The warehouse district is ugly in daylight. In the blue-gray of early morning, it is worse. Half-abandoned. Half-decaying. Forgotten. Buildings slump, tired. Rusted metal gapes from broken doorframes. Graffiti peels in layers, color flaking away. Nothing moves. Only a gull, picking at a toppled bin.
Jared parks near the line of police cruisers. Engines idle. Emergency lights spin slow, silent circles on the pavement. Officers gather in small knots, hands wrapped around cups of cheap coffee. The air is heavy.
Adrian steps out first, stretching his back. He slings the medical kit over one shoulder. Jared follows, slower. The Dark stirs inside him, restless. It tastes blood in the air. Something is wrong here.
Wrong in a way Jared recognized.
Wrong in a way the Dark liked.
He took a steadying breath. Not now.
A uniformed sergeant spotted them and waved them over. She looked tired, dark circles under her eyes. Too many hours awake, too few answers. “Special Investigation Unit?” she asked.
Adrian nodded, holding out his badge. “Adrian Korr. This is Jared Blake.”
She eyed Jared for a moment. Most cops did, something silent in him putting people on edge even when he tried not to radiate threat. Then she jerked her thumb toward the warehouse entrance. “Scene’s inside. Forensics cleared out ten minutes ago. Medics too. You’ll want masks. The smell hasn’t improved.”
Adrian took the masks but did not wear his. Jared refused. Masks are useless for him. The Dark sharpens everything. The world stinks of metal and rot.
“Any witnesses stick around?” Adrian asked.
The sergeant shook her head. “Only one survivor, a teenager. Shaken as hell. They brought him to Virginia Mason Hospital for psych eval. Kid was screaming about lizards. Same nonsense as the last victims.” She crossed her arms. “Whatever did this, it wasn’t a damned lizard.”
Jared didn’t disagree.
“Let us inside,” Adrian said gently.
The sergeant stepped aside. “Be careful. It’s… bad.”
Bad was an understatement.
The warehouse swallowed them. Dim, hungry. Inside, the air was thick with rust, stagnant water, blood. Sunlight slipped through broken windows, thin and useless. The gloom remained.
Jared stopped, eyes slow to adjust. The Dark was faster. It sharpened every edge, filled every shadow with purpose. It didn’t see. It tasted. It read the room. Threat, opportunity, territory?
This place, the Dark whispered, was territory.
Jared ignored it. Mostly.
Adrian scanned the perimeter with methodical caution. “Well. Kate wasn’t exaggerating.”
The body split in two, pale against the grime. Blood splattered in arcs, dried almost black. Deep gouges cut the floor. Long, clean, too precise for any tool. Claws. Heavy.
Jared moved closer, squatting by the gouges. The Dark curled at the edge of his mind, eager. He felt the echo. Muscle, weight, claws tearing concrete. The creature moved with purpose. Not rage. Not panic.
Hunger.
Adrian moved behind him with a slow exhale. “Jesus. These marks are… Jared, these grooves are two centimeters deep.”
“Three,” Jared corrected automatically. “They had momentum. And speed.”
Adrian didn’t argue. He crouched opposite him, examining a patch of dried blood near one half of the body. “This is too much for a quick kill. It’s like the attacker was…” He hesitated. “Playing.”
Jared didn’t respond. He’d come to the same conclusion in seconds.
Animals kill to eat. Monsters kill to feed. But sentient creatures? Motives vary.
He stood and moved to where the officers found tracks. The floor was broken. Concrete, old tile, dirt, debris. The ground told its story to those who listened.
Large footprints. Three-toed. Talons scored the surface with each step.
Not human.
Not even close.
Adrian joined him.
“That’s big.”
Jared nodded.
Jared returned his attention to the scene. The room is quiet. The Dark stretched inside him, smoke and hunger.
“This one is different,” the Dark whispered.
“I know,” he thought.
Something tugged at Jared’s memory. Not personal. Instinct. The Dark hummed, knowing.
“This wasn’t a Shadow Kind creature,” Jared said quietly. “It’s something else.”
“Then what?”
Jared exhaled slowly. “Kate said something about unnatural biology. Maybe engineered.”
Adrian nodded, waiting.
Jared let his fingers trail over the grooves in the cement. The creature revealed itself in his mind, summoned up out of the shadows left behind in the violence. It was taller than he was. A large lizard that was slate-gray, with pebbled skin and a vivid blue stripe running from its snout down its spine. It has a narrow, tooth-filled jaw, sharp amber eyes, and long arms ending in curved claws, giving it a sleek but dangerous appearance. Its posture is alert and predatory, balanced on powerful legs with a long, counterbalancing tail.
Jared quietly described what he was seeing as the images came to him.
Adrian grimaced. “A man-made dinosaur? That’s insane.”
“So is half our job.”
Adrian snorted. “Fair.”
They moved together through the warehouse, documenting what they could, marking the path the creature seemed to have taken. It entered through a broken window, glass shattered inward. Tracked the victim. Ambushed. Killed quickly, decisively. Dragged the body several meters before feeding.
The Dark lingered on that last detail. Hunting behavior. Pack instinct.
Jared’s pulse tightened. “There were more.”
Adrian froze. “More what?”
“More creatures. This wasn’t done by one.”
Adrian paled noticeably. “How many?”
“Don’t know.” Jared scanned the ground again. “But at least two sets of prints. Maybe three.”
Adrian swore quietly.
Jared moved to the corner. There, a stain of blood, but not human. It had dried, leaving a glossy, iridescent sheen.
Adrian joined him. “Is that the same as what the lab report mentioned?”
“Looks like it.”
Adrian crouched beside the stain, pulling a sterile swab from his kit. “I’ll collect a sample.”
Jared grabbed his wrist before he could touch it.
Adrian blinked at him. “Jared?”
“Let me.”
Adrian frowned. “You’re not trained for sterile gathering.”
“No,” Jared said, releasing his wrist, “but you’re more vulnerable than I am.”
Adrian shook his head, not sure how to respond to that.
“It could be contaminated by the Dark,” Jared added as he plucked the swab from Adrian’s hand.
“Fine. But be careful.”
Jared collected the sample and sealed it. Even through gloves, he felt the vibration. Something unnatural in the blood. Not animal. Not Shadow Kind. Something like him.
The Dark pressed at his ribs. Tuned. Synthetic. Wrong.
Jared exhaled slowly. “We need to go to Hilberger.”
Adrian nodded. “Kate said to go right after the scene. And this…” He swept an arm toward the carnage. “This is way beyond a random lab accident.”
Jared agreed silently.
They stood to leave. The warehouse was colder. Emptier. Something had been watching. But it was gone.
Adrian paused. “Jared?”
“Yeah.”
“You’re quiet.”
“I’m thinking.”
“Thinking with your head, or with the Dark?”
Jared didn’t answer right away. Finally, he said, “Both.”
Adrian didn’t look reassured. But he didn’t push.
They walked toward the exit. Footsteps echo in the emptiness. Morning sunlight spilled through the doorway, bright and slanted.
Jared stopped once, looking back. Crime scene tape fluttered in the draft. The creature’s presence lingers. Not flesh, but an imprint in the air.
Something had happened here.
Something unnatural.
Something deliberate.
And for the first time since the subway case, Jared felt a flicker of anticipation beneath the heaviness in his chest.
Not excitement. Not exactly.
Purpose.
Adrian brushed his shoulder lightly as they stepped outside. “Let’s go talk to Dr. Fulbert.”
Jared shook his head. “Not yet. I want to talk to the witness.”
As they crossed back toward the car, he didn’t look behind him again, but the Dark did.
