Melton checked his watch again. Half past ten, same as the night before. He pumped his arms in front of the same facade of a building once again, ready to get to work. Dressed in a simple white collared tee and slacks, all covered under a black hood, hopefully he'd appear less conspicuous among the guests this time.

  The door groaned as it opened at an agonizing speed and the same concierge appeared before him. Approaching the same old lady, the necklace went from his breast pocket to his hand in a flourish before her eyes. She observed the necklace, widened eyes momentarily betraying her surprise before she regained her composure.

  "Proceed to door 1. Knock before you enter."

  Before Melton could even knock, the door in front of him blasted open.

  "Ah, Mr. Officer! Come in, come in."

  The inside of the room was similar to as he remembered, the only thing different was a table for two in the middle of the space now, instead of just a chair.

  "...Patricia isn't around?"

  "We're letting her take a break after you hit her so hard yesterday. She was complaining about neck pains all throughout the morning and afternoon, poor soul."

  "Sorry about that..." Melton’s hand scratched the back of his head. Should’ve thought twice about hitting a woman so hard…

  "Have a seat, I'll bring us some tea to chat over. Leave the hood on the stand next to the door."

  Elisabeth spun her heels as she turned, humming a tune as she walked into the pearlescent black and disappeared from the room. Whoever made the subspace enchantments on this room was far more skilled than Melton had initially thought. 'So her hair isn't all white...' He remarked, streaks of violet mottling the white in her ponytail as she headed out.

  Even though her face was covered by a veil, her every action only accentuated her innate beauty. Dressed in a cream coloured shirt and long grey skirt, she looked less like a mysterious information broker in the middle of the city's religious district and more like another girl in the capital. It took Melton until Elisabeth had left the "room" to realize he'd been staring the entire time.

  "Sorry I took a while, the water took a while to boil."

  Elisabeth emerged from the faux wall in front of Melton holding a tray of tea, setting it down as she took a seat in front of him.

  "Please enjoy; this tea was a gift from an old man who wished to reunite with his lover. I simply told him the location of her headstone, and I got a brick of excellent tea from one of the border cities of Esau when he visited again as thanks."

  "A man from the south of the continent came all the way here to ask for help?"

  "He came to the capital 60 years ago, during the war.” Elisabeth put her lips to her cup of tea. “When she perished during the conflict, her grave ended up in the northern frontier there. Took decades of searching just to find someone who could tell him where it was"

  His lips met the steaming cup, taking a sip right before regret hit. Boiling hot tea scalded his throat as he painfully swallowed it down.

  "So I won yesterday's bet, no?"

  "I was about to get to that part."

  Elisabeth tugged with her pinky finger and a red thread materialised, a knot of glowing red string tied around her pinky leading to his breast pocket.

  "The moment either of us tells a lie, the thread snaps and you will never see this place again. Gramms won't let you past the front door, and she's chased away more men than she could count back in her heyday."

  "Oddly strict?"

  "I hate liars. All liars should die."

  "They all do, eventually."

  Elisabeth rolled her eyes. "That's beside the point, Mr. Officer. Are we doing this or not?"

  The words "I accept" left his mouth and she nodded while leaning back, her hands daintily wrapping around the cup handle as she sipped her tea.

  "Where is this place?"

  "The Den of Sin. Says it right there on the note I gave you yesterday. Come to think of it, I don't know your name, Mr. Officer. Care to share?"

  "Melton of House Tasselt. You've got good handwriting, Ms. Elisabeth. Care to share exactly what it is you do in this place?"

  "What a smooth talker. You must be popular amongst your peers. To answer your question, this place does two things. We give information to those who need it for a sum of money or a favour that we can help with. The other thing we do is sell the bodies of women, in exchange for information. If there's word on the street, we'd be the first to hear about it. Or maybe we'd be the second?"

  "I understa- This place is a brothel as well?" Melton was shocked upright, leaning forward for more.

