Um- what do you mean?" Xavier's brow got slightly raised.
Klaus pointed towards a woman approaching a house. "Long brown hair, deep black eyes, and a curvy waist.
"And to top it all, from her facial appearance. I'd bet a hundred bucks that she's most likely in her early thirties."
Xavier shot him a sharp look. "Seriously?"
Klaus chuckled, guilt washing over him.
"Alright. Alright. But what does she have in common with the other victims?"
"Curvy waist?" Xavier replied, incredulous.
"You don't really think your elder brother is that thirsty, do you?" Klaus lightly shook his head.
"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," Xavier replied while nodding, the serious expression refusing to fade away.
A solemn expression crept up Klaus's face, as he exhaled lightly,
"Seems that even my own younger brother doesn't trust me. Who else have I got in this world?"
His lament earned him a roll of the eye from Xavier.
'Can't you be serious for once?' Xavier lampooned inwardly, shaking his head after sighing internally.
Klaus's gaze slowly grew more serious, his hands ramming against the edge of the steering wheel.
"Anyways let's get back to business. If you had paid more attention or even stayed at home whilst going on frequent hunting trips. Perhaps you wouldn't have failed to notice it."
"..." Xavier was rendered speechless, "Are you gonna bicker or get straight to the point."
Klaus shook his head, his hands went for the newspaper before handing it over to Xavier.
Who easily held on to it, "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Pay more attention," Klaus replied with a serious expression.
"And tell me the similarity between each one of the victims."
Xavier was silent for a while. Did I fail to realize something while going through the report? His brow lightly creased downward.
"Alright." He nods in reply. Since Klaus had said so, then I must have definitely missed something.
Perhaps my mind is still finding it hard to adapt to this transmigrator...No Regressor stuff whatnot.
Fuck who cares which one it's.
All that matters is that I am already here anyway. And all I can fucking do is to try my best to find a way to get back to Earth and if there's really no way… Well, He sighed inwardly. Guess I have no other choice than to go all out with this whole family hunting shit.
Whilst he allowed his thoughts to wander off, his eyes, which were glued on the newspaper, finally caught a glimpse of something.
"How couldn't I have realized?" He face-palmed himself, eliciting a light chuckle from Klaus, "As you can see, each one of the victims are all in their…"
"Early Thirties." Both brothers chorused at the same time. Klaus nods his head, whilst Xavier had a wry smile slowly creeping up his face.
Wasn't it just a whilst ago that he had talked about this with Klaus, but when his brother asked, his mind didn't really go there.
'Seems that I am still finding it rather difficult to adapt psychologically.' He could only come up with this seemingly reasonable explanation.
"Hmm, So…all we just have to do is to wait for a couple of hours, probably until nighttime. And we will have the shape-shifter falling right into our trap." Klaus said with a wide grin whilst he rubbed his hands, his eyes gleaming in anticipation.
Hehehehe…Just hope I don't get my hands on you. While Klaus was busy fantasizing about the various ways to deal with the Shape-shifter. Xavier let out a light yawn, his eyes growing slightly groggy.
"Well, until then, I am gonna have a few minutes of respite."
His eyes slowly got closed, his back reclining against the seat whilst Klaus had a light smile adorning his face. Although they both had their grudge-filled days. He had to say, he really missed his younger brother.
He had a light smile on his face before bringing out a camera from the same small compartment. This is, after all, the only way to watch out for the shape-shifter. Since shape-shifters practically resemble humans in every sense of the world, the only way to distinguish them easily is by the flare of light that flashes within the depth of their pupils every once in a while. And usually without any supernatural-related items. The next best choice would be to make use of a camera.
Three hours easily passed by. The rays of the moon illuminated the path beneath it whilst glowing with an eerie glint. Klaus kept his eyes open while trying to catch a flare of light. Yet, so far, so good; he hadn't found anything suspicious or related to a shape-shifter. He was even beginning to question their analysing skills.
But he still decided to keep it up, if there wasn't anything after one more hour. Then we will leave… He came to this conclusion, moving the camera towards his eyes once more.
Xavier had his eyebrows quivering lightly, the intensity and amplitude growing faster by the passing moment.
He had suddenly found himself in a room. A white-painted room, judging from the crimson rays of the moon that seeped into the room, casting eerie shadows across the wall. It is safe to assume that this is nighttime. B-ut where am I?? Where is this? His body trembled lightly, his heart thumped violently as cold sweat broke along his back.
He glanced around him as he tried to move around, just as he moved. He seemed to have heard a distant sound, yet it seemed so near almost as though the...voice was coming from right behind-him!
