Xavier had no idea of how long he had been sitting there, the minutes blending into hours as the grim reality weighed down on him.
His thoughts churned in a chaotic spiral, guilt clawing at him with every heartbeat.
His eyes, hollowed by an oppressive sense of despair stared vacantly at the dismembered body before him.
He felt hollow, like a shadow existing without light, a ghost wandering through the shell of his life.
The gruesome image of the body lay reflected in his darkened azure pupils, the disarrayed limbs a cruel reminder of his actions.
The woman had once been a human, but unlucky enough to be possessed by a demon.
Her fate had been sealed long before he even lifted his hand or recited the chant.
A part of him knew that she couldn't have survived. The demon's grip on her soul already signed her death warrant; it definitely wouldn't leave a human alive even if it did later decide to look for another meat suit
He tried to cling to that logic, to use it as a balm against the overwhelming guilt.
But no amount of justification could ease the gnawing emptiness inside him.
He exhaled sharply, tearing his gaze away from the mess of blood and flesh.
With shaking hands, he got a lighter, setting the remains ablaze until the fire swallowed every trace of his cruel action.
The smell of burning flesh lingered in the air as he descended into the basement, retrieving weapons he might need.
Who knew when the next demon would strike?
The thought made his pulse quicken, his heartbeat slowing down, urgency pushing him to move faster.
He packed his gear swiftly, closing the door beneath him and throwing the red carpet over the entrance like a forgotten memory.
Outside, the chaotic roar of flame painted the sky orange, but Xavier had no time to dwell. He needed to leave before the cops arrived.
He glanced at the burning buildings one last time before taking massive strides as he made his way to leave. Not only that, but he was about to leave when the sound of screeching tires suddenly rang into his ears before a black car slowly appeared in his line of sight.
Furthermore, he, whose heart was about to jump out of his chest at the thought of the car being driven by a cop, immediately tried to run away, but a familiar face slowly appeared in his line of sight before the car came to a stop right before him. The door opened as the familiar face appeared before him.
"Hey little kiddo, get into the car," The figure said, "You have got a lot of catching up to do."
Always trying to act cool. Xavier's mouth twitched as he gazed at the C-shaped mark Klaus had made on the ground. He gave that just a single glance before getting into the car, then he closed the door. He was about to put on his seat belts when the car suddenly busted into a short sprint, his head smacking against the window as a result of the sudden acceleration.
Seeing the wide grin on Klaus's face. He knew his stupid elder brother had done it on purpose.
"Bastard," Xavier muttered, rubbing his temples.
Klaus opened his mouth in feigned shock, "Doesn't that also make you a bastard."
Xavier rolled his eyes at his brother's teasing words.
Klaus grinned, obviously pleased with himself. "Consider that as a payback for abandoning the family."
"Well guess I deserved that," Xavier sighed, settling into the seat.
His mind was still a whirlwind of conflicting emotions, but at least his brother's teasing words momentarily pulled him out of the dark thoughts that threatened to consume his mind.
They sped down the road, the chaotic remnants of Xavier's home disappearing into the rearview mirror, as they passed by a group of oblivious cops headed in the opposite direction.
Xavier realized that the cops were most likely heading for his house. Klaus gave them a slight wink while they simply nodded their head at the supposedly law-abiding citizen.
"True… What of the old man?" Xavier shifted his gaze towards Klaus who handled the wheels with great dexterity, "I haven't heard from him in ages.
"Hope he's still alive?"
Klaus shook his head whilst laughing lightly, "Unfortunately for you, the old man is still alive and kicking."
"Well…that's good to hear," Xavier muttered in response.
"Yeah," Klaus handed a phone over to Xavier, "Listen to the voicemail."
A few minutes later.
"Hmm…So it's safe to assume that the old man got a trail on the demon that killed Mum
"So he won't be available for a while, so he wants us to continue with the family business."
Klaus nods in response. Xavier was silent for a while, enjoying the quiet moments before he finally spoke up.
"Alright. So where are we headed for?"
"New Orleans., Klaus replied smilingly.
"Also…it's really good to have you back in the family business," Klaus added with a wide grin.
Xavier nods his head before being handed a newspaper.
"So, according to the report in the newspaper. Three murders have been reported in a short span of three days," Xavier muttered, his brows slightly creased downward whilst his eyes slowly moved down the pages of the newspaper.
"Yeah." Klaus nods with a cold expression settling on his face.
"Those crazy shape-shifters are always psychopaths with a crazy sense of reasoning."
Xavier, seeing Klaus's bitter expression, chuckled lightly.
"Like you are any better."
Klaus laughed lightly, "No, this is different."
"Yeah obviously," Xavier replied with a light smile.
