The Detective-

The cloaked figures nodded in unison, and black gowns hovering just above the cobblestone, they started the chant. Gloria closed her eyes, holding the heavy book that was so weathered you could barely call it a book anymore. The 'Necro-journal', as it was not-so-affectionatly dubbed, containing all information of serial killings. The dull humming from the group circled around her continued, though it seemed to fade as the seconds went by, as if she was nodding off to sleep. It was her first time, and quite frankly, she was frightened to enter the book's world, but it was her job to catch killers.

"I'm making it clear, you are not to be a saviour. You are a detective. You find the killer. And you are to do nothing about it until you come back from the book. You have 28 days. If you fuck this mission up, you're in for it," Gloria remembered her blunt superior's sharp tongue warning her. Just find the mystery serial killer and get out.

Before she realised it the humming had stopped, and it was silent. For less than a second. Voices started to swirl around her. It was hot and sticky, the sky was a bright blue. And she was standing in a crowd of people she had never seen before. 'No, not voices', she thought to herself as she regained her senses, trying to shake off the aftereffect of the book-jumping ritual 'it's gasps, mutters.' Just shock, and it showed on the crowd's faces. Each person's eyes was fixed on the corpse hanging in the tree.

It wasn't with a noose, no neck snapping. That was not the way she had died. The woman was suspended from the branches with blood smeared on her naked skin from head to toe. Just crimson red painting her body. Children started to cry, adults too. After the moment of silence was chaos. Until the police arrived, that is.

Gloria watched the beginnings of the investigation from afar, mostly, though she was also interrogated.

"I'm so sorry you had to see this miss, it must be really hard for you, but do you think you can answer some questions?" was the first thing the tall officer asked her, followed by routine questions. Then he asked gently "Have you seen this symbol?", pointing to a small sketch on his notepad. Gloria shook her head no, even though she had seen it so many times preparing for the investigation she could probably draw it in her sleep. But the cops couldn't know she was from the future, nobody could. Not even the killer.

An hour later she was buying icecream near the crime scene. The body was already gone, but some detectives were bustling around behind a cage of yellow caution tape. She only picked up a few words.

"Symbol."

"The blood?"

"Motive?"

Those few words lasted her weeks as well, because for about a month she couldn't get any closer to the case. Until she went out for Chinese food.

Maybe it wasn't the best idea for Gloria to go out in the middle of the night to satisfy a craving for fried rice, waltzing past dark alleys, following only the path of dim streetlights. She was tough though, she knew this, and it had always been said to her as a child. So she decided to live up to it. She could take care of herself. Until a man pulled her into one of the snaking alleys that didn't seem to end.

It was dark, but she didn't tremble. She didn't try to resist, or yell through the gag that was promptly stuffed into her mouth as soon as he had grabbed her by the neck. In turn, he didn't knock her out, or kill her right away. He led her like a horse down the alley, through a door, and into a chair.

3 days until she was given food. Nobody probably cared where she was anyway, it was the nature of the mission. She had probably taken too long already. And she found out when the man spoke.

"It's June 12th, you know." he poised his knife near her neck, and took out the cloth that had made her jaw burn, as well as the rope tying her up that would leave red marks. "I'm the killer, you know." She had known, and she gazed into his eyes. They were a deep green, and she couldn't help but keep staring, nor could she try to block out his silky voice. It was almost a purr, when he said "You wanna know why I did it? Do you want to know?" She didn't let out any sound, just bobbed her head slightly as to not touch the blade. "I made it all up. Just for kicks, ya know? I wanted my own story. A real- life murder mystery! I lost though... you figured out the murder."

She stared blankly, not wanting to believe that all her hours had been poured into a fantasy world. Gloria thought that she would be making an impact. But it was all a creation made 'just for kicks'. He killed because he was bored. And even if in the next moment the man hadn't slit her throat open, she would've quit her job. She wouldn't toy with boredom. But he did slit her throat, and blood oozed out. A small rasping escaped her mouth, and that was it.

This time though, the body was hidden properly, buried deep in the ground where no secrets would escape.