1 Case 1: Tailored Predator

Big Ben sounded its bells, 12 chimes to mark the end of the morning and signal the beginning of the afternoon. Inside of a lone mansion on top of a hill in the outskirts of London, a girl who was sipping on jade tea while sitting on a red cushioned couch heard the bells, that was how loud they were, and she pitied anyone who worked inside the clock tower and had to hear them every hour. "Miss Emilia, I have just retrieved the 12 O'clock newspaper from town for you to read." A tall old man with white hair tied into a ponytail and a white mustache said as he walked into the room, he was wearing a vintage fitted black double-breasted 3 piece suit.

Emilia brushed back a strand of her grey hair that fell in front of her eye as the old man placed the newspaper onto the coffee table and stepped off to the side. Emilia had an unusual hair color, nobody else had a full head of long grey hair, well maybe except people over 60, but she wasn't 60, she was 17. "Thank you Windhelm." She said to the old man.

When she set her tea down she gazed over the newspaper with nothing short of boredom in her grey eyes, until she caught a specific article, "7th child reported missing in the last month?" Emilia read aloud with child-like curiosity enveloping her usual monotone voice. Windhelm looked over at the newspaper and then said in a respectful tone, "Yes miss, I believe I heard rumors about multiple children going missing in the past month, all sons, I also believe they were all children of highly respected tailors." Windhelm gestured his hand to each of the seven pictures.

Emilia read the article carefully and her usually tiny frown turned into a small smile. "I believe finding this killer will be easier than we thought."

"Killer, miss?" Windhelm had slight confusion but still did not doubt his mistress words.

"Exactly what I said, somebody doesn't just kidnap the sons of tailors if he doesn't have a motive, other than ransom of course, and unless he is waiting for a mass ransom then he has an ulterior motive," Emilia said as she picked up her tea and slowly sipped on it with her eyes closed.

Windhelm only nodded in understanding as Emilia finished her tea, she set it down on the tea tray gently and Windhelm poured another cup for her as she smiled and said, "All I need to do now is call in a favor."

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"Excuse, Mr. Benedict." Mr. Benedict, a portly man with a balding head of brown hair and a brown mustache turned around upon hearing the voice and then bowed, "Ah! Lord Willcroft, it is a pleasure as always to have you here." Lord Willcroft smiled as he took off his hat and held it to his side.

"Mr. Benedict, I have not come here to shop today, but ask you a very urgent question."

"Anything my Lord, please come inside so we can discuss it, James, my dear son please man the counter for me." Mr. Benedict waited until Lord Willcroft was inside the room and then yelled to his son who was stocking shelves, upon hearing the request James turned and saluted resolutely.

In the room both Lord Willcroft and Mr. Benedict sat down on opposite ends of a table after Mr. Benedict got them tea, it was dark in the room, the only light that came was from the window which reflected the evening sun's rays. "What a sweet and hardworking kid you have." Mr. Benedict perked up at the compliment.

"Why thank you, my Lord, It would have been an honor for my son to hear those words personally, but I will convey them to him." Mr. Benedict said as he sipped some tea. Lord Willcroft picked up his tea and sipped it too, but when he was done he kept it to his mouth, his smile widening a little as his eyes narrowed.

"It would be a shame if such a young and hardworking boy were to have been kidnapped." Lord Willcroft said as he set his tea down and feigned a sad frown.

"Oh, but of course, I have been watching my boy thoroughly as of late to make sure he is safe. You have my utmost gratitude for worrying about him, although I am worried more about the boys who were kidnapped as of late." A pang of sadness showed on Mr. Benedict's face. Lord Willcroft did not miss this however, although he found it weird, what he wanted was to find out if Mr. Benedict had in fact kidnapped and or killed the children like in Emilia's hypothesis. That may not be true though.

"Mr. Benedict, like earlier, I said I have a question, may I ask it now?" Lord Willcroft went back to his normal smiling self, his black hair covered one of his light green eyes which were shining with curiosity. Mr. Benedict's face changed to seriousness as he nodded eagerly, "Alright then, Mr. Benedict, you have three choices to choose from if you were a kidnapper. Firstly, would you use the victim as a plaything and then dispose of it, or would you kill it just for the pleasure and thrill, or perhaps ask for a ransom?" Lord Willcroft showed three fingers as he said this and then took a sip of his tea and smiled while he leaned back on his chair, crossing his legs, he raised his brows in a questioning look as to indicate that he wanted an answer.

