I apologize for the late updates. Very very very very late updates. 4 months… ouch. I'm ashamed of myself and I'm sorry. I'm finishing my bachelor degree this year. It's a lot of job. A lot more than I thought it would be.

But I stand by what I said before. Maybe it will take years to finish this. But I will. I hope you can stick around long enough. But still, I hope it can be done in a reasonable amount of time.

The problem when it takes you so long to write a fic is that as you read it again, you realize that there are so many things you would do differently. But I don't have the time to start this over. Also this chap seems a bit… rusty to me. It's been so long since I've written anything.

anyway. Here it is. A small chapter. Not much happening. But eh, it's something XD

A very sincere thank you to the people still following this thing.

Also. This is not edited… sorry.

Chapter 36 Meeting the real world

'...Where am I?'

A wooden floor appeared in front of Verica's eyes as she slowly opened them. Her head felt heavy as she tried to look up without success. She could see her knees and as she tilted her head to the side, she saw her feet tied to the legs of the chair she was sitting on. Her hands behind her back remained immobile no matter how she tried to move them, the rope around her wrist rubbing uncomfortably against her skin.

Her throat was dry and she coughed, trying to get rid of the sensation. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the light in the room and with an incredible effort, she managed to raise her head to look around her.

The first thing she saw was a man with short brown hair sitting in front of her on a chair. When he saw her move he leaned in toward her, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Welcome back."

Verica's gaze focused on the man. Pale brown eyes looked back at her with curiosity and a smile pulled at his lips. She blinked and looked down, staring down at his assassin cross' clothings and his two daggers resting at his waist.

"I'm sorry for the way we're meeting young lady."

She looked up again with a frown. Her heart was beating angrily in her chest, yet her body felt numb. Where the hell was she, what happened?

She remembered the boy...and...

Shit...

Now she remembered. How could she have been so naive? Was she really that stupid? She didn't even think that it could have been a trap. Someone was in danger and she just jumped in. How foolish of her. At that moment she felt just like Meiji described her; a young naive girl who had no idea how the world worked. Just thinking about it was making her angry at herself. How could she be so stupid...

But now was not the time to indulge in self loathing. She returned her attention to her surrounding, noticing she was in what looked like the room of an inn. The curtains were drawn but apparently it was dark outside. Then she noticed the other men in the room; one standing behind the man on the chair, two sitting at the table a little further and the last one sitting on the bed. She recognized them as the ones in the back alleys. She quickly looked back to the assassin cross in front of her, her eyes narrowing at him in irritation.

"Who are you?" she asked with a glare.

"I'm not your enemy. If you cooperate, that is."

"What did you do to me." She shook her head as she tried to move her fingers. Her whole body felt strange.

"That's just the drug effect. Don't worry, it's nothing permanent."

"What do you want from me?" She spat in irritation, her breathing heavy, whether from anger or the drug she couldn't tell.

"There is no need to be so aggressive." The man said calmly, his smile still in place. It was a kind smile that would have made her at ease if it wasn't for the situation. "I merely want to talk with you. That's all."

"You don't need me to be tied up to talk to me..."

The other men in the room laughed at her comment.

"I'm afraid that freeing you implies too much risk for me at the moment." The man on the chair replied with a small sheepish laugh. "I need to know who you are first."

"Who I am?" She repeated with a frown. "Why do you care about who I am. What do you want?"

The man straightened up on his chair, making him look down at her. "I was told you entered this city with a man. An assassin cross. I was told you fought alongside him. Is is true?"

The young monk hesitated a moment. "...You're talking about Meiji?"

"...So you do know him." The assassin's eyes narrowed a fraction of a second before his smile widened.

"If you're looking for him, I have no idea where he is now." She said quickly, hoping to make things clear about that as soon as possible. Good God, what had she gotten herself into? She never should have agreed to travel with this assassin. He warned her, didn't he? He told her not to come with him; that he would only cause her trouble. But no, she didn't listen to him. No doubt those men were the trouble he spoke about. She was angry at herself for so many reasons right now.

"You don't know? Well, that remains to be proven." He said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "But before that, I need you to answer my question. Who the hell are you?"

