Darkness falls across the land

The midnight hour is close at hand

Creatures crawl in search of blood

To terrorize y'awl's neighborhood

And whosoever shall be found

Without the soul for getting down

Must stand and face the hounds of hell

And rot inside a corpse's shell

~Thriller, Michael Jackson

When Brynn and Rex both woke up, it was around lunchtime. They had both needed the sleep, though, so one could definitely understand. When Rex looked at his phone, he saw that he had 6 missed calls. Against any regular person’s better judgment, he opted not to return the calls as they were from someone he’d rather not speak to, someone who had left emotional scars and he had effectively cut ties with years ago. The caller in question was none other than Martha Jean Snow, Rex’s mother.

Rex’s phone continued to buzz consistently, blowing up with texts that ranged from a simple “Terrance James Snow, where have you run off to?” to a very abrasive “I swear, Terrance if you don’t come home right this instant, I will come and get you myself!” Needless to say, this did not please Rex in the slightest. He sighed and looked at Brynn with a furrowed brow - a look that Brynn knew all too well. Rex always did that when his mother was being an obnoxious bitch and so he needed Brynn to intervene. There had been a reason that he cut ties with her, but he didn’t even want to think about it at the moment. She’d burnt that bridge long ago, and it was never going to be rebuilt. Rex would even go so far as to say that the zombie apocalypse or hell, the second coming of Christ would happen before he ever forgave her for denying him support when he needed it most.

Brynn held her hand out for his phone. She knew he didn’t want to have any sort of conversation with his mother verbally, so texting was easier. Rex could always delete the conversation later and take screenshots if he needed proof of anything she said.

With no hesitation whatsoever, Rex handed her his phone and shook his head. “Thanks, Brynn, you’re a lifesaver,” he said as he sighed with finality. Even thinking about his mother was draining enough as it was, much less trying to survive having a conversation with her. Thankfully, he had an ally in this situation.

“I’ll try and make this quick so we can get something to eat and start working on the case,” she said, walking down the stairs with him.

Wulfric saw the mixed look of concern and frustration that Rex was wearing as the pair came down the stairs.“Not that it’s my business, but something truly frustrating must be happening to put a look like that on your face. In all my years of living, I have never seen a person make a face like that without good reason.”

Rex shrugged. “If it’s all the same to you, Wulfric, I’d like to keep that information between Brynn and me, at least the whole of it. Let’s just say that someone tried to contact me that I’d rather have nothing to do with.”

Wulfric nodded in silent understanding and waved a hand to urge the pair to follow him to the dining room. They followed him and sat at the table, which had all kinds of food set out on it. He smiled as he sat, Emilia sitting next to him like she had last night, but not before asking the pair what they’d like and serving them.

It wasn’t long before they had plates piled high with food. Rex, of course, beamed widely as he indulged himself. He loved pasta, he really did, but in many ways, it still didn’t beat the food from back home in Texas. Between mouthfuls and swallows, he and Brynn thanked their hosts repeatedly.

It seemed like mere moments had passed, but eventually, Rex and Brynn had gotten their fill of delicious food. They could definitely say that they weren’t malnourished, as both had eaten at least two platefuls of the spread that had laid before them. Rex, at the very least, leaned back in his seat and patted his now-full stomach. His father had always maintained that nothing in this world felt better than treating oneself to gaining a full stomach before working on a case.

Brynn stood up after stretching, looking at Wulfric and Emilia and smiling. “Thank you for the delicious meal; we definitely needed it.”

“Consider it our thanks for coming all this way to solve the murders that seem to be plaguing our town,” the missus replied as she gave a small smile.

Wulfric stood up as Rex followed suit. “Speaking of which, I should take you to the place where I found the body I mentioned. I haven’t moved it since we spoke on the phone yesterday morning.” He exited the dining room, turning right into the foyer they'd passed through on the way there before opening the door and holding it open for his guests. After closing the door a moment later he walked straight ahead and abruptly turned to the right, striding towards a wooded area that the town itself seemed to blend into. “There’s been more than one body, as your files probably told you, but for now, I’d like to focus on the one I mentioned. The rest are safely stored elsewhere, and this one can be if you need a different space to work in. I’m sure the town coroner wouldn’t mind sharing her space with you.” He looked at Rex. “It is your call, though, Doctor.”

