***************************************
Blackwake Manor
Part Three
A Weiss Kreuz Halloween Fic
By Deena (deena_arashi@hotmail.com)
***************************************
The sketches were beyond thorough. Names, birthdates, height,
weight, hair and eye coloring...everything was exact. We were all
dressed in our assassin gear and even that was precise right down to
the tiniest detail.
It scared the fucking shit outta me.
"Us." Aya's usually deep, authoritative voice had been reduced to a
raspy croak. "It's us."
Blindly I reached out and groped for his hand, still staring at the
sketches. "Aya...now I'm really scared."
He squeezed my hand. "I know."
"How can this be? What should we do?" The image of the headless
woman swept into my mind at that instant and I swallowed heavily,
fighting not to gag. "What if we end up like-"
Aya clamped a hand over my mouth. "No." Low, firm voice. "Nothing like
that is going to happen to us because we're Weiss and we can handle
this. There must be some kind of rational explanation for all this and
we'll get to the bottom of it." His eyes were surprisingly gentle in the
dim light of the candle as they held my gaze. "Promise me you'll stay
strong Ken."
He was right, of course. This wasn't the time to let Weiss down.
Whatever this was, who ever had done it had to be stopped. Before
anything else could happen and before anymore innocent people were
hurt.
I nodded, my voice holding far more confidence than I felt. "I'm fine.
But," I waved at the drawings of us. "What should we do about those?
Should we destroy them? Or..." My eyes widened as a thought
occurred to me. "What if the evil forces are trying to get us to
destroy them? And then when we do, we die too because we're part of
the sketches!!! Or what if we-"
"Well I guess you're okay now," Aya interrupted wryly. "Now forget
about all that because we're going to leave them here."
I blinked. "We are?"
"Yes. I don't like the idea of disturbing anything."
"But Aya, are you sure?" I shuffled my feet uneasily and looked
around. "I mean maybe we should-"
Aya's voice was dry. "Ken, we're worrying about nothing right now." He
gestured to the table.
The drawings were gone. Absofuckinglutely gone.
I couldn't help it. I flung myself into Aya's arms and buried my face in
his shoulder. "Oh man, we're so dooooooooooomed," I wailed in anguish.
So much for my sudden resolve to be a man and take it like it is and
save all the innocents. Forget the innocents, I wanted to go home!!!
Dammit, wasn't I innocent? Didn't I deserve to be saved? I mean, I can
handle killing bad guys and fighting Schwartz and all that. But battling
the wicked in a shitty spooksville of a house where paintings looked at
me and merry-go-rounds played music by themselves and pregnant
women were killed brutally and pictures of us disappeared...it was too
much! When had Weiss turned into the X-files? I wasn't Mulder
dammit! Although Aya did have red hair like Scully...
"They're playing with us," Aya bit out scathingly, barely containing his
cold fury. "Those fucking bastards."
Aya only swore when he was *really* pissed off so I'm guessing that he
was *really* pissed off. In any case, his ire made me feel safe. He was
one mean bitch when riled up. Of course I was tough too but he had
the advantage of not being afraid whereas me...well you know.
Aya hauled me roughly from the room, stomping angrily. Yep, he was
definitely mad.
A steady trinkling sound was coming from behind the door of the next
room. I hid behind Aya, gripping his trench coat tightly and peeking
over his shoulder as he slowly twisted the doorknob open.
I held my breath, more than prepared to run like hell. What cold-
blooded terrors lay in this room? The door groaned open on whiny
hinges and involuntarily I clenched my eyes shut. I was about to ask
Aya how bad it was when it suddenly registered into my muddled mind
that the trinkling sound was water. Running water.
My eyes popped open. In the very center of the room was a huge
fountain of a gargoyle spitting forth water. I wrinkled my nose. A
gargoyle? How tacky.
The floor wasn't carpeted, unlike all the other rooms we'd been to.
Instead, it was marble and our feet made loud thumping noises upon it.
I noticed that the fountain's water was a murky brown color and there
were dead fish floating in on the surface. At one time the room must
have been filled with lush, healthy plants and flowers. Now the many
pots and vases were either filled with dead sticks and rotting soil or
were empty.
