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A.N Sorry for it being so short. I kinda ran out of inspiration halfway through – and I decided it was better to have a cliffy anyway. . And since this is so short, it'll mean I'll put the next one up quicker! (Yes, the next chapter is done. .)----
"Mate – you look like complete and utter shite!" A voice called from the common room as I walked passed the open door. "What, you get mixed up with some drunks?"
"Actually, it was a girl," I muttered angrily. They must have heard, because howls of laughter followed me down the hall as I walked back towards my room. Muttering cusses under my breath, I slammed my door shut behind me and stalked into the bathroom, switching on the light bulb. It flickered a few times, then finally lit, lighting the cramped lime room. I winced when I saw my face in the mirror. They were right – I did look like crap.
Wetting some toilet paper under the tap, I quickly wiped away most of the blood on my face, wincing as the water stung the cut on my lip. Lovely. I would have a nice, large lip the next day. When I was as clean as I could get, I stripped and jumped into the shower-cross-bath, turning the taps so that hot water came pouring out over me. Bloodied water ran down the drain.
Out of the corner of my eye, I spied the blue bottle sitting on the little green sink. My eyes narrowed, my bad mood becoming worse. Ever since that damned spider bite, I'd had to wear that horrible-smelling stuff, to stop myself from getting sick and dying.
All because of Shan. He had made the spider attack me. I don't know the reasons for him getting Hurston to cure me, but the fact still remains:
He tried to kill me. He took my place. He betrayed me.
I barely restrained myself from breaking the tiles in front of me in rage.
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If I was to get to the vampire before Peregrine Walters did, I had to start looking straight away. Wrapping myself up as warmly as I could and smelling of medicine, I pulled out all the information I had ever gathered on the 'Scar Murders', and set it out on the bed in front of me. I paused, then went searching through the bedside drawer. It was seconds later when I found what I wanted: a map of the city.
Unfolding it, I pulled out my red marker, and began crossing off where all the murders had taken place. In no time, I had six crosses, and one circle marked onto the page.
Putting my marker down, I sat back and glared down at the map. There was no pattern to the murders – they were pretty much all over the place. Most were in the same area where Kenny Brookes lived, but the remaining few were scattered across the city.
Frowning, I leaned forward and began to trace the path that I had run the night before when following the vampire. I did it as best I could from memory, trying to visualise the exact way I had taken. Finishing that, I sat back again, tapping the marker on my temple as I tried to think.
The path was roughly halfway through the majority of the murders, like a line-of-best-fit from science experiment days. It was very odd.
I scanned the map for any clues, looking around the area carefully and trying to dredge up even more info from my hundreds of vampire books. Dark, secluded places, like sewers and abandoned buildings – that sounded about right. Something easily accessible by them yet not by others – somewhere where people looking for them could be easily lost…
And then I saw it. And immediately it clicked.
I knew where the vampire was hiding.
How could it have been so easy?
