> "Magic is just science that we don't understand yet."
>
> Arthur C. Clarke
Night arrived to the world, from east to the west. Here at the heart of Europe, the great nation of Hessenstadt lies, prospering from its very first inception, several decades ago, when a devastating calamity brought a global conflict. Though the struggle seems to has passed, the shadow remained, hidden, watching from the darkness, kept at bay by the hand of mankind.
At the edge of the country, at the town of Rashmoore, two young men walked down the cold street. One of them has a silvery pale white hair, contrast to his black rider jacket that cover his plain shirt. The other one is slightly shorter, but his black hair is longer, reaching his shoulder, obscuring the fur of his coat. However, the most striking factor of the two, is the fact that the white-haired one has a brilliant blue eyes, and the ravenette black-haired one has a fierce red eyes.
"So, anything that we need to know before we go there?" The man in silver hair asked his company, casual speaking as he continue to walk by his side.
"Nope," the ravenette said. "All that we know is that this is an unusual murder case, and there's enough anomaly if they need to call us now..." He sighed as he checked his phone.
"Did they think we're night owls or something?" The taller one responded sarcastically.
"Considering our line of work, they might thought so..." The ravenette exhaled again as he put back his phone to the pocket.
"This job often mess my sleeping schedule, but what can we say? We can't just sleep while the innocent people suffered, right?" He smirked, blue eyes glancing to his shorter friend.
"You know that we're not cops, right?" The red-eyed man said so with a smirk.
"I know we're not. Not in the daytime at least," said the blue-eyed one as he grinned back.
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[ Rashmoore, 25th District, 02:14 AM ]
Factories and warehouse lining up in the industrial complex, with smoke still fuming and light illuminating most of the buildings. Police cars parked in one of them, and the entrance is covered in police tapes.
"Sir, two young men request to meet you, " said one of the cop to their superior, which is a middle-aged officer in thick clothing and an equally thick mustache.
"Finally arrived, eh?" The officer said as he watched the two young men approached the scene.
"Noir Thompson," the white-haired one said as he show his badge.
"Almerich Einkarsten," his partner said as he took out his card as well.
"We're from the SPD, here to investigate the case." Noir said to the officer, who observe the two as he rubs his mustache. Without a doubt, they're member of the SPD, Special Police Department, the special force tasked to investigate any unusual phenomena.
"Officer Maybraid, nice to meet you!" He extend his hand, offering to shake the hand of the two young agent. "So, what could we possible do to assist you?" Asked the old man, smiling politely as if welcoming guests of the house.
The two look at the building. "Any information regarding the case? Identity of the victim? Possible suspect and also murder method?" The silvery one asked, and the officer then open his notebook, taking his time to evaluate every pieces of evidences.
"Let's see.... Victim is Joose Gorder, 28 years old, worker of the factory, and happened to be on night shift. He's found murdered with his left arm and backbone broke, probably by falling from height, and his chest slashed open by some sharp object. By the look of it, victim seems to be attacked from the second floor, receiving fatal blow on his chest, then he fell down and died from the bleeding. By the time his body discovered, he's already cold, and some of his organs, notably heart and liver, are stolen. Right now, his body is already on the hospital, so this is all that we have now..."
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Officer Maybraid said as he show them papers detailing the evidences, including photographs of the victim on the crime scene. The two agents of SPD doesn't seems to be bothered by the gory detail, and they took their time to process the information before opening their mouth.
"Is there anything unusual found in the facility?" Almerich asked first.
"Such as marks of blood, in any way seemingly unnatural?" Noir added.
The cops need to turned toward each other, recalling the crime scene. "We did find marks of blood around the victim, as a sign that he's struggling before his death," said one of the cop. Handprints on the floor, also around the tools scattered around him. There's also marks of blood dripping, most likely from the criminal after walking away from the scene..." The man hesitated before continuing, "but it stopped halfway. Maybe dripped from the murder tool, before the suspect concealed or wipe it off."
The two agents seems piqued, as if they finally heard the important part. They turned to the photos shown by the officer, examining the bloodied marks, and realized something.
