Eternal Chains

EC 75: Murder

For the next days, Xander was not able to contact Amber or Zael and it was making him worried. It was unusual because ever since he returned, he would usually receive a call from Amber every night but suddenly it stopped.

"Are you alright Xander? Did the stalker do something again?" Carl asked when he noticed how antsy his friend was during a meeting that they had that Monday.

Xander snapped his head to the side to look at his friend, like he had seen a ghost, "No, no I'm-I'm fine there was just something on my mind."

Carl remained silent for a while which unnerved Xander more. "Are you hiding something from me? Is this about that week where you suddenly left?" He did not hear an answer from Xander, "Will you tell me already because it's not good for you to be thinking of something else while we are at work. Remember those directors are still watching you."

Xander sighed and leaned on his chair, "Well, I think that I have indeed fallen for Amber. Ever since I returned from Madlaw, I can't stop thinking about her. I tried to ignore my feelings from the beginning but it can't be applied these days anymore."

There was neither a word nor a reaction from Carl and amidst the silence, Xander looked at his friend wondering why he wasn't speaking when normally he had some comeback for him. When he finally got to look at his friend, he was rendered silent. He was serious and he could not see the playfulness in his eyes any longer which only means that he was taking this seriously.

"I've met her already and saw how she was but I still don't like her. There's something about her that doesn't feel right." He finally spoke and those words made Xander sigh. "That's why I'm actually glad that she is not here right now."

He knew that Carl's words had bases, it's just that he doesn't know about it. His sensitive side was appearing again which he inherited from his parents. Carl's parents were successful people in the business world because of their sharp intuition and Carl sort of got that part from them. It was already tried and tested.

"But even so, she's a good woman. She is very different from the people I've met before. She's beautiful both inside and out." He can't say Amber's secret but he will still defend her because he knew who she was. Although he felt a little bit guilty about lying to his friend, it was best for him to not know about it because if he ever finds out that Amber was a werewolf then he might do something drastic.

"Still, you need to be careful. Since I can't stop you from doing what you want, you need to promise me that you will be extra careful especially now that the stalker is yet to be caught," Carl shook his head and patted Xander's back because he knew that he can't stop him from loving whoever he wants. It was not his role to meddle so much on his friend's life.

"In the future, if ever that she becomes my lover, I hope that you can get along with her," Xander spoke out at his friend who was already walking out of his office.

"We'll see about that." Carl left and Xander was left alone once again with Amber on his mind.

A shocking news woke up the city of Cartnan. Another body was found and the victim was not just somebody. She was the daughter of one of the well-known politician and businessman in the country. The young woman's body was found in a dark alley accompanied by a gruesome scene that will make even the bravest avert their eyes and even puke. From the scene alone, any ordinary person can say that the person who did the crime had a deep grudge against the victim. If not for the identification cards on the victim's bag, then she might not have been recognized immediately.

A lot of people were flocking outside the yellow tape as they hope to get a glimpse of what had happened but due to the victim's identity there were more police officers around the crime scene and they were blocking the view of those nosy people.

The noise got louder once the stretcher where the body was laid was pushed out. The people were clamoring to see if what the report had said was true but no matter how they look at it, there was no blood from the body and even the white cloth that was covering it had no stains on it. The reason for that was because they cleaned the body first before they put it on a stretcher because of the request from the family.

Once the body was inside the ambulance, the number of people on the scene dwindled and although it struck fear to them, most of them just shrugged it off like it was one of those brutal crimes once in a while but the rest were terrified.

Xander heard the news and was shocked at what had happened. Even though Thalia had been annoying him, it still had an effect on him since the woman was actually nice aside from her clingy and arrogant attitude. She was just childish at times but Xander had considered her a welcome presence whenever she was behaving.

"Sir are you alright?" Lillian asked with concern when Xander remained silent after he heard the news.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Has Thalia's family contacted us?" He shook his head and clasped his hands together on the table.

"Not yet, but I believe that they will be contacting us soon. Do you want me to prepare something for them?" Lillian was still looking at Xander but he showed no other reaction aside from the occasional frown he had while thinking of what he should prepare.

"I'll take care of it. If we don't receive any call from them, I'll personally contact Mr. Javier tomorrow. Let's give them this day." Xander started to tap the table with his finger before gesturing for Lillian to leave. "Wait, please cancel all of my appointments this afternoon and reschedule them. I'll be leaving early today."

Instead of going home, he decided to go to a café while waiting for Xerra's school to finish. He was not in the mood to continue working after the news. He felt that he needed to get out of the office and be somewhere less stifling. It was not the first time that he had felt lost because when their parents died, it was the same feeling. Death was not an easy topic for him and when people he knew dies, he gets all gloomy and angry for nothing in particular.

He watched as the people outside were walking and minding their own business and several thoughts passed in his mind. 'How could these people walk so casually like nothing happened just a while ago?' 'How would it feel if one of them suddenly died on the spot, what will be the reaction of those people?' 'How trivial their lives were...' He suddenly shook his head and closed his eyes tightly. He could not believe that he was thinking of those things. 'No!' He scolded himself to get rid of those negative thoughts.

"I finally found you. You really looked like your mind was so far off, what are you thinking about?" Carl came up from behind and sat on the empty chair in front of Xander.

The man had a frown when he saw his friend, "What are you doing here and how did you know that I was here?"

"I heard the news and tried to call you but you were not answering so I called Lillian and was informed that you cancelled all your appointments this afternoon so I figured out that you would be here since you really like this place so I came even though this place is not of my taste." He explained and took a sip of his coffee.

He was not blindly guessing though since he already knew his friend's habits and this café was one of them. It was not a popular place and have less costumers which was very ideal with Xander's personality. There are some other places and he also tried going to them but found him to be not there so the café was the only place left and there he found him. He was so lost in his own thoughts that he did not notice Carl right away.

Carl heard his friend sigh and rubbed the side of his head. He seemed more stressed out than before. The matter of the stalker was not yet resolved so they were still staying at that vacation house and now something like this suddenly happened. "This world is really crazy and we don't know what may happen to us tomorrow or even later because that's how life is, it might end anytime."

"I know. I'm well aware of it but it was still shocking and you know that I'm not good at handling deaths because I'm still scared until now."