Verica stared back at him in confusion. "I-I don't understand your question. I'm no one. I'm just a monk, I don't-"

"Let me rephrase that then. What is your relationship with him?" He interrupted her quickly.

"My... relationship?" She frowned and shook her head. "I have no link to him. I barely know him. I met him in the prontera forest. He was injured and I healed him. He was supposed to escort me to repay his debt to me." There was no use in lying here. She really didn't know him. The best was probably to simply tell the truth. Then they would see she had nothing to do with him. "Well... I asked him to escort me. He didn't want to at first. Because... of this."

That ignited the man's curiosity even more. "He told you about us?"

"No... he just said he had a lot of trouble following him. And that it would fall on me if I stayed with him."

"But you followed him anyway?" The man said with a raised brow. There was something in his tone Verica didn't like...

"I-I... I suppose I didn't believe him. I mean... I thought-" She interrupted herself before scowling at the man. "This is none of your business anyway!"

The man smiled and snorted before leaning in toward her. "Oh but it is." He locked his gaze with hers a he spoke in a low tone, his eyes narrowing at her but his smile still in place, changing his expression into a very unsettling one. "Everything related to him is my business young girl. Everything. From his whereabout to what he eats to who he fucks, that's all my business. If there is something to know about this man, I need to know it. And you, young girl, just became one of those things."

Verica's breathing was going shallow without her realizing it. This whole situation was not making any sense to her and it was starting to get scary. What was she supposed to tell them? She had nothing to do with that assassin jerk! Who were those men anyway?!

"B-but I have nothing to do with him." She stuttered, her hands squirming behind her to try to free herself in vain. "I don't know him at all. I don't know where he is either. I can't help you..."

"Maybe." The man said with a shrug as he leaned away. "Or maybe you're lying to protect him."

"I-I'm not! Why would I lie for him? I told you, I have nothing to do with him!" She was on the verge of yelling, as if it was going to make them understand. Obviously the man didn't want to believe her. What was she supposed to do now?

"Really? Then explain to me why you followed a complete stranger alone, an assassin cross no less, without knowing anything about him. From what I remember Meiji wasn't that charming. Or do you simply like danger that much?"

"T-that's... I-I don't..." What could she reply to that? That she found him cool so she wanted to know more about him and that's why she followed him? At this point she was ready to say pretty much anything, no matter how it would hurt her pride. It had seemed like such a good idea back then to travel with him. Now it was causing her so much trouble. She needed to find a way to get out of here. She couldn't break free, and even if she did, she couldn't fight all of them alone. Her only way out was to convince them she had nothing to do with Meiji and that she couldn't help them. Surely they would let her go then...

"It's alright." The man raised a hand in front of him gently to calm her, a long sighed escaping his lips as he smiled gently. "Sorry if I'm being so rude. It's not my intention to scare you, believe it or not. You must simply understand that I'm a desperate man and right now every little scrap of information I can get is a blessing. I need to capture this man, at any cost. I don't know what he told you, or what he made you believe. That's the only reason why you're tied up right now. But I promise, if you help me, I'll leave you alone and you won't hear about me again. Nor will you hear from him either."

Verica looked up at the assassin cross in confusion. What did he mean by that exactly?

"You want to capture him... or kill him?" She asked hesitantly. The man showed the same hesitation before he replied.

"Capture him. But... Obviously he's not going to let himself be captured so easily."

"But I don't understand..." She looked at the other men in the room who were listening to the interaction in silence, but all of them with their weapon ready. "If you want to capture him, why did you kidnap me instead? We arrived in the city together. You could have followed him instead of giving yourself so much trouble with me." Her gaze was full of confusion as she stared at the assassin. Really, that part made no sense to her.

"Follow him?" The assassin scoffed. He leaned his arms on his knees again, getting closer to the young woman. "Trying to follow this man is like trying to catch a petal caught in the wind. We lost track of him in the city only a few minutes after you parted. This man is a ghost. He's a snake, crawling its way through everything without being noticed. I've been tracking this man down for 3 years, young lady. He never leaves traces anywhere, he's always many steps ahead of us and even when I make contact with him, he always manage to escape my grasp."

He sighed and leaned back on his chair "So, as you can see, following you instead was much easier. And beside...it would have been stupid to ignore your existence."

