Psycho Killer Part 1.

Part 1: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.

In the dead of the night, all is silent, that is except for the sounds of rummaging and furniture being thrown around inside a small house, accompanied by a woman’s screams and pleads for mercy. This noise catches the attention of one of the neighbors, and he leaves his home, baseball bat in hand. He briefly stops at the front door to listen in. “Uhh ma’am is everything alright in there?” He hears no response and pushes the door open, unlocked already. Slowly stepping inside, lights still on this late in the night, but what’s more worrying to him is the sheer mess throughout the house, a blood trail leads him towards the kitchen.

When he gets to the door to the kitchen, he catches sight of a man dressed in all black, standing over a bloody woman, knife in hand. He stops himself and takes cover against the wall, too afraid to look or even move, only fear overtaking him, trying his best to hold his breath. The silence of the night is broken by the crushing or even the molding of bones, like they’re changing shape, blood spewing out of a body, splattering all over the walls, and someone fighting the urge to scream all that comes out is gasping and coughing.

The neighbor swallows and gains the confidence to peer into the kitchen, as he turns his head inwards, it is in the blink of an eye bitten off by a horror that he couldn’t get a proper glimpse of. Howling coming from inside this one small house.

Sam is awoken by the sound of his alarm clock; he slams it off and leans back in his chair for a second. “4:30’o’clock… nice.” he says with a sigh, throwing the blanket off him and standing up, slowly walking towards the kitchen. In the kitchen, he turns on the kettle and opens the fridge taking out ham, lettuce, cheese, and mustard.

He starts building himself a sandwich and pouring coffee. When he is done making them, he stands at the window and pulls the curtains away watching the road outside, the cars passing, and the overcast skies while eating. After finishing he washes the mug and his gloves, holding onto his hands and rubbing them for a couple of seconds as he drifts away and then snaps back to reality.

Back in the living room, he grabs his coat and throws it on, he also grabs his belt and revolver. He takes a short moment to smell himself. “Wait when did I kill a Griffin?” He takes a short moment to recap everything in his mind. “Ooohhhh… last week.”

Sam opens the door and goes outside, locking it behind him again. He puts his hands in his pockets and walks away humming a song. He slowly strolls through the streets, taking in the dark atmosphere, the light breeze in the air, the overcast skies from the storm the night before, the only lights being streetlamps and from inside buildings, people waking up or restless through the night. He takes a small detour around the Dontonbori commercial ward to avoid all the people even this early in the morning. Finally, he stops at Saiwainishi Bridge, overlooking the water and the buildings on both sides of the river. He leans on a railing and folds his arms, finally some peace and quiet for the first time this week, he stands there for a couple of minutes watching as the lights of the city as dusk slowly starts to fade in, the sun appearing right in front of his eyes through the clouds.

Sam checks the time on his phone, six twenty AM, he starts walking away when he hears people start approaching him. Taking his one-hour walk back to Reaper Hunting Co in silence. Passing a newspaper rack on his way back he throws in a coin and starts reading it as he walks taking mental notes of the headlines.

“Sewer Blockage Detected in Osaka.”

“3rd Fishing Boat Disappears off the Coast.”

“Reitcher and Son’s Travelling Bar visits Osaka this Week, to a Hail of Praise.”

Later that morning.

Inside Reaper Hunting Co. Sam is sitting at his desk as usual, feet kicked up on it, reading a book while Annah works around the house, dusting, and cleaning everything.

“It’s nine-thirty, is he still sleeping?” Annah asks while dusting off the coffee table.

“Is there beer in the fridge?” Sam answers, still reading his book.

“No.” Annah returns confused.

“Well, there’s your answer.”

Annah walks over to Sam’s desk, tea towel and polish in hand. She signals Sam to move his feet off and he reluctantly pulls them off.

Kane slowly stumbles down the stairs to the living room, hair messy and eyes still wet.

“Well rise and shine Mr. Daylight.” Sam throws his book down to look at Kane.

“Yeah, shut up, at least I sleep at night. Take a look at that.” He puts his laptop down in front of Sam, placing it on top of the stack of papers on his desk.

Sam leans in closer to the laptop. “The… seven porn tabs you have open?”

Kane quickly grabs the laptop to close all the tabs while Sam just looks at him, mouth gaping open. “Oh, don’t look at me like that! You watch it too.” Sam just shakes his head slowly. He puts the laptop back down on a news article.

