Bloodlines

CHAPTER TWELVE: COLD CASE

it was midnight, now a week after the mini-funeral my friends and i made. i was already half asleep watching tv, so i decided to wake myself up by taking a shower. as a human, showers felt nice, but as a vampire, it felt even greater, more pleasuring. more calm and relaxing. i stood there, letting the water hit the roof of my head, pour down my body, forming a sort of a warm water cocoon. my hair was like black silk, pasted on my head and shoulders.
after an hour, i got out of the shower. i have a habit of taking very long showers. i was still a little tired, even after my shower. but then i saw something that woke me up in an instant. a dark figure in my room. it stood by the window. it was so still yet so menacing. it was the vampire...in my house?. how could this be? how could he be in here without being invited in? he turned his head to me, i still couldn't tell who it was, it was so dark. i panicked and grabbed my hairbrush, which was the first thing i saw and tried to use to attack the vampire. i threw it at him with all my strength, but he seemed to shrug it off. i then grabbed a pencil from my makeup table to try and stab him with it. but he caught my arm, then choked me very tightly. he threw me across the room, making me tumble over my bed. according to freddy, this vampire was not turned too long before i was, but yet he seemed so strong that any move i'd make would be useless.
the vampire floated and his image seemed to widen, he spread his trench coat, like an angel's wings, then he turned into his bat form and flew straight towards me. i couldn't help it. i screamed. i curled up in the corner, waiting for the impending attack. but all i felt was a breeze and my mom's hands shaking me. jason turned on the lamp. the vampire, who just a second ago was trying to kill me, was gone.
"what's wrong?!" my mom had a scared and worried expression.
i was still in shock, but i was also embarrassed having jason see my bare body. i quickly grabbed my towel and covered myself.
"um...nothing!" i said, not being able to come up with a believable explanation.
"didn't sound like nothing." jason said.
"i just, i thought someone was in my room, i was half asleep, i'm sorry i woke you guys." i held my arm nervously.
"are you sure? i'm worried about you sweetheart."
"i'm fine mom, i swear."
"okay sweetie, goodnight." my mom hugged me and kissed me on the cheek.
jason picked up my brush from the floor and handed it to me. then he turned off the lamp and closed the door behind him. i totally forgot jason was sleeping over again. he and my mom are getting closer, which still bothers me. it's almost compelling how great they are together, even if he's not my dad. jason even drives my mom to and from work. he's really committed to her. i don't know whether i should be happy or upset.
the next day, it was daniel's funeral. everyone was there. the girls, my mom, jeremy, sahara, freddy, daniel's family, even chloe. i felt guilty seeing daniel's family crying. i felt wrong being here. being the one who killed daniel, and then being here at his own funeral. no, this was not my fault, it was the vampire's fault. i had to keep reminding myself that.
"why didn't jason come?" i asked my mom.
"he said he had an important meeting." my mom replied.
of course, the vampire hunter wouldn't attend a vampire's funeral. i walked over to the girls, raven was crying too.
"how are you holding up?" indi asked me.
"i still feel guilty as hell, i can't even look at his family without this rush of guilt sweeping over me." i admitted.
raven wiped her tears away. "it's not your fault lucy. you may have been the one who staked him, but it was the trench coat vampire who started this all."
once raven said the words 'trench coat', i thought back to what happened last night. "guys?"
"what's wrong luce?" alex asked.
"last night, the vampire was in my house."
"uninvited?" indi asked, confused. i nodded.
"how's that even possible?" raven asked.
"i don't know. i was in the shower, and when i got out, he was there, by my window."
"this is good news!" alex exclaimed.
"just how would that be good news?" i questioned, slightly offended.
"because, if the vampire was in your house without being invited in, this means he was already invited in before, just in his human guise."
"alex has a point. that does narrow down our suspect list, we just gotta figure out who exactly it is." indi said.
"well, between whenever this vampire got turned and last night, this could be anybody who's stepped foot in my house."
"so, who can it be?"
"i don't know, do you realize how many people have been in my house?"
"well, we gotta figure out who it is." raven said.
