He wanted to make sure Athena was alright. He told Apollo and Trucy to watch over her as he awaited for his 'Fate' to come by for a visit on legal fees and procedures. He stood alone in the office still tapping the pen against the desk.
Never had one of his clients striked much fear in him since that case with Matt Engarde. Engarde threatened to have Shelly de Killer kill Maya if Phoenix didn't receive his acquittal. Yet, he managed to reach justice by turning the tables on Engarde for threatening one of his greatest allies. But this is different. She didn't need to threaten him, her presence was enough to keep him at bay. He placed his blazer over his chair and sat back down. His fingers ran through his spiky hair as he kept reading the middle name of his client, 'Fate… Fate… Fate...'
Pressing his fingers against his temple, elbows against his desk, he tried to reminisce what had happened in court, but he just couldn't. He couldn't picture himself doing all those actions he described. Growling and snarling. It just wasn't like him, but he didn't doubt Apollo or Athena. The only thing that came back was the feeling. The sensation… the satisfaction.
The satisfaction was more heightened, way more appealing than drowning himself in grape juice and so much better than ripping apart a person's testimony that is riddled with lies. He was scared knowing that he was smiling. He quickly got rid of the sensation and looked back at the lump of paperwork on his desk.
He twisted the light switch on the lamp near his desk. The sudden beams hurt his eyes and turned around. The wait became unbearable. He wanted to quickly discuss what he needed to do with his client and finally get rid of her for Athena's sake. Yet, he was terrified, partially hoping she wouldn't come and just let her go pro bono, but he needed to ask her one thing.
'How does she know about Mia?'
He heard a knock at the door. He knew who it was. He slowly stumbled to the door to somehow summon up some courage to help him deal with his fear-striking client.
He opened the door to reveal the same woman at the court. Her vest was black with a white dress shirt behind, the white lapels protruding outward onto black cloth, the same midnight violet blazer suit with gold designed trim at the lapels with curved pointed onyxes on each side, accentuated in the center of the curved designs. Her black slacks were curved across her thighs until they reached her knees, flaring outward where her black heel boots were. But what caught his eyes was the necklace that was around her neck and landed on her bosom.
'She didn't wear that earlier, did she?'
The necklace was laced in a gold chain, at the end was held by two silver trimmed ivory horns, that connected to a vibrant pointed onyx jewel surrounded by a trim of gold. The whole thing would be as thick as a finger, but as big as the back of his hand. It looked genuine, but gave him a shiver of fear knowing that he eyed it too long.
"Do you like it, Mr. Wright?" she sassed against the letters of his name, clicking against each of the syllables.
"It looks amaz-ing!" he clattered. "Where did you get-it?"
She smiled, "It was from a dear friend..."
'I wonder what kind of person would have the audacity to approach her beside the guy that tried to rob her?' he thought.
"A handsome man, far! Far from here, but that's besides the point." she looked the other way at his chair, "business first."
He gestured her to enter the office and close the door behind her. He headed back to his chair, trying not to shake. She sat down slowly to the office chair in front.
"Now Mister Wright. Of course, I have known an estimate of the total fee, but I really don't feel like fidgeting with how nicely arranged the money is."
"It's all cash?!" he yelped.
"Yes. And I wish for you to keep the change. Use it to your leisure." she suggested waving her hand.
"But you don't have to do that." Phoenix reassured.
"No, no. I insist, Mr. Wright," a grin upon her lips. He felt somehow threatened by her action. "I bid you good day." She arose quickly.
"Wait!" he lifted his hand to halt her. "How do you know about the 'Lawyer' thing?"
"The what?" she asked hastily, confusion etched on her face.
He rubbed the back of his head, "You said that 'a Lawyer is someone who smiles no matter how bad it gets…'"
He waited for a response, but she didn't answer immediately. Instead she looked deep within his eyes. Very deep. Wide blue against half-lidded violet. His hands began to shake under the gaze of her weight. Soon she broke contact with them. He shook in his seat and held himself against the desk.
He almost felt like he wanted her to keep looking. Her gaze felt, 'intoxicating...?'
By time Phoenix looked up, she was closing the door.
Phoenix began fiddling with the envelope and opened to see it contained almost a third more than the total he was going to charge. "Wow… that was actually nice of her."
Shuffling through the papers, he found his payment from the woman. She paid a really decent amount by his eyes. More than a normal murder case and not to mention in cash! All he had to do was finish up the post trial legal papers and he's set to spend his reward.
He suddenly jumped by a certain scream and a sudden thud. Phoenix rose up and darted for the door and pushed it open to see what it was.
The hallway was uncharacteristically dark. A strange low and lustful sneer hissed into his ear. A small gust of wind, cold with a mixture of heat, hit him across the left side of his face, stinging his left eye. Phoenix hesitantly rotated his head revealing darkness. Confused and anxious, he squinted his eyes to see through it, but still nothing. Another breath hit him.
