“Sir, please let her go,” said SK. The muzzle of his gun still aimed right at Zane with his finger at the edge of the trigger.

Zane frowned. It was a bit too late to call him sir and act politely after intruding in his home. “Who the fuck are you guys?” he demanded to know. “And why the fuck are you in my house?”

Liz the two-meter woman was still in his grasp, struggling to escape with her breath slowly emptying out from her lungs.

“I can tell you all of that, sir. But I need you to let go of my partner,” SK tried to deescalate the situation. But still, pointing a gun at Zane wasn’t helping.

“You think I’m an idiot? You still pointing a gun at me and you expect me to let go of my only shield?” Zane said the obvious.

“Okay, sir. Relax. I’ll put down my gun on the floor and—”

“Not there,” Zane cut him off. Nodding his head at the kitchen. “Slide it over there.”

SK hesitated. But he did as he was asked and slid the gun across the floor to the kitchen.

“Now can you let her go?” SK raised his hands up in surrender, eying at Liz who was slowly closing her eyes.

“Get back inside the bedroom,” he said.

“But sir—”

“Do it!” he barked. “Or else your friend here will die.” He bluffed. There was no way he was going to kill someone, not when he was still on Singapore’s soil.

Liz was getting weaker, barely struggling. Yet her grip on the gun was still tight with no intention of letting it go.

SK did as told and went back inside the bedroom, keeping an eye on Zane through the doorway.

Zane snatched the gun away from Liz’s strong grip with his own outlandish strength. His eyes caught something from SK, noticing the man was trying to make a move. “Stop what you are doing, or I’ll blow her head off,” Zane threatened. While deep inside he couldn’t believe he just said such villain-like words, and no, he wasn’t going to blow anyone’s head off.

SK backed away, grimacing over everything that had happened. Zane threw the gun behind him, sliding it under the TV cabinet. He kept his eyes at SK while his free hand scoured over Liz’s body, searching for any possible hidden weapons. Frowning, he found another gun. Throwing it again under the TV cabinet. And another one on her left leg holster. And again on her right leg. This chick was really packing some fires and to be honest, it scared the shit out of Zane at the moment. And to make things worse, he rummaged through her jacket inside pocket and found something unbelievable. A grenade? He was in disbelief. Glancing back at SK with questioning eyes.

He pocketed the grenade and kicked the unconscious Liz away. Standing up, he put some distance between them and aimed a small gun, a Ruger LCP 2 from Liz’s right leg at SK.

“Don’t move,” he said.

“But my friend she—”

“Fuck your friend. Just do as I say and things would be peachy,” Zane said. Shuffling his feet closer to the kitchen as he grabbed a roll of raffia string from the lowest drawer of his kitchen cabinet. He threw it at SK and pointed at Liz.

“Tie her up,” he ordered.

SK complied without question. And by the time he finished, Zane was close to him with a gun pointed at his head.

“Doesn’t feel great being pointed by a gun, ey?” Zane said with a smirk.

“This is a mistake. You—”

“I what?” Zane cut SK off again. “Who’s the one who trespassed here? And if this is America, shooting at a trespasser is the right to bear arm, isn't it?”

SK wanted to say he was British, but knowing he was at the end of a muzzle made his lips shut.

Zane scoffed. “Well lucky for you, this is fucking Singapore,” he said. Removing the magazine from the gun, and emptying out the bullet in the chamber. Zane threw it at the kitchen and laid his eyes at SK, sitting obediently on his old couch.

“Don’t move, or else I’m not going to be nice,” Zane warned and came closer to SK. Tying him up with the raffia string as tightly as possible. After it was done, Zane dropped himself on the single-seat sofa. Leaning at the soft cushion, easing the tension from his mind and body.

“So who the fuck are you guys?” his eyes lazily glanced at the tied-up SK.

[Anthony Irons a.k.a Short King a.k.a SK][Lv.0]

[Age: 32]

[Class: None]

[Occupation: Agent of CPU]

[HP: 12/12]

[Strength: 7]

[Vitality: 6]

[Agility: 8]

[Perception: 8]

[Condition: Brainstorming, Calm.]

[Height: 170cm/5 feet 7]

[Weight: 71kg/156lbs]

“We’re agents, sir,” SK said. “But we can’t divulge the name of our organization as it’s classified. The only thing you need to know is we’re the good guys.”

Zane stared at him for a while. “Are you listening to yourself?” he asked. “You want me to believe you’re the good guys after intruding into my house and then pointing your guns at me like a side-villain in an action movie.”

“You don’t understand. We need to be cautious in meeting potential…” SK cut himself off.

