Lady Killer

--



When Detective Holland got to work that morning, he was already in a bad mood. Shaken, hung over. He stayed out too late, goo dro drunk, and then slept in too long. Then, goddamit if something else didn’t happen to screw his morning all to hell.

“Detective..” Cheryl waved him down from behind the counter as he tried to sneak to his desk. “The Captain wanted to see you when you got here. By the way, we have something new for you.”

With that, she shoved a folder to him. Fuckin’ great. As if his current caseload wasn’t enough. He took the case file and read the name on the front, noting the attached headshot. Hmm. I just saw this girl on the news this morning, he thought. Isn’t Jameson supposed to be on the Sirius case?

“Detective Jameson transferred to Metro.” Cheryl answered his silent question.

Great, now the bitch can read my mind too? He tossed the folder onto his desk and proceeded to the Captain’s office.

Another reaming. Wonderful. That son of a bitch is always up my ass sideways, he thought. So much for a peaceful morning.

--

“Are you sure it was the same girl, Faith?”

“Hell yes, I’m sure.” Buffy watched the dark Slayer pace back and forth across the room. Faith was on the verge of freaking out. She watched her run both hands through her pretty raven hair then sit on the edge of her bed, calming herself.

What struck Buffy, more than anything, was how out of character this was for Faith. It wasn’t like her to be so shaken. If nothing else, the blonde was..well..moved. She knelt in front of her brunette counterpart.

“Faith, you can’t be obsessing over this. I’m sure the police will catch this guy sooner or later. The human world has human laws for dealing with this sort of thing.”

"Listen, Faith. You can't be dwelling on this. I'm sure the Police will catch this asshole, ok? The regular world has laws for dealing with this kinda stuff."

Faith shook her head. "No. No we have to do something.. find this son of a bitch and make him pay for what he did."

Oh my God, Buffy said to herself. Is that a tear?

The brunette truly had changed over the last few years. Hell it could have even happened over the past months. Faith had changed so much during her time in prison, even more since her return to Sunnydale. Only to see it turned into a pile of rubble of course.

“Ok Faith.” She said, nodding. “Let’s see what we can find out. But as far as the police are concerned, you should stay out of it. I’ll do the leg work with the police, you stick to your street smarts, k?”

“Ok, B.” She continued to look down, while Buffy stood up and exited the room. She needed to talk to Giles. At this point Buffy was even happier that he hadn’t gone back to England.

--


The Mind Of A Killer- A profile in the crimes of Ted Bundy and Charles Manson.

The book title stares up at me from the shelf. Killers huh? More like rank amateurs. Bundy was the more clever of the two, though. I must admit. At least he covered his tracks dutifully, even escaped from a maximum-security prison after he was caught.

Good ole Charlie was too blatant. Too caught up in all the pseudo religious garbage that he kept shoveling down those desperate fools’ throats. No wonder he’s been in jail for 20-something years.

Mind of a killer. The book title runs again through my mind again as I walk down the aisle of the bookstore. Yeah, maybe that’s what they were. Killers. But that’s all they were. But they weren’t predators.

I round the next aisle and catch a glimpse of the young blonde that I’ve been following all afternoon. Typical whore, in her tight jeans and tank top, strutting her stuff to any little bastard who’ll look in her direction. Filthy little animal.

I note everything that I can about her. The way she moves, catlike. The way she browses the aisles and scans titles, like she has a mission. She’s not a on gon girl, that’s for sure. She’d be a challenge, but that’s alright. I followed the last girl, the redhead, for six days before I made my move and released her from her mortal coil into the realm of the gods.

That’s what I am. I hold sway over life and death just like they do. I’m not a predator. Not a killer.

I’m a god.

--

Buffy adjusted her jeans before bending down to the bottom shelf. Finally she had spotted what Giles had sent her to the local bookstore for, a detailed atlas of the area that they now occupied.

Suprisingly, Giles had agreed right away to help with Faith’s request. He had seen the news report that morning as well. He thought nothing of it until Buffy had knocked on his door this morning and told him of the situation.

Buffy didn’t know if his ready agreement was due to his concern for Faith, the lack of supernatural baddies,the the latest Agatha Christie novel he had been reading. Giles needed things to keep his brain active, and now it seemed he had a mission other than the average bad guys that really needed no extra research or brainpower to fight.

