#lilbitmyster

[lovetnaomi]

Secrets of the Dusk Chapter 7

Chapter 7

                 It was supposed to be an easy assignment, Uraraka ran the pencil behind her ear attempting to half-listen to her groupmate’s theories and half-push back spilling what had actually happened. She couldn’t exactly say that perhaps no one made off with the body and perhaps he was still alive and kicking somewhere. For the most part really. The project was about strategizing and the ability to think outside the box, but it was also odd that they were being given an unsolved murder case to figure out. She tapped the pencil against the desk.

               “You’re usually so focused what’s wrong?”

               She turned to Tsuyu, wishing that the fact that she knew Katsuki was up-and-walking around wouldn’t interfere with her ability to think straight. Her ability to think creatively, at least, so that she could come up with a possible viable conclusion on what happened. Something that masses would understand. Not that the body got up and walked away on its own-wait, did he?

 Or did someone drag him to Todoroki’s first? Did Todoroki have to resurrect him? Uraraka shook her head. There was one absolute consistency in vampire lure. And that was how to become a vampire. Todoroki had nothing to do with it. Also, there was the other fact that they had been discussing. Assuming that the killer had come back to clean up their mess.

               “There’s a couple things. Why only one kill? Typically, such brutal killers consider this a work of art, and artist have the tendency to keep creating. I also feel like we’re assuming that the killer came back to clean up their work, which I don’t think is likely unless they got cold-feet about displaying what they did.”

               Tsuyu let out a soft smile, her eyes likely wondering why she hadn’t chosen such a field for her own major. There were a couple answers to that. One of them being the need for answers would drive her insane. She would keep going. And the world keeps spinning. At the end of the day, there would just be more to solve. She couldn’t burn herself out like that. But the case was unsolved. The killer was still out there. If they saw Katsuki was alive. They would be back to finish the job. Uraraka glanced towards the window, or was it something more? Was it some form of vampire etiquette none of them understood. The person who forced the transition on Katsuki thought they actually killed them and darted? If they saw Katsuki was alive would they try to finish the job to seal the loose ends or would it progress the other way? No. Knowing Katsuki, that person would try to finish the job. There was so much blood. They were trying to drain him dry. That person probably did. How his heart began beating again she would never know. The conclusion to that would be there was a serial killer on the loose that would attempt to drain the next nearest victim dry.

Uraraka flipped the page, her bracelet jangling against the paperwork. Her eyes slid down towards it. There was no reason to worry. Todoroki would more than likely swoop in like a hawk the minute something went wrong.  Uraraka took a breath, but she couldn’t rely on them to save her each time. Uraraka took a breath, writing a couple drabbling’s down into her notebook.

The third of their four-man team turning to her, “What do you have? I’m in a slump. Most killers either become serial killers or leave something behind. But we’re working on the why the body was gone. It’s so hard to determine the motive without the killer.”

Tsuyu turned to them, “Most would decide cold-feet. Like at last second they changed their mind or decided to hide it.”

The third person in the group nodded, their eyes sliding towards Uraraka, “What have you been thinking about?”

“If they had cold-feet and decided to hide what they did, why didn’t they clean up the mess they left behind? I think it wasn’t necessarily the killer that moved the body.”

They nodded at each other. Emily, turned the page, annoyance beginning to glow in her eyes, sliding her phone closer to her before setting it down again. It was likely both the fact that they were struggling with a hard angle in which Uraraka found herself guilty for knowing the answers to but having to withhold them because they couldn’t present such a conclusion in class and that Emily’s boyfriend was the other member of the group. And they were not only late, but no message and they weren’t replying either. “He said he was free at this time. And we went around her schedule too.” Emily flushed, glancing down at the table, “Sorry, I’m just a bit embarrassed. I suggested he join our group and now he’s not here.”

Uraraka waved her hands, “It’s fine. Maybe, she got held up in traffic or is having a hard time parking.”

Emily glanced towards the clock, nearly eleven-thirty…..in the night. Uraraka knew exactly what she was thinking. Those were all unreliable excuses. There was no traffic at such an hour and the campus was practically deserted. Emily slid her supplies into her bag, “If either of you have any time after this, that’d be great. I’m sorry about….ya know.”

