Unexplored Territory

Christian followed the uniformed policeman behind the tape, ignoring the flashing lights of the surrounding emergency and police vehicles, and the voices of the reporters trying to get more information on the new body that was found. He had already been warned that this one was…odd. Which made him curious, because the whole case was strange and unusual, so what was it about this particular murder that made it stand out?

He found out as soon as they arrived at the body. All the personnel around it had cleared off, just waiting for him to be done before they moved the body and took it to the morgue, where the family would be called to identify it. Staring down at the body, Christian frowned. There appeared to be nothing wrong with the body. There was no blood, and the lips were tinted blue from death, but there were no marks of strangulation, and no signs of a struggle that would have occurred had they tried to suffocate her.

The body was that of a teenage girl, perhaps seventeen or eighteen, with shoulder-length auburn hair that fanned away from her face artistically, as if somebody had taken the time to place her just so, as if she were preparing for a photo shoot. Even her face was made up, and the makeup appeared to be relatively fresh – perhaps a day old, but no more.

Christian frowned; none of the other victims had been placed deliberately like this. They had all just been dumped or abandoned where they had died. And the fact that there was nothing physically wrong with the body was puzzling. Drugs, perhaps? Poison? Narcotics would have to test for illegal substances soon, to ensure that anything that might be there was still in a large enough quantity to be found.

“The family didn’t notice she was missing?” he asked; there weren’t many other factors that could link this case to the other victims. This one was just too…wrong…to have any other relation.

The policeman nodded. “Yes, sir. They reported her missing this morning, but according to school records, she has not attended classes for at least eight days. However, as she was of age, the school did not report it as truancy and it slipped through the system.”

Christian nodded; that made sense. She could have just dropped school, for all her teachers knew. And if her friends didn’t speak up, or notice she was missing, then they wouldn’t think anything more of it.

“Whoever killed her placed her deliberately,” a smooth voice spoke from behind him, and Christian tensed, growling under his breath before turning around, his face relaxed and friendly as he stared up at Yuki, resisting rolling his eyes up at the other man, who had just stated the obvious.

“Yes, we’ve already noticed,” he replied cheerfully, ignoring Yuki’s cold stare as he turned to the other policeman. “This is Yuki, my partner for this case. Now that he’s here, would you mind leaving us to view the scene ourselves, so we can compare notes?” It was a reasonable request; they would probably have to discuss sensitive information, if they were going to discuss anything, and most of that, this guy didn’t need to know.

The cop just shrugged, and Christian smiled at him. “Thank you, Officer Fielder.” The other man blinked down at him, surprised, and Christian’s grin widened. “I make it a habit to be familiar with any local policemen that I might be working with in the future.”

Officer Fielder smiled back at him, and replied, “That’s good to know, Detective Nichols. I will leave you two to your discussion, but please finish as quickly as possible. We want to get the body moved before the news casts get hold of too much information.” Christian nodded his understanding, and they were left alone.

Yuki crouched down next to the body, reaching out to touch it. “Don’t!” Christian snapped, and he paused, glaring over at the other man. “Look, okay? I know you don’t like me. I don’t much like you, either,” he scowled. “But if you touch the body, you’re going to make this even harder. I really don’t want to transfer from the body to you because you happen to be too close.”

Frowning, Yuki looked over at him, his eyes confused now. “Obviously, you’ve never been partnered with a Talent before,” Christian smiled. Turning to gaze down at the body, he murmured, “My Talent isn’t anything flashy, and it won’t lead me to the culprit, but it’ll give us something to work with, I think.”

Yuki scowled. “Talents don’t exist. There is no way that people have supernatural powers.” Christian sighed; this is why he hadn’t used his Talent for years. There were so many people that didn’t believe in things like this that it just wasn’t worth the effort it took. Besides, there was something satisfying about solving cases on his own, without any extra help.

“You don’t have to believe me. But haven’t you wondered why we can’t catch this guy? Haven’t you wondered how the families and neighbors could possibly not realize that the victims have gone missing until it’s too late? Once they’ve been reported missing, the only thing the police have to search for is the body, because there’s no way that the person is going to still be alive.”
Noting that he had Yuki’s attention, Christian continued, “Whoever is killing these people has to be able to do something. They’re probably a Talent. And that is probably the reason I’ve been assigned to work with you on this case. Now, are you going to let me do my job? Or are we going to debate whether or not Talents exist?” he demanded.

Without waiting for an answer, Christian turned towards the body again. Reaching out, he set his hand directly over hers, not willing to touch that perfectly made-up face. Closing his eyes, Christian swallowed, and then opened up the gates to his Talent. Gentle waves lapped at him, and he ignored them; those would be the policemen and crews that had already worked on the body and touched it.

Sifting through the waves, Christian was aware of a far more turbulent area, and that’s what he was headed for, but he had very little control over how fast he could approach, so he had to wait as his Talent took him back in time. And then suddenly, with no warning, he was slammed into by those turbulent waves, and they crushed him, knocking the breath from his chest. Whatever this was, it was violent, and it was unpredictable.

Slowly, it crushed him, and Christian drew in as deep a breath as he could and screamed. But his voice was choked off and he slowly suffocated, nearly losing consciousness as he slumped over the body, only the arms that had grabbed him keeping from collapsing on top of it.

