Incarnadine

A Vampire Knight Fan Fiction

Disclaimer: Obviously, I do not own Vampire Knight...

Pairing: Possible Kaname/Zero

Summary: Zero Kiryuu is a Chief Inspector working in the Homicide. A series of gruesome murders make him face his greatest enemy, Kaname Kuran, with whom he shared a dreaded past. Will the Pureblood Leader be of an unexpected help or will they dig each other's graves?

Warnings: Detailed depiction of a murder scene and autopsy, morbidity, AU, some Canon facts about vampires are altered for the story's purposes, not Beta-ed, slow plot development, and a few grammatical mistakes, maybe XD.

AN: The themes of the murder scenes that I will use in this fic were initially formed for a Death Note fic when I and DaniellaAnderson had a chat. She inspired these scenes in me with one of her DN plot ideas. Great thanks for my friend Ayakashi for sharing her ideas on them. So, credit goes to them for being lovely muses! This fan fiction is a dedication to my friend Archer.000 who encouraged me to write it.

I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1: From the Sea of the Dead

The heavy rain pelted against the front door of the speeding car. The waning night was a blur of shadows and street lights, the stubbornly clinging smell of tobacco with that of the newly wet leather inside the classic Mustang didn't help with the growing headache the driver felt pounding in his temples. How many hours did he sleep again? Maybe only three or four, he presumed with a dissatisfied scowl on his face. The persistent rain had been there before he literally collapsed in his bed, and it didn't seem to go away any time soon.

The approaching morning couldn't find even an inch of clear sky to actually dawn, but he thought it was indeed better like this, since he hated the bright orange glow that tried to find a way for itself through the heavy clouds, creating a sickly mix of grays, blues and reds at the edge of the dark horizon that only reminded him the fact that he didn't get enough sleep this night again.

He was driving speedily through the suburbia, towards the more industrialized, and thus, the dirtier, lonelier and soulless part of the city. He knew he had to be quick. At least, it was still early -maybe too early- morning and this part of the city was less populated; hence there was nearly no traffic at all. Though it was nearly impossible to go with the speed he was going even under these conditions, excluding the constant companionship of the rain, this was nothing for him.

Old, worn out buildings that passed for small factories or workshops lined on either side of the main road; all dirty beyond salvation, all lonely, drenched in grime and accumulated weariness, barely standing under the pelting rain that did anything but clean away the misery clinging like a second layer of paint on their walls.

The scene had a sense of melancholy continuation, as if the time was stopped and this place only went on simply existing, hollowed out of its meaning, purpose, and life. Just like I am... It gave a depressive feeling, yet he didn't feel out of place at all.

He tsked when his cell went off for the third time since he opened his groggy eyes that night.

"Dammit, Shishou..." He swore whilst squinting his blood shot eyes hard to find the door number he had been looking for from the blurred side window.

"I am practically flying here..."

It was a rare occurrence for a Superintendent to be present in a crime scene, so as soon as his Superintendent woke him up in the middle of the night, he understood that it was a special case and only a few higher ups were present in their department to shoe away the unwanted attention. The address that his Superintendent gave him was at the other end of the city. Though it was not in their apparent polling area, the Bureau was responsible to cover the whole city.

Zero knew that by now he should be used to these kind of late night calls which required his or his other team mates' presence, but he could never bring himself to understand the reason why he couldn't just be an ordinary Inspector or a Special Cases Inspector. The secrecy was absurd and having to work in two shifts on the same day was frustrating.

When his eyes caught the number on the name plate of a warehouse, he abruptly steered the wheel to his right and the pearl-white Mustang screeched from the main road into a slippery gravel turn, splashing muddy water everywhere, making his scowl deepen when he realized that his precious Mustang would need another through wash soon.

As soon as he stopped the car in front of the large loading area, without even trying to properly park it, he got off and covered his already damp hair with his coat, running towards the large doors that were wide open , emitting a strange smell of fish mixed with that of salty sea water, ice and death.

Cars were parked outside the building he recognized as being both from the Bureau and the local police; a med car was waiting with open doors that belonged to the Forensic Med. There were hardly a few civilians who were ushered away by the local police or taken into the awaiting cars for a quick questioning. The area was surrounded with yellow "Do not Cross" stripes and an officer was taking photographs of the muddy ground and the immediate area, even though the heavy rain seemed to speedily wash away the traces if there were any.

Lower ranked people from the Crime Scene with men from the local police immediately recognized him and gestured towards the right side of the warehouse with grim faces, weariness and something akin to surprised fear written all over their faces. He tried not to pay attention to it, since it was a part of their job to see fear on the faces of the witnesses and even feel it themselves, too. But it didn't help to improve his foul mood.

He hated the cases when people from other units who were not associated with the Bureau had to be involved. Especially, keeping the clueless officers out of the picture just to keep the secret safe was a tiresome business. There were people in every department and even in local forces who were also a part of the Bureau but it required a delicate balance to keep in murder cases; especially if the murderer was suspected of belonging to the other race and the victim was found in normally unexplainable situations or not found at all... Homicide was a department which rarely dealt with special victims because it was a rare occurrence to find the body in the murder scene. Though he had seen and investigated several cases where the murderers belonged to the other race, this was going to be a first -if his Superintendent's suspects were true- that he would see since he had become a Homicide detective.

