Well, here comes chapter two! The only note I really have is that Helga is another fan character of mine. She is basically Rachel's stern yet loving right hand maid. She has a somewhat conflicted relationshp with Harvey, but gets along with Rachel.
Other than that, read, review and enjoy!
The Demon Master's Puppet
Chapter Two: The Mark's Curse
A pleasant light emitted from that bright morning star known as the sun, illuminating the fabulous McKenzie manor as its light seeped through the vast open windows of this fine establishment. Of the many rooms it lit, Rachel's bedroom was one. As the bright star's rays danced around her face, the young blonde slowly opened her beautiful chocolate brown eyes to find herself in her own bedroom, safe and unharmed. She sat there, dazed for a moment, unsure as to whether she still dreamt or not. But as she began to fully awaken, the true answer seemed a little bit more clear to her than it did merely a few minutes ago.
"It was all a dream", she asked herself out loud, still slightly unsure if she remained in the land of the dreaming.
Although upon realizing the control she had over her own body, a small smile formed on her face as she realized she had indeed only gone through a nightmare which she was now free from. Sitting up, the young girl was now ready to freshen up, anticipating the start of a new day. Suddenly though, she felt a strange sensation run through her right hand, one which made her feel curious.
"That's strange...Why does my-", she thought to herself in curiosity as she pulled her right hand up from under the covers, only to cut her own thought off as a look of horror and anxiety formed on her beautiful face.
The mark which Grandfather left on her hand had transformed it, but it hadn't transformed her hand into just anything, no it had transformed her right hand into a Citizombie hand. It was more than a nightmare now as Rachel silently stared at her now giant, clawed and desaturated hand in horror. As this occurred, all she could feel surging through her body was anxiety, anxiety so high all she could do to release it was release a blood piercing scream. A scream so high and repulsive, that not only did it awaken, it also caused two very important members of the household to awaken; Rachel's right hand maid and friend Helga, and her younger brother Harvey, or Numbuh 363, head of Sector W. Simultaneously apart from each other, the two ran in a panic towards Rachel's room, meeting up with each other along the way. Now carrying a bat in her hand, the middle aged maid quickly opened the door, prepared to attack if necessary.
"Miss Rachel...huh", Helga sternly stated as she busted into the room, only to stare in confusion as she saw nothing more than her mistress lying awake in bed, a small smile clear on her beautiful face.
"Oh...Helga...Harvey...what a nice surprise to see you two so early this morning", she replied in a low yet sweet tone, one which only furthered Helga's suspicions.
"Miss Rachel, are you feeling alright", the middle aged woman asked in a suspicious tone.
"Oh...not really...I have a really bad tummy ache right now...", she softly replied.
"Wait...that's why you screamed to the top of your lungs and woke us up", Harvey asked in a clear tone of annoyance.
"Actually, that was because I realized that I have a lot of work to do today. And if I don't complete all of that work for today, than I'll begin to fall behind once work begins to pile up. And knowing me, I'll probably become quietly stressed out over it", the young girl explained.
"Enough that it would make you scream bloody murder", Helga asked in a still suspicious tone, causing Rachel to cringe, for she knew that the middle aged maid was not buying her little white lie.
"Well...I admit that was an...overreaction on my part, but I'm pretty sure I can find a way to work that problem out once I'm feeling better", she replied in her usual calm yet still sweet sounding manner. Despite this, Helga refused to buy anything she had just heard from the young blonde. But even with this in mind, she decided to trust in her mistresses reasoning and let this situation go for now.
"Well, if you're going to stay home today, tell me...is there anything in particular you would like for breakfast once your stomach feels better", her maid asked sternly, causing Rachel to quietly sigh in relief.
"Oh...uh...well...would it be okay if I had a bacon and cheese omelet once I feel better please", she asked in a soft tone.
"I'll see to it that you get one today. Sleep well for now, Miss Rachel" she calmly replied as she walked out of the room, taking Harvey with her and closing the door in the process. But as they did, all the buck-toothed boy could do was pout at what had just happened.
"No fair! How come Rachel gets to stay home "sick" and I don't" he complained to their maid.
