“I’m very disappointed in you, Mister Vasilis,” said Colton on the other side of Enid’s phone. “I would’ve expected this from Miss Blanchette, but I thought you would know better than to get caught out in the open this way.”

Valen was sitting in the shotgun seat of Enid’s car. Louise sat tapping her heel in the driver’s seat. Enid had gone back to sitting in the passenger’s seat, still oblivious to the adorable cat whiskers Louise had penned on her face. Keiko sat beside her, still not sure of what was going on. They really needed to fill her in soon.

“My apologies, Mister Colton.” Valen briefly glanced out of the static car’s window to make sure no one was watching them. “But I was on important business there.”

“And by that I suppose you mean a date?” Colton asked dryly. “Chris tells me that you had quite a fetching lady friend on your arm during that livestream debacle. And a detective, no less!”

“She was someone who got involved in this because of me,” said Valen. “I had to help her.”

“I don’t believe I’ve given you permission to recruit new members to our ranks,” said Colton. 

“I don’t intend to recruit her, sir,” said Valen. “But someone with her skills freelancing for us in the same vein as Doctor Dimitra surely couldn’t hurt. And unlike her, Miss Takara will be in for more than just the money.”

There was a pause on Colton’s end, followed by what sounded like a soft chuckle.

“Fair enough, Mister Vasilis,” said Colton, sounding mildly amused. “Though I will say, you owe my son your thanks. If not for him, we would not have been able to scrub that livestream from the internet so quickly.”

“I’ll be sure to express my gratitude, sir,” said Valen. “As well as apologise for the way our first impressions played out.”

“Oh, there’s no need for that. He deserved a bit of humbling back then.”

“Do I have your permission to inform Miss Takara of the situation?”

“You do,” said Colton dismissively. “If only because I know you’d tell her anyway. Do what you must to get her catched up. After that, come to the Sterling Sanctum at your earliest convenience. Bring her too if you’d like, though be prepared for Chris’ displeasure.”

“Has there been a breakthrough?”

“Of sorts, but it is best if we discuss it in person. There is no rush, however. You will need Johan’s aid to come to the Sterling Sanctum, and I believe his shop is closed tomorrow night.”

“I could use the break,” said Valen.

“Which reminds me. I’ve heard reports of an unusually violent brawl taking place in a cafe near Reveller’s Row…I don’t suppose you had anything to do with it?”

Valen stayed silent, giving Colton his answer.

“Ah, well, no matter. I suggest you rest now. We have much to do when we meet up again.”

Before Valen could ask him for a little more information, Colton hung up.

“So?” Louise eyed him expectantly. “What’d he say?”

“Well, he’s fine with Keiko being part of our group for now,” said Valen. 

“Yeah, I’m sorry,” said Keiko, sounding just a tad annoyed. “But who is this Colton guy exactly?”

“It’s a long story,” said Enid. “But we’ll have plenty of time to tell you about it on the way to my place.”

Valen looked out the window and saw the orange glow of the rising sun seeping out from the horizon.

“I probably won’t be here, though,” he said. “Louise, can you pop the trunk?”

“Do you really have to stay there?” asked Louise. “You’ve only fed recently and it’s going to be a long ride to the mansion.”

“I guess it’ll be alright,” Valen admitted. “But it’s also kind of a mental thing, you know? I only started drinking blood because I almost burned in the sunlight.”

“Oh. Right.” Louise averted her gaze to hide the look of guilt in her eyes as she popped the car trunk for him to get inside. “Um, sorry for bringing that up.”

“It’s alright,” Valen assured her. “I hope you don’t mind catching Keiko up without me.”

“I’ll make sure she stays honest,” said Enid. “Be sure to call us if you get claustrophobic. We’ll find a shady spot to bring you out.”

“Much appreciated.” Valen opened the car door and stepped outside, ready to cram himself into the trunk. But before he did, looked at Enid and her drawn-on cat whiskers one last time. “Oh, and, uh, you might want to take a look at your own face.”

“Oh shit,” Louise muttered under her breath.

“What?” Enid brought up her phone to use as a mirror.

