THE SIDAPA RESIDENCE, Manila

Robin dials the telephone. “Hello, Mariel Santos?”

The other end pauses first, hesitant to answer. “Don Esperanza-Sidapa? Gosh, what a mouthful to say.” The woman laughed. “She must have you by the collar,”

Robin felt repulsed, but knew she was toying with him. The Secretary of Matang Lawin was not an easy woman to talk to. She was also one of the few high ranking members of Matang Lawin he has seen face to face. “Mayari Foundation Hospital? Sounds familiar?”

“Hmmm…be more specific.”

“I’m talking about the vampire corpses. Where did the students get them? Does your organization happen to have anything to do with it?” Robin’s voice was firm, looking for an answer.

“Let me check, you know we have so many contracts.” Robin heard a cabinet being opened, with files being flipped through. Mariel probably already knew and was just teasing him. “It seems we do have a contract with a bunch of names who seem to be in the medical field. I’ll have the file sent over so you can see if they match any of Jude’s med students. I’ll have Mayumi meet you somewhere. May I know who will be receiving it?”

“I’ll have one of my usual clan members go there.”

“Alright. Until next time, Don Esperanza-Sidapa.”

“Thank you,” 

Robin put down the telephone. He sighed and went out to give orders. Dani and Zephyr stayed behind in his office. 

“Who was that?” Zephyr asked.

“They're known as ‘Eyes of the Underground’” Dani said. “One of the highest ranking in Matang Lawin, twin sisters who were taken in by the Doña herself. Mariel Santos is the secretary and handler of the organization while Mayumi Santos is the top assassin. All the biggest hunts are given to her. The two are the face of the organization. More than the actual Doña. Most people don’t even know what she looks like.”

“Don’t they kill vampires? How can Robin trust them?”

Dani shrugged. “They don’t kill for sport. And it’s sort of become part of an ecosystem. And you should know, not only humans ask them to kill vampires. There have been some vampire-on-vampire crimes involving Matang Lawin. They’ll take whatever contract they get.”

Zephyr felt unsettled by that idea. Dani noticed the slight horror on his face. “Come on, lighten up. Us, humans, are no different. We kill each other too, don’t we?”

Dani was about to leave the room when Zephyr asked, “Wait, where are you off to?”

“Jude called. The med students won’t answer to her so she wants a human to interrogate them. I’m bringing Sophie with me, since I thought she might be helpful.”

Dani left the room, leaving Zephyr alone.

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MAYARI FOUNDATION HOSPITAL, Quezon City

Dani and Sophie entered the room where the med students were. Dani noticed the beads of sweat and their tense posture. They looked like they were gonna cry.

“Hey, relax won’t you? You’ve already done the worst you could do,”

They looked at Dani, shocked by her nonchalant attitude. “I’m not in the outfit, but I’m a doctor, too. Family physician. The lady with me here, is my patient.” Dani said.

They still would not speak.

“Look, I’ve been a med student too. Did my fair share of sketchy stuff. And on the other hand, I’ve been acquainted with this hospital’s…let’s just say, system. And let me tell you, the easiest and least painful way is for you to just say what you’re doing.”

And with that, Dani heard something under their breath.

“We were paid.” One said, softly.

“Paid?” Sophie asked.

“We were asked to extract blood from the bodies. When we asked our mentor about it, he said ‘disease related research’. However, our mentor cut all communication with us. All that shows up is that truck waiting for the ice coolers with the blood.”

“Can we ask who’s this mentor?” Sophie asked. 

“I need the money. I can’t afford med school for much longer. If he knew—” One of them stopped in her words, with tears coming out of her eyes.

Dani sighed. “You already violated medical protocols. If your mentor gets apprehended, we can form a case around him, say that you were all wrongfully coerced into this. Our organization can compensate and protect you. Just give us the name.”

Sophie was surprised by Dani’s persuasiveness. The students gave the name and they were out of the room before an hour passed.

Sophie then went silent which caught Dani’s attention. Sophie’s expression gave concern. “You don’t think the research they’re doing is…like what you did?”

Dani looked back to the students who exited the room. “It could be. Someone could’ve found out.”

Sophie held Dani’s hand. “But how? No one knew about what you did.”

Dani looked away from Sophie. “You weren’t the only person I did that experiment on. The war…I-” Dani paused. “It made me do things I didn’t want to do.”

“We better tell Robin. He knows too, right? About…you?”

“Yes, we have to. And we have the name of the doctor,”

“Right,” Sophie said. “You can know where he learned about it,”

Many things were stirring in Dani’s mind. The possibility someone else knew about her experiments when she left no trace. She thought she could erase that knowledge in the past. But she knew as long as Sophie had used it, there would always be the possibility someone could know. Not just about her experiments. But about her identity.