The New Girl

Chapter Nine

The wheels of police cruiser crunched on the driveway of Gilbert mansion, wailing siren flashing red and blue light from the vehicle's top. It stopped halfway on the drive and the screeching siren was silenced.

Three policemen in navy blue uniform inspected the dead body, one of them talking in his walkie-talkie asking for the ambulance to send quickly. They put the yellow tape around the crime scene. By now the Gilbert mansion was swarmed with neighbors and those whoever had opted to stay back after the party standing on tiptoe and cranking their necks to catch a glimpse of the corpse.

"Who called us?" The cop with the moustache said, turning to our direction.

Lovina raised her hand in air, and tottered toward the caller. She seemed confident in what she was doing. Meanwhile I turned off the light app in my cell phone and went after her, high strung. We stood before the police man with the moustache: his two assistants busied themselves in taking photos of Mariana's body and shielding it with long white cloth.

"I'm Robert Franco," the police man with moustache said, his hands on his waist. "You can call me Chief Franco, though. Tell us what exactly happened here? And to that poor lady?"

Lovina began telling from the episode we met in the parking lot of Neon Campus to her going in the kitchen to fetch the drinks for us in the party. I took the story from there and finished it, my voice little quivering, on the part where Lovina had declared the dead of Mariana.

"So nobody saw the killer?" Chief Franco asked.

We shook our heads. "No."

Chief Franco screwed up his face, and I could tell that he was doing a quick thinking.

"You guys from Neon Campus?"

"Yes."

"And the dead girl too?"

"Yes, sir."  

At that moment, there came a blaring of horn and the flash of headlights. The white SUV halted behind the cruiser. A woman in mid-thirties hurried out of the car, one hand carrying a handbag and the other a mobile. Without anyone's help, I could tell that she worked for Avalanna's dad.

She puffed her chest and, shaking hands with Chief Franco, said smartly, "Hello! I'm Emma Hathway, personal assistant of Mister James Gilbert, the owner of this house."

"Chief Franco."

"Would you please tell those whose presences aren't important to leave this property this instant?"

"Sure, miss - "

"Mrs Hathway, please."

"Mrs. Hathway."

After the lawns were cleared of people, Avalanna came running out of the house, Mimi and Caybe trailing behind her. She directly jumped on Mrs Hathway and wrapped her arms around her.

"Thank you so much for coming." Avalanna sniffed in Mrs Hathway's hair.

"Don't worry, Ava.," Mrs Hathway said, breaking off from hugging and looking into Avalanna's face, which was almost close to tears. "I'm here now. Everything will be alright."

"Does this mean you will cover up all about this to my parents?"

"I can't do that, honey. Your parents need to know this."

"Then how everything will be alright? They will never have me another party after this. It's their fault. They brought that uninvited girl here." Avalanna jabbed an index finger at me. "It was probably him who killed her -"

"Ms Gilbert, calm down," Chief Franco said. "Nobody here killed her."

I sighed in relief. Thank god, these good police men weren't blaming me like others.

"Then who's the murderer, Chief Franco?" Mimi said, throwing back her hair over the shoulder. "Do you know his name?"  

"Or her?" Caybe's eyes were on Lovina, who wasn't noticing her stares.

I shot an angry look to Caybe, but then turned weak when Chief Franco spoke again.

"The bite mark on the victim's neck proves that she was murdered by the same serial killer who had been killing women and leaving bite marks on different parts of the deceased as its sign." Chief Franco turned to Lovina and me. "We've to inform the Neon Campus and the victim's parents. You two may leave. We'll contact you when necessary."

We nodded at Chief Franco and headed toward the gate taking long strides. Once being out in the street, three or four blocks away from the Gilbert mansion, I said to Lovina, "When will they know that serial killer is a vampire?"

"They will never know unless they catch the creature red handed."

"I feel so sorry for Mariana. Poor girl. She died without her first kiss."

Lovina didn't comment.

The ambulance sped past us toward the Gilbert mansion. We crossed the road and caught a night cap. Now that we were only two, Lovina could have sat with me in the back seat, but she didn't. She took the front seat next to the driver and stayed lips tight and thoughtful.

The driver tuned in the radio as the car zoomed along the road. After a few seconds of whirling the dial, he settled on one station that was airing the song Everytime by Britney Spears.

I had heard this song many times before too. But now I felt something stirring inside me when I heard it. I realized I could almost relate my present situation to this song. Uncomfortable, I asked the driver, in the middle of the song, to turn off the radio.

Unwillingly, he did it.

We drove off back to the school in silence and street lights.