“Jesus Christ!” Detective Monroe froze in the doorway and let his gaze enter a room his feet were too afraid to. Blood, skin, entrails, and some fluid only CSI were qualified to identify covered the walls like some madman’s art project.

A burning in his chest alerted Monroe that he had been holding his breath. He inhaled deeply before his lungs and stomach roared in protest. He stumbled back, leaned over a pot of half-dead roses and emptied his gut.

“I don’t think partially digested eggs and bacon qualifies as fertilizer, Monroe.” Detective Gloria Sanchez stepped by her much younger and now green partner, and walked boldly into Hell’s loft. “Yeah, it’s him again. Shit! Just once, I wish he could take a full moon off.”

Gloria pulled out her pad and began scribbling details of the crime scene. She paused when her wobbly legged partner stopped beside her.

“What is… why is there… Jesus… what is that smell?” Monroe coughed into his hand as beads of sweat sprouted over his face like a teen’s worst acne nightmare.

“Shit.”

“What?”

Gloria pointed a well-manicured red nail at the green stains upon the mostly red walls. “It’s shit.” She stepped closer to the reeking portrait of hate and madness. “I figure our perp gutted the poor girl on the bed, dragged her intestines over here, sliced them open and used what he found inside to leave his masterpiece.”

Det. Monroe glanced at the former cheerleader’s bed, and instantly doubled over as he desperately tried to hold in an empty stomach.  

“She was pretty… was.” Gloria pulled out her phone and snapped a few pictures of the woman’s naked and hollowed-out body. “Hmm, look how he had her spread eagled. Notice the lack of blood splatter on the sheets. She was dead before he started cutting into her.”

Det. Monroe wiped his face and stared at the once beautiful young woman. “That’s different. He usually, dissects his victims alive. Why would he kill her first?”

Det. Sanchez leaned over the remains and narrowed her eyes. “He didn’t want it to hurt. Why would he…?” She leaned even closer; her face inches away from the girl’s pubes. “I’ll be damned!”

“What?”

Gloria stood upright and turned to her partner. “He did her!” She pointed to the nearest officer. “Get CSI in here on the double. I need a full rape kit now.” Gloria quickly grabbed her sick and younger partner by the lapels. “We got him. That’s why he made such a mess. He wasn’t mad at the girl. He was mad at himself. He liked what he saw and he raped her. He never does that, but this time he couldn’t help himself.”

Det. Monroe stepped back and pointed at the walls. “So, all this… this gore, it was just…”

“Rage! For giving in to his emotions… his all-too human emotions. He saw it too. He’s not a demon. He’s just a man, and he finally made a mistake.”