“Hekkal’s arrested?” Rendal asked as Xiaoye, Roderick, Xiaoye’s aswang house-mate Felipe and Amirah sat in the ward he and Tom were staying in.

The two cousins, having undergone a special surgery that combines healing magic with state-of-the-art medical procedures, had been cleared for discharge by the end of the week, but Rendal will have to be relegated to light duties for at least two weeks (Tom was already on light duties so no changes). At the moment, Rendal was sitting on his bed while Tom, his head still bandaged, laid prone while reading a book.

“Aye, sale of drugs, theft in dwelling… Too bad he was not at Carpenter Street long enough to give us any more information. We’re back to square one,” Xiaoye replied as she flipped her hoodie’s hood over her head while slacking off on a chair in the ward.

“What about the CCTV footage from the café? Did it not catch anything?” Rendal asked Amirah, who showed them the captured footage on her tablet.

“We scanned through it multiple times, but… Well, we did see the, er, the pricky-licky? What’s that creature called again, Xiaoye?”

“Pricolici, pronounced pri-ko-li-ch.”

“Yeah, the pricolici, the cameras couldn’t get an image of its face. It was one hell of a brawl, though.”

“Ha ha, oh man, look at Tom trying to stomp a mudhole into it right before he got thrown out. Grab a damn weapon next time you want to fight a monster, idiot,” Rendal laughed at Tom as he watched the footage of the break-in at their home, with Tom responding by lifting one arm and giving his half-elf cousin the finger without looking up away from his book.

“You know, we did a number on that pricolici when he invaded the café. Even if his wounds heal on the spot, there’s no way he would be able to recover so fast from what I did to him,” Felipe commented.

“How so?”

“Aswang claws have a certain poison in them that affects natural healing. I am pretty sure I left a very nasty slash on his arm that night. He would not be able to recover so quickly.”

“Meh, we’ve checked all our suspects. No arm injuries whatsoever. Not only that, all our suspects have been cleared from the list. Clifford was at home, Zhan Ling went fooling around at a brothel, Van Schilt was having a dinner meeting and apparently waiting for Peterson the whole time, not realizing he was being murdered five blocks down the road. We have no one to track anymore,” Xiaoye explained glumly.

“So, a dead end, then? But if the murderer was so desperate to murder that moh shuvuu, it means he cam be recognized by her, right? Just show her the pictures of all the suspects.”

“We did, actually, but Inna did not recognize any of them.”

Roderick, Amirah and Felipe jumped, not realizing that Lucas had entered the ward, and he did not come alone.

“Oh, look, the injured losers,” Inna said to Rendal and Tom as Lucas held her in one arm.

“Oh, great, he brought Chicken Little with him,” Rendal retorted.

“Isn’t she supposed to be under protection at the police headquarters?” Amirah asked.

“She was, but Bradley and the Commissioner came up with a new plan. We planted decoys in different cars before driving out one by one at fixed points of time., while the regular officers loudly made comments about having trouble keeping Inna from exposing herself and how they’re supposed to fight a super-powered vampire,” Lucas explained.

“And the point of the plan is?”

“To lure the pricolici out for the Krsniks.”

Both Roderick and Amirah immediately noticed a tense silence befalling upon the ward at Lucas’s mention of the word ‘Krsnik’.

“You’re serious? They’ve been activated?” Rendal asked.

“I am afraid so. Bradley and the other Assistant Commissioners, including the much hated David Kang, that the Sanguine Court of Southeast Asia will have to take the reins of the whole operation. The agreement was that if we, the mortal police, cannot stop or restrain the pricolici, he will be declared a Kudlak and the Krsniks will find and execute him.”

“What’s a Krsnik and a Kudlak?” Amirah asked.

“There are old legends in Eastern European countries about a vampire hunter named Krsnik, with some claiming that Krsnik was a vampire himself but fought his own kind. He studied Babylonian shapeshifting magic to turn into animals, but also devoted himself fully to God, cutting down evil-doers that stand before him. Kudlak was said to be one of the most vile vampires to ever exist, a glutton who drinks blood even from other vampires, with an astonishing body count by the time Krsnik struck him down. That is why our kind’s warriors chosen to uphold the vampiric law are known as Krsniks while fugitives who have committed crimes too heinous for forgiveness are addressed as Kudlaks,” Felipe explained.

“The police leadership must have decided to approach the Sanguine Court because of the break-in at Lucas’s home. This pricolici has crossed the line and they won’t risk anymore lives to have a go at stopping him peacefully,” Xiaoye mused.

“Never mind that. Did the plan work?” Rendal asked Lucas, who nodded.