Valen quickly closed the car door and shoved himself in the trunk before she could see her own adorable cat face. He didn’t need hypersensitive hearing to tell that Enid wasn’t amused, but she at least didn’t electrocute Louise over it.

They must finally be getting along.

The trunk felt even smaller than the last time shoved himself in it. Mainly because now he was sharing it with Keiko’s luggage too. He probably wouldn’t have been able to fit in there had she packed one item more.

It was difficult, but after a lot of awkward wiggling, Valen finally found a comfortable enough position where he could look at his phone to pass the time without the corners of Keiko’s bags poking into him.

Normally he tried to stay away from Chirper as much as possible outside of freelance work, but he figured he ought to check out how Clara was doing after her brother’s ‘miraculous’ recovery.

It was a good thing he used an alias for his art account. He got enough weird messages on it as is already and really didn’t need the drama with Clara to make it any worse.

Signed into Chirper as ‘Scarlet Bloom’, Valen searched for Clara’s Damsel Dark account and started scrolling through her timeline.

As expected, she’d posted about her brother’s recovery.

One of her most recent posts was a selfie of her and Clarence, who was still bruised and bedridden but finally conscious.

‘Miracles do happen,’ the post read. ‘Thank you Dianne for letting my brother stay with me a little while longer. I’ll be sure to cherish every moment I have with him.’

“Hmph.” Valen grunted to himself for no particular reason.

Of all the gods she could have thanked for a miracle, he thought Dianne was a pretty solid choice. It wasn’t just his bias as a vampire speaking either.

Unlike her twin sister Thressa, Dianne treated every race with equal love. Even vampires and drows, the races she’d painstakingly crafted herself to demonstrate her godhood, were treated with no greater favouritism than any other race. To her, only the deeds they did in life mattered upon its end.

For Dianne was the goddess of death, and all are equal in the eyes of death. Young or old. Rich or poor. Human or vampire.

Valen started scrolling through the comments on her post. There were thankfully few comments talking about the ship between him and Clara, though he suspected that might just be because she or her mods removed them from it. That didn’t mean the comments were completely harmless, however.

Not everyone seemed to be as happy about Clarence’s survival as Clara was on account of him being a drug dealer.

‘Bro kinda deserved to get jumped tbh.’

‘Such a piece of shit to be related to such a nice girl.’

‘Should’ve pulled the plug when you had the chance…’

Clara didn’t respond to any of those comments but Valen could only imagine what reading those comments was doing to her. Poor girl. Hopefully she’ll be able to find the strength to ignore them.

Valen felt a fleeting curiosity pass him by. There wasn’t exactly much for him to do trapped in the bloody trunk and he had been wondering why Clara was so popular.

He searched for ‘Damsel Dark’ on MyTube and immediately received thousands of archived livestream from her channel. Almost every single one of them had titles written in all-caps with over-the-top photoshopped thumbnails.

Usually not his cup of tea, but Valen was feeling just the right amount of bored and curious to make an exception. After scrolling through her channel for a bit, he tapped on a Let’s Play of a horror game he’d been meaning to play but never got around to.

The loud, slightly high-pitched voice she put on to be entertaining was a bit grating at first. His boredom and desire to get his mind off the dark trunk he was crammed in kept him watching. After a while he actually started enjoying her playthrough and commentary. She was surprisingly animated for someone bound to a wheelchair. Her whole upper body shuddered with every little jumpscare and her comical screams of fear were disproportionately loud for someone her size, making it all the funnier whenever she let one out.

He’d arrived at his destination before he knew it. The car stopped, but he assumed that they were pausing at a traffic light until the trunk he was in popped open.

The cold white fluorescent light of a giant garage flooded the darkness he’d grown accustomed to. Startled, he fumbled with his phone before hurriedly pausing the livestream and shoving it in his coat pocket.

Louise, who’d opened the trunk, cocked an eyebrow at him.

“What, were you watching porn?” she asked. “I don’t think Thunder Tits’ going to appreciate you rubbing one off back here.”

Valen felt his face flush red.

“I was watching one of Clara’s livestreams.” He clambered out of the car trunk, and Louise helped steady him when he wobbled on his numbed legs. “She’s actually really entertaining.”

