Scott burst through the door of his building with a vigorless stride. Without missing a step, he continued over to Elysif's door and began banging on it loudly. A few seconds later, the door was opened by Elysif, who wasn’t looking very pleased to be woken up so early in the morning. She hadn’t even changed out of her nightgown and the bags under her eyes were heavy.

“What do you want? It’s far too early for you to even be awake… Where is Lou?” she asked while crossing her arms and leaning against the doorway.

“Do I look like I want to be awake this early? Anyways, there was a murder, and I need you to go check it out. You know what to look for. Also, Lou is running to Iscariot’s to get something for Mama Louise,” Scott replied.

“Okay, I can take a look. Though, what are you going to do?”

“Well, I am going to look for the culprit, of course,” he replied nonchalantly. She then gave him an unconvinced scowl, to which he stated, “I am… really!”

“Okay, but if I find out that, while Lou and I have been out working, you were drinking and sleeping, then I am going to remove your right nipple in your sleep,” she threatened.

“Hey! You know that I already lost my left nipple. I would rather not lose the other one,” he said in a panicked but angry tone.

“Then don’t make me remove it,” she said with a smug look, before shutting the door.

“Sometimes, that woman scares me,” he said under his breath with a shake of his head, before turning and going up the stairs to his own abode. Once inside, he grabbed a freshly opened bottle of rum that had rolled underneath the couch and began to drink the contents. “I should probably go look for the Changeling… or maybe not. I don’t even know where to start looking. Those bastards can live in any environment, and they're nearly impossible to track through natural means,” he said to himself sheepishly.

With no more grace than an overweight bear, he stepped over to the bookshelf, and pulled a book from it. “Creatures of the night,” the cover read. Scott flipped through the contents for a moment, before landing on the section he wanted. It read:

Changelings

These creatures can alter their appearance to match any person they wish. To protect themselves after doing so, they will usually kill the person they have changed into and assume their identity. Many changelings will go their entire lives without being discovered.

Rather than raise their own young, they will steal a newborn child in the night and replace it with their own. They will then have their child change into the form of the newborn and will live their life as a human. Many of these Changelings will never know that they aren’t actually human for the entirety of their lives, but the ones that do, will continue this cycle.

Changelings can live anywhere from fifty years to two thousand years, depending on whether or not they keep a continued diet of human flesh. However, these creatures cannot procreate. They must instead remove the organs of a young woman, and combine it with their own blood in order to create their offspring. Changelings do not have any reproductive organs to speak of, but have a high sex drive when assuming the identity of a human. This is theorized to be caused by the creation of genitalia when assuming a human's identity.

Like most creatures of the night, they can be killed with silver. However, unlike most creatures of the night, they have an easy-to-identify small purple spot on the inside of their wrist. This purple spot resembles that of a small bruise, but lacks the blackish outline that a real bruise creates. These creatures are one of the few you are recommended to kill on sight, though you should tread with caution. Do not kill one after just seeing the spot, as it could be a normal human with a real but fresh bruise.

Scott finished reading, knowing this was all he was gonna receive. “Well, now I know why the victim was cut open. This thing is trying to create more of the little buggers. It failed once, and so, it is probably going to try again soon,” Scott said, reading over the text again and again in the hopes that it would reveal something he may have missed. However, no such secret knowledge presented itself.

“This doesn’t tell me anything about where it could be hiding. Guess there's nothing else I can do until those two get back,” he said, placing the book back on the shelf. With another swig of his bottle, he straddled over to the couch and plopped himself down. “Nap time,” he said comfortably, as he closed the lid on the bottle and took a light nap.

***

Before me was a big burly man several centimeters taller than myself. This man wasn’t clean-shaven, and smelled vaguely of fish, but it didn’t help that he wasn’t wearing a shirt. The reason that I feel the need to mention him is because he was standing in the doorway that led to Iscariot’s place. Not only was he standing in my way, but he happened to be the father of the family that lived there. Although it had sounded like they were having a very pleasant family breakfast before I had arrived, I was too loud coming up the door. The man, being the only known tenant on this floor, had opened the door as I was pulling my key out and wasn’t too happy to see me.

