NOTE: "Vampyre" is not an incorrect spelling. I believe it's a British spelling of the word, but if I'm wrong, I'm sure my British readers will correct me ^_~
An attractive woman who looked almost ageless stood in the lighted doorway, her long, dark hair cascading over her shoulders. "Good evening," she purred in a mysteriously accented voice. "I'm Madame Fiona. Won't you all come in?" She gestured with a perfectly manicured hand, the long nails painted blood red.
"Yes. Thank you," Yugi said, summoning his Yami and entering first, with the six others following close behind.
"Just go right ahead and sit anywhere," Madame Fiona told them, and they all took a look around at her living room, which was oddly furnished with such things as bat clocks and blood red furniture. "I was just having a snack," she said, picking up a glass with a red liquid in it. "Would you care to join me?"
Bakura suddenly felt dizzy and lightheaded, especially when he saw Madame Fiona raise the glass to her lips and drink from it. He collapsed on the soft couch behind him, breathing heavily. Tea quickly sat next to him, trying to calm him down.
"No, thank you," Yugi replied, looking rather queasy himself. Everything Joey said about vampyres must be getting to me, he thought with a sigh. I'm sure she's just drinking Kool-Aid or something like that, but still . . .
"So, I understand you wish to speak to me about my visions," Madame Fiona stated.
"That's right, Madame Fiona," Tea nodded. "Have you had more than one about the scarecrows?"
"Yes, Miss Gardner," Madame Fiona replied. "I had my first one about a month before Mr. Graves reported the break in. Since then, I have had two or more revelations about the straw men every week."
"Whoa, that's a lot," Joey commented, sitting gingerly on the arm of the couch.
"What do you see in these revelations, Madame Fiona?" Yugi asked.
"I see much darkness," Madame Fiona said quietly. "And much suffering and pain."
"Have you seen any way to stop them?" Joey asked curiously.
Madame Fiona shook her head. "Not yet. But that does not mean I won't in the near future." She set her now-empty glass down on a nearby coffee table. "As a matter of fact, I feel another vision coming on now."
With that she began to rock back and forth, chanting something under her breath.
"Eh, has she cracked up?" Joey wondered, raising an eyebrow.
"I think she's gone into a trance," Bakura said, wide-eyed.
"I foresee . . . two of you will meet a grisly end," Madame Fiona intoned.
"Oooh, I'm shaking in my Nikes," Joey muttered.
"It will be you, Joseph Wheeler, and you, Seto Kaiba!" Madame Fiona continued, pointing at each of them in turn. "You will both die before the month's end has arrived!"
Joey's eyes went wide. Maybe he shouldn't dismiss this so lightly, he thought with a gulp, tugging on his shirt collar.
"My brother's not gonna die!" Mokuba said defensively.
"Of course I'm not," Seto agreed. "She can't really see into the future, Mokuba. That's nonsense. She's just trying to make us think she knows what's going to happen."
With that, Madame Fiona snapped out of her trance. "Oh my," she said, "I was not expecting that kind of vision. You two boys had better be very careful," she warned.
"Eh, tell me, Madame Fiona," Joey said, "are your revelations all things that are gonna happen, or are some of 'em just things that *might* happen?"
"So far, Joseph, all of my predictions have come true," Madame Fiona replied, standing up. "I could use another snack," she announced, heading off towards the kitchen. "Are you certain you wouldn't like one too?"
"We're fine, thank you," Yugi said.
When Madame Fiona had left the room, Joey turned to Yugi. "Hey, Yugi, man, what do you think about her?"
Yugi smiled. "You're not going to die, Joey, and neither is Kaiba. She couldn't predict that."
"Hey, I'm not worried," Joey bluffed. "Why in the heck would I be worried?"
"Wheeler, we can all see that you are," Seto informed him.
"That's crazy," Joey said, waving a hand dismissively. "I don't believe that nonsense. I've never believed that psychic garbage."
That's when Madame Fiona returned. "I just remembered an important appointment I must be getting to," she announced.
"Well, that's okay, Madame Fiona, we'll just be leaving now," Tea said, standing up.
"Thank you for taking the time to speak with us," Yugi added.