The room was an art studio. Paintings of scenery decorated the walls
and there were countless numbers of unhung paintings stacked about.
A table in the back, behind the fountain was jumbled with paint
brushes and paints and sketchbooks and other assorted art supplies.
Several easels stood nearby with unfinished paintings resting upon
them.
Aya lifted the candle to an easel in the corner. The painting upon it
was of a quaint mountains and forest scene, the sky blue and the sun
shining. Defacing the sunny little scene was thick, vivid strokes in red,
spelling out 'Help me'.
It had been recently done. The red paint was still wet, dripping down
the smooth canvas. The paintbrush lay on the floor, drenched in red
paint.
**Beautiful, isn't it?**
A breathy whisper, brushing upon my ear.
I whirled around. There was no one there.
"This was just done," Aya muttered unnecessarily. He stepped closer
to examine the mess.
**Scared of me Ken?**
My heart was leaping frantically as I scanned the room. There was no
one and yet the voice was speaking right in my ear.
**They always are**
"Stop it," I hissed, backing away and bumping into the edge of the
fountain.
The voice grew louder and became guttural.
**Your fear tastes delicious**
"St-stay away f-from me," I gasped, my body shaking ferociously.
"Ken?" Aya moved away from the easel and looked over at me.
**Will he be able to save you Ken?**
I shrank back, petrified out of my mind. Someone was talking to me
and they knew my name!
"Ken!"
For the umpteenth time that night I threw myself into the safety of
Aya's arms, this time barely biting back a sob.
~*~*~*~
Four moldy, smelly, creepy rooms later, Omi and Yohji finally found the
dragon door. It was inside a rather barren room that kept only a few
sofas, some tables and a shelf filled with tattered books. There was a
door on the far side of the room and engraved on the doorknob was a
delicate dragon.
"About damn time," Yohji grumbled.
Omi grinned. "I knew we'd find it sooner or later."
Yohji leveled a stern look upon the boy. "No matter what happens Omi,
I want you to stay by my side. Understand? I don't want anything to
happen to you."
"Of course," he replied, taking the opportunity to step closer to his
older teammate. "Let's go."
Yohji reached out slowly turned the doorknob. The heaved open and he
shone the flashlight into the murky darkness. Stairs were the only
thing he could see. Lots of stairs going down into the dreaded
basement.
Yohji blanched. This was exactly the sort of cheesy clich‚ that
freaked him out. He really did *not* to go gallivanting about in the
bowels of this house. God only knew what shitty-assed horrors lay
waiting for them.
"Yohji kun?" Wide blue eyes were peering up at him expectantly. "Are
we still going down?"
He took a deep breath. "We're going," he responded determinedly. For
the sake of Omi he wouldn't wimp out. He was older, it was his job to
protect the younger boy. Aya would take care of Ken and he'd look out
for Omi. Simply simple.
The stairs winded and there were many. It took about ten minutes to
get to the bottom since the flashlight wasn't all that powerful and it
was difficult to see that much more ahead. Also the steps were uneven
and badly crumbling.
After what seemed like an eternity, they finally made it to flat ground.
The hallway was classically cheesy. All made of stone with wooden
torches that were hung on the wall. The hallway stretched out to the
left and on the right was an enormously gigantic door.
"Door or hallway?"
Omi bit his lip as he thought for a few seconds. "Door," he decided.
Yohji, who'd been secretly hoping that he'd pick the hallway, sighed.
Facing danger head on in his mind was great. Facing danger in reality
sucked like crap.
They walked towards the door and before they even reached it, it
swung open. Thick swirls of grey mist drifted out.
"Oh jeeze" Omi muttered.
Yohji grabbed the younger boy's hand. "Don't say anything and don't go
anywhere," he cautioned sternly.
They cleaved through the mist and entered. Behind them, the door
closed with an abrupt thud.
"Stuck again," Yohji mumbled wryly, shining the flashlight through the
wispy fog which was dissipating.
