The ride to Diamond’s apartment was in a heavy silence and Diamond sat in the back seat of the car instead of the passenger seat. Aziza wanted to ask questions, though she kept her mouth shut and would glance in the rearview mirror to look at Diamond, who was just staring out the window. Even with the heavy silence it was a short drive and Belle parked in a parking spot that had Diamond’s name in front of it. 

The walk up to the apartment was just as quiet with Diamond in the lead and once unlocking the door and entering the apartment Diamond slipped off her coat to have it fall to the ground. Before it hit the ground Belle caught it and hung it up without missing a beat and Aziza noticed from the neck down Diamond was wrapped in bandages and her right forearm was wrapped up too. Diamond walked straight to her bedroom and pushed out of the room a cork board on wheels that had a light black blanket over it.

Once the board was out of the bedroom Diamond closed the door and Aziza noticed a shimmer was coming off the bedroom door a second later. “That is an isolation spell, normally used to prevent sound coming out but the one on Dia’s is inverted, sound can’t enter and we can hear in just in case.” Belle explained. “After an event like today Dia likes to be alone in silence. Would you like some tea?”

“Uh…sure.” Aziza said as she watched Belle move around the apartment as she lived there. “This isn't the first time you’ve been here.” Aziza sat down at the dining table as Belle pulled out a kettle from the kitchen cabinet closest to the oven top. 

“No, it isn’t my first time and probably not my last.” Belle said she filled the kettle with water and put on the oven top once finished filling it up. “I bet you have lots of questions you want to ask.” 

“Is it written on my face?” Aziza joked and Belle chuckled as she walked towards the cork board. “I have a feeling that’s going to fill in a few things?” Belle took off the blanket from the board and rolled it into the kitchen/dining room. 

“Before we start with this, some things need to be explained, for therianthrope giving birth takes a lot out of them.” Belle explained as she pulled out some mugs and tea bags from another cabinet. “Amaris had it rougher as she gave birth to twins, and after giving birth she went into a three day coma. Anderson was unfortunately out of the country and the two put their trust in the wrong maid to help Amaris.” 

The kettle let out a whistle and Belle took it off the oven top to pour the boiling water into the mugs. “So Diamond has a twin sister?” Aziza asked as she glanced at the bedroom door then back to Belle.

Belle was silent for a second before turning around and putting a mug in front of Aziza. “Averous filled the vampire maid’s heart and took the very rare silver eyed baby twins to a seedy black market.” Belle said as next grabbed the bowl of sugar and put it on the table. “Where the twins were bought by a death fighting ring that was run by a criminal boss named Kek. For eleven years Dia and Eve fought for their lives in that hell pit.”

“Why couldn’t they be found sooner? As you said, silver eyes are rare.” Aziza asked as she pulled her tea bag up and down in her mug. “Isn’t there some kind of tracking spell.”

“There are tracking spells but there are blocking spells as well.” Belle said as pulled out her tea bag. “The blocking spells were broken by Dia using her clan power for the first time in her life. The Luna clan roar that destroys magic and with blocking spells gone the moonflower tracking spells rang out.” 

“I see,” Aziza said before sipping her tea when something came to her mind. “Wait, the drug dealer thought that Diamond had died, what is that about?” 

“Because she did, her heart had stopped for a few minutes after using her roar for the first time but her heart restarted itself.” Belle said as she stirred her tea to make a spoonful of sugar mix in better. “To back track a bit before the roar Dia and Eve were forced to fight each other by using an experimental rage drug. It was an unfair fight between a warrior versus a druid in a feral state.” Aziza was about to ask something but stopped as she remembered Diamond’s lesson about shifting. “As you probably figured out, without a clear mind a druid can’t use their magic.”

“While a warrior has access to true form, which is more powerful than semi-form.” Aziza said and Belle nodded to Aziza’s words. “So in a drug rage, Diamond killed her sister…”

“Yes, when the cops got to the fighting ring they found Dia holding Eve’s body.” Belle said as she slowly rotated her mug. “The Chief, when he was a rookie, was one to comfort Dia and returned both girls back to their family.”

“I see why Di-Wait, how do you know all these facts? How old are you?” Aziza asked as Belle sipped her tea. Aziza was examining Belle’s face and trying to find any wrinkle that would tell Aziza her age.

“I’m only two years older than Dia, and I wasn’t old enough to be a cleaner yet when this happened.” Belle chuckled seeing Aziza examining her face. “I’m well read into the case and got all personal notes both from Chief and Dia.”

“Oh…so I keep hearing Cleaner, are they a type of cop?” Aziza asked and Belle blinked in confusion. “Diamond never explained what a Cleaner was.”

“A Cleaner, often therianthropes, that clean up therianthrope and vampire messes and threats to keep the secret peace between the races. They work under a company separate from the police, in Wacksqueslia City that company is Nightshade Inc.” Belle said before getting up to put more water in the kettle. “Cleaners like Dia only deal with vampires and therianthropes and are publicly seen as citizens. Then there are Cleaners like me, a cop and a cleaner, I work with all three races and publicly seen as a cop.”

“So what is on this cork board?” Aziza said as she looked to the board and sipped her tea but found she had already finished it. Aziza was the name ‘Kek’ in the middle of the board and all the strings coming off that one name. Few of them stand out to Aziza, one string went to note about Kek either being a human or a therianthrope, and the other one being the origin of name Kek being Ancient Egyptian deity of night and darkness and maybe his own origin being egyptian.

“All the known information about Kek and his crime ring information we have.” Belle said and noticed Aziza looking at those notes. “They reason we think he’s human or therianthrope because vampires don’t make crime rings this big so fast, they don’t have a ticking clock. Of course that’s all theory as no one has ever met Kek and lived.”

“Diamond’s white whale…” Aziza whispered and Belle raised one of her brows from Aziza’s words. “Moby Dick, the whale that Ahab hunts down…Let’s hope Diamond doesn’t follow Ahab’s end.”

“I don’t see it that way, Ahab was obsessed with the whale. Diamond treats Kek case like an old bone.” Belle said as she took the kettle off the oven once more. “She will chew and gnaw on it but will drop it when given something new to do.”

Belle poured more water into Aziza’s cup and Aziza looked into the water, “Let’s just hope a piece doesn’t break off and she choke on it.” Aziza said as she put her tea bag in the water and Belle nodded from Aziza’s words.