Helltaker: Life With Demon Girls

Chapter 3: Catching the Killer

In the last chapter we got a look into the work life of Bryce and got to meet Philip, Bryce's partner. Now they have to track down the killer that left a dismembered body on a golf field.

Bryce was in his car across the street from the local butcher shop. "This feels like a bad joke, we find a bloodied bone saw buried in a golf course and it leads back to a butcher shop." Philip said from the passenger seat of Bryce's car as they watched the front of the store. "It kinda makes sense, I mean how many regular people have a use for a bone saw?" Bryce said as he took a sip of his coffee. "Yeah I guess your right, well should we go meet our suspect?" Philip asked as he undid his seatbelt and opened the door. "Yeah let's go in, investigate, and hopefully book our criminal." Bryce said as they got out of the car and made their way into the butcher shop.
"What can I get for you gentlemen?" A gruff voice said as Bryce and Philip turned their attention towards a heavyset man with a rather stern face. He had a thick mustache on his lip and a pair of matching eyebrows. He had stringy black hair on his head, with some grey. "Hello sir, have you seen your worker Vanessa Smith?" Bryce asked the butcher who raised his eyebrows in surprise at Bryce's question. "No I haven't seen her since yesterday when her shift ended, why has something happen?" The butcher asked as he seemed confused.
               "We're Detectives that work for the police department, Vanessa Smith was found dead at the local golf field. Her body was dismembered and left in five separate garbage bags." Philip explained as he and Bryce showed the butcher their badges. "Who would do such a thing? Vanessa was such a kind soul." The butcher said in a distraught tone as Bryce leaned on the counter. "We were hoping you can answer that question for us Bennet Wilson." Bryce said as the butcher seemed to get nervous. "What are you implying Detective?" Bennet asked in a nervous tone as his eyes darted around.
"We found a bone saw buried at the golf course with Vanessa's blood on the blade and your fingerprints on the handle, care to explain?" Bryce said as Bennet immediately turned tail and ran into the back room. "Don't you love it when they run? Call backup, I'll pursue our criminal." Bryce said as he pulled his gun from his shoulder holster and followed Bennet into the back room. "Don't make this harder on yourself Bennet! Resisting arrest doesn't help you in court!" Bryce shouted as one of the hanging cow ribs was swung into him, knocking him on the ground as Bennet bolted once again.
"For such a big guy your pretty sneaky!" Bryce shouted as he got back on his feet and followed where Bennet ran to. Bryce spotted Bennet fumbling with the lock on the back door of the shop. "Freeze! Put your hands in the air! Move and I'll put one in your leg." Bryce said as he aimed his gun at Bennet who raised his hands above his head. Bryce slowly approached Bennet as he got ready to cuff the big guy, but was caught off guard by Bennet whipping around and clocking him in the face. Bryce fell to the ground as he dropped his gun when he was punched.
Bryce tried to get up, but found Bennet pointing his gun at him. "Alright, don't do something you'll regret here Bennet." Bryce said in a calm tone as he stared down the barrel of his own gun. "Now I'm gonna take care of you before I get the hell outta here!" Bennet said as he moved his finger towards the trigger. A gunshot rang through the back room as Bennet screeched in pain. Philip had shot the butcher in his arm, causing him to drop the gun. Bryce quickly stood up and retrieved his gun before standing next to Philip. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Bennet moaned in pain as he glared at Philip
"You tried to shoot my partner, and your asking what's wrong with me?" Philip said as he put his gun away as Bennet lunged him. Bryce however struck him across the head with his pistol, knocking the butcher off his feet. Philip cuffed Bennet as he and Bryce pulled him to his feet. "Well Bennet, your being charged with First Degree Murder, Assault of an Officer, and Attempted Murder of an Officer. Hope you like orange." Philip said in a rather smug tone as the two led him out of his shop. Bryce and Philip handed Bennet over to the police before turning to talk to about what just happened.
"Damn he really got the drop on you! Looks like he busted up your lip pretty good to." Philip said as Bryce looked at his reflection in the windshield of his car. Sure enough his lip was slip out and bleeding as he pulls out a napkin from his pocket and wiped the blood. "Well that's to be expected in our line of work. Let's get this guy to the station and get him in jail." Bryce said as he got into his car as Philip joined him in the car before following the squad car back to the station. "You better head home immediately after we book this guy." Philip said as he looked over at Bryce with a half smile on his face.
