Contractbound

"If they can pretend to be a human, do they have ident.i.ty cards like us?" asked Luuk suddenly as the motor carriage was driving across a bridge.

"I guess they do, or they can"t use public services, right?" said Jacco.

"You"re right. According to my divination, their number is not overwhelming, but they have a solid society. They also have someone provide them with fake ident.i.ty cards, which I"m guessing is from the black market," a.n.a.lyzed Graham.

"Do you know where the black market is, Jacco?" asked Luuk.

"Nope. Who do you think I am?" he raised his voice.

The driver at the front seemed surprised and looked through his rearview mirror to see what happened. His three pa.s.sengers, who were sitting very close to each other due to the limited s.p.a.ce, seemed to be alright, so he focused back on the road.

"A gang leader?" said Luuk nonchalantly.

"What does it f.u.c.king have to do with it? I just beat people up! I don"t deal with organized crimes!" Jacco said defensively.

The driver looked at them again through the mirror and his expression was worried. He quickly retracted his gaze before the pa.s.sengers realized he was looking at them.

Graham could see the truth in Jacco"s words. Although he and his gang members could be violent, they had never actually murdered anyone, which Graham had confirmed with his divination. The most that they did was beat people up and steal their belongings. It made Graham realize that both his partners were criminals: Luuk, a thief, and Jacco, a violent gang leader. If he could get the Slumberer to help him out, he would have a burglar in addition.

"Val, I guess we are the only ones without a shady ident.i.ty," he muttered and shrugged.

"What was that?" asked Jacco.

"Nothing. Just talking to myself," he answered casually.

"How did you get to know about this creature?" asked Jacco curiously.

"I"m a detective. I stumble upon many weird cases every day," boasted Graham.

Jacco didn"t ask any further because it wasn"t really his business. His relationship with the two men was only at a professional level. He was paid to provide support, and that was all. Although after fighting some battles together, he felt that he could trust them to some extent.

The rest of the trip went by quickly in silence. The motor carriage pulled over and Graham got out the first since he sat by the door. Luuk, who sat by the other door, also got out as soon as he could, leaving Jacco alone inside. The driver looked at his remaining pa.s.senger hesitantly and then asked for the transport fee.

"Those two!" he exclaimed in anger and then paid the driver before getting out of the motor carriage.

Graham and Luuk had gone ahead to a secluded alley. The street at that hour was quiet, especially since they were in East Sloten, but there were still some people pa.s.sing by. There were some apartment buildings there with rent much cheaper than Graham"s, but their condition was much worse and there were more shady characters living in the building. East Sloten was infamous for a reason, after all.

Jacco quickly ran after his two companions to the secluded alley and saw Graham staring undisturbedly at the flame from the lighter in his hand. He walked closer to check and suddenly an image appeared in front of him when he looked at the fire. It felt like he was watching something on a big cinema screen, but when he looked away, the image disappeared. The sensation was weird and magical at the same time: it was his first time seeing real divination at work, after all.

He looked closely at the image presented before him. It was of a baby-like creature that was sleeping upside down, hanging from the ceiling. Its body was that of a very fat baby, naked without any clothes, but its face was very ugly, with two sharp fangs protruding from its mouth. Its head was completely bald, and the skin covering its body looked pale purple instead of healthy human color. It was the most bizarre creature that Jacco had seen in his life; even wraiths were better than that. At least a wraith was a simple angry ghost, whereas the creature in the image was too complicated for him to digest. The image then disappeared from his sight slowly as if it was being returned to the flame.

"Was that our target?" he asked inquisitively.

"Yes," answered Graham shortly.

"I thought you said our target was a man?" asked Luuk. He also seemed to be surprised to see the appearance of the Tiyanak.

"It can pretend to be a man, but that is its true form: a monstrous baby," he explained and concentrated on the flame again.

The purpose of his previous divination was to find out whether the target was home or not, and the answer was yes. Now, he needed to find out if there would be more dangers waiting for them in the apartment building. He had previously divined the degree of danger of the mission, and the results told him it was manageable, so if there were indeed other sources of dangers in the building, as long as they avoided them, they should be alright.

"What dangers exist in the apartment building where the Tiyanak called Gerwin is hiding?"

The same thing happened again. In front of Jacco, an image would appear as long as he stared at the flame. This time, the image showed an aerial view of the apartment and there were several red dots glowing in different spots. There was a red dot with a different hue from others which indicated their targets. Luuk and Jacco also knew of this fact because their spirituality was somehow told by the divination. There was also another dot in the room next door, so they had to be stealthy if they wanted to avoid that one. There was a group of five red dots gathering together in a room upstairs. The sizes of the dots were roughly the same, so there shouldn"t any extremely dangerous individuals there currently. After that, the image gradually disappeared.

"Whoa, divination is f.u.c.king useful!" exclaimed Jacco.

Luuk also felt amazed every time, and a little envious, but he had chosen his own path and could only move forward. On top of that, the divinator was someone he knew, so if he needed some divination, he could always come over.

"You two go ahead to the target"s location. I need to do something else first. Don"t enter until I come," instructed Graham.

Luuk and Jacco nodded and got going immediately, leaving Graham alone in that secluded alley. They didn"t know what he needed to prepare, but they trusted him.

