There was a heightened level of alertness among the students the following day. This was due to a second attack on the teachers within school grounds…and…within daylight hours. Why should I mention this as anything significant to the chain of crimes at hand? Well, it might also have something to do with the fact that The Archives is being occupied by a couple of Vampirrs - who also happens to be insisting that I had lived a hundred years ago with them as Emeraldie and Amber. They also think that the perpetrator of the said crimes might be connected to a long distant relative named Errzabeth – who also happens to be after me for some weird reason…
Things aren’t complicated enough, huh?
“First off, was Mrs de Vera. That was in the teacher’s lounge. Next was Mrs de Castro. That was in the restrooms by the gym.” I was scribbling details on my pocket notebook with Ivy during self-study period. “What else?”
She began, pacing in front of me and shoved right at my chair. She began tapping at the page of the notebook when an idea crossed her mind.
“What about a pattern? These things always had a pattern right? I mean, what do they hold in common?” Ivy took the pen from my hands and began adding up to the data we’ve gotten so far.
“Aside from having ‘de’ to both their family names, Mrs de Vera teaches History while Mrs. de Castro teaches – wait, what does she teach again?” Ivy scratched the side of her head with the pen’s butt.
“Biology?” I shrugged. Ivy crossed her arms above her chest and pointed out the obvious. “There’s just no pattern to be seen yet. This is tough.”
“Well, we can’t just wait for another teacher to be sucked dry. Right now, every teacher’s a possible target!”
“Even if every teacher or every one of us is likely to be the next victim, Rubes, it’s not like there’s much that we can do about it.” Ivy got up and went back to her chair. Rube was a nickname she made up for me – it’s not like Ruby wasn’t short enough. We had been together since first year, went through a lot, but this is the first she’s ever been this close to being serious.
“All I’m saying is that you shouldn’t stick your nose into something you don’t even have an idea about. I don’t want you going out there and hurting yourself. That’s the last thing I want right now.” Ivy rubbed her elbows with her hands, as if recalling the time when we found Mrs de Vera soaked in blood at the teacher’s lounge.
I got up, myself, and decided to head for the only person whom I know can do something about this.
“I won’t hurt myself – not if I can help it.” I said and grabbed the sling bag. It still had the Black Journal which I had discontinue reading because of obvious reasons.
I headed straight to The Archives and found Yuuzel and Joseff in the middle of a deep discussion.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, throwing the sling bag on an empty couch.
“There was another attack last night.” Yoh said, gesturing with his hand.
“So it was at night this time? Who was it?”
“The English teacher, de los Santos.” The principal said, walking down the steps of the passageway.
“Another ‘de’? What the – is this a joke?” The three men, startled, all repeated in unison, “Another ‘de’?”
“Well, I was talking about it with Ivy, and she said that there has to be a pattern, there always were, and that aside from being teachers they had ‘de’ as the beginning of their family names. Although I don’t see how was that suppo-“
“It could be possible” Yoh suddenly said. “Errzabeth had always worked like that. If she was the perpetrator behind this bloody chain of attacks, she’d very well be considering her twisted sense of aesthetics.”
“Sense of what?” I blinked. “What kind of sick – “
“Yes. If it was her we’re talking about, that connection would have a high probability.” It was Yuuzel’s turn to cut me off this time. “She had a sick way of looking at things, even back in the dark days. Whenever she picks out a victim, she is sure to leave behind a trail and to see that there was a symmetrical line or thread that binds her victims collectively as one. Once Errzabeth fed on children from the orphanage who were fond of sewing. All of them had been lured by her dressed up as an old lady tailor.”
“So what you’re saying is that the pattern might as well be the teachers having similar family names beginning with ‘de’? Well that narrows it down. Mrs. de Vera, Mrs. de Castro, Mr. de los Santos…who…Ms Claire!” I had almost shouted the name. “Ms Claire’s family name is ‘de Lapaz’…but there’s also our Math teacher, Mr de Lima. Either one of them could be the next victim.”
“And aside from them there are no others?” Yuuzel asked the principal who shook his head.
“None that I could remember. Master Yuu, what of the culprit, do you think he’ll strike again?”
“If he or she does, we would be at a practical distance from the possible victims. Then we’d be able to reveal who he or she really is.” I said. This did sound like a plausible idea.
Yuuzel shook his head and held my arm. He was standing alongside Yoh and was now suddenly holding my arm.
“If it was Errzabeth whom we’re dealing with, she could easily slip herself right next to you. I will not go about trailing someone if it means leaving you unprotected.”
“But they’re the ones in danger, not me!” This is ridiculous! Why would he even bring that up when there were already two lives at stake?
Joseff rolled his eyes. “I’ll be incharge of tracking Mr. de Lima. It’s an order from our lady, herself, Yuuzel. You were never one to disobey her. Besides, we’re not even a hundred percent sure that Errzabeth is behind all of these. If Ruby was the target shouldn’t she be the first one to be attacked?”
“That’s what happened before. Because Amber had asked us to track little Susan, she was left defenseless!” Yuuzel’s grip on my arm got tighter. He was fighting with something else. I had no idea what it was just that it had left him cold than he wants to be.
“Please Yuu…I’ll try and stay near Ms Claire so you could watch us both.” Yuuzel gazed down, hesitant still. “Please?”
He sighed and still – hesitantly, nodded his approval. I placed a hand above his grip on my arm. He loosened it and positioned his fingers in between mine.
“As my lady wishes…”
BINABASA MO ANG
Blood Ink (The Archives Book I): Editing
Vampire"Two deaths that happened in the distant past were revealed to me. Now there was a recent murder within the school that I had to witness for myself. And when I fled to a new found friend (though I wanted to be more than that) for comfort, he tells m...
