THE WAR CITY OF PARABELLUM
SEPTEMBER 13 10 N.U.E
9:15 PM
MICHEAL DECUS COR (MIKE)
It's been three months since all I've known was darkness, three months since I lost the chance to look my father in the eyes was robbed from me. But I was not completely helpless though, I had a good sense of smell, though not as good Max's, and amazing sense of hearing, but of course Max still beats me in that department. But the bottom line was; that even with the loss of my eyes, all of my other senses were just enough for me to get by.
"Max? Are we going up some stairs or something?" I asked him with confusion etched on my bandaged face.
"I know you can't hear very well if we walk through the city, because it's really loud. So I decided that we should take the roof, you should be able to navigate better, plus I think it's better if we stay above the police. Their patrols have tightened, especially around the scene of the crime, we don't want to get caught, because explaining all these to our parents is not something I want to do."
It was a popular consensus that Max was a brute and he lacked finesse, that's not a lie. But he has one of the must deductive and sharpest minds that I've ever seen. He really could find a needles in a haystack, and he could do it just be knowing who touched it. He's so good at what he does, that he would be able to tell you how you spent your entire day, just from the state of the clothes you were wearing. He's a freak of nature, but fortunately, so am I.
It didn't take us long to get to the top of the roof, and from then on all I had to do was follow behind him, relying on just my sense of hearing and smell to navigate. We rushed over the roofs of PARABELLUM's commercial district. This city is always busy all year round, and murders were not something that's rare. But this would definitely be a case of interest for the royals as my sister is involved and could quite honestly be the person responsible for the death of her opponent.
"Stop!"
Max's voice came suddenly, and I almost couldn't stop on time. I felt his hand on my shoulders, as be pulled me back and brought me down to a crouch. There was an alley right below us, both sides of the alley was blocked by a squad of police cruisers, but the alley itself was empty. From here I could still smell his blood, it was everywhere; on the ground, the walls, and the advertisement posters and trash cans.
I couldn't really see them, but the edge of the poster was loose and flapping with the wind, and the metallic smell of the trash can gave it away. Whoever or whatever killed him, had left a bloody mess, making me think that the person really hated him, or the thing was really hungry.
"How much of him is left anyway? I know the body has been deposited at the morgue, but did your contact say anything about the state he was found, or what kind of animal ate him?" I asked Max as he focused his gaze on the alley below.
"Animal? Ate? Mike even if it was an animal, he wasn't attacked because he was delicious. I can literally smell the bloodlust in the air, this thing just wanted to kill him, and it enjoyed every second of it. Whatever or whoever killed this guy, I'm sure of one thing, it doesn't eat people." Max said as he stood up.
"How can you be so sure?" I asked him as I stood up with him.
"Because out of all the damage on both his body and the alley itself, there's not a single bite mark. No fangs were used, just claws, really sharp claws with enough power to shred through reinforced Arkin Steel. The very same material we bought to use and make our drones, there's a broken hover board down on the ground, and it's been ripped to shreds. A hover board made predominantly with Arkin steel."
"So basically we know what killed him was super strong, but where did it come from, or who was it! This could very well be the work of a person." Max fell silent for a while, but I knew what came next so I just kept quiet and let him do his thing.
*Growllll!!* *sniff* *sniff*
When we were younger and I still had eyes, I was always freaked out whenever Max did this. He was born an alpha, well made into one by his parents. A true made vampire and werewolf hybrid, which is something that's never been done before. Because quite frankly hybrids are born, and they don't usually live past the age of 21, however he was made. Turned into a werewolf and a vampire by two ridiculously powerful parents. Everything about what he is, has never been recorded before, so his abilities were a lot more different than others.
And on of those abilities was his beast sense. Werewolves and vampires had really good senses, but it's dulled for werewolves when they're in their human forms. Max here could draw out the power of his wolf, using his ridiculously superhuman senses in his human form. Only thing is, his eyes turn yellow, his fangs grow longer, and he becomes more of an animal than a person. The first time he tried the ability, I lost three of my fingers. They grew back, but it's obvious he doesn't really have much control over it. He stopped sniffing, but based on how deep his voice was, he had not deactivated his ability.
"Whatever or whoever killed that guy did not leave a trace apart from the obvious one's we've noticed. It's as if it's not a part of this world, so nature itself did not register it's presence, so there's no template or clue to follow. However even if we don't have a way to the killer, we can actually retrace Malik's steps. Take a deep breath Mike, apart from the blood, the metal, the chemicals used by the CSI and forensics, the trash and the residual scent left behind by the other investigators, tell me what do you smell." Max asked me as he placed his foot over the ledge of the building we were on.
I did as he told me to, eliminating every other scene until all I could perceive were three distinct scents. This were residual scent left behind by Malik himself, hanging to his clothes, shoes, and even his aura.
"I smell Siri Siro ice cream, specifically the chocolate and vanilla wild dragon combo. I'll recognize that bloody ice cream anywhere because it's Cassiel's favorite, however what are the odds they both like the same ice cream. Next I smell residual energy from a power cell, probably the one he used for his hover bike, and then finally there's a perfume...it's quite unique, wild lemon and blood."
"That's three leads Mike, we're not sure how Cassiel ties into this, but we will leave the Siri Siro ice cream parlor last. Let's go after the energy cell lead, it's the most powerful scent still left on him, and I can actually trace it back to the source. So let's go, if we hit a dead end we'll go after the perfume, I'm sure we can find a manufacturer, and narrow down the people who bought the perfume recently, and which of them have access to Malik."
Max seems to have hit his stride, I couldn't help but shake my head as I followed after him, jumping off and across roofs under the bright city lights. Looks like this would be a really long night.