"Do you think they have those little umbrellas and the colorful drinks?" Harry said as they sat down.

  He doubted that considering the fact they had gone to the very seediest example of a dive bar. Harry had suggested continuing their discussion within an establishment instead of talking at the scene of the crime. And that seedy old bar on the edge of downtown had ended up being the only establishment they could find that was open in the dead of night.

  There were plenty of fast food places that were open around the clock, but Harry had demanded a place that served drinks. The man had said something about it being the perfect backdrop for detective talk. Whatever that meant.

  "So tell me everything about yourself, Ken, and do give me some examples of what you might bring to the investigation while you're at it!" Harry said excitedly.

  "I keep telling you that I just happened to stumble upon the body by chance," he said morosely.

  "Okay, but you're some kind of flesh eating monstrosity aren't you?" Harry asked him, "Like a ghoul or something, right?"

  Monstrosity felt like a loaded term in his ears. While he wasn't sure what Harry meant by that it still didn't sound very good to him. While his recent actions had been monstrous and his newfound instincts felt quite predatory, he still didn't want to be called a monster much less actually become one. Although maybe it was too late for that.

  "Wait! Are you fresh?" Harry exclaimed with no less excitement than before, "Considering your age that must mean you're a chimera!"

  "They did tell me I was something called a chimera, a true chimera to be exact..."

  "Oh so you're a bifold, then I'm probably supposed to apologize for bringing it up."

  "That makes about as much sense as everything else people have told me tonight," he muttered.

  Harry leaned back in the worn leather booth and sighed. His body language was quite strange in Ken's mind. He never looked him in the eyes and was almost always awkwardly fidgeting in some way or the other. The body language that Harry displayed was probably the most unusual part. His every motion was somewhat stilted and his movements were always drawn out for far too long.

  "So chimera are usually a perfect fusion of their two natures, but in the case of bifold or true chimera the two natures that make them up never found a way to actually mix."

  "Like water and oil without something to emulsify the two?" he asked Harry as the bartender came by to give them their drinks.

  "Oh that's actually a great way to look at it!" Harry said as he fiddled with the little umbrella in his drink, "But it's not a perfect explanation since bifold aren't actually half anything."

  "So what does it mean then?"

  "Well bifold are truly both of their natures at once, so if one of their parents is human it means they're fully human and fully something else at the same time."

  Despite his eccentricities the man actually seemed quite knowledgeable. He clearly knew more than himself at the very least. While Harry was in fact very weird it was still very clear to him that the man was by no means stupid. Harry's awkwardness could make someone assume otherwise, but while he spoke in an unusual manner and made all sorts of strange remarks he still displayed quite a strong albeit unusual form of cleverness.

  "Let's say they may have called me a dhampir, whatever that means," he said as Harry cautiously sipped his drink, "Does that mean I'm all human and all vampire at the same time then if I'm also what you called a bifold?"

  "Oh so you're a vampire chimera then? Because that would explain how you came across the body."

  "Yeah, it was like I could smell the blood in the air..."

  Harry looked up from the drink. Presumably the man was looking at his forehead to imitate eye contact, but he would call any attention to that. He seemed deep in thought for a few moments before eventually nodding to himself and speaking up.

  "A freshly emerged dhampir is usually insatiable so I don't doubt for a second that you smelled the body, but there's just no way that you were the one that did it."

  "Well you are right that I didn't do it, but how do you know that?" he asked Harry cautiously.

  "Vampire chimera usually have their hunger and lust cross wired, which means you are most likely to feed during a sexual encounter."

  The image of Mary's cold body entered his mind as Harry's words hit him. Even if it had been short he had still really liked her. The guilt made his heart ache something fierce when he thought back to their conversation during the party. If they never met she could have lived, but she had talked to him and meeting him had marked the end of her story. Maybe it was just better if he died so that no one else would ever have to lose their life to him.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  "Whatever you did probably makes you hurt a lot inside, but that's no reason to seek death yourself."

  "What?"

  "Ken, almost all chimera like you end up killing someone they care about when they emerge," Harry said with an awkward smile, "Truth is it wasn't your fault even if you did kill someone because there's just no way you could have prevented it."

  "How did you know I killed someone?"

  "You're a predatory chimera, you've recently emerged, and one unfortunate future showed you attempting to hang yourself tonight but failing miserably."

  Harry awkwardly scratched the stubble on his chin while drumming on the table with his fingers, "Vampires are hardy so you just kind of flailed about until the rope snapped."

  "How is whatever you just said supposed to make me feel better about what happened?!"

