Bloody shadows

These days Adam found himself being sent off to dealing with as Osiris put it ‘important business’ which could be boiled down to vampires that were getting too rowdy for their own good. Acting through the lead of an ancient with enough power to draw sympathetic followers. It was mostly the young ones, being told they could live forever and being given the freedom to do whatever it was they wanted.  Drinking their fill and leaving the bodies for the authorities to find. Despite how large the city was, humans wouldn’t overlook the trapping of a serial killer for long. Osiris wouldn’t overlook such pointless murder, especially when the body counts rose to dozens within a week. That was just the ones they could account for and he was certain their were dozens more. Even thinking about it was enough to agitate Adam, who was trying to carve out for himself a period of calm. Lily always said all this work was no good for him.

Even still, he couldn’t say no to the current king of his kind so he found himself in Denver of all places. Not somewhere he commonly visited, but it felt like any large city of the modern day. At night they lit up with a multitude of artificial lights, feeling as if the day never truly ended. Not that he found himself inhibited much by the night. Impenetrable shadows were nothing more than pleasant shade to the eyes of one of his own kind, let alone his which were strengthened by age and blood.  ”What do we know about them?” Adam pressed the phone against his ear, brushing bangs out of his forehead. He didn’t have the time to cut his hair tonight, so it reverted back to the same length when he woke.

”I have someone working in the city who can give you more information. They’re a mortal information broker but I’ve been working with them for years, so they can be trusted with this,” Osiris sounded certain.

”Do they have a name?” He questioned, looking out over the city from his rooftop perch. It was dark enough human eyes couldn’t see him within the shadows.

”Norris. He runs a small agency downtown,”

Adam huffed, brows furrowing. ”An agency? That’s a little vague Osiris.” He could hear the chuckle on the other end.

”I’ll text you the address.”

In a blur he landed on the shadowed sidewalk below, phone still in hand. ”I’m surprised you know how to text old man,” It was his turn to chuckle, looking down to the address before returning attention to the call. ”think it might have something to do with her?”

”Maybe so I want you to be as careful as possible. She might have someone working for her here” It was possible, the vampire queen likely didn’t think small matters like this worth her time. The city blurred past him as he moved through the streets, not worrying if anyone would see him. So long as he moved through the shadows, kept out of sight until he stood before the address. Nondescript enough to be the place, though half of the neon sign lights were out.  Looked like he was cheap too.

That was when his senses were hit with the smell of blood. Thick and fresh from the second whiff. ”I’ll need to call you right back,” He spoke, hanging up the phone and slipping it into his back pocket.  Ever so slowly he approached the front door, finding it unlocked before stepping through. Unable to keep hinges from squeaking lightly, but that didn’t matter.

Slipping into the reception room, his eyes already caught sight of the few stains of blood in the carpet. Something was moving through the office but was it one of his own, or something else? The front room was where he imagined a receptionist would sit, with a desk and everything but usually without the spatters of blood on the hard wood desk likely.  A handprint smeared across the front,. ”Looks like someone was fighting,” A few nicks proved this, maybe even some claw marks. He walked through the door to the left of the desk and found himself looking at a body draped across his large desk. Blood thick in the air and the sound of it dripping on carpeting audible to his hearing.

Well, someone had beat him here but why kill him? Perhaps he knew something he shouldn’t know but that only brought about more questions.  That was when he heard it. The sound of something, the rhythm of a human heart and turned towards the sound. Body tense as if ready to act but not moving into action quite yet.

Vampires. They were one of the few things he internally conflicted on. Those that held onto their humanity? He could tolerate them. Yet, for a fair amount of their sort, that simply wasn't the case. Vampires, by the very nature of their species, made themselves really hard to let the existence of slip by.

A string of murders in the city of Denver, the bodies missing their blood. It was easy to tell what that meant. Of course, this was the U.S. Could it be Jersey Devils? Possibly...but that particular breed of bloodsucker hated cities. Yet the Mauled Mask found himself hoping it was one of those instead of vampires despite that fact.

The way he travelled the darkened streets of Denver wasn't unsimilar to a vampire. From alleyway to alleyway, rooftop to rooftop, sticking to the shadows. As he did so, he would keep an idle eye on the people who dared to be out at night while he made his way towards his location, making sure that they weren't about to be attacked...and also that they weren't the attackers. That's what he hated about vampires in comparison to Jersey Devils. Vampires could hide in plain sight as long as they didn't open their mouths too wide.

As far as he knew, the murders seemed to have some sort of connection with the supernatural underworld. Info brokers. Mortal info brokers always knew more than they let on. About both the criminal and supernatural underworld. It seems someone was wanting them to keep their mouths shut, and he had a feeling which one would turn up dead next.

He arrived to find the door already open a crack. Instantly, the mauled mask sighs. Not that it could be heard from under his mask. With a slight shake of his head, he takes his hands out of his longcoat pockets and gently pushes the door open to step inside, shutting it behind him. The first thing that catches his eyes is the smeared blood on the desk. "...Figures." He mutters.

He leans slightly to look through the door that's off to the left. There it was. A body slumped over on the desk. "Yep...." He comments. What else was there to say? The man was dead. While he wasn't exactly the sort to mourn, he didn't exactly deserve this. After standing there to think for a moment, he decides to observe the building over for predators before checking the body. Thus, he walks off in the other direction to check the other rooms in the office. He was in one of the rooms when he heard movement in the office.

Adam would turn around just in time to see a familiar face. Well...a familiar mask. He was in that typical dark blue longcoat with a black leather vest and a simple dark blue shirt with a black tie.. His lower body was clothed with simple jeans and black leather boots. Then there was that distinctive silver mask covering his face. Various runes and carvings with those red clawmarks across the visage that almost seem to glow in the dark. He's just standing there, hands in his pockets, not threatening to take any hostile actions. The silence is certainly a displeased one, but he seems to be waiting for Adam to speak first.