Detective Alex Trudio pulled his car up and parked among the other emergency vehicles surrounding the residence. He sat there for a moment taking deep breaths to gather all his strength, for what he was about to witness. The call came an hour ago, seven victims in a blood massacre at the Valentine's mountain residence.
Theodore Valentine was prominent member of the community, in development and real estate. He and his wife had six children. Three boys and three girls, from the information he received there were seven dead,which meant there was only one survivor.
He rushed to this location, but the winter snow deep in the mountain forest and terrain kept him from arriving sooner. It was Christmas Eve, when he got the call, but now it was well after midnight on Christmas Day. This would not be a Merry one for the town of Holland.
He finally exited his car and was immediately bombarded by emergency personal attempting to give their report. "Detective Trudio, you're finally here, what took you so long? You guys can go back to your assignments, I'll talk to the detective." Came the words of one officer he recognized. The men disbursed and returned to their positions immediately. "Officer Keller, My apologies, I drove as fast as this hellish weather allowed." The snow was still falling in large flakes, leaving a fresh coating of white on everything outside.
He approached the huge Victorian house and noticed the deep red pools of blood soaked into the bright white snow, in front of the house. 'What have you done?' He thought to himself. "Are the childrenâŠ." He couldn't finish his sentence. "Only one sir, the youngest girl. She was injured. It's a miracle she's still alive, sir."
"Where is she?"
"She was taken by ambulance to the county hospital. I sent several units to watch over her."
"Where are the bodies?"
"They are still inside, three upstairs and four downstairs, covered in sheets, in their original positions, awaiting your team."
"Why is there blood all the way out here, but no bodies?"he asked the officer. "We found the girl out here, in the snow. We think, that's what saved her life."
"That's an awful lot of blood, for a little girl, sergeant."
"We were hoping your team could shine some light on that issue, sir."
In that moment three more cars pulled up to the house and six members of the forensic team made their way to where they stood. "Detective Trudio, we await your instructions."
"Maddox, you and Flanagan start here. Farris and Pulter take the second floor. Addams and Harris you're with me on the first. Let's get this wrapped up as soon as possible."
"Keller, keep your men outside and off my crime scene."
"Detective Trudio, there is something you need to see before you go in there."
He turned to look at him, "what is it?"
"It's on the back of the house, sir."
"You two head inside, I'll go see what Keller is talking about."
He followed the Officer to the rear of the house.
"Where is it Keller?"
"Here sir."
Keller pointed to the spot above the back door.
"What's that?"
"I don't know, sir."
There above the door was a symbol drawn in blood. It was two letter V's one inverted interlocking, with a line through them. "
"What does it mean, sir"
"It looks like a sigil of sorts."
"What is it used for?"
"Sigils can be used for many things, protection, summoning, banishing, you name it, their's a sigil for it. They are mostly used in the occult practices. I'll get my team around here to catalog this, let's head back."
As they made their way back toward the front of the house Maddox came running to meet them. He looked shaken and confused.
"Sir, the bodies, they'reâŠ. Gone!"
"Gone?! How is that possible?"
"They were there, sir! We began to photograph each one and catalog them on the two floors and theyâŠ.they just disappeared."
"What do you mean just disappear?"
"One minute they were there and next they weren't. Come and see sir!"
The men made their way to the front door as quickly as they could and entered. Keller stepped around them to see only the empty sheets that were placed over the bodies.
"Keller, I thought you said the bodies were here."
"They were, sir, seven of them, covered in the sheets."
"How do bodies just disappear, without anyone seeing them?"
"Question the team outside, someone had to see something."
After questioning the men outside, no one had seen anything. There were no new footprints leading away and no new tire tracks on the grounds. The confusion spread among them and many became fearful of the supernatural elements at play.
Keller came running toward the detective moments later, out of breath and in shock. "Sir, the child," he gasped for air, "the child,âŠthe child I sent to the hospital, she's missing as well."
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Miles away from the incident, a black Mercedes with dark tinted windows drove on the highway. A finely dressed woman sat in the back holding a small girl with jet black hair, wrapped in a hospital blanket. "I finally found you." She whispered. "You'll never escape me again." Her mouth curved into a wicked smile at the thought of all the power she held in her arms. Soon it would all be hers. No one could stop her now.