"You must come back for lunch sometime," Madame Fiona purred.
"Eh, I don't know about that," Joey said with a fake smile. "We might wind up bein' lunch!" he hissed in an undertone, shoving Seto, Tristan, and Bakura out the door.
****
"So, Yug, what now?" Joey asked as they walked down the street.
Yugi sighed. "I'm afraid I don't know." He turned to Seto. "Kaiba, were you in a car accident yesterday?" he asked seriously.
Seto started. "Yugi, how . . .?" He glanced at the Millennium Puzzle and didn't finish the sentence. "What's your point, Yugi?"
"Did your chauffeur disappear?"
"Yes, he did," Seto replied guardedly, raising an eyebrow. "The rescue team never could find him."
"Kaiba, I believe that it was a dark wraith disguised as your chauffeur," Yugi said gravely. "He crashed the limo on purpose to try to kill or seriously injure you."
"That's ridiculous," Seto snapped.
"This whole case is ridiculous, man," Joey piped up.
"And speaking of ridiculous . . ." Tristan pointed up ahead. "What in the heck is that??!"
Everyone turned to look. Up ahead was a dark, crumbling mansion that looked as though it hadn't been occupied since the 1700's.
"That wasn't there before!" Mokuba gasped.
"And who's that running across the lawn?" Tea exclaimed.
"Look at that! They're breaking in through an upstairs window," Bakura said, wide-eyed.
"Eh, why not just use a downstairs window?" Joey wondered, blinking. He turned to look at Yugi, who was walking ahead determinedly. "Oh no. Oh man, Yug, are you thinkin' what I think you're thinkin'?"
"We should go after that intruder," Yugi announced. "He was obviously up to no good."
"Oh man . . . I knew you were gonna say that," Joey groaned.
Yugi led them through a graveyard on the front lawn and up to the porch.
"Come on, man, this place must be abandoned," Joey protested. "What would we wanna go in here for?"
"This could have something to do with our case," Yugi replied, looking for a way in. "The front door's locked."
"I could fix that." Seto smirked, holding up a lock pick.
Joey backed up, looking around him, and suddenly fell through an opening in the porch floor. "Yaaaaaa!!!" he screamed, disappearing from sight.
Everyone turned to look, startled. "Where did he go?" Tea exclaimed.
"I believe that must be the entrance to the cellar," Bakura replied, looking down into the gaping, perfectly square hole.
Seto rolled his eyes. "You can always count on Wheeler to get into some kind of trouble."
"Joey! Are you alright?" Yugi called down.
There was a long silence, then, "Yeah, Yug, I'm fine," Joey called back. "I just crashed on some kinda bag of wheat or somethin'."
"Can you find a door or some way out?"
There was another pause. "Here's a ladder," Joey announced.
"It probably leads to the kitchen," Bakura mused.
"I'm gonna climb it and see what happens," Joey said.
"Be careful, Joey," Yugi warned. "That ladder could be very rickety."
"Hey, piece of cake," Joey replied. The others could hear him climbing up the ladder. Suddenly they heard a dull crash.
"What was that?" Tea gasped.
"Maybe it was Joey," Tristan replied grimly.
"Joey!" Yugi called into the hole. There was no reply. "We have to get inside," he declared. "Joey might be hurt."
"There's an open window over here," Mokuba announced. He had wandered to the far side of the porch, around the side of the dilapidated manor.
"Good work, Mokuba," Yugi congratulated. "Alright, I'll go in first," he said, getting ready to climb in.
"Yugi, be careful," Tea told him, looking worried.
Yugi smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine, Tea." He disappeared inside.
"Yugi, are you okay?" Tea rushed to the window to look in.
"Yes, I'm alright, Tea," Yugi assured her. "I'm in what used to be the drawing room, I think. There's some old pieces of furniture in here with white sheets draped over them." He paused. "And as far as I can see, the coast is clear. It's safe to come in."
Soon all six of them were standing in the crumbling drawing room. "Now be careful and stay close to me," Yugi warned. "There could be loose floorboards in a place like this."
No one ever knew how it happened exactly, but one minute all of them were together, and in the next, they had split up into two groups.
"Tea?" Yugi asked. No answer.
