章 25: Chapter 25: Return

After more than an hour of driving, they finally arrived at the city. Abby then said, "Let's go to your apartment first before anything else."

Abby then turned the car and headed to Caspian's apartment. As they arrived, they saw the landlord cleaning the place up. They then parked and left the car.

As they approached the landlord, they greeted, "Sir, it's been a while since we've seen each other."

When the landlord saw him, it was as if he saw a ghost, but he had a big smile on his face.

"I'm glad you're okay. Do you know how shocked I was when I heard gunshots and saw your apartment get destroyed? I cleaned it up for you. Your mom also showed up and paid for all the damages even though I told her not to worry about it."

"I thought you were dead or some shit like that cuz there was blood all over the place. I'm glad to see you're well and alive! Well, I cleaned your place up and got the damages fixed."

"Thank you, sir. I really appreciate you doing that," Caspian smiled warmly. The old landlord simply laughed as he replied, "No worries, kid. I know it's hard being in the police and all. Go in; your rent this month is free."

"Wow, thank you so much," Caspian sincerely thanked the landlord.

Soon, the landlord left, and they entered the apartment, which was squeaky clean. There were no traces of any dirt.

As Caspian entered his room, he called Abby. Abby then came, and Caspian asked, "My mom took care of the dead body here, right?"

"Yeah, she did," Abby replied. Caspian sighed with relief while saying, "Thank god for that. Haha, the landlord would've gotten a heart attack if he found a dead body with the head crushed."

Abby and Caspian laughed as they left the room.

The other four were simply relaxing on the couch. Lucia then said, "Glad to see you're not one of those weirdos who have weird shit all over the walls."

Caspian laughed as he replied, "No, I don't like having posters."

"Okay, just to celebrate coming back here, I'll cook us a feast," Caspian said as he grabbed the apron hanging on the door and prepared the ingredients.

"Nevermind that shit, where can I smoke here?" Lucia said as she grabbed a pack of cigarettes from her pockets.

Caspian smiled wryly as he said, "We don't smoke, so outside?"

As if that answer was enough, Lucia left the apartment and stood outside while smoking. Caspian then went back to preparing.

Just as he was preparing, Natalie and Abby both spoke simultaneously, "I can help."

They both looked at each other as if shocked the other could cook. Caspian laughed as he said, "I'll want as much help as I can get. You both can help me prep the ingredients."

They then started preparing, and soon they started cooking. With a fiery blaze and more than an hour, their feast was cooked.

Caspian, Abby, and Natalie served the food for all to enjoy. Caspian then removed the apron as he said while looking at all of them, "Let's eat."

He also called Lucia, who was outside. She then went inside and smelled something good.

All of them sat down and looked at the food with hungry eyes. They then started eating, and the four newcomers' eyes glowed.

Naida, who was currently chewing her food hungrily, said, "You're good."

"Thank you," Caspian appreciated the compliment.

After eating their breakfast, they all got ready, and they headed out to the station. After a couple of minutes, they arrived. Caspian looked at the station and said with a sigh, "It's been more than a month, huh."

He looked at his companions and beckoned them to come with him. As they entered, they were met with a big surprise.

"WELCOME BACK, DETECTIVE ASHWOOD AND SERGEANT QUINN!" The officers within the department said with enthusiasm, including Scarlet, and that one officer he caught watching porn.

Caspian and Abby were surprised at this. They just smiled as they thanked everyone. They all greeted each other, and after a while, Caspian and the others headed to his office.

As Caspian opened the door, he saw that the room was kind of dusty, so he smiled wryly as he welcomed the others in. "Come in, it's a bit dusty, but it'll do."

They then went inside and sat down on the couch and chairs. Caspian then looked at them and said, "How about we exchange some of the information that we know."

Naida and the others agreed as she said, "The culprit is someone our unit had been chasing for a long time. Some things that we know include him targeting half-bloods specifically. He also is connected with the organization 'Fallen.' We don't know that much information about it. We just know it's a big organization with multiple supernatural criminals."

