Later that afternoon, everybody arrived at the Aethereal Queen’s guesthouse. Cherie and Selena went over their findings with everyone. The others weren’t too surprised…

“Okay, so they lied about the body count, didn’t even mention about the FBI’s involvement, drugs, party boys, and werewolves,” Lycka summarized while eating a big chocolate chip cookie. “I swear, this never gets old.”

“FBI cracking down on a drug ring in this school is a bit scandalous. Do you honestly believe that these two incidents might be related?” Erika assumed.

“Eighteen out of the 19 victims were male and a part of these three fraternities who were a part of this whole LSD drug ring,” Selena answered.

“So, what, the werewolf is acting as the muscle of the group? You don’t pay up, they sick a werewolf on you kind of deal?” Blair jokingly asked.

Anyone would chide Blair’s dark humor, primarily when they are working. However, she wasn’t as far off as she wanted to be.

“That is a possible scenario,” Selena agreed.

It amazed Blair herself. “Really?”

Selena nodded. “At this point, we do have a pattern for all of these murders. Either the lycanthrope we are dealing with is working with someone to keep people in line through murder or is the mastermind of all this.”

Feeling a bit proud of herself, Blair couldn’t help but brag, “well, you all thought I was nuts about why they wouldn’t take any of those drugs back there. Why steal drugs when you can make some yourself?”

Like a ton of bricks, Selena remembered what Dr. Harker said to her hours ago: “We do ‘independent projects’ and research to fund this lab on our own dime.”

“Dr. Harker…, ” Selena bellowed. “I went to her little research facility after breakfast. You should’ve seen everything she had in there. Everything was state-of-the-art, and it didn’t come cheap.”

“You mean that fat-ass we ran into yesterday?” Blair asked. “No one would figure Bertha Faye was cooking hillbilly heroin.”

“She claims that she does ‘independent projects’ to fund her own research,” Selena summarized.

“Knowing she has to be a God in her small terrain, she must have a few flunkies doing her dirty work,” the Aethereal Queen added.

“A couple of lab assistants. A young married couple, Britney and Donovan Larson,” Selena said, as this made everybody a little bit nervous. All their noses immediately dropped to the floor as Selena mentioned those three little words that usually get Selena triggered.

But it was too late as Selena was already triggered. “Don’t get me started!”

Lycka took it upon herself to walk over towards Selena and hold her hand in comfort. “Sweetie, it’s okay.”

Selena was dumbfounded and angered by her Majesty’s patronizing tone. “What are you talking about?”

Then, Chelsea tried to be nice to bring Selena down to earth. “You know how you are like when you see… The perfect young couple, Selena.”

“Okay, first of all: I really don’t give a damn about ‘Brad Pitt’ and ‘Angelina Jolie’ with their buff bodies, movie style looks, getting married young and ‘saving the world before dinnertime!’ Even though that is so clichéd and bull-shitty…, ” Selena angrily defended. “And second, why in the hell would all of you think that I am jealous of those two assholes?”

This immediately made everybody laugh out loud, leaving Selena rightfully pissed off. Yet, this was a problem with Selena. She actually believes that there is no such thing as the perfect man or the perfect couple or the perfect family. Not because of her harsh upbringing as a child, but she usually feels stuff like that are so plastic and fake, it can’t be real.

To her, there’s always a flaw in everything in life, and nothing is perfect. So, when she usually runs into people like Britney and Donovan Larson, who look like a perfect couple, she becomes spiteful and jealous. So jealous, that she would do everything and anything to prove that they are not perfect.

Coming down from their euphoric laughter, Lycka was the one to set Selena straight, “sweetie, dogs know that you’re jealous of people like Britney and Donovan. I mean for heaven’s sake; blind and deaf people know you’re jealous of people like Britney and Donovan.”

Making matters worse, that made everybody who was laughing even more louder. But it was all in good fun. Selena’s feelings weren’t wholly hurt since it was right and she saw this one coming a mile away. She just thought that maybe they would be more professional about this and not bring it up.

Yet Selena was reminded whom she was dealing with. “You know what, laugh all you want to. But it doesn’t change the fact that those two cannot be trusted as long with Harker.”

“All jokes aside, let’s say you’re right. And what role would they fit into all of this?” Cherie sincerely asked Selena.

With a scowl on her face, Selena answered her question. “Everything and anything.”

