Destressing

Graham went back to his apartment room despite the noise coming from downstairs. He sat in his office chair with the light still off after taking off his coat. He took a piece of paper and wrote a divination question on it.

'The woman downstairs was murdered by the killer of Étienne Dechant.'

He was already pretty sure it was the case, but he just had to make it more definite. He burned the paper and the flame quickly consumed it, indicating a positive response. He then wrote another question on a different piece of paper.

'The bizarre-looking drawing of rings with countless eyes is a death threat.'

Graham tried to burn the paper, but it took a while until it caught fire. It was as if something was resisting his divination. After he managed to burn the paper, the flame slowly consumed the whole paper. It confirmed Graham's suspicion.

"Val, we need to tip the Police secretly. This is an important discovery. I don't know if they have found Mr. Dechant's house, so we need to include that information as well."

Graham planned to send the anonymous tip to the Police later. For the time being, he wanted to use his remaining divination of the day. He had done six so far if he counted correctly. He still had four more chances. He took out candles and prepared them for the fire scrying ritual.

"Val, since I can't divine the bizarre image directly, what about divining things around it? Technically, my divination is not directed at it, is it?"

Graham lit the candles one by one using his usual procedure. Once he was done, he concentrated and repeated the question in his mind.

'Which place might have information regarding the death threat found in the murder victim's room?'

After a while, the room grew darker and darker. Everything became quiet, and only the light from the candles could be seen in the room. Slowly, a blurry image formed in the flames. It was of an old-looking house with overgrown vines. The image then zoomed out and showed an empty street with a lot of farmland nearby. After a while, the image slowly disappeared and the room gradually became normal.

"Val, that should be Zuideinde. That would be the only region in Sloten that still has farms. But it is two hours away from here." he concluded. "I've just realized that basically, I do this every day. I might as well change our agency name into 'Hymes' Supernatural Agency'," he ridiculed himself.

His next divination would be something about the killing itself. He concentrated on the still burning candles and repeated a question in his mind.

'Where will the next killing take place?'

He waited for a while, staring at the candles. One second, two seconds, three seconds, one minute passed but nothing happened. The room didn't grow darker and there was no image forming in the flames. It seemed that Graham's divination had failed, not because it was interfered with, but it just failed to give him any information. However, since he was nearing his limit, he still got a headache.

"Sigh... I guess divination is not all-powerful. It would be really helpful if we could know the place of killing ahead of time, so we could prevent it." he paused and massaged his temples, "I guess even though it failed, it was still counted towards my quota."

He put out the fires and went to his bedroom. He lied down in bed and spoke, "Val, we switch. You write the info for the Police. Our handwritings are different, and yours should be untraceable."

He closed his eyes and fell asleep not long after. After Graham had slept, Valentine opened his eyes and got up from the bed.

"You know, G, among our abilities, falling asleep quickly should be the most powerful." he jested.

Valentine then went to the office in the next room and took a piece of paper, not for burning like Graham, but for writing. On the paper, he wrote the anonymous tip for the Police. Before he started writing, he prepared an anti-divination ritual to avoid any tracing back to him.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, offer this ink as a medium"

He raised the pen that he would be using for writing. It emitted a strange mist that made one feel like lost.

"For I declare this item under the Shroud of Secrecy hereafter!"

The pen continued emitting the strange mist. Valentine started writing his message right away.

'Étienne Dechant, the first victim. Tuinstraat North number 43. The same image as the second victim was found, suspected to be a death threat.'

'Signed: Friendly Neighborhood Watch'

Valentine's handwriting was neat and beautiful, unlike Graham's messy one. His could even be mistaken for a woman's. With the ink as the medium, the whole paper wouldn't be able to be divined about. Even if they wanted to erase the ink to cancel the power, they would have to erase the whole ink, making the paper unusable.

Once he was done with the note, he folded it and tucked it inside his pocket. He then wore his more rarely worn leather jacket and gloves and went out. It was already eight by the time he and Graham finished.

He went to the apartment room next door and rang the bell. It was Luuk van der Meer's. Not long after, Luuk came out and asked readily. Since he had agreed to be his associate, he had always waited for the day the detective would take him on a case. And they had the mission they needed to do as well.

