Chapter Three.
xXx
A Few Days Later...
Haley knew it was wrong to be here. Very wrong. And she felt nauseous just by placing her hand against the door of her cousin's old apartment. But she had to do this. Pushing it open she stepped inside and closed it softly behind her, just as the sound of pouring rain could be heard from outside.
Seeing as the police had already marked her death as a suicide. And no matter how many times she had tried to explain to them, that there was no way Peyton had killed herself. No one would listen. Or do a damn thing about it.
So now Haley James had decided to take on the roll of Nancy Drew.
Slowly, she walked around the room taking everything in. Even the tiniest bit of detail if it meant there was a clue about what exactly had happened here that night.
Haley made her way over to the broken window. She couldn't help but look down below, where the cold wet alleyway was. That's where Peyton's body was found. Twice.
Once by a ghoul.
The same ghoul who had fed off her. What if she had still been alive at the time, even if it had been a little while longer, when he... Or she...
Not being able to finish that thought, Haley quickly rushed to the bathroom to say goodbye to what little she'd eaten this morning.
By the time she was done and had wiped her mouth with some toilet paper, Haley sat there on the cold tiled floor with her head against her knees. "Why?" she mumbled as she felt tears falling down her face. "Why did this have to happen, Peyt? Who did this to you?"
So many questions and no one to answer any of them.
Haley decided to leave things for now and head home. She had already moved out of the dorms to stay with her Uncle for awhile and help him out as much as she could. For once in her life, she was going to be the strong one. So her Uncle would lean on her for support. Not the other way around.
She wiped her face a few times with her hands. Quickly brushing more stay tears away, before slowly standing back up. Haley had just reached for the door-knob, when she heard footsteps coming from the other room.
Who was that?
In confusion she waited and listened, when she heard a faint male voice. Sounded like he was talking on the phone to someone.
"...Look. I did what you asked, okay... No... Well how the fuck was I supposed to know one of those hideous things would show up!?... You never said that... All you said was to make it look like a... Yes, I'm in her apartment right now... I'm looking for it! Are you sure it's here?... What about her family? You sure they're not involved?... Hey look man, as long as you pay me, I'll kill whoever you want me to."
Kill?!
Haley quickly covered her mouth to stop from making a sound. She was right. Peyton really was murdered. "I have to get out of here." She said to herself barely above a whisper.
Looking around in panic, Haley spotted the small open window and very quietly crept towards it. She had just managed to squeeze herself through, and stand on the wet window ledge, when the bathroom door suddenly swung open with a loud bang.
The noise had startled her and Haley lost her balance, but managed to grab a hold of the window ledge just in time. Now she was hanging on for dear life, by her fingers, with nowhere to go except straight down.
(Gulp!)
Haley could hear the movements of the guy in the bathroom. His voice was a lot lower than before because of the rain, and she could only make out a few of his words this time.
"...Experiment...
...Payback...
...Ghouls...
...Lucas..."
That was the last thing she heard before her wet fingers lost their grip, and she fell to her imminent death.
xXx
As he made his way down the street, Nathan shivered. He had to get out of this rain. It had started so suddenly and he'd left his jacket at his mom's cafe. He was about to rush off, when something caught his eye. Was that...? Yes. It was. Someone was holding on to a window ledge. "What the hell?" he was confused.
Next thing he knew they were falling.
Nathan's feet started running before his brain could realize what he was doing. He'd just got there in time, when he felt the person literally fall into his arms. Okay. So by the form, he could tell it was a female. He could also tell she was in shock. Understandable. He knew he should say something. Or maybe he should let her go and just take off, before she saw his face...
Too late.
Wait a second. He knew that face. It was her.
"It's you." She stared back at him with mixed emotions on her face. "You saved me."
"Yeah." He just hoped Lily, Brooke and everyone else didn't find out. A ghoul saving a human? That was unthinkable to his kind. Karen Scott was the only exception. And even then, there were some ghouls who didn't approve of any humans knowing the truth about them. But she was the only mother he and his sister had ever known. And he would protect her no matter what.
This human however?
Why did he save her?
"Thank you." She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.
She had a strange floral scent coming from her skin. It was nice. "Um... You're welcome. I guess." He muttered that last part to himself.
He gently loosened his hold on her, so she'd get the hint to let go of him. But she didn't. Now they were both standing in the pouring rain, with her still clinging to him. It was starting to make Nathan uncomfortable. He'd never been this close to a human before, other than his mother, when she insisted on giving him a hug.
And sure he had friends at college that were human. But they never really hung out. And they were all guys anyway. Girls would talk to him sometimes. And yes, he'd noticed the looks they would give him. But because he'd show no interest and always kept his distance, they would leave him alone most of the time.
But this was different.
Very different.
After all this was the girl who had seen him at her cousin's funeral. The same cousin he had fed from that night. Even though she was dead. He still felt guilty. No. It was no good. What if she started asking questions again? He had to get away from her.
"I'm Haley." He heard against his neck.
He felt her finally let go of him. She was now looking up at him, waiting for a reply. What now? He could always lie. Give her a fake name. But for some reason, seeing her standing there soaking wet, with that look upon her face. Nathan realized something...
He wanted her to know his name. "I'm Nathan."
xXx
"Agent Lee!" Lucas heard behind him as he was getting some coffee. He turned to look at the flustered young woman who had just called him.
"What is it?"
"New report just in, sir. They found another body."
God give him strength. "Ghouls?" as if he had to ask.
"Yes sir." She handed over the file in her hand.
As Lucas read it his face twisted with disgust. "I'm really gonna enjoy wiping these bastards off the planet." He grumbled. He continued to read along the pages, when something caught his eye. "Tree Hill, North Carolina?"
"Is something wrong, sir?" besides the obvious. She thought to herself as she pushed her glasses up.
"I thought Banks had been working on that case?" he mumbled under his breath. "Eve." He turned to his assistant. "Get me all the files you can find on Tree Hill, North Carolina. Starting from six months ago."
"Right away, sir." She quickly rushed off.
"Just what the hell is going on?" Lucas pulled out his phone and dialled the first number on his speed-dial. "Hey. It's me. We need to talk."
xXx
A/N- Thanks guys this one is a bit shorter than the others, but hey, at least we're making progress (at last lol) Also just to let you know updates will take longer now, because i have lost the parts that were already written and i am wracking my brain trying to remember everything that i already wrote down... Stupid computer! Arghh! Anyway i'm really trying my best so please bare with me. I'm gonna start chapter four as soon as I post this one, okay. But I do have distractions around me all the fucking time in RL, and it's not like I can just wipe them all out is it LOL.
