13: Grief and Burning Fury

“Why is it that every time I see you boys, there’s something bad happening?” said Kobayashi.

The deep creases in his brow denoted suspicion and mistrust.

“Maybe because there’s a serial killer after us,” said Die.

“We’re not talking Mavros here. Besides we still haven’t established a connection between Mavros and the poisoned drink case,” spat Kobayashi.

“What about that bartender named Benjamin? He seems suspicious enough. I think you can chug a few words out of him since he most likely poisoned Toshiya,” Die said sharply.

“Benjamin was found dead in his apartment, the strange thing is that he’s been dead for quite awhile,” said Kobayashi. “Yet staff at the club claim that he’s been working as bartender for a week.”

“So what’s the deal here? That everyone’s lying?” said Die.

“Footage at the club shows him working at the bar, but our medical examiners performed an autopsy revealing that the body has been dead for at least a week,” stressed Kobayashi. “The footage also caught his hand slipping something into the drink for a very brief moment.”

“So it was him after all,” said Die.

“Get a load of this. Benjamin was only an alias. He was actually Colin Hill, a foreign exchange student missing two weeks ago,” said Kobayashi.

“What the hell is even going on anymore,” said Die.

Kaoru who was silent this entire time struggled to put the pieces together. As much as the dead Colin Hill was responsible for poisoning Toshiya, he was not the sorcerer that Kyo spoke of. The sorcerer was still hiding somewhere plotting his next move.

“Is there something you know about this case? It would help very much if you told us something,” asked Kobayashi.

“We have reason to believe that someone is after the band and he is still alive out there. This Colin Hill was probably a disposable pawn he murdered after he fulfilled his use,” said Kaoru with impertinence. “This is all we know on our side.”

“Look I’m not trying to say I don’t trust you guys at all. There’s no evidence proving that the same person was responsible for these cases. We don’t know if there’s more than one person or if these are separate cases altogether,” said Kobayashi.

“I am the next target,” said Kaoru definitely.

Die and Shinya stared at him with shock.

“I can feel it. He will go after all of us and I am the last one,” said Kaoru.

Kobayashi slumped to the back of his swivel chair.

“I can’t help you if you guys are hiding something. Anything is helpful.”

The three were silent.

“I’m open to ideas,” he said rubbing his temples. “The carnage in the lobby was inexplicable. The hospital footage showed bodies flying in the air and moving on their own like someone puppeteered the whole show. Never in my career have I encountered something like this. And now we got Mavros running loose for no reason. The Metropolitan Police already has enough on their hands.”

*****

Toshiya was transferred to smaller hospital nearby. He was sitting on his bed with headphones in his ears.

“Nice of you guys to visit,” said Toshiya looking up. “It would have been better if you weren’t empty-handed.”

“The doctor said you can’t eat anything for the time being. You need rest,” said Kaoru.

“Once they confirm that my body is up and going, they’re gonna discharge me. I just racked up a ton of hospital bills. I don’t want to stay here any longer,” complained Toshiya. “Did you guys see Kyo while I was out?”

“Yeah. He led us to your antidote,” said Die.

“Damn. Why do I always miss him? I don’t remember a single thing when I was out,” said Toshiya.

“Do you remember anything specific the day you passed out?” asked Shinya.

“I drank a lot of sure. Lined up a bunch of shots with those bastards I call friends. But seriously, we drank a lot that night. I don’t even remember how much I drank. I got up because I felt like puking. On the way, I probably bumped into some dude like a staff or whatever. The next thing you know, I’m perched over the toilet belching out my insides. I thought I was done until I got to the sink. I felt like puking again only this time if like I was gonna puke out my liver. You wouldn’t believe what happened next,” said Toshiya.

“You threw up the centipede that you ate. It was fucking disgusting,” said Die reliving the memory of scolopendra hunting.

“Dude, I did not eat a fucking centipede. That thing was fucking nasty.”

“You were drunk as hell. How would you know if you decided to stick some worm down your throat.”

“Anyways, I puked that motherfucker out and a shit ton of blood before I passed out. That’s all I remember.”