He could feel the small sliver of excitement that waved through his insides whenever he knew some big fish were on the hook, since the Bureau had specifically called for their presence. But it didn't matter at all for him, for even if the suspicions were unfounded, the case was again theirs to investigate.

He quickly got in, briefly paying attention to the Name Plate of the company that owned the warehouse. While trying vainly to shake off the water from his coat, suddenly an extremely cold drift of air slammed itself to his body before he could even take five steps... How peachy fine, he thought, taking a moment to adjust his wet coat to at least keep the warmth inside.

Early morning, scratch that, an ungodly hour of the night, heavy rain, three hours of sleep at its best, no caffeine, and now a deep freezer in guise of a crumbling building... He most certainly was not humored.

The dimly lit warehouse was used as a cold storage building for a sea fish trading firm. The smell was of a bearable kind, since the fish were nearly all frozen or ready to be frozen, waiting in large barrels stacked near the forklifts and scales. There were rows and rows of storage units, all were maintained by buzzing machines that either fanned arctic level breeze or served as impossibly large refrigerators that were at the waist level but large enough to accommodate tons of fish.

The sight was eerie to say the least. He hurried past the machines that produced ice cubes from sea water, creating an arctic mist to swirl around on the ground, pouring like water from the storage units. The dead and frozen eyes of the large tunas, sharks, swordfish and bonitos were watching him silently from the ice-cold fumes that they seem to float in and above as if captured dead whilst they were still swishing their bodies in far oceans. Death, in all its stillness and coldness surrounded him, yet he knew that the hair rising sensation came from not the unsuspecting dead eyes, but from entirely something else.

He could see that at the far end of the right wing of the room, where some of the machines did not work, officers were working diligently. He hurried pass the final security corridor who were from the Bureau, standing there to not let in any outsiders until the race of the victim was verified. Nodding to the two awaiting officers, he walked around a freezing unit to see what the officers worked on.

After tumbling out of his bed merely half an hour ago he hadn't even thought about what might await for him. Being in this line of work for now three years, the surprise effect had quickly dissipated as he studied and witnessed several gruesome cases concerning humans. But now, what he saw made him exhale a startled gasp that he nearly forgot to silence before he drew unwanted attention to himself.

He felt a new chill spread in his bones not completely caused by the artificial climate machines. If his steps faltered momentarily in their sureness, he tried not to show it, because as soon as he appeared from behind the large machine, a tall man with black hair turned towards him halfway and reprimanded loudly enough to be heard above the constant -though a little lessened- buzz of the machines.

"You are late, Zero..."

Zero acknowledged the man, who was gazing at him with his single eye, with a dismissive wave of his hand. Under the solely lit large florescent glow of the industrial lamp above, he could see the people from the Crime Scene and hear their murmurs above the rhythmically humming freezers. He could feel two presences not from their kind behind the grotesque figure that he was called to inspect, and immediately recognized them. Yet, he couldn't pry away his eyes from the figure enough to gaze around and see who else were with them at the scene.

This have to be just as a big case as it seems if he is here, too.

"At least answer the damn calls next time, will you?" The tall dark man shook his head, knowing that his words were flying above his once-upon-a-time apprentice's head.

"Human or vampire?" He asked, his lilac eyes seemed suddenly as frozen as the ice blocks that surrounded the victim.

"Unknown...yet." The dark haired man murmured, his attention back to the scene before him.

"Identity?"

"Unknown...again."

"Tell me anything you learned, Yagari Shishou."

"Time of death unknown, until they manage to defrost the body. It was found an hour ago by the guard when he came to open the warehouse for a delivery expected early morning. He is being questioned by Arisawa in one of the cars."

"Any indication of breaking in?"

"No, all the locks are intact and there is not even a trace of use of force or struggle." The tall man, Yagari, took out a cigarette pack and quickly lit a nearly crumpled cigarette, nonchalantly offering another one to the young man standing beside him.

Zero declined, Yagari smiled humorlessly. He shrugged as if saying your loss and lit the cigarette without even looking at where he was pointing his Zippo. With sure movements, he shuffled through a few notes he had taken and turned towards the silver haired male beside him after he simply tucked away the papers with uncalculated yet sure finesse. Zero's eyes involuntarily caught the black glimmer of his gun before Yagari straightened his collar.

"No blood trails, no finger prints, no weapons of any kind. I think the murder was done elsewhere and then the victim was brought here." Yagari continued, stating the obvious that he knew Zero had already guessed. He took a deep drag from the cigarette and immediately coughed, filling his lungs with dead, frozen air, that seemed to make him wheeze further.

