Author Note: Thank you for all the favorites, reviews and follows!
~CWA

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: THE CURSED HOUSE PART IX

Day Two (Continued)

Like they had planned, they visited each member of the family. Masako and Danny were sensing for any spirits inside any of them. Akifumi, after being cleared, followed them with concern for his family. It didn't take long before they reached Hazuki. The young girl still had the rope burn around her neck, but she didn't seem too angered. She gave them a bit of a frightened look as both Danny and Masako looked at her intensely. I'm stupid for not realizing this, Danny scolded himself, while she's not possessed directly, there is a sort of hollow spirit following her around. It doesn't seem to have a grudge. More like it's just following orders…

"I do sense a spirit," Masako explained, "But it feels hollow, no bitterness or grudge… But I can't rule out the possibility of her being possessed by an evil spirit. Danny, do you sense anything?"

"Something," Danny answered vaguely, "I don't think it's possessing her directly, but it does have some sort of attachment. I can feel the same hollow feeling that you're getting from it. I think it's just some sort of pawn, a hollow spirit following the orders of something bigger… John, do you want to do an exorcism on her just in case? Or should I do it? But after her, we need to do an exorcism of Yashitaka- he's still in the hospital, but the spirit could still be possessing him."

"I'll do it," John agreed as he stepped forward with a forlorn expression.

He hated doing exorcisms on children. It always broke his heart, but he had confidence in his abilities to drive away any dark forces. As much as he trusted Danny, he would rather do the exorcisms himself to be sure. John used a small amount of holy water to make a cross in the air in front of Hazuki. The small child was being comforted by Mai, who sat on the ground beside her.

"In the beginning there was the Word," John began, "And the Word was with God and the Word was God…"

Hazuki started to tear up and lean against Mai, whimpering a bit in fright. However, Danny's attention went straight to one particular member of the family. One of the women of the family started to twitch before she finally just left all together, muttering a quick apology before she did so. I think a good portion of people here are either possessed, oppressed or have some sort of spirit following them, Danny mused.

Monk, Akifumi, Ayako and Danny stepped out of the room briefly to talk among themselves as they watched the woman leave in tears down the hall.

"Ayako, Danny," Monk asked, "Do you think either of you can make charms to give everyone?"

They both nodded, confident in their abilities to do so. Monk then turned to Akifumi,

"As for you, I need you to take me to your family shrine…"

As soon as the charms were ready, they were split into groups to give the charms out. Mai and Danny joined together in a group, but they found that certain members of the family were rather too stubborn to accept the charms. They're not possessed or oppressed, Danny thought irritated, they're just stupid. He looked briefly toward Mai, who looked disheartened after another person rejected accepted the charm.

"I'm sure someone will accept them," Danny tried to cheer her up, "There's bound to be a reasonable person in this family…"

He gave her a goody grin which lifted her spirits up again as they continued making their way through the house. However, she was disheartened again as they soon found themselves in pursuit of a certain pair of stubborn, strange children. Wakako and Katsuki bluntly refused the charms and when Danny tried to force one of the charms into their hands, they had burst into a run. The children were quick as they ran through the house and all the way outside.

"Wakako," Mai called out desperately, "Katsuki! Please!"

These kids, Mai realized, Are they… Are they possessed? Is that why they won't accept these charms? Why they're acting so weird? She and Danny continued to run after the kids. Considering all the running he had done recently, Danny wasn't fairing that well as his breathing began to grow labored and painful. As the two finally reached outside, Mai noticed how Danny was hitting his chest as he coughed.

She stopped running, following her lead, Danny stopped as well, allowing himself enough time to dig his inhaler out. As he received his medication, Mai called out to the kids.

"Wakako, Katsuki, did you know your uncle died?"

Danny looked at her curiously, but figured he knew exactly what she was doing. He didn't say anything, instead choosing to be quiet as he finished fixing himself up. He put the inhaler back into his pocket as the kids finally stopped running. Both got big grins on their faces as they turned to face Mai.

"Really? That's wonderful!"

