Chapter 28: Hypothetical results

"Babe?" The voice called. It was surely Cameron's voice. She paused, Cameron has never called her babe before.

"Prastina? Open up." It sounded like he was in pain or something. Or has he been shot again? At the the slight thought of that, she threw the door open. Aggressive hands held her neck immediately, dragging her feet upwards. "Cameron --" Prastina's eyes rolled in their sockets as she gasped for air.

Her heart slammed in her chest in fear, seeing the person wasn't Cameron but looked exactly like him. Was the trance becoming reality now? She was confused. Why would Cameron want to kill her? Quickly, her hands reached for her pocket, looking for her phone.

Her back was slammed to the wall, the phone falling from her hands. Prastina's face was already red, adrenaline has gushed into every part of her brain and she was currently losing it. Trying her powers, it wasn't working - what the hell?

"W--who are you?" She managed to ask, gripping his hands that were holding her neck, hoping he would release it a little. He only gave a throaty laughter, pressing his hands tightly against her neck. Now, she was losing her breath. Her death flashed right in her face, will she die this way? Having registered that the man who killed her has the face of the man she loves?

Suddenly, the door bursted open and the man got kicked aggressively to a part of the room, Prastina fell to the ground. She opened her eyes slowly but her vision was unclear, she was already feeling dizzy. "Cameron?" Prastina whispered before her eyes closed, she went unconscious.

Cameron's being became very angry, "How dare you touch her!" He yelled, throwing the intruder away to another part of the room. The man stood up, "How dare you touch her!" He mimicked, laughing maniacally. Cameron was shocked he heard his exact voice.

The man chuckled again, dusting his trousers. "She should listen to instructions next time and even if she does, I'll still kill her." He said, licking his lips. He didn't know when Cameron sped towards him, gripping his neck tightly.

Cameron was very angry, stretchy veiny marks appeared on his face. "Who the hell are you?" He gritted, applying force. Can't he just drop dead? "You don't want to kill me, do you?" The intruder could still talk like nothing was happening to him. Torchlight was suddenly flashed to his face and Cameron released him, pretending to be affected by the light so he allowed him escape.

Cameron rushed to Prastina and carried her, "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you." She apologized immediately she woke up. "It wasn't your fault. He had my face and my voice." Cameron whispered, rubbing her back. If he said he wasn't worried, he is lying. The intruder wasn't human too and it was obvious he is after Prastina, maybe because of him. Who could he be?

"I should head home now. My mother would be worried." Prastina sat up, picking up her phone from where it fell. "How did you get here that fast?" She asked, packing her bag. "I was on my way out of the eatery when I saw my phone rang an emergency call from you." He replied, his hands folding into fists. What if he had arrived late? He didn't want to think she'd be dead already.

Cameron walked closer to her, holding her hands which made the bag drop back to the couch. "Can't you just stay for the night?" He cooed, rubbing her hands. Prastina almost laughed at how funny his face looks, a grown up man. "I have to go. Don't worry, I'll be here again before you know it." She kissed his cheek.

"I'll take you home. I don't want you out alone, it's already late and don't even try to refuse." Cameron grabbed her keys, pulling her outside. He kicked the car start while she did the description. Finally, he stopped at the front of her house. "How will you get home?" She asked, since it was her car they brought.

Cameron chuckled, "There are several ways, honey." He kissed her lips and bade her goodbye, after she had entered into the house. "Who was that that brought you home?" Her mother asked as soon as she came in. "A friend from the police department." Prastina replied, careful not to throw her bag on the couch again.

Her mother eyed her suspiciously, "When did people from your police office start dropping you off at your house? You've worked there ten years now and he will be the first one I'd see to drop you off." She argued.

"Mother, please! I am not a kid. Just drop the topic. I'm tired from today's work. He is just a friend, that's all." Prastina gave her final words and went straight upstairs. Her mother scoffed surprisingly. Her daughter might have had a bad day but she rarely talks like this.

Prastina came back downstairs to check if there was food, "I didn't meet you at home earlier when I needed to pick something from my room." She remembered to ask. "I went to a friend's." Her mother replied and Prastina almost choked on her fruit juice, "Oh! When did you start having friends after living in this area without friends for more than twenty years?" She fired the same question back.

Her mother chuckled, waving off the topic and Prastina also decided to let it go. She's free to have friends actually, she hasn't had one for a very long time which she often wondered why. They were done with eating, Prastina was on her upstairs when her mother stopped her abruptly. "What happened to your neck?" She froze immediately she heard that question.

Dang it! How does she explain that she went to a colleague's house and someone that looked him attacked her? How does she explain that she almost got killed in the last thirty minutes? How does she explain that this intruder looked like her friend? How exactly does she explain all of these? "Prastina...." Her name being called by her mother snapped her back to life.

"Oh...um, you know it's a little hot these days. The air conditioner in the office got spoilt so the too much heat caused rash while I was scratching it too much. I guess that's why it's looking like this." Prastina explained, trailing her hands over her neck.

Her mother looked at her like she was doubting that short explanation. "I -- I will just add a relaxing cream to make the redness disappear and the itching stop." Prastina quickly added. She sighed in relief when her mother nodded. While Prastina was on her way upstairs, her eyes caught a mask on the arm of a chair - she didn't know what type of mask it was.

On getting upstairs in her room, she locked the door. Prastina opened another door, revealing her secret laboratory. All the contents in her bag was poured on the table. The blood filled syringes were placed in a place as she began testing practicals, mixing and mixing.

Prastina fixed her lab coat well, putting on her google lens before moving on with what she was doing. She needed to understand the blood, find out what exactly went wrong. Maybe she can also get a clue on how the victim got killed and what exactly killed her.

She pulled out another blood filled syringe from a particular drawer, that was the one she stole from Cameron the day she caught him snooping around in one of the Homicide rooms - the room his mother's body was. Prastina felt sad, remembering how his fists were always tightened whenever they are studying his mother's corpse.

"Ah!" Prastina gasped, pouring different things together which she jotted down the results. The results was still hypothetical but seemed real. "The blood is a mixture of both human, vampire and something that isn't either of the both." She muttered.

Cameron's mother is a full gene vampire which meant the one who killed her was a half human and half creature or something. Her heart and stomach were ripped out, only a creature could do that, not a normal human.

Prastina washed her hands, her mind was disorganized as she thought about it in different ways but only one made sense to her. She picked her phone to call Cameron, "Your mother's killer --" Cameron sat up immediately he heard that.

Prastina explained how she went to the house, studied the bath tub, drew in the blood and now tested it. Cameron was surprised that she was a doctor, she never told him but that wasn't very important at the moment. "The killer isn't a full creature." She started, staring at the result on the table.

"What do you mean?" He was interested. Every evidence shown it is a creature or monster that killed her brutally. "The blood isn't standing alone. It seems your mother tried to fight back so their blood mixed. I separated her vampire blood and the remaining blood dictated a human and something else mixed together." She explained.

Cameron's face hardened, "I don't understand." --- "What killed your mother is half human and a half creature in one body." She stated. "The only way I can prove this hypothetical results is true and to know the identity of that killer ---" She paused, "--- stealing your mother's body from the police department."