Chapter Text
—S—
Susan woke up early that morning.
Previously, the older woman had woken up to a loud bang in the middle of the night. As expected, it hadn’t woke her husband, John. She swore, a tornado could barrel through this house at any moment and he would still be sleeping.
“Babe… Babe…” She shook his arm to wake him. Moving him did wake him up… most of the time.
He groaned, opening his mouth and yawning in her direction. She turned her head away, refusing to breathe through her nose. Somehow even with his nose broken after a work accident forcing him to breathe through and air out his mouth, he still somehow got terrible dragon breath in the morning.
“What is… what is it, honey?” She had turned on the lamp so his eyes strained to adjust. He put one hand over his eyebrows.
“I think I heard a gunshot.” Her eyes were wide and she spoke fast without realizing.
“A gunshot?” He sat up quickly and grabbed the clock, finding the time to be 11:56. “Who- Why would anyone be hunting this late at night?”
“That’s what I’m trying to say, John!”
“Are you sure you heard a gunshot? Maybe it was just a bad dream?”
“I am telling you I heard a gunshot… or-or at least a really loud bang.”
“I’m sure it was nothing honey, and if it wasn’t, one of the neighbors will do something about it. If it was a gunshot I don’t think you’d be the only one to hear it. Why do you think I didn’t wake up?”
“You… the man who slept through a car accident.” They were pretty stupid teenagers.
John rolled his eyes and rubbed his broken nose. Susan lightly smacked his hand. She hated when he did that.
“That I did.” He admitted. “You’ll never let that go…”
“I’m sure it’s fine Susan, and you know if it’s not.” He patted the nightstand on his side where he kept his handgun. “We got something to defend ourselves.”
“Did-did Anthony get home yet?” Susan felt a sharp pain in her chest. She couldn’t help but worry about her son, even though he was an adult now. Her eyes widened with motherly concern.
John shook his head.
“He gets home at 2 am remember? It’s not even 12 am yet.” They both looked at the clock to see that it was currently 12:01. John shrugged. “Point still stands.”
John saw his wife’s panicked face and backtracked.
“He’s fine hun’, you shouldn’t worry too much. He’s a grown man now. Soon he’ll be living by himself.” John sighed softly, he rubbed Susan’s arm. “It’s around the time you… start letting him go a bit.”
Susan bit her lip and breathed out slow. “I can’t help it. You know how slow Anthony is… I just… I feel like something is wrong.”
Her husband grumbled something she couldn’t understand and got up out of the bed.
“Well… I’m up now.” John grunted, and Susan’s eyes narrowed at him. “How about I watch TV on the couch and wait for him to come home.” His lips formed into a tight line. “Will that make you feel better Susan?”
Susan felt like a small weight had been lifted off of her chest. She would do it herself, but she was admittedly still quite tired. She trusted her husband to stay awake, even if she didn’t trust him to wake up by himself. “I would like that… thank you, Honey.”
John gave her a quick peck on the lips and left for the living room.
—————————————————————
Susan was always the first to get up of the three.
Even though it was a Saturday morning, Susan woke up at around 6:30 am naturally, as unfortunate as that was to most people. She tried to be quiet in consideration of the other people in the household, but like her son, she was quite clumsy. Often times while getting ready in the morning or night she would bang her hips or thighs on the open drawers or accidentally hit her funny bone on the bathroom counter and have to hold in a scream while her face turned red in agony. She, like Anthony, was always covered in bruises.
Not that it ever woke either of them up though.
Susan liked to shower in the mornings to refresh herself, and when she was done, she would wash her face, brush her teeth, and read a chapter of a book whilst making tea. For as messy as she was at it, she was an individual of routine.
She slipped on a robe and walked out into her bedroom to quickly make her bed and bring some life into the room. Opening the light gray curtains, she was greeted by a male red deer. She had always liked deer and found them to be beautiful, gentle creatures. Her father thought the same, but had no problem killing them and putting their lifeless heads on his wall. As a child, she was afraid to go out into the living room at night. Their dead eyes seemed much more lifelike in the dark.
The creature was licking some sort of dark liquid off of a tree in the backyard, probably sap. Somehow, it heard Susan, or perhaps saw her move the curtains from the corner of its eye and popped its head up to look at her, twitching one ear backward. Its dark eyes were curious, without thought. All around its mouth and nose was a red substance, it caused the short fur to clump up in small tuffs.