He had used "it" as a term for the victim because he wanted to provoke a reaction out of Mr. Benedict in hopes of shaking his facade, people with humanity in them wouldn't sit down and just let another person be called it. People don't always hide behind facades. Mr. Benedict thought about it in all seriousness, the "it" part going completely over his head. "Perhaps if I was the kidnapper, I would ask for a ransom, for if I killed I would go to jail, but if I asked for a ransom I would get off scot-free without having to kill or getting caught."

Lord Willcroft's brow twitched, can a man be this stupid, or is he just ignorant. He thought about this thoroughly while staring at Mr. Benedict, who was, in turn, starting to sweat a little, did he say something wrong, why was his lord staring at him with narrowed eyes and not speaking.

"Alright, thank you for your time, Mr. Benedict." Lord Willcroft got up from the chair and bowed his head in a slight nod while holding out his hand. Mr. Benedict was taken off guard for a second but then quickly recomposed himself, he got up and quickly shook Lord Willcroft's hands with both of his, "Yes Lord, but it is I who should be thanking you, for it is an honor anytime you visit us!"

Lord Willcroft took his top hat off the clothes rack and was about to leave the store when he got a tug on his sleeve, "Um, L-Lord, excuse me." Lord Willcroft, turned slightly to see a less than resolute James than before, he was hunched slightly as if trying to avoid eye contact in fear of embarrassment, he was also hiding something behind his back. Lord Willcroft smiled slightly and bent down, "Yes, what is it, James?"

"For you, Lord." James held out a beautiful ornate black cane with two hands.

Lord Willcroft blinked and then held it with his gloved hand, "Thank you, I will take care of this." He then rubbed James's head with his other hand and got up from a crouching position, "Goodbye James, Mr. Benedict, I will return soon."

"Goodbye Lord Willcroft, and safe travels."

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The Next Morning,

Big Ben chimed out 8 times, signaling 8 o'clock.

"So you think Mr. Benedict is not our killer?" Emilia asked calmly as she sipped fresh-brewed Jade tea that Windhelm just poured, she was shrouded in darkness until Windhelm opened the blinds, "Come sit down."

Lord Willcroft sat down on the red velvet couch adjacent to Emilia with the giant window behind him. "No miss, I believe he is not the man we are looking for nor has he any personal connection." He said this as Windhelm poured him a cup of Jade tea. "I see, and I also see you bought something from there, no, let me guess it was a gift," Emilia said as she looked with only her eyes at his cane which was leaning against the couch. "Yes, you are correct as always miss, this was a gift from the tailor's son."

Emilia narrowed her eyes slightly and then gestured with her hand to Windhelm, she then said, "Mr. Willcroft, have you read the morning news yet?" She tilted her head slightly as she asked.

Windhelm gently put a newspaper in front of Lord Willcroft and Emilia leaned over the coffee table slightly and pointed to a paragraph in the bottom right with her index finger. He read it carefully and then looked at the picture, his pupils dilated as he grabbed the paper and held it closer to his face.

'The evening of death,

This evening a reported 7 bodies with many parts missing were found dumped in the same spot in Whitechapel District. All bodies are reported to be the recently kidnapped sons of multiple respected tailors.

All of the bodies had the same name, Benedict, tattooed onto them, the peelers from Scotland Yard have since then taken Mr. Benedict, another respected tailor into custody under the suspension of multiple accounts of murder. When the other tailors found out, they rushed to the Benedict Residence, pitchforks in hand, and repeatedly stabbed James, the only son of the Benedict house until death, this was supposedly a form of grieving and revenge.

On another note,

The new university in Westminister is...'

Lord Willcroft stared at the paper and read it over and over again until Emilia leaned over, grabbing it from his hands and setting it down on the coffee table while smiling slightly, "Thanks to this recent turn of events, we now have a possible motive." Lord Willcroft nodded at the statement meanwhile shakily grabbing his new cane and putting it in his lap.

"Listen, as much as you miss that boy... he is dead, and there is no known way of bringing him back," Emilia said with a sigh.

Lord Willcroft, breathed in and then out slowly and then nodded, "Right... anyway... the motive to the murders I believe is vengeance, who knows what for, but our murderer would have kidnapped and killed James too if he were not looking to take revenge on his father... in the worst way possible." He explained the possible motive as to give him something to think about instead of grieving.