Bryce walked through the front door of his house as he took his trench coat off and hung it up. "Geez, what the hell happened to your face?" Bryce turned to see Malina looking at him with her usual sour expression. "Our criminal clocked me in the face. Busted my lip pretty good with that punch." Bryce said as he gently rubbed his chin. Malina then took Bryce by the hand and dragged him to the couch and sat him down. Malina then walked off before returning with some medical supplies before sitting down next to Bryce on the couch before pulling out some items.
"Are asshole hold still while I try to fix your ugly mug." Malina said as she gently applied a swab to his busted lip as she cleaned the blood before taking a wet swab to clean it off. "Alright it's not perfect, but you look better then you did before." Malina said as she put away the supplies before turning to look back at Bryce. "Thanks Malina, that was a lot easier then having to do it myself." Bryce said as he smiled at the girl. A blush spread across Malina's face as she quickly looked away from Bryce. "You owe me jackass, so grab a controller we're playing right now." Malina said in an irritated tone as she picked up two controllers before handing it to Bryce so they could start playing.
               Bryce and Malina both started playing one of their many turned based strategy games as Zdrada entered the room. "Oh look who's finally back! Kinda early isn't it?" Zdrada said as she sat down in a chair close to the couch. "Philip offered to handle the paperwork, he told me to head home and get some rest." Bryce said as he continued to play with Malina. Zdrada then finally took notice of Bryce's busted lip. "Damn who kicked the shit out you?" Zdrada said with a laugh as she let out a puff of smoke. "Apparently the killer was able to clock him." Malina said as Zdrada started cracking up.
               Bryce didn't mind that Zdrada was laughing, he didn't expect sympathy from a demon of all people. "Aw, what's wrong Bryce? Embarrassed you got your ass kicked?" Zdrada said in a teasing tone as she took another drag from her cigarette. Some of the other girls were taking notice of the commotion. "It could have been worse, almost had a bullet put between my eyes." Bryce mumbled casually as everything went dead silent. Malina paused the game before turning to look at him. Bryce could feel to dark auras from behind him as he looked over his shoulder to see Lucifer and Beelzebub there.
             "Repeat that slave." Lucifer said in a commanding tone as she glared down at him. "Bastard pulled a fast one on me and got ahold of my gun, lucky Philip shot his arm before he could shoot me." Bryce said casually as if it wasn't a big deal. "Bryce, what is the name of this man? I'd like to have a chat with him." Beelzebub said in a sweet tone as she smiled, but Bryce could sense her murderous aura. "Beel, it's comes with my line of work. Besides he's going away for life, he'll rot in jail." Bryce said as he tried to defuse the situation as best as he could right now.
                "THIS SINNER MUST BE PUNISHED FOR HIS CRIMES!" Judgement said as she slammed her fists together. "Judgement calm down, he'll be punished for his sins." Bryce said as he hoped that everyone calms down before he gets a headache. "This conversation isn't over slave, don't think your off the hook." Lucifer said before everyone went about their business. Bryce went back to playing with Malina before he brought up his near death experience today. Lucky the rest of the night went off without a hitch and Bryce didn't feel like arguing tonight.
              Bryce got changed into his loungewear as he got ready to get some rest for the night. "Bryce, are you still awake?" Bryce turned to see Beelzebub in her pajamas, which consisted of shorts and one of his shirts. "I was just about turn in for the night. What's up?" Bryce asked as Beelzebub pulled him into his bed before laying down next to him. "Don't you dare die on me Bryce Romano, you freed me from my loneliness." Beelzebub said as she clung to him tightly. Bryce planted a kiss on her forehead before wrapping his arms around Beelzebub. "Don't worry Beel, I don't plan on dying before retirement." Bryce said before the two of them drifted off to sleep for the night.

So Bryce caught the criminal and nearly got shot! Now the girls are on high alert after hearing about Bryce's near death experience. What will happen with Bryce and the Demon Girls going forward? Will Bryce be able to have a relaxing day in his own house? What else will the Demon Girls drag him into? Find out in the next chapter of HellTaker: Life With Demon Girls!