The whole group thought about it long and hard. Sadly, for Selena, the group laughed out loud again.

“OH, LET’S FACE IT! BRITNEY AND DONOVAN LARSON ARE JUST AS GUILTY, AND EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT!” Selena snaps while everybody stopped laughing abruptly. “I mean… The confidence, the balls these two had… They thought they were so proud of what they were doing. Yeah, we will save the world from disease by getting other people high or eventually killing them. What a way to emphasize fair trade in the world of science. They are disgusting! Well, not disgusting, but you know what I’m talking about…”

Knowing Selena had enough teasing, the Aethereal Queen finally got serious. “Okay, let’s just say they are a part of this. Maybe they’re not. Maybe they were told the same lies.”

“A whole background check wouldn’t hurt,” Erika suggested.

“Sounds good,” Cherie agreed as she worked the search on her smartphone.

“What about the vials Erika found?” Lycka asked.

Cherie answered while working on her phone, “Have you ever heard of isotope separation?”

“Yes, the process of concentrating specific isotopes of a chemical element by removing other isotopes. Using the nuclides produced is various,” Lycka answered.

“Although isotopes of a single element are typically described as having the same chemical properties, this is not strictly true. In particular, reaction rates are very slightly affected by atomic mass. Techniques using this are most effective for light atoms such as hydrogen. Lighter isotopes tend to react or evaporate more quickly than heavy isotopes, allowing them to be separated. This is how heavy water is produced commercially. Lighter isotopes also disassociate more rapidly under an electric field,” Cherie explained.

“Man, I’m not going to like this one…” Blair dreaded, eating a piece of beef jerky.

“There was blood in some vials. According to the DNA test results we received from our headquarters, is indeed belonged to someone deals with of lycanthropy,” Cherie added.

“The werewolf, he was covering his tracks!” Selena exclaimed.

Cherie nodded. “The others were filled with Deutetrabenazine, a pharmaceutical drug to treat chorea, associated with Huntington’s disease. Chemically, deutetrabenazine is an isotopic isomer of tetrabenazine in which six hydrogen atoms have been replaced by deuterium atoms. The incorporation of deuterium slows the rate of drug metabolism, allowing less frequent dosing. By doing a toxicology report, a high concentration of Deutetrabenazine was in the blood,” Cherie confirmed.

“Hormonal therapy… The same research that Harker and the Larsons were involved in,” Selena boasted.

“Don’t get too excited…” Blair warned.

“Maybe she should…” Cherie said, reading the information on her phone. “There is a police report. That was filed… Four months before the first murder occurred.”

“Who was the one who filed it?” Selena asked.

“Donovan Larson was the one who filed a police report,” Cherie clarified. “However, that record had been expunged, and they dropped the charges.”

“Where was the station? What were the charges?” The Aethereal Queen asked.

“The charges he filed was for Rape… He accused the entire Delta Theta Omega fraternity,” Cherie summarized.

“Yeah, they said those blokes were a bunch of animals when we were at the riot a few hours ago,” Blair remembered. “It was the Delta Theta Omega fraternity. Right, sis?”

Chelsea nodded, “yeah. Even blaming them for the murders.”

“Without access to those files, we don’t even know what exactly happened,” Selena assumed while shaking her head. Suddenly, Selena’s smartphone rang which snapped her out of her depression. Cleared her throat and answered the call, “Logan.”

“Hey, it’s me, Britney!”

Hearing her voice, Selena grimaced, but she kept the façade going, “Britney, what’s up?”

“My hubby did the DNA analysis on that dog you are so fond of. It turns out the dander belongs to an Arctic wolf/Alaskan malamute,” Britney announced happily. “They are so cute.”

“Oh?! It’s a hybrid!” Selena sounded elated, even a deep down she wanted to throw up.

“My sister has one. A hybrid, I mean. They are a handful so watch out,” Britney warned.

“Okay, Britney. And thanks again!” Selena obliged as she hung up the phone, reverting to her disgusted demeanor. “Fake ass bitch…”

Blair realizing that Selena was right, she immediately threw her hands up, “Okay, which head do we have to bust wide open?”

“Neither. Not yet anyway,” Lycka said. “As we don’t know for sure who is really the werewolf behind the killings, our ‘perfect couple’ know exactly what’s going on. For now, let’s keep an eye on this entire place. Just like last night.”

“Yes, ma’am,” all five said in unison as they left the living room to be prepared for tonight.