“Serial killer claims two lives.” Sam looks at Kane. “So?”

“Read on.”

“Infamous serial killer known as the Night Breaker has claimed two new lives last night in Osaka. The killer is famed as the deadliest and one of the longest-active in history, the first murder happened in 1968 on a rural farmstead in England. Since then, the killer has stricken several more times. Every time with the same MO, a rural farmhouse, several dead family members, and the youngest woman of the house missing. Although initially thought to be a mere break-in gone wrong, police and detectives have connected it to the breaker due to the mutilations on the bodies matching those of earlier victims. Marking this as the first rural attack and the first time the targeted victim was left behind, speaking of which.

Akari Yuki, a 25-year-old homeowner appears to have been the primary target, nothing much is known of Akari, she had recently moved into the area, and many say she kept to herself, even refusing to talk to neighbors when greeted. The last time she was seen was early last night heading outside. One of the two victims of the Breaker.

The other is Tatsuo Shiraki, a 45-year-old husband and father of two. He had no relation to Akari and was presumably killed when he was noticed by the Breaker.

According to Tatsuo’s wife, they heard a commotion from inside Akari’s house, Tatsuo himself went to investigate, however when he didn’t return after half an hour his wife quickly notified the police who later came across the bodies of both Akari and Tatsuo.”

“So, Kane this doesn’t exactly sound like our kind of thing? Just a normal old serial killer.”

Kane takes the laptop and scrolls down a bit. “What kind of normal old serial killer can behead a whole human, and then eat another one.”

Sam rubs his eyes. “Kane I’d like to go see, but I got stuff to do you know, and besides what happened to you saying we should ‘take the day off for Christmas?’”

Kane shrugs. “Plans change.”

Annah buds into the conversation. “You should go, Sam. Plus it’s not every day you get a serial killer right in our backyard.”

Sam stops rubbing his eyes and leans back for a second, then sighs. “Yeah, why not?!” He stands up and takes his gun belt off the coat hanger once more and reaches for his coat.

“Leave the coat!” Kane stops him before he grabs it.

“Why?” Sam turns to Kane.

“We’re working with the feds today.”

Sam’s eyes widen. “No!”

A couple of minutes later Sam and Kane walk down the stairs in black suits, with ties, tight pants, and white shirts. Sam has an absolute look of discomfort and embarrassment on his face while he tugs at the jacket.

“I look like a reservoir dog in this, man!” Sam says, looking at his suit.

“No, you don’t… you’re more like an eighth grader at his grandpa’s funeral.”

Sam hits his leg and walks towards the garage. “I hate this monkey suit.”

“You wanna get into that crime scene or not? Come on then sunshine, I’ll buy you a drink.”

“Kane you know me, and alcohol is a bad recipe.”

Sam and Kane both get into the car and drive off towards the crime scene. Leaving Annah home alone. She watches them speed off before heading back to the living room and towards a vinyl player in the corner. Sorting through different albums and stops on “Bat Out of Hell II” by Meat Loaf and hits play, instantly met by the sound of “I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That.)” She starts tapping her feet and moving along to the music all while cleaning the house and when the lyrics kick in, sings with all her passion, even if the passion doesn’t give the best results. Much to the dismay of Solomon, just trying to enjoy some peace and quiet in the desk closet. “Well, she’s enjoying it… that counts.” Is the only thought running through his mind.

Sam and Kane come to a stop in front of the house that holds the murder scene, as usual, all taped up, surrounded by police and the shuffling gossip of the neighborhood tying it all up nice in a knot.

Sam leans out the window to observe it all. “That is a lot of cops… and…” He spots two men in suits like theirs and loses all motivation he has for the day. “Oh, of course!” He throws his arms in the air.

Kane looks at him. “What?”

“P.S.I.A.”

Kane looks at the agents entering the crime scene. “Yeaahhhh, they’ve been on this for a while.”

Sam shouts out “YOU KNEW?!”

“I knew this guy’s been doing this for a while… didn’t think they’d send out agents this time.” Kane reassures him.

“What do we do now?”

Kane smirks, then leans towards the glovebox, opens it, and takes out two Fake IDs. “We get to work, Agent Hall.”

Sam grabs the ID from Kane’s hand and then gets out of the car. Kane follows behind him. They are both stopped by an officer guarding the tape. “Identification?”