Before them were a few of steps, leading down into an enormous, dark
room. The walls were made of broad slabs of stone, the floor nothing
more than muddy dirt. The haze weaved its way through the heavy
coffins and crosses that were scattered throughout the entire room.
"A graveyard," Omi breathed, looking on in morbid fascination.
Yohji was not impressed. When a house had a friggin' graveyard in the
basement, that usually was not a good sign!
They stepped down, the ground squishy and mucky beneath their feet.
Moisture clung to the walls, the sound of rats scampering echoing. The
caskets were large and stark, spread out randomly. Simple wooden
crosses were tucked here and there and all along the far side were
neat piles of dirt, shovels standing erect on the top of the heaps.
Recently covered bodies.
"There sure are a lot of dead people down here," Omi remarked
offhandedly.
Yohji, who was on the verge of going into cardiac arrest, gaped openly
at the younger boy. How the hell could he be so casual about all these
dead bodies? Why wasn't the kid scared? The coffins could hold
vampires dammit!!! The mounds of dirt could be the last victims they
sucked dry!
"That's all you can say?" Yohji finally managed. "There are a lot of
dead people down here?! "
Omi patted his arm. "Calm down Yohji kun. It's just probably just a
family mausoleum."
"WHO THE HELL HAS A FAMILY THIS BIG!!!"
Yohji's yelling immediately woke the entire brigade of vampire bats
there were sleeping overhead. In a huge whirl of flapping wings and
high-pitched shrieking, Yohji and Omi were instantly swarmed by
furry, flying rodents.
"GGGGAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! My hair!!!"
Omi sighed, shaking his head. The pack of bats had flown off to
another part of the ceiling, and Yohji was still shrieking and thrashing
around.
"Get away you filthy flying rats!"
"They're gone Yohji kun."
Yohji slowly straightened and saw that, indeed, they were. "Miserable
shitty assed fuckers!" He rubbed at his cheek. "One bit me!"
"Bats are generally timid animals," Omi informed him, the zoologist in
him aroused. "But these are vampire bats so that's probably why you
got bitten. They need a tablespoon of blood a day to survive. Did you
know that bats are the only mammals that can fly?"
"Do I fucking care?" Yohji snarled, harassed. Omi was an exceptionally
smart kid but there was a time and place to go sprouting off biological
knowledge and the cemetery of a haunted house was not it! "Vampire
bats, that's a sign if I ever heard of one!"
Omi knew it was futile to try and calm Yohji down in his agitated state
so he tried to be logical. "Vampires need to feed in the night so
chances are they're probably not here."
"Unless they're the bats!" Yohji looked at the plethora of bats hanging
upside down from the ceiling. "They're all vampires waiting to make
their move."
"We'd be sucked dry by now if they really were vampires. Now come
on, let's go check out the coffins. I'm sure they'll give us some clues."
Yohji glared. "Forget it! I'm not touching those things with a ten-foot
pole!"
Omi shrugged, unconcerned. "Suit yourself." He snatched the
flashlight from Yohji's hand and moved towards the nearest casket.
"Oh fuck." Yohji grumbled heading after him.
~*~*~*~
Aya comforted me in a very unlike-Aya way. He didn't ask me to explain
anything, instead he let me cling to him and he stroked my hair. In any
other situation I would have demanded to know who he was and what
had he done with Aya. But alas, this was not any other situation.
Someone...or something was talking to me. They knew who I was.
Needless to say, I did not have a good feeling about this.
We left the artist room and much to my joy, as well as my sanity, the
voice didn't start talking to me again. We soon came to a split in the
hallway. Straight ahead of us was a curling staircase, most likely
leading up to the attic. To the left as well as to the right were
hallways with more rooms.
"Which way?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from shaking too badly.
Either way we went, unspeakable horrors were bound to find us.
"The attic," Aya answered tersely.
I nodded and then I saw it. A trail of wet, muddy footprints marking
the dusty carpet of the stairs. "Aya look!" I cried, my voice hoarse.
"Footprints!"
Violet eyes gleamed violently. "Now we've got them."
