Contractbound

He was waiting for his client, Egbert Visser, to return with his commission money. Graham had told the man to come back in three hours. After waiting for some time, finally someone rang the bell to his office.

"It"s not locked!" he shouted without moving from his chair.

The door was opened and a fat man with a beer belly walked in. It was Mr. Visser. He had come back after three hours as instructed. He saw the detective sitting with his legs on the desk and was slightly taken aback. He took a seat and sat comfortably.

"Your wallet, your money, all there," Valentine said while sliding two things across the desk after taking his feet off it.

Mr. Visser"s eyes widened. He hadn"t expected that the detective would actually find his stolen wallet within three hours. He took the wallet and checked the content.

"Everything is still inside," he said in relief, "you can keep the money, Mr. Detective. I really only need the cards."

Egbert Visser stuffed the wallet inside his messenger bag.

"How much should I pay you for this?" he asked with a happy tone.

Valentine didn"t really know how to calculate commission fees, so he just came up with a random number.

"Five guilders."

Egbert Visser"s eyes widened in disbelief. He had been prepared to pay much more, but he didn"t say anything. Valentine saw the shock in his client"s eyes and thought that his client thought that it was too expensive.

Egbert Visser quickly took out five guilder bills from his bag and handed it over to Valentine. He didn"t want the detective to change his mind.

"So, where did you find my wallet?" he asked curiously.

"It was discarded-- lying around somewhere," Valentine answered matter-of-factly.

"What about the thief? Was it really the man from last night?" he asked again; his tone was inquisitive.

"Yes. He has been taken care of," he said.

Egbert Visser saw Valentine"s eyes had a scary glint while he was saying that. He also noticed the pocket knife on the desk. He decided not to ask anything else.

"In that case, I"ll take my leave. Thank you very much, Mr. Detective. The rumours were right; you are a great detective." he said quickly, as if wanting to leave as soon as possible.

He got up and left the room. He then closed the door behind him gently. He didn"t want to offend the homeowner. Valentine was just sitting there the whole time. He then noticed that he hadn"t hidden the pocket knife.

"G, you deal with the thief," he said after sitting in silence for a while.

He cleaned up the desk, stuffed the money inside his wallet, and put away the knife. After that, he lied down in bed and started sleeping. Seconds later, Graham woke up and started complaining.

"Val, why did you only charge him five guilders..." his tone was regretful.

He then went out of his apartment room to his neighbor"s room. He unlocked the door and heard the sound of someone moving with difficulty inside. He readied the knife and opened the door.

Inside, he saw Luuk was limping to the bedroom, trying to avoid his guest. Graham closed the door behind him and locked it. He then approached Luuk quickly. He was faster because he could walk normally.

"Hey, Luuk, no need to run. I"m just here to talk," he said convincingly.

Luuk sat down on his bed and observed his guest. Something about him seemed different. He felt less dangerous, but more dangerous at the same time. He couldn"t understand his instinct.

"You"re not going to kill me, are you?" he asked warily.

"No, I"m not," he said with a genuine smile. He then took a chair and sit on it.

To Luuk, Graham"s genuine smile looked evil.

"How"s your injury?" he asked, looking at Luuk"s wrapped up thigh. There was a lot of blood on the cloth.

"It"s better now. Contractbounds heal faster than normal people after all," he said, still observing Graham"s every move carefully.

Graham concentrated and activated his eye power. He then looked at Luuk in the eyes.

"I"m going to ask you some questions. You will tell me only the truth because it"s in the best interest of both of us," he said convincingly.

Luuk felt somewhat confused by the statement. He felt a strong urge to comply. He nodded slowly.

"Why did you try to steal my money?"

"It"s to please my Deity. You should know that too as a Contractbound. My Deity wants me to steal a lot of money to please Him." he said honestly.

Graham nodded. He now understood why Luuk had stolen Egbert Visser"s money as well.

"Is the Deity you"re in a contract with the Deity of Theft?"

Luuk nodded. "Yes."

"What abilities did He grant you?" Graham asked with interest.

"I have night vision-- pretty useful for a thief. And also the ability to steal things within my vicinity. I need to be close enough to the target though. The last one is boosted nimbleness. Again, very useful for a thief." he answered informatively.

"What offering materials did you have to use in your ritual? And how did you get them?"

