105 A Performance

"Val, I think I'm getting closer to pleasing my Deity. Making them work for me definitely helps a lot. We should please your Deity as well. I might have a good idea just how to do it, but we need preparation,"

It was Friday morning. Graham had woken up early, so the sun was still not that high up in the sky. The street outside his apartment was bustling with activities; the noise of vehicles driving by was loud enough to be heard from his second-floor bedroom.

"We have a lot of things to do. First is the investigation of the missing people in the Concrete. We can leave that to our associates. We will have another meeting on Saturday night, so they have two days to gather information,"

He looked at his plain ceiling.

"Next, we need to investigate the man who promised Calvin a contract scroll. I don't know where to begin since his memory seemed to have been tampered with. Divination doesn't seem to work either. I think our only option is to follow him, Val. I'll use divination to see when he's going to go and get the ritual sacrifice."

"The last thing on the list is to check on Luuk's progress with the gemstones that we have collected. That one is not urgent since his apartment is just next door. For now, let me do some divination."

Graham got up from the bed and picked up the lighter that was lying on his wooden table next to the bed. He pulled the trigger and a small flame started burning.

His first divination was regarding the time Calvin would make a move. His divination showed him that the man would make a move tonight at eleven, to the morgue in the graveyard. Graham didn't know if we would succeed, since the last time he did it Luuk was there to help him. Even with Luuk's help, it was still very dangerous because of tight security and all. It didn't concern Graham, however, since he only wanted to follow him once he had succeeded to meet up with the man again.

The second divination he did was about the destruction of Sloten by the Pale Society. He wanted to get the exact date, but his divination only showed him the same image of Sloten overrun by hordes of supernatural creatures. Even the dead bodies lying on the ground were still the same. In the image, there was nothing that could be used to deduce the date of the event.

"That's really a shame. I wish I could determine our remaining days, Val. We need to get stronger as soon as possible while actively trying to bring those people to the light of day,"

Graham then put out the fire and got up from the bed. He got dressed in his favorite shirt and coat and left the apartment.

...

"Why do you think the enemy knew about our operation?" asked Roze.

She was holding a bottle of whiskey with an ice cube in the form of a human skull.

"The only way I can think of is there is a mole within our ranks. I don't want to think that way but it's the most possible explanation," replied Rood.

"It's also what I've been thinking about, but I cannot pinpoint who it is. If there was one, the person sure was very meticulous. Don't tell anyone about your suspicion; we don't want to alert the mole,"

Roze and Rood sat there in silence. The drinks they ordered were almost completely finished, but it still didn't brighten up their mood. The clean up after the collapsed building incident was a nightmare, and although they had managed to detain several suspicious people, none of them were a core member of the organization. They were only people associated with them who did the organization's biddings.

"Those people stealing corpses. They must be gathering materials for summoning. We need to stop them before it's too late," said Roze. She held the glass of whiskey tightly; her expression could be described as frightening.

"You should act more ladylike if you want to find a boyfriend. Your appearance and the way you act really don't match" commented Rood casually.

"Shut up. You're also a single 36-year-old man. We're on the same boat,"

Suddenly, there was a static noise coming from her waist. She reached out to the source of the noise.

It was a round mirror with a plain design. The mirror's surface was hazy, like television static. After a while, the blur slowly faded, revealing a man with blonde hair and blue eyes that shone like a mirror.

"What is it, Paars?" asked Roze.

"Lieutenant, are you nearby?" he asked. The tone of his voice was not urgent, but it sounded like he wanted to say something important.

"Yes. I'm with Rood. We're at a bar on Grotemarktstraat. Did something happen?"

"A got a report from a patrolling officer. There's a group of people gathering in the park on Herenstraat. There were also people dressed like circus members. Should we check it out?"

Roze looked at Rood. The latter seemed to be thinking about something.

After a while, Rood finally spoke, "I think I remember something similar happening. There was a circus suddenly appearing in the middle of the street on Kruisstraat. It was right before the earthquake hit the area,"

"Something like that happened? What did the circus do?" asked Roze.

"The circus only blocked the traffic, nothing else. There was no one reporting anything either, so we didn't investigate. But the fact that it's happening again, there must be something going on. I think we should check it out," Rood concluded.

The circus back then must have been a distraction. There must have been something happening back then, but why did no one make a report? Was it something the Police should not know? We definitely have to look into it.

Rood borrowed the mirror that Roze was using and spoke to Paars.

"Paars, come to The Tipsy Man. Our motor carriage is parked outside. We'll go to investigate right away."

"Got it, Rood!"

After that, the connection with the man in the mirror was cut off and it returned to being just an ordinary mirror. Roze and Rood finished their drinks and left money on the table. After that, they left the bar and waited by the side of the street for Paars, who should be nearby since his ability could reach them.

They didn't wait long until Paars showed up. He was wearing a brown coat that he tied tightly around him. He might only be wearing a t-shirt and shorts under the coat, which would be easy to take off if he needed to get invisible.

"What are you doing here, anyway? And why are you alone?" asked Roze.

