“How was your first week with the rookie, Xiaoye?” Bradley asked as he walked past Xiaoye’s desk.

The cambion sighed as she finished printing out the report on her latest case (Illegal pet jackalope, case to be shared with NParks AVS for further investigation) before turning her chair around to face her boss.

“Constable Roderick Harper might have a long career in the Special Hazard Exorcism Unit. I’ve put him through loads of surprise tests over the last three days and he’s passed them all: He does not discriminate, he stayed clear-headed when faced with violent situations involving non-humans most of the time and he does his own research on them. But there’s one problem I’ve noticed.”

“Oh, do share.”

“He can be a bit too soft-hearted. Empathy is a good virtue for humans, but I’m worried should we come across a situation involving changelings and tiyanaks. I mean, who would not hesitate to shoot something that looks like a child? I’ve killed hundreds of those things and I still second-guess myself when I see them. His soft-heartedness will get him killed by these creatures.”

“And just how soft-hearted are we talking about?”

Xiaoye grabbed one of the reports on her desk and handed it to Bradley, who puts on his glasses as he skimmed through it. Apparently, the day before, Xiaoye and Roderick had encountered a moh shuvuu that had been attempting to turn an alley behind a shopping centre in Orchard into its hunting grounds, and Xiaoye had to save Roderick after he mistook it for a lost child…

“Luckily for that brat-shaped bird, I was not in the mood to end her life, so I turned her over to Reformation. Hopefully, she’ll find fish to be a better diet than the brains of desperate single men.”

“Sounds like you’re growing soft. When we were partners, you won’t hesitate to put a bullet in whatever creature was threatening human lives,” Bradley commented, to which Xiaoye nodded.

“Anyways, I gave Roderick an assignment to do once his break days begin tomorrow. Research every entity that resembles or can mimic a human child, then compile them into a list of which is safe and which is dangerous and I want to see it on Monday.”

“Well, that’s a rather soft approach for someone like you. Speaking of which, where is Roderick?”

“I had him intern under Suleiman at Investigations. No idea whether he might end up there, so I thought, why not prepare him for a possible future. But curse my luck I had to run into that loser Hero earlier. Made me so pissed I didn’t even feel like going on foot patrol anymore.”

The other officers seated around her began snickering.

“The fool still trying to ask you out?” Leong, a senior staff sergeant whose desk was right next to Xiaoye’s, asked mockingly.

“What do you think? Oh, and he’s still trying to break my record of ten million dollars worth of destroyed public property.”

“Of course he is. That’s the only way he would have a chance to impress you,” another officer by the name of Rahman teased.

“Oi, you all remember when Hero saw our Miss Di in her second uniform? Both him and his little brother sedi-a, but then when he senang diri, his brother still standing at attention!”

Everyone, even Xiaoye herself, burst out laughing while Bradley shook his head, a mix of disgust and amusement written on his face.

“Speaking of damages, he’s accumulated nearly forty thousand dollars worth of damage, according to Hats. I’d say he’s still far off from claiming your title,” Rahman said.

“Ah, say one’s name and he shows up. Along with his suffering rookie.”

Xiaoye banged her head against her desk as a handsome Chinese officer with a short taper cut entered the office with a young Malay officer who had a frustrated look on her face as well as dishevelled hair.

“Is that smoke I smell?” an officer of African descent seated across Xiaoye asked as he looked up.

“Aye, Ajibade, and gasoline, too.”

By now, other officers were either holding their noses or staring at the pair that just entered with incredulous look. This was followed by a series of muffled, frustrated screaming coming from the garage, causing the officers to begin talking among themselves.

“I think I just heard Sherman scream.”

“Hero must have smashed up another car.”

“Man, I pity his rookie.”

The Chinese officer, upon seeing Xiaoye, immediately walked over to her as the latter facepalmed.

“Here we go, he’s going to try again…” Leong snarked.

“Ah, Xiaoye, lovely as always, and a surprise to see you working overtime. So, are we still on this Saturday?”

“No.”

