Raven

Chapter 22

Seven months ago, somewhere in G City.

Every morning, Liam was already used to watch news while eating.

"A woman, age 25, found dead in her own apartment."

This was what greeted him the moment he opened the television. He maximized the volume and watched seriously. He didn't know why but he suddenly became nervous.

"The victim's name was Apollo White—"

The remote fell from his hand. "f**k! I knew it." He cursed.

His feet went cold as he thought about it. Apollo was his sixth girlfriend eversince he reached the age of 21. Also the sixth girlfriend who was killed by an unknown psychopath. Sha, Cybele, Heph, Bela, and Jo. All if them were his girlfriend. All of them were dead.

He was scared shitless as he thought of what the six had in common. They were all his girlfriend. And if the authority finds out about it, he might be accused as their murderer.

Liam was a bit edgy because of that. He almost jumped in fright when his front door suddenly opened.

"Liam! Have you watched the news!?"

Liam quickly picked the remote and threw it at the uninvited guest. Hel caught it on her left hand and gave a middle finger to Liam using her right hand.

"For pete's sake, Hel! Can you enter my house normally!? I almost had a heart attack because of your overly dramatic and aggressive entrance! f**k!" Liam yelled at her.

He slumped on the couch and messed his hair. Hel sat beside him. She knew about his other past lovers, and even current ones. That's why she was so shocked to see the news.

"Liam, do you have a stupid birthmark on your butt? Or do you have any idea who you messed with?"

Liam paused and thought. First, he doesn't have any "stupid" birthmark on the butt. Second, he always avoided getting in trouble, so how can he have enemies?

"What if, I'll court your brother who's a chief police? Then I will tell him everything so that I can be protected by the law?" He suggested to Hel.

She suddenly smacked his head. "Not Dan you dumbass. He's not gay."

"What the heck should I do?!?"

Hel was silent. However, Liam almost fell to the couch when she opened her mouth. "Why not make me your girlfriend instead?"

Liam looked at her as if she was a stranger spouting nonsense. "You don't want me to court Dan because you want it to be you instead?"

Hel smacked Liam's head again. "Are you really that traumatized and your brain isn't functioning well? Have you forgotten what my job was?"

Liam remembered. She was a Nurse Corp at the army, but took a leave because of her father's illness. "You sure?" Liam asked her worriedly.

"Even though I'm a nurse on the field, I still received an extensive military training." She said while pouting.

"Yeah yeah. Just make sure you'll capture him or her, whoever that is. How can I get married if this will happen all the time???" I complained.

"Then, you can marry me if that happens." Hel whispered but was heard by Liam.

"Wait a minute, do you have desires for me??" Liam gasped, receiving another smack on his head from Hel.

"You're such a jerk!" Hel complained.

"Stop bitching around! Your hand's not that light, damn it!" Liam howled while come bering his head.

They both fell silent for a few seconds. Who knew who started laughing, but the two bursted out.

When they finally stopped, Hel reached out her hand.

"Now what? Deal?"

Liam stared at her hand for a while before accepting it. "Deal."

-

Months passed, Liam and Hel became happy. He learned how to love her, knowing the fact that they've been friends since they were kids. In fact, they planned to get married after 5 months.

They've already identified who the killer was. Her name was Calliope, Liam's classmate back in college. Unfortunately, they found her already dead in her own apartment. Death by hanging, sui°cide.

Liam was sad and glad. Sad because he knew her very much. Glad because the killings would finally end.

?

Raven's POV

"Morning study has ended. Please proceed to your respective clubs right now."

The once quiet classroom became festive after that announcement. I also fixed my stuff and only took the important ones, while leaving the others under my table. I looked over Adelaide and she was also done.

"Let's go?" She asked.

The whole SEIA was lively. All of the students were heading to their various clubs.

Most members of The Oeuvre were already in Senior high, especially the core officers. Only the Investigatory Team and a few others were still in Junior High.

When we got off the shuttle, there were also three others who came with us. Adelaide and I parted ways when we entered The Oeuvre's office. Her department was on the right side while mine was on the left side.

Everyone was already in their cubicles. I was just about to sit down when I saw Blyneia heading to me.

"For your first case, you'll be going with Night and Lemon to investigate onsite. Milcah already did some research and Sucrose scouted the area last Friday." She said as she handed me a file.

I scanned the file and was shocked to see pictures of dead women. Their cause of death must have been asphyxiation since there necks were bruised and it has a shape of a hand.

"W-What's this?"

Blyneia sat on my table. "They said it was a deed done by a vengeful ghost who hates pretty women. As you can see, there were hand prints on the neck but no finger prints were found during the investigation, leading to the belief of a ghost haunting. These rumor spread throughout the internet 7 months ago. Last week, a woman visited our website and asked fo help. She didn't believed her sister was killed by a ghost."

Blyneia took a lollipop from her pocket and slowly unwrapping it. "It was deemed as an unsolvable case and the authorities hid the information about it, only informing certain people related to the case." She ate the lollipop and rubbed her nose. "However, as Milcah researched deeply into this case, we discovered something off about it. Five months ago, a woman named Calliope was found dead in her apartment. Suicide. Her room was full of stuff owned by the female victims. She left a suicide note telling all of her crimes. The size of the hand print matched hers, validating the things she said on her note. In her note, a guy named Liam Montero was mentioned. He was once the boyfriend of these six dead girls, and Calliope's love interest."

I looked again at the pictures. "What's the reason of the crime again?"

Blyneia sighed dramatically. "A crime of passion." She looked at me and sighed again. "That case only made me avoid having a relationship even more. I don't want to end up dead or the cause of death of the guys that will be affiliated to me."

My eye twitched as I listened to her. Why did I feel that she's happy saying that last part?

I heard a snicker behind me. "Don't be fooled. She's indeed happy if that will happen." It was Lemon. She put her arms around my shoulder ang laughed. "Well look at that, you're going with us today. I'm so excited~ I bet this is going to be fun!"

"We're going on an investigation, not on a vacation." Night said venomously, only to receive a raspberry blow from Lemon.