A Morgue, London, Wednesday Night
There'd been no one to claim the murder victims' bodies yet, which Sebastien was sadly unsurprised by. The times may have changed, but families were no more eager to embrace scandal than ever. Nor was he surprised that the morgue attendant was so easily distracted into admitting him and his guests by a folded bill and a glib story.
The two men were far from the only bodies arranged in drawers and on marble slabs; the chill of the room lessened the stink somewhat, but Sebastien suspected the wretchedness of rot and cloying blood was apparent even to merely mortal senses.
The bodies were slashed and disfigured, throats cut and faces, hands, torsos, buttocks, and thighs sliced open like badly butchered beef. But --
"There are no bite marks," he observed, and felt a sigh of relief even if he didn't breathe one.
Emma Grace Frost
"Which only means a vampire did not feed on the victim by biting, and it is not a human with a vampire fetish" Emma pointed out calmly. "That does not mean someone did not enjoy playing with its food first. There was no lack of blood flowing."
She was not trying to be cruel, but she had to make sure they thought this through all the way. They couldn't afford to make a mistake because of Sebastien's attachment to this other vampire. "Would a vampire be able to resist the urge to feed the more traditional way during a kill?"
Cold. Clinical. Detached. Mentally half-a-breath close to shifting to diamond, because that emotionless freedom was the only thing keeping her from throwing up in disgust.
John Mitchell
Mitchell had pulled a face upon entry, but that had been the extent of it. He'd woken up with worse in his time, but dead bodies still stank like all hell. "Where I come from?" he asked. "It'd take an insane amount of willpower, and this guy--"
He waved a hand vaguely at the corpse. "I don't think restraint was really his thing."
Sebastien de Ulloa
Sebastien shook his head slightly. "It's no different here," he said. "Anyone with the stomach to do all this wouldn't hold back. And look at the killing wound."
He folded the sheet back, displaying the gash more fully and hoping Emma kept her squeamishness at bay. "His throat was cut from behind, or by a left-handed assailant. It's" -- he was straining for something approaching delicacy -- "an unusual angle."
Emma Grace Frost
"An awkward angle, as well, if they were behind the victim," Emma replied. The visuals did not bother her so much, not after surviving Agio. It was the smell that got to her, and she did her best to breath shallowly through her mouth instead of her nose. Lucky vampires who didn't need to breathe.
...Actually, that was a wonderful idea, for more than one reason, and Emma shifted into her other form. Ah, free from the burden of needing air. "No fingerprints or DNA evidence to leave behind," she explained, wriggling her fingers at them.
She moved over to look at another body, mentally comparing it to the first one. "I don't see any bite marks here, either," she said, lifting the head slightly to check the back of the neck as well. Dead-person bits would rinse off diamond a lot better than flesh, and she'd rather not get Sebastien's fingerprints on a body if they needed to move one around and inspect it. Jack would get cross.
John Mitchell
That wasn't an eyebrow Mitchell raised. It was just a mildly surprised expression. Diamonds. Right. Why wouldn't it be diamonds...? He was left a bit lost in the end, ignorant of Emma's condition and far more familiar with the process of killing people than the process of determining what killed people.
He was also rather trying not to think about his last kill.
"So someone took a knife and went to town," he ventured. "Fucking animals."
Sebastien de Ulloa
"Worse than that," Sebastien ventured, with a glance to Emma that wanted to linger longer than it did. He'd heard about this particular twist to her powers, but seeing it ... if he were less distracted he would have had questions.
He went to nudge the dead man onto his side, lifting him just enough to reveal deep bloodless gashes in his flanks and thighs. He'd suspected as much. "He was a whore," he said. "I think whoever went after him may have been a patron, to go by this and the angle of attack."
Emma Grace Frost
"I may be made out of rock, gentlemen, but I am not oblivious," Emma deadpanned. "Staring, poking, and prodding of my mutation will need to wait until after you buy me a drink and/or something shiny."
"I would be willing to bet quite a substantial amount of money that the others have the same - or similar - wounds, except I highly doubt either of you are foolish enough to take that wager."
John Mitchell
"I'll leave the poking and the prodding to someone else, thanks," Mitchell said, shooting her another vaguely weirded-out look.
Yeah, in favour of the corpse.
"Classic serial killer material this is."
Jack Priest
"Serial killer with particular tastes," Sebastien added, pulling the sheet back up and wiping his hands on a handkerchief with more than usual haste.
"The boys wouldn't have had so many patrons. Once Miss Frost has" -- and curiosity flickered through his dark eyes -- "composed herself again, we should go find the others. I have an idea of someone who may know who these young men had been seeing."
Emma Grace Frost
"I am perfectly composed," Emma replied, a light smirk playing on her lips as she went to one of the morgue sinks to rinse and dry her hands a few times before letting the change reverse itself; diamond rippling away to reveal perfectly clean flesh, not a speck of debris or blood on her. "It isn't my fault humans are so skittish about the differently-abled."
"But if I must play nice and pass, I suppose I shall." The smell of the corpses immediately assaulted her again, although the only outward sign of her discomfort was a tightening around her jaw and eyes. "Please tell me this 'someone' has a slightly more hospitable residence than the morgue."
John Mitchell
"Or at least some Febreeze," Mitchell commented, though he did have that advantage of not having to breathe. The corpses just weren't much to look at, to put it mildly. "Sebastien, mate, no offense, but you might want to consider a different line of work."
Sebastien de Ulloa
"I've thought about it," Sebastien said, following Emma to the sink. "But this one takes me to so many interesting places."