"I had to offer the intact feet of a dead athlete and the right hand of a pickpocket. I"m a medical student, so it was relatively easy for me to collect the materials. It just took me longer to wait for the right dead body."

"How did you become a Contractbound?" Graham asked his next question. He had been listening attentively to Luuk"s answers. They were all very informative.

"My professor at university told me all about it. He was also the one helping me gather the materials."

"Which professor? Why did he bring you over to this side?" Graham asked with suspicion.

"I don"t remember. After becoming a Contractbound, I haven"t seen him again. In fact, I don"t even remember his face."

Graham thought for a while. He guessed that it must have been a Deity"s power. It was kind of similar to Valentine"s secret power, but more powerful.

"He offered me to become one when he noticed that I was interested in crime. I go to the university library a lot to read books about it."

Graham went quiet for a while. He was thinking of the professor"s motive of making Luuk a Contractbound. If he had no ulterior motive, he wouldn"t have had to go through the trouble of erasing Luuk"s memory of him.

"Have you tried looking for him?" Graham finally spoke.

"Yes, but it is too difficult to look for someone whom everyone has a hazy memory of. Not even one person remembers him clearly."

"Not a single person? That is definitely suspicious," he concluded.

"It is, but there is nothing else I can do about it. And he hasn"t actually done me any harm." Luuk shrugged.

"Val, he doesn"t seem to be lying," Graham said under his breath.

Luuk looked at him but didn"t pay it any mind. He had heard the rumors about the detective"s peculiarity.

"True. Alright. Moving on. What else do you know about Contractbounds?" Graham added.

"Only a few things. I know that we heal more quickly than normal people."

Graham touched his chest. He had totally forgotten that he was injured there because suddenly the pain was just gone.

"I also know that Contractbounds must please their Deities. Otherwise..." Luuk paused.

"Val, this is the first time we"ve heard about this," Graham whispered and then looked back at Luuk, "Otherwise...?" he prompted.

"Otherwise their Deities would punish them. I"ve never actually seen that happen. I"ve only become a Contractbound for a month."

Luuk really didn"t seem to know the Deity"s punishment. The professor didn"t appear to have briefed him a lot. Graham"s mind went racing. He was thinking of all the possibilities of what might happen to someone who displeased their Deity. A lot of different scenarios came to his mind. He would try to divine it later to make sure.

"What else do you know?" he then continued asking.

"That"s all I know. I haven"t encountered any other Contractbounds so far. I"m trying to stay low-profile..." he paused; his expression showed that he remembered something.

"Actually, last night I might have encountered one. A dangerous Contractbound. When I was about to activate my theft power, a person glared at me with killing intent. I ran away at once."

"Did this happen on Oostaindestraat?" Graham deduced.

"Yes. How did you know?" Luuk was pleasantly surprised.

"I"m a detective," he said mysteriously.

"Come on, tell me," Luuk begged him.

"Okay. I deduced from the fact that you were going east from here because that"s where I found the wallet. And also that street was where you tried to steal from me." Graham explained.

"That simple?" Luuk was in disbelief. He had thought Graham had used his power.

"Yes, it is that simple," Graham confirmed.

Luuk hadn"t mentioned anything about a greater Deity, so Graham held back asking him about it.

"So... uhmm... are you going to turn me in?" Luuk asked nervously.

"No, actually. I"m just a private detective, not a law enforcer," he said factually.

Relief surfaced in Luuk"s eyes.

"Now, I have an offer for you," he said strongly.

Graham looked at Luuk in the eyes while smiling. Luuk looked at Graham and he genuinely was interested when he heard the word "offer".

"What is it?" he asked monotonously, as if not interested.

"Do you want to be my occasional collaborator? What that means is, occasionally I"ll come to you and ask for your help in finishing a mission."

Luuk was listening, and asked, "What"s in it for me?"

"Money, of course. And experience. You like studying crimes, don"t you?"

Luuk pretended to think for a while. He actually wanted to say yes right away, but couldn"t show too much enthusiasm or he wouldn"t have any bargaining power later.

"Hmmm... but I"m already busy with my studies."

"I"ll contact you only when I know you"re available. I have a way to know," Graham said mysteriously.

Luuk nodded and say, "Alright, I"ll do it. Do I have to sign a contract?"