"Quit this shit, already." Zero grumbled half serious whilst he scanned the scene from a far. "Don't try to boss me around, kid." Yagari whispered just for his ears, making his scowl deepen. He shoved his hands into his pockets and muttered most probably a profanity under his misting breath, trying to ignore the way how his wet coat seemed to freeze on him, the heavy material making cracking sounds as he moved his body.

"Whatever, old man."

Yagari ignored him, though a bit amused, and followed him towards the victim.

"Let's take a closer look, the scene is already photographed and traces are recorded."

The two men approached the seemingly sitting corpse of a young woman. She was positioned among ice cubes that flashed green and blue under the light, surrounded with fish that had exquisite colors in shades of purple, green and gold which they retained their liveliness even after being frozen probably alive.

Yagari chose to stand a step back, for he had already seen the statue-like ice covered form of the victim. As he silently smoked, he watched his once pupil, now subordinate. The puffs of smoke he exhaled clouded before his single eye which shone with deadly seriousness even though his behavior sometimes seemed laid back and way too casual. He knew that Zero had some of his traits, too, for the young man was practically raised by him and that nut case of a foster father of his.

He could see the tension on those shoulders even though they seemed relaxed, the sometimes frighteningly lifeless glint in those lilac eyes, the firmly set jaw and his tiredness hidden under a veil of apathetic boredom and grumpiness. Watching him react before an unknown or before a puzzle had always been an experience for Yagari.

Here he starts... He took a satisfied drag and readied himself.

As Zero knelt beside the scene among the officers who sprayed heated water on the ice block, he quickly figured that the ice and fish seemed to form a sitting place of sorts, maybe like a couch, or better like a throne, for the body resting on them. Upon closer inspection, he saw that the body was propped against a block of ice and the backside of the woman was molded frozen partially into the ice.

Zero tried to get a better view of the front which was crowded with painstakingly arranged bodies of fish with different sizes and colors. He knew he couldn't get any closer without the necessary equipment and precautions, but what made him stop with widening eyes was entirely something else.

"Ah, so you realized." Came Yagari's voice from above him.

One of the big, grayish-blue scaled fish tails was sitting there instead of the woman's legs.

The sudden nausea threatened to send him backwards on his heels with its power but Yagari's hand from behind him, caught his shoulder and steadied him.

"It is sickening, isn't it?" Zero didn't even turn back to confirm that Yagari had the same expression on his face as his. Yes, he liked his job with everything he had, but the unwelcome surprises that it played on him sometimes made it really difficult for him to refrain himself from dashing out in search of a suitable place to throw up.

Get a grip, Kiryuu... He berated himself... He had seen and would see worse things as long as he remained in Homicide.

Shaking himself from his nausea, he tried to go nearer to the body of the victim to see how the fish tail was attached to the victim's body, but someone from the Crime Scene stopped him.

"Don't approach any closer, Kiryuu."

Zero's head snapped to the left, where the authoritarian voice came. There were only a few people in the Bureau who would dare to call him with just his name, bypassing using his rank.

"Good morning to you, too, Aido." He narrowed his eyes and looked up from his crouching position to the Chief of the Crime Scene Investigation Unit.

"Or should I say good night?" He got up and gazed displeasedly at the blond haired man who now stood between him and the body of the victim. Aido's apparent distaste with the way how Zero used his name derisively without the formalities would have amused Zero had he not been already groggy and agitated because of the situation.

Damn bloodsucker... Not even sensing his presence earlier helps to build an immune system against him.

The silent vendetta between them was known since Zero was accepted into the Bureau, though not many of the people knew the real reason behind it.

Aido pointedly huffed warm breath into his glowed fingers in a failed attempt to hide his anger, breaking the staring contest that started without none of them knowing, but which they habitually went into every time they met for work related reasons. Not that they met for any other reason since they clearly hated each other enough to not use the same street at once.

"Where is the actual medical examiner?" Zero asked coldly. There was a doctor affiliated with the Bureau who was authorized in doing autopsy or medical examination on the vampire victims assigned by the Council of Forensic Medicine. But he was not present.

Aido narrowed his eyes, very much aware of the displeasure that radiated from Zero.

"He is the second choice, you know." He commented, mockingly incredulous. "If I am not there, he would be called."

Zero waved his hand, already exasperated. He knew there was no way for Aido to miss such a chance to be there, even though there was no need for the Unit Chief to personally attend to an investigation. Damn bastard was one of the most successful vampire doctors he met.

"How long till the ice is melted?" Zero asked when Yagari discreetly yet warningly cleared his throat beside them.

"About an hour." Came the terse reply. Zero raised an eye brow in annoyance, the layer of ice on the body didn't seem thick enough to take that long.

Immediately catching on, Aido provided, easily getting into the role of the all-knowing teacher, "We can't take the risk of using direct heaters, what if..."

"Yeah, yeah..." Zero cut in in his usual rudeness, still looking at the body. "What if it is a vampire and disintegrate upon defrosting..."

Aido clenched his fists, a brewing storm in his blue-green eyes, but before he could say anything, Yagari spoke.

"What did your people found?"

