Crossing Worlds (Minako2012 and Nekrosilisk88)

Josef leaned back taking in the information. Their mutual relationship with a Mythic as they called themselves would definitely make for a convincing pattern, but he wasn't going to be able to list that in any report he wrote. He listened as they relayed the correction to his assumptions, and nodded his head in acknowledgment.

“Alright, I get that Lucifer probably isn't involved, but given the ritualistic nature of everything here, it will be easier for people to swallow if I paint it from that angle. Satanic nutjob murdering people in some kind of occult practice or something is a concept most people will be able to wrap their heads around.” He paused for a minute when he noticed a point they'd brought up without thinking significant. They already knew who the fourth victim was. They hadn't even gotten that information sorted out by the time he'd left.

“Uh quick question. How do you guys already have the fourth vic IDed? There wasn't and for of identification on him that I could see.” He waited for the answer before continuing on. “So I can't list their partners as a link, unless they all have something in common beside being Mythics. Do you know if they all went to a common joint, or were part of some club? Anything I could reasonably track down from outside the community? If I can get that link in to Detective Franks, I'm pretty sure you'll be a shoehorn in on the investigation, plus we'll be able to say we're making headway when this hits the media.”

"Me...I was reading it off the file" Lina said looking at Mark.

"Oh...sorry...I forgot about it until now I found this by the dumpster I was hiding behind" He pulled out a baggy of his own with a Wallet inside "I didn't handle it with my bare hands...has the guy's ID in it...just ran a background check on his name..."

He slid it accross the table to Josef they wouldn't need it now but it wouldn't be a bad thing for Josef to have it.

"And actually Leatherface herself went to talk to the guy's partner" He added "Vampire by the name of Martin Kingsley."

"Kingsley" Lina cringed at the name unconciouslly rubbing her shoulder "Does that mean he was a donor?"

"Don't know...not the same Kingsley that had you...he's actually an outcast of that particular family" Mark told her "But I'm willing to bet anything he's still a decent lead."

Mark went silent trying to think of another link his brow furrowed in thought while he drank his coffee.

"Its only a rumor among the agents...but its possible they belonged to the Hartman Society" Mark said "No one knows if its real or not...but its a place where Mythics aren't blended into society...supposedly alot of illegal stuff goes on..."

"There's no evidence it exists...besides its more likely they didn't know their significant other wasn't human" Lina told him.

"Yes but an Occult society is something that can be put into a report" He said "Well...with proof anyway...we could always fudge the details...we are technically Occult experts...since you're going the ritualistic route...oh...we never founf reports on it...but were there any special markings or items on the body? I never got a chance to examine the victim at the last scene."

Josef quirked an eyebrow at the names they were using. They seemed a little odd. Redbull, Leatherface? Fluffy at least made a degree of sense considering what Mark was, but as for what was up with the others, well he'd have to ask at some point. He grabbed the wallet and stuck it in his jacket. He was going to have to find someway to explain that number, but given everything else he was getting ready to fabricate, he was pretty sure he could figure out a reasonable enough excuse.

When they mentioned the Kingsleys, he furrowed his brow. “That name seems really familiar, what part of the city are they from?” If it was who he was thinking things were about to get bad.

It didn't help when they brought up the Hartman Society. He'd heard rumors about them, but nothing concrete. They seemed like a shady group, but all anyone knew is that they were incredibly exclusive about who all they let in, and no one could discern either a pattern to their recruitment, or whether they had a constant meeting locale where they could set up surveillance to see what all they were up to.

“Alright I think I've got enough to go on for tonight.” He pulled out his business card, and then scratched a number down on the back. “The number on the back is my personal cell. Give me a call sometime tomorrow, and I'll let you know how things went with Detective Franks.” He tossed a couple dollars down to pay for his coffee, before standing up and getting ready to leave.

"Upper East Side" Mark told him "Fairly well off Family...nasty group of bloodsuckers...well most of them anyway some are good folk...not sure which Martin is...we'll see when we go back to Headquarters."

"He's still a Kinglsey..." Lina said shivering "Damn family..."

