Meena and Rotan followed Atum up three flights of stairs. The building was old, even on the inside, but not decrepit. Minimal maintenance was clearly done. Still, this sort of living was unfamiliar to Meena. She had heard people say that places like her commune had too many people who were all up in each other’s business.

  Yet she found living confined in these brick enclosures far more claustrophobic than her own home. It didn’t help that her head was closer to the roof than the others. It was something she would have to get used to since she had now moved into such an apartment to be close to her new job.

  Still, it’s not too bad. Families live here. I can feel the life here, decades of it. It’s just different, sort of like a new ecosystem.

  Fey creatures, like her father, deeply connected to their environments. Once they took root somewhere, it was extremely difficult to remove them willingly. Meena was only half-fey though. She had inherited a sensitivity to the land she lived in, both magical and physical, but did not feel such a compulsion to stay in one place.

  Like mom calls me, “a walking bush”.

  They finally reached a door which Atum stopped at. He turned to them.

  “Ok, first case, first day. Exciting!” he said. “You guys feeling good?”

  Meena nodded. Rotan had some doubts which he voiced.

  “Um, actually, do you have any instructions? What are we supposed to do? Should we just listen?”

  I’m glad he asked. Why didn’t I? Meena though to herself. I need to ask more questions or I’ll suck at this.

  “This is a fact-finding meeting.” answered Atum. “There’s no one way to approach these. You’ll adapt while on the job. I don’t expect you both to act like me. Take your time to figure out what works for you. Don’t be afraid to mess up a little, or to ask questions.”

  He looked at Meena while saying the last part. She took the hint and tried voicing what she was thinking.

  “So… we can also ask them questions?” she asked.

  “Sure, follow my lead. You’ll be fine, I promise!” Atum said cheerfully.

  He isn’t what I was expecting from a department head. Feels kind of loose. I guess he’s been doing this alone for a while. I do appreciate that we get to jump into the practical bit of it though.

  Rotan didn’t appear to feel the same. He was nervously adjusting and patting his pockets. Probably making sure his stationary was there.

  Atum knocked thrice on the door and then waited patiently with his hands behind his back.

  Some muffled voices could be heard but no one immediately came to the door. Atum stood patiently though as if he was used to this. Just as Rotan was about to ask if they should knock again, the door opened slightly.

  There was enough space to see a middle-aged woman, probably human, looking through.

  “Yes? Who are you?” asked the woman.

  “Good morning, Ma’am, my name’s Atum. I’m here from the Magical Domain Division. The government. These are my colleagues, Meena and Rotan”

  Being called ‘colleagues’ made Meena and Rotan stand up a little straighter.

  “Oh. Oh!” the lady suddenly seemed less nervous and opened the door fully. She was dressed in typical home wear, which was a grey ankle length skirt and a blouse. Her hair was tied up in a bun. “Are you here about Tina?”

  “Well, we’re actually responding to some complaints you sent. I’m assuming Tina would be a part of that. May we come in?”

  She stepped aside and the three walked in.

  The apartment seemed typical of what you would expect from a suburban family. 2 bedrooms, 1 kitchen, and a shared bathroom. It was slightly messy, but nothing unexpected from a lived in space.

  Coming out of one of the bedrooms was a middle-aged man, most probably the woman’s husband. He was wearing pants and a shirt. He hesitated when he saw the government employees, his eyes slightly lingering on Meena and Rotan.

  In Rhiavas, it was completely common to see all sorts of different species in your day-to-day life, but Meena and Rotan were still relatively rare and hard to place.

  Atum and introduced themselves again.

  “Henry Menings” the man responded and the gestured to his wife, “My wife, Lonnie.”

  “Please sit down.” Lonnie asked while moving towards the sofas in the room.

  Atum, Meena, and Rotan sat together on the largest couch while Henry and Lonnie sat opposite them on two single seaters.

  “Mr. and Mrs Menings.” Atum began, “I understand that you’ve made several complaints to you’re the local wardens. And then sent some letters to the district office. I understand it’s mainly about a growing vampire community?”

  Henry scoffed. “Took you long enough. It’s been 3 months since I went to the wardens. My wife sent the letters. No point talking about it now.”

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

  “I apologize for the delay. From what I understand, there wasn’t any explicit law breaking relevant to your initial complaint. Your daughter Tina, 19 now, had chosen to convert to a vampire. The wardens had confirmed this with her as well; hence the matter was dropped. Mrs Mening, your letters are why we decided to check in.”

  Lonnie seemed about to speak but Henry cut her off. “I told her not to bother sending those complaints. What that daughter of ours does is not out business anymore. She decided to join those night rats. Didn’t listen to a word I said growing up, why would she listen now. Melio forgive her.”

  Meena paid attention to the last name he said. It was familiar to her. Melio was a common god followed by those who resided in the city. He typically had to do with law and economic prosperity. Initially more of a human god, he had gained popularity with the working class and was worshipped by many working folks. Though the extent to which people worshipped Melio varied.

  Explains the stuffy feeling I’ve been getting. I think these lot are devout. The house feels…closed off?

  Rotan was still taking notes and asked, “Do you follow Melio closely?”

  Henry sat a little straighter. “Of course! This household follows the tenets of Melio. Done so for three generations. My wife and I were introduced through the temple leader. We attend weekly and have quite the community here you know!” Henry sat back, clearly pleased with himself.

  “And Tina?” asked Meena.

  Henry scowled, “Take a guess. No one is forcing her to follow the tenets closely, but she should at least attend the weekly service! We’re part of the congregation, and this family has certain obligations. We take care of each other, and she takes that for granted!”

