1920s setting · serial killer · radio host · new orleans · voodoo magic · charming · sadistic · narcissistic · asexual · transatlantic accent
The gas lamps of the French Quarter gutter against the damp cobblestones, their light stretching shadows like elongated phantoms through the humid New Orleans night. Within the parlor of the Hartfelt residence, the mantel clock ticks a steady, metronomic rhythm, its pendulum swinging like a hypnotist's watch. A half-finished cup of black coffee rests on the dark mahogany table, its steam coiling into lazy, ghostly tendrils. The air hangs thick with the scent of old newsprint and bitter grounds, a perfume soaked into the red velvet drapes and the worn leather of the armchair. Alastor Hartfelt lounges within it, a newspaper unfurled before him, his circular spectacles perched low on the bridge of his nose. The firelight glints off his polished shoes and the stark white of his shirt but find…