Partners

Elizabeth walked into the office that was said to be hers, it's interior was just like that of the young inspector. The plain brown wallpaper on the walls with an empty wooden shelf and a table that had a computer and files well arranged on it.

She walked to the chair and sat down, resting her back on the backrest, she spinned the chair slightly and reached out for her phone. She dialled her cousin's number first and hung up immediately she heard her voice. She then proceeded to call the mental hospital where her twin sister was admitted. 

It rang for a while before the person on the other line picked up.

"Hello, this is Jerome…"

"I know, I just want to know if Miss Elena Brian is alright?" Elizabeth asked, cutting off the lady's voice.

"Okay, may I know who you are and your reason for asking of this patient?"

"Yes, I am Elizabeth Brian and she's my sister."

"Uhm…alright." The lady paused and the sounds of papers flipping came through before she continued, "Miss Elizabeth. Patient Elena Brian is doing perfectly fine." 

"Hmn…did anyone come to see her lately?"

"No, ma'am, except from your few visitations, nobody else has come to visit her…we would let her go soon since she's completely fine now." The lady's cheerful voice came from the other end of the call.

Elizabeth paused for a while before replying, "...No, you don't have too."

"Excuse me?"

"Don't tell her I called." Elizabeth hung up and placed her phone on the table, letting out a long sigh. For her, it would be better for her sister to stay in the asylum since it was safer than the outside world, there that mysterious man won't be able to get to her.

She stared blankly at the door without blinking, "I really should have gotten married back then." She chuckled at her own thoughts.

The door she was staring at was then gently pushed open, Chief Inspector Vans and the young inspector walked in.

Chief Inspector Vans smiled and gestured at the young grumpy inspector, "This is inspector Dyson, Elizabeth."

"No." She replied and stood up, glancing at the young inspector that had a grumpy look plastered on his face. 

"Huh? Is there a problem, Inspector Elizabeth?" Chief Inspector Vans had surprised look on his face.

"I can't work with him, Chief, it would affect my work and I won't be able to deliver perfectly." She blurted out the first thing she thought about.

"Oh no." Chief Inspector Vans chuckled and waved his hand, "Don't mind this don't-come-close facade, he's actually a really nice guy." He added.

"Yeah, sure." Elizabeth's sarcastic reply earned a frown from Dyson.

"I hope we work well in the future, Inspector Brian." He said with a cold voice and an air of coldness wrapped around him, seeping out of his eyes and voice but Elizabeth did not even blink at his attempt to scare her. Such things do not work on her anymore based on what she had been true.

"That might not be possible but let's hope." She gave him a brief reply and sat back down on her seat.

"Nice start." Vans interrupted them, the cold aura in the room immediately disappeared as soon as he spoke.

"We've got no clue or traces on Moore Richard." He said and both officers sat down.

Dyson placed a few files on the desk.

"But we've got other cases from different places, the same cases of disappearance and after a few autopsies, it was discovered that they all died in one particular way." Vans continued. 

"How?" Elizabeth asked with squinted eyes. 

"Every victim was just cut open and left to bleed to death. No other thing was added, it just felt like a case of suicide at first but after your discovery, we found out that this cult was quite sneaky and all over the place in the name of serial killers."

"What kind of cuts are we talking about?" She asked again, enquiring for more details.

"Cuts on the wrist, cuts on the neck or leg, but all are just above the vein, a slight cut on the vein but never cutting it completely open."

Elizabeth frowned and scrunched her brows, it was strange that they all had one pattern of dealing with their victims and what was even more eccentric was that the victims just sat there and watched themselves bleed to death.

"No signs of force, struggle or aesthetics that might keep them still." Vans took a deep breath and slowly massaged his temple with a tired look on his face.

"It's weird." Elizabeth fell into thoughts of her own, she couldn't help but point all this events to the direction one person. But no matter how hard she tried she couldn't find the single dot that connected him to this murder cases.

Elizabeth couldn't think of a particular reason then she thought of the last member of the team who had been silent all the while, "What do you think, Inspector Dyson?"

"..." Dyson stared at her blankly for a while before speaking up, "I don't think this were done by normal people."

"Oh common, Dyson, don't start with your supernatural theories again." Vans groaned, scrubbing his sleepy eyes with his thumb and index fingers. 

Dyson simply ignored him and continued stating his hypothesis, "The particular pattern of leaving blood to drain from their victim's body, the bloody footprints in the crime scene and the victim's state when they are found. This only means that whosoever owned those footprints knew hypnosis and any hypnosis that pain can't overcome wasn't done by just any normal person..." He paused for a while and added underneath his breath, "And that particular scent they emit."

Vans and Elizabeth exchanged glances before staring back at Dyson, who looked even more serious than usual.

Vans shook his head and "Whatever thing you perceive is just the smell of blood and…"

"It sounds reasonable, at least reasonable enough to be looked into." Elizabeth interrupted before Vans could say another word.

She tapped her fingers on the desk, pressing her lips into a thin line.

Supernatural? Mere officers can't counter magic and that's only if the magic is even real. Something or someone that could put a mentally and physically healthy person down was not normal. They just watching themselves bleed to death without screaming for help or looking for a way to save themselves.