It's time! I hope you enjoy. This chapter actually turned out pretty long, so sorry. Still, what do you think will happen?
When I woke up (I had slept on the couch), Logan was in the kitchen, making pancakes and humming to himself. He saw me before I could move.
“Hey sleepy head,” he said, turning to me with a smile. I didn’t smile back. I just gave him a nod. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, but had to turn around to make sure the pancakes didn’t burn.
I sat down at the table, trying to figure out what to do. I wondered if Marina even knew Logan wasn't who he said he was. For her sake I hoped she didn’t, but she seemed too smart not to notice something I did in a day.
“Hey, you okay,” he asked, putting a plate in front of me with 2 pancakes. He sat down across from me and began to drown his own with syrup.
I looked him straight in the eyes. “What are you,” I asked. Logan almost dropped the syrup bottle. He put it down and put a fake smile on his face.
“What are you talking about,” he asked. I stood up. “I looked you up. You see, I like knowing who I’m working with, did the same with Elliot Gordon, my old partner. Of course, he didn’t turn out to have died 10 years ago,” I said.
Logan looked at me for a whole minute, seemingly trying to figure out what to say. “I didn’t know how to tell you,” he whispered. Wrong answer.
I scoffed. “Really, that’s all you got? Just, tell me, what are you,” I asked.
Logan stood up with me. “It’s…It’s hard to explain.”
I rolled my eyes. “Forget it then.” I began to walk out of the house and slammed the door behind me, but Logan followed me.
“Look, I didn’t want to lie, but you wouldn’t have believed me if I told you what I was!”
I refused to turn around.
“David, just listen to me!” Suddenly, he was behind me and had grabbed my arm roughly. I was about to pull away when I noticed that his nails weren’t nails, they were claws, not that long but sharp enough to kill.
He let go of me and his claws receded. “You want the truth,” he said, breathing hard. “Fine. You're right. I'm not human. I’m what normal people call a ghoul.”
I turned around fully. “A ghoul?” He nodded, as if defeated.
“Aren’t those monsters that eat people,” I asked.
Logan shook his head. “No! Well, yes, but I don’t eat people. Well, not living people anyway. It’s one of the perks of being a CSI. I just take pieces of the dead bodies once I’m done working with them. I would never kill someone.”
I clenched my fists. "What about the guy who seems to share your face,” I asked. I don’t know why after every word he said I got angrier. I just did.
He hesitated. “It was an accident,” he said. “I just, I got really hungry, and I was young. The guy had been a complete jerk to me, and I-I lost control. If I could go back and stop myself I would.”
His eyes were glistening. He seemed sorry, but I couldn’t forgive him. “No. You’re a monster. I can’t trust you. Hell, I can’t even look at your face right now. Though I guess it really isn’t your face, is it?”
Logan shook his head. “I know, I know I’m not a great person-”
“You’re not even a person,” I practically yelled. “You lied to me, made me trust you, how do I know you’re not working with the ones who killed Alice? How do I know you won’t lose control and try to kill me?”
With every word I took another step towards him, pointing an accusatory finger at his chest. “You are a monster, and I want you away from me.”
Logan held his head up. “I won’t hurt you.”
I scoffed again. “And why should I believe you?” He had no answer for that.
Suddenly, I heard sirens. Logan looked at me. I gave him one final look before leaving him standing there.
I don’t know why I went back to Marina’s. I guess it was because there didn’t seem to be anywhere else I could go. My apartment was probably being watched 24/7, and I didn’t have anyone else to go to. At least not that I could trust. Even if Marina knew about Logan’s little secret, I felt she was on my side. I couldn’t explain it, so I won’t try too. I guess maybe because I knew she was human.
I only knocked once before Marina opened the door. She showed me a full plate of pancakes. “What happened,” she asked, accusatory. “What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything,” I said. Marina let me in, but her face showed anything but hospitality.
I put my hands in my pockets. “Did you know what he was,” I asked. Marina understood what happened immediately and her face changed. She held onto the chair for support.
Marina sat down. “He told you,” she asked. I shook my head. “No, figured it out myself. He told you?”
Marina shrugged. “I found him. He hadn’t meant to hurt someone, but he did. He was scared, fairly young too. From what he told me his parents were dead and he had grown up in an orphanage, but they found out what he was and he had to run again.”
I sat down across from her. “So you trusted him?”
Marina smiled. “Of course I did, I still do. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Why should I blame him for what he is?”
I almost wanted to listen. Logan had been the first person to trust me after everything happened. But how could I trust him when he wasn’t even human?