Blood, Susan realized with a shiver. She shakily crossed her arms around her stomach, feeling goosebumps flood her arms and back.
It was just so unnatural.
The deer went back to its unorthodox meal after it decided the woman was of no threat. Susan thought that deer were herbivores this entire time.
She didn’t like being wrong about that.
Holding her robe tighter around herself, she took one last look at the buck before quickly closing the blinds and shivering with her hands lightly flapping at her sides, before clenching her fists and leaving her bedroom.
She stopped halfway down the hallway.
Her breathing paused for a moment and her eyes nearly widened out of her eye sockets. When she finally breathed through her mouth again, a sicking wave of nausea overwhelmed her and she had to stop herself from vomiting. She put one hand onto the wall and another to her mouth, almost feeling like she might fall over. It felt like she was gulping metal and burnt flesh. She recalled feeling this way before…
When Anthony was little, he used to get nosebleeds on the regular from the changing weather in the winter. One time when he was 8, he got one so bad the bathroom looked like a murder scene. There was clotting blood all over the toilet, shower, sink, and walls. She felt sick when she walked in there, very lightheaded, and black spots over came her vision. She genuinely couldn’t go into the bathroom to help her son, so she called her husband and begged him to come home early, or she might have just called the ambulance. She had never seen that much blood come out of a human being before in her life.
John had a terrible sense of smell, and so wasn’t nearly as woozy in that bathroom as she had been. Anthony ended up being fine, he was already almost done with it when John came home. He just craved red meat for next week after that happened.
But this was somewhat… different… why did she smell burning?
“John?… Anthony?” Susan called out fearfully and unsure. Her heart pounded in her chest and she clutched it with the hand that wasn’t propping her up. “Anthony?… John?”
Slowly, the older woman crept out of the hallway and into the kitchen. The morning light slightly illuminated it, and the light from the clock on the stove helped as well, but she could hardly see. What she did was all gray or black and fuzzy. It was usual for this time in the morning, but her fear made this situation feel alien and strange. Goosebumps lined her skin, and when she moved she didn’t feel the ground underneath her feet. There was yellow candlelight coming from the living room.
She peered inside.
She could hardly understand what she was looking at for a second, but the primal fear of a strange object in her home caused her to pause. Then she realized what it was, or more like who .
Air wouldn’t enter her lungs and she crashed into the stove, accidentally turning it on. Her heart pounded painfully in her chest. She clutched the stove counter for dear life, not caring that she was burning her hands. The smell of her lip own charred flesh paid her little mind.
Her heart-wrenching screams shook the entire floor.
—————————————————————
“Dispatch to 1073. Dispatch to 1073.” A staticky, female voice said on the line. The two officers shrugged and the one in the passenger seat grabbed his transceiver.
“1073, Go on.”
“We just got a 110 call from a landline located at Jahnstrabe Dorfstrasse 621. Should be about 14 kilometers from your location. Can you take a look?”
“Of course. W-what is it for?” Officer Vogt was still quite new to his job you see. His partner gave a frown from the side of him.
“We are unsure. All I can hear is screaming on my end.”
Vogt’s eyebrows furrowed. “Screaming? What about?”
“I don’t know.” The dispatcher didn’t seem very rushed. “Be cautious. Let me know if you need backup.”
His partner grabbed the transceiver off of him. “We’ll check it out, ma’am.” The dispatcher ended the call.
“It’s probably just some prank.” His partner, Officer Ludwig said beside him. He buckled himself up and Vogt stared at him for a moment before realization, and quickly buckled himself in as well. “But we‘ll still need to check it out. To be frank, hope it isn’t. Nothing ever happens in this town.”
“Yeah…” The younger man agreed. “Not that I’d want anything bad to happen.”
His partner gave him an apathetic stare and started the car.
—————————————————————
When they got to the house they were greeted by quite the scene.
A husband and wife were sitting on the front lawn. The woman had short blond hair with long bangs that covered her face as she stared down in anguish. The man was balding with graying black hair and a thick mustache and a bandage covering his nose, he looked tough, and it made his wide, shell-shocked eyes all the more uncomfortable. He held his screaming wife tightly in his arms. She was grasping his clothes, simultaneously looking to him as an anchor and not, because nothing would truly console her after this . The man was crying as well, his face was red and his lips sneered in part rage, confusion, and grief.
