Chapter 17

Lucas

I was back on campus after a while. I couldn't stay away for too long, else, people would start getting suspicious of my movements. Based on experience, that wasn't good for avoiding detection as a vampire. Situations like that created gaps and questions.

And when questions started to get asked, it only meant that problems were lurking behind for a vampire trying to be undiscoverable. I needed to maintain anonymity, especially in a. time like this when things are getting heated up.

Another important reason I needed to show up was because of Roxanne. She must have started getting suspicious about my prolonged absence from school. We seemed to be getting along well recently so I had to preserve that too. We've spent more time around each other in the past few weeks than before.

I still felt there was something going on about her but it wasn't my priority to look into that right now. I had more urgent things to handle. Based on my findings, the strands of hair that I found belonged to a very prominent family within the werewolf clans, one of the ten most powerful ones. I had heard about ten clans of the werewolves and how powerful they were.

This particular clan had two sons and one in particular caught my attention. My findings revealed that he had built a whole company from the ground up until it was a very big corporation. He seemed impressive even though he was not the heir. He seemed to be the one responsible for paving the way for the one who was the heir, the older brother.

He was the one who led those werewolves to one of our bars and sparked the small battle that took place. From what I found, he was rash and impulsive but he wasn't exactly smart and I didn't think he would be able to pull off the kind of planning that was required to be the one responsible for all that was happening.

All of that left me with only the second son. He fitted the profile. He was smart, and he had displayed in the past that he could pull off something great. He was calmer and more strategic than his brother who was the heir. He was the best person in the position to pull off something as delicate as the mutation process. He had the means and the power to pull it off as the head of the company.

The second son was, in fact, number one on my list of suspects. My instincts kept telling me I had found the person I was looking for. As I sat in my room in school, I thought about all this. I would need to approach the matter with caution if I was going to get to the root of the problem.

A message dropped on my cell phone and I brought it out of my pocket to read it. It was from Roxanne's friend, Rose. I didn't quite understand the text message. A frown formed on my face at the sudden puzzling message. Another message dropped before I could bother too much about the message from Rose.

It was from my family. A werewolf scientist had been captured and there was a huge chance that he was either responsible for the mutation or he knew about the mastermind behind it. Either way, this was significant progress. I wasted no time and left for the family house where he was being kept.

On the way back to the house, I tried to think about where this new development was going to leave my main suspect, because ever since I found out about him, I had begun to have a feeling that he was the man I was looking for. I just felt I needed to build up a case against him. My instincts were never wrong.

A few of the other vampires had already started interrogating the captive before I got there. I met them during the process. They stopped and acknowledged me as I walked into the room.

The scientist was seated so that he was backing the entrance. So, I couldn't see his face as I walked in.

"Turn him around," I instructed.

Two of them grabbed the chair on either side and turned him around. To my surprise, his face was a very familiar one. It was Professor Richards from the college I attended. I was taking one of his classes this semester. I was speechless at first, examining the man's face as he sat there with obvious disgust. Then my surprise went as quickly as it came.

"Tell me, Professor Richards," I started, "What do you know about the mutation virus?"

He looked up as soon as he heard me call his name. It was his own time to feel a surprise.

"Do you know who I am?" He asked curiously.

"It doesn't matter, professor. What matters is that I know a lot more about you than you do about me. I know you aren't working alone. Just tell us what we need to know and we won't hurt you."

The other vampires in the room with me were surprised. They must have been naive to think that everything started and ended with the professor. He was probably only a tool in all of this.

"I don't know what you want from me." The professor said,

"Okay, let me spell it out for you. There's a mutant virus out there affecting and killing our kind. We need to know about the origin of the virus and how to stop it."

The professor began to laugh. His shoulders moved up and down as he did. The vampires in the room with me stared at me expectantly. They were waiting on an order from me to attack the man and show him how serious the matter was. They weren't going to get any of that from me because I didn't think it was needed. The professor was a smart man, he knew attitudes like this wouldn't get him out of there alive.

"Well, if you must really know. I developed the virus in question. And there is nothing you can do to stop it from spreading. None of you lot would be able to escape it." He said, pointing at everyone in the room, including myself.

He continued, "I'm not afraid to die if that's what you're planning to threaten me with. In fact, you should kill me while you can. You bunch of blood-sucking bastards."

His words brought out reactions from the other vampires. I held my hand up to show my disapproval. They retreated immediately.

"What do you mean by while I can?" I asked him.

He smiled. "You seem to be a smart one, huh? Well, it appears you're not so smart. Just know that Jason Hemming would avenge my death and you lot will be done." He laughed out loudly.

"Is that the mastermind behind all these? Tell me." I asked him.

He opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything, an arrow came out of nowhere and went straight to his chest. The next moment he was dead.