Chapter 8

My phone rang shortly after my early morning training to be a Meta was over. "Jacik, we found our guy. It was the victim's son. Drones and traffic cams have him leaving the city toward Nasvilla. We notified the sheriff's office there and will be passing the case to them," Olivia said.

"Okay, good news then."

"Yes, and even better news."

"Oh?"

"We got a new body."

"Why is that better news?"

"Because this body fits the M.O. of a known serial killer called the Stalker. So, unless we got ourselves a copycat, the Meta Hunter is in town."

"A serial killer that hunts Metas? Why are we labeling him or her a serial killer instead of something like a villain or vigilante?"

"Because of the way they kill. It is ritualistic, and they take souvenirs. Um… ah right, they take the left ear of their victims."

"Agh, disgusting. Why take the ear?"

"Well, like fingerprints, ears are also unique," Olivia replied.

"Still gross. So, is our serial killer a Meta?"

"We don't believe so, but we also don't know for sure. His or her identity is still unknown."

"Why don't you believe so? They are killing Metas."

"This isn't widely known, so I appreciate it if you don't spread this around. But, most Meta powers have some kind of physical effect on a person. Even mental powers leave scarring on the brain. Since all eleven victims so far have had no evidence of Meta powers or traces of Meta residue left behind, we're running on the theory that our perp is not a Meta. It is possible, due to the choice of victims, that they have a "Hunter's Mentality." Like they see dangerous Metas as a challenge to take down."

"So, eleven victims, and they were all strong Metas?"

"Yes, ten A rankers and one S rank so far."

I let loose a whistle. "Wow, that is impressive. Tell me everything."

She replied with a digital file sent directly to my wrist phone. "Read that over and meet me at the office," she said and then hung up.

The toxicology report shows a tranquilizer strong enough to drop elephants, but the delivery method is unknown. But believed to be inhaled as no puncture marks were found. However, the method of killing is strapping the victim naked to a cross with ratchet straps and drilling a hole through their bulletproof skin. Then, they use a stiletto to pierce the heart and leave the blade inside. Afterward, the body is drained of blood before being cut into many segments. No religious indications as of yet. The cross was left on a table with the body.

The stiletto is a custom-forged dagger with the word "Stalker" stamped into the cross guard. I guess that's where the name came from. Then I read about the eleven victims and was impressed at the audacity it was to hunt them as a possible human. They believe the killer is at least fifty due to the number of years they've been active. They are sure it is a male, but in the small chance that they are a Meta themselves, then a female could be the killer, but the likelihood is we're looking for a white male in their fifties.

I pulled up to the station, parked in the fire lane, and tossed my keys to a Uni that was about to head into work. "Hey, park that for me."

The cop was stunned at the demand and was about to pop off until I tossed him a money clip. Seeing the amount and then understanding who I was, he smiled and said, "Yes, sir." I love a little bribery, especially with cops.

Inside, I found Olivia hard at work at her desk. On a whim, I conjured some roses. Since the feeding the other night, I was flush with Mana, so a brute force spell was okay. "Hello, detective," I said with my best charming voice. And handed her the roses. "These are for the prettiest cop in this place."

"Oh? Was it from Tatum?"

"Ah, no."

"Pitt?"

"No…"

"Gylenhaal, Pine, Hemsworth?" She fired off.

"No, no, and no," I replied irritatingly. And how was everything different about this world except for their actors?

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"Then I don't want them," she said while tossing them into the trash. It felt like a stake to the heart. Something I do have experience with. "Now, tell me you have some insight you'd like to drop on me with this case?"

"Where is the body? Give me some time with it, and I'll have some answers for you." She cocked an eyebrow at me. "Honest. Show me the body, and I promise you your insight."

"Fine, come with me." She stood up and started walking toward the morgue. I followed, and when we arrived two floors down—I didn't know we had more floors beneath us—we finally arrived at the morgue.

"Hi, Lucy," Olivia said as we entered.

"Oh, hello, Olivia and Jacik. How can I help?"

"He wants to see the body."

"Sure," Lucy replied and then walked over to the cold storage units. Opening one up and pulling back the sheet revealed our victim. In less than a blink of an eye, I moved in front of both women and used compulsion on them.

"Stand still and remember nothing for the next five minutes," I said. Both women froze, and their eyes glazed over as if in a trance. Good. It is one thing to tell them I do magic and them not believe me. It is another to do a little necromancy right in front of a couple of disbelievers.

Necromancy is something I studied and learned during the era of peace when I was king. I had successfully pulled a soul back into a body; that was how I created Rex, but necromancy was different. The soul has long since passed on. I can't restore the dead after their soul departed. However, I can revive a body that maintains memories for a short period. I can also revive a body for a long period of time, but that requires fully wiping its memories, including those encoded into its RNA. Otherwise, the memories try to override my commands, and eventually, the magic breaks down.

