"I had this handled!"
"You got arrested!
"Dan?" Bella's eyes are wide when she sees Azazel in the back of the car, and the cuffs around her wrist. "What happened?"
"Oh I'm a suspect." Azazel dismisses the words easily. Although Azazel is more focused on the fact that Bella smells like she drenched her whole body in perfume. The smell stings her nose.
A sign of a vampire.
Azazel is certain that there's a vampire in that hospital. And even worse, that vampire touched Bella.
Bella's jaw drops as she looks to her father in shock still unable to believe that her father arrested Azazel . "Dad!"
"Bells! She-" Charlie Swan sputtered gesturing helplessly which made absolutely no sense and instead just made his keys jangle noisily. After watching the esteemed chief of Police falter at an explanation that made sense Azazel decided to save the floundering man.
"Look it was him or the creep with the goatee. Honestly Baby Bird. It's a hell of a lot better being arrested by your dad than by the Goatee."
"Is she talking about Officer Burke?" Bella turned to her father in curiosity as he nodded but still looked uncomfortable as he drove back to the station to drop off the "Suspect". Azazel might not have noticed that her dad's mustache was twitching but she did. "Dad.... why do I feel like something bad is going to happen to Dan?"
From behind her she could hear Azazel sit up in interest, the cuffs on her wrist clinking together. "Chief Swan? Does Baby Bird have a point?" And in the few months that he's known her, this is the first time he'd ever heard the girl sound nervous.
"Well.... Officer Burke will be conducting your investigation."
"But he's a fucking moron!"
~~~~~~~~
Azazel lifted her head off the metal of the table looking up at the clock wondering how much time has passed since the interrogation started. She could swear her hair was turning white with age with how much of her life was being wasted away in the interrogation room.
An hour.
Really? Only an hour has passed since Chief Swan and Bella dropped her off at the station. Chief Swan said he would be back as soon as possible and Bella told her that she'd force her father to come back because in Bella's words,
"Officer Burke would make her want to throw a chair at him."
Which made the Chief sigh about how Azazel was possibly a bad influence on Bella.
Honestly she'd rather listen to Bella blabber on and on about Wuthering Heights for the rest of her life than have to spend another fucking second listening to this man.
"We have probable cause that it was you who damages the school. According to Principal Lamone you were on school property until late smoking a cigarette-"
"Let me stop you right there Burke. First of all , Principal Lamone wasn't even on school property today. So that's false testimony that you probably made up in order to see if I would panic. Second, It's illegal for me to buy cigarettes and all your witness is saying is that I used one hypothetically." She challenged before waving off in a dismissive tone, "Who knows? Maybe in fifteen years there will be a law against consuming as well as buying."
Officer Burke's face turned red before he stroked his goatee in frustration and then slammed his hands on the table pointing at her and continuing as though she didn't prove him wrong in multiple ways. "As I was saying. You were the only one there linked to the crime. What I don't get is how you demolished that cafeteria so quickly with no witnesses from the after school clubs."
"Look. Yes I was there but so what?" Azazel shrugged briefly noting that he didn't mention anything about blood. Jared must have done well in picking up the blood. She kept her face passive and disinterested.
"Well why were you at school so late?" The way he spoke and phrased it made her feel like one of those kid shows where the big scary monster was revealed just to be a shadow and a hair dryer.
"You've seen my file. As a human sometimes you need time to think and process. I'm sorry that I chose the front of the school instead of the beach or a cliff." She ran a flustered hand through her hair playing the part. A lot more difficult then she expected with handcuffs.
"Just admit you did it!!" Officer Burke yelled.
Azazel was quick to match the energy slamming her hands on the table, standing and shouting,
"I didn't fucking do it!"
"We'll get through this a lot faster if you fess up!"
"Fucking hell!" Azazel sat back in the seat. "You're interrogating me like I fucking committed murder!"
"I found blood on the scene! Tested it, it belongs to Paul Lahote! You know what else belongs to him, the smashed phone we found. The Paul Lahote who's so conveniently missing."
Fuck. So Jared didn't do as good a job as removing evidence as Azazel had hoped. If you want a job done right you've gotta do it yourself.
"Why the hell do I have anything to do with Paul?"
"Aha! So you know him!"
"We go to the same fucking school! Doesn't mean I'm gonna do anything to him!"
"See I find that hard to believe. You see ever since you showed up round town, the boys here have started disappearing, with you always finding them. First Samuel Uley. Than Jared Cameron and now Paul Lahote, and I'm guessing that when I do, he'll be sharing that tattoo there on that shoulder. Should I be expecting a haircut too?"
Azazel's head spun as she listened to his words. Okay... he was accusing her of something bigger than just the damage at the school and she didn't know what exactly.
"Are you accusing a fifteen year old girl of being a cult leader Officer?" Chief Swan enters the room.
If anyone asked Azazel if she sighed in relief when the Chief walked in, she would have denied it.
