12. Fall Into Garlic Trap

Damn, Layzal never stopped suspecting me. Like today, the police held an impromptu meeting. Layzal kept looking at me and thinking about how to find out who I was. Luckily, Mr. Jos is there and often asks Layzal for his opinion on how to catch vampires. After considering a few things finally, Layzal changed his strategy. At first, we patrolled the city, but now we have to disperse to remote areas such as Lago Village. In the end, Mr. Jos asked Layzal and Roni to stay in the city Archipelago. In the meantime, Leni and I were assigned by Mr. Jos to go to Lago Village to patrol.

"Ela, if anything happens, call me," said Layzal.

"Yeah, don't worry we will be fine."

After talking with Layzal, Leni and I rushed to Lago Village.

***

"Sister, please stop for a moment," Leni asked me.

We stopped in the middle of the road to be precise at the border between the town of Archipelago and the village of Lago. After that, Leni got off and headed to the shop. While I'm waiting in the car. Not long after, Leni came carrying a large sack with unknown contents. Next, she opened the trunk of the car and put the sack away. I was curious, so I went down to follow Leni to the trunk of the car.

"What is it, Leni?" I asked curiously.

"This is Talisman paper for vampires," she said in a whisper.

"Haa?" I'm amazed.

"Come on, let's get in the car. I'll explain it in more detail later," Leni said as she pushed me to quickly get into the car.

I couldn't stop thinking, how could Leni have thoughts like that? Thoughts that have come from nowhere.

"So, what does that mean, Leni?"

"Uhuh. How could you not know talisman paper for vampires? It sucks! Hu paper, yellow talisman paper. But usually, people call the Hu Paper Shenfu. As the saying goes 'prepare the umbrella before it rains', then we prepare the amulet before the vampires attack."

"I still don't get it," I said, shaking my head.

"So like this, later, if a vampire jumps up and down in front of us, we immediately put the Shenfu paper on his forehead. That way the vampire can't move and we're safe." Leni pressed the Shenfu paper against my forehead.

Suddenly I feel panicked because I'm afraid something is wrong with me. Besides, this is the first time I've heard of a vampire talisman paper. Understandably, I'm a vampire who doesn't have a vampire book. Mother also never told me about vampire amulets. So naturally I sat in the car with a tense face and my heart beating fast. Luckily the Shenfu paper didn't affect me, it had no effect at all.

"Leni, what are you doing?" I feel annoyed because she has given me a heart attack.

"Hahaha, testing," Leni laughed out loud. Then she took out a few sheets of Shenfu Paper from her trouser pocket. After that, she gave it to me and said, "We should be prepared."

"Besides, where are there vampires jumping up and down?" I was still annoyed and surprised by her.

"There is, a vampire's arms are straight out in front of him and he jumps up and down because he's stiff and can't take a step. A vampire walks like a pocong ghost. The difference is, the pocong hands are tied together," said Leni, laughing.

"Ah, never mind," I said, not wanting to discuss vampire amulets anymore. After that, we immediately continued our journey to Lago Village.

***

Finally, we arrived at Lago Village. Leni immediately got down and rushed to the trunk of the car to get a sack containing Shenfu papers and Speaker Toa. Using the Toa speaker, Leni asked the villagers to gather. After the residents gathered, Leni started explaining why we came to Lago Village.

"Ladies and gentlemen who I respect, thank you for taking the time to gather in the garden.

"As you know, the situation in Lago Village is no longer safe. Therefore, we came here to help solve this problem.

"However, we, the police, expect cooperation from Mr and Mrs," said Leni. Then Leni distributed Shenfu Papers to the residents of Lago Village. They all clenched their fists in confusion.

"All right, those are called Shenfu Papers, special talisman papers for vampires. Later, if you see a human figure jumping up and down in front of you, immediately attach the Shenfu paper to his forehead. In this way, you will be safe."

"And the vampire died?" asked Mr. Din.

"No, Sir, Shenfu paper is only for pausing or stopping the movement. Our job here is only to catch, not kill vampires. After we managed to catch the vampire, we handed it over to the police in the city for further handling," Leni answered with a smile.

"Excuse me, may I know what the meaning of this writing is?" Mr. Din showed the writing on the Shenfu paper.

"Oh, that means do not harm. Because of the 'do not harm' sign, the vampire couldn't move. Besides that, the writing 'do not harm' is a command from the ancient ancestors. But never mind, later when discussing the origin of these writings, we learn history.

"Now please remember what I said, If there is a human figure that is pale, arms straight forward, and the walking is jumping up and down like pocong, quickly stick the Shenfu paper to his forehead, understand?!"

"Yes! We understand," Lago villagers understood.

I don't know whose idea was Leni, Roni, Layzal, or Mr. Jos to catch vampires using Shenfu paper. But clearly, this is not my idea, because it's a ridiculous idea.

***

Without realizing it, we had been patrolling all day around Lago Village. Afternoon turned to night and I began to feel hungry. This is how it is when I work during the day my energy is drained by the sun, so, I get hungry easily.

"Leni, let's split up. You go west and I go south."

"Alright! Don't forget to bring the Shenfu paper," said Leni.

"Yeah," then we split up.

I started walking in search of prey, but I didn't go to people's houses and their cages. This time I tried to find a target without killing their animals, and when I walked in the garden or empty land, I saw a cow tied to a tree eating grass. I looked around the area and tried to smell a human. However, I couldn't detect if there were humans around the cow.

"Maybe the stables are full, so the cows are put out at night," I thought.

I immediately took action and with speed, I ran towards the cow, but, "Aaaaaaaa!" I screamed and fell into a hole filled with garlic.

Shit, someone has set a garlic trap. The person is very clever, setting a garlic trap, but topped with grass. So, I was trapped because all I saw was the green grass near the cow. Not only that, the garlic trap hole is also about three meters deep.

I don't know what happened to me, I felt weak as if my energy and knowledge were sucked up by a vacuum cleaner. I can't disappear, fly, or even change form. I couldn't scream for help in the middle of the night because people would suspect me.

If I thought it was impossible to catch a vampire using Shenfu Paper, then it's even more impossible because of the garlic, but in reality, I'm stuck and can't do anything except die in the garlic hole.

I looked up "Who is he?" In my vague vision, a man was standing at the edge of the garlic trap hole.

"Oh, no! I am dead," I closed my eyes.