Chapter One: Disappear
Ten Years Ago
"Did you see that guy? Flexing like he had something worth seeing! And the pants, they were so tight you could tell he wasn't packing anything worthwhile!" Elsa howled into the night, wiping away the tears that had formed at the corners of her eyes.
"Not all of them weren't worth a look!"
Tiana tried to sound thoughtful, but the wistful smile on her lips told Elsa everything she needed to know. "You got someone's number didn't you?" she asked, playfully poking at Tiana's side, "Not even old enough to be in the club and you're scoring numbers. Better make sure he knows how old you are before you-"
"Oh hush! At least I'm not a bad influence on literally anyone younger than me!"
"I'm two years older than you! Two years more mature, two years wiser and actually an adult-"
A scream rang out in the night and Elsa immediately tensed,throwing her arm out to stop Tiana from moving any further. Her heart raced as she scanned the area around her, it was a seedy part of town that they wouldn't normally visit so late in the night and anything was possible. She took a protective stance, guarding her friend with a ferocity she didn't know she had.
"Els, let's get out of here." Tiana whispered, grabbing at her sleeve. "Now."
"Quiet." Elsa urged, eyes finally locking on to the scuffle from which the scream no doubt originated. Across the street from them a man was seemingly roughing up a young woman, who looked to be about Tiana's age. Far too young to be in such a place so late at night with no one to keep her safe. "Call the cops."
Without waiting for a response, Elsa did something incredibly idiotic and entirely out of character. She took off running in the direction of the fight, dashing across the empty street toward the pair of rocking figures. She could only hear muffled screams now, and that could only mean that the man was covering the woman's mouth. The thought enraged Elsa, causing her to behave rashly, far more rashly than she might normally.
"Back off!" Elsa leaped onto the man's back, throwing punches right to his head. That'll show him! "Let her g-"
In a display of strength that left Elsa in awe, the man reached back with a single hand and gripped her jacket, pulling her off of him easily and tossing her to the side. Elsa called out in pain as she landed on the rough pavement, sliding back into a lamp post that the bulb had been shot out of. Groaning, she shakily rose back to her feet, "I said let her go!"
Elsa threw another punch, only to have the man turn to face her now. He smiled, pulling a knife from a sheath at his hip and yanking the young woman closer, almost like a shield. Elsa wasn't sure if it was the fear or her imagination, but she could swear that she could smell the stink of his last meal on his breath. She was queasy from the stench of cheap canned fish and beer, but even more sick at the thought that she might not manage to hold her own until reinforcements arrived.
It was too late for second guessing though, for the man had already begun slashing at her. The blade caught her left arm as she threw it up defensively, and then her exposed side as well. Each cut felt like a searing pinch of her skin, she could feel herself bleeding as she stepped back, and back, and back again, attempting to avoid the quickening blows. Then, the man very suddenly paused his assault, almost as if he had changed his mind. He dropped the first woman, who was barely conscious now, and reached out for Elsa instead.
Her heart leaped into her throat as his hand gripped her wounded arm, she hissed in pain but struggled against him nonetheless, it was do or die now. She wasn't ready to allow herself to be violated or killed by some common street thug, even if she had put herself into this situation to begin with. But her struggling only enticed more violence from the man, who grunted with the force that he put behind a punch aimed right into her gut.
The breath was stolen right out of her with the impact, she didn't even have enough air left in her to make a sound in response to the shock wave of pain that enveloped her. She quivered on the spot as her lungs rattled, trying desperately to get air back into them, but it was to no avail. He struck her again in the stomach, then in the side, and one final time in the face, all the while holding her with his other hand so that she couldn't escape the barrage.
Fear gripped her like a constrictor, sucking the life from her sure as the punches from her assailant pulled the air from her lungs. Her mind raced, her heart no longer felt as though it was beating, but with one of the punches from the man she caught a glimpse of his former target attempting to crawl away. Just a few more minutes, she can get away. I just need a few more-
But no matter how slowly she was trying to crawl, the woman couldn't conceal the sound of her shoes and clothing dragging on the pavement. The man grumbled something under his breath as he turned his head slightly, as if to make sure his original target was still on the ground.