Emilia's smile widened by just a little bit as she said, "Precisely what I was thinking, however you left one thing out." Emilia sipped her tea as her smile widened even more, she then continued, "Our killer has already 'tasted' the buzz of killing, figuratively and physically, who's to say he doesn't want to lose that buzz of toying with another's life?"

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In a jail cell underground, Mr. Benedict silently sobbed to himself. As he sobbed the door to the jail slowly opened, a head popped in, you couldn't see the color of the eyes... but the smile was as clear as day, so wide you could almost see all of the teeth, it was horrifying under the moonlight that shined through the small cell window. After the head came the body, a lanky but fit body came in, the arms looked strong enough to choke out a child if they wanted to. When their body was fully inside the moonlight finally reflected over the eyes, glowing yellow, and paired with that smile, even the devil would want to stay away from them.

"Hello, Mr. Benedict..." The person dragged out the sentence a little as they moved their scissors over the cell door, causing spark noises to occur. Mr. Benedict looked up and saw the horrifying man, as soon as he saw him he instinctively moved backward until his back touched the wall.

"Come now... I just want to play." The man said as he parted and then connected the two scissor blades causing a 'snip' sound. "I played with the kids after all, hehe..." The man giggled to himself as he grabbed keys out of his back pocket to unlock the cell door, his smile broadening to an almost abnormal length.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The man turned to the right quickly and saw a man right next to the exit with his hands behind his back, he was shrouded with darkness, only the tuxedo and top hat outlines could be seen. His eyes glowed a dark green under the moonlight. "Mr. Kambel I presume?"

"W-who are you?" Mr. Kambel said as he lifted the scissors up in self-defense, but before he knew it he was on the ground with a cane in his back and the cell door was being opened, he felt a slight pressure on his arm, and when he tried to move it he felt immense pain there, he tried to scream but a rag was shoved into his mouth before he could.

"Shhhh... you don't want to wake everybody up now do you." Mr. Kambel tilted his head slightly to the side and saw above him dark but bright glowing green eyes staring down at him with an evil smile tugging on their lips.

"L-Lord Willcroft... i-is that you?" Mr. Benedict said as he stood against the wall parallel to Lord Willcroft. "Yes Mr. Benedict, and I'm here to give you rightful vengeance." Lord Willcroft took the scissors on the ground and threw them to the feet of Mr. Benedict.

He stood there staring at the scissors for almost eternity until he decided to pick them up. When he did he ran as fast as he could out of the cell and to Mr. Kambel with the sharp end facing straight forward. Lord Willcroft got off in one swift motion as the scissors plunged into the back of Mr. Kambel. Mr. Kambel couldn't move or fight back because the first strike hit his spine, causing his body to stop moving because the nerves were severed, he was now like a limp doll.

His screams of agonizing pain were only muffled slightly by the gag, but Mr. Benedict didn't seem to care as blood spurted all over his face and clothes as he stuck the scissors in and out of the body again, all the while mumbling about 'how he deserved this' and 'this is for my son'.

After he ran out of energy to stab, he let go of the scissors which were still embedded in the back of Mr. Kambel. His breathing was ragged but he was still alive, and he had a feeling deep in his heart he didn't want to be anymore, and so he decided to follow that feeling.

Mr. Benedict pulled out the scissors and put them to his neck, he smiled at Lord Willcroft and said, "Thank you for being so kind to me... and especially my son..." he grew somber but silenced it as he stabbed the scissors into his neck, blood oozed from his mouth as he slumped over the body of Mr. Kambel.

"What a somber show to watch." Lord Willcroft turned slowly to the exit door to see Emilia clapping her hands slowly with a slight frown and Windhelm behind her with an unreadable expression. "Yes, indeed it was a somber show." Lord Willcroft replied with a sad smile.

"You know, I think I've found out the reason why Mr. Kambel decided to kill Mr. Benedict after he already got his revenge, now, of course, we can't verify this on account of his current predicament... but anyway," Emilia said as she closed her eyes and took in a slight breath and then continued, "I think that Mr. Kambel has already tasted what the tender flesh of a child tastes like, as evidence from the missing limbs on the bodies, however, he had never tried the delicate but tough flesh of an adult human, and so after completing his vengeance... he decided to, shall we say clean his plate." Emilia's mouth curved into a small amused smile.

And Lord Willcroft could only nod slowly.