Draculus Maximus: The Maxen Massacre

Draculus Maximus: A new beginning

Authors: Aakash Kothari and Rishabh Subramanian

1. I own...well, co-own a company


I woke up to the sound of a distinct chicken squawking away. I got up and banged my head on the back of my bed. I looked around and made sure that I didn’t wake up my brother Sam. Thank god he was fast asleep. Otherwise, he would have created a ruckus in the manor and would freak out because of the sound. You all may be wondering what I do now after leaving “Detectives home.” Well, I have been wondering about that myself. I really wanted to join another detective company, but I didn’t have the time to search for one. I was busy trying to catch up on the work that I missed in school. By the way, I go to the best school ever invented. It’s called“Smart Detectives.”





I got up, brushed my teeth and went downstairs to make myself some delicious breakfast. I treated myself to some bread and jam that tasted awful and some coffee that was so bitter that I spit it out of my mouth, right onto the statue of my mom and dad. Great, now I had extra work to do. I picked up a cloth and cleaned away the stains of coffee. What a way to start the day! I ate my breakfast quickly and went up to take a shower. When I entered my room, I saw my brother tousling in his sleep. I woke him up, as he also needed to get to school. He reluctantly got up and went down for his breakfast. I headed to the bus stop after getting dressed. My bus came on time, which was a surprise. I boarded the bus, not knowing that I would have such an interesting day ahead.





Being in school doesn’t sound good to most people, but to me, it's probably the best thing in the world apart from solving mysteries. I got into my class and gave my attendance. They announced the daily best detectives, and of course...my name was there. What was actually interesting was that there was a new kid in the class who looked really detective like, but was sitting in the corner of the room confined to himself.


I went up to him and asked, “Hi there. I'm Draculus. How are you?”


He replied, “ Yo Draculus. Wassup? I’m Nathaniel. I can tell that you are looking for a good job, and I am just the man. Wanna work together?”


Damn, I thought. He had skills. He was cool and was right that I was looking for a job, so I enquired,


“What do you have to offer?”





He replied (this time in a much more formal way), “I was just about to start my own company actually, and am looking for some good detectives. I was just about to ask you, but you came up to me first.”


I replied, “I’ll think about it. It does sound tempting.”





“Sure,but I’m going to need an answer soon because if you tell me later, the company will probably be full.”, he joked.


I walked away laughing. I spent the rest of the day deciding if I should join his company or leave him to rot. It would do me no harm to join him, so I went up to him and told him. He seemed delighted and nominated me as the co-owner right away. I went home feeling satisfied as I had just opened a new door of my career ahead.

2. The stress buster:

I arrived home and saw my brother trying to draw a cat. It was terrible. Normally, he drew well, but today was probably his unlucky day because his cat looked a little bit like a mouse. I looked at my brother closely and saw that he was stressed and was trying to let it all go at once. I decided there and then, that we needed to go out of town for a while. I wrote a letter to Sam’s and my principal requesting them to excuse us for 3 days. I sat down on my laptop and searched for tickets. I had never been to Arizona before. I hadn’t been to many places outside of California, let alone Arizona before. This was because my parents had died when I was very young and couldn’t take me anywhere in that less of time. I also chose Arizona because I wanted to see the Grand Canyon. I’m not usually a fan of monuments, but I saw pictures of this one on the internet and I was dumbfounded. I booked the cheapest tickets and the best hotel. That way, I didn’t use too much money on this trip. I told my Sam about this and he was ecstatic. I booked the tickets for the morning of the next day. We would have to leave the mansion at noon to catch the plane. I decided to rest for the rest of the day by reading the cases I had solved in the past. I opened the dossier which elaborated on my case of the Maxen family. I relaxed in my rocking chair and read the dossier, not caring about the time.





I finished reading the dossier in an hour or so. By that time, it was dinner time. I was too lazy to cook my own food, so I ordered food. Sam loves food that wasn’t cooked by me; the food I cook isn’t very good . I decided to eat something light, otherwise, I would feel nauseous on the plane. I advised my brother to eat something light as well, but he refused and ordered a double cheese pizza which made my mouth water. I ordered a fruit salad which tasted pretty good to me but probably didn’t look too good to Sam because he was making vomiting actions while looking at it. As I ate my salad slowly, I started to think of all the bad things that could happen on the trip. I could get a call from Nathaniel telling me to come on a mission. We could get lost in Arizona and be kidnapped. I brushed away those thoughts and thought about the things we would enjoy there. Looking at the Grand Canyon, eating delicious foods and even having pillow fights with Sam in the nights. That made me feel better. I spent the rest of the day in my bed looking at some videos on Youtube. I slowly drifted off to sleep with my computer on my lap.





I woke up with my alarm ringing in my ears. I imagined it as the bell in my school that goes off after a period is done, but this one kept going on. I turned it off and tried to wake up Sam. It would be hard as he sleeps like a log. Eventually, he got up because I hit him hard on his bottom. His reaction was priceless. He screamed like a girl and pounced up. Boy, I could get used to this. We went down to the dining table and ate our breakfast together. We needed to get ready quickly, so I told Sam “You have to be ready by 11 otherwise we will miss our flight to Arizona.” He agreed to my conditions and sulked off to his room to take a shower. I headed to my room as well, as I needed to pack my bag and take a shower. I still had the equipment that I got from “Detectives Home”, and so I packed it just in case I would need it. After my shower, I went and checked on Sam in his room. I called him, and the answer came from downstairs. I was surprised that he was ready on time. I ran down to him with a suitcase behind me, we got into our car and I drove to the airport.