With that question, both young men remembered that they needed to use their time efficiently and forget about their mutual dislike at the moment. Aido took a few steps away from the victim to clear the area for his people to work better, indicating that Zero and Yagari should follow him.

"For your information, we are using a special frost dissolving solution heated here, since most probably all the traces of fingerprints would be erased by the melting ice even if we left the body on its own." Aido added, unable to help himself, gesturing to the heaters at the far end of the area.

They approached one of the portable tables, littered with all kinds of forensics equipment and evidences that were being categorized and packed by two officers into neat cases. Zero's eyes quickly swept over the documented evidence and he felt disappointed with the scarcity and the remoteness of them.

"Nothing much, I guess..." He murmured to himself.

"We have to wait for the ice to melt, I am sure there will be more solid ones once we can inspect the body." Aido supplied.

"But before I say anything, what would you say on it, you two?" He asked. Zero barely held himself from rolling his eyes. Damn, I can already see the sparks. Aido liked to hear first what the others guessed only to disprove them with the information he had gathered. Cocky bastard...

Zero ran an exasperated hand in his silver hair and realized with a soft grunt that the strands were crisply frozen in place.

"A woman who seems around in her early twenties, vampire or human unknown, time of death unknown, cause of death unknown..." He grimaced, "Even though it is pretty clear that she either was killed before the removal of her legs or died because of the blood and limb loss whilst she was still alive." The thought of the victim being still alive as her limbs were severed made him inwardly cringe.

"If she is a human at that..." Yagari supplied, the light on his cigarette casting an eerie yellow glow in this dimly lit side of the room. Zero could easily tell that he was not an active participant but just an observer in this case.

"Yes, but if she is a vampire, the cause of death is probably something else but also connected with severe blood loss.... We will see it." Aido huffed in his gloved fingers again.

"And they say you command ice..." Zero snorted softly.

"Can't help it!" Aido defended himself. "I have been constantly touching it for almost 30 minutes."

"What about the fish tail and this strange arrangement of the body?" Zero questioned.

"Look at these Polaroids." Aido tapped his finger on a stack of pictures.

"Since I can't let anyone close to the body, I allowed them to take initial pictures of it as they also photographed the vicinity."

Yagari had already seen them, so he tossed the stack to Zero. With his numb fingers, Zero went through the pictures, each of them using different angles and proximity, whilst Aido talked.

"When the local police found it, several fanning machines were around the body, already running to keep the ice on the body from melting. The Superintendent made them removed." His gaze flicked to Yagari.

"This could either be because the murderer didn't want the ambiance he created to deteriorate before we found it, or because he wanted the body to remain frozen till we found it." Zero couldn't believe his eyes as he spoke. The tail was apparently stitched to the lower half of the body.

"I guess, both are the reasons." Yagari took out a new cigarette, ignoring the look that Aido was giving him.

"The body is fixed to the main ice block, thus the perfect sitting position." Aido continued. "Not only the legs but also the whole part lower than the pelvis is cut off to accommodate the fish tail. But there is no trace of the missing limbs and the intestine." His voice was dead serious and full of revulsion even though he had seen mutilated, dissected bodies since his university days.

"I hope we'll have enough time to understand just how much is cut off and how the murderer managed to stitch the fish tail to the body."

"A marlin..." Zero butted in distractedly. "A green-blue stripped marlin... Must have been around 2 meters long."

"We are searching for the head of the fish and the officers are inspecting the ice cutters now." Yagari's tone was flat, but when Zero made another comment, his lips twisted into a small smile.

"If she was a human, lack of the severed parts and blood means that she was murdered elsewhere. If she was a vampire she is most probably a level C. Entombing her in a block of ice serves as a means of keeping the body intact as long as possible. Though we can't deny the morbidly artistic way that the murderer used what the warehouse provided to him." Zero admitted through clenched teeth.

"He looked for somewhere to keep her cool and used whatever was around to decorate his prey, you say?" Aido asked, disdainfully. Apparently he had another idea.

"No, I say that vampire or not, the murderer prepared her with this place and this particular decoration in his mind and even made an afford to find a green and blue stripped marlin among these heaps of fish to make a tail for her. Just wanting to create his own exotic mermaid..." Zero felt the words tumble from his bluish lips.

"I don't think marlin was a particular choice." Aido argued.

"How many places are there in this city that imports and stores marlin, do you think?" Zero challenged back.

Aido narrowed his eyes, "Well, exotic fish restaurants are everywhere in this city, I guess there must be at least five of them."

"Indeed... This company is the only one here, Chief." Yagari ended his silence with a highly belittling smile he partially managed to hide behind his cigarette holding hand.

Aido, ever been the sore loser, indignantly shrugged and with his scowl, he tired to cover the fact that his cheeks now were reddening not only because of the freezing room.

"It is alright to not to know where it comes from Aido, at least you know how it tastes, being a Noble and all that jazz..."

Aido turned back to meet Zero's mocking face and his own went between a few shades of red as he harshly grumbled, fists trembling by his sides, voice full of barely contained anger.