No, NO! Elsa's mind went into overdrive as she mustered everything she could, loosing a guttural battle cry as she struck out at the man once more. She gasped, however, as her punch immediately caused the man to release her arm and fall to the ground screaming and howling in pain. For a moment, she was stunned, had she been that strong all along? The smell of something unfamiliar filled her nostrils, and it didn't take her long to realize that the smell was too intertwined with fish and beer to not be coming from the man.
His face was bleeding profusely as he whimpered on the ground, curled in on himself like a defenseless child. Confused, Elsa looked down at her hand, wondering if perhaps her nails had done some damage, and she nearly retched at the sight. Her arm had been replaced by something otherworldly - from her elbow down she was covered in silvery white fur, her fingers now tipped in claws, at the end of which was a swath of skin no doubt missing from the attacker's face.
"What the fuck, what the fuck, what the FUCK?" Elsa whispered to herself, shaking her arm and willing away the image that seemed burned into her memory.
Even the woman on the ground began backing away as quickly as she could from both the man and from her rescuer. Her eyes were wide with fear, but Elsa could feel that it was now directed at her as well as at the now helpless man on the ground.
"I-I'm not, I don't know what this is. I can't..."
The eyes of the rescued woman were burning into her as she stood bewildered by the sudden shift in her own body. The sound of sirens met her ears and her fear intensified, when the lights could be seen approaching around the corner Elsa did the only thing she could - she ran. Ran away from Tiana, who was no doubt worried for her safety, ran away from the scene where she had become a hero, away from everything that she knew and straight into the jaws of the unknown.
Present Day
"Lovely night for a walk, eh Wolf?"
"West. West. Make me correct you again and you won't be alive to slip up. Got it, kid?"
"Y-yes Miss West. I mean ma'am. Yes ma'am."
"Stop the blithering, Olaf. Either take me to the scene and make this worth my time or let me go home."
"R-right. This way."
Elsa had to squint her eyes to protect them from the brightness of the blue flashing lights as they crossed the line of police blocking off what appeared to be an apartment building. The inside hall looked relatively plain, making her question why she had accepted Olaf's call at all. But the crime scene description had sounded too familiar over the phone, and so she felt an irksome need to look into things. Crossing under the tape that marked the threshold of the scene didn't immediately set of any sirens in her mind as she had hoped, but it did cause her to curl her lip back in mild disgust.
"Ugh, the smell." she hissed, pulling out a black handkerchief and holding it over her nose, "You could have warned me you know, you punk."
"I..." Olaf hesitated, nervously wringing his hat in his hands, "I didn't realize it would be so bad for you. I couldn't smell anything until I was right on the body..."
Elsa gruffly muttered something like a sound indicating her acceptance of his statement, but didn't speak further. Her eyes shifted across the scene, the first thing that she noted was how wide of an area seemed to be affected. Blood somehow seeped down the staircase from the upper floor in a few thin trails and had nearly reached the bottom before coagulating. Clearly someone had manipulated the scene to look particularly horrendous, and in leaving the remarkably undisturbed door wide open they had drawn the desired attention to the crime held within.
"You checked the rest of the house? Dusted for prints of all sorts and took evidence already?" Elsa's voice was muffled by the handkerchief, but Olaf still seemed to understand.
"Of course. Nothing is disturbed down here, just upstairs."
"Then up we go."
Carefully Elsa sidled along the bloodless sides of the stairs, refraining from using the handrails just in case the police decided to dust for prints again. The stink of blood worsened, much to her dismay, as she climbed step after careful step toward the scene. When she finally arrived at the summit of the stairs, Elsa wiped the condensation from her face and grimaced as she put away the handkerchief. The smell was very nearly unbearable, but the cloth would only be in the way.
The body was that of a young woman in her mid twenties, Elsa mused, with lengthy hair that was a strange bright red color. For a moment Elsa felt a strange emotion grip her, tightening her chest, but it faded as she it dawned on her that the color was clearly from a bottle. It was odd, Elsa noted after her heart had slowed, that there didn't appear to be a trail of blood from the body to the stairs. Almost as if someone had gathered the blood from the girl and transported it themselves. An odd trademark for a murderer, to be sure.
"D-did you see the...the gouges?"
Elsa had heard Olaf's clumsy footsteps following her painfully slowly up the stairs and she wished that he had taken just a little longer so that she could look on without his inane questioning. "I'm looking at them." she replied, her voice sounding almost pained as she crouched lower to more carefully investigate the severity of the wounds.