“Come now, it’s not like I’m trying to-”

“You’re always trying to get between my legs. Go pick a window and leave us in peace.”

“Well, it was worth a try…”

“Eh, Hero, how many times you try already?” Leong asked.

“Maybe Xiaoye should introduce her father to him, then we’ll see if he still wants to ask her out,” Ajibade suggested.

“I am pretty sure her father will have a very good impression of me.”

“You barely escape the wrath of Xiaoye’s uncle, and you want to talk about convincing her father? Bravery and stupidity really does mingle well with each other,” Bradley spoke up suddenly, startling the sergeant.

“Sir! My apologies, I was distracted.”

“Clearly you were, and welcome back, Sergeant Chen Weijin. I see that you’re very dirty. Care to tell me what happened?” Bradley asked.

“Oh, nothing impressive, really. Bunch of hobgoblins trying to rob a store, so I stopped their getaway vehicle. Caused a slight dent on the car, but the robbers have been brought to the holding cell and I’m here to submit my report.”

Bradley raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing him, before turning towards the Malay officer.

“Constable Zuberi, tell me your side of the story.”

“He crashed the vehicle into the hobgoblin’s,” the Malay officer replied Bradley.

“Oh, he did? Hey, let’s go take a look, see what damage he caused this time.”

“Ah, I don’t think that’s a good idea…” Weijin said nervously as the other officers headed for the garage to take a look at his latest mess.

Laughs and groans echoed throughout the garage as everyone saw what Weijin’s police car looked like: The entire hood was half-broken and twisted, the bumper was scrapping the asphalt with both headlights shattered, the windshield had two large cracks on it, the right side mirror was barely hanging on and there was a nice, long gash across the left side of the car’s body.

“Slight dent, your head! What kind of Picasso artwork is this?” Xiaoye hollered at Weijin.

“You turned your car into total giam cai!” Leong exclaimed as he burst out laughing.

“Power lah, you… We should change your nickname from ‘Hero’ to ‘Scrapyard’,” Rahman added.

“No wonder the mechanics use a picture of you for their dartboard,” Ajibade commented as he shook his head.

“Well, since the situation is no doubt going to end up with me having to answer for a lot of things, I might as well make a move first. Constable Zuberi, you will spend the rest of your shift with Sergeant Di. As for you, Sergeant Chen, my office, now,” Bradley said to Weijin, who nervously nodded and headed back inside.

“Great, now I have to train two rookies,” Xiaoye said with a shrug as the Malay officer turned towards her.

“Er… I’m Officer Amirah Zuberi, reporting to you, Sergeant Di.”

“Drop the rank shit, just address me by name,” Xiaoye replied as she pointed at her own name tag.

“Oh, okay. So, what do we do now?”

“No idea… Let’s just stay in the office for the rest of the night. It’s the start of the Seventh Month anyways, lots of dangerous ghosts roaming around. The blokes at Counter-magic’s going to be real busy.”

“Oh, all right, then. Is there anything you need me to do?”

“How about a couple of tests to see if you’re fit for the Unit.”

“Ah, Roderick mentioned you’ll do something like that,” Amirah said as she took a chair and sat down next to Xiaoye.

“You two know each other?”

“Batch-mates during National Service.”

“I see. I take it that Sergeant Chen was your training officer?”

“Yes, when he’s not busy flirting around.”

Xiaoye snorted in contempt.

“There’s a reason why I gave him nicknames like Gaston and Ximen Qing. Did he do the same to you? I can help you write a complaint letter.”

“Well, he didn’t try it on me. I guess it’s because of the age gap.”

“At least he has some principles.”

“But I noticed he got awkward and uncomfortable when he tried it on you earlier. It’s kind of strange, since he did pretty well with other women.”

“Oh? Surprise me.”

Amirah scratched her head in partial embarrassment as she recounted her experience with Chen Weijin.