For the hundredth time I thanked whatever God was looking down on
me for pairing me up with Aya. The guy was a mean son of a bitch when
pissed off. If anyone had a chance against the powers of evil, it was
Aya.
Aya stalked up the stairs, his katana matching the ominous glitter in
his eye. I hurried after him, constantly glancing around. The last thing
I wanted to be confronted with was that sinister voice of that
sinister...whoever it was.
The stairs were creaky and I jumped whenever we happened to step on
one. I think I was going crazy. I mean, I was scared shitless coming
here but now I was beyond scared. I had entered *new* levels of fear.
I was petrified.
**That you are my pretty**
I whirled around and nearly went sprawling back down the stairs.
Grabbing, hold of the banister, I managed to keep upright. Aya was
still stomping up the stairs, oblivious. Frantically, I looked around,
trying to get a glimpse of this vile mind-raper.
**You should know by now that you can't see me**
"Stay away from me!" I shrieked silently. My fingers were ice-cold
inside my gloves as I clutched the banister.
"Ken, what is it?" Aya looked down at me, worry marring plum eyes.
At another time I'd have been boggled that the Iceman himself was
showing concern. But at the moment, I had other problems on my mind.
Like how I was ready to flee to another hemisphere.
**Surely you don't think -he- could help you**
"Aya," I croaked, trembling. "Someone is-"
~C*R*A*S*H~
The window beside the stairs shattered as a solid branch, propelled by
the wind, struck through the glass. Shards showered upon the filthy
maroon carpet, the frantic wind swirling into the house with a shrill
shriek. It was raining bitterly outside.
I still ended up nearly leaping out of my skin, my heart racing like some
kind of crazy locomotive. I know I screamed and even Aya looked...well
he brandished his katana anyways.
"I don't know how much more I can take of this," I muttered, waiting
for my heartbeat to slow down.
"Did you hurt-"
I stopped paying attention to Aya when a white slip of paper wafted in
through the broken window and fell down at my feet. I shrank back
against the banister. Who knew what the hell the innocent-seeming
paper contained. Some kind of demonic incantation or death threat of
more pictures of us...I shuddered.
Aya came back down the stairs and bent to pick the paper up.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I gulped out, wringing my hands
apprehensively.
"Ken this paper just fell at our feet," he informed me calmly. "I doubt
it was a coincidence. We're obviously meant to read it."
I sighed, brushing sweaty bangs off my forehead. At this point nothing
could surprise me. Scare me, oh hell ya. Surprise me, not really.
Aya read the note silently, his expression grim.
"Well?" I finally asked, biting my lip. "What is it? Is it evil? Are we
going to die?" I started to get frantic. "I'm too young to die dammit! I
wanna go home! This sucks!"
"Let's go," Aya muttered, crumpling the paper into a ball and tossing it
out the broken window. "I don't think you want to know what's on the
paper."
No I probably didn't.
I scrambled around the shattered glass and followed him up the stairs.
"Ken, what happened before?" he asked me gently as we made our way
up the squeaky stairs.
"It really happened Aya," I warned him seriously. "It wasn't a figment
of my imagination or any crap like that. I wasn't being stupid either."
"What happened?" he asked me tersely.
"Someone's been talking in my mind." Inwardly I winced. It sounded
lame even to my ears and I was *used* to sounding lame.
Aya arched an eyebrow in silent question.
"It's true! They said that they knew I was afraid of them and that you
wouldn't be able to save me! I'm not lying, I swear. Someone really is in
my mind!"
He sighed softly. "I believe you Ken."
I blinked "You do?"
"After everything else that's happened, mind games don't surprise me."
"Stupid mind games," I muttered. "Sounds like that bastard
Schulderich."
Suddenly Aya stopped, mid-step. His gaze clung to mine. "Schulderich,"
he spat out.
My eyes widened. "Schwartz? You don't think..." I frowned. "They'd
have no way of knowing that we'd be here. They don't know who Persia
is. Hell, we don't even know who Persia is!"
Aya grabbed my hand. "There's only one way to find out."
We raced up the remainder of the stairs.