Casting the spell, I watched as the head suddenly jolted awake. It had no will, so it just lay there waiting for instructions. My spell also compels it to obey me and it would for a while. The longer I tried to maintain the corpse, however, the more the memories would start to fight me. While it wouldn't be will that moves it to fight me, it would be more instinct. But at the beginning of the spell, I had the most sway over the corpse.

"Describe the killer to me." Since I'm working with memories only, I can't ask questions that the victim wouldn't know or be able to infer based on pieces of data. They can only describe what they've seen, smelled, heard, or felt.

"Tall, brown skin, male, had an iLaden accent. Long hair, black. Wore a plain white mask. Trimmed nails. Three freckles on the right hand. Tattoo on the left hand. Three horizontal stripes across a coffin. Wore a green army jacket, a plain black shirt, and black jeans. Black boots. Laced military style."

That was very detailed. This Meta, from my files, was also ex-military. So, bonus on his observational skills.

"Describe how he took you."

"Box on the porch. Opened, and a gas hit me."

"And how did he kill you."

"Took a diamond-coated drill bit, one and one-quarter inch. Placed it in an industrial-size drill press. Pulled lever. Broke skin. Then stabbed heart with a shiny pointy object."

Figures he wouldn't know the proper name of the dagger used. He only had vague glimpses of it. "Tell me everything the killer said to you."

"You are a strong one. However, even the strong ones fall prey to a trap. Now, you're no more than a wounded animal ready to be put down. I now place this relic into thine body as a monument to the Great Theesties. May he forever rest with the nourishment of this blessing."

I dismissed the spell. My five minutes were almost up with the ladies. So, almost everything they profiled was wrong. I had more questions than answers, but enough answers to put us on the right track. Now, though, how do I give this information?

The women came to as if nothing had happened, and I started my examination of the body. "Considering the body was prone, strapped to a cross, on a table, the angle of the hole was perfectly ninety degrees. This suggests a table drill press. Obviously, a diamond-coated drill was used. The stiletto makes it a little difficult to determine the drill bit size, but my best estimate puts it at one and one-quarter inches.

"The marks left by the stiletto seem to suggest the killer was tall, possibly above six feet." At least that is the minimum I would say is tall. I'm sure our dead guy here would agree. "Furthermore, I don't think we should rule out religious motivations. It has nothing to do with the cross, but I sense this has something to do with the Great Theesties." I actually had no idea who that was and wished I could've researched that before I said it, but I was hoping one of them would know and shed light on who that was.

"Seriously? What makes you say that?" Olivia asked.

Dammit. That wasn't the response I was hoping for. So, based on context clues, I shot my best BS shot. "Ritually speaking, leaving a body with the weapon used to kill it gives the Great Theesties the tool needed to consume the corpse. This also explains why the corpse was drained of blood and diced into segments. Kind of like stabbing a piece of meat." They didn't look convinced. "Look, I know this is a long shot, but in the iLaden religious sect, they do leave their sacrifices of animals the same way."

I had no knowledge of that at all—I totally made that up. But the power of context clues won over as Lucy GAIL searched it. What is GAIL, you ask? Well, it is like Google, but it stands for Global Association of Interconnected Language. Essentially, it is a one-stop search engine for all languages on this Earth.

"Jacik is correct. The method of killing does align with the religion of the Great Theesties. The only reason I can see for using a cross was to properly strap down a humanoid," Lucy said, indicating that Metas were of humanoid proportions, "in order to better restrain them. From the Tox Report and the estimated time of death, the victim was likely awake during the process. This also aligns with what that religion does to animals. It's sickening."

"If you can tell me where the body was found, and if there is any video footage of the general area, I'll point out our killer. I'm sure I can spot him."

"Him? So, you're sure it is a guy?" Olivia asked.

"It isn't just the height. It is the methodical nature of the hunt, plus the use of power tools, that indicates a male. Yes, I cannot say for certain, but I have a pretty good idea of who I'm looking for. Give me the resources, and I'll find your killer."

Olivia was never onboard with me being a partner with her. I got the sense she didn't like having a partner at all. However, her Captain made me her partner and at some point, she started seeing me that way, especially when I flaked on her. But one thing she did know was that I had a knack for being right. It wasn't just my contacts and money, but deep down inside, she knew I had some supernatural instinct that she couldn't ignore. I was, after all, three for three so far.

"Olivia, Jacik is right, forensically speaking. Trust him. I have good vibes about him and his intuition," Lucy said.

"Fine. Come with me," she said again. This time heading to the tech department.