Contractbound

Graham was in the kitchen making a cup of hot chocolate when the bell to his apartment was rung. He turned on his gas burner and did quick divination before opening the door. He wanted to see who his guest was because he wasn"t expecting anyone. The flame from the stove burned calmly and then showed an image of a woman standing at the door while ringing the bell; she was someone he didn"t recognize. He then put out the flame.

He quickly went to his office and turned on the light. He put on his coat that was hanging from the stand to cover his bare chest; he was only wearing his pajama pants at the moment. After making sure he looked presentable, he unlatched the bolt and grabbed the door handle, and opened it to greet his guest.

"Good morning. Come in and have a seat," he smiled warmly and gestured at his guest to come in.

"Thank you," said the woman shortly with a heavy voice.

Graham went to sit in his chair while the woman took the seat across from him at the desk. She was a young woman, probably in her mid-twenties, and was wearing office attire while carrying a large purse in her left hand. It was a Friday morning, so at that hour she should be at work, which made it strange that she was there. Her hair was brown, as were her eyes that reflected anxiety. She seemed to be worried about something. Her left leg, that was resting elegantly on her right one, kept bouncing up and down lightly.

"How can I help you?" asked Graham gently but firmly. He showed an expression of genuine concern so that it would be easier for her to open up to him.

Hearing the detective"s gentle voice, the woman seemed to be calming down slightly. Her restless eyes were hopeful.

"I heard from Mr. Visser that you are a great detective. I need your help with something..." she paused. It appeared that she still hesitated to tell him what she needed. The woman hugged the purse on her lap tightly.

Mr. Visser? Egbert Visser whose wallet was stolen by Luuk? he thought.

"Anything you tell me will be kept a secret. We have client confidentiality here, so you don"t have to worry," he said a.s.suringly. His hands were held together in front of him to show sincerity.

The woman, who was rather good-looking, was still hesitating. She looked down while her right hand was ma.s.saging her stomach, hidden behind her purse. Graham could guess right away what her problem probably was. A beautiful young woman coming to his detective agency at work hour. She probably just found out about something and went directly to his office.

"... I need you to find the father of my baby," she finally said.

Spot on! Thought Graham. He had wanted to say it out loud so Valentine could hear it as well, but he didn"t want to discourage the woman from talking more about it. He didn"t say anything; he waited for the woman to continue her request without interruption.

"I don"t know who the father is..." she added hesitantly while looking down.

"Can you please tell me the detail?" he asked softly.

The woman in front of him seemed rather embarra.s.sed to tell a stranger the whole story, but she braced herself because otherwise the father would never be found.

"... alright," she said, making up her mind, and then looked at Graham right in the eyes, but it only lasted for two seconds because his green eyes seemed to be staring right into her soul.

"I found out I am pregnant just this morning. I"ve missed my period for two days and then I decided to check," she spoke softly while avoiding eye-contact with him, "The problem is, I don"t know who the father is,"

"Who did you do it with last?" asked Graham while trying his best not to have any judgment in his tone.

"I-I always do it with a different man every night..." she said embarra.s.sedly.

It surprised Graham that such a timid woman had s.e.x with a different partner every night, although it was strange that someone who could easily find different men to have s.e.x with like that was timid in the first place.

"Do you always do it without condoms or is there anyone in particular that you did something like that with?" asked Graham again still trying to sound neutral.

"I always do it without and it hasn"t been a problem before because I"m always on the pill..." she paused again, "But it turns out they are not really effective, are they?" her tone was mocking and regretful.

Graham couldn"t say anything. He wouldn"t judge her lifestyle, but it was an extremely reckless thing to do it without protection. He could only facepalm inwardly and proceeded to maintain a professional face.

"Do you still remember the names of the men you had s.e.x with in the last two to three weeks? Anyway, how can I address you?" asked Graham with a professional tone.

"Just call me Anne," she said. It was an extremely common name in the republic. Even Rube"s wife was called Anne.

Anne looked around the desk to find something, and then she saw a stack of paper lying on the other side. She looked at Graham as if asking for permission, so he nodded. She took a piece of paper and borrowed his pen to write something.

"These are all of them," she said softly after she finished writing. She slid the paper across the desk to his side.

On the paper, there was now neat handwriting of fourteen different male names. She had had s.e.x with that many men only in three weeks, which was much more than him in a year probably. What was more amazing was the fact that she remembered all of them. Graham could only applaud her for her endeavor.

"What else can you tell me about these men? The more detailed, the better," he said.

The woman took the paper back from Graham and started writing again next to each name. From where he was sitting, he could see the piece of paper slowly being filled up with the beautiful handwriting, and he was looking forward to what kind of detail the woman in front of him would write about her s.e.x partners.