“Oh really?” Louise grinned. “Enough for you to make the shippers’ dreams come true?”

“Ha!” Valen lightly pinched Louise by her surprisingly soft cheek. “Don’t worry, you’re still much cuter.”

Louise’s face reddened and she returned his pinch with a coy bump on the shoulder.

“Smoothtalker,” she muttered under her breath.

Enid and Keiko emerged from the back seat on opposite doors, still wrapped in conversation. The cute cat whiskers Louise drew on Enid's face had regrettably been erased, but Keiko sported a rather cat-like smile on her face.

“Seriously, not even a peek?” asked Enid. “Come on, I just have to know.”

“Nope,” said Keiko. “Taking that secret to my grave, mate.”

“What are you two talking about?” Valen asked.

“Keiko won’t show me her bloody ears!” said Enid indignantly. “If she even has any besides those fox ears she’s hiding.”

“I told you,” said Keiko, clearly relishing in how much Enid’s curiosity was bothering her. “Don’t worry about it and just enjoy the fuzziness.”

Valen resisted the urge to ask as well. Now that Enid brought it up he was curious how Keiko’s biology would work as well. Kitsune and eastern races as a whole were rare in Dragon’s Rest. Few medical texts about them were widely available in Commontongue. Plus, it was such  a niche that Valen didn’t bother to study it when he was trying to get into medical school.

Were they functioning ears? Or are they just vestigial flesh appendages retained from their animal ancestors? How would the ear canals even work if they did function? What about human ears? Did she have those under that curtain of black hair? And if both they and her fox ears functioned, does she ever suffer from hearing echoes due to the dissonant sounds or are the pairs perfectly in sync with each other to give her hypersensitive hearing?

The world may never know.

“Have you gotten caught up yet?” Valen asked, trying to change the subject.

Keiko’s expression grew somewhat more serious.

“I have,” she said. “Though I’m still sceptical about some of it.”

Valen’s shoulders slumped. 

“Still?” He asked, a bit exasperated. “Even after what happened at the cafe?”

“Oh, I don’t doubt the Unborn God stuff,” Keiko assured him. “Your word is gospel as far as I’m concerned now. But…” She slowly turned her gaze to Enid. “I have to wonder if some things were embellished.”

“Why are you looking at me?” asked Enid.

“I’m sorry, but you said that during the break-in at your old house you got shot at point blank and your hoodie got torn to shreds but none of the bullets hit you?”

“Technically it was my hoodie,” Valen muttered under his breath, though he’d given up ownership of it a long time ago.

Enid just shrugged. “I’m tougher than I look.”

“That doesn’t-what about the car then?” Keiko pressed. “You said you fell out of a moving car, then got whacked on the head by a cricket bat and thrown across the room by a junkie vampire?”

“Like I said, I’m tougher than I look,” said Enid. “Don’t worry about it.”

“That doesn’t explain anything!”

Valen loudly cleared his throat.

“Sorry, but can we continue talking inside the house?” he asked. “This garage is a bit chilly and I could use some tea.”

“Sure.” Enid started walking away from the car. “Grab the bags and follow me.”

Valen helped Keiko with her bags and carried the largest one into the mansion for her.

Keiko let out a whistle upon seeing the living room, with its giant flatscreen TV and long velvet couch that could easily fit a small party.

“So this is Kasumi-sama’s manor,” she said.

Valen, Enid, and Louise gave her a strange look.

“Kasumi?” asked Louise.

Keiko blinked at them.

“The last owner of this place? You…you guys didn’t know?”

“No,” said Valen, “Who’s Kasumi?”

“She was one of Jade Port’s greatest writers!” said Keiko, indignant. “She wrote novels about Dragon’s Rest in Jadinese while she lived here. Everyone in Port Jade’s read at least one of her novels. Seriously, like three of her books are required readings in our schools.”

“That explains all the Jadinese books,” said Enid. “I always wondered what those were about.”

“Is she really that important?” asked Louise.

“For a lot of Jadinese people, her books were what introduced us to Dragon’s Rest. Hell, it’s the reason why I decided to learn Commontongue and move here.” Keiko’s eyes slowly drifted to Enid. “It kicked up quite a bit of fuss in Jade Port when it was announced that a certain alchemist bought the historic manor where she wrote most of her novels.”