"well i can't just interrogate everyone who's been to my house."
"well, you got any better ideas?" alex asked.
"maybe we should look into what happened that night on the bridge, like we were supposed to before we got distracted with a million other things." indi suggested.
"you're right. that has to be some kind of cold case by now." i said.
"great! now we can go solve a mystery, scooby-doo style." alex said.
"i am not riding in a van, no thank you." i scoffed.
"well let's not waste anytime, after the funeral, we're going to the precinct." indi commanded.
"i swear, there's something off about those girls, i can almost sniff it! i just can't put my finger on it." chloe told sahara.
sahara sighed. "when are you gonna leave them alone? especially lucy, it was one mistake, on a dumb halloween party, let it go."
"it's not that, and i told you not to bring that up."
"sorry, just saying, you're only wasting your time with them."
"but think about it, it can't be a coincidence that daniel kills himself after hanging out with those girls." chloe continued, "he probably didn't even kill himself, the girls just abducted him and sacrificed him to the devil."
sahara hit chloe on the arm. "don't say that! and don't speak ill of the dead."
"who knows? maybe jeremy is next."
"seriously? he's lucy's boyfriend."
"exactly."
i then walked over to jeremy, who was the only one still standing by the casket.
"you must miss him so much." i hugged him.
"just hard to lose a friend. sometimes it feels like i never even knew him. it just happened so suddenly." jeremy said.
"i'm sure you knew him very well, and i'm sure he knew you very well."
"lucy..." jeremy kept opening and closing his mouth, as if he were trying to say something, but couldn't make the words out. then finally, he spoke. "spending time with my uncle made me realize how much i care about you. how much i want you to be safe, how much i...love you."
i looked up at him, then smiled. "i want you safe more than anything." i held his hand. "i promise i'll be here for you, for as long as you want me."
jeremy caressed my face and kissed me. it didn't last as long as the other kisses, but it was still meaningful.
"lucy." freddy said. i turned to him. "i need to talk to you." i walked with him to the girls.
"what's wrong freddy?" i asked.
"i think i may have a lead on the vampire's origin." he said, "i know a witch, she discovered that the vampire was turned sometime in september of 2005."
"that was when we started high school, how did she do that?" i asked.
"it's kind of hard to explain. vampires give off a unique energy, the vampire has an energy that is similar to yours, he is only slightly older. so we can sort of psychically determine the year, even month, that said vampire is turned."
"wait, have you seen the vampire?" alex asked.
"no, me and my witch friend just revisit the locations the vampire has been."
"freddy, the vampire was in my house last night, uninvited. is it possible for vampires to go in houses without being invited in?"
"no, it's a pretty strict rule that vampires have to be invited in."
"irrelevant question: wizard is the male term for witches, correct?" raven asked. freddy nodded.
"so what are warlocks?"
"rogue, evil witches, usually male."
"okay, occult studies aside, freddy, maybe you can come with us to the precinct. we want to dig deeper, look at any hidden police files regarding what happened that night." i explained.
"i'll help as much as i can." freddy said.
"thanks, freddy."
after the funeral, the girls and i went back our houses to change into regular clothes. we planned to meet with freddy by the precinct in an hour. i was extremely anxious and thought of a million possible truths to what actually happened that night.
the girls and i met freddy by the precinct. next to him was a very familiar pretty girl about indi's height. she was pale and had dark brown hair with dyed deep-purple highlights tied up in punk-style pigtails. she wore dark makeup and her outfit was all-black with plenty of fishnets.
i immediately recognized her. "natalie?"
natalia gasped. "lucy!" she ran to me and i hugged her.
"oh my god, it's so good to see you!" i said, "i haven't seen you since-"
"halloween." she finished. "indi, alex, raven."
"girl where have you been? i missed you so much!" indi said, hugging natalie.
"my family moved to arizona since our coven moves around a lot, but i finally convinced my parents to let me move in with freddy. i just arrived last night."
"wait, did you just say coven?" raven asked.
"oh, right. i'm a witch." natalie explained, "and ray, i'm sorry about your boyfriend."