"I'm not following you..."

The man laughed and smiled at the woman again. "As I said, I've been trying to capture this man for 3 years now. And in those 3 years, I've NEVER seen him with someone..."

Verica frowned at the assassin, still not understanding where he was going with this.

"He's always alone with his demon pet." he continued. "You're the first human being I've seen interacting with him like this. And from what you're telling me, you spent many days with him. That is new to me. I can't disregard that. Therefore I need to know who you are and why that cold hearted jerk suddenly felt the need to have company."

What was he even saying now? 3 years? Without being with someone else? How could he even survive in the wilds without companions? Well, she couldn't say she was that surprised. Meiji was obviously not a social butterfly. But for those men to have so much interest in her now, it meant he really wasn't kidding when he said "I usually travel alone". But if he was usually such a loner, why did he accept to travel with her then? Why make an exception for her? Simply because she saved his life? Why was he so adamant about repaying her anyway? He didn't seem like an honorable kind of man...

Or maybe yes. How could she know? She didn't know him at all. He could be a mass murderer for all she knew. If those men were trying to catch him no matter the cost, it was probably because he had done something really bad. But who were those men anyway?

"I still don't know what to tell you." Verica started, trying to remain calm and get herself out of this. She needed to make them understand she had no link with him. But at the same time, her curiosity was being hard to ignore. "But... who are you? Why are you after him? What did he do?"

"What do YOU know about him?" the man asked back.

"I... I know his name." She said after a moment of reflection. "And I know he has a lot of trouble. Something to do with..." Her eyes widened and she looked up at the assassin's brown eyes. "Wait... A-are you from the assassin's guild?"

The 5 men in the room reacted, their eyes narrowing and their body tensing. The man on the chair crossed his arms over his chest and his smile faded.

"What did he tell you exactly?"

"N-nothing. I just know that his genes are special for the assassin's guild and that's why he's in trouble. But that's all I know."

The leader of the assassins stared at her for a long moment as his body relaxed, so did the other men's. Obviously he was debating with himself if he should believe her or not. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Then I'm afraid he's been lying to you." He said in a low tone before looking back at Verica with a sad look. "Meiji has nothing special about him, except being extremely skilled and extremely addicted to killing. He's a VERY dangerous man. And really in his case the word dangerous is not strong enough. He's an assassin, like us yes, but that doesn't mean we enjoy killing. We do it because it's necessary. It's a job. In Meiji's case, it's a need. An addiction. He doesn't do it because he needs to. He does it because he likes it. Killing makes him feel alive. He was banished from the assassin's guild 3 years ago and was supposed to be imprisoned and executed. But he escaped. I've been trying to capture him since then."

Verica's mouth opened to say something but no sound came out as her eyes widened. Had she just heard correctly?

"And I'm sorry if he's been deceiving you." The man continued. "Again, I don't know the nature of your relationship with him, but believe me you're better off very far away from him."

"W-wait, I'm not sure I understand…" She shook her head and frowned, trying to make sense of all this. "So you're telling me that... he's a criminal?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

Was the outside world always so confusing? Was it possible to be even more foolish than she was? She'd been traveling with a crazy murderer for days! How could she have been so careless and stupid? It was probably a miracle if she was still alive. Of course the man seemed like he didn't mind killing, but she thought it was just something normal considering his assassin's profession. He was so polite. He seemed so sophisticated. His manners were so…

"So. Will you help me capture him?" The man asked, staring intensely at the young monk. "I need your help in this."

"I…" She trailed off. Even then, what was she supposed to tell them?

"It had been 3 months since I hadn't heard of him. Now I finally have him. I know he's still close. I need you to tell me where he's going."

"I-I know but I don't-"

"He may be killing someone right now, young lady. If you don't cooperate with me, you put a lot of people in danger. This is important." He was leaning on his knees, getting closer to Verica and staring at her as if it was possible for him to read her mind if he stared hard enough. Why was he so insistent? Couldn't he see that she didn't know anything?!

Her confusion probably showed in her expression, because the assassin leaned back on his chair and sighed with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to push you, nor scare you. I don't know... what he told you or how you feel about him. I realize this may be a lot to take in, a lot to acknowledge. Take your time to calm down a bit." he continued as he patted Verica's knee affectionately.