"At first we thought a knife, or a sword or something, but-"
"But the wounds are too irregular and too well placed for a knife fight. Even if they were post mortem, which they don't appear to be, a knife couldn't do this. This was all claws."
"C-claws? You can't be serious...like a bear?"
She scoffed at the comment, never taking her eyes off the all too familiar patterning on the stomach and midsection of the body, "Sure, let's go with a bear. A very careful bear that didn't disturb anything and somehow had the sense of mind to leave a clear sign of a crime so that someone would find her while she was fresh." While the wounds were fresh. While their source would be clear to anyone who knew his methods.
Olaf stood back a ways from the body, almost as though he wasn't ready to see her again after having already seen so much in his previous investigation. Elsa scanned the rest of the young woman and, finding nothing else out of place, she rose back to a standing position and began looking about the hallway. Without the presence of a body, one would never expect that a crime had even been committed. There were no scuff marks on the floor, no sideways wall hangings or gouges in the walls, nothing to indicate the type of mortal struggle that happened here.
"None of your goons cleaned anything up? No glass on the floor or things out of place that were moved?"
"Nothing. Frankly that's why I called you, well, that and-"
"I know why you called, Olaf. It's clear to both of us that this is the work of the same guy, but couldn't you have gotten to me through the agency instead of on my personal line? I know that in your mind things are happy and wonderful, but the presence of someone who doesn't technically exist at a crime scene like this could be disastrous."
"I know, I know. I'm sorry, I just didn't know where else to turn. Things are always so slow with them. Who better to identify something like this than someone who, well, who knows?"
She knew he was right, but she greeted his question with steely silence. It was all very odd, this scene. Nothing out of place, not even blood spatter on the walls, and yet it was clear that she had been killed on the scene. And those marks... Elsa shook the thought, pulling out a camera and snapping a few photographs of the scene.
"Let me know what you find out when you get DNA results from the blood on the stairs."
"West? West, where are you going?"
"I need some time to think on this one."
"West! Wait for me!"
But Elsa didn't. She made her way down the stairs far more quickly than she had ascended them and crossed back under the police tape. Lights were still flashing outside, and as she crossed back out of their blockade she made sure to steer clear of their vehicles. Cops always made her anxious, and given the situation she hoped Olaf wouldn't take her swift exit too personally.
XXX
Anna Fields had never imagined that she would be on the side of the table that she sat on. Never did she assume she would be waiting anxiously to be interrogated about something so brutal and awful as what she had seen, or that she would ever be a suspect in such an act. Protesting? Sure. Trespassing on government property? Why not. But that was where things stood now, her world had been turned entirely upside down in a matter of moments.
The floors were dirty, the lights flickering, and the hard wooden stool she sat in wasn't quite flush with the floor, resulting in a gentle rocking that she had to control by either leaning forward or backward to the point of being uncomfortable. It was just like they made it seem on television, she was being put into a bad position before the officer was even in the room, and she wanted nothing more than to get out of this place and get home.
She nearly jumped from her skin as the door slammed open, she stared openly as a man of short stature with scant hair and a nose unlike anything she had ever seen sauntered in like he owned the place. Though he was dressed in his police uniform, something about him was off. Anna felt a tingle shoot up her spine, causing her to straighten up in her chair.
"Listen Mr...?"
"Wesselton."
"Mr. Wesselton, I don't really know what happened, or how, but I can assure you that I had nothing to do with-"
"Miss Fields, if you would please comply with my requests then I can assure you that we will both get to move on with our nights much more quickly."
Despite the seriousness of the situation, the man was smiling in a way that made Anna squirm uncomfortably in her chair. Anna clenched her hands together in front of her stomach, shutting her eyes and exhaling. There wasn't any way around an interrogation and she had known that from the start, but it had been worth a try. "I really don't know what happened. I was heading home and I noticed ten's door open and..."
Her voice shook as the images threatened to flood her mind again, but she pushed them back as best as she could. She crossed her arms over her lap, pressing down to keep her legs from shaking up and down nervously.
"And then what?
"And I went to check it out, obviously. I called out to see if anyone would respond, and when no one did I went up the stairs and found her...that's when I called the police."
