Detective, do you believe in destiny? That everything follows a predetermined flow by a superior force? You know, I don't believe in destiny or much less in what people consider divinity" - Taking a lit cigarette from the ashtray, a middle-aged man with small round lens glasses, takes a deep breath, looking up at the ceiling while outlining a cynical smile on his face.
Dressed in an orange uniform that bore his prisoner number on his chest, Father Tomas tapped his fingertips on the table to the rhythm of an old church choir.
Everyone who ever got to know him saw in him a man of integrity with impeccable conduct. Devoting his life to missionary work, doing charity work in the slums of the big city.
Those eyes with an emerald green tone that long ago looked compassionately at their fellow man, overnight became the look of a psychopath who had locked his parishioners inside the church; while he sprayed all flammable objects with gasoline, while lighting the fire that little by little consumed the unfortunate souls who had trusted him , one terrible December morning.
"How many months have we been having this conversation? Five months? Ten? I've already lost count detective. Every week you come to this rotten hole and sit across from me trying to get an answer I can't give you. Beyond what I have already declared before the judge, there is nothing hidden that can feed your curiosity" - Raising his hands to his face trying to clean his eyelids with his fingertips, the old priest threw his head back as he exhaled grumpily to the woman in front of him.
- "Stop fucking father Tomas! I know perfectly well that you intentionally started the fire, I don't think you are innocent, but I refuse to think that you acted alone."
- " I told him that it was all my idea!"
- "So what the hell is this?" – In a fit of rage, Detective Aurora held the father by the cuffs of the inmate uniform, tearing off the sleeves, revealing a series of tattoos that were engraved on the priest's skin. Those symbols were marks associated with an ancient cult, dedicated to a god forgotten in the pages of time.
- "Are you still going to repeat that story that you acted alone, father? Do us both a favor and tell me everything you know about them" – Regaining her composure, Aurora sat back in her chair while smoothing her hair. Proceeding to turn off the recorder that was on the table while holding Father Tomas's gaze.
- "No one apart from us will listen to what you say for the next three minutes. Only you and I will know what will be said in this room. I have read your file, you have no trace of misconduct in the time you have been locked up. All the people I've interviewed who know him tell me they don't believe what he's done is possible. I know that deep down there is still some humanity in you."
Reaching into her jacket pocket, the detective pulled out a photo that looked somewhat weathered. In it, the detective was hugging a young woman no more than seventeen years old. They both looked smiling at what looked like a birthday party.
- " I had a twin, we were inseparable. We planned to study medicine to inherit our family's hospital. One morning when our father's car didn't work, we decided to take a taxi to go to the university. She got in first while I was checking my bag, when suddenly the driver took her away before my eyes.
After we reported her disappearance to the police, only four months later we received a response from the detectives in charge of the case.
The taxi in which she had been abducted was found on the outskirts of the city, near an abandoned farm. They found my sister's body tied hand and foot in what seemed like a black magic ritual." With trembling hands, Aurora held the photo of her sister with bloodshot eyes.
After finishing collecting the evidence from the crime scene, the police limited themselves to placing a search warrant on the driver through a spoken portrait. Managing the investigation with total secrecy, which after two years was left just as one more file that would dust off in the archivists.
Due to that incident, Aurora dropped out of medical school to enter the police academy, facing opposition from her family. For her, the dream of inheriting the hospital had died with her sister. Leaving only the desire to find the truth behind that murder.
- "What does this have to do with me detective?"
- "It's simple, their tattoos. The symbols that are imprinted on his skin are the same ones that were found painted in blood on the walls of that shed."
- "I will not speak anything without my lawyer present"
- "With a demon Tomas! Speak now you fucking bastard! Speak or I swear that I myself will send you to meet your god!"
"Detective Anderson, enough is enough!" – Opening the door of the room suddenly, the lieutenant in charge of the investigation looked enraged as he separated the detective from the prisoner. Hugging her to try to contain her while the father tomas lay on the ground trying to catch his breath.
- "Let me go lieutenant! I need to hear what this trash has to say."
- "No woman, listen to me! I allowed you to stay on the case even though the evidence was connected to your sister's case. You promised me that your judgment would not be clouded despite your emotions. But look at you, you almost strangled a prisoner and put our investigation at risk" – The look on the face of Lieutenant Trevor Williams looked disappointed; for the Aurora she was not just a subordinate, but a companion whom he appreciated since the days when he studied at the police academy.
- "You know how important this case is to me"
- "I know Aurora, I know very well. That's why it hurts me to have to do this to you."
