Cold Case Set On Fire

(ooc: if you're not good with me presuming she apparated with him, speak up, and i'll edit, gladly! )

"Hopefully not," Brian said, "because if that had to happen, I would have to not be with you, and that means you'd be on your own too. I'd prefer we not get into that mess, but you are never, ever to go here alone. Understand me? Its not a place anyone in their right mind would go by themselves if they expected to live."

And that meant Brian was already wondering why the woman was found here? Did that mean she was into dark arts? Was she addicted to potions? Or did it mean his third guess--the one he hoped it didn't mean.

"Take my hand, then," he said, his wand drawn and at the ready, "and we'll go."

He apparated to the corner of Diagon Alley and Knockturn. It all looked pretty eventless so far. He didn't see anything of concern in Diagon Alley nor Knockturn.

"Stay close," he said to her, heading into Knockturn. He went a distance down the alley until he reached a doorway that looked for all the world as if it had been bricked over. He knew this evil passage too well. Too much ugliness had happened here. Too many of his loved ones had lost blood down here. What was this woman doing down here? He kicked at brick at the bottom that was the third from the right and kicked twice at the bottom stone of the right door jam. The brick opened like a door revealing a dark gray granite passage.

"Lumos maxima!" he cast the lighting spell and shone it into the passage. He checked it first. He saw nothing out of the ordinary, and he heard nothing. "This level is clear. This way."

He went inside and went to the stone steps heading down into the dark. He knew that brick door would close behind them and it would be darker yet. He saw some of the old blood spatters on the floor. They were old. He knew those. That wasn't what they were looking for.

"That's not it," he said to her very softly. "We have to go all the way down to match the photos you were looking at. I know where this came from." He remembered the photo from the case file they'd just been looking at, but he was still hoping she'd brought it just in case, for comparison.

He started down the steps quietly, listening carefully, using his wand to look every direction as he went down to the next level. This wasn't deep enough. If this level were clear, then they could go down to the lower levels, the catacomb levels. That was where they'd have to be extra quiet and extra careful.

[OOC: Nope, all good Khaat!]

"Right." She answered and took hold of his hand to apparate to their destination. When they appeared at the corner of Diagon and Knockturn Alley, she took her hand which had been in her pocket out, with her wand in her hand. She looked around at their surroundings, taking in the all too familiar site.

She remembered being younger, walking down Diagon Alley with her father and brother and suddenly getting scared of the other Alley once they had reached this very same corner. She remembered her father's teasing laugh that nothing was wrong and they'd be fine as long as they all stuck together. She remembered her brother holding his hand out to her, to tell her everything was okay, and she remembered taking his hand and holding it tightly as they made their way passed people toward their destination.

Hit followed Brian, in her mind thinking she was following her brother for a second before realizing she wasn't, staying close to him as he'd told her to. As independent as she was, she knew when she was told something was dangerous and she shouldn't be too far, she had to stay close by. When a new path appeared, she stood there, staring at it for a moment. She hadn't known that was even there, but she was sure if she'd come enough times with her father she would have eventually found it. She wondered if her brother had come with their father at one point.

The Gryffindor got chills as they walked down through the passage from the eerie quiet that surrounded them and the darkness that nearly engulfed them, even with the light being emitted from his wand. Hit blinked when he said the blood splatters on the ground weren't what they were looking for. Had he seen these before, is that why he knew they weren't the ones? She touched her hand to the pocket opposite her wand hand and slowly took the picture in the pocket out. He was right, the spots in the picture looked slightly different and the placement was off. She put the picture away and looked around at the nothingness that surrounded them.

"I don't like how quiet it is in here." She whispered.

"Well, the closer we get to the catacombs level, the easier it will be to hear even small noises," he said very softly. "Sound carries big time down here. Oh, and it is a maze down here, so keep that chalk handy." A new smell hit his nose. Brimstone. Ugh. It always stunk like rotten eggs. Evidently the potions wenches were back at it, brewing up some sort of illegal rot to sell for whoever was their master now. It made him scrunch up his nose for a breath or two until he got accustomed to it.