"How the hell do you know, Kiryuu?" He could understand Yagari's knowledge, since he had already seen the tail and talked with the guard, but Kiryuu...

"It was written on the name plate at the entrance... Sole marlin importer of the city, since 1997... If you had had the time to read their information on it..."

Aido just made a quick rude gesture of his hand as if he was shooing away a pest with a barely toned down growl but Zero's derisive smile didn't even falter; he knew it when he made a score. He turned his attention back to the photos, leaving Aido to fume on his own. The light satisfaction that their banter provided quickly dissipated as the morbidity of the situation finally fully sank in him.

Somebody, strong enough to move and cut a fish of probably 200 kilograms had been here just a few hours ago. He was sick enough to dismember and mutilate his prey and even lingered enough to actually suture the body to that of the fish, entomb the victim in ice and decorate her with exotic fish of all colors... Such a twisted, distorted, gruesome mind...

"What kind of a sick bastard would do this?" The silver haired young man was astonished beyond words, feeling a slight tremor in his hand that held a detailed shot of the stitched area.

Yagari exhaled a puff of smoke tiredly. The gray fumes seemed to hang frozen in the air the instant it left his lips that were twisted grimly.

"A bastard who had time and knowledge in his hands, apparently."

He wants to showcase his work. And if the victim is actually a vampire... Zero raised his head to look at the body again from afar.

The long brown hair of the corpse was arranged beautifully on either shoulder, the eyes were closed and the body -in this case, what was left of it- was naked waist above. There seemed to be no disfigurement on the face, but it was hard to tell the same for the other parts, since the long, thick wavy hair was covering all the naked places of the chest area. She sat there silently among the colorful fish, as if asleep.

"It seems that we are here for a couple of hours." Came a resigned complain from Yagari. "And I have a meeting at nine."

"You can leave it to me." Zero took a glance at his superior and whom he had called Master since he was a boy.

"Not until I see her out of her ice throne." Yagari shook his head with an unhidden pride shining in his eye.

"Well, gentlemen..." Aido who by now had gotten a grip on himself, started to rummage in a plastic bag labeled of his department and procured two white nylon overalls, cotton face masks and two pairs of gloves.

"I am pretty sure that you'll need these if you want to take a closer look whilst we inspect the body. We will be quick... Really, really quick. In case we are facing a vampire victim, the body will decompose and disintegrate fast, erasing all the evidence. If it is a human body, after the defrosting we could go on the autopsy in the lab. But we can't take any risks."

Zero and Yagari quickly discarded their coats and guns, unfastening the shoulder holsters they wore with practiced ease and put on the thin overalls upon their freezing bodies. Meanwhile Aido, too, started to give orders.

"Shut down the rest of the climate machines and take away any unnecessary equipment! Provide more light and bring in some more heated water!

Zero glanced at Yagari, the man who was in fact in charge here, and the older man gave a lazy look that seemed cryptic.

"He knows what he is doing... Let him be."

Aido glanced back at them, his angry look indicating that he had heard it. Yagari shrugged, Zero huffed. Bloodsucker maybe, but he really knows his job. He admitted in his mind silently with a resentment whenever Aido came to his mind, or more accurately, anything and anyone that was connected to that particular damned vampire.

As they finished with their preparations, Aido shooed away anyone who was no longer a help to him and they crouched on their knees around the body. The lights in their section of the warehouse were on and after the shut down of the buzzing machines, all that remained was the hushed tones of the officers against the soft hum of the still pouring rain.

Warm water solution was poured over and around the corpse and the remaining thin layer of ice slowly melted. Two officers quickly removed the big ice blocks that came loose and the surrounding fish, one of the officers collected them in a big plastic bag.

"Take them and classify them as evidence." Zero distractedly murmured through his paper mask.

From that point on an expert officer from the Crime Scene started to record the process at all the possible angles, another one was awaiting beside to take high-res photos whenever it was needed.

Aido put on his mask and meticulously arranged his tools which Zero was used to seeing, not just because of seeing them used before his eyes frequently, but because he had used them before, too.

"Kiryuu, you will help me here."

Zero resisted rolling his eyes as he and Yagari, with the help of Aido's vampire assistant, tried to move the body into a reclining position as best as the still skin-deep frozen body and the surrounding ice permitted.

Zero was knowledgeable enough to make an autopsy on humans, though he lacked the expertise of working on a rapidly decomposing vampire body. Since he had been working as an intern criminalist for Crime Scene Unit until two years ago, Aido usually wanted his assistance whenever they happened to make a quick autopsy.

He can't even do a damn autopsy by himself, yet the first thing he did after being the Chief of the Unit was to kick me out.

He very well knew that the reason why Aido wanted his help was not this, but he couldn't refrain himself from shaking his head as the slippery body refused to lie properly. Long passed from the actual grotesqueness of the situation that they were in, they easily slid into their professional selves and Yagari gestured to the officer who was ready to record the process.

Grim and pale faces rose up to meet the lens, masks momentarily removed, when the officer announced that he was recording, just for the sake of procedure.

