When the blood of a murdered man is kept in a bottle and incantations spoken over it over a period of time, a polong is created. It refers to its owner as its parents and is hidden outside the owner's house when not in use. A polong attack is sometimes preceded by its own familiar, a pelesit which helps guide the polong to their target. Victims of polong attacks are often left bleeding from their mouths and covered in bruises. As for fatal attacks, there is always a possibility that one might or have already occurred…

“Not a lot of cars around,” Roderick commented as he brought the patrol hatchback to a halt at the Yishun Dam, which also serves as a bridge for vehicles to cross the Lower Seletar Reservoir.

“Not around this time of night… Looks like the regulars have been busy,” Xiaoye replied, exiting the vehicle with Roderick and approaching the scene of the crime.

“Are you two from the Shades? I’m Sergeant Daniel, the one who came across the victims,” a police officer greeted the two while his colleagues finished securing the crime scene and prepare to re-direct any oncoming traffic.

“Aye, that we are. Did you manage to identify the victim?”

“No, the victim’s face is all messed up… My new guy’s still puking his guts out over there,” Sergeant Daniel replied as he gestured towards the crime scene.

“How bad is it?”

“Well, if it was a normal murder, we wouldn’t have called you. I’ve got at least fifteen witnesses who saw the victim getting dragged out of his car by some dark crimson figure and getting slashed to pieces. That entire stretch of wrecked cars? The witnesses panicked and tried to flee, ended up crashing into one another.”

“Jesus, what a disaster,” Roderick uttered in shock at the line of wrecked cars, with paramedics loitering around rendering aid to the victim, when he tripped and nearly fell against a car when Xiaoye managed to pull him back on his feet in time.

“Careful, Roderick, you don’t want blood all over your new rank now, would you?”

“Real funny, Xiaoye…” Roderick retorted before realizing that Xiaoye was only half-joking: The car he almost fell on was actually stained with fresh blood.

“The victim’s over there. Mind you, setting up the tent and all was difficult. Me and my colleagues took one look at the victim and our legs were already growing weak. I’ve never seen such viciousness before.”

“Thanks, sergeant. We’ll handle things from here until the big shots come.”

“What do we do here?” Roderick asked Xiaoye as Sergeant Daniel left to handle other duties.

“Guard the corpse, what else?”

“Should we take a look?”

“Nah, I rather wait… Besides, look around you. That sergeant’s new guy isn’t the only one evicting their suppers,” Xiaoye replied just as a patrol SUV bearing the green lights of the Shades along with the red-and-blue arrived on the scene.

“We heard the call. What happened?” Corporal Tom Ang asked as he emerged from the passenger side with Amirah exiting the driver seat.

“Amirah, you’re driving?” Roderick asked.

“Because I can’t drive, now what happened here?” Tom answered before Amirah could reply.

“Some bloke got killed in such a gruesome manner that one out of every five cops on the scene are covering the dam with their boak. Why are you with Amirah anyways?”

“Bradley’s orders. Said I have to go with her on patrol tonight since that dumb-dumb Hero Weijin got an extended stay in the hospital for an infection. Must be his dirty mind, never cleans it, never self-bonk, now the horny virus has gone to his liver because he saw too many nurses. Shit, I miss my front desk.”

“Oh, before we forget, Corporal Ang took a detour on the way here to pick up someone,” Amirah added as a smartly-dressed orc with a pair of glasses emerged from the backseat, someone Xiaoye recognized.

“Dr Marog, it’s been a while since you’ve come out to the field,” Xiaoye greeted the orc who smiled at the sight of her.

“Ah, Di Xiaoye, my favourite troublemaker. How are you? I heard you got into quite a scrap with a pricolici?”

“So far so good, doctor.”

“Yes, though I wonder how such a rare vampire could show up in Singapore… His trial is set to the end of this year, so says the news. But enough of that. So, I take it that this is your new partner?”

“Corporal Roderick Harper. Good to meet you, sir,” Roderick greeted as he and Dr Marog exchanged handshakes.

“Harper? And a Caucasian? Well, you won’t be related to Benjamin and Victoria Harper now, would you?”

“Yes, Ben’s my older brother and Vicky my sister, though they, well, they go by our mother’s maiden name now.”

“Oh, what happened?” Xiaoye asked.

“My parents divorced, and Dad got custody of all five of us, but all of us have kind of estranged ourselves from Dad. Ben and Vicky went as far as to have their last name legally changed to Mom’s. You might know them both, though, they’re quite famous among local lawyers: Benjamin and Victoria Mellows?”

“Those two are your siblings? The newspapers always call it a family feud whenever those two face off in court! I thought they were married,” Xiaoye commented.

“Funny now, when those two were serving on my submarine, we call them the Torpedo Twins even though we know they’re two years apart. Anyways, it’s time I do my job and examine the body before we bring it back to my morgue. Jason and Suleiman will be arriving soon,” Dr Marog said.

