Xiaoye was furious with herself.

She was a veteran of World War Three. She was a convicted killer. She was the daughter of Malphas, the mistress of dust and currently the toughest bitch in the whole of Singapore.

And she just got her arse handed to her last night by some unknown cunt of a vampire from the forests of Romania, one that even other vampires think doesn’t exist.

A punch to her face was followed by a choking sensation as she felt herself being lifted, and had Tokimaru not intervened, she was very certain that this pricolici, as Felipe claimed that thing was, would have broken her neck on the spot. Another good reminder of her own mortality, something most cambions tend to forget which often results in their untimely demise.

As Xiaoye punched away at a specially-made punching bag designed for non-regular officers in the police gym, other officers could sense the cambion’s frustrations and were wisely keeping their distance. Xiaoye didn’t really care, she was more worried about Rendal and Tom. Both men were hospitalized for the injuries they suffered last night while defending Inna from the pricolici, and neither would be back in uniform for at least two to three weeks. Tom in particular did had a fractured skull as Tokimaru had said, and if it wasn’t for the kitsune’s prowess in the healing arts, it would have been a career-ending injury for the desk corporal, who at the moment was still unconscious in the hospital. Lucas himself had several nasty bruises on his back and head, but against the doctor’s recommendations, he was already back on duty filling up the desk role for his brother-in-law, with Xiaoye sometimes wondering if Lucas’s near-inability to feel emotions also makes him somewhat immune to pain.

“Blaming yourself for something you can’t control again, I see.”

One last punch to the bag, and Xiaoye stopped as she turned around to face DSP Dettral Hamlins. As usual, he had that sour look on his face like as though he had just devoured a rotten lemon. She mentally groaned, wondering if the elf was here to rub into her face about what happened at her neighbourhood.

“I live right next door to them, sir, and I couldn’t even get to them in time.”

“And would that change anything? I heard you were overpowered by that intruder.”

“Aye… My roommate called it-”

“A pricolici. I know of that creature. AC Bradley and several other officers were quite surprised by it, though. Vicious vampires so rare that they are a myth even among their own kind. The Sanguine Court of Southeast Asia are in an uproar at the moment, and our witness has confirmed that the creature you faced last night was the one that killed Ronald Peterson.”

Hamlins maintained that steely glare at Xiaoye, who felt herself shrinking in size even as she thought back to the events of the previous night.

“So, sergeant, how does it feel? Being overwhelmed by something stronger than you?” he asked.

“Another reminder that I’m not immortal, that a mistake on my part can get me or others killed.”

“Clearly you remember that lesson well. So, what do you plan to do now? Keep punching away at that bag or actually going out to find the killer?”

“Even if we find him, how do we even fight him?”

“Three humans were beating him up before he unleashed his full power against them. You’re a cambion and you sound like as though you’ve given up.”

“Look, sir, my powers are blind. They don’t care what they hit, but I care, all right? Besides, I have a damn Prayer Shackle around my neck, modified to have a kill switch that blows my head to pieces if I use my Black Arts without authorization after one warning, remember?”

“And how many times have you worked your way around your restrictions to capture the suspects? Someone gets hurt in a situation where you’re just around the corner, and you start beating yourself up over how you could have prevented it. Get over it. There are situations where even the gods do not expect, thus their inability to intervene.”

“What are you trying to do, cheer me up? Because with all due respect, sir, your methods sucks.”

“Cheer you up? Don’t kid yourself. I don’t like you, Di Xiaoye, because a convicted criminal should not be enforcing the law, and there’s no convincing me otherwise. However, that does not mean I don’t respect you. Tom and Rendal got injured doing what they were supposed to do as police officers: Serve and protect. Stop putting so much responsibility on your own shoulders just because you’re supposed to be stronger than most of us. If you want to avenge them, find the bastard who tried to kill the witness and hospitalized them both, beat him down, slap cuffs on him and put him before a court which will decide his damnation.”

Xiaoye sighed. Hamlins had a funny way of telling her to stop blaming herself. Hell, it was rare for him to even say something supportive to her, even though he did it in his own way to let her know that he’s not grown soft on her, but still…

“Hamlins, sir,” Xiaoye called out as Hamlins was about to leave.

“Yes?”

“Thanks.”

Hearing that word directed at him from Xiaoye, someone whom Hamlins hold in high disdain and vice versa, caused an awkward look to form on the elf’s face as he merely responded with a slight nod before continuing on his way. Xiaoye, meanwhile, stared at the punching bag for a moment before sighing again and grabbed her belongings, hitting the showers before getting into uniform and heading back down to the Shades’ soon-to-be-vacated headquarters.

