Alphonse Torres's Story

"I am sure you will Ms. Sandara and that will be fine." He grinned and joined her as they walked to the door. "Alphonse believes it to be a serial. Four victims thus far. Two vampires and two werewolves. The bodies all have religious symbols carved into them. The report from the coroner's office states that the symbols were carved prior to each victim's death." He opened the door for her.

They walked into and through the sitting room near the lobby to make a right down the row of offices as they were coming from the back of the building. Alphonse Michael Torres stood outside his office with Ms. Moretz. She was getting some advice from him on the case she was working. When they drew near Ms. Moretz walked back down to her office and Alphonse turned to face the two as they came down the hall. "Mr. Torres. I would like you to meet Ms. Sandara. She will be working with you on the serial case.", Bowen said.

"Pleased to meet you Ms. Sandara.", he said with a grizzled voice and without a hint of a smile. Torres was an older man, appearing to be in his mid-forties with salt and pepper hair. In this instance he was wearing a light brown, khaki colored suit with a steel blue tie with block pattern. He leaned heavily to his right on a bronze handled cane while his brown eyes appraised Chloe. He transfered the cane to his other hand and extended his right hand to shake hers. Under the aftershave, soap, and deodorant he had the scent of a wolf.

"Ooo, one of my favorite types." She commented after he briefed her on the case. "Nut jobs."

Upon meeting Alphonse, she greeted him with a gentle smile and took his hand firmly. Her sleeve slid back enough to reveal the nasty bruise again, and this time she swiftly pulled her hand away to lower the sleeve but still acted natural. If it shocked her to find that he too was a werewolf, she did not let it show. "It is a pleasure, Mr. Torres." She stated. "So a serial killer going after supernaturals so far? Do we have pictures of the symbols being carved into our victims? I'm sorry, I'm only just being briefed about the case myself."

Bowen glanced at her arms before speaking. "Now that you two have been introduced I will excuse myself. I have some paperwork to do and then a house call to make." He needed to drop in on Vanessa and speak with her about her daughter, Sophia. "If either of you need me I will be in my office.", said Bowen with a smile before he walked off and vanished through his door.

Alphonse would watch Chloe watch Bowen as he walked away and then speak. "Yeah. We have some pictures. I have the file on my desk. Come into my office. We will take a look but it is pretty graphic stuff. Its been awhile since I seen anything like it." Two doors down and on the opposite side of the hall was an open door. On the door was a name and a title, 'Chloe Sandara, LPI.'

He walked into his office. It was Spartan with a single brown fedora sat atop a hat rack. A pearl handled banjo sat in one corner of the office. The good modern computer sat turned off on his desk. Papers sat in a stack to one side of the keyboard with scribbles cast at odd angles as if written hastily. He had an old fashioned rolodex to one side of the polished hardwood desk. The window blinds were raised and the drapes were pinned open. "Here is the file.", he said as he put it in her hands and took as seat. "Tell me what you think."

Chloe watched as Bowen left. "Thank you, Mr Davion." She said with a smile.

She had caught a glimpse of her new office, which really did shock her. 'That was fast..' She thought. She turned back to Alphonse and followed him into his office. "Oh, don't worry about me Mr. Torres. I have a strong stomach.." She said gazing around, studying this man's office. She had nailed him for old fashioned. She took one of his seats after receiving the file, opening it up and gazing at the notes and photos made so far.

Her eyes grew dark in recognition and she bit her lip. "Huh." She stated bluntly. She took one of the pictures, a female vampire who had been found, and gazed at the symbols carved into her chest. "I think I remember something like this going on back in Wing City over a decade ago.." She murmured. "Wasn't my case, but the detective who took the case ended up in a body bag too. Case turned cold." She said. "My memory back then is a bit foggy, as most of my memory is from back then.. But I'm pretty sure I've seen these symbols and others like them in victims back in WCPD's files." She stated.

"Too bad, I have no connections with them anymore." She said sighing.

