Chapter 2:

"Fool! I am such a big Fool! Madalyne was not what I thought her to be!. Months of preparation, watching and bidding my time, all for nothing… But all those dead animals at one of her land! I thought I had the true creature, Fool that I am!"

The murderer thought, fully disgusted.

"Even after having so much experience and practice, I killed the wrong one! At least I can say one thing about myself; I left no clues of my identity. But no matter! I will rectify my mistake. I shall find the real creature. I, the slayer, shall find the vampire to be killed!"

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"So that's all you can tell us?"

Ray asked, hiding his irritation well.

"tha' all I remmebe' sir"

The gardener said looking at his feet.

"Thank you for your time. If you remember anything else, please feel free to contact us"

Kai said without showing any expression as he shook the gardeners hand and handed him his card. They were standing in the late Madalyne's, now Anna's massive garden. When the gardener went away, Ray let his irritation show and said:

"Man that was a waste of time!. No one saw anything! Peculiar isn't it?"

"I know what you mean. Lets go and.." Kai was interrupted by the ringing of Ray's cellphone.

"Hello?" Ray inquired. "Hey Tyson! How are you? How is the BBA going?"

Tyson, the former world champion, was now the head of the BBA Department with Kenny as the head of all technical things in BBA. He had been trying for years now to get Ray and Kai to join him but they had refused. They still loved the game and played it between themselves but they also liked working with the FBI. For Ray, it was kind of revenge. He had loved Hilary and just as they were going straight, she had been killed. Of course the killer was captured but from then onwards, He had a dream of becoming an FBI agent so as to capture any one who killed innocent people. Kai, as usual, had kept quite about his reason. Ray suspected it had something to do with his nature. After all he could easily get into the shoes of many criminals. Together, this team had captured more criminal then the rest of the department put together.

"Nice... What?... no I still don't want to be in BBA. I love my job and so does Kai… Yeah ok bye" Ray finished the call and hung up.

"Are Tyson and Mariah finally going to get married?" Kai asked.

"Yup" Ray answered as he pocketed his cell phone.

"Hmm now let's go to the main suspect and get her statement."

Kai said already heading towards the house. It was a double story large and beautiful house where once nothing but gaiety, homeliness, and happiness ruled. But now that was gone; the house was surrounded by gloom and sadness. It looked a house searching for its true master. The curtains were drawn even though the weather was gorgeous with the sun peeping from behind some clouds, with a gentle breeze blowing. The men entered the house and looked around at the splendidly furnished drawing at there left and a dinning on the right.

"Where is she?" Ray whispered in Kai's ear. But even then, it was heard by someone else.

"I am here detective"

A soft voice replied. Both the men looked ahead and saw an incredibly beautiful woman dressed in a black suit standing at the top of the stairs. She had long, waist length black straight and shiny hair, a slim and figurative figure with sea green eyes. She gracefully descended the stairs and shook hands with both the detectives, fully composed, she asked:

"What can I do for you?"

"We came here to get your statement of what happened that night" Kai replied a bit testily.

Unfazed, Anna nodded and motioned for them to follow her into the drawing room. After everyone had seated, Anna began to tell them of what had happened in a dull, emotion less voice:

"Madalyne and I decided to spend the night together as usual but this time, Anastasia was out of town. We spend the night at the other Mansion, the one which is about half an hour away from here. That night, Madalyne was in her room and I was upstairs in my room to unpack. Suddenly, I think I heard a noise, I am not sure, but I felt great alarm for no apparent reason. You know? A queer sort of feeling that something is not right? I felt great urgency to go to Madalyne. I ran downstairs but I was too late. All I saw was Madalyne lying on the floor besides the bed. The floor was …" Anna paused for few second, clearly trying to compose herself, but now sadness and despair crept in to her tone "The floor was covered with blood, her blood. For a few moments, I was too shocked to move. But then when I snapped out of it, I rushed to her side and it was then that I noticed the wooden stake in her chest. Part of me knew that she was dead, after all, there was a stake in her heart, but I still tried to see if she was breathing. Then I came to my senses and rushed to call the police in hopes that they would be able to do something. But my prayers were not answered .She was pronounced dead."

At this Anna stopped and looked ahead with unfocused eyes. Both the men

could tell that she was still thinking of that fateful night. But both had noticed something else too. Anna's voice had gotten a bit hard when she had mentioned the wooden stake, with all traces of sadness gone. Kai looked at Ray with a raised eyebrow clearly conveying his message:

What do you think now about Anna? Is she still an innocent lady to you?

Without speaking and moving, Ray shifted his eyes from his partner and looked hard at Anna. She did not fit into the category of the killer's type. But He really did not know her and immediately thought

"I want to get to know her more, really know her".

Shaken by his thought he mentally shook himself and tried to think like an agent he was. Yes Anna's voice had gotten, oddly enough, a bit hard on the wooden stake part, but that did not mean that she was the killer. Yes she had a lot to gain but did that not mean that Madalyne trusted her? There must be a reason why she trusted her so much that she gave everything to Anna and not a bit to Anastasia. But as Kai had said, she could be a great actress and maybe she had gotten tired of acting all the time?

"……to ask?"

Anna's soft voice pulled him out of thoughts as if a great amount of electricity has just passed through him.

"I am sorry?"

Ray said ignoring Kai's look of disapproval.

"I asked if you want to ask anything else"

Anna said looking at Nick.

Nice sea green eyes, Ray thought looking at Anna and said No at the same time Kai said yes.

Both the men looked at each other with Anna looking at them in confusion.

Kai said glaring at Ray in silent command to not to speak.

"Yes, just one thing. Is that all? Nothing else that you can remember? Anything you remember which you thought was unimportant?"

"I could only smell blood. Nothing else" Anna replied.

"Ok. Please do not leave this town until we say so. If we have anything else to ask, we will contact you and if you remember anything that you have not told us, please contact us. It is getting late and we should be on our way. I was told that Miss West was here. Please tell her that we want to talk to her tomorrow morning."

Ray said while getting up from the chair. Kai and Anna followed suit and got up.

Walking through the garden, Ray looked back at the window on the 1st floor where no sunlight reached. There, standing alone was Anna looking at the departing men.

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"I hope they believe me" Anna said softly looking at the men from the large window.

"They will" Anastasia said coming out of a room situated near the window.

Anna turned around and smiled grimly at Anastasia and shook her head and replied.

"I saw the look on Agent Kai's face. He did not believe me."

"I believe you are innocent of the murder because of the love you and Madalyne had for each other. You told them everything. You had nothing to hide"

Anastasia said as she put her arm around Anna to comfort her. But Anna knew better.

"If only she knew. I have so much to hide." Anna thought despairingly.