Natasha gently shook her head, indicating that Bella's guess was wrong.
"I didn't see any signs of a third party at the scene. It looked like she was sleeping alone at home, and then her chest and abdomen simply split open."
"Split open by itself? No one else?"
"Based on the current clues, there likely wasn't anyone else involved."
Bella trusted Natasha's judgment. If this wasn't a revenge killing, then the situation became much more troublesome.
The first thing that came to her mind was an alien. This kind of bursting out from the abdomen was very similar to an alien's method, but the wound shouldn't have been this large. An alien only breaks through the belly, whereas Amanda in the photo had nearly been cut in half.
After ruling out Aliens, the next "suspect" she thought of was Pyramid Head, but she immediately dismissed that idea herself. When the crime happened, Pyramid Head had been fishing with her—there was no time for it to come here and kill anyone, and she hadn't issued any such orders.
The killer had to be some other "thing."
"What about the other victim?"
Natasha handed her another photo. After looking at it, Bella became even more unsettled.
Despite differences in hair color, facial features, and accessories, she still recognized the true identity of the muscular man in the picture.
Wasn't this the big vampire Emmett Cullen from Forks?
Why was this guy here?
Natasha answered the question in her mind. "This man seems to have had some kind of relationship with Amanda. Someone saw them together five days ago."
So Emmett had gotten involved with Amanda before? Vampires really did have quite colorful off-hours.
A muscular brute meeting a bold, uninhibited woman—Bella wasn't surprised at all that the two had been drawn to each other.
Now that vampires were involved, the situation instantly became far more dangerous.
If the enemy could kill a vampire, then it was far stronger than expected.
Bella examined the photo carefully. Judging from the corpse's posture, the big vampire Emmett looked as though he had killed himself—both hands reverse-gripping a dagger and stabbing it into his own neck.
"Where are the bodies? Where are the two corpses now?"
"They've both been buried. As far as I know, they're already underground."
To prevent Emmett from crawling out of the grave like Alice had and terrifying the townspeople, Bella decided to act first—she would dig up the body before anything else happened.
Before digging, however, she needed to check the scene. If Emmett was already truly dead, then digging him up would be pointless.
"Where did this guy die?"
Natasha looked at her strangely. "In a café. But it's been three days already—there shouldn't be any clues left inside."
Bella smiled mysteriously. "That might not necessarily be true."
Ten minutes later, the café owner received a phone call telling him he had won a lottery jackpot. Overjoyed, he rushed out, slammed on the gas, and sped out of town.
After the owner left, Bella and Natasha quietly slipped inside.
Since someone had died only three days ago, the café was still a while away from reopening. With the owner tricked away, the place was completely empty.
They quickly confirmed the spot where Emmett had died. Large patches of blood still stained the wooden floor. The blood was dark in color, and even though the owner had sprayed plenty of air freshener, a heavy metallic stench still lingered.
Ignoring Natasha's probing gaze, Bella began drawing a magic array on the floor. She then took out the Seal of Metatron. With the seal, the array, and her own psionic power working together, she cast a commonly known universal spell—time regression.
Pale gray human figures continuously flickered past the two of them: the café owner, waiters, police officers, and nearby residents.
Wearing the look of a full-fledged mystic, Bella constantly adjusted the markings on the Seal of Metatron, slowly turning back time within this small area. She worked carefully and cautiously until time rolled back to three days earlier. Only then did she raise her head to look ahead, while stealing a sideways glance at her so-called little sister.
See? Convinced now?
Natasha's worldview took a serious hit. None of this was even remotely scientific.
Still, she had always known Bella was mysterious. Combined with America's cultural tolerance for the occult, she didn't kneel down or worship or anything like that.
Instead, her expression carried a hint of doubt—as if to say, That's it?
Bella felt a little disappointed. Her sister was really far too unlovable.
With no time to argue, the Seal of Metatron slowly rotated, and the events of that day unfolded before them like a curtain of water.
Two figures appeared in the scene—the two victims of this incident: the uninhibited woman Amanda and the burly vampire Emmett.
Emmett's expression was ferocious. With both hands reverse-gripping the dagger, he looked as though he were about to stab his own neck. The muscles in his arms bulged as if he were struggling against some invisible enemy in the air.
Amanda tried to stop him. She shouted desperately, seemingly trying to snap Emmett back to his senses, straining to seize the dagger—but the difference in strength was too great. The blade still pierced the skin and, with a thud, punched straight through his neck.
Amanda's expression was like that of a frightened rabbit. Her mouth hung open as if she were screaming for help.
She was too panicked to notice that Emmett's blood was abnormal—not only was there very little of it, its color was darker and thicker than normal.
Bella examined the wound closely. The dagger had gone clean through the neck—how much force did that take?
Vampires didn't recover instantly either. From the fact that Alice had been run over by a car and then lay in her grave for several days, it could be inferred that Mr. Big Guy Emmett Cullen would also need to stay "dead" for several days.
Amanda screamed hysterically. Soon after, the town sheriff arrived. The outsider Emmett was examined by a doctor, then covered with a white sheet and taken away.
"Can you stop it there? That blood color looks a little strange," Natasha said. Her eye for detail was far sharper than the sheriff's.
Bella rolled her eyes and raised the Seal of Metatron. "What do you think this is? A TV remote? You think I can just stop it whenever I want?"
"Still not impressed, huh?"
"Enough nonsense. Let's go. I just thought of something very important—we need to ask that sheriff."
They hurried to find the town sheriff. As agreed, it was still "Mom" doing the questioning.
"What exactly is the name of your town?" Natasha asked.
The white-haired, white-bearded old sheriff found it odd that the FBI would ask such a question, but he still answered, "Oak Street."
Natasha pressed on. "Before that? Was it always called Oak Street? Because I didn't see many oak trees in this town. The few that exist are very small and were clearly planted in recent years. Tell me the old name. Now."
The old sheriff thought for a moment. "Before? Before there was a big fire… I think it used to be called Elm Street."