“It’s fine. Sometimes somethings happen. I hope Jasper’s okay.” Tsuyu stated as Emily nodded before heading out. They waved bye to Emily before beginning to pack their own things.

Uraraka took a breath, “What if the answer to what happened to him is something that we can’t explain in class? Like something no one would quite be able to understand?”

Tsuyu glanced towards her, shaking her head, “No matter what we come up with it’s going to sound ridiculous. We just have to figure out how to back it up so that it’s believable.”

“How about we just arrest the killer and bring them in for show-and-tell.”

Tsuyu laughed, shaking her head at her, “Don’t do anything crazy now.”

“Do you think we’ll get extra credit if we bring the killer in?”

Tsuyu shook her head, glancing towards Uraraka’s pathway back, “Are you sure you don’t want me to walk you back? I don’t see Todoroki’s car today.”

Uraraka shook her head. In the darkness of the night, the offer was super tempting, but there was no way she was going to let Tsuyu walk her all the way home than wandering her way around the demon-infested woods that was the borderline Todoroki’s territory. She would be up all night with nightmares unsure if Tsuyu had made it home.  

“It’s fine, I’ve got my pepper spray. I’ll be alright.” Lies. She knew what she wanted. The woods that had begun providing her comfort in the recent days were ushering an atmosphere that made her want to check over her shoulder every two minutes. And the powers that Natsuo had spoke of were being suppressed by the necklace that was also keeping demons and other creatures from wanting to eat her.

So, she had a choice to make. Powers and becoming dinner or barely hidden behind a thin piece of metal. Right now, it was not being dinner. She secretly wanted Tsuyu to walk her home. In the past couple of days, she had grown comfortable with Todoroki being by her side. But there was something chilling about him not being here at the current moment. She waved bye to Tsuyu doing her best to put on a smile. A smile and presence of reassurance. In the last couple of days, she also found herself becoming a progressively better actor. She could do this. She could figure out how to survive in both worlds. Uraraka glanced towards the stars, if their home led them to discover Katsuki’s killer what would she do with that information?

Uraraka sighed, glancing towards the sidewalk. It would result in them on a major avoid list or having to fight for her life. If Katsuki couldn’t survive with how built he was then currently she didn’t expect to manage to put up a fight. Especially against someone who was a supernatural creature. Wait-what if the killer was human? Uraraka glanced towards the sidewalk, what if the killer was human and then a vampire came along afterward pitying Katsuki because of his age and with little hope attempted to resurrect him, walked away before that happened because of being long gone by the time they attempted something, and Katsuki then woke up confused thinking that a vampire killed him? Uraraka shook her head, realizing something, a crucial detail that would enhance her investigation. She had never asked Katsuki himself.

The gruesome scene circled in her head, there were so many details. But mostly the sheer amount of blood was the distraction. The fact that there was so much had pulled her attention away from the more crucial details of the scenery. The familiarity, it had been playing over and over in her own head for days on end becoming clearer and clearer each day. Uraraka felt her eyes slide down towards an alleyway that she must’ve stayed in before Todoroki found her. The faint rustic color of what could’ve been mistaken as rust coloring the edges of the alley. The fading color splattered about. The alleyway both beckoned and scared her. The world tilted, Uraraka felt anger rush over her heart, the need to run into the alleyway whirlpooling around in her head as she felt the anger pump in her veins. Suddenly being thrown back, feeling as though her neck was snapping. Uraraka took a breath. Lowering herself to the sidewalk. She hadn’t moved an inch. She couldn’t make herself follow such an impulse. Not into an alley with that feeling. Not into that alley. There was no mistaking it. This is where Katsuki had been murdered. And that event was clinging dearly to the alleyway. Begging someone to unravel it.

Metal clanked as Uraraka glanced towards the emergency stairwell, one of the residents dragging out their cigarette, “Hey, girl, you okay?”

Uraraka nodded, “Sorry, I-I just didn’t feel good suddenly.”

