Azalea stormed into the house and slammed the door behind her. Katheryn came rushing down the spiral stairs and met her daughter in the front hall.

“Azalea! Where have you been all night? It’s nearly dawn already!”

Azalea looked up at her mother as blood red tears fell from her eyes. Katheryn saw the hurt and indignation in her daughter’s eyes and her tone immediately softened.

“Azalea, what is it, love? What happened to you?” she asked, her voice filled with concern.

“Mama, Chase’s heart belongs to another!” she blurted out. Her mother’s eyes widened in shock at her daughter’s words.

“Th-that can’t be! I mean, we’ve already had the promise ceremony!”

“Oh mother,” Azalea cried, her lips quivering. “He’s in love with a filthy, stinking mortal!”

Katheryn almost lost her balance. She backed up into a chair and sat down, completely flabbergasted. She sat there in stunned silence for a brief moment. Finally, she stood back up and went over to comfort her daughter.

“Don’t you worry, child,” she said softly, wiping a bloody tear from Azalea’s eyes. “I have something I want to show you. Come with me.”

**

Detective Hartzman awoke to the sound of loud yelling that was coming from just outside of his house. He rose from his bed quickly, throwing on a robe and heading out to the front hall. The shouting grew louder as he made his way to the front door.

Peeking window beside his door, he was utterly shocked by what he saw.

There was a veritable mob of people—most of them from the city council—gathered out on his front lawn, and they did not look happy.

He opened the door and stepped out onto the front porch.

Deputy Long forced his way through the crowd of people and hurried up onto the porch.

“What is all this? What’s going on, here?” William asked, concernedly.

“Sir, the city council is in an uproar. Two more bodies were found early this morning!”

William’s jaw nearly hit the ground.

**

Ava woke to the sound of her phone ringing. She sat up and saw that Chase had left and the sun was already high up in the sky.

Oh shit! I must’ve really slept in, she thought to herself.

She reached for her phone and saw that it was her father.

“Ava, if you really want to get the lead on that story you’re looking to write for the newspaper, you need to meet me over at the city meeting hall for an emergency council meeting as soon as you can,” he said. Ava could sense the distress in his voice.

“What’s wrong, Dad? She asked, throwing the covers off of her body and reaching for her silk robe.

“Just hurry up if you want this info for your story,” he persisted.

“I’ll be right there, Dad,” she promised.

**

The meeting room was crowded and the council members appeared to be very upset. Ava hurried over to her where her father and a few other police officers were seated. The mayor of Mountain Crest was standing up at the podium attempting to calm the loud, angry crowd.

“Something has to be done, now!” Mr. Rankin yelled out at the mayor.

“I assure you that we are giving this case the full attention of the precinct. We will not rest until this killer is found! You have my word!” the mayor responded.

“Dad, what’s going on?”

“Two more young women were killed last night,” he replied solemnly. “An 18-year-old high school senior and a 19-year-old girl who had just been accepted into a college upstate.” He shook his head and sighed.

“Oh my God!” Ava whispered.

“The city is in an uproar. The council is convinced that a Lexus resident is responsible.”

“I know what they are, Dad,” Ava confessed.

Her dad’s eyes widened and he looked up at her sternly.

“What do you mean, Ava?”

“I mean, I know what they are.”

“How did you--,” before he could finish his question, Ava held up her hand.

“You should have just told me, Dad,” she stated coolly.

“I’m sorry Ava. I just didn’t quite know how to,” he admitted, softly. “But now, the council members want to take action. A member of the council saw Chase Veldassare at the fair last night, and that’s where the two young girls disappeared from. They’re convinced that he’s the killer and they want to go after him. We have to figure out a way to calm them before they do something drastic and possibly start an all-out war between us and them!”

Ava knew what she was going to have to do. Though she really didn’t want to do it, she realized that she didn’t have a choice. There was no way she was going to let an angry mob go after an innocent man. She stood up and walked over to the podium. She whispered to the mayor and he moved back to give her the microphone.

The crowd began to quiet when they saw her at the podium. Ava cleared her throat.

“My heart goes out to the families of these beautiful young girls, all taken from this world too soon, but Chase Veldassare is not the killer. I know this for a fact. Yes, he was at the Summer Fair last night, but he was there with me; and there is no way he possibly could’ve killed those girls because he spent the entire night with me at my home. Thank you and God bless you all.”

