Time for a new chapter.


Chapter 12

"Yeah, sure. I'm on my way." Kylie hung up her phone and placed it on the mat next to her where she was sitting in the dojo. She had just finished training with her brother and older cousins and she was helping to clean up when Amber had called. Her mother and father looked up from what they were doing.

"Is everything okay, hon?" Melanie asked.

"I... don't really know. Amber doesn't sound good. Maybe something happened to her. Is it okay if I go see what's up?" she explained. "I promise I'll be careful."

RJ perked up when he heard Amber's name. "I'll go with her, Ma." he quickly offered.

"I don't need you to watch over me, Raphie."

"Actually, I think it's a good idea for him to go with you." Raph said, joining the conversation. "Make sure you stay out of trouble."

"You're saying that like I'm the trouble making twin."

"Hey!" RJ exclaimed.

"Still, I think it's better if someone is there with you." Raph insisted.

"Alright, alright, fine. He can come. I'm sure he only wants to tag along because he wants to keep an eye on his little sister. It's totally not for any other reason." Kylie stated sarcastically, while rolling her eyes, before turning her attention back to her mother and father. "So can I go?"

Raph shrugged. "Go ahead."

"But, of course, make yourselves as invisible as possible. It's still way too early in the day." Melanie said.

"I know, thanks." Kylie stood up and began to make her way out of the dojo. RJ followed close behind.


Amber paced impatiently in front of her bedroom window, waiting for her best friend to show up. She knew that she was going to show up here like she always does. Amber began to nervously wring her hands to keep them from shaking. A couple minutes later there was a knock on her window. She quickly moved to open it and let her friend in.

Before Kylie could get both feet on her friend's bedroom floor she was immediately engulfed in a hug by the human. She stumbled a bit at the sheer force behind the hug and returned the embrace, she felt her friend shaking in her arms. "Hey Amber, what's going on?" she asked, still a bit confused.

Amber pulled away, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "I just..." she began before RJ climbed in through the window. "RJ?" she asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?" she quickly wiped away her tears before they could fall.

"I just came along to make sure my sister stayed out of trouble." RJ answered simply, avoiding eye contact.

"Oh." Amber responded, sounding disappointed.

Kylie rolled her eyes at her brother's very obvious lie. "Forget him, what's going on? You sounded upset over the phone. You had me worried."

"I know, I'm sorry." Amber sniffled and sat down on her bed. "I've just been going through a lot lately. I think it's starting to get to me, I'm getting paranoid. I just didn't want to be alone."

Kylie sat down next to her. "Tell me what happened."

Amber sighed. "You mean besides one of my friends getting killed and then getting mugged. There is also the fact that some guy at school tried to drag me to his home."

RJ perked up again when he heard this. "What? What guy?" he said with a slight growl in his voice.

Both of the girls looked over to him. Kylie facepalmed and Amber tried her best to hide a smile. "Ignore him, please." Kylie said. "Just explain what happened. Who tried to drag you to his house."

Amber took a deep breath before explaining what happened. "There's this kid at school named Ryan, that no one is particularly fond of. He's considered the really weird kid so everyone kind of avoids him. I was the only one who talked to him and I guess he saw that as me wanting to hang out with him. So, today, when I refused to go home with him, he tried to force me to go with him."

Kylie felt her stomach twisting up in knots. These past couple of weeks have been absolute hell for Amber. So it was understandable that she felt like this. "If it wasn't for Logan then he probably would have gotten what he wanted."

"Who's Logan?" RJ asked. Trying not to let his anger seep into his voice again.

"Logan is a friend of mine. He was also there when I got mugged, he got beat up pretty bad too." RJ looked away from them and crossed his arms, leaving the girls unsure if he was satisfied with that answer. "I kinda owe him after what he did for me today." she finished.

"So this Ryan guy. Is he the reason why you don't wanna be alone right now?" RJ spoke up.

Amber nodded sadly. "I'm sorry guys. I just got so panicked and paranoid. I thought he was gonna get me or something."

Kylie wrapped a comforting arm around her friend's shoulder. "Hey, don't be sorry. That's what your best friend is for. Your best friend..." Kylie brought her voice down to a whisper. "And your future boyfriend."