Mark shook his head and scanned the coffee shop again noticing a few stares directed their way and glanced at Lina. She noticed it too and hoped there wouldn't be any trouble not many humans knew about them and it seemed ones who did were being killed off. Lina nodded taking the business card from him before standing up.

"Let us walk you out" She said "Come on Mark."

She left some cash of her own for the coffee and pushed Mark to stand. The people in the Cafe wouldn't follow him but she wasn't sure some random Mythic would be the same. The Waitress sauntered over with a light smile.

"Leavin so soon sugar" She asked adding a nice drawl to her voice "Such a shame ta see a handsome feller like you leave."

Lina rolled her eyes but Mark just gave her a charming smile before putting a hand on his shoulder and walking him out. They wanted to make sure he got out of the place unscathed once he was in hisncar and gone he'd more than likely be fine.

"Oh I should give you this" Mark said taking out a sheet of paper and writing out his and Lina's numbers "How to get in touch with us...without alerting Brimstone."

Josef didn't say anything more once he'd confirmed who they were, and it was exactly what he'd been afraid of. Everyone knew they had their fingers in a lot of pies all over the city and it made them hard, if not outright impossible to touch. Still it was a potential lead, and he was going to have to check in on it eventually. He waited for them when they said they'd walk him out. When the waitress cam back and started flirting with him again. He just shook his head.

“Sorry Ma'am I'm on the clock right now, and you never mix work and fun.” He was teasing her a bit, as honestly he wasn't even interested, but he wasn't going to insult the woman like that. Lina on the other hand, he shot a glance at her out of the corner of his eye as he took the slip of paper from Mark. She was a bit more of a looker, and definitely more his speed. Granted his mother would have a cow if he brought home a shiksa, but hey can't win them all.

He smiled about that thought as he walked to the door, pausing to hold it for Lina and Mark as they walked out. He got into his squad car, and rolled down the window. “I'll give you a call with the word as to whether or not you get in on it.”

Lina nidded when he said he's call them before leaning to talk to him.

"Don't worry if you don't we know what we're up against...and we'll find a way to track it down" She told him "You be careful...if it finds out you're working with us...well...just watch out...and call us if you suspect anything."

She straightened up to let him drive off and Mark hooked an arm around her neck and proceeded to give her a noogie like any big brother earning a hard elbow in his stomach.

"Grow up...we have some studying to do" She said with a chuckle.

"You need rest sis...I saw how you reacted to that piece of feather" He said "Get some sleep..."

"I don't think so" She said "I am far too busy...and hopped up on caffeine."

She led him back to Brimstone wondering exactly what they were going to do it was hard to track Angels much less Fallen but a piece of it might make things easier. They had a really long night to look forward to while a mysterious figure lurked out there stalking humans and killing them and they had to stop it. Lina found herself passed out after only an hour leaving Mark to pour over old books and records for help in tracking fallen angels.

Josef got back to the station shortly after he left the diner. He was tired, and was going to be glad to get back to his apartment. Whenever that was, he knew it probably wasn't going to be soon. Honestly for tonight he might just bunk down at the station. As soon as he got back he got drilled by Franks. Sure enough it had finally hit the press, and they were wanting to talk to the officer that had found the bodies. He was supposed to have been back a couple of hours ago so that he could get briefed for the press conference they were going to be having tomorrow.

The senior detectives mood seemed to improve however when he told him that he had what looked like a couple of strong leads for the suspect, but that quickly faded when he mentioned what they were, and who he wanted to bring on board. Granted asking a pair of occult experts for help, and saying they needed to be first on scene was asking for a lot, but once Josef started pushing that he was certain, the chief relented on the grounds that if it fell through it was going to be his ass in the sling. A fair enough punishment, after all the detective was still skeptical about it so why should he suffer.

On his way to the bunk house, he dropped the wallet off claiming that it was given to him by a good Samaritan. He called Lina and left her a message letting her know that she and her brother were on the case. Following that he found an empty bunk and passed out for the rest of the night, and for the first time in two weeks, he slept peacefully.