I knew it, Mai thought, but her eyes widened a bit in horror. A small plan formed in her mind as she glanced at Danny briefly. Taking her lead, Danny stepped forward, putting his charms into his pockets,

"Your Uncle Akifumi died too…"

"Really," Wakako wondered, "Uncle Aki is dead too?"

"Did he drive his car," Katsuki asked excitedly.

Mai and Danny ventured closer to the kids with grim expressions. Danny grabbed the two children by their wrists gently, but firmly as they squirmed.

"Hey let us go!"

"Not until you tell us what you did to the car," Danny stated firmly.

The kids refused to give up the information as they started to squirm in his grasp. As much as Danny wanted to run off, to stop Akifumi from driving, he had to stay in place. He couldn't trust two devious possessed children alone with Mai. It was too dangerous. Even if she had the Specter Deflector, that wouldn't stop the spirits from doing something drastic. The kids could easily set a trap that could hurt or kill Mai without even touching her. Danny refused to let that happen.

Ayako rushed out of the building toward them,

"Hey! What's going on out here!"

"We have two possessions," Danny said simply, but his eyes never wavered their focus on the kids in his grasp, "And these guys are going to tell us exactly what they did to Akifumi's car."

"Or what," Katsuki asked bravely as he continued to try to get out of the grasp.

Danny looked at the two children intensely. The kids looked back at him, trying to bravely stand their ground, but as soon as their eyes met his, a wave of fear washed over them. Danny's eyes flashed a vivid, glowing green for just a moment. It was only a flash, but it was enough to allow his ghostly aura shine through. The powerful aura had disappeared as quick as it was released, but the spirits inside the children knew that Danny was not only powerful, but he was a power not to be messed with.

"Or I will make sure that you two spirits never possess or harm anyone again," Danny threatened, his tone dangerously low.

Even though both Ayako and Mai knew Danny was speaking to the spirits inside the children, it unsettled them a bit to see him use that tone of voice toward them. Mai shifted her weight a bit uncomfortably as Ayako tensed. The shrine priestess took a step forward and aided Danny in securing the children. Katsuki squirmed as Ayako grabbed hold of him, allowing Danny to focus on securing Wakako. However, he kept his eyes on both children carefully.

"Who are you," Mai demanded, "Who are you?"

"I'm going to kill you miss," Katsuki answered, his voice turning low and deadly as a grin spread across his face, "Not just you, but everyone in this house is going to die… Including this boy…. If I chopped off your head, it would be considered merciful… Or having the people you love betray your trust…"

Mai got flashbacks of her dreams- the man chopping off her head, her friends standing by the shrine. She stood her ground bravely as she looked at the boy.

"Did they chase you to the shrine," Mai demanded harshly, "Kill you in cold blood? Did the people of the house do it to you? Is that why you want to kill them? Why don't you just release Katsuki and Wakako now peacefully?"

"Maybe," Katsuki answered vaguely, "And we'll let go of their bodies when they die…"

Katsuki broke free of Ayako's grasp and made a dash for the ocean. It didn't take a genius to realize the spirit was planning on drowning the boy. Danny's grasp on Wakako broke free as he pushed the girl to Ayako. The shrine priestess held onto the girl securely as Danny dashed after Katsuki. His eyes were narrowed dangerously as his feet seemed to soared across the grass at inhuman speeds. Though none of them could see it, Danny's eyes started to dangerously glow an eerie mix of green and red as his powerful aura pulsed around him. He began to speak loudly and clearly.

"Lasu ke korpo nun, ĉar la reĝo de la mortintoj, Mi ordonas ĝin. Restigu kaj neniam reveni aŭ alfronti la koleregon de mia povo*."

He reached the boy just before the spirit jumped at the edge of the cliff. He pulled the boy close to him, away from the edge, and kept a vice grasp around him. Discretely, he turned one of his hands intangible and put it into the back of the boy as he forcibly pushed the spirit out. The spirit screamed, but the boy collapsed as the spirit finally was forced to leave him. Danny held the tired, unconscious boy in his arms as he glared up at the spirit. The ghostly figure was unseen by the humans, but Danny could see it clearly. The spirit looked at Danny, looked straight into the swirling depths of red and green, with fright before it disappeared for good.

