Chapter 2

Taylor: And now, let's talk about current events! Brought to you by Michael Brown, here with the freshest news hot from the presses!

Brown: Thank you, [announcer]. Today, police made a shocking breakthrough in the ongoing serial killer case from an angle I think I can safely say that none of us expected.

Brown: Nine hours ago now, at 3 A.M., an anonymous caller reported sounds of a scuffle in an alley just off of Second Street. When police responded to the call, they found a dead body in said alley. Yes, listeners, a dead body. To be specific, the very dead body of well-known serial killer [name].

Brown: Let's talk about the juicy details. Parents, turn down the volume now if your children are listening. Or switch to a different channel for a minute, we promise we won't be mad.

Brown: Done? Alright, good. Now, the scene of the crime. Police believe that the fight concluded mere minutes before police arrived, an hour at the most. The body was found with multiple injuries from a sharp object, and, shockingly, a wooden stake just shoved straight through its chest.

Brown: We have yet to hear back from the morgue, but it would logically follow that the stake was the cause of death. A stake, of all things. Strange murder weapon, honestly.

Brown: "How do you know who the dead body was?" I hear you asking. Worry not, I have an answer: we know who the dead body was, because he had his legal ID on him. Yes, listeners, his legal ID. Which wouldn't have been useful for anything but causing trouble for himself, but I suppose he wanted to conform to ID laws at least.

Brown: Let me remind you, listeners: murder is always a crime, even if it is the murder of a truly horrible person. If any of you happen to have any information that could shed some light on the perpetrator of this crime, call 1-800-FMD. Thank you for listening.

After my fascinating conversation with Miss Cleo the other day, they gave me a certain item that they told me might provide me the next source of information I intend to look for. A Polaroid photograph of a large metropolitan building in New York City, if the description and address hastily scrawled on the back is accurate. I have included a scan of the photograph alongside this entry. The photo is odd, however—while there are three sets of clothing shown, appearing for all intents and purposes like they're being worn by living people rather than mannequins…there are no faces to be seen. No faces, and no bodies, but it's all far too lifelike to have been edited in some way. Where you might expect the faces to be, there are instead a variety of different colorful, silly stickers physically placed over top of the image.

The only logical conclusion I can come to to explain these oddities is that whoever the people in this photo are depicting, they must be vampires as well, much like Miss Pearl and Cleo. I suppose this has to mean that the myths of vampires not appearing in photographs is, in fact, the truth after all. Miss Pearl and Cleo did not give me any particular details, but I can only assume these are people they must have known at one point in their lives, and clearly Miss Cleo thought they could help me find out more about what truly happened here all those years ago.

It is unfortunate that there does not appear to be any further information included on the back of it. I have a few names, a short description and an address, but that is all. No phone number, no email address. The address could very well be old by now. Any attempt to attain further information from Miss Cleo was shut down, so I can only assume they are either unwilling to provide anything further, or perhaps even unable to. Either way, I can hardly blame them for wanting to keep their hands clean of all this. In that case, I will simply have to take matters into my own hands, and follow this lead on my own.

I suppose this means my next destination will be New York City. I am admittedly quite nervous about such a prospect. It will be the farthest I have ever traveled before, and the cost is…quite steep, to say the least. To be entirely transparent, merely looking at the price of a single ticket to the city is particularly distressing to me, much less the cost for the flight back home afterwards. But none of that matters at the end of the day—this may be my only solid lead now that the well of Oakhurst has run dry, and I cannot allow a few minor inconveniences (or hits to my savings account…) to get in the way of my pursuit of real, substantial answers.

My hope is that the next time I am able to provide an update, I will have found the answers I'm looking for. I am going to do everything in my power to find these people, and once I do, rest assured I will be documenting my findings as thoroughly as I possibly can. For the time being, however, I'll be signing off—it appears I have some plane tickets to purchase.

-J.P.