For this chapter I will like to thank RoryKat who was so kind and helped me correct the grammar and make it better suited for reading. I have learned quite a few things which I hope will improve my English.
23:20 hour
Before Kagome stood an old-fashioned looking butler, staring back at her and scowling.
"Pray tell, my lady; what are you doing here in the basement? This place is for staff only!" he said sourly.
"Excuse me?" Kagome said and blinked. The source of eerie green light was nowhere to be seen, as if it never existed, and the aging man in a black suit was holding a bottle of wine in a white handkerchief and was definitely no ghost or ghoul.
"You heard what I said young lady. Get out of here now and back to your folks!" he sneered and pointed on the stairs at the other side of the room.
Kagome instinctively did as he said and hurried past him when he chose to address her again. "What's the meaning of your dress? You cannot go to the ball in that filthy thing! What were you doing in the storage room? If you broke anything, I swear you are going to pay for it!"
"Storage room?" Kagome repeated. "But… oh shit. We need to get out of here, they are coming!" she said, grasped the arm of his suit and pulled him along.
"Hands off miss!" he sneered and gave her hand a smack hard enough to send it away. "Who do you say are coming? Friends of yours?"
"No, vampires! Come quick before they finds us!"
"Don't you try to ridicule me! There are no such things, and I will tell you what: you have been drinking! That's why you are here and look like a beggar." He glared in undisguised contempt and took a threatening step towards her. He halted when the doorknob creaked. It was being pressed down from the other side.
"No! Listen!" she begged, feeling goosebumps rise on her skin, but the butler turned around, marched to the door, and flung it open.
"Get out of here you little vermin!" he shouted, but his sneer instantly morphed into a face of shook when a greyish beast of humanoid proportion flung itself through the open door and right at him.
Kagome screamed in shock as the old man was knocked to the ground by a tall figure which had the head of an ancient, dried up human and a bony body with only a few rags for clothing. The butler cried out, but the creature crawled on top of him, pinning him to the floor and set its rotting teeth against the neck. The butler cried and flailed his hands, but the creature only bit harder. His screams were reduced to pained whimpers.
"Get away from him! I'll purify you!" Kagome shouted. The ghoulish vampire turned his head towards her without letting go of his prey, hissing as blood poured from between his cracked lips. This was a far cry from the handsome bloodsuckers in cinemas and way too close to the monsters from horror movies or those in the feudal past. Kagome wanted to save the man, but what could she do, she had no weapon and didn't she see anything lying around either. Wait! She could use her phone! Remembering how she managed to power it up, Kagome refocused her power into the device.
It began to glow and immediately attracted the attention of the vampire. The beast released its hold on the man to bared his bloody fangs at her.
"You are going straight to hell for this!" Kagome hissed back and marched forwards, holding up the phone like a shield.
"WHHHHIIISSSSS!" The vampire screamed and got off the body, but for the old man it seemed to be too late. The wound from his neck was bleeding heavily and his grey skin was growing white as a sheet, in stark contrast to the vampire who suddenly looked healthier and more human than before. Kagome prepared to lunge forwards and fry the monster with her powers but the door opened again, revealing half a dozen starving monsters all fighting to enter first.
"Yikes!" Kagome gasped. "Shit! Where is Inu Yasha when I need him!"
With self-preservation as her highest priority, Kagome turned on her heels and ran the other direction and bounced up the stairs at record speed. If she was being empowered by the holy magic that flowed through her, or if it was a ridiculous amount of adrenaline, she didn't know, but the last thing she saw was three other vampires who threw themselves at the dying man.
"Why can't these things keep themselves to the past?" Kagome panted, taking four steps in a stride till she reached the corridor above and ran towards a door, tearing it open and slamming it shut behind herself. She thought about crying FIRE to make her classmates flee, but her audience turned out to be something completely unexpected: a ballroom full of men and women, dressed up in their finest silk!