Blackwake Manor
Part Three
A Weiss Kreuz Halloween Fic
By Deena (deena_arashi@hotmail.com)
***************************************
The sketches were beyond thorough. Names, birthdates, height,
weight, hair and eye coloring...everything was exact. We were all
dressed in our assassin gear and even that was precise right down to
the tiniest detail.
It scared the fucking shit outta me.
"Us." Aya's usually deep, authoritative voice had been reduced to a
raspy croak. "It's us."
Blindly I reached out and groped for his hand, still staring at the
sketches. "Aya...now I'm really scared."
He squeezed my hand. "I know."
"How can this be? What should we do?" The image of the headless
woman swept into my mind at that instant and I swallowed heavily,
fighting not to gag. "What if we end up like-"
Aya clamped a hand over my mouth. "No." Low, firm voice. "Nothing like
that is going to happen to us because we're Weiss and we can handle
this. There must be some kind of rational explanation for all this and
we'll get to the bottom of it." His eyes were surprisingly gentle in the
dim light of the candle as they held my gaze. "Promise me you'll stay
strong Ken."
He was right, of course. This wasn't the time to let Weiss down.
Whatever this was, who ever had done it had to be stopped. Before
anything else could happen and before anymore innocent people were
hurt.
I nodded, my voice holding far more confidence than I felt. "I'm fine.
But," I waved at the drawings of us. "What should we do about those?
Should we destroy them? Or..." My eyes widened as a thought
occurred to me. "What if the evil forces are trying to get us to
destroy them? And then when we do, we die too because we're part of
the sketches!!! Or what if we-"
"Well I guess you're okay now," Aya interrupted wryly. "Now forget
about all that because we're going to leave them here."
I blinked. "We are?"
"Yes. I don't like the idea of disturbing anything."
"But Aya, are you sure?" I shuffled my feet uneasily and looked
around. "I mean maybe we should-"
Aya's voice was dry. "Ken, we're worrying about nothing right now." He
gestured to the table.
The drawings were gone. Absofuckinglutely gone.
I couldn't help it. I flung myself into Aya's arms and buried my face in
his shoulder. "Oh man, we're so dooooooooooomed," I wailed in anguish.
So much for my sudden resolve to be a man and take it like it is and
save all the innocents. Forget the innocents, I wanted to go home!!!
Dammit, wasn't I innocent? Didn't I deserve to be saved? I mean, I can
handle killing bad guys and fighting Schwartz and all that. But battling
the wicked in a shitty spooksville of a house where paintings looked at
me and merry-go-rounds played music by themselves and pregnant
women were killed brutally and pictures of us disappeared...it was too
much! When had Weiss turned into the X-files? I wasn't Mulder
dammit! Although Aya did have red hair like Scully...
"They're playing with us," Aya bit out scathingly, barely containing his
cold fury. "Those fucking bastards."
Aya only swore when he was *really* pissed off so I'm guessing that he
was *really* pissed off. In any case, his ire made me feel safe. He was
one mean bitch when riled up. Of course I was tough too but he had
the advantage of not being afraid whereas me...well you know.
Aya hauled me roughly from the room, stomping angrily. Yep, he was
definitely mad.
A steady trinkling sound was coming from behind the door of the next
room. I hid behind Aya, gripping his trench coat tightly and peeking
over his shoulder as he slowly twisted the doorknob open.
I held my breath, more than prepared to run like hell. What cold-
blooded terrors lay in this room? The door groaned open on whiny
hinges and involuntarily I clenched my eyes shut. I was about to ask
Aya how bad it was when it suddenly registered into my muddled mind
that the trinkling sound was water. Running water.
My eyes popped open. In the very center of the room was a huge
fountain of a gargoyle spitting forth water. I wrinkled my nose. A
gargoyle? How tacky.
The floor wasn't carpeted, unlike all the other rooms we'd been to.
Instead, it was marble and our feet made loud thumping noises upon it.
I noticed that the fountain's water was a murky brown color and there
were dead fish floating in on the surface. At one time the room must
have been filled with lush, healthy plants and flowers. Now the many
pots and vases were either filled with dead sticks and rotting soil or
were empty.
