“A polong did that much damage to him?” Xiaoye asked, an incredulous look on her face.

“Well, fatal attacks from a polong are rare but not unheard of,” Suleiman replied as Jason and Dr Marog slipped back into the tent.

“But I thought polongs only possess people, and when they do attack, they usually leave bruises or scratches. I’ve never heard of one killing a person,” Amirah said.

“The thing about these entities is that you do not know what their master is capable of. Most toyols only steal or guard the house of their masters, but they are also capable of murder when provoked or if ordered by their masters.”

“Aye, Rahman’s uncle has a female toyol guarding the house. I remember once we had to go to his house because a burglar broke in and ended up being beaten black and blue by her. Every time I visit his family, I would bring caramel popcorn for her,” Xiaoye added.

“We’re kind of going off-topic here. What’s with the amount of blood and what does it have to do with a polong?” Roderick asked.

“Polongs are spirits, familiars created from the blood of dead men through the use of magical incantations. Some people use more than one corpse’s blood to create their polong. Makes them more stronger, so I’ve heard, but I don’t know if it’s true or not… Also, I have dealt with cases involving these familiars, but I don’t recall them leaving blood at the scene, let alone large amounts of it…”

“Sounds like we have to find the owner, then.”

“Folks, we have a big problem,” Jason announced as he emerged from the tent with a bloodstained wallet.

“What kind of problem?”

“The kind that will blow up the Internet… Our victim’s a celebrity.”

Jason opened the wallet, and everyone immediately saw the name on the identity card: Jonas Sim, better known by his online alias ‘DJ-Sbeat”, one of the most famous local social media personality and disk jockey who often had a sold-out crowd during live concerts.

“Shit, a celebrity? This isn’t a problem, it’s a PR disaster waiting to happen,” Xiaoye muttered.

“How so?”

“Look, a lot of people in Singapore practically worships Jonas Sim, and he’s got a hell lot of fans in the US, Russia, South Korea, Norway and Germany, which means people will be demanding that the police solve his murder quickly before they start rioting. And if details of how he died gets leaked to the public, well, things are going to get way worse,” Tom explained.

Jason sighed as he placed the wallet inside an evidence bag.

“Well, let’s see how things go for now. If this case gets transferred to Grey Team, we’ll end up on the headlines, so let’s get it solved before that happens,” he said when a booming voice cuts through the air.

“Roderick! Why are you with the Shades?”

Roderick immediately face-palmed. He knew that voice. Turning around, the unmistakable, imposing figure of Superintendent Lawrence Harper could be seen walking towards him and his colleagues. And it was just as he had told them, he looked nothing like his father: Roderick had brown hair, green eyes, a sharp face and a surprisingly perfect jawline, whereas his father had red hair, blue eyes and his entire face was square as anyone can get: The only resemblance between the two were their noses and the distance between their eyes.

“Sir,” everyone greeted except for Roderick, who merely said, “Hi, Dad,” in the most deadpan manner.

“Seriously, is this how you greet your father, Roderick? I work overtime, was driving home and I find myself at a crime scene with my son having transferred to the Special Hazard Exorcism Unit without informing me?”

“You didn’t tell your father about your transfer?” Xiaoye asked.

Roderick groaned. Xiaoye should have kept quiet, for Supt Harper’s attention was now drawn to her.

“The cambion? What are you doing standing around with her?” the elder Harper asked.

“She’s my partner.”

“Bradley paired you up with her?”

“Yes. And she’s been real patient with me, unlike some of my previous seniors, if you wish to know.”

The look of disapproval on Supt Harper’s face was undeniable. Roderick never really talk much about his family. How coincidental it was that on this night, just as he had mentioned to Xiaoye about having a poor relationship with his father, the man himself showed up in person. Heck, he didn’t even dare to admit to Xiaoye that his father’s issue with non-mortals and elves was mainly due to his religious beliefs (he had no issues with orcs since quite a number of them follow human religions). He was no racist, that’s for sure, for he believes that racial supremacy is the stupidest and most harmful invention ever created by humanity, but no one can deny that he discriminates: His division saw the highest turnout/transfer rate of non-mortal and elven officers in the entire police force, about nine to fifteen each year. In fact, this stupid habit of his was the reason why he got dead-ended after being given the rank of superintendent: Commissioner Siddique’s predecessor was an elf who got tired of receiving complaints after complaints involving Lawrence Harper.

