Drip drop drip drop .
The sound of the raindrops hitting the roof of the ancient church echoes throughout the whole building.
Inside, a man wearing a black cloak , his face covered by a hood, stands under the cross that bears God's son and Humanity's Savior. The man stays, staring for a while longer. Then he bows his head and leaves.
Just as the man leaves , the church's spire is struck by lightning, waking the priest who was sleeping soundly in his chambers. He sat up straight and grabbed his glasses from his bedside table, putting them on as he walked over to his window. He spots a shadowy figure walking away , not an umbrella in sight despite the major downpour. " How strange .." he whispered to himself. Father Donovan tried to shake this suspicious and nagging feeling off , as he had a long day ahead of him tomorrow and now that he was no longer a young lad , he's going to need all the energy he could get. He climbed back into bed , but the nagging feeling kept him awake , tossing and turning till he couldn't bear it anymore .
Throwing a jacket on , he grabbed a torch before heading out to check the church, something was pulling him towards the church.
After searching around , the only place left was the main hall. Father Donovan opened a side door behind the sanctuary, this door was often only used by the priests in the church , and hidden away from the public eye.
He noticed some faint lights casting eerie shadows on the wall, likely from candles , ' Ahh that person must have come to pray, Father Donovan sighed in relief , but something kept urging him to check . A strange smell was prevalent in the air , it smelled metallic and floral at the same time , nauseatingly sweet and also somewhat addictive .
He moved over to switch the lights on .Turning around he spotted something red pooling on the floor in front of the cross , likely from the altar. The red liquid was about to reach the lit candles. But his view of the altar was blocked by the cross , so Father Donovan walked over to check the altar.
He felt his blood run cold , never in his years had he seen such an ungodly thing before. He clenched his eyes shut ,hoping all of this was a mere nightmare. Oh how he wanted to wake up and forgot he ever saw this vile scene , but to his dismay , he was wide awake and certainly looking directly at it.
On the altar lies a young lady , her expression serene , she was wearing a flowing white dress , now dyed with her own blood . Blood red roses with spots of white surround her , and a flower crown made from the same roses were placed on her head. Her hands were hanging from the sides of the after , the wrists slit , blood dripping continuously, forming a curious melody with the drip drop of the rain. The blood formed a puddle around her. A copper dagger was lodged deep into her heart.
A circle of candles were lit around the altar. The nauseatingly sweet scent only got stronger , only this time Father Donovan retched at it. What a curious thing it was , just moments before he don't mind the scent , even brushed it off as some sort of new incense but now that he sees the source , he's retching all over ,as if wanting to dispel the vile scent from his whole being , quiet counterintuitive considering the fact that he was rooted right in front of the source , unable to command his shaking legs to carry him off to a safe haven far away from this nightmare.
Father Donovan's legs kept shaking , he couldn't run away , so he did the next best thing ,he shakingly reached to grab his rosary ,but unfortunately due to his extreme shaking it slipped and fell directly onto the pool of blood that had now reached his feet. Father Donovan immediately stepped back , his legs finally working. He watched in horror as his rosary was tainted with the blood , closing his eyes , he exhaled shakingly , and immediately signed the holy cross. " Heavenly Father, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I mourn the loss of this innocent soul. This humble servant of yours asks for Your divine mercy to grant her eternal rest, and I implore Saint Michael to stand against the forces of evil, seeking justice for her life taken too soon. Amen, " impressively he managed to squeeze out a prayer for the departed.
The rain eased up , Detective Voss stepped out of his SUV, he sighed deeply and stretched his neck. He was at home catching up on sleep when he got the call that a body was found in the church. Detective Cassius Voss was the leader of the Violent Crimes Unit of the city of Novara. Cursing his luck , Cassius Voss immediately rushed to the scene . When he arrived , the normally peaceful and quiet church was chaotic to say the least. The blue and red flashing lights looked almost comical against the neutral colored church. Just as he stepped out his second in command Sergeant Belios rushed up to him.
" Captain Voss , the priest, Donovan was the first one to find the body, he's over there with Amélie , he's too shaken to talk right now," Victor Belios informed him while handing him some gloves and shoe covers.
