“The Protector’s have struck again, three werewolves, two vampires, and a witch. Apparently they were killed at different times over the last couple of weeks. It could be the same killer who killed the human you found in the witch’s woods. I want all of you to come with me. I know I’m asking a lot…”
Without giving Kheda time to finish his sentence, we all stand and put on our coats. “I’ll have to go to the bathroom quickly before I go, and then I’m ready,” I interrupt before hurrying off to the bathroom. A second later Jasmine joins me, and as quick as we can, we do our business and hurry back to where we find Victor waiting.
“Kheda had to go to the toilet as well,” he explains with a smile.
“Victor, do you think the two vampires could be the missing ones?” I ask quietly.
Exhaling noisily Victor looks at me. “Probably, the time is about right, but we’ll never know as it will be ashes we find,” Victor replies in frustration.
Kheda exits the bathroom, and we leave. We all realize at the same time we have no cars with us.
“How far is it?”
“Hunters Park, inside the caves,” answers Kheda with a grimace.
“Okay, let’s go,” I grumble as I start off at a run. A minute later the other three join me, and as if in one body we speed up.
As we pass people, we receive some weird looks. Someone else curses us, but since we’re running on the road, I don’t get what their problem is. Then again, it’s not often you get such a weird bunch of supernaturals together, let alone running as if the hounds of hell are chasing after them.
Ten minutes later we arrive at Hunters Park and turn left toward the caves, located at the far left corner. Within a couple of minutes, we notice the yellow tape cornering off the crime scene, and a crowd of people surrounding it. A couple of harassed-looking officers try to keep everyone back. The scent of fear is intense and makes my nose itch, but there is another scent underlying the fear, not as strong, but there. It takes me a second to realize it’s glee.
Someone in the crowd is enjoying themselves. I come to a sudden stop, and Victor runs straight into me. I would have fallen on my face, but he grabs me and steadies me. Kheda and Jasmine stop beside me with puzzled expressions.
“Do you not smell it?” I demand trying to find the source.
“Smell what?”
“Glee. Someone is enjoying themselves, immensely. The scent is just under the fear, but it’s there,” I answer as I sniff the air.
With a perplexed look at me, Kheda and Victor start sniffing to catch the scent. I know the instant they do, because their eyes widen in surprise. Jasmine had started sniffing the air the moment I had mentioned the scent, so she caught it first.
We try scanning the people to see if we can spot someone who looks happy, or have an emotion on their face screaming I did it, but wherever he or she is I can’t find them.
****
Gleefully he watches the commotion at the cave. Serves them right for taking trophies. Soon they will be arrested, and their idiotic behavior will be stopped. The Protectors are not for pleasure of ownership, but prevention of cross bloodlines. His extra killings will go toward framing the imbeciles, especially the female werewolf.
A grin of pure pleasure at his cleverness spreads across his face. Quickly controlling his smile before anyone else notices, he looks around in time to see the detective arrive with Eve’s granddaughter, a vampire, and a female shapeshifter. Noticing them stop and sniff the air he decides it’s a good time to leave. Eve’s granddaughter had sensed him following her earlier. He did not wish for her to catch his scent again. With a final smug look, he disappears into the shadows.
****
We move toward the taped-off area where an officer is trying to convince people there is nothing to see. Strangely enough, no one seems to believe or listen to him. As we move toward him, he lets out an annoyed huff, until he spots Kheda.
“These three are with me, Foster,” Kheda informs the officer, indicating the three of us.
“You might not want to take civilians in with you,” Foster replies with a look of distaste on his face, as he looks at us before he moves the tape aside to allow us through.
I share a look with Jasmine, and going by her expression, she can’t tell if his dislike is at the crime scene, Kheda, or us. With a slight shrug off my shoulders, I cross over into the crime scene and follow Kheda to the caves. As we near them, the scent of evil surrounds us. The smell of death hits us in an overpowering stench. I stop and glance around.
“Is there a stream around here?” I look around while trying to breathe through my mouth.
“Yes, there’s an underground one inside the cave. Probably explains why they’re inside instead of out.” “What I would like to know is, why was the human
killed elsewhere when the rest of them are here? I mean, if most of the victims were killed around the same time as the man in the woods, why wasn’t he murdered here as well? Why was it so important he be found first?”
