A/N: Hi! Elle here with another chapter! Previously, after learning about how to sense where someone is by the signal of their soul and shifting halfway into her animal form, which, apparently, all demons have, Mara and Sebastian received a letter from "E.J" saying that they either come and fight, or Grell gets killed. To clear up some confusion, Sebastian helped Mara in remembering Erican's mother trying to abduct her on that day three years prior, saying that he killed her as Mara ran back home. When Sebastian told Mara that he was not going with her, an intense exchange broke out between the two that ended in Mara reluctantly understanding and going back to the outside world to face Erican and put an end to the problem. How will she execute that, not even knowing that worse is yet to come?
Chapter Nine
"Hmm." I pondered, looking around at my surroundings. "This place isn't that far from the G.R.A.Y., and all the buildings regarding working as a grim reaper are around the same area. The first thing I need to do is get there and it'll be a lot easier easier to find the reform building."
"There are too many people around for me to be in this form." I said before shifting back. "I suppose I'll have to try to walk."
I leaned against the brick wall of a building for support as I limped. I saw a puddle, and my reflection in said puddle. My long, wavy hair was now soaking wet and tangled. My face was sprinkled with bruises and a few cuts. If I were someone walking on the same sidewalk I was on, I would have thought I was a monster. The fact that both of my eyes were exposed didn't help, either.
A flash of lightning ripped through the sky and an explosion of thunder followed. I tensed up and accidentally put quite an amount of pressure on my broken ankle, causing me to fall. I stood up and tried to hold back my tears.
I don't know how to do this. My right leg is half-useless, I'm freezing, and I can barely walk. How is this going to work?
Then, I felt something pulling me up.
It wasn't in an emotional way. I literally felt something pull me off the ground and and straight up by the back of my jacket until I felt myself drop onto a roof.
"Miss Sutcliff, are you alright?" asked a voice. I knew that voice, which was droning and uninteresting, as well as the person it belonged too, who had those same traits. I pushed myself onto my knees and shook my head.
"Someone I care about is in grave danger, and I need to get to the abandoned reform agency building, but I can't even walk because my ankle is broken. I don't think I can really do anything." I said through chattering teeth.
"That is not true." William said. "You can do something, but it seems that it just can't involve your ankle. Someone I hold dear is in danger in that place as well, and I was told that if I interfered with what was going to happen, that person would be killed. Don't think that you're being stopped by anything when you don't have to worry about your daughter possibly being killed if you go anywhere near there. I would be at that awful reform building right now, but I want my only child to see her sixteenth birthday in six months"
He has a teenage daughter? Wow, I never thought that he would ever be a father. The girl's probably all stoic, serious, strict, and so not my type. In any case, I only have eyes for Amelia. I hope she's alright. I couldn't stand it if she was brought into this, too.
I doubt it, though. Even if she somehow got in trouble, it's unlikely that Erican knows how much I care about her.
Unless William's daughter is…
Nah, there's no way.
"I'm sorry." I said. "I didn't think, well, I never assumed-"
"That I've ever cared about anyone or anything?" he finished my sentence. "I received word that my daughter had been witness to your mother's abduction, so she's being held at the reform building as well. I was also told that I interfered with what events were going to transpire, she would be killed. That's why I'm out here; I need to find some way to get her home, or I would never be able to live with myself."
"So she was taken for the opposite reason my mother was: to keep you away." I said. "If you help me get to the entrance, I'll find her and make sure she ends up safe. Well, I'll try to do that even if you don't, but it'll be-"
I cut myself off as I dodged the blade of his scythe when it came to a stop by my head.
"Grab the pole and hold on tight until it points to the sky. I should be able to catapult you to the building, and then you will do whatever you need to put this to an end and make sure she comes out unharmed."
"Got it." I said, nodding and grabbing hold of the pole. "Wait! How do I find her? What does she look like? Better yet, what's her name?"
"You already know her." he said. "She was in your exam group this morning."