The woman wouldn’t stop screaming, even as part of the neighborhood came out of their homes to see what all of the fuss was about. She held her chest like a vice. Neither of them could meet the officers’ eyes.
“Are you alright ma’am. What seems to be the problem.” Officer Ludwig said after waiting for Vogt to say something for a while. The rookie was speechless. Ludwig didn’t think he should have been an officer, or part of law enforcement period. He was a sensitive boy and let things affect him too easily.
The couple didn’t answer, the woman looked up at the pair with equal parts hatred and pleading. The man didn’t know what to say either, his lips quivered and he began sobbing into his wife’s shoulder, having given up on holding his emotions back.
“Our son is dead.” The man said. “I’ll kill him… Oh, I’ll fucking kill him.” The man mumbled, seething with untold rage. “Look what he did to my boy!”
“You think someone killed him?” Ludwig asked.
“Someone killed my son.” The man mouthed over his wife’s struggled screaming.
The officers looked at each other, then went to the front porch.
Vogt gulped. His eyes did little to hide his unease.
Ludwig grazed his hand over his partner’s shoulder and put his other hand on his holster. The door was just barely open already.
The first thing the two men noticed, other than that all the lights were on, was the smell.
A very strong and distinct smell of burning meat.
Vogt started shaking, Ludwig looked back at him and sighed. He really got stuck with such a sniveling pussy for a partner.
Not that he wasn’t scared either, he just knew how to handle himself when the situation called for it.
“Get a hold of yourself.” Ludwig called out from behind him.
The walk-in was essentially a room in and of itself. A large photo of the family was framed on the wall directly ahead of them. The boy was in his high-school graduation uniform holding his diploma, and his parents were on either side of him. His mother hugged his arm, while his father had one arm around his shoulder. He was slightly taller than his father, but much more scrawny whereas his dad had the muscle. He took after the man far more than his mom, although the two of them had the same warm and welcoming smile.
It was a nice photo, now corrupted.
To the left of them were two rooms, and to the right was one room, probably the master. Past the wall, right diagonal, was the kitchen, and left diagonal was the living room.
Although, the only thing the two men could see in the living room from where they were was the back sliding door and the two blood stains dragging into it.
“What… in the god damn hell-“ Vogt started quietly behind him, Ludwig shut him up by grabbing his arm. “Should we call for backup?” He whispered behind him.
“I don’t think-“ Ludwig started before his words caught in his throat.
The body of the young man was the most grotesque thing he had ever seen. How… how did this happen? What- what kind of sicko did this?
The man was prompted up on a small dining room chair in the middle of the living room, surrounded by now mostly burnt-out candles. Despite the rest of the body facing toward the back door, the head faced them. Blood dripped down from halfway down his neck… he was decapitated, Ludwig realized with bone-chilling terror. The head was placed back onto the body, and had been rotated 180 degrees. But that wasn’t the worst part to Ludwig.
The worst part was that it was carved out.
The top of the head had been cut off and hollowed out. The eyes had melted down into charred, black goo down the poor bastard’s cheeks. His nose was gone, leaving two holes where the nostrils should have been. His lips were cut clean off, and all of his teeth were gone, blood seeped down his chin onto the floor. His jaw was unhinged, broken, and held up by something the officer couldn’t ascertain.
Candlelight shined the dark hollows that had been made in his head.
Like a Jack-O-Lantern.
Ludwig had seen this before, censored on the news and not during briefings. He knew whose work this was of.
His partner whimpered behind him, and that was about the time he too decided they should leave this god-forsaken house and call for reinforcements. There was nothing either of them could do.
Stingy Jack had killed his seventh victim…
—————————————————————
—N—
Sirens rang out in what felt like a far away distance, but truly they were just right in front of her. Their swinging lights brushed over her face, cutting through the darkness in fluid motions.
The police and paramedics had come, they sat her down in the ambulance, covered her in a blanket , and left her alone, shivering, but not from the cold. They had questioned her, but she hadn’t said anything. She couldn’t talk to them even if she wanted to .
One officer casually strolled out of her home, like this wasn’t just a gruesome murder scene, and kept the door open so that the others could walk out with less difficulty. They carried out one body bag, then another. Nina could partially see the outline of her parents within them, she knew which body bag was whose. Her broken heart sunk further into her chest.