A second later, a young officer rushes out of the cave and throws up in the nearest bush.
“You okay?” Kheda offers the shivering officer a tissue, while looking at him in concern.
“No, I’m bloody well not all right. Fuck, how someone can do something like that I have no idea!” The young officer wipes his mouth with the tissue, his hands shaking badly, his face pasty and sweaty.
“Stay out here, and make sure no one else comes in,” Kheda instructs the officer. Turning toward the three of us he nods, then heads into the yawning mouth of the cave.
The cave’s musty damp smell blends with the scent of coppery blood and death. Someone had set up sconces to light the way. I’m surprised, until I notice the stiffness in Kheda’s shoulders and the tightening of his mouth as he glares at the sconces, and guess it wasn’t the police who had done this. We’re met by a burly detective who glares at us, before pulling Kheda to the side to have a word with him. Seriously, does he not realize we can hear him?
“Detective McKnight, I want to know, why in all that is holy have you brought civilians with you to a bloody crime scene?” The detective growls his question at Kheda, displeasure dripping from his voice.
“Detective Callahan, these civilians are here to help identify the victims. Also they’re helping me on this case. Now is there anything else?”
I notice the respectful tone Kheda uses with the zombie detective. Even though they wouldn’t be able to socialize due to different species regulations preventing interracial socializing, it’s obvious Kheda respects him, but it’s also obvious he is annoyed. The detective is dismissive toward the three of us, even though if the circumstances were different, I believe Kheda probably would react the same way. After all, civilians are normally not brought to crime scenes. Kheda must have been having the same thought process, as suddenly he lets out a disgusted sound and shakes his head in exasperation.
“No, I’ve nothing to tell you, except I’ve never seen anything like this, so be careful, detective, you and your helpers,” Callahan replies curling his lip in disgust, before exiting the cave.
****
The first body is that of an old woman. She’d been propped up against a plank of wood, against the wall of the cave. Apparently wood plays an important factor in the killings. Like the previous victims, the old woman’s mouth is smiling a gruesome smile, with her intestines displayed around her. But unlike the other victims, the old woman’s hand is beckoning us further into the cave. Taking a closer look at the woman, I recognize her as the rude witch from my grandmother’s shop, the one who had wanted a revenge spell. What was her name again?
“I recognize her from Magick of Old.”
“You know her? What’s her name?” demands Kheda glad to have a lead.
“No, I don’t know her. I served her once in my grandmother’s shop,” I correct as I try to remember her name. “She was after a revenge spell, but I wouldn’t give her one, and her name was Mrs…Mrs. Hayes, I think.”
“Sounds about right,” agrees Jasmine, studying the corpse of the old woman. “It’s the smile that made me not recognize her at first.”
At this, Kheda and Victor stare at her, as if she has two heads.
“It’s why it took me a moment to recognize her, too,” I admit.
“Bloody hell, what an unflattering way to be remembered,” Kheda states with a disgusted snort.
“Look, at least we remember her, and we only met her once so give us a break,” I growl in annoyance. “But we did see her last night, at George Seabast the Fourth’s house,” I add in surprise. “Unless it was someone impersonating her, or she was killed straight afterwards.” I stare in befuddlement at the dead woman. We were gaining more questions than answers.
Ignoring me, Kheda withdraws a notebook from his pocket and writes in:
FIRST CORPSE: WITCH. NAME: MRS. HAYES.
Peering over his shoulder I watch what he writes. With a snort I mutter, “Yes, so much more flattering.”
With a huff, he puts his notebook away and proceeds toward the next body. Once he has a clear view, he comes to an abrupt stop.
“Fucking hells bells, he was supposed to be away on a camping trip.”
“I gather you know him?” Jasmine quietly asks as she rests her hand on his shoulder.
“Yeah, yeah, I know him. He’s my cousin.”
In shock, we stare at the dead werewolf. I see the pain in his blue eyes and realize just how young the victim is, eighteen at most. His shaggy brown hair is artfully messed up. He must have taken ages each morning to get it just right. His young face was just beginning to show the promise of adulthood.
He was a handsome kid and would have broken a lot of hearts if he had lived long enough. His hand is also beckoning us deeper into the cave. A chill skitters its fingers down my back, as I take one last look at the young werewolf.