Rex smiled at the thought of invading someone else’s lab for a bit. He was almost as giddy as when he’d first seen the blood spatters. “Awesome- I mean thank you, Wulfric; I do believe I’ll have to take you up on that offer. By the way that you’re talking, it seems like you’ve got a lot of influence here. I do remember you saying something about you being a sort of leader here in Shadowhelm, though, so that’s probably why.”

After a bit of walking, they reached what both Rex and Brynn presumed to be the center of the forest, as it opened into a wide clearing. Brynn plugged her nose. “What the hell is that smell?” she asked, looking like she was about to gag.

Rex smiled. How that made him happy, Brynn would never know. “To put it quite crudely, Brynn, it would seem that our victim, ah… shit himself. That’s a good thing, though, as it gives us a timeframe. I’d say anywhere between 24-72 hours, but when you take into account the time between when Wulfric called us and now, and the amount of decomposition - thankfully not much - and the body temperature of the victim that leads me to deduce that the victim cannot have been dead for more than 36 hours.”

Wulfric smiled a bit, amazed at the sheer smoothness with which the words flowed out of his mouth. “That is amazing… though I suppose you’ve been doing this for long enough that the signs of exact time of death come as naturally to you as breathing.”

Rex just nodded, too focused on the current task to respond. “Rigor mortis has set in by now.” He finally looked up and smiled at Wulfric. “Cool, huh? I always found death really fascinating, and that’s why I decided to major in forensics when it came to the medical field.” Brynn and Wulfric nodded in agreement, the former still plugging her nose and breathing through her mouth.

“L-let’s just put this poor guy on the slab before we worry about anything else, alright Rex?” she asked, just wanting to get this over with, to be honest. She hated to admit it, but she preferred her cushy office to this any day. She also didn’t want to hurt Rex’s feelings by saying anything against his profession. He always gave 200% when it came to his job, and she wanted him to know it didn’t go unappreciated.

Rex nodded and smirked. He hated being rushed, but oh well. He knew Brynn hated the smell of decomposing humans - decomposition in general, really. The only time she didn’t seem to hate it was when they were watching horror movies because at least then she wasn’t directly exposed to the stench that accompanied flesh being broken down.

As they got the victim onto a makeshift stretcher - fashioned out of Brynn and Wulfric’s coats, on Rex’s instruction - Rex’s thoughts flitted back to his mother and what she might have said to Brynn, and what she had said to him. If you don’t come home right this instant, I will come and get you myself. What was he, twelve? He was an adult, who had real problems and she was one of them, both fortunately and unfortunately. They hadn't exactly had the greatest relationship ever since he started medical school - not that she was opposed to his choice in career, it was something else entirely. But that something was hurtful to even think about-

Brynn snapped him out of his daze by speaking. “Rex, are you alright?” she queried her friend. “Try not to worry, alright? Try to focus on the situation at hand.” She could see the slump in his shoulders and gave him a hug before watching him help Wulfric lift the impromptu stretcher.

Rex was thankful that he was miles away from Austin right now. He couldn’t face his mother at the moment and didn’t want to. But he had to remind himself that mulling over her threatening text messages was not the purpose of this trip. They were here to solve murders.

Since they didn’t have an ambulance, he had to help Wulfric carry the corpse out of the forest and to the back of his truck, where they covered it with a clean blanket - which Emilia understandably gave them an earful for.

Wulfric hopped into the truck with them. “I’ll speak with the coroner when we get there,” he said. “She can be a bit… testy when push comes to shove, and it does more than you think.”

Rex’s eyes felt like they’d enlarged to the size of saucers. “I’d hate to shove a lady out of her space, but as long as she is okay with it, I can use whatever resources you offer.” He smiled. He wasn’t really good with women - except maybe Brynn - but would never even think about dismissing a lady from her own space. This wasn’t the 19th century anymore, after all, and Rex was raised to be a gentleman.

In no time, they reached the lab where Wulfric’s coroner acquaintance worked. The body was somehow still preserved when they got there. They walked right in, and Brynn nearly gagged due to the stench of death. Normally, she wouldn’t have done so, but honestly, this was… a lot. But then she saw the one she assumed to be the coroner and smiled; Wulfric had, after all, said that the coroner was a woman.

