A Message

It was already dark when Graham and Egon arrived back at Sloten. They left at around four in the afternoon and the whole trip took them almost five hours because Egon didn't dare to speed while driving in the dark. It was already nine when he dropped his passenger on Tuinstraat. Graham had already paid Egon back at the hotel, totaling three whole guilders because they had stayed one day longer than planned.

There were a lot of people walking by the apartment, much more than usual even though it was already late. They were either walking by or chatting, but they created quite some noise on that dark Thursday night. The moment he stepped out of the motor carriage, his spiritual intuition was triggered; something told him to listen in carefully to the people's conversation. It was an explicable feeling, but the urge was real, so he did it anyway.

"What are you going to do about YOUR daughter?" said a woman to another woman, the word 'your' was strangely emphasized.

Graham had a feeling that he needed to listen to all the emphasized words, which was why his spiritual intuition was triggered.

"THE man over there keeps looking at us," said a woman dressed in sexy attire.

"How dare you COMMAND me like that?!" said a man in an angry tone.

"Do you believe in a hidden DEITY?" asked a teenage girl to her friend.

"PEOPLE should really stop congregating here and go home," said an elderly lady.

"YOU are one to talk, old woman. You should go home and watch your soap opera," said a man rather rudely to the old woman.

"I will say once again I will not just DO your BIDDING without fighting back!" said the angry man again. He was talking to someone on the phone.

"I cannot MAKE you understand, so I don't care anymore. I still have A LOT of other guys chasing me," said a beautifully dressed woman.

After that, there were no more words that were emphasized, and people started to leave one by one, leaving only a handful that were still congregating in the street near his apartment building.

"Your the command Deity people you do bidding make a lot?" he repeated the emphasized words in order that he heard them and then rearranged them, "Your Deity commands you to make a lot of people do your bidding? I think that's the one,"

Graham thought about it one more time and he was sure that it was the right answer.

"It was different from the Deity of Fire Divination. I'm not complaining, though. At least there is no sleep paralysis this time," he said in relief, "Just as I've begun to wonder when the messenger would come,"

His duty now was to make a lot of people fall under his control to do his bidding, but currently, he didn't know how to do it. He was too tired to think about it too much, and he could always use divination to help him, so he wasn't worried. Graham entered his apartment and lied down in bed after taking a shower.

...

In the street of Hoogstraat South, the sound of police sirens was blaring, and their blue and red were flashing in the dark night. It was almost midnight, but the street was packed with curious bystanders who wanted to know what was happening in their neighborhood. Three Police Sergeants wearing dark blue coats with the Police logo on them came out of a motor carriage and crossed the police line that had been set up in front of a house. They entered the crime scene and were greeted by an officer who had already been there.

"Sergeant Rood, Sergeant Oranje, Sergeant Groen!" said the officer ceremoniously. His right hand was forming a salute.

"What do we have here?" asked the man with a friendly face who was called Groen.

"A woman was found dead in her house. The circumstances match the other victims of the recent serial murder case," said the officer firmly.

"Thank you. We'll take over from here," said Rood.

"Yes, Sir!" said the officer and then left.

"I know it will be useless, but can you use divination to get any clue?" said Rood to Oranje.

"Okay, I'll try," she said.

While Oranje was preparing to do divination, Rood and Groen walked over to where the corpse was. The victim was lying in her bed with a pajama on. Her expression was that of extreme horror, and her hands were trying to cover her eyes. There was no other visible wound on her body.

"I'm positive she is another victim of the Pravitatem killer. That makes it four now within this month alone," said Groen with a very serious tone. His friendly face showed a solemn expression.

"Yes. We have to catch the bastard as soon as we can, no matter the cost," said Rood calmly, but there was rage burning in his eyes.

Oranje came in from the other room to where the two men were standing. She was carrying a crystal ball that still had some blood inside it which was slowly vanishing.

"I couldn't get anything as usual. The killer is much stronger than me still," she said with regret.

"It's fine. We've established at least that much information," said Groen.

The three Police Sergeants stood there in silence, staring at the lifeless body of the woman in front of them. If they couldn't catch the killer soon, more people would end up like her.

"When will Lieutenant Roze come back to Sloten?" asked Oranje, "We definitely need her help,"

"She won't be back any time soon, and we should try to solve this case without that woman's help. What will she say to us if she finds out we cannot do anything without her," said Rood.

Oranje nodded. She also knew how scary the lieutenant was.

"What about our old friend? Have they given you any news?" asked Rood to Groen.

"They haven't got any substantial clues either, and currently they are preoccupied with a beast hunt somewhere," said Groen with a tinge of regret in his voice.

Suddenly, a Police officer in a blue coat came running to them and spoke hastily.

"Sergeants, one of our men said that a suspicious group of people was seen in an alley nearby!"

"Oranje, Groen, let's go!" Rood commanded and the three sergeants left their spot quickly.

They left the one story-house that belonged to the victim and rushed to the street, where an officer had been waiting for them.

"Which way?" asked Rood with urgency in his tone.