We reached the airport at 11:30, and as usual, we had to rush over to the security check. We raced past the allies after crossing the security check. We reached the gate when the boarding had started. We were just in time. We boarded the plane and I took out my phone, plugged my headphones into them and shuffled the heavy metal playlist. As I listened to the music, I realized that this was the first time Sam had ever been on a plane. I thought to myself “Would mom and dad be proud of me?” Just thinking about my parents brought tears to my eyes. I closed my eyes as a tiny tear rolled down my cheek. I slowly drifted off to sleep. I was woken up by Sam when the flight landed. As we walked out, a wave of guilt washed over me. Sam must’ve wanted to actually spend time with me and talk or something, but I just went to sleep and ignored him in the process. Well, it wasn’t too late. I walked up to him and tried starting a conversation. At first, he wasn’t saying anything back. I asked him loads of questions like ‘How is school?’ and ‘Boy it’s cold isn’t it?’, but to no avail, as he wasn't paying any heed. Finally, I asked him about his drawing and he actually answered. He told me that at school his art teacher had really discouraged his art and he really wanted a break. We kept talking until we got out of the airport. I called for an Uber. It took us about an hour or so to reach the hotel. It was a 5-star resort with 2 bedroom suites. The suites included- A kitchen, a dining table, a T.V. with couches and 1 bathroom. I relaxed into the couch and planned my day ahead. I asked Sam, “What do you want to do first?”


He replied, “Well, we could go for a walk around the resort and check it out.”


“Sure. Let me freshen up and then we’ll head out”, I said.


I went into the bathroom, which was really big and was full of these really cool scented candles which filled the air with an amazing aroma. I changed into new and fresh clothes which I hadn’t used until today and headed out the door with my brother.





As I walked around, I assumed that the resort would be a very busy and noisy place, but it turned out to be very peaceful and calm. I noticed that there were several numbers of trees which added to the peace. There weren’t many people walking outside, so I assumed that they were relaxing in their suite. Sam and I headed to the artificial lake. It was an amazing site. The air was blowing gently as if trying to take me somewhere. There were little birds chirping away in harmony as if in an orchestra. The lake stretched out as far as my eyes could see. The sunlight danced on the ripples, as if in the spotlight. The water was clear blue, which was very hard to find nowadays. A few empty boats parked at the docks were floating gently; the wind making noises as it hit the Bimini top. It all seemed so nice.





I glanced to my right, expecting my brother to be there, but did not see him there. I panicked for a second until I saw my brother walking across the field, plucking flowers. I never felt so relaxed, and laid down on the field. Within seconds, I began snoring.





I got up because of Sam (again). When I opened my eyes, I saw him holding an empty bucket, which was probably supposed to be full of water before. I came to my senses and realized that I was soaking wet. I got up and started to chase my brother around the field until I got so tired that I found myself even wetter because of the sweat. Boy, was my brother fast. We both headed back to the suite to change our clothes. I was feeling a little hungry, so Sam and I headed to the snack bar to pick up some food. I treated myself to some of the roasted chicken, which sounded so good that I was already salivating. My brother got himself a Oreo milkshake that I personally did not like at all. Oh yeah, did I mention that I’m the complete opposite of parsimonious. Did I mention that my brother and I are complete opposites? We picked up the food and drink and headed back to the suite. I didn’t try to race Sam there because he might have spilled his milkshake on himself. We finished our food and decided to watch a movie. We agreed on watching “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”, which I found stupid, but Sam was smaller than me and I tried to act like an elder brother for once. After the movie was over, I made a mental note to never watch “Harry Potter” movies again. Who makes a movie with wizards and witches? That’s for little kids who still need a juice box to suck on. Well, I couldn't really complain because I was 19, but...you get the point. By the time the movie was over, it was time for dinner. We headed down to the restaurant to eat some food. I ordered a chicken sandwich because I had something light in the morning. My brother ordered a medium cheese pizza, which I had reluctantly agreed to buy him. We enjoyed our meal while looking at the beautiful view outside the window. I was thinking about the plans for tomorrow. I thought that we should go to the Grand Canyon and enjoy there for a couple of hours. I would ask my brother once he was done with his sandwich. We ate till our stomachs hurt and I felt like I would hurl. We both headed back to the suite for a little nap.





I woke up to a call from Nathaniel.


He said, “Hey Draculus. I’ve started my company. Its name is ‘Solve it’. I need your help to solve a mystery. I’ll give you more information when you get back here. Where are you now?”





I replied, “I’m on vacation in Arizona right now. Is it really that important?”


“Yes, it is. Come quickly or else there’ll be trouble,” he said


“Okay.”, I said droopily, “I’ll be there as soon as possible.”


I sulked into the couch. My fear had come true! I was happy and sad at the same time, because I had waited for this for a very long time and because I didn’t want to spoil the vacation for Sam. He didn’t even know that I was a detective. ‘I think it’s about time to tell him’, I thought. I went into his room. Sam was fast asleep, so I decided that I would tell him after he woke up. I left him a note and went for a swim.





I swam for about half an hour, till Sam came to the swimming pool. His hair was all messed up, and he was still in his pajamas. He looked funny, but he wouldn’t be laughing when I told him the truth about who I really was. I got out of the pool and put on a towel. Sam and I went for a walk around the resort. It was time to tell him everything.


“Can I tell you something, Sam?” I asked


“Yeah sure” he replied eagerly, he was now fully awake now.


“I don’t know how to say this in a simpler way, so I’m just gonna break it to you slowly. Have you ever wondered why we don’t go to the same school? Or why I keep leaving home at random times?” I asked


“Actually, I never thought about that before. Can you tell me why though?”, he asked curiously.


“Ok... I am a professional detective; I go to a school for detectives; I leave home at random times because I go to solve mysteries in other states.” I answered.





Sam’s mouth was wide open in shock. I was scared that he would get angry at me for not telling him earlier, but he hugged me and said, “I’m really happy that my own brother is making the world a safer place.”





I sighed in relief knowing that he didn’t take it badly. We save the best for the last everytime so…., “I have a bit more news… We will need to cancel the trip right now. I’m really sorry.”, I said


It took him a few seconds to process the information. Then, he broke down in tears. He had never been on a trip before, so it was I who was to be blamed, but I needed to go and he knew that too.


