My Life in Wednesday With a Vampire System

Chapter 148 147 : Horror Descended

They entered the sheriff's office not long after.

Behind the desk stood Sheriff Ritchie Santiago.

The moment she saw them, she pressed her fingers briefly to her temple, already anticipating trouble.

"Wednesday."

"Santiago," Wednesday replied, her tone even, acknowledging without warmth.

Santiago's gaze shifted briefly to Ethan, then back.

"Why are you here?" she asked, already knowing the answer wouldn't be simple.

"I want information regarding the three murders that occurred today."

Santiago straightened slightly.

"That's an active investigation," she said. "Which means it's confidential."

Wednesday didn't move.

"Then you've confirmed there are only three bodies," she said calmly. "Which implies a fourth individual is unaccounted for."

"Where is the fourth family member?" Wednesday continued. "Missing, or absent at the time of the incident."

Santiago narrowed her eyes.

"And how exactly do you know this was a family of four?" she asked.

A brief pause.

Then—

"Don't tell me you broke into the crime scene," Santiago said, her tone tightening as she leaned forward slightly. "That's a charge I can pursue, Wednesday, and I will if you give me a reason."

Wednesday didn't react.

"No," she said.

Santiago held her gaze for a second, then exhaled through her nose, clearly not convinced.

"I can say you did," she replied, her voice controlled, "but I can't prove it, which is the only reason this conversation is still civil."

"Well, there's nothing wrong with letting Wednesday help," Ethan said, stepping in without raising his voice. "She's the one who solved the Hyde case and found the real culprit, the one you couldn't see, and I was even arrested for a murder I didn't commit."

Santiago' exhaled, the reminder landing exactly where it should, because that case hadn't just been a mistake, it had damaged the department's credibility across Jericho, the sheriff's own son being the one behind it only making it worse.

That was why the position had changed hands.

And why she was standing here now instead of him.

"I'm aware of what happened," Santiago said, her tone steady, not defensive but not conceding either. "That doesn't give either of you authority to interfere in an active investigation."

"Then as a citizen, I'm entitled to basic information," Wednesday said, her voice calm, precise. "Have you identified a suspect."

"This isn't a press briefing," Santiago said. "And you're not 'basic public' when you have a habit of inserting yourself into cases."

The lights flickered, not once but repeatedly, sharp and uneven, like something was interfering rather than failing.

Ethan's head snapped toward the hallway, his expression shifting instantly as his attention locked onto something beyond the office.

Wednesday followed the change without reacting outwardly.

"Did you find something?"

Ethan didn't answer right away, his focus still fixed outside.

"Sheriff," he said instead, quieter now, "don't tell me you have a surviving family member in this building."

Santiago's expression tightened.

"How would you—"

A scream cut through the station before she could finish, loud at first but quickly turning into something else, stretched, distorted, like the sound was being pulled apart instead of released, carrying through the walls and echoing unnaturally.

It dragged.

Then it snapped into silence.

Santiago stood still for half a second, a cold sensation running down her spine as the realization hit that this wasn't normal, not even for a bad situation.

"What the hell was that?" she said, already moving toward the door, her voice no longer controlled.

Ethan didn't look at her, his gaze still fixed ahead.

"That," he said, "is the problem."

The lights died.

The station dropped into darkness so complete it felt like something had swallowed the light instead of it failing.

A heavy thud followed.

The front entrance slammed shut on its own.

Santiago turned sharply, already pulling out her torch, the beam cutting through the dark in a narrow line as she swept it across the room.

"Mike?" she called out, her voice louder now, edged with tension. "Anyone there?"

No answer; the office that had been active seconds ago was now empty, chairs pushed back, papers left open, with no movement and no sound.

"Where the hell did everyone go?" she muttered, stepping forward slowly, the beam shaking just enough to show she wasn't as steady as she sounded.

A hand tapped her shoulder.

She spun instantly.

"Ahh—!"

Her scream cut through the silence as she nearly dropped the torch, the light jerking wildly before settling on Ethan.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" she snapped, her breath uneven.

Ethan didn't react to that.

"I think there's something coming from that direction," he said, pointing toward a closed door at the end of the hallway, the one used to hold witnesses.

The silence around them pressed in.

"Should we check?" he added.

Santiago hesitated.

For a second,

Then forced herself to move.

She stepped forward, her grip tightening on the torch, every step heavier than the last.

Wednesday walked beside Ethan as the hallway stretched longer than it should, too quiet and too still, until they reached the door, slightly open, and Santiago pushed it slowly, the beam of light sliding into the room—empty.

"Where is she?" Santiago said, her voice tightening.

"By 'she,' you mean the girl," Wednesday said, her tone unchanged, "the surviving family member."

"Yes"

Ethan's gaze shifted to the corner as the smell of blood came from there, and he moved toward the sofa pushed against the wall, the shadow behind it darker than the rest.

"Sheriff," he said quietly, "I think I found one of your officers."

Santiago turned, the torchlight following his voice.

The beam landed—and stopped, and for a second her brain didn't process it before it did.

The lower half of a body lay on the floor, uniform still intact, legs twisted unnaturally, ending where the torso should have continued.

There was nothing above it—no chest, no head, just gone, with blood coating the floor beneath it, thick, fresh, and still spreading.

Santiago staggered back a step, the torch shaking violently now as her stomach turned.

She nearly threw up.

"What the—what the hell is this—" her voice broke, the words barely forming as she looked at it again, as if expecting it to change.

***

A/N: It's decided—the next world will be .

And on Patreon, the Wednesday arc is about to end, with The Boys arc starting next.

The Patreon version is already updated with 40 advanced chapters. If you'd like to read ahead of the public release schedule, you can join here:

👉 patreon.com/JamesA211