Amber lightly shoved her friend away from her. Her brown skin getting a slight shade darker in her embarrassment. "I heard that." RJ said and Kylie could see him blushing too.

"You were kinda meant to." Kylie shrugged.

Amber smiled, feeling a lot better than she did a few minutes ago. It was amazing how quickly and easily Kylie was able to change her mood. "Anyway, there is another reason why I called you." She changed the subject to something not involving her and her crush standing in front of her.

"Oh really, and what would that reason be." Kylie laid back on the bed and placed her hands behind her head as she stared at the ceiling.

"Logan, the one that protected me today, wants to meet you, Ky."

Kylie sat up with a start. "What?!"

"Yeah, ever since you saved him from the Purple Dragons, he's been wanting to meet his "guardian angel."

RJ attempted to stifle his laughter, but failed miserably. "An angel, huh? Boy, does he have it all wrong."

Kylie sent a glare toward her brother. "Okay, but how did he know to ask you about me?"

"Apparently, you slipped up a bit and said my name after you saved him. So he kind of put two and two together."

It was RJ's turn to facepalm. "Are you serious, Ky? Why did you do that?"

"I... honestly don't know. I don't even remember saying that." Kylie answered sheepishly.

"Well, that doesn't matter now." Amber stated. "What we have to think about is how to handle the current situation because he will not let this go. He wants... almost needs to meet you."

"But why?"

"I don't know, he said something about wanting to thank you in person. Face to face." Amber shrugged. "I feel like there is more to it, but he claims he just wants to say thanks."

Kylie sighed at the current situation. "Fine, I'll do it."

"Good. So the question is: How do we get you two to meet without actually meeting face to face?" Amber said, trying to come up with some sort of plan. "I know him, but I don't know how he'll act if he sees you."

"Alright, well you let me know when you figure that out, I guess."

"Whoa, whoa, hold on now." RJ said, trying to make sense of what he was hearing. "Don't tell me you're actually going to go through with this."

"Well, yeah. I don't think we have much of a choice right now."

"You know nothing about this guy." RJ may not act like it all the time, but he cares about Kylie and can get real overprotective. With this unidentified killer still roaming around it was really hard for him to trust anybody outside of his family and family friends.

"But I do. Isn't that enough?" Amber asked forcefully.

RJ couldn't help, but be honest. This whole thing seemed strange and he really didn't want to put his sister in any danger even if it is just a possibility. "I'm sorry, but no. For all you know, he isn't all he's cracked up to be. He could be lying to you."

"Logan wouldn't lie to me." Amber said curtly.

Kylie quickly stepped in before the argument could escalate. "Okay, that's enough. Listen Amber, I don't know Logan like you do, so I can't say I trust him either, but I do trust you. So if you say he's a good guy then he's a good guy." Amber crossed her arms and refused to make eye contact with RJ. "And RJ, I know you're worried about me, but I can take care of myself. You forget we were raised by the same family. I'll be fine. I won't reveal myself and he's just thanking me, okay. I owe Amber that much since this is only happening because I said the wrong thing."

"Fine." RJ huffed. "Whatever."

"Thank you." now that the situation was somewhat resolved, she could go back to helping Amber with her current problem. "So what did you have in mind?"

Amber shrugged. "Maybe we can keep it simple. Meet up on the roof. There's a storage shed up there. You can keep yourself hidden from him that way."

"I guess that's as good as it's gonna get. Let's get this over with. Tell him to meet tonight."

"Yeah, I'll call him now and let him know." Amber stood up and stepped out of the room, phone in hand.

"RJ, I hope I don't have to tell you that you can't tell mom and dad about this. I know that they're getting a little protective of me because of everything that's going on and..."

RJ waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah I know." he made for the window, preparing to leave.

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah, you saw her. She's not too happy with me right now. It's better if you stay with her." he opened it and climbed out. "I'll see you later."

"Okay."

Meanwhile just outside the room Amber is talking to Logan about this meeting. "So, she agreed?" Logan asked and Amber could hear the excitement in his voice.