They were nearly at the catacombs level now. He motioned for her to be very quiet. He hit the bottom step and saw light. Yeah, that was the illegals lab. Time had changed very little, only the owner of the lab. There were bigger bloodstains here on the stone floor and against one of the walls. He knew these stains too. They he knew they didn't match. He remembered these and how they got here. He only looked at the briefly and then moved up against the wall to see slip up to the potions lab door. He peeked a quick glance inside.

They were busy. One woman was at a large cauldron over the fireplace hearth, and she was stirring whatever she was brewing. it seemed that was the stench he was smelling. Another was pouring a concoction into vials, corking them, and labelling them. A third was packing filled and labeled vials into wooden crates filled with wood shavings for packing materials.

He slipped back against the wall and leaned over to Anabelle. "I'll go buy something from them. It'll give you a chance to get by. Don't go far. You'll want to go down that way," he pointed straight down the passage, "And, I think, if I'm remembering the passage correctly, if you turn to the first right you see, your stain should be just about right there. Or at least, I think so. The walls and the floor in the photograph look about right. I won't be long, and then I'll be right behind you. You think you can do this?"

Wincing because of the new smell that had hit her nose, Hit covered her mouth and nose with a hand and nodded quickly at his words. She couldn't say no and she didn't want to admit that she might actually be scared. She didn't know what exactly was going on in that lab but she already didn't like it. And she didn't like the idea of Brian going in there alone or of herself having to find her way to where the blood stains were, even if it wasn't that far.

She wondered if this was going to become a usual thing for her, seeing things like this. She cases she knew could get worse, more grotesque, so if that was the case then the places would probably get worse too. The only problem was that she couldn't see how much worse a place could get than where they currently were. She wondered what type of people the women working in the lab were, to seem to enjoy being down there.

She could only imagine the clientele that came.

She turned to walk down the passage Brian had pointed out, careful to not be seen by anyone, and she continued down the passage following Brian's instructions. "First right.." The girl whispered to herself, a hand extended to the wall with the chalk so she could mark where she was. She reached the corner where she could turn and after peeking around to see if anyone was there she continued on, leaving a dash on the wall where she turned.

Hit took the picture out of her pocket again, crouching down and holding it up to the stains that were on the ground before her to compare them. He had been right, those were the stains they were looking for. She looked up, glancing around to see if anything popped up that she could find useful but couldn't see anything. After standing up straight once more, the girl wondered if she should move a little bit further. She could find something of she did but Brian had told her to not go too far.

Surely he was right behind her by now, she thought as she bit her lower lip gently in thought.

He walked into the lab like he belonged there. The women looked up at him.

"Whadda you want?" the one at the fireplace asked coldly.

"Now, now," the one who had been filling the vials seemed to be taken with him immediately. She stood up and sashayed over to him, draping her scarf around his neck, already flirty. "Let's not be hasty. Hello, Lover," she said, caressing his cheek.

"Hi, Yourself," he said, playing along. "I heard you were the one I needed to see."

"I bet I am," she said. "How'd a bloke like you get down here?" She picked up his left hand and found no wedding ring on it, but rather just the imprint of a band. "What happened to her, then?"

"Left me," he shrugged.

"And you'll be looking for something to numb the pain, then, are you? I'll be free at 7."

"Actually, I'm looking for something stronger than that drivel that St. Mungos gives out. Old dueling wound."

"Oh," she dropped any attempt to flirt, as if he'd thrown a bucket of ice water on her. "It doesn't come cheap, though."

"I'm good for it. Let's see what you've got, then. I don't want pond water."  She went over and got a bottle off the shelf. He opened it, sniffed it, and tasted just a drop.

"Hey, its high quality stuff!" she scowled. "100 galleons."

"Oh, come on. Its good, but not that good."

"Brew it yourself, then," she said.

"I'll give you 50."

"75."

"60."

"70."

"65, and not a galleon more."

"Done."  

"Done," Brian said. He put the galleons in her hand.

"And I still get off at 7, Lover," she smiled.

"You really should shut the door when you brew with brimstone. Its coming up through the street grate, you know."

"I told you to shut the door!" she glared at the woman at the fireplace.

