[Original: Drabble] "Human Nature" [Zeke Jones, PG]
Title: Human Nature
Prompt: writerverse challenge #01 phase 10 table of doom, prompt #08 ‘deadliest predator’ (present tense, 500+ words)
Word Count: 800 (exactly, from hand-written with no editing!)
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: original ( Zeke Jones ‘verse)
Warnings: non-graphic depictions of violence
Summary: Zeke and Howell are called in to consult on a series of unusual murders.
Human Nature
It takes three deaths before Howell and I are brought in on the case.
I know lots of other vampires, of course- they make me go to those stupid Council meetings- but other than that kid we caught being coerced into robbery, I’d never really thought about what other werewolves might get up to in their free time until the captain had (temporarily) reassigned us from patrols due to Howell’s ‘unique experience’.
“Are we sure the killer was a werewolf?” my partner growls.
“As sure as we can be without a full genetic work up,” says Detective Cole, the lead on this case.
They start to go over the details of the three deaths, but I’m not really listening. I’m sitting on top of my desk, feet on my chair, with every related report in a pile on my lap, ignoring the talk to absorb the written word- I didn’t stop being a librarian just because I became a cop. The case files are pretty standard, the victims all loved alone, signs of forced entry, bodies ripped apart…
I move on to the medical examiner’s reports. These don’t provide any more specific information, but I try to picture the attacks, the order in which they happen. The werewolf left tooth and claw marks on the torsos of the two men and one woman, but- I check each report again- none of them tried to fight back, none had a single serious mark on their arms or legs.
But why wouldn’t they fight back?
Because maybe they were dead already.
An idea strikes me, and I go back to the case files- there! In each victim’s home, a single knife had been missing from the blocks in their kitchens.
“Knives,” I say aloud, and everyone else stops to look at me.
“Jones?” asks Howell. He sounds impatient, but I know he, at least, will listen.
“Knives, sir,” I repeat, holding up the three reports. “One knife is missing from each crime scene.”
“So?” asks Officer Diaz. “None of the victims were stabbed.”
“Weren’t they?” I reply. “They didn’t fight back, not enough to leave any defensive marks.”
“Interesting,” says Cole. “You think they were stabbed, then mauled? Why? Why both?”
I open my mouth to answer, then close it again. “I don’t know, detective.”
“Still,” he admits, “we can’t rule anything out. Jones- everyone- keep your eyes out in case-”
“Cole!” calls Straub, his partner. “There’s another one.”
Howell is quiet as we drive to the new crime scene- not his usual silence, but a new darker kind that I really don’t like.
“I’m not going to ask if you want to talk about it, sir,” I say. “But if you do want to talk about it…”
I’m saved from more babbling by the fact that we’ve arrived. Howell’s silence gets heavier as we stand at the edge of the crime scene, the only two ‘uniforms’ left after the others have been given their tasks.
“Officer Howell?” asks Cole, but there’s a little sympathy in his voice- maybe not all detectives are self-important jerks.
“It does look like a werewolf did this,” my partner says. “And the claw marks appear to be consistent with the other victims.”
“And a knife is missing,” I add, pointing.
“Detective?” Wu and her partner, Melling, enter the apartment/crime scene behind us. “Victim is Edna Marshall, this is her residence. Security cameras spotted her coming in at eleven, then one person entering the apartment at twelve-thirty, leaving again an hour later. A human person.”
“But he is a werewolf, right?” I ask. “Or her. He stabs them, then transforms and mauls them, then changes back again. But why?”
Everyone turns to look at me again, but I focus on Howell. “Jones is right,” he says, after a moment, and I flush proudly. “If a werewolf has… lost himself enough to attack humans, to kill them, he wouldn’t have the presence of mind to be this careful.”
“Like when vampires go rogue and bite people at random?” asks Cole, with an apologetic look to me- it’s really, really impolite to mention it, but nearly everyone on the night shift knows what Howell and I are.
“Similar,” says Howell. “But older werewolves find the change back to human more and more difficult. He wouldn’t be able to transform so quickly or easily.”
There’s a reason behind the killings, I realize and I can see the others are thinking it, too. We had been assuming the attacks were mostly random, a deranged wolf’s doing. But it looks like they’re planned- a deranged human, who can also become a wolf.