What the heck?!
It came from right in front of him, but there was nothing in front of him, just pitch blackness of the vacant hallway. Slightly startled, he etched ever closer, escaping the small protection of light coming from his office lamp light. Something moved. Just by an inch. As it approached Phoenix's face, he retreated backward, mildly stunned. His eyes began to focus on whatever it was protruding from the darkness. It appeared fleshy and dark, a crease horizontally curved across the surface. The lawyer held onto the door frame, his lips moved steadily to form a coherent word. "H-hello?"
The crease reacted with a quiver. It began to roll backward. Turns out it actually had two creases, rolling away from each other. As they parted, a faint white revealed from behind to a deep red at each end, strapped with moisture. It split in half leaving jagged edges on top and the bottom, hanging lowly below the top. The thought barely registered in enough time for him to realize what it was. Whatever the darkness held, it swiftly yet quietly greeted Wright. A dark figure in the shadows of the hallway. The figure had extremely dark bloodcurdling eyes that looked straight at Phoenix. He froze in place, staring the beast in the eyes. A wet inhale hissed through the hallway. It's tendrils of darkness wrapped tightly around the lawyer's ankles before he could make a dash and pulled him forward causing him to fall abruptly. His head rebounded against the floor, knocking his head and the wind out of his lungs. He could barely feel the cloth of his clothes run upward as he was dragged closer half consciously.
His vision blurred, in and out of consciousness. Its clawed hands crawled along the length of his body, first against his legs, slithering past his midriff, chest and eventually his face. The same hands slinked against and gripped against the attorney's throat.
It was blurry, only capable of seeing a few inches from his face, from what he can make out of it was a darkened snout. The attorney tried to yell for help, but merely dangled helplessly against the sheer grip, and for that moment, he was sure, he would not last very long.
It began to get darker as his vision was slowly going. He felt another clawed hand graze against the side of his face over his eyes and forehead. The attorney's head was tilted back by the lift of his neck and the push of his forehead. A cold thumb pulled back his chin and then his mouth was forcibly gaped open. An exhale escaped the beast, hot and tempered down to a cool breeze this time.
"You've causssed me enough... trouble…" The voice breathed low but demonic.
He felt something wet and warm against his jawline. It made a weird hissing noise and made its way across the attorney's face and onto his cheek. Phoenix tried to flinch away with whatever awareness remained within him, but the monster held him still, no hope for escape.
"It'sss only fair that I return the favor…"
He struggled hard to break his way out, but to no avail. The grip was too strong.
Phoenix soon felt the same slithering tendril drag across his ear, streaking moisture along its path.
"...After now I come to think… Thisss might be a blessing…" It chuckled a deep throaty laugh. "You taste… deliciousss…"
Raking against his cheek to his nose and above his lip, it slowly entered his mouth, making contact with his tongue. Disgust and dread overflowed throughout his body. It went deeper, scraping against the roof of his mouth and became smoother as it contacted his tonsils. He gagged as the weird snake like tendril slowly down his throat. It became a struggle to breath. He shuffled in place, legs bucking against the weight of this creature. He soon felt a piercing in his esophagus, sending ripples of pain to his spine.
His thrashing and writhing became weaker and weaker, losing more and more strength as his body succumbed to the ever growing paralysis. His legs tingled up to his chest as the sensation of them being present vanished, completely numb. Panicked breathing soon became pants of desperation. Blinded by this being, all Phoenix could hear were the gurgles and snarls of the creature that overpowered the small attorney in its grasp. Soon, he felt a weird sensation of intrusion, as if he was being injected. Coursing through him he could feel his blood turning icy, yet ironically pump even faster. Whatever substance that failed to enter his veins occupied and overflowed into his throat and down his stomach. His lungs burned without oxygen. And soon afterwards he collapsed.
Wright Anything Agency
Date September 4 7:00 a.m.
'That's weird…' Apollo thought as he eyed the Agency door faintly ajarred.
"Mr. Wright?" Apollo knocked at the door of the office, which slowly flung open.
"Boss…?" he yelled across the office.
Apollo snooped around near the frame of the door. 'Mr. Wright wouldn't leave the door open?'
He trembled to see how disheveled the office was. The office couch was overturned, Charley the plant was leaning on his side, Trucy's magician props were scattered all over. It looked like a hurricane and its windy brethren had a full party through the office.
The floor was sticky and had dried up residue of a white semi-transparent goo and what mingled with it was a red substance.
"Is… Is that blood?!" Apollo yelled internally.
He ran across the office and stopped dead on his tracks. His boss's limp body lay there. Waistcoat ripped of its buttons, decorated with smalls splotches of red. Mouth gaped, face ghost white, dried blood slowly trickled down the side of his cheek. And his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
"MR. WRIGGGGHHHHTTT!"
