Mortis was back in his car, Cicero by his side, driving through the streets of Nashville with a porpoise. The Detective was in search of a single individual, a single creature looming into a sea of bodies, putting Mortis at a heavy disadvantage. Mortis had Cicero, and Cicero had a scent, but Cicero was but one dog, and although well above the intelligence of a smart canis familiaris, he was still outmatched by the scents of a city. Mortis had two things to rely on: one was the eyes and ears of the Tennessee Mafia searching the city for anyone that could be carrying a sword, and second was his prodigious hunting instincts. Mortis knew that during this night, a weekend non the less, people would be eager to go out, but with the recent murders they may be a bit more restrained, a bit more attentive, preferring crowds and remaining in one place rather than thin around the area, allowing themselves to become easy prey. The attacker as well was proving its metal, he, she, or it had successfully pulled a major massacre; be it a human with a blood-lust or something smarter, it would remain low, but Mortis knew the kind of thing he was after, something that enjoyed slaughter as much, if not more, than it enjoyed the hunt. Mortis would bet his beloved car that the killer was coming out, and he would go as far as to suggest, the killer would try to get cocky tonight.
Mortis went East of the River and took out a map, he had charted each of the killings carefully, and he could see something; each killing the killer got closer and closer to larger populated areas. Last night's slaughter was the closest to places were locals went for entertainment. If he was right, and Mortis knew he was, whatever was killing people was slowly getting stronger as it continued killing, but beyond that it may either be old, or reconnecting with an old toy, meaning that the stronger it gets the cockier it gets, the more it would want to get out of the shadows and into the light. And what better light in Nashville than near the Country Music Museum.
Yet Mortis had to be careful, he still was not sure of what he was dealing with, and until he had a degree of certainty there were too many variables at play. With that in mind Mortis cursed his own sloppiness, he had fallen asleep, and because of that he had forgotten about keeping tabs on Mrs. Piker. He had to call the woman back late at night; luckily he could be there early in the morning and she would show her both the paperwork and the camera footage.
Mortis parked his car at the edge of the sea of neon, hid the file John gave him into his glove compartment, and let Cicero out. The Detective took to the trunk of his car to load himself with weapons, which he carefully hid in or with his trench coat: his trusty Colt Anaconda, followed by two pistols, knuckle dusters. He then proceeded to a special compartment filled with neatly organized and labeled items of various faiths, choosing two Taoist talismans and a vial of Holy Water from among the group; finally he took his trusty messer blade and fixed it to his belt, hiding it underneath his long trench coat. Once the items were out Mortis took one item from his person, a crystal dot blacker than darkness itself attached to a copy of his car keys, carefully the Detective detached the crystal and deposited it in a hidden socket on the gear stick of the car, then after confirming all doors and the trunk were properly closed, he turned the key, creating a strange reaction as the darkness of the stone extended like thin shadows inside the vehicle, not dissimilar to a net, whilst in the outside a sigil in the shape of a fortress manifested on the roof of the car for a few seconds, before vanishing.
"Better safe than sorry in this parts, eh boy?" commented Mortis as he put the special key in a hidden pocket near his belt, and took on to the music district.
The Music District of Nashville alongside Broadway street was its own unique place, Mortis walked among the tipsy patrons, musical hopefuls, and excited tourist walking around the many music outlets and houses of entertainment that saw the raise of some of Americas' most astonish voices and people, a Mecca, or at least a Medina, of Country Music. Places advertised Happy Hours, Live Music, and that the venue was THE place where a certain musician was discovered, or preferred to perform, or was performing this very night.
Mortis kept to himself, he stood out due to his attire, and more than one excited and inebriated woman tried to pet Cicero, who ignored the attention. The Detective honed his gaze towards blind corners, dark alleyways, and any area were a lesser know venue was located, a place were the party went to die, and sometimes, people. The hunt was on.
"HONEY!"
Mortis tried hard to not freeze in panic. The Detective recognized the high-pitched dulcetto shout anywhere. Mortis knew it was futile to do anything but run away, and since he would not run he let the hug get to him and with it the whole love and curves that came with the beautiful lightly bronze arms that embraced him from behind.
"I missed you so much!" the shout was followed by a pair of soft and firm breasts touching his back, followed by. "Oh! Are you happy to see me?"
"That only works from the front" Mortis sighted in annoyance.
"I knew that cowboy" teased Silver as she released the Detective and placed herself in his line of vision. She was six foot, two inches of athletic female gorgeous, a reddish mane with tints of gold felt to her waist, her physique was that of a top athlete, but she had the curves of a pin-up girl, and exuded an air of danger and mystery that enhanced her beauty, the epitome of a Celtic beaut if the world ever saw one, and she stood there, in the middle of the side walk, dressed in a plain shirt, leather jacket and blue jeans. making men gawk and women sneer, while she had not a care in the world.
