He Who Bleeds by Dorian Valentine

Author:Dorian Valentine [Valentine, Dorian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dorian Valentine
Published: 2024-10-01T22:03:52+00:00

A scream echoed through the townhouse, distinctly Theia’s. Aurélien pushed through the crowd gathered before the scene of the crime in a frenzy, as any good older brother and host would do. Before him it was almost exactly as expected: the corpses were where he left them, and the scent of gore still hung in the air. The single difference infuriated him beyond reason. Upon their foreheads was a strange symbol carved with a sharp knife into the flesh.

Someone had defiled his creations. Had he been proud of the art he made, something as horrendous as a human’s interference would send him into a violent rage. Upon closer inspection, he could see wounds he did not create—trophies no doubt taken from his kill. Unearned trophies.

“Someone send for Scotland Yard!” Aurélien commanded, reaching forward to gather Theia. She was shaking in his arms, sobs wrecking from her body as though these men meant anything to her.

A guest took off, he didn’t care who just so long as this gathering ceased gawking at his failed creation. Celio pushed through the crowd, feigned disgust, and made the sign of the inverted cross.

“What devious things have happened beneath our very noses.” A priest was someone the masses respected, even a half dressed retired one. Celio clapped his hands together in feigned prayer then turned around and waved for the crowd to leave. “Let us all make ourselves presentable and wait below for the Yard to arrive.”

“Has anyone checked their pulses?” One gentleman called out, a medical student by the name of Anthony Gray. “Please, allow me.”

Anthony Gray was a younger man in his mid-twenties, well dressed despite the thrills of the evening though his curly brown hair was mussed from the fingers of lovers. While those with unuseful education left at Celio’s command.

The would-be doctor walked with a stumble that could only be brought about by excessive liquor. Gray looked around the room and, from a small table Aurélien often used to write letters, procured a pen.

“Do forgive me, old chap,” Gray muttered, crouching before the corpse of one Earl Jonathn Brighton.

“Should we really be letting him do this?” Celio whispered, “I mean… what if he finds something?”

“What will he find?” Aurélien asked, raising an eyebrow. He watched the soon to be doctor putter around the room poking and prodding his creations with thinly veiled disgust and curiosity. “What news, doctor?”

“O-Oh I’m no doctor yet, but I’ll do in a pinch. These men were killed within the last two hours.”

“I saw Brighton not too long ago—these other men, I’m not sure. Anything else?”

Gray swallowed, standing up. “I wouldn’t know until I examined further, and I need not remind you that I am underqualified for this. We best wait for the Yard to arrive. But it looks as though each had… something removed.”

“Like a head?” Celio asked, trying to hide his amusement by looking away.

“Well, yes, but more than that. It appears Brighton had his eyes removed after the fact. Beaufort has had his nails removed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.