Playmate (7)

"Don't tell me that unlucky girl is that soul?" As he pointed at the empty space, he could feel a presence of a soul.

Daniel is dumbfounded.

"Hey! How did you die?" He shouted in disbelief but soon fixed his collar to return to his composed self. However, his eyebrows kept twitching in annoyance.

He is vexed by the thought that he won't be able to rest tonight.

"I am sorry for shouting, sir. I work at the same company with Nida. Daniel Olitoquit." He introduced himself formally to Toto.

"I am sorry for bothering your evening, sir. I am SPO 1 Lord Suarez." he introduced himself too and offered his hand for a shake, but he immediately pulled it back.

"Ah, sorry, Nida told me you're a germaphobe."

Daniel's eyebrows twitched once again, since he knows that Nida won't describe him nicely. She will probably call him a clean freak or a germ anti.

"Let's go inside first." Daniel said after letting out a long sigh.

Daniel could only see a slight presence of Nida and couldn't hear what she was saying. That made him curious about the policemen helping her.

He opened the door and gestured to them to enter.

But both of them didn't move to enter.

"What?" he asked while raising one of his eyebrows.

"She said if you know how to bring her back, we need to retrieve her body first." Toto patiently repeated Nida's words.

"No need. You don't need that body. Let's talk inside. The bats are awake, so we can't stay too long outside." He went inside and left the door open so the two could follow.

"Bats?" Toto looked at his side, assuming that Nida was there, asking what Daniel meant with bats.

"This is a neighborhood full of vampires. Let's go in." Nida answered, then followed Daniel inside, leaving Toto stunned at knowing the sudden existence of vampires. He swallowed his own saliva first before entering the residence.

The three went inside the living room to discuss Nida's situation.

Toto told Daniel the whole story that he had also heard from Nida, who had told him while they were on the way to Daniel's house.

Toto is feeling strange and doubting that the current situation is not real since a lot of extraordinary things keep happening in one night.

"So Nida, what is happening to you right now is called awakening." Daniel starts to explain.

"What's awakening? she asked." Toto also started to be Nida's spokesperson.

"You're experiencing the same awakening process as the temple priestess."

"She's cursing." Toto stated, instead of repeating her words that were too crude to hear.

This made Daniel feel thankful that he was not seeing and hearing her.

"What's with the priestess thing? I am the daughter of a politician, and no one in my family is holy or religious! How the hell?" She continued to grumble since she didn't want to see where her situation was going.

"She's asking what the priestess does."

"The same with priests' purification, exorcism, and guardianship."

"She said it was bullshit. Why would she do that."

Ehem!

Daniel made a fake cough before he continued explaining.

"I didn't say you would be a priestess. What am I saying is you're awakening your priestess powers. No one will force you to become one if you don't want to." He made another long sigh and his shoulders slightly slumped over, showing how much he disliked talking about what he was about to say.

"I am a priest too. I experienced the same awakening you are experiencing. I wasn't forced to do what a normal priest does. But I still do things like exorcism or purification."

Nobody is aware but Nida dropped her jaws.

"You gain powers to purify due to excessive cleanliness?" she internally said as she wonders how she experience the same thing with the clean freak whereas she's not minding over cleanliness.

Thankfully Daniel could not here monologs and continue to explain.

"So here's the awakening process." Daniel raised his finger, counting from one.

"First you need to swallow a beast core and you will die seconds after. Second, your body needs contact with your spiritual partner or else your soul and body will perish. Third, after revival, you need to stick with your spiritual partner, maybe for a month. Lastly, your powers will eventually show up."

"I—is this kind of plot for an anime?" Toto asked instead of sharing what Nida said.

Daniel just shrugged his shoulders and looked at him, waiting for him to say what Nida had said.

"Ah—ah! She asked if I was her spiritual partner since I could talk to her. "

"I don't think so." Daniel observed Toto from head to toe while touching his chin. "Your spiritual partner can see you entirely, not partially. Maybe it's just Sir Lord's third eye is open."

"So who is this spiritual partner and where she can find him. Is there a time limit, why— wait, Nida! ask him one at a time!" He exclaimed because Nida was showering him with questions.

"I don't really know how spiritual partners are chosen, but in my case it was my mother. The other priestess that I know has spiritual partners who are their family or spouse. You can think of it as the closest person at heart."

Daniel kept his mouth shut even though he had someone in mind who was probably Nida's partner.

"Does she have the time to look for one?"

"Hmmmn. The time limit is twenty-four hours. Good luck." he lightly stated while Toto covered his ears.

Nida started to protest loudly.

"Be honest, Nida. Who's the person closest to you?" Daniel asked her once more, but that made the room silent.

"Is it Randell?" Toto broke the silence.

"Ah! You probably don't know him, sir. He is her late boyfriend. Nida doesn't have any friends, and she doesn't have a close relationship with her relatives either. The only one she became too close to was Randell. They stick together almost every time!" Toto shared as if he was excitedly telling the love story that he rooted so much for that he forgot that it was a long time ago.

"But I guess it is impossible since he is long gone." His bright expression became gloomy suddenly.

Nida bit her lips and wanted to tell Toto the truth, but she feared that she would be misunderstood again.

Daniel understood the situation and just looked the other way because he couldn't bear the eager expression on his face.

"If there's no one else that you think is your spiritual partner, you can try to go check on Randell. If he is unable to see you, then he is not. It's better to check on him first since it will take time if you one by one contact your family members." Daniel suggested.

Nida rolled around the huge black couch beside the two serious men in the living room while thinking about what she should do.

"Sir, you don't get me. Randell is long gone. He is dead. Too bad if only he was alive. I am sure he will be her spiritual partner. They love each other too much." He corrected Daniel.

"He is alive Toto." Nida aversely stated, then Toto perked up at the good news.

"He is alive? How? Why didn't I know? He survived the wolf attack?" Toto asked Nida who was showing a lot of this discomfort in her face, but unfortunately, no one would know.

"Long story. I will tell you later. J-just asked Daniel how I would know if Ranz was my spiritual partner." She bitterly stated.

Toto just nodded his head and trusted Nida that she would tell him all the details later.

"She asked what she needed to do after she confirmed if Randell was her spiritual partner."

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Toto is back to repeating the words Nida said.

"Just maintain close contact with him."

"Like what?"

"Like holding hands until you regain your body."

"I will regain my body?"

"The body you left will disappear and you will gain a new and better one. Your physical body will reappear once you take enough energy from him."

"How do I take energy from him?"

"HOLDING HANDS!" Daniel shouted. Since their conversation is turning into a circle, It is also strange to communicate with Nida since Toto is there as a middle man.

"Now! Go! Leave now! I already did my part!" He stood up and gestured for Toto to leave.

Nida wondered why Daniel suddenly became too irritated.

"Now what?" Daniel asked again since Toto is not leaving.

"Sir Daniel, she asked if you could help her regarding the company car and how she could return to work after she regains her body." Toto awkwardly says because he knows that Daniel is now expressing his reluctance to help and vexation.

Daniel just responded with a short grunt, then he tapped Toto's shoulder.

"Sir Suarez, please return to your station and help with the police matter. I'll take care of the company matter. Then YOU!" Daniel shouted in the air. "Go to your ex-lover and don't make any more trouble!"

However, he massaged his temples once he noticed Toto was not leaving.

"What is it? What more?" he asked impatiently.

"S-she said she doesn't know Randell's address."

"Ugh!" Daniel rubbed his face with his hands because his irritation was turning into stress.