A Morning Preparation

At around one o'clock after midnight, Valentine arrived on Tuinstraat. Although it was a cold and breezy night, his forehead was sweaty. He seemed to have walked hurriedly home. The street was currently very quiet. The street lights illuminated his way, but there were still shadows cast by them, providing places for dangers to lurk in.

The belt that he was wearing was covered by an invisible yellowish mist. Valentine stepped very lightly but swiftly. Not long after, he arrived in front of an old-looking apartment building with the name 'Vakbond Apartment' written in woods above the double door. Most of the lights inside the apartment had been turned off because the inhabitants were asleep.

Valentine unlocked the main door with one of the keys in his keychain and slowly opened the door; it created a slight creaking sound. He closed the door behind him and locked it again to avoid normal thieves and burglars. Supernatural criminals wouldn't be stopped by a mere locked door, so there was nothing else to be done anyway.

The old wooden floors would normally creak if people stepped on them, but he walked upstairs stepping only on safe spots on the floorboards based on memory. He managed to avoid creating a loud noise and reached his apartment shortly after. Just as he was about to unlock his door, the apartment door next-door with the number 24 on it was opened.

"Where are you going?" asked Valentine.

Luuk, who thought there was no one there, was slightly surprised. He regained his composure quickly and answered calmly.

"Just the usual night routine,"

Valentine looked at the man who was closing the door to his own apartment. He was wearing a black turtleneck sweater and black gloves. His hair was covered by a black beanie and his face, a facemask. He already looked like a seasoned thief. Valentine then remembered the information he got this morning about the young man's hobby.

"Why are you still stealing? You've pleased your Deity," responded Valentine just to confirm.

"At this point, it's become a habit of mine," answered Luuk honestly.

"Well, good luck," said Valentine shortly.

Luuk nodded and then left. His steps were very light and almost inaudible. It was only thanks to Valentine's boosted hearing that he could still hear them. He opened his own apartment door and entered the dark office. After locking the door, he went to his bedroom and lied in bed.

"G, time to switch," he said.

Valentine closed his eyes and fell asleep. Graham woke up not long after and quickly got up to a sitting position. He took out his favorite black lighter with a classy design from his pocket and lit it. The spark wheel made a low clicking sound and tiny sparks flew before a flame was created. In the dark bedroom, the fire cast an orangish light that illuminated the room dimly. Graham concentrated on the gently burning flame in his hand and repeated a question in his mind.

'Where can I find Andreas Peters' aka Shade' house?'

A tiny image appeared from within the flame and gradually got bigger until, in Graham's eyes, it was as big as a cinema screen. It was an aerial view of Sloten, the usual kind of image that he got whenever he asked about locations. There were two red dots, one coming from his own location and the other was coming from his target's house, which was on Kruisstraat. The image then zoomed in and showed a two-story house with the number 56 on the gate. After showing that, the flame gradually consumed the image and everything went back to normal.

"I found you..."

Graham put the lighter back inside his pocket and got up from the bed.

"We'll deal with him tomorrow, Val. We need to prepare and also pay Luuk to help us. Our enemy is a President rank, after all,"

He undressed and put on his pajama pants. After that, he lied in the bed shirtless under the blanket. The night was cold, so he didn't want to shower first. The soft bed and the warm blanket provided him with comfort, so it didn't take long for him to fall asleep. He started snoring not long after.

The night went by quickly. The sun slowly rose and cast away the darkness. People started flocking the street and the sounds of motor carriages filled the air. The Saturday morning in Sloten was bustling with activity, although the later it got, the quieter it usually became on Saturdays. The early morning was just the time for people to set up their stores and buy perishable groceries for the day.

Graham woke up feeling refreshed at nine, when the street was already not as busy as earlier. He quickly took a shower and went to the kitchen to brew a cup of hot chocolate.

"Val, you must be awake already. You don't need a lot of sleep, after all," he said while waiting for his milk and sugar mixture to get to a scalding temperature in the saucepan.

Once the milk started simmering, he turned off the heat and added chopped chocolate pieces into it and stirred thoroughly. The liquid inside the saucepan gradually turned brown and showed a smooth, silky texture. Graham poured it all into a cup and enjoyed his morning drink.

"Luuk should already be home today, and it's Saturday, so he shouldn't have any classes at Uni. I'd feel bad if he actually failed because of us."