- "What do you mean Trevor?"
- "Detective Aurora Anderson, you are relieved of your position and placed on leave for an indefinite period. She must go to therapy with a psychologist associated with the department, who will evaluate her and determine if she can reintegrate into the case" - The expression of surprise in Aurora's blue eyes was reflected in the pupils of Lieutenant Trevor, who kept his face calm as he told her He communicated his decision to his subordinate.
- "Please Trevor, don't do this to me."
- "It's for your own good Aurora." – Feeling that her strength was getting out of hand, the detective's arms fell to her sides while she lowered her face, heartbroken by the news. At the same time, the lieutenant gave the order to an officer to escort the detective to her office, waiting for her superior.
Arm in arm with the officer in charge, Aurora walked to the door with a sidelong glance in the direction of Trevor, who was turning on the recorder once more to continue his line of questioning the inmate.
Sitting in an armchair across from Lieutenant Williams's desk, Aurora kept her hands clasped together, her fingers clasped, her head bowed. A steaming coffee on the table began to cool while the hands of the wall clock echoed in the silence of the office.
The office walls were full of frames with photographs, recognitions and a coat rack where an old leather jacket, already worn by time, rested.
Rising from her seat, Aurora walked over to the garment that was hanging and ran her fingers over the cracks that were drawn in the skin. Remembering that time when he had entered the police academy.
- "Damn I'm late" – One cold January morning just a few months after she entered the academy, Aurora found herself running down the street trying to get to class. Due to the winter storm the night before, her car had broken down halfway, forcing her to continue on foot.
When crossing through the front door , the young woman abruptly collided with a man who was standing in the middle of the hall while checking the messages on his cell phone. With a robust build like a fighting bull, dark skin and short hair, the six-foot-six man wore khaki pants and an olive-green leather jacket.
- "He is okay? She shouldn't run through the corridors no matter how retarded she is" – Helping him to get up from the ground, Aurora couldn't take her eyes off that man who seemed imposing as a mountain, compared to his five feet tall.
Slender, with shoulder-length brown hair, skin as pale as snow, and a delicate complexion, Aurora's contrast to the rest of the students who attended the academy surprised the young instructor.
- "They haven't told you that..."
- "What? Am I not ready to join the police force? – Coming out of her trance, Aurora thought that Trevor would blame her for her weakness just as his classmates and instructors had done.
But away from that discrimination, Trevor smiled quietly as he held the young woman's gaze. While pronouncing a sentence that changed the impression of the girl.
- "Nope. That in the police a subordinate must properly greet his superior" – With his right hand, Trevor pointed to the badge that he had hanging on the edge of his pants belt.
Seeing the range, Aurora was startled and proceeded to give a rough salute due to the nervousness that embargoed her at that moment.
- "I apologize for my lack of respect, Lieutenant" - Standing at attention and with her hand raised to her forehead in greeting, Aurora could barely maintain her composure.
- "Call me Trevor"
- "Sorry?"
- "I say just call me Trevor. At least when no one is present. I don't know how much you have had to go through, but I want to tell you that you should not get discouraged and that you have a friend in me." – Extending his hand for a handshake, Williams became a mentor and confidante to Aurora.
After breaking in and passing the detective's exam, Anderson continued his friendship with Lieutenant Williams to the point that it became a courtship over the years.
"Yes, I still have it. Even though he's about to break his elbows, it's still something I don't want to lose sight of" – Trevor opened the door quietly behind Aurora's back, who barely turned back to see the silhouette of the lieutenant behind her.
- "I scared you?"
- "You know that nothing can scare me anymore" - Fifteen years had passed since Aurora had made the decision to join the police force. At that time, her relationship with her family had deteriorated to the point that she lost all communication with them, to the point that the last emotional link that allowed her to maintain her sanity was her relationship with Lieutenant Williams.
"My father was a police officer, his father and his father's father were called out for the uniform. I was barely fifteen when he died. He liked to wear this jacket when he went out on the streets as an undercover officer; He said it was his good luck charm, but I don't believe in luck" – Sitting in his chair, Williams took one of the photos that was resting on the desk.
- " You also entered by force to find the person responsible for the death of your father. I thought you better than anyone would understand my suffering, Trevor."
- "And I understand you Aurora, but please understand me too. It is one thing for us to be a couple and quite another for it to allow…"
- "That I become what? What drives me crazy?
- "Don't put words in my mouth! I didn't mean that… I just…" – The glass of the frame in the photograph broke due to the pressure that the lieutenant put on it. The accumulated stress and lack of sleep due to the investigation had taken a toll on her temper.