They show their IDs to the officer and Kane as usual takes charge. “Agent Richrarth, this is my Partner, Agent Hall. Public Service Intelligence Agency.”

“We already got two of your agents here.”

“This case’s been a real head-scratcher over at the offices, our divisions think it’s best we work together on this, both those from out of town and those that know these streets like the back of their hands.”

The officer nods his head and raises the tape. “Alriighht then.” Both walk into the crime scene. Kane whispers to Sam, “Always gets easier.”

Stepping inside the house, Sam’s nose instantly starts getting irritated and he scratches it. “Do you smell that?” Sam says, struggling to battle sinuses.

Kane looks at him confused. “No?”

“W- wet dog-“ Sam sneezes before he can cover his mouth. “Wet dog hair.”

Kane shakes his head in awe. “Wow… supernatural mutant created to kill monsters, yet you have a dog allergy.”

Sam continues to sneeze as they walk through the house. “It’s not- *sneeze* an- *sneeze* ALLERGY!”

They walk into the kitchen met by the sight of two real P.S.I.A. agents investigating the corpses of Akari and Tatsuo, one of the agents stands up to confront Sam and Kane. “Who might you gentlemen be?” They once again take out their fake IDs.

“Agent Richrarth.”

“Agent Hall. Osaka division.”

The two agents also take out their IDs. “Huh, that’s weird… Agent Mononaki.” He points to his partner still investigating the bodies. “Agent Sarogami. Osaka Division.”

The silence between Sam, Kane, and Mononaki is deafening as they intensely stare at each other down, Mononaki slowly reaches for his gun as Sam does the same. When the tension reaches its boiling point Kane steps in between them. “We’re new! Here at least! This is our first case here, we just shipped in from Hokkaido! Right, Hall?” Sam slides his hand away from the gun and eases himself up, nodding. “Right.”

“Let’s hear it from your boss.” Mononaki says, still unsure.

“Of course.” Kane steps away for a second and takes out his phone, then he dials a number called “Boss” he taps his leg with his finger, agitated. “Come on…” the person on the other end picks up, an old, grizzled-sounding man answers. “What now?!”

Kane jumps back. “Ah boss, this is Agent Richrarth, I’m here with Hall, you see we’re checking this case, the Night Breaker murders. If you remember clearly, we transferred here to Osaka from Hokkaido, seems a couple of the agents didn’t join the welcoming party. Can you clear it up for them a bit?”

The man takes a deep breath. “Fine, give them the damn phone.”

Kane hands Agent Mononaki the phone, bringing it up to his ear. The man on the other side talks first. “Supervisory Special Agent of the Hokkaido Division, Neal Doughty, ID Number 423490372. Who am I speaking to?”

“This is Agent Mononaki with the P.S.I.A. Osaka division. We-“ He hears sizzling and popping on the other side. “Are you making food?”

The man responds. “Listen Agent Molokaki.”

“Mononaki-“

“I don’t care. I also don’t think you should care about what I do on an off day.”

“This is highly unprofessional of you…” Mononaki starts gaining an attitude.

“Ooohhh boohoo, take it up with the Director if a couple of fried eggs and bacon hurt your feelings. Or you know just maybe I’ll report you if you speak to me like that again boy.”

Mononaki recoils back. “Sorry sir.”

“Now I hope you treat me with respect and carry that over to my two men. You don’t want to make them mad… especially the short one.”

Mononaki hangs his head low and whispers. “Yes, sir.”

The man loudly exclaims. “Say that again!”

Mononaki straightens his back and looks up, speaking loud and clear. “Yes, sir!”

The man hangs up and Mononaki hands Kane back his phone while walking away. “Let’s go Sarogami, let’s have the professionals handle this.” He says, leaving Kane with the biggest smirk on his face. Sam grabs the clipboard and pen Sarogami had in his hands as he passes.

Kane pats Sam’s shoulder and walks out of the room. “You do you. I do me.”

Sam nods his head. “Right.” He glances at the clipboard of notes. “Let’s see here, Sarogami.” He reads through the notes then looks at the bodies, his eyes constantly darting between the notes and the crime scene. He stops to think for a second, tears out the notes, crumbles them up then tosses them aside. “Never mind.”

As Kane walks out, he glances at the table and the beer bottles sitting on them. “Reitcher’s personal, huh. Never heard of that.”