Graham sipped his hot chocolate and let the warm liquid fill his whole mouth. The soft sweet mixture entered his throat and warmed up his whole body in that cold morning, especially after a shower.

"But then again, as a Contractbound, he should be able to support himself even if he failed. Or he could just somehow steal the Dean's intention of failing him. But it only works temporarily, so maybe he could steal it and then make the Dean graduate him, and then return the intention. Then, it would be too late for the Dean to change the decision."

Graham took another sip.

"Why do I even bother thinking about stuff like this. It's not even my business."

Graham picked up a slice of white bread from the kitchen counter that he was sitting on and dipped it into his hot chocolate. He then put the soaked bread quickly into his mouth without letting any liquid drop to his pajama pants.

"Right now we need to think about how to deal with Adreas Peters. Or let's just call him Shade to make it easier. It seems that members of Pale Society have a theme to their nicknames. Gloom and Shade..." he said while chewing, "Anyway, to deal with Shade. He is a Guile, so prolonged fights with him should be avoided at all cost because he can implant a false memory in our brain. If the fight goes on too long, the false thought will manifest and that will be the end of us,"

Graham dipped another piece of white bread in his hot chocolate.

"He also has the abilities of a Mouth. Orders are extremely powerful for controlling someone, and the worst part is, it doesn't make us lose consciousness, so we can't secretly switch. Our only chance of winning is by taking him by surprise, which is difficult, or to bring Luuk with his Theft ability. We should also copy that ability using Purloin so we'll have more cards to play with,"

He quickly put the now sweet and soggy bread in his mouth and chewed quickly. The bread became very soft because of the hot chocolate, and their flavors combined to create a new, delectable taste.

"Now I wonder what Shade's other abilities are. He can't be a Fire Divinator because otherwise, he would have known that Calvin was tailed. Why didn't your Reveal tell us more information, Val?" he scratched his itchy right chest with his free left hand, "If we can kill Shade, I'll already have the contract scroll for my next ritual. I just need to please the Deity of the Tongue. Why is it much more complicated than your Deity? Although, I feel that it shouldn't be long before He is pleased with my action. Perhaps, tonight after I make the associates do another thing, my Deity will be pleased,"

Graham finished his hot chocolate that had been mostly soaked up by the bread pieces. The last gulp was not as delicious as the first because it had gone colder, but it was still very good nonetheless. He put the empty cup in the sink and washed it right away, and after that, cleaned the countertop from tiny breadcrumbs that had fallen there.

Once he was done with breakfast, Graham went to his bedroom to get dressed. He would go and see Luuk and went ahead with his first step of the plan: copying his Theft ability. Graham put on a simple dark-colored shirt that he hadn't worn in a long time and also a pair of pants that he wouldn't mind discarding. When assassinating people, he always wore something he normally didn't, so getting rid of them would be easy, although, in the end, his overall style still looked similar.

Outside his apartment, he reached out to the small while button placed next to the door with the number 24 on it. The button gave little resistance and he easily pressed it.

Ding... dong...

The ringing sound resounded inside the apartment, but could only be faintly heard from outside. Silence came after the bell sound was gone.

Ding... dong...

Graham pressed the button for the second time.

After waiting for more than a minute, finally, the sound of someone's footsteps approaching the door could be heard.

Click!

The door was opened, and through the gap, there was a man in his early twenties with black circles around his eyes. He was wearing a wrinkled t-shirt and a pair of elastic shorts.

"What is it?" said Luuk van der Meer while yawning.

He seemed to have not completely been awaken yet. His eyes were still dirty and his brown hair was messy.

"Val, if I didn't plan on fighting anyone today, I would use my Order to jolt him awake,"

"Are you busy today? Do you have any plans?" asked Graham.

Luuk yawned again and then shook his head sleepily.

"Good. Then can you help me with a mission?" he requested nicely.

The sleepy man suddenly looked to be thinking. He knew that a mission to Graham meant either killing a supernatural creature or killing someone, both of which could be dangerous.

"I just remembered that--" he spoke but was interrupted.

"Let me see," Graham took out a lighter from his pocket and lit a fire.

Luuk, knowing that he couldn't lie, accepted defeat, "Alright. I'll help you. Not for free, though."