Danny relaxed as soon as the spirit disappeared, his eyes going back to their normal swirls of green and blue. He picked up the boy and brought him back to Mai and Ayako. The possessed squirming girl in Ayako's arms had stopped moving as she looked at Danny with fright. She had seen what he did, heard his words, and now, she was afraid. The spirit left by its own choice, causing Wakako to collapse in Ayako's arms.

Katsuki slowly woke up, as he realized where he was he started to cry loudly causing Wakako to wake and cry as well. The girl squirmed free from Ayako and ran toward the only familiar person she saw- Katsuki. Danny set Katsuki down as he reunited with Wakako. The two children continued to cry, however, as they looked toward Danny with a bit of fright.

"Hey there," Danny greeted warmly, "There's no need to cry, okay? I'm Danny. This is Mai and Ayako. We're here to help."

He let his aura of protection and warmth flow out. As it reached the children, they started to calm almost instantly as their cries turning to soft sniffles.

"D-Danny," Wakako greeted as she repeated his name.

"That's right," Danny smiled, "Why don't we take you back inside to Akifumi and the others."

The two children nodded and Danny handed them off toward Ayako, muttering a quick 'I'll be back' to the woman. Before he could return into the house there was one thing he had to do first. He had to warn Akifumi and Monk before they got into the car…Who knows what those spirits did to it?

The sun was just beginning to set when everyone had gathered back into the main room. Akifumi wasn't thrilled learning that Wakako and Katsuki were possessed, but the whole family thanked Danny for getting the spirits out of them. Though Ayako had suspicions about the methods Danny had used, she quickly brushed it off as she was unfamiliar with just about all of his methods. And whatever it was seemed to have worked, Ayako mused slightly.

"That was a tricky possession you did," Monk mused as he looked toward Danny, "Ayako said that she had never seen anything like it."

"I never even heard of an exorcism in Esperanto," John added.

"My methods are a bit… different," Danny answered vaguely, "But they work. I suspected the kids of being possessed from the beginning after hearing their strange behavior, but I never thought it'd go this far…"

Monk nodded as he took in the words, but he knew he'd never get a direct answer as to what Danny did for that exorcism.

"Well, we checked the car," Monk changed the subject quickly, "It turned out it the break fluid was leaking pretty badly. If someone tried to drive it without knowing…"

He trailed off slightly as Mai frowned,

"So the kids did that? Or at least the spirits possessing them did?"

"I don't know," Danny added, "It doesn't quite add up…"

Before they could continue the subject, the door burst open. Yoko, or at least Danny thought it was Yoko as he still got the names a mixed up, burst through the doors with an angry expression on her face. Her eyes were hooded as they blazed with a fury that didn't seem fit for her.

"I want to know who scared the children," she screeched, "And who gave them those terrible charms! They're useless! I demand you take those away from them!"

Yoko continued to screech as she panted heavily. Mai and Monk stared at her in shock, not expecting the woman to lash out so violently. Danny was the one to take a step forward, gently as to anger the woman farther. He let his warming aura pulse outward to try to calm her, but he knew it would do little use. He could see the spirit within her.

"Just calm down," Danny stated gently, "Calm down… Breath deeply…"

Yoko looked at him with anger, but as Danny trailed on, her eyes began to feel heavy. Danny finally reached her as she swayed on her feet. Mai watched the scene unfold with a bit of a fear. We haven't solved anything in this case. All we've done is serve as a trigger. We managed to set the spirits off, making them more violent than ever…

"Just place take it," Monk stated calmly as he held out the charmed piece of paper.

Yoko looked at it, then at Danny, before finally she grabbed the piece of paper. She held it tightly in her fists before opening her palm again as it went up in flames. A sadistic grin appeared on her face.

"You see, it's useless," Yoko stated simply, grinning at the group.

Nao, another woman of the family, stood at the edge of the cliff looking over at the sunset wistfully. If those Spiritualists weren't here, who knows what would have happened? She thought to herself as she cradled her arms to her body to protect herself from the breeze. She felt another presence behind her and turned around with wide eyes. No…

A pair of clammy dead hands pushed her off the edge of the cliff, sending her to her death.

*Leave that body now, as the king of the dead, I command it. Leave and never return or face the wrath of my power.