“Well, there was this French tourist who had been attacked by some kind of cat monster, and he was able to calm her down. He was like, ‘ne vous inquiétez pas, ma dame, it will do your skin no good,” and she was kind of smitten. Then we attended an incident involving a Japanese family and he did the same with their oldest daughter. ‘Shinpaishinaidekudasai, watashitachi wa anata no imōto o mitsukemasu,’ and then when we found the missing sister, he managed to get her number.”

“Aye, he and his Google translate style of flirting. His Japanese don’t even sound correct and this is coming from someone who can’t watch anime without subtitles,” Xiaoye retorted.

“So why did his flirting skills degenerate when it’s made towards you?”

“He got cursed by one of my adopted uncles after trying too hard to woo me one night. The best part is he did it knowing full well who my old man and my adopted uncles were: A president, an earl and a prince respectively. Now, he can't flirt with me without sounding like a dirty old man since his tongue's still marked.”

“A president, an earl and a prince? You mean… Oh, right, Roderick did say you’re half-demon. But, where are your horns?”

Xiaoye tapped the wing-like horns behind her ears.

“Oh, I thought they were feathers.”

“Nope, they be horns all right. They’re just winged-shaped. Pretty easy for me to hoodwink folks into thinking that I’m a fallen angel, you know? But on a more serious note, don’t let Weijin’s womanizing habits cloud your judgement of him. Sure, we slag him because of his antics and I tend to be more rude about it, but when things go down, he becomes very serious and focused. He’s probably the best human officer in the Shades, and he’s also the only human officer who has come close to being a designated exterminator since AC Bradley.”

Speaking of AC Bradley and Weijin, everyone could hear muffled shouting coming from the office of the unit’s commanding officer, who was clearly giving Weijin hell for wrecking another vehicle.

“Exterminator? If I remember correctly, a Shade officer who is made an exterminator means he or she goes in and, and…” Amirah’s voice trailed off as she began to remember what an exterminator in the Shades do.

“Kill things, yes. Not the best job in the world, trust me. But for the safety of this nation, hands must be soiled at times. Easier for us non-humans to do it, spare the humans the stress and nightmares of taking a life. But let’s not do the gloom and doom talk, shall we? Did Weijin teach you the Penal Code and proper procedures of dealing with creatures of the night?”

“He did. He did gently chide me after I unknowingly discriminated against a goblin. It was a bad mistake. The goblin was the victim in the assault we attended to, but everyone was pointing fingers at him.”

“Was it intentional?”

“I didn’t mean to suspect the goblin of lying. It’s just that, well…”

“Don’t fret about it. It’s an unwanted instinct influenced by social stereotypes. Fae kinds like goblins, wangliangs and gremlins, they have a bad reputation for often engaging in criminal acts. Because of that, we have this unconscious instinct that makes us automatically suspect them of any wrongdoing. It’s not something that can be easily be rid off. Even I am guilty of it at times.”

“Well, I feel bad about it. I’ve been racially abused a couple of times myself, so I felt like a hypocrite.”

Xiaoye laughed and tapped Amirah on the shoulders, unable to help feel sorry for the young woman seated next to her. Amirah was, without a doubt, a good person, maybe a bit naïve but definitely possessing the right attitude towards life.

“Good, having a guilty conscience is proof that you are no racist. Racists do not feel guilt at being idiots. Remember, your mind must be in control of your heart. If your heart, or your soul or whatever it’s called, starts putting discriminatory thoughts into your mind, mentally remind yourself that you’re a police officer, that you need to be fair and not show bias. That will subdue the bad thoughts.”

Amirah nodded, but as Xiaoye stacked her reports and placed them inside a drawer, an alarm began sounding throughout the office as every officer reacted to it.

“What alarm is this?” Amirah asked.

“Shit, it’s an SRE,” Leong commented as he shut down his computer and headed for the armoury with the rest of the officers.

“SRE?”

“Situation Requiring Extermination. Damn, wasn’t expecting rookies to get one so soon. You best prepare yourself, Amirah, this is where things really get dangerous for the Shades,” Xiaoye explained before ushering Amirah towards the armoury, the younger officer clearly nervous about what was about to happen next.