Sam crouches over Akari’s body. “Deep lacerations.” He slightly pulls apart the entry wound at the chest. “Very deep, curved blade too, hit her with enough force to break the ribs and puncture the lungs. I’m counting at least 19, running down from the chest to the stomach to the left leg.” He holds up her right hand. “Small cuts likely from broken glass.” He rolls down the sleeves of both her arms. “Gashes, not nearly as deep as those on the rest of her body. Likely the first wounds to occur. Now for the interesting part.” He rolls her on her stomach. “Chunks of flesh missing from the shoulders and back region. Her shirt and jacket are still intact back here, whatever did this doesn’t like cloth and linen with their food.” He rolls up the lower part of her shirt. “Bite marks on the right side of her abdomen look canine. Left foot missing.” He turns his head to right next to the fridge. “But the bones are right there. Picky eater.”

Sam stands up and opens the fridge, the only thing inside is a bottle of water and a pack of leftover food bought from somewhere, opening the pack he smells it before seeing it. “Who puts that much sauce on a steak?!” He inspects the meat closer, noting the texture to be different from steak and slowly places it back in the fridge. “That… ain’t right.”

He looks at the trash can in the corner of the room, also empty. Lastly, he opens a cutlery drawer. “One fork. One teaspoon. One tablespoon. One butter knife. One large knife. Pair of chopsticks.” He turns his head to Akari’s corpse. “You can afford a house but not an extra fork? Jesus.”

Sam walks over to Tatsuo. “No stab wounds on you, no chunks of flesh gone.” He quickly glances at Tatsuo’s severed head in the hallway. “Sort of. Seems she was its main target.”

Going into the living room, Sam finds the white couch tipped over with blood-dried on it. But firstly, he inspects the locks on the front door. “It’s not broken.” He looks at one of the officers guarding the front door. “Are there any broken locks or windows in the house?”

The officer jumps awake and turns to Sam. “UH! NO! I mean no-no. But Agent Sarogami reckoned that the killer probably slipped in right as she left the house.” Sam gives the most blank look of “Really?” to the officer then slips away. “No wonder you haven’t caught him yet.”

Kane walks back into the house behind Sam. “Hey! I spoke to a couple of people round the neighborhood, mostly those across the street. They say they saw Akari walk in with another person last night, about the same height, small build, considering they aren’t here, cops and P.S.I.A. have him as their top suspect.”

Sam talks to Kane, but his focus is still on the crime scene. “Yeah, I reckoned that much. No windows broken and locks are still intact.”

Kane glances over the scene. “Guess the Night Breaker is more like the Night Guest.” Kane awkwardly laughs to himself while Sam works everything out, mumbling to himself.

“Empty beer bottles on the table, ‘Reitcher’s Personal.’ Empty plates. They were hanging out. My guess is the Breaker attacked her on the couch, slashed at her with a knife, cutting her arms.”

Kane’s eyes keep flying between Sam and the couch.

“In the struggle their weight tipped over the couch, knocking both of them on the ground.” Sam slowly moves between the couch and the stairs in front of the door. Kane follows behind him. “She managed to get up first and run for the door.” Sam inspects the blood stain on the floor. “Breaker got up and stabbed her, possibly in the leg. Persevering she tries to go to the back door, screaming for mercy getting the attention of the neighborhood.” He follows the blood trail along the hallway leading to the kitchen, stopping right in front of a broken portrait. “She stumbled right here, knocked off the picture, and when she hit the ground, she cut her left hand on the shattered glass. Either through blind luck or because the Breaker was enjoying her suffering, she made it to the kitchen where the rest unfolded.” He walks into the kitchen, stepping over Tatsuo, Kane inspects the blood on the wall. “Right here the rest of the stabbing ensued. The neighbors being alerted, Tatsuo coming in and being decapitated.”

Kane nudges Sam on the shoulder. “Look at this.” Sam looks at the blood on the wall, it’s different from the rest, a sunrise orange color, unlike the red of humans. “That’s monster blood right there.”

Sam scoops up a tiny bit of it with his finger. “You sure?”

Kane looks away from Sam around the room. “Yes, I’m su-!” When he turns back to Sam, he sees him licking the blood off his finger and tasting it in his mouth. Kane drops his arms, widens his eyes, and gapes his mouth wide, leaving a confused and disgusted look on his face, as Sam, unsure of what to do with the blood, just swallows it and nods. “Yep, that’s monster blood. Tastes like oranges.”