“Get this to the lab, top priority,” says Cole, to one of the crime scene techs. “Everyone else… we’re going over every word of those reports one more time…”
THE END
Current Mood:
mellow
Prompt: writerverse challenge #01 phase 10 table of doom, prompt #08 ‘deadliest predator’ (present tense, 500+ words)
Word Count: 800 (exactly, from hand-written with no editing!)
Rating: PG
Original/Fandom: original ( Zeke Jones ‘verse)
Warnings: non-graphic depictions of violence
Summary: Zeke and Howell are called in to consult on a series of unusual murders.
Human Nature
It takes three deaths before Howell and I are brought in on the case.
I know lots of other vampires, of course- they make me go to those stupid Council meetings- but other than that kid we caught being coerced into robbery, I’d never really thought about what other werewolves might get up to in their free time until the captain had (temporarily) reassigned us from patrols due to Howell’s ‘unique experience’.
“Are we sure the killer was a werewolf?” my partner growls.
“As sure as we can be without a full genetic work up,” says Detective Cole, the lead on this case.
They start to go over the details of the three deaths, but I’m not really listening. I’m sitting on top of my desk, feet on my chair, with every related report in a pile on my lap, ignoring the talk to absorb the written word- I didn’t stop being a librarian just because I became a cop. The case files are pretty standard, the victims all loved alone, signs of forced entry, bodies ripped apart…
I move on to the medical examiner’s reports. These don’t provide any more specific information, but I try to picture the attacks, the order in which they happen. The werewolf left tooth and claw marks on the torsos of the two men and one woman, but- I check each report again- none of them tried to fight back, none had a single serious mark on their arms or legs.
But why wouldn’t they fight back?
Because maybe they were dead already.
An idea strikes me, and I go back to the case files- there! In each victim’s home, a single knife had been missing from the blocks in their kitchens.
“Knives,” I say aloud, and everyone else stops to look at me.
“Jones?” asks Howell. He sounds impatient, but I know he, at least, will listen.
“Knives, sir,” I repeat, holding up the three reports. “One knife is missing from each crime scene.”
“So?” asks Officer Diaz. “None of the victims were stabbed.”
“Weren’t they?” I reply. “They didn’t fight back, not enough to leave any defensive marks.”
“Interesting,” says Cole. “You think they were stabbed, then mauled? Why? Why both?”
I open my mouth to answer, then close it again. “I don’t know, detective.”
“Still,” he admits, “we can’t rule anything out. Jones- everyone- keep your eyes out in case-”
“Cole!” calls Straub, his partner. “There’s another one.”
Howell is quiet as we drive to the new crime scene- not his usual silence, but a new darker kind that I really don’t like.
“I’m not going to ask if you want to talk about it, sir,” I say. “But if you do want to talk about it…”
I’m saved from more babbling by the fact that we’ve arrived. Howell’s silence gets heavier as we stand at the edge of the crime scene, the only two ‘uniforms’ left after the others have been given their tasks.
“Officer Howell?” asks Cole, but there’s a little sympathy in his voice- maybe not all detectives are self-important jerks.
“It does look like a werewolf did this,” my partner says. “And the claw marks appear to be consistent with the other victims.”
“And a knife is missing,” I add, pointing.
“Detective?” Wu and her partner, Melling, enter the apartment/crime scene behind us. “Victim is Edna Marshall, this is her residence. Security cameras spotted her coming in at eleven, then one person entering the apartment at twelve-thirty, leaving again an hour later. A human person.”
“But he is a werewolf, right?” I ask. “Or her. He stabs them, then transforms and mauls them, then changes back again. But why?”
Everyone turns to look at me again, but I focus on Howell. “Jones is right,” he says, after a moment, and I flush proudly. “If a werewolf has… lost himself enough to attack humans, to kill them, he wouldn’t have the presence of mind to be this careful.”
“Like when vampires go rogue and bite people at random?” asks Cole, with an apologetic look to me- it’s really, really impolite to mention it, but nearly everyone on the night shift knows what Howell and I are.
“Similar,” says Howell. “But older werewolves find the change back to human more and more difficult. He wouldn’t be able to transform so quickly or easily.”
There’s a reason behind the killings, I realize and I can see the others are thinking it, too. We had been assuming the attacks were mostly random, a deranged wolf’s doing. But it looks like they’re planned- a deranged human, who can also become a wolf.
“Get this to the lab, top priority,” says Cole, to one of the crime scene techs. “Everyone else… we’re going over every word of those reports one more time…”
THE END
Current Mood:
mellow