All the heads quickly bend down, each and everyone in charge introduced themselves.

"Criminal Investigation, Homicide Superintendent, Yagari Touga."

"Criminal Investigation, Homicide Chief Inspector, Kiryuu Zero."

"Criminal Investigation, CSIU Chief, Doctor Aido Hanabusa, acting medical examiner."

Yagari started to retell the events in a monotone, his voice thick with the cold and smoking whilst the other three poured more water and cleared away everything as best as they could.

"Body of a young female, race remains unverified. Identity remains unknown. Around the age of 20 to 25. Found approximately at 04.20 am by the warehouse watchman. Team of investigators reached the area at around 04.50. The body was found frozen solidly with a layer of presumably sea water ice. Defrosting process took approximately 45 minutes."

Yagari briefly looked at his watch and nodded for the officer to take a shot of his own wrist watch.

"It is now 05.37 am and we are starting."

When he fell silent, Aido started to clear away the clinging strands of hair from the chest area of the body. They momentarily gaped at the vertical wound on the chest which formed a perfect cut. Though the skin was still partially frozen, Zero quickly helped Aido to measure the wound size as Aido's assistant immediately went to take the fingerprints of the woman, meanwhile another officer poured more heated solution over her eyes and in between her teeth to open the oral crevice for readying it to take the teeth print of the victim.

"Vertical chest wound, twenty centimeters long, a clean cut, made with a very sharp object since the skin around the wound is not hemorrhaged or bruised. The depth of the wound is...."

Aido pried open the cavity as best as he could and measured.

"All the way to the spinal cavity, meaning the heart is missing. Lungs are intact, connecting arteries seemingly cut with the same precision.... No unnecessary cuts or traces of blood. It was cleaned."

Zero was helping in taking tissue samples from the chest cavity in several solutions that would retain the DNA structure of the victim and traces of any other matter even after decomposition, in case she was a vampire. Aido let the officers have several shots of the chest cavity and somberly shared a gaze with Yagari as they noted the restraint marks around the thin pale neck of the victim.

He returned to examine the chest wound and with a mini camera took photos of the places that they could not reach or see.

"Dark blue eyes." The assistant murmured monotonously, letting the photographer take a few shots of the face, the dilated eyes gazing above eerily.

Quickly, the assistant and the other officer pried open the frozen jaw and Aido confirmed that the oral crevice and the trachea was empty. After taking samples from the stomach with the help of a long pipe like instrument, and photographing there, too; he left it to his assistant to take the teeth print.

His attention turned back to the lower part of the victim. Zero cited the results of his quick measurements of the area on both the fish tail and the woman's belly where they were connected. They turned the body face down to see whether there were any wounds or marks there.

"No outer wounds, internal bleedings, scratches, traces of struggle or bruises on the back." He continued to examine the spine and the ribs but couldn't find a broken bone with just his hands. He hated the fact that they couldn't use much more advanced techniques and instruments because the time was running against them. He searched every visible and hidden area for traces but found nothing. He took out a scalpel and started to cut the crude stitches that connected the torso to the fish tail. He began to go pale, yet he didn't doubt that the faces of his companions weren't much different.

"Kiryuu, you continue." He whispered.

"You are the authority here." Zero bit back even as he began to analyze what he saw.

"Your viewing angle is better." Aido shot back, without missing a beat. It was apparent that he was tired and slowly reaching to his limits.

Zero could understand the difficulty of both operating quickly and having to talk what he observed simultaneously. That was why earlier Aido had asked -more accurately, demanded- for his help.

Zero bit his lip as the stitches came loose and revealed the totally hollowed out and ice filled abdominal cavity of the victim. He started spraying heated solution to clear away the frost and ice.

Think of this as an anatomy lesson, Kiryuu... Think of it as an anatomy lesson... He tried to suppress the growing uneasiness by mentally shaking himself.

"A very clean cut which separated the whole lower body from the upper torso, taking all the tail bone and probably two vertebrae with it. The cut in the vertebral column is clean, too, as if made in a single blow." He felt sickness rise in him as he talked more rapidly.

"The intestines are taken, no trace of the bladder or uterus and the resulting crevice is filled with crushed ice. The other organs seem to be intact... From the place of the cut, the remains of the hip bones are seen." He was sure by now he went from frozen blue to deathly pale as he watched Aido check if what he presumed was true.

"Only intestines, bladder and part of the uterus being missing is confirmed." Aido muttered.

"The internals are starting to decompose." Zero observed and quickly started to apply the already prepared solution which halted the decomposition rate dramatically and started to spray it into the gaping wounds.

"Victim being a vampire is confirmed." Aido's professionally monotone voice sounded.

"Decomposition rate is being altered." Zero supplied in the same tone. Before they turned the body face up, Aido took more samples and Zero took some fluid from the spinal cord. Yagari and the assistant helped each other whilst the other two numbered and stored the samples rapidly.

"98 stitches are used in connecting the body with the fish tail. No known suture techniques are applied, the stitches are made in a random pattern. Suturing material seems to be unnaturally stretched in various places which explains the reason of the measurement difference between the connected places."