  "Well, at least the sisters in the other rooms do that. I myself employ... different methods. Not like I'm very content with morsels of gossip, anyways."

  Melton sighed inwardly. "But what makes you think I'm popular amongst my peers? As far as I'm concerned, they'd rather swarm around my brother than to give me even a sidelong glance."

  "I'll take that as a question asked. Well, you seem well-mannered, you treat others with respect and personally, you don't seem to have any hidden agenda when you pry or ask. It's hard to find someone in this day and age that doesn't feel like a shell of a person instead of what they are. I like that about you."

  "Well, I-"

  "You're also handsome, so you've got that going for you. You can't see my face, but trust me I'm enjoying the eye candy out here. Flashing a bright smile right now, see?"

  Elisabeth laid her elbows on the table, leaning forward as she tilted her head to the side and pointed at her own face behind the veil in a cutesy manner. Melton could only assume her face with a bright, gleaming smile. It took all of his composure for the heat to not rise onto his face.

  "How old are you, Mr. Tasselt?"

  "Call me Melton. Drop the 'Mr.', if you will." Melton blew onto the cup before he sipped his tea.

  "Ok, Melton. How old are you?"

  "20. And you?"

  "Same here. We match, that's nice. What do you think of my outfit? Picked it out just to see you." Elisabeth stood up as she showed off her clothes to Melton.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  "I think it looks great. What's up with the veil? You'd look prettier if you had it off."

  She bit back with a snarky comment. "Oh, it's so I don't smite everyone I meet to dust with my killer looks."

  As much as Melton believed it was a boast, those words coming out of her mouth held a certain weight to them.

  "Do you mind showing me your face? I won't disintegrate. Promise."

  "It was supposed to be my turn for a question... But sure, I'll oblige."

  Melton looked on as Elisabeth took a seat, her fingers finding the edge of her veil. Then, the curtains fell. A sharp chin. A button nose. Indigo eyes that seemed to stare right through him like glass, all in symmetry. He suddenly remembered to breathe and looked away, eager to hide the raging spill of red on his face.

  "Haha! Another victim of my killer looks. So? How do I look?" Elisabeth shot a mischievous smile into Melton's back.

  Melton looked her in the eyes as he leaned forward into her, taking Elisabeth slightly by surprise. The blush on his face betrayed the serious look it wore, his eyes squinting in scrutiny.

  "At a second glance, what I said about you yesterday was no lie. You really are beautiful."

  As soon as the words hit Elisabeth's ears, her ears lit up red. Purple eyes shut as the muscles on her face tried their hardest to pull the corner of her lips down before blurting out a response.

  "...G-g-glad you t-think that way..."

  The sound of hand meeting flesh snapped the mood, Elisabeth's own handprint stinging pink on her own cheeks. "Quit fooling around. You won't get much out of your time here if this keeps up"

  "And you're content with small talk, judging by the questions you are asking?"

  "What are you here for?"

  "Back to business I suppose. I want information. That's all I will disclose."

  "Don't we all. Make-up question: What are you going to do after learning about the brother and sister?"

  "I'll try to find their parents. Tell them the truth that their children are gone."

  "Wouldn't it be better if they never knew?"

  The room seemingly shrunk to just the table, the steaming cups of tea turning the air humid and palpable with tension. Drawing breath alone was enough to stick out as a response built in Melton's throat.

  "Elisabeth, they deserve to know. Only then can they make peace that their beloved children are hopefully in a better place now."

  "And I've seen the exact same truth drive people to madness. They gouged out their own eyeballs and slit their own throats when they finally learned the truth."

  "Still, they deserve to know. They can only find closure when they know the truth."

  "And if they choose to deny the truth?"

  "Then I believe they have simply chosen to wallow in their own sorrow instead of looking past it."

  Like I'm one to talk...

  "..."

  "Do you have immediate family?"

  The room slunk back to the original size, the cups no longer billowing steam as Elisabeth took another sip of tea. She cleared her throat, like a horse cantering before it began to gallop.

  "What's with the sudden change of topic?"

