see, i've come to burn your kingdom down / closed

Tobias had read her file, or at least what she had put on it. She wasn't born in New York; at least they had that in common. She had been a hunter in other places, it seemed, and Tobias wasn't surprised, per se, but in his time around, he rarely met other hunters from other cities. He tended to keep to himself, and this wasn't any different. It was the life of a hunter really, that one just...stayed out of the limelight. That interactions and friendships were often short-lived due to the precarious situations they were in. That while one trusted another with their life, they did less with their secrets.

Still, he could learn plenty from hunting with someone new, and there was that demon problem that needed to be managed. Some creature who's green-eyed gaze had caused some type of business sabotage, one that had left a little mistake at the scene of the crime, a CCTV camera that had caught the said demon, and their little investigation had gone on from that.

He glanced up at the street sign, grateful that at least the city numbered their streets in the grid-like way it worked on. "Yep, should be the apartment complex by the Citibank branch. There were other reports on weird crimes in that building the past few weeks, so he must've only recently moved in."

The man shifted the backpack on his shoulder as he glanced to Blake for a moment–watching her tie her hair–before looking forward once more. "The place we're going to is a pretty upper-class kind of place, so it probably didn't seem that big of a deal, but a month ago, there were a couple of small reports. Stolen items that were worth a lot of money, someone's Mercedes-Benz getting keyed by a neighbor, and then two weeks ago, there was a domestic abuse case where a man almost strangled his wife to death because he thought she was cheating on him."

He sighed, shoving his hand into his pockets, pulling out a phone and quickly typing something in the search bar. He pulled up an article, before passing it to Blake without a second glance.

A few days ago, there was a girl admitted to the hospital in critical condition, apparently there was an accident but when the brother was questioned, he broke down saying that he had done it in a fit of jealousy because his sister always had to prove she was better than him."

The man shrugged. "A lot of the cases happened outside of the building which is why it's not a major crime scene right now, but the weird thing is a lot of the victims or perpetrators lived in that building, and two of them are clustered on the same floor, which makes me wonder...if the demon has something to do with it."

He was pleasantly surprised that she had connected the dots so easily. It took him years and years of practice to truly see beyond what was obvious; the other hunter seemed to have a natural talent for it. Tobias wasn't the kind to give out compliments often.

"It does, doesn't it?" he mused, his gaze still on Blake, "good observation."

The apartments were in sight; they looked modern, perhaps even one of those service apartments that were all too popular these days. He almost missed how Blake had immediately made a beeline for the apartment door. Luckily for the two of them, there was someone leaving the apartment building just that moment. Perfect.

He quickly walked in tandem, stepping in the spot where the automatic door detected his presence, staying open once more. "There's a few places we'll need to check," he handed her a badge, one he had copped a few years ago after a case had gone south. It had been useful, being able to get into a few places.

"The apartment where the almost-murder happened should still be considered a crime scene, though all the evidence is probably gone, but we should try to locate where the apartments are and where these residents would've...socialized maybe? There are probably other things connecting them together; if there are any neighbors or anything, we can ask."

It was almost sundown. "If there's a common area or a roof or something, some of the residents might be hanging around. We can pretend to be new neighbors and ask around–that way, we won't need to freak anyone out about the police investigation. What do you think?"

That sounded like a good plan; the apartment should've given them a few clues to what had happened. "Fifth," he spoke, jogging into the lift with a nod to Blake. "There are two of the apartments, 5A and 5D. 5A is the domestic case, 5D is the siblings' case. 5A should be empty–they arrested the guy and the woman's in the hospital. We can try ringing 5D first, ask a few questions about their kids and their neighbors, and then head to the empty apartment."

It was simple enough, right?

They quickly arrived to the fifth floor, and he stepped out into the hallway, glancing to the signs on the doors. 5D, easy enough to find. He straightened up his coat, grabbing another badge from his back pocket, before ringing the doorbell.

Moments later, footsteps could be heard, and a man greeted them at the door, looking rather tired. "What do you want?" he scowled, as Tobias flashed the badge.

"Sorry to intrude, but there were a couple of follow up questions we wanted to ask; we tried to ring earlier but there wasn't an answer, so we thought we might check up on you."

The man scowled, muttering something about how the police just couldn't leave it alone, before letting them into the flat. The space was organized, the clutter mostly left on the coffee table. Pictures lined the walls, of the family on vacations, ceremonies, dinners...all signs of a happy family. On one shelf, there were trophies and awards displayed, along with more photos, paintings, and knick-knacks that probably were from different events of the kids' lives. All in all, it appeared rather normal at the surface.