"Yeah, she did. She's uh... here now actually."

"Really?" Logan sounded surprised. "Should I come now?"

"No, not now. Come by at night. I'll make sure she stays here."

"Oh, um, should I bring something? Flowers maybe."

Amber shook her head. "No, don't do that. That's not necessary. Just bring yourself."

"Alright, you got it. I'll see you soon."

"Later." Amber said before hanging up the phone. She leaned up against the wall and sighed.

The door to her bedroom opened and Kylie was soon standing next to her."So, what did he say?"

"He's gonna be here later on tonight so... do you wanna just hang out here for a while?" Amber suggested, hoping she'd say yes so she wouldn't have to be alone.

"I wasn't planning on really leaving anyway. Not until I knew you were okay."

Amber smiled at her best friend. "Thanks."

"Just doing my job." Kylie smirked.


Vanessa sat down on a stool at Tasty Delights and waited for her lunch to get ready so she could head back to work. She began messing around in her phone. Looking through news articles and seeing if there were any new details popping up about the city's killer. Just about every online news site was talking about it, so Vanessa thought that maybe there was something in one of these sites that Michael hasn't gotten around to telling them about.

After sifting through the not so accurate sites that were just making up a bunch of nonsense, as they try to capitalize off of a story that they most likely know little to nothing about, Vanessa found something with information that could be useful. In this article, it said that there were two men and one woman, that were involved with some of the victims, they were questioned and they all said the same thing. They all said they had nothing to do with their deaths. They also mentioned that they either had a feeling or knew that their significant others were being unfaithful.

These three people including the boyfriend of the latest victim, who has since been questioned, all essentially saying the same thing. That's too many to be a coincidence. Vanessa's eyes widened as she thought. If this is true, then that means that this serial killer is going after cheaters. It's not much, but it could help us out. I've gotta ask Michael about this, just to be sure that this is actually true. Vanessa was so wrapped up in this story that she didn't really notice when someone sat down next to her. "Hey." the person spoke, getting Vanessa's attention.

Vanessa looked up, startled. Sitting there was the same guy that bought her a drink when she was here with her sisters. He ran a hand through his messy brown hair, moving the locks away from his baby blue eyes. "Hello." she said back politely. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes, actually, but first can I get your name?"

Vanessa eyed the young man. "Vanessa." she stated simply. It was just a name. What could it hurt?

"Vanessa, that's a beautiful name for a beautiful young woman." he held out his hand for her to shake. "I'm Trent."

Trent huh? Now I remember. This was the same guy that got me that free drink the other day. So that Jamie girl was right, he really does like to flirt with women. "Uh-huh," she tried to ignore the young man's obvious attempt at flirting and simply shook his hand. "Can I help you with something else?"

The young man blinked in surprise. Obviously, he was used to this working on other women. He quickly switched back to flirt mode. "Well, I was hoping someone as pretty as you would like to get a cup of coffee with me." Vanessa smiled not because she was falling for anything he was saying, it was more like a pity smile. The flirting was flattering sure, but it just didn't have the same affect on her as it would on someone else. Besides, she was still happily married.

"Oh, as in a date?"

"Yeah." he smiled slyly.

"I think I'm a bit too old for someone like you and besides," Vanessa held up her left hand, showing off her engagement and wedding bands. "I'm married."

"Age is just a number, it doesn't matter to me. And your husband doesn't have to know about this." he smirked, waving off the fact that she had a husband.

Vanessa eyed him warily. She wasn't really expecting him to be this forward. She had something to counter this though. "You're right, he doesn't need to know about this and he's not going to know because nothing is going to happen. Unfortunately for you, I love him."

Trent's eyes seemed to darken a bit. It was barely noticeable, but Vanessa caught it. Her hazel eyes locked on to his for a few seconds. Vanessa could tell that he was rather irritated at being rejected. She was used to seeing the look of a man with a bruised ego. He suddenly shrugged. "Alright, you can't blame a guy for trying. I'm sure I'll see you around sometime." he stood up and winked.

"Right." Vanessa said, watching him as he walked away.


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