- "I'm sorry Trevor, but I don't know which way to go anymore. I have been going around like a mouse in a maze with this investigation and seeing that imbecile during these months exhausted what little I had left of patience" - Sitting down in the chair, Aurora collapsed, taking her hands to her head while waving a little her hair. Exhaling slightly with anguish and then taking a breath calming the nerves.
- "I give you my weapon and my badge. It's okay, I'll go to therapy."
- "Okay, that's the Aurora I know" – Placing his thick hand on the detective's shoulder, Trevor smiled at her making Aurora remember that first time they met. Responding to that gesture with a smile as she placed her delicate hand on his.
- "Do you want me to take you home?"
- "It is not necessary lieutenant. You must process all the paperwork from my outburst" – Aurora removed Trevor's hand from her shoulder and turned to leave the office. Leaving behind that man, who was still worried about his partner.
Leaving the police station, Aurora headed to the parking lot to pick up her car. As he was about to pull out of the parking lot and onto the street, a motorcyclist dressed in black leather and a red helmet barreled past the station.
The detective would have missed that event were it not for a slight detail that made her adrenaline shoot up, causing her to put her foot on the accelerator to start chasing the motorcyclist.
Perhaps her sight would have failed her due to exhaustion, but the doubt that drove her was stronger as the image printed on the red helmet stuck in her mind.
One of the symbols that had been found at the scene of his sister's murder and on the priest's tattoos was also found on that motorcyclist's helmet. All information concerning the investigation was treated confidentially. Neither the media nor people outside the case were aware of those symbols, which is why that motorcyclist was suspicious.
The chase took place through the streets of the suburbs, increasing the speed of his car above the allowed limit. Dodging at times between cars and pedestrians, occurring on more than one occasion some collisions against objects that were fixed on the sidewalk.
Had it not been for the fact that she had instinctively turned on her vehicle's siren, the detective would have collided with a vehicle that blocked her path in pursuit and caused a tragedy.
"Trevor was right, I must be going crazy" - As the minutes passed, the vehicle was entering the rural areas that bordered the city. Little by little, the few rays of the sun that faded on the horizon gave way to the darkness of the starry night.
The grassland that grew on the side of the road was barely illuminated by the reflection of the vehicle's headlights. At times showing structures of wooden fences that delimited the properties in the field.
Aurora felt a certain familiarity with that scene inside, until suddenly the motorcycle took her to a place that she had tried to block from her memory for all those years: the farm where her sister's body was found.
Feeling her stomach turn as she gnashed her teeth, the detective knew within herself that that motorcyclist had not taken her to that place by mere coincidence. Despite having left her charge weapon on the lieutenant's desk, the detective did not flinch at the idea of facing that person if given the opportunity.
For years he waited to find a clue that would lead him to the whereabouts of those responsible for his sister's death, so he would not let the matter go even if it cost him his life in the process.
Suddenly, a light explosion rocked the rear of the patrol car. Causing him to lose control of the steering wheel for an instant, causing the car to overturn and remain with the tires facing up.
The sound of the siren stopping and the vehicle's engine starting to misfire rang loudly in the ears of the shocked woman. Who clumsily dragged himself out of the cabin with his forehead covered in blood. When she looked up, the silhouette of the motorcyclist was standing in front of her, while he kicked her in the face that left her unconscious.
Dragging her inert body over the mud and grass, the sensation of swaying gradually woke up the detective, who finally opened her eyes, still feeling the ravages of dizziness caused by the rollover.
Even though her vision was still cloudy and everything was spinning, Aurora could recognize the walls of the barn that were lit by the flickering flame of an oil lamp that hung from one of the structure's posts.
Like whispers, the biker seemed to be arguing with a stocky-looking person at the foot of the old barn's driveway. Barely visible by the light of the full moon that filtered through the storm clouds that were slowly beginning to form.
"I have to get out of here" – Was the detective's thought as she struggled with the ropes that tied her wrists behind her back. Beginning to roll slowly to one of the ends where the moldy straw accumulated due to the passage of time and humidity.
At that moment, Aurora felt her head hit something that felt cold and wet to the touch. It gave off a slight fetid odor that little by little penetrated through his nose, causing him to startle upon contemplating it more closely.
With her eyes wide open and her expression devoid of life, with the last reflection of pain that was drawn on her face, the corpse of a young woman who was no more than nineteen years old was there right next to her.
With visible perimortem cut marks on her skin, the victim had been bled to death from hypovolemic shock. Just as it had been over a decade ago with her twin sister.
