Chapter 26

Believe Me

Bright red and blue lights took quick turns in illuminating the walls of the surrounding buildings that just happened to be close enough to the abandoned construction site. Seeing those lights was more than enough to catch people's attention and make them flock to the crime scene like moths to a beacon. The only things that could keep them at bay were the yellow police tapes that taped off the area and the white plastic tarp that made it impossible for the onlookers to see what exactly the forensic team was taking pictures of... and that was probably a good thing.

Staring at the grotesque sight made Dolph almost desire a cigarette to ease the sickening feeling in his stomach. The detective's fingertips touched the carton package in the pocket of his jeans, but at the last moment he decided not to take a cigarette. He withdrew his hand from his pocket and took a deep breath. He remembered a trick he learned from his late colleague Ettore Langston during the time they worked together. They were sitting at a bar one time after work, yes, he clearly remembered that. What was Ettore drinking again? Oh yeah, right, he had a beer, just like Dolph. There was also a football match on the bar's TV, but Dolph couldn't remember which teams were playing on that night.

'Ettore, how come you always stay so calm whenever you enter a crime scene?' the blonde detective had asked. 'Don't you ever feel scared or anything about what you're going to see?'

His colleague had briefly laughed. 'Of course I do feel something, man.' he said. 'But I have my own way of staying calm whenever I see a body. I concentrate on the lyrics of the last song I have heard, trust me, it really works. Maybe you should try it as well, Dolph.'

Those words had stuck with him ever since. There had been occasions where the crime scene was that gruesome that the blonde detective decided to put this technique to work. And he would be damned, it actually worked; Dolph hoped that Ettore got a very special spot in Heaven. Because holy hell, he could really use Ettore's technique now. What was the last song he listened to today? Dolph managed to remember it and remembered the lyrics and played them in his mind over and over again, focusing on it. But what he saw that summer night even put this way of staying calm to the test on so many levels.

The severed head of Alberto Del Rio, member of the Legion Of Hunters and a first-class greedy scumbag, was impaled on one of the thick, rusty, iron cables that could be found sticking out of the ground all over the construction site. Dolph was so grateful for the tarp, because goddamn it, he was convinced that the onlookers would need some good counseling after seeing this. Alberto's mouth was forever frozen in a silent scream. His eyes were almost completely rolled into the back of his head. Blood had dried up around his mouth. Droplets of blood had stained the earth surrounding the cable and dripped down the rust. All of them were nightmare-inducing details the members of the forensic team were forced to photograph, but one of the details had to be the most fucked up one without a doubt.

A name he knew very well was carved on Alberto's forehead in bloody letters... and the name was Finn.

Dolph had to know it, he just had to fucking know whether his demon hunter friend was behind this grisly murder, that's why he had called him. That was half an hour ago, maybe more if he remembered correctly. The call that had lead the police to the bloody crime scene was made by a teenage couple, who stumbled upon the severed head when they decided to explore the abandoned construction site; the blonde detective had the strong suspicion that they chose this spot for a quick fuck session, but the gruesome discovery would sure be more than enough to make the lust disappear. But this wasn't the first horrifying crime scene he had entered today.

It looked like the families of the missing men who had visited Club Bella finally had the rest they longed for; the dead bodies of the men were found in a sewer pipe on a part of Levesque City's beach that was inaccessible for the general public. The stench of the bodies was absolutely unbearable, but thankfully Dolph had made it through that part of the day without vomiting.

The blonde detective walked away from the severed head to see if Finn had already arrived. The crowd of people had thinned out a bit, maybe because most people realized that there weren't going to catch a glimpse of whatever was going on behind that tarp anytime soon. The sun had gone down and there was only one lamppost near the construction site, making it kind of hard to spot him. Dolph slightly squinted his eyes and looked around. And he spotted him. Finn was standing near an alleyway, distancing himself from the small crowd but close enough for Dolph to see him. Good, they wouldn't see them together in that alleyway and the onlookers would probably think Finn was another detective. Now he had just to find the perfect way to distract his colleagues for a moment... and he just knew how.

'Ryder!' he called out.

Officer Zack Ryder, a man in his early thirties with short brown hair and neatly trimmed facial hair and recently assigned as Dolph's new partner, looked up; the blonde detective thought he was a good guy. He had just finished talking to a member of the forensic team. 'Yeah, bro?'

'Go inside the building with the guys, see if you can find some more evidence!'

Zack gave him a nod, told his colleagues to go inside the unfinished apartment complex and walked away. Dolph watched until he was sure that everyone was inside. Then he ducked underneath the tape and headed towards Finn, who was waiting for him at the entrance of the dark alley. Thankfully the onlookers had more eye for the forensic team entering the apartment complex than for the blonde detective.