Gasps, whispers and murmurs filled the room.

She kept her head raised and her eyes straight ahead as she walked out of the building. She could only picture the look on her father’s face as she hurried to her car and quickly sped off down the street.

Ava felt that there had to be some kind of connection between all of these young girls and she was determined to figure out what it was. Perhaps it could lead them to the real killer.

**

Later that day, Ava raced to Lexus and went straight to the Veldassare residence. She sprinted up the long walkway and knocked loudly on the door with the golden door knocker.

Finally, a voice came over the intercom.

“Who is it?” It was Evangeline.

“Ms. Veldassare, its Ava, Detective Hartzman’s daughter. Please let me in. I need to talk with you. It’s urgent!”

The front door opened and Ava entered.

Once inside the second doorway, Vincent and Evangeline greeted Ava in the front room.

“What is it, child?” Evangeline asked, looking concerned.

“The city council is in an uproar! Two more girls were killed last night and they think that Chase killed them.”

Their faces drained of what little color they had. “No! That can’t be! Chase would never do something like that!” Evangeline insisted.

“I think we’re being framed by someone,” Vincent suddenly stated.

“So do I,” Ava added. That’s why I came to talk to you today. Is there someplace we could sit down?”

They all went into the study. Ava took a notebook out of her purse and sat it down in front of her.

“Listen, I know what all of you are, here in Lexus, and I also know that you’re not killers. I think I have a theory about whoever is trying to frame you all.”

Ava had looked up all of the names of the young girls who had been killed in Mountain Crest. They were all young women in their late teens and two of them had grown up in a very religious family. The other two had been really quiet, introverted young women who were not very social or popular among other teens their age. None of the young women’s families had ever mentioned a boyfriend. Ava was starting to wonder if all of these young women could have been virgins.

When she said it, Evangeline’s already pale face whitened even more and her mouth dropped open.

“Dear God!” she exclaimed, her voice a loud whisper.

“What is it, darling?” Vincent asked, reaching out and covering her hand with his.

“When I was a young woman, my grandmother used to tell me stories about the days of Van Helsing’s revolution. She said that some vampires became so desperate for power to rule over the humans once again, that they made pacts with darker supernatural entities…like demons…and dark witches.”

Ava shivered at the sound of Evangeline’s words.

Evangeline got up and went over to the bookshelf. She pulled out a book and opened it up on the table. Ava and Vincent moved in closer to look at the pages.

“There was a certain kind of demon in this world called a Necromorus who could open a portal between this world and the Underworld. Controlling this opening would give a species domination over all others. Only a Dark Witch or someone who practices dark magic can summon this particular demon though, and they would need to use an ancient amulet called a Necrostone in order to summon and control it. It is said that whoever has the Necrostone can control the demon, who in turn controls the power from the open portal.”

She paused for a moment and Ava and Vincent looked down at the pictures in the book.

“In order for the demon to open the portal, he must perform a ritual. He must drink the blood of five human female virgins and then offer the blood of a “Sacred Sixth” to the Keeper of the Portal.”

“Sacred Sixth? What’s that? A sixth virgin?” Ava asked.

“No, it’s a human woman born on a certain day at a certain time. But, it says here that the Sacred Sixth will bear the Mark of the Sixth somewhere on her body.”

“Like a tattoo? Or a birthmark?”

“Exactly.”

Holy shit! Yesterday I didn’t even know vampires existed. Now, I’m being told that there are witches and demons and shit running around on earth! Ava’s head felt as if it was spinning.

“Well, four virgins have already been killed, so it only needs one more before it sacrifices the Sacred Sixth! Is there anything in your book that can help us identify who the Sacred Sixth is so we can protect her or something? My dad can put her under police protection.”

Evangeline laughed at Ava’s naivety.

“Darling, there’s only one way to defeat a Necromorus demon, and that is to burn the Necrostone, sending the demon to the Underworld.”

“So if we need to figure out who has the stone, so we can destroy it,” Ava reiterated.

Chase silently watched and listened to them through a crack in the study door. He had just about walked into the room but then had heard the sound of Ava’s voice. He had stopped, wondering why she would be there. However, as he listened, he had a suspicion that he knew who the person behind the Necromorus demon was. He decided not to join in the meeting happening in the next room – he wanted to confront this person himself. If he was wrong, then no harm will have been done, but if he was right, he was going to take care of the conniving bitch himself.