"Yes, I"ll make one later," Graham said factually.

Graham then got up and looked around Luuk"s apartment room. It was smaller than his, but it had the same number of rooms; the living room, the bedroom, the kitchen, and the bathroom. The rooms were messy with a lot of papers and books and random stuff lying around.

"Val, I won"t last a day in this room without the urge to clean it." he clenched his fist and then turned back to Luuk, "Have you eaten? Let"s get something. It"s my treat for injuring you."

"Really? I haven"t, actually." Luuk said, pleasantly surprised.

"But I"m not buying anything expensive," Graham warned him with cold eyes.

Graham helped Luuk stand up and waited outside for the latter to get changed. Once both of them were ready, the two men walked downstairs and outside the apartment building. The sun had started to set and the street was busy with people.

"I know a cheap but good pizza place near here," Luuk spoke once they were outside.

"Sure." Graham nodded.

Graham and Luuk were walking for a while before arriving at a small pizza place called "Punk Pizza". The name rubbed Graham the wrong way, but he tried to keep an open mind.

It was a small building, with seats inside and outside the restaurant. The cobblestone street made gave a nice view for people sitting outside. There were a lot of people in the restaurant at the time, and there were only two seats remained outside.

The two men sat down on the remaining seats and called for the waiter or waitress. A young girl, probably around eighteen, came over to their table.

"What can I do for the two handsome men?" the waitress spoke teasingly.

"Aren"t you too young to speak like that?" Graham said.

Luuk only shrugged.

"Hehehe..." the waitress only laughed.

Graham ordered a tuna pizza with pineapple and a gla.s.s of chocolate milkshake while Luuk got a vegetarian pizza. He only ordered water to drink. The waitress noted down their orders and left.

"You don"t eat meat?" asked Graham curiously.

"No. Why?" asked Luuk back.

"Nothing," he answered shortly and then turned back, "Val, he"s lame."

Luuk overheard him and confronted Graham, "Did you just call me lame?"

"No. It must have been the wind." Graham brushed it aside.

They sat in silence for a while, each observing their surroundings. After a while, Graham spoke quietly, "So, among these people, who are within your power"s reach?"

"Luuk thought for a while and said, "Probably only the tables right next to ours. I must be really close to my target, and the target must be in my line of sight."

"Do you have a limit to how many times you can use it a day?"

"Yes. I think ten times should be my limit now. If I use it more than that, I"ll only get a stabbing pain in my head but no power." Luuk said.

"Val, it"s the same as us," Graham muttered again.

Luuk just watched without reacting.

Graham then whispered, "Can you steal from the person behind me?"

Surprised by the request, Luuk asked, "Are you sure you want me to do that?"

Graham nodded.

Luuk started chanting very quietly. The noisy restaurant helped mask his chanting.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare the man in blue"s wallet mine!"

He made a swiping motion with his right hand under the table and the wallet appeared there. He gave the wallet to Graham, who opened the wallet to check the content. There were some money, some bank cards, and an ident.i.ty card with the name Gerwin van Beek. He closed the wallet again.

Graham pretended to pick up something from the ground and talked to the person behind him.

"Sir, you have dropped your wallet," he said while giving the wallet to the man.

"Ah, thank you!" the man said sincerely. He then checked inside the wallet to see if the content was missing. When he saw everything was in there, he exhaled in relief.

"What was that for?" Luuk asked with a puzzled expression.

"I just wanted to see how your power works from up close," he said nonchalantly.

Not long after their little shenanigan, their orders arrived. They started eating right away. Graham ate with a normal speed, while Luuk ate very fast. He had finished his food when Graham still had half a plate of pizza left.

"Val, he eats like a beast," he muttered.

After the two finished eating, they asked the waitress to give them the bill. The same young waitress came to them.

"Here"s your total, handsome." she handed the bill to Graham while smiling weirdly.

Graham didn"t pay her any mind. His focus was on the bill. The total for everything was eighteen pennings. It was rather cheap for good pizza. Graham took nine duit coins from his pocket and gave them to the waitress. The waitress winked and left their table.

"The food here is good, but that waitress is a wacko," Graham said to Luuk.

"Maybe." Luuk only shrugged.

After they finished eating, the two men went back home and entered their respective apartment rooms.