"wait, freddy, she's the witch friend you were talking about?" i asked.
freddy nodded. "i wanted to surprise you."
"well hey! enough of me! i hear you four are vampires!" natalie exclaimed. "what's it like for you?"
"well it was hard at first, but we're getting the hang of it." alex admitted.
"i missed seven months worth of deets, you guys definitely need to fill me in. sleepover tonight?"
"you bet." indi said.
"great! now lets go crack some police files." natalie said as she cracked her knuckles.
the six of us went inside the precinct.
"can i help you?" the security guard asked, looking at us with disgust.
i walked up to the guard and made eye contact with him. "give us everything you have regarding the night of october 31'st, 2006."
"follow me." he said, leading us to the back of the precinct, where they kept a bunch of police files. i winked at natalie.
"that is so cool." she said.
"alright ladies, gentleman, this is everything we have on the night of october 31'st, 2006." the guard laid a bunch of police files in a desk.
"great, now go be a good little security guard and do away with the attitude." i persuaded him yet again. the security guard went back to his desk.
"alright, where do we start?" natalie asked, rubbing her hands together and
"wait!" freddy said. he pulled out six pairs of black latex gloves and gave a pair to each of us, "wouldn't wanna leave any fingerprints."
the six of us put on our gloves and got to work. i picked up a thin looking police file and opened it, showing a picture of the bridge my dad went over. yellow 'do not cross' tapes blocked the entrance and the exit of the long, wide bridge.
"this was taken at 11:30, they fixed the railing pretty fast, i'm pretty sure my dad and i went over the bridge an hour before." i noticed.
"wait, look at the corner." indi pointed, "that black figure, isn't that the vampire? he's just standing there."
"he was still stalking the scene even after he caused the tragedy?!" i asked with slight anger in my voice.
"guys look." natalie opened a file which contained the car that my dad drove.
alex took the photo. "lucy, there's not a single scratch or dent on this car."
i examined the photo, it was just a wet black 1967 impala that only had cracked glass.
"how could the car have went over the bridge without at least a scratch?" raven asked, "unless cars know how to jump over."
freddy then walked over to the files that contained animal attacks. "look at this, three victims, in the woods next to the bridge, throats ripped out."
"obviously done by the vampire." i said. i then came across a flash drive. "guys?"
"what is it?" freddy asked.
i showed them the flash drive. "this might have footage of what happened that night!"
"that's perfect, we'll take it to your house, plug it to your laptop and watch it!"
"alright freddy, exposition aside, what do you think we'll find there? if anything supernatural happened in the footage, don't you think the police would've done a vampire manhunt?" indi asked.
"that's why it's called a cover-up, indi." natalie replied, "there's shit the police don't wanna tell and wanna figure it out themselves."
"hopefully, this footage can show us who the vampire is." i said.
"we should go before we get caught." alex suggested.
the six of us went back to the front of the precinct. the security guard was still there. i made eye contact with him again. "forget you ever saw us."
we then walked back to my house. i kept imagining what i would see in the footage. i imagined the vampire turning towards the camera. not realizing he was being filmed, showing his face once and for all. i also wondered how my dad's car could've went over without leaving a scratch on the railing or the car itself.
when we arrived at my house, i noticed sahara sitting on the steps.
"sahara, what're you doing here?" i asked.
"lucy, i wanna help." she said.
"what do you mean?"
"i wanna help you catch this guy."
"you know this isn't just some guy, this vampire is dangerous."
"yeah, and this vampire killed my friend, he almost killed me, and it seems pretty damn likely that he will attack more of our friends. i may be human, but i wanna be of use."
"lucy, what are you doing?" natalie asked in confusion.
"it's okay, she knows. natalie, this is sahara. sahara, this is natalia. she's a witch."
"of course she is." she said. she then waved at natalie. "nice to meet you, i'm human."
"hey, it's not all bad." natalie shrugged. "love your hair b-t-w."
"thanks." sahara blushed. playing with a strand of her red hair. "yours is pretty too."
