As peaceful as the rest was, it couldn't last. Eventually our sick leave ran out and so Evey and I returned to the office about a day after our little excursion to Central Park. The team greeted us as we walked into the meeting room, all smiles and even a bit of applause from John and Eddie. As I took my seat and straightened my tie, Dylan held his hands out to stop any more noise from being made and spoke.

"Alright, alright. Enough applause for the two love birds here. Let's get you two caught up with the case."

He turned around and tapped a finger on the big glass screen we used for our case board, expanding all the pictures and scribbles we'd made there so far. As John turned down the lights and tinted the windows, Dylan gestured to the picture of Benjamin Prasad on the centre of the display and zoomed in.

"So. Anirudh Benjamin Prasad. Twenty eight years old, local resident of Manhattan. Graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering at NYU in 2016. Got a job as an associate aircraft systems engineer for JetBlue, of all places. Worked there for about two years, leading up to recent events. Made friends with Edward Prince there, one assumes. Here's our timeline of what happened from the first killing."

Dylan tapped the glass screen and brought up the pictures of Beverly and her husband.

"Let's assume that some time before, Benjamin here finds out that he's got a hunger that can't be scratched by just eating a shit ton of food. And he doesn't know who he can turn to. His parents? Out of the picture, he doesn't want them to worry. So he turns to his colleague, a guy that could basically stand in as a father figure for him. He meets them on a morning where they weren't working. Who knows what they talked about that day. But we know how it ended."

Dylan tapped on the screen again and brought up the crime scene photos of the Princes' apartment. The gruesome scene wasn't any easier to look at, but this was our business. Putting together the pieces of a blood-stained puzzle to find out who the killer was.

"We have evidence that ties Benjamin to the Princes' apartment the day of their deaths. Fingerprints on the bathroom door and DNA from skin cells on the clothes he handled in their bedroom. Whatever they talked about, it ended in their deaths. We can reasonably assume that his feral instincts took over and he bled them dry. But he had the presence of mind to clean up after himself and scram before we could catch him."

Dylan pushed the images to one side of the screen and brought up another cluster of pictures.

"Next victim: Alexandria Olsen. Again, same deal. Benjamin needed someone to turn to. Went to her place. Got hungry and tried to eat her. But she fought back. Put up a fight, tried to defend herself. She didn't expect Benjamin to be a lot stronger than she was. He eventually overpowers her, attempts to feed but is interrupted by the neighbours calling the cops and checking on her. Benji hops out her windows and disappears."

Those crime scene pictures were pushed to another side and a third set came up, this time of a place I was vaguely familiar with.

"This is Benjamin's apartment. We took these after you two found him and he kicked both of your asses. Didn't really find much and he was long gone by the time we got there. But we've got more reasons to arrest him now. Endangering an officer's life. Twice. Evading arrest. However, we've lost him again. He's a slippery bastard, but we'll get him. I know we will."

Dylan shifted the last set of pictures towards another corner of the big glass screen and picked up a Sharpie from the desk. On the screen, he wrote Benjamin's name in the centre and drew arrows pointing to each of the sets of photos.

"We have physical evidence connecting Benji to each of these crime scenes. We have the means to get him convicted. But what we don't have is the why. Did he do this with intent? Or was he acting out of self-defence or instinct? Because if he had the criminal intent to do these things, he'll be guilty as sin. But if he was reacting instead of acting, then there's a chance this kid could get a lighter sentence. He's just a kid, after all."

Dylan sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"In any case, finding this guy is our priority. And now that we're back up to full strength, we can get back to work. Evelyn, Daniel. I know you two just got out of the hospital, but I've got some legwork for you."

Legwork? Uh oh.

"I need you both to check in with Benjamin's mother to see if she can shed some light on how her kind feeds or where she might think her son is. And then you should visit Miss Gelson, maybe she has information in her books that could help us too. At this point we'll need everything we can get to find Benjamin."

Well that wasn't as bad as I'd thought. At least it wasn't chasing down loose ends all across the city. I nodded to Dylan and gathered my things as he continued to assign the others with their own tasks for the day. Evelyn gestured for me to meet her outside and so I did. We walked to the elevator together and she waited until the doors were closed to talk to me.

