Damian Vlad

"Don't lose your head," Damian told Abel as they walked down the hall. He rathered like the Normie's company, Damian Vlad had been human once. Abel was pretty scrawny and short for his age, though he claimed was average for human height. They were an odd pair of friends, a jock and a nerd. Monster and human. "Did you get any sleep last night?"

"Ugh, don't bring up the whole Lamenta situation again."

Damian slung an arm over Abel's shoulder. "Dude, you have some pretty rotten luck to have your dorm right next to Lamenta. She's a Banshee, she screams and cries and, well, laments every night."

"She keeps watching those emotional films despite knowing she'll cry each time, she seriously needs to get a boyfriend or girlfriend to keep her occupied." Abel shook his head and Damian snorted. That was just their jam, you know? Yeah, Abel could be a shy worrywart, but it was a good thing Damian did all the talking.

Hey, buddy, you have a problem with my friend being a Normie? Then he'd proceed to punch that stupid monster supremacist in the face. Damian found the fact that monsters refused to be segregated by humans, but do so themselves, to be silly.

"Can't believe that Johnston is out here," Abel continued, shaking his head.

"Wait, you know that jackass?"

"Family friend, I guess. The Johnstons and Van Helsings go way back apparently."

"Another reason to keep your head down low right now," Damian warned as students outright glared at Abel. He was the only Normie at Monster High, so of course he would get those weird glances, but ever since Lovella died, there was too much tension in the air. Everyone wanted to point fingers at each other and blame Abel. Damian scoffed at them, rolling his eyes. "You all look cross-eyed!" he announced.

"So much for a 'low profile,' Damian," Abel muttered as he steered Damian away from another fight that was bound to happen. Damnnit, Abel! "I seriously don't want to take you back to the nurse's office again."

"Blah blah, your words are like mush to my ears."

"Uh, ew."

Damian elbowed Abel, snickering. "Oh, Abel, look, it's your boyfriend." He loved teasing Abel ever since he caught him and Emmett kissing in Professor Creeper's empty classroom. Ha, and Abel used to make fun of Damian for his flirty antics! Abel 'Hypocrite' Van Helsing was a good name. He grinned at Abel's beet-red face. "I love bullying all of my friends," he chirped. "At least this was the one thing Lovella was good for, love arrows and all."

"Oh, just shut up. It was a while ago."

"Dude, it was a week ago. For someone so smart, your perception of time is horrid." By the time that Damian and Abel reached the end of the hall, Emmett Sirenis was already waiting for them. Damian's eyes twitched when they both awkwardly greeted each other. Honest to claw, just make another move!

"Oh, wow, Emmett, did you study for Clawculus test that's tomorrow?" Damian drawled.

Emmett narrowed his eyes. "Professor Creeper didn't assign us a test though—"

"Ahem, she totally did, but lucky for you, Abel is a pro at Clawculus. This calls for a study session in the Study Howl. Have fun, guys!" Damian shoved Abel towards Emmett before hightailing down the hall, hoping that Abel would forget about that later. He cackled to himself, nearly bumping into a familiar someone.

"Oh shit—sorry, C. C.!" Damian said as the girl staggered back. Suddenly, something slipped from her heart-shaped bodycross. A bunch of photos spilled out as Amora dropped to the floor to pick them up. To Damian's horror, they were rather disturbing photos. Of what, he couldn't see. But he had glimpsed blood and body gore. "C. C.?"

"Oh my Ghoul, I'm sorry, I didn't see you!" She let out a nervous laugh, discreetly zipping up her bag. Amora's hair was tied back into a ponytail, slick with sweat. "Well, you see you around, Damian!" Before he could speak, she dashed off as the bell rang.

What the hell just happened?

✦⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ ✦

Lilith Dorian

"Oh, now this is intriguing," Lilith muttered, sifting through the photos that Amora had dumped onto her desk. Seated on her favourite chair at the Restricted Section in the library, she was surrounded by gothic books and the smell of old pages. Just what she needed to get her morning going.

"You can help us, right?" Amora asked eagerly, sitting opposed to Lilith. She had just come back from Detective Johnston's office after stealing those evidence files of Lovella Cherish. Devious, Lilith must hand it to her.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Callas asked, sitting next to Amora. Lilith observed him a bit; slightly unkempt hair, dressed in black with gloves indoors—odd, truly—and a scowl on his face. A case of the minor grumps, Lilith decided. "It's bad enough I allowed you to work with me."

"Bad enough?" Amora inquired, incredulous. "Excuse me, but I'm your key witness and not to mention, I took the photos when you kept overplanning about breaking-and-entering Johnston's office! Also, we're both mutually working together—"

"She was murdered," Lilith interrupted, a perfectly calm expression on her face. She didn't flinch often, she had worked with dead things in the past. Lovella? Just another corpse to her. Callas and Amora stared at Lilith like she was insane. "You're right, C. C." Lilith rose from her seat, walking to the other side of the table with the photos in hand. "There's little clues everywhere. Here's Photo #1."

In Photo #1, there had been a photo snapped of Lovella's corpse in full view. Her eyes were hazy, the pupils dilated, and laying in a pool of blood. "From the files I saw, once she hit the ground, her skull fractured and blood came out. A lot, apparently." Then Lilith tapped her finger at Lovella's clipped Cherub wings.

"I was wondering about that too," Callas said.

