I still couldn't believe what was going on. My best friend went missing right before my eyes, and I was rendered useless against a stupid shadow. Sitting on the edge of the bed with my fists clenched tightly on my knees, I began to panic. What the hell should I do now? Where was Allen taken? How was I going to find him and get him back? So many questions were running through my mind, causing me to have a raging headache and bad attitude. "Shit..." I mumbled as I lowered my head. "That thing... what was its goal?"

"To take your girl."

Looking up at the voice, I saw the manager crawl out from the wood planks that was once a wall. Just the sight of him angered me. Within split seconds, I had stomped over to him, yanked all three hundred pounds of him off the floor and shoved him against the wall. "What the hell were you thinking?! If you hadn't had punched me, Allen wouldn't have been taken!" I shouted in his face. "Dammit, now you've made me all pissed!"

The manager looked blankly back at me, his mouth agape. "Your girl... was actually a guy?"

I felt my eye twitch at his question. "That's a long story, but it's not the point! If you hadn't had punch me in the gut, he might not have been taken! Fuck! What the hell did you hit me for?! I'm an Exorcist, so let me do my job!"

He was silent for a long while, lowering his head and closing his eyes. I was shocked, quite frankly, when I saw the tears roll down his chubby cheeks. "I don't know what I was thinking... you see... my grand daughter... she was taken two weeks ago, and no one has heard from her since. That thing that took your friend... took my precious little girl..."

As the sobs began to overwhelm him, I released my grip and let him fall to his knees. I began to understand, finally. "So... you just wanted to see your granddaughter again, huh? You want to get her back?" I asked quietly.

The man looked up to me, his face contorted in anguish. "Anything... anything to get my granddaughter back. She's the only thing I have left... Her parents were killed in a fire a year ago, and ever since she's been here with me. When I saw you with the miss down stairs, I purposely separated you two, thinking that if that monster came here to take her, I would for sure get him. But... I didn't... I couldn't save my granddaughter..."

Kneeling down, I placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. As ridiculous as he looks in a dress, Allen can defend himself and anyone else he may encounter. If we don't get there to defeat that thing, he would have by then."

"You... you really think so?"

"... I know so."

I was outside in front of the creepy building the manager had told us about. There were several signs all over the front door, saying 'Caution' or 'Stay Out'. I liked the one that said 'Trespassers will be shot'. Well, I was trespassing, and I sure as hell wasn't getting shot quite yet. "This place looks like something from some haunted movie or something... it kinda gives me the creeps..." I muttered to myself as I approached the door. I peered through the cracks in the old rotted wood and managed to catch a glimpse of the inside of the house; it was really dark, and from what little I could see, there were no furniture or signs of life in there. "Man... these people have poor taste..."

After jiggling the knob, I found that the door was locked. "Damn... I should have borrowed a hair pin or something from Lenalee... wait..." I paused, thinking hard over what I had said. "That's it! Lenalee! That's the password! Komui-san... you're such an idiot..."

Taking a step back, I raised my foot and kicked at the old wood until it finally broke, which, quite honestly, I wasn't ready for. My leg went sailing through the door until the splintered wood reached my knee. "S-shit! That frickin' hurt like hell!" I shouted as I attempted to pull my foot out of the door. So much for the noble rescue...

When I found that the door wasn't going to give my leg back so easily, I shoved my entire weight through the barrier until the door broke altogether and I went sprawling flat on my face. "Damn... why can't I think straight?" I mumbled as I pushed myself up and dusted the wood chips and dust from my uniform. With the moonlight behind me, I could actually see the inside of the house. Along the long hallway before me were old crooked shelves filled with dust and spider webs. The red carpet that covered the stair case was old and faded beyond the point of red, and the pictures that lines the walls were either dusty or broken. I wiped away the dust from one of the portraits; it was that of a young woman, dressed in nineteenth century clothing. Her eyes stared back hauntingly, dead. And was it just my imagination, or was her skin actually a pale grey?

"Creeeeepy..." I muttered as I back away from the picture and moved on down the hall. I couldn't help but have the sinking feeling that her dead eyes were watching me.

The kitchen was the same as the front entry way: dark, dusty, and creepy. Old kitchen knives, rusted over from age and disuse, lined along the wall near the stove. Nearing the water faucet, I grinned; you would think that a house this old would be covered in dust and spider webs, but the sink was clean, almost shiny. "So... someone used the sink recently."

Turning away from the kitchen and making my way back down the hallway to the front door, I began to notice that the pictures looked different, and the broken door that was on the floor when I left had now been put back in its original place. The stair case was gone, too. "What the hell is going on? Did I make a wrong turn or something?" I asked myself as I retraced my steps. "I'm sure I'm goin' the right way..."

That's when I heard it; the screams. My breath hitched as I went frozen at the sound of them. The high pitched noise pierced through my ear drums and sent chills down my spine. I knew that scream... I've heard it too many times to count. "A-allen?" My legs began to move on their own; before I realized it, I was sprinting down the halls towards the sound. "Allen! I'm coming, just hang on!" I shouted. The door at the end of the hall crumbled to my hammer, the wood planks and splinters flying everywhere. "Allen, I-"

But it wasn't Allen. Sitting on the bed before me was a little doll made to look like Allen. Cautiously, I picked it up and looked over it. The dress. The white pigtails. Even the red scar over the left eye. It was definitely made by the enemy to taunt me. My grip tightened around the doll's plush body as my teeth bore in rage. "What the hell is this shit? Are you taunting me now? Where the hell is Allen, you bastard?!" I yelled as I threw the doll against the wall. "Shit... I don't have any time for this..."

"Lavi."

My heart skipped a beat at the sound of my name. I turned back towards the doll, which lay crumpled against the wall. I stormed over to it, picking it up roughly by the head. "What the hell do you want? You're only a doll with Allen's voice recorded in it."

"Lavi. You have to survive the maze inside this house."

"... maze?" Was that why the halls were different before?

"You have twelve hours to find me, Lavi. If you don't find me by then, then it's bye bye!"

My lips curled back in disgust. "You... you think you can torment me by holding my friend captive? There's no way in hell you're going to do anything to him! I'll find him before the twelve hours is up, and then I'm gonna kill ya, ya hear?!"

"Lavi... save me..."

My breathing hitched. "Wha...t?"

"Lavi, please save me... If you don't... in twelve hours, I'll become...

... one of those paintings..."