Violet Blood

by Sophia Stafford

  She tucked the reports back into the folder, trying to decide how she was going to tell Benedict about the knife without him knowing she’d taken the folder in the first place. She pondered her options while washing her face and tying back her long hair. One thing she knew for certain, coming clean was not an option. Maybe, she could drop the file in his office and then pretend to fall over it? Reading the report on her way to the floor, it was a possibility. Or maybe, she could drop the file at his office door and run off, highlighting the wrong part of the report? What if she did tell Benedict about the report and he didn’t believe her? What if the only way he would ever be able to solve these murders was with this knife, and it was never found? Then, there would be mad lunatic running around for possibly years, killing anyone and everyone he wanted, all because of this knife. That would be terrible, and possibly all her fault. All because of this one decision, she couldn’t leave that to chance. She also wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince anymore—her mind was by this point very much made up. Before she could even second-guess her decision, Jaycen pulled on her jacket, because there really was only one solution. She was going to have to go and get the knife herself. She pulled open her door, storming into the hall with purpose.

  “Back in your room, Miss Reece. Lights are out, and you should be in bed.”

  Well damn, they had night police. Jaycen backtracked into her room, closing her door again. “Well, that put a dampener on my plans.” She scratched her chin, unable to get the idea of the knife out of her head, a knife used to kill countless people. She couldn’t let them get away with this. Again, who was she trying to convince? She headed for the window, pried it open, and stuck out her head. She was on the second floor, not overly high up but high enough to get injured if she jumped. Luckily, she spotted a drain pipe running down the side of the building, only a metre or so away from her window. Now that was doable.

  She stuck her leg out first so she was straddling the windowsill. Her heart was pounding, the height hadn’t looked too bad when she was inside, but now she was here, it looked high.

  “Don’t look down,” she chanted, closing her eyes for just a second to steady her breathing. Then, after a few deep breaths, she lunged for the drain pipe, still keeping her legs straddling the window pane as she thrust her upper body forward and her hands grabbed the pipe. Her plan worked for a minute, until she realised half her body was hanging out of her window with the other still straddling the ledge. She was stuck, and had no idea what to do next.

  “Oh my God.” This had definitely been a mistake. Jaycen’s grip on the wet pipe loosened as all her weight landed on her wrist. “No, no, no.” Finally, her hands gave way and her body tumbled into the bushes below.

  Pain hit her in too many places to count as she landed, her eyes still squeezed shut. Her hands patted down her body, feeling for any blood or anything that might be sticking out that shouldn’t be. Luckily, there was nothing.

  “Oh my gosh, are you okay?” a high-pitched female voice asked, but when Jaycen opened her eyes all she could see was bushes above her. Somebody had seen her. How embarrassing.

  “I’m fine. I think.” She pushed herself up, trying to ignore the scratches of the bushes on her arms as she stood. Only when she was standing did she see a tall woman standing just to the side, her curly blonde hair illuminated in the moonlight.

  “We saw you hanging out of the window, and then you fell.” The words rushed out, the woman’s face full of fear as her eyes scanned Jaycen’s body. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  Jaycen nodded. “A little embarrassed but I’m okay.” It was only then Jaycen realised the woman had said, “we”, meaning at least two people had seen her fall. That’s just great. Then, she saw a black figure storming towards them.

  “That was stupid. Completely and utterly stupid. What even was your plan?”

  She knew that voice. This was just getting better and better, she thought as Thornton walked closer.

  “I need to nip into the city for something. Obviously I couldn’t use my door.” Jaycen shrugged as she brushed pieces of bush and leaves off her trousers.

  The tall blonde woman looked between the two. “Oh, you know each other?”

  Not falling for this again Jaycen stayed silent.

  “We’ve met before,” he mumbled, talking to the woman at his side but his eyes fixed on and frowning at Jaycen. “You’re not supposed to leave your dorm after the bell.”

  The blonde fell into an awkward silence, as Thornton tried to lecture her.

  “You’re out,” she pointed out, hating that she sounded like a small child.

  “We’re in college; we’re allowed.”

  Jaycen tried to assess the situation, would he try and stop her if she took off now? She doubted it.

  “You can tell anyone that asks that you’ve not seen me.” She smiled and started walking around them, pulling her phone out of her pocket as she went.

  “You can’t go alone!” the blonde called after her. Jaycen turned to see her running towards her.

  “I’ll be fine,” she promised with a smile, for the first time noticing just how beautiful the woman really was. She was a lot taller than Jaycen, five-foot-nine, maybe? Her hair was a show stopper. It was curly, but not tight small curls that screamed perm. No, her curls were large and bouncy. She was stunning, and even more so when she smiled. She and Thornton made a beautiful couple.

  “Thorn, go with her please?”

  The request threw both Jaycen and Thornton.

  “What? Why?” Thornton frowned.

  “I’m honestly fine. I’ll call a cab,” Jaycen quickly assured.