"Whoa, Tea's gone," Tristan announced, looking around. "And so's Bakura!"
"And my brother!" Mokuba gasped.
"What?!" After a swift headcount, Yugi could see that they were only too right. "But where could they have gone?" he wondered.
"They just disappeared," Tristan exclaimed, "right into thin air!"
"There has to be an explanation," Yugi replied, his eyes narrowing.
"Where could they be?" Mokuba wondered frantically.
"Don't worry, Mokuba, we'll find them," Yugi assured him determinedly.
****
Tea looked around. "Yugi?" she called. "Yugi, where are you?" She walked ahead and bumped into someone. "Yugi?" she said hopefully.
"No, Tea, it's me," Seto Kaiba replied. "Both Yugi and Mokuba are gone."
"And Tristan too," Bakura spoke up, wide-eyed.
Tea sighed. "So it's just the three of us?"
"It looks that way," Bakura replied.
"But where could Yugi and the others be?" Tea fretted. "It doesn't make sense! We were all following Yugi through that drawing room!"
"We're not in any drawing room anymore," Seto said grimly. "It looks more like the kitchen, from what I can see."
Tea took a step forward and screamed, almost plunging through a hole in the floor. Seto quickly caught her, pulling her back up. She let him hold on to her for a moment as she drew her wits about her and then she gently pushed him away. "What is that?!" she burst out.
"There's a good chance it's the hole leading to the celler," Bakura said, kneeling down and peering into it.
Tea gasped. "Can you see anything, Bakura?" she asked.
"Nothing," the silver-haired boy replied.
"We have to go down," Tea insisted. "Joey might have gotten hurt!"
"Lucky for you two, I brought a flashlight," Seto informed them, pulling it out and clicking it on. He shined it into the hole. "It's the cellar alright, but I don't see Wheeler. The ladder's on the floor, though."
"Maybe Joey fell off the ladder," Tea said, her eyes wide.
"If we're going down there, we'll need some kind of ladder or rope," Bakura realized. "It's much too far to jump. We could break a leg or a neck!"
Suddenly a hand clamped down on Tea's shoulder and she screamed. "Someone's here!!" she burst out.
An attractive woman who looked almost ageless stood in the lighted doorway, her long, dark hair cascading over her shoulders. "Good evening," she purred in a mysteriously accented voice. "I'm Madame Fiona. Won't you all come in?" She gestured with a perfectly manicured hand, the long nails painted blood red.
"Yes. Thank you," Yugi said, summoning his Yami and entering first, with the six others following close behind.
"Just go right ahead and sit anywhere," Madame Fiona told them, and they all took a look around at her living room, which was oddly furnished with such things as bat clocks and blood red furniture. "I was just having a snack," she said, picking up a glass with a red liquid in it. "Would you care to join me?"
Bakura suddenly felt dizzy and lightheaded, especially when he saw Madame Fiona raise the glass to her lips and drink from it. He collapsed on the soft couch behind him, breathing heavily. Tea quickly sat next to him, trying to calm him down.
"No, thank you," Yugi replied, looking rather queasy himself. Everything Joey said about vampyres must be getting to me, he thought with a sigh. I'm sure she's just drinking Kool-Aid or something like that, but still . . .
"So, I understand you wish to speak to me about my visions," Madame Fiona stated.
"That's right, Madame Fiona," Tea nodded. "Have you had more than one about the scarecrows?"
"Yes, Miss Gardner," Madame Fiona replied. "I had my first one about a month before Mr. Graves reported the break in. Since then, I have had two or more revelations about the straw men every week."
"Whoa, that's a lot," Joey commented, sitting gingerly on the arm of the couch.
"What do you see in these revelations, Madame Fiona?" Yugi asked.
"I see much darkness," Madame Fiona said quietly. "And much suffering and pain."
"Have you seen any way to stop them?" Joey asked curiously.
Madame Fiona shook her head. "Not yet. But that does not mean I won't in the near future." She set her now-empty glass down on a nearby coffee table. "As a matter of fact, I feel another vision coming on now."
With that she began to rock back and forth, chanting something under her breath.
"Eh, has she cracked up?" Joey wondered, raising an eyebrow.
