Chapter 1:

The Full Moon and First Blood

The Cryptid Killer


Dan was escorted into the regional sheriff's office by agent Donovan and two deputies he was unfamiliar with. To his dismay, there wasn't much of a crowd gathered. Dan wanted flashing cameras and angry faces not the pathetic looks of people who had no idea what he was or what he had done. 


Dan scoffed , “What a boring little town, full of boring little people.”


The officer to his right heard his commnet and jerked down hard on his hand cuffs at that comment. A sharp pain ran up Dan's wrist and he let out a hiss. 


“Ow, It's almost like you’ve done this before, deputy.” Dan gave him a maniacal smile under the bite guard. 


Dan took long and easy strides until they entered the brightly lit little building. After that agent Donovan grabbed Dan by the handcuffs and basically dragged him into the interrogation. It was a standard interrogation room with a single table equipped with a bar to attach Dan's cuff's, a one-way window for viewing, and three chairs. A young man with jet black hair, a button up shirt, and slacks was already sitting in one of the chairs. He stood when the pair entered the room. 


“Agent Donovan, Daniel,” the man slid out the chair that was sitting alone, “Sit!” 


Daniel sat down slowly into his seat and lifted his hands to have his cuffs attached to the table.  They were treating him like a vicious animal, and he was enjoying every minute. With an oddly friendly smile on his face Dan introduced himself, “You can call me Dan. Everyone does. Who do I have the pleasure of meeting today?”


The young man flashed a fake smile, “Agent Thompson. I'd say it's a pleasure but I'd be lying.”


Agent Donovan sat down on the chair and began impatiently tapping her finger, “Let's cut to the chase Dan, why'd you do it?”


Dan chuckled in a deep baritone rumble that was intensely foreboding on its own. Coupled with his appearance, it created an immediate feeling of unease in the room. “Curt and straight to the point agent Donovan. I like your style. I'll Tell you what. Take this thing off my face and I'll tell you all about the murders, Deal?”


Dan tilted his hand up towards the agents waiting for a gesture of agreement.


With an exasperated sigh, Agent Donovan placed her hands on the table and rose from her seat. Without a single word she walked behind Dan and loosened the leather straps holding the plastic cover over Dan's mouth and nose. Rather than try to catch it, Donovan let it fall to the metal table, avoiding putting herself close enough to Dan to get bitten.


The extra careful precautions made Dan smile, his sharpened, silver capped k9's hanging down his mouth like daggers. “Smart and decisive. I think I'm falling in love, agent.” Dan shot Donovan a quick wink.


“I see you have a certain charm to you. That helps explain how you lured your victims out here, to the middle of nowhere.”


Dan smiled again. “That's not exactly it. Let me tell you all about it. Firstly, you know what I do for work right?”


Both agents scoffed. “Yes we do. You are a paranormal investigator.” answered agent Thompson.


Dan shook his head, “That's a bit off the mark. I don't investigate the paranormal. I investigate creatures of legend. Werewolves, vampires, sasquatch, and things of that nature. But to get to the point, it was my job that enticed all of my victims. The first was ….”


“Rachel Gunner,” answered agent Donovan before Dan could finish.


“Yes Rachel. She and I met on a cryptid discord server. I had no intention of hurting her, but after talking for a few months, she and I decided to meet up and investigate some animal mutilation cases in northern MN. I'll tell you the whole story if you put the tape recorder on the table agent Thompson.”


Agent Thompson rolled his eyes and placed the recorder on the table. Without any prompting Dan stated his name and DOB.


“This is Daniel Newton, DOB August 25th, 1992. Consider this my confessional statement.”


Dan began to tell the story of what transpired during the first murder:


Rachel and I met up at the nearest coffee shop which was about a 25 minute drive from the first cabin where reports of a mutilated horse were filed. We hit it off immediately looking over some photographs of the attack site. The horse appeared to be nearly torn in half at the back hips. Its organs were still intact with a few deep bite marks on its neck. The horse was not eaten at all, just viciously attacked. We both knew that no ordinary predator  would kill an animal of that size and leave it uneaten. 


Rather than contacting the owner of the horse the two of us drove up to the property hoping they would be present. After walking some distance to the farmhouse, we realized it was completely abandoned. We thought they must have been out somewhere on the farm. So we grabbed our filming equipment and headed to the fenceline where the photos of the dead horse were taken. At this point it had become dark outside, and our path was lit by nothing but the full moon. I was getting eaten alive by bugs so I kept smacking my legs and arms. 


By the time we got to the spot where the dead horse was, the sun was already setting. When we made it there, something dashed out of the shadows and left a gash in my forearm. I dropped all my equipment and Rachel and I ran in different directions into the wooded areas around the farm. At some point, a branch hit me in the face and rendered me unconscious. When I woke up, I was covered in blood, bits of flesh, and hair. There were bits of flesh in my teeth, and only a few hundred feet away lay Rachel's body, mutilated in the same way as the horse. I still couldn't believe what happened, but then I found my camera. The footage showed me violently ripping Rachel apart. Though I didn't remember, the full moon at my back was warming my very soul. In that moment I finally felt complete. The scene looked like one right out of a werewolf movie which brought me a feeling of unrelenting and unprecedented joy. 


The feeling of enacting the expected behaviors of the very cryptids I researched brought on the urge to do it again. I'm not sure what exactly bit me, but after Inwas finished staging Rachel's body, I noticed the bite wound had closed. I picked up all of my equipment and washed myself off at the abandoned farmhouse. I still don't know where the owners were. I guess it didn't matter. The combo of the full moon and tasat first taste of blood had unlocked something in me that had been lying dormant. Dan finished talking. 


The agents looked at each other knowingly. This man was a true psychopath.

MyAnimeList iconMyAnimeList icon