“Oh, what happened to Inspector Farhan?” Roderick asked.

“He’s showing a new investigator the ropes. Poor fellow got a nasty scare from Sergeant Nora when she showed her pontianak face to him as a midnight joke…” Tom replied with a shrug.

“And how did you know about the murder, Dr Marog?” Xiaoye asked.

“Have you forgotten? I have a police radio installed on my phone to alert me if something happens when I’m off-duty. Once I got the signal, I called for someone to come pick me up and both Tom and Amirah arrived…” Dr Marog replied as he entered the tent where the corpse was.

“So, what do we do now? Witnesses are all being loaded into ambulances, doubt we can interview anyone,” Roderick said as he looked around when…

“Kuso, what’s wrong with this stretcher?”

Xiaoye turned to see a group of paramedics struggling to get the stretcher, which had an unconscious female accident victim on it, up into the ambulance.

“I think I have an idea…” she said as she went over to the ambulance to assist.

“Oh, hi, officer, sorry if I cursed out too loudly. A malfunctioning stretcher’s kind of a work hazard,” the female paramedic, a youthful and pretty-looking lady with her hair tied in a ponytail and part of her forehead covered by her fringe, apologized to Xiaoye as raccoon-dog ears ‘popped’ out from her head, identifying her as a tanuki.

Seeing the ears ‘popping out’ like that reminded Xiaoye of her kitsune landlord Tokimaru, whose human guise is often ruined by his fox ears or tails suddenly revealing themselves whenever he concentrates too hard on a task. She wonders if that was the same for other Japanese night creatures, or yōkai as they are commonly referred to. Ridding herself of such thoughts, Xiaoye single-handedly lifted the stretcher into the ambulance, surprising the paramedics.

“Wow, that’s some strength you’ve got there,” the tanuki paramedic commented.

“Perks of being a cambion. So, which hospital are you taking her?”

“Oh, not me. I’m from another crew,” the tanuki explained as she closed the doors of the ambulance and it drove off, “All of them are being sent to the nearest one with the exception of two, who are injured quite severely. They will be going to the one at Central. My crew’s just here to provide extra aid since most of the other ambulances beat us to the scene…”

“Ha, I wonder if you have tough luck or got lucky, Miss…”

“Umetani Aiko. You said you’re a cambion? Oh, I think I recognize you, you’re that Shade, Di Xiaoye. I saw a recent news article about you. You sort of, like, a celebrity cop.”

“Oh, those damn reporters, they make my life hell when I screw up, then encourage stalkers to set up shrines with my picture and a few candles when I do something good…” Xiaoye grumbled which caused the tanuki to chuckle.

“I thought they won’t dare to approach you. Guess the paparazzi would do anything to get their shots.”

“You don’t seem worried by my status as a cambion.”

“Well, my crew chief’s a cambion too,” Aiko said as she pointed at a male paramedic with swept-back horns protruding from his temples.

“Huh, it’s been a while since I met another of my kind, considering how there’s only thirty of us registered in this country. I should go greet him.”

“My chief? Ha! Kare wa shizukana otokodesu.”

“Sorry, what? I can’t really speak Japanese, I’m afraid.”

“Oh, my bad. I meant to say that my crew chief’s a quiet man. Doesn’t talk much and very shy around women too, the irony being that his father’s Saleos.”

“Great Duke Saleos, the pacifistic commander of thirty legions who causes men and women to fall in love with each other, and his son’s afraid to talk to girls? That’s just weird.”

“Yeah. Even his own father said the same thing when he manifested at the hospital a couple of years ago. Anyways, do you need me to keep you updated?” the tanuki asked.

“Oh, well, yeah, I guess the investigators in my department could use an update… Hospitals aren’t exactly forthcoming whenever it comes to the Shades looking to interview someone.”

“Right… Last year, one of your officers barged into my hospital’s waiting room, dragged an arrested paedophile off the stretcher and beat him so bad that he broke his jaw. Let me share a secret with you: The hospital staff was actually quite happy about it. That sick freak won’t stop bragging about his deeds until that officer showed up.”

“Aye, I know that officer… Well, here’s my number if you need to call, and it was nice meeting you, Miss Umetani.”

“You too, Sergeant Di.”

“Damn, she’s real pretty, that paramedic,” Roderick commented as Xiaoye returned.

“Want her number? Once she calls me, I’ll give it to you. She looks single…”

“Er, maybe not. My father has a, well, certain rule about dating non-mortals. Says mortals have to stay mortals and not have a fling with night creatures”

“Wow, your dad sounds like Superintendent Lawrence Harper, although he insists he’s not racist.”

At this point, Roderick’s face turned dark.

“Yeah, he’s my old man,” he replied.

“Excuse me, what? I thought you two just have the same last name… You don’t even look like him!”

“None of my siblings look like my dad. Hell, none of us are even living with him anymore. I’m staying with Vicky at the moment… I don’t really want to talk about it.”

