If they were indeed the others, it would make sense why he would kill them. To confirm her theory, though, Jet would have to have the detective ask his captain to go to the morgue and look for their bodies if they were even still in there, which she highly doubted.
And if they weren't, then she couldn't just ask a gravedigger to dig up their bodies so that Jet could examine them, as it would still take legal authorization, and for the Police Captain Bloodwave to ask why Jet wanted to dig them up in the first place.
And she couldn't just tell the Nightwalker that it was based on a theory she came up with while she was lying in her bed, as he would immediately shut her down. Besides, for all she knew, the others could shatter into a pile of glass once they were killed, and what could the detective and Jet do with that?
Nothing, that's what.
She sighed, got out of bed, walked into the kitchen, then turned on the light and opened her fridge, grabbing a bottle of whiskey.
Jet suddenly stopped in place and shook her head with a frown.
"Gods, what was I thinking? I don't even have proof that they were the others, let alone anything to back up my theory. I'm sure the detective could find something, though."
Maybe.
Gods, this city was going to be the death of her.
She immediately scoffed at her thoughts as she closed the fridge and grabbed a glass cup.
"Death of me, who am I kidding? Been there, done that."
There was something terribly wrong with her sense of humor.
"What the hell is wrong with me?"
A lot of things, apparently.
Jet shook her head and sat heavily down on her couch, making her drink slosh in her glass, and decided to focus on today's events. She still hadn't a clue as to what the motive of the killers was, or if they had a motive at all, and they were just lunatics like Jet had suggested to the detective.
Jet put her whiskey down and rubbed her temples.
"Gods, my head is starting to hurt already. Why me?"
Did the detective always get stuck with crazy cases like this? Was the universe trying to kill the young man?
'Is something like that even possible?'
Why would the killer need to write runes in the first place? In blood, no less. Why carve the word 'monster' into several bodies of sexual offenders and then go after innocent people who all had clean records?
The better question was whether they were random or selected? Did all the victims wrong the dream hunter at some point, and was this their way of getting revenge? Was the Dream Hunter, or what Prince Mordret thought was one of the others, simply a decoy to keep the police occupied so that the real killer could continue their slaughtering? Or were they in cahoots?
Jet didn't have the answer to the questions because the more she thought about the situation, the less it made any damn sense. None of this did, and it pissed Jet off because right now they were going based on a prince's drawing, which was something, as it gave them an idea of what exactly they were dealing with. But what use was it when it was one or more reflections in a quadrant with hundreds of millions of people?
The Police couldn't just search every home to see if someone was living there without any mirrors. On top of that, they had no idea what rank the Dream Hunter was or what their aspect was, which would help narrow down who the reflection could be. But the killer intentionally didn't use their aspect or any memories to make it that much harder on the authorities and Jet.
They may as well have been walking around blindfolded while drunk.
Eventually, hours passed, and it was now 4am. Jet hadn't slept a wink and was still sitting on her couch, as thoughts raced through her mind as to what the killer could be wanting to achieve, but nothing sensible popped up.
With a sigh of frustration, she pulled out her communicator and opened her contacts. She stared at a particular number before pressing the call button. It rang for a few seconds before a tired voice answered.
"Hello?"
"Did I wake you up?"
"Yeah, you did, what is it? You told me not to contact you after 2am because you'll assume it's a booty call, and yet here you are calling me at 4am. Are you trying to tell me something? I didn't think you were the type to move that fast."
Jet rolled her eyes.
"Calm down, hotshot. It's not a booty call; I have a question."
"What is it?"
"Do you know what happens to the others when they're killed?"
She could hear the detective sitting up in his bed.
"Yeah, the sound of glass breaking can be heard, and they crumble into a pile of glass. Why?"
"How long does it usually take?"
"I can't say for sure, as I've only seen a few of them in my lifetime. But from what I've been told, it can take either from the moment they die to a few days. No one knows why it varies."
"Do you think we could check on the bodies of the victims in the morgue in your precinct and see if their bodies are intact?"
"Maybe, it depends. What are you hoping to find? Wait, you don't think the victims were reflections, do you?"
"Nothing, hopefully, and I don't know, but if they were, then that would make this case a goddamn rabbit hole. But it also could explain why the killer is going after these seemingly random people and why that coo you told me about killing those three people who had no connection to him."
Jet knew it was far-fetched, and the detective knew it too, which is why she was surprised when she heard his next words.
"Nothing is something that you need to pray to dead gods we don't find. Meet me at the station at 4am tomorrow. You remember Dorren, don't you? The receptionist in her forties that you saw earlier at the station?"
Jet nodded.
"Yeah, I remember her."
"Good, tell her I sent you and that you can wait in the captain's office if I'm not there around that time. I'll tell him in advance that you're coming, and I'll try to convince the old man to let us have a look at the bodies. And don't worry, I'll do the talking."
Jet chortled.
'Old man, huh,'
The guy was only around 45.
Also, a friend and I figured out what the killer was trying to do a few hours ago."
Jet focused on the last part.
"What was it?"
The young man sighed over the phone.
"The runes that they were writing were runic sorcery. They were trying to blow up the building, but luckily, they didn't have time to finish. Not only that, the Captain called earlier and told me that the coroner found more runes carved into the victims' bodies."
Jet followed his train of thought.