Kane just raises his hands and leaves. “Brother you need a miracle at your door tonight,” he says under his breath.

Right before leaving with Kane, Sam looks under his boot and notices a clump of black hair. He pieces together the blood, the hair, and the bites. “Yeah, we’re dealing with a Lycanthrope here.”

Meanwhile, back at Reaper Hunting Co., Annah stands proud inside a clean house, admiring her work. “And that is a job well done!” Exclaimed with pride in her voice. “Now…” she loses all her pride and hangs her head. “What do I do now?” She tramples around the living room, looking around for something. “What’s Sam up to?” She stands over Sam’s desk and looks at the book he was reading, Hondo by Louis L’amour. Placing the book aside she sifts through the papers strewn on the desk.

“Bank Loan.”

“Property Damage Notice.”

“Court Summon for Bruce Eastwood.”

She processes everything and places the letters aside. Taking note of all the piles in the trash can. Under the rest of the letters and notices lies the only opened one, she slowly reads through it. “…signed, Michael. PS: I’ll be dropping off a gift for you on Christmas, so be sure to be there to be home for that…” She places the letter back down. “That’s tomorrow. No wait.” She takes out her phone and checks the date. “25 December 2003. Oh…”

A couple of hours later, Sam and Kane are parked across from a restaurant, food packed all around the car as Sam works on the laptop and Kane reads some case files.

“So, you’re dead sure it’s a Lycan? Not a werewolf?”

Sam types away at the computer. “Werewolves are purely animalistic; they only change at full moon. Not only is it a quarter moon, but the bones of the feet and selective eating shows it has some semblance of intelligence and thought. Either way, silver is the way to go.”

“So, we know what it is. We just don’t know who.”

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out, who our little Night Breaker is.”

Kane stops turning pages when he comes across something interesting. “Huh.”

Sam turns to him. “What?”

“According to this the Breaker only targeted isolated homesteads, usually farms or cabins out in the middle of nowhere. Whenever the police arrived on the scene, there would always be one body missing, usually the youngest woman in the house.” He closes the file. “This is the first time he targeted a house in a populated area AND left a body.”

“He got sloppy. What’s the period between each murder and disappearance?”

“About a month.”

“He was taking the girls for the monthly food. Are there any survivors from his previous attacks?”

“Nope.”

Sam thinks for a second. “Okay did the neighbors mention anything about when she left and when she came back?”

Kane opens the file again. “Uuhhh- yes! One of the neighbors sitting on the porch saw her leaving at around six o’clock in the afternoon and then came back at nine that night.”

Sam scratches his chin. “Her fridge was empty, barring some leftover packed food. No empty beers in the trash, she must’ve brought them in from outside. The beer is a brand called Reitcher’s Personal, ever heard of it?”

“No, I’m broke, but I’m not that broke.”

He checks something on the laptop. “Lemme see here, I read a bit about Reitchers in the newspaper this morning.”

Kane stretches a bit. “This is going to be a long day.”

“Ah, here we go! Reithcher’s personal is the self-made brew of Leo Reitcher, owner of the now renowned Reitcher and Son’s Travelling Bar, also known for their ‘World Class meals. And! It looks like they set up shop here in Osaka for the time being, right near Akari’s house apparently, it’s quite the hot spot now.”

“Right. I’ll go check the bar and ask around while you go see everything you can find at the station.”

Sam grabs his ID, gun, and a burger off the dashboard. “Ah no! I’ll go check the bar, you check the station!”

“Fiiineeee. Should I take you there?”

“I’ll walk.”

Sam gets out of the car and before speeding away Kane puts a cassette into the radio, blasting “Hair of the Dog” by Nazareth as he drives.

Sam sees the car as it disappears into the distance. “I was thinking more Werewolves of London, but sure.” Stepping away deep into thought as the rain starts to pour in, covering the sky in gray, bringing out his deepest thoughts and feelings to the surface as raises his head up letting it all pour on his face. “Why did I decide to walk?”

Sometime later Kane stops outside the police station still jamming along to music. Unaware of the two PSIA agents parked a few meters behind him in a black 1980 Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

Mononaki reads the plates off the back of Kane’s car. “Green on white. Iwate prefecture. Class code 08. Plate letter, Akuma. Number, 11-24. Run that for me, Sarogami. I gotta make a call with head office real quick.” He observes Kane as he walks into the station wearing a hat and sunglasses.

