Having managed to pass the wounded officer to his colleagues at the entrance, Xiaoye made her way back to the second floor. Now aware of what she was facing, she had also procured a shotgun from one of her colleagues, loaded with shells containing silver and salt mixed into the gunpowder. Harmful to herself, yes, except Xiaoye is the one firing it. Ultimately, the shotgun’s wide spread would allow her to hit the pelesit in the hospital, which was too nimble for her to get a clear shot with her pistols.

Xiaoye still remembered her first encounter with a pelesit, a tamed one at that. Sometime during World War Three, when she had been recruited into the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, she was part of a 12-man unit consisting only of British-Asians that was sent to Singapore to covertly assist the militaries of Singapore and Indonesia after the United States, a strong ally of the UK, suddenly invaded Singapore in an attempt to get a foothold in the Southeast Asia region, resulting in a three-sided war with Chinese forces who had the same idea. During that time, she witnessed a local black magic practitioner using a pelesit to interrogate captured Chinese and American soldiers, and was told by her about the dangers posed by this creature and how to deal with it properly so it doesn’t turn into a feral, man-sized monster like the one she was facing now.

First, she needed to check on the teens. Still able to remember their position, she soon found them in the room on the left end of the corridor. As per what the guards had said, all four of them appeared frozen in time, but Xiaoye knew that they were actually in another dimension, a vortex created by a ghost to trap humans, causing them to run around in circles. Judging by the cameras and digital recorders in their hands, they had most likely came into the building to do some ghost hunting, an activity that had been outlawed by the government after one possession too many.

Xioaye shook her head. A colleague of hers mentioning that there are three kinds of ghost hunters in Singapore: The first ones help restless spirits move on without need of an exorcist, the second ones who just want to strike lottery the dirty way, and the last ones are just bored and want to do something interesting without realizing how dangerous it is. Judging by the teens’ equipment and attire, Xiaoye decides to go with the third one.

The ghosts in question that were holding the teens in vortex were a strange pair themselves: Both were dressed in World War Two military attire, except one was from the Japanese Army and the other was ANZAC. Either way, they were enemies in life, but now the two were working together in death. Both stared warily at Xiaoye, who merely smiled at them.

“Keeping them youngsters safe, I presume?”

The Japanese ghost nodded. Seems he knows the English language.

“Where’s the pelesit? The bug monster that killed a police officer?”

This time, the ANZAC soldier answered by twirling his finger in the air, indicating that the pelesit has been wandering around the building.

“When did it began haunting this place?”

Both ghosts looked at each other, then the ANZAC ghost began tapping on the ground in Morse code: Half an hour ago.

“I see. So it just showed up and tried to turn this building into its nest, eh? Well, you want it to stay or do I evict it for you boys?”

The Japanese soldier lets out an evil grin as he drew a finger across his throat, with the ANZAC soldier nodding in agreement. Xiaoye bid them goodnight and took one last look at the teens before leaving the room. Almost immediately, she could hear the buzzing of insect wings again, followed by something skittering across the floor. Damn bug’s trying to ambush me again, Xiaoye thought to herself as she looked around, but then she quickly realized what her opponent was planning.

“Nice try, arsehole,” Xiaoye snarked as she raised her shotgun and fired a blast at the pelesit, knocking it down from the ceiling where it had been waiting to pounce on her.

The pelesit shrieked in pain as its wounds began to heal, but the special shells have done the damage, for the wounds could not close properly. Xiaoye fired again, but the pelesit managed to dodge this time around, smashing through one of the windows.

Xiaoye cursed as she looked out the broken window to see the pelesit flying towards the other buildings of the hospital, quickly deducing where it was headed as she leap out the same window, nimbly landing on both feet like a cat before breaking into a run.

“Bradley! Inspector! The teens are at the third floor, room on the left end all the way!” she called out to her superior officers who were themselves firing a few shots at the fleeing pelesit along with the other officers.

“What about the pelesit?”

“I’ll deal with it! Get to the hospital gate at Hendon Road and cut it off!”

The pelesit was not flying as fast as it should be, with Xiaoye suspecting that she may have done some damage to its wings, but she still had difficulty catching up, and by the time she reached the other end of the old hospital, the pelesit was ready to strike back at her.

Caught off-guard by the pelesit suddenly divebombing her from above the moment she stepped foot into the area, Xiaoye is thrown to the ground, dropping her shotgun in the process. As she got up, she felt the pelesit grab one of her legs right before she was lifted a few inches off the ground, dragged through the air and unceremoniously thrown out through the doors of the building and into the courtyard.

Unleashing a blue streak of vile insults, Xiaoye waited for the pelesit to charge at her for the third time, grabbing hold of it once it was within range and getting lifted into the air in the process. The two grappled as the pelesit tried to dislodge Xiaoye with its legs, unable to reach her with its stinger, and the cambion responded by ripping off its wings, causing them both to fall twelve feet back to the ground, landing hard on the asphalt. Once again, the pain shooting through Xiaoye’s ribs threatened to take her out of commission, but when she saw that her opponent was still alive, she became so frustrated that it dulled her pain.

By now, reinforcements have arrived at the gates. The normal officers were stunned at the sight of the pelesit while the Shades were mildly surprised by it. As Xiaoye got up and approached her opponent, she saw that the fall had broken two of the pelesit’s legs and, with its wings ripped off by Xiaoye, it was unable to go anywhere but slowly crawl along the floor. Dropping the pelesit’s wings, Xiaoye pulled out one of her pistols, limped over to the pelesit and took aim at it, taking grim satisfaction at the creature looking up at her to reveal the fear in its eyes right before she put two bullets into its head, ending its life.