"You said 'ten' before. What did you mean by that? Was that some sort of nickname shared between you and the victim?"
"N-no. It was the apartment number."
Wesselton began pacing, holding his arms behind his back. "So you wouldn't say that you were close with 'ten' then? Never visited her before?"
"No, not at all. I hardly know any of my neighbors. What are you trying to say?"
"Just trying to rule out the presence of any evidence you may have left on the scene, Miss Fields. If what you're saying is true then you've got absolutely nothing to worry about. Now, what exactly did you touch at the scene, if anything?
"I can't remember, maybe the door and the railing? I definitely didn't touch her! Listen, when can I go home? I have an early shift tomorrow..."
"Certainly Miss Fields, I do thank you for your time and your honesty with me but unfortunately this investigation takes precedence over your little" Wesselton paused and ran a hand through his scant hair sighing heavily, "what is it you do for a living, exactly?"
The question was clearly meant in a derogatory way, meant to remind Anna that she had no authority in the situation whatsoever. "I work at a cafe just a few blocks from my apartment."
"And after work?"
Anna paused this time, knowing that it wouldn't be wise to lie at this point but fearful of what trouble the truth might bring along with it. She wasn't ashamed of the things she did in her spare time, but to have that information floating around for all to see wasn't something she desired either. "I-I do research."
"Research, hm? And for what type of degree are you studying?"
"N-none. I just look into things I'm interested in, for personal reasons. Just, like, a hobby."
"What an interesting choice for a hobby. 'Pseudo-humans.' At least that's what your online postings seem to call them. I guess that means you're into the bogey man and vampires and the like?"
"It's just a hobby." she asserted again, hardening her expression defensively.
"Looks like a little more than just a hobby. You've been posting on your little website for years with theories and images...and you've confirmed you saw the body as well. Quite interesting that the scene would so very closely mirror some theorized injuries you've drawn up and that you, of all the people in that building, would have not only this macabre interest but also be the one to stumble upon the scene and call the police."
"As I said Mr. Wesselton, I had nothing to do with it. I've told you what I did and didn't touch and I've answered all your questions, am I free to go now?"
Wesselton looked on thoughtfully, almost as though he were trying to read further into Anna's expression to see if her words were really truthful. "Innocent until proven guilty, isn't that what they say? I do have just a single follow up question, if you're willing to answer. Did you see or hear anyone or anything suspicious at or near the scene?"
"I was just coming home from work so I had my headphones in, but I didn't see anyone out of place. Just the usual crowd for the hour."
"Very well...you are free to go for now," he paused for emphasis, pointing two fingers at his own eyes and then back at her in a sort of 'I'm watching you' gesture, "but we may call you back in at a later time for further questioning. I trust it won't be too hard to pull you from your little barista job."
Anna had to wait for the door to be buzzed open again, but the moment it was she shot out of the room, and subsequently the station house, as fast as she could. Whatever made that officer believe that she had anything to do with the scene must have been convincing for him to grill her so hard. As much as she desired her warm bed and her comfortable home, however, she wouldn't make it far from the station before another young officer stopped her.
"I'll need you to come with me, miss."
The man was tall, taller than her by nearly a foot, but his face was soft and far from intimidating. Reddish hair peeked out from beneath a beret type hat, but his eyes and much of his facial expression were shielded by a rather large pair of black sunglasses.
"I've just finished with the police, can I not go home?"
"Anna Fields, if you would please come with me? I would rather not have to take you with me by force."
Anna's eyes narrowed in suspicion. What could this man possibly want with her, and how the hell did he know her name? The cogs in her mind turned as the man's expression, or what she could see of it, seemed to grow impatient. As she tried to reason out just what was going on, he was clenching and releasing his fists at his side as though he were preparing for a fight. Instinctively she whipped around, heart now hammering in her throat as she took off toward the police station again. They may have been suspicious of her for the moment, but it would at least be safe there.
"They always run." The man groaned, taking off after Anna.
But it was no use for her to even try to run, the man easily overtook her and tugged her toward him, clasping a hand over her mouth and nose. Anna tried to scream, but his hand prevented little more than a hum from escaping. She sank her teeth into his fingers, or so she thought, but the fabric was far too thick for her teeth to pierce. She tugged, attempting to disengage his hands, but to no avail. The struggling just made her more, and more light headed until finally her world went black.