Meanwhile, Sam stands in front of the bar entrance, “Reitcher and Son’s Traveling Bar.”, he walks in soaked by the rain, being met by a woody interior complemented by the smell of spilled alcohol and cigarettes, his sinuses kick in again and makes him violently sneeze. Turned off by all the people inside, he walks over to the counter and sits down trying to stay low.

The bartender approaches him, cleaning a glass, his scruffy brown hair and beard graying with age. “You a fed?”

Sam rests his back a bit. “Unfortunately, today I am. You open on Christmas of all days?”

“Best time for business really! Didn’t know they allowed you to drink on the job.”

Sam smirks, shakes his head and utters his words. “Oh, I’d like that.”

“What’s that?” the tender says, turning his ear to Sam.

He speaks up. “Never mind. You the owner?”

The bartender looks over the bar with pride. “Yes indeed! Leo Reitcher! Built this little business.” He points to a man sitting in the corner of the room. “Of course, with the help of my son over there. So can I get you anything?”

Sam sniffs the air, managing to make out the smell of the same sauce that was on the food in Akari’s fridge. “Yeah, I’ll see your menu.” He says rubbing his nose. Leo hands the menu and he scans through it. “I’ll take the steak.” He says passing the menu back. “Nice place.”

“Well, being a traveling bar, I’ve seen worse, but I’ve seen way better too.”

“I bet so.” Sam looks at Leo’s son in the corner of the room and stands up. “I’ll be over there.”

He walks over and sits down next to Leo’s son. “You’re not going to help your old man run the bar?”

The son doesn’t talk to Sam. “Come on kid, I don’t bite. What’s your name?”

“Hikaru.” The son responds lightly.

“I see.”

“And he doesn’t really appreciate my help. Most days I just sit here and watch as everyone drinks and eat lives away.”

“Sorry?”

“Nothing.” Hikaru says laying on his arms. “Who are you?”

“A professional.”

A waitress passes Sam his meal. “Here you go sir.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” The sauce, meat, and texture are the exact same as those at Akari’s, Sam places the plate aside.

“You got a family?” Hikaru asks.

Sam takes one big breath. “Depends on your definition of family.”

“Wives? Kids? Brothers, Sisters?”

“Wife… I guess. Kids, I hope not. Had a sister, she died. My brothers well that’s a complicated little story there.”

Hikaru stays quiet.

“What about you?”

“Too young for that.”

Sam pulls the hood off Hikaru’s head, catching a glimpse of his black hair and blue eyes, he barely looks 20 before he swiftly pulls the hoodie back up. “I guess you’re right in that department. Young love, it’s…”

Hikaru sits back on the bar stool. “Bloody and painful?”

Sam grabs a single piece of fries from the meal. “Shot down in flames.”

Hikaru looks at the plate of food next to Sam. “You going to eat that?”

Sam slides the food towards him and checks his pockets for his phone. “Nah eat it.”

As Sam checks his phone, Hikaru grabs the entire steak with both his hands and starts eating it in massive bites, savoring every single one in his mouth. “Was your father a good man, mister?” Hikaru asks his mouth garbled and messy with the food in his mouth.

Sam hits the table and gives a hearty laugh, drawing everyone’s attention. “Oh, pal! You have no idea…” Stopping his laughter he places his phone on the table. “Anyways.” He opens a picture of Akari on the phone. “She looks familiar to you?”

Hikaru hides his face even more from Sam. “N- no not at all.”

“That doubt in your voice?”

“No, I’m dead sure I didn’t see her at all, sir. Maybe my father or one of the waiters did, they worked all night, and I was… busy.”

Sam stands up. “Okay then.” Hikaru tries grabbing his arm, but he merely walks away.

Sam walks over to the bar counter and takes out his phone, putting up the picture of Akari, tapping the glass. “This girl, she in here last night?”

Leo picks up the phone and brings it right up to his face. “You looking for her number?”

“She’s dead.” Sam quickly responds, deadpan.

The tender’s eyes widen, and he hands Sam the phone back. “Ah…”

“Akari Yuki. That’s her name.”

“Weellllll, I don’t remember her at all.”

“Really? Well.” Sam pulls up another picture of the crime scene with Reitcher’s Personal sitting on the table. “What’s your beer doing at her place.”