"I think she's gone into a trance," Bakura said, wide-eyed.
"I foresee . . . two of you will meet a grisly end," Madame Fiona intoned.
"Oooh, I'm shaking in my Nikes," Joey muttered.
"It will be you, Joseph Wheeler, and you, Seto Kaiba!" Madame Fiona continued, pointing at each of them in turn. "You will both die before the month's end has arrived!"
Joey's eyes went wide. Maybe he shouldn't dismiss this so lightly, he thought with a gulp, tugging on his shirt collar.
"My brother's not gonna die!" Mokuba said defensively.
"Of course I'm not," Seto agreed. "She can't really see into the future, Mokuba. That's nonsense. She's just trying to make us think she knows what's going to happen."
With that, Madame Fiona snapped out of her trance. "Oh my," she said, "I was not expecting that kind of vision. You two boys had better be very careful," she warned.
"Eh, tell me, Madame Fiona," Joey said, "are your revelations all things that are gonna happen, or are some of 'em just things that *might* happen?"
"So far, Joseph, all of my predictions have come true," Madame Fiona replied, standing up. "I could use another snack," she announced, heading off towards the kitchen. "Are you certain you wouldn't like one too?"
"We're fine, thank you," Yugi said.
When Madame Fiona had left the room, Joey turned to Yugi. "Hey, Yugi, man, what do you think about her?"
Yugi smiled. "You're not going to die, Joey, and neither is Kaiba. She couldn't predict that."
"Hey, I'm not worried," Joey bluffed. "Why in the heck would I be worried?"
"Wheeler, we can all see that you are," Seto informed him.
"That's crazy," Joey said, waving a hand dismissively. "I don't believe that nonsense. I've never believed that psychic garbage."
That's when Madame Fiona returned. "I just remembered an important appointment I must be getting to," she announced.
"Well, that's okay, Madame Fiona, we'll just be leaving now," Tea said, standing up.
"Thank you for taking the time to speak with us," Yugi added.
"You must come back for lunch sometime," Madame Fiona purred.
"Eh, I don't know about that," Joey said with a fake smile. "We might wind up bein' lunch!" he hissed in an undertone, shoving Seto, Tristan, and Bakura out the door.
****
"So, Yug, what now?" Joey asked as they walked down the street.
Yugi sighed. "I'm afraid I don't know." He turned to Seto. "Kaiba, were you in a car accident yesterday?" he asked seriously.
Seto started. "Yugi, how . . .?" He glanced at the Millennium Puzzle and didn't finish the sentence. "What's your point, Yugi?"
"Did your chauffeur disappear?"
"Yes, he did," Seto replied guardedly, raising an eyebrow. "The rescue team never could find him."
"Kaiba, I believe that it was a dark wraith disguised as your chauffeur," Yugi said gravely. "He crashed the limo on purpose to try to kill or seriously injure you."
"That's ridiculous," Seto snapped.
"This whole case is ridiculous, man," Joey piped up.
"And speaking of ridiculous . . ." Tristan pointed up ahead. "What in the heck is that??!"
Everyone turned to look. Up ahead was a dark, crumbling mansion that looked as though it hadn't been occupied since the 1700's.
"That wasn't there before!" Mokuba gasped.
"And who's that running across the lawn?" Tea exclaimed.
"Look at that! They're breaking in through an upstairs window," Bakura said, wide-eyed.
"Eh, why not just use a downstairs window?" Joey wondered, blinking. He turned to look at Yugi, who was walking ahead determinedly. "Oh no. Oh man, Yug, are you thinkin' what I think you're thinkin'?"
"We should go after that intruder," Yugi announced. "He was obviously up to no good."
"Oh man . . . I knew you were gonna say that," Joey groaned.
Yugi led them through a graveyard on the front lawn and up to the porch.
"Come on, man, this place must be abandoned," Joey protested. "What would we wanna go in here for?"
"This could have something to do with our case," Yugi replied, looking for a way in. "The front door's locked."
"I could fix that." Seto smirked, holding up a lock pick.
Joey backed up, looking around him, and suddenly fell through an opening in the porch floor. "Yaaaaaa!!!" he screamed, disappearing from sight.