“I’ve never…I’ve never been on a trip before, but I understand”, said Sam choking back a sob.


“I promise that I’ll clear my calendar for going on another trip with you and this time it’ll be your choice of where to go.”, I promised.


“Okay.”, he said, “But remember your promise.”


I breathed a sigh of relief but still felt guilty in my mind. Sam felt almost happy, I guess... I figured out the purpose of why I was Sam’s brother. It was to protect him and keep him happy like my parents would have done. We reached the suite just in time for dinner. I took a shower while Sam listened to some music by his favorite band, DED. DED was a hard rock and heavy metal band which I liked a bit, but I had my favorites and he had his favorites. I took a nice and warm shower and got dressed in the best clothes I brought along with me. This would be the last night that I would be spending here. I would have to cherish this moment and make the best of it for Sam and me. I ordered everything Sam wanted and even bought him a souvenir from the shop in the resort. I decided to get myself something as well to remember this in the future, so I got myself a pack of cards.





After we finished our dinner, we saw “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part-1” even though I had made a mental note to not watch a “Harry Potter” movie again. I thought I owed it to Sam, so I watched without “accidentally falling asleep” in the middle. We slept at around midnight, which was okay because our flight was at 2 in the evening the next day.





I got up with the alarm beeping loudly. I quickly turned it off and went to Sam’s room to check if he was up. I didn’t see him in his room, so I tensed. I looked in my room and saw him packing my bags and neatly folding the used clothes and piling them into heaps. I asked, “Sam. What are you doing?”


He replied, “I’m paying you back for bringing me to Arizona. I have never had this much fun. Thank you.”


“I don’t know what to say, Sam,” I said as I ran up to him to give him a hug. For the first time, I actually liked having a younger brother. People usually say that they are annoying, but they are very unpredictable, like now. I never expected this from Sam. After the hug, we checked out of our room and headed to the restaurant to eat a quick lunch. I ate light. As usual, I got myself a Caesar salad, and as usual, Sam got himself a pepperoni pizza. I could only watch the tasty pieces of the pizza entered Sam’s mouth and disappeared down his throat. I ate my salad with the utmost disgust, as the taste was nothing compared to what the pizza would taste like. I didn’t finish the salad because a bug crawled out of it. I thanked that bug in my mind and told Sam that I’d eat something on the plane.





After Sam finished his food, I went over to the receptionist and asked her to book a car for two people. She booked a car in a jiffy and asked one of the bell boys to load our luggage into the car. We reached the airport in just half an hour, which was less compared to how much time it took to reach the resort from the airport. We checked in our luggage and crossed the security check. Since we had very little time until boarding started, we decided to sit at the gate and wait. The flight came on time, and we got to board first because we were sitting in the front row. After I sat down, I thought of sleeping, but realized that I had slept enough through the trip already, and I wanted to play something with Sam. I took out the cards that I bought and started playing them with Sam. I taught him how to play many new games that I hadn’t played for a very long time. We played cards for the whole flight, and we didn’t even realize that the flight had landed until we were told to get off by the air hostess

3. The vital mandate:

We headed over to the luggage counter to pick up our bags. Then, I went to the basement in the airport and drove our car back to the Maximus Manor. Home sweet home! It was good to be back. Nothing much had changed, except the number of leaves left to be raked. By the time we reached, my stomach was growling furiously. I forgot that I was planning on eating something on the plane. I opened the door with a turn of the key and saw the lonely, once lively Manor in front of my eyes. I couldn’t really think of anything except for food, so I made myself a peanut butter jelly sandwich and ate it greedily. Sam, on the other hand, was busy unpacking his bags and was trying to pick the lock on mine. I knew that he couldn’t because the lock was a very good one in which you had to enter 8 numbers to unlock it. He gave up eventually and went back to his room to do god knows what. I picked up the bag in which I had my detective equipment and went up to my room to give a call to Nathaniel. He picked up quite quickly, “Yo Draculus. Wassup? Can you come over to my house so that we can discuss the problem?”


“Yeah sure. Where do you live?” I asked


“In the White House”, he replied


“Really?” I asked


“Just kidding man. I live in Sunnyvale. I’ll send you the coordinates in a sec” he replied


“Okay. Bye. I’ll see you there.” I said


I told Sam that I needed to leave for a mission. He hugged me and wished me luck. I got into my limo, told Sam not to go anywhere, and drove to Nathaniel’s house using the directions he sent me. Nathaniel’s house was quite big. It was a little smaller than the Maximus Manor but was still quite stunning. I think that’s because I am used to the Maximus Manor.


There was a bronze colored huge door in a semicircle pattern. As I walked in and the first thing that caught my eye was a really big chandelure, and when I said big I meant bigger than anything you’ve ever seen. I could tower ten Sams and still, it wouldn’t reach the top. I looked around the mansion and saw three bedrooms on the first floor itself that were huge. Apart from those, there was a kitchen, a dining room, and a lounge.The mansion was well lit up and had an old-school touch to it.There were candles lit everywhere which, sadly reminded me of the Harry Potter movies. The walls were painted with vibrant colors which made the sunlight reflect off them. A massive window lets the warmth of the sun into the mansion which made it feel like home. There were a flight of stairs about 50 steps from the grand door. I saw Nathaniel standing at the mouth of the steps, waiting for me.


“Wassup man?”, he asked as I walked up the stairs.


“Nothing much dude. Just want to start the mission. Haven’t had any for quite some time.”, I replied calmly


“Cool. I’m really looking forward to working with you on the mission. By the way, welcome to Solve it” he said while laughing


“Thanks. It’s an honor to work with you”, I said sarcastically


Nathaniel lead me to a lit room, which was probably his room. As I walked towards it, I saw several servants running around everywhere, going into bedrooms and serving drinks and food. I caught a glimpse of the inside of a bedroom and saw a person who was probably Nathaniel’s father lying down on the bed and eating what a servant brought to him. I entered his room and looked around. It was not very jazzy and had the modern touch to it. It had a medium sized bed with a decent wardrobe and a bathroom. I realized that Nathaniel liked living a simple life. He went up to his desk and pulled a dossier out of the drawer. He put it on the bed and we both sat down and opened it.