“I think I’ve found where our real killer was,” Marina said, changing the subject. I supposed she didn’t want to talk about Logan anymore. She must’ve felt like it wasn’t her place to say anything more.
“Really,” I asked, incredulously. Marina put her hands on her hips. “Logan ain’t the only smart one in the family,” she said.
I looked down. “My apologies,” I muttered. Marina laughed. “I’m just joking with you Locke.” She showed me the computer.
“There’s this event happening soon. No one really knows what it’s about, but Joseph Piper’s on the guest list, so probably nothing good,” Marina explained.
I looked at the information she pulled up. “Thank you Marina. I should probably go,” I said. The event started in 2 hours, and I knew it would take a while to get there (in a not suspicious way).
She stopped me before I got up. “Maybe you should let Logan come with you,” she suggested hopefully.
I shook my head. “Marina, he lied to me. I can’t bring someone I don’t trust.”
The woman sighed. “Are all 30 year olds this stubborn,” she said, more to herself than to me. “Fine, go yourself. But if something goes wrong-”
“It won’t,” I promised. I stood up and took her hand. “Thank you again Marina.” I began to leave, but stopped while opening the door.
“Don’t tell Logan that I was here,” I said.
Marina looked completely done with me and my messes, but she agreed. “Fine. Is there anything you want me to tell him?”
I shook my head, but Marina gave me a knowing smile.
“I’ll tell him what you want me to, but don’t even know you do,” she said.
I didn’t understand what she meant. I had nothing to say to him that I hadn’t already. Then again, it seemed pointless to argue with a psychic.
I nodded. “Alright. I’ll come back here when I’ve cleared my name.” Marina nodded.
“Be careful, Locke,” she said. “This doesn’t feel right. And I’d rather not have to tell Logan that his friend has died.”
I wanted to tell her that we weren't friends anymore, but I didn’t have the heart. Plus, she probably already understood the situation enough.
I gave her one final smile before closing the door behind me.
I had never crashed a party before. But I guess you should try everything at least once.
I hate suits. They were stuffy and stiff and just plain uncomfortable. But, if you’re going to a fancy event, you can’t exactly wear a T-shirt and jeans, so a suit it was.
I walked in the doors and looked around. The place seemed normal. Glamorous, but normal. Chandeliers shone on the ceilings, tables piled high with food and flowers, people everywhere were talking and laughing. I felt so out of place, but I hid it behind a mask of confidence.
I walked through the crowds. They looked at me as if I was an outlier in their mist, which they were right about. I grabbed a glass of wine and took a sip.
I almost spit it out right after the liquid touched my lips.
It wasn’t wine. It tasted like iron and was bitter. I looked at the drink in my hands. It was a deep red, darker than any wine I had ever seen.
It was blood.
This was not a normal party after all.
I put the glass down and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. I felt sick. I looked around and suddenly all the people around no longer seemed human. I noticed smaller details, like the red around their mouths. Some had sharp nails, similar to Logan’s when he had grabbed me earlier that day. I noticed a few with symbols on their body. To anyone else they would look like normal tattoo’s, but at the moment all I could think was that they looked like symbols I had seen before. Ones in books that Marina had.
My breathing pattern became irregular. My eyes darted all around. Nobody looked at me, which was good, because if they did I was definitely looking suspicious.
Then I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“What are you doing, little human?”
I cursed.
The man (though it wasn’t actually a man) dragged me through the party. Anyone who looked at me seemed to have figured out I wasn’t like them and just went about their business. Some of them had red eyes, others were hairy, but all looked like they wanted me dead.
The man who had grabbed me unlocked a door and threw me inside. “You things really are slippery,” he said. Then he closed the door.
Great, just great.
It was dark, so it took a minute for my eyes to adjust. When they did, I realized I wasn’t alone.
There were people in here. Humans, as far as I could tell. They looked terrified. Some of them seemed around my age, but most looked younger. They all avoided me like I was the plague.
“Hey, I’m not gonna hurt you,” I said. They didn’t seem to believe me. Smart, I guess.
“How can I prove I’m human,” I asked. The braver one of the group (a girl with short hair) kicked a knife across to me. “Monsters don’t bleed red,” she said.
I looked down at the knife. It wasn’t rusty at least. I sighed and picked the weapon up before lightly grazing my arm, trying not to go that deep. I still bled though, and it still hurt.
But at least they believed me.
The girl with the short hair took the knife from me and told another person to clean it off. I noticed a shower in the corner.
“Why is there a shower,” I asked. The girl shrugged. “Nobody wants dirty food, even monsters I guess.”