Everyone turned to look, startled. "Where did he go?" Tea exclaimed.
"I believe that must be the entrance to the cellar," Bakura replied, looking down into the gaping, perfectly square hole.
Seto rolled his eyes. "You can always count on Wheeler to get into some kind of trouble."
"Joey! Are you alright?" Yugi called down.
There was a long silence, then, "Yeah, Yug, I'm fine," Joey called back. "I just crashed on some kinda bag of wheat or somethin'."
"Can you find a door or some way out?"
There was another pause. "Here's a ladder," Joey announced.
"It probably leads to the kitchen," Bakura mused.
"I'm gonna climb it and see what happens," Joey said.
"Be careful, Joey," Yugi warned. "That ladder could be very rickety."
"Hey, piece of cake," Joey replied. The others could hear him climbing up the ladder. Suddenly they heard a dull crash.
"What was that?" Tea gasped.
"Maybe it was Joey," Tristan replied grimly.
"Joey!" Yugi called into the hole. There was no reply. "We have to get inside," he declared. "Joey might be hurt."
"There's an open window over here," Mokuba announced. He had wandered to the far side of the porch, around the side of the dilapidated manor.
"Good work, Mokuba," Yugi congratulated. "Alright, I'll go in first," he said, getting ready to climb in.
"Yugi, be careful," Tea told him, looking worried.
Yugi smiled reassuringly. "I'll be fine, Tea." He disappeared inside.
"Yugi, are you okay?" Tea rushed to the window to look in.
"Yes, I'm alright, Tea," Yugi assured her. "I'm in what used to be the drawing room, I think. There's some old pieces of furniture in here with white sheets draped over them." He paused. "And as far as I can see, the coast is clear. It's safe to come in."
Soon all six of them were standing in the crumbling drawing room. "Now be careful and stay close to me," Yugi warned. "There could be loose floorboards in a place like this."
No one ever knew how it happened exactly, but one minute all of them were together, and in the next, they had split up into two groups.
"Tea?" Yugi asked. No answer.
"Whoa, Tea's gone," Tristan announced, looking around. "And so's Bakura!"
"And my brother!" Mokuba gasped.
"What?!" After a swift headcount, Yugi could see that they were only too right. "But where could they have gone?" he wondered.
"They just disappeared," Tristan exclaimed, "right into thin air!"
"There has to be an explanation," Yugi replied, his eyes narrowing.
"Where could they be?" Mokuba wondered frantically.
"Don't worry, Mokuba, we'll find them," Yugi assured him determinedly.
****
Tea looked around. "Yugi?" she called. "Yugi, where are you?" She walked ahead and bumped into someone. "Yugi?" she said hopefully.
"No, Tea, it's me," Seto Kaiba replied. "Both Yugi and Mokuba are gone."
"And Tristan too," Bakura spoke up, wide-eyed.
Tea sighed. "So it's just the three of us?"
"It looks that way," Bakura replied.
"But where could Yugi and the others be?" Tea fretted. "It doesn't make sense! We were all following Yugi through that drawing room!"
"We're not in any drawing room anymore," Seto said grimly. "It looks more like the kitchen, from what I can see."
Tea took a step forward and screamed, almost plunging through a hole in the floor. Seto quickly caught her, pulling her back up. She let him hold on to her for a moment as she drew her wits about her and then she gently pushed him away. "What is that?!" she burst out.
"There's a good chance it's the hole leading to the celler," Bakura said, kneeling down and peering into it.
Tea gasped. "Can you see anything, Bakura?" she asked.
"Nothing," the silver-haired boy replied.
"We have to go down," Tea insisted. "Joey might have gotten hurt!"
"Lucky for you two, I brought a flashlight," Seto informed them, pulling it out and clicking it on. He shined it into the hole. "It's the cellar alright, but I don't see Wheeler. The ladder's on the floor, though."
"Maybe Joey fell off the ladder," Tea said, her eyes wide.
"If we're going down there, we'll need some kind of ladder or rope," Bakura realized. "It's much too far to jump. We could break a leg or a neck!"
Suddenly a hand clamped down on Tea's shoulder and she screamed. "Someone's here!!" she burst out.