“I have one question, do your parents not notice me?”, I asked


“Nope. They don’t notice anything. They’re always watching T.V.”


“Before you look into the dossier, I will explain everything to you first,” he said


“Okay. Fine with me,” I replied


“Ricardo Charleston, who is a movie star, has received a letter stating that if he doesn’t kill Johannes Carton, who is another movie star, Ricardo will be killed. He reported this to the police, and they came to me because I am renowned in California. We need to work together to track down this guy and get him behind bars. You can read the dossier for more information,” he said.


“Okay,” I said, opening the dossier. The document had a picture of the letter and showed that a knife had been given with the letter to kill Johannes. The police checked for fingerprints but didn’t find any, which meant that the person writing the letter was wearing gloves. The police believe that the letter was written by a person from the terrorist group, ICC(International Corporation of Criminals). On the last page, there was a card of pure 24-carat gold with my name engraved on it. I took the card, closed the dossier and looked at Nathaniel.


“Do you have any more information on this group ICC?”, I asked


“Yes, but not too much.”, he replied while handing me another dossier


I opened the dossier and read it. It had five pictures of people in prisoner’s uniform. Under it, was information on them. They had broken out of jail 5 months ago and the police were running all over the country looking for them but to no avail. They paid no heed to all the threatens.


“So… It could be any of them right?”, I said.


“Yup”, he replied.


“And… I believe that we have a deadline.”


“Yup.”


“Can I go to Ricardo Charleston?”


“Yup.”


“I need his address please.”


“Yup.”, he said, writing something down on a piece of paper and handed it to me.


“Ok I’m going to go now.”, I told him


“Yup.”


Tired of hearing him saying ‘Yup’, I left his mansion. I drove my limo to the address he gave to me.


‘Another huge mansion to go through’, I thought.


I walked in the pure gold door. The place was filled with people armed with guns and bulletproof vests. I showed them my new 24-carat card and went to meet Ricardo. On the way, there were lots of chandeliers (Seriously, why does every mansion except mine have chandeliers?); Lots of rooms, and when I say a lot, I mean about 100; A super long dining table almost a hundred meters long. Finally, I reached a room armed with at least 15 men outside of it. I showed them my card and went in.

 4. The breakthrough:

Ricardo was a good-looking guy. He was on his computer with paper all around him. He was in a black suit and had a blue bow tie on his collar. He was wearing a spotless white shirt under his suit, which looked like it had been bleached several times. As I walked further into the room, he finally lifted his head from the computer and looked at me. He tilted his head as if to examine me. After he examined me thoroughly, he said, “Hello there young man. You must be Dracula.”


“I sure am sir,” I replied with respect


“Well, thank goodness you came, because I was freaking out when I received the letter. I suppose you’d like to get more details on the letter?” he asked


“Yes, sir. I would also like to see the letter please.” I asked


“Certainly young man,” he replied, as he leads me to another of his 100 rooms. The room had a fingerprint sensor and a face recognition machine. “Damn,” I thought. “This guy has got skills.” The door of the room opened with a click, and he leads me through the room. This room was about the size of the living room in the Maximus Manor. It didn’t have any chandeliers luckily(I swear, I would have freaked out if I saw them here as well.) He opened up a cupboard which was full of documents, which looked confidential to me. Ricardo pulled out a big box and pulled out a sheet of paper from it. The paper was pale yellow and was torn on a few sides. If that was the letter, I would have had a hard time reading it. Thankfully, it was not. The real letter was enclosed in the pale paper. It was bright white and was in an absolutely good condition which basically meant that it didn’t have a single fold or rip on it. It was clearly printed out by the sender. It had a picture of Johannes Carton with a red line going across his neck. I felt bad for Johannes because he was just a modern man who was getting threats. I suddenly felt more pumped to solve this mystery. I would be saving 2 lives and getting a wanted man behind bars. Also, after finding that man, it would be easy for the police to find the rest of the members of the ICC. I asked Ricardo, “Can I take this letter with me please,?”


“Sure. Take whatever you want to, but solve this case quickly please,” he said


“Yes, sir. Don’t worry. We’ll have the man behind bars as soon as possible,” I answered, as Ricardo lead me out of the house. I got into my car and drove to the Maximus manor.


By the time all of this was over, it was already seven in the evening, so I headed back home. As soon as Sam saw me, he hugged me so hard, that I was gasping for breath for 2 whole minutes.


“I’m just so happy you’re okay!”, he exclaimed.


“Thanks for staying home.”, I said


“Umm about that… I went to get some food.”, he said scaredly while pointing to the dining table.


On the table was an assortment of dishes like noodles, pasta, pizza, milkshakes(I guess Sam wanted them), chicken salad and Caesar salad.


“It’s fine for today, but never do it again. There are a lot of people who would want to kill you because you’re my brother.”, I said.


He breathed a sigh of relief.


“Ok, come on let’s see what all you’ve got for us.”, I said while walking towards the food.


I sort of wished I hadn’t eaten a salad all the time in Arizona because Sam thought I loved it and got me another salad. I did like it, but to what extent can a man like a salad over a freshly fried chicken sandwich? I ate slowly thinking about the case that had completely perplexed me. I tried to think of ways to crack this puzzle, but I didn’t get any. There was barely any information on this man. I decided that I would go to Nathaniel’s place after eating my lumpy salad. He would know something because he was renowned across California. I needed expert advice, and Nathaniel was an expert in the field of detectives. When I finished my food, I quickly picked up my stuff and left. Before I left, I told Sam that I had to go out again. This time in the hopes of him listening. I then ran for my limo and went to Nathaniel’s house. When I reached, I tried to open the door, but to no avail. I tried calling for Nathaniel through his security camera by waving in front of it, but it didn’t open.


