~~
Trinity
~~
It was a little weird getting used to the time change that came with travelling, but we had done it before so it wasn't as bad as it could be. We got up in the morning when the sun was rising, which was technically too early even though it was midday back home. I didn't mind the fact that we got up so early though, it allowed us to eat and be ready much sooner. The more time that we had at the crime scene the better.
Also, if possible, I wanted to get through all of the Welsh crime scenes today. If I could manage that, then I would be able to go wherever there was a fresh scene tomorrow. There was, undoubtedly, going to be more murders tonight. If they stuck to the same plan that they had been using for the last two months or so, then they would definitely be striking again tonight.
I felt horrible right now. Knowing that I was not able to stop more people from dying. People that I knew were going to die painful and brutal deaths. I wanted to just find these people today and put an end to it here and now. I didn't want anymore people to suffer at all. But I didn't have enough information to find the killers. I didn't know what to do or how to find them.
When we were all ready to go, Cadwal had his Beta, Alan, pull two cars around. Together, the two of them drove us to the site of the murder that happened five days ago. They said that we were lucky. August is typically a rainy month, but there hadn't been any rain since the murder that had taken place on the nineteenth. That meant that, aside from animal interference, the crime scene would be perfectly preserved for us. Nothing would have been washed away or have been destroyed. At least, that was what we hoped.
.....
This victim had been killed behind an old and abandoned church. The building was dilapidated and looked like a strong wind would completely destroy it, yet it was still standing somehow.
“Llewellyn was found around the back.” Cadwal was leading the way. “His body was laid out beneath the tower with the cross on it.” Reece and I were right behind him as he rounded the building.
I thought that we were going to need to search for the clues when we got here. Instead, we were nearly overwhelmed by them the moment that we entered the scene. To be fair, I had smelled the blood the moment we exited the cars, but that could have just been the old blood. I did not expect there to still be such a thick coating of all that blood covering the surfaces of almost everything in the area.
There was blood all over the grass, the small grouping of trees that was behind the church, the rocks that were there for either decoration or because they were just naturally there, and it was also all over the back of the building. I didn't know if the blood had actually sprayed like that or if the killer had done their best to make this horrific and gory display.
“Oh my Goddess.” Dietrich gasped when he saw the scene that had been waiting for us.
“Yes, this one was a lot more brutal than the other scene that was in my territory.” Cadwal looked truly saddened by what he was seeing in this area. “The person, or people, that is behind this atrocity have absolutely no respect for my people.”
“This group of people has no respect for any life, not just our people.” As I slowly started to make my way to where the body was found, I called out to Cadwal in response.
“Do you think they would do this to a human? Or do these people only hate supernatural beings?” Cadwal's question was not at all a surprise for me. I had wondered it as well. With so many murders of nonhuman people in the last several weeks, I wasn't certain if these people would harm a human or not. Maybe they had killed humans before my people. Maybe they wanted a bigger challenge. Maybe.
However, something deep inside of me told me that I was not likely to find a human victim. This felt personal somehow. Maybe not that they were mad at the specific victim, but that they were targeting the victims because of what they were because of some personal vendetta. They were either a group of self loathing super naturals, or they were a group of highly skilled and dangerous humans.
I could hear the others moving around the scene behind me. Personally, I wanted to see where the body was. I needed to see if there was anything that might possibly have been missed. And I knew that the spot right in the middle of all the blood, where there was still a large pool of the stuff, was where the body had been laying when it was found.
“Dietrich, would you mind investigating the body with me later, if it has not yet been cremated, that is.” I had a sudden thought, something that I needed to check out before I moved onto the other victims.
“Of course, Trinity.” His answer was positive, but his voice felt so sad and heartbroken at the sight of this murder. He was a vampire, but he hated killing unless it was necessary. And that meant that the spilling of this blood and the loss of this life was hard for him.
What I saw when I made my way over to where the body had been, was that there was no way the arterial spray could have gone as far as the blood had been spread. That meant that the killer had specifically tried to make as much of a mess with it as possible. It almost looked like they had used a bucket to spread it around. Just what was it that they were trying to do here?
“Have any of you seen anything that is of importance so far?” I called out to the others as I looked around the area that I was in. I saw that Reece, Vincent, Gabriel, Shawn, Dietrich, Shane and David were hard at work combing the area.
“Not yet.”
“No.”
“Nope.”
“Nothing.”
“Nada.”
“Still looking.”
“Sorry, but no.” They all answered me at basically the same time. Well, this was a waste so far. Still, we had only just gotten here, and I was determined to see this through. I wouldn't leave until we found something more.
“I need something. I need to see more.” I was whispering to myself as I looked all around. I knew that everyone was able to hear me, but I didn't care. And while I was saying these words, I felt a small pull on my magic. Whatever was about to happen, I was going to get my wish.
My magic was rushing toward my eyes. It literally flooded into my eyes and made it harder to see for a moment. I was about to snarl out something along the lines of 'I wanted to see more, not less', but just as I was about to do that, the magic stopped flowing and I was able to see again.
What I was seeing though, wasn't normal. Instead of seeing the normal colors and images that were before me, I was now seeing things like they were through a lens. Everything around me had a bit of a blue tint to it. And things were appearing to glow.
I knew that blood didn't glow under lights like these, not without luminol. Still, it was like this whole place was bathed in luminol and ultraviolet lights. It was a cool effect, but also a little annoying. Seeing in a different way than usual made for an instant headache.
I was looking at the scene with new eyes, literally. I wanted to see if there was anything at all that was different with this new way of seeing. I was able to see every little droplet of blood that was splashed around the area, and the pattern that it made.
To see the full pattern I needed to move away a little and get higher up. That was easy for me, even though there was no viewing platform. I literally just walked away from the body while walking on the air at the same time. After I took about fifteen steps or so, I was sufficiently high in the air and far back enough to see the entire area.
Looking down at the glowing pattern of blood, I saw that it was the Valknut rune, the three interlocking triangles that were carved onto the body. This was definitely intentional, and it was definitely meant to be a message of some sort.
I was just about to move on, to look for more clues, but that was when I saw that there was a message written on the wall. Beneath the layers of blood, there was something else that was glowing on the back of the church.
I hurried down invisible steps as I rushed to get closer to the side of the church. I knew now that there was no need to preserve the scene, I would be allowed to wipe away the blood. I used my magic to clear it away, not wanting to dirty myself that much if I could help it. As I stood there, hovering just about a foot off of the ground so that I could see the lettering a little more easily, I read the words that had been carved into the back of the church.
'Monsters hide in the dark,
but that will never stop the light from shining through.
We will hunt the monsters to extinction
and we will free the world from their evil ways.
We will slay the beasts and
we will stop the spread of their
infernal diseases to the good people of this world.
We are the saviors of humankind.
We are the heroes of the light.
And we will not be stopped.'
I felt my blood boil and my heart freeze at the same time. The words that I had just read on that wall infuriated me. I was beyond angry. I was righteously pissed off. And I was ready to avenge the people that this monster had killed.
However, the thought struck me almost immediately. This person called us monsters, called me a monster. That meant that if I just went and destroyed him, and his whole group of killers, then I was just as much of a monster as he thought that I was. I needed to be more restrained than that. I needed to be civilized, because he sure as hell wasn't.