"I'll shut it when I leave, shall I?" Brian asked. She nodded. Brian slipped out, closing the door, and somehow wishing he could go back to the Ministry now and take a shower. He somehow felt filthy dirty and disgusted now. He sighed, tucked the bottle in his jacket and followed quickly to catch up with Anabelle, hoping she was alright.

He whispered to her as he came around the corner so he wouldn't scare her. "Anabelle," he whispered. "How'd you do? Did you find anything?"

The fact that she winced when her own name was called said something. And that something was that she didn't like being called Anabelle, but of course, Brian didn't know that. A weird look from hearing her name still on her face, Hit turned to face him and shook her head. "Er.. N-no." She said softly, her discomfort a little evident in her voice.

She wasn't sure he'd notice the discomfort or be able to tell why it was there if he could, but she had to get used to hearing others say herreal name. Hitame was only her nickname, after all, and not everyone in the world would know it in the beginning.

"Not really. Well.. There is something actually." She turned around again to face the wall, her hand following a streak she'd found. "This," she stopped a few paces away from him, not too far away and she turned toward him again, "It doesn't seem like it was caused by a spell or anything like that." She said, her eyes dropping to the gash in the wall. A chill ran down her spine as she traced it, as she remembered a run in she had almost two years before. She knew this kind of mark.

Hit retracted her hand from the wall, "It looks like claw marks." She told him, but stopped herself from continuing. She might have been young, but she'd experienced things she wished she hadn't. She'd seen a now lost friend get attacked by the creatures who could make these kinds of marks and the only reason she had survived was because Ryo had been there to save her.

She had been grateful to him then, and she still was now, especially since that experience had helped her with being able to tell what the marks before her now were.

They belonged to the creatures that rivaled the species which her friend belonged to.

"Well done," he said. "That's exactly what that mark is." He looked at the marks themselves closely in the light. They ran deep into the stone, farther apart than the finger span of most humans--bigger hands, bigger fingers, longer and thicker claws. Werewolf claw marks on the whole could look bigger and more intimidating, but it wasn't as if Brian were unfamiliar with werewolves--one in particular. He didn't like what he was seeing.

"Look here," he whispered. He measured his own hand, his own finger span against the claw marks. It didn't being to measure up. "Certainly bigger than me. Look at the size his hands had to have been. I could be wrong, but I've seen a werewolf this big before--one particular werewolf."

He looked at the bloodstains on the stone. Clearly someone had bled out here. He had no doubt someone had died here, and if it matched her photo, then this was where the victim died. By the looks of it, she had been backed up against this wall. He ached for how he knew she had died, alone, in the dark. The only blessing in it, if there was one, was that it had probably been quick. Definitely not painless.

"This is definitely your crime scene," he said to her. "No doubt about it. Well done. And the marks you found has led us, I think, to a pretty good idea of who the killer..." He had begun to turn and then he saw a second set of claw marks. He frowned. He went over to the opposite wall and looked at the other marks. Smaller, finer, sharper, the marks weren't the same as the large marks they'd just found. He put his hand up to the marks, and his hand overstretched them. His hand was too big.

"Put your hand up here for comparison?" he asked her. He was already searching his memory. Had there been a female this werewolf ran with? He hadn't seen her generally when the large male was hunting. He was surprised to see these new marks.

She didn't hate werewolves, not at all. Just like she didn't hate vampires. Well.. she loved vampires more when compared to werewolves, but those are details that didn't need to be fleshed out. But at the same time she couldn't hide her discomfort when she knew that those claw marks belonged to werewolves. She knew she didn't have to pretend to be surprised when she heard him say 'werewolf' but she couldn't help the breath that caught in her throat at the mention of the word.

Hit watched Brian, following his hand as he placed it on the wall above the claw marks to compare it. The size difference was significant, enough to make her shudder a bit as she grabbed the cloth of her pants tightly while he spoke. She wanted to believe that she wasn't scared, but her body wasn't letting her. She didn't think she would be in any danger now, but knowing that a creature like that had caused someone's death in that exact spot was terrifying. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to handle it, but she needed to make sure she didn't seem like she was scared out of her wits.

