It Started With Thieving | Sherlock Holmes

9 - Followed

A/N: Hola! So, can't lie, this update was meant to happen last year some time and the book was supposed to be at least half-complete by this time!

However, a lot has happened that was out of my control hence the vv long hiatus.

Uni has been madness (fun madness, but stressful madness), work has been intense, I was suffering with my mental health quite a bit, I lost someone very close to me at the end of October last year after a battle with a long, drawn-out battle with a health problem, Christmas was quite crap because of this, then there was my 21st which was also quite crap without said loved one, then a uni trip to New York, then returning to be thrown into intense filmmaking again and I've been trying to help a friend publish a collection of poetry (not on Wattpad)!

So ig you could say a lot happened.

I greatly appreciate all my old and new readers for sticking with me and with this story (and others, cough, shameless, long overdue self-promotion of my Doctor Strange fics, cough) despite my long absences.

Again, much to your dismay (maybe? Idk) this update is just unfortunately not a guarantee of any consistent updating, and I wish I could say it was, but it just is noot.

I love and miss yall and I do try to keep up to date with comments cuz I love speaking and responding to you guys when I am able!

Also, much love to my Wattpadian friend, Mixxy ( mixxagonal ), without whom some of these chapters in this and the 1st ISWS wouldn't have been published without - they also have an epic Sherlock X OC fic called "Perception of the Mind" that they are working super hard on! Like guys seriously, the level of detail in their books is incredible, amazing, heart-skippingly great, stunning and just epically satisfying, it's like ASMR for your eyes and brain so go and read their book too!

Without further ado, I will stop gatekeeping the chapter from you all now lol, enjoy!

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Sherlock burst into his hotel room in a buzz. How exciting this case was, how thrilling! He swiftly slipped off his coat, chucking it on the bed, and strode over to the small table that held all the files and information they had collected for their main case. A woman replicating Dracula through her murders - almost as if she was Dracula's bride himself...how intriguing! More interesting than looking for missing blood bags -

Sherlock stopped in his tracks, "Although - "

Two cases that dealt with missing blood - that couldn't be a coincidence, could it?

His hand quickly dived for the file of people he had background checks on, scanning through them quickly: Ramona Miranda, a dominatrix with a penchant for more taboo kinks and roleplays (for a moment he wondered if she and Irene had ever met); Omor Badea, a recluse with only one confirmed and recorded criminal record of attempted assault yet he had been suspected of murder at one point too (Sherlock kept his name firmly in his mind as he scoured the rest); Camelia and Stefan Sănge, the owners of the private hospital he and Elizabeth had gone to; Valentin Visar Vlădescu, the richest man in Romania, philanthropist and organiser of the charity even they would be attending; Garridan Constantin, a high-up police inspector suspected of corruption...

"Wait," He paused, flicking back to the penultimate file, "Vlădescu, where have I...?" He scanned Valentin's file for any mention of a spouse, "Doctor Sabina Vlădescu - 'S' Vlădescu, that name..."