"Because when Miss Rachel lies, she usually has a good reason for doing so", she sternly replied.
"Oh, yeah", the bratty boy realized as he continued to walk down to the kitchen with his and Rachel's trusty maid.
Now that the cost was clear, the young blonde pulled the cursed hand up from underneath her soft bedsheets, a melancholy look now present on her beautiful face as she continued to stare at her now wrinkled and aged hand in pure disgust. But despite how much she wanted not to think of it, she knew that the disgust she felt ran even further than what had become of her hand. The disgust she felt within came from her ignorance, her inability to believe that such a powerful being as Grandfather could in fact hurt her in her own dreams. But now that he had shown her how wrong she really was, it only made one thing clear to Rachel; the yellow-eyed demon wanted her as his catalyst, and was prepared to make her his tool by any means necessary. Despite having the ugly feeling of doubt surging throughout her body, the young Supreme Leader tried as best she could to remain her positive self. She knew there had to be a way to reverse this spell put upon her, the question now was how.
"What do I do...Helga's already suspicious, and I can't stay locked in my bedroom until I resolve this situation...but I can't go out with my hand in this condition either", she thought to herself in a worried tone, sighing as a small moment of silence encased the vast room.. Although worry still ran through her body, the young girl shrugged it off as best she could and try to remain her confident self.
"Well, if I'm going to take a leave of absence for today, I may as well figure out my cover up" she thought to herself in a calm and thoughtful manner. "I just need someone to cal in sick for me".
Yes, but just who could call in sick for her? She could ask her friend Fanny, or Numbuh 86 to do it for her, but unfortunately, the newly appointed Global Tactical officer was out of commission due to a bad head cold, and would not like to be disturbed for anything. Sector V was another option, but they might find her story suspicious as well. And Harvey was out of the question, for he was already suspicious of his sister's weird behaviour she exhibited nearly five minutes ago. That only left her with one other option, an option she would hate to use. Remembering that she had no choice at this point though, she picked up her bedroom phone and began to dial the number. Unfortunately, annoyance as opposed to relief came to her as she realized that her transformed hand was now too big to press such small buttons.
"It just had to be my dominant hand", she replied in a tone pure annoyance as she put the phone in her other hand, and began to dial the number.
Elsewhere in Gallagher, the same bright star lit its gaze upon the small, but loving Drilovsky residence. Inside this small abode, a large quantity of food was being consumed as Jeffery, or Numbuh 600, second-in-command of Kids Next Door Arctic Base continued to almost inhale every last piece of food present at the table, enjoying each bite with utmost glee.
"Keep em' coming Mrs. Drilovsky", the blue eyed boy happily shouted as a pretty young woman with long black hair happily walked over to her kitchen table, carrying over something which caught the boy's hungry eye.
"Here you go Jeffery; a soft boiled egg topped with bacon bits. Just how you like it", she sweetly said as she put the dish down in front of the boy, who now began to drool in utmost hunger and glee.
"Mrs. Drilovsky, you make the best food in the whole neighbourhood" he replied as he began to consume the meal.
"Oh, thank you. Anything for my guests", she sweetly replied as she beamed a bright smile. "Oh, that reminds me. Patton sweetie, would you like seconds?"
"No thanks mom, I'm good. Besides, I wouldn't want to miss Jeffery's little Breakfast and a Show routine if I can help it", said Patton, or Numbuh 60, Drill Sergeant Supreme of Kids Next Door Arctic Base as he watched from the couch, smiling deviously at his friend as he continued to tease him. As per usual, this resulted in a small reaction of anger from the brown haired boy.
"Hey, you should be lucky your mom has the soul of a cooking goddess", he replied. "My mom can't cook half as good as yours."
"Yeah, but my mom's not half as annoying as yours is" the raven haired boy replied in a devious tone.
"Yeah...hey, watch it", the blue eyed boy replied in a tone of annoyance. She may be annoying, but she's still my mom."
"True. But I wonder what would happen if my wasn't such a great cook, maybe you'd get a better reputation from the cadets when I'm not around" Patton wondered aloud.
"Oh please, those cadets will never respect me as much they respect you and you know it" the blue-eyed boy replied in a matter of fact tone, causing his friend to chuckle.
