Marie was sitting next to me on the diner’s seat, her hand on my leg, as a quite cute act of possessiveness.

I thought she would be fine as I was currently under Ray’s form, but I had been wrong.

She was clearly not enjoying the fact that Lieutenant King was a rather young and beautiful-looking forty-year-old. I had not even noticed before, so I was finding her reaction quite adorable.

“What do you mean, you can’t tell me what happened?”

“I just can’t begin to explain, Lieutenant. I was not in my flat. I was at Marie’s last night, and I had only access to my phone there. I didn’t want to answer my calls until this morning, as I needed some rest.”

“Rest? So, something did happen?”

“Yes. Something did. I don’t want to talk about it though.”

Lieutenant King sipped her coffee angrily. That’s how I saw her, severe, filled with rage, but trying to do good. Marie had not said anything since we entered the local diner, and even then, it was only a jealous “She’s hot” when she had spotted the Lieutenant. We clearly didn’t focus on the same things.

“We lost some of our people again, kid. That’s not gonna cut it.”

“I can’t honestly give you more. It would do more harm than good for your investigation.”

“I can’t see how more harm could come upon us; we’ve lost four men to that… psycho.”

“I don’t think she will bother you anymore.”

King examined me carefully, her whole body tensing up.

“It’s not enough. I’ll ask the precinct for a warrant, I can’t cover you, boy. She killed cops, twice.”

“You want to arrest him?” Asked Marie, worried.

“If he doesn’t say anything, yes, I will.”

Marie and I sighed simultaneously.

“Great plan, Gray.”

“I should’ve known, normal laws don’t work when cops are hurt.”

“That’s how it is.” King wasn’t being aggressive, just factual. “I know you’ve got your reasons. I’ve got good instincts. But you’re a key witness, and I can’t just cut you loose without good reasons.”

I sighed again.

“Do you know about the derelict house near one of the city parks?”

King smelled of fear for a fraction of a second. Her hand went towards her hips, but she had come in civilian clothes, it was only 8 in the morning after all.

“What derelict house? There are plenty.”

“I don’t know…”

“Near the Burgundy Park.” Marie interjected.

King tried her damned best to keep a poker face, but cracks went and came.

“You’re involved in that? Was I wrong to trust you, kiddo? Is your girlfriend in on it?”

“Calm down. Trust your instincts. It’s where I was yesterday afternoon. I managed to leave.” I tried.

“She took you again? And you fled. And DID NOT come to the police?”

Marie tried to explain in my stead: “She…he couldn’t, he was in shock. I picked him up and brought him home.”

“Why the hell did we not begin with that then? What happened?”

“She came through my balcony and took me to that house. She was not alone there.” I tried to remain vague.

“No, another man, and two missing girls.”

“Yes.” I was slightly taken aback.

“I was in the house the whole night, our serial killer was definitely living there, we found some of her stuff that was missing from the coastline house.” Commented King.

“And…”

“We found one of the girls inside the floor boarding, neck crushed, and heart pierced by something like an axe.”

I felt Marie squirm next to me. She held my hand and I realized I was trembling slightly. I immediately calmed down.

“The other one…was harder to identify.”

“How did you…?”

“The house was under the name of a Hans Loss, a fake name, we don’t know his real one. That guy’s body was found a few blocks away from his home. Bystanders told us he seemed like he was fleeing from something.”

I winced at something, not someone.

“Wasn’t there anything wrong about him?” I could not stop myself from asking.

The lieutenant gave me a long stare before continuing. “Probably. Initial blood results were inconclusive. And someone stole his remains. We suspect it’s your kidnapper, who pursued him and then for some reason tried to remove the evidence.”

My brain ran at full speed. They thought she did it? Wait, his body had vanished? Was he not truly dead? Were vampires immortal? No, I couldn’t be sure, but I had not been the one in control. The Beast was.

He knew how to hunt and to kill. Both were dead.

I ATE THE BEST PARTS.

No, won’t think about it.

“Why did you ask that, Gray?” Lieutenant King was extremely suspicious of me and in truth, I did not understand why she had not cuffed me already.

Maybe it was because she had no cuffs.

“I’ve met him. He was…different.”

“Mh, mh. You arrived at the house, then what?”

“I went to the park.”

“Wow, slow down, what happened inside the house?”

“I…can’t tell you that.”

“Why?”

“You cannot comprehend it.”

“I’m more open than you think.”

For the first time, I felt something else coming from Lieutenant King. Maybe that was why she had not cuffed me already.

“She’s a monster.”

“Yes, that’s definitely been established.”