When he woke up the next morning. He went down to the coroners office to check the reports on the bodies for any strange markings. Sure enough each one had what looked like a brand of some kind on the collar, just under where their shirts had been resting. Certainly explained why he hadn't seen it. Still he took a picture to show mark and Lina, and then headed back to his apartment. He had to get cleaned up for the press conference that evening.

When he got back to his apartment, he was about to open the door when he noticed something unusual. He looked at the handle, which was what had grabbed his attention. Right there, barely etched into the brass was the symbol from the corpses. He wasn't taking any chances right now. Not after what he'd learned last night. He tried calling Lina, if she didn't pick up he'd call Mark, but this needed to be dealt with now.

“Listen I need you guys to get to my apartment now. I'm in Astoria, I live in the apartments off 21st and the Boulevard. I'll be waiting by the door for you.”

Lina heard her phone going off and groaned slowly waking up not answering it in time but Mark managed to get to his thanks to hers waking him up.

"Are you sexy...oh Hey Josef what's up?" He said "Your apartment...we'll be there soon.

He jarred Lina awake and drug her to her feet dodging her attempt to smack him grumpilly but hearing it was Josef got her up completely and she was already out the door. They borrowed a car from Brimstone's garage and Mark drove them to Josef's apartment talking about Fallen and the fact that she needed to be on her guard if they ran into one. He'd discovered that Fallen and normal Angels had negative effects just being near each other and Nephilim were no exception.

"We're here be..." He didn't get to finish she was out of the car and looking for Josef.

Lina spotted him and walked up to him wondering why he'd called them not having checked her messages before leaving.

"What's up?" She asked him.

Mark followed behind her rolling his eyes but stopped sniffing the air a canine growl rumbling out of his throat.

"You had a visitor" He said looking at Josef "Didn't you..."

Josef opened the door for them when the got to his apartment. He was a little surprised that Mark had noticed that someone had come by until he remembered he was a werewolf. Wolves were just big dogs, and dog's had an extremely good sense of smell. He nodded his head and led them up to his aprtment.

“Yeah, I just got home. I've got to go do a press conference this evening so I was coming home to get cleaned up.” He pulled his phone out and brought up the image that had been branded onto the victims. “This mark was branded on each victim, and I barely noticed it etched onto my door handle. Figured I should probably call the two of you first and see if you noticed anything before I reported it in.”

He stopped outside his apartment and motioned for them to take the lead. “Sorry it's a little bit of a mess, but I wasn't exactly expecting company.”

Lina reached for the phone but Mark took it first examining the image glancing over at Lina.

"Redbull check out the apartment I'll report this to Brimstone" He said looking over at Mark "It wasn't in the reports we recieved...get our historians in on the symbol."

He kept the image out of Lina's line of sight and she narrowed her eyes at him but nodded going into the apartment looking around.

"So a press conference huh?" She asked him "I wondered how long Brimstone and the police could keep it under wraps...Humans and their curiosity."

She searched for soul traces inside the apartment there wasn't anything but his leading around the apartment. Though something felt off as if the place had been cleansed and she didn't know anything that could do that. Her curiosity had been piqued concerning the symbol but Mark was determined to keep her from seeing it.

"I can't see any trace of someone here" She said to him "But...someone cleansed the place...yours is the only soul trace I can see..."

Mark walked into the door and sniffed around looking at them and sighed.

"Redbull do some actual searching Soul Trace isn't always accurate" He said walking past her "Hmmm...its the same one thats been killing people...I think it was looking for something...not sure what though..."

Josef didn't understand most of what they were talking about. Soul Trace? Cleansing? None of it seemed to make sense. He walked in to his apartment, pausing briefly to touch the mezuzah affixed to the frame of his front door. He figured Mark was probably onto something though. If they were looking for something, it would explain why they tried to cover up why they were there. He went back into his room to get his dress uniform ready. That's when he notice something off. All of his uniforms were pressed up against each other, along with his suit, his dress shirts and his slacks.

He blinked for a moment before realizing what had just happened. The rest of his apartment had looked like it was for the most part untouched. Whoever had been in here had been looking specifically through his clothing. He wasn't the most anal person about his clothing, but he like to keep it relatively neat looking so he left a bit of space between everything.