A wintry cold, as barren and unfeeling as the deepest winter, invaded his body, and Christian shuddered, turning towards the numbing cold as he fled from the raging waves that permeated the body on the ground. Opening his eyes, Christian was aware that he gripped Yuki’s arm tightly in his hand, his knuckles white with the strength of his hold. Swallowing, his unclenched his fingers, releasing the other man, and sat back, his equilibrium restored now that he wasn’t touching the body anymore.

Yuki just stared at him impassively, and for the first time, Christian found himself grateful for the cold stare. After all, better to be frozen to the bone than crushed beneath insanity. “Well?” he demanded, “Did your Talent tell you anything?” Christian could still hear the disbelief in his voice, but he hardly cared right now.

“The name’s Chris. And yes, it told me that this guy is definitely a Talent, and one with a rather unique gift for dealing death. However, you interrupted before I could tell any more than that, and it will do me no good to touch the body again. Once I’ve felt a Talent, I won’t be able to find it again in the same place.”

Yuki frowned down at him, curiosity glinting in his eyes. “Felt a Talent?” he asked, and Christian sighed, nodding. He couldn’t explain it to the other man, how he was able to feel other types of Talent, to get an idea of what others could do. How sometimes, it gave him even more information, like whether the criminal was male or female, or an approximate age or nationality. Talents were by no means common, but they were distinct and unique from every other Talent.

“Suffice it to say that there are no two people with the same Talent. I know of several Talents that we can rule out, and this person probably grew up around death and violence, which would indicate a gang of some sort, or perhaps an abusive household. However, he could just as easily be a practicing surgeon,” Christian shrugged. “My Talent is hardly precise, and just knowing that a person is familiar with a very wide variety of methods of death doesn’t mean that it can only be one type of person.”

“It doesn’t actually give us any more to go on than we already know,” Yuki muttered, and Christian kept his face neutral. Actually, it gave them a lot to go on, but Yuki hadn’t realized that yet, and Christian wasn’t about to enlighten him. Most people in the city were not Talents, and the ones that were had a distinct aura about them. If Christian ever walked past the Talent with his shields down, he’d feel him immediately.

Standing, Christian brushed himself off. “You don’t have to believe me, and you don’t have to understand. I’m sure that this is all unfamiliar to you, and perhaps even a bit creepy. I had honestly hoped to not have to use my Talent – I haven’t used it for more than five years now – but I want this bastard caught, and I’ll do anything to see that he is.”

“He?” Yuki demanded, and Christian winced. “You can tell that the murderer is male?” Christian opted to just ignore him, and turned to walk away. He had given away too much information already. “Explain this to me, now,” Yuki ordered, and Christian just rolled his eyes. Yeah, like he was going to listen to the other man now. A low growl behind him, followed by a barked, “Chris!” and he stopped, turning around.

“You called?” he asked sweetly, and Yuki just scowled, but Christian could see the anger flickering in his eyes. Finally, something other than that damn impassive expression. “Look, I can’t explain my Talent to you. I can’t even explain it to myself. But yes, the culprit is definitely male. Not that the police hadn’t guessed that already. The only reason that I was even assigned on this case is because the head of every police station in the city knows that I’m a Talent, and that I can tell when other Talents are involved in a crime. Usually, with something of this magnitude, there’s a Talent involved somewhere.”

With that, he whirled around, heading away from the crime scene. Ducking beneath the yellow police tape, he was aware that Yuki was following him, but he didn’t much care. He hated using his Talent; it always left him vulnerable and irritated afterwards. He wouldn’t be much good to anybody for at least a few more hours, during which he’d try to get some sleep. When he woke up, he’d sort through what he had felt and try to coax a few more solid bits of information from it. Or, at the very least, some new leads. For now, though, all he wanted was a nap.

He climbed into his car and started the engine, then realized that Yuki was standing outside the passenger door. With a sigh, he rolled down the window. “What?” he demanded of the other man. “You need a ride?”

Yuki shook his head, and replied with another question. “Where are you going?” Christian took a deep breath and counted to five. Didn’t Yuki realize that his questions were highly unwelcome?

“I’m not haring off on my own, if that’s what you’re afraid of,” he answered the other man grumpily. “I’m going home, taking a nap, and then looking to see if I can’t get a few more clues for us to go on.” When Yuki just frowned at him, his question obvious before he even spoke, Christian cut him off. “Look, using my Talent exhausts me. It’s the same for every Talent. Until I get some sleep, I’m going to be completely useless to you.”

Yuki stood, and Christian thought he was going to leave so that he could go home. Instead, Yuki walked around the front of his car and opened the driver’s door. “Move over,” he ordered. Christian just stared up at him in disbelief, even as he obeyed, albeit reluctantly. “If you’re that tired, you shouldn’t be driving. The last thing I need is for my partner to be the cause of an accident.”

Christian scowled. Of course, Yuki wasn’t worried that Christian might get hurt in an accident. He was just worried that Christian would cause an accident and slow down the investigation. “Get out,” he muttered irritably, but he really was tired, and if Yuki was going to drive him, then that was fine by him. But he had better not get them in an accident.

With that last gruff thought, Christian drifted off. He heard Yuki saying something, but didn’t bother to pay attention. After all, he had offered to drive; Christian would have never asked. Closing his eyes, Christian slept off his exhaustion.