Slowly we leave Kheda’s cousin behind, as we proceed to the next corpse. Just around the bend we find a female werewolf. She looks about twenty-five, with big brown eyes and shoulder-length blond hair. Her face and breasts have been mutilated.
“I think the killer could be a woman.” I move closer to the dead woman and realize she was beautiful. “Why do you say that?” A puzzled frown pulls across Victor’s forehead.
Turning to look at Victor I point to the dead woman, and in a calm voice reply, “Jealousy. What was done to this woman was done because the killer was jealous. She was beautiful, but the killer couldn’t leave it at taking this poor woman’s life. She had to destroy her beauty.”
Looking at the young woman, I shake my head. “Up until now I was assuming the killer was a man, but now I’m positive it’s a woman.” Going by the look of comprehension dawning on the others’ faces, they had been assuming the same thing.
Leaving the woman behind us, we carry on to the next corpse. What we find has us all staring in horror.
Bile rises in my mouth, which I force down with considerable effort. Before us, the two vampires and the last werewolf were laid out in lurid positions. All three have been stripped of every inch of clothing.
The female vampire lay on her back on top of a wooden board, her jaw forced wide open, her full lips pulled back over her elongated fangs. Her eyelids removed, so even in death she couldn’t block what was before her.
The male vampire knelt with his head between the female’s legs, his arms locked in a position to support his weight, his palms holding the female vampire’s hips. His eyelids had also been removed.
The male werewolf stood behind the male vampire. His eyelids had been removed, his hands secured onto the vampire’s hips. A strap around his waist is securing him to the vampire. All three of them share the same wooden board.
“Oh my God, this is really, really sick,” I whisper putting a shaking hand over my mouth. “How the hell did…Have they been…?” I gasp in shock as I notice bruises on the werewolf.
“What the fuck are you on about?” Kheda angrily demands. “Oh.” Realization dawns as Kheda follows my glance, and his face pales in shock.
I kneel down so I can have a better look at the male vampire and spot similar bruising on him, too.
Feeling even sicker than I had when I first saw them, I look for a source of water. A little further, I find the stream. I take a couple of minutes just to breath and get my heart rate under control, before I head back to the others.
I find them exactly where I had left them, all of them, looking pale and grim.
“Do any of you know them?” I quietly ask. “No.”
“Do you want me to take pictures?” I finally ask, feeling sick at the thought.
Kheda closes his eyes and turns toward me with a disgusted look on his face until he realizes it is a job I would prefer not to do.
“Please, we need the pictures. This way we can study them away from the precinct, if necessary.”
Taking a minute to compose myself, I remove my camera from my pocket and start to take pictures. I systematically walk through the whole cave, starting at the stream and finishing at the mouth of the cave.
Once I develop the photos, I will be able to do a complete reconstruction of every wall, floor, and ceiling, as well as every angle of the corpses. If there is anything to find, we will find it. Once I’ve finished, I put away my camera, and we leave in complete silence.
****
“I need a shower, badly,” I murmur. The smell of fear and death cling to me in a slimy coating, with a horrible scent of glee, floating underneath it. I scan the crowd again this time looking for a female. I spot the nervous young woman from my grandmother’s shop, and she still looks nervous to my eyes. I continue scanning and spot some people from The Witches’ Brew and from random meetings in town. None of them stand out as a stark raving mad killer.
We leave quickly the way we’d come, I notice people regarding us curiously as we pass through the crime scene tape. Ignoring them, I hurry past and away from the caves as fast as I can, without bringing any further attention to myself.
Soon we leave the stench of death behind. Instead of going home, we walk farther into the park. Beautiful lush green grass rolls over the landscape, which is dotted with flowers and trees of all types. Ash, birch, and oak abound with a lot of rowan scattered among them.
Looking at all the rowan trees, I begin to have an idea of how the killer is preserving the dead vampires who should have disintegrated. Moving farther into the park, I head over to a more wooded area and find a group of about thirty rowan trees near a stream. I plod over to the stream and find a family of toads. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I go back to the rowan trees and search the branches.
“What are you looking for?” a frustrated Kheda demands as he watches me search the trees.
“Did you know the rowan tree is a magical tree?” I ask, as I carry on with my search.
“Umm, I’m not sure. I think I might have heard fairy tales about the tree when I was a kid.” A frown of concentration furrows Kheda’s brow as he tries to remember what he’d heard.
