Dark fairytales: The children of Lilith

chapter 9

The next morning, I called in sick and waited for Liz to come pick me up. We drove trough the streets to an old looking building it didn't stand out at all. We stepped out of the car and walked inside. Liz pulled out her badge and scanned in. I followed her to the front desk and got a visitors badge. We walked up to the elevators and went to the second floor, where we walked into a room with a lot of offices. We went to one of them and walked inside, where a man was standing with a mug of blood in his hand. He had shoulder length brown hair and piercing blue eyes. He was tall, and although he wasn't very muscular, he still looked very intimidating. "Good morning." Liz greeted him. "Matt, this is Taylor, she has some valuable information for us." Then she looked at me. "This is Matthew Eldridge, he's the head of this segment of VCRS." "Nice to meet you" I said as i extended my hand. He shook it, and then took Liz aside. "What is she doing here?" He asked. "Like I said, she has some valuable information. She gave me a new insight on the case." "Alright, I get that, but why is she here? Humans aren't allowed to know about us. Did you compromise your identity?" She sighed. "I had no choice, she was about to get killed. What else should I have done? Let her die?" "You should've been more careful." He said in an angry voice. "If to many humans know about us, it could endanger our species and the status quo we have now." "She's okay, she didn't condemn me for what I am." Liz said, looking at me. "Alright, he finally said. But you haven't answered my question. Why is she here?" "She's a clairvoyant. She's had dreams about me and the murders, and others as well, which all came true to some extent." Matt looked at me, it creeped me out a little bit. "Is she now?" He asked. "Alright, you get your way. She'll be our consultant, but she'll be your responsibility." Liz nodded. "Thank you" she said. "Now I'd like to look into the archives, we need a name. Our killer might be a resurrected vampire." Matt nodded and waved his hand. "Do what you gotta do" he said.

I the lift, we had another little chat. "So, why do you think the killer rips out the hearts of his victim?" I asked. Liz seemed to think for a moment. "It could be many reasons. Maybe for some ritual or something. Or maybe as some form of trophy. Serial killers are notorious for taking trophies form their victims. A bit like hunters who use the heads of the animals they shoot as decoration." This idea sickened me, just imagine someone who keeps the hearts of his victims in his basement.

When we arrived in the basement, she went straight to some old boxes. "What was the date on the coffin again?" She asked me. "1874" I said. She walked up to the racks with that exact date on it and pulled out a box of files of Whitby. She went trough the files and pulled one out and started to study it. "Your teacher, what was his name?" She asked. "Oliver Grimbald. Why?" She pointed at a paragraph in the file. "Henry Oliver Grimbald, that's one of the vampires that were buried in that crypt." For a moment, I felt the ground crumbling underneath my feet. This couldn't be true. I mean, this guy was a little strange but I'd never suspect him to be a vampire. Then again, I didn't realize Liz was a vampire either. "I had a suspicion when you mentioned his name earlier" Liz said. "But I didn't know it was the same guy. I assumed he was related somehow, but now we know." I looked at her with a questionable expression. "So, he's our guy?" I asked her. "It's possible, but we need evidence." "And how do we get it?" I asked her. "You're in his class, you could poke around. Meanwhile, I'll look into his personal life, to see if I can find something." I nodded at her. Then she spoke again. "But be extremely careful, if he's the same guy as I think he is, then he is extremely dangerous." "What do you mean?" I asked. Liz sighed. "He used to be my mentor, he was one of the originators of VCRS. He helped laying the foundations and wrote a lot of the core rules. But at some point, he went rogue. I've never known why. All I know is that he killed a lot of humans and was punished for it." I was shocked to hear all this. My teacher was a murderous psychopath. Finally, Liz asked one last question. "What is the name of the teacher Grimbald is replacing?" "Thomas Harland." I responded. "Alright, I'll look into him, see if we can find him. Then we'll be able to tell if Grimbald really is our guy or not." "What do you mean?" I asked. "Well, if Grimbald is truly our guy, Harland will probably be dead." "I see." I said. Although it did make a lot of sense, it still was quite shocking.

When we had our information, we went back upstairs. The plan was simple, I'd spy on Grimbald at school, and Liz would gather information from his personal life. When I came bat at the campus, it was really weird. My friends immediately noticed something was different, but I couldn't tell them what was going on, since it could bring them in danger. It wasn't easy, but it was necessary. I tried to keep an eye on Grimbald as much as I possibly could without being noticed. At one point, however, I ran into him while I was walking trough the corridors. "Miss Griffin" he said a little to enthusiastic. "What are you doing inside? Shouldn't you be outside with your friends during recess?" I swallowed nervously while trying to come up with an explanation. "Yeah, I forgot something." I said. "So, have you been doing something interesting lately?" I asked him. He looked at me in amusement, his blonde hair tugged behind his ears. "Why?" he asked. "Do you want some alone time with me?" He said with a wink. "No, I just tried to start a conversation." I said a little clumsy. Then he leaned in to me as he brought his lips right next to my ears. "Don't think I don't know who you are or who you are involving yourself with. Be careful while you are stirring the hornets nest, or you might get stung." He said in a menacing whisper. After that, he left with a smile on his face "Good day miss Griffin" He said while waving his hand, leaving me confused. How could he possibly know?

I soon received a phone call from Liz, informing me that they had found Mr. Harland dead in his house. His blood drained and his heart ripped out. And I told her about my encounter with Grimbald and how he had threatened me. "All right." Liz said. "We'll be there as soon as possible." and then she hung up.

Some time later, a few cars arrived at the parking lot of the campus. Liz came directly towards me. "Is he still here?" She asked. "yeah, he is in the teacher room I guess." "All right, stay here." She said. "Wow, is your girlfriend looking you up at school?" Roan asked. "No, I said. She's here for an important case, and she's not my girlfriend." I said to him. He looked at me confused. "What case?" I looked at him, trying to come up with an answer that wouldn't give to much away. "Well, she's investigating the serial killer that's been around lately." "You mean she's with the police?" "Not exactly." I said. A few moments later, she and her colleagues walked out of the building again and she came to us, addressing me. "he's gone" she said. "He must've guessed we were coming." Roan looked at her. "So, who exactly are you?" He asked. Liz pulled out her badge and showed it to jim. "Liz Cooper, MI5" she said. We believe your teacher, Mr Grimbald, is the killer we're looking for." Roan was watching her with open mouth. He couldn't believe what he just heard. "So, you're saying that our substitute teacher is a serial killer? How did he came here in the first place? And what happened to mr. Harland?" Liz sighed before responding. "We found mr. Harland's body in his house, same M.O. as the other murders. Look, this guy is extremely dangerous. He is manipulative and very convincing. Don't go near him and if you do see him somewhere, let us know." She gave him her card and continued talking. "If you want, I can arrange protective custody for you and your friends. He will probably know that you guys know about him, so your lives might be in danger." "Thanks, but i think we're okay." Roan said. Liz nodded and then turned to me. "You're coming with me, he definitely knows you know, so we have to protect your family." I nodded in approval. Then she turned towards Roan again. "Consider my offer, if you refuse, there is nothing I can do to protect you." "I'll think about it." Roan said. Liz nodded at him. "If there is anything, if you feel like someone is watching you, call me. We'll be there in an instant." She finally said before we left. "Yeah, sure. Thanks." Roan said before he left to.