“Happens a lot around here. I’d move if I could, but hey, at least rent’s cheap.”  

Uraraka nodded again, attempting to wave good-bye as they kept talking. She sent a soft smile before heading further towards Todoroki’s house. Without a companion, the trip was feeling as though it was taking forever. She knew she hadn’t gotten lost. That wasn’t possible. She knew how to get there; Todoroki had walked her there a bazillion times so far. She knew the way. She had gotten there on her own the first time. Faint footsteps echoed behind her. Uraraka swallowed, the feeling of someone grabbing her by the neck in the alleyway still resilient in her mind, picking up her pace as her hand slid to the pouch where she knew she didn’t pack the pepper spray that morning. Uraraka took a breath. She could handle them. They didn’t look too tough. And they probably underestimated her if they were already following her without a second thought. If she could just round the corner and throw a good right hook, then she’d make a run for it. Startle them then escape. Uraraka took a breath quickening her paces the paces following her beginning to match. She took a breath, running for it, the person’s footfalls not bothering to hide that they were following her anymore and already attempting to catch up to her. Uraraka spun, their shadow approaching. Just at the right moment, she threw the punch, Katsuki pushing her hand away barely dodging, a wild smile painted on his face.

“That surprised to see me?”

A mixture of embarrassment and anger mixed through her chest, “Why didn’t you call out to me?”

Katsuki shrugged, glancing towards the alleyway, “Figured you were having one of your psychic attacks and wasn’t sure if it’d be a good time. After that, I did call out, but you didn’t hear me.”

Uraraka nodded. That alley was where he had been murdered. She couldn’t really hold his struggle to call out to her against him. She attempted to keep her hand from moving to her neck to itch it….anything to remove the feeling of someone having their hands around her throat, being dragged to the wall and fighting for her life, anything to remove the brutal feeling of the way Katsuki was murdered. It hurt so much. He made it seem like it wasn’t a big deal. But he was angry. He was desperate to win. Like anyone would be. And he had lost the only thing that could be considered purely his own no matter what anyone else said. Uraraka took a breath, trying to steady the dizzying feeling spinning in her head, begging her to get out of the funhouse and take some Tylenol,  “Was that-? Where you?”

Katsuki glanced over his shoulder, his voice given off a slight grumble, “Yeah. I go back there every so often to see if the bastard that made me this way is going to show their face.”

“Are the person who murdered you and the person who made you a vampire the same person?”

Katsuki’s red eyes flashed through the darkness, “Huh? Of course, they are. There’s no way a regular person would’ve been able to take me. Not even as a human.”

She let a slight smile slip, the amount of self-pride that bubbled within him was something to admire. She wondered if she could cultivate and sell it. The fast pace of heels clopped down the sidewalk. Uraraka glanced over her shoulder, seeing Tsuyu, covered in sweat and worry on her face.

“I couldn’t just leave you. I’m sorry. And then I heard you scream, I’m-“ Tsuyu’s eyes slid over towards Katsuki. “He’s alive?”

Uraraka felt her heartbeat increase a few notches. The confusion on Tsuyu’s face as she attempted to connect the dots becoming more and more prominent by the second. Her eyes slid towards Katsuki who glared towards her, “I’m as dead as they come.”

“Don’t lie to her. You’re not. You still are capable of moving yourself. You’ve been undead for a while now.”

Uraraka glanced over her shoulder, Todoroki standing a few sidewalk panels down the street, “Sorry about not being there. Katsuki said he’d go since it’s the new moon tonight.”

“It’s alright.” Her eyes slid back towards Tsuyu, what wasn’t alright was the fact that she felt like a liar to her best friend. That she hadn’t confided anything in Tsuyu. And that she was likely about to find out about way more than she wanted her to know. How was she supposed to keep her safe? Tsuyu meant it when she wanted to go into the criminal justice field. It wasn’t a fling or because it was a decent job choice. It was her passion. And Uraraka felt like a criminal hiding evidence.

Tsuyu slid a knife out of her pocket, “Uraraka, get away from them.”