Chapter 1: My First Case

I slammed my car door shut and placed the lanyard holding my badge around my neck as I hurried down the sidewalk. The heels of my boots clacked noisily against the pavement, occasionally crunching a stray autumn leaf. I shivered, flipping up my coat collar in an attempt to help block out some of the cold. Scanning the area I saw my partner, Tatsuya, waiting for me up ahead. He had a steaming cup of coffee in each hand, and he took a sip of one as he leaned lazily against the hood of his sleek black Mercedes.

"About time you showed up, Katsumi." He smirked as I approached. He held out one of the cups of coffee to me and I took it, sipping at the scalding contents gratefully. Man did I hate winter… Granted it wasn't winter just yet, but it was getting pretty close. I guess saying I hate the cold would be more accurate. "By the way, congrats. I hear you made it to Sergeant last week. Finally one of the big dogs now, huh?" he grinned, toying with his own badge that hung loosely around his neck. I rolled my eyes at him.

"I guess so, thanks. What happened?" I asked, looking pointedly at the alleyway that was blocked off with bright yellow Police Line tape. Several officers stood guard outside, while others filtered in an out of the alley. "A local woman found two kids, dead, around six this morning." Tatsuya replied, shaking his head at an elderly woman talking to one of the Police Officers on her front porch a few feet away. She had a tissue in hand and was trembling. I frowned as I nursed my coffee. "Do you know how they died?" I asked, following Tatsuya as he stood and started walking towards the alley.

"Don't know yet. We won't know for sure until the coroner can properly examine them." he admitted, nodding to one of the officers as we ducked under the tape and headed towards two white sheets laying in the middle of the alley. There were several stains of crimson seeping through the white cotton and my stomach twisted. I wrinkled my nose at the metallic stench that seemed to cling to the air. Tatsuya took a pair of gloves from one of the medical examiners and leaned down to pull back one of the sheets, revealing a boy. He looked no more than sixteen, and the paleness of his body sharply contrasted with the crimson that formed a small pool around him and stuck in his hair. Tatsuya gently tilted his head to the side, pointing to two dark purple bruises on the boys' neck.

"It looks as though he were stabbed twice in the neck, with a needle or something thin like one." He said, and I leaned down to get a better look. "He got a pretty good hit to the back of the head, too. Several times, actually. I don't think one hit would leave the wound it did. If these neck wounds didn't kill him, then those blows to the head certainly did." Tatsuya shrugged, turning the boys head to the other side so I could see the other wound. I shook my head. "What kind of sick monster does this to kids?" I murmured, gazing down at the still form of the boy before me.

I looked over at the other sheet and Tatsuya followed my gaze. "I wouldn't look at that one if I were you." He warned sadly. I turned back to him with an arched brow. "She was worse off than he was. It looks like her throat was practically torn out." My mouth gaped at that. "Torn out?" I repeated. Tatsuya nodded, "Yeah. Whoever did this must have had a dog or some kind of animal." He stated, his mouth in a firm line. I frowned but took a pair of gloves anyway, and gently peeled back the white sheet. As soon as I saw the gaping hole in the poor girls' throat, I froze. I could feel the blood draining from my face, and my stomach twisted unpleasantly. She really did look like she'd been attacked by an animal. Slowly, I lay the sheet back down in its proper place. "I told you not to look." Tatsuya sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah…" was the only thing I could think to say.

"These two make six people killed in this way this month." Tatsuya said solemnly. My head snapped towards him. "Six?" I questioned, "I haven't heard anything about the other four." He shook his head, "You wouldn't. It's been kept quiet for a while, only a select few were allowed in on it. We didn't want the public to go into a panic. Alarms were raised at the second murder, but six people is just sloppy on our part. Kids no less…" he muttered. A select few, huh? I guess I should consider myself lucky. This would be my first big case as a Sergeant. I thought about the bodies of the two teenagers and frowned. I didn't exactly feel very lucky…

I looked around the alley and caught several drops of blood leading to one of the walls. They stopped just beside the wall, and I noticed several scratches marring the brick. They looked like claw marks. I traced my fingers over them faintly. They seemed to get higher and higher, almost as if whatever it was had scaled the side of the building. Odd…

"Do we have any idea who they are?" I asked, looking back down at the boy. "His name's Shou Ayakashi, according to his student ID. We couldn't find anything to identify the girl." Tatsuya replied. I stood, brushing dirt from my slacks. "Has anyone contacted his parents?" I asked. "I was about to head there now. We still need to contact the school, as well." Tatsuya said. "I'll tell the school if you'll tell the parents. We can get it done faster if we split up." I offered. In reality though, I knew I was being a bit of a coward. I didn't want to have to tell a mother her child was dead. I don't think I could stomach it. I knew I'd have to do so eventually, but I was putting it off. Giving the task to Tatsuya was cruel of me, I know, but he didn't seem to mind so much.

In fact, he nodded in agreement with me and said, "Sounds like a plan to me. He goes to the boarding school on the other side of town, Cross Academy."

In case you're wondering, Cross Academy is huge. It looked like a castle more than it did a school. Most of the leaves on the trees surrounding the main building had fallen to the ground, but there were still quite a few left on the branches, giving the school an almost fairytale look with their vibrant shades of red and orange.

It didn't take long to find the Headmaster's office. It was in the main building right next to the massive wrought iron gates at the entrance to the school, and it was practically in the very front of the building. I knocked on the door and entered the office after a rather chipper voice told me to come in. "Hello! I'm Kaien Cross." I examined the man extending his hand to me.