Jasmine and Victor move closer so they won’t miss any of what is being said.
“Several of these trees have either branches or bark removed from them. The rowan tree is a very powerful magical tree. Wands are made from it, and it can be used to prevent bodies disintegrating, like the vampires we found. They must have drunk something with rowan bark in it, probably blood, or they have a part of the tree inside them somehow. There is a family of toads by the stream; they have toxins, dangerous toxins that cause muscle paralysis.”
At the three blank expressions, I spell out what I think happened to the victims. “The vampires most likely drank from the killer, who is using rowan in her food or drink, which would have prevented their bodies from disintegrating when she killed them. She would have used the tetrodotoxin from the toads to paralyze them, so they couldn’t move while she murdered them. They would have been aware of everything she did to them.”
“What kind of person could do such a thing?” Victor demands as he practically spits out his question. Angrily he starts pacing in the short space between the trees before coming to a stop in front of me. “Who could have done this? Who would have the knowledge to do this?”
Looking into his tormented eyes, I notice the anguished face of Kheda, who is most likely thinking of his young cousin, and finally Jasmine who looks just as pissed off as Victor. “I’m thinking a witch. Well, the knowledge is from a witch at the very least,” I amend.
“The thing is The Protectors would have the information on file. They’ve been killing for God knows how long, so the first witch would have given this information when they joined. But with the black magick ritual from earlier and the fact the human man was found in the witch’s woods, I still think it’s a witch doing these murders.”
I plop down on the wooded grass and lean my back against the rowan tree nearest me. I feel exhausted suddenly, physically and emotionally drained.
“There is one thing I don’t understand though,” I add feeling completely puzzled. “If they are paralyzed how is the male werewolf standing? Everyone else has always been leaning against something to keep them upright or in the male vampire’s case kneeling. I know he’s strapped to the vampire, but how are his legs able to support him?
“Kheda, can you get someone to find out if the werewolf has braces inside his legs. I don’t remember seeing any stitches, but if it’s a witch doing these killings, she could have easily healed his wounds so no one would notice.”
Removing his phone, Kheda phones in the question, while a distinctly green color tinges his face. With a gruff “Thanks, keep me posted,” he hangs up.
“I think you should all stay at my house until this case is solved. I’ve put wards up for protection, and the house itself protects and lets us know if anyone enters the land’s boundaries. Why don’t you get some clothing and anything else you might need and meet us back there?” I quietly ask Victor and Kheda.
Victor crouches in front of me, so he can make direct eye contact with me. I guess he doesn’t want to miss any reaction to his question. “Are you sure it’s wise? All of us being seen together could cause The Protectors to come after us next.”
“That’s just it; whoever killed them has seen us all together today at the crime scene. By rights the only one of us who should have been there was Kheda, but we went with him as part of his group. We are now all most likely on the killing list if we weren’t already,” I finish bluntly, making Kheda blanch white in shock, as he realizes the ramifications of his actions.
“Fucking hell, I’m sorry. I didn’t think of the killer being there when I asked you to come with me, though I should have, as murderers are known for revisiting the scene,” he stammers in mortification.
Placing a gentle hand on Kheda’s face, Jasmine smiles at him. “There’s no need to apologize, Kheda, we needed to go, and sooner or later, we all would be on the list.” With that statement she kisses Kheda, wrapping her arms around his neck until with a groan he pulls her closer and eagerly responds by plundering her mouth.
“So we stay at yours. What then?” Victor asks ignoring Jasmine and Kheda.
“I think…I don’t know, Victor.” Shaking my head as if to confirm my lack of knowledge. “But I do believe we need to stick together. Whoever the killer is they’re not who you would expect.
“She possibly managed to trick two vampires into drinking from her, but at the very least she managed to take them together somehow and talk three werewolves into going with her or meeting her somewhere she wouldn’t be disturbed. Paralyzed them and moved them to the cave. But she would have to have been someone the old witch knew and trusted.
“She was looking for a revenge spell, and she was mean, not someone who would trust easily, I don’t think. Though, mind you, she could have been easily caught unawares and just taken, more of an opportunity killing than a planned one.”
I feel I’m on the right track with this line of thinking. But who the hell is the killer, and how did they find the time to do all of the murders?