"So we can assume that they were trying something similar to the bodies so that we didn't have any potential evidence."
She could practically hear the detective nod.
"That's right, they had to have known we were coming in advance, that's why the runes written in blood on the wall by the bodies were so sloppy at the end, because they somehow knew we were coming and left. Not only that, we can assume that the missing pieces of skin were failed attempts at writing the runes on their bodies, and so they ripped off their skin to get rid of what they were doing."
That was a plausible conclusion, but Jet didn't know for sure if that was the reason why pieces of all of the victim's skin were missing. But frankly, Jet didn't care whether it was the real reason; all she cared about was that they were finally getting somewhere with this case.
Jet nodded to the open air as she took in the information.
"So they're either a seer or you have a mole in the force. Got it, we finally have something to latch on to. Anyway, about the dream hunter, you said that the tunes written in blood were sorcery. So you're telling me they're doing blood magic? Is that even a thing?"
She hoped not.
"No, it's not, blood magic doesn't exist. What they're doing is still runic sorcery but in a much more violent and admittedly more complex form than I've seen."
That made Jet feel somewhat better.
Just barely, though.
"Got it, sorry for interrupting your sleep."
"I'm hoping the latter isn't the case and no problem."
"Thanks for the update, detective."
"You're welcome. See you tomorrow."
…
Jet pulled into the precinct's parking lot, found an open spot, turned off her car, sighed deeply, and got out before walking to the precinct. She pulled out her communicator and checked the time as she walked through the door, getting looks from the officers inside.
Jet ignored them and walked all the way to the front, where Doreen, the receptionist, sat behind her desk with a cup of coffee in her hand, along with a bored expression. Though upon seeing Jet, the older woman sat up straight.
"Oh, Miss Soul Reaper. How can I help you?"
"Detective Sunless sent me and told me that I can wait in the captain's office."
The woman had a confused expression before recognition took over.
"Oh yes, the captain told me that Sunny called him earlier, telling him that you would be here. Go on, you only need to go down the hall next to me and make a right, and you'll see his office."
"Thank you,"
Jet made her way to Bloodwave's office, reached the door, and just as she was about to knock, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a voice behind her.
"Master Jet,"
She hid her surprise behind a nod.
"Detective, do you usually sneak up on people like that?"
"Yeah, but it's not intentional, I promise. What? Don't look at me like that, I'm not lying, I never lie,"
"Uh-huh, sure,"
The detective walked past her and pushed the door open, revealing the handsome nightwalker sitting behind his desk, reading a paper. To his right were more papers that were neatly stacked. He didn't look up when he heard them come in.
"Tell me your reason."
She assumed that he was talking about what she and the detective had discussed last night. The young man took a step forward.
"We think the victims are reflections,"
Bloodwave set his paper down and looked at the young man with a neutral expression.
"That's quite far fetched theory,"
"Aside from the runes, it's the only other thing we can latch onto, sir. We think the victims are reflections and the killer is trying to dispose of them."
This caused the older man to frown.
"What? So you're saying this killer is actually a misunderstood hero?"
"No, not at all, but it would explain why the killer is going after seemingly random people. I mean, what if it has a connection to the incident with that officer? Besides, what have we got to lose from checking?"
The older man gave him a look of disapproval.
"My time, but other than that, nothing. Come. I'll take any lead at this point to bring this lunatic down."
The older man stood up and walked around his desk, then out the door. As Jet and the detective followed on his heels, she looked to see him giving her a thumbs-up.
Jet shook her head and suppressed a smile.
After a minute of walking, they reached the basement where they kept the bodies in cold lockers, and there was also the female coroner standing there, holding a clipboard, waiting for the captain's orders.
Bloodwave grabbed the clipboard from the woman's hands and scanned the paper, presumably looking at the names of the recent victims. That was until multiple explosions went off, sending the woman flying back into the wall, which was until Jet caught her.
"Leave!"
The woman nodded and quickly left the room, while Jet, the detective, and Bloodwave remained. As the woman's footsteps faded, she could hear many approaching, guns drawn and memories summoned. Bloodwave heard this as well and, without turning away, said.
"All of you stay out until we know it's clear."
Jet heard many voices acknowledge the order and began swiping away the smoke with her hands. She could vaguely see that the cold lockers had been opened by the blast, at least that's what she thought, though it was hard to see through the thick smoke. But because Bloodwave was a saint, he must've seen through it without any problems, and Jet knew this because even though his back was facing her, she could still see part of his face and could also see a rare scowl forming.
The detective noticed this and walked beside him as he coughed.
"Sir? What is it?"
Bloodwave pointed at the cold lockers.
"The bodies,"
The detective moved closer as henswioes away the smoke before he suddenly slammed his hand against one of the cold lockers.
"Damnation!"
Jet moved beside both of them and couldn't help but let out a curse as well at the sight and ran her right hand through her hair.
"Shit,"
They had lost their only other possible lead, and that was because instead of seeing the bodies of the victims, they only saw a pile of ash. Which meant they were back at square one.
Hello :) I'm very sorry for the long wait. I've been focused on my other fanfics, and to be honest wasn't sure if anyone would even bother reading this still, as SunJet doesn't seem to be very popular. But that's also the main reason I haven't dropped this fic, because if no one else is making fanfics of them, then who will?