“What am I going to do about this dilemma?”, I thought.


Suddenly, I got an idea. I used my hearing device to see if he was home. I heard faint noises of a… (drumroll please) constipated person.


“Wait for what? Was Nathaniel constipated? Oh, gods, I didn’t want to hear that!”, I thought.


But hey, good news, he was there. Only, he was in his washroom and not where I expected him to be. I waited for a long time until I grew suspicious. Nobody stays in the washroom for 30 minutes. Not even a constipated. I knew that something wasn’t right and sat down on a rock to think of ways to get into his house….I mean mansion. I suddenly remembered some of the drills they used to make us do in the school I attended. They taught us how to climb up walls with a simple technique. It was similar to the way you climb a house. I just had to find small parts of the wall poking out of the house wall. Then, I would have to put my leg on that and then find another part jutting out from the wall, and so on and so forth.





I found many of those parts in Nathaniel’s house(Who built his house?!!). In a matter of minutes, I was up to the first window and was able to look into the mansion. I saw Nathaniel tied up to a chair with a gag attached to his mouth. I was so surprised that I almost lost my footing and fell, but I held on to the handle on the window. I opened the window and rushed to Nathaniel’s aid. I helped him up as he coughed continuously. I lead him to his room and gave him some water. After he stopped coughing, I asked him, “Bro, what happened?”


“I was in my house alone today, when someone opened the door. I went down to look but didn’t see anyone. I assumed that I had just imagined the noise and went back to my desk to work on the case when someone with a mask came behind me and tied me up to this chair,” he said, pointing chair.


“Did he have any sign or tattoo on his clothes or body?” I asked eagerly


“Yes. I caught a glimpse of the logo of ICC on his shirt,” Nathaniel said “We can look in the security cameras to get a clearer look because we can zoom in on them,”


He leads me to another room; it was smaller than the ones I saw. It had several computers placed upon a roundtable. There was also a chair with wheels that was probably for moving quickly from computer-to-computer. Nathaniel typed a password in the computer in the middle, and all the computers turned on. In each computer, you I could see a part of the house. Nathaniel rolled to the computer displaying his room and went to recording. He fast-forwarded it as the recording started from the start of the day. He paused it to the part where there was a man behind him and zoomed onto his sleeve where there was a logo. I could make out the letters ICC and the name Zuko on his sleeve. Turns out that Nathaniel didn’t see the name. When he saw it now, he jumped up in excitement, because it records, Zuko was a part of the ICC. We headed back to his room and examined the rope with which Nathaniel was tied up. I took a piece of tape and put it on the rope. I took it off and saw fingerprints. I told Nathaniel about it, “Bro look what I found,” I said showing him the tape.


He looked at it twice and then said, “Holy cow. I can’t believe this. We can track down the location of Zuko with this.”. I agreed with him but seemed confused about who to go to, so I asked him, “Yes, but where do we take it?”


“To the police of course. They crack many cases like this,” he replied


“Okay. Come with me. Let's go,” I told him, as we exited the mansion and got into the car.





I had been only to one police station before and if you ask me, I would say it looked more sophisticated than I imagined both times. There were at least 20 police officers that I could see. There was a T.V in the corner of the building. There were many chairs and tables(for god knows what). A water dispenser lay abandoned in the left corner of the room. There was a reception where 2 people were being helped. We waited in line for our turn. I watched, as the person speaking, well….shouting at the police officer at the reception took out a piece of paper which was crumpled up in his pocket. I didn’t bother to find out what it was, otherwise that would be on my mind.





It felt like hours, what was actually only 30 minutes. Our turn had finally come. As we walked to the police officer, he put a board on the desk saying, “Lunch Break.” Nathaniel and I were enraged and argued with the police officer until he finally sat down when we mentioned the name, Ricardo. He lead us to a room and made us sit. I took out the letter and showed it to him. I also had a few pictures of the guy who bound up Ricardo, so I showed them to the police as well. He examined them carefully and then put them on the coffee table in front of us. He asked us, “Tell me the whole incident of what Nathaniel faced, with exact details,” so we told him exactly what happened to Nathaniel and how he escaped from it with the help of me. He seemed quite impressed with the way I saved Nathaniel and helped him. After we finished telling him everything that he wanted to know, he said, “I’ll be right back. I will eat lunch and then it'll start working on it. Then, we will take this case to court and file it.”


“Ok. Sure and officer… Thanks a lot.” I replied along with Nathaniel. Did I mention that we are coordinated?


The police officer trudged off sadly to eat his lunch. It looked like he didn’t get the food he wanted today. Nathaniel and I decided that we should get something to eat as well as we had a long day ahead.





Luckily, there was a food court nearby, so we could easily pick up some food and eat them while we thought about the day ahead. I got myself an Oreo milkshake and a 3 Potato Sticks. After I finished, I felt like a Potato myself. Nathaniel, surprisingly, got himself a salad with no chicken. I mean, who eats salad without chicken? Okay, I guess vegetarians do, but still. He looked like he was enjoying, so I let him eat without giving him a piece of my mind because that would take an hour.





After we finished our lunch, we sluggishly got into the car and I drove us to the police station; after eating lunch, we Nathaniel and I tend to become lazy. We almost crashed into a truck which was carrying a heavy load. I made a mental note to never get into the front of a car after eating. We entered the police station and saw the same policeman at the front; probably waiting for us. I felt kind of ashamed because I didn’t take his name and so I asked him, “Hey there. I didn’t quite catch your name, sir.”


“Oh, that's fine. Don’t be ashamed,” he said, almost reading my mind, “It was actually my fault. I didn't introduce myself to you. My name is Rory Carton,” he said, pointing to his badge on his chest. I shook his hand incautiously. Little did I know what awaited me at this meeting. Rory lead us to the same room that we had been in before we went for lunch. The letter and the pictures were still on the table that we had left it on. I had almost forgotten that I had left the pictures along with the letter at the police officer. Rory had told us that we would be going to court to file a case, so I asked, “Rory, aren’t we going to go to court to file a case on this?”


