It had been four hours into their shift and, in that time, Ashyer and Reginald had picked up at least seven more jobs where people and families were trapped on the side of the road.

It was understood that either shortly before sunset or just after that the calls would start coming in and this was why this was considered the busiest part of the night from a reactionary standpoint.

Dentists all over the capital worked hard to get these people home in what was a race against time against hungry predators.

Ashyer expected there would be relief from those they saved, but the range of emotions truly surprised him. He was hugged, screamed at, forced to console, and in one case even carry people to safety.

Throughout it all, Reginald remained the same as ever, and it was incredible how good he was at disarming people with simple conversation once they were in the Dental Car.

“You have to remember,” he said to Ashyer after a particularly upset man mentioned he would be filing a complaint since it had taken two hours for them to get to him; “That they are fearing for their lives. Once they’re in the car, with us, that goes away. They feel safe. They can be themselves again. More… human.”

“So we don’t hold it against them.”

“Right, it’s not personal. They likely don’t even remember it. They’ll remember for the rest of their lives the night they got trapped outside because of transport problems, or whatever, but the moment they feel safe will be just a passing thought.”

He smiled, reminding the younger Dentist;

“But this is the job. It’s keeping people safe.”

Ashyer agreed.

This wasn’t how he expected the night to go, but now that he was here he… found himself feeling happy that this was what he had decided to do with his life.

***

After a certain point, the number of calls from broken down cars stopped altogether.

There was no policy of fixing vehicles, rather it was simply escort to a place of safety with the ideal location being home. However, if an individual had a close friend or family member nearby, they would be taken to that instead. Sometimes people lied, but that was just the occasional selfish nature of humanity.

“The radios go silent now for those types of jobs,” Reginald said as they continued to patrol; “We’ll start to get different types of calls from here on.”

“Right.” Ashyer said, squeezing his hands together. He’d learned about this phenomenon in the academy. Just because people weren’t on the streets didn’t mean the Undead were just going to leave them alone.

If that was the case, nobody would die on nights like this.

“The next calls we get will likely be about alleged Vampires hanging outside of homes or talking to people through the glass to try and tempt them outside.” Reginald said; “If we get sent to a job like that, are you going to be okay with it?”

“Huh? Well, yeah?” Ashyer wondered, turning his head away from the road; “I’d have to be right? Isn’t that the point?”

“I don’t mean emotionally. I mean, physically. Vampires are a rarity and the chances of us driving around and bumping into one are low even at night, but they are out here. If it came down to it are you ready to fight?”

“I figured this was the point of my training from the start,” Ashyer said sternly; “I wanted to fight Vampires. I always imagined that would involve having to… actually fight one, at some point.”

“People say that, but then it happens.” Reginald said, adding before Ashyer could question; “You’ll see. They’re not like you’ve watched in classroom footage. They’re unnatural. Weird. You’ll see.”

“I hope so.” Ashyer said, but it was clear given his expression that Reginald thought this was the wrong thing to say.

Changing gears to not fall into a rabbit hole, the more experienced Dentist wondered;

“Is there any part of your training you’ve genuinely struggled with?”

“Huh?”

“Self-reflective exercise. What is your weakness as a Dentist?”

Ashyer wondered on this, but the answer was obvious.

“I’m not great at exams. Written ones. I… get by, but then the information disappears from my brain. I need to learn by doing the thing and see it in a practical setting.”

“So the physical side of things is okay?”

“I’ve passed my fitness tests and I did… well, enough, against Culhil Madris that he passed me…”

His mind retreated to the combat encounter he had shared against the older man. He was certainly spry for someone who looked as though he was in his hundreds, and he hit like a train with fists.

He shuddered, then continued;

“I try to keep in shape as well. Not as much as Scarlet, but…”

“What about the mystical element? It used to be a prerequisite in the academy that all Dentists could only graduate if they could utilise some form of magic.”

“Ah.” Ashyer said, dreading this conversation.

Magic... was a strange way of describing it. It was old fashioned and made Ashyer flinch slightly at the childish nature at its use.

Vampires were not considered magic, but they were certainly mystical in nature. Something, that something believed to be a Curse, brought individuals back from the dead and yet there was a biological nature that allowed them to pass on their affliction through blood.

Therefore, the concept of magic- or mysticism- existed in the world. This was expected and had been studied. It just wasn’t like it was in media, where people could create wands and cast spells after studying them in a classroom. It was something more… basic, and yet tied into the make-up of the world.

The sun was the ultimate force against Vampires. Sure, it was a big burning ball of gas in space that would burn for billions of years, but it also held a spiritual sense of Good-ness. It was the thing that people had worshipped, it provided life and it was warmth. It was the Ultimate good.

So, the magic that existed in the world had to good also.

And, crucially, it had to burn.

“Well, out of the six of us who graduated, I think only Scarlet has ever demonstrated any magical ability herself and even then it’s considered a pretty basic form of self-amplification.”