The moment the elevator doors opened to her destination, Xiaoye immediately sensed trouble. She could hear Bradley arguing with someone in his office, and it was quite loud, which means Bradley was pissed. Every other Shade were keeping their distance from Bradley’s office, with Amirah and Ajibade carefully eavesdropping on the whole thing.

“What’s going on?” Xiaoye asked as she approached the two.

“Some old asshole with the same rank as our boss suddenly burst into our office demanding to see him,” Amirah replied.

“Really? He must be quite talented at pissing people off to actually get Bradley to raise his voice.”

“Of course he would be. That was the commander from the MLEU,” Ajibade explained.

“Fuck, you’re serious?”

“Who’s he? And what’s the MLEU?” Amirah asked.

“Assistant Commissioner David Kang. He runs the Magic Law Enforcement Unit. They’re the ones who usually handle law-breaking mages while the Shades handle the monsters.”

“Jesus, Lucas! Don’t suddenly speak out like that! I thought we had an agreement that you will tap my shoulder first before talking to me,” Ajibade complained as he turned to face his partner, who merely shrugged, while Amirah quickly turned away to hide her shock at the Nobody’s sudden appearance.

“To continue where Lucas left off, AC Kang really hates the Shades. Always trying to run interference with our investigations,” Xiaoye added.

“So, he’s corrupt?”

“No, but he’s got political ambitions. Commissioner Siddique is retiring next year, and quite a few commanders are being considered for taking over. Deputy Commissioner Fang has rejected the position for personal, undisclosed reasons, so SAC Rodney, SAC De Santos, AC Chong and AC Kang are the selected candidates. Bradley refused since he wants to retire as a Shade, as one of us, but Kang thinks Bradley’s trying to pull a fast one on him.”

“Why would he think that?”

“There are four so-called ‘Police Families’ in Singapore: The Kangs, the Harpers, the Zhaos and the Patels. Kang destroyed the Zhao family eight years ago through political manoeuvring, forcing the family into exile. The Kangs also have a long running feud with the Harpers. Rendal’s from the Zhao Family. Tom’s his cousin and my brother-in-law. Constable Roderick Harper is one of the four Harper family members currently in the force. All four of us are members of the Shades. And now there’s rumours of Roderick’s cousin from Narcotics transferring to our unit as an investigator. Kang thinks Bradley is gathering his family’s enemies to use against him,” Lucas continued the explanation as the others were startled by Bradley loudly uttering a profanity.

“Woah, never heard you say so much in one go before, Lucas,” the cambion commented.

“I have my moments,” the Nobody replied, his face still devoid of any emotions before the four began eavesdropping on the argument.

“I know what you did, Bradley. Sending your men to threaten my nephew? That’s a new low, even for you.”

“And pray tell me, who is this nephew of yours? Because for the last five minutes, all I’ve heard rom you are threats being barked at me but not a name.”

“Kang Zhan Ling? PR Manager of MedaPharm Works’ Singapore branch?”

“Oh, that one. Unfortunately, your nephew was listed as a possible suspect in a recent case, thus I had my men interview him to see if he’s involved or we clear him from the list.”

“Well, I have good reason to believe that favourite half-breed of yours threatened him with physical violence! Walking into his office and frightening that poor young man?”

“Those are serious claims, David, but I have reviewed their body cameras. Not once did they make any threats, but your nephew was very uncooperative. But then again, he did come from a family of asses, and everyone knows how stubborn asses are.”

“Still out to get me after all these years? Playing your little games? Trying to do your father proud by messing with my family? I heard you took in Harper’s kid. Protecting him from me, eh? Now you’ve got his cousin about to join your little gang of freakshows that shouldn’t even be wearing the uniform! Come now, just admit it. Commissioner’s resigning next year, so you think you can just do things to lick his boots so that you can get ahead of me in the political game, aren’t you?”

“David, the only person playing the game of politics is you. You can say whatever you like, but the next time you barge into my division and throw baseless accusations around, you better make sure you have some concrete proof. I’ve tried making peace with you for the last five years. Every conflict between our units were started by you. Don’t make me declare war when you are in a prime position to take over as Commissioner. Now, I have pressing matters to attend to. You know where the exit is.”

“This is not over, James. You’ll be hearing from me very soon. And when I become Commissioner, your little circus will be the first to go!”

“Whatever, just keep sending the strays you make to me, you paranoid antique. Now leave before you do so on a gurney.”