The girl looked up, their gaze meeting and his gentle smile clashing with his intimidating appearance. She stared at him, her breathing heavy, as she tried to give some kind of order to her thoughts. She had too many things to think about, too many ideas trying to have her attention at the same time in her head, her mind in complete chaos. Too much chaos, not enough peace.

Verica sighed as she bowed her head, looking down at her laps. She took deep breaths to calm herself. She was panicking. She had to remain calm. Everything was clearer with a peaceful mind. That's what she was supposed to have; a clear mind.

Closing her eyes and taking one last deep breath, she immobilized herself and tried to keep her breathing steady. The drug had left her a bit numb, but she still had all her head. She relaxed and cleared her mind, concentrating on the energy flowing in her system and pooling in her stomach. She made abstraction of the other presences around her and focused on her own, on her own body, on her own existence. The position was not comfortable, but it didn't stop her from entering a state of semi meditation. It only lasted a few seconds, but it was enough to clear the fog. Ideas went back to their places in her head and soon she was able to look at the bigger picture and make sense of all this.

Meiji was a criminal with assassins trying to capture him. That's what this man was telling her. A very skilled assassin able to escape his brothers, hide, and survive in the wilds alone for 3 years. A madman, enjoying the sound of humans taking their last breath and the smell of blood on his hands.

But was she really able to believe this?

She didn't like him. Therefore it would be right to say her personal feelings were not getting in the way of her judgment. And her judgment was making her doubt those men a lot.

If Meiji really was the murderer they made him appear, why was she still alive? She spent many days with him, slept beside him. If he really was a mad killer, he would have killed her as well. No matter if she saved his life and he had a debt toward her, it shouldn't have stopped him.

But maybe that fact did stopped him. Maybe this was enough for him to make an exception and let her live.

Although even if that was the case, why didn't he kill the blacksmith on the road? He was right behind the unsuspecting man. He could have killed him, but he didn't, because he judged that it wasn't necessary. A crazy murderer doesn't question himself to know if it's necessary to kill someone.

But maybe it was not to raise any suspicions from her. Maybe he repressed his urge to kill him, not to let his real nature show in front of her. He didn't seem particularly crazy when he fought the bandits either. Simply a man doing his job, what he had been taught to do. Was this an act too?

Still, he protected her. Against the monsters, even weak ones. He made it his duty not to let any of them reach her.

And the way he behaved. His manner of speech. His choice of literature. His knowledge. His personality. Of course, all of this could have only served as a facade to hide his true nature... but she still found it hard to believe that under this sophisticated and calm man hid a madman.

And his presence...

His presence felt so warm. A dark, twisted murderer couldn't have such a comforting feeling coming out of him. She refused to believe it. Maybe he wasn't the most social man, nor the most morally white and honorable. Maybe he and she had very different views of the world that couldn't coexist. Maybe he was a complete jerk that she couldn't stand.

But she couldn't find it in herself to believe he was a crazy criminal killing people for fun and so dangerous that even the assassin's guild wanted to end him. Beside, the assassin's guild was not known for caring about the ones gone rogue in their ranks. They let their criminals roam rune midgard, because they never considered it their responsibility to take care of them. Or at least that's what she had been told. Was Meiji really that dangerous that they were making an exception?

Daniel said the reason why the guild wanted him was because of his gene, whatever that meant. If he had lied, why would Meiji had taken the paper from his hands and crumbled it. Why did he look so upset about it. Why did he denied it, instead of going along with the lie and making sure she would believe him, and not those men.

And those men...

They said they came after her because he was impossible to track. That they lost him. That they had never seen him with anyone and thought she was someone important.

But one of those men was outside Al De Baran. In a group of thieves attacking travelers. If those assassins really were good ones, why were they doing such things? Did she really want to trust a man who had a bandit under his command?

And why did they pay a little kid to lure her in a back alley, instead of simply coming to see her and ask?

Because they didn't know the nature of her relationship with him and thought that she would not cooperate.

They thought that maybe she was important to him...

If so, then this whole setup was starting to look much more like a hostage taking.

