DIP: Tainted Blood [stop - TO BE EDIT]

Chapter 8

The drive took them almost five hours drive which includes the stop and refuel of their car and among that stop, Vanessa felt something crawling under her skin like what she dreamed before.

“Santos are you okay?” Joanna suddenly asked which made her jump a little before meeting her.

“Yeah...I just felt something was going to happen.” Vanessa answered as she leaned on the car while calming her heartbeat.

“Well, we’re getting close to Vicente Hill border.” Lyca said as she came back from the comfort room of the mini store at the gasoline station.

“What do you mean?” Vanessa asked while watching her two companies being sweet on their own way.

“Night creatures were lurking around the town. Some were living as humans but some were totally being b***h and assholes. So expect things to happen every night.” Joanna answered while her arms wrapped around Lyca and sniffed her scent which was like calming herself as Vanessa thought of it like that.

“Just like what’s happening in our town.” Vanessa sighs heavily before checking her phone and it was already four-thirty in the afternoon.

“Yeah, but more dangerous.” Lyca said as she pushed Joanna lightly before getting something in her seat.

“Love it. More crime to deal with.” Vanessa chuckled as she recalled those times. She recalled herself being the rush of her duty as police detective.

“You’re sort of weird in your own way, Santos.” Lyca chuckled toward her comment before lending a phone to Joanna to check something.

“Vanessa. Just call me that.” Vanessa insisted since she doesn’t want to be called into her surname unless they were talking about work.

“Well, for now but soon the new name will be yours.” Lyca cleared, which made Vanessa nod in agreement before she noticed the sudden stiffness of Joanna before taking the host of the fuel out from the car.

“Let’s get going. The wind suddenly shifted. Something was about to happen.” Joanna said as she closed the fuel trunk of the car and immediately got on board.

“Alright. Better to buckle up, Vanessa. Joanna will let us fly.” Lyca said with such excitement in her tone which confused Vanessa as she entered the car as well.

“Well, I’m gonna race the sun.” Joanna said as Vanessa noticed that sudden shift into her eyes. It was really glowing like a cat's eyes.

Vanessa was about to say something when the car began to roar in madness and zoomed like they were on the race. She was holding the seat belt around her body as Lyca glanced back at her and chuckled. She wanted to ask but she just let it slide since her heart was beating so hard. It wasn't that pleasant because she’s indeed frightened that they might crash. Speaking of being in a car crash. Something suddenly began to flash within her thoughts and they were too fast to her liking. Everything around her began to fade and only saw her younger version crying next to her parents dead body but what caught her attention from the flashing memories of her younger years, there she first met the shadow of a lady.

‘Ne t'inquiète pas mon jeune amour. Je te regarderai toujours.’

Vanessa couldn’t understand another foreign language though somewhere within her she knew like the younger version of herself. She knew that those words were French which she tried to understand like what her younger self did.

“I think it’s translated as ‘Don’t worry my young love. I’ll be always watching you.’” Vanessa thought to herself as those memories kept playing in front of her.

‘Promise? You won’t leave me like them?’

‘Je ne le ferai pas tant que vous ne ferez pas la même chose.’

“I won’t as long you won’t do the same.” Vanessa translated which she never thought that she could then the next she heard was the word promise coming from both voices.

As those words were being exchanged, the sirens from the police patrol car and an ambulance came and the lady was nowhere to be seen but the young Vanessa knew that she wasn’t alone since then. She knew that the lady was always watching her, she could feel them until she grew in her teens. Vanessa was already used to her new life though she knew that there was something off within her like she was missing something until she met a particular girl which she really felt familiar with. They became close but something happened and it freaked the teenager Vanessa which made her diagnose with post traumatic stress disorder.

‘I can’t live like this…’

‘Van, watashi no saiai no hito, anata wa itsumo watashi o motte imasu. Watashi wa itsumo anata o mimamoru tsumoridesu. Watashi wa, anata o aishiteimasu.’

“Another language though it seems familiar…” Vanessa mumbled to herself as she kept repeating those words inside her head which led her into a translation ‘my beloved, you always have me. I’m always going to watch over you. I love you.’ before the scene continued to play.

‘No. you shouldn’t love me...not like I’m like this…’

‘Anata wa anata e no watashi no ai o tomeru koto wa dekimasenshi, watashiniha sore ni taisuru chikara ga arimasen. Watashi wa tamatama anata o aishite ite, anata o aisa sete kuremasu. Watashi wa modotte kuru no matte imasen, tad watashi ni todomatte mi sasete kudasai.’

“You can’t stop my love for you neither do I have power over it. I just happen to love you and let me love you. I am not waiting for any return, just let me stay and watch over you.” Vanessa tried her best on translating those Japanese words as her eyes narrowed like she was dissecting them word per word while it kept playing in front of her eyes. Then another similar word of promise and shedded tears were being shared.

Then another flashing memory which felt like it was just recent as the adult Vanessa was already working as a police officer and dating a girl which looked the same from her previous memories. She didn’t quite understand why they had the same faces but having different foreign languages though her heart seems to know what it was saying to her. She understood them but when the recent car crash came into her view, there’s the same shadow of a lady from her younger days who came and again, rescued her. From then and on, Vanessa finally knew that it wasn’t just any dream since it really did happen but something really ticks off from those memories.

“They’re all the same but who was it? Who’s the real one who keeps watching me like a hawk?” Vanessa asked herself which she didn’t realize that they were already at the headquarters, not until Lyca cut her from her deep thought.

“Are you still alive back there, Vanessa?” Lyca asked as she looked at her with such concern which only made her smile and nodded as she responded.

“C’mon, let me tour you around the DIP HQ.” Lyca said with such enthusiasm that Vanessa pinched the bridge of her nose over the excitement of her new friend.

As they went out of the car, Vanessa’s jaw dropped on the ground as she saw a very huge and Victorian museum which was almost like the Albert Museum in London. But to Vanessa, it looked more like an old theater house than being a museum if the name wasn’t written at the top gate signage. Anyway, Vanessa was being cut from her amazement when she heard a knowing giggles coming from Lyca.

“Never gets old. You also had the same expression when I first picked up Joe from the land of the dead.” Lyca kept giggling as she snaked her arms around Vanessa before pulling her toward the entrance.

Inside, it was indeed feel like a museum as they were being welcomed by statues and other bones figures or mannequins. Not to mention the tourists around the hall. Lyca kept pulling Vanessa toward a black but vintage style elevator. Inside the elevator, Vanessa was amazed how vintage the elevator looked like and what she noticed was there was no button to push at either sides of the door.

“There’s no button here but we have this lever. Before we could use it, we had better close the black railings and push this green button to close the door before we set the floor of which we’re going now.” Joanna instructed as she demoed it as well to Vanessa. Vanessa also noticed that the lever was being put to UG selection.

“UG stands for Under Ground and this elevator only has it, that's why it was off limits to the people working at the museum.” Lyca explained as she noticed some confusion in Vanessa’s face.

“Do they know what’s at the UG?” Vanessa asked both of them since they had to pass the museum which has its own employees.

“Yes they do because the owner of the museum was also the head director at DIP.” Joanna explained which Vanessa finally understood since it made more sense to be that way.

“But you’ll be surprised as we got down at HQ. it might have looked vintage but I promise you it was more high tech than you thought.” Lyca giggled as she was excited on how Vanessa would react if she saw what she was trying to say.