"The only lead I have thus far is on the third victim. A female werewolf, Rosalie Hale. My notes are in there as you can see. Her last known location was in Caeramore. Cell phone towers have her in the vicinity of the Crimson Moon. Not exactly an ideal place to go snooping around. Rhonen had a good bit of the police force in his pocket. Of course a serial killer that is targeting supernaturals would not be good for his business either."

He paused and allowed her to shuffle through the papers. "The two vampires' history was notoriously difficult to dig up and track." He scratched his head. "The female's name was Victoria Uley and was the second victim. She was a recluse and lived in Fontainebleau. Ms. Uley was killed in her apartment. Symbols were cut into her before she was staked and decapitated." He grimaced. "Wasn't found until the down stairs neighbor complained about the smell and a stain on her ceiling."

He leaned back in his chair. "The other two victims were males."

Chloe narrowed her eyes. "Quite a bold venture for a serial killer..." She said, biting gently onto her thumb. "To have one victim so close to popular facilities or homes means he knew he wouldn't be caught.." She murmured. "Which means he's at least studying them to find a pattern.."

"I see that Mrs. Uley had put up quite a struggle. They found traces of skin under her nails.. Have the results come back from that? Has anyone found what those symbols mean?" She asked, flipping through the pages. "It seems the two vampires have a symbol in common and the wolves have two in common. See?" She put the four photos on his desk, vampire beside vampire and werewolf beside werewolf. At least one rune on the common supernatural was the same. "The rest are different, but I have a feeling if we can match those pairs up with some sort of cipher, we'll be golden." She said standing up.

"So where was Mrs. Uley living? Mind coming with me and showing me how to get there?"

Serena stepped through the doors and into the visitor's reception, her pale skin catching the light as she nervously made her way to one of the seats in the room. She wasn't dressed particularly professionally, with blue jeans, a red top and a red leather coat over it. Her hair had been done though, with special care given to make it gleam and bounce. It was almost as though she was trying to impress, but had no formal attire with which to do so properly.

She sat down, glancing around at anyone else who might be there and up to the desk of the receptionist. That's where she needed to go, but she wasn't quite ready to make that leap. For her, doing something as simple as applying for a possible job was not only nerve-wrecking, but also risky.

On her lap sat a black laptop bag, which she unclipped at the front and opened. She lay it over her knees, then slid out the references she had acquired, as well as the letter of introduction her father had written for her. It was going to be a difficult process... But she could do it. They had no reason to question her, or to think of her as anything other than a perfectly normal woman.

"... Come on, Serena. It's time to get this over with."

She stood suddenly, then began bounding with large strides over to the receptionist's desk with newfound purpose. She flipped through her papers, eagerly pulling her letter of introduction from the rest and playing it down on the desk. "I'd like to apply for a job," she explained. "This is a letter of introduction from Professor James Makell, and there's a reference here fro-" she paused, looking down at her hand. The paper cut on her finger suddenly began to sting, and she placed her thumb in her mouth to suckle before the white liquid could be seen trickling from the wound.

"Uh. And this is a reference from him and another from the Wing City Police Department.. And.. Oh!" She pulled a fourth page from her bag. "This is a medical test done yesterday to say I have no problems."

"Yeah. You are right about the symbols but I have no idea what they mean. We will have to find an expert or some other clue as to what they could mean. We can head down to Ms. Uley's place whenever you are ready. The place has already been cleaned up though and there isn't much left to see. Of course we could question the neighbors." He got up from his seat and checked his watch. It was just a bit past 1:00pm.



The receptionist took the papers from Serena. "I will get these to Mr. Davion. Please give me a moment." The receptionist returned shortly. "Mr. Davion will be out to met you in a moment Ms. Serena." It was not long until Bowen walked out and greeted Serena just like he had greeted Chloe the day before. "A pleasure to meet you Ms. Serena. Please follow me back to my office." He skipped the speech he had given Chloe the day before at least this time.