Paars scratched the back of his head.

"This is my day off, and I was just going shopping when suddenly I got notified through my walkie talkie,"

"You don't have to come with us to investigate. Just enjoy your day off," said Roze.

"Thanks, Lieutenant, but I'm also curious."

The three of them got into one of the motor carriages parked there. Roze and Rood put on their Police coats and they drove away to the location, with Rood behind the wheel. He was driving very fast that it didn't take them long to arrive. He parked the motor carriage parallel to the street and the three people got out.

In the park ahead of them, a lot of people had gathered. In the middle of the crowd, there was a group of people dressed up in circus costumes. The people in costumes were actually doing circus attractions like juggling and acrobats. There was also a man playing the drum to make the atmosphere more alive.

"See if there is someone doing something suspicious," commanded Roze.

The three of them split up and searched the area. Besides the crowd, there was nothing else happening there. Most of the people had come closer to watch, leaving the other parts of the park empty. They saw one circus member walking around the crowd, seemingly whispering something at them. Rood wanted to come closer, but he quickly walked into the crowd, and strangely, the people didn't let Rood through. The wall of people was becoming tighter.

"I can't get through!" said Paars.

The other two seemed to be in the same situation as Rood. They could only watch from the periphery without being able to get closer to the center now.

"Now, on to our final and most amazing performance!" said a man from the circus team.

One of them brought in a bucket of red liquid and put it in the center. The liquid smelled like iron, but people's curiosity and the beat of the drum strangely made them even more excited. They were all watching intently to see what would happen next.

Suddenly, the red liquid started moving by itself out of the bucket. It floated in the air and slowly formed a figure of a man wearing a sweater and facemask. The red liquid recreated the figure of the man perfectly without leaving any blank spots, including the sinister look in his eyes. However, the man was all red.

"Rood!" said Roze in surprise.

Rood nodded.

"It's different from mine, but I think it's a Denuder trying to please their Deity!" she said again.

The crowd was amazed by the sight. They didn't feel fear at all although the phenomenon in front of them couldn't be explained by common sense.

The blood man started to move. It seemed to be talking with someone, but they couldn't see it. Suddenly, the blood man dodged slightly to his left and there was something that grazed his shoulder. After that, the blood man seemed to be talking again and suddenly defended himself with a knife. It was clear that he was fighting an invisible enemy.

The audience couldn't see what or who attacked the blood man but seeing the impact, it must be something powerful. They cheered on the blood man for successfully deflecting the attack. They seemed to be enjoying the show so much.

Suddenly, the blood man stopped in his track, his eyes looked blank. The audience was worried. They shouted at him to wake up because the invisible enemy might attack soon. Shortly after that, countless small holes started appearing on his clothes and he used his knife to defend against the barrage of attacks. The audience gritted their teeth in anticipation. They wanted to see how the blood man would get out of that situation.

"Go! Blood man! Don't lose!" shouted someone from the crowd.

The blood man started beating his stomach with a short iron stick that he had taken out of his pocket.

Badum! Badum!

The sound of the drum was synchronized with the beating of the blood man. With each drum beat, the crowd's hearts were filled with excitement.

After that, the blood man quickly darted at a spot and attacked using his knife. It seemed that he was able to injure the invisible enemy, which made the crowd relieved. However, suddenly countless invisible bullets attacked him again, causing more injuries and holes in his clothes.

The blood man took a step back and slit his wrist. The part that made up his wrist slowly dripped to the ground, creating a pool of blood there. After a while, the pool of blood vaporized and quickly spread to the surrounding area. Some of the people in the crowd who inhaled the vapor suddenly became unconscious. They were all surprised, including the three Police members that had been trying to get to the center without success, even after they announced they were the Police.

"What in the world was that?! I've never seen Reconstruction do that!" exclaimed Roze.

After that, the blood man jumped on top of the invisible enemy that was, judging by the blood man's position, lying on the ground unconscious just like some of the people there. As the blood man was about to thrust his knife into the enemy, the crowd was overcome with anticipation. It was the climax that they had been waiting for. However, the blood man froze; he didn't move at all. His eyes were full of surprise and hatred.

All of a sudden, the blood man's heart was pierced by something, leaving a gap there. The blood that made up the part flowed down to the ground. The man's expression was that of someone who couldn't believe that he had been defeated.

After that, the blood man burst into flames and the performance was finished.

The crowd couldn't believe that the blood man had lost. They were there, watching the now empty space. They had been sure the blood man would win since his expression was very confident from the very beginning. They couldn't understand how he could be defeated so quickly and suddenly like that.

"Thank you, thank you!!" said someone from the circus member, returning the crowd to reality, "Until we meet again next time!"

Biff!

Suddenly there was a cloud of smoke rising quickly, covering everyone.

"Everyone, don't panic! We're the Police!" shouted Rood, trying to calm down the panicking crowd of people.

They were now able to get to the center where the circus team was. However, the smoke made it difficult for them to see.

The crowd of people was running in every direction, and among them, there were people in circus costumes mixed in.

"They're running away!" shouted Paars.