Then Abel shrugged and said, "That's just my guess. I am not paid to guess. I have done my job and will now leave. The rest is up to you."
Count finally spoke up. He said, "Wait."
Abel became angry. He pointed his staff at Count and said, "You too? You're also doubting my ability? Wait a minute for me to prepare my attack. I will show you how I have survived the foreign battlefield all these years."
Count chuckled and raised both his hands in mock surrender. "I'm not doubting your ability, old friend. But what if the target is a shape-shifter?"
Abel's face fell. What Count said was reasonable, as it would explain the failure of his technique. But this only made him more angry and furious.
He said with anger, "Nicely done. I'll admit defeat this time around."
Count rolled his eyes. "I didn't know when I called you. I began to suspect it just a few minutes before you arrived. By that time, it was too late."
Abel was still angry, but he had already been paid. He had to do his job, so he regained his composure.
He settled down and asked, "Tell me."
Count explained, "So here is what we know. Someone killed these two. We used the blood tracking technique. It pointed out that the two of them were the last to touch. It didn't notice the contact of the killer because it came to the same conclusion as you: the killer is dead or doesn't exist."
"We used the spirit scrying technique next, and if the corpse is to be believed, it was a certain Jerry that killed her. That's when I began to suspect a shape-shifter."
"This person could change everything about him to look like someone. But then his information will change after the act, which renders most tracking useless against them."
"What you have done proves that they were here and they killed at least one of them. Since you already have their information, you should be able to find something about them."
Rewind was looking between the two of them anxiously, waiting for them to be done. He was anxious, but he didn't say anything about it because even his ignorant self understood that the situation was delicate.
When Count was done, Abel sighed and said, "Fine. Let us find this shape-shifter."
He turned his back to them and began to work. As he worked, he said, "I still haven't forgiven you for pulling one over on me. You claimed it was just a quick check out. Now I'll be working for hours."
"I'll do this because I have been paid and because I hate shifty shape-shifters. But I will charge you double next time."
Count laughed. He didn't take the threat seriously. He asked, "When don't you charge anyone double?"
Abel chuckled. "That's true. I always charge double. It is to insure myself for shenanigans like this."
Count nodded. "So this time is just a small loss. You don't get to earn the quick buck you thought you would earn. It is not so bad to put in the work needed to earn one's pay."
Abel snorted. "Those who do that are fools. Work smart, not hard."
The two of them chatted amicably as if one of them hadn't been asking for a minute to set up his attack a few moments ago. Abel wasn't joking about that. He was serious about needing a few minutes for an attack.
Abel keeps a tight lid on his ability. What most people know about his ability is that he can curse people and can use his curses to track people.
In other worlds, they call people like him hex witches or cursemancers. He is incredibly vulnerable up close, but he has ways to make the strongest people die if given time to attack.
One thing people are sure about his ability is that it is based on the information of an entity. What this information is exactly is unclear.
It could be the air someone breathed in an area, the places they touched, the words they said, the actions they took in a place, their weight, or the clothes they wore. But once he has it, he will be able to use their information to create a link to its source.
The problem with shape-shifters is that they can change their information or change the target of the information thereby rendering the information he was using in the past obsolete. That way, it will appear that the owner of the previous information doesn't exist.
It is why he and the tracking ability of most people fail in catching a shape-shifter. The fact that they are working on the basis that everyone has one information further throws them off the scent of a shape-shifter. But if they know that their target is a shape-shifter who can change their information, then they might be able to get back on track.
In this case, he is using the information of the killer on Stella's body to find the killer. Since the killer doesn't exist, he decided to find where the killer had been to.
This will be more taxing as he is not finding a single location of where the killer is currently. He is looking for all the places they had been, which is frankly infinite. So he has to narrow down his search to where they have been every five seconds since they touched the corpse.
This is much more bearable, but it is still taxing. If he had known that he would have needed to do so much work, he would have charged more. But it is too late for regrets now. He could only bear the rapid draining of his ability focus while grumbling about it.
Eventually, his hard work paid off. Golden footsteps appeared in his vision, leading around the apartment and out of it.
He beckoned to Count and said, "Come here. You are very strong, so you will be my hound dog for this hunt."
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A/N: The chase is on.