The Vampire's Inquiry

The Vampire's Inquiry Ch. 3

Chapter 3

The Dark Murder

Music blared all around the grounds of the football field as the Lakewood students mingled about trying to attract local parents and their small children to venture to their booths and tables to win over-sized prizes and lose their money. The Friday night sky was littered with stars, making the festivities of the fund-raiser even more inviting. Lights were strewn about and bright colors were displayed everywhere. Carter and his friends marveled at their table. They were in charge of selling tickets.

“Everything’s going pretty well,” Josh commented as he sat behind their table, taking a look at the celebrations.

“Yeah, I agree,” Keely added. “And you guys thought all my hard work wouldn’t pay off.”

Carter rolled his eyes but smiled.

“We need to attract some publicity,” stated Keely. She went into action, bringing out her clipboard.

The boys groaned but knew even with Keely’s outrageous demands, even she couldn’t ruin this night.

~~~~~~~~~

Once the fund-raiser had gotten into the swing of things, Carter and his friends had sold over thirty tickets and were keeping the profits safe in a metal box. Josh occasionally left to retrieve food and drinks or to bring back information on how the other students were doing as well.

This seemed to be the first time that Carter truly felt relaxed as opposed to all the weird things that had been occurring lately. His strange dreams had disappeared and he no longer experienced the feeling that something was out to get him. It felt…clean.

He watched as Keely tallied up the profits they had made in just an hour.

“We’re running low on tickets,” she observed. “And Josh isn’t back yet. Carter can you get some more?”

“Uh…yeah, sure. Where are they?”

Keely pointed a finger into the distance near a far off blue tent. That’s where all the supplies for the fund-raiser were stored in case of shortages.

“Alright, be right back.”

Carter sauntered away from the grounds of the fund-raiser, the lights and noise fading in the background. He came upon the blue tent, stepping inside and searching around. For better lighting, he pulled out his car keys that had a small flashlight attached to them. He gave a thorough look of what he was searching for until he spotted the tickets in a red bag. Reaching for them, he exited the tent just as he saw something flash in the corner of his eye. He glanced sideways, but it was too dark to make out any figures. It was probably just some horny teens that ventured off trying to make out.

As Carter made his way back, he saw it again. Standing where he was, he peered into the darkness. He couldn’t make out the person, but positioned just some twenty feet away was a dark shadow. He figured that it was probably someone from the fund-raiser that was just lost. As he made his way toward them, it disappeared around the corner of the school.

Instinctively, Carter followed. He peered around the building, squinting in the dark. The only source of light came from a nearby streetlamp, but even that didn’t seem like enough. The figure was still far ahead and then slowly turned around. It wasn’t some wandering teen, but instead Lucas.

Carter called out, “Hey, Lucas!”

Everything happened so suddenly then. A dark shadow swooped down, extending an arm towards Lucas and pinning him against the brick wall.

“What the…”

Lucas let out a blood-curdling shriek as Carter spotted the glint of something shiny impale his small body. It twisted and sounded as if you could almost hear bones breaking. The attacker retracted the razor-sharp weapon from his stiff body, something dark and thick spewing from the wound. Blood was Carter’s first guess. The menacing figure hauled Lucas’ corpse over his shoulder, and with an unbelievable leap, sprung himself to the top of the school’s roof, disappearing.