The room was an art studio. Paintings of scenery decorated the walls
and there were countless numbers of unhung paintings stacked about.
A table in the back, behind the fountain was jumbled with paint
brushes and paints and sketchbooks and other assorted art supplies.
Several easels stood nearby with unfinished paintings resting upon
them.
Aya lifted the candle to an easel in the corner. The painting upon it
was of a quaint mountains and forest scene, the sky blue and the sun
shining. Defacing the sunny little scene was thick, vivid strokes in red,
spelling out 'Help me'.
It had been recently done. The red paint was still wet, dripping down
the smooth canvas. The paintbrush lay on the floor, drenched in red
paint.
**Beautiful, isn't it?**
A breathy whisper, brushing upon my ear.
I whirled around. There was no one there.
"This was just done," Aya muttered unnecessarily. He stepped closer
to examine the mess.
**Scared of me Ken?**
My heart was leaping frantically as I scanned the room. There was no
one and yet the voice was speaking right in my ear.
**They always are**
"Stop it," I hissed, backing away and bumping into the edge of the
fountain.
The voice grew louder and became guttural.
**Your fear tastes delicious**
"St-stay away f-from me," I gasped, my body shaking ferociously.
"Ken?" Aya moved away from the easel and looked over at me.
**Will he be able to save you Ken?**
I shrank back, petrified out of my mind. Someone was talking to me
and they knew my name!
"Ken!"
For the umpteenth time that night I threw myself into the safety of
Aya's arms, this time barely biting back a sob.
~*~*~*~
Four moldy, smelly, creepy rooms later, Omi and Yohji finally found the
dragon door. It was inside a rather barren room that kept only a few
sofas, some tables and a shelf filled with tattered books. There was a
door on the far side of the room and engraved on the doorknob was a
delicate dragon.
"About damn time," Yohji grumbled.
Omi grinned. "I knew we'd find it sooner or later."
Yohji leveled a stern look upon the boy. "No matter what happens Omi,
I want you to stay by my side. Understand? I don't want anything to
happen to you."
"Of course," he replied, taking the opportunity to step closer to his
older teammate. "Let's go."
Yohji reached out slowly turned the doorknob. The heaved open and he
shone the flashlight into the murky darkness. Stairs were the only
thing he could see. Lots of stairs going down into the dreaded
basement.
Yohji blanched. This was exactly the sort of cheesy clich‚ that
freaked him out. He really did *not* to go gallivanting about in the
bowels of this house. God only knew what shitty-assed horrors lay
waiting for them.
"Yohji kun?" Wide blue eyes were peering up at him expectantly. "Are
we still going down?"
He took a deep breath. "We're going," he responded determinedly. For
the sake of Omi he wouldn't wimp out. He was older, it was his job to
protect the younger boy. Aya would take care of Ken and he'd look out
for Omi. Simply simple.
The stairs winded and there were many. It took about ten minutes to
get to the bottom since the flashlight wasn't all that powerful and it
was difficult to see that much more ahead. Also the steps were uneven
and badly crumbling.
After what seemed like an eternity, they finally made it to flat ground.
The hallway was classically cheesy. All made of stone with wooden
torches that were hung on the wall. The hallway stretched out to the
left and on the right was an enormously gigantic door.
"Door or hallway?"
Omi bit his lip as he thought for a few seconds. "Door," he decided.
Yohji, who'd been secretly hoping that he'd pick the hallway, sighed.
Facing danger head on in his mind was great. Facing danger in reality
sucked like crap.
They walked towards the door and before they even reached it, it
swung open. Thick swirls of grey mist drifted out.
"Oh jeeze" Omi muttered.
Yohji grabbed the younger boy's hand. "Don't say anything and don't go
anywhere," he cautioned sternly.
They cleaved through the mist and entered. Behind them, the door
closed with an abrupt thud.
"Stuck again," Yohji mumbled wryly, shining the flashlight through the
wispy fog which was dissipating.
