You've chosen to continue investigating against orders! If this isn't the decision you wanted, feel free to return to Chapter 98!
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The story you are about to read was written by Tana, MT_Reade

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Logan didn't stay long. He just couldn't shake the feeling that Patton wasn't the right answer. If he was right, he didn't have much time to prove it. Based on Remus' testimony, the murderer had been pulling an unconscious Virgil from "the old university". The only university that was even remotely near Marian Bridge, the murder site, was Carlton University. The one that he and Patton had both attended.

Yet another thing tying Logan to this murder. There had to be more to this story than the evidence stated. There was no explanation for the letters, for motive, or for how Logan was tied up in this whole thing. Puzzle pieces were missing, and Logan was determined to find them, however impossible it might seem.

He decided he'd start his search at his old school.

Logan pulled on his jacket and hat, before briskly making his way out of the station house. There was no time to lose.

***

Logan stood in front of the old school building. It looked really creepy at night. The peeling paint on the walls looked like mouths opening up to swallow him. The cracked staircase was one he'd known well. Although Logan knew that the splits were there only due to weathering and the wear of hundreds of students' shoes pounding over them daily for years... he couldn't help but wonder if the earth was pulling itself apart to devour himself and the rest of New York. The slatted roof was dark, and against the night sky, looked as though the building had no roof at all, which was a little unnerving.

Logan tried to get a hold of himself. But it didn't help that he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd been here before.

Well, of course he'd been here before. He'd been a student here once.

But... he felt like he'd been here recently. But he hadn't.

Not that he could remember, anyway.

Logan approached the doors cautiously. He cracked one of them open with ease. He looked at the door handle in surprise. He saw that the lock had been broken off. When did that happen? It had to have been sometime over the last month or so, because this school still took classes, the staff would've had it repaired if it had happened during the school months.

Logan's stomach churned uncomfortably. Something bad had happened here. Whether it had to do with this case? He couldn't be sure.

Logan slipped through the doorway, leaving the door ajar for a light source. He stepped into the dark hallway apprehensively. Why was he so skittish? He didn't normally get scared.

There was a loud bang from behind him, and all light disappeared. Logan jumped, and whirled around, hands up and ready to defend himself. Logan stood like that until his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He blinked a couple times, before slowly lowering his arms. It was just the door slamming shut. The wind must've closed it.

Logan wiped his clammy, slightly sweaty hands off on his pants. "Get a grip, Logan." He said, turning back around slowly.

Suddenly though, Logan felt hands grip his shoulders and shove him backward. Logan gasped as he staggered backward, back slamming against the wall behind him. Logan grunted in pain, but a gloved hand clamped over his mouth, silencing him. Logan looked up, trying to shove his fear down deep inside him as he looked into golden eyes that almost seemed to be glowing. He could make out the outline of a figure in the darkness, along with his nose and his lips, that were twisted upward in a creepy, cocky smile. Logan struggled to breathe through the glove.

"Well, well, well..." A deep voice said. "If it isn't Detective Logan Christie." The man said his name as though it was sweet to say, something of significance. Although Logan couldn't tell by his tone if his name was being said as a compliment or an insult.

Logan tried to pull away, but a cloaked arm pressed itself against his chest, and pinned him against the wall. The hand over his mouth moved to capture his wrists, holding them together and against his torso. Logan gasped for breath as soon as the glove was away from his mouth and nose.

"Wh-Who are you?"

The man laughed. "Don't play dumb, detective. You know exactly who I am."

Logan tried to keep his quickly building fear at bay. "You're Cain."

The man's smile grew wider. "That's right. Not just a pretty face, are you?" The hand on Logan's chest lifted ever so slightly so that Cain could run the back of his hand down Logan's cheek. Logan flinched and turned his head away.

"Get your hands off me." Logan said, heart pounding in his chest.

The man looked amused. "You're not really in a position to make demands here, sweetheart."

Logan looked at Cain again. "So I was right. Patton wasn't behind this, was he?"

Cain's smile faltered. "Oh please. Patton doesn't have enough intellect to write a grocery list, never mind plan a murder."

Logan struggled against Cain's hands. "How dare you. Patton is a doctor."

"Shhhh..." Cain said softly. "Hush now, detective. No need to get all defensive. Don't worry, the courts will agree with you... when they sentence Patton to hang."

"They will not!" Logan felt as his voice grew slightly shrill with panic and anger. "Because he is innocent. You're the murderer."

Cain raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? What proof do you have against me?"

Logan faltered. "I-I..."

"As I thought."

Logan writhed in Cain's grasp. "What do you want?"

Cain feigned surprise. "Me? Nothing. You just keep playing right into my hand. Doing everything I want you to do. I have nothing to want for."

Logan just stared at the man, rendered silent by the fright clogging his throat. The door abruptly swung open, flooding the hall with dim moonlight, and both Logan and Cain turned to look at it. But, no one was there. The door must've blown open on its own because of its lack of clasp. Logan thought quickly, and jumped on the opportunity. Cain was momentarily distracted, and Logan used the chance to tear his hands from the other's grasp. He stopped struggling, though, when his eyes skimmed over Cain's face. With the new light in the corridor, Logan was able to see more of his face. While he was attempting to escape, Logan's fleeting eyes caught sight of a large section of dark skin spreading up the left side of the man's otherwise pale face. A birthmark.

"Daemon?"

What happened after occurred so fast, that Logan wasn't even sure he caught any of it. All he knew now was that Cain's rough lips were pressed against his own. Logan stiffened as he felt Cain's hand cup his face as he held the kiss. Logan should've pulled away, but he couldn't. It was like he had just been turned to stone. His feet felt cemented to the ground.

It was over as suddenly as it had started, and by the time Logan opened his eyes, Cain was nowhere in sight.

Logan felt lightheaded, like his whole world had been shaken violently like it was the inside of a snow globe, and was just set down again. Logan managed to figure out that the man must have gone out through the door, because it was swinging back and forth unnaturally, like it had been pushed against. He scrambled out of the door, and ripped around the corner, eyes searching for any sign of Cain.

Logan ran around the back of the building. He searched all corners of the exterior, but it only confirmed what he already knew. He was gone.
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