  Throughout his speech, Lonnie hadn’t said a word. From Meena’s perspective, she looked tired as if this was a conversation she had heard several times.

  Henry still hadn’t stopped speaking.

  “And then she… she joined those things! Ran away! As if to spite me even more!” he said agitatedly, “Good riddance!”

  Who is he saying this for? Why would anyone reveal so much about their family like this?

  Meena felt very uncomfortable. Even her mother sometimes got frustrated with her, but she would never talk to strangers like this about Meena. It was performative, though Meena couldn’t tell who Henry was performing for. Melio? His temple? Himself?

  Meena looked at her companions. She thought Rotan was still writing in his notebook but upon closer look realized he was just pretending to, possibly trying to avoid looking at Henry. Atum was the picture-perfect listener. He was still smiling at Henry, even nodding when required.

  Damn, will I have to do this regularly?

  As if hearing her thoughts, Atum suddenly interrupted Henry.

  “Pardon me, could we possibly have some tea?” he asked. He’d asked so suddenly that it took a second for anyone to respond.

  “Oh! I’m so sorry. Please let me go prepare it.” said Lonnie, as she stood up and moved to the kitchen.

  “Meena, Rotan. Please go help her.” said Atum.

  For a moment, Meena thought she was being dismissed but then understood what Atum was really asking her to do. Rotan had also arrived at the same conclusion.

  “Righto Sir.” said Rotan as he and Meena followed Lonnie into the kitchen. Behind them Atum continued to talk to Henry who was delighted for the attention.

  “Mrs. Menings, please let us help.” Rotan asked the housewife.

  “I couldn’t possible ask you to —”

  “We insist.” Meena firmly said, ignoring any refusal that Lonnie might have.

  “Oh. Um, could you please get some biscuits from the cupboard then. There are plates in that other one, get those as well.” She gestured to two cupboards.

  As Meena and Rotan retrieved the things she asked for, Meena decided to begin asking her questions.

  “Did Tina help you around the house as well?”

  “Yes! She’s a good girl. A little shy, but a very good girl.” said Lonnie, smiling to herself.

  “It doesn’t bother you that she’s not a close follower of Melio?”

  Lonnie hesitated a little. “She just needed time. It can be overwhelming in the beginning to be part of such a close-knit community. I also had to get used to it.”

  “Oh? I’m sorry, I don’t know much about how you practice. Why would it be overwhelming?”

  “Well, once you turn 18, the temple encourages more community work. It’s very helpful you see! You get to know your neighbours and make connections. That’s how I met Henry. Tina didn’t adjust so well. She didn’t want to go every week. She said it felt claustrophobic.”

  Bingo. Meena thought to herself.

  “And then three months ago, a few weeks after she turned 19, she left. In the middle of the night! She came back two days later and told us what she had done. That she’d become a… vampire.” It seemed like it was difficult for Lonnie to admit that.

  “I’m sorry, that seems difficult.” Meena said.

  “So were your letters regarding this then?” Rotan asked. “Her choosing to leave home?”

  Was hoping to tiptoe around the question Rotan, but I guess being direct works.

  “No! Not at all. I understand what it looks like.” admitted Lonnie, “But it’s different. If it was just her leaving, I would never have involved anyone else. But its… of all things to choose; a vampire! It’s strange. She may have been a bit different than us, but there were things Tina loved more than anything. She would go out on the weekends to the park. She liked to sit in the sun. Maybe she was shy, but once she got comfortable, she talked so much. There were a few friends here she used to hang around with, but they haven’t seen her since!”

  It seemed like Lonnie had a lot pent up.

  “I know it’s hard to understand but this is wrong. Spending the rest of her life in the dark. It doesn't make sense! I’m telling you. We hardly hear from her anymore. She didn’t talk much to her father, but she would at least talk to me. I don’t know what to do.”

  Lonnie spoke the last part quietly.

  Meena also felt slightly lost. She was initially going to assume this was just a daughter running away from home, but the mother’s desperate pleas had pulled some heartstrings.

  “Ma’am.” Rotan spoke up. “I can tell you at least we will check in on her.”

  It was a paltry offering, but it did seem Lonnie was grateful for that much. Meena wasn’t sure how much they could promise anyway.

  What role we do play here? How much of this is our job?

  Meena wasn’t insensitive to helping people, but she would like to know in what capacity they could actually help.

  They helped Lonnie carry the tea and biscuits to the living room where Henry had finished speaking as well.

  Atum looked at them and said “Well, I don’t think we have much more time to spend here. So, we’ll have to leave now.”

  He picked up his cup of tea and quickly drank it. The heat didn’t seem bother him. Meena and Rotan had no such immunity.

  “Leave it guys. I apologize for the waste, but we must be going. We’ll look into this whole vampire thing a bit more. Don’t worry.” he said reassuringly.

  “Don’t bother.” Henry said dismissively. Lonnie did give a hopeful look though.

  They had exited the home and were walking down the stairs.

  “Boss, do we do anything here? I’m not seeing anything illegal happening here. I think I’d run away from home too if I was Tina.” said Meena.

  “If it was just the running away, I wouldn’t interfere. But the vampire though…” Atum paused, considering. “There’s no harm in checking. The Menings had made a complaint to the local wardens. Let’s check in there. They’ll probably know which vampire this is and where Tina is. We’ll get that information and visit the vampire in question.”

  “This is a lot of walking.” Rotan commented.

  “Told you buddy, got to work on stamina. It’ll make this WAY easier.” Atum grinned and led them out of the building.