He wore a tan house-robe with a large green blanket wrapped around his shoulders. His dark-blonde hair was tied in a loose ponytail and his glasses occasionally glinted in the light as he moved. He had a large smile on his face, and I took his hand as I gave a small smile of my own. "I'm Katsumi Kishitani. I'm here on behalf of the Seito Police Department." His brows rose and a small frown touched his lips. "Oh? What can I do for you?"

"I need to talk to you about one of your students. His name is Shou Ayakashi." I said, taking the chair he offered me as he sat behind his desk. "Shou?" He blinked at me. "What about him? Is he in some sort of trouble?"

I clasped my hands together on top of my lap. And now one of the worst parts of my job. "I'm sorry to say, sir, but he's dead." Kaien froze, his eyes widening. It was always hard to say someone was dead, but I'd still rather be here than telling a mother she'd lost her son. "A woman found him this morning." I added. His gaze softened and he propped his chin up on his hands. "I'm sorry to hear that. Shou was a good student." He said softly. "Did you know him very well, Mr. Cross?" I asked. He shook his head, "No, I didn't. However, I do know he was one of the few placed in our advanced class. The teachers here would often speak fondly of him whenever we had meetings, so I've heard the name."

"Is there anything you could tell me about him? Were you aware of any disagreements or conflicts he may have had with other students or teachers?" I asked him. Kaien shook his head. "No, sorry. This is a large school, and as much as I try, I don't know all the students very well. Any problems Shou may have had would have been directly reported to me, and those I definitely remember. This school was basically founded on pacifism, and as such, the ideals are enforced to the point that fights or anything of the kind are extremely rare here." He added with a shrug.

"I'd like to speak with some of his teachers. And some of his classmates, if I may." I said, standing from the chair and straightening my blazer. "Unfortunately everyone's gone for the break. However I'm sure they'd be more than happy to answer your questions when they return." He said kindly. I smiled, bowing slightly, "Thank you for your time, sir." I turned for the door, but stopped and turned back to Kaien.

"Oh, and, sir? You may want to keep an eye open. We think some sort of rabid animal may be on the loose." I said. His eyes widened, but then he shifted so that the light reflected off of his glasses. "Why do you say that?" he asked. "Shou wasn't the only one who was found. There was a girl with him, and… It looks as though she were attacked by an animal." I informed him solemnly. "Thank you, officer. I'll be sure to do so." With a final nod, I left.

I had just turned the corner to exit the main building when I bumped into someone. Or, rather, they bumped into me. Said person was extremely tall, with a light brown trench coat and a cowboy styled hat on top of his head. He wore a white button up shirt and a pair of boots, reminding me somewhat of an actual cowboy from an American Western movie. A wild mane of black hair peeked out from below his hat, which he tipped politely at me before I could get a good look at his face.

"Excuse me." He said, moving to go around me. I turned to watch him as he walked in the direction of the Headmaster's office. I couldn't help but wonder what he was doing on school grounds. He certainly didn't look like a teacher. I made a mental note to ask the Headmaster about it later as I continued my way out of the building.

Yagari took a long drag of his cigarette as he looked out of the window in Kaien's office. He watched as the woman walked from the main building towards her car parked just outside the gates. The wind tossed her chestnut hair around her head and she pulled her coat closer to her in an attempt to brace herself against the oncoming winter. "Who was that?" he asked, a stream of smoke escaping his lips as he spoke. "A police officer." Yagari glanced at Kaien from the corner of his eye. His hands were clasped in front of his mouth and his eyes were trained intently on the desk in front of him. "What did she want?" Yagari asked, turning from the window.

"One of our students is dead." Kaien replied quietly. Yagari stopped, his cigarette an inch from his lips. "Oh… That's a shame." He said softly, taking a long drag of his cigarette. "Yagari." The severity in Kaien's voice caused his friend to freeze, giving him his full attention. "This is getting out of hand. A student is dead, not to mention the four other people the police found, and the dozen or so others that they didn't find. Something has to be done, before the Association gets wind and decides to intervene."

Yagari closed his eyes, taking a deep breath through his nose. "Yeah, I'm working on it. I've killed four Level E's this week, but they just keep coming. They're like roaches…" he narrowed his eyes, taking one last drag from his cigarette before he snuffed the end and tossed it into the trash-can. "I don't know what's got all these vampires in a frenzy all of a sudden, but I'm determined to find out."

A/N

And that's chapter 1 :)

Just so you know, I have no idea what the name of the town just outside of Cross Academy is actually called.
I looked and looked but I couldn't find any reference to the town's name in the manga or I decided to make up a name. Seito- it means Holy City. Get it? Cross Academy, Holy City?

*cough* Yeah, uh, moving on. I didn't like the idea of just saying "I'm from the Police Department" so I came up with a name for the town. If you happen to know what the name of the town is actually called, let me know and I'll make sure I change it.

Also, I don't know a ton about Japanese law, so I'm doing some research and trying to stay away from anything major that would just make you go "Um, I don't think that's how it works in Japan."

But, I mean, Vampire Knight is set in an alternate world where vampires actually exist and they all have crazy superpowers- and the Police are basically NEVER mentioned. Almost like they don't even exist. Sooo I think any mistakes I make are justified O_o That's what I'm going with, anyway.

Soo let me know what you think! :)

See you soon! 3