When she awoke she was in yet another building. Anna fidgeted, shifting her position in the too soft chair that she had been set in, hoping to alleviate the strain on her eyes from the bright lights in the oddly sterile looking room. As she blinked and her eyes adjusted to the lighting she realized that everything in the room seemed to be white. From the overly plush chair she was in to the glass for the windows, white as far as the eye could see. Was it a psychological tactic to frighten her further, or just a poorly decorated room?
Her stomach tightened more and more the longer she looked, noting that she appeared to be in some sort of office. Everything about this place was unnerving, not to mention strangely silent. The silence was almost the worst part, if she hadn't been aware that she had been kidnapped to be taken here the silence would have definitely been the worst part. Unsettling. Unnatural. Those were the only words that came to mind as she looked around.
There were no bindings holding her to the chair, she seemed free enough to walk around and yet it was clear from her vantage point that they were several stories up and that there was only a single door to the room, which would no doubt be guarded. What could anyone possibly need her this urgently for if they, whoever they were, were willing to kidnap her to get her here?
Anna started as the door to the room opened and the same red-haired man who had stolen her peered inside. She could see now that he had green-ish eyes, and strangely kind features for a kidnapper.
"Oh good, we were getting impatient."
"Look, I don't know what all this is about but you guys have got to let me go. I've got a little money stashed away if that's what you're after." Anna's heart began to race again, she could feel every inch of her skin heating as she tried to appear calm and plot an escape.
The man rolled his eyes, "Nobody wants your money, nobody wants your body either so calm down. Just be patient and you'll get home soon enough, unscathed no doubt."
"Where are your manners, Hans? This little lady deserves the moon on a platter! She could be the answer to all our troubles!"
A brunette man of short stature, dressed plainly in khakis and a light blue polo shirt, pushed his way past the much taller man, now identified as Hans, and smiled warmly at Anna. His hands came together in front of his waist as he rocked back and forth on his heels, almost as if he was excited to see her. His smile seemed to grow wider by the moment.
"Miss Fields, I can't tell you what an honor it is to be standing in your presence. Imagine! Little old me finally coming face to face with you! The biggest star in all of non-human research is sitting right here in my office, who would have believed it?"
The near fan-boy reaction to her presence unnerved Anna all the more and she sank further into the chair. She pulled her knees up to her chest and clutched them, almost as if the action would offer her some kind of protection from this strange situation."Who the hell are you people?"
"Oh, my land! I got so excited I forgot all about introductions. You're just such a dynamite lady, forgive me. You can call me Felix. I run this little organization here, so don't you worry-"
"Listen I don't care what you guys are up to here, I won't even call the police, just let me get out of here."
"But" Felix's eyebrows came together and his eyes softened, his excitement now clearly replaced with some kind of sadness, "we haven't even told you why we need your help!"
"My help? You kidnap me and nearly have this big oaf break my neck so I can help you? You're both insane, just let me go!" Anna was shouting now, tears streaming hotly down her cheeks as she shook in the chair. An act, for the most part. She was terrified, certainly, but she wasn't about to let these two get the best of her.
Felix nervously made small gestures with his hands, attempting to calm her. "We really do need your help, ma'am! There's been a string of murders and other crimes, see, and we think it might be the work of some dastardly, well, you call them psuedo-humans and-"
"You're delusional. Pseudo-humans aren't real, they aren't-"
"You saw what was left of that young woman Miss Fields, ma'am," Felix paused to cringe, "you really think a person could do that?"
Anna scoffed, dropping her teary act as she realized it wouldn't be helpful in getting her out of this strange predicament that she found herself in. "Listen, even if they were real, why would I want to help two lunatics who literally stole me off the street?"
"Well, the pay's pretty good." Felix said with a smile, steepling his fingers in front of himself almost excitedly, "A lot better than makin' coffee for ungrateful folks."
"How did you..." But Anna didn't bother finishing the question. It was clear that not only were these people serious about their business, whatever that may be, but also that they were thorough. They must know all about her life at this point, and the mention of pseudo-humans meant that they must know of her online persona as well. "How much do you know about me?"