She wanted to cry, she wanted to get rid of some of this pain that tore her from the inside, but it just wasn’t coming out.
Why… why couldn’t she at least shed a tear for them.
Why couldn’t she have just died with them?
—————————————————————
The Anthony Krause’s parents were probably thinking the same thing right now.
Nina watched from afar as news outlets surrounded the couple’s house. She couldn’t help but feel a massive tang of sympathy for them. Mr. And Mrs. Krause had left the home for now and were staying with relatives after all of the questionings, she wondered if they would ever come back.
She hadn’t.
Nina just couldn’t step into her parents’ house ever again.
Today was a chilly, spring day and Nina had on her favorite tan trench coat, buttoned up and tied in a sash around her waist. She kept her red, freezing hands in her pockets to warm them up. The wind was howling her ears, it threw her hair this way and that, tangling it. She pulled it up in a ponytail but it wasn’t helping all that much.
Occasionally Nina would be ripped from her thoughts by the voices that surrounded her.
“It’s so awful.” One of the neighbors said to an interviewer. “I knew Anthony and his family, they were lovely people.”
“I never thought something like this would happen in our neighborhood, nothing ever happens here.” Another one said. “It’s starting to get scary, I’m not letting my wife and kids out of my sight until this man gets caught.” Said another.
Stingy Jack was the boogeyman.
He had the balls to always enter the victims’ homes and leave their mangled bodies as practically a present for the poor man or woman’s family. He slipped in and out without making any noise, and no one ever noticed the death until the morning after.
Nina thought of him as overconfident, but after the first few murders, she was beginning to think he was just showing off. Playing with the BKA and the police, taunting them. It was very distressing.
She had been following the murders with a keen eye, as per her profession and her morbid curiosity that she always had, but she wasn’t assigned to his case until now.
She wondered what exactly the BKA needed her for.
She hadn’t walked into the house yet, and when she did she regretted it immediately.
There were so many people, so much talking, so many flashing lights and so much dried blood. Her heart pounded in her chest and she felt almost lightheaded, forgetting to breathe. She stumbled over and caught herself on the wall.
A man took a picture of her, directly in front of her unprepared face. The camera clicked and buzzed as it printed the image. When it finally slid out, he shook it wildly in his hands and held it out in front of him. The light burned a white hole into her watery vision for a good minute and a half.
“I’m so sorry ma’am, I was trying to take a picture of the wall behind you, but you walked in front of me.” He chirped, smiling through his straight teeth.
“It’s ok.” Nina groaned, putting her hands over her temporarily blinded eyes. “A-accidents happen, you know?” She forcibly cocked one eye open to look at him.
He gave her a slow once over then glanced back at the image. “I think I’ll have to keep this photo for later tonight though.” He laughed innocently like he didn’t just insulate something disgusting and walked away, waving the image of Nina’s shocked face in his hands. She had to stop herself from cringing.
People are weird sometimes.
It wasn’t like Nina wasn’t used to dealing with creeps, it was just tiring after a while, and it definitely wasn’t something she was in the mood for in an environment like this.
She walked past a bunch of officers who gazed at her with either a keen interest or disdain. They usually didn’t like when the BKA got involved.
The living room, despite being the scene of the crime, had the least amount of people.
The creep from earlier repeatedly took pictures of the bloodied backdoor and the out-of-place dining room chair and candles. In the backyard, a group of men in white rubber gloves were standing by a large tree, taking samples of what looked to be blood on the bark. Others were taking pictures of the red, clumpy trail in the grass and pavement that led to the inside.
The man cocked a smile at her, completely nonchalant and unaffected by the room of recent death. He took another picture of the chair. “This is where they found first found the body. I was here before they moved him.” His speech slurred as he grabbed another printed picture from his camera. “Quite the gruesome sight. I’m glad you weren’t here to see it.” Another picture. “It would have probably given you nightmares for at least a month.”
Nina smiled politely, unsure of what else to do with her face. “I’ve already seen what they did to the previous victims. I really wouldn’t want to have to see that again.”
He looked up from his camera. “Did it give you nightmares?”
No more than she was already plagued with. “No, but I thought it would.”
He smiled all brightly once again. “Well thank god for that.”
