The room was spinning. I was on the floor lying awkwardly in Lin's arms. Blackness threatened to close in, and I had to fight to stay awake.
"Let me see him." Ayako came to side and placed her cold hands on my cheeks. "He isn't running a fever." She concluded and stepped away from me.
Once everything came back into focus I sat up and pushed Lin off me.
"Get back to work." I barked angrily.
I was so sick of these black out spells that I've been going through. Everyone except Lin got back to watching the monitors. Lin helped me up off the floor and we went into another nearby room.
"If you don't get better control.."
"I have been in complete control all day. Plus I can use my powers if I want to...but I haven't."
I wasn't annoyed at Lin's nagging. I was annoyed at the fact I didn't know why I almost passed out for what seemed like the fiftieth time since I came back. Lin placed his hands on my shoulders and I moved quickly out of reach.
My brain revved into over drive as I thought of Taichi's hands on my shoulders. Memories of our very first encounter flooded my head. The sickening feeling I got from the slightest touch wasn't just from my hatred for him. He was causing my recent black outs. There was no logical explanation for it, but he had to be the reason.
I turned quickly to Lin and practically yelled. "Tell everyone not to come into physical contact with Taichi!" Lin looked at me waiting for an explanation, but I didn't have one to give.
Something about Taichi wasn't human, and I intended to find out what exactly I was up against.
...
I sent everyone to get some temperature readings, while I continued to roam around the house. Not only was I looking for any indication of where Mai was, but I was also trying to find Gene. He was supposed to be helping but he hasn't came to me once since I've been here.
As I was walking down the hall the lights went out. I couldn't see two inches in front of my face since there were no windows around. I continued walking when suddenly someone grab my hair and pulled me back. I was dragged several feet down the hall before I could spark my PK. I quickly lashed out and struck whatever had hold of me. As soon as I did I was released and was slammed into the wall. That's when the lights came back on.
"Kazuya!" I heard John running down the hall after me. He must have seen what happened on the monitors.
"My Lord!" He said as he got to me.
That's when I felt something hot running down my face. I wiped my forehead and my hand was drenched in blood. My head was throbbing. As I looked up at the wall my blood was smeared along it. As I got off the floor I realized it wasn't just smeared haphazardly it spelled out a word.
'Adficio.' It was neither Japanese or English. I had no idea what it was.
"Its Latin." John said examining the wall.
I forgot that some of his prayers were in Latin so he was pretty familiar with the language.
"It means drain."
"Drain? Is there a storm drain around here?" I didn't give him time to answer I ran down the hall back to base.
As I burst through the door of base Lin looked at me concerned.
"What happened?" He looked around me as he spoke. "Where's John?"
Without thinking I had left John completely alone down the hall. I turned to run after him and smacked right into him. As if my head didn't hurt enough already.
"What happened?" Lin was getting agitated.
I opened my mouth to speak but John spoke up before I could.
"Kazuya was attacked so I went to help and when I got there he was bleeding." John gasped out of breath.
"I think the spirit was trying to tell me Mai is hidden in a storm drain." Lin looked at me confused.
"Actually that's why I was running after you." John began nervously. "The word adficio means 'to drain' as in to weaken, it's a verb not a noun."
"So its not about her." Lin said sounding disappointed.
It all clicked at that moment.
"The spirit was warning me about Taichi." I said thinking out loud.
"Do you mind letting us know what's going on?" Lin said demanding.
"My recent black outs. He's draining my energy."
"Like an energy vampire?" John interrupted.
"Vampires are just made up creatures..." I began before John cut off again.
"Energy vampires aren't blood sucking monsters. They absorb the energy from people around them. I've only encountered one once. I mean they are everywhere, but most blend in and don't give themselves away. Some though, can take the energy and not only rejuvenate themselves but use it to prolong their life. It also gives them unnatural abilities. I was asked to do an exorcism on my friend's neighbor and it turned out he was draining his wife in order to gain psychokinesis. He was using it to make people he didn't like wreck their cars. He eventually went mad with power and killed his wife."
"What happened to him." I asked intrigued.
"He was shot down by police when he tried to flee the scene."
"So Taichi is more dangerous than we first suspected." Lin stated looking worried.
"Why take Mai though? Isn't that random?" John furrowed his brow as he thought.
"He's targeting people with intense spiritual energy." I sat down and placed my head between my knees.
How was I supposed to fight him. The more PK I use the stronger he'll get.