"It started a few hundred years back, somewhere in Europe, during the so-called Dark Ages." Sutokeru began telling his story.
"The Dark Ages?" Rin sounded surprised at the sound of that.
"Yes." Sutokeru continued, "It was the time when people were a lot more open to magic. Whenever a harvest failed, whenever someone was sick, when somebody's live was at risk,... there was always magic of some kind that could help. But that era saw the rise of a new religion, which changed all that."
"I know that!" Rin interrupted, "Suddenly, if harvest failed and things the like, it was the fault of a magician, or a witch."
"Indeed." Sutokeru confirmed, "They became beings associated with all things evil. All magical symbols, once meaning all things good, became marks of the devil. Especially the most powerfull mark of them all: the pentagram!"
"He's not just telling her things, is he?" Tsubasa wondered.
"He wouldn't lie to Rin." Houka responded, "Would he?"
"Or maybe," Kai remarked, whispering a lot louder than the rest of his family, "he thinks somebody else is listening too!"
"Which is exactly what we are doing!" Makito remarked, "And whose fault do you think it'd be if he knew?"
"The pentagram is a symbol of good?" Rin sounded surprised to hear that.
"You, who have been around for so long, and you didn't know that?" Sutokeru wondered, "And in fact, it's the symbol of life, yes. It represents the elements of life: Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, and Spirit!"
"But if it's so good, then... why did it become...?" Rin didn't know how to ask the question.
Sutokeru seemed to understand her though: "Because it was a magical symbol. And since magicians became representatives of the devil, all the symbols they warship are from the devil as well."
"So that's why people are afraid of magic!" Rin replied.
"And likely the reason why we have to keep our status as magicians a secret." Sutokeru added.
"I always thought that was because people would want to abuse our powers!" Rin relised.
"Likely the case too." Sutokeru replied, "Especially since one of that religion's priests was a magician himself!"
Rin was surprised at the sound of this, and the Ozu family shared the surprise.
"This is getting too weird!" Kai nearly shouted.
"Will you keep it down!" Makito commanded to his brother.
"He's right, though." Hikaru said, "This story is getting weirder with each word he's saying."
"I know what you're thinking." Sutokeru laughed, "Why would a magician suddenly work for the very people that wishes to wipe them out, if it's not for infiltrating? The answer's simple! He wasn't a magician before he became a priest. He made a deal with a Hades God, believing him to be his own God, and used the magic he gained to do the most terrible of things."
"But magic is made to do justice only!" Rin couldn't believe what she was hearing.
"The meaning of the word 'Justice' is relative." Sutokeru stated, "The priest believed he was doing justice by punishing the magicians. Or heathens as he called them. All the evil he has commited was all done, believing that he was doing the right thing. Even if his punishments didn't make any sense whatsoever!"
"Like what?" Rin asked.
Sutokeru looked at the wolf that was lying still with them. He looked around, only just noticing that the two vampires had laid themselves down, doing who-knows-what, since they never really do sleep, nor do they need any rest. Probably just playing with themselves, he figured, since they had allready heard the story.
"Matt?" Rin suddenly relised what he was talking about, "Is she...?"
Rin pointed to the wolf, after which Sutokeru continued: "Since magicians couldn't walk to each other and say 'I'm a magician' anymore, they had to device a way to recognise each other. They would brand themselves with a pentagram, somehow invincible to the human eye, but visible to another magician. Naturally, only that priest could spot somebody with that mark, and so he spotted one young innocent girl. Because she was a "heathen", he had placed a spell on her, which forced her to walk around in the land of the living, forever. On it's own, not such a bad thing, but... at day she'd be herself, at night she'd be the beast that he believed her to be."
"She bacame a werewolve?" Rin interrupted.
"Yes!" Sutokeru answered, "And despite numerous of efforts from one of my predicessors, she remained that way. The only thing he could change was that she'd only change under the full moon."
"And why do people change into wolves when they've been attacked by her?" Rin became very curious.
"Because it was that priests opinion that if she'd attack anyone as a wolf, there would have been a good reason. Therefor, anyone who fought to survive diserved to be punished, too. They'd get marked, and start changing every night too."
"But why is she a wolf still?" Rin hadn't figured this much out herself.
"That's because of me!" Sutokeru answered, "I had tried to rid her of the curse, but ended up, almost litterally, getting a cat out of a box!"
"What do you mean?" Rin asked.
"I wanted to take the curse out of her and I did... litterally!" Sutokeru answered, "Now there are two entities, one girl and one wolf. The wolf is here, but..."
That's when suddenly a long surpressed emotion came up. Rin moved a little closer to him, and like a mother caring for her child, she wrapped her arms around him: "Zedd's got her?"
Sutokeru nodded.
This was new for the whole family. But it still didn't make any sense.
"But why did he let it live?" Tsubasa asked.
"I think I know." Urara stated, but didn't get a chance to explain herself.
Sutokeru tried to pull himself together, and continued: "Even though they are two entities, they are still connected. If one feels pain, so does the other. If one dies... well, you know!"
Rin suddenly understood it all: "That's why you couldn't let the Ozus kill her... it!"
Meanwhile, Nailhead had moved himself down to a very deep and dark dungeon. Though the walls looked so old, they were still as strong as they were when they were first build. And with it's iron doors, even the strongest man in the world wouldn't be able to escape from this place. Nailhead could not help himself, even if he wanted to, but he enjoyed walking through these dungeons. They were old, damp, dark,... the perfect location for him to practise his favourite arts. At one point, he reached whatever it was he wanted to reach. He arrived at a door, which opened as soon as it saw him arrive. Nailhead entered the room that lay open for him. Before him lay a girl. She had long white hair, was wearing drags, or whatever was left of her clothes, dirt was helping her look more greenish, she would nearly forget what colour her skin normally has. When she heard someone enter the room, she lifted her head.
"If you're gonna force me to believe Matt has given up on me, you're wasting your time!" she said to Nailhead, in Australian English.
"I don't need to force you to do anything." Nailhead replied, "I only need you feel everything!"
The girl looked surprised. She didn't know what he meant by that. Nailhead suddenly raised both of his arms, and some of the chains that hung around him started to move, and cling themselves onto the girl. Nailhead smiled, as he puts his hands on his chains, somehow causes electricity to appear out of his hands, which moved itself from the chains to the girl, ultimately causing her great pains.
Note: the Australian girl is mine. The character "Nailhead" is a reference to "Pinhead" from the "Hellraiser" films.