"Just about everything! There's the simple stuff, then the more juicy tidbits. Particularly about the event that sparked your interest in non-human creatures. Oh, and we know what killed that girl, too."
"Who." Anna corrected nervously, "Don't you mean who killed that girl?"
Felix shook his head in response, a somber expression coming over his face as he did so. "Oh no, ma'am. I didn't misspeak. I said 'what' and I meant 'what.'"
She furrowed her brows, breathing deeply and freeing her legs so that she could get up and pace back and forth in front of the chair. So they were some kind of organization that had something to do with the one thing that had consumed her waking hours since that fateful day...did that mean that she had to help them? Would they even let her leave after revealing so much?
"Don't worry, we won't kill you if you don't want to work with us. Just erase this portion of your memory and then set you loose. Back to slinging coffee and pretending like you aren't a huge nerd for the non-human races."
That had been the first time Hans had spoken since Felix had entered the room, but it was clearly meant in a lighthearted way. Anna wondered how many other people had been recruited into this 'organization,' as Felix had called it, in the same way that she was experiencing now. Had Hans perhaps also been brought in in the same way?
"Tell me" Anna paused, thinking about her question carefully. After all this was her only chance, these people clearly knew things that she had wanted to know for ten years now, things that could push her into a new and viable career dealing with something she had a legitimate interest in. "Tell me what it is you guys do, exactly."
"Take it away, Hans."
Hans stepped forward, now standing at Felix's side. "We are the Society for Non-Human Operations, S.N.O. for short. While most of us are human, we work together with the pseudo-humans, as you call them, for the bettering of mankind."
"What kind of Scooby Doo bullshit is that?" Anna laughed wryly, "So you're telling me that not only do the pseudo-humans actually exist, you're also telling me that you guys are wrangling them up and bribing them to help you solve mysteries?"
"Murders. Rapes. Kidnappings. Mysteries is hardly the word I'd use, but sure. If that's the one your brain wants to use to understand all of this then fine, mysteries it is. That's not all that we do here, but that's the gist of it."
"This is absurd. How could you possibly hide the existence of things like this from the government?"
"The government may not have as wide of a grip on the goings on of the country as you think, Miss Fields." Hans seemed unfazed by the idea that they were operating without governmental regulation.
"How about it, ma'am? Want to join our little organization and help right the wrongs in the world?"
Felix seemed overly happy about the prospect of having her on their side, but Anna still wasn't entirely convinced. "What exactly could you possibly need someone like me for?"
"Precisely what I asked him when he had me recruit you." Hans interjected, "Someone like you with no training, no prospects, no-"
"No fear of the bad things that live among us." Felix cut Hans off, giving him a stern look that a father might give a misbehaving child, "Maybe not no fear, but you've seen one before and you haven't made it to the nuthouse because of it. Means you've got what we refer to it in the business as a black soul."
"A black soul?"
"Yes ma'am. Don't take any offense, it just means you don't lose your marbles when you see something you shouldn't. The human mind is a fragile thing, real hard to fix once it's been exposed things it feels shouldn't exist. All those other things Hans speaks of can be taught. You can't turn a soul black."
"This is...this is kind of a lot for one day." Anna sighed, crossing her arms over her chest and glancing between the stoic Hans and the ever-smiling Felix. "I mean, it's a dream come true in one way, but in others it's overwhelming."
"Unfortunately it's the only one you've got. What'll it be, ma'am? A lifetime of serving coffee and researching your passion project, or co-existing with the very creatures you've spent the last ten years of your life searching for?"
Now? Anna thought, They drop this bomb of information on me and want an answer right now? It was her best bet to say no, safety was assured in her previous life after all. She lived in a fairly well guarded apartment complex... No, if it were well guarded there wouldn't have been a murder there. Though she tried to hide her confusion, she was certain that it was written all over her face. But truthfully, what other option did she have besides the obvious one?
"Okay. I'll do it."
Felix and Hans shared a knowing smile, one that made Anna struggle not to quiver on the spot.
"Now, the first thing you'll have to learn is that we here in the business typically just call them non-humans..."
What have I gotten myself into?
A/N: Hey all, glad to be back! This story will be quite different from my last one, so I hope you enjoy it just as much. This should be posted once a month, maybe once a month and a half if I get busy. I will be working on another, more lighthearted story simultaneously if that's more your speed.