Nina decided to go into the backyard. Inspector Lunge obviously wasn’t in here.
—————————————————————
When she finally found Lunge, he was standing in the middle of the street walking back and forth. His partner stood close by, simply watching.
By god, Heinrich Lunge looked intense up close. He quirked a sharp eyebrow when he watched Nina speed walk over.
“Are you Inspector Lunge, sir?” She smiled brightly and spoke in that sweet voice she usually used.
He took her hand and shook it tightly. The closest thing Lunge could give her to a smile back was a straight line in his lips.
“Yes.. that is correct. Would you give me a moment, I’m in the middle of something that can’t be interrupted.”
His partner smiled politely at her and shook his head, exasperated. He slowly walked over to Nina, looking down at her like a father might at his child.
“Don’t be too offended kiddo.” He started. He, like Lunge, was balding, but instead of on the temple of his head like the taller man, his was on the top. He smelled of after-shave and clean laundry. His tie was thick and loose, giving him a sort of jolly look despite his profession. “When he gets in this headspace, eh… you just can’t get him out of it. Give him some time.”
For several moments, Nina just stood still, flabbergasted and also mesmerized by the man. He mumbled to himself often. His hands were moving against his thigh, as though he were typing on a keyboard.
This was part of the crime scene. There were small markers on the ground and yellow police tape held up by the trees and cones. What had happened here? She was clueless.
“What happened here, sir?” She asked the Lunge’s partner.
The man swallowed, as if wondering whether or not he should share this information. “Stingy Jack first shot at the man about right there.” He pointed to where Lunge was standing. “But he missed any vitals. Just shot his ear off.”
Nina’s heart stopped, then went back to its normal speed. She frowned “Oh… that poor guy.”
“I know.” He took a drag of his cigarette and let the smoke out through his nose. “But you're going to help us catch the bastard that did it aren’t you?”
“Gladly,” Nina replied back. Nothing made her blood boil more than this. Innocent people losing their lives because some sicko decided it was fun or got them off. To her, all murder cases were almost personal.
Lunge finally stopped pacing back and forth in front of them and turned around to meet Nina’s eyes and came towards them, careful not to disturb the police tape.
“You are Detective Fortner, correct?”
Nina quickly went through her purse to find her wallet and ID. “Yes, I am. Here you go, sir!” She held it out to him and he took it from her hands to examine it more thoroughly.
“The higher-ups have requested that you aid us in this case.” He looked at her, narrowing his already sharp eyes. “If you are not up to it, you may leave now.”
“I am.” Nina nodded for emphasis.
“I wasn’t finished.” He expressed no emotion as he said all this. She could tell he hadn’t meant to be offensive.“You are aware that the BKA interviews criminals to better predict their behaviors for further investigations?”
Nina found it strange he was asking this question. She was a fellow member of the BKA. “Yes? I am aware.”
“Well, the one the BKA needs to interview the most is refusing to cooperate at the moment, which is quite strange as he has helped us previously in numerous investigations. You have probably heard of him, Herr Johan Liebert.”
“The Anti-Christ.” She said unconsciously. Yes, she had heard of him, for the same reason she knew that Lunge was the one to apprehend him. Something about the man… once he was caught she had obsessively studied the trial and the case, but she was still no closer to understanding the puzzle that was him . He was a void. No family. No past. No nothing. And yet so hypnotic, tantalizing, and charismatic. You didn’t ask about his true past because somehow, someway he would learn all about yours first . He was just that good of a manipulator.
Part of it also probably had to do with Johan’s draw-dropping beauty. Nina wasn’t easily affected by physical appearance and the shallow aspects of a person, and even she could admit that she fully understood how people fell under his spell. His eyes were so beautiful, lidded , with eyelashes like a gentle doe. They were so blue and crystalline. The paper-white skin draped over his features didn’t appear sickly somehow but instead porcelain, like he was crafted from granite. His lips were full, pink, and sensual, and when he spoke he could go from this charming, boyish tone to the deep, monotone, gotcha, that he would sometimes do to interviewers.
He would make an absolutely gorgeous woman, and yet he was still masculine enough that he didn’t appear girly as he was. His jaw was clearly defined, his neck was muscular, and his back muscles were easy to see through the prison outfit he wore.