Klaus had a wry smile on his face whilst Xavier simply shook his head. Klaus glanced at his brother before he spoke.
"Do you know what the two witnesses reported to the cops?"
Xavier smiled, "Probably that they saw two look-alikes."
Klaus chuckled lightly, "Eggzactly."
His hand moved backward slightly as the car made a loud screeching sound before drifting into another street. It barely avoided two cars before drifting past the normal drivers who felt like cursing Klaus, whilst some thought the driver was on drugs, some too worried or occupied with what life has got to throw at them, to care or be bothered about some fool's reckless driving.
Klaus chuckled inwardly, clearly pleased with himself "If that doesn't show that we are dealing with a shape-shifter, then I don't know what will."
Xavier nodded in agreement, his eyes slowly shifted to his left- as he prepared for Kansas City to become nothing more than a mere fleeting memory.
He let out a light, melancholic sigh. According to the memories he had, the time the previous Xavier spent here could be said to be, weirdly enough, one of the most blissful moments of his life.
A thing he couldn't find a reason to
Since most of his memories were sealed, others were a chaotic mess, whilst others seemed to be floating in a weird space that glistened with a bright luster.
Added to the fact that he was unable to find the cause or the reason for this.
Xavier sighed in exasperation, the various mysteries threatening to break his mind apart.
He sighed inwardly, as he decided to remove the various thoughts away from his mind.
Thinking about them won't solve them anyway.
"It will probably take us around fourteen hours to arrive at New Orleans, right?" Xavier questioned; multiple buildings reflected in his eyes.
"Yeah." Klaus was silent for a second before nodding in reply.
Both brothers returned to the eerie, strange silence for a few minutes.
These few minutes had the car racing down streets as they rapidly approached New Orleans, with Klaus controlling the steering wheel while Xavier seemed to be lost in thought.
His brows were tightly furrowed.
"But, I still don't get something." He muttered, his gaze vacant and unfocused.
"What's that?" Klaus questioned, his eyebrow lightly raised, whilst he tapped on the edge of the steering wheel with his index fingers.
"According to the reports. This shape-shifter appears to be going after young women."
Klaus stared at him for a quick second with a blank expression before letting out light laughter and receiving a cold stare from Xavier.
Cough... Klaus finally managed to keep his laughter under control… under the intense stare from his younger brother.
The car continued to race down the street, the wind easily howled past them, with various buildings becoming mere memories among the many yet to come
"Don't tell me you think the shape-shifter has got a knack for young women?" Klaus finally spoke up with exaggerated widened eyes.
"No, no…definitely not. And Klaus," Xavier's face hardened. "This isn't really a good time for jokes."
"Alright, alright. Always a jerk as usual." Klaus replied jokingly.
Who's the jerk between both of us? Xavier lampooned inwardly.
Lightly shaking his head, "So it's safe to assume that the shape-shifter is targeting young women."
Yeah. Klaus nods in agreement.
His leg smashed onto the pedal, causing the car's speed to shoot forth to greater heights, easily bypassing multitudes of other cars that appeared to be driven by good, law-abiding citizens. Contrary to Klaus, who controlled the car to move as though the devil were hot on his tail.
"If you noticed, after torturing the young women. What does it lead to?" Xavier questioned, eliciting a light frown from Klaus who was silent for a few seconds.
"Not only does it seldomly lead to the woman's death. It often also leads to the husband's arrest, probably as a result of being impersonated by the shape-shifter."
"You're catching on," Xavier said with a smug expression etched across his face.
"..." Klaus was startled for a second there, a blank expression settling on his face.
"You have got to be kidding me, kiddo." In a bid to save his face, he added, "Do I need to remind you that you met me in this business?"
"Age is just a number," Xavier gave a sharp remark, causing Klaus to let out a slightly exaggerated gasp before he shook his head wryly.
"Guess you're right," Klaus said after a few seconds of momentary silence. His brows were tightly furrowed before he added.
"But the question remains. What does the shape-shifter aim to achieve from doing all this?"
Xavier sighed lightly, "If I do say I understand, then I am probably just pulling your legs.
"There's almost no reasonable explanation behind the shape-shifter's action. It's-…almost as though the shape-shifter is doing all this, just to have…
"Fun." Both brothers completed the statement simultaneously. Klaus received a nod from Xavier, who slowly reclined his back against the chair.
Klaus exhaled lightly, "It doesn't matter anyway. Whatever the reason might be, we will find out when we arrive at New Orleans."
He paused for a second before he added with a slight wink, "Talking of New Orleans. Are you going to meet with her?"
Her? Xavier was momentarily baffled before the pieces of fragmented memories slowly came flooding in.