"Someone used a knife to cut off her wings," Lilith said, eyeing Amora carefully. Poor girl looked as if she was going to throw up. Absently, Amora rubbed her own feathery white wings. "But look at the jagged lines along Lovella's shoulder blades, where the root of the wings should be. Fresh blood, no bruising. The murder wasn't planned, it was an accident that spun quickly out of control. When you remove the wings, even if it was a sloppy job, the victim can't fly, therefore you can push them and..."

"They'll die upon impact," Callas answered, exhaling a sigh. He drummed his fingers on the table's surface, shaking his head. He looked deeply disturbed after seeming rather neutral on Lovella's death. To Lilith, this didn't change much. "Isn't Johnston supposed to be professional? How can he look at this and say it's suicide?"

"He'll never stop," Lilith said bluntly. "He'll twist the story however he wants. That's how the Normies work, they don't like us very much, I'll say. To them, we're just the freaks, including Lovella. So, they'll want to close this case ASAP, you know?"

"So we can't really ask him for help," Callas said. "Not that he'd be much of an assistance anyways. I mean, did you see how unprofessional he was when Headmistress Bloodgood was at the assembly?"

"So he's a lost cause," Amora said, defeated. "Lilith, do you have anything else to tell us?"

She glanced down at the photos, muruming to herself for a split second. "I mean, it's obvious she was pushed, because she was found by Amora face-up, hence why the blood came from the back of her head. If she was suicidal, then she would have flung herself off the roof, but then she would have landed face-first. See what I mean? The circumstances are clearly a murder."

Callas observed Photo #5. "To me, it looks like the murder was done rather poorly."

"It wasn't planned," Lilith agreed, "the facts are that it was a rushed job."

"So the motive could be anger? Violence?" Amora inquired. "Emotion can change within seconds."

"I suspect so, someone with a whirlpool of emotions, primarily a short temper. It's easier to lose your temper and hurt someone that way. Though, there could be other factors leading up to the rage," Lilith confirmed, sitting back in her seat.

"You seem to know a lot about death and murder," Callas said, arching his eyebrows. Was that a challenge?

"I'm a Witch." She jutted her chin out, staring at Callas. She noticed a trace of blood on his gloves, stained—so it was old blood—and assumed it was from his blood bag. But the position of the blood bag to his mouth wouldn't make sense; so he must have killed something early this morning or last night. Most likely a small animal like Vampires did. Her thoughts shifted gears for a second—many students in Monster High had the potential and capability to murder Lovella. Even Callas, who may not be hostile to Lilith, but she knew that some kindness in the world was a facade. "Would you like to know my theory?"

Both of them nodded so Lilith continued, "Your suspect can be either female or male, but I'm suggesting male because of historical patterns involving murders centered around anger. Also, think about who had access to the roof," she reminded them. "The roof is easy to get up to, the lock to the roof has been broken for years now, but find witnesses. If it's up to me, you should gather everyone that stayed in Monster High for Halloween and question them. Let's assume no one is innocent in this situation, pretend they are the killer. Therefore, you'd be much more likely to get them to slip up."

Amora sighed. "For Ghoul's sake, who would ever want to hurt Lovella?"

Lilith stayed silent until she spoke up. "If you need any more help, I'll be more than glad to assist. I didn't know Lovella personally, but she was a nice girl." Her thoughts flickered to Lois, her girlfriend. They had started to date a few months ago, thanks to Lovella's matchmaking skills. Lilith owed Lovella that much for helping her discover the love of her life. "I know I may sound helpful, but my jurisdiction ends here, I don't go beyond theories. You're on your own for the next bit, my apologies."

Amora grabbed the photos, smiling softly. "Thanks, Lilith, but I think I know who we'll have to pay a visit to next."

✦⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺ ✦

Callas Laurence

"Oh hell no," he protested as Amora was about to knock on Professor Creeper's door. Callas hated that teacher's guts as much as everyone at Monster High did. He doubted anyone actually liked Professor Creeper. That Zombie woman was crazy, always grunting and hissing at students to shut up. Half-deranged, probably, too.

"If we're going to investigate this properly, we'd have to start from the top. Lovella was busy matchmaking someone, so she was late to Creeper's class, which landed her in detention. We need to finalize our order of events leading up to her death, Callas." She took a deep breath before knocking. No reply. "Just wait."

"Professor Creeper will kill us, she hates being disturbed during her lunch break."

"Oh, shush, you big baby." Suddenly, the door swung open, revealing Professor Creeper in her empty classroom. The woman towered over the both of them, a stern glare in her eyes. Amora opened her mouth, "Good afternoon, Professor Creeper, we just want to—"

"What. Do. You. Want."

Oh, drive a stake through me now, you son of a bitc—

Callas' eye twitched as Amora let out an anxious laugh. She stepped in front of him, almost worried he would try to punch Creeper otherwise. "A few days ago, you gave detention to Lovella Cherish, this was Halloween. Now, did Lovella seem strange or—"

"I didn't give her detention," Professor Creeper cut her off.

Amora raised her eyebrows, stunned. "But she was on your roster the entire day, and Lovella said she was late to class, that's why she was in detention." Her voice was wavering. "She came to Halloween for detention because she had to, it was mandatory."

"Lovella seemed normal like usual, never late to a single of my classes that day." Professor Creeper leaned against the doorframe, not realizing the gravity of her words. Amora and Callas exchanged shocked glances. The gears in his head were shifting—Carrie Creeper's statement changed everything they had theorized.

Why was Lovella Cherish in detention on Halloween night?

A/N: So the plot thickens! With the new information that Lilith and Professor Creeper has graced us with, you can keep adding onto your suspects and theories, or start it for those who haven't done it yet <3