[OOC: Follows this, this, this and this . Inspired by "Chatoyant." Preplayed with the amazing chose_humanity and icecoldfrost. NFB, OOC welcome.]
The two men were far from the only bodies arranged in drawers and on marble slabs; the chill of the room lessened the stink somewhat, but Sebastien suspected the wretchedness of rot and cloying blood was apparent even to merely mortal senses.
The bodies were slashed and disfigured, throats cut and faces, hands, torsos, buttocks, and thighs sliced open like badly butchered beef. But --
"There are no bite marks," he observed, and felt a sigh of relief even if he didn't breathe one.
Emma Grace Frost
"Which only means a vampire did not feed on the victim by biting, and it is not a human with a vampire fetish" Emma pointed out calmly. "That does not mean someone did not enjoy playing with its food first. There was no lack of blood flowing."
She was not trying to be cruel, but she had to make sure they thought this through all the way. They couldn't afford to make a mistake because of Sebastien's attachment to this other vampire. "Would a vampire be able to resist the urge to feed the more traditional way during a kill?"
Cold. Clinical. Detached. Mentally half-a-breath close to shifting to diamond, because that emotionless freedom was the only thing keeping her from throwing up in disgust.
John Mitchell
Mitchell had pulled a face upon entry, but that had been the extent of it. He'd woken up with worse in his time, but dead bodies still stank like all hell. "Where I come from?" he asked. "It'd take an insane amount of willpower, and this guy--"
He waved a hand vaguely at the corpse. "I don't think restraint was really his thing."
Sebastien de Ulloa
Sebastien shook his head slightly. "It's no different here," he said. "Anyone with the stomach to do all this wouldn't hold back. And look at the killing wound."
He folded the sheet back, displaying the gash more fully and hoping Emma kept her squeamishness at bay. "His throat was cut from behind, or by a left-handed assailant. It's" -- he was straining for something approaching delicacy -- "an unusual angle."
Emma Grace Frost
"An awkward angle, as well, if they were behind the victim," Emma replied. The visuals did not bother her so much, not after surviving Agio. It was the smell that got to her, and she did her best to breath shallowly through her mouth instead of her nose. Lucky vampires who didn't need to breathe.
...Actually, that was a wonderful idea, for more than one reason, and Emma shifted into her other form. Ah, free from the burden of needing air. "No fingerprints or DNA evidence to leave behind," she explained, wriggling her fingers at them.
She moved over to look at another body, mentally comparing it to the first one. "I don't see any bite marks here, either," she said, lifting the head slightly to check the back of the neck as well. Dead-person bits would rinse off diamond a lot better than flesh, and she'd rather not get Sebastien's fingerprints on a body if they needed to move one around and inspect it. Jack would get cross.
John Mitchell
That wasn't an eyebrow Mitchell raised. It was just a mildly surprised expression. Diamonds. Right. Why wouldn't it be diamonds...? He was left a bit lost in the end, ignorant of Emma's condition and far more familiar with the process of killing people than the process of determining what killed people.
He was also rather trying not to think about his last kill.
"So someone took a knife and went to town," he ventured. "Fucking animals."
Sebastien de Ulloa
"Worse than that," Sebastien ventured, with a glance to Emma that wanted to linger longer than it did. He'd heard about this particular twist to her powers, but seeing it ... if he were less distracted he would have had questions.
He went to nudge the dead man onto his side, lifting him just enough to reveal deep bloodless gashes in his flanks and thighs. He'd suspected as much. "He was a whore," he said. "I think whoever went after him may have been a patron, to go by this and the angle of attack."
Emma Grace Frost
"I may be made out of rock, gentlemen, but I am not oblivious," Emma deadpanned. "Staring, poking, and prodding of my mutation will need to wait until after you buy me a drink and/or something shiny."
"I would be willing to bet quite a substantial amount of money that the others have the same - or similar - wounds, except I highly doubt either of you are foolish enough to take that wager."
John Mitchell
"I'll leave the poking and the prodding to someone else, thanks," Mitchell said, shooting her another vaguely weirded-out look.
Yeah, in favour of the corpse.
"Classic serial killer material this is."
Jack Priest
"Serial killer with particular tastes," Sebastien added, pulling the sheet back up and wiping his hands on a handkerchief with more than usual haste.
"The boys wouldn't have had so many patrons. Once Miss Frost has" -- and curiosity flickered through his dark eyes -- "composed herself again, we should go find the others. I have an idea of someone who may know who these young men had been seeing."
Emma Grace Frost
"I am perfectly composed," Emma replied, a light smirk playing on her lips as she went to one of the morgue sinks to rinse and dry her hands a few times before letting the change reverse itself; diamond rippling away to reveal perfectly clean flesh, not a speck of debris or blood on her. "It isn't my fault humans are so skittish about the differently-abled."
"But if I must play nice and pass, I suppose I shall." The smell of the corpses immediately assaulted her again, although the only outward sign of her discomfort was a tightening around her jaw and eyes. "Please tell me this 'someone' has a slightly more hospitable residence than the morgue."
John Mitchell
"Or at least some Febreeze," Mitchell commented, though he did have that advantage of not having to breathe. The corpses just weren't much to look at, to put it mildly. "Sebastien, mate, no offense, but you might want to consider a different line of work."
Sebastien de Ulloa
"I've thought about it," Sebastien said, following Emma to the sink. "But this one takes me to so many interesting places."
[OOC: Follows this, this, this and this . Inspired by "Chatoyant." Preplayed with the amazing chose_humanity and icecoldfrost. NFB, OOC welcome.]