Sensing some family tension within Roderick, Xiaoye decided not to ask anything but instead turn to Tom and Amirah as a distraction, with the two discussing something as Tom showed signs of discomfort.

“Hey, Tom, skids got stuck in your arse crack again?” Xiaoye asked.

“Woman, I’m a fat fuck who weighs an amazing eighty-eight kilograms. I sweat easily, my belt’s suffocating me, I’m carrying an extra ten kilos of equipment on my person, and I’m out here during the monsoon season where it’s freaking hot until the sky starts pissing. My underwear inside my anus is the least of my problems,” Tom replied in a grumpy tone as he furiously fanned himself with his police cap.

“Too used to sleeping on the front desk, I assume,” Xiaoye teased.

“Yeah, whatever…”

“But you run really fast just now! I’ve never seen a human outrun a tikbalang before,” Amirah said.

“Tikbalang? What the hell were you two chasing a tikbalang for?” Roderick asked.

“Snatch theft. Too bad for him that I know Yishun like the back of my hand. Deduced where that tikbalang was heading to and cut across a few alleys-”

“And you tackled him so hard, he threw up. I think we might get a complaint tomorrow,” Amirah commented sheepishly.

“Wait, you outran a tikbalang and then you make him throw up?”

“Aye, Tom was playing rugby during his four years in New Zealand, even represented his high school team. His muscles have turned to blubber now but he still got the charging speed,” Xiaoye explained.

“Enough about my extra cholesterol, I heard you two went to a scene of a possession?” Tom asked.

“Aye, one of Duke Marchosias’s underlings came to the mortal realm without permission from his master.”

“Shit, will it cause any tensions between the duke and your father?”

“I doubt it. Marchosias and my pa never had any issues with each other. Besides, it was the Duke himself who told me to send that lesser demon back to him.”

“He tried to freak us out with a one-eighty turn of his head when we entered the bedroom, though,” Roderick added, to which Tom scoffed.

“That owl head trick? Xiaoye can do it too,” he replied.

“Really?”

In response, Xiaoye turned around, her back facing Roderick and Amirah before turning her head completely to the back like an owl, causing them both to jump in shock while Tom laughed as she turned her body around to re-align her head.

“Don’t ever do that again,” Amirah said sternly as Xiaoye cracked her neck a few times when a car arrived and out came Jason along with Suleiman, a stocky man in his forties whose fierce expression belies the fact that he was considered one of the nicest officers among the Shades.

“Xiaoye, guys, where’s the corpse, and where Dr Marog?” Jason asked as he and Suleiman approached.

“He’s in the tent inspecting the victim.”

“Any identification?” Suleiman asked.

“Not yet, we’re just waiting for Dr Marog to finish,” Roderick replied as he and the other officers guided Jason and Suleiman to the tent when the forensic doctor emerged, unintentionally lifting the flap of the tent high due to his size and allowing everyone to get a good look at the corpse.

Roderick almost took a step back, unable to believe what was laid out in front of him. The dead man’s face was literally in shreds, and so was his chest: Whatever killed him have carved several symbols on it before leaving a hole in the middle. An eyeball laid unattached by his head along with a few teeth and what looked like pieces of his skull and brain.

“What the fuck?” Tom exclaimed while Amirah closed her eyes in utter disgust.

Roderick felt sick. The possessed boy he and Xiaoye dealt with earlier was nothing compared to what he just witnessed. Even Xiaoye, a cambion who has ripped up her fair share of victims with her own hands during World War Three, had a nauseous look on her face. Only Dr Marog and the investigators remain unaffected.

“Ah, Jason, Suleiman, sorry I didn’t wait for you to arrive. When I heard the words ‘ritual’, I feared the corpse will be desecrated before a proper examination could be conducted,” Dr Marog greeted as he removed his bloodied gloves.

“It’s fine, doctor. Just give us the results,” Suleiman said.

“Well, my fears were misplaced, that’s for sure. There was nothing ritualistic about this murder. The corpse is still quite fresh, and my judgement says that he must have died at least half an hour ago. Obviously, there’s a lot of deep lacerations to the face and chest area. Judging by the way the wounds were inflicted upon his body, his killer took its time to do the deed, essentially torture. There were quite a number of broken ribs as well, but the killing blow was the hole in the victim’s chest: His heart has been ripped out.”

“That’s… That’s disgusting,” Jason commented.

“Well, there’s another issue here that troubles me,” Dr Marog continued, a slightly disturbed look now forming on his face as he spoke, “The sheer amount of blood all over the place. Twelve years ago, during my first forensic investigation, a similar incident took place in Serangoon. The victim was eviscerated, but there was too much blood at the scene to have come from a normal human body. After three days of investigations, we finally found out why: The killer was a polong.”

Dr Marog now gestured towards the corpse inside the tent.

“And I believe this poor fellow here was also killed by a polong.”