Officer Burke's nose wrinkled and he stroked his goatee again before the Chief smiled politely. "Come outside with me and we can talk about the case and the new details I've discovered in my investigation."
~~~~~~~~
Two hours had passed and Azazel lifted her head to attention when Ms. Uley entered the room, pinched face and red cheeks. "You're coming home now."
Behind her was Samuel Uley looking absolutely morose and the tips of his ears were red. Azazel swallowed standing up, carefully eying Officer Burke as he uncuffed her. Azazel rubbed at her sore wrists briefly looking at them and without another second of hesitation she was following Ms. Uley out the door , but not before throwing Officer Burke the harshest glare she could ever muster.
If Charlie Swan later asked Officer Burke if he had flinched because of a fifteen year old's glare, he'd have told the Chief a very resounding , "Screw you!"
~~~~~~~
Ms. Uley was quiet on the drive home, looking through her peripherals to see her son's face, his eyes red and and refusal to look at her. Azazel was sitting in the back of the cop car, unable to keep her eyes up with her hands rubbing her wrists.
The two kids knew best than to speak, they didn't want to set off the woman like she was a stick of TNT.
Ms. Uley parked the car but didn't turn off the engine as they looked out the front of the home. "Sam..." she spoke slowly, yet neither of the kids looked at her. "Sam tells me you were the one who destroyed all possible links of him and the scene. Is this true?"
Azazel's eyes lifted at her words and recited like a soldier responding to their superior, "No camera footage left miss. I deleted and reinstalled a false video so that they don't recognize any missing footage."
Ms. Uley wanted to ask where in the world the girl had learned such a thing but preferred to stay silent. She didn't want exact confirmation that she was harboring a criminal.
"I see." Ms. Uley turned to Sam who's jaw was clenched. Ms. Uley turned off the car and she entered the home slamming the door after them. The two teenagers exited the car but Azazel grabbed Sam's forearm forcing him to stay and look at her.
"The rest of the pack is in the backyard. Come on." When she entered the forest she saw Jared and Paul sitting on a log, Paul sharing the same tattoo and haircut. Fuck, this is starting to look like a cult.
Azazel looked to Sam and he answered her silent question with, "I told my mom that Paul and I got into a fight at the cafeteria. You came and fixed everything but got-"
"Caught in the process? Fucking hell you guys." Azazel leaned back against the tree.
"I can't tell her the truth!" Sam snarled at her. "I don't want her terrified every day that a vampire could kill her-"
"So you lie to your mom. Leaving her oblivious to possible threats. Oh that's fucking great Sam. Why did you even involve yourself in this? I had this handled!"
"You got arrested!" Jared snapped throwing in his own opinion.
"I could have handled it. Jared you're in the absolute clear but you fucked up. Officer Burke found Paul's blood on the crime scene. I'm thinking we just say Paul had a bloody nose and was passing through. While walking through he got upset at a phone call and smashed his phone. Fucking understand Paul?" Azazel pointed at Paul.
He looked at the two other boys before he crossed his arms looking at Azazel. "Is fuck like your favorite word or something?"
"Do you understand motherfucker?"
"Yes yes! I do, damn you're such a bitch." Paul huffed. Jared and Sam both looked at each other as though terrified of what Azazel's reaction would be and were surprised to see her shrug and smirk.
"True."
~~~~~~~~~
Ms. Uley sat by her window. She could see the three teenage boys and girl all taking their turns being angry. Sam was the easiest for her to understand, whenever he got mad he would lift his chin and clench his fists, a habit he had since he was a baby. Jared would cross his arms and it looked like he was spitting out his words when he was angry.
Paul and Azazel were harder to know... they just looked angry all the time.
Except right now.
Right now all four of them seemed calm at least until Sam spoke. Azazel's voice was loud enough for her to hear ,
"WHAT?!"
Ms. Uley could see the fifteen year old start to pace while her son explained something to the pacing fifteen year old who every so often would stop, point a finger and interrupt then continued to pace. Then it was Jared who spoke and Azazel stopped pacing to sit on a tree stump in the backyard and bury her face in her hands. If she was speaking Ms. Uley didn't know.
They remained like that for a while talking, but then Paul said something flipping her off and Azazel launched from her seat tackling the boy but before she could even get a hit in, her son yelled next.
"Azazel OFF!"
Azazel's entire body trembled before she finally conceded to her son's command and entered the house slamming the door. Ms. Uley could hear Azazel's stomping feet and the slamming of the guest bedroom door before she gathered up the courage to walk down the stairs to see Sam enter and he other boys enter.
"Hi Mom." Sam smiled softly and Ms. Uley didn't have it in her to be angry at him anymore. Something she figured was a benefit to housing a criminal in her home.
"What happened? I just heard you all yelling out there." Ms. Uley asks her son.
Sam just sighs and with that same pitiful smile answers, "Dan's got to go see the Doctor. She's a bit sick." Which only made Paul snort.
"Sick in the head."