“The suspect took the bait, jumped on Leong’s van thinking Inna is inside-”

“But Inna was in Lucas’s pick-up truck the whole time going the opposite direction!” Inna completed Lucas’s sentence.

“But Lucas, if you’re driving past the pricolici, would it not have glanced up and see your face? That was too risky.”

“No worries, Xiaoye. Your friend, Rahman, was driving my pick-up. Besides, he volunteered because he lives nearby this hospital.”

“Aye, but still too dangerous.”

“Security cameras at the headquarters picked up several footage of the pricolici stalking the surroundings of the building. It may have been planning to storm the police building. Anyways, once it hit one of the decoys, the Krsniks and READ showed up. I think Jason called his brother Andrew for assistance, but the pricolici escaped the moment it realized it was about to be trapped,” Lucas explained.

“It escaped the Krsniks? Damn,” Felipe commented.

“But the Krsnik’s leader confirmed that target is indeed a pricolici,” Lucas continued.

“I don’t get it,” Xiaoye said as she got off the chair, “Why does this pricolici want to murder Inna here so badly?”

“Inna’s seen his face twice now. If he doesn’t get rid of her, she could bring him a whole new world of trouble.”

“And I can recognize his face anywhere, since I’ve already seen it twice within the last four days,” Inna confidently said.

“Yup, this whole investigation hinges on you making the identification,” Rendal added.

“Still, this troublesome case is just piling up more and more. We’re literally starting from the bottom rung of the ladder again,” Amirah complained.

“Better to be back on square one than stand on the wrong square, Amirah.”

“Roderick, you look very troubled. What’s wrong?” Tom asked all of a sudden, after having kept silent throughout the whole conversation.

Everyone turned towards Roderick, who scratched his head with an uncertain look on his face.

“It’s nothing, actually.”

“Bro, you’re shit at lying. Don’t make me disrespect Mr Tolkien by throwing The Hobbit right into your face,” Tom said as he waved the book he was reading in a threatening manner.

“All right, all right, look, I’ve been getting some strange feelings recently, like someone gently scratching the back of my neck without warning. I thought a ghost was haunting me or something, but then I began to notice that I only get this feeling when I’m near a vampire…”

“Oh, really? Are you getting that feeling now?” Felipe asked.

“Yeah. And I got this feeling earlier today as well, when we were at MedaPharm…”

“And you never told me about it?” Xiaoye asked as she gave her partner an incredulous look.

“I don’t want to raise any alarms! Besides, I don’t even know why I only get that sensation when I’m near vampires!”

“Somebody’s not being honest,” Inna taunted, causing Lucas to flick her ear as punishment.

“Xiaoye, your partner is the one you said has vampiric immunity?” Felipe asked.

“Aye, that’ll be him all right. Can’t believe he kept his gob shut about this. It could have been important…”

The aswang rubbed his chin as he processed what he was just told, then he stood up and gave Roderick a friendly tap.

“You’ll get used to the prickly feeing soon. As someone who is immune to vampiric bites and illusions, you not only have the power to detect our kind when we’re hiding from you, but if a vampire drinks your blood, they are going to experience the sakit ng mga siglo.”

“Er, what does that mean?”

“Pain. Ungodly pain. Even demons will cringe at the sight of the afflicted thrashing about the floor, begging for a quick death to end their suffering.”

“Wait, I’m that powerful?”

“No. Your abilities only work if the vampire you’re facing is too stupid to realize you’re immune.”

“Okay, that was a nice ability… But can someone get rid of the prickly sensation thingy? I’m about to get eczema from all this itch,” Roderick complained, but no one bothered to listen.

“So if Roderick’s getting that prickly feeling behind his neck when he was with you guys at MedaPharm… Did you have any vampire police officers nearby?”

“Nah, we came and started the ransacking with the Narcotics. None of our vampire colleagues were there. The vampire might be working for MedaPharm.”

“Yeah, I was about to get to that. Xiaoye, I got that feeling the moment this Chinese guy called Kang Zhan Ling stepped into the office-”

“That childish arsehole who still thinks he’s king of the school yard? No way. I’ve seen his social media accounts, he’s got an unhealthy obsession with garlic bread. Vampires can’t eat garlic, they’ll get mouth ulcers.”

“Then someone else must be the pricolici,” Rendal quipped as Lucas and Inna kept turning their head robot-style to face the one that was speaking

“Which I was about to get to right before I was so rudely interrupted. That prickly sensation I felt, it got a bit stronger when that Caucasian fellow Xiaoye was talking to showed up. And listening to what you guys have been talking about earlier, I can’t help but feel that he might be the one we were looking for. Felipe mangled that pricolici’s arm, right? Same arm this Caucasian fellow was busy massaging when you bumped that box into it,” Roderick continued.