Xiaoye and the others quickly backed off to one corner and pretended to be having their own conversation as Assistant Commissioner David Kang, a slightly obese man in his fifties with a widow’s peak and a face that somehow resembles a snakehead stormed out of Bradley’s office, ignoring or oblivious to them standing just next to the door as he made a beeline for the elevator.

“Bradley?” Xiaoye asked as she entered Bradley’s office.

“Whole damn place heard everything, I take it?”

“Aye, you were pretty loud.”

“Well, fuck it. Never thought I would find myself hoping for this Friday to arrive faster. Once we move to our new headquarters at Thomson, we won’t have to deal with David Kang as much as we do here.”

“That daft cunt still thinks you’re trying to compete with him?”

“Well, Kang lost his initial race to Assistant Commissioner because my father outran him. Then my father retires back to Kenya ten years back, Kang tries again, but this time, daddy’s boy outran him. Of course he thinks I’m trying to compete with him.”

“Didn’t he, like, get his position one year after you’re promotion?”

“That man holds a grudge. To him, both my father and I stole what was supposed to be his. Maybe if he were less of a donkey and more of a police officer, he might have become AC before us both. Too bad he’s all about ego. Have you seen his Aperio Lapis? Damn car is already worth six million Singapore dollars, and then he obtains the right to install golden wheel rims to it.”

“Yes, I have. I also remember Tom and Rendal literally taking a shit on the roof of it while the guys at Cyber Crimes disabled the security cams after Kang screwed all of them over. Kang actually demanded a DNA test only for Forensics to ‘accidentally’ burn the samples.”

“And all Commissioner Siddique said to Kang was for him to be humble next time if he did not want someone defecating on his car… How are the two, by the way?”

Xiaoye’s face fell.

“Rendal’s awake. Tom’s still out cold. The doctors said he’s not in a coma, it’s just that the injuries messed him up so bad that he won’t wake up until tomorrow.”

“A skull fracture, I heard?”

“Two. Tokimaru managed to seal both of them before Tom was taken to the hospital.”

“Please pass on my thanks to your landlord for saving the life of one of our officers, then. I’ll be visiting Tom and Rendal at the hospital later. Will you be coming long?”

“I’ll visit on my own time, Bradley… Hamlins is right, I need to find this pricolici thing. He was so desperate to eliminate witnesses that he brazenly attacked my neighbourhood. I have a feeling he might even barge in here to get to Inna despite a thousand police officers travelling around the stead. He needs to be stopped first and foremost. Why did he want to kill Inna, however? I’ve seen his face, it’s barely human, so… Unless he thinks Inna might be able to recognize him in his human form?”

“Could be worth a shot. If he’s fearful enough about that to do anything to kill the moh shuvuu, then it might be true.”

“Xiaoye, a moment, please?”

It was Amirah, and she had an excited look on her face.

“Amirah, what’s wrong?”

“After Inspector Jason and Weijin heard about the attack on your neighbourhood, they had a hunch that the killer must have found out about Inna staying with Lucas, Tom and Rendal through a police leak and asked me to hack into the phones and emails of every officer on the scene with help from the guys at Cyber Crimes,” Amirah explained.

“And did you find something?”

“No. We scoured through the phones and emails of all sixty officers present at the scene of the murder, but there was no evidence of an information leak. We then began focusing on the footages of every CCTV in Carpenter Street captured on the day of the murder, and that was when we discovered something off.

“Something off?” Bradley asked, to which Amirah held up her tablet displaying a still image of Roderick, Lucas and Ajibade talking to Inna while another officer stood nearby.

“We’ve identified every officer in the footage except for this guy at the back, then we realized we’ve already struck out all sixty names from our list. This officer was also standing in a blind spot where his face is barely visible. But then Jason took a closer look and realized this ‘officer’ was wearing the older, pre-WW3 version of our police uniform, so…”

And then the realization hit Xiaoye hard.

“Shit! That bastard was on to us from the start!”

“Calm down, Xiaoye. We got more information… Remember our suspect list? Except for Clifford Tan, every one of them were at or near Carpenter Street at the time of the murder, which means one of them might be this killer creature that attacked your neighbourhood! And the one who was there nearest to the time of the murder was Hekkal Bailor, who in the CCTV footage was seen behaving in a strange manner before he disappeared off screen,” Amirah continued.

“Them blokes think Hekkal’s the one?” Xiaoye asked.

“No, but he’s now on top of Jason’s suspect list.”

“Then I think we ought to have a talk with him. Xiaoye, Amirah, gather Grey Team together. Let Jason know what’s going on. I want that elf brought back for questioning,” Bradley declared, to which the two saluted and left immediately.