“Did you notice anything strange? Like the bartender who made your drink,” Kaoru inquired further.

“I can’t really see the bar from where I sat.”

“What about your drink?”

“Tasted fine to me.”

“Looks like we’re back to square one,” said Die.

“Doesn’t this feel like too much of a coincidence? We questioned Mari and she gets killed in a few hours. We suspected the bartender who we knew as Benjamin at the time and he turns up dead. These two cases have got to be connected in some way,” said Kaoru.

“What if Mavros is not only the serial killer, but also the sorcerer?” said Shinya.

“That’s just ridiculous,” scoffed Die.

“Think about it. Mavros is wanted by the FBI which is in the United States. Kyo, who was the first victim, disappeared during our North American tour. Again in the United States,” continued Shinya. “Mavros then appears here in Japan out of all places and also decides to kill Mari out of all people. Wouldn’t that make Mavros a very likely suspect for the role of sorcerer.”

“How would you know? What if he’s killed loads of people already to satisfy his own psychotic needs?,” said Die.

“You know, Shinya might be right,” said Kaoru. “Let’s just say for now, Mavros decides to kill Mari after we questioned her. Mari knew something about Mavros that would lead us to him.”

“But what would Mari know?” asked Toshiya. “After all she was just a server.”

“She knew the bartender. We suspected him, but she said it wasn’t him right off the bat,” said Die. “Next thing you know, he’s dead. Dead for a week apparently. Like you wouldn’t notice that you would be working next to a stinking corpse.”

“Hmm. Speaking of stink, I think I ran into a guy at the club that smelled funny,” said Toshiya scratching head.

“Smelled funny?” asked Kaoru. “Anything odd that you remember?”

“Like I said before, I was drunk so I can’t really remember how he looked. He may said something like the deed has been done or whatever. But he had this weird smell on him. What’s that thing that smells like kinda like moth balls?” said Toshiya.

“Camphor,” replied Shinya.

“Oh no,” said Kaoru upon realization.

“What is it?” asked Die.

“Camphor is used in embalming. Forensics and medical examiners also use camphor to deal with the strong odors of bodies,” explained Kaoru.

“Are you telling me I bumped into a dead guy!” shouted Toshiya.

“If Colin Hill has been dead for at least a week and people are saying he’s been working the bar, I think we have just experienced full on necromancy,” said Kaoru.

“This sorcerer has reached new levels of sick here,” said Die.

“We still need to find out why Mari was offed. What was it that she knew? Why didn’t the other staff get killed?” Kaoru spoke aloud.

“I don’t think we can get Mari’s first hand account. Hey dead person, do you have any idea why you got axed?” said Die sarcastically.

“Did you forget that we have Kyo, our supernatural communicator?” said Kaoru.

“Are you ready?” asked Kaoru.

“Let’s see if she shows up,” said Kyo.

The back alley of the club was dark and sealed with yellow caution tape. It is unsure if the dark splat on the ground was previous residue or blood from the murder. The band members except for Toshiya who was still stuck in the hospital room hovered at the alley entrance peeking into the darkness trying to get a glimpse of a ghost, but there was naught.

“Mari, we’re here to talk to you. We have a few questions,” Kaoru said bravely.

“You can do us all a favor and show yourself. I can see you,” said Kyo.

A glowing body manifested at the end of the alley. The figure of Mari with a bloody neck drifted towards them.

“The last time I answered your questions, I ended up dead,” she said flatly.

“Look we’re really sorry. We didn’t know it would end up like this,” said Kaoru.

“I was kinda mean too for snapping at you. I wanna say sorry for that,” Die apologized.

“It would have been helpful if you gave me a heads up about what I was dealing with!” Mari shouted.

Her slit neck was now spurting blood and her face contorted into a mix of rage and anguish. Shinya stepped backwards at the sight.

“Calm yourself, Mari. We’re only here to help,” said Kyo feeling her anger.

“Are you ... Kyo? The vocalist who went missing a year ago?” asked Mari.

The blood stopped spurting and her image reverted back to Mari with a slit throat. She approached Kyo to touch him. To her surprise, she couldn’t pass through him.

