The Arcane: Alistair Mann

CHAPTER 6 BLOODLESS VICTIMS

The day after they were told by Dr. Robert Sinclair of the bloody situation, Agent Young and Agent Prince sit in the chairs at their parallel desks. Agent Prince idly scratches his long auburn hair, with no smile on his face. Accepting and understanding given facts are two different things. Agent Prince accepts the fact that the foreign layer of organic material is possibly alien, but he does not understand it. Yes, while Agent Prince is religious, and he believes in the supernatural, he is an idle Catholic and only goes occasionally to church with his devout girlfriend, aliens though are not supernatural or derive from religious beliefs, they originate from science. If proved real, they would be a cold-hard fact for everyone but that isn't so.

And the business about the backdrop of the swirls of blood being his own and his fellow coworkers. How does one understand that? DNA says that what the ME told him is the truth, but how is that possible? Agent Prince does not know the answers to these questions, he does not even know how to understand these questions. He looks over to his newly appointed and very stubborn partner, Agent Young.

"We should brief all those involved, question them on anything out of the ordinary in their recent lives," Agent Prince says to his partner.

She nods her head in agreement, "Yes, we should." Then she gets up, grabbing the folder of information that Dr. Sinclair sent over.

Agents Prince and Young stand behind two plastic tables in front of a small audience of around fifteen officers seated in metal folding chairs. All of them stare expectantly at the two federal agents. Sheriff Drisby walks into the quiet room that was once for managerial purposes and nods his head towards Agent Young who nods hers in turn. A few seconds before Agent Prince had pulled the sheriff to the side and told him the incoming news. The Sheriff's face paled slightly then swallowed hard. "I am just as confused as you are," Agent Prince had told him.

"We called you all here because there is some vital information that all of you must know," Agent Young pauses for a second and then shrugs, taking the blunt route. "The swirled pool of blood that acted as the backdrop at the crime scene is comprised of all the blood of the people in this room, including myself, Agent Prince, and Sheriff Drisby."

Immediately the room erupts into a cacophony of conversations and questions all directed at the two agents. Ignoring all of the officer's remarks Agent Young shouts over all gathered, "Agent Prince and I will be conducting interviews with all of you, starting with the officers in the back and working our way to the front. None of you are allowed to leave this room until all the interviews are complete. Sheriff Drisby is here to keep all of you from leaving while Agent Prince and I interview you officers individually and privately. Officer Hendrick would you please follow me and Agent Prince."

One of the officer's yells above the rest, "Are we suspects here? You can't keep us here."

Agents Young and Prince ignore the question queried by the anonymous officer, continuing to walk away with Officer Hendricks in tow.