'Dolph, what's goin' on there?' the demon hunter asked when they entered the alley. 'What happened?'

Not saying a word, Dolph took a photograph out of his pocket and showed the grisly captured image to Finn. His eyes slightly widened with surprise and horror. A chill went up his spine when he laid eyes upon Alberto's severed head, but when he saw that his name was carved on his forehead, he thought he was going to feel sick to his stomach with utter shock.

'This is what happened.' Dolph replied, putting the photograph back in his pocket. 'Finn... I called you to come to this place because I have to know. I didn't want to wait for it, I simply couldn't. Tell me the truth, Finn... are you behind this?'

'Of course not! Why the bloody hell would ya suspect me, Dolph! Ya know me! I wouldn't do somethin' like that!'

'Then why the fuck is your name carved on his forehead?!' the blonde detective replied with a hushed voice. He didn't want to believe that it was his friend who did this, he honestly didn't want to... but something inside him found it so hard to believe him. 'Explain that to me! Did you at least know this guy?!'

Finn nodded. 'I do remember him. I've met him a few days ago. His name was Alberto, he is... well, was a member of the Legion Of Hunters.'

'The what?'

'Never mind. To cut to the chase, yeah, I do know him. And he was a real big piece of shite, let me tell ya that. He attacked Paige once and tried to kill her, all for the bloody money. Dolph, please, for the love of God, ya have to believe me! Aye, I fuckin' hated that guy for what he did to Paige, but I didn't kill him!' The demon hunter suddenly paused when a realization struck him like a lightning bolt. 'But... I may know who did. I can prove it to ya.'

'How?'

'Here, I'll show ya.' Finn dove his hand into the pocket of his leather jacket and took out the magical amulet. He handed it over to the blonde detective. 'This amulet belongs to Paige. It can detect ink demons and their magic. If an ink demon has been here and put his powers to work, his magic will linger here. See it as fingerprints, if ya will. Hold it near his head and ya will see. Please, Dolph... ya have to believe me.'

The blonde detective twiddled the amulet between his fingers, as if he was lost in his thoughts. This wasn't the first time he was holding an enchanted item that came from the demon witch in his hands, so he didn't find it hard to believe that the amulet was indeed enchanted. He seriously hoped that Finn was telling the truth. Dolph looked up.

'Stay here.' he said. He put the amulet in his pocket, turned around and walked away, heading back to the crime scene. He noticed that more onlookers had walked away and that Zack and the others were still inside the building, much to his relief. He disappeared behind the tarp where Alberto's head was shielded from the eyes of the onlookers and once he was absolutely sure that nobody could see him, Dolph pulled out the amulet. This was it; this piece of jewelry had to prove Finn's innocence. But just as he wanted to hold it near the head, something inside the blonde detective told him not to believe the demon hunter. What if the amulet would react to any kind of demon magic besides ink demon magic? If that was true, Finn would've used an ink demon as a scapegoat and he would get away from this crime. But Dolph shook off that thought; if this was the case, then the amulet would've also reacted to Finn's presence, right? After all, he knew that he was a half-demon. Enough with the bullshit, he was going to do this. Dolph practically held his breath when he held the amulet near Alberto's head... and it was immediately proved that Finn was innocent.

'Holy hell...' the blonde detective whispered to himself.

The gem of the amulet illuminated with a bright blue glow, reacting to the presence, just like the demon hunter had told him. Of course his colleagues weren't going to believe him if he would tell them that he used a magical amulet to trace demon magic, but at least it was confirmed that his friend was not the one who butchered this man like a damn pig. He put the amulet back in his pocket and walked back to Finn; all onlookers were gone now.

'And?' the demon hunter asked. 'Do ya believe me now?'

Dolph, taken a little aback by the magic he saw with his own eyes, nodded. 'Yeah... the amulet did react when I used it. I'm sorry for doubting you, Finn.' He gave the amulet back to him.

'It's fine, don't worry.' Finn calmly replied, putting the amulet in the pocket of his jacket. 'I have a strong feelin' about who this ink demon might be...'

'Who is it? Tell me, we can find this guy while he's still on the loose!'

'No, ya don't!' Finn replied with a sudden fierceness in his voice. 'I know this bloke, Dolph. He is Baron Corbin and he's one mean fucker. He is responsible for the deaths of those people in the suburbs and I'm sure as hell that he is responsible for the massacre at the trailer park as well. He wants to challenge me, he's here in this city and he wants to draw my attention, that's probably why he carved my name on Alberto's head. This is something between him and me! Yer men are not capable of takin' him on, he will kill them before one of them will even fire the first bullet! Dolph, ye're a good guy, but if ya don't want Kaitlyn to become a widow yet, ya better stay out of this. Just let me do this! I will stop him!'