Once she was finished, she gave the paper back to him, and he read out loud the content to double-check with her as well,

"Josef: tall, green eyes, blonde, facial haired, Gerwin: short, well-built, brown hair, a mole on the right chin, Arthur: tall, brown hair, handsome, Bernhard: medium-height, baby-faced, blue eyes, Gerwin: tall, mid-thirties, a scar on face, black hair"

Graham continued reading the list of all the fourteen men, one of whom was named Luuk. However, from the description, it was unlikely to be the Luuk from next door. He was again amazed by her good memory; she could remember the detail of all the fourteen men who had slept with her.

"Is everything correct?" he looked at her and watched her reaction intently; if anything wasn"t as it was supposed to be, he would notice right away from her change of expression.

"Yes. Can you find who the father is from the list?" she asked hopefully.

It should be almost impossible for a normal detective to do so with just a list like that, but Graham was a divinator, so such a thing was not impossible for him.

"Yes, but for that, I will also need your full name and address," he said seriously; his tone was very convincing.

She hesitated again and then after making up her mind, she finally spoke, "My name is Anne Smit. I live in an apartment on Oostparkstraat,"

Graham looked at her expression the whole time she was speaking and judged that she was not lying.

"That should suffice. Come back later in the evening and I should already have the answer," he said.

"Really?" her eyes opened wide in disbelief and antic.i.p.ation.

"Yes. And I can guarantee that the result is accurate," he said a.s.suringly.

"O-okay," she replied with relief in her tone, "In that case, I"ll get going now,"

Anne and Graham both stood up and he took his guest to the door. Once she had left, Graham took off his coat and sat bare-chested in his office chair with a lighter in his right hand. He could actually get the result within five minutes with divination, but he needed to make it seem like he had to work hard for it.

Graham sat quietly while staring at the lighter flame that he had just lit. He began to get to work right away. He repeated a question in his mind and concentrated.

"Who is the father of the baby inside Anne Smit?"

The flame kept burning, but after waiting for some time, no image came up. He waited longer and concentrated harder in case it had something to do with himself rather than the question, but there was still nothing.

"There is no result. Did she give me the wrong information?"

He concentrated again but changed the question.

"What is the name of the woman who just came here?"

The flame burned brightly and an image gradually appeared. It showed an image of the client who had just come to his office sitting across from him. Above her head, a name was floating, which read Anne Smit, just as she had claimed. The image then disappeared.

"So her name is really Anne Smit. Where did I go wrong with the question? Is she actually not pregnant?" he thought hard.

Graham needed to check it, so he concentrated on the flame again.

"Is Anne Smith pregnant?"

The flame in front of him showed an image of a paper that was set on fire. The fire consumed the whole paper, indicating a positive result.

"She is indeed pregnant. Then don"t tell me..." he suddenly got a bad feeling.

Graham concentrated on the flame and asked a different question to confirm his suspicion.

"What is the thing inside Anne Smit"s womb?"

The flame in his hand burned brighter while the room grew darker. Gradually, an image formed. In the image, he could see a s.p.a.ce that looked like a womb and a tiny thing resting in it peacefully. However, for something that had just recently been conceived, it was too big. He wondered why he hadn"t seen any difference in Anne"s belly when she came in. The thing inside didn"t look like a human fetus either. It had rotten skin and a pair of sharp fangs that were sticking out of its mouth. It was definitely not human!

The image disappeared and left Graham in speechless. He had encountered unimaginable things, but this one took the cake.

"A supernatural creature pretending to be a human fetus. How did it get inside anyway? Is the father also one of its kinds?" he made guesses.

Graham put out the fire and left the lighter on his desk. He crouched down to the safe and opened it with his secret combination. Inside the safe, there were contract scrolls that he had obtained before, some round objects which were the remains of Contractbounds, purple crystal fragments, and an ancient-looking book. He took out the book and locked the safe.

He opened it and scanned through the content, looking for the keyword baby or fetus. It didn"t take long for him to reach the page that he was looking for. It was an entry for a creature called Tiyanak. He read the content carefully.

"Tinayaks are vampiric supernatural creatures that are active mostly at night. Their main source of sustenance is human and animal blood, but they prefer the former. Different from Vampires, Tiyanaks cannot create more of their kinds through bestowment rituals, and they do not have a long lifespan. The males have to breed with a human female, who will then carry the youngling until it is big enough to suck the blood dry from its host. Once the human host dies, the young Tiyanak will then dig its way out and quickly grow into an adult Tiyanak in the span of one week. There is currently only one known safe way to save the human host, which is by a strong blood purification to kill it without harming the human."

"Tiyanaks are dangerous creatures because they can perfectly alter their appearance to blend within human society. They are also very cautious creatures, which made it even more difficult to distinguish them from a real human. The only way to tell them apart from a normal human is by waiting for them to show their true appearance, usually when they are in extreme danger or when hunting, which they always do at night when they are at their strongest. The way to kill them is by making them bleed out, which in itself is difficult because they have fast regeneration. Beheading them seems to work, although, with their speed, it will not be an easy task to do."

Graham finished reading the entry about the supernatural creature and closed the book. He then sat there in his office chair silently.

"What kind of case have I gotten into?"