What a Fascinating Creature

The blood-curdling scream. She followed suit, her eyes wide from confusion and shock like the others as they rushed to see why the secretary had screamed.

She noticed, belatedly, that Ladislas did not move and watched the show unfurl.

"Oh god," she choked as she looked at the scene, exactly as it had been when she left it.

People were dialing and panicking. She shook in her shoes and inched away, making her way back into the reception area and heaving from shock. Anyone who saw her would think she was in shock.

Not Ladislas. He slowly made his way to the room and peered in.

His eyes sharpened and he slowly turned to Anna. His face was cold and calculating. The flimsy stench of smoke and citrus was in the air. Undetectable by humans but for him, he could recognize it anywhere.

The person with the exact same odor was now keeling over in the reception.

She pretended and did a fine job at it. If he hadn't smelled her, he wouldn't have known in the least.

'What a fascinating creature,' he thought. He was quite in raptures with her intriguing and mysterious personality. A good-for-nothing who could act so well. Hand her an Oscar, someone!

Anna, on the other hand, had kept watch over Ladislas' movements. He looked unbothered.

Like he had been expecting it. The flash of delight in his eyes when he heard the secretary scream hadn't escaped her either. And she especially disliked the intrigue in his eyes as he watched her heave.

She had a bad feeling about this man.

And that was when she decided that she would remain as far away from him as possible.

And that was when Ladislas decided that he would find out everything about this girl there was to know. Like a human would. It had been centuries since something had made him curious, and he wasn't going to spoil the fun just yet. He didn't have the heart to do so.

- - - - -

The police came faster than was expected. The scene was perplexing. The man was positively dead but he didn't look too mutilated. This wasn't what people usually thought a murder scene looked like.

The students who had seen it first-hand cried and remained in shock. Ladislas, on the other hand, waited stoically for the forensics team to enter with all their equipment and wipe down the rooms for prints.

The first to be questioned was Ladislas.

"How did the victim look when you saw him last?" the officer asked, his little notebook in his palm as he looked curiously at the immortal.

"He looked defeated," Ladislas said without reserve.

The officer raised their brow and for a second was dumbfounded. "Are you saying you killed him?" he asked, barely believing himself.

"I didn't kill him. He just looked defeated."

The cop sighed. Such a play of words. "What were you talking about in there? Did you have a fight with him?"

Ladislas smirked. "We spoke about how ungrateful he has been to me for the past few decades. He owed me something and I wanted him to repay it," Ladislas shrugged.

"And what was that?"

Ladislas looked at the officer with a piercing look. "That's my personal business. I don't like airing my dirty laundry," he said calmly. That is what brought this fiasco to light in the first place.

"Sir, this is a murder investigation. We will need to know about your relationship with the victim in detail. Please cooperate with us," the officer said firmly.

Ladislas sighed as he eased into the couch he was being interviewed on. "By technicality, I am not the last person in contact with the man. It was his secretary. You'll know when you talk to her."

The officer blinked. "We will speak to her shortly, as well. Mr. Forester, why were you hanging around the office if you were done talking to the Dean?" the officer asked.

"I was flirting with the secretary. You can check with her."

The officer froze. This was a simple way to put it. But out of all the people who could have done it, this man was the most suspicious. It was his gut feeling telling him that Ladislas Forester was a predator, one that shouldn't be walking amongst normal people.

The gut feeling of detectives and officers are almost always correct. So, this officer wanted to pry into his life.

Ladislas applauded him for that. A human who knew integrity was good. But he had seen too many of these people fall into the abyss of greed and destruction so he didn't hope for much from them.

"That is it?" he asked.

Ladislas nodded. "Any other questions?" he asked off-handedly.

The officer knew instantly that the conversation was over. "I'll have to ask you for your contact information so that we can call you if we have any more questions."

Ladislas gave it sincerely. "Don't call me at odd hours. I am a busy man."

A complete lie. He was not busy in the least.

But then, a bubble of excitement budded in his chest. Maybe the death of the wretched Dean wasn't a bad thing at all. His little guinea pig was gone but there was definitely a show to watch.

There was danger and mystery. What would these humans do when they didn't have any evidence of the killer going in or out? What type of tests would they do to get some clue?

And how would they react when they are bewildered by the results?

His eyes glowed as he left the room, the energy in the room crackling. The officer shuddered and turned to the member from the forensics team.

"Anything new?"

The man shook his head. "Too many prints everywhere. We already have all the CCTV footage of people going in and out of the room, so we can narrow down the suspects," the man sighed.

The officer felt a spark of hope.

And then he slowly went through each and every person who had been in that room and outside. Every person had an alibi.

Solid alibis.

The secretary was shaken. She had clearly heard the Dean speak on the phone. There were people there to testify it.