Nina might have spent longer than she would have liked to admit just watching him and listening to him talk. As much as she hated to admit it, he was fascinating and she couldn’t help but be drawn in by his charisma.
He was still a monster though, and she would not forget that.
“So, you have heard of him I presume?” Nina blinked quickly, realizing she had been lost in thought.
“Yes I have, I followed his entire trial. You were the one to apprehend him.” She went slightly quiet.
“That I was.”
“I-I’m sorry…” Nina laughed nervously. “What does this all have to do with me, sir?”
“I was just getting to that.” For the first time, Lunge began to smile. Like the rest of him, it was quite sharp, and therefore looked like he wanted to kill something, she hoped it wasn’t her.
His voice still held that deep monotone, however. “The higher-ups would like you to interview him for them. Give him this evidence folder.” He held it out in front of Nina and she took it. She couldn’t help but want to open it immediately, but decided against it. “Ask him to give a detailed description of the suspect, if not their name.”
Nina quirked an eyebrow. “Is he really that good at catching these monsters? Even from a jail cell?”
“He is, which is as beneficial to us as it is… concerning. When he was still active, more often than not he would simply get another criminal or better yet, serial killer to do his jobs for him. He has a bit of a knack for finding other murderers. It was part of the reason why it took me almost a decade to even add him to our suspects list.” Nina was no idiot, and could detect mild shame and guilt in his tone, however minor it showed.
His eyes further narrowed in on her. “Follow the protocol exactly as they tell you. Do not let that man have an inch. Don’t tell him anything personal and keep your responses to his questions to a minimum. You don’t want Johan Liebert inside your head.”
Nina paused. “Thank you, sir. That is definitely very good advice.” She swallowed, hoping she didn’t sound rude to this man given they were likely going to be working together until further notice. “I-I’m sorry sir… and please don’t take this the wrong way, I’m so happy I was chosen to be part of this case… but I still don’t really understand why I specifically was asked to do this?”
“I’m… uncertain. I wasn’t told why myself.” He answered shortly.
Nina just felt like she made the situation awkward.
She smiled without opening her mouth and held out her hand to the man one last time before leaving. He shook tightly and so did his partner. “I’m glad to have met both of you. Thank you… and I look forward to working with you until further notice!”
—————————————————————
—L—
Detective Fortner left towards her car on the side of the street, the dirt and sticks crunching under her as she walked away. How she managed to not trip over herself in her heeled boots on the uneven ground was a mystery. She skimmed through the evidence folder.
“Why do you think the higher-ups want her to interview J, Heinrich?” Lunge’s partner, Inspector Derek Schäfer asked, his hands in his pockets to combat the cold. He lightly shook his head. “If you ask me the only reason they requested that newbie is because she’s attractive. Got to be one of the most beautiful women I’ve seen in a long time. She should have just been a model if you ask me. Would probably be a less complicated life than all of this.”
Lunge turned to look at his partner, admittedly feeling a bit off and partially disgusted with him saying such a thing about a woman younger than his own daughter. Derek sighed at the micro-expression on the man’s face that he could easily read by now.
“She’s not for me though. She’d have to be a least fifteen years older for me to even consider.”
Lunge supposed he could be right though. They may be attempting to use the young woman’s looks in a last-ditch effort to get something out of the man. Lunge knew it wouldn’t work on him though. Johan wasn’t interested in such shallow things. He tapped his fingers against his thighs.
Though there was something else odd about Fortner that Lunge couldn’t quite pinpoint, no matter how hard he racked his brain to figure it out. It was a weird sense of unease and familiarity that she gave off.
His partner agreed with his former silent observation.
“She’s real pretty and all, but I can’t imagine this going as they plan. Johan has tons of women, and some men from what I’ve heard, just lining up for a chance to get with him. A serial killer… if you can believe it. I feel like the younger generations are losing their way. I can’t understand how anyone would want to be with a murderer of all things.” He took out a cigarette and began to smoke, inhaling and exhaling in the cold air.
“Point is, if he wanted it, he would have had it by now, don’t you agree?”
“Yes.” Lunge wasn’t really paying attention. He was just watching Nina walk away. Where had he seen her before?
Schäfer puffed out another column of smoke, this time quirking an eyebrow and looking up towards the sky in contemplation. “W-wait a minute… uh… w-was it just me, or did Ms. Fortner look just like him?”