said with a serious tone.

"Hmm... Sounds like something is up" Clara said. "What's in it for me?" She asked.

"I'm serious here Clara, we have a problem" she told her.

" How bad?"

" It's a PD911 and I need your help" she said as Clara gasped at the other end

****

Present Time...

"Run!" The voice said as Tony and Matt kept running as fast as their legs could carry them towards the clearing where the others were busy having fun.

They jumped over logs, panting heavily but won't stop running for fear of what's chasing them. It was up in the trees, moving from branch to branch with such a speed that's strange for a normal human to pull off, then there was a sudden silence. The ruffles in the trees was no longer there and the two guys stopped.

"Where's is he?" Matt asked, trying to catch his breath.

"You mean it? I don't know, but I have a bad feeling" he said panting heavily as he kept scanning the environment with his eyes. Then there was a snap nearby.

"Did you hear that?" Matt asked moving back.

"Yes," he replied, " let's inform the others, we need to leave this place immediately," he added. As they heard a snarl nearby.

" It's... It's here" Matt said as they both scanned their environment once more.

"Hey, where's your flashlight?" Tony asked, trying to get his flashlight to work as the light flickered.

"I lost it" he replied.

"Damnit!" Tony cursed, " bad things happen when light goes off" Tony said with panic evident in his voice.

There was an eerie laughter that sent shivers down their spine as the atmosphere suddenly became cold.

"Won't you come out and play?" They heard the voice as it echoed throughout the woods.

"What do you want?!" Tony called out. Although fear stricken, he struggled to keep up the tough guy act.

There was a dreadful silence.

"I just wanna play" said the dreadful voice.

" What play?" Tony asked.

" It's a game. A game of gathering organs" it replied as the voice echoed throughout the woods again.

" I'll have his liver and your heart, Tony" the voice said, dragging the last word in such a creepy way that sent shivers down their spine. A body dropped before them with a thud from the tall trees. A closer look revealed it was Vera, her stomach had been ripped open and her eyes were missing.

" Bloody hell! " Matt cursed as Tony screamed in horror.

****

Mrs Smith pulled up beside an abandoned warehouse as she scanned her environment to make sure she's not followed. She locked the car and walked hurriedly into the warehouse which was dimly lit. It's where she used to come to as a kid whenever she feels like being alone. It was located at the outskirts of the city and only Clara knows a about it.

"Thank God you're here. I was about dialing 911" Clara said stepping out of a corner. She was putting on a black hoodie with a pair of black jeans.

"Are you sure no one followed you here?" Mrs Smith asked.

"I should be asking you that".

"I just need to be sure..."

"I'm a cop Lucy. I hope you understand that" Clara said moving towards a door that once served as an office when the warehouse was still operating. Mrs Smith followed.

"So, what are we doing here in the middle of nowhere?" Clara asked immediately they got in.

"It's my husband..."

"Is he dead?" Clara asked cutting her short with an eyebrow raised.

"What the hell, Clara! No," she replied. "He's in trouble" she added.

"Wait, hold on a second," Clara said holding up finger. "You told me PD911 on the phone, how does it relate with Richard? Does he know the truth already?" Clara asked searching her eyes as if the answers are there.

"Look, he doesn't know anything yet, but something happened at his workplace" she said keeping a serious face at Clara.

"Well, spill it out" she replied leaning against the wall.

"A girl was killed in Starlake High with her stomach ripped open and her liver cut out"

"Gross!" Clara said making a face like she would puke.

" A weird detective was in charge of the case and... "

" Is he hot? " Clara asked with a wink.

" For God's sake Clara, be serious for once or I'll just go find someone else I can confide in"

" I'm really curious to know who that would be, your dad? " She teased.

" Clara! "

" Okay, okay, fun's over. I'm serious now, " she said with her hands raised.

" You were saying a hot detective was in charge of the case" she said rolling her eyes.

" Just be serious, okay? "

" Okay, " Clara assured.

" So, a detective was in charge of the case and according to Richard, he was weird"

" Like how weird? "

" Weird in the sense that he tried to erase the school's CCTV footage when he's actually the one investigating the case"

"Now that's weird," Clara said nodding her head. She seems to be serious now.

"Plus, Richard said he tried to compel him into forgetting what he saw in the footage and he think he saw veins appear on his face"

" Vampire, " said Clara pacing around the small office with her hands folded across her chest.

" Except vampires don't have the ability to cast or perform magical spells, do they? " said Mrs Smith.

" What do you mean? " Clara said unfolding her hands as she moved close to Mrs Smith.

" He made everyone in the school believe Richard wiped the footage and tried to destroy the computers. He even made a screwdriver appear in his hands out of nowhere, with screws on the desk, an evidence that Richard indeed was the culprit"

" Now that's not a vampire" Clara said.

" Same thing I thought" she replied.

"

"Where's Richard now?"

"He's been arrested as a suspect connected with the murder" she replied.

"Woah! Things have gone that bad?"

"It could be worse since he's at the police station now"

" Is he wearing the bracelet? " asked Clara.

" Before and during the whole thing, yes," she said.

" I don't think he would be wearing it for long" said Clara.

" What do you mean?" Mrs Smith said with a worried look.

" He would be stripped of his personal belongings once he gets to SCPD," she said.

" Meaning?"

" If the man that came to the school was a detective, then he's definitely in SCPD, possibly a replacement for my partner that got shot"

" And?"

" Richard is the only one that wasn't manipulated by the so called detective and he decided to ruin him"

" I still don't get it" Mrs Smith said, she's getting worried already.

" I thought you were smarter than this, Lucy" she scoffed.

" Just tell me what you know" she replied.

" Don't you get it? Can't you see the strange man had this whole thing planned out?" Clara said trying hard to make her see things the way she sees it. " He could have just arrested him right there when he did the whole manipulation thing, but no he didn't. Why? Because he doesn't want to arrest Richard himself. He wants them to bring him in themselves" she replied.

" So he let him go after knowing the dangers?" Mrs smith asked.

" Yes, he has a master plan. There's something I learnt while at the academy. While dealing with a criminal, you have to become one, technically" Clara said.

" Which means"

" You have to think like a criminal" she said. " Take a look at it this way. What would you do if you were the detective?" Clara asked.

" I was never a criminal" Mrs Smith replied with a smirk.

" Ouch!" Clara said feigning to be hurt.

" I'm listening"

" Okay. So, since I know my compulsion did not work on him because of the bracelet he has on, I'll just compel the whole school, implicate him and make the school authorities order his arrest themselves. He would be brought to me, a place where he would be stripped off of the only thing stopping me from doing my manipulation Voodoo-juju, whatever on him. He would be at my mercy, powerless, making it easy for me to kill him and manipulate the whole Police department. And, I could compel the cops to work for me anyways" she groaned. " I no longer feel like resuming duty tomorrow"

" Oh my God! Richard's in trouble"

" I bet he is" Clara agreed.

" But I have you" Said Mrs Smith.

" Meaning? "

" You'll help me keep him safe since you're resuming duty tomorrow".