After visiting the crime scene in which the young couple were killed, the team consisted of Jason, Aimee and Detective Lee went to visit yet another crime scene in which three young women used to live, and one of which was murdered in typical Drainer style, while the other two were lucky to be alive during the time of the murder the other two went out to a dive bar nearby.

The presumed time at which this crime happened was much more definite because of that, while they, which also meant that the two roommates of the victim were thus listed as persons of interest. But nothing came of those two roommates just yet.

This time, the apartment was located at a lower to middle tier apartment complex, not an entirely run down one. And the inside of the apartment was mostly clean and tidy, even the victim’s room was relatively clean, which was understandably an outlier, according to Detective Lee.

“Did the two roommates move out immediately after the crime?” when Jason started conjuring a simple spell to detect residuals of energy signatures in the victim’s room like he did in the previous victims’ places, he asked Detective Lee: “If not, I want to check on the roommate’s room and furniture as well.”

“They moved out, but most of their furniture is still here, because this is still a crime scene and we still need to keep it sealed.” Detective Lee nodded and said.

When the spell completed and the silver energy wave swept through the room, there were also some very faint traces of energy that were marked by the spell, but the traces were so vague that they basically served nothing besides telling them that there were magical abilities used some time in the room.

“Something’s not adding up. If their purpose was to find exploitable targets, drug them and drain their blood, why even pick a time when only the victim is here?” Jason asked as they were leaving the apartment complex: “There must be something else in these victims that we’re not seeing.”

“What did the roommates tell you about the victim?” Aimee hopped into the car’s passenger seat and asked: “And is there some kind of connection among all of the victims that we’re not seeing?”

“As far as I know, there’s not much besides what I’ve already told you.” Detective Lee started the car: “They’re usually young folks, all in certain conditions of distress in their lives, either suffering from crippling drug addiction.”

“Can I take a look at the forensics report?” Jason scratched his jaw and asked, “I know it’s not customary or protocol, but maybe when we look at it from a different eye, we could find something. Or maybe I should take a look at the bodies if possible.”

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

“Sorry, inspecting the body will require some paperwork, unless you’re an official registered consultant.” Detective Lee said: “But the forensics report is fine. We can get the most recent ones for you, maybe after us taking a look at another scene?”

“Maybe let’s get back first. Kuhn said he needed help with a report?” Aimee asked.

“Yeah, well, Kuhn doesn’t really need my help with the report, he’s good with paperwork, and I am just terrible at it. As long as he has all the notes, he will be fine.” Detective Lee chuckled: “But yeah, let’s go back and huddle and see what they’ve got. They said they’ve got some interesting leads on the potential route of distribution on the victims’ blood - I wonder what the sickening details look like.”

When they arrived at the SJPD precinct in which Detective Kuhn and Detective Lee work, they found out that Detective Kuhn, Thomas and Caroline had already left. And on the ground there was a pile of spilled coffee, while the janitor was trying to clean it up with a lot of sweat on his forehead.

“What happened Earl?” Detective Lee came to the janitor’s side: “You look ill, did anything happen?”

“Thanks Detective.” the janitor wiped off some more sweat: “I don’t know, it’s probably flu or something, I’m just a little dizzy and clumsy. Something must have been going around - a few officers are also not feeling well.”

“What are some other symptoms?” Jason came immediately to the janitor’s side and asked: “Besides dizziness and clumsiness. Are you hearing anything weird? Smelling anything weird?”

“Yeah, yeah! Exactly!” Earl nodded and used the mob to support his body: “I - I kept smelling this, this weird smell like something burnt, and a few of the officers smelled it too. And I kept hearing this slow mumbling, rambling voice, like someone’s whispering to me through a wall and trying to call me.”

“Fuck.” Jason raised his hands and conjured a few metal mirrors out of thin air and handed them to Aimee and Detective Lee: “Hand these out and get everyone out of here as fast as possible, there’s something extremely wrong inside of this precinct. ”

“What? How the hell!?” Earl was shocked at the sight of the metal mirrors: “How - what is this magic?”

“Is it carbon monoxide?” Detective Lee asked.

“No! Just get everyone out!” Jason cast a spell on himself, his eyes flashing in silver and he could clearly see some kind of ominous energy wave radiating from somewhere inside the precinct. As he followed the energy waves to their origin, he found himself in the aisle leading right to the evidence room.

“Hey! What are you doing here?” one officer saw Jason trying to get into the evidence room, and tried to stop him.

“There’s some toxic substance leaking from the evidence! We need to evacuate immediately!” Jason made up a random excuse, and with a simple twist of his hand, the evidence room door opened.

“Hey! Stop there!” the officer seemed to be also suffering from similar symptoms as Earl but to a lesser degree, and he even whipped out his gun and tried to dissuade Jason.

But Jason did not budge, and rushed into the room while yelling at the officer telling him to evacuate.

It only took him a few seconds before he located the source of the ominous energy wave - it was a dirty wood sculpture of a monster with a wide head and several faces on this head, and several eyes, decorated with blood red paint and animal teeth, wrapped in a plastic bag for preserving evidence.

“Sir! Please put down the evidence, or I’m gonna have to use this!” the officer was sweating profusely but still tried to keep his gun steady at Jason.

Before Jason could do or say anything, an ominous and chilling blue energy wave exploded from it, and swept across the entire precinct in less than one second.