Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
“I am not sure, Dietrich.” I told him as I flipped open the first case file. “This is the first time that we are looking into the files. We called this meeting as soon as both Riviana and I knew about the murders. You are hearing about it all before we’ve looked into the files. Everything that you have heard came from the mouths of others.” I knew that some of them would find it odd that we didn’t look into it first, but there was no time to waste here. They could find out everything at the same time that Riviana and I did.
…..
“Well, there is one more thing that I know.” My Little Bunny looked up from the file that I had handed her and eyed them all individually before continuing. “The humans know about the murders. There was a news report this afternoon about the string of murders in Europe and Asia. They said they weren’t sure if it was one person or a group of people, but they seem to think that all of the murders are connected. That tells me that as we investigate further, we will likely find something that ties the murders together. If there is enough for the humans to think that they are related, then I am sure that we will see it once we start looking into things more thoroughly.”
Aside from Riviana, I was the only one that knew that the humans had been reporting on these murders. Well, except for maybe Juniper, but she didn’t know about the fact that they were all our people. So that meant that Noah, Shawn, Dietrich, Vincent, David and Gabriel all snapped their heads in my Little Bunny’s direction when they heard her words. They had not been expecting to find out that the humans knew about these deaths. And the fact that they were reporting on it on a global scale meant that there would be a lot of media attention for this case.
“We are going to have to be careful, aren’t we?” Shawn looked like he was not feeling very well at all.
“Yeah, if we’re not careful, the humans would start to wonder why two FBI agents and a bunch of random people from Colorado are poking their noses into this case. They might suspect us of one thing or another. At the very least, they will wonder why the mega billionaire, Joaquin Gray, and his lovely young wife Riviana, are so interested in finding the culprits behind these murders. Regardless of where this case takes us, we need to tread carefully.” Surprisingly, Shane’s words were completely devoid of humor or mirth. I never knew that he could be so serious. He managed it though. And on top of that, he was one hundred percent right. If the humans found out that we were investigating this case, they would question why we were involving ourselves.
We could just say that we were concerned and wanted to help the families of the victims get closure. However, doing that would leave us open for other people to contact us out of the blue and ask us for help. We would be seen as some sort of vigilantes that searched the world for answers to crimes that others had given up on or something. While I had no problem helping them all if I could, it was beyond me and my patience to do that for all of the people in the world.
Hmm. Perhaps that just means that I need to start yet another division of my company. I could have some people that I trust work on solving these cases that the police and other law enforcement agencies had given up on. That was the only way we could help them all. And it would also give us a nice cover story. It was definitely worth looking into. I might have to call a friend of ours. Someone we knew but hadn’t talked to in a long time. I am pretty sure that Jacy and her husband Kyle could handle this. Not to mention their friends. It was basically what they did anyway.
“What is in the file, Riviana?” Noah asked as he saw his sister looking over the information in her hand. I hadn’t even really looked into the file that was in my hands. I had been focusing on the other information. Thankfully, though, Riviana and Noah were moving us along. They were going to keep us focused.
“This is the first of the files that I am looking at. Like Joaquin said earlier, there will be eighteen in total when we get the rest of them. This one has a copy of the local police report as well as a report by the local Alpha and leader of the local Coven. They all seemed to give their insights to what was going on. This murder took place in a small village in Wales. The village was named Gwyn Gough and it is not far from the city of Wrexham. The police there were the ones that responded to the scene and assisted the locals.”
I could see that Riviana was trying to not let the details and images in that file affect her. She was always so empathetic that she took things like this personally. I worried about her and the things that were going to be happening soon.
“The victim, twenty-two year old Niclas Moss, was found on the outskirts of the town. There is a collection of stones that the villagers use as a religious site. The village is predominantly wolves, of which the victim was a wolf as well. The body was found by a human named Mair Gethin. She was taking an early morning walk when she saw the body posed among the stones. There was blood splattered on the grass, stones, and nearby trees. The victim had their throat cut and their heart removed. There were also two different markings that were carved into the body. One was on the chest next to the hole where the heart had been, the other was on the forehead.”
“What were the symbols?” David’s voice was steady and even, but I could tell that he had felt some sort of anger and fear mixed together while my Little Bunny read the details from the report.
“The one on the forehead looks like a peace symbol without the circle. The one on the chest is a set of three interlocking triangles. It is too close to the Riviana symbol for my liking.” I could tell that she wasn’t happy with the details in that case file.
“Can I see those symbols?” Dietrich was on his feet and reaching for the file before Riviana had even answered him.
“Yeah. Here.” My Little Bunny passed the folder to him without looking at him.
“Do they mean something to you?” I felt like there was something different about the way that he responded to the description of those markings.
“Yes. I think I know what they are. And if I am right, then this definitely isn’t good.”
Dietrich flipped the file open and started to look at the pictures that were inside of it. He was looking at the image intently. I could tell that he was trying to prove himself wrong more than he was trying to prove that he was right.
“What do they mean, Dietrich?” Riviana asked him when he sighed and sank back into his chair.
“The one on his forehead is a Todes Rune. It means death. The other one, the three triangles, is the Valknut Rune. It is basically a protection against the spirits. Using these together like this would be like trapping the spirit of the dead inside their body.” There was anger in his voice and in his eyes.