However, whatever thoughts regarding Xiaoye was churning in his mind, Supt Harper kept them to himself as he simply turn his gaze back to Roderick.

“What has your cambion partner been teaching you?”

“How to keep myself out of danger when dealing with non-mortals, parts to hit, parts to shoot, differentiating between certain species. Would you believe if I told you that within one month, I’ve gained more knowledge about the night creatures than a cryptozoologist thanks to her teaching?”

“Fine. Looks like you did learn quite a bit. And I see you’ve finally gotten that promotion they owe you. Keep up the good work. And please, call me sometimes. We’ve gone seven months without a word to each other.”

“I will. I’ve got the family name to maintain. As for calling you back, I’ll try to find time to do so.”

“And you, thank you for enlightening my son, cambion, but don’t try anything funny with him. You’re still on record, don’t you forget that. I’ll leave you all to conduct your investigations.”

“She has a name, you know?” Roderick suddenly spoke up without even realizing just as his father had turned to leave, and immediately, he could see that everyone present was sensing trouble.

“I can’t remember the names of every officer on the force, Roderick,” Supt Harper replied as he turned back around.

“And Sergeant Di here hasn’t done anything to me other than help. Maybe try to remember her name the next time you meet with us.”

“Roderick, he’s your father, so knock it off,” Xiaoye whispered, starting to sound worried, but Roderick was starting to recall a lot of bad memories involving his father, and he couldn’t help but feel an urge to lance the boil.

“Looks like you’ve picked up some bad manners too. Your influence?” Supt Harper asked Xiaoye, but Roderick cuts in.

“No. Not hers. I’m just resentful about what happened with Ginnel. Sponsoring her overseas studies my foot, you didn’t want us together, that’s all.”

“That girl was a bad influence on you. Smoking? Partying? Getting a tattoo that you had to laser off your arm so that you can join the police? I had to step in, for the both of you.”

“Bullshit, you don’t like her because she’s an elf who worships Belenus instead of going to a church.”

He said it. He could see it in his father’s eyes as he stared accusingly at the latter. Lawrence Harper was starting to get provoked. Roderick wants it to happen. He’s waited six years to spit those words at his father’s face, even after he ended up moving in with his oldest sister, and it was clear that the elder Harper was not going to take that veiled insult lying down.

“Are you implying something, Roderick?” Supt Harper asked, a hint of anger in his voice as he took a step forward towards his son.

“Yeah, I am,” Roderick said as he took a step forward as well, prompting Tom to quickly get in front of him.

“Roderick, piss down! Don’t start a scene here!” he urged, but Roderick found himself unintentionally trying to shove the other corporal aside even as Amirah started pulling his left arm from behind to stop him.

By now, Doctor Marog and Suleiman were also getting between the Harpers as father and son had a staredown with each other. Glancing to his side, he could see Xiaoye wanting to get in and stop him from confronting his father, only to get pulled back by Jason who shook his head before stepping forward and staring straight into Roderick’s eyes.

“Roderick, that’s enough. Stand down.”

“Inspector-”

“Not another word. Whatever issues you have with your father, he’s a superintendent and while he’s off-duty, we are on duty. Show some manners and respect befitting the uniform we all wear,” Jason replied in a stern manner.

Roderick took a deep breath and backed off, with Tom patting him on the shoulders but still standing in front of him, probably to prevent him from getting provoked again. Jason, however, had other ideas.

“Xiaoye, take Roderick back to headquarters. I’ll handle the scene with Tom and Amirah.”

“Yes, sir. C’mon, Roderick. Let’s go.”