Before them were a few of steps, leading down into an enormous, dark
room. The walls were made of broad slabs of stone, the floor nothing
more than muddy dirt. The haze weaved its way through the heavy
coffins and crosses that were scattered throughout the entire room.
"A graveyard," Omi breathed, looking on in morbid fascination.
Yohji was not impressed. When a house had a friggin' graveyard in the
basement, that usually was not a good sign!
They stepped down, the ground squishy and mucky beneath their feet.
Moisture clung to the walls, the sound of rats scampering echoing. The
caskets were large and stark, spread out randomly. Simple wooden
crosses were tucked here and there and all along the far side were
neat piles of dirt, shovels standing erect on the top of the heaps.
Recently covered bodies.
"There sure are a lot of dead people down here," Omi remarked
offhandedly.
Yohji, who was on the verge of going into cardiac arrest, gaped openly
at the younger boy. How the hell could he be so casual about all these
dead bodies? Why wasn't the kid scared? The coffins could hold
vampires dammit!!! The mounds of dirt could be the last victims they
sucked dry!
"That's all you can say?" Yohji finally managed. "There are a lot of
dead people down here?! "
Omi patted his arm. "Calm down Yohji kun. It's just probably just a
family mausoleum."
"WHO THE HELL HAS A FAMILY THIS BIG!!!"
Yohji's yelling immediately woke the entire brigade of vampire bats
there were sleeping overhead. In a huge whirl of flapping wings and
high-pitched shrieking, Yohji and Omi were instantly swarmed by
furry, flying rodents.
"GGGGAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! My hair!!!"
Omi sighed, shaking his head. The pack of bats had flown off to
another part of the ceiling, and Yohji was still shrieking and thrashing
around.
"Get away you filthy flying rats!"
"They're gone Yohji kun."
Yohji slowly straightened and saw that, indeed, they were. "Miserable
shitty assed fuckers!" He rubbed at his cheek. "One bit me!"
"Bats are generally timid animals," Omi informed him, the zoologist in
him aroused. "But these are vampire bats so that's probably why you
got bitten. They need a tablespoon of blood a day to survive. Did you
know that bats are the only mammals that can fly?"
"Do I fucking care?" Yohji snarled, harassed. Omi was an exceptionally
smart kid but there was a time and place to go sprouting off biological
knowledge and the cemetery of a haunted house was not it! "Vampire
bats, that's a sign if I ever heard of one!"
Omi knew it was futile to try and calm Yohji down in his agitated state
so he tried to be logical. "Vampires need to feed in the night so
chances are they're probably not here."
"Unless they're the bats!" Yohji looked at the plethora of bats hanging
upside down from the ceiling. "They're all vampires waiting to make
their move."
"We'd be sucked dry by now if they really were vampires. Now come
on, let's go check out the coffins. I'm sure they'll give us some clues."
Yohji glared. "Forget it! I'm not touching those things with a ten-foot
pole!"
Omi shrugged, unconcerned. "Suit yourself." He snatched the
flashlight from Yohji's hand and moved towards the nearest casket.
"Oh fuck." Yohji grumbled heading after him.
~*~*~*~
Aya comforted me in a very unlike-Aya way. He didn't ask me to explain
anything, instead he let me cling to him and he stroked my hair. In any
other situation I would have demanded to know who he was and what
had he done with Aya. But alas, this was not any other situation.
Someone...or something was talking to me. They knew who I was.
Needless to say, I did not have a good feeling about this.
We left the artist room and much to my joy, as well as my sanity, the
voice didn't start talking to me again. We soon came to a split in the
hallway. Straight ahead of us was a curling staircase, most likely
leading up to the attic. To the left as well as to the right were
hallways with more rooms.
"Which way?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from shaking too badly.
Either way we went, unspeakable horrors were bound to find us.
"The attic," Aya answered tersely.
I nodded and then I saw it. A trail of wet, muddy footprints marking
the dusty carpet of the stairs. "Aya look!" I cried, my voice hoarse.
"Footprints!"
Violet eyes gleamed violently. "Now we've got them."