"Of course. I always pay my partners reasonably. For this mission, I'll pay you twenty guilders," he replied convincingly.

Luuk's eyes opened wide in an instant.

"Deal! I need the cash anyway," he said quickly.

Graham curled raised his eyebrows.

"What happened to the money you just got?"

Luuk scratched the back of his head like a kid caught guilty being naughty and said, "I, Uhm, bought some stuff with it,"

Graham didn't care what the man had bought, so he didn't press the topic any further. He asked about something else, "What about the gemstones we got from the cave?"

A proud smile surfaced on Luuk's face. He then beckoned Graham to enter his apartment.

"Come here. I've finished identifying them and even embedded them into some bullets," he said while entering the room.

Graham followed Luuk inside his apartment. The room was still as messy as he remembered it. Books and clothes were littering the floor, and it was only the living room. His bedroom must be even messier.

On a desk on one side of the room, there were several bullets, two knives, and a lot of gemstone pieces of different colors and sizes. The bullets' tips were embedded with tiny pieces of stones while the knives had bigger pieces on their hilts. The man seemed to have been working hard these past view days.

"What are those?" asked Graham curiously.

"Remember that we got purple and green gemstones? The purple ones have the effect of slightly increasing our speed if embedded on a knife or slowing the enemies if on bullets. I'll call them slow bullets. The green ones have poison properties on both knives and bullets," he explained.

Graham wanted to know the detail better, so he sat on Luuk's sofa after moving some stuff aside to make room for himself. Luuk only watched as the man did whatever he pleased.

Not long after, Graham had fallen asleep and Valentine woke up. Luuk was observing the man intently.

So he indeed changes after sleeping. Even his eye color changes. His aura is more straightforwardly dangerous now. I guess this is his persona for fighting while the other one is for investigation? What a weirdo.

Valentine approached the bullet and picked up one of the purple ones.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Uncovering, ask you to reveal your secrets to me,"

An illusory text started to form above the bullet. Valentine took a glance at Luuk who was looking at the bullet instead of the text. It was apparent that he really couldn't see anything.

'Slow bullet, created by a beginner Jeweller. It has the effect of slightly slowing the target for about three seconds. The victim's actions and reaction speeds will be lowered slightly, making them an easier target to hit. Only a graze is enough for the bullet to take effect, but a full hit will make its duration last a second longer.'

After the text disappeared, Valentine put the purple bullet down and picked up the green one.

"I, in the name of the Deity of Uncovering, ask you to reveal your secrets to me,"

The same text that was invisible to other people began floating above the bullet with a piece of a green gemstone on its tip. Valentine read it carefully.

'Poison bullet, created by a beginner Jeweller. It has the ability to inflict poison on the target. The poisoned target will experience slight abdominal pain and muscle soreness. If left untreated, nausea will start to take effect and followed by vomiting. Successive hits by this bullet will make the symptoms stronger. However, the target cannot die of the poison from this bullet alone. A full hit is required for the poison to take effect.'

Once he finished reading, he put down the bullet and then turned to Luuk, who was watching him with curiosity. Before he was able to say something, the latter had spoken first.

"What ability is that?" Luuk asked curiously.

Since he didn't feel that it would harm him if Luuk knew, he answered, "It's basically just an identifying ability. Anyway, how many uses do the knives have?"

Luuk nodded, and then replied, "Ten uses and the gemstones will break. Another one can be embedded after that, but the knife's durability decreases after every embedding process. That's why I used cheap knives."

Valentine looked carefully at the knives. They did look cheap, but still sturdy enough to use in a fight. He would like to have his dagger embedded with a gemstone, but after hearing that the durability would decrease, he ceased his intention. The dagger was too important to him.

"Anyway, I'm going to start a business of selling embedded items," said Luuk suddenly.

Valentine was not shocked, but he was still curious.

"Does it mean I have to pay for the bullets if I want them?"

Luuk smiled meaningfully and then replied, "Of course. Although, you just need to pay for the bullets for these ones since the gemstones are partially yours. Only half a guilder for each bullet. That's how much I bought them for," he said, and then added, "Oh, and one more thing. I can only embed ten items per day."

"That's fair enough. I'll take all you have right now. And let me brief you about the mission," replied Valentine. He took a seat on the sofa comfortably.