"Yes? Is there anything I can help with?"

"You're obviously free. Come with me. Combat gear," he said shortly.

"Okay. Let me go get ready first." he agreed.

Luuk closed the door and went back inside. A few minutes later, he came out in his usual easy-to-move-in clothes and a pair of gloves. He also had a facemask and a beanie hidden inside his wallet, ready to use anytime. He wore his most lightweight shoes and hid a knife under his sock.

Valentine looked at his partner's attire and nodded in approval.

"Where are we going?" Luuk asked curiously.

"To have dinner," he answered straightforwardly.

"..." Luuk wanted to complain, but he didn't. He knew that the man in front of him wouldn't ask him to be combat-ready just to have dinner. He followed Valentine and the two men exited the apartment building, which still had some Police officers going about. It seemed that the investigation wasn't quite done yet.

"Do you know what happened there?" Luuk gestured in the direction of the crime scene.

"Someone's been murdered. You be careful," he commanded.

Valentine and Luuk walked in silence for a while before Luuk finally asked,

"Where are we going for dinner?"

Valentine shrugged, "No idea. Let's just stop at the first place we see."

Luuk wanted to complain again, but he didn't say anything. The man in front of him was cold but carefree at the same time. He seemed different from his usual warm and calculating self. Luuk even felt that they were two different people.

They were walking for quite some distance before they finally stopped at a restaurant. It was a 24-hour burger place which did not look very busy, probably because it was past dinner time already. They entered the burger place and ordered food. Once the finished ordering, Valentine said to Luuk,

"We're going to have fun tonight. For now, we eat and wait here. My treat."

Luuk only nodded. When their food came, he ate as slowly as possible, so he would have a reason to stay quiet. The man in front of him didn't feel very conversation-partner-like.

Valentine was very patient. He didn't mind sitting in silence without moving for hours on end. He could be watching people walking by and be content with it. Luuk tried to start a conversation several times but Valentine only gave short answers, so in the end, he just gave up. He endured the awkward silence for hours, ordering drinks and snacks from time to time to ease his pain.

After sitting for hours, Valentine finally decided to make his move. He stood up and stretched a bit. It was already midnight when the two of them left the restaurant.

"Where are we going?" asked Luuk while following Valentine who was walking really fast.

"Oosteindestraat South," he answered shortly.

Luuk then understood what the detective was trying to do. Oosteindestraat was infamous for its illegal activities, but Oosteindestraat South was even more dangerous. There were many gang members hanging around there, and they were known to be very violent. Nobody would dare walk there at night without protection. The Police had tried to secure the area many times, but they seemed to always be able to hide.

Because of the fast walking pace of the two men, they arrived at their destination within less than an hour, and they didn't feel that tired. Valentine, because his stamina was great in the first place, and Luuk, because his contract enhanced his stamina which he needed for running away. They were already wearing their masks when they entered the dangerous area.

"Are you going to pick a fight with all of them?" Luuk asked after seeing many people gathering there.

"Yes. But no need to kill them." Valentine answered seriously.

There were many people smoking and drinking alcohol in the dark night street. A lot of them had tattoos and piercings. They were wearing dark leather jackets with a fiery skull logo on the back. It seemed to be their gang logo. The men saw Valentine and Luuk and started gesturing to each other. They showed malice in their eyes.

Valentine and Luuk walked closer to them, and when they were close enough, one of them who looked like the leader spoke,

"Where are you two lovely couple going?" his tone was full of mockery. He was a brawny man with a buzz cut.

The other men laughed jeeringly.

Valentine gestured at Luuk with his head and suddenly attacked the man who just spoke.

Bump!

He blocked Valentine's fist with both arms but got pushed back.

"Fuck!! Guys, attack them!" he yelled angrily. He retreated to behind his men.

Valentine dodged the attack from two men and positioned himself.

Luuk saw a burly man carrying a baseball bat. He quickly chanted,

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare the muscular man's baseball bat mine!"

He made a quick swiping motion with his right hand and the baseball bat disappeared from the man's hand and appeared in his hand. He then used it to smack the head of a thin man who charged at him.