Silver smiled at Mortis, it was charming, plain, and pure pearly white. "What brings you to this side of the city undertaker? Looking for the crazy fella the news reported this morning?" Silver was always straight and to the point, she had not much of a sense of surroundings, she did not care, that was for cowards, she just spoke her mind and remained fearless.
"I could ask you the same question" pointed the Detective, which earned him a friendly smile.
"Shucks Mort, for a Detective you really miss the obvious. I work here" Silver pointed to a club down the road. It was a high end tourist trap called 'Moon Shine Mountain' a reputable venue known to attract many tourist and rising music hopefuls in the country and rock music business thanks to its bi-annual music Competition.
"I knew your employer owned the place, but I thought he was eager to keep you in his more lucrative venues. Plus, I do not think a place like this needs security like you" pointed Mortis.
"We got plenty of solid people at the club, got them trained to work smart. Boss just wants to cover all his bets, it would be bad if this place get a bad rep with his main investor 'cus he did not care, right?" a big wink followed the sentence, Silver knew Mortis had invested a pretty penny with Silver's employer, mostly to keep the man on a leash, Mortis had little love for the kind of man Silver's employer was, but this man was willing to compromise so heavily that Mortis gave him a chance that had been, so far, highly profitable and further strengthen the Detective's position in the city.
"Right!"
"Plus I am getting a neat bonus for doing this, and I am in the mood to invest it" smiled Silver with a hungry smile, in the mood for a specific type of man.
"Not tonight Silver, I got work to do" replied Mortis, making the woman pout and make big puppy eyes to beg the Detective.
"Please Mort, Please" she made herself look cute, and was sure to keep her ample and notably firm bussom in at least half of the Detective's line of sight, she was quite sure by now Mortis knew she had no brassier underneath her shirt for the way he blushed ever so lightly.
"I could tag with you" insisted the young woman.
"I have to go Silver" said Mortis as he turned around.
"You should at least come in, get a drink on the house" claimed Silver.
"Pass!"
Silver could not take a no for an answer, for a woman that savvy and ferocious she was completely infatuated with the Detective, and she was willing to push her luck. "Maybe…"
The sentence was barely allowed to start when Mortis's phone rang. He knew the caller the moment he heard the tune, he had given a specific ring-tone for the Mafia in case they witnessed something, and as ten at night was approaching things were getting hot.
"Mortis here!"
"Detective, this is Iron, I have received a call from a couple of my associates at the 3rd Avenue Parking Lot, someone found one of our associate dead, and they think the perpetrator is your man".
"I will be there in a couple of minutes" Mortis hang the phone and turned around, back toward the river.
"What is it?" asked Silver, gone was the puppy eyed young woman, now it was an alert and ferocious warrior ready for anything.
"Trouble, something in the third avenue parking" said Mortis.
"Need backup?"
"You have a job to do, make sure the people here are safe, but call me if you see anything Silver. Let's go Cicero" Mortis began to walk away before briefly turning around to say. "And don't try to be a hero Silver, this is not worth loosing you."
Mortis rushed as he could swear he heard Silver's heart being pierced by Cupid's arrow. Silver had found a new way to further infatuate herself with Mortis.
The Detective and Cicero made a fast dash to their target. Due to the urgency Mortis decided it was necessary to push himself. As he jogged to destination Mortis took a few deep breaths, as he did he focused on the flow of his body energy, the flow of his power, the flow of his energy. He could feel all the connections that bound the mystical forces in his body, the energy flowing through each point of his Chakra system, the energy nodule of the body, and the acupuncture pressures of the body, the branches of the core. Mortis felt each open and closed path, each seal and bloc, and like he had done thousands of times before he focused on pouring his energy through specific points in his legs and chest, areas where his body had been inked with runes, mystical symbols of power, each designed and drawn with a specific porpoise. The ones inscribed in Mortis's body where a special kind, especially the ones he could not control, which are part of another story. The important runes were the ones Mortis could control, the ones he had drawn to link and power up his already special physique, and achieve through it a facsimile of the powers he had foolishly renounced long ago. And so Mortis pulled the magical energy of his body into the runes on his legs and chest, and augmented his speed. People on the streets barely noticed, they rarely did, when magic is at work human senses fail because of how dull they are. Some would say they saw a fast dude, while most would ignore the sight of a man moving too fast for the human body because they are not looking at it, since for the most part, people never pay attention.
In a couple of minutes Mortis had left Broadway and was at the Parking Station. The Place was big, and poorly illuminated, perfect spot for an ambush.
"Hey yo! You are the Detective guy?" the words came as a crime against grammar. Mortis recognized the source of the noise, one of last night's goons, accompanied by another of last night goons, both looking at him with a strange sense of awe.
"I am, Iron told me you have seen something" said Mortis.
The first man nodded his head excited as he pointed to his partner "Yes, Lazlo here found it right now. Creepy stuff. I am Bill."
"Well, Lazlo and Bill, show me the victim" said Mortis. Bill was about to move but Lazlo hesitated,
"I don't know, Jimmy doesn't like this" said the goon to his partner.