Rex, on the other hand, was very impressed - not by the girl, but by the sheer magnitude of the lab. Holy shit, was it huge! Little did he know, he was opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water.

Brynn reached a hand up to Rex’s jaw and helped him pick it up from the floor. “You look like a deer in headlights, Rex… or rather, Dr. Snow.” She let out a single chortle and looked at the other woman in the room, who returned the gesture.

Rex chuckled and rubbed his jaw. “Don’tcha mean a fish-out-of-water, Brynn?” he asked, walking the body over to the slab with Wulfric’s help.

Wulfric smiled and gestured to the young woman. “Doctor, Detective, this is Angelique Greymire. She is the town’s most trusted in matters of corpse examination and care.”

Angelique, a petite young woman with chestnut brown hair and grey eyes, shook her head with a sigh. “Wulfric, you do not need to give me such high praise. I do what my job demands of me, that is all. I’m the town coroner, that’s all.”

Rex gave her an understanding look. “We who deal with death get so little credit, so I completely understand, ma’am.” He, also being an expert in the medical field relating to death, saw where Angelique was coming from. Truth be told, every time he saw Lieutenant Harding, he internally cringed and cursed the guy out, as the man went out of his way to shit on his profession.

At one point, this had resulted in Rex dismissing the detective from his chambers and saying “Come back when you understand how hard I work. And while you’re at it, stop hittin’ on my friend. She’s uncomfortable with it and I quite frankly find it weird as well. But bless your heart for trying.”

Angelique smiled at Rex. “I am so glad someone understands my situation. Working with the dead can get you weird looks, but I’m sure you know that already.”

At this, Rex chuckled. “If y'all don’t mind my saying ma’am, you hit the nail on the head,” to which they chuckled together. But after a moment, Angelique grew serious, just as Rex had before. Whether that was a thing with those in death-related professions or not, Brynn would never know.

“Let’s see who we got and what we’re dealing with here,” she said, pulling back the blanket that had been laid on the body to cover it. Rex stepped a bit closer, pointing at the observations he had made earlier.

“I noticed that the wounds were the worst here and here,” he said, pointing to the chest and lower torso near the waist. As he explained, Angelique nodded.

“This is very strange, executed in almost a comic book style,” she said. “I hate to say it, but it looks like Wolverine jumped out of a comic book and attacked, though he only has three claws on each hand, and this attack was done by an animal with four.” True to Angelique’s description, the marks looked like something with long claws had slashed up the poor victim.

Rex looked at Angelique as the woman stared at the body for a moment. “I have to say, I am a bit surprised that a lady such as yourself reads comics, but that ain’t my business. Back to the victim, though. Do you know them?” he asked.

Angelique nodded. “Yes. This is my friend Elias Jameson; he was a mechanic here in town.” She paused for a beat. “I found it odd when he did not return my text messages or calls.”

Rex looked closer at the bloodied clothing the victim was wearing and could just barely make out an auto repair shop logo with the name ‘Elias’ stitched on the other side. “That checks out.” He then went on to put on a pair of latex gloves and unzip the jumpsuit the victim was wearing. The last thing he wanted was for his DNA to get mixed up with the victims - or even worse, the killer.

Brynn covered her nose with a hand. “Let’s go through what we know. As Miss Greymire said, the victim’s name is Elias Jameson. Whatever attacked him was huge, had claws, and an act of vengeance towards humans or a thirst for human blood. And it definitely wasn’t Aunt Sally’s Pomeranian, I can tell you that much.”

“And we know that because…?” Rex asked his partner, trying to lead her towards the answer.

“Because I can see the wounds clear as day and they ain’t small. They almost look like they were made by a… a human-wolf hybrid...”

Wulfric looked at Brynn with shock. “I must have misheard you, Detective. Did you just imply that a humanoid wolf made this wound?”

Brynn looked at the self-proclaimed mayor of the strange town and nodded. “With all due respect, Wulfric, you bet your ass I made that implication.”

Wulfric smirked back and turned on his heel. “If you’ll excuse me, I must go. I have a lot of paperwork to catch up on. Meet me back at the house when you're done here.” With that, he left the morgue.