“We don’t have the money for any kind of services, so leave, you ,” he said in a slight German accent.

“Well, I can’t, actually,” I replied apologetically.

“And why is that? You want to get chucked out the window?” he threatened. I didn’t want that to happen, so I just told the truth.

“There is a sorcerer living in your door that I need to speak to,” I replied. He gave me a funny look before slamming the door in my face. “What a loony,” I heard him say to his family with a laugh from the other side.

After he slammed the door in my face, I began working the key into the lock. Within a matter of seconds, I had the door to Iscariot’s dimension ready and had given it three hard knocks. A few seconds passed before I heard the sound of several locks being undone. I didn’t see the point of the locks when he was in another dimension, but to each their own.

“Ah, Barrett. I didn’t expect to see you for a while. What can I help you with?” Iscariot said in his usual pubescent voice after opening the door. He was still looking much younger than his old self, but he couldn’t seem to get rid of the voice.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“I am actually on an errand for Mama Louise,” I replied. He shuddered at the sound of her name.

“Is something wrong? Wait, did you two have a falling out?” I asked after noticing his expression.

“No! ... Well, actually, yes. She only loved me for the elixir I produced, and to make it worse, she became addicted to it. Mama Louise had been offering me sexual favors for them, but I refused after I realized it. I even cut her supply off, and now all she has is that little supply she had been hoarding,” he replied with a mix of conflicting emotions.

“That sucks, but she’s becoming unstable and dangerous because she wants it so badly. She was still young looking when we visited, but I don’t know when that will wear off, and she started going through withdrawals. Scott doesn’t want her going through that, because he can’t predict what she will do,” I explained. Albeit, some of that was a lie, but I had been told to get the elixir, so I intended to, however possible.

“I see… I know what the symptoms of the withdrawals are because I have had them myself. A few days of paranoia and itching, but nothing more, and she will stay young looking for two days after a fresh dose,” he replied as if that wasn’t his problem.

“Well, I need some for her. There was a murder, and we need her resources to find the culprit, so we kind of need her happy,” I said, hoping he would agree.

“Fine, but on one condition.”

“Name it,” I said, glad that he was willing to compromise.

“I want you to ask her how she was able to initiate this one position—” he started saying with a crude smile. However, I could tell where he was going with it.

“Okay, nope. I don’t want to hear anymore about your old people sex,” I stated, stopping him mid-sentence.

“Then no deal,” he replied indignantly.

“Okay, what is it?” I said. Wishing that I was dead the whole time, he explained in grotesque detail about his experience, and wanted her to do it for him again, along with a fancy dinner beforehand. I wasn’t actually going to ask her. Instead I was just going to tell her that he wanted to go out and to go see him while wearing something nice. The rest would be up to him, because I didn’t want to repeat the horrors he spoke of.

After Iscariout finished his story, he stepped over to the wall to my left and, with a wave of his hand, a doorway appeared. Meandering through it, he returned a few minutes later with a wooden case. I wasn’t sure what to think of this revelation. To be frank, I had thought that this room was his entire home.

“Iscariot? How big is this place?” I asked.

“As big as I want it to be. There are hundreds of rooms I can make, each with their own purpose, but I usually just stay here. I do have several greenhouses, though, and plenty of storerooms, so I could live in this place with whomever I please for eternity without any worries,” he stated. I was shocked. How could such a thing exist?

“That is awesome! You should put a waterpark in here,” I exclaimed.

“A waterpark?” he asked, a little stumped by my words.

“It’s a place that was invented in the future. It has slides that use water and several pools that are heated for people to play in. It’s a lot of fun, and pretty relaxing,” I explained.

“Hmm. I’ll have to experiment with that soon. I could use a good swim, now that I have a young body,” Iscariot said.

“You wouldn’t happen to have a hot spring bath in there, would you?” I asked. Hot baths weren’t common yet, and I was desperate for one at this point. It’s been nothing but lukewarm washtub baths since I'd arrived.