“...It wasn’t my idea,” Enid mumbled.

“Wait a minute.” Keiko looked at Enid. “You said something about Jadinese books?”

“In the library,” said Enid. “When I first came here I found a bunch of books written in Jadinese there. Never bothered to read any on account of not knowing the language, though.”

Keiko’s coffee brown eyes lit up with excitement and she immediately put down her luggage.

“My bedroom can wait!” she exclaimed. “Show me the library!”

“Seriously?” Louise let out a long groan. “Aren’t you tried? We haven’t slept in forever!”

“I got enough sleep in the car,” Keiko insisted. “This was Kasumi-sama’s home, so maybe she has some unfinished works hidden away somewhere!”

“Hmm.” Enid held her chin in thought. “It could be interesting.”

“Well, you two do that then.” Louise stretched her arms and let out a long yawn. “I’m going to hit the hay.”

“And I should probably take a shower after being trapped in a sweaty trunk for two hours.” Valen looked at Enid. “Where should I put the luggage?”

“The guest room next to yours,” said Enid. “Just leave it outside the room and I’ll lead Keiko to it later.”

“Got it.” Valen picked up the luggage Keiko had set down, his vampiric strength allowing him to carry both with little issue. “You two have fun then.”

With Louise and Valen retiring to their rooms for the day, Enid led Keiko to the library.

Of all the rooms in the manor, the library was the one with the least alterations done to it. Aside from some electrical lighting and an air conditioning system, it must’ve been largely the same as when Kasumi lived there.

The red carpet felt dusty under their bare feet. Enid couldn’t remember the last time she had someone clean it. Mainly because she never did. Even if she had any interest in the non-Jadinese books here, who even reads paper books anymore? These days she got all her fantasy novels via ebooks that were much harder to misplace than physical ones.

Every wall in the room had built-in shelves full to the brim with old leather books that could probably fetch a pretty penny at an antique auction. Four white velvet couches were arranged around a coffee table as a cornerless square at the centre of the room, a comfy little spot for visitors to read or discuss the books around them.

Keiko looked around in reverent awe, mouth slightly agape as she took in the sight of the many great works around her.

“I…I don’t know where to begin. There’s just so much to read here!”

“Try the shelf left of the entrance,” said Enid. “That’s the one with the handwritten Jadinese books.”

“Thanks for the tip!” Keiko immediately bolted to the shelf and started running her fingers through the spines of the journals therein.

Enid sat down on one of the couches and took off her trench coat.

She allowed herself a small smile behind Keiko’s back. It was kind of endearing how excited the supposedly badass police detective was over something as simple as a few dusty journals. Her bushy orange tail wagging in unrestrained joy was the icing on the adorable fox-shaped cake.

She reminded Enid of Valen, in a way. In his case, he’d often get excited over art. Once, for his birthday, Enid brought him to the grand opening of a high-end art gallery and he cried for like five minutes over a painting depicting a mother and child. It was cute. Just like him.

He would've made a fine artist himself, and could probably feed himself just fine with his freelance work too.

Sometimes Enid wondered if Valen ever really wanted to be a doctor, or if it was just his own desperate need to make himself useful to society.

“Hmm?” Keiko picked out a weathered leather journal from the shelf. “I don’t recognise this one.”

She walked over to the couches with the book in hand.

“Something interesting, I hope?” Enid scooted to the side to make room for Keiko as she sat beside her.

“Let’s find out!” Keiko flipped open the leather journal.

A string of Jadinese characters were vertically written on the first page, presumably titling the rough draft of the novel. 

Enid couldn’t understand it. Keiko did however, and judging by the frown on her face, it wasn’t something good.

“What’s wrong?” Enid asked.

Keiko silently flicked through the rest of the pages before putting the book on the coffee table and standing up.

“Call Valen and Louise,” she said. “They’re going to want to be here.”

“Why?” Enid asked, confused. “What’d it say?”

Keiko looked her dead in the eye. The joy and excitement in her eyes were gone, replaced by a grim resolve.

“The title reads ‘God of Flesh’.”