Oh. "You mean to meet with Sophia?"
"Yes of course. Who else had our young Xavier falling head over heels for her?" Klaus said whilst chuckling.
"Numerous girls have," Xavier replied with a roll of his eye.
Klaus laughed lightly, "Yeah…But it will be cool. If I recall correctly, it was around five years ago."
"Yeah." Xavier nods his head in reply, a solemn expression etching across his face.
"That year was filled with rampart supernatural creatures, cursed spirits, and demons." He let out a light sigh before adding,
"It took the lives of many revered hunters to restore peace."
Klaus sighed lightly, "Their deaths weren't in vain,"
"Not only did they succeed in killing various supernatural creatures, and cursed spirits before their deaths. But they also helped in reducing their numbers by a large margin.
"Since then, the dangers we have had to face have lessened considerably."
"Yeah, guess you're right," Xavier could only force a smile.
Klaus glanced at Xavier whose mood seemed to have turned sour. He sighed inwardly before concluding to liven up the atmosphere.
"I still remember those days, they were really so good." Realizing that he had garnered Xavier's attention. He continued, "Despite Dad's warning to stay at home. You begged me to help you sneak out just so you could meet with Sophia."
"Yeah," Xavier didn't deny. He stared ahead of him, the crosslanes appearing in his line of sight.
"But still. We are going to New Orleans to hunt. Not to meet an old friend." He gave a light sigh before he added,
"Doing that will only lead to unnecessary heartaches."
"Yeah, you're definitely right on that." Klaus nods in agreement.
"But still, if there's an opportunity…" Klaus gave a wink, allowing his brother to comprehend the rest of the words.
Xavier sighed inwardly. "Sure." He lied, forcing a smile, resulting in Klaus letting out a light laugh.
The car rapidly passed by various places: various houses, buildings, stores, malls, and so on. Time easily passed by with a ghastly silence enveloping both brothers.
A few hours of a long slightly tedious journey easily passed by.
"How long has it been, New Orleans?" Klaus had a wide smile on his face as the car passed by the road sign that read - Welcome To New Orleans.
Klaus lowered the car's speed, trying to avoid a troublesome case of mistakenly hitting somebody or moving faster than the speed limit. Which would, in turn, result in a troublesome meeting with the cops.
They passed by various neighborhoods with narrow streets, wrought-iron balconies, and a mix of commercial and residential buildings. But the car didn't come to a stop since this wasn't their destination. According to the reports, the incidents took place in Lake-view and Mid-city parts of New Orleans. The shape-shifter appears to be making use of the residential parts of New Orleans as its hunting ground!
"Luckily for Sophia, she lives in bye-water," Klaus muttered, eliciting a nod from Xavier.
Xavier's mind slowly slipped into deep thought. He couldn't help but reminisce on the moments he had with his girlfriend: Ife.
'How is she? Will she be alright? How will feel?' Various thoughts ran across his mind, whilst a solemn expression slowly gripped onto his face.
'I am sorry, Ife...am sorry. I just couldn't hold on any longer. I just couldn't…' Teardrops slowly dripped down the corner of his eyes, attracting Klaus's attention.
Klaus had a light frown adorning his face.
"What's wrong, Xavier?"
Xavier was silent for a while before he hurriedly wiped the tears off his face.
"Nothing." He forced a smile, "Just remembering about the sacrifices of that year."
Hmm…
"Alright. But it's okay. You don't have to cry because of that.
"Their sacrifice was worth it," Klaus said with a rarely seen serious expression.
Xavier forced a smile on his face whilst nodding his head. His gaze slowly moved towards the window.
"Seems like we're already in the suburbs of New Orleans."
He was about to head out of the car when a voice suddenly rang into his ears.
"Oh- also, before I forget. Dad left his journal behind."
"Um." Xavier, whose hand was making way for the door's handle slowly came to a stop, shifting his head. His eyes on Klaus, "You mean his journal with important records on various cases and supernatural creatures?"
"Yeah, that one," Klaus replies after a light nod.
"Well, that's good. Not only will it make our work easier. Perhaps we'll be able to find Dad in the process." Xavier had a light smile slowly curling up his lips.
Klaus stared blankly for a while before exhaling lightly.
"I wouldn't place high hopes on that." He paused for a second before he added,
"If Dad doesn't want to be found, then we surely won't be running into him coincidentally."
The brothers were both silent for a
few seconds. Klaus lightly shook his head, "Do I need to remind you of how good the old man is?"
"I know we both miss the old man, but if he would rather not be found. Then we definitely won't be seeing him anytime soon." Klaus sighed inwardly.
