There's Been Another One

Thursday- 10:27pm- Murder Scene

Matthew zipped up his pristine white forensic suit, before stepping over the threshold of the murder scene. He could almost taste the metallic twang of blood in the air, but he supposed that was just his mind playing tricks on him. He felt as if he was striding up the wrong way on an escalator as he trudged through into the living room. The suit stopped him contaminating the evidence, but often there was no stopping the nauseating scene contaminating his head.

"Matthew! It's good to see you, I'm just sorry it's in such bleak circumstances," Frank said, stopping him at the door.

"Me too Frank. Anyway, get me up to speed," Matthew murmured, desperately wanting to return home as soon as possible.

"Of course. The bodies are back through there," Frank explained, gesturing behind him. "It's the same kind of thing as the rest of them, with the same lack of clues. I really don't know what to tell you, I think it's best you just see for yourself."

Matthew nodded and entered, immediately having to fight the urge to turn and run back out. The faded yellow walls were streaked with splashes of crimson red, like a disturbing piece of abstract art. The blood had streamed down the blank canvas, creating thin snaking branches on a lifeless tree. The rest of the room was just as void of life.

Matthew stepped around a few crime scene investigators before his eyes settled on the sickening main event. And that's exactly what the killer had intended it to be, a show.

The family of four were sat neatly around the dining room table, each place set up beautifully with silverware, glasses and a stunning cotton cloth.

The only blemishes in the perfectly laid table were six smeared, bloody circles in the centre of the cloth. One for each of the six attacks maybe?

He'd put it off as long as he could, but Matthew forced himself to focus his attention on what was left of the victims. All four bodies sat upright in their chairs, two adults and two children.

Each had a gaping chasm drilled into their stomach, exposing flesh, blood and organs. Matthew had never seen anything like it. The force need to make a body explode open with such gut-wrenching power seemed impossible, however it wasn't the most disturbing thing at the table.

Placed neatly upon each plate, with knife and fork either side, were four completely severed heads. The cuts were so perfect and clean, as if drawn using a ruler and spirit level.

Each one of them was placed upside down, neck facing up, completely hollowed of all innards. Brains, blood, even the eyeballs were absent, leaving the very definition of an empty vessel behind.

The empty eye sockets stared back at Matthew like endless black holes, begging for revenge.

"I think...he's...eating them," he whispered, wincing at his own words.

"What?" Frank stammered. "What do you mean?"

"Well, look at what's in front of us. He's toying with us, if we are assuming it's a he. We are assuming it's a man, right?" Matthew asked.

Frank nodded, "We figured it had to be, considering the force of the chest wounds."

"Okay so he's playing a game," Matthew concluded. "He's laid out this perfect dinner scene, not for his benefit, but for ours. I think...he's trying to tell us that he's the predator and we're the prey. Like he's better than us, as if we're just a food source to him. Did you find any of the...insides?"

"None at all," Frank admitted. "But why would he destroy the stomach if he saw them as 'food'?"

Max thought for a minute.

"What do you do to a pig or fish after you kill it?" he asked.

"You gut it!" Frank exclaimed.

"It could be a homage to that, or maybe he's just trying to undermine our own need to feed. He clearly has this superiority complex, and deems himself a higher species," Matthew theorised.

Something clicked inside Frank's head as Matthew was talking. "Follow me," he urged.

The two men strode purposefully into the kitchen, stopping in front of the nearest countertop.

"I didn't think anything of it until now, assumed it was just the victims' dinner, but maybe there's more to it?" Frank offered.

A thick juicy cut of steak sat atop a chopping board, with a colossal butcher's knife protruding from the meat. On closer inspection, the blade had been driven far beneath the surface of the wooden block.

"Look how deep that knife goes into the board. I doubt that was an attempt to cut the meat or anything like that. I think the killer is leaving us another message," Matthew thought aloud.

"Comparing his victims to a lump of meat?" Frank asked bluntly; he wasn't a fan of overcomplicating thinks.

"Something along those lines, yes I think so."

Frank pulled aside the nearest investigator, "Have this knife dusted for prints, and check the victims and cutlery for any form of saliva, okay?"

"Yes boss."

"I doubt we'll find anything, but it's best to be thorough. This guy has slipped away so many times now, I doubt he's going to leave anything as obvious as fingerprints."

Matthew nodded, but he wasn't really listening. He was already deep into a search on his phone, typing in key words like 'severed head', 'food', 'human' and 'monster'. No luck...until he added 'blood rings'.

"Rulmohr?" he mumbled.

"What the fuck are you on about?" Frank sighed.

"An old English folk law demon," Matthew read. Rulmohr was said to visit earth every few million years to scavenge and gorge on the flesh of its inhabitants. This demonic scourge of hell often feasted on the brains of his fallen victims, in order to assert his intellectual superiority."

"Oh Matt, c'mon you're not seriously..."

"Many believe that Rulmohr is the true source of the Earth's extinction events. The Ordovician-Silurian, Devonian, Permian, Jurassic, and most recently the Cretaceous or 'Dinosaur' extinction events have all been blamed on the unquenchable thirst of Rulmohr. It is said that to guarantee his next feast, he often leaves behind a small amount of life, and rings, drawn in the blood of the fallen to commemorate his victory."

"What the fuck are you on about Matt? You know what, maybe it was too soon for you to come back," Frank barked.

"Calm down Frank, I'm not blaming this all on a stupid made-up demon, am I? I'm saying there have been plenty of copy-cat demonic killers in the past, adamant that they are the embodiment of some ye olde monster. It might be worth looking into. This is why you call me in, to figure out the minds of these kinds of whack jobs!"

Frank pondered over this for a few seconds, before begrudgingly nodding along.

"Six rings for the sixth feast..." Matthew added, which just about pushed Frank over the brink.

"Okay, okay, that could be worth researching. I'll get some of the boys back at the station on it. Any other ideas?" Frank asked nonchalantly, deep down actually begging for answers.

Matthew was good at his job, but even he could only theorise when given such little evidence.

"Can we visit the other houses?" he asked.

"Sure," Frank said. "Let's go."