Chapter Thirty-Six: The Bogeyman's Request.

Holy shit, I haven't updated in a loooong time. Sorry about that, guys. I've been busy getting my ass kicked by college.

The good news is, I'm almost done with this story. And I've got kind of a second part to it, meaning Tamara is in the second story involving Kurama. I'm having loads of fun with it.

I hope to be better about updates. Please Rate & Review.

- Jorden the Jynx

It has only been six days, Tamara. That's it.

Walter had just left the bedroom, leaving the girl inside broken and bleeding. Even her skin was tinged with blood. It was smeared all over her face and her entire body. Her neck was bruised with hickeys and fingerprints.

He's come every day, raping and torturing her. She always cried, always called out for help that wasn't going to come. She always apologized to Hiei. The bogeyman heard it all but could do nothing. For once, he was prepared to break his master's rule and destroy Walter himself. Her crying was driving him to the edge of insanity. Or, what he thought was insanity. He was already insane but wasn't exactly aware.

And to think she'd just asked him why Alessa had lied to her about her time in the Otherworld.

"There's no way," she finally replied, and turned her head towards him. He was towering over the bed, behind him two Gum Heads that were going to feed the demon tonight. "I feel like I've been here way longer than that."

She slowly sat up, wincing slightly. Her skin was, strangely, healed for the most part. It only cut a little bit when she sat up. Time manipulation, he said for what felt like the millionth time. He couldn't remove the rose from her skull, as much as he'd like to. That was the source of her madness, like a tumor. It was messing with her head. It was destroying her mind. What kind of punishment was this?

"I'll never get out, will I?" Tamara asked. "Walter will never let me leave. Even though… I… I don't…"

She brought her hands to her face, hissing at the pain from the barbed wire in her healed skin. Walter had decided to remove them this time, it seemed, and have his way with her after she was healed up.

God, that man was disgusting. And the bogeyman knew disgusting. Everything he'd ever seen was nothing compared to Walter Sullivan.

But tomorrow, the madman's reign would be over. Tomorrow, Tamara and the rest of Ashfield would be freed.

"Let's face it," she continued quietly. "I'm never going to get out. I'll be trapped here forever. And then he'll forget about me. When the Twenty-One Sacrements is over, he'll forget about me and leave me here." She then lifted her head and, without even wincing, twisted her right arm around to grab the barbed wire that was binding her. "I don't belong here anymore."

Sirens. It was night. Tamara-poor, insane Tamara-was gone again.

"I'll never… belong… but… I can't… leave…" Her voice then became nothing more than a growl. The broken wings were stretched out by the wire, sensing her transformation.

The beast hardly spoke anymore. It focused on feeding and killing, nothing else. On the rare occasions it did speak back to Pyramid Head, all it said was, "She's not here, go away."

He couldn't watch. He released the two Gum Heads into the room, and closed the steel door. Seemed it was time.

Hiei sighed, shaking his hair dry. It was raining. It had been raining for a few days now.

After the second day, the fire demon was able to block out the pain completely. He sometimes felt, though, that something was horribly wrong. Like he could feel Tamara's broken mind. It had only been six days, and yet she was going so crazy so quickly? He knew that she was being raped and tortured, but she was stronger than this.

The warehouse was too quiet tonight. He almost liked it. He refused to go back to the apartment until she came home. It was too empty without her there. There was no point in him staying when she wasn't around to keep him there.

He was prepared to hibernate. Maybe she would be back by the time he woke up. But god, he was about to kill whatever vermin was making that noise. He was not in the mood for this. It was like a loud metal scraping across the concrete floor.

Hiei sighed, drawing his sword. Seemed he would have to kill whatever was making that god-awful sound.

He didn't feel the demon energy until he stood. It was strangely familiar. Darker than anything he'd ever felt. The purest form of evil. It was like when he'd met his mate a year and six days ago. In fact, it was exactly the same, if not even darker than that.

Jaganshi. Hiei knew that voice. He silently walked over to the edge of the stack of crates he'd been sitting on. Out of the shadows he saw the outline of a very muscular male. He had a large, abnormally shaped head. Like a triangle, or a pyramid…

A pyramid…?

"Pyramid Head?" he called. "What are you doing here?"

You shouldn't sleep during the day.

