Chapter two

Everyone stared at her in stunned silence until someone cleared his throat and spoke,

“Are you saying it might be a…” he glanced around like what he was about to say was absolutely stupid “A vampire?”

“Yes!” Hadassah replied with excitement “Think about it, it makes perfect sense. People have been saying they're seeing the figure of a man in the house at night, how come that man is not present there during the day? There's something crazy going on in that house and sir?” she saluted her boss “I’d like to be assigned this case, sir”

“Let me get something straight Miss Darby, you want this case?”

“Yes sir. You know there's no one more suitable for this case than I am. I've handled cases like this in the past and succeeded, I'm more than capable of taking on this case”

The commander looked around “Is there anyone who would like to partner up with Detective Darby?” but no one responded because they were all too afraid.

“Seriously? No one?” he paused and then called someone's name “Detective Reynolds and Detective Gerald, I'm partnering you two up with Detective Darby to solve this case”

Reynolds groaned as he hated taking cases involving death or haunted buildings.

“Can I ask to be replaced?” he asked and everyone laughed but the commander was not having it.

“No, you may not ask to be replaced” everyone laughed again and he turned to Hadassah “Detective Darby, your analysis sounds a bit far-fetched but given this town is a shit-hole where anything can happen, I'll go with it. But you all must be careful, wear garlic on your bodies when investigating this building or anything to protect you against vampire attacks” he dismissed them with a wave of his hand and Belle came to meet her.

“Hadassah, please tell me you don't actually think there's a vampire”

“I don't think there's a vampire Belle, I KNOW there's a vampire”

“Hadassah…”

“Sorry can't talk, I've got work to do”

And she walked off to join the rest of her team. 

“So guys, we're gonna start by interrogating the victims' families, we need to keep our eyes and ears out for any clues at all. I'll go investigate the house tonight”

“You're gonna go alone?” Reynolds asked 

“Would you like to come with me?” Hadassah asked with a small smile.

 

“Nope. You're good. We'll stick to interrogating”

Hadassah laughed.

“Just let us know if you need backup,” Gerald said 

“Thanks, Gerald” he nodded

**********

Hadassah was getting ready to go to the cursed house when the hair on the back of her neck rose and a huge gust of wind pushed open her window. She put down her hairbrush and went straight to her window.

“I know someone is here. I can feel it.” she waited but nothing happened.

 

“Show yourself!” she said again and waited but nothing happened. She was about to open her mouth to say something when the door of her room opened and her mother walked in. 

She was a tall, middle-aged woman with deep-set eyes, a pointed nose, scarlet red hair and a really small mouth. Her dentition was flawless and she had a unique smile. She had a small, sturdy physique from years of yoga.

“Honey, who are you talking to?” she asked in concern.

“Nobody mum. I was just practising what I would say when I get to the house tonight” 

Her mother's brow creased “What house?”

“The abandoned one”

“What? Why are you going to the abandoned house? The exact one rumoured to be cursed and haunted?”

“Because I have to investigate. We've been getting reports of people's dead bodies being found in front of that house and I know something fishy is going on there”

“I know about the dead bodies, it's all everyone talks about. What I don't understand is why you're the one investigating it. Why not anyone else?”

“I asked for this case, mum”

Her mother put a hand over her mouth and just stared at her for a moment before speaking 

“Why?” she asked softly.

“Because it's my job”

“It's Isabella's job too, it's Henry's job, it's Victoria's job too so why on earth for God’s sake would you put your life in danger like this and request for a case like this?” 

Hadassah sighed and grabbed her mother's hands gently,

“Mum, I know you're worried for me but I'm fine. I've handled cases like this…”

“Not like this Hadassah. None like this. You've handled murder cases, that's for sure but not one that involves you going into a spooky building…” 

Hadassah's phone began to ring and she turned it off, she withdrew her hands, and grabbed her stuff, talking to her mother as she did so.

“I know you're worried about me Mum but I assure you, I'll be fine. I'll text you if anything goes wrong. Love you” 

She dashed out of her house and hurried off to the building. She could feel a presence behind her all the time but every time she turned back, no one was there. She had walked a couple of blocks and was a few blocks away from the house when she finally had enough. She stopped, turned around and yelled,

“Who are you? Show yourself and stop hiding like a dickless coward.”

Suddenly, the air around her became thinner and a whirlwind began to swirl around her. The buildings around her suddenly started moving towards her, each had a scary face and they looked like they wanted to eat her and dead bodies suddenly started coming up from the ground, and then she heard a burst of manic laughter that seemed to echo all around her, she tried to run but her legs seemed to fail her and she fell to her knees, she struggled to crawl away but the dead bodies were coming closer and closer and the buildings were closing in on her, suddenly the ground beneath her began to tremble and she let out a bloodcurdling scream as a hand grabbed her leg.

She suddenly woke up, her heart was pounding heavily, her breathing was ragged and she was sweating profusely. She quickly grabbed her phone to check what date it was, it was still the same night she was supposed to go check out the haunted house and it turned out she had slept off on her desk. 

“I must have dozed off” she whispered, trying to calm her racing heart but she suddenly had the feeling she was not alone again.

With slow, meticulous movements, she reached for the gun in her boot, someone was standing behind her, her whole body was screaming danger and she could not ignore it.

She turned around sharply with her gun cocked and aimed at the person’s head and she gasped