  “If you knew anything about this place, you’d know it’s impossible to get cabs. Not even Uber drives this way.” She laced her arm through Thornton’s, smiling up at him. “Please, go with her. You could drive.”

  “I’m not helping her break the school rules.”

  Jaycen rolled her eyes; she had never met anyone so serious all the time. “I really am fine. Thanks though. See you around.”

  She could hear them talking as she walked away.

  “I have a test to study for or I would,” she could hear the woman say as she walked off. She was too far away when Thornton replied, but she could guess what he said. The guy really didn’t like her. But she couldn’t say that she was particularly fond of him either. She was glad he’d said no to helping her, how awkward would that car journey be? What would they have talked about?

  “Wait up.”

  Dread started to fill her as she turned to see Thornton running towards her.

  “Oh god. I’m fine on my own, really.”

  Thornton didn’t look impressed as he pulled a set of keys from his pocket. “Right. That’s why you’re going the wrong way.” He started walking in the opposite direction, just expecting Jaycen to follow. She did, of course, but only because she didn’t know the way out.

  Once they made it to the school gates Jaycen decided to talk again. “You really don’t have to come. I can find my own way.” She had been too busy looking down at her phone, trying to find her address, to realise that Thornton had stopped walking and had turned. So Jaycen walked right into him and would have fallen from the impact had he not reached out to steady her.

  “I don’t want to take you into town. But I’m doing this for a friend; she’s worried about you. So, like it or not, I’m taking you to the city. When we get there you’re on your own.”

  “You could ju…”

  “No.” The sharpness of his voice silenced her and annoyed her all at the same time. “I’m doing this. So, just accept it. Okay?” He released her with a jolt and stormed off to his car.

  “Such a dick,” Jaycen muttered quietly. Thornton’s head shot up and he glared at her.

  How had he even heard that? They both stayed silent for the remaining drive.

  Chapter 7

  They drove into the city around an hour later, and even though Jaycen would never have admitted i
t, she was thankful that Thornton had driven her. A cab or Uber would have cost a bomb to get there and to get back.

  “You can just drop me off around here.” She pointed to the sidewalk, already unbuckling her seatbelt.

  “Why did you need to come here tonight? Why not just wait for tomorrow?” It was the first words he’d said to her since leaving the school.

  “Why wait? Why not tonight?”

  “Because you’re breaking the rules, Benedict would flip if he found out.”

  Again, with the lecturing, Jaycen turned to look at him in her seat. “Have you ever done anything spontaneous in your life? Have you ever broken any rules? Have you ever had fun?”

  “Rules are there for a reason,” he stated simply, ignoring all her other questions.

  “Well, thank you for that.” Jaycen opened the door once he pulled the car to a stop. “And thanks for the ride, I’ll make my own way back.” She closed the door before Thornton could give her any more advice and headed for the alley. It took a while for her to find it, but eventually Jaycen rounded the corner of the dark alley, leaving the light of the city behind with only a few steps. She pulled out her phone, using the light as a torch as she walked in further. It had been a week or so since the attack, but everything looked the same, with only a few more bags of rubbish stacked up on the side. Jaycen closed her eyes, replaying the scene in her head like a movie. She could see the two attackers standing in the alley; she could feel the magic building in her hands, and she could see the knife fly out of his hand and into the trash. Opening her eyes, Jaycen went straight for the pile of bags, picking them up, and throwing them to the side. No knife, no nothing.

  “So, this is why you came into the city? To riffle through a pile of trash?”

  Pressing her lips tightly together, Jaycen turned. “I thought you were going back to the school?”

  “Yeah, well, the thought of leaving a young woman in the city alone at night didn’t sit well with me.” He walked to stand beside her, taking the last bag from her hand, and throwing it on the ground. “So, why are you here? What are you looking for?”

  She held back, knowing full well he was going to tell Benedict about her stealing the file. But really, what else could she tell him?

  “I’ve read the police report about the attack; I told them about the knife that I saw. According to the report, they’ve been looking in the wrong place. I saw them drop it into a pile of bags over here. They’ve been looking nearer the street.”

  Thornton crossed his arms over his chest, assessing her silently. “Why didn’t you tell Benedict?”

  She pursed her lips a little. “Let’s just say that I didn’t come across this information in the most innocent of ways.”

  He shook his head, looking away from her. “That really doesn’t surprise me.”

  “Great, so are you going to help me look or are you just going to stand there?” Jaycen turned back to the bags of trash, the ground underneath now visible.

  “I take it the knife’s not there?”

  She shook her head. “They must have come back to get it.” The irritation simmered deep, if only Benedict had passed on all of her information to the police correctly.

  Jaycen made her way to the sidewalk, deflated.

  “I doubt that.” Thornton was by her side in an instant and pointing down the street, to where the murdered body had been. “The police have just left. Benedict has had men here all week, keeping an eye out. They knew who they were looking for; they had your description.”

  Could they have got someone else to come and get it? Jaycen thought, watching the amount of people who walked past her. Would Benedict’s men have noticed a random person just walking into the alley? She doubted it. She heard the voice of a man before she saw him.

