ToRA (Kekkai Sensen Fanfic)

Chapter 1

Early mornings were the best times to hunt.

Especially for man-eaters.

Steven remembered the look on the police chief's face when he'd asked Steven to assist them with a very long cold case. Not cold in the sense of something happening; victims had continued to appear every week for the past three and a half years. They simply couldn't identify a suspect.

So they'd asked him to do it, and gave him all the evidence and case files. Steven had been studying them for weeks, and now he felt like he knew where to look.

Hellsalem's very expansive Chinatown. Four years ago, before the Great Collapse, it had only been a few streets. Now it was practically an entire district, spreading over ten streets and over 70 blocks. It was also most dangerous place in Hellsalem's Lot. The boundary between this world and the other was said to be very thin there, and it was a place Steven had warned Leo never to go on multiple occasions.

How ironic, considering he himself was wandering down those treacherous streets. Beyondians tended to avoid the area, so the vast majority of Chinatown was now former humans. Humans who had been on the other side during the time the Great Collapse was settling, and paid the price for it by becoming inhuman. They were not, however, Beyondians. Why they didn't have a name of their own, Steven could only guess at.

Had any of the police bothered to try and help him, they most likely would have been very confused on why he was here. None of the victims had been killed near or in Chinatown, and all had been brutally maimed and partially devoured. The police had pointed their finger at a beast, but Steven knew better. Most witness accounts blamed a tiger, but there were no tigers in Hellsalem's Lot aside from some kept as pets who had been raised in captivity and posed little threat. A few had said something else, and that something else was why he was combing the streets of Chinatown.

Fourteen victims' witnesses who'd been the last to see them had all said virtually the same thing. That their friend or relative had been talking to a man with very long black hair wearing oriental clothing. None could recognize the man, but had thought it odd. Three of those accounts had mentioned the man had a tail. One identified it as a tiger tail.

The police had ignored the fourteen statements because of the small percentage of them and also because they were never able to find such a person. Those accounts were all from the first two years, and none had named any man afterwards. But Steven was sure that the killer wasn't a beast. If they'd been a beast, there would have been no need for all the victim's faces to be covered by a white cloth. Evidence had shown that after killing, the murderer had closed their eyes and covered their faces before eating them. It was a strangely sentimental thing, even if the beast was a Beyondian.

Steven's gamble was that the killer was either human, or at one point had been human.

This was not the first time he'd combed the streets in the early morning before heading to the Libra headquarters, but it would be the last.

Because he'd just noticed bloody paw prints leaving from a back alley. One glance down the dark alley revealed a very recognizable victim. Blood everywhere, body ripped apart, white cloth over the face. He stepped into the alley, walking over and studying the corpse. It appeared to be a young woman, and the blood had not yet congealed, so it hadn't even been 15 minutes since she died. Steven noticed something amiss, and pried what looked to be a part of a sash from her hand. It was a vibrant purple, one that he hoped would be enough of a clue if he couldn't catch them this time.

He returned to the footprints, and began to follow them. Their owner had clearly not been in a hurry, though they did move with a purpose. Steven followed them down the street and into another deserted alley. Halfway down, walking casually, was a man with long black hair. A tiger tail swayed languidly behind him, and their green clothing was spattered with what Steven already knew was blood. Their feet were also that of a tiger.

He didn't waste any time.

"Esmeralda Blood Freeze: Lanza del Cero Absoluto!"

The man turned, just in time to very narrowly avoid being struck head-on with the full blast of ice. Steven was able to see his face for full ten seconds before he turned and ran down a side path off of the alley, clutching his right arm which hadn't made it out of the blast's way. Steven didn't bother following.

He had enough clues and a good look at the killer's face to track him down again. Besides... Steven stepped into the alley, looking down the side path. He would have a very difficult time following, as not only was the floor of the path riddled with puddles, but the exit was notably narrower and shorter. A tall man like him wouldn't have fit through that space.

He left the alley, pocketing the sash and leaving Chinatown. He did have a job to get to, after all. As he walked, he mulled over the clues he'd collected. A purple sash, for one. The killer was short and lithe with long black hair and a youthful, feminine face. They were also, as Steven suspected, a former human with tiger abilities. Though they had appeared to be an adolescent, he doubted they were truly that age due to the amount of strength it would take to subdue and kill the strong male victims of previous years. The man looked about 18, but there was little way he would have been able to take out his victims at 14 with his build. So he had to be older, probably in his 20s with a very youthful appearance.

Well... he would resume his search later in the day when his higher priority tasks were finished.