Ethereal Fate

Fred let out a sharp whistle as they approached the Void station on the lower east side of Windcrest to a dazzling display of blue and red lights. “They really called in everyone for this one, eh? I wonder who got snuffed. Seems important,” he said.

Damien shrugged and pulled his credentials from beneath his jacket. Probably better for him not to reply to the invisible spirit at his side, he thought. As he approached through a small group of onlookers, one of the patrol officers Damien recognized as Edgar put his hand up. Edgar was a thickset human with a widow’s peak creeping in from the sides of his blonde hair. He wore the typical blue uniform of a patrol officer for the Windcrest Police Department. Damien paused for a moment inspecting the scene. Pumps lined the front of the fuel station designed to pull blue void rock in its liquified form from a nearby supply station. This part of the city was frequented by the less reputable members of Windcrestian society. If it was not for the throngs of people milling about, Damien would have thought this place had been abandoned. Patrol officers interrogated civilians throughout the area with crime scene investigators forming a hoard around what Damien could make out as two bodies lying on the pavement.

Edgar inspected the credentials hanging from Damien's neck before flipping them over and inspecting the back. Fred continued forward drifting lazily toward the bodies.

"Really Ed? You're playing this game?" Damien said. Edgar grinned before holding the police tape up to let Damien through.

"Best part of my night is keeping the riffraff in line."

"Aw you think I'm riffraff?" Damien said as he crouched and moved under the tape. “Always considered myself more of a rabble-rouser. Possibly a ruffian. Definitely a hooligan."

"Ha. Ha. Detective Morchon is in rare form tonight. I would avoid the sarcasm."

Damien put his hand over his heart and gave his most sincere face before turning and catching up to Fred. Together they wound through the investigators. It was amazing how efficient the WPD could be when there was a murder to examine. The whole scene was like a beehive with sections built out for each phase of the investigation. Patrol officers taking statements, some nodded to Damien as he passed while others gave him a wide berth. Crime scene investigators moved their hands about mimicking the motions of picking up and bagging evidence as summoned spectral hands did all the work. Numerous colors bathed the surrounding area originating from inspectors holding out various intricate glyph patterns. Most searching for traces of blood or artifacts from the victims. In the center of it all, Damien found the two corpses.

One looked to be a slightly older, overweight male tiefling with a knife sticking from his chest. Next to him was a younger female tiefling maybe in her mid-20’s with several burn wounds across her chest. The clothing had been burned away from those sections. These were the typical laser burns caused by most green void rock weapons. Both tieflings had the same style of horns that drifted up and curled around the sides of their heads like a crown. Starting at the base of their heads they were a light orange that faded to white at the tips. The tieflings were related. Probably father and daughter.

“Shameful, taking someone so young from this world,” Fred mused as he looked over the bodies. He nodded to the center of the group, “Your girl is here.”

Damien looked up to see Edi crouching over the female tiefling. Edi pushed her short light brown hair out of her eyes with the back of her gloved hand and leaned closer to the wounds on the young tiefling’s chest. She placed her notepad on the ground and began to weave her hands together and a deep green glyph appeared in front of her. Damien could feel the energy building in the air. With a satisfying pop she lowered her hands and the glyph toward the young tiefling, and a light green mist coalesced over the corpse. Slowly it solidified into a perfect see-through recreation of the inside of the tiefling’s body. Edi began vigorously scribbling notes. Anyone else would have taken notes with their void rock bracer, but she preferred less magi-tech. She glanced up at him and gave a curt wave with her pen, smiling. Her golden eyes shined in the fuel station’s bobbing lights. Even in a grey shirt, brown leather jacket, and denim jeans surrounded by corpses Edellya Sarran could look elegant. A longing washed through his chest. He just wanted to go toward her and give her a hug. This had to be rough on her though she would never show it. Damien waved back and Edi widened her eyes and made a face as if to say it had been an exceptionally long night toward Detective Morchon. Damien returned the gesture.

Fred noticed Edi’s nod and whirled up to the tall Orcish detective. Detective Leopold Morchon was a mountain of muscle forced into a pristine grey suit that contrasted with the light green of his skin. He had large tusks protruding from his bottom teeth that curved into his upper lip. As he spoke it came out in a low rumble with the pompous inflections of the northern regions of Fenwrath. Fred placed an ethereal hand on Morchon’s shoulder. The detective visibly shivered directing his attention toward Damien.

“Welcome Necro. Glad you finally got the time to come by our humble little crime scene,” Morchon said. “Rookie, take note. The necro arrived at 0346 approximately one hour after all the rest of us were here working, waiting on him.” Morchon snapped his meaty fingers at a light blue skinned tiefling woman that had been staring directly into the still open eyes of the murdered woman on the ground. She wore a well fitted pantsuit of a deep black. The horns on her head, starting with an icy blue and ending in tips of light grey, curved up and back through her black hair. Tiefling eyes were almost always solid and pupilless and the rookie’s eyes were no different. Even though she was young her eyes burned with a deep ice blue that promised a thousand years of torture. The children of Chernobog indeed.

“Sorry Leo,” Damien replied with a flourish of his hand, “I was on the other side of the city doing more of your job when I got the call.” Damien smirked knowing Morchon was too formal to ever enjoy being called anything other than Head Detective Leopold Morchon. He could feel the hateful glare that followed as he squatted closer to the female tiefling across from Edi.

“You really shouldn’t poke the bear,” she whispered. Never-the-less she smiled over at him.

Stunning, Damien thought.

“I am so glad we can all smile in the face of death,” Morchon said, “Especially with wolves about.” Edi immediately lowered her gaze toward the body, dropping the smile and continuing to take notes. Damien narrowed his eyes at her and then flicked them up at Morchon letting energy rush through his feet and flare out of his eyes. Morchon stepped back at the sudden flash of purple necromantic energy. The rookie let out a sharp gasp. Edi unconsciously touched the sapphire gemstone dangling from the thin leather collar around her neck. Damien closed his eyes and breathed slowly.

“I can kill him if you want,” Fred said shrugging. Damien glared up at him. “What? I could. Noone would find the body.”

“Tell me what we have,” Damien said drawing his attention back to the bodies on the ground. Morchon returned to his professional demeanor.

“Two bodies out here. Two more in the bathroom. No signs of robbery. Based on what we gathered from the other witnesses it looks like this guy attacked a man in the bathroom and the other three were just bystanders that kept getting too nosy for their own good. The younger one managed to get a shot off wounding him before he ran in that direction jumping the fence and fleeing. He took her pistol with him.” Morchon gestured past the bathroom and toward the yards beyond. Damien could make out several other investigators gathering blood samples from the fence.

“Four bodies.” Damien shook his head. “These two look too fresh for me to get anything useful.” He was lying of course. It was better to keep the powers of necromancy vague for the general public. He stood and squeezed Edi’s shoulder as he passed. Fred was still looming over Detective Morchon. He moved up to the young tiefling detective who was now staring wide eyed at him. “Rookie? Was it?”

“Uh...uh...” She cleared her throat, “No. My name is Detective Satish Inihiri.” She set her shoulders and held out a hand for Damien to shake. He took her hand slowly and chuckled at the formality. Only a rookie would willingly shake a Necro’s hand. Everyone else is too afraid of catching a virus.

“Alright Satish. Show me the other bodies.”