  It irked him something fierce. What did Harry even mean by one unfortunate future? He had thought of killing himself just then, but how could Harry have known that he would have chosen hanging of all things? His blood felt like it was boiling as the anger and rage grew within him.

  "Might wanna cover your eyes because they're starting to glow," Harry said while waving his hand in front of his own face.

  "Fucking hell!" he exclaimed as he raised his hand to cover his eyes.

  "Ken, I want you to help me find the one that killed that guy in the alleyway," Harry declared with a fire in his eyes, "With you on the team I have no doubt we'll catch them in no time and it might even help with that crushing guilt of yours."

  Harry had said that he wanted his help with the investigating the killer while they had been walking to the bar. Back then he hadn't been sure if the guy was serious, but their conversation had shown him that Harry was anything but indirect. Harry meant everything that he said, and if he rejected his offer the man would just continue the investigation on his own.

  "I was never particularly physically fit, and I'm not sure my mind is all there at the moment..."

  "Ken, you're a vampire chimera and even if you were extraordinarily weak for your kind you'd still be fast enough to outrun a friggin bus."

  His hundred meter dash earlier that night had taken him about five seconds. Dividing the distance by time would give him a result of twenty meters per second. That would have been around seventy kilometers an hour. Harry was actually right. He could probably overtake a car if he really pushed himself. While his newfound powers did make him a bit giddy it still did little to wash away the unbearable guilt.

  He sighed and raised his head to look directly at Harry, "Why do you want me to join the investigation so badly?"

  "You're way faster than me, you have the senses of a bloodhound, and I think my current assistant might be really mad at me."'

  Joining Harry could very well be a monumental mistake. There were clearly dangerous things out there that he couldn't fathom and for all he knew Harry could be one of them, but for some reason he felt he could trust the man. Harry was weird and many of his statements were irritatingly blunt, yet nothing about him seemed malicious. It could be that Harry genuinely wanted to help people in his own weird way by pretending to be some sort of detective.

  He steeled himself for a moment and then made his choice, "Okay, I'll help you out with your investigation, but only if you promise to help me deal with what I've become."

  "Oh can do, Ken!" Harry shouted cheerfully, "Call in sick then come to my place tomorrow and we'll get to work catching this killer together!"

  Harry slid a card with his phone number over to him and got up. Before walking away Harry turned around and actually looked him in the eye. The man had avoided eye contact all night, but now he had just gone and done it as if it came to him naturally.

  "We're going to be a great team, Ken, I've got high hopes that we'll catch them now that we're working together!"

  It wasn't until long after Harry had already left that he got up from the booth and began making his way home. Harry had been odd and uninentionally rude from time to time, but he didn't dislike the guy. In fact in some strange way Harry was actually quite endearing. The man looked quite disheveled and seemed to be in his early thirties, but he acted almost like an overly excitable teenager.

  He quickly saved Harry's number in his contacts as he stepped into the yard outside his home. With a deep breath he pushed door open and entered the darkened house. His parents were definitely asleep so he moved slowly and quietly as he made his way towards his room.

  Only when he had safely made it to his room did he let out the breath he had been holding. When he threw himself on the bed it struck him that he wasn't tired in the slightest. He had been awake for far longer than he usually was, but he wasn't sleepy at all. Perhaps being part vampire was making his body crave a more nocturnal lifestyle or maybe he was just getting used to having an almost normal amount of energy compared to before.

  He was scary fast now and probably quite strong as well. If anything he at least felt incredibly strong. All of his senses had become incredibly acute and there was no sign of that going away. Even through multiple thick walls he could still hear the slow breathing of his sleeping parents. Not a single light in the house was on, but despite the fact his room should've been pitch black he could see everything clear as day.

  "I'm sorry, Mary, I'm really sorry for everything," he said to himself as he stared at the ceiling.

  Was there an afterlife? If monsters like him were real it would only be fair if those that fell victim to things like him went somewhere nice in the end. Eventually the drowsiness started to hit him as he lay there with nothing but his thoughts to accompany him. All he wanted was a chance to tell Mary how sorry he was, but she was dead and would most likely never hear it. Even if she did there was just no way she would ever forgive him.

  He heard a noise like droplets of water dripping in the sink. It was so quiet that he had almost missed it. The sound got more frequent with every passing moment, but sleep was well on its way to winning him over. He was too tired to even stand up and go looking for the source of the noise. While it was bothering him it was probably better if he went looking for it once he woke up.

  The world around him was starting to fade and his body felt like it was becoming weightless. Darkness flooded his vision as he slowly began sinking into his dreams, but just before he could fully succumb to the slumber he heard something whispering from the corner of the room.

  "Queen's gambit..."