“Mark, Lina, did you get that problem dealt with regarding the NRPD last night?” He was trying to be somewhat subtle about it since he didn't know who else could be listening it. They were looking for that flake, the fragment of a feather that he'd found. They'd known he had it, and they were hoping to retrieve it from him. When they came back he clarified the point. “Whoever this was, they were looking through my uniforms trying to find something.”

Lina was looking around the living room until she heard him and started toward his room looking around something made her hair stand on end.

"Problem...oh uh...I'm not sure...I ended up passing out..." She said "You should probably avoid being here alone...it might come back..."

"It will...and that carving on your doorknob...you should see if the other victims had the same mark somewhere in their house" Mark said walking up behind Lina "It was looking for that...but leaving behind that carving...its marked you..."

"What are you talking about Mark?" Lina asked him.

He didn't answer instead opted to walk toward the closet sniffing letting out another growl before turning toward Lina.

"We acquired the find from yesterday" Mark told him searching in Josef's closet "Get a hotel room...or stay with a friend..."

He stepped back holding a small device that had been hooked onto a crystal and chuckled softly holding it up.

"A sloppy plant though" He remarked "Before you ask...you won't find fingerprints...Redbull you got a container...need to neutralize this."

"That's an antique...I haven't seen anything like this since we were newbies..." She said "Makeshift...Quartz based Listening Device..."

"No shit Sherlock" Mark said rolling his eyes.

"Keep digging Watson" She said sweetly handing him a box "Well then looks like we need to pay a visit to the Victim's homes..."

She turned to Josef crossing her arms wondering what she should say but let out a light sigh.

"You go to your press conference...we'll wait to go investigating" She told him.

Josef nodded and stepped into the closet briefly. Call it being suspicious, but if a bug was found that easy, it was meant to be found. At least that's what anyone with any degree of skill would tell you that did this for a living. He took his flashlight off his belt and shined it around the closet. Up in one of the corners he could see another crystal embedded into the ceiling. A bit harder to notice probably, but it made his point stand. And that also meant there were probably others. He looked at Mark and held two fingers in front of his eyes before cupping his hand around his ear.

“Can't really afford a hotel, but staying at the station might not be a bad idea. Speaking of the press conference, since you two are officially on the investigation now, having one of you present for the conference might not be a bad thing. Either of you familiar with public speaking at all?” As he was speaking he grabbed a garment bag for his dress blues and a duffel for the rest of his clothes. He wasn't going to be back for a few days.

“I'm getting briefed here in a bit, so you could talk to the detective, and it would make it easier to show you the case files, and everything else we have so far. See if you can't help us figure out what our next move should be?”

"Stay with us" Lina suggested "We got some room."

Mark shook his head with a sigh he was not a fan of this whole scenario but he let Lina do what she thought best until Josef mentioned them present for the press conference.

"No press for us" Mark said looking at Lina "I'm not going to let her suffer and I'm not taking any more punishments for your stubborness Redbull...we are not going on camera and you will not give our names do you understand."

"But Mark"

"No" He practically barked at her "You're adding enough risk if Kindrall finds out...didn't you learn from last time."

Lina sighed and looked away from him muttering something insulting under her breath.

"Alright...no press conference..." She said "I'm going to the brief..."

Mark nodded and turned to walk out of the room to examine the front door leaving her alone with Josef.

"Overprotective little shit" She growled "Sorry...he's always been like that."

Josef looked at her with a somewhat wary expression as Mark walked off. She was asking him to move in with them temporarily, and he was going to have to worry about big brother syndrome in the process. That might be a little bit of a problem.

“Uh huh, and what happens when a guy gives you a more than friendly look?” Not an entirely innocent question all things considered, but he didn't expect her to pick up on that entirely. After all if he moved in with them, even temporarily, there was a chance that he'd see her in a less than decent state. As a result he needed to be well aware of the risks involved.

He started packing his duffel, and walked into his bathroom to put his shave kit together. He smiled a bit looking at the razor. That was going to be something weird for him if he ever retired. He was so used to shaving every day at this point, that not doing it would be completely alien. The kit assembled he tossed it into his duffel bag with his clothes. He could shower down at the station.