Xavier let out a deep sigh after a couple of seconds, "Guess you're right. But well, just the journal contents will do anyway."
Klaus nods in response before he removes a badge from a small compartment within the car and then gives one to Xavier and keeps one for himself.
A forged badge. The memory slowly flooded back into him. A light chuckle escaped his lips.
"I almost forgot about this."
"Yeah, you did," Klaus let out a light laughter before he proceeded to get out of the car after having hidden a gun and a silver blade.
According to the memories that he had, shape-shifters can only be hurt by objects made of silver.
He smiled before immediately following suit, with the knowledge he had from his memories. He kept the weapons with great precision and ease. Almost as though he had been doing it for years. The feeling is so surreal…
A few minutes later, they both arrived at a residence. A woman came to open the door after a few seconds of occasional knocks. She seemed to be in her early thirties, with brown hair and quite a voluptuous chest. Klaus assessed her, noticing the slight bruises on her body and a solemn expression that refused to fade away.
Klaus immediately recollected himself. He removed his badge, "I am Detective Zander and this here is my partner, Detective Hollerein. We are from the Kansas City Detective Division. If you don't mind, we'd like to ask you a few questions."
"I thought I went through this with the city's CID." The woman replied with a narrowed gaze.
"Yes ma'am. We are aware." Xavier paused for a second, organizing his thoughts before he added.
"But we need to verify some things and ensure that this case is truly solved. We have realized that this kind of case is becoming more rampant in New Orleans. Hence, our superiors ordered us to perform a thorough investigation and get to the root of the case."
The woman was quiet for a while.
…" Alright. Come in." She opened the door fully, to accept the visitors. After Klaus and Xavier had their seat. She left after excusing herself and came back a couple of minutes later. Handing over a cup of tea to the detectives.
The brothers accepted the tea as Klaus took a light sip whilst Xavier simply placed his on the table. He could easily analyze the woman's current state.
Confused, sad, shocked, hurt, broken…A chaotic mess of primal emotions!
And she appears to be fighting back against the tears that threatened to drop from the depths of her eyes.
Xavier could only sigh inwardly, "Ma'am, we know it has been hard on you. We are truly sorry about the occurrence."
Seeing that he had managed to garner her attention, he continued, "But we do hope that you can cooperate with us. Anything you tell us will be of great help in our following investigations."
The woman was quiet for a few seconds, teardrops stirring within the depths of her pupils. She cleaned the tears dripping down before she said, "Yeah… Thanks. I will do my best to help in any way I can."
Xavier nods before proceeding.
"Ma'am, before the incident. Did you notice any violent or harmful action from your husband?"
"No," She said in a very firm tone. "He has always been caring. Over our years of marriage. He had never once laid his hands on me."
Klaus and Xavier glanced at each other, nodding at the same time. They had reached a silent understanding and were now more certain that they were dealing with a shape-shifter.
"Alright, Ma'am. Can you tell us how it happened?" Klaus questioned, a few seconds after he had dropped the teacup.
She was silent for a while. Her brows slightly narrowed, "He said he had a night shift and was driving to work. But minutes later, he called saying he would be returning home."
Xavier's brows were slightly raised.
"And the reason?"
"His boss called off his night shift. The cops confirmed this," She said, "But-" Her brows grew tightly furrowed together.
"But what?" Klaus questioned with a slightly narrowed gaze.
"B-ut immediately after he called. He was home when it should have taken him around twenty minutes to get back home." She paused for a second before proceeding.
"Then, we were…"
She was silent for a long while, obviously hesitating.
"Ma'am, feel free to speak to us." Xavier pressed on, a calm expression still on his face.
She nods her head whilst biting on her lower lips. "We were about to have sex. But he suddenly knocked me out. When I woke up, I realized that I was tied to a chair and i-t it was almost as though the man in front of me wasn't my husband."
Crystal-like teardrops slowly dripped down the corner of her eyes, slumping onto the floor whilst sending unheard echoes across the ground.
"That's all I know. Now can you please leave?" She sniffled, struggling to keep her composure.
"Thanks for your time, Ma'am," Klaus said, as both brothers immediately stood up in tacit understanding.
He knew that if he was placed in her shoes, he might probably fare worse. For her to summon the courage to say all that definitely wasn't easy for her.
Xavier shook his head after a light sigh escaped his lips.
A few minutes later. They were back in the car. In the car, Xavier rubbed his chin.
"Okay. Now that we know we are dealing with a shape-shifter. We need to figure out the next shape-shifter's target."
Klaus had a solemn expression on his face. A few seconds of oppressive silence easily went by before his mouth slowly drew a wide grin as he stared ahead of him, "Yeah…And I think I just figured out who our next poor victim might be."