“Yes. We will. Just give me a minute. I need to examine the letter and pictures once again,” Rory replied; I became a little suspicious when Rory put his hand in his hand in his pocket as if holding something.


“Ah, yes,” he said, “I will not be able to return this letter and these pictures to you.”


“No. We need them back,” I replied


“No. I will not be able to return these as they are valuable evidence,” Rory replied, “I will be able to help you, but only tomorrow.”


“Why not today Rory?”, Nathaniel asked, a little too aggressively.


“I will need to take this letter and these pictures to the C.B.I. There, these will be analyzed further, then we can give them back. But, it will take at least a day or even 2. I will inform you when it has been completed,” Rory said languidly


“Ok. Sure. It is: 9978657465,” I replied


“Thank you. I will inform you as soon as possible,” Rory replied; jotting the number down and leaving the room.


Nathaniel and I got up and left the police office, convinced with our day's work. We decided to head over to my place for some coffee and snacks.





“Seemed like a good guy, didn’t he- Rory?”, Nathaniel asked me


“Yeah. Seemed very helpful indeed. I’m happy we found the right guy the first time. Some police officers wouldn’t take this case as seriously as Rory,” I replied, with conviction.


We drank our coffee in peace after that; sipping our coffee while looking at the beautiful view outside my window was nothing like I ever imagined. I heard footsteps getting louder, and got scared at first, but laughed when my brother erupted from the closed door of my room.


“Weren’t you supposed to knock before coming in Sam?”, I asked


“Yes...Sorry,” Sam replied nervously


“I was just joking dude. Chill. Here, sit with us,” I said, gesturing him to sit on a seat next to me.


“What did you do while Draculus was gone,” asked Nathaniel


“Nothing much; studied, watched some TV and slept. I just got up; I came here as soon as possible because I heard your voice,” said Sam, pointing to me


“Nice. Draculus and I were just drinking some coffee and talking,” said Nathaniel


Sam didn’t reply, which probably meant that he was in deep thought. I wondered why he always went into deep thought when I was around.





We finished our coffee at around 5 in the evening. Nathaniel decided to head to his house, and I needed to work on some schoolwork which I had missed. I got up and saw Nathaniel off, and went to my room to complete the elephant load of work I had left. Most of it was writing part, but there were some videos to watch as well. The video was showing another detective solving a hard case. I was supposed to learn some techniques from the detective, but was too confused by the mystery. The papers that had been sent to me as missed work, were fill in the blanks and MCQ’s; there was a mystery written at the top of the papers, and I would have to write the steps of how to solve it by filling in the blanks and ticking one out of the three options which I thought was correct. I finished the papers with ease, but a lot of time had been taken. It was dinner time when I completed all the missed work. I went to Sam’s room and saw him building something out of his Lego pieces. I told him, “Bro, we have to eat dinner now. Come on down.”


“Yeah. I’ll come in just 2 minutes. I’m almost done building this super speed cruiser. I named it that,” Sam replied while laughing at the name he had given the Lego.


I walked downstairs. I had made a dinner of grilled chicken with some lentils for protein. Sam and I just love chicken so much. I called Sam again, “Sam. Come down NOW!”


“Yeah. I’m on the steps,” he replied


He sat onto the dining table, and greedily started serving himself the grilled chicken. I ate the lentils first, as they were healthier. Sam looked at me in disgust, and I gave him a stare which made him shut up the whole of dinner.


After dinner, we went back into our rooms. I looked at my wall. I always had the pictures of previous cases and the current case there.


Suddenly, an idea struck me. I snatched the dossier of the ICC. I quickly asked Nathaniel to send me the picture of Zuko. Nathaniel was really quick, in under 1 minute, I got a reply. I recognised Zuko in the dossier. I looked through all his victims information and looked for any connection. I looked through once… then twice… even three times, but to no avail. I was just going to give up when the most subtle detail caught my eye. The blood group was all AB- :The most uncommon blood group. Of course! Zuko must be or have a relative who is an AB- and that person must need blood donations. Therefore, he must be killing people with the AB- blood group to get their blood.


Now, I didn’t feel as angry at Zuko as I did before. I needed to give this information to Nathaniel. But, it was almost night. I tried calling anyways. Thankfully, he picked up. I told him all the information that I collected. He said that we should immediately tell Rory this. I called Rory, thankfully, he was awake. I told him everything I found. But, the whole time, he sounded quite suspicious. He finally asked us to come to the police station. While we were going, I talked to Nathaniel about how Rory was sounding nervous. He said, “We’ll have to be very careful as he could be a part of this.”


“Yes. Of course. By the way, tomorrow 12 a.m. is the deadline. We have to act quickly. We haven’t been thinking about the deadline.”, I answered.


When we reached the police station, Rory was waiting outside for us. He was talking to someone on the phone. Before he noticed us, I stopped my lamborghini. Nathaniel knew exactly what I wanted to do. He picked out my hearing device and our recorders and both of us started listening closely.


“I will not kill anyone today, because the two detectives have found my reason to kill and are coming here right now. Tomorrow, though, I am going to kill a O+ to throw them off their course.”, he said


As soon as he put down the phone, I started the car and started to go the police station. I told Nathaniel my plan. When Rory saw us, he called out our names and we got ready.

5.The Final Fight

I walked in front of Nathaniel as we went. Both of us acted normal. I was quite surprised that Nathaniel wasn’t scared as this was his first actual confrontation of a serial killer. We went up to Rory as a team.


“Rory Cotton, you are under arrest!”, I declared.


“Ok… One you don’t have the post to arrest a senior officer and two it’s Rory Sotton not Cotton. Idiot.”, he replied.


“Oops. Anyways, Rory Sotton, you are under arrest.”


“Haha. It’s actually Rory Cotton and, as i’ve already established, you don’t have the post to do that.”


“Ok Rory Cotton you are under arrest.”, I said, really annoyed. I bradished my gold card, “And I do have the post.”


