There's a storm coming. I can smell it in the air.

I can't actually , all I can smell is dirt and blood, but it sounded cool. There's a dead body in front of me. I nudge it with my foot. It used to be a woman, who had brown hair and an apparent penchant for disgusting tartan skirts. Now it's just an empty shell that has a deep gash across the neck and chest.

"Ew." I mutter as I inspect the wound.

Reaching into my satchel, I pull out a notebook and pen and begin to write.

Woman, dead.

In a forest whose name I can't remember, think it started with an E.

Main suspect- Maybe a bear?

I'm not sure if I can arrest bears, or maybe I have to call the RSPCA. A drop of rain lands on my forehead, and I look up to see a ceiling of grey above me.

"Oh bloody hell, I curled my hair." I whisper.

I'm starting to regret coming out to this forest at evening. I'm also starting to regret listening to that strange woman Enigma in that pub, because she had a ridiculous name and somehow knew about this body before the police. In hindsight, I should have maybe questioned that, but that's all water under the bridge now I guess. Plus, I did go in asking for cases, and this is by far the most exciting one so far.

"Okay, Laura, you want to be a detective, and that entails some weird stuff. Maybe I wasn't expecting it to be this weird, but I will just grit my teeth and bear it." I tell myself.

"Clues. Yes. That is what detectives need. Clues."

I start to stare at the ground, not entirely sure what to do. In CSI it looked so easy, but I can't see anything but mud and fungus. Suddenly, something sparkles in the corner of my eye. I walk towards the shiny object and scoop it up, examining it in my palm. It's a small silver cufflink, in a strange shape that looks a little like a Japanese character.

"Mm, that is probably useful. Not sure how, but it definitely means something."

Just as I am pocketing the cufflink, I feel a breeze directly behind me. Whirling around, I turn to see a devastatingly handsome man in a suit the colour of the night sky.

"I see you've found something of mine." He says, in a purr that sounds like sliding satin.

"Oh, the cufflink?" I ask, slightly taken aback by how blue his eyes are. They're like glaciers, cold but beautiful.

"You must be the girl Enigma sent." He says, smiling a little.

I grin. "Ah yes, Enigma. Silly name. Not bitching, I said it to her face. Don't think she took it very well though. Yep, she sent me, I'm a sort of detective in training. Are you here to, you know, help me chase leads, dust for fingerprints, that kind of thing?"

"I'm glad she sent someone a little weaker this time. A mortal. The last one put up a struggle, and what happened wasn't really my fault." He circles me as if he hadn't heard anything I had just said.

"I had desperately wanted one with magic, but I guess you will do for the time-being." Giving me the same look a lion gives to an antelope, he grins and looks up to the sky.

"It's night-time, little girl." He whispers. "Oh,I do love a chase."

I back away slowly. Clearly this man is insane, but he looks slight, so I reckon I could take him in a scuffle.

"L-Listen, I know karate. Yeah, all the moves. The swooping eagle, the crouching tiger. That one about a grasshopper." I stammer, not very convincingly it has to be said.

He reaches up to his head, and I start to think he's going to pull a gun from behind his head like Bruce Willis in Die Hard when he rips off his skin.

He rips off his skin like it's a plaster on a wound, suit and all, revealing a pale, black eyed, hulking creature.

The creature howls as it looks straight at me.

"Oh crumbs." I whisper, then I turn and sprint into the inky shadows of the forest, the creatures breath so near I can feel it on my neck.