"This way!" said the officer and then led them to the place where he had seen the people by pure chance.

The four people ran quickly and arrived at the scene soon after. It was a secluded alley with no one around. There were only stray cats and rats there. The alley didn't have any entrances to any buildings, so the people couldn't have entered one of the houses nearby.

"Where did you see them?" asked Groen.

"They were here. I saw five of them. They were wearing hoodies and facemasks, so I couldn't see their faces. I came back without them noticing me to report it," said the officer.

"You did well. You can go back now. Leave it to us," said Oranje with he sunny voice.

Once the officer had left, Oranje turned to Rood and said, "I don't have enough information, so you should do it,"

Rood nodded. He had seen some shoeprints that looked recent in that alley. Among the three of them, he had the best sight because of his Contractbound power. They followed the prints out of the alley and when they arrived at the intersection, it became mixed with other people's shoeprints. Rood took out two pouches containing red liquid from his coat and opened the lid; they were pouches containing his own blood. He then concentrated on the area in front of him.

"Show me what happened here within the past thirty minutes," he said calmly, his voice sounded ethereal.

Rood splattered the red liquid from the pouches all over the place and it stopped midair, forming eight bloody figures. Once the pouches were empty, he put them back in his coat pocket. The amount of blood still wasn't enough to form complete human figures, so there were still gaps in them. Rood controlled the blood to move from the unimportant spots like the thighs to their faces and other distinctive features to help him identify them better. The figures now had complete faces, and only five of them were wearing facemasks. Rood moved the blood again from the unmasked figures to complete the five masked ones.

"It's really convenient to have the power of Gore combined with Denuder," complimented Groen.

Rood was still concentrating, so he didn't reply. The five masked figures were now complete, and he could see that they were three men and one woman, although he could see their faces. He couldn't see their eye color either since everything was the color of blood, but at least he could see the way they stared. One man had a ferocious stare; another had a cautious stare, while the third man had a calm one. The last man's stare was energized but indifferent and the woman's was proud. The five masked figures were facing right from the alley. Oranje observed the bloody figures carefully and memorized their characteristics.

Rood let go of his control and the figures started moving. They quickly turned right from the alley and the figures disappeared once they were out of the area that Rood had designated. The blood evaporated quickly to thin air as a tribute to the Deity of Uncovering.

"This way," said Rood and started to move quickly, following the faint shoeprints on the pavement.

The three sergeants kept following the lead until they stopped in front of a two-story house. The shoeprints stopped there. Rood looked at Oranje and she nodded. She took out a crystal ball from her bag and sat cross-legged on the ground. She then slit her palm and smeared her blood all over the ball while concentrating. She now knew how the mysterious people looked like, so she should be able to use her divination.

'Are the five suspicious people still inside the house?'

Her blood got sucked in by the crystal ball and then it formed an image of five people sneakily walking in the house. It confirmed their suspicion that the suspicious people were still there.

Oranje looked up to her two partners and nodded.

"Do you think they are the killers?" asked Groen to Rood.

"I don't think so, but we still have to be careful," he said shortly

Rood took out two more full blood pouches from his coat and chanted quietly,

"I, in the name of the Deity of Wit and Blood, offer this blood of mine as an offering,"

He took off the lid and poured the blood to the ground. It started boiling once it touched the pavement below. He then imagined the weapon he wanted to form with his blood in detail.

"Grant me a sword that will cut down evils and the wicked!"

Very slowly, the boiling blood started to float up and gathered. In the air, a crimson red curved sword started to form. The blood on the ground little by little got sucked up by the sword and hardened. Some moments later, the blood sword was completed, and it was as hard as and as sharp as the real thing, if not stronger.

After that, once more, he took out a pouch of blood from his coat.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Wit and Blood, offer this blood of mine as an offering,"

He poured the blood to the ground and it started boiling like before. Rood imagined the shape of the thing he wanted to create. His limit was two and he couldn't create anything half the size of the first one with the second weapon. The second one would take much longer to prepare as well.

"Grant me a plate and a stick that can empower my allies!"

Very slowly, drops of blood floated and coagulated mid-air, gradually forming a small plate and a stick that Rood could control freely with his spirituality. It took much longer than creating his sword, but it was still an acceptable amount of time, seeing as there was no movement yet from the house. He then beat the small blood plate that was as hard as an iron with the stick and the sound it made strengthened his allies. He had played the War Drum!

While Rood was preparing his blood sword and drum, Oranje also made her preparation; she was busy summoning the familiar that she had finally got. It took her as much time as it took Rood to create his two blood weapons. It was a medium-sized lizardlike creature whose skin was all dark yellow. There were numerous thorns covering its skin that looked sharp enough to impale an unsuspecting victim. From its mouth, hot smoke was coming out. The familiar was semi-transparent because it was only there in its familiar form, not its physical one, but it could still be touched and killed, although doing so wouldn't kill its main body.

Groen was doing nothing while his two partners were making a preparation. He had no power that he could prepare before a battle without a target.

"Let's go in quickly," said Rood with the curved crimson sword floating on his right and the drum beating steadily on his left.