The street was darker than usual at this time of night, but, it hardly meant anything to the man who stood with his back against the brick building behind him. Facing the opposite street he watched the empty sidewalk with a furrowed brow. He rubbed the faint stubble on his chin with his left while he brought his lit cigarette back to his mouth with his right and took another drag. Detective Peter Ingram knew better than most that this city always had something wicked silently stirring in the shadows.
There's a reason they nicknamed this place "The City of Blood," he thought to himself. It's got nothing to offer other than death and bloodshed.
He took one last drag and flicked his cigarette on the ground. Stomping on it with his foot he rubbed out the embers. As he looked up something caught his eye. But it wasn't from across the street which he had been watching for a good twenty minutes.
It came from the alleyway entrance to his left.
A shadowy figure tore out of the alleyway faster than humanly possible. Immediately gunning after the mysterious evildoer Peter stopped short when the shadow disappeared into a cloud of smoke which dissipated even faster. Blinking his eyes in confusion he whispered under his breath; "What the fuck..."
The shadow was weirder than anything Ingram had seen in all his years on the force. And he had seen his fair share of weird shit. But a disappearing shadow? That definitely took the cake. Shaking the confusion out of his mind he turned down the alleyway. Taking his phone out of his pocket he turned on its flashlight and walked through the alleyway.
The smell hit his nose before he even saw the body.
In the dim, and shoddy as hell, light of his phone's flashlight he couldn't tell much about the body. It was in such a bad state that it would've been hard to tell even in good lighting. The detective squatted closer to the body and began slowly moving the phone over the body. Lightly colored hair was strewn messily; covering most of the face. A dead, unblinking, deep green eye looked out at him through the web of hair. The next thing he saw was a series of three gashes that ran across the victim's neck.
What a way to go... Ingram thought solemnly to himself; shaking his head.
Moving quickly off the victim's face he turned his attention to the rest of the body. He couldn't tell much about the clothing except for a few long gashes across the victim's stomach. The gashes seemed to match the ones on the neck. Peter thought it looked like that the stomach was attacked first.
That got the vic on the ground where they were left to bleed out. But why attack the neck next? And if the perp has claws of some sort then how in fucking hell could they turn into smoke and just vanish like that?
Peter shook his head as he turned off the flashlight. He turned away from the victim to give them some privacy. Even in death everyone deserves some semblance of privacy. Quickly dialing his partner, Avery Daniels, he looked up into the night sky to see a full moon slowly rising.
"Shit," he muttered to himself.
"You got a real nice way to open a phone call there, Ingram," Avery's voice chuckled through the phone.
"Look, Ave, I don't have much time so I'll make it quick. There's a body here in the alleyway on Dusk Boulevard. Looks to be really scratched up but the perp left the scene in a puff of smoke."
Avery laughed loudly on the other line; "Puff of smoke? Good one."
"I'm not joking here, Daniels! Get down here as soon as possible. I need to go."
"Wait, wait, wait. Before you go."
Peter let out an annoyed sigh, despite his partner's repeated laziness Daniels knew enough about his condition to not stall or question when he had to leave on nights like this; "What is it Ave?"
"What are doing over by The Pleasure Palace anyway?"
"Had a hunch things were gonna turn bad 'round here soon. And look they did. So get your ass over here. Now."
"You got it boss," Avery said with an enthusiasm that was very odd for them. But Sprites and Fae were always odd and the detective knew he should just be happy that the fickle pixie-like being was on his side. If the situation was the opposite there was very little he could do.
With Avery on thier way he booked it out of the alleyway. He took the chance and looked up at the sky. The moon wasn't fully in the sky yet so he still had time. But he didn't have much. And he had to get out of the city before he did something he would regret when morning came. And so the detective ran as fast as his legs would carry him; hoping that he would make it. Hoping that he could keep the city safe from the monsters like him even if was just for one night.