That being done she tucked the atlas under her arm and proceeded to the magazine aisle to browse. She looked over her shoulder just in time to see that goofy guy again. The one who was dumb enough to think she didn’t know he had been following her around like some puppy. Hell, if the guy had the balls to actually approach her an hour ago when she first noticed him, she may have actually responded. He seemed cute enough.

Now he was acting all stalker moody. Did he really think that was some kind of turn on?
Ok, time to ditch this ass.

A few quick moves and she was gone. Damn, he thought. How could I have lost her? He walked quickly down the next few aisles, seeing no sign of her.

Buffy made her way to the register and paid, then exited the store taking one last glance over her shoulder. Yep, creepy guy all gone. Dummass. She smiled and laughed to herself while she walked to her car.

--

Giles sat with Faith and Willow, peering over the redhead’s shoulder at what she’d downloaded onto her laptop. With Willow’s..well..illegal skills, she had been able to get a look at the Coroner’s files on the young girl that was found just last night.

“Interesting.” Giles said, as Willow clicked through the Coroner’s pictures.

“What’s so fucking interesting about it?” Faith asked. She was finding it increasingly hard to look at this shit. Was this really the same girl she had met last night? She had been so beautiful, now was disfigured so horribly.

Giles looked up. “Oh..um. I’m sorry Faith. I didn’t mean to seem calloused. It’s just that I was making an observation. These killings. In the news, and even in these files, they’ve been listed as ritual killings.”

“Yeah, so?”

“Well, they’re not. Not ritualistic by any means.” He pointed to one particular picture on the screen. “The symbols here that he carves into the bodies. They’re not magickal at all.”

“Hey. You’re right.” Willow spoke up. “Some of them do come close to magickal text, but it’s like the killer is making it up as he goes. These symbols are about as magic as looking at funny shapes in your macaroni salad.”

“So what, that means this perve’s not really into magic. But it still seems like he’s into killing people.” Faith said.

“Well, that gives us something to go on. He’s not a member of any real covens or magickal organizations. So that rules out that route. This is a process of elimination.”

Just then, the door opened. “Hey guys.” Buffy poked her head into Giles’ motel room.

“Hey, B.” Faith said, her mood lightening a little at the sight of the blonde.

“Hey girl.” Buffy crossed the room, giving Faith a quick look over. “Feeling better?”

“I am now. Welcome back.” Faith gave a slight smile.

--

“So whatcha got for me?” Detective Holland asked.

“Just about as much as I had this morning.” The forensic pathologist answered, pulling back the sheet that covered the body of Vanessa Prend.

“Treat me like a newbie.” Holland aned, ed, not having bothered to read the case file yet, but still showing enough initiative to come down and see what they had on the case. Other than what the news had been pumping out, of course. Not being assigned to the investigation until this morning, he hadn’t been privy to the more sensitive details of the incidents.

“Well.” The Coroner began. “The killer tapes their mouths shout while he’s at work. I’ve found traces of the adhesive around the mouths of all 7 victims.”

“That means they’re alive when he’s working on them? Sick fuck.”

“Totally. He also restrains them. You can tell by the rope burns on the wrists. Funny thing is, on every body, they are totally clean when they find them. He takes his time. Cleans them, arranges them just so.”

“So what’s the actual cause of death?”

The Coroner lifted one arm to show the long laceration at the pulse point on the wrist. “Looks like he slices their wrists and then does his work on them while they bleed out.”

“In every case?”

“Yeah.”

Holland looked down at the body again. “I’ve seen enough Bill. Cover it up.”

--

“So you wanna do some legwork with me tonight?” Faith asked.

“Sure, what are you planning?”

“I’m going back to the club. Just planning on asking around a little bit.”

“Ok.” Buffy said. “I’ll go with you. Are we going casual, or decked out?”

“Dunno yet. I’ll let you know, ok?”

“Ok. I’ll see you then.”

Faith watched Buffy leave and go back to her and Dawn’s room. Damn what a cute ass. The brunette shook the thought away as she lay down for a little nap before tonight’s outing.


-

TBC