“Wanker bug,” she muttered as she kicked the corpse aside and walked over to where Bradley was while her colleagues, seeing that the creature was dead, started preparing for a clean-up of the scene.

“You all right?” Bradley asked.

“Aye, might need to look at that rib, though. I’ve taken three hard tumbles in a span of- How long were we here?”

“Twenty minutes.”

“Definitely need a check-up. And a good bath, too. Damn thing is howfin' like horse piss.”

“Damn, the last time I saw one of this little freaks, they were the size of my pinkie. How did this one get so big?” Bradley asked as he took one look at the dead pelesit.

“Improper disposal, not to mention that there is a lot of negative energy around this place for it to absorb, and then there’s also the troubling suspicion that it’s a lot older than I am. How’s the officer I dragged out the hospital?”

“They managed to get him to the hospital in record time. His wounds were quite severe, and last I heard, he’s still in the operating room. I’ll update you once I have the news.”

Xiaoye sighed as she leaned against the sedan, clutching her side as she looked up at the night sky. Bradley joined her, offering a cigarette (the normal ones) to which Xiaoye shook her head.

“How old is he? Eighteen? Nineteen?”

“Does it matter? You saved his life, did what you could. Now it is in the hands of the surgeons. Speaking of which, one of the ambulances followed us up here. You can go check your rib.”

“Good idea.”

The paramedic was a woman in her forties who Xiaoye has encountered a few times, quite experienced in her job and often seen with rookies, like the jittery young man who was being extra careful as he applied dressing on some of the cuts and abrasions on Xiaoye’s arms.

“Rough fight, huh?” the female paramedic commented.

“You could say that again… Seems even a cambion has physical limits. What about you? There’s cuts on your face.”

“Nearly got it ripped off by a vampire the previous night. Didn’t even realize the patient we were transporting to the hospital was one until his fingers turned into claws. Scared my NS boy half to death. Luckily for us, some hunters were already trailing him and they saved my crew.”

Xiaoye lets out a soft laugh.

“Sounds like you need to start keeping some silverware in your ambulance.”

“Oh, I have my silverware with me all the time. That damn vampire isn’t the first bloodsucker to try and attack me and my crew in our own ambulance,” the paramedic retorted as she showed Xiaoye the four silver rings on her right hand that had some dried blood on them while waiting for her portable x-ray machine to print the results of the scan made on the cambion.

“That’s innovative. Anyways, how’s my ribs?”

“According to these scans… Seems to be holding despite you being tossed around, if what those officers said were true. You really ought to have rested, though. I remember it was just a two weeks ago when you had that fractured rib sticking out your back. Sure, you heal just as fast as a vampire, but I’ve seen vampires die or get crippled for months from non-silver related injuries, like getting knocked to the ground from a hundred meters in the air during a fight.”

“Never heard of such a thing happening.”

“Vampires are good at keeping secrets, but corpses don’t lie. Now, I suggest you continue with whatever painkillers you were prescribed and get your superior officer to stop sending you on assignments that require a lot of physical action for at least three more weeks or so.

Thanking the paramedic, Xiaoye went back to where Bradley was. The pelesit’s corpse was currently being burnt by one of the Shades wearing a gas mask and armed with a military flamethrower while Bradley watched.

“So, how did it go?”

“It’s holding, but the medics insist that I avoid strenuous activities for three more weeks.”

“Huh, that’s going to be problematic. I’ll have to change a few plans.”

“What kind of plans are we talking about here?”

“Go home and rest, I’ll fill you in tomorrow. C’mon, I’ll give you a lift.”

One hour later, Di Xiaoye was standing outside the Kyubi Herbal Remedies, one of several shophouses located alongside the infamous Thompson Road Grand Prix Circuit, which claimed seven lives during its eleven-year history. Because of its history and an spike in hauntings around the area after World War Three, few people dared to visit it at night, making the shophouses the perfect place for non-humans to live in and run their night business.

“Konbanwa, Xiaoye. You’re late, and smell of blood… Another attack, I presume?” a kitsune asked as Xiaoye entered the shophouse.

“Aye, Tokimaru. How’s business?”

“Never mind my business. How could Bradley make you go on an extermination when you have only just recovered?”

Tokimaru was the ideal landlord. The six-hundred-year-old kitsune lost his family years ago, thus his caring attitude towards his young tenants, not to mention that he never charges them rent as long as they help him out at the stall.

“I’ll be fine, Tokimaru. Bradley’s probably putting me on desk duty until I’m well again.”

“Anata wa watashi o shinpai shimasu! But then again, you’re stuck with the job because of your past crimes. If only things could go a little better.”

“Where’s the Yang twins? And that aswang? Felipe better not be draining someone dry, he knows I am duty bound as a law enforcerment officer to exterminate him.”

“The twins are helping me get some supplies that were flown in from my home country just a few hours ago. And Felipe only drinks blood once a month, remember? He’s gone to meet with his blood vendor.”

“You mean his boyfriend. Real braw for a human. Saw them getting all touchy with each other outside my room a few days ago.”

“I don’t bother myself with other people’s relationships. As for you, you should take a bath and go rest up. Oh, and here, a special tea for aches.”

Xiaoye accepted the tea from Tokimaru and went upstairs to her room, but she never got the chance to drink it as the moment she finished her shower and laid down on her bed, it was lights out for her.