  Melton decided to come clean rather than to mince words and somehow earn her ire. "It simply got too heavy to talk properly."

  "My parents live in a quaint city in the south of Esau. What about you?"

  "A father and a brother. He's the one with the limelight. Deservedly so. Who's St. Monia?"

  "Ah, that's a touchy subject."

  "Huh?" An expression that screamed "What do you mean?” formed on his face.

  "They say that years after she had been anointed a Saintess of the God of the Sun, the 52nd Emperor Gallius visited her cathedral where she was offering prayer. At the time, he was looking for a state religion for his country to follow. The hold of religion in state affairs has substantially weakened after the capital has seen 2 new emperors, but something clearly happened there. Not long after, she disappeared. Never to be seen again."

  The thread began to fray as Melton eyed the thinning string of red. "You're leaving something out, it seems."

  "That's all I will disclose."

  The red line now hung by a loose thread, ready to snap at any moment. He would've pried further, but losing the thread might have meant he would never see her again and he would lose the world's favour in a night.

  "Melton, do you drink or smoke?"

  "...I have alcohol sometimes when it gets rough. But I abhor the smell of tobacco and incense."

  "Quite the honest man, aren't you? Though I get you on the incense part. It's all they ever use out here..."

  "One last question."

  "Hm?" Her eyes lit up, the curiosity held within purple eyes gleaming from within.

  "I would like to sketch a picture of you."

  "That'll come at a price."

  "State your terms."

  "Hmm..."

  Elisabeth cupped her chin, tapping away at porcelain as she thought of a good price for her portrait.

  "Say, why don't you swing by every weekend."

  "That's easy."

  "But you bring me a new story every week. Can be whatever. As long as it's something new I've never heard before."

  Challenging, but doable.

  "Deal."

  Taking out a hand camera, he aimed it at Elisabeth.

  "What's that?"

  "It's a thing called a camera. Draws your portrait in an instant. It cost a pretty penny when the traders from the West came into town."

  "Ooh. Lucky me, I thought I'd have to smile until you finished drawing. That would've put a wrinkle in my face." Elisabeth pouted; just the thought of such a thing happening was apparently enough to set her mood back.

  "Look here, and give me your best smile."

  Click!

  The film slowly churned out of the camera, Melton giving it a good wave before looking at the photograph.

  ...I'll keep this one. The dossier can have my sketch instead.

  Melton peeked at his wristwatch. Midnight, right on the dot. He rose from his seat as he headed towards the door.

  "Leaving?"

  "Yeah, I've got work tomorrow."

  "Pity. You're fun to talk to."

  "I'll see you next week, Elisabeth."

  Maybe all the small talk had finally gotten to him, but he let out a soft smile as he walked out of the room. Elisabeth stared for just a moment before the door slammed shut once again.

  You know, your smile isn't half bad yourself...

  The den had long since closed, and only her and Gramma remained in the second floor of the building. She was sleeping just a moment ago, but the sensation of a pair of hands on her neck shocked her awake as they began to constrict.

  "Ghk!...."

  A vision.

  The revelations in her sleep were far from anything new. But for her father to call it 'a gift from the heavens’; what a farce. Sure was a good way to make sure your daughter experience the deaths of people she met. It's always gruesome too. She could feel the searing pain in her gut as the brother slowly withered away in a cage, and the sickening feeling of steel against flesh, not to mention the pain as her muscles and nerves began to sever when the sister met her end in search of her brother.

  This time was rather different.

  She could feel her body desperately screaming for air, her throat coughing and straining for just another breath. The hands around her neck were immovable, the grip tightening as her lungs slowly ran out of air. They said that asphyxiation was a terrible way to go, but no matter how many times she experienced those gruesome deaths, the agony of slowly losing her breath never dulled.

  She squinted her eyes in a final effort to see her assailant in the distant future.

  And saw a pair of green eyes and a face full of tears.

  "!"

  Then her room appeared before her once more.

  "I feel awful…”