~ So I've been in a gory mood lately… Do not own Yu Yu Hakusho! Nor do I own Hero by Skillet which this here fanfic is named after!~
Chapter 11: Trigger The Safety
When I received the text, it was close to ten at night. I bit my lip, debating.
"You get the address?" Shuichi looked over my shoulder at my phone.
"Yeah." I tapped my fingers of my other hand against the arm of the chair I was sitting in. "Think we can get there and back without any trouble?"
"Why not?" He straightened up.
"Where's Hiei?" I asked, standing and straightening my shirt.
"He'll find us." Shuichi assured me. "Let's go."
We left the hotel and stepped out into the night life. Suddenly, I felt unsure. Did I really want to do this? There was no going back after I decided to continue what my mother had started, in a sense. Maybe I would go to work as a demon hunter. But for now, I'd focus on getting rid of the ones that were plaguing me.
"Do you know anything about Sasaki?" I asked Shuichi, grabbing his hand.
"He's…a very old spirit." Shuichi hesitated, looking thoughtful as I waved for a taxi. "Not one to easily forgive. He never did anything horrid before your mother had to…well, put him down, in a sense. But then he was leading away large bodies of human populations and feeding on them, raising an army of demons to overtake the Spirit World."
I looked at him incredulously as a taxi drove up. "You're joking."
"I'm not." He looked somber.
I shivered. "And he wants to kill me?" I paused, shooting Shuichi a smile as he opened the door for me.
"Where to, kids?" The driver was chubby with a gruff voice that came from smoking one too many cigars in his lifetime.
"Um…" I showed him the address on my phone and we were off.
Shuichi rubbed his thumb over my hand. "I'm not…ecstatic about your decision, I hope you know."
I looked up at him but his eyes were focused forward. "Why?"
"You get hurt easier this way." He pointed out.
"I can't rely on you and Hiei and the other two forever." I said softly.
"I wish you would." He sighed.
I didn't reply. This was necessary. I needed to stand up for myself. It might be the last and only time I did it, but I wouldn't die as the Vianca's daughter, the coward.
Lights flashed outside the window as we left the major part of the city, heading into the suburbs. Again, I wondered why my mother's stuff was tucked away in the house she had lived in instead of deposited into my father's care. Then again, it would give Sasaki another excuse to kill all of us. No doubt, he didn't want me taking up my mother's mantle like I planned to do. And then it hit me that we might meet some resistance. I closed my eyes and felt around, but with how fast we were going and the people everywhere, it was all jumbled. Feeling dizzy, I opened my eyes again and frowned uneasily. This was not going to be cake walk.
We arrived at the house and I paid the driver, waiting until he drove off.
"Do you have a way to get in?" Shuichi asked.
I paused. "Oh. No…" I looked at him sheepishly.
"You didn't even think of that?" He blinked.
"Nope…" I hesitated. "Maybe we could crawl through a window or-"
"Don't." He massaged a temple, closing his eyes. "You are a handful."
"Sorry." I said to the ground.
He chuckled a little. "I sincerely hope you don't plan to fight Sasaki like that." He walked up to the door. "'What? Oh I just assumed he'd come out of hiding if I called his name.'"
"Stop teasing me." I pouted, running up the steps beside him, flustered. "This is my first time being brave."
"You're a lot smarter when you're not." He bent over the doorknob.
I turned away from him, folding my arms. "You know…you could support me in my decisions…"
"I'm with him."
I looked up and Hiei hung his head down off the overhang of the porch.
"I think you come up with useless ideas when you try to be brave." He glared at me with red eyes. "What if your mother had this place booby trapped?"
"She did." Shuichi answered for me. "There's an odd little spell that melts your fingers if you try to mess with a lock but, as I see it, there's no key in existence unless your father has it."
"He doesn't. I would know." I replied. I'd gone through his drawers a few times looking for money to pay off my school debts. He invited me to, since he was never home and he didn't want to be bugged.
"It's strange though…" He pulled back, putting a hand to his chin. "She didn't guard against brute force…"
"Sounds like it's my turn." Hiei flipped and landed next to me. "Stand aside, Kurama."
Shuichi opened his mouth to argue, then shrugged. He did as asked, standing beside me.
Hiei withdrew his sword and slashed at the door. I barely saw him move.
The door splintered and caved inwards with a terrible clatter.
I looked around to see if there were any neighbors peeking out their windows in suspicion. We didn't need the police on our case as well.
No one. Good.
"Ladies first." Hiei said sarcastically, sheathing his sword.
I stepped up to the door and paused, almost wanting to ask my mother if I could come in. Silly me. She's gone now. I swallowed and stepped inside.
For a bit, nothing happened, and I felt relieved. Then suddenly there was a flare of light and I looked back at Shuichi and Hiei. They disappeared as something dragged them into the ground. I put my hands over my mouth and looked ahead of me as something started to laugh.
It was rasping and choking, like someone dying instead of a sound of joviality. I couldn't see in the dark but suddenly I could smell it. It smelled of death, for sure, but like dirt and moss and the dank smell of something that has staid wet for way too long.
"Vianca told me to wait." It hissed at me. "Told me to be patient. She said you'd come for her legacy. Said to stop all others."
"Let my friends go!" I shouted, my knees shaking. Whatever it is it was ancient and deadly.
"Now is that anyway to introduce yourself?" It shifted in the dark. "They call me Mehal." Phlegm choked it's voice as it said it's own name. "I am guarding what was once your mothers and is soon to become yours…if you do as I say."
"What about my friends?" I asked apprehensively. This thing wasn't going to hurt me unless I didn't play along, it seemed. "Will you let them go?"