"Feels good to get back to work, right?"

"Yeah, Evey. We can finally get off our asses and do something. Feels nice. Where do you think we should go first? They're both kind of the same distance away."

Evelyn rubbed her chin as she thought about it.

"How about Mrs Prasad first? She deserves to know what happened when we went to his apartment. If the press hasn't already covered it."

"Alright, that's that then. My bike's downstairs, let's go."

And so it was. The bike ride wasn't particularly eventful, save for one intersection where we were nearly cut off by an asshole in a huge SUV. Figured that the guy didn't respect folks on bikes with his giant car. I called in his licence plate number and drove on, letting that guy deal with the cops in his own way. We had bigger fish to fry.

A few minutes later, we arrived at Mrs Prasad's apartment. Familiar parking lot, familiar walk up to her door. When we approached, I caught a whiff of something cooking. Strong spices, rich meaty broth. A lot of things that my human senses wouldn't have picked up. But I was figuring that out almost unconsciously now. Guess my time spent practising just...letting my canine senses take over was working out.

Evelyn sniffed the air and smiled at me, also noting that mix of delicious scents.

"I think she's cooking lunch, Danny boy. Should we knock, ask her what's on the menu?"

"Think that'd be good. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and she'll treat us. Out of the kindness of her heart or something."

I rapped my knuckles on her door three times. I heard someone shuffling about inside the apartment, followed by Mrs Prasad's familiar voice calling out: "Coming!"

Then she opened the door. Her eyes lit up for the briefest of moments as she recognised Evelyn and I. Then her demeanour grew more serious, though she still pulled the door wider to let us in.

"Detectives! Oh I apologise, I didn't know you were coming by. The apartment is a mess, but please come in."

I smiled as I let Evelyn step through first while the diminutive Hindi woman held her door open for her.

"It's no problem, Mrs Prasad. We didn't exactly call ahead to let you know."

"Oh nonsense, detective Anderson. It's quite alright. I assume you're visiting to let me know about my son? And please call me Chandri."

I followed Evelyn into the apartment as she responded to the question.

"Yes, Mrs Prasad. We attempted an arrest last week. It, uh, didn't go smoothly."

Chandri nodded as she sat in an armchair across from the sofa Evelyn and I plopped ourselves down on.

"What happened, detectives?"

Evelyn glanced at me and I returned it with my own, before looking at Mrs Prasad.

"He attacked us, Chandri. Put me and Evelyn here in the hospital for a few days and fled. We only just got out ourselves."

I watched Mrs Prasad's face pale almost visibly. It wasn't easy, learning your own kid had attacked two police officers, even sending them to the hospital. Not something you wanted to see in a suspect's loved ones.

"O-oh goodness. Are you two okay?"

I nodded as Evelyn smiled, reached over to place a hand on my shoulder and spoke.

"Yeah, Mrs Prasad. We're okay. Spent the week up in New York Presbyterian. Great facilities there. We were up and about in no time."

Chandri breathed a sigh of relief as she leaned back in her chair. But I could still see her brow creased with worry. I leaned forward, elbows resting on my knees.

"Chandri, I wanted to ask you a few questions about... Rakshasa. We're thinking that if we can have a better understanding of how you and your kind behave and operate, we'll stand a better chance of finding your son in this urban jungle."

I watched a flurry of expressions cross her face. Confusion, understanding, frustration. Acceptance. She nodded and tucked a lock of black hair behind an ear.

"I'll answer to the best of my ability, detectives. But you must understand: I haven't relied on any of my instincts or followed my urges in decades. I don't think my answers will be as accurate as you want."

"It's alright, Chandri. Anything will help."

Mrs Prasad took a deep breath in and let it out slowly to calm herself. Then she affixed me with her gaze, her expression almost an unreadable mask. But her eyes spoke volumes; pain, regret. Guilt. And maybe even hope. When she spoke, it cut through the brief silence like a knife.

"Alright. Where should I begin?"