And before Dolph could answer back, Finn turned around and ran off into the darkness of the alleyway.

'Hey Sara, how are you holding up?' Baron's voice asked in the darkness of another alley not too far away from the abandoned construction site.

'Um... what?' Sara replied, snapped out of her thoughts. 'Sorry, what did you say Baron?'

'You've been so quiet during the rest of the day, why is that? Are you feeling alright?'

'Yeah, I'm fine, I'm... just feeling a bit nauseous, that's all.'

Oh yes, Sara was feeling nauseous alright; she felt like that from the moment her partner in crime cut the head off that man at the construction site with unsettling ease. She had heard the blade of his knife slicing through his flesh, blood dripping on the concrete floor and the man's death scream that quickly turned into sinister gurgling; all of those sounds had haunted her for the entire day. Sara thought she could take it, but oh God, the sight, those noises... it was too much for her. But Baron didn't seem to be fazed by the murder for one bit, which was actually no surprise; Sara knew that he had killed before. Hell, he even whistled when he took the severed head and carved Finn's name on the forehead, as if he was carving a fucking pumpkin for Halloween. After he had impaled the head on the iron cable, Baron had turned to Sara and asked if she wanted to eat something, as if nothing had happened to make her stomach feel like it contained a big stone. At a diner in the center of the city, he ordered a baguette with ham and cheese for her, but she could barely eat it.

They had waited for the sun to go down and it was finally dark enough in the city. Despite the gruesome sight, Sara hadn't made a single attempt to get away from Baron... because her wrathful desire to stop Finn Bálor and punish him for protecting people like her parents and the residents of her hometown was much stronger than that.

'It's because of that guy back at the construction site, isn't it?' the ink demon suddenly asked, as if he could read Sara's mind. She blinked her eyes in surprise and opened her mouth to speak, but then she felt a strong hand on her shoulder. Baron looked her straight in the eyes, but not in a threatening way. He looked at her like... he cared about her. 'Think about this, Sara. You have heard him speaking, right? He was one of those bastards you have despised your entire life, just another scumbag of society. He wanted to kill me for money... I'd say that this says a whole fucking lot about himself. And who knows, maybe he could've killed you too, even if you weren't worth any money. I know demon hunters like him, they won't hesitate to kill a demon for some good cash, even if it didn't do anything to him or humanity. We have done every demon in this realm a huge favor by killing him.'

Strangely enough, those words were able to put Sara a little bit at ease. She had seen the look in that man's eyes when they approached him... it were the eyes of a madman. God, she couldn't stand the thought of something happening to Baron... 'Yeah... I guess so.' she mumbled.

'Good.' The ink demon gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. 'Don't think about it anymore, okay? It's over now.'

'Baron... can I ask you something?'

'Sure, what is it?'

'What are we going to do after we are done with Finn? I'm just wondering, you know...'

The ink demon took this chance to fill Sara's head with more lies; it was a perfect opportunity. 'I have been thinking about that a lot.' he replied. 'At first I planned to go back to my home realm, the Demon Realm, alone as soon as I would be done with that son of a bitch. But...' His hand slowly traveled up and touched Sara's soft cheek; the touch caused her to let out a soft, inaudible gasp and her cheeks to color red. Despite the darkness, she could see a small smile on Baron's face. 'Now that I have met you, there might be a change of plans. You can come with me to the Demon Realm, Sara. I know it may look strange and dangerous to you at first, but I honestly believe you will be fine. You're strong, I have seen it. We will write history together. We, the couple who has taken down the notorious Finn Bálor. The demons will respect you, you will receive the respect you have deserved all along. Just think about it... You and me. Respected by many. Living a new life.'

As the blush on her cheeks turned redder and redder, Sara could already imagine it all; traveling to a supernatural realm she had never heard of, leaving this world of abusers and cowards behind her... and starting a new life with Baron. Baron, the only man who has ever cared about her and despite his rough edges... loved her. Sara smiled from ear to ear, she felt so happy, it nearly brought tears to her eyes. 'That sounds wonderful...' she whispered.

Unfortunately she had no idea that all of these promises were nothing more but pure lies; as soon as Baron would get what he wanted, he'd toss her aside like an used toy and go back to the Demon Realm himself to claim his reputation and never bat an eye about her. But it didn't cross her mind, that had been warped after the ink demon's kindness after experiencing twenty-three long years of lovelessness and agonizing abuse, for one moment.

'Say, how about we draw Finn's attention just a little bit more?' Baron asked while slowly circling his thumb over his cheek. 'Just to let him know that we're coming for him...'

Just then, his eye fell on a store on the other side of the street.

The name of that store was The Pentagram... and there was still light burning inside.