"Mm…" It sighed. "Not now, but maybe later should you choose to win."
Choose to win? Why wouldn't I choose to win? I kept silent.
"Now, introduce yourself so we can get started." It shifted again and I saw a lazy tentacle drift out and lay itself on the ground. It was transparent, so I could see veins and other things floating around. What almost made me scream was the eyeball that floated around in the mucus that filled the inside of it.
I put my hands over my mouth in horror and looked at the darkness, wide eyed. "I'm…I'm Joelle."
"Hm? Speak up!" It snapped.
"Joelle O'Connell!" I said with more force then was necessary, but hearing my own name in the dark dank of the room made me feel like I had more control.
"Joelle O'Connell, eh?" It mused over this for a bit and I heard the sound of flesh sliding over flesh. "Very good. Now here's how you play. There will be three tasks I will ask you to do. You have a time limit on each, set by me. If you fail to do as I have asked or do not complete it within the time limit, I will kill your friends and give you to Sasaki as a present for him to rape and savage as he chooses."
I stepped back a little.
"But if you do as I ask and complete each task, you will receive no more trouble and you and your friends can go free with your mother's things. Questions?"
I tried to still my trembling hands. "Yes." I swallowed. "Who bound you here?"
"Your mother…!" It hissed and the tentacle thrashed angrily. "Your self-serving mother! I can only be free if she or one of her kin unbinds me! And then I will once again feed on the flesh of man!" The tentacle slowly stilled and there was another deep throated sigh. "Any more…questions?"
"None." I whispered.
"Good. Then let us begin."
The shadows from before crept around me and I gasped as my shoes sunk through the floor. I dropped suddenly into nothing and I screamed, reaching up and finding nothing.
When my senses finally returned to me, I was back in the hotel room. I grabbed onto the table, leaning over as a wave of nausea hit me. Was this real?
"Your first task…" Mehal's sibilant voice echoed around me but I found no evidence of his presence. "…is retrieving your mother's hand."
I gasped. "What?"
"Your mother believed nothing was sacred!" Mehal roared and my ears felt like they were going to bleed. "Do as I ask or I slaughter your friends and you like the worthless beings you are! You have twenty four hours!"
The image of Shuichi bleeding before my feet and me having to tell him it was because I couldn't stand up for myself got me moving. I checked for my wallet and ran out the door.
The first thing I needed to do was gather necessary tools. For instance, a knife and a shovel. I shuddered as I thought through my plan and what it would entail. I'd be cutting off a dead person's hand; my mother's, in fact. I paused a moment, almost retching. I took a deep breath and continued onward. Outside the hotel, I waved a taxi down.
He turned and looked at me and I could smell the demon on him. "Why hello…you're Vianca's kid-" He made a swipe at me and I ducked. "-aren't ya?"
I screamed and jumped out of the taxi, rolling out on the pavement. I looked around me, searching for some kind of help to see everyone just walking past me like nothing had happened. What was going on? That demon hadn't exactly been subtle about wanting to kill me and they all walked past like there was nothing going on?
The demon screeched as it tore through the metal frame of the car and I found my feet. I started down the street, looking for a place to either hide or something to aid me in my flight.
People whirled past me in a blur of colors as I headed downtown. It was well past ten o clock and the night life looked like it was just coming out of the woodwork. Already I could see the drug deals going down and other nefarious deeds- That's it!
I paused as I saw a gangster heading down the street, his hands deep in his pockets. He probably had some kind of weapon on him. I waved my hands in front of him. "Hey! Hello?"
Not even a flinch. I would've been knifed if he would've seen me.
I glanced behind me as I heard a roar. My pursuer was not far behind. I reached in the gangster's pockets and closed my hand around something hard and metal. I froze. A gun? I didn't know how to shoot one of these! I took it out anyway and started to run as a car started flying towards me. I screamed as it crashed in the crowd, bursting in the flame. The aftershock of the explosion knocked me off my feet and I scraped up my elbows. I got to feet and ran more, checking the gun in my hands out. I turned as I heard another screech and pointed the gun straight at the demon's ugly twisted face.
Click.
Nothing! The trigger wouldn't even go down.
The demon let out a horrid giggle. "You're a Romano spawn and you don't even know your safety's on?" It swiped at me and I screamed as it's claws tore through my jacket and shirt.
I jumped back and felt around. Just red marks where it had scratched me. Nothing life threatening. I gasped as it attacked again and turned tail to run once again. My heart pounded in my chest as I tried to look for a place to escape for a little bit; to think. I ducked around a corner and squeezed myself against the wall.
The demon howled past, falling for probably the most obvious trick in the book.
I took a moment to fiddle with the gun, finally tripping the safety off.
Just in time too. I jerked my head up as I heard a frustrated howl. It was coming back my way. I shot out of the alley and headed the other direction. How was I supposed to get my mother's hand if I had this thing on my tail?
Of course…I could always kill it…
I paused in my running, taking a huge breath, and turned around to face my tormentor.
It was running at me with gangly long legs, its mouth two times larger then it should be and full of long sharp, slobbery teeth. Its black eyes met mine.
I took a deep breath, aimed, and shot.
It looked like its forehead was imploding. Suddenly it caved in and blood, thick, black, and horrible, poured out like some kind of sick oil spill. I watched it crumple with a throaty scream, falling in the debris of the car it had thrown earlier.
I took another deep breath, and turned to throw up. I had just killed something. I had just took something's life with my own, shaky little cowardly hands. I finished and wiped my mouth on my sleeve, tears rolling down my face as I stumbled down the street.
I still had a task to do.
To Home Depot, Little Miss Nothing Killer.