Aido shook his head, as if shutting away a thought that was bothering him. He looked at the arms of the victim and noted,

"Restraint marks on the skin around the elbows and bone deep gashes across both of the wrists, wounds are 6.7 centimeters long and 1.7 centimeters deep on the left...."

Aido continued and again, Zero took tissue and blood samples from the wrist wounds. Yagari got up swearing under his breath as he wiped away sweat from his forehead, not amazed to find himself drenched in it even though the room was literally like a deep-freeze compartment.

The body was rapidly decomposing now, the once upon a time unblemished skin of the poor woman was turning grayish and her insides were crumbling like burnt wood. Even in this situation, Aido and Zero was still trying to make the best out of it, still talking, still inspecting the body of the vampire woman. But Yagari knew from the looks on their faces that nothing much was left to be found among the quickly decomposing body.

Zero poured down another solution that he prepared which turned into blue under a special lamp provided by Aido's assistant. Aido quickly froze the outer skin of the woman with his power and they wore red lensed glasses.

"The whole body is covered with washed blood, chest cavity and arms and the lower half." Zero muttered whilst he and Aido turned the body face down for the second time, knowing very well that the body was at its limit. Zero practiced the same procedure again, but there was only blood, no trace of fingerprints or any other thing.

"Are you using the special lenses, officer?" Aido asked just to be sure and received an OK sign.

"No traces of fingerprints or any other bodily fluids except large amount of blood." Zero murmured defeated, sweat dripping from the side of his face, a curse was bit down between his clenched teeth.

"Blood and tissue samples are taken." Aido finished, knowing very well that the tissue samples would also be crumbling by now were it not for the solutions in which they were kept frozen. Their durability was also 4 to 5 hours under the best of the conditions.

"Wait for the teeth print and then take the samples to the Laboratory under special treatment unit, tell them they are sent directly by me, Takada." Yagari instructed an officer as he filled out the awaiting papers with his frost bitten fingers to send them with the officer.

"The guard says that the warehouse closes at exactly midnight, so if we consider the fact that the guard remains behind for another hour, the victim was probably brought here sometime after 01.30 am. Considering that the murder was committed before midnight, and the probability of the body being already half frozen or frozen skin-deep, what does it say to us?" Yagari asked, fishing for another cigarette after discarding his gloves.

Aido and Zero crouched back a bit and watched the woman turn to dust and ashes, each with a suppressed sigh of their own; soon there wouldn't even be a trace of this ash colored mass. The officer named Takada bent down and took the only remaining thing among the already disappearing ashes; the solidified teeth print paste, and numbered the bag he placed it in. The officer who was recording held up his watch again and showed it to the camera. "The body decomposed at 06.12 am."

Zero looked up.

"She was at the worst case a Level C. But if the body was not already skin-deep frozen before it was brought here..."

"She was most probably a Level B." Aido confirmed what the other men thought. His face was laden with worry that he didn't have the energy to hide.

"As soon as we defrosted the body, it began to decompose. This means that the body was already dead for at least one hour before it was brought here and I assume that she was not frosted before being brought here."

Zero supplied, "The stitches were somehow stretched. The measurements of the fish's and victim's belly wounds were not equal when both were skin-deep frosted. She was probably brought here and then the murderer stitched her to an already frozen fish tail, and when the body of the victim, too was frozen, her wound size shrank a bit and it caused the sutures to stretch."

Aido nodded thoughtfully.

"Most probably, she was dead for at least 5 hours or longer since the murderer painstakingly drained the body off blood and removed the heart, cut off the lower part and even cleaned the body off of the blood and took out the intestines to easily stitch the tail." He supplied.

"They are still looking for the head part of the fish, aren't they?." Zero muttered thoughtfully.

Yagari only nodded, his gaze going towards a waiting officer who nodded at him briefly and gave Takada a few numbered bags who quickly dashed out with evidence bags after retrieving the papers from Yagari. "It seems while we were doing this they have also found the meat cutter and took whatever traces are left there."

"Taking this tail to the lab will be one hell of a job." Zero added and turned to Aido. "Maybe there is something that we can tell from these fish and the remaining tail and its upper part."

"Then again, this only proves that she was a Level B, and thus the murderer was not in a hurry."

Zero nodded, suddenly feeling empty and very drained after watching her disappear from the face of the earth as if she hadn't been murdered violently, as if she had never existed in the first place.

Though everyone knew the decomposition rate of the different levels of vampires, Zero felt the need to cite it just for the sake of recording and keeping his mind off of thinking about her.

"Disintegration period changes according to the level of the vampire and in which the dead body was preserved. Though under normal conditions; Purebloods presumably disintegrate in 10 to 12 hours, Level Bs in 4 to 6 hours, Level Cs in 2 to 4 hours, Level Ds, in not more than an hour, and Level Es in 10 seconds to 10 minutes."

With a frown on his face Aido got up from his half sitting position and added.

"End of the recording."

