With Ladies and Their Mothers

Harker had the perfect alibi. The perfect plan. Everything was great, but he could really never trust his luck.

However, his back was facing Roland when he regurgitated while kneeling on the floor. There's a chance that he did not see his jaw unhinged to spit out this thing. He stood up, preparing himself to play it cool again.

Harker acted just like his usual self would and said:

"Oh, what's this? Did the art students forget one of their art thingie again? Man, doesn't this look silly?"

Roland went closer to the pellet. "An artwork? What could it be, though? I don't understand it…."

He went to poke it a little, and Harker's saliva clung onto his finger. Harker felt disgusted and sorry for his friend.

"Is this glue?" Roland thought. "And there's red strands of silk….. Or is it really hair? It reminds me of—"

"Ah, I think I get it now! It's a representation of how ugly and hairy our current society is!" Harker interrupted his line of thought.

Roland chuckled. "Art analysis really isn't your strongest suit. I doubt that's what it means. The hair probably means something more abstract."

Harker shrugged. "Abstract art never made sense to me anyway. And isn't it something only the artist could understand because it's based on their emotions? So there's really no point for you to analyze it either. Or do you lawyers study art critique nowadays too?"

Roland nodded. "Hah, you're right. There's no point trying to understand it. It's still pretty irresponsible to leave this here though. But I guess fine arts students are just as stressed out as we are."

He kneeled to pick it up. "We should bring it to the librarian in case the owner looks for it—"

"I'll do it! You just focus on looking for that resource, my paper is nearly finished anyway." Harker picked it up before he did, rushing towards the librarian.

It's so weird to have your kind and good friend pick up your vomit!

Of course he didn't give it to the librarian either, and instead brought the odd hairy thing to the bathroom trash bin. He buried it with layers of tissues and napkins just for safe measure.

"Sigh…. That was really close. Why didn't that system warn me sooner?" He asked the air around him. "Like how it warned me about the error of my Absorption Limit exceeding."

Yan appeared, looking apologetic. For an eyeball.

"I'm sorry, Master Harker! I was just so invested with your interaction with your friend that I lost track of time and forgot its regurgitating phase." The eyeball told him.

"What's so interesting about our conversation?"

"Well, you call him your best friend, right? And yet I can sense great anxiety every time you encounter him. I also thought that humans usually trust their best friend and tell them everything. Yet you go through great lengths just to hide the truth from him."

Harker snorted. "Pfft. You expect me to tell Roland that I'm a demon now? I ain't telling anyone 'bout it. I ain't letting any human find out. It's not just for my safety…. It's for theirs too."

He washed his mouth at the bathroom sink. "I just got dragged into this whole demon lord stuff out of my will. I don't want the same to happen to my family and friends."

"But what about that anxious feeling? Was it only about that? Your worry for their safety?" Yan asked. "Or…. was it something about Roland himself?"

Harker did not say anything for a while. Just washing his hands, lost on his own reflection in the sink.

Then, he wiped his hands on his pants. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Yan shrugged, following him. "I don't understand humans after all. Most of the rules I think you go by suddenly change."

Harker chuckled. "I don't understand why you monsters had to hide in the shadows either. With your abilities, you can just kill us all. Or make us your livestock, keeping us in farms and just making us grow to be eaten."

"That's because of several factors." Yan said. "The monster population is very low, and we're naturally competitive. We can't work well together. Humans have technology on their side. It continues to develop faster than monsters can anticipate. But the biggest factor is like I said."

Harker blinked. "And that is?"

"Humans are very unpredictable."

Yan the flying eyeball squinted as he said this. "Somehow, they will find a way to overcome their troubles when they really put their mind into it. Even defeat strong monsters and powerful beings…."

Harker knew it must be related to his Master Quan Zhi again. But he didn't push further or it'll make the eyeball depressed again. Maybe in the future, Yan would trust him enough to tell him about it.

Or maybe not. He barely trust this eyeball himself.

So instead, Harker just said: "Humans can still be pretty dumb. In fact, all this tech stuff is making people complacent. Like how we think puttin' cameras around means we can catch every criminal and every crime. That's why I got away with Xi Hua's death."

Yan considered this. "That's true, I suppose…."

The eyeball disappeared once he went back to the library. Harker saw Roland on the school computer instead. The clacking of keyboards was loud, and he sometimes smacked the thick white box when it took too long to show the letters he typed on the screen.

Harker sat beside him. "You searchin' on the Web for study resources?"

"No. I'm looking at this case in Long Island, where Xi Hua's house was. I read it in the newspaper before." Roland continued typing some more. "I can't feel settled somehow about that drug dealer. It's too strange that Xi Hua would approach him…"

Harker saw him scrolling through different websites and search engines. Some showed articles, and the New York Chimes website did show several result regarding "Long Island Missing People Cases".

"What were these cases about?" Harker played along.

But his heart just felt heavier with guilt seeing Roland so worried about Xi Hua like this.

Roland was too busy typing and browsing articles to notice Harker's internal struggle. He instead treated him like an investigation partner, explaining the missing cases:

"5 years up to now, there have been 17 cases of missing people in Nassau County. That's where Xi Hua's family house was. They visit there from time to time for the past 5 years too, then officially moved from China a month ago."

"Not surprised. Nassau's hella rich." Harker said. "But if people were disappearing, shouldn't the billionaires make a big deal out of it? I've never heard of these cases on the radio or newspapers."

"That's because the disappearing people were working class or not white. Or both." Roland said. "I'm sure the numbers are more, they were just not reported or dealt with. I worry because Xi Hua is Asian. I thought whoever was behind these disappearances might be involved with hers…."

Then, Roland shook his head. "But my hunch was wrong. All my research pointed out that the Nassau disappearances can't be linked to her."

"Why?" Harker asked.

"All the victims were male between the ages 13-18. And again, they were from very poor sectors. It's most likely a homosexual killer that targets men like Jeffrey Kahmer and Jan Waine Dacy."

Harker shook his head. "No. That might not be the case."

Roland raised an eyebrow. "Hm? What do you mean?"

"Just because it's a serial killer, doesn't mean it has to be a man."

Roland rubbed his chin. "You're right. But why do you think it's not a man in these particular cases?"

"Just a hunch." Harker stood up. "I'm not really sure of what I'm talking about, I don't know much of the case. But I just have a feeling…"

That feeling was that the people that were targeting these missing teenage boys….

Were no other than Xi Hua and her mother. Lady Aixiang.