My face fell, and my heart started to sink with sadness and race with worry.
There was only one other girl in my exam group this morning, and she's… oh no!
"Her name is Amelia." he reported.
"No!" I shouted. My eyes were ready to pop out, and my jaw practically hit the floor. Not only is the girl of my dreams being held in that reaper hell on earth, but she's the supervisor's daughter?
"Is there a problem?" William asked.
"Well, I'd be lying if I said no, sir." I answered.
"You just did about ten seconds ago." he said. "Are you close with my daughter?"
"Well, I'm close enough to care that she was kidnapped and want to make sure she's safe." I said, nodding and feeling blood rush to my face. He nodded back.
Yeah. I danced around that pretty well. Phew.
"I trust that you'll make sure my daughter is unharmed... little devil." he said, before launching me through the air like he was playing lacrosse. My eyes widened as I remembered a crucial fact.
My hair was out of my face that whole time, wasn't it?
"Waaaaaaaait!" I yelled as I soared through the air, though I knew it was in vain.
When I saw the ground and the door to the reform building were getting closer, I did my best to soften my landing. It was softened, but it was still not very graceful, nor was it pleasant, as I tripped forward and hit my head on the door.
"Perfect landing." I grunted, looking up at the towering building. It must have had at least five floors, because it was about as tall as the G.R.A.Y, which was about the same size of the Dispatch office building.
Mum and Amelia could be anywhere in there, so finding them could be frustrating. Whatever. I'll just keep Erican alive until he tells me where they are. No, that's stupid. He'd probably lie about it. Wait, I can just do that tracking eye thing. Boom! Hybrid: 1, annoying boy: 0.
The joints of the green, steel door with "DO NOT ENTER" written in big, red letters on it were quite rusty, so it took plenty of strength to pull the door open and a high creaking noise rang through my ears.
The smell of mold and filth had hit my senses like a punch. I closed the door behind me and looked around the room that was just barely outside of the word "dark". The three years that this place was shut down had not been kind to it. The walls were yellow and peeling behind the plastic draping, and it wasn't lit very well by the lamps that were flickering on more than they were flickering off.
"Well, you sure are a sight for sore eyes."
I looked forward and saw Erican sitting cross-legged on a leather chair in the center of the room, and he was resting his head on his chin with a dark smirk on his face. My heart burned with anger the second I laid eyes on him. I didn't see some nuisance that got under my skin, but I saw a monster that made my skin crawl.
"And you sure are an eyesore." I said, leaning slightly to my left side to take some pressure off of my broken ankle, and crossing my arms to play it off.
"Keep shooting, I dare you. Just know that you're not the one that's paying for it. You already hurt your mother enough by being the cause of her being here, so you're just making it worse. Go ahead, hit me with your best shot, and make sure it's a good one." he threatened.
"Tell me where the hell she is or I'll show you just how good I am." I growled.
He stood up and started twirling his scythe with his fingers without any concentration. "You know, I'm still curious about how my old man was able to bring her down so easily. I mean, I always hear about how she's the "bright red reaper" and oh so "deadly efficient", but taking that woman down was a lot easier than I ever thought it would be."
"Shut up and answer the question, damn it!" I yelled.
"You don't want to hear the truth?" he asked.
I do, but I doubt you can ever provide it. I thought, but in fear of the repercussions, I held my tongue.
"You wanna know what I think made it so simple? My father told her he knew where you were and wanted to take her to you." he explained. "If he said anything else, I bet she actually would have put up a hell of a fight, but her guard was broken down because of you."
"I said shut up about it!" I yelled.
"I can only imagine the guilt you're feeling right now." he sighed, putting his scythe back. "Your mother wouldn't even be here if you weren't such a coward back in the exam. Maybe if you fought me instead of just begging and giving that lecture about how low your self-esteem is, maybe you would have gotten back okay and everything would be rainbows and smiles." he explained.
"I know that!" I said, fighting back tears.
