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The apartment was run of the mill for La Vida, part of a large complex that seemed to cram people in boxes like sardines. The building's outside was dilapidated with peeling paint and ancient brickwork. The elevator was out of order, had been for a while by the looks of it, and so the stairs up to the fifth floor had been the only option. Yellow police tape crisscrossed the front door and it was unsurprisingly locked. Ashlyn ducked under the police tape and managed, after a few minutes, to get the door open and she said a silent thanks to her older brother for teaching her that trick. 

She stepped inside and then recoiled as the smell hit her, the bodies had been removed of course and the blood cleaned up but even after cleaning the residue remains. Her enhanced sense of smell easily picked out the coppery tang of blood and to her it was overwhelming though to everyone else they probably couldn't smell it. She did her best to ignore it and walked further into the apartment, down the dark dingy hallway and into the small living room. She had decided that the birds would be the ones to try first and she immediately walked to the pair of windows and pulled them open. Though there wasn't much greenery in the area there was a few straggly trees around and where there were trees there were always birds. 

Oblivious to how it must look to the others she closed her eyes and sent out her senses, greeting the local wildlife and asking the birds to come to her. What happened next was typical for life around Ashlyn but to anyone else it would look strange and possibly even frightening. Birds began to filter through the open windows, first one then another and then another each one fluttering around Ashlyn in circles. She ended up standing in the centre of a dozen small birds all flying around her in circles, she opened her eyes and smiled in pleasure. After exchanging the usual information about how the birds were doing, how many had nesting chicks etc she asked them about the family that had lived there. 

It was difficult, she had to think of the right way of asking the questions as animals didn't measure time like humans did and they rarely paid attention to the humans around them. The best way was to find out if anything that had happened that night had caught their attention, something out of the ordinary. 

[color=0A7A04]Blinding light day come early, man standing in the window hands on fire[/color]

Ashlyn frowned wondering if she had understood correctly what they were telling her. She spoke to the others quietly so as not to startle the birds.

"They say there was a man here, one who could make light even at night. Have you heard of anything like that?"