“So you’ve not had any joy in that front?”

Ashyer felt embarrassed.

Training to uncover and use the forms of magic that existed in the world was one of the most important things that had been discussed during training and, to this day, it felt like it was still eluding him.

“I think I’m at the first level.” He said, charitably; “I can… feel something when I try, at least I think I do, but I haven’t been able to say anything physical just yet. What about you?”

He cringed at the question.

“I’m around six years into my career as a Dentist,” Reginald said with a curious eyebrow; “I’d be pretty terrible if I couldn’t manifest my own magic at this point. Or I’d be a total badass, since I’d have survived this long without utilising the power of my soul as an arcane physical force against the undead scourge.”

He turned a corner, continuing; “Is that what the textbooks are still saying? I’d heard a rumour that they were trying to remove the spirituality element completely.”

“Nah it was still there, but we heard that maybe they’ll try it with the next recruits.”

“Interesting.”

Ashyer turned away and looked out the window.

They had gone deeper into the centre of Shordon and massive apartment blocks began to become more prominent as they drove. They loomed overhead, casting heavy shadows and replacing the stairs in the sky with yellow windows.

“Tower blocks are a bit of an anomaly for the Vampire rule of entry.” Reginald said, looking at a sign; “Can you explain why?”

“Huh?” Ashyer wondered; “Where did that come from?”

“I mean, if you don’t know the answer that’s fine as well, I guess…”

“No, I do, but we were just talking about magic, so-”

“We were, and then my ADHD reminded me I was around tower blocks and then I started thinking about apartments and then I thought about what you knew about apartments since you’d already said you struggled academically to retain things and now I’m explaining to you my full thought process about everything out of a sense of panic.”

“Okay, okay,” Ashyer agreed, relaxing; “I hadn’t considered it that way. Thank you for educating me.”

“Hah, it sort of is my job here. The classroom is one thing, but this is the real world now. It’s never going to be exactly like the textbooks you’ve worked with. But don’t stress about it, I’m planning on giving you a bunch of notes before the end of our shift on where you need to improve.”

“Huh?”

“You not drinking Hot drinks is absolutely, like, number one on your list of your flaws, by the way.”

“Flaws!?”

“It’s made you lose, like, fifty points.”

“THERE ARE POINTS-!?”

The car screeched to a halt and Ashyer felt his body fall forward.

Thank goodness for the seatbelt, for he fell back into his seat and then immediately jumped back up to look around as Reginald stared deep into the distance.

Then, they drove forward slowly, stopping as he activated the red lights on the roof.

“One second. Over there,” he said, pointing at the nearby tower block; “At the door.”

Ashyer stared, the light from the front of the car perfectly shining upon it and catching what had drawn Reginald’s attention. It was interesting, in this moment, seeing him so focused on their target and far more professional than he had been seconds before.

“The door is open.” Reginald answered, removing his seatbelt; “And can you see what’s around the frame?”

Ashyer could.

The door was open, albeit ever so slightly, with the light shining upon and illuminating a darkened hallway within.

There was no sign of anyone or anything inside, but the blocks lights were mostly all dark across the surface that they could see.

Around the doorframe, Ashyer could now see as his eyes focused, was a patch of red blood.

“Okay, we’re going in,” Reginald said, activating the radio on the dashboard.

Ashyer watched as suddenly he began to hear the sound of his heart in his eyes. Reginald was speaking very fast, but eventually the words were lost as he tried to resist shaking.

“Just to confirm,” Reginald said; “That’s the tower block on Boa Boulevard, I think the sign over here reads… Cruised Founding. To any other Dentists approaching it’s the only one that has no lights for the first… I’m going to guess ten stories?”

“We hear you,” a voice on the other end of the radio said; “We’re looking at information now. It looks like it’s twenty-four stories in total. Are you going to perform a full nest sweep?”

“Yes, yes.” Reginald said, adding to Ashyer; “We say yes twice just in case the radio doesn’t pick it up.”

“We’ll send another Unit to assist. ETA is looking to be around twenty-seven minutes.”

Reginald tapped the radio, glanced at the younger Dentist, and then said sternly;

“All received, in the meantime we will enter first and perform a basic check as a pair. If there is any concern for life and limb I’d rather we get there first rather than delaying twenty-seven minutes.”

“All received. Be safe.”

“Thanks.”

Reginald put the radio down and activated a second device on the same console and placing it into his ear. This, Ashyer knew from training, was a simplified radio that could be carried and connected to the Dentist directly.

He didn’t have one yet, and wouldn’t for a few weeks, hence the reason why Reginald then said;

“Okay, we’re going in. Stay close by me, okay?”

“Understood.”

“If I tell you to run, you run to the exit.”

“Got it.”

“If you see someone in trouble-.”

“I’ll help them.”

Reginald smiled and patted him on the shoulder, unlocking the car.

“Right answer,” he said, as they stepped outside.