“Even on busy nights and across the world, I always remember customer faces. She wasn’t here, so she probably didn’t come in here!!!”

“Nowhere else sells your drink, Leo.”

Leo slams his fist on the table. “If I said she wasn’t here, then she wasn’t here! I. ALWAYS. REMEMBER. A FACE.”

“Sure.” Sam puts his phone back into his pocket and stands up. “I pray you forget mine.”

Sam leaves the bar; Leo looks at Hikaru across the bar and orders him to follow Sam out.

He gets up and leaves the bar, slowly following behind Sam, hands in his pockets and a hoodie over his head. Sam, seemingly unaware just keeps his face forward, sticking just far enough behind him even as Sam makes three right turns around the same block. They eventually both walk over a crossing, Sam walks straight into a group of people and keeps his head to the ground, causing Hikaru to lose track of him.

“What the-? Where did he go?”

He looks through the passing crowd for Sam, but he has seemingly disappeared. When the crowd goes past him, he groans and turns back the way he came. As he starts walking, he is suddenly yanked into a dark alleyway by the arm and is then met face-to-face with Sam grabbing him by the collar.

“Tisk. Tisk. Tisk. I took three right turns, and you really didn’t take that as a sign, you’re a lousy little stalker.” Sam pulls down his hoodie as Hikaru tries breaking free. “So blue eyes? What were you doing following me.”

“I’m a friend of Akari!” He loudly proclaims.

“That’s odd, isn’t it?!” Pulling Hikaru closer to his face, his voice getting annoyed. “Akari didn’t have any. I presume neither do you.”

“We met at the bar!”

Sam shoves him against the wall. “She didn’t go to the bar according to you and your father.” He unholsters his gun. “Boy, you better start speaking with reason. Because right now there are holes in your story, like the one that’s gonna be in your head if you don’t tell the truth here and now.”

The man throws his hands in the air. “OKAY OKAY OKAY! I want your number, alright!!!”

Sam raises his arms forward. “Whoa, whoa easy cowboy, you might be ready, but I don’t swing off that side of the set yet.”

“NOT LIKE THAT YOU IDIOT!!! I’m looking for a job opportunity!”

Sam lowers his gun. “Ah…” Scratching his head with the gun barrel. “Well, I do need an intern to search stuff up, but eh some other time.” He points out of the alleyway. “Go!” Hikaru looks around confused. “Get outta here!!! I’ll tell you if I need something!!!” Watching as Hikaru runs away, he holsters his gun again. “I didn’t tell him her name…”

Sam just as he gets a phone call from Kane, his ringtone “Harvester of Sorrow” by Metallica.

“Yes?” Sam says, picking up the call.

“So… Reitcher and Son’s…”

“Yeah, I just spoke to both.” He pokes his head out of the alleyway to look at Hikaru running. “Miserable Father. Depressed and Confusing Son. Lovely people.”

Kane gives out a low laugh as he leans back on the chair of an office inside the police station, looking at the case file and a computer open on a page about Reitcher’s and Sons. “Well, here are three cool facts and coincidences about Reitcher and Son’s and the famed international serial killer the Night Breaker! Number one! They both made their first appearance in East London in August 1968! Although it was only called Reitcher’s back then!” Kane down a cup of coffee. “Number two! Wherever Reitcher’s travelled, a victim of the Night Breaker soon followed! Number three! Did you know? Human flesh tastes an awful lot like veal! And reviewers and testers have all said that Reitcher’s meat no matter what it claims to be always tastes and feels like veal. What else has human flesh as a food source?”

Sam’s expression turns serious. “Lycanthropes…”

“DING! DING! DING! YOU’RE A WINNER.”

“Kane meet me at Reitcher’s the second you can!”

“Will do boss!”

Kane gets up from the chair and starts walking out of the office when he sees Mononaki and Sarogami standing at the reception desk and the receptionist pointing towards him. Kane swiftly turns around and looks for another door out, but having no other choice, he throws on his glasses and hat again. He starts whistling, keeping his head low and his back turned as he walks out of the office.

Making his way to the front door, drawing as little attention as possible to him as the Agents nearly miss him too. But right as he touches the doorknob, he hears someone yelling behind him.

“Stop right there! Turn around!”

Kane slowly lets go of the doorknob and twirls around arms in the air, met by the sight of nearly the entire department pointing their guns at him. “Agents! What’s with the friendly fire?”

