The police department rarely got worked up late this night, not even in this city. Officers were moving about with reports as the Head-officers backed orders. Neko and Pius were in their joint office, going through files together as they searched for more linked evidences in the crimes that had hit the city in recent weeks. The Bayford murders were even more intense to investigate. Six of them had been reported dead. When the detectives went to investigate, they were killed with clean slashes to their abdomens and mostly bled to death. There was also no observable struggle in the bodies.
"What now? Another crazy killer?" Neko asked Pius, looking rather perplexed.
"These are…bloody gruesome, yet neat…our other killer was rather sinister. All we saw in the victims were three point scars, and they barely had any blood in them. Must have used some kinda pump to pump all that blood out, there were traces of a complicated anti coagulant found around their necks, and also no struggle. Feels like a freaking vamp!"
Pius equally returned a skeptical look at Neko.
"Aah, what now, also getting word from autopsy reports that they were rather relaxed at their points of death. Investigating hypnosis."
"That's also plausible, but what sort of pump…or whatever could do such crazy jobs as extract so much blood in so little a time? The last woman that died, her security reported her telling him goodnight through the door just five minutes before her corpse was discovered in the bathroom, something the other security personnel on ground that day confirmed. That's too fast. How did the murderer escape? The body of the woman who died prior was discovered much later after her murder, body was already between five to six hours late before room service found it that night."
"Well…what are the students saying so far?" Neko asked Pius.
"They say they saw nothing and heard nothing. Which is odd, cus the landscape of the road outside the hostel was pretty rough, like some kind of fight or experiment happened there. The trees were battered, and an electric pole had a fresh crack in it. We also noticed blood on the floor. That's been observed now."
"Wow, I didn't check all that!" Neko said with a surprised face.
"Hmnm, I went around the place after taking pictures of the victims in the hostel's security room. It was intense."
"Well we best get those results soon then. But the students are safe right?"
"No one's been declared missing as of yet, so they're presumably safe."
"Hm!" Neko hummed. They continued their research looking for clues into the daybreak along with most of the office.
***
At 3:33am in the depths of night, a man in a long black coat, black trousers and shoes with a black hat, stood under the shade of a tree, waiting. Five minutes later, another man, also dressed in similar black clothing, but without the hat and spotting long hair, arrived, holding a brown file with him.
"You guys have really done it now, I don't know if I'll be able to keep this buried. You need to keep the magicals in check," the man in the hat said.
"No, you will take this file, and find a way to close this case. The Council will deal with the issue in their own way. You yourself are a magical, so you must protect us from within," the other man replied.
"Look, I have a lot of inquisitive underlings these days, they seem to suspect I'm letting things go lightly…"
"That's cus of your incompetence. Just so you know, the adventurer's camp to recover the lost Halfkeys will soon be underway. This disturbance was caused from Fergus' camp as he tried to retrieve the newly awoken mirage."
"Fergus!...wait, so the mirage rumors are true?" The man in the hat asked.
"Very. You'd know more if you came around the council more frequently."
"I have to keep us firmly hidden. And this case is just the type of thing keeping me rooted in the PD."
The man holding the brown file gave it to the man in the hat.
"Here. I'm already running late here. I have a meeting to attend back in the council. You keep your eyes sharp ok?"
"Hmm. Godspeed!"
"Godspeed!"
And with that, the man without the hat vanished in a flash, leaving behind sparse red fog.
***
Bang!
"Whoa! What…was…t-that?"
Yvonne struggled to speak the words out of her mouth, gasping for air between pauses. She and Moirai suddenly appeared in a narrow passageway filled with white fog as if it was early morning. They arrived with red fog just fading from them, it staining the existing white fog there.
"That was a teleportation spell. I'd advise you keep up Yvonne, this place is downright creepy."
And the place certainly have creepy vibes, it felt eerily quiet but for the little breeze blowing about. The fog-filled passageway was between a ridge. Yvonne couldn't make up much of her unclear surroundings. Moirai grabbed her hand and led her through the ridge, until they reached an entrance that looked carved between a mountain. They went through it. What Yvonne saw was unexpected.
"Where are we?"