His eyes widened in horror, his heartbeat suddenly accelerated as his eyelids quivered. He immediately turned backward, only to be met with absolute silence. Except for the lingering shadows that danced along the walls, he couldn't really see anything else.
He forced down the unease, before slowly approaching the door before him. A smell of rotten course assaulted his nose with mix of scent that was revolting to say the least. Each step he took sent echoes across the desolate silence, his heart thumped violently as he struggled to pacify the rapid rate at which it was accelerating.
Within the blink of an eye, he suddenly found himself in another room. No…judging by the various utensils such as knives, mortals, pests, and so on. He knew that he was definitely in a kitchen.
He moved towards the door slowly, his heart had almost jumped out of his chest from the sudden displacement or whatever that was. With pounding heart, he moved towards the door, before stopping before some set of knives. His hands moved towards the knives and then.
WHOOOSH!!!
They flared to life!
His eyes widened, his heart gripped with fear.
And just when it seemed like he would really lose his life this time around.
He found himself in another room once again. He caught a glimpse of a lady. The same lady that Klaus had previously pointed to, was seated on a chair. No, she wasn't seated on the chair, but was actually tied to it and had a rope wrapped tightly around her mouth.
A figure of a man slowly appeared in Xavier's line of sight. The man squatted before her, sometimes standing up. Sometimes laughing maniacally whilst making use of various sharp weapons to torture her. Xavier guessed this was most probably the shape-shifter. He had already tried to move and save the lady. But he couldn't.
It was almost as though he was watching a TV with a first-class ticket. He could only watch but could do absolutely nothing about it. This feeling of anger penting up yet not bring able to vent it, or the fact that he couldn't save the lady truly irritated and angered him a lot.
His hands were tightly clenched, as he watched the man continue with his gruesome act, causing tears to stream down the corner of the lady's eyes. She was struggling to speak, yet no words came out. Xavier could see that she was in so much pain, his hands were tightly clenched, his fingers digging deep into his palm.
Yet despite her being in so much pain, the supposed shape-shifter simply held a wide grin, obviously enjoying the process.
The man let out a light laughter, "You can only blame this on your husband. He caused this; he placed this calamity on you."
The man gritted his teeth, his hand holding the knife tightly wrapped around it as blood dripped down his hands. Yet, he didn't seem to notice this as he spoke through gritted teeth.
"He and his friends did that to her." He seemed to want to continue but stopped. He let out a sharp exhalation, "Aren't you enjoying this? It's actually kinda cool, don't you think?"
The lady simply shook her head, The teardrops grew denser, her trembling grew even more intense, and her struggles to speak became even more violent.
CLIICK!!!
The door to the house got opened, and a man who greatly resembled the man torturing the lady walked inside.
"Honey." He hung his coat, before moving to a nearby room.
He didn't find his wife there.
"Dear. I'm back." He said, before moving into various rooms whilst calling out to his wife.
"Hehehe seems like your husband is back." His eyes gleamered with anticipation.
"I can't wait to see the look of shock and dread on his face when he sees you in such a state, before I proceed to end his pathetic life. Gosh... That look must definitely be worth looking forward to."
The shape-shifter realized that the steps were getting closer. He had a wide grin on his face before moving to another part of the room. Hiding behind the door, he waited as a man who resembled him in every sense of the world finally entered the room.
"Oh my God! What the hell happened to you!" The man yelled, immediately dashing towards the lady.
Whilst on his knees, he tried to remove the ropes that were wrapped tightly around her whole body; he succeeded in doing that but saw that she was struggling intensely. She wanted to say something. He nodded his head and immediately removed the rope binding her mouth.
"B-ehind you." She struggled to speak with widened eyes.
"W-hat…" The man immediately turned back, and his speech abruptly ended, as a sharp blade easily sliced through the air. Akin to a crescendo of a fierce whirlwind, it easily ripped the man's head apart. Blood gushed out continuously from the neck before the man slowly collapsed onto the ground with a widened look even after his death.
Blood splattered onto Xavier's face, it seemed as though they had poured a cold bucket on him. One that chilled his bones to the core.
"NOOOO!!!" He yelled out, his eyes darting around to find out that he was still in his car. So what was all that?
"What happened?" Klaus hurriedly questioned, his heart thumping extremely fast.
"The shape-shifter," Xavier muttered, finding it challenging to understand or even come to terms with that dream-vision of his.
"Yes, what happened to the shape-shifter?" Klaus questioned, his brows slightly narrowed whilst his gaze lingered on his brother.
Xavier was silent for a while, his body shivering crazily.
"It's in the house. It's already there."