“Oh shit. Well then you don’t have any evidence that I did all of that.”


“Actually we just heard you talk over the phone.”


“Well it’s my word against yours.”


“No…”, I said, while playing a tape, ‘I will not kill anyone today, because the two detectives have found my reason to kill and are coming here right now. Tomorrow, though, I am going to kill a O+ to throw them off their course.’“ Actually, It’s your word against yours. Booyah!”


I had been expecting the knife and moved out of the way as Rory threw it at me. I thought I had dodged it, but realized that the knife had cut my hand, and it was bleeding a lot. Nathaniel was helping me, but I was more concerned about the pictures and the letter that Rory took with himself as he ran out of the room and out of the police officer, so I shouted at Nathaniel, “Go get Rory. Leave me; I’ll be fine. Go quickly!”


Nathaniel took off like a bullet. I, on the other hand, was trying not to go into shock because of the excruciating pain that was erupting from the area which the blade had impaled me. I looked at the bleeding cut on my stomach and knew that I would have to rush to the hospital quickly, otherwise I may lose too much blood, so I got up and went out of the room; I wanted to get the attention of any police officer. The officer at the reception immediately called the ambulance, and I got into it and fell into a deep sleep(I seriously hoped it wasn’t coma.)





I came back to my senses after what seemed like just 5 minutes after the knife-throwing incident. However, I found that I wasn’t able to open my eyes. When I tried to feel them, someone stopped my arm and said with a familiar voice, “Don’t do that. The doctor has put that on for some reason, but told me not to let you take it off.”


“Nathaniel, is that you?”, I asked


“Yes, Draculus. It’s me. I didn’t catch Rory but got the pictures and letter back. It fell out of his pocket while he ran. I didn’t bother to chase him after that because we just needed the letter, the pictures and that recording. I have the recording with me.” Nathaniel replied


I was never this happy to see…..well, hear Nathaniel ever before. It was probably because I had been secluded from everyone I knew, except Nathaniel, for the past week or so; Sam was an exception. Thinking of Sam made me feel guilty. I had promised him that nothing would happen to me, but something had happened.


“Draculus, are you okay?”, a voice said in the room; I recognized that sweet soft voice


“Sam, is that you?”, I asked


“Yes, it’s me,” he replied(speak of the devil)


I broke down in tears, “I’m so sorry Sam. I promised you that I’d not get hurt, but here I am now. I’m sorry for being the worst brother ever.”


“Nah. That’s fine. I was just worried about you. Nathaniel called me up and told me the news, so I took an Uber, and here I am now,” Sam replied


I reached around the room; my intention was to give Sam a hug. Since I couldn’t see, I almost fell off the bed which I was placed on, but Sam helped me up and gave me a bear hug.


“My hand…Sam…ow,” I said, as he squeezed me with his bear hug


“Oh yeah. Sorry, I almost forgot you got hurt,” he said, pulling away.


“So, umm when can I get out of here?”, I asked.


“In a few days. Maybe 3 or 4.”, came a man’s voice which was quite deep, “Hello, I am Cabe.”


I got up slowly to shake his hand.The doctor said,


“Woah. I saw some really quick healing right now so, good news is, you should be good to go in a few days.”


“ Oh thank god. Nathaniel go give all the information to the court. You’ll have special permission because of that card.”, I told Nathaniel, “ Our deadline is today night.”


“Yeah. But there is no way I am leaving you alone.”, he replied.


“But we don’t have too much time.”


“No we do have time.”


“We don’t! Just go.”


“Fine but, doctor, can we take this off from his eyes”


“I guess.”, doctor Cabe answered.


Nathaniel took it off slowly and my eyes started killing me. Nathaniel had a few gashes on his body and a few bandages. Sam had one bandage on his head.


“Sam! What happened?”, I asked.


“Oh nothing, while I was running in here, I hit my head on a sharp metal table.”, he answered.


“Well, did you take a tetanus shot?”


“Yes. I gave him one.”, doctor Cabe assured me.


“That’s good. I’m just very concerned about him.”


I looked at him. He nodded in agreement, “Yes I understand, not having your parents… It must be hard on you.”


We had a moment of awkward silence which Nathaniel finally broke by saying, “Ok then, i’ll get going. Be safe Draculus.”


He then left. A few seconds later, Sam said that he needed to use the washroom and he too left. Now that left me and Doctor Cabe alone in the room. He said that he would let me sleep and started pulling down the curtains. He said that he would come back in a bit, but I had to rest till then. He came in after what seemed like 5 hours, but was actually 30 minutes. I hadn’t known how much sleep I had lost until now. Dr. Cabe asked me, “How do you feel Draculus. According to my statistics, you should be good as new, but I want it from you”


“Oh. I feel great. Nothing hurts anymore,” I said while pressing the area the knife had impaled.

6. The persecution of the hostages

I ran into Nathaniel on the way to the court. He was in an Uber. He told the driver to stop and payed him a little extra and finally got into my Lamborghini(God! I love my car). Nathaniel had already gone to the court and given all the information and evidence. We had to go there quickly to do the case. I really hoped the whole thing works out.


As soon as we reached the court, we parked the lamborghini and got in with hands shaking because our careers depended on this. The court was quite empty today and that was really an aberration. As we walked down the halls, we saw people immediately recognising us and greeting us.


The court had about 5 people there and as soon as everyone saw us, they stopped the person’s case which they were doing and wanted to start ours. I would have normally felt bad for the person and said that we would wait, but it was already three in the afternoon and we needed to finish this fast, so we went forward and did our own.


Normally, the judge would be very exacting and would want a lot of papers and evidence, believe me i’ve been to a court before, but this judge knew exactly what we wanted and finished it quickly. In 2 hours time, we were out and , yes, I know 2 hours sounds like a lot, but it isn’t for a court. So, now we were being accompanied by a few officers to find Rory and arrest him. We were all very excited because this was the first mystery that we actually did from scrap. We had nothing when we started and now we had enough things to go and arrest Rory. Ok fine, this might be counting chickens before they hatch, but if this mystery works out, we could make this a big company. I wasn’t really worried about the company because I had a mystery to solve. The people in the court had scanned the fingerprints and had located the house of that person. We were heading there right now, hoping to catch Rory.