“Where are these runes from, Dietrich?” I had to ask. I had to know, and so did my Little Bunny.
“They’re old Germanic runes. They have their origins in Scandinavian and Norse mythologies. If the group that is committing these murders is using these runes, then it is safe to say that they are from somewhere in Europe. Particularly from the areas that I am very familiar with.” When Dietrich looked up from the papers in his hands, I saw that his eyes had gone even more white than usual. They were showing how angry he was at the moment. If he were human, he would probably be shaking in his rage.
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Riviana
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Dietrich was clearly not happy right now. And I didn’t blame him. He knew about these symbols. He knew what they meant and where they were from. He had a reason to be upset about them and possibly even to be afraid of them.
“What I want to know is, what these symbols have to do with our victim? What purpose do they serve? And are they on all of the victims? And if they are on all of the victims, then is it like a signature? Or does it have a different purpose? There are so many variables that we need to look at here.” Joaquin was explaining what was going on in his head as we all tried to figure out what was going on in these places and what had happened to these people.
“Well, we would need the rest of the files to know if the marks are on all the victims. We can, however, determine if these marks are on all the victims that we have the files for.” I pulled another file toward me, the one that Joaquin hadn’t been holding on to. “Let’s see, this victim is from Scotland. The village they were from was called Gennenin and it is close to Ayr. Her name was Darcey McCormack and she was nineteen years old. She had the same marks carved into her body as Niclas did. She also had her throat cut and her heart removed. It looks to me like the method of this kill was the same as the last one. This here is what I would call a serial killer. Assuming that all the kills were the same.”
I was doing my best to sound clinical and not let the facts of this case get to me. I want to relay the information while trying not to let the fact that this gruesome murder, of which I was seeing graphic images of, had happened to someone who was supposed to be an immortal like me. This person was not what you would call 鈥榚asy prey’ for a human. This person would have to have been targeted by someone capable of doing this to someone strong and capable.
…..
“Was the victim another wolf?” Dietrich asked me as he rubbed at his temples. I could tell that this information was getting to him. He was having a hard time processing that these people were using symbols that he knew about. Or at least, I was assuming that was the issue here.
“No. This victim was a black bear. She may have been a woman, but she would have been strong and capable of protecting herself. This tells me that the killer was either stronger than her or had somehow incapacitated her in some way. Whoever they are, they know what they are doing and that is not a good thing. This makes them a danger to so many people in the world.” I tried not to shudder as I inspected the images more. I needed to put this file down. I needed to move on. “Joaquin, what happened to the third victim.” I didn’t want to look into that file. I wanted to have someone else take on that responsibility. I needed them to. I would listen, and I would look at the pictures later but, for right now, I just needed them to tell me what had happened.
“Yeah, let’s take a look.” I think that Joaquin knew that, after looking at the other two files, I needed to take a break. I needed to not be the one looking at it right now. I needed him to be the one seeing the horror for me. “This third file is for a man named Krishna Shah. He lived in a small outlying community in Chukhung, Nepal. He was a witch doctor that worked as a local healer. He was forty-seven years old and well liked by his community. He had the same symbols carved onto his head and his chest. His throat had been slit and his heart was removed, just like the other victims. However, Krishna was also burned in several places. His hands, feet and the top of his head. There was also a brand in the shape of a sword burned over top of his naval area. This victim had more done to the body, thankfully it all appears to be post mortem. However, it is still clear that the signature, or the way that they were killed, is the same. If this isn’t the same exact person, it is someone who knows exactly what they are doing to the other victims.” Joaquin sounded like he was giving a speech, something that he was just reciting and not emotionally involved in.
“This victim was in Asia while the others were in the United Kingdom. When were they killed? What were the dates?” I started to pull the first two toward me again. The dates alone would be able to tell us if it were even possible for this to be the same killer. “Niclas was killed on July the twentieth.” I looked at the first report and then checked the date for Darcey’s file. “And this one was on July the twenty-fifth. Is very possible for them to have been killed by the same person.”
“Well, Krishna was also killed on July the twenty-fifth. So that tells me that we have at least two different killers.” Joaquin set the file down and looked up at me. I could see the horror that he had seen in that file reflected in his eyes. He knew now why I had wanted someone else to be the one to do that for me.
“We need to get a timeline going. We have to know when the victims were murdered, that will tell us how many possible killers we have. At the very least, it will tell us how many different groups of killers we have. We also need to find out if the murders that were reported about on the news were humans, or if all the kills were from our community. Dietrich, I want you to contact the different covens in your kingdom. Find out if there were any murders among your people. If anyone has gone missing all of a sudden or just haven’t been located in a while. We need to know if these murders are limited to my kingdom or not.” I was giving orders to the others as I thought about what needed to be done. This was going to be a busy time for us, but we needed to make sure that we handled this with care and precision. I was not about to let these killers get away with this, but I wasn’t about to be reckless either. “These people are obviously capable of killing people that are not human. And they seem to be good at it too. We all need to be careful. We need to make sure that we are thorough and that we don’t miss anything.”
“I agree. We need to make sure that we don’t overlook a single piece of evidence. These people deserve our help, they deserve justice.” Dietrich’s voice was saddened by the information that we had received. “I will call my people immediately following this meeting. I will find out if any of the vampires have disappeared. We need a complete list of victims, and that includes their species as well.”