“She’s also dead.”

That seemed to take the Lieutenant by surprise.

“What? No. That’s impossible.”

Marie, who had stayed silent for quite a long time, finally took the opportunity to talk.

“Because she’s a vampire?” She asked.

I looked at her with more than a worried look.

“Marie? What the hell?”

But Lieutenant King’s reaction was even more astonishing.

“Because she’s an old one. You would need a flamethrower, or a shredder to get rid of her.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

There was a long silence.

“Seems the cat is out of the bag.” The police officer exclaimed. “Maybe you can tell me the truth now?”

Marie looked at me. “Sorry about doing that without telling you, but I felt something weird about her for some time. She should have arrested us by now. She didn’t, that and some of her micro-expressions, I felt she knew way more than she led us to believe.”

“Why not be frank from the beginning then?” I asked no one in particular.

“Because of a rule, probably.” Said Marie

“Because of the First Rule.” Said Lieutenant King.

My best friend gave me a proud smile.

“Seers are a pain.”

“You love seers.”

“Some of them.”

But Lieutenant King didn’t let us go on our usual ramble.

“It is extremely risky to reveal yourself. If someone breaks the First Rule, the whole underworld chases after you. Nothing can survive that.”

I heard a low, growling laugh deep from within me.

Shut up. You’re scaring no one.

THAT IS A LIE.

“So, it was Jeanne then. That’s the real name of the monster that pursued you, we believed it could be her. We could not do much against her, as long as she was hunting quietly. Since you, she is top of our kill list.”

“We? Our?”

“Hunters. We are normal humans that got into the supernatural world from birth or some other circumstance and try to protect the innocents.”

“Pretty classic.” Said Marie, then at the silence. “If vampires exist, you better know vampire hunters exist!”

“We are not vampire hunters. We hunt anything dangerous. Lots of us in hospitals and police precincts. Some in high political positions, too. We even help against normal serial killers. Most of the monsters are usually human, anyway.”

“Do you protect the supernatural too, then?”

“I do, sometimes. Never vampires. Those are not innocent, ever.” She said that with no hatred or emotion, like it was a cold, hard fact.

“You do? What about the others?”

“We’re humans. Opinions diverge.” Now that seemed to bother her. “But we’re not here to talk about the U, I want to know what happened.”

But Marie wasn’t going to let herself be guided like that.

“Well, me and Gray did not know about the U, it means underworld right? , before. As such, we’re very much in the dark. Why should we even trust you?”

“Are you innocent?”

“Yes, we are.” Said Marie in my stead.

I gripped her hand. She smiled at me.

“Then you can trust me.” The lieutenant was not lying.

“Gray?” Marie asked me.

“Yeah, yeah, she’s not lying.”

King seemed surprised. “How can you be so sure? … You’re a Conscient. That’s how you survived.”

“Bingo.”

“That’s so rare, you’re basically a myth’s myth.”

“Erm?”

“Mermaids are a myth right. Well, they exist. And they talk about Conscient in their stories, like a myth. The myth of our myths.”

“Mermaids?”

Marie stopped me from continuing. “I want to know more too, but not about mermaids. We know we can trust you. We know we can’t trust the hunters though.”

“What? Why?” King asked.

“Not your problem.” Marie continued. “So Gray is not going to be able to tell you the whole thing.”

“Give me enough to satisfy my superiors, they’ll convince the police. I won’t bother you more.”

“I’d like to be informed about the world we just stepped in afterward, though.”

“Sure, I’ll invite both of you to my flat.” King had said that with almost enthusiasm. Since she got confirmation that we were just kids thrown into the deep sea, she had substantially calmed down and was almost smiling at us the whole time. My initial assessment of her was right, she truly was someone who tried to be helpful and to do good around her.

She had a real desire to help us.

Marie and I were not fools though. The other Hunters would not be as softhearted as her, and even though being a Conscient was apparently not a bad thing, if they realized what else was hiding within me…

CHAOS. ENJOYMENT.

I didn’t ask you.

“What happened then?” Lieutenant King asked me for more.

“So, I arrived at her hideout, I managed to distract her and she left the house for a short while. Then well, something else emerged and killed the two girls and Hans. When she came back, it killed her as well, her body is in the park.”

King slouched back in her seat.

“She’s dead? Really? How can you be sure?”

“I saw the body too, she’s dead.” Marie added, her tone very flat.

“Sorry about that.” I said.

“It’s not your fault.”

“It is.”

“Ok. Ok. That is excellent news.” Detective King said, not caring about us. “Well, I’d really like it if you could tell me what killed her, but you won’t, am I wrong?”