Bowen would lead Serena through a sitting room and turn left to travel down a hall of offices. There they would pass Alphonse's office were he and Chloe were talking about a case. He would open a door, the door to his office for her. It was the only door in the hall that lead to a occupied office that did not have a title to go with the name. The door simply said, 'Bowen E. Davion.'

"I'd like to at least see the scene, so it won't take long. We're working with another supernatural, Mr. Torres. No human can fight a vampire who's desperate to live not walk away unscathed. The other three could have been lucky breaks, but Mrs. Uley fought back. Which means only one of two things, either our culprit is dead -- unlikely -- or they are able to survive what would be mortal wounds to a human." She smiled at Alphonse. "Which means, there is likely a scent somewhere other than her home. A blood trail that was over looked."

She took the file and tapped it gently on his desk before tossing him the keys. "Whenever you're ready to leave, Mr. Torres." She said, heading towards the parking lot.

Alphonse grabbed his cane and followed her out after he turned off the lights and shut the door of his office. He easily caught up to her and held the door. "We will be headed to Fontainebleau then. My grandfather grew up there. It used to be a good neighborhood but with the rising unemployment rate the place went down hill fast. Now its little more than a ghetto. Have your gun ready. The gangs like us just a bit more than the cops."

He assumed she would be driving so he followed her to her car and jumped into the passenger seat after she unlocked the doors. "I have a few contacts that may be able to help if we don't find nothing at the apartment." He didn't tell her that his contacts consisted of a pimp, a hooker, and a pawn shop owner.

Awkwardly she noticed he did not pick up the car keys, so she went to pick them up prior to him locking his door to his office. She cleared her throat to try to clear some of her embarrassment but still took it with stride.

She jumped into the driver seat and sighed. "I've only been in the city for a week, and prior to that I've only been here on some joint investigations.. So I'm not exactly sure where everything is.." She murmured. "And unlike all the young folk now, I don't get into the whole phone crap.." She grumbled. "I feel like if I was connected to the grid all the time, I'd be paranoid." She sighed.

"So you're gonna have to tell me the way."

He spoke after they both got into the car and she had started it up. "I am surprised Mr. Davion didn't get you a phone now that you mention you don't have one. I wish I could tell you that you didn't need one to do this job. I am not a fan of cellphones myself. Don't worry about the city though. You will learn it easily enough. This car can do damn everything but drive itself. It has a bunch of tools and I don't use half of them. Best to let Ms. Moretz or Mr. Davion show you how it all works but I do know how to get the GPS to provide directions."

He leaned over to point at some buttons on the steering wheel. "Push that button there, the one that looks like a little face." When she did this the radio system sounded a beep. "Navigate to 167 Rue d'Alembert, Fontainebleau, Lutetia.", he said after the beep. The navigation system repeated the address and asked if it was correct. "Yes.", he replied flatly. The GPS then started to provided direction and a small interactive map the center screen.

"Easy enough for even someone as old fashioned as me. Let's get to Mrs. Uley's."

"Show's how old fashioned -I- am.." She sighed. "Last time I was in a car, it was the sporting edge of technology and it had a butt warmer. Now this bloody thing talks to me and navigates.." She admitted in a murmured, driving off towards where the map told her to go.

"I failed to mention to Mr. Davion that I did not have a cellphone, and neither did he ask.." She murmured. "Things seem to keep changing while I stay the same. I'm waiting for the day technology gets the better of us.." She grumbled.

Alphonse laughed and then nodded. For a time he was silent and deep in thought. Eventually he did speak. "Mr. Davion does try his best to give us everything we need to get our jobs done safely but he hasn't changed much since the first time I met him, thirty years ago. 'Adapt or perish.', he is fond of saying."

They continued to drive and passed into Fontainebleau. The change of scenery was dramatic. Century-old homes, while once the pinnacle of opulence, have been reduced to crumbling shells of chipping paint and questionably tilting foundations behind broken gates. Hookers worked the corners even at this time of day. Pimps and various young people wearing gang colors watched the car pass. They came into an area newer in its construction but just as seedy and rundown. Rowhomes sat squat to either side of the torn up streets as they maneuvered around potholes.

