“Was that the last thing you remember before waking up?” the police officer asked. I wished at that moment that I could at least see her stats.

“Exactly.”

You probably wonder what happened afterwards. After her bite I obviously lost consciousness. She sucked most of my blood out of me, probably intending to kill me. I wasn’t quite sure how I survived. Apparently, a merchant found my pale, near-dead body on his way to the city. I first got into something like a hospital where they gave me blood transfusions. A few hours later, I woke up and was welcomed by the police officer. She didn’t waste any time and immediately asked me about the attack.

“How do you know I was attacked?” I asked.

“It’s obvious. Those bite marks look like they'd glow in the dark.” She pointed at my arm. “Are those a vampire’s or maybe … a succubus'?”

“It was a succubus … yeah.” I still haven’t fully recovered so my brain wasn’t working as it has before.

“Well, I guess you simply had bad luck. Succubi attacks are quite rare nowadays, but you were outside of town with no witnesses around. Was there anything suspicious about her?”

“How did you know it’s a she? Were there more attacks recently?”

“Oh, you really know nothing … Succubi are always women. The male ones are called Incubus.”

“Oh…” I blushed.

“Now I wonder … how were you even able to distinguish?”

My brain sent alerts as I was not sure how to explain it. All my knowledge obviously came from that Grimoire. but were Grimoires even everyday things or was I special because I am from another world? Main character syndrome, I know.

“Well, she was … kinda hot … and, um she sucked my blood. That is what Succubi do, am I right?”

“I guess …” She looked through the window. It was already getting dark and thus she proposed: “Are you able to walk again? It’s getting dark outside and, well, the food here isn’t the best. How about accompanying me to the police office? At least we have cookies and coffee.”

And that’s how I ended up here. I thought she might like me, until I told her about being from another world, which of course she wouldn’t believe.

The office was only a two-minute walk from the hospital. I couldn’t see much of the city, but at least I could tell it was big.

After handing me a cup, she continued her interrogation. It felt as if being in this building gave her strength. At least I thought so. Her presence was … quite intimidating.

“So, tell me, what did she look like?”

I tried to recall every single detail, which wasn’t easy since I only saw her for a brief second. Actually, I wasn’t helpful at all. I described her as a “marvelous beauty” and “her lips were shining even though there was no light they could reflect” and, yeah, you could totally tell I still had a boner after this meeting although my blood pressure has been way under the norm for most of the day.

“That wasn’t very helpful.”

Just as I said …

“Is there anything else you’d like to tell me? If not, we should just stop for today.”

“Actually … there is. She stole my Grimoire.” I finally decided to tell it. Who knew what power it had, even more, if it was maybe the only in the entire world?

“Your what?!” She stood up, her hands pressed against the table, and I was able to see her veins.

“My Grim…”

“Why didn’t you say so before?! That’ll make it a lot easier to track down our enemy!”

“Your … enemy?” She seemed kind of … overexcited, talking that loudly.

“Actually,” she calmed down, “I’m probably not allowed to say. But your grimoire is not the only one that has been stolen.”

So, there was more than one.

“Lately there have been several thefts around the city, each involving a Grimoire being stolen. The thieves never got caught. And if, the witnesses were always found dead.”

“And how did I actually help?” I asked reluctantly.

“You know, there aren’t lots of Succubi living in this city.”

In that exact moment, a door opened an in came a young adult, maybe around the age of 20. His hair was bright and small signs of a beard were visible. The most distinctive feature though, was the shape of his ears. They were small, yet pointy.

An elf maybe?

“Ebony Dark’ness Dementia wishes to see you, Shelly.”

“It’s her!” We both shouted at the same time, to which Shelly, the police officer it seemed, gave me an irritated glance.

“Tell her to wait a minute, Trevor.”

“Of course.” Trevor left and closed the door.

“This is my now prime suspect. You have to hide!”

“But…”

“I’ll explain to you later. She might recognize you. Go, hide yourself in the kitchen, I’ll keep her away from there.”

The kitchen was a small room adjacent to the lounge, we were sitting in until now. I hurried into the next room and closed the door behind me. I peeked through the keyhole. I could hear and see Shelly opening the door and a few seconds later I heard high heels walking into the lounge.

“I’m sorry for stealing your time this late.”

“No, it’s alright. As long as you are here to report something?”

“Not exactly. I’m here because of the recent … thefts.”

“You mean the Grimoires?”

“Exactly. I’m quite concerned regarding my own collection. Some of them are mine, but mostly they were collected by all my ancestors. You could possibly backtrack them to the beginning of our era.”

“Okay, so how can I help you?”

“I need some information. It would be easier to put up some … security measures, if I would at least know, what kind of … threat I’m facing.”

If you tell her how far your investigations have gone, you would be pretty dumb, Shelly.

“Sorry, that’s classified.”

“Is it?”

“Yes, I’m not allowed to tell you without facing the threat of being punished, if this comes out.”

“But you are … the police officer.”

“And I am not the highest instance being responsible for catching and especially not for judging criminals.” Her voice got unexpectedly fierce. It was an interesting change to her calm self, especially speaking in front of this royal-looking person. “That’s all I have to say.”

I heard footsteps and then a closing door. I looked through the keyhole again and opened the door after making sure she was gone.

“Aster, go after her,” I heard Shelly say.

“As you wish.” A man suddenly appeared and vanished after saying those words.

“She was the one attacking me.”

“She was here to sound us out,” Shelly said.

“That’s what I also figured.”

“You don’t seem that dumb. Just a bit … unworldly.”

Well, that’s because … nah, forget it.

“You also started talking … like her,” I noticed. “It’s freaking me ... out.”

“You mean with those weird breaks in her sentences? Yeah, I also noticed that. I think she’s trying to build up tension. It’s weird.”

After this little conversation, there was an awkward kind of silence.

“I think it’s best for you to sleep here tonight,” she offered after a while.

“That’s good, because I don’t have anywhere to stay!”

“Until this case is solved you have to stay close by my side.”

“What?”

“You don’t have any knowledge of how to use magic, have you?” She gave me a gloomy expression.

“Magic?” The Grimoire had set my profession as Mage, but without it I doubted I was able to use any of it.

“So, you don’t even know what magic is?”

“I know what magic is! I just can’t use it …”

“So, you really are from another world, are you…” She muttered to herself. “But that’s just one more reason to have you under custody. Hear me up. Assuming Miss Dementia is the culprit, she will probably come to kill you, if she realizes you're still alive, considering you are our only living witness. And if you aren’t even able to use magic, you’ll die in no time.”

With a stern look her face came closer to mine.

“But for now, we should probably rest,” she said, stretching herself. “Today was tiring and I can’t wait to catch some sleep. I’m also going to sleep at the office. I will protect you, no matter what.”

“Thank you, Shelly.”

“That’s my job. Now come with me. I show you a place to rest.”