“I do,” he replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Could I use it at some point?” I asked with pleading eyes.

“Of course.”

“Thanks,” I said with a bright grin. He handed me the wooden case and we shook hands, before I was let out. When I did step out the door, the burly man from earlier, a woman who I assumed was his wife, and two children were standing outside the door wide-eyed and terrified. They didn’t say a word, as we stared at each other. I didn’t know what to say and apparently neither did they.

“I got to speak to the sorcerer in your door so… thank you,” I said to break the silence, but they just kept staring at me as if I were a ghost. “Well, I best be off,” I said, shuffling awkwardly by them, toward the stairs. As I started treading down, I heard the Burly man say, “If any of you saw that, then I want you to think from now on that it was a fever dream. It never happened.”

***

Returning to Mama Louise's with the elixirs, I told her about her upcoming date with Iscariot. She seemed generally delighted by the offer, unlike what Iscariot told me. Though I did not want to be there for any longer than I needed to, so I did what I had to and left. As I left, though, several of the Succubi tried to get me to stay. Some were very convincing. However, for some reason, I felt that I would be shamed by Elysif if I gave in.

Like most days in London, it was foggy, but it slowly began to rain heavily. I hadn’t thought to bring an umbrella, but I should have. The weather is a lot harder to predict when you don’t have the weather channel. Maybe I should start bringing an umbrella with me from now on? Unable to do much else about it, I flipped the collar of my coat up against my head and started running toward the apartment.

Around halfway back to the apartment, I decided to stop at a pub for a meal. In reality, I was soaked, and would give any reason to dry off a little bit before heading out again. The place I had chosen was a quaint little pub that had a long table that extended nearly from the back wall to the front wall, to the left side of the door coming in. To the right, on the back wall, was an L shaped bar, and in front of it were a few circular tables. The ceiling was dripping water in a few places, and the tables were all lined with oil lamps, giving a rustic vibe. Even though I say it was rustic, it was the norm for this day and age, so I guess that is wrong to say that it was rustic.

Trudging up to the bar, I sat next to an older man who was giving his liquor a disturbing stare. The barkeep, a stout woman with enough muscle to give professional weightlifters a run for their money, asked what I wanted. I ordered a fish n’ chips and a pint of beer, to which she obliged after I gave her some money.

It wasn’t until after I was given my drink that I realized that the old man beside me was no longer staring at his drink, but at me. I looked at him for a moment, before it clicked. This was the man who told me that I could find work in Whitechapel in the first place. “You know I have to thank you. You helped me out a while back so your next rounds on me, old man,” I said to him. He gave me a strange look. Maybe I had the wrong guy?

“Who are you?” he asked with wide eyes as if he was afraid of me.

“Sorry, you look like someone I met a while ago. He gave me some bread when I was hungry, for giving him a good laugh. Apparently, getting my ass kicked was amusing to him,” I replied. He continued giving me the same weird look, before his eyes returned to normal. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted off his chest.

“Ah yes, I remember. Though you don’t have to repay me for that. Consider it an old man's kindness,” the man said.

“No, no. I have to repay you somehow. Because you sent me to Whitechapel, I now have an amazing job as a detective... of sorts. However, right now we are looking into a pretty gruesome murder that I am not exactly fond of. On the bright side, we think we know who the culprit is, and may have a way of finding them,” I said, honestly thankful. The old man's eyes grew disturbingly wide again.

“Well, I’m happy to hear that, but you say that you are almost ready to catch a murderer? Who was the victim?” he asked, before taking a sip of his liquor.

“Mary Ann Nichols. Why do you ask?”

“I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t someone I was related to. News doesn’t exactly travel fast around here,” he replied.

“Now, I have to ask. What are you doing here?”

“Business. I thought I was done with work, but I guess one more job wouldn’t hurt,” he said. Although, I thought he was laid off and was going to retire after going on an adventure. That is, if I remember correctly.

“Yeah, one more can never hurt,” I said, as the stout barkeeper brought me my fish n’ chips.