“No.”

“That’s perfectly fine. Everyone in the abyss has darkness, it is our right to keep some of it hidden.” That sounded like a well-learned sentence. “Hunters always find out in the end.”

That didn’t sound foreboding at all.

She realized it too.

“Sorry, it’s one of the things I learned. I won’t push deeper, but expect that some others will. I will also have to register you and…Marie was it?”

“Register?”

“As people who know, and you as a Conscient. That could prove a bother for a while, I’m sorry. It’s necessary though, wouldn’t want a necromancer to try and find out how your brain works.”

Marie gulped.

“That would not be nice.”

“Exactly, if I register you, everyone will know you exist, but also that you are protected, as long as you follow the rules of the U. There are only three, and rather easy to follow. Do nothing that will reveal us, do not kill others protected, and do not strive to create chaos.”

That last one was almost painful.

I heard laughing again.

“And in exchange, you’re protected by us. People will still come and try to talk to you, because you’re rare, but that’s the only hassle.”

“Other protected?” Asked Marie. “That means normal humans…”

“Yes, those rules are not the ones of the Hunters, just ones the whole underworld agreed upon. Some of those beings, vampires first, have no interest in giving up their precious cattle.”

“That’s not reassuring.”

“It’s not. Reason why I’m here. We believe killing humans creates chaos, and act upon it.”

“A rather loose lecture of that third law.” I commented.

“It saves people.”

“I didn’t say it was bad.”

She smiled. “Thanks, that will be all.”

“You’re not going to go look for her body?”

“Jeanne’s? I’ve heard about reports of a horrible smell inside the park, but nothing about a body.”

“So, it wasn’t found yet?”

“It was, just not by us. The same who took Hans I’m pretty sure. Vampire Elders. Stay clear of them.”

“Won’t they want revenge?”

“Nah, not their style. You’re just the prey of the story in their eyes. They’ll be looking hard for the thing that killed her though. It has tried to break the First Law with the way it handled Hans. We Hunters had to destroy evidence, and the Vampire Elders owe us now. They’re pissed. So stay clear of them. I have to go to work, my shift begins in ten minutes. Here, you didn’t take anything, my treat. Don’t worry too much about everything I told you, everything stays mostly normal, even when you know.”

She deposited ten dollars on the table, finished her coffee, and left, looking almost joyful.

“Well, she seems happy that someone died.” Marie noted.

“I can’t blame her.”

“Strange morning.”

“It’s not even half past eight.”

“Should we eat something?”

“I’m hungry.”

“Of course you are.”

We ordered a breakfast meal and waited quietly for it to arrive.

When our food came, Marie broke the silence.

“Seems we’ll be fine. You don’t even have to worry about my safety.”

“No. We made a mistake.”

She drank her tea, slowly, waiting for me to continue.

“You’re protected, but we know nothing about anything. How good are the Hunters? How efficient is their protection? The First Law seemed like a serious offense, but what about the other two?”

“It seemed pretty serious. I think it’ll be too much of a hassle to break just for little old human me. Too bad I can’t be revealed as a hidden mage or something.”

“Maybe you will.”

“Nah.”

“But you’re right, I wasn’t talking about that though.”

“What did you mean, then?”

“You’ve said it yourself; the Second Law does not protect normal humans. That means our friends, our family. Nothing prevents anyone or anything to just assault those. Except for the Hunters. I’ve got the same feeling as you do, the Hunters look like your typical self-made militia, we can’t trust them. And they’re the only thing preventing Stan or Ana from becoming targets.”

“But why would anyone in the U target them?”

“Because I’m rare, because you’re the lover of something rare. She talked about necromancers, I don’t know how they work here, but I never saw much good being spoken about necromancers in stories.”

“Some of them are…”

“Did it sound like a joke, when she said one of them would like me as a guinea pig?”

“No.”

“No.” I repeated. “I agree. By being recognized as something from the underworld…”

“I think U would be better, it’s so you can’t be overheard.” Marie corrected me.

“Good thinking…Recognized as members of the U just puts us in the spotlights, without giving the people we love the necessary protection from the aforementioned spotlights.”

“Well, there are the Hunters.”

“If they knew about IT, it’s not help they will give us.”

“True.”

I ate the eggs as soon as the waiter brought them to our table.

Marie asked a bit later: “What can we do?” I grimaced, and Marie spoke my thoughts out loud: “There is nothing we can do. Dang. Well, we should at least inform ourselves, go meet King at her flat, together, and get to know everything we can know about the U.”

I sighed. “And prepare for the worst…”