Chapter Eleven.
Grim swiftly told Azreal most of the story. How Cain was back and had let me go after I got arrested on suspicion of being involved with the mass murder. "Cain just let you go?", Azreal asked after Grim finished his story. I just shrugged, having nothing else to add to the matter. "Wow", Azreal sat back in the chair she was sitting on. "That's so weird! You'd think he actually poison you or something",
"Poison? Not immediate murder?", Arcen questioned. Azreal waved her hand in front of her. "Nah, man! He's the police chief, everyone would notice him committing murder if Kaitlynn over here didn't leave the interrogation room",
Arcen blinked, then nodded. "Has he spoken to you at all? I mean you have a good alibi for actually being somewhat innocent", Azreal said to me. I placed my hand against my jaw and supported myself on my leg. "Hmm", I hummed, "good one, though. But, no, he didn't. I doubt he'll see me as someone who was betrayed just as much as himself and his brother".
"We need your help in solving this murder", Grim said and it made me gasp. I don't know why, but for some reason I didn't want to know the truth. What if I did it? What if Grim or something else made me go bezerk to see if I was worthy of becoming the next host. Which pegged me to a question. "Why was Savannah chosen?", I wondered out loud. Grim looked at me. "I thought she was you, to be honest",
Azreal started laughing. Really hard. Heck, even I was shocked at how loud that woman could be. "How can you mistake someone you have known for an enterity for someone else?! Grim, you've grown feeble in your old age!", Azreal laughed. Grim looked like he was going to kill Azreal there for a second, but gained his composure again and looked calmer than before.
"Kaitlynn can look like very different people", Grim admitted. I tilted my head. How many different looks can one person who's supposed to be easily found by Death time and again get?
"Okay, enough about my looks. I want to know how we can solve the murder without Cain trying to end Grim and me", I said. Azreal nodded and grew serious. "We might have to go back there", she said. I tilted my head and wanted to say something, but Arcen was quicker. "Wouldn't the police have cleaned up the crime scene by now? It's been weeks",
Azreal smirked at us. "Grim and I have the ability to go back in time. So, we go back in time to see who or what killed all those people and where Kaily was at the time of the murder",
That actually seemed like a good idea, all be it a bit confronting. What if my fears were right and I did kill everyone? It would explain why I was the only survivor. Arcen noticed me getting tense and cautiously sat down next to me on the couch. He grabbed my hand. "Kaily, listen. No matter what we'll see at the crime scene, we'll stand by your side", he said and gave me hand a slight squeeze. I fixed my gaze on our hands and smiled. "That's very sweet of you, Arcen", I said and glanced over at Grim, who was seething.
I know he said we were nothing but friends, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone's male friend be so.. angry at someone else. Grim was being pretty unreasonable. I gave Grim a glare and stood up from the couch. "Grim, a word", I gritted the last word through my teeth. Grim kept his emotions in tact as he followed me into the hallway. I closed the door and listened for Miss Halloway downstairs. Didn't want her having a premature heartattack.
"What the hell, Grim!", I snarled at him. Grim seemed unresponsive to my anger. I kept staring at him, waiting for him to respond to me. But even after a minute or two, nothing. I snapped my fingers in front of his eyes and that made him respond.
Angrily, might I add.
"What have you done?!", he roared, grabbing my left arm. Grim held onto my arm so tight I thought it would stop pumping blood there. "Let me go", I said in desperation. Grim didn't seem like himself. He seemed like something people who were dying saw before they went to hell.
The sockets were Grim's pinprick eyes used to be were dark and when I say dark I mean dark. I had no idea what he meant but maybe I did do something horrible. "That hand was used to kill beings", Grim said in the lowest tone I've ever heard his voice go. When he let go of my arm I stared at my left hand. It seemed so... ordinary. "Wasn't this the hand that got me in trouble?", I asked, narrowing my eyes at it. Grim noticed me looking at it and placed his own on it.
Never had I seen his hands up close until now. They seemed leathery, or dried up. Perhaps even corpse-like. It was hard to tell by looking at them. "It was, but I am not sure wether or not this hand still has it's effects", Grim said and proceeded to grab my right hand with the hand that had laid on my left. "This one on the other hand was used for healing people. I reckon it could bring back the dead",
My eyebrows raised in surprise. Raising the dead? Surely that wasn't necessary in this day and age. Unless..
"What if that's why Cain is after us?", I said, looking ahead of me as if I was in though. In reality, Grim scared me a bit with his dark doings. Grim seemed confused as to what I meant by it. "What if", I started, "Cain is looking for us to lift his curse? Bring him back to the land of the living".
Grim smiled, as far as his skull would allow him to. "Keen observation, miss Grayson", he said to me, "but alas, Cain is still living, he's just immortal".
That bummed me out to be honest. I thought I had it all figured out. As soon as I wanted to say something more, Azreal busted out of my appartment room. "Arcen got a phonecall, it's the detective? I don't know that person, but he said it was important",
I exchanged looks with Grim and something in those pinprick eye lights told me that it was bad news.
Arcen came out of the appartment as well with his jacket. "We have to go to detective Decker", he said and handed me something. I held it up and smiled. "Arcen, that's a blanket you gave me, not a jacket", he wanted to grab it from me but I stepped away. "Nah, I'll keep it, to humour you",
That gained me a smile from Arcen, who led me down the stairs to his car. "Aren't Grim and Azreal coming?", he asked me when we got to his car. I tilted my head. Grim was within me already and Azreal.. would probably show up when it was most convienent. "Ah, I get it", Arcen concluded himself and opened the cardoor for me.
About twenty minutes later we arrived at the police station. I felt this weird sensation in my gut. And also very, very cold. But when I felt my forehead, nothing indicated that I was feeling ill. "Kaitlynn!", my head jerked toward the direction the voice came from. One of my friends, Janet Porter, was sitting at detective Decker's desk. Janet got up from the chair and ran over to me, hugging me when she got there.
"It's horrible!", she started crying. "What is?", I stammered. Then it hit me. That cold feeling. "Someone died", Grim whispered in my ear. I turned my head toward him but there was none there. Of course he wouldn't be visible somewhere public. "B-but who?", I stammered. Janet wiped the tears from her cheeks and blinked at me. "Celeste Henderson".
Celeste was someone who we, meaning Emma, Janet, Kayla, another friend of us and me went to high school with. Celeste was a quiet and shy girl and never really stood out. Why someone would want her dead was beyond me. I kept looking at Janet who had started crying again.
"It was quite horrible", Lucifer showed up behind me. "But the scene also showed a whole other side of her",
I blinked. What side? I turned around to see Lucifer standing over a desk with pictures on there. Crime scéne photo's. It was indeed horrible. Blood everywhere. It reminded me of the mass murder I awoke to. "Seems familiar", I muttered. "Like the mass murder?", Lucifer suggested. I nodded. But it seemed she wasn't in her house. I visited her once or twice back in the day and to my knowledge she hadn't moved house or anything.
"Where is this?", I asked Lucifer when I tapped on the photo of the crime scéne. "The house of one Jeffrey Baker", the detective answered. I tilted my head. Jeffrey Baker? I went over to Janet. She was speaking with Arcen. "Who is Jeffrey Baker?", I asked them. Janet seemed in thought while Arcen just shrugged. "Doesn't ring me a bell to be honest", he tilted his head. "Why?".
"Celeste Henderson died", I said, "a girl we went to high school with, remember?",
Arcen gave it some thought but nodded. "Vaguely", he answered. Janet walked over to the crime scéne photo's and reluctantly looked at them. "I know who Jeffrey is", she said and gave me a look. "He's Kayla's ex".