The city was unraveling. Reports of murders were hitting the precinct daily now, each one more brutal than the last. The chaos was escalating, and with each new case, Jade could feel the toll it was taking on everyone around him. But something else was stirring beneath the surface—a strange tension in Karon's demeanor that he couldn't quite place.
Karon herself was struggling to maintain control. The influx of murders was unexpected, a surge of violence sweeping through the city that felt dangerously out of her grasp. Some nights, she sat alone, running her hands through her hair, trying to calm the itch inside her mind. Each new body that surfaced stirred something darker within her, a mix of anger and frustration. These killings were unsanctioned, unplanned. She couldn't stand the thought of someone else tainting her city, claiming lives without her precision, her care. The brutality was senseless, crude, without the artistry she had always put into her own work.
Her irritation only grew as she read each report. These new victims were innocent—ordinary men and women, people she would've never deemed worthy of her time. The thought of innocent blood being spilled so haphazardly made her skin crawl. Whoever this other killer was, they lacked her precision, her finesse. The victims, both male and female, were from all walks of life, seemingly chosen at random, and Karon's frustration deepened with each one.
Yet, in the middle of this frustration, something else simmered—a dark curiosity. The killer was becoming reckless, desperate even, but their methods were slipping under her radar, nearly eluding her attention. Whoever this copycat was, they had started something Karon couldn't ignore. She felt her control slipping, and for the first time, a hint of panic crept into her thoughts. If this kept up, if the body count continued to rise, she would lose the delicate balance she'd created.
---
At the precinct, Jade was drowning in paperwork. His desk was littered with files, photos, and crime scene reports, each one bearing the hallmarks of a different killer, but with a consistency that left him unsettled. The victims were all ages, all backgrounds—a nurse, a teacher, a young man from a nearby university. None of it made sense.
"Harry," Jade said one day, his voice thick with frustration as he handed her a file. "We're up to five bodies in two weeks. This is… it's a mess."
Karon took the file, flipping through the pages with feigned interest, though her mind was racing. Each detail matched her style, but it was chaotic, lacking her touch. She had to keep herself composed, careful not to betray the frustration simmering beneath her calm facade.
"Maybe it's someone trying to draw attention to themselves," she suggested lightly, masking her irritation. "An amateur who doesn't understand how to cover their tracks."
Jade shook his head. "It's sloppy, but it's effective. Whoever this is, they're not stopping. They're getting bolder, almost… daring us to catch them."
Her heart twisted with a mixture of anger and excitement. Whoever was doing this was pushing her to a breaking point. She hated the interference but was curious about the mind behind it. This other killer—this intruder in her territory—was taunting her as much as they were taunting the police. She clenched her jaw, forcing herself to stay calm.
---
That night, Karon roamed the city, her mind churning as she walked. She couldn't stop herself from feeling the pulse of each street, each dark alley, alive with secrets. She passed the spots where the bodies had been found, marking each one in her mind. The sense of control she had once held over her own actions felt tenuous, slipping away, drowned out by the flood of violence. This other killer was undoing her work, tarnishing the legacy she was building, and it filled her with a sick sort of rage.
As she wandered, she couldn't help but feel a strange kinship to this unknown murderer—a twisted connection that she couldn't shake. Whoever they were, they were like a mirror, reflecting her own darkness back at her, but in a way that felt sloppy, reckless. They didn't understand the art of it, the beauty of control.
Her hands clenched at her sides. If she found this other killer, she wouldn't just stop them. She'd make them understand that this city was hers, that the game was hers to play, and anyone who tried to interfere would pay the price.
---
The following day, Jade was exhausted, his eyes bloodshot as he shuffled through yet another case file. "This has to stop," he muttered, his voice barely audible. The pressure was mounting, and each new case seemed to twist his mind in knots, leading him further away from any coherent theory.
He looked over at Karon, who was seated at her desk, seemingly unbothered by the mayhem. Her calm was unsettling, a stark contrast to his own unraveling nerves. She looked up, catching his eye, and he could've sworn he saw a flicker of something dark, something dangerous in her gaze.
"Whoever this is," he murmured, "they're escalating. It's like they're on some kind of twisted mission."
Karon merely nodded, a faint smile ghosting across her lips. She had her own mission now—to find this imposter, this parasite, and put an end to their senseless carnage. The city could only hold one killer in its shadows, and she intended to be the one standing when the dust settled.