"Ch'." Was he really here to discuss Hiei's sleeping habits? "What is it?"

Tamara has lost her mind, Hiei. He stayed in the shadows, not coming any closer. Hiei wondered why. You need to come to the Otherworld and rebuild her mind. Honestly, if you just show up, it would help.

"How can she only go insane in only six days?" the fire apparition asked. "I never pegged her for that much of a weakling."

You felt her mental wall collapse, did you not?

"And?"

There's another rose on her head, you see. Not only does it restrain her from controlling her telepathic abilities, but it also manipulates time for her.

Now, that was news. "What's going on in your world, anyway?" Hiei asked. "I block out the pain, like Alessa suggested I do, so I'm usually not aware."

Between rape and feeding, she isn't exactly "aware" either. Most of the things she speaks of are gibberish. She only begs for mercy… and cries out for you.

A pang of guilt hit Hiei hard in the chest. If only he hadn't blocked her out. That had been selfish of him anyway, knowing that she might need his help. He really just hadn't expected her to.

Surprised? the bogeyman asked him. You know, you're the second person she's ever asked for help. In her entire life, as far as I know.

"Who was the first?"

The Holy Mother, when she wanted to come here and the Assumption turned her down.

Turned her down? Wait… Walter really hadn't known…?

She is being punished because she disobeyed him. And she's not a child anymore, Hiei.

"If you say so," the fire demon remarked. Tamara could be quite childish in her own way.

You know it as well as I do. She's been locked in the same room for six days, Jagan Master. The monster side of her hasn't spoken to me since the third day. It only knows hunger now. She might think she has been in there for weeks, months, or even years. She hasn't said how long she thinks, but I know that she thinks it's been too much for her to handle.

"Hn. And if I do what Tamara requested of me, and stay away from the Otherworld?" Hiei asked. Surely she'd be fine when she returned, if seeing Hiei would be all it would take.

Hn. You underestimate her willpower. The Holy Mother might as well not give the child back to her, because Tamara will destroy it, either before or after its birth. And then this whole city will become an Otherworld as well, and your friends will all become victims.

"You underestimate us."

But Tamara does not. She knows everything about all of you. Do you really think she hasn't observed all of your abilities in the past year? She is very aware. Alessa has seen what Tamara will do if she comes back to this world insane. None of you will make it out alive.

"Hn." That noise was starting to irk the bogeyman. "Tamara wouldn't hurt me." Or, so he hoped.

No, but you are what she desires the most. She will capture you, and keep you in that nightmarish realm forever. Maybe wandering, or chained at her feet. Or maybe she will punish you for not coming to save her.

"She isn't capable. She's not like your god."

Walter wasn't like the Holy Mother, either.

"But he killed himself for a ritual."

Do you honestly think that she won't?

"I would never allow that to happen."

He heard a slight scraping when the silhouette's arm flexed. What was he carrying, anyway? Are you making excuses because you are lazy or fearful?

Hiei felt a flare of rage. He jumped to the floor and raised his sword. "I fear nothing, you fool," he growled. "Excuse me for trying to come up with other options before I go against her wishes."

If you let down your barrier, you'll no longer care about that ridiculous request. Take it down, demon born of flame. Feel your lover's punishment for bearing your mark and your dragon.

"Fine." He concentrated, going so far as to remove his headband. He would open the Jagan Eye so he could be consumed in her completely, and see through her eyes, and hear with her ears. Feel with her skin.

You must understand why I ask this of you, he heard Pyramid Head say, but it was in the distance. In all the years I've known her, Tamara has felt many emotions. But I have never seen her feel hopeless. I have never seen her want to be rescued.

He's coming. Fuck. Is he coming? Is he late? He's never late. Then again, she didn't have a clock. How would she know whether or not he was late? There was never a certain time… was there?

Shit. She needed sleep. She missed sleeping every night. When was the last time she slept, anyway? She didn't faint anymore, so that didn't count. Has it been years? Surely not. Maybe months. Yeah, she was going to go with that. No, it wasn't right. Had it been longer? Or was she crazy?

Hah! Of course she was crazy. Crazy Tamara. To think she could leave the Otherworld without Walter's permission. No, that wasn't possible. And now she would spend the rest of eternity in punishment for her sins.

Tamara.

Her head snapped up straight. That voice again. She knew that voice, but she could only halfway place it. Could it be…?