Verica's eyes opened and she rose her head, meeting the assassin's smile once again. Now it made more sense. They didn't really care about any information she could have about him. Beyond this, they just wanted to use her as a bait.

Well, they were going to be disappointed. Because Meiji was probably far away by now. And it's not like he knew what happened to her. Even if he did, she doubted he would risk being captured just to help her.

"Are you alright?" The man asked calmly. "I know this is not easy to accept. But the sooner you do, the easier it will be. Help me catch him. Tell me where he is, where he's going, or any information you have on him, and then I can untie you."

There he was being all gentle and friendly again. But she didn't know him more than she knew Meiji. Why should she believe them more than him? Meiji never drugged her nor tied her up.

As much as she didn't like him, she had no reasons to believe he was the criminal these men were making him appear…

"As I said I'm short on time, young lady." The assassin said, urging her to reply. "I need answers."

Verica looked up at him, taking a deep breath and trying to express her thoughts properly.

"I understand." She started. "Unfortunately, I have no reasons to believe you."

"Excuse me?"

"You have no proof of what you're saying. From what I saw of Meiji… he didn't seem like the man you're describing."

"Maniacs never look like maniacs" The man said with a laugh.

"I know… but honestly you all look much more shady than he did." She stated as she looked at the other men in the room.

The leader leaned back on his chair with a surprised expression while she continued. "He protected me. I have no reasons to doubt him, except that he's a jerk. But that's no valid reason. If anything, he's always been very honest with me, even with subject he knew I would disagree with. The man I travelled with doesn't fit the description you're giving me."

The man snorted and shook his head. "They never do. That's-"

"And while he certainly wasn't a saint, he's not the one who drugged a girl in a back alley to tie her up in an inn room." She paused a moment, hesitating to voice her last thought. But it was a bit too late now. "To me, you look more like bad guys then he did."

The assassins remained silent and frowned at her intensely, except for their leader who still had a stunned expression on his face. His shoulders relaxed and he sighed, his smile coming back to his lips.

"I see. I understand. Can't say I blame you for not trusting me." He said in a gentle voice. He got up from his chair slowly, sighing again.

Verica let go of a long shaky breath. She closed her eyes a moment to remain calm and try to soothe her headache. How the hell was she going to get out of here. She probably didn't help her case just now. But-

A shooting pain passed through her face and her vision flashed white, interrupting her thoughts.. Her arm hurt a second later and her head too as she hit it on something hard. She blinked, her mouth opened in shock and pain. She rested on the ground, on her side, still tied to the chair. Her cheek was burning and her jaw was throbbing. She moaned faintly as she closed her eyes to make the dizziness go away. Did he just...

"I'm really sorry that you're seeing things that way." The man said above her, rubbing his hand. "I wish we could have gotten along you and I."

The taste of iron distracted her from what the man was saying. She coughed and spat in front of her, getting rid of the blood in her mouth. Her breathing grew heavy once again as her panic came back. She saw his hand grab the collar of her coat and yank her back up, the chair landing back on the floor with a loud thud. She saw him hovering above her and as she looked up at his face, she felt like it was not the same man. His smile was nowhere to be seen this time…

The hand at her collar moved up to the back of the chair as he leaned in toward her. Verica looked away in panic, her heart beating crazily in her chest, but the assassin grabbed her jaw with this hand and forced her to look back at him. She grunted and winced from the pain in her face.

"I'm going to ask one last time. Tell me where he is and where he's going."

"B-but I don't know..." She managed to say between pants.

"You don't seem to understand what's going on right now." He hissed, his face getting closer to hers and his fingers squeezing her jaw. "I have no use for you if what you say is true. I want to know what you know. And if you don't have any useful information, I can still use you to lure him here. If indeed you have no link to him and you're no one, which I highly doubt, then I REALLY have no use for you. So before saying that you don't know anything, I suggest you reconsider the situation, think about how much you value your life and act in the best interest of it." He let go of her face violently as he leaned away, straightening up.

Verica let go of the breath she'd been holding, slowly calming down. There was no use in panicking now. The slap surprised her and made her heart race, but now she had to stay calm. The man was obviously done talking. Whatever had caused this change of attitude. A second ago he was all friendly and now he was slapping her. Apparently she'd been right. Those men were not from the assassin's guild. Even if they were, they obviously weren't good people. She didn't know if what they said about Meiji was true, but as far as she was concerned they were no better than him.