“You’re no friendly! We checked in with head office, and there haven’t been any transfers in years! Oh, and Arthur Pendragon? Really?!”

Kane realizes his mistake. “Yeahhhh I really should put the car on my name.

“Let’s not mention you and your partner are wanted criminals across the country too! And the first thing you do walk right into an active crime scene and a police station?!”

“That was a tiny mistake.”

“Oh yes real tiny, come on we got some detectives that wanna ask you boys a couple questions. Where’s that partner of yours?”

A smirk grows on Kane’s face. “Take me in then, I’ll tell you everything.”

Mononaki ushers Sarogami forwards. “Cuff ‘em.”

“Turn around.” Sarogami says as Kane does so without reluctance.

“He speaks!!! Oh, and by the way I got a gun on me too.”

“Where?”

“Left shoulder.”

Sarogami reaches around Kane with his right hand and grabs the gun out of the shoulder and slowly unholsters it. “This one?”

“Yep. Thank you.”

When the gun is fully out of the holster Kane thinks fast, he grabs hold of Sarogami’s right arm and throws it over and above his head, he quickly swings both of them around and grabs the arm again, and with a smooth motion he breaks the arm, causing him to drop the gun which Kane quickly picks up with his right hand as he wraps his left arm around Sarogami’s neck and then points the gun at his head. It all happening too fast for anyone to process. Everyone takes their finger off the trigger as Kane slowly backs towards the exit.

“Now gentleman, ladies. As you can see, you appear to be in quite the predicament.” Sarogami pulls and struggles to get away from Kane, prompting Kane to lightly hit him with the gun. “Now this-!“ Kane whispers to Sarogami. “How old are you?”

“Thirty-two!!!” Sarogami screams out.

“Ah okay.” Kane says still whispering before speaking out loud.

“Now this poor middle-aged man has his arm broken, pretty bad!” He quickly looks down at Sarogami’s arm. “Ooff look at that the bone’s sticking out!” This makes Sarogami cry out in pain, leading Kane to pat him on the shoulder with the gun. “Oh relax. Now! Don’t cry! It can go one of three ways for this fool, all pretty bad, one slightly better! One! You fine people can load both of us full of bullets, killing us near instantly! Two! I put a little bullet in this man’s skull and make a mad dash for the exit, only killing HIM instantly! Three! All of you put your guns away and let me walk free and keep this guy alive, just with a very badly broken arm! Which is it gonna be?!”

All the officers and Mononaki continue to aim at them, Kane leans to Sarogami’s ear. “Tell your friends to put their guns down.”

“What?! No!!!”

“Alright then.”

Kane kicks Sarogami’s broken leg, making him scream out. “PUT THE DAMN GUNS DOWN!!!”

With shifting eyes and uncertainty, everyone in the department slowly points their guns to the ground while Kane makes his exit to the door. “Thank you!”

Outside and standing in front of the driver's door of the car, Kane reaches into his pockets and dangles the car keys in front of Sarogami. “Now unlock that please.”

“How?” Sarogami cries out the pain and the situation finally getting to him.

“You still have a working arm! Use that!”

Sarogami grabs the keys and with shaking hands slowly unlocks it and pulls the door open then hands the keys back to him.

“Now…”

Kane throws Sarogami to his right, causing him to land on the broken arm. “WHYYYY?!!!” Sarogami screams at Kane as he gets into the car.

Kane quickly puts the keys in and turns the ignition as all the police officers run out shooting and nearly missing him. He instantly hits the gas the second the engine starts and like a speed demon disappears into the distance while everyone still shoots at him.

“Leave it! You’re just wasting ammo! Don’t bother chasing him either” Mononaki says walking outside and then crouches over Sarogami wreathing in pain and holding onto his arm. “Get him some help! Find out where he’s going and send every single member of the district to him.”

As Kane speeds through the streets, narrowly avoiding every car in his way he calls Sam. “Come on, come on, pick up!” Sam’s number goes to voicemail. “This is Sam’s personal line if you have any business redirect it to my work line. If this is someone I know, please wait for the beep. And if this is those damn tech company telemarketers again, I swear I’ll burn your workplace down.”

“Sam listen the cops are onto us. I’m heading over to Reitcher’s right now to help, but please pick up your phone!"

So... I might've made this chapter a teensy tiny bit too long. Uh...

Chapter 4 Part 1: END.