"Mr. Iron's order, and last time I checked, Mr. Iron was Jimmy's boss" said Bill.
Lazlo looked at Bill, then at Mortis, he was nervous It appeared that Jimmy may have been punished last night for his transgression, which may have put Jimmy in a bad mood, and that was all of his underlings problems.
"Over here Detective" said Bill as they walked up a flight of stairs to a parking space located at the darkest corner of the middle level, a perfect place for a kill away from preying eyes.
"Whole place belongs to us, this is why we haven't told the police yet" said Bill as he took Mortis to an area where by the crunching sound on his feet and the lack of light in the place had been made darker in porpoise.
Bill pulled a flashlight and pointed it toward a car with the front window covered by a large piece of cardboard. "Right there, that car"
"Keep the light on the car" ordered Mortis, then he turned to his partner. "Ciciero."
The dog understood immediately and approached the car carefully, the beast then began sniffing the vehicle as Mortis reached for his gun as a precaution.
"What's he doing?" asked Bill.
"Checking if anything in there is alive" explained Mortis. A few second later Cicero obediently sat down and barked once, to which Mortis responded by leaving his gun be and approaching the car.
"Show me the victim" ordered Mortis.
Bill pushed Lazlo forward, to which the man reluctantly agreed. The vehicle in question was an old car, late odds, and it had the looks of a made man in the lower level of the mob.
"One of yours?" asked Mortis, to which Lazlo twitched nervously.
"Yeah, he is Gary, been with us for a decade or so" explained Lazlo as he removed the piece of cardboard to reveal the victim, leaning against the back of the driver's seat with a face of a tormented man.
"We saw the dude like a few minutes ago, went for the car, and took him forever to come out. When we came to check he was like this" pointed Bill.
After the presence of the body what called Mortis's attention was the slight crack on the driver's window, right in front of Gary. It was a diminutive crack right that spread ever so slightly, but it was isolated, and centred. Bill went for the door but Mortis put his hand on the mafia grutn shoulder.
"Stay behind, we need to keep things as clean as we can for the forensic" said Mortis.
"We ain't suppose to get the police involved" chimed Lazlo, half in a panic.
"You will if we want to catch whoever did this, I can only do so much with the evidence at hand. We need a forensic to do the rest. Now Bill, keep the flashlight on the corpse while I work on it" ordered Mortis as he pulled a pair of disposable gloves from his trench coat, Mortis always kept a fresh pair of gloves with him just in case, he could afford it after all.
"Will do" consented Bill and Mortis got to work.
There was not much to inspect, the corpse was still fresh, fresh enough that Rigor Mortis, the Post Mortem stiffening of a dead body, had yet to make an act of presence, an due to the lack of decomposition the stage of death was an early one. Gary's final face was one of pain and shock, easy to understand when the cause of death was revealed as a large puncture wound that went across the chest. With great care Mortis leaned Gary's body forward to reveal the same hole in the driver's seat, a clean puncture wound that went through the chair, and as in all the other crimes, no blood.
"Is the killer I am after, that is true" said Mortis.
"Oh God" cried Lazlo as he saw the hole.
"Man, that could have been you" pointed Bill.
"Is this your car Lazlo?" asked Mortis.
The grunt nodded nervously "Oh yes. I was lending it to Gary…"
"He came to check on Gary, saw no blood, and thought it was the guy in the news, so we told Mr. Iron and he asked to tell you" pointed Bill.
"We should have told Jimmy man, he is going to be pissed" insisted Lazlo, his voice trembling, Mortis did not blame the man, it was not every day you faced something that could kill you and missed by an act of God or fate. Jimmy on the other hand was not thrilled with Mortis getting his nose in Mafia business; if that runt only knew half of it.
Mortis took to give proper look to the car, something was not right. Mortis took a look under the steering wheel and saw it there, cables had been cut, primarily the alarm cable. Gary had stumbled into certain doom while the killer was waiting in ambush, but Gary had died inside, no entry point for the weapon, unless… Mortis's mid rushed, he moved Gary's body out of the way and jumped to the back seat and as he looked into the hole from the back he saw it, that diminutive crack on the front window.
"What happened? Did you find something?" asked Bill.
"The killer stroke from inside the car" announced Mortis.
"WHAT!" Lazlo shouted, nearly jumping out of his skin at the news.
"You mean, the killer was waiting for Lazlo?" asked Bill.
"Precisely" said Mortis.
Bill gave a confused half smile, but Lazlo seemed terrified. Mortis was not sure yet but something was not right here, he was sure of it. It is then and there that the Detective found a piece of paper on the floor, a receipt of sorts. The poor lighting made it hard for Mortis to read it the paper, and he was not sure if ti was important, but he pocketed it just in case.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!" The barks were loud and with porpoise Mortis jumped out the car.
"Are you sure boy?" Mortis inquired.
Cicero gave his master a canine equivalent of a stink eye, of course he was sure.
"What's up with your dog?"
Mortis pulled out a knuckle duster as he readied himself. "Our man is near".