Roderick didn’t move. Instead, he continued staring at his father who was heading back into his car, clearly fuming about the whole thing, but then Xiaoye did something she hasn’t done to Roderick for quite a while.

“Corporal Harper, in the car, now!”

And Roderick quickly complied.

The journey back to headquarters was tense. At one point, Xiaoye drove past the building that was going to be the Shades’ new headquarters by the end of this week. Roderick knew she was trying to get him distracted, but he was so pissed that it didn’t really work.

“Sorry I had to shout at you, but you need to calm down, you know that? And what the hell was that all about, getting into a verbal rammy with your father?” Xiaoye finally asked as she drove into the expressway.

“That old geezer’s been trying to control my life ever since Mom left him. I’m the youngest of the five, and the last to move out the house. I just couldn’t stand it anymore…” Roderick admitted.

“Aye, I can see that. Who’s this lass Ginnel?”

“An elven girl from school whom I dated for a while. My father disliked the fact that her family maintains their worship of the Celtic deities instead of God. Those partying and smoking parts, they’re just excuses cooked up by my father so that he can justify his actions. That was what made me realize that he was a man of religion but not a man of the family.”

“How bad were the terms of leaving?”

“I told him he should go be a priest instead of the police before I slammed the front door shut. Even the other church-goers avoid him like the plague whenever we go for Sunday prayers. They think he’s too militaristic with his worship. Frankly, I side with them. He’s got a religious problem.”

“Sounds more like he’s got a personality problem, nothing to do with religion. Is that why your mother divorce him?”

“I don’t know, but after the divorce, he became very strict about religion. And that was when we, the kids, started feeling chaffed under his command of the family. And we all just, well, left him.”

“And not once did you ever thought about the whole thing being his way to cope with all the pressure being placed upon him?”

“Well, it happened during the war. I was still a brat, and he was struggling to maintain civil order in the territories the Americans and the Chinese have not conquered… You’re right, I never considered if it was his way of coping with the divorce and the stress of his job. Still pissed about the whole thing, though. He just kept calling you cambion, cambion, like as though you’re not wearing your name tag. I got angry because that’s what he call Ginnel too. Elf girl, where’s my son? Elf girl, did you buy Roderick cigarettes? Yeah, well, I bought them myself, for Pete’s sake.”

Now that he was pouring everything out to Xiaoye, Roderick actually felt himself calming down at long last, the burden lessening too. He wondered what it was with Xiaoye. She never needed to question you, she just talks, and you feel compelled to speak to her about your problems. Was it one of her abilities as a half-demon?

“Roderick, your father can be considered polite towards me. Before I met you, I had all kinds of nasty words thrown in my direction. Half-breed, hell spawn, abomination, go back to prison where I belong. And mind you, some of these insults were being hurled at me by politicians and prominent religious people. Wankers.”

“And you don’t get angry?”

“Who says I don’t? I even fantasized murdering them at times, but at the end of the day, does it even matter? Most of the time, I just tell them to go boil their heads in piss and walk away. Next time, let me handle my problems. From what you just unloaded to me, sounds like you have a lot of problems of your own. Don’t go adding mine to yours unnecessarily.”

And now Roderick felt relaxed. He couldn’t help but find it strange that Xiaoye had such a calming effect on him.

“So, you ever played therapist with your boyfriends?”

Xiaoye made a grouchy face at Roderick’s questions.

“All the time, then they get frightened, uncomfortable or overconfident and then pissed off to find other women. After my ninth break-up, I was like, aye, I’m done being played for a gowk, no more men for me.”

“So you got tired of men and decided to stay single? Ever tried sleeping on the same side of the bed? All right, that was a bad joke. Offensive too. I’m sorry.”

Instead of appearing offended, Xiaoye gave Roderick a side glance before her lips curled into a mischievous smirk as she winked at him, and Roderick suddenly realized that he was not far off from the truth as the cambion asked, “Want to hear the story about my first threesome?”