“So you ready to go?”

"He knows that I can take care of myself" She said to him "This situation is different to some guy hitting on me...I guess I can understand its just..."

She sighed sticking her hands in her pocket shivering lightly but brushed it off as nothing. When he was ready she walked with him outside while Mark finished up on the doorknob. He walked to Josef and leaned in to whisper into his ear.

"Try to keep her from seeing that mark" He told him "I'll explain why later...but do your best."

He straightened up and walked toward his car waving at the both of them.

"I'll get the historians on this symbol...see if it matches any common ones" He said.

He drove off leaving Lina alone with Josef and she let out a light sigh no press and she had to work alone with humans. It wasn't going to be very fun butbat least Josef was a decent partner.

"I guess we'll need to keep my involvement secret eh...easy enough...I guess" She said to him "Just hope your captain doesn't toss me out."

Josef laughed a little when she said it was different from some guy hitting on her. Maybe he chouldn't have, but it was a little humoust to him. Picking up the duffel he continued the conversation as they were walking out. “Ok, I just want to make sure I'm not going to get mauled if I accidentally walk in on you or something.” He was deadpan serious about it, but not wanting to get depressing he took a little bit of a bathos approach. “I mean can you imagine when I walked into work the next day?

'Jesus Joe you look like shit what happened?'

'Oh just staying with a friend. Tried to hit on his sister so he turned into a werewolf and mauled me half to death.'

'Usual day then?'

'Pretty much. Big brother syndrome let me tell ya.'”

As he was finishing up the little spiel, he walked by Mark. He nodded silently to his remark, and continued on down towards the car. “Anyway we don't deal with the captain much. Too much on his plate most days. First Detective Franks is the one who's actually in charge.”

He threw his bag in the back seat of the squad car, and hung up the garment bag with his uniform. “Anyway keeping you out of the spotlight should be easy enough. We don't want to look like we're grasping at straws.”

Lina shivered again her eyes drawn to an alley on their left and noticed a shadow staring at her on instinct she reached for her own weapon but in an instant the shadow was gone.

"My imagination..." She muttered to reassure herself reaching one hand to rub her arm "Must have been..."

She climbed into his car glancing around before leaning back in the seat thinking about the apartment. It wasn't a normal cleansing there was no trace that any energy had been there. Nothing she had ever encountered could do tjat not even Brimstone.

"This Detective Franks...is he a jackass?" She asked "Will he give me grief for being young?"

They technically were grasping at straws something felt so off about this whole case and it made her wonder exactly what was really going on. She just hoped they solved this before the next full moon that thought made her straighten up.

"Wh-what day is it?" She asked yanking out a small pocket calendar "Seriously...today's date...now!"

Josef looked over at Lina as he got in the car. Something was off about her and he couldn't quite put his finger on it. She seemed like her mind was honestly somewhere else, and he wasn't entirely sure why. He took a quick look around before shaking his head. This case was starting to make him paranoid. He sat down in the drivers seat.

"Franks? Yeah he can be, but the only crap you'll be getting is normally for being inexperienced. He's been at this for almost 20 years." He looked over again when he saw her freaking out and looking at the calendar. He pulled out his phone and looked at the date. Nothing seemed particularly relevant, until he remembered Mark. Witha couple of quick actions he brought up the moon phases. "Do I need to stay at the station tonight?"

"Damnit...where's my head been" She sighed "I'm usually better at keeping track..."

She looked over at him and let out a soft sigh running her hands through her hair she had let this case distract her.

"No...Mark will be at Brimstone for a few days..." She said "Kindrall will keep him there after dark...we might not see him until tomorrow...if then...he doesn't want to risk being outta the cage...after moonrise..."

Something about not having Mark nearby at night made her nervous especially now. He'd been with her since they were kids and this case was unnerving her.

"Its just us on this for awhile..." She said softly "Let's hope its uneventful eh..."

She rubbed her upper arm and looked out of the window if they got attacked they would be in trouble. Laying her head back against the seat she sighed softly.

