CHAPTER (V)

Present day, California.

Tina, Amanda's small sister, was the one who woke her up, after she realized Amanda had overslept. She quickly got ready and joined Tina and their mom for a quick breakfast. At the dining table she realized she didn't have her phone, she looked all over for it, even emptied her backpack but it wasn't there.

"Amanda we are getting late," her mother told her holding the car keys. "Baby you won't die if you don't use it for a few hours." She added.

Mother dropped daughter off at BHH (Boyle Heights High), she would later use the school bus for the trip home.

Amanda's head was throbbing and she had no idea why. The noise from the crowded school hallways only made things worse for her.

She had just opened her locker when three girls stood behind her. Two of them had black hair and the third was blonde.

"Hey you," Melanie, the blonde, started. Amanda turned to them and forced a smile.

"Have you seen Nate?" Jade, one of the two with black hair.

"So unlike him to be late." She added scanning the hallways for him.

"Where did you hide him after you guys went down town last night?" Bianca, the other black haired girl asked mischievously.

"That's a gross way to put it." Melanie told her. The three laughed.

"What?" Amanda broke the laughter.

"Oh c'mon Amanda, don't pretend you didn't get laid after you guys left." Jade told her with a grin.

Amanda told them she had no idea what they were talking, they didn't believe her, and you couldn't really blame them. They were all at the party and had seen Amanda there, with Nate, and now she was telling them she doesn't recall anything.

"You're being really annoying Amanda," Melanie said and the three walked away, leaving her to fight with her thoughts.

** ** **

A few miles from Boyle Heights High, two detectives dressed in black suits stood next to the dead body under the street light.

Yellow tape had been put around the body, 'DO NOT CROSS' it read.

"Judging from the head is, I'm guessing neck snap." The scene examiner said with cameras flashing as photos of the body were being taken.

"A car was found a mile from here," one of the detectives said. "It hit a light pole but it had no occupants." That was detective Mclough, the shorter of the duo.

"Think it has any connection with this?" Det. McKenzie, the taller, asked as they walked away lifting the tape above their heads.

"Your guess is as good as mine but we have forensics on the car already." Mclough informed.

"The gun our dead friend is holding puzzles me," McKenzie admitted, "there is some gun powder meaning he fired but at whom?"

Mclough's eyes fell on the tarmac and caught something, he asked for a pair of gloves and picked the tiny metal. A bullet. He was about to speak but a cop came to them.

"A report from the forensics team working on the car a mile from here just came in." He paused. "Looks like the driver lost control, there's some blood on the drivers chair, there are prints on the front seat and the back seats but not a match."

"Thank you officer." Mclough told him and the cop left. "What are the odds that this bullet hit that driver?"

"Zero or a hundred, depends on how you look at it." McKenzie said. "If it hit him, there ought to be blood somewhere on the tarmac and a trail also-"

"What is the driver was inside the car when he was shot, explains why there's no blood on the tarmac, then he drove away and maybe fell unconscious due to loss of too much blood-"

"Your theory makes sense but how did the bullet get to the tarmac, it should be somewhere inside the vehicle or on the driver," McKenzie paused, "And inside the car, how did he kill our guy over there?"

"That's the million dollar question." Mclough exhaled deeply, "What if the two aren't connected after all?"

"You may be right, and if so, who did our dead guy shoot and who killed him?" McKenzie posed in return. "Our team found prints on the D.Bs neck, we can cross-match them with the ones found on the car, maybe one of the people in the back seat killed this guy and jumped into the car." He suggested and his partner gave a nod.

Mclough placed the bullet inside the evidence bag, "Check if anyone was checked in at any of the hospitals around with a gunshot wound," he ordered one of the guys at the scene.

The two were far from the truth. The dead body they had was the guy who Farian had murdered, the car that had crashed into a lamp post was the one taking Nate to the hospital before he went full vampire and sucked the poor samaritan driver. The bullet found on the tarmac was the one that shot Farian the previous night. Farian was responsible for the death of the man lying on the tarmac a few meters from the detectives. He had murdered him right before he went to Nate's truck and attacked Nate.