"What happened to the friendly assassin?" She whispered, running her tongue over her lips to remove the blood.

"The friendly assassin would have remained friendly if you had acted friendly. But obviously you're just messing with me, playing dumb. You have no intention to cooperate. But that's fine. If I can at least make him come here, it will be a nice chance to get him."

Verica snorted as she looked up at the man. "Come for me? I think you're the one who's got to reconsider the situation. I don't know what you're assuming, but he's not going to come for me. We parted once we entered Al De Baran. He won't search for me."

"I don't believe that." The assassin replied in a small laugh. He took the chair and placed it closer to the young monk before sitting back on it. "He wouldn't have put up with you if you weren't special. You say you saved his life and that's why he escorted you, to repay his debt. Once upon a time, I would have believed that. Once upon a time, I would have believed his sense of honor would have pushed him to do something like this. But not now. Not after 3 years. I didn't lie to you. In 3 years I've never seen him with anyone. Not like this. Merchants, barmaids, blacksmiths, yes. Of course he interacts with those people. But he never stays with anyone for more than a few hours. He never travels with anyone. I've never seen him enter a city with someone."

The other men in the room were listening with frowns, staring at the girl. She listened as well, not knowing what else to do. The brown haired man looked away as he sighed and passed a hand over his mouth.

"And now you just appear. Out of nowhere. A pretty young monk fighting alongside him. And he trusted you enough to sleep beside you and travel with you." He laughed again. "This man doesn't trust anyone. If you were nobody, he would have ignored you, or gut you in your sleep on the first night. And if what you say is true and you really parted ways once you arrived here, he would have never let you go. He would have gotten rid of you. You saw too much of him. You know his whereabout. He would have never trusted informations like these to a stranger and let her live. You can tell me whatever the fuck you want little girl, but no way in hell you're making me believe that you're no one…"

The assassin's gaze never left Verica's and she stared back in utter confusion. She took in all this information, but didn't attach much sense to it. She had no explanation to give him. She had no idea why he travelled with her. She saved his life, that's the reason she knew, but this man didn't believe her apparently...

"Now..." The assassin stood and walked behind Verica, his hands slapping down on both of her shoulders as he bent down to talk in her ear. "Now that we've made things clear, let's stop pretending we know nothing. I'm going to ask you gently one more time and I want you to tell me every little scrap of information you have on him. Any little detail, even if you think it's not important. And if you know where he is, where he's planning to go, I strongly suggest you to share this information as well. As I said, I'm a desperate man and anything you can tell me will be useful to me." He took her chin between his finger to make her look at him. "If you help me, I'll let you go I swear."

"But I have nothing to tell you. I don't know anything." Verica said as calmly as she could, despite having the man's face so close to hers. She really had nothing to tell them. Meiji didn't say anything in all those days of travels. And even if she knew something, she wasn't sure she really wanted to help those men. Who knows if what they were saying was true?

The assassin's hand squeezed her shoulder and his thumb brushed against her chin as he smiled "Very well. Then you'll stay here. And we'll all wait together to see if our friend shows up or not, and see if what you're saying is true. And in the meantime, we're going to verify if you really don't know anything."

She barely had time to register what he had said that she felt the chair tilt forward. Her heart jumped in her chest as she saw the floor coming quickly toward her face. She closed her eyes and turned her head, trying to put her arms in front of her to protect herself only to be reminded of her binds. Her temple hit the floor painfully as she moaned, hearing the other men laugh in the room. She fell so quickly that her knees did little to absorb the shock. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to move in vain, a horrible throb spreading in her head.

"You better start thinking fast little girl." The man said behind her. He grabbed the chair's back and pulled it back straight, grabbing her ponytail to help him and making her wince in pain. "I hope for you that you do have something to tell us."

"What if I don't?!" She almost yelled through her shallow breathing, glaring at the assassin who walked back to her front. If she could just free her hands she would punch him so hard his brain would burst out of his fucking head. She hated the way he handled her like this. What a big man he was, hurting her like this while she was tied up and couldn't defend herself. What a big coward. All of them. She hated this. She wanted to punch all of them, no matter if she was outnumbered. She'd find a way.