She'd begun to look down at her feet as he spoke when he trailed off and he moved away from her. Her interest in whatever had taken his interest peaked and she followed him, it had to be something important. A frown tugged at her lips when he asked her to place her hand on the marks to compare them but she did it anyways. Hit gingerly lifted her hand to the wall and stretched her hand and fingers out in the same motion Brian had and she noticed that while his hand had been too big, hers was just slightly smaller.

So this was a female's claw marks? Keeping her hand on the wall, Hit looked up at Brian, "They seem more delicate, in a way. Would this one be a female?" she asked softly, flinching as she took her hand away from the wall, like a small shock had just touched her finger tips as she pulled away.

"Yeah," he said. "That's exactly right. That's a female. If its the male I'm thinking of, he had a female that ran with him. What the heck was her name?" he sighed, trying to remember, but he was coming up empty for some reason. "It'll come to me. So, obviously it was either him, or what's-her-name, or they did it together. We won't know that until we get more from the autopsy or the body." He shown his wand around the floor, looking to see if there might be some odd bit that had been lost a year ago, but, of course, there was nothing left. Nothing obvious, anyway."

"Reveal!" he cast a spell, hoping that if there was anything magically hidden it might show up, but again, there was nothing. He looked at her. She was visibly shaken, but she was still hanging in with him. He was proud of her. This wasn't the time to say it, though. This was time to get her out of here. Some daylight was definitely in order now, he believed.

"I'm all for getting out of here. What about you?" Getting out would be considerably easier. The potions door was closed now. All they had to do was to make sure they stooped low enough to not be seen in the door's window on the way past.  He started his way back but before he could turn the corner to go back past the lab to the stairs, he heard stiletto heels tapping authoritatively on the stone, heading down the same stairs they'd come down. He reached for Anabelle's hand, needing to keep hold of her, and he motioned for her to stay silent.

"Nox!" he put out his wand. He peered around the corner to see who was so bold as to not care whether she was seen or not. Stilettos always meant a woman. Well, 99% of the time, anyway. He wasn't disappointed. He saw a tall toothpick silhouette dressed in black. She was willowy and blonde--light blonde. And then he saw her face--Zada Forbes. No, Zada Forbes D'Eath. What the devil was she doing here? She opened the door of the lab and went in and shut it behind her.

He frowned. Did the D'Eaths own not just Slugs and Jiggers but this illegals lab too? It made sense. He knew he could have busted them, closed the lab, smashed it up, and left it in pieces. Given how things ran, though, they'd close it down for awhile, and the illegals would just come back. They were ridiculously hard to eliminate. Nah. He'd leave shutting down the lab for another day.

"Lumos!" he lit his wand again. "Let's get the heck out of here. Come on."

Getting to leave was the best thing that could've happened for her at the time. She'd tried to stick it out long enough, and though she was slightly more comfortable than she had been at first, the fear that had set in earlier was surprisingly harder to eliminate than she had originally thought. The girl nodded almost excitedly when he mentioned leaving, though excitedly couldn't describe the relief she felt as she nodded at him. She thought they'd spent more than enough time in this place and they'd gotten at least something out of coming here to help them, which was a plus.

Hit had turned to leave with Brian when he suddenly reached out for her and she froze in place. She heard the tapping on the stone and inched her head forward to try to get a glimpse at who he was looking at. Her eyes glanced over the thin figure that walked down the passage steps and into the lab, and Hit couldn't help but think she was familiar.

She shook it off, thinking she must have just confused her for someone else and waited for Brian to speak, to let her know it was safe once again; well as close to safe as one could get in place such as this. The tip of his wand was lit again and she, though still thinking about the woman in the back of her mind, followed closely behind, not being able to wait to get outside.

Though nothing too eventful happened down there, they'd gotten information and Hit had gotten to see a section of Knockturn she had never known existed. It was a win in her books, but the Knockturn bit was a win for different reasons than she'd like to admit. It was something she thought she'd be able to mention to her father, but then she thought that it wouldn't be the best idea, since he's ask why she was down there and with who. Which meant he'd find out about her auror apprenticeship and he wouldn't be too happy about it. And she couldn't wait until he found out she was a part of the child faction opposite his adult one. That'd be a great site.

"Who was that?" She asked suddenly, being drawn back by the question she'd just asked herself and Brian. "She seemed familiar but I can't figure out who she is."