What Roderick just revealed caused Xiaoye to do a double take.

“Okay, hold your horses there, Roderick. MedaPharm’s chief auditor, Theodore Stone? His name isn’t even on the suspect list… Are you certain?” she asked Roderick.

“I don’t know. That’s his name? I can’t be too sure, though. Damn, looks like this new ability of mine is more of a hindrance then a help.”

“Wow, this is pure awkward… I can’t be biased, but I don’t think there are any links between him and Ronald Peterson. I mean, he doesn’t appear to have a motive to kill his superior. At the same time, with our suspect list pretty much emptied out… I don’t know.”

“Should I run a background check on this Theodore Stone fellow?” Amirah asked.

“I suppose so, get Jason’s permission to do anything invasive, though- Ah, right, since Inna is here…”

The moh shuvuu, who had been dangling her ragdoll in front of Lucas’s face from the top of his head, looked up at Xiaoye with mild confusion as Xiaoye pulled her phone out and began typing something on the search engine, scrolling around until she found what she was looking for.

“All right, here’s the moment of truth… Inna, is this the face you saw on the night of the murder you witnessed?”

Xiaoye was showing a picture of Theodore Stone on her phone, having accessed his social media page. Inna inspected the picture, looking up and down and occassionally squinting her eyes as she tried to focus on something, then, for a moment, a familiar fear flashed across her face as she pressed herself against Lucas, who responded by ruffling her hair to calm her down. Finally, Inna sighed and turned to Xiaoye.

“About… About three-quarters similaarity? I saw his face when he was in that wolf-mode, it was all distorted and angry-looking…”

“Three-quarters similarity is a lot,” Lucas said.

“Okay, this is some freaky deus ex machina bullshit we’re seeing right now… We need to inform Jason and Farhan about this,” Xiaoye said as she dialled her superior’s numbers.

“Jason speaking. Xiaoye, is something wrong?” Jason asked over the phone, and judging by the background sounds, he was probably on an MRT or a bus.

“Jason, sir, we might have a potential match for the subject in the murder of Ronald Peterson.”

“I can’t ask out loud here, though, just play along with what I say,” Jason whispered.

“Okay.”

“For real? What’s the name of that brand?” Jason asked, this time speaking as though he was having a discussion about buying something.

“Theodore Stone.”

“Okay, I’ll check it out. Was it the Caucasian fellow I saw you with that showed you that brand?”

“Aye.”

“Oh, you used to hang out with him at your previous company? Yeah, yeah, maybe we should check it out. By the way, Leong says someone tried to break into his house the other day, did you hear?”

That was the signal: Jason just approved them to conduct an invasive investigation into Theodore Stone, but they can’t do it in the hospital: They need to go back to headquarters. Also, there was another thing they needed to do before they could designate Theodore Stone as the culprit.

“Jason, do we need to establish a motive? We can’t just go in and accuse Mr Stone of the crime without evidence and a motive, despite everything that’s happened?”

“Yes. We’ll need enough reviews to make the purchase. Check in with Peter’s son, he might know something we don’t. Anything else?”

“Nope, all done.”

“All right, see you all at the office tomorrow. I’ll try to find things out on my own end.”

Jason hung up, and Xiaoye immediately started issuing orders.

“Okay, we’re working overtime tonight. Amirah, your hacking skills are required. Jason wants whatever information you can dig up about Theodore Stone and the victim, Ronald Peterson, which means we’re going to be invading a lot of privacies. We need to establish a link, a motive for murder. We can’t just barge back into MedaPharm and arrest Theodore based on Roderick’s prickly allergy to vampires and Inna identifying the suspect, that’s just twenty percent of the cooking done. And speaking of Roderick…”

Xiaoye turned to Roderick, who stared somewhere else since he was very certain that he had angered her, but to his surprise, Xiaoye merely gave him a friendly slap across the shoulders.

“Speak up next time you have a hunch or something. If you had kept quiet and another person got killed or something, I would be most displeased.”

“Uh, okay…”

But just when Roderick was starting to feel relieved that Xiaoye doesn’t appear to be angry at him, Tom delivers a dire warning: “You better be careful about what Xiaoye means by ‘most displeased’. The last time she said that, a suspect got thrown out the window from the third floor of a condominium.”

Everyone slowly turned to stare at the cambion, who responded with a goofy yet sinister grin from ear to ear…