“It's been a hell of a case.” Josef was definitely sympathetic with her on this point. The case had been starting to wear on him as well. He started the car and pulled out, heading towards the station. That thing knew where he lived so he was going to have to take precautions against it. He didn't know how well conventional weapons would work against this thing, but that's all he was really trained to use.

“Do you and Mark have anything for home defense?” He had a shotgun still back in his apartment, but all things considered he was hoping he wouldn't need it. If they did he'd come back and grab it. Coming to think of it, he hoped Mark remembered to lock the door to his apartment. Not that it was going to do much against this intruder, but it still made him feel more secure.

"Yeah...Mark had wards put around the place...for when he has to be away...though when he's gone I normally stay at Headquarters...its safer..." She told him "Its safer at my place than yours...besides...only specially crafted blades can harm Angelic beings...Fallen while...twisted are still Angelic..."

They had a few of thise weapons but she couldn't even touch them being half angel herself but he could if it came down to it. She shivered again her eyes flashing silver as she watched the people go by counting out the mythics the humans and the half breeds.

"Mark made sure I was safe..." She said "I can defend myself of course...not that he understands that concept..."

She pulled out the compact blade and twisted it in her hand smiling lightly she needed to focus on the task at hand.

"Okay...let's focus on the case" She told him "Let's go over the details...all the victims were dating mythics...they were all ritualistically placed...and had a symbol on their person...right?"

Josef nodded he knew she was probably right, but given that he wasn't familiar with how to properly use a sword, that definitely meant they were making a trip back to the apartment on the way to her place. “Alright. I understand that it probably won't do much, but I've got a Winchester SXP Defender back in my apartment. I'll at least feel a little better having something there that I can actually use, besides getting hit with double aught shot can't feel good whatever it can take.”

It didn't take too long to get to the station, bust she was right. Going over the case details again before they went in and talked to Franks was probably a good idea. “Right, though for the official case file until we have a clear link to an occult or Satanic group, I'm leaving that as being methodically placed. Also all the victims were mauled to death, and all were killed with the same type of weapon. Confirmed killings were in Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx, and New Rochelle. For the official report we're looking at a possible tie between the victims being their partners suspected relation to a group known as the Hartman Society.”

As he was wrapping up he pulled into the station parking lot. They still had about 2 hours until the press conference. More than enough time for him to hit the shower after they were briefed, and still be able to show Lina some of the case notes they'd collected so far.

"Alright...but I check the place out" She said to him "I would rather not get a human killed...if I can..."

She rested a hand on her chin balancing her elbow on the door listening as he spoke they had to dance around the mythic concept for the sake of their investigation.

"Yeah...Hartman Society is the only link that can be placed officially" She said "But...don't mention...them to the press...at all...they're a dangerous group...especially if the Kingsley's are involved..."

As they pulled into the station she sighed softly before climbing out of the car and looked around.

"Its been awhile since I last saw a police station..." She said to herself "Still don't like them"

She pocketed her blade and looked around the station had a strange aura around it that made her cringe. Kindrall would have to look into this probably some evidence of a more Mythic variety. Slipping her hands into her pocket she looked over at him.

"So am I gonna meet this detective alone?" She asked him.

Josef looked at her and smiled. “Lina I appreciate your concern, but I'm not letting you go in alone. We'll be safer as a pair, and I don't think they'll be stupid enough to try and pull something on a uniformed officer. As for meeting Franks, you'll be meeting him when I go in for the press briefing. He'll probably grill you a bit, but try not to take it too personally. From what I hear he does it to every new detective we get in here.”

There were few hard and fast rules in the world, but one thing that seemed to hold ground no matter where you were, was that you didn't touch straight cops. Cop killers were some of the lowest criminals known, and there was a reason relatively few of them ever made it to court. He saw her cringe out of the corner of his eye. Was she doing ok?

“Uh Lina you alright. You look like something's bothering you.” He stopped outside of Franks office and looked at her realizing something he should've asked her a long time ago without thinking about it. “What's your last name?” He need something to introduce her to his senior as besides Lina, or Redbull though that last one he wasn't even sure why she had that nickname.