  “I’m calling the cops! Keep that lunatic away from me.” Jaycen and Thornton stepped aside as a heavily built man stormed past them, blood dripping down his arm.

  A smaller, scruffier woman ran after him. “He’s crazy, Ronnie, just forget about him.”

  Jaycen smiled up at Thornton. “I mean, come on. We can’t just leave that; we have to find out what happened.”

  Thornton’s eyes stayed focused on the bleeding man and woman as they walked away.

  “Fine, but if we don’t find out within fifteen minutes, we’re leaving.”

  Jaycen had started walking even before Thornton had stopped speaking. Every time they passed an alley she looked down it, when she didn’t see anything she turned to look over the street, standing on her tiptoes to get a better look.

  Then, screams and shouts rang out over the hustle of the busy street. Jaycen could see a crowd gathering, their bodies obstructing her view.

  Both her and Thornton’s pace quickened until they were jogging towards the ever-growing crowd. She could now see a man in the middle of the group, jerking forward when he thought someone was getting too close, holding a knife in his hand.

  “He’s got the knife!” Jaycen pointed at the dagger, her eyes wide as she looked at Thornton. “That was definitely the one that the attackers had.”

  A shopping cart lay discarded on the floor, its contents spilling out onto the road.

  “Get back! I’ll kill you; I swear I will.” The man jabbed forward, his bony, outstretched arm shaking and sinking with the weight of the knife.

  “Calm down, man. The cops are coming.” The bystander held up his hands, mirroring the attacker’s moves as they danced left and right.

  “We need to get that knife before the cops show,” Thornton said, his eyes still focused on the man.

  Jaycen wasn’t sure if Thornton had been talking to her or not, but she nodded all the same, still staring at the distressed man. She recognised him; he was the homeless guy who had been walking up and down the street the day that the woman had been murdered. He looked a little different now—his eyes were wider and darker, almost black. His already scruffy brown jacket was even more torn and worn. What had happened to this man in the last few days?

  Jaycen didn’t realise Thornton had left her side until she spotted him on the other side of the group, easing his way between the bodies as he came up behind the homeless man.

  She watched transfixed as Thornton lurched forward, one of his arms snaking around the homeless man’s neck, while the other pushed his arms down, the surprise attack making him drop the knife. The crowd all clapped and cheered as Thornton knocked the man’s knees, bringing him to the ground. He made it look so easy.

  The man thrashed around, foam spitting out of his mouth.

  “Everyone calm down; we’re the police,” Thornton called out, keeping the man at arm’s length while still keeping him under control.

  Finally, Jaycen moved, clapping her hands together loudly as she walked over to Thornton and picked up the discarded knife. The once shiny blade was now covered in the dirt and grime of the streets. The brightness of the opulent gold handle had dulled slightly, but she could still see the coat of arms molded into the metal. She held it low and out of sight as much as possible. “Show’s over people, time to move on.” She received a few suspicious stares, but the majority of the group scattered off.

  “We need to get off the street,” Thornton stressed, the man’s body thrashing from side to side in an unnatural way.

  “What’s wrong with him?” She had no idea how to help; every time she reached out, the man would bark out a noise and twist away from her hands. How Thornton still had a grip she didn’t know.

  “I don’t know. But it’s not good.”

  The man’s body lifted, as if someone was holding him by the scruff of his shirt and pulling him up.

  “What’s happening?” Jaycen breathed as the man hovered above the ground, his spine arched, and his head thrown backwards. Thornton let go of his arms, his mouth hanging open with the same disbelief that now ran through Jaycen.

  She could feel the eyes of the strangers around them turn to look at them, no one saying anything. In an attempt to shield the
man, she stepped closer, hiding him with her body.

  “People are starting to stare,” she whispered, her heart pounding at the choking sound the man was now making. Was he dying?

  “We need to move,” Thornton whispered back, just as quietly, his voice tight and his jaw tense. The man in front of them dropped back to the ground with a soft thud, his body leaning forward and shaking. He twisted around in one jerky move, his black eyes colliding with Jaycen’s.

  “Demons. Demons!” He screamed out in a bloodcurdling screech before shooting to his feet and bolting down the street.

  Both Thornton and Jaycen chased him, weaving in and out of the people who the homeless man had pushed aside in his desperate bid to escape.

  “Help me. Someone help me!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, fear coating every word. He was drawing far too much attention.

  “What the hell is he doing?” Thornton hissed, his breathing still even despite the sprint they were currently undertaking. Jaycen on the other hand was dying, she wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep up at that pace. She was about to slow when she saw Thornton reach out one lean arm, and in an instant the homeless man running in front of them flew through the air and into the open door of a small café. A female scream and a crashing sound followed. Thornton was right behind him.

  “Close the door, Jaycen,” he barked as he walked into the small book shop. Shelves and books now surrounded the man as he lay on the floor, half his body propped up by the wall and blood dripping down his head.