"Just where… am… I?" she asked out loud. Her entrance had obviously caught everyone's attention because they were all staring back at her in bewilderment. "Did I come up the wrong stairs?"
She was definitely out of place, and her black and very dirty witch costume stood out like a sore thumb in the fine company. Nobody said anything at all, only stared until a young couple which was closest to her coughed, bringing the other people to their senses, and came over.
"Excuse me miss!" said the young woman, clad in a pretty red kimono. She gave Kagome an amused smile. "But I unless you are invited, I am afraid you have to leave. This place is… for only a few select, not for common people."
"Common!? I was attending a Hallowe.. uh costume party. Did I enter the wrong building?"
"That would be hard, there are no other buildings close to this place," said the woman. "But what were you doing in the wine cellar?"
"No buildings…?" Kagome scratched her head, had she come up on the wrong floor? "I came to warn you about…" she licked her lips, not sure what she could tell these people to make them believe her.
"Warn us about what?" The woman's male counterpart asked. "Is it light on the outside?"
"Light? What are you talking about?" Kagome countered.
"I think it is best you come with us." The man sighed. He wore wearing morning coat, formal trousers and a matching black tie.
"But, but!" Kagome began, but he took her arm and guided her firmly to the main doors at the other side of the room and shooed her through. "There are some… uh, really bad guys in the cellar. They killed an old man and will probably come for you next!" she said. "You need to get out or arm yourself!"
If nothing else, this did get their attention. "What? Are you kidding with us? "he demanded while the pretty woman gasped.
"Why the heck would I look like this?" Kagome said desperately, running her hands over her black dress. "Do you think I would roll around in the dirt voluntarily? If you don't get out, they will kill you!"
"I find it hard to believe," the man huffed. "There are guards and police everywhere nowadays. If someone makes a stir, they will be there before you get the morning post! But alright, I will look for a guard and have him see into it. Come dear." He took the woman's hand and was about to escort her back inside when he addressed Kagome again. "And the exit is through that door and down half a floor where the lobby is. You can find your way out yourself if you don't mind, but if you will excuse us..."
"Mom, Dad. Are we leaving yet?"
The voice of a small child caught everyone's attention and Kagome saw a young boy, probably no older than Sota, peek his head through another door.
"Akito, please go back to your room, the ball isn't over yet," said the woman which Kagome understood was his mother.
"But mom, I am bored." He whined and caught eye of Kagome. "Who is this?"
"This woman is about to leave, so please go back inside," the man said.
"But…!" Kagome began and felt frustration starting to get the best of her.
"No buts'. You are either leaving voluntarily and rather fast, or else a guard will come and escort you away. And Akito, you go back to your room and wait like a good boy." he said stern and saw the boy obediently go back to his room.
"But darling, why can't our son come with us? If there are more uninvited people here, then it would be safest if he wasn't on his own."
This got her husband thinking, she gave him a kind and unwavering smile that seemed to convince him.
"Alright then. Akito, come with us, but you must behave properly and don't speak unless addressed."
"Thank you, Father." The child smiled and rushed towards him after closing the door, but he took his mother's hand and let her guide him back to the ballroom.
"Alright lady, this is your last chance!"
"Okay okay, I'm leaving!" Kagome sighed, looked at the stairs and hesitated a bit before turning to leave. She could only hope that Inu Yasha would be here in time before the situation became worse. As her feet took the first tentative step onto the stairs and the door closed behind her, loud screams erupted from inside the ballroom and hell broke loose when.
Kagome ran back to where she came from, opened the door to the room and saw the guests form a wide half-circle on the floor as the ghoulish vampires emerged from the basement entrance.
"Get out get out! All of you!" Kagome shouted and saw one of the male guests being attacked by the closest vampire. It tore the man's chest open in a bloody display of savagery and started to feed. Everything turned into a complete chaos. The other vampires sprang into the crowd and began tearing people apart or went directly for their necks
The people panicked and ran wildly in zigzags to get away. They pushed and pulled each in their scramble to reach for the door where Kagome stood. The hairs on Kagome's neck rose and she threw herself out of the way, seconds before the vampire would have caught her.