Smack!

The thin man fell unconscious and Luuk kept swinging his bat like crazy.

Crash!

Slam!

He hit two other men in the process, rendering them unconscious.

The leader saw the whole thing and yelled loudly to his men, "Be careful! They are not normal people!"

Valentine had taken a wooden plank lying nearby and used it to attack his enemies.

Thwack!

A man tried to hit him from behind but he dodged and hit him in the head.

"Shit! There are too many of them!" Luuk shouted while avoiding a knife attack. He hit the man's hand holding the knife with his baseball bat.

"Dogshit!" the man shouted in pain. He dropped his knife, and when he was about to pick it up, he was smacked in the head.

Whack!

"But aren't you enjoying yourself?" said Valentine while punching a man in the face. He looked at Luuk and could see that his eyes were gleaming with excitement.

"Who are these two?!" a man frantically yelled.

"Keep attacking them! Don't be scared!" shouted the leader from behind his men. He was looking for something. "Found it!"

Holding a thin iron plate and a stick, the man started chanting,

"I, in the name of the Deity of War, play this War Drum!"

He hit the iron plate with the stick in a rhythmical motion.

Badum! Badum! Badum!

The sound of the bear resounded around the area. The men under his command suddenly felt invigorated, as if their morale had been raised significantly.

"Kill them!"

"Skin them alive!"

"Destroy them!"

The sound of malicious cheering could be heard in the quiet night. The man came from all directions at once to outnumber Valentine and Luuk.

Both of them, having night vision and boosted nimbleness, could easily avoid the attack from any direction. Valentine gestured at Luuk and he understood right away what the detective meant.

Smack!

He pushed through the enemies, hitting them with his baseball bat. When he was close enough to the leader, he found a safe position and started chanting.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Theft, declare the drumming man's iron plate mine!"

He made a quick swiping motion and the iron plate appeared in his right hand. The thumping sound of the War Drum stopped. He then attacked the leader with his baseball bat while using the iron plate as a shield.

"Fucking bullshit power!" The leader said. He was definitely much more powerful than his men. He blocked Luuk's bat attack with the stick and the stick broke. He quickly retreated and tried to find another thing to use as a drum.

His underlings came to help their leader by charging at Luuk, but since the War Drum effect had stopped, they were not as vigorous as before. Valentine quickly helped Luuk.

Crack!

Valentine hit a man in the head with a beer bottle. He was using everything he could find as a weapon. He quickly chanted,

"I, in the name of the Deity of Secrets, declare the word drum a secret!"

Once he finished chanting, everybody felt like something had been erased from their knowledge.

The leader had found something else to use as a drum. He chanted,

"I, in the name of the Deity of War, played this War -----!"

It failed! He was shocked; the word didn't come out of his mouth.

"What the hell is happening!!" he shouted in confusion and rage. He tried chanting again while watching the two men overpowering his underlings.

"I, in the name of the Deity of War, played this War -----!"

It failed again!

"Fucking piece of useless trash!!" he was raging.

His underlings, without the supernatural aid from their leader, were no match for Valentine and Luuk. Although Luuk was just fighting based on instinct, his agility made him difficult to hit, and his attacks were too fast for them to defend.

Smack!

Whack!

Thwack!

Men fell unconscious left and right. When he saw that there was no one else but him, the leader felt afraid, but his pride would never allow him to beg for mercy. He started chanting something.

Bang!

Valentine hit the leader's head with a trash can lid very hard before he could finish his chanting. He stumbled, but before he could get back up, Valentine hit his head again.

Bang!

The sound of metal hitting hard skull was resounding in the quiet night.

Bang!

Valentine hit him again until he fell unconscious. Luuk was just watching and he somewhat pitied the man.

Valentine and Luuk were the only two people standing. Around them, men of different build and height were lying unconscious on the ground. They were all bruised and injured but still breathing.

Luuk felt strangely relieved. He felt like his built-up stress from all this time had just gone away like that.

Valentine cleaned the dust off his clothes and turned to Luuk, smiling with satisfaction.

"And that's the end of tonight's shenanigans."