“Go on,” Zane waved his hand for him to continue. “If you’re not going to say anything, I might as well call the cops. The popo wouldn’t like it when they find two foreigners with a gun armory strapped on their bodies. It would be a great headline for news tomorrow. Don’t you think?”

Their standstill went on for a while, staring at each other eyes, waiting for either of them to cave in.

“We saw you last night,” SK said.

Raising an eyebrow from Zane, catching his interest.

“From the CCTV in Starbucks,” SK further elaborated. “You met it, didn’t you?”

“So that’s why you guys are here,” Zane leaned back on the couch as he finally could relax. “So what? Is this how you guys do your investigation? Barging into people’s homes without consent? or even a warrant?” Deep down he had known that someone must have known about the existence of the vampire he fought last night, and here they were. He was itching to ask about what the hell was a CPU, but he restrained himself as telling them that piece of information might put a target on his back. For an organization that hid in the shadows, being known went against their motto.

Zane looked unfazed as if the matter of encountering a vampire was trivial to him. And that attitude of his made SK question who he was dealing with.

“But it’s a vampire! Shouldn’t you be worried at least?” SK asked. Zane's reaction to a vampire’s existence was borderline unusual.

“Judging from the video, I know you fought the vampire last night . . . I don’t know how you survive through it, but you’re lucky it ran away before things get ugly,” SK said. “If I were you, I would be worried about it as it’s still out there . . . And who knows, it might be waiting for the chance of getting you back when nightfall.”

Again, Zane stared at SK. Pitying the so-called agent for his mild attempt in trying to bait Zane into asking for their protection over a non-existent threat. Rather than telling them that the vampire was dead, he chose the better option. He still didn’t like their method of investigation as he might as well let them on a wild goose chase.

“So besides vampire, what else exists in this world of ours?” he asked. Curious in knowing the shadows that existed in this so-called monster-less world of his.

SK kept his lips sealed as he glanced a few times at the unconscious Liz to his side. “Answer me first, did it bite you?” SK asked.

“Why? You’re afraid I’m going to turn and chomp that neck of yours?” Zane smirked.

“Sir, I’m asking this for the best of our interest and humanity,” SK said. “So please, have you been bitten?”

“No,” he said.

But it seemed SK wasn’t satisfied from just hearing an answer. If he could he would have asked Zane to strip and turn around in front of him just to make sure. But looking at those cold domineering eyes of Zane, he was better off not saying a word about doing such a thing.

“So spit it out. It’s your turn,” Zane said. Waiting to hear the ridiculous stories that would turn out to be true.

“Pretend you didn’t hear this from me . . . Whatever you see and listen in the big screen is all real. Down to the folklores and myths that exist throughout the ages are all very much real and downright frightening,” SK said it simply.

“You’re not much of a storyteller are ya,” Zane said. As he was rather disappointed over how lackluster the answer was. He was hoping the tied-up man to be more detailed in his answer, but he guessed the vow to stay silent was still strong in SK.

“Just tell me this, do zombies exist?” Zane asked. Curious about that single monster that was always depicted in the media as an apocalypse bringer type of monster.

“They do. But it’s not like what you think,” SK said. “They aren’t monsters born in a hidden conspiracy lab with all the mambo-jumbo of fictional science where a single bite could turn someone into a zombie. But they do exist in a supernatural kind of way.”

“Meaning?”

“Voodoo priest. Those crazy bunches are the main reason for dead people coming out of their graves,” SK said.

“You’re saying magic exists here?” the existence of magic got him more curious than about the existence of monsters. And the smile he had betrayed the poker face he had been wearing through the situation.

“Again, it’s not like what you think. It isn’t like Harry Potter and Hogwarts . . . The magic that really exists is something viler in nature unlike the hocus pocus you see in mainstream media, ” SK explained.

He was a bit disappointed to be honest. But knowing it existed made it possible for other types of magic to exist here on earth.

“So coming back to why you guys are here,” Zane gave SK a side glance. “You’re here to kill me isn’t it.”

SK gulped a mouthful. “We’re only following protocols,” SK said. “If there’s no sign of being infected, we have no reason of doing anything.”

“Makes sense,” Zane nodded. “I kinda understand the reason behind it, but I still can’t let go of the fact that you guys trespassed into my apartment.”

Zane gave a cold stare at SK.

“There are so many ways you guys could handle this,” he said. “But you had to choose something that tick me off the most.” Zane glared at the unconscious Liz. “And I’m not the type that let things go easily.” He let out a smirk as the glint in his eyes showed he had something special for these two.