She saw a pair of blood-red eyes staring at her. They were in the shadows, to the left of the large fan. God, the shadows cast from the fan drove her insane. When was the last time it had stopped spinning, anyway? Fuck, she needed sleep.

"Hiei?" Her voice had never been so weak in her life. But that could have been from the screaming she did throughout most of the day. Or night… whenever it was, anyway. "Hiei, is that…?"

They disappeared before she could take the breath needed to finish her sentence. Gone again. He was gone again. She sighed. Not like he could ever really see her, anyway. If he could, he would be disgusted.

"Look at the little whore I've become," she said aloud. "Look at the freak, bound by barb wire because chains or rope isn't painful enough." She raised her arms, hissing in pain as the barbs cut down past her elbows, and then bent her hands down toward her face. She could feel the ribbons of blood pouring down her arms and fingers and dripping down onto her face.

"I don't belong here anymore," she said quietly. She was out of tears to shed. "When did I give up? I feel like it has been so long since I had my confidence…" She lowered her arms.

"I gave up… months ago," she said. "I figured out that I couldn't get out on my own… and even the monster inside won't help me…" She sighed again, and laid back down on the bed to stare at the ceiling. "I remember the beginning… how determined I was to get out of here… but… I can't do this by myself… I can't get through it alone… I need…"

"Tamara."

That time she knew her mind hadn't whispered. He was here. He was actually here. She sprang up, not wincing at the cutting pain in her arms, and looked around the room. She didn't see him.

"Why haven't you come home?"

"Hiei, I need you to help me… I can't do this by myself… I feel like…"

"Shut the fuck up. It's been a whole year, Tamara, and you only said a week. What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm… I'm sorry…"

The rose on her head pulsed. She saw two crimson orbs, like eyes, on the far side of the room. But they weren't his. Were they? No, he wouldn't come here. How would he even begin to know how? She never told him how to get to the Otherworld. Hell, she never told anyone how to get in or out. Then again, now she knew that there was really no way out.

"Pyramid Head…" she whispered. Where was her friend? He could kill it. She didn't have a weapon. Did she? Wait, maybe there was something under the bed. Sometimes there was.

The rose pulsed again. She reached up to touch it, maybe to yank it out of her hair and scalp, but the wire tightened around her suddenly and yanked her arm back down, ripping skin in the process.

Those orbs disappeared. She could hear something breathing. A baby crying. Oh, god. The baby. Walter had cut out her baby. She wondered where it was. Had Alessa saved it? Had she eaten it? Fed it to her minions? Or had the younger Walter failed, being attacked by the beasts of Ashfield?

The crying got louder, so loud that Tamara couldn't hear herself think anymore. The thing took a step forward. She could see it fully now, even in the darkness. It was almost like there was a light about it.

The thing looked human. Well, it had a human body. It was pregnant, too, but the fetus's oversized head was poking out of the top of its belly. That's where the crying was coming from. Its hair was thin and wiry, and its eyes hollowed out. It didn't have a nose, but an open mouth full of very sharp, very large teeth. And it had claws. Claws longer than Tamara's. The skin was rotted horribly, hanging off in places and in others bone was exposed.

She froze. What the fuck was that? She tried backing up, perhaps going off the bed and onto the floor below, but the wire pulled her wings apart then, and she screamed. It had been a long time since she'd had them pulled that hard.

"All… alone…" the thing said. The voice wasn't much more than a gurgle. Tamara wanted to vomit, but there wasn't anything on her stomach for her to bring back up. What was it? "I… I can't get out…"

"No," Tamara said quietly. "Stay away from me."

It ran at her then, cackling like something out of a cheap horror film. Tamara screamed and shrank away. "No!" she cried. "I don't deserve this, goddamn it!"

A gunshot. But… she didn't have a gun. Her gun had been stripped from her when she'd arrived. It was in the… the living room? Wasn't it? Isn't that where she had been?

Wasn't this her apartment? Damn, she didn't even remember where she was.

"That was no creation of mine," Walter said, putting his gun away into his coat pocket. "Seems you've gone insane, like me."

"I'm nothing like you," she growled. There was strength in her voice again. She felt a new rage building inside of her, some kind of sanity, but she didn't know where it was coming from. "You're a fucking scumbag."