"Shitshit too close!" Kagome gasped, and sprang back on her feet. "Where did you come from? There must be another way up." she said rhetorically and received no more of an answer than a wild hiss from the red-eyed beast.
The vampire looked at her and licked his lips, but Kagome pulled out the phone and channeled her powers into it again. "Begone!" she yelled and ran towards it, flaring her holy powers and sending the vampire fleeing into the room with a deathly hiss.
Kagome followed suit, ready to save whoever she could from the bloodthirsty creatures.
Inside, more than a dozen people already lay on the floor, dead or dying while others tried to defend themselves with chairs or whatever they could get their hands on. A terrified scream drew her attention towards the young couple who had tried to send her away; one of the vampires was attacking the man and the woman was trying to shield her boy from the assault. Kagome ran at them and slammed her fist with the phone into the beast and sent him flying from the empowered impact.
"Do you believe me now? Come, we must leave!"
The man, despite being freed from the vampire's grip, fell to his knees and clutched his belly where a large gash bled heavily, quickly soaking his pristine suit.
"Go, leave first" he gasped and coughed up blood.
"No, not without you!" cried the woman.
She released the boy and fell to her knees to catch him. He looked back into her face and tried to say something more, only to cough blood onto her kimono when he tried to speak. She grasped his harm and pulled him partly onto her shoulder, attempting to drag him to safety. The despair shone in her face and Kagome hurried to help her carry him when she stopped her.
"Please, take Akito and get away from here!"
"But I can't leave you!" Kagome said, adamant to save the couple.
"No please, the guards will probably come here any minute and shoot the monsters. We are sorry for not believing you, but please take my son to safety, we will come as soon as we can."
"Mom!" Akito cried. The little boy was in tears, frightened and scared by what he saw and heard. Around them, people were being gutted alive and sucked empty by the ferocious beasts and none had managed to get to the door alive yet. Kagome and the young family were the closest.
"Alright, I'll do it. Promise me you will be safe, ok?" Kagome said, taking the boy and lifting him up.
"No, I want my mom and dad" he cried and tried to kick her.
"Go go!" Yelled his mother as she slowly dragged her wounded husband across the floor, leaving a red trail of warm blood after them.
Wrapping her arms tightly around the little boy, Kagome dashed for the door and didn't look back. She leaped down the stairs towards the lobby where the screams had alerted the personnel. They were running around and shouting to each other, having understood that something gravely was amiss.
But something else was also amiss!
In front of the reception desk, Kagome halted and looked at the man standing there.
"Where have all the decorations gone?" she asked out.
"What decorations?" said the man. "And what are you doing with the master's grandson in your arms?"
"Grandson? Do you mean that the couple I met are the owners?"
"Not them, Ms. Kiki is only the daughter, it is her brother who is the heir to this place. But what is going on inside?" he said sternly and stared at her. "I have already called for the military guards, and I swear, if you have anything to do with this… and who are you by the way? I can't remember letting you inside."
"H… Higurashi Kagome!" Kagome was at a loss, utterly confused and could only stutter her name as numerous questions raced through her mind. Her already bad feeling became even worse when the main doors burst open and a long row of men clad in outdated military uniforms and arms marched inside.
Kagome froze. Her breath became shallow and rapid. This was all wrong, terribly wrong! The clerk behind the desk pointed towards the stairs from which she came and at her. But Kagome had eyes only for the scared and confused little boy.
"Akito, please tell me; what date is it today?"
"October the 31st. Why?" he sobbed.
"I knew that. But what year?"
"It is the eighteenth year of his Majesty's reign, 1944," Akito said.
Kagome's mouth opened in a silent scream when the words reached her brain, she wanted to say something, anything! But all sounds were drowned out when the blood-curdling scream from an air siren warned them to seek shelter.