summary/disclaimer/notes: see Prologue
AN: I apologize for the delay but some personal troubles kept me from writing. Hopefully the next chapter won't take that long. Thanks ToughSpirit for the review, I hope you still like it, I'm getting warmed up for the story ;)

Trials and Error

by Belladonna


Chapter One
...let's kill all the lawyers


Usually on a night like the one in question the inhabitants of Westchester slept soundly in their home and the few nightcrawlers out for clubbing were rushing down the streets from one bar to the next one, seldom staying long in one place. The ones that needed to work late were either going home from work or getting there. Everything was like it had been for countless nights before and yet this night was different. It wasn't the fact that it wasn't raining like it had been for the past weeks or that the moon shone its pale light down towards earth, giving the small alleys a bit of an eerie glow where the shadows of the larger buildings didn't shroud everything else within darkness.

The main street of Westchester was filled with people and so were the countless back alleys, just like the one directly next to Harry's Hideaway, a popular bar that was often frequented by the students of the near University. Inside the alley the large shadows looming from the surrounding houses cast everything into deep blackness. But that wasn't what made this night stand out from the others before or the ones coming afterwards, that special night of the 14th . All the other things had been like it had been the nights before. And still, this night would prove that it only needed one tiny detail to change things, to make a statement that would be lasting and whose outcome would have an impact on more than the one life that would be ending soon in that alley.

A woman’s scream rang through the night, piercing the silence that had laid itself upon this part of town, far away from the noises of the nightlife. If anybody heard her, they kept ignoring the noise, either because of being used to it or they simply didn't want to become involved with anything that might go down to have caused the screaming. She ran, as fast as her feet would manage and it still wasn't fast enough. The woman kept looking over her shoulders, to see if he was still behind her. Somehow deep within she knew that there wasn't any possiblity of her outrunning him. But she would be damned if she hadn't even tried to. Barely avoiding to fall down on a slippery bit of the asphalt she kept going, her way leading her further into the dark alley her stalker had so carefully herded her to. The stalker knew exactly what he was doing, he had gone through this scenario so many times in his mind, it almost seemed that he had only waited for trying it out for real. Like all the times he had rehearsed it inside his head had only been that, rehearsals for the big event. A cruel smile was forming on his lips, curling them to give him the impression of an animalistic predator out to hunt for his prey; which probably wasn't that farfetched.

As he walked down the dark street, he took his time and still maintainted a certain closeness to his intended victim to remind her he still was behind her, to make her feel his presence. He thought he could smell her terror, a sweet scent in the cool night air and it excited him, aroused him more than anything he'd done before. But he'd played for long enough, now it was time for him to finish it. Time for him to get his prize.

The woman ran further, every two steps looking over her shoulder to see if she'd outrunned her stalker, only to see that he still was behind her. She barely had time to stop her frantic running before she slammed into the wall at the back of the alley. The impact had knocked the breath out of her lungs and the fear was overwhelming her. Somehow she knew with perfect certainty that she wasn't going to get out of this alley alive. Surprisingly enough knowing that didn't scare her as much as she thought it would; on the contrary, it calmed her down a bit. And with nowhere to run, she had no other choice but to accept her fate.

At the end of the alley she saw her stalker closing in on her, a predatory smile on his lips and a, evil glint flashing in his eyes. He felt that the moment had come, that perfect moment when he would follow through with his plan and end it. Right here in that alley at that moment. He grinned, still slowly walking towards her, maintaining eye contact with his prey and making sure that she truly had nowhere to go. If possible, her heart beat even faster than before and if felt like it would burst right out of her chest and the fear that was clutching at her for the last hour pushed her further into the wall behind her. She knew that there was no escape for her but the moment she saw his face, recognized him finally the only thing that was on her mind was – why?

The hunter came forward, closing in on her and he took a deep breath, savouring the exciting scent as her fear and sweet perfume mingled with the cool night breeze. It was perfect, he knew it and what made it so much worse, was that she knew it as well. For a moment the alley was cast into complete darkness as the clouds shielded the moon's silvery light and the hunter knew it was the time.

It didn't last long but when the clouds gave the moon free, the pale light shone down on the cold asphalt and gave a perfect view on the alley. The woman that lay there in her own blood, her throat slashed open and her eyes unseeing and blank. She still had the look of frozen terror on her face when she'd recognized him as being her excutioner, a man she'd never expected to kill her.

The body was found on the next morning and the alley was swarming with police officers and crime scene technicians to collect as much evidence as they could to solve this horrible crime that struck so close to home for many of them as soon as they recognized her. The murder in the alley made it real quickly to the news because of the victim's identity, Jean Grey-Summers, one of the city's most renowned defense lawyers.


tbc...





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