Natalie followed up what she said: "He's really good at leaving no traces, but we know he's a vampire. An extremely strong one at that. We speculated that he's probably as strong as the captain or even stronger."

Caspian knitted his brows when he heard the killer being stronger than his mom. He just nodded his head as he also started stating what he knew.

"We don't know that much information, but I can say that all of his victims here are stated to have the Rh-null blood type."

"Not only that, we had found evidence that he might be a politician since when we captured the criminal organization hiding within the abandoned factory in Elm street, we found documents containing the personal information of said victims."

"But before all of that, I would recommend us to request a warrant to get information about the blood types of each citizen within Haverfall for the safety of the people and maybe get a chance to subdue that bastard," Caspian said with a solemn tone.

"I agree with the detective," Naida said as she looked at the others. The others nodded their heads as they agreed.

"We should inform mom first before we tell the captain here," Caspian said as he grabbed his phone.

He then contacted his mom and told him about the situation. Grace then replied, "Alright, go and tell him that it's Special Agent Grace Ashwood's order."

The call soon ended as Caspian said, "Abby and I will inform the captain. We still need to report, after all."

The others nodded as Caspian and Abby left and headed to the Captain's office.

With a knock, Caspian said, "Sir, this is Detective Ashwood and Sergeant Quinn reporting."

"Come in," a muffled voice sounded inside the room. Caspian and Abby then opened the door and headed inside.

As they faced the captain, they saluted. Caspian then said, "Detective Ashwood, reporting, sir."

Abby also said, "Sergeant Quinn, reporting, sir."

The captain nodded his head as he said, "Sit down first."

Both of them sat down on the chairs and looked at the captain, who said, "Glad to see you're fine, detective. I heard you were attacked?"

"Yes, sir. I've already fully recovered. They didn't manage to hurt me that much. After all, sergeant Abby was with me the whole time."

"I see. Welcome back to the department. I hope you don't do something like that again. I would hate to dismiss a great detective from their duty," the captain said.

"I won't, captain," Caspian replied with a smile. The captain then said, "Alright, you both can go."

"Ah, before we leave, Captain, Special Agent Grace Ashwood wants us to request a warrant to get all the documents containing the blood type of every person in this city. We need it as soon as possible."

The Captain's face slightly twisted, but he shook it off as he said with a solemn tone. "...Alright, but I would have to contact Agent Ashwood before I give it to the judge. You can leave for now. I'll contact you after I confirm the orders."

Both Caspian and Abby nodded as they stood and left the room, leaving the captain having a solemn expression.

Both of them then headed to Caspian's office. As they arrived, Caspian said, "The captain said he still needed to confirm. It probably will take a while since we still need to give it to the judge for approval."

But before Caspian sat down, he said, "Well, I'll leave you here. I have to go to the pathologist first."

The others nodded their heads as Caspian headed to the laboratory and knocked on the door. "Come in!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Caspian entered the lab with a smile. He saw Scarlet arranging documents and compiling them in one of the drawers.

He then said, "Long time no see, Scarlet."

"Detective! It's been quite a while. Take a seat," Scarlet beckoned at one of the seats, and Caspian obliged as he sat down on the chair.

"So, did anything happen during the time I was gone?" Caspian asked.

Scarlet couldn't help but sigh with exasperation and smile bitterly. She then said, "A lot has certainly happened. During the time you were gone, there were at least ten more different murders, and six of them were done by that murderer."

As Caspian heard that, his brows furrowed as he frowned. "That many…?"

"Yeah, still no traces, too," Scarlet sighed.

After a thought, Caspian then said, "Remember when you said we need to know the blood types of all citizens in Haverfall?"

"Yes? Why do you ask…? Wait…." Scarlet was somewhat confused, but her confusion soon turned into shock.

"That's right. I got permission from my mom, and now I'm part of the investigation. We have officially requested a warrant earlier, and we'll definitely be getting it later."

Caspian smiled as he said that, leaving Scarlet dumbfounded.