"Then why didn't you do it? Were you scared? Was the little freak scared of what was coming to her?" he asked, exploiting my emotional weak points.
"You're the one that's going to get what's coming to you!" I yelled.
He put his hands in his pockets and said, "Why don't you do it now? Why don't you just take out all of that pent up rage at me for even thinking of trying to use one of the few people you actually care about to get to you? There are actually two, if you count that shy little blonde you keep gazing at. What was her name, anyway? Wasn't it Elizabeth? I remember it sounding something like Angelina?" he asked. With every incorrect name he called her, my cheeks became warmer until a few tears finally started leaking out of my fighting grip.
"You'll pay for this, you lowlife coward!" I threatened before lunging at him.
When I got closer to him, I could see that he had a devilish grin on his face as he laid his eyes on my outstretched right leg.
Damn it, he noticed!
He lifted his leg and stomped it down on my foot as hard as he could.
An explosion of pain shot through my already broken foot, and I froze before letting out an ear-splitting cry. Before I could even try to make a move after freezing due to the pain, Erican brought out a syringe filled with white liquid from his pocket and injected it into my neck.
I felt the muscles throughout my body completely relax and stop moving, and I dropped onto the ugly, brown carpet with a thump. My body still hurt from the impact, and I tried to get up, but my body decided to ignore me and stay limp on the ground. I figured out that whatever Erican shot into me just relaxed my muscles, and it didn't numb anything.
That's why his hands were in his pockets and why he was egging me on like that. He expected that I would go after him like that out of rage, and he used that against me. God, I'm so fucking stupid.
"What did you do to me? I can't move!" I said, even though almost half my face was smushed against the uncomfortable floor.
"Good, because that's the idea." he said, followed by a chuckle. "You thought I wouldn't notice that your foot was hurt? I was the one that gave you that injury, after all. You underestimate me too much for your own good, but don't worry, Sweetheart. The effects of the poison only last for fifteen minutes, and that's just enough time to get you tucked away in a cell until that other demon comes for you. This isn't nearly as strong as the poison used on your mother."
"Shut up." I growled.
Then, he knelt down and started to check if I had other weapons, which meant that he started grabbing and pinching places that I didn't take kindly to him pinching and grabbing.
"No! Stop it! Get your filthy hands off of me!"
"Sorry, but no can do. I have to check for other weapons." he answered.
"Why'd you grab my breast and backside then? How could I hide anything there?" I asked.
"I don't know." he answered. "I'm not a half-demon like you."
"In any case, I thought you wanted to fight. Isn't that what you said in that letter?" I asked as he wrapped rope around my arms and torso and tied it.
"That was my plan, but that isn't what's happening now." Erican said before putting me over his shoulder.
"I was mad at first, when my father took over everything so that other demon is the center of this instead of you, but it means that now, you can't stop me from doing whatever I please. You'll regret all those times you turned me down, trust me." he vowed.
"No! I'll never regret anything I've done or a word I've said to someone like you!" I yelled.
"You just keep saying that." he said, snickering before walking down a spiral staircase.
I was stupid enough to fall for this bastard's plan, and now I'm just bait for my father, who's probably just still in that bunker thinking about what to do. I wouldn't be causing everyone so much pain if I hadn't been so stupid during the exam to let my cover fall just because of one clap of thunder. Three years ago, if I had just called the Dispatch office to tell Mum that she needed to come home soon or called the emergency number when Erican's mother broke in instead of trying to take her on myself, Dad wouldn't have killed her and none of this would be happening. I'm such an idiot. Whatever Erican wants to do to me, I probably deserve it, because all of this is my fault.
I weakly clenched my fists, and I realized that the poison was almost wearing off.
It wasn't as if it mattered anymore.
A/N: Well, that was certainly an eventful event. It's going to get happier... eventually. The next chapter I'm posting tomorrow will be from Grell's point of view, so you have that to look forward to, lovelies!
Please leave a review if you want! I'd love to hear what you readers are thinking of this story!