They continued to drive and passed into Fontainebleau. The change of scenery was dramatic. Century-old homes, while once the pinnacle of opulence, have been reduced to crumbling shells of chipping paint and questionably tilting foundations behind broken gates. Hookers worked the corners even at this time of day. Pimps and various young people wearing gang colors watched the car pass. They came into an area newer in its construction but just as seedy and rundown. Rowhomes sat squat to either side of the torn up streets as they maneuvered around potholes.

"Nice digs.." She said quietly, catching the glares and glances she was getting as they passed through. She pulled up to the apartment complex. "Reminds me of home.." She sighed, pulling the keys from the ignition.

She didn't wait to move to the apartment complex, hesitating only to wait for Alphonse. After they asked if the room was still clear, and finding out that the elevators were still broken, she took the stairs. Heading up to the third floor, she passed several of the prostitutes making their living in the hallway and passed unnoticed. She used the key that was in the file for the vampire and opened up the room. Despite being cleaned, it still smelled of decomposition and rot.

"Glad to see they did such a fine job getting rid of the smell.." She muttered, glancing around. "The body was found here, right..?" She asked, going to where the picture indicated.

He motioned to the floor. "Yeah. The body was found nude, bound at the hands and ankles, and on her stomach. Her head was found in that corner.", he said and then pointed to a corner nearby. "It was positioned as if the perpetrator wanted the head to see the body." He pulled a handkerchief from his coat pocket and placed it over his nose and mouth as a few roaches scampered across the floor.

"Your earlier question: We did find some DNA under her nails but we came up empty in the database. There are no matches on record." He exited the apartment and started to speak to the woman across the hall who had stepped out of her apartment to see what was going on. She quickly shut the door in Alphonse's face when she realized he was an investigator.

Chloe raised a brow as she heard the door slam. "Not a ladies man, Mr. Torres?" She asked, although she was teasing of course. There were still faint brown stains where the blood had been. She followed it slowly from the living room to the bedroom where the rest of the blood had been found. "The question is.. Is where did he go afterward.. How did he leave.. How did he go undetected, injured.. And.." She turned towards the bedroom door. "Without leaving blood himself.."

She was trying to picture it. One of her talents was that she was quite good at getting into the bad guys' head. Most called her dangerous because of that little known fact. "Mr. Torres.. Some vampires have the ability to turn themselves into mist or smoke for a short while, yes?" She asked, trying to confirm. She went to the vent that was underneath where the body had been.

Alphonse mumbled a few choice words under his breath and returned to the room. "I expected as much. She is scared of the gangs. It is going to be much the same no matter who we talk. I will have you know Ms. Sandara, I am still quite the lady's man even with my gray hair."

He squatted down near the stain and the vent. "I know only a little about vampires but I have heard they can turn to smoke, mist, or vapor. I have also heard they can turn into a bat, a swarm of bats, or a wolf. So much for the sanctity of our species." He sighed. "So you are thinking he used the vent to escape without being seen by the other tenants?"

"Aw.. You just don't know how to ask.. And I'm pretty sure that's the way he left.." She muttered. She then promptly closed the door to the apartment. Taking off her jacket, revealing her nearly see through white blouse underneath, as well as her compact .45 caliper weapon in its under arm holster. She slowly slid off her weapon and untied her bun, giving her a younger, bad student look. She grinned up at Alphonse.

"I'll need you to stay here.. Old grey wolf, you tend to scare them off. And I need some questions answered." She said as she slid off her stockings. She unbuttoned a few of the blouse's buttons, revealing way too much before pulling her firearm from its holster and sliding it in a hidden leg holster high on her thigh. "Well, what do you think?" She asked, giving him a seductive grin. "Think you can cover me for a moment, how good are your ears?" She asked.