Cassius patted Victor on the shoulder , " Thanks Vic , is Alaric here ? "
Victor nodded , " Doctor Tolliver is inside right now conducting the scene investigation."
Cassius nodded and sent Victor off to see if there were any cameras around. He put on his shoe covers and stepped inside the church. He has been here once before , a dear friend dragged him over to admire the magnificent gothic architecture.
A junior detective led him into the main hall. Inside a group of people were rushing around. Cassius immediately found Alaric busy observing the scene. So he walked over .
Alaric Tolliver was their medical examiner , and his dear friend since high school. Alaric heard someone approaching him but he didn't have to turn to see who it was , " You're here Cassius."
Cassius hummed in response , then he inhaled sharply when he saw the scene , the body was still on the altar, blood had stopped dripping, but that didn't take away from the overall eeriness of the scene , Cassius felt a headache coming. " How is it ? "
" Fatal wound was the stab to the chest , murder weapon was found lodged into the heart , but the slits on the wrist show some biological processes suggesting that they were slashed immediately before the victim was stabbed, for now the slash marks match those of this particular knife , but further examination is needed to be sure. We also detected some bruises on her hands , likely from a rope ,indicating that she was tied up. See those roses over there , " he pointed to the blood soaked roses , " I initially suspected that it was the victim's own blood , but now that I checked it , it seems different from human blood. While I can't say what blood it is for sure right now , it's likely to be pig or cow blood or some other larger mammal. A crown made from the same roses was placed on the victim's head. Any footprints were washed away by the rain , but we did find a partial footprint near the entrance, it'll be sent to the lab soon. No fingerprints were detected in the room except for the Father's prints on the door knob and light switch."
Cassius nodded , from the corner of hi eyes he spotted a rosary in the blood pool , he tapped on Alaric and nodded towards it , " Oh , that's Father Donovan's rosary he dropped it when he found the body," Alaric explained , " I was just going to collect it."
Alaric waved at someone and two forensic officers came in with their evidence gathering kits.
One of them pulled out the camera and began to document everything , Cassius walked around making sure he didn't disturb or interrupt them, the scent of blood and roses was still prevalent in the air , much more pungent now .
Cassius then spotted the burned out candles , seeing that they were in the blood puddle, he didn't want to disturb any evidence beforehand so he made a mental note to check them later.
He walked around but he didn't spot anything useful . Victor rushed into the church bearing bad news , " Captain , I just checked with everyone and it seems that all the cameras in this area were disconnected due to recent renovations and rewiring. " Cassius felt his headache worsen , " Just great. " he muttered.
Alaric finished zipping the body up in a body bag so he instructed the others to take the body back to the lab. Alaric spotted Cassius's troubled expression , " What's up ? "
Cassius shook his head , " There aren't any cameras," he sighed, " Are you done , any new findings ? " .
Alaric just silently turned back to look at the scene one final time and nodded , " No other findings for now, I'll get started on the tests immediately after I get back, " he replied, positioning himself next to Cassius , " You know what, she would find this very interesting. "
Cassius nodded , " I was thinking the same thing , she would be like ' What a masterpiece !' before diving into study the whole thing ," he replied chuckling , " But Chief Jung would have our heads if we involve her again."
Alaric chuckled softly , "Honestly ,I won't be surprised if she joins our team after seeing this, because it's right up her alley."
Cassius joined Alaric laughing, but they both froze when they realized something.
" Cassius , didn't the psychologist retire ? " Alaric asked slowly turning to Cassius
Cassisus nodded , " And it's been hard finding a replacement. Did Lys resign recently ? " Alaric nodded back.
They both turned to look at each other , evil grins forming , " You take Lysandra and I'll take the Chief ," Cassius said.
Alaric nodded and the both of them high-fived, the loud smack vibrating throughout the whole church startling everyone. They all turned to look at Alaric and Cassius who were grinning evilly .
" Good god, what are they up to this time ? " one person whispered , his partner just shook his head , " Who knows , let's just finish and get out of here fast , this place gives me the creeps, and those two aren't making it any better. "