“What! How did you become like this!” she cried out.

“It’s a very long story,” assured Kyo. “But it’s related to you as well. We need your assistance.”

“Before I do that, I need to know what happened to Benjamin. Is he alright?” said Mari.

“I’m afraid Benjamin isn’t who you know him to be,” said Kaoru.

He explained the circumstances to her.

“I-I can’t believe it. I always thought he was just a quirky guy and maybe it’s because he’s a foreigner,” said Mari.

The street lamps flickered uncontrollably and the nearby car alarm went off.

“Hold on a sec! Stay grounded here!” ordered Kyo.

Mari’s image who was contorting again slowly became calm once again.

“Tell us, why were you killed by Mavros? Was it something you knew?” asked Kaoru.

“Frankly, I don’t really understand what’s going on. I was out here cleaning up and ready to close shop. I thought it was Benjamin who came back to the club because he always had that odd smell on him. The alley was dark and couldn’t see very clearly. Then when I looked closer at the guy, it was that serial killer that they’ve been showing on TV. It was at that moment that I froze,” said Mari.

“Anyone would have froze. He pointed a knife at you right?” asked Die.

“I was very afraid and wanted to leave really badly. I get that when you’re scared, you become a deer in the headlights, but this time it was different. I was desperate to move and I couldn’t move a single bit. It felt unnatural. When he drew that knife to my face, I had to feel it running across my neck,” continued Mari. “I don’t know what he did to me, but it was really weird and freaky.”

The band looked at each other with confirming looks.

“I still don’t know why I died, to be honest. Maybe you guys can figure something out for me,” said Mari.

“Can you tell us about Colin—that’s Benjamin’s real name? We think he’s part of the reason,” said Kaoru. “Anything would be fine.”

“We needed to hire some more part-timers since we were short on staff recently. Benjamin, or Colin I should say, at the time showed up when we were hiring and he had all the necessary documents to prove everything including a license to bartend. So he showed up to work and everything went smoothly,” said Mari. “I told you how I thought he was quirky guy. He likes to say some strange things like ‘the deed has been done’. But now that I think about it, there were some pretty abnormal things. Before he worked here a week ago, he specified that he could only work at night. At times I would catch him talking to himself as if he was an entirely different person.”

“Do you remember anything he said?” asked Kaoru.

“He said some really strange things out of nowhere. Things like I can’t do this anymore or I shouldn’t be here. I confronted him about it, but he answered my questions with ease. That’s when I thought, ahh he’s just a really excited Dir en grey fan,” Mari continued.

“So that’s when you stop suspecting him.”

“On the day Toshiya got poisoned, the police questioned everyone. That’s when I saw him break down terribly. I thought it was just nervousness at first, but he wouldn’t stop shaking. He said he couldn’t take orders from someone any more and something about killing people. Then he ran off and that was that.”

“It didn’t strike you as odd?” asked Die.

“It was a stressful night for all of us. I assumed that he was frazzled like the rest of the staff,” said Mari.

“Thank you for telling us. It will help us a lot,” said Kaoru.

“Well, my job is done here. I guess I feel a little better now,” said Mari.

Her body glowed and her feet was disappearing.

“Before I go, tell my sister she did a great job. She would make a fine doctor,” smiled Mari.

She disappeared into gold dust and fluttered away.

“Shinya, you were right. Mavros is the sorcerer after all,” said Kaoru. “Colin was a corpse being manipulated through necromancy to obey Mavros’ orders, but he couldn’t handle being Benjamin and Colin at the same time.”

“That would explain the talking-to-yourself act,” said Shinya.

“I’m guessing Colin’s conscience couldn’t handle being a murderer,” added Die.

“Mavros was scared that Mari would reveal too much so he decided to get rid of her. What he didn’t anticipate that it fueled our suspicions even more,” said Kaoru. “We’re one step closer to him.”

*****

BGM: Mushi by Dir en grey

A new truth has been revealed, but still, who is Mavros? There will be new trials to face in the future. If you enjoyed this chapter, leave a comment.

#thedarknesspreys