According to the directions, Rory’s house was in front of the Monta Vista park. His house wasn’t very big. It had a decently big front yard and a one floor house. I wondered if ICC had sponsored this. We carefully walked up to the front porch; I thought that there would be a few traps because he was a criminal. Just to check for them, I placed one foot at a time and lifted it right after that. That way, if there was any trap, it would spring.


I was surprised to see that there was not a single trap, when we reached the doorstep. The officers gestured me to ring the doorbell, and I did carefully.


The door was opened by a little girl, about that age of 10. She was freaked out when she saw the officers holding their guns at her, and ran into her house screaming. We followed the child to a place which looked like a dining area. It was made of pure Granite and had sparkling lights hanging from over-head.


“Wow! This place looked beautiful,” I thought. I found the little girl in a room standing beside an older woman. The woman was holding a knife in one hand; I had experienced this before, so I knew what was coming next. I ducked under a sofa, as the knife came soaring at me at top speed. I signalled to the guards to arrest the woman and girl and put them in the car. I got up from behind the sofa and wrote a note which was supposed to be for Rory. It said, “Hello Rory. We have taken your wife and daughter and you won’t see them again unless you hand yourself in. We have the man you intend to murder under good security. We intend no harm to your wife and daughter and will be waiting for your arrival.” I didn’t want to do anything with the hostages, because they didn’t deserve this. They were influenced by Rory and were made to do the wrong things. I left the note on the dining table, hoping that it would be the first thing that Rory saw when he came back from his…business. I left the house with a sense of satisfaction. We would have to persecute the hostages and get as much information on Rory as possible. I got into my car and drove back to the headquarters of the company (Nathaniel’s house).





When I reached there, Nathaniel’s car was parked in his garage, so I assumed that he had reached. I went to the car with the hostages and lead them into the house and into the living room; Nathaniel was waiting there with a clipboard which included the questions that we would ask Rory’s wife and daughter. I really hoped they would actually give us the information we wanted.


“So, I understand that both of you would be scared right now, but I can assure you that there is no need to worry.”, Nathaniel said, “… Apart from your family member getting arrested”, I glared at him, so he shut up.


“I believe you know why you are here?”,I asked.


I didn’t want to get too nice with them because Rory’s wife had thrown a knife at me.


“Yes we know. My husband is doing some things which you people think is wrong. Whatever you do, I am not going to answer your questions until I see my husband safe and sound”, Rory’s wife said,


Your husband shall be here to get the both of you in a bit of time.”, I said, not telling them that Rory would be arrested here. “so you will answer my questions now?”


“Depending on the question.”, she replied.


“Good. Ok first question, did you know that your husband was a murderer?”


“What?! My husband is not a murderer. How do you guys think that? It must be a mistake!”, she answered, surprised at the fact that her husband was a murderer.


“No ma’am, it is not a mistake. Your very own husband said everything in this recording.”, I took out the recording and played it. When she heard the recording, she broke down in a fit of tears. When she stopped crying, she said, ““He has never told me this. We knew that he was doing something because he kept leaving the house at odd times, but I never knew of this”


I told her about the threats he had sent to Ricardo and how he had joined the I.C.C. Now she seemed more angry than sad


“So, I believe that you need to take him to jail and I assume you brought us here as a bait for him?” she asked.


“Yes,” I replied, convincing Rory’s wife to believe me.


All I needed to do now was to wait for Rory to come. I wasn’t sure if he would fall for the bait that easily, because I knew that he was smart. I also knew that his lethal knife would be hidden under his jacket (if he wore one), but you get the point.





An hour had passed, but Rory still hadn’t shown up. I was beginning to get a little worried and got a feeling that Rory did not care about his wife or kid. I also knew that he thought that we did not know where his house was. I decided to wait for just a little longer. I decided to entertain myself by playing video games on my phone. I liked playing “Colour Switch,” and my high score was really high (that's the point Draculus). It was 169, which was really high considering that the International high score was 177. I wondered how long Rory would take to help his family at Nathaniel’s house. That’s when I heard a knock on the door. I carefully walked to the door, signalling to the police men to inaudibly follow me. I opened the door with a jerk and hid behind the door, while the police men raised their guns to the so called man, Rory. He had his hands behind his head and had a wicked gleam in his eyes which told me that he would want to take his revenge. One of the policeman put down his gun and rushed over to Rory to cuff his hands. Rory did not meet his wife and daughters eyes, maybe because he would see hatred in their eyes. The guards put him into the police car and headed off to what was probably the police station.





I closed the door and looked at the 2 very sad faces of Rory’s family. I said to them, “Well, he’s gone now. I think you should be on your way as well. I will ask my driver to drop you back to your house. Thank you for helping us”


“It’s fine. No need to thank me, but…..,” replied Rory’s wife, unable to say anything after that as I helped her and her daughter into my car. I spoke to the driver and told him the exact directions to their house, and they were off. I closed the door and saw Nathaniel looking at me with a huge grin. I couldn't help but smile back and we fist bumped each other and headed to the dining room for a drink. I made myself some lemonade and Nathaniel took some Pepsi which was left in the fridge. As I drank, I thought about my promise to Sam that I would take him out again after this was solved, and an idea came to my mind. I asked Nathaniel, “Hey bro. How would you like it if you, Sam and I went out of California for a while and enjoyed?”


“That would be great. No more mysteries for a while then. When are we gonna go?”, asked Nathaniel.





“Well, we could leave tomorrow if we find the tickets. If not, maybe even today,”I replied, laughing away at the earliness of our departure. Nathaniel laughed along, and I knew from that moment on, that Nathaniel and I would make a good team.