I looked at the girl. “Wait, food?” It all began to click. These people weren’t guests. They were the main course.
I cursed. The girl with short hair laughed. “Yeah, we all kind of had the same reaction. I’m Olivia, but you can call me Liv. I was the first one here,” she explained, sitting down on a chair that seemed to be missing a leg.
I nodded and looked around the place. There were no windows. The only door out was the door the man who had caught me locked.
“Any idea how to get out of here,” I asked, though I knew the chances were slim at best. Liv almost laughed again. “I’ve looked everywhere. There’s no secret exit, no other door, there’s not even a brick loose.”
I continued to study the room, as if I would be able to find something she didn’t, but I knew I wouldn’t. There was nothing here.
I sat down on the ground. Liv seemed sympathetic. “Hey, it’s not that bad. At least you got to live a little,” she said, leaning on her knees.
I chuckled bitterly. “Yeah, except in that life I got framed for murder, and one of the people I thought I could trust turned out to be a monster.”
Liv raised her eyebrows. “Damn,” was all she said.
I nodded. “Yeah. What about you?”
Liv shrugged. “Not much to tell. I’m a senior in high school. Was gonna go to a university, but guess that’s not happening now,” she said, motioning to the room.
I looked at her. She seemed to be trying to hide the fact that she was scared, but I could see it. She didn’t want to die. She was way too young to die like this, and she wasn’t the only one.
I couldn’t just let this happen.
“Hey little humans,” a male voice said, opening the door. When he did, we all hid behind whatever we could find.
He walked in, and I watched.
“What the-,” he muttered.
He didn’t get to say anything else before I banged him in the back of the head with the 3 legged chair.
Liv came out of her hiding spot first before the others followed suit. She raised her eyebrows at the knocked out werewolf (at least I was pretty sure that’s what he was). Then she looked at me. “Not bad. I should’ve done that an hour ago.”
I shrugged. “Come on. It’s only a matter of time before they find out that hairy over here hasn’t come back for dinner,” I said.
Liv and the others followed me down the hall. We tried to be as quiet as possible, but that’s kind of hard to do when you're among 20 people walking through a monster mansion.
After a few minutes, we had almost made it to the exit. The problem was that the only exit any of us knew of was on the other side of the ballroom, aka where the monster mash was happening at the moment. I looked at Liv, who seemed at the time to be the only one capable of speaking.
“Any ideas,” I asked. She looked at the party. “One. Maybe. But you’re not gonna like it.”
I shook my head. “Anything’s better than being eaten alive.” Liv gave me a look, as if I’d regret saying that.
She was right.
Her plan was pretty simple really. One that I would’ve come up with, but then would immediately veto since it was completely insane.
Run, pray you don’t get caught, and if a monster attacks you whack them with whatever you got.
“You’re right, I hate this plan,” I said, making sure that everyone had something to fight with if it came down to it. Rocks, utensils, anything. I still had the chair.
Liv looked at me. “I know. But we don’t really have many choices right now, do we?” I sighed, hating the fact that she was right.
“Okay. We go on 3. 1…2…,” Liv whispered.
“3.”
Then we began to run. The monsters noticed us almost immediately. I wondered for a split second if they could smell we were human or something like that, or if it was just the running that gave us away.
All I could think about was running. Get out of here. Don’t become the reason a monster’s stomach is full. But then our ranks started dropping.
Obviously the monsters weren’t just going to let us escape so easily. We all knew that. But I still wasn’t letting anyone lose this chance.
I swung my trusty chair at a monster who was about to rip open a teenager’s throat. The teenager just gave me a nod and continued to run.
Eventually, I wasn’t even running anymore. I was just keeping people from being torn apart by sharp claws, or worse (though I didn’t know there was a worse until this point).
Liv was helping, but soon we were the only ones left. “Liv, go,” I yelled over the growling and the screaming.
The girl hesitated, but I pushed her towards the door, and she listened to me. I watched out of the corner of my eye as she ran through the door.
Everyone was out. They made it.
Then I felt something hit the back of my head, hard.
I fell to the ground, feeling weak. My head was probably bleeding a little bit, but I barely paid any mind to that.
The last thing I saw before my vision turned black was a man, grinning like crazy. He looked familiar, but where had I…
Joseph Piper.
He chuckled lightly.
“Oh, this is gonna be so much fun.”
What will happen next? Do you think David will forgive Logan? What are your feelings about how things are going? Answer in the comments and stay tuned to see what happens next!
Links to last chapters:
@gracepro/accused
@gracepro/accused-part-two