For the hundredth time I thanked whatever God was looking down on
me for pairing me up with Aya. The guy was a mean son of a bitch when
pissed off. If anyone had a chance against the powers of evil, it was
Aya.
Aya stalked up the stairs, his katana matching the ominous glitter in
his eye. I hurried after him, constantly glancing around. The last thing
I wanted to be confronted with was that sinister voice of that
sinister...whoever it was.
The stairs were creaky and I jumped whenever we happened to step on
one. I think I was going crazy. I mean, I was scared shitless coming
here but now I was beyond scared. I had entered *new* levels of fear.
I was petrified.
**That you are my pretty**
I whirled around and nearly went sprawling back down the stairs.
Grabbing, hold of the banister, I managed to keep upright. Aya was
still stomping up the stairs, oblivious. Frantically, I looked around,
trying to get a glimpse of this vile mind-raper.
**You should know by now that you can't see me**
"Stay away from me!" I shrieked silently. My fingers were ice-cold
inside my gloves as I clutched the banister.
"Ken, what is it?" Aya looked down at me, worry marring plum eyes.
At another time I'd have been boggled that the Iceman himself was
showing concern. But at the moment, I had other problems on my mind.
Like how I was ready to flee to another hemisphere.
**Surely you don't think -he- could help you**
"Aya," I croaked, trembling. "Someone is-"
~C*R*A*S*H~
The window beside the stairs shattered as a solid branch, propelled by
the wind, struck through the glass. Shards showered upon the filthy
maroon carpet, the frantic wind swirling into the house with a shrill
shriek. It was raining bitterly outside.
I still ended up nearly leaping out of my skin, my heart racing like some
kind of crazy locomotive. I know I screamed and even Aya looked...well
he brandished his katana anyways.
"I don't know how much more I can take of this," I muttered, waiting
for my heartbeat to slow down.
"Did you hurt-"
I stopped paying attention to Aya when a white slip of paper wafted in
through the broken window and fell down at my feet. I shrank back
against the banister. Who knew what the hell the innocent-seeming
paper contained. Some kind of demonic incantation or death threat of
more pictures of us...I shuddered.
Aya came back down the stairs and bent to pick the paper up.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I gulped out, wringing my hands
apprehensively.
"Ken this paper just fell at our feet," he informed me calmly. "I doubt
it was a coincidence. We're obviously meant to read it."
I sighed, brushing sweaty bangs off my forehead. At this point nothing
could surprise me. Scare me, oh hell ya. Surprise me, not really.
Aya read the note silently, his expression grim.
"Well?" I finally asked, biting my lip. "What is it? Is it evil? Are we
going to die?" I started to get frantic. "I'm too young to die dammit! I
wanna go home! This sucks!"
"Let's go," Aya muttered, crumpling the paper into a ball and tossing it
out the broken window. "I don't think you want to know what's on the
paper."
No I probably didn't.
I scrambled around the shattered glass and followed him up the stairs.
"Ken, what happened before?" he asked me gently as we made our way
up the squeaky stairs.
"It really happened Aya," I warned him seriously. "It wasn't a figment
of my imagination or any crap like that. I wasn't being stupid either."
"What happened?" he asked me tersely.
"Someone's been talking in my mind." Inwardly I winced. It sounded
lame even to my ears and I was *used* to sounding lame.
Aya arched an eyebrow in silent question.
"It's true! They said that they knew I was afraid of them and that you
wouldn't be able to save me! I'm not lying, I swear. Someone really is in
my mind!"
He sighed softly. "I believe you Ken."
I blinked "You do?"
"After everything else that's happened, mind games don't surprise me."
"Stupid mind games," I muttered. "Sounds like that bastard
Schulderich."
Suddenly Aya stopped, mid-step. His gaze clung to mine. "Schulderich,"
he spat out.
My eyes widened. "Schwartz? You don't think..." I frowned. "They'd
have no way of knowing that we'd be here. They don't know who Persia
is. Hell, we don't even know who Persia is!"
Aya grabbed my hand. "There's only one way to find out."
We raced up the remainder of the stairs.