The apartment building was not really far from the alley. Luuk and Jacco arrived in under three minutes even with Jacco"s slow pace of walking. They entered and went to the third floor, where they had seen the red dot indicating their target"s location. The apartment building was older than Luuk"s and it smelled funny. It was a mixture of the smell of disinfectant and old wood. The two men arrived at the door of the room where the target was and not long after a man came after them silently.

"Are you done with your preparation?" asked Jacco quietly.

"Yes,"

Jacco felt that the man had changed. The aura that he was giving off was colder and straightforwardly dangerous, unlike before where it was really subtle. Jacco thought it was just his combat mode, so the detective"s mood also changed.

Graham had switched with Valentine for the fight because his Concealment would be very important if they wanted to avoid the attention of the other sources of dangers in the building. He stood in front of the door and chanted.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, hereby declare the sound coming from this room a secret!"

A thin yellowish mist descended and enveloped the wall around the door, and seemingly the whole room. The mist made people subconsciously neglected anything it covered, even sound.

Although his spell had been successfully cast, Valentine felt like it wouldn"t last long because the coverage was not just one thing, but a whole room. They had to hurry before the effect ran out and outsiders could hear what was happening in the room again. He gestured at Luuk and Luuk focused on the door in front of him and chanted his own spell.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare the lock of this door mine!"

His hand made a swiping motion and the whole lock magically appeared in his hand, while the spot where it had originally been was now empty. Jacco saw both his partners doing their stealthy moves and was slightly embarra.s.sed because he was the loudest of the bunch; even his ability was loud.

Valentine opened the door and entered the room, followed by Luuk. Jacco, who was the last to enter, closed the door behind him slowly. The Tiyanak should be in the bedroom, so they quietly walked past the living room towards the bedroom. As he opened the door to the bedroom, suddenly something lunged at him.

Clash!

Valentine dodged in time and the thing hit the wall behind him, creating a dent in the concrete wall.

"It"s the Tiyanak. Jacco!" shouted Valentine.

The Tiyanak had sensed their presence and decided to seize the opportunity to attack, although it missed. It was still in its naked baby form with a bloated belly and sharp fangs, which it bared against the intruders. Its hands, full of sharp claws, were holding on to the wall that it had just hit. Its eyes were red with very narrow pupils, like those of a cat. From closer, it was much uglier than when they saw it through divination. It had a face only a Tiyanak mother could love.

"I, in the name of the Deity of War, play this War Drum!"

Badum! Badum!

He beat the metal plate strapped on his stomach with an iron stick. It was an idea proposed by Graham before they left who got inspiration from the mafia members. It freed up Jacco"s right hand, so he could also help with the fight if needed.

Jacco"s War Drum empowered his allies and agitated the enemy. The Tiyanak moved with non-human agility and quickly aimed for Jacco"s head with its sharp claws, but Valentine was fast enough to deflect its attack with his knife.

Clang!

The metal knife rubbed against the sharp claws and created a loud noise. From outside the room, however, nothing was heard because of Valentine"s concealment.

Whoosh!

Suddenly there was a strong gust of wind pushing the trio back. The Tiyanak had used its supernatural power against them!

Badum! Badum!

Jacco still managed to keep the beat of his drum steady despite the impact. His right hand reached out to the nearest object to throw at the quickly approaching monster baby.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare your momentum mine!"

His right hand made a swiping motion and the Tiyanak slowed down suddenly, which gave Valentine the chance to jump in for the attack.

Slash!

His knife slashed the belly of the creature and from the wound, purple blood spewed out. The Tiyanak took a step back quickly, and at the same time, Luuk opened his fist. It then suddenly dashed behind, farther than it intended to, and with stronger force until it hit the wall hard. More blood gushed out from the impact.

"Great work!" complimented Jacco without understanding what had happened. He didn"t know that Luuk"s abilities had evolved.

The Tiyanak stood still for a second and the wound on its belly started to heal very quickly until it was nothing but a scar. Valentine, who wasn"t just watching and standing around while it happened, had dashed towards the creature with his knife ready for an attack. Luuk watched the creature carefully and then chanted very quickly.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare your intention of defending against the attack with your hands mine!"

He made a swiping motion and kept his right hand clenched in a fist. The Tiyanak, who was about to defend itself, suddenly stopped its action midway because the intention had been stolen. It then tried to evade instead but was too late because the one-second delay between its actions was enough for Valentine.

Slash!

He beheaded the creature with his knife and purple blood spurted from its neck. Its headless body then fell down on the ground, motionless, while its head was lying nearby with eyes open wide. Blood kept coming out from its neck and the floor was soon covered with strange purple liquid. Once the blood stopped flowing, they knew that the creature had died.

The Tiyanak rapidly aged and rotted following its death, and from its corpse, a spherical red object appeared. It looked like a sh.e.l.l-less egg with a dead fetus inside. Valentine approached the object and stuffed it in his coat.

"That was an easy fight," said Jacco from the back.

It was the easiest fight so far for the group. It was also due to the fact that Luuk had gotten more powerful so his support was more versatile now.

Valentine didn"t respond. He had to quickly finish the job before anything bad happened. He slit his palm and poured his blood on the ground while chanting to place anti-divination in the area, while Luuk and Jacco were watching. Once he was done, he looked at his two companions and said,

"We have to leave quickly. The thing next door has heard the vibration coming from this room,"