- "Wow, it seems that you are already awake ! I didn't expect you to be so persistent, but you've gotten me into a lot of trouble tonight" – Taking off his helmet, the person who was riding the motorcycle let down his abundant reddish hair that shone slightly with the glow of the lamp flame.
With an androgynous appearance, that person seemed neither male nor female to Aurora's eyes, who tried harder to free herself while her attacker bent down to grab her hair and drag her back to the center of the barn.
"What do you want from me? Who are you?" – The detective's questions were met with silence as an answer, while the mysterious motorcyclist raised his arm pointing the palm of his hand in the direction of where there were a bunch of ropes. Making them fly towards him, stopping a few centimeters before hitting him.
Such an act of sleight of hand had only seen it in movies and famous magicians' tricks, but incredible as it might seem, everything happened before the detective's astonished gaze. Who could not defend herself while the ropes held her arms and legs that pulled her from the ends.
"You are identical to the sacrifice from a few years ago. On that occasion we were about to achieve our goal, but unfortunately there was not enough elemental strength in it to open the vortex between worlds" – Holding a dagger that he delicately touched by the tip to test its edge, the mysterious person dressed in leather Without warning, the black stabbed the dagger into the chest of the unfortunate detective.
It was in that instant that her blood began to flow, that the ground beneath her body began to feel like a hot grill. Causing him to scream in pain that were drowning out the blood that began to accumulate in his lungs.
- "It's her, we can definitely open the portal with her sacrifice!"
- "Are you completely sure?" – As if a bucket of cold water fell on her dying body, Aurora saw the man who, until recently, had been waiting from the door of the barn.
His eyes could hardly make out the shapes anymore, but the texture of the worn olive green jacket was unmistakable.
- "Because? Why did you have to do this to me if I loved you?" – Raising her head with the little strength she had left, Aurora tried to find the face of that man with whom she had spent the last years of her life as emotional support.
As if it were a last gesture for a death row prisoner, Lieutenant Trevor crouched down and lowered his face until Aurora's ear was level with his lips. And I pronounce a few words that would freeze the heart of the detective until almost taking him to the grave.
- "It was because your father murdered mine, to hide that he had cheated on his wife" - Trevor's mother used to visit his grandmother who was admitted to the Anderson family hospital, being in that place where that infidelity occurred .
The attending physician was none other than Aurora's father, who was attracted to Trevor's mother, using his position as owner of the hospital to curry favor with the woman.
When Trevor's father found out, he tried to confront Dr. Anderson in his office. Having a heated argument where Mr. Williams threatened to reveal the doctor's infidelity.
But suddenly there was a thud, as if someone fell to the ground. When the nurses came in, they found Mr. Williams clutching his chest as if he had a heart attack. But the true cause of death was an overdose of epinephrine, falsifying the forensic report covering the traces of the murder.
- "Yes, it is just as you hear it. Your father is a common adulterer and murderer. That was why I waited for fifteen years to plot my revenge. I must say that I was too patient with this, having to study at the academy, earn merits and quickly rise to lieutenant to form an image of a model police officer.
And it was then that I took a vehicle from the police warehouse, one that was already going to be discarded. I took him to an informant who owned a paint shop and told him to fix it up as a taxi for an undercover operation.
I asked for a license for a few days in the department and I started driving, to monitor your family. When they were at home, when they went out, where they went. It was painstaking work so they never noticed.
And it was that day, I still remember. When your dear sister got into the car, her panicked eyes could be seen in the rearview mirror. As soon as she tried to scream, I used the stun gun with her and she fell exhausted in the back seat.
The rest of the story you already know, a poor innocent girl brutally murdered in a barn like this. Oh wait! Is this!" – With a malicious laugh, Trevor got up and walked away from Aurora's body. Until reaching where the person who performed the portal invocation ritual was located.
"You have done well to this day. As I have commanded you, you were faithful as a dog; but now, it's time for your reward" – Without giving him time to defend himself, a tentacle emerged from the back of that stranger through the lieutenant's chest. Killing him on the spot and absorbing him as fuel to strengthen the summoner's magic.
The energy that until a few moments ago had manifested only as a source of heat under Aurora, was now seen as a serpent of light that surrounded the young woman's body as the place began to shake from the din.
- "I'm pathetic" - With that last thought in her mind, the detective lamented while her conscience darkened completely.
- "Human? Do you wish to make a contract?" – A voice that sounded like the roar of the ocean addressed Aurora, who with her last strength responded with a weak yes.