Tobias had to admit, he was pretty impressed. Well, impressed or amused, he couldn't quite tell. The way Blake shifted her tone was so natural, he wondered if she had learned to code-switch the same way he had. Well, two can play this game, he thought. The man seemed like he had a lot on his hands, and Tobias kind of understood. To have your whole life flipped over on its head...it wasn't easy.

"Kids are never really who they are, are they?" Tobias gave a sympathetic sigh, "–got kids myself. My oldest always seemed like a good kid, you know, A student, had plenty of friends and helped out around the house, and then he got caught smoking weed with his friends one night by another parent. My wife was furious."

He shrugged. "He told me it was his first time, and that the other kids had pressured him into it. I wasn't sure what to believe, but do you think maybe he'd be influenced by the people he's around? We all want to think the best of our kids, but sometimes, we also need to look at the underlying problem."

His expression was more pointed now, as the other man nodded at his words, as if resonating with Tobias' story, regardless of how real or fake it was.

"Yeah, I mean, he's been at home this summer and he hasn't really hung out with his high school friends, not much has changed, but...I guess he started acting weird the last two months. I think it was after Jenna's recital; she got an award, which is pretty normal for her–she's got that talent for picking things up, especially with the arts, and she got the scholarship she wanted for college," he sighed, taking another sip, "but we had a little celebration on the rooftop, invited a few of our neighbors for a barbecue, but I think James was a little jealous...we didn't throw him a party with the neighbors when he got into his college, but he had a graduation party, so I don't know why he'd be so worked up over it."

Tobias nodded, his expression rather sincere, listening intently to the man's response. He could vaguely see the look on Blake's expression as if scrutinizing his response, but he ignored it. Of course, there was a truth in his words–he did have a son–but he could easily explain it as a lie later on.

Two months. So they needed to look for neighbors that moved in around that time, give or take a couple depending on how strong the demon was. The creature wasn't making it hard to be noticed; most demons often had a talent for covering their trails. Either this was a freshly reborn one, or there was something else–perhaps a trap? Tobias wasn't sure.

Blake seemed to have the right words for him though, and for that, he was grateful. It was clear that the alcohol was beginning to take effect; from the way he was downing the alcohol, Tobias wasn't surprised.

"Sensitive?" he echoed, "was he an artistic type, or simply...a kid who took things to heart?"

The man sighed. "He did have some artistic gifts...he tried to start a band in high school, but I don't think it worked out, some issues he had with some of his friends and all of that, but he's always been a bit of a...well, let's just say he wanted people to look up to him, or to be proud of him. We were, don't get me wrong, he was a good kid, but...he could get jealous of his friends sometimes."

Tobias hesitated slightly before asking. "So in the past couple of months...has he been talking to anyone? You know, maybe confiding in someone who might understand him?"

The man shrugged. "I'm not sure, maybe on an online chat room? I know kids these days have those online game chats...soemtimes he hangs out on the roof or something, it's a pretty popular spot to hang out, there are really nice chairs and seats and even barbecue grills there, it's sort of like, the building's hangout area I guess, and there's wifi so when Jen's friends are over, he'll head upstairs to get out of their way."

The man certainly gave them a key point to check out. He had suspected that there must be somewhere the demon was hiding about, or at least, somewhere where he was speaking to the residents. Either that, or they were a concierge, and frankly, if that was true, it certainly must be a new demon. No long-lived creature of darkness would settle for that kind of job, after all, especially if it was spreading envy and discord.

"Yeah, I'd see why," he muttered after Blake's comment, "if he's not careful he'll end up drinking himself to death."

In a way, Tobias could empathize. When he had left Chicago, he had been at the end of his rope just the same, and there were still nights he could only fall asleep after nestling a bottle of whisky.

"Yeah let's go," he sighed, glancing to the taped door. Officers around this part of time clearly didn't think anyone would break into a crime scene if they left the door open like that...or they were planning to come back soon. "Let's hurry, don't want to attract the wrong kind of attention," he mused, as he stepped over the tape.

The house was...almost empty, for lack of a better word. Not in the sense that the furniture wasn't there, but almost everything personable seemed to be gone. Labels were all over the place, noting down where picture frames and old knick knacks were. There were still books on the shelves and the occasional picture on the wall, but the air in the apartment felt strange. Seeing a picture of a happy couple felt almost ironic when one knew what had happened in this very space.