Zero needed a few more breaths before he felt sure that he wouldn't stumble whilst getting up. Aido held out his still gloved hand, totally lost in his own thoughts to remember their mutual dislike; and Zero seemed like equally lost in his own mind to refuse the offer with a slap. Instead, he took the cold, cold hand and got up, his lips pressed into a thin bluish line. He felt frozen inside in utterly different ways.

When the two young men stood side by side, discarding their gloves, they realized what they did with widening eyes and belated regret; but both of them feigned ignorant. Yagari was watching them silently with an indiscernible look in his single eye, contemptuously thinking that had it not been for that particular vampire, Aido and Zero could have made a great team even though the former belonged to a higher Class and Zero hated his kind in general. Their professionalism and the way they devoted themselves to their work were thrilling to watch each and every time.

He threw away the cigarette that smoked itself to its bud between his fingers with a sigh. He turned towards the table where he left his gun and coat, Zero following him behind, tossing away his mask, gloves and overall into the bag waiting for them. Yagari briefly glanced at his watch and realized it was past 06.30 am and he could have time to take a shower and get ready if he left quickly.

"Zero, I need your car."

Zero didn't turn towards him and continued to strap his holster. "Make one of the Locals to take you back." He murmured dismissively.

Yagari shrugged with a half smile, knowing the price.

"I'll send her to your place... all shiny and clean." He bargained. And in a blink of an eye, a bright key chain was tossed into his waiting hand. Yagari twirled the key from the loop around his finger with a satisfied smile.

"Good job, gentlemen!" He spoke loudly, leaving the scene behind unhurriedly, adding,

"Chief Inspector Kiryuu in charge!" Zero snorted good-naturedly and took a glance at his retreating Superintendent, but his mood instantly turned sour when he realized Yagari was lighting yet another cigarette.

"Don't smoke in my car, dammit!" He yelled.

"The case is yours, by the way..." Was all the reply he could get before Yagari disappeared.

He grimaced with exasperation, though inside he was also contented with getting the case. He turned towards the men who were already accustomed to the usual banter that went beyond the limits of rank between their Superintendent and his favorite subordinate.

Nodding towards Aido who was gesturing him to come over where he was, he put his cracking coat on, refusing to admit that he was better off without it, and advanced.

"Stop gaping! We'll clean this mess before the press sniffs that there is something fishy." He ordered, intentionally making the officers smile at the pun to lighten up the mood even though he knew, later on, the men would find this scene as a new addition to their collection of nightmares. But he pointedly refused to count himself in.

Outside, the rain continued to pour down.

TBC...

AN:

I hope you are not too bored or too grossed out during the autopsy scene. The frequency of those kinds of scenes will be limited but will still be there. I just wanted to make it look realistic and shocking. If you hated it and had to skip that part, I am sorry but you'll miss lots of plot points later on in the following chapters.

I didn't want to use the US or UK police organization and ranking system in this fic, since I am not very well informed on them. Instead I used the system of my own country which in fact resembles to that of UK's to create my own. Take a look at the last part for the explanation.

Yeah, I know there are so many questions that you want to ask, so many things that remains unexplained about the relationship between the characters, the setting, the Bureau that Zero mentioned... They will be explored as the plot progresses. Be patient with me XD

You can skip the part below, if you want. It is here just for clarification purposes.

Info on Police Organization and Ranking System :

The highest law enforcement body in a province/state is The Law Enforcement General Directory which servers under the command of a Director General. There are different sub-departments in every General Directory, some of which are Narcotics, Public Wellbeing, Criminal Investigation, Organized Crimes, and so on, each led by a Department Director, and each have equal stance and force. They are responsible of all the administrative districts that are connected to the province.

A Superintendent is the second in command after the DD, and each department has a number of them assigned to different sub departments. The highest rank after the Superintendent is Chief Inspector -you see where Zero is?-

Homicide and CSIU are sub-departments of Crime Investigation.

In this fic, people from the Crime Scene Investigation Unit are not detectives who could actively participate to the process of investigating any kind of crime, unlike in American productions. Here, they are generally scientists (the higher ups) and technicians with police ranks who find and document the evidences, who know where to look for them, and send them to their respectful branches in the Forensic Med Laboratory to be analyzed and inspected and let the officers of the department do their investigation to which the crime is related. Thus, they serve all of the Sub Departments in Criminal Investigation and have equal stance with them.

Aido is the head of the Unit and also a doctor. Hence, he did the autopsy because of the secrecy and the urgency of the situation. -This makes him a half police-half scientist, ne?

Aido both acts on his own and upon Yagari's demand -though they are equal in rank-, since CSIU is not essentially a police force, but is more of a group of specialists who have the same ranks as the acting police, but act upon the demand of other Sub Departments.

So... Where does The Bureau fit in this schema? And what is it? You'll see...

Remember that this organization and ranking structure is devised by me from actual examples. It is natural that you might not see it anywhere around the world.

By the way... Dishes prepeared with marlin meat are very expensive delicacies XD

I hope things are a bit clearer now. And comments will be loved but be merciful.

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