"What the fu-" I started to ask, before stopping short. On the floorboard was a napkin stained a bright crimson red, and in my hand was my phone, with a recording on the front screen. 'Oh no...'
I thought back to all the years I had to get used to it, randomly waking up and seeing blood on my knuckles, sometimes having bruises in places I shouldn't have had bruises in, areas where cuts were visible across my stomach or chest, and the time I woke up with my arm stained in blood, with deep gashes in my wrist.
"Oh God, not again," I muttered, dropping my phone and putting my head in my hands as I took a deep breath. 'Calm down, calm down, it can't be that bad, right?' I tried to reassure myself, but I knew it was a lie.
'Play the recording, Liam,' The female voice asked, although it was more of an order. For the second time, I could hear that unmistakable yet masked anger resonating from her chilly tone.
Although I was still fixated on the blood, I reached out my finger and pressed play on the audio. His short, yet simple confession made my ears ring loudly, and the feeling of an impossible amount of pressure crushed down on my skull.
My blood ran cold, sending a shiver down my spine as I gripped my head tightly in the palm of my hands, while the ringing only got worse.
I glanced up at the rearview mirror and saw a black claw, the tips stained a deep scarlet red, each looking sharp enough to cut through metal, sharp enough to rip me in half, sharp enough to cut through atoms themselves.
The claw hung slightly away from my skull, barely a centimeter from cutting my skull into dozens of pieces. I screamed, kicking myself out of my truck and slamming into the hard, icy concrete below. "WHAT THE FUCK!?"
I could see the claw shred my leather seats, and a figure appeared from behind it, wearing a black suit, with a tight velvet red undershirt and cuff links. "When I said I'd be back, I didn't mean this soon," Its dark voice boomed, glaring down at me with eyes resembling that of a volcano.
He lifted his clawed hand, looked at me a final time, and swiped down hard. Within that simple motion, he completely vanished, leaving only the strong, pungent scent of coal in his wake.
I looked up, directly above my truck, and spotted a billboard with remnants of the figure's orange glow. The words were illuminated brightly, the yellow light taking over the moonlight. "Detective Nala."
"Please tell me I didn't hallucinate that!" I yelled, furiously pushing myself further back from the truck, where the leather seat stayed, cut to pieces. As the words left my mouth, I saw a police car in the distance, its sirens loud and lights blazing as it raced past the gas station.
'Get in the truck Liam, we can debate it later. Even I'm not sure what we just saw," The lighter voice said, and I could feel a soft, warm grip on my shoulder. I wanted to retort, what about my seat? What about what we just saw? What about my answers? But I didn't say anything, instead choosing to stand up and get back in, my eyes still wide with shock.
'You have solid evidence now, you know what to do, right?' The same voice questioned. Whether she could see me nod or not, I still did, focusing back on what my goal was, to end this once and for all.
Without thinking more, I took a deep, shaky breath, and put my truck in drive. My next stop, the only place the schools' influence couldn't reach, was a courtroom. All I had to do was find a non-corrupted police officer, yet oddly I had a good idea where to start. With the person whose name was on the board.
***
I pulled up to the police station, took another breath, and finally walked inside. It didn't surprise me much when some of them looked at me and recognized my face, the school had reported me to the police dozens of times last year for minor things, more specifically when students spread false reports that I was going to shoot up the school.
"I need to speak with Detective Nala," I said bluntly to the officer at the desk. Most of the station was empty, with gray, soul-less leather chairs in the corner. While behind the desk I could see half a dozen cells, lined with gray, worn-out bars, and a few people with grim expressions on their faces inside them.
It smelled musky like the atmosphere was polluted by the attitudes of the men inside the cells. "We can't do that-" The officer started to say, his nametag reading Officer Bernard, not that I needed it, he was the cop called the most often to deal with me. But he stopped himself from speaking as a hand slapped onto his shoulder.
A tall man, dressed in a sparkling black outfit stood next to the officer. I wasn't an expert, but he was at least six foot two, with a fit frame that barely fit inside the tight suit. His stature reminded me of the man in my dream, but I pushed the thought aside quickly.
"Actually, we do. I'll handle this from here since he asked for me. Bernard," He said with a sharpness that sliced through the dull atmosphere, and the officer looked at him for only a second, before turning around and half-running half-waddling away.
'Follow me,' He mouthed, signaling me to continue behind him with his hand. "So, Liam, is it? I hear you've talked to the police here quite a few times in the past over some... incidents. Is that correct?"
"Y-Yes, sir," I answered, a shiver shooting up my spine as I stared at his jet-black hair, which flowed smoothly as if an invisible force was pushing it around. Yet I didn't feel any air conditioning, or anything related to temperature. He only reminded me more of the man.
We arrived at an office in the back of the precinct, its door a dark shade of orange as he led me inside. To my surprise, it was relatively normal. In the corner was a black coat hanger, already occupied by a brown fur coat, while he had two chairs in front of the gray desk.
The light blue paint made me raise an eyebrow, it was completely different from the rest, almost as if I stepped into another realm, free from the lifeless building.
"Sit, we have a lot to go over," He ordered, signaling me to pick a chair as he put on a bronze nametag, with Detective Nala engraved in a dark, almost void-like color.
I chose the chair closest to me and took a deep breath. I had never met this officer before, he never showed up to the school before, and I had no way of knowing whether he was on the school's payroll too. He was only the first person I could think of, and I saw him on a billboard of all things.
"You can erase those thoughts, I'm not on the side of that school. Consider me a fresh face," He said, flashing a sharp smirk as his boots stuck into the ground, creating a small echo in the office.
"How did you-" I started to ask, before stopping. The look he gave when I began my sentence was enough to shut me up as if he was silently asking if I wanted to waste time on that question.
"Good, now where do you want to begin?" He asked, giving a small smile, letting me see the sharp outline of his jaw better.
He had dazzling yellow eyes, ones that glowed with a force resembling stars, while his muscles pushed the tight suit aside, and his pearly white teeth showed brighter than anything else.
'Wowza, his wife must be a lucky woman,' The female voice muttered, and I could almost tell that she was drooling.
I pushed her aside, and instead of speaking, I pulled out my phone and played the first recording I had, the one I took atop the hill with the student a few days ago.
He listened intently, a scowl on his face as I continued showing him the evidence I had so far. I silently hoped he wouldn't ask where or how I got some of it because I didn't know either.
'Les, stop fangirling like a fucking loser! You're making it harder for me to focus!' The deeper voice, Volgar shouted, making me wince.
As the Detective got through the last part, he gazed at me with a questioning look. "You do realize a teacher at the school you are reporting was just admitted into the hospital for severe injuries and was talking about how a demon attacked him? And you have a recording of him confessing his crimes?"