" You got that right", he replied.
Suddenly, a loud obnoxious beeping sound could be heard throughout the two joined rooms. It took the young Drill Sergeant a few seconds to realize it was his cellphone ring tone as he took it out of his cargo pants to see who was calling him. Confused by the 'Out of Area" Id written on his cellphone, he quickly left the room to go into the front hallway for some privacy.
"I wonder who could be calling my baby at this hour", she asked in a tone of curiosity, looking over towards her guest for a possible answer.
"Don't look at me, I just come here to meet my friend and eat your food", Jeffery replied as he continued to consume what remained of his giant breakfast. Meanwhile in the front hallway, Patton lifted up the cover of his cellphone and pressed the phone up to his ear, curious to know who the caller was.
"Hello", he asked.
"Hi Patton" said a familiar angelic sounding voice, one which caused a wide smile to form on the young boy's face.
"Rachel, hi. So what do I owe the pleasure of hearing from you so early in the morning", he asked in a teasing tone. "Did I act too reckless and impulsive again?"
"Cut the jokes Patton, I need to talk to you about something. It's urgent", the young girl replied in a stern yet slightly annoyed tone. But upon hearing her say the words urgent, the young boy felt a surge of seriousness overtake him as he was prepared to listen to his friend and superior, for he knew she would never joke around with an emergency.
"What's going on? Is it an emergency", he asked in a more serious tone.
"Sort of", she replied in a low tone, trying as best she could to hide the hesitation clear in her voice. "You see, I'm not feeling well."
"What! What do you mean you're not feeling well", the raven haired asked in a concerned, yet panicky tone.
"Well, unless you consider a low grey fever and a tummy ache as life threatening, I'm fine otherwise", she replied in a low tone, giggling at her friend's odd yet somewhat amusing response.
"Oh, well at least it's not too serious", he replied in a tone of obvious embarrassment towards his recent reaction.
"Anyway, the reason I called is because I need you to call in sick for me" she replied, her answer bringing nothing more to the young boy than suspicion.
"Why can't you just call in sick yourself" he asked in a suspicious tone.
"Well I would, but my connection to the Global Command main computer seems to be on the fritz right now, so I can't really call myself", she replied in a tone of mixed uncertainty and hesitation Despite his suspicion though, Patton decided to just leave the situation alone for now and do what she wants, for it was very obvious at this point that she wasn't quite ready to talk about her situation. Sighing for a brief moment, he put his cellphone back up to his ear, ready to give her his answer.
"Alright, I'll call in sick for you. But do you mind if I come over to visit you after work", he asked in a low tone.
"No", she screeched into the phone, surprising the young boy.
"I mean, no. It's not that I don't want you to come over, it's just that I'm a little worried that I'll get even worse as the day goes on, and I'd prefer if you didn't become sick yourself because of me."
"How considerate of you", he said in a low, yet suspicious sounding tone.
"Yes...how considerate...Anyway, thanks for doing this for me Patton", she replied in a low tone of uncertainty.
"You're welcome. Get better soon, okay", he stated.
"I will. See you around", she stated as she hung up on her end of the phone, Patton following in suit as he continued to think over his recent conversation with his lovely young friend in suspicion. Whether she was lying or not was uncertain to him at this point, but all he did know was that she was hiding something, and he didn't like that at all.
"What are you hiding Rachel", he thought to himself in a low, suspicious.
The room stood in silence as Rachel continued to look at the phone with a sorrowful look on her face, disgusted with her recent act of uncharacteristic lying. In truth, she understood that it was necessary thing to do in a situation such as this. But if there was one thing hated to do, it was to lie, especially to someone whom she cares for very much. In truth, the honourable girl wished she could have told her dear friend of her troubles, but another look at her clawed hand only furthered her urge to hide her problem in secrecy, despite her disgust at having to lie to her friends and loved ones.
"I'm sorry Patton...but I can't risk you getting involved in this", she thought to herself in a sorrowful tone as she continued to stare at her hand, mixed expression of hurt and sorrow now clearly marked upon her beautiful face.
End chap. 2