Her venomous train of thoughts were interrupted as the man laughed and kicked her chair, making her fall on her back and her head hitting the floor once again. The pain was nothing compared to how it made her rage even more.

"Then you're not going to like me at all." He spat as he walked up to her and made a sign to the other men with his hand. He looked down at her a moment before bending over to grab her belt.

Verica jumped as her eyes locked on his hands. He didn't untie it. He just loosened it and brought it lower. Spreading her coat apart rather violently, he grabbed the hem of her shirt and yanked it up to reveal her stomach and part of the bandages covering her breast…

'No… everything but this…'

She lost control over her brain. Her heart started beating as fast as it was possible, as if it would somehow make time stop. She started squirming, her expression of anger changing to fear in an instant as she whined faintly. Everything but this. Please not this. Anything but this. She almost hyperventilated as she remembered many years ago her encounter in the forest with the stalker. How his tongue had felt so disgusting in her mouth, his hands roaming over her like he owned her. And yet he had barely touched her. He didn't have any time to do anything, but it was enough to scare her. This time there was no Kenneth to come save her. This time there was nothing standing between her and him…

The man stopped and frowned as he looked at her fearful expression. He scoffed and straightened up. "Don't give me that look girl. I'm not a rapist. I'm not a fucking animal."

Her breathing calmed down, her body freezing. She looked at him in confusion, but believed him more than happily. She fought back the tears that formed behind her eyes before trying to talk.

"T-then what-" She interrupted herself when she saw one of his man coming near her with a cage. She could hear small squeak from inside…

"I told you you weren't going to like me. If you help me, we can all sit and have a cup of tea like civilized people while we wait for your friend. But if you want to be a bitch, then I'll be a bitch to you as well." The assassin said calmly as he took a cup of metal from another man. He sat down on Verica's chair, between her knees and his feet on each side of her stomach. He made a sign to the man with the cage who held it to him. The assassin opened it and put his hand deep in the metal boxe before pulling it out with a small tarou in it.

Verica frowned at the man. "What are you doing?" Her fear was bubbling back up to the surface.

"Did you know that tarous are scared of fire?" The brown haired man said matter of factly with a smile.

He took the tarou's tail and slowly put it on Verica's stomach, making her squirm against her binds. He put the cup of metal on top of the tarou quickly before it got away, trapping it on her belly. She squealed with a disgusted face, feeling the creature's little feet on her skin. What the hell were they doing?

Another man, wearing thick gloves, kneeled beside her to hold the cup while his chief reached for something in his pocket. He pulled a box of matches out with a smile. "Tarous also don't like heat in general." He continued, taking a match out of the box. "Whenever they are in an environment they deem too hot..." He lit the match and dropped it on top of the metal cup. "...they do everything to leave this environment."

Verica winced. She could already feel the cup getting warmer on her skin. That was no ordinary metal, or they were no ordinary matches. Either way it didn't matter. Her chest started moving up and down quickly. She could feel her heart in her temples. The tarou was trying to pass its little feet under the cup, its small claws scratching her skin, but the assassin beside her held it firmly against her stomach. It started to scratch harder, making Verica wince and squirm against her binds. It quickly stopped and started again on the other side of its small prison. A small bed of blood pooled under the cup and leaked onto her side.

The young monk stared at the red line with wide eyes. She tried to take a deep breath, but it came in short pants. The pain started to spread in her stomach. It seemed to her that the tarou was starting to scratch even harder and not on the side of the cup anymore. It was trying to dig right above her bellybutton. She hissed in pain between whines, looking up at the man above her with fear as realization dawn on her.

The assassin met her gaze with a mischievous smile. He reached for another match and lit it, holding it above the metal.

"Where do you think this one will try to go if he's too hot?"

I'm so sorry nothing happens in this chap it's all blah blah blah again I'm so sorry but you KNOW I love blah blah XD

Also. About the prophecy and Kenneth. I'm afraid we won't be seeing that for a while XD Sorry lol. We'll see our favorite dickhead who think it's a good idea to walk into great demon's prison in a few chapters :) For now, it's all Verica's adventure :P