"alright girls, we should probably get inside. sahara, i stole a flash drive from the precinct that contains footage from the night my dad died." i explained.
"great, we should check it out."
the seven of us went up to my room and plugged the flash drive into my laptop. it took almost forever to download.
"so sahara, how do you know about vampires?" natalie asked.
"i was attacked by the one you guys are looking for. if it wasn't for lucy and her friends, i would've died." sahara explained.
"yep, and she's been bugging us for answers ever since." indi cracked.
"hey, i had a good reason."
after a few minutes, the footage finally downloaded on my computer. "guys, it's ready."
everyone put their focus on my computer. since i was afraid of what i could possibly see in the footage, i almost hesitated when i clicked the icon and played the video. the video started off with a view of the entrance of the bridge. the video was eerily quiet. a minute in, the rear view of my dad's car appeared in the shot. he drove for about fifteen seconds, and suddenly something zoomed past the camera, making the seven of us jump back.
a couple more seconds later and a puff a smoke flashed in front of my dad's car, forming into a man, the vampire. my dad's car then swerved off the road, and i faintly heard my screams coming from the car. the vampire then sped very quickly and pushed the car over the bridge, the car only slightly hitting the railing. we were thrown over. i heard a faint splash. the vampire stood there eerily for almost two minutes before he turned into a bat and fled the scene. the next shot was an upper view, showing the road and the river next to it. only a small scratch was on the silver railing of the bridge.
another three minutes passed, then i emerged from the water. you would have to squint to see it. it was me. my hair used to be shoulder-length. i grew it out the following month after the accident. i swam to the surface, and that's when the video ended. the screen distorted into a fuzzy black screen, then blood red words appeared, saying 'you're welcome, lucinda'. then it finished. everyone had their mouths open in shock. but i was already crying.
"i'm gonna have nightmares." indi said.
i got up out of my desk chair and walked towards the window, it was already night. i wept into my hands. the vampire didn't just cause the accident, he wanted to kill my dad. he wanted him dead, but why?
"luce..." freddy began, reaching to me.
i slapped his hand away. "we know nothing!" i snapped, "that video only showed us what we already know!"
"lucy, we do know something. now we officially know your dad wasn't just killed by some common vamp. this vampire had a vendetta against your dad, that's why he killed him."
i cried harder. "well he got what he wanted, so why is he after me? and them?" i referred to the girls still standing by the computer, looking at me. "was my dad not enough?"
"i don't know lucy, but at least now we're a few steps closer to figuring out who this vampire is. now we know it's someone who hated your dad."
"the question is who." sahara said.
i shook my head. "i don't know."
"think."
"everyone loved my dad. he was literally like everyone's favorite person." i said. "maybe i just didn't know enough people."
"you said the vampire was in here last night, which means within the almost-two years the vampire was turned, he was invited in at some point." alex said.
"he was in here?!" sahara exclaimed.
"look, two years is a long time. it literally could've been anybody." i said.
"alright guys, well at least this video was confirmation." natalie said. "the more we know, the better."
"hold on guys, you're missing the biggest part of the video." raven pointed at the words on the screen. "this video was specifically made for lucy."
"i noticed." i said.
"so the vampire was just hoping you would watch this?" sahara asked.
"he made the video so you would know how it went down that night." indi clarified.
"but why would the vampire leave a bunch of evidence behind for you to take?" natalie asked.
"or maybe he wanted you to find it." alex theorized. "maybe he's tormenting you because he wants to leave you clues. it's just a matter of why."
"i just want all this to be over." i said, starting to get angry. "i wanna find him, then i wanna drive a stake through his heart. i want him to suffer. i want him to burn in hell."
"and he will, one day soon." indi placed her hand on my shoulder, reassuring me.
that night, the girls, including natalie, were fast asleep. but i couldn't sleep. i kept thinking the vampire would sneak back in. but i felt much safer with natalie around, since she's a witch, and a powerful one at that. but i kept thinking about the video, and the truth to it. my dad was murdered in cold blood by this vampire. and now he wants me, and my friends. what more could he possibly want?