Klaus was silent for a moment, but seeing Xavier's bodily reactions really bothered him a lot.
"What do you mean by it's already there." He paused, his eyes lingering on the empty streets, "I have been paying attention the whole time.
"So don't you think I will have known if someone had passed by."
'How will someone even pass by and I won't have noticed it? Impossible.' Klaus was very confident in his skills.
"I also don't know, I really don't know. I just know that the shape-shifter is already in that house." Xavier said in a frenzied manner, the scene playing over and over in his mind, making it insanely difficult to breath, stop talking nor stop his rapidly beating heart.
"So, let's assume I am to believe you," Klaus said before he added. "How do you know that the shape-shifter is already in the house when you have been sleeping like a damn baby the whole time?"
Xavier was silent before his eyes gleamed with impatience, "Klaus. This is no time for questions. We will talk about this later, just trust me on this one. I am very sure about it."
"I am very sure." Xavier added, the corner of his eyes immediately caught a glimpse of a man in a blue suit.
One look and he could immediately recognize the man even in ten lifetimes!
'It was the man who had been killed!'
"That's him, that's him." Xavier's hand continuously tugged against Klaus's hand who was slightly irritated yet bothered by his brother's actions.
"Calm down Xavier," Klaus calmly said, "Who's he?"
"The lady's husband," Xavier replied immediately, receiving a weird look from Klaus, who felt like asking him about how he knew of all these things.
But since Xavier had said that he would explain later on. He decided to remove his skeptical trait and trust in his brother's words. He had nothing to lose anyway.
"Alright," He said, "But you owe me an explanation." He received a nod from Xavier as they both got out of the car after grabbing onto the guns imbued with silver bullets.
Arriving before the door, they immediately entered the room after Klaus gave the go-ahead. A tight grip held on to Xavier's heart, and his heartbeat accelerated to insane heights. The reason was that the room looked just like the one in his dream. No…it's definitely the one in my dream!
The corner of his eyes caught sight of the room. He dashed towards the room, immediately followed by Klaus.
"Nooooooo!!!!" A loud shriek pierced through the air, sending cold chills down the spine of those who heard it. They both dashed into the room as an headless head could be seen spewing out blood uncontrollably whilst a severed head rolled towards their feet.
Xavier's heart skipped a beat as his eyes moved towards a man holding onto a blade.
'Who are they.' The shape-shifter thought. Realizing that they might probably be cops and they might have companions. He immediately took to his heels.
My mission here is done anyway; there's no reason to duke it out with the cops.
Klaus immediately pulled onto the trigger three times consecutively.
KA!!!
KAA!!!!
KAAA!!!!
PUCHII!!!!
One of the shots managed to pierce through the shape-shifter's leg, just in time before it jumped through the window.
KAATCHAA!!!
He smashed through the window, rolling on the ground before getting onto his knees. Taking one last look at the intruders, he had marked their faces and didn't intend to let them get away so easily.
But as of now… A wise man knows when to retreat. He immediately ran with everything he had got, despite the countless shots from Klaus and Xavier. It seemed futile, as the distance between them and the shape-shifter only grew even larger.
"Take care of the lady, I will go after it." Klaus said, receiving a nod from Xavier, "Be careful."
Klaus gave a light nod, "I will."
He immediately jumped through the shattered window, going after the shape-shifter, who was slowly disappearing from his line of sight.
"Ma'am, everything will be okay. You just have to calm down." Xavier comforted with a forced calm expression settling on his face.
"H-e…he killed my husband." Tears ran down her eyes as she struggled to accept the grim reality.
Xavier, of course, didn't stop her from grieving; he knew she must really be in so much pain by now. Such pain
… She will probably feel as though the world had suddenly shattered before her very own eyes. Such pain really can't be described with words alone.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
The shape-shifter abruptly left Klaus's line of sight. Seemingly having merged with the surrounding humans, who scampered for safety after Klaus shot the gun into the air consecutively.
"Fuck…what a crafty bastard." Klaus's hands were tightly clenched around the gun, and he felt like smashing the gun against the ground. Yet, he refrained from doing so.
He exhaled sharply before his eyes moved through the entire area. As people ran heater skelter after hearing the gunshots, the entire area was less dense, yet he still couldn't find the shape-shifter. It was almost as though it had suddenly vanished. But he knew it definitely wasn't that simple.
He wanted to keep looking yet he knew that finding the shape-shifter was most probably impossible as of right now. Not to even talk of the fact that it can just easily revert back to its original skin.
"This is nothing short of a futile attempt."
A few seconds later, Klaus shook his head after a deep exhalation before moving to meet with his brother.