"We found the murder weapons," the white-haired one pointed to one of the image. There are knives, matches and alike around the victims. Some of them might be used to attack, even mutilate him.
"They could be, but there's no handprints on them. The suspect must have used gloves," Maybraid said. Again, the two seems to be skeptic as they observe the shots again.
"Doubtful about that," the red-eyed man pointed to the scratches in the skin of the victim. "The victim is still alive after the fall, and the suspect must be wrestling him down in order to harvest his organs his death..." His cold, straightforward explanation send chills even to the adults.
"Why bother fighting a dying man? They could just wait..." Maybraid asked.
"Or they could not," Noir pointed to body of the victim. "Bite marks. The suspect would likely commit the crime while assisted by a dog or such animals, and they're hungry..." His words leave a disturbing implication, enough to make the cops murmurs.
"If they want meat, the factory got many..." Maybraid is about to correct them, but silence immediately.
"Unless that they're not interested in them. Matter of fact that there's nothing stolen," Almerich said.
"Starting to not sound like dogs," one of the cop said lightly.
"Doesn't sounds like human either," Noir responded, and his words leave them freezing. "Anyway," he break the tension. "Are there any witness? This man couldn't be the only one working tonight, right?" He look at the cops, and they start looking at each other again.
"By the time the victim was found, he's already dead. We asked his coworkers and only got rumors," Maybraid answered the question, and the boys turned toward him.
"Rumors?" Noir asked back.
"Yes, but mostly are just ghost stories. A creepy lady seen going around here, but never was found. Some claimed to hear her voice, and slowly driven mad. Joose is one of them," Maybraid explained. The two agents looked at each other, nodded, then turned back to the officer.
"Thank you for the information, and be careful out there. We will investigate on our own now, so please excuse us," Noir said with a smile as he depart with his partner, heading into the factory. The cops watched them goes in, gossiping with each other, until the officer coughed.
"Sir Maybraid, who are these kids?" One of them asked, seems doubtful of the agents.
"They're from the SPD, the Special Police Department of Hessenstadt Central. Though those guys are more known by the epithet of SPD, the Supernatural Police Department. That's how folk call 'em..." Maybraid said as he took a cigar and lit it with his lighter, smoking for a moment before he goes on.
"They're special agents of talented individuals, trained and tasked to handle unusual phenomena, that cannot be solved by standard procedure. They operate on national level, and they handled some of the craziest cases out there. They're professional, and believe me, you don't wanna mess with 'em..." Maybraid grinned to his men, leaving them speechless there.
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[ Whole Meat Factory, 95th Building, 02:50 AM ]
The two young agents stroll into the dark building, with only their phones lighting to way. Eventually, they arrived at the crime scene, with police tapes all over the bloody floor. The body is no longer there, but the evidences are there. Stained tools, pieces of meat, and sign of struggles everywhere.
"Definitely not work of human, or dogs, or any other animals..." Almerich said, with hand covering his mouth.
"If it's human, no way they'll send us here anyway..." Noir lean in closer, observing the scene. "What might caused this? Seems to be too smart to be the work of werewolves," he added.
"No, the wolves would go for the canned food. The aroma of meat is too strong here, it will overwhelm their senses. Maybe it's ghoul, they tend to eat peoples..." Almerich guessed.
"Could be, but I'm suspicious with the ghost that they mentioned..." Noir looked around, trying to see where the victim fell, and found the broken railway where they victim fell down.
"A spirit typically has no interest in consuming the living, unless the malicious ones..." Almerich kneeled down, trying to remember the photos of the original scene.
"Still weird that a spirit to use physical weapons. Almost as if there's something else that's been missing..." Noir continue to observe his surrounding, and then, they felt a chilling sensation running down their back.
"Did you hear that?" Noir turned to his friend, who nodded, one hand behind his ears, listening to something. Faith, but eerie voice could be heard somewhere, deeper in the building. The two turned to the dark path that lies ahead, and they could tell that there's something waiting there.
"Seems that the murderer is calling for us..." Noir smirked nervously, glancing to his partner, that nodded at him. The two walked into the darkness, going deeper into the building.
Whatever await there, they knew, that it's not human.