Her face met metal. A pipe? She hadn't seen that coming. Well, mainly because she hadn't known he had a steel pipe in his other hand. Full of surprises, that one.

"Don't make me tell you a story of a pot and a kettle," he hissed. The barb wire released her legs completely, and her cuts began to heal. "That creature only proves further, Tamara, that we are one and the same. Don't you understand? We were destined by god to be together."

He promptly moved to the front of the bed and grabbed her ankles, yanking her straight onto her back. She didn't struggle. She didn't see the reason to anymore. Alessa had lied. The week was past over. Nothing had happened. Nothing had changed. she was still here.

"I don't…" she mumbled, turning her head to the side. Walter paused in removing his coat and turned to her.

"Yes, my love?" he asked. "You don't what?"

She ignored the sudden anger in her heart. "I don't belong here," she finished, tears rushing to her eyes instead.

"Oh, but you do." The mattress didn't make a sound when he climbed on top of her. "You belong here with me."

She winced when she felt his teeth in the valley of her breasts. "Answer one question for me, then," she whispered, craning her head to look at him. It was hard to focus. Ten million thoughts she wanted to scream were spinning around her head. "How long have I been here?"

His hazel-green eyes met hers, and she felt him smile against her skin.

"Forever," he said quietly. "Your beloved Hiei is dead."

She felt something come loose. Something snap. The gears running her mind began to run in reverse. But something, someone deep inside her told her that he was lying. "No."

"I'm sorry, Tamara. I will retrieve his ghost, if you like."

"You're a liar."

He was trying to arouse her. How could he have the nerve to, though, after telling her something like that? "I give you my condolences."

"Hiei is not dead. I feel it. I feel him."

"But you're insane."

Shit, he was right.

Pain. Oh, god, he'd went in dry. The pin was worse than anything she'd ever been through. It was excruciating.

"Hiei," she wailed, "help me…"

He pulled away, sucking in a breath as he did so. Goddamn. That pain. It had been awful. What the hell was wrong with that man?

Do you see now? the bogeyman asked. She is already creating monsters from her nightmares. They might be weak, and they might not know who she is now, but they will get stronger with time. He never moved from the shadows. It was starting to piss Hiei off.

"What was that pain in my back?" he asked. "It felt like someone was pulling, just below the blades of my shoulders."

The Assumption has made Tamara into a caged bird, literally. She was given a pair of large raven wings. It helps, though, because now Tamara's beast and human forms make sense. She finally has her purpose in the Otherworld.

"What do you mean?" He knew his mate had mentioned something about monsters symbolizing something behind their creation, and he'd even read about many of the monsters in the Otherworld, but he still didn't understand.

That creation that attacked Tamara? he began. That was a symbol of her grief for the lost child, and her loneliness. Those emotions created that monster.

"Okay, but I want to know what my wife symbolizes."

Love and hate, Hiei.

Now, that just didn't make sense. Not to Hiei. And he knew Walter Sullivan's backstory. Kurama had filled him in. It seems that he knew things even about the West. "What the fuck do you mean, love and hate?" he asked. "How on earth can she symbolize the one thing that guy doesn't know how to feel?"

All humans are capable of love, Pyramid Head told him. So are demons, and even monsters. Anything with half a brain can comprehend what love is. She's the love he always wanted. It's unfortunate for him, though. As he's never experienced love, and he's so full of hatred and spite, love naturally wishes to run away from him. And so run Tamara does. He has to capture it by force in order to keep it.

The demon form, on the other hand, is a perfect symbol for hatred. The way Tamara hungers for flesh and blood is exactly like Walter's lust for blood and murder. It consumes everything, just like Walter consumed the town of Ashfield.

Hiei still didn't exactly understand, but, oh well. He wasn't sure he wanted to. "Well, according to Tamara and her little book, everyone goes to the Otherworld for a reason. What would be my reason?"

To save Tamara.

"Ch'. There's something beyond that. I've read all about it. Tamara wrote it all down in a journal when she was seventeen. People go in there for one reason and leave because of something else."

No, Hiei. Not you. You just have to save her. The fire demon swore he heard the Bogeyman sigh. Please. As Tamara might say, "I will owe you one." I am breaking the rules by asking for your help, and that is not something I have ever done, either.

"Hn. Then let's go."

Follow me.